900 b.c. Elijah (the Lord's strength) The Holy Prophet is one of the greatest of the prophets and the first dedicated to virginity in the Old Testament. Born in Tishba of Gilead into the Levite tribe

Wednesday Saints of July 20 Tertiodécimo Kaléndas Augusti

Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас! (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)

R. Deo grátias. R. Thanks be to God.

July is the month of the Precious Blood since 1850;

2021-2022
23,000 Lives Saved Since 2007

Elijah.jpg

CAUSES OF SAINTS

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

Acts of the Apostles

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

How do I start the Five First Saturdays?

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

It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD

Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel

THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

900 b.c. Elijah (the Lord's strength) The Holy Prophet is one of the greatest of the prophets and the first dedicated to virginity in the Old Testament. He was born in Tishba of Gilead into the Levite tribe 900 years before the Incarnation of the Word of God; Elijah then declared to Ahab, as punishment neither rain nor dew upon the ground, and the drought would cease only by his prayer; power of his prayer flour and oil were not depleted in the home of the widow for the duration of the famine: he raised the dead son of the widow

In monte Carmélo sancti Elíæ Prophétæ. On Mount Carmel, the holy prophet Elijah.
1st v St. Joseph of Barsabas follower of Christ sur named “the Just.” He is the person listed in the Acts of the Apostles for vacant place among Apostles, caused by treachery of Judas Iscariot.
1st v. St. Apollinaris St. Peter sent him to Ravenna, Italy, first bishop exiled 4 times by pagans
304 Margaret (Marina) of Antioch (of the Latins) VM (RM)
429 Aurelius of Carthage head Church Africa; St Augustine Hippo Friend; Pelagianism councils 412 and 416; counter Donatists; prompted St. Augustine to write On the Work of Monks.
689 St. Wulmar Benedictine abbot, founder of the rnonastery of Samer near Boulogne
750 Severa of Öhren abbess of the great Benedictine convent at Trier
833 Ansegisus of Fontenelle chosen by Charlemagne to restoe several abbeys wrote a collection of capitularies, the official lawbook of the Empire; life characterization of Benedictine work for Christianity and civilization during Dark Ages of Europe
851 Paul of Cordova, Deacon St Zoilus Cordova community ministered Christians imprisoned by Moors
903 Etheldwitha of Winchester Anglo-Saxon princess, widow, retired to convent founded at Winchester
1350 Chukhloma Icon of the Mother of God of Galich appeared 1350 to St Abraham of Galich,
1596 Blessed Gregory Lopez, page to Philip II, Hermit among the Indians near Zacatecas miracles
1907 Saint Ilia, called “Uncrowned King of Georgia,” the “Father of the Nation” and “the Righteous,”
1936 Blessed Francisca Aldea 1/8 nuns martyrs Spanish Revolution; assigned to teaching.

Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here }

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

July 20 – Blessed Virgin Mary of Saint Mary Major Church (Italy, 1537)
–Canonization of Saint Louis de Montfort (1947)

July 20 - Canonization of Saint Louis de Montfort by Pope Pius XII in 1947
The source of true devotion
The author of the Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin (Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort) distinguished with a few precise strokes true devotion from a false and somewhat superstitious devotion that superficially adopts some external practices or superficial feelings in order to live according to one’s own desires and remain in sin, counting on a miraculous grace at the last hour.
True devotion, that of tradition, that of the Church, and, we might say, of good Christian and Catholic sense, essentially tends towards union with Jesus, under the guidance of Mary. The form and practice of this devotion may vary according to the time and the place, as well as to personal inclinations. Within the limits of sound and safe doctrine of orthodoxy and dignity of worship, the Church leaves her children a fair amount of freedom…
And that is why, my dear sons and daughters, we sincerely hope that, from among the varied manifestations of piety towards the Mother of God and Mother of humankind, you will all draw from the treasury of writings and examples of our saint the gist of his Marian devotion. Pope Pius XII
Address to pilgrims on the occasion of the canonization of Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (July 21, 1947)
www.clerus.org

Capucine stayed very still during the whole rosary

Mother of a little 6-year-old autistic girl requiring constant watching day and night, Agathe had signed up to participate in a national day of prayer and fasting for France last February, but wasn't sure how she would manage to find an hour and a half for herself to pray all the mysteries of the rosary. Below is her testimonial about a very special grace she received that day:

“Well, it all happened very naturally: Capucine came of her own accord and sat on my lap. She sat very still during the whole rosary, and she was especially attentive and focused. My daughter had never been like this before in her entire life. It was an incredible moment of grace—we were both carried by the common prayer of the entire world. Thank you Mary, thank you Saint Joseph, thank you Lord. Keep France in your heart. When is the next day of prayer?”

Agathe, February 2, 2013. www.tousenpriere.com

15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
The Hail Mary July 20 - Canonization de Saints Louis Grignion de Montfort and Catherine Labouré (1947)
This new hymn, the Hail Mary, is in praise of the Mother of God and is sung directly to her;

nevertheless it greatly glorifies the Most Blessed Trinity because any homage that we pay Our Lady returns inevitably to God Who is the cause of all her virtues and perfections. When we honor Our Lady we truly glorify God. God the Father is glorified because we are praising His most pure Mother, and God the Holy Spirit is glorified because we are lost in admiration before the graces with which He has filled His Spouse.

Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort, The Secret of the Rosary, p. 44

Totus Tuus! July 20 - 1947: Canonization of Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort and Saint Catherine Labouré
Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort proposed a very powerful Marian doctrine, which has been taken up again and lived out with fruitfulness by many Christians and in particular by Pope John Paul II, who even took his motto from him: "Totus tuus."
These words summarize the Marian Consecration that is at the heart of Montfort's doctrine:
"In the presence of the heavenly court, I choose you this day for my Mother and my Queen.

I surrender and consecrate to you, as your slave, my body and soul, my possessions both interior and external, and even the value of all my good deeds past, present and future; leaving to you the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to your good pleasure, for the greatest glory of God, in time and eternity. Amen." Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort invites us, by the Marian Consecration, to imitate Jesus by taking Mary as our Mother, and by entrusting everything to her.

Adapted from Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort's Treatise on True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin

Mary's Divine Motherhood
Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.

900 b.c. Elijah (the Lord's strength) The Holy Prophet is one of the greatest of the prophets and the first dedicated to virginity in the Old Testament. He was born in Tishba of Gilead into the Levite tribe 900 years before the Incarnation of the Word of God.
1st v St. Joseph of Barsabas A follower of Christ also called Joseph Barsassas and sur named “the Just.” He is the person listed in the Acts of the Apostles as a competitor of St. Matthias for the vacant place among the Apostles, caused by the treachery of Judas Iscariot.
1st v. St. Apollinaris St. Peter sent Apollinaris to Ravenna, Italy, as its first bishop exiled 4 times by pagans
304 Margaret (Marina) of Antioch (of the Latins) VM (RM)
334 Rheticus of Autun a Gallo-Roman, became bishop of Autun about 310. Three years later he participated in the Lateran synod that condemned the Donatists
St. Sabinus Martyr with Cassia, Julian, Macrobius, Maximus, Paula, and ten companions.They were put to death at Damascus, Syria.
355 St. Barhadbesciabas A Persian martyr, serving as a deacon in Arbele tortured by the governor of the Persian region of Adiaban in modern Iran
429 Aurelius of Carthage archdeacon promoted to head the Church in Africa; Friend of Saint Augustine of Hippo; one of the first detect and oppose Celestius and Pelagianism councils 412 and 416; convened several councils to counter the Donatists; highly praised by Saint Fulgentius; prompted St. Augustine to write On the Work of Monks.
512 & 518 St. Flavian patriarch of Antioch, and Elias patriarch of Jerusalem. They were both exiled by Emperor Anastasius I, a Monophysite. The two bishops supported the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon. Flavian, and probably Elias, died in the city of Petra, Jordan
513 St. Elias an Arab educated in an Egyptian monastery; driven from Egypt by monophysite Bishop Timothy the Cat of Alexandria for his Catholic orthodoxy; stayed for a time at St Euthymius' laura, founded a monastery at Jericho, ordained. In 494 he was elected patriarch of Jerusalem
680 St. Severa Virgin and abbess; sister of Saint Modoald of Trier; She was the first abbess of the convent of St. Gemma (Jater Sainte-Severe), at Villeneuve
689 St. Wulmar Benedictine abbot, founder of the rnonastery of Samer near Boulogne
750 Severa of Öhren abbess of the great Benedictine convent at Trier
833 Ansegisus of Fontenelle chosen by Charlemagne to restoe several abbeys Saint Sixtus at Rheims, Saint Meuge near Châlons, Saint Germer at Flaix, Luxeuil, and Fontenelle; wrote a collection of capitularies, the official lawbook of the Empire; life characterization of Benedictine work for Christianity and civilization during Dark Ages of Europe
        St Wilgefortis, or Liberata
        St. Wilgefortis one of nine daughters of a pagan Portuguese King vow of virginity
851 Paul of Cordova, Deacon belonged to the community of Saint Zoilus in Cordova. He zealously ministered to Christians who had been imprisoned by the Moors
903 Etheldwitha of Winchester Anglo-Saxon princess, widow, retired to convent founded at Winchester
1139 St. John of Pulsano a hermit in Sicily and monk famous his for preaching, prophecy, and miracles.
1350 Chukhloma Icon of the Mother of God of Galich appeared in the year 1350 to St Abraham of Galich, who came there from the north for ascetical labors with the blessing of St Sergius of Radonezh.
1375 Saint Abraham of Galich priest (Chukhloma Lake), lived and pursued asceticism at the monastery of St Sergius of Radonezh revelation to go up a mountain, where he found an icon of the Mother of God shining with an indescribable light; Numerous healings were worked through the icon; founded four monasteries dedicated to the Mother of God, who granted him Her icon at the beginning of his ascetical exploits
1537: St Jerome Emiliani, Founder Of The Somaschi; served in the armies of the republic; led careless irreligious life, now he sanctified his sufferings by prayer and turning to God; resolved to devote himself and his property solely to others, founded orphanages at Brescia, Bergamo, Como, shelter for penitent prostitutes, hospital at Verona
1596 Blessed Gregory Lopez, a page to Philip II, Hermit among the Indians near Zacatecas and later near the capital many well-authenticated miracles were recorded at his tomb
1649 Athanasius of Bretsk (Transfer of Relics 1649) The ground in which the martyr was buried belonged at the time to the Jesuits, therefore they had to go to work secretly. At night monks dug up the incorrupt body of the igumen glorified by grace-filled gifts of wonderworking, and attracted a vast number of believers. "The Unia will die out, but Orthodoxy will flourish."
1907 Saint Ilia, called the “Uncrowned King of Georgia,” the “Father of the Nation” and “the Righteous,” noble family Chavchavadze; great philosopher, writer, and historian often repeated the statement “A nation whose language is corrupted can no longer exist as a nation.” cared deeply about Georgian language fought to ensure it remained primary language taught in schools;
1936 Blessed Francisca Aldea 1/8 nuns martyrs Spanish Revolution; assigned to teaching and fulfilled this task with great dedication until 1916, when she was elected assistant and, later, general secretary
1936 Blessed Rita Dolores Pujalte Sanchez & Companions These eight nuns were martyrs of the Spanish Revolution.
        St. Pisentius, Bishop of Qift Departure; see the angels fluttering their wings around the altar while he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy; healer Lord informed him that his departure drew near {Coptic}
        St. Apamon of Toukh Martyrdom of Angel Michael appeared to him and commanded him to go to Ansena and confess Christ. He went and confessed the Lord Christ before Eukhius, the governor. He tortured him; the Lord strengthened and raised him up sound; performed many signs and miracles; {Coptic}
        St. Abba Shenoute Martyrdom of , during the Early Arab Rule. {Coptic}

900 b.c. Elijah (the Lord's strength) The Holy Prophet is one of the greatest of the prophets and the first dedicated to virginity in the Old Testament. He was born in Tishba of Gilead into the Levite tribe 900 years before the Incarnation of the Word of God; Elijah then declared to Ahab, as punishment neither rain nor dew upon the ground, and the drought would cease only by his prayer; power of his prayer flour and oil were not depleted in the home of the widow for the duration of the famine: he raised the dead son of the widow

In monte Carmélo sancti Elíæ Prophétæ. On Mount Carmel, the holy prophet Elijah.

