Saint Olaf Haraldsson (995 – 29 July 1030), also called Saint Olaf, Olaf the Holy, Olaf II, and Olaf the Stout, was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. A viking and convert to Christianity, he was baptised in Rouen, Normandy, in 1010. The son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway. Olaf was a great-great-grandson in the male line of the founder of the Norwegian kingdom. His father died when his mother was pregnant with him. She later married Sigurd Syr, with whom she had other children, including Harald Hardrada, who later reigned as king of Norway, and who claimed the English throne.
He helped King Ethelred of England (‘The Unready’) against pagan Danish invaders and brought missionaries, including Blessed Theodgar of Vestervig, to Norway to evangelize his people. He tried to force Christianity on them, so they revolted in 1029, and drove him first to Sweden and then to Kiev, in Russia. There he gathered his forces, and in 1030 attempted to re-take his throne. He was killed in battle, and regarded by Norwegians as the great champion of national independence. Many miracles were attributed to him. One such is that on the day of his death, a blind man regained his sight after rubbing his eyes with hands stained with Olaf’s blood. His cult spread extremely quickly, including across the sea to England.
St. Olaf in Orkney Cathedral, Kirkwall, Scotland
His remains were enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral, built over his burial site. His sainthood encouraged the widespread adoption of Christianity by Scandinavia’s Norsemen. Pope Alexander III confirmed Olaf’s local canonisation in 1164. He was posthumously given the title Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae (Eternal King of Norway). Olaf is symbolised by the axe in Norway’s coat of arms, and many Christian institutions with Scandinavian links, as well as Norway’s Order of St. Olav, are named after him.
St. Olaf in stained-glass window at St Olave’s Church, in London
Madonna dei Miracoli / Holy Mary of Miracles, Morbio Inferiore, Ticino, Switzerland (1594) – 29 July:
Where the Sanctuary of Morbio now stands, a castle stood centuries ago, attested in 1198 and destroyed in the first half of the sixteenth century. Only the ruins of a Chapel, dedicated to St Bernardino of Siena, transformed over time into a pile of rubble, buried by weeds, brambles and thorns., remained. Surrounded by ivy and fortunately well preserved, remained the Fresco in the Chapel, depicting the Virgin with the Child.
The history of the Sanctuary of Holy Mary of Miracles began on 29 July 1594. It was a Friday when the two mothers with their daughters, Catherine and Angela , respectively ten and seven years old, travelled to Morbio to entreat the assistance of Fr Gaspare Basbetrini. They were sick girls, tormented by the devil and had travelled to Morbio, to ask for the blessing of Don Gaspare Barberini, the assistant Priest at Morbio, who was well-known as an Exorcist. However, sadly for the pilgrims, Fr Basbetrini was absent.
To the tiredness of the journey and the sadness of illness, the bitterness of disappointment was added. Among the ruins of the ancient castle the little group of supplicants waited and discovered on the crumbling and crumbling walls, the faded remains of a fresco depicting the Virgin in a deeply maternal position nursing Baby Jesus.
The two mothers knelt before the Virgin with their daughters and prayed in deep sadness and devotion for the intercession of the Holy Mother to come to the aid of the sick children.
And then the miracle happened. Those two poor simple and innocent creatures were cured. This is Morbio’s miracle – the Madonna appeared to the two little girls and cureds them of all their illnesses, dispelling any demonic presence within them.
Our Lady spoke to the elder girl, Catherine and instructed her to tell the Bishop that the Church should be rebuilt and that the Holy Rosary must be said everyday.
Eight days after the event, on 5 August 1594, the episcopal curia of Como, whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction also extended to the southern regions of Ticino, instructed the regular canonical process, which recognized, upon the sworn deposition of the main eyewitnesses, the truth of what happened and their prodigious and supernatural nature.
A stained-glass window, located at the top of the apse and placed at the beginning of this century, illustrates and reminds those who enter the Sanctuary of this miracle. Catherine is depicted on a ladder, with her arms outstretched, listening in front of the image of the Madonna dei Miracoli. At the foot of the ladder, Angela, the other sick girl, is lying asleep.
In a short while an Oratory was built on the site to recite the Rosary and celebrate Mass there, as the Madonna had said to Catherine, while on 29 July 1595, the Anniversary of the apparition and the miracle, the first stone was blessed and laid for the construction of the Sanctuary, Consecrated on 16 May 1631 by the Bishop of Como, Msgr Filippo Archinti.
St Antony St Beatrix of Rome Bl Beatrix of Valfleury St Callinicus of Paphlagonia Bl Charles-Antoine-Nicolas Ancel St Faustinus of Rome St Faustinus of Spello St Felix of Rome St John Baptist Luo Tingyin St John the Soldier Bl José Calasanz Marqués St Joseph Zhang St Kilian of Inishcaltra St Lek Sirdani Bl Luis Bertran St Lupus of Troyes Bl Mancius of the Cross St Martha Wang St Olaf II St Olaus of Sweden St Paulus Chen Changpin Bl Petrus of Saint Mary St Pjetër Çuni St Prosper of Orleans St Rufo of Rome St Seraphina St Serapia of Syria St Simplicius of Rome St Sulian
Blessed Pope Urban II (c 1035-1099) Bishop of Rome from 1088 until his death, Carthusian Abbot, Confessor
Martyrs of Calanda – 8 beati: A group of Dominican priests and friars who were martyred over the course of a day in the same town by the same group of anti-Christian forces in the Spanish Civil War. • Antonio Manuel López Couceiro • Felicísimo Díez González • Gumersindo Soto Barros • Lamberto María de Navascués de Juan • Lucio Martínez Mancebo • Matías Manuel Albert Ginés • Saturio Rey Robles • Tirso Manrique Melero They were martyred on 29 July 1936 in Calanda, Teruel, Spain I.
Martyrs of Lleida – 12 beati: Carmelites of the Ancient Observance novices, friars and priests who were all martyred together in the Spanish Civil War. • Àngel Prat Hostench • Eliseo Maneus Besalduch • Gabriel Escoto Ruiz • Ginés Garre Egea • Joan Maria Puigmitjà Rubió • Joan Prat Colldecarrera • Josep Solé Rovira • Lluis Fontdecava Quiroga • Manuel Serrano Buj • Miquel Soler Sala • Pere Dorca Coromina • Pere Ferrer Marín They were martyred on 29 July 1936 in Clot dels Aubens, Cervera, Lleida, Spain.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: Thousands of people were murdered in the anti-Catholic persecutions of the Spanish Civil War from 1934 to 1939. • Blessed Bartolomé Rodríguez Soria
Martyrs of Rome – 23 saints Eugene Flora the Martyr Lucilla Theodore
Our Morning Offering – 29 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”
Now that the Daylight Fills the Sky, We Lift our Hearts to God on High By St Ambrose (340-397) Great Latin Father and Doctor of the Church Trans J M Neale (1818-1866)
Now that the daylight fills the sky, We lift our hearts to God on high That He, in all we do or say, Would keep us free from harm today,
Would guard our hearts and tongues from strife, From angry words, would shield our life, From evil sights, would turn our eyes And close our ears to vanities.
So we, when this new day is gone And night in turn is drawing on, With conscience by the world unstained, Shall praise His name for vict’ry gained.
“All praise to You, Creator Lord! All praise to You, eternal Word! All praise to You, O Spirit wise!” We sing as daylight fills the skies. Amen
One Minute Reflection – 29 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Memorial of St Martha – Readings: Ps 44:8, Ps 44:2, 2 Cor 10:17-18; 11:1-2, Luke 10:38-42
At that time, Jesus entered a certain village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him to her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also seated herself at the Lord’s feet, and listened to His word.
