One Minute Reflection 31 July – “Month of the Precious Blood” and the Memorial of Saint Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) – Readings: Leviticus 25: 1, 8-17; Psalm 67: 2-3, 5, 7-8; Matthew 14: 1-12
“This man is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him.” – Matthew 14:2
REFLECTION – “This was John’s greatness, in virtue of which, he reached such heights of greatness among the great, that he crowned his great and countless virtues… with the greatest of all the virtues – humility. Reckoned as he was the highest of all, he freely and with the greatest devotion, preferred to himself the Most Lowly One—and, he put Him before himself to such an extent, as to declare himself unworthy to take off his shoes (Mt 3,11).
Let others wonder that he was foretold by prophets, that he was promised by an angel and … that he came of so holy and noble parents, even though aged and sterile… that he preceded the coming of the Redeemer… and prepared His way in the desert, that he converted the hearts of fathers to their sons and of sons to their fathers, (Lk 1,17) that he merited to baptise the Son, to hear the Father and to see the Holy Spirit (Lk 3,22) and finally,, that he strove for the truth even to death and, so that he might go before Christ also to the lower regions, was Christ’s Martyr before Christ’s Passion. Let others, I say, wonder at these things…
What is set before us, brethren, not only to be wondered at but also to be imitated, is the virtue of his humility, by which he refused to be regarded as greater than he was, although he could have been… For as a faithful “friend of the Bridegroom”, (Jn 3,29) a lover more of the Lord than of himself, he wished that he himself might “diminish” in order that Christ might “grow” (v.30) and made it his business to increase Christ’s glory by means of his own diminution. Before St Paul, he made his own in act and in truth, those words of the Apostle: “We do not preach ourselves but the Lord Jesus Christ” (2Cor 4,5).” – Blessed Guerric of Igny (c 1080-1157) Cistercian Abbot of Igny – 3rd Sermon for the Nativity of John the Baptist
PRAYER – Almighty God, grant that the example of Your saints may spur us on to perfection, so that we, who are celebrating the feast of St Ignatius, may follow him step-by-step in his way of life to reach You in heaven. Grant us the grace, by his intercession, to find our treasure in Your divine Son, through Christ our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, God for always and forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 31 July – Blessed Giovanni Colombini (1300-1367) Layman, Founder of the Apostolic Clerics of Saint Jerome (the Jesuati), Confessor, Apostle of the poor and the sick, Penitent, Missionary, miracle-worker. Born in c 1300 at Siena, Italy and died on 31 July 1367 of natural causes while on the road to Acquapendente, Italy. Also known as – John Columbini. (I find it fascinating that Blessed Giovanni, the Founder of the Jesuati, died on the same day, 31 July, as St Ignatius Loyola, the Founder of the Jesuits – nearly 200 years later!)
The Roman Martyrology states of him today: “At Siena in Tuscany, the birthday of Blessed Giovanni Colombini, Founder of the Order of the Jesuati, renowned for sanctity and miracles.”
There was nothing in Giovanni’s early life to indicate the presence in his character of any unusual seeds of holiness. Belonging to an old patrician family, he devoted himself, like thousands of his class in Italy, to commerce, swelled his already substantial fortune and rose to a position of great prominence and influence among his fellow-citizens, who on several occasions, elected him Gonfalonier (a highly prestigious office as representative of the people). Fortunate in his marriage, of which two children — Peter and Angela — were the fruit, his private life was marred by his avarice, his ambition and his propensity to anger.
One day, while still suffering under a sense of mortification after one of his passionate outbursts occasioned by a petty domestic disappointment, he chanced to take up a biography of St Mary of Egypt, whose later life had been as conspicuous for penance as her earlier had been for sin. The perusal of this narrative brought a new light into his fife – henceforth, ambition and anger gave way to an almost incredible humility and meekness. The great transformation of his life extended to his business affairs and excited in the purely mercenary-minded a ridicule easy to understand.
Heedless, however, of raillery, he did not rest content with selling cheaper than any other merchant but persisted in paying more for his purchases than the sum demanded. With the consent of his wife, he soon abandoned his former patrician associates, visited hospitals, tended the sick and made large donations to the poor. Then casting aside the clothes usual to his station, he assumed the garments of the most indigent and, having fallen ill and believing himself treated with too much delicacy at home, deserted his luxurious house for the ordinary ward of a poor hospital. His relatives urged him to return and finally elicited his consent, on the condition that, thenceforth he would be given only the coarser forms of nourishment. Nursed back to health, he insisted on making his house the refuge of the needy and the suffering, washing their feet with his own hands, dispensing to them bodily and spiritual comfort, leaving nothing undone that the spirit of charity could suggest. Among the wonders recorded to have taken in this abode of Christian mercy, was the miraculous disappearance of a leper, leaving the room permeated with an indescribable fragrance.
It required eight years to render his wife reconciled to the extraordinary philanthropy of her husband. His son having meanwhile died and his daughter taken the veil,Giovanni, Colombini with the approval of his wife, on whom he first settled a life-annuity, divided his fortune into three parts – the first went to endow a hospital, the second and third to two cloisters. Then together with his friend, Francisco Mini, who had been associated with him in all charitable labours, Giovanni lived, henceforward, a life of apostolic poverty, begged for his daily bread and esteemed it a favour to be allowed to wait on the sick poor, while in public and in their dwellings, he stimulated the people to penance.
He was soon joined by three of the Piccolomini and by members of other patrician families, who likewise distributed all their goods among the poor. Alarmed at these occurrences, many of the Sienese now raised an outcry, complaining that Colombini was inciting all the most promising young men of the City to “folly” and succeeded in procuring his banishment.
Accompanied by twenty-five companions, Giovannii left his native City without a protest and visited ,in succession, Arezzo, Città di Castello, Pisa and many other Tuscan Cities, making numerous conversions, reconciling sundered friends and effecting the return of much property to its rightful owners. An epidemic, which broke out at Siena shortly after his departure, was generally regarded as a heavenly chastisement for his banishment and there was a universal clamour for his recall. Regardless alike of derision and insults, he resumed, on his return, his former charitable occupations, in his humility rejoicing to perform the most menial services at houses where he had once been an honoured guest.
On the return of Pope Urban V from Avignon to Rome (1367), Giovanni and his followers, hastened to meet him and begged him to sanction the foundation of their Institution. A commission appointed by Urban and presided over by Cardinal William Sudre, Bishop of Marseilles, having attested their freedom from every taint of the error of the Fraticelli, whose views some evil-intentioned people had accused them of holding, the Pope gave his consent to the foundation of their congregation. The name Jesuati (Jesuites) had already been given them by the populace of Viterbo because of their constant use of the ejaculation “Praise be to Jesus Christ.” From the very beginning, they had a special veneration for St Jerome and, to this fact and to the apostolic life they led, they are indebted for their longer title, Clerici apostolici s. Hieronymi (Apostolic Clerics of St Jerome).
the Jesuati Emblem
Pope Urban appointed as their habit, a white soutan, a white four-cornered hood hanging round the neck and falling in folds over the shoulders and a mantle of a dun colour; the soutan was encircled by a leather girdle and sandals were worn on the feet. Their occupations was to be the care of the sick, particularly the poor and the plague-stricken, the burial of the dead, prayer and strict mortification (including daily scourging). Their statutes were at first based on the Rule of St Benedict, modified to suit the aims of the Congregation but the Rule of St Augustine was later adopted.
Giovanni died a week after the foundation of his institute, having appointed Mini his successor. After many miracles had occurred at his tomb, Pope Gregory XIII inserted Giovanni Colombini’s name in the Roman Martyrology, fixing 31 July for the celebration of his feast, which was of obligation at Siena. Under Mini and his successor, Blessed Jerome Dasciano, the Jesuati spread rapidly over Italy and in 1606 the Holy See allowed. the reception of Priests into the Congregation. Abuses, however, crept in subsequently and the Congregation was suppressed by Pope Clement IX in 1668 as of little advantage to the interests of the Church.
The Jesuatesses or Sisters of the Visitation of Mary, founded about 1367 at the suggestion to Giovanni by his cousin, Blessed Catharine Colombini of Siena (died 20 October, 1387). They also spread very rapidly and survived in Italy until 1872.
St Helen of Skofde Bl Jean-François Jarrige de La Morelie de Breuil St Marcel Denis St Neot — Matyrs of Syria – 350 saints: 350 monks massacred by heretics for their adherence to orthodox Christianity and the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon. 517 in Syria.
Martyrs of Synnada: 3 Saints Democritus Dionysius the Martyr Secundus
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: Thousands of people were murdered in the anti-Catholic persecutions of the Spanish Civil War from 1934 to 1939. • Blessed Ciriaco Olarte Pérez de Mendiguren • Blessed Dionisio Vicente Ramos • Blessed Francisco Remón Játiva • Blessed Miguel Goñi Ariz • Blessed Miguel Francisco González-Díez González-Núñez • Blessed Agapito Alcalde Garrido • Blessed Ciriaco Olarte Pérez de Mendiguren • Blessed Dionisio Vicente Ramos • Blessed Francisco Remón Játiva • Blessed Jaume Buch Canals • Blessed Maria Roqueta Serra • Blessed Miguel Goñi Ariz • Blessed Miguel Francisco González-Díez González-Núñez • Blessed Prudencio Gueréquiz y Guezuraga • Blessed Segundo de Santa Teresa • Blessed Teresa Subirà Sanjaume • Blessed Vicenta Achurra Gogenola • Blessed Francisca Pons Sardá
Quote/s of the Day – 30 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”– The Memorial of St Peter Chrysologus (c 400-450) “Golden Words,” Father & Doctor of the Church
“The Magi are filled with awe by what they see – heaven on earth and earth in heaven; man in God and God in man; they see enclosed in a tiny body the One Whom the entire world cannot contain.”
“He is The Bread sown in the virgin, leavened in the Flesh, moulded in His Passion, baked in the furnace of the Sepulchre, placed in the Churches and set upon the Altars, which daily supplies Heavenly Food to the faithful.”
“For he who touches the Body of Christ unworthily, receives his damnation.”
“The poor stretch out the hand but God receives what is offered.”