St Epiphanius of Cyprus gives the following account about the birth of the Prophet Elijah:

"When Elijah was born, his father Sobach saw in a vision angels of God around him.
They swaddled him with fire and fed him with flames."

The name Elijah (the Lord's strength) given to the infant defined his whole life.
From the years of his youth he dedicated himself to the One God, settled in the wilderness and spent his whole life in strict fasting, meditation and prayer.

Called to prophetic service, which put him in conflict with the Israelite king Ahab, the prophet became a fiery zealot of true faith and piety.

During this time the Israelite nation had fallen away from the faith of their Fathers, they abandoned the One God and worshipped pagan idols, the worship of which was introduced by the impious king Jereboam.
Jezebel, the wife of king Ahab, was devoted to idol worship. She persuaded her husband to build a temple to the pagan god Baal, which led many Israelites away from the worship of the true God. Beholding the ruin of his nation, the Prophet Elijah began to denounce King Ahab for impiety, and exhorted him to repent and turn to the God of Israel.

The king would not listen to him. The Prophet Elijah then declared to him, that as punishment there would be neither rain nor dew upon the ground, and the drought would cease only by his prayer. Indeed, the word of Elijah was a torch (Eccles. 48: 1) The heavens were closed for three and a half years, and there was drought and famine throughout all the land.

During this time of tribulation, the Lord sent him to a cave beyond the Jordan. There he was miraculously fed by ravens.
When the stream Horath dried up, the Lord sent the Prophet Elijah to Sarephta to a poor widow, a Sidonian Gentile who suffered together with her children, awaiting death by starvation. At the request of the prophet, she prepared him a bread with the last measure of flour and the remainder of the oil. Through the prayer of the Prophet Elijah, flour and oil were not depleted in the home of the widow for the duration of the famine. By the power of his prayer the prophet also performed another miracle: he raised the dead son of the widow.

After the end of three years of drought the Merciful Lord sent the prophet to appear before King Ahab, and promised to send rain upon the earth. The Prophet Elijah told the king to order all of Israel to gather upon Mount Carmel, and also the priests of Baal. When the nation had gathered, the Prophet Elijah proposed that two sacrificial altars be built: one for the priests of Baal, and the other for the Prophet Elijah who served the True God.

The Prophet Elijah told them to call on their gods to consume the sacrificial animals with fire, and he would call on his.
Whichever was first to send fire on the sacrifice would be acknowledged as the true God. The prophets of Baal called out to their idol from morning till evening, but the heavens were silent. Towards evening the holy Prophet Elijah built his sacrificial altar from twelve stones, the number of the tribes of Israel. He placed the sacrifice upon the wood, gave orders to dig a ditch around the altar and commanded that the sacrifice and the wood be soaked with water. When the ditch had filled with water, the prophet turned to God in prayer. Through the prayer of the prophet fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, and even the water. The people fell down to the ground, crying out: "Truly, the Lord is God!"
Then the Prophet Elijah had all the pagan-priests of Baal put to death, and he began to pray for rain.

Through his prayer the heavens opened and an abundant rain fell, soaking the parched earth.

King Ahab acknowledged his error and repented of his sins, but his wife Jezebel threatened to kill the prophet of God.
The Prophet Elijah fled into the Kingdom of Judea and, grieving over his failure to eradicate idol worship, he asked God to let him die. An angel of the Lord came before him, strengthened him with food and commanded him to go upon a long journey. The Prophet Elijah traveled for forty days and nights and, having arrived at Mount Horeb, he settled in a cave.

The Lord told him that the next day Elijah would stand in His presence.There was a strong wind that crushed the rocks of the mountain, then an earthquake, and a fire, but the Lord was not in them. The Lord was in "a gentle breeze" (3 Kings 19: 12). He revealed to the prophet, that He would preserve seven thousand faithful servants who had not worshipped Baal.

Later, the Lord commanded Elijah to anoint Elisha into prophetic service.

Because of his fiery zeal for the Glory of God the Prophet Elijah was taken up alive into Heaven in a fiery chariot.

The Prophet Elisha received Elijah's mantle, and a double portion of his prophetic spirit.

According to Tradition of Holy Church, Prophet Elijah will be the Forerunner of the Dread Second Coming of Christ.
He will proclaim the truth of Christ, urge all to repentance, and will be slain by the Antichrist.
This will be a sign of the end of the world.

The life of the holy Prophet Elijah is recorded in the Old Testament books (3 Kings; 4 Kings; Sirach/Ecclesiastes 48: 1-15; 1 Maccabees 2: 58).

At the time of the Transfiguration, the Prophet Elijah conversed with the Savior upon Mount Tabor (Mt. 17: 3; Mark 9: 4; Luke. 9: 30).

Orthodox Christians of all times, and in all places, have venerated the Prophet Elijah for centuries.
The first church in Russia, built at Kiev under Prince Igor, was named for the Prophet Elijah.
After her Baptism St Olga (July 14) built a temple of the holy Prophet Elijah in his native region, at the village of Vibuta.
In iconography the Prophet Elijah is depicted ascending to Heaven in a fiery chariot, surrounded with flames, and harnessed to four winged horses.

We pray to him for deliverance from drought, and to ask for seasonable weather.

Elijah (Elias), Prophet (RM) 8th century BC. The eventful life of Elijah, the great prophet of the Old Testament, is recorded for us in 1 and 2 Kings. He was a real but almost legendary figure, like Saint John the Baptist: hairy, dressed in animal skins, coming out of the wilderness to terrify the whole country with his announcements of impending calamity, and then disappearing. Elijah lived during the reign of Ahab, at a time when the Jewish people had again turned to pagan gods.
He appeared before Ahab and announced an extended drought.

Yet no one repented, so he hid himself by the brook Cherith, where he was fed by ravens each morning and evening.

When the brook dried up, Elijah moved to Zarephath, where he met a poor widow preparing a last meal for herself and her son before they died of starvation. Nevertheless, the widow extended hospitality to the limit of her ability and was rewarded. God, through Elijah, constantly and miraculously renewed her supply of oil and grain. When her son died, Elijah restored him to life.
After three years of drought, God ordered Elijah to return to Ahab. During Elijah's absence, Ahab's wife, Jezebel, had ordered that all prophets of God by executed. Obadiah, one of the king's ministers and a minor prophet, hid 50 of them in a cave, where he met Elijah on his way to Ahab's court. Obadiah panicked when Elijah commanded him to tell Ahab that "Elijah is here" because there was a standing order to kill every prophet on sight. Nevertheless, Obadiah took Elijah to his king.
Ahab accused Elijah of bringing trouble to Israel. Elijah replied: "I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father's house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and have followed Ba'alam."
Then he proposed a public contest: "Gather all Israel on Mount Carmel, and 450 prophets of Baal." The king agreed, so the met at the appointed time and place. Elijah admonished the people to choose between Baal and Yahweh--whichever proved stronger. The prophet of God and the prophets of Baal would each chose a bullock, cut it, and lay it on wood. The true God would be the one who would cause a holocaust. The prophets of Baal began first. For days and nights they prayed and danced about and leapt upon the altar, until Elijah derided them: "Cry louder. Perhaps your god is asleep and needs to be awakened." Baal prophets redoubled their efforts and added self mutilation. But nothing happened. Then it was Elijah's turn. He calmly prepared the altar, slaughtered the bullock, set the wood, drenched everything with water, and then prayed. At once a fire came and consumed everything. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and prayed to the living God. Elijah rounded up the priests of Baal, took them to the brook of Kishon, and killed them.

Then he went to Ahab and said, "Eat and drink, for there will be an abundance of rain." And it rained.

Jezebel was furious when Ahab told her what had happened.
She sent a message to Elijah that she was mete out to him the following day the same fate he gave to Baal's priests.
Elijah fled into the desert, where he was fed by an angel. He set out for Mount Horeb (Sinai) by walking forty days without food or rest. Elijah was near despair when God visited him on a mountainside: "And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke the rocks into pieces before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind was an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake was a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small voice" that told him to anoint Elisha as a prophet.
He found Elisha plowing a field. "Elijah passed by him and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah."
Before Elijah was taken up by God in a whirlwind, he asked what he should do for his successor Elisha. Elisha responded: "I pray, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me." And so it was. As they walked together along the Jordan "there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up in a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and cried, 'My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof...'

He took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from the saint, and went back..."

Elijah's association with Mount Carmel is the reason that the Carmelite Order liturgically commemorates this feast of it principal patron (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

1st v St. Joseph of Barsabas A follower of Christ also called Joseph Barsassas and sur named “the Just.” He is the person listed in the Acts of the Apostles as a competitor of St. Matthias for the vacant place among the Apostles, caused by the treachery of Judas Iscariot
In Judæa natális beáti Joseph, qui cognominátus est Justus, quem Apóstoli cum beáto Matthía statuérunt ut locum apostolátus Judæ proditóris impléret; sed, cum sors cecidísset, super Matthíam, ipse, nihilóminus prædicatiónis et sanctitátis offício insérviens, multámque pro fide Christi a Judæis persecutiónem sústinens, victorióso fine quiévit. De quo étiam refértur quod venénum bíberit, et nihil ex hoc triste propter Dómini fidem pertúlerit.
In Judea, the birthday of blessed Joseph, surnamed the Just, whom the apostles selected with blessed Matthias for the apostleship to replace the traitor Judas. The lot having fallen upon Matthias, Joseph, notwithstanding, continued to preach and to advance in virtue, and after having sustained from the Jews many persecutions for the faith of Christ, he happily completed his life. It is related of him that having drunk poison, he received no injury from it, because of his confidence in the Lord.

matthias_election.jpg
Joseph Barsabas the Just (RM) 1st century. A follower of Jesus, Joseph was probably one of the 72 disciples commissioned by the Lord. The choice was between him and Matthias to take the place of Judas Iscariot among the Apostles (Acts 1:23-26) (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia). In art, Saint Joseph is a bishop holding a cup of poison or a child may hold the cup (Roeder).

St. Joseph of Barsabas was put in competition with St Matthias to succeed the traitor Judas in the apostleship, and from the words used by St Peter before the drawing of the lots it is clear that Joseph had been a close follower of our Lord: "Wherefore of these men who have companied with us, all the time that the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day wherein. He was taken from us, one of these must be made a witness with us of His resurrection" (Acts i 21-22). It is probable that he was one of the seventy-two disciples, as Eusebius definitely states he was. After the dispersion of the disciples he preached the gospel in many places, and, among other miracles, drank poison without receiving hurt (as Papias, and from him Eusebius, testify), in accordance with our Lord's promise (Mark xvi 18).

