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
22,600  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'

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   .
“They laid hands on Our Lady? They will not go any further.” in fact, the revolutionaries rebellion died out 1848 .

July 27 - Canonization of Catherine Labouré by Pius XII before 10,000 Children of Mary dressed in white (1947) 
During the 1848 Revolution in Paris, in March of that year, Catherine Labouré, a sister in the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity, continued to run the Picpus Hospital in Paris (where she also resided)
almost single-handedly, taking care of the poor after most of the sisters had been forced to flee.
She distributed the Miraculous Medal that the Virgin Mary herself had requested through her, all the way up to the barricades. During searches by the revolutionaries inside the different foundations of the Congregation, she exhorted everyone to keep up their courage and, miraculously, the protection of Mary—whom she incessantly invoked—
kept the entire community safe.
When Sister Catherine heard that revolutionaries had ransacked the church of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires in Paris,
she said: "They laid hands on Our Lady? They will not go any further." In the spring, in fact, the rebellion died out.  The Mary of Nazareth Team
 
Attracted by a bright light in a thorn bush
Near Chalons-en-Champagne (France), a legend from the seventeenth century relates the discovery of a statue on the eve of the Feast of the Annunciation in the year 1400. Some shepherds, attracted by a shining light from a burning thorn bush, found a statue of the Madonna and Child totally unharmed by the fire.
In 1405, construction of the present Flamboyant Gothic style church building commenced. The Shrine of Our Lady of the Thorn rises in the middle of the plains of the Champagne region. Declared a historic monument in 1840, it was elevated in 1914 to the rank of Basilica. In 1998 it was registered on the World Heritage List by UNESCO under the title of “Pilgrimage Route of Santiago de Compostela in France.”
The Basilica of Our Lady of the Thorn has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries, but today the shrine is little known. However, we can still experience what many others have felt in this place of grace. Today, the shrine’s two major feast days are the Assumption and the diocesan pilgrimage on May 8th, feast of Our Lady of the Thorn.
 
July 27 - Canonization of Catherine Labouré by Pius XII (1947)  Mother of Perpetual Help
In a time of great sorrow, not knowing where to take refuge, fearing to be misled by the devil, I remembered the heart of the Mother of Perpetual Help, and I placed myself between her hands, like her child, like her property.
I begged her, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, to carry me, as she carried Jesus when He was a child, and to make me become,
not what I would like to become, but what she herself would like for the greatest glory of her Son, according to His will, according to what she read in His heart. Since that time, I consider myself as yours, O Mother of Perpetual Help!
Venerable Charles de Foucauld  Thoughts on the Feasts of the Year
Canonization Catherine Labouré by Pope Pius XII in front of 10,000 Children of Mary in White (1947)
What is admirable about Catherine, the visionary of the Rue du Bac, the little sister of the poor, the apparitions, with their prestige and their fruit? Or is service, more important, to the poor: "our masters" as Catherine used to say after Saint Vincent de Paul? She knew how to reach out to the poor in her own poverty. She did the same quality of mending their clothes as she did on her own: always carefully patched, that went hand in hand with an impeccable cleanliness, witnesses said...She had no complexes. She dared to speak about God to those she helped. Give God and give bread, give our Lord and to give our own love to those who suffered, it all went together, coming from the same heart.
Like Bernadette, she disappointed those who sought a more mystical visionary. The "mystical" Catherine was simplicity, according to the Gospel, and it was transparency. In her, at the dawn of the nineteenth century, the Holy Spirit began to train a new kind of holiness found at the source of the Gospel for a new era: holiness without success or human triumph.
Fr. René Laurentin  Life of Catherine Laboure
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.
  117 Maurus, Pantaleemon, and Sergius These 3 martyrs are venerated at Bisceglia on the Adriatic. Their acta describe Maurus as a native of Bethlehem, sent by Saint Peter to be Bisceglia's first bishop. MM (RM)
220 St. Theodore of Shotep in Upper Egypt Martyrdom of; a great Christian general during reign of Emperor Lucianus who apostatized the faith, started  Christian persecutions and killed Theodore for this professed faith {Coptic}
  250 St. Maximian, Malchus, Martinian, Dionysius, John Serapion, and Constantine7 sleeping martyrs
305 St. Pantaleon (Panteleemon, Panteleimon); 1/14  Holy Helpers;  from Nicomedia, near the Black Sea; the "Great Martyr and Wonder-worker"; so famous a doctor the Emperor chose him for his own doctor; was a Christian, but bad influence from pagan court caused him to give up his Christian faith entirely;. A holy priest named Hermolaos made him realize what a sin he had committed, Pantaleon listened to him, detested his sin and joined the Church once more. To make up for what he had done, he greatly desired to suffer and die for Jesus. In the meantime, he imitated Our Lord's charity by taking care of poor sick people without any charge for his medical services.
  305 St. Hermolaus elderly priest converted Pantaleon Martyr with Hermippus and Hermocrates -- brothers.
          St. Felix Martyr with Julia and Jucunda
  532 St. Ecclesius great compassion Bishop of Ravenna, Italy. He served the see from 521 until his death, building San Vitale there, and is revered because of his great compassion.
Congall of Iabnallivin Before death he committed governance of his monastery to beloved disciple, Saint Fegnarnach titular patron of a parish on Lake Erne,  his feast is a holy day of obligation (Husenbeth). (AC)
  573 Etherius of Auxerre B (RM). Bishop of Auxerre, France, from 563 to 573 (Benedictines).
         Saint Luican the titular patron of Kill-luicain parish in Ireland (Benedictines).
Apud Homerítas, in Arábia, commemorátio sanctórum Mártyrum, qui, sub Dúnaan tyránno, ob Christi fidem, incéndio tráditi sunt.
    In the country of the Homerites in Arabia, the commemoration of the holy martyrs, who were delivered to the flames for the faith of Christ under the tyrant Dunaan.
759 St. Anthusa Abbess tortured by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine V;  Anthusa was originally a hermitess, becoming abbess of the convent near Constantinople. Because of her veneration of sacred images,
  852 St. Natalie husband Aurelius  martyred for her Faith with her husband Aurelius. According to his biography by St. Eulogius of Toledo, Aurelius was the son of a Moor and a Spanish woman, and was orphaned as a child. He was secretly raised a Christian by his aunt during the Moorish persecution of Christians. He married a half Moorish woman, Sabigotho, who took the name Natalie when he converted her to Christianity. They were both beheaded for practicing their religion openly together with George, a monk from Jerusalem whom Aurelius had befriended.
852 deacon George, Aurelius, Natalia, Felix & Liliosa had converted to Islam for a time, married the Christian Liliosa and returned to the faith. Both couples openly professed their Christianity MM (RM)
916 Ss Clement, Bishop of Ochrid, Equal of the Apostles, Naum, Sava, Gorazd and Angelar were Slavs, disciples of Sts Cyril and Methodius (May 11) These Enlighteners of the Slavs were opposed by German missionaries, who had the support of the Pope and the patronage of the Moravian prince Svyatopolk. The struggle centered around the questions of the need for divine services in Slavonic, the Filioque and Saturday fasting. Pope Stephen VI prohibited the use of Slavonic in church.  The proponents of the three-tongued heresy (who wanted to use only Hebrew, Greek, or Latin for Church purposes), after setting aside the ancestral language of the Slavic peoples, brought the disciples of St Methodius to trial, including St Clement. They subjected them to fierce torture: dragging them through thorns, and holding them in prison for a long time, just as they had done with their spiritual Father, St Methodius.
1142 Blessed Berthold of Garsten particularly interesting in view of the period that Berthold's zeal manifested itself especially in hearing confessions, both of his own religious and of lay people;  led the ordinary life of a monk, dividing time between prayer,study, and work of the house ; but this life is designed to be a means of sanctity, by it Berthold became a saint: in secret he led a life of great penitence, he never ate meat or fish, and spent hours of his short night in private prayer.  People came from far and wide to hear him preach and to ask his blessing; , OSB Abbot (AC)
1227 Blessed Conrad of Ottobeuren, OSB Abbot (PC). Conrad was abbot of Ottobeuren Abbey in Bavaria from 1193 until his death. He is described as a "lover of the brethren and of the poor" (Benedictines).
1247 St. Theobald of Marly Cistercian abbot took the Cistercian habit at Vaux-de-Cernay in 1220, and was chosen abbot in 1235.  He lived in the midst of his brethren as the servant of every one, and surpassed all others in his love of poverty, silence and prayer.  He was known to and much venerated by St Louis. Theobald died on December 8, 1247, but the Cistercians observe his feast on July 27.
1280 Blessed Nevolo of Faenza; He married led frivolous life until 24: he experienced a complete conversion; became first Franciscan tertiary later enter Camaldolese monastery at San Maglorio Faenza as a lay-brother (Benedictines).
1350 Blessed Lucy Bufalari, OSA V (AC) Born at Castel Porziano, near Rome; cultus confirmed 1832. sister of Blessed John of Rieti, became Augustinian nun at Amelia & prioress invoked against diabolical possession (Benedictines)
1392 Blessed Nicholas Konchanov, Novgorod Fool-for-Christ ; The Lord glorified Blessed Nicholas with the gift of miracles and clairvoyance
1557 Engel de Merel {Angelus Merula} Catholic priest and freethinker, supported the Reformation  imprisoned around 1550 for criticizing the Catholic church.  He studied the Bible in the original text and represented the view that not human efforts, but God's mercy save the person and not efforts save the person.
1583 Bl. Rudolf Acquaviva Jesuit martyr sent to India, going to the court of Mogul Akbar near Agra. He became superior of the Salsette mission. Rudolf was martyred at Salsette, near Goa, by Hindus, with four companions, including Alfonso Pacheco
1737 Blessed Mary Magdalen Martinengo, OFM Cap. V (AC) Born Brescia, Italy; beatified 1900. Took the veil at the Capuchin convent in Brescia filled the post of novice mistress and prioress with marked success (Benedictines).
1752 Blessed Antonio Lucci; attended the local school run by the Conventual Franciscans and joined them at the age of 16. Antonio completed his studies for the priesthood in Assisi, where he was ordained in 1705. Further studies led to a doctorate in theology and appointments as a teacher in Agnone, Ravello and Naples. He also served as guardian in Naples; bishop of Bovino
1836 St. Bartholomea Capitanjo Foundress of Italian Sisters of Charity of Lovere with St. Vincenzia Gerosa, she was the guiding light of the congregation. Sisters of Charity of Lovere approved in 1840.
1878 Gustav Knak Nach dem Studium der Theologie wirkte er zunächst als Lehrer, dann ab 1834 als Pastor in Wusterwitz
1942 Bl. Titus Brandsma Carmelite martyr; sent to various concentration camps where he demonstrated charity and concern; a Carmelite as a young man, he displayed a dazzling intellect and scholarship, receiving ordination as a priest in 1905 earning a doctorate in philosophy at Rome; taught in Dutch universities, lectured in many countries on Carmelite spirituality and mysticism; served as rector magnificus at the Catholic University of Nijmegen; 1935 became ecclesiastical advisor to Catholic journalists; academic and spiritual studies were printed and widely read.

