Day: November 8, 2025

Posted in DEVOTIO, PURGATORY, QUOTES on ALMS, The HOLY SOULS

Thought for the Day – 8 November – The Advantages of Devotion to the Souls in Purgatory

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 8 November – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Advantages of Devotion
to the Souls in Purgatory

“The story is told of St John of God who, on one occasion, when he was finding it difficult to provide for the crowds of sick people, whom he had in his hospital, he went about the streets of Granada, crying: “My dear brothers, give alms to yourselves!”
Many were astonished at these words but, the Saint explained that Jesus regards, as done to Himself, anything which we do for the poor and unfortunate and that, therefore, He repays the generous giver handsomely.
Since the Souls in Purgatory, are poor and needy, it is certain that, whatever we do for them, will redound to our own advantage.

St Margaret of Cortona had a keen devotion to the Faithful Departed.
It is related of her that when she was dying, she saw a band of blessed spirits descending from above, in order to escort her into Heaven.
These were the countless souls whom her prayers had rescued from the pains of Purgatory.

“If only everyone realised,” the Cure d’Ars once said to a fellow Priest, “what great influence with God, the Holy Souls in Purgatory possess and, the vast number of favours which we obtain through their intercession, they certainly would not be forgotten. Let us pray earnestly for them and they will intercede strongly for us!”

“Whenever I wish to obtain some favour from our Heavenly Father,” said St Catherine of Bologna, “I have recourse to the Souls in Purgatory. I beseech them to present my petition to the Divine Majesty, in their name and through their intercession, my request is granted.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/11/08/thought-for-the-day-7-november-they-advantages-of-devotion-to-the-souls-in-purgatory/

Posted in CONFESSION/PENANCE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, HYMNS, MARCH the month of ST JOSEPH, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on MORTIFICATION, QUOTES on PURITY, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, REDEMPTORISTS CSSR, St JOSEPH, The COMMUNION of SAINTS, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 8 November – The Octave Day of All Saints

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 8 November – “The Month of The Holy Souls in Purgatory” – The Octave Day of All Saints – Apocalypse 7:2-12; Matthew 5:1-12 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Blessed are the clean of heart,
for they will see God.”

Matthew 5:8

“The Almighty has concentrated in St Joseph,
as in a sun of unrivalled lustre,
the combined light and splendour
of all the other Saints.”

St Gregory Nanzianzen (330-390)
Father & Doctor of the Church

“Death to the Saints is not a punishment but a reward.
“For so He giveth His beloved sleep.” (Ps cxxvii: 3).
The death of him, who loves God,
is not called death but sleep, so he can truly say:
“I will lay me down in peace
and take my rest.” (Ps iv: 9).

Cardinal St Fisher, as Saunders relates,
when about to die for the Faith,
put on the best clothes he had, saying, he was going to a wedding.
When he came in sight of the scaffold
he cast away his staff, saying:
“Make haste my feet, make haste, for we are not far from Paradise.”
And before dying he sang Te Deum,
in returning thanks to God, Who had allowed him
to die a Martyr’s death, for the holy Faith
and thus being filled with joy,
he placed his head under the axe.”

St John Fisher (1469-1535)
Bishop, Martyr, Cardinal

“Those in the Catholic Church,
whom some rebuke for praying to Saints
and going on pilgrimages,
do not seek any Saint as their saviour.
Instead, they seek Saints,
as those whom their Saviour loves
and whose intercession and prayer,
for the seeker, He will be content to hear.
For His Own sake,
He would have those He loves, honoured.
And when they are thus honoured for His sake,
then, the honour that is given them, for His sake,
overflows especially to Himself.”

St Thomas More (1478-1535)
Martyr, Confessor

“Let us read the lives of the Saints;
let us consider the penances
which they performed
and blush to be so effeminate
and so fearful of mortifying our flesh.”

St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)

O Paradise! O Paradise!
By Fr Frederick William Faber CO (1814-1863)
Written in 1854

O Paradise! O Paradise!
Who doth not crave for rest?
Who would not seek the happy land,
Where they that loved are blest.

Where loyal hearts and true,
Stand ever in the Light,
All rapture through and through,
In God’s most holy sight?

