The great psalm of the Passion, Psalm 21, 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" (Psalm 21:28)

64 First Martyrs of the See of Rome “Protomartyrs of Rome.”

June 30, 2010 First Martyrs of the Church of Rome (d. 68)
There were Christians in Rome within a dozen or so years after the death of Jesus, though they were not the converts of the “Apostle of the Gentiles” (Romans 15:20). Paul had not yet visited them at the time he wrote his great letter in a.d. 57-58.

There was a large Jewish population in Rome. Probably as a result of controversy between Jews and Jewish Christians, the Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome in 49-50 A.D. Suetonius the historian says that the expulsion was due to disturbances in the city “caused by the certain Chrestus” [Christ]. Perhaps many came back after Claudius’s death in 54 A.D. Paul’s letter was addressed to a Church with members from Jewish and Gentile backgrounds.

In July of 64 A.D., more than half of Rome was destroyed by fire. Rumor blamed the tragedy on Nero, who wanted to enlarge his palace. He shifted the blame by accusing the Christians. According to the historian Tacitus, a “great multitude”; of Christians was put to death because of their “hatred of the human race.” Peter and Paul were probably among the victims.

Threatened by an army revolt and condemned to death by the senate, Nero committed suicide in 68 A.D. at the age of 31.

Comment: Wherever the Good News of Jesus was preached, it met the same opposition as Jesus did, and many of those who began to follow him shared his suffering and death. But no human force could stop the power of the Spirit unleashed upon the world. The blood of martyrs has always been, and will always be, the seed of Christians.

Quote: From Pope Clement I, successor of St. Peter: “It was through envy and jealousy that the greatest and most upright pillars of the Church were persecuted and struggled unto death.... First of all, Peter, who because of unreasonable jealousy suffered not merely once or twice but many times, and, having thus given his witness, went to the place of glory that he deserved. It was through jealousy and conflict that Paul showed the way to the prize for perseverance. He was put in chains seven times, sent into exile, and stoned; a herald both in the east and the west, he achieved a noble fame by his faith....”

“Around these men with their holy lives there are gathered a great throng of the elect, who, though victims of jealousy, gave us the finest example of endurance in the midst of many indignities and tortures. Through jealousy women were tormented, like Dirce or the daughters of Danaus, suffering terrible and unholy acts of violence. But they courageously finished the course of faith and despite their bodily weakness won a noble prize.”
The holy men and women are also called the “Protomartyrs of Rome.” They were accused of burning Rome by Nero, who burned Rome to cover his own crimes. Some martyrs were burned as living torches at evening banquets, some crucified, others were fed to wild animals.

These martyrs died before Sts. Peter and Paul, and are called “disciples of the Apostles...whom the Holy Roman church sent to their Lord before the Apostles’ death.”

First Marytrs of Rome Neronian Martyrs also termed the Protomartyrs of Rome

Many martyrs who suffered death under Emperor Nero. Owing to their executions during the reign of Emperor Nero, they are called the Neronian Martyrs, and they are also termed the Protomartyrs of Rome, being honored by the site in Vatican City called the Piazza of the Protomartyrs. These early Christians were disciples of the Apostles, and they endured hideous tortures and ghastly deaths following the burning of Rome in the infamous fire of 62. Their dignity in suffering, and their fervor to the end, did not provide Nero or the Romans with the public diversion desired. Instead, the faith was firmly planted in the Eternal City.

Die ersten Märtyrer von Rom Märtyrer unter Nero

Katholische Kirche: Die ersten Märtyrer von Rom - 30. Juni Evangelische Kirche: Märtyrer unter Nero - 30. Juni

In den ersten Jahren der Kirche wurden die Christen in ihren kleinen Gemeinden belächelt und verspottet. Je mehr die Gemeinden wuchsen und christliches Gedankengut, das sich radikal von den heidnischen Religionen unterschied, bekannt wurde, wuchs auch der Widerstand gegen diese zunehmend staatsgefährdend erscheinende Religion. Der römische Kaiser Nero (54-68) leitete die große über 250 Jahre andauernde Christenverfolgung ein. Nach dem Brand von Rom im Juli 64 beschuldigte Nero die Christen, das Feuer gelegt zu haben. Er wollte wohl damit von den Gerüchten, er selbst habe das Feuer legen lassen, ablenken. Die Christen, die festgenommen wurden, gestanden zwar nicht die Brandstiftung, wohl aber ihren christlichen Glauben. Dieses Geständnis genügte für ein Todesurteil. Nero ließ die Christen nicht einfach hinrichten, sondern erdachte grausame Martern und Todesarten. Tacitus berichtet in seinen Annalen über diese Verfolgung, nach seinen Worten wurde eine gewaltige Schar getötet. Nach Hieronymus wurden 979 Christen hingerichtet.

Twelve Apostles of Christ The Synaxis of the Glorious and All-Praiseworthy appears to be an ancient Feast. The Church honors each of the Twelve Apostles on separate dates during the year, and has established a general commemoration for all of them on the day after the commemoration of the Glorious and First-Ranked among the Apostles Peter and Paul.
The holy God-crowned Emperor Constantine the Great (May 21) built a church in Constantinople in honor of the Twelve Apostles. There are instructions for celebrating this Feast which date from the fourth century. For lists of the Apostles' names, see: Mt.10:2, Mark 3:14, Luke 6:12, Acts 1:13, 26.

Orthodoxe Kirche: 30. Juni - Synaxis der 12 Apostel Katholische Kirche: 15. Juli - Tag der Apostelteilung

Das griechische Wort Synaxis (russisch sobor) wird oft als Versammlung übersetzt. Gemeint ist aber bei diesen Heiligenfesten eine Zusammenschau, also eine Kommemoration mehrerer Heiliger oder nach großen Festtagen eine Betrachtung einzelner Heiliger im Zusammenhang mit ihrer Bedeutung für diese Feste. In unserem ökumenischen Kalender finden Sie:

The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle Andrew the First-called is also commemorated on November 30. He was the brother of St Peter (June 29).

The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle James is also commemorated on April 30.
He and his brother John are the sons of Zebedee, and were called "sons of Thunder" (Mark 3: 17).

The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle and Evangelist, virgin, and beloved friend of Christ, John the Theologian is also commemorated on September 26 and May 8. He and his brother James are the sons of Zebedee, and were called "sons of Thunder" (Mark 3:17).

