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.
November is the month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory since 1888;

2022
23,658  Lives Saved Since 2007

  934 St. Birrstan Benedictine bishop ; noted for his devotion to the holy souls in Purgatory for whose repose he nightly repeated the Psalms. He also frequently said prayers for them in the cemetery (once was answered, “Amen!”)

November 2 Feast of All Souls:  PURGATORY - - CONFESSIONS FROM THE SAINTS
November is the month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory since 1888;
It seems clear that the privilege long enjoyed only in Spain and its dominions permitting priests to celebrate Mass thrice on All Souls’ day originated in the practice of the Dominican priory at Valencia, where it can be traced to the early fifteenth century. The number of influential people buried there in and around the church was considerable, and so many demands were made for special Masses on November a that these claims could only be satisfied by allowing friars of that community to offer two or even three Masses each on that day. This irreg­ularity was apparently tolerated by local authority and grew into an established custom. It was eventually sanctioned and extended to the whole kingdom by Pope Benedict XIV in 1748, and during the first world war, in 1915, Pope Benedict XV further extended the privilege to the whole Western church.


Pray that God will continue to bless the efforts that have gone into
the 40 Days for Life campaign, as we trust Him for the results.


Commemorátio ómnium Fidélium Defunctórum. The Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed.
Solemnity of All Souls Purgatory

“God speaks to us every day by His creatures and by this universe which we behold.
He speaks to us by His gospel, wherein He teaches us what we ought to do both for others and ourselves.
What more can Marcian say that can be of use?”

387 St. Marcian Hermit and founder born in Cyrrhus; miracles

Mary Mother of GOD 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
 

CAUSES OF SAINTS April  2014

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 .


Pope Francis  PRAYER INTENTIONS FOR November 2022



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

 November 02
 
The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

  The devil will try to upset you by accusing you of being unworthy of the blessings that you have received. Simply remain cheerful and do your best to ignore the devil's nagging. If need be even laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Satan, the epitome of sin itself, accuses you of unworthiness!
When the devil reminds you of your past, remind him of his future!
-- St. Theresa of Avila

My God, do Thou strengthen and increase my faith in Thy divinity that I may adore it, and love it, and confess it even at the peril of my own life;
let me be only too happy if I should be called to shed my blood in defense of it.

-- St. Peter Eymard

Make a Novena and pray the Rosary to Our Lady of Victory
between October 27th and Election Day
Mary Mother of GOD
November 2 - Our Lady of Emminont (Abbeville, France)
          
Father J. Sigurd “Aspects of France” May 15, 1975 (Aspects de la France)
With a Rosary around the Neck and a Weapon on their Shoulder
Priests and the faithful of the Catholic village of Honai, Vietnam, told me that they would not flee in front of the triumphant tank crew members of Communist atheist regime who were just within five kilometers of their homes.
Women, children and old men of this fierce and resolved community gathered in prayer in well-lit churches.
The men, trained in self-defense battalions, a rosary around the neck, armed with old rifles, were slaughtered while trying to prohibit the access of the North Vietnamese armored tanks into their parishes.
Father Hoang Quynh, priest of Cholon, refugee of North Vietnam himself, once told me:
Communism is the death of us. When we were in Tonkin, we thought we had a vague idea of the plans they had in store for the southern populations: barbaric acts, torture, imprisonment, the faith tracked down in the cities and the countryside - in our hearts - that was the plan. The border between China and the Mekong Delta is a painful road for Catholics. Thousands of graves mark out that border already and there will be thousands of others around Saigon, Hué and Dalat. This is the price that we will have to pay. We are ready. Each cross will bear witness to mankind.

November 2 - Our Lady of Montligeon (France, 1843)
Prayer to Our Lady of Montligeon

Our Lady, deliverer of all mankind, Have mercy on all our dearly departed, Especially those who are most In need of the Lord's mercy.  Intercede for those who have passed away So that the purifying love of God May lead them to full deliverance.  May our prayers, united with the prayers Of the whole Church, Obtain for them a joy beyond all expectations,  And bring consolation and relief To our friends in sorrow and distress Here on earth. Mother of the Church, On our journey towards life everlasting, As pilgrims here on earth, Help us to live better lives each day...Heal the wounds of our hearts and souls. Help us to become witnesses of the Invisible,  To already seek that which the eye cannot see. Make us apostles of Hope, Like watchmen awaiting the dawn.
Refuge of Sinners and Queen of All Saints, Gather us all together one day in the Father's House, For the eternal Resurrection, Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.   Adapted from http://www.sanctuaire-montligeon.com/en

PURGATORY - - CONFESSIONS FROM THE SAINTS

The Church, to which Jesus Christ promised the presence of the Holy Ghost and which therefore cannot be in error or mislead us, clearly teaches us the existence of PurgatoryIt is then certain that there exists a place where the souls of the just complete the expiation of their sins before they are admitted to the joys of heaven.  From Writings of Saint John Vianne Curé d'Ars.

How right are they who say that the memory of the dead fades with the notes of the passing bell.
Suffer, poor souls; in vain do you weep in the fire lit by God's justice.
No one is listening to you, no one will bring you succor.

Yet how quickly we could empty purgatory if we but really wished to.

Sister Faustina  (1905-1938) Feast Oct 05,  was shown by Jesus  Heaven, hell and Purgatory, where she was to suffer one day there.  God is just in all that he does. When he rewards us for the smallest of our good deeds, he does so far beyond anything that we could desire; a good thought, a good wish--that is to say a wish to do good even if it cannot be carried out--all are rewarded.  But also when it is time for him to punish us he does so with severity, and we will be thrown into purgatory for even the smallest offense.  We cannot doubt the truth of this, for we see in the lives of the saints that several of them have gone to heaven only after first passing through the flames of purgatory.

