151 St. Novatus Confessor son of St. Pudens and Claudia Rufina brother of Sts. Pudentiana and Praxedes paternal grandfather Quintus Cornelius Pudens Roman senator with his wife Priscilla among St. Peter's earliest converts in Rome in whose house the Apostle dwelt while in that city
Romæ deposítio sancti Nováti, qui fuit fílius beáti Pudéntis Senatóris, et frater sancti Timóthei Presbyteri et sanctárum Christi Vírginum Pudentiánæ et Praxédis, qui ab Apóstolis erudíti sunt in fide. Ipsórum vero domus, in Ecclésiam commutáta, Pastóris Títulus appellátur.
At Rome, the death of St. Novatius, son of the blessed senator Pudens, and brother of the saintly priest Timothy and the holy virgins of Christ, Pudentiana and Praxedes, who had been instructed in the faith by the apostles. Their house was converted into a church, and bore the title of the Shepherd.

St. Novatus, who is mentioned on 20 June with his brother, the martyr Timotheus, was the son of St. Pudens and Claudia Rufina, and the brother of Sts. Pudentiana and Praxedes. His paternal grandfather was Quintus Cornelius Pudens, the Roman senator, who with his wife, Priscilla, was among St. Peter's earliest converts in Rome and in whose house the Apostle dwelt while in that city. A portion of the superstructure of the modern church of St. Pudentiana (Via Urbana) is thought to be part of the senatorial palace or of the baths built by Novatus.

Novatus of Rome (RM). Novatus was reputed to have been the son of Pudens and brother of Saint Praxedes and Saint Pudentiana (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

303 St Alban, a Roman soldier The first martyr to die for the Faith he arrested and then was converted by a priest who he allowed to escape; Alban refused to renounce his new faith
Early Christianity In England
The Christian Gospel first came to Celtic Britain in Roman times, in the second century, probably with the soldiers and associated civilians.
St Bede says that a British King, Lucius, wrote to Eleutherius, head of the Roman Church, in the year 156 of our Lord's Incarnation asking to be made a Christian.
The first martyr to die for the Faith was St Alban, a Roman soldier, c.303 AD.
In Lancashire the principal Roman camps and settlements were at Coccium (Wigan), Mamucium (Manchester) and Bremetannicum (Ribchester).
Later, Celtic saints like St Kentigern, St Asaph and St Ninian preached along the north-west coasts of Lancashire, Cumbria, North Wales and Strathclyde.
The oldest evidence for the presence of Christianity in these regions is a word-puzzle, found etched in plaster in a cellar near Castlefields, the Roman fort in Manchester, and dated tentatively to 100-200 AD.
S A T O R
A R E P OT E N E T
O P E R A R O T A S
The component letters can be re-arranged into a cross which reads PATER NOSTER, with two "O"s and two "A"s left over, symbolising Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. The same cryptogram has been found in the ruins of Pompeii, showing that it was current before the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Roman Britain collapsed after 410 AD when the Roman army was withdrawn, leaving the Celtic Britons to fend for themselves.

From 449 AD onwards, waves of pagan Angles, Saxons and Jutes flooded across the North Sea, and invaded Britain.

They drove the Celts westwards into Wales, Cumbria and Cornwall. From the north, the Scots and the Picts attacked and made inroads into northern England.

The civilised and partly Christianised Romano-British society collapsed before the wild Teutonic invaders.

Within a century a new evangelisation was urgently necessary.

312 Methodius The Hieromartyr, Bishop of Patara (Lycia in Asia Minor), distinguished for his genuine monastic humility
Calmly and with mildness he instructed his flock, but he firmly defended the purity of Orthodoxy and he energetically contended against heresies, especially the widespread heresy of the Origenists. He left behind him a rich literary legacy: works in defense of Christianity against paganism, explications of Orthodox dogmas against the heresy of Origen, moral discourses, and explanations of Holy Scripture.

St Methodius was arrested by the pagans, steadfastly confessed before them his faith in Christ, and he was sentenced to death by beheading in the year 312.

Methodius von Patara Orthodoxe Kirche: 20. Juni
Methodius war Bischof von Patara. Er verfaßte zahlreiche Schriften und bekämpfte die Häresien von Origenes. Er wurde verhaftet und 312 getötet.

350 Bishop Macarius of Petra opposed the Arians at the Council of Sardica B (RM)
Petræ, in Palæstína, sancti Macárii Epíscopi, qui, ab Ariánis passus multa et in Africa relegátus, Conféssor quiévit in Dómino.
At Petra in Palestine, St. Macarius, a bishop, who suffered many things from the Arians, and was banished to Africa where he rested in the Lord.
Bishop Macarius of Petra, in the Holy Land, strongly opposed the Arians at the Council of Sardica. As a result they orchestrated his deposition and banishment to Africa, where he died. His original name was Arius, but he changed it to distance himself from the arch-heretic (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

431 St. Paulinus of Nola [see June 22] austerity charity giving away their Spanish property correspondent /friend of Augustine, Jerome, Melania, Martin, Gregory and Ambrose last years saddened by Huns invasion

b. 354? Anyone who is praised in the letters of six or seven saints undoubtedly must be of extraordinary character. Such a person was Paulinus of Nola, correspondent and friend of Augustine, Jerome, Melania, Martin, Gregory and Ambrose.

Born near Bordeaux, he was the son of the Roman prefect of Gaul, who had extensive property in both Gaul and Italy. Paulinus became a distinguished lawyer, holding several public offices in the Empire. With his Spanish wife, Therasia, he retired at an early age to a life of cultured leisure.

The two were baptized by the saintly bishop of Bordeaux and moved to Therasia’s estate in Spain. After many childless years, they had a son who died a week after birth. This occasioned their beginning a life of great austerity and charity, giving away most of their Spanish property. Possibly as a result of this great example, Paulinus was rather unexpectedly ordained a priest at Christmas by the bishop of Barcelona.

He and his wife then moved to Nola, near Naples. He had a great love for St. Felix of Nola, and spent much effort in promoting devotion to this saint. Paulinus gave away most of his remaining property (to the consternation of his relatives) and continued his work for the poor. Supporting a host of debtors, tramps and other needy people, he lived a monastic life in another part of his home. By popular demand he was made bishop of Nola and guided that diocese for 21 years.

His last years were saddened by the invasion of the Huns. Among his few writings is the earliest extant Christian wedding song.

Comment: Many of us are tempted to "retire" early in life, after an initial burst of energy. Devotion to Christ and his work is waiting to be done all around us. Paulinus's life had scarcely begun when he thought it was over, as he took his ease on that estate in Spain. "Man proposes, but God disposes."

St. Paul and Cyriacus 2 Benedictines martyrs martyred in Lower Moesia at Tomis in Pontus Black Sea

Tomis, in Ponto, sanctórum Mártyrum Pauli et Cyríaci. At Tomis in Pontus, the holy martyrs Paul and Cyriacus.

during the Roman persecutions. Their martyrdoms and any other details of their lives are unknown.
Paul and Cyriacus MM (RM) D. Martyrs who suffered at Tomi, Lower Moesia (on the Black Sea) (Benedictines).

537 Silverius Pope son of Pope Saint Hormisdas died a martyr's death after less than two years in office M (RM)
In ínsula Póntia natális sancti Silvérii, Papæ et Mártyris, qui, cum Anthimum, Epíscopum hæréticum, a suo prædecessóre Agapíto depósitum, restitúere noluísset, a Belisário, agénte ímpia Theodóra Augústa, in exsílium pulsus est, et ibídem, pro fide cathólica multis ærúmnis conféctus, defécit.
On the island of Pontia, the birthday of St. Silverius, pope and martyr. For refusing to reinstate the heretical bishop Anthimus who had been deposed by his predecessor Agapitus, he was banished to the isle of Pontia by Belisarius, prompted by the wicked empress Theodora. He died there, consumed by many tribulations for the Catholic faith.
ST SILVERIUS, POPE AND MARTYR 537
SILVERIUS, the son of Pope St Hormisdas, was only a subdeacon when, on death of Pope St Agapitus I at Constantinople on April 22, 536, he was forced as bishop on the Roman church by the Ostrogothic king of Italy,
Theodehad, who foresaw the appearance of a Byzantine candidate; however, after Silverius had been consecrated the clergy of Rome agreed to accept him. The Empress Theodora wrote asking him to recognize as patriarchs the monophysites Anthimus at Constantinople and Severus at Antioch; Silverius replied politely with what was in effect a refusal, and he is said to have remarked as he did so that he was signing his own death warrant. He was right; Theodora was a woman who would tolerate no opposition: but she could afford to wait.
After the devastation of suburban Rome by the Ostrogothic general Vitiges, the pope and the senate willingly opened the gates of the City to his Byzantine opponent Belisarius-and Theodora had her chance. An attempt to entrap Silverius by means of a forged letter in a charge of treasonable conspiracy with the Goths having apparently failed, he was kidnapped and carried away to Patara in Lycia in Asia Minor. The next day Belisarius-who was acting under pressure from his wife Antonina-proclaimed as pope in his stead Empress Theodora's nominee, deacon Vigilius. A very bad episode in the history of the papacy had begun.
Apparently the Emperor Justinian had been kept in ignorance of what was going on; and when he was told by the bishop of Patara of what had happened, he ordered that Silverius be sent back to Rome and an inquiry instituted. But when the pope landed in Italy the supporters of Vigilius intercepted and captured him; and Antonina, eager to gratify Theodora, prevailed on her husband to let them deal with him as they chose. Accordingly Silverius was taken under escort to the island of Palmarola in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off Naples.
There, or perhaps in the neighbouring island of Ponza, he ended his days soon afterwards, as the result of the ill-treatment he received. According to Liberatus, who wrote from hearsay, he died of hunger; but his contemporary, Procopius, states that he was murdered at the instigation of Antonina, by one of her servants. In any case the feast of St Silverius is kept as that of a martyr.
It is not at all clear how the appointment of Vigilius to the papal see came to be regularized; but once he was recognized as pope his patroness Theodora experienced disappointment, for he ceased to support her intrigues on behalf of Monophysism and stood forward as the upholder of orthodoxy-which after all is what is expected of a pope.

