Mary Mother of GOD
Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
July is the month of the Precious Blood since 1850;
2022
23,999  Lives Saved Since 2007


6th v. B.C. Ezekiel The Holy Prophet; of Sarir,  descended from tribe of Levi;


The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”, 

showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

CAUSES OF SAINTS

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

"Make a niche in the wall overlooking the square"
 
Sometime in the early eighteenth century in Rennes, France, a family called Orvilles complained to Saint Louis de Montfort that their house was adjacent to the town square where a lot of sin and immorality took place. The young people made so much noise that the family was distracted during their Rosary.

Saint Louis Marie replied, “Well then, make a niche in the wall overlooking the square and put a statue of Our Lady there and pray your Rosary in front of it.” The day after the end of construction of the niche, Mr. Orvilles, his family and all the servants of his house, prayed the Rosary outside in the square.

During their prayers, cars drove across the public square. At first, Mr. Orville tried to hide his Rosary, but soon he overcame his fear and held the Rosary quite high with his hand for all to see that he was praying.

Then a strange thing happened. After saying the Rosary every day for some time, their Rosary in the square became an attraction for passersby.  "People came in droves to pray, as if a large church ceremony was underway, and soon the rowdy gatherings in the square stopped."...

         
Christianity arrived in China by way of Syria -- 600s.



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

It is a great poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish -- Mother Teresa
 Saving babies, healing moms and dads, 'The Gospel of Life'
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

St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest, Doctor of the Church (Feast)

Wisdom 8:9-16 ;  Psalms 67:2-5, 7-8 ;  Luke 9:1-6 ;
THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST  
6th v. B.C. Ezekiel The Holy Prophet; of Sarir, descended from tribe of Levi;
a priest and son of priest Buzi; led off to Babylon when 25; with King Jechoniah II and others during 2nd invasion of Jerusalem by Babylonian king Nebuchadnessar;
lived in captivity by the River Chebar;  saw 4 living creatures shape of men, but with 4 faces ( Ez 1:6). Each face of a man in front, face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left, and the face of an eagle at the back (Ez. 1:10). a wheel on the earth beside each creature, and the rim of each wheel was full of eyes.
the shut gate of the sanctuary, through which the Lord God would enter (Ez. 44: 2), is a prophecy of the Virgin giving birth to Christ, yet remaining a virgin. vision of the dry bones prefigured the universal resurrection of the dead, and the new eternal life bestowed by the Lord Jesus Christ. If a righteous man turns from righteousness to sin, he shall die for his sin, and his righteouness will not be remembered. If a sinner repents, and keeps God's commandments, he will not die. His former sins will not be held against him, beause now he follows the path of righteousness (Ez. 3:20; 18:21-24).
5th v. BC. Daniel, Prophet died in Babylon; He also saw four living creatures in the shape of men, but with four faces (Ez. 1:6);  Daniel died in Babylon; relics translated first to Alexandria then Venice

1st v. St Mary Magdalen
2nd v. Praxedes of Rome daughter of Roman senator Saint Pudens sister of Saint Pudentiana. All 3  converted by Saint Peter; old church in Rome, S. Prassede, built on site of her home and dedicated to her
379 St. Ephraem El-Soriani (The Syrian) Departure of; debated pagans overcame them by grace within;
560 Constantine of Monte Cassino disciple of Saint Benedict, whom he succeeded at abbot
 678 Arbogast of Strasbourg Bishop; many miracles ascribed famed for humility and wisdom
1088 Bd Benno, Bishop Of Osnabruck; noteworthy work as "official architect" to Emperor Henry III;
1435 Bd Angelina Of Marsciano, Widow
St Francis tertiary converted household into body of secular tertiaries community
1619 Lawrence of Brindisi, Doctor of the Church brilliant military tactician as well as a peacemaker;
1679 Bds. Philip Evans priest S.J. and John Lloyd secular priest, missionary to minister, martyrs
1860 Moritz Bräuninger Am 22. Juli 1860 traf er in der Nähe der Station mit Indianern zusammen und kam mit ihnen in ein Gespräch. Seitdem fehlte jede Spur von ihm. Händler berichteten später, Bräuninger sei von Ukala--Indianern erschossen und in den Powder-River geworfen worden.

July 21 – Feast of Our Lady of Einsiedeln (Switzerland)
 
“Stop, my Brother, stop! The chapel was dedicated by God.”
 
Einsiedeln is the first Catholic Swiss Shrine and it is located about 40 km from Zurich. Around 828, a hermit came to settle in Einsiedeln and placed a small statue of the Virgin Mary in his chapel. The chapel was restored in 947, and two former hermits, Benno and Eberhard, established a Benedictine convent there, called Our Lady of Hermits.

The chapel was going to be dedicated on September 14, 948, by two bishops, that of Constance and that of Augsburg (two German cities), but this is what happened during the dedicatory night office that took place around midnight:

"Conrad, the bishop of Constance, suddenly heard harmonious voices that filled the nave... He looked up and saw a choir of angels... Jesus Christ... wearing purple vestments, was celebrating the dedicatory office at the altar. Saint Peter, Saint Gregory, Saint Augustine, Saint Stephen and Saint Lawrence stood around him. The august Queen of Heaven sat on a brilliantly illuminated throne in front of the altar... A mysterious voice was heard from under the vault: ‘Stop, my brother, stop! The chapel has already been dedicated by God.’…"

Several centuries later, at the time of the Reformation, the Queen of Heaven protected her children there from heresy: Einsielden resisted the Protestant reform.  The Mary of Nazareth Team

 
Our Bartholomew Family Prayer List

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
15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
O Mary My Mother! July 21 - Our Lady of Verdun, Lorraine (5th C.)
Let me nestle up close on your heart, like your son Jesus, where I will be safe.
Protect me, console me, reassure me, and comfort me. Listen to me as your own child, Mary my mother (Take a minute to express your heartfelt thoughts to Mary in personal prayer.)
Now Mary please turn your gaze on me... (Take a minute to experience Mary's gentle presence in the silence of your soul.)
Thank you for this "heart to heart" moment with you. As Jesus, I say unto you, you are my mother, I am your child.
By the Holy Spirit, lead me to my Father in Heaven because I am his child. O Mary my mother!  Amen.
Written by Thierry Fourchaud (see www.mariereine.com)

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.

Why I Love You O Mary  July 21 - Feast of Our Lady of Einsiedeln (Switzerland)
Oh, I would like to sing, Mary, why I love you so Why your sweet name makes my heart throb. Why the thought of your supreme greatness Could never bring fear to my soul. If I gazed on you in your sublime glory I could not believe that I am your child O Mary,  I would lower my eyes before you! ...Mother full of grace,  I know that in Nazareth You lived in poverty wanting nothing more.  No rapture, no miracle, no ecstasy Ever embellished your life, O Queen of the Elect! … On the earth many are those who can Simply raise their eyes to you without trembling . Incomparable Mother who chose to walk the ordinary path Guiding us to Heaven… Soon I will hear that sweet harmony Soon I will see you in glorious Heaven  You smiled to me in the morning of my life Come and smile to me again…  Mother… now that evening is drawing near! …I no longer fear the splendor of your supreme glory  With you I have suffered and now on your lap I would like to sing, Mary, why I love you so And go on saying forever that I am your child! …
Saint Therese of Lisieux (d. September 30, 1897), Poem May 1897

6th v. B.C. Ezekiel The Holy Prophet; of Sarir, descended from tribe of Levi; a priest and son of priest Buzi; led off to Babylon when 25; with King Jechoniah II and others during 2nd invasion of Jerusalem by Babylonian king Nebuchadnessar; lived in captivity by the River Chebar;  saw 4 living creatures shape of men, but with 4 faces ( Ez 1:6). Each face of a man in front, face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left, and the face of an eagle at the back (Ez. 1:10). a wheel on the earth beside each creature, and the rim of each wheel was full of eyes.  the shut gate of the sanctuary, through which the Lord God would enter (Ez. 44: 2), is a prophecy of the Virgin giving birth to Christ, yet remaining a virgin.   vision of the dry bones prefigured the universal resurrection of the dead, and the new eternal life bestowed by the Lord Jesus Christ.   if a righteous man turns from righteousness to sin, he shall die for his sin, and his righteouness will not be remembered. If a sinner repents, and keeps God's commandments, he will not die. His former sins will not be held against him, beause now he follows the path of righteousness (Ez. 3:20; 18:21-24).
5th v. BC. Daniel, Prophet died in Babylon; He also saw four living creatures in the shape of men, but with four faces (Ez. 1:6);  Daniel died in Babylon;  relics are reputed translated first to Alexandria and then to Venice
1st v. St Mary Magdalen
2nd v. Praxedes of Rome daughter of Roman senator Saint Pudens sister of Saint Pudentiana. All 3 were converted by Saint Peter; One of oldest churches in Rome, S. Prassede, built on site of her home and dedicated to her
 204 Zoticus of Cappadocia Eusebius mentions Bishop Zoticus of Comana, Cappadocia famous for his zeal against Montanist heretics; condemned their errors and false prophecies
 273 Claudius, Justus, Jucundinus & Comp group of 8 martyrs with Saint Julia at Troyes, France, under Aurelian
 
290? St Victor Of Marseilles, Mann
  304 St. Victor soldier in the Roman army at Marseilles when hailed before prefects, Asterius and Eutychius, sent him to Emperor Maximian for exhortations to Christians be firm in faith in face of impending visit by the Emperor.
  356 St Joseph of Palestine,  mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, appears nowhere venerated liturgically in the world, not even country where he was so conspicuous a figure; he privately exorcised an indwelling demon in the name of our Lord, and the energumen was delivered; making the sign of the cross upon a vessel of water, poured it on the kilns, and the fire instantly burst forth and burned; Constantine the Great gave Joseph the rank of comes with authority to build churches over Galilee, particularly in Jewish towns; Scythopolis (Bethsan), lodged St Eusebius of Vercelli; harboured other servants of God, like St Epiphanius;
379 St. Ephraem El-Soriani (The Syrian) Departure of;  He debated pagans overcame them by the grace within him; went with his teacher St. James to attend the council of Nicea {Coptic}
        St. Cyriacus and St. Julietta His Mother; Martyrdom of {Coptic}
403 or 404 Phocas The Transfer of the Relics of the Hieromartyr from Sinope to Constantinople occurred on July 22
 560 Constantine of Monte Cassino disciple of Saint Benedict, whom he succeeded at abbot
6th v. John of Edessa a Syrian monk associated with Saint Simeon Salus who saw a vision of his spiritual brother wearing a crown upon his head with the inscription: "For endurance in the desert.", Hermit
668 St Wandregisilus, Or Wandrille, Abbot  receiving holy orders from the hands of St Ouen, Archbishop of Rouen; foundation of the abbey of Fontenelle; kindliness sweetened and transformed bitter hearts of heathens; humility encouraged the proud wanderer to return; his teaching and preaching gained many souls for God
 670 Wastrada of Utrecht, Matron mother of Saint Gregory of Utrecht, retired to a convent in her old age
 678 Arbogast of Strasbourg Bishop; many miracles ascribed famed for humility and wisdom
 
