177 SS. Pothinus And His Companions, The Martyrs Of Lyons And Vienne THE letter which records the sufferings of the martyrs of Vienne and Lyons in the terrible persecution under Marcus Aurelius in the year 177 has been described by an eminent French writer as "the pearl of the Christian literature of the second century". It was addressed by the survivors to the churches of Asia and Phrygia, and has been preserved to posterity in the pages of Eusebius of Caesarea. Its merit lies in its unquestionable authenticity, in its intrinstic interest, and in the lofty Christian spirit which pervades it throughout. Moreover it furnishes the earliest evidence of the existence in Gaul of an organized community of the Catholic Church. Lyons, on the right bank of the Rhône, and Vienne, on the left, formed the western terminus of the trade route to the East, and their Christian congregations comprised many Greeks and Levantines, including their bishop Pothinus, who was probably the elder of whom his successor, St Irenaeus, stated that he had "listened to those who had seen the Apostles". " It is impossible to convey to you in words or in writing", says the preamble to the letter, "the magnitude of the tribulation, the fury of the heathen against the saints, and all that the blessed martyrs endured." The persecution began unofficially with social ostracism- "we were excluded from houses, from the baths, and from the market"; and with popular violence-stoning, plundering, blows, insults “and everything that an infuriated crowd loves to do to those it hates”. Then it was taken up officially. Representative Christians were led into the forum, publicly questioned and consigned to prison. The unfair treatment to which they were subjected by the magistrate when they were brought before him roused the indignation of a young Christian in the audience named Vettius Epagathus. Boldly he pleaded that he might be allowed to defend his brethren from the charges of impiety and treason. The judge asked if he too was a Christian, for he was a well-known man. He answered in the affirmative, with this result, that he was himself promoted to take his place among the ranks of the martyrs. After that ensued a time of crisis which tried the steadfastness of all, and checked the zeal of some who had hitherto ministered to the prisoners. About ten of the confessors, unable to bear the strain, abjured. "Then we were all greatly distraught," proceeds the letter, "not from fear of the torments that were to come upon us, but from looking to the end and dreading lest others should fall away. However, day by day there were taken up those who were worthy to fill up their number, until there had been gathered from the two churches all their most earnest and active members." "As the governor had given orders to let none of us escape, certain pagan servants of ours were also arrested. These slaves, afraid lest they might have to undergo the tortures they saw inflicted on the saints, and instigated by Satan and by the soldiers, accused us of feeding on human flesh like Thyestes and of committing incest like Oedipus, as well as other abominations which it is unlawful for us even to think of, and which we can scarcely believe ever to have been perpetrated by men. When these things were made public, all were exasperated against us, including some who had formerly shown friendliness... The fury of the mob, the governor, and the soldiers fell most heavily upon Sanctus, a deacon from Vienne, on Maturus, newly baptized but a noble combatant, on Attalus, a native of Pergamos, who had always been a pillar and support of the Church, and on Blandina "a slave" in whom Christ made manifest that the things that appear mean and contemptible among men are esteemed of great glory with God on account of that love of Him which is shown in truth and not in appearances. When we were all in fear, and her mistress according to the flesh, who was herself an athlete among the martyrs, was apprehensive lest Blandina should not be able from bodily weakness to make her confession boldly, she was endued with so much power that even those who in relays tortured her from morning till evening grew faint and weary." All marvelled how she could possibly survive, so torn and broken was her body. But in the midst of her sufferings she seemed to derive refreshment and peace from continually repeating the words, "I am a Christian, and nothing vile is done amongst us". The deacon Sanctus also endured cruel torments with unflinching courage. To all questions that were put to him, he only replied, “I am a Christian”. When all the ordinary forms of torture had been exhausted, red-hot plates were applied to the tenderest parts of his body until he appeared a shapeless mass of swollen flesh. Three days later, when he had revived, the same treatment was repeated. Amongst the lapsed, who had been retained in prison in the hope that they would give evidence against their former associates, was a woman named Biblias, who was known to be frail and timid. Subjected to torture, however, she “woke as it were from a deep sleep, and directly contradicted the blasphemers, saying, ‘How can those eat children who are forbidden to taste the blood even of brute beasts?' From that moment she confessed herself a Christian and was added to the company of the martyrs." Many of the prisoners, especially the young and untried, died in prison from torture, from the foul atmosphere and from the brutality of their gaolers, but some who had already suffered terribly and seemed at the last gasp, lingered on, confirming the rest. Bishop Pothinus, in spite of his ninety years and manifold infirmities, was dragged before the tribunal amid the railing of the populace. Upon being asked by the governor, Who was the God of the Christians, he replied, "If you are worthy, you shall know". Thereupon he was beaten, kicked, and pelted until he was nearly insensible. Two days later he died in prison. The martyrdom of the rest took various forms. In the beautiful words of the letter: "They offered up to the Father a single wreath, but it was woven of divers colours and of flowers of all kinds. It was meet that the noble athletes should endure a varied conflict, and win a great victory that they might be entitled in the end to receive the crown supreme of life everlasting." Maturus, Sanctus, Blandina and Attalus were exposed to the beasts in the amphitheatre; Maturus and Sanctus ran the gauntlet of whips, endured mauling by beasts, and bore everything else that was done to them at the suggestion of the people. Finally, they were placed on the iron chair and roasted until the odour of their scorched flesh filled the nostrils of the crowd. But their courage never faltered, nor could Sanctus be induced to utter a word except the confession he had made from the beginning. After they had throughout that day supplied not merely the varied entertainment demanded in the games, but a spectacle to the world, they were offered up at last in the sacrifice of their lives. But for Blandina the end had not come yet. She was hung from a stake, to be the prey of the beasts let loose upon her. The sight of her as she hung with outstretched arms like one crucified and the fervour of her prayers put heart into the other combatants. None of the animals would touch her; so she was taken back to prison to await a further contest. Attalus, a man of note, was loudly called for by the crowd and was led round the amphitheatre with a tablet borne before him on which was written. “This is Attalus the Christian”. The governor, however, having been informed that he was a Roman citizen, ordered him to be remanded until the emperor's wishes could be ascertained. From the outset the confessors had given extraordinary evidence of their charity and humility. Though ready to give an explanation of their faith to all, they accused none, but prayed for their persecutors like St Stephen, as well as for their lapsed brethren. Far from taking up an attitude of superiority, they besought the prayers of their fellow Christians that they themselves might remain faithful, and they remonstrated with those who called them martyrs. In the end their loving concern for their weaker brethren was rewarded. In the words of the letter, “Through the living the dead were brought to life, and those who were martyrs reconciled those who had failed to be martyrs”. When the emperor's rescript arrived, condemning convicted Christians to death, but ordering the release of such as had abjured, those who had formerly denied now boldly confessed Christ and were added to the sacred order of those who bore witness. Only those few remained outside who had never been Christians at heart. A physician named Alexander, a Phrygian by birth, was present while they were under examination. He had lived many years in Gaul and was well known for his love of God and for his boldness in spreading the Gospel. Standing close to the dock, he so openly encouraged the prisoners that no one could fail to notice him. The crowd, incensed at the profession of Christianity by those who had previously abjured, raised an outcry against Alexander as the instigator of the change, and the governor asked him who and what he was. “A Christian”, was the reply. He was summarily condemned to be thrown to the beasts. The next day he appeared in the arena with Attalus whom the governor delivered up for the second time in order to gratify the mob. They were subjected to all the tortures used in the amphitheatre, and were at last sacrificed. Attalus, when he was being roasted in the iron chair, exclaimed, “This is in truth a consuming of human flesh-and it is you who do it. We neither eat men nor commit any other enormity!” “After all these”, continues the letter, “on the last day of the single combats, Blandina was again brought into the amphitheatre with Ponticus, a boy of about fifteen. They had been compelled day after day to watch the torture of the rest, and were now urged to swear by the idols. Because they refused and set them at naught, the multitude pitied neither the age of the boy nor the sex of the woman. They exposed them to all the torments, endeavouring unsuccessfully from time to time to induce them to swear. Ponticus, encouraged, as the heathen could see, by the exhortations of his sister, nobly endured every torment and then gave up the ghost. The blessed Blandina last of all, like a mother of high degree, after encouraging her children and sending them on before as victors to the King, hastened to join them-rejoicing and triumphing over her departure as if she had been summoned to a marriage-feast instead of being cast to the beasts. After the scourges, after the wild animals, after the frying-pan, she was thrown at last into a net and exposed to a bull. When she had been tossed for a time by the beast, and was completely upheld by her faith and her communing with Christ as to have become insensible to what was being done to her, she too was immolated, the heathen themselves confessing that they had never known a woman to show such endurance.” The bodies of the martyrs were cast into the Rhône that no relic or memory of them might remain on earth. But the record of their glorious victory over death was quickly borne over the sea to the East, and has been handed on by the Church throughout the ages. To quote once more the words of the epistle: “They asked for life and He gave it them: they shared it with their neighbours, and departed to God in every way victorious. Having always loved peace and having ever commended peace to us, they went in peace to God, leaving no sorrow to their Mother, nor strife nor conflict to their brethren, but joy and peace and concord and love.” The personification of the Christian Church under the term “Mother” affords an interesting illustration of that use of symbols by the faithful which was so widespread in the early centuries and which was fostered by the disciplina arcani. Earlier in the same letter occurs the sentence: “There was much joy in the heart of the Virgin Mother [i.e. the Church] in recovering alive those untimely births she had cast forth as dead.” Such language enables us to understand how the phrases used in the Abercius inscription and the representations of the Good Shepherd which recur in the catacombs were full of meaning for the Christian believer in those times. The whole account depends primarily on the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, bk v, ch. i. For the names of the martyrs see H. Quentin in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxix (1921), pp. 113-138, and cf. CMH., pp. 297-298. Consult also Hirschfeld in Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie, 1895, pp. 38-409. There seem to have been forty-eight martyrs in all, whose names are preserved. See also A. Chagny, Les martyrs de Lyon (1936), and for a translation of the letter, E. C. E. Owen, Some Authentic Acts ... (1927). There has been a controversy about the date; see mainly H. I. Marrou in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxxi (1953), pp. 5-20.
