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
22,050  Lives Saved Since 2007

Make a Novena and pray the Rosary to Our Lady of Victory

Mary Mother of GOD

40 days for Life
We pray for humility in our work for God’s Kingdom.

"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow."-- Micah 7:18-19
One of the constant themes I hear is that there is incredible darkness at abortion facilities. Even on a bright, sunny day, there is darkness. You can feel it. Christ said that we are the light of the world. Thank you for bringing peace to places that have no peace ... and light to places that dwell in darkness.
  15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary

Who can put Mary's high honour into words? She is both mother and virgin. I am overwhelmed by the wonder of this miracle. Of course no one could be prevented from living in the house he had built for himself, yet who would invite mockery by asking his own servant to become his mother? Behold then the joy of the whole universe. Let the union of God and man in the Son of the Virgin Mary fill us with awe and adoration.  -- Saint Cyril of Alexandria 

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

Herbert Hoover, who died OCTOBER 20, 1964, signed a joint-statement during World War II with the widows of Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Coolidge, Taft, Harrison and Cleveland, which stated:

"Menaced by collectivist trends, we must seek revival of our strength in the spiritual foundations which are the bedrock of our republic.  Democracy is the outgrowth of the religious conviction of the sacredness of every human life.
On the religious side, its highest embodiment is the Bible; on the political side, the Constitution."


October 20
Today's saints include a heretic (Artemius), a princess (Adelina), 2 deacons (Aderald and Maximus), a peasant (1922 St. Maria Bertilla Boscardin nursing very ill /disturbed children;) among its numbers.
October 20 - Consecration of Portugal to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (1646)
Saint Luke
"Then [Jesus] led them [out] as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven. They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and they were continually in the temple praising God" (Luke 24:50-53).
The icons of Saint Luke
According to tradition, St Luke was the first person to complete three pictures of the holy Mother of God carrying the Child of God in her arms. He showed them to the Holy Virgin for approval, while she was still alive. She received these holy pictures joyfully and said: “May the grace of Him to whom I gave birth be within them!” Later, St Luke made pictures of the Holy Apostles and bestowed upon the Church this pious and holy tradition of venerating the icons of Christ and His Saints.”

Today's saints include a heretic (Artemius), a princess (Adelina), two deacons (Aderald and Maximus), and a peasant (1922 St. Maria Bertilla Boscardin nursing very ill /disturbed children;) among its numbers.
October 20 - Consecration of Portugal to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (1646)
The Rosary of the Virgin Mary (VI)
  Even now, amid the joyful songs of the heavenly Jerusalem, the reasons for giving her thanksgiving and praise remain unchanged. These prayers inspire her maternal concern for the pilgrim Church, in which she continues to relate her personal account of the Gospel. Mary constantly sets before the faithful the “mysteries” of her Son, with the desire that the contemplation of those mysteries will release all their saving power.
In the recitation of the Rosary, the Christian community comes in contact with the memories
and the contemplative gaze of Mary.  John Paul II Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, #11 (October 2002)
October 20 - Mater Admirabilis (Rome) - Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (d.1629) From Silence to Silence
The Virgin's lot in life is to remain in silence and to listen. It is her state, her path, her life.
Her life is filled with a silence that adores the eternal Word.  While seeing before her eyes, in her womb, in her arms,
This same Word, the substantial Word of the Father, Mute and reduced to silence by the state of his childhood,
She enters in a new silence and is transformed.
As is transformed the Word incarnate, Who is her son, the Son of God, her only love
So her life goes by from silence to silence,
From the silence of worship to the silence of transformation.  Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (1575-1629)

  250 St. Maximus of Aquila Martyred deacon of Aquila
 
254 ST FELICIAN, Bishop OF FOLIGNO, MARTYR is also regarded as the original apostle of Umbria; the earliest trace of the use of the pallium is met with in the account of the episcopal consecration of this saint translation of his relics on this date.   Site Here:
3rd v. St. Caprasius Martyr inspired by death of St. Faith; This story is entirely fictitious, but there was a church at Agen dedicated in honour of St Caprasius in the sixth century and he was doubtless a real person.
  341 St. Usthazanes martyr; abbot in Persia
 363 St. Artemius; The special interest of this alleged martyr lies in the miracles wrought at his shrine, the detailed record of which has been edited by A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus in his Varia Graeca Sacra (1909), pp. 1—79. In these cures something analogous to the incubation, practised by the votaries of Aesculapius at Epidaurus and described by Aristides, seems to have been observed. See Delehaye, La recueils antiques des miracles des saints in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xliii (1925), pp. 32—38; and M. P. Maas; “Artemioskult in Konstantinopel”, in Byzantinisch-Neugriochische Yahrbücher vol. (1920), pp. 377 seq. The Greek life is in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii. Cf. P. Allard, Julien l’Apostat, vol. iii (1903), pp. 21-32.
  342 St. Barsabas Persian  martyred w/11 others
  461 St. Rusticus of Narbonne letter from Ravennius, Bishop of Arles, sent to Rusticus, proves the high esteem in which he was held. His  letters are lost, with the exception of the one to St. Jerome and two others to St. Leo,
 660 St. Sindulphus of Rheims, Hermit renowned for knowledge of Sacred Scripture and wise counsel (RM)
  653 St. Irene VM (RM)
  742 St. Acca Bishop and Benedictine scholar companion of early English saints and missionaries
  745 St. Vitalis Abbot of St. Peter's Abbey at Salzburg
  766 St. Andrew of Crete denounced Emperor Constantine Copronymus's heretical edict against veneration of images
  768 St. Aidan of Mayo B (AC)
   800 St. Bernard of Bagnorea bishop of Vulcia
   852 George the Deacon and Aurelius from Cordova  translation of their relics on this day feast day here July 27:
Lutétiæ Parisiórum item Translátio sanctórum Mártyrum Geórgii Diáconi, et Aurélii, ex urbe Hispániæ Córduba, in qua olim, una cum áliis tribus Sóciis, ambo martyrium compléverant sexto Kaléndas Augústi.
    At Paris, the translation of the holy martyrs George, a deacon, and Aurelius from Cordova, a city of Spain, where they had died with three companions on the 27th of July.

        St. Martha Virgin martyr with Saula
1004 St. Aderald Archdeacon and confessor relic hunter
1125 St. Adelina abbess granddaughter of William the Conqueror
1125 Bl. Adeline first Abbess of the monastery founded at Mortain
1291      Bradan and Orora (Crora) (AC)
1380 St Demetrius Memorial Saturday was established for the churchwide remembrance of the soldiers who fell in the Battle of Kulidovo. This memorial service was held for the first time at the Trinity-St Sergius monastery on October 20, 1380 by St Sergius of Radonezh, in the presence of Great Prince Demetrius of the Don. It is an annual remembrance of the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo, among the schemamonks Alexander (Peresvet) and Andrew (Oslyab).
15th v. Saint Matrona; she founded a small monastery for women. Soon other nuns joined her in her ascetical struggles; worked many miracles both during her life and after her death, and was revered throughout Chios for her virtuous life and holiness. She showed charity to the poor, and was able to heal the sick.
1473 St John Of Kanti; he persevered for some years, and by the time he was recalled to Cracow had so far won his people’s hearts that they accompanied him on part of the road with such grief that he said to them, “This sadness does not please God. If I have done any good for you in all these years, sing a song of joy.” “Fight all false opinions, but let your weapons be patience, sweetness and love. Roughness is bad for your own soul and spoils the best cause.” Miracles attributed; the only confessor not a bishop has different hymns for Matins, Lauds and Vespers in the Roman Breviary.
1545 Holy Righteous Artemius of Verkola a light over the place where the incorrupt body of the Righteous Artemius lay. Taken to the church of St Nicholas in 1577, the holy relics were shown to be a source of numerous healings. In this village a monastery was later built, called the Verkola
1579 Saint Gerasimus the New Ascetic of Cephalonia; uncovering of his holy relics in 1581;  studied with the ascetics of Mt Athos; For his exalted life he was granted a miraculous gift: the ability to heal the sick and cast out unclean spirits;
1748 Bl. Francis Serrano Dominican martyr of China A Spaniard  & Francis Diaz OP MM (AC)
1775 St. Paul of the Cross founded Passionists greatest gifts in the supernatural order
1889 Bl. Mary Teresa de Soubiran care of working girls orphans Eucharistic adoration;
enjoyed high order mystical gifts
1922 St. Maria Bertilla Boscardin nursing very ill /disturbed children;
miracles of healing attributed to her intercession
The historicity of the Infancy Gospel according to Saint Luke (III)
Luke doesn't project God's glory over the manger of Bethlehem like James's Protoevangelium (19, 2) less than a century later. He evokes the shabby manger where Jesus was born naked. The glory of God surrounds the poor shepherds in the night of Christmas (2: 9), not the manger where the Lord-Messiah lays.
Luke leaves over the prophecy of Simeon on the sword of suffering (2, 35) a shadow that continues to burden exegetes, even though the Passion and Resurrection of Christ would have permitted to clarify it.
Where the Apocrypha's show the doctors of the Law astounded by Jesus' exhaustive knowledge,
Luke limits himself to mentioning the humble questions and answers of the Child Jesus (2: 46-47).
René Laurentin The Christmas Gospels, Desclée, 1999

Benedict_XVI_Patriarch_Bartholomew
"Christianity is not a moral code or a philosophy,
but an encounter with a person" -- Benedict XVI
Clement XIII canonized St. John Kanti in 1767
1758-1769 Pope Clement XIII; Oct 20; the Jansenist Abbé Clément, a grudging witness, tells us that "he was called the saint (by his people), and was an exemplary man who, notwithstanding the immense revenues of his diocese and his private estate, was always without money owing to the lavishness of his alms-deeds, and would give away even his linen"

Benedict XIV Approved St. Paul of the Cross founded Passionists Rules in 1741 and 1746
1740-1758 Pope Benedict XIV is best known to history as a student and a scholar. Though by no means a genius, his enormous application coupled with more than ordinary cleverness of mind made him one of the most erudite men of his time and gave him the distinction of being perhaps the greatest scholar among the popes. His character was many-sided, and his range of interests large. His devotion to science and the serious investigation of historical problems did not interfere with his purely literary studies. I have been reproached, he once said, because of my familiarity with Tasso and Dante and Ariosto, but they are a necessity to me in order to give energy to my thought and life to my style. This devotion to the arts and sciences brought Lambertini throughout his whole life into close and friendly contact with the most famous authors and scholars of his time. Montfaucon, whom he knew in Rome, said of him, Young as he is, he has two souls: one for science, the other for society. This last characterization did not interfere with his restless activity in any of the many important positions which he was called on to fill, nor did it diminish his marvellous capacity for the most arduous work.  (PROSPERO LORENZO LAMBERTINI.)
St. Paul of the Cross canonized by Pope Pius IX in 1867
1846--
1878 Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti,
devotion to Mary led him to favor the Proclamation of the Immaculate Conception (December 8, 1854)

"The answers to many of life's questions can be found by reading the Lives of the Saints. They teach us how to overcome obstacles and difficulties,
how to stand firm in our faith, and how to struggle against evil and emerge victorious." 

1913 Saint Barsanuphius of Optina
God calls each one of us to be a saint in order to get into heaven.
The more "extravagant" graces are bestowed NOT for the benefit of the recipients so much as FOR the benefit of others.