O Paradise! O Paradise!
The world is growing old;
Who would not be at rest and free
Where love is never cold?
Where loyal hearts, &c.

O Paradise! O Paradise!
Wherefore doth death delay;
Bright death which is the welcome dawn
Of our eternal day;
Where loyal hearts, &c

O Paradise! O Paradise;
‘Tis weary waiting here;
I long to be, where Jesus is,
To feel, to see Him near.
Where loyal hearts, &c.

O Paradise! O Paradise!
I want to sin no more!
I want to be as pure on earth
As on thy spotless shore.
Where loyal hearts, &c.

O Paradise! O Paradise!
I greatly long to see
The special place my dearest Lord
Is furnishing for me.
Where loyal hearts, &c.

O Paradise! O Paradise!
I feel ’twill not be long;
Patience! I almost think I hear
Faint fragments of thy song.
Where loyal hearts, &c.

Tune: “Paradise” Joseph Barnby, 1856.

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CREEDS, FATHERS of the Church, GOD ALONE!, I BELIEVE!, ON the SAINTS, ONE Minute REFLECTION, PRACTISING CATHOLIC, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on FAITH, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on HOPE, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, QUOTES on UNITY/with GOD, The COMMUNION of SAINTS, The FAITHFUL on PILGRIMAGE, The HOLY GHOST, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 8 November – ‘ … Let charity expand our hope, as far as the Communion of Saints … ‘

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 8 November – “The Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory” – The Octave Day of All Saints – Apocalypse 7:2-12; Matthew 5:1-12 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/

“Be glad and rejoice for your reward is very great in Heaven.” – Matthew 5:12

REFLECTION – “Dearly beloved, let us anxiously attend to all which concerns the profession of our common life, “keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace,” by “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communication of the Holy Ghost”(Eph 4:3; 2 Cor 13:13). From the love of God comes the unity of the spirit; from the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ comes the bond of peace; from the imparting of the Holy Ghost, comes that communion which is necessary to those who live in common. …

“I believe, 0 Lord, in the Holy Ghost, the holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints” (Credo). This is my hope, this is my trust, this is my confidence, this is the whole of my security in the professing of my faith. … If I am allowed, O Lord, to “love Thee and love my neighbour,” (Mt 22:37-39) although my merits are small and few, yet will my hopes reach beyond them.  I am confident that the merits of the Saints will help me by the communion of charity, so that the Communion of Saints will make up for my insufficiency and imperfection. … Let charity expand our hope, as far as the Communion of Saints, in the sharing of merits and rewards but the sharing of the latter belongs to the future, for it is the sharing in the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Since, then, there are three communions – the first of nature, which includes the sharing of guilt …; the second of grace and the third, of glory. By the communion of grace, that of nature begins to be remade and the sharing of guilt to be excluded but by the communion of glory, that of nature will be perfectly restored and the communion of anger, will be entirely excluded, when “God will wipe away every tear from the eyes” of the Saints (Is 25:8; Apoc21:4). Then, among all the Saints, there will be “one heart and one soul” and “all things will be in common”when God will be “all in all” (Acts 4:2; 1 Cor 15:28). That we may all arrive at this communion and that we all may be one, “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the communication of the Holy Ghost be with us all forever. Amen.” – Baldwin of Forde O.Cist ( c 1125–1190) Cistercian Abbot, Bishop, then Archbishop of Canterbury (Treatise on the common life).

PRAYER – Almighty, eternal God, Who granted us to honour the merits of all Thy Saints in a single solemn festival, bestow on us, we beseech Thee, through their manifold intercession, that abundance of Thymercy for which we yearn. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).

Posted in BREVIARY Prayers, CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, FATHERS of the Church, FEASTS and SOLEMNITIES, GOD the FATHER, HYMNS, MARIAN POETRY, MARIAN PRAYERS, ON the SAINTS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The COMMUNION of SAINTS, The MOST HOLY REDEEMER, Our SAVIOUR

Our Morning Offering – 8 November – The Octave Day of All Saints – Salutis Aeternae Dator, Giver of Life, Eternal Lord

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Our Morning Offering – 8 November – The Octave Day of All Saints

Salutis Aeternae Dator
Giver of Life, Eternal Lord
By St Rabanus Maurus (776-856)
Lauds Hymn for All Saints

Giver of life, eternal Lord,
Thy own redeemed defend.
Mother of grace, thy children save
And help them to the end.

