Day: October 27, 2026

Posted in MARIAN TITLES

Vigil of Saints Simon and Jude, Dedication of the Basilica of Auxilium Christianorum / Our Lady Help of Christians, Turin, Italy, built by St John Bosco (1868) and Memorials of the Saints – 27 October

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Vigil of Saints Simon and Jude

Dedication of the Basilica of Auxilium Christianorum / Our Lady Help of Christians, Turin, Italy, built by St John Bosco (1868) – 27 October:

The vast and magnificent Basilica of Our Lady in Turin, Italy, built by Saint John Bosco (1815-1888) between 1863 and 1868, was inspired by a dream-vision which he had in October 1844. The Blessed Virgin showed Don Bosco a vast and lofty Church and said:

“This is my house; from it my glory shines forth. You will understand everything when, with your material eyes, you will see in actual fact, what you now see with the eyes of your mind.”

Nineteen years later, Don Bosco finally set to work on the Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians. Our Lady, in a second vision, chose the location as that of the place of the Martyrdom of Saint Adventer Solutor and Saint Octavious, who were both soldiers under the Emperor Maximianus in the fourth century.

When the foundation of the Church was laid, Don Bosco went to the contractor, Charles Buzzetti and told him:

“I want to pay you at once for this fine work. I don’t know if it will be much but this is all I have.”

He then took out his little purse and emptied the contents into the hand of the contractor, who was expecting a handful of gold coins. His jaw dropped in dismay when he saw in his hand only eight pennies.

“Do not be alarmed,” Don Bosco quickly added with a smile, “the Madonna will see to the payment of her Church. I am just the instrument, the cashier.” And to those standing by he concluded, “You will see!”

“The whole Church was put up by means of graces granted by Mary,” Don Bosco often said. One sixth of the cost, about one million lire in those days, was borne by the generous contributors, devout persons; the rest came from the small offering of those, who had been aided by Mary.

“Every stone, every ornament, represents one of her graces,” insisted Don Bosco. The original contractor, who received the eight cents, later testified that, “The Church was paid for to the last cent.”

Among the monuments of the Church, the most splendid is the painting above the main Altar. Our Blessed Lady Help of Christians occupies the central position and is surrounded by symbols – God the Father, the Holy Spirit, the Apostles and Evangelists. It measures more than 28 metres square and is bordered with gold.

There was much opposition to the project of building a Church dedicated to and in honour of Our Lady Help of Christians but Don Bosco insisted. It appears he had a supernatural knowledge, that the future of his own congregation and that of the whole world in the not too distant future, depended on the powerful protection of Mary, Help of Christians, just as it had needed and obtained that protection at Lepanto on 7 October 1571 and at Vienna, on 12 September 1683.

Don Bosco, with the gracious assistance of the Blessed Virgin Moher, succeeded and the vast Church was Consecrated and dedicated on 9 June 1868 with the crowing on 27 October. The dedication festivities lasted nine days and on each day a Bishop preached while another took part in the ceremonies.

By the turn of the nineteenth century, the Church of Our Lady Help of Christians in Turin had become famous and in 1911, Pope Saint Pius X gave it the crowning glory by raising it to the rank of a Basilica – The Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians!

The Feast Day of Our Lady Help of Christians is 24 May and was instituted by Saint Pius V in 1573, in thanksgiving for the decisive victory of Christianity over Islamism at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

St Abban of Magh-Armuidhe
St Abraham the Poor

Blessed Bartholomew of Vicenza OP (c 1200–1271) Bishop, Confessor, Dominican Friar, renowned Preacher, Defender of the Faith, Writer, Theologian, diplomatic peacemaker.

St Capitolina
St Colman of Senboth-Fola
St Colman of Templeshambo
St Desiderius of Auxerre
St Elesbaan of Ethiopia (Died c 555) King, Confessor, Penitent Hermit and Monk

St Emeline of Boulancourt (c 1115-c 1178) Virgin, Lay Sister, Hermit.

