The Murom Icon of the Mother of God Transferred to Murom from Kiev by the enlightener of this remote region, the holy Prince Constantine (May 21), in the twelfth century.

St Constantine urged the pagans to accept Christianity, but they were stubborn and decided to murder the prince. Learning of this, the saint came out to the pagans with the Icon of the Mother of God he had brought from Kiev.

The grace issuing forth from Her countenance touched the hearts of the pagans. They asked for the prince's forgiveness and agreed to be baptized.

St Basil of Ryazan (July 3) sailed from Murom to Ryazan on his mantiya, while carrying this icon.
The Murom icon was originally commemorated during the Apostles' Fast, but the celebration was moved to April 12 (the Feast of St Basil).

In the Murom icon, Christ leans against His Mother's shoulder,
and He holds a scroll which says, "I am the light of the world."

The Belynich Icon of the Mother of God initially was in one of the Orthodox churches of the Mogilev district. After the emergence of the Unia (1596) the icon passed into the hands of the Catholics and was placed in a church of the Belynich Catholic monastery, founded in 1622-1624 by the hetman of Great Lithuania, Lev Sapega, on the banks of the River Druta, 45 versts from Mogilev. The icon was venerated both by Catholics and by Orthodox. In 1832 the monastery was dissolved, and the Catholic church became a parish church.

In 1876 the icon was given to the Orthodox after the restoration of the monastery. On April 12 of that year the first Divine Liturgy was served in the church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos on the altar table consecrated by an Orthodox bishop. The Belynich Icon of the Mother of God is venerated throughout the Christian world.

On Bright Thursday the Gospel reading is John 3:1-15, which mentions the Pharisee Nicodemus who came by night to speak to Christ
The Lord told him that a man could not see the Kingdom of God unless he were born again. Nicodemus, taking Him much too literally, could not understand how such a thing was possible.
The Savior then clarified His words, saying that one must be born "of water and the Spirit" (John 3:5), referring to Baptism. Nicodemus, however, still found it difficult to understand Him.

The Lord said, "If I have told you of earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" (John 3:12).

The reading from Acts 2:38-41 also speaks of Baptism. St Peter told the crowd, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you… and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).
The main focus of today's readings is on Baptism, but they also point to other things. We are to raise our mind and understanding from earthly to heavenly things, and to seek the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Agathonica, Papylus (Pamfilus), Carpus & Companions MM (RM)
Died at Pergamum c. 170 or 250. Eusebius (History of the Church, iv, 15) records that during the Decian persecution, Carpus, bishop of Gordus in Asia Minor; Papylus, deacon of Thyatira; Agathonica, the sister of Papylus; and Agathodorus, their servant, were arrested. They were brought before Valerius, the Roman governor at Pergamos in Asia Minor, examined three times, and required to sacrifice to the gods. The third time, Agathodorus, was scourged to death in front of his masters.

Still the Christians remained resolute. Carpus answered the proconsul Optimus:

"I am a Christian, I worship Christ, the Son of God, who came in these latter times for our salvation and delivered us from the snares of the devil. I will not sacrifice to such idols. The living do not sacrifice to the dead . . . (the gods) look like men, but they are unfeeling. Deprive them of your veneration . . . and they will be defiled by dogs and crows."

When the proconsul insisted, Carpus said:
"I have never before sacrificed to images that have no feeling or understanding . . . I have pity on myself, choosing as I do the better part."
Carpus was hung up to be tortured with iron claws that flayed the skin from his sides. He continued to answer steadfastly until the pain overcame his voice.

The attention of the judges turned next to Papylus, a wealthy father of many children according to his testimony. A bystander interpreted his words as "He means he has children in virtue of the faith of the Christians." Papylus agreed that this was correct. Like Carpus, he continued to refuse and was treated in the same fashion as the bishop. After a time of silent endurance, he said:
"I feel no pain because I have someone to comfort me: one whom you do not see suffers within me."
The last words of Carpus were: "Blessed are You, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, because You judged me, a sinner, worthy to have this part in You!"

They refused to offer the oblations, and no arguments or ill treatment could overcome their resistance. They were therefore burnt alive in the amphitheater.

Saint Agathonica, a married woman, was admired by the crowd for her physical beauty. When they urged not to make her children motherless by her obstinacy, she replied, "God will look after them, but I will not obey your commands nor will I sacrifice to demons." She, too, went to the stake to be burnt to death. As the flames consumed her, she cried out: "Lord, Lord, Lord, help me, for I fly to You." The Christian witnesses came and took away the remains of the martyrs to cherish them.
Another version of the story relates that Agathonica was simply a woman in the crowd at the death of Carpus and Papylus, who was moved to share in their martyrdom, rather than the sister of the latter (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Farmer, Husenbeth).

250 St. Vissia Virgin and martyr put to death at Fermo near Ancona, Italy during the persecutions of Emperor Trajanus Decius
Firmi, in Picéno, sanctæ Víssiæ, Vírginis et Mártyris.
At Fermo, in Piceno, St. Vissia, virgin and martyr. (r. 249-251).

300 St. Victor Martyr a catechumen put to death during the reign of Diocletian in Portugal.
Brácari, in Lusitánia, sancti Victóris Mártyris, qui, adhuc catechúmenus, cum noluísset idólum adoráre, et Christum Jesum magna constántia conféssus fuísset, ídeo, post multa torménta, cápite abscísso, méruit próprio sánguine baptizári.

From the Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler
                   ST. VICTOR, OF BRAGS, M
THIS city was a populous resort of the Romans; on which account it was watered with the blood of maoy martyrs in the persecution of Dioclesian.
The names only of SS Victor, Sylvester, Cucufas, Susana, and Torquatus, have reached us.   Their triumphs are honored in that church, and recorded by Vasteus in his chronicle, and other Spanish historians. St. Victor who is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology oa the 12th of April, was a catechumen, who, refusing to sacrifice to idols, was condemned to lose his head, and baptized in his own blood. See F. Thomas ab Incarnatione. Hist
Portug. Saec. 4, c. 6, p. 218.

    At Braga in Portugal, the martyr St. Victor. Although only a catechumen, he refused to adore an idol, and confessed Jesus Christ with great constancy. After suffering many tortures, he was beheaded, and thus merited to be baptized in his own blood.

303 Maximus, Dadas & Quintilianus brothers from Dorostorum (now Silistraia MM (RM)
Maximus, Dadas, and Quintilianus, brothers from Dorostorum (now Silistraia) on the Danube, Bulgaria, were beheaded at Ozobia under Diocletian. Maximus was a lector (Benedictines).

336 St. Julius elected Pope to succeed Pope St. Mark on February 6, 337 built several basilicas and churches in Rome declared that Athanasius was the rightful bishop of Alexandria and reinstated him
Romæ, via Aurélia, natális sancti Júlii Papæ Primi, qui advérsus Ariános pro fide cathólica plúrimum laborávit, ac, multis præcláre gestis, sanctitáte célebris quiévit in pace.
At Rome, on the Aurelian Way, the birthday of Pope St. Julius, who vigorously defended the Catholic faith against the Arians. After a life of brilliant accomplishments, he rested in peace, famed for his sanctity.

From the Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler

ST. JULIUS, POPE.
337

HE was a Roman, and chosen pope on the 6th of February, in 337. The Arian bishops in the East sent to him three deputies to accuse St .Athanasius, the zealous patriarch of Alexandria. These informations, as the order of justice required, Julius imparted to Athanasius, who thereupon sent his deputies to Rome; when, upon an impartial hearing, the advocates of the heretics were confounded, and silenced, upon every article of their accusation. The Arians then demanded a council, and the pope assembled one in Rome, in 341, at which appeared St. Athanasius, Marcellus of Ancyra, and other orthodox prelates, who entreated the pope ;hat he would cite their adversaries to appear. Julius accordingly sent them an order to repair to Rome within a limited time. They, instead of obeying, held a pretended council at Antioch, in 341, in which they presumed to appoint one Gregory, an impious Arian, bishop of Alexandria, detained the pope's legates beyond the time mentioned for their appearance; and then wrote to his holiness, alleging a pretended impossibility of their appearing, on account of the Persian war and other impediments. The pope easily saw through these pretenses, and, in a council at Rome, examined the cause of St. Athanasius, declared him innocent of the things laid to his charge by the Arians, and confirmed him in his see. He also acquitted Marcellus of Ancyra upon his orthodox profession of faith. "Julius, by virtue of the prerogative of his see, sent the bishops into the East, with letters full of vigor, restoring to each of them his see," says Socrates.' “For, because the care of all belonged to him, by the dignity of his see, he restored to everyone his church, “as Sozomen writes.' He drew up and sent by count Gabian, to the Oriental Eusebian bishops, who had first demanded a council, and then refused to appear in it, an excellent letter, which Tillemont calls one of the finest monuments of ecclesiastical antiquity. In it we admire an extraordinary genius, and solid judgment, but far more an apostolic vigor and resolution, tempered with charity and meekness. "If," says he, `*they (Athanasius and Marcellus) had been guilty, ye should have written to us all, that judgment might have been given by all: for they were bishops and churches that suffered, and these not common churches, but the same that the apostles themselves had governed. Why did they not write to us especially concerning the church of Alexandria? Are you ignorant, that it is the custom to write to us immediately, and that the decision ought to come from hence?
In case therefore that the bishop of that see lay under any suspicions, ye ought to have written to our church. But now, without having sent us any information on the subject, and having acted just as ye thought proper, ye require of us to approve your measures, without sending us any account of the reasons of your proceedings. These are not the ordinances of Paul, this is not site tradition of our fathers; this is an unprecedented sort of conduct. I declare to you what we have learned from the blessed apostle Peter, and I believe it so well known to everybody, that I should not have mentioned it, had not this happened." Finding the Eusebians still obstinate, he moved Constanus, emperor of the West, to demand the concurrence of his brother Constantius in the assembling of a general council at Sardica, in Illyricum. This was opened in May, 347,' and was a general synod, as Baronius and Natalis Alexander demonstrate but is joined as an appendix to the council of Nice, because it only confirmed its decrees of faith. This council declared St. Athanasius and Marcellus of Ancyra orthodox and innocent, deposed certain Arian bishops, and framed twenty-one canons of discipline. The first of these forbids the translation of bishops for, if frequently made, it opens a dour to let ambition and covetousness into the sanctuary, of which Eugenius of Nicomedia wiz a scandalous instance. The third, fourth, and seventh agree, that any bishop deposed by a synod in his province, has a right to appeal to the bishop of Rome. St. Julius sat fifteen years, two months, and six days, dying on the 12th of April, 352. See St. Athanasius, Hist. Arianorum ad Monachos, t. I, p. 349, et Apolog. contra Arianos, pp. 142, 199; Tillemont, t. 7, p. 278; Fleury, t. 3 ; Cellier, t. 4, p. 484. See also the letter of Julius to Prosdocius, with remarks; and his letter to the church of Alexandria, with the notes of Muratori, &e., in the second tome of the new complete edition of the Councils, printed at Venice in 1759.

352 ST JULIUS I, Pope
THE name of Pope St Julius stands in the Roman Martyrology to-day with the notice that he laboured much for the Catholic faith against the Arians. He was the son of a Roman citizen named Rusticus, and succeeded Pope St Mark in 337. In the following year St Athanasius, who had been exiled at the instance of the Arians, returned to his see of Alexandria, but found himself opposed by an Arian or semi-Arian hierarch whose intrusion had been obtained by Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia. In response to the request of the followers of Eusebius, Pope Julius convoked a synod to examine into the matter, but the very people who had asked for the council refrained from attending it. The case of St Athanasius was, however, very carefully examined in their absence and the letter, which the pope subsequently sent to the Eusebian bishops in the East has been characterized by Tillemont as “one of the finest monuments of ecclesiastical’ antiquity”, and by Monsignor Batiffol as “a model of weightiness, wisdom and charity”. Calmly and impartially he meets their accusations one by one and refutes them. Towards the end he states the procedure they ought to have followed. “Are you not aware that it is customary that we should first be written to, that from hence what is just may be defined whereas you expect us to approve condemnations in which we had no part. This is not according to the precepts of Paul or the tradition of the fathers. All this is strange and new. Allow me to speak as I do: I write what I write in the common interest, and what I now signify is what we have received from the blessed apostle Peter.”
The council at Sardica (Sofia) convened in 342 by the emperors of the East and West, vindicated St Athanasius, and endorsed the statement, previously made by St Julius, that any bishop deposed by a synod of his province has a right to appeal to the bishop of Rome. Nevertheless it was not until the year 346 that St Athanasius was able to return to Alexandria. On his way thither he passed through Rome, where he was cordially received by Pope Julius, who wrote a touching letter to the clergy and faithful of Alexandria, congratulating them on the return of their holy bishop, picturing the reception they would give him, and praying for God’s blessing on them and on their children.
St Julius built several churches in Rome, notably the Basilica Julia, now the church of the Twelve Apostles, and the basilica of St Valentine in the Flaminian Way. He died on April 12, 352. His body was buried at first in the cemetery of Calepodius, but was afterwards translated to Santa Maria in Trastevere which he had enlarged and beautified.

The story of the life of St Julius belongs to general church history and may best be studied in such works as Hefele—Leclercq, Histoire des Conciles Grisar, Geschichte Roms and der Päpste (Eng. trans.); Duchesne in his edition of the Liber Pontificalis and in his Histoire ancienne de l’Eglise (Eng. trans.); J. P. Kirsch, Die Kirche in der antiken Griechischen Römischen Kulturwelt; and P. Batiffol, La paix constantinienne.

Julius was the son of a Roman named Rusticus. He was elected Pope to succeed Pope St. Mark on February 6, 337. Julius was soon involved in the Arian controversy when Eusebius of Nicomedia opposed the return of Athanasius to the See of Alexandria in 338. Eusebius and his followers elected George, whereupon the Arians elected Pistus. Julius convened a synod in Rome in 340 or 341 that neither group attended, and in a letter to the Eusebian bishops, Julius declared that Athanasius was the rightful bishop of Alexandria and reinstated him. The matter was not finally settled until the Council of Sardica (Sofia), summoned by emperors Constans and Constantius in 342 or 343, declared Julius' action correct and that any deposed bishop had the right of appeal to the Pope in Rome. Julius built several basilicas and churches in Rome and died there on April 12.
Pope St. Julius I
(337-352).

