Quote of the Day – 25 March – The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
“Mary’s titles are numberless… she is the palace in which the mighty King of kings abode, yet He did not cast her out when He came, because it was from her that He took flesh and was born. She is the new heaven in which dwelt the King of kings, in her, Christ arose and from her, rose up to enlighten creation, formed and fashioned in His image. She is the stock of the vine that bore the grape, she yielded a fruit greater than nature and He, although other than her in His nature, ripened in colour on being born of her. She is the spring from which living waters sprang up for the thirsty and all those who drank them, yielded fruit a hundredfold.”
Our Lady of Betania:
The name Betania means Bethany in Spanish. It was originally given this name by Maria Esperanza and was the site of their farm, in Venezuela. Apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary were reported and eventually a small chapel was built here and the faithful began to gather, especially on Feast Days but throughout the year.
Bl Everard of Nellenburg
Bl Herman of Zahringen
St Hermenland
St Humbert of Pelagius
Bl James Bird
Bl Josaphata Mykhailyna Hordashevska
St Kennocha of Fife
St Lucia Filippini St Marie-Alphonsine/Mariam Sultaneh Danil Ghattas (1843-1927)
St Matrona of Barcelona
St Matrona of Thessaloniki
St Mona of Milan
St Ndre Zadeja
Bl Pawel Januszewski
St Pelagius of Laodicea
Bl Placido Riccardi
St Procopius
St Quirinus of Rome
Bl Tommaso of Costacciaro
—
262 Martyrs of Rome: A group 262 Christians martyred together in Rome. We know nothing else about them, not even their names.
Our Morning Offering – 21 March – Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
Pope Francis Prayer recited by video on 11 March
asking Mary to protect Italy and the world during the coronavirus pandemic.
Prayer to Mary, Health of the Sick
Mary,
you always shine on our path
as a sign of salvation and of hope.
We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick,
who at the cross took part in Jesus’ pain,
keeping your faith firm.
You, Salvation of the Roman People,
know what we need,
and we are sure you will provide
so that, as in Cana of Galilee,
we may return to joy and to feasting
after this time of trial.
Help us, Mother of Divine Love,
to conform to the will of the Father
and to do as we are told by Jesus,
who has taken upon Himself our sufferings
and carried our sorrows
to lead us, through the Cross,
to the joy of the Resurrection.
Amen
Under your protection, we seek refuge, Holy Mother of God.
Do not disdain the entreaties of we, who are in trial
but deliver us from every danger,
O glorious and blessed Virgin.
Madonna del Pilerio: is the patron of the city of Cosenza and of the archdiocese of Cosenza-Bisignano. The Madonna del Pilerio is depicted in an icon dating back to the twelfth century that is found since 1607 in the chapel built specifically within the cathedral of Cosenza , commissioned by Msgr Giovani Battista Costanzo ( 1591 – 1617 ). On 10 May 1981, the cathedral of Cosenza was raised to the shrine of Our Lady of Pilerio by the Archbishop Msgr Dino Trabalzini. The patronal feast of Cosenza is not celebrated on 8 September the feast of Our Lady of Pilerio and date to which the Nativity of the Virgin is recognised but 12 February to remember the devastating earthquake that hit Calabria on that date in 1854.
Official Prayer to the Madonna del Pilerio
Virgin of Pilerio, Mother of the Church,
You are for us Support, Help and Hope.
We thank you and bless you
but above all we love you.
You are our tender Mother,
given to us by Christ on the Cross.
Listen to your children’s prayer.
Do not let us ever turn away from you.
Strengthen our faith in us,
sustain hope, revive charity.
May you praise the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever.
Amen
O Madonna del Pilerio, our glorious Patron, pray for us
St Alexius of Kiev
St Ammonius of Alexandria
Bl Anthony of Saxony
St Anthony Kauleas St Benedict of Aniane OSB (747-821) About St Benedict: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/02/12/saint-of-the-day-12-february-st-benedict-of-aniane-747-821-the-second-benedict/
Bl Benedict Revelli
St Damian of Africa
St Damian of Rome
St Ethelwald of Lindisfarne St Eulalia of Barcelona (c 290-c 303) Virgin Martyr
St Gaudentius of Verona
St Goscelinus of Turin
Bl Gregory of Tragurio
Bl Humbeline of Jully
St Jak Bushati
St Julian of Alexandria St Julian the Hospitaller About St Julian: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/02/12/saint-of-the-day-12-february-st-julian-the-hospitaller/
Bl Ladislaus of Hungary
Bl Ludan
St Meletius of Antioch
St Modestus of Alexandria
St Modestus of Carthage
St Modestus the Deacon
Bl Nicholas of Hungary
St Sedulius
Bl Thomas of Foligno
—
Martyrs of Albitina – 46 saints:
During the persecutions of Diocletian, troops were sent to the churches of Abitina, North Africa on a Sunday morning; they rounded up everyone who had arrived for Mass and took them all to Carthage for interrogation by pro-consul Anulinus. The 46 who proclaimed their Christianity were executed. We know some of their names and stories. They were tortured to death in 304 in prison at Albitina, North Africa.
