Today is the beginning of the blessed Coptic year. It is necessary to keep it a holy day with full purity and chastity. Let us start a new demeanor as St. Paul the Apostle says, \"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.\" (
We ask our God to keep us without sin and help us to act according to His will with the intercessions of the pure Saint Mary, all the Martyrs and Saints. Amen.
On this day also, the holy Apostle Bartholomew, one of the twelve disciples, was martyred. To this Apostle fell the lot to go to the oasis (the great oasis, Al-Khargah), in Egypt. He entered the city with Peter, who sold him as a slave. There he proceeded and preached to the people. He called them to the knowledge of God, after performing before them signs and wonders that amazed their minds. He worked in the vineyards of a rich man and whenever he trimmed the vine branches, they immediately bore fruit.
It happened that the son of the governor of that city died, and Bartholomew the Apostle raised him up from the dead. The people believed and he strengthened them in the knowledge of God.
Later on, the Lord Christ, to Him is the glory, commanded St. Bartholomew to go to the land of the Berbers and sent St. Andrew, His disciple, to help him. The people of that city were exceedingly wicked, and would not accept any of the signs or wonders the disciples performed. Yet the two disciples continued to preach to them and teach them until they entered the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, they appointed priests over them, and built churches for them, and soon after they left. St. Bartholomew went to the cities on the Mediterranean coast, where the inhabitants knew not God. He preached and converted them to the knowledge of God and the belief in the Lord Christ. He taught them to perform the works which were worthy of Christianity and commanded them to be pure and chaste. When King Agrippa heard of him, he was exceedingly enraged and commanded his servants to put him in a hair sack, to fill the sack with sand, and cast it into the sea. And so were consummated the struggle and martyrdom of St. Bartholomew.
His blessings and prayers be with us all. Amen.
Also on this day in the year
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "melyos milius third pope" } ], [ { "id": 2, "action": "On this day, the forerunner and great prophet, St. John the Baptist, son of Zacharias the priest, was martyred by the order of King Herod. When St. John rebuked Herod because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Phillip whom he had taken as a wife, he said to him, \"It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.\" (Mark:
An opportune day came when Herod, on his birthday, gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers and the chief men of Galilee. And when Herodias' daughter herself came in and danced and pleased Herod. He promised her anything she might ask for, even as much as half of his kingdom. She went to her mother and asked her, \"What shall I ask?\" Her mother said, \"Ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.\" When Herod heard this, he was exceedingly sorry. But because of his promise and those who were sitting with him, he did not want to refuse her request. He therefore commanded his servants to cut off the head of Saint John and they gave it to the damsel and the damsel gave it to her mother. (Mark
It was said that when the holy head of St. John was cut off, it flew up off their hands into the air, and it cried out saying, \"It is not right for you to take your brother's wife.\" It is also said that the head now is present at Homs in Syria.
As of the holy body, the disciples of St. John took it and laid it in a grave until the days of Pope Athanathius, when God Willed to uncover his body.
His blessings be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, St. Dasya the soldier, who was a native of the city of Tanda, was martyred. Arianus, governor of Ansena, inflicted great tortures on this Saint because of his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, he cut off his head, thus St. Dasya received the crown of martyrdom.
His blessings be with us all and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "dasya soldier" } ], [ { "id": 3, "action": "On this day of the year
When this reached Abba Dionysius he was exceedingly sorry, and he tried to return them from their erroneous opinion, but they would not hearken to him. Therefore, the council assembled, confronted them, and made manifest their perversion. They neither repented nor turned away from their false belief, the holy synod and the Pope excommunicated them.
He wrote an article for them and said in it, \"The love of God for mankind is exceedingly great, and the spirit neither dies nor perishes, but abideth as the angels and the devil for it is spiritual, immutable, and incorruptible. When the spirit goes forth from the body it will return to God Who gave it. (Ecc.
On this day also a great earthquake took place in Cairo and most of the Egyptian cities at
Their intercession be with us all, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "a great earthquake took place cairo most egyptian cities" } ], [ { "id": 4, "action": "The Departure of St. Macarius, 69th Pope of Alexandria
On this day, Abba Macarius II, the sixty-ninth Pope of the great city of Alexandria, departed in the year
When Abba Mikhail, the sixty-eighth, Pope departed and the papal throne became vacant, a group of bishops and priests went to the wilderness of Scete. They assembled in the church with the elders of Scete. They remained there for many days, searching and scouting for who would be best for this position. Finally they unanimously agreed to choose this father for what was known of his good character and excellent attributes. They took him and bound him against his will, and he cried out and begged them with excuses to release him saying, \"I am not fit to be raised to the dignity of the Papacy.\"
They brought him bound to the city of Alexandria and ordained him Patriarch. The deed of his appointment was read in the Church of Mu'allakah (The Church of the Holy Virgin) in the Greek, Coptic, and Arabic languages.
During his papacy, he added to his worship and piety. He taught and preached the people daily. He gave alms and did works of mercy to the poor and needy. During his papacy he never asked for any of the Church's money, but rather, he used to give a large portion of the contributions which he received to be spent on different righteous deeds. He completed
His prayers be with us all and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "macarius 69th pope" } ], [ { "id": 5, "action": "The Martyrdom of Saint Sophia
On this day, St. Sophia, was martyred. She used to go to church with her Christian neighbors, so she became a believer in the Lord Christ. Longing to become Christian, she went to the Bishop of Manf. He baptized her in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Thereupon an accusation of becoming a Christian was brought against her before Claudianus, the Governor. The governor brought her, and questioned her. She confessed and did not deny her faith. He tortured her with many tortures. He whipped her, then burned her joints; however, she went on crying out, saying, \"I am a Christian.\" The governor commanded to have her tongue cut off and then returned her to prison.
He sent his wife to her to dissuade her, and promise her with many rewards. When she would not be dissuaded, he commanded to have her head cut off. She prayed a long prayer and asked God to forgive the governor and his soldiers for what they had done to her. Then she bowed her head down and the executioner cut off her neck.
A Christian woman paid much money to the soldiers, took her pure body, and wrapped it with costly shrouds. She placed the body in her house and many signs were manifested through it. On her feast day, very bright lights and incense came out of her holy and pure body.
When the righteous Emperor Constantine heard the story of Saint Sophia, he carried her holybody to the city of Constantinople. He built a great cathedral and placed the body in.
Her blessing and prayers be with us all, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "sophia" } ], [ { "id": 6, "action": "On this day, the great Prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, was killed by the hand of Manasseh the King who sawed him with a wooden saw.
This prophet prophesied in the days of five kings: Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, and Manasseh. He prophesied to Ahaz saying, \"Behold, the virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel.\" (Isaiah
He prophesied to Hezekiah and encouraged him when Sennacherib, King of Assyria, besieged Jerusalem. He informed Hezekiah that God would perish Sennacherib because of his blasphemy against Him. And that night the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrian
And when Hezekiah the King was sick, Isaiah told him to set his house in order, for he was to die. And when Hezekiah prayed to God, He sent to him Isaiah the prophet who made known to him that God had added to his days
Isaiah prophesied about what would befall Israel from calamities because of the hardness of their hearts, love for sin and their forsaken of the worship of God, and only a few of them would be believers. Because of his prayers God sprung water when the people were thirsty. On another occasion, when Isaiah himself was thirsty, God sprung for him the spring of Siloam.
When he rebuked Manasseh because of his evil deeds and worshipping idols, Manasseh ordered to have him sawed.
He prophesied for
His prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, St. Basilissa was martyred in the days of Diocletian the infidel. This saint was a pious Christian, and she was only nine years old. They seized her and bound her hands and feet and cast her in the fire, but she was not burned by the might of God. Through her prayers, God sprung water, she drank, then committed her soul in the hand of God.
Her prayers be with us all, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "basilissa" } ], [ { "id": 7, "action": "I. The Departure of St. Dioscorus, 25th Pope of Alexandria.
2. The Martyrdom of Sts. Agathon, Peter, John, Amun and Amuna and Their Mother, Rebecca.
3. The Departure of St. Severianus, Bishop of Gabala.
On this day of the year
When he was summoned to the Council of Chalcedon by the order of Emperor Marcianus, he saw a great assembly of
When he saw that Leo, Archbishop of Rome, was teaching that Christ has two natures and two wills after the Union, he took the charge to refute this new belief. He stated that our Lord Jesus Christ is one, He who was invited to the wedding as a man and changed the water into wine as a God, and that the two natures were not separated in all of His works. Quoting Pope Cyril, he said, \"The Hypostatic Union of the Word of God with the flesh is like the union of the soul with the body and like the union of fire and iron: even as they are of two different natures, by their union they became one. Likewise, our Lord Christ is one Messiah, one Lord, and one Nature.\" None of those who were gathered at that assembly dared to contradict him. Among them were some who had attended the Council of Ephesus, which had been convened against Nestorius. Some informed the Emperor Marcianus and the Empress Belkarya that no one disobeyed their commands concerning the faith except Dioscorus, Patriarch of the City of Alexandria. They brought St. Dioscorus, and the leading bishops of the Council who debated and discussed the matter till it was evening, but St. Dioscorus would not deviate from his Orthodox belief.
The emperor and empress were irritated at this, and the empress commanded to smite St. Dioscorus on his mouth, and to pluck out the hair of his beard. He took the hair and the teeth that were knocked out and sent them to Alexandria saying, \"This is the fruit of Faith.\"
When the rest of the bishops saw what had happened to Dioscorus, they agreed with the emperor, being afraid of undergoing the same fate. They signed the document of the belief that Christ has two distinct and separate natures. When St. Dioscorus knew this, he sent for the document and pretended that he wanted to sign it too. But when he read the document, he wrote at its foot that he excommunicated everyone who had signed it, as well as everyone who deviated from the Orthodox Faith. The emperor was enraged and he commanded to banish St. Dioscorus to the island of Gagra, along with St. Macarius, the Bishop of Edko, and two others, and the Council of Chalcedon was resumed.
When they took St. Dioscorus to the island of Gagra, its bishop, because he was a Nestorian, met him with contempt and disdain. However, God performed at the hands of St. Dioscorus many great signs and wonders, so that all obeyed him, respected and revered him greatly, for God honors His chosen ones in every place. St. Dioscorus told St. Macarius, his companion in exile, \"You shall receive the crown of martyrdom in Alexandria.\" He sent him with one of the believing merchants to Alexandria, where he received the crown of martyrdom.
St. Dioscorus, having ended his good fight, departed from this vain life and received the crown of eternal life. He departed on the island of Gagra where his body was laid.
His blessings and prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, Sts. Agathon, Peter, John, Amun, and Amuna and their mother, Rebecca, were martyred. They were from Kemola of the district of Kus. Our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to them and informed them of what would happen to them, and that they would receive the crown of martyrdom in the city of Shoubra which is near Alexandria, and that their bodies would be carried to the city of Nakraha in the province of El-Behairah. The Saints rejoiced at this vision, and they rose up early and gave all their possessions to the poor.
Agathon, their eldest brother, was a man of high position in the city and was loved by everyone. Rebecca, their mother, strengthened and encouraged them to endure the torture in the name of the Lord Christ.
They came to the city of Kus and confessed their faith in Christ before Dionysius, the Governor. He tortured them severely, starting with their mother who bore the torture patiently and with joy, and then he tortured her five children. When he was weary of torturing them, he was advised to send them to Alexandria so that they might not lead other people astray, for they were loved by everyone. Because of them, many confessed their belief in the Lord Christ and received the crown of martyrdom.
When they brought the saints before Armenius, the Governor of Alexandria, who was in a city called Shoubra, and learned about their case, he tortured them very severely. He hacked their bodies, cast them in a boiler, squeezed them with wheels, then crucified them head down. From all these tortures, the Lord Christ raised them whole until the governor and all his people were ashamed.
Finally, he ordered to have their heads cut off and to have their bodies drowned in the sea. They cut their heads off and placed their bodies in a boat to cast them in the sea. God sent forth His angel to a rich man from the city of Nakraha and commanded him to take the bodies of the saints and the man was exceedingly glad. He came to where the bodies were, gave the soldiers much silver and took the holy bodies. He laid them in the church, and he heard a voice saying, \"This is the abode of the righteous.\" The bodies remained there till the end of the era of persecutions. They then revealed the bodies and a big church was built for them. God made manifest from their relics, many signs and wonders. Then they transferred the bodies to the city of Sonbat, where there is now a church known as \"The Five and Their Mother\" or \"El-Sitt Refka\" (Lady Rebecca). Many visit this church every year to receive their blessings.
Their intercession be for us all. Amen.
On this day also, the righteous holy father, Abba Severianus, Bishop of Gabala in Greece, departed. The name of his father was Blaryanos. He studied the secular wisdom of the Athenians, then went to Caesarea to study at the hands of those who were there. He returned to Rome where he studied the doctrines of the Church, and learned the Old and New Testaments in a few years. Later on, his parents departed and left him a great wealth. He wished to give it to Christ so that he might receive it back a hundred-fold. He built a hotel to house the strangers, the poor, and the afflicted, and planted gardens and appointed guardians to have the proceeds distributed to the poor. His name was given to these places a long time after his departure from this world.
His uncle, who was the governor of that city, informed Emperor Honorius that Severianus had squandered all his money for the name of the Lord Christ to receive from Him a hundred-fold as He had promised in His Holy Gospel. The emperor was pleased. He invited him and commanded him not to leave the palace. The emperor used to take the saint along with him to the church. In those days Pope Einokendios was sitting on the chair of Rome, and it was revealed to him by God that Severianus would be in charge of a large group of people. The Pope loved and honored him, and wished not to be separated from him, as he was loved by everyone.
When St. Severianus (Sawiros) saw that everyone honored him, he worried about losing his labor, so he decided to escape from the vain glory of this world. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and commanded him to go to the city of Gabala where he would become a father to many souls. He departed by night with his disciple, Theodore, after having put on him the monastic eskeem. God sent to him a light to guide him to his destination. There was a monastery headed by a holy abbot who learned in a vision about the coming of St. Severianus. He went out, welcomed him and told him about his vision. His fame reached that region and a countless number of people came to him. Emperor Theodosius had one of the monasteries renewed for him to live in as the angel had determined for him. He became the comforter for many souls. He continued to teach and instruct the monks until they became saints, like angels.
God performed many wonders at his hands. The daughter of the governor of Gabala had an evil spirit dwelling in her and the spirit said to her father, \"If you drive away Severianus from this place, I will get out of your daughter.\" When her father informed the saint about that, he wrote him a paper saying: \"In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, get out of her.\" When he returned to his daughter with this paper straightaway the devil screamed and left her. Once some magicians agreed with some soldiers to break into his monastery. They were smitten with blindness and they remained like this for three days until the saint prayed for them to be cured.
Philatheus, the Bishop of the city of Gabala, learned in a vision from God that St. Severianus (Sawiros) would succeed him on his chair and he said this to his people. When St. Severianus was ordained, he looked after his people in the best way.
There was in that city a Jew called Sektar who was proud of his knowledge. He came to the saint and debated with him until finally he was convinced of the correctness of Christianity and the faith in the Lord Christ; many other magicians also believed. During his days, Egypt became as proud of its monks as Constantinople was of Saint John Chrysostom (of the Golden Mouth).
When the Persians declared war against Honorius and Arcadius, they sent to St. Severianus asking for his prayers for the kingdom. He sent back to them saying, \"If we belong to Christ, and our kingdom belongs to Christ, we have no need for armors or spears or troops.\" And he reminded them of what the Lord had done with those previous kings who pleased Him.
When Empress Eudoxia was angry with Chrysostom (of the Golden Mouth), she brought St. Severianus among others for the trial of St. Chrysostom. He admonished her saying, \"John Chrysostom (of the Golden Mouth) did nothing worthy of banishment,\" but she would not hearken to him.
He wrote many discourses and sermons which still exist in the church books till now. He waxed old reaching the age of
His prayers be with us all, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "i dioscorus 25th pope" } ], [ { "id": 8, "action": "On this day St. Zacharias, the priest, was martyred by the hand of Herod the King. When the angel Gabriel announced to him the birth of John his Son, he did not believe his word and the angel made him dumb, unable to speak until the child was born. (Luke
When our Lord Christ was born, and the wise men came to worship Him, Herod was troubled and feared for his kingdom. Therefore, he gave the order to slay all the children of Bethlehem, from two years old and under, so he would kill the Lord Christ among them. The angel of God appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, \"Take the child and flee to Egypt.\" St. Joseph took the child Jesus and St. Mary, His mother, and went to Egypt as the angel of the Lord had told him. But John's mother took him and fled to the mountain were she dwelt, bringing him up for six years. After her departure to heaven, the child remained in the desert till the day of his appearance to Israel. (Luke
It was said that during the slaughter of the children, Herod thought that John was the Christ. He requested John from his father, Zacharias, who said, \"I do not know where the child is.\" They threatened to kill him, but he did not heed. Herod ordered his soldiers to slay him.
It was also said that when Herod sought John to slay him, Zacharias escaped with him to the temple and put him on the altar and when they caught up with him, he told the soldiers, \"From here I accepted him from the Lord,\" and thereupon the angel of God snatched away the child, and took him to the desert Zifana. When they did not find the child, they slew Zacharias between the temple and the altar. (Matthew
Zacharias the priest, son of Bar-a-chi-as, is not Zacharias the prophet, who was one of the twelve minor prophets. Zacharias the prophet was not martyred but died and his body was found without decay.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the righteous Moses, the head of the prophets, departed. He labored on behalf of the people of God till his death and delivered up himself for them. It was he who worked miracles and wonders in Egypt and in the Red Sea. When he became of age, refused to be called the son of the daughter of Pharaoh.
She brought him up when his parents left him on the banks of the river because they were afraid of Pharaoh who had commanded the slaughter of all male children of the Hebrews. When the daughter of Pharaoh found him by the river, she took him and reared him as her own son. When he had completed his
When he was
God worked at his hands the ten plagues upon the Egyptians, the first was the river which turned into blood and the last was the slaughter of the first born of the Egyptians. (Exodus
When he was
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Diomede (Dimides), was martyred. He was from Dershaba of the chair of Dantu. He loved the church, was kind to the poor and visited the sick. A luminous man appeared to him and commanded him to go to receive the crown of martyrdom and promised him heavenly rewards. He rejoiced greatly and left his parents and went forth from the city. He prayed to God to help him to endure the torture for His Name's sake.
He came to the city of Attribis and confessed the Lord Christ before the governor, who tortured him severely. Then they sent him to Lucianus, the governor of Alexandria. When he was on the boat, the Lord Christ appeared to him, comforted him, encouraged him and promised him everlasting happiness and his soul rejoiced. Lucianus tortured him with different kinds of tortures, then gave the order to cut off his head, thus he received the crown of martyrdom. The people of his city came and took away his body and paid a great honor to it.
His blessings and prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "dimides diomede" } ], [ { "id": 9, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Pisora the Bishop
On this day, the holy father, the Bishop Abba Pisora, was martyred. He was the bishop of the God-loving city of Masil. When Diocletian returned to worshipping the idols and started persecuting the Christians, this holy man longed to shed his blood for the name of Christ. He gathered the people before the altar and commanded them with the commandments of the Lord, and then informed them that he wished to receive the crown of martyrdom for the sake of the name of Christ. They all wept, the young and the old, saying, \"To whom will you leave us, Our Father, as orphans?\" They wanted to prevent him from doing so, but when they could not, they let him go after he committed them to the Lord Christ. He left them bidding him farewell with much tears.
Three bishops agreed to go with him; they were Pisikhos, Fanalikhos, and Theodore, and they all went together to the city of the governor and confessed the Lord Christ. He tortured them cruelly, especially when he knew that they were bishops and fathers to the Christians. The courageous bishops endured the tortures with patience and the Lord Christ strengthened them. Finally the governor ordered that the heads of the four be cut, and they received the crowns of life in the kingdom of God. The body of Saint Pisora was in the city of Nasheen El-Kanater, Gharbia governorate, and at present is in St. George's Church in Old Cairo.
Their prayers preserve and guard us all, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pisora bishop" } ], [ { "id": 10, "action": "I. The Martyrdom of Saint Matruna.
2. The Commemoration of Sts. Basin and Her Children.
On this day St. Matruna, who was a maid-servant to a Jewish lady, was martyred. She was of Christian parents, and her mistress used to entice her to adopt the Hebrew religion, but she refused. Therefore her mistress used to humiliate her, ill treat her, and over-burden her with servitude.
One day she accompanied her mistress to the Jewish temple, then she went to the Christians church. And when her mistress asked her where she had been and why she did not enter their assembly, the Saint replied, \"God had departed far from the synagogue that is yours, how shall I enter it? Whereas the place that should be entered is the church which the Lord Christ has bought with His blood.\" Her mistress became angry at this and beat her harshly, then imprisoned her in a dark place where she spent four days without food or drink. She then took her out and beat her painfully, then she returned her to her imprisonment where she died.
After her death, her mistress, because she feared that the authorities would hold her accountable for her blood, took St. Matruna to the top of her house and threw her down so that it would be said that she had fallen by accident. She was accursed by God, her feet slipped and she fell down, died and went to Hell. As for the Saint, she went to the eternal bliss.
Her intercession be for us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of St. Basin and her three children.
Their prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "i matruna" } ], [ { "id": 11, "action": "The Martyrdom of Saint Basilides (Wasilides)
On this day, St. Basilides (Wasilides) who was a minister and counsellor for the Roman Empire, was martyred. He had many slaves and servants. Emperor Numerianus was the ruler, who was married to Basilides' sister, Patricia, and had a son called Yustus. Patricia was also the mother of Theodore El-Mishreke. Basilides had two sons: Awsabyos (Eusebyus) and Macarius.
When the Persians waged war against Rome, Emperor Numerianus sent to them his son Yustus and Awsabyos, Basilides' son. Then he went to fight another enemy and was killed in that war. His kingdom was thus left vacant without a ruler.
The people chose from among the soldiers a man called Agrippita, who was a shepherd, and they set him over the royal horses, stable. He was a mighty man in action, bold in his dealings. One of the emperor's daughters looked at him and took him as her husband. She made him emperor and called him, \"Diocletian.\" Shortly after, he forsook the Lord God of Heaven and worshipped idols. When Wasilides heard this, he was sorrowful, and he did not return to the service of the new Emperor.
Meanwhile, Yustus, the son of Numerianus, and Awsabyos (Eusebius), the son of Basilides, returned from the war with triumphant victory. When they saw that the Emperor had renounced the faith, they were exceedingly sorry and drew their swords and wanted to slay Diocletian, the infidel Emperor, and to return the kingdom to its rightful owner Yustus, Numerianus' son. But Basilides prevented them from doing this. Then he gathered his army and slaves and informed them that he wished to lay down his life for the sake of Christ's Name. They all answered saying, \"We also will die with you.\" They stood before Diocletian who feared them tremendously, for they were the rightful owners of the kingdom. So Romanus, Victor's father, advised him to banish them to Egypt to be tortured there. Diocletian sent them each to a different province: Abadir (Apater) and Eraee (Herai) his sister, Awsabyos (Eusebius), Macarius, Claudius, and Victor. Theodore El-Mishreke was nailed to a tree.
He sent Basilides to Masrus, the governor of the Five Western Cities (Pentapolis). When Masrus saw him, he wondered why he had left his kingdom and his glory. Our Lord Christ sent His Angel and lifted Basilides up by the Holy Spirit to heaven, and showed him the spiritual dwellings, and his soul was comforted. As for his slaves, some were set free and some were martyred with him. St. Basilides endured severe tortures, on a squeezing machine (Hinbazeen) at times and at others his body was combed with iron combs. He was lifted onto a spiral device with a saw then thrusted him on a red hot iron bed. Masrus, the governor, did not leave out any means of torturing him. When he saw that Basilides remained steadfast in his faith, Masrus ordered to cut off Basilides holy head, thus he received the crown of martyrdom in the kingdom of heaven in return for the earthly kingdom which he had forsaken.
His intercession be with us, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "basilides wasilides" } ], [ { "id": 12, "action": "On this day of the year
They assembled because of the heresy of Nestorius who was Archbishop of Constantinople. He believed that St. Mary did not give birth to the incarnated God, but only to a human being, and that afterwards the Son of God dwelt in him, not the dwelling of unity but just the dwelling of will, and therefore, Christ because of that reason, had two natures and two wills.
So these fathers convened, debated with Nestorius, and proved to him that He, who was born of the Virgin, was the incarnated God, as the angel said, \"The Lord is with you; that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.\" (Luke
St. Cyril,
If it is said that the Nestorians do not say that today, we reply by saying that it is because they have mingled with the Christians of the East, and that some of them have turned from their erroneous opinion.
We beseech our God and our Lord and our Savior Jesus Christ to guide us in the path of salvation - to whom is the praise, glory, and worship now and ever. Amen.
On this day also we celebrate the translocation of the relics of the martyrs St. Clemus (Aklimos) and his companions to the city of Alexandria.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "translocation relics clemus aklimos companions" } ], [ { "id": 13, "action": "On this day of the year
The blessings of his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the great miracle performed by St. Basilius, Bishop of Caesarea, Cappadocia.
A young man, who loved his master's daughter, Satan, his enemy and the enemy of the human race, deceived him. Satan made him resort to a magician who made him write a covenant to deny the faith and to surrender completely to Satan, so that Satan might grant him his wish. Satan kindled lust in the heart of the girl, and she loved the young man exceedingly. She asked her father insistingly not to object to her marriage to that young man. Eager for his honor and fearing for her life, he married her to him.
When she had spent with him a long period of time, she noticed that he did not enter the church or partake of the Holy Sacraments, or make the sign of the Holy Cross over himself. She revealed to him her doubt about his faith and his love of God. He told her what had happened to him, and how he had written to Satan a covenant of obedience till death.
She cried much and rebuked him for his deed. She took him to St. Basilius, Bishop of Caesarea. He listened to the confession of the young man and saw his grief and desire to go back to the life of worship, fellowship, and righteousness. St. Basilius comforted him and asked him to stay with him for a while in seclusion, fasting and praying. He shut him up in a nearby room for three days. On the third day St. Basilius visited him and the young man told him that the evil spirits had not ceased disturbing and fighting him in many ways. He strengthened him, calmed him down, gave him food and prayed for him. St. Basilius asked him to remain in seclusion, praying and fasting.
After a few days, he came back to visit him again. The young man told St. Basilius that he did not see the devils any more, but he still heard their cries and threats. St. Basilius fed him again and prayed for him and left him to the life of seclusion to fight and pray, and the bishop went to pray on his behalf also. And this went on until
The Bishop gathered all the priests and the monks and prayed for the young man all that night. On the following morning he led him into the church while everyone was crying, \"Lord have mercy on us,\" and they continued to cry out until that writing, which the young man had written as a covenant to deny the faith and to surrender to Satan, fell down in the midst of all the people. The Bishop, the young man and his wife, and all the people rejoiced exceedingly. The Bishop blessed that man and administered to him the Holy Sacraments. The man and his wife departed to their house full of joy for the peace and repentance they received. They praised God and thanked St. Basilius by whose prayers they were saved.
The blessings of his prayers be with us all, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "miracle by basilius basil bishop caesarea cappadocia" } ], [ { "id": 14, "action": "The Departure of St. Agathon the Stylite
On this day St. Agathon the Stylite, departed. He was from the city of Tenis. The name of his father was Matra and his mother's name was Mariam. They were righteous and feared God. They loved to give alms and be merciful to the poor and needy.
The thought of monasticism was always on his mind. When he was
He came to the holy old men Abba Abraham and Abba Gawargah, became their disciple and remained with them for three years. Then, they took him before the altar and in the presence of the Hegumen Abba Yoanis and for three days they prayed over the monastic garb. They then ordained him a monk and dressed him with the holy Eskeem. From that hour he exerted himself with many worships, in continuous fasting and prayer and fought a great fight. He slept on the ground until his skin cleaved to his bones. He read continually the biography of Abba Simon the Stylite, and he thought of leading a solitary life. He took counsel with the holy fathers concerning that, and they approved his wish and they prayed for him.
He left and came near the city of Sakha, province of Gharbia, where he dwelt in a small church.The believers built a place for him on a pillar and he went up on it.
During his days, a man appeared in whom dwelt an obstinate devil, who led many people astray. He sat in the middle of the church surrounded by people listing to him, carrying tree branches. Abba Agathon sent for the possessed and had him brought to him. He prayed over him and cast out the devil who led the people astray.
Similarly, a woman claimed that St. Mina conversed with her and she commanded the people of her city to dig a well in the name of St. Mina to heal everyone who bathed in it. St. Agatho prayed over that woman until he cast out from her that unclean spirit and he commanded the people to fill up that well with earth.
At the hands of this holy man, St. Agathon, God worked many miracles, of healing sick people and casting out devils. The devils appeared to him in the form of angels, singing sweet songs and imparting blessings unto him, but by the might of the Lord Christ he knew their guile, he made the sign of the Cross over them, and they fled away defeated.
When God wished to repose him from the labors of this world, he fell sick for a short while and delivered up his soul into the hand of God. The people who had benefitted from his sermons and teachings gathered around him and wept bitterly.
This holy father lived for
His prayers guard us against all our enemies, and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "agathon stylite" } ], [ { "id": 15, "action": "Translocation of the Body of St. Stephen the Archdeacon
We celebrate on this day the translocation of the body of St. Stephen the Archdeacon and first Christian martyr. That was more than three hundred years after his martyrdom, the reign of Emperor Constantine and the spread of the noble worship.
St. Stephen, the striver and martyr, appeared several times to a man called Lucianus. He was from a village where the honored body was buried, known as the \"Village of Gamaliel,\" near Jerusalem. He told him his name and where his body was buried.
That man went to the bishop of Jerusalem and informed him of what he had seen in his sleep. The bishop rose up, took with him two bishops and the people of the church and went to the place where the body was. They dug the ground, and a mighty earthquake took place. The coffin wherein the holy body was lying was revealed. Sweet and precious aromas came out from it. They heard voices of angels praising God and saying, \"Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men.\" This praise was repeated and the bishops bowed down before the coffin. They carried it away with songs, hymns and candles until they came to Jerusalem.
Later on, a man whose name was Alexander, and who was from Constantinople, built a church for St. Stephen in Jerusalem and placed the holy body in it.
Five years later, Alexander departed, and his wife buried him by the side of the coffin of the Saint. Eight years later, Alexander's wife decided to go to Constantinople and wished to take her husband's body with her. She came to the church, and she took the coffin wherein the body of St. Stephen had been laid thinking that it was the coffin wherein was her husband's body. She carried it away to Ascalon, and from there she embarked with it in a ship to Constantinople. In the middle of the sea she heard singing and many praises coming from the coffin, and she marvelled. She rose up and examined the coffin and she realised that it was the coffin wherein was the body of St.
Stephen, and this was the Will of God. She gave thanks to the Lord and went on her way until she arrived in Constantinople.
She went to the Emperor and informed him about what had happened. The Emperor, the Archbishop, priests and the people of the city went forth to the ship, and carried the coffin on their shoulders to the royal palace.
God made manifest many signs both on the ship and in the royal palace. They laid the holy body on a litter carried by two mules, and when they came to a place called Constantinious, the two mules stopped. When they beat the mules, they did not move but they heard the voice of one of them saying, \"It is meet to place the Saint here.\" All those who saw and heard this, marvelled and they knew that He who had made the donkey of Balaam speak was He who had made this animal carrying the body of the Saint to speak. The Emperor ordered that a church be built for the Saint in that place. They laid in it the pure gem, the holy body of St. Stephen, the apostle and the martyr.
His prayers be with us all, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "translocation body stephen archdeacon" } ], [ { "id": 16, "action": "Today we celebrate the consecration of the sanctuaries of the church of Resurrection in Jerusalem in the year
When she arrived there and received the blessings of the holy places, she searched for the wood of the Cross and found it after much toil. She praised it with great veneration and paid to it much reverence and honor. She commanded the building of the sanctuaries of the Resurrection, the Golgotha, Bethlehem and the manger, the upper room of Zion, Gethsemane and other sanctuaries, and that they be inlaid with pearl and covered with gold and silver.
There was in Jerusalem a saintly bishop who advised her not to do that, saying, \"After a while foreign people will come and seize this place and destroy it and take the precious stones and the silver and the gold. But it is preferable to construct the buildings well and give the remainder of the money to the poor and the needy.\" She accepted his advice, gave him the money and set him in charge of the work.
When she returned to her son and told him what she had done, he rejoiced, and sent large sums of money and commanded to pay the workers their wages in full so they would not complain. When the building of the holy places was finished in the thirtieth year of the reign of Emperor Constantine, he sent vessels and precious vestments for the altars. He sent word to the Archbishop of Constantinople and to St. Athanasius, Pope of Alexandria, to take their bishops and to go to Jerusalem where they would meet the Archbishop of Antioch and the Bishop of Jerusalem, to consecrate these sanctuaries.
They tarried there until the sixteenth of the month of Tute, when they consecrated all the altars that had been built. On the seventeenth day they marched with the Honorable Cross around all the holy places where they worshipped God, offered the offerings, and venerated the Cross and honored it. Then they returned to their chairs.
Their prayers be with us to the last breath. Amen.
On this day also the church commemorates the transfer of the relics of St. John Chrysostom (of the Golden Mouth) from the city of Komanah, where he departed in exile, to Constantinople,
His intercession be with us, and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "translocation relics john chrysostom of golden mouth" } ], [ { "id": 17, "action": "On this day the church celebrates the consecration of the church of the Honorable Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Cross was uncovered by the lover of God, Queen Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine, from under the pile of Golgotha, after she ordered its removal. As for the reason of how this great pile of dirt came into being: the Jewish leaders, when they saw all the signs and wonders which were manifested from the sepulchre of the Savior, such as raising the dead and healing the sick, became angry, and they sent forth throughout Judea and Jerusalem ordering all the people to cast the sweepings of their houses and the dirts over the sepulchre of Jesus of Nazareth. They continued to do so for more than
When St. Helena came to Jerusalem, and asked the Jews about the whereabouts of the Cross, they did not inform her. Finally, some of them told her about an old Jew called Judas who knew the place. She called him, and he denied it at first, but when she urged him, he told her about that pile. She ordered its removal and the Holy Cross was found. She built a church for it, consecrated it and celebrated for the Honorable Cross on the seventeenth day of the month of Tute. Christians make pilgrimages to that place every year as they do on the feast of the Resurrection.
A certain Samaritan called Isaac, as he was travelling with his family among the people going to Jerusalem, reproved the people for taking such trouble in going to Jerusalem to worship a piece of wood. Among the people was a priest whose name was Okhidus. While travelling along the road, they became thirsty. They found no water and they came to a well where the water was foul and bitter. The people became dismayed. Isaac the Samaritan started mocking them, saying, \"If I witness a power by the name of the Cross, I will become a believer of Christ.\" The priest Okhidus was moved with divine zeal and prayed over that foul water and made the sign of the Cross on it, and it became sweet. All the people and their animals drank, but when Isaac drank, the water was bitter and wormy. He regretted and cried and came to the saint, Father Okhidus, bowed down at his feet and believed in the Lord Christ. Then he drank from the water, and he found it sweet. The water of that well possessed the power of becoming sweet for the believers and bitter for the others. A cross of light appeared in the well and a church was built there.
When Isaac the Samaritan arrived in Jerusalem, he went to its bishop who baptized him and his family.
Because the feast of the appearance of the Honorable Cross, which is on the tenth of Baramhat, always comes during fasting, it was substituted by the fathers for the Seventeenth of Tute which is the day of consecration of its church.
Glory and worship be to Jesus Christ our Lord forever and ever. Amen.
On this day also, the blessed Theognosta, departed. She was contemporary of the righteous Emperors Honorius and Arcadius.
One day an envoy came with gifts from the King of India to the two emperors. On their way back,they found this Virgin Theognosta holding in her hand a book that she was reading. They seized her and took her back with them to their country. She became the head of the King's attendants and his wives.
One day, the son of the King fell sick with a grievous sickness. She held him in her arms and made over him the sign of the Cross, and he recovered immediately. This report spread throughout that land, and since that day she was set free.
Once the King went to war, there came upon him thick clouds and fog. Knowing of the sign of the Cross that St. Theognosta used to make, the King made the sign of the Cross over the fog and it cleared up. With the sign of the Cross he also vanquished his enemies.
When the King returned from war, he bowed down at the feet of the Saint, and asked her for the holy baptism for him and for the people of his city. She told them that it was not for her to baptize. They sent to Emperor Honorius to inform him of their acceptance of the faith and asked him to send a priest to baptize them. He sent to them a priest who was a saintly anchorite, and he baptized them all and he gave them the Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Christ. The virgin rejoiced for his coming and they blessed each other. She built a convent for herself and for the many virgins who desired the monastic life.
When the priest returned to the Emperor and related to him how the people of the city entered into the faith of our Lord Christ, he rejoiced exceedingly. The Emperor agreed with the Archbishop to ordain the priest a bishop and to send him back to them, and they rejoiced greatly. There they built a big church and they needed pillars. There was a large temple for idols which had pillars so they took them to build this church. The rest of the people of this city joined the faith of the Lord Christ.
The virgin St. Theognosta rejoiced for all that had happened. Later on she departed in that convent and was surrounded by the virgins.
Her prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "theognosta" } ], [ { "id": 18, "action": "On this day, St. Prophorius, was martyred. He was a comedian and jester and was non-Christian. When Constance, the son of Constantine departed, Julian the Infidel, who was killed by St. Marcurius, reigned after him. This infidel and heretic was the nephew of Emperor Constantine, and he incited idol worshipping. Many of the believers were martyred on his hands. On his birthday, he gathered jesters, comedians, and people of the circus; Prophorius was one of them.
The infidel emperor ordered him to imitate the Christians. When he came to the ritual of the holy baptism and made the sign of the Cross over the water in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Lord enlightened his mind and he perceived a divine grace coming down on the water and light shone from it. He immersed into the water three times, then went up and put on his clothes. He confessed that he became Christian.
