Commemoration of Archangel Michael the perpetual intercessor of the human race before God the Pantocrator
On this day, the church celebrates the commemoration of the honorable Archangel Michael, the perpetual intercessor of the human race before God the Pantocrator. "Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; ... that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world;" (Revelation 12:7-9) and crushed his power over the Christians. May his intercession be with us. Amen.

St. Abba Hour El-Siriakousy Martyrdom of
On this day also, St. Abba Hour, was martyred. He was born in Siriakous to a father, who was an iron worker. He wished to become a martyr, so he went to El-Farma where he confessed the Lord Christ before its Governor. He tortured him much but the Lord comforted him and healed his wounds. The Governor was amazed when he saw that. That governor, his wife and his children believed in the Lord Christ. They became martyrs by the hands of another governor, who also kept on torturing the Saint Abba Hour. When he became weary of torturing him, he sent him to Ansena, where he was squeezed by the wheel, crucified head down, and burned by fire. Finally they cut off his head, and he received the crown of martyrdom. May his prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.

1st v. St. Epagaphras Bishop and martyr, called “the most beloved fellow servant” of Paul (Col. 1:7) (Col. 4:12 and Philemon 23). Tradition states that he served in Colossae, where he was martyred Colóssis, in Phrygia, natális sancti Epaphræ, quem sanctus Paulus Apóstolus concaptívum appéllat.
Hic, ab eódem Apóstolo Colóssis Epíscopus ordinátus, ibídem, clarus virtútibus, martyrii palmam, pro óvibus sibi commendátis, viríli agóne percépit; cujus corpus Romæ, in Basílica sanctæ Maríæ Majóris, cónditum est.
At Colossae in Phrygia, the birthday of St. Epaphras, whom the apostle St. Paul calls his fellow-prisoner. By the same apostle he was consecrated bishop of Colossae, where, becoming renowned for his virtues, he received the palm of martyrdom for defending courageously the flock committed to his charge. His body lies at Rome in the basilica of St. Mary Major.
Epaphras BM (RM) 1st century. Epaphras was a companion of Saint Paul, who speaks of him (Col. 1:7) as the "most beloved fellow servant." There is a tradition that he was bishop of Colossae and that he was martyred there. But beyond what we read in the New Testament (Col. 4:12 and Philemon 23), we know nothing of his life (Benedictines, Encyclopedia) .

St. Felix of Verona A bishop of Verona, Saint Felix has been venerated there as a saint from time immemorial

Verónæ sancti Felícis Epíscopi. At Verona, St. Felix, bishop.

Bishop and martyr, also called Felicimus. Felix (Felicinus) of Verona B (RM) A bishop of Verona, Saint Felix has been venerated there as a saint from time immemorial (Benedictines)

210 Martin of Trèves the tenth bishop of Trier (Trèves), Germany, as the records show BM (RM)

Tréviris sancti Martíni, Epíscopi et Mártyris. At Treves, St. Martin, bishop and martyr.

Saint Martin was the tenth bishop of Trier (Trèves), Germany, as the records show. But there is no conclusive evidence of his martyrdom (Benedictines).

287 St. Justa and St. Rufina Virgins and Martyrs martyrs were two Christian women at Seville in Spain who maintained themselves by selling earthenware
Híspali, in Hispánia, pássio sanctárum Vírginum Justæ et Rufínæ, quæ, a Præside Diogeniáno comprehénsæ, primo equúlei extensióne et ungulárum laniatióne vexátæ, póstea cárcere, inédia et váriis torsiónibus sunt afflíctæ; tandem Justa in cárcere spíritum exhalávit, Rufínæ vero cervix, in confessióne Dómini, confracta est.
At Seville in Spain, the martyrdom of the holy virgins Justa and Rufina. Arrested by the governor Diogenian, they were stretched on the rack and lacerated with iron claws, then imprisoned and subjected to starvation and various tortures. Justa died in prison, but Rufina's neck was broken for the confession of the Lord.
These martyrs were two Christian women at Seville in Spain who maintained themselves by selling earthenware, suffered in 287 during the Aurelian persecution. Their place of burial was at the ninth milestone of the Via Cornelia, as is stated in the Berne manuscript of the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum" (ed. De Rossi-Duchesne, 89). Not to concur in idolatrous superstitions, they refused to sell vessels for the use of heathen ceremonies and when the worshipers broke up their stock-in-trade, Justa and Rufina retorted by overthrowing the image of a false goddess. Whereupon the people impeached them for their faith before the governor. The prefect, after they had boldly confessed Christ, commanded them to be stretched on the rack and their sides to be torn with hooks. An idol was placed near the rack with incense, that if they would offer sacrifice they should be released; but their fidelity was not to be shaken. Justa died on the rack; the judge ordered Rufina to be strangled, and their bodies to be burned. They are greatly venerated in Spain, and no doubt their names represent historical martyrs in that place. But their Acts are unreliable and one of the martyrs appears to have undergone a change of sex in the course of the ages, for Justa was originally called Justus.

Justa (Justus) and Rufina VV MM (RM) Born in Seville, Spain; died there in 287. Two sisters of Seville who made and sold earthenware pots to support themselves and many of the poor. They were martyred under Diocletian, after all their goods were broken, because they refused to sell their wares for use in pagan sacrifices. After boldly confessing Christ, the sisters were stretched on the rack and their sides torn with iron hooks. When Justa (Justus in early manuscripts) died on the rack, the judge ordered Rufina strangled and both bodies burned. The two are highly honored in the Mozarabic Liturgy (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth). SS. Justa and Rufina are sometimes shown individually in art and at other times are pictured together with earthenware pots, holding palms. The may be represented with bowls and platters, or with books on which are two lumps of potter's clay (Roeder). They are patrons of Seville and of potters (Roeder).

See the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. iv; Florez, Espana Sagrada, vol. ix, pp. 338-343 Gains, Kirchengeschichte v. Spanien, vol. i, pp. 284-288.

379 St. Macrina the Younger; Gregory of Nyssa found her sick with a raging fever and used her discussion of eternal life as the basis of his treatise De anima et resurrectione (On the soul and the resurrection)
In Cappadócia sanctæ Macrínæ Vírginis, fíliæ sanctórum Basilíi et Emméliæ, atque soróris item sanctórum Episcopórum Basilíi Magni, Gregórii Nysséni et Petri Sebastiénsis.
In Cappadocia, St. Macrina, virgin. She was the daughter of Saints Basil and Emmelia, and the sister of the holy bishops, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and St. Peter of Sebaste.

Orthodoxe, Katholische und Anglikanische Kirche: 19. Juli
MACRINA was the eldest of ten children of St Basil the Elder and St Emmelia, and was born at Caesarea in Cappadocia about the year 330. She was brought up with particular care by her mother, who both taught her to read and exercised vigilance over how she used that accomplishment: the Wisdom of Solomon and the Psalms of David were her constant companions. Nor were household duties and the spinning and weaving of wool neglected.   At twelve years old she was betrothed, but after the sudden death of the young man she refused all other suitors, and was a great assistant to her mother in educating her younger brothers and sisters.
   St Basil the Great, St Peter of Sebastea, St Gregory of Nyssa and the rest learned from her contempt of the world, dread of its dangers, and application to prayer and the word of God; Basil, in particular, we are told, came back from the schools a very conceited young man, and his sister taught him humility; while to Peter, the youngest, she was "father, teacher, guide, mother, giver of good advice ", for his father died just as he was born. Basil the younger then established his mother and Macrina on an estate by the river Iris in Pontus, and there they were joined by other women in an ascetic communal life.
After the death of St Emmelia, Macrina disposed of all that was left of their estate in favour of the poor, and lived on what she earned by the labour of her hands. Her brother Basil died in the beginning of the year 379, and she herself fell ill nine months after.
St Gregory of Nyssa, making her a visit after eight years' absence, found her sick, lying on two boards for her bed. He was exceedingly comforted by her cheerfulness and encouragement, and impressed by the fervour of love with which she prepared herself for death.   She died very happily at the hour of the lighting of lamps. Such was her poverty that nothing was found to cover her body when it was carried to the grave but her old hood and coarse veil; St Gregory therefore provided a special linen robe. Araxius, bishop of the place, and St Gregory, with two priests, themselves carried the bier in the funeral procession, choirs singing psalms all the way to the place of burial; but the press of the crowd and lamentations of the people, especially of some of the women, much disturbed the solemnity of the chant.
An account of the life of St Macrina, with details of her conversation, death and burial, have been left us by St Gregory himself in the form of a dialogue on the soul and resurrection, and of a panegyric on his sister addressed to the monk Olympius.

    In the last of these he speaks of two miracles, the one when his sister was cured of a growth at the sign of the cross made by her mother; the other, when Macnina herself healed the diseased eye of the small daughter of a military officer. He adds: "I do not think it expedient to add to my story all the similar things that we heard from those who lived with her and knew her intimately. Though they seem incredible, they are all believed to be true by those who have carefully investigated them.    But they are judged by the carnally-minded to be outside the possible...And so, lest the unbeliever should suffer hurt by being led to disbelieve the gifts of God, I have abstained from a consecutive narrative of these sublime marvels..." The which observation discloses another aspect of the meaning of the saying that it takes a saint to write the life of a saint.

We know little or nothing of St Macrina except what may be gathered from the memoir written by her brother, St Gregory of Nyssa. The Greek text will be found in his works a Latin translation is given in the Acta Sanctorum July, vol. iv, and there is an English translation by W. K. Lowther Clarke (1916). The feast of St Macrina is kept in the Byzantine rite.

Born about 330; died 379 eldest child of Basil and Elder Emmelia, the granddaugher of St. Macrina the Elder, and the sister of the Cappadocian Fathers, Sts. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa. The last-mentioned has left us a biography of his sister in the form of a panegyric ("Vita Macrinae Junioris" in PG XLVI, 960 sq.). She received an excellent intellectual training, though one based more on the study of the Holy Bible than on that of profane literature. When she was but twelve years old, her father had already arranged a marriage for her with a young advocate of excellent family. Soon afterwards, however, her affianced husband died suddenly, and Macrina resolved to devote herself to a life of perpetual virginity and the pursuit of Christian perfection. She exercised great influence over the religious training of her younger brothers, especially St. Peter, afterwards Bishop of Sebaste, and through her St. Gregory received the greatest intellectual stimulation. On the death of their father, Basil took her, with their mother, to a family estate on the River Iris, in Pontus. Here, with their servants and other companions, they led a life of retirement, consecrating themselves to God. Strict asceticism, zealous meditation on the truths of Christanity, and prayer were the chief concerns of this community. Not only the brothers of St. Macrina but also St. Gregory of Nazianzus and Eustathius of Sebaste were associated with this pious circle and were there stimulated to make still further advances towards Christian perfection. After the death her mother Emmelia, Macrina became the head of this community, in which the fruit of the earnest christian life matured so gloriously. On his return from a synod of Antioch, towards the end of 379, Gregory of Nyssa visited his deeply venerated sister, and found her grievously ill. In pious discourse the brother and sister spoke of the life beyond and of the meeting in heaven. Soon afterwards Macrina passed blissfully to her reward. Gregory composed a "Dialogue on the Soul and Resurrection" (peri psyches kai anastaseos), treating of his pious discourse with his dying sister. In this, Macrina appears as teacher, and treats of the soul, death, the resurrection, and the restoration of all things. Hence the title of the work, ta Makrinia (P.G. XLVI, 12 sq.). Her feast is celebrated on 19 July.