St Peter Chrysologus (c 400-450) “Golden Words” Father & Doctor of the Church
One Minute Reflection – 30 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood”– Readings: Leviticus 23: 1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37; Psalms 81: 3-4, 5-6, 10-11ab; Matthew 13: 54-58 and the Memorial of St Peter Chrysologus (c 400-450) Father & Doctor of the Church
“Is not this the carpenter’s son? ”– Matthew 13:55
REFLECTION – “For if I do not understand the nature placed at my service, I discern Your goodness from the mere fact that it is there to serve me. I perceive that I do not even understand myself but I wonder at You all the more… You have given me intellect, life and human feeling, the source of so many joys, yet I do not begin to understand how I began to be… So it is through failing to understand what surrounds me, that I grasp what You are and, it is through perceiving what You are, that I come to adore You. That is why, in what concerns Your mysteries, my incomprehension lessens not a bit my faith in Your omnipotence… Your eternal Son’s birth exceeds even the idea of eternity – it is prior to the times everlasting. Before any other thing that exists, He was Son proceeding from You, O God and Father. He is true God… You have never existed without Him… Before ever time was, You are the eternal Father of Your Sole Begotten One.”… St Hilary (315-368) Bishop of Poitiers, Father and Doctor of the Divinity of Christ of the Church
PRAYER – “So long as I enjoy that breath of life granted to me by You, Holy Father, Almighty God, I will proclaim You as God eternal but also as Father eternal. Never will I set myself up as judge of Your almighty power and mysteries; never will I set my limited understanding before the true appreciation of Your infinity; never will I claim You to have existed beforehand without Your Wisdom, Power and Word, God the Only-Begotten, my Lord Jesus Christ. For even though human language is weak and imperfect when it speaks of You, this will not inhibit my mind to the point of reducing my faith to silence, for lack of words able to express the mystery of Your being…” (St Hilary) Lord God, You hold out the light of Your Word to those who do not know You. Strengthen in our hearts the faith You have given us, so that no trials may quench the fire Your Spirit kindled within us. Grant that the prayers of Your faithful St Peter Chrysologus, may assist us to grow in love. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 30 July – Blessed Manés de Guzmán OP (c 1168-1235) Dominican Priest and Frair, older Brother of Saint Dominic (1170-1221- born as Manés de Guzmán y Aza in c 1168 at Caleruega, Castile (in modern Burgos, Spain) and died in 1234 in the Monastery of San Pedro de Gumeil, Izan, Castile (in modern Burgos, Spain) of natural causes. Also known as – Mamerto, Mamés, Manez, Mannus. According to an early source he was “a contemplative and holy man, meek and humble, joyful and kind and a zealous preacher.”
Blessed Manés on the left and Saint Dominic on the right
Manés was the second son of Félix Núñez de Guzmán and Juana de Aza . His younger brother was Dominic de Guzmán , Founder of the Order of Preachers and whom Manés helped in his reforming goals throughout his life. His older brother was Antonio de Guzmán, who became a Diocesan Priest in a hospice and devoted himself unreservedly, to works of mercy in the service of the poor. He received the first teachings from his Parents and his Uncle, Archpriest Gonzalo de Aza in Gumiel de Izán. Initially, in 1183, he joined the Cistercians in the San Pedro Monastery in Gumiel de Izan.
In 1215, Dominic established himself, with six followers, in a house given by Peter Seila, a rich resident of Toulouse. Dominic saw the need for a new type of Order to address the spiritual needs of the growing Cities of the era, one that would combine dedication and systematic education, with more flexibility than either Monastic Orders or the secular Clergy. He subjected himself and his companions to the Monastic Rules of prayer and penance; -Bishop Foulques gave them written authority to preach throughout the territory of Toulouse. Pope Honorius II approved the the Ordo Praedicatorum (“Order of Preachers”) in the same year.
On 15 August 1217, Manés, having left the Cistercian Monastery, joined his brother as one of the first 15 Dominican. He placed himself under his brother’s guidance from the foundation of the Dominican Order.
In the same year, he helped establish the Priory of St Jacques in Paris and his brother arranged ,that, accompanied by Friar Miguel de Fabra, he make a trip to Spain in order to consolidate and strengthen the new houses of the Order in their Country of origin. In 1219 , he was entrusted, by his brother, with the care of the Dominican nuns of the Madrid Convent. .
After the Canonisation of his brother ( 3 July 1234 ), he marched to Caleruega to propose the construction of a Church in the place where St Dominic and himself were born in honour of the new Saint. Just a couple of weeks later, he died in the Monastery of San Pedro de Gumiel de Izán and was buried there, where some members of his family were lying, including his mother, Juana de Aza. Having a reputation for holiness, he was buried with all kinds of honours. When they began to venerate and pray at his tomb, his relics were transferred from his family’s crypt to the main Altar, there they were exposed for public veneration.
In the personality of Manés we can guess at common traits with Dominic: austerity, sobriety and the manners of the Castilian male. His spirit of service and attachment to the founding principals of his brother’s Order, shows that he had a gregarious spirit and the humility of obedience in service.
Likewise, Manés reveals a community spirit, obedient and based on the mission that was presented to him. His way of being and his way of doing shows a Dominican spark: – “making oneself while making the community” and vice versa, “making the community while making oneself.”
Blessed Manés’ in a Stained glass window from St Dominic’s Church in Washington, D.C. Photo by Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P.
Being Dominic’s brother does not hide Manés’ importance as Dominic’s partner, not only in his childhood in Caleruega but also throughout their time together in the new Order. Over time, Manésy showed himself as a brother by blood but also as a brother in faith and in the hope of saving souls. Domingo felt him by his side and trusted him. The results of the orders carried out by Manés, speak for themselves.
Blessed Mané is one of the most beloved figures in the Dominican family, as the blood brother of St Dominc and his companion in the founding of the Order. His contemporary Friars said of him:
“He was a contemplative and holy man” – Friar Gerardo de Frachet “Gentle, humble, jovial and benign and ardent preacher” – Friar Rodrigo Cerrato ….. Ana OP
Notre-Dame-de-Gray / Our Lady de Gray, France (1602) – 30 July:
The Shrine of Notre-Dame-de-Gray, or Our Lady of Gray, is located near Besancon in Northern France near Franche-Comte. The Statue of Our Lady of Gray is made of an oak tree from Montaigu, has a dark wooden colour and is only 14.5 centimeters tall. It is much honoured in the country and there are many miracles and graces granted to petitioners that are attributed to Our Lady’s intercession at this Shrine.
It is believed that about five centuries ago, on a hill near Montaigu, a pious person placed a small Statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary upon an old oak tree. The tree itself is believed to date from the time of the Druids and crested one of the hills in the Diocese of Malines. Soon the faithful began to come in crowds from throughout the region, for there were miraculous cures and various miracles granted to the pilgrims who invoked Mary under the name of Our Lady of the Oak. In the year 1602 a small wooden Chapel was built on the hill of Montaigu. The oak upon which the Statue of Our Lady had once been displayed was now cut up into small pieces and carved by a local craftsman into statuettes of the same image. These Statues were presented as a mark of respect to patrons of the Shrine. Even the wood of the oak was considered almost a precious relic, for it had once touched the miraculous Statue of the Blessed Virgin. Wherever they went these figures were enshrined with honour and it seemed as if Our Lady of Montaigu sent her favour, for her miraculous power went with them.
In the year 1613, a poor, seventy year old widow named Jeanne Bonnet de Salins made a pilgrimage to the Shrine. She obtained a piece of the venerable old oak and took it to a sculptor named Jean Brange to carve into a statue similar to that of the original. On 4 April 1613, the Archbishop of Besancon blessed the Statue and allowed it to be exhibited for public veneration. It is reported, that Jeanne Bonnet was rewarded by signal graces she obtained through Our Lady’s intercession. She intended to give the Statue to a local Church but, in 1616, yielded to the repeated entreaties of Father Gabriel Appremont, who wanted to have the image for the Capuchins of Gray. A special Chapel was richly decorated to receive it. The news soon spread in the region of Gray and the faithful flocked to pay their respects to the new Madonna, Our Lady of Gray.
Window inthe Basilica of Our Lady of Gray
Our Lady of Gray holds in her right hand a gleaming sceptre of gold that a parishioner donated in the year 1807. It was at this time that the Chapel – now a Basilica (see below), was undergoing reconstruction after the ravages of the French Revolution. There are also three semi-precious stones set in the front of the base of the statue that were given by grateful petitioners to the Blessed Virgin. Finally, the two gold crowns were created in 1909 on the occasion of the celebration of the coronation of the Statue of Our Lady of Gray.
St Abdon Bl Antonio di San Pietro Bl Edward Powell St Ermengyth St Hatebrand St Julitta of Caesarea St Leopold Bogdan Mandic Blessed Manés de Guzmán OP (c 1168-1235) Dominican Priest and Friar, Brother of Saint Dominic
Bl Richard Featherstone St Rufinus of Assisi St Senen St Tatwine of Canterbury St Terenzio of Imola Bl Thomas Abel St Ursus of Auxerre Bl Vicenta Chavez-Orozco — Martyrs of Castelseras: Three Dominicans, two of them priests, one a novice, who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War for refusing to renounce Christianity. • Joaquín Prats Baltueña • José María Muro-Sanmiguel • Zosimo Izquierdo Gil They were shot on 30 July 1936 at a farm house outside Castelserás, Teruel, Spain and Beatified on 11 March 2001 by Pope John Paul II.
Martyrs of Tebourba – 3 saints: Three girls martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian. We know little else about them but the names – Donatilla, Maxima and Secunda. 304 at Tebourba in North Africa.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: Thousands of people were murdered in the anti-Catholic persecutions of the Spanish Civil War from 1934 to 1939. Today’s list includes the following:
The Martyred Hospitallers of Spain and Bl Alejandro González Blanco Bl Eugenio García Tribaldos Bl Guillermo Álvarez Quemada Bl Juan Lanz Palanca Bl Luis Herrero Arnillas Bl Miguel Solas del Val Bl Pablo Díaz de Zárate y Ortiz de Zárate Bl Racardo Pla Espí Bl Sergio Cid Paz
One Minute Reflection – 29 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Memorial of St Martha – Readings: Exodus 40: 16-21, 34-38; Psalms 84: 3, 4, 5-6a and 8a, 11; John 11: 19-27
“Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” – John 11:5
REFLECTION – “Love everyone with a great, charitable love but have no friendship except for those that communicate with you in the things of virtue. … If this communication be in the sciences, the friendship is certainly very commendable but still more so, if it be in virtues, in prudence, discretion, fortitude and justice. Should your mutual and reciprocal communications relate to charity, devotion and Christian perfection, O God, how precious will this friendship be! It will be excellent because it comes from God; excellent, because it tends to God; excellent because its very bond is God; excellent, because it shall last eternally in God. Oh, how good it is to love on earth as they love in heaven;and to learn to cherish one another in this world, as we shall do eternally in the next!
I speak not here of that simple love of charity which we must have for all but, of that spiritual friendship, by which two, three or more souls communicate one to another their devotion and spiritual affections and make themselves have but one spirit. (Cf. Acts 4:32) Such happy souls may justly sing: “Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Ps 132[133]:1). … I consider all other friendships as but so many shadows in comparison with this one … For Christians who live in the world and desire to embrace true virtue, it is necessary to unite themselves together by a holy and sacred friendship. By this means, they encourage, assist and conduct one another to good deeds … Surely no-one can deny, that our Lord loved Saint John, Lazarus, Martha and Magdalen with a more sweet and most special friendship, for Scripture tells us so.” – St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Bishop of Geneva and Doctor of Charity the Church – Introduction to the Devout Life, III, 19 (trans. John Ryan)
PRAYER – Almighty ever-living God, Your Son graciously came as a guest to the home of St Martha and was the friend of her family. Martha in her sorrow was moved to declare her total faith in Him, grant we pray, that in our trials and sorrows, we too may prove our love for You. By her prayers give us grace to serve Christ faithfully in our brethren and bring us to Your home in heaven. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord, in union with the Holy Spirit, amen.