Ye thousand, thousand Angel hosts,
Assist us in our need.
Ye Patriarchs, with the Prophet choir,
For our forgiveness plead.

Forerunner blest and thou who still
Dost Heaven’s dread keys retain.
Ye glorious Apostles all,
Unloose our guilty chain.

Army of Martyrs, holy Priests,
In beautiful array;
Ye happy troops of Virgins chaste,
Wash all our stains away.

All ye who high above the stars
In Heavenly glory reign,
May we through your prevailing prayers
Unto your joys attain.

Praise, honour, to the Father be,
Praise to His only Son;
Praise, Holy Paraclete, to Thee,
While endless ages run.
Amen

St Rabanus Maurus (776-856) Benedictine Abbot and Bishop, Theologian, Poet, Writer – 4 February – author of Veni Creator Spiritus (The Golden Sequence) – https://anastpaul.com/2020/02/04/saint-of-the-day-4-february-saint-rabanus-maurus-osb-776-856/

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 8 November – Saint Maurus (Died 383) the 2nd Bishop and Confessor of Verdun

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Saint of the Day – 8 November – Saint Maurus (Died 383) the 2nd Bishop and Confessor of Verdun, France, serving his See for 27 years. Born probably in France and died in Verdun on 10 November 383. Also known as – Maur, Maurius.

The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Verdun. Maurus, Bishop and Confessor.”

Maurus was the 2nd Bishop of Verdun. In the chronology of the Bishops of the Diocese, he appears after St Sanctinus (c270-356), the 1st Bishop and before Salvinus.

Maurus was a disciple of St Sanctinus and was the first Priest to be Ordained in the Diocese of Verdun. Before dying, Bishop Sanctinud urged the inhabitants of Verdun to choose out Saint Maurus as their next Bishop.

Upon St Sanctinus’ death, the faithful of Verdun duly searched for Maurus for three years without discovering his whereabouts, hoping to have him appointed as their Bishop. But Maurus, not seeking worldly honours or responsibilities, did not wish to abandon his life of prayer and fasting, nor did he wish to desert gus disciples.

Finally, his location was discovered and he relented after the constant requests from the faithful of Verdun. He became the Bishop in 356, was Consecrated in the Church of Saints Peter and Paul by Author, Bishop of Metz and governed the Diocese for approximately 27 years.

Chronicles report that Saint Maurus died on 10 November 383 but he is celebrated today, 8 November.

St Sanctinus (c270-356) the 1st Bishop of Verdun:
https://anastpaul.com/2025/09/22/saint-of-the-day-22-september-st-sanctinus-c270-356-bishop-martyr/

Posted in DOMINICAN OP, MARIAN QUOTES, MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY, St Louis-Marie Grignion de MONTFORT

Octave Day of All Saints, Notre-Dame de Bellefontaine / Our Lady of the Blessed Fountain, (12th Century), Four Crowned Martyrs and all the Saints for 8 November

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Octave Day of All Saints

Notre-Dame de Bellefontaine / Our Lady of the Blessed Fountain, Bellefontaine, France (12th Century) – 8 November:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/11/08/octave-day-of-all-saints-notre-dame-de-bellefontaine-our-lady-of-the-blessed-fountain-bellefontaine-france-12th-century-and-memorials-of-the-saints-8-november/

Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces (1921):
In 1921 Pope Benedict XV instituted 8 November as the Feast Day of Our Lady Mediatrix of All Graces.
A text by St Louis Grignion de Montfort expresses this truth admirably:
“Only Mary found grace before God (Luke 1:30) without the help of any other creature. And after her, all those who found grace before God, found it only through her.
Mary was full of grace when the Archangel Gabriel saluted her (Luke 1:28) and was filled with grace when the Holy Ghost so mysteriously overshadowed her (Luke 1:35).
From day to day, from moment to moment, she increased, so much. this twofold plenitude that she attained an immense and inconceivable degree of grace.
So much so, that the Almighty made of her, the sole custodian of His treasures and sole dispenser of all His graces, so that she might ennoble, exalt and enrich all she chooses.
She can lead them along the narrow path to Heaven and guide them through the narrow gate to Life.
She can give a royal throne, scepter and crown to whomever she wishes.
Jesus is always and everywhere, the Fruit and Son of Mary, and Mary is everywhere, the true tree who bears the Fruit of Life, the true Mother, who bears that Son!” – St Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673-1716) (True Devotion to Mary No 44)