Saint Peter Damian {(born 1007, Ravenna—died Feb. 22, 1072, Faenze; feast day February 21) Italian cardinal and Doctor of the Church.} tells that his sister remained in purgatory several years for having once listened to a dirty song with a certain amount of pleasure.

The story is told of two monks who promised each other that the first one to die would return to tell the other what had happened to him. One of them died and God allowed him to appear to his friend. He told him that he had spent fifteen days in purgatory for having been too fond of having his own way, and when his friend congratulated him on having spent so short a time there, he replied: ‘I would rather have been flayed alive for 10,000 years, for even that would have been nothing when compared with the tortures that I endured in the flames.’

A priest told one of his friends that God had condemned him to several months in purgatory
for having delayed the execution of a will which made provision for good works.


Alas, my brothers, how many of us have just such a fault on our consciences?
How many are there who perhaps eight or ten years ago were charged by their parents or friends to give alms and have Masses said for them, but have done nothing?

But perhaps some of you will tell me: ‘Our parents lived good lives, they were upright people.
Yet how little it takes to be sent to those fires of purgatory!

Remember that Albert the Great {St Albert the Great--1207-1280 Feast day Nov 15},
whose virtue shone with such extraordinary brilliance, said about that.
“One day he told one of his friends that God had sent him to purgatory for having felt just a little conceited about his learning. And what is even more astonishing is that some of the saints, even canonized ones, have been through purgatory.”

 
A long time after his death, Saint Severin, Archbishop of Cologne {420 St. Severinus Bishop of BORDEAUX; distinguished himself by his zeal against Arianism;
Burdígalæ sancti Severíni, Epíscopi Coloniénsis et Confessóris.
    At Bordeaux, St. Severin, bishop of Cologne and confessor
[Feast Day Oct 23},
appeared to a friend and told him that he had been in purgatory
for having postponed until evening a prayer that he should have said in the morning.

How many years in purgatory await those Christians who find it easy
to postpone their prayers on the excuse that they have a lot of work to do!
If we sincerely desired the joy of possessing God we would avoid the little faults as well as the great ones, since separation from God is such a fearful torture for these poor souls.

The Church has encouraged prayer for the dead from the earliest times as an act of Christian charity.
If we had no care for the dead, Augustine noted,
we would not be in the habit of praying for them.
Yet pre-Christian rites for the deceased kept such a strong hold on the superstitious imagination that a liturgical commemoration was not observed until the early Middle Ages, when monastic communities began to mark an annual day of prayer for departed members.


In the middle of the 11th century, St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny (France), decreed that all Cluniac monasteries offer special prayers and sing the Office for the Dead on November 2, the day after the feast of All Saints.
The custom spread from Cluny
and finally adopted throughout the Roman Church.



The theological underpinning of the feast is the acknowledgment of human frailty. Since few people achieve perfection in this life but, rather, go to the grave still scarred with traces of sinfulness, some period of purification seems necessary before a soul comes face-to-face with God.
THE COUNCIL OF TRENT
Session XXV - which is the ninth and last under the Supreme Pontiff, Pius IV,
begun the third and closed on the fourth day of December, 1563
 affirmed this purgatory state insisted that prayers of the living can speed the process of purification.
Decree Concerning Purgatory
    Since the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost, has, following the sacred writings and the ancient tradition of the Fathers, taught in sacred councils and very recently in this ecumenical council that there is a purgatory, and that the souls there detained are aided by the suffrages of the faithful and chiefly by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar, the holy council commands the bishops that they strive diligently to the end that the sound doctrine of purgatory, transmitted by the Fathers and sacred councils, be believed and maintained by the faithful of Christ, and be everywhere taught and preached.
    The more difficult and subtle questions, however, and those that do not make for edification and from which there is for the most part no increase in piety, are to be excluded from popular instructions to uneducated people.
    Likewise, things that are uncertain or that have the appearance of falsehood they shall not permit to be made known publicly and discussed. But those things that tend to a certain kind of curiosity or superstition, or that savor of filthy lucre, they shall prohibit as scandals and stumbling-blocks to the faithful.
    The bishops shall see to it that the suffrages of the living, that is, the sacrifice of the mass, prayers, alms and other works of piety which they have been accustomed to perform for the faithful departed, be piously and devoutly discharged in accordance with the laws of the Church, and that whatever is due on their behalf from testamentary bequests or other ways, be discharged by the priests and ministers of the Church and others who are bound to render this service not in a perfunctory manner, but diligently and accurately.


Superstition still clung to the observance. Medieval popular belief held that the souls in purgatory could appear on this day in the form of witches, toads or will-o’-the-wisps. Graveside food offerings supposedly eased the rest of the dead.
Observances of a more religious nature have survived. These include public processions or private visits to cemeteries and decorating graves with flowers and lights. This feast is observed with great fervor in Mexico.

  Whether or not one should pray for the dead is one of the great arguments which divide Christians.
Appalled by the abuse of indulgences in the Church of his day, Martin Luther rejected the concept of purgatory.
Yet prayer for a loved one is, for the believer, a way of erasing any distance, even death.
In prayer we stand in God's presence in the company of someone we love, even if that person has gone before us into death.