707 John and Benignus his twin brother monk at Moyenmoutier under Saint Hidulphus , OSB (AC)
 787 The Armatia Icon of the Mother of God was in Constantinople at the Armatian monastery
1088 Bd Benno, Bishop Of Osnabruck; noteworthy work as "official architect" to Emperor Henry III; sent more than once as imperial envoy to pope St Gregory; founded Iburg monastery
1150 Verena von Schönau Werk über ihre Visionen zu Ursula und ihren Gefährtinnen verfaßte. Die Reliquien von Verena verblieben in Schönau und wurden hier verehrt.
12th v. Onuphrius the Silent Monk in the Near Caves of St Anthony an ascetic in the twelfth century
1227–1228 St. Salome the Georgian details of the life of are not preserved. In the Synaxarion of Jerusalem’s Holy Cross Monastery it is written: “On this day (July 20) we commemorate martyrdom of Salome the Georgian, at first yielded to Persian threats renounced Christ, later confessed Faith; beheaded and cast into flames.”
14th v. Saint Markella lived in the village of Volissos, Chios; devil incited her father with an unnatural desire for his daughter; martyred for her faith
1400 Blessed Oddino Barrotti, parish priest at the church of Saint John the Baptist at Fossano and a Franciscan tertiary.  Later he resigned from his pastoral duties and turned his house into a hospital OFM
1435 Bd Angelina Of Marsciano, Widow assumed dress of St Francis tertiary converted her household into a body of secular tertiaries living in community Angelina and her companions travelled about recalling sinners to penance, relieving distress, and putting before young women the call of a life of virginity for Christ's sake first convent of regular tertiaries with vows and enclosure, and its success was immediate.
1619 Lawrence of Brindisi, Doctor of the Church by Pope John XXIII both a brilliant military tactician as well as a peacemaker; became a Capuchin Franciscan in Verona at 16 and took the name Lawrence excelled at Bible studies; main contributions are in the nine volumes of his sermons
1679 Bds. Philip Evans priest S.J. and John Lloyd a secular priest, missionary to minister in his own country; Martyred ".. as priests who had come unlawfully into the realm..."
1693 Saint Cornelius of Pereyaslavl
church sacristan, served in trapeza, also toiled in the garden relics found incorrupt
1860 Moritz Bräuninger Am 22. Juli 1860 traf er in der Nähe der Station mit Indianern zusammen und kam mit ihnen in ein Gespräch. Seitdem fehlte jede Spur von ihm. Händler berichteten später, Bräuninger sei von Ukala--Indianern erschossen und in den Powder-River geworfen worden.

Mary the Mother of God


6th v. B.C. Ezekiel The Holy Prophet; of Sarir, descended from tribe of Levi; a priest and son of priest  Buzi;. led off to Babylon when 25; with King Jechoniah II and others  during 2nd invasion of Jerusalem by Babylonian king Nebuchadnessar; lived in captivity by the River Chebar;  saw 4 living creatures shape of men, but with 4 faces (Ez. 1:6). Each face of a man in front, face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left, and the face of an eagle at the back (Ez. 1:10). a wheel on the earth beside each creature, and the rim of each wheel was full of eyes.  the shut gate of the sanctuary, through which the Lord God would enter (Ez. 44: 2), is a prophecy of the Virgin giving birth to Christ, yet remaining a virgin. Vision of the dry bones prefigured the universal resurrection of the dead, and the new eternal life bestowed by the Lord Jesus Christ. If a righteous man turns from righteousness to sin, he shall die for his sin, and his righteouness will not be remembered. If a sinner repents, and keeps God's commandments, he will not die. His former sins will not be held against him, beause now he follows the path of righteousness (Ez. 3:20; 18:21-24).
Born in the city of Sarir, and descended from the tribe of Levi ; he was a priest and the son of the priest Buzi. Ezekiel was led off to Babylon when he was twenty-five years old together with King Jechoniah II and many other Jews during the second invasion of Jerusalem by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnessar .
The Prophet Ezekiel lived in captivity by the River Chebar
When he was thirty years old, he had a vision of the future of the Hebrew nation and of all mankind. The prophet beheld a shining cloud, with fire flashing continually, and in the midst of the fire, gleaming bronze. He also saw four living creatures in the shape of men, but with four faces (Ez. 1:6). Each had the face of a man in front, the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left, and the face of an eagle at the back (Ez. 1:10). There was a wheel on the earth beside each creature, and the rim of each wheel was full of eyes.
Over the heads of the creatures there seemed to be a firmament, shining like crystal. Above the firmament was the likeness of a throne, like glittering sapphire in appearance. Above this throne was the likeness of a human form, and around Him was a rainbow (Ez. 1:4-28).
According to the explanation of the Fathers of the Church, the human likeness upon the sapphire throne prefigures the Incarnation of the Son of God from the Most Holy Virgin Mary, who is the living Throne of God.
The four creatures are symbols of the four Evangelists: a man (St Matthew), a lion (St Mark), an ox (St Luke), and an eagle (St John);
The wheel with the many eyes is meant to suggest the sharing of light with all the nations of the earth.
During this vision the holy prophet fell down upon the ground out of fear, but the voice of God commanded him to get up. He was told that the Lord was sending him to preach to the nation of Israel. This was the begining of Ezekiel's prophetic service. 
The Prophet Ezekiel announces to the people of Israel, held captive in Baylon, the tribulations it would face for not remaining faithful to God.
The prophet also proclaimed a better time for his fellow-countrymen, and predicted return from Babylon, and restoration of the Jerusalem Temple.
There are two significant elements in the vision of the prophet: the vision of the temple of the Lord, full of glory (Ez.44:1-10; and the bones in the valley, to which the Spirit of God gave new life (Ez. 37:1-14).
The vision of the temple was a mysterious prefiguring of the race of man freed from the working of the Enemy
Building up of the Church of Christ through the redemptive act of the Son of God, incarnate of the Most Holy Theotokos.


Ezekiel's description of the shut gate of the sanctuary, through which the Lord God would enter (Ez. 44: 2), is a prophecy of the Virgin giving birth to Christ, yet remaining a virgin.
The vision of the dry bones prefigured the universal resurrection of the dead, and the new eternal life bestowed by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The holy Prophet Ezekiel received from the Lord the gift of wonderworking.
He, like the Prophet Moses, divided the waters of the river Chebar, and the Hebrews crossed to the opposite shore, escaping the pursuing Chaldeans. During a time of famine the prophet asked God for an increase of food for the hungry.
Ezekiel was condemned to execution because he denounced a certain Hebrew prince for idolatry. Bound to wild horses, he was torn to pieces. Pious Hebrews gathered up the torn body of the prophet and buried it upon Maur Field, in the tomb of Sim and Arthaxad, forefathers of Abraham, not far from Baghdad. The prophecy of Ezekiel is found in the book named for him, and is included in the Old Testament.
St Demetrius of Rostov (October 28 and September 21) explains to believers the following concepts in the book of the Prophet Ezekiel: if a righteous man turns from righteousness to sin, he shall die for his sin, and his righteouness will not be remembered. If a sinner repents, and keeps God's commandments, he will not die. His former sins will not be held against him, beause now he follows the path of righteousness (Ez. 3:20; 18:21-24).
5th v. BC. Daniel, Prophet died in Babylon; He also saw four living creatures in the shape of men, but with four faces (Ez. 1:6);  Daniel died in Babylon;  relics are reputed to have been translated first to Alexandria and then to Venice
Babylóne sancti Daniélis Prophétæ.    At Babylon, the holy prophet Daniel.
Each had the face of a man in front, the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left, and the face of an eagle at the back (Ez. 1:10) relics are reputed to have been translated first to Alexandria and then to Venice (RM)
The Roman Martyrology mentions that the major Old Testament prophet Daniel died in Babylon. His relics are reputed to have been translated first to Alexandria and then to Venice (Benedictines).
1st v. St Mary Magdalen
The story of St Mary Magdalen, as generally received in the West following St Gregory the Great, is one of the most moving and encouraging in the Holy Scriptures.  Mention is made in the gospels of a woman who was a sinner (Luke vii 37-50, etc.), of Mary Magdalen, a follower of our Lord (John xx 10-18, etc.), and of Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus (Luke x 38-42, etc.), and the liturgy of the Roman church by identifying these three as one single individual has set its approval on the ancient tradition and popular belief of Western Catholics.

The identification of Mary Magdalen, the sister of Lazarus and the Sinner as one person is still by no means unchallenged in the West.  Though most Latin writers since the time of Pope St Gregory have supported the identity, Sts Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Albert the Great and Thomas leave the question undecided; most of the Greek fathers distinguish three, or at least two, different persons.  This is the common view in the East, not only among the dissidents but also among those in communion with the Holy See.  Thus the Catholic Byzantines keep the feast of Mary Magdalen the Myrrh-bearer on July 22, and of the other two on other dates.