 Dominican The Twenty-seventh Day of July
In the kingdom of Tonkin, the blessed martyrs Joseph Maria Sanjurjo and Melchior Sampedro, both bishops; and their twenty-three companions. Although they died in different years, all endured many tortures for the faith of Christ, and all received the glorious pahn of martyrdom. A duplex feast.
At Bisceglia in Apulia (Italy), the holy martyrs Maurus, bishop, Pantaleon, and Sergius, who suffered under Trajan.
At Nicomedia, St. Hermolaus, priest, by whose teaching Blessed Pantaleon was converted to the faith. Also SS. Hermippus and Hermocrates, brothers. After many tortures inflicted on them by the same Maximian for their confession of Christ, they were put to death. 
At Cordoba in Spain, the holy martyrs, George, deacon, Aurelius and his wife Natalia, Felix and his wife Liliosa, in the Arab persecution.
At Nola in Campania (Italy), the martyrs SS. Felix, Julia, and Jucunda.
Among the Homerites {They are usually called Himyarites. They lived in southwestern Arabia and are said to have been named after a king called Himyar.} in Arabia,  commemoration of the holy martyrs who because of their Christian faith were delivered to the fire under the Jewish tyrant Dunaan.  Among the Homerites in the city of Nagran in Arabia, the passion of SS. Aretas and his 340 companions in the time of the Emperor Justin, under the Jewish tyrant Dunaan. After these, a Christian woman was delivered to the flames, and her son, five years old, in his lisping voice confessed Christ, and could not be silenced by promises or threats, but threw himself headlong into the fire where his mother was burning.
At Ephesus, the birthday of the Seven Sleepers, SS. Maximian, Malchus, Martinian, Dionysius, John, Serapion, and Constantine.
At Rome, Pope St. Celestine I, who condemned Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, and put Pelagius to flight. By his command the holy Universal Council of Ephesus was held to condemn the same Nestorius.
At Auxerre, the death of blessed Aetherius, bishop and confessor.
At Constantinople, blessed Anthusa, virgin, who was scourged under Constantine Copronymus for her veneration of holy images. Being sent into exile, she died in the Lord. +


117 Maurus, Pantaleemon, and Sergius These three martyrs are venerated at Bisceglia on the Adriatic. Their acta describe Maurus as a native of Bethlehem, who was sent by Saint Peter to be Bisceglia's first bishop. MM (RM)
Vigíliis, in Apúlia, sanctórum Mártyrum Mauri Epíscopi, Pantaleémonis et Sérgii; qui passi sunt sub Trajáno.
    At Bisceglia in Apulia, the holy martyrs Maur, a bishop, Pantaleon, and Sergius, who suffered under Trajan.
They are said to have been martyred under Trajan (Benedictines).
220 St. Theodore of Shotep in Upper Egypt Martyrdom of; one of the great Christian generals during the reign of Emperor Lucianus who apostatized the faith, started  Christian persecutionsn and killed Theodore for this professed faith {Coptic}
On this day, of the year 220 A.D., St. Theodore of Shotep was martyred. His father's name was John and he was from the city of Shotep in Upper Egypt. He went with his regiment to the city of Antioch, where he married the daughter of a pagan noble man, and begot by her this St. Theodore. When his mother wanted to present him to the house of idols to be educated there, his father refused. She became angry, drove him away, and the child remained with his mother. His father John prayed ceaselessly, and entreated God to guide his son Theodore to the path of salvation. The child grew up, and learned philosophy, wisdom, and literature. The Lord Christ illuminated his heart, and Theodore went to a righteous bishop who baptized him.
When his mother heard of this she was sorrowed greatly, but the Saint did not mind her.
He joined the army and advanced in the ranks until he became one of the great generals during the reign of Emperor Lucianus.
The people of the city of Eukhitos worshipped a great serpent, and offered to him a human sacrifice every year. While St. Theodore was passing through this district, he saw a woman crying bitterly. He asked her about the reason for her crying. She answered him saying, "I am a widow and they have taken my two sons to offer them as a sacrifice to the serpent, although I am Christian." He said to himself, "They have wronged this woman, but God shall avenge her." He came down from his horse, and turned his face towards the East and prayed, then drew near the serpent. The people of the city were watching him from the tops of the walls of the city. The serpent was fourteen cubits long, but God gave him power over it, and he speared it with his spear and killed it, and delivered the sons of the widow.

After this, Theodore came to Egypt to search for his father, and he stayed with him until he died, and then returned to Antioch. He found that the Emperor had apostatized the faith and started to persecute the Christians. He came before him and confessed the Lord Christ. The Emperor ordered him beaten with rods, burned, and cast into the fire. He delivered up his soul and received the crown of martyrdom. A Christian woman took his body - it was said that she was his mother - after she gave much money to the soldiers and hid his body until the end of the time of persecution. Churches were built in his name in many cities .
250 St. Maximian, Malchus, Martinian, Dionysius, John Serapion, and Constantine
Ephesi natális sanctórum septem Dormiéntium, scílicet Maximiáni, Malchi, Martiniáni, Dionysii, Joánnis, Serapiónis et Constantíni.
    At Ephesus, the birthday of the Seven Holy Sleepers, Maximian, Malchus, Martinian, Denis, John, Serapion, and Constantine.
"The Seven Sleepers" (Martyrs) Having confessed the faith before the proconsul at Ephesus under Decius in 250, they were walled up together in a cave in which they had hid themselves, and there slept in the Lord. Some moderns, mistaking this expression, have imagined that they only lay asleep, till they were found in 479, under Theodosius the younger The truth seems to be, that their relics were then discovered. They are much honored by the Greeks, Syrians, and all the Oriental nations. Their relics were conveyed to Marseilles in a large stone coffin, which is still shown there in St. Victor s church. In the Museum Victorium at Rome is a factitious plaster or stone (made of sulphur melted with fire and mortar), formed in imitation of a large precious stone in which is cut a group of figures representing the Seven Sleepers with their names and near Constantine and John are exhibited two clubs; near Maximian a knotty club; near Malchus and Martinian two axes; near Serapion a burning torch, and near Danesius (whom others call Vionysius) a great nail. That large nails (clavi trabales, or such as were used in joining great rafters or beams in buildings) were made use of as instruments of torture is evident from St. Paulinus and Horace. From this ancient monument some infer that these martyrs were put to death by various torments, and that their bodies were only buried in the aforesaid cave. In this group of figures, these martyrs are represented all as very young, and without beards. In ancient Martyrologies and other writings they are frequently called boys. The cave in which their bodies were found became a place famous for devout pilgrimages, and is still shown to travelers, as James Spon testifies.

Seven Sleepers of Ephesus MM (RM) Died 250-362. Maximian, Malchus, Martinian, Dionysius, John, Serapion, and Constantine--the names vary in different versions of the legend--were walled up in a cave under Decius (250) and found alive there 200 years later. They died soon after they awoke to find Ephesus Christian and were venerated as saints.
The long sleep is a common theme of myth and folklore, and this Christianized version was already current in the 6th century. The most ingenuous was written in Syriac about 500 by Saint James of Sarugh. Saint Gregory of Tours spread the story to Europe. But its popularity was heightened in Medieval Europe when it was included in The Golden Legend by the Dominican Blessed James of Voraigne (based on the translation by William Caxton):
    The Seven Sleepers were born in Ephesus. And when Decius the Emperor came to Ephesus to persecute Christian men, he commanded that temples be built in the middle of the city, so that all should come and offer sacrifice to the idols with him. He sought out all the Christians and obliged them to sacrifice or suffer death. Because of this, every man was so afraid of the pains in store for himself that friend betrayed friend, son repudiated father, and the father the son.
    Then in the city were found seven Christian men named, Maximian, Malchus, Marcian, Denis, John, Dionysius, Serapion, and Constantine. And when they saw this, they were saddened, and because they were the first in the palace that despised the sacrifices, they hid themselves in their houses, fasted, and prayed.
    And then they were accused before Decius, and came thither and were found to be very Christian men. They were given a chance to repent before being brought again before Decius. In the meantime they expended their patrimony in alms to the poor, and assembled themselves together and took counsel, and went to the Mount of Celion and there ordained to be more secretly and hid themselves a long time. And one of them administered and served them always; and when he went into the city he clothed himself in the habit of a beggar.
    When Decius returned, he commanded that they should be fetched, and then Malchus, who was their servant and ministered to them meat and drink, returned in great dread to his fellows and told them about the great fury and madness of them, they were very afraid...Suddenly, as God willed, they slept, and when they were sought in the morning they could not be found...Then Decius thought what he should do with them and, as our Lord would, he enclosed the mouth of the cave wherein they were with stones, so that they should die of hunger and thirst.
    Then the ministers and two Christian men, Theodore and Rufinus, wrote their martyrdom and laid it subtly among the stones. And when Decius was dead, and all that generation, 362 years after and the 30th year of Theodosius the Emperor, when the heresy of them that denied the resurrection of dead bodies began to grow...God, merciful and piteous, seeing, would comfort them that were sorrowful and weeping and give to them hope of the resurrection of the dead, opened the precious treasure of His pity and raised the aforesaid martyrs in the following manner:
    He put into the will of a burgess of Ephesus that he would make in the mountain, which was desert and rough, a stable for his pastures and herdsmen. And it happened that by chance the masons that made the said stable opened the cave. And then these holy saints that were within awoke, and got up and saluted one another and supposed verily that they had slept but one night only and remembered of the heaviness that they had the previous day...
    Maximian commanded Malchus to go and buy bread in the city, and bade him bring more than he did yesterday and also to enquire and demand what the emperor had commanded to do. And then Malchus took five shillings and issued out of the cave, and when he saw the masons and the stones before the cave he began to bless him and was much amazed. But he thought little on the stones, for he thought about other things.
    Then came he all doubtful to the gates of the city, and was totally amazed. For he saw the signs of the cross above the gate, and then, without tarrying, he went to that other gate of the city and found there also the sign of the cross thereon, and then he had great marvel, for upon every gate he saw set up the sign of the cross, and therewith the city was garnished. And then he blessed himself and returned to the first gate and knew he had dreamed; and after he advised and comforted himself and covered his visage and entered into the city.
    And when he came to the sellers of bread and heard the men speak of God, yet then was he more abashed and said, 'What is this that no man durst yesterday name Jesus Christ, and now every man confesses himself Christian? I trust this is not the city of Ephesus, for it is all otherwise built. It is some other city. I don't know what to think.'
    And when he demanded and heard verily that it was Ephesus, he supposed that he had erred and thought verily to go back again to his fellows, and then went to them that sold bread. And when he showed his money, the sellers marvelled and said that one to that other, that this young man has found some old treasure. And when Malchus saw them talk together, he doubted not that they would lead him to the emperors; show it to us, and we shall be fellows with thee and keep both money and bread, but they held him and said to him, "From where do you come? For you have found treasure of the old emperors; show it to us, and we shall be fellows with you and keep it secret."
    And Malchus was so afeared that he did not know what to say to them for dread. And when they saw that he spoke not, they put a cord about his neck and drew him through the city unto the middle thereof...And when Saint Martin, the bishop, and Antipater, the consul, which were new come into this city, heard of this thing, they sent for him that they should bring him wisely to them and his money with him.
    And when he was brought to the church he knew well he should have been led to the Emperor Decius. And then the bishop and the consul marvelled of the money and they demanded him where he had found this treasure unknown. And he answered that he had nothing found but it was come to him of his kindred and patrimony...And then said the judge, "How may we believe that this money is come to you from your friends when it appears from the inscription that it is more than 372 years since it was made and forged and is of the first days of Decius the emperor and it resembles nothing of our money?"
   ...And Malchus said, 'Sir, hereof I am greatly abashed and no man believes me, for I know well that we fled for fear of Decius the emperor, and I saw him that yesterday he entered into this city, if this be the city of Ephesus.'
    Then the bishop thought in himself and said to the judge that this is a vision that our Lord will have showed this young man. Then said the young man, 'Follow me, and I will show you my fellows which are in the mount of Celion, and believe them. This I know well, that we fled from the face of the Emperor Decius.'
    And then they went with him and a great multitude of the people of the city with them. And Malchus entered first into the cave to his fellows and the bishop came next. And there found they among the stones the letters sealed with two seals of silver. And then the bishop called them that had come with them and read them before them all, so that they that heard it were all abashed and marvelled. And they saw the saints sitting in the cave and their visages like unto roses flowering, and they, kneeling down, glorified God. And anon the bishop and the judge sent to Theodosius, the emperor, asking him to come quickly to see the marvels of our Lord that He had late showed...
    And as soon as the blessed saints of our Lord saw the emperor come, their visages shone like the sun. And the emperor entered then and glorified our Lord and embraced them, weeping upon each of them, and said, 'I see you now like as I should see our Lord raising Lazarus.'
    And then Maximian said to him, 'Believe us, for forsooth our Lord has raised us before the day of the great resurrection. And to the end that you believe firmly the resurrection of the dead, verily we be raised as you see here, and live. And in likewise as the child is in the womb of his mother without feeling harm or hurt, in the same wise we have been living and sleeping in lying here without feeling anything.'
    And when they had said all this they inclined their heads to the earth and rendered their spirits at the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so died. Then the emperor arose and fell on them, weeping strongly, and embraced them and kissed them debonairly. And then he commanded to make precious sepulchers of gold and silver and to bury their bodies therein.
    That same night they appeared to the emperor and said to him that he should allow them to lie on the earth, as they had lain until the time that our Lord had raised them, until the time that they should rise again. Then commanded the emperor that the place should be adorned nobly and richly with precious stones, and all the bishops that would confess the resurrection should be assoiled. It is in doubt of that which is said that they slept 362 years, for they were raised the year of our Lord 478 and Decius reigned but one year and three months, and that was in the year of our Lord 270, and so they slept but 208 years.
The story most likely originated with a misunderstanding of the term "slept in the Lord" when discussing the discovery of some forgotten relics. Or it may have been a pious romance written in connection with controversy about the resurrection of the body. Gradually its heroes came to be honored as saints.

