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; 

Make a Novena and pray the Rosary to Our Lady of Victory
23,658  Lives Saved Since 2007  
Mary Mother of GOD
Raphael

May we absorb the truth that God is paying attention to us,
and to each human life, personally and individually.

 
  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

By humble and faithful prayer, the soul acquires, with time and perseverance, every virtue.
-- St Catherine of Siena

October 24
ST RAPHAEL THE ARCHANGEL
Of the seven archangels, who in both Jewish and Christian tradition are venerated as pre-eminently standing before the throne of God, three only are mentioned by name in the Bible, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.  These have been venerated in the Church from early times, especially in the East, but it was not untill the pontificate of Pope Benedict XV that the liturgical feasts of the two last were made obligatory throughout the Western church.  In Tobias xii 12 and 15, the archangel directly speaks of himself as “one of the seven who stand before the Lord”, and says that he continually offered the prayers of young Tobias up to God.

But I have hoped in the Lord: I will be glad and rejoice in Thy mercy. For Thou hast regarded my humility,
Thou hast saved my soul out of distresses. -- Psalm xxx. 7,8


October 24 - OUR LADY OF HERMITS (Viterbo, Italy, 1417) - Saint Anthony Mary Claret (d. 1870)
A Son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
This is what I thought: A son of the Immaculate Heart of Mary is a man who is consumed with charity and who engulfs everything in his path. He endeavors effectively and by all means to light the world on fire with divine love. Nothing stops him. He thinks of nothing else but following and imitating Jesus Christ in his prayer, work and suffering.
St Anthony Mary Claret Founder of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
(Autobiography, #494)

October 24 - Our Lady Consoler of the Afflicted (Russia) - Our Lady of the Rule (Cuba)
 Saint Anthony Mary Claret, Founder of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (d. 1870)
     
  The Virgin Mary promised: “This crown is for you if you win this victory!”
Anthony Claret was born on December 23, 1807 in Spain, and he died on October 24, 1870. At a young age he showed a fervent disposition to prayer and devotion to the Madonna. John, his father, trained Anthony to become a weaver, but the young man eventually confided to him his desire to become a priest, and John Claret yielded to God's will.

One day during his studies at the seminary, Anthony had to stay in bed with a strong fever and impure images assailed him, so he turned to the Blessed Virgin Mary in prayer. She appeared to him holding a crown of roses.
She said to him, "Anthony, this crown is for you if you win this victory!"
Anthony triumphed over the temptation and peace returned to his soul.
Ordained a priest on June 13, 1835, he became the founder of the Missionary
Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Claretians), and was canonized in 1950. The Mary of Nazareth Team


ST RAPHAEL THE ARCHANGEL
Of the seven archangels, who in both Jewish and Christian tradition are venerated as pre-eminently standing before the throne of God, three only are mentioned by name in the Bible, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.  These have been venerated in the Church from early times, especially in the East, but it was not untill the pontificate of Pope Benedict XV that the liturgical feasts of the two last were made obligatory throughout the Western church.  In Tobias xii 12 and 15, the archangel directly speaks of himself as “one of the seven who stand before the Lord”, and says that he continually offered the prayers of young Tobias up to God.
  303 St. Felix Martyred bishop of Thibiuca; et Audácti et Januárii, Presbyterórum; Fortunáti et Séptimi, Lectórum
  446 Proclus of Constantinople known for his dedication; tactful with whom he disagreed; singing the Trisagion liturgy in miraculous circumstances; “We do not proclaim a deified man, but we confess an incarnate God” B (RM)
 
523 Christian Martyrs of Nagran Arabia by heathen Jews and Arabs; The massacre was denounced by Mohammed in the Koran
  523 Ss. Aretas And The Martyrs of Najran, and St Elesbaan
  523 Martyr Syncletica and her two daughters suffered under the Arabian king Dunaan.
  555 Elesbaan King  killed Dunaan (responsible for Nagran)
  576 St. Senoch Benedictine abbot friend of St. Gregory of Tours
; St Gregory narrates a number of miracles of healing vouchsafed by God at the prayer of St Senoch, who died in his arms.
  580 St Martin, or Mark: St Gregory says that many of his friends knew Martin personally and had been present at his miracles, and that he had heard much of him from his predecessor, Pope Pelagius II
586 Maglorius (Maelor, Magloire) of Wales B (RM)
; people who came to be cured of their ills or to see a miracle soon made his life burdensome
6th v. St. Cadfarch Welsh founder, a disciple of St. Illtyd
6th v. Martin of Vertou, Abbot (RM); miracles
  600 St Evergislus, Bishop of Cologne: One day when visiting the church of the “Golden Saints” he greeted the martyrs with the verse, “Exultabunt sancti in Gloria”, and at once the voice of an invisible choir responded, “Laeta­buntur in cubilibus suis!”  
  679 St. Marcius Benedictine hermit of Monte Cassino
  690 St. Fromundus Irish Benedictine bishop missionary of Coutances
1190 Saint Arethas of the Kiev Caves; "You hapless man, if you had given thanks to God for the pilfered riches, this would have been accounted as charity for you." He spent his final days as a hermit, in distress and repentance over his sins, having renounced all earthly possessions
1243 St. Bernard of Calvo Cistercian bishop in Spain
1311 Saint Athanasius I, Patriarch of Constantinople (1289-1293; 1303-1311); humbly left Mt. Athos at first for the holy places in Jerusalem, and then to Mount Patra, where for a long time he lived ascetically as an hermit. From there the ascetic transferred to the Auxention monastery, and then to Mount Galanteia to the monastery of Blessed Lazarus, where he accepted the great angelic schema with the name Athanasius, was ordained a priest and became ecclesiarch (monk in charge of the sacred relics and vessels in the church). Here the saint was granted a divine revelation: he heard the Voice of the Lord from a crucifix, summoning him to pastoral service; received from the Lord both forgiveness and the gift of wonderworking
1492 Blessed Tadhg MacCarthy Many cures have been reported at his under the high altar of the cathedral of Ivrea B
1504 Blessed John Angelo Porro, OSM
1616 Saint John, Hermit of Pskov lived an ascetic life during a terrible time of military troubles. In 1592 the Swedes besieged the city of Pskov. From 1608, for seven years, Polish forces attacked under the head of Lisovski. It was only in the week before the death of the monk, through the intercession of the Pskov Caves Icon of the Mother of God and the Pskov Saints, that Pskov was delivered from the besieging army of the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus.
1688 The wonderworking "Joy of All Who Sorrow" Icon of the Mother of God glorified in 1688. Euphymia, the sister of Patriarch Joachim (1674-1690), lived at Moscow and suffered from an incurable illness for a long time. One morning during a time of prayer she heard a voice say, "Euphymia! Go to the temple of the Transfiguration of My Son; there you will find an icon called the "Joy of All Who Sorrow." Have the priest celebrate a Molieben with the blessing of water, and you will receive healing from sickness." Euphymia did as she was directed by the Most Holy Theotokos, and she was healed. This occurred on October 24, 1688.

Joy_of_All_Who_Sorrow_Theotokos.jpg
1860 St. Joseph Lê Dang Thi of Ke Van Vietnamese, army captain Martyr
1870 St. Anthony Mary Claret archbishop Cuba prophet many supernatural graces not only in the way of ecstasies and the gift of prophecy, but also by the miraculous cure of bodily diseases
1915  Bl. Luigi Guanella (Italian, parish priest, founder Daughters St. Mary of Providence

Pius X 1903-1914 Don Guanella while in 1913 from the Vicariate of Rome, obtained recognition of the Pious Union of Transit of St. Joseph for the dying, an association of priests and faithful in union of prayer for the dying:
St. Pius X
was the first to enroll and the following year he raised the association to a union for the whole of Christianity.

  He was a fighter priest, known, in fact as an intense priest, with whom it was advisable to tread lightly.
 He was a courageous priest and knew no political compromises. He gave speeches and wrote articles and books against the liberal authorities that were trying to demolish the Church with ideas and expropriations.
  Don Luigi never hid and, proud of priesthood, he always defended the 
Pius IX 1846--1878, who at the time was the victim of so much envy, with a very heavy press campaign. He also suffered dramatic persecutions by the civil and government authorities.

ST RAPHAEL THE ARCHANGEL
Of the seven archangels, who in both Jewish and Christian tradition are venerated as pre-eminently standing before the throne of God, three only are mentioned by name in the Bible, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael.  These have been venerated in the Church from early times, especially in the East, but it was not untill the pontificate of Pope Benedict XV that the liturgical feasts of the two last were made obligatory throughout the Western church. 
In Tobias xii 12 and 15, the archangel directly speaks of himself as “one of the seven who stand before the Lord”, and says that he continually offered the prayers of young Tobias up to God.

It is recorded in the sacred book of the history of Tobias that St Raphael was sent by God to minister to the old Tobias, who was blind and greatly afflicted, and to Sara, daughter of Raguel, whose seven bridegrooms had each perished on the night of their wedding. And when the young Tobias was sent into Media to collect money owing to his father, it was Raphael who, in the form of a man and under the name of Azarias, accompanied him on the journey, helped him in his difficulties, and taught him how safely to enter into wedlock with Sara. “He conducted me”, says Tobias, “and brought me safe again.  He received the money of Gabalus.  He caused me to have my wife, and he chased from her the evil spirit. He gave joy to her parents. Myself he delivered from being devoured by the fish; thee also he hath made to see the light of Heaven; and we are filled with all good things through him.”
   The offices of healing performed by the angel in this story and the fact that his name signifies “God has healed” has caused Raphael to be identified with the angel who moved the waters of the healing sheep-pool (John v 1-4); this identity is recognized in the liturgy by the reading of that passage of the gospel in the Mass of St Raphael’s feast.  In Tobias xii 12 and 15, the archangel directly speaks of himself as “one of the seven who stand before the Lord”, and says that he continually offered the prayers of young Tobias up to God.

