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
23,664 lives saved since 2007

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

Pray that we display an attitude of humility as we stand in peaceful vigil, as we fast, as we knock on doors in our communities. Though we proudly proclaim Christ's truth, may our boasting be only in His grace.

Mary Mother of GOD
The Holy Ghost shall come down upon thee, Mary,
and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. -- Luke i.35

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

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

The Eucharist is a burning coal that sets us on fire. Fire is active by nature and tends to spread.
When the soul is under the action of the Eucharist, it is forced to cry out;
"O my God, what shall I do in return for so much love?"
And Jesus answers;
"Thou hast to resemble Me, to live for Me, and to live of Me."
The transformation will be easy; when it is a matter of love; one does not walk; one runs and flies.
-- St. Peter Julian Eymard





October 23
1149 Bertrand of Grandselve, OSB Cist. Abbot often favored with heavenly visions (AC)
1249 BD JOHN BUONI; -- a hermit’s life, which he began near Cesena, Mantua; Bd John received many supernatural enlightenments in prayer, wrought a number of most remarkable miracles, and did not allow advancing age to lessen his austerities; The penitents so increased and so many people came to see him out of curiosity that John made up his mind to go away secretly to a more quiet place but after having walked all night he found himself at dawn once more before the door of his own cell, so he concluded that it was God’s will that he should stay where he was.
1271 Blessed Bartholomew of Breganza received habit from Saint Dominic followed him as Popes Theologian; restored other churches; rebuilt ruined city; saved heretics OP B (AC)
1456 St. John of Capistrano "Initiative, Organization, Activity." Miracles
1680 Bl. Thomas Thwing English martyr
1794 Bl. Joseph Leroux  Ursuline martyr French Revolution
1833 St. Paul Tong Buong  Vietnamese martyr native 


Reciting the Rosary (I)
Do you remember when you were a child When your irate father raised his hand high To punish you for some serious error, Your mother stopped his arm ready to spank.  In the pious account that cannot mislead us, Jesus Christ on the cross, showing John to Mary, Said: “Here is your son!”  This is why I pray, For Mary to beseech my forgiveness At the hour of my death. For, when Jesus gave her this mysterious gift, He bequeathed Christian humanity to her. Your mother, O Lord, is all mine.  --  François Coppee

October 23 –Our Lady of Frassino (Lake Garda, Italy)
We can be sure of an adventure with Mary
If you are an adventurous person, follow in the Virgin Mary’s footsteps. Her life is a real adventure of faith. She placed everything in the hands of the Lord and set out. At the Grotto like in Egypt, in Nazareth or on Golgotha, she trusted and kept on walking. With her, we can be sure of an adventure.
Everywhere, take the Virgin Mary as your model and give Christ to the world. The location does not matter. The first time, Mary presented Jesus to the shepherds in a stable! What matters is that you live in charity and communion, for only then will Christ be with you. If you bring Jesus to others, your life will be a perpetual Christmas feast.
Cardinal François-Xavier NGUYEN VAN THUAN
Sur le chemin de l'espérance (The Road to Hope), Le Sarment, Fayard 1991

St. Ignatius, bishop at Constantinople; He rebuked Bardas Caesar for putting away his wife; for this reason, he was subjected to many sufferings by the Emperor and driven into exile. However, he was restored to his see by the Roman Pontiff St. Nicholas, and at last died a peaceful death.
  305 St. Servandus & Cermanus
4th v. Amo (Amon) of Toul B succeeded Saint Mansuetus (AC)
  362 St. Theodoret martyr priest of Antioch
 
420 St. Severinus Bishop of BORDEAUX; distinguished himself by his zeal against Arianism;
4th v. St. Verus Bishop of Salerno maintained orthodoxy traditions of his martyrs
   520 St. Clether Welsh saint martyr
  
524 St. Severinus Boethius Roman philosopher theologian statesman;  “the last of the Roman philosophers, and the first of the scholastic theologians”
   609 St. John of Syracuse Benedictine bishop  of Syracuse, in Sicily, from 595 until his death.
   639 St. Romanus of Rouen  Bishop of Rouen miracles
   650 St. Maroveus Abbot and founder Benedictine
   654 St. Benedict of Sebaste Turkey Bishop and hermit
   718 St. Leothade Benedictine bishop of Auch France. He was abbot of Moissac and was a Frankish noble.
   723 St. Oda Widow and servant of the poor
8th v. St. Domitius Hermit in Amiens France. He was a priest or deacon.
   877 St IGNATIUS, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE
   936 St. Elfleda Anglo-Saxon princess Benedictine nun
1134 ST ALLUCIO; shepherd in Pescia, Tuscany, Italy; devoted himself to establishment of shelters at fords, mountain-passes, and to similar public works, such as the building of a bridge over the Arno; A number of remarkable miracles were recorded of the saint and he was credited with bringing about reconciliation between the warring cities of Ravenna and Faenza
1149 Bertrand of Grandselve, OSB Cist. Abbot often favored with heavenly visions (AC)
1249 BD JOHN BUONI; earlier life was not conspicuous for religion later -- a hermit’s life, which he began near Cesena, Mantua; Bd John received many supernatural enlightenments in prayer, wrought a number of most remarkable miracles, and did not allow advancing age to lessen his austerities; The number of his penitents so increased and so many people came to see him out of curiosity that John made up his mind to go away secretly to a more quiet place but after having walked all night he found himself at dawn once more before the door of his own cell, so he concluded that it was God’s will that he should stay where he was.
1271 Blessed Bartholomew of Breganza received habit from Saint Dominic followed him as Popes Theologian restored
        other churches rebuilt ruined city saved heretics OP B (AC)
1456 St. John of Capistrano "Initiative, Organization, Activity." Miracles
1680 Bl. Thomas Thwing English martyr
1794 Bl. Joseph Leroux  Ursuline martyr French Revolution
1833 St. Paul Tong Buong  Vietnamese martyr native 

October 23 - Our Lady of Consolation (near Honfleur, France)   A Mother’s Rosary (I)
One day a student, who had lost the enthusiasm of his childhood and no longer prayed regularly, saw a strand of rosary beads lying on the road. His first thought was to pass by without minding the object. However, his childhood’s love for the Blessed Virgin was reawakened by the sight of the forsaken Rosary on the ground. He picked it up, brushed it off and said to himself, “How can I return this to the person who lost it? Since all Rosaries are in Mary’s honor,  I’ll give it back to her; I’ll leave it on her altar in the first church that I happen to come across.”  The young man entered the first church he saw and walked straight over to the altar of the Virgin Mary, who was expecting this child of hers. She gave him this inspiration: Recite the Rosary before leaving it on the altar.”   The student, who was moved by this thought, knelt down, and started to pray the Rosary like in his former years. Suddenly, a flood of thoughts overwhelmed him; it seemed as though he could hear a voice speaking straight to his heart and clearly asking him, “Would you become a priest, my child? You have been unfaithful to the call of my Son, but it is nevertheless your only vocation. Remember your love of old, and follow your vocation.” These words were like a beam of light that penetrated the young man to the depths of his soul.  After long thought and prayer, he exclaimed, “Yes, dear Mother! Yes, I am coming back to you.  With your help, I will become a priest of Jesus Christ.”
He kept his word and became a priest, and a very good priest at that. Of course, in addition to his other prayers, he liked to recite the Rosary every day, using the simple strand of rosary beads, which he had found on the road. It had given him the favor of his priesthood. Adapted from Priesthood and Restoration Quoted in the Marian Collection
by Fr. Albert Pfleger 1977

The Shrine of Our Lady of Rocamadour (II) October 23 - OUR LADY OF COMFORT
The Shrine of Our Lady of Rocamadour itself can be traced back to the twelfth century. Over the next few centuries, the numbers of pilgrims continued to increase. Many notable people came on pilgrimages to Rocamadour, including St Dominic and St Louis IX of France, and possibly even Charlemagne, on his way to battle the Moors in Spain.  The shrine eventually became so famous that kings and bishops began granting special privileges to those who made the pilgrimage.
    As an act of penance, pilgrims would regularly make the entire climb on their knees, as some still do today; 216 steps lead to the top of the rocky plateau on which the Chapel of Our Lady is located. The town suffered with the general decline of pilgrimages in the 17th and 18th centuries, but it was heavily restored and revitalized in the 19th century.  One recent notable pilgrim to Rocamadour was the French composer Francis Poulenc (d. January 30, 1963), who stayed in the city after a religious conversion he experienced there, and in honor of which he composed his Litanies of the Black Virgin (Litanies à la Vierge Noire). Today, the tomb of the ancient saint as well as the ancient image of Our Lady make the shrine at Rocamadour a popular destination; the site receives thousands of devout pilgrims each year.
 See http://www.sacred-destinations.com/france/rocamadour-shrine-of-our-lady-of-rocamadour.htm 

October 23 - Italy. Lake Garda: Our Lady of Frassino
    Ireland and the Rosary
With the victory of Cromwell’s armies, Ireland entered a period of harsh persecutions during which it became more and more difficult for Catholic priests to meet the spiritual needs of the faithful. From that time dates the very special importance the Irish attribute to the Rosary, among the devotions in honor of the Blessed Virgin.

