Day: August 26, 2026

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 26 August – St. Victor of Caesarea

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Saint Victor of Caesarea, martyr. Also known as Vittore. He was crucified at Caesarea, Mauretania, in Africa during the persecutions of the first century.

Saint Victor of Caesarea

And we came near to place, the walls of which were such as if they were built of light; and before the gate of that place stood four angels, who clothed those who entered with white robes. And being clothed, we entered and saw the boundless light, and heard the united voice of some who said without ceasing, ‘Holy! Holy! Holy!’

Tertullian (The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity)

Posted in MARIAN TITLES

Our Lady of Czestochowa and Memorials of the Saints – 26 August

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Lady of Czestochowa, Queen of Poland – Our Lady of Czestochowa is a revered icon of the Virgin Mary housed at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa, Poland. Several Pontiffs have recognised the venerated icon, beginning with Pope Clement XI who issued a Canonical Coronation to the image on 8 September 1717 via the Vatican Chapter. Patron of Poland. According to tradition, the Icon of Jasna Góra (Bright Mountain) was painted by St Luke the Evangelist on a tabletop built by Jesus Himself and the Icon was discovered by St Helen, mother of Emperor Constantine and collector of Christian Relics, in the Holy Land.

St Pope Zephyrinus (died 217) Martyr, he was Bishop of Rome or Pope from 199 to his death in 217. He was born in Rome. He is known for combatting heresies and defending the Divinity of Christ.

St Abundius the Martyr
St Alexander of Bergamo (Died c 287) Martyr, Imperial Roman Centurion
St Anastasius the Fuller
St Bregwin of Canterbury
St Elias of Syracuse
St Eleutherius of Auxerre
St Felix of Pistoia
Bl Herluin
Bl Ioachim Watanabe Jirozaemon
St Irenaeus of Rome

St Jeanne Elisabeth des Bichier des Anges FC (1773-1838) (commonly referred to as St Elisabeth Bichier) and known as “the Good Sister” – Religious and co-Founder with Saint André Hubert Fournet (whom we celebrate on 13 May) of the Sisters of the Cross, Sisters of St Andrew, a religious congregation which was established for the care of the poor and the instruction of rural children in the Diocese of Poitiers in 1807. She also helped to inspire the founding of a community of Priests dedicated to Missionary service, the St Elisabeth died in 1838, at which time there were about 600 Daughters of the Cross serving in some 100 communities. She was Beatified by Pope Pius XI in 1934 and Canonised by Pope Pius XII in 1947.

Bl Jean Bassano
Bl Jean of Caramola
Bl Juan Urgel
Bl Margaret of Faenza
St Maximilian of Rome
St Melchizedek the Patriarch
St Orontius of Lecce
St Pandwyna
St Rufinus of Capua
St Secundus the Theban
St Victor of Caesarea
St Victor the Martyr
St Vyevain of York

Martyrs of Celano – 3 Saints: Three Christians, Constantius, Simplicius and Victorinus, Martyred in the same area at roughly the same time. They were Martyred in c 159 in the Marsica region of Italy. At some point their relics were interred under the main Altar of the San Giovanni Vecchio Church in the Collegiata di Celano and were authenticated in 1057 by Pope Stephen IX. The city was depopulated in 1222; when it was re-built, the relics were re-enshrined in the Church.

Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:

Bl Emilio Serrano Lizarralde
Bl Francesc Casademunt Ribas
Bl Josep Maria Tolaguera Oliva
Bl Luis Valls Matamales
Bl María de Los Ángeles Ginard Martí
Bl Pere Sisterna Torrent

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 26 August – “Come Jesus, for My Feet are Soiled”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 26 August – “Come Jesus, for My Feet are Soiled”

Come Jesus,
for My Feet are Soiled
By Origen of Alexandria (c 185-253)