250 St. Maximus of Aquila Martyred deacon of Aquila
In Aviénsi civitáte, prope Aquilam, in Vestínis, natális beáti Máximi, Levítæ et Mártyris; qui, patiéndi desidério, inquiréntibus se persecutóribus palam osténdit, et, post responsiónis constántiam, equúleo suspénsus ac tortus, deínde fústibus cæsus, ad últimum, e sublími loco præcipitátus, occúbuit.
    At Abia, near Aquila in Abruzzo, the birthday of blessed Maximus, deacon and martyr.  Because of his desire to suffer he shewed himself to the persecutors of his own accord.  After answering with great constancy, he was racked and tortured, then beaten with rods, and he finally died by being cast headlong from a high place.
 Italy. He was thrown over a cliff by the Roman authorities for refusing to deny the faith. Maximus is patron saint of Aquila.
Maximus of Aquila M (RM) Born in Aquila, Italy.  Deacon Maximus was conspicuous for his zeal. Martyred by being thrown over a cliff near his native city during the persecutions of Decius, Maximus is now venerated as its patron saint (Benedictines).
254 ST FELICIAN, Bishop OF FOLIGNO, MARTYR is also regarded as the original apostle of Umbria; the earliest
            trace of the use of the pallium is met with in the account of the episcopal consecration of this saint
Apud Mindam, in Germánia, Translátio sancti Feliciáni, Epíscopi Fulginátis et Mártyris; cujus ibi depósita fuit sacrárum pars reliquiárum, quæ in Germániam advéctæ sunt ex Umbriæ civitáte Fulgíneo, ubi ipse nono Kaléndas Februárii passus quondam fúerat.
    At Minden in Germany, the translation of St. Felician, bishop of Foligno and martyr.  From his holy relics a portion was placed in an urn and brought to Germany from the city of Foligno in Umbria, where he had died on the 24th of January.
3rd v. St. Caprasius Martyr inspired by death of St. Faith; This story is entirely fictitious, but there was a church at Agen dedicated in honour of St Caprasius in the sixth century and he was doubtless a real person.
Agénni, in Gállia, sancti Caprásii Mártyris, qui, cum rábiem persecutiónis declínans láteret in spelúnca, tandem, áudiens quáliter beáta Fides Virgo pro Christo agonizáret, índeque animátus ad tolerántiam passiónum, orávit ad Dóminum, ut, si eum glória martyrii dignum judicáret, ex lápide spelúncæ limpidíssima aqua manáret; quod cum Dóminum præstitísset, secúrus ad áream certáminis properávit, et palmam martyrii, sub Maximiáno Imperatóre, fórtiter dimicándo proméruit.
    At Agen in France, St. Caprasius, martyr.  He was hiding in a cavern to avoid the violence of the persecution when the report of the blessed virgin Faith's courage in suffering for Christ roused him to endure the torments.  He prayed to God that, if he were deemed worthy of the glory of martyrdom, clear water might flow from the rock of his cave.  God granted his prayer, and he went with confidence to the scene of the trial, where, after a valiant struggle, he merited the palm of martyrdom under Maximian.

3rd v. St Caprasius, Martyr
According to the legend of the church of Agen St Caprasius was the first bishop of that city, and when his flock dispersed and fled before persecution he followed them in their hiding-places to minister to them. But from his place of refuge on Mont-Saint-Vincent he was a witness of the passion of St Faith (October 6), and when he saw the marvels with which God surrounded her martyrdom he went down to the place where her body still lay and confronted the prefect, Dacian. When asked his name he replied that he was a Christian and a bishop, and was called Caprasius. Dacian remarked on his good looks and youth and offered him rewards and imperial favour if he would apostatize. Caprasius replied that he wanted to live in no other palace than that of Him whom he worshipped or to have any other riches than those that were imperishable.
   He was handed over to the torturers, and his constancy so impressed the bystanders that the prefect ordered him to prison. The next day Caprasius was sentenced to death and on his way to execution met his mother, who encouraged him to remain firm. Then he was joined by Alberta, sister of Faith, and by two young brothers called Primus and Felician, nor was the governor able to turn them from their determination to suffer with Caprasius. So they were all led to the temple of Diana, to give them a last opportunity to sacrifice, and when they refused were beheaded.


 Then followed a wholesale massacre, for many pagans professed Christianity on the spot and were cut down by the soldiers or stoned by their neighbours.
This story is entirely fictitious, but there was a church at Agen dedicated in honour of St Caprasius in the sixth century and he was doubtless a real person. Alberta, Primus and Felician, on the other hand, probably never existed, though the feasts of all of them are kept at Agen; the two last must be distinguished from the Roman martyrs of the same names on June 9. The Roman Martyrology gives a long entry to St Caprasius, but does not call him a bishop and makes no mention of his companions.
In the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii, two or three variants are printed of that form of the passio in which the story of St Caprasius and St Faith are fused into one. See above under October 6. Mgr Duchesne, Faster Episcopaux, vol. ii, pp. 544—146, is inclined to date this amalgamation of the legends as late as the ninth century. See also Saltet, Étude critique sur la Passion de Ste Foy et de St Caprais (1899).
In some traditions, Caprasius was the first bishop of Agen, France. During Emperor Diocletian’s persecution, he went into hiding with local Christians. The death of St. Faith prompted Caprasius to declare openly his Christianity. He was joined by his mother, Alberta, his brothers Primus and Felician, and by companions. They were put to death when they refused to deny the faith.
Caprasius M (RM) Born in Agen, France.  During the fearful persecution of southern France by Diocletian, Caprisius concealed himself. Ashamed of his cowardice upon hearing of the courage of Saint Faith at the stake, he came forth, boldly confessed his religion, and was immediately beheaded. Another unreliable version conjectures that, perhaps, Caprisius was one of the spectators who objected to the torture of Faith and Saint Alberta under Dacian (Benedictines, Delaney)
.
363 St. Artemius; The special interest of this alleged martyr lies in the miracles wrought at his shrine, the detailed record of which has been edited by A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus in his Varia Graeca Sacra (1909), pp. 1—79. In these cures something analogous to the incubation, practised by the votaries of Aesculapius at Epidaurus and described by Aristides, seems to have been observed. See Delehaye, La recueils antiques des miracles des saints in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xliii (1925), pp. 32—38; and M. P. Maas; “Artemioskult in Konstantinopel”, in Byzantinisch-Neugriochische Yahrbücher vol. (1920), pp. 377 seq. The Greek life is in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii. Cf. P. Allard, Julien l’Apostat, vol. iii (1903), pp. 21-32.
Antiochíæ sancti Artémii, Ducis Augustális, qui, sub Constantíno Magno præcláris milítiæ honóribus functus, a Juliáno Apóstata, quem sævítiæ in Christiános argúerat, fústibus cædi, aliísque torméntis afflígi, ac demum cápite truncári jubétur.
    At Antioch, St. Artemius, an imperial officer who had filled high positions in the army under Constantine the Great.  Julian the Apostate, however, whom he rebuked for his cruelty towards Christians, ordered him to be beaten with rods, subjected to other torments, and finally beheaded.
St Artemius, Martyr (A.D. 363)

Holy Great Martyr Artemius of Antioch was a prominent military leader during the reigns of the emperor Constantine the Great (May 21), and his son and successor Constantius (337-361). Artemius received many awards for distinguished service and courage. He was appointed viceroy of Egypt. In this official position he did much for the spreading and strengthening Christianity in Egypt.
St Artemius was sent by the emperor Constantius to bring the relics of the holy Apostle Andrew from Patras, and the relics of the holy Apostle Luke from Thebes of Boeotia, to Constantinople. The holy relics were placed in the Church of the Holy Apostles beneath the table of oblation. The emperor rewarded him by making him ruler of Egypt.
The emperor Constantius was succeeded on the throne by Julian the Apostate (361-363). Julian in his desire to restore paganism was extremely antagonistic towards Christians, sending hundreds to their death. At Antioch he ordered the torture of two bishops unwilling to forsake the Christian Faith.
During this time, St Artemius arrived in Antioch and publicly denounced Julian for his impiety. The enraged Julian subjected the saint to terrible tortures and threw the Great Martyr Artemius into prison. While Artemius was praying, Christ, surrounded by angels, appeared to him and said,
Take courage, Artemius! I am with you and will preserve you from every hurt which is inflicted upon you, and I already have prepared your crown of glory. Since you have confessed Me before the people on earth, so shall I confess you before My Heavenly Father. Therefore, take courage and rejoice, you shall be with Me in My Kingdom. Hearing this, Artemius rejoiced and offered up glory and thanksgiving to Him.

On the following day, Julian demanded that St Artemius honor the pagan gods. Meeting with steadfast refusal, the emperor resorted to further tortures. The saint endured all without a single moan. The saint told Julian that he would be justly recompensed for his persecution of Christians. Julian became furious and resorted to even more savage tortures, but they did not break the will of the saint. Finally the Great Martyr Artemius was beheaded.
His relics were buried by Christians. After the death of St Artemius, his prophecy about Julian the Apostate's impending death came true.
Julian left Antioch for a war with the Persians. Near the Persian city of Ctesiphon, Julian came upon an elderly Persian, who agreed to betray his countrymen and guide Julian's army. The old man deceived Julian and led his army into the Karmanite wilderness, where there was neither food nor water. Tired from hunger and thirst, Julian's army battled against fresh Persian forces.
Divine retribution caught up with Julian the Apostate. During the battle he was mortally wounded by an unseen hand and an unseen weapon. Julian groaned deeply said, "You have conquered, Galilean!" After the death of the apostate emperor, the relics of the Great Martyr Artemius were transferred with honor from Antioch to Constantinople.
St Artemius is invoked by those suffering from hernias.
Cardinal Baronius inserted the name of St Artemius in the Roman Martyrology, following the example of the Eastern Church, which had venerated him in spite of the fact that he was a supporter of the Arians.
   We are told that he was a veteran of the army of Constantine the Great who was made imperial prefect of Egypt, and in discharging this office he had to be a persecutor as well as a heretic. George the Cappadocian had been intruded upon the episcopal throne of Alexandria by the Arian emperor, Constantius, St Athanasius had fled, and it was the duty of Artemius to find him, which he endeavoured to do with great zeal among the monasteries and hermitages of the Egyptian desert; he also persecuted the orthodox in general.
   Artemius was no less zealous against paganism, destroying temples and images, so that when Julian the Apostate became emperor the persecutor was in turn persecuted. Many accusations against Artemius were made to the emperor, among others, that of breaking up idols; he was accordingly deprived of his property and beheaded.
Whether the Artemius whose healing shrine was a great centre of devotion at Constantinople was identical with this Artemius, the prefect of Alexandria put to death by Julian the Apostate, does not seem to be entirely clear. But the Greek life printed in the Acta Sanctorum, which is based ultimately upon the Arian chronicler Philostorgius, quite definitely assumes this. It also states that the Emperor Constantius II commissioned Artemius to convey the reputed relics of St Andrew the Apostle and St Luke the Evangelist from Achaia to Constantinople.

