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!)
R.  Deo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
July is the month of the Precious Blood since 1850;
2022
23,600  Lives Saved Since 2007

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

The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”,
showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.
                                            
       
40 Days for Life  11,000+ saved lives in 2015
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'
July 25, 2014
   1st v. Saint Anna mother of the Most Holy Theotokos; daughter of the priest Matthan and his wife Mary.
She was of the tribe of Levi and the lineage of Aaron. According to Tradition,
she died peacefully in Jerusalem at age 79, before the Annunciation to the Most Holy Theotokos.

"Whoever rejects my Mother rejects me"
The apparitions of Our Lady of the Rosary in San Nicolas de los Arroyos, Argentina, were acknowledged May 22, 2016 on the feast of the Holy Trinity by the bishop.
A devout Catholic housewife born in 1937, Gladys Quiroga de Motta, claimed the Virgin Mary visited her briefly for the first time on September 25, 1983. On October 7th, the day of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, the Blessed Mother showed Gladys the shrine she wanted to see built on the edge of the Parana River. A few weeks later, Gladys and some of her neighbors saw the large Rosary hanging above her bed suddenly light up. After this occurrence, they decided to pray the Rosary together every day.
From November 15, 1983 to February 11, 1990 the seer received many messages from Our Lady.
They touched on peace, reconciliation, repentance, prayer and God's will to
 "renew his covenant with his people, through Mary, the Ark of the Covenant."
From November 15, 1983 Gladys also received 78 apparitions of Jesus Christ who said, among other things: "Previously the world was saved by Noah's Ark. Today, the Ark is my Mother. Through her, souls will be saved, because she leads them to me. Whoever rejects my Mother rejects me."(December 1989)

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

Acts of the Apostles

Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
How do I start the Five First Saturdays?
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary  .

NEW WAYS TO PRESENT THE IMMUTABLE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL
VATICAN CITY, 24 JUL 2008 (VIS) - Benedict XVI has written a Message to African bishops with responsibility for the pastoral care of culture, who are currently participating in a conference at Bagamoyo, Tanzania.
The conference, organised by the Pontifical Council for Culture, has as its theme:
"Pastoral Prospects for the New Evangelisation in the Context of Globalisation and its Effects on African Cultures".
  In his Message, which was read out yesterday at the beginning of the conference, the Pope recalls how evangelising culture and inculturating the Gospel "is an old yet ever new mission", and he calls on the prelates to find "new and effective ways to present the immutable truth of the Gospel and, especially, the values of the joy of life and of respect for the unborn child, the important role of the family, and a profound sense of communion and solidarity which are present in African cultures".
  The meeting, which is scheduled to last four days, began yesterday with a Mass presided by Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. After the Pope's Message, a speech entitled "Cultural Challenges of Secularism, Propagated through Globalisation" - due to have been delivered by Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, who was unable to be present - was read our by Fr, Bernard Ardura, secretary of the pontifical council. Among the challenges Archbishop Ravasi mentions are "oblivion to the common good, social behaviour guided by the logic of the market, the destruction of models of life transmitted by family, school and parish, and the exaltation of individualism".
  The poorest countries, observes the president of the pontifical council, are those most exposed to the dangers of a poorly-understood globalisation which leads to "the destruction of the values handed down by ancestral cultural traditions, the undermining of consciences, and the cultural uprooting of entire generations which are drawn into a spiral that leads to poverty and misery".
  Yet, the archbishop continues, in a context of globalised secularisation the Church has the chance to make "Christian humanism" flower, "re-proposing the great moral values" and proclaiming "the Word of God, which is capable of making deserts of indifference and superficiality bear fruit".

MESS/SECULARISATION GLOBALISATION/RAVASI         VIS 080724 (380)
    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.
Two Youngsters and the Madonna (I)  July 25 - Our Lady of Lac Bouchet (Quebec, 1920)
Parents of Gianni and Franco lived in one of the poorest districts of Genoa, near the port where their father worked as  porter.
Unfortunately, father spent his evenings in the local bars and each week he wasted his pay there. Their sickly mother a washerwoman managed to provide for the family. The two youngsters often played in the streets and, on occasion, pinched fruit at the street markets. Besides that, they were basically good boys.Gianni and Franco were delighted by the idea of the upcoming procession of the “Madonna della Guarda”, because they loved the Blessed Virgin with all their heart. They wanted to light candles on their window sills in her honor, just like everyone else. But where could they find the money? Their father never even brought a penny home and what their mother earned was hardly enough to feed the family. Then Gianni had an idea. “What if we went out to work?” he asked Franco. “We have one more day before the procession. We can surely earn a few liras to buy some candles.” So the next morning, to their mother’s great surprise, both boys got out of bed before 7 o’clock and quickly disappeared. “What mischief are they going to get into today?” the mother thought to herself.  The coal merchant was also surprised when the boys asked for work, even more surprised to see them, during the course of the day, working as hard as his best workmen. When the youngsters came to ask for their wages, he would have readily kept them on until evening. The merchant gave them each one hundred liras. They returned home very proud of their first pay. One hundred liras was hardly the equivalent of a quarter in those days, but still it was better than nothing!
The joy of having earned the money themselves beamed on their faces.
Fluvion Grimaldi (Die schönsten Mariengeschichten)
Used by permission in the Marian Collection #10 by Brother Albert Pfleger, Marist.
From the earliest centuries, Brittany had erected a chapel to Saint Anne; it was destroyed at the close of the eighth century, but popular tradition forbade the sowing of the field of Bocenno, where the chapel had been erected.
In 1623 and 1624, after visions, the farmer Yves Nicolazic obtained from the bishop permission for a new chapel.
The image of St. Anne, which was venerated there, was burned in 1793; but a new statute of Saint Anne was solemnly consecrated by order of Pius IX, 30 September, 1868.
I am Anne, Mary's Mother (I) July 25 - Orthodox Church: Dormition of Saint Anne
In early August 1623, in the evening after a hard day of work, while Yves Nicolazic was letting himself have some special thoughts for Saint Anne, his "good patron saint," his room suddenly lit up.
This young peasant from Brittany then saw a hand appear in the darkness holding a wax torch.
Later Yves saw these apparitions again several times, and found himself taken outside into the darkest night following the wax torch that led him along narrow paths. One evening with his brother-in-law, they saw a white Lady with a wax torch in her hand in a familiar field called Bocenno. Another time, they saw shooting stars falling into that field. All these events happened in a peaceful and unhurried manner. Yves, who never understood what was happening to him, never changed his attitude, if not only to pray more fervently.
On July 25, 1624, the day before the feast of Saint Anne, the Lady appeared to him again in the evening as he was walking down a path, told him reassuring words and led him home with a wax torch in her hand. However Yves could not rest quietly with his family that evening. He was too perplexed about these events, so he left his house and went outside to pray in the barn. On his way, he heard the "sound of the feet of crowds marching".
But there was nobody on the path!
Then in a bright light, the mysterious Lady appeared and spoke to him. "Yves Nicolazic, do not fear. I am Anne, the Virgin Mary's mother. Tell your rector that at one time there used to be a chapel on that patch of land called Bocenno, even before there was village here. It was the most popular one in all the country.
It was destroyed 924 years and 6 months ago. I would like to have it rebuilt as soon as possible.
I would like you to take care of it because God wants me to be honored there." MULTIMEDIA :
Nossa Senhora do Brasil
July 25 – Our Lady of the Castle (Dalmatia)  
 The house of the Annunciation is believed to have made a stopover in Dalmatia
 We know (especially through the visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, vol. 3) that before being transported by angels to Loreto in Italy, as well as to Ephesus in Turkey, the House of Mary probably stopped in Dalmatia:

"Let us place ourselves in the context. In the last years of the 13th century, the Christian lost the Holy Land... The terrible news caused deep sadness throughout the Western world. Simultaneously, a sensational rumor spread: the house of Nazareth, where the Virgin Mary received the Annunciation of the conception of Christ, was transported by angels to Mount Rainuza in Dalmatia on the Croatian coast!
Indeed some surprised residents had noticed a new building standing there, devoid of foundations...

