Mary the Mother of Jesus Mary Mother of GOD

We pray for a renewal of our zeal to offer generous help to the unborn and their families.
  15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary
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.
October is the month of the Rosary since 1868;
2023
22,031  Lives Saved Since 2007

Six Canonized on Feast of Christ the King

CAUSES OF SAINTS  

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

I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr.
I said that I would accept them both. -Saint Maximilian Kolbe 10/10/1982 cannonized

He spread the Society of Jesus all over Spain and Portugal. When he was made Superior General of the Jesuits, he sent missionaries all over the world. Under his guidance, Jesuits grew to be a great help to the Church in many lands. 

Through all such success, St. Francis Borgia remained completely humble. 1572

Although her constitution was very frail, her spirit was endowed with such singular strength that, knowing the will of God in her regard, she permitted nothing to impede her from accomplishing what seemed beyond her strength.
 Pope Pius XII at the canonization of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini


October 10 - Consecration of Luxembourg to Mary, Consoler of the Afflicted (1666)  
 
When the Rosary proved to be a shield against atomic radiations (1)
On August 6, 1945, at 2:45 am, the B29 bomber "Enola Gay" took off from Tinian Island in the Mariana Archipelago with the atomic bomb "Little Boy" intended to destroy the city of Hiroshima in Japan.
At 9:15 am, Commander Thomas Ferebee, the Enola Gay bombardier, released the nuclear bomb. On their way back to their base, over 300 miles away, the airmen saw a giant mushroom-shaped cloud left by the explosion, which reached a height of 60,000 feet in two minutes. Within a 2-mile radius, 10,000 buildings were destroyed by the explosion, and 50,000 by the fires. The victims died instantly up to 4,000 feet from the center of the explosion. Beyond that distance, radiation later killed the Japanese soldiers in charge of collecting the victims, who died within weeks.
During the explosion, a group of fervent devotees of the Rosary—German Jesuit missionaries living in Hiroshima—were spared from radioactive contamination and destruction even though their home was only 300 feet from the epicenter of the explosion (ground zero). The traditional Japanese house where they were staying was also spared.
 Source : bibliothequedecombat.wordpress.com

October 10 - Our Lady of the Cloister (Citeaux, France, 1624)

  The Messenger of the Mother of God (III)
During this conversation in low voices, the child fell asleep and slept quietly in his cradle. The doctor declared that the child was out of danger and that there was no longer any reason to worry. While he was preparing to leave, the child’s parents asked how much they owed the doctor for saving their child. The generous doctor answered, “Absolutely nothing! The honor of being the messenger of the Mother of God amply compensates for this animated night. But now, driver, quickly take me home!”
Upon arrival to his home, Dr. Granpas asked in his turn what he owed. “Doctor,” answered the driver, “the joy taking the messenger of the Mother of God home is enough pay for me. Be sure that my wife will pray to the Blessed Virgin for you every day to pay back our debt of gratitude.”
At later dates, the good doctor returned several times to see the little child whose life he had saved that night in such an unexpected way. And every year, he accepted a bouquet of flowers in testimony of his parents’ gratitude.
Testimony of Suzanne Voiteau, in "Maria Regina", #11, 1952, Told by Brother Albert Pfleger

October 10

I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr.
I said that I would accept them both.
-Saint Maximilian Kolbe 10/10/1982 cannonized


 180 St. Pinytus  Bishop of Crete foremost ecclesiastical writers
3rd v. Clarus of Nantes B (AC)
 286  St. Victor and Companions the Theban Legion
 
302 Gereon and Companions MM (RM)
 303 St. Cassius Martyr with Florentius and companions
 310 Saints Eulampius and Eulampia two young children MM (RM)
 421 Saint Maharsapor Martyr of Persia; A Christian Persian of noble family, Saint Maharsapor was seized with Narses (Parses) and Sabutaka King Yezdigerd, angered at destruction of Mazdean temple unleashed persecution of Christians
5th v. St. Patricain Scottish bishop
 
573 St. Cerbonius Africa bishop of Populonia St. Gregory relates he was renowned for miracles, during life/after death.
  637 St. Tanca Virgin and martyr
  644 St. Paulinus
bishop of York; Missionary;
  841 St. Aldericus Benedictine monk Archbishop and scholar
  843 St. Paulinus of Capua  Bishop of Capua
  845 St. Fulk A Benedictine abbot of Fontenelle
1151 Blessed Hugh of Mâcon, OSB Cist. B (PC)
1163 Gundisalvus of Las Junias, OSB Cist. (AC)
1227 Ss. Daniel Samuel, Angelus, Leo, Nicholas, Ugolino, and Domnus, all of whom were priests except Domnus; Franciscan martyrs of Morocco
1572 St. Francis Borgia humble Jesuit priest 
October 10 - Canonization of Father Kolbe, Saint of Auschwitz (1982)
1941 Saint Maximilian Kolbe Apostle of Consecration to Mary
October 10 -Canonization of Father Kolbe, Saint of Auschwitz (1982) Raymond told the Mary that he would accept both. The story begins on 8 January, 1894 - Raymond Kolbe was born the second son of a poor weaver at Zdunska Wola, Poland. In his infancy Raymond seems to have been rather mischievous and one day, after his mother had scolded him, her words took effect and brought about a radical change in the child's behavior. Later Raymond explained this change:
"That night I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, and the other red. She asked if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both.'"
Thus early did the child believe and accept he was destined for martyrdom. His belief in his dream colored all his future actions.
Adapted from www.fatherkolbe.com
October 10 - Canonization of Father Kolbe, Saint of Auschwitz (1982)
Saint Maximilian's Death is a Sign of Victory
The inspiration of Maximilian's whole life was the Immaculata. To her he entrusted his love for Christ and his desire for martyrdom. In the mystery of the Immaculate Conception there revealed itself before the eyes of his soul that marvellous and supernatural world of God's grace offered to man.
The faith and works of the whole life of Father Maximilian show that he thought of his cooperation with divine grace as warfare under the banner of the Immaculate Conception. This Marian characteristic is particularly expressive in the life and holiness of Father Kolbe. (...)
The death of Maximilian Kolbe became a sign of victory. This was victory won over all systematic contempt and hate for man and for what is divine in man - a victory like that won by our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary.
"You are my friends if you do what I command you" (Jn 15:14). The Church accepts this sign of victory -
won through the power of Christ's redemption - with reverence and gratitude.
She seeks to discern its eloquence with all humility and love.

Excerpt from the homily of Pope John Paul II on October 10, 1982

"The One who Belongs the Most Perfectly to the Immaculate"
"The one who belongs the most perfectly to the Immaculate will be able to approach the wounds of the Savior, the Eucharist, the Heart of Jesus and the Heart of God our Father with the most courage and freedom."
"The more we belong to the Immaculate, the better we understand and love the Heart of the Lord Jesus, God the Father and the whole Holy Trinity. But only the Virgin Mary can form all these supernatural things in and through us."

St. Maximilian Kolbe, Letter dated October 11, 1934.
>From L'Immaculée révèle l'Esprit saint, entretiens spirituels du père Kolbe,
Abbé J-F Villepelée. Ed Lethellieux, Paris 1974
(The Immaculate Reveals the Holy Spirit, Spiritual Talks of Father Kolbe)
October 10 - Italy. Our Lady of Mercy (1492) - Canonization of Maximilian Kolbe (1982)
                Saint Maximilian Kolbe
“The Name of Mother Remains Forever  Who are you, O Immaculata?  You are not only a creature,  You are not only an adoptive daughter, But you are the Mother of God;  You are not only an adoptive mother,  But truly the Mother of God.  The name of Mother remains forever.  For all eternity God will call you:
« My Mother. » He who has established  The fourth commandment  Will venerate you forever.
   

Four people canonized by Benedict XVI October 12 2008.
1946 India; St. Alfonsa of the Immaculate Conception; (born Anna Muttathupadathu), first canonized woman from India Feast Day July 25  Here1946_Saint_Alphonsa_Muttathupadathu
1924 Switzerland Maria Bernarda Butler, founder of the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of Mary, Help of Christians,
Ecuador; Blessed Narcisa de Jesús Martillo Morán; evangelizer, in Lima, she practiced charity, especially toward poor and infirm; she died the day Vatican Council I opened, offering her last sufferings for this important ecclesial event; “Humility and charity, practiced to a heroic degree, shine in Narcisita, as does penance appropriate to the age, for the expiation of the sins of her people, especially of priests, radiating Christ in the midst of the people,.
1860 Italy Gaetano Errico, Confessor Showing mercy in confessions day and night until his deathSpend much more time at the feet of the sacramental Jesus than at the feet of the confessor. born outskirts of Naples, Italy, 1791. died there; visited terminally ill patients in Neapolitan hospitals for incurable, and prisoners; wished his life a prophecy of God's mercy, thus named the congregation he founded Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
India; St. Alfonsa of the Immaculate Conception; (born Anna Muttathupadathu), first canonized woman from India.
India to Have 1st Female Saint; St. Alfonsa of the Immaculate Conception; (born Anna Muttathupadathu)
As Christians of Her Country Face Persecution

ROME, OCT. 10, 2008 (Zenit.org).- As Christians in India continue to face persecution for their faith, they will have a new advocate in the figure of soon-to-be St. Alfonsa of the Immaculate Conception.  Blessed Alfonsa (born Anna Muttathupadathu) is one of four people to be canonized by Benedict XVI this Sunday. The other three are Maria Bernarda Butler, from Switzerland; Narcisa de Jesús Martillo Morán from Ecuador; and Father Gaetano Errico from Italy.

