Et álibi aliórum plurimórum sanctórum Mártyrum et Confessórum, atque sanctárum Vírginum.
And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
Пресвятая Богородице спаси нас!  (Santíssima Mãe de Deus, salva-nos!)
R.  Deo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
March is the month of Saint Joseph since 1855;
2023
22,600 lives saved since 2007

http://www.haitian-childrens-fund.org/
For the Son of man ... will repay every man for what he has done.


1550 St John of God in 1886 Pope Leo XIII, as the Roman Martyrology records,
“declared him the heavenly patron of all hospitals and sick folk”, with St Camillus of Lellis.

It is a great poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish -- Mother Teresa

The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

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

Acts of the Apostles

Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
 How do I start the Five First Saturdays?
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
1550 St. John of God impulsive love embraced anyone in need
260 Pontius of Carthage Deacon; graphic account of the life and passion of Saint Cyprian of Carthage
420 Provinus of Como disciple of Saint Ambrose of Milan  
690 St. Julian of Toledo Archbishop revised the Mozarabic liturgy, and wrote Prognostics, on death
871 Humphrey of Pruem source of strength comfort to people during Norman invasion
1223 St. Vincent Kadlubek Cistercian bishop 1 of earliest Polish chroniclers
1550 St John of God was canonized in 1690, and in 1886 Pope Leo XIII, as the Roman Martyrology records, “declared him the heavenly patron of all hospitals and sick folk”, with St Camillus of Lellis, to whom Pope Pius XI in 1930 added nurses of both sexes. Because of his early venture in hawking books and pictures he is also sometimes specially honoured by book and print sellers. 
1925 Blessed Faustino Miguez a Piarist, almost 50 years dedicated to education 

March 8 - Saint John of God (d. 1550)
 
King Muhammad and Our Lady of Grace 
In 1561, in Monomotapa, Zimbabwe, King Muhammad, a Muslim, placed an image of Our Lady of Grace,
a gift from the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Gonçalo da Silveira, in his room.
Later, the Virgin Mary appeared to him on five consecutive nights, surrounded by a marvelous light.
The king asked to be baptized, taking the name of Sebastian (1).
 (1) Cf R. Ernst, Lexikon der Marienerscheinungen, Altötting, 1989. p. 58 ;
Gamba Marino, Apparizioni mariane nel corso di due millenni, Udine, Segno, 1999

March 8 – Our Lady of Graces (Italy, 1487) - Saint John of God (1495 - 1550)
He felt a wonderful strength overtaking his weakness
The Spaniards were besieging Hondarribia (northern Spain) that was occupied by the French. One day, John, a young Spanish soldier (the future St John of God), was sent out on a reconnaissance mission. He was riding near the border when his horse reared and threw him down against a rock. Unable to get up and in extreme pain, John prayed to the One from whom, since childhood, he had always sought help and consolation—the Holy Virgin Mary: "You are the only one who can save me, Queen of Heaven, do not let me fall into the hands of the enemy." Then he fainted.
When he came back to his senses, he saw a girl beside him who spoke to him with compassion. Dressed as a shepherdess, with a stick in hand, she looked at him and handed him a jug. John greedily swallowed the cool drink... The stranger held out her hand, which he took hesitantly. He got up unsteadily on his feet. Then he felt a wonderful strength overtaking his weakness. The shepherdess accompanied him on part of his journey and then left him. John was convinced that the unfamiliar woman could only be the Virgin Mary.
John gave up the profession of arms, went in search of the will of God, and became the great Saint John of God, proclaimed by Leo XIII patron of the sick and hospitals.
 The Mary of Nazareth Team Source: Saint Jean de Dieu

Mary's Divine Motherhood
Called in the Gospel "the Mother of Jesus," Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as "the Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43; Jn 2:1; 19:25; cf. Mt 13:55; et al.). In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity.
Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos).
Catechism of the Catholic Church 495, quoting the Council of Ephesus (431): DS 251.

March 08 - Our Lady of the Lily (Melun, France)
  Mary Stopped the Plague in Monte Berico (II)
Two years later, the Virgin appeared again to Vincenza Parisi, on August 1, 1428. The city was in dire straits, and the Virgin repeated her request and her promises to the old woman. Vicenza went back down to the city and she was believed this time: the city officials, the Council of One Hundred and the Council of Five Hundred gathered in the Great Hall of Reason, and decided to build the church on Monte Berico in as short a time as possible. So the people started building twenty-four days later. The Virgin had told Vincenza about a water source that would flow out of a rock in the place where the shrine would be built, and this is exactly what happened. During the construction work, "a marvellous and incredible source of water flowed... to the point of flooding the area like an abundant river coming noisily down the mount."
Also, in reference to the Virgin's second promise, great quantities of money were received.
"Construction was begun on August 25, the great plague partly disappeared, and the church was completed in three months. After that the region was completely freed from this great calamity, so much so that ever since that day, through God's protection, it has never again suffered from that disease. "

The busy shrine of Our Lady of Berico has now become one of largest shrines dedicated to Mary in Europe.
 "On the first Sunday of the month we have an average of twenty-two thousand confessions. Sometimes we stay until ten o'clock p.m. in the confessional," stated a member of the Servites of Mary, the congregation which has watched over this beautiful site and its magnificent panorama since 1435.
According to an article by Pina Baglioni, published in the magazine "30 Days"
Quotation #1430, Bertoliana Vicenza Library

Do you know how it happens that many who have lived long in religion, and practiced daily so many acts of obedience, have by no means succeeded in acquiring a habit of this virtue?
Because not every time they obey, do they do it because such is the will of God (which is the formal reason of obedience); but they obey, now for one cause, now for another, so that their actions, being destitute of mutual similarity, cannot unite to form a habit of this virtue.-- St Alphonsus Rodriguez
  260 Pontius of Carthage Deacon; graphic account of the life and passion of Saint Cyprian of Carthage
        St. Quintilis Bishop martyr Saint Capitolinus as a fellow-martyr
 305 St. Philemon Martyr with Apollonius
 311 St. Arian Alexandrian martyr with Theoticus and 3 others governor of Thebes
 420 Provinus of Como disciple of Saint Ambrose of Milan  
 518 St. Beoadh Irish bishop 
 560 St. Senan of Scattery holiness miracles attracted great crowds to his sermons
 648 Felix of Dunwich Burgundian bishop established a school for boys 
 690 St. Julian of Toledo Archbishop revised the Mozarabic liturgy, and wrote Prognostics, on death
 871 Humphrey of Pruem source of strength comfort to people during Norman invasion Bishop Humphrey of Thérouanne, who would have preferred to remain a monk of the Benedictine abbey of Pruem in the Ardennes, was persuaded by Pope Nicholas I who thought differently.
1065 St. Duthac Bishop of Ross Scotland venerated for miracles and prophecies
1092 St. Veremundus Benedictine abbot miracle worker deep religious fervor aid to poor defense of the Mozarabic rite
1121 St. Ogmund  Bishop of Holar one of the apostles of Iceland 
1154 Stephen of Obazine, OSB Cist. Abbot (AC)
1223 St. Vincent Kadlubek Cistercian bishop One of earliest Polish chroniclers; In 1208 he was appointed bishop of Cracow and worked to promote the reforms then being decreed by Pope Innocent III (r. 1198-1216) and to improve the monastic and religious conditions of the diocese. 
        St. Rhian Welsh abbot
1550 St. John of God impulsive love embraced anyone in need; At Granada in Spain, St. John of God, founder of the Order of Brothers Hospitallers, famed for his mercy to the poor, and his contempt of self.  Pope Leo XIII appointed him as heavenly patron of the sick and of all hospitals. St John of God was canonized in 1690, and in 1886 Pope Leo XIII, as the Roman Martyrology records, “declared him the heavenly patron of all hospitals and sick folk”, with St Camillus of Lellis, to whom Pope Pius XI in 1930 added nurses of both sexes. Because of his early venture in hawking books and pictures he is also sometimes specially honoured by book and print sellers.
1925 Blessed Faustino Miguez a Piarist, almost 50 years dedicated to education 
   