They are much honored by the Eastern Church. The cave in which their bodies were found became a famous place for pilgrimages. Their relics were conveyed to Marseilles in a large stone coffin, which can still be seen in Saint Victor's church. Baronius challenged the authenticity of the story, but retained their feast in the Roman Martyrology. The feast has been removed from the Roman Calendar (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).

In art, they are seven youths asleep in a cave (Roeder). In the Museum Victorium at Rome is a statue representing the Seven Sleepers with their names. Near Constantine and John are exhibited two clubs; near Maximian a knotty club; near Malchus and Martinian two axes; near Serapion a burning torch, and near Danesius (whom others call Vionysius) a great nail, such as sometimes were used as an instrument of torture. From this ancient monument some infer that these martyrs were put to death by various torments. In this group of figures, these martyrs are represented all as very young, and without beards, which concurs with ancient martyrologies that say they were boys (Husenbeth).

"The Seven Sleepers were born in the city of Ephesus.   And when Decius the Emperor came into Ephesus for the persecution of Christian men he commanded to build up the temples in the middle of the city, so that all should come with him to do sacrifice to the idols, and did so seek all the Christian people and bind them for to make them to do sacrifice, or else to put them to death; in such wise that every man was afeared of the pains that he promised, that the friend forsook his friend, and the son repudiated his father, and the father the son.  And then in this city were found seven Christian men, that is to wit, Maxintian, Malchus, Marcian, Denis, John, Serapion and Constantine [in the East they are Maximilian, Jamblichus, Martin, John, Dionysius, Constantine and Antoninus, and there are other lists].  And when they saw this, they had much sorrow and, because they were the first in the palace that despised the sacrifices, they hid them in their houses and were in fastings and in prayers.   And then they were accused before Decius, and came thither and were found very Christian men.  Then was given them space for to repent them, unto the coming again of Decius.
   In the meanwhile they expended their patrimony in alms to the poor people, and assembled themselves together and took counsel, and went to the mount of Celion and there ordained to be more secretly and hid themselves a long time.  And one of them administered and served them always; and when he went into the city he clothed him in the habit of a beggar.
   "When Decius was come again he commanded that they should be fetched, and then Malchus, which was their servant and ministered to them meat and drink, returned in great dread to his fellows and told and showed to them the great fury and madness of them, and then they were sore afraid...
   Suddenly, as God would, they slept, and when it came on the morn they were sought and could not be found...Then Decius thought what he should do with them and, as our
Lord would, he enclosed the mouth of the cave wherein they were with stones, to the end that they should die therein for hunger and lack of meat.
     Then the ministers and two Christian men, Theodore and Rufinus, wrote their martyrdom and laid it subtly among the stones.  And when Decius was dead, and all that generation, three hundred and sixty-two years after and the thirtieth year of Theodosius the Emperor, when the heresy of them that denied the resurrection of dead bodies began to grow.  God, merciful and piteous, seeing, would comfort them that were sorrowful and weeping and give to them esperance and hope of the resurrection of dead men, and opened the precious treasure of His pity and raised the foresaid martyrs in the manner following.
     "He put into the will of a burgess of Ephesus that he would make in that mountain, which was desert and rough, a stable for his pasturers and herdmen.  And it happed that of adventure the masons that made the said stable opened the cave.  And then these holy saints that were within awoke, and got up and saluted one another and supposed verily that they had slept but one night only and remembered of the heaviness that they had the day before. [Maximian] commanded Malchus to go and buy bread in the city, and bade him bring more than he did yesterday and also to enquire and demand what the emperor had commanded to do.
And then Malchus took five shillings and issued out of the cave, and when he saw the masons and the stones before the cave he began to bless him and was much marvelled.   But he thought little on the stones, for he thought on other things.  Then came he all doubtful to the gates of the city, and was all amarvelled.   For he saw the signs of the cross above the gate, and then, without tarrying, he went to that other gate of the city and found there also the sign of the cross thereon, and then he had great marvel, for upon every gate he saw set up the sign of the cross, and therewith the city was garnished.    And then he blessed him and returned to the first gate and weened he had dreamed; and after he advised and comforted himself and covered his visage and entered into the city.  And when he came to the sellers of bread and heard the men speak of God, yet then was he more abashed and said, `What is this that no man durst yesterday name Jesu Christ, and now every man confesseth him to be Christian?    I trow this is not the city of Ephesus, for it is all otherwise builded.  it is some other city; I wot not what.'  And when he demanded and heard verily that it was Ephesus he supposed that he had erred and thought verily to go back again to his fellows, and then went to them that sold bread.  And when he showed his money, the sellers marvelled and said that one to that other, that this young man has found some old treasure.
       "And when Maichus saw them talk together he doubted not that they would lead him to the emperor, and was sore afeared and prayed them to let him go and keep both money and bread, but they held him and said to him, `Of whence art thou?   For thou hast found treasure of old emperors; show it to us, and we shall be fellows with thee and keep it secret.'
     "And Malchus was so afeared that he wist not what to say to them for dread. And when they saw that he spake not they put a cord about his neck and drew him through the city unto the middle thereof...And when St Martin, the bishop, and Antipater, the consul, which were new come into this city, heard of this thing, they sent for him that they should bring him wisely to them and his money with him.  And when he was brought to the church he weened well he should have been led to the Emperor Decius.  And then the bishop and the consul marvelled of the money and they demanded him where he had found this treasure unknown.
  And he answered that he had nothing founden but it was come to him of his kindred and patrimony... And then said the judge, `How may we believe that this money is come to thee of thy friends when it appeareth in the scripture that it is more than three hundred and seventy-two years sith it was made and forged and is of the first days of Decius the emperor and it resembleth nothing of our money?..` And Malchus said: `Sir, hereof I am greatly abashed and no man believeth me, for I wot well that we fled for fear of Decius the emperor, and I saw him that yesterday he entered into this city, if this be the city of Ephesus.'
   Then the bishop thought in himself and said to the judge that this is a vision that our Lord will have showed by this young man.
  Then said the young man: `Follow ye me, and I will show you my fellows which be in the mount of Celion, and believe ye them.
     This I know well, that we fled from the face of the Emperor Decius.'
      And then they went with him and a great multitude of the people of the city with them.  And Malchus entered first into the cave to his fellows and the bishop next after him. And there found they among the stones the letters sealed with two seals of silver. And then the bishop called them that were come thither and read them before them all, so that they that heard it were all abashed and marvelled. And they saw the saints sitting in the cave and their visages like unto roses flowering, and they, kneeling down, glorified God. And anon the bishop and the judge sent to Theodosius, the emperor, praying him that he would come anon for to see the marvels of our Lord that He had late showed.
  "And as soon as the blessed saints of our Lord saw the emperor come, their visages shone like to the sun.  And the emperor entered then and glorified our Lord and embraced them, weeping upon each of them, and said, `I see you now like as I should see our Lord raising Lazarus'.  And then Maximian said to him, `Believe us, for forsooth our Lord hath raised us before the day of the great resurrection.  And to the end that thou believe finnly the resurrection of the dead people, verily we be raised as ye here see, and live.  And in like wise as the child is in the womb of his mother without feeling harm or hurt, in the same wise we have been living and sleeping in lying here without feeling of anything.'
  And when they had said all this they inclined their heads to the earth and rendered their spirits at the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so died.  Then the emperor arose and fell on them, weeping strongly, and embraced them and kissed them debonairly.  And then he commanded to make precious sepulchres of gold and silver and to bury their bodies therein.  And in the same night they appeared to the emperor and said to him that he should suffer them to lie on the earth, like as they had lain before till that time that our Lord had raised them, unto the time that they should rise again.  Then commanded the emperor that the place should be adorned nobly and richly with precious stones, and all the bishops that would confess the resurrection should be assoiled.   It is in doubt of that which is said that they slept three hundred and sixty-two years, for they were raised the year of our Lord four hundred and seventy-eight, and Decius reigned but one year and three months, and that was in the year of our Lord two hundred and seventy, and so they slept but two hundred and eight years."
  So William Caxton translated Bd James of Voragine's version of the famous tale of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, which does more justice to it than any bald
summary. After Baronius first began to question its truth in the sixteenth century, it was generally put forward as the explanation of the genesis and rise of the legend that there was a finding, not of living martyrs, but of their relics at Ephesus under Theodosius II.
   This was quite a good surmise, but there is no record or rumour of any such finding, and everything points to the story being a purely imaginative romance, a Christian version of a well-known theme, looking back to pagan and Jewish legends and forward to Rip van Winkle; a theme, moreover, found in one "folk" form or another throughout Europe and Asia.
    In the sixth century it was written down by James of Sang in the East and St Gregory of Tours in the West, and a cultus of the mythical saints began to arise and develop.  It soon spread throughout the East, where the Sleepers are generally regarded as children, and their feast is kept to this day in the Byzantine and other rites ; the Greek Euchologion has a prayer invoking their aid against sleeplessness.  
    In the West they also achieved a wide popularity: they are still named in the Roman Martyrology and their feast is observed in two or three places, as it was in England in earlier times.
There has been much discussion as to the provenance of the story and as to the language in which it first took the shape of a contribution to hagiography.  The theme of the sleeper who after long years awakes to find the face of the world around him entirely changed seems to have its roots in the folk-lore of ages. See, with regard to the tale of Epimenides in particular, H. Demoulin, Epimenide De Crete (1901). The christianized version must have been in circulation at a relatively early date. It was the subject of one of the metrical homilies of James of Sarug who died in 521, and a portion of the prose legend in Syriac is found in a manuscript at the British Museum which is assigned to the sixth century.
St Gregory of Tours in the same century recounted the episode of the Seven Sleepers at full length in Latin, Syro quodanz interpretante, which may only mean that the man who translated it for him was an oriental. Still B. Krusch in his critical edition of Gregory's version, printed in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xii, pp. 372-388, inclined to the opinion that the interpreter was a Syrian, though the narrative itself had first been compiled in Greek. That the Greek is the oldest is also the view of the Bollandist Fathers Peeters and Delehaye.  lgnazio Guidi, when he first published the oriental texts, also gave precedence to the Greek, but from his article in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. xi, pp. 426-428, he seems to have modified his earlier conclusions. A. Allgeier in Oriens Christianus (vols. iv to vii) argues for the priority of the Syriac; Dom M. Huber somewhat paradoxically holds that the Latin was the original. Gratitude is, however, due to Dom Huber for the vast collection of materials he has brought together in his book Die Wanderlegende von den Siebenschlafern (1910). See also J. Koch, Die Siebenschlaferlegende...(1883). For the legend of the Sleepers in Islam, see Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxviii (1950), pp. 245-260. There is a translation of Gregory of Tours on the subject in Selections from his minor works (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1949).  See E. Honigmann, Patristic Studies (1953), pp. 125-168 (Studi e testi 173) very important.
305 St. Hermolaus elderly priest converted Pantaleon Martyr with Hermippus and Hermocrates. Hermolaus was an elderly priest who converted St. Pantaleon. Hermippus and Hermocrates were brothers.
Nicomedíæ sancti Hermolái Presbyteri, cujus doctrína beátus Pantáleon ad fidem convérsus est; itémque sanctórum Hermíppi et Hermócratis fratrum, qui, post multas pœnas sibi illátas, capitáli senténtia, ob confessiónem Christi, a Maximiáno Imperatóre puníti sunt.
    At Nicomedia, St. Hermolaus, priest, by whose instructions blessed Pantaleon was converted to the faith.  Also, the Saints Hermippus and Hermocrates, brothers.  After many sufferings borne for the confession of Christ, they were condemned to death by the same Maximian.
Orthodoxe Kirche: 26. Juli Katholische Kirche: Hermolaos 27. Juli mit Pantaleon
Hermolaus, Hermippus & Hermacrates MM (RM) Saint Hermolaus was an aged priest of Nicomedia. He is the one responsible for the conversion of the imperial physician, Saint Pantaleon, to the faith. Hermolaus and the two brothers, Hermippus and Heracrates, were martyred with Pantaleon (Benedictines).
Hermolaos, Hermippos und Hermokrates
Orthodoxe Kirche: 26. Juli Katholische Kirche: Hermolaos 27. Juli mit Pantaleon
Hermolaos, Hermippos und Hermokrates gehörten zu einer kleinen Schar, die den Anschlag auf die Kirche in Nikomedia überlebt hatte (vgl. 20.000 Märtyrer). Sie waren Priester und verbargen sich zwar, predigten aber weiter zu der heidnischen Bevölkerung. Hermolaos konnte Panteleimon bekehren und wurde mit diesem zusammen verhaftet. Auch Hermipppos und Hermokrates wurden verhaftet. Sie weigerten sich, den heidnischen Götzen zu opfern und wiurden gefoltert. Da ereignete sich ein starkes Erdbeben, das alle Götzenbilder im Tempel zerstörte. Kaiser Maximian befahl daraufhin, die drei sofort zu enthaupten .
St. Felix Martyr with Julia and Jucunda
Nolæ, in Campánia, sanctórum Mártyrum Felícis, Júliæ et Jucúndæ.
    At Nola in Campania, the holy martyrs Felix, Julia, and Jucunda.
 Felix, Julia, and Jucunda MM (RM)
The Roman Martyrology erroneously assigns these martyrs to Nola. As to Saint Felix, the reference may simply be to the date of his consecration at Nola in southern Italy.
Saints Julia and Jucunda are in older manuscripts assigned to Nicomedia in Asia Minor (Benedictines).
305 St. Pantaleon
Nicomedíæ pássio sancti Pantaleónis médici, qui, pro fide Christi, a Maximiáno Imperatóre tentus, et equúlei pœna ac lampadárum exustióne afflíctus, sed inter hæc, Dómino sibi apparénte, refrigerátus, gládii tandem ictu martyrium consummávit.
    At Nicomedia, the martyrdom of St. Pantaleon, a physician.  For the faith of Christ he was apprehended by Emperor Maximian, subjected to the torture and burned with torches, during which torments he was comforted by an apparition of our Lord.  He ended his martyrdom by a stroke of the sword.
(Panteleemon, Panteleimon); 1/14 Holy Helpers; from Nicomedia, near the Black Sea; the "Great Martyr and Wonder-worker"; so famous a doctor the Emperor chose him for his own doctor; was a Christian, but bad influence from pagan court caused him to give up his Christian faith entirely;. A holy priest named Hermolaos made him realize what a sin he had committed, Pantaleon listened to him, detested his sin and joined the Church once more. To make up for what he had done, he greatly desired to suffer and die for Jesus. In the meantime, he imitated Our Lord's charity by taking care of poor sick people without any charge for his medical services.
Orthodoxe und Katholische Kirche: 27. Juli