The emperor rebuked and threatened him. Then the emperor promised to give him many gifts. In spite of that, the Saint went on saying, \"I am Christian. I am Christian.\" Finally, the emperor ordered his neck to be cut off and he received the crown of martyrdom.
His intercession be for us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of Stephen the Priest, and St. Niceta (Niketa) the Martyr.
Their prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "stephen priest niceta niketa martyr" } ], [ { "id": 19, "action": "The Commemoration of St. Gregory, Patriarch of the Armenians
On this day we commemorate St. Gregory, Patriarch of the Armenians, who became a martyr without bloodshed. He made himself a slave in the country of Armenia in the days of King Tiridates about the year
Near the pit lived an old widow, and she saw in a vision someone telling her, \"Make bread and cast it into this pit,\" and she continued to do this for
They brought the saint out of the pit, and he prayed over the king, and he was cured from his sickness.
His intercession be for us, and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "gregory patriarch armenians" } ], [ { "id": 20, "action": "On this day of the year
He was a pious man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. When he became patriarch, he shepherded the flock of the Lord Christ exceedingly well, and he protected them from the snatching wolves with his teachings and prayers.
He sat on the episcopal throne for three years and nine months, then departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen
On this day also is the commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Melitina the Virgin.
Her prayers be with us. Amen.
Also today we commemorate the departure of St. Theopista. She was married and had a son. Her husband died while she was still young. She took it upon herself to become a nun. She started to practice the spiritual life. She persisted in fasting and continual prayers and worshipping day and night.
She went to the holy father Abba Macarius, bishop of Nekios. She bowed to him, took his blessings, then she asked him to pray on her and put on her the garb of monasticism. The bishop advised her to try for a year and he promised her that he would put on her the garb of monasticism after that year.
She went to her house and shut herself in a small room. She closed its door, and made a small opening in it. Her son, who was then
He saw her in his sleep in a shining figure, telling him, \"My father, how did you forget me till now, and I am passing away tonight?\" The father the bishop saw that as if he was awake, he prayed on her the prayer for ordaining monks, and put on her the garb of monasticism. When he did not find a Kalansowa (cover for the head), he took off his own and put it on her head. Then he put on her the holy Eskeem. He asked his disciple for another Kalansowa and put it on. She had a silver cross in her hand which she gave to him saying, \"Accept this from your disciple.\" And it was said that when he awakened, he found the cross in his hand and he looked attentively at the cross which was beautifully made. He was amazed and glorified God.
Early in the morning he went with his disciple to the house of this blessed woman. Her son received him crying with tears. When he asked him why he was crying, he replied saying, \"My mother called me in the middle of the night and bid me farewell and told me whatever the bishop tells you, do and do not break it. I will depart this night to go to the Lord Christ. She prayed over me and advised me, saying, 'Keep all that I commanded you and do not disobey our father, the bishop, and here now I am in your hands.'\"
The bishop came to where the saint was lying and knocked on the door, but she did not answer. He said, \"This blessed saint had departed indeed,\" and he ordered his disciple to open the door. When the bishop entered, he found that she had given up her soul. She had on the Eskeem that he had put on her in his vision and also the Kalansowa that he had on.
His eyes were filled with tears. He praised and glorified God who works out the satisfaction of His saints. The bishop shrouded her as was the habit of the monks and called the priests who carried her to the holy church and prayed over her with great honor.
There was in the city a paralytic infidel man, suffering from evil spirits. When he heard the chanting of the priests, he asked his people to carry him and take him where the body of the saint was. When they brought him to the church, he drew near to the holy body with faith and he was cured instantly. The devil came out of him, and he became well. He and his people believed in the Lord Christ and the bishop baptized them.
And everyone who had a disease or a deformity would come to the church and touch the holy body and would be healed immediately. When the governor heard about these wonders, he and most of the city believed in the Lord Christ. He came to the church, carried the body and buried it with honor.
Glory be to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and His good Father and the Holy Spirit, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "theopista" } ], [ { "id": 21, "action": "The church celebrates on this day the commemoration of the pure Lady, the Virgin St. Mary, the Theotokos, through whom was the salvation of Adam and his posterity.
Her intercession be for us. Amen.
On this day also in the year
When he arrived there, his fame spread. A young man, the son of one of the nobles of the city, heard about him. This young man lusted for a Christian virgin who was called Justina. He saw her going to church and his heart became inflamed with her love. He was unable to obtain what he desired of her either by money, threat, or magic.
He sought Cyprian and complained to him about his condition, that he might make him gain favor with Justina's heart and fulfill his desire of her. Cyprian promised him the fulfillment of his desire. He used all the trickery of his sorcery but failed. Every time he sent her a host of demons, they found her praying, so they came back defeated.
When Cyprian failed, he called the demons and told them, \"If you do not bring Justina to me, I shall adopt Christianity.\" The chief of the demons thought out a device to deceive him. He ordered one of his soldiers to disguise himself and to take the form of Justina and then go to Cyprian. He hastened and made it known to Cyprian her coming, so he rejoiced and waited for. her. Then Satan, disguised as Justina, came to him, and Cyprianus rejoiced, and rose up to embrace her. Because of his great joy in her, he told her, \"Welcome, Queen of Women, Justina.\" Upon the mere mention of her name, Satan, disguised as her, melted away and disappeared like smoke, and an unpleasant smell spread out of him. Cyprianus knew that this was a deceitful trick of Satan who could not stand before the mentioning of her name.
Immediately Cyprian rose up and burnt his books of magic. He was baptized by the patriarch of Antioch who put on him the monastic garb. After a while he ordained him a deacon, then a priest. Later on, after he had grown in virtues and in the doctrine of the church, they ordained him bishop of Carthage in the year
When Emperor Decius heard of them he had them brought before him, and he demanded them to raise incense for the idols. When they refused, he inflicted upon them many tortures and finally cut off their heads with the sword.
Their prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "cyprian cyprianus justina" } ], [ { "id": 22, "action": "On this day, Saints Cotylas (Kobtlas) and his sister Axoua, the children of Sapor, King of Persia, and Cotylas' friend, Tatas, were martyred. Sapor worshipped fire and the sun. He inflicted many tortures on the believers, and no man throughout the country dared to mention the Name of Christ. His son, Cotylas, had a friend named Tatas who was a ruler over the country of Maydasayeen.
Certain people laid an accusation against Tatas before the king that he was a Christian. The king sent to him a governor named Tumakher to verify the validity of what was said and if it was true, to torture him. When Cotylas, the son of the king, heard that, he also went to that country, to his friend Tatas. When the governor arrived and found that he was Christian, he ordered his men to cast him in a furnace. St. Tatas made the sign of the Cross over the fire and the fire died out. Cotylas marvelled and asked him, \"How did you learn this magic, O my brother?\" He replied, \"This is not magic but it is through faith in the Lord Christ.\" Cotylas asked, \"If I believed, would I be able to do the same?\" Tatas answered that with faith you can do more than this. Cotylas, the son of the king, believed in Christ, then he drew near the fire and made the sign of the Cross over it, the fire backed a distance of
The governor sent to the king to inform him what had happened, and the king had them brought to him. He ordered to cut off the head of Tatas who thus received the crown of martyrdom. However, he tortured his son, Cotylas, with different kinds of tortures. He cast him in prison and sent for his sister Axoua, so she might persuade him to return to his father's belief. St. Cotylas preached her and turned her heart to the belief in the Lord Christ. He sent her to a priest who baptized her secretly.
She returned to her father saying, \"I wish that you had what my brother and I have, for there is no God but Jesus Christ.\" The king became angry and commanded to torture her, until she yielded up her soul in the hand of the Lord Christ.
They tied Cotylas to the tails of horses and dragged him over the mountains until he yielded up his spirit. Then they cut his body into pieces and they cast it out for the birds to consume it. When the soldiers departed, the Lord commanded saintly priests and deacons who went secretly at night and took the holy body which was shining as snow. They hid it in a place until the end of the days of persecution.
Their intercession be for us all. Amen.
On this day also, St. Julius of Aqfahs (El-Akfehasi), the writer of the biography of martyrs, was martyred. The Lord Christ appointed him to care for the bodies of the holy martyrs, to shroud them and to send them to their hometown. The Lord brought blindness into the hearts of the governors, and no one objected to him. They also never forced him to worship idols. The Lord kept him to care for the martyrs. He used
When the reign of Diocletian the Infidel came to an end, Constantine the Righteous reigned. The Lord Christ wished to fulfill what the saints had prophesied to St. Julius; to be counted among the martyrs. The Lord commanded him to go to Arkanius, governor of Samanoud, and to confess the Lord Christ. St. Julius went there, and the governor tortured him with many tortures, but the Lord strengthened him. The governor ordered to bring him to worship the idols. This saint prayed and the earth opened and swallowed up the
When the governor beheld the destruction of his idols and their priests, he believed in the Lord Christ.
The governor went with the Saint to the governor of Athribis who tortured Saint Julius with great severity, but the Lord Christ strengthened him.
Once there was a feast for the idols and they decorated the temple with ornaments, lamps, statues and with palm branches. They closed the gates till the following day to start celebrating the feast. The saint asked the Lord to blot out their idols. The Lord sent his angel who cut the heads of the idols, blackened their faces with ashes, burnt up all the palms, and all the idols in the temple. On the following morning when the people came dressed to celebrate the feast and saw what had happened to their gods, they recognized their weakness. The governor of Athribis and a large number of people believed in the Lord Christ.
The Saint then went to the city of Towa along with the governor of Samanoud and the governor of Athribis, and they met Iskandros its governor. First he refrained from torturing them, but later on he ordered his men to cut off their heads. Julius and his two sons, Tadros and Yunias; his slaves; and the governors of Samanoud and Athribis and many people were martyred. They numbered
His intercession be for us, and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "julius aqfahs el-akfehasi writer biography martyrs" } ], [ { "id": 23, "action": "On this day, the righteous Sts. Eunapios (Onanius) and Andrew, his brother, were martyred. These saints were the sons of one of the nobles of the city of Lydd. They agreed together since their young age to become monks. They went to one of the monasteries of Syria and became monks there. Later on, they went to the honorable saint Abba Macarius. They became his disciples and dwelt with him for three years. During which they lived with love and humility, fasted and prayed continually. Their asceticism became well known. They chose Eunapios (Onanius), bishop, and Andrew, priest. They shepherded the flock of Christ with the best care. They overcame their souls and bodies.
Julian, the infidel emperor, heard about them, and he had them brought to him. He commanded them to deny their faith in the Lord Christ, and to adopt paganism. When they refused his commands, he tortured them severely until they yielded up their spirits in the hand of the Lord Christ, to Him is the glory. Each received three crowns: one for monasticism, asceticism, and worship; one for the priesthood and guarding the flock against the devilish wolves; and a third one for martyrdom and shedding their blood for the Christian faith.
Their prayers and their blessings be upon us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the holy martyr, St. Thecla (Takla), the bride of Christ.
Her prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year
Her intercession be for us, and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "re-opening church virgin haret el-rum" } ], [ { "id": 24, "action": "He used to pay many visits to Abba Pachomius (Pakhom). He took much money from his parents and brought it to St. Pachomius, beseeching him to spend it on building monasteries. The saint accepted his alms and spent it on building the monasteries of the holy Cenobitism.
Later on, he went to Abba Pachomius, where he became a monk. He struggled practicing all kinds of virtues to the point that just from his look and appearance the lustful person would learn purity. He dwelt there for
When Saint Macarius came to visit St. Pachomius, Gregory asked St. Pachomius to permit him to go back with St. Macarius. He dwelt with St. Macarius for two years, then he asked him if he could live alone and St. Macarius allowed him. He dug out a small cave for himself in the mountain where he dwelt for seven years. He used to visit St. Macarius twice a year, on Christmas and on Easter, to consult him in his spiritual fight.
When he completed
His prayers be with us to keep us from every evil. Amen.
He entered the city of Magnis and preached there. The people of the city believed; he baptized them and taught them the life-giving Commandments. Then he returned to Athens, to preach there also, but they stoned him and tortured him severely. Finally they cast him into the fire; thus, he received the crown of martyrdom.
His prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "quadratus one seventy disciples" } ], [ { "id": 25, "action": "The Departure of Jonah, the Great Prophet
On this day, the great prophet Jonah, the son of Amittai, departed. It was said that he was the son of the widow of Zar-e-phath whom Elijah the Prophet had raised from the dead. Jonah followed Elijah, served him and received the grace of prophesying. God inspired him to go to the city of Nineveh to admonish its people and to warn them that after three days the city shall be overthrown. Jonah pondered in his heart saying, \"If God wished to destroy them He would not forewarn them. I fear that if I go to them and convey to them this warning, they might repent and God would not destroy them. I would be a liar and no one will listen to me and probably may be get killed because I conveyed to them a false message from God. So I will arise and flee.\"
What did this prophet think of? How could anyone flee from the face of God? By escaping, he wanted to get away from the city of Nineveh. He did not want to admonish them knowing that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and repentant of the evil. He thought that by staying away from Nineveh the Lord would send another prophet to preach to this city.
The escape of Jonah the Prophet, and his having been cast into the sea are to make manifest the miracle of his remaining in the belly of the whale for three days and then coming out safely. This was a symbol of, and evidence for, the resurrection of our Savior from the sepulcher, unchanged, after three days.
Jonah rose up to flee from the presence of the Lord and went down to Joppa; he found a ship going to Tarshish and sailed on it. The Lord sent out a great wind and there was a mighty tempest in the sea and the ship was about to break. The people were all afraid, and cried every man to his god. They said everyone to his fellow, \"Come and let us cast lots, that we may know because of whom this evil has befallen us.\" And when they had cast lots, it fell upon Jonah. They said to him, \"What have you done that brought such an affliction on us?\" He replied, \"Cast me in the sea and you shall be saved.\" They begged the Lord's pardon, then they cast him into the sea, and a great whale swallowed him. He remained in its belly for three days and three nights and then he was cast out on the seashore.
He rose up straightaway and came into Nineveh. He preached to its people and they all repented: The King, the nobles, and the poor, the old and the young. They all cried to God with fasting and everyone turned from his way and the Lord accepted their repentance and had mercy upon them. Jonah returned to the land of Israel and died there. He was more than
His prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "jonah great prophet" } ], [ { "id": 26, "action": "The Angels' Annunciation of John the Baptist to Zacharias
On this day it was announced to Zacharias, the priest, the birth of John the Baptist. Zacharias was well advanced in years and his wife, Elizabeth, was barren and her time for begetting children had passed.
Zacharias was praying and beseeching God persistently to give him a child because the children of Israel reviled anyone without a son and treated him with ignominy. They would say about him that he was without the blessing that God had told Adam in these words: \"Be fruitful and multiply.\" The Lord had compassion on him and He hearkened to his petition. He sent him Gabriel the Angel to announce to him the birth of John. The angel came to him while he was in the sanctuary, as it is mentioned in the Holy Gospel (Luke
The prayers of this priest be with us, and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "angels' annunciation john baptist zacharias" } ], [ { "id": 27, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Eustathius and His Two Sons
On this day, St. Eustathius and his two sons were martyred. He was one of the ministers of the Roman Empire. Early in his life, he did not know God, but he used to give alms and charity in abundance, and the Lord did not wish that his toil should be in vain. While he was in the desert hunting wild animals, a figure of a cross, appeared to him between the horns of a stag, and it reached up to heaven. He chased the stag in the mountains to hunt it. The Lord spoke to him and told him about his new name which is Eustathius, for he was called, Ephlokidus, before. The Lord ordered him to be baptized in the Name of the Lord Christ and told him that poverty should come upon him speedily.
When he heard that, he descended from the mountain and went to the bishop of the city who baptized him, his wife and his sons, and he changed his name to Eustathius as the Lord had ordered him. Right after that, he lost all what he had from slaves, handmaidens, cattle and money. Then he took his wife and his sons, and went forth from the city of Rome and embarked on a ship. And as he could not pay the fare, they took his wife instead. He took his two sons and came to a river. He crossed over to the other side with one of them and returned to get the other, but he did not find him because a lion had taken him. He went back to get the first but he did not find him either because a wolf had snatched him. He felt deep sorrow because of the loss of his wife and his two sons.
St. Eustathius worked, for a period of time, as a guard in a garden until the Emperor of Rome died and another reigned instead who sent messengers to search for that saint. One of the messengers happened to enter the garden which the saint guarded. The two men recognized each other and St. Eustathius was taken back to the Emperor. The Emperor honored him and reinstated him to his former position.
It happened in that time that a war broke out and they recruited two men from every city to the army. The two sons of the saint were saved by the Divine Will from the lion and the wolf and were brought up in the same city. They remained for a long time not knowing each other. Then the Divine Will arranged that both would be recruited from that city. One day while they were walking, they reached a garden and sat there talking together, and they discovered that they were brothers.
As for their mother, the owner of the ship who had kept her in payment of the fare was a barbarian, but God protected her from him. He kept her in a garden which by the Divine Will was the same garden, where her two sons had gathered in, and she was close by her sons while they were talking and she recognized them. The two sons were assigned to guard the treasury of their father who did not recognize them.
When the Lord willed to gather this blessed family together, the wife entered the place where her husband was, and they recognized each other and rejoiced for reuniting unexpectedly. Then she told him that she had met their sons in the garden. While she was telling him so, the two sons joined them and she cried joyfully, \"There are our two sons!\" They embraced each other in tears of joy, and they praised God who fulfilled what he had promised and they lived in joy and peace. Later on, the Emperor died and another reigned who worshipped idols. He summoned St. Eustathius and his wife and his sons. He ordered them to worship the idols but they refused. So he ordered his men to torture them with fire, but they were not harmed. Then he commanded to cast them into a brazen cauldron and set fire under it. Thus they delivered their souls into the hands of the Lord, and received the crowns of martyrdom from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Their prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "eustathius two sons" } ], [ { "id": 28, "action": "The Martyrdom of Saints Abadir (Apater) and Eraee (Herai), His Sister
On this day, Sts. Abadir (Apater) and Eraee (Herai), his sister, the children of Wasilides, the minister of Antioch, were martyred. Abadir was appointed Esfeh-selar (a high ranking governmental position) in his father's position. He had a room wherein he prayed and the Lord Christ appeared to him in the middle of the night and told him: \"Rise up and take your sister Eraee, and go to Egypt to receive the crown of martyrdom and I will instruct a man whose name is Samuel to take care of your bodies and prepare them for burial.\" He bid him peace then went up into heaven. This vision was seen by his sister also, in which she was told, \"Hearken to your brother and do not transgress his command.\" When she woke up, she trembled, and she went to her brother and told him about the vision, declaring that she would not disobey him. They vowed to each other to go and shed their blood in the Name of the Lord Christ.
When his mother knew that, she and her handmaidens rent their garments, and came to St. Abadir. His mother pleaded with him not to become a martyr. He promised her that he would not go forward to Diocletian seeking martyrdom. Her heart was soothed, not knowing his intention of going somewhere else to become a martyr.
Every night he used to change his apparel and go disguised to give water to the prisoners and minister to them all night, and he asked the door-keeper not to tell anyone.
Later on, he saw a vision to remind him of travelling. He took his sister and went to Alexandria, then they came to Cairo. They met St. Abekragon who recognized them and blessed them. From there they came to Tomwah where they entered the church and prayed in it. Then, they went to El-Ashmunin where they met with Samuel the deacon. The following day Samuel went with them to Ansena, and they confessed our Lord Christ before Arianus the governor, who tortured them severely. Meanwhile, Saint Abadir prayed and entreated God to strengthen his faith and the faith of his sister Eraee. The Lord took their souls and carried them up to the heavenly Jerusalem and they saw the eminent ranks and the luminous habitations of the righteous; then he brought them back to their bodies.
The governor wrote their decree and then adjured Abadir by his God to tell him his name and who he was. The saint replied, \"Swear to me that you shall not change what you have decreed,\" and when the governor swore to him, he said, \"I am Abadir El-Esfeh-selar.\" The governor cried out, saying, \"Woe to me,
Their intercession be for us, and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "abadir apater eraee herai sister" } ], [ { "id": 29, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Arbsima (Repsima) the Virgin and Her Sisters the Virgins
On this day, the holy virgins Arbsima (Repsima) and Agatha (Ghana) and their sisters, were martyred during the reign of Emperor Diocletian.
This infidel sought out the most beautiful damsel to marry. He sent artists to every country and ordered them to paint a portrait of the most beautiful damsel that their sights fell on and to give him an accurate description of her. When they arrived nearby Rome, they entered a convent for virgins and found Saint Arbsima and none was like her in beauty. They painted a portrait of her and sent it to the Emperor who rejoiced when he saw it. He sent to the kings and governors to invite them to the wedding celebrations.
When Arbsima and the virgins knew that, they wept, and left the convent fleeing, entreating the Lord Christ to help them and to keep their virginity. They fled to the country of Armenia, and entered the province over which Tridates was king. There they dwelt in a winery in a deserted garden. They had great trouble in getting their food, so one of them made glass, sold it, and with the money they bought their food.
When Diocletian sought for Arbsima, he did not find her. Later on, he heard that she was in the country of Armenia so he sent to Tridates the governor to look for her. When the virgins heard that, they left their shelter and hid themselves in the city. But someone informed about them. Tridates then commanded to bring Arbsima to him and when she refused, they abducted her and brought her to him.
When he saw her beauty, he wanted to have her for himself, but she did not let him. He brought her mother to persuade her but instead she besought her to endure patiently. She comforted her, told her that she must not forsake her true Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that she must not defile her virginity. When he knew what her mother had done, he commanded to break her teeth.
God gave St. Arbsima power to overcome the governor; she pushed him forcefully and he fell on his back. She left him lying on the floor although he was well known by his might and bravery in war. Ashamed of having been vanquished by a virgin damsel, he ordered to cut off her head. The soldiers came and tied her, tore out her tongue, plucked out her eyes, and then cut her into pieces. When the governor rose up from his fall and regained his senses, he was sorry for killing the saint.
He ordered to slay the rest of the virgins. The soldiers pierced the soles of their feet, flayed them, cut them into pieces, and then cast them out. One of them was sick and was lying on a bed, and she cried out to the soldiers so she might join her sisters. So, they cut off her head also and thus, all the virgins received the crown of martyrdom. The soldiers also slew all who had come with them from Rome.
After their departure, the governor became mad and the physicians could not help him until Saint Gregory, Bishop of Armenia, came to him and prayed over him. By this he was healed of his affliction and believed in the Lord Christ. He took the bodies of the holy and pure virgins and laid them in a holy place.
Their intercession be for us, and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "arbsima repsima virgin sisters virgins" } ], [ { "id": 30, "action": "The Commemoration of the Miracle that God Performed for St. Athanasius the Apostolic
On this day the Lord Christ performed a great miracle for the honorable Saint Abba Athanasius,
When this man arrived to the city, he preached the teachings of Arius but only a few people of the city accepted his teachings. Therefore, he killed a large number of people, and St. Athanasius hid himself for a period of six years. After which he went to the city of Constantinople, and asked Emperor Constantius either to restore him to his See or to slay him so he would receive the crown of martyrdom. But the Emperor ordered his men to place him in a small boat and to leave him in the sea without food or water or a guide. The Emperor thought that he would die of hunger or thirst or get drowned. In this way he hoped to get rid of the saint and his admonition to him for his heresy, and they did with the saint as the Emperor had ordered them.
The boat sailed along smoothly and in peace with the Lord's will and His care. St. Athanasius was surrounded and cared for by the Angels until he arrived in Alexandria three days later. When the believers heard that their shepherd had arrived, they rejoiced and went out to him and received him with candles and songs of praise. Then they brought him into the church and expelled Gawargios and his followers. St. Athanasius dedicated that day as a great feast to the Lord.
May his prayers be with us and to our God is the glory and honor now and ever unto the end of ages. Amen.
", "tags": "miracle god athanasius apostolic" } ], [ { "id": 31, "action": "The Martyrdom of Saint Anastasia
On this day, St. Anastasia was martyred. This fighter was a native of Rome, and the daughter of Christian parents. They raised her well and taught her the Christian manners. When she grew up, her parents wanted her to get married, but she did not agree with them for she had forsaken the vanities of the world and its lusts.
She instead chose to lead a spiritual life and longed for the heavenly glories since her young age. She entered one of the convents of the virgins in Rome and put on the monastic garb. She subdued her body with devoutness and asceticism. She did not eat except once every two days. During the holy Lent she ate only on Saturdays and Sundays after the prayer of the sixth hour of the day. Her food during all the days of her monastic life was dry bread and salt.
It came to pass that some of the convents of virgins, nearby the convent where this saint was staying, were celebrating a feast. The abbess took St. Anastasia, with some of the virgins, and went to join in celebrating that feast. On their way, St. Anastasia saw the soldiers of Emperor Decius the Infidel torturing some Christians and dragging them. Her heart became inflamed with divine love and she shouted at them saying, \"O you hard-hearted men is that what you do to those whom God created in His own form and image and for whom He gave Himself up?\" One of the soldiers seized her and brought her to the Governor who asked her saying, \"Is it true that you are a Christian, worshipping Him who was crucified?\" She confessed the truth and did not deny it. He inflicted her with severe tortures, then he crucified her and lit a fire under her, but it did not harm her. When she did not give up her faith because of these pains, he commanded that her head be cut off. She said a long prayer, then she bowed her head and the swordsman cut off her neck and she received the crown of martyrdom.
Her intercession be for us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "anastasia" } ], [ { "id": 32, "action": "The Coming of Saint Severus, Patriarch of Antioch, to Egypt
On this day St. Severus, Patriarch of Antioch, came to Egypt in the days of Eustinos the Emperor. This Emperor opposed the Orthodox belief, following that of the council of Chalcedon. However Queen Theodora, his wife, was an Orthodox and she loved St. Severus because of his Christian virtues and his true faith.
The Emperor called him one day and many discussions took place regarding the faith, but the Emperor would not turn away from his wrong belief. The Emperor issued his orders to slay St. Severus. The Queen besought the saint to escape to save himself but he refused saying, \"I am ready to die holding the Orthodox faith.\" However, as the Queen and the God loving brethren insisted, he and some brethren left to Egypt.
When the Emperor sought St. Severus and did not find him, he sent soldiers after him. But God hid St. Severus from the soldiers and they did not see him although he was close to them. When he came to Egypt, he went disguised from place to place and from monastery to monastery, and God made many signs and wonders by his hands.
One day, he went to the desert of Scete, at Wadi-El Natroun, and he entered the church in a uniform of a stranger monk and a great miracle took place at that time. It came to pass, that after the priest had placed the bread (Kourban) on the altar and gone around the church offering the incenses, and after the reading of the Epistles and the Gospel, he lifted off the Ebrospharin (altar covering), and did not find the Kourban in the paten; so, the priest was disturbed and wept. He turned towards the worshippers saying, \"O my brethren, I did not find El-Kourban in the paten, and I know not whether this thing has happened because of my sin or because of your sin.\" The people wept; and straightaway, the angel of the Lord appeared to the priest and told him, \"This has happened not because of your sin or because of the sin of the worshippers but because you offered El-Kourban in the presence of the Patriarch. The priest replied, \"And where is he, O my Lord?\" The angel pointed towards St. Severus. St. Severus was standing in a corner of the church and the priest recognized him by the grace of the Holy Spirit. The priest came to Abba Severus, who commanded him to continue the liturgy after they brought him to the altar with great honor. When the priest had gone up to the altar he found the offering on the paten as before. They all praised God and glorified His Holy Name.
St. Severus went forth from that place and came to the city of Sakha where he dwelt with a noble, and righteous man named Dorotheus, and he remained there until his departure.
His prayers be with us all and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "coming severus patriarch antioch egypt" } ], [ { "id": 33, "action": "On this day of the year 822 A.D., the pure father Abba Simon II, 51st Pope of the See of St. Mark, departed. This saint was the son of Orthodox Christian parents of the nobles of Alexandria. He nursed the milk of the faith from his childhood and he learned the doctrines of the church. He chose for himself the monastic life, so he went to the desert of Scete. He became a monk in the cell of his predecessor Abba Jacob, the Patriarch. He dwelt with Abba Jacob for many years during which he exhausted his body by strenuous ascetic life, and many worships.
When Abba Marcus II became a Patriarch, he requested St. Simon from his spiritual father Abba Jacob for what was known of his good reputation and his sound judgement. He stayed with Abba Marcus until his departure. When Abba Jacob, his spiritual father, became patriarch, he kept Abba Simon with him and he benefitted from him often. When Abba Jacob departed, the bishops, priests, and elders unanimously agreed with a spiritual unity to bring forward this father for what they had seen of him (as to righteousness and Orthodox Faith) during his stay with the two Patriarchs who proceeded him. They seized him, bound him and ordained him a Patriarch. He perused an angelic life, which was well-pleasing to the Lord. And, as God wished to repose him, he did not stay on the throne but for five and a half months and departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also was the martyrdom of St. John the soldier, who was from the city of Ashrobah.
The blessing of his prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "john soldier" } ], [ { "id": 34, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Bacchus, the Friend of St. Sergius
On this day, St. Bacchus, the friend of St. Sergius, was martyred. When Emperor Maximianus seized these saints, he tortured them severely. After having stripped them of their military ranks, he sent them to Antiochus, King of Syria, who imprisoned St. Sergius. However, he ordered St. Bacchus to be killed, his body made heavier by attaching stones to him, then cast into the River Euphrates.
The Lord protected the body and the waves brought it to the shore near two ascetic holy men who were brothers. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and commanded them to go and carry away the body of the Saint. When they came to where the body was, they found an eagle and a lion protecting it. The beasts spent a whole day and a night guarding it without harming it, although they were beasts of prey, for they had been commanded by divine providence to protect the body. The two holy men took the body with great honor, singing hymns until they came to their cave where they buried it.
His prayers be with us and glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "bacchus friend sergius" } ], [ { "id": 35, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Paul, Patriarch of Constantinople
On this day, St. Paul, Patriarch of Constantinople, was martyred. He was a disciple of Abba Alexandros, Patriarch of Constantinople. He was appointed to the patriarchy after the departure of Abba Alexandros. When he sat on the patriarchal throne, he expelled the followers of the Arian sect from Constantinople and its surroundings.
When Emperor Constantine, the Great, departed, his three sons reigned after him. Constantine II reigned over Constantinople, Constans reigned over Rome and Constantius reigned over France. Constantine II held the same belief as Arius. He was sorry for what Abba Paul had done to the Arians. He asked him to stop excommunicating them, but the Patriarch did not listen to him. The Emperor became angry and exiled him from Constantinople as he had also exiled Abba Athanasius the Apostolic from Alexandria.
The two Patriarchs met in Rome, and went to stand before Emperor Constans to inform him of their concern. He wrote a letter to his brother on their behalf, ordering him to accept them and threatened him if he did not receive them - there would be no peace but war between them. When the two saints came to Constantinople, they gave the letter to Emperor Constantine, who accepted his brother's letter and returned them to their Chairs.
However, after the slaying of his brother, Emperor Constans, in Rome, Constantine II exiled St. Paul again to the country of Armenia. A few days later, he sent to one of the followers of Arius commanding him to catch up with St. Paul there and slay him. He went to him at night and strangled him, thus he received the crown of martyrdom. He stayed four years in office.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "paul patriarch constantinople" } ], [ { "id": 36, "action": "The Departure of the Righteous Hannah, the Prophetess Mother of Samuel, the Prophet
On this day, the righteous Hannah, the prophetess, and mother of Samuel the Prophet, departed. This just woman was of the tribe of Levi. Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, married her. He also had another wife whose name was Peninnah.
Hannah had no children because she was barren. Peninnah was always reviling her because she had no children. Hannah wept and did not eat. Elkanah, her husband, comforted her saying, \"Why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?\" (1 Samuel 1: 8)
She did not accept his comfort and went up to the house of the Lord during the days of Eli the priest. She prayed and wept before the Lord. Then she made a vow, and said, \"O Lord of hosts if you will give Your maid-servant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life.\" (1 Samuel 1: 11) Eli the priest was watching her as she stood silently, for she was praying in her heart.
Eli thought that she was drunk and he rebuked her but she told him, \"No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my spirit before the Lord.\" He answered her saying, \"Go in peace and the God of Israel grant your petition.\" (I Samuel 1:17) She believed his word, and went home.
Then she conceived and brought forth a son, and she called him Samuel, which is interpreted as \"being asked for\", because she said, \"I have asked him of the Lord.\" When she weaned him, she took him to the house of the Lord, as she had vowed. She brought the child to Eli the priest, and she said, \" ... I am the woman who stood by you here praying to the Lord. For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord.\" (I Samuel 1:26-28) Then she praised God in that well-known praise attributed to her. She lived after this a life well-pleasing to God, and departed in peace.
Her prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "hannah prophetess mother samuel prophet" } ], [ { "id": 37, "action": "The Departure of St. Paul of Tamouh
On this day, Abba Paul (Paula) who was from Tamouh (El-Tamouhi) (Thmoui), departed. Since he was inclined since his young age to solitary life, he went to Ansena Mountain. There he lived with his disciple Ezekiel, who was the witness of his virtues.
For his exceeding love to the Lord Christ, to Whom is the glory, he exhausted his body with asceticism, forsaking earthly things, with fasting and many prayers in a way that exceeds human endurance. For this, he deserved that the Lord Christ appear to him and bless him for his conduct in this life, for such is the behavior of those who are perfect and who fight against the flesh, the world and the devil till they overcome them. St. Paul said to the Lord, \"All that is due to Your care, O You creator and redeemer of the human race, by Your death on our behalf, we the undeserving sinners.\" The Lord Christ comforted and strengthened him.
When our father St. Bishoy went to Mount Ansena, he was joined by the saint Abba Paula. The Lord Christ told Abba Paul (Paula), \"Your body will be buried with that of My chosen Bishoy.\" When Abba Paula departed, his body was placed with the body of St. Bishoy. When they wanted to move the body of St. Bishoy to the wilderness of St. Macarius in Scete, they carried it onto a boat and left St. Paul's body behind; however, the boat would not move, until they brought the body of St. Paul and placed it beside St. Bishoy's body. Then they brought them to the
wilderness of Sheheat (Scete).
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "paul tamouh" } ], [ { "id": 38, "action": "On this day, St. Matra the elder, was martyred. He was a native of Alexandria, a believing Christian. When Decius reigned, he established the worship of idols. He afflicted the Christian people in every place. When his edict reached Alexandria, its people began also to be persecuted.
Some brought accusations against this saint. The Governor brought St. Matra to question him about his faith. St. Matra confessed that the Lord Christ is a true God of true God. The Governor commanded him to worship the idols and promised him much money. When he refused, he threatened to punish him, but he did not give up his faith. He shouted at the governor, \"I do not worship but the Lord Christ, the creator of heaven and earth.\" The Governor became angry with him, and ordered him beaten. He was severely beaten and then hanged up by his arms. They then imprisoned him and slit his face and his temples with a red hot rod. Finally, because he insisted on not giving up his faith, they cut off his head outside the city.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of St. Abba Hor, the commemoration of St. Tosia and her children, the martyrs at Tamouh; and Saint Agathon, the hermit.
Their prayers be with us all and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "hor tosia susanna children agathon hermit" } ], [ { "id": 39, "action": "On this day of the year 146 A.D., Saint Eumenius the seventh Pope of the See of St. Mark, departed. Pope Abremius, the fifth Pope, ordained him a deacon and he served 10 years in this position. When St. Yustus, the sixth Pope, was appointed, he saw how Eumenius excelled in knowledge and faith, so he ordained him a priest. He entrusted to him the teaching of the believers of the church of Alexandria, and asked him to look after them and to instruct them in the principles of the Orthodox faith.
When Pope Yustus departed, this father was chosen Patriarch. He handed down the care of the churches and the teaching of the believers to Father Marcianus who later became his successor. He continually restored the strayed sinners, explaining to the pagans plainly the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and His being one in His divine essence. He stayed on the chair for 13 years and departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, in the year 958 A.M., during the reign of King El-Saleh Ayoub and the papacy of the father the Patriarch Abba Kyrillos III, 75th Pope of the See of St. Mark, a stupendous thing happened in the world which amazed those who beheld it or heard of it. The sun became gradually dark until darkness spread everywhere and the stars were seen in the daytime.
People lit lamps and were struck with great fear. They cried out to God the Almighty with all their hearts, asking for His compassion and mercy. The Lord had mercy upon them, removed their fear and the darkness was lifted all at once and the sun appeared to light up the world, and the lamps were extinguished. That occurred from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
The people glorified God who was long suffering towards them and did not deal with them according to their sins but according to His mercy and patience.
To Him is the Glory in His church. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of Saint Simon the Bishop.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "simon simeon bishop" } ], [ { "id": 40, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Sergius, the Friend of St. Bacchus
On this day, St. Sergius, the friend of St. Bacchus, was martyred. He was a high ranking soldier, advanced in the court of Emperor Maximianus, who showed him great favor. Because this Emperor was pagan and these two saints were people of faith, he sent them to Antiochus, King of Syria, to torture them and slay them if they did not forsake their faith.
Antiochus inflicted St. Bacchus with severe tortures and, when he did not dissuade him from his Christianity, he ordered his men to slay him. They killed him and cast his body into the River Euphrates. The waves brought him to the bank near two holy men. The Lord sent an eagle to guard the pure body and inspired the two saints to take it. They took the body with reverence and buried it. St. Sergius was sad for his friend Bacchus until he saw him in his sleep in a beautiful palace, shining brightly; so his soul was exceedingly comforted.
Later on, the Governor commanded to drive nails into St. Sergius' feet, and to send him to El-Rusafa tied to the tails of the horses; his blood flowed down on the ground.
On their way, they met a virgin damsel, who gave them water to drink. When she saw the condition the saint was in, she felt sad for him and she pitied his youth and his fine form. The saint told her, \"Come, follow me to the city of El-Rusafa to take my body,\" and she followed him.
The Governor of El-Rusafa was a friend of St. Sergius, and it was through St. Sergius, that the Governor had this position. The Governor tried to convince him to change his mind to save his life. When St. Sergius did not accept his advice, he ordered his head cut off. That virgin came and received the blood which flowed from his holy neck and kept it in a clip of wool.
