Day: November 12, 2026

Posted in MARIAN TITLES

Maria Ausiliatrice a Valdocco / Our Lady of the Tower Secret, Turin, Italy (1863) and Memorials of the Saints – 12 November

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Maria Ausiliatrice a Valdocco / Our Lady of the Tower Secret, Turin, Italy (1863) – 12 November:

Our Lady of the Tower, at Fribourg, built on the lands of the heretics, on the very spot where an image of Our Lady had been found.

Don John Bosco, the amiable saint of the nineteenth century built a major Shrine to Our Lady Help of Christians, tying it in with the past and with the future.

The Church was begun in 1863 with the sum of 8 cents. Don Bosco never revealed all that Our Lady had told him, in the several visions that preceded this but he did reveal that she asked him to build a great Shrine and that it would be a source of grace to all who came there to pray. He simply got permission, hunted up an architect who was willing, in the coldly realistic nineteenth century, to begin a Church on 8 cents and said, when the work was finished, that he had been paid every cent owing to him but, that he had been confronted in the beginning, by a man who many people said was completely mad. The architect must have had real faith, even to listen to Don Bosco.

Like everything else accomplished by the great Saint of Turin, the building was beset with difficulties. No-one could understand why he insisted on naming it for Our Lady; even his own fellow priests. The money to pay for the project did not come in by the thousands, or even by the hundreds but by the penny. Every stone in the building, every bit of decorations, was a gift of love, and sacrifice from some grateful person who had benefitted from Our Lady’s help. The completed building is a testimonial of miracles and a Shrine of beauty, fit to stand with the world’s finest.

The curious thing about Don Bosco’s Shrine to Our Lady, and the one that should cause us thought, is the story of the right-hand tower. There is a large central dome, and on each side of it, a smaller one. On top of left-hand one is an angel holding a banner. The right-hand dome is built in the same way but its decoration is an angel offering a crown to Our Lady. One who saw the original sketches of the Church, drawn out in Don Bosco’s own hand, saw on the right-hand tower, a date 19, indicating that at some time, in this warring century, there would be a victory over evil to correspond with Lepanto. Our Lady often tells her secrets to the saints and apparently Don Bosco knew the name and the place and thought it better not to reveal what he knew. Our Lady of the Tower Secret would take care of it in time and the left-hand angel bearing a banner labelled LEPANTO would have a counterpart, if mankind proves worthy.

Don Bosco’s Church with Our Lady of the Tower was raised to the rank of a Basilica by Pope Pius X, Saint Pope Pius X.

St Josaphat Kuncewicz OSBM (1584-1623) Archbishop Martyr (Memorial)

St Arsatius
St Astricus of Esztergom (Died c 1035) Bishop
St Aurelius
St Cadwallader
St Cummian Fada
St Cunibert of Cologne
St Emilian Cucullatus
St Evodius of Le Puy
St Hesychius of Vienne
Bl John Cini della Pace
Bl José Medes Ferrís

St Lebuinus of Deventer (Died 775) “Apostle of the Friesens,” Priest, Monk, Confessor, Missionary.

St Livinus of Alost
St Machar of Aberdeen
St Margarito Flores-García

St Martin I, Pope (598-655) Martyr

St Namphasius
St Nilus the Elder
St Paternus of Sens
St Publius
St Renatus of Angers
St Rufus of Avignon
Bl Ursula Medes Ferris
St Ymar of Reculver
—
Five Polish Brothers – martyrs: They weren’t Polish and they weren’t related but were instead five Italian Benedictine monks who worked with Saint Adalbert of Prague as missionaries to the Slavs and were martyred together. They were – Benedict, Christinus, Isaac, John and Matthew. Born in Italy. They were martyred in 1005 at the Benedictine monastery near Gnesen, Poland and Canonised by Pope Julius II.

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – 12 November – Saint Nilus the Elder

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Saint Nilus the Elder, also known as Nilus of Sinai, Nilus of Ancyra, Neilos, Nil Postnik (“the Faster”), was a hermit and a great friend, disciple, and supporter of St John Chrysostom. Born in 4th century Constantinople, he was a Byzantine imperial official and may even have been a Praetorian Prefect. Due to the influence of St John Chrysostom, when his children were grown, Nilus and his wife agreed to lead separate lives devoted to God. He became a monk on Mount Sinai with his son Theodulus. His wife and daughter went to a women’s monastery in Egypt.

After a few years on the Mount, Arab raiders abducted Theodulus. Nilus went in search of him and found him in Eleusa in Palestine where the bishop had ransomed him out of slavery and made him the door-keeper of his church. The bishop ordained them both, and the returned to Sinai. For forty years a cave served as their home.

He was a noted author on theological matters. He was known as a theologian, Biblical scholar and ascetic writer, and people of all kinds, from the emperor down, sought his counsel. He warned and threatened people in high places, abbots and bishops, governors and princes, even the emperor himself, without fear.

Nilus died at Ancyra, Galatia in the year 430. His remains were brought to Constantinople in the reign of Justin the Younger, and deposited in the church of the apostles there.

