Day: October 11, 2026

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 11 October –Saint Philip the Deacon

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Saint Philip the Deacon, also known as Philip of Hierapolis and Philip the Evangelist. Born at Caesarea, Palestine, he was one of the seven Jerusalem deacons mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. He preached and performed miracles in Samaria, converting many, including the magician Simon Magus. Upon being commanded by an angel, he travelled from Jerusalem to Gaza, converting and baptizing the eunuch of Queen Candace of Ethiopia on the way.

Transported to Azotus by angels, he preached throughout the region, finally returning to Caesarea where he lived with his four daughters, virgins with the gift of prophecy. Philip met with Saint Paul the Apostle on his last journey to Jerusalem. Some traditions say be became bishop of Tralles (modern Aydin, Turkey).

Posted in MARIAN TITLES

Feast of the Divine Maternity and Memorials of the Saints – 11 October

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Feast of the Divine Maternity – Second Sunday in October or 11 October:

The object of this feast is to commemorate the dignity of the Mary as Mother of God. Mary is truly the Mother of Christ, who in One Person unites the Human and Divine Nature. This title was solemnly ratified by the Council of Ephesus on 22 June, 431. It was long celebrated in Portugal, where the Maternity of Our Lady was declared a feast on 22 January in 1751, at the request of King Joseph Manuel. The feast, granted to the Dioceses of Portugal, Brazil, and Algeria, was assigned to the first Sunday in May.

In the following year it was extended to the Province of Venice; in 1778, to the Kingdom of Naples; in 1807, to Tuscany. It was finally instituted in 1931 by Pope Pius XI in view of the fifteenth century of the Council of Ephesus. At the same time the Pope ordered, at his own cost, the restoration of the Marian mosaics in Saint Mary Major, much decayed through age.

St Agilbert of Paris

St Alexander Sauli CRSP (1534-1592) Bishop “The Apostle of Corsica,” Clerk Regular of the Congregation of Saint Paul (The Barnabites) – St Alexander is referred to as “The Second Founder,” Missionary, Writer, Teacher of philosophy and theology at the University of Pavia, Reformer, Evangeliser, Confessor, Superior-General of the Barnabites in 1565. In addition, St Alexander Sauli was both friend, advisor and spiritual comfort to St Charles Borromeo, who held him in very high esteem.

St Anastasius V
St Anastasius the Apocrisarius
St Andronicus of Ephesus
St Andronicus the Soldier
St Ansilio
St Bruno the Great
St Canice
St Digna of Sicily
St Dionisio de Santarem
St Emilian of Rennes
St Ethelburgh of Barking
St Eufridus
St Firminus of Uzes
St Germanus of Besancon
St Gratus of Oloron
St Guiadenzio of Gniezno
St Gummarus (717-774) Lay Hermit
Bl James Grissinger
St Juliana of Pavilly

St Maria Soledad Torres Acosta (1826-1887) Religious Nun and Founder of Servants of Mary.

St Nectarius of Constantinople
St Phêrô Lê Tùy
St Philip the Deacon
St Philonilla
St Placid
St Placidia
St Probus of Side
St Santino of Verdun
St Sarmata
St Taracus of Cladiopolis
St Zenaides
—
Martyrs of Vilcassin – 4 saints: Four Christians who were martyred together. We know little more than the names – Nicasius, Pienza, Quirinus and Scubicolus. Their martyrdom occurred in Vexin Lugdunense territory of Gaul (modern Vilcassin, France), date unknown.

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 11 October – Mother of my God, Lady Mary, Queen of Mercy

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Mother of my God,
Lady Mary, Queen of Mercy
By St Alphonsus Ligouri (1696-1787)
Most Zealous Doctor

Mother of my God and my Lady Mary,
as a beggar, all wounded and sore,
presents himself before a great Queen,
so do I present myself before you,
who are Queen of heaven and earth.
From the lofty throne on which you sit,
disdain not, I implore you,
to cast your eyes on me,
a poor sinner.
God has made you so rich
that you might assist the poor
and has made you Queen of Mercy,
that you might relieve the miserable.
Behold me then and pity me.
Behold me and abandon me not,
until you see me changed
from a sinner into a saint.
Amen

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 11 October – “Your son will live”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 11 October – “Month of the Holy Rosary” – Feast of the Divine Maternity – Readings: Dan 3:31; 3:29; 3:35, Ps 118:1, Eph 5:15-21, John 4:46-53

And they told him, Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him. The father knew then that it was at that very hour in which Jesus had said to him, Your son lives. And he himself believed, and his whole household.

John 4:46-53

REFLECTION – “To this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living”. But “God is not God of the dead, but of the living”. Consequently, the dead over whom he who lives has power are no longer dead but alive. Life has power over them so that they may live without any further fear of death just as “Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again”. Raised up and freed from corruption they shall see death no more. They will share in the resurrection of Christ just as he shared in their death. For no other reason did he descend to earth, whose bars are barriers to eternity, except to “shatter the doors of bronze, and cut in two the bars of iron”. He came to lead our lives away from corruption to himself and gave us freedom in place of slavery.

If the work of this arrangement of providence does not seem to be finished yet, for men still die and their bodies rot in the grave, this should in no way undermine our faith. In advance of all the good things already mentioned we have even now received a pledge through Christ our firstfruits. Through him we attain the highest heaven and take our places with him who carried us up to the heights with himself. That is what Saint Paul says somewhere: “he raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

St Anastasius of Antioch

PRAYER – Lord open our hearts to Your grace. As You brought joy to the world through the incarnation of Your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, grant that through the prayer of His Immaculate Ever-Virgin Mother, our hearts too may grow in virtue and love by learning to reflect constantly on His commandments and counsels. We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.