Saint of the Day – 29 July – St William Pinchon of Saint Brieuc (1180-1234) Bishop of Saint Brieuc, Confessor Born as Guillaume Pinchon on 11 October 1180 in Saint-Alban, San-Brieuc, Brittany (in France) and died on 29 July 1234 of natural causes. William was a champion for the poor and defended the rights and privileges of the Church against secular intervention. This was a cause of his exile from his Diocese but he returned not long after his exile and set himself on the construction of a new Cathedral which was still in construction at the time of his death. Patronage – Diocese of Saint-Brieuc, France. Also known as – William Pinchon, William of San Brieuc, Guillaume Pinchon.His body is incorrupt.
William was born in 1175 in Saint-Alban to the peasants Oliver Pinchon and Jane Fortin. He was, from a young age,, by the innocence of his manners, his admirable meekness, humility, chastity, mortification, charity and devotion, an accomplished model of all virtues. He received the tonsure and some years later, the Holy Orders of Deacon and Priest, at the hands of Josselin, Bishop of Saint-Brieuc.
He served that Church and Diocese, under his two predecessors, Bishops Peter and Sylvester and succeeded the latter in the episcopal dignity about the year 1220.
The poor were his treasurers and not content to exhaust on them whatever he possessed, he often borrowed great stores of corn and other necessary provisions for their relief. The bare boards were usually his bed – for his domestic servants discovered that he never made use of the soft bed which they prepared for him. In 1225 he sold all his possessions in a famine to aid the poor and homeless.
The Duke Peter I forced him into a brief exile in 1228 and he spent that time living for a while in Poitiers before he returned to his Diocese in 1230 after the Duke reconciled with Pope Gregory IX. It was during his exile in Poitiers that he assisted the ill Bishop there and helped him in his ecclesial duties.
He died in 1234 and his body was deposited in his Cathedral and taken up incorrupt in 1284 . Pope Innocent IV Canonised Pinchon on 24 March 1247 a mere 13 years after his death.
Saint Guillaume Pinchon and Saint Maurice Duault – Saints of the Diocèse of Saint-Brieuc by Pierre de Rennes
Madonna dei Miracoli / Holy Mary of Miracles, Morbio Inferiore, Ticino, Switzerland (1594) – 29 July:
Where the Sanctuary of Morbio now stands, a castle stood centuries ago, attested in 1198 and destroyed in the first half of the sixteenth century. Only the ruins of a Chapel, dedicated to St Bernardino of Siena, transformed over time into a pile of rubble, buried by weeds, brambles and thorns., remained. Surrounded by ivy and fortunately well preserved, remained the Fresco in the Chapel, depicting the Virgin with the Child. The history of the Sanctuary of Holy Mary of Miracles began on 29 July 1594. It was a Friday when the two mothers with their daughters, Catherine and Angela , respectively ten and seven years old, travelled to Morbio to entreat the assistance of Fr Gaspare Basbetrini. They were sick girls, tormented by the devil and had travelledp to Morbio, to ask for the blessing of Don Gaspare Barberini, the assistant Priest at Morbio, who was well-known as an Exorcist. However, sadly for the pilgrims, Fr Basbetrini was absent. To the tiredness of the journey and the sadness of illness, the bitterness of disappointment was added. Among the ruins of the ancient castle the little group of supplicants waited and discovered on the crumbling and crumbling walls, the faded remains of a fresco depicting the Virgin in a deeply maternal position nursing Baby Jesus. The two mothers knelt before the Virgin with their daughters and prayed in deep sadness and devotion for the intercession of the Holy Mother to come to the aid of the sick children. And then the miracle happened. Those two poor simple and innocent creatures were cured. This is Morbio’s miracle – the Madonna appeared to the two little girls and cureds them of all their illnesses, dispelling any demonic presence within them. Our Lady spoke to the elder girl, Catherine and instructed her to tell the Bishop that the Church should be rebuilt and that the Holy Rosary must be said everyday. Eight days after the event, on 5 August 1594, the episcopal curia of Como, whose ecclesiastical jurisdiction also extended to the southern regions of Ticino, instructed the regular canonical process, which recognized , upon the sworn deposition of the main eyewitnesses, the truth of what happened and their prodigious and supernatural nature. A stained-glass window, located at the top of the apse and placed at the beginning of this century, illustrates and reminds those who enter the Sanctuary of this miracle. Catherine is depicted on a ladder, with her arms outstretched, listening in front of the image of the Madonna dei Miracoli. At the foot of the ladder, Angela, the other sick girl, is lying asleep.
In a short while an Oratory was built on the site to recite the Rosary and celebrate Mass there, as the Madonna had said to Catherine, while on 29 July 1595, the Anniversary of the apparition and the miracle, the first stone was blessed and laid for the construction of the Sanctuary, Consecrated on 16 May 1631 by the Bishop of Como, Msgr Filippo Archinti.
St Antony St Beatrix of Rome Bl Beatrix of Valfleury St Callinicus of Paphlagonia Bl Charles-Antoine-Nicolas Ancel St Faustinus of Rome St Faustinus of Spello St Felix of Rome St John Baptist Luo Tingyin St John the Soldier Bl José Calasanz Marqués St Joseph Zhang St Kilian of Inishcaltra St Lek Sirdani Bl Luis Bertran St Lupus of Troyes Bl Mancius of the Cross St Martha Wang St Olaf II St Olaus of Sweden St Paulus Chen Changpin Bl Petrus of Saint Mary St Pjetër Çuni St Prosper of Orleans St Rufo of Rome St Seraphina St Serapia of Syria St Simplicius of Rome St Sulian
St William Pinchon of Saint Brieuc (1180-1234) Bishop of Saint Brieuc, Confessor — Four Anonymous Martyrs
Martyrs of Calanda – 8 beati: A group of Dominican priests and friars who were martyred over the course of a day in the same town by the same group of anti-Christian forces in the Spanish Civil War. • Antonio Manuel López Couceiro • Felicísimo Díez González • Gumersindo Soto Barros • Lamberto María de Navascués de Juan • Lucio Martínez Mancebo • Matías Manuel Albert Ginés • Saturio Rey Robles • Tirso Manrique Melero They were martyred on 29 July 1936 in Calanda, Teruel, Spain I.
Martyrs of Lleida – 12 beati: Carmelites of the Ancient Observance novices, friars and priests who were all martyred together in the Spanish Civil War. • Àngel Prat Hostench • Eliseo Maneus Besalduch • Gabriel Escoto Ruiz • Ginés Garre Egea • Joan Maria Puigmitjà Rubió • Joan Prat Colldecarrera • Josep Solé Rovira • Lluis Fontdecava Quiroga • Manuel Serrano Buj • Miquel Soler Sala • Pere Dorca Coromina • Pere Ferrer Marín They were martyred on 29 July 1936 in Clot dels Aubens, Cervera, Lleida, Spain and Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: Thousands of people were murdered in the anti-Catholic persecutions of the Spanish Civil War from 1934 to 1939. • Blessed Bartolomé Rodríguez Soria
Martyrs of Rome – 23 saints Eugene Flora the Martyr Lucilla Theodore
Saint of the Day – 28 July – Saint Pope Innocent I (Died 417) Papal Ascension 402 until his death on 12 March 417, Confessor. He defended the exiled Saint John Chrysostom and consulted with the Bishops of Africa concerning the Pelagian controversy, confirming the decisions of the African synods. The Catholic priest-scholar Johann Peter Kirsch, 1500 years later, described Innocent as “a very energetic and highly gifted individual …who fulfilled admirably the duties of his office.”
Before his elevation to the Chair of Peter, very little is known concerning the life of this energetic pope, so zealous for the welfare of the whole Church. According to the “Liber Pontificalis” he was a native of Albano – his father was called Innocentiu but his contemporary St Jerome, referred to him as the son of the previous pope, Anastasius I, probably a unique case of a son succeeding his father in the Papacy. He grew up among the Roman clergy and in the service of the Roman Church. After the death of Anastasius (December 401) he was unanimously chosen Bishop of Rome by the clergy and people. Not much has come down to us concerning his ecclesiastical activities in Rome. Nevertheless, one or two instances of his zeal for the purity of the Catholic Faith and for Church discipline are well attested.
Innocent I lost no opportunity in maintaining and extending the authority of the Roman apostolic See, which was seen as the ultimate resort for the settlement of all ecclesiastical disputes. His communications with St Victricius of Rouen, St Exuperius of Toulouse, St Alexander of Antioch and others, as well as his actions on the appeal made to him by St John Chrysostom against Theophilus of Alexandria, show that opportunities of this kind were numerous and varied. He took a decided view on the Pelagian controversy, confirming the decisions of the Synod of the Province of proconsular Africa, held in Carthage in 416, confirming the condemnation which had been pronounced in 411 against Cælestius, who shared the views of Pelagius. He also wrote in the same year, in a similar sense, to the fathers of the Numidian Synod of Mileve who had addressed him. Soon after this, five African Bishops, among them St Augustine, wrote a personal letter to Innocent regarding their own position in the matter of Pelagianism. In addition, he acted as metropolitan over the Bishops of Italia Suburbicaria.
The historian Zosimus in his Historia Nova suggests that during the sack of Rome in 410 by Alaric I, Innocent I was willing to permit private pagan practices as a temporary measure. However, Zosimus also suggests that this attempt by pagans to restore public worship failed due to lack of public interest, suggesting that Rome had been successfully ChristianiSed in the last century.
Among Innocent I’s letters is one to St Jerome and another to John II, Bishop of Jerusalem, regarding annoyances to which the former had been subjected by the Pelagians at Bethlehem.
He died on 12 March 417, although from the thirteenth to the twentieth century, he has beens commemorated on 28 July. His successor was Pope Zosimus.
In 846, Pope Sergius II gave approval for the relics of St. Innocent to be moved by Duke Liudolf of Saxony, along with those of his father and predecessor Anastasius, to the Crypt of the former collegiate Church of Gandersheim, now Gandersheim Abbey, where most of them rest until this day. Some Relics were also brought to The Church of Our Lady St Mary of Glastonbury upon its consecration.