However, the holy body was kept until the end of the days of persecution when they built a church for him at El-Rusafa. The church was consecrated by 15 bishops. They laid his holy body in a coffin made of marble. Those who were present witnessed that a fragrant oil flew from his body and it healed the sick.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "sergius friend bacchus" } ], [ { "id": 41, "action": "On this day, the holy father Abba James, Patriarch of Antioch, departed. Great tribulations befell him, and he was exiled for the sake of guarding the Orthodox faith. After he remained in exile for a period of time, the people of the city gathered and brought him back. Then the Arians exiled him again and he stayed in exile for seven more years, then departed in peace.
His intercession be for us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Pelagia, departed. This righteous woman was born in the city of Antioch to pagan parents. Besides a corrupt faith, she had a corrupt manner of life also.
She met a holy bishop, whose name was Paul, who preached to her. She believed in the Lord Christ through him, and confessed to him everything she had done. He encouraged her and taught her not to despair but to repent with a true determination. Then he baptized her in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and she was illuminated by the grace of baptism. She led a penitent life with a firm heart and a pure determination. she exhausted her body with strenuous worship.
She dressed herself in the garb of men and went to Jerusalem where she worshipped in its sanctuaries. She met Abba Alexandros, Patriarch of Jerusalem, who sent her to one of the convents nearby Jerusalem. She dwelt there for 40 years and departed in peace.
Her prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pelagia" } ], [ { "id": 42, "action": "On this day of the year 224 A.D., the pure and celibate father, the fighter of lusts, and the vanquisher of nature, Abba Demetrius I, 12th Pope of Alexandria, departed. This saint was an illiterate farmer, and was married. He lived with his wife 47 years until he was chosen a Patriarch. They did not know one another as married people, but remained throughout that period in their virginity and chastity, a fact which no one knew.
When the departure of St. Yulianus, 11th Pope, drew near, the angel of the Lord appeared to St. Yulianus in a vision and told him about this saint and that he was to be the Patriarch after him. He gave him a sign saying, \"Tomorrow a man shall come to you having a cluster of grapes, seize him and pray over him.\" Then he woke from his sleep, he told the bishops and the priests who were with him about this vision.
So it happened on the next day that St. Demetrius found a cluster of grapes that was out of season. He carried it to St. Yulianus, to receive his blessing. The father, the Patriarch, took him by the hand and told those who were present, \"This is your Patriarch who will be after me.\" Then he prayed over him; they held him and kept him until the departure of Abba Yulianus, whereupon they finished the prayers of ordination over him and he was filled with heavenly grace. The Lord enlightened his mind and he learned reading and writing. He studied the church books and their interpretations. Words of grace flew from his mouth when he preached.
He established the reckoning of the Epacts, by which the dates of fasting were determined on a fixed basis. Christians used to fast the holy 40 days, Lent, right after the feast of Epiphany, as the Lord Christ fasted after His baptism. Then they fasted the Passion week separately, celebrating the Christian Passover on the Sunday that followed the Jewish Passover.
Some of the Christians used to celebrate Easter on the fourteenth of Neesan (April) and that meant they celebrated with the Jews, not recognizing that the Christian Passover was to be in memory of the Resurrection of the Lord Christ which was after the Mosaic Passover. For that reason, Pope Demetrius took interest in establishing a fixed bases for fasts and Christian holy days. He appended the Holy Fast to the Passion Week.
Pope Demetrius wrote in this respect to Agabius, Bishop of Jerusalem; to Maximus, Patriarch of Antioch; to the Patriarch of Rome and to others. All approved of it and continued to follow his rules up until the present. The Church of Rome deviated from that and followed, since the 16th century, the Gregorian Calendar. To the Popes of the Coptic Church was the prime credit in determining Easter Day; and they thus sent their Easter messages all over the world, so that the Christians would celebrate Easter on the same day forming a universal joy.
God was with Abba Demetrius because of his purity. God granted him a gift that after he finished the Liturgy and the people came forward to partake of the Holy Mysteries, he used to see the Lord Christ pushing forward with His Hand those who were worthy. But if one came forward who was not worthy of partaking of the Holy Communion, the Lord would reveal to the Pope his sins and the Pope would not allow him to partake of it until he confessed his sins. The Pope would admonish him for them and would say to him, \"Turn away from your sin and repent, after that come and partake of the Holy Mysteries.\" His flocks conduct was straightened during his time.
Because he rebuked the sinners much, and urged them on repentance and purity, some of them murmured and said, \"This man is married, how can he rebuke us?\" The Lord Almighty wished to reveal to them his virtues, so the angel of the Lord came to him at night and told him, \"O Demetrius, do not seek your salvation and let others be destroyed with their doubt.\" The father asked him to clarify his statement and the angel told him, \"You must reveal the mystery which is between yourself and your wife to the people that you might remove the doubt from them.\" On the following morning, after he had celebrated the Divine Liturgy, he ordered the people not to leave the church. He took red-hot coal and placed it in his wife's shawl and his pallium, then they went around in the church and their clothes did not burn. The people were amazed at this miracle. He told them that he and his wife did not know each other as married people. The doubt was removed from the people and they realized the purity of this father and his virginity.
During his time, some opposing men appeared whose names were Aklemos, Origen, and Orianus and others who wrote forbidden books, so he excommunicated them. During the days of his papacy, he did not stop teaching and confirming the believers in the Orthodox Faith. When he had grown old and became weak, they carried him on a litter to the church to teach the people. He was 105 years old, having spent 15 years unmarried, 47 years until he became Patriarch and 43 years in office, then departed in peace.
The blessings of his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Matthew the Evangelist, was martyred. He was one of the Twelve Disciples and his name was Levi. He was the one sitting at the receipt of custom outside the city of Capernaum, when the Lord Christ said to him, \"Follow Me.\" He left all, rose up, and followed Him. He made for the Lord Christ a great feast in his own house. That made the Pharisees murmur against Him saying to His disciples, \"Why do your teacher eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?\" Jesus answered and said to them, \"Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.\" (Luke 5:27-32)
He preached in the land of Palestine and Tyre and Sidon. Then he went to Ethiopia. He entered the city of priests and converted them to the knowledge of God. When he wished to enter the city, he met a young man who told him, \"You will not be able to go in unless you shave off the hair of your head and carry palm branches in your hand.\" He did as the young man told him. And, as he was thinking about that, the Lord Christ appeared to him in the form of the young man who had met him earlier, and after He encouraged and comforted him, disappeared. He realized that this young man was the Lord of Glory Himself.
He then entered the city as one of its priests. He went to the temple of Apollo and found the high priest, and talked with him concerning the idols that they were worshipping. He explained to him how those idols did not hear or sense anything and how the true Mighty Lord is He who created the Heaven and Earth. The Lord made through him a wonder: a table came down to them from Heaven and a great light shone around them. When Hermes the priest saw this wonder, he asked him, \"What is the name of your God?\" The apostle replied, \"My God is the Lord Christ.\" Hermes, the priest, believed in Christ and many people followed him.
When the Governor of the city knew that, he ordered them burned. It happened at that time that the son of the Governor died. St. Matthew the Apostle prayed and made supplications to God to raise the son and the Lord answered him and raised the child from death. When the Governor saw that, he and the rest of the people of the city believed. St. Matthew baptized them and ordained a bishop and priests, and built a church for them.
After he had preached in other countries, he went back to Jerusalem. Some of the Jews which had been preached to, and had believed and been baptized by him, asked him to write down what he had preached to them. He wrote the beginning of the Gospel attributed to him in the Hebrew language but he did not complete it. It was said that he finished it during his preaching in India, in the first year of the reign of Claudius and the ninth year of the Ascension.
His martyrdom was consummated by stoning by the hands of Justus the Governor, and his body was buried in Carthage of Caesarea by some believers, in a holy place.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On the twelfth day of each Coptic month we celebrate, commemorating the honorable Michael the Archangel, the head of the Heavenly Hosts, who stands at all times before the throne of the Divine Majesty on behalf of the human race.
His intercession be for us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "archangel michael" } ], [ { "id": 43, "action": "The Departure of Saint Zacharias, the Monk
On this day, St. Zacharias the monk, departed. His father's name was Karyos. He was married, but he longed for the monastic life. He told his wife about what was on his mind and she agreed to it. Karyos had a son, called Zacharias and a daughter. He left them with their mother and went to the desert of Scete and became a monk at the hands of a holy old man.
Shortly after, there was a great famine in the country and the wife took the two children and came to the desert where their father Karyos was. She complained to him about the tribulation which had come upon her through the famine and handed him the children. But Karyos told her, \"God has divided the two children between us. You take the girl and leave the boy with me.\" She took her daughter and departed. Karyos took his son Zacharias and brought him to the elders who prayed over him and they prophesied that he would become a perfect monk.
Zacharias was brought up well in the desert, and advanced in every virtue. Because he was exceedingly handsome and his fair look, there were many murmurs in the desert because of him and they said, \"How is it, a boy like that dwells in the desert among the monks?\" When St. Zacharias heard that, he went to lake El-Natroun (which was very salty) without telling anyone. He took off his apparel, plunged his body into the lake, and remained in it for many hours. The color of his body became black and he looked like a leper. Then he went forth from the water, put on his apparel and came to his father who did not recognize him until he had stared at him closely. When he asked him about what had changed his appearance, he told him what he had done.
When it was Sunday, he went with his father to the church to partake of the Holy Mysteries. The Lord revealed to St. Isidore, the priest of Scete, what St. Zacharias had done. He marvelled and said to the monks, \"Zacharias received the offering last Sunday as a man, but now he has become an angel.\"
This saint possessed many virtues, especially the virtue of humility in which he had reached such a degree of perfection that his father said about him, \"I have labored greatly in the fight, but I have never attained the extent of my son Zacharias.\"
St. Zacharias lived a strenuous life and strove exceedingly hard for 45 years. When he came to the desert, he was seven years old and all the days of his life numbered 52 years, then he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen
", "tags": "zacharias monk" } ], [ { "id": 44, "action": "The Departure of St. Philip, One of the Seven Deacons
On this day, St. Philip, one of the Seven Deacons, departed. He was from Caesarea, Palestine. When the Lord Christ, to Him is the glory, went through this area, this saint heard Him teaching and followed Him immediately. When the Lord chose the 70 Disciples and sent them forth to preach and heal the sick, this disciple was one of them. The Twelve Apostles chose him as one of the Seven Deacons appointed to serve.
This Apostle preached in the cities of Samaria and baptized its people. He also baptized Simon the magician who perished when he tried to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit with money.
One day the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, \"Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.\" He rose and went and behold a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, the Queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury and had come to Jerusalem to worship. As he was returning and sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the spirit said to Philip, \"Go near and join this chariot.\" So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, \"Do you understand what you are reading?\"
And he said, \"How can I, unless someone guides me?\" And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him. The place in the scripture which he read was this, \"He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb before its shearer is silent. So He opened not his mouth. In His humiliation His justice was taken away. And who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.\"
So the eunuch answered Philip and said, \"I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or of some other man?\" Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, \"See, here is water; What hinders me from being baptized?\" Then Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may.\" And he answered and said, \"I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.\"
So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Caesarea. (Acts 8:26-40)
He went around the countries of Asia and preached the living Gospel there. He had four daughters who preached the word of God with him. He brought many of the Jews, the Samaritans and others to the faith, and departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Ame
n.
", "tags": "philip one seven deacons" } ], [ { "id": 45, "action": "The Martyrdom of Saint Panteleimon, the Physician
On this day of the year 405 A.D., St. Panteleimon (Bandleamon), who was from the city of Nicomedia, was martyred. His father worshipped idols but his mother was a Christian. They educated him well and taught him the profession of medicine. He met a priest whose name was Hermolaus (Armolas) who taught him the facts of the faith of the Lord Christ and baptized him. He reached a high standard of virtuous life. God wrought great wonders through him. Once, a blind man came to him to be treated by his medicine. He made the sign of the Cross over his eyes in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and his eyes were healed and he regained his vision completely.
When the Emperor heard the news of his healing this blind man, he had the blind man brought to him and asked him about how his eyes were healed. He told him St. Panteleimon healed them by laying his hand on them and by saying, \"In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.\" He confessed before the Emperor that he was a Christian, so the Emperor immediately had his neck cut off.
The Emperor ordered that St. Panteleimon be brought to him and asked him about his belief. He confessed that he was a Christian. He tried to persuade him by all means and promised him many things, but he would not change his confession. Then he shouted out to him and threatened to inflict upon him different kinds of tortures. But he did not move. The Emperor inflicted upon him severe tortures on different days, sometimes beating and suspending him and often times casting him into the sea or into the fire. The Lord Christ appeared to him in the form of Hermolaus, the priest who baptized him and taught him the facts of faith, to strengthen him, and walked with him as if He was sharing with him every punishment which befell him.
Later on, the Emperor ordered to behead him. When St. Panteleimon went to the place of execution, he prayed to the Lord Christ and supplicated Him. He heard a voice from heaven announcing to him what had been prepared for him from heavenly joy. The soldiers also heard that voice and immediately believed. They went forth to the Emperor and confessed their faith in the Lord Christ. The Emperor ordered his men to cut off their necks, too, and they all received the crown of martyrdom.
Their intercession be for us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "panteleimon physician" } ], [ { "id": 46, "action": "On this day of the year 673 A.D., the holy father, the Patriarch Abba Agathon, 39th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was a disciple to the holy father Abba Benjamin, 38th Pope. Abba Benjamin disappeared for a period of time from the face of his Chalcedonian persecutors and left Agathon to preach to the believers and establish them in the Orthodox faith. Agathon went around the streets and markets in the daytime wearing a carpenter's apparel, and during the night wearing a priest's uniform. He went around the houses also preaching and instructing the believers. He kept doing this till the Arab conquest of Egypt and the return of the father the Patriarch Abba Benjamin to his chair.
When Pope Benjamin departed, this saint was chosen to the honorable rank of Patriarch. He faced great tribulations for the sake of keeping the Orthodox faith. For example, a man whose name was Theodosius, a Malachite, went to the city of Damascus and came before Yazeed-Eben-Moawia, the Arab Governor of Damascus. He gave him much money and took from him an order to appoint him the Governor of Alexandria, Behira and Marriot. When he became in charge of this position, he afflicted our father the Patriarch and levied great taxes on him. Because of the excessive evil of the Governor, and what he did to the father the Patriarch, the people hated and avoided him. He put forth an order that any man who might find the Patriarch on his way should slay him. The Patriarch remained in his cell until God destroyed that evil Governor.
In the days of this father, the building of St. Macarius' church in his monastery at Wadi-El Natroun was completed.
One night the angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him about a holy monk from the monastery of St. Macarius whose name was John and who lived in Fayyum. The angel ordered him to bring him to help in preaching and teaching the people. The angel told him that he would be Patriarch after him. Abba Agathon sent and brought him and delivered to him the work of the churches, their organization, teaching the believers and preaching to them.
Abba Agathon remained in the papacy for 19 years and departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the saints Carpus, Apollos (Papylus) and Peter the disciple of Abba Isaiah the Anchorite.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "carpus apollos papylus peter" } ], [ { "id": 47, "action": "The Departure of St. Dioscorus II 31st Pope of Alexandria
On this day of the year 511 A.D., the holy father Abba Dioscorus II, 31st Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was chosen Patriarch by the guidance of the Holy Spirit after the departure of his predecessor, St. John. This father was gentle in disposition, his work and knowledge were outstanding, and he was perfect all his days; no one was like him in his generation.
His first work after his enthronement to the See of St. Mark was writing an epistle to the holy father Abba Severus, Patriarch of Antioch. This epistle contained the faith in the Holy Trinity as equal in essence and divinity, and an explanation of the Incarnation. He said that the Word of God was incarnated in a human body perfect in everything, and united with it and became one Son, one Christ, one God, in inseparable unity and that the Trinity is one before and after this unity and no addition was effected to Him by the Incarnation.
When this epistle reached Abba Severus, he read it and rejoiced and made it known to the people of Antioch. He felt optimistic with it and wrote to St. Dioscorus a reply to the epistle congratulating him on his Christian presidency and on the Orthodox faith. He commanded him not to turn aside from it, neither to the right nor to the left, and to depend in all his sayings and works on the Orthodox faith which was established by the Three Hundred and Eighteen Fathers in Nicea and according to what they commanded in the Canon and the Law. When the message reached Abba Dioscorus, he joyfully received it and commanded that it be read from the pulpit to be heard by all the people.
This father read and taught continually, and urged and commanded the priests in every city to shepherd and guard their flocks. Having ended his course, he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "dioscorus 31st pope" } ], [ { "id": 48, "action": "The Departure of the Honorable Father Saint Theophilus 23rd Pope of Alexandria
On this day of the year 404 A.D., the holy father Abba Theophilus, 23rd Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was a disciple of St. Athanasius the Apostolic. He was brought up by him and learned all the spiritual doctrine from him.
When Pope Timothy I departed, this father was chosen to take his place. Abba Theophilus was knowledgeable, well read in the church books with full understanding of their interpretation. He wrote many discourses and works of exhortation urging on the works of charity and mercy, and warnings to the people about receiving the Divine Mysteries without being prepared, and concerning the Resurrection and the punishment which is prepared for sinners and many other useful teachings.
The holy father Abba Kyrillos was his nephew and Abba Theophilus took care of his education by sending him to Abba Serapion in the desert of Scete. There Kyrillos studied the books of the church and all its subjects and stayed there five years, then went back to his uncle. When Abba Theophilus was with Abba Athanasius the Apostolic, he heard him one day saying while looking at the hills before his cell, \"If I find time, I will clear away these hills and build a church in their place for St. John the Baptist and Elisha the prophet.\"
When Abba Theophilus became Patriarch, he remembered that saying and he talked about it often. In the city of Rome, the husband of a rich woman died and left her with two sons. She took them and much money and an icon of the Archangel Raphael and came to Alexandria. When she heard about the interest of the father the Patriarch in removing those hills, she went to him with truezeal and gave him enough money to fulfill his desire. After the work was done, a treasure appeared under the hills and was covered with a slab of stone engraved in Coptic, with three characters of theta, O. When Abba Theophilus saw them, he knew, guided by the Holy Spirit, the secret of these three letters and said, \"Behold the time has come for this treasure to be uncovered because these three thetas were gathered together at the same time and they are: Thoes, that of God; and Theodosius the Emperor, son of Arcadius, son of Theodosius the Great; and Theophilus the Patriarch - meaning himself. He found that this treasure dated to the Era of Alexander, the son of Philip the Macedonian which was 700 years before.
The Patriarch sent to the Emperor to inform him about the treasure and asked him to come. The Emperor came and saw the treasure, and gave a large sum of money to Abba Theophilus. He built many churches. He began by building a church in the name of St. John the Baptist and Elisha the Prophet, and he transferred their relics that church. That church was known at that time by the Demas. Then he built a church by the name of our Lady the Virgin Mary, then a church in the name of the Archangel Raphael at El-Gizira and seven other churches.
As for the two sons of the woman who came from Rome, he ordained them bishops. When the Emperor saw the love of the Abba the Patriarch for building churches, he gave him all the houses of idols and Abba Theophilus changed them to churches and lodging houses for strangers, and endowed them with land.
Having fulfilled his days in a life pleasing to God, he departed from this world in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "theophilus 23rd pope" } ], [ { "id": 49, "action": "On this day of the year 280 A.D. a Holy Council assembled in an Antiochian church to judge Paul of Samosata. He was a native of Samosata, and he was chosen a Patriarch of Antioch. Satan sowed in his mind the belief that the Lord Christ was a simple, ordinary man whom God had created and chosen to redeem the human beings; and that Christ was entirely Mary's offspring and that Divinity did not unite with Jesus but joined Him by the will only and that God is one person, so he did not believe in the Son or the Holy Spirit.
Because of him, a council assembled in the city of Antioch during the reign of Emperor Valerian and the papacy of Abba Dionysius, 14th Pope of Alexandria, which was 45 years before the Council of Nicea. Because Abba Dionysius was old, he was not able to convene with them, so he wrote a letter stating the belief that the Lord Christ is the Word of God, and His Son, and is equal to Him in essence, in divinity and in being eternal. The Holy Trinity is Three Persons by character, in one God-head. One Person of the Trinity is the Son incarnated and became in Hypostatic Union, a complete man. Abba Dionysius testified concerning these things using many testimonies from the Old and the New Testaments and he sent this letter with two priests of the church scholars.
Thirteen bishops and the two priests assembled in that council. They brought that Paul and asked him about the heresy that he was teaching. He declared it to them and did not deny anything. They debated the matter with him and read to him the letter of Abba Dionysius and made him listen to what the Apostles said about the Lord Christ the Word of God that He is, \"The brightness of His glory. And the express image of His person.\" (Hebrews 1:3) But he did not accept their words, and he would not turn from his infidel opinion. They excommunicated him, and all those who believed his words, and they exiled him. The fathers put forth the Canons, which are still in the hands of the believers who follow them to this day.
The blessings of their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Theophilus and his wife in Fayyum, was martyred, in the days of Emperor Diocletian the infidel.
Some brought accusation against them before the Governor of being Christians. The Governor brought them and questioned them. They confessed our Lord Christ, to Him is the glory, before him. He commanded that a deep pit be dug for them, that they be cast into it, and covered by stones. They did so and St. Theophilus and his wife received the crown of martyrdom.
Their intercession be for us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "theophilus wife fayyum" } ], [ { "id": 50, "action": "The Departure of the Great St. John Colobos (the Short)
On this day, the great light and saint, the hegumen Abba John (Yoannis) Colobos (the Short), departed. He was a native of Betsa in upper Egypt and he had one brother. His parents were righteous and God-fearing people, rich in faith and good deeds.
When he was 8 years old, his heart turned away from the futility of this world, its lusts and its glory, and he desired the monastic life. The grace of God moved him to go to the desert of Scete and there he came upon a tried and holy man whose name was Abba Pemwah from El-Bahnasa. John asked Abba Pemwah to allow him to stay with him. The old man answered, trying him, \"My son, you cannot stay with us for this is a very hard desert and those who dwell in it eat from the work of their hands, besides observing many fasts, prayers, and sleeping on the floor and many other forms of asceticism. Go back to the world and live in the fear of God.\" Abba John told him, \"Do not send me away, for God's sake, because I came to be in your obedience and prayers. If you accept me, I believe that God will make your heart well-pleased with me.\"
Abba Pemwah was in the habit of not doing anything hastily. He asked the Lord Christ to reveal to him the matter of this young man. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, \"Accept him, for he shall become a chosen vessel.\" Abba Pemwah brought him and he shaved the hair of his head. He laid out the garb of the monk, and he prayed over it for three days and three nights and when he put the garb on him, he saw an angel making the sign of the Cross over it.
Saint John started his monastic life with great asceticism and splendid works. One day Abba Pemwah wanted to test him, so he expelled him from his cell saying, \"I cannot live with you.\" Abba John stayed out by the door of his cell for seven days. Every day Abba Pemwah went out and smote him with a palm branch and Abba John bowed down before him saying, \"I have sinned.\" On the seventh day, the old man went out to go to the church and he saw seven angels with seven crowns placing them on the head of Abba John. Since that day, he was held by him in honor and reverence.
One day Abba Pemwah found a piece of dry wood and gave it to Abba John and said to him, \"Take this wood, plant and water it.\" St. John obeyed and went on watering it twice a day even though the water was about 12 miles from where they lived. After three years, that piece of wood sprouted and grew into a fruitful tree. Abba Pemwah took some of that fruit and went around to all the elder monks saying, \"Take, eat from the fruit of obedience.\" This tree still exists in its place in his monastery.
Abba Pemwah fell sick for 12 years and Abba John ministered unto him all this time during which he never heard from his teacher that he fell short in his service. Abba Pemwah was an experienced old man who had been tried much, and sickness had emaciated him until he became like a piece of dry wood, so that he would be a chosen offering.
When Abba Pemwah was about to die, he gathered together the elder monks and he held the hand of Abba John and gave him to them saying, \"Take him and keep him, for he is an angel, not a man.\" He commanded Abba John to stay in the place where he had planted the tree. After that Abba John's older brother came to the monastery and was ordained a monk with him. He also became an honorable monk.
It happened when the father the Patriarch Abba Theophilus was ordaining Abba John hegumen and abbot over his church, and as he placed his hand over his head, a voice from heaven was heard by the people present saying, \"Axios, Axios, Axios (That is to say he is worthy).\" When this saint consecrated the offering, he was able to know those who were worthy to partake of it and those who were not worthy.
Abba Theophilus the Patriarch built a church for the Three Young Men in Alexandria, and he wished to bring their bodies and place them in it. He brought Abba John and asked him to travel to Babylon, and to bring the holy bodies. After much forebearing, Abba John accepted to go on this mission. When he left the Patriarch, a cloud carried him away to Babylon. He entered the city and saw its monuments, rivers, and palaces and found the bodies of the saints. When he started moving them from their place, a voice came out from the holy bodies and said to him, \"This is the Will of God that we do not leave this place until the day of the Resurrection. Nevertheless, because of the love of Abba Theophilus the Patriarch, and your labor, too, you should inform the Patriarch to gather the people in the church and to put oil in the lamps without lighting them and we will appear in the church and a sign will be made manifest to you.\"
Then Abba John left and went back to Alexandria and told the Patriarch what the saints had said. It happened when the Patriarch and the people were in the church, the lamps were lit up suddenly and they all glorified the Lord.
One day, a monk came into the cell of Abba John. He found him lying down with angels waving their wings over him.
Later on, the Berbers attacked the desert of Scete and he left it. When he was asked why he left, he replied that he did not leave because he was afraid of death, but because he feared a Berber would slay him and go to hell, for though he is against his worship, he is his brother in form. Then he went to the mountain of Abba Anthony on the Red Sea. There he dwelt by the side of a village and God sent him a believer who served him.
When the Lord wished to grant him rest and to end his strife in this world, He sent him His two righteous saints Abba Macarius and Abba Anthony to comfort him and to inform him about his departure. On the eve of Sunday, he fell sick and sent his attendant to bring him something from the village. The angels and the host of saints came and received his pure soul and took it up to heaven.
At that time, his servant came back and saw the soul of the saint surrounded by the host of saints and angels singing before them. Before them all, there was one shining like the sun and singing. The servant marvelled at this magnificent sight. An angel came to him and told him the name of each one of the saints. Then the servant asked the angel, \"Who is this one in front of them all, who is shining like the sun?\" The angel replied, \"This is Abba Anthony, the father of all the monks.\"
When the servant went into the cell, he found the body of the saint kneeling to the ground, as he had given up his soul while kneeling. The attendant wept sorrowfully over him and went in a hurry to the people of the village and told them what had happened. They came and carried his holy body with great honor. When they brought him into the village, great wonders and miracles were performed through his body.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "great john colobos short" } ], [ { "id": 51, "action": "On this day we celebrate the commemoration of our holy lady, the Mother of Light, the Virgin St. Mary. Salutation to you O Mary, the Mother of God, the eternal Word, because through you was the salvation of the human race.
Her intercession be for us. Amen.
On this day also we celebrate the commemoration of the relocation of the body of Lazarus,whom our Lord raised from the dead. It was relocated by one of the Christian Emperors to Constantinople. When he heard that the body was on the island of Cyprus, he sent some of the trusted bishops to the island where they found the holy body laid in a sarcophagus buried under ground.
The inscription on the coffin read, \"This is the body of Lazarus, the friend of the Lord Christ, whom He raised from the dead, after he had been buried for four days.\" They rejoiced at it and carried it to the city of Constantinople. The priests went out and received the body with great honor and veneration, and with prayers and incense. They laid it in a sanctuary until they built a church for it and then relocated the body to the church where they celebrated a holy day for him.
His intercession be for us. Amen.
Today also, the great Prophet Joel, the son of Phanuel, from the tribe of Reuben, departed. He prophesied in the days of Abya the son of Jeroboam the son of Solomon the King. He taught the people and admonished them and prophesied concerning the dwelling of God in Zion, His passion, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, the comforter upon the holy Apostles on the day of Pentecost. He prophesied that their sons and daughters will prophesy and their young men will see visions and their old men will dream dreams.
This prophet prophesied also concerning the going forth of the law of the Gospel from Zion when he said, \"A fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord and water the valley of Acacias.\" (Joel 3:18) And he revealed that wars will break out on the earth after the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. He spoke also concerning the day of Resurrection more than a thousand years before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, \"The sun and the moon will grow dark and the stars will diminish their brightness.\" (Joel 3:15) He pleased God and departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also in the year 1405 A.D. (1121 of martyrs) St. Freig, who is known as Abba Roweiss, departed. This saint was from a village called Miniet-Yamin (about 130 kilometers north of Cairo). His father's name was Isaac and his mother's name was Sarah. When he was born, they called him Freig. He worked with his father in farming and he had a small camel on which he carried salt and sold it. He called the camel \"Roweiss\" (i.e. small head). The camel used to put his head against his cheek as if he was kissing him. Because of his humility, he called himself after his camel.
Persecutions befell the Christians, so he came to Cairo and not having a house or shelter, he went from one place to another. He spent most of his nights in prayers and wailing. He did not own a coat or any clothes or a cover for his head. He was naked except for that with which he covered his loins, and his head was uncovered. He looked like the hermits of the desert; his eyes were red because of much weeping and he never cut the hair of his head. He was a man of few words -once an evil man smote him severely but he did not open his mouth. St. Marcus El-Antoni was present at that time and he rebuked the evil man.
During the later part of his life, he used to say, \"O Virgin, take me because my burden is heavy.\" He meant the burden of carrying the sin of the people for which he often rebuked them though they did not listen to him.
He lived in the days of the holy father Pope Mattheos, 87th Patriarch, and St. Marcus El-Antoni, in the days of El-Sultan El-Zaher Barkuk.
He shut himself up in a small storeroom at the place of his disciple Michael the builder, in Meniet Syreg. He stayed in that place for 9 years until his departure on the twenty-first of Babah of the year 1121 of the martyrs. He was buried in the church of the Virgin, in Deir El-Khandaq. He performed many wonders such as healing the sick, prophesying and saving many from their troubles.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "freig abba tegi roweiss" } ], [ { "id": 52, "action": "The Martyrdom of Saint Luke the Evangelist
On this day, St. Luke the Evangelist and physician, was martyred. He was one of the 70 disciples mentioned in the tenth chapter of his gospel. He accompanied the Apostles Peter and Paul and wrote their account.
After the martyrdom of these two Apostles, he went through Rome preaching. Those who worshipped idols and the Jews in Rome agreed among themselves and went to Nero the Emperor accusing St. Luke of attracting many men to his teaching with his sorcery. Nero commanded that St. Luke be brought before him. When St. Luke knew that, he gave all the books he had to a fisherman and told him, \"Take these and keep them for they will be useful to you and will show you God's way.\"
When St. Luke came before Nero the Emperor, the Emperor asked him, \"How long will you lead the people astray?\" St. Luke replied, \"I am not a magician, but I am an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.\" The Emperor commanded his men to cut off his right hand saying, \"Cut off this hand which wrote the books.\" The saint replied to him, \"We do not fear death, nor the departure from this world, and to realize the power of my Master.\" He took up his severed hand and made it reattach to its proper place, then he separated it. Those who were present marvelled and the head of the Emperor's cabinet and his wife believed as well as many others and it was said that they numbered 276. The Emperor wrote their decree and ordered that their heads be cut off together with that of the Apostle St. Luke; thus their martyrdom was completed.
They placed the body of the saint in a hair sack and cast it in the sea. By God's will, the waves of the sea brought it to an island. A believer found it, took it and buried it with great honor. This saint wrote the Gospel bearing his name and the \"Acts of the Apostles\" addressing his words to his disciple Theophilus who was a gentile.
His blessings be upon us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "luke evangelist" } ], [ { "id": 53, "action": "On this day of the year 841 A.D., the holy father Abba Yousab (Joseph), 52nd Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was the son of one of the rich nobles of Menuf. When his parents departed and left him, certain believers raised him. When he grew up he gave most of his money as alms, then went to the desert of St. Macarius and became monk with a holy old man. When Abba Marcus II became the 49th Pope of Alexandria and heard about Yousab's conduct, he called him. When Yousab wished to go back to the desert, Abba Marcus ordained him a priest and sent him back. He stayed in the desert for a period of time till the departure of Abba Simon II, 51st Pope.
The papal throne remained unoccupied until some of the bishops agreed with some of the laymen of Alexandria to choose a married man who had bribed them. When the rest of the bishops knew that, they detested their action and prayed to God to guide them to whom He choose. The Lord guided them to Abba Yousab and they remembered his good conduct and management while he was with the father Abba Marcus.
They sent some of the bishops to bring him. They prayed to God saying, \"We beseech Thee, O Lord, if Thou have chosen this father for this honor, let the sign be that we find his door open upon our arrival.\" When they arrived they found his door open, for he was bidding farewell to some visiting monks. When he was about to close his door, he saw them coming, so he received them with joy and welcomed them to his cell. When they entered, they seized him and told him, \"Axios\" (i.e He is worthy). He cried out and wept. He started to reveal to them his shortcomings and sins. But they did not accept his excuses and they took him to Alexandria and placed their hands over him.
When he sat upon the throne of St. Mark, he greatly cared for the churches. He bought, with what remained of his own income, properties and bestowed them on the churches. He continually taught the people and did not neglect any of them.
However, Satan became envious and brought much sorrow upon him. The bishops of Tanes and Miser (Cairo), angered the people of their parishes (because of the matter of dues). Abba Yousab condemned their actions and asked them often to be merciful to their flocks, but they would not accept his behest. Their flocks cried out to him saying, \"If you force us to obey them, we shall turn to another denomination.\" He exerted a great effort to reconcile between them, but it was in vain. He called the bishops from their parishes and told them about these two bishops and repudiated their works. The bishops excommunicated them.
When they were excommunicated, they went to the Governor in Cairo and brought a false accusation against this father. The Governor sent his brother, the Prince, with some soldiers to bring the Patriarch to him. When they came to the Patriarch, the Governor's brother drew his sword to kill him. But the Lord thrust aside his hand and the sword struck a pillar and was broken. The Prince became furiously angry, so he drew his dagger and drove it with all his might into the side of this father. The dagger did not do any harm to him other than cutting his apparel, and it did not reach his flesh.
The Prince realized that the Patriarch had divine grace, and heavenly protection guarded him from being slain. He respected him and brought him to his brother and told him about what had happened. The Governor also respected and feared him. The Governor asked the Patriarch about the accusation that was made against him. The Patriarch proved to him the falsehoods of these accusations and informed him about the matter of the two bishops. The Governor was convinced and honored the Patriarch and ordered that no one should disobey him in any ordination or removal of any bishops or in any other work concerning the church.
He continually preached to the sinners and admonished the disobedient, establishing the people in the Orthodox faith which he had received from his fathers. He interpreted to them what was hard for them to understand, guarding them with his teachings and prayers. God made manifest great signs and wonders through this holy father.
Having finished this pleasing life to God, he departed in peace after having sat on the throne of St. Mark 19 years and having been a monk for 39 years, before which he had lived about 20 years.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, who became a martyr in the days of Diocletian and Maximianus. He endured many severe tortures for the sake of his faith in Jesus, to Whom is the Glory, until finally they cut off his neck, and he received the crown of eternal glory.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "dionysius bishop corinth" } ], [ { "id": 54, "action": "On this day in the year 472 A.D. the righteous father, Saint Hilarion, the Anchorite, departed. He was a native of Gaza, the son of pagan parents. They taught him the Greek literature and culture. He excelled and surpassed his peers, but he wished still to master it. Since there was no one in his city who could help him to fulfill his desire, he went to the city of Alexandria and joined its school. There he acquired many kinds of knowledge.
The divine zeal moved him to learn also the Christian doctrines and books. He asked for the books of the church and read them, and Abba Alexandros explained to him what was difficult for him to understand. In a short time Abba Hilarion believed in the Lord Christ, to Whom is the Glory, and the father, the Patriarch, baptized him and he received the Divine Grace.
Abba Hilarion stayed with Abba Alexandros for a short time, then went to the great St. Anthony. When Abba Hilarion saw St. Anthony, he marvelled at his profound reverence and his fair appearance that was shining with the grace of the Holy Spirit. His heart was deeply moved and he desired to join the monastic life. He took off his worldly clothes and put on the monastic garb. He started practicing the monastic works with a diligent devotion, following the footsteps of his teacher.
Shortly after, he learned that his parents had died, so he went back to his city and took whatever they had left and gave it to the poor and needy. Then he joined one of the monasteries of Syria and followed the path of asceticism with great devotion. He fasted for the whole week, eating grass and legumes. God enlightened his mind, gave him the gift of prophecy, and of working signs.
Later on, St. Epiphanius became a monk in the same monastery, and the abbot handed him to St. Hilarion. St. Hilarion taught him the ways of the monastic life and the doctrines of the church and prophesied that St. Epiphanius would become the bishop of Cyprus.
The days of this father were 80 years: 10 years were spent in the house of his father, 7 years in the city of Alexandria and 63 years in worship. He pleased God and departed at a good old age. St. John Chrysostom (of the Golden Mouth) praised him in some of his articles and St. Basil mentioned him in some of his homilies.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the martyrdom of Sts. Paul, Longinus and Deenah (Zena).
Their intercession be for us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "paul longinus deenah zena" } ], [ { "id": 55, "action": "On this day, the righteous saints Abba Apollo, who was like the angels, and Abba Abib, the pious worshipper, departed.
Abba Apollo was born in the city of Akhmim. His father's name was Amani (Hamai) and his mother's name was Eyse (Isa). They were righteous before God, walking in His way, and loving to the strangers and saints.
