Mary Mother of GOD
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.
July is the month of the Precious Blood since 1850;
2023
23,000  Lives Saved Since 2007

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


Archangel Gabriel The Synaxis of the celebrated on the day after the Annunciation, and a second time on July 13



Join the Mary of Nazareth Project and help us build the International Marian Center of Nazareth.

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

Acts of the Apostles

Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

How do I start the Five First Saturdays?


                                       
We are the defenders of true freedom.
  May our witness unveil the deception of the "pro-choice" slogan.
40 days for Life Campaign saves lives Shawn Carney Campaign Director www.40daysforlife.com
Please help save the unborn they are the future for the world

It is a great poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish
 -- Mother Teresa

 Saving babies, healing moms and dads, 'The Gospel of Life'  Mother Teresa
 Saving babies, healing moms and dads, 'The Gospel of Life'

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

He’s standing there and behind him is the Blessed Mother (I)
In Mississippi, one day in 1944, Father R. O'Leary was called to visit a young black man on death row named Claude Newman. He told the priest that a beautiful Lady had appeared to him and said:
"If you want me to be your mother, and if you want to become my son, ask to see a Catholic priest."
Shortly before this vision, Claude had noticed a medal on a string around another prisoner’s neck.
He asked what it was, but the man couldn’t explain what the Miraculous Medal was.
Frustrated, he snatched the medal from his own neck and threw it on the floor with a curse.
 So Claude picked up it and put the medal on.
The priest started instructing Claude in the Catholic faith. He was greatly surprised at the intelligence and answers of somebody who could neither read nor write. The latter explained that the Blessed Virgin had come three times to instruct him. Claude also said that the Virgin revealed to him a promise that the priest had made in the trenches during the war. Hearing this time, the priest started believing in the visions of his neophyte.
He baptized him and gave him his first holy communion.


He’s standing there and behind him is the Blessed Mother (II)
 In prison, Claude told Father O’Leary how he had falsely been sentenced to death. The priest resolved to save him, but what could he do? He reached out to the prison authorities. Together, they adopted a plan to get a stay of execution... To everyone’s amazement, when they told Claude their plan he started to cry and said,
"What have I done wrong these past weeks that God would refuse me my going home?"
Father O’Leary reminded Claude about a prisoner in the jail who hated Claude intensely.
This prisoner had led a horribly immoral life, and he too was to be executed.
The priest said, "Maybe Our Blessed Mother wants you to offer this denial of being with her for his conversion.
Why don't you offer to God every moment you are separated from her for this prisoner so that he will not be separated from God for all eternity?"
Claude was executed two weeks later and he died a holy death. The white criminal for whom Claude had sacrificed himself was also waiting his turn. As he was led to the electric chair, he swore, spat and cursed when suddenly, his eyes became fixed, his last blasphemy stopped on his tongue and he asked to see a Catholic priest.
The priest heard the confession of the condemned man and reconciled him with God.
Asked about this strange change of attitude, the convict said,
"Well he’s standing there, over in that corner. And beind him… is the Blessed Mother... And Claude said to me, 'I offered my death in union with Christ on the Cross for your salvation. She has obtained this gift for you, so you can see your place in Hell if you don’t repent.' I was shown my place in Hell, and that's when I screamed."
Never Forget to Say Your Rosary Everyday
Our Lady of All Graces
In travelling the countryside or while you are crossing the street, driving your car, taking the subway, bedridden in the hospital or stuck in prison, don't forget to say your Rosary every day. Let the beads slip between your fingers; they also slip between the fingers of the Holy Father at the Vatican, those of a grandmother in Alaska, a child on a hill in Rwanda, a football player on a field in Rio, a Carthusian monk in his cell, a Carmelite in her cloister, or young evangelists on a mission ...
The Rosary is the certainly the prayer of the poor and the small, the sick and the suffering, par excellence.
Yes, always and everywhere; not only in space, but also in time. The latitudes of the planet and longitudes of history crisscross.

The Hail Mary has moistened the lips of millions of all ages, races and nations.
How many children learned it as their first prayer? How many of the dying whispered it as their ultimate testament?
The Hail Mary is a synthesis of two first names: Mary and Jesus.  Father Daniel Ange

St. Silas One of Church of Jerusalem leaders; sent with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch to communicate decisions of the Council of Jerusalem to the Gentile community in Syria
Saint Julian, Bishop of Cenomanis, elevated to bishop by Apostle Peter; sent to preach Gospel in Gaul (Cenomanis-region of River Po) great wonders accompanied preaching of the saint  healing bodily infirmities-also the souls, blind, lame and To end of his days he preached about Christ completely eradicating idolatry in Cenomanis land
St. Aoulimpas, the Apostle martyrdom one of the seventy apostles ministered to the disciples; carried epistles of St. Peter to the Gentiles; took Saint Peters body off the cross, shroud him, took him to the house of the believers; martyred just like Peter {Coptic}
July 13 – Mary Patroness (Italy, 1837)
She founded the oldest Marian religious institute of women in the Arab East
Born in Jerusalem in a Christian Palestinian family on October 4, 1843, Saint Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas died on March 25, 1927 in Ein Karem. She was canonized by Pope Francis on May 17, 2015, on the Feast of the Ascension.
Saint Marie-Alphonsine entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition as a postulant at the age of 14. Following repeated visions of Our Lady, she and Father Joseph Tannous Yammin founded a congregation for local women in 1880 called the Rosary Sisters, or the Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem, the oldest Marian religious institute of women in the Arab East. Archbishop Fouad Twal, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem was impressed by the Marian piety of this nun who spent her life working in education of Arab Christians and the poor.
Today the Rosary Sisters have 250 members and are present in the Holy Land, Jordan, Lebanon, Cairo (Egypt), Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Rome. In Lebanon, the Rosary Sisters have ten convents and they also run a hospital in Gemmayze.
Adapted from: www.lorientlejour.com and catholicsaints.info


Mary's Divine Motherhood
Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).

Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.

Our Lady of the Mystical Rose   Our Lady of the Road
Our Lady of the Road, Teach us not to rush to external roads And to sometimes wait in silence for
“The One who must come, the One who cannot not come.”

Our Lady of the Road I entrust myself to you, after having heard in silence the call of
“The One who must come, the One who cannot not come.”

Our Lady of the Road When we must make a choice, When we must journey outwards in order to fulfill our call,
Pray for us. 
Patrice Garczinski (1925-1950)

Archangel Gabriel The Synaxis of the celebrated on the day after the Annunciation, and a second time on July 13
St. Silas One of Church of Jerusalem leaders; sent with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch to communicate decisions of the Council of Jerusalem to the Gentile community in Syria
Saint Julian, Bishop of Cenomanis, elevated to bishop by Apostle Peter; sent to preach Gospel in Gaul (Cenomanis-region of River Po) great wonders accompanied preaching of the saint  healing bodily infirmities-also the souls, blind, lame and To end of his days he preached about Christ completely eradicating idolatry Cenomanis land
St. Aoulimpas, the Apostle martyrdom one of the seventy apostles ministered to the disciples; carried epistles of St. Peter to the Gentiles; took Saint Peters body off the cross, shroud him, took him to the house of the believers; martyred just like Peter {Coptic}
91 Romæ sancti Anacléti, Papæ et Mártyris, qui, post sanctum Cleméntem Ecclésiam Dei regens, eam glorióso martyrio decorávit.
195 St. Serapion Martyr. He was put to death in Macedonia presented himself before the judge completely healed by the Lord Jesus Christ
  251 St. Myrope Martyr of the island of Chios, in Greece, She recovered the body of St. Isidore after his martyrdom
  258 Marcian The Holy Martyr a native of Lyceian Iconium, while still at a youthful age converted many to Christ by his fiery preaching; gave thanks to God for his fate
St. Theodosia mother of St. Proconius Martyrdom of St. Theodosia mother of St. Proconius and her companions {Coptic}
5th v. St. Dogfan Welsh martyr, descended from chieftain Brychan of Brecknock. He was slain by pagan invaders at Dyfed, Wales. A church there honors his memory.
"It is Truly Meet" Icon of the Mother of God is in the high place of the altar of the cathedral church of the Karyes monastery on Mount Athos.
5th v. SS. MAURA AND BRIGID solitaries at Ariacum (now Sainte-Maure), and had died in the fifth century, not long after St Martin. The relics were found, the chapel built, and a cultus begun in Touraine which still exists their feast is kept at Tours on January 28.
505 ST EUGENIUS, BISHOP OF CARTHAGE
“If the good shepherd must lay down his life for his sheep, can it be excusable for me to trouble about the passing needs of my body?”
  700 St Mildred, Abbess Of Minster-In-Thanet, Virgin
  750  St. Turiaf Bishop of Dol, in Brittany, France. successor of St. Samson in that see and is also called Turiav
794  Saint Stephen Sabbaites, nephew of St John of Damascus entered St Sava Lavra at 10 spent his life there; given gifts of wonderworking and clairvoyance; healed the sick, cast out devils
Arno
von Würzburg war Bischof von 855 bis 892
1024 St. Henry son of Duke of Bavaria, and Gisella, daughter of Conrad, King of Burgundy; made numerous pious foundations, gave liberally to pious institutions and built the Cathedral of Bamberg
1033 Kunigunde Nachfolgers 1025 zog sie sich in das von ihr 1017 gestiftete Kloster Kaufungen (bei Kassel) zurück und wurde Benediktinerin