See the Acts of the Apostles i 15-16, and the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v. Cf. also J. Renié in Revue biblique, vol. lv (1948), pp. 43-53.

1st v. St. Apollinaris St. Peter sent Apollinaris to Ravenna, Italy, as its first bishop exiled 4 times by pagans
75 St. Apollinaris first bishop of Ravenna, Italy
Bishop, martyr, and possible disciple of St. Peter. Apollinaris was born in Antioch, Turkey, and became the first bishop of Ravenna, in Italy. He suffered exile because of his preaching and converts. When Emperor Vespasian {69-79} banished Christians, Apollinaris was beaten by a mob and reputedly died soon after from his wounds. His shrine in the Benedictine Abbey of Classe in Ravenna was once a popular pilgrimage destination. Apollinaris was credited with many miracles. He also appeared to St. Romuald, the founder of the Camaldolese. He is patron of Ravenna, Burthscheid, Aachen, Remagen, and Düsseldorf, and he is invoked against gout, epilepsy, and diseases of the sexual organs. Apollinaris is depicted as a bishop in liturgical art. His cult was confined to local calendars in 1969.
Apollinaris of Ravenna BM (RM) Apollinaris was the first bishop of Ravenna, Italy. According to his late and unreliable acta, he was a disciple of Saint Peter and a native of Antioch, who at one time survived a shipwreck in Dalmatia, was driven from his see three times, went into hiding the fourth time when Emperor Vespasian banished all Christians, and was discovered and beaten by a mob. But nothing is known with certainty about him--even the date of his death is debatable. Saint Bede's martyrology reports that he governed Ravenna for 20 years and was killed during Vespasian's reign.
Some say he was repeatedly tortured for the faith and to have died in the process. But he may be a martyr only because he suffered for Christ; he may not have died of it. The best literary witness to his existence is Saint Peter Chrysologus (died c. 450), who left a sermon in honor of Apollinaris. In it Chrysologus styles his subject as a martyr, but adds that although he spilled his blood many times for Christ and desired to lay down his life, God preserved him.
His shrine is at the Benedictine Abbey of Classe in Ravenna, which became famous throughout Christendom. Saint Fortunatus exhorted his friends to make pilgrimages to his tomb, and Saint Gregory the Great ordered parties in doubtful lawsuits to be sworn before it. Apollinaris's best memorials are the superb churches of Ravenna dedicated to name; however, Pope Honorius built one memorial in Rome dedicated to him about 630. There is a fine mosaic representing him as a shepherd of his flock in Ravenna. The feast of Apollinaris occurs in all martyrologies, and the high veneration which the church paid early to his memory is a sufficient testimony of his eminent sanctity and apostolic spirit (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth, White).
In art, Saint Apollinaris is an early Christian bishop with a club. He may also be shown (1) beaten with a club by the devil; (2) standing or seated on hot coals; (3) bearded, in a chasuble and pallium, with sheep around him (in a mosaic); or (4) preaching to sheep. The sheep in early Christian mosaics signify that he was a pastor (Roeder).
St. Apollinaris was the first bishop of Ravenna, and its only known martyr. His acts say that he was born at Antioch, a disciple of St Peter, and made by him bishop of Ravenna, but this is an invention of the seventh century, when the pretensions of that see were in need of support. He was famous among the earlier martyrs, and the high veneration which the Church paid early to his memory is a sufficient testimony to his sanctity and apostolic spirit; but no reliance can be put in his legend. According to it he miraculously healed the wife of an official and converted her and her husband, cured one Boniface who was dumb, and made many converts, for which he was flogged and chased from the city; he preached the gospel in Bologna and converted the household of the patrician Rufinus, and was banished from thence and wrecked on the Dalmatian coast, where his preaching caused him to be ill-treated. Three times he returned to his see, and each time was captured, tortured, and driven out again; the fourth time the Emperor Vespasian issued a decree of banishment against Christians, and for a time Apollinaris lay in hiding with the connivance of a Christian centurion; but he was recognized and set upon by the mob at Classis, a suburb of the city, knocked about, and left for dead. St Peter Chrysologus, the most illustrious among his successors, has left a sermon in his honour, in which he styles him martyr; but adds that God preserved him a long time to His Church, and did not suffer the persecutors to take away his life. So he may have been a martyr only by the torments he endured for Christ. The name of St Apollinaris occurs in the canon of the Milanese Mass.

St Peter Chrysologus in his sermons (no. 128) refers to St Apollinaris as first bishop of Ravenna and as a martyr. Beyond this we know very little. The life, printed in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. 5, is not of older date than the seventh century, and there is no reason to suppose it to be based on any genuine tradition. The subject has been fully discussed by Mgr Lanzoni in his essay Le fonti della leggenda di Sant' Apollinare di Ravenna (1915), and again in his book Le diocesi d'Italia...(1923), pp. 455 seq., and see E. Will, S. Apollinaire de Ravenne (1936). Cf. also Delehaye, "L'Hagiographie ancienne de Ravenne" in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlvii (1929), pp. 5-30; Zattoni, La data della Passio S. Apollinaris (1904), with other later papers; M. G. Loreta, Le chiese di S. Apollinare (1924); and CMH., pp. 390-392.

Apollinarius, Bishop of Ravenna: Hieromartyr During the reign of the Roman emperor Claudius (41-54), the holy Apostle Peter came to Rome from Antioch, and he ordained Apollinarius, who had come with him, to be Bishop of Ravenna. Arriving in Ravenna as a stranger, St Apollinarius asked shelter of a local inhabitant, the soldier Irenaeus, and in conversation with him revealed for what purpose he had come.
Irenaeus had a blind son, whom St Apollinarius healed, having turned to the Lord with prayer. The soldier Irenaeus and his family were the first in Ravenna to believe in Christ. The saint stayed at the house of Irenaeus and preached about Christ to everyone wanting to hear what he said. One of the miracles performed by St Apollinarius was the healing of Thekla, the incurably sick wife of the Ravenna tribune. She arose from her bed completely healthy, through the prayers of the saint. Not only did she believe in Christ, but so did the tribune. At the house of the tribune St Apollinarius constructed a small church, where he celebrated Divine Liturgy. St Apollinarius ordained two presbyters, Aderetus and Calocyrus, and also two deacons for the newly-baptized people of Ravenna.

St Apollinarius preached the Gospel at Ravenna for twelve years, and the number of Christians steadily increased. Pagan priests complained about the bishop to the governor Saturninus. St Apollinarius was brought to trial and subjected to grievous tortures. Thinking that he had died, the torturers took him out of the city to the seacoast and threw him into the water. The saint, however, was alive. A certain pious Christian widow helped him and gave him shelter in her home. St Apollinarius stayed at her home for six months, and continued secretly to preach about Christ. The saint's whereabouts became known when he restored the power of speech to an illustrious resident of the city named Boniface, whose wife requested the saint to help her husband.
After this miracle many pagans were converted to Christ, and they again brought St Apollinarius to trial and tortured him, setting his bare feet on red-hot coals. They removed him from the city a second time, but the Lord again kept him alive. The saint did not cease preaching until they expelled him from the city. For a certain time St Apollinarius found himself elsewhere in Italy, where he continued to preach the Gospel as before. Returning to Ravenna to his flock, St Apollinarius again went on trial and was sentenced to banishment.
In heavy fetters, he was put on a ship sailing to Illyrica to the River Danube. Two soldiers were responsible for conveying him to his place of exile. Three of the clergy voluntarily followed their bishop into exile. Along the way the vessel was wrecked and everyone drowned, except for St Apollinarius, his clergy and the two soldiers. The soldiers, listening to St Apollinarius, believed in the Lord and accepted Baptism. Not finding any shelter, the travellers came to Mycea, where St Apollinarius healed a certain illustrious inhabitant from leprosy, and for which both he and his companions received shelter at his home. In this land St Apollinarius preached tirelessly about Christ and he converted many of the pagans to Christianity, for which he was subjected to persecution on the part of unbelievers. They beat up the saint mercilessly, and placing him on a ship sailing for Italy, they sent him back.
After a three year absence, St Apollinarius returned to Ravenna and was joyfully received by his flock. The pagans, however, having fallen upon the church where the saint served the Divine Liturgy, scattered those at prayer, and dragged the saint to the idolatrous priests in the pagan temple of Apollo, where the idol fell just as they brought the saint in, and it shattered. The pagan priests brought St Apollinarius for trial to Taurus, the new governor of the district. Apollinarius performed a new miracle, healing the son of the governor, who had been blind from birth. In gratitude for the healing of his son, Taurus tried to protect St Apollinarius from the angry crowd. He sent him to his own estate outside the city. Although the son and wife of Taurus were baptized, he feared the anger of the emperor, and did not accept Baptism. However, he conducted himself with gratitude and love towards his benefactor.
St Apollinarius lived for five years at the estate of Taurus and preached without hindrance about salvation. During this time pagan priests sent letters of denunciation to the emperor Vespasian with a request for a sentence of death or exile of the Christian "sorcerer" Apollinarius. But the emperor told the pagan priests that the gods were sufficiently powerful to take revenge for themselves, if they felt themselves insulted. All the wrath of the pagans fell upon St Apollinarius: they caught hold of him when the saint left the city for a nearby settlement, and they beat him fiercely. Christians found him barely alive and took him to the settlement, where he lived for seven days. During his final illness the saint did not cease to teach his flock. He predicted that after the persecutions ended, Christians would enter upon better times when they could openly and freely confess their faith. Having given those present his archpastoral blessing, the hieromartyr Apollinarius fell asleep in the Lord. St Apollinarius was Bishop of Ravenna for twenty-eight years and he died in the year 75.

75 Apollinaris of Ravenna BM (RM) Apollinaris was the first bishop of Ravenna, Italy. According to his late and unreliable acta, he was a disciple of Saint Peter and a native of Antioch, who at one time survived a shipwreck in Dalmatia, was driven from his see three times, went into hiding the fourth time when Emperor Vespasian banished all Christians, and was discovered and beaten by a mob. But nothing is known with certainty about him--even the date of his death is debatable. Saint Bede's martyrology reports that he governed Ravenna for 20 years and was killed during Vespasian's reign.

Some say he was repeatedly tortured for the faith and to have died in the process. But he may be a martyr only because he suffered for Christ; he may not have died of it. The best literary witness to his existence is Saint Peter Chrysologus (died c. 450), who left a sermon in honor of Apollinaris. In it Chrysologus styles his subject as a martyr, but adds that although he spilled his blood many times for Christ and desired to lay down his life, God preserved him.
His shrine is at the Benedictine Abbey of Classe in Ravenna, which became famous throughout Christendom. Saint Fortunatus exhorted his friends to make pilgrimages to his tomb, and Saint Gregory the Great ordered parties in doubtful lawsuits to be sworn before it. Apollinaris's best memorials are the superb churches of Ravenna dedicated to name; however, Pope Honorius built one in Rome dedicated to him about 630. There is a fine mosaic representing him as a shepherd of his flock in Ravenna. The feast of Apollinaris occurs in all martyrologies, and the high veneration which the church paid early to his memory is a sufficient testimony of his eminent sanctity and apostolic spirit (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth, White).
In art, Saint Apollinaris is an early Christian bishop with a club. He may also be shown (1) beaten with a club by the devil; (2) standing or seated on hot coals; (3) bearded, in a chasuble and pallium, with sheep around him (in a mosaic); or (4) preaching to sheep. The sheep in early Christian mosaics signify that he was a pastor (Roeder).