    Mary Magdalen, whom our English ancestors called "Mawdleyn ", probably received her name from Magdala, a place on the western shore of the sea of Galilee, near to Tiberias, and our Lord first met her when on His Galilean ministry.  St Luke records that she was a sinner, and evidently a notorious sinner (though he says nothing to suggest that she was a public harlot, as is commonly supposed), and goes on to describe how, Christ having accepted an invitation to dine with a Pharisee, she came into the house while they were at table, fell weeping before Jesus, and, having wiped His feet with her own hair, anointed them with ointment from an alabaster box.  The Pharisee murmured at what seemed to him the unbecoming acquiescence of a prophet in the presence of a great sinner, and Jesus, knowing his thoughts, rebuked him; first by asking which of two released debtors, a great and a small, had the more cause to be grateful to their creditor, and then directly:
    "Dost thou see this woman? I entered into thy house-thou gavest me no water for my feet   But she with tears hath washed my feet, and with her hairs hath wiped then. Thou gavest me no kiss. But she, since she came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet.   My head with oil thou didst not anoint-but she with ointment hath anointed my feet.  Wherefore I say to thee: Many sins are forgiven her, because she hath loved much.  But to whom less is forgiven, he loveth less." To the penitent woman he said, "Thy sins are forgiven thee. Thy faith hath made thee safe. Go in peace."
   In his very next chapter St Luke, in speaking of the missionary travels of our Lord in Galilee, tells us that He and His apostles were accompanied and ministered to by certain women, among them (by name) Mary Magdalen, "out of whom seven devils had gone forth".  Later, He entered into a certain town and was received by Martha and her sister Mary, who supposedly had come to live with their brother Lazarus at Bethany in order to be nearer the Master who, at their instance, had restored him to life. Martha, busy about the house, appealed to Him to urge Mary to help her, rather than to sit continually at His feet listening to His words, and received that answer which has puzzled and consoled all succeeding ages:  "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and art troubled about many things.  But one thing is necessary.  Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her."  Mary the sinner had become Mary the contemplative.
  On the day before the triumphal entry into Jerusalem which was the prelude to His passion, Jesus supped with the family of Lazarus at Bethany (Jesus loved them, St John tells us), and on this occasion Mary again anointed His head and feet and wiped them with her hair, so that "the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment". Again there was a critic present, this time Judas Iscariot the apostle, scandalized not because he was self-righteous but because he was dishonest and avaricious; even the other disciples were distressed at what seemed a waste. And again Jesus vindicated Magdalen:
  "Let her alone! Why do you molest her? She hath wrought a good work upon me. For the poor you have always with you, and whensoever you will you may do them good; but me you have not always. She hath done what she could: she is come beforehand to anoint my body for the burial.  Amen, I say to you- wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, that also which she hath done shall be told for a memorial of her."  "And behold ! " says St John Chrysostom, "what He said has come to pass. Wherever you go you will hear her praises sung...The dwellers in Persia, in India...in the British isles celebrate this deed."
   Mary Magdalen is remembered at least as well for other things.  In the darkest hour of our Lord's life she stood at some distance, watching Him on the cross; and with "the other Mary" she saw the great stone rolled before the door of the tomb wherein lay the body of the Lord. But the crowning mercy of the life of Mary Magdalen was yet to come, for it was she who, bearing sweet spices and weeping by the sepulchre early on the first day of the week, was the first to see, to be greeted by, and to recognize, the risen Christ; she, the contemplative, was the first witness to that resurrection without which our faith and our preaching are alike vain; it was to the abused flesh of the penitent that the radiant and glorified body of the Son of God was first made manifest.
   Jesus saith to her, "Mary! " She, turning, saith to Him, "Master!" Jesus saith to her: "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brethren and say to them: I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God."
  According to Eastern tradition, Mary Magdalen after Pentecost accompanied our Lady and St John to Ephesus where she died and was buried;  the English pilgrim St Willibald was shown her shrine there in the middle of the eighth century.  But according to the tradition of France, in the Roman Martyrology and by the granting of various local feasts, she, with Lazarus, Martha, and others, evangelized Provence.  The last thirty years of her life, it is claimed, she spent in a cavern of a rock, La Sainte Baume, high up among the Maritime Alps, to be transported miraculously, just before she died, to the chapel of St Maximin; she received the last sacraments from and was buried by that saint.
  The earliest known reference to the coming of the Palestinians to France is of the eleventh century, in connection with the relics of St Mary Magdalen claimed by the abbey of Vézelay in Burgundy; the elaborations of the story seem to have spread in Provence only during the thirteenth. From 1279 the relics of the Magdalen are said to be in the keeping of the monks of Vézelay and of the Dominican friars of Saint-Maximin, to the shrine in which church and the cave at La Sainte Baume pilgrimage is still popular. But research, especially by Mgr Duchesne, has demonstrated more and more clearly that neither the relics nor the story of the voyage of the friends of our Lord to Marseilles can be relied on as authentic; in spite of the defence of those piously concerned on behalf of the local belief, it cannot be doubted that the whole story is a fabrication.
   Among other curious and baseless tales current about the saint in the middle ages is that she was affianced to St John the Evangelist when Christ called him. "She had thereof indignation that her husband was taken from her, and went and gave herself to all delight; but because it was not fitting that the calling of St John should be the occasion of her damnation, therefore our Lord mercifully converted her to penance, and because He had taken from her sovereign delight of the flesh, He replenished her with sovereign spiritual delight before all other, that is, the love of God" (Tue Golden Legend).
Much has been written on the subject of St Mary Magdalen's coming to Provence, but it is impossible to allow any sort of probability to the view which venerates the Sainte Baume as the home of her last years.  The destructive criticism which began with J. Le Launoy in the seventeenth century has been supported and developed by Catholic scholars of the highest name.  Modern Bollandists have many times recurred to the subject (see for example the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xii, 296; xvi, 515; xvii, 361, etc.), where in reviewing different phases of the controversy they have expressed themselves in the most unequivocal terms.  Particular attention may be directed to the essay of Mgr Duchesne, now reprinted in his Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. i, pp. 321-359; to the paper of G. de Manteyer in Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire, vol. xvii (1897), pp. 467-489; to G. Morin in the Revue Bénédictine, vol. xxvi (1909), pp. 24-33; to an article of E. Vacandard in the Revue des questions historiques for 1924, pp. 257-305; and another by Fr H. Thurston in Studies, vol. xxiii (1934), pp. 110-123 (it may be noticed that on the last page of this article, "Saint-Marcellin" has by an oversight been misprinted for Saint-Maximin); and H. Hansel, Die Maria Magdalena-Legende (1937).  There is an excellent summary in Baudot and Chaussin, Vies des Saints..., t. vii (1949), pp. 526-543.  The case of the believers in these traditions is presented very fully in books by J. Véran (1868), and by J. Sagette in 1880.  A fuller bibliography may be found in Leclercq, DAC., vol. viii, cc. 2038-2086, s.v. "Lazare", an article which supplies an admirably documented discussion of the whole subject. There is a well-known Life of St Mary Magdalen by Lacordaire (Eng. trans.), but however excellent it may be from a literary and devotional point of view it is historically quite uncritical. A discussion of the problem of the Manes in Provence by C. M. Girdlestone appeared in Blackfriars, vol. xxxii (1955), pp. 407-414, 478-488.
2nd v. Praxedes of Rome daughter of the Roman senator Saint Pudens and sister of Saint Pudentiana. All three were legendarily converted by Saint Peter; One of the oldest churches in Rome, S. Prassede, was built on the site of her home and is dedicated to her V (RM)
Romæ sanctæ Praxédis Vírginis, quæ, in omni castitáte et lege divína cum esset erudíta, vigíliis et oratiónibus atque jejúniis assídue vacans, quiévit in Christo, sepúltaque est, juxta sorórem suam Pudentiánam, via Salária.
    At Rome, the holy virgin Praxedes, who was brought up in all chastity and in the knowledge of the divine law.  Diligently attending to watching, prayer, and fasting, she rested in Christ, and was buried near her sister Pudentiana on the Salarian Way.

St Praxedes, Virgin
St Praxedes According to her legend was a Roman maiden, the sister of St Pudentiana, who, when the Emperor Marcus Antoninus was hunting down Christians, sought them out to relieve them with money, care, comfort and every charitable aid.   Some she hid in her house, others she encouraged to keep firm in the faith, and of yet others she buried the bodies; and she allowed those who were in prison or toiling in slavery to lack nothing.  At last, being unable any longer to bear the cruelties inflicted on Christians, she prayed to God that, if it were expedient for her to die, she might be released from beholding such sufferings.  And so on July 21 she was called to the reward of her goodness in Heaven.   Her body was laid by the priest Pastor in the tomb of her father, Pudens, and her sister Pudentiana, which was in the cemetery of Priscilla on the Salarian Way.
  This saint was. certainly buried in the catacomb of Priscilla, near to St Pudentiana.  But that she was the sister of that saint, or that either of them was the daughter (as later legends aver) of a Roman senator, Pudens, converted by St Peter, there is no reason to believe.  She was at first venerated as a martyr in connection with the ecciesia Pudentiana, but afterwards a separate church was built in her honour, on the alleged site of her house, to which, when it was rebuilt by Pope St Pasehal I (the present Santa Prassede), her relics were translated.
In the Acta Sanctorum the legend of the two sisters is printed in the fourth volume of May. A commission appointed by Pope Benedict XIV to revise the Breviary declared the  "acts" to be spurious and unworthy of credence.  On the cult and "title "of St Praxedes see particularly De Waal in the Römische Quartalschrift, vol. xix (1905), pp. 169-180 (archaeological section). Cf. Marucchi, Basiliques et églises de Rome (1909), pp. 323 seq. and 364 seq., and CMH, pp. 263, 388. The Roman virgin Praxedes is said to have been the daughter of the Roman senator Saint Pudens and sister of Saint Pudentiana. All three were legendarily converted by Saint Peter. Praxedes is said to have used all her wealth to relief the distress of the poor and her physical strength in succoring the martyrs by which she hoped to share in their heavenly reward. She died in peace and was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla on the Valerian Way.
One of the oldest churches in Rome, S. Prassede, was built on the site of her home and is dedicated to her. The parish is mentioned in the Life of Pope Saint Symmachus, and was repaired by Popes Adrian I and Saint Paschal I as well as by Saint Charles Borromeo, who had Prassede as his titular church. Benedict XIV declared that her acta were spurious and unworthy of belief. The cultus of Praxedes is not one of the oldest in Rome; the earliest reference to her is in the 7th-century itineraries of the catacombs. Her feast was removed from the universal calendar in 1969 (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer). In art, Saint Praxedes is generally portrayed with Saint Pudentiana. They take up the blood of martyrs with a sponge. They may also be shown (1) with a sponge and urn; (2) standing behind the Apostles as Christ gives them a wreath; (3) led to Christ by SS. Peter and Paul; or (4) receiving wreaths from the Virgin and Child (Roeder). She is venerated in Rome (Roeder).
204 Zoticus of Cappadocia Eusebius mentions that Bishop Zoticus of Comana, Cappadocia, was famous for his zeal against the Montanist heretics. He condemned their errors and false prophecies BM (RM)
Cománæ, in Arménia, sancti Zótici, Epíscopi et Mártyris; qui sub Sevéro coronátus est.
    At Comana in Armenia, the holy bishop and martyr Zoticus, who was crowned under Severus.

He was martyred for the faith under Severus (Benedictines, Husenbeth).

273 Claudius, Justus, Jucundinus & Comp.  group of eight martyrs suffered with Saint Julia at Troyes, France, under Aurelian MM (RM)  
Trecis, in Gállia, pássio sanctórum Cláudii, Justi, Jucundíni et Sociórum quinque, sub Aureliáno Imperatóre.
    At Troyes in France, the martyrdom of the saints Claudius, Justus, Jucundinus, and five companions, in the time of Emperor Aurelian.
This group of eight martyrs suffered with Saint Julia at Troyes, France, under Aurelian. There bodies are venerated at the Benedictine convent of Jouarre near Meaux (Benedictines).
Julia of Troyes VM (RM)
Born in Troyes, France. Saint Julia was a virgin seized by the soldiers of Emperor Aurelian after his victory over the usurper Tetricus.
Claudius, an officer under whose charge she was placed, was converted by Julia and martyred with her (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
290? St Victor Of Marseilles, Mann
When the Emperor Maxinilan, towards the end of the third century, arrived at Marseilles, the most numerous and flourishing church in Gaul, his coming filled the Christians with alarm.  In this general consternation, Victor, a Christian officer in the Roman army, went about in the night-time from house to house, visiting the faithful, and inspiring them with contempt of a temporal death.  His activity was discovered and he was brought before the prefects Asterius and Eutychius who, the prisoner being a person of distinction, sent him to Maximian himself. The anger of an emperor did not daunt the champion of Christ, and the tyrant, seeing his threats had no effect upon him, commanded him to be bound and dragged through the streets of the city.  Victor was brought back bruised and bloody to the tribunal of the prefects, who again pressed him to worship their gods.   But the martyr, filled with the Holy Ghost, expressed his respect for the emperor and his contempt for their gods, adding, "I despise your deities, and confess Jesus Christ; torture me how you like ".  Asterius commanded him to be hoisted on to the rack, and most cruelly stretched.  The martyr asked patience and constancy of God, and our Lord appeared to him, holding a cross, and gave him His peace and told him that He suffered in His servants and crowned them after their victory.  These words dispelled Victor's pain and fortified his will, and the tormentors being weary, the prefect ordered him to be taken down and thrown into a dungeon.
     At midnight God visited him by His angels: the prison was filled with a light brighter than the sun, and the martyr heard them singing the praises of God. Three soldiers who guarded the prison, seeing this light, feared greatly, and casting themselves at the martyr's feet they asked his pardon and desired baptism.  The martyr sent for priests the same night, and going with them to the sea-side he led them out of the water, that is, was their godfather, and returned with them again to his prison.
  When Maximian heard of conversion of the guards he was furious, and sent officers to bring them all four before him in the market-place. The mob yelled at Victor, trying to make him bring back his converts to the worship of their gods but he said, "I cannot undo what is well done".  The three soldiers persevered in the confession of Christ, and were at once beheaded.  After having been beaten with clubs and scourged with leather thongs, Victor was carried back to prison, where he continued three more days.
    Then Maximian called him again before his tribunal, and having caused a statue of Jupiter, with an altar and incense, to be placed by him, he commanded the martyr to offer incense thereon.  Victor went up to the altar and (as other martyrs are alleged to have done on like occasions) kicked it over.  The emperor ordered his foot to be forthwith chopped off, and was condemned to be put under the grindstone of a mill, and crushed to death.  The executioners turned the wheel, but when part of his body was mutilated the mill broke down.  Victor still breathed, so his head was cutoff. His and the other three bodies were thrown into the sea, but being cast ashore were buried by the Christians in a cave.   The author of the acts adds: "They are honoured to this day with many miracles, and many benefits are conferred by God and our Lord Jesus Christ on those who ask them through their merits."   These acts, on which our knowledge of St Victor depends, belong to the category of "hagiographical romances", in which truth and fiction are mixed so that it is difficult or impossible to arrive at the real facts; but St Victor was one of the most celebrated martyrs of Gaul.
The passio of St Victor has been printed both in the Acta sincera of Ruinart and in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v. In spite of the mythical excrescences with which the story has been decorated, we have evidence both in St Gregory of Tours and in Venantius Fortunatus that the tomb of St Victor at Marseilles was one of the best-known places of pilgrimage on French soil, and it is at least probable that the martyr was commemorated in the original text of the Hieronymianum.  See Delehaye, CMH., p. 389, and E. Duprat in Mémoires de l`Institut historique de Provence, t. xx et xxi (1943-1944).
304 St. Victor According to legend, a soldier in the Roman army at Marseilles when he was hailed before the prefects, Asterius and Eutychius, who sent him to Emperor Maximian for his exhortations to Christians to be firm in their faith in the face of an impending visit by the Emperor.
Massíliæ, in Gállia, natális sancti Victóris, qui, cum esset miles, et nec militáre neque idólis sacrificáre vellet, hinc, primo in cárcerem trusus ibíque ab Angelo visitátus, deínde váriis cruciátibus punítus, novíssime, contrítus in mola pistória, martyrium consummávit.  Passi sunt cum ipso et tres mílites, id est Alexánder, Feliciánus et Longínus.
    At Marseilles in France, the birthday of St. Victor, a soldier.  Because he refused to serve in the army and sacrifice to idols, he was thrust into prison, where he was visited by an angel.  He was subjected to various torments, and finally being crushed under a millstone, he ended his martyrdom.  With him also suffered three soldiers, Alexander, Felician, and Longinus.
He was dragged through the streets, racked, imprisoned (he converted three guards, Alexander, Felician, and Longinus {martyered} while in prison). He was again tortured after the guards were beheaded when it was discovered he had converted them to Christianity. When he refused to offer incense to Jupiter, he was crushed in a millstone and beheaded. His tomb became one of the most popular pilgrimage centers in Gaul.

