Posted in MARIAN TITLES, MARTYRS, SAINT of the DAY, YouTube VIDEOS

St Pantaleon (Died c 305) Martyr, Notre-Dame-de-Foy / Our Lady of Faith, Gravelines, Liege, France (1616) and Memorials of the Saints – 27 july

Notre-Dame-de-Foy / Our Lady of Faith, Gravelines, Liege, France (1616) – 27 July:
HERE:

https://anastpaul.com/2021/07/27/notre-dame-de-foy-our-lady-of-faith-gravelines-liege-france-1616-and-memorials-of-the-saints-27-july/

St Pantaleon (Died c 305) Martyr, Lay Physician, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
His Life and Death:

https://anastpaul.com/2017/07/27/saint-of-the-day-27-july-st-panteleon/

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 Pope Celestine I (Died 432) called “the Heresy Fighter.” Much is unknown about Celestine, including his birthday. But his reign as Pope – from 422 to his death in 432 – is credited with many achievements.
Biography:

https://anastpaul.com/2018/07/27/saint-of-the-day-st-pope-celestine-i-died-432/

St Ecclesius of Ravenna
St Felix of Cordoba
St Galactorio of Lescar
St George of Cordoba
St Hermippus
St Hermocrates
St Hermolaus
St Juliana of Mataró
St Lillian of Cordoba
Bl Lucy Bufalari
St Luican

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. She had a great horror of sin and devoted much time to contemplating death, and the Divine Judgement. The recognition of two miracles attributed to her direct intercession allowed for Pope Leo XIII to preside over her Beatification on 3 June 1900.
Her Story:

https://anastpaul.com/2021/07/27/saint-of-the-day-27-july-blessed-maria-magdalena-martinengo-osc-cap-1687-1737/

St Maurus of Bisceglia
St Natalia of Cordoba
Blessed Nevolone of Faenza OFM (Died 1280) Penitent, Widower, Lay brother of the Order of Friars Minor, then a Camaldolese Hermit.
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.

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Posted in MARIAN TITLES, MARTYRS, SAINT of the DAY, YouTube VIDEOS

Notre-Dame-de-Foy / Our Lady of Faith, Gravelines, Liege, France (1616) and Memorials of the Saints – 27 July

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 Pope Celestine I (Died 432) called “the Heresy Fighter.” Much is unknown about Celestine, including his birthday. But his reign as Pope – from 422 to his death in 432 – is credited with many achievements.
Biography:

https://anastpaul.com/2018/07/27/saint-of-the-day-st-pope-celestine-i-died-432/

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

Blessed Maria Grazia Tarallo/Bl Maria of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (1866-1912) Virgin, Religious Sister of the Institute of the Sisters Crucified Adorers of the Eucharist.
Her Life:

https://anastpaul.com/2019/07/27/saint-of-the-day-27-july-blessed-maria-of-the-passion-of-our-lord-jesus-christ-1866-1912/

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

St Pantaleon (Died c 305) Martyr, Lay Physician, one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
His Life and Death:

https://anastpaul.com/2017/07/27/saint-of-the-day-27-july-st-panteleon/

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.

Posted in MARTYRS, SAINT of the DAY, YouTube VIDEOS

Memorials of the Saints – 27 July

St Aetherius of Auxerre
St Anthusa of Constantinople
St Arethas
St Aurelius of Cordoba
Bl Berthold of Garsten
St Pope Celestine I (Died 432)
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2018/07/27/saint-of-the-day-st-pope-celestine-i-died-432/

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 Grazia Tarallo/Bl Maria of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ (1866-1912)

Bl Maria Klemensa Staszewska
Bl Mary Magdelene Martinengo
St Maurus of Bisceglia
Bl Modesto Vegas y Vegas
St Natalia of Cordoba
Bl Nevolone of Tavenisa
St Pantaleimon
St Pantaleon (Died c 305) Martyr
His Story:
https://anastpaul.com/2017/07/27/saint-of-the-day-27-july-st-panteleon/

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.