The immediate successor of Pope Silvester, Arcus, ruled the Roman Church for only a very short period — from 18 January to 7 October, 336 — and after his death the papal chair remained vacant for four months. What occasioned this comparatively long vacancy is unknown. On 6 Feb., 337, Julius, son of Rustics and a native of Rome, was elected pope. His pontificate is chiefly celebrated for his judicious and firm intervention in the Arian controversies, about which we have abundant sources of information. After the death of Constantine the Great (22 May, 337), his son Constantine II, Governor of Gaul, permitted the exiled Athanasius to return to his See of Alexandria (see ATHANASIUS). The Arians in Egypt, however, set up a rival bishop in the person of Pistus, and sent an embassy to Julius asking him to admit Pistus into communion with Rome, and delivering to the pope the decisions of the Council of Tyre (335) to prove that Athanasius had been validly deposed. On his side Athanasius likewise sent envoys to Rome to deliver to Julius a synodal letter of the Egyptian bishops, containing a complete justification of their patriarch. On the arrival of the Athanasian envoys in Rome, Macarius, the head of the Arian representatives, left the city; the two remaining Arian envoys, with the Athanasian deputies, were summoned by Pope Julius. The Arian envoys now begged the pope to assemble a great synod before which both parties should present their case for decision.
Julius convened the synod at Rome, having dispatched two envoys to bear a letter of invitation to the Eastern bishops. Under the leadership of Eusebius, who had been raised from Nicomedia to the See of Constantinople, the Arian bishops had meanwhile held a council at Antioch, and elected George of Cappadocia Bishop of Alexandria in the place of Pistus. George was intruded forcibly into his see, and Athanasius, being again exiled, made his way to Rome. Many other Eastern bishops removed by the Arian party, among them Marcellus of Ancyra, also came to Rome. In a letter couched in haughty terms, however, the Arian bishops of the party of Eusebius refused to attend the synod summoned by Julius. The synod was held in the autumn of 340 or 341, under the presidency of the pope, in the titular church of the presbyter Vitus. After a detailed examination of the documents, Athanasius and Marcellus of Ancyra, who had made a satisfactory profession of faith, were exonerated and re-established in their episcopal rights. Pope Julius communicated this decision in a very notable and able letter to the bishops of the Eusebian party. In this letter he justifies his proceedings in the case, defends in detail his action in reinstating Athanasius, and animadverts strongly on the non-appearance of the Eastern bishops at the council, the convening of which they themselves had suggested. Even if Athanasius and his companions were somewhat to blame, the letter runs, the Alexandrian Church should first have written to the pope. "Can you be ignorant," writes the pope, "that this is the custom, that we should be written to first, so that from here what is just may be defined" (Julii ep. ad Antiochenos, c. xxii). After his victory over his brother Constantine II, Emperor Constans was ruler over the greater part of the Empire. He was entirely orthodox in his views, and, at the request of the pope and other Western bishops, interceded with his brother Constantius, Emperor of the East, in favour of the bishops who had been deposed and persecuted by the Arian party. Both rulers agreed that there should be convened a general council of the Western and Eastern bishops at Sardica, the principal city of the Province of Dacia Mediterranea (the modern Sofia). It took place in the autumn of 342 or 343, Julius sending as his representatives the priests Archidamus and Philoxenus and the deacon Leo. Although the Eastern bishops of the Arian party did not join in the council, but held their assembly separate and then departed, the synod nevertheless accomplished its task. Through the important canons iii, iv, and v (vii in the Latin text) of this council, the procedure against accused bishops was more exactly regulated, and the manner of the papal intervention in the condemnation of bishops was definitely established.

At the close of its transactions the synod communicated its decisions to the pope in a dutiful letter. Notwithstanding the reaffirmation of his innocence by the Synod of Sardica, St. Athanasius was not restored to his see by Emperor Constantius until after the death of George, the rival Bishop of Alexandria, in 346. Pope Julius took this occasion to write a letter, which is still extant, to the priests, deacons, and the faithful of Alexandria, to congratulate them on the return of their great pastor. The two bishops Ursacius of Singidunum and Valens of Mursia, who, on account of their Arianism, had been deposed by the Council of Sardica, now made a formal recantation of their error to Julius, who, having summoned them to an audience and received a signed confession of faith, restored to them their episcopal sees. Concerning the inner life of the Roman Church during the pontificate of Julius we have no exact information; all agree, however, that there was a rapid increase in the number of the faithful in Rome, where Julius had two new basilicas erected: the titular church of Julius (now S. Maria in Trastevere) and the Basilica Julia (now the Church of the Twelve Apostles). Beside these he built three churches over cemeteries outside the walls of Rome: one on the road to Porto, a second on the Via Aurelia, and a third on the Via Flaminia at the tomb of the martyr St. Valentine. The ruins of the last-mentioned have been discovered. The veneration of the faithful for the tombs of the martyrs continued to spread rapidly. Under the pontificate of Julius, if not earlier, catalogues of feast-days of saints came into use — the Roman feast-calendar of Philocalus dates from the year 336.

371 St. Zeno Bishop 362 of Verona, Italy, theological writer ardent opponent of Arianism promoted

discipline among the clergy and in liturgical life, built a cathedral, and founded a convent wrote extensively on the virgin birth of Christ
Verónæ pássio sancti Zenónis Epíscopi, qui inter persecutiónis procéllas eam Ecclésiam mira constántia gubernávit, et, Galliéni témpore, martyrio coronátus est.
    At Verona, the passion of Bishop St. Zeno, who governed that Church with great fortitude amid the storms of persecution, and was crowned with martyrdom in the time of Gallienus.

From Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler

From his life, compiled from his writings and other monuments by Peter and Jerome Ballerini, two learned priests of Verona and brothers, in their third dissertation in the excellent edition they gave of this father's works., p. 109. See also the Maruis Scipio Maffei, Historiae Diplomaticae Monumenta at the end p. 329.Also the Same author, Veronae Illustratae. part II   The history of the translation of his relics by an anonymous monkand Serie Chromologica dei Vesco di Verona, par Biancollini a Vorona, 1761 4to.

     ST. ZENO, BISHOP OF VERONA, CONFESSOR.
                               A,D. 380
This holy prelate is styled a martyr by St. Gregory the Great,' and in several martyrologies. But was honored only with the title of confessor, in the ancient missal of Verona, between the time of Lewis Lippoman, bishop of that city; in 1548: 2 and it appears, from the manner in which St. Ambrose, who was his contemporary, writing to Syagrius, our saint's successor, speaks of his happy death, and extols his eminent sanctity, that he did not die by the sword. 2   Living in the days of Constantius, Julian. and Valens, he might deserve the title of martyr, by sharing in the persecutions carried on by those princes.   Hence, in some calendars he is styled martyr, in others confessor.
The marquis Scipio Maffei, and some others, pretend from his name that he was a Grecian: but the Ballerini show, from the natural easiness, and the sharpness and conciseness of his style, that he was by birth, or at least by education, a Latin, and an African; which is confirmed from his panegyric on St. Arcadius, a martyr of Mauritania. From the African martyr called Zeno, it is clear this name was there in use. Our saint seems to have been made bishop of Verona in the year 362, in the reign of Julian the
Apostate. We learn, from several of his sermons, that he baptized every year a great number of idolaters, and that he exerted himself with great zeal and success against the Arians, whose party had been exceedingly strengthened in those parts by the favor of the emperor Constantius, and the artifices of the ringleaders of that sect, Ursacius and Valens, and particularly of Auxentius, who hold the see of Milan, into which the heretics had intruded him, for twenty years, till 374. He also opposed himself, as a strong bulwark, against the errors of the Pelagian. The church of Verona was purged by his zealous labors and holy prayers, in a great measure, both of heresy and of idols. His flock being grown exceeding numerous, he found it necessary to build a great church, in which he was liberally assisted by the voluntary contributions of the rich citizens.' In this church he mentions a cross of wood erected, as it were, to defend the doors. 4   By the precepts and example of this good pastor, the people were so liberal in their alms, that their houses were always open to poor strangers, and none of their own country had occasion even to ask for relief, so plentiful were the necessities of all prevented. 5 And he congratulates them upon the interest which they accumulate in heaven by money bestowed on the poor, by which they not only subdue avarice, but convert its treasures to the highest advantage, and without exciting envy.
1 Dial 1 3 c 19                          St Ambrose ep 5 and Syragriam
St. Zeno 1 1 tr 14 p 103                                                    b p 196
L 1               tr 10 p 83
* Hense some have distinguished two saints Zeno bishops, of Verona. the first a martyr, about the other illustrious father of the fourth century. But Onuphrius, in his exact history of the bishops of Verona mentions but one of that name, the predecessor of Syagius, In the fourth century in which the Ballerini, and all ljudicious critics, now agree.

"For what can be richer than a man to whom God is pleased to acknowledge himself debtor?"   After the battle of Adrianople, in 378, in which the Gaths defeated Valens, with a greater slaughter of the Roman. than had ever been known since the battle of Cannt, the barbarians made in the neighboring provinces of Illyricwn and thence an incredible number of captives.   it seems to have been on this occasion, that the charities of the inhabitants of Verona were dispersed like fruitftul seeds through the remotest provinces, and by them many were ransorneil from slavery, many rescued from cruel deaths, many freed from hard labor. 7   St.Zeno himself lived in great poverty. 8   He makes frequent mention of the clergy which he trained up to the service of the altar, and the priests his fellow-laborers, to whom a retribution was allotted at Easter, according to every one's necessities and functions. 9 He speaks of the ordinations which he perfonned at Easter: * also the solemn reconciliation of penitents, which was anoher function of that holy time. 11 St. Ambrose mentions, 12 at Verona, virgins consccrated to God by St. Zeno, who wore the sacred veil, and lived in their own houses in the city; and others who lived in a monastery, of which he seems to have been both the founder and director, before any were established by St. Ambrose at Milan.     Love-feasts, or agapes, were originally established on the festivals of martyrs in their cemeteries, which, by the degeneracy of manners, were at length converted into occasions of intemperance and vanity. St. Zeno inveighed warmly against this abuse 13 Nor can we doubt but he was one of the principal amongst the bishops of Italy, who, by their zeal and eloquence, entirely banished out of their dioceses a custom which gave occasion to such an abuse, for which St. Austin gave them due praise. 14 St. Zeno extended his charity to the faithful departed, and condemned severely the intemperate grief of those who interrupted by their lamentations the divine sacrifices and public office of the church for their deceased friends, ! which the priests performed by apostolic
tradition at the death and funerals of those who slept in Christ. St. Zeno received the crown of his labors by a happy death, in 380, on the 12th of April, on which day he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology. He is honored at Verona with two other festivals, that of the translation of his relics on the 21st of May, and that of his episcopal consecration, and also of the dedication of his new church in the reign of Pepin, king of Italy, on the 6th of December.   The first church which bore his name was built over his tomb, on the banks of the river Adige, without the walls of the city. St. Gregory the Great relates the following miracle, which happened two centuries alter the death at the saint and which he learned from John the Patrician, who was an eye-witness, with king Autharis and count Pronulphus. 15 In the year 589, at the same time that the Tiber overftowed a considerable quarter of Rome, and the flood overtopped the walls, the waters of the Adige, which falls from the mountains with excessive rapidity, threatened to drown great part of the city of Verona. The people flocked in crowds to the church of their holy patron Zeno: the water’s seemed to respect its doors, they gradually swelled as high as the windows, yet the flood never broke into the church, but stood like a firm wall, as when the Israelites passed the Jordan; and the people remained there twenty-four hours in prayer, till the water subsided within the banks of the channel. This prodigy had as many witnesses as there were inhabitants of Verona. The devotion of the people to St. Zeno was much increased by this and other miracles; and, in the reign of Pepin, king of Italy, son of Charlemagne, and brother of Louis Debonair, Rotaldus, bishop of Verona, translated his relics into a new spacious church, built under his invocation in 865, whore they are kept with singular veneration in a subterraneous chapel.
    St. Zeno is chiefly known to us by his sufferings for the faith. Persecutions and humiliations for Christ are not a chastisement, but recompense, and the portion of his most faithful servants. Happy are they who know their value, and bear them at least with patience and resignation; but more happy they who, with the martyrs and all the saints, suffer them with a holy joy and exultation. From his own feeling sentiments and perfect practice of' patience, St. Zeno composed his excellent sermon on that virtue, which he closes with this pathetic prayer and eulogium: "How earnestly do I desire, if I were able, to celebrate thee, 0 Patience, queen of all things! But by my life and manners more than by my words. For thou restest in thy
own action and council more than in discourses, and in perfecting rather than in multiplying virtues. Thou art the support of virginity, the secure harbor of widowhood, the guide and directress of the married state, the unanimity of friendship, the comfort and joy of slavery, to which thou art often liberty. By thee, poverty enjoys all, because, content with itself, it bears all. By thee, the prophets were advanced in virtue, and the apostles united to Christ. Thou art the daily crown and mother of the martyrs. Thou art the bulwark of faith, the fruit of hope, and the friend of charity. Thou conductest all the people and all divine virtues, and disheveled hairs bound up into one knot, for ornament and honor.   Happy, eternally happy, is he who shall always possess thee in his soul."16
In the following discourse, he speaks no less pathetically on humility: but surpasses himself in his sermon or charity, or divine love. "0 Charity! how tender, how rich, how powerful art thou!    He who possesseth not thee, hath nothing.   Thou couldst change God into man. Thou has overcome death, by teaching a God to die," 17&c.