Luke 10:38-42
REFLECTION – O ineffable Fire, O eternal Father, I no longer want my desire to tire of wanting your honor and the salvation of souls nor my eyes to dry up. I beg of you by your grace that they might become two rivers flowing out from you, a peaceful sea. Praise, praise to you, o Father, for you have responded to my request, and even to what I did not know, and even to what I had not asked of you. By giving me the gift of tears, you have invited me to offer you all my gentle, loving, anguished desires and my humble and constant prayers.
Now I ask you to have mercy on the world and on your holy Church. I beg you to do what you cause me to ask of you. Do not delay in having mercy on the world, agree to realizing your servants’ desire. You are the one who causes them to cry out, so hear their voice. Your truth said that if we call, we shall be answered, if we knock, it shall be opened to us, if we ask, it shall be given us. O eternal Father, your servants cry out to you for mercy. So answer them.
PRAYER – Almighty ever-living God, Your Son graciously came as a guest to the home of St Martha and was the friend of her family. Martha in her sorrow was moved to declare her total faith in Him, grant we pray, that in our trials and sorrows, we too may prove our love for You. By her prayers give us grace to serve Christ faithfully in our brethren and bring us to Your home in heaven. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, in union with the Holy Spirit, amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 29 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Memorial of St Martha
Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; and yet only one thing is needful.
Luke 10:38-42
Another sign of (St Vincent Ferrer’s) unbounded hope in God’s providence was the little solicitude he evinced in the course of his great apostolate, either for his own personal maintenance, or that of the numerous company who followed him. His confidence in his heavenly Father never failed him. Neither he nor his companions were ever in want, and on one occasion, our Lord came miraculously to their aid.
Fr Andre Pradel (St Vincent Ferrer: His life, Spiritual Teaching and Practical Devotion)
Do not fear what may happen tomorrow. The same loving Father who cares for you today will care for you tomorrow and every day. Either He will shield you from suffering, or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it. Be at peace, then, and put aside all anxious thoughts and imaginings.
Saint Francis de Sales
Hold your eyes on God and leave the doing to Him. That is all the doing you have to worry about.
Saint Jeanne de Chantal
The greater and more persistent your confidence in God, the more abundantly you will receive all that you ask.
Saint Albert the Great
Those whose hearts are enlarged by confidence in God run swiftly on the path of perfection. They not only run, they fly; because, having placed all their hope in the Lord, they are no longer weak as they once were. They become strong with the strength of God, which is given to all who put their trust in Him.
29th Day – The Precious Blood in the Sacrament of Penance
The task of the Precious Blood in Baptism is a comparatively light one side by side with that which it performs in the sacrament of penance. In Baptism original sin is washed way, in penance, actual sin. The former cleaves to us through no fault of our own, the latter is the result of our own deliberate deed. It makes us the enemies of God in quite a different sense from that which is the result of original sin. It places us, or, rather, we place ourselves of our own free will, under the power of Satan, voluntarily we forfeit our inheritance, and proclaim ourselves rebels. The task of reconciliation is a far more difficult one, and is only possible with our own co-operation.
Yet the Precious Blood restores the sinner to his allegiance, and frees him from the power of Satan, which he becomes anxious to be delivered. As soon as it touches the soul of the sinner, it washes it clean and pure as if he had never sinned, and restores him to peace and friendship with God. Who has not witnessed its transforming power, and seen the sinner before hardened, depressed, almost in despair, now become full of peace and consolation and joy under its divine influence?
We cannot wonder at Our Lord’s cry of agony in Gethsemani, or at His sweat of blood, when we think what it was that the Precious Blood had to efface from our souls. What an accumulated horror of pride and selfishness and impurity and covetousness! Such a cleansing could only be gained at the cost of a sacrifice infinite in value. O Jesus! make me appreciate more Thy divine love.
Blessed Christodoulus was born in the village of Kassandra in Halkidiki, Macedonia. He was a young tailor in Thessaloniki during a period of occupation by Ottoman Turks. Seeing local Christians giving in to pressure and proclaiming themselves Muslim, Christodoulus took a cross and went into the streets to encourage Christians, as well as into the coffee shops were the ‘ceremony’ of conversion would take place, and offered them the cross to kiss as a sign of their faith, urging them to recover, repent, and stand strong in the love of Christ. Most courageously, he would make the Sign of the Cross over crowds of Turks as well as the dreaded Janissaries, the most fanatical muslim warriors of all, the elite bodyguard of the Sultan. Janissaries who were themselves once Christian, before being enslaved by the Ottoman emperors as youth.
Enraged by this, the Turks imprisoned and tortured Christodoulus. They urged him to deny the Faith, but in return he urged them to turn away from the false religion of Islam. Driven to an excess of hatred by this, the Turks tortured him gruesomely and then hung him in front of a church in 1777.
The Siege of Rhodes. Victory over the Turks by the Knights Hospitaller at Rhodes in 1480 through the intercession of Our Lady, final battle 27 July 1480 – commemorated on 28 July:
Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, the last remnant of the Holy Roman Empire, fell to the “Scourge of Europe,” the Sultan Mehmet II, in the year 1453. This dire news was almost impossible to believe in the rest of Christendom but, it was sadly true and Constantinople was made into the new seat of the Ottoman Empire.
A few short years later, Pierre D’Aubusson was Grand Master of the Hospitallers, the Knights of Saint John, living on the island of Rhodes. He and his Knights were untiring opponents of Islam, sworn to do everything in their power to fight against them. Having made the island of Rhodes their home, the Knights harassed Ottoman shipping lanes and assisted with attacks against the Ottoman Empire.
In the year 1479, D’Aubusson refused to pay tribute to Mehmet in exchange for peace and furthermore, had the audacity to continue harassing the sultan’s shipping lanes. The Grand Master continued to work on the massive fortifications on Rhodes as he awaited the siege of Rhodes that he knew would soon come. His walls were strong but the Grand Master had only a few hundred Knights and about 2,000 natives to defend them.
Mehmet was not intimidated by the Christian defenses on Rhodes, for he had huge cannons and basilisks which had blasted holes in the stout walls of Constantinople. He also had over 70,000 men in his army, and he was determined to wipe out “that abode of the sons of Satan,” as he referred to the Catholic Knights of Rhodes.
The Siege of Rhodes began with a tremendous bombardment on the Tower of Saint Nicholas. Grand Master Pierre D’Aubusson was not intimidated as he asked: “What is more sacred than to defend the Faith? What is happier than to fight for Christ?”
Breaches were eventually made in the walls and the Muslim’s unremittingly attempted to rush through the breaches. Many of the Turks had to be forced to attack the defenses, as their commanders lashed them forward with whips and chains. The Janissaries, however, did not have to be urged, for they were the sultan’s finest troops. They were warriors to the core and advanced over the fallen bodies of their comrades, anxious to cross swords with the Catholic Knights.
Finally, the Tower of Italy began to crumble from the terrific assault, and large breaches opened in the wall. The Bashi-Bazouks and Janissaries rushed into the breach, placing the standard of Islam above the Tower.
On witnessing this act, the Grandmaster rushed into the breach together with a few of his excellent Knights. Howling and raging like madmen, the Janissaries pressed the assault, for the Knights seemed too few to stand against their wave after wave of thousands of elite warriors. Yet, the Grandmaster stood, insensible of any wounds he received in return for the carnage he wreaked among the fanatical Muslim warriors.
Fighting with broken blades and notched axes, the Knights of Saint John continued to hold the breach, cutting down any who approached them, until a huge Janissary rose up and hurled a spear with all his might directly at the Grand Master. Propelled at incredible speed, the sharp steel tip easily pierced D’Aubusson’s breastplate, puncturing a lung. The Grand Master went down beneath a torrent of hacking blades as the Knights struggled to drag his body from the fray.