177 St. Alexander a physician in Vienne, Gaul, when he converted to Christianity Martyr and companion St. Pothinus and 46 other Christians He was arrested during the persecutions conducted by Emperor Marcus Aurelius. With Pothinus and forty-six other Christians, Alexander was tortured and executed. As part of this group, Alexander is one of the Martyrs of Lyons and Vienne.
177 Martyrs of Lyons A group of Christians that include Photinus, Sanctius, Vetius, Epagathus, Maturus, Ponticus, Biblis, Attalus, Alexander, Blandina, and companions Lugdúni, in Gállia, sanctórum Mártyrum Pothíni Epíscopi, Sancti Diáconi, Vétii, Epágathi, Matúri, Póntici, Bíblidis, Attali, Alexándri et Blandínæ, cum áliis multis; quorum fórtia et iteráta certámina, témpore Marci Aurélii Antoníni et Lúcii Veri, Ecclésiæ Lugdunénsis epístola, ad Ecclésias Asiæ et Phrygiæ scripta, recénset. In his sancta Blandína, sexu infírmior, córpore imbecíllior, conditióne dejéctior, diuturnióra et acerbióra certámina súbiens, et fortis adhuc pérmanens, gládio juguláta, céteros secúta est, quos hortabátur ad palmam. At Lyons, many holy martyrs (Photinus, a bishop, Sanctus, a deacon, Vetius, Epagathus, Maturus, Ponticus, Biblis, Attalus, Alexander, and Blandina, with many others), whose many valiant trials in the time of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Lucius Verus are recorded in a letter from the church at Lyons to the churches of Asia and Phrygia. St. Blandina, one of these martyrs, was weaker by reason of her sex, more infirm in body, and of a lower station in life, and yet she encountered longer and more terrible trials than the rest. But remaining unshaken, she was put to the sword, and followed those whom she had exhorted to win the palm of martyrdom. They were attacked by a pagan mob and then tried as Christians in the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Lugdunum, Gaul. Writers from Lyons and Vienne provided very graphic descriptions of the terible torments endured by these martyrs.
177 St. Blandina Martyr a slave patroness of young girls A miraculous victory obtained by the prayers of Christians under Marcus Aurelius, in 174, the Church enjoyed a kind of peace St. Blandina who was a slave in the second century and patroness of young girls. After the miraculous victory obtained by the prayers of the Christians under Marcus Aurelius, in 174, the Church enjoyed a kind of peace, though it was often disturbed in particular places by popular commotions, or by the superstitious fury of certain governors. This appears from the violent persecution which was raised three years after the aforesaid victory, at Vienne and Lyons, in 177, while St. Pothinus was bishop of Lyons, and St. Irenaeus, who had been sent there by St. Polycarp out of Asia, was a priest of that city. Many of the principal Christians were brought before the Roman governor. Among them was a slave, Blandina; and her mistress, also a Christian, feared that Blandina lacked strength to brave the torture. She was tormented a whole day through, but she bore it all with joy till the executioners gave up, confessing themselves outdone. Red-hot plates were held to the sides of Sanctus, a deacon of Vienne, till his body became one great sore, and he looked no longer like a man; but in the midst of his tortures he was "bedewed and strengthed by the stream of heavenly water which flows from the side of Christ.” Meantime, many confessors were kept in prison, and with them were some who had been terrified into apostasy. Even the heathens marked the joy of martyrdom in the Christians who were decked for their eternal espousals, and the misery of the apostate. But the faithful confessors brought back those who had fallen, and the Church, "that Virgin Mother," rejoiced when she saw her children live again in Christ. Some died in prison, the rest were martyred one by one, St. Blandina last of all, after seeing her younger brother put to a cruel death, and encouraging him to victory. Blandina was tortured for her faith; body burned and ashes thrown in the Tiber River.
300 St. Erasmus (St. Elmo) bishop of Formiae, Campagna, Italy suffered a martyr's death 1/14 Holy Helpers wounds he miraculously endured In Campánia sancti Erásmi, Epíscopi et Mártyris. Hic, sub Diocletiáno Augústo, primum plumbátis cæsus, deínde fústibus gráviter mactátus, post resína, súlphure, plumbo, pice, cera oleóque perfúsus, illæsus appáruit; deínde Fórmiis, sub Maximiáno, divérsis atque immaníssimis supplíciis íterum tortus, sed ad confírmándum céteros a Deo servátus; tandem, vocánte Dómino, martyrio clarus, sancto fine quiévit. Ipsíus autem corpus Cajétam póstea translátum est. In Campania, during the reign of Decius, St. Erasmus, bishop and martyr, who was first scourged with leaded whips and then severely beaten with rods. He also had resin, brimstone, lead, pitch, wax, and oil poured over him, without receiving any injury. Afterwards, under Maximian, he was again subjected to various and most horrible tortures at Mola, but still was preserved from death by the power of God in order to confirm others in the faith. Finally, celebrated for his sufferings, and called by God, he closed his life by a peaceful and holy death. His body was afterwards transferred to Gaeta. 303? ST ERASMUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR ST ERASMUS, or St Elmo, formerly widely venerated as the patron of sailors and as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, is joined with the above martyrs in the Mass and Office of the Western church to-day. In the Acta Sanctorum he is described as bishop of Formiae, in the Campagna, and we know from St Gregory the Great that his relics were preserved in the cathedral of that town in the sixth century. When Formiae was destroyed by the Saracens in 842, the body of St Erasmus was translated to Gaeta, of which city he still remains a principal patron. Nothing is actually known of his history, his so-called “acts” being late compilations based on legends which confuse him with a namesake, a martyr bishop of Antioch. According to the oldest of these spurious biographies, St Erasmus of Formiae was a Syrian bishop who, during the persecution under Diocletian, fled to Mount Lebanon, where he lived as a solitary and was fed by a raven. He was discovered, haled before the emperor, beaten with whips and lead-loaded clubs, and rolled in pitch which was then ignited. As he remained unhurt he was cast into prison to be starved to death. An angel, however, released him and conveyed him to the Roman province of Illyricum. There he effected numerous conversions, but was subjected to other tortures, including the iron chair and a red-hot cuirass. The angel again saved him and brought him to Formiae, where he died of his wounds. In Belgium, France and elsewhere St Erasmus is popularly represented with a large aperture in his body through which his intestines have been wound, or are being wound, round a windlass which stands beside him. He is accordingly invoked against cramp and colic, especially in children. There is nothing in the legendary history of St Erasmus of Formiae to connect him with that particular form of torture. The blue lights sometimes seen at mastheads before and after storms were reckoned by Neapolitan seamen as signs of their patron's protection and were called by them “St Elmo's Fire”. There is no reasonable doubt that the appellation St Elmo or St Telmo is etymologically derived from St Erasmus, which became Eramus, then Ermus and finally Ermo. From this we get Elmo, just as Catalina comes from Catharina. Now the blue electrical discharges which under certain atmospheric conditions are seen on the masts or rigging of ships were formerly called St Elmo's lights, because St Erasmus, honoured at first as the patron of mariners, was believed to manifest his protection in this manner after the storm had passed. But when Portuguese sailors adopted Bd Peter Gonzalez as their patron, the St Elmo lights became Peter's lights, and to the sailors of that nation he became the true St Elmo. The parish church of the little port of Faversham in Kent had before the Reformation an altar of St Erasmus; and it is said that “no one died who had anything to give, but he left a legacy to maintain the lights which burnt about it”. The most widely circulated text of the legendary story of St Erasmus is printed, with other materials, in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. i. A more complete list of the various recensions of this mythical narrative is furnished in BHL., nn. 2578-2585. See also F. Lanzoni, Le Diocesi d' Italia, pp. 163-164; R. Flahault, S. Erasme (1895); E. Dümmler, in Neues Archiv, vol. v (1880), pp. 429-431; and M. R. James, Illustrations to the Life of St Alban (1924), pp. 23 and 27. The subject in art is dealt with in Künstle, Ikonographie, vol. ii, pp. 210-213, and the folk-lore aspects are discussed by Bächtold-Stäubli, Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, vol. ii, cols. 791, 866. Confusion has arisen from the identification at a later period of the sailor's patron, St Elmo, with the Dominican, Bd Peter Gonzalez; see April 14. There can be little doubt that St Erasmus really existed, however improbable the legends which subsequently were recounted concerning him. His name is commemorated in the Hieronymianum, as also in the Filire of Oengus, and his story is told in the Old English Martyrology of the ninth century. For the confusion between St Erasmus and St Agapitus of Praeneste, under the name “Agrappart” or “Agrapau”, see the paper in Etudes d'Histoire et d’Archéologie Namuroises, dediées à Ferdinand Courtoy (1952), by Fr B. de Gaiffier, who kindly supplied this editor with an off-print. Erasmus was also known as Elmo. He was the bishop of Formiae, Campagna, Italy, and suffered martyrdom during Diocletian's persecution of the Christians wounds he miraculously endured He once fled to Mount Lebanon during the persecution and lived a life of solitude there for some time, being fed by a raven. After the emperor discovered his whereabouts, he was tortured and thrown in prison. Legend claims that an angel released him and he departed for Illyricum, eventually