The special interest of this alleged martyr lies in the miracles wrought at his shrine, the detailed record of which has been edited by A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus in his Varia Graeca Sacra (1909), pp. 1—79. In these cures something analogous to the incubation, practised by the votaries of Aesculapius at Epidaurus and described by Aristides, seems to have been observed. See Delehaye, La recueils antiques des miracles des saints in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xliii (1925), pp. 32—38; and M. P. Maas; “Artemioskult in Konstantinopel”, in Byzantinisch-Neugriochische Yahrbücher vol. (1920), pp. 377 seq. The Greek life is in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii. Cf. P. Allard, Julien l’Apostat, vol. iii (1903), pp. 21-32.
We are told that he was a veteran of the army of Constantine the Great who was made imperial prefect of Egypt. In discharging this office he had to be a persecutor as well as a heretic. George the Cappadocian had been intruded upon the episcopal throne of Alexandria by the Arian emperor Constantius, St. Athanasius had fled, and it was the duty of Artemius to find him, which he endeavored to do with great zeal among the monasteries and hermitages of the Egyptian desert; he also persecuted the orthodox in general.
Artemius was no less zealous against paganism, destroying temples and images, so that when Julian the Apostate became emperor the persecutor was in turn, persecuted. Many accusations against Artemius were made to the emperor, among others, that of breaking up idols; he was accordingly deprived of his property, and beheaded. Whether the Artemius whose healing shrine was a great center of devotion at Constantinople, was identical with this Artemius, the prefect of Alexandria put to death by Julian the Apostate, does not seem to be entirely clear. But the Greek life printed in the Acta Sanctorum, which is based ultimately upon the Arian chronicler Philostorgius, quite definitely assumes this.
It also states that the emperor Constantius II commissioned Artemius to convey the refuted relics of St. Andrew the Apostle and St. Luke the Evangelist, from Achaia to Constantinople.
Artemius M (RM). Artemius is one of those very interesting entries in the Roman Martyrology: A heretic and yet a saint! Artemius was a high-ranking officer under Constantine the Great and a professed Arian. Constantius, believing it imprudent to appoint a senator as proconsul of Egypt, which supplied grain to Rome, named Artemius as its prefect. In that position, Artemius persecuted Saint Athanasius and harassed the Catholics. There is no record of his having renounced Arianism.
Theodoret in the Paschal chronicle records that Artemius was accused of demolishing temples and destroying idols. For this reason he was brought before Julian the Apostate at Antioch, condemned, and beheaded as a Christian; therefore, Artemius is counted among the saints in light. The Greeks call him the Megalo- martyr (Benedictines, Husenbeth)
.
341 St. Usthazanes martyr abbot in Persia
see St. Barsabas, martyr. An, tortured and beheaded with his twele monks at Ishtar during the persecution of Sapor, he probably is identical with the leader of a group slain at Persepolis c. 342 and honored on October 20th or with St. Simon Barsabae
.
342 St. Barsabas Persian abbot martyred w/11 others
An abbot who died with eleven of his monks during the persecution conducted by the Sassanid King Shapur II. Tortured and beheaded near the ruins of Persepolis, in modern Iran, these martyrs brought about the conversion of a pagan Persian who joined them in death.
Barsabas and Companions MM (AC). Barsabas was a Persian abbot, who was martyred together with 11 of his monks near the ruins of Persepolis under King Shapur (Sapor) II. According to the Roman Martyrology there is another Persian monk of the same name martyred under similar circumstances, who is honored on December 11. Historians, however, believe the story to be an unfounded, pious fiction, which adds that passing Mazdean, impressed by their fortitude and constancy under torture, joined them and was executed with them (Benedictines, Delaney)
.
461 St. Rusticus of Narbonne letter from Ravennius, Bishop of Arles, sent to Rusticus, proves the high esteem in which he was held. His letters are lost, with the exception of the one to St. Jerome and two others to St. Leo,
Catholic Encyclopedia
Born either at Marseilles or at Narbonnaise, Gaul; died 26 Oct., 461. According to biographers, Rusticus is the one to whom St. Jerome (about 411) addressed a letter, commending him to imitate the virtues of St. Exuperius of Toulouse and to follow the advice of Procule, then Bishop of Marseilles. When he had completed his education in Gaul, Rusticus went to Rome, where he soon gained a reputation as a public speaker, but he wished to embrace the contemplative life. He wrote to St. Jerome, who advised him to continue his studies. Thus Rusticus entered the monastery of St. Vincent of Lérins. He was ordained at Marseilles, and on 3 Oct., 430 (or 427) was consecrated Bishop of Narbonne. With all his zeal, he could not prevent the progress of the Arian heresy which the Goths were spreading abroad. The siege of Narbonne by the Goths and dissensions among the Catholics so disheartened him that he wrote to St. Leo, renouncing the bishoporic, but St. Leo dissuaded him. He then endeavoured to consolidate the Catholics. In 444-448, he built the church in Narbonne; in 451, he assisted at the convocation of forty-four bishops of Gaul and approved St. Leo's letter to Flavian, concerning Nestorianism; he was present also at the Council of Arles, with thirteen bishops, to decide the debate between Theodore, Bishop of Fréjus, and the Abbey of Lérins. A letter from Ravennius, Bishop of Arles, sent to Rusticus, proves the high esteem in which he was held. His letters are lost, with the exception of the one to St. Jerome and two others to St. Leo, written either in 452 or 458. His feast is celebrated on 20 October
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653 Irene VM (RM)
Apud Nabántiam, in Lusitánia, sanctæ Irénes, Vírginis et Mártyris; cujus corpus honorífice sepúltum fuit in óppido Scálabi, quod ipsíus Sanctæ nómine insígnitum inde permánsit.
    In Portugal, St. Irene, virgin and martyr.  Her body was honourably buried in the town of Scalabris.  Since that time the town has been named Santarem, which is derived from her name.
Born in Tomar, Estremadura, Portugal; died at Scalabris (Santarem), Portugal.  Benedictines say the legend as handed down is full of fiction, but the essential facts are certain:  She was a Portuguese nun who died c. 653 in defense of her chastity in the ancient town of Scalabris.
Irene, a beautiful and chaste Portuguese girl, was murdered before she reached the age of 20. Her noble, pious parents, wishing to protect and prepare her to take her rightful position in society, sent her to a convent school and then arranged for a monk to tutor her privately at home.

An assiduous pupil and a devout believer, the only times she ever left her house was to attend mass or to pray in the sanctuary dedicated to Saint Peter on his feast-day. A young nobleman named Britald happened to see her on one of these rare outings and fell desperately in love with her. Every time that she went out he waited to catch a glimpse of her, followed her to church, and eventually made his suit known to her; however, Irene gave him to understand that she would never marry him.
Thus rejected, Britald fell into a deep depression and became so ill that the doctors who were called in to tend him gave him up for lost. Hearing of this, Irene visited him and told him that she had refused him because she was no longer free, having already taken a vow of virginity. 
Britald at once accepted her decision and gradually recovered his health. Before Irene left him he had sworn that he would respect, and make others respect, her vocation as a holy virgin, and the two had parted like brother and sister, promising each other that they would meet again in Paradise. 
Irene returned home and resumed the life of seclusion and study, intending to make her entrance into a convent before long. But the monk who was giving her private lessons proved to be a lecherous scoundrel, and behaved towards he in a manner as dishonorable as Britald's was honorable.
Irene repulsed him and had him dismissed at once; but his lust turning to a desire for revenge, the monk then began to spread slanderous rumors about her. To those who asked him why he was no longer giving the girl her private lessons, he replied that he had left on learning that she was about to become a mother.
This rumor quickly circulated throughout the town and at length reached Britald who, being frank and trusting and unused to lies, believed what he was told. In a passion of rage and jealousy, he hired a mercenary soldier to kill her. Soon afterwards, as she was returning home from visiting an old man who was crippled, the assassin approached him from behind and killed her with a single stroke of his sword.
Her body, which was thrown into the river, was later retrieved by some Benedictines on the banks of the Tagus, near the town of Scalabris. They gave her a proper burial, made known her story, and not long afterwards, so great was the veneration in which she was held, the name of the town of Scalabis was changed to Santarem (Saint Irene) (verbatim from Encyclopedia) .
660 Sindulphus of Rheims, Hermit renowned for knowledge of Sacred Scripture and wise counsel (RM)
Alsóntiæ, in território Rheménsi, sancti Sindúlphi, Presbyteri et Confessóris.
    At Aussonce, in the diocese of Rheims, St. Sindulphus, priest and confessor.

(also known as Sendou) Born in Gascony. Sindulphus was a priest who lived as a hermit at Aussonce near Rheims, France. There he joined assiduous prayer with great austerities. Sindulphus was renowned for his knowledge of Sacred Scripture and the wise counsel his provider those who sought it. He was buried at Aussone, but his relics were translated in the 9th century to Hautevilliers Abbey (Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Husenbeth)
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742 St. Acca Bishop and Benedictine scholar companion of early English saints and missionaries

SAINTS ACCA AND ALCMUND OF HEXHAM
Our holy Father Acca as a young man joined the household of Bosa, bishop of York, and later became a disciple of the great St. Wilfrid, bishop of York and later of Hexham. For thirteen years he accompanied his teacher on his journeys through England and on the continent, and was a witness at his holy repose. And when Wilfrid died, in 709, he became his successor as abbot and bishop of Hexham in Northumbria.
The Venerable Bede called Acca the dearest and best loved of all bishops on this earth. Bede also praised his theological library and dedicated several of his works to him. On becoming bishop of Hexham Acca completed three of Wilfrid's smaller churches and splendidly adorned his cathedral at Hexham, providing it with ornaments of gold, silver and precious stones, and decorating the altars with purple and silk. Moreover, he invited an excellent singer called Maban who had been taught church harmony at Canterbury to teach himself and the people. He himself was a chanter of great skill.
In 732 Acca either retired or was expelled from his see, and later became bishop of Whithorn in Southern Scotland. He died on October 20, 740, and was buried near the east wall of his cathedral in Hexham. Parts of two stone crosses which were placed at his tomb still survive.
In about 1030, Alfred Westow, a Hexham priest and a sacrist at Durham, translated the relics of St. Acca, following a Divine revelation, to a place of more fitting honor in the church. At that time the saint's vestments were found in all their pristine freshness and strength, and were displayed by the brethren of the church for the veneration of the faithful. Above his chest was found a portable altar with the inscription Almae Trinitati, agiae Sophiae, sanctae Mariae. This also was the object of great veneration. Many miracles were wrought through this saint. Those attempting to infringe the sanctuary of his church were driven off in a wondrous and terrible manner, and those who tried to steal relics were prevented from doing so.
A brother of the church by the name of Aldred related the following story. When he was an adolescent and was living in the house of his brother, a priest, he was once asked by his brother to keep an eye on some relics of St. Acca which he had wrapped in a cloth and laid on the altar of St. Michael in the southern porch of the church. Then it came into the mind of Aldred that a certain church (we may guess that it was Durham) would be greatly enriched by the bones of St. Acca. So, after prostrating himself on the ground and praying the seven penitential psalms, he entered the porch with the intention of taking them away. Suddenly he felt heat as of fire which thrust him back in great trepidation. Thinking that he had approached with insufficient reverence and preparation, he again prostrated himself and poured forth still more ardent prayers to the Lord. But on approaching a second time he felt a still fiercer heat opposing him. Realizing that his intention was not in accordance with the will of God, he withdrew.

