Mary Mother of GOD
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.
May, the month of Mary, is the oldest
and most well-known Marian month, officially since 1724;

2022
22,600  Lives Saved Since 2007

The saints are a “cloud of witnesses over our head”,
showing us that a life of Christian perfection is not impossible.



 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.

CAUSES OF SAINTS

We pray for the strength
to love those who do not love us.

Benedict XVI set aside May 24 for this day of prayer
 in his 2007  letter to the Church in China.

Mystical ecstasy: elevation of the spirit to God in such a way that the person is aware of this union with God
both internal and external senses are detached from the sensible world.
Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi so generously given this special gift of God that she is called the "ecstatic saint."

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

Acts of the Apostles

Nine First Fridays Devotion to the Sacred Heart From the writings of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque
How do I start the Five First Saturdays?
Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary

Mystical ecstasy: elevation of the spirit to God in such a way that the person is aware of this union with God both internal and external senses are detached from the sensible world.
Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi so generously given this special gift of God that she is called the "ecstatic saint."

May 24 - Feast of Our Lady Help of Christians (Europe, 1815)
Like Mary, the Virgin Martyr, Known Only by Him Alone (II)
I know Jesus only and I only want to know Jesus!
My entire ideal of perfection - my dreams about the future - is to be identified with the sacrifice of Jesus my Redeemer and to be stigmatized by His Love, but remain, like Mary, the Virgin martyr, known only by Him alone.
I love this narrow path made up of suffering and love, and this life “hidden in God with Jesus Christ”. I find in my beloved Mother, as I find in Jesus, the most perfect as well as the most imitable of models.  Marthe Robin (1902-1981)  Private Diary, May 23, 1932
May 24 - Our Lady of China
Our Lady of China
In 1900 the village of Tong Lu near Peiping was attacked by about ten thousand rioters during the Boxer Rebellion.
In their rage they started to shoot skyward where a woman dressed in white had appeared, but her apparition did not fade. The crazed mob was put to flight at the appearance of a strange horseman.

Father Wu, a Chinese priest, admitted having prayed to Mary for help. A church was built on the site, honoring a picture of Mary and the Christ Child which was placed over the main altar.
During the progress of the Red Revolution, the people had the treasured painting copied, and when the Chinese Communists destroyed the Tong Lu church the copy was burned. But the original picture known as Our Lady of China had been hidden and is now thought to be in the possession of some faithful priests living in disguise. 
By Father John A. Hardon, S.J.

May 24,
Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi (Feast)

The Christian must keep in mind that the value of his good works depends on the love that motivates him to perform them for God. Those works are most perfect when wrought in the most sincere love of God, and with the least regard to present or future self-interest, joy, and sweetness, consolation and praise. -- St. John of the Cross

May 24 - Mary Auxiliatrix, Help of Christians (1815)

 Mary is the one who did everything
 May 24th is an important day for the Salesian family, because it is the feast of Mary Auxiliatrix, Help of Christians. Indeed, Mary held a very special place in the life of Don John Bosco.
“One should not pay attention to dreams,” countered his grandmother to John who told her about a dream he had had the previous night. John was only nine years old. In that dream, Mary, shepherding a flock, asked him to lead her lost children. It was only a dream...And yet, this episode would reoccur during the life of John Bosco (…)
     Mary showed him the place of his mission three times (…). Finally, John lets himself be jostled into obeying her.
He would help his young charges discover the Virgin Mary and invite them to trust her, since their individual concerns were close to her heart. (…)
John Bosco was eager to show them that the Virgin Mary (…) accompanied the development of each one of them, letting the “little ones”—those who were pushed away to the side—find their rightful place.

This is how the Company of the Immaculate Conception, to which Dominic Savio belonged, was started. (…)
At the end of his life, John Bosco said of Our Lady: “She is the one who did everything.”  don-bosco.net
 
50 St. Joanna Jennifer wife of Chuza steward of King Herod Antipas one of the women who helped provide for Jesus and Apostles and 1 of 3  women discovered empty tomb of Jesus on first Easter morning
1st v. St. Manaen Courtier of King Herod Antipas mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles 13:1 as the foster- brother of King Herod Antipas and as a prophet

1st century St. Robustian An early Milanese martyr put to death perhaps in Milan St. Zoellus + Martyr with Servilius, Felix, Silvanus, and Diodes
2nd v. Susanna, Marciana, Palladia, & Companions wives of soldiers in the military unit commanded by Saint Meletius MM (RM)
2nd v. St. Meletius Martyr with 252 companions army general who led the group suffer­ing for the faith St. Vincent of Porto slain in an unknown year at disappeared Porto Romano near Rome
177 Alexander companion of Saint Epipodius martyred with 34 others in Lyons, France MM (RM)
 272 Saint Sabas Christian officer of Gothic descent, was martyred with 70 companions in Rome  MM (RM)
 299 St. Donatian & Rogatian received baptism and began evangelizing others with zeal refusing to worship the gods
 304 St. Afra Martyr of Brescia, Italy traditionally associated with Sts. Faustinus and Jovita.
 305 Eusebius, Neon, Leontius, Longinus & Comp 8 bystanders became Christians witnessing martyrdom of Saint
George MM (RM)

 400 Saint Gregory of Elvira champions of the faith against Arianism Bishop B (RM)
5th v. Dyfnan One of the many saintly sons of the Welsh chieftain Brychan Saint Dyfnan founded a church at Anglesey Benedictines (AC)
 445 Saint Vincent of Lérins fled service of world to serve Christ (RM)
 469 St. Patrick Fourth bishop of Bayeux, France; probably successor of St. Lupus
 525 Deodatus of Blois hermit or an abbot; referenced by Saint Gregory the Great, her contemporary Abbot (AC)
 586 Honorius of Brescia  hermit to bishop B (RM)
 596 Saint Simeon the Stylite during his childhood the Lord Jesus Christ appeared several times Holy Spirit to descend upon him toiled as a stylite for 68 years
6th v. Musa of Rome favored with visions and other mystical experiences; referenced by Saint Gregory the Great, her contemporary V (AC)
6th v. Saint David of Gareji Syrian by birth. The future ascetic became disciple of St. John of Zedazeni journeyed with  him to Georgia. St. David and his spiritual son Lucian settled on a mountain above Tbilisi, the capital of Kartli.
 624 Mellitus of Canterbury Roman abbot 1 of 2nd band of monks sent by Pope Saint Gregory the Great to England in 601 in the wake of Saint Augustine OSB B (RM)
7th v. Ivo of Huntingdonshire Persian bishop Hermit B; a holy well sprung up, at which many miracles were performed as recorded by Ramsey's third abbot (AC)
7th v. Authaire of La Ferté courtier at the palace of King Dagobert I of France; father of Saint Ouen of Rouen (AC)
 680 Bova (Beuve, Bona) & Doda devote herself to the service of God abbess OSB VV (RM)
709 Aldhelm Er wurde im Kloster Malmesbury und in Canterbury {erzogen-- well-educated} Einer seiner Lehrer war der Benediktinermönch Adrian, der mit Theodor nach England gekommen war seiner Werke "De laude virginitatis".
Blessed Corona of Elche Benedictine nun  near Valencia, Spain OSB V (AC)

729 Egbert of Rathemigisi Northumbrian monk of Lindisfarne; induced monks to adopt Roman liturgical practices OSB (RM)

1089 Blessed Lanfranc of Canterbury taught law in Pavia; monk, prior archbishop of Canterbury in 1070; Lanfranc's De Sacramento Corporis et Sanguinis Christi became classic statement of transubstantiation in Middle Ages OSB B (PC)
1103 William Firmatus, Hermit divine warning against avarice; gave all possessions to poor; spent rest of life on
pilgrimages (AC)

1153 St. David I  King of Scotland founded dio­ceses and monasteries in Scotland, instituted Norman law, started the office of chancellor conducted many charitable project
1178 Blessed John of Montfort Knight Templar of Jerusalem wounded in battle against the Saracens OSB Knight (AC)
1186 Our Holy Father Nikita Stylites monastery close to Pereyaslavl; enveloped his body in chains and shut himself up in a pillar; healer
1186 St. Nicetas of Pereaslav Russian monk wonder worker gave himself utterly to a life of prayer and mortifications many miracles attributed
1250 Blessed William of Dongelberg Cistercian monk at the abbey of Villers, Belgium OSB (AC)
1306 Blessed Philip Suzanni known for his spirit of prayer and compunction OSA (AC)
1298 St. Gerard de Lunel Franciscan tertiary who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land patron of Monte Santo
1590 Blessed Francis Colmenario Spanish missionary priest evangelized West Indies preached in Guatemala (AC)
1607 May 29 St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi virgin of the Order of the Carmelites  St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi -she is called the "ecstatic saint."
1622 Fidelis of Sigmaringen example of religious devotion and goodness to the poor "the Poor Man's Lawyer." OFM Cap. M (RM)
1636 St. John del Prado Franciscan martyr of Morocco zeal attracted attention Islamic authorities thrown into prison in chains patiently endured torture until death
1788 Charles Wesley Methodisten Er schrieb und komponierte mehr als 6.000 Kirchenlieder und gab Gesangbücher heraus Mehrere seiner Lieder werden im englischsprachigen Raum von allen Konfessionen gesungen
1791  John Wesley 1735 ging er mit seinem Burder Charles als Indianermissionar nach Nordamerika
1837 Anne Mary Taigi Endowed with the gift of prophecy, she read thoughts and described distant events incorruptible.
Bonóniæ Translátio sancti Domínici Confessóris, témpore Gregórii Papæ Noni.
   At Bologna, the translation of St. Dominic, confessor, in the time of Pope Gregory IX


50 St. Joanna Jennifer wife of Chuza steward of King Herod Antipas; one of the women who helped provide for Jesus and Apostles and 1/3 women discovered empty tomb of Jesus on first Easter morning
Item beátæ Joánnæ, uxóris Chuzæ, procuratóris Heródis, quam Lucas Evangelísta commémorat. Also, blessed Joanna, wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, mentioned by the evangelist St. Luke.

Joanna, Widow (RM) 1st century. Joanna, wife of Herod Antipas's steward Chusa, was one of the women who helped provide for Jesus and the apostles (Luke 8:3) and was one of the three women who discovered the empty tomb of Jesus on the first Easter morning (Luke 24:10) (Benedictines, Delaney, Gill). In art, Saint Joanna's emblem is an ointment box, which she carries. Sometimes she is shown with a lamb near her and a cross in her arms; carrying a pitcher in a basket; or with her husband, among court ladies hearing Jesus preach. She is venerated by the Jesuits (Roeder).