371 ST ZENO, Bishop OF VERONA
IN the Dialogues of St Gregory and in several martyrologies St Zeno, bishop of Verona, is styled a martyr, but St Ambrose, who was his contemporary, in a letter addressed to his successor Syagrius speaks of his happy death. Furthermore, in an ancient missal of Verona, St Zeno is honoured only as a confessor. Living as he did in the days of Constantius, Julian and Valens, he may well have merited the title of martyr by suffering in the persecutions they waged, even if he did not die a violent death.
From a panegyric he delivered on St Arcadius, a Mauretanian martyr, it has been conjectured that St Zeno was born in Africa; and from the excellent flowing Latin of his writings and from the quotations he makes from Virgil, it is evident that he received a good classical education. He seems to have been made bishop of Verona in 362. We gather a number of interesting particulars about him and about his people from a collection of his tractatus, short familiar discourses delivered to his flock. We learn that he baptized every year a great number of pagans, and that he exerted himself with zeal and success against the Arians, who had been emboldened by the favours they had enjoyed under the Emperor Constantius. When he had in a great measure purged the church of Verona from heresy and heathenism, his flock increased to an extent which necessitated the building of a large basilica. Contributions flowed in freely from the citizens, whose habitual liberality had become so great that their houses were always open to poor strangers, whilst none of their fellow citizens ever had occasion to apply for relief, so promptly were their wants forestalled. Their bishop congratulated them upon thus laying up for themselves treasure in Heaven.
After the battle of Adrianople in 378, when the Goths defeated Valens with terrible slaughter, the barbarians made numerous captives in the neighbouring provinces of Illyricum and Thrace. It appears to have been on this occasion that, through the bountiful charity of the inhabitants of Verona, many of the prisoners were ransomed from slavery, some rescued from a cruel death, and others freed from hard labour. Though this probably occurred after the death of St Zeno, the self-sacrifice of the townsmen may be traced to his inspiring zeal and example.
St Zeno himself always chose to live in great poverty. He often speaks of the clergy he trained and of the priests, his fellow-labourers, to whom offerings were allotted at Easter. He alludes to the ordinations he performed at the paschal season, as well as to the solemn reconciliation of penitents, which also took place in Holy Week. St Ambrose makes mention of virgins, living in Verona in their own houses and wearing the veil, who had been consecrated to God by St Zeno, as well as of others who dwelt in a convent of which he was both the founder and the director. This was before St Ambrose had established anything of the kind in Milan. St Zeno inveighed against the abuses of the agape or love-feast, which had become a scandal, and also against the practice of interrupting funeral Masses by loud lamentations. Many of the customs of the period are recorded in these discourses. It would appear to have been still usual, at any rate in Verona, to immerse the whole body at baptism, the water being warmed for the purpose, and St Zeno is the only writer to allude to the habit of giving medals to the newly baptized.
St Gregory the Great describes a remarkable miracle which occurred two centuries after St Zeno’s death, related to him by John the Patrician, who was an eye-witness of it. In the year 598 the river Adige threatened to submerge Verona. The people flocked to the church of their holy bishop and patron, Zeno. The waters seemed to respect the building for, although they rose outside as high as the windows, they never penetrated into the church but stood like a solid wall. The people remained within in prayer until, after twenty-four hours, the waters once more subsided. This miracle and others greatly increased the general devotion to the saint, and in the reign of King Pepin, Charlemagne’s son, a new church was built to contain his relics, which are still preserved there in a subterranean chapel. St Zeno is usually represented with a fishing-rod, from the end of which a fish is hanging. The emblem is accounted for locally by the tradition that the saint was fond of fishing in the Adige, but the fish may possibly be symbolical of baptism.

See the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii, and some other scattered biographical materials which are duly registered in BHL., nn. 9001—9013. The best general account is that of Bigelmair, Zeno von Verona (1904); but cf. Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, vol. iii, pp. 478—481, and DCB., vol. iv.

A native of Africa, he was named bishop in 362 and proved an ardent opponent of Arianism. He also promoted discipline among the clergy and in liturgical life, built a cathedral, and founded a convent.

Zeno wrote extensively on the virgin birth of Christ and other theological matters. He was the subject of numerous legends.

Saint Zeno, Bishop of Verona, was born a Greek and came from Syria. In his youth he became a monk and devoted himself to the study of Holy Scripture. Visiting several monasteries, the saint came to the city of Verona and settled there. The people chose him as bishop of the city.
The emperors Constantius (353-361) and Valens (364-378), were advocates of the Arian heresy, which had been condemned at the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea in the year 325. Under their patronage the Arians began a persecution against the Orthodox.

St Zeno bravely endured all the oppression from the heretics.

In his sermons and letters he firmly asserted the Orthodox teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ as the Only-Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.

St Zeno wrote sixteen long and seventy-seven short discourses and directives. He died around the year 360.

St Gregory Dialogus (March 12) speaks of a miracle in the year 558 on St Zeno's Feast day. There were spring floods in Italy. The River Tiber overflowed its banks and inundated the surrounding area. The River Atesis flowing past Verona also flooded. The water reached the church built in honor of the hieromartyr Zeno, and came up to the windows of the church. The doors of the temple were open, but the water did not rush inside. It stopped at the wall, and did not harm the church.

372 St. Sabas & 50 others Goth converted to Christianity lector in Targoviste Romania martyr in the area of modern Romania by pagan Goths
In Cappadócia sancti Sabæ Gothi, qui, sub Valénte Imperatóre, cum Rex Gothórum Athanarícus Christiános insequerétur, in flumen, post dira torménta, projéctus est; quo étiam témpore (ut sanctus Augustínus scribit) quamplúrimi ex Gothis orthodóxis coróna martyrii sunt insigníti.
In Cappadocia, in the reign of Emperor Valens, during the persecution raised against the Christians by Atanaric, king of the Goths, St. Sabas, himself a Goth, who was cast into a river after undergoing cruel torments. Many orthodox Goths, as St. Augustine relates, received at that time the crown of martyrdom.

From the Lives of Saintes by Alban Butler

APRIL XII.
ST SABAS THE GOTH, M. A. D. 372

That barbarous people which swarmed originally from Gothland in Sweden, passed first into Pomerania, where Tacitus places them; thence to the borders of the Plains Maeotis, where Caracalla checked their inroads by a victory over them in 215. Yet they extended themselves along the Danube, and into Thrace and Greece, and by their furious incursions were to the Roman empire the most troublesome swarm of the whole northern hive until they overthrew the empire of the West, erecting on its ruins the kingdoms of the Ostrogoth’s, or eastern Goths in Italy and of the Visigoths, or western Goths, in the southern parts of France and in Spain.
The Goths began to receive the light of the faith about the reign of Valerian, from certain priests and other captives whom in their inroads they had carried away out of Galatia and Cappadocia, and by the healing their sick and preaching the gospel, converted several among them, as Sozomen (b2, c6) and Philostorgus (b2, cs.5) relate. Hence St Basil (ep. 338, p. 330) says, that the eminent virtue, who, by the power of the Holy Ghost and his gifts, had softened the hearts of these barbarians. St. Cyril of Jerusalem (Cat. 16, n.22) in 343 mentions the Goths and Sarmatians among the Christians, who had Bishops priests, monks, holy virgins, and martyrs. In the council of Nice among the subscriptions, we find that of Theoophilus, bishop of Gothia. Ulphilas succeeded Theoophilus, and after his example, adhered to the council of Nice and the Catholic faith, as Socrates (b2, c42) and Sozomen (b.6.c.37) expressly affirm: "which was the faith of his ancestors," says Theodoret, (b4, c.33) He taught the Goths to write, invented their alphabet, and translated the Bible into their language. In the year 374, St. Basil (ep.164, p. 254) still commended the faith of the Goths. But Ulphilas being sent to Constantinople, in 376 to beg of the emperor Valens certain lands in Thrace, was gained over by Eudoxius and other crafty Arians, to embrace their heresy and pervert the faith of his countrymen, as Sozomen (b6, c. 37 and Theodoret (b4 c.43) testify. Athanaric, king of the Thuringian Goths, who lorded on the empire, raised a bloody persecution against the Christians, in 370. Fritigernes, king of the western Goths, was at war with Athanaric, and being the weaker, in order to engage the emperor Valens to succor him entered the Christian religion and the Arian heresy at the same time, by the means of the Ulphilas. But the church, under the persecutor Athanaric, remained yet untainted: and both the Latin and Greek Church have always venerated the martyrs that suffered under him. Moreover, the acts of St. Sabas were by St. Ascholinus, bishop of Thessalonica a prelate closely linked with St. Athanasius, as St. Basil assures us, (ep 154. p. 243) who also praised St. Ascholinus (ep 164. p. 254) for propagating the faith among barbarous nations, while Christian princes sought by Arianism to destroy it. He also says, that one coming from those parts preached up against the Arians the purity of the faith professed there, (ep 162, p. 254). St. Ambrose extols their faith and zeal against Arianism, together with their martyrdom, (in c.2, Lucae. p. 1294.) So does Theodoret, *Hist. b4, c.28,30,33) St Austin says, that the king of the Goths persecuted the Christians with wonderful cruelty, when there were none but Catholics in Gothia, (de civ. Dei, 1 18, c. 52) This remark seemed necessary to correct the mistake of certain modern English writers, who pretend that the Goths embraced Christianity and Arianism at the same Time.

From his authentic acts contained in a letter, written by the church of Gothia to him of Cappadocia, of which in this was St Basil was then the chief light and penned, in all appearance, by St. Ascholinus, bishop of Thessalonica at that time that time subject to the Goths.
THE faith of Christ erected its trophies not only over the pride and sophistry of the heathen philosophers, and the united power of the Roman empire, but also over the kings of barbarous infidel nations; who, though in every other thing in contrast of the Romans, and enemies to their name yet vied with them in the rage with which they sought, by every human stratagem and, in every kind of cruelty, to depress the cross of Christ by the finger of God was more visible in the propagation of his faith. Even among the Goths, his name was glorified by the blood of martyrs. Athanaric, king of the Goths,* in the year 370, according to St. Jerome, raised a violent persecution against the Christians among them. The Greeks commemorate fifty-one martyrs who suffered in that nation. The two most illustrious are SS Nicetas and Sabas. This latter was by birth a Goth, converted to the faith in his youth, and a faithful imitator of the obedience, mildness, humility, and other virtues of the apostles,   He was affable to all men, yet with dignity; a lover of truth, all enemy to all dissimilation, or disguise, intrepid, modest, of few words, and a lover of peace; yet zealous and active. To sing the divine praises in the church, and to adorn the altars was his great delight.   He was so scrupulously chaste, that he shunned all conversation with women, except what was indispensable. He often spent whole days and nights in prayer, and devoted his whole life to the exercises of penance flying vain -glory, and by words and example inducing others to a love of virtue, he burned with an ardent desire in all timings to glorify Jesus Christ. The princes and magistrates of Gotha began, in 370, to persecute the Christians, by compelling them to eat meals which had been sacrificed to idols, out of a superstitious motive, as if they were sanctified. Some heathens who had Christian relations, desiring to save then, fire prevailed upon the king’s officers to present them common meats which hadn’t been offered to the idols. Sabas condemned this impious collusion, and not only refused to eat such meats, but protested a loud that whosever should eat them would be no longer a Christian, having by that scandalous compliance renounced his faith.   Thus he hindered many from falling into that snare of the devil, but displeased others, who banished him from his town, though they some time after recalled him home. The next year the persecution was renewed, and a commissary of the king arrived at St. Sabah’s town in search of Christians. Some of the inhabitants offered to swear on the victims that there were no Christians in the place. Sabas appeared, and stepping up to those who were going to take that oath, said:    Let no man swear for me for I am a Christian." Notwithstanding this, the commissary ordered the oath to be rendered.   Therefore the principal men of the city hid the other Christians, and then swore there was hot one Christian in their town. The commissary commanded that he should appear. Saba boldly presented himself. The commissary asked the bystanders what wealth he had: and being told he had nothing besides the clothes on his back, the commissary despised him, saying   Such a fellow can do us neither good nor harm.
The persecution wits renewed with much greater fury in 372, before Easter.      Sabas considered how lie could celebrate that solemnity, and for this purpose set out to go to a priest named Gouttica, in another city. Being on the road, he was admonished by God to return, and keep the festival with the priest Sansala. He did so, and on the third night after, Atharidus son of one that enjoyed a petty sovereignty in that country, entered the town, and with an armed troop suddenly broke into the lodgings of Sansala, surprised him asleep, bound him, and threw him on a cart. They pulled Sabas out of bed without suffering him to put on his clothes, and dragged him, naked as he was, over thorns and briers, forcing him along with whips and staves.   When it was day, Sabas said to his persecutors have not you dragged me, quite naked, over rough and thorny grounds? Observe whether my feet are wounded, or whether the blows you gave me have made any impression on my body:" and indeed they could not perceive any the least marks. The persecutors being enraged, for want of a rack, rook the axletree of a cart, laid it upon his neck, and stretching out his hands, fastened them to each end. They fastened another in like manner to his feet, and in this situation they tormented him a considerable part of the following night. When they were gone to rest, the woman of the house to whom they lodged untied him: but he would not make his escape, and spent the remainder of that night in helping the woman to dress victuals for the family. The next day Atharidus commanded his hands to be tied, and caused him to be hung upon a beam of the house, and soon after ordered his servants to carry into and the priest certain meats that had been offered to idols, which they ref used to eat, and Sabas said: " This pernicious meat is impure and profane, as is Atharidus himself who sent it." One of the slaves of Atharidus, it censed at these words, struck the point of his javelin against the saint's breast with such violence, that all present believed he had been killed
But St. Sabas said Do you think you have slain me no, that I felt no more pain than if the javelin had been a lock of wool: Atharidus being informed of these particulars, gave orders that he should be put to death Wherefore, having dismissed the priest Sansala his companions, they carried away St. Sabas in order to throw him into the Musaeus. The martyr filled with joy in the Holy Ghost, blessed and praised God without ceasing for thinking him worthy to suffer for his sake. Being come the river side, the officers said one to another why don’t we let this man go. He is innocent, and Atharidus will never know any tiring of the matter." St. Saline, overhearing them, asked them why they trifled, and were so dilatory in obeying their orders? I see," said he, what on cannot I see persons on the other side of the river ready to neither receive my soul, and conduct it to the seat of glory: they only wait the moment in which it will leave my body." Hereupon they threw him into the river, praising God to the last and by the means of the axletree they had fastened about his neck, they strangled him in the water. He therefore suffered martyrdom, say the acts, by water and weed, the symbols of baptism and the cross: which happened on the 12th of April, Valentinian, and Valens being emperors, in 372. After this the executioners drew his body out of the water, and left it unburied: but the Christians of the place guarded it from birds and beasts of prey. Junius Soranus, duke of Scythia, a man who feared God, carried off the body, which he sent into his own country, Cappadocia. With these relics was sent a letter from the church of Gothia to that of Cappadocia, which contains an account of the martyrdom of St. Sabas, and concludes thus: "Wherefore offering up the holy sacrifice on the day whereon the martyr was crowned, impart this to our brethren, that the Lord may be praised throughout the Catholic and Apostolic Church for thus glorifying his servants." Thus the acts, which were sent to the church of Cappadocia, together with the relics of St. Sabas. Both the Greek and Latin Martyrologies mention this martyr.The martyrs despised torments and death, because the immense joys of heaven were always before their eyes. If they made a due impression upon our souls, we should never be slothful in the practice of virtue. When an ancient monk complained of being weary of living in close solitude, his abbot said to him This weariness clearly proves, that you have neither the joys of heaven nor the eternal torments of the damned before your eyes: otherwise, no sloth or discouragement could ever seize your soul."
St. Austin gives the following advice: Not only think of the road through which thou art travelling, but take care never to lose sight of the blessed country- in which then art shortly to arrive. Thou meatest here with passing sufferings, but wilt soon enjoy everlasting rest. In order to labor with constancy and cheerfulness, consider the reward. The laborer would faint in the vineyard, if he was not cheered by the thought of what he is to receive. When thou lookest np at the recompense, everything thou doest or suffterest will appear light, and no more than a shadow: it hears no manner of proportion with what thou art to receive for it. Thou wilt wonder that so much is given for such trifling pains." 1
                               1 St. Aug. Conc. 2,in, Psalm 36.