260 Pontius of Carthage Deacon graphic account of the life and passion of Cyprian
 Carthágine sancti Póntii, qui fuit Diáconus beáti Cypriáni Epíscopi, et, usque ad diem mortis illíus sústinens cum ipso exsílium, vitæ et passiónis ejus egrégium volúmen relíquit, atque, in suis passiónibus Dóminum semper gloríficans, corónam vitæ proméruit.
      At Carthage, St. Pontius, deacon of the blessed Cyprian, bishop, who remained until death in exile with him, and composed an excellent history of his life and martyrdom.  By ever glorifying God in his own sufferings, he merited the crown of life.
Deacon of the Bishop Saint Cyprian of Carthage, Saint Pontius attended his bishop during his exile and at his trial and execution. He has left a graphic account of the life and passion of Cyprian (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
260 ST PONTIUS
When St Cyprian, the great bishop of Carthage, was banished to Curubis, his deacon Pontius volunteered to accompany him, and remained with him until his death. In those days the tie between a bishop and his deacon was a close one, and in this case circumstances no doubt drew the two men together into a somewhat intimate relationship. Pontius must have had ample opportunities for obtaining information about the bishop’s earlier life and activities. But he seems to have been preoccupied with the idea of producing a tractate which would eclipse in popularity the “acts” of Perpetua and Felicity, and in his biography of St Cyprian, from the date of his baptism to his martyrdom, it is the last scenes which rouse his en­thusiasm almost to the exclusion of other matter. This Vita et passio Cypriani, as it is called, won high praise for its style and matter from St Jerome and other great churchmen.
 Certain modern writers, on the other hand, have depreciated the tractate as being uncritical and over-laudatory, not realizing that it was written professedly as a panegyric—to glorify the martyr—and that a critical biography in the modem sense would have been neither comprehensible nor acceptable to the circle for whom it was intended. Quite incidentally the author exhibits his own piety and zeal for the Christian faith. When St Cyprian was condemned, Pontius was spared—probably because he was not considered to be of much importance. As he had longed for martyrdom, this was a great disappointment to him, and he ends his account of St Cyprian with the words: “Greatly, very greatly do I exult in his glory, but even more greatly do I grieve that I have remained behind.” How and where he died we do not know, but there is no reason to suppose that he suffered martyrdom.
It is only through St Jerome that we know the name of the author of the Life of St Cyprian, which is referred to again under Cyprian on September 16. Here it is sufficient to give a reference to Delehaye, Les passions des martyrs et les genres littéraires (1921), pp. 82—110, and to point out that Harnack has re-edited and annotated the text of Pontius, Das Leben Cyprians von Pontius, in the series Texte und Untersuchungen, vol. xxxix. This Pontius must not be identified with the martyred Pontius whose feast is observed on May 14.
St. Quintilis Bishop martyr Saint Capitolinus as a fellow-martyr
Nicomedíæ sancti Quinctílis, Epíscopi et Mártyris.
At Nicomedia, St. Quinctilis, bishop and martyr. 
He was put to death at Nicomedia. Tradition states that he died with St. Capitolinus. Quintilis of Nicomedia BM (RM) A martyr of Nicomedia. Most ancient records mention Saint Capitolinus as a fellow-martyr (Benedictines).
305 St. Philemon converted by Apollonius a deacon at Antinöe in the Thebaid, Egypt and Martyred together
 Apud Antínoum, Ægypti urbem, natális sanctórum Mártyrum Apollóni Diáconi, et Philémonis; qui, tenti et ad Júdicem addúcti, et, cum sacrificáre idólis constánter renuíssent, ambo, perforátis calcáneis, per civitátem horribíliter tracti, ac novíssime, gládio cæsi, martyrium complevérunt.
       At Antinous, a city of Egypt, the birthday of the holy martyrs Apollonius, deacon, and Philemon.  They firmly refused to sacrifice to the idols, and when arrested and brought to the judge they had their heels pierced, were barbarously dragged through the city, at last completing their martyrdom by being slain by the sword.
An actor at Antinoe, Egypt, in the Nile Delta, he was converted to Christianity by the deacon Apollonius and was arrested with him by Roman authorities during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian. Taken to Alexandria, they were wrapped in chains and hurled into the sea.
305 SS. PHILEMON AND APOLLONIUS, MARTYRS
ST APOLLONIUS was a Christian deacon of Antinoë in the Thebaid, and Philemon was a popular musician and entertainer who was converted through his instru­mentality. They were apprehended during the persecution of Diocletian and brought before a judge of the name of Arrian, who had already put to death SS. Asclas, Timothy, Paphnutius and several other martyrs. After being questioned and tortured they were removed to Alexandria, where they were condemned to death and cast into the sea. The so-called acts of these martyrs as circulated in Greek by the Metaphrast are very extravagant. They end, as these romances usually do, with the conversion and martyrdom of the judges, but the earlier part may conceivably be founded on fact—especially in view of the circumstance that timorous Christians in time of persecution did occasionally hire pagans to offer sacrifice in their stead and to bring back to them a certificate to the effect that they had complied with the law. The Church compelled such libellaticii, as they were called, to do penance, but did not everywhere regard them as apostates.

According to these “acts”, Apollonius, alarmed at the prospect of torture, went to a well-known piper and dancer called Philemon and offered him four gold pieces if he would go and sacrifice in his place. Philemon agreed, but asked him for some of his clothes and for his hooded cloak with which he might conceal his face. Thus disguised he went before the judge, who began to question him and required him to carry out the rite imposed. Then the Holy Spirit came upon Philemon, and he avowed himself a Christian and refused to offer sacrifice. The judge argued with him, and then said, “Send for the piper Philemon: perhaps his sweet tunes will drive away the fancies of this fool”. Being unable to find Philemon, the officers brought his brother Theonas, who promptly revealed the identity of Philemon. The judge treated the incident as a joke, quite in keeping with the jester’s powers of impersonation, but made it clear that he must now in earnest comply with the emperor’s edicts. This Philemon stoutly refused to do. Arrian told him that it was folly for him to pretend to be a Christian, seeing that he was not baptized. Upon hearing these words the piper was greatly distressed, but when he prayed to God there descended upon him a cloud from heaven, and in that cloud he was baptized. Then Arrian appealed to his professional pride, reminding him how greatly he would be missed at the forthcoming games, and asking how he could bear to think of his beloved pipes being played by unskilled hands. Again Philemon prayed, and this time there came down from heaven fire which consumed the pipes.

In the meantime the officers had arrested Apollonius, who now appeared before the tribunal very penitent for his cowardice and eager to proclaim himself a Chris­tian. As both men persisted in their refusal to sacrifice, they were sentenced to have their heads struck off. Before the execution, Philemon asked that a great pot should be brought into court and a living baby placed inside. Then, the lid having been replaced, he directed the officers to shoot at it with their bows. They did so, and the pot was transfixed with their arrows, but the child within was found to be unscathed. Thereupon Philemon said, “The Christian’s body like the pot may be riddled with wounds, whilst the soul within, like the baby, remains unhurt”. At these words the judge ordered the archers to direct their arrows upon the prisoner, but the musician raised his hand and all the arrows remained poised in mid-air, with the exception of one which turned back and blinded Arrian himself. The judge’s sight was, however, miraculously restored by clay from the martyr’s tomb. This led to his conversion as well as to that of four officials sent to hold an inquiry, and eventually all five were put to death by being sewn up in sacks and cast into the sea.

The story of the death of these martyrs, divested of its later accretions, is told in the Historia Monachorum, which was translated by Rufinus (see Preuschen, Palladius und Rufinus, pp. 8o—82). Rufinus declares that he had visited the shrine and seen the relics. There was evidently a cultus in his time. But there is no mention of the burning of the pipes or of the shooting with arrows; there is indeed a cloud-burst, but this only puts out the fire in which the martyrs were at first sentenced to be burned alive. Another version of the tale appears in the synaxaries: see Delehaye, Synax. Constant., pp. 307—308. Here the com­memoration of the martyrs is attached to December 14; but the Roman Martyrology registers their names on March 8.
Philemon and Apollonius MM (RM) Apollonius was a deacon at Antinoe in the Thebaid, Egypt, and was said to have converted Philemon, a popular musician and entertainer. According to legend, he was arrested during the persecution of Diocletian and, fearful of torture, offered the pagan Philemon four gold pieces if he would perform the rite of eating food sacrificed to false gods in his place. Philemon agreed. He dressed himself in Philemon's clothes and his hooded cloak to hide his face. Philemon appeared before the judge, who asked him to carry out the rite. The Holy Spirit entered Philemon, and he claimed himself a Christian and refused to partake of the sacrifice.  The judge Arrian argued with him, and finally thinking he was speaking to Apollonius, asked that Philemon be brought to him. Unable to find Philemon, the court officers brought Philemon's brother, Theonas. Asked where his brother was, he pointed out Philemon in Apollonius's cloak. The judge saw the situation as a joke but insisted that Philemon perform the rite. Philemon refused. Arrian responded that it was foolish of him to refuse when he was not even baptized. Philemon prayed, and a cloud miraculously appeared and rained upon him. He claimed that he was thus baptized. Arrian appealed to him, begging him to think of what a terrible loss of musical skill such resistance would mean. The musician's pipes were then said to have been destroyed by Philemon himself or to have spontaneously burst into flames. Officers arrested Apollonius, proclaimed the two men as Christians, and they were condemned to death.
One legend says that before the execution, Apollonius and Philemon asked that a great pot be brought before them and a living baby be placed inside it. They then asked soldiers to shoot arrows at it, which they did, the arrows piercing the pot. The baby remained unharmed. The judge then ordered the soldiers to shoot the men with arrows, but all the arrows hung suspended int he air, except one, which blinded Arrian. Despite this and several other miracles, Apollonius is said to have been tied in a sack, thrown into the sea, and drowned. Arrian's sight was said to have been restored when clay from Apollonius's tomb was applied to his eyes. This led to the conversion of Arrian and four other officials (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, White). In art, Apollonius is depicted on a funeral pyre or drowning in the sea or being crucified (White).
311 St. Arian Alexandrian martyr with Theoticus and 3 others governor of Thebes
 Ibídem pássio sanctórum Ariáni Præsidis, Theótici et aliórum trium; quos Judex submérsos in mare necávit, sed delphinórum obséquio córpora eórum ad littus deláta sunt.
       In the same place, the passion of Saints Arian, governor, Theoticus, and three others, whom the judge put to death by drowning in the sea.  Their bodies, however, were brought back by some dolphins.
He and his companions witnessed the martyrdom of Sts. Apollonius and Philemon in Alexandria and were converted. Upon confessing the faith, the men were thrown into the sea.
420 Provinus of Como disciple of Saint Ambrose of Milan B (AC)
A native of Gaul, Saint Provinus became a disciple of Saint Ambrose of Milan. Later he was coadjutor to Saint Felix, bishop of Como, whom he succeeded in the see in 391 (Benedictines).
518 St. Beoadh Irish bishop
He was called Aeodh, receiving the prefix "Beo" because of his evident holiness. He was the bishop of Ardcarne. One of his relics, called the "Bell of St. Beoadh," has long been venerated and recognized as a work of art.
Beoadh B (AC) (also known as Beatus) Aeodh (Aidus), an Irish saint, acquired the prefix Beo on account of the greatness of his virtues, and was appointed bishop of Ardcarne (Roscommon). The "Bell of Saint Beoadh," a beautiful work of art, was long in veneration as a relic of this saint (Benedictines).
560 St. Senan of Scattery Ireland holiness; miracles, attracted great crowds to his sermons
 Senan was born of Christian parents at Munster, Ireland. He was a soldier for a time and then became a monk under Abbot Cassidus, who sent him to Abbot St. Natalis at Kilmanagh in Ossory. Senan became known for his holiness and miracles and attracted great crowds to his sermons. He made a journey to Rome, meeting St. David on the way back. He built several churches and monasteries, and then settled on Scattery Island, where he built a monastery that soon became famous. He died at Killeochailli on the way back from a visit to St. Cassidus monastery.
560 ST SENAN, BISHOP
St SENAN of Scattery Island (Inis Cathaigh) was the most celebrated of the twenty-two saints who, according to Colgan, bore the name of Senan, and some of the episodes recorded in his life and certain of the miracles with which he is credited may well have belonged originally to one or other of his less well known namesakes. Senan came of Christian parents in Munster, and the legends, as is often the case, lay stress upon his youthful precocity we are told that when he was out with his mother and she began to pluck and to eat some berries, the child gently reproved her for eating between meals. On another occasion, when the family was moving home elsewhere, Senan was told to get the house ready by arranging the furniture and cooking utensils in their place. Absorbed in prayer he neglected to do so, and was scolded by his mother. The boy told her to trust in God who would repair his negligence, and immediately the pots and pans shot up to their places on the shelves and the furniture began to move automatically into position—to the great edification of all present.