When a priest couldn’t be there to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice for the faithful, the assembly would pray the Rosary as a form of public prayer. It is not an exaggeration to affirm that, for more than three hundred years, the Rosary has been the most characteristic form of devotion of the Irish people. In each Catholic home, the recitation of the Rosary has become a daily, scrupulously observed ritual.

If sailors were setting sail to cross the seas and expose their lives, a pubic Rosary was offered before the ship hoisted the anchor. Fishermen used to recite it before lifting their nets. It is the traditional prayer at Catholic funerals; the one also that families recite when they gather at the bedside of one of their beloved who is dying. During the 19th century, when emigration dispersed Irish Catholics throughout the world in faraway countries often deprived of Catholic priests, the Rosary was the most efficient support for the poor exiles.
A. Gwynn, s. j. Notre Dame reine d'Irlande (Our Lady of Ireland)
"Christianity is not a moral code or a philosophy, but an encounter with a person" -- Benedict XVI
Benedict_XVI_Patriarch_Bartholomew

"Evil, is only eradicated by holiness, not by harshness. And holiness introduces into society a seed that heals and transforms.  It is like the tectonic plates of the earth’s crust: The deepest layers need only shift a few millimeters to shatter the world’s surface. Yet for this spiritual revolution to occur, we must experience radical 'metanoia'--a conversion of attitudes, habits and practices--for ways that we have misused or abused God’s Word, God’s gifts and God’s creation. The challenge before us is the discernment of God’s Word in the face of evil, the transfiguration of every last detail and speck of this world in the light of Resurrection." "The victory is already present in the depths of the Church, whenever we experience the grace of reconciliation and communion."
Patriarch_Bartholomew I: SYNOD OF BISHOPS VATICAN CITY, OCT. 17, 2008
Pope Leo XIII 1878-1903 The feast of St Severinus Boethius (as a martyr) is still kept at Pavia and in the church of St Mary in Portico in Rome. The confirmation of his cultus in these places by Pope Leo XIII in 1883
20 February, 1878; 20 July, 1903; Pope Leo XIII Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci  doctorate of theology; Civilization owes much to Leo for his stand on the social question.
The ecclesiastical sciences found a generous patron in Pope Leo.
Even among the Copts his efforts at reunion made headway.
Under Leo the Catholic Faith made great progress; With regard to the Kingdom of Italy, Leo XIII maintained Pius IX's attitude of protest; in Portugal the Government ceased to support the Goan schism, and in 1886 a concordat was drawn up. 
The United States at all times attracted the attention and admiration of Pope Leo.
Throughout his entire pontificate he was able to keep on good terms with France; 1872 he introduced the government standards for studies of the secondary schools and colleges.
Bishop of Perugia;  1843, appointed nuncio to Brussels.


"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.


St. Ignatius, bishop at Constantinople; He rebuked Bardas Caesar for putting away his wife; for this reason, he was subjected to many sufferings by the Emperor and driven into exile. However, he was restored to his see by the Roman Pontiff St. Nicholas, and at last died a peaceful death.
Constantinópoli sancti Ignátii Epíscopi, qui, cum Bardam Cæsarem ob repudiátam uxórem arguísset, ab eo multis injúriis afféctus est, et in exsílium pulsus; sed, a sancto Nicoláo, Románo Pontífice, restitútus, tandem in pace quiévit.
    At Constantinople, St. Ignatius, bishop, who rebuked Bardas Caesar for putting away his wife, for which he was subjected to many insults and driven into banishment.  He was, however, restored to his See by the Roman Pontiff Nicholas, and there died in peace.
St. Romanus, bishop at Rouen
St. Domitius, priest in the territory of Amiens.
St. Benedict in the country of Poitiers
Blessed Giovanni Buono At Mantua of the Order of the Hermits of St Augustine, whose excellent life was written by St. Antoninus.

305 St. Servandus & Cermanus
Ad fundum Ursoniánum prope Gades, in Hispánia, sanctórum Mártyrum Servándi et Germáni, qui, in persecutióne Diocletiáni, sub Viatóre Vicário, post vérbera, squalórum cárceris, famis ac sitis injúriam, et longíssimi itíneris labórem, quem pertulérunt ferro onústi, novíssime martyrii sui cursum, cæsis cervícibus, implevérunt; ex quibus Germánus Eméritæ, Servándus autem Híspali cónditus est.
    At Osuma, near Cadiz in Spain, in the persecution of Diocletian, under the subgovernor Viator, the holy martyrs Servandus and Germanus.  They were subjected to scourging, imprisonment in a foul dungeon, want of food and drink, and the fatigue of a long journey while loaded with fetters, and at length reached the end of their martyrdom by having their heads stricken off.  Germanus was buried at Merida, and Servandus at Seville.
Two martyrs, reputedly the sons of St. Marcellus. They were put to death at Osuma near Cadiz.
the holy martyrs Servandus and Germanus. In the persecution of Diocletian, under the acting governor Viator, they were
flogged, confined to a foul prison, subjected to hunger and thirst, and forced to endure the hardships of a long journey which they made loaded with chains. They eventually finished the course of their martyrdom by having their throats cut. Germanus was buried at Merida and Servandus at Seville .
4th v. Amo (Amon) of Toul B succeeded Saint Mansuetus (AC)
4th century. Amo, the second known bishop of Toul, succeeded Saint Mansuetus (Benedictines)
.
362 St. Theodoret martyr priest of Antioch
Antiochíæ item natális sancti Theodóri Presbyteri, qui, in persecutióne ímpii Juliáni comprehénsus, et, post equúlei pœnam et multos ac duríssimos cruciátus, lampádibus étiam circa látera appósitis adústus, tandem, cum in confessióne Christi persísteret, gládii occisióne martyrium consummávit.
    At Antioch, the birthday of the holy priest Theodore, who was arrested in the persecution of the impious Julian.  After the torment of the rack and many severe tortures, including the burning of his sides with torches, he persisted in the confession of Christ, and so his martyrdom was completed by death with the sword.

362 ST THEODORET, MARTYR
JULIAN, uncle to the Emperor Julian and likewise an apostate, was made prefect of the East, of which Antioch was the capital city. Being informed that there was a quantity of gold and silver in the great church there, he ordered it to be brought to him, whereupon the clergy fled. But Theodoret, a zealous priest, refused to abandon his flock and continued to hold Christian assemblies. The prefect Julian commanded him to give up the sacred vessels, and when he refused charged him with having thrown down the statues of the gods and built churches in the precious reign. Theodoret owned he had built churches over the graves of the martyrs, and reproved the prefect because, after having known the true God, he had abandoned his service. So he was tormented in divers ways, during which the torturers were made helpless by a vision of angels about their victim. Julian in a rage ordered them to be drowned, whereat Theodoret said to them, “Go before, brethren. I will follow by vanquishing the Enemy.”
The prefect asked him who that enemy was. “The Devil”, said the martyr, “for whom you fight. Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world is He who giveth victory.” He then explained to his tormentor at some length the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption, and when Julian threatened him with instant death retorted by prophesying for him an early and painful end. He was then sentenced beheaded, which sentence was duly carried out. Julian then went to seize the church vessels, which he threw on the ground and profaned in a most outrageous manner.  When the prefect reported these happenings to his uncle, the emperor told him plainly that he did not approve his putting any Christian to death merely on account of his religion, and complained that this would afford an occasion to the Galileans to write against him and to make a martyr of Theodoret. Julian the prefect, who little expected such a reception, was much upset, and that same evening was taken violently ill. He was in great agony for over forty days, and then came to a miserable end.