The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle Philip is also commemorated on November 14.

The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle Bartholomew is also commemorated on June 11 and August 25.

The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle Thomas is also commemorated on October 6 and on the Sunday after Pascha.

The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle and Evangelist Matthew is also commemorated on November 16.

The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle James, the son of Alphaeus, is also commemorated on Oct 9

The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle Jude is also commemorated on June 19. He is also known as Thaddeus (but should not be confused with St Thaddeus of the Seventy, who is commemorated on August 21), and was the brother of St James (October 23).

The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle Simon the Zealot is also commemorated on May 10.
The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle Matthias is also commemorated on August 9.

The Holy Apostle Peter SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net (June 29)
The son of Jonah and brother of Andrew the First-Called, of the tribe of Simeon and the town of Bethsaida, he was a fisherman and was at first called Simon, but the Lord was pleased to call him Cephas, or Peter (Jn 1:42). He was the first of the disciples to give clear expression to his faith in the Lord Jesus, saying: 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God' (Mt. 16:16). His love for the Lord was very strong, and his faith in Him went from strength to strength. When the Lord was put on trial, Peter denied Him three times, but it needed only one look into the face of the Lord, and Peter's soul was filled with shame and repentance. After the descent of the Holy Spirit, Peter became a fearless and powerful preacher of the Gospel. After his first sermon in Jerusalem, about 3,000 souls were converted to the Faith. He preached the Gospel throughout Palestine and Asia Minor, in Italy and in Illyria. He performed many wonders, healing the sick and raising the dead, and even his shadow had the power of healing the sick. He had a major struggle with Simon the Magician, who declared himself to be from God but was actually a servant of the devil. He finally put him to shame and overcame him.
Peter was condemned to death on the order of the wicked Emperor Nero, a friend of Simon's. After installing Linus as Bishop of Rome and exhorting and encouraging the flock of Christ there, Peter went to his death with joy. When he saw the cross before him, he asked the executioner to crucify him upside-down, because he felt himself to be unworthy to die in the same way as his Lord. And so this great servant of the greatest Master went to his rest and received a crown of eternal glory.

The Holy Apostle Paul (June 29) SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net

Commemorátio sancti Pauli Apóstoli.
The commemoration of the holy apostle Paul.
THE COMMEMORATION OF ST PAUL
THE Mass and office of June 29 being principally concerned with St Peter, it is followed the next day by a special commemoration of St Paul. None the less June 29 is the feast-day of St Paul no less than of St Peter, and the
notice of him herein therefore appears under that date.

Born in Tarsus and of the tribe of Benjamin, he was formerly called Saul and studied under Gamaliel. He was a Pharisee and a persecutor of Christians. He was wondrously converted to the Christian faith by the Lord Himself, who appeared to him on the road to Damascus.
He was baptised by the Apostle Ananias, named Paul and enrolled in the work of the Great Apostles. He preached the Gospel everywhere with burning zeal, from the borders of Arabia to the land of Spain, among both the Jews and the heathen, and receiving the title of `the Apostle to the Gentiles'. His fearful sufferings were matched only by his superhuman endurance. Through all the years of his preaching, he hung from day to day like a thread between life and death. Filling his days and nights with toil and suffering for Christ, organising the Church in many places and reaching a high level of perfection, he was able to say: `I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me' (Gal. 2:20). He was beheaded in Rome in the reign of Nero, at the same time as St Peter.

Saint Lucina 1st century Martyr mentioned in the Acts of Sts. Processus and Martinianus
Romæ sanctæ Lucínæ, Apostolórum discípulæ, quæ, de facultátibus suis commúnicans Sanctórum necessitátibus, Christiános in cárcere deténtos visitábat, ac sepultúræ Mártyrum inserviébat; juxta quos et ipsa, in crypta a se constrúcta, sepúlta est.
At Rome, St. Lucina, a disciple of the apostles, who relieved the necessities of the saints with her goods, visited the Christians detained in prison, buried the martyrs, and was laid by their side in a crypt which she herself had constructed.
Other martyrs named Lucina were also recorded, including one who ministered to martyrs and died about 250, and another connected to Saint Sebastian’s martyrdom.

205 Saint Basilides Martyr of Egypt, defender of Saint Potomiana soldier of the guard of the prefect of Egypt
Alexandríæ pássio sancti Basílidis, qui, sub Sevéro Imperatóre, cum sanctam Potamiœnam Vírginem, quam ad supplícium ducébat, ab impudicórum hóminum petulántia tutátus esset, religiósi offícii mercédem ab ea recépit; nam ipsa, post tríduum illi appárens et ejus cápiti corónam impónens, non tantum convértit eum ad Christum, sed étiam, brevi agóne certántem, suis précibus Mártyrem gloriósum effécit.
At Alexandria, the passion of St. Basilides, under Emperor Severus. He protected the saintly virgin Potamioena from the insults of shameless men when he was leading her to execution. He was rewarded for his considerate action, for at the end of three days she appeared to him, placed a crown on his head, not only converting him to Christ, but by her prayers making him, after a short combat, a glorious martyr.
When involved in the execution of Saint Potomiana, he defended her against a mob. Receiving the faith, Basilides was also martyred.