The Siege of Rhodes. Victory over the Turks by the Knights Hospitaller at Rhodes in 1480 through the intercession of Our Lady, final battle 27 July 1480 – commemorated on 28 July:
Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, the last remnant of the Holy Roman Empire, fell to the “Scourge of Europe,” the Sultan Mehmet II, in the year 1453. This dire news was almost impossible to believe in the rest of Christendom but, it was sadly true and Constantinople was made into the new seat of the Ottoman Empire. A few short years later, Pierre D’Aubusson was Grand Master of the Hospitallers, the Knights of Saint John, living on the island of Rhodes. He and his Knights were untiring opponents of Islam, sworn to do everything in their power to fight against them. Having made the island of Rhodes their home, the Knights harassed Ottoman shipping lanes and assisted with attacks against the Ottoman Empire. In the year 1479, D’Aubusson refused to pay tribute to Mehmet in exchange for peace and furthermore, had the audacity to continue harassing the sultan’s shipping lanes. The Grand Master continued to work on the massive fortifications on Rhodes as he awaited the siege of Rhodes that he knew would soon come. His walls were strong but the Grand Master had only a few hundred Knights and about 2,000 natives to defend them. Mehmet was not intimidated by the Christian defenses on Rhodes, for he had huge cannons and basilisks which had blasted holes in the stout walls of Constantinople. He also had over 70,000 men in his army, and he was determined to wipe out “that abode of the sons of Satan,” as he referred to the Catholic Knights of Rhodes. The Siege of Rhodes began with a tremendous bombardment on the Tower of Saint Nicholas. Grand Master Pierre D’Aubusson was not intimidated as he asked: “What is more sacred than to defend the Faith? What is happier than to fight for Christ?” Breaches were eventually made in the walls and the Muslim’s unremittingly attempted to rush through the breaches. Many of the Turks had to be forced to attack the defenses, as their commanders lashed them forward with whips and chains. The Janissaries, however, did not have to be urged, for they were the sultan’s finest troops. They were warriors to the core and advanced over the fallen bodies of their comrades, anxious to cross swords with the Catholic Knights. Finally, the Tower of Italy began to crumble from the terrific assault, and large breaches opened in the wall. The Bashi-Bazouks and Janissaries rushed into the breach, placing the standard of Islam above the Tower. On witnessing this act, the Grandmaster rushed into the breach together with a few of his excellent Knights. Howling and raging like madmen, the Janissaries pressed the assault, for the Knights seemed too few to stand against their wave after wave of thousands of elite warriors. Yet, the Grandmaster stood, insensible of any wounds he received in return for the carnage he wreaked among the fanatical Muslim warriors. Fighting with broken blades and notched axes, the Knights of Saint John continued to hold the breach, cutting down any who approached them, until a huge Janissary rose up and hurled a spear with all his might directly at the Grand Master. Propelled at incredible speed, the sharp steel tip easily pierced D’Aubusson’s breastplate, puncturing a lung. The Grand Master went down beneath a torrent of hacking blades as the Knights struggled to drag his body from the fray.
The 1480 Siege of Rhodes. Neapolitan ships in the forefront and Turkish camp in the background.
By his courageous stand D’Aubusson had proven he was at least the equal of any Grand Master in history, but now, he was wounded unto death and could do no more. The siege of Rhodes appeared to be lost as D’Aubusson’s Knights struggled to haul him to safety. Thousands of Jannisaries were rushing into the breach with no-one to stop them and at this point the Knights knew, it would take a miracle to keep Rhodes from being overrun. A miracle is exactly what they got. Suddenly there appeared in the sky “a refulgent cross of gold, by the side of which stood a beautiful woman clothed in garments of dazzling white, a lance in her hand and a shield on her arm, accompanied by a man dressed in goatskins and followed by a band of heavenly warriors armed with flaming swords.” It was the glorious figures of Saint John the Baptist, the Patron Saint of the Order of Saint John, Saint Michael the Archangel brandishing his unsheathed sword and the Queen of Heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary herself, dressed in battle array! The Turks turned at the sight and ran in panic-stricken flight. Thousands fell as they fled, cut down and pursued through the breaches by the Knights of Rhodes and their heavenly allies. Chased all the way back to their camp, it was now the defeated Muslims who suffered the insult of having their sultan’s own standard captured.
The siege of Rhodes had ended, and Grandmaster D’Aubusson later recovered of his wounds. He had lost 231 of his Knights but that was nothing compared to the thousands upon thousands of Muslim warriors who lay dead upon his shores. It was in the year of Our Lord 1480 that the Knights of Rhodes had gained this signal victory over the Turks, by the help of the Blessed Virgin, whom the Knights regarded ever after as Our Lady of Victory. They renewed their dedication to her who had appeared on the walls during the siege of Rhodes holding a lance in her hand to defend them, bringing with her Saint Michael the Archangel and a heavenly army. She, the Patroness of the Sovereign and Military Order of Hospitallers, had turned the formerly obstinate enemy, who retired in disorder, to lose the greater part of their army. Thanks BE to Our Lady of Victory, the all-conquering sword of Mehmet II had shattered upon the walls of Rhodes!
St Arduinus of Trepino St Botwid of Sudermannland St Camelian of Troyes St Celsus of Rome Bl Christodoulos Bl Davíd Carlos-Marañon St Eustathius of Galatia St Pope Innocent I (Died 417) St Irene of Cappadocia Bl John Soreth St José Caselles-Moncho Bl José Melchór García-Sampedro Suárez Bl Josep Castell-Camps St Longinus of Satala St Lucidius of Aquara St Lyutius Bl Manuel Segura-López St Nazarius of Rome
Blessed Stanley Francis Rother (1935-1981) Priest, Martyr, Missionary. He is the first US-born Priest and Martyr to be Beatified (on 23 September 2017) and the second person to be Beatified on US soil following the 2014 Beatification of New Jersey-born nun, Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich S.C. (1901-1927). Biography: https://anastpaul.com/2018/07/28/saint-of-the-day-28-july-blessed-stanley-francis-rother-1935-1981-martyr/
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War – Thousands of people were murdered in the anti-Catholic persecutions of the Spanish Civil War from 1934 to 1939. Martyrs of Fernán Caballero – 14 beati: Fourteen Claretian clerics who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War. – 28 July 1936 in Fernán Caballero, Ciudad Real, Spain. Bl Antolín Astorga Díez Bl Enrique Serra Chorro Bl Gregorio Charlez Ribera Bl Joan Ayats Plantalech Bl Joan Bover Teixidor Bl Joan Costa Canal Bl José Aurelio Calleja de Hierro Bl José Gutiérrez Arranz Bl Josep Camí y Camí Bl Josep Martí Coll Bl Lluis Casanovas Vila Bl Lorenzo Arribas Palacio Bl Manuel Collellmir Sentíes Bl Miguel Léibar Garay Bl Narcís Felíu Costa Bl Pedro Alonso Fernández Bl Pelagi Ayats Vergés Bl Pere Vilar Espona Bl Primitivo Sandín Miñambres Bl Ramon Gros Ballbé Bl Vicente Toledano Valenciano
Saint of the Day – 27 July – Blessed Maria Magdalena Martinengo OSC Cap (1687-1737) Nun of the Order of the Capuchin Poor Clares, Mystic with a great devotion to the Passion of Christ, Mother Superior. Maria Magdalena devoted her life as a professed religious to the performance of small but humble chores in her time as a Poor Clare nun and was noted for her life of spiritual discernment and devotion to God above all else. She had a great horror of sin and devoted much time to contemplating death, and the Divine Judgement . Born Margherita Martinengo da Barco on 5 October 1687 in Brescia, Milan, Italy and died on 27 July 1737 (aged 49) also in Brescia,, Patronage – against tuberculosis. Also known as – Margarita Martinengo, Maria Maddalena.
Margherita was born on 5 October 1687 in Brescia into a noble household in the Martinengo Ducal Palace to Francesco Leopoldo Martinengo and Margherita Secchi d’Aragona. Her brothers were Nestore and Gianfrancesco. Her mother died five months after her birth in 1688. She was Baptised straight after her birth since there was fear that she might die. The Baptism was formally celebrated on 21 August 1691 at the Baptism of her half-sister Cecilia, born to the second marriage of her father to Elena Palazzi.
As a child she was perceived to be an intelligent girl and received a structured and comprehensive education based on the civic and religious studies. At the age of six she was entrusted to the Ursulines for additional education. Her teacher, Isabella Marazzi, instructed her in proper devotional practices to God and Marazzi played a formative role in Margherita’s religious education. Margherita was an avid reader and made full use of the Latin literature that her father owned.
On one occasion during her childhood, she was in a six horse carriage and she fell out. She would have been crushed had there not been, what she described as, an invisible touch that seemed to save her life.
On 11 October 1689 she entered the Convent boarding school of the Augustinian nuns of Santa Maria degli Angeli – two nuns there were her maternal aunts.
She made her First Communion towards the end of her childhood during which – in the nervous tension and emotion of the moment – she dropped the Host which forced her to pick it up from the floor with her tongue.
In August 1699 she asked her father for permission to go to the Spirito Santo boarding school of the Benedictines. Before she left the family went on a holiday with her father and siblings, in the mountains around Lago d’Iseo where she realised what her true calling was.
Around this time, at the age of thirteen, she took a vow to God in which she promised to remain a virgin. But at the age of sixteen several suitors approached her and her father had even promised her to the son of a prominent Venetian Senator. It even grew to the point where her two brothers Nestore and Gianfrancesco, pressured her to accept one of the offers. Her suitors bought her books and love stories and she did in fact like them – but she brooded over the fact that such stories which were given to her were “books from Hell.”
Margherita returned from the Spirito Santo Convent after the conclusion of her studies in 1704 and on 21 December 1704, announced to her father and brothers, her intention of becoming a Capuchin Poor Clare nun. Her Confessor and house servants, as well as her father and siblings, opposed this decision. Despite this opposition, on Christmas 1704 she went to the Capuchin Poor Clare Convent of Santa Maria della Neve and presented herself to them with the words: “I want to become holy.”. However, she was required to undergo a period of probation, which was conducted in the Ursuline-run Maggi College.
Once she entered the Convent at the age of eighteen, she was described to be “like wax” for her delicate appearance. On 8 September 1705 she was clothed in the habit and assumed the religious name of “Maria Magdalena” and parted from her family. Maria Magdalena was later deemed to be unfit for the Capuchin life but with a change in mistress she received unanimous support. She made her solemn profession on 8 September 1706.
Her Confessor instructed her to compile notes of her life and experiences which she did in the spirit of obedience. She was appointed as the Mistress of Novices at the age of 36 and made Abbess in 1732; – she was re-elected in that post on 12 July 1736.
Maria Magdalena died of tuberculosis in 1737 and when news of her death spread across Brescia people across the entire area mourned her passing. Her remains are located in the Church of the Convent of the Capuchin Poor Clare nuns in Brescia.
The recognition of two miracles attributed to her direct intercession allowed for Pope Leo XIII to preside over her Beatification on 3 June 1900. The miracles in question concerned the healings of Isabella Groppelli Gromi and of the future priest Giuseppe Tosi.
Notre-Dame-de-Foy / Our Lady of Faith,Gravelines, Liege, France (1616) – 27 July:
Not far from the small town of Dinant, in Liege near a home belonging to the Lord of Celles, two magnificent oaks once grew. One of the two venerable old trees was felled in the year 1609 by a man named Gilles, a lumberjack. The worker who inspected the tree found a small terracotta statue of the Mother of God, enthroned, as it were, with three iron bars that served as a trellis. The old oak stood on the edge of a path taken by pilgrims travelling to St Hubert. Apparently, at some time in the distant past, some pious Christian soul had placed the holy image in a hollow of the oak, as if in a niche. Then, over a period of time, the opening the tree had made while it was still young gradually closed and as it grew, the tree hid in its womb, the precious figure. Over the years the bark of the tree closed upon it and, as the road became less frequented, the existence of the Statue was completely forgotten.