Blessed Alfonsa will be the first
canonized woman from India. She was a religious of the Poor Clares.  Anna Muttathupadathu was born in the Indian state of Kerala in 1910. Her mother died when she was a baby and she was brought up by an aunt who wanted her to marry.  However, Muttathupadathu was determined to dedicate her whole life to Jesus Christ, following the example of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. She entered the convent in 1928, and received the name of Alfonsa.  Her delicate health was held to be an obstacle in religious life and her superiors wanted her to return to her home; but Sister Alfonsa persevered in her vocation and made her perpetual vows in 1936. She died 10 years later at age 35.

Ecuador; Maria Bernarda Butler, Swiss; founder of the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of Mary, Help of Christians, born Verena Butler, will also be canonized.  She was born to peasant parents in Switzerland in 1848. In 1867 she entered the Franciscan convent of Mary Help of Christians in her country. She made her religious profession two years later, taking the name Maria Bernarda of the Sacred Heart of Mary.
She left for Ecuador with six companions in 1888, where she founded the Congregation of Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary Help of Christians, whose charism is to spread the Kingdom of God through works of mercy.  Seven years later, in the wake of the religious persecution headed by the Ecuadorian government, Mother Maria Bernarda and her companions left the country and went to Colombia. She stayed there for 29 years, until her death in 1924 at age 76.

Ecuador; Blessed Narcisa de Jesús Martillo Morán;
evangelizer, in Lima, she practiced charity, especially toward poor and infirm; she died the day Vatican Council I opened, offering her last sufferings for this important ecclesial eventHumility and charity, practiced to a heroic degree, shine in Narcisita, as does penance appropriate to the age, for the expiation of the sins of her people, especially of priests, radiating Christ in the midst of the people,.

She was born to a farming family but left her home village in search of spiritual direction, where she met Franciscan Father Pedro Gual, who lived in Lima. The priest began to help her spiritually and materially, and eventually asked her to go to Lima, where she practiced charity, especially toward the poor and infirm.  She longed to live in herself the passion of Christ, and scourged herself and crowned herself with thorns. She died the day Vatican Council I opened, offering her last sufferings for this important ecclesial event.
Humility and charity, practiced to a heroic degree, shine in Narcisita, as does penance appropriate to the age, for the expiation of the sins of her people, especially of priests, radiating Christ in the midst of the people, Monsignor Roberto Pazmino, vice postulator of her cause of canonization, told ZENIT.

Gaetano Errico, Confessor Showing mercy in confessions day and night until his death; Spend much more time at the feet of the sacramental Jesus than at the feet of the confessor. born outskirts of Naples, Italy, 1791. died there 1860; visited terminally ill patients in Neapolitan hospitals for incurable, and prisoners; wished his life a prophecy of God's mercy, thus named the congregation he founded Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

Gaetano Errico was born on the outskirts of Naples, Italy, in 1791. He died in that town in 1860.  As a priest he visited terminally ill patients in Neapolitan hospitals for the incurable, as well as prisoners.  He heard confessions at all hours of the day and night until his death. In confession, he tried to show the mercy of the love of God, at a time when Jansenism advocated a rigorous vision of the Christian faith.
He was spiritual adviser to cardinals and archbishops and to King Ferdinand of Naples, but he also counseled the very poor in search of direction.  To all, he repeated, "Spend much more time at the feet of the sacramental Jesus than at the feet of the confessor."
He wished to make his life a prophecy of God's mercy, and thus named the congregation he founded the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

180 St. Pinytus  Bishop of Crete foremost ecclesiastical writers.
In Creta ínsula beáti Pinyti, inter Epíscopos nobilíssimi.  Hic, Gnósiæ urbis Epíscopus, sub Marco Antoníno Vero et Lúcio Aurélio Cómmodo flóruit, et in scriptis suis, velut in quodam spéculo, vivéntem sui relíquit imáginem.
    On the island of Crete, blessed Pinytus, most noble of bishops.  He was bishop of Gnosia, and flourished under Marcus Antoninus Verus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus.  He left in his writings, as in a mirror, a vivid picture of himself.
A Greek by birth, he was mentioned by Eusebius of Caesarea, who considered him one of the foremost ecclesiastical writers of his time. Pinytus, Bishop of Crete, corresponded with Dionysius of Corinth (Euseb., H. E., IV, xxiii).
PINYTUS: Bishop of Cnossus, Crete, in the second century, according to Eusebius (Hist. eccl., iv. 21, 23, Eng. transl, NPNF, 2 ser., i. 197-198, 200-202), and contemporary of Dionysius of Corinth (q.v.).

Eusebius gives some extracts from the correspondence of the two. Dionysius, it appears, wrote to the bishop of Cnossus asking him not to impose too strict a yoke of chastity upon his brethren. But Pinytus was unmoved by this counsel and replied that Dionysius might impart stronger doctrine and feed his congregation with a more perfect epistle inasmuch as Christians could not always subsist on milk or tarry in childhood. It may be that Pinytus was influenced by Montanistic views; however, Eusebius vouches for his orthodoxy and his care for the welfare of those placed under him.
Pinytus of Crete B (RM) Died after 180. The Greek bishop, Saint Pinytus of Knossos, Crete, was described by Eusebius as one of the distinguished spiritual writers (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
286 St. Victor and Companions the Theban Legion
In território ejúsdem urbis sanctórum Victóris et Sociórum Mártyrum.
    In the neighbourhood of the same city, the holy martyrs Victor and his companions.
A group of rnartyrs, numbering about three hundred and connected with the traditional account of the Theban Legion
Victor and Companions MM (RM)
Saint Victor led a group of 330 soldiers who were connected with the Theban Legion. They were martyred at Xanten on the Lower Rhein (Benedictines)
.
3rd v. Clarus of Nantes B (AC)
Died 3rd century (?). Some claim that Bishop Saint Clarus of Nantes was a disciple of Saint Peter and the first apostle of Brittany (then known as Armorica). More likely his episcopacy occurred several centuries later (Benedictines, Encyclopedia)
.
302 Gereon and Companions MM (RM)
 Colóniæ Agrippínæ sancti Gereónis Mártyris, cum áliis trecéntis decem et octo; qui pro vera pietáte, in persecutióne Maximiáni, gládiis patiéntes colla subdidérunt.
    At Cologne, in the persecution of Maximian, St. Gereon and three hundred and eighteen other martyrs who patiently bowed to the sword for the true religion.
Date unknown (possibly 302); several feast days are variously recorded in different martyrologies. From the 4th century certain martyrs, now unknown, were venerated on the site of the church of Saint Gereon at Cologne, Germany.
   Saint Gregory of Tours, writing late in the 6th century, said they were a detachment of 50 men from the Theban Legion (massacred under orders from Emperor Maximian at Agaunum). In later medieval times they grew in number to 319, 'relics' of them were found, and a spurious account written.
   There were similar stories and happenings at Bonn and Xanten. Gereon was the name given to the leader of the Cologne martyrs, whom it is impossible to identify. Although they are generally considered saints with only a local cultus, Saint Bede mentions that their feast was included in the Sarum calendar, as well as those at Barking and Durham (Attwater, Benedictines, Farmer).

With reference to them and to Saint Ursula and her maidens Father Hippolyte Delehaye, SJ, writes, It is surely superfluous to recall that at Cologne the imagination of hagiographers was liable to exaggerate things to perhaps an unexampled degree (Les origines du culte des martyrs, p. 360).

In art, Gereon is represented as a knight carrying a banner with the Theban Cross leading his companions. Sometimes he is shown (1) with Cologne in the background; (2) being thrown into a well; (3) with a sword or shield, spear, and palm (Roeder); or (4) as a medieval knight wearing a cross on his chest and bearing a lance and shield. The rich mosaics that decorated their chapel in Cologne led to their being called the "Golden Saints" (Farmer). They are venerated at Cologne (Roeder), where a splendid Romanesque church survives that is dedicated to their honor. Like other saints who were beheaded, he was invoked against headaches and migraines. He was also the patron of knights from the area around Cologne (Farmer).
3rd v, St. Gercon Martyr associated with Xanten or Bonn
Legends concerning Gercon and his companions are confusing. At one time Gercon was associated with the Theban Legion
.
303 St. Cassius Martyr with Florentius and companions
Bonnæ, in Germánia, sanctórum Mártyrum Cássii et Floréntii, cum áliis plúrimis.
    At Bonn in Germany, the holy martyrs Cassius and Florentius, with many others.
at Bonn, Germany. The martyrs were victims of the persecution of co-Emperor Maximian.
Cassius, Florentius, and Companions MM (RM)
This group of nine martyrs suffered at Bonn (Germany) at the command of Emperor Maximian Herculeus, although some believe they were among the martyrs of the Theban Legion. This latter tradition relates that they escaped the massacre of Agaunum, but were recaptured at Bonn and executed. A church was built over their tombs in the 4th century, for which there is written evidence since the 7th century. Their relics were translated by Bishop Rinaldus to the present Romanesque church in 1166. There they were rediscovered in 1929. In art, these patron saints of Bonn are depicted as members of the Theban Legion (Benedictines, Farmer)
.
310 Saints Eulampius and Eulampia two young children MM (RM)
Nicomedíæ sanctórum Mártyrum Eulámpii, et soróris Eulámpiæ Vírginis.  Hæc porro, cum audísset pro Christo fratrem torquéri, in médiam turbam exsíluit, et, fratrem amplexáta, huic sóciam se adjúnxit; atque ambo, conjécti in ollam fervéntis ólei, sed nulla ex parte læsi, tandem, una cum áliis ducéntis, qui eo miráculo permóti credidérunt in Christum, cápitis obtruncatióne martyrium complevérunt.
    At Nicomedia, the holy martyrs Eulampius, and his sister, the virgin Eulampia.  Upon hearing that her brother was tortured for Christ, she rushed through the crowd, embraced him, and became his companion.  Both were cast into a cauldron of boiling oil, but being uninjured, their martyrdom was completed by beheading along with two hundred others, who, impressed by the miracle, had believed in Christ.
The siblings Saints Eulampius and Eulampia were martyred at Nicomedia during the reign of Gallienus. It is said that the courage of these two young children led to the conversion and martyrdom of 200 soldiers (Benedictines).
421 Saint Maharsapor Martyr of Persia; A Christian Persian of noble family, Saint Maharsapor was seized with Narses (Parses) and Sabutaka when King Yezdigerd, angered at the destruction of a Mazdean temple unleashed a persecution of Christians
with Narses and Sabutake, who suffered under King Varahran V. He was imprisoned for three years. Refusing to deny the faith, Maharsapor was thrown into a deep pit where he died of starvation. He is sometimes listed as Sapor.