On Mary as Mediatrix of All Graces
by Fr Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange OP (1877-1964)
https://onepeterfive.com/on-mary-as-mediatrix-of-all-graces-by-fr-reginald-garrigou-lagrange/

Four Holy Crowned Martyrs: Saint Castorus, Saint Claudius, Saint Nicostratus and Saint Simpronian. Skilled stone carvers in the 3rd century quarries. Martyred when they refused to carve an idol of Aesculapius for Diocletian. They were drowned in the River Sava in 305. Patronages – against fever, cattle, sculptors, stone masons, stonecutters.

St Adeodatus I, Pope (Died 618) Bishop of Rome from 19 October 615 to 8 November 618.
The Roman Martyrology reads: “At Rome, St Deusdedit, Pope, whose merit was so great that he cured a leper by kissing him.”
The Miraculous Pope Adeodatus I:
https://anastpaul.com/2023/11/08/saint-of-the-day-8-november-saint-adeodatus-i-pope-died-618/

St Clarus of Tours (Died c397) Priest, Disciple of St Martin of Tours (c316-397), Hermit.
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Tours, St Clarus, Priest, whose Epitaph was written by St Paulinus.”
His Venerable Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2024/11/08/saint-of-the-day-8-november-st-clarus-of-tours-died-c397-priest/

St Cybi of Caenarvon
St Drouet

Blessed John Duns Scotus OFM (c1265-1308) Doctor Subtilis (Subtle Doctor) Franciscan Priest and Friar, Theologian, Philosopher, Lecturer – known as “The minstrel of the Word Incarnate” and “Defender of Mary’s Immaculate Conception”.
Blessed John Duns Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/11/08/saint-of-the-day-8-november-blessed-john-duns-scotus-ofm-c-1265-1308/

St Gervadius

St Godfrey OSB (1066–1115) Bishop of Amiens, Reformer, Apostle of Prayer and Charity, Penitent.
St Godfrey’s Holy Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/11/08/saint-of-the-day-8-november-saint-godfrey-of-amiens-osb-1066-1115/

St Gregory of Einsiedeln
St Maurus (Died 383) Bishop and Confessor of Verdun
St Moroc of Scotland
St Tysilio of Wales

St Willehad (Died 789) First Bishop of Bremen, Germany, Confessor, Benedictine Monk and Priest, a friend of Blessed Alcuin of York, disciple of St Boniface, English Missionary.
His Life:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/11/08/saint-of-the-day-8-november-saint-willehad-of-bremen-died-789/

St Wiomad of Trèves

All Deceased Dominicans
All Saints of Bologna, Italy
All Saints of Wales
Augustinian Martyrs of Spain

All Saints of the Diocese of Evry: A regional memorial of all the Saints and Beati of the calendar who have a connection to the Diocese of Evry-Corbeil-Essonnes, France:

  • Blessed Isabella of France, founded the Longchamp monastery
  • Blessed Nicolas Gaudreau, pastor of Vert-le-Petit
  • Blessed Pierre Bonse, pastor of Massy
  • Our Lady of Good Guard, patron saint of the diocese, venerated in Longpont-sur-Orge, France
  • Saint Corbinian, born in Saint-Germain-lès-Arpajon
  • Saint Denis of Paris, evangelizer of part of Essonne and revered ni Longpont-sur-Orge
  • Saint Eloi, who lived in Chilly-Mazarin
  • Saint Germain of Paris
  • Saint William of Bourges, son of Count Baldwin IV of Corbeil
  • Saint William of Aebelholt, pastor of Brunoy
  • Saint Wulfran of Sens, born in Milly-la-Forêt
  • Blessed Nativelle, vicar of Longjumeau
  • Blessed René Le Bris, pastor of Bris-sous-Forges
  • Saint Spire of Bayeux, whose relics are in Corbeil in the cathedral that bears his name