Our holy Father Alcmund was bishop of Hexham from 767 to 781, reposed on September 7, 781, and was buried next to St. Acca. In 1032, he appeared by night to a certain very pious man by the name of Dregmo who lived near the church at Hexham. Wearing pontifical vestments and holding a pastoral staff in his hand, he nudged Dregmo with it and said
Rise, go to Alfred, son of Westow, a priest of the Church of Durham, and tell him to transfer my body from this place to a more honorable one within the church. For it is fitting that those whom the King of kings has vested with a stole of glory and immortality in the heavens should be venerated by those on earth.
Dregmo asked: Lord, who are you?
He replied: I am Alcmund, bishop of the Church of Hexham, who was, by the grace of God, the fourth after blessed Wilfrid to be in charge of this place. My body is next to that of my predecessor, the holy bishop Acca of venerable memory. You also be present at its translation with the priest.
    After saying this, he disappeared. The next morning, Dregmo went to the priest Alfred and related everything in order. He joyfully assembled the people, told them what had happened, and fixed a day for the translation. On the appointed day they lifted the bones from the tomb, wrapped them in linen and placed them on a bier; but since the hour for celebrating the Divine Liturgy had passed, they placed the holy relics in the porch of St. Peter at the western end of the church, intending to transfer them the following day with psalms and hymns and the celebration of the Divine Liturgy.
   But that night, the priest Alfred, was keeping vigil with his clerics around the holy body, rose when the others were sleeping and took a part of the finger of the saint, intending to give it to the Church of Durham. The next morning a great multitude came to the translation. But when the priest and those with him came to lift the body, it was immovable. Thinking themselves unworthy, they retired, and others came up. But they, too, were unable to lift it. When no one was found who could lift it, the people looked at each other in consternation, while the priest, still ignorant that he was the cause, exhorted them to pray to God to reveal who was to blame for this. That night, St. Alcmund appeared a second time to Dregmo, who had suddenly been overwhelmed with sleep, and with a stern face said to him
    What is this that you have wanted to do? Did you think to bring me back into the church mutilated, when I served God and St. Andrew here in wholeness of body and spirit? Go, therefore, and witness in the presence of all the people that what has unwisely been taken away from my body should be restored, or else you will never be able to remove me from this place in which I now am.
    And when he had said this, he showed him his hand with part of the finger missing. The next day, Dregmo stood in the middle of the people and told them all that had been revealed to him in the night, vehemently urging that the person who had presumed to do this should be punished. Then the priest, perceiving that he was at fault, prostrated himself in the midst of the people and revealed to them the motives for which he had committed the crime. Begging for forgiveness, he restored that which he had taken away. Then the clerics who were present came up and without any effort lifted the holy body and transferred it into the church on August 6.

Later, Alfred translated a portion of the relics of Saints Acca and Alcmund, together with portions of the relics of the other Northumbrian saints: the hermits Baldred and Bilfrid, the Martyr-King Oswin, St. Boisil of Melrose, St. Ebba of Coldingham and the Venerable Bede, to his church of Durham.

Holy Fathers Acca and Alcmund, pray to God for us! 
by Vladimir Moss. Posted with permission.
(Sources: The Venerable Bede, Ecclesiastical History; Eddius Stephanus, Life of St. Wilfrid; Simeon of Durham Opera Omnia, ed. T. Arnold, Rolls Series, 1882-85, vol. II, pp. 36-37, 51-52; History of the Church of Durham, ch. 42; David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford: Clarendon, 1978)
Acca was born in Northumbria, England, and was educated in the company of St. Bosa, a Benedictine apostle of great courage. He also met St. Wilfrid, who appointed him the abbot of St. Andrew's Monastery in Hexham, England.
Acca joined St. Wilfrid as early as 678 and accompanied him to Rome in 692. When Wilfred died in 709, Acca succeeded him as the bishop of Hexham. He spent his monastic and episcopal years erecting parish churches in the area. He also introduced Christian arts and promoted learning. Acca brought a famous cantor, a man named Maban, to Hexham, and with him introduced the Roman Chants.
St. Bede dedicated several of his works to Acca, who also promoted other Christian writers. For reasons undocumented, Acca was driven out of Hexham in 732. He retired to a hermitage in Withern, in Galloway. Just before his death in 742 he returned to Hexham and was unanimously revered. When he was buried, two Celtic crosses were recreated at his gravesite. One still stands in Hexham. When his body was moved sometime later, his vestments were found intact. The accounts of Acca's miracles were drawn up by St. Aelred and by the historian Simeon of Durham.
Acca of Hexham, OSB B (AC) Born in Northumbria, England, c. 660; feast day formerly October 19; feast of translation is February 19.   From his youth Acca had been close to other saints of the time. He was raised in the household of Saint Bosa of York and became a disciple and constant companion of Saint Wilfrid, whom he accompanied for 13 years to England, Frisia, and Rome (and in the last, says Bede, 'learning many valuable things about the organization of the church which he could not have found out in his own country'). When Wilfrid was ill at Meaux in 705, he told Acca the story of his vision. Later, on his deathbed, Wilfrid named Acca abbot of Saint Andrew's in Hexham. Acca was also a friend of the Venerable Bede, who described him as "great in the sight of God and man" and who dedicated several works in his honor. For his part, Acca urged Bede to write a simple commentary on Luke because that completed by Saint Ambrose was too long and diffuse. He also supplied material to Bede for the Ecclesiastical history and to Eddius for his life of Saint Wilfrid.
Saint Wilfrid was the first English prelate to appeal to Rome in a dispute. Acca, who succeeded Wilfrid in the see of Hexham in 709, also believed that the English Church needed to be brought into line with Roman customs--liturgically rather than legally. Bede writes, "He invited a famous singer named Maban, who had been trained by the followers of Pope Gregory's disciples in Kent, to come and teach him and his clergy." Maban, a monk of Canterbury, taught church music for 12 years--reviving old forgotten chants as well as bringing new ones. Acca also sang beautifully, according to Bede, and encouraged this revival by his own example.
Acca loved the Scriptures and studied them diligently. He refurbished the churches with sacred vessels and lights. Above all he enlarged and beautified the cathedral of Saint Andrew in Hexham, and adorned it with altars, relics, and sacred vessels. He also finished three of Wilfrid's smaller churches. He also established a fine library to which scholars and students were drawn, all of whom received the patronage of Bishop Acca, one of the most learned Anglo-Saxon prelates of his day.
Bede considered this library one of the finest collections available.
For some reason Acca was forced out of his diocese in 732. He was exiled to Withern (Whithorn), Galloway (and may have been its bishop); but he returned before his death and was buried at Hexham. Two stone crosses decorated with grape vines adorned his tomb in the cathedral's east wall. The relics were translated in the late 11th century, at which time a portable altar inscribed "Almae Trinitati, agiae Sophiae, sanctae Mariae" was found in his coffin. They were again translated in 1154 and 1240 (Benedictines, Bentley, Encyclopedia, Farmer).
He is generally depicted in art as an abbot or bishop in a library with monks, sometimes with the Venerable Bede (Roeder).
St. Acca Catholic Encyclopedia Bishop of Hexham, and patron of learning (c. 660-742).
Acca was a Northumbrian by birth and began life in the household of a certain Bosa, who afterwards became Bishop of York. After a few years, however, Acca attached himself to St. Wilfrid and remained his devoted disciple and companion in all his troubles. He may have joined Wilfrid as early as 678, and he certainly was with him at the time of his second journey to Rome in 692. On their return to England, when Wilfrid was reinstated at Hexham, he made Acca abbot of St. Andrew's monastery there; and after Wilfrid's death (709) Acca succeeded him as bishop. The work of completing and adorning the churches left unfinished by St. Wilfrid was energetically carried on by his successor. In ruling the diocese and in conducting the services of the Church, Acca was equally zealous. He brought to the North a famous cantor named Maban, who had learned in Kent the Roman traditions of psalmody handed down from St. Gregory the Great through St. Augustine. He was famed also for his theological learning, and for his encouragement of students by every means in his power. It was at Acca's instigation that Eddius undertook the Life of St. Wilfrid, and above all, it was to the same kind friend and patron that Bede dedicated several of his most important works, especially those dealing with Holy Scripture. For some unexplained reason Acca was driven from his diocese in 732. He is believed to have retired to Withern in Galloway, but he returned to Hexham before his death in 742, when he was at once revered as a Saint. Two crosses of exquisite workmanship, one of which is still preserved in a fragmentary state, were erected at the head and foot of his grave. When the body of the Saint was translated, the vestments were found entire, and the accounts of his miracles were drawn up by St. AElred and by Simeon of Durham. Of any true liturgical cultus there is little trace, but his feast is said to have been kept on 20 October. There is also mention of 19 February, which may have been the date of some translation of his relics.

740 St Acca, Bishop of  Hexham
In the household of St Bosa, who afterwards was bishop of Deira (York), was brought up a young Northumbrian named Acca, who profited greatly from the instruction and example of his master. After a time he attached himself to St Wilfrid, whom he served faithfully throughout his troubled life and accompanied on his last journey to Rome, where, says Bede, Acca “learned many useful things about the government of Holy Church which he could not have learned in his own country”. Wilfrid, when he was restored to the see of Hexham, made Acca abbot of the monastery of St Andrew there. St Wilfrid died in 709 and Acca succeeded to his bishopric. St Bede speaks highly of him: “He was a most active person and great in the sight of God and man . . most orthodox in the profession of the Catholic faith and observant in the rules of ecclesiastical institution; nor did he ever cease to be so till he received the reward of his religious devotion.”
St Acca’s activity was very varied. He decorated and enlarged his cathedral church. He was learned in the Scriptures and formed a library in which he deposited the histories of the confessors whose deeds as well as whose relics he was diligent in gathering, and he was a munificent patron of scholars and students. He obtained from Kent the services of a celebrated cantor, Maban or Mafa, who had been taught church chant according to the Roman manner by the successors of the monks sent to England by St Gregory. Both St Acca himself, who was a good singer, and his clergy profited by the tuition of Maban, learning many new chants and correcting those that were corrupt. In his encouragement of learning Acca caused Eddius to write the life of his beloved master St Wilfrid, and also assisted St Bede, who dedicated some of his works to him.
In the year 732, for some reason now unknown, St Acca had to leave his diocese, and is said to have lived in exile at Withern in Galloway. He died in 740 and was buried at Hexham.
For original sources we have Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, and Richard of Hexham’s Brevis annotatio, but this last is little more than a careful compilation from Eddius and other earlier authorities. Raine’s Memorials of Hexham, vol. i, pp. xxx—xxxv and 31—36, supplies nearly all the information obtainable, but consult also the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii and A. S. Cook in Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. xxvi (1924), pp. 245—332. A letter of St Acca to Bede has been printed in Bede’s works and elsewhere.
745 St. Vitalis Abbot of St. Peter's Abbey at Salzburg
Austria, as the successor to St. Rupert. He later served as archbishop of Salzburg from 717.

Vitalis of Salzburg OSB B (AC). Vitalis succeeded Saint Rupert as abbot of Saint Peter's and as archbishop of Salzburg, Austria, from 717-745 (Benedictines). He is represented by a lily springing from his breast and the words Presul Vitalis cubat hic egrisque medetur. Often he holds a model of Saint Peter's Church. Vitalis, perhaps because of his name alone, is invoked in childbirth (Roeder)
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St. Martha Virgin martyr with Saula and companions in Germany. They are now assigned to the traditional cycle of St. Ursula.
Colóniæ Agrippínæ pássio sanctárum Vírginum Marthæ et Saulæ, cum áliis plúribus.
    At Cologne, the martyrdom of the holy virgins Martha and Saula, with many others.