They did not have a son. One night Abba Apollo's mother saw in a dream a shining man, who had a tree with him. He planted it in her house and it grew and bore fruit. He told her, \"Whosoever shall eat of this fruit shall live forever.\" She ate from it and found it sweet and she said, \"I wonder if I would have a fruit?\" When she awoke from her sleep, she told her husband about what she had seen. He told her that he had seen the same vision, and they glorified the Lord. They added to their works of righteousness and to their striving. They fasted for two days on only bread and salt. After a while she conceived, and she prayed fervently until the child was born. They called him Apollo and they advanced in their piety.
When the boy had grown up and studied theology, he longed for the monastic life. This longing grew when he met a friend called Abib. They went together to one of the monasteries and became monks there. They practiced many ascetic works. They lived a good life that was pleasing to God. The saint Abba Abib departed on the 25th of Babah.
Thereupon St. Apollo went to Ablug Mount and many gathered around him. He taught them the fear of God and the acceptable worship. On the 25th of Babah they celebrated the commemoration of the saint Abba Abib to fulfill the saying of the Holy Bible, \"The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.\" (Psalm 112:6) Abba Apollo lived for many years after that and he had monasteries and many brethren.
He was a contemporary of St. Macarius the Great who, when heard about St. Apollo, rejoiced. St. Macarius wrote him a letter to comfort him and the brothers and to confirm them in their obedience to the Lord. Abba Apollo knew by the spirit that St. Macarius was writing them a letter. There were many around him speaking the Word of God. He said to them \"Listen my brethren, behold the great Abba Macarius is writing to us a letter full of comforting and spiritual teachings.\" When the brother arrived with the letter, they received him with joy then read it and their hearts were consoled.
St. Apollo was the one who went to St. Ammonius and saw the holy woman who stood in the middle of the fire but did not burn. When the Lord Christ wished to relieve him from the labor of this world, he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also was the consecration of the church of St. Julius El-Akfahsee (Aqfahs). This saint was martyred in the city of Tewa. This took place after the perishing of Diocletian and during the reign of Constantine, a short while before he was baptized. When Constantine was baptized, the Christian kingdom spread and the churches were built in the names of the martyrs that were slain by the infidel Emperors.
Emperor Constantine heard the reports of St. Julius and how the Lord had chosen St. Julius and preserved him along with his men to care for the bodies of the martyrs. He carried their bodies, shrouded them, wrote their biographies and how they were finally martyred. He sent each martyr to his home town.
The Emperor praised the strife of this saint and blessed his work. He sent much money to Egypt, and commanded that a church be built for him in Alexandria. The church was built and his body was transferred to it. The church was consecrated by the Patriarch Abba Alexandros with some bishops. A feast was arranged on this day.
His intercession be for us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church julius el-akfahsee aqfahs" } ], [ { "id": 56, "action": "On this day, St. Timon the Apostle, was martyred. He was one of the 70 Apostles, who were chosen and distinguished by the Lord. This saint had the gifts and the ability to heal the sick and to cast out devils. He followed the Lord until His Ascension into heaven and after that, he continued to minister unto the disciples till the grace of the Holy Spirit came upon them all. The Disciples elected him one of the Seven Deacons who were appointed to serve tables. The Bible testified that they were full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. (Acts 6:2-6)
After he had remained in the deaconate for a period of time, they laid the hands on him, a bishop of the city of western Besra, in Greece. He preached the Lord Christ to them and baptized many of the Greeks and the Jews. The Governor seized him, and inflicted on him many tortures. He finally burned him and he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the Seven Martyrs. They were martyred by the hand of the Barbers on the mount of the great Saint Abba Antonius, the father of all monks.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "seven martyrs mount antonius" } ], [ { "id": 57, "action": "The Martyrdom of the Righteous Father Saint Macarius Bishop of Edkow (Tkoou)
On this day, the blessed father St. Macarius, Bishop of Edkow, was martyred. In this holy man, the words of David the Prophet were fulfilled saying, \"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law he meditates day and night.\" (Psalms 1:1-2) This saint kept the commandments of His Master; traded with his talents and gained. Many were the signs and wonders God did through his hands.
In the city of Edkow, every time he went up on the pulpit to preach to the people, he wept. When one of his disciples asked him the reason for his weeping, he answered that he saw the sins of the people and their ungodly works. On another occasion he saw our Lord Christ at the altar, and the angels bringing unto Him the works of the people, one after the other. Anba Macarius heard a voice saying, \"Why, bishop, are you slack in preaching to your people?\" He replied, \"My Lord, they do not accept my words.\" So the Lord said to him, \"It is meet for the bishop to preach to the people and if they do not accept his words, their blood be upon their own heads.\"
He was invited to go to the council of Chalcedon with Abba Dioscorus. On arriving at the royal palace, the guards prevented him from entering because of his modest clothes, until Abba Dioscorus told them that he was the bishop of Edkow. When he had gone in and heard what the infidels were saying about the Lord Christ, he excommunicated the Emperor in the council. He was ready to deliver himself to death for the sake of keeping the Orthodox faith. They exiled him with Abba Dioscorus to the island of Gagra. From there Abba Dioscorus sent him with a believing merchant to Alexandria saying to him, \"There you have a crown of martyrdom awaiting you.\" Shortly after, he arrived in the city of Alexandria, the messenger of the Emperor arrived with the new Chalcedonian creed which stated the two natures of Christ. The Emperor had commanded him saying that, \"He who writes his name first on this creed will be the Patriarch of the city.\" In the city, the head of the priests was Brotarios. He took the paper to write his name first but St. Macarius the Bishop reminded him of what Abba Dioscorus had told him before he went to the council saying, \"You shall possess my church after me.\" Brotarios remembered that and refrained from writing.
When the Emperor's messenger knew that the Bishop disagreed with the creed of the Emperor and did not write his name also, he jumped over the Bishop and kicked him. St. Macarius died on the spot and thus received the crown of martyrdom. The believers took his holy body and buried it with the bodies of St. John the Baptist and Elisha the Prophet. That fulfilled what these two saints had told this father, the Bishop, in a vision, that his body would be with their bodies. He departed to the Lord Christ winning the crown of glory.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "macarius bishop edkow tkoou" } ], [ { "id": 58, "action": "Martyrdom of the Sts. Marcian (Marcianus) and Mercurius
On this day of the year 351 A.D., the great saints Marcianus and Mercurius became martyrs. They were disciples of St. Paul the Martyr, Patriarch of Constantinople. When Emperor Constantine II, the son of Constantine the Great, adopted the belief of Arius, Abba Paul the Patriarch opposed him - so he exiled him to Armenia, where he was killed by strangulation.
These two saints cried over St. Paul on the day he was exiled. They characterized the Emperor, saying that he was a follower of the belief of Arius the Infidel. A certain Arian man made an accusation against them to the Emperor when he was on one of the plantations. He had them brought to him and ordered them slain with the sword. They were killed and buried, and their bodies remained there until the time of St. John Chrysostom (of the Golden Mouth). When he heard their history, he sent and brought their honorable bodies to the city of Constantinople. He built a church for them and transferred their bodies to it and celebrated a feast for them.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "martyrdom marcian marcianus mercurius" } ], [ { "id": 59, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica
On this day, the great St. Demetrius, was martyred, in the days of Maximianus the Emperor. He was a pious Christian young man from the city of Thessalonica. He learned various subjects, and most of all, those of the Orthodox Church. He taught and preached diligently in the Name of the Lord Christ. He converted many to the faith.
Some made accusations against him to Emperor Maximianus who ordered that he be brought to him. It happened that when he came before the Emperor, a wrestler whose body was strong and huge, and who surpassed the people of his time in strength, was present. The Emperor loved this man and was proud of him to the point that he specified a large sum of money for whoever could vanquish him. A Christian man whose name was Nostor came from among the people who were present at that time and asked St. Demetrius to pray for him and to make the sign of the Cross with his holy hand over his body. The saint prayed and made over him the sign of the Holy Cross
which makes those who believed therein invincible.
Nostor went and asked to fight that fighter about whom the Emperor was boasting. Nostor fought him and vanquished him. The Emperor was very sorry and ashamed. The Emperor wondered how Nostor conquered him. He asked the soldiers for the secret behind that. They told him that a man called Demetrius prayed over him and made the sign of the Cross over his face.
The Emperor became angry with the saint and ordered that he be beaten until he offered incense to his idols and worshipped them. When St. Demetrius disobeyed them the Emperor ordered his men to thrust spears at him until his body would be torn to pieces and he would die. They told the saint that to frighten him and make him turn away from his faith in the Lord Christ and worship the idols. He told them, \"Do whatever you please, for I will neither worship nor offer incense except to my Lord Christ the True God.\" The soldiers drove the spears into him until he delivered his pure soul.
When they threw away his holy body, some Christians took it and laid it in a coffin made out of marbles. The body remained hidden until the end of the days of persecution, when the one who had hidden it revealed it. A great church was built for him in Thessalonica, and they laid his body therein.
Many great signs were made by his name. Each day, sweet oil was distilled from his body which cured those who used it with faith, especially on the day of his feast. On his feast day, the oil flowed in a larger quantity than on any other day, and it dripped from the walls of the church and the pillars. Though the gathering was huge, they all received their share, from what they took off the walls and put in their containers. Those of the righteous priests who had seen this told and testified to that.
His intercession be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "demetrius thessalonica" } ], [ { "id": 60, "action": "On this day is the commemoration of the consecration of the church of the pure St. Mark the Evangelist, the founder of the church in Egypt, and the appearance of his holy head in the city of Alexandria.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the great saint, the worshipper and fighter St. Ibrahim, the hermit, departed. This father was from the city of Menuf, a son of rich, Christian parents. When he grew up he longed for the monastic life. He went to Akhmeem and from there he came to St. Pachomius, who put the monastic garb on him. St. Ibrahim exhausted his body with ascetic practices and worship. He stayed with St. Pachomius for 23 years, then he wished for the solitary life in some of the caves. St. Pachomius allowed him to do so.
He made nets to catch fish. One of the laymen used to come, take the work of his hands to sell it, buy beans for him, and give the rest of the money as alms on his behalf. He led this life for 13th years; his food each evening was a handful of salted beans soaked in water. Because the apparel that he went forth with from the monastery was worn out, he covered himself with a piece of sackcloth (Khaish). He went to the monastery every two or three years to partake of the Holy Communion.
The devil fought with him much at the beginning of his dwelling in that cave. They disturbed him with strange voices and terrified him with fearful images. But with the grace of God he used to overcome them and drive them away.
When his departure drew near, he sent the lay brother who used to serve him to the monastery to bring Abba Tadros, the disciple of St. Pachomius. When Abba Tadros came to him, he bowed down and asked him to remember him in his prayers. Then St. Ibrahim rose up and prayed with St. Tadros. He laid down facing the east and gave up his soul. When St. Tadros sent the news to the monastery the monks came and carried him. Then they all prayed over him, were blessed by him and laid him with the bodies of the saints.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "ibrahim ibraham hermit" } ], [ { "id": 61, "action": "On this day, the striver Saints Maximus, Numitius, Victor (Boctor), and Philip (Philopus) were martyred. They lived in the days of Decius the Emperor. During his reign, the seven young men disappeared in a cave in a mountain in Ephesus.
These four saints were from Africa, and they were brethren in spiritual love. The desire for Christ gathered them together. When Emperor Decius was torturing the Christians, they agreed together to declare their faith.
They went before the Prefect and confessed that they were Christians and only worshipped and bowed to Christ. He ordered them beaten, and they were many times, with whips and sticks. Their backs were burned with red-hot rods. Their bodies then were rubbed with rags made of hair steeped in vinegar and salt.
In spite of all this severe torture they remained steadfast in the faith. Some of the people present believed in the Lord Christ when they saw their patience and endurance. Finally, the Prefect ordered the heads of some of the saints to be cut off and the sword to be used on the others. Thus they all received the crown of martyrdom.
Their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of St. Cleopas the Apostle and his companion who were traveling to a village called Emmaus.
So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near, and went with them. When they did not know Him, He said to them, \"O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?\" Later, as He sat at the table with them, He took bread, blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. Then, their eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished from their sight. (Luke 24:13-31)
These two Apostles were among the 72 Apostles.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "cleopas apostle companion" } ], [ { "id": 62, "action": "The Departure of St. Peter the Third 27th Pope of Alexandria
On this day in the year 481 A.D., the Great Saint Abba Peter III, 27th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was chosen patriarch after the departure of St. Timothy, 26th Pope. Shortly after his enthronement upon the apostolic throne, he received a letter from St. Acacius, Patriarch of Constantinople, confessing in it the one nature of Christ, according to the faith of St. Cyril and St. Dioscorus. He also stated clearly that it is not right to recognize two separate natures for Christ after the union, otherwise, the usefulness of the union would be futile.
Abba Peter replied by a letter declaring his acceptance of Abba Acacius into the Orthodox Faith. He sent it with three learned bishops to Abba Acacius, who received them with respect and asked them to join him in the prayers of the Divine Liturgy.
Abba Acacius read the letter to his particulars and to those who followed him. He then wrote another Catholic epistle to Abba Peter. When Abba Peter received it, he gathered the bishops and the fathers and read the letter to them. They rejoiced exceedingly and they admired the words and the explanations therein. They then recognized Abba Acacius' fellowship with them in the Orthodox Faith.
This father suffered many tribulations from those who opposed his religion and opinion. Abba Peter was exiled from his chair once, but was restored later. In his exile he continually taught the flock. He preached to them by means of written messages and, whenever he was present, by his spoken words. He stayed on the See of St. Mark for eight years then departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "peter third 27th pope" } ], [ { "id": 63, "action": "On this day, the holy father, St. Cyriacus, departed. This striver was brought up in the city of Corinth in Greece. He was the son of Orthodox Christian parents, who taught him the church subjects. They brought him to Abba Peter, Bishop of Corinth, who was his cousin, and he ordained him a reader. Cyriacus read continually and searched in the interpretations of the Holy Scriptures until he surpassed many in it. Abba Peter appointed him to read to the people in the church and to him in his cell, and he was pleased with him.
When he was 18 years old, his parents asked him if he wished to marry, but he refused. He asked them for permission to visit one of the monasteries in order to be blessed by the saints therein. He continued to visit the monastery from time to time and he longed for the monastic garb.
He went to the Holy city, Jerusalem, and met its bishop, Abba Cyril. He presented to him his wish to become a monk. Abba Cyril approved his wish and prophesied of him saying that he would become a great father, would have many accomplishments, and many souls would be enlightened by his teachings. He blessed him and sent him to the great father Euthymius (Otimus), the father of the monks of Palestine.
Father Euthymius accepted him with joy and put the garb of the monk on him. He handed him to one of the elders of the monastery who taught him the ways of worship and revealed to him the artifices of Satan. Abba Cyriacus lived a virtuous life with much asceticism besides humility, godliness and devoutness. God bestowed upon him the gift of healing. He healed all those who came to the monastery with all kinds of sicknesses or infirmities. His virtues and his holiness spread everywhere.
This holy man accompanied Abba Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, to the Ecumenical council of the hundred and fifty that gathered at Constantinople because of Macedonius, the enemy of the Holy Spirit. Abba Cyriacus opposed his arguments and vanquished him by evidences and proofs. He departed at a good old age. The Lord made manifest from his body after his departure, many signs and miracles. His body still rests in one of the monasteries of the city of Jerusalem, without any change or corruption, to the extent that anyone who sees him today would think that he just died only a short time ago. More than 700 years have passed from the time of his departure till the writing of his biography. He lived at the time of Theodosius the Great in the later part of the fourth Christian century.
His intercession be for us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Athanasius and his sister, Irene, departed. They suffered many tortures at the hands of Maximianus. When he failed to turn them away from their faith in Christ, he ordered to cast them into an empty pit, and to shut over them, wherein they departed.
Their intercession be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "athanasius sister irene" } ], [ { "id": 64, "action": "On this day, Sts. John and James, Bishops of Persia, were martyred by the hands of Shapur, the son of Hormuzd (Hermez), King of Persia.
When the King demanded them to worship the sun and fire, and to offer sacrifices to them, they did not obey him. Instead, they continued teaching and confirming the people in the faith of the Lord Christ, to Whom is the glory. Therefore, the King ordered them be tortured severely. When they would not turn from the faith, and would not cease from teaching the people and strengthening them, in spite of their torture, he ordered them be cast into the fire. They gave up their souls into the hand of the Lord Christ, thus received the crown of glory with all the saints.
Their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, Sts. Epimachus and Adrianus (Azarianus), who were from the city of Rome, were martyred. Some people accused them of being Christians to the Governor, who was appointed by Maximianus the Emperor.
He brought them and questioned them about their belief. They confessed that they were Christians. Then they reproved him for having forsaken the worship of God, who created the Heaven, the Earth, and all that is therein. They also admonished him for worshipping man-made idols which could neither see nor hear and wherein dwelt Satan, who led men astray by worshipping these idols. The Governor marvelled at their audacity and commanded their necks to be cut off. Thus they received the crown of martyrdom.
Their intercession be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "epimachus adrianus azarianus" } ], [ { "id": 65, "action": "On this day was the appearance of the head of St. Longinus the Soldier who pierced the side of our Savior, when He was on the Cross. Emperor Tiberius Caesar sent a soldier to Cappadocia to cut off the head of this saint, as it is written in the 23rd day of the month of Abib. The soldier fulfilled the order and brought the head to Jerusalem, and handed it to Pontius Pilate. Pilate showed the head to the Jews, who rejoiced at his deed. Pilate commanded that the head be buried in some of the piles of dirt outside Jerusalem.
There was a woman who had believed at the hands of St. Longinus when he preached in Cappadocia. During his execution, she stood, weeping, and witnessed his martyrdom. Later on she became blind. So, she took her son and departed to Jerusalem to be blessed by the holy places, and the holy sepulchre, hoping that she might regain her sight. When she arrived in Jerusalem, her son died. She became very sad and grieved because of her condition and there was no one to take her back to her own country.
During her sleep she saw St. Longinus, and with him, was her son who had died. He directed her to whereabout his head was buried and ordered her to remove it. When she woke up, she looked for the place until she found it. She dug in the ground and a sweet aroma of incense came out.
When she reached the head of the saint, a great light shone from it and straightaway her eyes were opened and she was able to see.
She glorified the Lord Christ, kissed the head, perfumed it, and placed it with the body of her son. Then she returned to her own country glorifying the Lord Christ Who performed wonders through His saints.
The prayers of this saint be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Timothy and also the commemoration of the relocation of the body of St. Theodore the Prince, to the city of Shotb, in the province of Assiut (His martyrdom is on the 20th of the Coptic month of Abib).
Their blessings be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "timothy relocation body theodore prince shotb" } ], [ { "id": 66, "action": "On this day, the holy father St. Felix, Pope of Rome, departed. He was born of Christian parents in Rome in the year 210 A.D. They raised him with high principles and he gradually advanced in the clerical ranks. Astasius, Pope of Rome, ordained him a deacon. Pope Justus, seeing his righteousness and virtues, ordained him a priest.
When Abba Dionysius, Pope of Rome, (who was contemporary of St. Thaouna, Pope of Alexandria) departed, this father was chosen for the Roman See. He shepherded the flock of Christ with the best of care. When Aurelianus Caesar reigned, he incited persecution against the believers of the Lord Christ. He tortured them using very painful methods, and many of them were martyred by his hands. Since great tribulation befell St. Felix from the Emperor, he entreated God to take these tribulations away from His people. Because of his prayers, the Emperor died in the second year of his reign.
When Diocletian reigned, he also persecuted the Christians and started torturing them. Pope Felix prayed to the Lord to spare him from witnessing the torture of the Christians. So, he departed in the first year of the reign of Diocletian, after he had sat upon the Apostolic throne for five years. He left many sayings and discourses, some of which were useful teachings and others were about the doctrines.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also was the consecration of the church of the Holy Virgin, in the Mouharaque Monastery, in Quosquam Mount. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ blessed this church with His presence along with His disciples, during the time of its consecration, as was testified to by the Saints Philotheos and Kyrillos, Popes of Alexandria.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our Lord forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church virgin mouharaque monastery quosquam mount" } ], [ { "id": 67, "action": "On this day, St. George (Gawargios) of Alexandria, was martyred. His father was a merchant in the city of Alexandria and had no son. It happened that he travelled to the city of Lydd and attended the feast of the consecration of the Church of St. George the martyr. He prayed to God, interceding with His great saint that he might have a son. God answered his prayers, and gave him a son, and he named him George. His mother was the sister of Armenius, the Governor of Alexandria.
His parents died when he was 25 years old. George was merciful, loving and kind to the poor and loved the church. He stayed with his uncle who had only one daughter. One day she went with some of her friends for an outing. While they were walking nearby a monastery outside the city, she heard its monks singing sweet hymns. She was touched by what she had heard and asked her cousin George about it. He replied that those monks had forsaken the world to worship and he guided her to believe in the Lord Christ. He told her about the share of the sinners of the final punishment and the share of the righteous of felicity.
When she returned to her father, she told him that she was a believer of Christ. He tried to reason with her, to dissuade her, and to lure her with great promises. Then he threatened her. When she did not hearken to his words, he ordered that her head be cut off, thus she received the crown of martyrdom.
Later on, the Governor knew that George was responsible for her conversion. He seized him and tortured him severely. Then he sent him to Ansena where they also tortured him and finally they cut off his holy head, thus he received the crown of martyrdom. A deacon whose name was Samuel, took his holy body and carried it to the city of Manf, El-Giza province.
When the wife of his uncle Armenius knew about it, she sent for the body and placed it with the body of her martyred daughter in Alexandria.
Their intercession be for us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Nehroua, was martyred. He was from the district of Fayyum and he feared God. When he heard the accounts of the martyrs, he went to Alexandria to die for the Name of the Lord Christ.
He was told in a vision that he must go to Antioch. While he was thinking of how to go there and looking for a ship to embark on, God sent to him His angel Michael, who carried him on his wings from Alexandria to Antioch and set him down before Diocletian. There he confessed the Lord Christ. Diocletian asked him about his name and his country, and when he knew Nehroua's story, he marvelled at the manner in which he had come.
Diocletian offered him much money and many prizes to turn him away from his faith, but Nehroua refused. Then Diocletian threatened him, but could not frighten him. Therefore the Emperor ordered that he be tortured in many different ways.
One time they tortured him by releasing lions to attack him, once by burning him in a fire, another by squeezing him in the wheel, and still another time by casting him in a cauldron with fire under it. Finally, they cut off his holy head with a sword and he received the crown of martyrdom. St. Nehroua became a counterpart for those from Antioch who were martyred in the land of Egypt.
It happened that St. Julius El-Akfahsee was present at the time of his martyrdom, so he took his body and sent it with two of his men to St. Nehroua's country with great honor.
Their intercession be for us. Amen.
Today also, St. Mina, bishop of the city of Tamai (Thmoui) El-Amdid in Sinbelawain, departed. His father was from the city of Samannoud. He was the only son of God-fearing parents. They practiced the works of the monks such as fasting, prayers and asceticism until their report was heard throughout the country.
They made their son marry against his will. But he agreed with his wife on keeping their virginity. They remained so, doing many worships as practiced by monks, wearing sackcloth and spending most of their nights in prayer and reading the word of God. This saint longed to be a monk and he discussed it with his wife saying, \"It is improper for us to practice the monastic works while we are in the world.\"
She agreed with him, and he went to the monastery of Anba Antonius, to be far away from his parents. They looked for St. Mina to return him back to his wife and they knew not where he was. From there he went with Anba Mikhail, who became later on the 46th Pope of Alexandria, to the monastery of St. Macarius, where they became monks. That was during the time of the two bright stars Anba Abraam and Anba Gawargah. Father Mina became their disciple, he learned from them, followed the way of their worship and increased in his angelic works until he surpassed in his worship many of the fathers.
Satan envied him for his strenuous fight and afflicted him in his legs and he laid flat on the ground for two months. After that the Lord Christ healed St. Mina, who overcame Satan with the might of God.
Later on, he was called for the rank of episcopate. When the messengers of the Patriarch came to him and he knew the reason for their visit, he wept and was sorrowful to leave the desert. The fathers convinced him that this was the will of God. He obeyed and went with the messengers to the Patriarch who ordained him Bishop of the city of Tamai (Thmoui).
The Lord granted him the gift of healing the sick, the gift of knowing the hidden things and he knew what was in the minds of people. The bishops of the surrounding districts used to come to him for counselling. People from everywhere came to listen to his teachings. He was the father of four Patriarchs and he laid his hand upon them when they were ordained. They were: Anba Alexandros II, Anba Cosma, Anba Theodore, and Anba Mikhail I.
When the Lord Christ wished him to depart from this transient world, He informed him. Anba Mina called the people of his diocese and commanded them to be strong in the Orthodox faith and to keep the divine commandments. Then he committed them to their true shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ and departed from this transitory world and came to Christ, Whom he loved. The people wept and mourned the loss of their shepherd and their father after the Lord, who cared for their souls. They buried him in a fitting manner and laid him in the place, as he had directed beforehand.
His prayers be with us all. Amen.
Also on this day, is the commemoration of the consecration of the Church of the honorable saint and great martyr St. George in the city of Lydd. We also commemorate the great wonders and signs, the Lord has done therein which became known throughout the land and sea. When Emperor Diocletian heard the reports of this church, he sent Eukheius, the head of his army, with soldiers to destroy it. Eukheius came with arrogance to where the icon of St. George was and he began to scoff at the Christians and at the Saint. He had a staff in his hand with which he struck the lamp, which was burning before the icon of St. George and he broke it. A fragment of the lamp fell on his head. Fear and great trembling came upon him and he fell prostrate on the ground. The soldiers carried him, to take him back to his country, for they knew that this had happened to him because of his mockery towards this great martyr. Eukheius died on the way back with disgrace, and they cast him into the sea.
When Diocletian heard this, he became angry and decided to go himself to this church and destroy it. The Lord bore no longer with him to do what he had determined to do and He smote him with blindness and the men of his kingdom rose up against him. The Lord took the kingdom away from him and placed Constantine, a righteous Emperor, in his place. Emperor Constantine closed pagan temples and opened the churches. The churches and the universe rejoiced, especially the church of the great martyr, the star of the morning, St. George.
His intercession be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church george cappadocia" } ], [ { "id": 68, "action": "The Commemoration of the Four Incorporeal Beasts
On this day is the commemoration of the four Incorporeal Beasts who carry the throne of God. As it is mentioned by St. John who witnessed this in his Revelation saying, \"Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardine stone in appearance: and there was a rainbow around the throne in appearance like an emerald: ... and in the midst of the throne and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying, 'Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty who was, and is, and is to come.'\" (Revelation 4:2-8)
Isaiah the Prophet said: \"I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim: each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said, 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.'\" (Isaiah 6:1-3) Ezekiel the Prophet said: \"Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the North, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself, and brightness was all around it, and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man... and each one had four wings. Their legs were straight; and the soles of their feet were like the soles of calve's feet. They sparkled like the color of burnished bronze...\" (Ezekiel 1:4-7)
St. John the Evangelist said: \"After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, 'Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, belong to the Lord our God,' ... and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God who sat on the throne, saying, 'Amen, Alleluia... for the Lord God Omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give Him glory......'\" (Revelation 19:1-7)
The Lord set them near His throne in order for them to make supplications on behalf of all the creation. The beast with the man's face makes supplications on behalf of the human race, the one with the lion's face makes supplications on behalf of the beasts, the one with the bull's face makes supplications on behalf of the cattle, and the one with the eagle's face makes supplications on behalf of the birds. The teachers of the church built churches in their names and commemorated them on this day.
Their intercession be for us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "four incorporeal beasts" } ], [ { "id": 69, "action": "On this day, of the year 679 A.D., the great holy father Anba Isaac, 41st Pope of Alexandria, departed. This father was born in El-Borolos from rich, God-fearing parents. They begot him long after their marriage. When they took him for baptism, the bishop who baptized him saw a cross of light over his head. The bishop laid the boy's hand over his head and prophesied concerning him saying, \"The church of God will be entrusted to him.\" Then he told his parents, \"Take care of him, for he is a chosen vessel of God.\"
When he grew they taught him writing, the Christian doctrine and church subjects. He read extensively in the biography of saints and he was filled with their pure life. He longed for the monastic life, so he left his parents and went to the desert of St. Macarius. He became a monk and disciple of Anba Zacharias, the Hegumen. The angel of the Lord had informed the elder father beforehand of his coming and the father received him with joy. One day, one of the holy elders saw him in the church and prophesied about him saying, \"The church of Christ will be entrusted to him.\"
Pope John, the Patriarch of that time, asked for a monk to be his scribe and private secretary. The people who were present recommended this honorable father Isaac. The Pope had father Isaac brought to him. He gave him a book to scribe. Anba Isaac made mistakes in his writing deliberately, hoping that the Pope might send him back, for he had forsaken the glory of men. When the father knew his intention he said to him, \"You have written well, do not leave this place.\"
When Fr. Isaac realized that the Patriarch would not let him return, he used all his knowledge and writing ability and his virtues became known. The Patriarch rejoiced in him exceedingly. Nevertheless, because Fr. Isaac was still longing for solitary life, the Patriarch allowed him to return to the desert.
When the departure of Pope John drew near, he asked the Lord Christ to let it be known to him who would be his successor. In a vision, he was told that his disciple Isaac would sit on the chair after him. The Pope commanded the people that, with a divine revelation and by the order of the Lord, Isaac would sit on the chair after him.
When this father was enthroned to the See of St. Mark, the church was illumined. He restored many churches, especially the church of St. Mark the Evangelist, and the patriarchal cell. He suffered many tribulations and sat upon the throne for three and a half years, then departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
Also on this day, of the year 325 A.D., 318 fathers assembled in the city of Nicea, in the days of Emperor Constantine, the righteous Emperor. Among them were the heads of the four Sees and they were: Anba Alexandros, the 19th Pope of Alexandria, who was accompanied by Athanasius, his Archdeacon and private secretary; Estasius, archbishop of Antioch; Macarius, Archbishop of Jerusalem. Sylvestros, archbishop of Rome, because of his old age did not attend and sent two priests in his place.
The reason for their assembly was to judge Arius who was a priest in Alexandria. He blasphemed against the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ by saying that he was not equal in essence to God, His Father, and there was a time when the Son did not exist.
Among those who attended this council were holy fathers, who were, in the rank of the Apostles, able to raise the dead, heal the sick and work great wonders. Among them also were those who were tortured for the sake of their faith, lost their eyes, or had their hands or feet cut off, or had their teeth smashed or their nails pulled out or their ribs broken. One of them was the fighter St. Bephnotius, the confessor, one of the bishops of upper Egypt who was tortured much during the days of Diocletian. They plucked out his right eye, burnt the flesh of his left leg, bound him in chains and took him to cut marble in a stone quarry. He was called the martyr among priests. He was a holy old man, loved by God and the people. The Lord worked many wonders through his supplications and prayers.
When the fathers convened, they sat on the chairs prepared for them. Then the righteous Emperor Constantine came and greeted them, starting with St. Bephnotius, the Bishop, whom he respected much. The Emperor kissed with honor the scars of his wounds. Then he placed his royal scepter and his sword before them saying: \"Behold, this day, you have the power of the priesthood and the Kingdom, to loosen and to bind as the Lord said, 'Whosoever you wish to exile or to keep, that will be in your authority.'\"
The Holy Spirit enlightened the minds of those present and they were counted and there were found to be 319 but when they counted the visible chairs, they counted 318! This fulfilled the saying of the Lord Christ, \"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.\" (Matthew 18:20)
They had Arius brought before them and asked him to state his faith. He blasphemed saying, \"The Father was when the Son was not.\" When they explained to him his error and he did not change his opinion, they excommunicated him and all those who shared his opinion and belief. Then they wrote the Canon of the Christian faith which is known as the \"Nicene Creed\". It states: 1. Truly we believe in one God, God the Father, the Pantocrator, Who created heaven and earth, and all things, seen and unseen.
2. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Only-Begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages; Light of Light; True God of True God; Begotten not created, of One Essence with the Father, by Whom all things were made.
3. Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary and became Man.
4. And He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; suffered and was buried.
5. And the third day He arose from the dead, according to the Scriptures.
6. Ascended into the heavens; He sits at the right hand of His Father.
7. And He is coming again in His glory to judge the living and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.
Later on, when the council of one hundred and fifty assembled in the city of Constantinople to judge Macedonius, the enemy of the Holy Spirit, they formulated the remainder of that creed saying:
8. Yes, we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father; Who, with the Father and the Son, is worshipped and glorified; Who spoke by the prophets.
9. And in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
10. We confess one Baptism for the remission of sins.
11. We look for the resurrection of the dead.
12. And the life of the coming age. Amen.
They forbade to add to or take away from the Creed and commanded all the believers, priests, laity, old and young, men and women, to recite it and to have it said during the Holy Liturgy and in all prayers.
After the fathers of the council of Nicea had excommunicated Arius and established the Creed, they issued other decisions as follows:
I. With regards to Melitus, Bishop of Assuit, who had resisted his superior St. Peter the martyr, the Alexandrian Pope, the council confirmed the authority of the Pope of Alexandria over his subjects in the ordinances 5, 6, and 7.
II. They settled the controversy between the bishops of Africa and Asia Minor and the bishop of Rome regarding the baptism of heretics. The council decided that the baptism performed by heretics was worthless in contrast to what the Bishop of Rome and his followers had thought.
III. They also established the Resurrection feast day. It was decided that it would be on the Sunday that followed the full moon, on which was the Passover of the Jews. Thus, they would not celebrate before the Jews or with them. They authorized the Popes of Alexandria, because of their knowledge and accuracy in calculating the dates, to notify all the churches about the day on which they would celebrate the feast.
The holy fathers confirmed the church, they established the light of the faith and then departed to their parishes.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our Lord forever. Amen.
", "tags": "assembly ecumenical council nicea" } ], [ { "id": 70, "action": "On this day, the holy, and pure fifty virgins and their mother Sophia, were martyred. These saints were from different countries. Divine love and ascetic life had brought them together and they lived in a convent for virgins in El-Raha. St. Sophia, the head nun, was filled with every wisdom and grace. She raised them with a spiritual upbringing until they became as angels on earth. They continually prayed, fasted and read the holy Books and chronicles of the monks and saints. Among them were some who had dwelt in the convent for 70 years and some were young in age but firm in faith and of strong conviction.
When Emperor Julian the Infidel heard that Shapur, King of Persia, intended to fight him, he prepared his army and set out against Shapur. The city of El-Raha was on his way and when he passed by the convent of these virgins, he ordered the soldiers to kill everyone in it and to rob the convent. The soldiers carried out the order, they cut the nuns with swords into pieces and took everything they found.
The Lord took vengeance on this evil Emperor by having him stabbed by the spear of a knight at war. (It was said that he was Saint Marcurius) The Emperor fell down from his horse and died in the year 363 A.D. As for the holy virgins, they received the crown of martyrdom.
Their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also a holy council assembled in Rome in the days of Victor, Pope of Rome and Anba Demetrius, Pope of Alexandria. The reason for the assembly of this council was because the Christians used to celebrate the Epiphany, then start 40 days of fasting on the following day and end the fast on the 22nd day of the month of Amshir. After a few days they would fast the Passion week, then celebrate the honorable feast of the Resurrection.
When St. Demetrius the Patriarch was chosen for the Alexandrian throne, God illumined his mind with divine grace. He studied the church books and interpreted most of them. He formulated the basis for calculating the days of the fast and the changeable feasts which we celebrate to the present time. He sent copies of it to Abba Victor, Patriarch of Rome; Abba Maximus, Patriarch of Antioch; and Abba Agapius, Bishop of Jerusalem.
When Abba Victor received this message he read it and appreciated it very much. He gathered fourteen of his learned bishops and many of the learned priests. They examined it, accepted it, and spread it in their countries.
Since then the holy fast and the feast of Resurrection have been regulated as they are now in our Coptic Orthodox Church.
To our Lord is the Glory forever. Amen.
", "tags": "assembly a council rome because feast theophany lent" } ], [ { "id": 71, "action": "On this day, the pious and righteous St. Anna (Hannah), the mother of our Lady, the holy virgin St. Mary, the Mother of God, departed. This holy woman was the daughter of Matthan, the son of Levi, the son of Melki, who was a descendant of Aaron the priest. Her mother's name was Mary (Mariam) and she was from the tribe of Judah.
Matthan had three daughters. The first was called Mary after her mother, and she was the mother of Salome, the midwife. The second was Sophia, the mother of Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist. The third was St. Anna (Hannah), the wife of the righteous man Joachim, who was of the tribe of Judah. She was the mother of our Lady, the holy virgin St. Mary, the Mother of the Savior of the world. That makes our Lady the Virgin St. Mary, Salome, and Elizabeth cousins. Although we know little about St. Anna, having been chosen to be the mother of the Mother of God in the flesh is an indication of her virtues and righteousness, which distinguished her from other women to have this great grace.
Because she was barren, she entreated God to take away her shame. So the Lord gave her a daughter that delighted her eyes and the eyes of all mankind; she is the Virgin St. Mary, the Mother of the Savior of the world.
Her intercession be for us all. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Archelaus and the martyrdom of Abba Elisha the Hegumen.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "archelaus elisha hegumen" } ], [ { "id": 72, "action": "The Commemoration of the Honored Archangel Michael
On this day the church celebrates the feast of the honored Archangel, Michael, the head of the hosts of heaven, who stands at all times before the great throne of God, interceding on behalf of the human race.
Joshua, the son of Nun, saw him in great glory and was frightened by him and fell on his face to the earth and said to him, \"Are you for us, or for our adversaries?\" So he said, \"No; but as Commander of the army of the Lord... I have given Jericho into your hand, ... and its king.\" (Joshua 5:13-15, 6:2)
The Archangel Michael was with all the saints and martyrs. He strengthened them and enabled them to endure patiently until they finished their strife. Festivals of commemoration are held and alms offered in his name on the twelfth day of each Coptic month.
An example of one of his wonders: A God-fearing man whose name was Dorotheus and his wife Theopista, held a festival of commemoration for the honored angel Michael on the twelfth day of each month. It happened that this righteous family fell on hard times and had nothing to celebrate with for the commemoration of the honored Michael. They took their clothes to sell so that they might have a feast. Michael the Archangel appeared to Dorotheus and commanded him not to sell his clothes, but to go to a sheep-master and to take from him a sheep worth one-third of a dinar.