When the Emperor Diocletian began his persecution, Pantaleon at once gave away everything he owned to the poor. Not long afterwards, he was accused of being a Christian. He was given the choice of denying his Faith or being put to death. No torture could force Pantaleon to deny his Faith. There has been strong devotion in past ages to this Saint. In the East he is called the "Great Martyr and Wonder-worker."
Panteleimon The Great Martyr and Healer was born in the city of Nicomedia into the family of the illustrious pagan Eustorgius, and he was named Pantoleon. His mother St Euboula (March 30) was a Christian. She wanted to raise her son in the Christian Faith, but she died when the future martyr was just a young child. His father sent Pantoleon to a pagan school, after which the young man studied medicine at Nicomedia under the renowned physician Euphrosynus. Pantoleon came to the attention of the emperor Maximian (284-305), who wished to appoint him as royal physician when he finished his schooling.
The hieromartyrs Hermolaus, Hermippus and Hermocrates, survivors of the massacre of 20,000 Christians in 303 (December 28), were living secretly in Nicomedia at that time. St Hermolaus saw Pantoleon time and again when he came to the house where they were hiding. Once, the priest invited the youth to the house and spoke about the Christian Faith. After this Pantoleon visited St Hermolaus every day.
One day the saint found a dead child on the street. He had been bitten by a great snake, which was still beside the child's body. Pantoleon began to pray to the Lord Jesus Christ to revive the dead child and to destroy the venomous reptile. He firmly resolved that if his prayer were fulfilled, he would become a follower of Christ and receive Baptism. The child rose up alive, and the snake died before Pantoleon's eyes.
After this miracle, Pantoleon was baptized by St Hermolaus with the name Panteleimon (meaning "all-merciful"). Speaking with Eustorgius, St Panteleimon prepared him to accept Christianity. When the father saw how his son healed a blind man by invoking Jesus Christ, he then believed in Christ and was baptized by St Hermolaus together with the man whose sight was restored.
After the death of his father, St Panteleimon dedicated his life to the suffering, the sick, the unfortunate and the needy. He treated all those who turned to him without charge, healing them in the name of Jesus Christ. He visited those held captive in prison. These were usually Christians, and he healed them of their wounds. In a short time, reports of the charitable physician spread throughout the city. Forsaking the other doctors, the inhabitants began to turn only to St Panteleimon.
The envious doctors told the emperor that St Panteleimon was healing Christian prisoners. Maximian urged the saint to refute the charge by offering sacrifice to idols. St Panteleimon confessed himself a Christian, and suggested that a sick person, for whom the doctors held out no hope, should be brought before the emperor. Then the doctors could invoke their gods, and Panteleimon would pray to his God to heal the man. A man paralyzed for many years was brought in, and pagan priests who knew the art of medicine invoked their gods without success. Then, before the very eyes of the emperor, the saint healed the paralytic by calling on the name of Jesus Christ. The ferocious Maximian executed the healed man, and gave St Panteleimon over to fierce torture.
The Lord appeared to the saint and strengthened him before his sufferings. They suspended the Great Martyr Panteleimon from a tree and scraped him with iron hooks, burned him with fire and then stretched him on the rack, threw him into a cauldron of boiling tar, and cast him into the sea with a stone around his neck. Throughout these tortures the martyr remained unhurt, and denounced the emperor.
At this time the priests Hermolaus, Hermippus and Hermocrates were brought before the court of the pagans. All three confessed their faith in the Savior and were beheaded (July 26).
By order of the emperor they brought the Great Martyr Panteleimon to the circus to be devoured by wild beasts. The animals, however, came up to him and licked his feet. The spectators began to shout, "Great is the God of the Christians!" The enraged Maximian ordered the soldiers to stab with the sword anyone who glorified Christ, and to cut off the head of the Great Martyr Panteleimon.
They led the saint to the place of execution and tied him to an olive tree. While the martyr prayed, one of the soldiers struck him with a sword, but the sword became soft like wax and inflicted no wound. The saint completed his prayer, and a Voice was heard from Heaven, calling the passion-bearer by his new name and summoning him to the heavenly Kingdom.
Hearing the Voice, the soldiers fell down on their knees before the holy martyr and begged forgiveness. They refused to continue with the execution, but St Panteleimon told them to fulfill the emperor's command, because otherwise they would have no share with him in the future life. The soldiers tearfully took their leave of the saint with a kiss.
When the saint was beheaded, the olive tree to which the saint was tied became covered with fruit. Many who were present at the execution believed in Christ. The saint's body was thrown into a fire, but remained unharmed, and was buried by Christians. St Panteleimon's servants Laurence, Bassos and Probus witnessed his execution and heard the Voice from Heaven. They recorded the life, the sufferings and death of the saint.
Portions of the holy relics of the Great Martyr Panteleimon were distributed throughout all the Christian world. His venerable head is now located at the Russian monastery of St Panteleimon on Mt. Athos.
The veneration of the holy martyr in the Russian Orthodox Church was already known in the twelfth century. Prince Izyaslav (in Baptism Panteleimon), the son of St Mstislav the Great, had an image of St Panteleimon on his helmet. Through the intercession of the saint he remained alive during a battle in the year 1151. On the Feast of the Great Martyr Panteleimon, Russian forces won two naval victories over the Swedes (in 1714 near Hanhauze and in 1720 near Grenham).
St Panteleimon is venerated in the Orthodox Church as a mighty saint, and the protector of soldiers. This aspect of his veneration is derived from his first name Pantoleon, which means "a lion in everything". His second name, Panteleimon, given him at Baptism, which means "all-merciful", is manifest in the veneration of the martyr as a healer. The connection between these two aspects of the saint is readily apparent in that soldiers, receiving wounds more frequently than others, are more in need of a physician-healer. Christians waging spiritual warfare also have recourse to this saint, asking him to heal their spiritual wounds.
The holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon is invoked in the Mystery of Anointing the Sick, at the Blessing of Water, and in the Prayers for the Sick.
The Feast of the holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon is the patronal Feast of the Russian monastery on Athos. The forefeast starts eight days before the Feast. Each day after Vespers, Moliebens are sung with Canons in each of the eight tones. Thus, each day has its own particular Canon. The second day of the Feast is the monastery feastday. On this day a general Panikhida is served after Vespers in memory of the founders and benefactors of the monastery, and kollyva (kutia: wheat or rice boiled with honey) is blessed and distributed.
The verses of the Ninth Ode of the Canon of the Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon from the manuscript of the Athonite service are reprinted in the "Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate" (1975, No.3, pp. 45-47).