Martyred in England:
Bl George Haydock
Bl James Fenn
Bl John Nutter
Bl John Munden
Bl Thomas Hemeford
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War:
Josep Gassol Montseny
28th World Day of the Sick +2020
and the 7th Anniversary of the Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI (his health was the major cause of his resignation)
—
St Ampelius of Africa
St Ardanus of Tournus
Bl Bartholomew of Olmedo St Caedmon (Died c 680) Biography of St Caedmon: https://anastpaul.com/2019/02/11/saint-of-the-day-11-february-st-caedmon-died-c-680/
St Calocerus of Ravenna
St Castrensis of Capua
St Dativus the Senator
Bl Elizabeth Salviati
St Etchen of Clonfad
St Eutropius of Adrianopolis
St Felix the Senator
St Gobnata St Pope Gregory II (669-731)
Bl Gaudencia Benavides Herrero
St Helwisa
St Jonas of Muchon
St Lucius of Adrianople
St Pope Paschal I
St Pedro de Jesús Maldonado-Lucero
St Saturninus of Africa
St Secundus of Puglia
St Severinus of Agaunum
St Soter of Rome
St Theodora the Empress
Bl Tobias Francisco Borrás Román
—
Guardians of the Holy Scriptures: Also known as –
• Anonymous Martyrs in Africa
• Martyrs of Africa
• Martyrs of Numidia
• Martyrs of the Holy Books
A large number of Christians tortured and murdered in Numidia (part of modern Algeria) during the persecutions of Diocletian, but whose names and individual stories have not survived. They were ordered to surrender their sacred books to be burned. They refused. Martyrs. c 303 in Numidia.
Martyrs of Africa – 5 saints: A group of five Christians who were martyred together; we know nothing else but the names of four of them – Cyriacus, Oecominius, Peleonicus and Zoticus.
Feast of the Presentation of the Lord: The feast commemorates the purifying of the Blessed Virgin according to the Mosaic Law, 40 days after the birth of Christ and the presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple. The feast was introduced into the Eastern Empire by Emperor Justinian I and is mentioned in the Western Church in the Gelasian Sacramentary of the 7th century. Candles are blessed on that day in commemoration of the words of Holy Simeon concerning Christ “a light to the revelation of the Gentiles” (Luke 2) and a procession with lighted candles is held in the church to represent the entry of Christ, the Light of the World, into the Temple of Jerusalem. “Candlemas” is still the name in Scotland for a legal term-day on which interest and rents are payable (2 February).
Patronage
• Jaro, Philippines
• Western Visayas, Philippines
Our Lady of the Candles – (formally known as Nuestra Señora de la Purificación y la Candelaria) is a Marian title and image venerated by Filipino Catholics. The image, which is enshrined on the balcony of Jaro Cathedral, is known as the patroness of Jaro District of Iloilo City and the whole of the Western Visayas.
The feast day of Our Lady of the Candles is on Candlemas (2 February) and is celebrated in Iloilo City with a Solemn Pontifical Mass presided by the Archbishop of Jaro. St Pope John Paul II personally issued a Canonical coronation towards the venerated image on 21 February 1981.
World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life – 2 February: Begun in 1997 by St Pope John Paul II, the World Day for Consecrated Life was intended to serve three purposes:
• to praise the Lord and thank Him for the great gift of consecrated life;
• to promote a knowledge of and esteem for the consecrated life by the entire People of God;
• to allow those in consecrated life to celebrate together the marvels which the Lord has accomplished in them, to discover by a more illumined faith the rays of divine beauty, spread by the Spirit in their way of life and to acquire a more vivid consciousness of their irreplaceable mission, in the Church and in the world;
It serves an opportunity to highlight the extraordinary contributions of men and women religious, as well as a time to pray for vocations to the consecrated life.
—
St Adalbald of Ostrevant
St Adeloga of Kitzingen
St Agathodoros of Tyana
St Andrea Carlo Ferrari
St Apronian the Executioner
St Bruno of Ebsdorf
St Burchard of Wurzburg
St St Candidus the Martyr
St Columbanus of Ghent
St Cornelius the Centurion
St Felician the Martyr
St Feock
St Firmus of Rome
St Flosculus of Orléans
St Fortunatus the Martyr
St Hilarus the Martyr
St Jean Theophane Venard
St Jeanne de Lestonnac
St Lawrence of Canterbury
Bl Louis Alexander Alphonse Brisson Blessed Maria Domenica Mantovani (1862-1934)
St Marquard of Hildesheim
St Mun
Bl Peter Cambiano
St Rogatus the Martyr
St Saturninus the Martyr
St Sicharia of Orleans
St Simon of Cassia Fidati
Bl Stephen Bellesini
St Theodoric of Ninden
St Victoria the Martyr
—
Martyrs of Ebsdorf: Members of the army of King Louis III of France under the leadership of Duke Saint Bruno of Ebsdorf. The martyrs died fighting invading pagan Norsemen, and defending the local Christian population. Four bishops, including Saint Marquard of Hildesheim and Saint Theodoric of Ninden, eleven nobles, and countless unnamed foot soldiers died repelling the invaders. They were martyred in the winter of 880 in battle at Luneberg Heath and Ebsdorf, Saxony (modern Germany).