suffered a martyr's death and was one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Legend records that when a blue light appears at mastheads before and after a storm, the seamen took it as a sign of Erasmus's protection. This was known as “St. Elmo's fire”. The blue electrical discharges under certain atmospheric conditions have also been seen on the masks or riggings of ships. Erasmus is also invoked against stomach cramps and colic. This came about because at one time he had hot iron hooks stuck into his intestines by persecutors under Emperor Diocletian. These wounds he miraculously endured. The Hieromartyr Erzmo of Ochrid SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net This saint was born in Antioch and lived in the reigns of Diocletian and Maximian. He lived in strict asceticism on Mount Lebanon, and was endowed by God with great wonderworking gifts. As a bishop, he set out to preach the Gospel. Arriving at the city of Ochrid, he restored the son of a man called Anastasius to life by his prayers, and baptised him. At this time, Erazmo baptised many other pagans and tore down the idolatrous altar in Ochrid. For this he was denounced to the Emperor Maximian, who was at that time staying in Illyria. The Emperor brought him before the copper image of Zeus, and ordered him to bring sacrifices and worship the idol. St Erazmo, by his power, caused a terrible dragon to come out of the statue, which terrified all the people. The saint then worked another wonder, and the dragon died. Then the saint preached Christ and baptised 20,000 souls. The furious Emperor commanded that all 20,000 be beheaded, and put Erazmo to harsh torture, before throwing him into prison. But an angel of God appeared to him, as once to the Apostle Peter, and led him out of the prison. After that, this servant of God went to Campania, where he preached the Gospel to the people, then returned again to the town of Hermelia, where he withdrew to a cave and lived in asceticism for the rest of his days. At the time of his death, he prostrated three times towards the East and, with upraised hands, prayed to God to forgive and give eternal life to all those who would, with faith, call upon his name. At the end of his prayer, a voice was heard from heaven: `Let it be as thou hast asked; My little healer Erazmo!' The saint looked up once more to heaven with great joy and saw a wreath of glory descending upon him, and a choir of angels, prophets, apostles and martyrs waiting to receive his holy soul. He finally cried: `Lord, receive my spirit!', and breathed his last, in about the year 303. The cave and chapel of St Erazmo stand to this day not far from Ochrid, and from there is proclaimed to this day the great power of the man of God, Erazmo the hieromartyr. In the Slavonic Prologue and Menaion, St Erazmo is commemo-rated on May 4th; but in the Greek on June 2nd. This latter is more correct, as the feast of this saint has been celebrated in Ochrid on June 2nd from time immemorial.
4th v. Martyrdom of St. Colluthus of Antinoë (Known as Abu Colta). On this day, St. Colluthus of Antinoë was martyred. He was the son of God fearing parents. His father was a governor over Antinoe. He was praying to the Lord Jesus to give him a son, and God gave him this saint. He taught him the Christian principles and the church doctrine. He was pure from his youth. His father wanted him to get married, but he did not accept. However, his sister was married to Arianus who became the governor after her father. When the Saint's parents departed, he built a hostel for the strangers. He also studied medicine and practiced it to cure the sick without charging them money. When Diocletian apostatized, Arianus the governor followed him to keep his position, and started to persecute Christians. Then St. Colluthus rebuked him for forsaking the worship of the True God, and the Saint cursed the idols of the Emperor. Arianus did not hurt him for the sake of his sister, but he sent him to the governor of El-Bahnasa, where he was in prison for three years. His sister meditated for his release until another governor took over who threatened the saint and tortured him. The angel of the lord came to him to comfort and strengthen him. At last, the governor cut off his head, and he was granted the crown of Martyrdom. His family prepared his body for burial and kept him in a place until the end of the persecution, when they built a church for him. Many miracles appeared from his body. The saint has a church from antiquity in “Refa” near Assuit. A memorial is celebrated every year on the day of his martyrdom. The visitors who come are blessed by the saint and his intercessions, For they are healed from their sicknesses. It is worth it to mention that this church contains a stone which has a great influence to keep scorpions away until this day. May his prayers be with us, Amen.
304 Sts. Marcellinus and Peter Martyrs respect in which they were held are the basilica Constantine built over their tombs and the presence of their names in the first eucharistic prayer Romæ natális sanctórum Mártyrum Marcellíni Presbyteri, et Petri Exorcístæ, qui, sub Diocletiáno, cum multos in cárcere ad fidem erudírent, ídeo post dira víncula et plúrima torménta, a Seréno Júdice decolláti sunt in loco qui dicebátur Silva Nigra; quæ deínde, in honórem Sanctórum, commutáto nómine Silva Cándida appelláta est. Horum córpora in crypta, juxta sanctum Tibúrtium, sepúlta sunt; eorúmque sepúlcrum sanctus Dámasus Papa vérsibus póstea exornávit. At Rome, the birthday of the holy martyr Marcellinus, priest, and Peter, exorcist, who instructed in the faith many persons kept in prison. Under Diocletian, they were loaded with chains, and after enduring many torments, were beheaded by Judge Serenus, in a place which was then called the Black Forest, but which was in their honour afterwards known as the White Forest. Their bodies were buried in a crypt near St. Tiburtius, and Pope St. Damasus composed an epitaph in verse for their tomb. Two martyrs under Diocletian the early church venerated them. Evidence of the respect in which they were held are the basilica Constantine built over their tombs and the presence of their names in the first eucharistic prayer. Pope St. Damasus says that he heard the story of these two martyrs from their executioner who became a Christian after their deaths. Marcellinus, a priest, and Peter, an exorcist, died in the year 304. According to a legendary account of their martyrdom, the two Romans saw their imprisonment as just one more opportunity to evangelize and managed to convert their jailer and his family. The legend also says that they were beheaded in the forest so that other Christians wouldn't have a chance to bury and venerate their bodies. Two women found the bodies, however, and had them properly buried. Marcellinus und Petrus Katholische Kirche: 02. Juni Marcellinus war Priester und Petrus Exorzist (geistlicher Rang) in Rom. Unter Kaisr Diokletian wurden sie um 305 enthauptet. Ihre Reliquien wurden 827 in die Benediktinerabtei Seligenstadt überführt. Marcellinus und Petrus gehören zu den June 2, 2009 Sts. Marcellinus and Peter (d. 304) Marcellinus and Peter were prominent enough in the memory of Church to be included among the saints of the Roman Canon. Mention of their names is optional in our present Eucharistic Prayer I. Marcellinus was a priest and Peter was an exorcist, that is, someone authorized by the Church to deal with cases of demonic possession. They were beheaded during the persecution of Diocletian. Pope Damasus wrote an epitaph apparently based on the report of their executioner, and Constantine erected a basilica over the crypt in which they were buried in Rome. Numerous legends sprang from an early account of their death. Comment: Why are these men included in our Eucharistic prayer, and given their own feast day, in spite of the fact that almost nothing is known about them? Probably because the Church respects its collective memory. They once sent an impulse of encouragement through the whole Church. They made the ultimate step of faith. Quote: “The Church has always believed that the apostles, and Christ's martyrs who had given the supreme witness of faith and charity by the shedding of their blood, are quite closely joined with us in Christ.” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 50). 304 Ss. Marcellinus And Peter, Martyrs St Marcellinus and Peter are amongst the Roman saints who are commemorated daily in the canon of the Mass. Marcellinus was a prominent priest in the City during the reign of Diocletian, and Peter is said to have been an exorcist. From a misreading of the Hieronymianum it has been inferred that other martyrs perished with them, numbering forty-four in all, but for this there is no evidence. Their quite unreliable passio states that they were apprehended and cast into prison, where Marcellinus and Peter were zealous in strengthening the faithful and in making new converts, amongst whom were the jailer Arthemius with his wife and daughter. According to the same authority, all were condemned to death by Serenus, or Severus, the magistrate. Marcellinus and Peter were privately conveyed to a wood called the Silva Nigra, and there beheaded, in order that their place of burial should not be known. The secret, however, was divulged, possibly by the executioner, who subsequently became a Christian. Two devout women, Lucilla and Firmina, rescued their relics and interred them honourably in the Catacomb of St Tiburtius on the Via Lavicana. Pope Damasus, who composed an epitaph for the tomb of these two martyrs, stated that he learnt the particulars of their execution when a boy from the lips of their executioner. Over their tomb Constantine built a church, in which he caused his mother, St Helen, to be buried. The bodies of the saints were sent in 827 by Pope Gregory IV to Eginhard, Charlemagne’s former secretary, to enrich the monasteries he had built or restored, and were eventually deposited at Seligenstadt, fourteen miles from Frankfort-on-the-Main. Accounts are preserved to us recording every detail of the miracles which attended this very famous translation. That there was an active cultus of these two martyrs in Rome is proved by such inscriptions as, “Sancte Petr(e) Marcelline, suscipite vestnim alumnum”. The legendary passio, with other matter, is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. i. Consult especially J. P. Kirsch, Die Mörtyrer der Katakombe “ad duas Lauros” (1920), pp. 2—5; Marucchi, in the Nuovo Bullettino, 1898, pp. 137—193; Wilpert in the Römische Quartalschrift, 1908, pp. 73—91. On the translation, M. Bondois can only be read with extreme caution; see Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxvi (1907), pp. 478—485. A better study of this question is that of K. Esselborn, Die Ubertragung, etc. (1925). An English version of the story of the translation has been published by B. Wendell (1926). June 2, 2010 Sts. Marcellinus and Peter (d. 304) Marcellinus and Peter were prominent enough in the memory of Church to be included among the saints of the Roman Canon. Mention of their names is optional in our present Eucharistic Prayer I. Marcellinus was a priest and Peter was an exorcist, that is, someone authorized by the Church to deal with cases of demonic possession. They were beheaded during the persecution of Diocletian. Pope Damasus wrote an epitaph apparently based on the report of their executioner, and Constantine erected a basilica over the crypt in which they were buried in Rome. Numerous legends sprang from an early account of their death. Comment: Why are these men included in our Eucharistic prayer, and given their own feast day, in spite of the fact that almost nothing is known about them? Probably because the Church respects its collective memory. They once sent an impulse of encouragement through the whole Church. They made the ultimate step of faith. Quote: "The Church has always believed that the apostles, and Christ's martyrs who had given the supreme witness of faith and charity by the shedding of their blood, are quite closely joined with us in Christ" (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 50).