Posted in Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 12 November – To Christ Crucified

Posted on by AnaStpaul

To Christ Crucified
Traditional Irish Prayer
Trans. Brendan Devlin

May the sweet Name of Jesus
Be written deeply
on my heart and mind.
Through the power of His Passion,
Through the force of His Prayer,
Through the shedding of His Blood,
Through the sweetness of His Sweetness,
Through His cruel Death on the Cross,
for the sake of us all.
O Lord Jesus Christ,
be the Saviour of our souls.
O Mary, Mother of Jesus
and Jesus, be with me,
the bond of love,
binding us together
and never be loosed.
Amen

Posted in ONE Minute REFLECTION

One Minute Reflection – 12 November – I have become all things to all… not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, that they may be saved

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 12 November – “Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory” – Readings: John 21:15-17, Ps 29:2, 1 Pet 5:1-4; 5:10-11, Matt 16:13-19

And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

Matt 16:13-19

REFLECTION – What then says Christ? You are Simon, the son of Jonas; you shall be called Cephas. Thus since you have proclaimed my Father, I too name him that begot you; all but saying, As you are son of Jonas, even so am I of my Father. Else it were superfluous to say, You are Son of Jonas; but since he had said, Son of God, to point out that He is so Son of God, as the other son of Jonas, of the same substance with Him that begot Him, therefore He added this, And I say unto you, You are Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church; that is, on the faith of his confession. Hereby He signifies that many were now on the point of believing, and raises his spirit, and makes him a shepherd. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And if not against it, much more not against me. So be not troubled because you are shortly to hear that I shall be betrayed and crucified.

Then He mentions also another honour. And I also will give you the keys of the heavens. But what is this, And I also will give you? As the Father has given you to know me, so will I also give you.

And He said not, I will entreat the Father (although the manifestation of His authority was great, and the largeness of the gift unspeakable), but, I will give you. What dost Thou give? Tell me. The keys of the heavens, that whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in Heaven. How then is it not His to give to sit on His right hand, and on His left, when He says, I will give you?

Do you see how He, His own self, leads Peter on to high thoughts of Him, and reveals Himself, and implies that He is Son of God by these two promises? For those things which are peculiar to God alone, (both to absolve sins, and to make the church incapable of overthrow in such assailing waves, and to exhibit a man that is a fisher more solid than any rock, while all the world is at war with him), these He promises Himself to give; as the Father, speaking to Jeremiah, said, He would make him as a brazen pillar, and as a wall; but him to one nation only, this man in every part of the world.

St John Chrysostom

PRAYER – Lord God, grant to us that the power of Your protecting hand may keep us unshaken in the face of our ancient enemy and all his hidden snares. Lighten our way so that, through the prayers of intercession of the Angels and Saints, we may experience the joy of Your presence in our hearts, courage in times of suffering and the wisdom to obey Your instructions. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God for all eternity, amen.

Posted in CATHOLIC Quotes

Quote/s of the Day – 12 November – Thou art Christ

Posted on by AnaStpaul

They joyfully announced His ressurection to His disciples, they accompanied Him everywhere whilst He dwelt visibly on earth, they formed the procession and joined in the triumph on His entry into heaven, they will be His escort on the day of the last judgement, they will gather around Him in heaven for ever and ever, the noblest, the highest in the choir will esteem themeselves happy to be beneath His feet, and, angels as they are, they will gladly acknowledge a man as their King on the throne of God itself.

La Pere Dozennes

We need not fear our past sins if we have by heartfelt contrition washed them away in Jesus’ Blood. Even here we may rest in peace.

Fr Richard Clarke

In order that nothing should be wanting to heighten the glory of this great mystery, before Jesus was born, or rather from the beginning of the world and from alll ages, He has been promised to the patriarchs, He has been announced by the prophets, foretold by the sibyls, represented throughout by the ancient ceremonies, sacrifices, and every sacrament of the old law.

Louis de Grenada

Here is a wonder which in itself is out of the ordinary course of nature, of which experience has not taught us, a marvel which reason ignores, of which the human intellect cannot conceive, which astonishes heaven and earth, which creates admiration even among the celestial choir, and this mystery is, that Gabriel the archangel announces to Mary that ‘the Lord is with thee’, and the accomplishment thereof is the work of the Holy Ghost.

St Jerome

Jesus is equally great in His humiliations, because He is always God. Admiration is almost our sole portion.

Cardinal de Berulle

This faith, however, and this religion, preached by twelve poor sinners without science, without talent, without support, without favour, has overcome the world, and has made it acknowledge the truths of these inscrutable mysteries, and the folly of the cross has proved to be wiser than all the wisdom of ages.

Massillon

Posted in Uncategorized

Thought for the Day – 12 November – The desire of the souls in Purgatory

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Treatise on Purgatory

St Catherine of Genoa

CHAPTER XI

The soul in its creation was invested with all the conditions of which it was capable for reaching perfection, supposing it to live according to the appointment of God, and keep altogether from the defilements of sin. But, marred by original sin, it loses all its gifts and graces, becomes dead ; and God alone can raise it to life again. And when He has done so by baptism, still the propensity to evil remains, which, if unresisted, inclines and leads to actual sin, whereby the soul again dies. Again God restores it to life ; but after this it is so tainted, so turned to self, that to recall it to its first state needs all that Divine agency that I have been speaking about, without which it never could be recalled.

And when the soul finds itself on its way back to that first state, it is so enkindled with the desire of becoming one with God, that this desire becomes its purgatory ; not that the soul can look at purgatory as such, but the instinct by which it is kindled, and the impediment by which it is hindered, constitute its purgatory. God performs this last act of love without the co-operation of man ; for there are so many secret imperfections within the soul, that the sight of them would drive it to despair. These are, however, all destroyed during the process I have described ; and when they are consumed, God shows them to the soul, that it may understand that it was He who kindled that fire of love which consumes every imperfection there is to be consumed.