To honour the Virgin, the Statue was subsequently displayed on the other oak, once again behind an iron grating, by order of the Baron of Celles. In this new Sanctuary, the Mother of God was honoured with the title of Our Lady of Faith. Those passing by did not fail to venerate the Statue;and there were many unexpected miracles. Graces of all kinds multiplied,and soon pilgrims began to flock to the area because of the dazzling miracles and very quickly a spontaneous cult grew. The Statue was first placed in another oak but it was almost thrown away by servants who thought it had no value. The local Baron placed it near the door to his oratory at the Castle of Veves as pilgrims began to flock there. In this new Sanctuary, the image of Our Lady was honoured under the title of Our Lady of Faith, which was the name of the farm. The first miracle occurred in 1616. As a result of the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary an old man was healed from a painful and debilitating hernia. The canonical investigation prescribed by the Bishop of Liege, was positive in its conclusion. A Priest of the Society of Jesus had recently been sent to Gravelines. He worked diligently to cultivate souls, as if upon a fruitful vine and by his sermons excited the people of the region to a greater love for the Mother of God. Seeing that this devotion had taken root, he met with the local Magistrate to discuss how to maintain and increase the piety of the people. It was decided that they should make replicas of the Statue of Our Lady of Faith, made from the wood of the first oak. When the first was completed, the image was observed to have a great resemblance to the original. Received with great joy, it was placed in a large reliquary above the high Altar in the Parish Church.
St Aetherius of Auxerre St Anthusa of Constantinople St Arethas St Aurelius of Cordoba St Benno of Osnabruck (c 1020-1088) Bishop Bl Berthold of Garsten
St Ecclesius of Ravenna Bl Felipe Hernández Martínez St Felix of Cordoba St Galactorio of Lescar St George of Cordoba St Hermippus St Hermocrates St Hermolaus Bl Jaime Ortiz Alzueta Bl Joaquín Vilanova Camallonga Bl José María Ruiz Cano St Juliana of Mataró St Lillian of Cordoba Bl Lucy Bufalari St Luican
Bl Maria Klemensa Staszewska Blessed Maria Magdalena Martinengo OSC Cap (1687-1737) Nun St Maurus of Bisceglia Bl Modesto Vegas y Vegas St Natalia of Cordoba Bl Nevolone of Tavenisa St Pantaleimon
Bl Rudolf Aquaviva S.J. Bl Robert Sutton St Semproniana of Mataró St Sergius of Bisceglia Bl William Davies Bl Zacarías Abadía Buesa
Martyrs of Nicomedia – 3 saints: Three Christians martyred together. The only other information to survive are their names – Felix, Jucunda and Julia. Nicomedia, Asia Minor.
Seven Sleepers of Ephesus: A group of seven young Christian men who hid in a cave in hopes of avoiding the persecution of Decius in the year 250. Found and arrested, they were ordered by the pro-consul in Ephesus to renounce their faith; they refused and were sentenced to die. Legend says that they were walled up in their hiding cave, guarded by the dog Al Rakim; when the cave wall was breached in 479 – they all woke up! It is likely that the youths were tortured to death in various ways and buried in the cave. The resurrection story confusion came from the phrase “went to sleep in the Lord” which was used to describe the death of Christians and 479 is when their relics were discovered. Their names were Constantinus, Dionysius, Joannes, Malchus, Martinianus, Maximianus and Serapion. They were martyred in 250 in Ephesus (in modern Turkey); tradition says that they were walled up in a cave to suffocate but other records indicate that they were tortured to death in various ways. Their relics discovered in 479 and translated to Marseilles, France and enshrined in a large stone coffin.
One Minute Reflection – 26 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Readings: Exodus 32: 15-24, 30-34; Psalms 106: 19-20, 21-22, 23; Matthew 13: 31-35 and the Memorial of Saints Anne and Joachim – Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Grandparents of Jesus
“Until the whole was leavened” – Matthew 13:33
REFLECTION – “If someone kneads bread without mixing leaven into it, they may well apply themselves to the task, knead and work at it, the dough will not rise and cannot be used as food. But when leaven has been mixed in, it draws all the dough to itself and makes it all rise, as in the parable the Lord applied to the Kingdom… It is the same with meat – no matter how much care you take, if you neglect to put in salt to preserve it,… it will smell badly and become inedible In the same sort of way, imagine the whole of humanity as meat or dough and that the divine nature of the Holy Spirit is salt and leaven from another world. If the heavenly leaven of the Spirit and good salt of the divine nature… are not added to our lowly human nature and mixed into it, the soul will never lose its bad odour of sin and will not rise by losing the heaviness and impurities of the “leaven of wickedness” (1Cor 5,7)…
If a soul only relies on its own strength and thinks itself able to achieve complete success of itself, without the help of the Holy Spirit, it is greatly deceived. It is not made for the dwelling places of Heaven nor made for the Kingdom… If sinful man does not draw near to God, does not renounce the world, does not await in hope and patience a good that is foreign to its own nature, namely, the strength of the Holy Spirit; if the Lord does not instil His own divine life from on high into that soul, that person will never taste the true life… On the other hand, if he has received the Spirit’s grace, if he does not turn away from it, if he does not offend Him by his negligence and wrongdoing, if, after persevering a long time like this in the fight, he does not “grieve the Spirit” (Eph 4,30), he will have the happiness of winning eternal life.” – Attri to St Macarius of Egypt (c 300-390) Monk
PRAYER – True light of the world, Lord Jesus Christ, as You enlighten all men for their salvation, give us grace, we pray, to herald Your coming by preparing the ways of justice and of peace. Help us Lord, that we may sprout and bear fruit, fitting to grow and be a home of comfort to our neighbour. By the prayers of Sts Anne and Joachim, may we too be beacons of Your Light and of the glory of Your Kingdom. Through Jesus our Lord, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 26 July – St Parasceva of Rome (Died c 180) Virgin Martyr, Confessor. Born near Rome in the 2nd Century and died by beheading in c 180. Patronage – invoked against blindness, healer of the blind.
Parasceva was born in a village near Rome, likely during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (117-138). Her parents, Agathon and Politia, were Christians of Greek origin and had prayed for many years to have a child. When Politia finally bore a child, she was born on a Friday, the day of Our Lord’s suffering. They, therefore, named the baby girl Parasceva, meaning “Friday” in Greek (literally “preparation (day)” for the sabbath – cf. Mark 15:42). Parasceva grew up to be a devout and well-read woman, who rejected many suitors.
After the death of her parents, she gave away all of her possession and became the head of a Christian community of young virgins and widows. She also began to preach the Christian faith and at the age of 30, left Rome and ministered in many Towns and Villages.
In the Village of Therapia, Constantinople, she was arrested by soldiers of the Emperor Antoninus Pius and brought to trial. The charge was blasphemy and they charged her with inciting resistance to authorities. Antoninus Pius attempted to convince her to denounce her faith and even offered to marry her. Parasceva refused and was beaten and tortured by having a steel helmet lined with nails placed on her head and tightened with a vice. No pain seemed to affect her and her endurance caused many to convert to Christianity. Eventually, at his wit’s end, Antoninus Pius demanded that Parasceva be immersed into a large kettle of oil and tar. However, she emerged from even this unscathed. When she was accused of using magic, she responded by throwing the liquid into the Emperor’s face. He was blinded, and desperately asked for her help. Antoninus Pius regained his sight. This miracle moved him to convert to Christianity and set Parasceva free. Neither die he persecute Christians thereafter.
The Martyrdom of St Parasceva
However, after the death of Antoninus Pius, the laws changed once again under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. A plague struck the Roman people and many, including Marcus Aurelius, considered Christians responsible for angering the gods. Parasceva was again arrested amongst many other Christians in a City governed by a man named Asclepius, who threw her into a pit with a large snake. She, however, made a Sign of the Cross and the snake fell asleep or dead. Just as with Antoninus Pius, Parasceva ‘s miracle converted Asclepius to Christianity and he released her. She continued to travel from Town to Town, preaching the Faith.
Finally, Parasceva was arrested for the last time by a Roman official named Tarasius and taken to the Temple of Apollo. Upon entering the Temple, Parasceva made a Sign of the Cross and all the idols in the Temple were instantly destroyed. Instead of converting the onlookers to Christianity, however, they became enraged, and beat her. Taracius then had her beheaded.
Her remains were eventually taken to Constantinople. Although it is not certain when or how her relics reached Constantinople, it seems that they were exhibited there in around 1200 to pilgrims.
Madonna del Faggio (Our Lady of the Beech Tree), Castelluccio, Bologna, Emilia Romagna, Italy (1672) – 26 July, Ascension Thursday:
In 1672 the Blessed Virgin appeared to a shepherd boy and told him that she wished to be venerated at a certain place in the beech woods near Castelluccio in central Italy. Tthe child , following the directions to the site, discovered a terracotta Madonna affixed to one of the trees. The tiny Statue, barely 18 centimetres tall (7 inches) was moved to a wayside Shrine and then, in 1722, to its own mountain Sanctuary. Until 1964 a caretaker lived in the hermitage there. Since then a volunteer opens the Chapel only in summer on Sundays. In 1975 the sacred image was stolen and a copy was made to replace it. Since 1756, an annual pilgrimage on Ascension Day brings the image to the Town and back again, and on St Anne’s day, 26 July, a procession goes to the site of the beech tree where the Statue had been originally found, although the tree itself is no longer there as it fell during a storm. The Sanctuary’s holy card, shown above, does not seem to depict the terracotta image. It may represent one of the paintings of Lorenzo Pranzini, who decorated the interior of the Chapel in the 1800s.
St Benigno of Malcestine Bl Camilla Gentili St Charus of Malcestine Bl Edward Thwing Bl Élisabeth-Thérèse de Consolin St Erastus Bl Évangéliste of Verona St Exuperia the Martyr Bl George Swallowell St Gérontios Bl Giuseppina Maria de Micheli St Gothalm St Hyacinth Bl Jacques Netsetov Bl John Ingram St Joris Bl Marcel-Gaucher Labiche de Reignefort Bl Marie-Claire du Bac Bl Marie-Madeleine Justamond Bl Marie-Marguerite Bonnet St Olympius the Tribune St Parasceva of Rome (Died c 180) Virgin Martyr, Confessor St Pastor of Rome Bl Pérégrin of Verona Bl Pierre-Joseph le Groing de la Romagère
Our Morning Offering – 25 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Feast of St James the Greater and the Memorial of St Christopher (died c 251)
The Christopher Prayer, Make Us True Christ-Bearers Anonymous
Father, grant that we may be, bearers of Christ Jesus, Your Son. Allow us to fill, the world around us, with Your light. Strengthen us, by Your Holy Spirit, to carry out our mission of living and following the path of Jesus, our Lord. Help us to understand, that by Your grace our gifts are Your blessings, to be shared with others. Fill us with Your Spirit of love to give glory to You in loving all and preaching by our love. Nourish in us the desire to go forth as the bearers of Your Son fearless and gentle, loving and merciful. Make us true Christ-Bearers, that in seeing us, only He is visible. Amen.
