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!)
RDeo grátias. R.  Thanks be to God.
March is the month of Saint Joseph since 1855;
2022-23
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.

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

Pope Francis  PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR MARCH 2023

March – For victims of abuse
“We pray for those who have suffered harm from members of the Church; may they find within the Church herself a concrete response to their pain and suffering.”


If Children Are Seen as a Burden, Something Is Wrong
A society that does not like to be surrounded by children and considers them a concern, a weight, or a risk, is a depressed society.  
“When life multiplies, society is enriched, not impoverished.

Children are a gift of society, never a possession. Pope Francis

ABORTION IS A MORAL OUTRAGE
Marian spirituality: all are invited.

40 Days for Life  11,000+ saved lives in 2015
We are the defenders of true freedom.
  May our witness unveil the deception of the "pro-choice" slogan.
  Campaign saves lives Shawn Carney Campaign Director www.40daysforlife.com
Please help save the unborn they are the future for the world
It is a great poverty that a child must die so that you may live as you wish -- Mother Teresa
 Saving babies, healing moms and dads, 'The Gospel of Life'

Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us persevere in a good life.
Therefore the servant of God ought always to be in good spirits.

-- St. Philip Neri


Fervent prayer, holy meditation, and reading pious books, are more necessary for those living in the world  than for professed religious, because of the continual distractions.

March 15 - Our Lady of the Underground (Chartres, France, 911)
Our Lady of the Underground  Chartres Cathedral is a place of magnificent diversity.
Its architecture leads the eyes towards the light and the altar.
The cathedral conveys a humble, sweet spirituality (cf. Saint Fulbert of Chartres).
Here, Mary presents her Son everywhere.
The entire cathedral is a celebration of the Incarnation. Our Lady is depicted 173 times...The most famous representations of Mary are:  Our Lady of Underground in the crypt, with its rich historical references
The very popular Virgin of the Pillar Our Lady of the Beautiful Stained-Glass Window...

Members of the Chemin Neuf Community celebrate vespers in the transept at 3 o'clock p.m.
Csilla Kovac, a Hungarian member, remembers, "Our calling is to pray for unity of Christians and peace in the world.
The very first time that we sang vespers in the cathedral, it was on September 11, 2001!"
Adapted from http://www.mariedenazareth.com/8113.0.html?&L=1

     Now there is a great difference between believing in Christ, and in believing that Jesus is the Christ.
For that he was the Christ even the devils believed;
but he believes in Christ who both loves Christ, and hopes in Christ.
-- St. Augustine


March 15 - Our Lady of the Underground (Chartres, France) - Our Lady of Fossolovara (Italy)
If you want to lead a faithful life you should imitate the Virgin Mary
 You have kept a childish soul and you want to lead a faithful life, so you should imitate the Virgin. In her, there is no sign of "me," no trace of the "old man." She was "conceived without sin" and was so filled with God that nobody can speak of Mary without thinking of Jesus.
If God is absent, you will feel your own emptiness, solitude and misery. Your whole happiness depends on the intimacy of your relationship with God. Mary, for her part, is wholly turned towards Him and the Lord sees in her the most perfect type of creature that He can conceive. It is through Mary that God's beauty and goodness are made manifest in the most glorious way.
Cardinal François-Xavier NGUYEN VAN THUAN,
Sur le chemin de l'espérance (The Road to Hope), Le Sarment, Fayard 1991

March 15 – Our Lady of Under the Ground (Chartres, France) – Our Lady of Fossolovara (Italy)
 
600 years before the first apparition of the Lady of All Nations
The Eucharistic miracle of Amsterdam (the Netherlands) took place on March 15, 1345, 600 years before the first apparition of the Lady of All Nations in Amsterdam. A sick man was dying in his house and given the last rites, but he could not keep down Holy Communion and rejected the Host. The woman who nursed him threw the vomit into the fire. The next morning, as she relit the fire, she saw the Host hovering above the flames. She placed it on a cloth, put it in a box and brought it to a priest... The Host was carried to Saint Nicolas Church, with much pomp, in a solemn procession
The bishop recognized the miracle in 1346. The Solemnity of the Blessed Sacrament became a liturgical as well as urban festival. Pilgrims flocked to the church. Today, every year on March 15th, about 10,000 people from all parts of the Netherlands participate in the feast, praying silently and following the historic path of the first procession.

In her second message, given on April 21, 1945, the Lady of all Nations showed the visionary a procession filing past outside the church and said: “That is the Miracle Procession of Amsterdam.” This meant that the Virgin Mary intentionally chose to speak to all nations from a recognized "Eucharistic city."
 
Father Paul Maria Sigl,
Die Frau aller Völker 'Miterlöserin Mittlerin Fürsprecherin'
Amsterdam - Rome, March 25, 1998, and Éditions Téqui,
Les Messages de la Dame de tous les Peuples, 2006  Notre Dame de tous les Peuples

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

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.
       Longinus the Centurion acknowledged Christ as "the son of God"  
       Sufi Saints Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia and Amir Khusrau
       St. Aristobulus Martyred disciple of Christ
 251 St. Menignus Martyr at Parium on the Hellespont
275 The Hieromartyr Alexander was from Side, Pamphylia underwent all the tortures with surprising endurance Miraculously preserved by the Lord
 304 St. Nicander Egyptian martyr physician of Alexandria
       Holy Martyrs Agapius, Publius, Timolaus, Romulus, Alexander, Alexander, Dionysius
 350 St. Matrona (3 of them) She suffered grievously from dysentery, and was supernaturally directed to go to Italy to find a cure, for the relief of which disease she is now invoked
 555 St. Mancius Roman  & brother Gregory received into religious life by Saint Benedict at Montecassino martyred by Portuguese slave masters
Apud Cápuam sancti Speciósi Mónachi, cujus ánimam (ut scribit beátus Gregórius Papa) germánus ejus deférri vidit in cælum.
 571 Probus of Rieti Saints Juvenal and Eleutherius appeared to him in a vision 
 752 Zachary I, Pope known for his learning & sanctity chosen pope in 741 to succeed Saint Gregory III (RM)
 859 St. Leocrita Virgin martyr of Spain w/St. Eulogius who sheltered her
1082 Sisebutus of Cardena influential focus of church and civic life, OSB Abbot (AC)
1163 St. Raymond of Fitero Cistercian abbot founder of the Order of Calatrava
1090 Malcoldia of Asti Benedictine nun hermit near the abbey church of Saint Anastasia in Asti, OSB Hermit (AC)
1163 St. Raymond of Fitero Cistercian abbot founder of the Order of Calatrava 
1286 St. Monaldus of Ancona Franciscan martyr with Anthony of Milan and Francis of Fermo missionaries in Armenia
1583 Bl. William Hart Martyr of England ministered to Catholic prisoners in York Prison 
1660 St. Louise de Marillac Sisters of Charity caring for sick poor neglected patron saint of social workers 
1830 St. Clement Maria Hofbauer Redemptorist preacher reformer devoted to Jesus
1915 BD PLACID RICCARDI, Benedictine monk.


Sufi Saints Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia and Amir Khusrau
Holi, being celebrated across India on March 15, may be the most colourful Hindu festival but it has a Muslim history as well.

Sufi saints like Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia and Amir Khusrau, writing in their chaste Persian and Hindi, loved the festival. Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, whose Holi 'phags' (songs) are relished even today, allowed his Hindu ministers to tinge his forehead with 'gulal' during Holi festival each year. During the Shahjahani tenure of Delhi, Holi was known as Eid-e-Gulabi (Pink Eid) or Aab-e-Pashi (Shower of Colourful Flowers), and truly so owing to its carnival spirit and hysterical rejoicing for both Hindus and Muslims. The nobles, kings and nawabs exchanged rose water bottles and sprinkled them on each other along with the frenzied drumming of the 'nagaras' (drums).
This enlightened spirit percolated in the Mughals right from the time of the greatest Mughal emperor Akbar. Jahangir is shown holding Holi festivities in Tuzk-e-Jahangiri.
1st v. Longinus the Centurion acknowledged Christ as "the son of God"  M (RM)
Cæsaréæ, in Cappadócia, pássio sancti Longíni mílitis, qui Dómini latus láncea perforásse perhibétur.
At Caesarea in Cappadocia, the martyrdom of St. Longinus, the soldier who is said to have pierced our Lord's side with a lance.
feast day in the East is October 16.
1st v. ST LONGINUS, MARTYR
THE story of St Longinus, who is commemorated on this day in the Roman Martyrology and is there associated with the city of Caesarea in Cappadocia, may conveniently be given in the terms of Bd James of Voragine’s Golden Legend. St Longinus, according to this account, was the centurion who, standing by Pilate’s direction with other soldiers beside the cross of our Lord, pierced His side with a lance, and seeing the portents which followed, the darkening of the sun and the earthquake, believed in Christ. But what influenced him most, as some relate, was that though his sight was failing him, either through age or infirmity, the blood of our Saviour running down the lance touched his eyes, and straightway he saw clearly. For this reason he gave up his soldiering, and, after being instructed by the apostles, he led a monastic life in Caesarea of Cappadocia, by his words and example winning many souls to Christ.

Having been brought to trial and refusing to offer sacrifice, the governor ordered all his teeth to be knocked out and his tongue cut off. Nevertheless Longinus did not in consequence lose his power of speech. Catching up an axe, he broke the idols into fragments, and cried aloud, “Now we shall see whether they are gods”. But a pack of demons issuing forth from the idols entered into the governor and his attendants. Then gibbering and howling they fell down at Longinus’s feet. Thereupon Longinus said to them, “Why take ye up your abode in idols?” Who answered, “Where the name of Christ is not heard and the sign of His cross is not imposed, there is our dwelling-place”. Meanwhile the governor continued to rave and he was now blind. So Longinus said to him, “Know that thou canst only be cured when thou hast put me to death. But as soon as I shall have surrendered my life by thy act, I will pray for thee, and I will obtain for thee health both of body and of soul.” Straightway then the governor ordered his head to be cut off; and immediately this was done he threw himself down beside the corpse and with tears manifested his repentance. But in that same moment he recovered his sanity along with his sight, and he ended his life in the doing of all good works.