  “We must not make purgatory into a flaming concentration camp on the brink of hell—or even a ‘hell for a short time.’
It is blasphemous to think of it as a place where a petty God exacts the last pound—or ounce—of flesh...
St. Catherine of Genoa {Feast day September 15, mystic of the 15th century, wrote ‘fire’ of purgatory is God’s love ‘burning’ the soul so that, at last, the soul is wholly aflame.  It is the pain of wanting to be made totally worthy of One who is seen as infinitely lovable, the pain of desire for union that is now absolutely assured, but not yet fully tasted”
(Leonard Foley, O.F.M., Believing in Jesus).

November 2 – Coptic Church: Memorial of the Holy Family in Egypt 
 A new pilgrimage in Egypt
 "In the Footsteps of the Holy Family" is the new pilgrimage route proposed by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism in partnership with the Coptic Orthodox Church.

The flight of the Holy Family to Egypt is reported in the second chapter of Saint Matthew’s Gospel. When King Herod learned of the birth of the "King of the Jews" in Bethlehem, he feared for his power and sent his soldiers to kill all the male children under two years of age. Warned in a dream of this cruel plan, Joseph took the infant Jesus and his mother, as the Gospel says, and all three fled to Egypt, where they stayed for three and a half years, until the death of Herod. The Gospel says no more about the Holy Family’s stay in Egypt.

According to the Coptic Church, the Holy Family first stayed in the Nile Delta, then went to Cairo, then to Memphis, before going south and to Upper Egypt. Their journey probably took them to Doronka just before Assiut, where we can visit the Coptic Orthodox Monastery of the Virgin Mary.

Their long, adventurous journey is now relived through this new pilgrimage that will take pilgrims to meaningful places which bear the traces of the passage of Mary, Joseph and the Child Jesus. Source: fr.radiovaticana.va

         Publius, Victor, Hermas, & Papias Martyrs in northwest Africa
  303 St. Justus of Trieste Martyr;
devoted to penance and charity; Records at the cathedral in Trieste show that his relics were still there in 1040 and 1624
  304 St. Victorinus of Pettau Bishop and martyr Originally a Greek
  315 St. CarteriusMartyr with 9 other companions soldiers of Emperor Licinius Licinianus
  334 St. Theodotus Bishop of Laodicea signature to Council of Nicaea 325
  345 St. Acyndinus & Companions Persian Christian priests and clerical assistants martyred by King Shapur II
  362 Saint Eustochium of Tarsus died in prison, while engaged in prayer
  387 St. Marcian Hermit and founder born in Cyrrhus; miracles; “God speaks to us every day by His creatures and by this universe which we behold. He speaks to us by His gospel, wherein He teaches us what we ought to do both for others and ourselves. What more can Marcian say that can be of use?” 
St. Maura the Irish sister of St. Brigid Scottish princesses martyred by pagan outlaws while pilgrimage to Rome
  523 Saint Ambrose abbot of Sainte Barbe, near Lyons
  582 Saint Ambrose of the abbey of Agaune, Saint Moritz, Switzerland
  699 Saint George Bishop of Vienne
10th v. Scottish Saint Baya instructed Saint Maura in the eremitical life
1045 St. Amicus Benedictine hermit priest esteemed in Monte Cassino
1340 St. Jorandus Benedictine hermit at Kergrist and Saint-Juhec in Pedernec
1430 Blessed Thomas of Walden King Henry V chose him as his confessor and died in his arms
1583 Bl. John Bodey English martyr and schoolmaster
1843  Our Lady of Montligeon France 


THE COMMEMORATION OF ALL THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED, COMMONLY CALLED ALL SOULS’ DAY

THE Church of Christ is composed of three parts the Triumphant in Heaven, the Militant on earth, and the Patient, or suffering, in Purgatory. * {* It may be explained to the non-Catholic reader that Purgatory is the place or state in which souls, who deserve not the punishment of eternal loss but nevertheless are yet unfit for the vision of God, suffer for a while and are cleansed after death before they go to Heaven. The suffering of Purgatory consists in the pain of intense longing for God, whose blissful vision is delayed, and also, as is commonly taught, in some pain of sense. That this last is inflicted through the medium of material fire is not part of the official teaching of the Church.}

Our charity embraces all the members of Christ. Our love for Him engages and binds us to His whole Body, and teaches us to share both the afflictions and the blessings of all that are comprised in it. The communion of saints whom we profess implies a communication of certain good works and a mutual intercourse among all the members of Christ. This we maintain with the saints in Heaven by thanking and praising God for their triumphs and crowns, imploring their intercession, and receiving the help of their prayers for uh. All Saints’ day is set apart in a special way for this purpose, and on the following day the Church on earth particularly emphasizes her relations with the souls in Purgatory by soliciting the divine mercy in their favour. Nor does it seem to be doubtful that they pray also for us; though the Church never addresses public suffrages to them, not being warranted by primitive practice and tradition so to do.
It is certainly a “holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead” (a Machabees. xii 46).
   Holy because most acceptable to God, to whom no sacrifices are more honourable and pleasing than those of charity and mercy, especially spiritual. The souls in Purgatory are heirs of Heaven, the eternal possession of the Kingdom is secured to them, and their names are written there. But patient suffering of punishment incurred must first wholly cleanse them. Such is God’s hatred of the least sin, and such is the opposition, which the stain of sin bears to His infinite justice and holiness. His mercy recommends them to the charitable aid that we, as their fellow-members in Christ, have in our power to afford them. If a compassionate charity towards all that are in any distress, even towards the most undeserving, be an essential ingredient of a Christian spirit and one in which the very soul of religion and piety towards God consists, how much more should we exert our charity for those in spiritual need, no longer able to help themselves, and perhaps bound to us by ties of blood or friendship?