304 Marcellinus and Peter MM (RM) Died 304. Marcellinus, a Roman priest, and Peter, an exorcist, renowned for their zeal and piety, are named in the Roman canon of the Mass. During the Diocletian persecution, they were secretly condemned to die for their faith. The executioner led them into a forest, so that the Christians would be unaware of their deaths or burial site. It was not until they reached a thicket overgrown with thorns and briers, three miles from Rome, that he told them the sentence of the judge. Far from being afraid, the saints cheerfully fell to work themselves. They gathered up the brambles and cleared a spot fit for their sepulcher. After they were beheaded, their bodies were buried in the same place. Some time later their burial site was revealed mysteriously to a pious lady named Lucilla. She and another devout woman named Firmina found and honorably interred their bodies near that of Saint Tiburtius in the catacombs on the Via Labicana at "the two laurels." Their unreliable later “acta” say that they converted their jailer and his family while they were in prison, that the site of their execution was called Black Wood and later White Wood, and that the magistrate who condemned them was named Severus. Evidence of their cultus is strong and early, including feasts in the sacramentaries and calendars and the survival of their tombs. Pope Saint Damasus tells us that, when he was a child, he heard these details from the lips of the executioner himself. The pope inserted them in a Latin epitaph with which he adorned their tomb. Anastasius the librarian testifies, from ancient registers, that Constantine the Great built a church in honor of these martyrs, in which his mother Saint Helena was buried, and that he gave to this church a golden paten, weighing thirty-five pounds, as well as many other rich presents. Honorius I and Adrian I repaired this church and the cemetery of Saint Tiburtius. It may seem somewhat odd that the bodies of Marcellinus and Peter were translated to Germany. This is how it happened. Blessed Charlemagne's favorite secretary, a German named Eginhard, and his wife Emma mutually agreed to vow perpetual continency. Eginhard became a monk and later was chosen abbot of Fontenelle and, in 819, of Ghent. His letters from Abbot Lupus of Ferrieres reveal that he was terribly grieved at the death of his wife Emma in 836. Eginhard sent his secretary to Rome to procure from pope Gregory IV relics of martyrs to enrich the monasteries which he had founded or repaired. The pope sent him the bodies of SS. Marcellinus and Peter, which Eginhard translated to Strasburg, France. Later he translated them to Michlenstadt, then to Seligenstadt, between Frankfurt and Aschaffensburg, where, in 829, he built a church and monastery in their honor. The story of the translation of their relics, including the miracles that then took place, is recorded in Eginhard's own writings, as well as in works by Sigebert, Aymoinus, Rabanus Maurus, and others. Pope Gregory the Great preached his twenty homilies on the gospels in the church of SS. Marcellinus and Peter at Rome (Attwater, Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).
350 St Barlaam The first Friday of the Apostles' Fast. St Barlaam is also commemorated on November 6 and February 10. In Slavonic practice, St Barlaam is commemorated during the Proskomedia along with the venerable and God-bearing Fathers who shone forth in asceticism (sixth particle). He was born in Thessalonica, the successor of St. Alexander. He was a “champion of Orthodoxy, like the Apostle Paul adorned with piety, with courage of soul and endurance in tribulation”. For his zealous refutation of “the evil opinions of the Arians” he “endured persecution and tribulation” and four times was removed from the patriarchal throne by Emperor Constantius, who was an Arian. Finally, St. Paul was banished to a prison in Cucusa, Armenia where he died as a martyr “for the Trinity without beginning and one in essence”. The Arians killed him, strangling him during the service with his omophorion in the year 350. In the year 381 his uncorrupted relics were transferred to Constantinople and in 1236 to Venice where they remain until today.
657 St. Eugene I a Roman priest who held various positions in the Church known for his charity and his sanctity Romæ sancti Eugénii Primi, Papæ et Confessóris. At Rome, Pope St. Eugene I, Confessor. THIS Eugenius was a Roman, who had been brought up in the service of the Church; he was, we are told, distinguished for his goodness, generosity and gentleness. A year or so after Pope St Martin I was carried off from Rome, but while he was stilI living, Eugenius was appointed in his place, and Martin approved the appointment before he died. It is said that Eugenius was a nominee of the monothelite Emperor Constans II, but if this be true the emperor was disappointed in his protege. On his election Eugenius sent legates to Constantinople, who came back with a request from Constans that the new pope would declare himself in communion with the Byzantine patriarch Peter, and bearing a theologically ambiguous letter from that hierarch. This letter was publicly discussed in the church of St Mary Major, and so angered the assembled clergy and people that they would not let Eugenius begin Mass until he had promised to send its rejection to Constans - thereby making up for having tamely accepted Eugenius at the emperor's bidding - if they did. Eugenius would probably have suffered a like fate to his predecessor's had not the emperor's hands been full with a campaign against the Arabs. It was probably this pope who received St Wilfrid from England on his first visit to Rome as a young man. See the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. i; Duchesne, Liber Pontificalis, vol. i, p. 341 ; and A. Clerval in DTC., s.v. Eugene I He was consecrated Pope on August 10, 654, while his predecessor, Pope St. Martin I, was still alive (he died on September 6), an exile and prisoner in the Crimea by order of Monothelite Emperor Constans II. Martin is reported to have approved the election, but many believed Eugene was a puppet of Constans. Eugene soon asserted his independence by refusing the Emperor's demands that he acknowledge Peter as Patriarch of Constantinople and allow toleration of the Monothelites. Constans was furious, and only the capture of Rhodes by the Moslems in 654 and their defeat of Constans at the naval battle of Phoenix in 655 saved Eugene from sharing the fate of his predecessor. Eugene died in Rome on June 2. Eugenius I, Pope (RM) Died at Rome in 657. While Pope Saint Martin was still alive, the Roman priest Eugenius was consecrated bishop of Rome on August 10, 654. How did this happen? Saint Martin condemned Monothelitism and the emperor, Constans, happened to be a Monothelite. Constans sent Theodore Calliopas to forcibly capture the pope and bring him to Constantinople, where he was imprisoned and then exiled to Kherson. Martin died within one month of Eugenius's elevation. It is a mystery how Eugenius became pope because the Romans refused attempts by the exarch Theodore Calliopas to persuade them to elect another one while Martin was still alive. As is usual during a vacancy, the Holy See was administered by the archpriest, archdeacon, and chief notary. Eugenius may have been an antipope forced on the reluctant Romans by the emperor, or he was chosen freely on the presumed consent of Saint Martin to keep the emperor from forcibly planting a docile tool on the throne of Saint Peter. It is more likely that Saint Martin requested the election, because Eugenius continually refused to yield to imperial pressure and Martin appears to have recognized him as his legitimate successor. Eugenius was known for his holiness, gentleness, and charity. He had been a cleric from his youth and held various positions within the Church of Rome. Almost immediately after his election, Eugenius was forced to deal with the heresy of Monothelitism, i.e., the Christ had only one will. Eugenius promptly sent legates to inform Constans of his election. Unfortunately, these legates treated Patriarch Peter of Constantinople as being in communion with the Holy See although he remained ambiguous on the question whether Christ had one or two wills. Pope Eugenius disavowed their action and said that they had been given authority to deal only with the emperor. The legates returned to Rome with a synodal letter of Peter that was so obscure that when it was read at Saint Mary Major, the people raised an uproar. His Holiness Eugenius had to delay completing the Mass until he assured them that the objectionable letter would not be accepted. Eugenius continued to refuse to recognize Peter as patriarch until he would clarify his understanding of Christology. The emperor was furious and would have treated Eugenius as he had Martin. He threatened to roast the pope alive if he were not otherwise occupied with fighting the Islamics, who had captured Rhodes in 654. Their defeat of Constans in the naval battle of Phoenix in 655 saved Eugenius from sharing Martin's fate. Thus, Eugenius was able to end his brief pontificate in peace. He was buried on June 2, 657, in Saint Peter's (Benedictines, Brusher, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
686 St. Adalgis A missionary and monastic founder, born in Ireland disciple of St. Fursey missionary work in Arras and Laon and founded a monastery in Picardy As part of the heroic undertakings of the early Irish monks, Adalgis, who was a disciple of St. Fursey, sailed from his home to France. He did missionary work in Arras and Laon and founded a monastery in Picardy.
7th v. Bodfan (Bobouan) (AC) Tradition says that Saint Bodfan, his father, and other relatives embraced the religious life after Beaumaris Bay was formed by a huge inundation. He is the patron saint of Abern in Carnarvonshire (Benedictines).