See the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. xii (1922), and cf. note to St Michael on September 29. For the early mention of St Raphael in Christian documents and on the present commemoration, consult Cardinal Schuster, The Sacramentary, vol. v, pp. 189—191. In the Ethiopic Synaxarium (1928), vol. iv, pp. 1274—1278, is a curious account of the dedication of a church to St Raphael in an island off Alexandria early in the fifth century.
303 St. Felix Martyred bishop of Thibiuca; et Audácti et Januárii, Presbyterórum; Fortunáti et Séptimi, Lectórum
Venúsiæ, in Apúlia, natális sanctórum Mártyrum Felícis, Epíscopi Africáni; Audácti et Januárii, Presbyterórum; Fortunáti et Séptimi, Lectórum.  Hi omnes, témpore Diocletiáni, a Magdelliáno Procuratóre multis diu vínculis et carcéribus in Africa et Sicília maceráti sunt, et, cum Felix sacros Libros juxta ipsíus Imperatóris edíctum trádere nullátenus voluísset, gládii tandem occisióne consummáti sunt.
    At Venosa in Apulia, the birthday of the holy martyrs Felix, an African bishop, Audactus and Januarius, priests, and the lectors Fortunatus and Septimus.  In the time of Diocletian, under the governor Magdellian, they were loaded with fetters and imprisoned for a long time in Africa and Sicily.  Because Felix refused to deliver the sacred books, they were at last slain with the sword.

In the beginning of Diocletian’s persecution, numbers among the Christians delivered up the sacred books into the hands of the persecutors that they might be burnt.  Many even sought for pretences to extenuate or excuse this crime, as if it ever could be lawful to concur in a sacrilegious or impious action.

Felix, a bishop in Proconsular Africa, was so far from being carried away by the falls of others that they were to him a spur to greater watchfulness and fortitude.  Mag­nilian, magistrate of Thibiuca, ordered him to give up all books and writings belong­ing to his church, that they might be burnt. The martyr replied that the law of God must be preferred to the law of man, so Magnilian sent him to the proconsul at Carthage. This officer, the passio tells us, offended at his bold confession, commanded him to be loaded with irons and, after he had kept him nine days in a foul dungeon, to be put on board a vessel to be taken to stand his trial before Maximinus in Italy.

   The bishop lay under hatches in the ship, between the horses’ feet, four days without eating or drinking. The vessel arrived at Agrig­entum in Sicily, and Christians of that island and in all the cities through which he passed treated the saint with great honour. When Felix had been brought as far as Venosa in Apulia, the prefect ordered his irons to be knocked off, and again put to him the questions whether he had the sacred writings and why he refused to deliver them up. Felix answered that he could not deny that he had the books, but that he would never give them up. The prefect without more ado condemned him to be beheaded. At the place of execution St Felix thanked God for all His mercies, and bowing down his head offered himself a sacrifice to Him who lives forever and ever. He was fifty-six years old, and one of the first victims under Diocletian.

Nevertheless the story of the deportation of St Felix to Italy and his martyrdom there is no more than a hagiographer’s fiction to make him an Italian saint.  There seems no doubt at all that he suffered at Carthage by order of the proconsul there, and his relics were subsequently laid to rest in the well-known basilica Fausti in that city.

In the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxix (1921), pp. 241—276, Fr Delehaye published a remarkable study of the text of this passio.  The materials previously edited in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. x, were insufficient.  Delehaye, after printing representative forms of the two families into which the texts may be divided, supplies an admirable restora­tion of the primitive document that  lies at the base of all.  As stated above, the deportation of the martyr to Italy is a fiction of later hagiographers who unscrupulously embroidered the original text. Felix, as Delehaye very positively asserts (in agreement with M. Monceaux, Revue archeologique, 1905, vol. i, Pp. 335—340), was put to death by the proconsul at Carthage.  The proper day of the martyrdom of St Felix would seem to be the 15th or possibly the 16th of July. For the confusions which led to its transference, first to July 30, and finally to October 24, see Delehaye, and more fully Dom Quentin, Les martyrologes historiques, pp. 522—532 and 697—698.

With Audactus, Fortunatus Januarius, and Septimus. The bishop of Thibiuca, Felix refused to surrender the Scriptures and other sacred books to Magnillian, the local Roman authority. Taken to Carthage , he was beheaded on July 15. Another report states that he was martyred in Venosa, Apulia, Italy. The martyrs added to his feast day are unknown. 

Felix, Audactus, Januarius, Fortunatus, & Septimus MM. Felix Africanus was a bishop of Thibiuca.
Accounts of the other martyrs with him are not trustworthy (Benedictines).

Felix of Thibiuca BM (RM) Died at Carthage, July 15, 303. The bishop of Thibiuca in north Africa was one of the earliest victims of the measures taken by Diocletian to restrain Christianity. The first edict order, among other things, the destruction of all Christian writings, and Bishop Felix was told to hand in the sacred books to the authorities. He refused, and maintained his refusal before the proconsul at Carthage: “It is better that I should be burned,
he said, than that the holy Scriptures should be treated thus; it is better to obey God rather than men. He was executed for his disobedience, and buried at Carthage.

The early account of the passion of St. Felix was later interpolated with a story that he was handed over by the proconsul to the praetorian prefect, who conveyed him to Italy. There Felix repeated his refusal, and was beheaded at Venosa in Apulia. This addition is wholly fictitious (Attwater, Benedictines)
.
446 Proclus of Constantinople known for his dedication tactful with whom he disagreed singing the Trisagion liturgy in miraculous circumstances; “We do not proclaim a deified man, but we confess an incarnate God” B (RM)
Constantinópoli sancti Procli Epíscopi.    At Constantinople, St. Proclus, bishop.
   St Proclus was a native of Constantinople, and was very young when he was made a lector.  He was a disciple of St John Chrysostom, but nevertheless became secretary to St John’s opponent, Atticus, archbishop of Constantinople, who ordained him deacon and priest. Alter his death many pitched upon Proclus as the fittest person to be placed in that important see; but Sisinnius was chosen and he appointed Proclus bishop of Cyzicus.  Inhabitants of that city refused to receive him and chose someone else.  Proclus therefore continued at Constantinople, where he got a great reputation by his preaching. Upon death of Sisinnius many again cast their eyes upon him as the most worthy of that dignity; but Nestorius was chosen, who soon began to propagate his errors. St Proclus courageously maintained the truth against him, and in 429 preached a sermon to show that the Blessed Virgin ought to be styled the Mother of God. In the course of it he made use of the memorable phrase, “We do not proclaim a deified man, but we confess an incarnate God”.  When Nestorius was deposed Maximian was chosen to succeed him, but after his death in 434, as Proclus had never been able in fact to take possession of the see of Cyzicus, he was elected to that of Constantinople.

The mildness and tact with which he treated even the most obstinate among Nestorians and other heretics was a distinguishing part of his character. The Armenian bishops consulted him about the doctrine and writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia, who was then dead, and whose name was in reputation in those parts.  St Proclus answered by his Tome to the Armenians, the most famous of his writings.  In it he condemned the doctrine mentioned as savoring of Nestorianism, and expounded the faith of the Incarnation; without, however, naming Theodore, whose memory was revered by many and who had died in the communion of the Church.  He exhorted them to adhere to the doctrine of St Basil and St Gregory Nazianzen, whose names and works were in particular veneration among them.  Others carried on this contest with greater warmth. In concert with the Empress St Pulcheria, he translated the body of his old master St John Chrysostom from Comana Pontica to the church of the Apostles at Constantinople.  The whole city went out to meet the procession, and the remaining intransigent followers of St John submitted themselves to his gentle and conciliatory successor.
   During the episcopate of St Proclus, a disastrous earthquake visited Constantinople. Amid the ruins men ran to and fro distracted with fear, not being able to find any place of security. Inhabitants wandered in the fields, and Proclus with his clergy followed his scattered flock, and ceased not to comfort them amidst their afflictions and to implore the divine mercy.  The Greek Menology of Basil, on the authority of a chronicler who wrote three hundred and fifty years after the alleged event, refers to a legend that, as they thus prayed, crying out Kyrie eleison, a child was caught up out of sight into the air.  When he came back to earth, the boy said he had heard the angelic choirs singing the words, “Holy God, holy Strong One, holy Deathless One”; and straightway he died. The people repeated the words, adding, “Have mercy upon us”, and the earthquake ceased.  In consequence St Proclus introduced this invocation, the Trisagion, into the liturgy.  It is not known that he did this, but the first certain mention of the Trisagion is at the Council of Chalcedon, only a few years later, and it is possible that St Proclus and his people prayed in these famous words at the time of the earthquake.
  Proclus is referred to by St Cyril of Alexandria as “a man full of religion, perfectly instructed in the discipline of the Church, and a careful observer of the canons”. “In moral excellence”, says the Greek historian Socrates, who knew him personally, “he had few equals.  He was always gentle to everyone, for he was convinced that kindness advances the cause of truth better than severity.  He therefore determined not to irritate and harass heretics, and so restored to the Church in his own person that mild and benignant dignity of character, which had so often been unhappily violated.  He was a pattern of all true prelates.” St Proclus died on July 24 in the year 446.

A number of the letters and sermons of St Proclus are extant. “The style of this father”, says Alban Butler, “is concise, sententious and full of lively witty turns, more proper to please and delight than to move the heart.  This sort of composition requires much pains and study; and though this father was mighty successful in this way, it is not to be compared to the easy natural gravity of St Basil or the sweet style of St Chrysostom.”

A sufficiently full account of St Proclus, compiled from the church historians and other sources, is provided in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. x. But see also F. X. Bauer, Proklos von Constantinopel (1918), and Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchilchen Literatur, vol. iv, pp. 202-208.  Ever since the publication of the Syriac text of the Bazaar of Heraclides, the question of Nestorius’s real teaching has been revived, and a large literature has resulted for details see the article “Nestorius” in DTC.

Born at Constantinople; Proclus was a disciple of Saint John Chrysostom, became a lector, and then was secretary to John's opponent, Patriarch Atticus of Constantinople, who ordained him. He was named bishop of Cyzicus but the people there would not accept him. In 428, Nestorius was named Patriarch of Constantinople by Emperor Theodosius II, and Proclus, by now famous for his preaching, opposed his teachings.  He was firm but gentle in his treatment of heretics, notably the Nestorians.

In 434 Maximian, who had succeeded Nestorius when he was deposed in 431, died, and Proclus was name patriarch. He continued his opposition to Nestorianism, ministered to the people of the city when it was struck with a devastating earthquake, and was known for his dedication and tactful handling of those with whom he disagreed.