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, MORNING Prayers, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on CHARITY, QUOTES on CONVERSION, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SANCTITY, SAINT of the DAY, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 27 July – Today’s Gospel: Matthew 13:18–23

One Minute Reflection – 27 July – Friday of the Sixteenth week in Ordinary Time, Year B – Today’s Gospel: Matthew 13:18–23

“As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”...Matthew 13:23

REFLECTION – “Indeed, you all know how land is cultivated.   First of all you pull out the weeds and throw away the stones, then you work the ground itself.   You do it again a second time, a third time and finally… you sow.   Oh, let it be like this in our souls!   First of all let us uproot the weeds, that is to say our evil thoughts;  then take out the stones, in other words all our malice and obstinacy.   Finally, let us work our hearts with the plough of the Gospel and the ploughshare of the cross.   Let us break it by repentance, turn over the soil with almsgiving and with charity, prepare it for the seed of Our Lord… that it may joyfully receive the seed of the divine word and bring forth fruit, not just thirty but sixty and a hundredfold.”...St Caesarius of Arles (470-543) Monk & Bishop (Sermons to the people, no.6 passim ; SC 175)as for what was sown - matthew 11 23 - st caesarious of arles - finally let us work our hearts - 27 july 2018

PRAYER – A pure heart create for me O God, put a steadfast spirit within me! (Ps 50[51]) Lord God, bestow a full measure of Your grace to us.   Keep us within in the path of Your commandments, help us to work on the earth of our souls, rooting out the weeds and casting forth the stones of malice.   Grant that by the prayers of St Pope Celestine, who faced so many stones of heresy, we may succeed in attaining sanctity.   Through Christ, our Lord, in union with the Holy Spirit, one God, forever, amen.st pope celestine I pray for us - 27 july 2018.jpg

Posted in SAINT of the DAY

Saint of the Day – St Pope Celestine I (died 432)

Saint of the Day – St Pope Celestine I (died 432), called “the Heresy Fighter.”     Much is unknown about Celestine, including his birthday.   But his reign as Pope – from 422 to his death in 432 – is credited with many achievements.celestine 1 - my edit

Celestine I was a Roman from the region of Campania.   Nothing is known of his early history except that his father’s name was Priscus.   According to John Gilmary Shea, Celestine was a relative of the emperor Valentinian.   He appears to have spent some time in Milan, living with the city’s bishop, St Ambrose (340-397).   St Augustine (354-430) (a protégé of Ambrose) seems to have been good friends with Celestine.   Certainly, Celestine sided with St Augustine against the Donatists and Semipelagians.
The first known record of him is in a document of Pope Innocent I from the year 416, where he is spoken of as “Celestine the Deacon”.

Various portions of the liturgy are attributed to him but without any certainty on the subject.   In 430, he held a synod in Rome, at which the teachings of Nestorius were condemned.   The following year, he sent delegates to the First Council of Ephesus, which addressed the same issue.   Four letters written by him on that occasion, all dated 15 March 431, together with a few others, to the African bishops, to those of Illyria, of Thessalonica and of Narbonne, are extant in re-translations from the Greek;  the Latin originals having been lost.celestine 3 - my edit

St Celestine actively condemned the Pelagians and was zealous for Roman orthodoxy.   To this end he was involved in the initiative of the Gallic bishops to send Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes travelling to Britain in 429 to confront bishops reportedly holding Pelagian views.

He sent Palladius to Ireland to serve as a bishop in 431. Bishop Patricius (Saint Patrick) continued this missionary work. Pope Celestine strongly opposed the Novatians in Rome; as Socrates Scholasticus writes, “this Celestinus took away the churches from the Novatians at Rome also and obliged Rusticula their bishop to hold his meetings secretly in private houses.”   He was zealous in refusing to tolerate the smallest innovation on the constitutions of his predecessors. As St Vincent of Lerins reported in 434:

Holy Pope Celestine also expresses himself in like manner and to the same effect.   For in the Epistle which he wrote to the priests of Gaul, charging them with connivance with error, in that by their silence they failed in their duty to the ancient faith, and allowed profane novelties to spring up, he says: “We are deservedly to blame if we encourage error by silence.    Therefore rebuke these people.    Restrain their liberty of preaching.”
In a letter to certain bishops of Gaul, dated 428, St Celestine rebukes the adoption of special clerical garb by the clergy.   He wrote: “We [the bishops and clergy] should be distinguished from the common people [plebe] by our learning, not by our clothes;  by our conduct, not by our dress;  by cleanness of mind, not by the care we spend upon our person”.

The 5th century was something of a boom time for heresy.   Celestine also had to confront Manicheans, Novatians and, above all, Nestorians.   He commissioned St Cyril of Alexandria to look into Nestorianism, which taught that Christ had two persons and denied that Mary was the Mother of God.   Having determined that this was heretical, the Pope deposed Nestorius, restoring faithful Catholics whom Nestorius had excommunicated.

St Celestine died on 26 July 432.   He was buried in the cemetery of St Priscilla in the Via Salaria but his body, subsequently moved, now lies in the Basilica di Santa Prassede.

In art, Saint Celestine is portrayed as a Pope with a dove, dragon, and flame.celestine 2 - my edit