Saint of the Day – 25 July – Saint Magnericus of Trier (c 520-596) Bishop and Confessor. Born in c 520 and died on 25 July 596 of natural causes. Also known as – Magnerich, Magnerico, Magnerik, Meinrich. Magnericu. Magnericus was a friend and disciple of St Gregory of Tours, mentioned in his History of the Franks and ordained St Géry, one of his disciples, who became Bishop of Cambrai-Arras. St Venantius Fortunatus (c 530 – c 609) (his life here:https://anastpaul.com/2019/12/14/saint-of-the-day-14-december-saint-venantius-fortunatus-c-530-c-609/) described the Bishop as virtuous and charitable and an “ornament of bishops“.
Magnericus was born and grew up in Trier, Germany. Not much is known about his early life. Once installed as Bishop, he continued the work begun by his predecessor of restoring the City of Trier and its environs. He founded several clerical communities and Churches, including St.Eucharius and St Paulin. He had a great devotion to Saint Martin of Tours and built several Monasteries and Churches dedicated to him. He converted the Holy Cross Church in Trier into an Oratory in honour of St Martin; it later became the Abbey of St. Martin. Other Churches Magnericus dedicated to St Martin are in Ivois, Carden on the Moselle and a second one in Trier.
He lived in the residence of Bishop Nicetius,and accompanied the Bishop into exile when Nicetius was banished by King Clotaire I. This was an act of revenge for the King being excommunicated. Magnericus returned to Trier the next year. He was Ordained by Nicetius in 566.
He gave sanctuary to Bishop Theodore of Marseilles when he was exiled by Guntramnus of Burgundy in 585 and pleaded with King Childebert II on behalf of the Bishop.
Magnericus was close to the Merovingian Royal house and Childebert II, who made him Godfather of his son,Theudebert II. In 587 he attended a family congress of Kings Childebert and Guntram, which nearly cost him his life. At the meeting, Duke Boso, who had been condemned by the King, fled to his house and took the Bishop hostage. The house was set on fire at the King’s command but fortunately, Magnericus escaped with his life.
The proximity to the Merovingian family and his influence on the fortunes of Austrasia and the Gallic Church helped him maintain urban and regional domination until his death.
He was buried in the cemetery of St Martins. Around the year 1000 Abbot Eberwin wrote a hagiography of the Bishop, whereupon his veneration spread throughout Lorraine. In 1506 his grave was opened but after the destruction of the Church during the French Revolution, his remains disappeared.
Notre-Dame du Saguenay / Our Lady of Lac Bouchet, Quebec (1920) – 25 July:
The Saguenay Fjord is an ancient glacial valley that has been overrun with sea water. In the year 1828 a surveyor, Joseph Bouchette, ventured into the region for the purpose of collecting data for topographical maps. It was during this expedition that he found a suitable site for a future village, which Pascal Dumais and his family later settled. This marked the founding of the village of Lac-Bouchette, with more and more people coming to settle in the area until the village had 300 inhabitants by 1888. Our story actually begins with a man named Charles Napoleon Robitaille, a salesman who travelled the roads in and around Quebec. During the winters he would have to cross frozen rivers and it was in the winter of 1878 while trying to cross the Saguenay River that the ice broke under the weight of his horse and sleigh. Pulled beneath the surface of the icy waters, Charles was alone and completely helpless. Knowing he was dying, he implored the Blessed Virgin Mary to save him. Charles miraculously survived, and managed to escape from the river with his life. He knew the Virgin had assisted him and so to honour Mary and her recent apparition at Lourdes, he asked Louis Jobin to create a huge Statue of the Blessed Virgin sculpted in the image of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Immaculate Conception. He envisioned the Statue in the heights overlooking the mouth of the river. The Statue Jobin sculpted became known as Notre-Dame du Saguenay.
The finished Statue is an impressive more than 10,5 metres high and weighs 3 tons. Sculpted of solid white pine, it was then sheathed in lead to protect it from the harsh weather. Hauling such a huge Statue into place was a difficult task in the late nineteenth century. After being constructed, it was broken down into 14 separate pieces and then hoisted into place and rebuilt. The Statue made Louis Jobin the most famous sculptor of the time,and it has become a regional landmark, with visitors from all over the world assembling at her feet to sing the Ave Maria.
In 1889 the mission Church of Saint Thomas Aquinas was built and the next year Father Joseph Ironwood became the first Priest there A second Church was soon built, in 1898, as the population increased dramatically. Now, on the north shore of Lake Bouchet, in the Province of Quebec, there stand the buildings of a Friary and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Saguenay. In 1920, Father Elzear Delamarre built a house and a private Chapel dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua on the site, which later became known as the hermitage of Saint Anthony and is one of the national Shrines in Quebec. So began the pilgrimage-shrine that has since grown steadily in popularity. After Father de Lamarre’s death in 1925, the Capuchin Franciscans took over the property, built their house and Church there and minister to the thousands of pilgrims who visit the Blessed Mother at her Sanctuary.
St Cugat del Valles Bl Darío Acosta Zurita St Ebrulfus St Fagildo of Santiago St Felix of Furcona St Florentius of Furcona St Glodesind of Metz St Magnericus of Trier (c 520-596) Bishop and Confessor Bl Michel-Louis Brulard Bl Mieczyslawa Kowalska St Mordeyren St Nissen of Wexford St Olympiad of Constantinople St Paul of Palestine
St Theodemir of Cordoba — Martyrs of Caesarea – 3 saints: Three Christians martyred together in the pesecutions of emperor Maximilian and governor Firmilian – Paul, Tea and Valentina. 309 in Caesarea, Palestine.
Martyrs of Cuncolim – 20 saints: On 15 July 1583 the group met at the church of Orlim, and hiked to Cuncolim to erect a cross and choose land for a new church. Local anti-Christian pagans, seeing the unarmed Christians, gathered their weapons and marched on them. One of the parishioners, a Portuguese emigre named Gonçalo Rodrigues, carried a firearm, but Father Alphonsus Pacheco stopped him from using it. The pagans then fell upon them, and killed them all without mercy. They were – • Alphonsus Pacheco • Alphonsus the altar boy • Anthony Francis • Dominic of Cuncolim • Francis Aranha • Francis Rodrigues • Gonçalo Rodrigues • Paul da Costa • Peter Berno • Rudolph Acquaviva • ten other native Christian converts whose names have not come down to us They were martyred on Monday 25 July 1583 at the village of Cuncolim, district of Salcete, territory of Goa, India. Beatified on 30 April 1893 by Pope Leo XIII.
Saint of the Day – 24 July – Saint Christina Bolsena (3rd Century) Virgin Martyr. Born in the 3rd Century, probably at Rome, Italy into the family Anicii and died in the late 3rd Century at Lake Bolsena, Tuscany, Italy. Patronages – archers, mariners, millers . Also known as Cristina Anicii, Cristina of Tyro, Cristina.
Dolci, Carlo; Saint Christina of Bolsena
The Roman Martyrology’s entry today says: “At Tyro, in Tuscany, on the lake Bolsena, St Christina, Virgin and Martyr. Believing in Christ and breaking up her Father’s gold and silver idols to give them to the poor, she was cruelly scourged by his command, subjected to other most severe torments and thrown with a heavy stone into the lake, from which she was drawn out by an angel. Then, under another Judge, who succeeded her Father, she bore courageously still more bitter tortures. Finally, after she had been shut up by the Governor, Julian, in a burning furnace for five days, without any injury and being cured of the sting of serpents, she ended her Martyrdom by having her tongue cut out and being pierced with arrows.”
St Christina was the daughter of Urbain, a rich and powerful magistrate. . At least one account says that she destroyed her father’s golden idols and distributed their peices among the poor.
Saint Christina giving her father’s idols of gold to the poor, 17th-century painting.
By her father’s command, Christina was tortured to death. Her executions tore into her body with iron hooks. Afterward, they fastened her to a rack and lit a strong fire under her . Narratives say that God protected Christina by turning the burning flames against her onlookers. Next, although a heavy stone was tied around her neck to drown her in Bolsena Lake, an angel loosened the bonds and saved her. Unexpectedly, Christina’s father died while she was being tortured. Perhaps a glimmer of remorse saved his soul from eternal death!
Christina was again tortured by the magistrate who succeeded her father. The writer Fr Alban Butler states, that Christina remained unhurt inside a burning furnace for 5 days. Once removed, serpents could not bite her. In a rage, Christina’s torturers cut out her tongue and shot her to death with arrows. The island-city, Tyro, where she was executed was swallowed up by waters in the course of time.
Chapel of our Lady of the Rosary of Santi Giovanni e Paolo (Venice) – Martyrdom of St Christina by Sante Peranda
St.Christina’s relics are kept at Palermo in Sicily in a Basilica named for her. Her courage is testament to her perfect love for Jesus. “There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear. (Jn. 4:18)”
The Tomb of St Christina with Buglioni sculpture in the centre. Tthe Statue illustrates the stone used in the attempt to drown her.
Foundation of Our Lady of Cambron, France (1148) – 24 July:
This feast day celebrates the Foundation of the Abbey of Our Lady of Cambron, near Mons, in Hainault, Belgium, by Anselm de Trasigny, Lord of Peronne and Canon of Soignies, in the year 1148. The Abbey of Cambron was founded on the River Blanche and was a daughter house of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. It was situated some distance from Mons in Cambron-Casteau in Hainaut, Belgium and took its name from the land on which it was built. Cambron, in its turn, had daughter houses in the Abbeys of Fontenelle at Valenciennes and six other sites. The image of Our Lady formerly honoured at Cambron was famous for a great number of miraculous cures. A Chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Cambron, was built at Mons in 1550 in a part of the Prince’s park. In the following centuries the magistrates of Mons had a beautiful door built for the Shrine and added other embellishments. There was a small but well honoured and visited Oratory. In 1559, thieves broke into the Chapel and stole everything of value. After the French Revolution when the State took over all properties belonging to the Church, this Chapel of Our Lady of Cambron was also taken. It was demolished after all the wood, iron and lead was removed. The Statue of the Blessed Virgin which decorated the Altar was then placed in the Church of Saint Elizabeth at Mons. The Abbey of Cambron was rebuilt in the 18th Century but was ordered to be vacated in 1783 by the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. It was later sold to a wealthy Count who built a mansion on the property and the land remained in his family’s hands until it was sold in 1993 to a family, who turned the holy and once revered site, into the location of a public zoo known as the Pairi Daiza. Verneration of Our Lady of Cambron: “In 1322 there was a serious incident at Cambron. An image of the Virgin Mary was profaned. The widely held suspicion was that a Jewish perpetrator had falsified conversion to Christianity to gain access to the image. The affair caused significant unrest and provoked the sympathy of many Christians. There were prayers and devotions held to repair the image. Thus the devotion to Our Lady of Cambron was begun. After a request by the King of France Philip of Valois, Pope Benedict XII issued a Papal Bull granting indulgences to pilgrims to Cambron. The pilgrimage to the Virgin of Cambron was thus begun. A solemn procession takes place each year on the third Sunday of Easter.”