He wrote several treatises, notably Tome to the Armenians, which opposed the Nestorian-flavored teaching of Theodore of Mopsuestia without mentioning him by name.  Several of his letters and sermons have survived. According to tradition he instituted the singing of the Trisagion in the liturgy in miraculous circumstances (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia) .
523 Christian Martyrs of Nagran Arabia by heathen Jews and Arabs; The massacre was denounced by Mohammed in the Koran
Tungris, in Bélgio, sancti Evergísli, Epíscopi Coloniénsis et Mártyris; qui, ob pastorális offícii curam illuc proféctus, ibídem, dum nocte solus ad monastérium sanctíssimæ Genitrícis Dei Maríæ oratúrus pérgeret, a latrónibus sagítta percússus occúbuit.
    At Tongres in Belgium, St. Evergislus, bishop of Cologne and martyr.  Because of his duties in the pastoral office he journeyed there, and on the way stopped to pray alone at the monastery of the Blessed Virgin Mary where he was killed by robbers who struck him with an arrow.

523 Ss. Aretas And The Martyrs of Najran, and St Elesbaan

Early in the sixth century Aksumite Ethiopians extended their power over the Arabs and Jews of Himyar (Yemen), across the Red Sea, and imposed a viceroy upon this people. A member of the displaced Himyarite family, called Dunaan (Dhu Nowas), rose in revolt.  He was a convert to Judaism, and he seized Zafar, massacred the garrison and clergy, turned the church into a synagogue, and then laid siege to Najran, a stronghold of Christianity.  It put up a strong de­fence and Dunaan, in despair of taking it, offered an amnesty if it would surrender.  The offer was accepted, but the terms were repudiated: the town was given over to Dunaan’s soldiers to sack, and death was decreed for every Christian who would not apostatize.

Leader in the defence had been the chief of the Banu Harith (whence he is called St Aretas), with many of his tribe; these were all beheaded. All priests, deacons and consecrated virgins were thrown into pits filled with burning fuel.  The wife of Aretas excited the desire of Dunaan. She repulsed him, and he had her daughters executed before her eyes and their blood poured into her mouth, before her own head was struck off.  The Roman Martyrology mentions a boy of five years who jumped into the fire in which his mother was dying in agony.  Four thousand men, women and children were slain.

523 Martyr Syncletica and her two daughters suffered under the Arabian king Dunaan.
St Syncletica was a descendant of an illustrious family. Left widowed while still quite young, she devoted herself to the Christian upbringing of her daughters, and she herself led a life both chaste and virtuous.

Dunaan in the meantime had begun a persecution, intending to eliminate Christians from his realm. He summoned St Syncletica and her daughters before him, and in urging her to forsake her
folly, he promised as reward to take her into the retinue of his wife.
How can you not be afraid, O King, to speak evil of Him Who has given you both royal crown and life? replied the holy martyr.
Dunaan gave orders to lead St Syncletica and her daughters through the city as though they were criminals. Women, looking on at the disgrace of the saint, started crying, but she told them that this
shame for her was dearer than any earthly honor.
Again they brought the martyr before Dunaan, and he said,
If you wish to remain alive, you must renounce Christ.
If I do, then who will deliver me from eternal death? the saint asked. In a rage, the tormentor ordered that St Syncletica's daughters be killed first, and then for the mother to be beheaded with a sword.

An envoy of the Emperor Justin I, Bishop Simeon of Beth-Arsam, was at the camp of an Arab tribe on the Persian frontier when the tale of his achievement was brought from Dunaan, and he sent an account of it to another Simeon, abbot of Gabula.  At the same time refugees from Najran spread the news over Egypt and Syria. It made a profound and awful impression, which lasted for many genera­tions. Mohammed mentions the massacre in the Koran and condemns its perpetrators to Hell (sura lxxxv).  The patriarch of Alexandria wrote to the bishops of the East recommending a commemoration of the martyrs and prayers for the survivors, and urging Jewish elders of their school at Tiberias held responsible for what had happened:  a suggestion more forcible than just.  Both the emperor and the patriarch wrote urging immediate action upon the Aksumite king, Elesbaan (whom the Syrians call David and the Abyssinians Caleb).

He required no encouragement, and set off across the straits with a punitive force to avenge the slaughtered saints and to recover his power in Himyar. In the ensuing campaign Elesbaan was victorious, Dunaan being killed and his chief town occupied. Alban Butler says that Elesbaan, “having by the divine blessing defeated the tyrant, made use of his victory with great clemency and moderation”. This can hardly be maintained. He restored Najran and installed a bishop sent from Alexandria, but both in the field and in dealing with the Jews who had encouraged the massacre he conducted himself with that cruelty and rapacity which are only to be looked for in the barbarous prince of a semi-pagan nation. However, towards the end of his life he is said to have resigned his throne to his son, made a present of his crown to the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and himself became an exemplary anchorite, as is stated by the eulogy accorded him in the Roman Martyrology on the 27th of this month.

Baronius introduced the names of the Najran martyrs and of St Elesbaan into the Roman Martyrology, in spite of the fact that all of them were perhaps, at least materially, monophysites.

The Greek text of the passio has been, printed in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. x, and we have also the Syriac account written by Bishop Simeon. See further, Guidi in the Atti della Accad. dei Lincei, vol. vii (1881), pp. 471 seq.; Deramey in the Revue de l’histoire des religions, vol. xxviii, pp. 14-42; the Revue des etudes juives, vols. xviii, xx and xxi, which contain papers by Halévy and Duchesne’s reply; Nöldeke in Göttingen Gel. Anzeiger, 1899, pp. 825 seq. and DCB., vol. ii, pp. 70—75.

The Martyr Arethas and with him 4299 Martyrs suffered for the Lord Jesus Christ in the sixth century. Arethas was prefect of the Christian city of Negran in Arabia. The Arabian (or Omirite) king, Dunaan, who was Jewish, decided to eliminate Christianity from the land. He issued an edict that all followers of Christ were to be put to death. Because the inhabitants of Negran remained faithful to the Lord, Dunaan came with a large army to destroy the city. At the city walls of Negran the king's heralds announced that Dunaan would only spare those who renounced Christ and referred to His Cross as a sign of malediction.

Not daring to assault the Christian city by force, Dunaan resorted to a ruse. Dunaan swore an oath that he would not force the Christians into Judaism, but would merely collect a tribute from Negran. The inhabitants of the city would not heed the advice of St Arethas, and putting their trust in Dunaan, they opened the city gates.

The very next day Dunaan gave orders to light an immense fire and throw all the clergy of the city into it in order to frighten the rest of the Christians. 427 men were burned. He also threw the prefect Arethas and the other chief men into prison. Then the oppressor sent his messengers through the city to convert the Christians to Judaism. Dunaan himself conversed with those inhabitants brought from the prisons, saying, I do not demand that you should renounce the God of heaven and earth, nor do I want you to worship idols, I want merely that you do not believe in Jesus Christ, since the Crucified One was a man, and not God.

The holy martyrs replied that Jesus is God the Word, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, Who for the salvation of mankind was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. Those suffering said, We shall not abjure Christ, since He is Life for us. To die for Him is to find Life.
More than four thousand Christians, men, women, both the aged and children, from the city of Negran and surrounding villages suffered martyrdom for Christ.
Also called the martyrs of Najran, a large group of Christian martyrs, possibly as many as 340, who suffered at Nagran, in south­western Arabia. Abdullah ibn Kaab, also called Aretas, was the leader of the martyrs and the chief of the Beni Harith. He and his companions were slain by Dhu Nowas, or Dunaan, a Jew who commanded heathen Jews and Arabs. A woman and her small children were among the victims. The martyrdom is recorded in the Koran.
Aretas and Martyrs of Nagran (Nadjran) (RM). Chief of the Beni Harith community of Hadran in southwestern Arabia and also known as Abdullah Ibn Kahn (or Kaab). He and 340 of the townspeople were massacred after they had been offered and accepted amnesty from the band of Jews under Dhu Nowas (Dunaan), a convert to Judaism who had led a revolt against the Aksumite Ethiopians.
After these, adds the R.M., a Christian woman was delivered to the flames, and her son of five years old in his lisping voice confessed Christ, and could not be moved from his purpose by promises or threats, but threw himself headlong into the fire where his mother was burning.
The massacre horrified the entire civilized world and was denounced by Mohammed in the Koran (Benedictines, Delaney).
555 Elesbaan, King  defeated and killed Dunaan  (RM)
Saint Elesbaan, King of Ethiopia lived when Arabia was ruled by Dunaan, the oppressor of Christians. The pious Elesbaan was unable to look on indifferently as believers in Christ were being massacred. He declared war on Dunaan, but his military campaign was unsuccessful.  Wishing to learn the reason for his defeat, Elesbaan, with prompting from above, turned to a certain hermit. He revealed to the emperor that he had proceeded unrighteously in deciding to take revenge against Dunaan, since the Lord had said,
Vengeance is Mine, I will repay! (Heb 10:30).

The hermit counseled St Elesbaan make a vow to devote his final days of life to God, to escape the wrath of God for his self-willed revenge, and then to defeat Dunaan. St Elesbaan made a vow to the Lord, and marching off with his army against the enemy, he defeated, captured and executed him. After the victory the saint resigned as emperor, secluded himself within a monastery and for fifteen years he dwelt in strict fasting and asceticism.

At the request of Emperor Justin I and the patriarch of Alexandria, Aksumite King Elesbaan (called by Abyssinians
Calam-Negus) led an expedition against Dunaan (Dhu-newas), a convert to Judaism, who had led a revolt of Jews and Arabs against the rule of Aksumite Ethiopians at Yemen and had slaughtered every Christian man, woman, and child in the town of Najran (see under St. Aretas above) in southern Arabia who would not apostatize.
   Elesbaan defeated and killed Dunaan and then permitted atrocities against Dunaan's followers as dreadful as those committed by Dunaan. Elesbaan is said to have turned over his throne to his son, and he became an exemplary anchorite for the rest of his life. Though he is listed in the Roman Martyrology, he may have been a Monophysite (Benedictines, Delaney)
.
576 St. Senoch Benedictine abbot friend of St. Gregory of Tours; St Gregory narrates a number of miracles of healing vouchsafed by God at the prayer of St Senoch, who died in his arms.