Maharsapor of Persia M (AC) Died 421. A Christian Persian of noble family, Saint Maharsapor was seized with Narses (Parses) and Sabutaka when King Yezdigerd, angered at the destruction of a Mazdean temple unleashed a persecution of Christians. They were tortured and then Narses and Sabutaka were executed at the order of the judge Hormisdavarus, a former slave. Maharasapor was not so privileged. Repeatedly Maharasapor was brought before Hormisdavarus for examination and torture. After a three-year imprisonment, he was thrown into a cistern to die of starvation during the reign of Varanes V. Three days later he was found dead in the posture of prayer, surrounded by light (Benedictines, Delaney, Husenbeth).

     Maharsapor of Persia M (AC) Died 421. A Christian Persian of noble family, Saint Maharsapor was seized with Narses (Parses) and Sabutaka when King Yezdigerd, angered at the destruction of a Mazdean temple unleashed a persecution of Christians. They were tortured and then Narses and Sabutaka were executed at the order of the judge Hormisdavarus, a former slave. Maharasapor was not so privileged. Repeatedly Maharasapor was brought before Hormisdavarus for examination and torture. After a three-year imprisonment, he was thrown into a cistern to die of starvation during the reign of Varanes V. Three days later he was found dead in the posture of prayer, surrounded by light (Benedictines, Delaney, Husenbeth).
5th v. St. Patricain Scottish bishop  
He endured much hardship at the hands of pagan raiders and was eventually forced to leave his see because of their predations. It is believed he died on the Isle of Man.
Patrician of Scotland B (AC) 5th century. Saint Patrician was driven from his Scottish see by heathen invaders. He lived out the rest of his days on the Isle of Man (Benedictines)
.
573 St. Cerbonius Africa bishop of Populonia St. Gregory relates that he was renowned for miracles, both during life and after death.
Populónii, in Túscia, sancti Cerbónii, Epíscopi et Confessóris, qui (ut sanctus Gregórius Papa refert) in vita et morte miráculis cláruit.
    At Piombino in Tuscany, St. Cerbonius, bishop and confessor.  St. Gregory relates that he was renowned for miracles, both during life and after death.
Cerbonius was driven from Africa by the Vandals. He imigrated with St. Regulus to Tuscany and succeeded Regulus as bishop of Populonia (Piombino). He was ordered to be killed by wild beasts by King Totila of the Ostrogoths, during his invasion of Tuscany, for hiding several Roman soldiers.
Cerbonius was miraculously saved, but he spent his last thirty years of his life in exile on Elba.
Cerbonius of Piombino B (RM) Died c. 580. This Saint Cerbonius is one of the many bishops driven from North Africa by the Arian Vandals. He settled at Piombino in Tuscany, Italy, where it is said he served the Church as bishop there (Benedictines). In art, Saint Cerbonius is depicted as a bishop with a bear licking his feet (Roeder). He is venerated in Tuscany. There is another Cerbonius who is venerated at Verona (Roeder).
Verónæ sancti Cerbónii Epíscopi.
    At Verona, another St. Cerbonius, bishop

637 Tranca (Tanca, Tancha) of Troyes VM (AC)
Saint Tranca, a young French girl, was murdered while defending her virginity. She is venerated in region near Troyes, France, as a virgin martyr (Benedictines, Encyclopedia)
.
644 St. Paulinus of York  Missionary and bishop of York
Eboráci, in Anglia, sancti Paulíni Epíscopi, qui fuit beáti Gregórii Papæ discípulus; et, una cum áliis, ad prædicándum Evangélium illuc ab eo missus, Edwínum Regem ejúsque pópulum ad Christi fidem convértit.
    At York in England, the holy bishop Paulinus, disciple of the blessed pope Gregory.  He was sent there by that pope along with others to preach the Gospel, and he converted King Edwin and his people to the faith of Christ.
Born 584

644 ST PAULINUS, BISHOP OF YORK
ST PAULINUS is celebrated in the Roman Martyrology and in those of our country as the first apostle of the largest and at that time the most powerful of the kingdoms of the English; he was one of the second group of missionaries sent to England by Pope St Gregory 1. When Edwin, King of Northumbria, demanded in marriage Ethelburga, sister of Edbald, King of Kent, promising liberty and protection with regard to her religion, no one was judged more proper to be her guardian and to undertake this new harvest than Paulinus. He was ordained bishop by St Justus, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 625, and accompanied the young queen to her husband.

It was a continual affliction to his heart to live in the midst of a people who were strangers to the true worship of God, and all his preaching and endeavours to make Him known and served by them were at first unsuccessful. But his prayers were at length heard. King Edwin was brought over to the faith in a manner related in his life (October 12), and he was baptized by St Paulinus at York at Easter in 627. The king's two sons by his first wife and many of the nobles and people followed Edwin's example, and the crowds that flocked to receive baptism St Paulinus, when among the Deiri, baptized in the river Swale, near Catterick. Edwin's residence among the Bernicians was at Yeavering in Glendale, and in that country St Paulinus baptized in the river Glen. He once spent thirty-six days in this place, instructing and baptizing the people day and night. The name Pallingsburn is said to preserve the memory of one of these baptizings (“Paulinus's Brook”), and tradition associates him also with Dewsbury, Easingwold and elsewhere. The apostolate of St Paulinus was chiefly in the south of Northumbria, and he crossed the Humber and preached the faith to the inhabitants of Lindsey. Here he baptized Blecca, the king's reeve, at Lincoln, and there built a church in which, after the death of St Justus, he consecrated St Honorius as archbishop of Canterbury. Assisted by his deacon James he baptized a great number of people in the river Trent at Littleborough, as St Bede heard, through the abbot Deda, from one of the neophytes on that occasion. From the same source he learned that St Paulinus was “a tall man, stooping a little, with black hair, thin face, and narrow aquiline nose, venerable and awe-inspiring in appearance”.

Pope Honorius I sent the pallium to St Paulinus as the northern metropolitan in England, and in his letter of congratulation to King Edwin upon his conversion he wrote, “We send pallia to the metropolitans Honorius and Paulinus, that whenever it shall please God to call either of them out of this world the other may ordain a successor for him by virtue of this letter”. St Paulinus, however, never wore that pallium in his cathedral, and when the letter reached England Edwin was dead. For, nearly two years before it was written (which shows the difficulties of communication), the pagan Mercians under Penda, reinforced by Christian Britons from Wales, invaded Northumbria, and
Edwin was slain at the battle of Hatfield Chase. Most of the work of Paulinus in Northumbria was undone and, leaving the deacon James in charge of the church of York, he conducted Queen St Ethelburga with her two children and Edwin's grandson by Osfrid into Kent by sea. As the see of Rochester was at that time vacant, St Paulinus was asked to administer it, which he did for ten years, “until he departed to Heaven with the glorious fruits of his labours”. He was probably at least sixty when he came south with St Ethelburga, and it was out of the question that he should return to the confusion and turmoil of Northumbria.
    St Bede says that his locum tenens, the faithful James, was a holy man who, by long teaching and baptizing there, “rescued much prey from the power of the old Enemy of mankind”; when peace came again to his church “he began to teach many to sing according to the manner of the Romans”. St Paulinus died on October 10, 644, at Rochester, leaving his pallium to the cathedral and a golden cross and chalice he had brought from York to Christ Church at Canterbury. His feast is observed in several English dioceses.
Our main authority is Bede's Historia ecclesiastica (see Plummer's edition and notes). Not much that is reliable can be gleaned from Alcuin's versified chronicle, or from Simeon of Durham and the other writers included in Raine's Historians of the Church of York (Rolls Series). Canon Burton's excellent account in the Catholic Encyclopedia has a good bibliography, and see F. M. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (1943), pp. 113-116. The widespread cultus of St Paulinus is proved by the insertion of his name in so many calendars (see Stanton's Menology; p. 485), as well as by the stone crosses in the north of England which tradition connects with him.
A Roman monk, in 600 he was named by Pope St. Gregory I the Great to accompany Sts. Justus and Mellitus on their mission to England to advance the cause of evangelization undertaken by St. Augustine of Canterbury Paulinus labored for some twenty four years in Kent and, in 625, was ordained bishop of Kent. He was also responsible for bringing Christianity to Northumbria, baptizing the pagan king Edwin of Northumbria on Easter 627, and then converting thousands of other Northumbrians. Following the defeat and death of Edwin by pagan Mercians at the Battle of Hatfield in 633, Paulinus was driven from his see, and he returned to Kent with Edwin’s widow Ethelburga, her two children, and Edwin’s grandson Osfrid. Paulinus then took up the see of Rochester, which he headed until his death. 
Paulinus of York, OSB B (RM)
Born c. 584; died at Rochester, England, 644. In 601, Saint Paulinus was sent as a missionary from Rome to England by Pope Saint Gregory I with Saints Mellitus and Justus. There assisted Bishop Saint Augustine by evangelizing in Kent for 24 years.
He was consecrated bishop of York in 625 by Justus, then accompanied Saint Ethelburga, daughter of King Ethelbert of Kent, to Northumbria as her chaplain when she married Edwin of Northumbria. Saint Bede tells us that two years later (627) Paulinus baptized King Saint Edwin on Easter Eve in York, bringing Christianity to Northumbria. (A much less reliable source, the Welsh Nennius, ascribes Edwin's baptism to a Welsh priest.) Paulinus and his assistants baptized thousands, who followed their king into Christianity.