After some time as a fighting-man Senan determined to enter upon the religious life. He therefore betook himself to a holy abbot called Cassidus, who trained him in monastic discipline. After a time the abbot was told in a vision to send his young disciple to St Natalis, abbot of Kilmanagh in Ossory. In his new home St Senan was soon distinguished for his piety and docility as well as for many remark­able miracles. One day he was sent to mind a herd of cows, and, in order that the abbey might have enough milk, he sought to prevent the calves from having access to the cows. At first he was unsuccessful; but when he laid his staff on the ground between them and retired to pray, the animals were unable to cross the barrier. On another occasion he was working at the mill, and, as it was growing dark, he asked the cook for some candles. He replied that he had none for the moment, but ex­pected soon to have some ready. As Senan did not return to him for a week, the cook was curious to know how he had managed without candles or whether he was neglecting his work. He therefore peeped through the mill-door and was amazed to see the millstones working automatically, whilst the saint was reading in a corner by the light of a candle which the cook recognized as being the last one which he himself had supplied. These and similar wonders spread Senan’s fame, and multitudes flocked to him to be healed, to ask his prayers and to be instructed. Natalis decided that he was now fit to be placed over others, but when Senan asked where he was to go, Natalis replied that such direction must be sought from God. St Senan started out towards East Leinster, and was directed by an angel to a place called Inis Conerthe, which is probably identical with the present Enniscorthy. After some time spent there, the saint journeyed to Rome, from which he returned through France, England and Wales. He appears to have stayed with St David, and we are told that when they parted David presented his friend with his staff, which St Senan brought back to Ireland.

Landing on a small island off the coast of Leinster, he was warned by an angel that this was not the place where he could rest and be buried, but that he must go on and build many cells and churches to God’s glory and must do much to promote the increase of monastic discipline in Ireland before he could settle down. Accordingly he made a foundation at Inishcarra, near Cork (where he was joined by some Italian monks), and others elsewhere. At length he was -told that the time had come for him to choose his final retreat. From the summit of Mount Tese an angel pointed out Arnanaingel, the Hill of the Angels, rising up in the distance, in the estuary of the Shannon, and promised not only that he and his monks should possess the island on which it stood, but also that other holy men should succeed them there. This piece of land, which is now called Scattery Island, lies south of Kilrush Quay, and contains a round tower which local tradition attributes to St Senan, and also a small church of St Senan, part of which is of great antiquity. Accompanied by the angel, the saint afterwards made a circuit of the island, and when he saw the waves dashing against the cliffs, he criticized the place as being too exposed, but the angel gave him the assurance that none of his monks would be drowned when crossing the water in obedience to their superior.

The monastery soon became famous and many men came there, but it was St Senan’s rule that no woman should be allowed to land on the island. Legend, however, relates that St Cannera, knowing she was about to die, greatly desired to receive viaticum and to be buried there. An angel brought her across the water, but on the shore she was met by Senan, who refused to allow her to proceed. If Christ will receive my soul, why should you reject thy body?” she asked. “ That is true,” replied St Senan, “but for all that, I will not allow you to come here go back and do not plague us. You may be pure in soul . . . but you are a woman.”—“I will die before I go back”, retorted St Cannera and she gained her point, for she died on the shore and was buried in the island.

At some period of his life, St Senan appears to have been consecrated a bishop but the chroniclers do not say when or where. As his last hour was approaching, the holy man was moved to revisit the monastery of St Cassidus and the nunnery of St Scotia, his aunt. On his return journey, in a field at Killeochailli, he heard a voice saying, “Senan, servant of God, thou art called to Heaven”, and that very day he passed away. His monks brought his body back to Iniscattery. According to another legend, he was restored to life for a short time and sat up in his coffin to nominate his successor and to deliver a long discourse to the assembled monks, who were not unnaturally much impressed by what they had seen and heard.

The documents printed by Colgan in his Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae and thence re-edited by the Bollandists (March, vol. i) seem substantially to exhaust the available material for the life of St Senan. There is an Irish life preserved in the Book of Lismore and one or two other manuscripts; it has been edited by Whitley Stokes in the Anecdota Oxoniensia (1890) and Colgan gives an abbreviated Latin translation of it. For his cultus in Cornwall see G. H. Doble, Saint Senan, Patron of Sennen (1928); but this may be another man. See also Gleeson in the North Munster Antiquarian Journal, 1940, pp. 14—30; and Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxvi (1948), pp. 199—230. St Senan has a commemoration today through­out Ireland.

Senan of Scattery (AC) (also known as Senames of Inis Cathaigh) Senan, best known of the numerous Irish saints with this name, is credited with making a remarkable succession of monastic foundations on islands at the mouths of rivers and elsewhere, from the Slaney in Wexford to the coast of Clare. The stories that have survived about Saint Senan suggest a man of considerable complexity of character. He is said to have visited Rome and on his way home stayed with Saint David in Wales. On his return to Ireland, he founded more churches and monasteries, notably one at Inishcarra near Cork. He finally settled on Scattery Island (Inis Cathaig) in the Shannon estuary, where he founded a bishopric, established a school, and was buried.
On the island there is still a fine round tower and other early remnants. There are indications that he spent some time in Cornwall, but appears to have had no connection with the Land's End parish of Sennen. The Cloghan Oir or Golden Bell of Saint Senan is in the National Museum of Dublin (Attwater, Benedictines, Montague).
St. Rhian Welsh abbot
He is virtually unknown save for giving his name to Llanrhian, Dyfed, Wales.  
Rhian, Abbot (AC) (also known as Ranus, Rian) Date unknown. The saint who has left his name to Llanrhian in Pembrokeshire. He is described as an abbot, but there are no authentic details of his life available (Benedictines).
648 Felix of Dunwich Burgundian bishop established a school for boys B (RM)
 In Anglia sancti Felícis Epíscopi, qui orientáles Anglos ad fidem convértit.
      In England, St. Felix, bishop, who converted the East Angles to the faith.
Born in Burgundy; died in England in 648. Saint Felix was a Burgundian bishop who brought about the conversion of Sigebert, king of the East Angles, when that prince was in exile. Felix was summoned by the restored Sigebert and sent by Saint Honorius of Canterbury to preach the gospel in East Anglia. In 631, Felix established his see at Dunwich, a town on the Suffolk coast that has been almost wholly washed away by the sea. He labored with much success for 17 years in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire.
With the help of King Sigebert, Felix established a school for boys, obtaining teachers from the school at Canterbury. Saint Felix was buried at Dunwich, but later on his shrine was at Ramsey abbey. This saint gives his name to the town of Felixstowe. He is venerated as the apostle of the East Angles (Attwater, Benedictines).