Although Ruinart amongst his Acta Sincera includes the passio of this martyr it is difficult to put confidence in the miraculous details recorded. The text, with variations and a full commentary, may be read in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. x.  An earlier form of the passio has been discovered by P. Franchi de’ Cavalieri see his Note agiografiche, vol. v, pp. 59—101.  Theodoret is called Theodore in the Hieronymianum and the Roman Martyrology, and it appears he must be identified with the young man Theodore who was tortured at Antioch under Julian the Apostate, with whom the prefect Sallust remonstrated on account thereof (Rufinus, Eccl. hist., bk x). There is ample evidence of the veneration in which he was held at Antioch he was marvelously saved from death.
Also Theodore of Antioch (in modern Turkey), he refused to adhere to the anti-imperial decrees of Emperor Julian the Apostate (r. 361-363) and was martyred by beheading. He supposedly prophesied that Emperor Julian would soon die painfully, which he did, while on campaign against the Persians.
He was arrested in the persecution of the wicked Julian. Despite the torment of the rack and other severe tortures, including the burning of his sides with torches, he persevered in his confession of Christ. He completed his martyrdom by being put to the sword
.
420 St. Severinus Bishop of BORDEAUX; distinguished himself by his zeal against Arianism;
Burdígalæ sancti Severíni, Epíscopi Coloniénsis et Confessóris.
    At Bordeaux, St. Severin, bishop of Cologne and confessor.
420 ST SEVERINUS, OR SEURIN, Bishop OF BORDEAUX
THE Roman Martyrology, while putting his death at Bordeaux, calls Severinus “bishop of Cologne”. This has reference to identification, now abandoned, of Seurin with St Severinus of Cologne, also commemorated today. He distinguished himself by his zeal against Arianism, and died at the beginning of the fifth century.
   According to the legend Severinus while a priest was walking in the fields when he heard a voice say, “Severinus, you will be bishop of Cologne”. “When will that happen?” he asked. “When your staff buds and flowers”, was the reply. And his stick, stuck in the ground, took root and blossomed, and he was called to Cologne.
   At Tongres, says Gregory of Tours, he knew by revelation the death and glory of St Martin at the time of his departure from this life. In the midst of his labours against heresy he was again warned by a voice, this time that he was wanted in Bordeaux; he went thither and was met by the bishop St Amand who, also instructed by Heaven, yielded up his office to him.

Modern research has clearly established that the only Life of St Severinus of any authority, and in fact the source from which the others have borrowed, is that written by Venantius Fortunatus. Identified and printed for the first time by Fl. Quentin (La plus ancienne Vie de S. Seurin, 1902), it has been re-edited by W. Levison in the MGH., Scriptores Merov., vol. vii, pp. 205—224. Severinus before coming to Bordeaux had apparently been bishop of Trier but there is nothing to connect him with Cologne. By a curious confusion, on which see the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxviii (1920), pp. 427—428, Seurin seems to have been the original from which an imaginary bishop of Bordeaux “St Fort” was afterwards evolved.
He was originally from Bordeaux, France. Severinus was a ferocius opponent of the Arian heresy Bishop of Bordeaux from about 405 until his death. Also called Seurin.
4th v. St. Verus Bishop of Salerno maintained orthodoxy traditions of his martyrs
Apud Salérnum sancti Veri Epíscopi.    At Salerno, Bishop St. Verus.
Italy. He maintained orthodoxy in the region and kept the traditions of his martyred predecessors.
St. Amo Bishop of Toul France.The successor of St. Mansuetus.
520 St. Clether Welsh saint martyr
also called Cleer, Clydog, Scledog, Citanus, or Cleodius. He was a descendant of a local king in Wales.
Clether left Wales and went to Cornwall, England. Churches including St. Clear near Liskeard were built in his honor. He is reported to have been martyred. A second Clether is commemorated on November 3.

Clether of Wales (AC) (also known as Cleer, Clydog, Scledog, Clitanus, Cleodius) Died in Herefordshire, England, c. 520. One of the saints descended from King Brychan of Brecknock, or at least of his clan. Several dedications of churches--for instance, St. Cleer, near Liskeard--perpetuate his memory. Another Clether, or Cledog, is commemorated on August 19. He is alleged to have died a martyr (Benedictines)
.
524 St. Severinus Boethius Roman philosopher theologian statesman;  “the last of the Roman philosophers, and the first of the scholastic theologians”
524 ST SEVERINUS BOETHIUS, MARTYR
Anicius MANLIUS Severinus BOETHIUS was born about the year 480, a member of one of the most illustrious families of Rome, the gens Anicia, to which Pope St Gregory the Great probably belonged.
He was left an orphan while still very young, and came under the guardianship of Q. Aurelius Symmachus, to whom he became attached by the ties of closest friendship and whose daughter, Rusticiana, he eventually married.
   Nothing else is known of his youth, but it must have been devoted to assiduous study, for before he was thirty Boethius was already reputed a very learned man. He set himself to translate the whole of Plato and Aristotle into Latin and to show their fundamental agreement this task he was not destined to finish, but Cassiodorus remarks that through his translations the people of Italy were able to know, as well as Plato and Aristotle, “Pythagoras the musician, Ptolemy the astronomer, Nichomachus the arithmetician, Euclid the geometer and Archimedes the mechanician”. This gives an idea of the many-sided-ness of Boethius’s interests, and he made his own contributions to logic, mathematics, geometry and music: moreover he was skilled in practice as well, for a well-known letter of Cassiodorus asks him to make a water-clock and a sundial for the king of the Burgundians. He was also a theological writer (the Anician family had been Christian since Constantine), and several of his treatises survive, including one on the Holy Trinity.
   The works of Boethius were exceedingly influential in the Middle Ages, especially in the development of logic, and it is not for nothing that he has been called “the last of the Roman philosophers, and the first of the scholastic theologians”. His translations were for long the only means for the study of Greek philosophy in the West.

Boethius was born very soon after the last of the Roman emperors in the West, Romulus “Augustulus”, had given up the remnants of his power to the barbarian Odoacer; he was about thirteen when Odoacer was murdered and the Ostrogoth Theodoric as Patricius obtained mastery of the whole of Italy.
The father of Boethius had accepted the new state of things and been given high office by Odoacer, and his son followed the example thus set: notwithstanding his devotion to scholarship he entered public life, and did so (as he tells us himself) as a deliberate response to Plato’s teaching that “states would be happy either if philosophers ruled them, or if it chanced that their rulers turned philosophers”. Theodoric made him consul in 510; and twelve years later he reached what he called “the highest point of his good fortune”, when he saw his two sons installed as consuls and himself delivered an oration before them in praise of King Theodoric. Soon after the king further honoured him with the post of “master of the offices”, which was one of the very highest importance and responsibility. But his fall was at hand.

The aged Theodoric became suspicious that certain members of the Roman senate were conspiring with the Eastern emperor, Justin, at Constantinople to overthrow the Ostrogoth power in Italy. Accordingly a charge was laid against the ex-consul Albinus, and Boethius rose in the court to defend him. Whether or no there was such a plot, it may be taken as quite certain that Boethius had nothing to do with it. But he also was arrested, and consigned to prison at Ticinum (now Pavia) he was charged not only with treason but also with sacrilege, that is, in this case, the practice of mathematics and astronomy for impious ends.  His condemnation followed, and Boethius spoke with bitter scorn of the senate, of which it seems only one member, his father-in-law Symmachus, had stood up for his innocence.
   Boethius was in prison for about nine months, and during that time he wrote the best-known of his works, the Consolation of Philosophy. It is in the form of a dialogue, with metrical interludes, between the writer and Philosophy, and she seeks to console him in his misfortune by showing the transitoriness and vanity of earthly success and the eternal value of the things of the mind:  disaster is irrelevant to those who have learned to appreciate divine wisdom, and the governance of the universe is just and righteous despite appearances to the contrary. Nothing is said about the Christian faith, but numerous problems of metaphysics and ethics are touched on, and the Consolation of Philosophy became one of the most popular books in the middle ages, not only among philosophers and theologians. It was one of the works translated into Old English by King Alfred the Great.

The imprisonment of Boethius ended only with violent death, said preceded by a brutal torture. He was buried in the old cathedral of Ticinum, and his relics are now in the church of St Peter in Ciel d’Oro at Pavia.