Saint Paulinus, described as a tall, dark man,
of venerable and awe-inspiring appearance, followed up Edwin's baptism with a series of missionary journeys over a wide area. He reached as far north as Lincoln. During the last year's of Edwin's reign, there was such peace and order in his dominions that a proverb arose: A woman could carry her newborn baby across the island from sea to sea and suffer no harm (Bede). But the peace did not last for long.

Pope Saint Honorius I recognized Paulinus as archbishop of York, but before the letter arrived the first missionary efforts in Northumbria had ended. When Edwin was slain by the pagan Mercian Cadwallon at the Battle of Hatfield Chase in 633, Northumbria reverted to paganism. Paulinus returned to Kent by sea with Ethelburga, her two children, and Edwin's grandson Osfrid. He left his deacon James to conduct the missionary efforts to the best of his ability in difficult circumstances. Paulinus was named administrator of the vacant see of Rochester, administered it for 10 years (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
Generally, Paulinus is depicted as an archbishop baptizing King Saint Edwin (Roeder) .
845 St. Fulk A Benedictine abbot of Fontenelle
in Normandy, France, the twenty first of the line.
Saint Fulk of Fontenelle, OSB Abbot (PC) the 21st abbot of the great abbey Fontenelle in Normandy, France (Benedictines).
841 St. Aldericus Benedictine monk Archbishop and scholar
born in the region of Gatinais, France. Aldericus became a Benedictine monk at Ferrieres, France, and then a priest in Sens. There he served as chancellor of the diocese, succeeding the archbishop in 828. Aldericus was a known ecclesiastical scholar and a promoter of such studies.
Aldericus (Aldric, Audry) of Sens, OSB B (AC)
Born in the Gatinais, 790; Aldericus, a Benedictine at Ferrières, was attached to the clergy of Sens. Later he was appointed chancellor of the archdiocese, then archbishop in 828. In that position he fostered studies for the clergy (Benedictines)
.
843 St. Paulinus of Capua  Bishop of Capua
Cápuæ sancti Paulíni Epíscopi.    At Capua, St. Paulinus, bishop.
Paulinus was from England and, according to tradition, he was on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem when he stopped at Capua, Italy. For whatever reason, the inhabitants of the city compelled him to become their bishop. His term as bishop was deeply troubled by the predations of Saracen raiders, and he died at Sicopolis, the city to which he fled when Capua was overrun by the Saracens.
Paulinus of Capua B (RM) Born in England; died at Sicopolis in 843. Saint Paulinus made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. On his return he stopped for a time in Capua, Italy, where he was enlisted by the natives to become their bishop. After an eight-year episcopacy, he was forced from the see by a Saracen invasion (Benedictines)
.
1151 Blessed Hugh of Mâcon, OSB Cist. B (PC)
Blessed Hugh became a monk under Saint Stephen, then, in 1114, abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Pontigny. In 1137, Hugh became the first Cistercian bishop when he was elected to the see of Auxerre (Benedictines)
.
1163 Gundisalvus of Las Junias, OSB Cist. (AC)
Saint Gundisalvus was the first abbot or prior of the Cistercian Abbey of Las Junias, Portugal, which was founded as a daughter of Osera in 1135 (Benedictines)
.
1227 St. Daniel Samuel, Angelus, Leo, Nicholas, Ugolino, and Domnus, all of whom were priests except Domnus; Franciscan martyrs of Morocco.
Apud Septam, in Mauritánia Tingitána, pássio sanctórum septem Mártyrum, ex Ordine Minórum, scílicet Daniélis, Samuélis, Angeli, Leónis, Nicolái, Hugolíni, et Domni; qui, cum essent omnes præter Domnum Sacerdótes, ibídem, ob Evangélii prædicatiónem et Mahuméticæ confutatiónem sectæ, a Saracénis contumélias, víncula et flagélla perpéssi, demum, capítibus abscíssis, martyrii palmam adépti sunt.
    At Ceuta in Morocco, the passion of seven holy martyrs of the Order of Friars Minor: Daniel, Samuel, Angelus, Leo, Nicholas, Ugolino, and Domnus, all of whom were priests except Domnus.  Because they had preached the Gospel and put to silence the doctrines of Mohammed, they suffered insults, fetters, and scourgings from the Saracens in that place.  They were at last beheaded and thus obtained the palm of martyrdom.

Samuel, Angelus, Domnus, Leo, Nicholas, and Hugolinus. Daniel was a Franciscan provincial in Calabria, Italy. He and the other friars went on a mission to Morocco to preach to the Muslims. They were arrested in Ceuta, North Africa, and termed madmen. When they refused to convert to Islam, they were beheaded. All were canonized in 1516.
Daniel and Companions, OFM MM (RM) Died at Ceuta, Morocco in 1221; canonized in 1516. Samuel, Angelus (Angeluccio), Domnus, Leo, Nicholas, Hugolinus, and Donulus were Italian Franciscans placed under the leadership of Saint Daniel, provincial of Calabria, and sent as missionaries to north Africa by Saint Francis of Assisi. Upon their arrival in Morocco, they were treated as madmen. After less than three weeks in the country, they were martyred by the Moors at Ceuta for refusing to apostatize to Islam (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia)
.

1227 SS. DANIEL AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
Five Franciscan missionaries having glorified God by martyrdom in Morocco in the year 1227, as has been related under January 16, seven years later six other friars of the same order received permission to go to Africa with the same object of announcing Christ to the Mohammedans. Their names were Samuel, Angelo, Leo, Domnus, Nicholas and Hugolino. On their way through Spain they were joined by Brother Daniel, minister provincial of Calabria, who became the superior of the band. On September 20, 1227, they reached Morocco, and spent ten days in preparation for their mission at a village near Ceuta, which was inhabited by European merchants. On Saturday, October 2, they made their confessions and washed one another’s feet, spent the night in prayer, and early on Sunday morning entered Ceuta and began to preach in the streets.
Their appearance provoked uproar.  They were badly hustled, and eventually taken before the kadi. When he saw their rough clothes and uncovered shaven heads he took them to be mad. They were imprisoned, freely exposed to the insults and ill treatment of the Moors, whose religion the friars rejected with contempt. Daniel wrote a letter to the Christians of the village in which they had stayed, saying what had happened to them and adding, “Blessed be God, the Father of mercies, who comforts us in all our tribulations”.  The following Sunday, it having been ascertained that they were missionaries and not madmen, the seven friars were invited to renounce their faith, first corporately and then individually in private. Neither threats nor bribes could move them, they continued to affirm Christ and to deny Mohammed, so they were ordered put to death. Each one of the martyrs went up to Brother Daniel, knelt for his blessing, and asked permission to give his life for Christ; and they were all beheaded outside the walls of Ceuta. Their bodies were mangled by the infuriated people, but the local Christians managed to rescue and bury them. Later on the relics were carried into Spain, and in 1516 Pope Leo X permitted the Friars Minor to observe the martyrs’ feast liturgically.