Among the pilgrims and visitors were several important figures, including the Emperor Maximilian I, who, passing through Belgium in the early 16th century, visited the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Cambron. He gave the Abbey sufficient funds to commission the restoration of the painted image.
The above very old and blurred image relates the legend of the attack on the Holy Painting
Martyred in England: John Boste Joseph Lambton Nicholas Garlick Richard Simpson Robert Ludlam
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: Bl Cándido Castán San José Bl Cecilio Vega Domínguez St Ignacio González Calzada St Jaime Gascón Bordas Bl José Joaquín Esnaola Urteaga Bl José Máximo Moro Briz St Josep Guillamí Rodo St Marcos Morón Casas Bl Maria Angeles of Saint Joseph Bl Maria Mercedes Prat Bl Maria Pilar of Saint Francis Borgia Bl Teresa of the Child Jesus and of Saint John of the Cross St Xavier Bordas Piferrer
Saint of the Day – 23 July – Blessed Giovanna of Orvieto OP (c 1264-1306) Virgin, Tertiary of the Order of Preachers, Mystic, Stigmatist , miracle-worker. Born in c 1264 at Carnaiola, Italy and died on 23 July 1306, aged 42, of natural causes. She was known for her wise intellect and for her intense devotion to serving the will of God while being noted for the charism of prophecy and visions. Patronages – embroiderers, seamstresses, Italian working women (chosen in 1926). Also known as Jane and Vanna of Orvieto.
The Roman Martyrology states of her today: “In Orvieto in Umbria, Blessed Giovanna, Virgin, Sister of Penance of Saint Domenic, distinguished for charity and patience.”
Giovanna was born near Orvieto, in 1264 of humble peasant parents who both died when she was very young. Moved by a celestial instinct, she entrusted herself entirely to the custody of the Angels, whose loving protection she was deeply aware of.
At the age of ten, she consecrated herself to Jesus and was already yearning for a life of complete dedication to Him. In the meantime she grew beautiful and graceful, while the plan to enter the Third Order of St Dominic, then in bloom, was maturing in her heart. members publicly wore the habit and led religious life, without however, leaving their respective homes.
Realising her decision, the relatives, with whom Giovanna lived, and who had already promised her to a rich young man of the area, showed themselves highly indignant at her decision and began to hinder her in every way.
The young girl then, left Carnaiada and took refuge in nearby Orvieto, where other relatives assisted her, offering her a solitary room and the freedom to serve God. Giovanna, who was only 14 years old at the time, was thus able to receive the white habit of the Order.
Her life was an admirable ascent in the most heroic ways of love. Encouraged by very high contemplation, she entered with so much tenderness in the mysteries of the Passion of Jesus, that she deserved a painful participation in it.
In the last ten years of her life, every Friday, when she entered into ecstasy, she looked like a living crucifix and her bones dislocated with so much clatter, as if they were shattered. To her fellow citizens she was a mirror and teacher of Christian life.
After her death, which took place on 23 July 1306 in Orvieto, from the wound in her side, living blood flowed and God honoured her with many miracles. Her body rests in the Town Church of St Domenic. In 1926 she was elected Patroness of Italy for female workers, seamstresses and embroiderers.
The year after her death, her body was transferred to the Chapel of the Three Kings and many miracles occurred, giving impetus to the process of Beatification, which, however, was not completed for more than 400 years
Giovanna was Beatified on 11 September 1754 by Pope Benedict XIV (cultus confirmed).
Madonna di Altino / Our Lady of Altino, Albino, Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy (1496) – 23 July:
On 23 July 1496, during a heatwave and drought,Quinto Foglia and his two little boys were walking from their home in Vall’Alta to the wooded slopes of Monte Altino, where they worked making charcoal. Stricken with thirst and afraid for his children, Quinto prayed to the Madonna. She appeared and told him to strike a rock with his staff. When he did, a spring surged forth. The next day, people began building a little Chapel, which was completed on 5 September 1496. In 1865 a statuary group depicting the apparition was installed in the Sanctuary. On 23 July 1919, in thanksgiving for her protection during World War I, the Madonna’s Statue was solemnly crowned. The Shrine celebrates its feast with an evening procession on 22 July and solemn Mass on 23 July, the anniversary of both the apparition and the crowning.
Bl Beaudoin of Beaumont St Conan of Cornwall Bl Emilio Arce Díez St Eugene of Rome St Herundo of Rome Blessed Giovanna of Orvieto OP (c 1264-1306) Virgin, Tertoary of the Order of Preachers, Mystic, Stigmatist
Bl Pedro Ruiz de los Paños Angel St Phocas the Gardener St Primitiva of Rome St Rasyphus of Macé St Rasyphus of Rome St Ravennus of Macé St Redempta of Rome St Romula of Rome St Severus of Bizye St Theophilus of Rome St Trophimus of Rome St Valerian of Cimiez Bl Wojciech Gondek — Martyrs of Barcelona – 7 beati: Seven Christians, some lay people, some members of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and some of the Franciscan Daughters of Mercy, who were martyred in two groups on the same day in the Spanish Civil War. • Catalina Caldés Socías • Francesc Mayol Oliver • Miquel Pons Ramis • Miquela Rul-Làn Ribot • Pau Noguera Trías • Prudència Canyelles Ginestà de Aguadé • Simó Reynés Solivellas 23 July 1936 in Barcelona, Spain. They were Beatified on 28 October 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI. Martyrs of Bulgaria: An unknown number of Christians killed for their faith during the 9th century war between the Greek Emperor Nicephorus and the Bulgars.
Martyrs of Carabanchel Bajo – 9 beati: A group of nine Passionist priests, brothers and clerics who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War. • Anacario Benito Nozal • Felipe Ruiz Fraile • Felipe Valcobado Granado • José Osés Sainz • José Ruiz Martinez • Julio Mediavilla Concejero • Laurino Proaño Cuesta • Manuel Pérez Jiménez • Maurilio Macho Rodríguez 22 July 1936 in Carabanchel Bajo, Madrid, Spain. They were Beatified on 1 October 1989 by Pope John Paul II.
Martyrs of Horta – 10 beati: A lay woman and nine Minim nuns who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War. • Ana Ballesta Gelmá • Dolors Vilaseca Gallego • Josefa Pilar García Solanas • Josepa Panyella Doménech • Lucrecia García Solanas • Maria Montserrat Ors Molist • Mercè Mestre Trinché • Ramona Ors Torrents • Teresa Ríus Casas • Vicenta Jordá Martí 23 July 1936 at the Sant Genís dels Agudells highway, Horta, Barcelona, Spain. They were Beatified on 27 October 2013 by Pope Benedict XVI.
Martyrs of Manzanares – 5 beati: Five Passionist clerics who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War. • Abilio Ramos y Ramos • Epifanio Sierra Conde • José Estalayo García • Vicente Díez Tejerina • Zacarías Fernández Crespo They were shot on 23 July 1936 in Manzanares, Ciudad Real, Spain and Beatified on 1 October 1989 by Pope John Paul II.
One Minute Reflection – 22 July –“Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Feast of St Mary of Magdala – Readings: Song of Solomon 3:1-4, Psalm 63:2-6, 8-9, John 20:1-2, 11-18
“Whom do you seek?” – John 20:15
REFLECTION – “Only the hearing that catches the Word possesses the truth … “Do not touch me,” says the Lord. He meant: – depend no longer on this fallible sense, put your trust in the Word, get used to faith. Faith cannot be deceived. With the power to understand invisible truths, faith does not know the poverty of the senses; it transcends even the limits of human reason, the capacity of nature, the bounds of experience. Why do you ask the eye to do what it is not equipped to do? And why does the hand endeavour to examine things beyond its reach? What you may learn from these senses is of limited value. But faith will tell you of Me without detracting from My greatness. Learn to receive with greater confidence, to follow with greater security, whatever faith commends to you.
“Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.” As if, after He had ascended, He wished to be, or could be, touched by it! And yet, He could be touched but by the heart, not by the hand – by desire, not by the eye; by faith, not by the senses. “Why do you want to touch Me now?” He says … “Do you not remember that, while I was still Mortal, the eyes of the disciples could not endure, for a short space, the glory of My Transfigured Body that was destined to die? I still accommodate Myself to your senses by bearing this form of a servant (Phil 2:7) which you are accustomed to seeing. But this glory of Mine is too wonderful for you … Defer your judgement, therefore, … With its fuller comprehension, faith will define it more worthily and more surely … They, therefore, will touch Me worthily, who will accept Me as being seated with the Father (Mk 16:19; Ps 110[109]:1), no longer in lowly guise but in My own flesh, transformed with heaven’s beauty. Why wish to touch what is ugly? Have patience, that you may touch Me in My Beauty.” – St Bernard (1091-1153) – Cistercian Monk and Doctor of the Church – Sermons on the Song of Songs, no. 28, 9-10
PRAYER – Almighty, ever-living God, Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ made Mary of Magdala the first herald of Easter joy. Grant that, following her example and helped by her prayers, we may, in this life, proclaim the living Christ and come to see Him reigning with You in glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever, amen.
Saint of the Day – 22 July – Saint Philip Evans SJ (1645-1679) Priest ,Martyr, Missionary, Confessor. Born in 1645 in Monmouth, Monmouthshire, Wales and died by being hanged, drawn and quartered 22 July 1679 on Gallows Field in Cardiff, Wales, aged 34 years. Additional Memorial – 25 October as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales,
Philip was born in Wales and studied at the English college at Saint-Omer in Flanders, where he entered the Jesuits and continued his studies. After he was Ordained in 1675, he was missioned back to South Wales where he served four years before he was arrested. During that time he became known for his zeal and charity and was fearless in caring for the Catholics entrusted to him.
He refused to leave Wales when persecution of Catholics increased after the Titus Oates plot of September 1678 falsely accused Jesuits of planning to assassinate King Charles II. The government normally offered a reward of 50 pounds for the arrest of a Jesuit but the local Welsh Magistrate, a staunch Calvinist, offered an additional 200 pounds for the arrest of Father Evans. Despite the threat, he continued serving as the chaplain of Christopher Turberville in Glamorgan, where the constables arrested him after he refused to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, which recognised the King as supreme in all religious matters.
For the first three weeks of captivity, Fr Philip remained in solitary confinement in an underground cell. Then he was brought up to the regular prison where he joined Fr John Lloyd, a Diocesan Priest. They waited five months before going to trial on 3 May 1679 because the prosecution could not find witnesses to testify that they were indeed Priests. Eventually a woman and her daughter said that they had received the Sacraments from the Jesuit, which was true. Evans was found guilty of high treason and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered but the execution was deferred until 22 July when the sheriff took both Priests to Gallows Field, outside Cardiff.
Philip is the only one of the many Priests to be Martyred in England and Wales who learned of his execution date while playing tennis. A prisoner in Cardiff Castle, he was allowed to exercise. While he was engaged in a tennis match, he received the news that he would be murdered the next day. Elated by the news, he asked if he could finish the match but was not permitted to do so. Instead, he took up a harp back in his prison cell and sang praise to God for calling him to be a Martyr.