That Boethius died a martyr seems to have been taken for granted, and the background of his medieval influence and popularity was that he had died for the faith and was Saint Severinus.*{*See, for example, the Paradiso of Dante, canto x, lines 125 seq.  References to and echoes of the De consolatione are frequent in Dante, though for some reason he thought that work was “not well known”.  How well known it in fact was, among lay people as well as clerics, is shown by the fact that in the later middle ages translations or adaptations of it were made into German, Provençal, Anglo-Norman, French, Polish, Magyar, Greek, Hebrew and English (by Chaucer and by John Walton). It was one of the books with which the Benedictine martyr Bd Ambrose Barlow comforted himself when in prison.}

But there is nothing reliable to suggest that he was executed for any but purely political reasons; it is true that Theodoric was an Arian, but there is not the slightest evidence that this had any part in the prose­cution of his hitherto trusted minister of state. It is possible that the idea of Boethius’s martyrdom may have originated in what may well have been the notorious fact that he was put to death unjustly, for death imposed on the innocent, without any necessary hatred of the faith, has often been the passport to a veneration for martyrdom in earlier times.

Since the eighteenth century a still more fundamental question has been raised, viz. Was Boethius at the time of his death a professing and practising Christian?  That he was brought up and long remained a Christian admits of no doubt, especially since in 1877 a new piece of evidence confirms the authenticity of the theological writings with the authorship of which he had been credited for so long.  But the difficulty is this: How is it that a Christian man, who had written treatises in defence of the faith, should, in face of an unjust charge and of death, write a work for his own strengthening and solace which contains nothing dis­tinctively Christian except one or two indirect quotations from the Bible?

Or, as Boswell reports Dr Johnson as saying in 1770, “It was very surprising that, upon such a subject, and in such a situation, he should be magis philosophus quam Christianus”, “more of a philosopher than a Christian”.
The problem cannot be shrugged off, and the fact that nobody in the middle ages appeared to be worried by the anomaly does not help either way. Here it is sufficient to say that, when the question had once been posed, some scholars of weight were all for “dechristianizing” Boethius. But later on the opposite opinion strengthened, and the prevalent view is that he remained a Christian to the end. Two scholars, a Protestant and a Catholic, may be quoted in support:  The old question as to the relation of Boethius to Christianity is meaningless…a Christian theologian may well have written such a work as the Consolation, not to express his own views but to give philosophy’s answer to the chief problems of thought” (E. K. Rand in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. xv, p. i); and the Consolation of Philosophy is “a masterpiece which, in spite of its deliberate reticence, is a perfect expression of the union of the Christian spirit with the classical tradition” (Christopher Dawson in The Making of Europe, p. 51).
The feast of St Severinus Boethius (as a martyr) is still kept at Pavia and in the church of St Mary in Portico in Rome. The confirmation of his cultus in these places by Pope Leo XIII in 1883 might be thought to settle the questions of Boethius’s martyrdom and religion. But, though calling for the fullest respect, a confirmation of cultus is not an exercise of infallibility; it is only permissive, and is not always and inevitably preceded by a full and exhaustive examination of the historical problems that may be involved.

H. F. Stewart’s monograph on Boethius, published in 1891, is still a standard work; more recent works of value are FL R. Patch, The Tradition of Boethius (1935) and H. Barrett, Boethius Some Aspects of His Times and Work (1940). Patch provides a bibliography of twenty pages. The complete works, first published in Venice in 1497, are in Migne, PL., vols. lxiii and lxiv; the theological treatises and the “Consolation” are in the Loeb Classical Library (Latin text and translation); King Alfred’s version of the last-named is in the Oxford University Press Library of Translations (Alfred gives it a Christian colouring). In the Fortescue and Smith edition of De consolatione philosophiae (1925) the suggestion is made that it was written when Boethius was in exile but not yet in prison and under sentence of death; but this explanation of its silence about Christianity is open to strong objections, In the Bodleian there is a manuscript of this work given by Bishop Leofric c. 1050 to the cathedral church of Exeter. In 1650 Sir Thomas Hawkins and other Catholics translated a book by Nicholas Caussin, The Holy Court, containing a rather extravagant life of Boethius, into English, and the story of Boethius was used to illustrate the position of Catholics in England under the penal laws. New translations of the De consolatione, by Fr G. G. Walsh, and of the theological tracts with selected other writings, by Dr A. C. Pegis, are promised in the series of patristic translations of the Cima Company, of New York. The church of St Mary in Portico (in Campitelli) stood on the site of the house of St Galls (October 5), who was sister-in-law to Boethius .

One of the last notable philosophers in the classical Roman tradition. Known, in full as Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius, he was born to the ancient noble family of Rome, the Anicii, and studied at Athens and Alexandria, receiving a deep classical education.
In 510, he was named a consul under the Ostrogothic king Theodoric and became his magister officiorurn (master of offices) in 520, a post which demonstrated Theodoric’s deep trust and respect for Boethius’ abilities. However, relations between them soon deteriorated, as Boethius was staunchly orthodox in his Christianity while Theodoric was a devoted Arian.

When Boethius defended the ex-consul Albinus on charges of treason, Theodoric had him seized, condemned, and put to death. A brilliant philosopher and statesman, Roethius authored translations of Aristotle, the Isagoge by Porphyry, and a Commentary on the Topics of Cicero. He also authored treatises on the Holy Trinity (De Sancti Trinitate) and orthodox Christology, and a biography of the Christian monk and writer Cassiodorus (d. 580).
His most famous work, De Consolatione Philosophiae (The Consolation of Philosophy), was written while he was in prison. In it, he proposed that the study of philosophy made attainable knowledge of virtue and God. He is considered a martyr for the Catholic faith and was canonized under the name St. Severinus
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609 St. John of Syracuse Benedictine bishop  of Syracuse, in Sicily, from 595 until his death.
639 St. Romanus of Rouen Bishop of Rouen miracles
Rotómagi sancti Románi Epíscopi.    At Rouen, Bishop St. Romanus.

Not much that is certainly authentic is known of this bishop. His father, alleged to be a convert of St Remigius, was born of a Frankish family, and Romanus was placed young in the court of Clotaire II. Upon the death of Hidulf, c. 630, he was chosen bishop of Rouen. The remains of idolatry exercised his zeal; he converted the unbelievers and is said to have destroyed the remains of a temple of Venus. Amongst many miracles it is related that, the Seine having overflowed the city, the saint knelt to pray on the side of the water, with a crucifix in his hand, whereupon the floods retired gently within the banks of the river.

The name of St Romanus is famous in France on account of a privilege, which the metropolitical chapter of Rouen exercised until the Revolution, of releasing in his honour a prisoner under sentence of death every year on the feast of the Ascension of our Lord. The chapter sent notice to the parlement of Rouen two months before to stop the execution of criminals till that time; and on that day chose the prisoner who, being first condemned to death, was then set at liberty to assist in carrying the shrine of St Romanus in the great procession. He heard two exhortations and then was told that in honour of St Romanus he was pardoned. The legend is that this privilege took its rise from St Romanus killing a great serpent, called Gargouille, with the assistance of a murderer whom he took out of his dungeon. No traces of this story are found in any life of this saint or in any writings before the end of the fourteenth century; the deliverance of the condemned criminal was perhaps intended for a symbol of the redemption of mankind through Christ. The custom was called Privilège de la Fierte or of the Châsse de St Romain. St Romanus died about the year 640.
There are several short lives of St Romanus, but not of a date that would lend them any historical value. The texts for the most part are printed or summarized in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. x, but a useful note upon the lives and their authors is available in Vacandard, Vie de St Ouen (1902), pp. 356—358. Other references to St Romain occur passim in the text. See also Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, vol. ii, p. 207 and L. Pillon in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. xxx (1903), pp. 441—454.
He owed his elevation to the bishopric to the patronage of the Frankish king Clotaire II in whose court Romanus had grown up. As bishop, he worked to extirpate all lingering paganism, and per­sonally tore down a temple to Venus. He also cared for condemned prisoners. Romanus was famous for performing miracles.
650 St. Maroveus Abbot and founder Benedictine
Maroveus Abbot and founder of the Benedictine Monastery of Precipiano, near Tortona, Italy
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654 St. Benedict of Sebaste Turkey Bishop and hermit
In pago Pictaviénsi sancti Benedícti Confessóris.    In the country of Poitiers, St. Benedict, confessor.
Traditionally a bishop in the city of Sebaste, Turkey. During the persecutions of the era, he fled to Gaul. He built a hermitage near Poitiers, later transformed into the abbey St. Benedict of Quincay.
Benedict of Sebaste B (RM).  An alleged bishop of Sebaste in Samaria, Benedict had to escape to Gaul during the persecution of Julian the Apostate. He built a hermitage near Poitiers that later became the abbey of St. Benedict of Quincay. Not all the above details, however, are above suspicion (Benedictines)
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718 St. Leothade Benedictine bishop of Auch France. He was abbot of Moissac and was a Frankish noble.
723 St. Oda  Widow and servant of the poor
Originally a French princess wife of the duke of Aquitaine, she committed her life to aiding the poor after her husband’s death
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8th v. St. Domitius Hermit in Amiens France. He was a priest or deacon.
In território Ambianénsi sancti Domítii Presbyteri.    In the district of Amiens, St. Domitius, a priest.
Domitius of Amiens (RM) 8th century.
This is another story of a friendship leading to perfect love of God. Not far from Amiens, in northern France, there is a small river called the Noye which, after flowing through some low-lying and marshy ground, joins another small river called the Avre. Together they then join the River Somme and flow down to the sea. They have been there since the beginning of time, and they will probably be there at the end of time.