Martha, Saula, and Companions VV MM (RM)
Dates unknown. The entry in the Roman Martyrology (RM) reads:
At Cologne the passion of the holy virgins Martha and Saula with many others. Scholars now assign them to the mythical cycle of Saint Ursula and her 11,000 virgins. It is now believed that these martyrs formed the first nucleus of the Ursuline legend. Indeed, it seems that the name Ursula derives from Sa-ula (Benedictines).
766 Andrew of Crete openly denounce Emperor Constantine Copronymus's heretical edict against the veneration of images  M (RM)
Constantinópoli sancti Andréæ Creténsis Mónachi, qui ob cultum sacrárum Imáginum, sub Constantíno Coprónymo, sæpius verberátus, tandem, amputáto áltero pede, réddidit spíritum.
    At Constantinople, St. Andrew of Crete, a monk who had often been scourged by Constantine Copronymus for his veneration of holy images.  After one of his feet had been cut off he rendered up his soul.
(also known as Andrew the Calybite)

766 ST ANDREW OF CRETE, MARTYR   
This martyr is sometimes distinguished as “the Calybite” or “in Krisi” from the other St Andrew of Crete (July 4), who died some twenty-five years earlier. During the aggravated campaign under the Emperor Constantine V against the veneration of holy images he made his way to Constantinople to take part in the struggle. He was present when the emperor himself was watching the torture of some orthodox Christians, and uttered a public and impassioned protest. He was dragged before the imperial throne, and when he had explained his action Constantine told him he was an idolater. St Andrew retorted by accusing the emperor of heresy. He was set on and beaten by the bystanders and was carried, bruised and bleeding, to prison, calling out to Constantine, “See how powerless you are against faith!” The next day he repeated his defence of images before the emperor, who ordered him to be again scourged and then led through the streets as an example to the people. As he was being thus dragged along a fanatical iconoclast stabbed him with a fishing-spear, and at the Place of the Ox St Andrew fell dead from ill usage and loss of blood. His body was thrown into a cesspit, but was retrieved and buried at a near-by place called Krisis, where the monastery of St Andrew was afterwards built.

The statement made by Theophanes (Confessor) that Andrew was at one time an anchorite seems to be erroneous. There are two apparently independent versions of the passio, both printed in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii. See also J. Pargoire in Échos d’Orient, vol. xiii (2910), pp. 84—86.
Born in Crete; died in Constantinople. There are two saints named Andrew of Crete. One was the bishop of Crete, who is also known as Andrew of Jerusalem. Making it more complicated, both lived during the same period.

Andrew the Calybite was a monk of Crete. He travelled to Constantinople in order to openly denounce Emperor Constantine Copronymus's heretical edict against the veneration of images. The emperor ordered the brave monk to be tortured. Finally Andrew was abandoned to the mob, who led him through the streets in derision and stabbed him to death (Attwater, Benedictines).

This Saint Andrew's story is pictorially displayed as a man who is seized while painting pious pictures and stabbed to death by a mob. He is venerated in Crete (Roeder)
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768 Aidan of Mayo B (AC)
Aidan was an Irish bishop in Mayo of whom nothing more is known (Benedictines, Husenbeth)
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800 St. Bernard of Bagnorea bishop of Vulcia
The bishop of Vulcia in the Tuscany region of Italy, who moved his see to Ischia di Castro. He was a native of Bagnorea.

Bernard of Bagnorea B (AC) (also known as Bernard of Castro) Born at Bagnorea, Italy. Bernard was chosen to be bishop of Vulcia in Tuscany. Thereafter he transferred to the see of Ischia di Castro (Benedictines)
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852 George the Deacon and Aurelius from Cordova  translation of their relics on this day  feast day here July 27:
Lutétiæ Parisiórum item Translátio sanctórum Mártyrum Geórgii Diáconi, et Aurélii, ex urbe Hispániæ Córduba, in qua olim, una cum áliis tribus Sóciis, ambo martyrium compléverant sexto Kaléndas Augústi.
    At Paris, the translation of the holy martyrs George, a deacon, and Aurelius from Cordova, a city of Spain, where they had died with three companions on the 27th of July.
852 deacon George, Aurelius, Natalia, Felix & Liliosa had converted to Islam for a time, married the Christian Liliosa and returned to the faith. Both couples openly professed their Christianity MM (RM)
These martyrs suffered at Córdova, Spain, under the Caliph Abderrahman II. Aurelius, son of a Moor and a Spanish woman, was a secret Christian as was his half-Moorish wife, Natalia. Aurelius's relative Felix, who had converted to Islam for a time, married the Christian Liliosa and returned to the faith. Both couples openly professed their Christianity, perhaps because the women went about the city unveiled. They were arrested as apostates from Islam and beheaded. The deacon George, however, was a monk of Palestine. He was arrested for having openly spoken against the Prophet. Although he was offered pardon because he was a foreigner, he preferred to suffer with the others (Attwater, Benedictines, Encyclopedia) .
1004 St. Aderald Archdeacon and confessor relic hunter
Aderald was archdeacon at Troyes when he led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He brought back a considerable number of holy relics. In order to house them, Aderald built the Benedictine Abbey of St. Sepulchre at Samblières.
Aderald of Troyes, Confessor (AC)
Archdeacon Aderald led a pilgrimage to Palestine. Upon his return he built the Benedictine abbey of Saint Sepulchre at Samblières in order to house his "booty in the shape of holy relics" (Benedictines)
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1122 Blessed William of Savigny, OSB Monk (AC)
William was a novice at Savigny under Blessed Vitalis (Benedictines)
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1125 St. Adelina abbess granddaughter of William the Conqueror
An abbess, the sister of St. Vitalis, and a noblewoman of Normandy. She was a granddaughter of William the Conqueror and a dame of that Norman family. Adelina became the abbess of the Benedictine Convent of La Blanche in Normandy, a religious community founded by her brother.

Adelina of Moriton, OSB V (AC). The Benedictines state "granddaughter of William the Conqueror and sister of Saint Vitalis of Savigny." However, in cross-checking, it appears that Vitalis is a beatus and was chaplain to the William's half-brother. I have no other information available to verify Adelina's pedigree. She became abbess of La Blanche at Moriton (les Dames Blanches de Mortain) in Normandy, which was founded by her brother (Benedictines)
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1125  Bl. Adeline first Abbess of the monastery founded at Mortain
 Adeline was the sister of Blessed Vitale, Abbot of Savigny and was introduced to the religious life by him or her. She rose to become the first Abbess of the monastery founded at Mortain in 1105 or 1115 by Count William of Mortain. The Rule followed by this religious house was that of St. Benedict together with a few observances drawn from the Cistercian tradition.
Because of the color of their habit the religious came to be called the
White Ladies. After a life dedicated to prayer, mortification, and charitable works, Blessed Adeline was called to her reward in 1125. Such was her reputation for sanctity that shortly afterward she began to be honored as one of the Blessed and her remains were solemnly transferred (together with those of her brother and other religious) to Savigny.
1291 Bradan and Orora (Crora) (AC)
Dates unknown. Bradan and Orora are venerated in the Isle of Man, but their story has been lost. Bishop Mark of Sodor held a synod in the church of Saint Bradan (Kirk-Braddan), near Douglas, in 1291.
A 16th-century map references the churches of SS Patrick and Crora (Benedictines)
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1380 St Demetrius Memorial Saturday was established for the churchwide remembrance of the soldiers who fell in the Battle of Kulidovo. This memorial service was held for the first time at the Trinity-St Sergius monastery on October 20, 1380 by St Sergius of Radonezh, in the presence of Great Prince Demetrius of the Don . It is an annual remembrance of the heroes of the Battle of Kulikovo, among whom are the schemamonks Alexander (Peresvet) and Andrew (Oslyab).

St Demetrius of the Don smashed the military might of the Golden Horde at the Battle of Kulikovo Field on September 8, 1380 (the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos), set between the Rivers Don and Nepryadva. The Battle of Kulikovo, for which the nation calls him Demetrius of the Don, became the first Russian national deed, rallying the spiritual power of the Russian nation around Moscow. The "Zadonschina," an inspiring historic poem written by the priest Sophronius of Ryazem (1381), is devoted to this event.
In the spiritual experience of the Russian Church, veneration of the holy Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica is closely linked with the memory of the defense of the nation and Church by the Great Prince of Moscow, Demetrius of the Don (May 19).
Prince Demetrius of the Don was greatly devoted to the holy Great Martyr Demetrius. In 1380, on the eve of the Battle of Kulikovo, he solemnly transferred from Vladimir to Moscow the most holy object in the Dimitriev cathedral of Vladimir: the icon of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica, painted on a piece of wood from the saint's grave. A chapel in honor of the Great Martyr Demetrius was built at Moscow's Dormition Cathedral.
15th v. Saint Matrona; she founded a small monastery for women. Soon other nuns joined her in her ascetical struggles; worked many miracles both during her life and after her death, and was revered throughout Chios for her virtuous life and holiness. She showed charity to the poor, and was able to heal the sick.
Born in the village of Volissos on Chios of wealthy and pious parents, Leon and Anna sometime in the fourteenth century. From her youth she showed an inclination for monasticism. One day she left her parents and went to live in an unpopulated area, where she founded a small monastery for women. Soon other nuns joined her in her ascetical struggles.
St Matrona worked many miracles both during her life and after her death, and was revered throughout Chios for her virtuous life and holiness. She showed charity to the poor, and was able to heal the sick.
The service to St Matrona was composed by Metropolitan Niketas of Rhodes. It was found in a codex from 1455, which would indicate that she died sometime before this date.  St Matrona is also commemorated on July 15 (the finding of her head).

1473 St John Of Kanti; he persevered for some years, and by the time he was recalled to Cracow had so far won his people’s hearts that they accompanied him on part of the road with such grief that he said to them, “This sadness does not please God. If I have done any good for you in all these years, sing a song of joy.” “Fight all false opinions, but let your weapons be patience, sweetness and love. Roughness is bad for your own soul and spoils the best cause.” Miracles attributed
Sancti Joánnis Cántii, Presbyteri et Confessóris, qui nono Kaléndas Januárii obdormívit in Dómino.
    St. John Cantius, priest and confessor, who fell asleep in the Lord on the 24th of December.
Lived:  1403 - 1473 Canonized:  1767 Memorial:  October 20
   John Cantius receives his name from his birthplace, Kanti, near Oswiecim in Poland. His parents were country folk of respectable position and, seeing that their son was as quick and intelligent as he was good, they sent him in due course to the University of Cracow. He took good degrees, was ordained priest, and appointed to a lectureship or chair in the university. He was known to lead a very strict life, and when he was warned to look after his health he replied by pointing out that the fathers of the desert were notably long-lived. There is a story told that once he was dining in hall, when a famished-looking beggar passed the door. John jumped up and carried out all his commons to the man; when he returned to his seat he found his plate again full—miraculously. This, it is said, was long commemorated in the university by setting aside a special meal for a poor man every day; when dinner was ready the vice-president would cry out in Latin, “A poor man is coming”, to which the president replied, “Jesus Christ is coming”, and the man was then served. But while he was yet alive John’s success as a preacher and teacher raised up envy against him, and his rivals managed to get him removed and sent as parish priest to Olkusz. St John turned to his new work with single-hearted energy, but his parishioners did not like him and he himself was afraid of the responsibilities of his position. Nevertheless he persevered for some years, and by the time he was recalled to Cracow had so far won his people’s hearts that they accompanied him on part of the road with such grief that he said to them, “This sadness does not please God. If I have done any good for you in all these years, sing a song of joy.”