1298 BD JAMES OF VORAGINE, ARCHBISHOP OF GENOA; author of Legenda Sanctorum, now everywhere known as Legenda Aurea, "The Golden Legend"
1610 St. Francis Solano Franciscan Observance priest; survived Granada plague of 1583; in Peru refused to leave shipwrecked slaves baptized them most survived; 20 years untiring ministry among Indians and Spanish colonists; he had "gift of tongues", called "wonder-worker of the New World for miracles"; died at moment of consecration, saying with last breath, "Glory be to God"
1616 Bl. Thomas Tunstal English martyr priesthood at Douai; six years in confinement  joined Benedictines there until finally murdered
1620 Monk Antonii of Leokhovo Transfer of the Relics of . The account about the saint is located under 17 October
1920 St. Teresa de los Andes Discalced Carmelite mystic; 1st Chilean beatified or canonized; model for young people
Mary the Mother of God


Archangel Gabriel The Synaxis of the celebrated on the day after the Annunciation, and a second time on July 13
It was instituted in the ninth century, perhaps to celebrate the dedication of a church at Constantinople. Originally, the Feast was observed on October 16 (Juan Mateos, LE TYPIKON DE LA GRANDE EGLISE).  An account of the Holy Archangel Gabriel is found under March 26 and November 8.
Erzengel Gabriel Orthodoxe Kirche:  Synaxis des Erzengels Gabriel -13. Juli (und 26. März ) Synaxis aller Engel - 8. November 
Katholische, Anglikanische und Evangelische Kirche:  Erzengel Michael und alle Engel - 29. September

Michael und Gabriel Am Tage nach der Verkündigung der Geburt des Herrn an Maria gedenkt die orthodoxe Kirche des Verkünders, des Erzengels Gabriel.(hebr.: starker Gott). In der Bibel wird Gabriel außerdem als Ausleger der Gesichte Daniels genannt (Dan. 8, 16 f./9, 21). Nach orthodoxer Tradition hat Gabriel Mose bei der Abfassung des Pentateuch inspiriert; er verkündete Anna die Geburt Mariens und Zacharias die Geburt des Johannes. Auch Josef ist Gabriel zweimal erschienen (Matth. 1, 20/2, 13). Er stärkte Jesus im Garten Genezareth und überbrachte den Frauen die Botschaft von der Auferstehung. Er trägt wie Michael in der orthodoxen Kirche den Beinamen Archistrategos (Oberster Feldherr der himmlischen Heere).
Am 13.07. wird sein Tag ein zweites Mal gefeiert - dieses Datum ist wohl auf die Weihe der Kirche Gabriel Archistrategos bei Konstantinopel im 17. Jahrhundert zurückzuführen.

Bis 1969 hatte der Erzengel Gabriel auch in der katholischen Kirche seinen eigenen Festtag am 24. März, dem Tag vor Mariä Verkündigung.
Dieses Fest war erst 1921 von Papst Benedikt XV. für die katholische Kirche festgesetzt worden.
The Sobor of the ArchAngel Gabriel is celebrated on the day following after the Annunciation/Blagoveschenie, ie. 26 March. This feast is celebrated a second time 13 July. The reason for its being established probably served the dedication in the XVII Cent. of a church at Constantinople, constructed in the name of the Holy Archi-Strategos / Chief of the Heavenly Hosts.
An account of the Holy ArchAngel is located under 26 March and 8 November
.
St. Silas One of the leaders of the Church of Jerusalem; sent with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch to communicate decisions of the Council of Jerusalem to the Gentile community in Syria
1st v. ST SILAS
IN the Roman Martyrology under July 13 is the entry: “In Macedonia, the death of the blessed Silas, who, being one of the first brethren and sent by the Apostles to the churches of the Gentiles with Paul and Barnabas, was full of the grace of God and readily fulfilled the office of preaching; and, glorifying Christ in His sufferings, was afterwards at rest.”
Silas is first mentioned in chapter xv of the Acts of the Apostles, when he was chosen with Judas as “chief men among the brethren” to go with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch bearing the letter from the Council of Jerusalem to the Gentile converts in Syria. Judas and Silas, “being prophets also themselves”, took part in the exhortation and confirming of the brethren, and Silas remained with Paul and Barnabas at Antioch until the disagreement arose between those two, when he was chosen by Paul to go with him in his visitation of the other churches of Syria and Cilicia, and ultimately into Macedonia. At Philippi he shared St Paul’s beating and imprisonment, and with him was miraculously delivered. He stopped behind with Timothy at Berea, but they received a message from the apostle at Athens that they should join him again, and they overtook him at Corinth. Here St Paul wrote his two letters to the Thessalonians, in each of which he refers to Silas in the full form of his name, Silvanus. Nothing more is known of him, but traditionally he lived the rest of his life in Europe and died, as the martyrology says, in Macedonia. It is possible that St Peter’s secretary, Silvanus (1 Peter v 12), is the same disciple.
We know nothing of St Silas beyond what is told us in the New Testament. See the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. iii, and cf. Vigouroux, Dictionnaire de la Bible, and Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible.
When Paul and Barnabas quarreled over Mark, Silas was chosen by Paul to accompany him on his second missionary journey to Syria, Cilicia, and Macedonia. Silas was beaten and imprisoned with Paul at Philippi, was involved with Paul in the riot of Jews at Thessalonica that drove Paul and Silas from the city to Beroea, remained at Beroea with Timothy when Paul left, but rejoined him at Corinth. The Silvanus mentioned with Timothy by Paul and who helped him preach at Corinth is believed to be the same as Silas, since Silvanus is a Greek variant of the Semitic Silas. Silvanus is also mentioned as the man through whom Peter communicated and is considered by some scholars to be the author of that epistle. Tradition says he was the first bishop of Corinth and that he died in Macedonia.
Silas, Silvanus, Crescens, Epenetus und Andronikus  Orthodoxe Kirche: 30. Juli  Katholische Kirche: Crescens - 27. Juni  Katholische Kirche: Silas - 13. Juli  Andronikus siehe 17. Mai

Crescens (Kreszens), ein Schüler des Apostels Paulus (2. Tim. 4, 10) wurde von diesem demnach nach Galatien gesandt. Gemeint ist aber möglicherweise Gallien. Crescens soll nach verschiedenen Legenden Bischof von Chankedon, Vienne und Mainz gewesen sein. Er soll auch nach Wien gekommen sein, wo er Zacharias als ersten Bischof einsetzte. Er starb unter Trajan (98-117) den Märtyrertod in Gallien.
In Mainz wird auch des Bischofs Crescens von Mainz am 27.06. gedacht. Dieser Bischof starb bei einem Germaneneinfall um 406 als Märtyrer.