648 ST FELIX OF DUNWICH, BISHOP OF THE EAST ANGLE
SIGESERT, ruler of the East Angles, had previously been an exile in Gaul, where he had accepted the Christian faith and received baptism. On becoming king he in 631 obtained a bishop, Felix, from the archbishop of Canterbury, St Honorius, to direct the evangelization of the East Anglian people. This Felix was a Burgundian and was, it seems, already a bishop before coming on the English mission.
Sigebert, whom Bede describes as “a most Christian and learned man” appointed Dunwich in Suffolk to be the episcopal see of Felix, who for seventeen years preached the gospel in what are now the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge; he was very successful in bringing the people “to the faith and works of righteousness and the gift of everlasting happiness”. A school was set up, for which Felix secured teachers who could conduct it on the Kentish model. From this slender foundation later writers have argued that this institution was the germ of Cambridge University, and would have us honour King Sigebert and St Felix as its founders. But neither Bede nor even William of Malmesbury makes any mention of Cambridge. The young East Anglian church was further strengthened at this time from another quarter, when St Fursey came from Ireland and established a monastery, probably at Burghcastle.
Dunwich, where St Felix died and was buried in 648, has been entirely swallowed up by the gradual inroads of the sea, although it was once a considerable town. The relics of the saint were translated first to Soham, near Ely, and then to Ramsey abbey, where they still were in the twelfth century. St Felix (whose name is found in Felixstowe) is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology as the apostle of the East Angles; his name appears in a number of English medieval calendars, and his feast is observed today in the diocese of Northampton.
All our reliable information is derived from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, bks ii and iii.
690 St. Julian of Toledo Archbishop revised the Mozarabic liturgy, and wrote Prognostics, on death
 Toléti, in Hispánia, deposítio beáti Juliáni, Epíscopi et Confessóris, sanctitáte et doctrína celebérrimi.
       At Toledo in Spain, the death of blessed Julian, bishop and confessor, most celebrated for his sanctity and learning.
the first to serve as primate over the entire Iberian peninsula. He was reportedly of Jewish descent but was raised a Christian and became a monk at Agali under St. Eugene. Julian eventually became abbot and then a bishop in 680. A powerful Church leader in his era, he convened synods, established Toledo as the primal see of Spain and Portugal, revised the Mozarabic liturgy, and wrote Prognostics, on death.

Julian of Toledo B (RM) Died at Toledo, Spain, in 690. An able and learned monk of Agali under Saint Eugene, Saint Julian succeeded Eugene as abbot and then, in 680, as archbishop of Toledo. Julian was important as a bishop and writer in the history of the Spanish church, which during his episcopate was centralized for the first time at Toledo. In addition to presiding over several national councils, Julian had a strong influence on the development of the Mozarabic rites of public worship, formerly proper to Spain but now all but extinct. Julian is said to have been of Jewish descent, but he presided at a council whose legislation in respect to Jews was ruthless and unjust in the extreme (Attwater, Benedictines).

690 ST JULIAN, Archbishop OF TOLEDO

At the time of his death in 690 St Julian, Archbishop of Toledo, was the most important person in Spain. He is said to have been of Jewish extraction, but his parents were Christian and he was baptized in the chief church of Toledo, as we learn from his successor in the episcopal chair, who gives a short account of his life. The youth was trained by another prelate of Toledo, St Eugenius II and he had as companion a lad who was afterwards known as Gudila Levita. Bound by com­munity of tastes as well as by affection, the friends at first gave themselves to prayer, study and retirement, but apostolic zeal drew them into the world to labour for the conversion of sinners. St Julian, who was an able theologian and a learned man, rose promptly to a position of importance, and when Wamba, the last of the Visi­gothic kings, was given over by the physicians, it was Julian who gave him the monastic habit and shaved his head that he might “die in religion”. The Life of King Wamba written by Julian has survived, and is much valued by historians as it enables them to know more of the reign of that monarch than they can learn of his predecessors or successors.

Julian was chosen to occupy the see of Toledo in 680, and he seems to have ruled his diocese with the same wisdom which characterized him in secular affairs. His biographer assures us that he was endowed with all graces of soul and body, and was so kind that everyone who appealed to him for assistance went away comforted and content. He presided over several synods and succeeded in obtaining for his see the supremacy over all Spain. He is consequently recognized as archbishop of Toledo, though the term was not in general use in Spain at that period. Later writers have censured Julian for encouraging the kings to revive persecution against the Jews but it should be noted that the really scandalous and cruel law which enacted that all adult Jews should be sold as slaves, while their children were to be taken from them at the age of seven and reared in Christian families, was not passed until the sixteenth council of Toledo, five years after his death.

The bishop was a voluminous writer. Amongst his literary works was a revision of the Mozarabic liturgy in use in Spain at that period, a book against the Jews, and the three books of the “Prognostics”, which treat of death and the state of the soul after death. In this work he states that love and the wish to be united to God are sufficient to extinguish in us the natural fear of death; and that the blessed in Heaven pray for us, earnestly desire our happiness and know our actions—either in God whom they behold and in whom they discern all the truth they are concerned to know, or else through the angels, God’s messengers upon earth.

The very brief memoir written by Felix, Julian’s successor in the see of Toledo, is the principal source of information concerning him. See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. i but something also may be learnt from the chroniclers and the acts of the councils over which he presided.
871 Humphrey of Pruem source of strength comfort to people during Norman invasion OSB B (AC)
(also known as Hunfrid)
Bishop Humphrey of Thérouanne, who would have preferred to remain a monk of the Benedictine abbey of Pruem in the Ardennes, was persuaded by Pope Nicholas I who thought differently. At the same time he ruled the abbey of Saint Bertin. He was a source of strength and comfort to the people during the Norman invasion.
He had the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady kept with special splendor in his diocese (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
871 ST HUMPHREY, OR HUNFRID, Bishop of THÉROUANNE
THE Benedictine abbey of Prüm in the Eifel was celebrated in the ninth century, and it attracted amongst others a young man named Humphrey, who came thither from France and received the habit. It was when St Egilon was abbot and Hum­phrey and St Ansbald (the future rebuilder of the abbey) were fellow monks at Prüm that there arrived in the monastery a very sick old man, the Emperor Lothair I, to end his life amongst the brethren. He only survived six days, and doubtless Humphrey was one of those of whom it is recorded in an ancient chronicle that “the brothers reverently buried the emperor in the church of the Holy Saviour”.

Within a year died another important personage—St Folkwin, Bishop of Thérou­anne; and Humphrey was elected in his stead. The position in which the new bishop found himself was one of great difficulty, and it is little to be wondered at if the simple monk was appalled at the prospect before him. In the report of the Council of Toulouse at which St Humphrey was present we read something of the condition of the country—devastated by the Normans, insufficiently defended, and with everything in disorder.

The diocese of Thérouanne suffered even more than others. The invading Northmen had penetrated as far as they could in their ships and had then descended upon the country, laying waste the fields and burning the towns and villages. At Whitsuntide they seized the great monastery of Saint-Bertin at Saint-Omer and set it on fire, after having looted it and put to death with cruel tortures four monks who had been left in charge. The town of Thérouanne was also attacked, and the bishop was obliged to seek safety in flight. Dismayed and discouraged, Humphrey appealed to Pope St Nicholas I for permission to lay down his charge and to retire into a monastery. The pope answered kindly and sympathetically, but would not grant the petition. “Do you not know, dearest brother”, he wrote, “that if it is dangerous for the pilot to desert the ship when the sea is calm, it is far worse if he abandons his post in troubled waters?” Whilst making it quite clear that Hum­phrey was justified in escaping from his persecutors, the pope urged him to hold himself in readiness to return as soon as the storm blew over, again to gather together and encourage his scattered flock. The barbarians did actually withdraw shortly afterwards, and St Humphrey went back to his devastated see and played a noble part in encouraging the people to return to their homes and restore their sanctuaries. He assisted Abbot Adelard to rebuild Saint-Bertin and after Adelard’s death, Humphrey was chosen to succeed him, and ruled the abbey wisely and well whilst continuing to be bishop of Thérouanne. But in 868 he was ousted from Saint-Bertin by King Charles the Bald, who wished to replace him by a creature of his own, a secular canon named Hildwin. St Humphrey continued to rule his diocese and died three years later. By his order the feast of the Assumption became generally observed throughout his province: up till then it had only been fitfully kept in certain churches.

No proper biography of St Humphrey seems to be known, but a good deal of information concerning him has been collected by the Bollandists in the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. i. See also Destouches, Vies des saints de Cambrai a Arras, vol. i, pp. 310—314; Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. iii, p. 136.
1065 St. Duthac Bishop of Ross Scotland venerated for miracles and prophecies.
An Irishman by birth, he was venerated for miracles and prophecies. He is recorded to have predicted the Danish invasion.
Duthac of Ross B (AC) Died 1065. An Irishman by birth, Saint Duthac became bishop of Ross in Scotland, where his memory is preserved in several place names, e.g., Kilduthie (Benedictines).

1065 ST DUTHAC, BISHOP OF Ross

ST Duthac was greatly venerated in Scotland before the Reformation, and his memory is still preserved in place-names —notably Kilduthie, Arduthie near Stonehaven and Kilduich on the Loch of Duich. Tayne, where he was buried and where a church was built in his honour, is called in Gaelic Dhuich Baile, or Duthac’s Town, and near it still stands St Duthac’s Cairn, although the biennial fairs called by his name are no longer held in the town. Educated in Ireland, like so many of his countrymen, he returned to labour in Scotland as a priest and became bishop of Ross. His reputation for sanctity was enhanced by his miracles and predictions he is said to have foretold the invasion of the Danes which took place ten years after his death. The victory of the Scots under Alexander Stewart, great-grandfather of King Robert II, was ascribed to the intercession of St Andrew and of St Duthac, whose shrine became a favourite place of pilgrimage.

Legendary history relates that St Duthac, as a child, was once sent by his master to fetch embers from the forge to kindle a fire, and that he carried home the live coals in his kilt without being singed. In later life, when a kite stole a ring and some meat from one of the saint’s disciples, St Duthac summoned the bird, which relinquished the ring but was allowed to retain the flesh. On another occasion a canon slew an ox at Dornoch, and after distributing portions to the poor, determined to carry a piece to the saint who lived some way off. The canon travelled on a dark and stormy night, but the spit on which he bore the meat shone like a lamp and led him safely on his way until he had delivered up his gift, in its first freshness, to the holy bishop. His feast is kept in the diocese of Aberdeen.