Macrina the Younger V (RM) Born at Caesarea, Cappadocia, c. 327; died in Pontus, December 379. Macrina grew up surrounded by holy people. Her paternal grandmother was Macrina the Elder and for siblings she had SS. Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, and Peter of Sebastea. All four were among the ten children of SS. Basil and Emmelia. Macrina was well educated by her mother, who used the Biblical Books of Wisdom for reading practice, rather than the then popular classical poems. This gave Macrina a great familiarity with Scripture. Emmelia also taught her spinning and weaving and the management of a household. She was betrothed at age 12 to a young lawyer, but when her fiancé died suddenly , the beautiful young girl decided to dedicate her life to God by her devotion to her family.
As the eldest child, she exercised a strong influence over her younger brothers. When, as most young boys, they displayed inflated egos about their intellectual accomplishments, she deflated them with affectionate, but pointed, jibes. In particular, Gregory tells us that Basil returned from the university at Athens "puffed up beyond measure with the pride of oratory . . . excelling in his own estimation all the local dignitaries." Macrina taught him humility so well that he renounced his property in order to become a monk.
To her youngest brother, Peter, she was "father, teacher, guide, mother, giver of good advice," for Basil the Elder had died just as he was born. Her example encouraged them to seek perfection and to love God above all things. She did a good job, it appears: Basil, Gregory, and Peter became bishops and leading defenders of orthodoxy against the Arian heresy. Another handsome brother, Naucratius, became a hermit and supported the poor by going on fishing expeditions. He died tragically while still young. At that time Macrina had to be her mother's strength.
On the death of her father (c. 370), mother and daughter voluntarily adopted the standard of living of their servants. Within a short time, they retired to the family estate at Annesi on the Iris River in Pontus and lived a life of prayer and contemplation in an ascetical community they formed there for which Macrina wrote a rule. She often brought home and cared for poor and hungry women. Eventually, many of them joined the community, as did many women of their own social class. At some point, Macrina developed a painful cancer, which was healed to a black spot upon Emmelia's making the Sign of the Cross over it.
Macrina led the group from the time of her mother's death until her own. She sold all that was left of their estate, gave the money to the poor and lived, as did the other nuns, on what could be earned by the labor of her hands. This community became the inspiration for her brother Basil's founding of Eastern monasticism, whose rule is followed in various forms by all monks in the Eastern Church.

Basil died at the beginning of 379, and Macrina fell ill just nine months later. Gregory of Nyssa, visiting her after an eight-year absence due to having been exiled from his see, found her sick with a raging fever, very weak, lying on a bed of two boards. He was comforted by her cheerfulness and encouragement, and impressed by the fervent love with which she prepared herself for death. So impressed, in fact, that he used her discussion of eternal life as the basis of his treatise De anima et resurrectione (On the soul and the resurrection). She died happily at Vespers following her last almost inaudible prayer:

"You have freed us from the fear of death. You have made the end of this life the beginning of true life. . . . One day You will take again what You have given, transfiguring with grace and immortality our mortal and unsightly remains. . . . May my soul be received into Your hands, spotless and undefiled, as an offering before You."

Her poverty was so acute that nothing could be found to cover her body when it was carried to the grave but her old hood and coarse veil; therefore, Gregory provided a linen episcopal cloak. She did wear around her neck an iron cross and a ring. Gregory gave the cross to a nun named Vestiana and kept for himself the ring, containing a bit of the True Cross.
Bishop Araxius, Saint Gregory, and two priests themselves carried the bier in the funeral procession, choirs singing Psalms all the way to the place of burial at the Church of the Forty Martyrs; but the press of the crowd and lamentations of the people, especially of some of the women, much disturbed the solemnity of the chant. Macrina was laid in the same vault as her mother.
Accounts of her life and conversation were written by her brother Gregory, who was with her when she died (Attwater, Benedictines, Clarke, Delaney, Farmer, Husenbeth, Kiefer, Walsh).

Makrina
Orthodoxe, Katholische und Anglikanische Kirche: 19. Juli

Makrina Die Schwester von Basilius dem Großen, Gregor von Nyssa und Petrus von Sebaste wurde um 327 geboren. Sie war die Älteste von 10 Kindern. Nachdem ihr Verlobter vor der Eheschließung verstarb, gelobte sie Ehelosigkeit. Sie erzog nach dem Tod ihres Vaters die jüngeren Kinder und zog sich dann mit ihrer Mutter Emmelia (Emilia - Gedenktag 1.1.) und anderen Frauen auf einen Familienbesitz zurück. Hier gründete sie 352 eines der ersten Frauenklöster. Makrina starb 380. Ihr Bruder Gregor von Nyssa, der Makrina die Lehrerin seines Lebens nannte, schrieb ihre Lebensgeschichte.

Saint Macrina was the sister of the holy hierarchs Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, and was born in Cappadocia at the beginning of the fourth century. Her mother, Emilia, saw an angel in a dream, naming her unborn child Thekla, in honor of the holy Protomartyr Thekla. St Emilia (January 1) fulfilled the will of God and named her daughter Thekla. Another daughter was named Macrina, in honor of a grandmother, who suffered during the time of persecution under the emperor Maximian Galerius.
Besides Macrina, family there were nine other children. St Emila herself guided the upbringing and education of her elder daughter. She taught her reading and writing in the Scriptural books and Psalms of David, selecting examples from the sacred books which spoke of a pious and God-pleasing life. St Emilia taught her daughter to pray and to attend church services. Macrina was also taught the proper knowledge of domestic governance and various handicrafts. She was never left idle and did not participate in childish games or amusements.
When Macrina grew up, her parents betrothed her to a certain pious youth, but the bridegroom soon died. Many young men sought marriage with her, but Macrina refused them all, having chosen the life of a virgin and not wanting to be unfaithful to the memory of her dead fiancé. St Macrina lived in the home of her parents, helping them fulfill the household tasks as an overseer together with the servants, and she helped with the upbringing of her younger brothers and sisters. After the death of her father she became the chief support for the family.
When all the children grew up and left the parental home, St Macrina convinced her mother, St Emilia, to leave the world, to set their slaves free, and to settle in a women's monastery. Several of their servants followed their example. Having taken monastic vows, they lived together as one family, they prayed together, they worked together, they possessed everything in common, and in this manner of life nothing distinguished one from another.
After the death of her mother, St Macrina guided the sisters of the monastery. She enjoyed the deep respect of all who knew her. Strictness towards herself and temperance in everything were characteristic of the saint all her life. She slept on boards and had no possessions. St Macrina was granted the gift of wonderworking. There was an instance (told by the sisters of the monastery to St Gregory of Nyssa after the death of St Macrina), when she healed a girl of an eye-affliction. Through the prayers of the saint, there was no shortage of wheat at her monastery in times of famine.

St Macrina died in the year 380, after a final prayer of thanks to the Lord for having received His blessings over all the course of her life. She was buried in the same grave with her parents.

430 Saint Dius; his flesh was humbled by vigil and unceasing prayer. For these deeds the Lord granted St Dius dispassion and the gift of wonderworking; a vision, the Lord ordered St Dius to go to Constantinople and there to serve both Him and the people; The Lord worked many other miracles through His saint
   Born in Antioch, Syria towards the end of the fourth century into a pious Christian family. From his youth he was noted for his temperance. He ate food in small quantities, but not every day, and his flesh was humbled by vigil and unceasing prayer. For these deeds the Lord granted St Dius dispassion and the gift of wonderworking.

    In a vision, the Lord ordered St Dius to go to Constantinople and there to serve both Him and the people. St Dius settled beyond the city in a solitary place, where people feared to live. St Dius bravely contended with the evil spirits which tried to expel him from this place. The Lord heard the prayer of His saint: his staff took root, began to grow and with time was transformed into an immense oak, which stood for a long time even after the death of St Dius.
The surrounding inhabitants began to come to the saint for advice and guidance, and they sought healing from illnesses of body and soul. St Dius doctored the infirm with prayer, and whatever was offered him he distributed to the poor, the homeless and the sick.
     Reports of St Dius reached even the emperor Theodosius the Younger. He came to St Dius for a blessing together with Patriarch Atticus of Constantinople (406-425). The emperor wanted a monastery to be built on the place of St Dius' efforts, and he provided the means for its construction. The Patriarch ordained the monk as a priest and made him the igumen. Soon numerous monastic brethren gathered to St Dius. The monastery was in need of a well, and they dug for a long time without success. Through the prayers of the monk the Lord brought forth a spring of pure water, which soon filled up the entire well. Once, through his prayers, the monk raised up a drowned man. The Lord worked many other miracles through His saint.
   In extreme old age St Dius became grievously ill. He took his leave of the brethren, received the Holy Mysteries, and lay upon his cot like one dead. At the monastery His Holiness Patriarch Atticus (Comm. on Cheesefare Saturday) came for the funeral service and also Patriarch Alexander of Alexandria, who was then at Constantinople. The holy Elder unexpectedly rose up from his death bed and said, "The Lord has granted me fifteen more years of life." Great was the joy of the brethren.
St Dius did live another fifteen years, helping all with guidance and counsel, healing the sick, and being concerned for the poor and homeless. Shortly before his death, a radiant man in priestly garb appeared to him in the altar of the church and told him of his impending death. Having given thanks to the Lord for this news, St Dius quietly died and was buried in his monastery (about the year 430).

450 St. Arsenius the Great, Hermit 395 he abandoned the court and joined the monks in Alexandria, Egypt. On the death of Theodosius (c. 400), saddened and sickened by his pupils' weakness of character and quarrels--for which he felt some responsibility as their former teacher, he became a desert monk in the Wadi Natrun (Skete). There he was tutored in the eremitical customs by Saint John the Dwarf
Apud Scetim, Ægypti montem, sancti Arsénii, Románæ Ecclésiæ Diáconi; qui, Theodósii témpore, in solitúdinem secéssit, ibíque, virtútibus ómnibus consummátus et jugi lacrimárum imbre perfúsus, spíritum Deo réddidit.
At Scete, a mountain in Egypt, St. Arsenius, a deacon of the Roman Church. In the time of Theodosius he retired into a desert where, endowed with every virtue and shedding continual tears, he yielded his soul unto God.. (RM)

St. Arsenius the Great

When the Emperor Theodosius the Great wanted a man to whom he might entrust the education of his children Pope St Damasus recommended Arsenius, a man of senatorial rank learned in both sacred and profane knowledge.
He accordingly went to Constantinople and was appointed to the post by Theodosius who, coming once to see Arcadius and Honorius at their studies, found them sitting whilst Arsenius talked to them standing: At once he caused Arsenius to sit and ordered them to listen to him standing. But neither then nor in after-life were the two augusti any credit either to such a father or such a tutor; added to this Arsenius had always a great inclination to a retired life. When therefore after over ten years at the court he seemed clearly to hear the voice of God saying,

"Flee the company of men and you shall be saved",

He left Constantinople and came by sea to Alexandria. After the death of Theodosius the monks with whom he lived taunted him as "Father of the Emperors" ; but the careers of his two pupils and his failure to make decent men of them was the last thing he wanted to be reminded of, and he fled into the wilderness. *

* Of Arcadius Gibbon wrote, "The bold satirist, who has indulged his discontent by the partial and passionate censure of the Christian emperors, violates the dignity rather than the truth of history by comparing the son of Theodosius to one of those harmless and simple animals who scarcely feel that they are the property of their shepherd."