By his courageous stand D’Aubusson had proven he was at least the equal of any Grand Master in history, but now, he was wounded unto death and could do no more. The siege of Rhodes appeared to be lost as D’Aubusson’s Knights struggled to haul him to safety. Thousands of Jannisaries were rushing into the breach with no-one to stop them and at this point the Knights knew, it would take a miracle to keep Rhodes from being overrun.
A miracle is exactly what they got. Suddenly there appeared in the sky “a refulgent cross of gold, by the side of which stood a beautiful woman clothed in garments of dazzling white, a lance in her hand and a shield on her arm, accompanied by a man dressed in goatskins and followed by a band of heavenly warriors armed with flaming swords.” It was the glorious figures of Saint John the Baptist, the Patron Saint of the Order of Saint John, Saint Michael the Archangel brandishing his unsheathed sword and the Queen of Heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary herself, dressed in battle array!
The Turks turned at the sight and ran in panic-stricken flight. Thousands fell as they fled, cut down and pursued through the breaches by the Knights of Rhodes and their heavenly allies. Chased all the way back to their camp, it was now the defeated Muslims who suffered the insult of having their sultan’s own standard captured.
The siege of Rhodes had ended, and Grandmaster D’Aubusson later recovered of his wounds. He had lost 231 of his Knights but that was nothing compared to the thousands upon thousands of Muslim warriors who lay dead upon his shores.
It was in the year of Our Lord 1480 that the Knights of Rhodes had gained this signal victory over the Turks, by the help of the Blessed Virgin, whom the Knights regarded ever after as Our Lady of Victory. They renewed their dedication to her who had appeared on the walls during the siege of Rhodes holding a lance in her hand to defend them, bringing with her Saint Michael the Archangel and a heavenly army. She, the Patroness of the Sovereign and Military Order of Hospitallers, had turned the formerly obstinate enemy, who retired in disorder, to lose the greater part of their army. Thanks BE to Our Lady of Victory, the all-conquering sword of Mehmet II had shattered upon the walls of Rhodes!
St Acacius of Miletus
St Arduinus of Trepino St Botwid of Sudermannland St Camelian of Troyes St Celsus of Rome Bl Christodoulos Bl Davíd Carlos-Marañon St Eustathius of Galatia St Pope Innocent I (Died 417) St Irene of Cappadocia Bl John Soreth St José Caselles-Moncho Bl José Melchór García-Sampedro Suárez Bl Josep Castell-Camps St Longinus of Satala St Lucidius of Aquara St Lyutius Bl Manuel Segura-López St Nazarius of Rome
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War – Thousands of people were murdered in the anti-Catholic persecutions of the Spanish Civil War from 1934 to 1939.
Martyrs of Fernán Caballero – 14 beati: Fourteen Claretian clerics who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War. – 28 July 1936 in Fernán Caballero, Ciudad Real, Spain. Bl Antolín Astorga Díez Bl Enrique Serra Chorro Bl Gregorio Charlez Ribera Bl Joan Ayats Plantalech Bl Joan Bover Teixidor Bl Joan Costa Canal Bl José Aurelio Calleja de Hierro Bl José Gutiérrez Arranz Bl Josep Camí y Camí Bl Josep Martí Coll Bl Lluis Casanovas Vila Bl Lorenzo Arribas Palacio Bl Manuel Collellmir Sentíes Bl Miguel Léibar Garay Bl Narcís Felíu Costa Bl Pedro Alonso Fernández Bl Pelagi Ayats Vergés Bl Pere Vilar Espona Bl Primitivo Sandín Miñambres Bl Ramon Gros Ballbé Bl Vicente Toledano Valenciano
Our Morning Offering – 28 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”
O God of Our Life By St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church
O God of our life, there are days when the burdens we carry chafe our shoulders and weigh us down, when the road seems dreary and endless, the skies grey and threatening, when our lives have no music in them and our hearts are lonely and our souls have lost their courage. Flood the path with light, run our eyes to where the skies are full of promise, tune our hearts to brave music, give us the sense of comradeship, with heroes and saints of every age and so quicken our spirits, that we may be able to encourage, the souls of all, who journey with us on the road of life, to Your honour and glory. Amen
But you will be delivered up by your parents and brothers and relatives and friends; and some of you they will put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake; yet not a hair of your head shall perish. By your patience you will win your souls.
Luke 21:9-19
REFLECTION – Persevere with strength and constancy in witnessing to divine grace … ; press on to receive the crown in the power of the Spirit. The Lord will be your protector and guide, as he has said: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age”. Happy the prison which despatches the men of God to heaven!
Let there be nothing in your hearts and minds now except God’s words. It is by these that the Holy Spirit has all along strengthened you for suffering. Let no one think of death, but rather of immortality; do not think of the passing pain but of everlasting glory, as it is written: “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful”. Again, when scripture speaks of the sufferings which consecrate the martyrs to God … “Though in the sight of men they were punished, their hope is full of immortality! They will govern nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord will reign over them for ever”. When you reflect that you will be judges and will reign with Christ the Lord, you must rejoice. In the light of the joy that is to come, you must trample on present sufferings.
The Lord made himself a model of all this. He taught us that no one can come to his kingdom except those who followed him on his way, when he said: “He who loves his life will lose it. And he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life”, Saint Paul, too, exhorts us that if we wish to attain the Lord’s promises, we should imitate the Lord in everything: “We are children of God,” he says, “and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him”.
PRAYER – Remember Lord, Your solemn Covenant, renewed and consecrated by the Blood of the Lamb, so that Your people may obtain forgiveness for their sins and continued growth by grace. May the Blessed Virgin, the Mother of Christ, our Treasure, intercede for our salvation. We make our prayer through Jesus Christ Your Son, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God with You Father, now and forever, amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 28 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Readings: Ps 78:11; 78:12; 78:10, Ps 78:1, Wis 10:17-20, Luke 21:9-19
God gave the holy ones the recompense of their labors, conducted them by a wondrous road, and became a shelter for them by day and a starry flame by night. He took them across the Red Sea and brought them through the deep waters – but their enemies He drowned in the sea, and cast them up from the bottom of the depths.
Wis 10:17-20
If we speak of legal justice, it is evident that it stands foremost among all the moral virtues, for as much as the common good transcends the individual good of one person. On this sense the Philosopher declares that “the most excellent of the virtues would seem to be justice, and more glorious than either the evening or the morning star.” But, even if we speak of particular justice, it excels the other moral virtues for two reasons. The first reason may be taken from the subject, because justice is in the more excellent part of the soul, viz. the rational appetite or will, whereas the other moral virtues are in the sensitive appetite, whereunto appertain the passions which are the matter of the other moral virtues. The second reason is taken from the object, because the other virtues are commendable in respect of the sole good of the virtuous person himself, whereas justice is praiseworthy in respect of the virtuous person being well disposed towards another, so that justice is somewhat the good of another person.
St Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica, Question 58 – Justice)
It seems as if from Bethlehem and Nazareth we were to be continually looking on to the end of all things, and reminding ourselves that that sweet and gentle Child, around Whose opening days are clustered so many tender thoughts of thankfulness and hopefulness and love, is to come hereafter, terrible to His enemies, a fire going before His face, Heaven and earth rolling up like a scroll before Him, & ‘with the voice of an Archangel and the trumpet of God’ calling on the dead to arise and come to judgment.
Fr Coleridge SJ. 1822 -1893 (The Return of the King)
Cruelty lies not only in allowing the bad to do what they will, but in another thing too quite as much; to overlook, and leave uncared for, him who has done no wrong, but who is without cause or reason suffering ill. For tell me; were any one to gather together wicked men from all quarters, and arm them with swords, and bid them go about the whole city, and massacre all that came in their way, could there be anything more like a wild beast than he? And what if some other should bind, and confine with the utmost strictness those whom that man had armed, and should snatch from those lawless hands them, who were on the point of being butchered; could anything be greater humanity than this?