When he mounted the ladder at the gallows, he said: “This is the best pulpit a man can have to preach in, therefore, I can not forbear to tell you again that I die for God and religion’s sake.” At the time of his Martyrdom, Father Evans was 34 years old and had been a Jesuit for 14 years.
The only Marian Feast I can find for today seems to be unverified, in other words, I can find absolutely no references online relating to this invisible Shrine.
St Baudry of Montfaucon St Claudius Marius Victorinus of Saussaye St Cyril of Antioch St Dabius Bl Jacques Lombardie St John Lloyd St Joseph of Palestine St Lewine St Lucia Wang Wangzhi
St Maria Wang Lishi St Meneleus of Ménat St Movean of Inis-Coosery St Pancharius of Besancon Bl Paolo de Lara St Philip Evans SJ (1645-1679) Priest Martyr St Plato of Ancyra St Syntyche of Philippi St Theophilus of Cyprus
Martyrs of Marula/Massylis: – 3 saints: Three Christians martyred together. We know nothing else about them but the names – Ajabosus, Andrew and Elian. They were martyred in Massylis (Marula), Numidia (in modern Algeria).
Martyrs of Massilitani: A group of Christians martyred together in northern Africa. Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote about them.
Martyred in the Spanish Civil War: Bl Jaime María Carretero Rojas Bl Joaquin Rodríguez Bueno Bl José María Mateos Carballido Bl Juan Durán Cintas Bl Ramón María Pérez Sous
Saint of the Day – 21 July – Saint Arbogast of Strasbourg (Died 678) Bishop of Strasbour, Missionary, Monk, Hermit, Confessor, miracle-worker. Born as Arascach (Irish) in the 7th century in Ireland and died in 678 in Strasbourg of natural causes. Patronage – St Arbogast is the Principal Patron of the Diocese and City of Strasbourg. T he Roman Martyrology states: “At Strasbourg, St Arbogastus, a Bishop, renowned for miracles.”
We have very little historical information of his life, other than that he came to Francie, lived as a Hermit quickly gathering a reputation for wisdom and holiness. He was then appointed Bishop of Strasbourg and is venerated as the saint who brought Christianity to the Alsace. Because of this, the Christian name “Arbogast” became especially popular in the region. His origin is generally believed to be Ireland,
According to the vita, a 10th-century hagiographical account of his life, Arbogast found a warm friend in the King Dagobert II of Austrasia, who reigned between 673-679. On Dagobert’s accession, Arbogast was appointed Bishop of Strasbourg and was famed for sanctity and miracles.
Still according to the vita, Arbogast brought back to life Dagobert’s son, Siegebert, who had been killed by a fall from his horse. Siegebert had been boar hunting with his father’s huntsmen in forests and became separated from the others. He encountered a boar and his startled horse reared, throwing him and trampling him while his foot was caught in his stirrup. His companions found him and took him home, where he died the next day. King Dagobert summoned Arbogast,and the holy man prayed to Mary, Mother of God – as she had carried the life of the entire world, would she not intercede for the life of this one boy? Siegebert stood up in his burial shroud. When the King offered Bishop Arbogast money in reward, he declined, suggesting instead, that land be donated to build a Cathedral at Strasbourg..
St Arbogast’s prayers raise King Dagobert’s son to life
His life as a Hermit in the forest of Haguenau is the domain of legend. But what is true is that the great Bishop Arbogast, installed throughout his territory, Monasteries intended to shine the light of the Gospel in the pagan countryside: – let us mention the Abbey of Surbourg, in the forest of ‘Haguenau and, near Strasbourg, an Abbey which will later bear the name of our saintly Bishop.
Knowing that “it is the Lord who builds up the city,” he put his hope in the prayers of his Monks. Arbogast himself had a great devotion to Saint Martin of Tours, to whom he dedicated, the Monastery of Surbourg.
For six years, he was thus the Good Shepherd of his Church, filled with divine Wisdom, holy virility and fatherly goodness. He spoke the Word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus his Church experienced a true Christian renewal, he himself deserved to enter into the joy of his Lord as a good and faithful servant and to receive from Christ, the Prince of Shepherds, the incorruptible crown of glory (En.).
According to the vita, he died in 678. His body was buried in the City cemetery and near his grave stood a Chapel, which he had dedicated to Saint Michael. Later, his relics were transferred in part to the Saint-Arbogast Monastery, near Strasbourg, where, his memory is celebrated every year as a Monk and Bishop of great holiness and miracles..
St Arbogast appears on the Coat of Arms of Batzendorf and today, on his Feast, a special Mass, granted by the Holy Father, is celebrated in his honour.
Strasbourg Cathedral`
Collect: O God, you wanted Blessed Arbogast, Your confessor and Pontiff, to become wholeheartedly, he model of his flock; grant us to realise, under his protection in our deeds, what he taught by the word of his mouth.
Notre-Dame-de-Verdun / Our Lady of Verdun, Lorraine , France (5th Century) – 21 July:
The present Cathedral of Notre-Dame-de -erdun is both a Cathedral and a national monument of France. It has a long and ancient history. It was in about the year 330 when Saint Sanctinus, a disciple of Saint Denis, converted the City of Verdun to the True Faith and later ,made it an Episcopal City when he became its first Bishop. He built a Church there in honour of Saints Peter and Paul. In the year 457 Saint Pulchrone, built the first Church located at the site where Our Lady of Verdun is presently located. The fifth Bishop of Verdun, Saint Pulchrone, built the Church inside the walls of the City on ancient Roman ruins. This Church was actually named to honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Mother of God, a title that had recently been confirmed at the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon. It was at the Council of Ephesus in 431 that Mary was formally affirmed to be Theotokos, “God-bearer,” or “the one who gives birth to God.” At Chalcedon, the nature of Christ was formally defined, teaching that He was God and man, “one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, known in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.” With this definition Mary was shown to be the Mother of God and not just of Our Lord in His human nature. The Church and Our Lady of Verdun was celebrated for numerous miracles. In the year 990, Bishop Heimon built a new Cathedral to Our Lady of Verdun, and in the 12th century a choir and two portals were added. In 997, the Emperor Otto III conferred on this Bishop Heimon, or Haymon, the title of Count, making him and his successors Episcopal Counts. The Cathedral was consecrated by Pope Eugene III in 1147. In the 14th century the flat wooden ceiling was replaced with a vaulted ceiling and side-Chapels were added to the nave. Another side Chapel, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin of the Assumption, was built in the 16th century. In 1755 the roof and towers were hit by lightning, which set them both on fire, which did significant damage to the Church. In 1760 the Church was repaired and rebuilt in the Neo-Classical style.
The Cathedral was once again severely damaged in World War I, as it was hit by artillery rounds in the Battle of Verdun, which destroyed the towers. The crypt was rediscovered during the renovation that went on until the year 1936 and a re-inauguration took place in 1935. The millennial celebration of the Cathedral took place in 1990. The Arbennes family were the Counts of Verdun, and Godfrey of Bouillon was a member of that family. Godfrey gave up his right to the title before leaving on the First Crusade.
St Lawrence of Brindisi OFM Cap (1559-1619) Doctor of the Church (Optional Memorial) St Lawrence is known as the “Franciscan Renaissance Man” – he was a Religious member of the Franciscan Friars Minor Capuchin, a Priest, Theologian, Vicar General of the Franciscans, Language scholar, Apologist of immense and calm resources, Humanist, Philosopher, Biblicist, Preacher, Missionary, Professor, International Administrator, Confidant of Popes, Emperors, Kings and Princes, Diplomatic envoy, Army Chaplain, Military Strategist and Morale builder, Polemicist, Prolific writer. Biography: https://anastpaul.com/2018/07/21/saint-of-the-day-21-july-st-lawrence-of-brindisi-ofm-cap-1559-1619-doctor-of-the-church-the-franciscan-renaissance-man/
Bl Agrícola Rodríguez García de Los Huertos St Alberic Crescitelli
St Arbogast of Strasbourg (Died c 678) Bishop St Barhadbescialas St Benignus of Moyenmoutier Bl Claudius of Avignon St Claudius of Troyes St Corona of Marceille Bl Cristóbal López de Valladolid Orea Bl Daniel Molini St Daniel the Prophet St Eleutherius of Marseille St Eternus of Evreaux Bl Gabriel Pergaud St Iosephus Wang Yumei St John of Edessa St John of Moyenmoutier Bl Juan de Las Varillas Bl Juan de Zambrana St Jucundinus of Troyes St Julia of Troyes St Justus of Troyes Bl Parthenius of Thessaly St Praxides of Rome St Simeon Salus
St Wastrada St Zoticus of Comana — Martyrs of Africa – 6 saints: Six Christians who were martyred together. We know no other details about them but the names – Emilian, Hugal, Motanus, Saphus, Stercorius and Victor. They were martyred in an unknown location in Africa, date unknown.
Saint of the Day – 20 July – Saint Joseph Barsabbas the Just (1st Century) Disciple of Jesus, Martyr Bishop. Also known as – Justus, Barsabbas, Joseph Basassas, Joseph of Barsabas, Joseph the Just.
The Roman Martyrology states today: “The birthday of the blessed Joseph, surnamed the Just, whom the Apostles selected with the blessed Matthias, for the Apostleshop in the place of the traitor, Judas. The lot having fallen upon Matthias, Joseph, notwithstanding, continued to preach and advance in virtue and after having sustained from the Jews, many persecutions for the Faith of Christ, happoily ended his life in Judea.”
“Wherefore, of these men who have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us; beginning from the baptism of John, until the day wherein he was taken up from us, one of these must be made a witness with us of his resurrection. And they appointed two, Joseph, called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus,and Matthias. And praying, they said: Thou, Lord, who knowest the heart of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, to take the place of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas hath, by transgression fallen, that he might go to his own place. And they gave them lots and the lot fell upon Matthias and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.” ― Acts 1:21 – 26 D-R
St John Chrysostom writes, “The other candidate (Joseph) was not annoyed, for the apostolic writers would not have concealed failings of their own, seeing they have told of the very chief Apostles, that on other occasions had indignation and not only once but again and again.”
It clear that Joseph Barsabbas (also called “Justus”) must have spent much time with the Apostles and witnessed many of the wondrous events in the life of Jesus. Further identification of Joseph is uncertain. In Christian tradition he is numbered among the Seventy disciples mentioned in Luke 10:1–24, although the biblical text mentions no names. “After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.” (10:1)
Very little is known about Joseph Barsabbas outside of the apostle selection by lots. Tradition believes that he went to Eleutheropolis (about 25 miles from Jerusalem) where he became Bishop Justus of Eleutheropolis. The town was renamed over the centuries. Its original Aramaic name Beth Gabra, translates as the “house of the mighty one.” The Romans gave it the Greek name, Eleutheropolis, meaning “City of the Free.”
Rev Alban Butler says – “After the dispersion of the disciples he preached the gospel to many nations and among other miracles, drank poison without receiving any hurt, as Papias and from him ,Eusebius, testify. This saint, from his extraordinary piety, was surnamed the Just.“
AnaStpaul 
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