Pantaleon the Physician M (RM) (also known as Panteleemon, Panteleimon).  Saint Pantaleon is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, known for their efficacious prayer, who are especially venerated in France and Germany. All of them have highly embroidered life stories, although they themselves are rather shadowy figures about whom almost nothing is known for certain. Pantaleon's unreliable vita may have developed because his name in Greek, means "the all-compassionate."  It is said that he was a doctor of such skill that Emperor Maximian, a great persecutor of Christians employed Pantaleon as the court physician. He was the son of a pagan father, Eustorgius, and a Christian mother, Eubula, who raised him as a Christian. In the fanatically anti-Christian and dissolute court of Maximian, he lost his faith and nearly his soul with his self-indulgent lifestyle.  In time, however, a fellow-Christian named Hermolaos reminded the doctor of the faith he had abandoned. From that time Pantaleon's skills were at the disposal of the poor. The wealth he had gained from his successful practice was given away.
Other physicians, jealous of his position at court, saw Pantaleon's renewed faith as a way of discrediting him at court. When the persecution of Christians under Emperor Diocletian broke out in Nicomedia in 303, Pantaleon, Hermolaos, and two other Christians were arrested. This time Pantaleon refused to reject the faith; instead he chose death. Vain attempts were made to put him to death in six different ways--including drowning, fire, and wild beasts--before he was successfully beheaded amidst a halo of other marvels.
What is probably true is that he was a physician, who practiced without payment, and who was martyred under Diocletian, probably at Nicomedia. He cultus is primarily connected with Bithynia, where Emperor Justinian rebuilt his church at Nicomedia. Churches are dedicated to him in Constantinople and Rome. In the East he is known as the Great Martyr and Wonder Worker. A reputed relic of Pantaleon's blood kept at Ravello in southern Italy displays the phenomenon of liquefaction on his feast day, similar to that of Saint Januarius (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Sheppard)
In art, Saint Pantaleon is a physician holding a phial of medicine. At times he may be depicted (1) healing a sick child; (2) bound with hands above his head to an olive tree, to which he is nailed, with a sword at his feet; (3) nail through his hands into his head; (4) pushed off a rock with a pitchfork; (5) with a stone tied to his neck; (6) killed with a club; or (7) with a sword and vase or phial (Roeder). Click here to see an image of the saint by Photios Kontoglou.
Together with Saints Cosmas and Damian, Pantaleon is the patron of the medical profession (Bentley). He is invoked against lung disease (Sheppard).
Panteleimon/Pantaleon Orthodoxe und Katholische Kirche: 27. Juli
Pantaleon wurde in der Verfolgung unter Diokletian um 305 hingerichtet. Die legendäre Lebensgeschichte aus dem 5. Jahrhundert berichtet, er sei Leibarzt des Kaisers gewesen und von dem Priester und Märtyrer Hermolaos bekehrt worden. Er wurde denunziert, festgenommen und gefoltert. Als er für seine Peiniger betete, habe ihm Christus vom Himmel den Namen Panteleimon (griech. All-Erbarmer) gegeben (Nach anderen Berichten wurde er von Hermolaos auf diesen Namen getauft). Als Panteleimon enthauptet wurde, soll aus seinem Körper Milch geflossen sein (von der es heute noch an vielen Orten Reliquien gibt). Panteleimon wird in der Ostkirche als Großmärtyrer verehrt und zählt zu den Anargyroi, den heiligen Ärzten und in der Westkirche zu den 14 Nothelfern.

St Pantaleon, Or Panteleimon, That there was a martyr of this name (the all-compassionate) there can be little doubt, but the legends which have come down  to us are without any value.  According to them he was the son of a pagan father, Eustorgius of Nicomedia, brought up in the faith by his Christian mother, Eubula. He became learned in medicine and was physician to the Emperor Galerius Maximian at Nicomedia. For a time he failed under a temptation which is sometimes more dangerous than the severest trials or fierce tonnents, bad example, which, if not shunned, insensibly weakens and at length destroys the strongest virtue. Pantaleon, being perpetually obsessed by it in a wicked and idolatrous court, and deceived by often hearing false wisdom of the world applauded, fell into apostasy.  But a zealous Christian, called Herrnolaos, by his prudent admonitions awakened his conscience to a sense of his guilt, and brought him again into the Church.
    When Diocletian's persecution broke out at Nicomedia in 303, he distributed all his possessions among the poor Christians, and was shortly after denounced to the authorities by some jealous fellow-physicians; he was arrested together with Hermolaos and two others.  The emperor wished to save him and urged him to apostatize, but Pantaleon refused, and miraculously cured a paralytic as a sign of the truth of the faith.  After suffering many torments they were all condemned to lose their heads, but St Pantaleon suffered the day after the rest. He was subjected to six different attempts to kill him, by burning, liquid lead, drowning, wild beasts, the wheel, and the sword; all of these, with the help of the Lord under the appearance of Herniolaos, he frustrated, till at length he permitted himself to be beheaded: there poured from his severed veins milk instead of blood, and the olive tree to which he was bound sprang into fruit.
  St Pantaleon is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers and is honoured in the East. as the" Great Martyr and Wonder-worker" and one of the Holy Moneyless One who treated the sick without payment.

In the past he has been almost as famous in the West.  Alleged relics of his blood are preserved at Constantinople, Madrid and Ravello, and these are said to liquefy on his feast-day exactly as does that of St Januarius at Naples.
In spite of the extravagant legends of the saint which exist both in Latin and in Greek in many redactions (see BHL, 6429-6448, and BHG., 1413-1418) his early cultus is well attested and seems to be predominantly connected with Nicomedia and Bithynia.  See Delehaye, La Origines des Cult. des Martyrs, p. 189, etc.  That the wildly fabulous story of St Pantaleon was in early circulation is proved by the fact that a translation of it into Syriac exists at the British Museum in a manuscript which is dated sixth century (Addit., 12,142).  At the same time the Syrians wanted to have a Pantaleon of their own; so they borrowed many features of his legend and bestowed them upon a fictitious creation called Asia (the word means "physician"), making him a resident of Antioch, in which city also he is represented as ending his days.  See the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxviii (1920), p. 408.  For a present-day account of the liquefaction of the blood of St Pantaleon at Ravello see Ian Grant, rite Testimony of Blood (1929), pp. 17-44; J. H. Newman, when a newly-ordained priest, wrote about the phenomenon to Henry Wilberforce from Naples in August 1846 .
532 St. Ecclesius great compassion Bishop of Ravenna, Italy. He served the see from 521 until his death, building San Vitale there, and is revered because of his great compassion.
Ecclesius of Ravenna B (AC). As bishop of Ravenna from 521 to 532, Ecclesius began the building of San Vitale, where there is a figure of him in mosaic (Benedictines). In art, Ecclesius is an early Christian bishop holding a basilica (Roeder).
573 Etherius of Auxerre B (RM). Bishop of Auxerre, France, from 563 to 573 (Benedictines).
Antisiodóri deposítio beáti Æthérii, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
    At Auxerre, the death of blessed Aetherius, bishop and confessor.
Congall of Iabnallivin Before Congall's death he committed the governance of his monastery to his beloved disciple, Saint Fegnarnach. He is the titular patron of a parish on the upper part of Lake Erne, where his feast is a holy day of obligation (Husenbeth). (AC)
Saint Luican the titular patron of Kill-luicain parish in Ireland (Benedictines).
759 St. Anthusa Abbess tortured by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine V;  Anthusa was originally a hermitess, becoming abbess of the convent near Constantinople. Because of her veneration of sacred images,
Constantinópoli beátæ Anthúsæ Vírginis, quæ, sub Constantíno Coprónymo, ob cultum sanctárum Imáginum, verbéribus cæsa et exsílio relegáta, quiévit in Dómino.
    At Constantinople, blessed Anthusa, virgin.  After being scourged and banished by Constantine Copronymus for the veneration of holy images, she rested in the Lord.
She was arrested by the emperor {Joint rule as junior emperor with Leo III (his father), Joint rule with Leo IV (his son) 751}, who, as an ardent iconoclast, opposed such sacramentals. Anthusa was tortured severely until the empress intervened and secured her release.  Saint Anthusa the Confessor lived at Mantinea, Paphlygonia in Asia Minor during the eighth century. Leaving the world at a young age, St Anthusa lived in asceticism in the mountains in complete solitude. She received monastic tonsure from the hieromonk Sisinius, and became abbess of a monastery of ninety nuns.
St Anthusa suffered during the reign of the emperor Constantine Copronymos, who demanded that the saint renounce the veneration of holy icons. St Anthusa was subjected to torture, since she disobeyed the emperor's order.  Among those who witnessed the torture was the emperor's wife, for whom the saint predicted the birth of a son and daughter. When St Anthusa's prediction was fulfilled, she was allowed to return to her convent, where she died in great old age. The daughter born to the emperor's wife was named Anthusa (April 12).
Having lived a life pleasing to God, she reposed in 759 and now lives with Him forever. She was buried in her cell.
852 St. Natalie husband Aurelius  martyred for her Faith with her husband Aurelius.
Córdubæ, in Hispánia, sanctórum Mártyrum Geórgii Diáconi, Aurélii et uxóris Natáliæ, Felícis et uxóris Liliósæ, in persecutióne Arábica.
    At Cordova in Spain, during the Arab persecution, the holy martyrs George, a deacon, Aurelius and his wife Natalia, Felix and his wife Liliosa.
According to his biography by St. Eulogius of Toledo, Aurelius was the son of a Moor and a Spanish woman, and was orphaned as a child. He was secretly raised a Christian by his aunt during the Moorish persecution of Christians. He married a half Moorish woman, Sabigotho, who took the name Natalie when he converted her to Christianity. They were both beheaded for practicing their religion openly together with George, a monk from Jerusalem whom Aurelius had befriended.
852 Aurelius, Natalia, And Their Companions, Martyrs
During the eighth century the Christians of Spain, as elsewhere in the early stages of Mohammedan domination, were treated tolerantly, provided they did not make converts from Islam or openly abuse the law of Mohammed.  But after the setting up of the independpnt emirate at Cordova, the Emirs Abdur Rahman II and Mohammed I carried on a more positive persecution.  Among its victims was St Eulogius of Toledo, who before he was beheaded in 859 had been assiduous in fortifying the harassed Christians and in waiting upon the confessors in prison; he moreover wrote accounts of their lives, sufferings and deaths, and among others of these martyrs who are today commemorated at Cordova.   The first of them, Aurelius, was the son of a Moor and of a Spanish woman, people of distinction they both died white he was yet a boy, confiding him to the care of his mother's sister who brought him up a Christian. When he grew up he conformed outwardly, so far as he conscientiously could, to Islam, but continued to practise his religion in secret and converted his half-Moorish wife, Sabigotho, who at her baptism took the name of Natalia.
   One day this Aurelius saw a certain Christian merchant, one John, who had been cruelly beaten for having publicly asserted the falseness of the Mohammedan religion and its prophet, and who was being led through the streets on a donkey as a spectacle and an example.  The sight of this confessor moved Aurelius to compunction, and he began to be ashamed of his own careful hiding of the fact that he was a Christian ; at the same time he was much troubled as to what he should do, as he had two small children.  He talked it over with his wife, and together they consulted St Eulogius, who advised them that, before they made open avowal of their religion, they should make material provision for their children and arrange for them, in case their parents were killed, to be brought up in the faith ; they were, in fact, commended to the care of Eulogius himself.  Their example fired a kinsman of Aurelius, Felix, who had been brought up a Christian but apostatized to Islam, although his wife, Liliosa, had remained faithful.  He returned to the Church (thus automatically making himself liable to death as a renegade), and all four took to visiting and ministering to the Christian captives, getting to know, among others, the merchant John and two girls, SS. Flora and Mary, who were in prison at Seville.
  At this time there had come into Spain a monk called George; he belonged to the monastery of St Sabas near Jerusalem, and had been sent, first to Egypt and then to Europe, to beg alms for his house. When he came to Cordova he met Aurelius, was received into his house, and they became great friends; it is recorded of George that he had not washed for twenty-five years, a form of mortification better thought of in those days than in these.  Flora and Mary duly received the crown of martyrdom, and soon after appeared in a vision to Aurelius and Natalia, telling them that they would before long have a like happy fate.   Taking this as an indication of the will of God, Natalia and her friend Liliosa gave themselves away as Christian women by visiting the churches of Cordova (there were even then seven of them) with their faces open and unveiled.   They were all arrested, with other Christians, while assisting at Mass in the house of Aurelius, and the monk George putting himself forward as one of the rest was taken along too. They were charged with apostasy from Islam, but as no such charge could be laid against George who was a foreigner, he would have been released; but he openly before the court reviled the name of Mohammed, so he was condemned with the rest.  They were all beheaded before the emir's palace.
The Memorialis sanctorum of St Eulogius is practically our only source of information. The relevant matter is quoted in the Acta Sanctotum, July, vol. vi, but under the heading "Georgii monachi, Aurelii, etc." Cf. however, Florez, España Sagrada, vol. x; and Simonet, Historia de los Mozarabes de España, pp. 428 seq. On St Eulogius, see March 11.
852 deacon George, Aurelius, Natalia, Felix & Liliosa had converted to Islam for a time, married the Christian Liliosa and returned to the faith. Both couples openly professed their Christianity MM (RM)
These martyrs suffered at Córdova, Spain, under the Caliph Abderrahman II. Aurelius, son of a Moor and a Spanish woman, was a secret Christian as was his half-Moorish wife, Natalia. Aurelius's relative Felix, who had converted to Islam for a time, married the Christian Liliosa and returned to the faith. Both couples openly professed their Christianity, perhaps because the women went about the city unveiled. They were arrested as apostates from Islam and beheaded. The deacon George, however, was a monk of Palestine. He was arrested for having openly spoken against the Prophet. Although he was offered pardon because he was a foreigner, he preferred to suffer with the others (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia) .
916 Saints Clement, Bishop of Ochrid, Equal of the Apostles, Naum, Sava, Gorazd and Angelar were Slavs, disciples of Sts Cyril and Methodius (May 11) These Enlighteners of the Slavs were opposed by German missionaries, who had the support of the Pope and the patronage of the Moravian prince Svyatopolk. The struggle centered around the questions of the need for divine services in Slavonic, the Filioque and Saturday fasting. Pope Stephen VI prohibited the use of Slavonic in church.  The proponents of the three-tongued heresy (who wanted to use only Hebrew, Greek, or Latin for Church purposes), after setting aside the ancestral language of the Slavic peoples, brought the disciples of St Methodius to trial, including St Clement. They subjected them to fierce torture: dragging them through thorns, and holding them in prison for a long time, just as they had done with their spiritual Father, St Methodius.
Nahum_of_Ochrid
Orthodoxe Kirche: 27. Juli  Katholische Kirche: 17. Juli (Clemens von Bulgarien und Sieben Apostel Bulgariens)