1st century St. Robustian An early Milanese martyr put to death perhaps in Milan
Medioláni sancti Robustiáni Mártyris.    At Milan, St. Robustian, martyr.
It is possible that he may be the same saint as Robustian. Robustian of Milan M (RM). Robustian was an early Milanese martyr. He may be the same Robustian venerated at Milan and celebrated with Saint Mark on August 31 (Benedictines).
1st v. St. Manaen Courtier of King Herod Antipas mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles 13:1 as the foster- brother of King Herod Antipas and as a prophet
Antiochíæ natális sancti Mánahen, qui fuit Heródis Tetrárchæ collactáneus, atque, Doctor et Prophéta exsístens sub grátia novi Testaménti, in eádem urbe quiévit.
 At Antioch, the birthday of St. Manahen, foster-brother of Herod the Tetrach.  He was a doctor and prophet under the grace of the New Testament, and his remains now lie in the city of Antioch.
Manaen died in Antioch. Manahen, Prophet (RM). Manahen is mentioned in Acts 13:1 as the foster- brother of King Herod Antipas and as a prophet. Traditionally, he is believed to have died at Antioch, Syria (Benedictines).
St. Zoellus + Matyyr with Servilius, Felix, Silvanus, and Diodes
In Istria sanctórum Mártyrum Zoélli, Servílii, Felícis, Silváni, et Dióclis.
  In Istria, the holy martyrs Zoellus, Servilius, Felix, Silvanus, and Diocles.

The details of their sufferings are not extant.
Zoëllus, Servilius, Felix, Sylvanus & Diocles MM (RM). It is not even certain whether these martyrs died in Istria or in Syria (Benedictines).

St. Vincent of Porto slain in an unknown year at disappeared Porto Romano near Rome
In Portu Románo natális sancti Vincéntii Mártyris. At Porto, the birthday of St. Vincent, martyr
Martyr, also called Vincent of Porto Romano. He was slain at the now disappeared Porto Romano, near Rome
2nd v. St. Meletius Martyr with 252 companions army general who led the group suffer­ing for the faith
Eódem die sanctórum Mártyrum Melétii, ducis exércitus, ac Sociórum ejus ducentórum et quinquagínta duórum mílitum; qui divérso mortis génere martyrium complevérunt.
 Also, the holy martyrs Meletius, who was a military officer, and two hundred and fifty-two of his companions, who achieved their martyrdom by various kinds of deaths.
Saint Meletius the General, Stephen, John, Serapion the Egyptian, Callinicus the Sorcerer, Theodore, Faustus and 1218 soldiers, women and children with them.
The holy martyr Serapion was born in Egypt. He had come to Galatia and witnessed the martyrdom of St. Meletius and his comrades. Seeing the bravery with which those who believed in Christ died for Him, St. Serapion also believed, for which he was imprisoned. An angel of God visited St. Serapion in prison and made him a bishop.
These twelve tribunes suffered martyrdom with St Meletius the General around 218. Their names are Faustus, Festus, Marcellus, Theodore, Meletius, Sergius, Marcellinus, Felix, Photinus, Theodoriscus, Mercurius and Didymus.

The holy martyr Meletius was a military commander of the Galatia district of Asia Minor during the reign of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius (138-161). He was a Christian and he prayed fervently that the Lord would put an end to the pagan error. Terrified by his prayer, the devils inhabiting the pagan temples entered into dogs, which frightened the inhabitants of the district with their howling.  St. Meletius and his soldiers got rid of the mad dogs, and destroyed the temples. He was arrested and brought to trial before the governor Maximian. Since he refused to offer sacrifice to idols, St. Meletius was tortured and he died confessing his faith in Christ. The tribunes of his regiment, the holy martyrs Stephen and John, were beheaded for their confession of Christ as true God.
The remaining soldiers of the regiment, also declaring themselves Christians, were beheaded by the sword, together with their wives and children. 1218 men perished, although some historians put the number at 11,000.
The holy martyrs Theodore and Faustus were burned along with many others. Among the women and children who suffered are the holy martyrs Marciana, Susanna, Palladia, and the infants Kyriakos and Christian. The names of some of the soldiers, and of the twelve tribunes are known: the holy martyrs Faustus, Festus, Marcellus, Theodore, Meletius, Sergius, Marcellinus, Felix, Photinus, Theodoriscus, Mercurius and Didymus.
Saint Callinicus was a former sorcerer who suffered martyrdom with St Meletius the General around 218.

 He was an army general who led the group suffer­ing for the faith
Meletius M (RM). The laus in the Roman Martyrology reads: "The passion of the holy martyrs Meletius, a general of the army, and his 252 companions, who suffered martyrdom in various ways." Nothing else trustworthy is known (Benedictines).
177 Alexander companion of Saint Epipodius martyred with 34 others in Lyons, France MM (RM)
Born in Greece; Saint Alexander was a friend and companion of Saint Epipodius. He was arrested and put to death in Lyons, France, together with 34 others (Benedictines).

2nd v. Susanna, Marciana, Palladia, & Companions wives of soldiers in the military unit commanded by Saint MeletiusMM (RM)
Item sanctárum Mártyrum Susánnæ, Marciánæ et Palládiæ, eorúndem mílitum uxórum, quæ, una cum párvulis suis, confráctæ sunt.
 Also, the holy martyrs Susanna, Marciana, and Palladia, wives of the soldiers just mentioned, who were put to death with their young children.
 
2nd century. These women were the wives of soldiers in the military unit commanded by Saint Meletius. They were martyred with their children and others in Galatia. Their Acta are legendary (Benedictines). In art, this group is depicted as three female martyrs with palms, a child near them (Roeder).
272 Sabas  Christian officer of Gothic descent, was martyred with 70 companions in Rome  MM (RM)
Saint Sabas, a Christian officer of Gothic descent, was martyred with 70 companions in Rome under Aurelian. Some writers believe he is identical with the Saint Sabas celebrated on April 12 (Benedictines, Gill).

299 St. Donatian & Rogatian received baptism and began evangelizing others with zeal refusing to worship the gods
Nannéte, in Británnia minóre, beatórum Mártyrum Donatiáni et Rogatiáni fratrum, qui, sub Diocletiáno Imperatóre, pro constántia fídei, in cárcerem missi, et in equúleo suspénsi ac laniáti, deínde láncea militári confóssi, novíssime cápite præcísi sunt.
 At Nantes in Brittany, in the time of Emperor Diocletian, the blessed martyrs Donatian and Rogatian, brothers, who, because of their constancy in the faith, were sent to prison, stretched on the rack, and lacerated.  Finally, they were pierced through with a soldier's lance, and then beheaded.
289 OR 304 DONATIAN AND ROGATIAN, MARTYRS
DURING the reign of the Emperor Maximian there was living at Nantes in Brittany a young man called Donatian who belonged to a prominent Romano-Gallic family and was a zealous Christian. After the outbreak of persecution his elder brother Rogatian was moved by his example and piety to desire baptism, but the sacrament was deferred because the bishop was in hiding. The emperor had issued an edict directing that all who refused to sacrifice to Jupiter and Apollo should be put to death. Upon the arrival of the prefect at Nantes, Donatian was brought before him on the charge of professing Christianity and of withdrawing others—notably his brother—from the worship of the gods. He made a bold confession and was cast into prison, where he was soon joined by Rogatian who, in the face of cajolery and threats, had remained constant to his newly-found faith. He only grieved that he had not been baptized, but he prayed that the kiss of peace which he had received from his brother might supply the necessary grace. He was destined to receive the baptism of blood. They spent the night together in fervent prayer and were brought up again the following day before the prefect, to whom they expressed their willingness to suffer for the name of Christ whatever torments might be in store for them. By his order they were tortured on the rack, their heads were pierced with lances, and they were finally decapitated. The two martyrs are greatly venerated at Nantes where they are popularly known as “Les Enfants Nantais”. A few of their reputed relics are preserved in a church dedicated in their honour.

The comparatively sober passio of these martyrs has been included in the Acta Sincera of Ruinart. This may be read also in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. v, and another redaction has been printed in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. viii (1889), pp. 163—164. Though it is impossible to regard the text as the report of a contemporary, still it cannot be treated as a mere romance. Mgr Duchesne, who touches upon the matter in his Fastes Épiscopaux (vol. ii, pp. 359—361), remarks that in the whole of western Gaul these are the only martyrs whose death can confidently be assigned to the Roman persecutions. See further A. de la Borderie, Histoire de Bretagne, vol. i, pp. 187—194; Delanoue, S. Donatien et S. Rogatien (1904); G. Mollat in Annales de Bretagne, vol. xxii (1907), pp. 205—213; and J. B. Russon, La passion des Enfants nantais (1945). H. Leclercq also discussed the question at some length in DAC., vol. xii (1935), cc. 628—634, giving abundant bibliographical references.
 
Brothers of a Roman-Gallo noble family of Nantes, France. Donatian was arrested and soon joined by Rogatian. They were tortured and beheaded by Pictovarius under co-Emperor Diocletian.
Donatian and Rogatian MM (RM) Died 289 or 299 or 304. Of a notable Roman-Gallo family living at Nantes, Brittany, Donatian received baptism and began evangelizing others with zeal. During the persecution of Emperor Maximian or Diocletian, Donatian was arrested by Rictovarus and charged with being a Christian and refusing to worship the gods. His elder brother, Rogatian, moved by the edifying fire of his pious example, also sought baptism but the bishop had been forced into hiding during a persecution.
Nevertheless, Rogatian soon joined his brother. When Rictovarus arrived at Nantes, he endeavored persuade Rogatian to apostatize, but he remained steadfast and was thrown into prison, too. Rogatian grieved that he had not been able to receive baptism, and prayed that the kiss of peace which his brother gave him might supply it. Donatian also prayed that his brother's faith might procure for him the effect of baptism, and the effusion of his blood that of the sacrament of chrism-- confirmation. They passed that night together in fervent prayer. The next day they again declared their readiness to suffer for Christ. And suffer they did. First they were stretched on the rack. Then their heads were pierced with lances. Finally they were beheaded; thus, Rogatian was baptized--in blood. Their bodies were buried nearby, where Christians later built a sepulcher at the foot of which the bishops of Nantes were buried. At the end of the fifth century, the Christians built a church over their tomb. Bishop Albert of Ostia translated their relics to the cathedral in 1145 (Benedictines, Delaney, Husenbeth).

304 St. Afra Martyr of Brescia, Italy traditionally associated with Sts. Faustinus and Jovita.
Bríxiæ sanctæ Afræ Mártyris, quæ sub Hadriáno Imperatóre passa est.
  At Brescia, St. Afra, martyr, who suffered under Emperor Hadrian.