See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. i ; KSS., pp. 318—329; and the lessons of the Aberdeen Breviary.
1092 St. Veremundus Benedictine abbot; miracle worker, deep religious fervor, his aid to poor, defense of the Mozarabic rite
Born in Navarre, Spain, he joined the Benedictines at the abbey of Our Lady of Hirache and eventually was elected abbot, succeeding his uncle, Munius. Under his leadership, the monastery became quite influential in the religious life of the region. A miracle worker, Veremundus was much sought after as a royal counselor. He also was known for his deep religious fervor, his aid to the poor, and traditionally is reported as feeding three thousand at an abbey during a famine. He was also famous for his successful defense of the Mozarabic rite.

Veremund(us) of Hirache, OSB, Abbot (AC) Died 1092. Like his uncle in Navarre, Veremund was a Benedictine at the abbey of Our Lady of Hirache. He eventually became abbot, and during his abbacy the monastery was reckoned the most influential religious center of Navarre. Saint Veremund himself was the advisor of its kings. He was remarkable for his charity towards the poor and for his zeal for the accurate recitation of the Divine Office. In the controversy concerning the use of the Mozarabic rite, he won for it the approval even of the Roman see which was suppressing it. He also performed miracles (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
1092 ST VEREMUND, ABBOT
OF the religious houses in the kingdom of Navarre in the eleventh century the chief in importance was the Benedictine abbey of Hyrache, which under the direction of St Veremund became second to none in all Spain. He had entered the monastery as a mere boy under his uncle, Abbot Munius, from whom he afterwards received the habit. He grew up an exemplary monk, distinguished especially for his bound­less love of the poor. In illustration of this, a story appears amongst the chronicles of the abbey. When serving as doorkeeper Veremund was sometimes carried away by his zeal to distribute to the poor more than the prescribed allowance of food, and the abbot, meeting him one day as he was going to the door with a great number of pieces of bread gathered up in his tunic, asked him what he was carrying. “Chips”, replied the young man—“pieces of bread being, as it were, like chips for warming the poor within”, explains the chronicler. When, at the abbot’s command, Veremund opened out his tunic the bread had been changed into chips—“God thus showing through this miracle”, to quote the words of the narrative, “that the liberality of Veremund to the poor was pleasing in His eyes and that his ambiguity was not a lie but a mystery.”

Upon the death of Munius, St Veremund succeeded him as abbot and led his brethren on by precept and example to ever higher degrees of perfection. He appears to have possessed the gift of healing the sick, and is said to have arrested in a marvellous way a fire which was about to destroy the crops of the abbey. His care for the reverent and accurate recitation of the Divine Office won for him high approval and praise from Rome, and he was an upholder of the particular Spanish usages, called Mozarabic. The kings of Navarre made grants to his abbey, and the rise of the town of Estella was due to one of these donations. One night shepherds watching their flocks were amazed to see a shower of stars fall on a hill which was afterwards known in the local dialect as Yricarra, “Starry”. A search at the spot where the meteorites had fallen was rewarded by the find of a remarkable statue of our Lady with the Holy Child, and King Sancho Ramirez was so much impressed that he started to build a city to be called Estella upon the same spot. He presented the site to Veremund, with the request that he would dedicate the new town to the Mother of God. Thus it came to pass that practically every building in Estella paid rent or tribute to the abbey.

At one time there arose a great famine in Navarre, and the poor flocked to their good friend the abbot, and the numbers were increased by pilgrims on their way to or from Compostela. The monks’ granaries and store-houses were bare, but three thousand persons had collected and their wailing rent the air. Veremund had gone up to the altar to celebrate Mass, and when he reached that part where the priest prays for the people, he made intercession with tears for the starving crowd. Suddenly there appeared a white dove, which flew down low over the heads of the people, seeming to touch them in its passage, and then disappeared as sud­denly as it had come. Meanwhile the people experienced a wonderful feeling of contentment: not only was their hunger appeased, but their mouths were filled with a delicious taste, as though they had been regaled with some heavenly and invigorating food. In their joy and relief they cried aloud and gave thanks and glory to God for His goodness.

See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. i, and Mabillon.
1121 St. Ogmund  Bishop of Holar one of the apostles of Iceland
who is considered one of the apostles of Iceland. He was born Jon Helgi Ogmundarson and was a disciple of Isleifur, a southern Icelandic prelate.

Ogmund of Holar B (AC) (also known as John of Holar) Died 1121; cultus confirmed in 1201.
Iceland had a resident bishop as early as the 11th century. Its second bishop was John Ogmund, the son of a man of rank and property, who, before taking up his duties, had travelled widely in Scandinavia, Ireland, and Scotland, and had visited Iona. He was consecrated in Lund, and afterwards set said for his diocese with a shipload of wood for church building.

He built his cathedral at Holar, in the loveliest valley of Iceland, where the swift streams from the glacier ranges pour through the broad meadows into the polar sea. It was a rich diocese, possessing over 300 farms with pasturage for 1,500 cows, also an island and two large Icelandic ships.

In later years, in an outbreak of cruelty and bloodshed, the church was destroyed. Only its cracked bell and stone altar remained as pathetic witnesses of those fruitful and happy years when it was crowded with worshippers "inflamed with zeal and hungering to be satisfied with the food of life, which is the Word of God," with a school attached to it full of eager scholars.

It had been a vigorous Christian settlement where, in place of heathen festivals and the dark rites of Odin and Thor, "when the bells struck up, all fell at once into their places, and went to church, and there was nought to be heard in choir but fair songs and hallowed prayers." All this and much else belongs to the stoyr of John of Holar, who built his church in a green valley, and who is venerated as one of the apostles of Iceland (Benedictines, Gill).
1154 Stephen of Obazine, OSB Cist. Abbot (AC)
Stephen and another priest withdrew into the forest of Obazine near Tulle, France, to lead a solitary life. When disciples wished to join them they obtained permission from the bishop of Limoges to build a monastery. The new abbey had no written rule, and Saint Stephen arranged for its affiliation to the Cistercian order, and was himself blessed as its first abbot (Benedictines).

1154 ST STEPHEN OF OBAZINE, ABBOT

THE parents of this Stephen lived in the Limousin district of France, and the youth from his childhood was addicted to religious exercises and to works of charity. 

After his ordination he felt called to a stricter life, and renouncing all pleasures he began to practise mortifications. Having made friends with another priest of similar views, he determined to embrace with him the solitary life and to retire into the forest of Obazine, a wild district about two leagues from Tulle. On the day they were to start they gave a feast to their friends and distributed all their posses­sions to the poor. After a time others desired to join them, and the holy men felt called to accept these disciples. Stephen’s friend Peter accordingly went to Limoges to ask the sanction of Bishop Eustace, and they were allowed to build a monastery and to celebrate the Holy Mysteries on condition that they maintained the rules handed down by ancient custom. These eremitical monasteries were not, of course, single buildings, but collections of huts, in each one of which lived one or two solitaries.

The austerities practised by the little community were extreme, and Stephen, though he had a gentle and kindly nature, was rigid in enforcing them. All their time was occupied with prayer, reading and manual labour, and they never ate until evening. St Stephen did not look upon himself as in any way above the others, and he cooked and carried water like the rest: but they had no written rule, because Stephen was their living rule. His brethren nominated him superior, but he left the direction of the community to Peter. Stephen also founded a convent for women which soon contained 150 nuns, with a rule almost as severe as that of the men. It was said of them that they lived so much separated from the world and in such simplicity that they appeared to be only tied to earth by bonds which they were not allowed to break.

After some years St Stephen, fearing lest the discipline of his communities should grow relaxed after his death because they had no written constitutions, applied to the monastery of Dalon, belonging to the Order of Citeaux, to ask that some monks might be sent to instruct his own in the rule of that order. In 1142 he himself received the Cistercian habit and the bishop of Limoges gave him his blessing as abbot. He died twelve years later.

There is a Latin life of St Stephen of Obazine of considerable bulk which has been printed by Baluzius and of which a summary will be found in the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. i.
1223 St. Vincent Kadlubek Cistercian bishop; One of earliest Polish chroniclers
also called Vincent of Cracow Born in Carnow, Poland, circa 1150, he studied in France and Italy before receiving appointment as provost of the cathedral of Sandomir (modern Poland). In 1208 he was appointed bishop of Cracow and worked to promote the reforms then being decreed by Pope Innocent III (r. 1198-1216) and to improve the monastic and religious conditions of the diocese. Resigning in 1128, he entered the Cistercians at Jedrzejow Abbey, where he established himself as one of Poland's first chroniclers through his authorship of the Chronicles of the Kings and Princes of Poland. His cult was confirmed in 1764, and he is venerated in Poland as a saint.

Vincent Kadlubeck, OSB Cist. B (AC) Born in the Palatinate; died 1223; cultus approved in 1764. Saint Vincent studied in France and Italy. Thereafter, he was appointed provost at Sandomir in Poland. In 1208, he was consecrated bishop of Cracow, but resigned in 1218 to become a Cistercian at Jedrzejo Abbey. He is one of the earliest Polish chroniclers (Benedictines).

1223 BD VINCENT, BISHOP OF Karnow
VINCENT KADLUBEIC was born at Karnow in Poland about the year 1150. He studied in Italy and France, took his master’s degree, and held several ecclesiastical offices, of which provost of the cathedral chapter of Sandomir was one. In 1208 he was elected to the bishopric of Cracow. At this time the archbishop of Gniezno, Henry Kietlicz, was energetically implementing the reforms of Pope Innocent III in Poland, and he received notable support from Bishop Vincent, his fellow student. The country was in a state of political disorder and religious demoralization, and Bd Vincent looked particularly to the religious orders to help him in his task: with the object of strengthening their influence he became a benefactor of several monasteries, and at the same time seconded their efforts by his own preaching and frequent visitations. He took an active part in politics, and was solicitous for the temporal welfare of the common people.