250 Saint Martial Bishop of Limoges one of the first apostles of France
Lemóvicis, in Aquitánia, sancti Martiális Epíscopi, cum duóbus Presbyteris Alpiniáno et Austricliniáno; quorum vita signis miraculórum ádmodum effúlsit.
At Limoges in France, St. Martial, bishop, and two priests Alpinian and Austriclinian, whose lives were distinguished for miracles.
Saint Gregory of Tours informs us, that he was one of the first apostles of France, whither Saint Martial was sent from Rome with Saint Dionysius of Paris, about the year 250. He was the first bishop of Limoges, and his name is famous in ancient Martyrologies. Great miracles have been wrought at his relics.
ST MARTIAL, BISHOP OF LIMOGES (c. A.D. 250)
ALL that is actually known about St Martial is that he was a bishop of Limoges and that he has been venerated from a very early date as the apostle of the Limousin and the founder of the see which he occupied. In all probability he flourished about A.D. 250. According to the tradition current in the sixth century, and recorded by St Gregory of Tours, he was one of seven missionaries sent from Rome to Gaul shortly before 250. St Gatian went to Tours, St Trophimus to Arles, St Paul to Narbonne, St Martial to Limoges, St Dionysius (Denis) to Paris, St Saturninus to Toulouse and St Austremonius to the Auvergne. Each one evangelized the district he had selected and became its first bishop. In the early litanies of Limoges, St Martial's name appears as a confessor, but after a time the monks of the local abbey of St Martial (who possessed his relics) began to contend that he must be honoured as an apostle. His legend had by now developed considerably, and he was being represented not only as the apostle of Aquitaine, but as one of our Lord's immediate followers, the boy with the barley loaves and fishes, and one of the seventy-two disciples. The question of his title was considered important enough to be brought before several synods. In the eleventh century St Martial's cultus received a great impetus in consequence of the rebuilding of the abbey dedicated under his name, the enshrining of his body, and the dissemination of a fantastic narrative embodying and expanding the various current legends, but purporting to be the saint's original authentic acts as compiled by his immediate successor in the bishopric of Limoges, St Aurelian.
That this extravagant forgery, bristling with anachronisms and improbabilities, should have imposed upon an uncritical age is perhaps not to be wondered at: but it is surprising to find its genuineness still upheld in certain quarters at this present day. Martial, we are told, was converted at the age of fifteen by our Lord's preaching; he was baptized by his kinsman, St Peter; he was present at the raising of Lazarus: he waited on our Lord at the Last Supper, and he received the Holy Ghost with the other disciples at Pentecost. St Peter, whom he accompanied first to Antioch and then to Rome, sent him to preach the gospel in Gaul. With St Peter's staff he raised to life his companion, St Austriclinian, who had died on the journey. After their arrival at Tulle, he delivered his host's daughter from an evil spirit, and resuscitated the son of the Roman governor who had been strangled by a demon. These miracles led to the conversion and baptism of 3600 persons. Pagan priests who ventured to attack him were smitten with blindness, until the saint by his prayers restored the use of their eyes. Others who beat and imprisoned him at Limoges were killed by a thunderbolt, but were brought back to life by him in response to the entreaties of the citizens. One of the priests thus resuscitated was Aurelian, the reputed author of these so-called "acts". Mass conversions followed these miracles also. Amongst St Martial's penitents was a noble damsel called Valeria. She determined to consecrate her virginity to our Lord, and was beheaded by order of Duke Stephen to whom she had previously been betrothed. After the execution she carried her head in her hands to the church where St Martial was. Duke Stephen himself was subsequently converted, made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he found St Peter engaged in giving instruction to the people at a place called the Vatican. The duke was able to give him the latest news of St Martial and made a favourable report of the progress of the missions in Gaul. In the fortieth year after the Resurrection-the seventy-fourth of our era-St Martial was warned in a vision of his impending death, and fifteen days later he breathed his last, surrounded by his brethren.
It is stated that Pope John XIX gave permission for the term “apostle" to be applied to St Martial, but the Congregation of Rites in 1854 refused to ratify this, deciding that he was to be venerated in the Mass, the litanies, and office as an ordinary bishop and confessor. It would seem, however, that the bishop of Limoges, in answer to a remonstrance and appeal addressed to Pius IX in the same year, was gratified with a favourable answer permitting that in that diocese St Martial should enjoy the style and precedence of an apostle.

We have three ancient accounts of the life of St Martial. The first is the very short notice, followed by a few miracles, which we find in the De gloria confessorum (cap. xxvii-xxix, and cf. Hist. Francorum, i, 28) of St Gregory of Tours. It fixes the coming of St Martial at about A.D. 250. The second is considerably longer, and was written probably in the ninth century. In this, St Martial is said to have been sent to Limoges by St Peter, but his missionary efforts, though crowned with instantaneous success and accompanied with marvels, are limited to the diocese of Limoges. The best text of this was edited by C. F. Bellet, in his book, L'ancienne vie de St Martial et la prose rythmée (1897). The third and most extravagant life claims to be written by the saint's successor Aurelian, but borrows much from the Historia apostolica, an apocryphal document which was first printed under the name of Abdias. Here, as stated above, St Martial is represented as preaching all over the south of France, with the support of Duke Stephen. There is some reason to think that the story was fabricated by Adhemar de Chabannes, with the object of enhancing the glory of the abbey of Saint-Martial of Limoges, in which he had been brought up. It seems certain that it was Adhemar who forged the supposed bull of Pope John XIX, which authorized the cult of St Martial with all the marks of honour belonging to the twelve authentic Apostles, and he is also gravely suspected of producing other spurious documents of the same kind. All this matter has been very fully investigated by Louis Saltet, in the Bulletin de littérature ecclés. (Toulouse, 1925), pp. 161-186, and 279-302; 1926, pp. 117--139, and 145-160; and 1931, pp. 149-165. See also Duchesne, in the Annales du Midi, vol. iv (1892), pp. 289-339; as well as his Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. ii, pp. 104-117; and, finally, a very long article by H. Leclercq in DAC., vol. ix, cc. 1063-1167, which is equipped with a vast and almost bewildering bibliography. The statements made in this article, however, as Saltet has pointed out (L.c. 1931, pp. 163-165), are in some respects open to criticism. The saint is referred to as "apostle" in a Winchester litany of the eleventh century (Arundel MS. 60). See Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxiv (1946), pp. 84-86; and cf. H. M. Colvin, The White Canons in England (1951), pp. 51-52.