   St John’s second appointment at the university was as professor of Sacred Scripture, and he held it to the end of his life. He left such a reputation that his doctoral gown was for long used to vest each candidate at the conferring of degrees, but his fame was not at all confined to academic circles. He was a welcome guest at the tables of the nobility (once his shabby cassock caused the servants to refuse him admission, so he went away and changed it. During the meal a dish was upset over the new one. “No matter,” he said, “my clothes deserve some dinner because to them I owe the pleasure of being here at all”).  All the poor in Cracow knew him. His goods and money were always at their disposition, and time and again they literally “cleared him out”. But his own needs were few he slept on the floor, never ate meat, and when he went to Rome he walked all the way and carried his luggage on his back. He was never weary of telling his pupils to “fight all false opinions, but let your weapons be patience, sweetness and love. Roughness is bad for your own soul and spoils the best cause.” Several miracles were reported of St John, and when news got round the city that he was dying there was an outburst of sorrow. “Never mind about this prison which is decaying”, he said to those who were looking after him, “but think of the soul that is going to leave it.” He died on Christmas Eve, 1473, at the age of eighty-three. St John Cantius was canonized in 1767, and his feast extended to the whole Western church. He is the only confessor not a bishop who has different hymns for Matins, Lauds and Vespers in the Roman Breviary.

The Bollandists in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. viii, were unable to discover any satisfactory medieval account of St John Cantius, and they reproduced a biography published in 1628 by Adam of Opatow. This writer claims to have had access to materials preserved at Cracow, and in particular to have used notes compiled by a contemporary, Matthias of Miechow, who certainly drew up a record of miracles attributed to St John after his death. The latter document is also printed by the Bollandists. A note upon the place and date of birth of St John will be found in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. viii (1889), pp. 382—388. A French life by E. Benoit was published in 1862. Lives in Polish are numerous.
Priest Saint John was born at Kenty in Poland in 1403. He studied philosophy and theology at the University of Cracow with great intelligence, industry, and success, while his modesty and virtue drew all hearts to him. After earning his degrees, he was appointed to the Chair of Theology at the university. He inflamed his hearers with the desire of every kind of piety, no less by his deeds than by his words. He was ordained a priest and was for a short time in charge of a parish, where he manifested great concern for the poor, at his own expense. At the University's request, he resumed the professor's Chair and taught there until his holy death.
He found a poor man on the snow one day, dying of hunger and cold; he clothed him in his own frock and took him to the rectory, to eat at his table. Afterwards, for many years, every professor of the College of Varsovie was obliged, once every year, to invite a poor man to dine with him.
   He made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, preaching along the way to the Turks, and hoping for the grace of martyrdom. He went four times to Rome to visit the tombs of the Apostles and pay honor to the Holy See, desiring thereby to be spared the pains of purgatory. He always traveled on foot, carrying his own effects.
   Robbed one day by bandits, he forgot he had a few gold pieces sewn into his cloak; he soon remembered and called them back to give them to his benefactors. They were so astonished they refused to accept the offering, and even returned to him what they had taken.
   Saint John Cantius wrote on the walls of his residence some verses which showed the horror he had for the vice of backbiting or detraction, talking without cause of our neighbor's faults. He slept very little and often spent entire nights praying before a crucifix. After his classes he went to pray before the Blessed Sacrament in a church.
  Before his death, he gave absolutely everything he still had to the poor. He died in 1473, at the age of seventy-six years. The purple robe which he had worn as a Doctor was religiously conserved and always given to the venerable Head of the School of Philosophy on the day of his reception; and a promise was required of the teachers there, to imitate the virtues of this beloved Saint.
  He is a patron of both Poland and Lithuania; Clement XIII canonized him in 1767.
Reflection: He who orders all his doings according to the Will of God may often be spoken of by the world as simple, even stupid; but in the end he wins the esteem and confidence even of the world itself.
Source: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 12.

1545 Holy Righteous Artemius of Verkola a light over the place where the incorrupt body of the Righteous Artemius lay. Taken to the church of St Nicholas in 1577, the holy relics were shown to be a source of numerous healings. In this village a monastery was later built, called the Verkola
born in the village of Dvina Verkola around the year 1532. The son of pious parents, Artemius was a child who was courageous, meek and diligent for every good deed. On June 23, 1545 the twelve-year-old Artemius and his father were taken by surprise in a field by a thunderstorm. A clap of thunder broke right over their heads, and the child Artemius fell dead. People thought that this was a sign of God's judgment, therefore they left the body in a pine forest without a funeral, and without burial.

Some years later, the village reader beheld a light over the place where the incorrupt body of the Righteous Artemius lay. Taken to the church of St Nicholas in 1577, the holy relics were shown to be a source of numerous healings. In this village a monastery was later built, called the Verkola. In 1918, the impious Soviets chopped the holy relics into pieces and threw them into a well. The memory of St Artemius is also celebrated on October 20.

1579 Saint Gerasimus the New Ascetic of Cephalonia; uncovering of his holy relics in 1581;  studied with the ascetics of Mt Athos; For his exalted life he was granted a miraculous gift: the ability to heal the sick and cast out unclean spirits;
Born in the village of Trikkala in the Peloponessos. As a young adult, he became a monk on the island of Zakynthos. On the Holy Mountain he became a schemamonk and studied with the ascetics of Mt Athos. Receiving a blessing from the Elders, the monk went to Jerusalem to worship at the Life-bearing Tomb of the Savior. After visiting many holy places in Jerusalem, Mount Sinai, Antioch, Damascus, Alexandria and Egypt, he returned to Jerusalem where he became a lamp-lighter at the Sepulchre of the Lord.
The monk was ordained a deacon and then a priest by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Germanus (1534-1579). St Gerasimus maintained the discipline of an ascetic. For solitude he withdrew to the Jordan, where he spent forty days without respite. Having received the Patriarch's blessing for a life of silence, St Gerasimus withdrew to Zakynthos in solitude, eating only vegetation.
After five years he was inspired to go the island of Cephalonia, where he lived in a cave. He restored a church at Omala, and he founded a women's monastery where he lived in constant toil and vigil for thirty years. He prayed on bent knees stretched out on the ground. For his exalted life he was granted a miraculous gift: the ability to heal the sick and cast out unclean spirits.
At 71 years of age, the venerable Gerasimus knew that he would soon die. He gave his blessing to the nuns and peacefully fell asleep in the Lord on August 15, 1579. Two years later, his grave was opened and his holy relics were found fragrant and incorrupt with a healing power.
Since the Feast of the Dormition falls on August 15, St Gerasimus is commemorated on August 16th. Today's Feast celebrates the uncovering of his holy relics in 1581.

1748 Bl. Francis Serrano Dominican martyr of China A Spaniard & Francis Diaz OP MM (AC)
Francis entered the Dominicans and was sent to Fukien, China. Arrested with Blessed Peter Sanze in 1746, Francis was elected titular bishop of Tipasa while in prison. He and his Dominican companions, including Francis Diaz, were strangled. He was beatified in 1893.
Blessed Francis Serrano & Francis Diaz OP MM (AC) Born in Spain; beatified by Leo XIII in 1893. These Spanish born, Dominican missionaries were sent to Fo-Kien, China. After 20 years of work in China (now Vietnam), Serrano had been arrested with Blessed Bishop Peter Sanz in 1646. While in prison he was elected titular bishop of Tipasa after the beheading of Sanz on May 25, 1747. Serrano was a resourceful, careful person, which one would have to be to survive in such harsh conditions. He became adept at scaling walls and hiding in unlikely places.
Father Diaz was born in Ecija in 1713. He always claimed that he owed his vocation to having skipped school one day. A white-robed religious appeared to him--a Dominican. The curious boy continued to ask questions about the order, until he convinced himself that he must join. Even though his father tried to persuade his to accept a family benefice instead of entering the austere life of the Order of Preachers, he persisted. He was determined to serve God as a Dominican and to die in China. He preached the Gospel in Tonkin for eight years before his death.
Fathers Alcober, Serrano, and Diaz were captured and tortured to reveal the whereabouts of Bishop Sanz. Despite horrendous punishment, they refused to say anything. Father Joachim Royo and Bishop Sanz, wishing to spare his brothers further suffering, surrendered themselves to the authorities.
The five Dominican, as well as a native catechist named Ambrose Kou, were dragged before the emperor in chains. Again they were tortured, then sentenced to death in December 1746. After the bishop's death, the other four priests were branded on their faces with the words ta dao (
false religion) and left for six months to languish in prison.

Serrano, Diaz, and the two other Dominican priests were strangled at night in prison at Futsheu in order to end their evangelizing of the guards and soldiers. When the executioners returned the following morning to dispose of the bodies, they were terrified to see the beatific faces that shone with an unearthly radiance-- especially miraculous considering that they died of strangulation. The relics were preserved and treasured by the Christians (Benedictines, Dorcy)
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1775 St. Paul of the Cross founded Passionists greatest gifts in the supernatural order
1775 April 28 Sancti Pauli a Cruce, Presbyteri et Confessóris; qui Congregatiónis a Cruce et Passióne Dómini nostri Jesu Christi
        Cross was endowed with extraordinary gifts. He prophesied future events, healed the sick, and even during his
        lifetime appeared on various occasions in vision to persons far away

Born at Ovada in the Republic of Genoa, January 3, 1694. His infancy and youth were spent in great innocence and piety. He was inspired from on high to found a congregation; in an ecstacy he beheld the habit which he and his companions were to wear. After consulting his director, Bishop Gastinara of Alexandria in Piedmont, he reached the conclusion that God wished him to establish a congregation in honor of the Passion of Jesus Christ. On November 22, 1720, the bishop vested him with the habit that had been shown to him in a vision, the same that the Passionists wear at the present time. From that moment the saint applied himself to repair the Rules of his institute; and in 1721 he went to Rome to obtain the approbation of the Holy See.
    At first he failed, but finally succeeded when Benedict XIV approved the Rules in 1741 and 1746. Meanwhile St. Paul built his first monastery near Obitello. Sometime later he established a larger community at the Church of St. John and Paul in Rome. For fifty years St. Paul remained the indefatigable missionary of Italy. God lavished upon him the greatest gifts in the supernatural order, but he treated himself with the greatest rigor, and believed that he was a useless servant and a great sinner. His saintly death occurred at Rome in the year 1775, at the age of eighty-one. He was canonized by Pope Pius IX in 1867
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1889 Bl. Mary Teresa de Soubiran care of working girls orphans; Eucharistic adoration; enjoyed mystical gifts of a high order (Benedictines). 
(1835-1889)