This saint was a contemporary of St Gregory, Bishop of Tours, who knew him personally and wrote about him. Senoch (Senou) was born of barbarian parents in Poitou, and having been converted to Christ left his home with the intention of becoming a hermit.  He wandered into Touraine, and found there a suitable place, where is now the village of Saint-Senou.  He installed himself in some ruins, with the stones of which he built a dwelling for himself and a small chapel. Three disciples joined Senoch, but he preferred to be quite alone and spent most of his time shut up in his own cell.  Austerities of the new hermit earned him a great reputation for sanctity, and many visitors came to the place who insisted on making offerings, which St Senoch devoted to the relief of needy people.

When the bishop St Euphronius died in 573 Senoch went to Tours to pay his respects to his successor, St Gregory, with whom he exchanged the kiss of brother­hood and then returned quietly to his cell.  But soon after he made another journey, to visit his friends and relatives at home, and met with such signs of respect and veneration while he was away that he caste back rather proud of himself.

Gregory noticed this and rebuked him sharply, reminding him of the words of St Paul, that he would glory in nothing but his infirmities in order that the power of Christ might dwell in him.  Senoch humbly accepted the reprimand and agreed no longer to withdraw himself entirely from the company of his brethren.  St Gregory narrates a number of miracles of healing vouchsafed by God at the prayer of St Senoch, who died in his arms. The bishop officiated at his funeral, for which an immense crowd gathered, and when he celebrated the Mass of the month’s mind a paralytic was cured at St Senoch’s grave.

Most of what we know concerning St Senoch comes from Gregory of Tours. All relevant material will be found in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. x.
A native of Poitou, in Gaul (modern France), he was the son of pagan parents and was converted to Christianity. He later became a hermit and established a monastic community to house the various followers whom he attracted. His leadership was erratic, so much so that none other than St. Gregory admonished him for his poor attention of the monks. Nevertheless, he died with Gregory at his side.
Senoch, Abbot (RM) Born at Tiffauges, Poitou. Senoch founded a small monastery about the year 536, making himself abbot over three disciples. They built their house in some Roman ruins and there fasted or lived on bread and water. Senoch was friendly with Bishop Euphronius of Tours, and when that saint died, went to his funeral and there met Euphronius's successor, Saint Gregory of Tours.
The abbot was fond of spending much time alone in his cell, not speaking and hardly eating. He paid a visit to his home town and there was so much admired that he came back exceedingly conceited. Fortunately, St. Gregory reproved Senoch and made him spend far more time with his three fellow-monks (Bentley)
.

580 St Martin, or Mark: St Gregory says that many of his friends knew Martin personally and had been present at his miracles, and that he had heard much of him from his predecessor, Pope Pelagius II

The Roman Martyrology today mentions Mark, a solitary in Campania, and refers to his famous deeds chronicled by St Gregory the Great, who, however, calls him Martin.  In his Dialogues St Gregory says that many of his friends knew Martin personally and had been present at his miracles, and that he had heard much of him from his predecessor, Pope Pelagius II.  He lived alone in a small cave on Mount Marsicus (Mondragone), and after miraculously overcoming the lack of water had for three years the daily company of the Devil, in the form of a serpent (“his old friend”). When he first took up his quarters in the cave the hermit fastened one end of a chain to his ankle and the other to the rock, so that he could not wander wantonly from his habitation. Word of this came to St Benedict at Monte Cassino (where Martin is said to have been a monk), and he sent a message in which the authentic voice of Benedict can be heard speaking: “If you are God’s servant, let yourself be held by the chain of Christ, not by any chain of iron.”

St Martin accordingly loosed himself and later gave the chain to his followers when they complained that the bucket rope of the well kept on breaking. There was a great rock overhanging Martin’s cave and his neighbours were much afraid that it would fall and crush him. Therefore one Mascator came with a number of people and offered to remove it. Martin refused to budge from the cave while it was done, telling them nevertheless to do whatever they thought necessary, and they set to work in fear and trembling with him inside. But when the rock was loosed it bounced harmlessly over the cave and rolled safely down the mountainside.
The Dialogues of St Gregory (iii, 16) are our only source of information.
586 Maglorius (Maelor, Magloire) of Wales B (RM); people who came to be cured of their ills or to see a miracle soon made his life burdensome;
In ínsula Sargiénsi sancti Maglórii Epíscopi, qui ibídem, dimísso Episcopáli offício, quod erga sparsos in Armórica Británnos per triénnium exercúerat, monastérium constrúxit, in quo sancte réliquum vitæ tempus exégit; cujus corpus Lutétiam Parisiórum póstea translátum fuit.
    On the island of Jersey, St. Maglorius, bishop, who laid down the Episcopal office after exercising it for three years towards a few scattered people in Brittany.  He built a monastery on that island, and there spent the remainder of his life in holy conversation.  His body was later translated to Paris.

6th v. St Maglorius, Or Maelor
St Umerafel, who later became a monk under his nephew St Samson, was married to Afrella, daughter of Meurig of Morgannwg; we are told they had a son, born in Glamorgan, whom they named Maelor, who is called in French Magloire and in Latin Maglorius. According to his late lives, which contain much fabulous matter, he was entrusted while young to the care of St IlItyd at Llanilltyd Fawr, and became a monk and companion to St Samson, who ordained him deacon and took him into Brittany.  Here, we are told, Maglorius was given charge of a monastery at Kerfunt, shared the missionary labours of St Samson, and when he died succeeded him as abbot and bishop at Dol.  But he was getting an old man, and he resigned his responsibilities into the hands of St Budoc.

  Maglorius then retired to a remote spot on the coast, but even here the people who came to be cured of their ills or to see a miracle soon made his life burdensome.  Among them was the chieftain of Sark, whom Maglorius healed of a skin disease, and in gratitude he gave the saint and his monks a part of his island, whither they went to live.  St Maglorius built a monastery where is now the seigneurie of Sark, and organized the people to resist raiders from the north. The saint also visited Jersey, for the purpose of delivering that island from a dragon, in return for which service he was granted land there as well. During plague and
famine he worked heroically for the people, and God is said to have come to their help with miracles at the intercession of the saint. He died shortly after; for the last months of his life he had interpreted literally the words of the Psalmist, “This will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life”, and never stirred out of the church except for necessity.

The feast of St Maglorius is observed in the Rennes diocese, and as the other chief centre of his cultus was the Channel Islands he has a commemoration today in the diocese of Portsmouth. He is referred to by Richard Rolle in The Fire of Love (ch. 13).

We have several short medieval biographies, on which see BHL., nn. 5139—5147. There is a full notice by Miss Bateson in DNB., vol. xxxv, pp. 323—324 and another in LBS., vol. iii, pp. 407 seq. but the most valuable contributions come from such continental scholars as A. de in Borderie and F. Duine. Consult the former’s Histoire de Bretagne, vol. (1896) and the latter’s Inventaire, as well as his Memento des sources hagiographiques de Bretagne. It seems that Maglorius was never bishop of Dol, and his date is quite uncertain.
Abbot Maglorius of Lammeur, Brittany, was born in south Wales and educated under Saint Illtyd. He was a cousin of Saint Samson, with whom he crossed over to Brittany, where they became abbots of two monasteries. St. Samson became bishop of Dol, and on his death he is said to have been succeeded by St. Maglorius, who finally retired to the Channel Islands and built an abbey on Sark, where he died (Benedictines, Encyclopedia). He is represented in art giving Holy Communion to an angel and is sometimes shown with Saint Samson of Dol. Venerated at Sark (Roeder).
6th v. St. Cadfarch Welsh founder, a disciple of St. Illtyd
Member of an entire family of saints. Cadfarch founded churches at Penegoes and Abererch in Wales, England.
Cadfarch of Wales (AC) 6th century. A Welsh saint, disciple of Saint Illtyd, and member of a family of saints. He is said to have founded churches at Penegoes and Abererch (Benedictines)
.
6th v. Martin of Vertou, Abbot (RM); miracles
In monastério Duríni, in Gállia, sancti Martíni, Diáconi et Abbátis, cujus corpus inde ad Vertávum monastérium delátum est.
    In the monastery of Durin in France, St. Martin, abbot and deacon.  His body was translated to the monastery of Vertou.

Very little beyond speculation is known of this saint, for his two extant lives were written some centuries after his death and consist chiefly of miracles, and there has been confusion between him and St Martin of Braga, who was abbot of Dumium in Portugal while this Martin was a hermit in the forest of Dumen in Brittany.

   He was born at Nantes, of a Frankish family, and was ordained deacon by St Felix, who sent him to preach in Poitou. The legend says that after much effort he had succeeded in converting only the master and mistress of the house wherein he dwelt, so, warning them to flee from the wrath to come, he left the town where he had laboured wallowing in its iniquities, and it was straightway visited by an earthquake which swallowed it up and waters flowed over its site. This place is now known as Lac de Grandlieu, and the village of Herbauges at its edge is the successor of the destroyed town. Moreover, near by is to be seen a menhir, which is the pillar of stone into which the fleeing woman was transformed because she looked back at the doomed town.  Of which story may be said what Camden temperately remarks about a similar tale concerning Llyn Safaddan in Breconshire:  “All which I suspect as fabulous, and not to be otherwise regarded.”

After this failure as a missioner St Martin retired to a forest on the left bank of the Sèvre, and established the hermitage which grew into the abbey of Vertou.  He evangelized this district, and other monastic foundations are attributed to him, including a nunnery at Durieu, where he died.

The monks of Vertou are said to have stolen his body while it was awaiting burial in the church at Durieu and the nuns were singing the office for the dead at night. Among the stories told of St Martin (by confusion, in this case, with Martin of Braga) is that an unnamed British prince had a daughter who was fearfully tormented by evil spirits. One of them said through her mouth that the prayers of a holy man called Martin would overcome them, and the prince thereupon sent messengers in all directions to find such a one. At length they came to Vertou, told their errand, and the saint agreed to accompany them. He had hardly landed in Britain when the demons knew of his arrival and, unwilling to wait for him, tormented their victim for the last time and fled. She of course received the nun’s veil from her deliverer.

