Feast Saint Peter in Chains, the Portiuncula Indulgence, Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes / Our Lady of Mercy, Barcelona, Spain (1218) and Memorials of the Saints – 1 August

Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Feast Saint Peter in Chains:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/08/01/1-august-the-feast-of-saint-peter-in-chains/

Portiuncula Indulgence:
An Indulgence which may be gained in any Church so designated by the Bishop, by all the faithful who, after Confession and Holy Communion, visit such Churches between noon of 1 August and midnight of 2 August, or on the Sunday following. The Indulgence is toties quoties and is applicable to the souls in Purgatory.

Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes / Our Lady of Mercy, Barcelona, Spain (1218,) Founding of the Mercedarian Order – 1 August, 24 September :

On 1 August of 1218, St Peter Nolasco, St Raymund of Penafort and James, King of Aragon, each had a vision of the Virgin Mary asking them to found a religious Order devoted to freeing Christian captives from the Muslims, who still held much of Spain. The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy grew quickly, collecting alms for ransom and sometimes offering themselves in exchange for prisoners. The Statue of the Mother of God of Mercy in Barcelona (below) dates from the 1300s. She became the City’s Patron after saving it from a plague of locusts in 1687. Before the counter-reformation, the Mercedarian Order celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Ransom on 1 August, the date when she showed St. Peter Nolasco their white habit. The Vatican changed the date to 24 September when it extended the feast to entire Church in 1696. Since Vatican II, Catholic observance of Our Lady of Mercy’s day is limited to places and organisations that claim her as Patron. Meanwhile, the Mercedarians have changed their mission to teaching and chaplaincy and the Barcelona soccer team visits the Basilica of La Mercè after victories in thanksgiving for her help. Her fiesta in Barcelona is a spectacular sequence of processions, dances, music, games and fireworks.

St Adela Mardosewicz
Bl Aleksy Sobaszek
St Alexander of Perga
St Almedha
St Arcadius
St Attius of Perga
St Buono
St Brogan
St Charity
St Ethelwold of Winchester (c 912-984) Bishop
St Exuperius of Bayeux
St Faith
St Faustus
St Felix of Gerona
St Friard
Bl Giovanni Bufalari
St Hope
St Jadwiga Karolina Zak
St Jonatus
St Justin of Paris
St Kenneth of Wales
St Leontius of Perga
St Maur
St Nemesius of Lisieux
Bl Orlando of Vallombrosa
St Peregrinus of Modena
St Rioch
Bl Rudolph
St Secundel
St Secundus of Palestrina
St Sophia
St Verus of Vienne

Holy Maccabees: Jewish dynasty which began with the rebellion of Mathathias and his five sons against the Syrian king, Antiochus IV (168 BC) and ruled the fortunes of Israel until the advent of Herod the Great. Syrian attempts to force Greek paganism on the Jews, the profanation of the Temple at Jerusalem and the massacre which followed, brought the nation to arms under Mathathias, a priest of the sons of Joarib. At the death of Mathathias, Judas Machabeus, his third son, drove the Syrians and Hellenists out of Jerusalem, rededicated the Temple and began an offensive and defensive alliance with the Romans. Before the treaty was concluded, however, Judas, with 800 men, risked battle at Laisa with an overwhelming army of Syrians under Bacchides, and was slain. He was succeeded in command by his youngest brother, Jonathan (161 BC). Jonathan defeated Bacchides, revenged the death of his brother and made peace with Alexander who had usurped the throne of Demetrius, the successor to Antiochus. A period of peace followed in which Jonathan ruled as high priest in Jerusalem but Tryphon, who was plotting for the throne of Asia, treacherously captured him at ptolemais and later put him to death. The captaincy of the armies of Israel then fell to Simon, the second son of Mathathias. Under him the land of Juda flourished exceedingly. He obtained the complete independence of the country and a grateful people bestowed upon him the hereditary kingship of the nation. His rule marked five years of uninterrupted peace. He was treacherously slain by his son-in-law, Ptolemy, about the year 135 BC After Simon the race of the Machabees quickly degenerated. In 63 BC the Romans thought it necessary to interfere in the fratricidal war between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. With this interference and the advent of Herod the Great the sceptre passed forever from the land of Juda. The story of the Machabees is written in the two books of the Old Testament which bear that name.

Saints Faith, Hope and Charity: The daughters of Saint Sophia. While still children, they were tortured and martyred for their faith in the persecutions of Hadrian. They were scourged, thrown into a fire, and then beheaded.

Martyrs of Nowogrodek – 11 beati: A group of eleven Holy Family of Nazareth nuns who were murdered by the Nazi Gestapo in exchange for 120 condemned citizens of Nowogrodek, Belarus who were scheduled for revenge killings. They are –
• Adela Mardosewicz
• Anna Kukolowicz
• Eleonora Aniela Józwik
• Eugenia Mackiewicz
• Helena Cierpka
• Jadwiga Karolina Zak
• Józefa Chrobot
• Julia Rapiej
• Leokadia Matuszewska
• Paulina Borowik
• Weronika Narmontowicz
They were machine-gunned by firing squad on 1 August 1943 by the Gestapo about three miles outside Novogrudok (Nowogródek), Hrodzyenskaya voblasts’, in Nazi occupied Belarus and buried on the site of the execution in a common grave. One of their surviving sisters, Maria Malgorzata Banas, located the grave on 19 March 1945 and tended to it until her death in 1966. Their relics have since been re-interred in a common sarcophagus in the chapel of the Novograd Farny Church (the Church of the Transfiguration, also known as Biala Fara or the White Church).