These martyrs are commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on October so, but in the Acta Sanctorum an account is given of them on October 13 (vol. vi), which seems to be the day they actually suffered. Nothing material has yet been added to the two texts printed by the Bollandists, i.e. a letter of a certain Friar Mariano, and a brief passio of later date. See Analecta Franciscana, vol. iii, pp. 32—33 and 653—656; A. Lopez, La Provincia de España O.M; Apuntes historico-criticas (1915), pp. 61-65 and 329—330 and a not very critical essay of D. Zangari, .I setti Frati Minori martrizzati a çeuta (1926). An English account is furnished in Léon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. iii pp. 296—299.
1572 St. Francis Borgia humble Jesuit priest.
Sancti Francísci Bórgiæ, Sacerdótis e Societáte Jesu et Confessóris, cujus dies natális prídie Kaléndas Octóbris recensétur.
    St. Francis Borgia, confessor, priest of the Society of Jesus, whose birthday is mentioned on the 30th of September.
Francis was a young nobleman at the court of the King of Spain. He became a Duke when he was only thirty-three and lived a happy, peaceful life with his wife Eleanor and their eight children. But unlike so many other powerful nobles, Francis was a perfect Christian gentleman, a true man of God and his great joy was to receive Holy Communion often.
This happy life ended when his beloved wife died. Francis did something that astonished all the nobles of Spain; he gave up his Dukedom to his son Charles and became a Jesuit priest. So many people came to his first Mass that they had to set up an altar outdoors, but his Superior tested him by treating him in exactly the opposite way he had been used to all his forty-one years of life. He who had once been a Duke had to help the cook, carrying wood for the fire and sweeping the kitchen. When he served food to the priests and brothers, he had to kneel down in front of them all and beg them to forgive him for being so clumsy! Still he never once complained or grumbled.
He delighted above all in ecclesiastical compositions, and these display a remarkable contrapuntal style and bear witness to the skill of the composer, justifying indeed the assertion that, in the sixteenth century and prior to Palestrina, Borgia was one of the chief restorers of sacred music.
The only time he became angry was when anyone treated him with respect as if he was still a Duke. Once a doctor who had to take care of a painful wound Francis had gotten said to him: "I am afraid, my lord, that I have to hurt your grace." The saint answered that he would not hurt him more than he was right then by calling him "my lord" and "your grace." It was not too long before the humble priest accomplished wonderful works for God's glory as he preached everywhere and advised many important people. He spread the Society of Jesus all over Spain and in Portugal. When he was made Superior General of the Jesuits, he sent missionaries all over the world. Under his guidance, the Jesuits grew to be a very great help to the Church in many lands.  Through all such success, St. Francis Borgia remained completely humble.

Francis Borgia y Aragon, SJ (RM)
Born at Gandia, Valencia, Spain in 1510; died shortly after midnight on September 30, 1572, in Rome; canonized 1671.
The name of Borgia (Borja) is understandably ill-sounding; however, Saint Francis was outstanding among those who brought honor to it. He was the scion of the family that produced Pope Callistus III (1455-1458) and a great-grandson of the man who became Pope Alexander VI of unhappy memory (who had fathered four children at the time of his elevation). Alexander VI had purchased the dukedom of Gandia for his son Peter and, upon Peter's death, gave it to another son, John, who was murdered soon after his marriage.

Francis was the eldest of 14 children born to John's son, the third duke of Gandia, and Juana of Aragon, daughter of the illegitimate some of King Ferdinand of Aragon. Two of his brothers became cardinals, one an abbot, one an archbishop, and two of his sisters became abbesses. Francis studied rhetoric and philosophy under his uncle, the archbishop of Saragossa.

For ten years from 1528 the marquis of Lombay, Saint Francis, was in the service of Emperor Charles V, to whom he was an adviser. At Alcalá de Henares, Francis was impressed by the appearance of a man whom he saw being taken to prison by the Inquisitors: Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Francis accompanied the emperor on a campaign in Provence. At age 19 (1529), Francis married Eleanor de Castro, by whom he had eight children.

In 1539 the Empress Isabella died, and Francis and his wife Eleanor accompanied the funeral procession from Toledo to Elvira. When they arrived at the tombs the coffin was opened, and the sight of the decomposing body of the empress, who in her lifetime had been so beautiful, had a profound effect on Francis. Thereafter, he devoted himself to fervent prayer and took Communion frequently. He also made his first contacts with the itinerant Jesuits.

That same year, Emperor Charles V appointed him imperial viceroy in Catalonia, which has its capital at Barcelona. He proved a model governor; but he was not acceptable to everybody because of his determined efforts to suppress corrupt administration of justice by the nobility and magistrates. He later wrote: "It was when I was Viceroy of Catalonia that God prepared me to be general of the Society of Jesus." He prayed as much as he could without neglecting his duties or growing family. The frequency of his sacramental communions caused unfavorable comment.

In 1543, his father died and Francis inherited all his titles, including that of duke of Gandia, and estates. He served for a time as master of the household of Prince Philip. When King John of Portugal refused to recognize his position in Philip's household, who had broken off his engagement to John's daughter, Francis retired to his duchy where he planned to build a Jesuit college. He used this time to found a Dominican monastery on his estate, restore a hospital, fortify Gandia against Moorish attacks and Barbary pirates. His wife also planned to build a monastery, but, much to Francis's great grief, she died in 1546 before completing the plans, leaving eight children of whom the youngest was eight years old.

Shortly after the death of Doña Eleanor, Blessed Peter Favre briefly visited the duke. Peter left for Rome with a message to Saint Ignatius that his host had vowed to become a Jesuit. Ignatius advised him to wait until he had settled his children and finished the foundations that he had begun. Meanwhile he was to study for a doctorate in theology at the university in Gandia, which he had inaugurated. Francis complied until he was called to court the following year. Thereupon he wrote urgently to Saint Ignatius who allow him to make his profession privately. The 40-year-old Francis left for Rome on August 31, 1550, made his profession, and returned to Spain within four months.

Having received permission from the emperor, Francis made over his titles and estates to his eldest son, Charles, and provided for his other children. Retiring to the hermitage at Oñate near Loyola, Francis shaved his head and beard, donned clerical robes, and was ordained a priest in 1551 during Whitsuntide. His action, which on the advice of Saint Ignatius Loyola he had kept a secret until the last moment, caused a sensation and earned him the nickname 'the Holy Duke.' The first Mass that he celebrated at Vergara was so crowded that it had to be held outdoors and lasted several hours. The pope had granted a plenary indulgence for assisting at the Mass.

He did all he could--through humility and extreme asceticism--to make men forget his exalted origins, but his abilities could not be hidden. His preaching drew huge crowds in Spain and Portugal. He went through the villages with a bell, calling the children to catechism, instructing and preaching especially in Guipuzcoa. Father Francis's superior in the house treated him severely to counter the effects of his previous exalted position.

The superior had little to worry about, however. Francis imposed upon himself severe mortifications. Upon his conversion Francis was an exceedingly fat man, but his physical austerities soon returned him to normal proportions. When he was required to curb his mortifications under obedience, he would devise physical discomforts to remind him of his position before God. Later in life he believed that he had been imprudent in his mortifications.

During this period of preaching throughout Spain, he became acquainted with Saint Teresa of Ávila. He was one of the first to recognize her greatness. Later during a return to Spain he was instrumental in protecting her from her persecutors when her confessor insisted that her visitations were wiles of the devil. Francis, who had himself received many tokens of divine grace, needed only one conversation with her to be convinced that her visions were indeed divine, and after that Saint Teresa was put under Jesuit confessors.

In 1554 Saint Ignatius Loyola appointed him provincial for those countries and the Indies. In this office Francis popularized the then little-known Jesuits, founding numerous houses and colleges, attracting many good recruits, and ministering to the abdicated Charles V and the dowager queen Joanna, who had gone mad after the death of her husband fifty years earlier. Queen Joanna had a special aversion to the clergy, but allowed Francis to comfort her on her deathbed.

There was enmity between Saint Francis and the Inquisition, and King Philip II listened to the calumnies of those jealous of the saint. Nevertheless, he continued his work in Portugal until 1561, when he was summoned to Rome by Pope Pius IV at the instigation of the Jesuit general, Father Laynez. Among those who regularly attended the sermons of Saint Francis were Cardinal Charles Borromeo and Cardinal Ghislieri (Pius V).

Four years later was unanimously elected father general of the Jesuits. The order made great progress during his seven-year rule; he has, indeed, been called its second founder. In fact, it is that Francis put the roof on the building whose foundations were laid by Saint Ignatius. He revised the rule of the Society in 1567.

Francis was particularly concerned with the improvement of the Roman College (now the Gregorian University), which he had already partially endowed. He encouraged the Jesuits to engage in foreign missionary work. He built Sant'Andrea on the Quirinal, began the famous Gésu church in Rome, established the Polish province, built colleges in France, and opened American missions. In 1566, when the plague ravaged Rome, he raised money to relieve the poor and sent his priests to tend the sick in hospitals.

As general of the Society of Jesus, Francis was one of the leading figures of the counter-reformation. Francis was a typical saint of the Spanish nobility: He was courteous, humble, refined, kind, and generous to others but austere to himself. He would sign himself "Francis the Sinner," until Saint Ignatius ordered him not to do so. As the bishop of Cartagena said in a letter to a friend, he was "a model duke and a perfect Christian gentleman."

In 1571, Pope Saint Pius V chose Saint Francis to accompany a mission led by Cardinal Bonelli to several European capitals to gather support for a crusade against the Turks; his reputation had preceded him, and crowds gathered, shouting: "We want to see the saint" and clamoring to hear him preach. But the fatigue entailed aggravated his failing health. When he arrived at the home of his cousin, Duke Alfonso of Ferrara, he was so ill that he was sent to Rome on a litter.

In his last moments, as his brother Thomas rehearsed their names, Francis pronounced a blessing on each of his children and grandchildren. When Francis was no longer able to speak, a painter was sent to his bedside to record his appearance. Francis saw him, expressed his displeasure with his dying hands and eyes, and turned his face away so that nothing could be done. The saint quietly died two days after returning to Rome. He was typical of the patrician saints: self-effacing, determined, enterprising, winning people of all ranks by his kindness and courtesy (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Walsh, Yeo).