Silas hat Paulus lange begleitet. Er wird mehrmals in der Apostelgeschichte erwähnt 15, 22 ff/16,12 ff/18,5). nach der Legende wurde Silas von Paulus zum Bischof von Korinth geweiht. Dort starb er auch.
Silvanus inst nach heutiger katholischer Auffassung mit Silas identisch. Er wird in dn beiden Thessalonicherbriefen erwähnt und war nach 1. Petr. 5, 12 an der Abfassung des Briefes beteiligt. Nach orthodoxer Überlieferung war Silvanus Bischof von Thessaloniki, wo er den Märtyrertod starb.
Epenetus, den Paulus in Röm 16, 5 erwähnt, soll Bischof von Karthago gewesen sein.
St. Aoulimpas, the Apostle martyrdom one of the seventy apostles ministered to the disciples; carried epistles of St. Peter to the Gentiles; took his body off the cross, shroud him, took him to the house of the believers; martyred just like Peter
On this day, St. Aoulimpas, who was called Paul, one of the seventy apostles, was martyred. This Apostle ministered to the disciples and carried the epistles of St. Peter to the Gentiles. He went with him to the city of Rome, preached there, taught and converted many to the Faith.
When St. Peter was martyred, this Apostle was the one to take his body off the cross, shroud him, and take him to the house of one of the believers. Someone accused him, before the Emperor Nero, of being one of the disciples of Peter. Nero brought him and questioned him. The Saint confessed that the Lord Christ is the true God. Nero tortured him severely. Then he asked him, "How do you wish to die?" The Saint replied saying, "I only wish to die for the Name of Christ. Kill me any way you wish, and bring me speedily to my desire." Nero ordered to beat him and to crucify him, head downwards, like his teacher St. Peter. They did so and he received the crown of martyrdom.   May his prayers be with us. Amen
.
Saint Julian, Bishop of Cenomanis, elevated to bishop by Apostle Peter; sent to preach Gospel in Gaul (Cenomanis-region of River Po) great wonders accompanied preaching of the saint healing bodily infirmities-also the souls, blind, lame and to the end of his days he preached about Christ completely eradicating idolatry Cenomanis land
Some believe that he is the same person as Simon the Leper (Mark 14:3), receiving the name Julian in Baptism.
The Apostle Peter sent St Julian to preach the Gospel in Gaul. He arrived in Cenomanis (the region of the River Po in the north of present day Italy) and settled into a small hut out beyond a city (probably Cremona), and he began to preach among the pagans. The idol-worshippers at first listened to him with distrust, but the preaching of the saint was accompanied by great wonders. By prayer St Julian healed many of the sick. Gradually, a great multitude of people began to flock to him, asking for help. In healing bodily infirmities, St Julian healed also the souls, enlightening those coming to him by the light of faith in Christ.
In order to quench the thirst of his numerous visitors, St Julian, having prayed to the Lord, struck his staff on the ground, and from that dry place there came forth a spring of water. This wonder converted many pagans to Christianity. One time the holy bishop wanted to see the local prince. At the gate of the prince's dwelling there sat a blind man whom St Julian pitied, and having prayed, gave him his sight. The prince came out towards the holy bishop, and having only just learned that he had worked this miracle, he fell down at the feet of the bishop, requesting Baptism. Having catechized the prince and his family, St Julian imposed on them a three-day fast, and then he baptized them.
On the example of the prince, the majority of his subjects also converted to Christ. The prince donated his own home to the bishop to build a temple in it, and he provided the Church with means. St Julian fervently concerned himself with the spiritual enlightenment of his flock, and he healed the sick as before. Deeply affected by the grief of parents, the holy bishop prayed that God would restore their dead children to life. The holy Bishop Julian remained long on his throne, teaching his flock the way to Heaven. The holy bishop died in extreme old age.
Sainted Julian, Bishop of Cenomanea, was elevated to bishop by the Apostle Peter. There exists the opinion that he -- is one and the same person with Simon the Leper (Mk. 14, 3), in Baptism receiving the name Julian.
The Apostle Peter sent Saint Julian to preach the Gospel in Gaul.
He arrived in Cenomanea (the region of the River Po in the north of present-day Italy) and settled into a small hut out beyond a city (probably Cremona), and he began to preach among the pagans. The idol-worshippers at first listened to him with distrust, but the preaching of the saint was accompanied by great wonders. By prayer Sainted Julian healed various of the sick. Gradually there began to flock to him a great multitude of people, asking for help. In healing bodily infirmities, Sainted Julian healed also the souls, enlightening those coming to him by the light of faith in Christ.
   In order to quench the thirst of his numerous visitors, Sainted Julian,having prayed to the Lord, struck his staff on the ground and from that dry place there came forth a spring of water. This wonder converted many pagans to Christianity. One time the Sainted Bishop wanted to see the local prince. At the gate of the prince's dwelling there sat a blind man whom Saint Julian took pity on, and having prayed, gave him his sight. The prince came out towards the Sainted Bishop, and having only just learned that he had worked this miracle, he fell down at the feet of the bishop, requesting Baptism. Having catechised the prince and his family, Saint Julian imposed on them a three-day fast, and then he fulfilled over them the mystery of Baptism.
   On the example of the prince, the majority of his subjects also converted to Christ. The prince donated his own home to the bishop for the constructing of a temple in it and he provided the Church with means. Saint Julian fervently concerned himself with the spiritual enlightening of his flock and as before he healed the sick. Deeply affected by the grief of parents, the sainted bishop by his own prayer entreated of God the raising up of their dead children to life. The holy Bishop Julian remained long on his throne, teaching his flock the way to Heaven. The Sainted Bishop died in extreme old age (I Cent.).
To the end of his days he preached about Christ and he completely eradicated idol-worship in the land of Cenomanea.
205 St. Serapion Martyr. He was put to death in Macedonia probably presented himself before the judge completely healed by the Lord Jesus Christ
   The Holy Martyr Serapion, suffered for Christ before the Emperor Severus (193-211). As a Christian he was brought to judgment before the governor Achilles. The holy martyr firmly proclaimed to the pagans his faith in Christ, and he was subjected to inhuman torments. Afterwards, he was thrown into prison.
    Healed by the Lord Jesus Christ, he was brought to the judgment place and he presented himself before the judge completely healthy. The enraged pagans sentenced the saint to be burned alive. In the midst of the flames, he gave up his soul to God (+ ca. 205).
251 St. Myrope Martyr of the island of Chios, in Greece, She recovered the body of St. Isidore after his martyrdom
She and a Roman soldier, Ammianus, were arrested for recovering the sainted remains. Myrope was scourged and died in prison. Ammianus was also martyred
.
91 Romæ sancti Anacléti, Papæ et Mártyris, qui, post sanctum Cleméntem Ecclésiam Dei regens, eam glorióso martyrio decorávit.
    At Rome, St. Anacletus, pope and martyr, who governed the Church of God after St. Clement, and shed lustre upon it by a glorious martyrdom.
Pope St. Anacletus
The second successor of St. Peter. Whether he was the same as Cletus, who is also called Anencletus as well as Anacletus, has been the subject of endless discussion. Irenaeus, Eusebius, Augustine, Optatus, use both names indifferently as of one person. Tertullian omits him altogether. To add to the confusion, the order is different. Thus Irenaeus has Linus, Anacletus, Clement; whereas Augustine and Optatus put Clement before Anacletus. On the other hand, the "Catalogus Liberianus", the "Carmen contra Marcionem" and the "Liber Pontificalis", all most respectable for their antiquity, make Cletus and Anacletus distinct from each other; while the "Catalogus Felicianus" even sets the latter down as a Greek, the former as a Roman. Among the moderns, Hergenröther (Hist. de l'église, I 542, note) pronounces for their identity. So also the Bollandist De Smedt (Dissert. vii, 1). Döllinger (Christenth. u K., 315) declares that "they are, without doubt, the same person"and that "the 'Catalogue of Liberius' merits little confidence before 230." Duchesne, "Origines chretiennes", ranges himself on that side also but Jungmann (Dissert. Hist. Eccl., I, 123) leaves the question in doubt. The chronology is, of course, in consequence of all this, very undetermined, but Duchesne, in his "Origines", says "we are far from the day when the years, months, and days of the Pontifical Catalogue can be given with any guarantee of exactness. But is it necessary to be exact about popes of whom we know so little? We can accept the list of Irenaeus -- Linus, Anacletus, Clement, Evaristus, Alexander, Xystus, Telesphorus, Hyginus, Pius, and Anicetus. Anicetus reigned certainly in 154. That is all we can say with assurance about primitive pontifical chronology." That he ordained a certain number of priests is nearly all we have of positive record about him, but we know he died a martyr, perhaps about 91.