St John Chrysostom (Homily 16 on Matthew)
Do not suppose, my sisters, that because you do not seek favour with the world you will be left to starve; I can reassure you about that. Never try to sustain yourselves by any human artifice, or you will perish of famine as you would deserve. Look to your Spouse; He must maintain you: if He is pleased with you, those who like you least will give you food even against their will, as you have learnt by experience.
St Teresa of Avila (The Way of Perfection)
Oh grateful and delightsome service of God, whereby man is made truly free and holy! Oh sacred condition of the religious servant, which maketh man equal to the Angels, well-pleasing unto God, terrible to evil spirits, and acceptable to all faithful ones! Oh service to be embraced and ever desired, in which the highest good is promised, and joy is gained which shall remain for evermore!
In Baptism the Precious Blood washes away from the soul of the new-born child, or of the adult who approaches the sacrament in good dispositions, the stain of original sin. This privilege extends to all, whether within the Church or outside of it, who are validly baptised with water, and the words prescribed and the intention on the part of him who administers it to do that which the Catholic Church does in the baptism of her children. Thus through the power of the Precious Blood hundreds and thousands of little children are enabled to see the face of God forever in heaven.
It is not merely the absence of what is hateful to God that is the result of Baptism. The soul of the baptised child receives a share of all the perfections and graces won for us by the Precious Blood. It is not merely cleansed, but sanctified. It is not colourless like water, but red with the charity of which the Precious Blood is the sign and symbol. It is filled with all the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the virtues of faith, hope and charity are poured into it. It is beautiful exceedingly in God’s sight, for it has a supernatural likeness to Him.
This beauty remains in the soul of all baptised persons until they commit a mortal sin. It goes on increasing with every action done for God. Nothing can take it away from us except a deliberate or grave act of disobedience to His holy law. Pray for a continually increasing sense of the incomparable beauty of baptismal innocence.
27th Day – The Seventh Shedding of the Precious Blood
Even when the work of redemption was consummated, and Jesus had breathed forth His soul into His Father’s hands, He shed once more His Precious Blood for man. It was to mark the completeness of His sacrifice that He thus poured forth, as it were, the last drop that still lingered in His Sacred Heart. It was a sign that He kept nothing in reserve. He proved His inexhaustible love to man by this last act by which He bequeathed to man the last trace of life that still remained. Oh, undying, unwavering love of Jesus, that loved us with an extremity of love unto the very end!
The water and the blood that issued from Our Lord’s side were the symbols of the two chief sacraments: the water of holy Baptism, and the blood of the Blessed Eucharist. Thus it was that Christ is said, by this piercing of His side, to have laid the foundations of the Church, amd as Eve, the spouse of Adam was formed from the side of Adam, so the Church, the sacred Spouse of Christ, was formed from His side when the spear of the centurion pierced it. Pray for an intense love of holy Church, on account of the love that Christ bears to His own true spouse.
The centurion little knew the meaning and import of his act when he pierced the side of Jesus. He had some affection of the eyes, and the blood sprinkled upon him cured his sight in a moment. At the same time grace touched his heart, and he was converted. Oh, wondrous power of the sacred blood of Christ!
Saint Anthusa of Mantinea or the Confessor. She is easily confused with Saint Anthusa the daughter of the iconoclast emperor Constantine V, but it was Saint Anthusa of Mantinea whom he summoned to ask for prayers for the labouring mother of Saint Anthusa of Constantinople, the infant daughter who was subsequently named after her.
She was an anchoress and abbess in Constantinople during the 8th century.
After the death of her parents while still very young, the saint distributed her inheritance, left her family home, and withdrew to a cave. Ninety virgins gathered around her, entrusted themselves to her guidance, and followed her example. She founded two monasteries, one for men and the other for women, and became abbess of the monastery for nuns, who “were known for their obedience to their abbess and for their spiritual discipline”.
She openly defied Emperor Constantine V’s iconoclastic prohibitions, so she, her nuns, and her nephew, who was abbot of the second monastery, were arrested and tortured. When Anthusa correctly prophesied that the emperor’s wife, who was close to death from childbirth, would safely deliver twins, a boy and a girl, the empress intervened. Anthusa’s life was spared, and the empress donated several estates to her. The empress’ daughter was named after Anthusa, educated by her, and also became a saint, founding the first orphanage in the Christian world.
Saint Anthusa of Constantinople, daughter of the emperor
Anthusa returned to her monastery, where she lived to old age. She died in 759 and was buried in her cell.
Notre-Dame-de-Foy / Our Lady of Faith,Gravelines, Liege, France (1616) – 27 July:
Not far from the small town of Dinant, in Liege near a home belonging to the Lord of Celles, two magnificent oaks once grew. One of the two venerable old trees was felled in the year 1609 by a man named Gilles, a lumberjack. The worker who inspected the tree found a small terracotta statue of the Mother of God, enthroned, as it were, with three iron bars that served as a trellis. The old oak stood on the edge of a path taken by pilgrims travelling to St Hubert. Apparently, at some time in the distant past, some pious Christian soul had placed the holy image in a hollow of the oak, as if in a niche. Then, over a period of time, the opening the tree had made while it was still young gradually closed and as it grew, the tree hid in its womb, the precious figure. Over the years the bark of the tree closed upon it and, as the road became less frequented, the existence of the Statue was completely forgotten.
To honour the Virgin, the Statue was subsequently displayed on the other oak, once again behind an iron grating, by order of the Baron of Celles. In this new Sanctuary, the Mother of God was honoured with the title of Our Lady of Faith. Those passing by did not fail to venerate the Statue;and there were many unexpected miracles. Graces of all kinds multiplied,and soon pilgrims began to flock to the area because of the dazzling miracles and very quickly a spontaneous cult grew.
The Statue was first placed in another oak but it was almost thrown away by servants who thought it had no value. The local Baron placed it near the door to his oratory at the Castle of Veves as pilgrims began to flock there. In this new Sanctuary, the image of Our Lady was honoured under the title of Our Lady of Faith, which was the name of the farm.
The first miracle occurred in 1616. As a result of the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary an old man was healed from a painful and debilitating hernia. The canonical investigation prescribed by the Bishop of Liege, was positive in its conclusion.
A Priest of the Society of Jesus had recently been sent to Gravelines. He worked diligently to cultivate souls, as if upon a fruitful vine and by his sermons excited the people of the region to a greater love for the Mother of God. Seeing that this devotion had taken root, he met with the local Magistrate to discuss how to maintain and increase the piety of the people. It was decided that they should make replicas of the Statue of Our Lady of Faith, made from the wood of the first oak. When the first was completed, the image was observed to have a great resemblance to the original. Received with great joy, it was placed in a large reliquary above the high Altar in the Parish Church.
St Aetherius of Auxerre St Anthusa of Constantinople St Arethas St Aurelius of Cordoba St Benno of Osnabruck (c 1020-1088) Bishop Bl Berthold of Garsten
St Pope Celestine I (Died 432) called “the Heresy Fighter.” Much is unknown about Celestine, including his birthday. But his reign as Pope – from 422 to his death in 432 – is credited with many achievements.
St Ecclesius of Ravenna Bl Felipe Hernández Martínez St Felix of Cordoba St Galactorio of Lescar St George of Cordoba St Hermippus St Hermocrates St Hermolaus Bl Jaime Ortiz Alzueta Bl Joaquín Vilanova Camallonga Bl José María Ruiz Cano St Juliana of Mataró St Lillian of Cordoba Bl Lucy Bufalari St Luican
Bl Maria Klemensa Staszewska Blessed Maria Magdalena Martinengo OSC Cap (1687-1737) Nun St Maurus of Bisceglia Bl Modesto Vegas y Vegas St Natalia of Cordoba Bl Nevolone of Tavenisa St Pantaleimon
St Pantaleon (Died c 305) Martyr, Lay Physician, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
Bl Rudolf Aquaviva S.J. Bl Robert Sutton St Semproniana of Mataró St Sergius of Bisceglia Bl William Davies Bl Zacarías Abadía Buesa
Martyrs of Nicomedia – 3 saints: Three Christians martyred together. The only other information to survive are their names – Felix, Jucunda and Julia. Nicomedia, Asia Minor.