Saints Arsenius_John_Climacus_John_Damascene

When he first presented himself to the superiors of the monks of Skete they recommended him to the care of St John the Dwarf who, when the rest in the evening sat down to take their meal, took his place among them and left Arsenius standing in the middle without taking notice of him.
Such a reception was a severe trial to an ex-courtier; but was followed by another much rougher, for St John took a loaf of bread and threw it on the ground before him, bidding him with an air of indifference to eat if he would. Arsenius cheerfully sat on the ground and took his meal. St John was so satisfied with his behaviour that he required no further trial for his admission, and said to his brethren, "This man will make a monk ".
Arsenius at first used thoughtlessly to do certain things which he had done in the world, which seemed to his new companions to savour of levity or lack of physical recollection, as, for instance, to sit cross-legged. The seniors were unwilling through the respect they bore him to tell him of this in public, so one agreed with another that he should put himself in that posture, and then be rebuked for his immodesty; nor did the other offer any excuse. Arsenius saw that the reproof was meant for him, and corrected himself of that trick.

He employed himself in making mats of palm-tree leaves; and he never changed the water in which he moistened the leaves, but only poured in fresh water upon it as it wasted. When some asked him why he did not cast away the filthy water, he ansewered, "I ought to be punished by this smell for the self-indulgence with which I formerly used perfumes ". He lived in the most utter poverty, so that in an illness, having need for a small sum to procure him some little necessaries, he was obliged to beg for it. The sickness continued so long that the priest of this desert of Skete carried him to his apartment and laid him on a bed made of the skins of beasts, with a pillow under his head: but this was considered pampering by some of the hermits.

One of the emperor's officers, at another time, brought him the will of a senator, his relation, who was lately dead, and had left him his heir. The saint took the will and would have torn it to pieces, but the officer begged him not to, saying such an accident would get him into trouble. Arsenius, however, refused the estate, saying, " I died before him and cannot be made his heir ".

Though no one knew his fasts, they must have been great, for the measure of corn sent him for the year was very small, yet he managed not only to make it suffice for himself, but also to give some to others.

Arsenius often passed the whole night in watching and prayer, and on Saturdays it was his custom to go to prayers at sunset and continue with his hands lifted up to Heaven till the sun beat on his face the next morning. He had two disciples who lived near him. Their names were Alexander and Zoilus: he afterwards admitted a third called Daniel. All three were famous for their sanctity and frequent mention is made of them in the histories of the fathers of the deserts of Egypt. St Arsenius would seldom see strangers who came to visit him, but Theophilus, Archbishop of Alexandria, came one day in company with others to visit him, and begged he would speak on some subject for the good of their souls. The saint asked them whether they were disposed to comply with his directions; and being answered in the affirmative, he replied,"I entreat you then that, whenever you are informed of Arsenius's abode, you would leave him to himself and spare yourselves the trouble of coming after him".

He never visited his brethren, contenting himself with meeting them at spiritual conferences. The abbot Mark asked him one day why he so much shunned their company. The saint answered, "God knows how dearly I love you all; but I find I cannot be both with God and with men at the same time ; nor can I think of leaving God to converse with men. This disposition, however, did not hinder him from giving spiritual instruction to his brethren, and several of his sayings are recorded. He said often, " I have always something to repent of after having talked, but have never been sorry for having been silent"; and he had frequently in his mouth those words which St Euthymius and St Bernard used also to repeat to themselves to renew their fervour,

"Arsenius, why have you forsaken the world, and wherefore are you come hither?"

Being asked one day why he, being so well educated, sought the instruction and advice of a certain monk who was an utter stranger to all literature, he replied, I am not unacquainted with the learning of the Greeks and Romans; but I have not yet learned the alphabet of the science of the saints, whereof this seemingly ignorant person is master".

Evagrius of Pontus who, after he had distinguished himself at Constantinople by his learning, had retired into the desert of Nitria in 385, expressed surprise that many learned men made no progress in virtue, whilst many Egyptians, who did not even know the letters of the alphabet, arrived at a high degree of contemplation. Arsenius answered,

"We make no progress because we dwell in that exterior learning which puffs up the mind;
but these illiterate Egyptians have a true sense of their own weakness, blindness, and insufficiency;
and by that very thing they are qualified to labour successfully in the pursuit of virtue".

Nothing is so much spoken of by ancient writers about Arsenius as his gift of tears, weeping both over his own shortcomings and those of the world, particularly the feebleness of Arcadius and the foolishness of Honorius.

   St Arsenius was tall and comely but stooped a little in his old age; he had a graceful carriage and a certain shining beauty and air of both majesty and meekness; his hair was all white, and his beard reached down to his girdle, but the tears which he shed continually had worn away his eye-lashes.
   He was forty years old when he quitted the court, and he lived in the same austere manner from that time to the age of about ninety-five; he spent forty years in the desert of Skete, till a raid of barbarians compelled him to forsake this abode about the year 434. He retired to the rock of Troe, over against Memphis, and ten years after to the island of Canopus, near Alexandria; but not being able to bear the neighbourhood of that city, he returned to Troë, where he died.
    His brethren, seeing him weep in his last hours, said to him, "Father, why do you weep? Are you, like others, afraid to die?" The saint answered," I am very afraid-nor has this dread ever forsaken me from the time I first came into these deserts ".

Notwithstanding his fear, St Arsenius died in great peace, full of faith and of that humble confidence which perfect charity Spires, about the year 449 or 450. He is named in the canon of the Armenian Mass.

The Bollandists have published, with a translation, the Greek life written by Theodore Studites. A better text, unknown to them, was edited in 1920 by P. Nissen in the Byzant. Neugriech, Jahrbuch, pp. 241-262. See also the commentary in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. iv, and DCB., vol. i, pp. 172-174.

(Also known as Arsenius the Roman or Arsenius the Deacon) Born probably in Rome c. 354; d. near Memphis, Egypt, c. 450.

"I know a great deal of Greek and Latin learning. I have still to learn even the alphabet of how to be a saint." --Saint Arsenius

Legend has it that, c. 383, Pope Saint Damasus recommended the erudite Arsenius to Emperor Theodosius the Great, who summoned the Roman deacon of senatorial rank to Constantinople and appointed him tutor of his sons, Arcadius and Honorius. He was rewarded with money and servants, honor and possessions. Supposedly after a decade of luxury and influence, he kept hearing the voice of God telling him that only by abandoning it all could he be saved.

Nevertheless, modern hagiographers doubt that Arsenius was a deacon or had served as a tutor in Constantinople.

It is verified that about 395 he abandoned the court and joined the monks in Alexandria, Egypt. On the death of Theodosius (c. 400), saddened and sickened by his pupils' weakness of character and quarrels--for which he felt some responsibility as their former teacher, he became a desert monk in the Wadi Natrun (Skete). There he was tutored in the eremitical customs by Saint John the Dwarf. Initially suspicious of his dedication, Saint John tested Arsenius's humility by throwing his bread upon the floor. When Arsenius ate it, undismayed, Saint John became convinced of his devotion.
He lived in the greatest austerity, refusing the legacy left him by a relative who was a senator, preferring the solitary life to a life of luxury. He said, "I died before he did" and tore the will in two.
Forced to leave Skete about 434 because of the barbarian raids, he spent the next 10 years on the rock (Petra) of Troë in Memphis and some time on the island of Canopus near Alexandria, before dying at Troë.
He became known for his sanctity, and he shunned the company of others. His disciples included Alexander, Zoilus, and Daniel. He felt learning was unimportant and could even be a hindrance in a relationship with God. To an educated Roman who expressed puzzlement at the high degree of contemplation achieved by uneducated Egyptians, he responded,

"We make no progress because we dwell in the exterior learning which puffs up the mind;
but these illiterate Egyptians have a true sense of their own weakness, blindness, and insufficiency."

The simple maxims for which he was known and the doings recorded of him are characteristic of the desert fathers, marked by strict self-discipline and shrewdness about human nature. He constantly repeated:

"I have always something to repent having spoken, but never for having held my tongue."

   Arsenius feared damnation because of his former self-centered ways. He had learned in a hard school, and expected others to do the same, and he seems to have been more than usually averse to the company of his fellow men. But he was not wanting in compassion, and sometimes modified his brusqueness.
   Ancient writers emphasize the Arsenius had the 'gift of tears' in a surprising degree--his handkerchief (sudarium) was always handy--and his self-depreciation sometimes seems excessive. He continually shed tears for his feebleness and the shortcomings of others, especially Honorius--so many tears that he was said to have worn away his eyelashes. He felt a lifelong guilt for the weakness of Arcadius and Honorius.
   He died at Troë and left a fellow monk all his earthly possessions: a skin coat, palm leaves woven into sandals, and a goat-skin shirt. The life of Arsenius was written by Saint Theodore the Studite, but this was too long after to be very reliable. Forty-four written maxims and moral anecdotes are attributed to Saint Arsenius (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, White)
In art he is shown weaving baskets of palm leaves, which was a common occupation of the desert monks (White). Take a look at these of Arsenius: 16-century Greek icon and a Russian icon of him with Saints John Climacus and John Damascene.

514 Symmachus a holy and able pope. He helped the African bishops exiled to Sardinia by the Arian Thrasimund, founded three hospices, aided the victims of the barbarian raids in northern Italy, and helped ransom captives. His generosity to the poor led to the well-deserved bestowal of the title "father of the poor" Pope (RM)
Romæ sancti Symmachi Papæ, qui, a schismaticórum factióne diútius fatigátus, demum, sanctitáte conspícuus, migrávit ad Dóminum.