The custom of offering the Holy Sacrifice for an individual deceased person on a particular day was, of course, firmly established long before a special day was set aside for the memorial of all the dead in general. The first formal testimony to a collective day of the dead is found in the first half of the ninth century, when it was the custom in monasteries to commemorate their own dead and their benefactors all together on one day, the date varying. The earliest definite suggestion of a connection between the feast of All Saints and a commemoration of All Souls seems to be supplied by Amalarius early in the ninth century. In his De ordine anti­phonarii he writes, “After the office of the Saints I have inserted the office for the dead for many pass out of this world without at once being admitted into the company of the blessed.” It is quite possible that this passage may have been before the mind of St Odilo of Cluny two hundred years later, when he directed the congregation of which he was supreme head to observe November a as a day of commemoration of all the faithful departed, on which the office of the dead was to he said and Masses of requiem celebrated.

   In any case, as stated above, the idea of a collective memory of the departed was already familiar. For example, in the year 800 a compact was drawn up between the monasteries of Saint Gall and Reichenau concerning their mutual suffrages for each other’s deceased members. Besides praying for every monk when his death was announced, both communities agreed to observe November 14 in every year as a day of commemoration of the religious who had passed away in either abbey. On that occasion each priest would offer Mass three times and the rest recite the whole psalter for the souls of the departed of both houses. It is noteworthy that November 14 was the beginning of what was known in Ireland as the “Moses Lent” in preparation for Christmas and Saint Gall was, of course, an Irish foundation.

   For the rather extravagant story of the hermit who had heard the cries of rage of the demons complaining that the prayers said at Cluny rescued the souls of those whom they were torturing from them, we have the contemporary authority of Ralph Glaber and of others later. We are told that St Odilo, on this being reported to him, was moved to issue his famous decree. But the text of the ordinance says nothing of this tale of the hermit it merely states that, “as the feast of all the blessed saints was already celebrated throughout the Church of God, so it seemed desirable that at Cluny they should also keep with joyous affection the memory of all the faithful departed who have lived from the beginning of the world until the end”. We have a detailed account of how in St Odilo’s own lifetime this observance was carried out at the monastery of Farfa, near Spoleto, in Italy. It seems to have spread widely and rather rapidly, though there is no trace of any papal enactment extending it to the Church in general. On the other hand two or three centuries passed before we find the entry Commemoratio animarum com­monly occurring under November 2 in calendars or martyrologies. A striking illustration of this may be noted at Canterbury.

 Somewhere about 1075 the archbishop, Lanfranc, promulgated certain decrees for the Benedictine monks. In these much is made of the high Mass for the dead on November 2 before which on the eve, all the bells were to be rung and other solemnities observed. None the less, though we have four or five Canterbury calendars of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, no one of them at that date makes mention of any such celebration. There is, however, a definite mention of All Souls’ Day in the so-called Protadius martyrology, compiled at Besançon in the middle of the eleventh century.

It seems clear that the privilege long enjoyed only in Spain and its dominions permitting priests to celebrate Mass thrice on All Souls’ day originated in the practice of the Dominican priory at Valencia, where it can be traced to the early fifteenth century. The number of influential people buried there in and around the church was considerable, and so many demands were made for special Masses on November a that these claims could only be satisfied by allowing friars of that community to offer two or even three Masses each on that day. This irreg­ularity was apparently tolerated by local authority and grew into an established custom. It was eventually sanctioned and extended to the whole kingdom by Pope Benedict XIV in 1748, and during the first world war, in 1915, Pope Benedict XV further extended the privilege to the whole Western church.

With a certain nice appropriateness the Armenians make a special commemoration of the dead on Easter Monday.

On the general question of observance of the Connmemoratio omnium fidelium defunctorum, consult Cabrol in DAC., vol. v, cc. 1419-1420; and Leclercq in the same, vol. iv, cc. 427- 456, with vol. xii, CC. 34-38; also Kellner, Heortology, pp. 326-328; Schuster, The Sacra­mentary, vol. v, pp. 213-231 and H. Thurston, The Memory of our Dead, pp. 501-534 and 224-241. For further illustrations of folk-lore customs cf. Bächtold-Stäubli, Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, vol. i, pp. 267-273; for the Canterbury calendars, E. Bishop, The Bosworth Psalter, pp; 68-69, 113; and for Spain. Villanueva, Viage literario, vol ii pp 5 seq. For the “Moses Lent”, see Analecta Bollandiana vol lix (1941), p 234, n. 3; and J. Ryan, Irish Monasticism (1931). pp. 392-393.

November 2, Feast of All Souls

November 2 - OUR LADY OF MONTLIGEON (France, 1884)
Mary and the Souls of Purgatory (II): No Unholy Soul Can Be Happy in Heaven
I answer as follows: That, even supposing a man of unholy life were suffered to enter heaven, he would not be happy there; so that it would be no mercy to permit him to enter. (...)

How forlorn would he wander through the courts of heaven! He would find no one like himself; he would see in every direction the marks of God's holiness, and these would make him shudder. He would feel himself always in His presence. He could no longer turn his thoughts another way, as he does now, when conscience reproaches him. He would know that the Eternal Eye was ever upon him; and that Eye of holiness, which is joy and life to holy creatures, would seem to him an Eye of wrath and punishment.
God cannot change His nature. Holy He must ever be. But while He is holy, no unholy soul can be happy in heaven.
John Henry Cardinal Newman Sermon (1: 3 & 8, 1834 - 1869)

The Church has encouraged prayer for the dead from the earliest times as an act of Christian charity. "If we had no care for the dead," Augustine noted, "we would not be in the habit of praying for them." Yet pre-Christian rites for the deceased kept such a strong hold on the superstitious imagination that a liturgical commemoration was not observed until the early Middle Ages, when monastic communities began to mark an annual day of prayer for the departed members.