The untrustworthy character of this account, which is supported by no docu­mentary evidence of the early centuries, is patent upon the face of it. The “cen­turion” of Mark (xv 29) is unwarrantably identified with the “soldier” (John xix 34) who pierced the side of Jesus. To this latter, in the apocryphal “Gospel of Nicodemus”, otherwise known as the “Acts of Pilate”, the name Longinus is given in its later recensions; but there seems every probability that it was suggested by the Greek word (a lance), the weapon he is recorded to have used. There is a Syriac manuscript of the gospels in the Laurentian Library at Florence written by a certain monk Rabulus in 586, which contains a miniature of the crucifixion. In this the soldier piercing our Lord’s side has the name Loginus written over his head in Greek characters. This may, however, have been a later addition. What we know for certain is that there were several different stories in circulation re­garding Longinus which have given rise to different feasts at different dates. The most notable legend is that of Mantua, which claims that Longinus came to that city shortly after the death of our Lord, and that there, after preaching the gospel for some years, he suffered martyrdom. He is said, moreover, to have brought with him a portion of the precious blood shed upon the cross, which relic is alleged to be still preserved at Mantua, as well as the body of the saint.

There is a considerable literature connected with these fables. Some account of it will be found in C. Kröner, Die Longinuslegende (1899), but a still fuller treatment in K. J. Peebles, The Legend of Longinus in Ecclesiastical Tradition and English Literature (1911). See also the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii; and F. I. Dölger, Antike und Christentum, bk iv (1933), pp. 81—94.
According to tradition, the name of the centurion at the Crucifixion who acknowledged Christ as "the son of God" (Matt. 27:54; Mark 15:39; Luke 23:47) was Longinus.
This centurion is also identified as the soldier who "pierced His side with a lance" (John 19:34), probably because the name is derived from the Greek word longche, meaning a lance. Untrustworthy legend exemplified by the Golden Legend says that the blood pouring from Christ's side immediately healed him of incipient blindness. Therefore, he was converted, left the army, took instruction from the Apostles, and then became a monk (centuries before there were monasteries) at Caesarea, Cappadocia, allegedly his homeland. The story continues that he was arrested for his faith and tortured. His teeth were knocked out and tongue plucked. He is said to have destroyed idols with a nearby axe in the presence of the governor who was trying him. From the broken idols came evil spirits that possessed, maddened, and blinded the governor. Longinus told his judge that he would be healed only after his own death. So, Longinus was immediately beheaded; whereupon the governor was healed and converted. An earlier cultus of Longinus was revived and strengthened with the discovery of the Holy Lance in a church of Antioch during the First Crusade, which had transformed the morale of the Christian soldiers (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer).
In art, Saint Longinus is a soldier piercing Christ's side at the Crucifixion. He may also be depicted (1) as a soldier with a lance; (2) pointing to his eyes (he received his sight when the water from Christ's side fell upon him); or (3) with a lance, flinging wide his arms (Roeder).

Longinus der Centurio und seine Heerführer Orthodoxe Kirche: 16. Oktober Katholische Kirche: 15. März
Die Legende berichtet, der Hauptmann (Centurio), der unter dem Kreuz bekannte "Wahrlich, dieser ist Gottes Sohn gewesen" (Matth. 27, 54) sei Longinus gewesen. Er habe auch den Speer in Jesu Seite gestoßen und sei durch das Blut von einem Augenleiden genesen. Nachdem er mit seinen Soldaten auch an den Grab Jesu Wache stand und die Auferstehung erlebte, ließen er und zwei seiner Soldaten sich taufen. Sie quittierten die Armee und gingen in das Heimatland von Longinus, Kappadokien, um hier zu missionieren. Sie waren sehr erfolgreich und die Juden bestimmten Pilatus, die drei Soldaten gefangenzusetzen und hinzurichten. Die von Pilatus entsandten Soldaten versuchten Longinus zur Flucht zu überreden, aber er lehnte dies ab. Die drei wurden daraufhin geköpft und ihre Köpfe wurden zu Pilatus gesandt. Eine blinde Frau fand später, von Longinus im Traum angeleitet, seinen Kopf, erlangte ihr Augenlicht, brachte den Kopf nach Kappadokien und begrub ihn dort. Später gelangten seine Reliquien nach Rom. Seine Lanze wurde früher im Petersdom bei der Longinus-Statue von Bernini gezeigt. Es gibt auch eine schwäbische Sage, die berichtet, Longinus stamme aus Zöbingen und habe seiner Familie einen Brief über die Kreuzigung geschrieben.
1st v. St. Aristobulus Martyred disciple of Christ
Eódem die natális sancti Aristobúli, Apostolórum discípuli, qui, cursu prædicatiónis perácto, martyrium consummávit.
   The same day, the birthday of St. Aristobulus, a disciple of the apostles, who completed by martyrdom a life spent in preaching the Gospel:  one of the seventy-two sent out into the world by the early Church.
He is possibly mentioned by St. Paul and is identified with Zebedee, the father of Sts. James and John.
Aristobulus preached in Britain, although no documentation supports this or his martyrdom in the British Isles.

Aristolubus M (RM) 1st century. Saint Aristolubus is said to have been one of the 72 disciples commissioned by our Lord Jesus to preach the coming of the Kingdom. Saint Paul mentions him in Romans 16:11. He has been identified with Zebedee, the father of the "sons of Thunder," Saints James and John. Legend says that after the Resurrection of Jesus, he evangelized Britain and died a martyr's death (Benedictines).

Aristobulos Orthodoxe Kirche: 15. März und 31. Oktober
In Röm 16, 10 nennt Paulus das Haus des Aristobul. Aristobulos war ein Bruder des Apostels Barnabas. Er begleitete Paulus auf seinen Reisen und wurde von ihm zum Bischof ernannt und zur Mission nach Britannien gesandt. Er hat dort lange erfolgreich gewirkt, ist mehrmals überfallen und gefoltert worden, aber nicht als Märtyrer gestorben.
422 berichtet Bischof Germanus nach Rom von urchristlich geprägten Gemeinden, die die katholische Lehrentwicklung (z.B. Erbsünde, Kindertaufe, römische Liturgie) nicht kennen und deshalb des Arianismus beschuldigt werden. Frühgeschichte der britischen Kirche (englisch)

251 St. Menignus Martyr at Parium on the Hellespont
In Hellespónto sancti Menígni fullónis, qui sub Décio Imperatóre passus est.
           In the Hellespont, St. Menignus, a dyer, who suffered under Decius.
During the persecution of the Church under Emperor Trajanus Decius (249-251 A.D.), Menignus, a dyer in Parium, tore down an imperial edict against Christianity which had been posted on a wall. For this act he was tortured, had his fingers hacked off, and was then beheaded.

Menignus the Dyer M (RM) Died 251. Saint Menignus, a cloth dyer, was martyred for the faith under Decius at Parium on the Hellespont. His fingers were cut off because he tore down the imperial edict against the Christians. Later he was beheaded (Benedictines).

275 The Hieromartyr Alexander was from Side, Pamphylia underwent all the tortures with surprising endurance Miraculously preserved by the Lord
He suffered for Christ during the persecution under the emperor Aurelian (270-275). The saint was interrogated by the governor Antoninus and given over to fierce tortures.
Miraculously preserved by the Lord, the saint underwent all the tortures with surprising endurance, and finally, he was beheaded. Just as the torturer Antoninus went from the judgment place, he was possessed by demons and perished in frenzied convulsions.
304 St. Nicander Egyptian martyr physician of Alexandria
In Ægypto sancti Nicándri Mártyris, qui, cum sanctórum Mártyrum relíquias studióse perquíreret, et ipse méruit éffici Martyr, sub Diocletiáno Imperatóre.
In Egypt, St. Nicander, martyr, who sought diligently for the remains of the holy martyrs, and thus merited to be made a martyr himself, under Emperor Diocletian.
He was beheaded for giving aid to Christian prisoners during the persecution of the Christians under Emperor Diocletian.
Nicander the Physician M (RM)  The physician Saint Nicander was beheaded in Egypt during Diocletian's persecution. He had been condemned for ministering to the Christians in prison and burying the dead (Benedictines).
The Holy Martyr Nicander suffered in Egypt under the emperor Diocletian (284-305). He was a physician and during a time of persecution he visited Christians in prison. He assisted them, brought them food, and buried the dead. Once, he came to the place where the bodies of the martyrs were thrown to be eaten by wild beasts. Fearing to bury them by day, he waited for night and buried the bodies under cover of darkness. They discovered St Nicander and subjected him to terrible tortures: they skinned him alive and then beheaded him in 302.

The Holy Martyrs Agapius, Publius, Timolaus, Romulus, Alexander, Alexander, Dionysius and Dionysius suffered under the emperor Diocletian (284-305) in the city of Palestinian Caesarea. During one of the pagan festivals they began to torture and execute Christians who refused to offer sacrifice to idols.

The Martyr Timolaus (August 19) was sentenced to burning, and the Martyrs Agapius and Thekla (August 19) were sentenced to be torn apart by wild beasts. A group of young Christians: Publius, Timolaus, Alexander, another Alexander, Dionysius, and Romulus, the subdeacon of the Diospolis church decided to confess their faith and suffer for Christ.

As a sign of their voluntary deed they tied their own hands behind their backs and appeared before the governor Urbanus. Seeing their youth, the governor tried to persuade them to reconsider their decision, but in vain. He then threw them in prison, where there were already two Christians, Agapius and his servant Dionysius. All these saints were subjected to terrible tortures and beheaded.
Agapios und Gefährten Orthodoxe Kirche: 15. März
Agapios, sein Diener Dionysios, der Subdiakon Romilos und die jugendlichen Christen Alexander, Alexander, Dionysios, Puplios und Timolaus erlitten um 305 gemeinsam den Märtyrertod in Caesarea. Als mehrere Christen gefoltert und hingerichtet wurden (genannt werden Timotheus, Agapius und Thekla - Gedenktag 19.8.), bekannten sich die Jugendlichen mit Romilos öffentlich vor dem Gouverneur Urban zu Christus. Sie wurden zu Agapios und Dionysios in das Gefängnis gebracht und dann gefoltert und geköpft.