305 Eusebius, Neon, Leontius, Longinus & Comp 8 bystanders became Christians witnessing martyrdom of Saint George MM (RM)
According to the Greek menologies, these were eight bystanders, who became Christians on witnessing the martyrdom of Saint George and were thereafter put to death. The legend must be studied in conjunction with that of George (Benedictines).
400 Saint Gregory of Elvira champions of the faith against Arianism Bishop B (RM)
Bishop Saint Gregory of Elvira in southern Spain (now in the diocese of Granada) was one of the champions of the faith against Arianism. He was one of the few bishops at the Council of Rimini in 359 who consistently refused to compromise with the heretics. In good faith he sided with the party of Lucifer of Cagliari, but never left the communion of the Roman see (Benedictines).

445 Saint Vincent of Lérins fled service of world to serve Christ (RM)
In monastério Lirinénsi, in Gállia, sancti Vincéntii Presbyteri, doctrína et sanctitáte conspícui.
    In the monastery of Lerins, St. Vincent, a priest eminent for learning and sanctity.

ST VINCENT of Lérins is described by St Eucherius in his Instructiones
and in his letter De Laud Eremi as a man “pre-eminent in eloquence and learning”.
He is supposed to have been the brother of St Lupus of Troyes, and he would seem to have been a soldier before he took the religious habit at the abbey of Lérins on the island off the coast of Cannes now called Saint-Honorat, after the founder of the monastery. St Vincent was living there as a monk and a priest when, in the year 434—nearly three years after the close of the Council of Ephesus—he composed the book upon which his fame rests, his so-called Commonitorium against heresies. In this book he speaks of himself as a stranger and pilgrim who had fled from the service of this world with all its empty vanities and passing pleasures in order to enter the service of Christ as one of His lowliest servants in the seclusion of the cloister.

He explains that, in the course of his reading, he had gathered from the fathers certain principles or rules for distinguishing Christian truth from falsehood, and that he had jotted them down primarily for his own use, to aid his poor memory. These notes he expanded into a treatise in two parts, the second of which dealt with the recent Council of Ephesus. This latter portion, however, was lost or stolen, and St Vincent contented himself with adding to the first part a general summary or recapitulation of the whole. In this book of forty-two short chapters, which St Robert Bellarmine described as being “small in bulk but very great in value”, we find enunciated for the first time the axiom that for a dogma to be regarded as Catholic truth it must have been held always, everywhere, and by all the faithful—“quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est”.

Doubtful points must be settled by this test of universality, antiquity and consent, i.e. the agreement of all or nearly all bishops and doctors.
The Bible cannot he regarded as the sole test of truth, because it is subject to different interpretations
and is quoted as much in the interests of heterodoxy as of orthodoxy;
it must be interpreted according to the tradition of the Church, which alone has the right to expound it.

If a new doctrine is advanced, it must be confronted with the universal teaching of the Church and, where the universality test appears to be defective by reason of widespread apostasy at any period, appeal must be made to the teaching of the primitive Church. If the error is one which had its counterpart in primitive times, then the final court of appeal would be the faith of the majority. Progress indeed there must be, but it must be like the growth of the acorn, or the development of the child into a man it must preserve identity and all essential characteristics. The chief work of the councils has been to elucidate, define and emphasize that which had already been widely taught, believed and practised. And behind all the testimony of the fathers, the doctors and the councils, stands the authority of the Apostolic See.
An immense body of literature has been provoked by his treatise and it has been very variously judged. It appeared at a time when the controversy over grace and free-will was raging, especially in the south of France, and many authorities regard the book as a thinly-veiled attack upon the extreme Augustinian doctrine of predestination. In support of this view they point to the fact that at the time when the Commonitorium was written, the abbot of Lérins and many of the monks were semi-Pelagians; that in many passages St Vincent uses semi-Pelagian terms; and that a celebrated vindication of Augustinianism by St Prosper of Aquitaine purported to be a refutation of a book of objections composed by a certain Vincent, whom they identify with St Vincent of Lérins. On the other hand it is beyond question that Vincent was a very common name and also that, if semi-Pelagian ideas appear in the Commonitorium, it has other passages which are so similar to clauses of the Athanasian Creed, that St Vincent has sometimes been credited with the authorship of that most orthodox confession of faith. In any case the semi-Pelagian controversy had not then been authoritatively settled, and if St Vincent erred in that direction he erred in company with many other holy men. The exact date of his death is not certain, but it seems to have been about the year 445.
We know very little in detail regarding the life of St Vincent of Lérins. The brief account in the Acta Sanctorum (May, vol. v) is mainly derived from the De sins illustribus of Gennadius of Marseilles. See also DCB., vol. iv, pp. 1154—1158, the Dictionnaire Apologétique, vol. iv, cc. 1747—1754, and the Historisches Jahrbuch, vol. xxix (1908), pp. 583 seq. There is an excellent translation of the Commonitorium in French (1906) by de Labriolle and H. Brunetière.

Vincent, a member of a noble family of Gaul, called himself a stranger and pilgrim who had fled from the service of the world to serve Christ in the seclusion of the cloister. He abandoned his military career to become a monk at Lérins, off the coast of Provence, where he was ordained a priest. He is best known as the writer of the Commonitorium or Commonitory for the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith, in which he deals with the doctrine of exterior development in dogma and formulates the principle that only such doctrines are to be considered true as have been held "always, everywhere, and by all the faithful" (Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus)-- which is a difficult statement to interpret.

He deals with the discernment of truth from falsehood and the relationship between Scripture and Tradition, which is needed to correctly interpret Scripture.

In reacting against some excesses of Saint Augustine of Hippo concerning predestination, he adopted some semi-Pelagian tenets that were later considered unorthodox. Although his views were supported by such luminaries as Saint Robert Bellarmine, they were not quoted by Vatican II or the new Catechism of the Catholic Church (Benedictines, Farmer).
5th v. Dyfnan One of the many saintly sons of the Welsh chieftain Brychan Saint Dyfnan founded a church at Anglesey Benedictines (AC)
469 St. Patrick of Bayeux, Fourth bishop of Bayeux, France probably successor of St. Lupus
Patrick of Bayeux B (AC) Died c. 469. The fourth bishop of Bayeaux (Benedictines).

525 Deodatus of Blois hermit or an abbot referenced by Saint Gregory the Great, his contemporary; Abbot (AC)
Deodatus was either a hermit or an abbot in the area of Blois. At a later period the town of Saint-Dié grew up around his cell or monastery (Benedictines).

6th v. Musa of Rome favored with visions and other mystical experiences referenced by Saint Gregory the Great, her contemporary V (AC)
A child living in Rome who was favored with visions and other mystical experiences. She is referenced by Saint Gregory the Great, her contemporary (Benedictines).

586 Honorius of Brescia  hermit to bishop B (RM)
Saint Honorius went from being a hermit near Brescia to bishop of the city about 577 (Benedictines).

624 St Mellitus of Canterbury Roman abbot 1 of 2nd band of monks sent by Pope Saint Gregory the Great to England in 601 in the wake of Saint Augustine; OSB B (RM)
Died at Canterbury, England, on April 24, 624. Saint Mellitus was a Roman abbot, probably of Saint Andrew's Monastery on the Coelian Hill. He is one of the second band of monks sent by Pope Saint Gregory the Great to England in 601 in the wake of Saint Augustine. Gregory sent him a famous letter that modified the pope's earlier ruling to Augustine. Through Mellitus, Gregory told Augustine not to destroy the pagan temples of the Saxons but only their idols. The temples, he said, should be converted into churches and their feasts taken over and directed to Christian purposes, such as dedications. This directive was important for the whole direction of missionary activity.
In 604, after three years of mission work in Kent, Mellitus was consecrated the first bishop of the East Saxons, with his see in London. As bishop, St Mellitus of Canterbury travelled to Rome to consult with Pope Saint Boniface IV. While in Rome Mellitus participated in a synod of Italian bishops concerning the life of monks and their relationship to bishops. The decrees of the synod he carried back to England, together with letters from the pope to Archbishop Saint Laurence of Canterbury and King Ethelbert of Kent, who had built the first church of St. Paul in London.

Mellitus converted the king of the East Saxons, Sabert (Sigebert or Saeberht). Unfortunately, his royal sons did not follow suit. When Sabert died about 616, his three pagan sons (Sexred, Seward, and Sigebert) succeeded him and drove Mellitus out; for they had asked him to give them the "white bread" (the Eucharist), and he had refused because they were not baptized (or had apostatized according to some). Mellitus withdrew to Gaul for a year with Saint Justus of Rochester (Nov 10) , who had experienced a similar setback in Kent.

Laurence recalled them both. Soon after Mellitus's return in 619 he was made archbishop of Canterbury, in 619, to succeed Saint Laurence. Bede says of him that he suffered from gout but that in spirit he was healthy and active, ever reaching out to the things of God: "Noble by birth, he was yet nobler in mind."
     Bede attributes the change of wind that saved the church of the Four Crowned Martyrs in Canterbury from incineration to Mellitus's being carried into the path of the flames to pray. It was Saint Mellitus who built Saint Mary's church at Canterbury, of which a fragment remains outside the east end of the foundations of the abbey church of SS. Peter and Paul (now Saint Augustine's).


The feast of Saint Mellitus was observed on numerous English calendars before and after the Norman conquest. He is also mentioned in the commemoration of the dead in the Stowe Missal, together with Laurence and Justus. His relics can be found near those of Augustine in the abbey church of Saints Peter and Paul in Canterbury (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).
Saint Mellitus is portrayed in art as Saint Peter brings him a salmon to present to the king (Roeder).
Blessed Corona of Elche Benedictine nun  near Valencia, Spain OSB V (AC)
A Benedictine nun of Elche Abbey near Valencia, Spain (Benedictines).

6th v. Saint David of Gareji was Syrian by birth. The future ascetic became a disciple of St. John of Zedazeni and journeyed with him to Georgia. St. David and his spiritual son Lucian settled on a mountain above Tbilisi, the capital of Kartli.

The Monasteries of David Gareji

David Gareji is situated deep in semi-desert about 75 km south-east of Tbilisi.  Founded in the 6th century by the Christian Father St. David, the monasteries of Lavra, Udabno, Dodo and Bertubani are remarkable for their original cave frescos that date from the 8th to 13th centuries. But the setting is no less impressive and expect to see the fabulous white Egyptian Vulture soaring in the sky above.