Three years later, in December 1294, the house disappeared to the general disappointment of the locals. The next morning, the people of Recanati (now Loreto), near Ancona on the Adriatic coast of Italy, in turn discovered a strange house of unusual appearance. The people asserted that it was the house that had disappeared from Dalmatian soil... "
(Magazine Le Pèlerin, 50 clés pour comprendre Marie - Bayard) Source : www.ac-emmerich.fr
 44 St. James the Greater Apostle
1st v. Saint Anna mother of the Most Holy Theotokos; daughter of the priest Matthan and his wife Mary. She was of the tribe of Levi and the lineage of Aaron. According to Tradition, she died peacefully in Jerusalem at age 79, before the Annunciation to the Most Holy Theotokos.
        St Christopher {Reprobus}, Martyr    
 177 The Holy Martyrs Sactus (Sanctus), Maturus, Attalus, Blandina, Biblius (Viblius), Vittius, Epagathus, Pontinus, Alexander and 43 Others; tortured by pagans for belief in Christ in Lyons (then named Lugdunum) under emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180). After a vicious death, bodies were burned, and the ashes thrown into the River Rhone.
  235 St. Florentius & Felix Martyred Roman soldiers of the imperial army. They belong to a group of eighty-three soldiers commemorated on July 24. They were martyred at Furcona in southern Italy.
  304 St. Cucuphas A martyr of Spain, also called Cucufate, Cugat, Guinefort, or Qaqophas; born in a noble family Scillis, Africa martyred near Barcelona. Prudentius composed verse in his honor, the Benedictine abbey of St. Cugat de Valles stands on site of his martyrdom; also venerated in Paris, where some relics are enshrined.
  308 Sts. Thea & Valentina and Paul
 308 St. Paul of Gaza A martyr during the persecutions of the Church in the early fourth century.
 409 Saint Olympias the Deaconess; daughter of senator Anicius Secundus, granddaughter of noted eparch Eulalios; distributed wealth to the needy: poor, orphaned and widowed, also gave generously to the churches, monasteries, hospices and shelters for the downtrodden and the homeless; Miracles and healings occurred from her relics
 495 Simeon der Stylit der Ältere stieg er schließlich 422 auf eine 5 Meter hohe Säule Simeon wurde in Antiochia beigesetzt, auch an seinem Grab sollen sich zahlreiche Orthodoxe Kirche: 1. Sept Katholische Kirche: 25.  Juli
413 Saint Eupraxia entered convent at 7; requested the emperor dispose of her properties, distributing proceeds for use of the Church and needy; gift of wonderworking. Through her prayers she healed a deaf and dumb crippled child, and delivered a demon-possessed woman from infirmity. They began to bring the sick for healing to the monastery; humbled herself all the more, counting herself as least among the sisters
 596 St Magnericus, Bishop Of Trier; brought up in the household of St Nicetius, Bishop of Trier, who gave him the priesthood and made him his confidant
  553 The Fifth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople II) under the holy Emperor St Justinian I (527-565) in the year 553
to determine the Orthodoxy of three dead bishops: Theodore of Mopsuetia, Theodoret of Cyrrhus and Ibas of
Edessa, who expressed Nestorian opinions in their writings in time of the Third Ecumenical Council (September 9).St. Nissen Abbot. An Irishman, converted by St. Patrick; became abbot of Mountgarret monastery in Wexford.
600 St. Ebrulf Abbot-founder of Saint-Fuscien­aux-Bois, France, sometimes listed as Evroult. Born in Beauvais, he also lived as a hermit
  608 St. Glodesind Abbess in Metz, Germany. Glodesind ran from her wedding day after her betrothed was arrested and later executed. Becoming a nun, she eventually served as abbess. 
St. Magnericus First Frankish bishop of Trier, Germany, friend of St. Gregory of Tours, and an illustrious churchman. He was raised by St. Nicetius of Trier, he accompanied that prelate into exile when King Clotaire I retaliated for Nicetius’ reprimands of the royal court. Magnericus returned to Trier, in 566 named bishop; a great devotion to St. Martin of Tours. He also gave shelter to Bishop Theodore of Marseilles in 585.
851 St. Theodemir Monk  martyr of Spain, at Cordoba under Muslim Emir Abd al-Rahman II (r. 822-852), because he would not recant his Christian faith.
1444 Saint Macarius of Zheltovod and Unzha; At 12 he left his parents and accepted monastic tonsure at  Nizhni -Novgorod Caves monastery under St Dionysius; extreme strict fast, precise fulfillment of monastic rule; at Yellow Lake organized a monastery Name of the Most Holy Trinity, preached Christianity to surrounding Cheremis and Chuvash peoples, baptizing both Mohammedans and pagans in the lake; on the shores of Lake Unzha he founded a new monastery; granted gift healing, more than 50 people received healing from his relics
1471 Thomas von Kempen kam er in die Klosterschule von Deventer 1414 wurde er zum Priester geweih Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 25. Juli
1572-1582 The Monk Christopher of Sol'vychegodsk and Koryazhemsk was a student and novice under the Monk Longin, hegumen of the Koryazhemsk monastery. After the death of his teacher, the Monk Christopher dwelt for yet another ten years at the Koryazhemsk monastery, and then he settled along the upper tributaries of the Large Koryazhemka, where he lived in solitude.