    At Rome, Pope St. Symmachus, who for a long time had much to bear, from a faction of schismatics. At last, distinguished by holiness, he went to God.
According to the Liber Pontificalis, this pope was the son of one Fortunatus, and a native of Sardinia. He was baptized at Rome, became archdeacon of the Roman church under Pope Anastasius II, and succeeded him in the Holy See in 498.   But there was a minority of the clergy with Byzantine sympathies, and they, on the same day that Symmachus was elected at the Lateran, met at Santa Maria Maggiore and elected one Laurence, the archpriest of St Praxedes; they were helped with money by Festus, a senator who had been gained by Anastasius, emperor at Constantinople and later a protector of the monophysites, to endeavour to procure papal confirmation of the Henotikon of Zeno, an imperial document condemned by the Holy See. Both claimants appealed to Theodoric, the Gothic king at Ravenna (he was an Arian), who decided in favour of Symmachus as the lawful pope because he had been elected first and by the greater number; he also gave him a testimonial that he " loved the clergy and the poor, and was good, prudent, kindly and gracious". But this far from ended the troubles, which disturbed all the first half of the pontificate.
The name of St Symmachus does not figure in the earlier martyrologies, and little is known of him personally. When the Arian Thrasimund banished many African bishops to Sardinia, Symmachus sent them clothes and money for themselves and their flocks; there is still extant a letter which he sent to comfort them, accompanied by some relics of martyrs.
    He established three hospices for the poor, sent relief to those suffering from barbarian raids in northern Italy, and redeemed many captives.   He decorated and restored several churches in Rome, and built a new basilica of St Andrew, one of St Pancras outside the walls, and one of St Agnes on the Aurelian Way. According to custom inscriptions were made on the various works; in one the thankful pope refers to the end of the troubles with Laurence: "The biting of the wolves has ceased."
   Pope St Symmachus died on July 19, 514, and was buried in St Peter's.

This saint's life is a matter of general church history, and may be found in fuller detail in such works as Hefele-Leclercq, Conciles, vol. ii, pp. 957-973, and 1349-1372 Grisar, History of Rome and the Popes, etc., and cf. Duchesne's L'Eglise au VI' siècle (1925), pp. 113-130. See also the Liber Pontificalis (Duchesne), vol. i, pp. cxxxiii seq., 4446 and 260-263. The pope's letters are in Thiel, Epp. Rom. Pont.

Born on Sardinia; Symmachus was the son of Fortunatus. He was baptized in Rome, where he became archdeacon of the Church under Pope Anastasius II, whom he succeeded on November 22, 498. That same day the archpriest of Saint Praxedes, Laurence, was elected pope by a dissenting faction with Byzantine leanings. Laurence was supported by Emperor Anastasius, but Gothic King Theodoric ruled against him and in favor of Symmachus.
In 501, the pro-Byzantine group, led by Senator Festus, accused Symmachus of various crimes, but the pope refused to appear before the king to answer the charges, asserting that the secular ruler had no jurisdiction over him. A synod called by Theodoric exonerated Symmachus, whereupon Theodoric installed Laurence in the Lateran as pope. The schism continued for four years when Theodoric ended it by withdrawing his support of Laurence.
Symmachus was a holy and able pope. He helped the African bishops exiled to Sardinia by the Arian Thrasimund, founded three hospices, aided the victims of the barbarian raids in northern Italy, and helped ransom captives. His generosity to the poor led to the well-deserved bestowal of the title "father of the poor" (Benedictines, Delaney).

Pope St. Symmachus (498-514) From the Catholic Encyclopedia
Date of birth unknown; d. 19, July, 514. According to the "Liber pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 260) he was a native of Sardinia and his father was named Fortunatus. Symmachus was baptized at Rome (Thiel, "Epist. pont. rom.", I, 702), entered the ranks of the clergy of Rome, and was ordained deacon. Directly after the death of Pope Anastasius II, Symmachus was elected his successor by a majority of the Roman clergy at the Lateran Basilica on 22 November, 498. The election was approved by a part of the Roman senate and he was at once consecrated Bishop of Rome. Later on the same day a minority of the clergy who were friendly to the Byzantines and were supported by a party in the Senate met in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and elected the Roman archpresbyter Laurentius as antipope. According to Theodorus Lector (P.G., LXXXVI, 193), the Laurentian party was aided with money supplied chiefly by the rich Senator Festus, who hoped that Laurentius would be influenced by this to sign the "Henotikon", the edict of faith of the Emperor Zeno. The other authorities do not speak of such motives, which are very probable, and the testimony of Theodorus can very readily be accepted. Both parties, however, agreed that the two candidates should appear at Ravenna before the Gothic king Theodoric, the ruler of Italy, and abide by his decision. Theodoric pronouncing in favour of Symmachus on the ground that he was elected first and by the majority of the clergy, Laurentius submitted to the decision. At a synod held at Rome on 1 March, 499, the Acts of which have been preserved, Symmachus, who was now universally acknowledged, bestowed on Laurentius the Diocese of Nocera in Campania. The synod ordained that any Roman cleric who sought to gain votes for a successor to the papacy during the lifetime of the pope, or who called conferences and held consultations for that purpose, should be deposed. King Theodoric was given a vote of thanks by acclamation for his unpartizan decision. When the king came to Rome in the following year he had a brilliant reception both from the pope and the people. However, the Byzantine party, headed by the two senators Festus and Probinus, did not abandon its hostility and hope of overthrowing the pope and gaining the papal see for Laurentius. The opportunity occurred in the following year, 501.

Pope Symmachus celebrated Easter on 25 March, following the old Roman cycle, while the Byzantines and others observed the feast on 22 April, according to a new reckoning. The Laurentian party appealed to King Theodoric against the pope, making other accusations besides this digression in the celebration of Easter. Theodoric summoned the pope and Symmachus set out to meet him. At Rimini Symmachus learned the contents of the indictment and, refusing to acknowledge the king as his judge, returned home. The opposing party now accused him of squandering the property of the Church and other matters. It gained in strength and occupied the Lateran palace, so that the pope was obliged to live near the Church of St. Peter outside the city walls. His opponents requested the king to call a synod for the investigation of the accusations and to appoint a visitor for Rome. Symmachus agreed to the calling of a synod, but he and his adherents protested against the sending of a visitor. Theodoric, however, sent as visitor Bishop Peter of Altinum in upper Italy, who was to administer the Roman Church in the place of the accused pope. Peter came to Rome and, contrary to the commands of king, allowed himself to be won over by the adherents of Laurentius, so that Theodoric at a later date dismissed him. Not long after Easter, between May and July, 502, the synod met in the basilica of Julius (Santa Maria in Trastevere). The pope declared before the synod that it had been called with his consent and that he was ready to answer the accusations before it, if the visitor were removed and he were re-established as the administrator of the Church. To this the majority of the bishops agreed and sent an embassy to the king to demand the execution of these conditions.

Theodoric, however, refused, and demanded, first of all, an investigation of the accusations against the pope. A second session of the synod was held, therefore, on 1 September, 502, in the Sessorian basilica (Santa Croce in Gerusalemme), and the minority had the indictment made by the Laurentian party read aloud. Symmachus desired to go from St. Peter's to the synod in order to defend himself, but on the way there he was attacked by his opponents and maltreated, and, escaping only with great difficulty, returned to St. Peter's; several priests who were with him were killed or severely wounded. The Goths sent by Theodoric promised him a reliable escort but the pope now refused to appear before the synod, although invited three times. Consequently the assembled bishops declared at the third session, held about the middle of September, they could not pass judgment upon the pope, because he had appeared twice before his judges, and because there was no precedent showing that an occupant of the Roman See had been subjected to the judgment of other bishops. They called upon the opposing clergy to submit to the pope, and requested the king to permit the bishops to return to their dioceses. All these steps were in vain; the majority of the clergy and people sided indeed with Symmachus, but a minority of the clergy and a majority of the Senators were at that time partizans of Laurentius. A fourth session, therefore, was held on 23 October, 502, called the "Synodus Palmaris" (Palmary synod) either from the place where it was held (ad Palmata, Palma), or because it was the most important session (palmaris). At this session it was decided that on account of the reasons given earlier the decision must be left to the judgment of God; Symmachus was to be regarded as free from all the crimes of which he was accused, and therefore entitled to the full exercise of his episcopal office; the whole property of the church was to be transferred to him; whoever returned to his obedience should escape punishment, but whoever undertook ecclesiastical functions at Rome without papal permission was to be regarded as a schismatic. The decision was signed by seventy-five bishops, among them the bishops of Milan and Ravenna. Many bishops now returned to their dioceses. The majority, however, met with the Roman priests in St. Peter's for a fifth session under the presidency of Symmachus on 6 November, 502. The edict issued by the prefect Basilius, in 483, regulating the administration of the possessions of the Church was declared invalid and Symmachus issued a new edict respecting the administration of this property, and especially in regard to its sale.

King Theodoric, not satisfied with the decision of the synod, although the great majority of the Italian episcopate was on the side of the rightful pope, did nothing to carry out the new ordinances. Consequently the opposition called its candidate Laurentius again to Rome. He resided in the Lateran palace, which was in the hands of his adherents, while Symmachus retained the house of the bishop (episcopium) near St. Peter's. The division continued for four years, during which both parties carried on a furious quarrel at Rome. Laurentius had his portrait added to the series of popes in the Church of Saint Paul Without the Walls. However, certain prominent persons exerted their influence in favour of Symmachus, as Bishop Avitus of Vienne, who, at the request of the Gallican bishops, addressed an urgent letter to the Senate on behalf of the rightful pope and for the restoration of unity. Symmachus gradually won over a number of adherents of the opposition. The greatest factor in the healing of the schism was the interposition of Deacon Dioscurus of Alexandria, who had come to Rome. He was commissioned by Symmachus to go to Theodoric, and won the king over to the side of the rightful pope. Apparently political motives were involved, as the king wished to take action against the Laurentian party, which inclined to Constantinople. He commanded Senator Festus, the head of the hostile party, to return all Roman churches to Symmachus. Laurentius having lost many adherents among the senators the king's command was executed without difficulty. The antipope, obliged to leave Rome, retired to a farm belonging to his protector Festus. Only a small party still held to Laurentius and refused to recognize Symmachus as Bishop of Rome; but it was insignificant and was reconciled later to Hormisdas, the successor of Symmachus. During the schism a number of polemical writings appeared, as from the party of Laurentius the treatise "Contra Synodum absolutionis incongruae", to which Deacon Ennodius replied in "Libellus adversus eos qui contra Synodum scribere praseumpserunt" ("Mon. Germ. Hist.: Auct. ant.", VII, 48 sq.). While the author of the life of Symmachus in the completely preserved text of the "Liber pontificalis" is very favourable to the pope, the writer of another continuation of the papal biographies supports the cause of Laurentius ("Fragment Laurentine", ed. Duchesne in "Liber pontificalis", I, 44-46). During the dispute the adherents of Symmachus drew up four apocryphal writings called the "Symmachian Forgeries"; these were: "Gesta synodi Sinuessanae de Marcellino"; "Constitutum Silvestri", "Gesta Liberii"; "Gesta de purgatione Xysti et Polychronii accusatione". These four works are to be found in Coustant, "Epist. rom. pontif." (Paris, 1721), appendix, 29 sq.; cf. Duchesne, "Liber pontificalis", I, introduction, CXXXIII sq.: "Histoire littéraire des apocryphes symmachiens". The object of these forgeries was to produce alleged instances from earlier times to support the whole procedure of the adherents of Symmachus, and, in particular, the position that the Roman bishop could not be judged by any court composed of other bishops. Still these forgeries are not the first documents to maintain this latter tenet.