Seven Sleepers of Ephesus: A group of seven young Christian men who hid in a cave in hopes of avoiding the persecution of Decius in the year 250. Found and arrested, they were ordered by the pro-consul in Ephesus to renounce their faith; they refused and were sentenced to die. Legend says that they were walled up in their hiding cave, guarded by the dog Al Rakim; when the cave wall was breached in 479 – they all woke up!
It is likely that the youths were tortured to death in various ways and buried in the cave. The resurrection story confusion came from the phrase “went to sleep in the Lord” which was used to describe the death of Christians and 479 is when their relics were discovered. Their names were Constantinus, Dionysius, Joannes, Malchus, Martinianus, Maximianus and Serapion. They were martyred in 250 in Ephesus (in modern Turkey); tradition says that they were walled up in a cave to suffocate but other records indicate that they were tortured to death in various ways. Their relics discovered in 479 and translated to Marseilles, France and enshrined in a large stone coffin.
And He entered the temple, and began to cast out those who were selling and buying in it, saying to them, It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of thieves. And He was teaching daily in the temple.
Luke 19:41-47
REFLECTION – I have therefore hastened to exhort you to set yourselves in harmony with the mind of God. For even Jesus Christ, our inseparable Life, is the Mind of the Father, as also the bishops, established in the furthest quarters, are in the mind of Jesus Christ. Hence it is fitting for you to set yourselves in harmony with the mind of the bishop, as indeed you do. For your noble presbytery, worthy of God, is fitted to the bishop, as the strings to a harp. And thus by means of your accord and harmonious love Jesus Christ is sung. Form yourselves one and all into a choir, that blending in concord, taking the key-note of God, you may sing in unison with one voice through Jesus Christ to the Father.
You are stones of the temple, prepared beforehand for a building of God the Father, being raised to the heights by the engine of Jesus Christ, which is the Cross, using as your rope the Holy Spirit. Your faith is the windlass, and love is the way which leads up to God. So then, you are all companions in festal procession along the way, bearing your God and shrine, bearing Christ and your holy treasures, fully arrayed in the commandments of Jesus Christ. And in your rejoicings I too have a part. I rejoice with you that you love nothing pertaining to the outward life, but God only.
Saint Ignatius of Antioch (Letter to the Ephesians)
PRAYER – All-powerful and ever-living God, splendour of true light and never-ending day, chase away the night of sin and fill our minds with the glory of Your coming. Take away our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh, help us in our battle with sin and the devil. By our prayers, Your holy Sacraments and the strength of the Holy Spirit, may we be ever vigilant of the evil one. By our Baptism in Your Son, we are Your children, grant us Your protection. Kindly listen to the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints and Angels, whose prayers we beg, through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God for all eternity, amen.
Now all these things happened to them as a type, and they were written for our correction, upon whom the final age of the world has come.
1 Cor. 10:6-13
At length the whole earth will be on fire and a general conflagration will ensue, such as never has been seen or heard of. The heat of the raging flames will be so intense that the stones and rocks will melt, and the sea and all waters upon the earth will boil and hiss. All men then living, every beast upon the land and every fish in the sea will be destroyed in this universal conflagration. Thus the whole world will be brought to a terrible end, and everything on this earth will be either consumed or purified by the fire. After this has happened, the appearance of the earth will be completely changed.
Fr Martin Von Cochem (The Four Last Things)
For not as yet had that great and precious thing, man, come into the world of being; it was not to be looked for that the ruler should appear before the subjects of his rule; but when his dominion was prepared, the next step was that the king should be manifested. When, then, the Maker of all had prepared beforehand, as it were, a royal lodging for the future king, he thus manifests man in the world, to be the beholder of some of the wonders therein, and the lord of others; that by his enjoyment he might have knowledge of the Giver, and by the beauty and majesty of the things he saw might trace out that power of the Maker which is beyond speech and language.
St Gregory of Nyssa (On the Making of Man)
In those days the Lord shall bring on a burning wind from the desert against them, and shall make their veins dry, and shall make their springs desolate; and all their goodly vessels shall be spoiled. Because they rose up against God, they shall fall by the sword, and their women with child shall be ripped up. Hosea 13:15 And what else is this burning wind from the east, than the Antichrist that is to destroy and dry up the veins of the waters and the fruits of the trees in his times, because men set their hearts on his works? For which reason he shall indeed destroy them, and they shall serve him in his pollution.
Pseudo-Hippolytus (On the End of the World)
The devils will have unusual power, the immaculate purity of our Order, and of others, will be so much obscured that there will be very few Christians who will obey the true Sovereign Pontiff and the Roman Church with loyal hearts and perfect charity. At the time of this tribulation a man, not canonically elected, will be raised to the Pontificate, who, by his cunning, will endeavour to draw many into error and death. Then scandals will be multiplied, our Order will be divided, and many others will be entirely destroyed, because they will consent to error instead of opposing it.
St Francis of Assisi
The bishop St. John Fisher was woken up in prison at 5 am to be told he would be executed that morning. He thanked the guard for informing him and then asked to be allowed to sleep another hour because he was tired. St Dominic Savio, faced with the question of what he would do with one hour of life left to him, replied, ‘I would continue playing football.’
Madonna del Faggio (Our Lady of the Beech Tree), Castelluccio, Bologna, Emilia Romagna, Italy (1672) – 26 July, Ascension Thursday:
In 1672 the Blessed Virgin appeared to a shepherd boy and told him that she wished to be venerated at a certain place in the beech woods near Castelluccio in central Italy. The child , following the directions to the site, discovered a terracotta Madonna affixed to one of the trees. The tiny Statue, barely 18 centimetres tall (7 inches) was moved to a wayside Shrine and then, in 1722, to its own mountain Sanctuary. Until 1964 a caretaker lived in the hermitage there. Since then a volunteer opens the Chapel only in summer on Sundays. In 1975 the sacred image was stolen and a copy was made to replace it.
Since 1756, an annual pilgrimage on Ascension Day brings the image to the Town and back again, and on St Anne’s day, 26 July, a procession goes to the site of the beech tree where the Statue had been originally found, although the tree itself is no longer there as it fell during a storm.
The Sanctuary’s holy card, shown above, does not seem to depict the terracotta image. It may represent one of the paintings of Lorenzo Pranzini, who decorated the interior of the Chapel in the 1800s.
St Benigno of Malcestine Bl Camilla Gentili St Charus of Malcestine Bl Edward Thwing Bl Élisabeth-Thérèse de Consolin St Erastus Bl Évangéliste of Verona St Exuperia the Martyr Bl George Swallowell St Gérontios Bl Giuseppina Maria de Micheli St Gothalm St Hyacinth Bl Jacques Netsetov Bl John Ingram St Joris Bl Marcel-Gaucher Labiche de Reignefort Bl Marie-Claire du Bac Bl Marie-Madeleine Justamond Bl Marie-Marguerite Bonnet St Olympius the Tribune St Parasceva of Rome (Died c 180) Virgin Martyr, Confessor St Pastor of Rome Bl Pérégrin of Verona Bl Pierre-Joseph le Groing de la Romagère
St Simeon of Padolirone St Symphronius the Slave St Theodulus the Martyr
Blessed Titus Brandsma OCD (1881-1942) Martyr of the Faith, Carmelite Religious Priest, Mystic, Philosopher, Lecturer, Writer, Editor, Preacher, Linguist, Social Activist.