Portrayed as a Jesuit holding a skull crowned with an imperial diadem. Sometimes the skull is on a book; other times he is shown kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament (Roeder).

St. Francis Borgia (1510-1572)  
Today's saint grew up in an important family in 16th-century Spain, serving in the imperial court and quickly advancing in his career. But a series of events—including the death of his beloved wife—made Francis Borgia rethink his priorities. He gave up public life, gave away his possessions and joined the new and little-known Society of Jesus.
Religious life proved to be the right choice. He felt drawn to spend time in seclusion and prayer, but his administrative talents also made him a natural for other tasks. He helped in the establishment of what is now the Gregorian University in Rome. Not long after his ordination he served as political and spiritual adviser to the emperor. In Spain, he founded a dozen colleges.

At 55, Francis was elected head of the Jesuits. He focused on the growth of the Society of Jesus, the spiritual preparation of its new members and spreading the faith in many parts of Europe. He was responsible for the founding of Jesuit missions in Florida, Mexico and Peru.
Francis Borgia is often regarded as the second founder of the Jesuits. He died in 1572 and was canonized 100 years later.

St. Francis Borgia (Spanish FRANCISCO DE BORJA Y ARAGON )
Francis Borgia, born 28 October, 1510, was the son of Juan Borgia, third Duke of Gandia, and of Juana of Aragon; died 30 September, 1572. The future saint was unhappy in his ancestry. His grandfather, Juan Borgia, the second son of Alexander VI, was assassinated in Rome on 14 June, 1497, by an unknown hand, which his family always believed to be that of Cæsar Borgia. Rodrigo Borgia, elected pope in 1402 under the name of Alexander VI, had eight children. The eldest, Pedro Luis, had acquired in 1485 the hereditary Duchy of Gandia in the Kingdom of Valencia, which, at his death, passed to his brother Juan, who had married Maria Enriquez de Luna. Having been left a widow by the murder of her husband, Maria Enriquez withdrew to her duchy and devoted herself piously to the education of her two children, Juan and Isabel. After the marriage of her son in 1509, she followed the example of her daughter, who had entered the convent of Poor Clares in Gandia, and it was through these two women that sanctity entered the Borgia family, and in the House of Gandia was begun the work of reparation which Francis Borgia was to crown. Great-grandson of Alexander VI, on the paternal side, he was, on his mother's side, the great-grandson of the Catholic King Ferdinand of Aragon. This monarch had procured the appointment of his natural son, Alfonso, to the Archbishopric of Saragossa at the age of nine years. By Anna de Gurrea, Alfonso had two sons, who succeeded him in his archiepiscopal see, and two daughters, one of whom, Juana, married Duke Juan of Gandia and became the mother of our saint. By this marriage Juan had three sons and four daughters. By a second, contracted in 1523, he had five sons and five daughters. The eldest of all and heir to the dukedom was Francis. Piously reared in a court which felt the influence of the two Poor Clares, the mother and sister of the reigning duke, Francis lost his own mother when he was but ten. In 1521, a sedition amongst the populace imperilled the child's life, and the position of the nobility. When the disturbance was suppressed, Francis was sent to Saragossa to continue his education at the court of his uncle, the archbishop, an ostentatious prelate who had never been consecrated nor even ordained priest. Although in this court the Spanish faith retained its fervour, it lapsed nevertheless into the inconsistencies permitted by the times, and Francis could not disguise from himself the relation in which his grandmother stood to the dead archbishop, although he was much indebted to her for his early religious training. While at Saragossa Francis cultivated his mind and attracted the attention of his relatives by his fervour. They being desirous of assuring the fortune of the heir of Gandia, sent him at the age of twelve to Tordesillas as page to the Infanta Catarina, the youngest child and companion in solitude of the unfortunate queen, Juana the Mad.

In 1525 the Infanta married King Juan III of Portugal, and Francis returned to Saragossa to complete his education. At last, in 1528, the court of Charles V was opened to him, and the most brilliant future awaited him. On the way to Valladolid, while passing, brilliantly escorted, through Alcalá de Henares, Francis encountered a poor man whom the servants of the Inquisition were leading to prison. It was Ignatius of Loyola. The young nobleman exchanged a glance of emotion with the prisoner, little dreaming that one day they should be united by the closest ties. The emperor and empress welcomed Borgia less as a subject than as a kinsman. He was seventeen, endowed with every charm, accompanied by a magnificent train of followers, and, after the emperor, his presence was the most gallant and knightly at court. In 1529, at the desire of the empress, Charles V gave him in marriage the hand of Eleanor de Castro, at the same time making him Marquess of Lombay, master of the hounds, and equerry to the empress, and appointing Eleanor Camarera Mayor. The newly-created Marquess of Lombay enjoyed a privileged station. Whenever the emperor was travelling or conducting a campaign, he confided to the young equerry the care of the empress, and on his return to Spain treated him as a confidant and friend. In 1535, Charles V led the expedition against Tunis unaccompanied by Borgia, but in the following year the favourite followed his sovereign on the unfortunate campaign in Provence. Besides the virtues which made him the model of the court and the personal attractions which made him its ornament, the Marquess of Lombay possessed a cultivated musical taste. He delighted above all in ecclesiastical compositions, and these display a remarkable contrapuntal style and bear witness to the skill of the composer, justifying indeed the assertion that, in the sixteenth century and prior to Palestrina, Borgia was one of the chief restorers of sacred music.

In 1538, at Toledo, an eighth child was born to the Marquess of Lombay, and on 1 May of the next year the Empress Isabella died. The equerry was commissioned to convey her remains to Granada, where they were interred on 17 May. The death of the empress caused the first break in the brilliant career of the Marquess and Marchioness of Lombay. It detached them from the court and taught the nobleman the vanity of life and of its grandeurs. Blessed John of Avila preached the funeral sermon, and Francis, having made known to him his desire of reforming his life, returned to Toledo resolved to become a perfect Christian. On 26 June, 1539, Charles V named Borgia Viceroy of Catalonia, and the importance of the charge tested the sterling qualities of the courtier. Precise instructions determined his course of action. He was to reform the administration of justice, put the finances in order, fortify the city of Barcelona, and repress outlawry. On his arrival at the viceregal city, on 23 August, he at once proceeded, with an energy which no opposition could daunt, to build the ramparts, rid the country of the brigands who terrorized it, reform the monasteries, and develop learning. During his vice-regency he showed himself an inflexible justiciary, and above all an exemplary Christian. But a series of grievous trials were destined to develop in him the work of sanctification begun at Granada. In 1543 he became, by the death of his father, Duke of Gandia, and was named by the emperor master of the household of Prince Philip of Spain, who was betrothed to the Princess of Portugal. This appointment seemed to indicate Francis as the chief minister of the future reign, but by God's permission the sovereigns of Portugal opposed the appointment. Francis then retired to his Duchy of Gandia, and for three years awaited the termination of the displeasure which barred him from court. He profited by this leisure to reorganize his duchy, to found a university in which he himself took the degree of Doctor of Theology, and to attain to a still higher degree of virtue. In 1546 his wife died. The duke had invited the Jesuits to Gandia and become their protector and disciple, and even at that time their model. But he desired still more, and on 1 February, 1548, became one of them by the pronunciation of the solemn vows of religion, although authorized by the pope to remain in the world, until he should have fulfilled his obligations towards his children and his estates—his obligations as father and as ruler.

On 31 August, 1550, the Duke of Gandia left his estates to see them no more. On 23 October he arrived at Rome, threw himself at the feet of St. Ignatius, and edified by his rare humility those especially who recalled the ancient power of the Borgias. Quick to conceive great projects, he even then urged St. Ignatius to found the Roman College. On 4 February, 1551, he left Rome, without making known his intention of departure. On 4 April, he reached Azpeitia in Guipuzcoa, and chose as his abode the hermitage of Santa Magdalena near Oñate. Charles V having permitted him to relinquish his possessions, he abdicated in favour of his eldest son, was ordained priest 25 May, and at once began to deliver a series of sermons in Guipuzcoa which revived the faith of the country. Nothing was talked of throughout Spain but this change of life, and Oñate became the object of incessant pilgrimage. The neophyte was obliged to tear himself from prayer in order to preach in the cities which called him, and which his burning words, his example, and even his mere appearance, stirred profoundly. In 1553 he was invited to visit Portugal. The court received him as a messenger from God and vowed to him, thenceforth, a veneration which it has always preserved. On his return from this journey, Francis learned that, at the request of the emperor, Pope Julius III was willing to bestow on him the cardinalate. St. Ignatius prevailed upon the pope to reconsider this decision, but two years later the project was renewed and Borgia anxiously inquired whether he might in conscience oppose the desire of the pope. St. Ignatius again relieved his embarrassment by requesting him to pronounce the solemn vows of profession, by which he engaged not to accept any dignities save at the formal command of the pope. Thenceforth the saint was reassured. Pius IV and Pius V loved him too well to impose upon him a dignity which would have caused him distress. Gregory XIII, it is true, appeared resolved, in 1572, to overcome his reluctance, but on this occasion death saved him from the elevation he had so long feared.