350 St. Matrona (3 of them) She suffered grievously from dysentery, and was supernaturally directed to go to Italy to find a cure, for the relief of which disease she is now invoked
Thessalonícæ sanctæ Matrónæ, quæ, cum esset ancílla cujúsdam Judǽæ, et occúlte Christum cóleret, ac furtívis oratiónibus quotídie Ecclésiam frequentáret, a dómina sua est deprehénsa et multiplíciter afflícta, atque novíssime, robústis fústibus usque ad mortem cæsa, in confessióne Christi, incorrúptum Deo spíritum réddidit.
     
At Thessalonica, St. Matrona, servant of a Jewess, who, worshipping Christ secretly, and stealing away daily to pray in the church, was detected by her mistress and subjected to many trials.  Being at last beaten to death with large clubs, she gave up her pure soul to God in confessing Christ.

ST MATRONA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR

THERE are three saints of this name who are commemorated in the Acta Sanctorum on March 15. One only of the three appears in the Roman Martyrology, where she is honoured with the following eulogium: “At Thessalonica, of St Matrona, the servant maid of a certain Jewess, who worshipped Christ by stealth and went daily to the church for secret prayer. She was discovered by her mistress and in many ways tormented until at last she was beaten to death with stout rods and in the confession of Christ rendered up her pure soul to God.”
The same account, slightly developed, is found in the Greek synaxaries, and we meet it in the West in the early part of the ninth century with certain additional details describing how the martyr, on two occasions being left overnight bound with thongs to a bench, was found in the morning miraculously released. Of this St Matrona no cultus seems to survive. In Barcelona, however, there is, or was, what purport to be the remains of a virgin of the same name who, though born in that region, was taken to Rome, and there, on account of the services she rendered to the Christians in prison, was arrested and put to death, her body being brought back to her own country.
A third St Matrona, who is not a martyr, is honoured on this day in the 
neighbourhood of Capua. She is said, however, to have been of royal birth and to have come from Portugal. She suffered grievously from dysentery, and was supernaturally directed to go to Italy to find a cure, for the relief of which disease she is now invoked.

See the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii; A. B. C. Dunbar, Dictionary of Saintly Women, vol. ii, p. 77 Quentin, Les Martyrologes Historiques, p. 181.
According to the Roman Martyrology, Matrona was the Christian maid of a Jewish mistress in Thessalonica. When her mistress discovered she was Christian, she subjected her to many tribulations; Matrona was later beaten to death at the instigation of her mistress. Another Matrona, a native of Barcelona, Spain was taken to Rome and was executed there for ministering to Christian prisoners. And a third St. Matrona is reputed to have been a Portuguese of royal birth, was supernaturally instructed to go to Italy for a cure of her dysentery, and died there. She is venerated in Capua and is the patroness of those suffering from dysentery.

Matrona of Thessalonica VM (RM) Saint Matrona was the servant of a rich Jewess in Thessalonica. She was scourged to death upon the order of her mistress, when it was discovered that she was a Christian. Her acta are rather ambiguous (Benedictines).

Matrona von Thessaloniki  Orthodoxe Kirche: 27. März
Matrona lebte im 3./4. Jahrhundert in Soluneia (Theassaloniki). Sie war Sklavin der Jüdin Pautilla, der Ehefrau eines Offiziers. Pautilla verlangte von ihren Sklaven, zum Judentum überzutreten, aber Matrona blieb Christin und ging heimlich zu den christlichen Gottesdiensten. Pautilla schlug sie deshalb, fesselte sie und sperrte sie in ein enges Verlies. Nachdem Matrona zweimal von den Fesseln befreit das Verlies wieder verlassen konnte, erschlug sie Pautilla und ließ ihren Leichnam über die Stadtmauer werfen. Christen begruben ihren Leichnam und später ließ der Bischof Alexander (nach anderen Berichten Bischof Demetrius) eine Kirche errichten, in der ihre Reliquien aufbewahrt wurden. Es wird von mehreren Wundern berichtet, die sich hier zutrugen. Nach einer anderen Quelle heilte Matrona Pautilla von einer Krankheit.

Apud Cápuam sancti Speciósi Mónachi, cujus ánimam (ut scribit beátus Gregórius Papa) germánus ejus deférri vidit in cælum.
At Capua, the monk St. Speciosus, whose soul his brother saw being taken into heaven, recorded by Pope St. Gregory.

555 St. Mancius Roman & brother Gregory received into religious life by Saint Benedict at Montecassino martyred by Portuguese slave masters
Mancius was bought as a slave by Jewish traders and taken to Evora, Portugal. There he was slain for his beliefs.
Mancius of Evora M (RM) Born in Rome; 5th century. Saint Mancius seems to have been bought as a slave by Jewish traders and taken to Evora, Portugal, where he was martyred by his masters (Benedictines).
Speciosus of Terracina, OSB (RM) Died at Capua, Italy, c. 555. Saint Speciosus, a wealthy landowner in Campania, Italy, and his brother Gregory were received into religious life by Saint Benedict at Montecassino. Thereafter, he was sent to the new foundation at Terracina. He died at Capua while undertaking an errand for his community (Benedictines).

571 Saint Probus of Rieti Saints Juvenal and Eleutherius appeared to him in a vision B (RM)
Reáte sancti Probi Epíscopi, cui moriénti Juvenális et Eleuthérius Mártyres adfuérunt.
At Rieti, the bishop St. Probus, at whose death the martyrs Juvenal and Eleutherius were present.

Saint Gregory the Great describes the deathbed scene of Saint Probus, bishop of Rieti, Italy, during which Saints Juvenal and Eleutherius appeared to him in a vision (Benedictines).
752 Zachary I, Pope known for his learning & sanctity chosen pope in 741 to succeed Saint Gregory III (RM)
(also known as Zacharias) Born at San Severino, Calabria, Italy; died 752; feast day formerly on March 22; feast day in the East is September 5.

752 ST ZACHARY, POPE
DETAILS of the early life of St Zachary are lacking, but he is known to have been born at San Severino of a Greek family settled in Calabria, and he is believed to have been one of the deacons of the Roman church. Upon the death of St Gregory III, he was unanimously elected pope. No better selection could have been made:  a man of learning and of great personal holiness, he joined a conciliatory spirit to far-sighted wisdom, and was able to cope with the grave problems which confronted him upon his accession. The position of Rome was one of much peril. The Lombards were again preparing to invade Roman territory, when the new pope decided to treat directly with their ruler, and went himself to Terni to visit him. He was received with respect, and his personality produced such an impression that Liutprand returned all the territory that had been taken from the Romans in the preceding thirty years. Moreover he made a twenty years’ treaty and released all his prisoners. Peace having been made with Rome, Liutprand prepared to attack Ravenna. The exarch immediately turned to St Zachary and implored his assistance. The pope, after sundry unsuccessful efforts, went in person to Pavia, where his intervention induced the king to abandon his offensive. Liutprand died soon afterwards, and his second successor, Rachis, was encouraged by Zachary eventually to become a monk at Monte Cassino. But his brother Aistulf was a different sort of man in the last years of St Zachary’s pontificate he captured Ravenna, bringing, the Byzantine imperial exarchate finally to an end, and Rome was again threatened.

Pope Zachary’s relations with Constantinople, where the Emperor Constantine V maintained Iconoclasm, were rendered unimportant by political upheavals there, but in the further West progress was continuous. This was in the first place due to St Boniface, with whom the pope kept in close touch and to whom he gave every encouragement. By this time the power of the Merovingian kings in France had passed completely to the mayors of the palace, and in 751 Pepin the Short sent an embassy to the pope asking if he did not think that one who exercised sovereign rule ought to be king. Zachary, with equal diplomacy, replied that he did think so, and Pepin was accordingly elected king at Soissons and anointed by the papal legate St Boniface—a happening full of significance for both papacy and secular sovereignty.

Amid all his’ activities Pope Zachary found time to translate St Gregory’s Dialogues into Greek, and he was always full of care for the poor and oppressed. He provided a home for nuns driven out of Constantinople by the icono­clasts, he ransomed slaves in the Roman market who otherwise would have been sold by the Venetians to the Saracens, and early in his pontificate he threatened with excommunication those who should sell Christian slaves to Jews. Zachary was venerated as a saint immediately after his death, which happened in March.

There is a fairly satisfactory account of St Zachary in the Liber Pontificalis, but for fuller detail we have to turn to his letters and to the chronicles, such as the Annals of Lorscb. See H. K. Mann, Lives of the Popes, vol. ii, pp. 225—288, and Cardinal Bartolini, Di S. Zaccaria Papa (1879). Hodgkin, Gregorovius and other secular historians speak appreciatively of his work.
Pope Zachary I came from a Greek family in Calabria. He became a deacon in Rome, known for his learning and sanctity, and was chosen pope in 741 to succeed Saint Gregory III. His holiness was so great that, instead of seeking revenge, he heaped benefits on those who had persecuted him before his promotion to the pontificate.

When King Liutprand of the Lombards was about to invade Roman lands at Terni because of the rebellion of the dukes of Spoleto and Benevento, Zachary risked his own life in order to meet with the barbarian. Through persuasion Zachary won the freedom of all prisoners of war and the Roman territory Liutprand had occupied during 30 years was returned. It is said that the Lombards were moved to tears at the devotion with which they heard him say Mass. Another time, he dissuaded Liutprand from invading Ravenna.

Zachary achieved a great deal with the Lombards by negotiation, leading to peace between the Lombards and the Greek Empire. In fact, he gave the Benedictine habit to Saint Ratchis, king of the Lombards. By contrast, Zachary's successor had to enter into the defensive alliance with the Frankish Pepin the Short, which had the ambiguously felicitous result of leading to the revival of the Western Empire and led also to the protective domination of the emperor over the Roman Church which for centuries determined the course of Western history.

This Papal-Frankish alliance was prepared for by Pope Zachary's acquiescence in the deposition of the Merovingian puppet-kings and through his anointing of Pepin, who had been mayor of the palace, in 751 by the hand of his legate, Boniface at Soissons.