Apollonius and Eugene MM (RM). Apollonius was pierced with arrows at the stake and Eugene was beheaded (Benedictines).

According to tradition,. His preaching of the Good News was so successful that the pagans there beat him and drove him from the city. He returned, however, and was exiled a second time. After preaching in the area surrounding Ravenna, he entered the city again. After being cruelly tortured, he was put on a ship heading to Greece. Pagans there caused him to be expelled to Italy, where he went to Ravenna for a fourth time. He died from wounds received during a savage beating at Classis, a suburb of Ravenna. A beautiful basilica honoring him was built there in the sixth century.

Comment: Following Jesus involves risks—sometimes the supreme risk of life itself. Martyrs are people who would rather accept the risk of death than deny the cornerstone of their whole life: faith in Jesus Christ. Everyone will die eventually—the persecutors and those persecuted. The question is what kind of a conscience people will bring before the Lord for judgment. Remembering the witness of past and present martyrs can help us make the often-small sacrifices that following Jesus today may require.

Quote: During his remarks prior to the Regina Caeli on May 7, 2000, Pope John Paul II noted that later that day at Rome's Colosseum he would participate in an ecumenical service honoring 20th-century martyrs. He said, “It is the same paschal light that shines in them. Indeed, it is from Christ's resurrection that the disciples receive the strength to follow the Master in their hour of trial.” What the pope said of those martyrs is true of all martyrs for Christ, including today's saint.

304 Margaret (Marina) of Antioch (of the Latins) VM (RM)

Antiochíæ pássio sanctæ Margarítæ, Vírginis et Mártyris.
At Antioch, the passion of St. Margaret, virgin and martyr.

Orthodoxe Kirche: 17. Juli Katholische, Anglikanische und Evangelische Kirche: 20. Juli

Margaret's cultus began in the East and spread to France, England, and Germany, becoming one of the most popular virgin-martyrs of the Middle Ages. She is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers (honored as a group on August 8), who were venerated for their efficacious intercessory power. Promises Margaret supposedly made about her powers of intercession contributed to her popularity. Margaret is said to have been a maiden of Antioch, Pisidia, martyred under Diocletian.

This much is probably true; everything else related in her acta is a forgery composed by Theotimus, who claimed to have been Margaret's servant. Story takes place under Diocletian, but doesn't appear until the 10th century.
According to her acta, she was the daughter of a pagan priest of Antioch and was nursed by a Christian woman. She became a Christian and was consequently driven from home by her father. She lived with her nurse and became a shepherdess.
Margaret was admired by the prefect Olybrius, who wanted her either as a wife or a mistress, but she resisted him. He vindictively called her before his tribunal and accused her of being a Christian. She was tortured and thrown into prison. There the devil appeared to her in the form of a dragon and swallowed her, but she held a cross, which irritated his stomach, causing it to burst, and thus was freed. She confronted another demon and overcame it.
The next day attempts were made to kill her by fire and water, but they failed. Thousands of spectators were converted during these attempts, and they in turn, were executed. She was finally killed by beheading. Her executioner fell dead at her feet after killing her, a reward for not wishing to carry out his task, for in this way he could join her in heaven. Her body was taken by Theotimus and buried by a noble widow.
Margaret's voice was one of those heard by Saint Joan of Arc. Her alleged relics were stolen from Antioch in 980, brought to San Pietro della Valle, and were translated to Montefiascone in 1145. Some of her relics were translated to Venice in 1213, and many others are claimed throughout Europe (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Sheppard, White).
In art, Saint Margaret carries a small cross and has a dragon on lead (Sheppard), or trampling or standing on a dragon, or emerging from its mouth, or piercing it with a cross-tipped spear (White). She is invoked against kidney disease, by pregnant women (Sheppard) (probably because she was swallowed by a dragon and delivered whole and because she is reputed to have promised that women who invoked her during childbirth would have safe deliveries), and of death (she is reputed to have promised that whoever invoked her as they were dying would escape the devil) (White). In East known as Saint Marina (Sheppard).

St. Margaret of Antioch according to her legend, daughter of a pagan priest at Antioch in Pisidia; She is one of the 14 Holy Helpers, and hers was one of the voices heard by Joan of Arc.
Also known as Marina, she was converted to Christianity, whereupon she was driven from home by her father. She became a shepherdess and when she spurned the advances of Olybrius, the prefect, who was infatuated with her beauty, he charged her with being a Christian. He had her tortured and then imprisoned, and while she was in prison she had an encounter with the devil in the form of a dragon. According to the legend, he swallowed her, but the cross she carried in her hand so irritated his throat that he was forced to disgorge her (she is patroness of childbirth). The next day, attempts were made to execute her by fire and then by drowning, but she was miraculously saved and converted thousands of spectators witnessing her ordeal-all of whom were promptly executed. Finally, she was beheaded. That she existed and was martyred are probably true; all else is probably fictitious embroidery and added to her story, which was immensely popular in the Middle Ages, spreading from the East all over Western Europe. She is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, and hers was one of the voices heard by Joan of Arc.

Marina / Margareta von Antiochien
Orthodoxe Kirche: 17. Juli Katholische, Anglikanische und Evangelische Kirche: 20. Juli
Margareta (in der Ostkirche Marina) soll die Tochter eines heidnischen Priesters in Antiochia in Kleinasien gewesen sein. Von einer christlichen Amme erzogen wurde sie als Kind getauft und bekannte sich als Mädchen auch ihrem Vater gegenüber zu Christus. Als dieser sie nicht umstimmen konnte, übergab er sie mit 15 Jahren dem römischen Präfekten, der ihr zunächst anbot, sie zu heiraten und sie - als sie dies ablehnte - foltern ließ. Da Marina auch die schwersten Folterungen überstand, gab der Gouverneur den Befehl, alle Christen zu töten. 15.000 sollen den Märtyrertod gefunden haben, Marina wurde enthauptet (um 305). Ihr Leichnam wurde in Konstantinopel (bis 1204) oder in Antiochia (bis 908) aufbewahrt. Er kam dann nach Italien, eine Hand befindet sich auf dem Athos. Margareta gehört zu den 14 Nothelfern und den heiligen Madln(Virgines Capitales). Im Mittelalter wurden am Margaretentag Pachtzinsen fällig und die Ernte konnte an diesem Tag beginnen.

304 Margaret (Marina) of Antioch (of the Latins) Marina / Margareta von Antiochien St. Margaret of Antioch
On July zo the Roman Martyrology celebrates "the passion at Antioch of the holy Margaret, virgin and martyr", formerly one of the most famous and widely venerated saints of the Church.    Her cultist, under the name of "the very great martyr Marina ", began in the East; as Margaret she appears in the martyrology of Rabanus Maurus in the ninth century, and in the Bosworth Psalter, and soon her fame spread in England, France and Germany, and continued throughout the middle ages; she is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, and hers was one of the "voices" that spoke to St Joan of Arc.
    Her alleged relics were stolen from Antioch in 908 and brought to San Pietro della Valle on the lake of Bolsena, and in 1145 were translated to Monteflascone; part of them were further translated, to Venice, in 1213, an event noted in the Roman Martyrology on July 17, which is the saint's feast-day among the Greeks.

Many other relics of her are shown throughout Europe.   Her acts are a pure forgery, written by a man who called himself Theotimus and represented himself to be her attendant who had been the spectator of all he related. They belong to the same family of legends as those of St Pelagia of Mitioch (alias Margaret, alias Marina; October 8) and her congeners.
The story they tell is briefly this.
Margaret was the daughter of a pagan priest of Antioch in Pisidia, who was put out to nurse with a Christian woman. Margaret herself became a Christian, and on being driven away in consequence from her father's house she went to live with her old nurse and made a living as a shepherdess. While thus employed she was seen by the prefect Olybrius, who marvelled at her beauty and grace and would have had her as his wife were she free, as his mstress were she a slave. But she would not have him either way, and in revenge he ordered her to be brought before his tribunal and charged as a Christian; and after she had been tortured she was cast into prison.
    There she underwent a terrible ordeal with the Devil, who appeared to her in the form of a dragon and eventually swallowed her: but the cross which she had in her hand (or the sign of the cross) was an irritation to the dragon's stomach, which opened and emitted her in safety (even the Golden Legend says that "this swallowing and breaking of the belly of the dragon is said to be apocryphal ").
Then she had conflict with another demon, whom she overcame, and they talked together, and he told her how he had been with others like him enclosed in a brazen vessel by Solomon, and how the vessel had been found in Babylon and broken open by people who thought it to contain treasure, so that the demons were released to plague the world-the affinities of which tale are not hard to see. The next day an attempt was made to slay her in various ways both by fire and by water; but the only result was to convert thousands of the spectators, who were all put to the sword. At length she was killed by beheading, the executioner immediately after falling dead also: not, it appears, as a retribution but as a reward whereby he would join her in Heaven, * When it is considered that patron saints are often selected by direct or indirect association, e.g. St Vitus, of comedians, St Barbara, of gunners, our Lady of Loreto, of airmen, it is not merely ribald to suggest that this absurd incident may account for St Margaret being a patroness of women in childbirth for he had been unwilling to fulfil his office. And this is stated to have taken place during the persecution of Diocletian. The faithful Theotimus took up Margaret's body and it was buried by a noble widow of the city.

As may be learnt from BHL., nn. 5303-5313, there are a number of variant Latin texts of this extravagant but highly popular biography; and there are also many adaptations of the life in French, Provençal, Anglo.Saxon, German, Irish, etc. For the Latin see the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v; also G. H. Gerould in the Pubications of the Modern Language Association of America, vol. xxxix (1924), pp. 225-226; and A. Mabeilini, Leggenda di Santa Margherita (1925). Cf. also what has been said above in connection with St Marina on February and St Pelagia on October 8, and Delehaye, Légendes hagiographiques (1927), pp. 187-192. St Margaret's name appears in the Bosworth Psalter and other tenth-century English calendars, and at the provincial council of Oxford in 1222 her feast, like that of St Catherine and some other saints, was made a holiday of obligation. Alban Butler remarks that Marco Girolamo Vida, an almost forgotten poet of the sixteenth century whom he calls "the glory of the Christian muses", has honoured St Margaret, one of the tutelary saints of his native Cremona, with two hymns.

334 Rheticus of Autun a Gallo-Roman, became bishop of Autun about 310. Three years later he participated in the Lateran synod that condemned the Donatists B (AC)
(also known as Rheticius, Rhetice) Saint Rheticus, a Gallo-Roman, became bishop of Autun about 310. Three years later he participated in the Lateran synod that condemned the Donatists (Benedictines).

355 St. Barhadbesciabas A Persian martyr, serving as a deacon in Arbele tortured by the governor of the Persian region of Adiaban in modern Iran
Sometimes called Barhadbesaba. He was caught up in the persecution conducted by Sassanid King Shapur II and was tortured by the governor of the Persian region of Adiaban in modern Iran. Aggai, an apostate Christian, was ordered to behead Barhadbesciabas. He used the ax with such clumsiness that he had to strike the martyr again in order to slay him.

St. Sabinus Martyr with Cassia, Julian, Macrobius, Maximus, Paula, and ten companions.They were put to death at Damascus, Syria.