The Bollandists in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. x, seem to have printed all the texts which bear upon the life and miracles of this rather nebulous saint.
Abbot-founder of Vertou Abbey, near Nantes, of Saint- Jouin-de-Marnes and of other monastic establishments. The particulars of his life, as they have come down to us, are rather confused. He is venerated in the province of Poitou (Benedictines).

600 St Evergislus, Bishop of Cologne: One day when visiting the church of the “Golden Saints” he greeted the martyrs with the verse, “Exultabunt sancti in Gloria”, and at once the voice of an invisible choir responded, “Laeta­buntur in cubilibus suis!”
Tungris, in Bélgio, sancti Evergísli, Epíscopi Coloniénsis et Mártyris; qui, ob pastorális offícii curam illuc proféctus, ibídem, dum nocte solus ad monastérium sanctíssimæ Genitrícis Dei Maríæ oratúrus pérgeret, a latrónibus sagítta percússus occúbuit.
    At Tongres in Belgium, St. Evergislus, bishop of Cologne and martyr.  Because of his duties in the pastoral office he journeyed there, and on the way stopped to pray alone at the monastery of the Blessed Virgin Mary where he was killed by robbers who struck him with an arrow.

When St Severinus of Cologne was making a visitation at the church of Tongres in Belgium a young child was presented to him to be consecrated to the service of God. He saw in this boy, Evergislus (Ebregiselus), a chosen soul, took a personal interest in his education, and when he was grown up made him his archdeacon.  Evergislus was present when St Severinus, as related by Gregory of Tours, had his vision of the entry of St Martin into Heaven, but the archdeacon himself saw and heard nothing, and sent a messenger to Tours to verify that Martin was dead.   He succeeded his master as bishop of Cologne.  

One day when visiting the church of the “Golden Saints” he greeted the martyrs with the verse, “Exultabunt sancti in Gloria”, and at once the voice of an invisible choir responded, “Laeta­buntur in cubilibus suis!”

While at Tongres in the discharge of his pastoral duties St Evergislus went at night to the church of our Lady to pray; here he was set upon by robbers, and met his death.

This is the legend of the church of Cologne, recognized in the Roman Martyr­ology today, but St Evergislus seems to have lived later, and not to have died a violent death.  St Gregory of Tours says he was among the bishops sent by Childebert II to restore observance in the nunnery at Poitiers.  He also records that Evergislus was freed from headaches after praying in the church of the “Golden Saints” at Cologne.

The data seem involved in hopeless confusion. What purports to be a Life of Evergislus is printed in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. vi (5887), pp. 193—198, and also elsewhere; but it was written only in the eleventh century and is historically worthless. See, however, the discussion of the problem by W. Levison in the Festschrift für A. Brackman (1931), pp. 40—63 and cf. Duchesne, Fastes Épiscopaux, ‘vol. iii, p. 176. For the “Golden Saints”, cf. St Gereon on October 10.

679 St. Marcius Benedictine hermit of Monte Cassino
In Campánia sancti Marci Solitárii, cujus præclára ópera sanctus Gregórius Papa descrípsit.
    In Campania, St. Mark, a solitary, whose noble accomplishments have been recorded by St. Gregory.

Italy. He retired to Mount Mondragone, where he lived in a cave. Marcius is also listed as Mark or Martin. Pope St. Gregory the Great wrote of Marcius.

Marcius (Mark, Martin, Marcus) OSB, Hermit (RM). He is an Italian hermit at Monte Cassino, mentioned by St. Gregory the Great in the life of Saint Benedict. The Cassinese tradition adds the Marcius (or Martin) became a monk at the abbey and then retired to a cave on Mount Massicus (Mondragone) where he died.

Mark lived as a hermit in a cave in Campania, Italy. He had in his early days, he said, suffered many temptations of the devil and came to fear no earthly danger. His cave was not very safe, and one overhanging rock seemed likely to fall at any moment. Some of his followers begged leaven to loosen it, so as to let it crash down harmlessly. Mark agreed--provided that he could stay in the cave while they worked.

His friends had no choice but to agree, and the saint meditated, unconcerned that at any moment the rock might come crashing down and kill him. Fortunately, it missed.

Then he took to chaining himself to the ground. At this St. Benedict of Nursia intervened. Mark, he believed, was indulging in public display. Benedict told him that God's servants needed only the spiritual chains of Christ to bind them, not links of iron. Rebuked, Mark humbly threw his chain away (Benedictines, Bentley).

In art, Marcus is represented as a hermit to whom an angel brings the Blessed Sacrament in a spoon. Sometimes there is a wolf bringing him a stray sheep (Roeder)
.
690 St. Fromundus Irish Benedictine bishop missionary of Coutances
France. Little else is known.
Fromundus of Coutances, OSB B (AC). Irish monk, abbot, missionary, and then bishop of Coutances (Benedictines). He is depicted in art as an old man with a hat, cloak, and long cross of a missioner. Sometimes he appears in a cloud with a bag around his neck and glory surrounding him. Venerated at Bonfal (Roeder)
.
1190 Saint Arethas; “You hapless man, if you had given thanks to God for the pilfered riches, this would have been accounted as charity for you. He spent his final days as a hermit, in distress and repentance over his sins, having renounced all earthly possessions
Saint Arethas (12th century), Sisoes (13th century In the general service for the Fathers of the Kiev Caves, St Sisoes is called radiant in fasting.), and Theophilus (12th-13th century St Theophilus, in the general service to the Fathers of the Kiev Caves, is called resplendant in miracles. )
Hermits of the Near Caves in Kiev. They struggled at the Kiev Caves monastery and were buried in the Near Caves.
St Arethas was from Polotsk. While living at the monastery, he kept many possessions in his cell. One day robbers made off with it. Grieving over his lost riches, St Arethas began to murmur against God, for which he was stricken with a serious illness. Being at the very brink of death, he saw how both angels and devils had come for him and were arguing between them. The devils asserted that he ought to be given over to them because of his avarice and complaints against God. Then the angels said to him, "You hapless man, if you had given thanks to God for the pilfered riches, this would have been accounted as charity for you."
After this vision, the saint recovered. He spent his final days as a hermit, in distress and repentance over his sins, having renounced all earthly possessions. St Arethas died not later than 1190. In the Iconographic Manuals, the saint is described in this way:
In appearance stooped over, his beard the same length as Kozmina, dressed in monastic garb.
The general commemoration of all the Fathers of the Near Caves takes place on September 28 and on the second Sunday of Great Lent.
1243 St. Bernard of Calvo Cistercian bishop in Spain
He was born in Manso Calvo in Catalan, Spain, where he was educated. Bernard became a Cistercian, and was made the first abbot of Santa Creus Monastery, near Tarragona. He became a bishop in 1233.
Bernard of Calvó, OSB Cist. B (AC). A native of Manso Calvó, Catalonia, he became a Cistercian and eventually the first abbot of Santas Creus, near Tarragona. In 1233 he was chosen bishop of Vich (Benedictines)
.
1311 Saint Athanasius I, Patriarch of Constantinople (1289-1293; 1303-1311); humbly left Mt. Athos at first for the holy places in Jerusalem, and then to Mount Patra, where for a long time he lived ascetically as an hermit. From there the ascetic transferred to the Auxention monastery, and then to Mount Galanteia to the monastery of Blessed Lazarus, where he accepted the great angelic schema with the name Athanasius, was ordained a priest and became ecclesiarch (monk in charge of the sacred relics and vessels in the church). Here the saint was granted a divine revelation: he heard the Voice of the Lord from a crucifix, summoning him to pastoral service; received from the Lord both forgiveness and the gift of wonderworking

Saint Athanasius, in the world Alexius, was from Adrianopolis. While still in his youth, thriving upon the knowledge of the wisdom of Christ, he left his home and went to Thessalonica, where he was tonsured in one of the monasteries with the name Acacius. He soon withdrew to Mount Athos and entered the brethren of the Esphigmenou monastery, where for three years he served in the trapeza. In his works and his ascetic deeds he acquired the gift of tears, and by his virtuous acts he won the overall goodwill of the brethren.

Shunning praise, Acacius humbly left Mt. Athos at first for the holy places in Jerusalem, and then to Mount Patra, where for a long time he lived ascetically as an hermit. From there the ascetic transferred to the Auxention monastery, and then to Mount Galanteia to the monastery of Blessed Lazarus, where he accepted the great angelic schema with the name Athanasius, was ordained a priest and became ecclesiarch (monk in charge of the sacred relics and vessels in the church). Here the saint was granted a divine revelation: he heard the Voice of the Lord from a crucifix, summoning him to pastoral service.

Wishing to strengthen his spirit still more in silence and prayer, St Athanasius again settled on Mount Athos after ten years. But because of disorders arising there he returned to Mount Galanteia. Here also he was not long to remain in solitude. Many people thronged to him for pastoral guidance, and so he organized a women's monastery there.

During this time the throne of the Church of Constantinople fell vacant after the disturbances and disorder of the period of the Patriarch John Bekkos. At the suggestion of the pious emperor Andronicus Paleologos, a council of hierarchs and clergy unanimously chose St Athanasius to the Patriarchal throne of the Church in 1289.

Patriarch Athanasius began fervently to fulfill his new obedience and did much for strengthening the Church. His strictness of conviction roused the dissatisfaction of influential clergy, and in 1293 he was compelled to resign the throne and to retire again to his own monastery, where he lived an ascetic life in solitude. In 1303 he was again entrusted with the staff of patriarchal service, which he worthily fulfilled for another seven years.
In 1308 St Athanasius established St Peter as Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus (December 21).
Again, because of some sort of dissatisfaction, and not wanting to be the cause of church discord, St Athanasius resigned the governance of the Church in 1311. He departed to his own monastery, devoting himself fully to monastic deeds.

Toward the end of his life, the saint was again found worthy to behold Christ. The Lord reproached him because Athanasius had not carried out his pastoral duty to the end. Weeping, the saint repented of his cowardice and received from the Lord both forgiveness and the gift of wonderworking. St Athanasius died at the age of 100.