Marytrs of Rome The groups of Christians who perished during cruel persecutions in the Eternal City
Item Romæ sanctæ Æmiliánæ Mártyris In the same city, St. Aemiliana, martyr; Ipso die sanctórum Mártyrum Caji Presbyteri, et Leónis Subdiáconi. The same day, the saints Caius, priest, and Leo, subdeacon.
A group of 262 martyrs; details of their suffering are not extant. Feastday: March 25 (date unknown) A second group of 262 martyrs buried on the Via Salaria. Feastday: June 17 (d.c. 67) Forty-seven martyrs baptized by St. Peter. They also suffered under Nero and they are listed in early Acts. Feastday: March 14 (d. 68) Three Roman soldiers converted by the profound and moving experience of witnessing St. Paul’s martyrdom. For the crime of converting, they were condemned and executed. Feastday: July 2 (d.c. 115) A group baptized by Pope St. Alexander I. They were taken to Ostia and put on a vessel that was sent out to sea and then deliberately sunk. Feastday: April 10 (d. 219) A large group of martyrs slain under Emperor Severus Alexander and the prefect Ulpian. Feastday: March 2 (d. 250) Ten soldiers of Rome martyred on the Via Lavicana in Rome under Emperor Gallienus. Feastday: February 10 (d. 260) Nine hundred martyrs buried in the catacombs of Callistus on the Appian Way. Feastday: March 4 (d. 262) Forty Roman soldiers who suffered on the Via Lavicana under Emperor Gallienus. Feastday: January 13 (d. 269) Two hundred and sixty martyrs ordered to dig sand on the Via Salaria by Emperor Diocletian before being shot to death with arrows in a Roman arena. Feastday: March 1 (d. 269) Forty-six soldiers and 121 Christian citizens martyred by the Roman government under Emperor Claudius II Gothicus. Feastday: October 25 (d. 274) One hundred sixty-five martyrs who died in Rome. Feastday: August 10 (d. 303) Twenty-three martyrs who suffered on the Via Salaria. Feastday: August 5 (d. 303) A group of thirty martyrs buried “between the two laurels” on the Via Lavicana, martyred by Emperor Diocletian. Feastday: December22 (d.c. 303) Many martyrs who suffered because they refused to surrender the Scriptures to the Roman authorities. Feast day: January 2 (d.c. 304) Thirty martyrs, all soldiers, who suffered under Emperor Diocletian.

Departure of St. Abba Noub the Confessor {Coptic}
On this day, the holy and pure father Abba Noub the confessor, departed. This Saint was a devoted monk in one of the monasteries of Upper Egypt. That was during the time of Diocletian, who tortured the martyrs severely and shed their blood.

One day, someone mentioned the name of the saint Abba Noub before Arianus, governor of Ansena. Arianus brought him and asked him to worship the idols. The Saint replied, "How can I abandon my Lord Jesus Christ and worship the idols that are made of stones?" Arianus tortured Abba Noub much then exiled him to the five western cities (Pentapolis). Abba Noub stayed in prison there for seven years, until God had perished Diocletian.
When the righteous Emperor Constantine reigned, he ordered the release of all those who were in prison for the Name of Christ. Constantine also asked that they be brought to him, so that he might be blessed by them, especially the honored ones as Zacharia El-Ahnasy, Maximus El-Fayyumy, Agabius from the city of Dakhnin, and Abba Noub from the city of Balaos. The envoy of the Emperor went to all the countries releasing the prisoners, who left singing and praising God.

The holy father Abba Noub returned from the five cities (Pentapolis) and lived in mount Beshla (Sebla) near his hometown. The envoy of the Emperor met Abba Noub, and took him with him to Ansena. There he met the Christians and the bishops who ordained him a priest. While he was consecrating the Offering and as he said, "Hollies for the Holy," he saw the Lord Christ, to Him is the Glory, in His heavenly splendor, in the altar forgiving the sins of the people who were repentant.

The envoy traveled back to the Emperor along with the holy fathers who were seventy two in number. Every two of them rode a chariot. They passed by a city, where there were convents for the virgins. Seven hundred virgins went out to meet them with songs and hymns and they sang to them until they were out of their sight. When the holy fathers arrived and came before the Emperor, he asked them to change their clothes with new ones, but they refused. He was blessed by them, kissed their wounds and honored them. He offered them money, but they refused to take any except what the churches needed for vestments and vessels. The Emperor then embraced them and bid them farewell, and they returned to their countries. St. Abba Noub went back to his monastery and when he finished his strife he departed in peace.

May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen .

623 Saint Bertrand Bishop ordained by Saint Germanicus. Archdeacon of Paris
he became bishop of Le Mans, France, in 587. Bertrand was an avid agriculturalist, interested in grape growing. He supported the Neustrian kings and was exiled, but reinstated by King Clotaire II, in 609. Bertrand founded a church, a monastery, and a hospice.
ST BERTRAND, BISHOP OF LE MANS (A.D. 623)
ST BERTRAND (Bertichramnus) was born about the middle of the sixth century, but exactly where is uncertain. Eventually he went to Paris, where he received holy orders at the hands of St Germanus and became one of his clergy. Bertrand was conspicuous in the bishop's cathedral school, and had attained the position of archdeacon when, in 587, he was nominated to the bishopric of Le Mans. He was to find his position an uneasy one. At that period, when France was distracted by the rival factions of the kings of Neustria and Austrasia, it was difficult for any prominent person to avoid taking sides, and Bertrand, who was a partisan of the Neustrian princes, shared their changing fortunes. Two or three times he was driven from his diocese, the see on one occasion being occupied by a usurper. In 605, however, he was finally reinstated by King Clotaire II.
He proved a great benefactor to the Church and to the poor. A number of estates were made over to him by landowners, and he used them for the endowment of religious foundations, for the foundation of new ones, and for the enrichment of the church of Le Mans. Agriculture was a subject in which he was greatly interested. In the most enlightened and practical way he insisted on the development of land which came under his control. He was particularly concerned with the planting of vineyards, and from a few vines which had been given him by his friend, St Licinius of Angers, he propagated with success a particularly choice kind of grape. Amongst his foundations were the abbey of SS. Peter and Paul, a large hospice for travellers and pilgrims, and a church which he dedicated to St Germanus. He received the pallium from Rome at the request of King Clotaire, although he was not an archbishop. His death took place in the year 623, when he was about seventy years of age. Perhaps the most interesting memorial which is left of this saint is the text of his will, which seems to be accepted as an authentic document and which disposes of large landed possessions. It also enables us to correct in some details the statements too carelessly made by the chronicler who compiled the account of his episcopate.

A short biography is preserved in the Actus Pontificum Cenomannensium, edited by Mabillon in his Vetera Analecta, vol. iii, pp. 109-112. There is also an account of St Bertrand the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. i, under June 6. But by far the most thorough study of his life and episcopate is that which has been published by Ambrose Ledru in La Province du Maine, vol. xiv (1906), pp. 369-383, and vol. xv (1907), pp. 20-26, 97-108, 122-134, 142-162, 227-236, 267-271.

Saint Airick Hermit companion of Saint Godric. Airick was a noted recluse in England. Saint Godric is recorded as being his friend and deathbed companion.

