Day: October 22, 2026

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saints of the Day – 22 October – Saints Alodia & Nunilo of Huesca

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Saints Alodia & Nunilo of Huesca, Spanish sisters and martyrs, born in Huesca, Spain in the 9th century. They were born to a Muslim father and Christian mother, and were raised Christian. When their father died, their mother married another Muslim man who persecuted the girls, imprisoned them, and turned them over to die during the persecution of Abdur Rahman II.

In defiance of thier stepfather’s prohibition that they attend church and his demand that they marry and convert to Islam, they were sent to live with their aunt, who was also Christian, in Castile. In 851, Abd ar-Rahman II issued a decree that all Christian children to a Muslim father had to convert to their father’s religion or be executed. After repeated failed attempts to get the sisters to agree to convert, they were arrested, put in solitary confinement, then “handed over to women of dubious morality to make them change their lifestyle”, and “were also pestered by many suitors to marry”. The sisters still refused, so they were beheaded in Huesca, Spain, on October 22, 851.

Their patronages are: child abuse victims, martyrs, people ridiculed for their piety, runaways, unmarried laywomen.

Carving of Nunilo and Alodia on the collegiate church of Alquézar.

Farewell, and be mindful of my faith; and let not these things disturb, but confirm you.

Passion of Perpetua and Felicity (Tertullian)

Posted in MARIAN TITLES

Notre-Dame de Talant / Our Lady of Talant, near Dijon, France (1443) and Memorials of the Saints – 22 October

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Notre-Dame de Talant / Our Lady of Talant, near Dijon, France (also known as the Virgin of St Luke (1443) – 22 October:

Until the twelfth Century, the French “Mons de Talant,” located at the gates of Dijon and belonging to the Estate of the Abbey of Saint-Benigne, was a completely uninhabited place. Considered as if accursed by some, the grounds were given a wide berth and altogether avoided. To others, possessing a more lively imagination, the location was said to be frequented by fairies.

In 1208, the Duke of Burgundy, Eudes III, undertook the construction of the Fortress of Talant in order to ensure a safer shelter of its treasures and archives, then in his Ducal Palace of Dijon. He founded north of the castle, a new fortified City and a Priory for some Monks of Saint Benedict. A Church, begun at the same time as the other works, was one of the earliest Gothic Churches in the Duchy of Burgundy.

The finished enclosure of the City was 1110 meters long and flanked by 33 towers. Duke Eudes III welcomed, particularly all the serfs who fled the oppression of their lord. Many peasants, attracted by the notion of freedom and the ability to work freed from all hindrance, began to arrive in droves. In 1216, the Duke granted the inhabitants the right to administer themselves by promulgating “the Charter of Commune,” exempting them from taxation and military service.

So many people were attracted to Talant that it became necessary to enlarge the Church. A bell tower was also added but the extra weight was too great and the walls began to bow outward. External buttresses were added in the 15th century to solve the problem.

John the Fearless, eldest son of Philip the Bold, returning from the Crusade in 1396, brought back as a trophy the Statue “Virgin of St Luke” that he offered to Talant. The Statue of the Virgin is exposed in the Church and in 1443, the Bishop of Langres, Charles de Poitiers, Consecrated the Church to the Mother of God.

During the Eighth War of Religion, in 1585, the partisans of Guise seized the fortress by cunning. After its return to the hands of the King in 1598, the decision was made to demolish the castle and the ramparts of the City. The work was finished in 6 months and Talant was reduced to the condition of a simple village. The Church of Notre-Dame remains, however and has been classified as an historic monument since 20 July 1908. The Statue of the Virgin of St Luke, can still be seen there.

St Abericus Marcellus
St Alodia of Huesca
St Apollo of Bawit
St Benedict of Macerac
St Bertharius of Monte Cassino
St Cordula

St Donatus of Fiesole (Died 874) Bishop of Fiesole, Irish Nobleman, Monk, Priest, Poet, Confessor, Writer, Scholar, Professor, Adviser to Emperors Louis the Pious and Lothair I, Founder of San Martino a Mensola Abbey and leader of two military expeditions against the Saracens.