See the Liber Pontificalis (ed. Duchesne), vol. i, pp. 290-295. Duchesne, in his introduction (pp. xxxvi-xxxviii), points out that there is a curious difference of tone between the earlier and later part of this notice. He concludes that it was compiled by two different writers, the former hostile, the latter friendly to Silverius. The remaining jejune, but, for lack of better material, not negligible, sources are the Breviarium of Liberatus; Procopius, De Bello Gothico; and the documents of Vigilius in Mansi, Concilia, vol. ix. See also Grisar, Geschichte Roms und der Päpste, vol. i, pp. 502-504; Leveque, Etude sur le Pape Vigilius; DCB., vol. iv, pp. 670-675; and E. Amann in DTC., s.v. Silvère. Benedict XIV's commission proposed to remove the feast of St Silverius from the general calendar.

Born in Frosinone, Campania, Italy; died December 2, c. 537. Saint Silverius's story clearly illustrates the harm that can be done to the Church by those who seek to exploit it for their own selfish purposes or political advancement. The subdeacon Saint Silverius was son of Pope Saint Hormisdas, who had been married before his consecration and whose Formulation of Hormisdas helped to end the Monophysite schism of Acacius.

In the rivalry between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantine Empire, the papacy was an important factor in the balance of power. Because Agapitus had died in Constantinople, the Ostrogoth King Theodehad of Italy knew that the emperor would name his candidate for the see without delay. To circumvent the imposition of the emperor's candidate, Theodehad named Silverius pope in April 356. Soon after Theodehad compelled the Roman clergy to elect (or acquiesce to) Silverius to succeed Pope Saint Agapitus. Thus, he was ordained bishop of Rome on June 1 or 8, 536.

The Byzantines naturally supposed that Silverius was a puppet of the Goths; an opinion that was reinforced when he denied Empress Theodora's request to acknowledge the Monophysites Anthimus as patriarch of Constantinople and Severus apatriarch of Antioch. Thus, he exposed himself to the bitter enmity of Theodora, who was a domineering woman and did not hesitate to act without the knowledge of Emperor Justinian. Indeed, the consequences were so predictable that Silverius is said to have remarked that by signing the letter of refusal to the request of the empress, he was also signing his on death warrant. He was right; Theodora was a woman who would tolerate no opposition.

A few months later, in an attempt to save Rome from the destruction the Ostrogoth General Vitiges visited upon the suburbs, Silverius and the senate opened Rome's gates to the lesser evil, Belisaurus, the commander of the Byzantine armies in Italy. A forged letter accusing Silverius of being responsible for Vitiges' devastation proved unsuccessful in implicating Silverius. Nevertheless, like Justinian, Belisaurus had an intriguing wife, Antonina, and it was largely at her prompting that he deposed Silverius on the false accusation of conspiring with the Goths and the next day replaced him with Theodora's protege, Deacon Vigilius.

Silverius was kidnapped and taken to Patara in Lycia, Asia Minor. All this was done without the knowledge of Emperor Justinian. When he received a message from the bishop of Patara telling him what had happened, he immediately gave orders that Silverius be reinstated in the Holy See and an investigation instituted. Shortly after his return to Italy, he was captured by Vigilius's supporters and imprisoned on Palmarola in the Tyrrhenian Sea near Naples. Antonina, eager to ingratiate Theodora, prevailed on her husband to let them deal with Silverius as they chose. He did not survive long in prison. Either left to die of starvation or was murdered by Antonina's hired assassin, Silverius died a martyr's death after less than two years in office.

It is uncertain how Vigilius's appointment to the papal see was regularized. Nevertheless, Silverius was vindicated in one way-- after his death Pope Vigilius ceased to support Theodora and held firm in defense of orthodoxy (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Walsh, White).

Pope Saint Silverius is generally portrayed as a pilgrim pope with a small piece of bread on a plate. He might also be shown with a paten or while armed men approach as he sits by a table on which is a scroll, Justentor pane tribulationi et aqua angustie (Roeder). He may be depicted holding a church (White).

670 St. Govan Hermit missionary to evangelize East Anglia
ST GOBAN, OR GOBAIN, MARTYR (c. A.D. 670)
AN Irishman by birth, and a disciple of St Fursey, St Goban accompanied his master to East Anglia, and with St Ultan afterwards passed over to Gaul. After a short stay at Corbie, where as yet there was no abbey, St Goban went to Laon. From thence he made his way to the great forest near the Oise, and constructed a cell near La Fère and Prémontré; then he built a church dedicated to St Peter, later known as Saint-Gobain. Eventually he fell a victim to barbarians from Germany, who were plundering the district. They cut off his head, either out of hatred for the Christian faith or because they found no treasure in the hermit's cell. The town of Saint-Gobain, famous for its glass-works, stands on the Mont d'Ermitage where the saint is said to have lived and died.

Though the short medieval life of uncertain date which is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. v, lacks independent confirmation, there can be no doubt of St Goban's real existence. He is mentioned by Bede in book III, chapter xix of his Ecclesiastical History, but the matter of this chapter was borrowed by Bede from a still older Life of Fursey. As C. Plummer remarks, in a note to this passage of Bede, Goban was a common Irish name; there are no less than seven Gobans commemorated in the Félire of Gorman. Cf. also L. Gougaud, Les Saints irlandais hors d'Irlande (1936), p. 112, who mentions Goban, but evidently attaches no weight whatever to the account of his doings in Gaul.

He lived on a cliff at St. Govan’s Head, Dyfed, Wales disciple of St. Ailbhe In some lists is called Cofen or Gonen.

Goban (Gobain, Govan), OSB M (AC) Born in Ireland; Goban was ordained priest in his native land. Then he became a monk under and disciple of Saint Fursey at Burgh Castle in Suffolk. He accompanied his abbot on his mission to evangelize East Anglia. Both saints then crossed to France. For a short time Goban lived at Corbeny, before the abbey was built, and later they settled together as hermits at Laon. From there they withdrew into the forest on the Oise. There Goban founded a stately church dedicated to Saint Peter, now called Saint Gobain, on land given to him by King Clotaire III. Here Goban was beheaded by thieves at a place now called Saint-Gobain and previously known as Le Mont d'Hermitage. His relics were lost during the Thirty Years War, except for his head which is still in his church (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth). In art, Saint Goban is a Benedictine in Mass vestments holding a book and a sword (Roeder). He is venerated in Burgh (Suffolk) and Saint Goban (Oise) (Roeder).

636 Saint Florentina Spanish abbess sister of Saints Leander, Isidore, and Fulgentius
Híspali, in Hispánia, sanctæ Florentínæ Vírginis, soróris sanctórum Leándri et Isidóri Episcopórum.
At Seville in Spain, the holy virgin Florentina, sister of the sainted bishops Leander and Isidore.
She was born in Cartagena, Spain, and was the sister of Saints Leander, Isidore, and Fulgentius. Leander raised Florentina and founded a convent for her, where she became abbess.
Florentina (Florence) of Carthagena, Abbess (RM) Born in Carthagena, Spain; Florentina was the only sister of Saints Leander, Fulgentius, and Isidore. When their parents died while Florentina was still young, she was placed in the care of Leander. Later she enter the convent whose rule Leander wrote, and eventually she became its abbess (Benedictines).

7th v. Edburga of Caistor sisters were saints but father Christ-hating pagan OSB V (AC)
(also known as Idaberga, Edburge, Eadburh) Died late 7th century
It is odd that a pagan, King Penda of Mercia, should have born so much fruit for the Kingdom of God. He was a staunch opponent of Christ, yet four of his daughters, including Edburga, rank among those in the heavenly court. Her sisters by blood and faith were Saints Kyneburga (wife of King Alfred of Northumberland), and Kyneswide and Chinesdre, who consecrated their virginity to God when they entered the convent of Dormundcastor or Caistor in Northamptonshire.
Edburga also seems to have made her vows and was buried there. When her brother Wulhere finished Peterborough, her relics with those of her three sisters were translated to the new foundation. About 1040, the monk Balger carried all their relics and some of those of Saint Oswald to Berg Saint Winnoc in Flanders, probably by the authority of King Hardecanute of England, son of Emma, who had lived in Flanders in his youth. The relics of Saints Oswald, Edburga, and Lewin were lost in a great fire at the abbey in 1558. Yet an inscription there informs us that some of their dust still remains in the tomb (Benedictines,Husenbeth).