714 Saint Clotsindis Benedictine abbess
also called Clotsend and Glodesind. She was born circa 635, the daughter of Sts. Adalbald and Rictrudis. Educated by her mother, the abbess of Machiennes Abbey in Flanders, in Belgium and France, she became the abbess there 688.

718 ST ERENTRUDE, VIRGIN St Rupert appealed particularly for the aid of devoted men and women to occupy religious houses in the new city of Salzburg, and amongst those who responded to the call was his kinswoman, Erentrude, or Erentrudis
WHEN St Rupert had been engaged for some years in the task of preaching the gospel in Bavaria, he paid a visit to his native land, which was in the diocese of Worms, in order to enlist fresh helpers. He appealed particularly for the aid of devoted men and women, prepared to occupy religious houses in the new city of Salzburg, and amongst those who responded to the call was his kinswoman, Erentrude, or Erentrudis. She was probably his niece, the daughter of his brother, but may possibly have been his sister. For her and for the women who accompanied her to Salzburg, or rallied round her after her arrival, he erected a convent on a hill which is still known by the name of Nonnberg. She governed the community as abbess, and by her instruction and example trained them to great piety.
One day, shortly before St Rupert's death, Erentrude went to visit him at his special request. After pledging her to secrecy, he told her that he was about to die, and asked her to promise that she would continue to intercede for him when he had departed. Overcome with emotion, she besought him to pray that she might be taken first, and not be left orphaned in a strange land. It was at his bidding, she reminded him, that she had abandoned her own country. St Rupert replied with a gentle reproof. The disposal of the end of our lives is in the hands of God, he told her, and it is not right to wish to die before the appointed time. She accepted the rebuke, and modified her petition. Would he at least undertake to ask God, after his death, to allow her soon to follow? This he promised to do. "When they had conversed for a long time on the sweetness of eternal life, amid tears shed by both, they sadly bade each other a last farewell." Erentrude's desire was granted. One night, shortly after St Rupert's death, she was praying earnestly for his soul, when he appeared to her and said, "Come, dear sister, come to the kingdom you have so long been striving to reach." She fell ill almost immediately, and the end came within a few days. She is believed to have died on June 30, 718. Three hundred years later, her convent and church, which had fallen into ruins, were rebuilt by the Emperor St Henry, as a thank-offering for a cure which he attributed to her intervention. St Erentrude's relics, which have been carefully treasured through the centuries, now rest in the crypt of the church on the Nonnberg.

There is a short Latin biography printed by Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum O.S.B., vol. iii, pp. 348-349. In some modern reference books the name is mistakenly given as Ermentrude.

757 Saint Marcian Bishop of Pamplona, very close to Jaca
Saint Marcian reposed in around 757 and is commemorated on 30 June.

10th v. The Russian Church has preserved chronicles of the life of Queen Dinar, a woman who achieved much on behalf of the Christian Faith.
For years scholars have disputed about the historical figure discussed in great depth in the Russian Church. Many believed that the sources described Holy Queen Tamar, but the period of Tamar’s rule does not match that of the figure described in the chronicles. The Georgian chronicle Life of Kartli, however, has preserved information about a certain Dinar, Queen of Hereti (southeastern Georgia), who, along with her son Ishkhanik, converted Hereti to the Orthodox Faith and delivered its people from the Monophysite heresy in the 10th century. Queen Dinar’s story resembles that recounted in the Russian Chronicles more closely than any other.

According to the Armenian historian Moses of Kalankaytuk, Slavic tribes that carried out incursions in the southernmost Caucasus often journeyed through the Transcaucasus, and it was with these tribes that the story of Queen Dinar made its way to Russia. The Georgian Church renders great honor to Holy Queen Dinar. As a result of her zealous labors and achievements, a large part of the eastern Transcaucasus was saved from the Monophysite heresy that dominated the region.

Today, on the north wall of the Throne Hall in the Moscow Kremlin, there hangs an image of Holy Queen Dinar mounted on a white horse, victorious over the enemy .

1066 Saint Theobald Camaldolese hermit and monk priest; sanctity attracted many disciples,
Salánicæ, in território Vicentíno, sancti Theobáldi, Presbyteri et Eremítæ, ex Campániæ Gállicæ Comítibus; quem Alexánder Papa Tértius, ob sanctitátis et miraculórum famam, Sanctórum cánoni adjúnxit.
At Salanica, in the district of Vicenza, St. Theobald, priest and hermit, one of the counts of Champagne. He was added to the number of the saints by Alexander III because of his holiness and miracles.
ST THEOBALD, OR THIBAUD, OF PROVINS (A.D. 1066)
THIS Theobald was of the family of the counts of Champagne, son of Count Arnoul, and was born at Provins in Brie in 1017. In his youth he read the lives of the fathers of the desert, and was much struck by the examples of self-denial, contemplation and Christian perfection which were set before him: the lives of St John the Baptist, of St Paul the Hermit, St Antony and St Arsenius in their wildernesses, charmed him, and he greatly desired to imitate them. And when he was ordered to lead a body of troops in the field, he represented so respectfully to Count Arnoul the obligation of a vow by which he had bound himself to quit the world, that he at length obtained his consent.
With another young nobleman, called Walter, he went to the abbey of St Remi at Rheims, and thence they set out in the clothes of beggars. First to Suxy in Ardenne, and then in the forest of Pettingen in Luxemburg they found a convenient solitude for their purpose, and built themselves there two little cells. Manual labour is a necessary duty of an ascetic or penitential life, and not being skilled in the making of mats or baskets or similar work, they went into the neighbouring villages, and there hired themselves by the day to serve the masons, or to work in the fields, to carry stones and mortar, to load and unload wagons, to muck out the stables of the farmers, or to blow the bellows and make charcoal for the forges. With their wages they bought coarse bread, which was their whole subsistence. Whilst they worked with their hands, their hearts were employed in prayer; and at night they watched long, singing together the divine praises. The reputation of their sanctity became a nuisance to them, so they resolved to leave a place where they were no longer able to live in obscurity. They went on pilgrimage, first to Compostela and then to Rome, and after they had visited all the holy places in Italy, they chose for their retirement a woody place called Salanigo, near Vicenza. Here, after two years, God called Walter to Himself. Theobald looked upon this loss as a warning that he had not long to live, and he redoubled his austerities. A number of disciples gathered round him, and the bishop of Vicenza promoted him to priest's orders, so that they might the more profit by his direction.
His lineage and quality being discovered, his parents were informed that their son was alive, and that the hermit of Salanigo, of whom such stories of sanctity, prophecies and miracles were told, was he whose absence had been the cause of so long a mourning; and, aged as they were, they journeyed into Italy to see him. Gisela, the saint's mother, obtained her husband's consent to finish her life near her son, who made her a little hut at some distance from his own. St Theobald was shortly after stricken with his last sickness: a painful and repulsive disease which he bore with great patience. A little before his death he sent for an abbot of the Camaldolese hermits from whose hands he had already received the religious habit. To him he made his profession, recommended his mother and his disciples, and, having received viaticum, died in peace on the last day of June, 1066. He was canonized within less than seven years by Pope Alexander II.