In the middle of the 11th century, St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny (France), decreed that all Cluniac monasteries offer special prayers and sing the Office for the Dead on November 2, the day after the feast of All Saints. The custom spread from Cluny and was finally adopted throughout the Roman Church.

The theological underpinning of the feast is the acknowledgment of human frailty. Since few people achieve perfection in this life but, rather, go to the grave still scarred with traces of sinfulness, some period of purification seems necessary before a soul comes face-to-face with God. The Council of Trent affirmed this purgatory state and insisted that the prayers of the living can speed the process of purification.

Superstition still clung to the observance. Medieval popular belief held that the souls in purgatory could appear on this day in the form of witches, toads or will-o’-the-wisps. Graveside food offerings supposedly eased the rest of the dead.

Observances of a more religious nature have survived. These include public processions or private visits to cemeteries and decorating graves with flowers and lights. This feast is observed with great fervor in Mexico.

 November 2, 2009 Feast of All Souls 
The Church has encouraged prayer for the dead from the earliest times as an act of Christian charity. "If we had no care for the dead," Augustine noted, "we would not be in the habit of praying for them." Yet pre-Christian rites for the deceased kept such a strong hold on the superstitious imagination that a liturgical commemoration was not observed until the early Middle Ages, when monastic communities began to mark an annual day of prayer for the departed members.

In the middle of the 11th century, St. Odilo, abbot of Cluny (France), decreed that all Cluniac monasteries offer special prayers and sing the Office for the Dead on November 2, the day after the feast of All Saints. The custom spread from Cluny and was finally adopted throughout the Roman Church.

The theological underpinning of the feast is the acknowledgment of human frailty. Since few people achieve perfection in this life but, rather, go to the grave still scarred with traces of sinfulness, some per iod of purification seems necessary before a soul comes face-to-face with God. The Council of Trent affirmed this purgatory state and insisted that the prayers of the living can speed the process of purification.

Superstition still clung to the observance. Medieval popular belief held that the souls in purgatory could appear on this day in the form of witches, toads or will-o’-the-wisps. Graveside food offerings supposedly eased the rest of the dead.

Observances of a more religious nature have survived. These include public processions, private visits to cemeteries and decorating graves with flowers and lights. This feast is observed with great fervor in Mexico.

Comment:  Whether or not one should pray for the dead is one of the great arguments which divide Christians. Appalled by the abuse of indulgences in the Church of his day, Martin Luther rejected the concept of purgatory. Yet prayer for a loved one is, for the believer, a way of erasing any distance, even death. In prayer we stand in God's presence in the company of someone we love, even if that person has gone before us into death.

Quote: “We must not make purgatory into a flaming concentration camp on the brink of hell—or even a ‘hell for a short time.’ It is blasphemous to think of it as a place where a petty God exacts the last pound—or ounce—of flesh.... St. Catherine of Genoa, a mystic of the 15th century, wrote that the ‘fire’ of purgatory is God’s love ‘burning’ the soul so that, at last, the soul is wholly aflame. It is the pain of wanting to be made totally worthy of One who is seen as infinitely lovable, the pain of desire for union that is now absolutely assured, but not yet fully tasted” (Leonard Foley, O.F.M., Believing in Jesus).
Publius, Victor, Hermas, & Papias Martyrs in northwest Africa  
In Africa natális sanctórum Mártyrum Públii, Victóris, Hermétis, et Pápiæ.
    In Africa, the birthday of the holy martyrs Publius, Victor, Hermes, and Papias.
Martyrs in northwest Africa (Benedictines). MM (RM)
304 St. Victorinus of Pettau Bishop and martyr Originally a Greek
Pœtovióne, in Pannónia superióre, natális sancti Victoríni, ejúsdem civitátis Epíscopi, qui, post multa édita scripta (ut sanctus Hierónymus testátur), in persecutióne Diocletiáni, martyrio coronátus est.
    At Pettau in Styria, the birthday of St. Victorinus, bishop of that city, who, after publishing many writings, as is attested to by St. Jerome, was crowned with martyrdom in the persecution of Diocletian.

ST Jerome speaks well of this early exegete and tells us, in the words of Alban Butler, “that his works were sublime in sense though the Latin style was low, the author being by birth a Grecian”. From being a rhetorician he became bishop at Pettau in Upper Pannonia and he wrote commentaries on a number of books of the Old and New Testaments. St Jerome quotes from these, but he sometimes qualifies his good opinion of the bishop. Victorinus opposed certain heresies of his time but was himself reputed to be inclined to Millenarianism, i.e. expectation of a temporal reign of Christ on earth for a thousand years. St Victorinus is believed to have died a martyr in the persecution under Diocletian. He was at one time supposed to have been the first bishop of Poitiers, owing to an erroneous latinization of the name of his see.

The passio of St. Victorinus having perished, we know little concerning him beyond what can be gleaned from casual references in the writings of St Jerome, Optatus of Milevis and Cassiodorus. See the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol. i. This Victorinus does not seem to have been commemorated in the Hieronymianum, but Florus of Lyons assumed that a St Victor, whose name does occur on November 2, referred to him. See Quentin, Martyrologes historiques, pp. 310 and 380; and Bardenhewer, Geschichte de, altkirchilchen Literatur, 2nd ed., vol. ii, pp. 657-663. 

He became bishop of Pettau, in Pannonia (later Styria, Austria). He was martyred during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305). Victorinus was also the author of several biblical cornrnentaries, although he may have been an adherent of Millenarianism, a heresy of that time.