Bl Esclaramunda of Majorca
St Hermes of Adrianople
St Ingbert
St Leothade of Auch
Blessed Lucia Bartolini Rucellai (Died 1520)
St Lupenzius
St Mark of Jerusalem

St Mary Salome (First Century) Disciple of Jesus, wife of Zebedee and Mother of Saints James and John, Apostles of Christ:

St Maroveus of Precipiano
St Mellon
St Moderan of Rennes
St Nepotian of Clermont
St Nunctus of Mérida
St Nunilo of Huesca
St Philip of Adrianople
St Philip of Fermo
St Rufus of Egypt
St Symmachus of Capua
St Valerius of Langres
St Verecundus of Verona
—
Martyrs of Heraclea – 4 saints: A group of four clerics in Heraclea (modern Marmara Ereglisi, Turkey) who were arrested in the persecutions of Diocletian. They were imprisoned, abused and ordered to turn over all the scriptures that they had hidden from authorities; they refused and were executed together. Martyrs. – Eusebius, Hermes, Philip and Severus. They were burned at the stake in 304 in Adrianople (modern Edirne, Turkey).

Martyrs of Adianople:
• Blessed Alexander
• Blessed Anna
• Blessed Elisabeth
• Blessed Glyceria
• Blessed Heraclius
• Blessed Theodota

Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed Álvaro Ibáñez Lázaro
• Blessed Andrés Zarraquino Herrero
• Blessed Estanislao García Obeso
• Blessed Germán Caballero Atienza
• Blessed José Menéndez García
• Blessed Josep Casas Lluch
• Blessed Luis Minguel Ferrer
• Blessed Pedro Lorente Vicente
• Blessed Victoriano Ibañez Alonso

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 22 October – Prayer of a Martyr, St Thomas More

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 22 October – Prayer of a Martyr, St Thomas More (1478-1535)

The prayer below, was written by Saint Thomas More while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London, awaiting execution by King Henry VIII.

Give Me Thy Grace, Good Lord!
A Prayer of Hope
By St Thomas More (1478-1535)

Give me Thy grace, good Lord.
To set the world at naught.
To set the mind firmly on Thee
and not to hang upon the words of men’s mouths.
To be content to be solitary.
Not to long for worldly pleasures.
Little by little, utterly to cast off the world
and rid my mind of all its business.
Not to long to hear of earthly things
but that the hearing of worldly fancies,
may be displeasing to me.
Gladly to be thinking of God,
piteously to call for His help.
To lean into the comfort of God.
Busily to labour to love Him.
To know mine own vileness and wretchedness.
To humble myself under the mighty Hand of God.
To bewail my sins past,
for the purging of them,
patiently to suffer adversity.
Gladly to bear my purgatory here.
To be joyful in tribulations.
To walk the narrow way that leads to life.
To bear the Cross with Christ.
To have the last thing in remembrance.
To have ever before mine eyes,
my death that is ever at hand.
To make death no stranger to me.
To foresee and consider,
the everlasting fire of Hell.
To pray for pardon before the Judge come.
To have continually in mind,
the Passion that Christ suffered for me.
For His benefits, unceasingly to give Him thanks.
To buy the time again, that I before have lost.
To abstain from vain conversations.
To shun foolish mirth and gladness.
To cut off unnecessary recreations.
Of worldly substance,
friends, liberty, life and all,
to set the loss at naught,
for the winning of Christ.
To think my worst enemies, my best friends,
for the brethren of Joseph
could never have done him
so much good with their love and favour,
as they did him, with their malice and hatred.
These minds are more to be desired of every man,
than all the treasures of all the princes and kings,
Christian and heathen,
were it gathered and laid together,
all in one heap.
Amen

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 22 October – “Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 22 October – “Month of the Holy Rosary”– Readings: Esth 13:9-11, Ps 118:1, Eph 6:10-17, Matt 18:23-35

His fellow-servants therefore, seeing what had happened, were very much saddened, and they went and informed their master of what had taken place.