258 Marcian Youth; The Holy Martyr a native of Lyceian Iconium, while still at a youthful age converted many to Christ by his fiery preaching; gave thanks to God for his fate
   For his zeal the idol-worshippers subjected the saint to bodily punishment, and then sent him to Cappadocia to the governor Perennias. Now by persuasion, now by threats, he attempted to turn the youth away from the Truth, Christ.
     St Marcian fearlessly testified about the truthfulness of the Christian Faith, and he accused Perennias of worshipping inanimate idols. The enraged governor gave orders to subject the saint to severe torments, but in his sufferings the saint remained steadfast in his faithfulness to Christ. They cut off his head while he prayed, giving thanks to God for his fate (+258)
.
"It is Truly Meet" Icon of the Mother of God is in the high place of the altar of the cathedral church of the Karyes monastery on Mount Athos.
One Saturday night an Elder went to Karyes for the all-night Vigil. He left, instructing his disciple to remain behind and read the service in their cell. As it grew dark, the disciple heard a knock on the door. When he opened the door, he saw an unknown monk who called himself Gabriel, and he invited him to come in. They stood before the icon of the Mother of God and read the service together with reverence and compunction.
During the Ninth Ode of the Canon, the disciple began to sing "My soul magnifies the Lord…" with the Irmos of St Cosmas the Hymnographer (October 14), "More honorable than the Cherubim..."
The stranger sang the next verse, "For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden..." Then he chanted something the disciple had never heard before, "It is truly meet to bless Thee, O Theotokos, ever-blessed and most pure, and the Mother of our God..." Then he continued with, "More honorable than the Cherubim..."
   While the hymn was being sung, the icon of the Theotokos shone with a heavenly light. The disciple was moved by the new version of the familiar hymn, and asked his guest to write the words down for him. When the stranger asked for paper and ink, the disciple said that they did not have any.
   The stranger took a roof tile and wrote the words of the hymn on its surface with his finger. The disciple knew then that this was no ordinary monk, but the Archangel Gabriel. The angel said, "Sing in this manner, and all the Orthodox as well." Then he disappeared, and the icon of the Mother of God continued to radiate light for some time afterward.
The Eleousa Icon of the Mother of God, before which the hymn "It Is Truly Meet" was first sung, was transferred to the katholikon at Karyes. The tile, with the hymn written on it by the Archangel Gabriel, was taken to Constantinople when St Nicholas Chrysoberges (December 16) was Patriarch.
Numerous copies of the "It Is Truly Meet" Icon are revered in Russian churches. At the Galerna Harbor of Peterburg a church with five cupolas was built in honor of the Merciful Mother of God, and into it they put a grace-bearing copy of the "It Is Truly Meet" icon sent from Athos
.
Martyrdom of St. Theodosia mother of St. Proconius and her companions {Coptic}
   On this day also, St. Theodosia, mother of St. Proconius, along with two prefects and twelve other women, were martyred. When Theodosia heard that her son became Christian, and the Emperor had tortured him severely until he was close to death, she went to see him. She found them bringing him out of prison and all his wounds were healed. She and all those who were with her marvelled. They all cried saying, "We believe in the God of Proconius." The Emperor ordered their heads cut off and they received the crown of martyrdom.  May their prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Amen
.
5th v. St. Dogfan Welsh martyr, descended from chieftain Brychan of Brecknock. He was slain by pagan invaders at Dyfed, Wales. A church there honors his memory.
5th v. SS. MAURA AND BRIGID solitaries at Ariacum (now Sainte-Maure), and had died in the fifth century, not long after St Martin. The relics were found, the chapel built, and a cultus begun in Touraine which still exists their feast is kept at Tours on January 28.
THERE is an old cultus of these maidens in Picardy, but scholars have found it impossible to give a satisfactory account of them from the sources available. According to these legends they were British princesses from Northumbria, who made a pilgrimage to Rome; on their way home through Gaul they were set upon by heathen outlaws or Frankish raiders and put to death at Balagny-sur-Thérain. Here they were buried and there arose a cultus of them as martyrs. In the middle of the seventh century St Bathildis, the queen of King Clovis II, who came from England and (especially as she was a slave-girl) may have been a Briton, attempted to translate their relics to her monastery at Chelles; she was prevented by divine intervention, and forced to leave them at Nogent-les-Vierges (Oise), where they were solemnly enshrined in 1285. St Louis IX had a great devotion to these saints and was a benefactor of their shrine and church, to which he made pilgrimage, and a cessation of the plague at Beauvais attributed to their intercession further endeared them to the people.
St Gregory of Tours relates of his predecessor, St Euphronius, that, having heard of a mysterious light seen over a bramble-covered hill and of a vision of two maidens asking for a chapel to be built on the hill because two holy virgins were buried there, he himself visited the spot, and it was revealed to him that the maidens were called Maura and Britta; they had been solitaries at Ariacum (now Sainte-Maure), and had died in the fifth century, not long after St Martin. The relics were found, the chapel built, and a cultus begun in Touraine which still exists their feast is kept at Tours on January 28. Because of the likeness in names and era attempts have been made to show them identical with the saints of Nogent.