44 St. James the Greater Apostle
Sancti Jacóbi Apóstoli, qui éxstitit beáti Joánnis Evangelístæ frater; et, prope festum Paschæ ab Heróde Agríppa decollátus, primus ex Apóstolis corónam martyrii percépit. Ejus sacra ossa, ab Hierosólymis ad Hispánias hoc die transláta, et in últimis eárum fínibus apud Gallæciam recóndita, celebérrima illárum géntium veneratióne, et frequénti Christianórum concúrsu, religiónis et voti causa illuc adeúntium, pie colúntur.
    St. James the Apostle, brother of the blessed evangelist John, who was beheaded by Herod Agrippa at about the feast of Easter.  He was the first of the apostles to receive the crown of martyrdom.  His sacred bones were on this day carried from Jerusalem to Spain, and placed in the remote province of Galicia, where they are devoutly honoured by the far-famed piety of the inhabitants, and the frequent concourse of Christians, who visit them through piety and in fulfillment of vows.
 Orthodoxe Kirche: 30. April   Katholische, Anglikanische und Evangelische Kirche: 25. Juli
St JAMES, the brother of St John Evangelist, son of Zebedee, was called the Greater to distinguish him from the other apostle of the same name, surnamed the Less because he was the younger.  St James the Greater was by birth a Galilean, and by trade a fisherman with his father and brother, living probably at Bethsaida, where St Peter also dwelt at that time.  Jesus walking by the lake of Genesareth saw Peter and Andrew fishing, and He called them to come after Him, promising to make them fishers of men.  Going a little farther on the shore, He saw two other brothers, James and John, in a ship, with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and He also called them; who forthwith left their nets and their father and followed Him.  Probably by conversing with Peter, their townsman, and by other means, they had before this call a conviction that Jesus was the Christ; and no sooner did they hear His invitation, and felt the divine will directing them, but the same moment they quitted all things to answer this summons.
   St James was present with his brother St John and St Peter at the cure of Peter's mother-in-law, and the raising of the daughter of Jairus from the dead, and in the same year Jesus formed the company of His apostles, into which He adopted James and John.   He gave these two the surname of Boanerges, or "Sons of Thunder", seemingly on account of an impetuous spirit and fiery temper.  For example, when a town of the Samaritans refused to entertain Christ, they suggested that He should call down fire from Heaven to consume it; but our Redeemer gave them to understand that meekness and patience were the arms by which they were to conquer.  "You know not of what spirit you are.  The Son of Man came not to destroy souls but to save."  But the instruction and example of the Son of God did not fully enlighten the understanding of the apostles nor purify their hearts, until the Holy Ghost had shed His light upon them: their virtue was still imperfect, as appeared when the mother of James and John, imagining that He was going to set up a temporal monarchy, according to the notion of the Jews concerning the Messias, asked Him that her two sons might sit, the one on His right hand, the other on His left, in His kingdom.  The two sons of Zebedee spoke by the mouth of their mother as well as by their own, but Christ directed His answer to them, telling them they knew not what they asked; for in His kingdom preferments are attainable, not by the forward and ambitious, but by the most humble, the most laborious, and the most patient.  He therefore asked them if they were able to drink of His cup of suffering.  The two apostles, understanding the condition under which Christ offered them His kingdom and ardent for His sake, without hesitation answered, "We can".  Our Lord told them they should indeed have their portion of suffering; but He could make no other disposal of the honours of His kingdom than according to the proportion of every one's charity and patience in suffering:  "The Son of Man also is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a redemption for many."
   Nevertheless, those apostles who from time to time acted impetuously, and had to be rebuked, were the very ones whom our Lord turned to on special occasions. Peter, this James and John alone were admitted to be spectators of His glorious transfiguration, and they alone were taken to the innermost recesses of Gethsemani on the night of agony and bloody sweat at the beginning of His passion.
  Where St James preached and spread the gospel after the Lord's ascension we have no account from the writers of the first ages of Christianity.  According to the tradition of Spain, he made an evangelizing visit to that country, but the earliest known reference to this is only in the later part of the seventh century, and then in an oriental, not a Spanish source. St Julian of Toledo himself resolutely rejected this alleged visit of the apostle to his country.  At no time has the tradition been unanimously received, and~there are grave arguments against it, e.g. in St Paul's letter to the Romans XV 20 and 24.  St James was the first among the apostles who had the honour to follow his divine Master by martyrdom, which he suffered at Jerusalem under King Herod Agrippa I, who inaugurated a persecution of Christians in order to please the Jews.  Clement of Alexandria, and from him Eusebius, relate that his accuser, observing the courage and constancy of mind wherewith the apostle underwent his trial, was so impressed that he repented of what he had done, declared himself a Christian, and was condemned to be beheaded.  As they were both led together to execution, he begged pardon of the apostle for having apprehended him.  St James, after pausing a little, turned to him and embraced him, saying, "Peace be with you". He then kissed him, and they were both beheaded together.  The Holy Scriptures simply say that Agrippa "killed James, the brother of John, with the sword" (Acts xii 2).   He was buried at Jerusalem, but, again according to the tradition of Spain, dating from about 830, the body was translated first to Iria Flavia, now El Padron, in Galicia, and then to Compostela, where during the middle ages the shrine of Santiago became one of the greatest of all Christian shrines.  The relics still rest in the cathedral and were referred to as authentic in a bull of Pope Leo XIII in 1884. Their genuineness is seriously disputed, but it does not depend in any way on the truth or falseness of the story of St James's missionary visit to Spain.
Nothing reliable is known of the life of St James except what has been quoted above. Certain apocryphal "acts" in Greek, which cannot be earlier than the eighth century, have been edited by J. Ebersolt, Les Actes de St .Yacques (1902). They are relatively sober, but quite fictitious. An immense controversy has raged over the connection of St James with Spain. Two entirely distinct questions are involved: first, whether the apostle preached in Spain during his life-time; secondly, whether his remains were conveyed thither after his death and are now enshrined at Santiago de Compostela. Outside of Spain almost all eminent scholars and critical students of history answer both questions in the negative. See for example Mr Duchesne's article "S. Jacques en Galice" in the Annales du Midi, t. xii (1900), pp. 145-180; as well as H. Lec!ercq's article "Espagne" in DAC., vol. v, cc. 412-416, and cf. the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlviii (1930). They urge that not only is such a visit in itself improbable, seeing that St James was martyred at Jerusalem in A.D. 44, but that it was unheard of in Spain before the end of the seventh century. Again it is quite possible that the relics now recovered, after they had been lost, are identical with those which were venerated at Compostela in the middle ages, but the authenticity of medieval relics is always difficuit to establish and in this case it is more than dubious. On the other hand Spanish scholars champion the traditional view most strenuously. See, for example, the huge work of A. Lopez Ferreiro, Historia de la S. Iglesia de Santiago de Compostela, in ten volumes (1898-1908); also the articles of Father Fidel Fita in the early years of Razón y Fe; and Z. Garcia Villada, Historia eclesiastica de Españia (1929), vol. i. A book of miscellaneous and curious interest bearing on the subject is that of J. S. Stone, The Cult of Santiago (1927); but the standard work on the Compostela pilgrimage is the three detailed volumes published in 1949 by the Madrid Institute of Medieval Studies. Cf. Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxx (1952), pp. 214-218.
For James there was no indication that this was the day that his life would change. The dawn for him was not the bright beginning of a new day, but the end of long fruitless night of fishing. As James sat mending his nets in the boat with his brother John and his father Zebedee, he must have watched in wonder as his partner Simon brought in nets loaded with fish he had caught at the command of Jesus. Was he shocked when he saw Simon and his brother Andrew walk away from this incredible catch at a word from this same Jesus?
As he watched Jesus walk toward him followed by Simon and Andrew, did he feel curiosity, fear, hope, envy? Jesus didn't pass him by but, stopping by their boat, called James and his brother John to do just what Simon and Andrew had done. Without argument or discussion, James and John left their boat and even their father behind, and followed Jesus.
The first thing James saw after he followed Jesus was his teaching with authority in the synagogue and the cure of Simon's mother-in-law.
We all know that Jesus was the focus of James' life from then on, it is also evident that James held a special place in Jesus' life.
He was chosen by Jesus to be one of the twelve apostles, given the mission to proclaim the good news, and authority to heal and cast out demons. To be named one of the twelve James must have had faith and commitment.
But even among the apostles he held a special place. When Jesus raised Jairus' daughter when all thought her dead, he only allowed James, John, and Peter to come with him. Even more important when he went up to the mountain to pray, he wanted James, John, and Peter to go with him. And it was there on the mountain they were privileged to witness what no one else had seen -- Jesus transfigured in his glory, speaking to Moses and Elijah, as the voice of God spoke from a cloud.
And with Simon Peter, James and John were the only ones of the apostles that Jesus gave a special name: Sons of Thunder.
To be singled out in these ways, James must have been a close and respected friend of Jesus.
It's no wonder then that James, along with John, felt that he had the right to go to Jesus and ask him to give them whatever they asked. As a mark of his love, Jesus didn't rebuke them but asked them what they wanted. They showed their lack of understanding of his mission when the asked that he let one of them sit on his right and the other on his left when he came into his glory. He replied that they didn't know what they were asking. They didn't see the cross in his future, but an earthly throne. Could they drink of the cup he would drink of? They replied they could. He assured them they would indeed drink of that cup.
(Matthew has their mother asking for this favor for her sons. Despite the bad reputation their mother got for this, it should be remembered that she too had followed Jesus in his travels, providing for him, and was one of the women who stayed with Jesus as he was crucified when the apostles, including her son James, had fled.)
The other apostles were furious at this request. But Jesus used this opportunity to teach all of them that in order to be great one must be a servant.
James and John did show further lack of understanding of their friend and Lord when he was turned away by Samaritans. They wanted to use their newfound authority as apostles not to heal but to bring fire down on the town. (Perhaps Jesus gave them their Sons of Thunder nickname because of their passion, their own fire, or their temper.) Jesus did reprimand them for their unforgiving, vengeful view of their power.
But despite all these misunderstandings, it was still James, Peter, and John that Jesus chose to join him in prayer at the Garden of Gethsemane for his final prayer before his arrest. It must have hurt Jesus that three of them fell asleep this agonizing evening.
James did drink of the cup Jesus drank of, all too shortly after the Resurrection. Acts 12:1 tells us that James was one of the first martyrs of the Church. King Herod Agrippa I killed him with a sword in an early persecution of the Church. There is a story that the man who arrested James became a convert after hearing James speak at his trial and was executed with him.
James is called James the Greater because another younger apostle was named James. He should not be accused with this James, or the James who is a relative of Jesus, or the James who was an elder of the Church in Jerusalem and heard Peter's defense of baptizing Gentiles. James, son of Thunder, was dead by then.Legends have sprung up that James evangelized Spain before he died but these stories have no basis in historical fact.
James is the patron saint of hatmakers, rheumatoid sufferers, and laborers. In His Footsteps
What name would Jesus give you if he would describe who you are and your gifts? Prayer:
Saint James, pray for us that we may be willing to leave everything to follow Jesus as you did. Help us to become special friends of Jesus as you were. Amen
July 25, 2006 St. James the Greater This James is the brother of John the Evangelist.  The two were called by Jesus as they worked with their father in a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had already called another pair of brothers from a similar occupation: Peter and Andrew.
 “He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him” (Mark 1:19-20). James was one of the favored three who had the privilege of witnessing the Transfiguration, the raising to life of the daughter of Jairus and the agony in Gethsemani.
Two incidents in the Gospels describe the temperament of this man and his brother. St. Matthew tells that their mother came (Mark says it was the brothers themselves) to ask that they have the seats of honor (one on the right, one on the left of Jesus) in the kingdom. “Jesus said in reply, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ They said to him, ‘We can’” (Matthew 20:22). Jesus then told them they would indeed drink the cup and share his baptism of pain and death, but that sitting at his right hand or left was not his to give—it “is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father” (Matthew 20:23b). It remained to be seen how long it would take to realize the implications of their confident “We can!”
The other disciples became indignant at the ambition of James and John. Then Jesus taught them all the lesson of humble service: The purpose of authority is to serve. They are not to impose their will on others, or lord it over them. This is the position of Jesus himself. He was the servant of all; the service imposed on him was the supreme sacrifice of his own life.
On another occasion, James and John gave evidence that the nickname Jesus gave them—“sons of thunder”—was an apt one. The Samaritans would not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to hated Jerusalem. “When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, ‘Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?’ Jesus turned and rebuked them...” (Luke 9:54-55).
James was apparently the first of the apostles to be martyred. “About that time King Herod laid hands upon some members of the church to harm them. He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword, and when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews he proceeded to arrest Peter also” (Acts 12:1-3a). This James, sometimes called James the Greater, is not to be confused with the author of the Letter of James and the leader of the Jerusalem community.
Comment: The way the Gospels treat the apostles is a good reminder of what holiness is all about. There is very little about their virtues as static possessions, entitling them to heavenly reward. Rather, the great emphasis is on the Kingdom, on God’s giving them the power to proclaim the Good News. As far as their personal lives are concerned, there is much about Jesus’ purifying them of narrowness, pettiness, fickleness
Quote: “...Christ the Lord, in whom the entire revelation of the most high God is summed up (see 2 Corinthians 1:20; 3:16–4:6), having fulfilled in his own person and promulgated with his own lips the Gospel promised by the prophets, commanded the apostles to preach it to everyone as the source of all saving truth and moral law, communicating God’s gifts to them. This was faithfully done: it was done by the apostles who handed on, by oral preaching, by their example, by their dispositions, what they themselves had received—whether from the lips of Christ, from his way of life and his works, or by coming to know it through the prompting of the Holy Spirit” (Constitution on Divine Revelation, 7).
Apostel Jakobus Zebedäus (der Ältere)
Orthodoxe Kirche: 30. April Katholische, Anglikanische und Evangelische Kirche: 25. Juli
Das Neue Testament nennt mehrere Apostel des Namens Jakobus und die orthodoxe Kirche unterscheidet Jakobus den Jüngeren und Jakobus den Herrenbruder. Aber auch Jakobus der Jüngere und Jakobus der Ältere werden hier und da verwechselt.
Jakobus Zebedäus, der Bruder des Johannes und Sohn des Zebedäus und der Salome gehörte zu den Jüngern, die Jesus als erste am Galiläischen Meer berief (Mt. 4, 18 ff.). Da er vor Jakobus Alphäus berufen wurde, wird er der Ältere (major) genannt. Diese Bezeichnung sagt also nichts über das Alter des Jakobus aus. Er geörte zu den vier Jüngern des innersten Kreises um Jesus. Nach der Himmelfahrt wirkte er wohl in Jerusalem und erlitt als erster der Apostel 44 den Märtyrertod (Apg. 12). Einige Legenden berichten, er habe in Spanien das Evangelium verkündet. Vielleicht soll so untermauert werden, daß sich seine Gebeine in Santiago di Compostella befinden. Hierher wurden die Gebeine im 7. Jahrhundert gebracht, als Araber Jerusaelm erobert hatten.
Ursprünglich hatten Jakobus und Johannes ihren gemeinsamen Festtag am 27. Dezember. Später feierte die katholische Kirche seinen Tag am 1. Mai. Im 6. Jahrhundert wurde der Tag dann auf den 25. Juli gelegt (vgl. Jakobus den Jüngeren).
Martyrdom of St. James the Apostle, Bishop of Jerusalem.  {Coptic}
On this day, St. James the Apostle, Bishop of Jerusalem, who was the son of Alphaeus, was martyred. (Mat. 10:3) The Holy Bible mentioned his brothers, Joses, Simon, and Judas, the sons of Cleophas. (Mat. 13:55) The Greek word "Cleophas" means in the Syriac language "Alphaeus". His mother, the sister of the Virgin, was also called Mary and was the wife of Cleophas. (John 19:25)
When he grew up he was known as James the Just. For there was a drought in Palestine and he prayed to God, Who sent the rain and watered the land, as Josephus, the Jewish historian, testified. He was called James the Less, to identify him from St. James the son of Zebedee, and the brother of St. John the beloved.
It was said that the Lord had appointed him bishop of Jerusalem when he appeared to him. "After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles." (I Cor. 15:7) He was called the head of the church in Jerusalem for it was the mother church and from it the Good News had spread to the other churches. He wrote a liturgy, with which the Armenians still pray.
During his time and in the year 53 A.D. a Council of the Apostles and priests convened in Jerusalem and St. James presided over it. During this Council St. James said, "Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, "but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood..." (Acts 15:19-21) St. James preached and taught the Name of the Lord Christ, brought many back to the faith, and baptized them. God wrought by his hands many signs and wonders.
One day, many of the Jews came to him and asked him to tell them about the Lord Christ. They thought that he would tell them that Jesus was his brother. St. James went up to the pulpit, and began to explain to them the Godhead of the Lord Christ, His eternal existence, and His equality with God the Father. When they heard this they were wrath with him, they dragged him down, and beat him severely. One of them beat the apostle on the head with an iron rod, and he delivered up his soul instantly.
It was said about this Saint, that he never drank wine, never wore clothes, always wore a linen loin-cloth, kneeled so often during his worship and praying that his feet and knees became swollen, and the skin of his knees became like that of the camels.  May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
1st v. Saint Anna mother of the Most Holy Theotokos; daughter of the priest Matthan and his wife Mary. She was of the tribe of Levi and the lineage of Aaron. According to Tradition, she died peacefully in Jerusalem at age 79, before the Annunciation to the Most Holy Theotokos.
Annas Gebet_{Prayer}