Victorinus of Pettau BM (RM)  Born in Greece; died in Styria, c. 303. Victorinus became bishop of Pettau in Styria, Upper Pannonia, and was martyred during the persecutions of Diocletian.
One of his beliefs was that Christ would come a second time to reign on earth for a thousand years. This was later considered an error and a heresy. The result, sadly, is that scarcely any of Victorinus's writings have survived, for--although a saintly man and a martyr--his views were considered tainted. All we possess is a commentary he wrote on the Book of revelation and another book, a mixture of speculative science and theology, On the creation of the world.

In fact he was the first Christian ever to write Latin expositions of the Scriptures. Saint Jerome admired him, and tells us he wrote commentaries on many Old and New Testament books. He reports that, although the Latin was vulgar, Victorinus was a bishop of great learning. Thus a piece of unnecessary censorship has denied us access to the mind and thinking of one of our early Christian forefathers. Even the account of his sufferings and death at the hands of the emperor has disappeared (Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth).
303 St. Justus of Trieste Martyr  
Tergéste pássio beáti Justi, qui in eádem persecutióne, sub Manátio Præside, martyrium consummávit.
    At Trieste, blessed Justus, who fulfilled his martyrdom in the same persecution under the governor Manatius.
at Trieste who was thrown into the sea. He is still venerated at Trieste, Italy.
Justus of Trieste M (RM) Died 289 or 303. Although Saint Justus was citizen of Trieste devoted to penance and charity, he was martyred under Diocletian by being weighted down and cast into the sea. A priest named Sebastian buried his body when it washed up on the shore. Records at the cathedral in Trieste show that his relics were still there in 1040 and 1624 (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Farmer). In art, Saint Justus is shown in classical dress, holding a palm and a cathedral, with flowers across his chest. He is still much honored as the patron of Trieste (Roeder). The antiquity of his cultus is demonstrated by an extant 6th-century mosaic (Farmer).
 315 St. Carterius Martyr with 9 other companions soldiers of Emperor Licinius Licinianus
Sebáste, in Arménia, sanctórum Cartérii, Styríaci, Tobíæ, Eudóxii, Agápii et Sociórum Mártyrum, sub Licínio Imperatóre.
    At Sebaste in Armenia, the Saints Carterius, Styriacus, Tobias, Eudoxius, Agapius, and their companions, martyrs under Emperor Licinius.
Styriacus, Tobias, Eudoxius, Agapius, and five other companions burned at the stake in Sebaste. They were soldiers in the army of Emperor Licinius Licinianus.
Carterius, Styriacus, Tobias, Eudoxius, Agapius & Comp. MM (RM) Ten Christian soldiers in the army of the emperor Licinius, burnt at the stake at Sebaste in Armenia (Benedictines).

334 St. Theodotus Bishop of Laodicea signature to Council of Nicaea 325
Laodicéæ, in Syria, sancti Theódoti Epíscopi, qui non solum verbis, sed rebus quoque et virtútibus fuit ornátus.
    At Laodicea in Syria, St. Theodotus, a bishop powerful in words and adorned with good works and virtues.
(modern Turkey) who was involved in the Arian controversy of the era. A friend of the historian Eusebius of Caesarea (who was an Arian), he was much praised by the writer. A participant in the deliberations of the Council of Nicaea (325), he was a supporter of the Semi-Arian position but nevertheless gave his signature to the orthodox decrees of the council.
Theodotus of Laodicea B (RM). Theodotus was bishop of Laodicea at the time of the Arian troubles and a great friend of the Arianizing Eusebius the historian, who is loud in his praise. Theodotus subscribed to the Nicene formula, but seems to have sided with the Arians and the semi-Arians until his death (Benedictines).

387 St. Marcian Hermit and founder born in Cyrrhus; miracles; “God speaks to us every day by His creatures and by this universe which we behold. He speaks to us by His gospel, wherein He teaches us what we ought to do both for others and ourselves. What more can Marcian say that can be of use?”
 [A titular see of Syria. The city of the same name was the capital of the extensive district of Cyrrhestica, between the plain of Antioch and Commagene.]
Cyri, in Syria, sancti Marciáni Confessóris.    At Cyrus in Syria, St. Marcian, confessor.

THE city of Cyrrhus in Syria was the birthplace of St Marcian; his father was of a patrician family. Marcian himself left his friends and country and, that he might not do things by halves, retired into the desert of Chalcis, between Antioch and the Euphrates. He chose in it the most remote part and shut himself up in a small enclosure, wherein he built himself a cell so narrow and low that he could neither stand nor lie in it without bending his body. This solitude was to him a paradise, and his whole employment was to sing psalms, read, pray and work. Bread was all his food and this in a small quantity; but he never went a day without taking some, lest he should not have strength to do what God required of him.

   The supernatural light which he received in contemplation gave him a wonderful knowledge of the great truths and mysteries of faith; and notwithstanding his care to live unknown to men, the reputation of his holiness spread abroad and he was prevailed upon to admit two first disciples, Eusebius and Agapitus. In time St Marcian had a considerable body of followers, over whom he appointed Eusebius abbot. Once St Flavian, Patriarch of Antioch, and other bishops paid him a visit together, and begged he would give them a spiritual conference according to his custom. The dignity of this company alarmed Marcian and he stood some time silent. Being urged to speak, he said, “God speaks to us every day by His creatures and by this universe which we behold. He speaks to us by His gospel, wherein He teaches us what we ought to do both for others and ourselves. What more can Marcian say that can be of use?”