In the 8th century there lived on the banks of the Noye a young girl named Ulphia who was filled with longing to lead a life of perfection. At the same time there lived on the banks of the Avre a deacon of the church of Amiens named Domitius, who was no less eager for the same perfection. Their hermitages were barely a mile apart, and Ulphia often sought the counsel of Domitius, who instructed her in the great prayer of the Church and led her to God. Their 'mystic life in common' lasted for 30 years, from about 730 to 760.

The legend speaks of 'a good and ancient man who beard and hair were as white as snow,' and who walked with a staff to support 'his great age and infirmity.' The friendship that bound him to the holy girl who was less than half his age must have seemed strange to the people who lived nearby. It is said that Domitius once silenced all the frogs in a pond, but perhaps the frogs were human- -men and women, whose tongues were set wagging by the story of the two hermits.
If Domitius succeeded in silencing them, then it was a far greater miracle than silencing a few small creatures.

They used to go together on foot to recite the Office in what was then the cathedral of Amiens. It was a mutual exchange of services: Ulphia tended Domitius, and Domitius rewarded his devout daughter by teaching and explaining to her the Holy Scriptures. “They were,
says the legend, of a like will and spirit, chaste and devout.

Their lives were like the two rivers on whose banks they lived, two rivers which flowed through marshes and swamps and then joined together and flowed to the sea. Ulphia passed through the marshes of this world and entrusted herself to Domitius. Their course together was one of prayer, penitence, solitude, and self- forgetfulness that, after 30 years, eventually brought them to their triumphal entry into paradise. As the two rivers flowed together, so did their lives, and as the waters of the rivers were finally united with the sea, so were they finally united with God.
He who drinks of the water I shall give him, says Our Lord, will not thirst (Encyclopedia) .

St. Ignatius, bishop at Constantinople; He rebuked Bardas Caesar for putting away his wife; for this reason, he was subjected to many sufferings by the Emperor and driven into exile. However, he was restored to his see by the Roman Pontiff St. Nicholas, and at last died a peaceful death.
Constantinópoli sancti Ignátii Epíscopi, qui, cum Bardam Cæsarem ob repudiátam uxórem arguísset, ab eo multis injúriis afféctus est, et in exsílium pulsus; sed, a sancto Nicoláo, Románo Pontífice, restitútus, tandem in pace quiévit.
    At Constantinople, St. Ignatius, bishop, who rebuked Bardas Caesar for putting away his wife, for which he was subjected to many insults and driven into banishment.  He was, however, restored to his See by the Roman Pontiff Nicholas, and there died in peace.

<Ignatius_Hagia_Sophia_Constantinople_2007
THE birth of this saint was illustrious: his mother was daughter to the Emperor Nicephorus I, and his father Michael, surnamed Rangabe, was himself raised to the imperial throne.  Michael’s reign was short. In the year 813 he was deposed in favour of Leo the Armenian, and his two sons were mutilated and shut up in a monastery. The younger of them became a monk and changed his former name, Nicetas, to Ignatius.  He had much to suffer from the abbot of his monastery; but upon the death of his persecutor he was himself chosen abbot, having already been ordained priest. In 846 Ignatius was taken from his monastery of Satyrus and made patriarch of Constantinople.  His virtues shone brightly in this office, but the liberty, which he used in opposing vice and reprimanding public offenders drew on him severe persecution. The caesar Bardas, uncle of the Emperor Michael III, was accused of incestuous sexual relations, and at Epiphany 857 Ignatius refused him communion in the Great Church.  Bardas persuaded the young emperor, known ominously in history, but not altogether justly, as Michael the Drunkard, to get rid of the patriarch, and with the help of Bishop Gregory of Syracuse they trumped up charges and ordered Ignatius to be deposed and exiled.

This was not simply the revenge of an aggrieved individual. Behind it was the far-reaching tension and hostility between the dynasty and court clergy on one hand, with some support from a large moderate party, and on the other the sometimes-extreme rigorists, upholders of “the independence of the religious power”, led by the monks of the monastery of Studius. Of these last St Ignatius was an inflexible supporter. Accordingly he was banished to the island of Terebinthos. Here, in spite of what was said afterwards, it appears certain that he resigned his see, though perhaps conditionally.  In his place Bardas nominated his chief secretary, Photius, then a layman and a man of quite unusual talent, ability and learning.  In the week before the Christmas of 858 Photius was made monk, reader, subdeacon, deacon, priest and bishop in as many days. When he wrote announcing his election to the pope, St Nicholas I sent legates to Constan­tinople to investigate the situation.

There followed a long “affair” that had most important results and is a matter of general church history. It must however be mentioned that researches carried on during the past fifty years have put a rather different complexion on it and changed some of the judgements that have been everywhere accepted, gladly or regretfully, for centuries. What had appeared to be a pertinacious and con­tumacious attempt of Constantinople to maintain complete independence of the Roman see, with Photius as the arch-schismatic, now appears rather as one aspect of a strife of parties, parties both political and ecclesiastical, in which the “die­hard” supporters of St Ignatius became as rebellious towards the Holy See as Photius at his most defiant.

Nine years later, in 867, the Emperor Michael, who in the previous year had connived at the murder of Bardas, was himself murdered by Basil the Macedonian, who now became emperor. Basil at once dismissed Michael’s minister Photius from the patriarchal office (he was to return ten years later), and sought the support of Ignatius’s intransigent followers by summoning Ignatius back to it. After his restoration the persecuted prelate asked Pope Adrian II, who had succeeded Nicholas I, to hold a general council. This, a small assembly, was convened in Constantinople in 869, nowadays called the eighth œcumenical council and the fourth of that city.  It condemned Photius and his supporters, but treated them with leniency, though Photius himself was excommunicated.

For the remaining years of his life St Ignatius applied himself to the duties of his office with vigilance and energy, but unfortunately not with perfect prudence:  ironically enough, he followed the policy of Photius towards the Holy See in respect of patriarchal jurisdiction over the Bulgars. He even went so far as to encourage their prince, Boris, to expel his Latin bishops and priests in favour of the Greeks whom Ignatius had sent. Pope John VIII was naturally indignant and sent legates with an ultimatum threatening excommunication. They arrived at Constantinople only to find that St Ignatius had died on the previous October 23, 877.

The personal holiness of the life of Ignatius, his fearlessness in rebuking wickedness in high places and his patience under unjust treatment caused his name to be added to the Roman Martyrology, and his feast is kept by the Latin Catholics of Constantinople as well as by the Byzantines, both Catholic and dissident.

In the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. x, there is a Latin translation of the Greek life of St Ignatius by Nicetas the Paphlagonian: Dr Dvornik calls it little better than a political tract “and its veracity is highly questionable”. The Greek text is in Migne, PG., vol. cv. The diplomatic correspondence and documents of the period must be sought in Mansi or Hefele-Leclercq, Conches, vol. iv. The modern work on Photius referred to above began with A. Lapôtre, Le pape Jean VIII (1895) and E. Amann in DTC. (Articles on John VIII, John IX, Nicholas I and Photius); and was carried on by V. Laurent, V. Grumel, H. Grégoire and F. Dvornik: see especially his Photian Schism (1948). For a summary see Fliche and Martin, Flirt. de l’Église, t. vi, pp. 465—475 and 483—490 for Ignatius, pp. 465—501 for Photius. There is a full article on St Ignatius in DTC., t. vii, but this, like Hergen­röther’s monumental Photius, follows more conservative lines.