During the reign of St Justinian the Emperor (527-565), a church was built in her honor at Deutera. Emperor Justinian II (685-695; 705-711) restored her church, since St Anna had appeared to his pregnant wife. It was at this time that her body and maphorion (veil) were transferred to Constantinople. St Anna is also commemorated on September 9.
Annas Entschlafung {dormition}
Anna
Orthodoxe Kirche: 25. Juli (Entschlafung) und 9. September (mit Joachim) Katholische und Anglikanische Kirche: 26. Juli (mit Joachim)
Die Bibel berichtet nicht über die Eltern Mariens und nennt auch nicht ihre Namen. In alten syrischen Schriften wird berichtet, Anna habe Dina gehießen und habe erst nach der späten Geburt ihrer Tochter den Namen Hanna erhalten (hebr. die Begnadete). Ihre Lebensgeschichte, die erstmals im apokryphen Protevangelium des Jakobus berichtet wird, weist starke Anklänge an die Geschichte der alttestamentlichen Hanna (1. Sam. 1) auf. 550 wurde in Konstantinopel eine Kirche zu Ehren Annas erbaut.
Nach der Überlieferung starb Joachim, während Maria im Tempel lebte (vgl. Mariä Tempelgang), Anna starb zwei Jahre nach Joachim. Nach der Legenda aurea (Ende 13. Jahrhundert) heiratete Anna nach dem Tod Joachims erneut und zwar Kleopas. In dieser Ehe gebar sie eine Tochter Maria, die mit Alphäus verheiratet wurde und diesem die Brüder Jesu (vgl. Jakobus und Simeon) gebar. Nach dem Tod des Kleopas heiratete Anna erneut und zwar einen Salome. Auch in dieser Ehe gebar sie eine Tochter Maria, die mit dem Zebedäus verheiratet wurde und Mutter von Jakobus und Johannes war. Nach der Legenda aurea hatte Anna eine Schwester Hismeria, die Mutter von Elisabeth und Eliud (Großvater des Servatius) war.
In der Ostkirche wurde das Fest Annas seit dem 6. Jahrhundert am 25. Juli gefeiert. In der Westkirche wurde das Fest seit dem 8. Jahrhundert gefeiert und um einen Tag verlegt, da am 25.7. das Fest des Apostels Jakobus gefeiert wurde. Seit 1584 ist das Fest in der katholischen Kirche vorgeschrieben. Das II. Vaticanum hat den 26. Juli als gemeinsamen Festtag für Anna und Joachim festgelegt.
In der Volksfrömmigkeit war Anna eine der beliebtesten Heiligen und es gibt insbesondere Darstellungen Annas mit Maria und Jesus ("Anna selbdritt"): Dabei ist fraglich, ob Anna überhaupt die Geburt Jesu erlebt hat. Der Dienstag war der hl. Anna geweiht und viele Anna-Bruderschaften förderten die Durchführung von Wallfahrten. Es gibt auch zahlreiche Anna-Brunnen, deren Wasser gegen alle Nöte helfen soll. Anna ist Patronin der Bretagne.
    St Christopher {Reprobus}, Martyr
In Lycia sancti Christóphori Mártyris, qui, sub Décio, virgis férreis attrítus, et a flammæ æstuántis incéndio supérna Christi virtúte servátus, ad últimum, sagittárum íctibus confóssus, cápitis obtruncatióne martyrium complévit.
    In Lycia, in the time of Decius, St. Christopher, martyr.  Being scourged with iron rods, cast into the flames, from which he was saved by the power of Christ, and finally transfixed with arrows and beheaded, he completed his martyrdom.
"Christopher before his baptism was named Reprobus, but afterwards he was named Christopher, which is as much as to say as bearing Christ, for that he bare Christ in four manners: he bare Him on his shoulders by conveying and leading, in his body by making it lean, in mind by devotion, and in his mouth by confession and preaching.
  "Christopher was of the lineage of the Canaanites, and he was of a right great stature and had a terrible and fearful face and appearance.  And he was twelve cubits of length, and as it is read in some histories that, when he served and dwelled with the king of Canaan, it came in his mind that he would seek the greatest prince that was in the world, and him would he serve and obey.  And so far he went that he caine to a right great king, of whom the renown generally was that he was the greatest of the world. And when the king saw him, he received him into his service, and made him to dwell in his court. Upon a time a minstrel sang before him a song in which he named oft the Devil, and the king, who was a Christian man, when he heard him name the Devil, made anon the sign of the cross on his visage.  And when Christopher saw that, he had a great marvel what sign it was and wherefore the king made it, and he demanded of him. And because the king would not say, he said: `If thou tell me not, I shall no longer dwell with thee'; and then the king told him, saying: 'Alway when I hear the Devil named I fear that he should have power over me, and I garnish me with this sign that he grieve me not nor annoy me.'   Then Christopher said to him: `Doubtest thou the Devil that he hurt thee?  Then is the Devil more mighty and greater than thou art.  I am then deceived of my hope and purpose, for I had supposed I had found the most mighty and the most greatest lord in the world, but I commend thee to God, for I will go seek him for to be my lord, and I his servant.'
     And then he departed from this king and hasted him for to seek the Devil.  And as he went by a great desert he saw a great company of knights, of which a knight cruel and horrible came to him and demanded whither he went, and Christopher answered him and said: `1 go seek the Devil, for to be my master.' And he said: `I am he that thou seekest.' And then Christopher was glad, and bound him to be his servant perpetual and took him for his master and lord. And as they went together by a common way, they found there a cross erect and standing. And anon as the Devil saw the cross he was afeared and fled, and left the right way, and brought Christopher about by a sharp desert.  And after, when they were past the cross, he brought him to the highway that they had left.  And when Christopher saw that, he marvelled, and demanded whereof he doubted and had left the high and fair way and had gone so far about by so rough a desert.   And the Devil would not tell him in no wise. Then Christopher said to him: `If thou wilt not tell me, I shall anon depart from thee and shall serve thee no more.'  Wherefore the Devil was constrained to tell him, and said: `There was a man called Christ which was hanged on the cross, and when I see His sign I am sore afraid and flee from it wheresoever I see it.'  To whom Christopher said: `Then He is greater and more mightier than thou, when thou art afraid of His sign, and I see well that I have laboured in vain when I have not founden the greatest lord of the world.   And I will serve thee no longer; go thy way then, for I will go seek Christ.'
     "And when he had long sought and demanded where he should find Christ at last he came into a great desert, to an hermit that dwelt there, and this hermit preached to him of Jesu Christ and informed him in the faith diligently and said to him: `This King whom thou desirest to serve requireth the service that thou must oft fast.'  And Christopher said to him: `Require of me some other thing and I shall do it, for that which thou requirest I may not do.'   And the hermit said: `Thou must then wake and make many prayers.'  And Christopher said to him: `I wot not what that is; I may do no such thing.'  And then the hermit said to him: `Knowest thou such-and-such a river, where many be perished and lost?' To whom Christopher said: ` I know it well.' Then said the hermit: `Because thou art noble and high of stature and strong in thy members thou shalt be resident by that river, and thou shalt bear over all them that shall pass there, which shall be a thing right pleasing to our Lord Jesu Christ whom thou desirest to serve, and I hope He shall show Himself to thee.'  Then said Christopher: `Certainly this service may I well do, and I promise to Him for to do it.' Then went Christopher to this river and made there a dwelling-place for himself, and bare a great pole in his hand instead of a staff by which he sustained himself in the water, and bare over all manner of people without ceasing.  And there he abode, thus doing, many days.
    "And in a time, as he slept in his lodge, he heard the voice of a child which called him and said: `Christopher, come out and bear me over.' Then he awoke and went out, but found no man.  And when he was again in his house he heard the same voice, and he ran out and found nobody. The third time he was called and came thither and found a child beside the edge of the river, which prayed him goodly to bear him over the water.  And then Christopher lift up the child on his shoulders, and took up his staff, and entered into the river for to pass.  And the water of the river arose and swelled more and more; and the child was heavy as lead, and alway as he went farther the water increased and grew more, and the child more and more waxed heavy, insomuch that Christopher had great anguish and was afeared to be drowned.  And then he was escaped with great pain, and passed the water and set the child aground, he said to the child: `Child, thou hast put me in great peril; thou weighest almost as I had all the world upon me:  I might bear no greater burden.'  And the child answered: `Christopher, marvel thee nothing; for thou hast not only borne all the world upon thee, but thou hast borne Him that created and made all the world, upon thy shoulders.  I am Jesu Christ, the King whom thou servest in this work.  And because that thou know what I say to be the truth, set thy staff in the earth by thy house and thou shalt see to-morrow that it shall bear flowers and fruit,' and anon He vanished from his eyes. And then Christopher set his staff in the earth, and when he arose on the morn he found his staff like a palm tree, bearing flowers, leaves and dates.
    "And then Christopher went into the city of Lycia, and understood not their language. Then he prayed our Lord that he might understand them and so he did.  And as he was in this prayer, the judges supposed that he had been a fool, and left him there. And then when Christopher understood the language, he covered his visage and went to the place where they martyred Christian men, and comforted them in our Lord.  And then the judges smote him in the face, and Christopher said to them:  `If I were not a Christian, I should avenge mine injury.' And then Christopher pitched his rod in the earth and prayed to our Lord that for to convert the people it might bear flowers and fruit; and anon it did so.  And then he converted eight thousand men. And then the king sent two knights for to fetch him, and they found him praying, and durst not tell him so.  And anon after the king sent as many more, and anon they set them down for to pray with him. And when Christopher arose, he said to them: `What seek ye ?` And when they saw him in the visage, they said to him: `The king hath sent us, that we should lead thee bound unto him.' And Christopher said to them: "If I would, ye should not lead me to him, bound or unbouad.' And they said to him: `If thou wilt go thy way, go quit, where thou wilt.  And we shall say to the king that we have not found thee.'   `It shall not be so,' said he, `but I shall go with you.'  And then he converted them in the Faith, and commanded them that they should bind his hands behind his back and lead him so bound to the king.  And when the king saw him he was afeared and fell down off the seat; and his servants lifted him up again.  And then the king enquired his name and his country; and Christopher said to him: `Before I was baptized I was named Reprobus, and after I am Christopher; before Baptism, a Canaanite, now a Christian man.'  To whom the king said: `Thou hast a foolish name, that is, to wit, of Christ crucified, who could not help Himself and may not profit to thee.  How therefore, thou cursed Canaanite, why wilt thou not do sacrifice to our gods ?`  To whom Christopher said: *
Thou art rightfully called Dagnus, for thou art the death of the world and fellow of the Devil, and thy gods be made with the hands of men.'  And the king said to him: `Thou wert nourished among wild beasts and therefore thou mayst not say but wild language and words unknown to men.  And if thou wilt now do sacrifice to the gods, I shall give to thee great gifts and great honours, and if not, I shall destroy thee and consume thee by great pains and torments.'  But for all this he would in no wise do sacrifice, wherefore he was sent into prison, and the king did behead the other knights, that he had sent for him, whom he had converted.
   "And after this he sent into the prison to St Christopher two fair women, of whom the one was named Nicaea and the other Aquilina, and promised to them many great gifts if they could draw Christopher to sin with them.  And when Christopher saw that, he set him down in prayer, and when he was constrained by them that embraced him to move, he arose and said : `What seek ye ?  For what cause be ye come hither ? ` And they, which were afraid of his appearance and clearness of his visage, said: `Holy saint of God, have pity on us so that we may believe in that God that thou preachest.'  And when the king heard that, he commanded that they should be let out and brought before him.  To whom he said: `Ye be deceived.  But I swear to you by my gods that, if ye do no sacrifice to my gods, ye shall anon perish by evil death.'  And they said to him: `If thou wilt that we shall do sacrifice, command that the places may be made clean and that all the people may assemble at the temple.'  And when this was done they entered into the temple, and took their girdles and put them about the necks of the gods, and drew them to the earth and brake them all in pieces; and said to them that were there: `Go and call physicians and leeches, for to heal your gods.' And then, by commandment of the king, Aquilina was hanged, and a right great and heavy stone was hanged at her feet so that her members were most piteously broken.  And when she was dead and passed to our Lord, her sister Nicaea was cast into a great fire, but she issued out without harm, all whole, and then they made to smite off her head, and so suffered death.
   "After this Christopher was brought before the king, and the king commanded that he should be beaten with rods of iron, and that there should be set upon his head a cross of iron red hot and burning, and then after he had made a seat of iron and had Christopher bound thereon, and after fire set under it, and cast therein pitch. But the seat melted like wax, and Christopher issued out without any harm or hurt. And when the king saw that, he commanded that he should be bound to a strong stake and that he should be through-shotten with arrows by forty knights archers. But none of the knights might attain him, for the arrows hung in the air about, nigh him, without touching. Then the king weened that he had been through-shotten by the arrows of the knights, and addressed him for to go to him. And one of the arrows returned suddenly from the air and smote him in the eye and blinded him. To whom Christopher said: `Tyrant, I shall die to-morrow. Make a little clay, mixed with my blood, and anoint therewith thine eye, and thou shalt receive health.' Then by the commandment of the king he was led for to be beheaded, and then there made he his orison, and his head was smitten off, and so suffered martyrdom.  And the king then took a little of his blood and laid it on his eye, and said: `In the name of God and of St Christopher I' and was anon healed. Then the king believed in God, and gave commandment that if any person blamed God or St Christopher, he should anon be slain with the sword."