Posted in The BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

Quote/s of the Day – 11 October – Feast of the Divine Maternity

Posted on by AnaStpaul

If Mary is for us, who is against us? Father Manuel Padial, of the Society of Jesus, being at the point of death, Mary appeared to him, and said, to comfort him: “The hour has at length come when the angels, rejoicing, say to thee, Oh happy labors! oh mortifications well recompensed!” At which words an army of devils was seen taking flight in despair, crying: “Alas! we have no power, for she who is without stain defends him.”

St Alphonsus Liguori

Then I, their most loving Lady and mother, hasten to them in death, that they may have consolation and comfort.

The blessed Virgin to St. Bridget

The demons, when that soul is defended by Mary, will not even dare to accuse it; knowing that a soul protected by this great mother is never, and will never, be condemned.

St Alphonsus Liguori

Father Suarez, because he was all his life very devoted to Mary, used to say, that he would willingly exchange all his knowledge for the merit of one Hail Mary, and died with so much joy, that he exclaimed at his last moment, “I never imagined it would be so sweet to die.”

St Alphonsus Liguori

Blessed art thou, oh brother, if in death thou shalt find thyself bound by the sweet chains of love for the mother of God! These chains are chains of salvation, which will secure to thee eternal salvation, and give thee in death that blessed peace which will be the commencement of thy eternal peace and rest.

St Alphonsus Liguori

You too, devout reader, will doubtless feel the same peace and joy, if at death you can remember having loved this good mother, who cannot but be faithful to her children, when they are faithful to her service, paying her their offerings of visits, rosaries, and fastings, and especially thanking her, praising her, and often commending themselves to her powerful protection.

St Alphonsus Liguori

Posted in OCTOBER - The HOLY ROSARY and The HOLY ANGELS

Thought for the Day – 11 October – The Hour of Death & Glory

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The Glories of the Holy Angels

Venerable Henri Boudon, Archdeacon of Evreux

MOTIVE NINTH & TENTH

The great helps the Holy Angels afford us at the Hour of Death & Devotion to the Holy Angels is a sign of predestination to singular glory in Heaven

If to a pagan philosopher death appeared of all terrible things the most terrible, in what light should it be viewed by a Christian, to whom God has revealed its consequences ? When a person thinks seriously, that on the moment of death depends a happy or miserable eternity, his heart must be obdurate indeed, if he be not struck with fear; for “if the just be scarcely saved, where will the sinner appear?” O Lord ! “ enter not into judgment with thy servant, for no one living can be justified in thy sight!” The holy abbot Agatho, being seized with trembling at his last hour, and his religious having asked him the cause—he replied, that though by the great mercy of God, his conscience did not reproach him with anything, yet that the divine judgments being very different from those of men, he was in great alarm. No wonder he should have felt so—all our good works being imperfect in the sight of the Divine Majesty. If the Angels succour us in this dread moment, do they not prove themselves our true friends? It is in the time of affliction a person knows a sincere friend; and behold in the hour of death, when all abandon us to our fate, when our body is consigned to the solitary tomb, and our soul goes to the house of its eternity, the Angels, faithful to their charge, never depart from us.

—Our Lord once revealed, that souls devoted to the Angels during life shall receive extraordinary helps from them at the hour of death. And it is most just that the King of kings should thus evince his sense of the honours paid to his courtiers. Oh! blessed are those who by their love for and devotion to the Angels, and submission to the holy lessons which they have inspired, find themselves encompassed with their protection at the last hour, as with “a tower of defence.”

Woe to those, who have seldom thought Heaven ! How many say, that they care not, provided they may be in Heaven at all, what place they hold there. No doubt, the last place there is too high for persons who once deserved an everlasting hell; but since our merciful God calls us to aspire after the highest, it would betray great baseness of soul to be indifferent about it.

Be ambitious of the better gifts says the Holy Ghost. St. Teresa and St. Francis Borgia declared, that for one sole degree of increased glory in heaven, they would consent to burn in the flames of Purgatory till the day of judgment. These enlightened souls well knew its excellence—whereas we are incapable of discerning it, our sight being obscured by the vapours of flesh and blood. If it be asked, are not all the blessed perfectly content?—we reply, they are—but their joy is not equal. As one star differs from another in brightness, so the resurrection of the dead. The great spiritualist, Thaulerus, says, that there is more difference between one of the blessed who holds the first rank in the celestial empire, and another in an inferior degree, than between a mighty sovereign and an abject peasant. This should excite us to great and noble exertions, although there were no other motive than that by our greater glory and happiness God will be more glorified eternally. One sole degree of the glory of God would cause a soul who truly loves him to endure ten thousand deaths; and here it is not only one degree there is question of, but as many as there are moments in that eternity which is to be the term of our happiness.

Devotion to the Angels contributes wonderfully to the perfection of divine love, and consequently to the increase of glory in Heaven. These holy Spirits are all fire, and it is impossible to approach them often, without catching fire and participating in their ardours. If, with the Saints, we become sanctified— with the Angels, we are rendered celestial.

When St. Teresa was about to enter a more perfect life, a celestial voice said to her, that she should no longer hold converse with men, but with Angels. If intercourse with men be an obstacle to sanctity, familiarity with the Angels helps to our progress in it. Thus the greatest Saints have been the most devoted to the Angels. Let us endeavour to become so too, and we shall speedily advance in the ways of true sanctity, and enjoy in Heaven an eminent degree of glory.