At first they lived as ascetics in Moravia, where St Gorazd succeded St Methodius as bishop. He was fluent in Slavonic, Greek and Latin. Sts Clement, Naum, Angelar and Sava were priests.  These Enlighteners of the Slavs were opposed by German missionaries, who had the support of the Pope and the patronage of the Moravian prince Svyatopolk. The struggle centered around the questions of the need for divine services in Slavonic, the Filioque and Saturday fasting. Pope Stephen VI prohibited the use of Slavonic in church.  The proponents of the three-tongued heresy (who wanted to use only Hebrew, Greek, or Latin for Church purposes), after setting aside the ancestral language of the Slavic peoples, brought the disciples of St Methodius to trial, including St Clement. They subjected them to fierce torture: dragging them through thorns, and holding them in prison for a long time, just as they had done with their spiritual Father, St Methodius.
In 886, some of the prisoners were sold to slave-traders, and ended up in the Venice marketplace. The ambassador of the Byzantine Emperor Basil the Macedonian went to Venice, ransomed the saints and brought them to Constantinople. The older confessors were banished. It is not known where St Gorazd went, nor where St Sava found shelter. Naum and Angelar went to Bulgaria.
In 907 Moravia collapsed under the onslaught of the Magyars, and Moravian refugees escaped along those same paths followed earlier by the saints they had exiled.
The Bulgarians received the Slavonic confessors with respect and requested them to conduct divine services in the Slavonic language. The Bulgarian prince Boris sought out such people as the disciples of St Methodius, who labored for the enlightenment of his nation. The saints immediately began to study Slavonic books collected by the Bulgarian nobles.
St Angelar soon died, and St Clement received the appointment to teach at Kutmichivitsa, a region in southwest Macedonia. In the Eastern Church a worthy man was chosen to be a teacher, someone known for his devout life, and possessed with a gift of words. St Clement was a teacher while he was still in Moravia. In Bulgaria, St Clement worked as an instructor until 893. He organized a school at the princely court, which attained high esteem during the reign of Simeon. In southwest Macedonia he created separate schools for adults and for children.
St Clement instructed the children in reading and in writing. The total number of his students was enormous. Those chosen and accepted for the clergy amounted to 3500 men. In the year 893, St Clement became Bishop of Dremvitsa, or Velitsa, and St Naum took his place.  St Clement was the first Bulgarian hierarch to serve, preach and write in the Slavonic language. To this end he systematically prepared clergy from among the Slavic people. The holy bishop labored for the glory of God into his old age. When his strength failed, and he was unable to fulfill his responsibilities in the cathedral, he asked Tsar Simeon to let him retire. The Tsar urged the saint not to forsake the cathedral, and St Clement agreed to continue his episcopal service. After this he went to Ochrid, to a monastery he founded. There the saint continued with his translation activities and translated important parts of the PENTEKOSTARION.
Soon the saint became seriously ill and departed to the Lord in the year 916. The saint's body was placed in a coffin he made with his own hands, and was buried in Ochrid's St Panteleimon monastery.
St Clement is considered the first Slavonic author. He not only continued the translation work begun by Sts Cyril and Methodius, but also left behind works of his own composition, the first samples of Slavonic spiritual literature.  Many of the lessons and sermons of St Clement were brought to Russia, where they were read and lovingly copied by pious Russian Christians.
The relics of Sts Gorazd and Angelar rest near Berat in Albania, and St Naum's relics are in the monastery bearing his name, near Lake Ochrid. St Clement is also commemorated on November 25.
Clemens von Bulgarien, Angelarius, Gorazd, Nahum und Sabas
Orthodoxe Kirche: 27. Juli  Katholische Kirche: 17. Juli (Clemens von Bulgarien und Sieben Apostel Bulgariens)
Zu den sieben Aposteln Bulgariens gehören auch Cyrillus und Methodius. Clemens, Angelarius, Gorazd, Nahum und Sabas waren ihre Schüler.
Gorazd wurde nach dem Tod des Methodius sein Nachfolger als Bischof von Mähren. Clemens, Angelarius, Nahum und Sabas waren Kirchenälteste. Der Streit um Slawisch als Kirchensprache und andere orthodoxe Traditionen spitzte sich nach dem Tod des Methodius zu; die Liturgie in slawischer Sprache wurde verboten. Über den Verbleib von Gorazd und Sabas in den Auseinandersetzungen ist nichts bekannt.
ClemensClemens wurde wie viele andere Anhänger der orthodoxen Richtung gefangengesetzt und als Sklave nach Venedig gebracht. Hier kaufte ihn der Legat von Konstantinopel frei und Clemes gelangte ebenso wie Angelarius und Nahum nach Bulgarien. Hier wurden sie freundlich empfangen und gebeten, Gottesdienste in slawischer Sprache zu halten. Angelarius starb bald darauf. Clemens wirkte vor allem als Lehrer, Literat und Übersetzer. Er errichtete Schulen für Kinder und Erwachsene und auch ein Priesterseminar, in dem er 3.500 Männer ausbildete. Mit Nahum zusammen gründete er auch die glagolitische literarische Schule und das Panteleimon-Kloster in Ohrid. Clemens gilt als der erste slawische Autor, der neben Übersetzungen auch eigene Werke in slawischer Sprache verfaßte. 893 wurde er Bischof von Velitsa (oder Dremvitsa) und Nahum übernahm die Ausbildung der Geistlichen. Clemens starb am 17.7.916 in seinem Kloster bei Ohrid (Makedonien) .
1142 Blessed Berthold of Garsten Berthold; particularly interesting in view of the period that Berthold's zeal manifested itself especially in hearing confessions, both of his own religious and of lay people;  led the ordinary life of a monk, dividing time between prayer,study, and work of the house ; but this life is designed to be a means of sanctity, by it Berthold became a saint: in secret he led a life of great penitence, he never ate meat or fish, and spent hours of his short night in private prayer.  People came from far and wide to hear him preach and to ask his blessing; , OSB Abbot (AC)
Born in Constance; Scion of the family of the counts of Bogen, Berthold did as he was expected and married. At the age of 30 he was widowed and immediately joined the Benedictines of Blasien Abbey in the Black Forest. There he rose to the position of prior. He was then called to be prior of Göttweig in Austria, and finally abbot of Garsten in Styria, where he founded a hospice for the poor. He was known for his excellence as a confessor (Benedictines). In art, Berthold is a Benedictine abbot carrying fish and bread. Sometimes there is an angel near him holding fish on a plate or fishes come to him (Roeder). He is venerated in Constance, Saint Blasien (Schwärzwald, Germany), and Göttweig (Austria) (Roeder).
Berthold was born about the year 1090 on the shores of Lake Constance.  His wife dying when he was some thirty years old, he became a monk at Sankt Blasien and was promoted to be prior of Goettweig in the Black Forest. Ottokar, Margrave of Styria, had some years previously founded a house of secular canons at Steyer-Garsten, but the institution had not come up to his expectations and fulfilled his intentions, so he determined to dismiss the canons and people the house with Benedictines.   This he did about 1111, and put at their head Bd Berthold, who at once established a rigorous discipline, and the reputation of the abbot and his monks soon made the monastery a place of pilgrimage.  To shelter and entertain them Berthold built a hospice and added thereto a hospital for the benefit of the sick poor of the whole neighbourhood as well as of travellers. These charities, and the succour of the numerous indigent folk who asked for help, were a great strain on the resources of the monastery, but on seven! occasions it appeared that God had intervened to supply their needs miraculously.
Berthold led the ordinary life of a monk, dividing his time between prayer and study and the work of the house ; but this life is designed to be a means of sanctity, and by it Berthold became a saint: in secret he led a life of great penitence, he never ate meat or fish, and spent hours of his short night in private prayer.  People came from far and wide to hear him preach and to ask his blessing; and it is particularly interesting to note, in view of the period at which he lived, that Berthold's zeal manifested itself especially in hearing confessions, both of his own religious and of lay people.
The full life of Bd Berthold which we possess was written about twenty years after his death, and has been printed with much illustrative matter in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. vi .
1227 Blessed Conrad of Ottobeuren, OSB Abbot (PC). Conrad was abbot of Ottobeuren Abbey in Bavaria from 1193 until his death. He is described as a "lover of the brethren and of the poor" (Benedictines).
1247 St. Theobald of Marly Cistercian abbot took the Cistercian habit at Vaux-de-Cernay in 1220, and was chosen abbot in 1235.  He lived in the midst of his brethren as the servant of every one, and surpassed all others in his love of poverty, silence and prayer.  He was known to and much venerated by St Louis. Theobald died on December 8, 1247, but the Cistercians observe his feast on July 27.
1247 St. Theobald of Marly Cistercian abbot  monk, by his virtue the great ornament of the illustrious family of Montmorency in France, born in the castle of Many. His father, Bouchard de Montmorency, gave him an education suitable to his birth, trained him for arms, and sent him for a time to the court of King Philip Augustus II.   But Theobald manifested a strong inclination to a state of retirement  he spent a great part of his time in prayer, and resorted often to the church of the nunnery called Port Royal, which had been founded in 1204 by the wife of Matthew de Montmorency, and on which his father Bouchard had bestowed so many estates that he was regarded as a second founder.  Theobald took the Cistercian habit at Vaux-de-Cernay in 1220, and was chosen abbot in 1235.  He lived in the midst of his brethren as the servant of every one, and surpassed all others in his love of poverty, silence and prayer.  He was known to and much venerated by St Louis. Theobald died on December 8, 1247, but the Cistercians observe his feast on July 27.
We do not know very much about Theobald of Many, but some biographical material has been printed by André Duchesne in his Historiae Francorum Scriptore:, vol. v, pp. 406-407.  See also Lenain, Histoire de C'iteaux, vol. ix, and especially G. Muller's article "Der bl. Theobald, Abt von Vaux de Cennay", in Cistercienser-Chronik, vol. xv (1903), pp. 321-336 .
Cistercian abbot. The son of Buchard of Montmorency, he was born in Marly Castle, France, and was raised as a knight at the court of King Philip II Augustus of France (r. 1180-1223). Undergoing a personal conversion, he left the court, gave up his worldly ambitions, and entered the Cistercian abbey of Vaux-de-Cernay in 1220. He became prior in 1230 and abbot in 1235.
Theobald of Marly, OSB Cist. Abbot (AC) (also known as Thibaut) Born at Marly Castle, Montmorency, France; died December 8, 1247. Saint Theobald, son of Bouchard of Montmorency, was trained to take up the profession of arms, although he had always displayed an inclination to a life of prayer. Nevertheless, he was a distinguished knight at the court of King Philip Augustus II, even while he resorted frequently to the convent church of Port-Royal. He abandoned his worldly goods in order to enter the Cistercian monastery of Vaux-de-Cernay in 1220. He was highly esteemed by King Saint Louis of France, as well as his brothers in religion who elected him prior in 1230 and abbot in 1235. Even as abbot he lived in the midst of his brethren as the servant of every one, and surpassed all others in his love of poverty, silence, and holy prayer. Theobald's shrine at Vaux-de- Cernay is visited by many people on Whitsundays. His solemn feast is kept there July 8 and in some places on July 9, which is probably the day on which his relics were first translated (Benedictines, Husenbeth, Walsh). In art, Saint Theobald is a knight bearing the arms of Thann. He may, at times, wear armor under his Cistercian habit with his miter at his feet (Roeder). He is venerated in Thann (Alsace) and Hemel Hempstead (Roeder).
1280 Blessed Nevolo of Faenza; He married and led a frivolous life until at the age of 24 he experienced a complete conversion. He became the first Franciscan tertiary and later enter the Camaldolese monastery at San Maglorio at Faenza as a lay-brother (Benedictines). OSB Cam. Hermit (AC) Cultus approved in 1817. Nevolo was a shoemaker by trade.
1350 Blessed Lucy Bufalari, OSA V (AC) Born at Castel Porziano, near Rome, Italy; cultus confirmed in 1832. Lucy, the sister of Blessed John of Rieti, became an Augustinian nun at Amelia. Later she was prioress. She is invoked against diabolical possession (Benedictines).
1350 Blessed Lucy Bufalari was born at Castel Ponziano in Umbria, and was a sister of Bd John of Rieti.  Like her brother, she joined the order of the Hermits of St Augustine (Augustinian Friars), and she became prioress of the convent of Amelia.    She practised the most severe mortifications and displayed heroic virtues in the service of God in the cloister.  After her death she was invoked by the people, and her cult was confirmed in 1832.
See Lupidi, Mentorie storiche riguardanti la B. Lucia Bufalari 1938 &Seeböck, Herrlichkeit der Katholischen Kirche (1900)
1392 Blessed Nicholas Konchanov, Novgorod Fool-for-Christ ; The Lord glorified Blessed Nicholas with the gift of miracles and clairvoyance.
Born at Novgorod into a rich and illustrious family. From his youthful years he loved piety, he went to church faithfully, and loved fasting and prayer. Seeing his virtuous life, people began to praise him. Blessed Nicholas, disdaining glory from men, began the difficult exploit of folly for the Lord's sake. He ran about the city in the bitter cold dressed in rags, enduring beatings, insults and mockery. Blessed Nicholas and another Novgorod fool, Blessed Theodore (January 19), pretended to be irreconcilable foes, and graphically demonstrated to the people of Novgorod the pernicious character of their internecine strife.