  That, with a few verbal alterations, is the story of St Christopher from the Golden Legend as put into English by William Caxton, a story known all over Christendom, both East and West. From it arose the popular belief that he who looked on an image of the saint should not that day suffer harm: a belief that was responsible for the putting of large statues or frescoes representing him opposite the doors of churches (some of which remain in our own country), so that all who entered might see it; he was the patron-saint of travellers and was invoked against perils from water, tempests and plagues; and in recent times has found a revived popularity as the patron of motorists.
  The legend of St Christopher did not take its final forms until the middle ages his name, "Christ-bearer", from having a spiritual meaning was given a material one as well, and the story was embroidered by the liveliness of medieval fancy.  Except that there was a martyr Christopher, nothing is certainly known about him: the Roman Martyrology says that he suffered in Lycia under Decius, shot with arrows and beheaded after he had been preserved from the flames.

The many interesting points which arise in connection with St Christopher are discussed very thoroughly by Dr R. Hindringer in the Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, vol. ii, cc. 934-936, and by H. F. Rosenfeld, Der hl. Christophorus (1937). There undoubtedly was a St Christopher whose cult was pretty widely spread in East and West. A church in Bithynia was dedicated to him A.D. 452. The primitive legend tells us nothing about Christopher's search for a master or about his task of transporting wayfarers across a river, but his gigantic stature and terrible appearance are dwelt upon, also the staff which grew and blossomed when struck into the earth. The incident of Aquilina and her companion is likewise prominent, and we have the same preposterous series of fruitless attempts to put the martyr to death. The Latin and Greek texts of the earlier legend in various recensions have been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. vi; in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. i, pp. 121-148. and x, 393-405  and in H. Usener's Acta S. Marinae et S. Christophori. There ia also a Syriac text among the manuscripts of the British Museum (Addit. 12, 174). For St Christopher in art see Kunstle, Ikonogyaphie, vol. ii, pp. 154-160, and Drake, Saints and their Emblems; and from the point of view of folk-lore Bächtold-Stäubli, Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, vol. ii, pp. 65-75; but the majority of the folk-lorists, H. Günther for instance, are only intent upon finding alleged pagan origins for medieval devotional practices.
177 The Holy Martyrs Sactus (Sanctus), Maturus, Attalus, Blandina, Biblius (Viblius), Vittius, Epagathus, Pontinus, Alexander and 43 Others were tortured by the pagans for their belief in Christ in the city of Lyons (then named Lugdunum) under the emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180), in the year 177. After a vicious death, their bodies were burned, and the ashes thrown into the River Rhone.
235 St. Florentius & Felix Martyred Roman soldiers of the imperial army. They belong to a group of eighty-three soldiers commemorated on July 24. They were martyred at Furcona in southern Italy.
Furcónii, in Vestínis, sanctórum Mártyrum Sipontinórum Floréntii et Felícis.
    At Forcono in Abruzzi, the holy martyrs Florentius and Felix, natives of Siponte.
308 Sts. Thea & Valentina and Paul
In Palæstína sanctæ Valentínæ Vírginis, quæ, cum ad aram, ut immoláret, addúcta esset, eámque cálcibus evertísset, prius diríssime cruciáta est; deínde, una cum sócia Vírgine, in ignem conjécta cucúrrit ad Sponsum.
    In Palestine, St. Valentina, a virgin, who was led to an altar to offer sacrifice, but overturning it with her foot, she was cruelly tortured, and being cast into the fire with another virgin, her companion, she went to her Spouse.
Firmillian, the successor of Urban in the government of Palestine under Maximinus II, carried on the persecution of Christians with great cruelty. When fourscore and seventeen confessors, men, women and children, were brought before him at Caesarea, he commanded the sinews of the joint of their left feet to be burnt with a hot iron and their right eyes to be put out, and the eye-holes burnt.  In this condition he sent them to work at the quarries in the Lebanon.   Many others were brought before this inhuman judge from different towns of Palestine, and were tormented in various ways.  Among the Christians taken at Gaza, whilst they were assembled to hear the Holy Scriptures read, was a maiden named Thea, a native of the place, whom the judge threatened with prostitution in the public brothel.  She reproached him for
such infamous injustice, and Firmilian, enraged at her liberty of speech, caused her to be scourged and otherwise tormented.  Valentina, a Christian girl of Caesarea who was present, cried out to the judge from the midst of the crowd, "How long will you thus torture my sister?" She was seized at once and dragged to the pagan altar, which she kicked over, together with the fire and incense which stood ready upon it.  Firmilian, provoked beyond bounds, commanded her to be more cruelly tortured than the other, and then ordered the two girls to be tied together and burnt, which was done.  At the same time and place, Gaza, on July 25, 308, one Paul was beheaded for the faith.  At the place of execution he prayed aloud for his fellow countrymen, for the spread of Christianity, for those there present, for the emperor, and for the judge and the headsman.
This account comes from Eusebius, De Mart. Palestin., ch. viii. He names Valentina, but does not mention the name of the other maiden, who in later documents is sometimes called Ennatha. But Thea seems undoubtedly correct. See the extract from the Life of St Porphyrius quoted by Delehaye, Origines du Cult. des Martyrs, p. 187, and also the Synaxarium eccl. Const., c 822 et al.
308 Sts. Thea & Valentina and Paul Thea was born at Gaza, Palestine. She was arrested with other Christians during the persecution of Christians under Emperor Maximian and brought before Firmilian, governor of Palestine, at Caesarea. When she denounced him for threatening to place her in a brothel, he had her scourged. When a Christian of Caesarea, Valentina, protested, Firmilian had her dragged to a pagan altar, and when she kicked over the fire and incense before the altar, he had her tortured. He then bound Thea and Valentina together and had them burned to death.
304 St. Cucuphas A martyr of Spain, also called Cucufate, Cugat, Guinefort, or Qaqophas. He was born into a noble family in Scillis, Africa. While going to Spain, he was martyred near Barcelona. Prudentius composed verse in his honor, and the Benedictine abbey of St. Cugat de Valles stands on the site of his martyrdom. Cucuphas is also venerated in Paris, where some of his relics are enshrined.
Barcinóne, in Hispánia, natális beáti Cucuphátis Mártyris, qui, in persecutióne Diocletiáni, sub Daciáno Præside, plúrimis torméntis superátis, tandem, percússus gládio, victor migrávit in cælum.
    At Barcelona in Spain, during the persecution of Diocletian and under the governor Dacian, the birthday of the holy martyr Cucuphas.  After overcoming many torments, he was struck with the sword, and thus went triumphantly to heaven.
308 St. Paul of Gaza A martyr during the persecutions of the Church in the early fourth century.
In Palæstína sancti Pauli Mártyris, qui, in persecutióne Maximiáni Galérii, sub Firmiliáno Præside, cápitis damnátus, et, exíguo orándi spátio impetráto, primum pro contribúlibus suis, deínde pro Judæis qui ipsum damnáverat, et pro carnífice a quo feriéndus erat, Deum toto corde precátus, martyrii corónam, abscíssis cervícibus, accépit.
    In Palestine, St. Paul, a martyr in the persecution of Maximian Galerius, under the governor Firmilian.  He was condemned to death, but having obtained a short period for prayer, he besought God with all his heart, first for his own countrymen, then for the Jews and the Gentiles, that they might embrace the true faith, next for the multitude of spectators, and finally for the judge who had condemned him and the executioner who was to strike him; after which he received the crown of martyrdom by beheading.
Paul was arrested and put to death in Gaza. 
409 Saint Olympias the Deaconess; daughter of senator Anicius Secundus, granddaughter of the noted eparch Eulalios; distributed her wealth to all the needy: the poor, the orphaned and the widowed, also gave generously to the churches, monasteries, hospices and shelters for the downtrodden and the homeless; Miracles and healings occurred from her relics
Orthodoxe Kirche: 25. Juli (auch 24. oder 26. Juli) Katholische Kirche: 17. Dezember