He was also to go to a fisherman and to take from him a fish worth one-third of a dinar but Dorotheus was not to slit open the fish until he came back to him. Finally, he was to go to a flour merchant and to take from him as much flour as he needed.
Dorotheus did as the Angel commanded him. He invited the people, as was his custom, to the feast honoring the Archangel Michael. When he went into his storeroom looking for wine for the offering, he found that all the containers had been filled with wine and many other good things. He marvelled and was astonished.
After they had finished the celebration and all the people had departed, the Archangel appeared to Dorotheus as before and commanded him to cut open the belly of the fish. He found 300 dinars of gold and three coins each is a third of a dinar. He told him these three coins were for the sheep, the fish and the flour, and the 300 dinars were for him and his children. God had remembered them and their oblations and had rewarded them here, in this world and in the kingdom of heaven on the last day. As Dorotheus and his wife were astonished at this matter, the Archangel Michael said to them, \"I am Michael the Archangel who delivered you from all your tribulations and I have taken your oblations and alms up to God, you shall lack no good thing whatsoever in this world.\" They prostrated themselves before him and he disappeared and went up into heaven. This was one of the innumerable miracles of this honored Angel.
His intercession be for us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "honored archangel michael" } ], [ { "id": 73, "action": "On this day, the saint Abba Timothy, Bishop of Ansena, departed. He was righteous and chaste from his youth. He became a monk at a young age and lived a righteous life. Because of his chastity, righteousness, knowledge and his good character, he was chosen bishop for the city of Ansena (Antinoe). He preached to the believers and guided the people to believe in Christ. The Governor however, seized him and tortured him in various ways, inside the prison and outside it, for three consecutive years. There were many others with him in prison who were seized because of their faith. The tyrant Governor continued to bring several of them out of prison and shed their blood after torturing them, until only a few remained in prison, this father was one of them. When the Lord destroyed Diocletian, and Constantine (the Emperor who loved Christ) reigned, he ordered all the prisoners who were persecuted for the sake of their faith in Christ to be set free, in all the countries under his authority. Father Timothy was also released and went to his diocese and gathered all the priests of his diocese. They prayed to the Lord all night. Father Timothy asked for the salvation of the soul of the Governor who had tortured him saying, \"Because O Lord, he is the one who has brought me great blessing by bringing me close to You, be good to him so he might become close to You.\" The people who were gathered marvelled at the purity of this father's heart, who was fulfilling his Master's words, \"Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.\" (Matthew 5:44)
When the Governor heard that, he marvelled saying, \"I had thought that he would curse me for what I inflicted upon him, for I had ill treated him greatly, but instead he is blessing me. Truly the faith of these people is a 'Divine Faith'.\" He sent for Abba Timothy. He inquired about the principles of the Christian faith. The father revealed to him the cause of the Incarnation of the Son of God and what the prophets had spoken many years before, concerning Him and how their prophesies were fulfilled, giving him proofs from the scriptures.
Consequently, the Governor believed in Christ and the father the Bishop baptized him. The Governor subsequently resigned the governorship and became a monk.
As for St. Timothy, he continued to teach his flock, guarding them until he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 1027 A.D., the great St. Abba Zacharias, 64th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was a native of Alexandria and was an ordained priest there. He was chaste and gentle in disposition.
When St. Philotheus, 63rd Pope, departed, the bishops assembled to choose, with God's guidance, the person who was fit to succeed him. While they were gathered in the church of St. Mark, discussing who was the most suitable man, they were informed that a rich man from Alexandria called Ibrahim Ben-Bishr, who was close to El-Khalifa (Governor) had given him a bribe and obtained a decree from him to be appointed Patriarch. El-Khalifa sent him, accompanied with some soldiers, to Alexandria. The bishops were saddened and they entreated God in one accord to keep away from His church the one who was coming to shepherd His church through bribery and the sultan's influence. They asked God to choose the person who was fit for this honor. While they were on this subject, Abba Zacharias came down the stairs of the church carrying a vessel. His foot slipped and he fell and came tumbling down the stairs to the floor while still holding the unbroken vessel in his hand. The bishops and the priests marvelled at this and they asked the opinion of the people of Alexandria. Everyone agreed on Abba Zacharias' righteousness and his knowledge. They all agreed, along with the bishops, to ordain him Patriarch.
When Ibrahim Ben-Bishr arrived, he found that they had already ordained Abba Zacharias as Patriarch. When the bishops read the King's letter, they appeased Ibrahim and ordained him priest, then hegumen. They promised to ordain him bishop when one of the dioceses became available.
Abba Zacharias, had suffered many tribulations. As an example, a monk had made many accusations against him before El-Hakem (Be-Amr-Allah) who became El-Khalifa (Governor) in the year 989 A.D. El-Hakem seized the Pope and cast him to the lions, but they did not harm him.
The Governor was angered with the keeper of the lions and thought that he had taken a bribe from the Pope. The Governor kept the lions for a period of time without food, then he slaughtered a sheep and smeared the clothes of the Patriarch with its blood. He then cast him a second time to the lions, but again, they did not harm him, for the Lord had domesticated them. The Governor marvelled and ordered that he be lifted up.
The Governor then cast him into prison for three months during which he threatened him with death and casting in fire if he did not forsake his Christian faith. The Patriarch was not afraid. The Governor tried again bribing him by promising to appoint him a judge with jurisdiction over all other judges but he was not impressed with these earthly ranks and did not hearken to the order of the Governor. Finally, because of the mediation of one of the princes, he released him.
Abba Zacharias went to the desert of Scete, stayed there for nine years during which the people suffered great tribulations and experienced many troubles. Also, several churches were destroyed during that time.
Christ the Lord had compassion on His church and removed these tribulations from the people. He also turned the Governor away from his injustice. Subsequently, the Governor ordered the churches that were destroyed to be rebuilt. He also ordered that everything that was taken from them be returned and that the bells of the churches ring again.
Abba Zacharias lived 12 years, after his return from the desert, during which he took interest in building churches and restoring those that were destroyed. He remained in the papacy for 28 years and departed to the Lord in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God, forever. Amen.
", "tags": "zacharias 64th pope" } ], [ { "id": 74, "action": "The Departure of St. Martinus (Martin) Bishop of Tours (Thrace)
On this day, the great St. Martinus (Martin), Bishop of Tours (Thrace, in France), departed. He was born to Christian parents in a city called Sorpeia. He grew up to be gentle and a worshipper who kept the Orthodox faith. He did not spare any effort in resisting the followers of Arius, who were enraged by him. Consequently, they waited for him on a road several times and beat him. When they continued chasing him, he left the city. He went to live in a cave near the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. There, he sustained himself by eating plants.
When his reputation spread throughout the country, he was chosen to be Bishop of Tours (Thrace). He lived an apostolic life, and grew in charity and mercy towards many people. The Lord performed many miracles through him.
Once when he was passing by, he saw a person stopping a funeral and preventing the deceased person's family from burying him, claiming that the deceased owed him 400 dinars. This holy father entreated him to release the dead body, but the man refused. St. Martinus prayed and entreated God to make the truth known. The dead man was raised immediately and he rebuked the man who falsely accused him, exposing his lies before those present. Subsequently, the unjust man died and the man who was raised up from death through the prayers of St. Martinus, went back to his home and lived many years.
This holy father completed his distinguished life and departed in peace.
His prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "martinus martin bishop tours thrace" } ], [ { "id": 75, "action": "The Martyrdom of Saint Mari-Mina, the Wonder Worker
On this day St. Mina, who is called the blessed faithful, was martyred. His father, Eudoxius, was a native of the city of Nakiyos (Nikiu) and was its Governor. His brother was envious of him and he brought charges against him before the Emperor. The Emperor transferred him to Afrikia and appointed him Governor over it. The people were pleased with him because he was merciful and God-fearing.
His mother Euphemia had no children. One day she went to church on the feast of our Lady, the Virgin, the Mother of God, at Attribes. She saw the children in the church wearing their beautiful clothes with their parents. She heaved a sigh and wept before the icon of Our Lady St. Mary, entreating her to intercede for her before her beloved Son, in order that He would give her a son. A voice came from the icon saying, \"Amen.\" She rejoiced in what she had heard and realized that the Lord had heard her prayers. When she returned to her home and told her husband about it, he replied, \"May God's Will be done.\"
The Lord gave them this saint and they called him Mina, according to the voice that his mother heard. When he grew, his parents taught him reading and writing and they reared him in a Christian manner. When he was eleven years old, his father departed at a good old age. Then his mother departed three years later. St. Mina devoted his life to fasting, praying and to living a Christian life. Because of everyone's love towards him and his father, they placed him in his father's position. In spite of that, he did not forsake his worshipping.
When Diocletian had reneged Christianity and issued his orders to worship idols, many were martyred for the Name of the Lord Christ. St. Mina left his position and went to the desert, where he stayed many days worshipping God with all his heart.
One day he saw the heavens open and the martyrs crowned with beautiful crowns. He heard a voice saying, \"He who toils for the Name of the Lord Christ shall receive these crowns.\" He returned to the city over which he was Governor and confessed the Name of the Lord Christ. Knowing that he belonged to a noble family, they tried to dissuade him from his faith and promised him honors and precious gifts. When he did not change his mind, they threatened him and the Governor ordered him to be tortured. When the Governor failed to turn him away from his faith in the Lord Christ, he sent him to his brother so that he might influence him but he failed also. Finally, he ordered his head to be cut off with the sword, his body to be cast in the fire and his ashes to be scattered in the wind. The body remained in the fire for three days and three nights, but it was not harmed.
His sister came and gave the soldiers a lot of money and they let her take the body. She put it in a sack made of fronds and decided to go to Alexandria, as her brother had previously advised her. She embarked with her brother's body on one of the ships to Alexandria.
During their trip, sea beasts came out of the water and attacked the passengers aboard the ship. They were frightened and screamed with fear. The Saint's sister prayed to the Lord and asked for the intercession of her brother. While the passengers were in fear, fire went forth from her brother's body and burned the faces of the beasts. They dived immediately into the water and as they reappeared, the fire burned them again. They finally dived and did not reappear.
When the ship arrived at the city of Alexandria, most of the people went out with the father, the Patriarch. They carried the holy body with reverence and honor and entered the city with a venerable celebration and placed it in the church, after they shrouded it in expensive shrouds. When the time of persecution ended, the angel of the Lord appeared to the honorable Patriarch, Anba Athanasius, the Apostolic. The angel informed him of the Lord's command which was to place the body of St. Mina on a camel and to take it out of the city without letting anyone lead it, but to follow it from a distance until it stopped at a place that the Lord had designated. They walked behind the camel until they arrived at a place called Lake Bayad, in the district of Marriot.
There they heard a voice saying, \"This is the place where the Lord wishes the body of his beloved Mina to be placed.\" They lowered the body and placed it in a coffin, then they situated it in a beautiful garden and many miracles happened through the body.
Later on, the people of Pentapolis (the five cities) rose against the cities around Alexandria. The people were getting ready to face the Berbers, and the Governor decided to take the body of St. Mina with him to be his deliverer and his strong protector. He took the body secretly and through the blessings of this saint, he overcame the Berbers and returned victorious.
The Governor decided not to return the body of the Saint to its original place and wanted to take it to Alexandria. On the way back, they passed by Lake Bayad, St. Mina's original place. The camel carrying the body knelt down and would not move in spite of frequent beatings. They moved the body over another camel, but again this second camel did not move from its place. The Governor finally realized that this was the Lord's command. He made a coffin from decay-resistant wood and placed the silver coffin in it. He then returned it to its place and invoked St. Mina's blessings, then returned to his city.
When the Lord wanted to disclose the location of St. Mina's holy body, He did it in this manner. There was a shepherd in the desert. One day a sheep with mange slipped down into the water of a well near the place of the saint's body. The sheep then came out of the water and rolled over in the sand of that place, and instantly the sheep was healed. When the shepherd saw this miracle, he was amazed. He took some of the sand and mixed it with water and smeared it over every sheep with mange, as well as on those with other infirmities, and immediately they were healed.
The news of these miracles spread in all the countries until the Emperor of Constantinople heard of them. He had an only daughter and she was leprous. Her father sent her to the place where the saint's body was and she inquired from the shepherd how these miracles were happening. She took some of the sand, moistened it with water, smeared it on her body and slept the night in that place. In her sleep she saw St. Mina saying to her, \"Arise early and dig in this place, and you will find my body.\" When she woke up, she found herself cured. She began digging as she was told and she found the holy body. She sent word to her father, informing him of the news. The Emperor rejoiced exceedingly, thanked the Lord and glorified His Name. He then sent men and money and built a church in that place and it was consecrated on the fifteenth day of the Month of Baounah.
When Arcadius and Honorius reigned, they ordered a city to be built there. Multitudes of people came to that church asking for the intercession of the blessed St. Mina. The Lord had honored him with many signs and wonders that appeared from his pure body. When the Arabs came to Egypt, some of them attacked the city and the church was destroyed, only ruins remained.
When His Grace, the late Pope Abba Kyrillos the Sixth was ordained Patriarch over the See of St. Mark, he took interest in building a large monastery in this area (Marriot) in the name of St. Mina. He spent a great deal of money in establishing it. There are now many churches in the monastery, visited by many Orthodox worshippers who go there to receive blessings and to pray. He also bought one hundred acres of land and built a fence around it. He ordained a number of monks who had a high degree of scientific and religious education.
The intercession of Mari-Mina be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "mari-mina wonder worker" } ], [ { "id": 76, "action": "Today marks the beginning of the fast of the Nativity (the Advent) in our Coptic Church. We implore our Lord, who completed our salvation by coming down to redeem us from the bondage of sin, to help us to do what is pleasing in His sight during this holy fast and through all the days of our lives.
On this day also was the consecration of the Church of St. Abu-Nofer (St. Onuphrius), the hermit, which was in El-Zaher, Misr (Cairo).
Today also, is the commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Yostus, the bishop, by the hands of Maximus the prince. He tortured him severely and finally he received the crown of martyrdom.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "yostus bishop" } ], [ { "id": 77, "action": "The Departure of Saint John Chrysostom
On this day, the honorable Saint John of the Golden Mouth (Chrysostom), departed. He was born in the city of Antioch around the year 347 A.D., to a rich father, whose name was Sakondos and a pious mother, whose name was Anthosa. They brought him up well and reared him in the Christian tradition. He went to the city of Athens, where he learned the Greek wisdom in one of its schools. He surpassed many in knowledge and in virtue. He forsook the vanities of the world and became a monk at a young age in one of the monasteries. He had a friend whose name was Basilius, who was a monk before him in that monastery. They had the same interests and they practiced many virtues.
When his father departed, St. John did not keep any of his father's possessions, but gave all of his inheritance to the poor and the needy. He then lived an ascetic life full of strife.
In the monastery, there was a Syrian hermit whose name was Ansosynos. One night he saw the apostles, Peter and John, entering where the Golden Mouth was. St. John, the Apostle, gave him a Bible and told him, \"Do not be afraid, whosoever you shall bind, shall be bound, and whosoever you shall loose, shall be loosed.\" The old hermit therefore realized that St. John Chrysostom would be a faithful shepherd.
The grace of the Lord filled St. John Chrysostom and he wrote homilies and sermons and he interpreted many books while he was still a deacon. It was St. Melatius, Patriarch of Antioch, who had raised him to this rank. Then he was ordained a priest by St. Phlapianus, St. Melatius' successor, by the guidance of the angel of the Lord.
When Nectarius, Patriarch of Constantinople departed, Emperor Arcadius summoned St. John and made him Patriarch. He conducted himself during his patriarchate in an apostolic manner. He continued teaching, preaching and interpreting the books of the church, both old and new. He boldly admonished the sinners and the wealthy, regardless of their authority or wealth.
Queen Eudoxia, the wife of Emperor Arcadius, had a lust for money. She took a garden which belonged to a poor widow by force. The latter complained to the Saint, who went to the Queen and admonished her and asked her to return the garden to its owner. When Eudoxia did not obey him, he prevented her from entering the church and partaking of the Holy Communion. She became exceedingly angry and gathered a council of bishops whom St. John had previously excommunicated for their evil deeds and their mismanagement. They sentenced the saint to be exiled. He was exiled to the Island of Thrace, but this exile did not last more than one night. The people were enraged and they gathered around the royal palace demanding the return of the Patriarch. While the people were sorrowful because of their righteous shepherd, a severe earthquake took place and almost destroyed the city, terrifying everyone. The people thought that this was a sign of the Lord's anger, caused by the exile of the Saint. As for Eudoxia, she was disturbed, her soul was troubled and she went in haste to her husband and asked him to bring back the saint from exile. Once the light of the shepherd shone on his flock, their sorrow changed to joy and their wailing was replaced by the songs of joy and happiness.
This state of affairs did not last long. There was a large square beside the church of Agia Sophia, where a large silver statue of Queen Eudoxia was erected. On the day of its dedication, some common people danced madly, played profligate games, until they were immersed in immorality and sin. Because of St. John's zeal to curb the spread of immorality, he repudiated the people in his sermons, courageously showing his disapproval of their behavior. His enemies took advantage of his zeal and accused him before the Queen, of having said that \"Herodia had risen up and danced and asked for the head of John the Baptist on a plate.\" This cruel accusation gave the Queen a good reason to sentence him to exile. She instructed the soldiers who were in charge of guarding him not give him any means of comfort during his travel. Thus, they moved him from one place to another hastily, until they came to a city called Komana, where his health deteriorated and he departed in peace in the year 407 A.D.
During the reign of Theodosius II, the son of Emperor Arcadius (who exiled St. John), the body of St. John was taken to Constantinople, where it was placed in the church of the Apostles.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "john chrysostom" } ], [ { "id": 78, "action": "On this day the two saints Atrasis and Yoana (Junia), were martyred. Atrasis was the daughter of the pagan Emperor Hadrian. Because of his great love for her, he built a special small room where she could be away from people.
Atrasis thought always about the vanity of the world and the end of life. Day and night she asked for guidance towards the right way. In a vision at night, she saw a person who told her, \"Bring Yoana (Junia), the virgin, the daughter of Philospheron, and she will teach you the way of the Lord.\" When Atrasis woke from her sleep, her soul rejoiced and she sent for Yoana, who came to her at once. Princess Atrasis met Yoana, bowed down before her and embraced her.
Yoana started to tell her the reason for the incarnation of the Son of God, starting with the creation of Adam and how he was expelled from paradise, the coming down of the flood and the renewal of the creation once more, the reason for worshipping idols, the appearance of God to Abraham, the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, how the prophets proclaimed the coming of the Son of God, His coming down from Heaven and His incarnation through the Virgin and the salvation of the world from the hand of Satan. She made clear to Atrasis what the godly people will receive; and that is, heavenly grace in eternal life. When the virgin princess heard that, her soul rejoiced exceedingly. The words of Yoana were sweeter than honey to her ears and she immediately believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be the Glory. The two virgins worshipped day and night with fasting and prayers. One night they saw the Lord Christ and the Virgin Lady, His Mother, in a dream. The Lord placed His hand over their heads and blessed them.
Meanwhile, her father, the Emperor had gone to war. When he came back his daughter was betrothed to be married. Before the wedding ceremony, her father asked her to offer incense to the god Apollo, before getting ready for her bridegroom. She told him, \"Father, how could you forsake the God of heaven and earth and worship defiled idols? Turn, O my father, to the God Who created you and in Whose hand is your life and death.\"
When her father heard these words, which he had never heard from her before, he asked who taught her that. They told him it was Yoana, the daughter of Philospheron, who corrupted her mind. He ordered them both to be burned. They took them outside the city, arrayed in their beautiful garments and their jewelry. Their slaves and handmaidens were crying. All the people of the city were sorry for the youth of these two saints and they asked them to submit to the Emperor's wish by offering incense to the idols, but they would not turn from their decision. When they dug the pit and lit the fire, the two saints held each other's hands and they cast themselves into the fire. They stood in the fire, turned their faces towards the east and prayed, and many had seen them. After the fire was out, some of the believers who were present went forward to take their bodies. They found them stuck to each other; their garments and their jewelry were not burned. They placed their bodies in a safe place until the end of the persecution era, then they built a great church for them.
The prayers of these two saints be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 80 A.D., St. Philip the Apostle, one of the Twelve Disciples, was martyred. His lot fell to go to Africa and the surrounding regions. He went and preached there in the Name of the Lord Christ. There, he performed many miracles and wonders which astounded the people.
After he led the people to the knowledge of God, confirming them in the faith, he went to Herapolis, where he also led the people to the knowledge of God.
The non-believers took counsel together to kill him, accusing him of disobeying the king's order that no stranger was allowed to enter their city. They jumped him and seized him, but he smiled at them saying, \"Why do you keep yourselves away from everlasting life and why don't you think about the salvation of your souls?\" But they did not pay any attention to his words, instead they tortured him severely, then they crucified him head down. During the crucifixion an earthquake took place; the people were terrified and ran away. Some believers arrived and wanted to untie him from the cross, but he asked them to leave him, so he might finish his strife and receive his crown. He delivered his soul to the hands of Christ and received the crown of eternal glory in the year 80 A.D. and was buried there.
In the sixth century A.D., his body was transferred to Rome. The Lord manifested many signs and great wonders through the body of St. Philip.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "philip apostle" } ], [ { "id": 79, "action": "This day marks the consecration of the church of St. Sergius and St. Bacchus in the city of Rusafa. When St. Sergius was martyred in this city, some believers carried his body, prepared it for burial, hid it in their home and lit lamps and candles before it. When the era of persecution ended, they brought the body out and a church was built in the Saint's name. Fifteen bishops and a large number of people gathered on this day and attended the consecration of the church. When the body of the Saint was brought to the church, scented oil flowed forth from it and many sick people who were anointed with it in faith were healed.
His blessings be with us. Amen.
On this day, we also commemorate St. Bartholomew, one of the Twelve Apostles, who preached in the oasis of Al-Khargah, where he led the people to the knowledge of God.
His prayers be with us and glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "preaching bartholomew apostle" } ], [ { "id": 80, "action": "On this day of the year 86 A.D., the holy father Abba Anianus, the second Pope of Alexandria, departed. This saint was a native of Alexandria, the son of pagan parents, and he was a cobbler. When St. Mark, the Apostle, entered the city of Alexandria, it happened by God's Divine Will that he tripped and tore his sandal. He gave it to Anianus to repair. While Anianus was thrusting the awl into it, the awl went through to the other side of the sandal and injured his finger. He screamed in pain, saying in Greek, \"Eis Theos\" which means \"O, the Only God.\" When St. Mark heard him mentioning the Name of the Lord, he glorified the Lord Christ. Then he took some dust from the ground, spat on it and applied it to the finger of St. Anianus and he was healed immediately.
Anianus was exceedingly amazed. He took St. Mark to his house, asked him about his name, his belief, and where he came from. The apostle began to tell him of the books of the prophets concerning the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the mystery of His incarnation, His Death and Resurrection and the performing of miracles in His Holy Name.
Anianus' mind was illuminated and he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and all the people of his house believed with him. They were all baptized in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and God's Divine Grace was poured upon them. They continued to listen to the teachings of the Apostle Mark, who taught them the doctrine of the church, its ordinances and its laws.
When St. Mark decided to go to Pentapolis, he laid his hand on Anianus and ordained him Patriarch over the city of Alexandria, in the year 64 A.D. St. Anianus continued preaching and baptizing its people secretly, helping and strengthening them in their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He turned his house into a church; and it is said that it is the one known as the church of St. Mark the Martyr, where the church of St. Mark in Alexandria stands now. This saint occupied the throne of St. Mark for 22 years, then departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also commemorates the consecration of the churches of the two saints: Prince Theodore (El-Shotbe), the son of John and Prince Theodore (El-Mishreke).
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration churches prince theodore son john el-shotbe prince theodore el-mishreke" } ], [ { "id": 81, "action": "On this day the church celebrates and commemorates the pure Virgin St. Mary, the Mother of God, the Word Who was incarnated from her, for the salvation of Adam and his offspring.
Her intercession be for us. Amen.
Also on this day, in the year 270 A.D., St. Gregory the wonder worker, departed. He was the bishop of Neocaesarea, in the province of Pontos, where he was born to rich pagan parents. He learned philosophy and wisdom at an early age and surpassed many of his colleagues. Then he went to Beirut, where he studied the Greek and Latin subjects. From there he went to Caesarea, Palestine, where the erudite Origen was, who taught him Christian philosophy. He also learned Theology and the interpretations of the holy books. In the year 235 A.D., he went to the city of Alexandria, the cultural center of the world at that time, to complete his studies.
He returned to his town in the year 237 A.D. In the year 239 A.D., he was baptized in the holy baptism and became a Christian, for he realized the vanity of this world and chose the way of the everlasting kingdom of heaven. He directed all his attention to the salvation of his soul. When he knew that the Bishop of his town was seeking him to assist him in the bishopric duties, he escaped to the wilderness. He devoted himself to prayers and ardent worship, forsaking the world and the futility of its glories.
When the Bishop of his town departed, they sought him in order to make him the new bishop but they did not know where to find him. It happened while the people were gathered with St. Gregory, the Theologian, that they heard a voice say, \"Seek Gregory the hermit and set him a Bishop over you.\" They sent a party to search for him in the wilderness and in the mountains. When they did not find him, they decided to take a Bible and pray the prayer of ordination over it, as though he were present. They called him Gregory even though his given name was Theodore. St. Gregory, the Theologian, presided over this service.
The angel of the Lord appeared to St. Gregory in the wilderness and said to him, \"Rise up and go to your town, for they have made you the bishop over it and refuse not, for it is the Will of God.\" He did not hesitate, rose up immediately and descended from the mountain and went to his town. The people went forth to meet him with great honor, and they completed his ordination in the year 244 A.D.
The Lord performed many signs and wonders at his hands, so that he was called the wonder worker. For example, two brothers who owned a lake from which they made a good living by catching large amounts of fish had a falling out because of it, for each one of them claimed his ownership of it. When they were unable to reach an agreement, they sought the wisdom of St. Gregory to help them settle their differences. He ordered that they should divide the yield of the lake equally between themselves. When they did not heed his judgement, he entreated God and the waters of the lake dried up and it became a farmland, which they divided between them. Reports of the signs and wonders which he made were heard throughout the land. Finally, when he completed his strife, he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
Also on this day, in the year 809 A.D., St. Cosma II, 54th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was born in Samanoud and became a monk in the monastery of St. Macarius. When the papal chair became vacant, the bishops and the people, with one accord, agreed to choose this father. He was ordained Patriarch and he experienced great tribulations. The believers also experienced tribulations and great afflictions; however, some wonders appeared during his patriarchate.
Among them, blood flowed from the icon of St. Mary in the church of St. Severus, in the desert of Scete (the Holy desert). Also, many of the icons in the churches in Egypt became wet with tears. This unusual phenomenon was believed to be a result of the afflictions and sorrows that befell the Patriarch and the believers.
In spite of all the afflictions that he experienced, the Patriarch continued teaching the believers and strengthening them diligently and with great zeal. He stayed on the Chair of St. Mark for seven years and six months, then departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also marks the commemoration of the martyrs Saints Alphaeus, Zacchaeus, Romanus and John. Also the commemoration of Saints Thomas, Victor and Isaac of the city of Ashmonen.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "holy martyrs alphaeus zacchaeus romanus john thomas victor isaac city ashmunen" } ], [ { "id": 82, "action": "The Martyrdom of Saints Cosmas, Damian, Their Brothers and Their Mother
On this day, saints Cosmas and Damian, their brothers, Anthimus, Leontius (Londius) and Euprepius (Abrabius), and their mother Theodata, were martyred. They were from one of the Arab countries. Their mother feared God and was compassionate and merciful towards strangers. She became a widow, while her children were still young. She raised them and instilled in them the fear of God and the love of righteousness. Cosmas and Damian studied medicine and they treated the sick, free of charge. As for their brothers, they went to the desert and became monks.
When Diocletian renounced the faith and ordered the worship of idols, he was told that Cosmas and Damian were preaching in the Name of Christ, and urging others not to worship idols. He ordered them to be brought to the Governor of the city, who tortured them severely by beating them and burning them. He then asked them the whereabouts of their brothers. Upon finding out, he brought them and their mother. He ordered them to raise incense before the idols, but they refused. He then ordered the five to be squeezed through the wheel. When they experienced no harm, he took them out and cast them into a red hot furnace for three days and three nights, then into hot boiling water. Finally he placed them on red-hot iron beds. Through all this, however, the Lord raised them up whole and unharmed to reveal His glory and the honor of His saints. When the Governor became weary of torturing them he sent them to the Emperor who also tortured them. Their mother constantly encouraged and comforted them. The Emperor rebuked her, but she admonished him for his cruelty and for worshipping idols. He ordered her head to be cut off and she received the crown of everlasting life. Her body remained on the ground and no one dared to bury it for their fear of the Emperor. St. Cosmas screamed at those present saying, \"Men of this city, is there not one merciful person among you who will cover the body of this poor old widow and bury her?\" Straightaway, Victor, the son of Romanus, came forward, took the body, placed it in a shroud, and buried it.
When the Emperor heard what Victor had done, he ordered that he be exiled in the land of Egypt, where he received the crown of martyrdom. The next day, the Emperor ordered the heads of the saints Cosmas, Damian, and their brothers to be cut off. They then received the crown of life in the kingdom of heaven.
At the end of the era of persecution, many churches were built in the name of these saints and God made manifest many signs and wonders therein.
Their intercession be for us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "cosmas damian brothers mother" } ], [ { "id": 83, "action": "On this day, St. Cornelius the centurion, departed. He was a captain over one hundred soldiers in Caesarea of Palestine and he worshipped the stars.
When he heard the Apostles preaching and saw the miracles performed at their hands, which were above and beyond any human power or pagan gods, he was astonished, confused, and he started to doubt his gods. He forsook the worship of the stars and opened his heart to the Lord through prayers, fasting and merciful deeds. In his prayers he repeated, \"O Lord God, I am confused in my knowledge of You, direct me and guide me to You.\" The Lord had compassion on him, accepted his prayers and his compassionate deeds, and sent an angel to announce to him that his prayers and alms had ascended before God and had been accepted by Him. He ordered him to send men to the city of Joppa, to bring St. Peter the Apostle, who was lodging with Simon the tanner and who would tell him what he must do. Cornelius did as the Lord said and had St. Peter brought to his house.
As Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him. But Peter lifted him up saying, \"Stand up; I myself am also a man.\" When Peter went in the house, he found many Gentiles who had come together. Then he said to them, \"You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or to go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore, I came without objection as soon as I was sent for. I ask, then for what reason have you sent for me?\" So Cornelius said,
\"Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. Send, therefore, to Joppa and call Simon here, whose surname is Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea. When he comes, he will speak to you.' So I sent to you immediately and you have done well to come. Now therefore, we are all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God.\"
Peter then opened his mouth and said, \"In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation, whoever fears Him and works righteousness, is accepted by Him.\" Then he preached to them of Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, and explained to them the mystery of His incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and the workings of miracles in His Name. Cornelius, his household, all his men and most of those who were with him, believed and were baptized in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Straightaway the Holy Spirit descended upon them. (Acts 10)
Afterwards, Cornelius left the military service and followed the Apostles. St. Peter then ordained him a Bishop over the city of Caesarea of Palestine. He went there and proclaimed the Name of Christ, showing them the error of worshipping idols. Their minds were illuminated with the knowledge of God and they believed in Him. He strengthened them with the signs and miracles he performed before them and he baptized them all and among them was Demetrius the Governor. Then he departed in peace and received the crown of glory of the apostles.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the great martyr, the chosen bride of the Lord Christ, the fighter St. Marina and the consecration of her church in the city of Antioch.
Her intercession be for us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church marina" } ], [ { "id": 84, "action": "The Commemoration of the Twenty-Four Priests
On this day, we commemorate the twenty-four incorporeal priests of the Most High, who are sitting around His throne. They are exalted above all the saints and the spiritual hosts. Because of their closeness to God, they intercede on behalf of the human race and offer the prayers of the saints as incense, in the golden censers in their hands, before the Glorious and Blessed Lord. St. John the Evangelist said in Revelation, \"After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, 'Come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this.' Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes, and they had crowns of gold on their heads. (Revelation 4:1-4) ... each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints\" (Revelation 5:8) who are on earth raising it to the Almighty.
St. John continued saying, \"I heard the Four living creatures praising God and saying, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come.' Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him Who sits on the throne, Who lives forever and ever. The twenty-four elders fall down before Him Who sits on the throne and worship Him Who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 'You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your Will they exist and were created.' (Revelation 4:8-11)
And when a command went forth from God they fell down, and worshipped saying, 'Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints, who shall not fear You, 0 Lord, and glorify Your Name? For You alone are Holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your judgments have been manifested.'\" (Revelation 15:3-4)
The fathers of the church arranged this feast to commemorate them.
Their intercession be for us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "twenty-four priests" } ], [ { "id": 85, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Mercurius, Known as the Saint with the Two Swords
On this day, St. Mercurius, known as the saint with the two swords (Abu-Saifain), was martyred. He was born in the city of Rome. His parents were Christians and they called him Philopateer (which means \"Lover of the Father\"). They reared him in a Christian manner. When he grew, he enlisted in the army during the days of Emperor Decius, the pagan. The Lord gave Philopateer the strength and the courage, for which he earned the satisfaction of his superiors. They called him Mercurius and he grew very close to the Emperor.
When the berbers rose up against Rome, Decius went out to fight them, but when he saw how many they were, he became terrified. St. Mercurius assured him saying, \"Do not be afraid, because God will destroy our enemies and will bring us victory.\" When he left the Emperor, an angel appeared to him in the shape of a human being, dressed in white apparel. The angel gave him a sword saying, \"When you overcome your enemies, remember the Lord your God.\" (That is why he is called, \"of the two swords\", \"Abu-Saifain\", one is the military sword and the other is the sword of the divine power).
When Emperor Decius conquered his enemies and Mercurius came back victorious, the angel appeared to him and reminded him of what he told him previously, that is, to remember the Lord his God.
Decius, and his soldiers with him, wanted to offer up incense to his idols and St. Mercurius tarried behind. When they informed the Emperor of what had happened, he called St. Mercurius and expressed his amazement at his abandoning of his loyalty to him. The Emperor reprimanded him for refusing to come and offer incense to the idols. The Saint cast his girdle and his military attire down before the Emperor and said to him, \"I do not worship anyone except my Lord and my God Jesus Christ.\" The Emperor became angry and ordered him to be beaten with whips and stalks. When the Emperor saw how the people of the city and the soldiers were attached to St. Mercurius, the Emperor feared that they might revolt. So instead, he bound him in iron fetters and sent him to Caesarea where they cut off his head. He thus completed his holy fight and received the crown of life in the kingdom of heaven.
His intercession be for us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "mercurius known as two swords" } ], [ { "id": 86, "action": "On this day, Sts. Valerian (Balaryanos) and Tiburcius (Thiborinos), his brother, who were natives of Rome, were martyred. They were the sons of pagan parents. Balaryanos was betrothed to the daughter of one of the nobles of Rome; her name was Kilkeya. She was extremely beautiful and a Christian, who worshipped Christ in secret. When he married her, she gradually started to tell him about Christ's life and how to believe in Him, until he believed at her hands and was baptized. When St. Valerian was filled with Grace, he taught his brother who also became a believer and was baptized. Because of his righteousness, St. Valerian became worthy to talk to the angels and they revealed to him future hidden things.
When Diocletian reigned and persecuted the Christians, these two saints went around the city and carried the bodies of the martyrs, prepared them for burial and buried them. Certain wicked men betrayed them to Tosius, the king's usher, who summoned them and asked them about their belief. They confessed that they were Christians. He offered them many things if they would deny Christ and offer sacrifices to idols, but they were not deceived by his promises. He threatened them with many kinds of torture, but that did not frighten them. When he saw their patience and endurance, he ordered their heads to be cut off.
The usher saw angels carrying their souls up to heaven and immediately he believed in the Lord Christ. Because of his conversion, he was cast into prison for three days and on the fourth day, he was taken out of prison and his head was cut off along with the head of Kilkeya, Valerian's wife. They all received the crown of martyrdom.
Their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also we commemorate the departure of St. Gregory, bishop of Nyssa. He was born in Cappadocia, in the year 330 A.D. and was ordained bishop by his brother, St. Basilius, in the year 372 A.D.
He was exiled during the reign of Emperor Valens, then returned in the year 378 A.D., by the order of Emperor Theodosius the Great. He wrote many church books and departed in peace in the year 396 A.D.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "gregory bishop nyssa" } ], [ { "id": 87, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. James the Mangled (Sawn)
On this day, St. James the mangled, was martyred. He was one of the soldiers of Sakrod, the son of Shapur, King of Persia. Because of his courage and his uprightness, he was promoted to the highest rank in the king's court. He found favor and access to the king, who even counselled with him in many affairs. In this way, he influenced St. James greatly to the extent that he turned his heart away from worshipping the Lord Christ.
When his mother, his wife, and his sister heard that he adopted the king's belief, they wrote to him saying, \"Why have you forsaken the faith in the Lord Christ and worshipped the created objects, the fire and the sun? Know that if you persist in what you are doing, we will disown you and you will become a stranger to us.\" When he read their letter, he wept and said, \"If by doing that, I have become a stranger to my own family and my people, how would the situation be with my Lord Jesus Christ?\" Consequently, he resigned from the king's service and devoted his time to reading the holy books.
When the news reached the king, he summoned St. James. When the King saw the change that had befallen him, he ordered that James be beaten severely and if he did not change his belief, he was to be cut up with knives. They cut off his fingers, his hands, his legs and his arms. Each time they cut off a piece of his body, he praised the Lord and sang saying, \"Have mercy upon me O Lord according to Your great compassion.\" (Psalm 50:1) Eventually, nothing was left of him except his head, his breast and his loins.