372 ST SABAS THE GOTH, MARTYR
THE Goth’s in the third century swarmed over the Danube and established themselves in the Roman provinces of Dacia and Moesia, making expeditions from time to time into Asia Minor, especially into Galatia and Cappadocia, from which they brought back Christian slaves, priests and lay people. These prisoners soon began to make converts amongst their conquerors, with the result that Christian churches were founded. In 370 the ruler of one section of the Goths raised a persecution against his Christian subjects, out of revenge, it is supposed, for a declaration of war launched against him by the Roman emperor. The Greeks commemorate fifty-one Gothic martyrs, the most famous of whom were St Sabas and St Nicetas. Sabas, who had been converted to Christianity in early youth, acted as cantor or lector to the priest Sansala. When, at the outset of the persecution, the magistrates ordered the Christians to eat meat sacrificed to idols, certain pagans, who had Christian relations whom they wished to save, persuaded the officials to give them meat which had not been offered to idols. Sabas loudly denounced this ambiguous proceeding: not only did he himself refuse to eat, but he declared that those who consented to do so had betrayed the faith. Some of the Christians applauded him, but others were so much displeased that they obliged him to withdraw from the town. He was, however, soon allowed to return. The following year, when the persecution broke out again, some of the principal inhabitants offered to swear that there were no Christians in the town. As they were about to take the oath, Sabas presented himself and said, “Let no one swear for me : I am a Christian!” The officer asked the bystanders how much he was worth, and, upon learning that he had nothing but the clothes he wore, contemptuously released him, remarking, “Such a fellow can do us neither good nor harm”.
A couple of years later the attacks upon the Christians were renewed. Three days after Easter, there arrived in the town a band of soldiers under the command of one Atharidus. They broke into the lodging of the priest Sansala, with whom Sabas was staying after they had spent the festival together. Sansala was surprised in his sleep, bound, and thrown into a cart, whilst Sabas was pulled out of bed, dragged naked through the thorn-brakes, and belaboured with sticks. In the morning he said to his persecutors, “Did you not drag me naked over rough and thorny ground? Look and see if my feet are wounded or if the blows you gave me have left bruises upon my body.” They examined him, but could not perceive the slightest mark. Determined to make him suffer, they took the axle-trees of a cart by way of a rack, and having fastened his hands and feet to their extremities, tortured him for a considerable part of the night. When at last they got tired, the woman with whom they lodged, out of compassion, unbound Sabas but he refused to escape. The following day he was suspended to a beam of the house by his hands. Afterwards there was set before him and Sansala some meat that had been offered to idols. Both refused to touch it, Sabas exclaiming, “This meat is as impure and profane as Atharidus who sent it”. Thereupon one of the soldiers struck at his breast with his javelin with such violence that all thought he must have been killed. The holy man, however, remained unhurt, and said, “Did you think you had slain me? I felt no more than if that javelin had been a skein of wool.”
As soon as Atharidus heard what had happened he gave orders that Sabas should be put to death, and he was accordingly led away to the river to be drowned. When they reached the river bank, one of the officials said to the others, “Why should we not let this man go? He is innocent, and Atharidus would never be any the wiser!” Sabas, however, remonstrated with the man for not carrying out his orders. “I can see what you cannot see”, he said. “I perceive people on the opposite side of the river who are ready to receive my soul and to conduct me to glory: they are only waiting for the moment when it will leave my body.” The executioners then plunged him into the river, and held him under the water with a plank which they had fastened about his neck. The scene of the martyrdom of St Sabas seems to have been at Targoviste, north-west of the city of Bucarest in what is now Rumania.

Although the account of the martyrdom of St Sabas takes the form of a letter which in certain phrases recalls the letter of the Smyrnaeans describing the death of St Polycarp, Father Delehaye regards the substance of the document as authentic and reliable, He printed a critical revision of the Greek text in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xxxi (1912), pp. 216—221, and on pp. 288—295 of the same article added some valuable comments. Amongst other things he has shown (cf. Analecta Bollandiana, xxiii (1904), pp. 96—98) that the suggestion of H. Boehmer-Romundt, in Neue Jahrbiicher, etc., vol. xi, p. 275, assigning the composition of the passio to Ulfilas, cannot be accepted. The text may also be found in 0. Kruger’s edition of R. Knopf’s Ausgewählte Martyrerakten (1929).

Also Sabbas the Goth, a martyr in the area of modern Romania. He was a Goth converted to Christianity in his youth and became a lector in Targoviste, Romania, to a priest named Sansala. He survived several persecutions of the local Church under the pagan Goths, but finally was seized with Sansala by a group of Gothic soldiers and ordered to eat meat which had been sacrificed to idols. Brutally tortured with several other Christians, Sabas was finally drowned in the Mussovo River, near Targoviste. About fifty others were put to death with him.

396 Ursus Bishop of Ravenna for 20 years revived the celebration of the feasts of the saints in that city B (RM)
(also known as Ours) , Ursus revived the celebration of the feasts of the saints in that city. Beyond that little is known 11/3/09 of him (Attwater2, Benedictines, Encyclopedia).

530 Martius, Abbot (also known as Mars. A sober-minded and austere native of Auvergne, Martius the hermit, attracted disciples.
For them he founded the friary of Clermont in 530 in the mountains above the city. Some information about Martius is found in Saint Gregory of Tours' Vitae Patrum (Attwater2, Coulson, Encyclopedia).

560 Isaak der Syrer/Isaak vom Monte Luco Er kam (auf der Flucht vor den Monophysiten?) aus Syrien nach Spoleto (Italien)
Orthodoxe Kirche: 12. April Katholische Kirche: 11. April
Der Mönch Isaak lebte im 6. Jahrhundert. Er kam (auf der Flucht vor den Monophysiten?) aus Syrien nach Spoleto (Italien). Als er in der Kirche einen bösen Geist austrieb, bestürmten ihn die Menschen, ihnen zu helfen und ein Kloster zu gründen, aber Isaak zog sich in die Berge zurück und lebte hier auf dem Monte Luco in einer Zelle. Um seine Einsiedelei herum siedelten sich Schüler an und so entstand eine Einsiedlerkolonie, wie sie in der Ostkirche üblich war. Isaak lebte in franziskanischer Armut. Geschenke lehnte er mit der Begründung ab: Ein Mönch der Geschenke annimmt, ist kein Mönch mehr. Ihm wurde die Gabe der Prophetie verliehen und er konnte so sein Kloster mehrfach vor Räubern und Betrügern bewahren. Isaak starb 550 oder 560.

In Spoleto wird sein Gedenktag am 15. April begangen. Ein anderer Isaak der Syrer, der Bischof von Ninevah, lebte im 7. Jahrhundert (Gedenktag 28.1.)

St Isaac the Syrian lived during the mid-sixth century. He came to the Italian city of Spoleto from Syria. The saint asked permission of the church wardens to remain in the temple, and he prayed in it for two and a half days. One of the church wardens began to reproach him with hypocrisy and struck him on the cheek. Then the punishment of God came upon the church warden. The devil threw him down at the feet of the saint and cried out, "Isaac, cast me out!" Just as the saint bent over the man, the unclean spirit fled.
News of this quickly spread throughout the city. People began to flock to the saint, offering him help and the means to build a monastery. The humble monk refused all this. He left the city and settled in a desolate place, where he built a small cell. Disciples gathered around the ascetic, and so a monastery was formed.

When his disciples asked the Elder why he had declined the gifts, he replied, "A monk who acquires possessions is no longer a monk."

St Isaac was endowed with the gift of clairvoyance. St Gregory Dialogus (March 12) speaks of this in his "Dialogues About the Lives and Miracles of the Italian Fathers." Once, St Isaac bade the monks to leave their spades in the garden for the night, and in the morning he asked them to prepare food for the workers. Some robbers, equal to the number of spades, had come to rob the monastery, but the power of God forced them to abandon their evil intent. They took the spades and began to work. When the monks arrived in the garden, all the ground had been dug up. The saint greeted the toilers and invited them to refresh themselves with food. Then he admonished them to stop their thievery, and gave them permission to come openly and pick the fruits of the monastery garden.
Another time, two almost naked men came to the saint and asked him for clothing. He told them to wait a bit, and sent a monk into the forest. In the hollow of a tree he found the fine clothes the travelers had hidden in order to to deceive the holy igumen. The monk brought back the clothes, and St Isaac gave them to the wanderers. Seeing that their fraud was exposed, they fell into great distress and shame.
It happened that a certain man sent his servant to the saint with two beehives. The servant hid one of these hives along the way. The saint said to the servant, "I accept the gift, but be careful when you go back for the beehive that you hid. Poisonous snakes have entered into it. If you stretch forth your hand, they will bite you."

Thus the saint unmasked the sins of people wisely and without malice, desiring salvation for all.

St Isaac died in 550. This saint should not be confused with the other St Isaac the Syrian, Bishop of Ninevah, who lived during the seventh century (January 28).

586 Hermenegild, King conversion to orthodox Christianity from Visigoth Arian M (RM)
Died c. 583-586. Son of the Visigoth King Leovigild of Spain and his first wife, Theodosia, Saint Hermenegild was raised in Arian court of Seville. He married the Christian Inezonde (Ingunda), daughter of Sigebert of Austrasia. His conversion to orthodox Christianity was the result of the fervent prayers and virtuous example of his wife, as well as the teaching of Archbishop Saint Leander of Seville.

At his conversion, his father disinherited him, whereupon he rose in arms.

Hermenegild sent Saint Leander to Constantinople to garner support. Finding no assistance there, he begged the help of the Roman generals who still governed a strip of land along the Mediterranean coast. They took his wife and son as hostages and made promises that they failed to fulfill.

After being besieged by his father's troops for a full year at Seville, Hermenegild fled to the Roman camp, only to find that his father had bribed them to betray him.

Almost without hope, Hermenegild sought refuge in a church at the altar, where not even his father would violate the sanctuary. Instead, Leovigild sent his son Reccared, another Arian, to offer Hermenegild forgiveness if he would repent. Hermenegild believed his father and was reconciled for a time. Some of his former dignities were restored until Leovigild's second wife, Gosvinda, succeeded in estranging the two again.

This time Hermenegild was arrested for heresy, rather than treason, and imprisoned at Tarragona. He was promised liberty if he would recant his profession of faith.

On Easter Day, his father sent the Arian bishop to him, offering to restore him to favor if he would receive the Eucharist from the prelate. Hermenegild, fortified by prayer and penance since his arrest, refused absolutely. Enraged, his father sent soldiers to behead him--which was accomplished by one blow from an axe. Saint Gregory the Great attributes the conversion of Reccared and the whole of Visigothic Spain to the witness of Hermenegild; however, many dispute his entitlement to be honored as a martyr (Attwater2, Benedictines, Coulson, Encyclopedia, Walsh).

Saint Hermenegild is depicted in art as a young prince wearing armor and being borne to heaven while contemplating the crucifix. Angels carry an axe, chains, royal regalia, a palm, and a rose wreath. Heretical bishops and king stand below. He might also be shown as a prince with an axe (Roeder). Venerated in Spain (Roeder).

7th v. The Monk Martyrs when Jerusalem was captured by the Arabs Menas, David and John lived in Palestine
They were martyred in the seventh century by Arabs, who shot them through with arrows (+ post 636, when Jerusalem was captured by the Arabs).

655 Martin I, Pope died in the Crimea great intellect and charity the last pope to die a martyr M (RM)
Born in Todi in Umbria, Italy; died in the Crimea, September 16, 655; feast day was previously November 12 (November 10 in York); the Eastern Church celebrates his feast on September 20.

655 Pope St. Martin I defender of the faith; buried in the church of Our Lady, called Blachernæ, near Cherson, many miracles are related wrought by St Martin in life and after death
Martyr, born at Todi on the Tiber, son of Fabricius; elected Pope at Rome, 21 July, 649, to succeed Pope Theodore I; died at Cherson in the present peninsulas of Krym, 16 Sept., 655, after a reign of 6 years, one month and twenty six days, having ordained eleven priests, five deacons and thirty-three bishops. 5 July is the date commonly given for his election, but 21 July (given by Lobkowitz, "Statistik der Papste" Freiburg, 1905) seems to correspond better with the date of his death and reign (Duchesne "Lib. Pont.", I, 336); his feast is on 12 November.The Greeks honor him on 13 April and 15 September, the Muscovites on 14 April. In the hymns of the Office the Greeks style him infallibilis fidei magister because he was the successor of St. Peter in the See of Rome (Nilles, "Calendarium Manuale", Innsbruck, 1896, I, 336).

Martin, one of the noblest figures in a long line of Roman pontiffs (Hodgkin, "Italy", VI, 268) was, according to his biographer Theodore (Mai, "Spicil. Rom.", IV 293) of noble birth, a great student, of commanding intelligence, of profound learning, and of great charity to the poor. Piazza, II 45 7 states that he belonged to the order of St. Basil. He governed the Church at a time when the leaders of the Monothelite heresy, supported by the emperor, were making most strenuous efforts to spread their tenets in the East and West. Pope Theodore had sent Martin as apocrysiary to Constantinople to make arrangements for canonical deposition of the heretical patriarch, Pyrrhus. After his election, Martin had himself consecrated without waiting for the imperial confirmation, and soon called a council in the Lateran at which one hundred and five bishops met. Five sessions were held on 5, 8, 17, 119 and 31 Oct., 649 (Hefele, "Conciliengeschichte", III, 190). The "Ecthesis" of Heraclius and the "Typus" of Constans II were rejected; nominal excommunication was passed against Sergius, Pyrrus, and Paul of Constantinople, Cyrus of Alexandria and Theodore of Phran in Arabia; twenty canons were enacted defining the Catholic doctrine on the two wills of Christ. The decrees signed by the pope and the assembled bishops were sent to the other bishops and the faithful of the world together with an encyclical of Martin. The Acts with a Greek translation were also sent to the Emperor Constans II.