Eulalios (is mentioned in the life of St Nicholas). Before her marriage to Anicius Secundus, Olympias's mother had been married to the Armenian emperor Arsak and became widowed. When St Olympias was still very young, her parents betrothed her to a nobleman. The marriage was supposed to take place when St Olympias reached the age of maturity. The bridegroom soon died, however, and St Olympias did not wish to enter into another marriage, preferring a life of virginity.
After the death of her parents she became the heir to great wealth, which she began to distribute to all the needy: the poor, the orphaned and the widowed. She also gave generously to the churches, monasteries, hospices and shelters for the downtrodden and the homeless.
Holy Patriarch Nectarius (381-397) appointed St Olympias as a deaconess. The saint fulfilled her service honorably and without reproach.
St Olympias provided great assistance to hierarchs coming to Constantinople: Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, Onesimus of Pontum, Gregory the Theologian, St Basil the Great's brother Peter of Sebaste, Epiphanius of Cyprus, and she attended to them all with great love.
 She did not regard her wealth as her own but rather God's, and she distributed not only to good people, but also to their enemies.
St John Chrysostom (November 13) had high regard for St Olympias, and he showed her good will and spiritual love. When this holy hierarch was unjustly banished, St Olympias and the other deaconesses were deeply upset. Leaving the church for the last time, St John Chrysostom called out to St Olympias and the other deaconesses Pentadia, Proklia and Salbina. He said that the matters incited against him would come to an end, but scarcely more would they see him. He asked them not to abandon the Church, but to continue serving it under his successor. The holy women, shedding tears, fell down before the saint.
Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria (385-412), had repeatedly benefited from the generosity of St Olympias, but turned against her for her devotion to St John Chrysostom. She had also taken in and fed monks, arriving in Constantinople, whom Patriarch Theophilus had banished from the Egyptian desert. He levelled unrighteous accusations against her and attempted to cast doubt on her holy life.
After the banishment of St John Chrysostom, someone set fire to a large church, and after this a large part of the city burned down.
All the supporters of St John Chrysostom came under suspicion of arson, and they were summoned for interrogation. They summoned St Olympias to trial, rigorously interrogating her. They fined her a large sum of money for the crime of arson, despite her innocence and a lack of evidence against her. After this the saint left Constantinople and set out to Kyzikos (on the Sea of Marmara). But her enemies did not cease their persecution. In the year 405 they sentenced her to prison at Nicomedia, where the saint underwent much grief and deprivation. St John Chrysostom wrote to her from his exile, consoling her in her sorrow. In the year 409 St Olympias entered into eternal rest.
St Olympias appeared in a dream to the Bishop of Nicomedia and commanded that her body be placed in a wooden coffin and cast into the sea. "Wherever the waves carry the coffin, there let my body be buried," said the saint. The coffin was brought by the waves to a place named Brokthoi near Constantinople.
The inhabitants, informed of this by God, took the holy relics of St Olympias and placed them in the church of the holy Apostle Thomas.
Afterwards, during an invasion of enemies, the church was burned, but the relics were preserved. Under the Patriarch Sergius (610-638), they were transferred to Constantinople and put in the women's monastery founded by St Olympias. Miracles and healings occurred from her relics.
Olympias
Orthodoxe Kirche: 25. Juli (auch 24. oder 26. Juli) Katholische Kirche: 17. Dezember
OlympiasOlympias wurde 361 oder 368 in einer vornehmen Familie in Konstantinopel geboren. Sie heiratete den Stadtpräfekten, verlor aber ihren Ehemann nach wenigen Monaten. Ein Angebot des Kaisers Theodosius zu einer Ehe mit einem seiner Verwandten lehnte sie ab. Vielmehr verteilte sie ihr Vermögen an die Notleidenden und ließ in Konstantinopel ein Frauenkloster bauen. Patriarch Nektarios weihte sie zur Diakonisse. Sie wurde auch die erste Vorsteherin in ihrem Kloster. Besonders eng war ihre Beziehung zu Johannes Chrysostomus. Als Chrysostomus verbannt wurde, wurde auch Olympias gezwungen, Konstantinopel zu verlassen. Sie starb 408 oder 409 in Nikomedien (Izmit).
495 Simeon der Stylit der Ältere stieg er schließlich 422 auf eine 5 Meter hohe Säule Simeon wurde in Antiochia beigesetzt, auch an seinem Grab sollen sich zahlreiche
Orthodoxe Kirche: 1. September Katholische Kirche: 25. Juli
Simeon Stylites der ÄltereSimeon wurde um 390 in Kilikien geboren. Mit 13 Jahren trat er in ein Kloster ein, dort verrichtete er aber zunehmend so strenge Bußübungen, daß die Mönche ihn nach 10 Jahren baten, sie zu verlassen. Er lebte dann als Einsiedler in der Nähe von Antiochia. Hier ließ er sich zur Fastenzeit ohne Nahrung einmauern; drei Jahre lebte er angekettet auf einem Berg (der dann nach ihm Kalat Siman genannt wurde). Um den Schaulustigen, die in Scharen zu ihm kamen, zu entgehen, stieg er schließlich 422 auf eine 5 Meter hohe Säule. Er ließ in den Jahren die Säule immer höher machen, bis sie schließlich eine Höhe von 20 Metern erreichte. Hier lebte Simeon meist stehend und kaum schlafend. Einmal in der Woche zog er in einem Korb Nahrung zu sich herauf. Zahlreiche Pilger kamen zu dem Säulensteher (griech. Stylites), hörten seine Predigten und trugen ihm Streitfälle vor, die er schlichtete. Es ereigneten sich auch viele Heilungen. 459 (am 25. Juli oder am 2.September?) starb Simeon auf seiner Säule. Sein Tod wurde erst drei Tage später bemerkt; der Leichnam mußte von Soldaten geschützt werden, da die Gläubigen versuchten, ihn unter sich zu verteilen. Simeon wurde in Antiochia beigesetzt, auch an seinem Grab sollen sich zahlreiche.
413 Saint Eupraxia entered convent at 7; requested the emperor dispose of her properties, distributing the proceeds for the use of the Church and the needy; gift of wonderworking. Through her prayers she healed a deaf and dumb crippled child, and she delivered a demon-possessed woman from infirmity. They began to bring the sick for healing to the monastery; humbled herself all the more, counting herself as least among the sisters
Daughter of the Constantinople dignitary Antigonos, a kinsman of the holy Emperor Theodosius the Great (379-395).
Orthodoxe Kirche: 25. Juli Katholische Kirche: 13. März
Antigonus and his wife Eupraxia were pious and bestowed generous alms on the destitute. A daughter was born to them, whom they also named Eupraxia. Antigonos soon died, and the mother withdrew from the imperial court. She went with her daughter to Egypt, on the pretext of inspecting her properties. Near the Thebaid there was a women's monastery with a strict monastic rule. The life of the inhabitants attracted the pious widow. She wanted to bestow aid on this monastery, but the abbess Theophila refused and said that the nuns had fully devoted themselves to God and that they did not wish the acquisition of any earthly riches. The abbess consented to accept only candles, incense and oil.
The younger Eupraxia was seven years old at this time. She liked the monastic way of life and she decided to remain at the monastery. Her pious mother did not stand in the way of her daughter's wish. Taking leave of her daughter at the monastery, Eupraxia asked her daughter to be humble, never to dwell upon her noble descent, and to serve God and her sisters.
In a short while the mother died. Having learned of her death, the emperor St Theodosius sent St Eupraxia the Younger a letter in which he reminded her that her parents had betrothed her to the son of a certain senator, intending that she marry him when she reached age fifteen. The Emperor desired that she honor the commitment made by her parents. In reply, St Eupraxia wrote to the emperor that she had already become a bride of Christ, and she requested of the emperor to dispose of her properties, distributing the proceeds for the use of the Church and the needy.
St Eupraxia, when she reached the age of maturity, intensified her ascetic efforts all the more. At first she partook of food once a day, then after two days, three days, and finally, once a week. She combined her fasting with the fulfilling of all her monastic obediences. She toiled humbly in the kitchen, she washed dishes, she swept the premises and served the sisters with zeal and love. The sisters also loved the humble Eupraxia. But one of them envied her and explained away all her efforts as a desire for glory. This sister began to trouble and to reproach her, but the holy virgin did not answer her back, and instead humbly asked forgiveness.
The Enemy of the human race caused the saint much misfortune. Once,while getting water, she fell into the well, and the sisters pulled her out. Another time, St Eupraxia was chopping wood for the kitchen, and cut herself on the leg with an axe. When she carried an armload of wood up the ladder, she stepped on the hem of her garment. She fell, and a sharp splinter cut her near the eyes. All these woes St Eupraxia endured with patience, and when they asked her to rest, she would not consent.
For her efforts, the Lord granted St Eupraxia a gift of wonderworking. Through her prayers she healed a deaf and dumb crippled child, and she delivered a demon-possessed woman from infirmity. They began to bring the sick for healing to the monastery. The holy virgin humbled herself all the more, counting herself as least among the sisters. Before the death of St Eupraxia, the abbess had a vision. The holy virgin was transported into a splendid palace, and stood before the Throne of the Lord, surrounded by holy angels. The All-Pure Virgin showed St Eupraxia around the luminous chamber and said that She had made it ready for her, and that she would come into this habitation after ten days.
The abbess and the sisters wept bitterly, not wanting to lose St Eupraxia. The saint herself, in learning about the vision, wept because she was not prepared for death. , She asked the abbess to pray that the Lord would grant her one year more for repentance. The abbess consoled St Eupraxia and said that the Lord would grant her His great mercy.
Suddenly St Eupraxia sensed herself not well, and having sickened, she soon peacefully died at the age of thirty.
Euphrasia (Eupraxia)
Orthodoxe Kirche: 25. Juli Katholische Kirche: 13. März
Euphrasia, Tochter des Senators Antigonos und seiner Ehefrau Eupraxia, wurde um 380 in Konstantinopel geboren. Nach dem Tod ihres Vaters kam sie mit ihrer Mutter nach Ägypten, wo sie um 387 in ein Nonnenkloster in der Thebais eintrat. Ihr wurde die Gabe der Heilung verliehen. Sie starb dort friedlich in jungen Jahren nach 410 (evt. 413).
596 St Magnericus, Bishop Of Trier; brought up in the household of St Nicetius, Bishop of Trier, who gave him the priesthood and made him his confidant
Tréviris sancti Magneríci, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
    At Treves, St. Magnericus, bishop and confessor.
This saint was born at the beginning of the sixth century and brought up in the household of St Nicetius, Bishop of Trier, who gave him the priesthood and made him his confidant.