1889 Bd Mary Teresa De Soubiran, Virgin, Foundress Of The Society Of Mary Auxiliatrix   
The family of Soubiran is a very ancient and honourable one: its direct line has been traced so far back as the earliest years of the thirteenth century and is related, lineally or collaterally, to St Louis of France, St Elzear de Sabran and his wife Bd Delphina, Bd Rosaline of Villeneuve, St Elizabeth of Hungary, and half the royal families of Europe.
 In the second quarter of the nineteenth century the head of the family was Joseph de Soubiran la Louvière, who lived at Castelnaudary, near Carcassone. He married Noemi de Gélis de l’Isle d’Albi; their second child was born on May 16, 1835, and was christened Sophia Teresa Augustina Mary.
The Soubirans worthily maintained the religious traditions of their family, if in a way that marked the sternness rather than the joy of Christianity. And Sophie, under the direction of her uncle, Canon Louis de Soubiran, early heard a call to the religious life in an order or congregation.
   There were others with like leanings in the Sodality of our Lady which the canon directed, and when Sophie was nineteen he decided to form them into a community of béguines, that is, laywomen living in community under temporary vows of obedience and chastity. This was not at all what Sophie was looking for béguines live a life of considerable freedom and ease, and can return entirely to the world at any time, whereas she felt drawn to the austerity and hiddenness of the Carmelites. However, after a period of considerable spiritual perturbation and after taking prudent advice, she decided to fall in with her uncle’s wishes and went to the béguinage at Ghent to learn its rule and way of life. On her return the béguine house was opened at Castelnaudary, and she was appointed its superioress. This was in 1854-55.
   During the years that followed the new foundation grew and made considerable progress, developing on rather different lines from those of the Belgian béguinages:  the sisters gave up the free use of their own property, an orphanage was established and, after a disastrous fire, the practice of night-adoration of the Blessed Sacrament was instituted.
Nevertheless it was a difficult time, both for the community and its superioress, and in the langue d’oc the Castelnaudary béguinage has been called the coubent del patiment, “convent of suffering”. In 1863 Mother Mary Teresa, as we may now call her, again consulted the superioress of the convent of our Lady of Charity at Toulouse and other trusted friends, and they advised her to make a retreat according to the Exercises of St Ignatius. This she did, under the direction of the famous Father Paul Ginhac, and during the retreat it was made clear to her that it was God’s will that she should persevere with what was in her mind, which was to lead to the foundation of a new congregation, “de Marie Auxiliatrice”, our Lady of Help. Its aim was to be the following of the religious life in its fullness and work for “the most divine of all human objects, the saving of souls”; no undertaking was to be too small or lowly for its members, especially if others were unwilling or unable to do it.
In due course Canon de Soubiran agreed to these developments. The béguinage at Castelnaudary was not to be dissolved; but in September 1864 Mother Mary Teresa with some of the sisters was to migrate to a convent in the Rue des Büchers at Toulouse, which was to be the home of the new community. It is from the following year that the extant writings of Mother Mary Teresa date, which enables her inner life to be closely followed until her death a quarter of a century later.
   At Toulouse the care of orphans and teaching of poor children was continued, but the great work inaugurated there was a hostel for working girls, the first of its kind. It was called the maison de famille, “home”, a home for those who had none or were separated from it. The night-adoration also was continued, but from being monthly soon became daily. In drawing up the broad outlines of the constitutions of her society, Mother Mary Teresa based herself on the spirit of the rule of the Society of Jesus, and the final revision was made with the help of Father Ginhac, who associated himself closely with the new enterprise. It was approved in 1867 by the archbishop of Toulouse, at the end of 1868 the Holy See issued a brief of praise, and in the following year a second and a third house were opened, at Amiens and at Lyons. In these large cities, as at Toulouse, the sisters were principally engaged in the care of working girls. Then came the Franco-Prussian war, and the members of the three houses took refuge for a time in Southwark and then Brompton, where they were befriended by the fathers of the Oratory; later they established a hostel in Kennington. When they returned to France a community was left in the last-named convent, the beginning of the congregation in England.
  In 1868 there had been admitted to the Society of Mary Auxiliatrix a novice who by 1871 was elected counsellor and assistant mother general by an almost unanimous vote of the chapter. She was known as Mother Mary Frances, a very capable and intelligent woman, five years older than the mother general, Mary Teresa de Soubiran. After the exile in England, Mother Mary Frances produced an ambitious scheme for the development of the society, and done “the brilliance of her explanations, the force and clarity of her arguments, the justness of her estimates, her shrewdness, tact and skill in affairs... and the lively and warm faith that animated her accept it”. Those are the words of Mother Mary Teresa, and they are a measure of the domination that the assistant general had over her; she did not see for a long time, as was to become only too clear, that Mother Mary Frances was also “domineering, unstable and ambitious”. The result was that developments were allowed to go ahead far too quickly, new houses were opened without sufficient resources, and by the beginning of 1874 Mother Mary Frances announced (inaccurately, it now appears) that the financial position of the society was desperate.
At first Mother Mary Frances blamed herself: but soon she turned and reproached Mother Mary Teresa for what she alleged to be blundering, pride, weak hesitation and lack of religious spirit. The cry was taken up elsewhere, that the Society of Mary Auxiliatrix was in a bad way and that it was all the fault of the foundress. And Mother Mary Teresa remembered how a little time before our Lord had seemed to say to her, “Your mission is ended. There will soon be no place for you in the society. But I will do all with power and gentleness.” She had replied, “So be it” then, and she replied “So be it now”; but first Father Ginhac must be consulted. He, good man, was puzzled, and very properly sent for Mother Mary Frances too. She persuaded him of her view of the situation; and he advised Mother Mary Teresa to resign. She did so; and her counsellor took her place.
   The motherhouse of the society was then at Bourges and the new mother general was anxious that her predecessor should return neither there nor to any other house of the society. So Mother Mary Teresa went to the Sisters of Charity at Clermont, ostensibly for a few weeks’ rest; in the event she was there for seven months, “seven months of anguish
, during which it was decided what should be done about her. There is no need to go into the painful details of how Mother Mary Frances sought to prevent any revival of the influence and authority of Mother Mary Teresa; they were all steps leading to what eventually took place—the irrevocable dismissal of the foundress from the society she had founded. In September she had to leave the convent at Clermont, and she had now to discard her religious habit. By the end of 1874 Mother Mary Teresa, foundress of the Society of Mary Auxiliatrix, was again simply Sophie de Soubiran la Louvière.
She had to begin life all over again—an ordeal common among persons living “in the world” but rare after twenty years of Conventual life. She applied for admission to the Visitation order, but they could not see their way to accept her; nor would her “first love”, the Carmelites. So she turned to her old friends at the convent of our Lady of Charity in Toulouse, who were engaged in what is nowadays called rescue-work. These did not turn her away, and moreover agreed with her request that she should be received in their Paris house. After further delays due to canonical difficulties, and an illness that nearly cost her life, Bd Mary Teresa made her profession in 1877, when she was forty-two years old. It is clear from her journal that she now entered upon a period of spiritual serenity, that our Lord was indeed doing all things with power and gentleness in her regard. “Mother de Soubiran carried self-abnegation so far”, wrote her director, Father Hamon, “that she was able to banish her first religious family from her mind and to leave it entirely to the will of divine Providence, thus as it were forcing the Good Shepherd to look after the poor orphans. The generosity with which she made this sacrifice seemed to me to partake of heroism.”
   In any case Mother Mary Frances allowed no contact, by correspondence or otherwise, between the Mary Auxiliatrix nuns and their foundress. Then, after eight years, contact was re-established in a dramatic and distressing way: Bd Mary Teresa’s sister, Mother Mary Xavier, who had been one of the first to join the society, also was dismissed by the mother general, lest she should keep the memory of the foundress too much alive. She, too, found refuge in the Paris convent of our Lady of Charity, and the report she brought of the state of the Society of Mary Auxiliatrix was a sad one. “Now I am sure”, wrote Mother Mary Teresa, “that this little society, which God loves so much, which He has watched over so lovingly, in which there are so many fervent and deeply virtuous souls, I am sure, I say, that it is morally dead—that is, that its aims, its form, its methods have ceased to exist. That is and always will be a very deep and very bitter grief to me. I love God’s plans, and I am as nothing before His holy and incomprehensible will.”
   Tuberculosis had got its hold on Bd Mary Teresa, and her last sickness was prolonged, the last seven months being passed in the infirmary. With the coming of June 1889 the end was clearly at hand, and on the 7th she died, with an unfinished sign of the cross, and the words “Come, Lord Jesus” on her lips. Her body was first buried in the convent vault in Montparnasse cemetery; it is now enshrined in the chapel of the motherhouse of Mary Auxiliatrix in Paris.

   Bd Mary Teresa de Soubiran was beatified in 1946, and the spirit of her life is summed up in this passage from a letter written after her dismissal from the Society of Mary Auxiliatrix: “As you may imagine, all this did not happen without extreme suffering. Only God can measure its depth and intensity, as only He knows the graces of faith, hope and love that flow from it: the great truth that God is all, and the rest nothing, becomes the life of the soul, and upon it one can lean securely amid the incomprehensible mysteries of this world. And this is a good above all other good on earth, for it is on almighty love that we rely for time and eternity. And should I have learned this without such cruel anguish? I do not think so. Time passes, and it passes quickly: we shall soon know the reason of so many things that surprise and shock our feeble, short-sighted reason.” Her feast is celebrated on October 20.
The foundation is part of its founder, and a word must be added about the subsequent history of the society that Bd Mary Teresa de Soubiran founded. She had foretold that within a year of her own death everything would be changed in Mary Auxiliatrix. This came true. There was much discontent with the administration of Mother Mary Frances, several houses had to be closed, and from 1884 her arbitrary mismanagement became intolerable: for example, the seat of the novitiate was changed seven times in less than five years. The crisis came when the general chapter of 1889 refused to ratify yet more changes; and on February 13, 1890, sixteen years to the day from the expulsion of Bd Mary Teresa, Mother Mary Frances herself not only resigned her office but also left the society.
   The archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Richard, nominated Mother Mary Elizabeth de Luppé to take her place. Under this nun the true story of Mother Mary Teresa came to light; her sister, Mother Mary Xavier, was recalled; and the Society of Mary Auxiliatrix picked up the threads of its true life and began again to move towards the honoured place that it has in the Catholic Church today.
These few pages are sufficient to show that the story of Ed Mary Teresa de Soubiran is a remarkable one. But so, too, is the story of Mother Mary Frances— though it can have no place in the lives of the saints. It need simply be recorded that, after her death in 1921 (and so after the cause of Mary Teresa had been introduced) it was discovered that at the time she joined the Society of Mary Auxiliatrix, Mary Frances was a married woman who had deserted her husband; and he was then still alive and she knew it. She was therefore never validly a nun, much less a mother general, and accordingly all her actions in those capacities were invalid also and Mother Mary Teresa had canonically never ceased to be a member of the religious congregation that she founded. Nothing is known of the last thirty years of Mary Frances’s life; she had private means and apparently lived alone in Paris.

The first life of Bd Mary Teresa de Soubiran, by Canon Théloz, was published in 1894, and in 1946 an admirable new one appeared by T. Delmas. La Mére Marie-Thérèse de Soubiran d’après ses: notes intimes, in two volumes, by Father Monier-Vinard, consists mainly of the beata’s own writings and notes on the spiritual life. Somewhat abridged, it was translated into English by Dom Theodore Baily in 1947 under the title A Study in Failure. See also the biography by Fr Wm. Lawson (1952) and Fr C. Hoare’s excellent sketch in pamphlet form, Life out of Death (1946). Father Grivet’s Vie de La Mere Mane-Elisabeth de Luppé may also be consulted. More. et Vivante (1933) is an account of Bd Mary Teresa when at the convent of our lady of Charity, and is said to be not entirely reliable.

Blessed Mary-Teresa de Soubiran (AC)  Born in Castelnaudary, Carcassonne, France, in 1834; died in 1889; beatified in 1946. Though she was born into nobility, Mary-Teresa wished to become a Carmelite. Her uncle, who was a priest, convinced her to found a béguinage instead in 1855. At that time she took the name Mary-Teresa. In order to attain her apostolic ends more fully, she transformed the béguinage into the Institute of Mary Auxiliatrix with the approval of her bishop. The jealousy of a manipulative sister led to Mary-Teresa being driven from her congregation and deprived of her property. Instead of giving up, in 1868, Mary-Teresa sought refuge in the Institute of Our Lady of Charity in which she was permitted to take vows and in which she persisted until her death. Only then was the truth of her situation revealed. Mary-Teresa also enjoyed mystical gifts of a high order (Benedictines).


Most women saints have been foundresses of religious orders. Their lives were not without drama, but it was not usually the sort of drama that would hit the headlines of the daily papers. The case of Blessed Mary Teresa de Soubiran was an exception. She was the victim of a melodrama that rivaled some of our soap operas. Mary Teresa de Soubiran was born into an old noble family of southern France in 1835. Her family upbringing was rather strictly religious; but that didn't matter to her, for she felt called anyway to the "hidden life" of a contemplative nun.