710 St. Bagne Benedictine monk Bishop missionary disciple of St. Wandrille
ST BAGNUS, OR BAIN, BISHOP OF THEROUANNE (c. A.D. 710)
FEW outstanding events seem to have marked the career of the saint who is the principal patron of the town of Calais. Bagnus, or Bain as the French call him, was a monk in the abbey of Fontenelle, and one of the most ardent of the disciples of St Wandregisilus. About the year 689 he was raised to the bishopric of Thérouanne, a see which owed its foundation to St Audomarus and comprised what is now known as the Pas de Calais. He did much to evangelize those parts of the diocese which bordered upon the Channel, and was particularly successful in the neighbourhood of Calais. From a visit to Pope St Sergius I in Rome he returned with many gifts, including the reputed relics of St Silas, the companion of St Paul, which he placed in his cathedral church. He buried the bodies of SS. Luglius and Luglian, two Irish pilgrims who were murdered by robbers as they were on their way back from the Holy Land. When he had ruled for twelve years he resigned his office, and went back to live as a simple monk at Fontenelle. Three years later, however, he was obliged to accept the post of abbot. The date of St Bain's death is contested: it probably took place in 710. He has given his name to the village of Bainghien, with which he is believed to have been connected.

A short account of St Bagnus is furnished in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. v. It is derived mainly from the Gesta Abbatum Fontanellensium. See also Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. iii, p. 134.; and Lohier and Laporte, Gesta sanctorum patrum Fontanellensis coenobii (1936), pp. 14-21.

called Bain or Bagnus in some lists. He was a Benedictine monk at Fontenelle Abbey in France in 689 when he was named a bishop. Bagne served as a missionary in the area of modern Calais, in France. After twelve years he resigned his see and returned to Fontenelle where he was elected abbot in 704. He also governed Fleury Abbey.

Bagnus of Calais, OSB B (AC) (also known as Bain or Bainus of Thérouanne) Saint Bagnus was a monk at Fontenelle under Saint Wandrille. In 685, he became the fifth bishop of Thérouanne, which then included Calais. Because Merville, where Saint Mauront had built Breuil monastery, was in the diocese of Thérouanne, Saint Bain translated the body of Saint Amatus to Mauront's newest church at Douai. When SS. Luglius and Luglianns, two Irish hermits, were murdered by highwaymen in his diocese, Saint Bain buried them with great honor in the chapel of his castle at Lilleres, where they are honored as patrons of the town.

After shepherding his flock for 12 years, Saint Bagnus resigned his bishopric and retired again to Fontenelle. Three years later, he was again its abbot.

Out of his great devotion to the relics of the saints, he translated the bodies of Saints Wandrille, Ansbert, and Wulfram, from the chapel of Saint Paul, built by Wandrille as the burial-place, into the great church of Saint Peter, in which the monks celebrated the divine mysteries.

Towards the end of his life Pepin placed Bagnus in charge of the newly restored Fleury Abbey (now Saint Benet's) on the Loire near Orléans, while he still governed Fontenelle. He is the principal patron of Calais (Benedictines, Husenbeth).

750 St. Helena Benedictine abbess of Ohren Abbey in Trier Germany
also called Heliada.
Helia (Heliada) of Öhren, OSB Abbess (AC) Died c. 750. Saint Helia was abbess of the Benedictine convent of Öhren in Trier, Germany (Benedictines).

981 St. Adalbert of Magdeburg Apostle of the Slavs archbishop German Benedictine monk
ST ADALBERT, ARCHBISHOP OF MAGDEBURG (A.D. 981)
MAGDEBURG, the capital of Prussian Saxony, owes its foundation as a town and as an archiepiscopal seat to the Emperor Otto the Great. Recognizing the strategic value of the site, he began the construction of a strongly fortified city calculated to overawe the neighbouring Slavs; and to serve as a centre for Christian missions amongst them he in 937 founded a monastery, with the active co-operation of his first wife, the English princess Edith (she was a sister of King Athelstan and a granddaughter of Alfred the Great). They dedicated the abbey in the names of the apostles St Peter and St Paul, and St Maurice. Political and religious motives combined to make Otto an ardent advocate of the evangelization of the Slavs, the Magyars, and other pagans of eastern Europe. Consequently, when the Russian princess St Olga, after her conversion at Constantinople at the age of seventy, asked him to provide missionaries to evangelize her Russian subjects he willingly acceded to her request. The leader chosen for the little band was Adalbert, a monk of St Maximin at Trier, of whose antecedents nothing is now known, but he would seem even then to have been a man of mark.
In 961 the missionaries went forth, but directly they set foot in Russia they found their mission was futile as Olga had had to hand over her authority to her heathen son Svyatoslav at Kiev. Some of the missionaries lost their lives, but Adalbert managed to escape and to return to his own country. For four years he remained at the imperial court at Mainz, and then he was made abbot of the abbey of Weissenburg. There he did much to foster learning. He also continued, or caused one of his monks to continue, the chronicle of Reginald von Prüm which covers the years between 907 and 967. By this time Magdeburg had become an important city, and Otto greatly desired, for various reasons, to see it raised to archiepiscopal rank. After much opposition from the archbishop of Mainz and others, his request received papal sanction in 962, and Adalbert was nominated the first archbishop of Magdeburg, with a general jurisdiction over the Slavs. A true apostle, he laboured indefatigably for the extension of Christianity amongst the Wends on the opposite bank of the river Elbe, and was strict in enforcing discipline in religious houses. When Otto the Great died, in 973, St Adalbert buried him beside his first wife, Edith, in the church of St Maurice, which had now become the cathedral. The holy archbishop was taken ill and died eight years later, when making a visitation in the diocese of Merseburg.

Our knowledge of the facts of Adalbert's career is mainly derived from Thietmar's Chronicle and from the Gesta Episcoporum Magdeburgensium. These can best be consulted in Pertz, MGH., Scriptores, vol. i, pp. 613-629; and vol. xiv, pp. 381-386. There is a notice of St Adalbert in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. v. See also Hauck, Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands, vol. iii; and F. Dvornik, The Making of Central and Eastern Europe (1949), pp. 60 and 68-70.

Monastery of St. Maximin in Tréves, he was consecrated a bishop and sent to Russia in 961. Princess Olga of that land had asked Emperor Otto I the Great to provide her with a missionary. The son of Princess Olga took her crown from her soon after Adalbert arrived in Russia, and his mission companions were slain. He barely escaped with his own life and made his way to Maniz, where he spent four years. He was then named abbot of Weissenburg in Alsace and bishop of Magdeburg in Saxony. This was a diocese created to provide missionary programs for the Slavs. There, Adalbert was made metropolitan of the Slavs and established the dioceses of Naumberg, Neissen, Merseb.

Adalbert of Magdeburg, OSB B (RM) At the age of 70, Princess Saint Olga of Kiev was baptized in Constantinople. The last woman to rule Russia for may centuries, this remarkable lady asked Emperor Otto the Great to send a missionary from Germany to convert her subjects. Adalbert, a monk of the Benedictine Saint Maximin's at Trier (Trèves), was sent by Otto with a small group to evangelize Russia. They had just begun their work when Princess Olga's pagan son Svyatoslav deposed his mother in 961. The missionaries were forced to flee, and many of Adalbert's companions were killed by the heathen near Kiev. He escaped with difficulty and returned to Mainz, Germany, where he served at the imperial court for four years.

Otto appointed Adalbert abbot of an important monastery at Weissenberg, where he became known as a patron of learning. He held that part of a monk's duty was to record the history of God's world, and so we still possess a chronicle of Adalbert's time, written by his brothers at Weissenberg.

Many of Otto's subjects were ready to revolt whenever they thought insurrection might succeed. Otto therefore decided to found a new, fortified city, Magdeburg, to dominate Saxony. He wanted it to become a Christian center as well as a fortress so he founded a new abbey and persuaded the pope to create a new see. In 968, Adalbert was given the office of archbishop of Magdeburg with jurisdiction over the Slavs beyond the Elbe together with the Wends. He spent the balance of his life trying to evangelize the Wends, reform religious communities in his diocese, and establish three new dioceses. After ruling the see for 13 years, he died while on a visit to Merseburg (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer).

1139 John of Matera Benedictine monastery reputation for austerity, honoured by all for his wisdom, his miracles and his prophetical gifts popular preacher at Bari OSB Abbot (AC)
ST JOHN OF MATERA, ABBOT OF PULSANO (A.D. 1139)
THE founder of the Benedictine congregation of Pulsano was born at Matera, a town in the Basilicata, part of the kingdom of Naples. While yet a boy John longed to be a hermit, and on reaching manhood he left his father's house and made his way to an island off Taranto, where he joined a monastery in the capacity of shepherd. His austerity, however, and his refusal to join his brethren in any form of recreation, made him unpopular, so he left them and went, first to Calabria, then on to Sicily. Afterwards, in obedience to what he regarded as a divine admonition, he returned to the mainland, and at Ginosa for two and a half years he maintained unbroken silence, without making his presence known to his parents, whom war had compelled to take refuge in the vicinity. He now had a vision of St Peter, who bade him rebuild a ruined church dedicated in his honour about a mile from Ginosa. This task he successfully accomplished with the help of a few companions who rallied round him. But then he was accused of having discovered and appropriated hidden treasure, and was brought up before the governor of the province, by whom he was committed to prison. He managed to escape-liberated, it is said, by an angel-and reached Capua.
He was not permitted to remain there. An inward voice bade him return to his own land, and he entered the community of St William of Vercelli on Monte Laceno. John stayed with them until their dwellings were destroyed by fire. The rest then moved to Monte Cagno, but John went to Bari, where he preached to the people with wonderful effect. His very success seems to have aroused jealousy and he found himself once more under accusation-this time on a charge of heresy. He was able, however, to clear himself triumphantly. He then returned to Ginosa, where he was welcomed by his former disciples, and he conducted in St Peter's church what appears to have been a very fruitful mission. His wanderings were now nearly at an end. Still directed by the voice which had led him in the past, he betook himself to Monte Gargano, and at Pulsano, three miles from the spot hallowed by the appearance of St Michael, he built a monastery. Disciples flocked to join his community, which soon numbered sixty monks, over whom he ruled until his death. Honoured by all for his wisdom, his miracles and his prophetical gifts, he passed to his rewrap on June 20, 1139. Other religious houses were afterwards affiliated to his, and the congregation of Monte Pulsano was at one time a recognized part of the great Benedictine family. It has long since disappeared.