St Erotheides
St Florentius of Trois-Châteaux

St Frumentius (Died c 383) “Apostle to Ethiopia,“ Bishop, Confessor.

St Gaudiosus of Naples
Bl Goswin of Clairvaux
St Namatius of Clermont
St Odrian of Waterford
Bl Salvador Mollar Ventura
St Thraseas of Eumenia
St Uni

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 27 October – Saint Abbán of Magh-Armuidhe

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Saint Abbán of Magh-Armuidhe, also known as Eibbán and Moabba, was a son of Cormac, King of Leinster, Ireland. Born in 570, Abban was a nephew and disciple of Saint Ibar. He founded churches in Wexford, and monasteries in Magheranoidhe and Kilabbain. He died in 620 of natural causes.

Location of Leinster
Saint Ibar
Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 27 October – Most Holy Virgin Mary, Help of Christians

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 27 October – “Month of the Holy Rosary”

She, who stands at the Altar of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, without many of us today, will always be our help, most especially in these times of increasing persecution. Although deprived of the Sacraments, we will never be deprived of her Perpetual Succour.

Most Holy Virgin Mary,
Help of Christians
By St John Bosco (1815-1888)

Most Holy Virgin Mary,
Help of Christians,
how sweet it is to come to thy feet
imploring thy perpetual help.
If earthly mothers cease not
to remember their children,
how can thou,
the most loving of all mothers, forget me?
Grant then to me, I implore thee
thy perpetual help in all my necessities,
in every sorrow and especially in all my temptations.
I ask for thy unceasing help
for all who are now suffering.
Help the weak,
cure the sick,
convert sinners.
Grant through thy intercession,
many vocations to the religious life.
Obtain for us, O Mary, Help of Christians,
that having invoked thee on earth
we may love and eternally thank thee in Heaven.
Amen

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 27 October – “Whose image is this?”

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 27 October – “Month of the Holy Rosary” – Readings: Ps 129:3-4, Ps 129:1-2, Phil 1:6-11, Matt 22:15-21

Then Jesus said to them, Whose are this image and the inscription?

Matt 22:15-21

REFLECTION – At the beginning of the world all things were made by the Word of God “and without him nothing came to be”. Now man, too, had his existence from the Word of God because of the principle that there should be nothing without that Word. “Let us make man,” God said before he created him, and added, “with our hand” to express his pre-eminence so that he might not be compared to the rest of creation.“ And God,” says Scripture, “formed man”.

”And God formed man from the clay of the earth.” He now became man who was hitherto clay. That poor, paltry material, clay, found its way into the hands of God, happy enough at being merely touched by them. But why this honour? Was it that, without any further labour, the clay had instantly assumed its form at the touch of God? The truth is, a great matter was in progress out of which the creature under consideration was being fashioned. It is honoured whenever it experiences the hands of God, when it is touched by them, and pulled, and drawn out, and moulded into shape. Imagine God wholly absorbed in it: in his hand, his eye, his labor, his purpose, his wisdom, his providence and, above all, in his love, which was dictating the lineaments of this creature. For whatever was the form and expression given to the clay, Christ was in God’s thoughts as one day to become man, because the Word, too, was to be both clay and flesh even as the earth was then.

This is the meaning of the Father’s first words to his Son: “Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness”. God made man, the creature which he moulded and fashioned, in the image of God, in other words of Christ. Thus, that clay that was even then putting on the image of Christ who was to come in the flesh, was not only the work but the pledge and surety given by God.

Tertullian

PRAYER – Shed Your clear light on our hearts, Lord, so that walking continually in the way of Your commandments, we may never be deceived or misled. Grant that the prayers of our Blessed Mother, who always holds Your Light up for others to see by, give us strength. Through Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote/s of the Day – 27 October – Sharers in my joy

Posted on by AnaStpaul

I have you in my heart, all of you, alike in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, as sharers in my joy.