Damásci sanctórum Mártyrum Sabíni, Juliáni, Máximi, Macróbii, Cássiæ et Paulæ, cum áliis decem.
At Damascus, the holy martyrs Sabinus, Julian, Maximus, Macrobius, Cassia, and Paul, with ten others.

Sabinus, Julian, Maximus, & Companions MM (RM). Sabinus, Julian, Maximus, Macrobius, Cassia, Paula, and ten others comprised a group of Syrians put to death for the faith at Damascus (Benedictines).

429 Aurelius of Carthage archdeacon when promoted, in 388, to head the Church in Africa; Friend of Saint Augustine of Hippo; one of the first detect and oppose Celestius and Pelagianism councils 412 and 416; convened several councils to counter the Donatists; highly praised by Saint Fulgentius .B (AC)
Bishop Saint Aurelius of Carthage was archdeacon when he was promoted, in 388, to head the Church in Africa. He is said to have had more than 500 bishops under him. Friend of Saint Augustine of Hippo. He is one of the first to detect and oppose Celestius and Pelagianism in councils held in 412 and 416. He also convened several councils to counter the Donatists. He was forced by the violence of his adversaries to invoke the civil power against them, much against his own will. Aurelius is highly praised by Saint Fulgentius (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
429 St. Aurelius Bishop and companion of St. Augustine of Hippo a deacon at Carthage and became the bishop of that see in 392; a vigorous foe of the heresies of the time, His complaints about the loyalties of the local clergy prompted St. Augustine to write On the Work of Monks .

429 St Aurelius, Bishop Of Carthage
About the year 392, just after St Augustine was ordained priest and appointed to the church of Hippo, a deacon of Carthage, Aurelius, was chosen to be bishop of that see. At this time the great church of north Africa was at the height of its power and influence, and the bishop of Carthage, being in effect its primate or patriarch, was one of the most important of all Christian prelates.
The new bishop was faced by two great heretical movements, that of the Donatists, which was reaching its last stages, and that of the Pelagians, which was beginning to emerge; during the thirty-seven years of his episcopate St Aurelius convened numerous provincial and plenary synods of the African bishops to deal with these and other matters. These meetings and the journeys they involved took up so much of the bishops' time that St Aurelius extended their duty of preaching to the better qualified among the presbyters, which was not yet usual in the Church.
Aurelius was on terms of intimate friendship with St Augustine, and when he complained of the degeneracy of numerous monks, who were simply lazy under pretence of the contemplative life, Augustine wrote a treatise, " Concerning the Work of Monks ", to help remedy the situation. St Fulgentius of Ruspe, an African bishop of the next generation, wrote in glowing terms of St Aurelius, as did the learned Spaniard, Paul Orosius.

An account of St Aurelius is given in the Acta Sanctorum for October, vol. xi, pp. 850-860. He had been omitted in his proper place from failure to observe that his cultus was recognized in the Carthaginian calendar of the sixth century in this form: "July 20, depositio sancti Aurili episcopi". There is no formal biography, hut many allusions in St Augustine's letters and in conciliar documents, etc. See Hefele-Leclercq, Conciles, vol. ii, pt 1, and Bardenhewer, Geschicte der altkirchlichen Literatur, vol. iv, pp. 524-525.

513 St. Elias Elias was an Arab who was educated in an Egyptian monastery; driven from Egypt by monophysite Bishop Timothy the Cat of Alexandria for his Catholic orthodoxy; stayed for a time at St Euthymius' laura, founded a monastery at Jericho, and was ordained. In 494 he was elected patriarch of Jerusalem
He went to Palestine, where he stayed for a time at St Euthymius' laura, founded a monastery at Jericho, and was ordained. In 494 he was elected patriarch of Jerusalem. Although he had accepted Emperor Zeno's Henotikon of 482, which was condemned for its bias in favor of monophysitism, Elias remained loyal to Rome. In 512 the synod of Sidon supported Elias and his colleague, Bishop Flavian of Antioch, and the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon (451), though the synod had been summoned to denounce Chalcedon and to depose the two bishops, who strongly supported Chalcedon.

Elias was exiled to Aila on the Red Sea in 513 when he refused to sign Emperor Anastasius's formula supporting monophysitism and died there.

512 & 518 St. Flavian patriarch of Antioch, and Elias patriarch of Jerusalem. They were both exiled by Emperor Anastasius I, a Monophysite. The two bishops supported the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon. Flavian, and probably Elias, died in the city of Petra, Jordan
Eódem die natális sanctórum Flaviáni Secúndi, Epíscopi Antiochéni, et Elíæ, Epíscopi Hierosolymitáni; qui, pro Synodo Chalcedonénsi ab Anastásio Imperatóre ambo in exsílium acti, victóres migrárunt ad Dóminum.
The same day, the birthday of St. Flavian II, bishop of Antioch, and St. Elias, bishop of Jerusalem. They were driven into exile by Emperor Anastasius for their defence of the Council of Chalcedon, and there they went victoriously to the Lord.
Flavian and Elias BB (RM) Respectively died c. 512 and 518. Saint Flavian was patriarch of Antioch, and Saint Elias patriarch of Jerusalem. Both were exiled by the Monophysite Emperor Anastasius (491-518) for strenuously upholding the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon. This is the reason for their joint commemoration in the Roman Martyrology (Benedictines).

512 & 518 St. Flavian patriarch of Antioch, and Elias patriarch of Jerusalem
Elias was an Arab, educated in an Egyptian monastery and in 457 driven out of that country as an orthodox Catholic by the monophysite patriarch of Alexandria, Timothy the Cat. He went to Palestine where, after being given shelter in the laura of St Euthymius, he founded a community at Jericho, was ordained priest, and in 494 elected patriarch of Jerusalem.
    During these years he must have met Flavian, a Syrian hieromonk, who had been used by his patriarch as delegate to the imperial court at Constantinople, and had succeeded him in the see of Antioch in 498.
In the year 482 the Emperor Zeno issued a document called the Henotikon, of which the object was to settle the controversy between Catholics and monophysites. It was condemned at Rome as favouring Monophysism, and was a source of further schism and dissension in the East for years.
   Both Flavian and Elias accepted the Henotikon and in other ways acted equivocally; but they were both orthodox at heart, and eventually were driven from their sees for their refusal to co-operate with the imperial support of Monophysism.
St Flavian died in exile at Petra in Arabia, and St Elias at Aila, further south on the shore of the Red Sea, his friend the great St Sabas being with him at the time.
    In spite of their having subscribed the Henotikon, these two hierarchs are named together today in the Roman Martyrology (inserted by Baronius) and their feast is kept by Catholics of the Syrian rite on February 18.

The principal authorities for these facts are the historians Evagrius and Theophanes. See also the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. ii. It must be admitted that the recorded conduct of both patriarchs has laid them open to much criticism. See, for example, the articles devoted to them in DCB., vol. ii, pp. 84 seq. and 533 seq.

680 St. Severa Virgin and abbess;, sister of Saint Modoald of Trier; She was the first abbess of the convent of St. Gemma (Jater Sainte-Severe), at Villeneuve

Tréviris sanctæ Sevéræ Vírginis. At Treves, St. Severa, virgin.

Severa (Sevère) of Villeneuve, Abbess (RM). Saint Severa, sister of Saint Modoald of Trier, was the first abbess of Saint Gemma (later Sainte-Sevère) at Villeneuve in the diocese of Bourges (Benedictines).

689 St. Wulmar Benedictine abbot, founder of the rnonastery of Samer near Boulogne

In pago Bononiénsi, in Gállia, sancti Vulmári Abbátis, admirándæ sanctitátis viri.
At Boulogne in France, the abbot St. Wulmar, a man of admirable sanctity.

700 St Vulmar, Abbot

St Vulmar or Wulmar, whom the Roman Martyrology calls a man of wonderful holiness, was born in the territory of Boulogne in Picardy. He was married, but having been separated by force from his wife, he entered himself in the abbey of Hautmont in Hainault, where he was employed to keep the cattle and to hew wood for the community. He was distinguished for his eminent spirit of prayer, and was promoted to the priesthood. He obtained leave to live alone in a hermitage near Mount Cassel for some years, then founded near Calais the abbey of Samer, corruptly so called for Saint-Vulmar; this monastery existed until the French Revolution. St Vulmar also founded a nunnery at Wierre-aux-Bois, a mile from his own monastery.

Caedwalla, King of the West Saxons, passing that way in 688 on his journey to Rome to receive baptism, conferred on the abbey an alms towards carrying on the foundation.
St Vulmar was glorified by miracles, and his relics were conveyed to Boulogne, and from thence to the abbey of St Peter at Ghent.

The biography which has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum (July, vol. v) and by Mabillon is of no great value: it was written at earliest in the middle of the ninth century. Cf. Van der Essen, Etude critique sur les Vitae des saints mérovingiens (1907), pp. 412-414. Wulmar (d. 689) + Benedictine abbot, also listed Vulmar, Ulmar, and Vilmer. Born near Boulogne, Picardy, France, he was actually married but was separated from his wife and entered the Benedictines as a lay brother at Haumont, in Hainault. He was eventually ordained and was the founder of the rnonastery of Samer near Boulogne, which he served as abbot. The abbey was named Saint-Vulmaire in his honor.

Vulmar of Samer, OSB Abbot (AC) (also known as Ulmar, Wulmar, Vilmer) Born near Boulogne, Picardy. Vulmar married but was separated from his wife by force and became a Benedictine lay- brother at Haumont in Hainault. Here he was herded cattle and chopped wood for the abbey, but after a time, being considered worthy for the priesthood, he was ordained and eventually became the founder and first abbot of the monastery of Samer (Salviniacum) near Boulogne. Later the abbey was called Saint-Vulmaire in his honor (Benedictines). In art, Saint Vulmar is a hermit in a hollow tree to whom a peasant brings bread (Roeder).

750 Severa of Öhren abbess of the great Benedictine convent at Trier OSB Abbess (AC)
It may seem odd that the sister of the bishop of Trèves should have the same name as this abbess of the great Benedictine convent at Trier, but she desired to emulate her predecessor (Benedictines).

833 Ansegisus of Fontenelle chosen by Charlemagne to restoe several abbeys Saint Sixtus at Rheims, Saint Meuge near Châlons, Saint Germer at Flaix, Luxeuil, and Fontenelle; wrote a collection of capitularies, the official lawbook of the Empire; life characterization of Benedictine work for Christianity and civilization during Dark Ages of Europe, 833 St Ansegisus, Abbot
Ansegisus was born about 770, probably in the Lyonnais, and at the age of eighteen became a monk in the abbey of Fontenelle, of which a relation of his was abbot. His goodness and learning soon attracted notice, and upon the recommendation of his superior he was appointed by Charlemagne to administer the abbeys of St Sixtus at Rheims and St Menge, near Chalons. He then was made abbot of St Germer-de-Fly in the diocese of Beauvais, of which both the buildings and the community were in a state of collapse. He was still only thirty-seven years old, yet he was among the emperor's advisers and was entrusted by him with administrative offices, a trust which was carried on by his successor, Louis the Debonair, who as well named him to the abbacy of Luxeuil. This famous monastery had not recovered from the effects of its ravaging by the Vandals, and for five years Ansegisus laboured to bring it to its former state of discipline and prosperity. The last benefice of the saint was the house of his profession, Fontenelle, of which he was made abbot in 823, and where he built up both a highly spiritual community and a worthy material edifice.
Under Ansegisus the monks of Fontenelle became famous for their library and their scriptorium, and not least for the work of the abbot in making a collection of capitularies, which for long remained an official law-book in the empire. These capitularies were laws or ordinances promulgated by the Frankish kings, and the collection of Ansegisus was divided into books containing civil and ecclesiastical enactments by Charlemagne and Louis.
At a period the later "lives" of so many of whose saints had to be padded out with doubtful miracles or common-form panegyric, the record of St Ansegisus stands out by its sobriety and solidity. Nobody who was not himself a great administrator and user of the virtues which he inculcated could have brought three monasteries from decay and slackness to a state of observance and good discipline. He was seized by a paralysis in the month of July 833, and died surrounded by his brethren of Fontenelle on the 20th.