829 sancti Nicéphori, Epíscopi Constantinopolitáni, In ínsula Proconnéso, in Propóntide, qui, paternárum traditiónum propugnátor acérrimus, pro cultu sanctárum Imáginum se Leóni Arméno, Imperatóri Iconoclástæ, constánter oppósuit; a quo mulctátus exsílio, ibídem, cum per quatuórdecim annos longum duxísset martyrium, migrávit ad Dóminum. In the island of Marmara, in the Sea of Marmara, St. Nicephorus, bishop of Constantinople. In defence of the traditions of the Fathers and of the veneration of sacred images, he set himself firmly against the Iconoclast emperor Leo the Armenian, by whom he was sent into exile. There he underwent a long martyrdom of fourteen years and then departed for the kingdom of God. His feast is celebrated on this day both in the Greek and Roman Churches; the Greeks also observe 2 June as the day of his death. St. Nicephorus Patriarch of Constantinople, 806-815, b. about 758; d. 2 June, 829. This champion of the orthodox view in the second contest over the veneration of images belonged to a noted family of Constantinople. He was the son of the imperial secretary Theodore and his pious wife Eudoxia. Eudoxia was a strict adherent of the Church and Theodore had been banished by the Emperor Constantine Copronymus (741-75) on account of his steadfast support of the teaching of the Church concerning images. Nikephor von Konstantinopel Orthodoxe Kirche: 2. Juni und 13. März (Übertragung der Gebeine) Katholische Kirche: 5. April Nikephor war Sekretär am Hof der Kaiserin Irene. Er nahm am 7. Konzil teil und zog sich danach in eine Einsiedelei zurück. 802 wurde er zum Verwalter eines großen Hospitals in Konstantinopel berufen und 806 auf Wunsch des Kaisers zum Patriarchen gewählt, obwohl er Laie war und in der kirchlichen Hierarchie auf Ablehnung stieß. Als der Bildersturm von Leo V. wieder entfacht wurde, vrbündete sich Nikephor mit seinem bisherigen Gegner Theodor Studites und wandte sich gegen den Kaiser. Er wurde deshalb 815 auf die Insel Prokonnis verbannt. Hier schrieb er 3 Schriften gegen den Bildersturm und hier starb er am 5.4.828. Am 13.3.846 wurden seine Gebeine in die Apostelkirche ein Konstantinopel übertragen. While still young Nicephorus was brought to the court, where he became an imperial secretary. With two other officials of high rank he represented the Empress Irene in 787 at the Second Council of Nicaea (the Seventh Ecumenical Council), which declared the doctrine of the Church respecting images. Shortly after this Nicephorus sought solitude on the Thracian Bosporus, where he had founded a monastery. There he devoted himself to ascetic practices and to the study both of secular learning, as grammar, mathematics, and philosophy, and the Scriptures. Later he was recalled to the capital and given charge of the great hospital. Upon the death of Patriarch Tarasius (25 February, 806), there was great division among the clergy and higher court officials as to the choice of his successor. Finally, with the assent of the bishops Emperor Nicephorus (802-11) appointed Nicephorus as patriarch. Although still a layman, he was known by all to be very religious and highly educated. He received Holy Orders and was consecrated bishop on Easter Sunday, 12 April 806. Direct elevation of a Iayman to the patriarchate, as had already happened in the case of Tarasius, aroused opposition in the ecclesiastical party among the clergy and monks. The leaders were the abbots, Plato of Saccadium and Theodore of Studium, and Theodore's brother, Archbishop Joseph of Thessalonica. For this opposition the Abbot Plato was imprisoned for twenty-four days at the command of the emperor. Nicephorus soon gave further cause for antagonism. In 795 a priest named Joseph had celebrated the unlawful marriage of Emperor Constantine VI (780-97) with Theodota, during the lifetime of Maria, the rightful wife of the emperor, whom he had set aside. For this act Joseph had been deposed and banished. Emperor Nicephorus considered it important to have this matter settled and, at his wish the new patriarch with the concurrence of a synod composed of a small number of bishops, pardoned Joseph and, in 806, restored him to his office. The patriarch yielded to the wishes of the emperor in order to avert more serious evil. His action was regarded by the strict church party as a violation of ecclesiastical law and a scandal. Before the matter was settled Theodore had written to the patriarch entreating him not to reinstate the guilty priest, but had received no answer. Although the matter was not openly discussed, he and his followers now held virtually no church communion with Nicephorus and the priest, Joseph. But, through a letter written by Archbishop Joseph, the course which he and the strict church party followed became public in 808, and caused a sensation. Theodore set forth, by speech and writing, the reasons for the action of the strict party and firmly maintained his position. Defending himself against the accusation that he and his companions were schismatic, he declared that he had kept silent as long as possible, had censured no bishops, and had always included the name of the patriarch in the liturgy. He asserted his love and his attachment to th g the priest Joseph. Emperor Nicephorus now took violent measures. He commanded the patriarch to call a synod, which was held in 809, and had Plato and several monks forcibly brought before it. The opponents of the patriarch were condemned, the Archbishop of Thessalonica was deposed, the Abbots Plato and Theodore with their monks were banished to neighbouring islands and cast into various prisons. This, however, did not discourage the resolute opponents of the “Adulterine Heresy”. In 809 Theodore and Plato sent a joint memorial, through the Archmandrite Epiphanius, to Pope Leo III, and later, Theodore laid the matter once more before the pope in a letter, in which he besought the successor of St. Peter to grant a helping hand to the East, so that it might not be overwhelmed by the waves of the “Adulterine Heresy”. Pope Leo sent an encouraging and consolatory reply to the resolute confessors, upon which they wrote another letter to him through Epiphanius. Leo had received no communication from Patriarch Nicephorus and was, therefore, not thoroughly informed in the matter; he also desired to spare the eastern emperor as much as possible. Consequently, for a time, he took no further steps in the matter. Emperor Nicephorus continued to persecute all adherents of Theodore of Studium, and, in addition, oppressed those of whom he had grown suspicious, whether clergy or dignitaries of the empire. Moreover, he favoured the heretical Paulicians and the Iconoclasts and drained the people by oppressive taxes, so that he was universally hated. In July, 811, the emperor was killed in a battle with the Bulgarians. His son Stauracius, who had been wounded in the same fight, was proclaimed emperor, but was deposed by the chief men of the empire because he followed the bad example of his father. On 2 October, 811, with the assent of the patriarch, Michael Rhangabe, brother-in-law of Stauracius, who raised to the throne. The new emperor promised, in writing, to defend the faith and to protect both clergy and monks, and was crowned with much solemnity by the Patriarch Nicephorus. Michael succeeded in reconciling the patriarch and Theodore of Studium. The patriarch again deposed the priest Joseph and withdrew his decrees against Theodore and his partisans. On the other side Theodore, Plato, and the majority of their adherents recognized the patriarch as the lawful head of the Byzantine Church, and sought to bring the refractory back to his obedience. The emperor had all now sent the customary written notification of his induction into office (Synodica) to the pope. In it he sought to excuse the long delay by the tyranny of the preceding emperor, interwove a rambling confession of faith and promised to notify Rome at the proper time in regard to all important questions. Emperor Michael was an honourable man of good intentions, but weak and dependent. On the advice of Nicephorus he put the heretical and seditious Paulicians to death and tried to suppress the Iconoclasts. The patriarch endeavoured to establish monastic discipline among the monks, and to suppress double monasteries, forbidden by the Seventh Ecumenical Council. After his complete defeat, 22 June, 813, in the war against the Bulgarians, the emperor lost all authority. With the assent of the patriarch he resigned and entered a monastery with his children. The popular general, Leo the Armenian, now became emperor, 11 July, 813. When Nicephorus demanded the confession of faith, before the coronation, Leo put it off. Notwithstanding this, Nicephorus crowned him, and later, Leo again refused to make the confession. As soon as the new emperor had assured the peace of the empire by the overthrow of the Bulgarians his true opinions began gradually to appear. He entered into connection with the opponents of images, among whom were a number of bishops; it steadily grew more evident that he was preparing a new attack upon the veneration of images. With fearless energy the Patriarch Nicephorus now proceeded against the machinations of the Iconoclasts. He brought to trial before a synod several ecclesiastics opposed to images and forced an abbot named John and also Bishop Anthony of Sylaeum to submit. Bishop Anthony's acquiescence was merely feigned. In December, 814, Nicephorus had a long conference with the emperor on the veneration of images but no agreement was reached. Later the patriarch sent several learned bishops and abbots to convince him of the truth of the position of the Patriarch on the veneration of images. The emperor wished to have a debate between representatives of the opposite dogmatic opinions, but the adherents of the veneration of images refused to take part in such a conference, as the Seventh Ecumenical Council had settled the question. Then Nicephorus called together an assembly of bishops and abbots at the Church of St. Sophia at which he excommunicated the perjured Bishop Anthony of Sylaeum. A large number of the laity were also present on this occasion and the patriarch with the clergy and people remained in the church the entire night in prayer. The emperor then summoned Nicephorus to him, and the patriarch went to the imperial palace accompanied by the abbots and monks. Nicephorus first had a long, private conversation with the emperor, in which he vainly endeavoured to dissuade Leo from his opposition to the veneration of images. The emperor received those who had accompanied Nicephorus, among them seven metropolitans and Abbot Theodore of Studium. They all repudiated the interference of the emperor in dogmatic questions and once more rejected Leo's proposal to hold a conference. The emperor then commanded the abbots to maintain silence upon the matter and forbade them to hold meetings. Theodore declared that silence under these conditions would be treason and expressed sympathy with the patriarch whom the emperor forbade to hold public service in the church. Nicephorus fell ill; when he recovered the emperor called upon him to defend his course before a synod of bishops friendly to iconoclasm. But the patriarch would not recognize the synod and paid no attention to the summons. The pseudo-synod now commanded that he should no longer be called patriarch. His house was surrounded by crowds of angry Iconoclasts who shouted threats and invectives. He was guarded by soldiers and not allowed to perform any official act. With a protest against this mode of procedure the patriarch notified Leo that he found it necessary to resign the patriarchal see. Upon this he was arrested at midnight in March, 815, and banished to the monastery of St. Theodore, which he had built on the Bosporus. Leo now raised to the patriarchate Theodotus, a married, illiterate layman who favoured iconoclasm. Theodotus was consecrated 1 April, 815. The exiled Nicephorus persevered in his opposition and wrote several treatises against iconoclasm. After the murder of the Emperor Leo, 25 December, 820, Michael the Amorian ascended the throne and the defenders of the veneration of images were now more considerately treated. However, Michael would not consent to an actual restoration of images such as Nicephorus demanded from him, for he declared that he did not wish to interfere in religious matters and would leave everything as he had found it. Accordingly Emperor Leo's hostile measures were not repealed, although the persecution ceased. Nicephorus received permission to return from exile if he would promise to remain silent. He would not agree, however, and remained in the monastery of St. Theodore, where he continued by speech and writing