When Nicetius was expelled from his see by King Clotaire I because he had excommunicated him for his profligacy, Magnericus accompanied him into exile; they were recalled by Sigebert the following year, and six years later Magnericus succeeded to the bishopric of Trier. A great enthusiasm of St Magnericus was devotion to St Martin of Tours, and he built several churches and founded the monastery dedicated in his honour.  In the course of his pilgrimages to the shrine at Tours he formed a close friendship with St Gregory, bishop of that city, who testified in his writings to the sanctity of Magnericus.  When Theodore, Bishop of Marseilles, was in 585 exiled by Guntramnus of Burgundy, he took refuge at Trier, and St Magnericus took St Gregory with him to plead the cause of the oppressed bishop before King Childebert II, who had a great regard for the bishop of Trier.  So too had another saint who knew him well, Venantius Fortunatus, who was impressed by his shining piety and sound learning and praises him as an ornament of the Church; he attracted numerous fervent disciples, among others St Gaugeric (Géry), whom he made one of his deacons and who became bishop of Cambrai.  St Magnericus died at a great age in 596.
The relatively copious life of the saint, written by Eberwin, abbot of Saint-Martin at Trier, is printed with introductory matter in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. vi. The more historical portions have been re-edited in MGH., and by H. V. Sauerland, Trierer Geschichtsquellen (1889).  See also Fortunatus, in MGH.. Epistolae, vol. iii, p. 128 .
553 The Fifth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople II) under the holy Emperor St Justinian I (527-565) in the year 553 to determine the Orthodoxy of three dead bishops: Theodore of Mopsuetia, Theodoret of Cyrrhus and Ibas of Edessa, who expressed Nestorian opinions in their writings in the time of the Third Ecumenical Council (September 9).
These three bishops had not been condemned at the Fourth Ecumenical Council (July 16), which condemned the Monophysites, and in turn had been accused by the Monophysites of Nestorianism.
    Therefore, to deprive the Monophysites of the possibility of accusing the Orthodox of sympathy for Nestorianism, and to dispose the heretical party towards unity with the followers of the Council of Chalcedon, the emperor St Justinian issued an edict. In it "the Three Chapters" (the three deceased bishops) were condemned. But since the edict was issued on the emperor's initiative, and since it was not acknowledged by representatives of all the Church (particularly in the West, and in Africa), a dispute arose about the "Three Chapters." The Fifth Ecumenical Council was convened to resolve this dispute.
   165 bishops attended this Council. Pope Vigilius, though present in Constantinople, refused to participate in the Council, although he was asked three times to do so by official deputies in the name of the gathered bishops and the Emperor himself. The Council opened with St Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople (552-565, 577-582), presiding. In accordance with the imperial edict, the matter of the "Three Chapters" was carefully examined in eight prolonged sessions from May 4 to June 2, 553.
    Anathema was pronounced against the person and teachings of Theodore of Mopsuetia. In the case of Theodore and Ibas, the condemnations were confined only to certain of their writings, while they personally had been cleared by the Council of Chalcedon, because of their repentance. Thus, they were spared from the anathema.
This measure was necessary because certain of the proscribed works contained expressions used by the Nestorians to interpret the definitions of the Council of Chalcedon for their own ends. But the leniency of the Fathers of the Fifth Ecumenical Council, in a spirit of moderate economy regarding the persons of Bishops Theodore and Ibas, instead embittered the Monophysites against the decisions of the Council. Besides which, the emperor had given the orders to promulgate the Conciliar decisions together with a decree of excommunication against Pope Vigilius, for being like-minded with the heretics. The Pope Vigilius afterwards concurred with the mind of the Fathers, and signed the Conciliar definition.
The bishops of Istria and all the region of the Aquilea metropolia, however, remained in schism for more than a century.
At the Council the Fathers likewise examined the errors of presbyter Origen, a renowned Church teacher of the third century. His teaching about the pre-existence of the human soul was condemned.
Other heretics, who did not admit the universal resurrection of the dead, were also condemned.
It pleased the Lord that the Holy Spirit should inspire the Fathers of the Council in a further definition of Orthodoxy that preserves the integrity and dignity both of God and of mankind, without the distortion of either that occurs within the Nestorian or Monophysite heresies.
St. Nissen Abbot. An Irishman, he was converted by St. Patrick and later became abbot of Mountgarret monastery in Wexford.
600 St. Ebrulf Abbot-founder of Saint-Fuscien­aux-Bois, France, sometimes listed as Evroult. Born in Beauvais, he also lived as a hermit.
608 St. Glodesind Abbess in Metz, Germany. Glodesind ran from her wedding day after her betrothed was arrested and later executed. Becoming a nun, she eventually served as abbess.
St. Magnericus First Frankish bishop of Trier, Germany, a friend of St. Gregory of Tours, and an illustrious churchman. He was raised by St. Nicetius of Trier, and he accompanied that prelate into exile when King Clotaire I retaliated for Nicetius’ reprimands of the royal court. Magnericus returned to Trier, and in 566 was named bishop. He had a great devotion to St. Martin of Tours. He also gave shelter to Bishop Theodore of Marseilles in 585.
851 St. Theodemir Monk and martyr of Spain. He was martyred at Cordoba under Emir Abd al-Rahman II (r. 822-852), a Muslim, because he would not recant his Christian faith.
Córdubæ, in Hispánia, sancti Theodemíri, Mónachi et Mártyris.
    At Cordova, St. Theodemir, monk and martyr.
1471 Thomas von Kempen kam er in die Klosterschule von Deventer 1414 wurde er zum Priester geweiht
Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 25. Juli
Thomas Hemerken wurde 1380 in Kempen geboren. 1393 kam er in die Klosterschule von Deventer; 1402 trat er in das niederländische Kloster der "Brüder vom gemeinsamen Leben" auf dem Agnetenberg bei Zwolle ein. 1414 wurde er zum Priester geweiht. Er blieb bis zu seinem Tod am 25.7.1471 im Kloster. Hier schrieb er auch die "Nachfolge Christi", das meistgedruckte Buch nach der Bibel. Thomas von Kempen gilt als herausragender Vertreter der "devotio moderna".
1444 Saint Macarius of Zheltovod and Unzha; At 12 he left his parents and accepted monastic tonsure at the Nizhni-Novgorod Caves monastery under St Dionysius; extreme strict fast, precise fulfillment of monastic rule; at Yellow Lake organized a monastery for them in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, there preached Christianity to surrounding Cheremis and Chuvash peoples, baptizing both Mohammedans and pagans in the lake; on the shores of Lake Unzha he founded a new monastery; granted gift healing, more than 50 people received healing from his relics
Born in the year 1349 at Nizhni-Novgorod into a pious family. At twelve he secretly left his parents and accepted monastic tonsure at the Nizhni-Novgorod Caves monastery under St Dionysius (June 26). With all the intensity of his youthful soul he gave himself over to the work of salvation. He stood out among among the brethren for his extremely strict fasting and precise fulfillment of the monastic rule.
The parents of St Macarius only learned three years later where he had gone. His father went to him and tearfully besought his son merely that he would come forth and show himself. St Macarius spoke with his father through a wall, saying that he would see him in the future life. "Extend your hand, at least," implored the father. The son fulfilled this small request and the father, having kissed his son's hand, returned home.
Burdened by fame, the humble Macarius set off for the shores of the River Volga, and here he pursued asceticism near the waters of Yellow Lake. Here by firm determination and patience he overcame the abuse of the Enemy of salvation. Lovers of solitude gathered to St Macarius, and in 1435 he organized a monastery for them in the Name of the Most Holy Trinity.  Here also he began to preach Christianity to the surrounding Cheremis and Chuvash peoples, and he baptized both Mohammedans and pagans in the lake, which received its name from the saint. When Kazan Tatars destroyed the monastery in 1439, they took St Macarius captive.
Out of respect for his piety and charitable love, the Khan released the saint from captivity and freed nearly 400 Christians with him. But in return, St Macarius promised not to settle by Yellow Lake.
    St Macarius reverently buried those killed at his monastery, and he went 200 versts to the Galich border. During the time of this resettlement all those on the way were fed in miraculous manner through the prayers of the saint. Having arrived at the city of Unzha, St Macarius set up a cross 15 versts from the city, and built a cell on the shores of Lake Unzha. Here he founded a new monastery. During the fifth year of his life at Lake Unzha, St Macarius took sick and reposed at age 95.
While yet alive, St Macarius was granted a gift: he healed a blind and demon-afflicted girl. After the death of the monk, many received healing from his relics. The monks built a temple over his grave, and established a cenobitic rule at the monastery.
In 1522, Tatars fell upon Unzha and wanted to destroy the silver reliquary in the Makariev monastery, but they fell blind. In a panic, they took to flight. Many of them drowned in the Unzha. In 1532, through the prayers of St Macarius, the city of Soligalich was saved from the Tatars. In gratitude, the inhabitants built a chapel in the cathedral church in honor of the saint. More than 50 people received healing from grievous infirmities through the prayers of St Macarius. This was certified by a commission sent by Patriarch Philaret in 1619.
1572-1582 The Monk Christopher of Sol'vychegodsk and Koryazhemsk was a student and novice under the Monk Longin, hegumen of the Koryazhemsk monastery. After the death of his teacher, the Monk Christopher dwelt for yet another ten years at the Koryazhemsk monastery, and then he settled along the upper tributaries of the Large Koryazhemka, where he lived in solitude.
When novices began to come to him, the Monk Christopher founded a monastery and built a church in honour of the Hodegetria Icon of the Mother of God, which he brought with him to this place, and from which they received many healings. The monastery of the Monk Christopher was famed for the strictness of life of its residents, and also for a curative water-spring, from which there was received a relief from illness by Anastasia (1457-1460), the spouse of Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584). In 1572 the Monk Christopher left the monastery and he secretly settled alone in an unknown place. They say, that the Monk Christopher died between the years 1572-1582.