The main authority is the Gesta sanctorum patrum Fontanellensis coenobii, from which the biographical matter has been extracted by Mabillon and the Bollandists, July, vol. v. See also the Dictionnaire de Droit Canonique, t. i, cc. 564-567, and DHG., t. iii, cc. 447-448 .

OSB Abbot (AC)
Born c. 770; Saint Ansegisus became a monk at Fontenelle at the age of 18. He was soon chosen by Charlemagne to be the restorer of several abbeys and he ruled successively Saint Sixtus at Rheims, Saint Meuge near Châlons, Saint Germer at Flaix, Luxeuil, and Fontenelle. Ansegisus excelled as a canonist, and wrote a collection of capitularies, which became the official lawbook of the Empire. His life is a characterization of Benedictine work for Christianity and civilization during the Dark Ages of Europe (Benedictines).

St Wilgefortis, or Liberata
In Lusitánia sanctæ Wilgefórtis, Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ, pro Christiána fide ac pudicítia decértans, in cruce méruit gloriósum obtinére triúmphum.
In Portugal, St. Wilgefortis, virgin and martyr, who merited the crown of martyrdom on a cross in defence of the faith and her chastity.

This mythical personage was also known as Uncumber (in England), Ontkommer, Kummernis (in Germany), Regenfiedis (in Flanders), Livrade (in France), and by other names. Her story is a curiosity of hagiology and is hardly worth including in a collection of lives of the saints but for the fact that it has the unenviable distinction of being one of the most obviously false and preposterous of the pseudopious romances by which simple Christians have been deceived or regaled.
Wilgefortis was one of seven (or nine) children born at one birth by the wife of a heathen king of Portugal, all of whom became Christian and suffered martyrdom. Her father wanted to marry Wilgefortis to the king of Sicily, but she had taken a vow of virginity. She therefore prayed in her distress for help from on high, which came in the form of a beard and moustache growing upon her face, whereupon the king of Sicily withdrew his suit. Her father, enraged at what had happened, had her crucified.

In his Caractéristiques des saints dans l'art populaire (1867), Father Charles Cahier, s.j., wrote

For my part, I am inclined to think that the crown, beard, gown and cross which are regarded as the attributes of this marvellous maiden [in pictorial representations], are only a pious devotion to the famous crucifix of Lucca, somewhat gone astray. It is known that devotion to this image of Jesus Christ crucified was widely spread in the twelfth century, so that the favourite oath of William Rufus, King of England, was "By the holy face of Lucca". This famous crucifix was completely dressed and crowned, as were many others of the same period. In course of time, the long gown caused it to be thought that the figure was that of a woman, who on account of the beard was called Vierge-forte. We may add that the crucifix of Lucca was shod with silver to prevent the wearing away of the wood by the kissing of the feet by pilgrims. This also has been turned to the glorification of St Wilgefortis. For it is said that a poor minstrel playing an air before the saint's statue was rewarded by her giving him one of her precious shoes.

This is the generally accepted explanation of the legend, but of course there were numerous robed crucifixes besides that of Lucca. The name Liberata represents a separate character, who originally had a different legend. The derivation of the name Wilgefortis has been suggested to be not Vierge-forte but a corruption of Hilge vartz; "holy face". The "Uncumber" names signify one who frees from anxiety, because of the belief that clients of this "saint" will be delivered from troubles and die a happy death. In England she was invoked particularly by women who were afflicted by troublesome husbands. "For a peck of oats she would not fail to uncumber them of their husbands", says St Thomas More.

St Wilgefortis belongs more to the domain of folklore than to hagiology,
and a considerable bibliography might be compiled out of the books and periodicals of the former class.

An account of her, however, is given in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v, and a long section is devoted to the subject in Detzel and Kunstle, Iconographie der Heiligen. See Delehaye, Légendes hagiographiques (1927), pp. 103-104, and the references there indicated. The standard work on the subject now is G. Schnurer and J. M. Ritz, Sankt Kümmernis und Volto Santo (1934). See also J. Gessler, La Serge barbue (1938).

St. Wilgefortis one of nine daughters of a pagan Portuguese King vow of virginity
Wilgefortis, also known as Liberata, Kummernis in Germany, in England as Uncumber, and in France as Livrade, among other names, her story is a pious fiction more folktale than religious, according to which she was one of nine daughters of a pagan Portuguese King. When her father wanted her to marry the King of Sicily, despite her vow of virginity, she prayed for help in resisting the marriage, whereupon she grew a beard and mustache and the suit was withdrawn.
Her father was so furious he had her crucified. Father Charles Cahier, S.J., wrote, for my part, I am inclined to think that the crown, beard, gown and gown and cross which are regarded as the attributes of this marvelous maiden (in pictorial representations), are only a pious devotion to the famous crucifix of Lucca, somewhat gone astray. This famous crucifix was completely dressed and crowned, as were many others of the same period. In course of time, the long gown caused it to be thought that the figure was that of a woman, who on account of the beard was called Vierge-forte. We may add that the crucifix of Lucca was shod with silver to prevent the wearing away of the wood by the kissing of the feet by pilgrims. This also has been turned to the glorification of St. Wilgefortis. For it is said that a poor minstrel playing an air before the saint's statue was rewarded by her giving him one of her precious shoes.

851 St. Paul of St. Zoilus Spanish martyr a deacon of Cordoba, Spain member of the community of St. Zoilus aid to those Christians imprisoned by Muslim officials
Córdubæ, in Hispánia, sancti Pauli, Diáconi et Mártyris; qui, cum infidéles príncipes argúeret Mahuméticæ impietátis ac sævítiæ, et Christum constantíssime prædicáret, idcírco, eórum jussu necátus, ad præmia evolávit in cælum.
At Cordova in Spain, St. Paul, deacon and martyr. For rebuking Mohammedan princes for their impiety and cruelty, and preaching Christ with constancy, he was put to death and went to his reward in heaven.
He devoted much of his effort to bringing aid to those Christians imprisoned by Muslim officials. Seized by members of the ruling Islamic government, he was beheaded.
(also known as Paul of Saint Zoilus) Deacon Saint Paul belonged to the community of Saint Zoilus in Cordova. He zealously ministered to Christians who had been imprisoned by the Moors. When he was beheaded, he fellow Christians managed to secure his relics, which are enshrined in Saint Zoilus's Church (Benedictines).

903 Etheldwitha of Winchester Anglo-Saxon princess, was wife to King Alfred. After his death she retired to the convent she had founded at Winchester , OSB Widow (AC) (also known as Ealsitha) Etheldwitha, an Anglo-Saxon princess, was wife to King Alfred. After his death she retired to the convent she had founded at Winchester (Benedictines).

1139 St. John of Pulsano a hermit in Sicily and monk famous his for preaching, prophecy, and miracles.
Also John of Matera, a hermit and monk. Born in Matera in the Kingdom of Naples, he entered the Benedictines near Taranto, but was disliked because of his austerities. He then joined the community of St. William of Vercelli for a time, leaving to preach at Ban. John spent time as a hermit in Sicily and was imprisoned. He escaped and went to Capua. In his later years, John founded a monastery at Pulsano. He was famous for preaching, prophecy, and miracles.

1350 Chukhloma Icon of the Mother of God of Galich appeared in the year 1350 to St Abraham of Galich, who came there from the north for ascetical labors with the blessing of St Sergius of Radonezh.
The icon is also commemorated on May 28, July 4, and August 15.
On the wild shores of the Galich lake near the large mountain, hidden in the dense forest, he turned with prayer to the Mother of God, asking Her blessing for his endeavors. After completing his prayer the saint sat down to rest, and suddenly a bright light appeared on the nearby mountainside and he heard a voice: "Abraham, come up the mountain, where there is an icon of My Mother."
   The monk went up the mountain where the light shone, and indeed found an icon of the Mother of God with the Infant on a tree. With tenderness and in gratitude to God, the holy ascetic took the revealed icon and, strengthened by prayers to the Most Holy Theotokos, he built a chapel at that place, in which he put the icon.
   After a certain time the Galich prince Demetrius Feodorovich, learned about the Elder's trip, and asked him to bring the icon. St Abraham rowed across the Galich lake in a boat and, accompanied by clergy and a throng of people, he took the wonderworking icon to the cathedral church of the city of Galich.
   On this day a large number of the sick were healed by this icon. When St Abraham told about the appearance of the icon, the Prince offered money to build a monastery. Soon a church was built in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, around which a monastery grew. St Abraham founded several more monasteries, the last being founded was the Chukhloma, not far from the city of Chukhloma, from the name of this monastery the ascetic was named "of Chukhloma," and the wonderworking icon became known as the Chukhloma Icon of Galich.

1375 Saint Abraham of Galich priest (Chukhloma Lake), lived and pursued asceticism at the monastery of St Sergius of Radonezh revelation to go up a mountain, where he found an icon of the Mother of God shining with an indescribable light; Numerous healings were worked through the icon; founded four monasteries dedicated to the Mother of God, who granted him Her icon at the beginning of his ascetical exploits.
During the fourteenth century, After long years as a novice, he was deemed worthy of the priesthood. Yearning after the perfection of silence, he asked for the blessing of St Sergius, and in the year 1350 settled in the Galich countryside, inhabited by foreign tribes of people. Having settled in a remote place, St Abraham had a revelation to go up a mountain, where he found an icon of the Mother of God shining with an indescribable light. The appearance of the holy icon became known to Prince Demetrius of Galich, who entreated the monk to bring it to the city. St Abraham came with the icon to Galich, where he was met by the Prince and a throng of clergy. Numerous healings were worked through the icon of the Mother of God.

Prince Demetrius gave the monk the means to build a church and monastery near Chukhlomsk Lake, at the place of the appearance of the icon of the Mother of God. The church was built and dedicated in honor of the Dormition of the Most Theotokos. The newly built monastery of St Abraham became a source of spiritual enlightenment for the local foreign peoples. When the monastery was built up, he established in his place as head his disciple Porphyrius, and he himself withdrew 30 versts away in search of a solitary place, but there also disciples found him.

Still another monastery was established with a temple in honor of the Placing of the Robe of the Mother of God, called "the great Abraham wilderness monastery." St Abraham twice withdrew to a quiet place, after which there gathered about him anew the disquieters. Thus two more monasteries were founded. One was named in honor of the Synaxis of the Most Holy Theotokos, of which St Abraham made Porphyrius the igumen. The other was dedicated to the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, where St Abraham finished his earthly life. He died in 1375 A year before his death, he appointed his disciple Innocent to govern the monastery. St Abraham was an enlightener of the Galich land, having founded four monasteries dedicated to the Mother of God, who granted him Her icon at the beginning of his ascetical exploits .