As a result of the iconoclastic movement, religious and political relations with Byzantium, which were noticeable weakened in these disturbances, grew ever looser. Zachary denounced the iconoclastic policy of Emperor Constantine Copronymus.

On the other hand, the Church made vast strides in the realm of the Franks, above all in Germany, through the work of reorganization and the missionary zeal of Saint Boniface, whom he consecrated archbishop of Mainz. Zachary assisted the labors of the Apostle of the Germans in every way. Two interesting letters of the pope to Boniface have survived, which give the impression of a man of great vigor and deep sympathy. He told Boniface to suspend polygamous and murderous priests, to abolish superstitious practices even if these were practiced at Rome, and to recognize the baptisms of those whose Latin was extremely inaccurate (the intention was there to do what the Church intends, even though the form was defective). At his synod of 745, he condemned the heretics Clement and Adalbert who had caused Boniface a good deal of grief.

On the other hand, Boniface was proven to be all too human on another occasion. He wrote to Zachary against an Irish priest named Virgilius, saying that he sowed the seeds of discord between him and Duke Odilo of Bavaria, and erroneously taught that there were other men under the earth, another sun and moon, and another world. Pope Zachary answered, that if he taught such an error he ought to be deposed. This cannot be understood as a condemnation of the doctrine of Antipodes (that the earth is round), as some have mistaken. Rather, there was a heresy that maintained there was another race of men, who did not descend from Adam, and were not redeemed by Christ. Nor did Zachary pronounce any sentence in the case: for in the same letter he ordered that Virgilius should be sent to Rome so that this doctrine might be examined. It seems that he cleared himself, for we find this same priest soon after made bishop of Salzburg, Austria, and, in 1233, formally canonized as Saint Virgilius. It seems that the friction between the two saints was probably a result of jurisdictional conflicts and the tension between Roman and Celtic liturgical customs. In any case, Pope Zachary was a peace-maker and judged no man without a hearing.

Zachary was also responsible for restoring Montecassino under Saint Petronax and himself consecrated its abbey church in 748. The saint was known for aiding the poor, provided refuge to nuns driven from Constantinople by the iconoclasts, ransomed slaves from the Venetians, forbade the selling of Christian slaves to the Moors of Africa, and translated Saint Gregory the Great's Dialogues into Greek. Since "Zacharias embraced and cherished all people like a father and a good shepherd, and never allowed even the smallest injustice to happen to anyone," he was venerated as a saint immediately after his death (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Husenbeth, Schamoni).
Saint Zacharias is depicted making peace with King Luitprand. Sometimes he may have a dove and olive branch over him (do not confuse him with Saint Silvester (Roeder).
859 St. Leocrita Virgin martyr of Spain w/St. Eulogius who sheltered her
Córdubæ, in Hispánia, sanctæ Leocrítiæ, Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ ob Christi fidem, in persecutióne Arábica, divérsis cruciátibus afflícta et gládio decolláta est.
     At Cordova in Spain, St. Leocritia, virgin and martyr.  She suffered various cruel tortures and was beheaded for the faith of Christ during the Arabian persecution.
also listed as Lucretia. She lived in Cordoba, Spain, with her Muslim Moorish parents until her conversion. St. Eulogius sheltered her. They were both scourged and beheaded.

859 ST LEOCRITIA, or LUCRETIA, VIRGIN AND Martyr
St Leocritia lived in Cordova when it was a Moorish city and when the conversion of a follower of Islam was punishable by death. Her parents were wealthy and influential Moslems, but she herself had been converted to Christianity by a relation called Litiosa, and had been baptized. At first she kept her religion secret, but as time went on she practised it more openly and admitted her faith to her parents. Angry and alarmed, they sought to make, her apostatize by entreaties, by threats and finally by blows and confinement. She managed to send word to St Eulogius, asking if he could find her a refuge with his sister Anulona, and the messenger brought back a favourable answer. She now awaited an opportunity to escape. Her apparently passive attitude had led her parents to think she was about to comply with their wishes, and they accordingly gave her permission to attend a wedding; she contrived to slip away from the gathering and to rejoin her Christian friends. Her absence was soon discovered and a great hue and cry was raised, followed by the arrest and examination of any Christians suspected of having had communication with her. Leocritia was handed on from one Christian family to another, St Eulogius visiting her from time to time to instruct her more fully and to strengthen her for the fate that awaited her. At length she was discovered, and both she and St Eulogius were brought before the judge. When St Eulogius was asked why he had concealed her, “I have been entrusted with the office of a preacher”, he replied, “and it is my holy duty to enlighten all who seek the, light of the faith. To no seeker may I refuse to show the way of life. What I have done for her I would also have done for you, if you had asked me.” They were both flogged and condemned to death, After St Leocritia had been decapitated, her body was thrown into the Guadalquivir. It was afterwards deposited at Oviedo, beside that of St Eulogius.
A short account of St Leocritia is given in the Acta Sanctorum, March, vol. ii.
Leocritia of Córdova VM (RM) (also known as Lucretia) Born in Córdova, Spain; died there in 859; feast day formerly March 11. Saint Leocritia's parents were wealthy Moorish followers of Islam. At a time when conversion to Christianity was a capital offense in Spain, Leocritia secretly followed her heart into the faith of the Church. When her parents learned of her conversion, they drove her from their home and she found shelter with Saint Eulogius; for this breech of the civil law he was scourged and beheaded, as was Leocritia, by the Moors (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
1082 Sisebutus of Cardena influential focus of church and civic life, OSB Abbot (AC)
Under Abbot Saint Sisebutus, the Benedictine monastery of Cardena (Burgos diocese), Spain, became a influential focus of church and civic life.
He gave shelter to El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar), the celebrated hero of the Christian reconquest of Spain from the Moors (Benedictines).
1090 Malcoldia of Asti Benedictine nun hermit near the abbey church of Saint Anastasia in Asti, OSB Hermit (AC)
Saint Malcoldia a Benedictine nun, became a hermit near the abbey church of Saint Anastasia in Asti, Italy (Benedictines).

1163 St. Raymond of Fitero Cistercian abbot founder of the Order of Calatrava also called Ramon Sierra.
Born in Aragon, Spain, he served as a canon at Tarazona Cathedral and then joined the Cistercians at Scala Dei Monastery in France. He was sent to Spain to establish and serve as abbot of the Fitero Abbey in Navarre, a post which brought him into the forefront of the struggle between Christian Spain and the Moors. Thus, when the Moors were on the verge of attacking the Toledo outpost of Calatrava in 1158, Raymond convinced King Sancho of Castile to aid his call for an army to march to the city’s defense. Assisted by Diego Velasquez, a one time knight who was then a humble monk, Raymond enlisted the aid of the archbishop of Toledo and created a vast host of Christian soldiers. The Moors failed to attack, but Raymond suggested that the knights be formed into the military order of the Knights of Calatrava. The members accepted the Benedictine rule and soon distinguished themselves as one of the most ardent forces advancing the cause of the Reconquista. The cult of Raymond as a saint was approved in 1719. 

Raymund of Fitero, OSB Cist. Abbot (AC) Born in Aragon, Spain; died 1163; cultus approved in 1719. Saint Raymund was a priest of Tarazona cathedral, who became a Cistercian at the abbey of Scala Dei in France. His abbot sent him to Fitero in the Spanish Navarre to found and govern an abbey there.
In 1158, when the Knights Templar abandoned Calatrava in New Castile, Raymund founded the military order of Calatrava under the Benedictine Rule and Cistercian Customary for the city's defense.
The order won a glorious name for itself in Spanish history (Benedictines).

1286 St. Monaldus of Ancona Franciscan martyr with Anthony of Milan and Francis of Fermo missionaries in Armenia They were missionaries in the region, slain by pagans.

Blessed Monaldus of Ancona Also known as Monaldo of Ancona
Profile  One of three Franciscans assigned to Armenia with a mission to improve the conditions of Christians there, and to bring the faith to any Muslims who were open. In Arzenga, Armenia, on the first Friday in Lent, the group stood in the street and preached Jesus to the people going to prayers. To prevent violence in the street, the local leader ordered a stop to the preaching. The missionaries ignored the order and returned the following Friday. Local Muslims threatened to kill the street preachers, and the council of elders agreed. On the third Friday, the missionaries returned, were arrested, and dragged to the city’s public square. A local Muslim man tried to defend them and spoke against violence, but he was killed on the spot. The mob then turned on the Franciscans, attacking with swords, dismembering the men before finally killing them.

Died beheaded on 15 March 1314 at Arzenga, Armenia their severed arms and legs were hung on the city walls as a warning, their bodies dragged to the fields to be left for wild animals body parts collected and buried by a local priest and his parishioners
1583 Bl. William Hart Martyr of England ministered to Catholic prisoners in York Prison
Born in Wells, in Somerset, he studied at Oxford and then at Douai, Reims, France, and Rome. After receiving ordination in 1581, he went back to England and included among his associations Blessed Margaret Clitherow. William ministered to Catholic prisoners in York Prison, having several adventures in staying free. He was betrayed to English authorities by an apostate from Clitherow's estate. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at York and beatified in 1886.

1583 BD WILLIAM HART, Martyr

THIS martyr, born at Wells in Somerset, went to Lincoln College, Oxford, and there came under the influence of D Bridgewater, who, on account of his Catholic principles, soon after resigned the rectorship and took refuge in Douai. Hart followed his example, and though a delicate man, ‘suffering at times paroxysms of pain from the stone, he faced with “marvellous cheerfulness” the many hardships entailed by his life as a refugee. After teaching at Rheims he passed on to Rome, and being there ordained priest, returned to the English mission and laboured in Yorkshire. He was particularly remarkable for his joyous spirit and for his courage and charity in visiting those Catholics who were imprisoned in York Castle. On one occasion, when suspicion was aroused, he only escaped capture by letting himself down over the wall into the moat, where he was up to the chin in mud and water. Not long afterwards he was betrayed by an apostate and seems to have been arrested on Christmas night in the house of Bd Margaret Clitherow, who was one of his penitents. He suffered much in the dungeon into which he was cast, not only from physical hardships, but also from the persistent attempts of Protestant ministers to argue with him even at the very foot of the gallows. He was hanged, but the crowd would not allow him to be cut down and disembowelled alive.