Phil 1:6-11

The Good Master was born in the stable only to die on the Cross, His life, which I should study continuously, would show me all the riches of His love, I should see herein all the profound mysteries of His incarnation and redemption, I should discover what I have cost, I should appreciate the beauty and goodness of Jesus, and I shall then cry out. “O happy fault which has procured us such a Redeemer!”

St Anthansius

He alone is capable of elevating lowliness, of aggrandising that which is nothing, of filling with honour and dignity that which was contemptible.

Louis de Granada

To glory in adversity is not hard for the man who loves, for this is to glory in the cross of the Lord. But the glory given or received of men is short lived, and the glory of the world is ever companioned by sorrow. The glory of the good, however, is in their conscience and not in the lips of men, for the joy of the just is from God and in God, and their gladness is founded on truth.

The Imitation of Christ

The person in the Transforming Union is now ready for Heaven and thus for death. The purifications are complete and there is an identity of wills, divine and human. All is ready for the Lord’s coming.

The Fire Within

Here I should end this book, if I had not still to say a few words about Catherine’s patience, which is a thing more highly esteemed by the Church Militant than miracles in its saints, as St Gregory so rightly says, it is greater than prodigies and miracles.

Bl Raymond of Capua

Let us love Jesus and Mary, and become Saints, we can neither expect nor hope anything better. Farewell, then, until we meet in Paradise, at the feet of this most sweet Mother and of this most loving Son, there to praise them, to love them face to face for all eternity.

St Alphonsus Liguori

Posted in OCTOBER - The HOLY ROSARY and The HOLY ANGELS

Thought for the Day – 27 October – The angels continued

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The Glories of the Holy Angels

Venerable Henri Boudon, Archdeacon of Evreux

OCTOBER TWELFTH.
The Angels of the Ancient People of God.

Let us this day venerate the Angels who guarded the ancient people of God. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, were often favoured with their visits. It was one of these blessed Spirits who gave the law on Mount Sinai, and conducted the Israelites through the desert, in the pillar of a’cloud. The Saints of those times were so convinced of their continual protection, that even when they gave no sensible proof of their presence, they attributed to them the success of their affairs. “ It is the Angel of the Lord’ said they, “ who hath done this.”

Practice—The “ Benedicite,” in thanksgiving for this protection of the Angels.
Asp.—Holy Angels ! “ leaders of the house of Israel,” intercede for us.

OCTOBER THIRTEENTH.
The Angels who adored Jesus at the moment of his Incarnation and Nativity.

Let us this day venerate the Angels who adored Jesus at the moment of his Incarnation, and when he appeared in the flesh. No sooner did he assume our nature, at Mary’s Fiat, than her chamber is filled with troops innumerable of these blessed Spirits, all vying with each other in adoring the Son, and in greeting the Mother; and on that ever blessed night, when he appeared wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger, they again descend and rend the air with “Glory be to God on high, and peace on earth to men of good will.”

Practice—In honour of these Angels the “ Gloria in excelsis,” and hymn “Alma Redemptoris.”
Asp.—Glory be to God—honour to the Angels, and peace to men of good will!

OCTOBER FOURTEENTH.
Let us this day venerate the Angels who ministered to Jesus Christ after his fast in the desert.

The time being come in which the Saviour of men was to manifest himself to Israel—having prepared for his mission by “a fast of forty days and forty nights, he was,” says the Evangelist, “ afterwards hungry, and Angels came and ministered to him.” Happy—thrice happy Spirits! whom the Lord of Heaven and Earth—“he who gives food to the raven, when her young ones cry for meat—who opens his hand, and fills every living creature,” permitted to minister to him in his necessities. It rests with us to be sharers in their happiness, for Jesus is still upon earth, in the persons of his poor—and what we do for them, he considers as done for himself.

Practice—Give some alms in the spirit of these Angels ministering to our Lord.
Asp.—Holy Angels, ministering spirits to Jesus Christ, intercede for us.