At that time Kartli was constantly under threat of the Persian fire-worshippers. St. David would spend entire days in prayer, beseeching the Lord for forgiveness of the sins of those who dwelt in the city. When he was finished praying for the day, he would stand on the mountain and bless the whole city. Once a week Sts. David and Lucian would go down into the city to preach. A church dedicated to St. David was later built on the mountain where he labored.

St. David’s authority and popularity alarmed the fire-worshippers, and they accused him of adultery, in an attempt to discredit him in the eyes of the people. As a “witness” they summoned a certain expectant prostitute, who accused him of being the child’s father. Hoping in God, the holy father touched his staff to the prostitute’s womb and ordered the unborn child to declare the truth. From out of the womb the infant uttered the name of his true father.

Outraged at this slander, the bystanders savagely stoned the woman to death. St. David pleaded with them to stop, but he was unable to placate the furious crowd. Deeply disturbed by these events, St. David departed the region with his disciple Lucian.

The holy fathers settled in a small cave in the wilderness and began to spend all their time in prayer. They ate nothing but herbs and the bark of trees. When the herbs withered from the summer heat, the Lord sent them deer. Lucian milked them and brought the milk to St. David, and when the elder made the sign of the Cross over the milk it was miraculously transformed into cheese.

Shaken by the holy father’s miracle, Lucian told him, “Even if my body rots and wastes away from hunger and thirst, I will not permit myself to fret over the things of this temporal life.”

The fathers kept a strict fast on Wednesdays and Fridays—they ate nothing, and even the deer did not come to them on those days.
A frightful serpent inhabited a cave not far from where they lived and attacked all the animals around it. But at St. David’s command the serpent deserted that place.
Once local hunters were tracking the fathers’ deer, and they caught sight of Lucian milking them as they stood there quietly, as though they were sheep. The hunters paid great respect to St. David and, having returned to their homes, reported what they had seen.

Soon the Gareji wilderness filled with people who longed to draw nearer to Christ. A monastery was founded there, and for centuries it stood fast as a center and cornerstone of faith and learning in Georgia.
After some time St. David set off on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He entrusted Lucian to fulfill his responsibilities at the monastery and took some of the other brothers with him. When the pilgrims were approaching the place called the “Ridge of Grace,” from which the holy city of Jerusalem becomes visible, St. David fell to his knees and glorified God with tears. Judging himself unworthy to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, he was satisfied to gaze upon the city from afar.

Then he stood at the city gates and prayed fervently while his companions entered the Holy City and venerated the holy places. Returning, St. David took with him three stones from the “Ridge of Grace.” That night an angel appeared to the patriarch of Jerusalem and informed him that a certain pious man named David, who was visiting from afar, had taken with him all the holiness of Jerusalem.   The angel proceeded to tell him that the venerable one had marched through the city of Nablus, clothed in tatters and bearing on his shoulders an old sack in which he carried the three holy stones. The patriarch sent messengers after the stranger with a request that he return two of the stones and take only one for himself. St. David returned the two stones, but he declined the patriarch’s invitation to visit him. He took the third stone back with him to the monastery, and to this day it has been full of the grace of miraculous healing. After St. David brought the miraculous stone from Jerusalem, the number of brothers at the monastery doubled. The venerable father ministered to all of them and encouraged them. He also visited the cells of the elder hermits to offer his solace.
 In accordance with his will, a monastery in the name of St. John the Baptist was founded in the place called “Mravalmta” (the Rolling Mountains).

The Lord God informed St. David of his imminent departure to the Kingdom of Heaven. Then he gathered the fathers of the wilderness and instructed them for the last time not to fall into confusion, but to be firm and ceaselessly entreat the Lord for the salvation of their souls. He received Holy Communion, lifted up his hands to the Lord, and gave up his spirit.
St. David’s holy relics have worked many miracles: approaching them, those blind from birth have received their sight.
To this day, believers have been healed of every spiritual and bodily affliction at his grave.
596 Saint Simeon the Stylite during his childhood the Lord Jesus Christ appeared several times Holy Spirit to descend upon him toiled as a stylite for 68 years
Born in the year 521 in Antioch, Syria of pious parents John and Martha. From her youth St Martha (July 4) prepared herself for a life of virginity and longed for monasticism, but her parents insisted that she marry John. After ardent prayer in a church dedicated to St John the Forerunner, the future nun was directed in a vision to submit to the will of her parents and enter into marriage. As a married woman, St Martha strove to please God and her husband in everything. She often prayed for a baby and promised to dedicate him to the service of God. St John the Forerunner revealed to Martha that she would have a son who would serve God. When the infant was born, he was named Simeon and baptized at two years of age. When Simeon was six years old, an earthquake occurred in the city of Antioch, in which his father perished. Simeon was in church at the time of the earthquake. Leaving the church, he became lost and spent seven days sheltered by a pious woman. St John the Baptist again appeared to St Martha, and indicated where to find the lost boy. The saint's mother found her lost son, and moved to the outskirts of Antioch after the earthquake. Already during his childhood the Lord Jesus Christ appeared several times to St Simeon, foretelling his future exploits and the reward for them.

The six-year-old child Simeon went into the wilderness, where he lived in complete isolation. During this time a light-bearing angel guarded and fed him. Finally, he arrived at a monastery, headed by the igumen Abba John, who lived in asceticism upon a pillar. He accepted the boy with love. After a time, St Simeon asked the Elder John to permit him also to struggle upon a pillar. A new pillar was raised by the brethren of the monastery with the blessing of the igumen, near his pillar. Having completed the initiation of the seven-year-old boy into monasticism, Abba John placed him upon this pillar. The young ascetic, strengthened by the Lord, quickly grew spiritually, in his efforts surpassing even his experienced instructor. For his efforts, St Simeon received from God the gift of healing.
The fame of the young monk's deeds began to spread beyond the bounds of the monastery. Monks and laypeople began to come to him from various places, desiring to hear his counsel and receive healing from their infirmities. The humble ascetic continued to pursue asceticism with instructions from his spiritual mentor Abba John. When he was eleven, Simeon decided to pursue asceticism upon a higher pillar, the top of which was forty feet from the ground. The bishops of Antioch and Seleukia came to the place of the monk's endeavors, and ordained him as a deacon. Then they permitted him to ascend the new pillar, on which St Simeon labored for eight years.
St Simeon prayed ardently for the Holy Spirit to descend upon him, and the holy prayer of the ascetic was heard. The Holy Spirit came upon him in the form of a blazing light, filling the ascetic with divine wisdom. Along with oral instructions, St Simeon wrote letters about repentance, monasticism, about the Incarnation of Christ, and about the future Judgment.

After the death of his Elder, St Simeon's life followed a certain pattern. From the rising of the sun until mid-afternoon he read books and copied Holy Scripture. The he rose and prayed all night. When the new day began, he rested somewhat, then began his usual Rule of prayer. St Simeon concluded his efforts on the second column, and by God's dispensation, settled upon the Wonderful Mountain, having become an experienced Elder to the monks in his monastery. The ascent to Wonderful Mountain was marked by a vision of the Lord, standing atop a column. St Simeon continued his efforts at this place where he saw the Lord, at first upon a stone, and then upon a pillar.

Future events were revealed to St Simeon, and so he foretold the death of Archbishop Ephraim of Antioch, and the illness of Bishop Domnus, which overtook him as punishment for his lack of pity. Finally, St Simeon predicted an earthquake for the city of Antioch and urged all the inhabitants to repent of their sins.
St Simeon established a monastery on Wonderful Mountain,where the sick people he healed built a church in gratitude for the mercy shown them. The saint prayed for a spring of water for the needs of the monastery, and once during a shortage of grain, the granaries of the monastery were filled with wheat by his prayers.
In the year 560 the holy ascetic was ordained to the priesthood by Dionysius, Bishop of Seleukia. At age seventy-five St Simeon was warned by the Lord of his impending end. He summoned the brethren of the monastery, instructed them in a farewell talk, and peacefully fell asleep in the Lord in the year 596, having toiled as a stylite for sixty-eight years.

After death, the saint worked miracles just as he had when alive. He healed the blind, the lame and the leprous, saving many from wild beasts, casting out devils and raising the dead.

This wonderful and holy man was born in Antioch in 522, in the reign of the Emperor Justin I the Elder. His father perished in an earthquake and he was left alone with his mother, Martha. When he was six years old, he went away into the desert to John, a spiritual teacher there and, under his guidance, gave himself to a strict asceticism of fasting and prayer, to the wonderment of all who saw him. Whilst enduring fearful demonic trials, he received great comfort and grace from the Lord and His angels. Christ the Lord appeared to him in the form of a handsome youth, and, after this vision, Simeon's heart was inflamed with great love for Christ. He spent many years on a pillar, praying and singing psalms. Led by God, he took himself off to the mountain called `Wonderful' by the Lord Himself, and is known as `of the Wonderful Mountain' because of this. The measure of his love for God was such that rare grace was given him, by the help of which he was able to heal every sort of illness, tame wild beasts and perceive the most distant regions of the earth and the hearts of men. He was taken out of the body and saw the heavens, conversed with angels, harried the demons, prophesied, spent thirty days at a time without sleep and even longer without food, receiving nourishment at the hands of angels. The words of the Saviour: `He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do'(Jn 14:12), were completely fulfilled in him. In the year 596, at the age of seventy-five, Simeon went to the Lord, to the eternal enjoyment of the vision of the face of God in the company of the angels.SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net

Simeon der Stylit der Jüngere   Orthodoxe und Katholische Kirche: 24. Mai
Simeon wurde 521 im syrischen Antiochia geboren. Seine Mutter Martha (Gedenktag 4.7.) wollte gegen den Willen ihrer Eltern Nonne werden. Nach einer Vision willigte sie in die Ehe ein. Ihren Sohn, der ihr in der Vision von Johannes dem Täufer offenbart wurde, nannte sie Simeon. Martha und Simeon hatten weitere Visionen und als sechsjähriger ging Simeon in die Einsamkeit. Er kam zu einem Mönchskloster, dessen Abt Johannes auf einer Säule (Stylos) lebte. Simeon bat darum, auch auf einer Säule leben zu dürfen. Als siebenjähriger Junge wurde er auf seine erste Säule in der Nähe seines Lehrers Johannes gehoben. Vier Jahre später zog er sich von den zahlreichen Besuchern weiter zurück. Nachdem er von den Bischöfen von Antiochia und Seleukia zum Diakon ordiniert worden war, bestieg er eine 40 Fuß hohe Säule. Hier blieb er 8 Jahre, dann zog er auf einen einsamen Berg (der später Wunderberg genannt wurde). Hier hielt er prophetische Reden, wirkte als Seelsorger und heilte Kranke. Dankbare Besucher erbauten ein Kloster für seine zahlreichen Schüler. Im Alter von 39 (oder 33) Jahren wurde er vom Bischof von Seleukia zum Priester geweiht. Simeon bestieg, nachdem er 10 Jahre auf dem Berg auf einem Felsen gelebt hatte, eine dritte Säule und blieb hier bis zu seinem Tod am 24.5.592 oder 596. Auch nach seinem Tod ereigneten sich viele Wunderheilungen und andere Wunder.
7th v. Ivo of Huntingdonshire; Persian bishop, Hermit B, a holy well sprung up, at which many miracles were performed as recorded by Ramsey's third abbot (AC)
(also known as Ivia, Yvo) According to medieval legend, Saint Ivo was a Persian bishop who enjoyed great honor and luxury in his own land but he yearned for a more disciplined and arduous life. Together with three companions he went to England. They settled as a hermits in the remote, wild fenlands in Huntingdonshire. There they died (in the 7th century according to the legend), and would have been forgotten.
However, about 1001, this story was attached to some bones with a bishop's insignia found in Slepe (near Ramsey abbey). Saint Ivo may have had no historical existence, though Saint Ives in Huntingdonshire is named for him. Goselin ("Vita S. Yvonis" in Patrologia Latina, ed. J. P. Migne, civ. 84 ff), who died about 1107, says that Ivo's cultus had been extant for a century. Following a peasant's dream, these episcopal bones were unhesitatingly identified as those of Ivo.