See Challoner (MMP, pp. 72—79), who prints a very touching letter written by the martyr to his Protestant mother a few days before his death and Camm, LEM., vol. ii, pp. 300 seq.
Blessed William Hart M (AC) Born in Wells, England; died at York, 1583; beatified in 1886. William, a Protestant, was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford. After his conversion to Catholicism, he studied for the priesthood at Douai, Rheims, and Rome. He returned to England following his ordination in 1581, and was betrayed by an apostate in the house of Saint Margaret Clitherow (Benedictines).
1660 St. Louise de Marillac Sisters of Charity caring for sick poor neglected patron saint of social workers
Lutétiæ Parisiórum sanctæ Ludovícæ de Marillac, víduæ Le Gras, Societátis Puellárum a Caritáte una cum sancto Vincéntio a Paulo Fundatrícis, egénis sublevándis addictíssimæ, quam Pius Papa Undécimus Sanctárum fastis accénsuit.
 
At Paris, the birthday of St. Louise de Marillac, a widow of Le Gras, co-founder with St. Vincent de Paul of the Society of the Daughters of Charity.  Outstanding for her virtues and miracles, her name was inscribed on the roll of the saints by Pope Pius XI.

1660 ST LOUISA DE MARILLAC, WIDOW, CO-FOUNDRESS OF THE Vincentian Sisters OF CHARITY
To the modern reader it must seem strange that this valiant woman, who had been a wife and a mother before she consecrated her widowhood to the service of God, was best known to her contemporaries as Mademoiselle Le Gras, Le Gras not being even her maiden name but the name of her husband. The title Madame, however, in seventeenth-century France, was given only to great ladies of the high nobility, and Louisa de Marillac, though well-born and married to an important official in the service of the queen, was not of the rank to whom that compliment was paid. Her father, Louis de Marillac, was a country gentleman of ancient lineage, and her father’s brothers after rising to fame became even more celebrated in history as the tragic victims of the resentment of Cardinal Richelieu.

Louisa, born in 1591, lost her mother when still a child, but had a good up-bringing and education, thanks partly to the nuns of Poissy to whose care she was confided for a while, and partly to the personal instruction of her own father, who, however, died when she was little more than fifteen. She had wished at one time to become a Capuchin sister but her then confessor, himself a Capuchin, dissuaded her because her health was too frail. In the end a suitable husband was found for her and she consented to marry Antony Le Gras, a man who seemed destined for a distinguished career. A son was born to them, and her twelve years of married life were happy enough except that before very long her husband fell ill of a lingering sickness in which she nursed him most devotedly. Unfortunately she was tempted to regard this visitation as a punishment for her own infidelity to grace; and these anxieties of conscience became the occasion of long spells of aridity and doubt. It was, however, her good fortune to make the acquaintance of St Francis de Sales, who spent some months in Paris during the year 1619. From him she received the wisest and most sympathetic of guidance. But Paris was not his home, and though he con­fided her to the spiritual care of his favourite disciple, Mgr Le Camus, Bishop of Belley, the latter’s visits to the capital were rare and apt to be somewhat uncertain.

Not long before the death of her husband, Louisa made a vow not to marry again but to devote herself wholly to the service of God, and this was followed a little later by a strange spiritual illumination in which she felt her misgivings dispelled and was given to understand that there was a great work which she was called to do in the future under the guidance of a director to whom she had never yet spoken. Her husband’s state of health had long been hopeless. He died in 1625, but before this she had already made the acquaintance of “M. Vincent”, as the holy priest known to us now as St Vincent de Paul was then called, and he, though showing reluctance at first, consented eventually to act as her confessor.
St Vincent was at this time organizing his “Confraternities of Charity”, with the object of remedying the appalling misery and ignorance which he had found existing among the peasantry in country districts. With his wonderful tact and zeal he was soon able to count upon the assistance of a number of ladies (whom he styled Dames de Charité), and associations were formed in many centres which undoubtedly effected a great deal of good. None the less experience showed that if this work was to be carried on systematically and was to be developed in Paris itself, good order was needed and a copious supply of helpers. The aristocratic ladies of charity, however zealous, could not spare enough time from their other duties, and in many cases had not the physical strength, to meet the demands made upon them. For the purpose of nursing and tending the poor, looking after neglected children and dealing with rough-spoken male folk, the most useful recruits were as a rule those in humble station, who were accustomed to hardships. But they needed supervision and guidance from one whom they thoroughly respected and who had the tact to win their hearts and to show them the way by example.

Coming by degrees to be better acquainted with Mile Le Gras, St Vincent found that he had here at hand the very instrument he needed. She had a clear intelligence, unflinching courage, a marvellous endurance in spite of feeble health and, perhaps most important of all, the readiness to efface herself completely, realizing that the work was wholly for God and not for her glory. Never perhaps was a greater or more enduring religious enterprise set on foot with less of sensa­tionalism than the founding of that society which was at first known by the name of the “Daughters of Charity” (Fillet de la Charité) which has now earned the respect of men of the most divergent beliefs in every part of the world. It was only after some five years personal association with Mile Le Gras that M. Vincent, who was ever patient to abide God’s own good time, sent this devoted soul in May 1629 to make what we might call a visitation of the “Charity” of Montmirail. This was the precursor of many similar missions, and in spite of much bad health, of which St Vincent himself was by no means inconsiderate, his deputy, with all her reckless self-sacrifice did not succumb. Quietly, however, and very gradually, as activities multiplied, in the by-ways of Paris as well as in the country, the need of robust helpers made itself felt. There were many girls and widows of the peasant class who were ready to give their lives to such work, but they were often rough and quite illiterate. To obtain the best results instruction was necessary and tactful guidance. Vincent’s own energies were already taxed to the uttermost, most of his time being necessarily given to his company of mission priests. More­over, much of the work of the “Charities” had necessarily to be done by women, and to organize and superintend that work a woman was needed who was well acquainted with the instruments upon whom she had to depend.

Hence it came about that in 1633 a sort of training centre or noviceship was established in what was then known as the Rue des Fossés-Saint-Victor. This was the unfashionable dwelling which Mile Le Gras had rented for herself after her husband’s death, and she now gave hospitality to the first candidates who were accepted for the service of the sick and poor, four simple people whose very names are unrecorded.
These with Louisa as their directress formed the grain of mustard seed which has grown into the world-wide organization known as the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul. But expansion was rapid. Soon it became evident that some rule of life and some guarantee of stability was desirable. Louisa had long wanted to bind herself to this service by vow, but St Vincent, always prudent 
and content to wait for a clear manifestation of the will of God, had restrained her ardour. But in 1634 her desire was gratified; and this naturally paved the way for a scrutiny of the whole position and the possibilities of the future, St Vincent had now complete confidence in his spiritual daughter, and it was she who drafted something in the nature of a rule of life which was to be followed by the members of their association. The substance of this document forms the kernel of the religious observance of the Sisters of Charity down to the present day. But although this was a great step forward, the recognition of the Sisters of Charity as an institute of nuns was still far distant. St Vincent himself insisted that he had never dreamed of founding a religious order. It was God who had done it all. These poor souls, as he often reminded them, must look upon themselves as nothing but Christian women devoting their energies to the service of the sick and the poor. “Your convent “, hesaid, “will be the house of the sick; your cell, a hired room; your chapel, the parish church;• your cloister, the streets of the city or the wards of the hospital ; your enclosure, obedience; your grating, the lear of God; your veil, holy modesty.” If at ‘the present day the’white cornette and the grey stufF gown to which his daughters have remained faithful during nearly three centuries at once attract the eye in any crowd, that is only due to the modern abandonment of the peasant costume of past ages. In the towns of Normandy and Brittany not so long ago the white linen headdresses of the country-women were such that a Sister of Charity who had strayed amongst them would not easily have been distinguishable in the throsig. St Vincent, the foe of all pretension, was reluctant that his daughters should claim even that distinction and respect which attach to the religious habit of those who are consecrated to God. It was not until 1642 that he allowed four of the company to take annual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and it was not until 1655—though this delay was mainly due to political and accidental causes—that Cardinal de Retz, Archbishop of Paris, despatched from Rome the formal approbation of the company and placed them definitely under the direction of St Vincent’s own congregation of priests.

Meanwhile the good works of the Daughters of Charity had multiplied apace.
    The patients of the great Paris hospital of the Atel-Dieu had passed in large measure under their care, the brutal treatment of an abandoned child had led St Vincent to organize a home for foundlings, and despite the illiteracy of many of their own recruits the associates had found themselves compelled to undertake the teaching of children. In all these developments Mile Le Gras had borne the heaviest part of the burden. She had set a wonderful example at Angers in taking over the care of a terribly neglected hospital. The strain had been so great that in spite of the devotion of her Daughters of Charity she had suffered a severe breakdown, which at first was reported, but incorrectly, to be a case of plague infection. In Paris she had nursed the plague-stricken herself during an outbreak of the epidemic and in spite of her delicate constitution had survived the ordeal. Her frequent journeys, necessitated by the duties of her office, would have tried the endurance of the most robust, but she was always at hand when her presence was needed, full of hope and creating around her an atmosphere of. joy and peace.
    As we may learn from her letters to St Vincent and others, two things only troubled her; the one was the respect and veneration with which she found her visits welcomed, the other was her anxiety for the spiritual welfare of ber son Michael. With all her occupations she never forgot him. St Vincent himself kept an eye on Michael, and was satisfied that the young man was a thoroughly good fellow,
but with not much stability of character. He had no vocation for the priesthood, as his mother had hoped, but he married and seems to have led a good and edifying life to the end. He came,with his wife and child to visit his mother on her deathbed and she blessed them tenderly. It was the year 1660, and St Vincent was himself eighty years old and very infirm. She would have given much to see this beloved father once more, but that consolation was denied her. Nevertheless her soul was at peace, her life’s work had been marvellously blessed, and she uncomplainingly made the sacrifice, telling those around her that she was happy to have still this one deprivation left which she could offer to God. The burden of what, in those last days, she said to her grieving sisters was always this: “Be diligent in serving the poor . . . love the poor, honour them, my children, as you would honour Christ Himself.”