In 1218 Vincent resigned his see and retired to the monastery of Jedrzejow, where he was professed a monk of the Cistercian reform. It was perhaps, but not certainly, in these last years of his life that he was engaged in that historical work for which he is best remembered, for he was the first Polish chronicler. His “Chronicle of the Kings and Princes of Poland”, in four books, is valuable in so far as part of it was written from his own experience, and it has been reprinted in modem times. But his uncritical acceptance of popular legends has caused him to be likened to Geoffrey of Monmouth; and the Latin which he employs is “detestable.” Vincent Kadlubek died at his monastery on March 8, 1223, leaving a great reputation for holiness, and in 1764 his ancient cultus was confirmed by the Holy See.

See Manrique, Annales Cistercienses, vol. iv; Henriquez, Menologium Cisterciense; and the Cambridge History of Poland, vol. i (1950), pp. 154—155. In some calendars Bd Vincent appears as Saint.
1550 St. John of God impulsive love embraced anyone in need
Granátæ, in Hispánia, sancti Joánnis de Deo Confessóris, qui Ordinis Fratrum Hospitalitátis infirmórum fuit Institútor, ac misericórdia in páuperes et sui despéctu éxstitit insígnis; quem Leo Décimus tértius, Póntifex Maximus, cæléstem ómnium hospitálium et infirmórum Patrónum renuntiávit.
At Granada in Spain, St. John of God, founder of the Order of Brothers Hospitallers, famed for his mercy to the poor, and his contempt of self.  Pope Leo XIII appointed him as heavenly patron of the sick and of all hospitals.

Image of Saint John of God Courtesy of Saint Charles Borromeo Church

John of God is the patron of the sick, of hospitals, and of nurses, printers, and booksellers
From the time he was eight to the day he died, John followed every impulse of his heart. The challenge for him was to rush to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit gave him, not his own human temptations. But unlike many who act impulsively, when John made a decision, no matter how quickly, he stuck with it, no matter what the hardship.

1550 ST JOHN OF GOD, FOUNDER OF THE BROTHERS HOSPITALLERS
THIS St John was born in Portugal and spent part of his youth in the service of the bailiff of the count of Oroprusa in Castile. In 1522 he enlisted in a company of soldiers raised by the count, and served in the wars between the French and the Spaniards and afterwards in Hungary against the Turks.

From contact with licentious companions in the army, he gradually lost the practice of religion and fell into grievous excesses. The troop having been disbanded, he went to Andalusia, where he entered the service of a woman near Seville as a shepherd.
     At the age of about forty, stung with remorse for his past misconduct, he resolved to amend his life, and began to consider how he could best dedicate the rest of his life to God’s service.
Compassion for the distressed led him to leave his situation in the hope that by crossing to Africa he might succour the Christian slaves there and perhaps win the crown of martyrdom.
At Gibraltar he met a Portuguese gentleman who had been condemned to banishment. This exile and his wife and children were bound for Ceuta in Barbary, and John was so full of pity for them that he attached himself to the family and served them without wages. At Ceuta the man fell ill, and John hired himself out as a day labourer to earn a little money for their benefit. However, he sustained a great shock owing to the apostasy of one of his companions, and as his confessor assured him that his going in quest of martyrdom was an illusion, he resolved to return to Spain.

Upon reaching Gibraltar the idea suggested itself that by turning pedlar and selling sacred pictures and books he might find customers opportunities of doing good to his many beneficent persons, he did not confine his charity to his own hospital: He succeeded well in this business, and in 1538, when he was forty-three, he was able to open a shop in Granada.

Now on St Sebastian’s day, which is kept as a great festival in that city, it happened that they had invited as special preacher the famous John of Avila.
Amongst those who flocked to hear him was this other John, who was so affected by his sermon that he filled the church with his cries, beating his breast and imploring mercy. Then, as though demented, he ran about the streets, tearing his hair and behaving so wildly that he was pelted with sticks and stones and returned home a pitiable object. There he gave away his stock and began roaming the streets distractedly as before, until some kindly persons took him to Bd John of Avila.
The holy man spoke to him in private, gave him advice and promised him help. John was quieted for a time, but soon returned to his extravagances and was carried off to a lunatic asylum, where, according to the practice of the times, the most brutal methods were employed to bring him to his senses. When John of Avila was informed of what had befallen, he came to visit his penitent and told him that he had practised his singular method of penance long enough, and advised him to occupy himself for the future in something more conducive to his own spiritual profit and that of his neighbour. This exhortation had the effect of instantly calming John—much to the astonishment of his keepers--but he remained in the hospital, waiting upon the sick, until St Ursula’s day 1539, when he finally left it.

His mind was now set upon doing something to relieve the poor, and he began selling wood in the market-place to earn money for feeding the destitute. Soon afterwards he hired a house in which to harbour the sick poor, whom he served and catered for with such wisdom, zeal and economy as to astonish the whole city.

This was the foundation of the order of Brothers of St John of God, which has since spread all over Christendom.

John was busy all day long tending his patients, and at night he used to go out and find new objects of charity: he soon ceased to go daily in quest of provisions, for people of their own accord brought him all that was necessary for his little hospital. The archbishop of Granada favoured the under­taking and gave considerable sums to extend it. This encouraged others to con­tribute in various ways, and the modesty and patience of St John did quite as much as his wonderful efficiency to make the hospital popular. The bishop of Tuy invited the holy man to dinner and put questions to him which he answered in such a manner as to impress the prelate most favourably with his prudence and common sense.
    It was this bishop who gave him the name of “John of God” and who prescribed for him a kind of habit, although John never thought of founding a religious order: the rules which bear his name were only drawn up six years after his death, and religious vows were not introduced among his brethren before the year 1570, twenty years after he had disappeared from the scene.

To make trial of the saint’s disinterestedness, the marquis of Tarifa came to him in disguise to beg an alms, and received from his hands twenty-five ducats—which was all John had. The marquis, in addition to returning the loan, bestowed on him 150 gold crowns, and sent to his hospital daily during his stay in Granada good supplies of bread, mutton and poultry.

St John was always generous, but he was willing to give more than money to help those in distress.
   When a fire broke out in his hospital he carried out most of the sick on his own back, and, although he passed and repassed through the flames and stayed in the midst of them several times, he received no hurt.
Moreover, his sympathies were universal. Unlike many beneficent persons he considered himself bound to try to succour every distressed person of whom he had tidings. He therefore organized inquiries into the wants of the poor throughout the province, relieved some in their homes, provided work for others, and with singular tact and wisdom laid himself out in every way to comfort and assist the afflicted members of Christ.
   He was particularly careful to provide for young girls in distress to protect them from the temptations to which they are often exposed. Nor did his solicitude stop there. Crucifix in hand, St John would seek out hardened sinners and with tears exhort them to repentance. Although his life seemed to be one of continual action, he accompanied it with perpetual prayer and corporal austerities. Frequent ecstasies and an exalted spirit of contemplation shed lustre upon the other qualities, but pre-eminent amongst his virtues was the extraordinary humility which appeared in his actions, not least of all amidst the honours he received at the court of Valladolid, whither business sometimes called him.

Worn out at last by ten years’ hard service, St John fell ill. The immediate cause was over-fatigue through his efforts to save his wood and other things for the poor in a flood, and to rescue a drowning man. At first he concealed his symptoms that he might not be compelled to diminish his work, but he carefully went over the inventories of the hospital and inspected the accounts. He also revised the rules of administration, the time-tables, and the devotional exercises to be observed.
   His archbishop sent for him in consequence of a complaint that he harboured tramps and women of bad character. When told of the charges John dropped to his knees at the prelate’s feet and said,

“The Son of man came for sinners, and we are bound to seek their conversion. I am unfaithful to my voca­tion because I neglect this, but I confess that. I know of no bad person in my hospital except myself alone, who am indeed unworthy to eat the bread of the poor.”

He spoke with such evident sincerity that the archbishop dismissed him with respect, leaving all things to his discretion.

As his disease gained greater hold it became impossible to conceal it, and the news quickly spread. Lady Anne Ossorio came in her coach to visit him, and found him lying in his habit in his little cell, with an old coat spread over him instead of a blanket, whilst under his head was a basket. The good lady, who seems to have been as practical as she was kind, despatched a messenger to the archbishop, who immediately sent an order to John to obey her during his illness as he would obey himself. In virtue of this authority Lady Anne prevailed with him to leave his hospital. He named Antony Martin superior over his helpers, and before leaving he visited the Blessed Sacrament, remaining there so long that the masterful Lady Anne caused him to be lifted forcibly into her coach, in which she conveyed him to her own home where he was looked after with delicate attention. He complained that whilst our Saviour in His agony drank gall, he, a miserable sinner, was served with good food.

The magistrates begged him to give his benediction to his fellow townsfolk. This he was loath to do, saying that his sins made him the scandal and reproach of the place, but that he recommended to them his brethren, the poor and those who had served him.
At last, at the wish of the archbishop, he gave the city his dying blessing.
St John passed away, on his knees before the altar, on March 8, 1550, being exactly fifty-five years old. He was buried by the archbishop, and the whole of Granada followed in procession.

St John of God was canonized in 1690, and in 1886 Pope Leo XIII, as the Roman Martyrology records, “declared him the heavenly patron of all hospitals and sick folk”, with St Camillus of Lellis, to whom Pope Pius XI in 1930 added nurses of both sexes. Because of his early venture in hawking books and pictures he is also sometimes specially honoured by book and print sellers.