A full contemporary biography by Peter, abbot of Vangadizza, has been printed by Mabillon, and by the Bollandists in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii. By some curious confusion Theobald has been erroneously honoured as founder of the church and town of Thann in Alsace. See the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxiv (1905), p. 159; and R. Thompson, Two Old French Poems on St Thibaut (1936). The saint is patron of charcoal-burners, and is sometimes called “le Charbonnier."

Born in Provins, Brie, France, he was the son of Count Arnoul of Champagne and was raised as a soldier.
From the age of eighteen, however, he abandoned the martial career of the males of the family and, with his father's permission, became a pilgrim and then a hermit at Pettingen, Luxembourg, with a companion named Walter. After several years, he settled at Salanigo, near Vicenza, Italy, where he was ordained a priest Other hermits gathered around him, and his fame reached his own family. His parents eventually visited him, and his mother, Gisela, became a hermitess near his place of retreat. Before his death, Theobald became a member of the Camaldolese order. He was canonized in 1073 by Pope Alexander II (r. 1061-1073).
Theobald (Thibaud) of Provins, OSB Cam. Hermit (RM) +
Born at Provins, Brie, France, 1017; died Salanigo, Italy, on June 30, 1066; canonized by Pope Alexander II in 1073.
St. Theobald was the son of Count Arnoul of Champagne and raised to be a soldier, but at age 18, filled with a desire for greater perfection as a result of reading the lives of the saints, he decided that he wanted to lead an ascetic life. He left the military, with his father's permission, and after a time at St. Remy Abbey in Rheims, he and another nobleman named Walter became hermits at Suxy, Ardennes. In 1135, they moved to Pettingen Forest in Luxembourg, where they worked as masons and field hands during the day to earn their keep and spent the night in prayer.
In search of greater solitude, they went on pilgrimage to Compostella and Rome and then resumed their eremitical life at Salanigo near Vicenza, Italy. Walter died two years later.
Theobald's sanctity attracted many disciples, and he was ordained and became a Camaldolese. His fame spread and reached his parents, who came to visit him. His mother became a hermitess nearby (Benedictines, Delaney).

1139 Otto von Bamberg
Katholische und Evangelische Kirche: 30. Juni
Otto von Mistelbach wurde um 1060 in Franken geboren. Er wirkte als Kaplan am Hof des polnischen Königs. 1101 wurde er von Heinrich IV. zum Reichskanzler berufen und 1102 zum Bischof von Bamberg ernannt. Hier förderte er die Prämonstratenser und Ziserzienser und setzte sich für eine Reform der bestehenden Klöster ein. Aus dem Kirchenvermögen und aus Schenkungen, die ihm der Kaiser machte, konnte Otto mehr als 20 Klöster gründen oder erneuern. Er ließ auch den Dom in Bamberg vollnden und viele weitere Kirchen bauen.

Um 1120 bat der polnische Herzog Boleslaw Otto, in Pommern zu missionieren. Alle bisherigen Missionsversuche waren erfolglos geblieben, da die Pommern meinten, ein mächtiger Gott könne keine armen Boten haben. Otto reiste 1124 mit fürstbischöflichem Gepränge durch Pommern und errichtete in kurzer Zeit zahlreiche Gemeinden, in denen er Priester zurückließ. Er legte bei diesem Missionszug Wert auf den Mitvollzug des Gottesdienstes und die Einhaltung christlicher Sitten. Otto soll während dieses Missionszuges 20.000 Menschen getauft haben.

Als die Missionsbemühungen Rückschläge erlitten, ging er 1128 noch einmal nach Pommern und erhielt von den Adligen des Landes die Erlaubnis, daß das Evangelium gepredigt werde. Er sandte aus seinem Bistum Mönche und Bauern nach Pommern, die das Land geistlich und wirtschaftlich belebten. Otto starb am 30.6.1139 in Bamberg. Sein Gedächtnis wurde in Pommern lange in Ehren gehalten. Ott ist Mitpatron des Bistums Berlin; im Bistum Bamberg wird er am 30.9. gefeiert

1228 BD ARNULF OF VILLERS he had the gifts of miracles and of prophecy; heroic mortifications and penitential exercises he practised as a lay-brother in the Cistercian abbey of Villers in Brabant
THE story of Bd Arnulf (Arnoul) Cornebout is mainly the history of the heroic mortifications and penitential exercises he practised as a lay-brother in the Cistercian abbey of Villers in Brabant. Born of middle-class parents at Brussels about the year 1180, he had grown up a careless, pleasure-loving youth, when a sudden conversion completely transformed him. Every morning he rose betimes to attend Mass, and if by a rare chance he overslept himself, he atoned for his lapse by standing outside the church, however inclement the weather might be. At the age of twenty-two he received the lay-brother's habit at Villers. The desire for mortifications greater than those prescribed led him, while still a novice, to gird himself tightly with a horse-hair rope, which cut into his flesh, causing it to become septic; but he humbly submitted to authority when it was pointed out to him that nothing of the kind must be undertaken without permission. After his probation was over and his virtue had been tested, Abbot Charles and his successors recognized that Brother Arnulf had a special vocation to penance, and they not only sanctioned his austerities, but also relieved him of some of the manual work incumbent on laybrothers, in order to allow him ample time for prayer.
Every day he scourged himself severely, now with rods, now with thorny branches, now with a stick covered with a hedgehog's skin. Brothers whose duties took them near the cell adjoining the fruit-barn which was Arnulf's favourite retreat, asserted that, as each lash descended upon his body he would ejaculate the name of a member of the community, or of some outside person, on behalf of whom he was beseeching God's mercy. He appeared never to weary of devising fresh forms of discipline, but another side of his character was revealed in his love for the poor. His greatest joy was to relieve them, and he wished he could be sold as a slave to provide money to be spent in alms. An anecdote is related by his fellow monk Goswin, who became his biographer. On a certain occasion he had obtained permission from the abbot to give away forty-two loaves to the poor. It became known to the community, who cited him to appear before the abbot on a charge of excessive prodigality. Anxious to screen his superior from adverse criticism, Brother Arnulf refrained from referring the responsibility to him, and took the whole blame on his own shoulders, apologized for his fault, and asked for a punishment. It took the form of eleven days' exile to an exterior cell situated between the two gates of the abbey. He received the sentence with satisfaction, and congratulated himself upon becoming a doorkeeper, like St Peter. (But why did not the abbot “own up"?)
From the strain imposed upon his nervous system by his austerities, Arnulf developed in his later years symptoms of chorea, or St Vitus's Dance. He would laugh and dance while scourging himself and sometimes would laugh hysterically in church-scandalizing the young novices who did not know him and were not aware that he had the gifts of miracles and of prophecy. He died on June 30, 1228, and in 1269 his relics were enshrined, at the same time as those of Bd Juliana of Cornillon and others.