Come Jesus,
for my feet are soiled.
Become once more,
a Servant for my sake.
Pour water into Your basin
and come and wash my feet.
I know these words of mine,
presume too much
and yet, I dread those
frightening Words of Yours,
“If I do not wash your feet,
you can have no part in me!”
Then wash my feet,
so that I belong to You.
Yet how can I dare to say,
“Wash my feet?”
Let Peter say so;
he needed only
to have his feet washed
For he was clean through and through.
I too have been washed once in Baptism
and yet, I need that other cleansing
that You spoke of,
when You said:
“I have another baptism to undergo;”
Cleanse me Lord thoroughly,
by Your saving Death.
Amen

Origen Adamantius (c 185-253)
Priest, Theologian, Exegist,
Writer, Apologist, Father

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 26 August – The World is Everything, God Nothing!

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 26 August – St Zephyrinus, Martyr and Pope – Readings: Ps 73:20; 73:19; 73:23, Ps 73:1, Gal 3:16-22, Luke 17:11-19

Were not the ten made clean? But where are the nine? Has no one been found to return and give glory to God, except this foreigner?

Luke 17:11-19

REFLECTION – If people would do for God what they do for the world, my dear people, what a great number of Christians would go to Heaven! But if you, dear children, had to pass three or four hours praying in a church, as you pass them at a dance or in a cabaret, how heavily the time would press upon you! If you had to go to a great many different places in order to hear a sermon, as you go for your pastimes or to satisfy your avarice and greed, what pretexts there would be, and how many detours would be taken to avoid going at all. But nothing is too much trouble when done for the world.

What is more, people are not afraid of losing either God or their souls or Heaven. With what good reason did Jesus Christ, my dear people, say that the children of this world are more zealous in serving their master, the world, than the children of light are in serving theirs, who is God. To our shame, we must admit that people fear neither expense, nor even going into debt, when it is a matter of satisfying their pleasures, but if some poor person asks them for help, they have nothing at all. This is true of so many: they have everything for the world and nothing at all for God because to them, the world is everything and God is nothing.

St John Vianney

PRAYER – Look forgivingly on Thy flock, Eternal Shepherd, and keep it in thy constant protection, by the intercession of blessed Zephyrinus Thy Martyr and Sovereign Pontiff, whom Thou didst constitute Shepherd of the whole Church.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

Posted in INGRATITUDE, QUOTES on GRATITUDE

Quote/s of the Day – 26 August – Ingratitude

Posted on by AnaStpaul

But one of them, seeing that he was made clean, returned, with a loud voice glorifying God, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks; and he was a Samaritan.

Luke 17:11-19

It would be a monstrous ingratitude to receive daily many blessings of the Divine Goodness, and not to acknowledge your gratitude, if not in deeds, at any rate, in words and canticles. Besides that, if this gratitude is due to Him, it is no less advantageous to ourselves. God has no need of us, but we have every need of Him.

St John Chrysostom

We ought to imitate the liberality of the soil, which repays, with usurious interest, the smallest seed that is sown therein. Holy Scripture compares an ungrateful person to a field or vine, which remains barren if not carefully cultivated, on the other hand, a grateful man is like a fruitful field, and which increases in value a hundred-fold.

St Ambrose

It is not every one who has the power of doing good, but we can always show our gratitude, for ingratitude is an unpardonable vice.

St Ambrose

A faithful and truly grateful soul ought to imitate the conduct of that prince mentioned in the Book of Esther, where it is said that he wrote down and kept an account of all the services his brave followers had done for him during his reign, in order that, by reading of them often, he was forced to acknowledge them. This is what a faithful soul should do, in order to remind him of the many graces and favours God has bestowed upon him during the whole course of his life.

Fr Louis Bourdaloue (1632 – 1704)

For those who cross by the Bridge, being still in the darkness of the body, find light, and, being mortal, find immortal life, tasting, through love, the light of Eternal Truth which promises refreshment to him who wearies himself for Me, who am grateful and just, and render to every man according as he deserves. Wherefore every good deed is rewarded, and every fault is punished. 