Victor of Marseilles & Companions MM (RM) feast day formerly July 1. There are several martyrs named Victor but today's saint is one of the most renowned--though nothing is certain about who he is. His tomb in a Marseilles church was one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in Gaul. Victor's acta are untrustworthy; it is unclear what elements of it are true.  According to the legend, Victor, a Christian officer in the Roman army, was stationed at Marseilles at the time of the persecutions under Maximianus Herculius. When the emperor entered Marseilles, Victor went from house to house at night to urge Christians to be steadfast if they were called to die for the faith. He was caught and brought before the prefects, Asterius and Eutychius, who sent him to the emperor for his exhortations to the Christians. He held firm under the threats and anger of Maximianus and was ordered to be bound and dragged through the streets. When he was returned, bruised and bloody, he continued to resist entreaties that he worship false gods.  For maintaining his faith, he was scourged and tortured on the rack. During this brutality, Victor was treated to a vision of Christ. He was then thrown into the dungeon. At midnight, he was said to have been visited by angels, whose light filled the prison. Three frightened guards--Alexander, Felician, and Longinus--begged his pardon, and Victor called for priests and baptized them.  The conversion enraged Maximianus and he had all four brought to the marketplace.

The three soldiers held fast to their new-found faith and were beheaded. Victor was beaten, scourged, and brought again to prison.
Three days later he was again brought before the emperor and asked to offer incense to Jupiter. He kicked the statue over instead. The emperor ordered that his foot be cut off and that he be crushed to death beneath a millstone. When part of his body was crushed, the machine broke. Still alive, he was beheaded.
The four bodies were thrown into the sea, but they were recovered and buried by Christians in a cave. In the 4th century, Saint John Cassian built a monastery over the site, which later became a Benedictine abbey (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, White).  In art, Saint Victor is a Roman soldier with a millstone. At times he may be portrayed (1) as he overthrows a statue of Jupiter; (2) in stocks, comforted by angels; (3) scourged and crushed by a millstone; or (4) with his body beheaded and flung into the river, from which the angels take it (Roeder). He is the patron of millers and is invoked against lightning, and on behalf of weakly children (Roeder).

356 (July 22) St Joseph of Palestine, mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, appears nowhere venerated liturgically in the world, not even country where he was so conspicuous a figure; he privately exorcised an indwelling demon in the name of our Lord, and the energumen was delivered; making the sign of the cross upon a vessel of water, poured it on the kilns, and the fire instantly burst forth and burned; Constantine the Great gave Joseph the rank of comes with authority to build churches over Galilee, particularly in Jewish towns; Scythopolis (Bethsan), lodged St Eusebius of Vercelli; harboured other servants of God, like St  Epiphanius;
   Jews after the destruction of Jerusalem chose one among their chief teachers to whom they gave the title of patriarch or "prince of the captivity".  The most celebrated person who ever bore this honour was the Rabbi Hillel (who must not be confounded with the more famous Hillel of whom the Talmud speaks); he was very learned and a leading founder and ornament of their biblical school at Tiberias.
  This Hillel a few days before his death sent for a Christian bishop in the character of a physician, who ordered a bath to be prepared in his room, as if it had been for his health, and baptized him in it.  Hillel received the divine Mysteries, and died.  Joseph, one of his assistants, was witness to this secret transaction, and having always been a confidant of Hillel had the care of his son given to him (this youth was "named Judas, I think, but it is some time since I was told and so I'm not sure", says St Epiphanius, Joseph's biographer), together with the rabbi's books. These included a number of Christian works, which Joseph read, and was much impressed by them. He was by no means converted yet, although feeling from time to time a strong attraction towards Christianity. He was encouraged by the firm stand of a Christian girl against the amorous overtures of his ward Judas, who failed to seduce her even with the help of magic. One night he seemed in a dream to see Christ, and to hear from His mouth the words, "I am Jesus whom thy fathers crucified; believe in me".  He received another sign when he privately exorcised an indwelling demon in the name of our Lord, and the energumen was delivered. Still, though practically convinced, he did nothing and allowed himself to be appointed ruler of the synagogue at Tarsus. In this position he was exceedingly unhappy and excited the suspicions of the Jews, who, already dissatisfied with his conduct, found him one day reading the Gospels. They beat him and threw him into the river Cydnus.  At the touch of persecution his heart was opened to grace and he was baptized.

   Constantine the Great gave Joseph the rank of comes (he is sometimes referred to as "Count Joseph"), with authority to build churches over Galilee, wherever he should judge proper, but particularly in the Jewish towns. It is said that, the Jews having employed many artifices to hinder the work and stopped his lime-kilns from burning, he, making the sign of the cross upon a vessel of water, poured it on the kilns, and the fire instantly burst forth and burned.  Eventually Joseph had to leave Tiberias, and went to live at Scythopolis (Bethsan), where in 355 he lodged St Eusebius of Vercelli, banished by Arians.
  He harboured other servants of God, among others St Epiphanius, who had from his own mouth the particulars here related.  Joseph was then seventy, and died soon after, about the year 356.  It is matter for remark that, although he is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, his name having been added by Baronius, St Joseph appears nowhere venerated liturgically in the world, not even country where he was so conspicuous a figure.

   See the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v, where a Latin translation is provided of the text of St Epiphanius.
379  St. Ephraem El-Soriani (The Syrian). Departure of;  He debated pagans overcame them by the grace within him; went with his teacher St. James to attend the council of Nicea {Coptic} Doctor of the Church
On this day, of the year 379 A.D., the holy father, St. Ephraem (Ephraim) the Syrian, departed. He was born in the city of Nissibis, in the beginning of the fourth century to pagan parents, during the days of the righteous Emperor Constantine. It happened that he met with St. James bishop of Nissibis, who preached to him and taught him the particulars of the Christian Faith. Ephraem believed on his hands. St. James baptized him and Ephraim stayed with him. He excelled in his worship that surpassed his contemporaries. He debated the pagans and overcame them by the grace that was within him. When the council of Nicea convened, he went with his teacher St. James to attend the council.

One day, it happened that while St. Ephraem was praying, he saw a pillar of light which extended from earth to heaven. When he marvelled at what he saw, he heard a voice saying to him, "That what you saw is St. Basil, Bishop of Caesaria." St. Ephraem longed to see St. Basil and he went to Caesaria. He entered the church and stood in a corner of it. He saw St. Basil in his priestly vestments embroidered with gold. St. Ephraim doubted the holiness of St. Basil. The Lord showed him a white dove that alighted over St. Basil's head. God then inspired St. Basil of the presence of St. Ephraem. St. Basil called him by his name, and St. Ephraem marvelled at how he knew him. They greeted each other, and St. Basil ordained him a deacon.

St. Ephraem increased his asceticism, and many great virtues were manifested through him that surpass description. Among which was that of an honorable woman, who was ashamed to confess her sins orally to St. Basil. She wrote on a paper her sins which she had committed since her youth, and gave it to St. Basil. When he received it and knew what was written in it, he prayed for her. The piece of paper became blank except for only one great sin. The woman wept, and entreated him to pray for her that God might forgive this sin for her. St. Basil told her, "Go to the wilderness where St. Ephraem is and he will pray for you." The woman went to him and told him what had happened. He said to her, "I am not worthy of this honor, go back to St. Basil for he is a high priest. Go now quickly before he departs from this world." When the woman returned, she found that St. Basil had departed, and was carried on the heads of the priests. She wept, and threw the piece of paper on his coffin. She prayed to God interceding through the saint. Then, she took the piece of paper, and she found it completely blank.

St. Ephraem had performed many miracles. In his days, Ebn-Disan the Infidel appeared. This father debated with him until he overcame his erroneous opinions. He wrote many articles and discourses. When he completed his strife, he departed to the Lord.  May his prayers be with us. Amen.

403 or 404 Phocas The Transfer of the Relics of the Hieromartyr from Sinope to Constantinople occurred on July 22
His life is found under September 22.

St. Cyriacus and St. Julietta His Mother.Martyrdom of {Coptic}
On this day also, St. Cyriacus (Qyriacus) and St. Julietta, his mother, were martyred. When Cyriacus was three years old, his mother left Iconium, her native land, taking her son with her. She went to Tarsus, fleeing from the Governor that was persecuting the Christians. However, she found the Governor there in Tarsus. Some had laid accusation against her before the Governor. He brought her and ordered her to worship the idols. She answered him, "What you say to me cannot be accepted by a three year-old child." The governor said to her, "We can ask your child." God then made the child talk, who cried out saying, "Your gods are made of stone and wood by the hands of men, there is no other True God except my Lord Jesus Christ." Those who heard the child were amazed, and the Governor was exposed. For that reason, he inflicted pain over the child that surpassed his age. He also tortured his mother with many kinds of tortures. But the Lord God delivered them safely each time. Many saw this and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and received the crown of martyrdom. Finally, the Governor ordered to cut the heads off of St. Cyriacus (Qyriacus) and St. Julietta, his mother, and they received the crown of martyrdom. May their prayers be with us. Amen.
560 Constantine of Monte Cassino disciple of Saint Benedict, whom he succeeded at abbot, OSB Abbot (AC)  
Saint Constantine disciple of Saint Benedict, whom he succeeded at abbot of Monte Cassino (Benedictines).
6th v. John of Edessa a Syrian monk associated with Saint Simeon Salus who saw a vision of his spiritual brother wearing a crown upon his head with the inscription: "For endurance in the desert.", Hermit (RM)
In Syria sancti Joánnis Mónachi, qui éxstitit colléga sancti Simeónis.    In Syria, the holy monk John, a companion of St. Simeon.
Saint John, a Syrian monk of Edessa, is associated with Saint Simeon Salus (Benedictines).
The Monks Simeon, Fool-for-Christ, and his Fellow-Ascetic John were Syrians, and they lived in the sixth century at the city of Edessa. From childhood they were bound by close ties of friendship. The older of them, Simeon, was unmarried and lived with his aged mother. John, however, although he was married, lived with his father (his mother was dead) and with his young wife. Both friends belonged to wealthy families. When Simeon was thirty years old, and John twenty-four, they made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Venerable and Life-Creating Cross of the Lord. On the journey home the friends spoke of the soul's path to salvation. Dismounting their horses, they sent the servants on ahead with the horses, while they continued on foot.