The facts set out in the life, compiled, it would seem, about twenty years after the founder’s death by Francis de Castro, who was rector of St John’s own hospital at Granada, may be taken as substantially reliable; De Castro’s biography, written in Spanish, has been repro­duced in Latin in the Acta Sanctorum (March, vol. i). Modern resettings of the same story are fairly numerous. The best known are those of A. de Govea (1624) and L. del Pozo (1908) in Spanish; and those of Sagnier (1877) and R. Meyer (1897) in French. In English a translation of the life by G. de Villethierri was included in the Oratorian Series in 1847, and there are lives by K Baillon (1884), by M. and F. Leonard, and by N. McMahon (1952). Cf. also Heimbucher, Die Orden und Kongregationen, vol. ii, pp. 245—251, who gives details of the developments of the institute founded by St John. In art the saint is commonly represented with a pomegranate surmounted by a little cross, The granada, which is the Spanish for pomegranate, stands for the city of Granada, and the reference is to a vision in which the Child Jesus told him, “Thou wilt find thy cross in Granada”.

St. John of God (1495-1550) 
Having given up active Christian belief while a soldier, John was 40 before the depth of his sinfulness began to dawn on him. He decided to give the rest of his life to God's service, and headed at once for Africa, where he hoped to free captive Christians and, possibly, be martyred.
He was soon advised that his desire for martyrdom was not spiritually well based, and returned to Spain and the relatively prosaic activity of a religious goods store. Yet he was still not settled. Moved initially by a sermon of Blessed John of Avila, he one day engaged in a public beating of himself, begging mercy and wildly repenting for his past life.
Committed to a mental hospital for these actions, John was visited by Blessed John, who advised him to be more actively involved in tending to the needs of others rather than in enduring personal hardships. John gained peace of heart, and shortly after left the hospital to begin work among the poor.

He established a house where he wisely tended to the needs of the sick poor, at first doing his own begging. But excited by the saint's great work and inspired by his devotion, many people began to back him up with money and provisions. Among them were the archbishop and marquis of Tarifa.

Behind John's outward acts of total concern and love for Christ's sick poor was a deep interior prayer life which was reflected in his spirit of humility. These qualities attracted helpers who, 20 years after John's death, formed the Brothers Hospitallers, now a worldwide religious order.

John became ill after 10 years of service but tried to disguise his ill health. He began to put the hospital's administrative work into order and appointed a leader for his helpers. He died under the care of a spiritual friend and admirer, Lady Ana Ossorio.
Comment: The utter humility of John of God, which led to a totally selfless dedication to others, is most impressive. Here is a man who realized his nothingness in the face of God. The Lord blessed him with the gifts of prudence, patience, courage, enthusiasm and the ability to influence and inspire others. He saw that in his early life he had turned away from the Lord, and, moved to receive his mercy, John began his new commitment to love others in openness to God's love. Quote: The archbishop called John of God to him in response to a complaint that he was keeping tramps and immoral women in his hospital. In submission John fell on his knees and said: "The Son of Man came for sinners, and we are bound to seek their conversion. I am unfaithful to my vocation because I neglect this, but I confess that I know of no bad person in my hospital except myself alone, who am indeed unworthy to eat the bread of the poor." The archbishop could only trust in John's sincerity and humility, and dismissed him with deep respect.

At eight years old, John heard a visiting priest speak of adventures that were waiting in the age of 1503 with new worlds being opened up. That very night he ran away from home to travel with the priest and never saw his parents again. They begged their way from village to village until John fell sick. The man who nursed him back to health, the manager of a large estate, adopted John. John worked as a shepherd in the mountains until he was 27. Feeling pressure to marry the manager's daughter, whom he loved as a sister, John took off to join the Spanish army in the war against France. As a soldier, he was hardly a model of holiness, taking part in the gambling, drinking, and pillaging that his comrades enjoyed. One day, he was thrown from a stolen horse near French lines. Frightened that he would be captured or killed, he reviewed his life and vowed impulsively to make a change.
When he returned he kept his spur of the moment vow, made a confession, and immediately changed his life. His comrades didn't mind so much that John was repenting but hated that he wanted them to give up their pleasures too. So they used his impulsive nature to trick him into leaving his post on the pretext of helping someone in need. He was rescued from hanging at the last minute and thrown out of the army after being beaten and stripped. He begged his way back to his foster-home where he worked as a shepherd until he heard of a new war with Moslems invading Europe.
Off he went but after the war was over, he decided to try to find his real parents. To his grief he discovered both had died in his absence.

As a shepherd he had plenty of time to contemplate what God might want of his life. When he decided at 38 that he should go to Africa to ransom Christian captives, he quit immediately and set off for the port of Gibraltar. He was on the dock waiting for his ship when he saw a family obviously upset and grieving. When he discovered they were a noble family being exiled to Africa after political intrigues, he abandoned his original plan and volunteered to be their servant. The family fell sick when they reached their exile and John kept them alive not only by nursing them but by earning money to feed them.
His job building fortifications was grueling, inhuman work and the workers were beaten and mistreated by people who called themselves Catholics.

Seeing Christians act this way so disturbed John that it shook his faith. A priest advised him not to blame the Church for their actions and to leave for Spain at once. John did go back home -- but only after he learned that his newly adopted family had received pardons.

In Spain he spent his days unloading ship cargoes and his nights visiting churches and reading spiritual books. Reading gave him so much pleasure that he decided that he should share this joy with others. He quit his job and became a book peddler, traveling from town to town selling religious books and holy cards. A vision at age 41 brought him to Granada where he sold books from a little shop. (For this reason he is patron saint of booksellers and printers.)

After hearing a sermon from the famous John of Avila on repentance, he was so overcome by the thought of his sins that the whole town thought the little bookseller had gone from simple eccentricity to madness. After the sermon John rushed back to his shop, tore up any secular books he had, gave away all his religious books and all his money. Clothes torn and weeping, he was the target of insults, jokes, and even stones and mud from the townspeople and their children.
Friends took the distraught John to the Royal Hospital where he was interned with the lunatics. John suffered the standard treatment of the time -- being tied down and daily whipping.
John of Avila came to visit him there and told him his penance had gone on long enough -- 40 days, the same amount as the Lord's suffering the desert -- and had John moved to a better part of the hospital.
John of God could never see suffering without trying to do something about it. And now that he was free to move, although still a patient, he immediately got up and began to help the other sick people around him.
The hospital was glad to have his unpaid nursing help and were not happy to release him when one day he walked in to announce he was going to start his own hospital.

John may have been positive that God wanted him to start a hospital for the poor who got bad treatment, if any, from the other hospitals, but everyone else still thought of him as a madman. It didn't help that he decided to try to finance his plan by selling wood in the square. At night he took what little money he earned and brought food and comfort to the poor living in abandoned buildings and under bridges.
Thus his first hospital was the streets of Granada.

Within an hour after seeing a sign in a window saying "House to let for lodging of the poor" he had rented the house in order to move his nursing indoors. Of course he rented it without money for furnishings, medicine, or help. After he begged money for beds, he went out in the streets again and carried his ill patients back on the same shoulders that had carried stones, wood, and books. Once there he cleaned them, dressed their wounds, and mended their clothes at night while he prayed. He used his old experience as a peddler to beg alms, crying through the streets in his peddler's voice,
"Do good to yourselves! For the love of God, Brothers, do good!" Instead of selling goods, he took anything given -- scraps of good, clothing, a coin here and there.

Throughout his life he was criticized by people who didn't like the fact that his impulsive love embraced anyone in need without asking for credentials or character witnesses. When he was able to move his hospital to an old Carmelite monastery, he opened a homeless shelter in the monastery hall. Immediately critics tried to close him down saying he was pampering troublemakers.
His answer to this criticism always was that he knew of only one bad character in the hospital and that was himself.

His urge to act immediately when he saw need got him into trouble more than a few times. Once, when he encountered a group of starving people, he rushed into a house, stole a pot of food, and gave it to them. He was almost arrested for that charity! Another time, on finding a group of children in rags, he marched them into a clothing shop and bought them all new clothes. Since he had no money, he paid for it all on credit!
Yet his impulsive wish to help saved many people in one emergency. The alarm went out that the Royal Hospital was on fire. When he dropped everything to run there, he found that the crowd was just standing around watching the hospital -- and its patients -- go up in flames. He rushed into the blazing building and carried or led the patients out. When all the patients were rescued, he started throwing blankets, sheets, and mattresses out the windows -- how well he knew from his own hard work how important these things were. At that point a cannon was brought to destroy the burning part of the building in order to save the rest. John stopped them, ran up the roof, and separated the burning portion with an axe. He succeeded but fell through the burning roof.
All thought they had lost their hero until John of God appeared miraculously out of smoke. (For this reason, John of God is patron saint of firefighters.)

John was ill himself when he heard that a flood was bringing precious driftwood near the town. He jumped out of bed to gather the wood from the raging river. Then when one of his companions fell into the river, John without thought for his illness or safety jumped in after him.
He failed to save the boy and caught pneumonia. He died on March 8, his fifty-fifth birthday, of the same impulsive love that had guided his whole life.