There is a Latin life in tolerably full detail, which seems to have been written before the end of the twelfth century. It is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. v. A metrical account, of which the Bollandists have only extracted a specimen, may be read in full in G. Giordano, Chroniche de Monte Vergine (1640), pp. 520-527. A life has been published in more recent times (1930-) by M. Morelli, and see Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lvii (1939), pp. 174-176.

(also known as John of Mathera or Pulsano) Born at Matera in the Basilicata; died at Pulsano, Italy, 1139. Early in his life John entered a Benedictine monastery, where he earned a reputation for austerity. For a while he joined Saint William at Monte Vergine, but left him to become a popular preacher at Bari. Later founded a community at Pulsano near Monte Gargano, the first of a series of foundations that coalesced into a new Benedictine congregation (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). In art, Saint John is an abbot driving away the devil with a rod (Roeder).

13 v. St. Benignus Cistercian martyr of Breslau, in Silesia, Poland
Tartars of the region invaded his monastery, and Benignus and other monks were slain defending blessed property.
Benignus of Breslau, OSB Cist. M (PC). Saint Benignus was a Cistercian monk martyred by the Tartars in Breslau, Silesia, with many other members of his abbey. His feast is commemorated by the Cistercians (Benedictines).

1356 Blessed Michelina Metelli Franciscan tertiary OFM Tert. Widow (AC)
BD MICHELINA OF PESARO, WIDOW (A.D. 1356)
THE town of Pesaro on the east coast of Italy has a special devotion to this holy widow, who was one of its own citizens. Born of wealthy and distinguished parents, Michelina Metelli married at the age of twelve a member of the Malatesta family of Rimini. The union was a happy one, but when the death of her husband left her a widow at twenty, with one little son, she seems to have been by no means disconsolate. She had always been fond of pleasure, and she continued for some time to lead the same life as before, giving little or no thought to religion. There was staying in Pesaro at that period a Franciscan tertiary of unknown origin and antecedents who went by the name of Syriaca. She lived on alms, spent most of her time in prayer, and depended for shelter at night on the casual hospitality of the charitable. Michelina, who was one of those who opened their doors to the stranger, gradually came under her influence.
An intimacy sprang up between them which ended in Michelina's complete conversion. Only her boy now bound her to the world, and when he fell a victim to some childish complaint she determined to renounce all things. By Syriaca's advice she took the Franciscan tertiary habit, distributed her possessions to the poor, and begged her bread from door to door. It was by no means a simple thing for one who had always lived in ease and comfort to accustom herself to rejected scraps. Once, in the early days of her new life, she acknowledged to a former associate that she longed for a taste of freshly roasted pork. Eager to give her that small gratification her friend promptly invited her to dinner. But when the joint was dished up and the savoury smell assailed her nostrils, Michelina suddenly recollected herself. Refusing to sit down to table, she withdrew from the company and beat herself with an iron chain until the blood flowed. As each blow fell she apostrophized herself bitterly, exclaiming: "Do you still want pork, Michelina? Do you want still more?"
Many other trials she had to bear from within and without. Her relations took strong objection to her conduct and at one time went the length of shutting her up as a lunatic. Her patience and gentleness, however, disarmed them: they concluded that though deluded she was quite harmless and they liberated her. The rest of her life was spent in self-abnegation and good works. She nursed lepers and others afflicted with loathsome diseases, performing for them the most menial offices; and she is said to have cured several of them by kissing their sores. Towards the close of her life Michelina made a pilgrimage to Rome. There on one occasion she was allowed a mystical participation in the sufferings of our Lord. She died on Trinity Sunday, 1356, at an age which is given as fifty-six. From the moment of her death she was venerated by her fellow citizens who kept a lamp burning day and night before her tomb in the Franciscan church. In 1580 the house she had once occupied at Pesaro was converted into a church, and in 1737 her cultus was approved.

There is a short account in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. iv, and in Wadding, Annales Ordinis Minorum, vol. viii, pp. 140-143; several lives were also printed in the eighteenth century by Bonucci, Matthaei, Ermanno, Bagnocavallo and others. See also Fr Léon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. ii, pp. 422-426.

(also known as Michelina of Pesaro) Born at Pesaro, Urbino, Italy, in 1300; cultus confirmed in 1737.
Michelina was born into the family of the counts of Pardi. When she was 12, she married Duke Malatesta, who left her a widow at the age of 20. Upon the death of her only child, she determined to change her life, but her parents, thinking that she was mad, locked her up. At last they gave her liberty. She then renounced her inheritance, became a Franciscan tertiary, and lived as one until her death (Benedictines). In art, Michelina is a young Franciscan tertiary kneeling in ecstasy in the midst of a storm with a pilgrim's hat and staff by her (Roeder).

1505 BD OSANNA OF MANTUA, VIRGIN Professor R. W. Chambers described as "that beloved and saintly scholar ... Edmund Gardner", to quote somewhat at length from a privately printed essay of his entitled: "A Mystic of the Renaissance: Osanna Andreasi of Mantua". Speaking of the vision vouchsafed to her in her childhood, Professor Gardner tells how, in her own words, "she feared greatly because of the vision she had had, knowing herself not to be a true and perfect lover of God as she needs must be", and how her aspirations after this perfect state took articulate form in her simple prayer for divine guidance along the way of love.
WHEN we study the internal history of the Italian states in the late middle ages we cannot fail to notice the important part played by certain holy women living in their midst, whose advice and prayers are sought by rulers and people, and who come to be regarded even during their lifetime as the protectors of the community and as mediators with God and man. One such woman was Bd Osanna. Born on January 17, 1449, at Mantua, she was the daughter of Nicholas Andreasi and of Louisa Gonzaga, whose name shows her to have been in some way related to the reigning dukes. Osanna was the eldest of a numerous family, some members of which were to be her almost constant care all her life. She was five when she had her first religious experience. As she was wandering one day beside the river Po at Carbonarola, she heard a voice which said, gently but distinctly, "Child, life and death consist in loving God." Immediately she fell into an ecstasy and was led by an angel to Paradise. There he showed her all creatures praising God after their fashion, and explained that this praise, which will be our chief function in eternity, ought to be our preoccupation and our happiness even in this life. It was a wonderful revelation to be disclosed to a little child; but she responded by the surrender of her whole being to God.
From that time she began to spend long hours in prayer and penance. She often fell into ecstasies--to the great concern of her parents, who at first attributed her trances to epilepsy. Eager to learn more about her religion, she asked to be taught to read, but her father refused, on the plea that learning was dangerous to women. That she did learn to read and write, her biographers attribute to the direct intervention of our Lady: in view, however, of the ease with which an intelligent girl can assimilate the lessons given to her brothers, a purely natural explanation may be preferred. When she was fourteen she sought permission to join the third order of St Dominic, but again she met with opposition, because her father wished her to marry. He allowed her, nevertheless, a little later on to assume the Dominican habit temporarily as a thanksgiving for recovery from a serious illness; and when, at the close of the prescribed period, she announced that she had committed herself for life, although he was angry he did not insist.
Strange as it seems, she did not make her profession as a tertiary for another thirty-seven years, remaining a novice and always taking the lowest place at all tertiary gatherings. The reason for the delay is obscure: probably she felt that the obligations entailed were incompatible in some way with the duties in the world which God required her to discharge. She was still young when both her parents died, and she continued to reside in the Andreasi palace, devoting herself to her brothers and their families, never seeking her own will, but serving all as though she were their humblest domestic. Her austerities and devotions were practised as privately as possible.
At the age of eighteen Osanna received another signal favour from on high. In a vision our Lady espoused her to our Lord, and He placed a ring on her finger: she could always feel it, though it remained invisible to others. About this time she seems to have encountered some measure of persecution. In her letters she is reticent and disposed to blame herself, but she appears to have been misjudged by her fellow tertiaries, who questioned her sincerity and the genuineness of the spiritual manifestations which, in spite of her efforts, she could not always conceal. They went so far as to denounce her to the duke and to threaten her with expulsion from the order. It was some time before the agitation completely died down. Between 1476 and 1481 she had a series of experiences in which she was permitted to participate physically in the mysteries of the Passion-first the crown of thorns, then the wound in the side, and finally the wounds in the hands and feet. They were not apparent, but they caused her intense suffering.
The high regard in which Bd Osanna was held by Duke Frederick of Mantua was evinced in a striking manner in 1478. On the eve of starting to conduct a campaign in Tuscany he sent for her and asked her not only to look after the duchess and their six children, but practically to supply his place in his absence. Osanna at first demurred, pleading her inexperience and her youth, for she was not yet thirty. However, he insisted, and she consented with the simplicity and trust in God that characterized her throughout her life. Though she never ceased to live at home, she now spent a great deal of her time at the palace, dealing so wisely with the various matters that came before her that even after his return Frederick continued to consult her. Indeed, when a visit she had paid to Milan under pressure from her Dominican superiors had been, as he thought, unduly prolonged, he wrote to implore her to return. The whole of his family regarded her as their dearest friend, and when Francis II succeeded his father, he and his young bride, Isabella d'Este, carried on the tradition. In letters which are still extant we find her trusting in their friendship to intercede for every kind of distressed person-sometimes demanding justice for some unfortunate victim, sometimes asking mercy for a prisoner, even at the risk, she on occasion acknowledges, of seeming importunate. In 1501 she at last made her full profession as a tertiary, and during the four remaining years of her life, when she was in failing health, she seemed hardly to belong to this world. She died at the age of fifty-six on June 20, 1505. The duke and Isabella d'Este, who were with her at the end, accorded her a magnificent funeral and exempted the Andreasi family from all taxes for twenty years.
It will not be out of place, if only as a tribute to the memory of a man whom Professor R. W. Chambers described as "that beloved and saintly scholar ... Edmund Gardner", to quote somewhat at length from a privately printed essay of his entitled: "A Mystic of the Renaissance: Osanna Andreasi of Mantua". Speaking of the vision vouchsafed to her in her childhood, Professor Gardner tells how, in her own words, "she feared greatly because of the vision she had had, knowing herself not to be a true and perfect lover of God as she needs must be", and how her aspirations after this perfect state took articulate form in her simple prayer for divine guidance along the way of love.
This prayer, with other writings and letters, has been preserved to us by a monk friend whose relations with Osanna remind us much of those of the Dominican Peter of Dacia, more than two centuries earlier, with the stigmatisee Christina of Stommeln. Professor Gardner refers to this curiously interesting feature of her spiritual development in the following passage:

A peculiar element in Osanna's mystical life is the part played therein by the intense, purely spiritual bond of love of friendship that bound her to a man ten years younger than herself, Girolamo da Monte Oliveto. He tells us how, when a youth of fifteen on his way to attend a lecture, he entered a church and there saw her rapt in contemplation, and ever after had her image impressed upon his heart. So moved was he that he abandoned the world, took the Olivetan habit, and, after much entreaty, prevailed upon her to accept him as a spiritual son. The "spiritual colloquies", which he published after her death, are the records of the conversations they held together-speaking heart to heart, "with only God between us", as he says. "0 goodness of God", he cries in one place, "our two hearts were bound together in one will in His sight, such was the innate love between us that I cannot tell it without tears. The virgin loved her beloved son in Christ as her own soul, and he loved his only mother almost more than his sou!. 0 great charity of God, surely inserted into our hearts before there was ever any spiritual conversation between us or we ever knew each other!" In her visions of the divine union one sees his soul with hers in the presence of God, and her letters to him, when the duties of his order take him from Mantua, have the form of spiritualized love-letters. "I have received a sweet and gentle letter of yours; and I cannot express in words how delightful it has been to me, and what great consolation it has brought..." "My soul rejoices at every consolation of yours, as though we were one single soul and one same heart, as indeed we are, through the bond and effect of the charity of sweet Jesus."

Or, again, when she hears that her caro amante in Cristo has returned to Mantua: "I leave you to think how, when I heard, I was almost bereft of spirit through my great joy and gladness. Father and my only son, conceived in the great fountain of the Divine Goodness, if you had seen your unworthy mother become transformed in colour: where is so much cordial love? I answer that it is only found in the sacred side of our Saviour. And this spiritual love has grown so strong that I believe, with the divine aid, that neither angel nor archangel nor demon nor any creature will be able to sever it; but, by means of the grace of God, it will come to perfection in our blessed and eternal country ."

As for Osanna's relations with the outside world, corrupt as society was for the most part in her day and permeated with the semi-paganism of the Renaissance, Professor Gardner held that her thought during her later years was profoundly coloured by the influence of Savonarola. It is true that the great reformer's name occurs nowhere in her letters or conversations, but "I am convinced", says Gardner, "that this was due to deliberate suppression on the part of her two contemporary biographers."
It is recorded that she pored over the Triumph of the Cross (Savonarola's most important work) in the watches of the night. It was entirely in his spirit that she had visions of the horror in store for Italy and that she prayed that the thunderbolt of the divine wrath might not fall upon the land. "Again and again", says Professor Gardner, " we find her foretelling the scourge overhanging Italy for the sins of her people, unless they repent; and more particularly in the opening years of the sixteenth century following with agonized apprehension the career of the pope, realizing ever more and more the awful corruption of the Church. Girolamo tells us that 'she feared greatly for the Church', and it is clear that prudential motives prevented him from recording more than the safer portions of her utterances on the subject." On the other hand, Osanna, while evidently believing in the imminent damnation of vast numbers of unrepentant souls, invariably sees individuals as saved-and, very frequently, their immediate passing into Paradise.

There is only one exception, and that is the sovereign pontiff, Alexander VI. In one of her revelations she tells Girolamo that she has prayed three times for the salvation of the pope. The first two times God seemed disposed to show mercy to him, the third time she received no reply. "And, my soul persevering in the demand, there appeared our Lady, the holy Mother of God, and standing before her Son she began to pray, and to help my soul that she might be consoled by the salvation of the pope, and by the renovation of Holy Church. And thereafter came all the Apostles, standing round the divine presence, and all prayed that mercy might be shown him. Alas, wretched sinner that I am! God ever kept motionless, with aspect and countenance of wrath; and He gave no reply to anyone who prayed; not to the Madonna, nor to the Apostles, nor to my sou!"

Finally Professor Gardner insists that Osanna was not one of those mystics who so turn their backs on the world that they are entirely absorbed in their own spiritual development and progress in perfection.

She was never happy, Girolamo tells us, on any day when she had done no temporal act of mercy, by visiting the sick, giving alms to the poor, nursing and consoling the afflicted. We find her ever protecting the weak and oppressed from the rigour of the law, using her influence to remedy injustice. High and low alike thronged to her house for advice and comfort, and we have many amusing passages in Girolamo's book in which their spiritual colloquies are interrupted by the sudden arrival of Browning's "certain people of importance". Her spirit of detachment does not prevent her from caring for the interests of her brothers, in the court and in the camp, and a charming little letter has been preserved in which on the occasion of a nephew of hers singing his first Mass, she tells the Marquis of Mantua that she is entertaining the friars afterwards, and invites him to form one of the party.

A Latin biography of Bd Osanna, written by her confessor Francis Silvestri, was printed a few months after her death. The Olivetan monk, Dom Girolamo referred to above, published his notes of their colloquies and of her letters in an Italian volume in 1507. But by far the most satisfactory materials for her history are to be found in the book of G. Bagolini and L. Ferretti, La Beata Osanna Andreasi da Mantova (1905); this incorporates the earlier materials just spoken of and adds a considerable collection of her original letters. See also M. C. de Ganay, Les bienheureuses Dominicaines (1924), pp. 369-412.

1626 Bl. John Baptist Zola Martyred Jesuit of Japan 1606-14 Born in Brescia, Italy sent to India in 1602

He became a Jesuit and was sent to India in 1602. Four years later he entered Japan, only to be banished in 1614.
Upon returning to Japan, he was arrested and burned alive at Nagasaki. He was beatified in 1867.

1626 Bl. John Kinsako Martyr of Japan, a novice of the Jesuits
He was burned alive at Nagasaki.

1626 Bl. Peter Rinshei native Japanese martyr entered the Jesuit college at Arima, Japan

Assisted Blessed Francis Pacheco as his catechist. Arrested by the Japanese authorities, he was imprisoned with Blessed Francis, who admitted him to the Jesuits just before Peter was burned alive at Nagasaki. 1589

1626 St. Vincent Kaun Martyr of Japan. A native of Korea, he was brought to Japan in 1591 as a prisoner of war and was subsequently converted to Christianity. Entering the Jesuits, he studied at the Jesuit seminary of Arima and worked for three decades as a catechist in both Japan and China.
Seized during the persecution of the Church, he was burned alive at Nagasaki with Blessed Francis Pacheco. He was beatified in 1867.

1626 Bl. Francis Pacheco sent to Macao Jesuit martyr in Japan Fireworkster returning native of Ponte da Lima, Portugual

Pacheco entered the Society of Jesus in 1584 and was subsequently sent to Macao. There he was ordained and concentrated his efforts on missionary work on the island. He then went to Japan, the main focus of his labors. After a brief first visit, he left the islands but returned with Bishop Louis Cerquiera as vicar general to the recently constituted diocese, of which Cerquiera was head. The bishop died in 1614 and Pacheco was forced to leave Japan following the formal expulsion of all foreign clergy. Under the risk of penalty, Pacheco returned to Japan in a disguise and served for a short time before receiving appointment as episcopal administrator. He held the post briefly, as he was soon arrested and burned alive with eight other Christians at Nagasaki. He was beatified in 1867.