When he knew that his time was near, he entreated the Lord to have mercy and compassion upon the world and the people therein. He apologized for not standing in the presence of the mighty Lord and said, \"I have neither legs to stand before Thee, nor hands to lift up to Thee, behold the parts of my body have been cast around me, O Lord receive my soul.\" Straightaway, the Lord Christ appeared to him, comforted, and strengthened him and his soul rejoiced. Before he delivered up his soul, one of the guards made haste and cut off his head. He thus received the crown of martyrdom. Some of the believers then came forward and took his body, wrapped it and buried it.
When his mother, his sister, and his wife heard that he was martyred, they rejoiced for his soul and came to where the body was and kissed it, weeping. They shrouded it in expensive cloth and poured sweet scents and perfumed oil over it. A church and a monastery were built in his name during the reign of the righteous Emperors Arcadius and Honourius.
When the king of Persia heard the news of the miracles and wonders which appeared through the body of St. James and of the other honored martyrs, he ordered all the bodies of the martyrs in all parts of his kingdom, to be burnt. Some of the believers came and took the body of St. James and brought it to Jerusalem and entrusted it to St. Peter El-Rahawy, Bishop of Gaza.
The body remained there until the reign of Marcianus, who persecuted the Orthodox Christians everywhere. St. Peter, the Bishop, took the body to Egypt. There he went to the city of Behnasa, where he stayed in a monastery occupied by devoted monks. It happened that at the sixth hour, while they were praying in the place where the holy body laid, St. James appeared to them with many other martyrs of Persia. They joined them in singing, blessed them and disappeared. Before leaving, however, St. James told them that his body should stay there as the Lord commanded.
Despite this, when Anba Peter the Bishop, decided to return to his country, he took the body with him. When he arrived at the seashore, the body was taken from their hands and returned to the place where it had originally been.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "james mangled sawn" } ], [ { "id": 88, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Sarapamon, Bishop of Niku
This day marks the martyrdom of St. Sarapamon, Bishop of Niku (Nakiyos). He was born in Jerusalem. His father's name was Abraham, the son of Levi, the son of Joseph, Simon's brother and uncle of Stephen, the Archdeacon and the first martyr. He was from the tribe of Judah. At birth, he was called Simon after his grandfather.
When his father died, Simon longed to become a Christian. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and commanded him to go to Abba John, Bishop of Jerusalem, who taught him the mystery of the incarnation of the Lord Christ. However, he did not dare to baptize him in Jerusalem, for his fear of Jews, and he was pondering what he should do.
The Virgin St. Mary, appeared to Simon and told him to go to the city of Alexandria, to St. Theonas, 16th Pope of Alexandria. He departed and the angel of the Lord, in the form of a man, accompanied him on his journey to the city of Alexandria. He went to Pope Theonas, who rejoiced on seeing him, preached to him and baptized him.
He then became a monk in El-Zogag monastery, (the monastery of Abba Severus, outside Alexandria). When Pope Theonas departed and Abba Peter, the seal of the martyrs, succeeded him, Abba Peter summoned Simon so that he could assist him in the works of the patriarchate.
When the chair of the city of Niku (Nakiyos) became vacant, Abba Peter ordained Simon Bishop over it. His flock rejoiced greatly in him and the Lord performed many signs and wonders at his hands. There were pagan temples close to his city, and he pleaded to the Lord Christ until they were destroyed and were covered with water and Paganism was eradicated from his diocese. The heresy of Sabilius of Upper Egypt, who taught that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one person, was also eradicated.
When Diocletian denied Christ, they told him that Sarapamon the Bishop had hindered the worship of idols with his teachings. Diocletian ordered Anba Sarapamon to be brought to him. When Anba Sarapamon arrived in Alexandria with the messengers, he spent the night in prison. Pope Peter, accompanied by some clergy, came to see him. When they embraced him, they saw his face as though it was that of an angel.
When Anba Sarapamon came before the Emperor, he tortured him with all kinds of torture, but the Lord Christ raised him up every time without suffering. When the Emperor saw that many people believed because of him, he sent him to Arianus, Governor of Ansena, who tortured him and threatened to cut off his head if he did not change his mind.
It happened that Arianus was in Alexandria, so he took St. Sarapamon with him in the ship. When the ship reached Niku (Nakiyos), his home town, the ship stopped and no one was able to move it. They took the saint off the ship and led him to the northern part of the city, where they cut off his head and he received the crown of martyrdom. The people of his diocese carried his body to the church with great honor.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "sarapamon bishop niku" } ], [ { "id": 89, "action": "This day marks the martyrdom of St. Peter, 17th Pope of Alexandria and the seal of the martyrs. His father was the archpriest of Alexandria and his name was Theodosius and his mother's name was Sophia. They were God-fearing people and they had no children.
On the fifth day of the Coptic month of Abib, the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, his mother went to church where she saw other mothers carrying their children. She was exceedingly sorrowful and she wept. She besought our Lord Jesus Christ with many tears, to grant her a son. That night, Peter and Paul appeared to her and told her that the Lord had accepted her prayers and that He would give her a son, and to call him Peter. They commanded her to go to the Patriarch, to bless her. When she woke up, she told her husband about what she saw and he was exceedingly glad. Then she went to the father, the Patriarch and told him about what she saw and asked him to pray for her. He prayed and blessed her.
Shortly after, she gave birth to this saint and called him Peter. When he was 7 years old, they gave him to Pope Theonas, as was done with Samuel the prophet and he became as a son to him. He placed him in the theological school where he received his education and excelled in preaching and counseling. He then ordained him as a reader, then as a deacon, and shortly after as a priest. He relieved the Pope of many church administrative duties.
Before Pope Theonas' departure, he recommended that Abba Peter be his successor. When he was enthroned on the See of St. Mark, the church was enlightened by his teachings.
It came to pass in the city of Antioch, that a man of high authority had agreed with Diocletian the Emperor, to return to paganism. That man had two children and because of him, their mother could not baptize them there. Therefore, she took them to Alexandria. On her way there, the sea was troubled by a violent storm and she was afraid that her two sons would drown and die without being baptized. She therefore dipped them in the sea three times saying, \"In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,\" then she cut her breast and with her blood made the sign of the Holy Cross over their foreheads.
Eventually, the troubled sea calmed down and she arrived safely to Alexandria with her sons. On the same day, she brought them to be baptized. Whenever, the Patriarch, St. Peter tried to baptize them, the water would solidify as stone. This happened three times. When he questioned her, she informed him of what had happened to her at sea. He marvelled and praised God saying, \"That is what the church proclaims, that it is one baptism.\" Therefore, the baptism she performed in the sea was accepted by the Lord.
Also in the days of this Pope, Arius the heretic appeared and St. Peter advised him several times to turn from his wicked thoughts, but he would not hearken to him. Consequently, he excommunicated him and prevented him from the fellowship of the church.
Arius contacted Emperor Maximianus, the infidel, and reported to him that Peter, the Patriarch of Alexandria, incited the people not to worship the gods. The Emperor was outraged and he sent messengers with orders to cut off his head. When they arrived in Alexandria, they attacked the people and destroyed most of the cities of Egypt. They robbed all their valuables, their women and children. In total, about 840 thousand of them were killed, some with the sword, some with starvation and some with imprisonment. Then they returned to Alexandria and captured the father, the Patriarch, and imprisoned him.
When the people heard about their shepherd's arrest, they gathered in front of the prison door and wanted to save him by force. The officer in charge of his slaying was worried that the general peace would be disrupted, so he postponed the execution till the next day. When the saint saw what had happened, he wanted to deliver himself to death for his people, for he feared what might happen to his flock. He wished to depart and be with Christ, without causing any disturbances or troubles. He sent for his people and he comforted them and advised them to adhere to the true faith.
When Arius, the infidel, learned that St. Peter was departing to be with the Lord, leaving him under the band of excommunication, he entreated him, through the high priests, to absolve him. St. Peter refused and told them that the Lord Christ had appeared to him this night in a vision, wearing a torn robe. St. Peter asked Him, \"My Lord, who rent Your robe?\" The Lord replied, \"Arius has rent My robe, because he separated Me from My Father. Beware of accepting him.\" After this, St. Peter summoned the Emperor's messenger in secret and advised him to dig a hole in the prison's wall on the side where there were no Christians. The officer was amazed at the bravery of the father and he did as he commanded him. He took him out of prison secretly and brought him outside the city, to where the tomb of St. Mark the evangelist, Egypt's evangelist. There, he kneeled down and asked the Lord, \"Let the shedding of my blood mark the end of the worship of idols and be the end of the shedding of the blood of Christians.\" A voice came from heaven and was heard by a saintly virgin who was near that place. It said, \"Amen. May it be to you according to your wishes.\" When he finished his prayer, the swordsman advanced and cut off his holy head.
The body remained in its place until the people went out hurriedly from the city to the place where he was martyred, because they did not know what had happened. They took the pure body and dressed it in the pontifical clothes and seated him on the seat of St. Mark, which he refused to sit on during his life. He used to say that he saw the power of God sitting on the Chair and therefore, he did not dare to sit on it.
Then they placed his body with the bodies of the saints. He occupied the throne of St. Mark for 11 years.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also marks the martyrdom of St. Clement, Pope of Rome. This Saint was born in Rome to an honorable father whose name was Fostinus; who was a member of the Senate. His father educated him and taught him Greek literature.
When St. Peter, the Apostle, came to Rome and Clement heard about his teaching, he called him to appear before him and they discussed many things together. The Apostle explained to him the falsehood of idol worship and proved to him the Divinity of the Lord Christ, in Whose Name they preached and performed miracles. He believed at his hands, was baptized by him, and followed him since that day.
St. Clement wrote the biography of the Apostles and what happened to them at the hands of the kings and rulers. He preached in numerous cities and many believed at his hands. He was the one to whom the apostles gave their Canon Books. He became the Archbishop of Rome in the latter part of the first century A.D. He preached there and brought many of its people to the knowledge of the Lord Christ.
Emperor Trajan heard of him and ordered him to be seized and brought to him. The Emperor commanded him to worship the idols and deny the Lord Christ, but St. Clement refused. Because the Emperor feared torturing him before the people of the city and before his family, he exiled him to a city and wrote a message to its Governor, telling him to torture St. Clement, then to kill him. The Governor tied his neck to an anchor and cast him into the sea. In this way, the Saint delivered up his pure spirit and received the crown of martyrdom, in the year 100 A.D.
One year after his departure, the sea water receded off his body, which appeared in the bottom of the sea as though he was alive. Many went in and were blessed and they decided to take the body away from its place. They brought a marble coffin and laid him in it and when they wanted to take his body out of the sea, they were unable to move it. They knew that he did not wish to be moved from his place, so they left him and departed.
On the day of his feast each year, the sea would flow back and the visitors would enter and be blessed by him. Many frequently travelled to see this wonder.
Among the many miracles written about him: One year the visitors went in to visit and to be blessed by him and when they left, they forgot a little child who was behind the coffin of the Saint. This was according to the Lord Christ's Will, in order to reveal the honor of His beloved ones and the grace they had received from Him. When the child's parents remembered their son, they went back to the sea, but they found the water was back and that it had covered the casket. They realized that their son must be dead and devoured by the beasts of the sea. They wept over him and commemorated him as was the custom. The next year, when the sea waters receded, the people entered, as was their custom, and were amazed to find the child alive. They asked him how he existed and what he had eaten. He replied, \"The Saint fed me, gave me drink, and protected me from the beasts of the sea.\" They praised the Lord Christ Who is glorified in all His saints.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "clement pope rome" } ], [ { "id": 90, "action": "On this day, St. Acacius, Patriarch of the city of Constantinople, departed. He was knowledgeable and well informed about the Holy Books and was an expert in explaining their mysteries. So, he was ordained a priest over the church of Constantinople.
When the council of Chalcedone convened, he refused to attend its meeting and when they called on him to hear his opinion, he refused, claiming he was sick. He was exceedingly sorrowful for the tribulations that befell St. Dioscurus and he made that known to his companions and those he trusted: the Governors, Christians and ministers whom he knew to be dedicated and faithful Orthodox. He thanked the Lord that he did not participate in the works of this council.
When Anatolius, the Patriarch of Constantinople departed, this father was chosen by the believing ministers and the enlightened government officials to be successor. St. Acacius strove diligently to eliminate the division and enmity that dwelled in the church. When he found that the spiritual ailment was deep-rooted and difficult to overcome, he believed that the proper thing to do was to devote his efforts to the salvation of his own soul.
He sent a letter to the holy father, Abba Peter, the Pope of Alexandria, confessing the true faith which he had learned and received from the holy fathers, Abba Cyril and Abba Dioscorus. He followed that letter with many others, asking the Pope of Alexandria to accept him in the fellowship. The Pope of Alexandria answered all his letters, then he wrote him a Catholic letter and sent it with three bishops. They went disguised until they entered Constantinople and there they met Acacius, who treated them with great honor and received the letter from them. He read the letter to his friends, the Orthodox nobles of the city and they all agreed on it and with him, and confessed the True Faith. Then he wrote a letter before them, accepting the faith of Abba Dioscorus, Abba Timothy and Abba Peter and confessing the soundness of their faith. Afterwards, he accompanied the three bishops to some monasteries and he took part with them in the celebration of the liturgy and the partaking of the Holy Communion. The bishops then exchanged the blessings with him, took the letter and returned it to Abba Peter. The Bishops informed Abba Peter about their fellowship with Abba Acacius and that they had taken part in the liturgy with him. Abba Peter accepted the letter and ordered that Abba Acacius be mentioned in the liturgies and the prayers of the Coptic church.
When the news reached the bishops of Rome, they exiled St. Acacius from Constantinople. He remained in exile until he departed in peace, all the while remaining firm in his Orthodox Faith.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of St. Macarius, the martyr.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day, we also commemorate the consecration of the church of the Saints Cosmas and Damian; their brothers, Anthimus, Leontius (Londius) and Euprepius (Abrabius); and their mother Theodata.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church cosmas damian brothers mother" } ], [ { "id": 91, "action": "This day marks the departure of St. Peter Elrahawy (the Iberian), Bishop of Gaza. He was born in the year 409 A.D. in the City of Raha (Edessa) to a noble family. When he was twenty years old, his parents gave him to the Emperor Theodosius II, to be one of his attendants. But because he had forsaken the world and its glories, he practiced asceticism and worship while living in the king's palace. He had parts of the relics of the holy martyrs of Persia with him.
Abba Peter left the royal court and became a monk in a monastery. He fought a great spiritual fight. Shortly after, they ordained him Bishop of Gaza and its surroundings, against his will. It was said that when he celebrated his first Liturgy, blood flowed from the Holy Body and filled the Paten.
Abba Peter took the body of St. James, the mangled, and relocated it to a monastery in the city of Raha. When Marcian the Chalcedonian Emperor, started persecuting the Orthodox Bishops, Abba Peter took the body of St. James and came to Egypt where he dwelt in a monastery in El-Bahnasa. There he met the holy man Abba Isaiah the Egyptian.
After the end of Emperor Marcian's reign, Abba Peter went back to the land of Palestine and went on confirming the believers.
One day while he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy, a few of the people present in the church were conversing about earthly matters and were distracted from listening to the prayers. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and reproached him because he did not admonish those who were talking in the church.
Emperor Zeno heard of him and longed to see him, but was not able to do so because Abba Peter did not like the glory of this world. Abba Peter went to the area between Jerusalem and Damascus in Palestine, called Gaur.
On the feast day of St. Peter, 17th Pope of Alexandria, Abba Peter celebrated the Divine Liturgy during which St. Peter appeared and told him, \"Christ the Lord is calling you to be with us.\" Abba Peter called the people and commanded them to be firm in their Orthodox Faith, then he stretched out his hand and delivered up his soul in the hands of the Lord.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, is the commemoration of the consecration of the church of the great saint, Abba Shenouda (Shenoute) the Archimandrite.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church shenouda" } ], [ { "id": 92, "action": "The Departure of the Saint Abba Hor, the Monk
This day marks the departure of the saint Abba Hor, the monk. This father was a native of the city of Abraht, district of Ashmunein. He was a chosen monk that surpassed many saints in his worship. He loved the solitary life so he lived in seclusion in the desert. Satan envied him, so he appeared to Abba Hor and told him, \"In the desert you can conquer me because you are alone here, but if you are brave, go to Alexandria and I will tempt you there.\" When Abba Hor heard that, he rose up immediately and went to Alexandria. He remained there for a while drawing water for the prisoners and the shut ins.
One day horses were galloping in the middle of the city, one of them hit a child and killed him immediately. Saint Abba Hor was standing where the child was killed. Satan entered the hearts of some of the people who were standing around and made them shout saying, \"The killer of this child was that old monk.\" Several people were passing by and heard that. They gathered around and mocked Abba Hor. The saint, Abba Hor, was not disturbed. He took the child in his arms, while praying to the Lord Christ in his heart, then he made the sign of the honorable Cross over the child. The child's soul returned to him, and Abba Hor delivered the child to his parents.
The people standing around marvelled and glorified God, and their hearts and minds turned toward Abba Hor. Being afraid of vainglory, he escaped to the desert and stayed there in one of the monasteries for the rest of his days.
When his departure from this futile world drew near, he saw the company of saints calling him. He rejoiced exceedingly. He sent for his disciples, commanded them to remain in the path of the ascetic life, and told them that he was about to depart to the Lord Christ. They were sorrowful for his departure, and felt that they would be orphans without him. After a short sickness, he delivered up his soul in the hands of the Lord.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "hor monk" } ], [ { "id": 93, "action": "The Entrance of Saint Mary into the Temple at Jerusalem
On this day we commemorate the entrance of our holy Lady, the Virgin, Saint Mary, the Theotokos, into the Temple when she was three years old, for she was dedicated to God. Her mother, Anna (Hannah), was childless. The women who were in the Temple stayed away from her. She was exceedingly sad and so was her husband Joachim who was a blessed old man. She prayed to God fervently and with a contrite heart saying, \"If You give me a fruit, I will devote the child to Your Holy Temple.\" God answered her prayers and she brought forth this pure saint and called her Mary.
She reared her for three years, after which she took her to live with the virgins in the Temple. Saint Mary dwelt in the sanctuary for 12 years. She received her food from the hands of the angels, until the time when our Lord Christ came into the world, and was incarnated through her, the elect of all women.
When she had completed 12 years in the sanctuary, the priests took counsel together concerning her, so that they might entrust her to someone who would protect her, for she was consecrated to God and they were not allowed to keep her in the temple after this age. They decided that she be engaged to a man who could take care of her and who would look after her.
They gathered 12 righteous men from the house of David of the Tribe of Juda so they might place her with one of them. They took their staffs inside the Sanctuary, and a dove flew up and stood on the staff belonging to Joseph the carpenter who was a righteous man. They knew that this was God's will.
Joseph took the holy Virgin St. Mary, and she dwelt with him until Gabriel, the Angel of the Lord, came to her and announced to her that the Son of God was to be incarnated from her, for the salvation of Adam and his posterity.
Her intercession be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "entrance mary into temple jerusalem" } ], [ { "id": 94, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Andrew the Apostle, the Brother of St. Peter
On this day, St. Andrew the Apostle, the brother of St. Peter, was martyred. He was chosen to go to the city of Lydd and to Kurdistan. He entered the city of Lydd, where most of its people had believed at the hands of St. Peter. He was accompanied by his disciple, Philemon, who had a sweet voice and was a good reader. St. Andrew commanded Philemon to go up to the pulpit and read.
When the priests of the idols heard of the arrival of Andrew the Apostle, they took their spears and went to the church. They stood outside the church to hear if he was cursing their gods or not. They heard Philemon reading the words of David the Prophet, \"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak: eyes they have but they do not see: They have ears, but they do not hear: noses they have, but they do not smell: They have hands, but they do not handle: feet they have, but they do not walk: nor do they mutter through their throat. Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them.\" (Psalm 115:4-8)
Their hearts rejoiced because of his sweet voice and their emotions mellowed. They entered the church, and bowed down at the feet of Andrew the Apostle. He preached to them and they believed in the Lord Christ. Then he baptized them with the rest of those who worshipped idols. Andrew the Apostle, then left them and went to Kurdistan and to the cities of Aksis, Aregnas and Henefores, to preach there.
He also went with St. Bartholomew to the city of Azrinos. Its people were wicked and knew not God. They went on preaching and teaching them until they lead many of them to the knowledge of God, because of the signs and wonders they performed before them. Those who did not believe plotted against him. They sent for him so that when he arrived, they would attack him and kill him. When their messengers came to St. Andrew and heard his sincere teachings and saw his shining face, they believed in our Lord Christ and did not return to those who had sent them. The unbelievers decided to go to him and burn him. When they gathered around him to do what they had intended, the Apostle prayed to the Lord, and immediately fire came down from heaven and surrounded them. They were terrified and believed.
The report of St. Andrew the Apostle, was heard throughout all these countries and many believed in the Lord. Nevertheless the priests of the idols did not cease looking for him in order to kill him. Afterwards, they gathered and went to him; they bound him and beat him severely. After they dragged him around the city naked, they cast him into prison, so that they might crucify him the following day. Their custom was to stone those who were to be killed by crucifixion. The Apostle spent his night praying to God. The Lord Christ appeared to him and strengthened him saying, \"Do not fear or worry for the time of your departure from this world is near.\" He gave him peace and disappeared. St. Andrew's soul rejoiced for what he saw.
On the next day, they hanged him upon a tree and stoned him until he departed. Certain believers came and took his holy body and laid it with great honor in a private grave. Many signs and wonders were made manifest from his body.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "andrew apostle brother peter" } ], [ { "id": 95, "action": "On this day is the commemoration of the righteous Prophet Nahum, one of the minor 12 prophets. He was born in the village of El-Kosh, one of the villages of Galilee. He was of the tribe of Simeon, among the prophets, he was the 16th from Moses down. He prophesied in the days of Amaziah the son of Joash, and in the days of Azariah, his son.
He rebuked the children of Israel because of their worship of idols and he revealed to them that although God, the most High, is compassionate and abundant in mercy, yet He is a jealous God Who will take vengeance on His adversaries. He prophesied concerning the preaching of the Gospel and the apostles who should preach it, saying, \"Behold on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace...\" (Nahum 1:15)
Nahum prophesied about the destruction that would come upon Ninevah. That was fulfilled since God had sent an earthquake and a fire which destroyed and burnt up the people that returned from the way of righteousness and committed the sin. As for those who were straight in their ways, no evil nor harm befell them.
When he completed his days in a life pleasing to God, he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also St. Victor (Boctor) was martyred. He was born in a town, in the province of Assiut, east of the Nile. He was appointed a soldier in the city of Shaou (Shaw). During that time the Edict of Diocletian was issued to worship and raise incense to the idols. When St. Victor refused to worship the idols, the Governor of Shaou called him and tried to befriended him, but when he failed to persuade him, the Governor finally cast him into prison. His parents came and encouraged him to face martyrdom.
Once again the Governor brought him from prison and ordered him to worship the idols, but St. Victor refused. When the Governor of Shaou failed to make him renounce his faith in the Lord Christ, he was enraged. He sent him to the Governor of the province of Assiut, along with some soldiers, and a message informing him of what had happened.
When the Governor of Assiut read the message, he summoned Victor. When Victor came before him, the Governor asked him, \"Why did you disobey the Governor of Shaw? Know, if you listen to me, I shall place you in a high honor, and I shall write to the Emperor to appoint you as governor over one of the cities.\" The saint shouted with a loud voice, saying, \"The kingdoms of the world vanish, the gold perishes, the cloth wears out, the beauty of the body will corrupt and be eaten by worms and will disappear in graves, therefore I would not forsake my Lord Jesus Christ, Creator of Heaven and Earth, and the Provider for everyone, to worship idols made of stone which are inhabited by devils.\"
The Governor was enraged and ordered him to be tied to the tails of horses and be dragged to the village of Ebesidia. There, they asked him again to worship the idols, but he refused. The Governor ordered him to be killed by throwing him in boiling water in the village of Mosha (Monshah), east of the village of Ebesidia (Ibsidya).
When they took him there, Victor asked the soldiers to wait in order that he might pray first. He extended his arms and prayed to the Lord. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him and promised him with many promises, and the everlasting blessings in the kingdom of heaven. Then St. Victor looked to the soldiers and told them, \"Finish what you have been ordered to do.\" They bound him and cast him into the boiling water. He endured to the end, completed his good strife, and received the crown of the Heavenly kingdom.
Some Christians secretly recovered his body and hid it till the end of the Diocletian reign. When they revealed it, the people who saw it testified that they found the body whole, with not even one hair burned, and lying peacefully like a sleeping person.
They built a great church in his name, which still exists in the village of Mosha (Monshah), province of Assiut. Many wonders and signs were manifested from his body and still appear to this day.
His prayer be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Isidorus.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "isidore isidorus" } ], [ { "id": 96, "action": "On this day, of the year 970 A.D., the saint Anba Abraam, 62nd Pope of Alexandria, departed. This father was a descendant of the Christians of the East, whose name was Ebn-Zaraa the Syrian. He was a rich merchant who visited Egypt often, then finally settled there.
He was blessed with many virtues, including mercy to the needy. His reputation of righteousness and knowledge became well known. When the Patriarchal Chair became vacant, the bishops and the learned elders all agreed to choose him as Patriarch. When he sat on the chair of the See of St. Mark, he gave all his possessions to the poor and needy.
During his days, Cosman Ebn-Mina, the Coptic minister, was appointed a Governor over Palestine. Before his departure to his new position, he entrusted one hundred thousand dinars to the father, the Patriarch, asking him to hold them until his return. He asked the Pope to give the money to the poor, the needy, the churches and the monasteries, if he died there. When the news of the taking over of Syria and Palestine by Hafktin (Kormati), reached the Patriarch, he thought that Cosman had died. He distributed that money according to Cosman's instructions. But Cosman was saved from death and returned to Egypt. The father, the Patriarch, told him what he did with the money, and Cosman was glad and exceedingly happy.
Among his accomplishments was the abolition of some corrupt and erroneous customs. He prevented and excommunicated everyone who took bribes from anyone for the purpose of gaining a clerical position. He also strongly forbade the keeping of concubines. When the people who were practicing that knew his orders, the fear of God moved them, for they also feared that the Patriarch might excommunicate them.
They set all their concubines free and went to the Patriarch repenting, except for one of the rich men of the country. This man did not fear God nor did he heed the fact that this father, who chided him repeatedly and was very patient with him, would excommunicate him. He did not return from his evil way and was not afraid lest God should destroy him. In spite of that, this father did not slacken in teaching and rebuking him. Furthermore he humbled himself like Christ, his teacher, and he went to that man's house. When the man heard of the arrival of the Patriarch to his house, he shut the door and refused to let him in. The father remained standing at the door for two hours knocking but the man neither opened the door for him, nor did he speak to him. The father realized that this wretched man had intentionally separated himself from the flock of Christ and became a corrupt member.
The Pope saw it fit to cut him from the body of the church, so as not to corrupt the rest of the body. He excommunicated him saying, \"Let his blood be on his own head,\" and then the Pope shook off the dust from his sandals at the door of the house of that man. At this moment God manifested a sign before the eyes of those who were present, for the doorstep, which was made of granite, had split in two. Later on, the Lord showed his might, and the man lost all his wealth and he was fired from his position in disgrace. He became ill which led to his death in a horrible way. He became an example to the others; since many sinners learned a lesson and were afraid as a result of what happened to him.
During the days of this father, El-Mu'izz, the Khalifa, had a Jewish Vizier; his name was, Jacob-Ebn- Yousef, who adopted the Muslim faith (Islam). That minister had a Jewish friend (Ebn-Killis), who used to go with him frequently to the Khalifa and converse with him. That Jew took advantage of the favor that his friend had with the Khalifa, and found this to be an opportunity to ask for the presence of the father, the Patriarch, in order that he might have a debate with him. Abba Abraam came along with Anba Severus Ebn-EI-Mukafaa, Bishop of Ashmunein. El-Mu'izz ordered them to sit, so they sat down silently. He asked, \"Why are you not debating?\" Anba Severus answered, \"How can we argue in the presence of El-Khalifa, with a man who is less intelligent than an ox?\" El-Mu'izz asked for an explanation. Anba Severus said, \"God has declared by the mouth of the prophet, 'The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib: but Israel does not know.\"' (Isaiah 1:3) They debated that Jew and shamed him with all the unrefutable arguments that prove the soundness of the Christian faith. Then they left El-Mu'izz with great honor.
The minister and his Jewish friend were not able to bear the insults. So they sought the chance to take revenge of on Christians.
A few days later, the Jewish Vizier; Jacob-Ebn-Yousef went to El-Mu'izz and maliciously told him, \"Your royal highness knows that the faith of the Christians does not have a sound base. Their Bible states, 'If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move.' (Matthew 17:20) Prince of the faithful knows the falsehood of these sayings. And to verify this, we will summon the Patriarch to give us the proof that their Christ's sayings are true.\"
The Khalifa thought to himself, \"If the saying of Christ is true, that would be of great benefit to us, for the Mukatam mount is too close to Cairo. If the mountain can be moved away, that would make the position of the city greater than what it is now. If the saying is not true, that will give us the justification to persecute the Christians.\"
El-Mu'izz called the father, the Patriarch, and placed this saying before him, and asked for the proof of its soundness. The Pope asked for a three-day respite, which was granted. When the Pope left El-Khalifa, he gathered the monks and the bishops nearby and they all stayed in El-Mualaqua (the Suspended) Church in Old Cairo, three days fasting and supplicating God.
Before dawn of the third day as Abba Abraam dozed off out of sheer weariness, our Holy Lady, the Virgin, St. Mary, the Mother of God, appeared to him and told him to rise up and go to the street which leads to the market. There he would find a one-eyed man bearing a pot of water on his shoulder. She instructed Abba Abraam to tell him that he was the man designated by God to perform this sign.
This holy man's name was Simon and he was a Tanner. The father, the Patriarch, took him along with some of the priests, monks and people to see El-Mu'izz, who was out with the government leaders and the nobles of the city nearby the Mukatam Mountain. The father, the Patriarch, stood with those who were with him on one side and El-Mu'izz and his entourage stood on the other side.
The father, the Patriarch, and the believers prayed and knelt down three times, and every time they knelt, they said, \"Kirya-layson\" Lord have mercy. Whenever the Patriarch and the congregation lifted up their heads after each bow, the mountain would lift up and when they bowed down, the mountain was lowered down to the ground, and whenever they walked, the mountain moved before them.
A great fear came on the Khalifa and his companions and many fell on the ground. The Khalifa advanced on his horse toward the Patriarch and said, \"O great teacher, I now know that you are a holy man, ask whatsoever you wish and I will give it to you.\" The Patriarch refused to ask for anything; but when the Khalifa insisted, he asked the Governor to allow him to build churches, especially the church of St. Mercurius (of the two swords) which was in Old Cairo. He wrote him a decree permitting the building and the renovation of churches and he gave him a large sum of money from the treasury. The Patriarch thanked him and prayed for him, but he refused to take the money. As a result, El-Mu'izz revered and respected him more for his piety and righteousness. When they started building the church of St. Mercurius, some evil men prevented them from working, whereupon El-Mu'izz came to the sight and kept the troublemakers away. He remained there, standing until they completed laying the foundation.
This father renovated many churches all over the See of St. Mark. When he completed his course, he departed in peace after he sat on the chair for 3 years and 6 days.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also we commemorate St. Anatolius (Anatole - Patlas), the priest and martyr.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "anatolius anatole" } ], [ { "id": 97, "action": "The Departure of St. Matthew the Poor
On this day, St. Matthew the Poor departed. This father was the Abbot of a monastery in Aswan Mount. He had great virtues. The Lord granted him the gift of healing the sick and casting off of evil spirits.
Once they brought him a woman with an unknown sickness, which the doctors failed to cure, but he knew her problem through the Holy Spirit. He asked her to confess before those who were present. She confessed that she was married to two brothers at the same time, as a result, she was afflicted by that illness. The saint prayed for her and she was healed instantly.
He reached a degree of piety to the point that the beasts did not fear him and ate their food from his hand. When he finished his course, he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "matthew poor" } ], [ { "id": 98, "action": "On this day of the year 240 A.D., the holy father, Pope Heraclas, 13th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was born to pagan parents who believed and were baptized after his birth. They taught him the Greek philosophy, then the Christian wisdom. He also studied the four gospels and the epistles. St. Demetrius, 12th Pope of Alexandria, ordained him deacon, then a priest over the church of Alexandria. He was successful in the ministry and was faithful in all that was entrusted to him.
When Abba Demetrius departed, St. Heraclas was chosen as Patriarch. He shepherded the flock of Christ well. He converted many pagans and baptized them. He devoted his efforts to teaching, preaching and instructing the transgressors. He assigned to St. Dionysius the work of judging between the believers, and taking care of their affairs. Pope Heraclas sat on the throne of St. Mark for 13 years and departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also Sts. Barbara and Juliana, were martyred. Barbara was the daughter of a noble man from one of the countries in the east, called Dioscorus, during the days of Maximianus the Emperor, in the beginning of the third Christian century.
Because of his strong love for her, he built her a tower to live in. The saint always raised up her eyes to the sky from the top of the tower and contemplated the beauty of the sky and what was in it: the sun, the moon and the stars. She came to the conclusion that they must have an able and wise maker and that would be none other than the Almighty God who created them.
Origen, the scholar, happened to be in this area and was informed of the saint. He went to her and taught her the principles of Christianity.
There were two windows in the bathroom and she ordered a third one to be opened and a cross to be placed over the water basin. When her father came to see her and saw the changes that were done, he asked her for the reason. She told him, \"Don't you know, my father, that with the Holy Trinity everything is complete, and here are three windows in the name of the Holy Trinity. This sign is the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, wherein was the salvation of the whole world. I ask you, O my dear father, to turn away from the wrong way that you are in and worship the God Who created you.\"
When her father heard these words, he became angry, drew his sword and ran after her. She fled, and he ran after her. There was a rock in front of her that split into two halves and she went through. The rock then returned to its earlier state. Her father went around the rock and found her hidden in a cave. He jumped over her like a wolf, seized her and took her to Marcianus, the governor. The Governor talked to her kindly, promising her many things. Then he threatened her, but could not take away her love for the Lord Christ. Thereupon, he ordered her to be tortured with different kinds of torture.
There was a damsel called Juliana, who watched St. Barbara while she was being tortured and wept for her. Juliana saw the Lord Christ strengthening and comforting St. Barbara; she was enlightened and believed in the Lord Christ. They cut off her head and that of St. Barbara and they both received the crown of martyrdom.
St. Barbara's father perished shortly after and so did the Governor who tortured her. The water of the basin that had the cross over it in the tower had the power to heal everyone who washed with it.
They placed the bodies of these two saints in a church outside of the city of Galatia. Years later, they relocated the body of St. Barbara to the church in Cairo which is named after her to this day.
Their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also was the martyrdom of St. Esi and his sister Thecla. They were from the city of Abu-Sair, west of El-Ashmunein. St. Esi was a very rich man. He gave the money which he earned from the shearing of his sheep to the needy.
When Esi knew that his friend Paul, whom he visited often for trading, was seriously ill in the city of Alexandria, he went to visit him and remained with him until he recovered from his illness. They both agreed to visit the saints who were in prison because of the persecution. Some of the saints in prison prophesied that they would receive the crown of martyrdom.
That was during the time when St. Victor, the son of Romanus (Ebn-Romanus) came to Alexandria. When Esi and Paul knew of his good strife and of his renouncing of the world, they wished to follow his example. Esi went to the Governor and confessed the Lord Christ. The Governor ordered him to be tortured with the most severe kinds of torture such as making him take off his clothes, binding and squeezing him, then placing burning torches on his sides. They also ordered him to be cast on the ground and beaten with whips, and to dismember parts of his body. Through it all he was patient, and the Angel of the Lord strengthened him and healed his wounds. Paul, his friend, was crying and praying along with his servants for Esi's sake.
The Angel of the Lord appeared to his sister Thecla and ordered her to go to her brother. She went to the seashore and embarked on one of the ships. Therein, the Virgin, the Mother of God, and Elizabeth, her kinswoman, appeared to her and comforted her because of her brother. Elizabeth told her, \"I have a son; they beheaded him unjustly,\" and St. Mary told her, \"I have a Son whom they crucified with envy.\" Thecla did not recognize them at that time.
When she met her brother, they agreed together and went to the Governor confessing the Lord Christ. He tortured them severely on the squeezing wheel (Hinbazeen), burned them with fire, nailed them, and flayed the skin of their heads. But the Lord healed, strengthened, and comforted them. When the Governor became weary of torturing them, he handed them to his son, the Governor of the city of Antione (Ansena) in Upper Egypt. When they had sailed for a short while, the wind died down so the boat stopped. The Governor ordered the heads of Esi and Thecla, his sister, to be cut off and cast into the weeds and the wild plants on the banks. They did so and thus they received the crown of martyrdom.
The Lord commanded a priest called Abba Ori (Ari) from Shatanouf to go and take their holy bodies. As for Paul, Esi's friend, and Ablanius, the son of Thecla, they were martyred later on.
Their intercession be with us. Amen.
Also on this day the saint Abba Samuel, the head of El-Qualamon Monastery, departed. He was born in the city of Dakluba, diocese of Masil, from holy parents and he was their only child. Arselaos, his father, who was a priest, saw in a vision at night, a resplendent man telling him, \"Your son must be entrusted with a large congregation, for he is chosen by the Lord to be His all the days of his life.\"
Samuel was pure from his youth, like Samuel the prophet, and he was always harboring thoughts in his heart about the monastic life. One day he found a means to go to the desert of Scete, but he did not know the way. The Angel of the Lord, in the form of a monk, appeared to him and accompanied him as he was himself going to the monastery, until they came to the desert of Scete. There, the Angel delivered him to a holy man called Abba Agathon who accepted him as the Angel of the Lord instructed. Abba Samuel lived with Abba Agathon for three years in total obedience in every way. Later on, the holy old man Abba Agathon departed. Abba Samuel devoted himself to many prayers and fasting. He fasted a week at a time. He was ordained a priest over the church of St. Macarius in Scete.