St Louisa de Marillac died on March 15, 1660, and St Vincent followed her only six months later. She was canonized in 1934.

No more valuable source exists for the biographer of St Louisa than the Vie de Saint Vincent de Paul, by Father P. Coste, together with the saint’s correspondence and discourses which had previously been collected and published by the diligence of the same painstaking editor. Some value also attaches to the Vie de Mile 1e Gras, which was brought out by M. Gobillon in 1676, and to three others of more modern date,, that by the Countess de Richemont in 1882, that of Mgr Baunard in 1898, and that of B. de Broglie in the series “Les Saints” (Eng. trans., 1933). A slight but attractive, if not always accurate, sketch was written by Kathleen O’Meara under the title of A Heroine of Charity, and there are other popular accounts by M. V. Woodgate (1942) and Sister M. Cullen. All the lives of St Vincent de Paul mentioned herein under July 19 necessarily include much information concerning St Louisa.
Louise de Marillac was born probably at Ferrieres-en-Brie near Meux, France, on August 12, 1591. She was educated by the Dominican nuns at Poissy. She desired to become a nun but on the advice of her confessor, she married Antony LeGras, an official in the Queen's service, in 1613.
After Antony's death in 1625, she met St. Vincent de Paul, who became her spiritual adviser. She devoted the rest of her life to working with him. She helped direct his Ladies of Charity in their work of caring for the sick, the poor, and the neglected.
In 1633 she set up a training center, of which she was Directress in her own home, for candidates seeking to help in her work. This was the beginning of the Sisters (or Daughters, as Vincent preferred) of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul (though it was not formally approved until 1655). She took her vows in 1634 and attracted great numbers of candidates. She wrote a rule for the community, and in 1642, Vincent allowed four of the members to take vows. Formal approval placed the community under Vincent and his Congregation of the Missions, with Louise as Superior. She traveled all over France establishing her Sisters in hospitals, orphanages, and other institutions. By the time of her death in Paris on March 15, the Congregation had more than forty houses in France. Since then they have spread all over the world. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1934, and was declared Patroness of Social Workers by Pope John XXIII in 1960.

Louise de Marillac, Widow (RM)  Born in Ferrières-en-Brie (near Meaux), Auvergne, France, on August 12, 1591; died in Paris, France, March 15, 1660; beatified in 1920; canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1934; declared patroness of social workers by Pope John XXIII in 1960. Saint Vincent de Paul, when he held missions conducted by his priests, made efforts to create the lay apostolate of the (female) Servants of the Poor and of the (male) Helpers of the Poor for the services of the poor and sick in all his parishes. His manifold occupations made it impossible for the saint personally to supervise and direct these numerous charitable groups.

Saint Vincent found in the person of Louise de Marillac his best instrument for the direction of the women. Louise was a woman of the highest social status--a paternal uncle was marshal of France, another was garde des sceaux--and well-educated by the Dominican nuns of Poissy after her mother's early death. Her father died when she was 15. On the advice of her confessor, Louise had decided not to join the Capuchin nuns, and in 1613, at the age of 22, married Antoine Le Gras, secretary to Marie de Medici. Her husband, a pious and high-minded man, allowed her to do all the good to which her kind heart prompted her in slums and in tenements of want, and protected her in those circles of society that felt outraged by her activities. After his death in 1625, she devoted herself to the education of their son, who eventually married and had children.

When he had outgrown her guardianship, she lived entirely for works of Christian charity. Louise had met St. Vincent prior to her husband's death, and he had agreed to become her confessor. He had been trying to organize devout, wealthy women to help the poor and sick in often appalling conditions. It soon became clear that many of these ladies, although well-intentioned, were unfit to face the ugliness and suffering of poverty and illness. The practical work of nursing the sick in their own homes, caring for neglected children, and dealing with often rough husbands and fathers was best accomplished by women of similar social status to the principal sufferers. Louise, he realized, was made of sterner stuff.

The aristocratic ladies were better suited to the equally necessary task of fund raising and dealing with correspondence. Louise was the exception. In her Vincent saw a woman of a clear mind, great courage, endurance, and self-effacement. In 1629, in order to test his assessment, he sent Louise to make a visitation of the "Charity" of Montmirail he had founded. She passed the test and, despite unstable health, Louise made many more such missions.

Vincent chose Louise to train and organize girls and widows, mainly of the peasant and artisan classes. In the home Louise rented on the rue des Fossé-Saint-Victor in Paris, beginning in 1633 with four country girls, she trained groups of women for ambulatory care of the sick. Louise wanted to draw up a rule of life, but St. Vincent convinced her to wait for a sign from God. Vincent had not intended to start a religious order. The sisters, he said, should consider themselves simply as Christians devoted to the sick and poor: "your convent will be the house of the sick, your cell a hired room, your chapel the parish church, your grill the fear of God, your veil modesty."
Image of Saint Louise de Marillac courtesy of
Saint Charles Borromeo Church 

Finally assured of Louise's dedication, Vincent permitted her to draft a rule in 1634; essentially, this rule that was formally approved in 1655 is the rule still used today. Vows are taken only for one year and renewed. Louise made her vows in 1634, and in 1642, the first four candidates were professes as Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul in 1638. Vincent himself preferred the name, Daughters of Charity. Formal approval placed the community under Vincent and his Congregation of the Mission with Louise as their superioress until her death.
This sisterhood, according to the wishes of Saint Vincent, was to realize the idea that had animated his friend, Saint Francis de Sales, in creating this foundation--the idea of an uncloistered religious community for all the evangelical tasks in the world, especially on behalf of the poor, the sick, and the little children.
 
St. Vincent opened an orphanage, and the sisters taught the children. They also took charge of the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris. Louise established other orphanages and hospitals, nursed plague victims herself in Paris, reformed a neglected hospital in Angers, and oversaw all the activity of the order despite her fragile health. She traveled all over France founding more than 40 daughter houses (including one in Madagascar and another in Poland) and charities. Just before her death, she exhorted her sisters to be diligent in serving the poor "and to honor them like Christ Himself." At the time of her death the sick poor were tended in their homes in 26 Parisian parishes, hundreds of women were given shelter, and other good done. These sisters of charity accomplished immeasurable good in every part of the world through their self-sacrificing love for their fellow men. (Attwater, Benedictines, Calvet, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Schamoni, White).
In art, Saint Louise is depicted in the original habit of the order--a gray wool tunic with a large headdress or cornette of white linen, the usual dress of the peasant women of Brittany in the 17th century. She is the patron saint of social workers (White).

St. Louise de Marillac (d. 1660)
Louise, born near Meux, France, lost her mother when she was still a child, her beloved father when she was but 15. Her desire to become a nun was discouraged by her confessor, and a marriage was arranged. One son was born of this union. But she soon found herself nursing her beloved husband through a long illness that finally led to his death.


Louise was fortunate to have a wise and sympathetic counselor, St. Francis de Sales, and then his friend, the Bishop of Belley, France. Both of these men were available to her only periodically. But from an interior illumination she understood that she was to undertake a great work under the guidance of another person she had not yet met. This was the holy priest M. Vincent, later to be known as St. Vincent de Paul.

At first he was reluctant to be her confessor, busy as he was with his "Confraternities of Charity." Members were aristocratic ladies of charity who were helping him nurse the poor and look after neglected children, a real need of the day. But the ladies were busy with many of their own concerns and duties. His work needed many more helpers, especially ones who were peasants themselves and therefore close to the poor and could win their hearts. He also needed someone who could teach them and organize them.

Only over a long period of time, as Vincent de Paul became more acquainted with Louise, did he come to realize that she was the answer to his prayers. She was intelligent, self-effacing and had physical strength and endurance that belied her continuing feeble health. The missions he sent her on eventually led to four simple young women joining her. Her rented home in Paris became the training center for those accepted for the service of the sick and poor. Growth was rapid and soon there was need of a so-called rule of life, which Louise herself, under the guidance of Vincent, drew up for the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul (though he preferred "Daughters" of Charity).


He had always been slow and prudent in his dealings with Louise and the new group. He said that he had never had any idea of starting a new community, that it was God who did everything. "Your convent," he said, "will be the house of the sick; your cell, a hired room; your chapel, the parish church; your cloister, the streets of the city or the wards of the hospital." Their dress was to be that of the peasant women. It was not until years later that Vincent de Paul would finally permit four of the women to take annual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. It was still more years before the company would be formally approved by Rome and placed under the direction of Vincent's own congregation of priests.

Many of the young women were illiterate and it was with reluctance that the new community undertook the care of neglected children. Louise was busy helping wherever needed despite her poor health. She traveled throughout France, establishing her community members in hospitals, orphanages and other institutions. At her death on March 15, 1660, the congregation had more than 40 houses in France. Six months later St. Vincent de Paul followed her in death.

Louise de Marillac was canonized in 1934 and declared patroness of social workers in 1960.

Comment:
In Louise’s day, serving the needs of the poor was usually a luxury only fine ladies could afford. Her mentor, St. Vincent de Paul, wisely realized that women of peasant stock could reach poor people more effectively, and the Sisters of Charity were born under her leadership. Today that Order continues to nurse the sick and aging and provide refuge for orphans. Many of its members are social workers toiling under Louise’s patronage. The rest of us must share her concern for the disadvantaged.  