    Passing through Jordan, they saw monasteries on the edge of the desert. Both of them were filled with an irrepressible desire to leave the world and spend their remaining life in monastic struggles. They turned off from the road, which their servants followed to Syria, and they prayed zealously that God would guide them to the monasteries on the opposite side. They besought the Lord to indicate which monastery they should choose, and they decided to enter whichever monastery had its gates open. At this time the Lord informed Igumen Nikon in a dream to open the monastery gates, so that the sheep of Christ could enter in.
   In great joy the comrades came through the open gates of the monastery, where they were warmly welcomed by the igumen, and they remained at the monastery. In a short while they received the monastic tonsure.
   After remaining at the monastery for a certain time, Simeon desired to intensify his efforts, and to go into the desert to pursue asceticism in complete solitude. John did not wish to be left behind by his companion, and he decided to share with him the work of a desert-dweller. The Lord revealed the intentions of the companions to Igumen Nikon, and on that night when Sts Simeon and John intended to depart the monastery, he himself opened the gates for them. He prayed with them, gave them his blessing and sent them into the wilderness.
   When they began their life in the desert, the spiritual brothers at first experienced the strong assaults of the devil. They were tempted by grief over abandoning their families, and the demons tried to discourage the ascetics, subjecting them to weakness, despondency and idleness. The brothers Simeon and John remembered their monastic calling, and trusting in the prayers of their Elder Nikon, they continued upon their chosen path. They spent their time in unceasing prayer and strict fasting, encouraging one another in their struggle against temptation.
   After a while, with God's help, the temptations stopped. The monks were told by God that Simeon's mother and John's wife had died, and that the Lord had vouchsafed them the blessings of Paradise. After this Simeon and John lived in the desert for twenty-nine years, and they attained complete dispassion (apathia) and a high degree of spirituality. St Simeon, through the inspiration of God, considered that now it was proper for him to serve people. To do this, he must leave the desert solitude and go into the world. St John, however, believing that he had not attained such a degree of dispassion as his companion, decided not to leave the wilderness.
   The brethren parted with tears. Simeon journeyed to Jerusalem, and there he venerated the Tomb of the Lord and all the holy places. By his great humility the holy ascetic entreated the Lord to permit him to serve his neighbor in such a way that they should not acknowledge him. St Simeon chose for himself the difficult task of foolishness for Christ. Having come to the city of Emesa, he stayed there and passed himself off as a simpleton, behaving strangely, for which he was subjected to insults, abuse and beatings. In spite of this, he accomplished many good deeds. He cast out demons, healed the sick, delivered people from immanent death, brought the unbelieving to faith, and sinners to repentance.
   All these things he did under the guise of foolishness, and he never received praise or thanks from people. St John highly esteemed his spiritual brother, however. When one of the inhabitants of the city of Emesa visited him in the wilderness, asking for his advice and prayers, he would invariably direct them to "the fool Simeon", who was better able to offer them spiritual counsel. For three days before his death St Simeon ceased to appear on the streets, and he enclosed himself in his hut, where there was nothing except for bundles of firewood. Having remained in unceasing prayer for three days, St Simeon fell asleep in the Lord. Some of the city poor, his companions, had not seen the fool for some time. They went to his hut and found him dead.
   Taking up the dead body, they carried him without church singing to a place where the homeless and strangers were buried. While they carried the body of St Simeon, several of the inhabitants heard a wondrous church singing, but could not understand from whence it came.
After St Simeon died, St John also fell asleep in the Lord. Shortly before his death, St Simeon saw a vision of his spiritual brother wearing a crown upon his head with the inscription: "For endurance in the desert."
668 St Wandregisilus, Or Wandrille, Abbot  receiving holy orders from the hands of St Ouen, Archbishop of Rouen; foundation of the abbey of Fontenelle; kindliness sweetened and transformed bitter hearts of heathens; humility encouraged the proud wanderer to return; his teaching and preaching gained many souls for God
   Wandrille (Wandregisilus) was born at the end of the sixth century, or the beginning of the seventh, in the neighbourhood of Verdun, a relative of Bd Pepin of Landen, the ancestor of the Carolingian dynasty; he was brought up in a sober and Christian home, where he was taught the rudiments of secular learning.  For the Frankish nobility all advancement and successful careers began at the royal court, and when he was old enough to the Austrasian court Wandrille went.  In accordance with wishes of his parents he married.  He did not want to, for his heart was, set on the monastic life, but he found that his bride shared his wishes they therefore lived together as brother and sister (though it is also said that they were first the parents of St Landrada), until such time as Wandrille could arrange his secular affairs, when each went into a monastery.  This happened about the year 628, and not without objection from King Dagobert, who did not want to lose so reliable and efficient a servant.  Wandrille first of all put himself under the direction of St Baudry at Montfaucon, near Verdun, and a few months here showed him that he needed a life of complete solitude for a time. So he retired to the wooded banks of the river Doubs, at Saint-Ursanne in the Jura, and there built himself a log hut, in which he lived for five or six years.
   His way of life and the nature of the austerities he practised (eating only twice a week, sleeping only an hour or two, saying his office with bare limbs on the frozen ground) are very reminiscent of the monks of Ireland, and it has been said that probably the memory of St Columban haunted his mind; the district in which he was now living had been sanctified by the life and death of St Ursicinus, one of Columban's disciples, and Wandrille even projected a visit to Jreland. He left this place and the disciples who had gradually gathered round him there, and went for a time to St Columban's abbey at Bobbio, and from thence to the abbey of Romain-Moütier, on the Isère. Here he remained for ten years, perfecting himself in the rules and exercises of
the cenobitical life and receiving holy orders from the hands of St Ouen, Archbishop of Rouen, in whose diocese he worked for a time.
  Then, the instrument of God's purpose being at last fonned, Wandrille learned that the time had come for him to undertake his own particular great work.  This was the foundation of the abbey of Fontenelle, near Caudebec-en-Caux.  In a short time he was head of a large community; the abbey church, dedicated in honour of St Peter, was consecrated by St Ouen in 657.  Fontenelle was a characteristic monastery of the early middle ages: in the first place, a home of ascetics; then, a missionary centre; then, a school of the fine and useful arts and of letters.  St Wandrille was particularly careful for the well-being of the people of the surrounding country; not content with ministering to the large number of dependents of the monastery he extended his labours to the whole country of Caux, where there were still many heathen.  Wandrille's kindliness sweetened and transformed bitter hearts; his humility encouraged the proud wanderer to return; his teaching and preaching gained many souls for God.  In July 668 St Wandrille took to his bed with a slight illness, and during it was caught up in an ecstasy.  When he came to himself he knew that he was about to die, and gathered his community round him.  "Rest assured", he told them, "that if you are faithful to my teaching, if you remember what I have told you, strengthening yourselves in unity and love and humbleness in such a way that there is no division among you, the house will prosper. The Lord will always be amongst you; He will be your comfort and your help in every need."
There are two lives of this saint, printed in the Acta Sanctorum (July, vol. v) and elsewhere; but oniy the first, composed in very barbarous Latin by a monk of Fontenelle about the year 700, is of any historical value.  This has been critically edited by B. Krusch in the fifth volume of MGH., Scriptores Merov., pp. 1-24.  The other life, which dates only from the middle of the ninth century, is quite worthless.  From a misapprehension of the character of this second text a good deal that has been written popularly about St Wandregisilus is unreliable  this remark applies notably to the life published by Dom Besse in the series "Les Saints".  See also Gesta sanet patrum Fontanellensis coenobii, ed. Lohier-Laporte (1936), pp. 114.
670 Wastrada of Utrecht, Matron mother of Saint Gregory of Utrecht, retired to a convent in her old age (AC)
Wastrada, mother of Saint Gregory of Utrecht, retired to a convent in her old age. She may have become a nun, but there is little corroborative contemporary evidence (Benedictines).

678 Arbogast of Strasbourg B many miracles ascribed famed for humility and wisdom (RM)
Argentoráti sancti Arbogásti Epíscopi, miráculis clari.
At Strasbourg, St. Arbogast, a bishop, renowned for miracles.

This Frankish bishop has been claimed, as to his origin, by both Scotland and Ireland, but it appears that he belonged to Aquitaine, whence he went into Alsace and lived as a hermit in a wood.  He came to the notice of a King Dagobert when his son while hunting was seemingly killed by a wild boar, his recovery being attributed to the prayers of the holy man (but other accounts put this event during his episcopate). The king made Arbogast bishop of Strasburg, and he devoted himself wholeheartedly to governing his flock in apostolic humility, and asked that after his death he might be buried on the side of a hill where only felons were laid.  This was done, and a church built over the place.  Great uncertainty exists about this saint, the facts of whose life have been lost in a confusion of stories.
A life of the saint, attributed to one of his successors, Uto III, is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v.  Though late and legendary it seems to be based on some historical tradition.  See R. Forrer, Strasbourg-Argentorate, t. ii (1927), pp. 748 seq.; A. Postina, S. Arbogast (1928); and M. Barth, Der h. Arbogast (1940).
St. Arbogast (Gaelic Arascach).
St. Arbogast has been claimed as a native of Scotland, but this is owing to a misunderstanding of the name "Scotia", which until late in the Middle Ages really meant Ireland. He flourished about the middle of the seventh century. Leaving Ireland, as so many other missionaries had done, he settled as a hermit in a German forest, and then proceeded to Alsace, where his real name, Arascach, was changed to Arbogast. This change of name was owing to the difficulty expdrienced by foreigners in pronouncing Irish Christian names; thus it is that Moengal, Maelmaedhog, Cellach, Gillaisu, Gilla in Coimded, Tuathal, and Arascach were respectively transformed into Marcellus, Malachy, Gall, Gelasius, Germanus, Tutilo, and Arbogast. St. Arbogast found a warm friend in King Dagobert II of Austrasia, who had been educated at Slane, in Meath, in Ireland, and was restored to his kingdom on the demise of King Childeric II. Monstrelet authenticates the story of King Dagobert in Ireland; and the royal exile naturally fled to Slane in order to be under the ægis of the Ard-Righ (High-King) of Ireland, at Tara. On Dagobert's accession to the throne of Austrasia, Arbogast was appointed Bishop of Strasburg, and was famed for sanctity and miracles. It is related that the Irish saint raised to life Dagobert's son, who had been killed by a fall from his horse. St. Arbogast died in 678, and, at his own special request, was buried on the side of a mountain, here only malefactors were interred. The site of his burial was subsequently deemed suitable for a church. He is commemorated 21 July.