The Dialogue of St Catherine of Siena

Posted in AUGUST - The Immaculate Heart of Mary

Thought for the Day – 26 August – Strength and Power of God Mirrored in the Admirable Heart of Mary

Posted on by AnaStpaul

St John Eudes – The Admirable Heart of Mary

Strength and Power of God Mirrored in the Admirable Heart of Mary

The principal and most common appellations given to God in Sacred Scripture are the words strong and mighty. He says of Himself: “I am the most mighty God? and “I am God Almighty.” If you should ask how these two attributes differ from each other, I would answer that in God power and strength are one and the same perfection; yet there is some difference between their effects. It belongs to all-powerfulness to work great and admirable wonders and the characteristic of strength is to accomplish all things easily, without pain or fatigue.

Let us now see the strength and power operate in the Heart of our august Queen. I visualize their image engraved on her pure Heart most perfectly. Consider the power which the Heart of the Mother of the Almighty exerts over Him Who has chosen to obey her as His Mother: “And he was subject to them.” The maternal authority and power God has given Mary over Himself will never be separated from her divine maternity, for the Son of Mary will never relinquish the nature He assumed in His Beloved Mother’s womb and never will He withdraw the privileges He once conferred upon her.

If the heart of the faithful Christian, who believes in Jesus Christ, finds everything possible according to His holy word: “All things are possible to him that believeth,” what can be impossible for the maternal Heart of Mary who conceived the Son of God in her sacred womb, gave Him birth, nourished Him, took care of Him in childhood, accompanied Him in all labors and sufferings, and loved Him more than all the hearts of Heaven and earth put together?

“If all things are possible to him who believes, how much more must this be true of her who loves Him?” says Gerson. “And of her who bore Him,” adds St. Bernardine of Siena.

Hers is the Heart of the valiant woman spoken of by Solomon, always inspired with vigorous and manly virtue, through which she accomplished all things with sovereign perfection and without the least defect. This valiant woman’s Heart bore the sharpest pain and the most violent anguish with marvellous constancy and unshakeable fortitude. Her intrepid Heart crushed the infernal dragon’s head, that is, sin, prefigured by Holofernes, and the powers of hell fear the Immaculate Heart even as an army in battle array’ because Our Lady fought courageously against all God’s enemies and obtained a glorious Victory.

But what is more, she vanquished, so to speak, the Almighty Himself, for I hear an angel saying to Jacob: “Thou shalt no longer be called Jacob, but thy name shall be Israel,” which means according to St. Jerome and the Septuagint “strong against God.” This interpretation agrees with the Angel’s own explanation, for after having said: “Thy name shall be Israel,” he adds; “for if thou hast been strong against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men?” Jacob had overcome only an angel, but that angel represented God; hence he was told he had overcome God Himself,

Jacob’s holy daughter, the worthy Mother of Christ, has, in a way really overcome God Himself. How often has she not, through the efficacy of her prayers and merits, and by the power of her love, disarmed the anger of God and arrested the torrent of His indignation, which would otherwise have flooded and destroyed the world because of its innumerable crimes? How many times has Our Lady besought divine vengeance to lay aside the thunderbolts ready to be hurled against criminal mankind? How often has her Heart’s incomparable charity clasped the hands of God’s terrible justice and stopped Him from punishing men as they deserve? “How powerful is her love,” says Richard of St. Victor, “since it overcomes the Almighty.” Yes, the love and charity of Mary’s Heart are powerful, and have as it were vanquished God Himself!

History is filled with instances where Our Lady has shown her incomparable power on behalf of those who invoke her protection, manifesting publicly to armies and nations the strength that she also extends to each Christian in his own inner struggle against sin. But her strength is for those who invoke, love, honor and venerate her heart. O Glorious Queen of the World, make us sharers in the divine power which fills thy holy Heart and give us strength against the enemies of thy Divine Son, who is all and does all in thee!