936 St. Elfleda Anglo-Saxon princess Benedictine nun
at Glastonbury, England. She lived as a recluse and was admired by St. Dunstan
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1134 ST ALLUCIO; shepherd in Pescia, Tuscany, Italy; devoted himself to establishment of shelters at fords, mountain-passes, and to similar public works, such as the building of a bridge over the Arno; A number of remarkable miracles were recorded of the saint and he was credited with bringing about reconciliation between the warring cities of Ravenna and Faenza

ALLUCIO, patron of Pescia in Tuscany, was a shepherd and herdman, who on account of the great interest he took in the almshouse of Vat di Nievole was ap­pointed master of it.  He became in effect its second founder, and further devoted himself to the establishment of shelters at fords, mountain-passes, and so on, and to similar public works, such as the building of a bridge over the Arno.  He staffed the hospices with young men, who were afterwards known as the Brothers of St Allucio.  A number of remarkable miracles were recorded of the saint and he was credited with bringing about reconciliation between the warring cities of Ravenna and Faenza. In 1182, forty-eight years after his death, the relics of St Allucio were enshrined and the almshouse was given his name. Pope Pius IX confirmed the cultus by the granting of a new proper Mass for the saint.

The cult of St Allucio seems to be adequately attested by documents, one of which takes the form of a public instrument summarizing the principal episodes of his life. They are given in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. x. See also DHG., vol. ii, c. 617, and a popular account by D. Biagioti (1934).

Director of the almshouse in Valdi Nievole. Allucio also built shelters in mountain passes and at rivers. The group with which he worked became the Brothers of St. Allucio. A miracle worker known throughout the region, Allucio ended the war between the city states of Ravenna and Faenza.

Allucio of Pescia (AC); cultus confirmed by Pius IX. Born in the diocese of Pescia in Tuscany, Italy, Allucio began life as a herdsman. Eventually his fellow citizens entrusted him with the direction of an almshouse at Val di Nievole and he became, in fact, the second founder of that charity, as well as a hospice at Campugliano. He had some followers who were named the Brethren of St. Allucio. (Benedictines, Encyclopedia).
1149 Bertrand of Grandselve, OSB Cist. Abbot often favored with heavenly visions (AC)
Died July 11, 1149. Cistercian abbot of Grandselve for 20 years. He was often favored with heavenly visions (Benedictines)
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1249 BD JOHN BUONI; earlier life was not conspicuous for religion later--a hermit’s life, which he began near Cesena, Mantua; Bd John received many supernatural enlightenments in prayer, wrought a number of most remarkable miracles, and did not allow advancing age to lessen his austerities; The number of his penitents so increased and so many people came to see him out of curiosity that John made up his mind to go away secretly to a more quiet place but after having walked all night he found himself at dawn once more before the door of his own cell, so he concluded that it was God’s will that he should stay where he was.

Mántuæ beáti Joánnis Boni, ex Eremitárum sancti Augustíni Ordine, Confessóris; cujus præcláram vitam sanctus Antonínus conscrípsit.
    At Mantua, blessed John the Good, of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine, whose celebrated life was written by St. Antoninus.

IN spite of his name, which he inherited from his family, the Buonomini, his earlier life was not conspicuous for religion. When his father died he left his home at Mantua and made his living as an entertainer at the courts, palaces and wealthy establishments of Italy, leading a licentious and debauched life, though ever pursued by the prayers of his devoted mother.  

In 1208, when he was about forty, he had a serious illness which brought him near death, and when he had recovered he took the warning to heart and was soon a changed man. He had made a resolve during his sickness to mend his ways and, a less common thing than such resolutions, he kept it. He opened his heart to the bishop of Mantua, who allowed him to try a hermit’s life, which he began near Cesena. John set himself to conquer his insurgent flesh in solitude and acquire habits of devotion and virtue with such success that he soon had the reputation of a saint, and disciples began to gather round him.  For a time they lived according to regulations, which Bd John made on the spot as need, arose, but when a church had been built and the community taken definite shape papal approval was sought and Innocent IV imposed the Rule of St Augustine as their basis.

Bd John received many supernatural enlightenments in prayer, wrought a number of most remarkable miracles, and did not allow advancing age to lessen his austerities; he kept three Lents every year, wore only one light garment in the coldest weather, and had three beds in his cell, one uncomfortable, another more uncomfortable, and the third most uncomfortable. He continued to suffer very violent temptations, and was moreover slandered by malicious persons, calumnies that he opposed merely by a simple denial.

The number of his penitents so increased and so many people came to see him out of curiosity that John made up his mind to go away secretly to a more quiet place but after having walked all night he found himself at dawn once more before the door of his own cell, so he concluded that it was God’s will that he should stay where he was.

John died at Mantua in 1249 and his tomb was illustrious for miracles. His congregation of penitents did not survive long as an independent organization. Under the name of Boniti they had eleven establishments within a few years of their founder’s death, but in 1256 they were united with the other congregations of which Pope Alexander IV formed the order of Hermit-friars of St Augustine. The Augustinian friars and the Augustinians of the Assumption accordingly keep the feast of Bd John Buoni; his name was added to the Roman Martyrology, as beatus, in 1672.

The Bollandists, in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. ix, fill nearly two hundred folio pages with the documents that bear on the history of Bd John Bonus. These comprise a relatively lengthy biography written at the beginning of the sixteenth century by the Augustinian, Ambrose Calepinus, and also the depositions of witnesses who in 1251, 1252 and 1254 gave evidence with a view to John’s canonization. They describe inter alia his immunity from the effects of great heat, for he stood for several minutes shuffling his bare feet about without injury in a heap of red-hot Ashes see Fr. Thurston in The Month for February 1932, pp. 146—147.

1271 Blessed Bartholomew of Breganza ( b. Bartolommeo b. Barthélemy de Breganze) BISHOP of Vicenza; received habit from Saint Dominic; followed him as Popes Theologian; restored other churches, rebuilt ruined city, saved heretics OP B (AC)

BARTHOLOMEW Breganza studied in his youth at Padua and about the year 1220 received the Dominican habit from the hands of the founder of the order himself, in his native town of Vicenza. He prudently directed a number of houses as prior, and while preaching with Father John of Vicenza at Bologna in 1233 estab­lished a military order, called Fratres Gaudentes, for the preservation of peace and of public order; it spread to other towns of Italy and existed till the eighteenth century.  

At this time the Near East was in particular need of holy bishops in view of the abuses of the Crusades, and Bartholomew was appointed to a see in the isle of Cyprus. From here he visited St Louis of France in Palestine and formed a deep friendship with the king, who urged him to visit him in France.  This he was able to do a few years later when he was sent as papal legate to the king of England. Henry III was then in Aquitaine, where Bartholomew presented himself and accompanied the king to Paris. In 1256 Pope Alexander IV had translated Bartholomew to the see of Vicenza, wherein he was soon involved in troubles with the violent and evil Ghibelline leader, Ezzelino da Romano.  For a time he was in exile from his diocese, but on his return devoted himself with increased energy to his flock, rebuilding the churches ruined by Ezzelino and striving for the peace of the distracted cities of the Veneto.

Four years before his death Bartholomew assisted at the second translation of the relics of St Dominic, and preached the panegyric on that occasion. He died on July 1, 1271. He was greatly venerated by the people and commonly called Blessed Bartholomew, a cultus that was confirmed in 1793.