The four bodies, including those presumed to be Ivo, were translated to Ramsey Abbey, where a holy well sprung up, at which many miracles were performed as recorded by Ramsey's third abbot, Whitman. About a century later, light appeared at night reaching from Ramsey to Slepe, which was interpreted as meaning that the bones of Ivo's companions should be translated back to Slepe, where a new foundation from Ramsey could enjoy this subsidiary shrine.
The Saint Ives, formerly Porth Ia, in west Cornwall, however, is named for Saint Ia (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Farmer, Husenbeth).
In art, Saint Ivo is portrayed as a Persian hermit with the attributes of a bishop. He is venerated at Huntingdonshire (Saint Ives, Ramsey) (Roeder).

7th v. Authaire of La Ferté courtier at the palace of King Dagobert I of France and father of Saint Ouen of Rouen (AC)
(also known as Oye)  7th century. Saint Authaire was a courtier at the palace of King Dagobert I of France and father of Saint Ouen of Rouen. He is the patron of the village of Le- Ferté-sous-Jouarre, where he usually resided (Benedictines).

680 Bova (Beuve, Bona) & Doda devote herself to the service of God abbess OSB VV (RM)
7th century. Saint Bova, sister of Saint Balderic (Baudry) and near relative of King Dagobert, edified the royal court and entire kingdom by her virtues. She rejected all marriage proposals because she decided to devote herself to the service of God.
After her brother founded Montfauçon Abbey, in 639 he built a convent near Rheims, where Bova ruled as abbess until her death c. 680. Her niece Doda followed in her footsteps and succeeded her as abbess. The relics of both saints were later translated to Saint Peter's Abbey in Rheims. Although their original vitae were destroyed in a fire, a later writer recorded the traditions related by the nuns in the 10th century (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).

709  Aldhelm Er wurde im Kloster Malmesbury und in Canterbury {erzogen-- well-educated} Einer seiner Lehrer war der Benediktinermönch Adrian, der mit Theodor nach England gekommen war seiner Werke ("De laude virginitatis")
Katholische und Anglikanische Kirche: 25. Mai

Aldhelm (Aeldhelm/Ealdhelm u.a.) wurde um 639 in Wessex geboren. Er wurde im Kloster Malmesbury und in Canterbury erzogen. Einer seiner Lehrer war der Benediktinermönch Adrian, der mit Theodor nach England gekommen war.  Aldhelm wurde Abt des Klosters Malmesbury. Er gründete mehrere Kirche, darunter die Laurentiuskirche in Bradford on Avon. Er war ein bekannter Gelehrter und die erhaltenen Fragmente seiner Werke ("De laude virginitatis") gehören zu den ältesten Zeugnissen englischer Literatur. 705 wurde er Bischof von Sherborne. Er starb 709 und wurde in seinem Kloster beigesetzt. Ihm werden zahlreiche Wunder - vor allem nach seinem Tod -zugeschrieben.

729 Egbert of Rathemigisi Northumbrian monk of Lindisfarne; induce monks to adopt Roman liturgical practices  OSB (RM)
Saint Egbert was a Northumbrian monk of Lindisfarne who migrated to Ireland and lived at Rathelmigisi (Rathmelsigi) in Connaught.
In 684, he unsuccessfully tried to dissuade King Egfrith from invading Ireland. At Rathelmigisi Egbert trained several bands of monks for the German missions that included Saints Wigbert and Willibrord. When his companion Æthelhun died of the plague and he contracted it, too, Egbert vowed voluntary exile for life if he recovered. Although he wanted to join the missionaries, his vow and a vision instructing him otherwise, led Egbert to become an admirable monk on the island of Iona in Scotland. There he attempted to induce the monks to adopt Roman liturgical practices.

He succeeded at last: in fact, on the day of his death, Easter was celebrated at Iona for the first time according to the Roman reckoning. Egbert's feast is found in both the Roman and Irish martyrologies and in the metrical calendar of York (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill).

1089 Blessed Lanfranc of Canterbury; taught law in Pavia, monk, prior archbishop of Canterbury in 1070 Lanfranc's De Sacramento Corporis et Sanguinis Christi became the classic statement of transubstantiation in the Middle Ages OSB B (PC)
1089 BD LANFRANC, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
LIKE Bd Herluin (August 26) Lanfranc seems to have received no public cultus, but he has very commonly been called Blessed, and so is given a bare reference here.
He was born at Pavia C. 1005 and when about thirty-five became a monk of Bec, where he founded the school that was to be that abbey’s glory. In 1062 William of Normandy appointed him abbot of Caen, and in 1070 archbishop of Canterbury. Lanfranc was a great ecclesiastical statesman, and on the administrative side no primate after St Theodore had a deeper effect on the Church in England. But as a theological writer and in spiritual things he was a far lesser man than his fellow at Bec and successor at Canterbury, St Anselm. Lanfranc was a critic of the cultus of some of the old English saints, of whose worth he was not convinced, and he had trouble with the monks of Christ Church on this account.

There is an excellent life of Lanfranc by A. J. M. Macdonald (1926). For his calendar revision see Gasquet and Bishop, The Bosworth Psalter.
Born at Pavia, Italy, c. 1005; died at Canterbury, England, on May 24, 1089. Born into a family of senatorial rank, Lanfranc studied law in Pavia (or Bologna), practiced for a time in Pavia, and about 1035 went to France. He continued his studies at Avranches, Normandy, taught there, and in 1042 became a monk at Bec. He was made prior in 1045 and head of the monastery school, which became famous for its scholarship under his tutelage.

He became embroiled in the quarrel over the Eucharist with Berengarius and was brought by Pope Leo IX to the Councils of Rome and Vercelli in 1050, where Berengarius was condemned.

Lanfranc's opposition to the proposed marriage of Duke William of Normandy to Matilda of Flanders in 1053 caused William to draw up a decree of exile, but the two were reconciled, and Lanfranc became a close adviser of the duke and secured a papal dispensation for the marriage in 1059. Lanfranc was appointed abbot of Saint Stephen's in Caen about 1063, accompanied William on his conquest of England, and was named archbishop of Canterbury in 1070.
He brought Norman practices to the English Church, built churches, founded new sees, and in 1072 compelled the archbishop of York to accept the primacy of Canterbury when a council of bishops and abbots of Winchester so decreed. Lanfranc was regent for William in 1074 and put down a revolt against the Conqueror, fought any secular intrusion on ecclesiastical rights, and in 1076, at a synod at Winchester, ordered clerical celibacy for future ordinandi.

Though he persuaded William to name his son William Rufus his heir to the throne and crowned him on his father's death in 1087, he never had the influence over William Rufus that he had over William.
   Lanfranc's De Sacramento Corporis et Sanguinis Christi became the classic statement of transubstantiation in the Middle Ages. He died at Canterbury, and though he has always been honored with the title Blessed, there does not seem to have ever been any public cultus (Benedictines, Delaney).
In art, Lanfranc is an archbishop holding a monstrance. Under one foot there is a devil; under the other there is a man dashing a stone to the ground (an image that may have been borrowed from Saint Norbert.) He is venerated in Caen, Bec, and Canterbury (Roeder).

Lanfranc Le Bec  Katholische und Anglikanische Kirche: 28. Mai
Lanfranc wurde um 1010 in Pavia geboren. Er studierte und wirkte als Lehrer in Südfrankreich. 1042 trat er in die Einsiedlergemeinschaft von Le Bec (Normandie) ein. 1045 wurde er Prior der Gemeinschaft, außerdem leitete er die Klosterschule. In seinem Grammatik- und Rhetorik Unterricht wurde auch die Bibel bearbeitet - eine zu seiner Zeit noch völlig unbekannte Vorgehensweise. Lanfranc war mit Herzog Wilhelm von der Normandie befreundet und unterstützte den Einfall in England 1066. 1070 wurde er Erzbischof von Canterbury. Er baute die Vorrangstellung des Bischofs von Canterbury aus, hielt mehrere Synoden ab und ließ die verfallenen Kirchengebäude von Canterbury renovieren. Er starb am 28.5.1089 in Canterbury.

1103 William Firmatus, Hermit; divine warning against avarice, gave all possessions to poor spent rest of life on pilgrimages (AC)
Saint William was both a canon and a physician at Saint-Venance. Because of a divine warning against avarice, William gave all his possessions to the poor and spent the rest of his life on pilgrimages and as a hermit at Savigny and Mantilly, where he is venerated (Benedictines).
In art, Saint William thrusts his arm in a fire. He may also be represented with a raven that shows him the way to the Promised Land. He is invoked against headache (Roeder).