Symmachus zealously defended the supporters of orthodoxy during the disorders of the Acacian schism.
He defends, although without success, the opponents of the "Henotikon" in a letter to Emperor Anastasius I (491-518). At a later date many of the persecuted oriental bishops addressed themselves to the pope to whom they sent a confession of faith. Shortly after 506 the emperor sent him a letter full of invectives, to which the pope sent a firm answer, maintaining forcibly the rights and liberty of the Church (Thiel, "Epist. rom. pont.", I, 700 sq.). In a letter of 8 October, 512, addressed to the bishops of Illyria, the pope warned the clergy of that province not to hold communion with heretics. Soon after the beginning of his pontificate Symmachus interposed in the quarrel between the Archbishops of Arles and Vienne as to the boundaries of their respective territories. He annulled the edict issued by Anastasius II in favour of the Archbishop of Vienne and later (6 November, 513) confirmed the metropolitan rights of archbishop Caesarius of Arles, as these had been fixed by Leo I. Moreover, he granted Caesarius the privilege of wearing the pallium, the first-known instance of such a grant by the Holy See to a bishop outside of Italy. In a letter of 11 June, 514, he appointed Caesarius to represent the interests of the Church both in Gaul and Spain, to hold synods of the bishops in certain cases, to give letters of recommendation to clergy who journeyed to Rome. More important matters were to be laid before the Holy See. In the city of Rome, according to the "Liber pontificalis", the pope took severe measures against the Manichaeans, ordered the burning of their books, and expelled them from the city. He erected or restored and adorned various churches. Thus he built a Church of St. Andrew near St. Peter's, a Basilica of St. Agnes on the Via Aurelia, adorned the Church of St. Peter's, completely rebuilt the Basilica of Sts. Sylvester and Martinus, and made improvements over the Catacomb of the Jordani on the Via Salaria. He built episcopal houses (episcopia) to the right and left of the parvis of St. Peter's. These buildings were evidently connected with the residence of the pope for several years near St. Peter's during the disorders of the Laurentian schism. He also built asylums for the poor near the three churches of St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Laurence that were outside the city walls. The pope contributed large sums for the support of the Catholic bishops of Africa who were persecuted by the rulers of the Arian Vandals. He also aided the inhabitants of the provinces of upper Italy who suffered so sorely from the invasion of the barbarians. After his death he was buried at St. Peter's. Symmachus is venerated in the Roman Church as a saint.

Liber pontificalis, ed. DUCHESNE, I, 260-268; JAFFE, Regesta pont. rom. (2nd ed.), I, 96 sq.; THIEL, Epist. rom. pontif., 639 sq.; Acta synodorum Romae habit. a. 499, 501, 502 in Mon. Germ. Hist.: Auct. ant., XII, 393 sq.; GRISAR, Gesch. Roms under der Papste, I, 460 sqq.; LANGEN, Gesch. der römischen Kirche, II, 219 sqq.; HEFELE, Hist. of the Councils of the Church, tr. CLARK, IV (Edinburgh, 1895), 49 sqq., 58-75; STOBER, Quallenstudien zum laurentianischen Schisma in Sitzungsber. der Wiener Akademie, CXII (1886), 269 sqq.; MAASSEN, Gesch. der Quellen des Kirchenrechtes, I, 411 sqq.; PFEILSCHIFTER, Theoderich der Grosse in Weltgeschichte in Karakterbildern (Mainz, 1910), 44 sqq.; HARTMANN, Gesch. Italiens im Mittellter, I (Leipzig, 1897), 142 sqq.

778 St. Ambrose Aut-pert Benedictine monk and tutor of Charlemagne; monk there and, eventually, abbot. He was an able exegete and his works were considered as authoritative as those written by the greatest Latin Fathers.

In fact, though not in title, his is one of the Doctors of the Church

This St Ambrose was a distinguished official at the court of King Pepin the Short. Being sent as the king's envoy into Italy, he had occasion to visit the Benedictine monastery of St Vincent, on the Volturno in the duchy of Benevento, and was so impressed by the spirit and observance of the monks that he received the habit there, and proceeded to profession and ordination. He was a successful preacher and some of his sermons are extant; he led a holy and uneventful life, devoted to his writings, which were very greatly esteemed in the middle ages: so much so that his treatise on the conflict between the virtues and the vices was attributed to the St Ambrose, to St Augustine, to St Leo IX and to St Isidore of Seville in turn. He also wrote lives of the saints and a commentary on the Apocalypse. Of these works Dom Morin writes: "His learning and manner of writing make Ambrose a remarkable phenomenon, and rather a puzzle; one asks oneself where and how he was able to acquire such a formation, in his time and among such surroundings."
His talents did not lack admiration and appreciation: Charlemagne consulted him (Ambrose had been at one time his tutor) and Pope Stephen IV befriended him; nor was he without love and honour in his own monastery, for about the year 776, the abbacy becoming vacant, the Frankish element among the monks elected him. But unhappily a Lombard clique opposed to Ambrose as their choice a certain Potho; the trouble reached Rome, and Pope Adrian I summoned the rivals to appear before him. On the journey St Ambrose Autpert died. He was buried in St Peter's, but his relicé were translated about the year 1044 to the abbey he had ruled for so short a time.

There is a short Latin life which has been printed by Muratori, Mabillon, etc., and which will be found also in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. iv. See especially G. Morin, Revue Bénédictine, vol. xxvii (1910), pp. 204-212, and Morin, Études, Textes, Découvertes (1913), pp. 23, 488, .494, 498, 506. See also J. Winandy, Ambroise Autpert, moine théologien (1953)

An official in the court of King Pepin the Short of the Franks, Ambrose entered the Benedictine Monastery of St. Vincent in Benevento, Italy. He became the friend and tutor of Emperor Charlemagne and was known for his theological treatises and his commentaries on the lives of the saints. In 778, Ambrose was elected the abbot of St. Vincent's, but was opposed by another. Summoned to Rome by Pope Adrian I in order to settle the matter, Ambrose died on the way.
Ambrose Autpert(us), OSB Abbot (AC) Born in Gual; Saint Ambrose tutored Charlemagne at the court of Pepin the Short. He went to Italy as the king's envoy and visited the Benedictine abbey of Saint Vincent on the Volturno River in the duchy of Benevento. Immediately, he became a monk there and, eventually, abbot. He was an able exegete and his works were considered as authoritative as those written by the greatest Latin Fathers. In fact, though not in title, his is one of the Doctors of the Church (Benedictines).
St. Ambrose Aut-pert

787 Jerome of Pavia Bishop of Pavia, Italy, from 778 to 787 (Benedictines). (AC)

856 St. Aurea Sister of SS. Aldolphus and John, who were martyred at Cordova, Saint Aurea was the daughter of a Moorish father and a Christian mother. Aurea became a Christian and a nun at Cuteclara
Córdubæ, in Hispánia, sanctæ Aureæ Vírginis, beatórum Adúlfi et Joánnis Mártyrum soróris; quæ aliquándo in apostasíæ crimen a Mahumetáno Júdice indúcta est, sed mox, facti pænitens, iteráto certámine, hostem effúso sánguine superávit.
At Cordova in Spain, St. Aura, virgin, the sister of the holy martyrs Adulphus and John. A Mohammedan judge had persuaded her to apostatize for a while, but quickly repenting of what she had done, in the second trial overcame the enemy by the shedding of her blood.
Martyr of Spain. Aurea was born in Cordoba, Spain. She was widowed there and became a Christian. Entering a convent at Cuteclara, she was denounced by her family to the Moorish authorities. Aurea was beheaded. Aurea (Aura) of Cordova, Widow M (RM) Born at Cordova, Spain. Sister of SS. Aldolphus and John, who were martyred at Cordova, Saint Aurea was the daughter of a Moorish father and a Christian mother. Aurea became a Christian and a nun at Cuteclara. At some point she is said to have abjured her faith, but then, filled with remorse, repented, and was herself martyred by beheading after her own family denounced her Christianity (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

1079 Blessed Bernard of Rodez close friend of Saints Gregory VII, Hugh of Cluny, and William of Hirschau. He promoted the Cluniac reform with great zeal. Bernard was made a cardinal and, in 1077, legate to Germany., OSB Card. (AC)
(also known as Bernard of Ruthenis) Abbot Bernard of Saint Victor in Marseilles (from 1064) was a close friend of Saints Gregory VII, Hugh of Cluny, and William of Hirschau. He promoted the Cluniac reform with great zeal. Bernard was made a cardinal and, in 1077, legate to Germany. Then in 1078, he was sent as legate to Spain (Benedictines).

1141 Blessed Stilla of Abenberg; engaging herself in the relief of all unfortunates; reports of a number of miracles; daughter of Count Wolfgang II of Abenberg and sister to Archbishop Conrad I of Salzburg, found Saint Peter's Church in Abenberg (near Nuremburg) V (AC)
Cultus confirmed in 1927. Stilla, daughter of Count Wolfgang II of Abenberg and sister to Archbishop Conrad I of Salzburg, found Saint Peter's Church in Abenberg (near Nuremburg). She was buried therein and venerated as a saint (Benedictines).

Blessed Stilla was born at Abenberg, near Nuremberg, towards the end of the eleventh century, of the family of the counts of Abenberg, which gave many priests, bishops and holy men to the Church. Stilla had built at her own expense, on a hill adjoining her home, a church which was consecrated and dedicated in honour of St Peter in 1136; she visited this church every day, and therein, in the presence of St Otto, Bishop of Bamberg, she took a vow of virginity. She lived the life of a nun within her father's household, engaging herself in the relief of all unfortunates, and she hoped in time to build a monastery wherein she might end her days. But death overtook her first. Her brothers wanted to bury her at Heilsbronn, but the two horses drawing the funeral car could not pull it in that direction, turning always towards the church of St Peter, where therefore they buried her. The tomb became a place of pilgrimage, and in 1897 the bishop of Eichstatt was able to establish that the veneration of Stilla had gone on since before 1534. This cultus was confinned in 1927.

A short account of Bd Stilla, with reports of a number of miracles, will be found in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. iv. The decree confirming cultus and containing a summary of her life is printed in Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. xix (1927), pp. 140-142

1191 Stephen of Lupo Benedictine monk of San Liberatore di Majella, and afterwards abbot-founder of Saint Peter's Abbey at Vallebona near Manopello, Italy, OSB Abbot (AC)
Saint Stephen was a Benedictine monk of San Liberatore di Majella, and afterwards abbot-founder of Saint Peter's Abbey at Vallebona near Manopello, Italy. He is said to have been befriended by a wolf; hence his nickname of "del lupo" (Benedictines).

1270 Roman Olegovich of Ryazan The Holy martyred Prince was from a line of princes, who during the time of the Tatar (Mongol) Yoke won glory as defenders of the Christian Faith and of their Fatherland. Both his grandfathers perished for the Fatherland in the struggle with Batu.