Blessed Francis Pacheco and Companions, SJ MM (AC) Born at Ponte da Lima, Portugal in 1566; died in Nagasaki, Japan, 1626; beatified in 1867. Francis entered the Society of Jesus in 1586 and in 1592 he was ordained priest. He labored in Macao and Japan as rector, provincial, vicar general, and administrator of the diocese. He was burned alive with two other European Jesuits, a Japanese Jesuit, four Japanese laymen, and a Korean (Benedictines).

1626 Bl. Balthasar de Torres martyr of Japan. A Jesuit, he was born in Grenada, Spain, and entered the Society in 1579. He worked in India, at Goa, and Macao and went to Japan in 1606.
When the persecution of Christians began, Balthasar was arrested and condemned. He was burned alive in Nagasaki and was beatified in 1867.

1626 Bl. Paul Shinsuki Japanese martyr. Born in Japan, he became a Christian and entered the Jesuits. Among his notable students was Blessed Paul Navarro.
Arrested by the Japanese officials, he was burned alive at Nagasaki. He was beatified in 1867.

1626 Bl. Michael Tozo Martyr of Japan. He was a native of Japan who became a catechist and aide to Blessed Balthasar Torres.
Loyal to the faith, Michael was bumed alive at Nagasaki. He was beatified in 1867 by Pope Pius IX.