The pope appointed John, Bishop of Philadelphia, as his vicar in the East with necessary instructions and full authority . Bishop Paul of Thessalonica refused to recall his heretical letters previously sent to Rome and added others,—he was, therefore, formally excommunicated and deposed. The Patriarch of Constantinople, Paul, had urged the emperor to use drastic means to force the pope and the Western Bishops at least to subscribe to the "Typus". The emperor sent Olympius as exarch to Italy, where he arrived while the council was still in session. Olympius tried to create a faction among the fathers to favor the views of the emperor, but without success. Then upon pretense of reconciliation he wished to receive Holy Communion from the hands of the pontiff with the intention of slaying him. But Divine Providence protected the pope, and Olympius left Rome to fight against the Saracens in Sicily and died there. Constans II thwarted in his plans, sent as exarch Theodore Calliopas with orders to bring Martin to Constantinople. Calliopas arrived in Rome, 15 June, 653, and, entering the Lateran Basilica two days later, informed the clergy that Martin had been deposed as an unworthy intruder, that he must be brought to Constantinople and that another was to be chosen in his place. The pope, wishing to avoid the shedding of human blood, forbade resistance and declared himself willing to be brought before the emperor. The saintly prisoner, accompanied by only a few attendants, and suffering much from bodily ailments and privations, arrived at Constantinople on 17 Sept., 653 or 654, having landed nowhere except the island of Naxos. The letters of the pope seem to indicate he was kept at Naxos for a year. Jaffe, n. 1608, and Ewald, n 2079, consider the annum fecimus an interpolation and would allow only a very short stop at Naxos, which granted the pope an opportunity to enjoy a bath. Duchesne, "Lib. Pont.", I, 336 can see no reason for abandoning the original account; Hefele,"Conciliengeschichte" III, 212, held the same view (see "Zeitschr. für Kath. Theol.", 1892, XVI, 375).

From Abydos messengers were sent to the imperial city to announce the arrival of the prisoner who was branded as a heretic and rebel, an enemy of God and of the State. Upon his arrival in Constantinople Martin was left for several hours on deck exposed to the jests and insults of a curious crowd of spectators. Towards evening he was brought to a prison called Prandearia and kept in close and cruel confinement for ninety-three days, suffering from hunger, cold and thirst. All this did not break his energy and on 19 December he was brought before the assembled senate where the imperial treasurer acted as judge. Various political charges were made, but the true and only charge was the pope's refusal to sign the "Typus". He was then carried to an open space in full view of the emperor and of a large crowd of people. These were asked to pass anathema upon the pope to which but few responded. Numberless indignities were heaped upon him, he was stripped of nearly all his clothing, loaded with chains, dragged through the streets of the city and then again thrown into the prison of Diomede, where he remained for eighty five days. Perhaps influenced by the death of Paul, Patriarch of Constantinople, Constans did not sentence the pope to death, but to exile. He was put on board a ship, 26 March, 654 (655) and arrived at his destination on 15 May. Cherson was at the time suffering from a great famine. The venerable pontiff here passed the remaining days of his life. He was buried in the church of Our Lady, called Blachernæ, near Cherson, and many miracles are related as wrought by St Martin in life and after death. The greater part of his relics are said to have been transferred to Rome, where they repose in the church of San Martino ai Monti. Of his letters seventeen are extant in P.L., LXXXVII, 119.

656 ST MARTIN I, POPE AND MARTYR
ST MARTIN was a native of Todi in Umbria, renowned among the clergy of Rome for his learning and holiness. Whilst he was deacon he was sent by Pope Theodore I as apocrisiarius or nuncio to Constantinople, and upon the death of Theodore Martin himself was elected pope in July 649. In the October following he held a council at the Lateran against Monothelism (the denial that Christ had a human will), in which the orthodox doctrine of the two wills was affirmed and the leaders of the heresy anathematized. Two imperial edicts, the “Ekthesis” of Heraclius and the “Typos” of Constans, were likewise censured: the first because it contained an exposition of faith entirely favourable to the monothelites, the second because it was a formulary by which silence was imposed on both parties and it was forbidden to mention either one or two wills and energies in Christ.
   “The Lord”, said the Lateran fathers, “has commanded us to shun evil and do good, but not to reject the good with the evil. We are not to deny at the same time both error and truth”.-which sounds like a reference to Pope Honorius I, though he is not mentioned. These decrees were published throughout the West, Martin invoking the energy of the bishops of Africa, Spain and England for the putting down of Monothelism, and in the East he appointed a vicar to enforce the synodal decisions in the patriarchates of Antioch and Jerusalem.
The emperor, Constans II, was infuriated. He had already sent an exarch to Rome who had failed in his mission of sowing dissension among the bishops at the synod, and he now sent another, Theodore Kalliopes, with orders to bring the pope to Constantinople.   Martin, who was sick, took refuge in the Lateran basilica, where he was lying on a couch in front of the altar when Kalliopes and his soldiers broke in; he refused to make any resistance, and was taken secretly out of Rome to be put on board ship at Porto. The voyage was long and Martin suffered greatly from dysentery. He arrived in Constantinople in the autumn of 653 and was there left in jail for three months; he wrote in a letter : “I have not been allowed to wash, even in cold water, for forty-seven days. I am wasted away and frozen through, and have had no respite from dysentery...The food that is given me makes me feel sick. I hope that God, who knows all things, will bring my persecutors to repentance after He will have taken me out of this world ”.
    The pope was eventually arraigned before the senate on a charge of treason and condemned unheard (His real offence, as St Martin pointed out to his accusers, was his refusal to sign the theological “ Typos ”); then, after shameful public indignities and ill-treatment, which aroused indignation of the people, he was returned to prison for another three months. His life, however, was spared (at the intercession of the dying patriarch Paul) and in April 654 he was taken into exile at Kherson in the Crimea. From there St Martin wrote an account of the famine, his own difficulty in getting food, the barbarism of the inhabitants, and the neglect with which he was treated.
     “I am surprised at the indifference of all those who, though they once knew me, have now so entirely forgotten me that they do not even seem to know whether I am in the world. I wonder still more at those who belong to the church of St Peter for the little concern they show for one of their body. If that church has no money, it wants not corn, oil or other provisions out of which they might send us a small supply. What fear has seized all these men that it hinders them from fulfilling the commands of God in relieving the distressed? Have I appeared such an enemy to the whole Church, or to them in particular ?”
“However, I pray God, by the intercession of St Peter, to preserve them steadfast and immovable in the orthodox faith.
    As to this wretched body, God will have care of it. He is at hand; why should I trouble myself? I hope in His mercy that He
will not prolong my course.”
   St Martin was not disappointed in his hope, for he died perhaps about two years later, the last of the popes so far to be venerated as a martyr. His feast is celebrated in the West on November 12 and in the East on various dates, the Byzantine liturgy acclaiming him as a glorious defender of the true faith “and an ornament of the divine see of Peter”. A contemporary wrote of Pope St Martin I as being a man of great intelligence, learning and charity.

For sources we have in this case the letters of the pope, though these have not always come to us in a very satisfactory form. There is also a contemporary account in the Liber Pontificalis-see Duchesne's edition, vol. i, pp. 336 seq. with his admirable notes-and the Commemoratio, a narrative written by an ecclesiastic who had accompanied St Martin In his exile. This, with the letters, maybe found in Migne, PL., vols, lxxxvii and cxxix. The Life of St Eligius by St Ouen, and the Greek biography of St Maximus the Confessor, supply some further details. From these materials Mgr Mann compiled a tolerably complete history of the pontificate Lives of the Popes, vol. i. pt 1, pp. 385-405. But since he wrote in 1902 other valuable contributions have been made to the subject, notably the publication by Fr P. Peeters in the Anaecta Bollandiana vol. 1i (1933), pp. 225-262, of a previously unknown Greek life of St Martin. See also R. Devreesse, “La Vie de St Maxime le Confesseur”, in Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xlvi (1928), pp. 5-49, and in vol. liii (1935), pp. 49 seq. W.Peita in the Historischesjahrbuch, vol. xxxviii (1917), pp. 213-236 and 428-458 Duchesne, L'Église au VI^eme siècle (1925), pp. 445-453; E. Amann in DTC,, vol. x, cc. 182-194, etc.

Martin became a deacon in Rome. He displayed a great intellect and charity, was sent by Pope Theodore I as nuncio (apocrisiarius) to Constantinople, and was elected pope in 649 to succeed Theodore I. At once, he convened the council at the Lateran that condemned Monothelitism (the denial that Christ had a human will), the Typos--the edict of the reigning Emperor Constans II, which favored it, and Heraclius's Ekethesis. Although he was supported by the bishops of Africa, England, and Spain, the imperial wrath fell upon the pontiff who was arrested by Constans and taken to Constantinople in 653.
He had taken refuge in the Lateran, but the officers broke in to capture him. His own letters give an account of how his health broke down under the long voyage and a three-month imprisonment on the island of Naxos en route. He writes: "For forty-seven days, I have not been given water to wash in. I am frozen through and wasting away with dysentery. The food I get makes me vomit. But God sees all things and I trust in Him."
He was so ill when he arrived in Constantinople that he had to be carried to jail on a stretcher. He was tried for treason, although he was clearly being incarcerated for not accepting the Typos. He was condemned to death during his trial without being able to speak in his own defense. He was insulted publicly, flogged, and imprisoned.

The intercession of the dying Patriarch Paul of Constantinople saved his life, but he was exiled to Kherson in the Crimea.

From exile he wrote of the bad treatment he received and berated the Romans for forgetting him while he had prayed steadily for their faith to remain in tact. It is likely that he died of starvation. He was the last pope to die a martyr. He is portrayed in art vested as a pope, holding money (alms); or with geese around him (possibly a confusion with Saint Martin of Tours); or seen through prison bars (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Farmer, White).

690 St. Wigbert Missionary An Anglo-Saxon went to Ireland and became a disciple of St. Egbert before journeying to Friesland, the Netherlands, where he spent time as a missionary. He died in Ireland.

707 St. Tetricus Benedictine of the monastery of St. Gerrnanus at Auxerre and bishop of the city by popular acclaim, as well, serving with much distinction
He was the abbot of the monastery of St. Gerrnanus at Auxerre. He was made bishop of the city by popular acclaim, as well, serving with much distinction until his murder by his crazed archdeacon.

710 St. Damian Bishop of Pavia, in Lombardy, Italy elected to that see mediator between Lombards and emperors of the Byzantine Empire also opposed the heretical Monotheists
Papíæ sancti Damiáni Epíscopi. At Pavia, Bishop St. Damian.
Damien served as a mediator between the Lombards and the emperors of the Byzantine Empire. He also opposed the heretical Monotheists.

714 St. Erkemboden Benedictine bishop of Therouanne France originally a monk of St. Sithin at St. Omer France succeeding St. Bertinus as abbot

801 Saint Anthusa of Constantinople an example of humility daughter of Iconoclast emperor Constantine Copronymos (741-775) and his first wife

She and her brother, the future emperor Leo the Khazar (775-780), were twins born on January 25, 750. The empress suffered very much with their birth. Constantine Copronymos summoned Abbess Anthusa of Mantinea (July 27) from prison and entreated her prayers.

The abbess predicted the birth of the twins and their fate, and the daughter was named in her honor.

When she grew up, the emperor began to urge her to marry. But from her youth St Anthusa yearned for monasticism and would not agree to his suggestions. After the death of her father, she used all her personal property to help the poor and the orphaned. The devout empress Irene (780-802), wife of Leo the Khazar, regarded St Anthusa with love and esteem and invited her to be a co-regent. St Anthusa, however, did not desire worldly honors. Being at court, she wore clothes befitting her position as an emperor's daughter, but underneath her finery she wore a hair-shirt.

St Anthusa was tonsured by the holy Patriarch Tarasius (784-806).
She founded at Constantinople the Omonia monastery, known for its strict rule. St Anthusa was herself an example of humility. She did hard work, she cleaned the church and carried water. She never sat at table during meals, but instead served the sisters. She saw to it that no one left the monastery without a special need.

The humble and gentle ascetic lived to the age of fifty-two, and died peacefully in 801.

Anthusa Orthodoxe Kirche: 12. April AnthusaAnthusa wurde um 750 geboren. Sie war eine Tochter des Kaisers Konstantin Kopronymos (741-775). Ihr (Zwillings?)bruder war der spätere Kaisers Leo (775-780). Anthusa beschloß sehr früh, nicht zu heiraten und ihr Leben Christus zu weihen. Nach dem Tod ihres Vaters verteilte sie ihr Erbe an Arme. Sie ließ auch Kirchen und Klöster restaurieren. Nach dem Tod ihres Bruders bat Kaisern Irene (780-802), die zweite Ehefrau Konstantins, ihre Stieftochter die Mitregentschaft zu übernehmen. Anthusa lehnte aber ab und wurde 784 Nonne. Sie wurde von Patriarch Tarasios eingekleidet. Bis zu ihrem Tod 801 verrichtete sie niedere Dienste im Kloster.

8th v. St Basil the Confessor elected as bishop by the inhabitants of Parium icon veneration suffered much persecution, hunger and deprivation lived during the eighth century. He was elected as bishop by the inhabitants of Parium, who venerated the saint as a true pastor of the flock of Christ.

When the Iconoclast heresy broke out, St Basil resolutely came out on the side of icon veneration and refused to sign the orders for their abolition (the "Iniquitous Scroll" of the Council of 754 which was convened under the emperor Constantine V Copronymos (741-775).

The saint avoided any contact with the heretics and did not permit them into his diocese. For his zeal he suffered much persecution, hunger and deprivation.

St Basil remained faithful to the Orthodox Church until his death.

838 Guinoc of Scotland Bishop commemorated in the Aberdeen breviary B (AC)
(also known as Guinochus) Bishop Guinoc of Scotland is commemorated in the Aberdeen breviary and is especially venerated in Buchan. Some scholars believe that Guinoc was a counsellor to King Kenneth.
It is said that Guinoc's prayers helped the king to vanquish the Picts in seven battles on a single day (Benedictines, Farmer, Husenbeth).

860 Saint Athanasia abbess of a monastery on the island of Aegina in the ninth century granted the gift of healing by God she built three churches.
She was born into a pious Christian family, and her parents were named Nicetas and Marina. Already at seven years of age the girl studied the PSALTER, which she read constantly and with feeling. Once, while working at the weaver's loom, St Athanasia saw a shining star coming down to her from above, which touched her bosom and lightened all her being, and then disappeared.

From that moment, the maiden was illumined in soul and she firmly resolved to enter a monastery.

When St Athanasia reached the age of sixteen, her parents entreated her to marry. She consented, but after sixteen days her husband was killed by barbarians who invaded Aegina.

St Athanasia decided to take advantage of her unexpected freedom and dedicate herself to God.

Then the emperor Michael the Stammerer (820-829) issued a decree ordering all young widows and virgins to take husbands. Therefore, St Athanasia was forced to marry again. It is said that her second husband was a Moslem, whom she converted by her holy way of life. She led a pious and virtuous life. She did housework, helped the sick and those in need, and took in wanderers. On Sundays and feastdays she invited family and acquaintances to her home and read the Holy Scriptures to them.