Raised to love the holy faith (the prince lived in tears and prayers) and his homeland, the prince with all his strength concerned himself about his devastated and oppressed subjects. He defended them from the coercion and plundering of the Khan's "baskaki" ("tax-collectors"). The "baskaki" hated the saint and they slandered him before the Tatar Khan Mengu-Timur.

Roman Olegovich was summoned to the Horde, where Khan Mengu-Timur declared that he had to choose one of two things: either a martyr's death or the Tatar faith. The noble prince said that a Christian cannot change from the true Faith to a false one. For his firmness in the confession of faith he was subjected to cruel torments: they cut out his tongue, gouged out his eyes, cut off his ears and lips, chopped off his hands and feet, tore off the skin from his head and, after beheading him, they impaled him upon a spear. This occurred in the year 1270.

The veneration of the royal martyr began immediately with his death. The chronicle says about the saint: "By your suffering, you have gained the Kingdom of Heaven, and a crown from the hand of the Lord, together with your kinsman Michael Vsevolodovich, cosufferers with Christ for the Orthodox Christian Faith."
Since 1854, there have been church processions and Moliebens at Ryazan on the Feast day of St Roman. A church was consecrated in honor of the holy Prince Roman at Ryazan in 1861.

1217 Blessed Hroznata of Bohemia, O. Praem. M (AC)
Born in 1160; cultus approved in 1897; the Praemonstratensians celebrate his feast on July 14. Hroznata was a noble Bohemian who, after the sudden death of his wife and only child, founded the Premonstratensian abbey of Tepl in Bavaria. He professed himself at Tepl. He died of starvation in a dungeon, into which he had been thrown by robbers (Benedictines).

14th v Saint Paisius of the Caves a monk of the Kiev Caves monastery

From the Canon to the Kiev Caves monks, venerated in the Far Caves, it is known that he was connected by oneness of mind and brotherly love with St Mercurius (November 24).
Both saints were inseparable, they lived in the same cell, and after death were placed in the same grave.
At the present time their relics rest in separate reliquarie

Paisius_Far_Kiev Caves

1405 Saint Militsa was the mother of St Stephen, and was known for her quick wit and her pious life. She founded the Lubostina women's monastery, in which she was tonsured with the name Eugenia. She died at the monastery as a schema-nun on November 11, 1405.

Stephen_King_of_Serbia

1427 Saint Stephen was the son of prince St Lazar of Serbia (June 15). In the terrible times of the Turkish Yoke St Stephen became the great benefactor of his enslaved countrymen. He built up the city, constructed churches and expended his treasury on the help of the needy.
St Stephen exceeded many rulers in his wisdom, his charity and his faith. He died peacefull 1427.

1660 St Vincent DePaul, Founder of The Congregation of The Mission And The Sisters Of Charity
Sancti Vincénti a Paulo, Presbyteri et Confessóris, Congregatiónis Presbyterórum Missiónis et Puellárum Caritátis Fundatóris, cæléstis ómnium caritátis Societátum Patróni; qui in Dómino obdormívit quinto Kaléndas Octóbris.
St. Vincent de Paul, priest and confessor, founder of the priests of the Congregation of the Mission and the Sisters of Charity, the heavenly patron of all charitable organizations. He fell asleep in the Lord on the 27th of September.
Even in the most degenerate ages, when the truths of the Gospel seem almost obliterated among the generality of those who profess it, God fails not to raise to himself faithful ministers to revive charity in the hearts of many. One of these instruments of the divine mercy was St Vincent de Paul. He was a native of Pouy, a village near Dax, in Gascony. His parents occupied a very small farm, upon the produce of which they brought up a family of four sons and two daughters, Vincent being their third child. His father was determined by the strong inclinations of the boy and the quickness of his intelligence to give him a school education. He therefore placed him under the care of the Cordeliers (Franciscan Recollects) at Dax.
Vincent finished his studies at the university of Toulouse, and in 1600 was ordained priest at the extraordinary age of twenty. In the little we know of Vincent at this time there is nothing to suggest his future fame and sanctity. Indeed, the outstanding event, his trip to Marseilles and the captivity in and romantic escape from Tunisia that is said to have followed it, raises such delicate questions and has been so controverted that-without wishing to indulge any improper suppressions-it seems better to ignore it and to get on more solid ground.
On his own showing, Vincent's ambition at that time was to be comfortably off. He was already one of the chaplains of Queen Margaret of Valois and, according to the bad custom of the age, he was receiving the income of a small abbey. He went to lodge with a friend in Paris. And there it was that we first hear of a change in him. His friend was robbed of four hundred crowns. He charged Vincent with the theft, thinking it could be nobody else; and in this persuasion he spoke against him with the greatest virulence among all his friends, and wherever he went. Vincent calmly denied the fact, saying, "God knows the truth ". He bore this slander for six months, when the true thief confessed. St Vincent related this in a spiritual conference with his priests, but as of a third person; to show that patience, humble silence, and resignation are generally the best defence of our innocence, and always the happiest means of sanctifying our souls under slanders and persecution.
At Paris Vincent became acquainted with the holy priest Peter de Bérulle, afterwards cardinal. Bérulle conceived a great esteem for Vincent, and prevailed with him to become tutor to the children of Philip de Gondi, Count of Joigny. Mme de Gondi was attracted by Vincent, and chose him for her spiritual director and confessor.

In the year 1617, whilst they were at a country seat at Folleville, Monsieur Vincent was sent for to hear the confession of a peasant who lay dangerously ill. He discovered that all the former confessions of the penitent had been sacrilegious, and the man declared before many persons and the Countess of Joigny herself, that he would have been eternally lost if he had not spoken to Monsieur Vincent. The good lady was struck with horror to hear of such past sacrileges. Far from the criminal illusion of pride by which some masters and mistresses seem persuaded that they owe no care, attention or provision for their dependants, she realized that masters lie under strict ties of justice and charity towards all committed to their care; and that they are bound to see them provided with the necessary spiritual helps for their salvation. To Vincent himself also appears to have come at that moment an enlightening as to the terrible spiritual state of the peasantry of France, and Mme de Gondi had no difficulty in persuading him to preach in the church of Folleville, and fully to instruct the people in the duty of repentance and confession of sins. He did so; and such crowds flocked to him to make general confessions that he was obliged to call the Jesuits of Ainiens to his assistance.
With help of Father de Bérulle, St Vincent left the house of the countess in 1617 to become pastor of Chatillon-les-Dombes. He there converted the notorious Count de Rougemont and many others from their scandalous lives. But he soon returned to Paris, and began work among the galley-slaves who were confined in the Conciergerie. He was officially appointed chaplain to the galleys (of which Philip de Gondi was general), and in 1622 gave a mission for the convicts in them at Bordeaux; but the story that Monsieur Vincent once took the place of one of them at the oar has no evidence to support it.
Mme de Gondi now offered him an endowment to found a perpetual mission among the common people in the place and manner he should think fit, but nothing at first came of it, for Vincent was too humble to regard himself as fit to undertake the work. The countess could not be easy herself whilst she was deprived of his direction and advice; she therefore obtained from him a promise that he would never abandon direction of her conscience so long as she lived, and that he would assist her at her death. Being extremely desirous that others, especially those who were particularly entitled to her care and attention, should want nothing that could contribute to their sanctification and salvation, she induced her husband to concur with her in establishing a company of able and zealous missionaries who should be employed in assisting their vassals and tenants, and the people of the countryside in general. This project they proposed to their brother, who was archbishop of Paris, and he gave the College des Bons Enfants for the reception of the new community. Its members were to renounce ecclesiastical preferment, to devote themselves to the smaller towns and villages, and to live from a common fund. St Vincent took possession of this house in April 1625.

Vincent attended the countess till her death, which happened only two months later; he then joined his new congregation. In 1633 the prior of the canons regular of St Victor gave to this institute the priory of Saint-Lazare, which was made the chief house of the congregation, and from it the Fathers of the Mission are often called Lazarists, but sometimes Vincentians, after their founder. They are a congregation of secular priests, who make four simple vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and stability. They are employed in missions, especially among country people, and undertake the direction of diocesan and other seminaries; they now have colleges and missions in all parts of the world.   St Vincent lived to see twenty-five houses founded in France, Piedmont, Poland and other places, including Madagascar.
   This foundation, though so extensive and beneficial, could not satisfy the zeal of this apostolic man.   He by every other means studied to procure the relief of others under all necessities, whether spiritual or corporal. For this purpose he established confraternities of charity (the first had been at Chatillon) to attend poor sick persons in each parish, and from them, with the help of St Louise de Marillac, sprang the institute of Sisters of Charity, whose "convent is the sick-room, their chapel the parish church, their cloister the streets of the city". He invoked the assistance of the wealthy women of Paris and banded them together as the Ladies of Charity to collect funds for and assist in his good works. He procured and directed the foundation of several hospitals for the sick, foundlings, and the aged, and at Marseilles the hospital for the galley-slaves, which, however, was never finished. All these establishments he settled under excellent regulations, and found for them large sums of money.
    He instituted a particular plan of spiritual exercises for those about to receive holy orders; and others for those who desire to make general confessions, or to deliberate upon the choice of a state of life; and also appointed regular ecclesiastical conferences on the duties of the clerical state, to remedy somewhat the terrible slackness, abuses and ignorance that he saw about him. It appears almost incredible that so many and so great things could have been effected by one man, and a man who had no advantages from birth, fortune, or any of those more obvious qualities which the world admires and esteems.

   During the wars in Lorraine, being informed of the miseries to which those provinces were reduced, St Vincent collected alms in Paris, which were sent thither to the amount of thousands of pounds. He sent his missionaries to the poor and suffering in Poland, Ireland, Scotland, the very Hebrides, and during his own life over 1200 Christian slaves were ransomed in North Mrica, and many others succoured. He was sent for by King Louis XIII as he lay dying, and was in high favour with the queen regent, Anne of Austria, who consulted him in ecclesiastical affairs and in the collation of benefices; during the affair of the Fronde he in vain tried to persuade her to give up her minister Mazarin in the interests of her people. It was largely due to Monsieur Vincent that English Benedictine nuns from Ghent were allowed to open a house at Boulogne in 1622.
   Amidst so many and so great matters his soul seemed always united to God. Under set-backs, disappointments and slanders he preserved serenity and evenness of mind, having no other desire but that God should be glorified in all things. Astonishing as it may seem, Monsieur Vincent was "by nature of a bilious temperament and very subject to anger". This would seem humble exaggeration but that others besides himself bear witness to it. But for divine grace, he tells us, he would have been "in temper hard and repellent, rough and crabbed"; instead, his will co-operated with grace and he was tender, affectionate, acutely sensible to the calls of charity and religion. Humility he would have then to be the basis of his congregation, and it was the lesson which he never ceased to repeat.
   When two persons of unusual learning and abilities once presented themselves, desiring to be admitted into his congregation, he refused them both, saying, "Your abilities raise you above our low state. Your talents may be of good service in some other place. Our highest ambition is to instruct the ignorant, to bring sinners to repentance, and to plant the gospel spirit of charity, humility, meekness and simplicity in the hearts of Christians."
He laid it down that, if possible, a man ought never to speak of himself or his own concerns, such discourse usually proceeding from, and nourishing in the heart, pride and self-love.
    St Vincent was greatly concerned at the rise and spread of the Jansenist heresy. I have made the doctrine of grace the subject of my prayer for three months ", he said, "and every day God has confirmed my faith that our Lord died for us all and that He desires to save the whole world." He actively opposed himself to the false teachers and no priest professing their errors could remain in his congregation. Towards the end of his life he suffered much from serious ill-health.