An envoy came to the desert carrying Leo's Tome and when the envoy read it to the elders, Abba Samuel became zealous, with the zeal of the Lord. He jumped up in the middle of the gathered monks and seized the letter and rent it into pieces saying, \"Excommunicated is this tome and everyone who believes in it and cursed is everyone who might change the Orthodox faith of our Holy Fathers.\" When the envoy saw this, he became furious and angry. He ordered him to be beaten with pins and to be hanged up by his arms, and that his face be smitten. One of these strikes enucleated one of St. Samuel's eyes. Then he was driven away from the monastery. The Angel of the Lord appeared to St. Samuel and commanded him to depart and to dwell in El-Qualamon. He went there and built a monastery, lived in it for a while teaching those gathered around him and confirming them in the Orthodox faith.
When El-Moquakas heard about Abba Samuel, he came to him and asked him to recognize the Council of Chalcedon. When he did not listen to him, he smote him and expelled him out of the monastery. He went and lived in one of the churches and after a while he returned to the monastery.
When the Barbers raided the monastery, they took him with them on their way back to their country. He prayed to the Lord Christ to rescue him from them. Whenever they set him on a camel, the camel was unable to stand up with him on it, so they left him and he went back to his monastery.
When the Barbers raided the wilderness again, they took St. Samuel with them to their country. They had captured before Abba Yoannis the heagomen (Archpriest) of Scete. So they were joined together and comforted each other. The captive of Abba Samuel tried to persuade him to worship the sun. When he failed, he tied the leg of Abba Samuel to the leg of one of his maidens and sent them to attend to the camels. He intended for Abba Samuel to fall into sin with her and then he would submit to him, according to Satan's advice. Through it all, the saint was gaining more courage and became stout-hearted. He remained in these circumstances until the master's son fell ill and was close to death; Abba Samuel prayed for him and the boy was healed of his sickness. The news was spread all over this country and whosoever was sick came to him; he prayed over him and anointed him with oil and the sick were healed.
His master loved him exceedingly, he apologized and asked for Abba Samuel's forgiveness. He told him to ask for anything he wished. Abba Samuel asked to go back to his monastery. His master allowed him to return.
When Abba Samuel returned, many of his sons gathered around him and they increased in number until they became thousands. The Virgin, St. Mary, appeared to him and told him, \"This place shall be my abode forever,\" and from that day the Barbarians never attacked this monastery again. Abba Samuel wrote many discourses and articles. He prophesied concerning the coming of Islam to Egypt. When the time of his departure drew near, he gathered together his sons and commanded them to be strong in the fear of God, to walk according to His commandments and to fight for the sake of the Orthodox faith till their last breath. Then he departed in peace.
May His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the departure of St. Yustus, the monk of St. Anthony's monastery.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "samuel abbot el-qualamon monastery abba samuel confessor" } ], [ { "id": 99, "action": "The Departure of St. Poemin, the Confessor
On this day St. Poemin, the confessor, departed. He was from the village of Bani-Khaseeb, district of El-Ashmunein. He was the steward of a rich man, whose wife trusted him greatly. Because of his chastity and his righteousness, everybody loved him.
Because of his disdain for the vanities of this world, he left his work and went to a monastery in this city wherein he became a monk. When the rich man, his employer, knew about it, he and his wife went to him and asked him to come back to his job, for they were sorrowful for his departure. When he did not go along with them, they returned sad. The saint went on with his worship and asceticism, but he was not satisfied with that, and longed to become a martyr by the shedding of his blood in the Name of the Lord Christ, to Whom is the glory.
He went to Ansena and found many Christians were being tortured for the Name of Christ. He therefore went forward and confessed his faith. They tortured him severely by beating him, burning him, by dismemberment of his body parts, and by squeezing him on the Hinbazeen.
During all these tortures, the Lord Christ strengthened him and raised him up whole. While he was suffering in this manner, the era of worshipping idols came to an end; for Constantine the Just became emperor and ordered all those in prison, because of their faith in the Lord Christ, to be set free.
The Lord Christ appeared to this saint and commanded him to make known to all the saints in prison that the Lord, Whose Name be blessed, reckoned them among the martyrs and called them the confessors. Emperor Constantine sent for 72 of them in order to receive their blessings. They went to him along with St. Abanob, the confessor.
St. Poemin lived after that in a monastery outside the city of El-Ashmunein. God granted him the gift of healing the sick and these reports spread in all the surrounding districts. The Empress of Rome became sick with a grievous illness which was difficult to treat. She visited many monasteries and churches but she was not healed of her sickness. Finally she came to the city of Ansena, and the governor of the city and his men accompanied her to the place where St. Poemin was.
When they informed him of the Empress' presence and expressed to him her desire to see him, St. Poemin did not go out to meet her but said, \"What have I to do with the kings of the earth.\" When the brethren, the monks, besought him to go out to meet her, he did so. When she saw him, she bowed down at his feet. The saint prayed over some oil and anointed her and she was instantly healed of her sickness. The Empress offered St. Poemin much money along with several expensive gifts but he did not accept them, except for a few sacred vessels for the altar, a paten, a chalice, and a cross of gold. The Empress returned to Rome glorifying God.
There was a holy bishop close to St. Poemin while he was celebrating the feast of some martyrs with several believers in one of the monasteries. He knew that the Arian heretics took a false bishop and lead many people astray. The bishop went to St. Poemin and told him. St. Poemin took some monks and went where those heretics were. He debated with them, explaining to them their evil counsel, and the Lord dispersed them.
The saint went back to his monastery, until he became an old man. When he became sick, he gathered the brethren and advised them, telling them that his time was drawing nigh to be with the Lord. The brethren were sorrowful because of his approaching separation from them. When he delivered up his soul, the brethren swathed him and prayed over him. Many healing signs were manifested through his body.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "poemin confessor" } ], [ { "id": 100, "action": "On this day, the body of St. Severus, Archbishop of Antioch, was relocated to the Zogag Monastery. This holy man departed in the city of Sakha at the house of a righteous wealthy man called Dorotheus, where he was hiding. Dorotheus sent the body, in a ship, with trustworthy men to the Zogag Monastery, located to the west of the city of Alexandria.
He commanded them not to enter the bay but to use the lake until they came to the shore. When they came to Kartasa, facing north, they sailed towards the west, but they did not find water deep enough to sail their ship and the crew was saddened and worried.
God, the Lover of man, He Who saved the children of Israel from their enemies, and opened up a way for them in the Red Sea and made them pass over, this same God preserved the body of Saint Severus from those who hated him. God made manifest this miracle. He made the ship sail in shallow water for six miles until they arrived to the shore.
From there they took the body of the Saint, carried it to the Zogag Monastery and laid it in the place which Dorotheus had built for it. There was great joy in the city of Alexandria and God worked great signs and wonders through the body of His saint Abba Severus. God honored St. Severus after his death even more than during his life.
His blessings be with us. Amen.
On this day also the righteous St. Nicholas, Bishop of Mora (Myra), departed. He was from the city of Mora, his father's name was Epiphanius and the name of his mother was Tona. They were rich, as well as God-fearing, people. They had no children to bring joy to their hearts and to inherit their wealth after their deaths. They remained without a son until they grew old and they were enveloped with despair. God had pity on them and gave them this saint. He was filled with the Divine grace since his young age. When he reached school age, he demonstrated, through intelligence and knowledge, that he learned far more from the Holy Spirit than he did from his teachers. He learned all the doctrine and the teachings of the church since his young age and was ordained deacon.
Then he became a monk in a monastery wherein his cousin was the abbot. He lived an ascetic and a righteous life, and was ordained a priest when he was 19 years old. God gave him the gift to work signs and wonders and to heal the sick.
St. Nicholas is too illustrious to describe all the signs that were performed by his hands, but an example of his good deeds and benevolent works follows:
There was a very rich man in the city of Mora who lost all his wealth. He had three daughters who had passed the age of marriage, and he could not marry them because of his poverty. Satan tempted the man to think that he should make his daughters live in sin so that they might get their food by means of fornication. God revealed to St. Nicholas the thoughts which were in this man's head, and what he intended to do. St. Nicholas took 100 dinars of his father's money and tied it up in a sack. During the night, secretly and without anyone seeing him, he threw the money into the window of that poor man's house. When the man found the gold, he was astonished and rejoiced exceedingly and was able to give his eldest daughter away in marriage. During another night the saint threw another hundred dinars into the man's house and the man was able to give his second daughter away in marriage. The man wanted to know who this charitable person was. The third time when the saint threw the gold into the house, the man was watching and immediately when he felt the drop of the sack, he ran out of his house to see who was throwing the gold to him. He found the kind bishop St. Nicholas and the man bowed down at his feet and paid him great homage and thanked him because he saved his daughters from poverty and from a life of sin. The saint refused to accept any thanks and asked them to thank the Lord Who put this thought in his heart.
St. Nicholas drove out the devil and his angels from people, he healed many sick people, and he blessed little bread to satisfy many people, with much more left over.
Before being selected bishop, he saw in a vision, a great throne and magnificent vestments placed on it and a man said to him, \"Put on these vestments and sit on this throne.\" Another night he saw our Lady, St. Mary, giving him the vestments of the priesthood and our Lord Jesus Christ gave him the Gospel.
When the Bishop of Mora departed, the Angel of the Lord appeared to the Archbishop and told him the one who was chosen for this rank was Nicholas and described his virtues to him. When he woke up he told the bishops what he had seen, and they all believed that vision. They knew that it was from the Lord Jesus Christ. They took St. Nicholas and made him Bishop over the city of Mora.
Shortly thereafter, Diocletian reigned, and incited the pagan worship. When Diocletian arrested many of the believers, he heard about this saint. He seized him and tortured him severely for many years. The Lord Christ strengthened him, protected him, and raised him whole from all these tortures so that he might become a mighty branch of the tree of faith. When Diocletian was tired of torturing him, he cast him into prison. Saint Nicholas wrote to his congregation from prison to teach, encourage and confirm them in the faith. He remained in prison until God perished Diocletian and established the reign of Constantine the Just. Constantine brought out all the confessors from prison, among them was St. Nicholas, who returned to his city.
When the Council of Nicea convened in the year 325 A.D. to judge Arius, he was one of the 318 fathers assembled there.
Having finished his course and guarded his flock, he departed to be with the Lord. He sat on the episcopal throne for more than 40 years, and all the days of his life were about 80 years.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "nicholas confessor bishop myra mora" } ], [ { "id": 101, "action": "The Departure of the Saint Abba Pijimi
This day marks the departure of the saint Abba Pijimi. He was a native of Feesha, diocese of Masil. When he was 12 years old, and while he was shepherding his father's sheep, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the form of a young man and told him, \"Let us go and become monks.\" Abba Pijimi agreed and went with him to the desert of Scete; to a place where three elder monks dwelled, then the angel disappeared. The saint dwelt with them for 24 years until they departed.
Then he left that place and went into the desert, a distance of three days travel. The devils appeared to him in the form of wild beasts, pigs and serpents. They surrounded him to devour him. He was able to discern their intent by the spirit. He prayed and they were vanished. Then he lived in a valley there for three years, fasting a week at a time; and at the end of the week, he ate a handful of dates and drank a little water.
He prayed the Lord's prayer: \"Our Father, who art in heaven...\", he recited it day and night. Once he fasted for 40 days and another time he fasted for 80 days, to the point that his skin cleaved to his bones. Then an angel brought him bread to eat and water to drink. That bread and water lasted for many years.
Afterwards, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a vision at night and commanded him to return to his city. Abba Pijimi built a small cell on the outskirts of his city. He dwelt there alone, devoting himself to worshiping and asceticism. He became a good model and a good example for everyone who saw him. The people of his town came to him to be nourished with his spiritual teachings.
One day the angel of the Lord lifted him up and brought him to the land of Euphrates, for its people had gone out of the Orthodox way. He converted them all to the Faith and returned to his place.
Once he was carrying some baskets to the village to sell and he became weary and sat down to rest. The power of the Lord lifted him up with his baskets and carried him to where he wished to go.
One day the great saint Abba Shenouda saw an exceedingly shining pillar and heard a voice telling him, \"This is Abba Pijimi.\" Abba Shenouda went to him, walking until he came to Abba Pijimi's city. They recognized each other through the divine guidance. Abba Shenouda visited with him for a few days then returned to his monastery.
When the day of his departure from this world drew near, he called his disciple and informed him of his departure and commanded him to bury his body in the place where he was. He fell ill and was feverish and, while in this condition, he saw a company of saints approaching him. He delivered up his soul into the hands of God. The angels carried his soul and ascended with it, chanting hymns.
Abba Pijimi lived for 70 years, 12 years in the world and 58 in worship.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pijimi" } ], [ { "id": 102, "action": "On this day is the commemoration of the honorable angel Michael, the Archangel, who is standing before God the Almighty interceding on behalf of the human race saying, \"O Thou Who art not prone to anger, do not be angry. O Righteous One, have mercy on Your creation. O Thou Who is long suffering, do not destroy the work of Thy Hands.\"
His intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the great father Abba Hedra, Bishop of Aswan, departed. His parents, who were Christians, raised him and taught him the fear of God since an early age. When he was 18 years old, his parents wanted him to marry one of his relatives, but he refused with the excuse that he was ill. That morning he went to church early, prayed with the congregation asking the Lord Christ to reveal to him, through the readings of the scriptures, what was His will for him. He heard what comforted him.
When he left the church, he saw a deceased person was carried and on his way to the cemetery. He walked among the mourners, talking to himself saying, \"Listen Hedra, it is not this one that died but you yourself who died from this futile world.\" When they arrived at the cemetery and buried the deceased, he did not go back to his home but joined the monastery and lived among the monks.
When his family and friends heard what he did, they went and told him, \"In so doing you have brought grief to us and have saddened your fiancee's heart.\" They added, \"You can worship God in any place you desire.\" When they failed to change his mind, they went back with grief-filled hearts for his separation.
Henceforth St. Hedra went on in intense worship, asceticism, continuous fasting, uninterrupted prayers, and numerous metanias. He was a contemporary of St. Poemin and became his disciple. St. Hedra was guided by Anba Poemin's teachings and his good example.
Eight years later, he asked to live a solitary life in the desert. Anba Poemin asked him to read the biography of the great saint Anba Antonius (Antony) the father of all monks, in order to learn how to fight the evil enemy, Satan. When the elders allowed him, he went in the desert until he found a cave wherein he lived. He lived there for many years fighting the devil and his soldiers.
The devil tempted him frequently. One time the devil appeared with a sword in his hand and wanted to cut off Anba Hedra's hands. The saint cried to the Lord and the devil disappeared at once. One day he left his cave and when he came back, he found a huge dragon in the cave. He prayed to the Lord saying, \"My Lord and Master, if it is Your will for me to live with this beast, so be it\" He then looked at the dragon and found that it was cut into three pieces.
He was in a continuous war with the devils, awakened during the night and unsettled during the day, but the Lord saved him from them all. The defiled spirits cried saying, \"Woe to you Hedra for your prayers burnt us and expelled us from the wilderness.\"
He shut himself up in his cell. Nevertheless, they brought the sick and those with evil spirits to him, he prayed over oil, anointed them with it, and they were healed immediately.
Syrian monks came to him, asking about unclear issues in the Scriptures (Holy Books). He explained all to them and they marvelled at his knowledge, saying, \"We have been in many monasteries and mountains, visited teachers and philosophers, but we did not find anyone to explain these issues as St. Hedra did.\"
When the bishop of the city of Aswan departed, some of the people of the city went to the monastery. There they met the Syrian monks who praised St. Hedra highly. They went to St. Hedra and took him, against his will, and travelled to Alexandria. Anba Theophilus, Pope of Alexandria, ordained him bishop over them. When he sat on his chair, he went on preaching to his people and teaching them the way of life. He performed many miracles and lived the rest of his life in a good demeanor then departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
Today we also commemorate the departure of St. John the Confessor.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
Also on this day, of the year 249 A.D., a holy Council was assembled in the city of Rome. This was in the first year of the reign of Decius, the infidel, and during the days of Cornelius, Pope of Rome, Dionysius, Pope of Alexandria, Flavianus, Patriarch of Antioch, and Germanus, Archbishop of Jerusalem.
They assembled to judge Novatus (Benates), a priest who said that whoever denied Christ and forsook the faith in the time of persecution, will not be accepted when he repents. Those who committed fornication shall not be accepted when they repent. Abba Cornelius rebuked him for what he was saying, but he did not hearken. Abba Cornelius gathered a Council of 60 bishops and 18 learned priests and deacons of Rome to debate with Novatus his teachings.
These, he said were based on the words of St. Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews, \"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.\" (Hebrews 6:4-6)
The fathers replied and explained to him that the Apostle did not say this concerning the man who repents but concerning the man who intends to be baptized every time he is fallen into sin, for baptism can be carried on only once. Therefore, the Apostle went on saying, \"They crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put Him to an open shame.\" The Apostle here explains that since the crucifixion happened only once, so it is for baptism. As for the door to repentance, it is open to every repentant, otherwise everyone who falls in the sin of denying Christ or sins again will not be accepted even if he repents.
That would mean then that David's repentance was not accepted, and when Peter denied the Lord Jesus, his repentance also was not accepted. Therefore, the coming of the Holy Spirit upon St. Peter would be worthless also, setting him to shepherd His flock, invalid, and that would nullify every baptism he performed. On the whole, according to Novatus' opinion, everyone would have perished and that is extreme ignorance.
Christ the Lord came to the world to save sinners and to lead them to repentance for He said, \"Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.\" (Luke 13:3)
All those who gathered against Novatus advised him to abandon his erroneous opinion and repent for it. They told him, \"Do not be an enemy of God, yourself and of all mankind.\" Since Novatus did not relinquish his opinion, the Council exiled him, and excommunicated him and all those who believed in his word.
The prayers of those saints be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "assembly a council rome benates novatus priest" } ], [ { "id": 103, "action": "This day marks the martyrdom of St. Barsanuphius the monk in the early days of the Islamic era in Egypt. He lived in the church of Mari Mina in the old district of Cairo (Fum-El-Khaleeg). He worshipped God with dedication and piety. He fasted two days at a time, praying incessantly with numerous metanias.
Some wicked people accused him of cursing the judges and the Muslim sheikhs. They brought him and tortured him severely, then they finally cut off his head, thus St. Barsanuphius received the crown of martyrdom.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the father St. Abracius (Apraxios) departed. He was from upper Egypt and became a monk in one of the monasteries when he was 20 years old.
He fought a perfect fight until Satan grew tired of tempting him. Satan faced him saying, \"You still have 50 more years to live in this world,\" wishing by these words to cast the saint into despair. The saint replied, \"You have made me sorrowful for I have thought that I had another hundred years to live and I have slackened in my fight and in my worship. If this is the case, I have to fight harder before I die.\" In this way, he overcame the devil that tried to put slackness in his heart.
He fought strenuously and departed in peace in the same year after spending 70 years of worship and asceticism.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also we commemorate the consecration of the church of St. Misaeal, the Anchorite. While Abba Isaac, the head of El-Qualamoon monastery, was sitting in the monastery a young man came to him. Abba Isaac made the sign of the cross over his face as is the custom of the monks and allowed him to draw near. The young man came closer and prostrated himself before the saint and told him, \"My father, Abba Isaac, accept my weakness for the sake of the Lord Christ. Help me to save my soul and count me among your children.\" The abbot marvelled, for he called him by his name and asked him, \"Who told you about my name?\" The young man replied, \"The grace that dwells in you informed me.\"
The abbot asked Misaeal to sit down and he told him, \"May God Almighty make you a holy temple. And now tell me about yourself.\" The young man replied, \"My name is Misaeal. My father loved the world which kept him from worshipping God and he was sad because he did not have children. One day he hosted a holy old monk and expressed to him his sorrow for not having a child to inherit his wealth. The monk told him, 'Reform your way with the Lord, the Lover of mankind, Who will give you a blessed son.' He asked the monk, 'How can I go about that?' The holy old monk replied, 'Live a perfect life and live according to the commandments of the church that are required of the believers; do not stay away from the holy church and have a priest to consult with, in all your affairs. If you do that, you and your wife will have what you wish.'\" St. Misaeal said, \"My father did all that the holy old monk commanded, and his words were fulfilled and my mother gave birth to a son, me.\"
\"When I was six years old, my parents departed. The father, the bishop, took care of raising me, he also took care of my education and of managing my money. When I studied the Scripture, I longed for the monastic life, so I came here.\" The abbot was pleased as a result of what the young man, Misaeal, told him. He entrusted him to one of the elders in the monastery who trained him in asceticism, in worship and in the fight in the spiritual life. Afterwards, they put on him the garb of the monastic life and the holy Eskeem. From there on, he lived a solitary life in worship and asceticism.
One day, one of the brothers in the monastery came to Abba Misaeal. He found him standing up praying and when he knocked at the door of his cell, he opened it to him. They prayed together, blessed each other and sat discussing the ways to overcome the evil enemy. St. Misaeal told him, \"The devil flees away when our spiritual prayers are sincere and warm.\" After they ended their spiritual talk, they praised God and the brother left him. After a while that brother came to Abba Misaeal and found him praying saying, \"O Lord save me, look upon my meekness; wash me of my iniquities, for my mother and father have forsaken me but the Lord accepted me.\" When the brother saw how thin he was and how his skin cleaved to his bones, he cried and told Abba Miseael, \"Your body looks like it has been burnt.\" The saint told him, \"I thank my God for he has given me my eyesight and my hearing to read the Scriptures (Holy Books) and hear the word of God and he also gave me the strength to stand as I pray.\"
When the abbot of the monastery heard about St. Miseael's asceticism, he came to visit him. St. Misaeal told the abbot, \"My holy father, after three days some people looking like soldiers will come and ask you about me. Do not keep me away from them. Do not be afraid or sorrowful for it is the Will of God. Also you should know that a famine will happen next year and I shall come back to see you at that time.\" After a while, the people resembling soldiers came, took the saint and left.
The abbot listened to what the saint said and he bought much of the grain. As St. Misaeal predicted, the famine took place and wheat was in shortage. The Governor came with his men to take whatever grains he might find in the monastery. Soldiers appeared and prevented him from doing so and he went back empty handed. The abbot welcomed those soldiers, thanked them and offered them food to eat. They told him, \"We do not need any of that food.\" One of the them came forward, took the abbot's hand, and took him aside and told him, \"I am your son Misaeal and those people who look like soldiers are hermits who came last year and took me with them. I ask you now to go to Abba Athanasius, the bishop of my town where I was raised; tell him about me, and ask him for my father's money with which you should build a church in my name. Then call our father, the bishop, to consecrate it.\"
The abbot did as St. Misaeal asked. He went to the bishop and took the gold, the silver, many books and 500 heads of sheep from him. Besides, he also received fabrics, jewels and utensils that belonged to the saint. The abbot tore down the saint's old house, bought the land next to the house and built the church there. While the father, the Bishop, was celebrating the consecration of the church, St. Misaeal and the fathers, the hermits, came and attended the consecration prayers. St. Misaeal told the abbot of the monastery, Abba Isaac, that he would depart from this world in the following year. Then they went back to wherever they came from.
The prayers of these saints be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church misaeal misayil anchorite" } ], [ { "id": 104, "action": "On this day, Saints Behnam and Sarah, his sister, the children of Sennacherib, King of Persia, were martyred. One day Behnam was out with 40 of his slaves hunting in the wilderness. He saw a huge wild beast, so he went after it for a long distance, and he was separated from his slaves. Night fell upon him and he had to sleep in that place. During his sleep he saw someone who told him to go to St. Matthew who dwelt in that mountain and he would pray for his sister so that the Lord would heal her. His sister was afflicted with an incurable disease, she was leprous.
When St. Behnam woke up and was joined by his slaves, they searched for St. Matthew until they found him in a cave. He knelt between his hands, told him about the vision and they asked him to accompany them to the city. Behnam went before him to the city and told his mother about the vision and the presence of St. Matthew out of the city. Because of her love and trust in Behnam she allowed his sister to go with him in secret. When they arrived to where the saint was, he prayed for her and the Lord healed her. St. Matthew preached and taught them the way of life. He prayed also and a spring of water rushed forth and he baptized them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the one God, then he returned to his cave.
When King Sennacherib knew that his daughter was cured, he called her and asked her how she was cured. She told him, \"The Lord Jesus Christ granted me the healing at the hands of St. Matthew and not through the stars that you worship.\" The king became angry and threatened to punish them if they did not change their noble opinion.
During the night, St. Behnam and his sister decided to go together to St. Matthew before their deaths. While on their way secretly to the saint, surrounded by some of their friends, their father became aware of what they were about to do, and he sent his men after them. They found them on their way to the saint and they slew them. St. Behnam, his sister and their companions received the crown of life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
When the men that killed St. Behnam and his sister went back, they found the king possessed by an evil spirit, which tormented him painfully. The queen sent for St. Matthew, begging him to come. When he arrived, he prayed for the king and the Lord healed him immediately. The saint preached to them, and the king and his wife, along with all those in the city, believed. The king built a monastery for St. Matthew and placed the bodies of St. Behnam, and his sister, his children, in it. St. Matthew dwelt in it for a long while. The Lord worked many signs of healing and wonders through the bodies of Sts. Behnam and Sarah, his sister.
Their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also was the departure of St. Christodoulos the jeweler. He was from the city of Ayn-Shems. One day a beautiful woman brought him a broken vessel of gold and tried to tempt him. She uncovered her hands and told him, \"Make rings for these fingers, bracelets for these arms, a cross for this chest and earrings for these ears.\" He replied, \"Today I am ill and as for tomorrow, may it be the will of God.\" He closed his shop, went home and started rebuking himself saying, \"I am not any stronger than the saints Anthony the Great or Macarius or Pachomius and the others that escaped from this world and lived in the wilderness. O my soul escape from this world if you wish to be saved.\"
He recounted what happened to him to his mother and he asked her with flowing tears to allow him to go to the wilderness. She said, \"If this was the case, as you indicated, take me first to a convent where I can be a nun, and as for you, may the Lord be with you.\" He took her to one of the convents and entrusted her to the head of the convent. He gave her whatever money she needed, then he gave the rest to the poor and went toward the mountain.
After walking three days, he saw three men, each one with a cross in his hand and a shining light brighter than the sun shining from the crosses. He went to them, was blessed by them and then he asked them to advise him as to what he should do to save himself. They guided him to a valley which had fruitful trees and a spring of fresh water. He remained there for many years in continuous prayers, and readings of the psalms with many long fasts. He ate the fruits of the trees of that valley.
When satan failed to overcome him, he appeared to evil men, in the form of a barbarian, and told them, \"There is a great treasure in the valley. A man found it and is living beside it. Come with me, I will show it to you.\" They followed him to the mountain but they were not able to go down to the valley. The devil went in a monk's attire to St. Christodoulos and told him, \"On the top of the mountain, there are some monks who lost their way; they are tired and will die of thirst. Go to them and give them something to eat and drink so that they may survive.\" The saint made the sign of the cross over his face as was the custom of the monks and immediately the devil turned into smoke and disappeared. In this way, St. Christodoulos was always able to overcome the devil with the sign of the cross.
He increased in his worship and he lived until a good old age. When the day of his departure drew near, the three hermits who guided him to the valley came and prayed together. After they blessed each other they told him, \"The Lord sent us to write down your biography for the benefit of others.\" He told them all that had happened to him. After a short illness he departed in peace. They prayed over him and buried him.
His prayers be with us. Amen
Today also was the martyrdom of St. Simeon of Menouf in the days of the Arabs and the commemoration of the martyrdom of Saints Abba Hor and Abba Mina.
Their intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also the great father Abba Ammonius, Bishop of the city of Esna (Latopolis), was martyred. He was extremely well mannered since a young age and his virtues were well known. Anba Peter, Pope of Alexandria, ordained him a bishop over the city of Esna.
Because of his strong desire for a solitary life, he built a monastery at the foot of the mountain beside a spring of water. He prepared a cave for his stay all week and went down to church on Saturday. He served the Holy liturgy on Sunday, met with his people, preached to them and settled their disputes. He spent Monday with them also, then returned to his cave to continue his worship and asceticism.
During his days, many of his people were martyred. When Arianus the Infidel went to upper Egypt, on his way he persecuted Christians. He ordered them to worship idols and those who refused were tortured and slain. He continued doing that until he reached Esna, where he met four young men driving asses loaded with melons. One of the governor's soldiers asked them about their belief. They answered, \"We are Christians,\" so they seized them. When their mother knew what happened, she went in haste to encourage them saying to the soldiers, \"We love Jesus Christ and do not worship your despicable idols.\" The governor ordered that she be cast into prison.
In the middle of the night the Virgin, St. Mary, appeared to this mother and told her, \"Know that my Son the Savior and the Lord has called you and your blessed sons Sarous, Herman, Banouf and Bistay to the kingdom of heaven.\" St. Mary bid her peace then ascended to heaven. The next morning the governor summoned them and asked them to worship the idols but they refused courageously. As a result, he ordered that their heads be cut off. That took place on the 6th day of the Coptic month of Bashans. The believers took their bodies and hid them in their homes. Many wonders and signs were manifested through their bodies.
There were also four notable persons who worked as tax collectors in the city of Esna. While they were going over the account of their work with Arianus, one of them mentioned the Name of Christ. Arianus became enraged and ordered that they be tortured. When he saw their endurance, he ordered that their heads be cut off, so they received their martyrdom on the 6th day of the month of Baounah. Many were martyred along with them, women, men and monks.
When Arianus went to Armunt, two women called Thecla and Martha who were from Esna went there in hast and confessed Christ before him. Arianus addressed the people of Armunt around him and said, \"Why did you say that there were no Christians in your city?\" They investigated and found out that the two women were from Esna. They went to Arianus and told him that they were strangers and that they did not belong to their city which loved the emperors and the gods (idols). Arianus ordered their heads to be cut off, and that was on the 17th day of the month of Abib. As for St. Ammonius, the angel of the Lord appeared to him when he was in the desert and told him, \"Hail to you Ammonius, the Lord accepted your prayers on behalf of your people and prepared crowns for you. Arise, go down and preach to them and instruct them to be steadfast in confessing the Lord Christ.\" The angel bid him peace and departed.
The saint arose and went down immediately to the city. He gathered the people, preached to them and informed them of what the angel had told him. They all cried out saying, \"Our father, we are ready to withstand any suffering in the Name of the Lord Christ, even unto death.\" That took place on the feast of St. Isaac, so he took his people up to the Mount of Katoun, which means the mount of good things, to celebrate the feast there.
Arianus departed from Armunt to a village called Helwan, west of Esna. All its citizens came out and confessed the Name of Christ before him. He ordered them beheaded and they received the crown of martyrdom. Then Arianus entered Esna and wandered in its streets which were empty until he came to the southern gate which is called the gate of thanksgiving, because Anba Armanius had prayed there with his people, the prayers of Thanksgiving. There he found an infirm old woman who was left behind because she could not go up the mountain with them. He asked her about the whereabouts of the people of the city. She replied, \"The people heard that the infidel governor was coming to slay the Christians; so they went up to the mountain to celebrate the feast of St. Isaac before they faced martyrdom.\" He asked her which one of the gods she worshipped. She replied, \"I am a Christian,\" and she was immediately beheaded.
Arianus then went out of the city going towards Mount Katoun, passing on the way through the village of El-Mabgalah where he found a group of people who declared themselves Christians and those he promptly beheaded. He continued through the villages of Harmajahat and Seroya where he executed the Christians.
He executed every Christian he met in his way till he finally reached Mount Katoun where all the people greeted him with one accord shouting, \"We are Christians.\" Arianus threatened them and as this had no effect, he ordered his soldiers to draw their swords and to slay them all. Each one brought forth his daughter or his son to the swordsman saying, \"Go forward to the true bridegroom that does not die.\" They all went to death saying, \"We are going to the everlasting joy in the kingdom of heaven.\" They fulfilled their martyrdom on the 19th day of the Coptic month of Abib.
On their way back to Esna, the soldiers met three men who were crying, \"We are Christians.\" The soldiers told them, \"Our swords are dull from much use.\" So the men told the soldiers, \"Here are our axes.\" The soldiers took their axes and the men put their heads on a stone beside the western gate of the city. The soldiers beheaded them and the men received the crown of martyrdom. As for the bishop, Anba Ammonius, they seized him and brought him before Arianus, and in rage he ordered the saint to be tied behind the horses on their way to the boat which was sailing to Aswan. Then they threw him in the stern of the ship. Arianus brought him out every now and then and asked him to raise the incense before the idols but the saint refused. Finally he ordered his men to burn the saint who received the crown of martyrdom on the 14th day of the Coptic month of Kiahk.
The believers took his body which was untouched and unharmed by the fire. They shrouded it and hid it until the end of the era of persecution. When the people of his diocese came to transfer the body to their city, they heard a voice from the body saying, \"This is the place that God chose for me.\"
The prayers of all these saints be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "ammonius bishop esna latopolis" } ], [ { "id": 105, "action": "The Departure of St. Gregory, Patriarch of the Armenians
This day marks the departure of St. Gregory, the Patriarch of the Armenians who was a martyr, without bloodshed (A Confessor). This saint, as it was mentioned on the 19th day of the Coptic month of Tute, was tortured by Tiridates, the Armenian king, in the year 272 A.D. for disobeying the king and refusing to worship the idols. The king cast the saint into an empty pit where he lived for 15 years, during which God took care of him.
Near the pit lived an old widow, who saw, in a vision, someone telling her to make bread regularly and cast it into this pit. She continued to do so for 15 years. Because of the length of time, no one in his congregation knew if he was alive or dead.
When the king killed Arbsima, the virgin, and all the virgins who were with her, he also ordered that their bodies be cast away on the mountains. Later on he regretted what he did for he wanted to marry Arbsima.
When the king's family and close advisers saw how he grieved for killing St. Arbsima, they advised him to go out for hunting to recreate himself. While he was riding his horse the Devil jumped on him and cast him on the ground. King Tiridates became possessed with an evil spirit and assumed the appearance and manners of a wild boar, to an extent that no one was able to go near him safely. Many of the people of his kingdom had the same fate. Great fear and crying was heard all over the palace and the kingdom as a result of what had happened to the king and many others as a result of what the king did to the virgins.
The king's sister saw a vision on three consecutive nights. A man was telling her that unless she brought St. Gregory out of the pit, the King would not be saved nor would be cured. The people were surprised, since they believed that he was dead. They went to the pit and dropped a rope and called his name. When the saint moved the rope, they knew that he was still alive, they asked him to tie the rope around him and they pulled him out.
The people took the Saint with great honor to the palace. They asked him to heal the king of his sickness. The Saint asked him if he would go back to his evil deeds. When the king expressed no intention of going back to his evil works, the saint prayed for him, and the evil spirit departed from him. His personality and his mind were restored, but he was not completely cured. The nails of his hands and feet remained like those of a boar as a punishment and as a reminder to him of what he was and in order for him not to go back to his evil works.
The saint inquired about the whereabouts of the bodies of the virgins. He went and found them undecayed and he placed them in an honorable place.
St. Gregory cured all who were sick and cast out many devils. The king and his people believed. He taught and baptized them. He built many churches, ordained bishops and priests for them and he instituted laws for them to follow.
When he completed his strife, he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "gregory patriarch armenians" } ], [ { "id": 106, "action": "On this day, of the year 1349 B.C., the righteous Gideon, one of the Judges of Israel, departed. He was from the tribe of Manasseh and his father's name was \"Joash\". The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, \"The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor.\" (Judges 6:13) Gideon said to him, \"O my Lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about saying, 'Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of Midianites.\" Then the Lord turned to him and said, \"Go in this might of yours and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?\" So he said to Him, \"O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least in my Father's house.\" The Lord said to him, \"Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.\" Then Gideon said to Him, \"If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You Who talk with me. Do not depart from here, I pray, until I come to You and bring out my offering and set it before You.\"
He said, \"I will wait until you come back.\" Then Gideon went in and prepared his offerings and brought them out to Him and presented them. And they were accepted. (Judges 6:11-21) The Lord then commanded him to destroy the idols and their altars and to build an altar for the Lord and to offer the sacrifices and burn them with the wood, of which the idols were made. He did so as the Lord commanded him. (Judges 6:25-31)
When God commanded him to fight the Midianites, he asked Him to show him a sign to encourage him and said, \"Look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand as You have said.\" And it was so.
Then Gideon said to God, \"Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more; Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece. Let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.\" And God did so that night. (Judges 6:33-40)
Then Gideon and all the people who were with him rose up early and encamped opposite the camp of the Midianites. The Lord said to Gideon, \"The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people saying, 'Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.'\" Twenty-two thousand of the people returned and ten thousand remained.
But the Lord said to Gideon, \"The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' the same shall not go.\"
So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, \"Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.\" The number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men, but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water.
Then the Lord said to Gideon, \"By the three hundred men who lapped, I will save you and deliver the Midianites into your hand.\" (Judges 7:1-7) With this number of people Gideon overcame the Midianites and the people with him captured the loots and gave them to Gideon and they put him in charge of them. The Lord God was with Gideon in all that he did. He departed and was buried in the tomb of his father.
His prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this days also, St. Harouadi, St. Ananias and St. Khouzi, who were from El-Fayyoum (in other texts, Akhmim), were martyred.
Their prayers be with us all. Amen.
Also, on this day is the commemoration of the consecration of the church of St. James the Persian, known as the mangled.
His prayers be with us all and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church james persian" } ], [ { "id": 107, "action": "The Commemoration of the Departure of St. Luke the Stylite and the Relocation of His Holy Relics
On this day we commemorate the departure of St. Luke, the Stylite, and the relocation of his holy relics. He was born in Persia, to Christian parents. He became a soldier and was promoted until he became a centurion (an officer over a hundred soldiers).
Later in his life, he wanted to live a solitary life. He left the world and all its vainglory and became a monk in one of the monasteries of the east. When his virtues were known, he was ordained a priest for that monastery.