A sufficient account will be found in the Acta Sanctorum, July, vol. i. See also G. T. Faccioli, Vita e virtu del b. Bartolommeo (1794) B. Altaner, Dominikanermissionen des 13 Jahrhunderts (1924), pp. 40 seq. M. de Waresquiel, Le b. Barthélemy de Breganze (1905) and Procter, Lives of Dominican Saints, pp. 297—301.
Born at Vicenza, Italy, born c. 1200; cultus approved in 1793. Bartholomew was born into the family of the counts of Breganza, Lombardy, Italy. While still very young, he entered the University of Padua and gained a reputation for scholarship and sanctity. There he met Saint Dominic and received the Dominican habit from the founder's hands.  Bartholomew completed his novitiate, his studies at Vicenza and Padua, and was ordained.
Shortly thereafter Bartholomew was sent to preach against heresy in cities throughout Lombardy, and to make peace among the warring factions that were destroying the country. In 1233 he founded a sort of military order--the Fratres Gaudentes--for the preservation of public order. He preached so successfully in this difficult mission that he was summoned to Rome, where the holy father appointed him master of the sacred palace. He was one of the first after Saint Dominic himself to hold this traditionally Dominican office of the pope's theologian.
In 1252 he was sent to Cyprus as bishop of Nimesia. He journeyed there in company with Saint Louis, king of France, who was on a crusade to the Holy Land. Bartholomew had just begun his shepherding of Nimesia when he was called to Palestine by the king. He was of such service to the king that Louis promised him several valuable relics upon the king's return to France.
After administering the diocese on Cyprus, he was translated to Vicenza in 1256. Here his first care was to suitably enshrine the relics donated by Louis. He directed the building of the magnificent Church of the Crown to house these precious relics, which reputedly included a portion of the true Cross and a thorn from our Lord's crown. He restored other churches and rebuilt the city that had been destroyed by civil wars.
Civil war was not the only evil visited upon Vicenza. Heresy did even greater damage. Bartholomew used his powers as a preacher to bring many heretics back into the fold. He was a peacemaker and a builder. So beloved was he that he had to firmly resist the coercion of the grateful people to take over the temporal rule of the city as well as the spiritual. Blessed Bartholomew was also given the honor of preaching on the occasion of the second translation of Saint Dominic's relics (Benedictines, Dorcy)
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1456 St. John of Capistrano “Initiative, Organization, Activity.
Apud Villáckum, in Pannónia, natális sancti Joánnis de Capistráno, Sacerdótis ex Ordine Minórum et Confessóris, vitæ sanctitáte ac fídei cathólicæ propagándæ zelo illústris; qui Taurunénsem arcem, validíssimo Turcárum exércitu profligáto, suis précibus et miráculis ab obsidióne liberávit.  Ejus tamen festívitas quinto Kaléndas Aprílis recólitur.
    At Vilak in Hungary, the birthday of St. John Capistran, priest and confessor of the Order of Friars Minor, illustrious for the sanctity of his life and his zeal for the propagation of the Catholic faith.  By his prayers and miracles, he routed a powerful army of Turks, and forced them to quit the siege of Tornau.  His feastday, however, is celebrated on the 28th of March.
 
Sancti Joánnis de Capistráno, Sacerdótis ex Ordine Minórum et Confessóris, cujus memória recólitur décimo Kaléndas Novémbris.
    St. John Capistrano, confessor, a priest of the Order of Friars Minor, who is mentioned on the 23rd of October, formerly March 28.

ST JOHN OF CAPISTRANO
CAPISTRANO is a little town in the Abruzzi, which of old formed part of the kingdom of Naples.

Here in the fourteenth century a certain free-lance —whether he was of French or of German origin is disputed—had settled down after military service under Louis I and had married an Italian wife. A son, named John, was born to him in 1386 who was destined to become famous as one of the great lights of the Franciscan Order.

From early youth the boy’s talents made him conspicuous. He studied law at Perugia with such success that in 1412 he was appointed governor of that city and married the daughter of one of the principal inhabitants. During hostilities between Perugia and the Malatestas he — was imprisoned, and this was the occasion of his resolution to change his way of life and become a religious.

How he got over the difficulty of his marriage is not altogether clear. But it is said that he rode through Perugia on a donkey with his face to the tail and with a huge paper hat on his head upon which all his worst sins were plainly written. He was pelted by the children and covered with filth, and in this guise presented himself to ask admission into the noviceship of the Friars Minor. At that date, 1416, he was thirty years old, and his novice-master seems to have thought that for a man of such strength of will who had been accustomed to have his own way, a very severe training was necessary to test the genuineness of his vocation. (He had not yet even made his first communion.) The trials to which he was subjected were most humiliating and were apparently sometimes attended with supernatural manifestations. But Brother John persevered, and in after years often expressed his gratitude to the relentless instructor who had made it clear to him that self-conquest was the only sure road to perfection.

In 1420 John was raised to the priesthood. Meanwhile he made extraordinary progress in his theological studies, leading at the same time a life of extreme austerity, in which he tramped the roads barefoot without sandals, gave only three or four hours to sleep and wore a hair-shirt continually.

In his studies he had St James of the Marches as a fellow learner, and for a master St Bernardino of Siena, for whom he conceived the deepest veneration and affection.

Very soon John’s exceptional gifts of oratory made themselves perceptible. The whole of Italy at that period was passing through a terrible crisis of political unrest and relaxation of morals, troubles which were largely caused, and in any case accentuated, by the fact that there were three rival claimants for the papacy and that the bitter antagonisms between Guelfs and Ghibellines had not yet been healed.

Still, in preaching throughout the length and breadth of the peninsula St John met with wonderful response. There is undoubtedly a note of exaggeration in the terms in which Fathers Christopher of Varese and Nicholas of Fara describe the effect produced by his discourses. They speak of a hundred thousand or even a hundred and fifty thousand auditors being present at a single sermon. That was certainly not possible in a country depopulated by wars, pestilence and famine, and in view of the limited means of locomotion then available. But there was good evidence to justify the enthusiasm of the latter writer when he tells us: “No one was more anxious than John Capistran for the conversion of heretics, schismatics and Jews. No one was more anxious that religion should flourish, or had more power in working wonders; no one was so ardently desirous of martyrdom, no one was more famous for his holiness. And so he was welcomed with honour in all the provinces of Italy. The throng of people at his sermons was so great that it might be thought that the apostolic times were revived. On his arrival in a pro­vince, the towns and villages were in commotion and flocked in crowds to hear him. The towns invited him to visit them, either by pressing letters, or by deputations, or by an appeal to the Sovereign Pontiff through the medium of influential persons.”

But the work of preaching and the conversion of souls by no means absorbed all the saint’s attention. There is no occasion to make reference here in any detail to the domestic embarrassments which had beset the Order of St Francis since the death Of their Seraphic Founder. It is sufficient to say that the party known as the “Spirituals” held by no means the same views of religious observance as were entertained by those whom they termed the “Relaxed”.

The Observant reform which had been initiated in the middle of the fourteenth century still found itself hampered in many ways by the administration of superiors general who held a different standard of perfection, and on the other hand there had also been exaggerations in the direction of much greater austerity culminating eventually in the heretical teachings of the Fraticelli. All these difficulties required adjustment, and Capistran, working in harmony with St Bernardino of Siena, was called upon to bear a large share in this burden. After the general chapter held at Assisi in 1430, St John was appointed to draft the conclusions at which the assembly arrived, and these “Martinian statutes”, as they were called, in virtue of their confirmation by Pope Martin V, are among the most important in the history of the order.

So again John was on several occasions entrusted with inquisitorial powers by the Holy See, as for example to take proceedings against the Fraticelli and to inquire into the grave allegations which had been made against the Order of Gesuats founded by Bd John Colombini. Further, he was keenly interested in that reform of the Franciscan nuns which owed its chief inspiration to St Colette, and in the tertiaries of the order. In the Council of Ferrara, later removed to Florence, he was heard with attention, but between the early and the final sessions he had been compelled to visit Jerusalem as apostolic commissary, and incidentally had done much to help on the inclusion of the Armenians with the Greeks in the accommodation, unfor­tunately only short-lived, which was arrived at in Florence.

When the Emperor Frederick III, finding that the religious faith of the countries under his suzerainty was suffering grievously from the activities of the Hussites and other heretical sectariès, appealed to Pope Nicholas V for help, St John Capistran was sent as commissary and inquisitor general, and he set out for Vienna in 1451 with twelve of his Franciscan brethren to assist him. It is beyond doubt that his coming produced a great sensation. Aeneas Sylvius (the future Pope Pius II) tells us how, when he entered Austrian territory, “priests and people came out to meet him, carrying the sacred relics. They received him as a legate of the Apostolic See, as a preacher of truth, as some great prophet sent by God. They came down from the mountains to greet John, as though Peter or Paul or one of the other apostles were journeying there. They eagerly kissed the hem of his garment, brought their sick and afflicted to his feet, and it is reported that very many were cured...The elders of the city met him and conducted him to Vienna. No square in the city could contain the crowds. They looked on him as an angel of God.”

John’s work as inquisitor and his dealings with the Hussites and other Bohemian heretics have been severely criticized, but this is not the place to attempt any justification. His zeal was of the kind that sears and consumes, though he was merciful to the submissive and repentant, and he was before his time in his attitude to witchcraft and the use of torture. The miracles which attended his progress wherever he went, and which he attributed to the relics of St Bernardino of Siena, were sedulously recorded by his companions, and a certain prejudice was afterwards created against the saint by the accounts which were published of these marvels. He went from place to place, preaching in Bavaria, Saxony and Poland, and his efforts were everywhere accompanied by a great revival of faith and devotion.