Matt 18:23-35

REFLECTION – The Lord demands that we ourselves forgive the debts of our debtors just as we, too, ask that our own be forgiven. We should know that we cannot receive what we ask with regard to our own sins unless we do the same for those who have sinned against us. And so Christ says elsewhere: “The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you,”. And the servant who, having been freed from all his debt, was unwilling to forgive that of his fellow servant was thrown into prison. Because he would not spare his fellow, he lost that for which his master had spared him. Christ establishes this even more forcibly in his precepts when he decrees that: “When you stand to pray, forgive anyone against whom you have a grievance, so that your heavenly Father may in turn forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your transgressions,”.

When Abel and Cain first of all offered sacrifice, God did not look at their offerings but at their hearts. The one whose offering was pleasing to him was the one whose heart was pleasing to him. Abel, the peaceful and just one, by making his offering to God in innocence, taught others to come forward in the fear of God to offer their gift at the altar, with a simple heart, a sense of justice, harmony and peace. By offering sacrifice to God with such dispositions as these he merited to become a precious offering himself and to be the first to offer the witness of martyrdom. By the glory of his blood he prefigured the Lord's Passion because he possessed the Lord's righteousness and peace. Men like these are they who are crowned by the Lord and who will obtain justice along with him on the day of judgement.

St Cyprian

PRAYER – Lord God, You fill us with Your grace and teach us true faith. Strengthen in our hearts that faith that no trials may quench the fire, that we may seek Your Face in every moment and accept and live all of Your will. Send us Your Spirit to keep the fire blazing. By the inspiration and prayers of the Blessed Virgin, may we grow in sanctity and may the humble love and intercession of Mary Mother of our faith, be our succour. Through Jesus Your Son our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote/s of the Day – 22 October – You are Lord of all

Posted on by AnaStpaul

In Your will are all things, O Lord, and there is none that can resist Your will; for You have made all things, heaven and earth, and all things that are under the cope of heaven. You are Lord of all.

Esth 13:9-11

Create in my heart, O my God! this wholesome fear, which has made the security of the just. Banish from it that fatal indifference, which is the greatest danger of a Christian. We should indeed be mad, and very blind, not to think of this last judgement, or to think lightly of it.

Fr Segneri

Day of wrath and doom impending!
David’s word with Sibyl’s blending,
Heaven and earth in ashes ending!

Dies Irae

Second Point – God need not have created you, but since He has created you, He must, of necessity, be your first beginning and your last end. Just as it would be impossible for you to be a man without having a body and a soul, so it would be impossible for you to be a man without having the obligation of serving God. All-powerful as God is, even He cannot dispense with that obligation.

Fr François Nepveu

Never has it been known, nor will it ever be, that man be loved so much and so universally as Jesus Christ.

Pope Pius XI

If God does not call you to it, you shall be like those illustrious confessors of who St. Cyprian said, That without dying by the executioner, they have gained the merits of martyrdom, because they were prepared for it.

Letter from Fr. Demaris to Catholics Who Have Been Deprived of a Priest

Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is filled with his glory.

The Seraphim

Posted in OCTOBER - The HOLY ROSARY and The HOLY ANGELS

Thought for the Day – 22 October – To endeavour to extend the devotion to the Angels

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The Glories of the Holy Angels

Venerable Henri Boudon, Archdeacon of Evreux

PRACTICE NINTH

To endeavour to extend the devotion to the Angels

If the Angels do all they can for the service of man, man is obliged in justice and gratitude to spare no pains in the service of the Angels. We should neglect no means in the order of God for the increase of their glory. One method of honouring them seems to be, to distribute images and pictures of these glorious Spirits, particularly among the peasantry, and the poor and ignorant of the city. It would be well to recommend our friends to set up such pictures in their chambers or oratories—as also to make presents of them to some Chapel or Altar. Constantine the Great caused four images of the Angels to be wrought, and in the most exquisite manner. Another and a more laudable means is to lend and distribute books which treat of their excellencies. Among others those of F. Barri, F. Nouet, Drexelius, and Coret —all of the Society of Jesus. These inspire such devotion to the Angels, as would, be likely to last during the rest of our lives.

Preachers could greatly serve this devotion, by instructing their auditors in it from time to time—Seculars, by explaining it to their friends—a Master, in his house—a Father or Mother to their Children—a person in the country, to the peasants—a teacher, to his pupils—a friend, to his friend. But the best way to honour the Angels is to procure the establishment of some little sodality in their honour.