See the Acta Sanctorum, January, vol. ii; Stanton, Menology, pp. 659—660 Renet, S. Lucien et les autres SS. du Beauvaisis (1895), vol. iii, pp. 573—579 Mémoires de la Soc. des Antiquaires de Picardie, vol. x, pp. 117—119.
505 ST EUGENIUS, BISHOP OF CARTHAGE “If the good shepherd must lay down his life for his sheep, can it be excusable for me to trouble about the passing needs of my body?”
THE Roman provinces in Africa were for a long time one of the richest and most noble portions of the empire, but when its rulers, to preserve Italy, abandoned its extremities, Genseric, King of the Vandals, in 428, passed into this country and in a short time became master of those fertile provinces. The Vandals, who were mostly Christians but infected with the Arian heresy, laid the country waste, plundered churches and monasteries, burned alive two bishops and tortured others to extort from them the treasures of their churches, razed the public buildings at Carthage, and banished St Quodvultdeus, bishop of that city, with many others.
   But for the brief episcopate of St Deogratias, the episcopal see of Carthage had remained vacant for fifty years, when in 481 Huneric, who had succeeded Genseric, permitted the Catholics on certain conditions to choose one who should fill it. The people pitched upon Eugenius, a citizen of the place, eminent for his learning, zeal, piety and prudence; and he became so dear to his flock that every one of them would have thought it a happiness to lay down his life for him. His charities to the distressed were very great, especially considering his poverty. But he always found resources for their necessities in the hearts of his people, and he refused himself everything that he might give all to the poor. When others reminded him that he ought to reserve something for his own necessities, his answer was, “If the good shepherd must lay down his life for his sheep, can it be excusable for me to trouble about the passing needs of my body?”
The influence of St Eugenius was so strong that the king became alarmed, and he ordered the bishop not to occupy his episcopal chair or to preach in public or to allow any Vandals into his churches. Eugenius replied that the law of God commanded him not to shut the door of a church against any who wished to enter it. Huneric then posted guards at the doors of the Catholic churches, who when they saw any man or woman going in recognizable as a Vandal by his clothes and long hair, used forked sticks which, twisted into the hair and violently drawn back, tore off hair and skin together. Some thus lost their eyes, others died, and women who had been scalped in this way were led through the streets as a warning to others. A fierce persecution was thus initiated.
Bishop Eugenius was spared in the first storm, and he was soon informed by Huneric that the orthodox Catholics were to meet in a conference with the Arian bishops at Carthage. Eugenius answered that the terms were not equal, seeing their enemies’ were to be judges; and that as it was the common cause of all churches, other churches ought to be invited and consulted, “especially the Church of Rome, which is the head of all churches. I will write to my fellow bishops, who will be able with me to show you our common faith.” It is said that about this time one Felix, who had been long blind, addressed himself to St Eugenius, desiring him to pray over him that he might recover his sight, saying he had been told in a vision so to do. The bishop showed great reluctance, but at length, after blessing the font for the administration of baptism on the eve of the Epiphany, he turned and said to the blind man, “I have told you that I am a sinner, and the least of all men; but I pray God that He show you mercy according to your faith, and restore to you your sight.” Then he made the sign of the cross on his eyes, and the blind man saw. Huneric sent for Felix, and examined the circumstances of the miracle, which he found too evident to be called in question; but the Arian bishops told him that Eugenius had performed it by magic.
     The conference, when it assembled in 484 to discuss the divisions between Catholics and Arians, was a farce; and Huneric took the opportunity of so many bishops assembled in Carthage to plunder them, and then deport them to forced labour. St Eugenius, after having long encouraged others to the conflict, was himself suddenly carried into exile, without being allowed to take leave of his friends. He found means, however, to write a letter to his flock, which St Gregory of Tours has preserved. In it he says: “I with tears beg, exhort and implore you, by the dreadful day of judgement and the aweful light of the coming of Christ, that you hold fast the Catholic faith. Keep the grace of baptism and the anointing of chrism. Let no man born again of water return to the water.” This he mentions, because the Arians in Africa, like the Donatists, rebaptized those that came over to their sect. St Eugenius protests to his flock that, if they remain constant, no distance nor death could separate him from them in spirit; but that he was innocent of the blood of those that should perish, and that this his letter would be read before the tribunal of Christ at the last day for the condemnation of apostates.  “If I return to Carthage” says he, “I shall see you in this life; if not, I shall meet you in the other. Pray for us, and fast; fasting and almsdeeds have never failed to move God to mercy. Above all things, remember that we are not to fear those who can only kill the body.”
St Eugenius was carried into the desert country in the province of Tripoli and committed to the care of Antony, an Arian bishop who treated him with barbarity. At this time apostates signalized themselves above others by the cruelties which they exercised upon the orthodox. Elpidophorus, one of this number, was appointed judge at Carthage; and St Muritta, the deacon who had assisted when he was baptized in the Catholic Church, being brought before him, took with him the white garment with which ‘he had clothed the apostate coming out of the font. Holding it up before the whole assembly, he said, “This robe will accuse you when the Judge shall appear in majesty at the last day. It will bear testimony against you to your condemnation.” This Muritta, with the archdeacon St Salutaris, is mentioned together with St Eugenius in the Roman Martyrology on this day.
King Huneric died in 484, and his nephew Gontamund who succeeded him recalled St Eugenius to Carthage in 488; some years later the orthodox churches were reopened and the other clergy allowed to return. But the next king, Thrasimund, was again a persecutor. He eventually condemned Eugenius to death; but he was reprieved and, banished to Languedoc, which was then subject to Alaric, King of the Visigoths, who was also an Arian. He died in exile in 505 in a monastery near Albi.
The principal authority is Victor of Vita, Historia persecutionis Vandalicae (the best edition is that of Petschenig in the Corpus ss. eccles. Lat., vol. vii) but the more relevant matter is reprinted in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. iii, together with a few passages from Gregory of Tours, etc. See also S. Mesnage, L’Afrique chrétienne (1912) Ludwig Schmidt, Geschicte der Vandalen (1901); Hefele-Leclercq, Conciles, vol. U, pp. 930-933 and Duchesne, Histoire ancienne de l’Église, vol. iii.
700 St Mildred, Abbess of Minster-In-Thanet, Virgin

Our forefathers had an extraordinary veneration for St Mildred, though the scanty records we have of her life give no due to the reason for this popular devotion. William of Malmesbury says that her remains, which were translated (or rather carried off by stratagem) in 1033 to St Augustine’s at Canterbury, were venerated above all the relics in that holy place. Furthermore, the rock which received St Augustine’s first footprints was known until comparatively recent times, not as his, but as St Mildred’s rock. She was the second daughter of Merewald, an Anglian ruler, and of St Ermenburga or Domneva, a Kentish princess, and she had two sisters, Milburga and Mildgytha, as well as a brother, who were also reckoned as saints.
Egbert, King of Kent, had caused two nephews to be secretly murdered in the Isle of Thanet. He was filled with compunction, and sending for their sister Ermenburga from western Mercia, he paid her the wergild, the penalty for murder which the law ordained should be paid to the relatives of the victim. In satisfaction for the crime he settled land on her, upon which she founded a monastery in which prayers should be continually offered for the souls of the two princes. The monastery was called Minster, in the Isle of Thanet, and Ermenburga at first took charge of it herself. As her daughter Mildred gave evidence of a vocation for the religious life, she sent her to the convent of Chelles in France to be educated. Here she was persecuted by the unwelcome attentions of a young nobleman, who sought to induce her to marry him. She stood firm and eventually returned to England and rejoined her mother. St Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, received her into the community. Soon St Ermenburga gave over her charge to her daughter, who appears to have been the first abbess of Minster, under which title she attended a council in Kent. Her aunt Ermengytha served God in the same house with such fervour that she was ranked among the saints and her tomb became a place of pilgrimage.
Of St Mildred’s life we are told that “she fasted often and was intensely humble. She was merciful to widows and orphans, and a comforter to all the poor and afflicted, and in all respects of easy temper and tranquil” She died of a lingering and painful illness probably towards the close of the seventh century, but the date is quite uncertain. During the reign of Canute her relics were taken, more or less forcibly, to St Augustine’s abbey at Canterbury, whence some portion of them later found their way to Deventer in Holland. Thence a small relic was sent in 1882 to the Catholic church at Minster, where her feast is observed as its titular saint. In 1937 Minster Court, on the site of the successor of St Mildred’s monastery, was occupied by Benedictine nuns from the ancient St Walburga’s abbey at Eichstätt, thus reviving monastic life there after a thousand years.
It is curious that Bede seems nowhere to mention St Mildred, but lives of her were written at a much later date by Goscelin, Thorn and Capgrave. See the Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. iii, and especially Stanton’s Menology, pp. 332—333. St Augustine’s Abbey, Ramsgate, publishes a useful pamphlet on St Mildred and her sisters.
750  St. Turiaf Bishop of Dol, in Brittany, France. He was the successor of St. Samson in that see and is also called Turiav.
794  Saint Stephen Sabbaites, nephew of St John of Damascus entered Lavra of St Sava at 10 spent his life there; given gifts of wonderworking and clairvoyance; healed the sick, cast out devils
Born in the year 725. The ten-year-old boy entered the Lavra of St Sava and spent his whole life at this monastery, sometimes going out into the desert for solitary ascetic deeds. The venerable Stephen was given the gifts of wonderworking and clairvoyance. He healed the sick, cast out devils, and discerned the thoughts of those coming to him for counsel. He died in the year 794, foretelling in advance the day of his death. The Life of the monk was compiled by his student Leontius.