Cochlaeus of Nuremberg tells us how “those who saw him there describe him as a man small of body, withered, emaciated, nothing but skin and bone, but cheerful, strong and strenuous in labour...He slept in his habit, rose before dawn, recited his office and then celebrated Mass. After that he preached, in Latin, which was afterwards explained to the people by an interpreter.” He also made a round of the sick who awaited his coming, laying his hands upon each, praying, and touching them with one of the relics of St Bernardino.
It was the capture of Constantinople by the Turks which brought this spiritual campaign to an end. Capistran was called upon to rally the defenders of the West and to preach a crusade against the infidel. His earlier efforts in Bavaria, and even in Austria, met with little response, and early in 1456 the situation became desperate. The Turks were advancing to lay siege to Belgrade, and the saint, who by this time had made his way into Hungary, taking counsel with the great general Hunyady, saw clearly that they would have to depend in the main upon local effort. St John wore himself out in preaching and exhorting the Hungarian people in order to raise an army that could meet the threatened danger, and himself led to Belgrade the troops he had been able to recruit. Very soon the Turks were in position and the siege began. Animated by the prayers and the heroic example in the field of Capistran, and wisely guided by the military experience of Hunyady, the garrison in the end gained an overwhelming victory. The siege was abandoned, and western Europe for the time was saved. But the infection bred by thousands of corpses which lay unburied round the city cost the life first of all of Hunyady, and then a month or two later of Capistran himself, worn out by years of toil and of austerities and by the strain of the siege. He died most peacefully at Villach on October 23, 1456, and was canonized in 1724. His feast was in 1890 made general for all the Western church, and was then transferred to March 28.

The more important biographical materials for the history of St John of Capistrano are printed in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. x. See BHL., nn. 4360—4368. But in addition to these there is a considerable amount of new information concerning St John’s writings, letters, reforms and other activities which has been printed during the present century in the Archivum Franciscanum Historicum edited at Quaracchi; attention may be called in particular to the papers on St John and the Hussites in vols. xv and xvi of the same periodical. This and other material has been used by J. Hofer in his St John Capistran, Reformer (1943), a work of much erudition and value. English readers may also be referred to a short life by Fr V. Fitzgerald, and to Leon, Auréole Séraphique  (Eng. trans.), vol. iii, pp. 388—420.
It has been said the Christian saints are the world’s greatest optimists. Not blind to the existence and consequences of evil, they base their confidence on the power of Christ’s redemption. The power of conversion through Christ extends not only to sinful people but also to calamitous events.
Imagine being born in the fourteenth century. One-third of the population and nearly 40 percent of the clergy were wiped out by the bubonic plague. The Western Schism split the Church with two or three claimants to the Holy See at one time. England and France were at war. The city-states of Italy were constantly in conflict. No wonder that gloom dominated the spirit of the culture and the times.
John Capistrano was born in 1386. His education was thorough. His talents and success were great. When he was 26 he was made governor of Perugia. Imprisoned after a battle against the Malatestas, he resolved to change his way of life completely. At the age of 30 he entered the Franciscan novitiate and was ordained a priest four years later.
His preaching attracted great throngs at a time of religious apathy and confusion. He and 12 Franciscan brethren were received in the countries of central Europe as angels of God. They were instrumental in reviving a dying faith and devotion.
The Franciscan Order itself was in turmoil over the interpretation and observance of the Rule of St. Francis. Through John’s tireless efforts and his expertise in law, the heretical Fraticelli were suppressed and the “Spirituals were freed from interference in their stricter observance.
He helped bring about a reunion with the Greek and Armenian Churches, unfortunately only a brief arrangement. When the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453, he was commissioned to preach a crusade for the defense of Europe. Gaining little response in Bavaria and Austria, he decided to concentrate his efforts in Hungary. He led the army to Belgrade. Under the great General John Junyadi, they gained an overwhelming victory, and the siege of Belgrade was lifted. Worn out by his superhuman efforts, Capistrano was an easy prey to the infection bred by the refuse of battle. He died October 23, 1456.

St. John of Capistrano, priest At Ilok in Hungary
of the Order of Friars Minor. He was illustrious for holiness Of life and zeal in extending the Catholic faith. By his prayers and miracles, he delivered from a siege the fortress of Zemun, a suburb of Belgrade, when it was beleaguered by a powerful Turkish army.
Comment: John Hofer, a biographer of John Capistrano, recalls a Brussels organization named after the saint. Seeking to solve life problems in a fully Christian spirit, its motto was: Initiative, Organization, Activity. These three words characterized John's life. He was not one to sit around, ever. His deep Christian optimism drove him to battle problems at all levels with the confidence engendered by a deep faith in Christ.
Quote:  On the saint's tomb in the Austrian town of Villach, the governor had this message inscribed: This tomb holds John, by birth of Capistrano, a man worthy of all praise, defender and promoter of the faith, guardian of the Church, zealous protector of his Order, an ornament to all the world, lover of truth and religious justice, mirror of life, surest guide in doctrine; praised by countless tongues, he reigns blessed in heaven. That is a fitting epitaph for a real and successful optimist.
St. John of Capistrano (1386-1456) 
It has been said the Christian saints are the world’s greatest optimists. Not blind to the existence and consequences of evil, they base their confidence on the power of Christ’s redemption. The power of conversion through Christ extends not only to sinful people but also to calamitous events.
Imagine being born in the fourteenth century. One-third of the population and nearly 40 percent of the clergy were wiped out by the bubonic plague. The Western Schism split the Church with two or three claimants to the Holy See at one time. England and France were at war. The city-states of Italy were constantly in conflict. No wonder that gloom dominated the spirit of the culture and the times.
John Capistrano was born in 1386. His education was thorough. His talents and success were great. When he was 26 he was made governor of Perugia. Imprisoned after a battle against the Malatestas, he resolved to change his way of life completely. At the age of 30 he entered the Franciscan novitiate and was ordained a priest four years later.
His preaching attracted great throngs at a time of religious apathy and confusion. He and 12 Franciscan brethren were received in the countries of central Europe as angels of God. They were instrumental in reviving a dying faith and devotion.
The Franciscan Order itself was in turmoil over the interpretation and observance of the Rule of St. Francis. Through John’s tireless efforts and his expertise in law, the heretical Fraticelli were suppressed and the "Spirituals" were freed from interference in their stricter observance.
He helped bring about a reunion with the Greek and Armenian Churches, unfortunately only a brief arrangement.
When the Turks captured Constantinople in 1453, he was commissioned to preach a crusade for the defense of Europe. Gaining little response in Bavaria and Austria, he decided to concentrate his efforts in Hungary. He led the army to Belgrade. Under the great General John Junyadi, they gained an overwhelming victory, and the siege of Belgrade was lifted. Worn out by his superhuman efforts, Capistrano was an easy prey to the infection bred by the refuse of battle. He died October 23, 1456.
1680 Bl. Thomas Thwing English martyr
Born at Heworth, Yorkshire, England, he studied at Douai, France, where he was ordained in 1665. Returning home, he labored for fifteen years in theYorkshire area as chaplain for his cousin, Sir Miles Stapeton, and as a school chaplain. Arrested in 1680 for supposed complicity in the Titus Oates Plot with his uncle, Sir Thomas Gascoigne, he was condemned and hanged, drawn, and quartered at York
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1794 Bl. Joseph Leroux  Ursuline martyr French Revolution
 She was born Ann-Joseph Leroux at Cambral, France. After becoming an Ursuline at Valenciennes, she was driven from the convent but returned in 1793. Josephine was guillotined with her Ursuline companions. She was beatified in 1920
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1833 St. Paul Tong Buong  Vietnamese martyr native
he served in the bodyguard of the king. A convert, he gave his assistance to the Paris Foreign Missions and so helped to advance the Catholic cause in the country. Arrested by Vietnamese authorities for being a Christian, he was tortured, humiliated, and beheaded. Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1988
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THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 114

In the going forth of my soul from this world: meet it, O Lady, and receive it.

Console it with thy holy countenance: let not the sight of the demons terrify it.

Be to it a ladder to Heaven: and a straight way to the Paradise of God.

Obtain for it from the Father the pardon of peace: and a throne of light among the servants of God.

Uphold the devout before the tribunal of Christ: take their cause into thy hands.

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
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1100   1200   1300   1400  1500  1600  1700  1800   1900 Lay Saints

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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