to defend the veneration of images. The dogmatic treatises, chiefly on this subject, that he wrote are as follows: a lesser “Apology for the Catholic Church concerning the newly arisen Schism in regard to Sacred Images” (Migne, P.G., C, 833-849), written 813-14; a larger treatise in two parts; the first part is an “Apology for the pure, unadulterated Faith of Christians against those who accuse us of idolatry” (Migne, loc. cit., 535-834); the second part contains the “Antirrhetici”, a refutation of a writing by the Emperor Constantine Copronymus on images (loc. cit., 205-534). Nicephorus added to this second part seventy-five extracts from the writings of the Fathers [edited by Pitra, “Spicilegium Solesmense”, I (Paris, 1852), 227-370]; in two further writings, which also apparently belong together, passages from earlier writers, that had been used by the enemies of images to maintain their opinions, are examined and explained. Both these treatises were edited by Pitra; the first Epikrisis in “Spicilegium Solesmense”, I, 302-335; the second Antirresis in the same, I, 371-503, and IV, 292-380. The two treatises discuss passages from Macarius Magnes, Eusebius of Caesarea, and from a writing wrongly ascribed to Epiphanius of Cyprus. Another work justifying the veneration of images was edited by Pitra under the title “Antirrheticus adversus iconomachos” (Spicil. Solesm., IV, 233-91). A final and, as it appears, especially important treatise on this question has not yet been published. Nicephorus also left two small historical works; one known as the “Breviarium”, the other the “Chronographis”, both are edited by C. de Boor, “Nicephori archiep. Const. opuscula historica” in the “Bibliotheca Teubneriana” (Leipzig, 1880). At the end of his life he was revered and after death regarded as a saint. In 874 his bones were translated to Constantinople with much pomp by the Patriarch Methodius and interred, 13 March, in the Church of the Apostles. His feast is celebrated on this day both in the Greek and Roman Churches; the Greeks also observe 2 June as the day of his death.
1070 Guy of Acqui B (AC) cultus confirmed in 1853. Saint Guy was bishop of Acqui in Monferrato, Piedmont, Italy, from 1034 to 1070 (Benedictines).
1075 Stephen of Corvey monk of Corvey in Saxony, who was appointed regionary bishop of Sweden successfully engaged in missionary work first to plant the faith on the shores of the sound OSB BM (AC) (also known as Stephen of Sweden) Saint Stephen was a monk of Corvey in Saxony, who was appointed regionary bishop of Sweden, where he successfully engaged in missionary work. He was the first to plant the faith on the shores of the sound and was probably martyred at Nora (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). NOTHING is known of the birthplace, parentage and early life of St Stephen, “Apostle of the Helsings”; in fact, very little is known about him at all. He was a monk of New Corbie, in Saxony, and was ordained and sent, it has been said, as a regionary bishop to Sweden either by St Anskar or by St Adalgar of Bremen. This, however, is all very questionable and it is much more probable that there was only one St Stephen who was bishop in Sweden and that he lived two centuries later than the time of St Anskar. He is said to have been very successful in his missionary efforts, and he was the first to plant the Christian faith on the shores of the Sound. As he was very energetic in suppressing the worship of Woden, he was martyred by the pagans, either during a missionary visit to Uppsala, or else at Norrala in Helsingland. His story may possibly have been confused with that of another Bishop Stephen, who took part in the revival of Christianity in Sweden in an earlier century, and who also died a martyr. In any case the first attempted evangelization of the country produced no permanent effect. The tomb of one St Stephen was venerated at Norrala until the Reformation. See the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. i, and Adam of Bremen, in Pertz, MGH., Scriptores, vol. vii, pp. 366 and 378. Consult also Ihre, Dissertatio de S. Stephano (1748); and Strunck, Westfalia sancta, vol. i (1854), pp. 98-102.
1094 St. Nicholas Peregrinus Confessor, so called Peregrinus because of his constant pilgrimages Greek by birth miracles were claimed at his tomb Trani, in Apúlia, sancti Nicolái Peregríni Confessóris, cujus mirácula in Concílio Románo, cui beátus Urbánus Papa Secúndus præfuit, recitáta sunt. At Trani in Apulia, St. Nicholas Peregrinus, confessor, whose miracles were recounted in the Roman Council under Pope Urban II. THE traditional histories of St Nicholas Peregrinus are untrustworthy, and nearly everything they profess to tell us of his early life is probably fabulous. All that can be positively stated about him is that he was a pious and simple-minded young Greek who landed in Italy as a perfect stranger. There, after remaining for a time at Otranto and wandering from one place to another in Apulia, he fell ill and eventually died at Trani. Clad in a single garment which reached only to his knees, he had gone about bearing a cross in his right hand and crying aloud wherever he went, "Kyrie eleison!" In a wallet he carried apples and other things with which he would please the children who flocked round him and echoed his chant. Often he was roughly handled as a vagrant or a madman, but after his death he came to be venerated because of the miracles believed to be worked by his intercession. On the strength of the cures reported at his grave, he was canonized by Pope Urban II. Such legendary materials as are available have been printed by the Bollandists in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. i, as also by Ughelli, ltalia Sacra, vol. vii, pp. 894-906. See, further, A. di Jorio, Della Vita di S. Nicolao Pellegrino (1879), and H. Günter, Die christliche Legende des Abendlandes (1910), pp. 15-22. For his canonization, see E. W. Kemp, Canonization and Authority (1948), pp. 67-68 and 163-165. Called Peregrinus because of his constant pilgrimages, he went to Italy and earned considerable fame by wandering throughout the countryside carrying a cross and declaring Kyrie eleison, being joined by crowds, especially made up of children, who repeated the same declaration. Nicholas died at Trani at the age of nineteen and was considered to be demented. Within a short time, however, miracles were claimed at his tomb, and he was canonized in 1098 by Blessed Pope Urban II. At Trani in Apulia, St. Nicholas Peregrinus, confessor, whose miracles were recited in a Roman Council over which Pope St. Urban II presided. Nicholas the Pilgrim (Peregrinus) (RM) Born in Greece, 1075; died in Trani, Italy, 1094; canonized in 1098. As a teenager, Nicholas migrated from his homeland to Apulia in southern Italy. He wandered through the streets carrying a cross and crying "Kyrie Eleison." Crowds of children would follow him, repeating the same cry. Although he was often treated as a lunatic, when he died at the age of 19, so many miracles were worked at his tomb that he was canonized almost immediately (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
1150 St. John de Ortega priest hermit friend of St. Dominic de Ia Caizada; aided Dominic in the building of hospices and bridges. Originally a priest in Burgos, Spain, he undertook several pilgrimages and upon his return took to the life of a hermit. He later aided Dominic in the building of hospices and bridges. John de Ortega, Hermit (AC). John was a priest in the diocese of Burgos, Spain. After making many pilgrimages--to the Holy Land, Rome, and Santiago de Compostella--he found himself called to the solitary life in a small village near Burgos. From his hermitage he assisted Saint Dominic de la Calzada in the building of bridges, hospices, and other works to aid pilgrims. His feast is celebrated liturgically in his diocese of Burgos (Benedictines).
1260 Blessed Sadoc and Companions dreams of converting the Tartars, found realization in his sons MM (AC) second feast day on May 5. IN the year 1221, at the second general chapter of his order, which was held at Bologna, St Dominic charged his sons to go forth into the world to preach the Gospel. One band of missionaries was sent to Hungary and the land of the Tartars-a region which St Dominic himself had greatly desired to evangelize in person. They were under the leadership of a Hungarian friar named Paul, who was to found the first Dominican province in his native land. Amongst the most zealous and successful of the missionaries was a young man named Sadoc, probably also a Hungarian. After he had preached in Hungary, he passed on to Sandomir in Poland where, while continuing to preach, he founded a Dominican priory, of which he became the superior. In 1260 the Tartars besieged and captured Sandomir. As the brethren were sitting in the refectory, the lector was inspired to announce, as from the martyrology, “At Sandomir, forty-nine martyrs”. That was the number of the community. The prior, regarding this as a warning from on high, bade all prepare for death, and the following day the whole community was butchered while singing the “Salve Regina”. It would seem that such materials as the Bollandists in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. i, were able to consult regarding this wholesale martyrdom, tend to throw a certain doubt both upon the date and even the fact. A grant of indulgence conceded by Pope Boniface VIII in 1295 speaks only of a general massacre at Sandomir, without making any particular reference to the Dominicans. As, however, the cultus of Bd Sadoc and Companions was confirmed by Pope Pius VII, it may be assumed that evidence was presented which met the difficulties raised. See Mortier, Histoire des maîtres généraux O.P. (1903), t. i, pp. 529-530; the Année Dominicaine; and Procter, Lives of Dominican Saints, pp. 163-166. See also Prileszky, Acta Sanctorum Hungariae (1744), vol. ii, Appendix, pp. 50-53. Saint Dominic's dreams of converting the Tartars found realization in his sons. Missionaries did, in fact, go to the North during his lifetime, and many more were sent out by Blessed Jordan of Saxony. The more settled tribes of Poland and Hungary readily accepted the Gospel, and the North was not long in blooming with Dominican convents. But, in the 13th century, the restless millions of the East were riding down upon the fertile plains of Central Europe. Wild Tartar tribes soon destroyed what had been done for their more peaceful relatives, and scarcely a missionary survived to preach his message of peace to them. Paul of Hungary and his band of 90 died as martyrs, probably in 1241. They were popularly honored as saints early. Soon to follow was the group headed by Blessed Sadoc, which had its headquarters at Sandomir, Poland. So tragic was the early history of the Dominicans in Poland that, even in that martyred country, it is remembered: Polish Dominicans today wear a red cincture to recall the martyred hundreds who shed their blood that Poland might receive the light of faith. Blessed Sadoc was a student at the University of Bologna when he met Saint Dominic and was received into the order. Being a Slav himself, he was eager to go to the North to preach the word of God. This he was given a chance to do when he and Paul of Hungary were placed in charge of the northern mission band. Sadoc soon accumulated a number of eager young students and novices, and proceeded to Poland with them. On his first night in the mission field, the devil appeared to Sadoc and reproached him for disturbing his work: "And with such children as these," he said bitterly, pointing to the young novices. With such as these, Sadoc did make havoc with the kingdom of evil: He won many souls to God, and, in the monastery of Sandomir which he founded, Sadoc soon had the satisfaction of seeing a large community working for the glory of God. In 1260, the Tartars made a fresh invasion into Poland and attacked Sandomir. Blessed Sadoc and his community had assembled for midnight Matins when they received warning of their approaching death. A novice reading the martyrology for the following day, was amazed to see, lettered in gold across the pages of the martyrology, the words: "At Sandomir, the passion of 49 martyrs." On investigation, it was discovered that it was not merely a novice's mistake, but an actual warning that they understood came from heaven. They spent the day in preparation for death. During the singing of the "Salve Regina," after Compline, the Tartars broke into the church and the slaughter began. One novice, terrified at the thought of death, fled to the choir loft to hide, but, hearing his brothers singing, he realized that they were going off to heaven without him, and he returned to the choir to die with the others. From this martyrdom came the custom of singing the "Salve Regina" at the deathbed of a Dominican--priest, sister, or brother. It is fitting that a life dedicated to God and Our Lady should end thus, with the battle-cry "Hail, Holy Queen!" echoing up from this valley of tears to be joined by the voices of Dominicans in heaven, who can now see forever the clement, loving, and sweet Virgin Mary (Benedictines, Dorcy).