Stephanus der Sabait  Orthodoxe Kirche: 13. Juli  Katholische Kirche: 31. März
Stephanus wurde 725 geboren. Mit 10 Jahren trat er in das Sabakloster ein, das er bis zu seinem Tod 794 nicht mehr verließ. Er zog sich zeitweise in die Einöde zurück und wurde mit den Gaben der Heilung, Teufelsaustreibung und Prophetie beschenkt.
Arno war von 855 bis 892 Bischof von Würzburg
Orthodoxe und Katholische Kirche: 13. Juli

Arno (Arndt) war von 855 bis 892 Bischof von Würzburg. Fränkische Siedler rückten auf der Suche nach neuem Land in sorbische Gebiete ein und siedelten hier. Es kam zu blutigen Auseinandersetzungen, in die auch Arno mit einem Heer eingriff. Arno unterlag im Sommer 892 in einer Schlacht am Sandberg den Sorben und wurde kurz darauf am 13.7.892 in seinem Feldlager von eingedrungenen Sorben ermordet. Ob die Bluttat während der Feier der Messe geschah, ist fraglich.
1024 St. Henry son of Duke of Bavaria and Gisella, daughter of Conrad, King of Burgundy; made numerous pious foundations, gave liberally to pious institutions and built the Cathedral of Bamberg
Heinrich II. Orthodoxe, Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 13. Juli

Born in 972. He received an excellent education under the care of St. Wolfgang, Bishop of Ratisbon. In 995, St. Henry succeeded his father as Duke of Bavaria, and in 1002, upon the death of his cousin, Otho III, he was elected emperor. Firmly anchored upon the great eternal truths, which the practice of meditation kept alive in his heart, he was not elated by this dignity and sought in all things, the greater glory of God. He was most watchful over the welfare of the Church and exerted his zeal for the maintenance of ecclesiastical discipline through the instrumentality of the Bishops.
He gained several victories over his enemies, both at home and abroad, but he used these with great moderation and clemency.
In 1014, he went to Rome and received the imperial crown at the hands of Pope Benedict VIII. On that occasion he confirmed the donation, made by his predecessors to the Pope, of the sovereignty of Rome and the exarchate of Ravenna. Circumstances several times drove the holy Emperor into war, from which he always came forth victorious. He led an army to the south of Italy against the Saracens and their allies, the Greeks, and drove them from the country. The humility and spirit of justice of the Saint were equal to his zeal for religion. He cast himself at the feet of Herebert, Bishop of Cologne, and begged his pardon for having treated him with coldness, on account of a misunderstanding.
He wished to abdicate and retire into a monastery, but yielded to the advice of the Abbot of Verdun, and retained his dignity. Both he and his wife, St. Cunegundes, lived in perpetual chastity, to which they had bound themselves by vow. The Saint made numerous pious foundations, gave liberally to pious institutions and built the Cathedral of Bamberg. His holy death occurred at the castle of Grone, near Halberstad, in 1024.  He is the patron saint of the childless, of Dukes, of the handicapped and those rejected by Religious Order.

Heinrich II. Orthodoxe, Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 13. Juli
Der Sohn des bayrischen Herzogs Heinrich wurde am 6.5.973 geboren. Seit 995 war er Herzog von Bayern. Als Otto III. 1002 in Italien starb, war er der einzige erwachsene Verwandte, der als Nachfolger in Frage kam. Er zog dem Leichenzug bis an die Alpen entgegen und nahm dort die kaiserlichen Insignien von Heribert entgegen. Er führte zahlreiche Kriege und reiste in Friedenszeiten durch die deutschen Lande, um nach dem Rechten zu sehen. Heinrich sah sein Kaisertum als christliches Amt und stütze sich in der Regierung auf die Bischöfe als in Gott verbundene Gemeinschaft. Gottesdienst und kirchliche Festzeiten waren ihm wichtiger als die Alltagsgeschäfte und er spielte auch mit dem Gedanken, abzutreten und Domherr zu werden. Seine Stiftungen ermöglichten den Ausbau vieler Kirchen. Heinrich starb am 13.7.1024. In dem Dom seiner Stiftung Bamberg ist er mit seiner Ehefrau begraben. Die berühmten Figuren des Kaiserpaares wurden von Riemenschneider geschaffen .

 July 13, 2008 St. Henry (972-1024)
   As German king and Holy Roman Emperor, Henry was a practical man of affairs. He was energetic in consolidating his rule. He crushed rebellions and feuds. On all sides he had to deal with drawn-out disputes so as to protect his frontiers. This involved him in a number of battles, especially in the south in Italy; he also helped Pope Benedict VIII quell disturbances in Rome. Always his ultimate purpose was to establish a stable peace in Europe.
   According to eleventh-century custom, Henry took advantage of his position and appointed as bishops men loyal to him. In his case, however, he avoided the pitfalls of this practice and actually fostered the reform of ecclesiastical and monastic life.

Comment:  All in all, this saint was a man of his times. From our standpoint, he may have been too quick to do battle and too ready to use power to accomplish reforms. But, granted such limitations, he shows that holiness is possible in a busy secular life. It is in doing our job that we become saints.

Quote: “We deem it opportune to remind our children of their duty to take an active part in public life and to contribute toward the attainment of the common good of the entire human family as well as to that of their own political community. They should endeavor, therefore, in the light of their Christian faith and led by love, to insure that the various institutions—whether economic, social, cultural or political in purpose—should be such as not to create obstacles, but rather to facilitate or render less arduous man’s perfecting of himself in both the natural order and the supernatural.... Every believer in this world of ours must be a spark of light, a center of love, a vivifying leaven amidst his fellow men. And he will be this all the more perfectly, the more closely he lives in communion with God in the intimacy of his own soul” (Blessed Pope John XXIII, Peace on Earth, 146, 164).

