Day: November 3, 2026

Posted in MARIAN TITLES

Notre-Dame des Miracles et Vertus / Our Lady of Miracles and Virtues, Rennes, France (14th Century) and Memorials of the Saints

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Notre-Dame des Miracles et Vertus / Our Lady of Miracles and Virtues, Rennes, France (14th Century) – 3 November:

The Statue of Our Lady of Miracles and Virtues, often simply called Our Lady of Miracles, is a depiction of Virgin and Child. Installed in 1876, it replaces the original Statue venerated since the fourteenth century and destroyed during the French Revolution. The original Statue was first mentioned in the fourteenth century , as part of a miracle that would have occurred during a siege of the City. It is created in 1445 and her hands were restored in 1522.

The English, having made a mine to ignite the Town, it is said that the candles in the Chapel were found miraculously alight; t he bells rung of themselves and the image of the Blessed Virgin was seen to stretch out its arms towards the middle of the Chapel where the mine had been concealed, which by that means, was discovered. The people rushed to the spot and so the plot was uncovered and the entire Town saved through the intervention of Our Lady of Rennes. Great was the rejoicing and deep the gratitude of the people.
Known today as the Basilica of Saint Sauveur in Rennes, it is located in the heart of historic Rennes, which was once the capital of Brittany. It is situated at the termination of Saint-Sauveur Street on which its façade faces. As the original Gothic Church partially collapsed in the year 1682, the Classical style Church that can currently be seen, was constructed beginning in 1703 and Consecrated in August of 1719.

In the year 1793, during the French Revolution, the Church was made into a Temple of Reason and the miraculous Statue of Our Lady was destroyed. It was not until 1802, after the end of the Terror, that the Church was opened again to worship. The Church was made into a minor Basilica in 1916 by Pope Benedict XV.

In 1634, the miracle of Our Lady’s intervention against the English invaders, was officially recognised by the Bishop of Rennes, Pierre Cornulier.
There are many more miracles attributed to Our Lady, including the miraculous cure of Magdalene Morice in the year 1761. She had gangrene in her right foot which was instantly healed on Easter Sunday.
The Statue of Our Lady of Miracles and Virtues currently displayed at the Basilica was placed there in February of 1876.

In 1684 a boy of eleven left home for the City of Rennes in the hopes of enrolling at the Jesuit College of Thomas a Becket. The young Louis-Marie was an intelligent boy who was taken under the guidance of the Jesuit Priest, and it was at Rennes that he began to consider a possible vocation to the Priesthood. It was here, at the Shrine of Our Lady at Rennes, that Saint Louis-Marie de Montfort made the final decision to become a Priest.

St Martin de Porres OP (1579-1639) (Optional Memorial) “Saint of the Broom,” Dominican lay Brother, Miracle-worker, Apostle of Charity, Mystic.

St Acepsimas
St Acheric of Vosges
Bl Alphais of Cudot
Bl Berardo dei Marsi
Bl Berchtold of Engelberg
St Caesarius
St Cecilio Manrique Arnáiz
St Clydog
St Cristiolus
St Domnus of Vienne
St Elerius
St Englatius
St Florus of Lodeve
St Francisco Colom González
St Gaudiosus of Tarazona
St Germanus
St Guenhael
St Hermengaudius of Urgell
St Hilary of Viterbo
St Hubert of Liege (c 656-727) Bishop, the “Apostle of the Ardennes”
Bl Ida of Toggenburg
St José Llorach Bretó
St José Ruiz de la Torre
St Libertine of Agrigento
Bl Lorenzo Moreno Nicolás

St Malachy O’More of Armagh (1094 – 1148) Bishop, Abbot, Confessor, Reformer, Miracle-Worker, Primate of Ireland, gifted with the charism of Prophecy.

St Papulus
St Pierre-François Néron
St Pirmin
St Quartus
St Rumwold of Buckingham
St Sylvia of Rome
St Theophilus
St Valentine of Viterbo
St Valentinian
St Vitalis
St William of Vosges
St Winifred of Wales
St Wulganus

Innumerable Martyrs of Saragossa: A large group of Christians martyred in Zaragoza, Spain by Dacian during the persecutions of Diocletian. Dacian ordered all Christians of the city into exile under pain of death; when they were assembled to leave, Dacian ordered imperial soldiers to massacre the lot of them. They were martyred in 304.

Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
• Blessed Cecilio Manrique Arnáiz
• Blessed Francisco Colom González
• Blessed José Llorach Bretó
• Blessed José Ruiz de la Torre

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 3 November – Blessed Alphais of Cudot

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Blessed Alphais of Cudot (also known as Alpais, Alpaida, Alpaidis) was born in 1150 at Cudot, diocese of Sens, France. Born to a poor peasant family, after the death of her father, she worked in the fields with her brothers. When her strength weakened, she looked after the sheep. It was discovered that she had contracted leprosy. She was relegated to a small hut where her relatives brought her food. One day her brothers decided to abandon her and stop feeding her. Some days later, her brothers, filled with remorse, returned to find all traces of leprosy had disappeared, which she attributed to the gentleness of the Virgin Mary. Although cured of the leprosy, she was paralyzed. She subsequently recovered the use of her right arm and hand. Alpaïs had frequent ecstasies during which she appeared as if asleep, almost dead. But when she woke up, she could describe her visions. The peasants from the surrounding area and then the Cistercian monks from a nearby abbey came to visit.

The Archbishop of Sens, Guillaume de Champagne, decided to investigate. He came himself to visit the girl and decided to replace the hut with a cell and build an adjoining church so that she could attend Mass every day.

Becoming known for holiness and penance, Alphais had the gift of inedia – subsisting solely on the Eucharist. She was a counselor to Queen Adela of France.