John Ingram, born in 1565 at Stoke Edith, Herefordshire, England. Son of Anthony Ingram of Wolford, Warwickshire, and Dorothy, daughter of Sir John Hungerford. He was an English Jesuit and martyr who was executed in Gateshead on 26 July 1594, during the reign of Elizabeth I, aged 29.
He was educated at Worcestershire and the New College, Oxford, England and was an adult convert to Catholicism. After graduating from there at 17 years old, he left England for Douai, then he attended the English College at Rheims, France; the Jesuit College at Pont-a-Mousson, France; and the English College Seminary, in Rome. On the way to Rheims he and three other young men were waylaid and held for ransom by a troop of Calvinist mercenaries in the pay of Francis, Duke of Anjou.
The first mention of Ingram is in a letter from William Allen, Principal at Rheims, to the rector of the English College in Rome: Even at the very moment of my writing to you bad tidings come of four young students. On their way to this college from Douai, they were robbed, and are still held captive, by the soldiery of my lord, the brother of his Majesty, and a large sum of money is demanded of us for their ransom. Meanwhile the soldiers are dragging their unhappy victims from town to town, and from province to province, in the direction of their camp in Belgium. God knows how much we shall have to pay to redeem them, for letters from the Mayor and Corporation of Rheims in their favour have been entirely without effect.”
But the four young men, John Ingram, Richard Haward, Thomas Heath and Christopher Haywood, managed to escape and made their way to Rheims, arriving, in a state of the utmost destitution during October and November 1582. On 10 June 1585, he took the oath of commitment to return to England as a Missionary Priest and took minor orders. John was ordained at Rome in 1589.
Sent on a mission to Scotland in 1592, he was supported by Lords Huntly, Angus, and Erroll, the Abbot of Dumbries, and Sir Walter Lindsay of Balgavies. To get there John traveled to Abbeville in France, then doubled back to Brussels where he said Mass in a secret chapel run by the Jesuits, and thence to Antwerp where he visited the Carthusian church and said Mass. There he abandoned his clerical garb and dressed as a layman. This circuitous route was possibly to obscure his intentions and identity, from the network of spies maintained by the English Government, who were always on the lookout for priests. John lived for 18 months as resident chaplain to the household of Sir Walter Lindsay, in the guise of a steward, ministering to the local faithful. He converted many people to the faith.
He lived under a number of aliases, but when Sir Walter Lindsay fled to Spain after angering the king by his own allegiance to the Faith, John fled south and to evade pursuit, slipped across the English border on 25 November 1593. He rested for some hours at Wark-on-Tweed and then traveled downriver seeking a means to cross back into Scotland but he was apprehended by the English border guards near Norham Castle.
Strenuous efforts were made by Scottish supporters to secure his release, one laird claiming Ingram as his own son, and others offering the substantial ransom of a thousand crowns for his release. This only confirmed the English belief that they had captured someone of significant importance, as up till then they were not certain whether he was a priest or some other enemy of the state.
He was imprisoned for his faith at Berwick, Durgam, York, and the Tower of London. Tortured in the Tower for the names of other “traitorous” Catholics, he gave away nothing, ministered to and encouraged his fellow prisoners, and still wrote 20 Latin epigrams that have survived.
Ingram arrived at the Tower of London on Holy Saturday, 17 April 1593, and later wrote:
Rocks are quarried, the entrails of the earth, That Dives may have living rock for his tomb. No tomb seek I; and yet shall there be a living tomb
For my lifeless body — the carrion-crow.
He was severely tortured by priest hunter Richard Topcliffe. Hung by the joints of his fingers and arms, he was in extreme pain for so long that the feeling of his senses was taken completely from him. He was often put to the rack, but would give no information about persons and places. When he and another priest were moved to York, Ingram was in solitary confinement in a stinking vault of a locked jakehouse for four days, without either a bed to lie on or a stool to sit on. From York, he was transported to Newcastle and imprisoned in the Newgate prison there for four night. A woman visitor to the prison was struck by the serenity and joy of the priest, who said that he had good cause to be merry because his wedding day being at hand, the bridegroom must be glad, for within ten days he hoped to enjoy his Spouse. She remarked that it was true his hope was good, but his banquet was deadly; but he answered that the reward was sweet. The serenity and courage of John Ingram is reflected in two letters he wrote from prison to his friends or fellow prisoners in the same prison: “I look for my trial on Thursday and consequently for my death in God’s honour ( …) in my pained body; my spirit is not pained, nor in any disaster, distress or durance.”
Tower of London cell
Someone in Scotland offered the English Government a thousand crowns to spare Ingram’s life, but he was convicted with Saint John Boste and Saint George Swallowell (the other two Durham Martyrs), for the high crime of priesthood.
When he was asked what he had to say that he should not receive judgement, he made this answer, “I say that I am a priest, and that my exercise and practice of priesthood cannot be made treason by any Christian law; and I beseech God to forgive both you and them that make it otherways. And I do with all my heart forgive you, and all my accusers and persecutors, and so I beseech God to have mercy upon me, and to strengthen me with patience and constancy in mine agony.”
Immediately prior to his execution, he was held for a short while in the Toll-Booth in Gateshead, a small local gaol very close to the place of execution. Holtby gives an account of Ingram’s preparations, the prayers he said, his words to the bystanders, and of the execution itself:
“I take God and his holy angels to the record, that I die only for the holy Catholic faith and religion, and do rejoice and thank God with all my heart that hath made me worthy to testify my faith therein, by the spending of my blood in this manner.”
He was asked to pray for the Queen and he prayed to God that she might long reign to his glory, and that it might please him to procure her to live and die a good Catholic Christian prince. With rope around his neck he said more prayers, ending with the psalm Miserere mei Deus, after which, making the sign of the Cross and saying, “In manus tuas“, the ladder was turned; and being dead, he was cut down, bowelled, and quartered. His severed head was placed on a spike and displayed on the bridge across the Tyne.
The Toll-Booth
In Rome, at the English College, when the news of his martyrdom reached them, the staff and students sang the Te Deum in the college chapel and wrote against his name “Martyro insigni coronatus“.
Our Morning Offering – 26 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood – Reminding you and myself, that in Catholic Time, Monday is the day of the Holy Ghost and/or the Holy Angels.
Nunc, Sancte, nobis Spiritus By St Ambrose (340-397) Come, Holy Ghost, Who ever One Trans John Henry Newman (1801-1890) Trans 1836
Come, Holy Ghost, Who ever One Art with the Father and the Son. Come, Holy Ghost, our souls possess With Thy full flood of holiness.
In will and deed, by heart and tongue, With all our powers, Thy praise be sung. And love light up our mortal frame, Till others catch the living flame.
Almighty Father, hear our cry Through Jesus Christ our Lord most high, Who with the Holy Ghost and Thee Doth live and reign eternally.
At that time, when Jesus drew near to Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, If you had known, in this your day, even you, the things that are for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.
Luke 19:41-47
REFLECTION – Do not despise sinners because we are all guilty. If you rise up against him for love of God, weep for him, rather. Why despise him? Despise his sins and pray for him if you would be like Christ, who was not angered at sinners but prayed for them. Don’t you see how he wept over Jerusalem? For we too have been played around with by the devil more than once. Why despise someone just like ourselves, who has been a plaything of the devil who taunts us all? You who are merely a man, why despise the sinner? Is it because he is not righteous like you? But where is your righteousness so long as you have no love? Why did you not weep over him? To the contrary, you persecute him. It is because of their ignorance that some people are annoyed with others – those who think they have discernment into the works of sinners.