1537: St Jerome Emiliani, Founder Of The Somaschi; served in the armies of the republic; led a careless and irreligious life, but now he sanctified his sufferings by prayer and turning to God; resolved to devote himself and his property solely to others, founded orphanages at Brescia, Bergamo, and Como, shelter for penitent prostitutes, a hospital at Verona
Sancti Hierónymi Æmiliáni Confessóris, Congregatiónis Somáschæ Institutóris, cæléstis ómnium orphanórum ac derelíctæ juventútis Patróni; qui sexto Idus Februárii obdormívit in Dómino.
    St. Jerome Emiliani, confessor, founder of the Congregation of Somascha, the heavenly patron of all orphans and destitute children. He fell asleep in the Lord on the 8th of February.
Jerome was born at Venice in 1481, son of Angelo Emiliani (vulgo Miani) and Eleanor Mauroceni, and served in the armies of the republic during the troubled times of the beginning of the sixteenth century.
   When the League of Cambrai was formed to resist the Venetian, he was appointed to the command of the fortress of Castelnuovo, in the mountains near Treviso; at the fall of the town he was taken prisoner and chained in a dungeon. Hitherto he led a careless and irreligious life, but now he sanctified his sufferings by prayer and turning to God, and, in circumstances which appeared to be miraculous, he was enabled to make his escape.
    He made his way at once to a church in Treviso and, probably later, hung up his fetters as votive offerings before the altar of our Lady, to whom he had vowed himself; and was given the post of mayor in the town. He shortly after returned to Venice to take charge of the education of his nephews and to pursue his own sacerdotal studies, and in 1518 he was ordained.
   Famine and plague having reduced many to the greatest distress, St Jerome devoted himself to relieving all, but particularly abandoned orphans.
   These he gathered in a house which he hired; clothed and fed them at his own expense, and instructed them himself in Christian doctrine and virtue. After himself recovering from the plague, he resolved in 1531, to devote himself and his property solely to others, and founded orphanages at Brescia, Bergamo, and Como, a shelter for penitent prostitutes, and a hospital at Verona. About 1532 Jerome with two other priests established a congregation of men, and at Somascha, between Bergamo and Milan, he founded a house which he destined for the exercises of those whom he received into his congregation.   From this house it took its name, the Clerks Regular of Somascha, and its principal work was the care of orphans.
    The instruction of youth and young clerics became also an object of his foundation, and continues still to be. It is claimed for St Jerome Emiliani that he was the first to introduce the practice of teaching Christian doctrine to children by means of a set catechism drawn up in the form of questions and answers.
    He was so unwearying in looking after the peasants around Somascha that they credited him with the gift of healing; he would work with them in the fields and talk of God and His goodness while he worked. While attending the sick in 1537 he caught an infectious disease of which he died on February 8.
    He was canonized in 1767, and in 1928 was named patron-saint of orphans and abandoned children by Pope Pius XI.   After his death his congregation suffered considerable vicissitudes, but it had the approval of St Charles Borromeo and in 1540 was recognized by Pope Paul III; today, however, the Somaschi number but few members, who conduct schools and orphanages in Italy.

See the Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. ii, where the life of the saint by A. Tortora is printed entire. There are other lives by Sciplo Albani (1600), Andreas Stefla (1605), and W. Hubert (in German, 1895). But the most recent contributions to the subject are the volume published to commemorate the fourth centenary of the foundation of the Somaschi, L'Ordine dei Chierici Regolari Somaschi, 1528-1928 (1928), and the full official biography by G. Landini, S. Girolamo Miani (1947).

1596 Blessed Gregory Lopez, a page to Philip II, Hermit among the Indians near Zacatecas and later near the capital many well-authenticated miracles were recorded at his tomb (PC)
Born in Madrid, Spain, 1542; died in Mexico in 1596. Gregory was a page to Philip II. In 1562, he migrated to Mexico and lived as a hermit among the Indians near Zacatecas and later near the capital. Although he has a widespread cultus throughout the country, the process for his beatification, which was begun in 1752, has stalled (Benedictines).

Blessed Gregory Lopez
AT the time when the empire of Spain was reaching its widest extent and highest point of power Gregory, who afterwards assumed the name of Lopez, was born at Madrid.   Of his parentage and family nothing is known. As a youth he served as a page at the court of King Philip II, but the turning-point of his life came in 1562 when he undertook a pilgrimage to the shrine of our Lady of Guadalupe in Estremadura.
While here he doubtless heard of the other shrine of our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico, and he determined to go to that country, having an inward conviction that there God would show him what he was to do.
       At Vera Cruz he sold his possessions and gave the money to the poor, and then wandered off in search of a place where he might live as a hermit.   This he found in a lonely valley, where for a time he lived peacefully in prayer and penance, walking twenty-four miles to the nearest mission station to assist at Mass and receive the sacraments on great feasts.
   Soon, however, Gregory learned that some of the Spaniards were very shocked that he chose to live in a place where he could get to Mass at only irregular intervals; so, not wishing to appear to set a bad example, he went to a plantation, where he remained till after the earthquake of 1566. Then he returned to his hermitage, which after five years he was persuaded by Friar Dominic de Salazar, a famous missionary, to leave in order to enter the Dominican convent in Mexico City; a few days of community life was sufficient to show he was not fitted for it, and he returned to solitude, at Guestaca and other places.
Tongues meanwhile were wagging; the simple Gregory was made into a" mystery man ", and all sorts of things were said. So the archbishop of Mexico appointed a commission to look into the matter; when he received its report, he unhesitatingly pronounced in public that Gregory Lopez was a man of extraordinary piety and virtue.   This made Gregory far too popular both for his convenience and his humility, and he fled to the sanctuary of our Lady "de los Remedios ".
For a time Gregory was in the hospital, where he wrote a book on pharmacy for the use of the nursing brothers, for in the desert he had learned much about the properties of herbs.   Then, in 1589, with the help of his friend, a priest, Francis Losa, he established himself in a hermitage not far from the church of Michoacan.    Here he was joined by Don Losa, and the two lived together there until Gregory's death.
Their life was simple and orderly, with nothing startling about it. Gregory's practice of poverty was marked by careful use of what was available rather than by an excessive "going without", and, unlike some solitaries, he was scrupulously clean in his body and neat in his clothes. Much time was spent in scriptural study: Gregory had a remarkable knowledge both of the text and the sense of the Bible; and he was often consulted by clergy and lay people of all classes. Naturally he passed long hours in prayer, and that of a high order; when conversation once turned to those who enjoy tranquillity in a state of passive union with God, he said:

"They are good souls and on a good path. But perfection and merit do not lie in acts of enjoyment, but in the soul's effort to use all her forces in loving God in the most perfect way and with the most perfect acts of which she is capable. This, you see, is rather doing than enjoying, whereas the other is enjoying rather than doing. The soul which loves God perfectly is she who is capable of giving no more than she does; in that consists the whole Law and the Prophets, and God requires nothing else from her."\

Gregory Lopez died on July 20, 1596, at the age of fifty-four. Relics of the dead man were eagerly sought, many well-authenticated miracles were recorded at his tomb, and his cultus soon spread all over Mexico ; Don Losa wrote his life,and the book was translated into English in 1675. But this popular cultus has never been officially confirmed, and the cause of the beatification seems to have been in abeyance since 1752. Lopez was admired by such diverse people as Eossuet, John Wesley, the Quietists and the German Pietists.
The life by Don Losa was many times reprinted in Spanish; it was a favourite book of Father Augustine Baker. The unskilful English version of 1675 was replaced in 1876 by a new life written by Canon F. Doyle. Cf. also Father M. Cuevas, Historia de la Iglesia en Méjico, vol. ii. Gregory Lopez wrote a commentary on the Apocalypse of St John which was printed in Madrid in 1678.

1649 Athanasius of Bretsk (Uncovering and Transfer of Relics 1649) The Monastic Martyr ground in which the martyr was buried belonged at the time to the Jesuits, and therefore they had to go to work secretly. At night the monks dug up the incorrupt body of the igumen glorified by grace-filled gifts of wonderworking, and attracted a vast number of believers. "The Unia will die out, but Orthodoxy will flourish."
The martyric death of the holy Passion-bearer Athanasius, igumen of Bretsk, occured on September 5, 1648. For eight months the body of the sufferer for Orthodoxy lay in the ground without a church funeral. On May 1, 1649 a boy pointed out to the brethren of the Simeonov monastery the place of the igumen's burial. The ground in which the martyr was buried belonged at the time to the Jesuits, and therefore they had to go to work secretly. At night the monks dug up the incorrupt body of the igumen and immediately took it off to another place. In the morning, they brought it to their monastery, where after several days, on May 8, they buried him with honor at the right kleiros (choir) in the main church of the monastery dedicated to St Simeon the Stylite.
The earthly life of the monastic martyr Athanasius had come to an end, but the remembrance of him remained always alive and sacred among the Orthodox inhabitants of the west Russian frontier. The profound veneration of believers here for his holy name. His incorrupt relics, placed in a copper reliquary, were glorified by grace-filled gifts of wonderworking, and attracted a vast number of believers.
On November 8, 1815 at the time of a fire at the Bretsk Simeonov monastery, the wooden monastery church burned, and the copper reliquary, in which the relics of the martyr were kept, melted in the flames. The day following the fire, an unharmed portion of the relics were found by the priest Samuel of Lisovsk and placed by the pious inhabitants of the city of Bretsk beneath the altar of the monastery trapeza church. In the year 1823, with the blessing of Archbishop Anatolius of Minsk, the holy relics were placed in a wooden vessel by the head of the monastery and put in church for veneration.
Thus, it pleased God to preserve a portion of the relics of the holy Martyr Athanasius.
Rising up before us is this great champion of Orthodoxy, with his great faith and love of neighbor. Deeply religious, inexorably devoted to the faith of the holy Fathers, he became bold and expressed by word and by deed his priestly indignation against the oppression of Orthodox Christians by the haughty Uniates. With fervent faith in his calling by God, he entered into the struggle for his oppressed brethren. "I am not a prophet, but only a servant of God my Creator, sent because of the times, in order to speak the truth to everyone. He has sent me, so that I might proclaim beforehand the destruction of the accursed Unia." Such were the words of the fervent, unyielding and inspired struggler for Orthodoxy, who deeply believed in the victorious power of the true Faith.

St Athanasius saw the complete affirmation of Orthodoxy and the final and total undoing of the Unia as his single goal. He dedicated his whole life to this end.
Having submitted to the will of God, he had no thought of danger, nor did he consider the obstacles, in fulfilling his holy duty. St Athanasius used His daring, spiritually-inspired speeches and writings, his published grievances, and voluntary folly in Christ for the attainment of his sacred goal: the affirmation of Orthodoxy in the ancient Russian land.
Having repudiated the Unia, he was inspired with a deep sense of pity and love towards those who had become the victims of Uniate proselitism. The righteousness and sincerity of St Athanasius in relation to those nearby defined the course of all his deeds. By his existence in the solitary life, surrounded by open and hidden enemies, the holy ascetic remained a steadfast defender and pillar of Orthodoxy. He constantly repeated his prediction: "The Unia will die out, but Orthodoxy will flourish."