1340 John the New of Sochi; The Holy Great Martyr a merchant, devout and firm in his Orthodoxy, and generous to the poor calling on the help of Him Who said, “When they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what you shall speak, neither do you premeditate; but whatsoever will be given you in that hour, speak that, for it is not you that speaks, but the Holy Spirit” (Mark 13:11) He lived in the fourteenth century in the city of Trebizond. He was a merchant, devout and firm in his Orthodoxy, and generous to the poor. Once, he happened to be sailing on a ship while pursuing his trading activities. The captain of the ship was not Orthodox, but got into an argument about the Faith with St John. Having been vanquished by the saint's words, the captain resolved to make trouble for him when they got to Belgrade. During the ship's stay at Belgrade, the captain went to the city ruler, a fire-worshipper, and suggested that on his ship was a studious man who also desired to become a fire-worshipper. The city ruler invited St John to join the fire-worshippers and renounce his faith in Christ. The saint prayed secretly, calling on the help of Him Who said, “When they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what you shall speak, neither do you premeditate; but whatsoever will be given you in that hour, speak that, for it is not you that speaks, but the Holy Spirit” (Mark 13:11). And the Lord gave him the courage and understanding to counter all the claims of the impious and firmly confess himself a Christian. After this, the saint was so fiercely beaten with rods that his entire body was lacerated, and the flesh came off in pieces. The holy martyr thanked God for being found worthy to shed his blood for Him and thereby wash away his sins. Afterwards they put him in chains and dragged him away to prison. In the morning the city ruler ordered the saint brought forth again. The martyr came before him with a bright and cheerful face. The intrepid martyr absolutely refused to deny Christ, denouncing the governor as a tool of Satan. Then they beat him again with rods, so that all his insides were laid bare. The gathering crowd could not bear this horrible spectacle and they began to shout angrily, denouncing the governor for tormenting a defenseless man. The governor, having the beating stopped, gave orders to tie the Great Martyr to the tail of a wild horse to drag him by the legs through the streets of the city. Residents of the Jewish quarter particularly scoffed at the martyr and threw stones at him. Finally, someone took a sword and cut off his head. St John's body with his severed head lay there until evening, and none of the Christians dared to take him away. By night a luminous pillar was seen over him, and a multitude of burning lamps. Three light-bearing men sang Psalms and censed the body of the saint. One of the Jews, thinking that these were Christians coming to take up the remains of the martyr, grabbed a bow and tried to shoot an arrow at them, but he was restrained by the invisible power of God, and became rigid. In the morning the vision vanished, but the archer continued to stand motionless. Having told the gathering inhabitants of the city about the vision and what was done to him by the command of God, he was freed from his invisible bonds. Having learned about the occurrence, the ruler gave permission to bury the body of the martyr in the local church. This occurred between the years 1330 and 1340. There is some question about the year of the saint's martyrdom. St Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain gives the year as 1642, while others say it was 1492. The captain who had betrayed St John repented of his deed, and decided secretly to convey the relics to his own country, but the saint appeared in a dream to the priest of the church, and prevented this. After seventy years the relics were transferred to Sochi, the capital of the Moldo-Valachian principality, and placed in the cathedral church. The Holy Martyr John the New of Sochava (June 2) SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net A nobleman of Trebizond, he was denounced by some envious Latin and suffered for Christ in the town of Akerman. After being tortured for not accepting the Persian religion (for the governor of the town was of that faith), St John was tied to a horse's legs and dragged round the town. Some wicked Jews, seeing him thus, ran up and butchered him. That night, a burning column was seen by many people above his body, and three men bathed in light standing around it. Later the Moldavian commander, Joalexander, took his honoured body and buried it in the metropolitical church, where it remains to this day and miraculously saves men from various pains and sicknesses. He suffered with honour and was glorified on June 2nd,1492.
St. Dodo companion of St. Davit of Gareji, belonged to the royal family Andronikashvili. He was tonsured a monk while still an youth, and was endowed with every virtue. An admirer of poverty and solitude, he labored as a hermit at Ninotsminda in Kakheti. Having heard about the miracles of Davit of Gareji, St. Dodo set off for the Gareji Wilderness to witness them himself. The venerable fathers greeted one another warmly and began laboring there together. After some time, St. Davit became deeply impressed with Dodo’s devotion to the Faith, and he proposed that he take with him some of the other monks and begin to construct cells on the opposite mountain. The brothers built cells and began to labor there with great ardor. Before long the number of cells had reached two hundred. St. Dodo isolated himself in a narrow crevice, where there was barely room for one man. Day and night, winter and summer, in the heat and the cold, he prayed with penitent tears for the forgiveness of his sins, the strengthening of the souls of his brothers, and the bolstering of the true Faith throughout the country. Once St. Davit miraculously healed the son of Prince Bubakar of Rustavi. In return, the grateful prince donated food and other necessities to the monks of Gareji Monastery. St. Davit took part of his contributions and sent what remained to St. Dodo. He advised Bubakar to have St. Dodo baptize him, and St. Dodo joyously baptized Bubakar, his sons, and all his suite. St. Dodo labored to an advanced age in the monastery he had founded and reposed peacefully. His spiritual sons and companions buried him in the cave where he had labored, and a church was later built over his grave.
1657 Demetrius von Philadelphia Als Kind wurde er von Muslimen geraubt. Er wurde im islamischen Glauben erzogen, bekehrte sich aber mit 25 Jahren und bekannte sich als Christ. Orthodoxe Kirche: 02. Juni Demetrius wurde 1632 in Kleinasien geboren. Als Kind wurde er von Muslimen geraubt. Er wurde im islamischen Glauben erzogen, bekehrte sich aber mit 25 Jahren und bekannte sich als Christ. Er wurde daraufhin 1657 grausam zu Tode gefoltert. The Holy Martyr Demetrios was born in Philadelphia (Asia Minor) in a Christian family. In his early youth he was snatched away by the Turks and converted to Mahometanism. At age twenty-five, realising that he was torn away from the True faith, he openly confessed himself a Christian, for which he was chopped to pieces by the Turks. The holy martyr accepted suffering and death for Christ in the year 1657.
1795 Departure of the most honored Layman Ibrahim El-Gohari; transscribed the religion books, and distribute them to the church at his own expense On this day also of the year 1511 A.M. (1795 A.D.), the great layman Ibrahim El-Gohari, departed. He was born in the eighteenth century, and his parents were poor. His fathers name was Yousef El-Gohari whose trade was making clothing in Kalube. They taught him writing and arithmetic, and he excelled in them. He used to transscribe the religion books, and distribute them to the church at his own expense. He brought the books to Pope John (Youhanna) the Eighteenth, and 107th patriarch of Alexandria Who was enthroned from 1486-1512 A.M. (1769-1796 A.D.) The many books presented to the church by Ibrahim El-Gohari got the attention of the pope, together with the high cost of transcribing the books and binding them. The pope asked Ibrahim about his resource, and Ibrahim revealed to them his zealously and his godly life. The pope blessed him saying: “may the lord uplift your name and bless your work, and keep your memory forever.” The relation between Ibrahim El-Gohari and the pope became stronger from that time. When he started to work, Ibrahim was a scribe to one of the mamalik. The pope mediated with Moalem Rizk the chief scribe, and he took him as his private scribe. He continued in his position until the end of Ali Bek El-Kebir when Mohammed Abu- El-Daheb became the governor, and Ibrahim El-Gohari became the chief scribe of all of egypt, a position which is equal to prime minister today. Ibrahim El-Gohari became more humble, generous, and charitable. He attracted to him the hearts of all the people. Ibrahim then married a righteous woman who shared with him his good nature and character. She helped him in his charitable deeds, and encouraged him to build and maintain churches. A son was born to them whom they called Joseph, and a daughter whom they called Demiana. They lived in a place called “Kantaret-El Dekka”. When his son grew up, his father prepared for him a private home furnished with the best of furniture, and prepared for his wedding day. But God chose that his son be with him before his marriage, and Ibrahim was greatly grieved. He then closed the home, and it remained closed. The death of his son was the most shocking event in his life, but his desire to help the widows, the orphans and the poor intensely increased. Everyone was so astonished for his endurance, patience, and his great control over his disappointment. When his wife resented the will of God, St. Anthony the great appeared to her in a dream, and comforted her saying, “you must know that God loved your son, and he took him in his