St Marcian wrought several miracles and was greatly humiliated by the reputa­tion of a wonderworker, which consequently attached to him. He would not listen to requests for any miraculous intercession, and when a certain hermit came on behalf of a man of Beroea to get some oil blessed for his sick daughter, St Marcian refused peremptorily. But at the same hour the girl recovered.

   Marcian lived to a considerable age, and during his last years was troubled by the indecent importunity of those who looked forward to having the custody of his dead body. Several people went so far as to build chapels in different places wherein to bury it, among them being his nephew Alipius. St Marcian therefore made Eusebius promise to bury him secretly. This accordingly was done and it was not till fifty years after the saint’s death that the place of burial was disclosed, when the relics were solemnly translated and became an object of pilgrimage.

We are entirely indebted to Theodoret’s Religious History for our knowledge of St Marcian. The Bollandists have reprinted his Greek text with Latin translations and com­ments in the Acta Sanctorum, November, vol. i.

Marcian was of a noble family. He left his position at the emperor’s court and a military career to become a hermit at Chalcis, the desert near Antioch. There he attracted many disciples and began a monastic group. He was renowned for his holiness and miracles.

Marcian of Chalcis, Hermit (RM) Born in Cyrrhus, Syria. Marcian was a patrician who left the emperor's court and gave up a brilliant military career in order to lead the solitary life in the desert of Chalcis, which lies between Antioch and the Euphrates. He chose the most remote regions of the desert in order to hide himself away in a cell so narrow and low that he could neither stand nor lie in it without doubling over. As hard as he tried to hide his singular struggle for holiness, his reputation grew. First he attracted two illustrious disciples, Eusebius and Agapitus, but more and more followed. Marcian thereupon appointed Eusebius as abbot over the desert monks who came seeking Marcian.
Marcian was a wonder-worker, though he again tried to hide it. He would not listen to requests for miraculous intercession. When a hermit came to him on behalf of a Beroean to get some oil blessed for the man's sick daughter, Marcian refused peremptorily. At that same hour, however, the girl recovered.

One other item of note. As Marcian grew older, he felt that the vultures were indecently awaiting his death in hope of claiming his relics. Some, including his nephew Alipius, actually built chapels in which to house his future remains. Marcian coerced Eusebius to pledge to bury him secretly. Eusebius kept his promise. Marcian's relics were not discovered until fifty years after his death. At that time they were solemnly translated and became an object of pilgrimage (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Walsh).

St. Maura the Irish sister of St. Brigid Scottish princesses martyred by pagan outlaws while pilgrimage to Rome
There legend is that they were Scottish princesses who were murdered by pagan outlaws while on a pilgrimage to Rome. Their bodies are enshrined there. They are believed to be the same St. Maura and St. Britt who were 5th century soldiers per St. Euphronius and St. Martin of Tours. Also there is another legend of them by St. Baya.

345 St. Acyndinus & Companions Persian Christian priests and clerical assistants martyred by King Shapur II
In Pérside sanctórum Mártyrum Acíndyni, Pegásii, Aphthónii, Elpidíphori et Anempodísti, cum plúrimis Sóciis.
    In Persia, the holy martyrs Acindynus, Pegasius, Aphthonius, Elpiderphorus, and Anempodistus, with many companions.
With Pegasius, Aphthonius, Elpidephours, and Anempodistus, Persian Christians, ordained priests, and with their companion clerical assistants, martyred. These Christians were arrested and slain for the faith during the reign of King Shapur II.
Acindynus and Companions MM (RM). Acindynus, Pegasius, Aphthonius, Elpidephorus and Anempodistus were Persian Christians--priests and clerics--who suffered for the faith under Shapur II (Benedictines).

362 Saint Eustochium of Tarsus died in prison, while engaged in prayer
 Tarsi, in Cilícia, sanctæ Eustóchii, Vírginis et Mártyris; quæ, sub Juliáno Apóstata, post dira torménta, in oratióne réddidit spíritum.
    At Tarsus in Cilicia, in the reign of Julian the Apostate, St. Eustochium, virgin and martyr, who breathed her last in prayer in the midst of severe torments.

A maiden of Tarsus in Cilicia condemned to death under Julian the Apostate. She was barbarously tortured, and as a consequence died in prison, while engaged in prayer (Benedictines).
VM (RM)
523 Saint Ambrose abbot of Sainte Barbe, near Lyons
There were two abbots named Saint Ambrose of the abbey of Agaune, Saint Moritz, Switzerland. The former, who had formerly been abbot of Sainte Barbe, near Lyons, is the one commemorated by the Roman Martyrology (Benedictines).(RM)
582 Saint Ambrose of the abbey of Agaune, Saint Moritz, Switzerland
In monastério Agaunénsi, in Gállia, sancti Ambrósii Abbátis.
    In the monastery of St. Moritz in Switzerland, St. Ambrose, abbot. (Benedictines)
699 Saint George Bishop of Vienne
 Viénnæ, in Gállia, sancti Geórgii Epíscopi.    At Vienne in France, the bishop St. George.
Dates unknown; canonized in 1251. Bishop Saint George of Vienne, France, probably flourished at the beginning of the 8th century, though some put November 2, 699, as the date of his death (Benedictines).B (RM)
10th v.Scottish Saint Baya instructed Saint Maura in the eremitical life VV (AC)
The Scottish Saint Baya instructed Saint Maura in the eremitical life. Followers later gathered around Maura, who organized them into a community of which she was abbess. Some authors identify Saint Baya with Saint Begha or Bee. They might also be identical to Saints Maura and Britta (Benedictines, Delaney).