1492 Blessed Tadhg MacCarthy Many cures have been reported at his under the high altar of the cathedral of Ivrea B (AC) Born 1455; died in Ivrea, Savoy, Italy; beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1895.

Tadhg was born into the ancient royal line of Munster; the MacCarthys were the most prominent family in southern Ireland and inevitably were pitted against the Norman Fitzgeralds who seized Irish lands during the reign of Henry II of England. A bitter enmity existed between the two families that lasted for centuries.

When Pope Sixtus IV consecrated Tadhg MacCarthy as bishop of Ross, the Fitzgeralds reacted by contriving to place a rival claimant in the office. When Tadhg returned from his consecration in Rome he found the see occupied. About that same time Sixtus died and Tadhg's enemies seized the opportunity to vehemently denounce him to the new Pope Innocent VIII. The charges were so outrageous that the holy father immediately excommunicated the lawful bishop. An investigation, however, revealed that Tadhg was innocent of the charges whereupon Innocent issued three bulls that totally exonerated Tadhg and appointed him to the bishopric of Cork and Cloyne.

The Fitzgeralds still opposed him and refused to surrender the property of the see or to allow him to occupy it. Innocent intervened by issuing such a strong decree that the Fitzgeralds finally relented. Tadhg set out from Rome to assume the leadership of his see. He travelled as a humble pilgrim and stayed overnight in the hospice of Ivrea. The next morning he was found dead.
Tradition says that the bishop of Ivrea was unable to sleep that night, disturbed by a vivid dream of a bishop, unknown to him, being taken into heaven. When it was discovered that Tadhg was a bishop, this dream was considered the first of numerous miracles connected with him. Many cures have been reported at his under the high altar of the cathedral of Ivrea, where he continues to be the subject of veneration (Montague).

1455-1492)
You can trace the Irish Clan MacCarthy back to the third century.  They were the royal family of Desmond, the lower half of Munster, the southeast Irish province.  It was Cormac MacCarthy, king and bishop (died 1138), who built the famous chapel on the Rock of “Cashel of the Kings.
MacCarthys ruled over Desmond until 1395.  After that, however, their power was bitterly contested by the Anglo-Norman Fitzgeralds, who represented British encroachment.  Gerald, Earl of Kildare, was their dominant leader during the late fifteenth century. 
Thaddaeus MacCarthy, born in Cork, was educated by the Franciscans of nearby Kilcrea Friary, and ordained a priest by the bishop of Cork, William Roche. The young priest was in Rome in 1482 when Pope Sixtus IV learned of the death of Domnal, Bishop of Ross. The pope, having become acquainted with Thaddaeus and been impressed by him, named him successor to Domnal, despite the fact that he had not yet reached the canonical age for bishops.  MacCarthy was consecrated in Rome.
Unfortunately, the pope, when he appointed MacCarthy, did not know the full situation back in the diocese of Ross. Domnal, before his death, had resigned his see to Odo, whom he delegated to go to Rome to report on the resignation and Odo's succession. When Thaddaeus got back to Ireland, therefore, he found that Odo considered himself rightful bishop of Ross. The death of Pope Sixtus only complicated the question of which claimant really possessed the see.
MacCarthy was strongly supported by Bishop Edmund de Courcy, but the Fitzgeralds stood firmly against Thaddaeus, and he had to take refuge in a Cistercian monastery. It quickly became a political and cultural battle between the native Irish and the Anglo-Normans. The latter denounced Bishop Thaddaeus as an intruder; and the new pope, Innocent VIII, taken in by them, excommunicated MacCarthy.
Bishop MacCarthy, to prevent continuing scandal, appealed to the pope to investigate the case further. As a result, Pope Innocent found that he had been misinformed by the Geraldines. He confirmed Odo as bishop of Ross, but by way of recompense, appointed Thaddaeus bishop of Cork and Cloyne, praising his merits.
Unfortunately, the Anglo-Normans rejected this Roman solution. When Bishop MacCarthy returned to assume his duties at Cork and Cloyne, he found that his enemies had gained control of the diocesan property. For two years thereafter, the bishop went from village to village in his diocesan territory trying to prove his rights by means of the papal documents. Nobody would listen to him, so at length he wearily returned to Rome.
On July 1, 1492, Pope Innocent VIII gave MacCarthy another document. It sternly ordered Gerald, Earl of Kildare, and all others, to protect the episcopal properties of the bishop of Cork and Coyne and to acknowledge his right to those sees.
Bishop MacCarthy set out for Ireland once more.  There was nothing triumphant about his journey.  He traveled north alone, on foot, wearing no signs of his rank, but only the scallop-shell of the pilgrim.  That night the pilgrim retired early.
At dawn, the servants of the hostel, noting a light streaming from his cell, investigated its cause. The weary churchman had died peacefully during the night.  Now the local bishop of Ivrea, who had dreamt he saw a stranger bishop ascending into heaven, came over to investigate. In the dead pilgrim's wallet he found his episcopal cross and ring and the papal document testifying to his rights as bishop of Cork and Cloyne.
If the Irish Geraldines had spurned their bishop, the citizens of Ivrea gave him an honorable burial among them.  When miracles were wrought at his tomb, they hailed him as "blessed," and promptly enshrined him in their cathedral, where his relics are still venerated.  In 1895, Pope Leo XIII confirmed the title Blessed Thaddaeus long since given to him at Ivrea.
For many of us, life is one frustration after another.  But if frustration is our cross, and we bear it with patience and humility, it can gain us heaven as well as any other mortal trial.  That is how blessed Thaddaeus MacCarthy won his crown.
--Father Robert F. McNamara
1504 Blessed John Angelo Porro, OSM (AC)

1506 Bd John Angelo Porro
Milan was the birthplace of this ornament of the order of the Servants of Mary, who soon after his profession and ordination was sent to the cradle of his order on Monte Senario as being more suited to a life of prayer and silence than to the works of the active ministry.
  Having remained there in great holiness for some years he was drawn from his solitude to be master of novices at Florence, an office he fulfilled so well that he is venerated in his order as a patron of novice-masters. At various times he was at several other houses of his order, and wherever he was stationed he spent much time in giving instruction in Christian doctrine, especially to the poor and unlearned; in Milan he went about the streets gathering in children for this purpose, a work which was to be organized in the same place by St Charles Borromeo in the next generation. While at Cavacurta, Bd John Angelo learned in a vision of the death of his sister and that he too must go back home as his death was near. Accordingly he returned to his native Milan, worn out with work and hardships, and died there in the Servite priory in 1506. The cultus of Bd John Angelo Porro was approved in 1737.

A life by Philip Albericius has been reproduced in the Acta Sanctorum, October, vol. x, with the usual introduction and commentary; but Fr Soulier, in the Monumenta Ordinis Servorum B.M.V., vol. viii, pp. 121—211, and vol. ix, pp. 5—222, has been able to glean a few additional data. It must be confessed, however, that the career and personality of the beatus still remain veiled in great obscurity. A popular life in Italian by L. Raffaelli (1906), aims primarily at edification and can make no pretence to critical scholarship.

Cultus approved 1737. A native of Milan, Italy, who joined the Servites, and after a time spent at Monte Senario, returned to Milan where he worked to the end of his life (Benedictines).
1616 Saint John, Hermit of Pskov lived an ascetic life during a terrible time of military troubles. In 1592 the Swedes besieged the city of Pskov. From 1608, for seven years, Polish forces attacked under the head of Lisovski. It was only in the week before the death of the monk, through the intercession of the Pskov Caves Icon of the Mother of God and the Pskov Saints, that Pskov was delivered from the besieging army of the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus.

St John, as the chronicle relates, "lived within the city walls for 23 years; his fish was rancid and he did not eat bread. He lived within the city as though in a wilderness, in great silence," and he died on October 24, 1616.

1688 The wonderworking Joy of All Who Sorrow Icons of the Mother of God glorified in 1688. Euphymia, the sister of Patriarch Joachim (1674-1690), lived at Moscow and suffered from an incurable illness for a long time. One morning during a time of prayer she heard a voice say, Euphymia! Go to the temple of the Transfiguration of My Son; there you will find an icon called the 'Joy of All Who Sorrow.' Have the priest celebrate a Molieben with the blessing of water, and you will receive healing from sickness.” Euphymia did as she was directed by the Most Holy Theotokos, and she was healed. This occurred on October 24, 1688.

The icon of the Mother of God“
Joy of All Who Sorrow” (with coins fused to it by a bolt of lightning), was manifested at St Petersburg in 1888. See July 23.
1860 St. Joseph Lê Dang Thi of Ke Van (Vietnamese, army captain Martyr
 in the service of the king of Vietnam and was strangled to death for being a Christian.
Pope John Paul II canonized him in 1988.

Blessed Joseph Thi M (AC); beatified in 1909. A native captain in the army of King Tu-duc of Cochin-China. He was garroted at An-hoa (Benedictines)
.
1870 St. Anthony Mary Claret archbishop Cuba prophet many supernatural graces not only in the way of ecstasies and the gift of prophecy, but also by the miraculous cure of bodily diseases
In monastério Montis Frígidi, diœcésis Carcassonénsis, in Gállia, sancti Antónii Maríæ Claret, olim Archiepíscopi Cubáni, Fundatóris Missionariórum Filiórum Immaculáti Cordis beátæ Maríæ Vírginis, animárum zelo et mansuetúdine præclári; quem Pius Duodécimus, Póntifex Máximus, Sanctórum fastis adscrípsit.
    In the monastery of Fontfroide in the diocese of Carcassonne in France, St. Anthony Mary Claret, formerly Archbishop of Cuba, and founder of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  He was renowned for his meekness and zeal for souls, and was canonized by the Supreme Pontiff, Pius XII.
[Antonio Maria Claret y Clara] (Spanish, priest, retreat master, missionary, founder of the Congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary [commonly called Claretians] and of the Teaching Sisters of Mary Immaculate, archbishop in Cuba, confessor to queen of Spain, prophet and miracle-worker, preacher of 10,000 sermons, author of 200 works, spread devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady, d. 1870 in a French Cistercian monastery at age 63)

Anthony (Antony) Mary Claret B, Founder (RM) Born in Sallent, Spain, December 23, 1807; died in Narbonne, France, October 24, 1870; canonized 1950.
"When I see the need there is for divine teaching and how hungry people are to hear it, I am atremble to be off and running throughout the world, preaching the Word of God. I have no rest. My soul finds no other relief than to rush about and preach."