1678-1680 THE ENGLlSH MARTYRS OF THE OATES PLOT
DURING the seventeen years which followed the Stuart Restoration in 1660, the Catholics of England suffered little molestation: they had, in the past, given abundant evidence of their loyalty, and King Charles II was known to be well affected towards them. But in 1678 the pretended revelations of what came to be known as the Popish Plot roused the fears and fury of the nation to fever pitch and caused a renewal of persecution in its bitterest form.
The first victim of the Titus Oates" plot" was BD EDWARD COLEMAN, a gentleman of Suffolk. He was the son of an Anglican parson, went to Peterhouse, Cambridge, and after his conversion became secretary to the Duchess of York. He was a man of considerable talent, and a controversy which he carried on with the Anglican dignitaries Stillingfleet and Burnet led to the conversion of Lady Tyrwhit. A contemporary Protestant chronicler refers to him as "A great bigot in his religion, and of a busy head. This engaged him in many projects for the restoring of Popery here, or at least procuring a liberty of conscience for those of that profession. He had been engaged in a correspondence with Pere la Chaise, the French king's confessor, since the year 1674, in the course of which he was continually entertaining him with schemes and projects for advancing the interest of the French king and the Church of Rome."
This and other foreign correspondence being opportunely discovered, Oates made use of it to add further details to his fabricated papal conspiracy, and Coleman was arrested along with Sir George Wakeman and many others. He was brought to trial at the Old Bailey on November 28, 1678, charged with consenting to a resolution for the assassination of the king and with invoking the assistance of a foreign power to re-establish Catholicism. Oates's concocted evidence on the first charge broke down, and Coleman pleaded that his correspondence was intended only to raise money from abroad wherewith to prosecute his efforts to further the cause of his religion by constitutional means. The Lord Chief Justice (Scroggs) almost ignored the evidence of Oates and his accomplice Bedloe, but construed the prisoner's admissions in such a way as to involve the guilt of conspiring with a foreign power and compassing the king's death: "though he might hope to bring in Popery by procuring a dissolution of the Parliament and a toleration, it was to be supposed other methods would have been taken if these had failed, by his confederates at least, if not by himself... " et cetera. He was accordingly convicted and sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. At Tyburn on December 3, having denied knowledge of any plot, he declared that as a Catholic he repudiated the doctrine "that kings may be murdered, and the like. I say I abominate it"; and maintained once more that he was innocent of any illegal action against the state or individuals.
BD WILLIAM IRELAND (alias lronmonger) was born in Lincolnshire in 1636.
He was the eldest son of William Ireland, of Crofton Hall in Yorkshire, of a strongly royalist family, kin to the Giffards and the Pendrells. William junior was educated at the English college at Saint-Omer, was professed in the Society of Jesus in 1673, and, after being for a time confessor to the Poor Clares at Gravelines, was sent on the mission in 1677. In the following year Titus Oates exploded his plot, and on September 28, Father Ireland was arrested by Oates himself, at a house in London that lodged a number of Jesuits as well as the Spanish ambassador. BD JOHN GROVE, nominal owner of the house, but really manservant to the clergy there, was also taken up.
After nearly three months' brutal imprisonment in Newgate, these two were brought to trial, together with BB. Thomas Whitebread and John Fenwick (below) and THOMAS PICKERING. The last-named was a Benedictine lay-brother of St Gregory's monastery at Douay, a man of about fifty-eight, who had been sent over in 1665 as procurator to the seven Benedictines who served the chapel of Charles II's queen, Catherine of Braganza, at Somerset House in The Strand; when the monks were banished ten years later, he was allowed to remain.
These five-three Jesuit priests, a Benedictine lay-brother and a layman-were charged with conspiring to assassinate the king. For lack of sufficient witnesses Father Whitebread and Father Fenwick were put back for trial at another time illegally, as their trial had already been begun, and they should have been discharged. The conspiracy was alleged to have taken place in the rooms of Bd William Harcourt (below), and Oates and Bedloe swore that Grove and Pickering were to do the job, for which the first was to receive £1,500 and the second 30,000 Masses. [Presumably stipends for Masses which, as Challoner points out, "at a shilling a Mass amounts to the same sum ". But as he was not a priest, Brother Thomas could not celebrate Mass anyway. Or perhaps the benefits of Masses celebrated for him was intended.]
Embroideries on this farrago were that the two accused had hung about St James's Park with pistols, and that on three occasions only a mishap, such as a loose pistol flint, had saved the king's life. Naturally the charge was strenuously denied, Pickering declaring that he had never fired a pistol in his life. Father Ireland had not been in London for a fortnight before and three weeks after the date he was supposed to have assisted at devising the conspiracy: he had been in the Midlands and North Wales all the time, and could have produced fifty witnesses to prove it. But a woman swore away his life, saying she had seen him in Fetter Lane at the pertinent date. All three were brought in guilty.
Father Ireland and Grove were executed together at Tyburn on January 24, 1679. The priest spoke first from the scaffold, and the layman summed up what he had said in one brief sentence. "We are innocent. We lose our lives wrongfully. We pray God to forgive them that are the causers of it."
King Charles had made half-hearted attempts to save their lives, for he was satisfied that the plot "was all a fiction, never believing one tittle of it". Brother Thomas was in fact reprieved until May 9, when he too suffered at Tyburn. Just as he was going to be turned off the cart he was called on to confess his guilt by someone in the crowd. "Pulling up his cap and looking towards them with an innocent, smiling countenance, "Is this", said he, "the countenance of a man that dies under so gross a guilt?"...It was the face of a man "of all men living the most unlikely and the most unfit for that desperate undertaking of which he was accused".
Suspicion was particularly directed against members of the Society of Jesus, and on June 20 of the same year, 1679, five of its priests were executed at Tyburn, including the provincial superior, BD THOMAS WHITEBREAD. A man of good birth, a native of Essex, he had studied abroad in the seminary of St Omer and had entered the Jesuit novitiate at Watten in 1635. After he had been raised to the priesthood, he was sent to England, where he laboured with fervour and success for over thirty years, teaching by word of mouth and through controversial pamphlets. A sermon he delivered to his brethren at Liege, shortly before the outbreak of persecution, seemed to indicate foreknowledge of his fate. He had taken for his text the words: "Can you drink the chalice that I am to drink?" and after enumerating one by one the trials which actually afterwards befell him he repeated several times most solemnly: "Possumus-We can." He was apprehended on his return to England and, though ill and very weak, was imprisoned loaded with chains. He languished in gaol for several months before he, with four companions, was brought up for trial at the Old Bailey, on June 13, 1679.
BD WILLIAM HARCOURT, or Waring-whose real name was Barrow-came from Lancashire. He had entered the Society of Jesus at the age of twenty-three, had worked in England for thirty-five years and had prayed daily for twenty years that he might gain the crown of martyrdom: his petition was granted when he was over seventy.
A north countryman from Durham, BD JOHN FENWICK-alias Caldwell-was the son of Protestant parents who cast him off when he embraced the Catholic faith. He went for his education to St Omer and joined the Society of Jesus in 1656, when he was twenty-eight. In 1675 he was sent on the English mission. At the time of his arrest a sore from which he suffered was so badly aggravated by the weight of his fetters that amputation of his leg was seriously contemplated. He was fifty years of age when he was condemned to death.
BD JOHN GAVAN, or Gawen, was London born. He was educated at St Omer, and after being admitted to the order at the age of twenty, he continued his studies at Liege and in Rome. He had been working in England for eight years and had made a number of converts when he was apprehended.
Like Father Fenwick, BD ANTONY TURNER was a convert. He was born in Leicestershire, where his father was a Protestant clergyman, and was educated at the University of Cambridge. He became a Catholic after he had taken his B.A. degree and passed on to the English College in Rome. At the age of twenty-four he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Watten. When he had been ordained to the priesthood he was sent to England, where he worked for eighteen years, making his headquarters mainly at Worcester. He was an ardent and successful missioner. He had always longed for martyrdom, and at the outbreak of persecution he gave himself up to a magistrate in London, saying that he was a priest and a Jesuit.
The charge brought against them at their trial was that of conspiring to murder the king, and the accusations rested entirely on the evidence of three unprincipled men-Oates, Bedloe and Dugdale. A number of reliable witnesses appeared for the defence, but the trial was a travesty of justice: its result was a foregone conclusion. Nevertheless, Father Whitebread conducted the defence with great spirit. He denounced the odious accusations levelled against himself and his fellow Jesuits.
With regard to his accusers, he pointed out that Oates had been ignominiously expelled from St Omer as a man of irregular life and was actuated by malice, whilst Dugdale was equally disreputable. The third witness flatly contradicted himself in court and was palpably guilty of perjury. As an onlooker was heard to remark: "If there had been a jury of Turks the prisoners would have been acquitted." Lord Chief Justice Scroggs, however, was so determined to convict them that he practically dictated to the jury the verdict they were to return. He then sentenced them to death as guilty of high treason. On the scaffold, when the ropes were about their necks, they were offered a free pardon if they would acknowledge the conspiracy and reveal what they knew about it. In reply they thanked the king for his clemency, but disclaimed all knowledge of any such plot. After they had been executed they were allowed to hang until they were dead. Their bodies, which were then cut down and quartered, were delivered to their friends who buried them in the churchyard of St Giles in the Fields.
Among those denounced by Titus Oates as being privy and consenting to the bogus plot to kill King Charles was a barrister of the Inner Temple, BD RICHARD LANGHORNE. He came of good families in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and had been called to the bar in 1654; he was reputed a lawyer of some distinction, and an upright and religious man. He was under arrest for a time in 1667 after the Great Fire of London (this having of course been fathered on the long-suffering Catholics); and when Oates hatched out his "plot" eleven years later, Mr Langhorne was one of the first to be seized, at his house near Temple Bar or his chambers in Middle Temple Lane, and lodged in Newgate. He was kept in solitary confinement for eight months, and brought to trial at the Old Bailey the day after Bd Thomas Whitebread and his companions.
Mr Langhorne had no difficulty in showing that Oates, Bedloe and the rest were perjuring themselves, but that did not save him from being found guilty and condemned to death. But his execution was put off, in order that he might be persuaded by a promise of pardon to disclose particulars of property held for the Jesuit missionaries and to make a false admission of his own guilt. The first he did, and no doubt had been given authority to do so by his fellow prisoner, Father Whitebread, who was the Jesuit provincial superior; but the second he would not do. Instead he drew up a statement which he handed to the sheriff for publication. In it he again declared his innocence and his loyalty to the king, and said that it was clear to him that he had been charged and condemned solely because of his religion; and he prayed that his enemies, naming particularly Mr Oates and Mr Bedloe, might repent and receive God's pardon.
Bd Richard Langhorne was executed at Tyburn on July 14, 1679. On the scaffold he freely forgave his executioner, and his last words were, "Blessed Jesus, into thy hands I recommend my soul and spirit; now at this instant take me into paradise. I am desirous to be with my Jesus. [To the hangman] I am ready, and you need stay no longer for me."
BD JOHN PLESINGTON (or William Pleasington, alias Scarisbrick) was a secular priest who in the panic of the "plot" was condemned for his priesthood, and executed at Chester. He was born at the Dimples, near Garstang in Lancashire, and did his higher studies at the English College at Valladolid. Little else is known of him, except that he ministered at Holywell in Flintshire. His speech to the people from the scaffold is remarkable as a particularly clear statement and denial in the face of death of the charges upon which he was condemned: charges which even nowadays are sometimes made against the Catholic martyrs of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and some of which, if true, would make them not martyrs but common criminals. It also shows the sort of witnesses which were brought against them. The speech, according to a former custom which only went out with public executions, was printed for circulation; this often enabled a prisoner to make more public than he had time or permission to say aloud. Bd John Plesington's printed speech has been preserved and may be read in Challoner's Memoirs of Missionary Priests. He declared that the course of his trial showed that he was condemned only for his priesthood, and that it was not Catholic belief that "the pope hath power to depose or give licence to murder princes"; and ended, "God bless the king and the royal family, and grant his Majesty a prosperous reign here, and a crown of glory hereafter. God grant peace to the subjects, and that they live and die in true faith, hope and charity. That which remains is that I recommend myself to the mercy of my Jesus, by whose merits I hope for mercy. o Jesus, be to me a Jesus." Which having said, and recommended his departing soul to God, he was turned off and executed. It was July 19, 1679.
Bn THOMAS THWING (or Thweng) was a kinsman of the Venerable Edward Thwing (executed at Lancaster in 1600), who was uncle to George Thwing, of Kilton Castle and Heworth Hall, Thomas's father by his wife Anne Gascoigne; he was a sister of that stout Catholic, Sir Thomas Gascoigne, of Barnborough Hall. Thomas was born at Heworth, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, in 1635, and was sent to his own county as a priest from Douay when he was twenty-nine years old. At first he was chaplain to his cousins, the Stapletons, at Carlton Hall; then he conducted a school in the Stapleton dower-house, curiously named "Quosque"; and finally, in 1677, he became chaplain to the nuns of the Institute of Mary at Dolebank, Thwing, where three of his own sisters belonged to the community.
At the time of the Oates "plot", two men who had been discharged from the service of Sir Thomas Gascoigne, for dishonesty and "divers villainies", by name Robert Bolron and Laurence Maybury, sought to get their own back by implicating Sir Thomas in the alleged plot. They therefore laid an information that Barnborough Hall had been used by Gascoigne, Sir Miles Stapleton, the Lady Tempest and others as a meeting-place for forwarding the ends of the plot; and all the persons named, and Mr Thomas Thwing who was not named, were taken off to London for trial. All those accused were duly acquitted (there was a limit to the credulity of juries, even in that mad time); but Mr Thwing was kept in custody and sent back to York to stand his trial there.
In spite of his challenging of the panel, he failed to get an impartial jury, and was found guilty on precisely the same evidence which had led to the acquittal of the others. Out of consideration for his gentle birth he was removed from the company of common criminals to hear his sentence, and he replied to it with three words: "Innocens ego sum", I am innocent. But for a remonstrance from the House of Commons, King Charles would have reprieved him. And so Thomas Thwing was hanged, drawn and quartered at York on October 23, 1680. He was dragged on a hurdle to the scaffold past the house which sheltered his sisters and the other nuns to whom he had ministered; and before sentence was carried out he spoke to the assembled people, declaring that he had the honour of being a priest and calling God to witness that he was innocent of the charge made against him. "Though I know the affairs of the kingdom are in a bad posture, yet I hope they will be cleared ere long, and then the actors thereof will be more fully known," he concluded. His relatives recovered his mutilated body, and buried it in St Mary's churchyard, Castlegate, in the city of York. It is appropriate that certain relics of him are preserved at The Bar convent of the Institute of Mary in the same city.
Thomas, Earl of Arundel (collector of the "Arundel Marbles"), son and heir of Bd Philip Howard, conformed to the Established Church in 1615, shortly after the birth of his fifth son. This William, though he was educated by the Bishop of Norwich and at St John's College, Cambridge, was brought up a Catholic. He was made a knight of the Bath, when he was fourteen, at the coronation of Charles I, and in 1637 secretly married Mary Stafford, the Catholic sister of the last Baron Stafford. Three years later Charles transferred the barony to Sir William Howard and immediately after raised him to the rank of viscount. Sir William was a trusty and loyal if not distinguished servant of the king, and he was entrusted both by Charles and the Emperor Ferdinand III with responsible commissions on the continent, where he was able to indulge the taste, inherited from his father, for collecting works of art. After the death of the earl in 1646, Lord Stafford was involved in long and bitter disputes and litigation with his eldest surviving brother, Earl Henry Frederick, and then with his nephews, in which, even when right was on his side, he seems to have conducted himself with sufficient "unhandsomeness" to account for the comment of Evelyn, "Lord Stafford was not a man beloved, especially by his own family". He certainly appears to have been litigious-in 1655 he had lawsuits on hand at Douay, Brussels and Amsterdam; but Dom Maurus Corker, his confessor in the Tower, says that he was "ever held to be of a generous disposition, very charitable, devout, addicted to sobriety, inoffensive in his words, and a lover of justice" . At the Restoration his sequestered lands were restored to him, and "he lived in peace, plenty, and happiness, being blessed with a most virtuous lady to his wife, and many pious and dutiful children, in which state he remained till the sixty-sixth year of his age.[Stafford County, in Virginia, testifies to his practical interest in colonization by English Catholics.]
When Titus Oates "revealed" the details of the "Popish Plot" before the House of Commons, in the army which was to invade England in the interests of the pope Lord Stafford had been cast for the part of paymaster general, and warrants were at once issued against him and four other peers. When he heard it, Stafford, who was out of town, immediately returned to London, to be arrested on October 25 and lodged in the King's Bench prison, from whence he was transferred with others to the Tower. Not until two years later, November 30, 1680, was he brought to trial (a clause had been inserted in the Habeas Corpus Act of the previous year making it not retrospective), and then he was the first of the five lords to be dealt with. The trial occupied a week before the House of Lords assembled in Westminster Hall, Lord Chancellor Finch presiding as lord high steward. A dozen legal "managers of the evidence" produced as witnesses such scoundrels as Dugdale, the Irish ex-Dominican Dennis, the apostate priest Smith, Turberville, and Oates himself, and Stafford was too deaf properly to hear all that was said by these perjurers: he had the benefit of counsel only on points of law. Nevertheless, though, as Sir John Reresby wrote in his memoirs, "he was deemed to be weaker than the other lords in the Tower and was purposely brought on first, he deceived them so far as to plead his cause to a miracle". But it was all to no purpose. Had the Lords acquitted, it would have been open acknowledgement that the plot was a sham, and when they gave their votes, "upon their honour", thirty-one said not guilty and fifty-five guilty. After a speech full of abuse and calumny of Catholics, the lord high steward sentenced the aged prisoner to be hanged, drawn and quartered. The king disapproved both of the verdict and the sentence, but the most he could do was to alter the manner of execution to beheading.
The three weeks that elapsed before the execution were mostly passed, wrote Dom Maurus Corker, who was able to see Lord Stafford, "in serious reflection and fervent prayers, wherein he seemed to find a daily increase of courage and of comfort, as if the Divine Goodness intended to ripen him for martyrdom and give him a foretaste of Heaven". He wrote his testament, of which the seven drafts are extant, wherein he says: "I hold the murder of one's sovereign a greater sin than anything since the passion of our Saviour", and expresses in moving terms his cheerful willingness to leave his "most deserving wife and most dutiful children" at the call of God: "Receive, therefore, most dear Jesus, this voluntary oblation". He wrote brief messages to all his children and on St Stephen's day a most loving letter to his wife, and again to her before he dressed on his last morning, December 29, 1680. A guinea was being given for seats in a very bad position to see this man die on Tower Hill. At the scaffold he protested his innocence and gave it as his considered opinion that he was charged because of his religion; then, having prayed aloud in Latin with his friends around him, he said to the crowd, "God bless you all, gentlemen! God preserve his Majesty! He is as good a prince as ever governed you. Obey him as faithfully as I have done." And many shouted, "We believe you! God bless you, my Lord!" He took off his wig and replaced it by a blue silk cap, made the sign of the cross, and his head was struck off. The executioner was a hangman, not used to the axe, and he raised and lowered it twice before delivering the stroke. His name was Jack Ketch.
It is not known where the body of BD WILLIAM HOWARD lies buried. The attainder that he had incurred was reversed in 1824 in favour of Sir George William Stafford Jerningham, who then became eighth Baron Stafford.
All the above martyrs were beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1929. Others who suffered in the Oates plot, and were beatified at the same time with so many others, will be found under the dates July 11, 22, and August 22, 27. Those noticed above are collected under this date of June 20 as that of the largest group, BB. Thomas Whitebread and his fellows.