Under her influence, her husband entered a monastery, and progressed in virtue and holiness. Soon, he departed to the Lord.

The saint gave away her property, became a nun, and founded a women's monastery in a remote place. After four years, the sisters asked St Athanasia to become the abbess of the small community.

In spite of her position, the saint surpassed all the others in meekness and humility. She asked about the infractions of the sisters with love, not anger.

Although St Athanasia had the title of abbess, she regarded herself as the least of the sisters and always had in mind the commandment of the Savior: "Whoever would be first among you, let him be your servant" (Mt. 20:27). The saint never permitted the sisters to wait on her, not even to pour water over her hands.

St Athanasia wore a hair-shirt, and over it clothes of coarse sheep's wool. She slept very little, and prayed most of the night. By day she labored together with the sisters. On most days she ate only bread and water, and that in moderation, and only after the ninth hour of the day. She never ate cheese or fish except on Pascha and on the twelve Great Feasts.

During Lent, she did not eat bread or drink water. She would only eat some vegetables every other day.

On the island of Aegina lived a certain monk named Matthew, who had been an igumen. Each night he read the whole PSALTER, and also read prayers. The saint slept sitting up and only for a short time. He could not refrain from tears when the Psalms were chanted, while reading prayers, or offering the Bloodless Sacrifice. He wore only a coarse hair-shirt, and through his temperance and struggles his body became completely withered. He had a special love for St John the Theologian. Once, during the the Divine Liturgy he saw the Apostle standing by the altar table.
The saint healed a paralytic with his mantle; by making the Sign of the Cross he corrected the face of a man distorted by the actions of the devil; he cast out demons and worked many other miracles. St Matthew blessed St Athanasia to go to a more isolated place with her sisters. She built a monastery on a desolate hill of the island near an ancient church of the Protomartyr Stephen.

St Athanasia was granted the gift of healing by God.

After she healed a man afflicted with a malady of the eyes, a crowd of people began to flock to her in order to receive healing from their infirmities of soul and body. From the abundant gifts brought to the monastery, she built three churches at the monastery: one dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos, another to the holy Prophet John the Forerunner, and the third to St Nicholas the Wonderworker. Her increasing celebrity distressed the saint, and she took the two sisters closest to her in spirit (Maria and Eupraxia) and went secretly to Constantinople.

There, as a simple nun, she entered one of the women's monasteries, where she lived for seven years.

Again, her holy life attracted attention. The sisters of the Aegina monastery learned where their abbess had gone, and they went to her imploring her to return. Submitting to the will of God, she returned to the monastery she founded. Soon after this she had a vision of two radiant men, giving her a document which said: "Here is your freedom, take it and rejoice."

St Athanasia spent the twelve days before her death in unceasing prayer. On the eve of the Dormition of the Most HolyTheotokos she summoned the sisters and said that she was able to read the PSALTER only as far as the twelfth Psalm. The saint asked them to continue reading the PSALTER for her in church. The sisters went to church and there fulfilled her request, and then they came to bid the saint farewell. She blessed them and asked them to celebrate the Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos solemnly and joyfully, and also to provide a meal for the poor and destitute. Then, after Divine Liturgy, they could bury her body. With these words, St Athanasia fell asleep in the Lord on August 14, 860.

The saint predicted that she would receive glory in Heaven forty days after her death. On the fortieth day, two devout sisters were granted to see St Athanasia and two radiant men standing before the royal doors of the iconostasis. They clothed her with a purple robe embroidered with gold, pearls, and precious stones. They set a crown on her head, handed her a gleaming staff, and led her through the royal doors into the altar.

Before her death, St Athanasia ordered the nuns to feed the poor for forty days. The sisters, however, did not fulfill her request and set out the memorial meal for only ten days. The saint appeared to some of the sisters and said, "Let everyone know that alms given for a departed soul for forty days after death, and food offered to the hungry, appease God. If the departed souls are sinful, they receive forgiveness from God. If they are righteous, then the good deeds bring God's mercy on the souls of those who perform them.
Then she thrust her staff into the ground and became invisible. The staff left behind sprouted the next day and became a live tree. A year after the saint's death, they led a possessed woman to the grave. When they dug up the ground, they then noticed a fragrance and removed the coffin. After she touched it, the demoniac was immediately healed. Then they opened the lid of the coffin and saw the saint's incorrupt body, from which myrrh flowed.
St Athanasia looked like she was asleep. Her face shone brightly, her body was preserved incorrupt and soft, and even her hands were supple. The priests decided to place her body in church. When they transferred the body into a new coffin, the nuns removed the hair-shirt from her holy relics and wanted to dress her in silken clothes, but the hands of St Athanasia were so firmly clasped to her bosom, that the nuns could not dress her in the silken garb. Even in death the saint displayed her love for poverty. Then one of the sisters knelt down and began to pray to the saint, saying, "O lady, hear us as you heard us when you lived with us. Now consent to be dressed in these clothes, our humble gift to you." St Athanasia, as though alive, lifted and extended her hands into the clothing.

The holy relics of St Athanasia were put into a crypt and became a source of healings.
The Life of St Athanasia is found in Vatican codex 1660, which dates from the year 916.

1050 St. Allerius Hermit and founded the Benedictine Abbey of La Cavavowed to become a monk if cured kept his oath when restored to good health
A noble of Salerno, Italy. A member of the powerful Pappacarboni family of the region, Allerius was born in 930. He showed no disposition for the religious life until he was stricken with an illness. He vowed to become a monk if cured, and he kept his oath when restored to good health. He entered the famous monastery in Cluny, in France. After a time, Duke Gisulf ordered Allerius home to regulate the religious orders of Salerno. Allerius was not able to instill much discipline into these religious houses, so he retired to a hermitage just outside the city in 1011. Many hermits joined Allerius there, and with twelve of them he founded the Benedictine Abbey of La Cava. Records give him a life span of 120 years.

1113 Blessed Ida of Boulogne, Widow Died . Ida, daughter of Duke Godfrey IV (Dode) of Lorraine, descendent of Blessed Charlemagne. (AC)
At age 17, she became the wife of Count Eustace II of Boulogne. She was the mother of Godfrey and Baldwin de Bouillon.
After husband's death, Ida endowed several monasteries in Picardy, became a Benedictine oblate under obedience of the abbot of Saint Vaast (Attwater2, Benedictines, Encyclopedia, Gill).

11th v. 13th v. SS. ALFERIUS AND OTHERS, ABBOTS OF LA CAVA St Alferius, the founder of the abbey, although his immediate successors, Leo I of Lucca, Peter I of Polycastro and Constabilis of Castelabbate were all saints; whilst eight later abbots, Simeon, Falco, Marinus, Benincasa, Peter II, Balsamus, Leonard and Leo II all received the title of Blessed.
OF the holy abbots of La Cava who are honoured upon April 12, November 16 and other dates a special notice can only be given here of St Alferius, the founder of the abbey, although his immediate successors, Leo I of Lucca, Peter I of Polycastro and Constabilis of Castelabbate were all saints; whilst eight later abbots, Simeon, Falco, Marinus, Benincasa, Peter II, Balsamus, Leonard and Leo II all received the title of Blessed.
Alferius belonged to the Pappacarboni family which was descended from the ancient Lombard princes. Sent by Gisulf, duke of Salerno, as ambassador to the French court, he fell dangerously ill, and vowed that if he should regain his health he would embrace the religious life. Upon his recovery he entered the abbey of Cluny, then under the rule of St Odilo, but was recalled by the duke of Salerno, who wished him to reform the monasteries in the principality. The task appeared beyond his power, and he retired about the year 1011 to a lonely spot, picturesquely situated in the mountainous region about three miles north-west of Salerno, where he was soon joined by disciples. Of these he would only accept twelve—at any rate at first—but they formed the nucleus around which gradually grew the abbey of La Cava which afterwards attained to great celebrity. Alferius is said to have lived to the age of 120 and to have died on Maundy Thursday, alone in his cell, after he had celebrated Mass and washed the feet of his brethren. Only a very few years after his death there were, in south Italy and Sicily, over 30 abbeys and churches dependent upon La Cava and 3000 monks. Amongst his disciples had been Desiderius, who subsequently became Pope Victor III and a beatus. The cultus of the sainted abbots of La Cava was confirmed in 1893, that of the beati in 1928.

There is a somewhat legendary life of St Alferius, written by Abbot Hugh of Venosa, C. 1140. It has been printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii, and by Mabillon. A new edition of this and the lives of other abbots by Hugh was printed at La Cava in 1912 and again, edited by D. M. Cerasoli, at Bologna in 1941 (Rerum italicarum scriptores, vol. vi, part 5). But see F. Sackur, Die Cluniacenser, vol. ii, pp. 472 seq. Very little is known of the individual histories of the beati, though they are mentioned in the Annales Cavenses, of which an abridgement is printed in Ughelli, Italia Sacra, vol. vii, cc. 520—522. Sec also Acta Sanctae Sedis, vol. xxvi (1893), p. 369 and Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vol. xx (1928), p. 304.

Apud Vapíngum óppidum, in Gállia, sancti Constantíni, Epíscopi et Confessóris.
At the town of Gap in France, St. Constantine, bishop and confessor.

1300 Blessed Ida of Louvain, OSB Cist. V (PC)
Born in Louvain; Ida became a Cistercian at the convent of Rossendael (Vallis Rosarum-Rosenthal), near Malines. According to a somewhat dubious biography, she exhibited many amazing supernatural charisms. Her cultus still survives in Louvain and among the Cistercians (Attwater2, Benedictines).
1300 Blessed Ida of Louvain OSB Cist. V (PC)
Born in Louvain; Ida became a Cistercian at the convent of Rossendael (Vallis Rosarum-Rosenthal), near Malines. According to a somewhat dubious biography, she exhibited many amazing supernatural charisms. Her cultus still survives in Louvain and among the Cistercians (Attwater2, Benedictines).
1300? BD IDA OF LOUVAIN, VIRGIN
IT is curious that two saints, bearing the same not very common name and separated from each other by a considerable interval of time, should have died on the same day of the year; but in both cases the thirteenth day of April is definitely set down by their respective biographers as that of their departure from this world.
The account preserved of Bd Ida of Louvain is, it must be confessed, open to some suspicion, partly because we have no external corroboration of any of the incidents recorded, and partly because it abounds in marvels of a very astonishing character.

She was a maiden born of a well-to-do family in Louvain, and she is said to have been marked out from her earliest years by God’s special graces. Though she had much to suffer from her father and sisters, who did not approve of her devotional practices, her superabundant charity and extreme asceticism, she pursued her way of life unfalteringly, guided, as she believed, by the spirit of God. Among her observances was that of genuflecting or prostrating herself repeatedly before a picture of our Lady, reciting the Hail Mary at each genuflection, a form of salutation which she sometimes reiterated over 1000 times in one day. Her devotion to the sacred Passion was ardent beyond belief and earned for her the gift of the stigmata in hands, feet and side, as well, it seems, as the marks of the crown of thorns. She strove to hide them, but finding that they could not altogether be concealed, she obtained by her prayers the withdrawal of the external signs, though the pain which accompanied them still continued. Her love for the Blessed Eucharist was not less remarkable. More than once her biographer speaks of her having received communion miraculously, and it is noteworthy that the practice of communicating under-both kinds is represented as still surviving, apparently after 1250, in the neighbourhood of Louvain and Mechlin. On one occasion Ida is said, in her desire to possess our Lord, to have lowered the pyx in which the Blessed Sacrament was hanging above the altar and to have attempted, though without success, to open it.
All dates are sadly lacking in Bd Ida’s biography, and we do not know at what age she entered the Cistercian convent of Roosendael near Mechlin, nor how old she was when she died, nor whether the year 1300 assigned for her death is not the error of some transcriber. In her religious life she was remarkable for her ecstasies and miracles. She was seen radiant with heavenly light, she is said to have known the secrets of hearts, and a fragrant perfume was often perceived by those who came near her. There seems to be no doubt that her tomb became a place of pilgrimage after her death, though all traces of it appear to have been swept away by the Gueux in 1580.

The biography of Bd Ida which is printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii, purports to have been compiled from memoranda carefully recorded by her confessor, Hugh by name. It is an interesting document from the point of view of the student of mystical theology and in atmosphere certainly corresponds with what we find in many similar records of the thirteenth century. See also an article by C. Kolb in the Cistercienser Chronik, vol. v (1893), pp. 129—140.

1320 Blessed Margaret of Città di Castello born blind abandoned at 5 in church became influence for good in any group of children number of miracles still incorrupt V (AC)
(also known as Margaret of Metola) Born in at Meldola (or Metola, diocese of S. Angelo), Umbria, Italy, in 1287; cultus approved in 1609. Margaret was born blind into a poor, mountain family, who were embittered by her affliction. When she was five years old, they made a pilgrimage to the tomb of a holy Franciscan at Castello to pray for a cure. The miracle failing, they abandoned their daughter in the church of Città-di-Castello and returned to their home.

1320 Blessed Margaret of Città di Castello born blind abandoned then adopted very holy favored with heavenly visions many miracles V (AC)
also known as Margaret of Metola) Born in at Meldola (or Metola, diocese of S. Angelo), Umbria, Italy, in 1287; cultus approved in 1609.

1320 BD MARGARET OF CITTA-DI-CASTELLO, VIRGIN She set children little tasks which she helped them to perform; instructing them in their duty to God and to man, instilling into them her own great devotion to the sacred Childhood, and she taught them the psalms which, in spite of her blindness, she had learnt by heart at the convent: where many remarkable miracles were wrought at her tomb
IT must have been about the year 1293 when some women of Città-di-Castello in Umbria, who had gone one day to pray in their parish church, found within a destitute blind child of about six or seven who had been abandoned there by her parents. The kind souls were filled with pity for the little waif, and, poor though they were, they took charge of her—first one family and then another sheltering and feeding her until she became practically the adopted child of the village. One and all declared that, far from being a burden, little Margaret brought a blessing upon those who befriended her. Some years later the nuns of a local convent offered her a home. The girl herself rejoiced at the prospect of living with religious, but her joy was short-lived. The community was lax and worldly: Margaret’s fervour was a tacit reproach to them, nor did she bring them the profit they had anticipated. Neglect was succeeded by petty persecution, and then by active calumny. Finally she was driven forth ignominiously to face the world once more.
However, her old friends rallied round her. One couple offered her a settled home, which became her permanent residence. At the age of fifteen Margaret received the habit of a tertiary from the Dominican fathers, who had lately established themselves in Citta-di-Castello, and thenceforth she lived a life entirely devoted to God. More than ever did God’s benediction rest upon her. She cured another tertiary of an affliction of the eyes which had baffled medical skill, and her mantle extinguished a fire which had broken out in her foster-parents’ house. In her desire to show her gratitude to the people of Città-di-Castello she undertook to look after the children whilst their parents were at work. Her little school prospered wonderfully, for she understood children, being very simple herself. She set them little tasks which she helped them to perform; she instructed them in their duty to God and to man, instilling into them her own great devotion to the sacred Childhood, and she taught them the psalms which, in spite of her blindness, she had learnt by heart at the convent. We are told that when at prayer she was frequently raised a foot or more from the ground, remaining thus for a long time. Thus she lived, practically unknown outside her own neighbourhood, until the age of thirty-three, when she died amidst the friends who loved her, and was buried by their wish in the parish church, where many remarkable miracles were wrought at her tomb. The cultus of Bd Margaret was confirmed in 1609.