Once, having overcome his sham opponent, Blessed Nicholas went along the Volkhov as if on dry land, and threw a head of cabbage at Blessed Theodore, therefore he was called "Konchanov" (i.e. "cabbage-head"). The Lord glorified Blessed Nicholas with the gift of miracles and clairvoyance.
Once, after being turned away by servants from a feast to which he had been invited, he left. Immediately, the wine disappeared from the barrel. Only upon the return of the fool, and through his prayer, did it reappear again. When he died, Blessed Nicholas was buried at the end of the cemetery by the Yakovlev cathedral.
The relics of Blessed Nicholas rest under a crypt in the church of the Great Martyr Panteleimon which was built over his grave.
1557 Engel de Merel {Angelus Merula} Catholic priest and freethinker,supported the Reformation  imprisoned around 1550 for criticizing the Catholic church.  He studied the Bible in the original text and represented the view that not human efforts, but God's mercy save the person and not efforts save the person.
Evangelische Kirche: 27. Juli
Angelus Merula In the 16th century, the Roman Catholic Church movement was being influenced by declining ritual practices. This resulted in iconoclasm in Brielle and finally, in the Reformation.  In the year 1482, Engel de Merel, or ‘Angelus Merula’ (as is known in Latin) was born in Brielle. In 1532 he was nominated for pastor in the small town of Heenvliet, approximately 7 km east of Brielle. Angelus Merula supported the Reformation. Meetings of the reformatory people had already been tolerated by the authorities for several years. On the contrary, the inquisition, the ‘secret police’ of the Roman Catholic Church fought the heretics pitilessly. In 1557 Angelus Merula met with his death by fire on the stake. He bequeathed his home (near the Sint Catharijne - church) in the town of Brielle as an orphanage.