1153 St. David I  King of Scotland; founded dio­ceses and monasteries in Scotland, instituted Norman law, started the office of chancellor conducted many charitable projects

1153 ST DAVID I OF SCOTLAND
THE name of this king occurs in several old Scottish calendars and more than one modern Catholic church is dedicated in his honour; he belongs to the category of popularly canonized national heroes, the particulars of whose life belong mainly to secular history. He was born about 1080, the youngest of the six sons of King Malcolm Canmore and his queen, St Margaret. In 1093 he was sent to the Norman court in England, where he remained for some years. When his brother Alexander succeeded to the Scottish throne in 1107, David became prince of Cumbria (roughly the Lowlands), and by his marriage in 1113 to Matilda, widow of the earl of Northampton, he became earl of Huntingdon. In 1124 he succeeded his brother as King David I.
St Aelred of Rievaulx was in his earlier years master of the household to David, with whom he kept up a close friendship, and after the king’s death he wrote an account of him. In it he speaks of David’s reluctance to accept the crown, of the justice of his rule, of his almsdeeds and his accessibility to all, of his efforts to maintain concord among the clergy, of his personal piety, and in general of the great work he did for the consolidation of the kingdom of Scotland. Aelred’s only criticism was of his failure to control the savagery and rapacity of his troops when he invaded England, on behalf of his niece Matilda against Stephen. For this David was very contrite, and is said to have looked on his defeat at the Battle of the Standard and elsewhere and the early death of his only son as just retribution therefor.
It was afterwards complained that King David’s benefactions to the Church impoverished the crown, among the critics being his fifteenth-century successor, James I. For not only did he found the royal burghs of Edinburgh, Berwick, Roxburgh, Stirling and perhaps Perth, but he also established the bishoprics of Brechin, Dunblane, Caithness, Ross and Aberdeen and founded numerous monasteries. Among them were the Cistercian houses of Melrose, Kinloss, Newbattle and Dundrennan, and Holyrood itself for Augustinian canons.
St Aelred gives a circumstantial account of David’s death at Carlisle on May 24, 1153. On the Friday he was anointed and given viaticum, and then spent much time in praying psalms with his attendants. On Saturday they urged him to rest, but he replied, “Let me rather think about the things of God, so that my spirit may set out strengthened on its journey from exile to home. When I stand before God’s tremendous judgement-seat you will not be able to answer for me or defend me; no one will be able to deliver me from His hand”. And so he continued to pray; and at dawn of Sunday he passed away peacefully as if he slept.
St David had helped to endow Dunfermline Abbey, founded by his father and mother, and he had peopled it with Benedictine monks from Canterbury. There he was buried, and at his shrine his memory was venerated until the Reformation.
For the reign of one of the greatest Scottish kings consult standard histories of that kingdom. Bishop Forbes summarizes St Aelred’s panegyric in his Kalendars of Scottish Saints, and gives references to Robertson, Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. i (Edinburgh, 1862) and to Pinkerton’s Vitae Antiguae Sanctorum Scotiae. See also Bellesheim’s History of the Catholic Church in Scotland, vol. i, and A. H. Dunbar, Scottish Kings (1906). The cultus of St David was recognized after the Reformation among Protestants by the insertion of his name in the calendar of Laud’s Prayer-book for Scotland, 1637.
King of Scotland, the son of King Malcolm III and St. Margaret, born in 1084. He was sent to the English Norman court in 1093, and he married Matilda, the widow of the earl of Northhampton, becoming an English baron in 1113. David succeeded his brother, Alexander I, as the king of Scotland in 1124. Years of Struggle against King Stephen ended in 1139 when they made peace. David founded dio­ceses and monasteries in Scotland, instituted Norman law, started the office of chancellor, and conducted many charitable projects. He died in Carlisle, Scotland, May 24. He was never formally canonized.
1178 Blessed John of Montfort a Knight Templar of Jerusalem who was wounded in battle against the Saracens  OSB Knight (AC)
Died at Nicosia, Cyprus, on May 25, 1177 or 1178. John was a Knight Templar of Jerusalem who was wounded in battle against the Saracens and taken to Cypus, where he died (Benedictines).

1186 Our Holy Father Nikita Stylites monastery close to Pereyaslavl enveloped his body in chains and shut himself up in a pillar healer
1186 ST NICETAS OF PEREASLAV, Martyr
In the earlier years of his manhood this Nicetas was a collector of taxes at Pereaslav, in the neighbourhood of Rostov, and he was disliked by everybody because of the viciousness of his life in general and his ferocious oppressiveness in his business in particular. But the hand of the Lord touched him. He heard the words of the prophet Isaias (i 16), “Wash you, make you clean , . . Cease to do evil Learn to do well,” and they struck him to the heart. He left his wife and family and possessions, and withdrew to a monastery where he gave himself to extreme works of penance. He wore a shift of metal links next his skin, and lived on a pillar in the manner of the stylites or pillar-saints.
It is not known how long this lasted, but it was long enough for the iron links of the shirt to be polished by wear till they shone like silver—and this caused the death of Nicetas. For robbers, deceived by the shining, set upon and killed him for the sake of this treasure. Because of this unjust death St Nicetas is celebrated as a martyr; but his veneration was due rather to his miracles of healing, which both in life and after death caused him to be known as “the Wonder-Worker”.


From Martynov’s Annus ecclesiasticus Graeco-Slavicus in Acta Sanctorum, October, xi. Cf. St Sergius on September 25, and bibliography.
He lived an unrestrained and vicious life as a youth. When once he happened to enter a church, he heard the words of the Prophet Isaiah: `Wash you (your sins), make you clean' (1:16). The words penetrated deeply into his soul, and effected a complete change in his life. Nikita left his home, his wife and his land and entered a monastery close to Pereyaslavl, where he laboured until his death in strict asceticism. He enveloped his body in chains and shut himself up in a pillar, being therefore known as a Stylite.

God granted him great grace, and he healed people afflicted with various torments.
He healed Michael, Prince of Chernigov, of palsy. One day some evildoers saw the chains on him and, seeing them gleam, thought them to be silver, so they killed him one night, took the chains off him and carried them away. This happened on May 16th, 1186.

He appeared to a certain elder, Simeon, after his death and told him to place the chains, when they were found, in the grave beside his body.   SerbianOrthodoxChurch.net
1186 St. Nicetas of Pereaslav Russian monk; wonder worker, gave himself utterly to a life of prayer and mortifications many miracles attributed
He worked as a tax collector at Pereaslav near Rostov. Nicetas was infamous for his avarice and pitiless fulfillment of his duties until he underwent a completely unexpected conversion. He left his wife and family and entered a monastery. There he gave himself utterly to a life of prayer and mortifications. Nicetas died when a group of bandits mistook the heavy metal shirt of penance he wore for silver and slew him for it. He was called “the Wonder Worker” for the many miracles attributed to him.

1250 Blessed William of Dongelberg Cistercian monk at the abbey of Villers, Belgium OSB Cist. (AC)
William was a Cistercian monk at the abbey of Villers, Belgium (Benedictines).

1298 St. Gerard de Lunel Franciscan tertiary who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land; patron of Monte Santo
Patron saint of Monte Santo, near Ancona, Italy, also called Gerius. He was a Franciscan tertiary who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He died in Monte Santo on his way back from his homeland of France. His cult was approved by popes Benedict XIV and Pius VI.

Gerard de Lunel, OFM Tert. (AC) Born in France in 1275; died at Monte Santo, near Ancona, Italy, in 1298; cultus approved by Benedict XIV and Pius VI. Gerard was a pilgrim who died in Italy on his return trip from the Holy Land. He is venerated as the patron of Monte Santo (Benedictines).

1306 Blessed Philip Suzanni known for his spirit of prayer and compunction OSA (AC)
Born in Piacenza, Italy; cultus approved in 1756. Philip joined the Augustinians in his hometown. He was known for his spirit of prayer and compunction (Benedictines)


1607  St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi -she is called the "ecstatic saint."
1607 May 29 St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi virgin of the Order of the Carmelites famed for her holy life suffering;  mystical experiences God gave this saint; saw her ecstasies as evidence of a great fault in her, not a reward for holiness
Mystical ecstasy is the elevation of the spirit to God in such a way that the person is aware of this union with God and both internal and external senses are detached from the sensible world. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi was so generously given this special gift of God that she is called the "ecstatic saint."
She was born into a noble family in Florence in 1566. The normal course would have been for Catherine de Pazzi to have married wealth and enjoyed comfort, but she chose to follow her own path. At nine she learned to meditate from the family confessor. She made her first Communion at the then-early age of 10 and made a vow of virginity one month later.
When 16, she entered the Carmelite convent in Florence because she could receive Communion daily there.
Catherine had taken the name Mary Magdalene and had been a novice for a year when she became critically ill. Death seemed near so her superiors let her make her profession of vows from a cot in the chapel in a private ceremony. Immediately after, she fell into an ecstasy that lasted about two hours. This was repeated after Communion on the following 40 mornings. These ecstasies were rich experiences of union with God and contained marvelous insights into divine truths.
As a safeguard against deception and to preserve the revelations, her confessor asked Mary Magdalene to dictate her experiences to sister secretaries. Over the next six years, five large volumes were filled. The first three books record ecstasies from May of 1584 through Pentecost week the following year. This week was a preparation for a severe five-year trial. The fourth book records that trial and the fifth is a collection of letters concerning reform and renewal. Another book, Admonitions, is a collection of her sayings arising from her experiences in the formation of women religious.

The extraordinary was ordinary for this saint. She read the thoughts of others and predicted future events. During her lifetime, she appeared to several persons in distant places and cured a number of sick people.

It would be easy to dwell on the ecstasies and pretend that Mary Magdalene only had spiritual highs. This is far from true. It seems that God permitted her this special closeness to prepare her for the five years of desolation that followed when she experienced spiritual dryness. She was plunged into a state of darkness in which she saw nothing but what was horrible in herself and all around her. She had violent temptations and endured great physical suffering. She died in 1607 at 41, and was canonized in 1669.
Comment:  Intimate union, God's gift to mystics, is a reminder to all of us of the eternal happiness of union he wishes to give us. The cause of mystical ecstasy in this life is the Holy Spirit, working through spiritual gifts. The ecstasy occurs because of the weakness of the body and its powers to withstand the divine illumination, but as the body is purified and strengthened, ecstasy no longer occurs. On various aspects of ecstasy, see Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, Chapter 5, and John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, 2:1-2.
Quote:   There are many people today who see no purpose in suffering. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi discovered saving grace in suffering. When she entered religious life she was filled with a desire to suffer for Christ during the rest of her life. The more she suffered, the greater grew her desire for it. Her dying words to her fellow sisters were: "The last thing I ask of you—and I ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—is that you love him alone, that you trust implicitly in him and that you encourage one another continually to suffer for the love of him."
1590 Blessed Francis Colmenario Spanish missionary priest evangelized West Indies preached in Guatemala (AC)
Francis was a Spanish missionary priest who evangelized the West Indies and preached in Guatemala (Benedictines).