Born in Aquitaine, France.  Although the Irish and Scottish both claim Arbogast as their own, the 13th-century Chronicle of Sens by Richer and the Life of Saint Florentius, his successor, strongly support the claim of Scotland. His acta, however, tell us that Arbogast was born of a noble family in Aquitaine, France.
His vita, attributed to Bishop Utone of Strasbourg (died 965), tells us that Arbogast was living as a recluse in the Sacred Forest (Heiligesforst or Haguenau) of Alsace when King Dagobert took an interest in him. The holy hermit was often called to court to share his wisdom with the king, who, about 630, forced on Arbogast the see of Strasbourg. Shortly after his consecration, Arbogast raised Dagobert's son Sigebert to life when he had been killed by a fall from his horse. Although many other miracles are ascribed to the saint, he was famed for humility and wisdom.
Because of the king's affection for the bishop, the see was endowed with several large estates, including Rufach and the old royal palace of Isenburg. Arbogast founded or endowed several monasteries, including Surbourg, Shutteran, and possibly Ebersheimmünster (although Saint Odilia's father, Adalric, and Bishop Saint Deodatus of Nevers are the principal founders of this last one).
Apparently Saint Arbogast retired before his death, because the year before Dagobert offered the see of Strasbourg to Saint Wilfrid, who was on his way to Rome to challenge the division of his see. When Wilfrid declined, Saint Florentius was consecrated.  At Arbogast's request, he was interred on a mountain in the place set apart for the burial of criminals. The church of Saint Michael was built over his tomb and Saint Arbogast's Abbey rose nearby. His second successor translated his body with honor into the abbey church. A church was built in his honor in 1069, but it was destroyed by the Protestants in 1530. His relics were scattered during the Thirty Years War (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).
In art, Saint Arbogast is a bishop walking dryshod over a river, sometimes with Saint Sebastian (Roeder).
He is the patron of Strasbourg, but his feast is also kept in several Swiss cantons (Farmer).

707 John and his twin brother Benignus monk at Moyenmoutier under Saint Hidulphus , OSB (AC)  
Saint John and his twin brother Benignus were monk at Moyenmoutier under Saint Hidulphus (Benedictines).

787 The Armatia Icon of the Mother of God was in Constantinople at the Armatian monastery
The place where the monastery was located, was called "Armation" or "of the Armatians" and received its name from the military magister Armatias, nephew of the tyrant Basiliscus, and a contemporary of the emperor Zeno (474-491).
The celebration of the wonderworking icon was established to commemorate deliverance from the Iconoclast heresy. The Seventh Ecumenical Council of 787 drew up dogmatic definitions about icon veneration based on Holy Scripture and Church Tradition.
The Armatia Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is commemorated twice during the year, on July 21 and August 17.

1088  Bd Benno, Bishop Of Osnabruck; noteworthy work as an architect "official architect" to the Emperor Henry III; sent more than once as imperial envoy to pope St Gregory; founded Iburg monastery
This Benno was born at Lohningen in Swabia and was educated from an early age under Bd Herman the Cripple at Reichenau.   He soon attracted attention by his knowledge of the art of building and was made "official architect" to the Emperor Henry III.  His most spectacular performance in this capacity was the saving of the cathedral of Speyer, which had been begun only in 1030, from being underscoured by the wash of the Rhine.  In 1047 he was put in charge of the cathedral school at Hildesheim.  He was taken away to accompany his bishop when he followed the emperor in his campaign against the Hungarians, and on his return was made provost of the cathedral and archpriest of Goslar.  In 1068 he was appointed to the see of Osnabruck, and eight years later the struggle began between the Emperor Henry IV and Pope St Gregory VII in which the German bishops were inevitably involved.  Benno was among those who at first sided with the emperor, and at the Synod of Worms signed the attempted "deposition " of the pope.  St Gregory at once retorted by excommunicating all who had taken part in this infamous proceeding, and Benno with other bishops went into italy to make their peace.   Gregory received them at the castle of Canossa, and, upon hearing their explanations and expressions of penitence, absolved them.  After Henry had been again excommunicated in 1080 Benno hid himself to avoid having again to take sides against the pope, to whom he was sent more than once as imperial envoy.
  These, and other political activities of Bishop Benno are less edifying than the justice, goodness and honesty which were attested by the affection which his flock had for him; he is said once to have dispersed a plague of grasshoppers by his prayers, and for that reason his intercession against them was sought in after ages.  He had the unhappiness of seeing his cathedral, a timber building, burnt to the ground, but his own building days were over, and it was the work of his successor to replace it.  The last years of his life were spent in peace at Iburg, where he had founded a monastery, and here he died.  An account of his life was written by Norbert, the third abbot of Iburg, who was elected while the bishop was living there, and it was principally at Iburg and Osnabriick that Pd Benno was venerated.
There is no account given of Benno in the Acta Sanctorum, though he is mentioned among the praetermissi under July 22.  Bollandists remarked they had no life of him or evidence of cultus. Later, however, a biography by Norbert was found in a seventeenth-century manuscript, alleged to be a copy of an ancient text destroyed by fire.   This was reproduced in MGH., vol. xii.  Of recent years a codex of the genuine text of Norbert has been discovered, which shows that the former version was a copy which had been extensively interpolated and falsified, apparently by Maur Rost, abbot of Iburg in 1666.  The correct text, first discovered and edited by H. Bresslau, has now been reprinted in the folio continuation of the MGH., 1926, vol. xxx, Pt. 2.   Benno's work as an architect seems to have been noteworthy.
12th v. Onuphrius the Silent Monk in the Near Caves of St Anthony an ascetic in the twelfth century.
 He is also commemorated on September 28 (Synaxis of the Fathers of the Near Caves).

1150 Verena von Schönau Werk über ihre Visionen zu Ursula und ihren Gefährtinnen verfaßte. Die Reliquien von Verena verblieben in Schönau und wurden hier verehrt.
Orthodoxe und Katholische Kirche: 22. Juli
Verena (Elvira) soll eine der Gefährtinnen Ursulas gewesen sein. Die um 1150 in die Benediktinerabtei Deutz bei Köln gelangten Reliquien wurden der Nonne und Mystikerin Elisabeth von Schönau (Gedenktag 18./19.06.) vorgelegt, die ein umfangreiches
Werk über ihre Visionen zu Ursula und ihren Gefährtinnen verfaßte. Die Reliquien von Verena verblieben in Schönau und wurden hier verehrt.

1227–1228 St. Salome the Georgian details of the life of are not preserved. In the Synaxarion of Jerusalem’s Holy Cross Monastery it is written: “On this day (July 20) we commemorate the martyrdom of Salome the Georgian, who at first yielded to the Persian threats and renounced Christ, but later confessed the true Faith. For this she was beheaded and cast into the flames.”
In his famous work Pilgrimage, the 18th-century historian and archbishop Timote (Gabashvili) writes that the godless Persians captured the holy martyr Salome and tortured her at Jerusalem’s Holy Cross Monastery for defending the name of Christ.
Thus it appears that Salome labored at one of the convents in Jerusalem. It is believed that she was tortured to death after the martyrdom of Luka of Jerusalem, around the years 1227–1228.


14th v. Saint Markella lived in the village of Volissos, Chios; devil incited her father with an unnatural desire for his daughter; martyred for her faith
sometime after the middle of the fourteenth century. Her parents were Christians, and among the wealthiest citizens of Volissos. The saint's mother died when she was young, and so her father, the mayor of the village, saw to her education.  She had been trained by her mother to be respectful and devout, and to guard her purity. She avoided associations with other girls who were more outgoing than she was so that she would not come to spiritual harm through such company. Her goal was to attain the Kingdom of Heaven, and to become a bride of Christ.  St Markella increased in virtue as she grew older, fasting, praying, and attending church services. She tried to keep the commandments and to lead others to God. She loved and respected her father, and comforted him in his sorrow. She told him she would take care of him in his old age, and would not abandon him.
As an adult, St Markella was loved by everyone for her beauty and for her spiritual gifts. The Enemy of our salvation tried to lure her into sin by placing evil thoughts in her mind. She resisted these temptations, and so the devil turned away from a direct confrontation with the young woman. Instead, he incited her father with an unnatural desire for his daughter.
Markella's father changed in his behavior toward her. He became moody and depressed, forbidding her to go into the garden or to speak with the neighbors. Unable to understand the reason for this change, the saint went to her room and wept. She prayed before an icon of the Mother of God, asking Her to help her father. Soon she fell asleep, only to be awakened by her father's shouting.
The unfortunate man had spent a long time struggling against his lust, but finally he gave in to it. At times he would speak to his daughter roughly, then later he would appear to be gentle. He wanted to be near her, and to stroke her hair. Unaware of her father's intentions, St Markella was happy to see him emerge from his melancholy state, thinking that her prayer had been answered.  One day, her father openly declared the nature of his feelings for her. Horrified, the saint tried to avoid him as much as she could. Even the neighbors realized that there was something wrong with the man, so they stopped speaking to him.
A shepherd was tending his sheep near the beach one morning, and was leading them into the shade of a plane tree to avoid the hot July sun. Just as he was about to lie down, he heard a noise and looked up. He saw a young woman with a torn dress running down the hill. She hid in a nearby bush, ignoring its thorns.
The shepherd wondered who was chasing her, and how she had come to this spot. Then he heard the sound of a horse approaching, and recognized the mayor of the village. He asked the shepherd if he had seen his daughter. He said that he had not seen her, but pointed to her hiding place with his finger.
The mayor ordered Markella to come out of the bush, but she refused. Therefore, he set fire to the bush in order to force her out. She emerged on the side opposite her father, and ran toward the rocky shore, calling out to the Mother of God for help.
Markella continued to run, even though blood was flowing from her face and hands. Feeling a sharp pain in her leg, she saw that she had been shot with an arrow. She paused to pull it out, then took to flight once more. She scrambled over the rocks, staining them with her blood. Hearing her father getting closer, she prayed that the earth would open up and swallow her.
The saint sank to her knees, her strength all gone, and then a miracle took place. The rock split open and received her body up to the waist. Her father drew near with wild-eyed joy shouting, "I have caught you. Now where will you go?
Drawing his sword, he began to butcher his helpless daughter, cutting off pieces of her body. Finally, he seized her by the hair and cut off her head, throwing it into the sea. At once the calm sea became stormy, and large waves crashed to the shore near the murderer's feet. Thinking that the sea was going to drown him because of his crime, he turned and fled. His ultimate fate has not been recorded.
In later years, pious Christians built a church on the spot where St Markella hid in the bush. The spot where she was killed became known as "The Martyrdom of St Markella," and the rock that opened to receive her is still there. The rock appears to be a large stone that broke off from a mountain and rolled into the sea. Soil from the mountain covers the spot on the side facing the land. On the side facing the ocean is a small hole, about the size of a finger. A healing water flows from the opening, which cures every illness.
The flow of water is not due to the movements of the tide, because when the tide is out, there would be no water. This, however, is not the case. The water is clear, but some of the nearby rocks have been stained with a reddish-yellow color. According to tradition, the lower extremities of St Markella's body are concealed in the rock.
The most astonishing thing about the rock is not the warmth of the water, nor the discoloration of the other rocks, but what happens when a priest performs the Blessing of Water. A sort of steam rises up from the water near the rock, and the entire area is covered with a mist. The sea returns to normal as soon as the service is over. Many miracles have occurred at the spot, and pilgrims flock there from all over the world.
1400 Blessed Oddino Barrotti, parish priest at the church of Saint John the Baptist at Fossano and a Franciscan tertiary. Later he resigned from his pastoral duties and turned his house into a hospital OFM Tert. (AC)
  Born in Fossano, Piedmont, Italy, in 1324; died there in 1400; cultus approved in 1808. Oddino became a parish priest at the church of Saint John the Baptist at Fossano and a Franciscan tertiary. Later he resigned from his pastoral duties and turned his house into a hospital. He is still highly venerated in Fossano (Benedictines).