John of God is patron saint of booksellers, printers, heart patients, hospitals, nurses, the sick, and firefighters and is considered the founder of the Brothers Hospitallers.
In His Footsteps: When you feel the urge to serve, help, or pray do you act on it or argue yourself out of it? Today if you feel an impulse to do good, do it immediately as John of God would have done without thinking of how practical or how embarrassing it might be.
Prayer:  Saint John of God, help us to act out of love as soon as we feel the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Help us learn to fight the little voices in our heads and hearts that give us all sorts of practical reasons to wait or delay in our service of God. Amen

John of God, Religious (RM) Born at Montemoro Nuovo (diocese of Evora), Portugal, March 8, 1495; died in Granada, Spain, on March 8, 1550; canonized by Pope Alexander VIII in 1690; Leo XIII in 1886 declared him to be "patron of all hospitals and sick," along with Camillus de Lellis.
The several versions of Saint John's story are hopelessly confused with regard to a sequence of events in his early life.

Juan Ciudad was born of pious, peasant stock. His parents died when he was young (either before or after his misadventures). He was "seduced from his home by a priest, who abandoned him on the road" (Tabor with no further explanation). For a while he was a shepherd. He also served the bailiff of the count of Oroprusa in Castile for some time. After travelling for a while, he entered military service in 1522 where, his biographers report, he was guilty of many grievous sexual excesses and other sins. He served in the wars between the French and the Spaniards, and in Hungary against the Turks. After the count's company broke up, John worked as a shepherd near Seville. He even worked as a superintendent of slaves in Morocco at some point.
When he was about 40, he was profoundly moved with remorse and decided to dedicate himself to God's service in some special way. He initially thought of going to Morocco in Africa to minister to and rescue Christian slaves. Instead he accompanied a Portuguese family from Gibraltar to Ceuta, Barbary. There he served a Portuguese nobleman, who had lost all his possessions. John maintained the whole family by his labor. Then he returned to Gibraltar, where he peddled religious pictures and books. He business prospered, and in 1538, in obedience to a vision, he opened a shop in Granada.
After hearing Blessed John of Ávila preach on Saint Sebastian's Day (January 20), he was so touched that he cried aloud and beat his breast, begging for mercy. He ran about the streets behaving like a lunatic, and the townspeople threw sticks and stones at him. He returned to his shop, gave away his stock, and began wandering the streets in distraction.
Some people took him to Blessed John of Ávila, who advised him and offered his support. John was calm for a while but fell into wild behavior again and was taken to an insane asylum, where the customary brutal treatments were applied to bring him to sanity. John of Ávila heard of his fate and visited him, telling him that he had practiced his penance long enough and that he should address himself to doing something more useful for himself and his neighbor. John was calmed by this, remained in the hospital, and attended the sick until 1539. While there he determined to spend the rest of his life working for the poor.
On his release from the hospital, he began selling wood to earn money to feed the poor. With the help of the archbishop of Granada, hired a house as a refuge to care for the sick poor-- including prostitutes and vagabonds, which brought him criticism. Although he was constantly short of money, his work prospered because he served them with great zeal and discrimination.
On one occasion his hospital caught fire and he carried out most of the patients on his own back, returning again and again through the flames to rescue them. He had a good business head and was so efficient in his administration that soon he found himself the recipient of aid from the whole city of Granada and beyond. He found so many willing to join in helping him, that he was forced to think of starting a religious order. This was the beginning of the Borthers of Saint John of God, a group which was to have enormous influence in the Church. He had not intended to found a religious order, and so the rules were not drawn up until six years after his death.
He gave relief also to the poor in their homes and found work for the unemployed. In his eagerness that no case of want should go unrelieved, he instituted an inquiry into the problems and needs of the poor of the whole area. In addition to his relief work, bearing in his hand a crucifix, he sought out the fallen women of the city to reclaim them. The archbishop once sent for him and complained that he harbored idle beggars and bad women, to which he replied that the only bad person in the hospital was himself.
John of God practiced great penance, enjoyed visions and even ecstasies, but manifested great humility through a life in which he wore himself out, trying to aid every distressed person he met or heard of, in addition to preaching with cross in hand to crowds throughout the city streets. He fell ill after trying to save his wood and to rescue a drowning child from the River Ximel during a flood. He hid his illness and continued in his duties, but the news finally got out.
He named Antony Martin superior over his helpers. John remained so long in front of the Blessed Sacrament that the Lady Anne Ossorio took him home with her by force. She surrounded him with every comfort, and read to him the story of the Passion of Jesus. He worried that while Jesus drank gall, he, a miserable sinner, was being fed good food.
Outside, the whole city gathered at the door--nobles and beggars alike--craving his blessing. The magistrates begged him to bless his fellow townsfolk, but he said that he was a sinner. The archbishop finally convinced him to confer his blessing. John died on his knees before the altar of his hospital chapel, and was buried by the archbishop (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Gill, Tabor, White).
In art, Saint John is portrayed as a Capuchin monk with a long beard, two bowls hung around his neck on a cord, and a basket. At times he may be shown (1) as a crown of thorns is brought to him by the Virgin, (2) with an alms box hung up near him, (3) with a crucifix, rosary, and collection box, (4) holding a pomegranate (pome de Granada) with a cross on it, (5) washing Jesus's feet as a pilgrim, (6) carrying sick persons, or (7) with a beggar kneeling at his feet (Roeder, Tabor). He is venerated in Granada, Spain (Roeder, White). 
1925 Blessed Faustino Miguez a Piarist, almost 50 years dedicated to education Sch. P. (AC)
Born at Xamiras, Orense, Spain, March 24, 1831; died Getafe, March 8, 1925; beatified October 24, 1998.
Faustino was the fourth child of a hard-working Christian family. After studying Latin and the humanities in Orense, there he heard God's call to be a priest and teacher in the spirit of St Joseph Calasanz. In 1850 he entered St Ferdinand's novitiate of the Piarist Fathers in Madrid. In his long life as a Piarist, almost 50 years dedicated to education, he was sent to schools in San Fernando, Guanaboacoa, Getafe, Monforte de Lemos, Celanova, El Escorial and Sanlucar de Barameda.

Convinced that "those who want to teach need to learn," he worked tirelessly, training himself daily to fulfil his educational mission. God endowed him with a special love for the young and a sensitivity that enabled him to approach them with kindness, to know them and to seek their welfare. School was the place where he met the Lord, whom he loved and served in children. Through piety and learning he opened horizons of culture to them, encouraging them and teaching them to love what is true, noble and sublime. A Piarist for all children, his devotion to them was expressed in his concern for the weakest and neediest. Fr Faustino, like St Joseph Calasanz, lauded education as "the noblest work, the greatest and the most sublime in the world because it embraces the whole of man as God conceived him . . . ."

He spent many hours hearing confessions and was renowned for his patience and wise advice. His whole life was dedicated to the love of God and to learning. He combined scientific research with his vocation as an educator and studied the healing properties of plants, which he believed were Providence's remedy for illness. He prepared medicines and cured many of the sick who consulted him. The Miguez Laboratory in Getafe is one of his great legacies to society.

In Sanlucar de Barrameda, he encountered the illiteracy and marginalization of women and, aware of their importance in the family and in society, he felt an urgent need to assist with the human and Christian advancement of girls, especially the very poor. This Inspired him to found the Calasanctian Institute of the Daughters of the Divine Shepherdess on 2 January 1885. He devoted great wisdom to their formation, imbuing their life with a spirit of prayer, humility, simplicity and ardent love for Mary so that, as Mother and Shepherdess, she might be the model for their vocation of service to the young and the lowly. He outlined their charism in the Constitutions: "The aim of the Daughters of the Divine Shepherdess is to seek souls and lead them to God . . . ."

Obedience required him to leave his congregation for Getafe, but Fr Faustino knew that if it was God's work it would last. Indeed, the congregation expanded to Andalucia, Castille and Galicia, and he had the joy of seeing new foundations in Chile and Argentina. He died in Getafe, at the age of 94 (verbatim from the EWTN Library).


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 278

Thy mercies, O Lady, I will sing forever.

With the ointment of thy tender mercy heal the broken in heart: and with the oil of thy mercy console our griefs.

May thy gracious countenance appear to me in my end: may the beauty of thy face rejoice my spirit in its going forth.

Stir up my spirit to love thy goodness: excite my mind to extol thy nobility and worth.

Deliver me from evil and tribulation: and from all sin keep thou my soul.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.
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The Holy Father authorized the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees regarding the heroic virtues of:
- Servant of God Andrey Sheptytsky, O.S.B.M., major archbishop of Leopolis of the Ukrainians, metropolitan of Halyc (1865-1944);
- Servant of God Giuseppe Carraro, Bishop of Verona, Italy (1899-1980);
- Servant of God Agustin Ramirez Barba, Mexican diocesan priest and founder of the Servants of the Lord of Mercy (1881-1967);
- Servant of God Simpliciano della Nativita (ne Aniello Francesco Saverio Maresca), Italian professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts (1827-1898);
- Servant of God Maria del Refugio Aguilar y Torres del Cancino, Mexican founder of the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (1866-1937);
- Servant of God Marie-Charlotte Dupouy Bordes (Marie-Teresa), French professed religious of the Society of the Religious of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (1873-1953);
- Servant of God Elisa Miceli, Italian founder of the Rural Catechist Sisters of the Sacred Heart (1904-1976);
- Servant of God Isabel Mendez Herrero (Isabel of Mary Immaculate), Spanish professed nun of the Servants of St. Joseph (1924-1953)
October 01, 2015 Vatican City, Pope Authorizes following Decrees
(ZENIT.org) By Staff Reporter
Polish Layperson Recognized as Servant of God
Pope Authorizes Decrees
Pope Francis on Wednesday authorised the Congregation for Saints' Causes to promulgate the following decrees:

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

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

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Paqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China Marian shrines May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, 278 2023