Her vita was written c. 1180 by the monk Peter of the nearby Cistercian monastery of Les Écharlis.

Patronage: against sickness; sick people, disabled, handicapped and physically challenged people.

And blessed Mary said to [Alpais]: “Because, dear sister, you bore long starvation in humility and patience, in hunger and thirst, without any murmuring, I grant you now to be fattened with an angelic and spiritual food. And as long as you are in this little body, corporeal food and drink will not be necessary for the sustaining of your body, nor will you hunger for bread or any other food because after you have once tasted the celestial bread and drunk of the living fountain you will remain fattened for eternity.” And so it was.

The Life of Alpais of Cudot

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 3 November – Heal Us Lord God

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Heal Us Lord God
By St Albert of Trapani O.Carm. (c 1240-1307)

O my God,
You have created the human race
by Your wonderful power.
It is an act of Your clemency that has called us
to share Your glory and eternal life.
When the first sin condemned us to suffer death,
out of Your goodness,
You wished to redeem us
through the Blood of Your Son,
To unite us to Yourself
through our faith
and Your great mercy.
You have brought us back
from the shame of our sin,
You have veiled our dishonour
in the brightness of Your glory.
Look now and see that what You have created,
giving it subtle limbs and joints
and made beautiful through its immortal soul,
is now subject to the attack of Satan.
Be pleased Lord
to reconstitute Your work and heal it.
May Your power be glorified
and may the malice of the enemy be stunned.
Amen

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 3 November – The prayer of God’s children

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One Minute Reflection – 3 November – Readings: Jer 29:11-12; 29:14, Ps 84:2, Phil 3:17-21; 4:1-3, Matt 9:18-26

But Jesus, turning and seeing her, said, “Take courage, daughter; your faith has saved you.” And the woman was restored to health from that moment.

Matt 9:18-26

REFLECTION – This is how Our Lord tells us to pray: “Our Father who art in heaven.” A new man, reborn and restored to his God by his grace says in the first place “Father” because he has now begun to be a son. “He came,” the Gospel says, “unto his own and his own received him not. But as many as received him he gave to them the power to become the sons of God, to those who believe in his name”. He, therefore, who has believed in his name and has become the son of God, thereafter should begin to give thanks by professing himself son of God and by declaring that his father is God in heaven.

How great is the indulgence of the Lord, how great the abundance of his regard for us and his goodness, that he has thus wished us to offer prayer in the sight of God so as to call the Lord “Father”! And just as Christ is the Son of God, he wants us also to be pronounced the sons of God, which name no one of us would dare to take in prayer, had not he himself permitted us so to pray.

So, most beloved brethren, we ought to remember and to know that, when we speak of God, we ought to act as sons of God, so that, just as we are pleased with God as Father, so too he may be pleased with us. Let us live as if temples of God, that it may be clear that the Lord dwells in us.

St Cyprian

PRAYER – Holy God and Father, You sent Your Son to show us the way to our eternal home. Teach us always to understand that by relinquishing the things of this world and focusing our efforts only on following the Light He shines on our path, we may attain the eternal victory. May the prayers of Your our Blessed Mother, the Virgin Mary, assist us in carrying our cross after Him. Through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote/s of the Day – 3 November – Their god is the belly

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A reasonable man eats in order to give strength to his body, lest its weakness might have an effect on his mind, but those who are addicted to intemperance, eat even to clouding their intellect and ruining their body.

Père de la Colombière

There are some people whose body is of no use to the intellect (unlike the saints, who complained of having a body, which occasioned so much trouble to he mind) such as these would like to be deprived of the qualms of conscience, in order to partake of the pleasures of beasts, pleasures they constantly seek and sigh for.

Père de la Colombière

A man addicted to wine, says St Chrysostom, is fit for nothing, for of what use is such a man? Such a man is useless, he is fit for nothing, he is a fool, he must be left to himself, he does not deserve a thought.

Pere Houdry

One ought to take food as one would take remedies. Necessity ought to rule our inclination, so as to free us from the inconvenience of hunger, and not that concupiscence witch lays a snare in the pleasure that follows, that solace, which we seek for in eating and drinking.

Père de la Colombière

The kingdom of heaven and happiness which are destined for us, are not intended for those who eat and drink. Those, therefore, who pamper their appetites, those who are slaves of intemperance, have no claim or right.

Pere Houdry

Excess in eating and drinking has killed many a man, frugality has killed no one, immoderate use of wine has injured many a constitution, temperance has never done any harm. Many have died in the midst of banquets, and have soiled the very tables with their heated blood. You invite your friends to a feast, and you lead them to death.

St Ambrose

Posted in NOVEMBER - Month of the SOULS in PURGATORY

Thought for the Day – 3 November – The joy of the souls in Purgatory

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Treatise on Purgatory

St Catherine of Genoa

CHAPTER II

I do not believe it would be possible to find any joy comparable to that of a soul in purgatory, except the joy of the blessed in paradise a joy which goes on increasing day by day, as God more and more flows in upon the soul, which He does abundantly in proportion as every hindrance to His entrance is consumed away. The hindrance is the rust of sin ; the fire consumes the rust, and thus the soul goes on laying itself open to the Divine inflowing.

The pain, however, does not diminish, but only the time of remaining in that pain. As far as their will is concerned, these souls cannot acknowledge the pain as such, so completely are they satisfied with ordinance of God, so entirely is their will one with it in pure charity. On the other hand they suffer a torment so extreme, that no tongue could describe it, no intellect could form the least idea of it, if God had not made it known by special grace ; which idea, however, God’s grace has shown my soul ; but I cannot find words to express it with my tongue, yet the sight of it has never left my mind. I will describe it as I can : they will understand it whose intellect the Lord shall vouchsafe to open.