All that we know of Bd Arnulf seems to be derived from the life by Goswin de Bossut, who was also a Cistercian at Villers and a contemporary. His biography is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, June, vol. vii. A second notice forms part of the Gesta sanctorum Villariensium, for which see Pertz, MGH., Scriptores, vol. xxv, p. 234.

1290 Saint Peter, Prince of the Horde, nephew of Bergai Khan of the Golden Horde distinguished himself with a love for silence, contemplation, and prayer. After a miraculous appearance to him of the Apostles Peter and Paul he built a monastery near Lake Nera in their honor embraced monasticism at the monastery
In the year 1253 St Cyril, Bishop of Rostov (May 21), went to the Horde to petition for church needs in his diocese and he told the khan about the Christian Faith, and of the miracles and healings worked by the relics of St Leontius of Rostov (May 23). Among the retinue was the young nephew of the khan, upon whom the holy bishop made a very strong impression. After some length of time the son of Bergai fell ill. Remembering the account of the Russian bishop about the healings, he summoned St Cyril, and through his prayers the sick one was healed. The khan richly rewarded St Cyril and sent him off to his diocese.

Along the way the lad, the nephew of Bergai Khan, overtook the holy hierarch, and entreated him to take him along to Rostov. At Rostov the boy was baptized with the name Peter, and he married. St Peter distinguished himself with a love for silence, contemplation, and prayer. After a miraculous appearance to him of the Apostles Peter and Paul he built a monastery near Lake Nera in their honor. After the death of his wife, shortly before his own death in 1290, the saint embraced monasticism at the monastery he had founded.

Local veneration of the holy Prince Peter began in the 14th century. A general celebration was established at Council of 1547

1315 Bl. Raymond Lull Christ Visions one of the military leaders who reconquered Majorca from the Moslems
Raymond was the son of one of the military leaders who reconquered Majorca from the Moslems. He was born at Palma, Majorca. He entered the service of King James I of Aragon, was appointed grand senechal by James and in 1257 married Blanca Picany.
Despite his marriage and two children, he led a dissolute life, but changed his lifestyle in 1263 when he had a vision of Christ while writing to a woman with whom he was having an affair, followed by five more visions. After pilgrimages to Compostela and Rocamadour, he became a Franciscan tertiary, provided for his family, gave the rest of his wealth to the poor, and determined to devote the rest of his life to converting the Mohammedans. He spent the next nine years learning all he could of Moslem philosophy, religion, and culture, and learning Arabic. He founded the short-lived Trinity College on Majorca in 1276 to put into effect his idea of a missionary college, visited Rome in 1277 to enlist the Pope's support, went to Paris in 1286, and in 1290 joined the Friars Minor at Genoa. After a serious illness, he went to Tunis in 1292, began preaching, but was almost immediately forcibly deported by the Moors. Further appeals to Popes Boniface VIII and Clement V for aid in his mission to the Mohammedans were fruitless, as was a visit to Cypress. After lecturing at Paris on Arabic metaphysics for a time, he was successful in getting to Bougie in Barbary in 1306 but was again imprisoned and deported. He continued his appeals for aid to the Pope and to the Council Vienne in 1311 but with no success, resumed lecturing at Paris, and again return to Bougie in 1315. This time he was stoned and left for dead but was rescued by the Genoese sailors and died on board ship near Majorca on September 29th. He wrote voluminously - more than 300 treatises (many in Arabic) on philosophy, music, navigation, law, astronomy, mathematics, and theology, chief among his writings being Arbre de philosophia de armor. He also wrote mystical poetry of the highest order and is considered the forerunner of Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross; his Blanquera is the first novel written in Catalan. His cult was confirmed in 1858 by Pope Pius IX.