The principal document we possess concerning Bd Margaret is a sketch of her life, written in the fourteenth century, which has been printed in the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xix (1900), pp. 21—36. See also the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii, and Procter, Dominican Saints, pp. 90—93, as well as Ganay, Les Bienheureuses Dominicaines. It is probable that the Franciscan Ubertino di Casale in an enthusiastic tribute which he pays in his Arbor Vitae to a devout mystic of Città-di-Castello was referring to Bd Margaret. An interesting popular account of the beata by W. R. Bonniwell, The Story of Margaret of Metola, was published in America in 1952; it is based on a biography discovered by Fr Bonniwell and differs in some particulars from the account given above. Cf. Analecta Bollandiana, vol. lxx (1952), p. 456.

Margaret was born blind into a poor, mountain family, who were embittered by her affliction. When she was five years old, they made a pilgrimage to the tomb of a holy Franciscan at Castello to pray for a cure. The miracle failing, they abandoned their daughter in the church of Città-di-Castello and returned to their home.

Margaret was passed from family to family until she was adopted by a kindly peasant woman named Grigia, who had a large family of her own.
Margaret's natural sweetness and goodness soon made themselves felt, and she more than repaid the family for their kindness to her. She was an influence for good in any group of children. She stopped their quarrels, heard their catechism, told them stories, taught them Psalms and prayers. Busy neighbors were soon borrowing her to soothe a sick child or to establish peace in the house.
Her reputation for holiness was so great that a community of sisters in the town asked for her to become one of them. Margaret went happily to join them, but, unfortunately, there was little fervor in the house. The little girl who was so prayerful and penitential was a reproach to their lax lives, so Margaret returned to Grigia, who gladly welcomed her home.
Later, Margaret was received as a Dominican Tertiary and clothed with the religious habit. Grigia's home became the rendezvous site of troubled souls seeking Margaret's prayers. She said the Office of the Blessed Virgin and the entire Psalter by heart, and her prayers had the effect of restoring peace of mind to the troubled.
Denied earthly sight, Margaret was favored with heavenly visions. "Oh, if you only knew what I have in my heart!" she often said. The mysteries of the rosary, particularly the joyful mysteries, were so vivid to her that her whole person would light up when she described the scene. She was often in ecstasy, and, despite great joys and favors in prayer, she was often called upon to suffer desolation and interior trials of frightening sorts. The devil tormented her severely at times, but she triumphed over these sufferings.
A number of miracles were performed by Blessed Margaret. On one occasion, while she was praying in an upper room, Grigia's house caught fire, and she called to Margaret to come down. The blessed, however, called to her to throw her cloak on the flames. This she did, and the blaze died out. At another time, she cured a sister who was losing her eyesight.
Beloved by her adopted family and by her neighbors and friends, Margaret died at the early age of 33. From the time of her death, her tomb in the Dominican church was a place of pilgrimage. Her body, even to this day, is incorrupt.
After her death, the fathers received permission to have her heart opened. In it were three pearls, having holy figures carved upon them. They recalled the saying so often on the lips of Margaret: "If you only knew what I have in my heart!" (Attwater2, Benedictines, Dorcy).
In art, Margaret is pictured as a Dominican tertiary holding a cross, lily, and heart with two flames offered to the crucifix (Roeder).

Margaret was passed from family to family until she was adopted by a kindly peasant woman named Grigia, who had a large family of her own. Margaret's natural sweetness and goodness soon made themselves felt, and she more than repaid the family for their kindness to her. She was an influence for good in any group of children. She stopped their quarrels, heard their catechism, told them stories, taught them Psalms and prayers. Busy neighbors were soon borrowing her to soothe a sick child or to establish peace in the house.

Her reputation for holiness was so great that a community of sisters in the town asked for her to become one of them. Margaret went happily to join them, but, unfortunately, there was little fervor in the house. The little girl who was so prayerful and penitential was a reproach to their lax lives, so Margaret returned to Grigia, who gladly welcomed her home.
Later, Margaret was received as a Dominican Tertiary and clothed with the religious habit. Grigia's home became the rendezvous site of troubled souls seeking Margaret's prayers.

She said the Office of the Blessed Virgin and the entire Psalter by heart, and her prayers had the effect of restoring peace of mind to the troubled.

Denied earthly sight, Margaret was favored with heavenly visions. "Oh, if you only knew what I have in my heart!" she often said. The mysteries of the rosary, particularly the joyful mysteries, were so vivid to her that her whole person would light up when she described the scene. She was often in ecstasy, and, despite great joys and favors in prayer, she was often called upon to suffer desolation and interior trials of frightening sorts. The devil tormented her severely at times, but she triumphed over these sufferings.
A number of miracles were performed by Blessed Margaret. On one occasion, while she was praying in an upper room, Grigia's house caught fire, and she called to Margaret to come down. The blessed, however, called to her to throw her cloak on the flames. This she did, and the blaze died out. At another time, she cured a sister who was losing her eyesight.
Beloved by her adopted family and by her neighbors and friends, Margaret died at the early age of 33. From the time of her death, her tomb in the Dominican church was a place of pilgrimage.

Her body, even to this day, is incorrupt.

After her death, the fathers received permission to have her heart opened. In it were three pearls, having holy figures carved upon them. They recalled the saying so often on the lips of Margaret: "If you only knew what I have in my heart!" (Attwater2, Benedictines, Dorcy).

In art, Margaret is pictured as a Dominican tertiary holding a cross, lily, and heart with two flames offered to the crucifix (Roeder).

1392 Blessed James of Certaldo joined Camaldolese Benedictines at abbey Saints Clement and Justus-example led father and brother to join the abbey as lay brothers OSB Cam. (AC)
Born at Certaldo, Italy; James Guidi, son of a knight of Volterra, joined the Camaldolese Benedictines at the abbey of Saints Clement and Justus in his hometown. He spent 40 of his 60 years there as parish priest of the abbey church. Twice he was offered and refused the abbacy. His example was so powerful that both his father and his brother also joined the abbey as lay brothers (Attwater2, Benedictines).

1480 BD ANDREW OF MONTEREAL Augustinian roll of honour describes him as “remarkable for his patience in suffering, for his extraordinary austerity of life, for his great learning and especially for his success in preaching the word of God” numerous were the miracles wrought beside the bier
ANDREW of Montereale was born at Mascioni in the diocese of Rieti and joined the Hermits of St Augustine when he was only fourteen. For fifty years he preached the gospel in Italy and in France. The Augustinian roll of honour describes him as “remarkable for his patience in suffering, for his extraordinary austerity of life, for his great learning and especially for his success in preaching the word of God”. It is recorded of him that he never went to see any public show or spectacle, and that he never laughed. We are also told that when he died the church bells began to toll of their own accord and continued sounding at intervals for twenty-four hours. The Augustinian Joseph Pamphili, who in 1570 was consecrated bishop of Segni, states in his Chronica O.F.E.A. that in his day, a hundred years after Andrew’s death, the body of the holy man, with the cloak that covered it, remained as immune from decay as it was at the moment when he expired. So great was the desire of those who had known Bd Andrew to visit his remains, and so numerous were the miracles wrought beside the bier, that a whole month elapsed before the interment actually took place. His cultus was confirmed in 1764.

In the Acta Sanctorum, April, vol. ii, a brief account of Bd Andrew, published in Italian by S. Ricetelli (1614), has been translated into Latin. See also L. Torelli, Ristretto dells Vite degli Huomini . . . O.F.E.A. (1647), pp. 380—382.

1495 BD ANGELO OF CHIVASSO; He always een humble: even as vicar general he would only wear the cast-off habits of others and delighted in doing the lowliest work. Now he begged to he allowed to go and beg for the poor; Franciscan friary of the Observance at Genoa
THE little town of Chivasso was the birthplace of Angelo Carletti, whose parents belonged to the Piedmontese nobility. He was educated at the University of Bologna, where he received the degrees of doctor of civil and of canon law, and upon his return to his native Piedmont he was made a senator. As long as his mother was alive he led an exemplary life in the world, spending his time in his magisterial duties, in prayer and in visiting the sick, but after her death he divided his possessions between his elder brother and the poor, and retired into a Franciscan friary of the Observance at Genoa.
Bd Angelo’s superiors soon realized that they had in him a recruit of exceptional merit as well as of great missionary zeal, and it was not long before he was admitted to the priesthood. At once he embarked upon a strenuous evangelistic campaign. Full of eloquence and zeal, he made his way into remote villages in the Piedmontese mountains and valleys, regardless of weather and of the roughness of the way. The poor he greatly loved: he sought them out, visited them in sickness, and would often beg on their behalf. He helped them in many ways, notably by encouraging the introduction of monti di pietà to save them from the clutches of money-lenders. His penitents, however, were not confined to the poor. St Catherine of Genoa consulted him, and Charles I, Duke of Savoy, chose him to be his confessor. His so-called Summa Angelica, a book of moral theology which he wrote, was much used. Bd Angelo filled a number of offices, and as superior he was extremely zealous in preserving the purity of the rule; his outstanding capabilities caused him to be three times re-elected vicar general.
When, after the taking of Otranto by the fleet of Mohammed II, Pope Sixtus IV appealed for recruits to fight the threatening forces of Islam, the Observants proved themselves specially zealous in rousing the people to meet the crisis, but it was Bd Angelo who always chose the places of greatest danger for his activities. Moreover, when in 1491, at the age of eighty, he had accepted the office of commissary apostolic to evangelize the Waldensians in the Piedmontese valleys, he displayed a fervour and intrepidity which were rewarded by a surprising measure of success. Many heretics as well as lapsed Catholics were brought back to the faith, so that Pope Innocent VIII wished to raise him to the episcopate, but he could not be induced to consent.
At last, in 1493, Bd Angelo was able to lay down office and to prepare his soul for death. He had always been humble: even as vicar general he would only wear the cast-off habits of others and delighted in doing the lowliest work. Now he begged to he allowed to go and beg for the poor. His last two years were spent at the convent of Cuneo in Piedmont where he died at the age of 84. His cultus was approved in 1753.

The external facts of Bd Angelo’s career are duly recorded in Wadding’s Annales Ordinis Minorum. The best available biography is that of C. Pellegrino, Vita del beato Angelo Carletti (1888). See also Léon, Auréole Séraphique (Eng. trans.), vol. ii, pp. 69—76. It is recorded that when Luther in 1520 publicly burnt the papal bull of excommunication he also threw into the flames the Summa of St Thomas and the Summa Angelica of Angelo of Chivasso it was, Luther declared, a devilish work. On this Summa Angelica see DTC., vol. i, cc. 1271—1272.

1642 Blessed Edward Catherick priesthood at Douai returned to the mission fields of England, where he worked from 1635 until his execution M (AC)
Born at Carlton, Yorkshire, England; died at York in 1642; beatified in 1929. Blessed Edward was educated for the priesthood at Douai. Upon his ordination, he returned to the mission fields of England, where he worked from 1635 until his execution (Benedictines).

1642 Blessed John Lockwood English priesthood in Rome worked covertly in England for 44 years M (AC)
Born at Sowerby, Yorkshire, England; died at York in 1642; beatified in 1929. During the persecution of Catholics in England, John Lockwood, alias Lascelles, studied for the priesthood in Rome. After his ordination in 1597, he worked covertly in England for 44 years until his arrest in 1642. He was 81 years old when he was hanged, drawn, and quartered for the treasonable crime of being a Catholic priest (Attwater2, Benedictines).

1730 Saint Acacius the New monk at Holy Trinity monastery of St Dionysius of Olympus St Maximus repeatedly appeared to the ascetic gifts of unceasing mental prayer and divine revelation
(January 24) at Zagora. After visiting several monasteries on Mount Athos, the saint on the advice of his father-confessor, Father Galacteon, settled in the skete monastery of St Maximus the Hut-Burner ("Kavsokalyvites", January 13), who repeatedly appeared to the ascetic.

The exploits of St Acacius were extremely severe: in place of bread he ate dry grass, which he crushed with a piece of marble. When asked how much a monk ought to sleep, he said that for a true monk half an hour even was sufficient.

He said, "In order to conquer the flesh, a monk must practice two virtues: fasting and vigil." In spite of his age and illness, he was an example of this.

Once, when St Acacius had come on a Sunday to the skete church, the igumen Neophytus handed him his own staff and said, "Father, take the staff, and be the Superior for all these brethren until your last breath."

St Acacius kissed the hand of the igumen, and accepted the staff with all humility. Although previously he had walked with a staff because of his age, from that time forward the righteous one no longer held a staff in his hand.

For his exalted exploits St Acacius was granted the gifts of unceasing mental prayer and divine revelations. He fell asleep in the Lord on April 12, 1730, being nearly a hundred years old.

1920 St. Teresa of Los Andes; Carmelite nun, Chile’s first saint.
(1900-1920)
One needn’t live a long life to leave a deep imprint. Teresa of Los Andes is proof of that.
As a young girl growing up in Santiago, Chile, in the early 1900s, she read an autobiography of a French-born saint—Therese, popularly known as the Little Flower. The experience deepened her desire to serve God and clarified the path she would follow. At age 19 she became a Carmelite nun, taking the name of Teresa.

The convent offered the simple lifestyle Teresa desired and the joy of living in a community of women completely devoted to God. She focused her days on prayer and sacrifice. “I am God’s, ” she wrote in her diary. “He created me and is my beginning and my end. ”
Toward the end of her short life, Teresa began an apostolate of letter-writing, sharing her thoughts on the spiritual life with many people. At age 20 she contracted typhus and quickly took her final vows. She died a short time later, during Holy Week.
Teresa remains popular with the estimated 100,000 pilgrims who visit her shrine in Los Andes each year. She is Chile’s first saint.