1033 Kunigunde Nachfolgers. 1025 zog sie sich in das von ihr 1017 gestiftete Kloster Kaufungen (bei Kassel) zurück und wurde Benediktinerin
Orthodoxe Kirche: 3. März  Katholische Kirche: 13. Juli (auch 3. März)  Evangelische Kirche: 13. Juli
Kunigunde (aus germanisch kunni=Sippe und gund=Kampf), Tochter aus einem armen bayrischen Grafengeschlecht, wurde 978 geboren. Auch als Ehefrau Heinrichs II. führte sie ein einfaches Leben und gab großmütig an Bedürftige, an Kirchen und Hospitäler. Sie begleitete ihren Ehemann auf seinen Reisen und bei Kriegszügen. Begab sich Heinrich auf weite Reisen, führte sie auch für ihn die Regierung. 1007 gründete sie mit ihrem Mann das Bistum Bamberg und ließ den Dom erbauen. Ihre Ehe blieb kinderlos und wurde deshalb später als gewollte Josefsehe angesehen. So erzählt eine bekannte Legende, Kunigunde sei über 12 glühende Pflugscharen gegangen, um so ihre Jungfräulichkeit zu beweisen. Nach dem Tod ihres Ehemannes führte Kunigunde die Reichsgeschäfte bis zur Wahl eines Nachfolgers. 1025 zog sie sich in das von ihr 1017 gestiftete Kloster Kaufungen (bei Kassel) zurück und wurde Benediktinerin. Hier starb sie am 3.3.1033. Schon Vor 1099 entstand ihre weitgehend legendarische Biographie. Ihre Gebeine wurden am 9.9.1201 in den Bamberger Dom übertragen. Kunigunde ist Patronin der Diözese Bamberg. Hier wird ihr Fest am 3.3. begangen. Die katholische und evangelische Kirche gedenken ihrer mit ihrem Ehemann Heinrich II. am 13.7.
1298 BD JAMES OF VORAGINE, ARCHBISHOP OF GENOA; author of Legenda Sanctorum, now everywhere known as Legenda Aurea, "The Golden Legend"
THIS James took his name from the village of Viraggio, now Varazze, near Genoa, where he was born about the year 1230. He entered the Order of Preachers at the age of fourteen, and after some years of the most devoted study and spiritual exercises began to preach in the churches of Lombardy and was soon famous for his power. He taught theology and Sacred Scripture in various houses of his order, became prior at Genoa, and in 1267 was elected prior provincial of the Lombard province. To be given this office when only thirty-seven years old gave rise to some adverse comment which he silenced by the prudence and ability with which he discharged it: so much so that he held it for an unbroken period of nineteen years, and when he laid it down was appointed definitor. On the death of Charles Bernard, Archbishop of Genoa, in 1286, the chapter wished Bd James to succeed to the see, but he refused. Two years later he was entrusted by Pope Nicholas IV with the duty of raising the interdict and removing the censures imposed on the same city for having helped the revolting Sicilians against the king of Naples. In 1292 the see again became vacant, again the chapter elected Bd James, and again he refused; but this time he was obliged to withdraw his refusal and he was consecrated at Rome.
   His episcopate of six years was troubled by continuous hostilities between Guelfs and Ghibellines, represented respectively by the rampini and the mascarati, and the new archbishop laboured without ceasing to bring about political and social peace; in this he did not succeed, for an apparent reconciliation in 1295 proved to be only a truce, and in the following year the feud broke out as badly as ever. Bd James did not forget his religious vow of poverty, and liberally bestowed the revenues of his great see on the needy and those suffering from civil strife, in the endowment of hospitals and monasteries, and for the repair of churches; he was a model to the bishops of northern Italy, some of whom adopted his measures to maintain the discipline. of their clergy.
But it is as a writer that James of Voragine is chiefly famous. One work attributed to him, the translation of the Bible into Italian, cannot by any means be proved; if he did it, every copy has perished. It is as the author of Legenda Sanctorum, now everywhere known as Legenda Aurea, "The Golden Legend", that his name is known and venerated; it is the most famous, and for the mind of the people the most influential, collection of legends or "lives" of the saints that has ever been put together. From the point of view of history it is entirely uncritical and worthless-except as a sidelight on the unsophistication and simple mentality of the folk for whom it was written. But as a book of devotion, of edification, it is a superb work of art: the author perfectly accomplished what he set out to do, to write a book which people would read and whose message of love for God and hatred for sin they could not misunderstand; but for the Reformation, Caxton's beautiful translation might have had the same effect on English thought and writing as the Jacobean Bible and the Imitation of Christ have had, or as other versions had in other countries. It is illustrative of the narrowness of historical Humanism when contrasted with the true scientific spirit that, whereas Luis Vives, Melchior Cano and others roundly condemned the Legenda Aurea, the Bollandists have shown a nice appreciation of it.
Father Delehaye says: For a long time the Golden Legend, which is so accurately representative of the hagiographic labours of the middle ages, was treated with supreme disdain, and scholars showed no mercy towards the worthy James of Voragine. "The man who wrote the Legend", declared Luis Vives, "had a mouth of iron and a heart of lead."
It would in fact be hard to speak of it too severely if it were conceded that popular works are to be judged according to the standards of historical criticism. But people are beginning to realize that this is an injudicious method, and those who have penetrated into the spirit of the Golden Legend are very far from referring to it in scornful terms.
I confess that, when reading it, it is somewhat difficult at times to refrain from a smile. But it is a sympathetic and tolerant smile, and in no way disturbs the religious emotion excited by the picture of the virtues and heroic actions of the saints.
In this picture God's friends are represented for us as what is greatest on earth; they are human creatures lifted up above matter and above the miseries of our little world. Kings and princes honour and consult them, mingling with the people in order to kiss their relics and implore their protection. They live, even here on earth, in God's intimacy, and God bestows upon them, with His consolations, something also of His power; but they only make use of it for the good of mankind, and it is to them that men have recourse in order to be delivered from sufferings both of body and soul. The saints practice all the virtues in a superhuman degree; gentleness, mercy, the forgiveness of injuries, mortification, renunciation, and they render these virtues lovable, and they urge Christians to practise them. Their life is, in truth, the concrete realization of the spirit of the Gospel, and from the very fact that it brings home to us this sublime ideal, legend, like all poetry, can claim a higher degree of truth than history itself" (The Legends of the Saints, cap. vii, pp. 229-231).
The book was exceedingly popular and widely distributed in the middle ages, and in 1470 the first printed edition of the original Latin was published at Basle; within ten years printed versions had appeared in Low German, Italian, French and Czech. Caxton made the first edition printed in English at Westminster in 1483. No other book was reprinted more often between 1470 and 1530; by 1500 there were over seventy editions in Latin, fourteen in Low German, eight in Italian, five in French and three each in English and Czech-it was indeed the first printed best-seller. The cultus of Bd James began at once after his death in 1298 and was confirmed in 1816.
For a devotional account of the incidents of the life of Bd James, the illustrated biography by M. de Waresquiel, Le B. Jacques de Voragine (1902), may be recommended. Most other books and essays deal predominantly with the literary side of his career. Among these may be mentioned the two articles of E. C. Richardson in the Princeton Theological Review, 1903 and 1904; P. Butler, Legenda aurea, Légende dorée, Golden Legend (1899); and the article in DTC. For a fuller bibliography see Taurisano, Catalogus hagiographicus O.P. On E. C. Richardson's Materials for a Life of Jacopo da Varagine (1935), see Analecta Bollandiana, vol. liv (1936), pp. 440-442. Several modernized versions of Caxton's Golden Legend have been published in recent times, and a new translation appeared in New York (2 vols.) in 1941.
1610 St. Francis Solano Franciscan Observance priest; survived the plague of 1583 at Granada; in Peru refused to leave shipwrecked slaves baptized them and most survived; 20 years of untiring ministry among Indians and Spanish colonists;. he had the "gift of tongues", for miracles he was called "wonder-worker of the New World"; died at moment of consecration, saying with last breath, "Glory be to God"
ST FRANCIS SOLANO     (A.D. 1610)
THIS saint was born at Montilla in Andalusia in 1549, did his studies in the school of the Jesuits, and in 1569 joined the Franciscan Observants at his birthplace. He was duly professed and in 1576 ordained priest. Full of zeal and charity and an ardent desire for the salvation of souls, he divided his time between silent retirement and the ministry of preaching. His sermons, though without the ornaments of studied eloquence, had a great effect in reforming his hearers. The saint was appointed master of novices, and when his charges were at fault he gave a penance not to them but to himself, for if they transgressed, he said, the blame must be his.
Francis exercised his ministry in southern Spain for many years and heroically during the plague of 1583 at Granada, when he himself was struck down but made a quick recovery. After the epidemic was passed he asked to be sent as a missionary into Africa; this was refused, but when in 1589 King Philip II wanted more friars of the Observance in the West Indies, Francis was selected to go with Father Balthazar Navarro to Peru. The missionaries sailed to Panama, crossed the isthmus, and again took ship on the other side. But in approaching Peru they ran into a bad storm and were driven aground on a sandbank. The ship looked as if she were going to pieces, and the master ordered that she be abandoned, leaving aboard her a number of Negro slaves for whom there was no room in the single lifeboat. Francis had these men under instruction and he now refused to leave them, so he remained behind on the ship, which was breaking up. He gathered them around him, encouraged them to trust in the mercy of God and the merits of Jesus Christ, and then baptized them. This he had scarcely done when the vessel parted amidships, and some of the Negroes were drowned. The remainder were on the part of the hull that was firmly aground, and there they remained for three days, Francis keeping up their courage and rigging signals of distress. When the weather broke the ship's boat returned and took them off to join the others in a place of safety, whence they eventually were conveyed to Lima.