1646 Bl. Philip Powell Benedictine English martyr spent two decades in the area of Devon, Somerset, and Cornwall before being arrested served as a chaplain in the Civil War
BD PHILIP POWELL, MARTYR (A.D. 1646)
BD PHILIP POWELL was born at Trallwng, near Brecon, in 1594 and received his education at the grammar school of Abergavenny. At the age of sixteen he was sent to London to study law under the distinguished lawyer who was afterwards to become still more famous as Father Augustine Baker, the Benedictine writer and director of souls. Between two and three years later Powell had occasion to go to Douai to transact some business, and there he himself became attracted to the Benedictines. In 1619 he received the habit in the monastery of St Gregory at Douai, and on March 7, 1622, he was sent on the English mission. As a precaution against spies it was customary in penal times for English seminarists and missionary priests to bear an alias, and Father Powell throughout his later career was usually known by his mother's name of Morgan. After staying for sixteen months with Father Baker he proceeded to Devonshire with an introduction to a Catholic family. For the next twenty years or more he laboured as a priest, administering the sacraments, reconciling the lapsed and converting heretics in the counties of Devon, Somerset and Cornwall. During that time he made his headquarters first with his original host, Mr Risdon, at Bableigh, and then with the family of Mr Risdon's daughter, Mrs Poyntz, at Leighland Barton in Somersetshire.
The outbreak of the Civil War scattered the two households. Father Powell, after some vicissitudes, joined General Goring and served as chaplain to the Catholics in his army until it was disbanded. He was on his way to Wales when the vessel in which he was sailing was boarded and searched by an officer of the Parliamentarian vice-admiral in those seas, Captain Crowther. Two members of the crew recognized Father Powell and denounced him as a Catholic priest who had, as they declared, "seduced the greater part of the parishioners of Yarnscombe and Parkham, in Devonshire, from their allegiance to the Protestant Church". When Captain Crowther questioned him, off Penarth, he frankly admitted that he was a priest. Thereupon he was consigned to the lower deck, where the sailors stripped him of his upper garments and dressed him in dirty rags. Two months later he was conveyed by sea to London. He was confined for a short time under fairly humane conditions; but in the common gaol of the King's Bench prison, to which he was afterwards transferred, he suffered much and contracted pleurisy. Two or three times he was brought up before the King's Bench to be examined and tried on a charge based entirely on his own admission that he was a Catholic priest.
In an able and spirited defence he contended that the law against priests did not extend to the high seas, that when his Majesty's flag is flying in civil war all trials of life and death cease, and that the king's person being absent no plot could be executed by anyone against it. But when the verdict was given against him and he was condemned to death he gave thanks to God in the presence of the whole court. His personality and his conduct in prison had so impressed his fellow captives that they drew up a kind of testimonial or memorandum of his virtues. It was signed by twenty-three Protestants and by six Catholics, whom he had reconciled in the gaol. The officials themselves seem to have regarded him with favour. The man who came to announce the date of his execution was too much overcome to be able to read the notice, but Father Powell, looking over his shoulder, prompted him and then called for a glass of sack in which to drink his health: "Oh what am I", he cried, "that God thus honours me and will have me to die for His sake?" In the course of a short address on the scaffold he said that it was the happiest day of his life and that he was suffering for no other reason than that he was a priest and a monk. After a short prayer he made a sign and received absolution from a priest, Dom Robert Anderton, in the crowd. He was then strung up. He was allowed to hang until he was dead and his body was buried in the churchyard at Moorfields. One of his brethren bought his bloodstained clothes for £4.

There is a full account in Bede Camm, Nine Martyr Monks (1931), pp. 318-343; and see Challoner, MMP., pp. 474-481; and T. P. Ellis, Catholic Martyrs of Wales (1933), pp. 100-102, and Welsh Benedictines of the Terror (1936), pp. 166-179.

Born 1594 in the Gwent district, southeast Wales, or at Tralon, England, he was educated in London and then entered the Benedictines in Douni in 1614. Ordained in 1621, he was sent to assist the English mission and spent two decades in the area of Devon, Somerset, and Cornwall before being arrested. He also served as a chaplain in the Civil War. Philip was executed at Tyburn by being hanged, drawn, and quartered; he was beatified in 1929.

Saint Ostianus French saint. He was a priest in some uncertain year and is still venerated at Viviers
In território Vivariénsi, in Gálliis, sancti Ostiáni, Presbyteri et Confessóris.
In the territory of Vivers, St. Ostian, priest and confessor.

Saint Gelasius igumen of the Rimet Monastery in Transylvania
He lived as a solitary near Rimet creek, and he was granted the grace of working miracles.
The saint fasted on weekdays, eating only on Saturdays and Sundays, and his only food was the Eucharist. During the day he fulfilled his monastic obediences, and at night he kept vigil.
St Gelasius was the spiritual Father of many hermits of Rimet Mountain, whom he would visit during Great Lent. He healed the sick, and cast out demons from those who were possessed. It is said that a spring of water appeared through his holy prayers.
His later years were spent as a bishop, and he departed to the Lord after many labors on behalf of his flock.
St Gelasius was glorified by the Orthodox Church of Romania in 1992.

1770 The Martyr Michael the Gardener suffered under the Turks for confessing the Christian faith at Athens

1771 Saint Sophronius, Bishop of Irkutsk and All Siberia relics were seen to be incorrupt, and a source of grace-filled miracles
He reposed on March 30, 1771, the second day of Holy Pascha. While they awaited a decision of the Holy Synod concerning the burial, his body remained unburied for six months, and during this time it was not subject to decay. Then, in view of this circumstance, and also knowing about the strict ascetic life of St Sophronius, the flock began to venerate him as a saint of God. Frequently (in 1833, 1854, 1870, 1909) his relics were seen to be incorrupt, and a source of grace-filled miracles. A fire occurring on April 18, 1917 at the Theophany Cathedral at Irkutsk left only the bones of the holy bishop. This did not diminish, but on the contrary, it increased the reverent veneration of the saint by the faithful of the nation. A local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in its deliberations of April 10/23, 1918 decided to glorify Bishop Sophronius, numbering him among the holy saints of God. This solemnity of adding St Sophronius to the list of the saints was done on June 30. At a second session of this Council under the presidency of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon (now St Tikhon) a Service to St Sophronius was approved, with a Troparion composed by Archbishop John, who at that time guided the Irkutsk diocese, so that all believers would have the possibility of adding prayer to the holy saint into the voice of the Siberian churches, deeply venerating the memory of their illuminator and intercessor. And at the present time believers turn for help to St Sophronius. Prayers witness to this, having been composed on the day of the 40th year celebration of the glorification of the holy hierarch on July 13, 1958, by Metropolitan Nestor (Anisimov), then Metropolitan of Novosibirsk and Barnaulsk, and a solemn feast of the 200 year anniversary of the day of death of St Sophronius took place at the Zolotonoshsk Krasnogorsk women's monastery and in the Irkutsk diocese (Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1971, No. 9), and he is venerated by all believers of the Russian Orthodox Church.

1838 Saint Vincent Yen Dominican native Vietnamese martyr
Entered Dominicans in 1808; worked as missionary in the country. Seized in anti-Christian persecutions; he was beheaded after spending six years in hiding. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1988.

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

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 161

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos Practical Guide to Holiness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meeting of the Saints walis (saints of Allah)

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

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

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

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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

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

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

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

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

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

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

Index to Part I and Part II 1932

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

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

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

Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.

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

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

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

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

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

THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi.

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

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

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

By Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

About Father John Corapi.

Father Corapi is a Catholic priest .

The pillars of father's preaching are basically:

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000) India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
Links to Related Marian Websites Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles Roman Catholic Popes Purgatory Uniates, PSALTER BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 161 2023