To Save A Life is Earthly; To Save A Soul is Eternal

THE PSALTER OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY PSALM 122

Thou hast done well with thy servant, O Lady: and because of this the angels rejoice.

Teach me the discipline of thy manners and thy equity: because I have believed in thy words above all others.

It is good for me that with thy burden thou hast humbled me: that I may follow thy conversation.

Those who love thy servants, shall be venerated: but he who shall hate them, will fall in eternity.

Let the drops of thy clemency ever fall upon me from above, and I shall live: for thy holy law is my meditation.

Let every spirit praise Our Lady

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 heaven: only 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 html Indulgences 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 2000) Quang 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 Uniates Chalcedon

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

The great psalm of the Passion, Chapter 22, whose first verse “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Jesus pronounced on the cross, ended with the vision: “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him” For kingship belongs to the LORD, the ruler over the nations. All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; All who have gone down into the dust will kneel in homage. And I will live for the LORD; my descendants will serve you. The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.

Pope Benedict XVI to The Catholic Church In China {whole article here} 2000 years of the Catholic Church in China
The saints “a cloud of witnesses over our head”, showing us life of Christian perfection is possible.

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Saint Frances Xavier Seelos Practical Guide to Holiness

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

My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee. I beg pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not

O most Holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the Tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He is offended, and by the infite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I beg the conversion of poor sinners, Fatima Prayer, Angel of Peace

The voice of the Father is heard, the Son enters the water, and the Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove.

THE spirit and example of the world imperceptibly instil the error into the minds of many that there is a kind of middle way of going to Heaven; and so, because the world does not live up to the gospel, they bring the gospel down to the level of the world. It is not by this example that we are to measure the Christian rule, but words and life of Christ. All His followers are commanded to labour to become perfect even as our heavenly Father is perfect, and to bear His image in our hearts that we may be His children. We are obliged by the gospel to die to ourselves by fighting self-love in our hearts, by the mastery of our passions, by taking on the spirit of our Lord.

These are the conditions under which Christ makes His promises and numbers us among His children, as is manifest from His words which the apostles have left us in their inspired writings. Here is no distinction made or foreseen between the apostles or clergy or religious and secular persons. The former, indeed, take upon themselves certain stricter obligations, as a means of accomplishing these ends more perfectly; but the law of holiness and of disengagement of the heart from the world is general and binds all the followers of Christ.

God loves variety. He doesn't mass-produce his saints. Every saint is unique each the result of a new idea.

As the liturgy says: Non est inventus similis illis--there are no two exactly alike.
It is we with our lack of imagination, who paint the same haloes on all the saints.
Dear Lord, grant us a spirit not bound by our own ideas and preferences.
Grant that we may be able to appreciate in others what we lack in ourselves.
O Lord, grant that we may understand that every saint must be a unique praise of Your glory.
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives.

Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts.

The 15 Promises of the Virgin Mary to those who recite the Rosary ) Revealed to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan)

1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive signal graces. 2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary. 3. The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies. 4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that soul would sanctify them by this means. 5. The soul that recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary shall not perish. 6. Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying themselves to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise them in His justice, they shall not perish by an unprovided death; if they be just, they shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life. 7. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church. 8. Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise. 9. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary. 10. The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven. 11. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary. 12. I shall aid all those who propagate the Holy Rosary in their necessities. 13. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. 14. All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ. 15. Devotion to my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

His Holiness Aram I, current (2013) Catholicos of Cilicia of Armenians, whose See is located in Lebanese town of Antelias. The Catholicosate was founded in Sis, capital of Cilicia, in the year 1441 following the move of the Catholicosate of All Armenians back to its original See of Etchmiadzin in Armenia. The Catholicosate of Cilicia enjoyed local jurisdiction, though spiritually subject to the authority of Etchmiadzin. In 1921 the See was transferred to Aleppo in Syria, and in 1930 to Antelias.

Its jurisdiction currently extends to Syria, Cyprus, Iran and Greece.

Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac

The exact date of the introduction of Christianity into Edessa {Armenian Ourhaï in Arabic Er Roha, commonly Orfa or Urfa, its present name} is not known. It is certain, however, that the Christian community was at first made up from the Jewish population of the city. According to an ancient legend, King Abgar V, Ushana, was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples. In fact, however, the first King of Edessa to embrace the Christian Faith was Abgar IX (c. 206) becoming official kingdom religion.

Christian council held at Edessa early as 197 (Eusebius, Hist. Ecc7V,xxiii).

In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed (“Chronicon Edessenum”, ad. an. 201).

In 232 the relics of the Apostle St. Thomas were brought from India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written.

Under Roman domination martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under Decius; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, Habib, and others under Diocletian.

In the meanwhile Christian priests from Edessa evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and Persia, established the first Churches in the kingdom of the Sassanides. Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the Council of Nicæa (325). The “Peregrinatio Silviæ” (or Etheriæ) (ed. Gamurrini, Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.) gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.

Although Hebrew had been the language of the ancient Israelite kingdom, after their return from Exile the Jews turned more and more to Aramaic, using it for parts of the books of Ezra and Daniel in the Bible. By the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the main language of Palestine, and quite a number of texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls are also written in Aramaic.

Aramaic continued to be an important language for Jews, alongside Hebrew, and parts of the Talmud are written in it.

After Arab conquests of the seventh century, Arabic quickly replaced Aramaic as the main language of those who converted to Islam, although in out of the way places, Aramaic continued as a vernacular language of Muslims.

Aramaic, however, enjoyed its greatest success in Christianity. Although the New Testament wins written in Greek, Christianity had come into existence in an Aramaic-speaking milieu, and it was the Aramaic dialect of Edessa, now known as Syriac, that became the literary language of a large number of Christians living in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire and in the Persian Empire, further east. Over the course of the centuries the influence of the Syriac Churches spread eastwards to China (in Xian, in western China, a Chinese-Syriac inscription dated 781 is still to be seen); to southern India where the state of Kerala can boast more Christians of Syriac liturgical tradition than anywhere else in the world.

680 Shiite saint Imam Hussein, grandson of Islam's Prophet Muhammad Known as Ashoura and observed by Shiites across the world, the 10th day of the lunar Muslim month of Muharram: the anniversary of the 7th century death in battle of one of Shiite Islam's most beloved saints. Imam Hussein died in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the saint's shrine. The battle over a dispute about the leadership of the Muslim faith following Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. It is the defining event in Islam's split into Sunni and Shiite branches. The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson. "He sacrificed his blood to teach us not to give in to corruption, coercion, or use of force and to seek honor and justice." According to Shiite beliefs, Hussein and companions were denied water by enemies who controlled the nearby Euphrates. Streets get partially covered with blood from slaughter of hundreds of cows and sheep. Volunteers cook the meat and feed it to the poor. Hussein's martyrdom recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to many Shiites, 10 percent of the world's estimated 1.3 billion Muslims.

Meeting of the Saints walis (saints of Allah)

Great men covet to embrace martyrdom for a cause and principle.

So was the case with Hazrat Ali. He could have made a compromise with the evil forces of his time and, as a result, could have led a very comfortable, easy and luxurious life. But he was not a person who would succumb to such temptations. His upbringing, his education and his training in the lap of the holy Prophet made him refuse such an offer.
Rabia Al-Basri (717–801 C.E.) She was first to set forth the doctrine of mystical love and who is widely considered to be the most important of the early Sufi poets. An elderly Shia pointed out that during his pre-Partition childhood it was quite common to find pictures and portraits of Shia icons in Imambaras across the country.
Shah Abdul Latif: The Exalted Sufi Master born 1690 in a Syed family; died 1754. In ancient times, Sindh housed the exemplary Indus Valley Civilisation with Moenjo Daro as its capital, and now, it is the land of a culture which evolved from the teachings of eminent Sufi saints. Pakistan is home to the mortal remains of many Sufi saints, the exalted among them being Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, a practitioner of the real Islam, philosopher, poet, musicologist and preacher. He presented his teaching through poetry and music - both instruments sublime - and commands a very large following, not only among Muslims but also among Hindus and Christians. Sindh culture: The Shah is synonymous with Sindh. He is the very fountainhead of Sindh's culture. His message remains as fresh as that of any present day poet, and the people of Sindh find solace from his writings. He did indeed think for Sindh. One of his prayers, in exquisite Sindhi, translates thus: “Oh God, may ever You on Sindh bestow abundance rare! Beloved! All the world let share Thy grace, and fruitful be.”
Shia Ali al-Hadi, died 868 and son Hassan al-Askari 874. These saints are the 10th and 11th of Shia's 12 most revered Imams. Baba Farid Sufi 1398 miracle, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki renowned Muslim Sufi saint scholar miracles 569 A.H. [1173 C.E.] hermit gave to poor, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti greatest mystic of his time born 533 Hijri (1138-39 A.D.), Hazrat Ghuas-e Azam, Hazrat Bu Ali Sharif, and Hazrat Nizamuddi n Aulia Sufi Saint Hazrath Khwaja Syed Mohammed Badshah Quadri Chisty Yamani Quadeer (RA) 1236-1325 welcomed people of all faiths & all walks of life.

801 Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Sufi One of the most famous Islamic mystics
(b. 717). This 8th century saint was an early Sufi who had a profound influence on later Sufis, who in turn deeply influenced the European mystical love and troubadour traditions. Rabi'a was a woman of Basra, a seaport in southern Iraq. She was born around 717 and died in 801 (185-186). Her biographer, the great medieval poet Attar, tells us that she was "on fire with love and longing" and that men accepted her "as a second spotless Mary" (186). She was, he continues, “an unquestioned authority to her contemporaries" (218).
Rabi'a began her ascetic life in a small desert cell near Basra, where she lost herself in prayer and went straight to God for teaching. As far as is known, she never studied under any master or spiritual director. She was one of the first of the Sufis to teach that Love alone was the guide on the mystic path (222). A later Sufi taught that there were two classes of "true believers": one class sought a master as an intermediary between them and God -- unless they could see the footsteps of the Prophet on the path before them, they would not accept the path as valid. The second class “...did not look before them for the footprint of any of God's creatures, for they had removed all thought of what He had created from their hearts, and concerned themselves solely with God. (218)
Rabi'a was of this second kind. She felt no reverence even for the House of God in Mecca: "It is the Lord of the house Whom I need; what have I to do with the house?" (219) One lovely spring morning a friend asked her to come outside to see the works of God. She replied, "Come you inside that you may behold their Maker. Contemplation of the Maker has turned me aside from what He has made" (219). During an illness, a friend asked this woman if she desired anything.
"...[H]ow can you ask me such a question as 'What do I desire?' I swear by the glory of God that for twelve years I have desired fresh dates, and you know that in Basra dates are plentiful, and I have not yet tasted them. I am a servant (of God), and what has a servant to do with desire?" (162)
When a male friend once suggested she should pray for relief from a debilitating illness, she said,
"O Sufyan, do you not know Who it is that wills this suffering for me? Is it not God Who wills it? When you know this, why do you bid me ask for what is contrary to His will? It is not well to oppose one's Beloved." (221)
She was an ascetic. It was her custom to pray all night, sleep briefly just before dawn, and then rise again just as dawn "tinged the sky with gold" (187). She lived in celibacy and poverty, having renounced the world. A friend visited her in old age and found that all she owned were a reed mat, screen, a pottery jug, and a bed of felt which doubled as her prayer-rug (186), for where she prayed all night, she also slept briefly in the pre-dawn chill. Once her friends offered to get her a servant; she replied,
"I should be ashamed to ask for the things of this world from Him to Whom the world belongs, and how should I ask for them from those to whom it does not belong?" (186-7)
A wealthy merchant once wanted to give her a purse of gold. She refused it, saying that God, who sustains even those who dishonor Him, would surely sustain her, "whose soul is overflowing with love" for Him. And she added an ethical concern as well:
"...How should I take the wealth of someone of whom I do not know whether he acquired it lawfully or not?" (187)
She taught that repentance was a gift from God because no one could repent unless God had already accepted him and given him this gift of repentance. She taught that sinners must fear the punishment they deserved for their sins, but she also offered such sinners far more hope of Paradise than most other ascetics did. For herself, she held to a higher ideal, worshipping God neither from fear of Hell nor from hope of Paradise, for she saw such self-interest as unworthy of God's servants; emotions like fear and hope were like veils -- i.e., hindrances to the vision of God Himself. The story is told that once a number of Sufis saw her hurrying on her way with water in one hand and a burning torch in the other. When they asked her to explain, she said:
"I am going to light a fire in Paradise and to pour water on to Hell, so that both veils may vanish altogether from before the pilgrims and their purpose may be sure..." (187-188)
She was once asked where she came from. "From that other world," she said. "And where are you going?" she was asked. "To that other world," she replied (219). She taught that the spirit originated with God in "that other world" and had to return to Him in the end. Yet if the soul were sufficiently purified, even on earth, it could look upon God unveiled in all His glory and unite with him in love. In this quest, logic and reason were powerless. Instead, she speaks of the "eye" of her heart which alone could apprehend Him and His mysteries (220).
Above all, she was a lover, a bhakti, like one of Krishna’s Goptis in the Hindu tradition. Her hours of prayer were not so much devoted to intercession as to communion with her Beloved. Through this communion, she could discover His will for her. Many of her prayers have come down to us:
       "I have made Thee the Companion of my heart,
        But my body is available for those who seek its company,
        And my body is friendly towards its guests,
        But the Beloved of my heart is the Guest of my soul." [224]

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Mother Angelica saving souls is this beautiful womans journey

Shrine_of_The_Most_Blessed_Sacrament

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

Thus began a great adventure that would eventually result in the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament, a Temple dedicated to the Divine Child Jesus, a place of refuge for all. Use this link to read a remarkable story about The Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Father Reardon, Editor of The Catholic Bulletin for 14 years Lover of the poor; “A very Holy Man of God.”

Monsignor Reardon Protonotarius Apostolicus
Pastor 42 years BASILICA OF SAINT MARY Minneapolis MN

America's First Basilica Largest Nave in the World

August 7, 1907-ground broke for the foundation

by Archbishop Ireland-laying cornerstone May 31, 1908

James M. Reardon Publication History of Basilica of Saint Mary 1600-1932

Index to Part I and Part II 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 Indulgences 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}.

Saints Simon (saw), Bartholomew (knife), James the Lesser (book), John (eagle), Andrew (transverse cross), Peter keys), Paul (sword), James the Greater (staff), Thomas (carpenter's square), Philip (serpent), Matthew (book), and Jude sword

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:

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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 Pasqualina 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, PSALTER BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 122 2022