youth, and he loves his father for a reason, to keep his name pure, for the popularity of his father might have caused his son to shame him and ruin his reputation. this is a reward from God to your husband for his godliness and his righteousness. Be comforted, and continue in your good deeds.” St. Anthony also appeared to Ibrahim El-Gohari, and he comforted him and strengthened his faith. When his wife rose up, and told her husband about her dream, he told her that he also saw the same dream that same night. They surrendered their will to God, and they changed their mourning clothes , and put on regular clothes. Their hearts were filled with comfort, and continued in their good and charitable deeds. Their Daughter Demiana also died shortly afterwards and she was a young virgin. Ibrahim El-Gohari remained in his office until a coup occurred which forced Ibrahim Bek and Murad Bek together with Ibrahim El-Gohari to flee to upper egypt. The new Governor Hasan Qubtan persecuted the copts and forbade them to ride horses with saddles, and forbade them to use moslems as servants in their homes, and did not allow them to buy slaves. The copts responded by hiding in their homes and not leaving for many days. He also ordered to have an account of the endowments that Ibrahim El- Gohary's wife hid herself in a moslem home to which her had made great favors. But some of those who did not honor his favors, betrayed him by telling his wile was hiding. the governor forced her to tell him about the places they hied their possessions, and they confiscated all the silver and gold utensils and their horses saddles, and sold them for low prices. Some also Guided the governor to the house of his son which was looked after his death, and they also confiscated all its contents of furniture, and took them many days to sell them for they were plenty. The governor was called back to istanbul, and Ibrahim Bek and Mourad Bek returned to cairo on August 7, 1791 A.D. and Ibrahim El-Gohari returned to his former position, but he did not continue for more than four years, and he was loved by everyone. The people called Ibrahim El-Gohari the “The Sultan of the Copts” as it is indicated on the iconstasis of one of the churches in the monastery of St. Paula in the eastern desert, and also in the “Katamares” kept in the same monastery. The famous historian El-Gabarty said about him: “He had made Egypt great by his capability which endured for long time. He was one of the great world statesmen with a great decisive mind. He treated everyone according to their abilities, and did things that attracted the hearts and the love of the people to him. In Ramadan, he used to send gifts to prominent and non-prominent moslems. In his days, many churches and monasteries were built and maintained, and many endowment of the best of land were given, with the necessary provisions and salaries.” Anba Yousab the bishop of Girga and Ekhmim said about him: “He was one of the great people of his day, who was God-loving, giving all his possessions to the poor, and caring about the construction of churches. He loved all people of different religions, making peace with all, filling all the needs of everyone without prejudice.” His religious work is as follows: Ibrahim El-Gohari was famous for his love of the construction of churches and monasteries, and repairing what was destroyed by the evil hands. Because of his influential position in the government, and his great favor to the moslem rulers, he was able to issue regulations (Fatawi) to permit Copts to rebuild the destroyed churches and monasteries. He also donated many endowment of good land and money for the reconstruction, that amounted to 238 endowments as documented in the patriarchate. He was also popular for the trans-scribbing of rare books, and giving them as gifts to the churches and monasteries. He was the first to build St. Mark cathedral in El-Azbakiya. The Copts were not allowed to build new churches or to repair the old ones, unless they get permission from the government, which were rarely granted. One of the princesses came from Istanboul (Estana) on a pilgrimage to Mecca passing by Egypt, Ibrahim El-Gohari made everything possible to her comfort during her stay, and offered her many gifts. She wanted to reward him, and he asked her to get an order from the Sultan (Faraman) to permit the construction of a church in El-Azbakiya where he lived, and asked her about some other things needed by the Copts. The Sultan issued the permit, but he died before the construction of the church, and his brother Girgis El-Gohari completed it. In order that the time of prayers be maintained in the church of the Virgin in Haret-Zoweila, he built a small church after the name of St. Mercurius (Abu-Saifain) beside it. This allowed him and the government Christian employees to attend the services and return to their work as the government allowed. He also prepared materials for the oil of Chrism (Myroun) from his own money; his brother Girgis carried them to the Pope. In 1499 A.M. (1783 A.D.), Ibrahim El-Gohari built all the northern wall of St. Antonios monastery, and built a water wheel. He built before that the southern and the western walls in 1498 A.M. The wall is known until today as El-Gohari's wall. He also renovated the building of the church of the Virgin in Haret El-Roum in 1508 A.M. (1792 A.D.). He also built the church of Abu Saifain in the monastery of St. Paula in the Eastern desert, and in the monastery of El-Baramouse, he built the church of Sts. Apollo and Abib (The church was demolished in 1881 A.D. to enlarge the church of St. John). He also built palaces to the Lady Virgin in El-Baramouse and the Syrian monastery. He also built an extension to the southern end of the monastery of El-Baramouse, with a wall around it, and the extension was about 2400 square meter. In summary, he built and maintained many churches and monasteries. He took care of the monks, and offered many offerings, candles, oil, veils, and church books to all the churches of Egypt. He also distributed charities among the poor and the needy everywhere, and gave them food and clothing. He gave special attention to widows and the orphans who had no one to help them, and provided monthly provisions for all their needs. his deeds were made known in his funeral eulogy by Pope Youannis, the 107th. Patriarch. He departed to his eternal home on Monday the 25th of Bashans (today), 1511 A.M. (May 31st., 1795 A.D.) everyone grieved his departure including the governor Ibrahim Bek who walked in his funeral procession to honor him as he had honored him before his death. Pope Youannis eulogized him for his great love to him. He was buried in the private tomb that he built for himself beside the church of St. George in Old Cairo which had an oil lamp that was lit day and night. He died without leaving a posterity, but his memory lives forever. The society for the revival of the Coptic churches in Cairo took action to renovate his tomb in Old cairo, and it has become a tourist attraction to all those who have heard about Ibrahim and his brother Girgis El-Gohari. May their prayers be with us, and glory be to God forever. Amen.
1819 Constantine The Holy Martyr was born upon the island of Mytilene into a Mahometan family. In his youth he fell ill with smallpox, from which he completely lost his eyesight and awaited death. A certain Christian took him to church and washed him with holy water. They brought him out of the temple completely healthy. After a prolonged searching, he received Baptism on Mount Athos and desired to shed his own blood for Christ. The starets (elder) prescribed him to dwell in seclusion in complete silence, fasting and prayer, for forty days and to put himself upon the will of God. Saint Constantine after this, having received a blessing, confessed his faith in Christ in front of the Turks. After fierce tortures, the judge gave orders to suffocate him. Saint Constantine began his suffering deed for Christ on 23 April, and finished on 2 June 1819. The Holy New Martyr Constantine June 2 SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net Born a Moslem on the island of Mitylene, he was healed of a grave illness by the aid of holy water in the church and, seeing other marvels of the Christian faith, was baptised on the Holy Mountain in the skete of Kapsokalyvia. He later fell into the hands of the Turks, who, after inflicting terrible torture on him, hanged him in Constantinople on June 2nd, 1819.
1819 Princess Juliana of Vyazemsk The relics of the holy were uncovered was buried in the Torzhok cathedral on the right side by the south doors in 1407 St Juliana's body was buried in the Torzhok cathedral on the right side by the south doors in 1407. Later, a tomb for her relics was built at the Savior-Transfiguration cathedral, where she healed many. In connection with the glorification of St Juliana on June 2, 1819 a chapel was built on the right-hand side, and dedicated to her In 1906 church was built and dedicated to St Juliana at the cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Lord, where previously there had been a chapel over the saint's grave. St Juliana is also commemorated on December 21.

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

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 32

Why have our enemies raged and our adversaries devised vain things?

May thy right hand protect us, O Mother of God:
as a line of battle terrible in aspect, confounding and destroying them.

Come ye to her, all who labor and are in trouble: and she will give refreshment to your souls.

Draw nigh to her in your temptations: and the serenity of her countenance
will bring you peace and confidence.

Bless her with your whole heart: for the earth is full of her mercy.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos Practical Guide to Holiness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meeting of the Saints walis (saints of Allah)

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

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

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

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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

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

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

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

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

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

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

Index to Part I and Part II 1932

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

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

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

Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.

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

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

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

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

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

THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi.

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

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

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

By Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

About Father John Corapi.

Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .

The pillars of father's preaching are basically:

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Pasqualina 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 32 2022