1830 St. Clement Maria Hofbauer Redemptorist preacher reformer devoted to Jesus
Vindobónæ, in Austria, sancti Cleméntis-Maríæ Hofbauer, Sacerdótis proféssi Congregatiónis a sanctíssimo Redemptóre nuncupátæ, plúrimis in Dei glória et animárum salúte promovénda ac dilatánda ipsa Congregatióne exantlátis labóribus insígnis; quem, virtútibus et miráculis clarum, Pius Décimus, Póntifex Máximus, in Sanctórum cánonem rétulit.
At Vienna in Austria, St. Clement Mary Hofbauer, a priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, renowned for his great devotion in promoting the glory of God and the salvation of souls, and in extending that order.  He was canonized by Pope Pius X.
1820 ST CLEMENT HOFBAUER
ST CLEMENT MARY H0FBAUER sometimes called second founder of the Redemptorists, because it was he who first planted the congregation of St Al­phonsus Liguori north of the Alps. To him is due the further credit of having done more than any other individual to bring about the collapse of “Josephinism”, that Austrian counterpart of Erastianism which treated ecclesiastics as functionaries of the state and subject to secular control. Born in 1751 in Moravia, St Clement, whose baptismal name was John, was the ninth of the twelve children of a grazier and butcher who had changed his Slavonic surname Dvorak, to the German equivalent Hofbauer.

Even as a child the boy longed to become a priest, but poverty stood in the way, and, at the age of fifteen, he was apprenticed to a baker. Later he was employed in the bakery of the Premonstratensian monastery at Bruck, where his self-sacrifice during a time of famine won him the favour of the abbot, who allowed him to follow the classes of the Latin school attached to the abbey. After the abbot’s death, the young man lived as a solitary, until the Emperor Joseph’s edict against hermitages obliged him to take up his old trade again, this time in Vienna. From that city he twice made pilgrimages to Rome, in company with his friend Peter Kunzmann, and on the second occasion they obtained per­mission from Bishop Chiaramonti of Tivoli (Pope Pius VII) to settle as hermits in his diocese. Within a few months, however, it was borne in upon him that his work was to be that of a missioner, not a solitary, and he accordingly returned to Vienna. One day, after he had been serving Mass at the cathedral of St Stephen, he offered to fetch, a carriage for two ladies who were detained in the porch by a downpour of rain, and this chance meeting led to the accomplishment of his heart’s desire, for the two ladies, discovering that he had not the means to prosecute the necessary studies for the priesthood, paid not only for him but also for his friend Thaddeus Hübl. As the University of Vienna was tainted with rationalistic teaching, they returned to Rome, and there, being greatly attracted by the Redemptorists, they both sought admission into the novitiate. St Alphon­sus himself, who was still alive at the time, rejoiced greatly when he heard of the new-comers from the north, foreseeing the establishment of his congregation in Austria.

The two friends were professed and ordained in 1785, Clement being then already 34 years old. They then were sent back to Vienna, but since the Emperor Joseph II, not content with the overthrow of the Jesuits, had already suppressed several hundred monasteries belonging to other orders, it was useless to think of making a new foundation there. He was then charged by his superiors to begin a mission in Courland, and started northwards with Thaddeus Hübl. On the way St Clement met his old friend Emmanuel Kunzmann, who had continued to live in the hermitage at Tivoli, but was then on a pilgrimage. Their encounter seemed providential. Kunzmann soon determined to join the other two as a lay-brother, and became the first Redemptorist novice to be received north of the Alps.
    At Warsaw the papal nuncio placed at their disposal the church of St Benno. There were several thousand German Catholics in the city who, since the suppression of the Jesuits, had had no priest who knew their language. In his anxiety to retain the Redemptorists, the nuncio wrote to Rome and obtained the postponement of the mission to Courland in view of the work to be done in Warsaw. They began their labours in the utmost poverty: they had no beds, and the priests slept upon the table while Brother Emmanuel rested in a chair. They borrowed their cooking utensils, and as the lay-brother knew nothing of cooking, Clement was obliged to help him. In the early days they preached in the streets, but when the government prohibited outdoor sermons, they remained in St Benno’s, which became the centre of a continuous mission.
    Between the years 1789 and 1808 the work done by St Clement and his brethren was extraordinary: five sermons were preached every day, three in Polish and two in German, for although St Clement’s work lay primarily with the Germans, he wished to help all, and the work amongst the Poles received a great impetus after the reception of the first Polish novice, John Podgorski. The church of Holy-Cross-in-the-Fields was handed over to Clement and served from St Benno’s.
    Numbers of Protestants were brought to the church, and St Clement was particularly successful in the conversion of Jews. In addition to this apostolic ministry the holy man also accomplished a great social work. The constant wars had left the lower classes in great misery, and the condition of many of the children was pitiful. To provide for them, he opened an orphanage near St Benno’s and collected alms for their support. On one of his begging expeditions, a man who was playing cards in a tavern replied to his appeal by spitting in his face. St Clement, undeterred, said, “That was a gift to me personally; now please let me have something for my poor children”: the man who had insulted him afterwards became one of his regular penitents.
    A school for boys was also founded, while confraternities and other associations helped to ensure the permanence of the good work thus begun. As his community increased, he began to send out missionaries and to establish houses in Courland as well as in Poland, Germany and Switzerland—but they all had eventually to be abandoned, owing to the difficulties of the times. After twenty years of strenuous labours, St Clement had to give up his work in Warsaw also, in consequence of Napoleon’s decree suppressing the religious orders. The previous year the saint had lost his beloved friend Father Hübl, who had died of typhus contracted when he was giving the last sacraments to some Italian soldiers. A police-agent risked his life to warn the Redemptorists of their impending expulsion. They were therefore prepared for the official visitation when it came on June 20, 1808, and surrendered themselves without delay. They were taken to the fortress of Cüstrin on the banks of the Oder and there imprisoned; but such was their influence on their fellow prisoners and on the people outside who used to crowd round the prison to listen to the Redemptorists’ hymns, that the authorities decided not to keep them there lest their presence should cause too many conversions. It was decided that the community should be broken up and that each member should return to his native country. St Clement, however, determined to settle in Vienna, in the hope of founding a religious house there in the event of the repeal of the laws of Joseph II, and after great difficulties, including another imprisonment on the Austrian frontier, he succeeded in reaching the city where he was to live and work for the last twelve years of his life.

At first he laboured quietly, helping in the Italian quarter, but before long the archbishop appointed him chaplain to the Ursuline nuns and rector of the public church attached to their convent. There he was free to preach, to hear confessions and perform all priestly duties, and soon from this centre fresh vigour was infused into the religious life of Vienna. His confessional was besieged not only by the poor and simple, but by ministers of state and university professors. As one of his biographers remarks     “ By the sheer unaided force of his holiness, he, a man to whom the opportunity of acquiring anything like wide intellectual     culture had been denied, gained such an ascendency over the minds of his contemporaries that he came to be regarded as an oracle of wisdom by leaders of thought both in the world of politics and letters.”
It was actually St Clement Mary Hofbauer and his friends and penitents, one of whom was Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, who were mainly responsible for defeating at the Congress of Vienna the attempt to create a national German church independent of the pope.    
The saint interested himself specialty in the diffusion of good literature, but perhaps his crowning work was the establishment of a Catholic college, which proved an inestimable boon to Vienna, supplying many priests and monks as well as well-instructed laymen who afterwards occupied important positions in every civic career.

All through his life St Clement had a great devotion to the sick, whom he loved to visit, and he is said to have been present at two thousand death-beds. He was summoned to rich and poor alike, and never refused a call. He was a particularly good friend to the Catholic Armenian Mekhitarist monks who had come to Vienna not long before; and in his dealings with Protestants he was much helped by his realization that, as he wrote in a letter to Father Perthes in 1820,     “If the Reform in Germany grew and main­tained itself it was not through heretics and philosophers, but through men who truly aspired after interior religion in spite of all his good works and public spirit St Clement was the object of frequent persecution by the supporters of “Josephinism”, and the police kept an unwearying eye on him.
They reported in 1818 that, “Pietism and bigotry are increasingly becoming the fashion of the day. The confessional, however, is the decisive factor in keeping this fashion alive” ; and it indeed seems that his work as a confessor and director was a principal source of the influence that made of St Clement Hofbauer “the apostle of Vienna”. Once he was forbidden to preach, 
and his opponents, after the failure of their attempts at the Congress of Vienna, accused him of being a spy who reported to Rome all that was done in the Empire. The Austrian chancellor asked that he should be expelled, but Francis I heard such a good report of Clement from the archbishop and from Pope Pius VII, that he not only forbade any further annoyance of the Redemptorists, but in an interview with the saint spoke encouragingly of the prospect of a legal recognition of his congregation.

The saint’s two great objects were now practically attained the Catholic faith was once more in the ascendant, and his beloved congregation was about to be firmly planted on German soil. He did not live to see the actual realization of his hopes, but he was perfectly satisfied. “The affairs of the con­gregation will not be settled until after my death”, he said. “Only have patience and trust in God. Scarcely shall I have breathed my last when we shall have houses in abundance.” The prophecy was soon to be fulfilled. Towards the end, in 1819, St Clement was suffering from a complication of diseases, but he worked as hard as ever. On March 9 he insisted upon walking through a storm of snow and wind to sing a requiem Mass for the soul of Princess Jablonowska, who had helped him greatly when he was living at Warsaw. He nearly fainted at the altar, and on his return home took to his bed, from which he was not again to rise. There, six days later, he breathed his last in the presence of many of his friends. All Vienna crowded the streets to do him honour when his body was borne by twelve of his dearest disciples into the cathedral through the great doors, which were only opened on solemn occasions; and in 1909 he was canonized.

There are excellent biographies in German by A. Innerkofler, M. Meschler and M Haringer (this last was translated into English by Lady Herbert of Lea), but the best is that of J. Hofer, Der heilige Klemens Maria Hofbauer Ein Lebensbild (1921). Much information may be gleaned from Fr H. Castle’s Life of St Alphonsus Liguori, and there are English accounts by Fr O. R. Vassall-Phillips and Fr J. Carr. See also an article by W. C. Breitenfeld in The Tablet, January 5, 1952, pp. 7—9, and E. Hosp, Der hl. K. M. Hofbauer (1951).

He was born on December 26,1751, at Taswitz, Moravia, the ninth child of a butcher and his wife and was baptized John. His family name was originally Dvorak, but was changed to the German Hofbauer. He was apprenticed as a baker in his youth, and later became a hermit near Bruck, Austria. As part of his so-called Josephinist policies, Austrian Emperor Jo­seph II abolished hermitages, and Clement went to Vienna, where he and a friend, Peter Kunzmann, received permission from Bishop Chiaramonti of Tivoli, Italy, to live in a hermitage. Bishop Chiaramonti later became Pope Pius VII.