In the autumn of 1660 he died calmly in his chair, on September 27, being fourscore years old. Monsieur Vincent, the peasant priest, was canonized by Pope Clement XII in 1737, and by Pope Leo XIII he was proclaimed patron of all charitable societies, outstanding among which is the society that bears his name and is infused by his spirit, founded by Frederic Ozanam in Paris in 1833.

The abundant materials for the life of St Vincent have been edited with great care by Fr Pierre Cone, Saint Vincent de Paul, corespondance, entretiens, documents, occupying fourteen volumes (1920-25), completed by his Le grand saint du grand siècle (3 vols., Eng. trans., 1935). Biographies are numerous, beginning with that of Mgr Abelly published four years after Vincent's death. The lives by Bougaud, de Broglie, and Lavedan have appeared in English; the last-named, The Heroic Life of St Vincent de Paul (1928), though written with great charm of style, is not perhaps historically so accurate as La vraie vie de S. Vincent de Paul by A. Redier (1927), or S. Vincent de Paul by P. Renaudin (1929). The religious spirit of the saint is very well illustrated in the selection of letters translated by Fr J. Leonard under the title St Vincent de Paul and Mental Prayer (1925). See also St Vincent of Paul and the Vincentians in England, by P. Boyle; E. K. Sanders, Vincent de Paul (1913); T. Maynard, Apostle of Charity (1940); two studies by A. Menabréa (1947-48); B. Canitrot, Le plus familier des saints (1947); and J. Calvet's St Vincent de Paul (1948), Eng. trans. by L. C. Sheppard (1952).

1697 St. John Plessington son of a Royalist Catholic, John was educated at Saint Omer's in France and the English college at Valladolid, Spain. He was ordained in Segovia in 1662.
One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. He was born at Dimples, Lancashire, England, the son of a Royalist Catholic. Educated at Valladolid, Spain, and St. Omer’s in France. he was ordained in Segovia in 1662. John returned to England after ordination and served as a missionary in Cheshire. He became a tutor at Puddington Hall near Chester until his arrest and martyrdom by hanging at Barrowshill, Boughton. near Chester. Pope Paul VI canonized him in 1970.

(William) John Plessington, Priest M (RM) Born at Dimples Hall near Garstang, Lancashire, England; died at Boughton near Chester, England, July 19, 1679; beatified in 1929; canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

The son of a Royalist Catholic, John was educated at Saint Omer's in France and the English college at Valladolid, Spain. He was ordained in Segovia in 1662. Returning to England the following year, he worked in the area of Cheshire, using the aliases Scarisbrick and William Pleasington.

In 1670, Father John became the tutor of the children of a Mr. Massey at Puddington Hall near Chester. He was arrested and charged with participating in the "Popish Plot" to murder King Charles II, a fabrication of Titus Oates. Despite the evidence that Oates perjured himself during the trial, Father John was found guilty and hanged at Barrowhill at Boughton (Benedictines, Delaney) .

1781 Servant of God Francis Garces and Companions greatly loved by the indigenous peoples, among whom he lived unharmed for a long time. They regularly gave him food and referred to him as "Viva Jesus," which was the greeting he taught them to use
Government interference in the missions and landgrabbing sparked the Indian uprising which cost these friars their lives.
A contemporary of the American Revolution and of Blessed Junipero Serra, Francisco Garcés was born in 1738 in Spain, where he joined the Franciscans. After ordination in 1763, he was sent to Mexico. Five years later he was assigned to San Xavier del Bac near Tucson, one of several missions the Jesuits had founded in Arizona and New Mexico before being expelled in 1767 from all territories controlled by the Catholic king of Spain. In Arizona, Francisco worked among the Papago, Yuma, Pima and Apache Native Americans. His missionary travels took him to the Grand Canyon and to California.

Friar Francisco Palou, a contemporary, writes that Father Garcés was greatly loved by the indigenous peoples, among whom he lived unharmed for a long time. They regularly gave him food and referred to him as "Viva Jesus," which was the greeting he taught them to use. For the sake of their indigenous converts, the Spanish missionaries wanted to organize settlements away from the Spanish soldiers and colonists. But the commandant in Mexico insisted that two new missions on the Colorado River, Misión San Pedro y San Pablo and Misión La Purísima Concepción, be mixed settlements.
A revolt among the Yumas against the Spanish left Friars Juan Diaz and Matias Moreno dead at Misión San Pedro y San Pablo. Friars Francisco Garcés and Juan Barreneche were killed at Misión La Purísima Concepción (the site of Fort Yuma).

Comment: In the 18th century the indigenous peoples of the American Southwest saw Catholicism and Spanish rule as a package deal. When they wanted to throw off the latter, the new religion had to go also. Do we appreciate sufficiently the acceptable adjustment our faith can make among various peoples? Are we offended by the customs of Catholics in other cultures? Do we see our good example as a contribution to missionary evangelization?
Quote: On a visit to Africa in 1969, Pope Paul VI told 22 young Ugandan converts that "being a Christian is a fine thing but not always an easy one. "

Servant of God Francis Garces and Companions (c. 1781)
Government interference in the missions and landgrabbing sparked the Indian uprising which cost these friars their lives.

A contemporary of the American Revolution and of Blessed Junipero Serra, Francisco Garcés was born in 1738 in Spain, where he joined the Franciscans. After ordination in 1763, he was sent to Mexico. Five years later he was assigned to San Xavier del Bac near Tucson, one of several missions the Jesuits had founded in Arizona and New Mexico before being expelled in 1767 from all territories controlled by the Catholic king of Spain. In Arizona, Francisco worked among the Papago, Yuma, Pima and Apache Native Americans. His missionary travels took him to the Grand Canyon and to California.

Friar Francisco Palou, a contemporary, writes that Father Garcés was greatly loved by the indigenous peoples, among whom he lived unharmed for a long time. They regularly gave him food and referred to him as "Viva Jesus," which was the greeting he taught them to use.

For the sake of their indigenous converts, the Spanish missionaries wanted to organize settlements away from the Spanish soldiers and colonists. But the commandant in Mexico insisted that two new missions on the Colorado River, Misión San Pedro y San Pablo and Misión La Purísima Concepción, be mixed settlements.

A revolt among the Yumas against the Spanish left Friars Juan Diaz and Matias Moreno dead at Misión San Pedro y San Pablo. Friars Francisco Garcés and Juan Barreneche were killed at Misión La Purísima Concepción (the site of Fort Yuma).

Comment: In the 18th century the indigenous peoples of the American Southwest saw Catholicism and Spanish rule as a package deal. When they wanted to throw off the latter, the new religion had to go also. Do we appreciate sufficiently the acceptable adjustment our faith can make among various peoples? Are we offended by the customs of Catholics in other cultures? Do we see our good example as a contribution to missionary evangelization? Quote: On a visit to Africa in 1969, Pope Paul VI told 22 young Ugandan converts that "being a Christian is a fine thing but not always an easy one."

1903 Saint Seraphim, Wonderworker of Sarov: Uncovering of the Relics In 1991, St Seraphim's relics were rediscovered after being hidden in a Soviet anti-religious museum for seventy years
The glorification of St Seraphim of Sarov (January 2), took place in 1903, seventy years after his repose. On July 3, 1903 Metropolitan Anthony of St Petersburg, assisted by Bishop Nazarius of Nizhni-Novgorod and Bishop Innocent of Tambov, transferred the saint's relics from their original burial place to the church of Sts Zosimus and Sabbatius. Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra provided a new cypress coffin to receive the relics. This cypress coffin was then placed inside an oak coffin and remained in the church until the day of the saint's glorification.

At noon on July 16, the first day of the festivities, Metropolitan Anthony offered a Memorial Service for the ever-memorable Hieromonk Seraphim in the Dormition Cathedral. Services also took place in the monastery's other churches.

The next day Metropolitan Anthony and Bishop Nazarius served a Memorial Liturgy in the Dormition Cathedral. At 5:00 that afternoon, the bells of Sarov began to ring, announcing the arrival of Tsar Nicholas and his family. Metropolitan Anthony greeted them and then led them to the Dormition Cathedral for a Service of Thanksgiving.

The royal family attended the early Liturgy on July 18th and received the Holy Mysteries. Later that morning, the final Memorial Service for the repose of Hieromonk Seraphim's soul was offered in the Cathedral. These would be the last prayers offered for him as a departed servant of God. From that time forward, prayers would be addressed to him as a saint. At 6 P.M. the bells rang for Vigil, the first service with hymns honoring St Seraphim, and during which his relics would be exposed for public veneration.

At the time of the Litia during Vespers, the saint's coffin was carried from the church of Sts Zosimus and Sabbatius and into the Dormition Cathedral. Several people were healed of various illnesses during this procession. During Matins, as "Praise ye the Name of the Lord" was sung, the coffin was opened. After the Gospel, Metropolitan Anthony and the other hierarchs kissed the holy relics. They were followed by the royal family, the officiating clergy, and all the people in the cathedral.

On July 19, the saint's birthday, the late Liturgy began at 8 o'clock. At the Little Entrance, twelve Archimandrites lifted the coffin from the middle of the church, carried it around the altar, then placed it into a special shrine. The long awaited event was accompanied by numerous miraculous healings of the sick, who had gathered at Sarov in large numbers. More than 200,000 people came to Sarov from all across Russia.

The festivities at Sarov came to an end with the dedication of the first two churches to St Seraphim. The first church to be consecrated was over his monastic cell in Sarov. The second church was consecrated on July 22 at the Diveyevo convent.

In 1991, St Seraphim's relics were rediscovered after being hidden in a Soviet anti-religious museum for seventy years.

Widely esteemed in his lifetime, St Seraphim is one of the most beloved saints of the Orthodox Church.

To Save A Life is Earthly; To Save A Soul is Eternal

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 179

O Lady, come to my assistance: and by the light of thy mercy enlighten me.

Teach us to seek thy goodness: that we may declare thy wonders.

Show forth thy power against our enemies: that thou mayest be praised among the distant nations.

In the flames of thy wrath let them be plunged into hell: and may they who trouble thy servants find perdition.

Have mercy on thy servants, upon whom thy name is invoked !
and do not permit them to be straitened in their temptations.

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

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

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

There are over 10,000 named saints beati from history
and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources
Patron_Saints.html Widowed_Saints html Indulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East Lourdes 1858 China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine Loreto, Italy Marian Apparitions (over 2000) Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
Links to Related MarianWebsites Angels and Archangels Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell
Widowed Saints html
Doctors_of_the_Church Acts_Of_The_Apostles Roman Catholic Popes Purgatory Uniates Chalcedon

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

The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him” For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.

Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here} 2000 years of the Catholic Church in China
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos Practical Guide to Holiness

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

My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee. I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not

O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I beg the conversion of poor sinners, Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace

The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.

THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.

These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.

God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.

As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.
Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.

Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.

The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)

1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means. 5. The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven. 11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12. I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14. All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15. Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.

Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.

Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac

The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.

Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).

In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).

In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

Under Roman domination martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under Decius; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, Habib, and others under Diocletian.

In the meanwhile Christian priests from Edessa evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and Persia, established the first Churches in the kingdom of the Sassanides. Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the Council of Nicæa (325). The “Peregrinatio Silviæ” (or Etheriæ) (ed. Gamurrini, Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.) gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.

Although Hebrew had been the language of the ancient Israelite kingdom, after their return from Exile the Jews turned more and more to Aramaic, using it for parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel in the Bible. By the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the main language of Palestine, and quite a number of texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls are also written in Aramaic.

Aramaic continued to be an important language for Jews, alongside Hebrew, and parts of the Talmud are written in it.

After Arab conquests of the seventh century, Arabic quickly replaced Aramaic as the main language of those who converted to Islam, although in out of the way places, Aramaic continued as a vernacular language of Muslims.

Aramaic, however, enjoyed its greatest success in Christianity. Although the New Testament wins written in Greek, Christianity had come into existence in an Aramaic-speaking milieu, and it was the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac, that became the literary language of a large number of Christians living in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and in the Persian Empire, further east. Over the course of the centuries the influence of the Syriac Churches spread eastwards to China (in Xian, in western China, a Chinese-Syriac inscription dated 781 is still to be seen); to southern India where the state of Kerala can boast more Christians of Syriac liturgical tradition than anywhere else in the world.

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints. Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine. The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches. The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice." According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates. Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor. Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.

Meeting of the Saints walis (saints of Allah)

Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.

So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life. But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets. An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shah Abdul Latif: The Exalted Sufi Master born 1690 in a Syed family; died 1754. In ancient times, Sindh housed the exemplary Indus Valley Civilisation with Moenjo Daro as its capital, and now, it is the land of a culture which evolved from the teachings of eminent Sufi saints. Pakistan is home to the mortal remains of many Sufi saints, the exalted among them being Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, a practitioner of the real Islam, philosopher, poet, musicologist and preacher. He presented his teaching through poetry and music - both instruments sublime - and commands a very large following, not only among Muslims but also among Hindus and Christians. Sindh culture: The Shah is synonymous with Sindh. He is the very fountainhead of Sindh's culture. His message remains as fresh as that of any present day poet, and the people of Sindh find solace from his writings. He did indeed think for Sindh. One of his prayers, in exquisite Sindhi, translates thus: “Oh God, may ever You on Sindh bestow abundance rare! Beloved! All the world let share Thy grace, and fruitful be.”
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams. Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles 569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.), Hazrat Ghuas-e Azam, Hazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddi n Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA) 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.

801 Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Sufi One of the most famous Islamic mystics
(b. 717). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions. Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq. She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186). Her biographer, the great medieval poet Attar, tells us that she was "on fire with love and longing" and that men accepted her "as a second spotless Mary" (186). She was, he continues, “an unquestioned authority to her contemporaries" (218).
Rabi'a began her ascetic life in a small desert cell near Basra, where she lost herself in prayer and went straight to God for teaching. As far as is known, she never studied under any master or spiritual director. She was one of the first of the Sufis to teach that Love alone was the guide on the mystic path (222). A later Sufi taught that there were two classes of "true believers": one class sought a master as an intermediary between them and God -- unless they could see the footsteps of the Prophet on the path before them, they would not accept the path as valid. The second class “...did not look before them for the footprint of any of God's creatures, for they had removed all thought of what He had created from their hearts, and concerned themselves solely with God. (218)
Rabi'a was of this second kind. She felt no reverence even for the House of God in Mecca: "It is the Lord of the house Whom I need; what have I to do with the house?" (219) One lovely spring morning a friend asked her to come outside to see the works of God. She replied, "Come you inside that you may behold their Maker. Contemplation of the Maker has turned me aside from what He has made" (219). During an illness, a friend asked this woman if she desired anything.
"...[H]ow can you ask me such a question as 'What do I desire?' I swear by the glory of God that for twelve years I have desired fresh dates, and you know that in Basra dates are plentiful, and I have not yet tasted them. I am a servant (of God), and what has a servant to do with desire?" (162)
When a male friend once suggested she should pray for relief from a debilitating illness, she said,
"O Sufyan, do you not know Who it is that wills this suffering for me? Is it not God Who wills it? When you know this, why do you bid me ask for what is contrary to His will? It is not well to oppose one's Beloved." (221)
She was an ascetic. It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold" (187). She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world. A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug (186), for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill. Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,
"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?" (186-7)
A wealthy merchant once wanted to give her a purse of gold. She refused it, saying that God, who sustains even those who dishonor Him, would surely sustain her, "whose soul is overflowing with love" for Him. And she added an ethical concern as well:
"...How should I take the wealth of someone of whom I do not know whether he acquired it lawfully or not?" (187)
She taught that repentance was a gift from God because no one could repent unless God had already accepted him and given him this gift of repentance. She taught that sinners must fear the punishment they deserved for their sins, but she also offered such sinners far more hope of Paradise than most other ascetics did. For herself, she held to a higher ideal, worshipping God neither from fear of Hell nor from hope of Paradise, for she saw such self-interest as unworthy of God's servants; emotions like fear and hope were like veils -- i.e., hindrances to the vision of God Himself. The story is told that once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other. When they asked her to explain, she said:
"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..." (187-188)
She was once asked where she came from. "From that other world," she said. "And where are you going?" she was asked. "To that other world," she replied (219). She taught that the spirit originated with God in "that other world" and had to return to Him in the end. Yet if the soul were sufficiently purified, even on earth, it could look upon God unveiled in all His glory and unite with him in love. In this quest, logic and reason were powerless. Instead, she speaks of the "eye" of her heart which alone could apprehend Him and His mysteries (220).
Above all, she was a lover, a bhakti, like one of Krishna’s Goptis in the Hindu tradition. Her hours of prayer were not so much devoted to intercession as to communion with her Beloved. Through this communion, she could discover His will for her. Many of her prayers have come down to us:
       "I have made Thee the Companion of my heart,
        But my body is available for those who seek its company,
        And my body is friendly towards its guests,
        But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul." [224]

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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

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

Thus began a great adventure that would eventually result in the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a Temple dedicated to the Divine Child Jesus, a place of refuge for all. Use this link to read a remarkable story about The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 14 years Lover of the poor; “A very Holy Man of God.”

Monsignor Reardon Protonotarius Apostolicus
Pastor 42 years BASILICA OF SAINT MARY Minneapolis MN

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

James M. Reardon Publication History of Basilica of Saint Mary 1600-1932

Index to Part I and Part II 1932

James M. Reardon Publication History of the Basilica of Saint Mary 1955 {update}

Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America
Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist, 1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919); George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement 1362-1950 (1952);
The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922; (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;

James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872; Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;

Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.

Affiliations and Indulgences Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here. Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon

Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.

The only replicas ever made: in order from west to east {1932}.

Saints Simon (saw), Bartholomew (knife), James the Lesser (book), John (eagle), Andrew (transverse cross), Peter keys), Paul (sword), James the Greater (staff), Thomas (carpenter's square), Philip (serpent), Matthew (book), and Jude sword

Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD

THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi.

June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.

By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi.

June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.

By Father John Corapi

Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

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

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

Talk is weak. Prayer is strong. Pray! God bless you, Father John Corapi

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

About Father John Corapi.

Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .

The pillars of father's preaching are basically:

Love for and a relationship with the Blessed Virgin Mary
Leading a vibrant and loving relationship with Jesus Christ
Great love and reverence for the Most Holy Eucharist from Holy Mass to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
An uncompromising love for and obedience to the Holy Father and the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.

Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

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

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.

Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”

Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.

Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.

Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.

Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.

Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis will beatify these martyred Greek-Catholic bishops in Romania
May 30, 2019 - 03:01 pm .- On Sunday in Blaj, Pope Francis will beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops of Romania who were killed by the communist regime between 1950 and 1970.

Woman who served Brazil’s poorest to be canonized
May 14, 2019 - 06:53 am .- Pope Francis Tuesday gave his approval for eight sainthood causes to proceed, including that of Bl. Dulce Lopes Pontes, a 20th-century religious sister who served Brazil’s poor.

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

Pope advances sainthood causes of 17 women
Jan 15, 2019 - 11:12 am .- Pope Francis approved Tuesday the next step in the canonization causes of 17 women from four countries, including the martyrdom of 14 religious sisters killed in Spain at the start of the Spanish Civil War.

Nineteen Algerian martyrs beatified
Dec 10, 2018 - 03:08 pm .- Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, were beatified Saturday during a Mass in Oran.

The Algerian martyrs shed their blood for Christ, pope says
Dec 7, 2018 - 10:02 am .- Ahead of the beatification Saturday of Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, Pope Francis said martyrs have a special place in the Church.
Algerian martyrs are models for the Church, archbishop says
Nov 16, 2018 - 03:01 am .- Archbishop Paul Desfarges of Algiers has said that Bishop Pierre Claverie and his 18 companions, who were martyred in Algeria between 1994 and 1996, are “models for our lives as disciples today and tomorrow.”

Francesco Spinelli to be canonized after healing of a newborn in DR Congo
Oct 9, 2018 - 05:01 pm .- Among those being canonized on Sunday are Fr. Franceso Spinelli, a diocesan priest through whose intercession a newborn was saved from death in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.

Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.

Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.

Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.

Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.

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

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

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

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

Sunday, November 23 2014 Six to Be Canonized on Feast of Christ the King.

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

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

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

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

October 01, 2015 Vatican City, Pope Authorizes following Decrees
(ZENIT.org) By Staff Reporter
Polish Layperson Recognized as Servant of God
Pope Authorizes Decrees
Pope Francis on Wednesday authorised the Congregation for Saints' Causes to promulgate the following decrees:

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

HEROIC VIRTUES
- Servant of God Giovanni Folci, Italian diocesan priest and founder of the Opera Divin Prigioniero (1890-1963);
- Servant of God Franciszek Blachnicki, Polish diocesan priest (1921-1987);
- Servant of God Jose Rivera Ramirez, Spanish diocesan priest (1925-1991);
- Servant of God Juan Manuel Martín del Campo, Mexican diocesan priest (1917-1996);
- Servant of God Antonio Filomeno Maria Losito, Italian professed priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (1838-1917);
- Servant of God Maria Benedetta Giuseppa Frey (nee Ersilia Penelope), Italian professed nun of the Cistercian Order (1836-1913);
- Servant of God Hanna Chrzanowska, Polish layperson, Oblate of the Ursulines of St. Benedict (1902-1973).

March 06 2016 MIRACLES authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
Pope Francis received in a private audience Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, during which he authorised the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees:
MIRACLES

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

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

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

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

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 179 2022