“If God's Word is spoken by a priest who is filled with the fire of charity--the fire of love of God and neighbor--it will wound vices, kill sins, convert sinners, and work wonders.

When I am before the Blessed Sacrament I feel such a lively faith that I cannot describe it. Christ in the Eucharist is almost tangible to me...When it is time for me to leave, I have to tear myself away from His sacred presence. --St. Antony Claret

1870 St Antony Claret, Archbishop of Santiago De Cuba, Founder of The Missionary Sons of The Immaculate Heart of Mary
   Despite the imposing form in which his name is sometimes presented-Antonio Maria Claret y Clara--this holy archbishop was of relatively humble origin. Born in 1807 at Salient in the north of Spain, he practised his father's trade of cloth-weaving, and in his spare time learned Latin and printing. When he was twenty-two he entered the seminary at Vich, where he was ordained priest in 1835. After a few years he again began to entertain the idea of a Carthusian vocation, but as that seemed to be beyond his physical strength, he proceeded to Rome and eventually entered the Jesuit noviciate with the idea of consecrating his life to the foreign missions. Here, however, his health broke down, and he was advised by the Jesuit father general to return to Spain and busy himself with the evangelization of his countrymen. This course he adopted and for ten years he was engaged in giving missions and retreats throughout Catalonia; he was associated with Bd Joachima de Mas in the establishment of the Carmelites of Charity. His zeal inspired other priests to join in the same work; and in 1849 he was mainly instrumental in founding the congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The institute, commonly known by his name as “The Claretians
, has spread and flourished, not only in Spain, but in the Americas and beyond.
    Almost immediately after this great work had been inaugurated, Father Claret was appointed archbishop of Santiago de Cuba. The task was one of exceptional difficulty; in which his efforts to bring about much-needed reforms were resisted by a powerful organization of disorderly and anti-Christian fanatics. Several attempts were made upon his life, and in one instance a serious wound was inflicted by an assassin infuriated by the loss of his mistress who had been won back to an honest life. It was the intercession of the archbishop himself which obtained the remission of the death sentence.
   In 1857 St Antony returned to Spain to become confessor to Queen Isabella II. He resigned his Cuban archbishopric, but avoided residence at the court for any longer than his official duties required, devoting himself to missionary work and the diffusion of good literature, especially in his native Catalan. To him Spain owes the foundation of the Libreria Religiosa in Barcelona, which has exerted immense influence in reviving a true Catholic spirit. In the course of his life St Antony is said to have preached 10,000 sermons and to have published 200 books or pamphlets for the instruction and edification of clergy and people. While rector of the Escorial he established a science laboratory, a museum of natural history, schools of music and languages, and other foundations. His continual union with God was rewarded by many supernatural graces not only in the way of ecstasies and the gift of prophecy, but also by the miraculous cure of bodily diseases.
 Political conditions in Spain and the queen’s attitude towards the Holy See made St Antony’s position very difficult, and in the revolution of 1868 he was exiled together with the queen. He then went to Rome, where he made his influence felt in promoting the definition of papal infallibility. An attempt was made to bring him back to Spain, but it failed a fatal illness came upon him in France, and he went to his reward in the Cistercian monastery of Fontfroide, near Narbonne, on October 24, 1870. He was canonized in 1950.

See J. Echevarria, Reminiscences of Antony Claret (5938), and D. Sargent, The Assignments of Antonio Claret (1950), both published in U.S.A. There are many biographies in Spanish and Catalan; those by L. Clotet (1882) and J. Blanch (1924) have been translated into French. The decree of canonization in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. xliv (1952), pp. 345-358, includes a sketch of his life.
As the son of a weaver, Antony became a weaver himself and in his free time he learned Latin and printing. At the age of 22 he entered the seminary at Vich, Catalonia, Spain, and was ordained in 1835. After a few years he began to entertain the idea of a Carthusian vocation but it seemed beyond his strength, so he travelled to Rome to join the Jesuits with the idea of becoming a foreign missionary. Ill health, however, caused him to leave the Jesuit novitiate and he returned to pastoral work at Sallent in 1837. He spent the next decade preaching parochial missions and retreats throughout Catalonia. During this time he helped Blessed Joachima de Mas to establish the Carmelites of Charity.

He went to the Canary Islands and after 15 months there (1848-49) with Bishop Codina, Anthony returned to Vich. His evangelical zeal inspired other priests to join in the same work, so in 1849 he founded the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (the Claretians), dedicated to preaching missions. The Claretians have spread far beyond Spain to the Americas and beyond.

In 1850, Queen Isabella II, appointed him archbishop of Santiago, Cuba. The people of this diocese were in a shocking state, and Claret made bitter enemies in his efforts to reform the see--some of whom made threats on his life. In fact, he was wounded in an assassination attempt against his life at Holguin in 1856, by a man angered that his mistress was won back to an honest life.

At the request of Queen Isabella, he returned to Spain in 1857 to become her confessor. He resigned his Cuban see in 1858, but spent as little time at the court as his official duties required. Throughout this period he was also deeply occupied with the missionary activities of his congregation and with the diffusion of good literature, especially in his native Catalan. He was also appointed rector of the Escorial, where he established a science laboratory, a natural history museum, and schools of music and languages. He also founded a religious library in Barcelona.

He followed Isabella to France when a revolution drove her from the throne in 1868. He attended Vatican Council I (1869-70) where he influenced the definition of papal infallibility. An attempt was made to lure him back to Spain, but it failed. Antony retired to Prades, France, but was forced to flee to a Cistercian monastery at Fontfroide near Narbonne when the Spanish ambassador demanded his arrest.

Anthony Claret was a leading figure in the revival of Catholicism in Spain, preached over 25,000 sermons, and published some 144 books and pamphlets during his lifetime. His continual union with God was rewarded by many supernatural graces. He was reputed to have performed miraculous cures and to have had gifts of prophecy. Both in Cuba and in Spain he encountered the hostility of the Spanish anti-clerical politicians (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Walsh, White).

He is the patron saint of weavers; and of savings and savings banks, a result of his opening savings banks in Santiago in an effort to help the poor (White).

1870 St. Anthony Mary Claret Claretian archbishop and founder. Anthony was born in Salient in Catalonia, Spain, in 1807, the son of a weaver. He took up weaving but then studied for the priesthood, desiring to be a Jesuit. Ill health prevented his entering the Order, and he served as a secular priest. In 1849, he founded the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, known today as the Claretians, and the Apostolic Training Institute of the Immaculate Conception, Claretian nuns. From 1850 to 1857, Anthony served as the archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. He returned to the court of Queen Isabella II as confessor, and went into exile with her in 1868. In 1869 and 1870, Anthony participated in the First Vatican Council. He died in the Cistercian monastery of Fontfroide in southern France on October 24, 1870. Anthony Mary Claret had the gift of prophecy and performed many miracles. He was opposed by the liberal forces of Spain and Cuba and endured many trials.

October 24, 2009 St. Anthony Claret (1807-1870)
The
spiritual father of Cuba was a missionary, religious founder, social reformer, queen’s chaplain, writer and publisher, archbishop and refugee. He was a Spaniard whose work took him to the Canary Islands, Cuba, Madrid, Paris and to the First Vatican Council.
In his spare time as weaver and designer in the textile mills of Barcelona, he learned Latin and printing: the future priest and publisher was preparing. Ordained at 28, he was prevented by ill health from entering religious life as a Carthusian or as a Jesuit, but went on to become one of Spain’s most popular preachers.
He spent 10 years giving popular missions and retreats, always placing great emphasis on the Eucharist and devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Her rosary, it was said, was never out of his hand. At 42, beginning with five young priests, he founded a religious institute of missionaries, known today as the Claretians.

He was appointed to head the much-neglected archdiocese of Santiago in Cuba. He began its reform by almost ceaseless preaching and hearing of confessions, and suffered bitter opposition mainly for stamping out concubinage and giving instruction to black slaves. A hired assassin (whose release from prison Anthony had obtained) slashed open his face and wrist. Anthony succeeded in getting the would-be assassin’s death sentence commuted to a prison term. His solution for the misery of Cubans was family-owned farms producing a variety of foods for the family’s own needs and for the market. This invited the enmity of the vested interests who wanted everyone to work on a single cash crop—sugar.
Besides all his religious writings are two books he wrote in Cuba: Reflections on Agriculture and Country Delights.
He was called back to Spain for a job he did not relish—being chaplain for the queen. He went on three conditions: He would reside away from the palace, he would come only to hear the queen’s confession and instruct the children and he would be exempt from court functions. In the revolution of 1868, he fled with the queen’s party to Paris, where he preached to the Spanish colony.
All his life Anthony was interested in the Catholic press. He founded the Religious Publishing House, a major Catholic publishing venture in Spain, and wrote or published 200 books and pamphlets.
At Vatican I, where he was a staunch defender of the doctrine of infallibility, he won the admiration of his fellow bishops. Cardinal Gibbons of Baltimore remarked of him,
There goes a true saint. He died in exile near the border of Spain at the age of 63.
Comment: Jesus foretold that those who are truly his representatives would suffer the same persecution as he did. Besides 14 attempts on his life, Anthony had to undergo such a barrage of the ugliest slander that the very name Claret became a byword for humiliation and misfortune. The powers of evil do not easily give up their prey. No one needs to go looking for persecution. All we need to do is be sure we suffer because of our genuine faith in Christ, not for our own whims and imprudences.
Quote: Queen Isabella II once said to Anthony, No one tells me things as clearly and frankly as you do. Later she told her chaplain, Everybody is always asking me for favors, but you never do. Isn't there something you would like for yourself? He replied, Yes, that you let me resign. The queen made no more offers.
1915  Bl. Luigi Guanella (Italian, parish priest, founder Daughters St. Mary of Providence
founder of Servants of Charity, built institute for handicapped, aided immigrants in U.S., d. 1915 [beatified 1964])

Saint's Secret: To Pray and Suffer
Author Tells Story of Luigi Guanella, to Be Canonized Oct. 23
By Carmen Elena Villa

ROME, OCT. 13, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The founder of the Servants of Charity and the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence created a religious family modeled on the family of Nazareth, and called to follow a simple two-part program for sanctity: to pray and suffer. Father Luigi Guanella (1842-1915) will be canonized Oct. 23, the day before his memorial.  His religious family is today spread through 15 countries.
ZENIT spoke with Cristina Siccardi who co-authored with Sister Michela Carrozzino a book about the saint.
ZENIT: How did he hear his call to the priesthood?
Siccardi: His parents had instilled in him the habit of the family rosary every afternoon and he had the example of three cousin priests who helped him to form a strongly religious spirituality. No doubt he cultivated his priestly vocation when he was a child, especially on the Motto del Vento hill in the paternal home of Fraciscio di Campodolcino, Sondrio, where he went often to recollect himself in prayer and meditation.
ZENIT: And how did he hear the call to found the community of the Servants of Charity and of the Daughters of Holy Mary of Divine Providence?
Siccardi; A vision marked Guanella's life and it happened on the day of his First Communion. A lady -- as he described the Virgin when he spoke of this event -- made him see all that he should have done for the poor. In 1907 Father Constantino Guanella recounted to his nephew: "It is as if you had seen in a movie thater all that you should have done." This dream at nine years of age was determinant for all his other options. This mystical encounter marked him profoundly. Our Lady also appeared to St. John Bosco when he was nine years old to show him his land of mission: young people.