On 10 June, 1554, St. Ignatius named Francis Borgia commissary-general of the Society in Spain. Two years later he confided to him the care of the missions of the East and West Indies, that is to say of all the missions of the Society. To do this was to entrust to a recruit the future of his order in the peninsula, but in this choice the founder displayed his rare knowledge of men, for within seven years Francis was to transform the provinces confided to him. He found them poor in subjects, containing but few houses, and those scarcely known. He left them strengthened by his influence and rich in disciples drawn from the highest grades of society. These latter, whom his example had done so much to attract, were assembled chiefly in his novitiate at Simancas, and were sufficient for numerous foundations. Everything aided Borgia — his name, his sanctity, his eager power of initiative, and his influence with the Princess Juana, who governed Castile in the absence of her brother Philip. On 22 April, 1555, Queen Juana the Mad died at Tordesillas, attended by Borgia. To the saint's presence has been ascribed the serenity enjoyed by the queen in her last moments. The veneration which he inspired was thereby increased, and furthermore his extreme austerity, the care which he lavished on the poor in the hospitals, the marvellous graces with which God surrounded his apostolate contributed to augment a renown by which he profited to further God's work. In 1565 and 1566 he founded the missions of Florida, New Spain, and Peru, thus extending even to the New World the effects of his insatiable zeal.

In December, 1556, and three other times, Charles V shut himself up at Yuste. He at once summoned thither his old favourite, whose example had done so much to inspire him with the desire to abdicate. In the following month of August, he sent him to Lisbon to deal with various questions concerning the succession of Juan III. When the emperor died, 21 September, 1558, Borgia was unable to be present at his bedside, but he was one of the testamentary executors appointed by the monarch, and it was he who, at the solemn services at Valladolid, pronounced the eulogy of the deceased sovereign. A trial was to close this period of success. In 1559 Philip II returned to reign in Spain. Prejudiced for various reasons (and his prejudice was fomented by many who were envious of Borgia, some of whose interpolated works had been recently condemned by the Inquisition), Philip seemed to have forgotten his old friendship for the Marquess of Lombay, and he manifested towards him a displeasure which increased when he learned that the saint had gone to Lisbon. Indifferent to this storm, Francis continued for two years in Portugal his preaching and his foundations, and then, at the request of Pope Pius IV, went to Rome in 1561. But storms have their providential mission. It may be questioned whether but for the disgrace of 1543 the Duke of Gandia would have become a religious, and whether, but for the trial which took him away from Spain, he would have accomplished the work which awaited him in Italy. At Rome it was not long before he won the veneration of the public. Cardinals Otho Truchsess, Archbishop of Augsburg, Stanislaus Hosius, and Alexander Farnese evinced towards him a sincere friendship. Two men above all rejoiced at his coming. They were Michael Chisleri, the future Pope Pius V, and Charles Borromeo, whom Borgia'a example aided to become a saint.

On 16 February, 1564, Francis Borgia was named assistant general in Spain and Portugal, and on 20 January, 1565, was elected vicar-general of the Society of Jesus. He was elected general 2 July, 1565, by thirty-one votes out of thirty-nine, to succeed Father James Laynez. Although much weakened by his austerities, worn by attacks of gout and an affection of the stomach, the new general still possessed much strength, which, added to his abundant store of initiative, his daring in the conception and execution of vast designs, and the influence which he exercised over the Christian princes and at Rome, made him for the Society at once the exemplary model and the providential head. In Spain he had had other cares in addition to those of government. Henceforth he was to be only the general. The preacher was silent. The director of souls ceased to exercise his activity, except through his correspondence, which, it is true, was immense and which carried throughout the entire world light and strength to kings, bishops and apostles, to nearly all who in his day served the Catholic cause. His chief anxiety being to strengthen and develop his order, he sent visitors to all the provinces of Europe, to Brazil, India, and Japan. The instructions, with which he furnished them were models of prudence, kindness, and breadth of mind. For the missionaries as well as for the fathers delegated by the pope to the Diet of Augsburg, for the confessors of princes and the professors of colleges he mapped out wide and secure paths. While too much a man of duty to permit relaxation or abuse, he attracted chiefly by his kindness, and won souls to good by his example. The edition of the rules, at which he laboured incessantly, was completed in 1567. He published them at Rome, dispatched them (throughout the Society), and strongly urged their observance. The text of those now in force was edited after his death, in 1580, but it differs little from that issued by Borgia, to whom the Society owes the chief edition of its rules as well as that of the Spiritual, of which he had borne the expense in 1548. In order to ensure the spiritual and intellectual formation of the young religious and the apostolic character of the whole order, it became necessary to take other measures. The task of Borgia was to establish, first at Rome, then in all the provinces, wisely regulated novitiates and flourishing houses of study, and to develop the cultivation of the interior life by establishing in all of these the custom of a daily hour of prayer.

He completed at Rome the house and church of S. Andrea in Quirinale, in 1567. Illustrious novices flocked thither, among them Stanislaus Kostka (d. 1568), and the future martyr Rudolph Acquaviva. Since his first journey to Rome, Borgia had been preoccupied with the idea of founding a Roman college, and while in Spain had generously supported the project. In 1567, he built the church of the college, assured it even then an income of six thousand ducats, and at the same time drew up the rule of studies, which, in 1583, inspired the compilers of the Ratio Studiorum of the Society. Being a man of prayer as well as of action, the saintly general, despite overwhelming occupations, did not permit his soul to be distracted from continual contemplation. Strengthened by so vigilant and holy an administration the Society could not but develop. Spain and Portugal numbered many foundations; in Italy Borgia created the Roman province, and founded several colleges in Piedmont. France and the Northern province, however, were the chief field of his triumphs. His relations with the Cardinal de Lorraine and his influence with the French Court made it possible for him to put an end to numerous misunderstandings, to secure the revocation of several hostile edicts, and to found eight colleges in France. In Flanders and Bohemia, in the Tyrol and in Germany, he maintained and multiplied important foundations. The province of Poland was entirely his work. At Rome everything was transformed under his hands. He had built S. Andrea and the church of the Roman college. He assisted agenerously in the building of the Gesù, and although the official founder of that church was Cardinal Farnese, and the Roman College has taken the name of one of its greatest benefactors, Gregory XIII, Borgia contributed more than anyone towards these foundations. During the seven years of his government, Borgia had introduced so many reforms into his order as to deserve to be called its second founder. Three saints of this epoch laboured incessantly to further the renaissance of Catholicism. They were St. Francis Borgia, St. Pius V, and St. Charles Borromeo.

The pontificate of Pius V and the generalship of Borgia began within an interval of a few months and ended at almost the same time. The saintly pope had entire confidence in the saintly general, who conformed with intelligent devotion to every desire of the pontiff. It was he who inspired the pope with the idea of demanding from the Universities of Perugia and Bologna, and eventually from all the Catholic universities, a profession of the Catholic faith. It was also he who, in 1568, desired the pope to appoint a commission of cardinals charged with promoting the conversion of infidels and heretics, which was the germ of the Congregation for the Propogation of the Faith, established later by Gregory XV in 1622. A pestilential fever invaded Rome in 1566, and Borgia organized methods of relief, established ambulances, and distributed forty of his religious to such purpose that the same fever having broken out two years later it was to Borgia that the pope at once confided the task of safeguarding the city.

Francis Borgia had always greatly loved the foreign missions. He reformed those of India and the Far East and created those of America. Within a few years, he had the glory of numbering among his sons sixty-six martyrs, the most illustrious of whom were the fifty-three missionaries of Brazil who with their superior, Ignacio Azevedo, were massacred by Huguenot corsairs. It remained for Francis to terminate his beautiful life with a splendid act of obedience to the pope and devotion to the Church.

On 7 June, 1571, Pius V requested him to accompany his nephew, Cardinal Bonelli, on an embassy to Spain and Portugal. Francis was then recovering from a severe illness; it was feared that he had not the strength to bear fatigue, and he himself felt that such a journey would cost him his life, but he gave it generously. Spain welcomed him with transports. The old distrust of Philip II was forgotten. Barcelona and Valencia hastened to meet their former viceroy and saintly duke. The crowds in the streets cried: "Where is the saint?" They found him emaciated by penance. Wherever he went, he reconciled differences and soothed discord. At Madrid, Philip II received him with open arms, the Inquisition approved and recommended his genuine works. The reparation was complete, and it seemed as though God wished by this journey to give Spain to understand for the last time this living sermon, the sight of a saint. Gandia ardently desired to behold its holy duke, but he would never consent to return thither. The embassy to Lisbon was no less consoling to Borgia. Among other happy results he prevailed upon the king, Don Sebastian, to ask in marriage the hand of Marguerite of Valois, the sister of Charles IX. This was the desire of St. Pius V, but this project, being formulated too late, was frustrated by the Queen of Navarre, who had meanwhile secured the hand of Marguerite for her son. An order from the pope expressed his wish that the embassy should also reach the French court. The winter promised to be severe and was destined to prove fatal to Borgia. Still more grievous to him was to be the spectacle of the devastation which heresy had caused in that country, and which struck sorrow to the heart of the saint. At Blois, Charles IX and Catherine de' Medici accorded Borgia the reception due to a Spanish grandee, but to the cardinal legate as well as to him they gave only fair words in which there was little sincerity. On 25 February they left Blois. By the time they reached Lyons, Borgia's lungs were already affected. Under these conditions the passage of Mt. Cenis over snow-covered roads was extremely painful. By exerting all his strength the invalid reached Turin. On the way the people came out of the villages crying: “We wish to see the saint
. Advised of his cousin's condition, Alfonso of Este, Duke of Ferrara, sent to Alexandria and had him brought to his ducal city, where he remained from 19 April until 3 September. His recovery was despaired of and it was said that he would not survive the autumn. Wishing to die either at Loretto or at Rome, he departed in a litter on 3 September, spent eight days at Loretto, and then, despite the sufferings caused by the slightest jolt, ordered the bearers to push forward with the utmost speed for Rome. It was expected that any instant might see the end of his agony. They reached the Porta del Popolo on 28 September. The dying man halted his litter and thanked God that he had been able to accomplish this act of obedience. He was borne to his cell which was soon invaded by cardinals and prelates. For two days Francis Borgia, fully conscious, awaited death, receiving those who visited him and blessing through his younger brother, Thomas Borgia, all his children and grandchildren. Shortly after midnight on 30 September, his beautiful life came to a peaceful and painless close. In the Catholic Church he had been one of the most striking examples of the conversion of souls after the Renaissance, and for the Society of Jesus he had been the protector chosen by Providence to whom, after St. Ignatius, it owes most.