The life of a secular priest in a parish gives infinite scope for sanctity, but rarely any opportunity for spectacular achievements.  Things were no different in the middle ages, when numerous priests of heroic virtue lived and died in the obscurity of their own parishes and their names died with them; except that now and again a local cultus has kept them in memory, though generally with no reliable particulars of what sort of men they were or what they did, beyond a common-form catalogue of miracles and virtues.  Of these Bd Oddino Barrotti stands out as rather remarkable because of the variety of activities that he engaged in, despite the fact that he was a humble parroco, never called upon to rule a great diocese or to counsel kings in the intricacies of politics, ecclesiastical and secular.  He was in about 1360 appointed to the cure of the parish of St John Baptist in his native town of Fossarto in Piedmont. He was so devoted to the needs of his flock that before long the bishop of Turin had to order him to take some flesh-meat at his meals, notwithstanding any vow he might have made to the contrary, and to retain from the tithes paid over to him whatever was necessary for his own proper support-for the good man was handing over everything to the poor and making himself unfit for his work.  In 1374 he was appointed provost of the collegiate-chapter of Fossano (it has since become cathedral) and rector of the parish served by the canons, but after four years he resigned the double benefice in order to put himself at the disposal of a religious confraternity, of which he had been asked to become director.
   Then he became a Franciscan tertiary, turned his house into a shelter for the destitute, and in 1381 made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On his return home he was made governor of the Guild of the Cross, an association for the care of the sick and to give hospitality to pilgrims; by his efforts a free hospital was built, with a hospice attached from which neither poor nor pilgrims were to be turned away: this shelter existed on into the nineteenth century.
   Bd Oddino showed such capacity as organizer and builder that his successor in the provostship of the chapter asked him to take on the contract of building their new church. This he did, and in the course of the work made use of more than natural means to forward it. The wonders recorded are already familiar in the lives of other saints: an ox-drawn wagon, loaded with a huge beam, got stuck in a bog and nothing would move it; the saint seized hold of the draught-pole, exclaimed, "In the name of God and of St Juvenal, come out!" and out it came (St Juvenal was the patron of Fossano). Another time he was praying in the church when a mason fell from the tower where he was working, and lay apparently dead.  Bd Oddino took him by the hand, saying, "Getup and go back to work", and the man at once recovered, none the worse for the accident.
  In 1396 the canons asked Oddino again to become their provost, and he for the second time accepted that office and the care of the parish wherein he was so well known and loved.  But four years afterwards it was visited by a plague which made awful ravages among the people; Bd Oddino was day and night at the beds of the sick and dying, he was himself infected, and on July 7, 1400, he died-a fitting end in this world for one who had given the whole of his life to the pastoral care of others.
His memory has never gone out of mind in Fossano; the local cultus was confirmed in 1808.
A short account of Bd Oddino, with a translation of an Italian panegyric, and a copy of a rude engraving of the good priest, will be found in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. v.
1435 Bd Angelina Of Marsciano, Widow assumed the dress of a tertiary of St Francis and converted her household into what was in effect a body of secular tertiaries living in community   Angelina and her companions travelled about recalling sinners to penance, relieving distress, and putting before young women the call of a life of virginity for Christ's sake first convent of regular tertiaries with vows and enclosure, and its success was immediate.
Angelina was born at Montegiove, near Orvieto, in 1377, her father being James Angioballi, Lord of Marsciano, and her mother Anne, of the family of the counts of Corbara, whence Angelina is sometimes called by that name. When her beloved mother died in 1389 her thoughts turned to the life of the cloister, but when she was fifteen she married, her husband being the count of Civitella, John of Terni. He, however, lived less than two years longer, leaving his widow châtelaine of the castle and estate of Civitella del Tronto.
  Angelina now assumed the dress of a tertiary of St Francis and converted her household into what was in effect a body of secular tertiaries living in community.  Those of her female attendants, relatives and friends who were able and willing to do so gathered round her, intent on personal sanctification and ministering to the spiritual and material needs of others.  Angelina and her companions travelled about recalling sinners to penance, relieving distress, and putting before young women the call of a life of virginity for Christ's sake.

  She was not the first nor the last saint to inculcate celibacy with such vigour that the civil authorities were alarmed; what happened to St Ambrose happened to her, and she was denounced for sorcery (in her influence over girls) and heresy (in that, they alleged, she taught the Manichean doctrine of the iniquity of marriage).  Ladislaus, King of Naples, summoned her before him at Castelnuovo, having secretly made up his mind that if the woman was guilty she should be burnt, great lady or no. But Angelina had a premonition of his intention, and when she had demonstrated the orthodoxy of her faith and the lawfulness of her behaviour, she added, "If I have taught or practised error I am prepared to suffer the appropriate punishment".  Then, it is said, she shook out the folds of her habit, displaying some burning embers that she had concealed there, exclaiming, "Behold the fire!" Ladislaus dismissed the charge against her, but complaints of her activities continued to be made, and shortly after he exiled Angelina and her companions from the kingdom.
  She was yet only eighteen and now went straight to Assisi.  There, in Santa Maria degli Angeli, God made plain to her what He would have her do, namely, to found an enclosed monastery of the third order regular of St Francis at Foligno.  The following day she set out, and laid her project before the bishop of that city, who approved it.  When the building was ready, early in 1397, it was dedicated in honour of St Anne (and doubtless in memory of the saint's mother), and Angelina was elected abbess over the community of twelve sisters.  This is generally esteemed to be the first convent of regular tertiaries with vows and enclosure, and its success was immediate.  In 1399 Bd Angelina founded another, St Agnes's, at Foligno, then others at Spoleto, Assisi, Viterbo, and eleven others were begun during her lifetime; she insisted that for the sake of good observance the communities must be small.
  Angelina died at the age of fifty-eight, and her cultus was approved in 1825. 
Besides frequent references in such great collections as Wadding's Annales, there is a popular Italian life by L. Jacobilli (1627) which has been more than once translated and reprinted, another by Nicholas de Prato (1882), and another by Felix da Porretta (1937). See also Mazzara, Leggendario Francescano (1679), vol. ii, pp. 107-114, and Léon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. ii, pp. 491-303.
1619 Lawrence of Brindisi, Doctor of the Church by Pope John XXIII both a brilliant military tactician as well as a peacemaker; became a Capuchin Franciscan in Verona at 16 and took the name Lawrence excelled at Bible studies; main contributions are in the nine volumes of his sermons (RM) OFM Cap. (also known as Laurence, Lorenzo)
Born in Brindisi, Naples, Italy, July 22, 1559; died in Lisbon, Portugal, July 22, 1619; beatified in 1783; canonized in 1881; declare a Doctor of the Church by Pope John XXIII in 1959; feast day formerly on July 23.  Cesare de Rossi was born to a Venetian family in the kingdom of Naples. He was educated by the local Conventual Franciscans and then by his uncle in the College of Saint Mark in Venice. He was both a brilliant military tactician as well as a peacemaker.

At age 16, he became a Capuchin Franciscan in Verona and took the name Lawrence. He pursued higher studies in theology, philosophy, and Scripture at the University of Padua. There he demonstrated an incredible gift for languages--Greek, Hebrew, German, Bohemian, French, and Spanish--and excelled at Bible studies. He gave a Lenten course of sermons while still a deacon, and after being ordained, he preached successfully in Padua, Verona, Vicenza, and elsewhere in northern Italy.

In 1596, he became a definitor general of the order in Rome, a position he was to hold five times. Pope Clement VIII commissioned him to evangelize the Jews; his facility with Hebrew contributed to his success at this task. He accompanied Blessed Benedict of Urbino to Germany to establish the Capuchins as a means of counteracting the spread of Lutheranism. They nursed plague victims and established monasteries at Prague, Vienna, and Gorizia, which were to develop into the provinces of Bohemia, Austria, and Styria. Lawrence then was elected minister general of the Capuchins.
During this time, the Turks were threatening to conquer Hungary.
Emperor Rudolf II begged Lawrence to unite the German princes against them. As a result of his efforts, an army was mustered, and he was appointed chaplain general. Before the battle of Szekes-Fehervar in 1601, the generals consulted him on strategy. He advised an attack, rallied the troops, and rode before the army with a crucifix. The victory of Szekes-Fehervar was attributed to him.
In 1602, he was elected vicar general of the Capuchins but refused re-election in 1605.
The emperor later commissioned Lawrence to persuade Philip III of Spain to join the Catholic League, and in the course of this task, he founded a house of Capuchins in Madrid. He was then sent to Munich as nuncio of the Holy See at the court of Maximilian of Bavaria, head of the League, from which location, in addition to his other duties, he administered two provinces of his order.
After serving as a diplomat for two more royal tangles, returned to the monastery of Caserta in 1618, desiring a more solitary life.
Representatives from Naples came to him, however, and asked him to intercede for them with King Philip about the Spanish viceroy, the duke of Osuna, whose dictatorial methods they feared would cause a rebellion.  Although he was ill and tired and predicted that he would not return alive, he agreed. He was forced to travel to Lisbon in the heat of summer. There he convinced the king of the seriousness of the case, and the duke was recalled. After accomplishing his aim, he returned to his lodging and died on his sixtieth birthday. Lawrence was buried in the cemetery of Poor Clares at Villafranca.

His written works included some controversial pieces against the Lutherans and a commentary on Genesis, but his main contributions are in the nine volumes of his sermons (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Walsh, White).

Cessare De Rossi, was born at Brindisi in the kingdom of Naples in 1559, of a Venetian family of good standing. He was educated first by the Conventual Franciscans in his birthplace and then by his uncle in the college of St Mark at Venice. He made rapid progress, both in studies and in the spiritual life, and when he was sixteen received the Capuchin Franciscan habit at Verona, taking the name of Laurence.
   He made his philosophical and theological studies at the University of Padua, displaying a marvellous gift for languages: he learned Greek, Hebrew, German, Bohemian, French and Spanish, and had an extraordinary knowledge of the text of the Bible. White still a deacon he preached a Lenten course of sermons, and after his ordination preached with great fruit in Padua, Verona, Vicenza and other towns of northern Italy.   In 1596 he went to fill the office of definitor general of his order in Rome, and was charged by Pope Clement VIII to work for the conversion of the Jews.  In this he had considerable success, his knowledge of Hebrew being a valuable adjunct to his learning and holy life.  He was sent with Bd Benedict of Urbino into Germany to establish the Capuchins there as a bulwark against Lutheranism; they began this work by nursing those sick of the plague, and before they left they had founded friaries at Prague, Vienna and Gorizia, which developed into the provinces of Bohemia, Austria and Styria.  At the chapter of 1602 he was elected minister general of the Capuchins, and administered his charge with both vigour and charity, setting out at once on a visitation of the provinces. But when his term of tffice was up, in 1605 he refused to accept re-election; nor was there other work lacking for him to do.
    While still vicar general Laurence had been sent by the emperor, Rudolf II, to enlist the help of the German princes against the Turks who were threatening the whole of Hungary.  He was successful in his mission, an army was got together, and Laurence was appointed chaplain general of the forces.  He even fulfilled in some respects the duties of chief-of-staff as well : before the battle of Szekes-Fehervar in 1601 the friar was consulted by the generals; he advised assault, gave a rousing address to the troops, and himself rode before the army-armed with a crucifix.
   The crushing defeat of the Turks was attributed on all hands to St Laurence.  There is a story that on his way back from this campaign he stayed with his brethren at Gorizia, where our Lord appeared to them in choir and gave all holy communion with His own hand. Having spent some time preaching and recoaciling heretics in Germany he was commissioned by the emperor to induce Philip III of Spain to join the Catholic League, and took the opportunity to found a house of Capuchins in Madrid. Then he was sent to Munich as nuncio of the Holy See at the court of Maximilian of Bavaria, head of the League; from here he administered two provinces of his order and continued his work of pacification and conversion.  After settling two more royal quarrels he retired in 1618 to the friary at Caserta, hoping there to be free from exterior distractions, though he had