ZENIT: Speaking of St. John Bosco, Luigi Guanella had several meetings with him. How did these two saints meet?
Siccardi: Father Guanella heard talk of the "young people's priest" and wished to meet him. In 1870 he visited the Turin oratory, where the Salesian mission began, and so he traveled several times to see Don John Bosco, who received him warmly. They spoke several times. Thus it was that on returning to Savongo, where Don Luigi lived then, he felt a strong need to understand and to get to know the works of that Piedmont priest.  His admiration for Don Bosco had a raison d'etre, as both had a similar temperament: enterprising, apostles of charity, determined, fathers with authority, with a great love for the Eucharist, the Virgin and the Pope. He asked Don Bosco in 1872 if he could print his first work: "Saggio di ammonimenti famigliari" (Essay on Familial Admonishments), which talked about how Masons and liberals followed peasants seeking to suffocate and corrupt their Catholic principles.  Guanella also met St. Joseph Cottolengo and was fascinated by him. In him he saw an original synthesis of holiness. Methods and charitable ends between Joseph Benedict Cottolengo and John Bosco, both esteemed and loved.
ZENIT: Did these meetings give him a greater sensitivity to youth?
Siccardi: Indeed. It was for this reason that he dedicated himself as much to the instruction of young people as to the material and spiritual needs of the humble and forgotten. Thus he gave life in 1881 to the initial seeds of the feminine Congregation of the Daughters of Holy Mary of Divine Providence.  The motherhouse of the Guanellian works was opened in 1886 and was approved by the Holy See in 1908. That same year, together with 10 brother priests, Don Luigi pronounced the first official religious vows of the Servants of Charity; while in 1913 from the Vicariate of Rome, Don Guanella obtained recognition of the Pious Union of Transit of St. Joseph for the dying, an association of priests and faithful in union of prayer for the dying: St. Pius X was the first to enroll and the following year he raised the association to a union for the whole of Christianity.
ZENIT: His pastoral work took place in the context of the Italian unification movement. How did this historic event influence his apostolate and life?
Siccardi: Don Luigi Guanella was born in 1842, at the time of the Risorgimento and he died in 1915, during World War I. He was a fighter priest, known, in fact as an intense priest, with whom it was advisable to tread lightly. He was a courageous priest and knew no political compromises. He gave speeches and wrote articles and books against the liberal authorities that were trying to demolish the Church with ideas and expropriations.  Don Luigi never hid and, proud of priesthood, he always defended the Pope, Pius IX, who at the time was the victim of so much envy, with a very heavy press campaign. He also suffered dramatic persecutions by the civil and government authorities.  The period of the Risorgimento having ended, Guanella remained faithful to the Supreme Pontiff.  Saint Pius X esteemed him a lot. At that time, between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, Socialist and Marxist ideas gained ground in the urban and industrialized society. The anti-clerical ideas of Masonic Liberalism, of the upper bourgeoisie, were the support of the revolutionary ideas of the labor movement. Together with the demographic transformations given the increase of the population, due to the drastic diminution of infant mortality, a territorial transformation took place: People migrated from the countryside to the city. Between 1861, the year of national unity, and 1901, the population grew by 30%, whereas that of the principal cities increased by 60%. Don Luigi remained anchored in traditional values and principles and was an enemy of secularizing and de-Christianizing ideologies. Moreover, he designed a map of sustenance and help, always keeping in mind that charity is not lay solidarity but the true face of Christ in the neediest.
ZENIT: After his meetings with Don Bosco, how did Salesian spirituality influence his life?
Siccardi: This was a basic element in his formation as an educator. He was between two holy priests: Don Bosco did not hesitate to trust him. Thus it was that Don Luigi entered almost as a family member in the Salesian house, to send to the Salesians and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians young vocations from his land. In the years 1870-1875 he even supported the opening of a Salesian institution in the Diocese of Como.  Luigi shared in everything and for everything the Salesian pedagogy: the loving and firm approach with young people and the educational will to prevent, rather than cure, moral problems. Like St. John Bosco, Luigi also wanted to bring salvation to young people through education and formation, because both founders placed eternal salvation above all, considering it as the only really important thing.
ZENIT: What is the charism of his community?
Siccardi: Don Luigi asked his priests to be "angelic men, martyrs of virtues and charity," and he called his sisters "little Marthas," to highlight the agility of their works. Also "martirelle," that is, little martyrs invited by the Lord to sacrifice and suffering. He sought to immolate himself to the highest degree possible, to become a victim for the redeeming work of God and for his glory.  The pillars of the Guanellian charism are: great piety, assiduous prayer and extreme faith in Divine Providence.
ZENIT: What legacy do his teachings have?
Siccardi: The sons and daughters of Luigi Guanella continue working along the lines of their founder, as instruments of Providence: sensitivity in looking out for, understanding and helping one's neighbor who, in the image of Christ and as the saint are called to evangelize the poor, revealing the love of the Father in whom it is always necessary to hope. The apostolate is geared especially to the most tried in body and spirit, deprived of human support: the care of young people, the elderly, the sick, and great commitment to the poor. The spiritual legacy left by the founder can be summarized in the Family of Nazareth: simplicity, confidence and complete availability to the plan of the Father. Luigi Guanella left in the "preventive method" a way that leads, in imitation of God's goodness, to surrounding with love and care one's littlest brothers. "To pray and suffer" is the Guanellian program, two fundamental conditions for sanctity and the efficacy of his congregations.
[Translation by ZENIT]


THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 105

When I called upon thee, thou didst hear me, O Lady:
and from thy throne on high thou hast deigned to be mindful of me.

From the roaring of the wild beasts prepared to devour me:
and from the hands of them that sought me, thy grace will deliver me.

For thy mercy is kind and thy heart loving: towards all who invoke thy holy name.

Blessed art thou, O Lady, forever: and thy majesty for evermore.

Glorify her, all ye nations in your strength: and all ye peoples of the earth, extol her magnificence.


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

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


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

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

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

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

Widowed Saints  html
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Of_The_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  UniateChalcedon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To Save A Life is Earthly; Saving A Soul is Eternal Donation by mail, please send check or money order to:
Eternal Word Television Network 5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210  USA
  Catholic Television Network  Supported entirely by donations from viewers  help  spread the Eternal Word, online Here
Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey  Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament
Colombia was among the countries Mother Angelica visited. 
In Bogotá, a Salesian priest - Father Juan Pablo Rodriguez - brought Mother and the nuns to the Sanctuary of the Divine Infant Jesus to attend Mass.  After Mass, Father Juan Pablo took them into a small Shrine which housed the miraculous statue of the Child Jesus. Mother Angelica stood praying at the side of the statue when suddenly the miraculous image came alive and turned towards her.  Then the Child Jesus spoke with the voice of a young boy:  “Build Me a Temple and I will help those who help you.” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Father Corapi's Biography

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

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

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

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


God Bless you on your journey Father John Corapi


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MIRACLES
– Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco, diocesan priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist (1839-1910);
– Venerable Servant of God John Sullivan, professed priest of the Society of Jesus (1861-1933);
MARTYRDOM
– Servants of God Nikolle Vinçenc Prennushi, O.F.M., archbishop of Durres, Albania, and 37 companions killed between 1945 and 1974;
– Servants of God José Antón Gómez and three companions of the Benedictines of Madrid, Spain, killed 1936;
HEROIC VIRTUES
– Servant of God Thomas Choe Yang-Eop, diocesan priest (1821-1861);
– Servant of God Sosio Del Prete (né Vincenzo), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor, founder of the Congregation of the Little Servants of Christ the King (1885-1952);
– Servant of God Wenanty Katarzyniec (né Jósef), professed priest of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (1889-1921);
– Servant of God Maria Consiglia of the Holy Spirity (née Emilia Paqualina Addatis), founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Addolorata, Servants of Mary (1845-1900);
– Servant of God Maria of the Incarnation (née Caterina Carrasco Tenorio), founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Tertiary Sisters of the Flock of Mary (1840-1917);
– Servant of God , founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Family of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (1851-1923);
– Servant of God Ilia Corsaro, founder of the Congregation of the Little Missionaries of the Eucharist (1897-1977);
– Servant of God Maria Montserrat Grases García, layperson of the Personal Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei (1941-1959).
LINKS:
Marian Apparitions (over 2000)  India Marian Shrine Lourdes of the East   Lourdes Feb 11- July 16, Loreto, Italy 1858 
China
Marian shrines
May 23, 1995 Zarvintisya Ukraine Lourdes Kenya national Marian shrine    Quang Tri Vietnam La Vang 1798  
Links to Related
Marian Websites  Angels and Archangels
Doctors_of_the_Church   Acts_Apostles  Roman Catholic Popes  Purgatory  Uniates, 105 2023