1907 Saint Ilia, called the “Uncrowned King of Georgia,” the “Father of the Nation” and “the Righteous,” belonged to the noble family Chavchavadze; great philosopher, writer, and historian often repeated the statement “A nation whose language is corrupted can no longer exist as a nation.” He cared deeply about the Georgian language and fought to ensure that it remained the primary language taught in schools;
He was born on October 27, 1837, in the village of Qvareli in Kakheti. He received his primary education at home: his mother instructed him in reading and writing, prayer and the law of God. When he was eight years old, Ilia was sent to study with Archdeacon Nikoloz Sepashvili of Qvareli. The years he spent there left an indelible impression on this holy man’s life.
Ilia continued his education at a Tbilisi boarding school, and later at the court gymnasium (high school). His parents died at a young age, and the orphaned children were entrusted to the care of their aunt Macrina.

In 1857 Ilia enrolled in the law school at St. Petersburg University. There he read a great deal and struggled to improve himself as an individual. He was fascinated by Georgian history and spent much of his time in the St. Petersburg archives in search of old Georgian texts. His academic achievements were outstanding, but he was uninterested in receiving an official diploma from the school of law. In his fourth year he dropped out of the program and returned to Georgia.
Ilia was certain that a nation that forgets its own history “is like a beggar who knows neither his past nor where he is going.” For this reason he sought to inspire his fellow countrymen with the past glories of their nation and the loyalty of their forefathers to the Christian Faith and the Georgian nation. The restoration of national independence and the autocephaly of the Georgian Church were the chief objectives toward which St. Ilia strove in every aspect of his life. As a means by which to achieve these goals, Ilia took up the work of a historian: he conducted intensive research and exposed those who had falsified history and dishonored the Georgian nation.

This great philosopher, writer, and historian often repeated the statement “A nation whose language is corrupted can no longer exist as a nation.” He cared deeply about the Georgian language and fought to ensure that it remained the primary language taught in schools. Ilia inspired many with his patriotic zeal, and he founded the Society for the Propagation of Literacy among the Georgians. He established a depository of Georgian manuscripts and antiquities. In addition he initiated a movement to document oral folk traditions and helped to found the Georgian Agrarian Bank.
Ilia the Righteous was often heard declaring,

“We, the Georgian people, have inherited three divine gifts from our ancestors:
our motherland, our language and our faith. If we fail to protect these gifts, what merit will we have as men?”

But Ilia’s righteous deeds were an affront and threat to those who adhered to the new atheist ideology, so they plotted to kill him. On August 30, 1907, Ilia Chavchavadze and his wife, Olga (Guramishvili), had just set off from Tbilisi for Saguramo when their carriage stopped abruptly outside of Mtskheta, near Tsitsamuri Forest. They were awaited by a band of militant social democrats who attacked them and shot Ilia to death.
The Military Court of the Caucasus sentenced Ilia Chavchavadze’s murderers to death by hanging. But Ilia’s wife Olga requested that the governor-general pardon her husband’s murderers. She asserted that, if Ilia had survived, he would have done the same, since the killers were simply his “unlucky brothers gone astray.”
Indeed, Ilia had forgiven his murderers’ offense long before, in his prophetic poem “Prayer”: Our Father Who art in Heaven! With tenderness I stand before Thee on my knees; I ask for neither wealth nor glory; I won’t debase my holy prayer with earthly matters. I would wish for my soul to rest in heaven, My heart to be radiant with love heralded by Thee, I would wish to be able to ask forgiveness of mine enemies, Even if they pierce me in the heart: Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do!

In 1987 the Holy Synod of the Georgian Orthodox Church considered the deeds of Ilia Chavchavadze before God and his country and decreed him worthy to be numbered among the saints. He was joyously canonized as St. Ilia “the Righteous.”

1936 Blessed Francisca Aldea 1/8 nuns martyrs Spanish Revolution; assigned to teaching and fulfilled this task with great dedication until 1916, when she was elected assistant and, later, general secretary M (AC)
Born in Somolinos, Spain, December 17, 1881; died died July 20, 1936; beatified recently. One of the eight nuns who were martyrs of the Spanish Revolution. Blessed Francisca of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Aldea Araulo was born in Somolinos, Spain, on 17 December 1881. Orphaned at an early age, she was accepted as a boarding student at Saint Susanna's College in Madrid, which belonged to the Sisters of Charity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. At the age of 18 she entered the institute's novitiate and made her temporary vows in 1903. She was assigned to teaching and fulfilled this task with great dedication until 1916, when she was elected assistant and, later, general secretary. She was at Saint Susanna's College when the religious persecution began.

1936 Blessed Rita Dolores Pujalte Sanchez & Companions These eight nuns were martyrs of the Spanish Revolution bodies incorrupt emitting an indescribable perfume. MM (AC)

Blessed Rita as photographed through the convent grille. Born in Aspe, Spain, February 19, 1853; died July 20, 1936; beatified recently.

Rita's parents, Antonio Pujalte and Luisa Sanchez, raised their five children in a deeply Christian household. As a young girl she was a model of piety: she belonged to the Daughters of Mary, the Third Order of Saint Francis, the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, and was a catechist as well. In 1888, she entered the Sisters of Charity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and took her temporary vows two years later. Highly esteemed by her community, she was given positions of responsibility, and the foundress, before dying in 1899, recommended that she be elected Superior General, which she was in 1900.

Mother Rita served as superior until 1928, when she retired to devote herself to prayer and recollection at Saint Susanna's College in Madrid. On July 20, 1936, the revolutionaries attacked Saint Susanna's College, battering the doors and firing shots. Aware of the danger, all the sisters had pray the Rosary in the chapel and then were commending their souls. The superior asked the soldiers to allow the blind, 83-year-old Mother Rita and the sick Sister Francisca to leave. The two religious took refuge in a nearby apartment. Two hours later a group of armed revolutionaries dragged the two elderly sisters down the stairs and took them to a Madrid suburb, near the town of Canillejas. There the soldiers forced the two sisters out of the car and shot them.

The next day the doctors performing the autopsy were astonished that the bodies were not stiff and were emitting an indescribable perfume. When the bodies were exhumed in 1940 to be taken to the Almudena cemetery in Madrid, the doctors and other witnesses said that the bodies were still flexible and retained the color of the living. Because of their reputations for holiness, in 1954 their uncorrupted bodies were taken to Villaverde, near Madrid, and installed in the chapel of their institute's college.

Six Visitation nuns also joyfully faced martyrdom for Catholic faith. They all came from devout Christian families and were all members of the Madrid house of the Order of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, founded in France in 1610 by St. Francis de Sales and Saint Jane Frances de Chantal.

The religious persecution intensified in early 1936. Realizing the danger of remaining in Madrid, the Visitation community moved to Oronoz, leaving behind a group of six nuns in the charge of Sister Maria Gabriela do Hinojosa. By July they were confined to their apartment, where they enjoyed relative peace. However, an antireligious neighbor reported them to the authorities; their freedom was curtailed, their belongings confiscated, and arrests followed. Nevertheless, they refused to seek refuge in the consulates to save their lives. Their fervor was stronger than the threat of death.

When their apartment was searched on November 17, they expressed a desire to die for the faith, exclaiming: "What a joy, martyrdom is not far off!" and spent the night in prayer. The following evening, a patrol of the Iberian Anarchist Federation broke into the apartment and ordered all the sisters to leave. The majestic serenity of the nuns contrasted strikingly with the noisy mob. They were taken by van to a vacant area. As they held hands, a barrage of gunfire shattered their bodies, except for the 26-year- old Maria Cecilia, who had unwittingly started to run when she felt the sister next to her fall. Moments afterwards she surrendered, declaring herself a nun. Five days later she was shot at the cemetery wall in Vallecas on the out skirts of Madrid.

Francisca Aldea (see separate entry). Josefa Maria Darrera Izaguirre Born on May 23, 1881, in El Ferrol, La Coruna, Spain. Maria Angela Olaizola Garagarza born November 12, 1893, in Azpeitia, Guipuzcoa, Spain. Maria Cecilia Cendoya Araquistain Born January 10, 1910, in Azpeitia, Guipuzcoa, Spain. Maria Engracla Lecuona Ararnburu Born July 2, 1897, in Oyarzun, Guipuzcoa, Spain. Maria Gabriela de Hinolosa Naveros Born July 24, 1872, in Alhama, Granada, Spain. Maria Iñes Zudaire Galdeano Born January 28, 1900, in Echavarri, Navarre, Spain. Teresa Maria Cavestany y Anduaga Born on July 30, 1888, in Puerto Real, Cadiz, Spain .

St. Pisentius, Bishop of Qift Departure; see the angels fluttering their wings around the altar while he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy.; healer Lord informed him that his departure drew near {Coptic}
On this day, the holy father, Anba Pisentius, Bishop of Qift, departed. This Saint became a monk in his early years, devoted himself to the ascetic life, and learned the church books. He never looked upon the face of a woman. Once a woman, who had a serious sickness, waited until he came out of the church, and drew near him to kiss his hand, for her belief was that she would be healed. But when he saw that she was getting close to him, he walked faster. Since she was unable to catch him, she took a handful of the dust upon which his feet had trodden, and placed it on the site of the pain and she was healed.
When he was ordained a bishop, he used to see the angels fluttering their wings around the altar while he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy. He was eloquent in his sermons; no one became weary of listening to his teachings.
When the Lord informed him that his departure drew near, he gathered his people, taught them, and strengthened them in the Faith. Then, he departed in peace. God manifested many miracles from his body. His disciple took a piece of his shroud which healed many of the sick.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.

St. Apamon of Toukh Martyrdom of Angel Michael appeared to him and commanded him to go to Ansena and confess Christ. He went and confessed the Lord Christ before Eukhius, the governor. He tortured him; the Lord strengthened and raised him up sound; performed many signs and miracles
On this day also, St. Apamon, was martyred. He was from the city of Toukh, the diocese of Banha. The Angel Michael appeared to him and commanded him to go to Ansena and confess Christ. He went and confessed the Lord Christ before Eukhius, the governor. He tortured him much with the press (the wheel), red-hot iron bed, and by whipping him with whips. Then he cast him in a hot water cauldron. In all that, the Lord strengthened and raised him up sound. He was worthy for the Lord Christ to appear to him, and promised him the Kingdom of Heaven. This Saint performed many signs and miracles. When they cut off his head he received the crown of martyrdom. St. Julius El-Akfahasi was present, took his body, shrouded it with costly shrouds and sent his body with two of his men to his hometown. May his prayers be with us. Amen.

St. Abba Shenoute Martyrdom of , during the Early Arab Rule.
This day also, marks the martyrdom of St. Shenouda. He was a righteous man, keeping the Christian commandments. That was in the early days of the Arab conquest of Egypt. Some of his enemies laid an accusation against him before the Moslem ruler. He brought him and asked him to leave his faith but he refused, and proudly declared his faith in the Lord Christ. The ruler became enraged, tortured him, and finally cut off his head, and he received the crown of martyrdom. May his prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.

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

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 1

In thee, O Lady, have I hoped: let me never be confounded: in thy mercy deliver me and free me.

Because of the multitude of my iniquities: I am vehemently oppressed.

Mine enemies have acted above my head: they have mocked me and derided me day by day.

See, O Lady, how I am troubled: stretch forth thy hands, and succor him who perishes.

Delay not, for the sake of the grace of thy name: and thou shalt become unto me joy and salvation.

Praise ye her, ye heaven of heavens: and the whole earth will glorify her name.

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]

To Save A Life is Earthly; Saving A Soul is Eternal Donation by mail, please send check or money order to:

Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210 USA
Catholic Television Network Supported entirely by donations from viewers help spread the Eternal Word, online Here

Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

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

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

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

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

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

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

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 1 2022