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 5

In Judea God is known: in Israel the honor of His Mother.

Sweet is the memory of her above honey and the honeycomb: and her love is above all aromatic perfumes.

Health and life are in her house: and in her dwelling are peace and eternal glory.

Honor her, ye heavens and earth: because the supreme artificer has wonderfully honored her.

Give to her praise, all ye creatures: and joyfully celebrate her astonishing mercy.

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

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

God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea.  As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences.  Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves. O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven:  only saints are allowed into heaven. The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources
Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints html  Indulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines   India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
  Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell
Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates  Chalcedon
Mary the Mother of Jesus Miracles_BC  Lay Saints  Miraculous_Icons  Miraculous_Medal_Novena Patron Saints
Miracles by Century 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000    1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800  1900 2000
Miracles 100   200   300   400   500   600   700    800   900   1000  
 1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints

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

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

Saint Frances Xavier Seelos  Practical Guide to Holiness
1. Go to Mass with deepest devotion. 2. Spend a half hour to reflect upon your main failing & make resolutions to avoid it.
3. Do daily spiritual reading for at least 15 minutes, if a half hour is not possible.  4. Say the rosary every day.
5. Also daily, if at all possible, visit the Blessed Sacrament; toward evening, meditate on the Passion of Christ for a half hour, 6.  Conclude the day with evening prayer & an examination of conscience over all the faults & sins of the day.
7.  Every month make a review of the month in confession.
8. Choose a special patron every month & imitate that patron in some special virtue.
9. Precede every great feast with a novena that is nine days of devotion. 10. Try to begin & end every activity with a Hail Mary
My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not
O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly.  I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I beg the conversion of poor sinners,  Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace
The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.
   These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.
Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
 Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
 Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.
Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac
The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.
Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).
In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).
In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

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

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.  Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine.  The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches.  The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice."  According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates.  Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor.  Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.
Meeting of the Saints  walis (saints of Allah)
Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.
So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life.  But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets. An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shah Abdul Latif: The Exalted Sufi Master born 1690 in a Syed family; died 1754. In ancient times, Sindh housed the exemplary Indus Valley Civilisation with Moenjo Daro as its capital, and now, it is the land of a culture which evolved from the teachings of eminent Sufi saints. Pakistan is home to the mortal remains of many Sufi saints, the exalted among them being Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, a practitioner of the real Islam, philosopher, poet, musicologist and preacher. He presented his teaching through poetry and music - both instruments sublime - and commands a very large following, not only among Muslims but also among Hindus and Christians. Sindh culture: The Shah is synonymous with Sindh. He is the very fountainhead of Sindh's culture. His message remains as fresh as that of any present day poet, and the people of Sindh find solace from his writings. He did indeed think for Sindh. One of his prayers, in exquisite Sindhi, translates thus: “Oh God, may ever You on Sindh bestow abundance rare! Beloved! All the world let share Thy grace, and fruitful be.”
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams. Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles 569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.), Hazrat Ghuas-e Azam, Hazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA) 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.
801 Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Sufi One of the most famous Islamic mystics
(b. 717). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions.  Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq.  She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186).  Her biographer, the great medieval poet Attar, tells us that she was "on fire with love and longing" and that men accepted her "as a second spotless Mary" (186).  She was, he continues, “an unquestioned authority to her contemporaries" (218).
Rabi'a began her ascetic life in a small desert cell near Basra, where she lost herself in prayer and went straight to God for teaching.  As far as is known, she never studied under any master or spiritual director.  She was one of the first of the Sufis to teach that Love alone was the guide on the mystic path (222).  A later Sufi taught that there were two classes of "true believers": one class sought a master as an intermediary between them and God -- unless they could see the footsteps of the Prophet on the path before them, they would not accept the path as valid.  The second class “...did not look before them for the footprint of any of God's creatures, for they had removed all thought of what He had created from their hearts, and concerned themselves solely with God. (218)
Rabi'a was of this second kind.  She felt no reverence even for the House of God in Mecca:  "It is the Lord of the house Whom I need; what have I to do with the house?" (219) One lovely spring morning a friend asked her to come outside to see the works of God.  She replied, "Come you inside that you may behold their Maker.  Contemplation of the Maker has turned me aside from what He has made" (219).  During an illness, a friend asked this woman if she desired anything.
"...[H]ow can you ask me such a question as 'What do I desire?'  I swear by the glory of God that for twelve years I have desired fresh dates, and you know that in Basra dates are plentiful, and I have not yet tasted them.  I am a servant (of God), and what has a servant to do with desire?" (162)
When a male friend once suggested she should pray for relief from a debilitating illness, she said,
"O Sufyan, do you not know Who it is that wills this suffering for me?  Is it not God Who wills it?  When you know this, why do you bid me ask for what is contrary to His will?  It is not  well to oppose one's Beloved." (221)
She was an ascetic.  It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold" (187).  She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world.  A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug (186), for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill.  Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,
"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?"  (186-7)
A wealthy merchant once wanted to give her a purse of gold.  She refused it, saying that God, who sustains even those who dishonor Him, would surely sustain her, "whose soul is overflowing with love" for Him.  And she added an ethical concern as well:
"...How should I take the wealth of someone of whom I do not know whether he acquired it lawfully or not?" (187)
She taught that repentance was a gift from God because no one could repent unless God had already accepted him and given him this gift of repentance.  She taught that sinners must fear the punishment they deserved for their sins, but she also offered such sinners far more hope of Paradise than most other ascetics did.  For herself, she held to a higher ideal, worshipping God neither from fear of Hell nor from hope of Paradise, for she saw such self-interest as unworthy of God's servants; emotions like fear and hope were like veils -- i.e., hindrances to the vision of God Himself.  The story is told that once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other.  When they asked her to explain, she said:
"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..." (187-188)
She was once asked where she came from.  "From that other world," she said.  "And where are you going?" she was asked.  "To that other world," she replied (219).  She taught that the spirit originated with God in "that other world" and had to return to Him in the end.  Yet if the soul were sufficiently purified, even on earth, it could look upon God unveiled in all His glory and unite with him in love.  In this quest, logic and reason were powerless.  Instead, she speaks of the "eye" of her heart which alone could apprehend Him and His mysteries (220).
Above all, she was a lover, a bhakti, like one of Krishna’s Goptis in the Hindu tradition.  Her hours of prayer were not so much devoted to intercession as to communion with her Beloved.  Through this communion, she could discover His will for her.  Many of her prayers have come down to us:
       "I have made Thee the Companion of my heart,
        But my body is available for those who seek its company,
        And my body is friendly towards its guests,
        But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul."  [224]
To Save A Life is Earthly; Saving A Soul is Eternal Donation by mail, please send check or money order to:
Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210  USA
  Catholic Television Network  Supported entirely by donations from viewers  help  spread the Eternal Word, online Here
Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

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

Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America
Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist, 1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919); George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement 1362-1950 (1952);
The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and Indulgences  Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon
Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.
The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}.
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
 It Makes No Sense Not To Believe In GOD
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi. 
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi. 
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

Father Corapi's academic credentials are quite extensive. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Pace University in the seventies. Then as an older man returned to the university classrooms in preparation for his life as a priest and preacher. He received all of his academic credentials for the Church with honors: a Masters degree in Sacred Scripture from Holy Apostles Seminary and Bachelor, Licentiate, and Doctorate degrees in dogmatic theology from the University of Navarre in Spain.
Father John Corapi goes to the heart of the contemporary world's many woes and wars, whether the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia, or the Congo, or the natural disasters that seem to be increasing every year, the moral and spiritual war is at the basis of everything. “Our battle is not against human forces,” St. Paul asserts, “but against principalities and powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness...” (Ephesians 6:12). 
The “War to end all wars” is the moral and spiritual combat that rages in the hearts and minds of human beings. The outcome of that  unseen fight largely determines how the battle in the realm of the seen unfolds.  The title talk, “With the Moon Under Her Feet,” is taken from the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, and deals with the current threat to the world from radical Islam, and the Blessed Virgin Mary's role in the ultimate victory that will result in the conversion of Islam. Few Catholics are aware of the connection between Islam, Fatima, and Guadalupe. Presented in Father Corapi's straight-forward style, you will be both inspired and educated by him.

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pope Francis creates new path to beatification under ‘offering of life’
Jul 11, 2017 - 06:22 am .- On Tuesday Pope Francis declared a new category of Christian life suitable for consideration of beatification called “offering of life” – in which a person has died prematurely through an offering of their life for love of God and neighbor.
 
Twentieth century Polish nurse among causes advancing toward sainthood
Jul 7, 2017 - 06:14 am .- Pope Francis on Friday approved a miracle attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Hanna Chrzanowska, a Polish nurse and nursing instructor who died from cancer in 1973, paving the way for her beatification.
 
Sainthood causes advance, including layman who resisted fascism
Jun 17, 2017 - 09:22 am .- Pope Francis on Friday recognized the heroic virtue of six persons on the path to canonization, as well as the martyrdom of an Italian man who died from injuries of a beating he received while imprisoned in a concentration camp for resisting fascism.
 
Solanus Casey, Cardinal Van Thuan among those advanced toward sainthood
May 4, 2017 - 10:47 am .- Pope Francis on Thursday approved decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints advancing the causes for canonization of 12 individuals, including the American-born Capuchin Solanus Casey and the Vietnamese cardinal Francis Xavier Nguen Van Thuan.
 
Pope clears way for canonization of Fatima visionaries
Mar 23, 2017 - 06:44 am .- On Thursday Pope Francis approved the second and final miracle needed to canonize Blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, two of the shepherd children who witnessed the Fatima Marian apparitions.
Surgeon and father among sainthood causes moving forward
Feb 27, 2017 - 11:03 am .- Pope Francis recognized on Monday the heroic virtue of eight persons on the path to canonization, including an Italian surgeon and father of eight who suffered from several painful diseases throughout his life.
8 Martyrs Move Closer to Sainthood 8 July, 2016
Posted by ZENIT Staff on 8 July, 2016

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

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

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

On the List Are Lay Founder of a Hospital and Eastern Catholic Religious
VATICAN CITY, June 12, 2014 (Zenit.org) - Today, the Vatican announced that during the celebration of the feast of Christ the King on Sunday, November 23, an ordinary public consistory will be held for the canonization of the following six blesseds, who include a lay founder of a hospital for the poor, founders of religious orders, and two members of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See:
-Giovanni Antonio Farina (1803-1888), an Italian bishop who founded the Institute of the Sisters Teachers of Saint Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Hearts
-Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871), a Syro-Malabar priest in India who founded the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate
-Ludovico of Casoria (1814-1885), an Italian Franciscan priest who founded the Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth
-Nicola Saggio (Nicola da Longobardi, 1650-1709), an Italian oblate of the Order of Minims
-Euphrasia Eluvathingal (1877-1952), an Indian Carmelite of the Syro-Malabar Church
-Amato Ronconi (1238-1304), an Italian, Third Order Franciscan who founded a hospital for poor pilgrims
CAUSES OF SAINTS July 2015.
Pope Recognizes Heroic Virtues of Ukrainian Archbishop
Recognition Brings Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky Closer to Beatification
By Junno Arocho Esteves Rome, July 17, 2015 (ZENIT.org)
Pope Francis recognized the heroic virtues of Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky. According to a communique released by the Holy See Press Office, the Holy Father met this morning with Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Paqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, PSALTER  BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 5 2022