had the will and the grace never to allow his activities in secular affairs to get in the way of the principal business of self-sanctification.  He frequently fell into ecstasy while saying Mass, and his personal devotion was the starting-point of all his achievements.
    But princes and governors, however irreligious themselves, often value the service of truly religious men.  The chief men of Naples came to Laurence and complained of the tyranny of the Spanish viceroy, the Duke of Osuna;  they feared a rising of the people; would he go to the court of King Philip and put their case before him?  The saint was still not very old, but he was worn out and he was ill ; moreover, he predicted that if he went he would never return. He set out. When at last he arrived in Madrid the king was not there: he had gone to Lisbon.  So Laurence followed him across Spain and Portugal in the heat of summer.  He used all his eloquence and power of persuasion on behalf of the Neapolitans, and gained his point; the Duke of Osuna should be recalled.
   Then Laurence returned to his lodging, and there, on his birthday, July 22, in the year 1619, he died.   He was buried in the cemetery of the Poor Clares at Villafranca, and was beatified in 1783; when in the course of the process his writings were examined, it was recorded of them that " Indeed, he is fit to be included among the holy doctors of the Church ".  These writings consist for the most part of sermons, but include also a commentary on the book of Genesis and some works against Luther; until recently but little of them had been printed. St Laurence of Brindisi was canonized in 1881.
An English Life of St Laurence of Brindisi was published in 1911 Father Anthony Brennan; it is founded, as the author tells us in his preface, mainly upon the biography of Father Bonaventure of Coccaleo, who had before him the documents of the beatification process. Nine volumes of St Laurence's Opera omnia have now been published (1928-45) by the Capuchins of the Venetian province. This great work provides authentic materials for a fuller study of the saint's career, and a critical biography will in due course be added. For his Mariology, see Fr Jerome, La doctrine mariale de St Laurent de Brindes (1933), and Fr Serafino, S. Lorenzo da Brindisi discorsi mariani (1950). A collection of testimonies concerning the saint's life and work, ed. Fr Jerome of Fellette, was published at Venice in 1937.
July 21, 2008 St. Lawrence of Brindisi (1559-1619)
At first glance perhaps the most remarkable quality of Lawrence of Brindisi is his outstanding gift of languages. In addition to a thorough knowledge of his native Italian, he had complete reading and speaking ability in Latin, Hebrew, Greek, German, Bohemian, Spanish and French.
He was born on July 22, 1559, and died exactly 60 years later on his birthday in 1619. His parents William and Elizabeth Russo gave him the name of Julius Caesar, Caesare in Italian. After the early death of his parents, he was educated by his uncle at the College of St. Mark in Venice.
When he was just 16 he entered the Capuchin Franciscan Order in Venice and received the name of Lawrence. He completed his studies of philosophy and theology at the University of Padua and was ordained a priest at 23.
With his facility for languages he was able to study the Bible in its original texts. At the request of Pope Clement VIII, he spent much time preaching to the Jews in Italy.
So excellent was his knowledge of Hebrew, the rabbis felt sure he was a Jew who had become a Christian.
In 1956 the Capuchins completed a 15-volume edition of his writings. Eleven of these 15 contain his sermons, each of which relies chiefly on scriptural quotations to illustrate his teaching.

Lawrence’s sensitivity to the needs of people—a character trait perhaps unexpected in such a talented scholar—began to surface. He was elected major superior of the Capuchin Franciscan province of Tuscany at the age of 31. He had the combination of brilliance, human compassion and administrative skill needed to carry out his duties. In rapid succession he was promoted by his fellow Capuchins and was elected minister general of the Capuchins in 1602. In this position he was responsible for great growth and geographical expansion of the Order.
Lawrence was appointed papal emissary and peacemaker, a job which took him to a number of foreign countries. An effort to achieve peace in his native kingdom of Naples took him on a journey to Lisbon to visit the king of Spain. Serious illness in Lisbon took his life in 1619.

Comment: His constant devotion to Scripture, coupled with great sensitivity to the needs of people, present a lifestyle which appeals to Christians today. Lawrence had a balance in his life that blended self-discipline with a keen appreciation for the needs of those whom he was called to serve. Quote:  “God is love, and all his operations proceed from love. Once he wills to manifest that goodness by sharing his love outside himself, then the Incarnation becomes the supreme manifestation of his goodness and love and glory. So, Christ was intended before all other creatures and for his own sake. For him all things were created and to him all things must be subject, and God loves all creatures in and because of Christ. Christ is the first-born of every creature, and the whole of humanity as well as the created world finds its foundation and meaning in him. Moreover, this would have been the case even if Adam had not sinned” (St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Doctor of the Universal Church, Capuchin Educational Conference, Washington, D.C.).
1679 Bds. Philip Evans priest S.J. and John Lloyd a secular priest, missionary to minister in his own country; Martyred "as priests who had come unlawfully into the realm"
Philip Evans was born at Monmouth in 1645, was educated at Saint-Omer, and joined the Society of Jesus at the age of twenty.  in 1675 he was ordained at Liege and sent to South Wales.   He was soon well known for his zeal, but no active notice was taken by the authorities until the scare of  "Oates's  plot ", when in the November of 1678 John Arnold, of Llanvihangel Court near Abergavenny, a justice of the peace and hunter of priests, offered a reward of £200 for his arrest.   Father Evans refused to leave his flock, and early in December was caught at the house of Christopher Turberville at Sker in Glamorgan. He refused the oath and was confined alone in an underground dungeon in Cardiff Castle.  Two or three weeks afterwards he was joined by Mr John Lloyd, a secular priest, who had been taken at Penlline in Glamorgan.  He was a Breconshire man, who took the missionary oath at Valladolid in 1649 and been sent to minister in his own country.
  After five months the two prisoners were brought up for trial at the shire-hall in Cardiff, charged not with complicity in the "plot" but as priests who had come unlawfully into the realm.   It had been difficult to collect witnesses against them, and they were condemned and sentenced by Mr Justice Owen, Wynne principally on the evidence of two poor women who were suborned to say that they had seen Father Evans celebrating Mass.  On their return to prison they were better treated and allowed a good deal of liberty, so that when the under-sheriff came on July 21 to announce that their execution was fixed for the morrow, Father Evans was playing a game of tennis and would not return to his cell till he had finished it.  Part of his few remaining hours of life he spent playing on the harp and talking to the numerous people who came to say farewell to himself and Mr Lloyd when the news got around.
The execution took place on Gallows Field (at the northeastern end of what is now Richmond Road, Cardiff).
Bd Philip died first, after having addressed the people in Welsh and English, and saying, "Adieu, Mr Lloyd, though for a little time, for we shall shortly meet again", to Bd John, who made only a very brief speech because, as he said, "I never was a good speaker in my life ".
See Challoner, MMP., pp. 544-547.  Challoner cites the Florus Anglo-Bavaricus, and there was also a broadsheet printed the same year (1679), of which there is a copy at the British Museum, describing the martyr's death.  See also T. P. Ellis, Catholic Martyrs of Wales (1933),  pp. 119-125 and Catholic Record Society Publications, vol. xlvii (1953), pp. 296-299.
1693 Saint Cornelius of Pereyaslavl the sacristan in church, he served in the trapeza, and also toiled in the garden relics were found incorrupt
In the world Konon, was the son of a Ryazan merchant. In his youth he left his parental home and lived for five years as a novice of the Elder Paul in the Lukianov wilderness near Pereyaslavl. Afterwards the young ascetic transferred to the Pereyaslavl monastery of Sts Boris and Gleb on the Sands [Peskakh]. Konon eagerly went to church and unquestioningly did everything that they commanded him.
The holy novice did not sit down to eat in the trapeza with the brethren, but contented himself with whatever remained, accepting food only three times a week. After five years, he received monastic tonsure with the name Cornelius. From that time no one saw the monk sleeping on a bed. Several of the brethren scoffed at St Cornelius as foolish, but he quietly endured the insults and intensified his efforts. Having asked permission of the igumen to live as a hermit, he secluded himself into his own separately constructed cell and constantly practiced asceticism in fasting and prayer.
Once the brethren found him barely alive, and the cell was locked from within. Three months St Cornelius lay ill, and he could take only water and juice. The monk, having recovered and being persuaded by the igumen, stayed to live with the brethren. St Cornelius was the sacristan in church, he served in the trapeza, and also toiled in the garden. As if to bless the saint's labors, excellent apples grew in the monastery garden, which he lovingly distributed to visitors.
The body of St Cornelius was withered up from strict fasting, but he did not cease to toil. With his own hands he built a well for the brethren. For thirty years St Cornelius lived in complete silence, being considered by the brethren as deaf and dumb. Before his death on July 22, 1693, St Cornelius made his confession to the monastery priest Father Barlaam, received the Holy Mysteries and took the schema.
He was buried in the chapel. Nine years later, during the construction of a new church, his relics were found incorrupt. In the year 1705, St Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov (October 28), saw the relics of St Cornelius, and they were in the new church in a secluded place. The holy bishop composed a Troparion and Kontakion to the saint.

1860 Moritz Bräuninger Am 22. Juli 1860 traf er in der Nähe der Station mit Indianern zusammen und kam mit ihnen in ein Gespräch. Seitdem fehlte jede Spur von ihm. Händler berichteten später, Bräuninger sei von Ukala-Indianern erschossen und in den Powder-River geworfen worden.
Evangelische Kirche: 22. Juli
Moritz Bräuninger wurde am 2.12.1836 geboren. Er arbeitete als wandernder Handwerker beim Bau des Diakonissenhauses in Neuendettelsau mit, trat in das Missionsseminar ein und wurde nach zweijähriger Ausbildung in das Seminar in Dubuque in Nordamerika versetzt. Mit dem Missionar Schmidt erkundete er Missionsmöglichkeiten unter den Indianern. 1859 reiste Bräuninger mit drei weiteren Missionaren, drei Diakonen und zwei Kolonisten in das Gebiet der Upsaroka-Indianer. Da Schmidt erkrankt war, leitete Bräuninger die Expedition. Die fünftausend Kilometer konnten nur unter Schwierigkeiten zurückgelegt werden und Bräuninger legte dann, da er meinte, das Gebiet der Upsaroka erreicht zu haben, die Missionskolonie in der Nähe einer Poststation an. Am 22. Juli 1860 traf er in der Nähe der Station mit Indianern zusammen und kam mit ihnen in ein Gespräch. Seitdem fehlte jede Spur von ihm. Händler berichteten später, Bräuninger sei von Ukala-Indianern erschossen und in den Powder-River geworfen worden.



THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 2

Give to the King thy judgment, O God: and thy mercy to the Queen, His Mother.

In thy hand are life and salvation: perpetual joy and glorious eternity.

Sprinkle my heart with thy sweetness: make me forget the miseries of this life.

Draw me after thee by the bands of thy mercy:
and with the bandages of thy grace and loving kindness heal my pain.

Stir up in me a desire for Heaven: and inebriate my soul with the joy of Paradise.


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

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

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

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

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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