After studying at the university of Vienna, Austria, and in Rome, Clement and another friend, Thaddeus Hubl, entered the Redemptorist Order and were ordained in 1785. They were stationed in Vienna, but Emperor Joseph II closed religious foundations, so they were sent to Courtland. Peter Kunzmann joined Clement as a lay brother, and the three were sent to St. Benno’s Church in Warsaw, Poland, to begin two decades of missionary labors. Clement preached, built orphanages and schools, and established a vast Redemptorist presence in the city. Napoleon suppressed all religious institutions, and Clement and the Redemptorists were imprisoned in 1808, each one then exiled to his own native land. Clement went to Vienna, where he became the chaplain of the Ursulines and pastor of the adjoining parish. He became known for his holiness and zeal. He founded a Catholic college and began to reform and revitalize the Catholic faith of Austria and Germany. Prince Rupert of Bavaria aided Clement in defeating a move to establish a German national Church. Clement also fought against Josephinism and was about to be expelled from Austria for his opposition to such secular control, when, surprisingly, Emperor Joseph’s successor, Emperor Francis I, defended him. Clement died in Vienna on March 15. He was canonized in 1909.

Clement Maria Hofbauer, C.SS.R. (RM) (ne John Dvorák) Born in Tasswitz, Moravia, December 26, 1751; died in Vienna, Austria, March 15, 1820; canonized in 1909 by Pius X, who named him patron of Vienna in 1914.
"O My Redeemer, will that terrible moment ever come when but few Christians shall be left who are inspired by the spirit of faith, that moment when Your indignation shall be provoked and Your protection shall be taken from us? Have our vices and our evil lives irrevocably moved Your justice to take vengeance, perhaps this very day, upon Your children?
"We beg You, the Beginning and the End of faith, with contrite hearts, not to let the light of faith be extinguished in souls.
"Remember Your mercies of old, turn Your eyes in compassion upon the vineyard planted by Your own right hand, and watered by the tears of the Apostles, by the precious blood of countless martyrs, and made fruitful by the prayers of so many confessors and innocent virgins.
"O divine Mediator, look upon those zealous souls who raise their hearts to You and pray without ceasing for the maintenance of that most precious gift of Yours, the True Faith. Keep us safe in the true Catholic and Roman Faith. Preserve us in Your holy faith, for if we are rich with this precious gift, we shall gladly endure every sorrow and nothing shall ever be able to change our happiness. Without this great treasure of faith, our unhappiness would be unspeakable and without limit.
"O Good Jesus, Author of our faith, preserve it pure within us; keep us safe in the bark of Peter, faithful and obedient to his successor, and Your vicar here on earth, so that the unity of the holy Church may be maintained, holiness fostered, the Holy See protected in freedom, and the Church universal extended to the benefit of souls.
"O Jesus, Author of our faith, humble and convert the enemies of Your Church; grant true peace and concord to all Christian kings and princes and to all believers; strengthen and preserve us in Your holy service to the end, that we may live with You and die in You.
"O Jesus, Author of our faith, let me live for You and die for You. Amen." --Saint Clement-Maria Hofbauer

John Dvorák was the youngest of the nine children of a Czech butcher and a German mother. His father changed the family name from the Moravian Dvorák to the German Hofbauer. John was raised in a humble, pious family. As a baker's apprentice and then as a journeyman baker, as a servant at the Premonstratensian Klosterbruck, and as a student, he strove to draw nearer to his constant goal: the priesthood. However, neither he nor his family could afford the cost of educating him for service to the Church.
Unable to attain his goal of the priesthood, he became a hermit. When Emperor Joseph II abolished hermitages in Austria, Hofbauer became a baker in Vienna.

On a pilgrimage to Rome, he received the habit of a hermit at the hands of the Bishop Chiaramonti of Tivoli, the future Pope Pius VII, who changed John's name to Clement. Thus, he again became a hermit with a friend, Peter Kunzmann, but found that he was more suited to an active life than to that of a recluse. One day after Mass, Hofbauer struck up a friendship with two ladies who agreed to pay for his studies at the University of Vienna and in Rome.

During this second pilgrimage to Rome, Hofbauer and his friend, Thaddeus Hubl, became acquainted with the Redemptorist order and entered it in 1784, while Saint Alphonsus Liguori was still alive. At that time Hofbauer took the name Maria.

In 1785, he and Hubl were ordained; and, after two years of further study, they were sent to Vienna to found a Redemptorist house, but under the regime of Joseph II it was impossible to found a monastery in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During all of Clement's life, the influence of the Enlightenment and Joseph II's anti-papal Erastianism were at their height. So, the two friends were sent to Courland.

En route Clement's old friend Kunzmann joined them as a lay brother. At the request of the papal nuncio, they went to Warsaw, Poland, and, in 1787, founded the first Redemptorist house beyond the Alps. Hofbauer's untiringly zealous work in Warsaw from 1787 to 1808 in the German national church of Saint Benno was profoundly effective, although it was somewhat retarded by the Napoleonic Wars. Five times each day he and his companions preached in Polish and German. During his stay in Poland he established other houses, initiated many charitable and educational (including a free school for 350 poor children, and a high school) enterprises, preached so well that both Jews and Protestants were converted, and sent Redemptorist missionaries to Germany (the first house was built at Jestetten near Schaffhausen in 1802) and Switzerland.

In 1808, the French government had him removed and imprisoned with his companions at the fortress of Kuestrin, and after four weeks each was sent to his homeland. Thus, Hofbauer ended up back in Vienna, where he spent the last 12 years of his life firmly planting the Redemptorist Institute in Germanic lands. His work led to the establishment of the order in Belgium, Ireland, England, and the Commonwealth. Hofbauer, the propagator of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer north of the Alps, is venerated by his order as a second founder.

In Vienna the saint became the center of a group of German romantics, who gave a decisive impulse to the 19th century. To this circle belonged men like Adam von Mueller, Friedrich von Schlegel, and Zacharias Werner. The saint had no advantage of birth or general education, but he earned a great reputation for wisdom in religious and social matters.

He worked unobtrusively in the Italian quarter and later was chaplain to Ursuline nuns and rector of their church. Again, he became widely known as a preacher and director of souls. Hofbauer's confessional was crowded not only with humble folk, who venerated him as the father of the poor, but also with men and women of the highest rank, influential government officials, statesmen of the Congress of Vienna, leading scholars and artists.

In Vienna, Hofbauer founded a Catholic college and became enormously influential in revitalizing the religious life of the German nations. Hofbauer and Prince Rupert of Bavaria even thwarted a plan at the Congress of Vienna to set up a German Church independent of the papacy. Clement also fought the whole concept of Josephinism, that is secular domination of the Church and hierarchy by the secular ruler. Hofbauer was accused by the Austrian chancellor of being a Roman spy, but the archbishop of Vienna supported him, knowing the value of Hofbauer's contribution to the Catholic revival, so Emperor Francis I forbade his expulsion. Hofbauer also tirelessly cared for the sick and the dying and showed sensitive consideration to devout and conscientious Protestants because he had a deep understanding of the causes of the Protestant Reformation and its religious motives among the German peoples.

In 1819, he was mortally ill of several diseases. He died the next year after participating in the funeral of a notable benefactor. His funeral in Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral was attended by thousands. Soon afterwards the cause for which he had long labored, the founding of Redemptorist houses in Austria, became a reality. His friend Werner said that he knew only three men of superhuman energy--Napoleon, Goethe, and Clement Hofbauer (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Hofer, Schamoni).

Klemens Maria Hofbauer Katholische Kirche: 15. März
Klemens Maria Hofbauer wurde 1751 in Tasovice (Tschechische Republik) geboren. Er war Bäckerlehrling in Znaim, zog sich dann aber als Einsiedler zurück. Hier erkannte er seine Berufung und ging nach Rom. Er trat in den Redemptoristenorden ein und wurde 1785 zum Priester geweiht. Er wurde nach Wien gesandt und versuchte hier vergeblich, eine Niederlassung der Redemptoristen zu errichten. 1787 konnte er mit zwei Gefährten in Warschau eine Armenschule und ein Waisenhaus einrichten. In der Gemeinde entstand ein Seelsorgezentrum mit großem Zulauf. Hofbauer gründete eine Laiengemeinschaft und versuchte Niederlassungen in der Schweiz und in Süddeutschland zu errichten. Diese Versuche scheiterten aber an Widerständen der staatlichen und kirchlichen Gewalten. 1808 wurde auch die Gemeinschaft in Warschau von Napoleon verboten. Hofbauer ging wieder nach Wien, wo er 1813 Beichtvater der Ursulinen und Direktor der Kirche St. Ursula wurde und neue auf die besonderen Bedingungen der Großstadt eingehende Formen der Seelsorge einführte. Seine umfangreiche Tätigkeit trug ihm den Beinamen Apostel Wiens ein. Hofbauer starb am 15.4.1820, er sollte in aller Stille beerdigt werden, aber der Leichenzug entwickelte sich zu einem Triumphzug. Hofbauer wurde auf dem Romantikerfriedhof bestattet, der Leichnam wurde 1862 in die Wiener Redemptoristenkirche überführt. 1909 wurde Hofbauer heilig gesprochen und 1914 zum Stadtpatron von Wien erklärt.
1915 BD PLACID RICCARDI, Benedictine monk.
He was born at Trevi in Umbria, 1844; entered the monastery of St Paul outside the walls at Rome 1868; died there 15 March 1915. He was beatified in 1954.


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

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 285

Sing a new song to her who is full of grace: sing to Mary all ye of the earthly world.

For she excels in sanctity all the angels: and those born of women in her wonders and miracles.

Beauty and glory are in her countenance: and grace is in her eyes.

Bring ye to her glory, ye fathers of the peoples: rejoice in her, all ye creatures of God.

You have an admirable exchange worked by her means:
by reason of which you are called the sons of the Most High God.


Let every spirit praise Our Lady
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.

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]


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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