Now began twenty years of untiring ministry among the Indians and Spanish colonists. First of all Francis was sent to Tucuman, in the north of what is now the Argentine Republic; he set himself to learn the Indian languages and dialects, and from thence went on a missionary journey through the Chaco to Paraguay, where in after years were to be the famous “reductions" of the Society of Jesus. In these days it is difficult to realize what such a journey meant in those; this friar not only did it, but made numerous converts as well. After a time he was made custos of the houses of his order in Tucuman and Paraguay, and so was able to supervise the missions he had planted, but when his term in that office was ended he was appointed guardian of the Lima friary. Here there was plenty of work of another kind for him to do among the Peruvian Spaniards of that port, of Trujillo, and other towns. In 1604 his preaching in the public square against the corruptions of Lima and his comparison of the fate of a sinful soul to that of a doomed city had so powerful an effect on the people that their consciences caused them to fear an impending calamity like to that of Ninive, and a panic threatened. The viceroy was alarmed and consulted St Turibius, archbishop of the city, who with the Franciscan commissary general required of St Francis that he should calm the people, who had already had examples of his gift of prophecy, by declaring his true meaning, which was not to foretell a material destruction of buildings but a spiritual loss of souls.
It is said that St Francis had the gift of tongues, and for his miracles he was called the “Wonder-worker of the New World"; in his funeral sermon Father Sebastiani, S.J., said that God had chosen him to be "the hope and edification of all Peru. the example and glory of Lima, the splendour of the Seraphic order".
A habit of his, very reminiscent of his religious father and namesake, was to take a lute and sing to our Lady before her altar. He died on July 14, 1610, while his brethren were singing the conventual Mass, at the moment of consecration, saying with his last breath, "Glory be to God". His whole life, says Alvarez de Paz, was a holy uninterrupted course of zealous action, yet at the same time a continued prayer. St Francis Solano was canonized in 1726.
There is a very full account of this great missionary in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v, which includes a reprint of the life by Tiburtio Navarro, together with a number of documents submitted in the process of beatification. A still more copious life by Fray Diego de Cordova appeared twenty years after the saint's death. There are modem biographies in most languages: a translation of the short sketch by F. Courtot was included in the Oratorian series in 1847, an English life appeared in New York in 1888, and a German one by O. Maas in 1938. Some of these, notably that of A. M. Hiral in French (1906), are devotional rather than critical. There is a sketch by J. Wilbois in the series “Profils franciscains" (1942). The saint's feast is observed on differing dates; he is named in the Roman Martyrology on the day of his death, July 14.
Born at Montilla in Andalusia in 1549, did his studies in the school of the Jesuits, and in 1569, joined the Franciscan Observance at his birth place. He was duly professed and in 1576 ordained priest. Full of zeal and charity and an ardent desire for the salvation of souls, he divided his time between silent retirement and the ministry of preaching.
   Francis exercised his ministry in southern Spain for many years and heroically during the plague of 1583 at Granada, when he himself was struck down but made a quick recovery. After the epidemic was passed, Francis was selected to go with Father Balthazar Navarro to Peru. The missionaries to Panama, crossed the Isthmus, and again took ship on the other side. But approaching Peru, they ran into a bad storm and were driven aground on a sand bank. The ship looked as if she were going to pieces, and the master ordered that she be abandoned, leaving aboard her, a number of negro slaves for whom there was no room in the single lifeboat. Francis had these men under instruction and he now refused to leave them, so he remained behind on the ship, which was breaking up. He gathered them around him, encouraged them to trust in the mercy of God and the merits of Jesus Christ, and then baptized them. This he had scarcely done when the vessel parted amidships and some of the negroes were drowned. The remainder were on the part of the hull that was firmly aground and there they remained for three days, Francis keeping up their courage and rigging signals of distress. When the weather broke, the ship's boat returned and took them off to join the others in a place of safety, where they eventually were conveyed to Lima, Peru.
   Now began twenty years of untiring ministry among the Indians and Spanish colonists. It is said that St. Francis had the "gift of tongues", and for his miracles he was called the "wonder-worker of the New World"; in his funeral sermon Father Sabastiani, S.J., said that God had chosen him to be "the hope and edification of all Peru, the example and glory of Lima, the splendor of the Seraphic order". A habit of his, very reminiscent of his religious father and namesake, was to take a lute and sing to Our Lady before her altar. He died on July 14, 1610, while his brethren was singing the conventual Mass, at the moment of consecration, saying with his last breath, "Glory be to God". His whole life, says Alvarez de Paz, was a holy uninterrupted course of zealous action, yet at the same time, a continued prayer. St. Francis Solano was canonized in 1726
.
1616 Bl. Thomas Tunstal English martyr priesthood at Douai; six years in confinement joined Benedictines there until finally murdered
BD THOMAS TUNSTAL, MARTYR (A.D. 1616)
THOMAS TUNSTAL was born at Whinfell, near Kendal. He entered the English College at Douay in 1606, was ordained priest, and sent on the mission in 1610. He was arrested almost at once and spent the rest of his life in various prisons. He contrived to escape from Wisbech Castle by sliding down a rope, and took refuge with a friend near King's Lynn; but he was immediately discovered, under the following circumstances. In sliding down the rope he had very badly skinned his hands, and for lack of attention the raw places had gone septic. His host recommended him to consult a certain kindly woman, who did many medical services for the poor, and this he did. Lady L'Estrange, for that was her name, cleaned and dressed his hands, not without some curiosity as to who the poorly dressed but well-bred stranger might be; unfortunately she did not keep her curiosity to herself but mentioned the man to her husband, Sir Hammond L'Estrange. He was a justice of the peace and knew that there was hue and cry for a priest escaped from Wisbech, and when he heard that the injured man was staying in the house of a recusant he at once ordered his arrest, in spite of the entreaties of his wife to forget what she had said.
Bd Thomas was committed to Norwich gaol, and brought up at the next assizes in that city, when he was condemned on the evidence of a single false witness, one Symons. This fellow swore that the prisoner had reconciled two Protestants and tried to do the same with himself. The alleged converts were called and deposed that they were still Protestants, but that Mr Tunstal had urged them in general terms to holiness of life. Mr Justice Altham offered the oath of supremacy, which Bd Thomas refused, asking, however, that he might have opportunity to expose his faith and reasons before a minister. The request was disregarded and sentence pronounced. At the scaffold the next morning he was met by Sir Hammond L'Estrange, whom he heartily forgave, saying, "I beseech God that my guiltless blood may not lie heavy upon you and yours". When he was asked if he were a Jesuit he replied that he was not, but a secular priest who had made a vow to join the Order of St Benedict, and he therefore asked the sheriff that his head might be set up on St Benet's gate. He answered a nagging question from a minister about whether he expected salvation from his good works, called for a glass of water, and enquired the hour; when told eleven o'clock, he said, "Then it is near dinner-time. Sweet Jesus, admit me though most unworthy to be a guest this day at thy table in Heaven." He quietly blessed the fire and the rope, and with the prayer, " Jesu, have mercy on me!” upon his lips, he was turned off; he was left to hang till he was dead and his head was displayed on St Benet's gate of Norwich as he had wished.
The account of Bd Thomas given in Challoner, MMP., is not quite satisfactory owing to some confusion into which he was betrayed by Raissius, but the difficulties have been cleared up and all the available evidence collected in the account published by Dom Bede Camm under the title of Nine Martyr Monks (1931), pp. 238-257. But there is still some uncertainty about the day of the month on which he suffered.
   Born in Whinfell, near Kendal, Westmoreland, he studied for the priesthood at Douai, France, and was ordained there in 1609. The next year he returned to England but was arrested almost immediately upon his arrival. Escaping, Thomas was recaptured and taken to Norwich where he spent six years in confinement until finally being hanged, drawn, and quartered.
 While in prison, he joined the Benedictine Order.
1620 The Transfer of the Relics of the Monk Antonii of Leokhovo (1620). (The account about the saint is located under 17 October).
1920 St. Teresa de los Andes Discalced Carmelite mystic;  first Chilean to be beatified or canonized; a model for young people
She was baptized Juanita Fernandez Solar, born in Santiago, Chile. on July 13.1900. Devoted to Christ from a very young age, she entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery at Los Andes. on May 7, 1919. There she was given the religious name of Teresa of Jesus. She died on April 12, of the following year, having made her religious profession as a Carmelite. A model for young people, Teresa was beatified in 1987 in Santiago, Chile, and canonized by Pope John Paul II March 21, 1993
.


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 174

Hear my prayer, O Lady, when I beseech thee: from the fear of the cruel one deliver my soul.

Obtain for us peace and salvation: in the last day.

Blessed be thou above all women: and blessed be the fruit of thy womb.

Enlighten, O Lady, mine eyes: and illumine my blindness.

Give me firm confidence in thee: in my life and in mine end.


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
Miracles 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000  
 
1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To Save A Life is Earthly; Saving A Soul is Eternal Donation by mail, please send check or money order to:
Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210  USA
  Catholic Television Network  Supported entirely by donations from viewers  help  spread the Eternal Word, online Here
Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

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

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

The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;
  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and 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 Pasqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China
Marian shrines
May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related
Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, PSALTER  BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 174 2023