In 1607 the Duke of Lerma, minister of Philip III and grandson of the holy religious, having seen his granddaughter miraculously cured through the intercession of Francis, caused the process for his canonization to be begun. The ordinary process, begun at once in several cities, was followed, in 1637, by the Apostolic process. In 1617 Madrid received the remains of the saint. In 1624 the Congregation of Rites announced that his beatification and canonization might be proceeded with. The beatification was celebrated at Madrid with incomparable splendour. Urban VIII having decreed, in 1631, that a Blessed might not be canonized without a new procedure, a new process was begun. It was reserved for Clement X to sign the Bull of canonization of St. Francis Borgia, on 20 June, 1670. Spared from the decree of Joseph Bonaparte who, in 1809, ordered the confiscation of all shrines and precious objects, the silver shrine containing the remains of the saint, after various vicissitudes, was removed, in 1901, to the church of the Society at Madrid, where it is honoured at the present time.

It is with good reason that Spain and the Church venerate in St. Francis Borgia a great man and a great saint. The highest nobles of Spain are proud of their descent from, or their connexion with him. By his penitent and apostolic life he repaired the sins of his family and rendered glorious a name, which but for him, would have remained a source of humiliation for the Church. His feast is celebrated 10 October.
1941 Maximilian Kolbe Apostle of Consecration to Mary.
Also known as Apostle of Consecration to Mary; Massimiliano Maria Kolbe; Maximilian Mary Kolbe; Raymond Kolbe
Memorial 14 August
Canonized 10 October 1982 by Pope John Paul II; declared a martyr of charity
Profile Second of three sons born to a poor but pious Catholic family in Russian occupied Poland. His parents, both Franciscan lay tertiaries, worked at home as weavers. His father, Julius, later ran a religious book store, then enlisted in Pilsudski's army, fought for Polish independence from Russia, and was hanged by the Russians as a traitor in 1914. His mother, Marianne Dabrowska, later became a Benedictine nun. His brother Alphonse became a priest.

Raymond was known as a mischievous child, sometimes considered wild, and a trial to his parents. However, in 1906 at Pabianice, at age twelve and around the time of his first Communion, he received a vision of the Virgin Mary that changed his life.
I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both. -Saint Maximilian
He entered the Franciscan junior seminary in Lwow, Poland in 1907 where he excelled in mathematics and physics. For a while he wanted to abandon the priesthood for the military, but eventually relented to the call to religious life, and on 4 September 1910 he became a novice in the Conventual Franciscan Order at age 16. He took the name Maximilian, made his first vows on 5 September 1911, his final vows on 1 November 1914.

Studied philosophy at the Jesuit Gregorian College in Rome from 1912 to 1915, and theology at the Franciscan Collegio Serafico in Rome from 1915 to 1919. On 16 October 1917, while still in seminary, he and six friends founded the Immaculata Movement (Militia Immaculatae, Crusade of Mary Immaculate) devoted to the conversion of sinners, opposition to freemasonry (which was extremely anti-Catholic at the time), spread of the Miraculous Medal (which they wore as their habit), and devotion to Our Lady and the path to Christ. Stricken with tuberculosis which nearly killed him, and left him in frail in health the rest of his life. Ordained on 28 April 1918 in Rome at age 24. Received his Doctor of Theology on 22 July 1922;
his insights into Marian theology echo today through their influence on Vatican II.

Maximilian returned to Poland on 29 July 1919 to teach history in the Crakow seminary. He had to take a medical leave from 10 August 1920 to 28 April 1921 to be treated for tuberculosis at the hospital at Zakpane in the Tatra Mountains.

In January 1922 he began publication of the magazine Knight of the Immaculate to fight religious apathy; by 1927 the magazine had a press run of 70,000 issues. He was forced to take another medical leave from 18 September 1926 to 13 April 1927, but the work continued. The friaries from which he had worked were not large enough for his work, and in 1927 Polish Prince Jan Drucko-Lubecki gave him land at Teresin near Warsaw.

There he founded a new monastery of Niepokalanow, the City of the Immaculate which was consecrated on 8 December 1927. At its peak the Knight of the Immaculate had a press run of 750,000 copies a month.
A junior seminary was started on the grounds in 1929. In 1935 the house began printing a daily Catholic newspaper, The Little Daily with a press run of 137,000 on work days, 225,000 on Sundays and holy days.


Not content with his work in Poland, Maximilian and four brothers left for Japan in 1930.
Within a month of their arrival, penniless and knowing no Japanese, Maximilian was printing a Japanese version of the Knight; the magazine, Seibo no Kishi grew to a circulation of 65,000 by 1936.
In 1931 he founded a monastery in Nagasaki, Japan comparable to Niepokalanow.
It survived the war, including the nuclear bombing, and serves today as a center of Franciscan work in Japan.

In mid-1932 he left Japan for Malabar, India where he founded a third Niepokalanow house. However, due to a lack of manpower, it did not survive.

Poor health forced him to curtail his missionary work and return to Poland in 1936. On 8 December 1938 the monastery started its own radio station.
By 1939 the monastery housed a religious community of nearly 800 men, the largest in the world in its day, and was completely self-sufficient including medical facilities and a fire brigade staffed by the religious brothers.


Arrested with several of his brothers on 19 September 1939 following the Nazi invasion of Poland. Others at the monastery were briefly exiled, but the prisoners were released on 8 December 1939, and the men returned to their work. Back at Niepokalanow he continued his priestly ministry, The brothers housed 3,000 Polish refugees, two-thirds of whom were Jewish, and continued their publication work, including materials considered anti-Nazi. For this work the presses were shut down, the congregation suppressed, the brothers dispersed, and Maximilian was imprisoned in Pawiak prison, Warsaw, Poland on 17 February 1941.

On 28 May 1941 he was transferred to Auschwitz and branded as prisoner 16670. He was assigned to a special work group staffed by priests and supervised by especially vicious and abusive guards. His calm dedication to the faith brought him the worst jobs available, and more beatings than anyone else. At one point he was beaten, lashed, and left for dead. The prisoners managed to smuggle him into the camp hospital where he spent his recovery time hearing confessions. When he returned to the camp, Maximilian ministered to other prisoners, including conducting Mass and delivering communion using smuggled bread and wine.

In July 1941 there was an escape from the camp. Camp protocol, designed to make the prisoners guard each other, required that ten men be slaughtered in retribution for each escaped prisoner. Francis Gajowniczek, a married man with young children was chosen to die for the escape. Maximilian volunteered to take his place, and died as he had always wished - in service.
Born 7 January 1894 at Zdunska Wola, Poland as Raymond Kolbe
Died 14 August 1941 by lethal carbonic acid injection after three weeks of starvation and dehydration at Auschwitz; body burned in the ovens and ashes scattered
Beatified 17 October 1971 by Pope Paul VI; his beatification miracles include the July 1948 cure of intestinal tuberculosis of Angela Testoni, and August 1950 cure of calcification of the arteries/sclerosis of Francis Ranier
Canonized 10 October 1982 by Pope John Paul II; declared a martyr of charity
Patronage drug addiction, drug addicts, families, imprisoned people, journalists, political prisoners, prisoners, pro-life movement.



THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 91

To thee, O Lady, will I sing mercy and judgment:
I will sing to thee in joy of heart, when thou shalt have made my soul glad.

I will praise thee and thy glory: and thou shalt bestow refreshment upon my soul.

I have been zealous for thy love and thy honor: therefore wilt thou defend my cause before the judge of ages.

I am drawn by thy goodness and grace: I pray thee, let me not be defrauded of my hope and good confidence.

Strengthen thou my soul in my last days: and in this my flesh make me to behold my Savior.


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.

Join us on CatholicVote.org. Be part of a new movement committed to using powerful media projects to create a Culture of Life. We can help shape the movement and have a voice in its future. Check it out at www.CatholicVote.org

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

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

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

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

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

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

To Save A Life is Earthly; Saving A Soul is Eternal Donation by mail, please send check or money order to:
Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210  USA
  Catholic Television Network  Supported entirely by donations from viewers  help  spread the Eternal Word, online Here
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).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China
Marian shrines
May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related
Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, 91 2023