1045 St. Amicus Benedictine hermit priest esteemed in Monte Cassino
Italy. A hermit priest who entered St. Peter's Monastery at Fonteavel lana.
Amicus of Rambara, OSB (AC) Died early 11th century. Abbot of Rambara (Benedictines).

1340 St. Jorandus Benedictine hermit at Kergrist and Saint-Juhec in Pedernec.  
Jorandus of Kergrist, OSB Hermit (AC). A monk-hermit at Kergrist and later Saint-Juhec in Pédernec (Benedictines).

1430 Blessed Thomas of Walden; King Henry V chose him as his confessor and died in his arms  OC (PC)
(also known as Thomas Netter)
; miracles at his tomb

THIS holy and learned man has enjoyed a certain local cultus in the Carmelite Order which has, however, not yet been formally confirmed by the Holy See. He was an Essex man, born at Saffron Walden about 1375, his family name being Netter. He joined the Carmelites in London, studied at Oxford, where he took his doctorate in theology, and was ordained priest about 1400. He made a name for himself as a professor, and in 1409 was sent to the Council of Pisa, where he is said to have supported the election of Pope Alexander V. On his return to England Friar Thomas entered whole-heartedly into the opposition to the Lollards and other followers of the errors of John Wyclif, and he is regarded as the most able of the controversialists against them and their brethren on the continent—“never was there such a netter of heretics”.

He took part in the trials of their leaders, notably Sir John Oldcastle, and his chief writings were directed against their errors, notably his Doctrinale fidei. At this time the Carmelites were popular among the nobility as confessors, and Thomas was appointed to that office for King Henry V, being at the same time prior provincial of his order in England, though probably not yet forty years old. He was among the English representatives at the Council of Constance, which condemned the teachings of Wyclif and Flits, and immediately after was a member of an embassy to Poland on behalf of the pope and the emperor. He is said to have established friaries of his order in Lithuania and Prussia.

Friar Thomas was with Henry V in France in 1422, and the king died in his arms at Vincennes. 

The guardians of the infant Henry VI later appointed Thomas to be his tutor, so that in some degree he may have been responsible for that king’s subsequent holiness. Though Thomas was engaged so much in conflict with stubborn and sometimes violent heretics, he was himself of a kindly disposition and affectionate in his relations with others. He went to France with the boy king in 1430, and died at Rouen on November 2, leaving a reputation of holiness, which was confirmed by miracles at his tomb. Friar Thomas’s numerous written works, which received the praise of Pope Martin V, earned for him the title of Doctor praestantissimus, “the Pre-eminent Teacher”, and Doctor authenticus, the Authoritative Teacher”. His treatise De sacramentalibus includes a discussion of canonization, which is of much interest in the history of the subject.

Thomas Netter is not included by the Bollandists even among the praetermissi on this day. Neither is he mentioned in Stanton’s Menology, or in the martyrologies of Whitford or Wilson. The sources available have been indicated by B. Zimmerman in his Monumenta Historica Carmelitana (1907), pp. 442-482 and also by the same learned writer in the Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. x, pp. 764-765. cf. K. L. Hine, History of Hitchin (1927) vol. i, pp. 133-138 Netter was a young friar at Hitchin.

Born at Saffron Walden, 1375; died at Rouen, 1430. Thomas Netter was born at Saffron Walden and joined the Carmelites. He was an active opponent of Lollardism and a prominent member of the Council of Constance. King Henry V chose him as his confessor and died in his arms (Benedictines).
1583 Bl. John Bodey  English martyr and schoolmaster
He was born at Wells, Somerset, and educated at Oxford. Converting to the faith, John studied law at Douai in 1557 and returned to England to become a schoolmaster and to marry. When he repudiated King Henry VIII’s claim of supremacy in spiritual matters, he was arrested in 1550. John was imprisoned at Winchester until 1583, when he was taken on November 2 to Andover where he was hanged. He was beatified in 1929.
Blessed John Bodey M (AC) Born at Wells, Somerset, England; died at Andover, 1583; beatified in 1929. John Bodey was a fellow of New College, Oxford, who converted to Catholicism and studied law at Douai. John returned to England and became a schoolmaster.
He was condemned for repudiating the royal supremacy in spiritual matters and was hanged at Andover (Benedictines).

1843  Our Lady of Montligeon France
Prayer to Our Lady of Monligeon
Our Lady, freer of all mankind, Have mercy on all our dearly departed, Especially on those who are most In need of the Lord's mercy.  Intercede for those who have passed away So that the purifying love of God Leads them to full deliverance.  May our prayers, united with the prayers Of the whole Church, Obtain for them a joy beyond all expectations, And bring consolation and relief To our friends in sorrow and distress Here on earth.
Mother of the Church, On our journey towards life everlasting, As pilgrims here on earth, Help us to live better lives each day. Heal the wounds of our hearts and souls. Help us to become witnesses of the Invisible, Already seeking those good things that the eye cannot see. Make us apostles of Hope, Like watchmen awaiting the dawn.
Refuge of Sinners and Queen of All Saints, Gather us all together one day in the Father's House, For the eternal Resurrection, Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.   Adapted from http://www.sanctuaire-montligeon.com/en



THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 113

How long, O Lady, wilt thou forget me and not deliver me in the day of tribulation ?

How long will my enemy be exalted above me? By the might of thy strength do thou crush him.

Open the eyes of thy mercy: lest our enemy prevail against us.

We magnify thee, the finder of grace, by whom the ages of the world are restored.

Thou art exalted above the choirs of angels: pray for us before the throne of God.


For thy spirit is kind: thy grace fills the whole world.

Thunder, ye heavens, from above, and give praise to her: glorify her, ye earth, with all the dwellers therein.


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
 
Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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 Paqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
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