1622 (Mark Rey) Fidelis of Sigmaringen example of religious devotion and goodness to the poor "the Poor Man's Lawyer." OFM Cap. M (RM)
Born in Sigmaringen, Hohenzollern, Germany, in 1577; died at Grüsch, Grisons, Switzerland, on April 24, 1622; canonized by Pope Benedict XIV in 1746.
In 1604, Mark Rey was teaching philosophy at the University of Freiburg-in-Breisgau, when he was appointed tutor to a small party of noble Swabian men who wanted to finish their education with supplementary studies in the chief cities of western Europe. During the six-year tour, Rey became greatly esteemed by his companions. He set them an example of religious devotion and goodness to the poor, to whom he sometimes literally gave the clothes off his back.

When he returned to Germany, he took his doctorate in law and began to practice as an advocate at Ensisheim in Upper Alsace. He gained a reputation for honesty and his refusal to use the vituperative language often then employed to level an opponent. His support of the poor led to the moniker "the Poor Man's Lawyer."

Repulsed by the unscrupulous measures used by his colleagues in practicing law, in 1612, he decided to enter the reformed Capuchin branch of the Franciscan Order, which his brother George had already joined. Mark Rey donated his wealth to the poor and to needy seminarians. After receiving holy orders, he took the name Fidelis. Upon completion of his theological course, he preached and heard confessions. Fidelis was successively appointed superior of Rheinfelden, Frieburg, and Feldkirch. During this last appointment, he reformed the town and outlying districts, and converted many Protestants. He also wrote a book of spiritual exercises that was translated into several languages.

His reputation grew due to his devotion to the sick, many of whom he cured during an epidemic. The bishop of Chur requested that his superiors send him, with eight other Capuchins, to preach among the Zwinglian Protestants in the Grisons of Switzerland. This was the first attempt since the Reformation to recover the area from heresy. Fidelis courageously pretended to disregard threats of violence. From the very beginning, the mission made inroads, and the newly established Congregation for the Spreading of the Faith formally appointed him leader of the Grison enterprise.

So great were his powers of preaching that he enjoyed tremendous success, which enraged his adversaries. They then worked to turn the peasants against him by representing him as an agent of the Austrian emperor, and avowing to him an intention to back their national aspirations for independence. Forewarned, Fidelis spent several nights in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament preparing for death.

On April 24, 1622, he preached at Grüsch. He then travelled to Sewis, where, in the middle of a sermon on "One Lord, one faith, one baptism," a Protestant fired his musket at Fidelis. The bullet missed and lodged in a wall. In the following confusion the Austrian soldiers who were in the vicinity were attacked. When a Protestant offered to harbor Fidelis, the saint replied that his life was in God's hands. Fidelis attempted to return to Grüsch but was beset by opponents who demanded that he repudiate his faith. He refused, and as his murderers stabbed him with their weapons he called out to God to forgive them. (Another source says that one assassin's bullet missed him, but a second killed him.) A Zwinglian minister who was present was converted. The body of Fidelis now rests in Coira cathedral (Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Walsh, White).

Fidelis is depicted in art with a club set with spikes or a whirlbat (White). He emblem is heretics. Generally, he is portrayed with Saint Joseph of Leonissa. Saint Fidelis tramples on "Heresy" and an angel carries the palm of martyrdom. The Morning Star may also be shown in his icon (Roeder).
1636 St. John del Prado Franciscan martyr of Morocco; zeal attracted attention Islamic authorities thrown into prison in chains patiently endured torture until death
Marróchii, in Africa, beáti Joánnis de Prado, Sacerdótis ex Ordine Minórum et Mártyris; qui, in prædicatióne Evangélii, post víncula, cárceres, flagélla plurimáque ália torménta, pro Christo fórtiter toleráta, per ignem martyrium consummávit.
 At Morocco in Africa, the passion of blessed John of Prado, priest and martyr of the Order of Friars Minor.  While preaching the Gospel, he was bound, imprisoned, and scourged; and after enduring with fortitude many other torments for Christ, fulfilled his martyrdom by fire.
1613 BD JOHN OF PRADO, MARTYR
AMONGST the heroes of the Friars Minor of the Observance, great honour is paid to Bd John of Prado, who won the crown of martyrdom in Morocco in the seventeenth century even as the Franciscan pioneers, Bd Berard and his companions, had won it there in the thirteenth. He was born of a noble Spanish family at Morgobejo in Leon, and, after being educated at Salamanca University, received the habit as a Franciscan in the year 1584. From the day of his ordination to the priesthood he desired to go as a missionary to the pagans, but his aspirations could not be realized for some time. His superiors set him to preach in his own country and he also filled the offices of novice-master and guardian in several convents. Though one of the holiest and humblest of men he became the victim of cruel calumny, and his provincial removed him from his post of superior. He accepted the disgrace with resignation. “God wills that I should suffer,” he said. “May His will be done. The only thing that grieves me is the discredit it may bring upon our order and the scandal it may cause to the weak.” His innocence was, however, afterwards completely vindicated and in 1610 he was made minister of the newly formed province of San Diego.

Three years later a widespread epidemic of plague carried off all the Franciscans who were labouring in the Moroccan mission. Bd John’s term of office had just expired and he begged to be sent to the relief of the Christians. Pope Urban VIII accordingly named him missionary apostolic with special powers. Accompanied by Father Matthias and Brother Genesius, he arrived in Morocco and immediately embarked upon the work of ministering to the Christian slaves.

Though ordered to leave they continued their labours, administering the sacraments to the faithful and reconciling those who had apostatized. They were consequently arrested in Marakesh, cast into prison, and set to grind saltpetre for gunpowder. After a while they were brought into the sultan’s presence, but when they still boldly explained Christianity, they were scourged and ordered back to their dungeon. On the occasion of a second public examination, Bd John ignored the sultan and addressed himself to some apostates who were standing by. Whereupon Muley al-Walid struck the old man to the ground, and he was pierced by two arrows. He was taken away to be burned alive; as the flames mounted he urged his tormentors to follow Christ, till one of them crushed his head with a stone.

Bd John of Prado was beatified in 1728, and he is one of the few beati named in the Roman Martyrology.
See P. P. Ausserer, Seraphisches Martyrologium (1880); Léon, Auréole Séraphique  (Eng. trans.), vol. ii, pp. 292—296 F. Fernandez y Romeral, Los Franciscanos en Marruecos (1921) and H. Koehler, L’Eglise chrétienne du Maroc . . . (1934), pp. 65—83.

He was born in Morgobresio, in Leon, Spain, and became a Franciscan of the Strict Observance. Volunteering in 1613 to go to Morocco, he was martyred there with two Franciscan companions on the orders of the ruler of Marrakesh. The ruler supposedly executed John personally.
Blessed John del Prado, OFM M (RM) Born at Morgobresio, León, Spain; died on May 24, 1636; beatified by Benedict XIII in 1728. As a member of the Observant Franciscans, John was sent by the Congregation of the Propagation of the Faith to preach the Gospel in Morocco. His zeal attracted the attention of the Islamic authorities and he was thrown into prison in chains. He patiently endured torture until he was burned to death with two other Spanish friars (Benedictines, Husenbeth).

1788 Charles Wesley Methodisten; Er schrieb und komponierte mehr als 6.000 Kirchenlieder und gab Gesangbücher heraus Mehrere seiner Lieder werden im englischsprachigen Raum von allen Konfessionen gesungen
Anglikanische Kirche: 24. Mai (mit John Wesley)

Charles Wesley wurde am 18.12.1707 in Epworth geboren. Er war das 18. Kind seiner Eltern, eienr hochkirchlichen Pfarrerfamilie. Er begann 1726 in Oxford das Theologiestudium. Hier bildete sich die Keimzelle der Metodisten heraus, denn ab 1727 sammelte er Studenten, die ernsthaft studieren und einen frommen Lebenswandel führen wollten. Die Gruppe wurde von den Studenten als "Bibelmotten", "Heiliger Klub" oder "Methodisten" verspottet.
Kurz nach seiner Ordination 1735 reiste Charles mit seinem Bruder John nach Amerika und lernte auf der Fahrt die Herrnhuter kennen. Schon im Sommer 1736 kehrte er nach London zurück. Am 21.5.1738 bekehrte er sich und begann mit Whitefield, einem weiteren Mitglied des Oxforder Zirkels und seinem Bruder John die Evangelisationsarbeit. Er unternahm mehrere Missionsreisen nach Wales und Irland. Seine Bedeutung für die methodistische Kirche liegt vor allem in seiner dichterischen Tätigkeit. Er schrieb und komponierte mehr als 6.000 Kirchenlieder und gab Gesangbücher heraus.
Mehrere seiner Lieder werden im englischsprachigen Raum von allen Konfessionen gesungen. Charles Wesley starb am 29.3.1788 in London.
1791  John Wesley 1735 ging er mit seinem Burder Charles als Indianermissionar nach Nordamerika
Anglikanische Kirche: 24. Mai (mit Charles Wesley)  Evangelische Kirche: 2. März
John Wesley, Sohn einer hochkirchlichen Pfarrfamilie, wurde am 17.6.1703 in Epworth in England geboren. Er wurde christlich erzogen und hielt auch während seines Studiums an täglicher Meditation und Bibellese fest. Er war Mitglied eines von seinem Bruder Charles gegründeten Kreises. Ihre Gemeinschaft wurde als "Heiliger Club von Oxford" bekannt und von manchen Mitstudenten wurden sie wegen ihrer strengen Regeln als "Methodisten" verspottet. Nach dem Studium erhielt John Wesley 1728 die Priesterweihe. 1735 ging er mit seinem Burder Charles als Indianermissionar nach Nordamerika. Auf dem Schiff lernten sie Herrnhuter Missionare kennen und waren von ihrer Frömmigkeit stark beeindruckt. In Amerika machte John sich wegen seiner rigorosen hochkirchlichen Einstellung schnell Feinde und brach nach wenigen Jahren seine Arbeit ab. Zurückgekehrt erfuhr er seine Bekehrung durch einen Prediger der Brüdergemeinde (am 24.5.1738 um 20.45 Uhr). Er reiste zunächst nach Herrnhut und begann dann in London zu predigen. Schon bald strömten Tausende von Menschen zu seinen Predigten. Die Geistlichen verboten ihm ihre Kirchen, so daß er begann im Freien zu predigen. Mit seinem Bruder ging er dann zu Whitefield, der im Kohlerevier von Kingswood arbeitete. Seine erste Predigt hielt er dort vor 100 Menschen, am nächsten Abend versammelten sich bereits 2.000 Menschen. Wesley predigte bis zu dreimal täglich bis zu seinem Tode. Zu seinen Predigten kamen bis zu 20.000 Menschen zusammen. 1740 trennte er sich von der Brüdergemeinde, eine Trennung von der Staatskirche lehnte er bis zu seinem Tode ab. Dennoch trat eine langsame Trennung ein. Um 1750 gab es 39 Gemeindebezirke mit 92 Predigern. Es galt eine strenge Gemeindeordnung. Auch in Nordamerika entstanden zahlreiche Gemeinden. Nachdem sich die amerikanische Kolonie von England losgesagt hatte, wurden die dortigen Gemeinden selbständig und nannten sich "Bischöfliche Methodistenkirche". Den Namen Methodisten übernahmen auch die anderen Gemeinden nach ihrer endgültigen Lösung von der englischen Staatskirche. John Wesley starb am 2.3.1791 in London.