St Isaac the Syrian (Ascetical discourses)
PRAYER – True light of the world, Lord Jesus Christ, as You enlighten all men for their salvation, give us grace, we pray, to herald Your coming by preparing the ways of justice and of peace. Help us Lord, that we may sprout and bear fruit, fitting to grow and be a home of comfort to our neighbour. By the prayers of Sts Anne and Joachim, may we too be beacons of Your Light and of the glory of Your Kingdom. Through Jesus our Lord, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 26 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Readings: Ps 53:6-7, Ps 53:3, 1 Cor. 10:6-13, Luke 19:41-47
For days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a rampart about you, and surround you and shut you in on every side, and will dash you to the ground and your children within you, and will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you have not known the time of your visitation.
Luke 19:41-47
As therefore with regard to the prisoner, when you see him with irons on his back, on his hands, and often on his feet too, you therefore most of all account him miserable; so also as to the rich man, when you see him encompassed with innumerable affairs, let him not be therefore rich, but rather for these very things wretched, in your account. For together with these bonds, he has a cruel jailor too, the wicked love of riches; which suffers him not to pass out of this prison, but provides for him thousands of fetters, and guards, and doors, and bolts; and when he has cast him into the inner prison, persuades him even to feel pleasure in these bonds; that he may not find so much as any hope of deliverance from the evils which press on him.
St John Chrysostom (Homily 14 on Matthew)
On account then of all these things let us entreat the Redeemer of our souls, that He would both burst asunder our bands, and remove this our cruel jailor, and having set us free from the burden of those iron chains, He would make our spirits lighter than any wing. And as we entreat Him, so let us contribute our own part, earnestness, and consideration, and an excellent zeal. For thus we shall be able both in a short time to be freed from the evils which now oppress us, and to learn in what condition we were before, and to lay hold on the liberty which belongs to us.
St John Chrysostom (Homily 14 on Matthew)
And He entered the temple, and began to cast out those who were selling and buying in it, saying to them, It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of thieves.
Luke 19:41-47
It is great honour, great glory to serve Thee, and to despise all for Thy sake. For they shall have great grace who of their own will shall submit themselves to Thy most holy service. They who for Thy love have cast away every carnal delight shall find the sweetest consolation of the Holy Ghost. They who enter the narrow way of life for Thy Name’s sake, and have put away all worldly cares, shall attain great liberty of spirit.
Thomas a Kempis (Third Book: Chapter X)
Therefore all religion is for the sake of the soul; for howsoever the nature of the body may be, it causes no care or anxiety, especially after death, to him, whose soul possesses that whereby it is blessed.
26th Day – The Sixth Shedding of the Precious Blood
Not the hands alone, that did for man those works of love, but also the feet, that went about doing good, were pierced by the cruel nails. It seems as if men were bent on requiting the very limbs that were employed for the good of man with evil in return. They not only hate Him without a cause, but they hated Him for His love to them. Such is man when he is in Satan’s power. Such have I too often been, so ungrateful to God, rebelling against the means which He employed to heal my soul and deliver me from sin.
What must have been the unutterable agony of those three hours during which the sacred body of Our Lord was dragging with all its weight on the wounds in His hands and feet! Who can describe it? The agony that racked each nerve so that there was no sound part of His body, the utter exhaustion, and, worst of all, the agonising thirst that was the effect of the the continual streams which drained His sacred body of the Precious Blood. Who can imagine it? “Behold and see, all who pass by the way, whether there is any sorrow like to My sorrow.”
Yet these wounds inflicted by man’s malignity, are now employed by Jesus as arguments pleading for mercy for sinners at His Father’s hands. Oh, Jesus, when shall I forgive, as Thou didst forgive me? When shall I learn that it is a privilege and a glory to return good for evil, and so to resemble Thee?
It’s been a month since my mom, the founder of this site, died, and I want to once again thank all who have supported her, and her family, in the past, and since her death. Such support, from donations to prayers, to the simplest comment of support, has been invaluable, and I cannot express our gratitude enough. I especially want to thank her great friend: Hugh. Everyone who has supported is being prayed for during our priest’s daily masses, and monthly supporters have masses offered for them and their intentions. Thank you so much ❤ God bless.
St James the Greater (Feast) – Son of Zebedee and Salome, brother of Saint John the Apostle. He is called “the Greater” simply because he became an Apostle before Saint James the Lesser.
Notre-Dame du Saguenay / Our Lady of Lac Bouchet, Quebec (1920) – 25 July:
The Saguenay Fjord is an ancient glacial valley that has been overrun with sea water. In the year 1828 a surveyor, Joseph Bouchette, ventured into the region for the purpose of collecting data for topographical maps. It was during this expedition that he found a suitable site for a future village, which Pascal Dumais and his family later settled. This marked the founding of the village of Lac-Bouchette, with more and more people coming to settle in the area until the village had 300 inhabitants by 1888.
Our story actually begins with a man named Charles Napoleon Robitaille, a salesman who travelled the roads in and around Quebec. During the winters he would have to cross frozen rivers and it was in the winter of 1878 while trying to cross the Saguenay River that the ice broke under the weight of his horse and sleigh. Pulled beneath the surface of the icy waters, Charles was alone and completely helpless. Knowing he was dying, he implored the Blessed Virgin Mary to save him.
Charles miraculously survived, and managed to escape from the river with his life. He knew the Virgin had assisted him and so to honour Mary and her recent apparition at Lourdes, he asked Louis Jobin to create a huge Statue of the Blessed Virgin sculpted in the image of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Immaculate Conception. He envisioned the Statue in the heights overlooking the mouth of the river. The Statue Jobin sculpted became known as Notre-Dame du Saguenay.
The finished Statue is an impressive more than 10,5 metres high and weighs 3 tons. Sculpted of solid white pine, it was then sheathed in lead to protect it from the harsh weather. Hauling such a huge Statue into place was a difficult task in the late nineteenth century. After being constructed, it was broken down into 14 separate pieces and then hoisted into place and rebuilt. The Statue made Louis Jobin the most famous sculptor of the time, and it has become a regional landmark, with visitors from all over the world assembling at her feet to sing the Ave Maria.
In 1889 the mission Church of Saint Thomas Aquinas was built and the next year Father Joseph Ironwood became the first Priest there A second Church was soon built, in 1898, as the population increased dramatically. Now, on the north shore of Lake Bouchet, in the Province of Quebec, there stand the buildings of a Friary and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Saguenay. In 1920, Father Elzear Delamarre built a house and a private Chapel dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua on the site, which later became known as the hermitage of Saint Anthony and is one of the national Shrines in Quebec. So began the pilgrimage-shrine that has since grown steadily in popularity.
After Father de Lamarre’s death in 1925, the Capuchin Franciscans took over the property, built their house and Church there and minister to the thousands of pilgrims who visit the Blessed Mother at her Sanctuary.
Bl Alexius Worstius
Blessed Antonio Lucci OFM.Conv. (1682-1752) Bishop of Bovino, Franciscan Friar, Theologian, Professor, Writer, Apostle of Charity and Marian devotee.
Bl Antonio of Olmedo St Bantu of Trier St Beatus of Trier
St Cugat del Valles Bl Darío Acosta Zurita St Ebrulfus St Fagildo of Santiago St Felix of Furcona St Florentius of Furcona St Glodesind of Metz St Magnericus of Trier (c 520-596) Bishop and Confessor Bl Michel-Louis Brulard Bl Mieczyslawa Kowalska St Mordeyren St Nissen of Wexford St Olympiad of Constantinople St Paul of Palestine
Blessed Pietro Corradini OFM (1435–1490) Priest of the Franciscan Friars Minor, Confessor, Preacher, Spiritual Director
St Theodemir of Cordoba — Martyrs of Caesarea – 3 saints: Three Christians martyred together in the persecutions of emperor Maximilian and governor Firmilian – Paul, Tea and Valentina. 309 in Caesarea, Palestine.