For Coleman our information is mainly derived from the printed reports of the trials, from contemporary letters and from the martyr's dying speech. See Challoner, MMP., pp. 515-518; Gillow, Biog. Dict., s.v.; and two articles by Fr J. H. Pollen in The Tablet, September 2 and 9, 1922; M. V. Hay's book (below) gives some curious glimpses of his political activity. For Ireland and his companions the sources are The Tryals of William Ireland …1678); An Exact Abridgment of all the Trials ... relating to the Popish ...Plots (1690); Keynes's Florus Anglo-Bavaricus. See MMP., pp. 519-525; Foley, REPSJ., vol. v; Gillow, Biog. Dict., s.v. ; Oliver's Collections and B. Camm's Nine Martyr Monks (for Pickering). A summary of the history of Whitebread and his companions is given in MMP., pp. 525-537; see further REPSJ., vol. v; and Cobbett's State Trials, vol. vii. For Langhorne, Challoner's account in MMP. is taken from the printed trial and dying speech (the statement referred to above) and Baker's Chronicle; see also Gillow, Biog. Dict., s.v. For Plesington, see MMP., pp. 541-543. The government indictment is printed in the documents of the beatification process, and Plesington is mentioned in the Valladolid College Register (C.R.S. Publications, vol. xxx, p. 169)· For Thwing, see Cobbett's State Trials, vol. vii; MMP., pp. 566-568; Dodd's Church History, vol. iii ; and in the Downside Review for July 1909 there is an article on Quosque Hall. An excellent Life of Sir William Howard, Lord Stafford, was published in 1929 by S.N.D.; it is based largely upon family papers and is illustrated by interesting portraits. See also DNB vol. xxviii, pp. 81-83 (with a copious bibliography); Causton, The Howard Papers; MMP., pp. 569-574; and Durrant, Flemish Mystics and English Martyrs, pp. 264-265. Sir John Pollock's The Popish Plot, which aimed at substantiating belief in the reality of some sort of conspiracy by Catholics, was answered by Alfred Marks, Who Killed Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey? (1905); and Sir John replied in the Law Quarterly Review, October 1906. Sir John's book was reissued in 1944, with a new preface in which he refers to Marks's book and gives further references. On this subject see further J. G. Muddiman in The Month for July and October 1921, pp. 31-37 and 327-333. Consult also Arthur Bryant, The Life of Samuel Pepys, vol. ii, and M. V. Hay, The Jesuits and the Popish Plot (1934). The character of Oates, Bedloe and Dugdale is thoroughly exposed in the separate notices accorded to them in DNB.; for Oates, see further Jane Lane's Titus Oates (1949), and for Bedloe, in M. Petherick's Restoration Rogues (1951).

1679 Bl. John Fenwick & John Gavan Jesuit Martyrs of England Titus Qates Plot hysteria, falsely charged with complicity
John Fenwick was born in Durham and educated at Saint-Omer. He became a Jesuit in 1656. John Gavan was born in London and entered the Jesuits in 1660. They were involved in the Titus Qates Plot hysteria, falsely charged with complicity, and put to death at Tyburn with three Jesuit companions.

1679 Bl. William Harcourt Jesuit martyr of England also called William Barrows Catholic mission for more than 30 years

Born in Lancashire in 1609, he studied at St. Omer, France, where in 1632 he became a Jesuit. Returning to England in 1645, he labored in London on behalf of the Catholic mission for more than thirty years. Condemned falsely for complicity in the so-called Popish Plot, he was executed at Tyburn with five other Jesuits, He was beatified in 1929.

1679 Bl. Anthony Turner Martyr of England Jesuits son of a Protestant minister

He was born in Leicestershire and educated at Cambridge. A convert to Catholicism, Anthony went to Rome and joined the Jesuits in Flanders and was ordained in 1661. He returned to England and labored in Worcester until he was arrested in the so-called Titus Oates affair. Convicted on perjured evidence, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn on June 20. Anthony was beatified in 1929.

1679 Bl. Thomas Whitbread English Jesuit and martyr native of Essex England alias Thomas Harcourt served as provincial of the Jesuit mission

He studied at St. Omer, France, and entered the Jesuits in 1635. Back in England and using the alias Thomas Harcourt, he served as provincial of the Jesuit mission until his arrest on the entirely false charges of complicity in the Popish Plot. Thomas was tried for sheltering the plotters and was convicted of the charge of attempting to murder the king. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn.

Blessed Thomas Whitbread & Comp., SJ MM (AC) Born in Essex, England; beatified in 1929. Thomas was educated at Saint Omer and joined the Society of Jesus in 1635. He was provincial of the English mission and at the time of the Popish Plot was convicted with four other Jesuit priests on a false charge of conspiring to murder Charles II. For this he was hanged at Tyburn (Benedictines).

1774 Gleb of Vladimir Holy Prince rew up with a deep faith, and from twelve years of age he led a solitary spiritual life incorrupt relics were preserved and glorified by miracles
George in holy Baptism, a younger son of the holy Prince Andrew Bogoliubsky (July 4). Under the influence of his pious parents he grew up with a deep faith, and from twelve years of age he led a solitary spiritual life. The parents did not hinder their son and even assisted him in spiritual growth. The prince especially loved the reading of holy books, he esteemed the clergy and he was charitable to all.

Despite his young age, he chose for himself the exploit of strict fasting and prayerful vigilance. Prince Gleb died in the year 1174, at age nineteen.

His incorrupt relics were preserved and glorified by miracles. In the year 1238, during the time of the incursion of Batu upon the Russian Land, the Tatars burned the cathedral at Vladimir. In this conflagration perished Bishop Metrophanes, Great-princess Agatha, wife of Great-prince George Vsevolodovich (+ 1238), and many inhabitants of the city of Vladimir, who were locked in the cathedral church. The fire, however, did not even touch the tomb of St Gleb. Years later, in July 1410, Tatars again descended upon Vladimir. In plundering the city, they began to sack the cathedral church treasury, having murdered the door-keeper Patrick. Supposing that treasure was hidden in the saint's tomb, they set about to break it open. Just as the Tatars touched the stone crypt of St Gleb, flames shot forth from it, and the Tatars fled the city in terror.

Through the prayers of the holy prince the city was saved from an incursion of Polish-Lithuanian plunderers in 1613.

The celebration of St Gleb was established in the year 1702, and then also a service was written to him, and somewhat later, a Life. His relics rest in the Dormition cathedral in Vladimir.

In the year 1774 the south chapel of the cathedral was dedicated to him. Prince Gleb is revered as the special patron and defender of the city of Vladimir.

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

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 151

Preserve me, O Lady, for I have hoped in thee: do thou bestow on me the dew of thy grace.

Thy virginal womb has begotten the Son of the Most High.

Blessed be thy breasts, by which thou hast nourished the Savior with deific milk.

Let us give praise to the glorious Virgin: whosoever ye be that have found grace and mercy through her.

Give glory to her name: and praise forever her conception and her birth.

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
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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 151 2023