1837 Anne Mary Taigi; Endowed with the gift of prophecy, she read thoughts and described distant events incorruptible.
Born on Noirmoutier Island, Brittany, France, in 1796; died at Angers, France, on April 24, 1868; beatified in 1933; canonized in 1940 by Pope Pius XII.
Rose Virginia Pelletier, one of ten children of a refuge doctor of the Vendée wars, studied at Tours and in 1814 joined the Institute of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge, founded by Saint John Eudes in 1641 to help wayward and endangered women. She was professed in 1816, taking the names Marie-Euphrasie, was elected superior in 1825 (age 29), and, at the bishop's invitation made a new foundation at Angers in 1829. Two years later, Mother Euphrasia founded a contemplative community to complement the active social work of the others.

Having done this successfully, Mother Euphrasia returned to Tours; but experience had suggested to her the desirability of radical changes in her congregation's organization. She decided that a new congregation under a central authority was needed rather than individual foundations under separate bishops. Of course, Mother Euphrasia met with opposition and was accused of being an ambitious, insubordinate innovator. Even her detractors, however, said that "she was capable of ruling a kingdom."

With modesty and determination she rode out the storm, and in 1835, papal approval was given to the Institute of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, dedicated to working with wayward girls, at Angers. The institute spread rapidly and by the time of Mother Euphrasia's death had thousands of sisters in 110 convents on four continents.

In all her work, Euphrasia provided the compassion and solicitude of the Good Shepherd to her sisters, penitents, and young girls in difficult family situations. Her strength and cheerfulness during the stormy times offer us an example of effectuating the gift of hope (Attwater, Benedictines, Bernoville, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer).

 Mystical ecstasy is the elevation of the spirit to God in such a way that the person is aware of this union with God and both internal and external senses are detached from the sensible world. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi was so generously given this special gift of God that she is called the "ecstatic saint."

She was born into a noble family in Florence in 1566. The normal course would have been for Catherine de Pazzi to have married wealth and enjoyed comfort, but she chose to follow her own path. At nine she learned to meditate from the family confessor. She made her first Communion at the then-early age of 10 and made a vow of virginity one month later. When 16, she entered the Carmelite convent in Florence because she could receive Communion daily there.

Catherine had taken the name Mary Magdalene and had been a novice for a year when she became critically ill. Death seemed near so her superiors let her make her profession of vows from a cot in the chapel in a private ceremony. Immediately after, she fell into an ecstasy that lasted about two hours. This was repeated after Communion on the following 40 mornings. These ecstasies were rich experiences of union with God and contained marvelous insights into divine truths.

As a safeguard against deception and to preserve the revelations, her confessor asked Mary Magdalene to dictate her experiences to sister secretaries. Over the next six years, five large volumes were filled. The first three books record ecstasies from May of 1584 through Pentecost week the following year. This week was a preparation for a severe five-year trial. The fourth book records that trial and the fifth is a collection of letters concerning reform and renewal. Another book, Admonitions, is a collection of her sayings arising from her experiences in the formation of women religious.

The extraordinary was ordinary for this saint. She read the thoughts of others and predicted future events. During her lifetime, she appeared to several persons in distant places and cured a number of sick people.

It would be easy to dwell on the ecstasies and pretend that Mary Magdalene only had spiritual highs. This is far from true. It seems that God permitted her this special closeness to prepare her for the five years of desolation that followed when she experienced spiritual dryness. She was plunged into a state of darkness in which she saw nothing but what was horrible in herself and all around her. She had violent temptations and endured great physical suffering. She died in 1607 at 41, and was canonized in 1669.

Comment:    Intimate union, God's gift to mystics, is a reminder to all of us of the eternal happiness of union he wishes to give us. The cause of mystical ecstasy in this life is the Holy Spirit, working through spiritual gifts. The ecstasy occurs because of the weakness of the body and its powers to withstand the divine illumination, but as the body is purified and strengthened, ecstasy no longer occurs. On various aspects of ecstasy, see Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, Chapter 5, and John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, 2:1-2.
Quote:    There are many people today who see no purpose in suffering. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi discovered saving grace in suffering. When she entered religious life she was filled with a desire to suffer for Christ during the rest of her life. The more she suffered, the greater grew her desire for it. Her dying words to her fellow sisters were: "The last thing I ask of you—and I ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—is that you love him alone, that you trust implicitly in him and that you encourage one another continually to suffer for the love of him." 


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 14

I will exalt thee, O Mother of the Son of God: and every day I will sing thy praises.

Generations and peoples will praise thy works: and the islands shall expect thy mercy.

The angels will utter the abundance of thy sweetness: and the saints will pronounce thy sweetness.

Our eyes hope in thee, O Lady: send us food and delightful nourishment.

My tongue shall speak thy praise: and I will bless thee for ever and ever.


Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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

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

God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique, for each is the result of a new idea.  As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike. It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints. Dear Lord, grant us a spirit that is not bound by our own ideas and preferences.  Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory. Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.  Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.   God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heavenonly saints are allowed into heaven. The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.
There are over 10,000 named saints beati  from history
 and Roman Martyology Orthodox sources

Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints htmIndulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines  
India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
 
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Widowed Saints  html
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The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him
For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.
Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here} 2000 years of the Catholic Church in China
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

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

My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee.  I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not
O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly.  I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I beg the conversion of poor sinners,  Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace
The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.
THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.
   These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.
God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.
As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.

Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
 
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.

O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
 
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.
Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.
The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)
1.    Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2.    I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3.    The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4.    It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.  Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means.  5.    The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6.    Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.  God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7.    Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8.    Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9.    I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10.    The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.  11.    You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12.    I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13.    I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14.    All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15.    Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.
His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.
Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.
Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac
The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.
Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).
In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).
In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

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

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

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

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

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

The Church of Saint Mary of Saint Paul 1875-1922;
  (1932)
The Vikings in the American Heartland;
The Catholic Total Abstinence Society in Minnesota;
James Michael Reardon Born in Nova Scotia, 1872;  Priest, ordained by Bishop Ireland;
Member -- St. Paul Seminary faculty.
Affiliations and Indulgence Litany of Loretto in Stained glass windows here.  Nave Sacristy and Residence Here
Sanctuary
spaces between them filled with grilles of hand-forged wrought iron the
life of our Blessed Lady After the crucifixon
Apostle statues Replicas of those in St John Lateran--Christendom's earliest Basilica.
Ordered by Rome's first Christian Emperor, Constantine the Great, Popes' cathedral and official residence first millennium of Christian history.

The only replicas ever made:  in order from west to east {1932}.
Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel
 
It Makes No Sense
Not To Believe In GOD
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
THE BLESSED MOTHER AND ISLAM By Father John Corapi
  June 19, Trinity Sunday, 1991: Ordained Catholic Priest under Pope John Paul II;
then 2,000,000 miles delivering the Gospel to millions, and continues to do so.
By Father John Corapi
Among the most important titles we have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary), 1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.

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

No other issue, not all other issues taken together, can constitute a proportionate reason for voting for candidates that intend to preserve and defend this holocaust of innocent human life that is abortion.

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Servant of God Alfonse Gallegos of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, Titular Bishop of Sasabe, auxiliary of Sacramento; born Feb. 20, 1931 and died Oct. 6, 1991
Servant of God Rafael Sánchez García, diocesan priest; born June 14, 1911 and died on Aug. 8, 1973
Servant of God Andrés García Acosta, professed layman of the Order of Friars Minor; born Jan. 10, 1800 and died Jan. 14, 1853
Servant of God Joseph Marchetti, professed priest of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles; born Oct. 3, 1869 and died Dec. 14, 1896
Servant of God Giacomo Viale, professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, pastor of Bordighera; born Feb. 28, 1830 and died April 16, 1912
Servant of God Maria Pia of the Cross (née Maddalena Notari), foundress of the Congregation of Crucified Sisters Adorers of the Eucharist; born Dec. 2, 1847 and died on July 1, 1919
Sunday, November 23 2014 Six to Be Canonized on Feast of Christ the King.

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

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

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

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic prelate was also an ardent supporter of the Jewish community in Ukraine, going so far as to learn Hebrew to better communicate with them. He also was a vocal protestor against atrocities committed by the Nazis, evidenced in his pastoral letter, "Thou Shalt Not Kill." He was also known to harbor thousands of Jews in his residence and in Greek Catholic monasteries.
Following his death in 1944, his cause for canonization was opened in 1958.
* * *
The Holy Father authorized the Congregation to promulgate the following decrees regarding the heroic virtues of:
- Servant of God Andrey Sheptytsky, O.S.B.M., major archbishop of Leopolis of the Ukrainians, metropolitan of Halyc (1865-1944);
- Servant of God Giuseppe Carraro, Bishop of Verona, Italy (1899-1980);
- Servant of God Agustin Ramirez Barba, Mexican diocesan priest and founder of the Servants of the Lord of Mercy (1881-1967);
- Servant of God Simpliciano della Nativita (ne Aniello Francesco Saverio Maresca), Italian professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts (1827-1898);
- Servant of God Maria del Refugio Aguilar y Torres del Cancino, Mexican founder of the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (1866-1937);
- Servant of God Marie-Charlotte Dupouy Bordes (Marie-Teresa), French professed religious of the Society of the Religious of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (1873-1953);
- Servant of God Elisa Miceli, Italian founder of the Rural Catechist Sisters of the Sacred Heart (1904-1976);
- Servant of God Isabel Mendez Herrero (Isabel of Mary Immaculate), Spanish professed nun of the Servants of St. Joseph (1924-1953)
October 01, 2015 Vatican City, Pope Authorizes following Decrees
(ZENIT.org) By Staff Reporter
Polish Layperson Recognized as Servant of God
Pope Authorizes Decrees
Pope Francis on Wednesday authorised the Congregation for Saints' Causes to promulgate the following decrees:

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

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

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

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

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

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