Martyrs of Cuncolim – 20 saints: On 15 July 1583 the group met at the church of Orlim, and hiked to Cuncolim to erect a cross and choose land for a new church. Local anti-Christian pagans, seeing the unarmed Christians, gathered their weapons and marched on them. One of the parishioners, a Portuguese emigre named Gonçalo Rodrigues, carried a firearm, but Father Alphonsus Pacheco stopped him from using it. The pagans then fell upon them, and killed them all without mercy. They were – • Alphonsus Pacheco • Alphonsus the altar boy • Anthony Francis • Dominic of Cuncolim • Francis Aranha • Francis Rodrigues • Gonçalo Rodrigues • Paul da Costa • Peter Berno • Rudolph Acquaviva • ten other native Christian converts whose names have not come down to us They were martyred on Monday 25 July 1583 at the village of Cuncolim, district of Salcete, territory of Goa, India. Beatified on 30 April 1893 by Pope Leo XIII.
Saint Cucuphas, also known as Cobad, Cocoba, Cucufate (and many more). His name is said to be of Phoenician origin with the meaning of “he who jokes, he who likes to joke.”
Cucuphas was born into a noble Christian family in Scillis, North Africa. He and Saint Felix were deacons in Carthage and they later arrived at Barcelona to evangelize. Cucuphaslived as a merchant in Barcelona while preaching the Faith, baptizing converts, and aiding the Christian community there. He was generous with the poor and a worker of miracles.
He was martyred near Barcelona during the persecution of Diocletian. He suffered many torments. He was handed over to twelve strong soldiers, who were ordered to whip him and tear his skin with iron nails and scorpions. He was then roasted alive after being covered in vinegar and pepper, but was miraculously saved him from death and injury. A great bonfire also failed to kill him and instead killed his would-be executioners. His jailers then converted to Christianity after they found Cucuphas in his cell illuminated by a heavenly light. The next day, he was flagellated with iron whips. Divine intervention slew the prefect Maximianus when his carriage caught on fire. Rufus, the new prefect, having learnt from the experiences of his predecessor, did not dare practice torture of any kind on the saint, and instead ordered his immediate execution by sword, ordering his throat to be cut.
Two Christian women, Juliana and Semproniana, buried his body and were subsequently martyred as well. The Benedictine abbey of Sant Cugat del Vallès is situated on the site of his martyrdom.
Reliquary casket of Saint Cucuphas
The poet Prudentius honored him in a hymn. Cucuphas is mentioned in the Hieronymian Martyrology; the Prayer Book of Verona; in a hymn called Barcino laeto Cucufate vernans, which says: “Barcino bursts into the vernal joy,of Saint Cucuphas, honoring his remains, and spreads privet branches on the burial mound and on the tomb”.
Saint Cucuphas Chapel Basilica Saint Denis
Since the eighth century, Sant Cugat has claimed Cucuphas’ relics. In the eighth century, Saint Fulrad took a relic of Cucuphas from Sant Cugat to Saint-Denis. The relics of Cucuphas occupy a place of honor in the apse to the right of Saint Denis to this day. Many churches in Europe claim his relics, including Reichenau; the cathedrals of Braga, Oviedo; and Lièpvre.
Our Morning Offering – 25 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Feast of St James the Greater and the Memorial of St Christopher (died c 251)
The Christopher Prayer, Make Us True Christ-Bearers Anonymous
Father, grant that we may be, bearers of Christ Jesus, Your Son. Allow us to fill, the world around us, with Your light. Strengthen us, by Your Holy Spirit, to carry out our mission of living and following the path of Jesus, our Lord. Help us to understand, that by Your grace our gifts are Your blessings, to be shared with others. Fill us with Your Spirit of love to give glory to You in loving all and preaching by our love. Nourish in us the desire to go forth as the bearers of Your Son fearless and gentle, loving and merciful. Make us true Christ-Bearers, that in seeing us, only He is visible. Amen.
One Minute Reflection – 25 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Feast of St James the Greater – Readings: Ps 138:17, Ps 138:1-2, 1 Cor. 4:9-15, Matt 20:20-23
To this very hour we hunger and thirst, and we are naked and buffeted, and have no fixed abode.
1 Cor. 4:9-15
REFLECTION – We are celebrating today the heavenly birthday of a martyr. We must not consider ourselves altogether strangers to his virtue of patience. If with the Lord’s help we are striving to observe the virtue of patience, though we are living in a time of peace for the Church, yet we are holding the palm of martyrdom. There are in truth two kinds of martyrdom: one in the heart, the other in heart and action at the same time. And so we can be martyrs, even if we are not slain by anyone’s sword. To die at the hands of a persecutor is unmistakably martyrdom; to bear insults, to love one who hates us, is martyrdom in our secret thought.
Truth, who asked the sons of Zebedee: “Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” testifies that there are two kinds of martyrdom, one in our secret actions, the other in public. When they immediately answered: “We are able,” the Lord replied: “You will indeed drink my cup”. What do we understand by his cup except his passion, of which he said elsewhere: “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me”? But the sons of Zebedee, James, that is, and John, did not both die as martyrs; yet each heard that he would drink of the cup. John did not end his life in martyrdom, yet was a martyr, because he sustained in his heart the suffering he did not undergo in his body.We too, following his example, can be martyrs without a sword, if we truly guard patience in our minds.
St Gregory the Great (Homilies on the Gospel, no.35 )
PRAYER – Lord our God, You accepted the sacrifice of St James, the first of Your Apostles to give his life for Your sake. May Your Church find strength in his martyrdom and support in his constant prayer. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. St James the Greater, Apostle of Christ, Pray for us! Amen
Jesus answering, said: You know not what you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink? They say to him: We can. He saith to them: My chalice indeed you shall drink; but to sit on my right or left hand, is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared by my Father.
Matt 20:20-23
For the arrogant is of necessity base, and, on the contrary, the lowly-minded is high. For this is the height that is true and genuine, and exists not in name only, nor in manner of address. And that which is from without is of necessity and fear, but this is like to God’s. Such a one, though he be admired by no one, continues high; even as again the other, though he be courted by all, is of all men the basest. And the one is an honor rendered of necessity, whence also it easily passes away; but the other is of principle, whence also it continues steadfast.
St John Chrysostom (Homily 65 on Matthew)
For this we admire the saints also, that being greater than all, they humbled themselves more than all. Wherefore even to this day they continue to be high, and not even death has brought down that height.
St John Chrysostom (Homily 65 on Matthew)
I am going to tell you that Jesus Christ, by His sufferings and His death, has made all our actions meritorious, so that for the good Christian there is no motion of our hearts or of our bodies which will not be rewarded if we perform them for Him.
St John Vianney
Justin said, No right-thinking person falls away from piety to impiety. Rusticus the prefect said, Unless you obey, you shall be mercilessly punished. Justin said, Through prayer we can be saved on account of our Lord Jesus Christ, even when we have been punished, because this shall become to us salvation and confidence at the more fearful and universal judgment-seat of our Lord and Saviour. Thus also said the other martyrs: Do what you will, for we are Christians, and do not sacrifice to idols.
The Martyrdom of Justin
O blessed ones, count whatever is hard in this lot of yours as a discipline of your powers of mind and body. You are about to pass through a noble struggle, in which the living God acts the part of superintendent, in which the Holy Ghost is your trainer, in which the prize is an eternal crown of angelic essence, citizenship in the heavens, glory everlasting.
Tertullian (To the Martyrs)
Very pleasing to Me, dearest daughter, is the willing desire to bear every pain and fatigue, even unto death, for the salvation of souls, for the more the soul endures, the more she shows that she loves Me; loving Me she comes to know more of My truth, and the more she knows, the more pain and intolerable grief she feels at the offenses committed against Me.
AnaStpaul 
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