A priest-uncle, Canon Louis de Soubiran, ignored her preference for the cloistered life, and induced her instead to found a convent of Beguines. Beguines were almost more a pious society than a religious order. Their very liberal rule of life allowed each member to retain her own property, and even the vows of chastity and obedience were temporary rather than once-and-for-all. Mary Teresa accepted this assignment, but during the nine years it lasted she succeeded in making the rule stricter. The members eventually gave up their property, opened an orphanage, and began to devote themselves to nighttime adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. In 1863 Mother Soubiran worked these ideas into a new rule, and in 1864 she and some of her sisters opened a new convent in Toulouse, where they could follow the new lifestyle. By now they had extended their program to include the care of working girls as well as orphans; and Eucharistic adoration was scheduled not just once a month but every night. Mother Teresa called the order the "Society of Mary Auxiliatrix." By 1868 Pope Pius IX had granted it the initial approval.

Soon afterward, the troubles began.  In 1868 Mother Teresa received a novice known as Mother Mary Frances. A capable woman, Mary Frances was chosen assistant mother-general in 1871. Five years older than the foundress, she now argued persuasively in favor of a vast program of expansion. As a result, the community spent beyond its means, and Mother Mary Frances announced that their financial position was close to bankruptcy, and she blamed it on the foundress. The upshot of it was that the sisters voted to expel Mary Teresa from the sisterhood she had established.

Cast out but still desirous of remaining a religious, Mother Mary Teresa asked for admission into another order. The Visitation nuns refused her, as did the Carmelites. Finally she was allowed to take her vows in 1877 as a member of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd. They engaged in rescue work in Parish. Thus the exiled nun banished from her thoughts - though not from her prayers - the religious community that she had originated.

Meanwhile, Mother Mary Frances had done everything possible to efface the memory of the foundress from the Society of Mary Auxiliatrix. Mary Teresa did not live to see the reaction that set in. She died of tuberculosis on June 7, 1889, completely resigned to her situation, yet foretelling that there would be a change within a year.  By 1890 the Society was so weakened and Mother Frances had proved so domineering and unstable that, faced by the opposition of her nuns, she resigned her office and left the order. After her death in 1921, it was learned that when she entered the community, Mother Frances concealed the fact that she was a married woman and that her husband was still living. That meant that she had never really been a nun, much less a Mother superior, for her vows would have been invalid. Consequently, her actions as superior had also been invalid - including her expulsion of Mother Teresa. And by the same token, Mother Teresa's membership in the order she founded had continued without interruption until her death, since her exclusion had been illegal!
We know that God is just, but it helps every now and then to see Him come to the rescue of those who have patiently suffered injustices. Meanwhile, in Blessed Mary Teresa's case, what a scenario!--Father Robert F. McNamara
1922 St. Maria Bertilla Boscardin  nursing very ill and disturbed children; miracles of healing were attributed to her intercession

1922 St Bertilla Boscardin, Virgin
St Bertilla was a follower of the “little way” of St Teresa of Lisieux: ailing in health, of slight intellectual capacity, lacking in initiative, but with a balanced practical judgement and firm will, she was sanctified in the unobtrusive carrying-out of daily duties, whatever they might be. She was born into a poor peasant family in 1888 at Brendola, between Vicenza and Verona, was christened Anne Frances, and was called Annetta. Her biographer, Don Emidio Federici, says of her childhood that it was “uneventful, hard-working and quiet”. The last epithet seems ill chosen, for her father, Angelo Boscardin, a jealous man, was given to drink and accordingly there were rows and violence in the home—as Boscardin confessed in giving evidence for his daughter’s beatification. Annetta went spasmodically to the village school, but had also from an early age to work in the house and as a domestic servant near by.

  Indeed, in its fullness it appears to be unique in the annals of religious congregations; but cf. St Alphonsus Liguori (August 2), St Joseph Calasanctius (August 27) and Bd Teresa Couderc (September 26). Not the least remarkable thing is that such men as Mgr de la Tour d’Auvergne, the archbishop of Bourges and Father Ginhac should have allowed to happen what did happen. In their anxiety to avoid a public scandal they contributed towards a worse one.
She was dubbed “the goose”, and the nickname does not seem to have been playful, so that when a local priest, Don Capovilla, recognized in her a religious vocation, her pastor, the Archpriest Gresele, laughed at the idea. Nevertheless, since, as he said, the girl could at any rate peel potatoes, Don Gresele proposed her to a convent, which refused to receive her. However, when she was sixteen Annetta was accepted by the Sisters of St Dorothy at Vicenza, and given the name Bertilla, after the abbess of Chelles. “I can’t do anything”, she said to the novice-mistress, “I’m a poor thing, a goose! Teach me. I want to become a saint.’’
  For a year Sister Bertilla worked in the scullery, the bakehouse and the laundry, and then was sent to learn nursing at Treviso, where the Sisters of St Dorothy had charge of the municipal hospital. But the local superioress used her as a kitchen maid, and she remained among the pots and pans till after her profession in 1907, when she was promoted to help in the children’s diphtheria ward. From then on Bertilla was the devoted servant of the sick; but she soon became sick herself, and for the last twelve years of her life was in constant and severe pain from an internal malady that surgery failed to cure and which eventually killed her.
  Early in 1915 the Treviso hospital was taken over for troops, and when two years later the disaster of Caporetto drove the Italians back to the Piave it was in the front line. When during air-raids some of the sisters were helpless with fear, Bertilla—no less frightened—saying her rosary, busied herself taking coffee and marsala to the patients who could not be moved to the basement. She was among those soon evacuated to a military hospital at Viggiu, near Como, and here it was that she came under the admiring notice of the chaplain Peter Savoldelli and of the officer Mario Lamed. The superioress, however, like other local superiors before her, failed to understand and appreciate Sister Bertilla: she thought she was overworking herself and getting too attached to her patients. And so Bertilla was banished to the laundry: here she remained uncomplainingly for four months, till she was rescued by the mother general, a remarkable woman named Azelia Farinea, who withdrew her from Viggiu. After the armistice she returned to the hospital at Treviso and was put in charge of the children’s isolation ward.
   Sister Bertilla’s health had been getting worse and worse, and three years later a serious surgical operation was indicated. It was done; but after three days, on October 20, 1922, Sister Bertilla died. On the first anniversary of her death a memorial plaque was put up in the hospital at Treviso, “To Sister Bertilla Boscardin, a chosen soul of heroic goodness, who for several years was a truly angelic alleviator of human suffering in this place.  Crowds flocked to her first grave at Treviso and to her tomb at Vicenza; miracles of healing were attributed to her intercession in Heaven; and in 1952 Bd Bertilla was beatified, in the presence of members of her family and patients whom she had nursed.
See F. Talvacchia, Suor Bertilla Boscardin (1923); P. Savoldelli, Soavi rimembranze (1939) and E. Federici, La b. M. Bertha Boscardin (1952). The last-named work makes full use of the documents of the beatification process. For information about St Bertilla, Don Federici refers his readers to the “Vite dei Padri ecc., dell’ Abate Albano Butler”, quoting from an Italian translation published at Venice in 1825.
+ The word used is the dialect oco, which seems actually to mean a gander.

If anyone knew rejection, ridicule and disappointment, it was today’s saint. But such trials only brought Maria Bertilla Boscardin closer to God and more determined to serve him.

Born in Italy in 1888, the young girl lived in fear of her father, a violent man prone to jealousy and drunkenness. Her schooling was limited so that she could spend more time helping at home and working in the fields. She showed few talents and was often the butt of jokes.
In 1904 she joined the Sisters of St. Dorothy and was assigned to work in the kitchen, bakery and laundry. After some time Maria received nurses’ training and began working in a hospital with children suffering from diphtheria. There the young nun seemed to find her true vocation: nursing very ill and disturbed children. Later, when the hospital was taken over by the military in World War I, Sister Maria Bertilla fearlessly cared for patients amidst the threat of constant air raids and bombings.
She died in 1922 after suffering for many years from a painful tumor.
Some of the patients she had nursed many years before were present at her canonization in 1961.

1922 St. Bertilla Boscardin Virgin, also called Mary Bertilla
She was born in Brendola, in northern Italy. A member of the Congregation of Teachers of St. Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred hearts, she spent her life caring for children and the sick. She was canonized in 1961.

Maria Bertilla (Ann Francis Boscardin) V (RM)
Born at Brendola near Vicenza; Italy, in 1888; died at Treviso, October 20, 1922; beatified in 1952; canonized in 1961.

Anna Francesca Boscardin was a dull peasant girl, who was raised in a very dysfunctional family. She went primary school only intermittently because her father, Angelo Boscardin, was jealous, violent, and often drunk (according to his own testimony in the beatification process). While attending classes, she also worked as a domestic servant in a nearby home.

Although a local clergyman, the archpriest Gresele, called her a "goose" because of her slowness and she was turned down by one convent, in 1904, Annetta was accepted as a sister in the congregation at Vicenza known as the Teachers of Saint Dorothy, Daughters of the Sacred Heart. The new Bertilla (her name in religion) told her novice-mistress, "I can't do anything. I'm a poor thing, a goose. Teach me. I want to become a saint."

She worked for three years as a kitchen maid and laundress. After the first year she was sent to Treviso to learn nursing at the municipal hospital under the charge of the order, but the local superioress again put her to work in the kitchen. In 1907, Bertilla was promoted to help in the children's diphtheria ward at Treviso.

During the air-raid after the disaster of Caporetto in 1917, Sister Bertilla was imperturbably careful of her patients, especially those who were too ill to be moved to safety. She attracted the admiring notice of the authorities of a military hospital, especially the chaplain Peter Savoldelli and the officer Mario Lameri, at Viggiú near Como when the sisters were evacuated to that site to tend to the wounded soldiers. But the local superioress, who did not appreciate her work, assigned her to the laundry, from where she was rescued four months later by a more perceptive mother-general, Azelia Farinea.

In 1919, she was put in charge of the children's isolation ward at Treviso. In 1922, her health, which had been frail for 12 years from a painful internal malady, failed entirely, necessitating a serious operation that she did not survive.

Saint Bertilla's life was a simple record of devoted hard work. Her industry and loving care had made a deep impression. A memorial plaque described the saint as "a chosen soul of heroic goodness . . . an angelic alleviator of human suffering in this place."

Crowds flocked to her first grave at Treviso. After her tomb at Vincenza became the site of pilgrimage and miracles of healing were attributed to her intercession. This led to her canonization in 1961 in the presence of crowds that included members of her family and patients whom she had nursed (Attwater, Benedictines, Farmer, Walsh).


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 101

Praise Our Lady in her saints: praise her in her virtues and miracles.

Praise her, ye bands of Apostles: praise her, ye choirs and patriarchs and prophets.

Praise her, ye army of martyrs; praise her, ye bands of doctors and confessors.

Praise her in the college of virgins and the chaste: praise her, ye orders of monks and holy anchorites.

Praise her, ye monasteries of all religious: praise her, all the souls of all heavenly dwellers.

 Let every spirit praise Our Lady.


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

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


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

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

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

Patron_Saints.html  Widowed_Saints htmIndulgences The Catholic Church in China
LINKS: Marian Shrines  
India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes 1858  China Marian shrines 1995
Kenya national Marian shrine  Loreto, Italy  Marian Apparitions (over 2000Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798
 
Links to Related MarianWebsites  Angels and Archangels  Saints Visions of Heaven and Hell

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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