Angelus Merula wurde um 1482 in Briel geboren. Nach der Ausbildung zum Priester wirkte er als Notar in seiner Heimatstadt. 1530 wurde er Pfarrer in Heenvliet in Geldern. Er studierte die Bibel im Urtext und vertrat die Auffassung, daß nicht menschliche Verdienste, sondern Gottes Gnade und Barmherzigkeit den Menschen retteten. 1552 wurde er von der Inquisition verhaftet. Angelus Merula was born around 1482 in Briel. After the education in the priest he worked as a notary public in his hometown. He became 1530 priest in Heenvliet in Geldern. He studied the Bible in the original text and represented the view that human efforts, but God's mercy and efforts did not save the person. 1552 he was arrested by the inquisition.  Zwar fanden sich kaum Widersprüche zur katholischen Lehre, dennoch wurde Merula aufgefordert, zu widerrufen. Da er sich mehr als ein Jahr lang weigerte, sollte er im September 1554 hingerichtet werden. Indeed, contradictions were barely found to the Catholic apprenticeship, Merula was still asked to recant. Because he refused during more than 1 year, he should be executed in September, 1554
Zahlreiche Menschen aus Geldern strömten zusammen um ihn notfalls mit Gewalt zu befreien. Die Glaubensrichter verkündeten daraufhin, Merula habe widerrufen und sei zu lebenslanger Haft verurteilt worden. Nachdem er in Vergessenheit geraten war, wurde er 1557 zum Feuertod verurteilt. Unmittelbar vor der Hinrichtung starb er am 26.7.1557 an einem Schlaganfall.
Numerous people from Geldern flowed out together around him if necessary by force to release. As a result the religious judges announced, Merula has recanted and has been condemned to lifelong custody. After he had fallen into oblivion, he was condemned 1557 to the death by fire. Immediately before the execution he died on 26.7.1557 of a stroke .
1583 Bl. Rudolf Acquaviva Jesuit martyr sent to India, going to the court of Mogul Akbar near Agra. He became superior of the Salsette mission. Rudolf was martyred at Salsette, near Goa, by Hindus, with four companions, including Alfonso Pacheco
Born at Atri, Portugal in 1550, he was the nephew of Claudius Acquaviva, the fifth master general of the Jesuits, and he followed his uncle into the Society of Jesus. In 1549, he was sent to India, going to the court of Mogul Akbar near Agra. He became superior of the Salsette mission. Rudolf was martyred at Salsette, near Goa, by Hindus, with four companions, including Alfonso Pacheco.
1583  Bl. Rudolf Aquaviva and Companions  These five martyrs of the Society of Jesus were Rudolf Aquaviva, Alfonso Pacheco, Pirrea Berno, Antony Francisco, Priests, And Francis Aranha, temporal coadjutor.   Father Aquaviva was son of the Duke of Atri, related to the family of St Aloysius Gonzaga, and nephew of Claud Aquaviva, the fifth general of the Jesuits.   He was admitted at the age of eighteen, in 1568, and after being ordained priest at Lisbon was sent to Goa, in India. In 1579 a request was received from the Great Mogul Akbar that missionaries should be sent to his court at
Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra.   Father Aquaviva, a man "of very sweet and simple disposition...perpetually conscious of God", was one of the two chosen for this mission, and he spent till 1583 in strenuous efforts to convert Akbar and his subjects; he had no success, and in that year was recalled to be put in charge of the Salsette mission, north of Bombay.
     Father Pacheco, a Castilian, and Father Berno, a Swiss, accompanied two punitive expeditions of the Portuguese against the village of Cuncolim; on these occasions they were both conspicuous for their energy in the destruction of Hindu sacred buildings, and no doubt the people made a note of it. Father Francisco was Italian; Brother Aranha was the mission architect at Goa and at his death had been twenty-three years in India.
  These five Jesuits, then, were all in the district of Salsette, and they determined together to make a "frontal attack" on Cuncolim, which was the heart of Hindu opposition in that mission.  On July 15, 1583, they met at Orlim and, together with other Christians, set out for Cuncolim, intending to choose there a piece of ground for a church and to plant a cross thereon.     On their arrival the notables of the village hurriedly took counsel, and then approached the missionaries with an armed force.    A Portuguese layman, Rodriguez, would have fired on them, but he was stopped by Father Pacheco with the words, "We are not here to fight ".
The villagers then fell on the party. Bd Rudolf and Ed Alfonso were killed praying for their murderers, and the other two priests were likewise slain outright. The coadjutor, Ed Francis, left for dead, but found living the next day; he was given the chance to venerate an idol, and on refusing was tied to a tree and shot through with arrows.
  There were put to death at the same time Goacalo Rodriguez and fourteen Indian Christians, two of whom were lads.
There is now no means of judging the reasons on account of which these fifteen were omitted from the cause of the martyrs by Mgr Menezes, Archbishop of Goa, in 1600 but, from what is known of the methods of that prelate, they would probably be found unconvincing today. Even the cause of the five Jesuits was subjected to long delay. The promoter of the faith raised the doubt that the destroying of Hindu pagodas and other aggressive acts had brought about what was in effect a state of war which, rather than hatred of the faith, involved the massacre. It was not till 1741 that Pope Benedict XIV declared the martyrdom proved, and even then the formal beatification did not take place till 1893 .
The best popular account of the Martyrs of Salsette is that written in German by Father H. Gruber, Der selige Rudolf Aquaviva und seine Gefahrten Les BB. martyrs de Salsette (1893), and in English F. Goldie, The First Chritian Mission to the Great Mogul (1897), and J. S. Naraysn, Aquaviva and the Great Mogul (Patna, 1946). From the point of view of secular history valuable sidelights may be obtained from Sir Edward Maclagan's article in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (vol. Ixv) on "Jesuit Missions to the Emperor Akbar", and from C. H. Payne's Akbar and the Jesuits (1926) (1894); but see also P. Suau.1583  Bl. Rudolf Aquaviva and Companions
Blessed Aquaviva and his Companions were Jesuit priests. He was the son of the Duke of Atri,  related to the family of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, and nephew of Claud Aquaviva, the fifth general of the Jesuits. He was admitted at the age of eighteen, in 1568, and after being ordained priest at Lisbon was sent to Goa, in India.
Father Aquaviva was one of the two chosen for the mission at Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra, and he worked till 1583 in strenuous efforts to convert Akbar and his subjects, but had no success. He was then put in charge of the Salsette mission, north of Bombay.
He and four companions, Father Pacheco, Father Berno, Father Francisco and Brother Aranha, together with other Christians, set out for Cuncolim, the heart of Hindu opposition in that mission, intending to choose there a piece of ground for a church and to plant a cross thereon. They were met with armed force by the villagers. Blessed Rudolf and Blessed Alfonso were killed praying for their murderers, and the other two priests were likewise slain outright. Blessed Francis was left for dead, but found living the next day; he was given a chance to venerate an idol, and on refusing was tied to a tree and shot with arrows. It was not till 1741 that Pope Benedict XIV declared the martyrdom proved, and even then the formal beatification did not take place till 1893.
Blessed Rudolph Acquaviva, & Four Comps., SJ MM (AC) Born at Atri in 1550; died near Goa, India, July 25, 1583; beatified in 1893. Rudolph was the nephew of Claudio Acquaviva, the fifth general of the Society of Jesus. Under the influence of his uncle, he too became a Jesuit and went to the society's mission in the East Indies. He was martyred on the peninsula of Salsette with four companions (Benedictines) .
1737 Blessed Mary Magdalen Martinengo, OFM Cap. V (AC) Born in Brescia, Italy; beatified in 1900. Mary Magdalen took the veil at the Capuchin convent in Brescia. She filled the post of novice mistress and prioress with marked success (Benedictines).
Blessed Mary Magdalen Martinengo, was born into a noble family at Brescia in northern Italy in 1687.  At five months old she lost her mother, and her child-hood showed a considerable precocity of religious devotion, self-inflicted mortifications and spiritual, or psychological, disturbances.  Her determination "to imitate everything in the lives of the saints", though heroic, could hardly be called a wise programme at any age. When she was eighteen Mary Martinengo joined the Capuchinesses of Santa Maria delta Neve in her native town.  She was professed in 1706, and her responsibilities varied between novice-mistress (three times) and portress; in 1732 and again in 1736 she was superior of the convent, and was admirable in alt these offices. Her humility and selfless love of God were adorned with the divine recognition of unusual mystical experiences and the gift of miracles; she had a particular personal devotion towards our Lord's sufferings from the crown of thorns, and after her death a fillet of sharp points was found bound about her own brow.
  This was the simplest and most "ordinary" of Bd Mary's practices, which to detail, would not necessarily tend to edification; not without reason has a Benedictine written that to many they might seem like " the feats of a fakir".  But they were so many withesses to her love for the crucified Redeemer who had suffered so much for her, "for everybody to love whom with one single heart is too little, much too little".  And all this was joined with capability as novice-mistress and abbess, with a love of silence, with a quiet sweetness of speech.  Bd Mary Magdalen died in 1737, in her fiftieth year, and was beatified in 1900.
Several biographies, mostly based upon the, documents of the cause, were published about the time of Bd Mary's beatification, notably that by Fr Ladislaus of Vannes in French (1901). Others, in Italian, were by Fr Ludovic of Leghorn (1899), Fr Antonino of Bergamo (1900), and Fr Siato of Pisa (1900) .
1752 Blessed Antonio Lucci; attended the local school run by the Conventual Franciscans and joined them at the age of 16. Antonio completed his studies for the priesthood in Assisi, where he was ordained in 1705. Further studies led to a doctorate in theology and appointments as a teacher in Agnone, Ravello and Naples. He also served as guardian in Naples; bishop of Bovino
Antonio studied with and was a friend of St. Francesco Antonio Fasani, who after Antonio Lucci’s death testified at the diocesan hearings regarding the holiness of Lucci.
Born 1682 in Agnone in southern Italy, a city famous for manufacturing bells and copper crafts, he was given the name Angelo at Baptism. He attended the local school run by the Conventual Franciscans and joined them at the age of 16. Antonio completed his studies for the priesthood in Assisi, where he was ordained in 1705. Further studies led to a doctorate in theology and appointments as a teacher in Agnone, Ravello and Naples.  He also served as guardian in Naples.
   Elected minister provincial in 1718, the following year he was appointed professor at St. Bonaventure College in Rome, a position he held until Pope Benedict XIII chose him as bishop of Bovino (near Foggia) in 1729. The pope explained, "I have chosen as bishop of Bovino an eminent theologian and a great saint."
His 23 years as bishop were marked by visits to local parishes and a renewal of gospel living among the people of his diocese. He dedicated his episcopal income to works of education and charity.  At the urging of the Conventual minister general, Bishop Lucci wrote a major book about the saints and blesseds in the first 200 years of the Conventual Franciscans.
He was beatified in 1989, three years after his friend Francesco Antonio Fasani was canonized.
Comment:  As Pope Paul VI wrote in 1975, people today "are more impressed by witnesses than by teachers, and if they listen to these it is because they also bear witness" (Evangelization in the Modern World, #41).
Quote: When Francis of Assisi learned that Anthony of Padua was teaching theology to the friars in Bologna, Francis wrote: "It pleases me that you teach sacred theology to the brothers, as long as—in the words of the Rule—you do not extinguish the spirit of prayer and devotion with study of this kind."
1836 St. Bartholomea Capitanjo Foundress of the Italian Sisters of Charity of Lovere with St. Vincenzia Gerosa. She was born in 1807.Young, she was the guiding light of the congregation. The Sisters of Charity of Lovere was approved in 1840.
1878 Gustav Knak Nach dem Studium der Theologie wirkte er zunächst als Lehrer, dann ab 1834 als Pastor in Wusterwitz
Evangelische Kirche: 27. Juli
One of the profoundest spiritual thoughts is expressed by Gustav Knak’s song of the heart which Mennonite Brethren have sung for generations:
O that my heart an altar were of incense and of praise, Where thanks and honor to the Lamb my soul might ever raise!
The knowledge of this Lamb sublime has banished doubts away,
Because my faith is placed in Him, I fear no Judgment Day. The debt of sin has now been paid, Tis covered by the blood!
And God has no remembrance made since came the cleansing flood!
My heart is glad, I now rejoice, To find such peaceful ways! Thus ever shall I lift my voice in my Redeemer’s praise!  Worship Hymnal (Fresno: Board of Christian Literature, General Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Churches, 1979), No. 345.

Gustav Knak wurde am 12.7.1806 in Berlin geboren. Nach dem Studium der Theologie wirkte er zunächst als Lehrer, dann ab 1834 als Pastor in Wusterwitz (Vorpommern). Knak verkündete seiner Gemeinde, sie brauche den heiligen Geist und um die nötige Vergebung zu erlangen, müsse jeder seine Sünden erkennen und bekennen. Er führte das Beichtgespräch wieder ein und hielt Erbauungsstunden. Die Wusterwitzer Missionsfeste trugen die Erweckung weiter. Auf diesen Festen waren die Wirkungen des Heiligen Geistes und die Gemeinschaft der Heiligen erlebbar und erfahrbar. Knak wurde auch zu Veranstaltungen anderer Gemeinden gerufen, zum Beispiel auch von Volkening.  After the study of the theology he worked at first as a teacher, then from 1834 as a pastor in Wusterwitz (Western Pomerania). Knak announced to his municipality, she needs to attain the holy mind and around the necessary forgiveness, must recognize everybody his sins and know. He introduced the Beichtgespräch again and held construction hours. The Wusterwitzer mission parties carried the arousal further. At these parties the effects of the holy mind and the community of the saints were experienceable and learnable. Knak was also called to arrangements of other municipalities, for example, also from Volkening.  Aus dieser Tätigkeit entstanden seine Lieder Laßt mich gehn, daß ich Jesum möge sehn und Zieht in Frieden eure Pfade (EG 258). Um den Menschen, die in der Natur Gott begegnen wollten, zu helfen, gab er den 'Reisepsalter' heraus. From this activity there originated his songs letting me gehn that I Jesum may sees and Pulling in peace your paths (the EC 258). To help the people who wanted to meet in the nature God, he published the 'travel psalter'.  1850 wurde er als Nachfolger Goßners an die Berliner Bethlehemkirche berufen. Er war einer der führenden Erweckungsprediger. Der christlich-sozialen Bewegung unter Stoecker schloß er sich zwar nicht an, weil er das Evangelium nicht mit Politik vermengen wollte, begleitete aber diese Arbeit mit seiner Fürbitte. In 1850 he was appointed as successor Gossners to the Berlin Bethlehem church. He was one of the leading arousal preachers. Indeed, of the Christian-social movement under jailer he did not join because he did not want to mix the Gospel with policy, however, this work with his Fürbitte accompanied.  Knak starb am 27.7.1878 in Berlin .
1942 Bl. Titus Brandsma Carmelite martyr who died at the hands of the Nazis; was sent to various concentration camps where he demonstrated charity and concern
Becoming a Carmelite as a young man, he displayed a dazzling intellect and scholarship, receiving ordination as a priest in 1905 and earning a doctorate in philosophy at Rome. Titus then taught in Dutch universities and lectured in many countries on Carmelite spirituality and mysticism. He also served as rector magnificus at the Catholic University of Nijmegen. In 1935 he became an ecclesiastical advisor to Catholic journalists. His academic and spiritual studies were also printed and widely read. He was born in 1881 at Bolsward in the Netherlands. When the Nazis occupied the Netherlands, Titus was singled out as an enemy because he fought against the spread of Nazism in Europe. Arrested, Titus was sent to various concentration camps where he demonstrated charity and concern. In 1942, he was martyred in Dachau.
Titus was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 3, 1985 .


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 7

Attend, O people of God, to His commandments: and forget not the Queen of grace.

Open your heart to search her out: and your lips to glorify her.

Let her love come down into your hearts: long to please her.

Her beauty outshines the sun and the moon: she is adorned with the ornaments of virtues.

Have mercy on me, O Queen of glory and honor: and keep my soul from all danger.

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

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

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

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

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

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

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints.  Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine.  The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches.  The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice."  According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates.  Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor.  Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.
Meeting of the Saints  walis (saints of Allah)
Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.
So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life.  But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets. An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shah Abdul Latif: The Exalted Sufi Master born 1690 in a Syed family; died 1754. In ancient times, Sindh housed the exemplary Indus Valley Civilisation with Moenjo Daro as its capital, and now, it is the land of a culture which evolved from the teachings of eminent Sufi saints. Pakistan is home to the mortal remains of many Sufi saints, the exalted among them being Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, a practitioner of the real Islam, philosopher, poet, musicologist and preacher. He presented his teaching through poetry and music - both instruments sublime - and commands a very large following, not only among Muslims but also among Hindus and Christians. Sindh culture: The Shah is synonymous with Sindh. He is the very fountainhead of Sindh's culture. His message remains as fresh as that of any present day poet, and the people of Sindh find solace from his writings. He did indeed think for Sindh. One of his prayers, in exquisite Sindhi, translates thus: “Oh God, may ever You on Sindh bestow abundance rare! Beloved! All the world let share Thy grace, and fruitful be.”
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams. Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles 569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.), Hazrat Ghuas-e Azam, Hazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat 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
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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

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

Brief History of our Beloved Holy Priest Here and his published books of Catholic History in North America
Reardon, J.M. Archbishop Ireland; Prelate, Patriot, Publicist, 1838-1918.
A Memoir (St. Paul; 1919); George Anthony Belcourt Pioneer Catholic Missionary of the Northwest 1803-1874 (1955);
The Catholic Church IN THE DIOCESE OF ST. PAUL from earliest origin to centennial achievement 1362-1950 (1952);
The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and 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 7 2022