From this time on, he devoted himself to the ascetic life in continual prayers and fasting. He used to fast six days at a time and then break his fast on the seventh day after Mass, by eating a \"Korbana\" and some green pulses (beans). Then he lived on the top of a high rock for 3 years. One day, he heard the voice of an angel calling him by his name to go down. When he went down, the angel showed him a cross of light. He followed the voice and the cross went before him until he came to some mountains. There he stayed for some time, teaching his visitors the way of salvation.
He was inspired by God to go near Constantinople. He went and dwelt in a village nearby, on the top of a rock, in the shape of a pillar, for 45 years fighting the spiritual fight. God granted him the gift of prophecy and the gift of performing miracles. He healed everyone who went to him.
When he completed his holy course, he departed on the 15th day of Kiahk. His disciple went and told the Patriarch about his departure. The Patriarch went with the priests, crosses and censors and came to where the body of the saint was. They carried him to Constantinople on the third day of his departure, with hymns and prayers, and they placed him in the sanctuary and that was on the 17th day of Kiahk. After they prayed on him the third day prayer and the believers present received the blessing of his pure body, they put him in a marble sarcophagus next to the bodies of the saints. God revealed many signs and miracles from his body.
His prayers be with us all and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "luke stylite relocation holy relics" } ], [ { "id": 108, "action": "On this day, the relics of the great St. Titus, the Apostle, and the disciple of St. Paul, were transferred from Crete to Constantinople at the order of Emperor Constantine the great. When Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity, he paid his attention to the affairs of the churches in his empire, decorating them with the best paintings and precious stones, especially those churches in Constantinople, the capital of his empire. He also wanted to enrich the churches with the precious spiritual jewels, by collecting the relics of the saintly apostles and the honored
martyrs.
When he heard that the relics of St. Titus were on the island of Crete, he sent some bishops there, and they carried the relics with great honor and brought them to Constantinople. He built for it a splendid sanctuary, placed the body in a coffin which was placed inside the sanctuary.
God honored this saint by manifesting many miracles and signs from his sacred relics. Among them, when they carried the relics to the Sanctuary (the Hekal) of the church, the stone coffer fell on and broke the foot of one of the carriers. The man took some of the oil of the lamp (Kandeel) that was hanging in front of the icon of the saint, and anointed his foot with it, then wrapped it.
He remained in the church that night beside the coffer, for he could not go to his home. The following morning, his foot was cured. What remained on it were only traces of blood. He and all those who saw him marvelled. He washed the blood and walked on his feet as usual without pain, glorifying the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the One God, and witnessing to this miracle.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the church commemorates Saint Heracleas, the martyr, and the hermit, St. Philemon the priest.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "heracleas martyr philemon priest" } ], [ { "id": 109, "action": "The Departure of St. John, Bishop of El-Borollos Who Gathered the Biographies of the Saints (The Synaxarion)
On this day St. John, Bishop of El-Borollos, departed. He came from a wealthy family and from priestly ancestors. His parents were charitable and gave generously to the poor. When they died, St. John took the money they left and built a hostel for strangers. He gathered the sick, served them himself, and offered them what they needed.
Once a monk visited him and saw his good deeds, he praised him and praised monasticism in his presence, showing him its honor. The saint was attracted to the monastic life and he had a deep love in his heart for it. After the monk departed, the saint distributed his wealth among the poor and went into the wilderness of \"Shiheet\" (Scetis). He became a monk under the guidance of St. Daniel the archpriest of the wilderness. St. John was known for his zeal for worship and for his great asceticism. He lived alone in a secluded building. Satan and his soldiers envied his good deeds, and they gathered against him and painfully beat him. He was sick for so many days, after which the Lord Christ healed him. He regained his strength and overcame the devil.
God then called him to become a bishop of Borollos. At this time, there were some heresies and he made a great effort to eradicate them, and converted the heretics to the Orthodox Faith. Also in his time, a monk from upper Egypt claimed that he could reveal certain things which were imparted to him by the Archangel Michael, and he misled many by his deception. St. John saw that the monk's deeds were from the devil. He commanded that the monk be beaten until he confessed his sins and he drove him out of the country. Another claimed that Habakkuk, the prophet, appeared and revealed hidden things to him and, as a result, he was followed by many. St. John drove him out of the country, after he had exposed his deception. He also put an end to the use of several bad books.
Every time this saint went up to the sanctuary (Hekal) to serve the divine liturgy, his face and all his body were flushed red, as though he came out of a fiery furnace, and his tears poured heavily on his cheeks, for he was beholding the heavenly hosts on the altar. Three times when he placed his finger in the chalice to make the sign of the Cross during the fraction prayer, he found that the cup was as hot as fire.
Furthermore, in his days, some infidels were partaking of the Holy Mysteries without having fasted. The saint rebuked them, but since they did not hearken to him, he excommunicated them and forbade them from the fellowship of the church. When they disobeyed his order, he entreated God, so fire came down from heaven, and the fire burned their leader. Fear fell upon the rest and they repented.
When the Lord wanted to repose him from the toil of this world, He sent to him St. Antony and St. Macarius to tell him of the day of his departure. He called his people and commended them then departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "john bishop el-borollos who gathered biographies synaxarion" } ], [ { "id": 110, "action": "The Departure of the Upright Haggai the Prophet
On this day, the upright Haggai, the Prophet, departed. This righteous man was a descendant of Aaron, the priest, and from the tribe of Levi. He was one of the twelve minor prophets. When King Nebuchadnezzar captured the Jews of Jerusalem and took them to Babylon, the parents of this prophet were among them, and he was born in exile. This prophet returned to Jerusalem along with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah and the rest of the people of Israel. He prophesied in the second year of the reign of Darius, King of Persia, who reigned in the year 3484 of the world and that was 15 years after the return of the people of Israel from the Babylonian exile.
This prophet directed his prophecies by the command of God to Zerubbabel, then to Joshua the son of Jehozidak, the high priest. He incited the Jews to complete the rebuilding of the temple of Solomon, the son of David. They had started rebuilding the temple after they returned from captivity, then they abandoned it to build their own homes. The prophet rebuked them saying, \"Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses and this temple to be in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, 'Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag of holes.'\" (Haggai 1:4-6) Those who were upright amongst the people of Israel feared the threats of the Lord and built the house of the Lord as they were supposed to. Haggai the prophet had announced to the people after they finished building it, that the Lord was pleased by that.
This prophet lived more than 70 years, and he was 430 years before the advent of our Lord Christ. He departed in peace and was buried in the tomb of the priests in Jerusalem.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "upright haggai prophet" } ], [ { "id": 111, "action": "On this day the church celebrates the commemoration of the pure lady, the Virgin, St. Mary, the mother of Light, the mother of the Savior of the world.
Her intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Barnabas, one of the seventy apostles, was martyred. He was from the tribe of Levi. His ancestors left Judea long before he was born and moved to the island of Cyprus. His name was Joses. Our Lord, to Whom is the glory, gave him the name \"Barnabas\", which means son of \"encouragement\" or \"consolation\", when He called him to become an apostle. He received the gift of the Holy Spirit in the upper room with the disciples. He preached the gospel with them and witnessed to the Name of Christ.
He had a field which he sold and brought the price and placed it at the feet of the apostles. (Acts 4:36-37) The apostles honored him for his many virtues and for his honesty. When St. Paul believed in the Lord Christ, St. Barnabas presented him to the rest of the disciples in Jerusalem, three years after his conversion. St. Barnabas told the apostles how the Lord appeared to St. Paul near Damascus and attested to his zeal before them. The apostles accepted St. Paul in their fellowship. The Holy Spirit said to the disciples, \"Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.\" (Acts 13:2)
St. Paul and St. Barnabas travelled together to many countries preaching the Name of the Lord Christ. When they entered Lystra and St. Paul healed the man who was crippled from his mother's womb (Acts 14:8-18), the people of Lystra thought that they were gods, and they brought oxen and garlands to the gates intending to sacrifice them at the feet of the apostles. St. Paul and St. Barnabas forbade them and rejected the glory of men. They tore their clothes saying that they were men with the same nature as they.
After they travelled together to many cities, they were separated from each other. St. Barnabas took with him St. Mark and went to Cyprus. They preached there and converted many people to the faith of the Lord Christ and baptized them. The Jews resented them. So they falsely accused them before the governor. They seized St. Barnabas and brutally beat him, then they stoned him and finally burnt his body with fire. Thus, his strife was completed and he received the crown of martyrdom. After the people had left, St. Mark came and carried the body, wrapped it, and placed it in a cave in Cyprus. St. Mark then went to Alexandria to preach there.
The prayers of these two apostles be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "barnabas one seventy apostles" } ], [ { "id": 112, "action": "This day marks the commemoration of the honorable archangel Gabriel, the announcer, the consecration of his church in Caesaria and the appearance of many miracles in it.
He was the angel who was sent to the Virgin Mary to announce her with the glorious birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. He came to her and said, \"Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you.\" (Luke 1:28) He also announced the birth of John the Baptist to Zacharias. (Luke 1: 11-22) As much as this announcement has of great joy and gladness, we should also rejoice in his feast and pray intently with supplications, asking for his intercession before God, to preserve us from being ensnared by the devil and to grant us salvation from our sins.
The intercession of this honored angel be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 611 A.D., St. Anastasius, 36th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was one of the great noblemen of Alexandria. Before he became a Pope, he was an overseer of the patriarchal court, then he became a priest for the church of Alexandria. Shortly afterwards, he was chosen to be Pope.
He devoted much of his attention to the churches and he ordained bishops and priests to fill the vacant posts. He built several churches and regained from the \"Melkites\" (those who were appointed by the Roman Emperor) those that they took over by force. Because he was loved by them for his knowledge, virtues and righteousness, he brought many of them back to the Orthodox faith.
When the Emperor of Constantinople died, some wicked people spoke evil of the Pope to his successor, that when the Pope was ordained he anathematized (excommunicated) the Emperor and his belief. The Emperor was enraged and sent to the Governor of Alexandria, commanding him to take the church of \"St. Cosmas and St. Damian\" and all its properties by force and to give it to the Roman Patriarch \"Ologius\". St. Anastasius was exceedingly sad, but the Lord comforted him in another matter.
Peter, the heretic, Bishop of Antioch, died. A well informed saintly monk called Athanasius of the Orthodox Faith was ordained in his place. As soon as Athanasius became Patriarch, he renewed the union between the Church of Antioch and the Church of Alexandria. He wrote an epistle, stating in it his Orthodox faith, and sent it to St. Anastasius, who rejoiced and gathered the bishops and the priests and read it to them. He wrote back to Abba Athanasius indicating his desire to see him.
Abba Athanasius went to Alexandria with his bishops and priests. When Abba Anastasius learned of his arrival, as he was in \"Scetis\", he departed to Alexandria. He went directly to the sea along with the bishops and priests to receive Abba Athanasius and welcome him to Alexandria with great respect and honor. They held a council in one of the monasteries that was at the sea coast, which lasted one month, to discuss the doctrines of the church. Then, the Antiochian Patriarch went back to his See in peace.
St. Anastasius continued to teach his flock in person and through his books. Because of his great knowledge, he was able to write a book every year. He remained on his throne for 12 years, 6 months and 10 days. During this period, he wrote twelve books and gave them the Coptic alphabet as titles. His first book was Alpha (&), his second was Beta (B) and so on, then he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "anastasius 36th pope" } ], [ { "id": 113, "action": "On this day, of the year 2990 of the world, the great King and the saintly honored prophet David, the son of Jesse, departed.
He was the second king over the children of Israel and the first among their kings to walk in virtue and in justice. He was from the tribe of Judah from Bethlehem. God chose him to be a king over Israel, when Saul, the son of Kish, disobeyed the commandment of God.
God commanded the Prophet Samuel to anoint for Him one of the children of Jesse, a king over Israel. Samuel chose the eldest son who had a good appearance and was tall in stature, but God rejected him and said to Samuel, \"Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.\" (I Samuel 16:7)
Jesse called all his sons and showed them to Samuel and he chose David and anointed him king. God was with him in all his ways, for his purity of heart and his meekness. He overcame Saul who wanted to kill him on several occasions. Once Saul went out to kill David and he went into a cave to attend to his needs. David came to him secretly and cut off a corner of Saul's robe (I Samuel 24:4) to show him that he wouldn't stretch his hand to kill him. Another time David found him sleeping and he took his spear and a jug of water that was by his head and did not hurt him and spared his life for the second time. (I Samuel 26:1-25) When David's men told him to destroy Saul, David said, \"The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed.\" (I Samuel 26:11)
When a man announced to David the news about the death of his rival Saul saying, \"I stood over him and killed him,\" David took hold of his own clothes and tore them and he mourned him. David called one of the young men and said, \"Go near and execute him,\" (2 Samuel 1: 11-15) and he struck the man so that he died.
God honored this Prophet over all mankind, for he had many virtues. Besides the virtue of humility, he was a prophet, a righteous man, and a just king. In spite of that, he called himself a \"dead dog\" and a \"flea\". (I Samuel 24:14) God praised him by saying, \"I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.\" (Acts 13:22; Psalms 89:20; 1 Samuel 13:14) God protected Jerusalem for his sake during his lifetime and after his death, and He made the kings of the people of Israel from his seed, and He called Himself \"his Son.\" He prophesied in the Book of Psalms, which is a book full of useful teachings and good instructions. David's might and power were supported by God. When he was young and guarding his father's sheep, once a bear and another time a lion attacked his sheep and David killed both the bear and the lion.
When the army of Israel faced the army of the Philistines and Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, whose height was six cubits and a span, and who was armored with a bronze helmet on his head and a coat weighing five thousand shekels of bronze, and he had bronze grieves on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders and the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; Goliath went out, stood up and cried out to the armies of Israel, \"I defy the armies of Israel this day; give us a man that we may fight together.\" The Philistine presented himself for forty days, morning and evening. All of Israel heard these words and were dismayed and greatly afraid.
When David came to visit his brothers and brought provisions to their camp, he saw and heard Goliath. David was moved with divine zeal and said to him, \"You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the Name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.\" David took out a stone and he slung it and he struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank in his forehead and he fell on his face to the ground. David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and cut off his head and removed the reproach of Israel. (I Samuel 17)
David lived 70 years, 30 years of which were before he became a king. He was born one thousand, one hundred and twenty years before Christ.
His prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, the fighter, St. Timothy the Anchorite (Pilgrim), departed. He was born of God-loving parents, who educated and raised him according to the church disciplines. He desired the monastic life and became a monk in one of the monasteries. He loved the solitary life and lived in a cell alone near the monastery. He lived there for some time, making a living from his handiwork.
The enemy of everything that is good tried to deceive him by appearing to him in the form of a nun who approached him to buy his handiwork. Because of her frequent visits, a special relationship developed between them. They sat to eat together at one table. After a short time, the saint realized the trick of the devil to make him fall in sin. He remembered the hour of death and the awesome nature of Judgement; consequently, he arose and took flight from that place. God guided him to another place with a spring of water and a palm tree. He stayed there
practicing worship and asceticism. He reached a great level in his ascetic life, to the extent that the wild beasts befriended him. This continued for 30 years, during which his hair became very long and spared him of wearing clothes.
When he finished his course and fought the good fight, he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "timothy anchorite" } ], [ { "id": 114, "action": "On this day, the honorable St. Ignatius, Patriarch of Antioch, was martyred. He was a disciple of St. John the Evangelist and travelled with him to many cities. St. John ordained him Patriarch of Antioch where he preached the life giving Gospel, converted many to the knowledge of God, baptized them, illumined them, and showed them the error of worshipping idols.
The pagans were enraged, they seized him and tortured him with various tortures. They put burning coals in his hands and pressed his hands for about two hours. Then they burnt his side with red hot pitch and burning oil. They combed his body with iron combs. When they became tired of torturing him, they cast him in prison where he stayed for a long time. When they remembered him, they brought him out and promised him great rewards and then threatened him. As he was steadfast in his faith, they threw him to the wild beasts and they devoured him and rendered him into pieces. He delivered up his pure spirit in the hand of the Lord Whom he loved.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Philogonus, Patriarch of Antioch, departed. This saint was married and had a daughter. When his wife died, he became a monk. For his great virtue, his bountiful knowledge, his ascetic life, and his deep devotion, he was chosen Patriarch over the city of Antioch. He shepherded the flock of Christ well and protected it from the Arian wolves and the followers of Macdonius and Sabilius.
As a patriarch, he lived in piety and asceticism, renouncing the world, and never owning one dinari or a second tunic. He completed his strife and departed in peace. St. John Chrysostom had praised him in his sermons.
His prayers be with us all. Amen.
Today also, we commemorate the birthday of St. Takla Haymanot (Thecla Hemanot), the great Ethiopian saint.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "birth takla haymanot ethiopian" } ], [ { "id": 115, "action": "The Departure of St. John Kama (Khame)
On this day, the great Saint John Kama departed. He was from \"Shubramento\" of the region of \"Sa\". His parents were God-fearing Christians and he was their only child. They forced him to marry against his will. When he entered his wife's room, he stood, prayed for a long time, then came near the young girl and said to her, \"My sister, you know that the world and all of its lusts will go away. Do you agree with me to keep our bodies pure and clean?\" She answered and said, \"My brother, the Lord's Name lives. This also is my desire and now the Lord has given me what my heart desires.\"
They mutually agreed to live together as brother and sister and to keep their virginity. When they slept, the angel of the Lord came and covered them with his wings. For their many virtues, God planted a vine for them which grew up and covered their place of sleep. That was a sign of their purity and holiness; for what they did was above human nature, that two young people, a man and a woman, would sleep next to each other without being driven by the lust of the flesh; for who can come near a fire and not be burnt, unless it is God's divine power and care that keeps them and preserves them.
When their parents saw that they lived together for a long time without having any children, they thought that this was due to the fact that they were young. One day John said to his wife, \"My sister, I desire to go into the wilderness to become a monk and I cannot do that without your permission.\" She gave him her permission and he placed her in one of the virgins' convents. There she became a virtuous nun and she performed many miracles, so they chose her to become the abbess of the convent.
As for St. John, when he left his town, the angel of the Lord appeared to him and guided him to the wilderness of Scetis \"Shiheet\". He went there and became a monk in the cell of Saint \"Darudi\" in the monastery of St. Macarius. He stayed with this saint learning piety from him until the saint departed.
Then the angel of the Lord told him to go west of the monastery of St. John the Short and to build a cell for himself there. He went and did as the angel commanded him. Three hundred brethren gathered around him and became his disciples. They built a church and a house with a garden for themselves and Saint John Kama taught them how to pray and the use of the \"Epsalmodia\".
One night, St. Athanasius the Apostolic appeared to them while they were singing the song of the three young men. St. Athanasius revealed many mysteries to him. Another time, St. Mary appeared to him and told him, \"This is my dwelling forever, and I shall be with them as I have been with you and this monastery will be named after me.\" The church of the monastery was named after the Virgin St. Mary.
Some of the monks of upper Egypt desired to be under the guidance of St. John Kama and they asked him to come to see them. He called a brother named Shenouda, and gave him the responsibility of caring for the brethren until his return. When he returned, he found that he performed the task perfectly.
When St. John Kama completed his course, he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "john kama khame" } ], [ { "id": 116, "action": "On this day, of the year 304 A.D., St. Anastasia, was martyred.
She was born in the city of Rome in the year 275 A.D., to a pagan father whose name was \"Britastanos\" and a Christian mother whose name was \"Flavia\". Her mother baptized her secretly without her father's knowledge and she brought her up in the teachings of the Christian faith. She was steadfast in her faith and no one was able to dissuade her.
When she was of marriage age, her father gave her in marriage to a pagan youth, against her wishes. St. Anastasia prayed to the Lord Christ with fervent supplications, asking Him to separate her from this pagan youth who was away from the faith.
When her husband left to go to his work, she also left to visit those who were imprisoned for their faith and she ministered to them, comforted them, and offered them whatever they needed. When her husband learned about this, he shut her up in the house and placed guards over her. She continued to pray and ask God with tears and supplications to save her from the hands of her husband. God answered her prayer and speeded up his death. She distributed her wealth among the poor and those who were in prison, the confessors and the strivers, for the sake of the faith. When her fame reached \"Florus\", the Governor, he brought her before him to inquire about her religion. She confessed that she was a Christian. He tried to entice her to leave her faith by promising her many precious gifts. When she did not listen to his promises, he punished her by torturing her with various tortures and when he became weary of her he ordered her to be drowned. She came out from the sea unharmed with the grace of God. When the governor learned that she was still alive, he ordered that she be tied up to four pegs on the ground and be beaten ferociously, then be thrown into a pit of fire. They did so until she gave up her pure soul and received the crown of martyrdom.
Her prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of St. Juliana the martyr.
Her prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "juliana martyr" } ], [ { "id": 117, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Anba \"Bisadi\" (Psote), the Bishop
On this day, the great saint Bisadi, the Bishop of \"Ebsay\", was martyred. When Emperor Diocletian heard that Anba Bisadi and Anba \"Ghellanicus\" were confirming the Christians in the faith and hampering the worship of idols, he sent to bring them before him. Anba Bisadi asked the messenger to give him a chance for one night. He went to the church and called his people and celebrated the divine liturgy and administered to them the Holy Communion.
He commanded them to be firm in their Orthodox Faith, then he bade them farewell and submitted himself to the Lord. He went with the messenger to Arianus, the Governor of Ansena, and when the latter saw his illumined face and his reverence, he had compassion upon him and said, \"You are a man of great dignity and you should have pity upon yourself and obey the command of the Emperor.\" Anba Bisadi answered and said, \"It is impossible for me to replace the kingdom of heaven with this temporal life.\"
After a lengthy negotiation with him, the Governor ordered Anba Bisadi to be tortured and then thrown in a very hot water bath. God preserved him and raised him unharmed and without any pain. The Governor then ordered him beheaded. Thus, he received the crown of life in the kingdom of heaven.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "bisadi psote bishop" } ], [ { "id": 118, "action": "The Martyrdom of 150 Men and 24 Women from Ansena
On this day, 150 men and 24 women were martyred. They were from the city of Ansena (Antione) and they worshipped idols. They came once to the Governor's place and they watched the torture of St. Paul the Syrian. The Governor ordered the soldiers to gouge out the saint's eyes with red-hot nails then they cast him in prison.
The following morning when they brought him, these men and women were present and they saw that his eyes were whole as they were before. They marvelled saying, \"No one can do this sign except God alone Who is the Creator of nature from nonexistent.\" They cried with one accord, \"We believe in the God of St. Paul.\" They came and bowed down at the saint's feet asking him to pray for them. He lifted them up and blessed them. Then they went before the Governor and confessed the Name of the Lord Christ. He ordered them beheaded and they received the crown of martyrdom.
Their intercessions be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "150 men 2 women from ansena" } ], [ { "id": 119, "action": "The Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Christmas)
On this day, of the year 5501 of the world, as calculated by our glorious church, we celebrate the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Incarnate God in the Flesh from the virgin St. Mary.
Through the Divine plan of God and His foreknowledge, Caesar Augustus issued a decree for a general census in all the Roman Empire. For that reason, Joseph rose, and the virgin with him, and went from the city of Nazareth to \"Bethlehem\" to be counted in the census there because he was from the tribe of Judah, from the house of David. Bethlehem was the city of David. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the Virgin gave birth to her first born child and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and put him in a manger, for they did not have a place for them in the inn.
Now there were, in the same country, shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, \"Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all the people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: you will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.\" Suddenly there was, with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
\"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.\"
So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, \"Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.\" And they came with haste and found the Babe, Mary, Joseph, and Salomi. The place was shining with light. Now when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child. Then they worshipped the child and they returned, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen. (Luke 2:1-20)
On this day, the prophecies about the birth of the Lord from a chaste virgin had been fulfilled. Isaiah the prophet said, \"Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call His Name Immanuel.\" (Isaiah 7:14)
Ezekiel the prophet also said about this wonderful mystery, \"And the Lord said to me, 'This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it, therefore it shall be shut.\"' (Ezekiel 44:2)
About this child, Daniel the prophet said, \"I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and the Kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.\" (Daniel 7:13-14) Jeremiah the prophet said, \"Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a Branch of Righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgement and righteousness in the earth. In His days, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His Name by which He will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.\" (Jeremiah 23:5-6) We must therefore now direct our minds toward the manger of Bethlehem, where the Son of God was lying in it in the flesh at the time of His birth, contemplating in silence and reverence worthy of the mystery of the incarnation of God, and His birth in a manger for our salvation. Knowing that He teaches us through this mystery to despise the world and all the vain things in it, and that He urges us to be humble and to love our neighbor seeking his own good, and that we should live in virtue and holiness according to the Christian ethics; not ignoring the great dignity that has been granted to us by this Divine Incarnation.
Since we have kept this fast before the Advent, and have arrived at this glorious feast, we should receive it with purity and every good thing. We should extend our hand to comfort the weak, to help the poor, and to be instruments of peace and reconciliation among the people, taking our Lord Who has made an eternal peace by His Incarnation as our example. We should ask God in supplications to have compassion upon us and to forgive our sins, and to bless our gatherings, and to keep the life of His Holiness Pope ... , Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, to keep his pontificate for many years with the joy, peace and the safety of the church, and the advancement of his people in virtue. May God grant us many returns of this feast, filled with the blessings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Who came for our salvation.
To Him be the Glory and Honor forever. Amen.
", "tags": "feast nativity our lord jesus christ christmas" } ], [ { "id": 120, "action": "The Departure of St. John, Archpriest of Scetis
On this day, St. John (Youannis), the archpriest (Heagomen) of Shiheet (Scetis) departed. When he was ordained archpriest for the monastery of St. Macarius, the whole wilderness was illumined by him and he became a father to many of the saints. Among those saints were Anba Gawarga and Anba Abraam, the two great stars, and Anba Mina, bishop of Tamai \"Tamuz\", and Anba Zacharias and many others, through whom many souls were saved.
Because of his holiness and his great piety, when he was administering Holy Communion to the people, he was able to recognize those who were sinners and those who were righteous. Several times he saw Christ and the angels surrounding Him upon the altar.
He once saw one of the priests, who was of bad reputation, coming to the church and the evil spirits surrounding him. When the priest arrived at the door of the church, the angel of the Lord came out from the sanctuary (Hekal) with a fiery sword in his hand and dismissed the unclean spirits. The priest entered the church and put on the service clothes and administered the liturgy and gave the Holy Communion to the people. After he was finished, he took off the service clothes and went out of the church, the evil spirits returned to him. This was what St. John said to his brethren the monks, to make them aware that there was no difference between a sinful and an unsinful priest in ministering the church sacraments. For it is for the sake of the people that the bread and the wine are transubstantiated to the Body and the Blood of Christ.
He told them a parable, \"As the picture of the emperor is imprinted on his seal that is made from iron or gold, and the seal is one, also the priesthood is one with the sinner and the righteous, and the Lord rewards everyone according to his deeds.\"
This saint suffered many tribulations. The \"Berbers\" took him captive to their country. He stayed there for many years, during which he was tortured. He met St. Samuel, the abbot of the monastery of Qualamon, during his captivity.
By the grace of God, he returned to his monastery. When he knew in a vision the day of his departure, he called the brethren and commanded them to keep the Commandments of the Lord, and to walk in the pathway of the saintly fathers, to share with them the good portion and the inheritance of the kingdom of heaven. Shortly after, he became ill and he saw a crowd of saints were coming to take his spirit, and he gave up the spirit in the hand of the Lord. His brethren carried him to the church and because of their strong love for him and their firm belief in his holiness, they kept a portion of his burial clothes which was a source of healing for many sicknesses. This father lived for 90 years.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "john archpriest scetis" } ], [ { "id": 121, "action": "This day marks the martyrdom of St. Stephen, the Archdeacon and the first martyr (protomartyr). St. Luke testified about him in the Acts of the Apostles saying, \"Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.\" (Acts 6:8) The Jews envied him and seized him and brought him to the Council. They also set up false witnesses who said, \"This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.\" (Acts 6:12-13) And all who sat in the Council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel. (Acts 6:13)
Then the high priest said, \"Are these things so?\" St. Stephen answered with convincing words and told them the history from Abraham to Moses. The coming out of Abraham from Haran, the birth and the circumcision of Isaac, Jacob and his sons and their selling of Joseph, and how Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. St. Stephen continued to narrate to them all the events until the building of the temple. He concluded by saying, \"You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of Whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers; who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.\" (Acts 7:51-53)
When they heard these things they were cut to their hearts, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, \"Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!\"
Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran toward him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him.
They stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, \"Lord Jesus receive my Spirit.\" Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, \"Lord, do not charge them with this sin.\" And when he said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:51-60) Devout men carried St. Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Leontius (Lawindianus) was martyred. He was from Syria during the time of the infidel Emperor Maximianus. When the Emperor heard about this Saint and his worship of Christ, he sent for him. He tried to entice him with much money to renounce the worship of Christ and to worship the idols.
The saint mocked the Emperor's words and despised his presents, belittling his threats of tortures. The Emperor, was enraged, ordered him to be hung on the squeezing machine (Hinbazeen) to be pressed and then be beaten with pins, and to be cast in boiling oil. The saint endured it all, and the Lord Christ strengthened and healed him.
When the Emperor was weary of torturing him, he ordered Leontius to be beheaded, and Leontius received the crown of martyrdom. Many miracles and wonders appeared through his body until he became well known in all Syria, and several churches and monasteries were built in his name.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever and ever. Amen.
", "tags": "lawindianus leontius" } ], [ { "id": 122, "action": "On this day in the year 300 A.D., St. Theonas, 16th Pope of Alexandria, departed. This saint was a righteous, meek scholar, gentle and loving to everyone. By the spirit of friendship and gentleness with everyone, he was able to build a church in Alexandria, dedicated to the name of the Virgin St. Mary, the Theotokos.
Until his time, the faithful were praying and performing their services in homes and in caves for fear of the unbelievers. Pope Theonas dealt with them wisely and gently to achieve what he wanted to do. He converted many of them to believe in the Lord Christ and baptized them. He baptized, in the first year of his papacy, St. Peter, who succeeded him on the apostolic throne of St. Mark and was the 17th Pope. It was said that he ordained St. Peter as a reader at the age of five, then he promoted him to be a deacon at the age of twelve, then as a priest at sixteen.
At the time of this saint, a man by the name of Sabellius appeared in Alexandria who was teaching that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one person. St. Theonas excommunicated him and he invalidated his heresy by convincing proof.
When he completed his course, he departed in peace, after he had been on the throne of St. Mark for 19 years.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
Also on this day, St. Callinicus (Gallinicus), bishop of Oseem, was martyred.
When Emperor Diocletian heard the report that St. Callinicus was teaching the people to get away from the worship of idols, he sent envoys to seize him and torture him. When the saint heard about the envoys of the Emperor, he called the people of his diocese to the City of Oseem. He celebrated the Divine Liturgy and after he administered the Body and the Blood of Christ to them, he told them, \"You will not see my face again.\" The people wept bitterly, but they could not prevent him from delivering himself to the Emperor's envoys. They took him and delivered him to Arianus, Governor of Ansena (Antinoe). He tortured him, with different kinds of tortures, but the Lord healed him and strengthened him. The Governor took him to the city of \"Edku\", and there he tortured him again. When the Governor became weary of torturing the Saint, ordered that the Saint's arm be split down to his hand.
Subsequently, he took him in a ship to the city of \"Tukh\". When the saint felt, while he was on the ship, that the time of his departure from the world had drawn near, he commanded one of the sailors who was a believer, \"If I die, when we arrive ashore, cast out my body on a hill.\" When St. Callinicus departed, the sailor did as he was commanded. Some believers, through a command of God, came and took the body of the saint and shrouded it for burial and hid it in their homes until the end of the era of persecution.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever and ever. Amen.
", "tags": "callinicus gallinicus bishop oseem" } ], [ { "id": 123, "action": "The Commemoration of the Slain Children of Bethlehem by the Order of King Herod
On this day, in the second year of the Advent of Christ, the children of Bethlehem were martyred. King Herod secretly called the wise men and determined from them what time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, \"Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.\" When they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary, His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him. When they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense and myrrh.
When they were about to return to Herod, the Angel of the Lord warned them in a dream that they should not return to Herod, and that they should depart for their own country another way. When they had departed, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, \"Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy Him.\"
Joseph arose, took the young child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
\"Out of Egypt I called My Son.\"
Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Herod's intention was for Jesus to be slain among the children who were slain.
It was said that Herod schemed to achieve his evil objective, by sending envoys to Bethlehem and all its districts saying, \"By the command of Caesar all the children two years old and under had to be counted.\" They gathered 144,000 children in the hands of their mothers. He thought that Jesus would be among them. Then King Herod sent a commander with one thousand soldiers, who slaughtered all these children on one of the mountains in one day.
Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet saying, \"A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and a great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.\" (Jeremiah 31:15) For Bethlehem is related to Rachel, and the children were killed nearby her tomb, which is located close to Bethlehem. (Genesis 48:7) St. John the Evangelist said in Revelation that he saw under the altar the souls of those children that had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice saying, \"How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?\"
A white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.\" (Revelation 6:9-11)
St. John said also that the new song that the four living creatures and the elders were singing, no one could learn except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth, who were not defiled with women for they are virgins. They follow the Lord (the Lamb) wherever He goes, and He wipes every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 14:3-4)
Blessed are they, and blessed are the wombs that carried them.
Their intercession be with us and Glory be to our Lord, now and forever. Amen.
", "tags": "slain children bethlehem by order king herod" } ], [ { "id": 124, "action": "The Departure of St. John the Evangelist and Theologian
On this day, in the year 100 A.D., St. John, the virgin, the evangelist, and apostle who was the son of Zebedee, departed. St. John Chrysostom (of the Golden Mouth) said that St. John the Evangelist was originally a disciple of St. John the Baptist. He was the brother of St. James the Elder, who was killed by Herod by the sword. The Lord called him with his brother \"Boanerges\" (Mark 3:17), that is \"sons of thunder,\" for their strong zeal and great faith. He was also the disciple whom Jesus loved.
The lot fell on him to go to Asia. The people of this area were stiff-necked, so he prayed to Christ to be with him. He went to Ephesus, accompanied by his disciple Prochorus. They embarked on a ship, but the ship was wrecked on the way and every one of the passengers clung to a plank of the ship's wood. The waves washed out Prochorus to an island, but St. John remained among the waves of the sea for several days, until the waves carried him, by the will of God, to the same island where his disciple Prochorus was. When they met together, they offered thanks to God for taking care of them.
From there, St. John went to the city of Ephesus where he preached the word of salvation. Its people did not accept his message at first, until a day when an only child fell in the furnace of a public bath managed by the child's mother. They took him in haste out of the fire, but he was dead and his mother wept bitterly. At this time, St. John went to the child, prayed fervently to God, made the sign of the Cross over him, breathed in the child's face, and life came back to him right away. His mother rejoiced and she kissed the feet of the Apostle and tears of joy were in her eyes. From this time on, the people of the city came to hear his teachings and many of them believed and were baptized by St. John. This made the priests of the idols resent him and they tried to kill him several times but they could not, for the Lord protects all His chosen ones. After a great effort and many hardships, St. John led them to the knowledge of God and ordained bishops and priests for them.
From there, he went to other places in Asia (Minor) and converted many of its people to the Faith of Christ.
This saint lived 90 years, and they used to carry him to the gatherings of the believers. Because of his old age, he only gave them very short sermons saying, \"My children, love one another.\" He wrote the gospel known after him, and the Book of Revelation which he had seen on the island of Patmos, which is full of divine mysteries. He also wrote the three epistles known by his name.
He was with the Lord Jesus Christ at the Transfiguration. He leaned (reclined) on the chest of our Lord at the Last Supper. He asked the Lord, \"Who is he that shall betray you?\" He was standing near the Cross with the Virgin St. Mary and the Lord said to his mother, \"Behold your Son,\" and to John, \"Behold your mother.\" He was the disciple about whom Peter asked the Lord, \"And this one, what of him?\" The Lord said to Peter, \"If it be that I wish him to be here until I come, what is that to you?\"
When St. John felt that he was about to depart from this world, he summoned the people and administered to them the Body and the Blood of the Lord. He preached and commanded them to be steadfast in their faith.
He then departed from the City of Ephesus for a short distance. He commanded his disciple and others with him to dig there a pit for him. He went down in it, raised his hands and prayed and then bade them farewell. He commanded them to return to the city and to confirm the brethren in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, and said to them, \"I am innocent of your blood, for I did not leave any command of God that I haven't taught you, and now, let it be known that you will never see my face again, and God will reward everyone according to his deeds.\"
When he said that, they kissed his hand and his feet, and they left him and returned to the city. When the people knew what had happened, they went out to where the saint was, and they found that he had departed. They wept and were deeply sad. They talked about his miracles and marvelled about his meekness.
In spite of the fact that he did not die by the sword, as the rest of the apostles did, he was equal to them in the heavenly glories, for his virginity and his holiness.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "john evangelist theologian" } ], [ { "id": 125, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Eusegnius (Eugenius) the Soldier
On this day, St. Eusegnius (Eugenius) was martyred. He was a soldier during the reign of Emperor Constantine the Great. He was merciful and had many charitable deeds. When Emperor Constantine saw the sign of the Cross, he could not understand its significance, for he was not a believer yet. He asked the soldier Eugenius, who told him that it was the sign of the Lord Christ. The Emperor started to think deeply about it and particularly in the sentence that was written on the sign of the cross, \"By this you conquer.\" At night the Emperor saw the Lord Christ in a dream and He showed him the sign of the Cross. He commanded him to make the flags of his army similar to it. The following morning, the Emperor did as he was commanded, and he won the war against his enemies. He entered Rome victoriously and became a Christian since then, and he lifted up the horn of the Christians and their faith all over the Roman Empire. St. Eusegnius lived until he was 120 years old, until the days of Julian the infidel Emperor (the apostate).
One day, when he was walking in one of the streets of Antioch, he found two men fighting together. They stopped him and asked him to judge between them, for he was an honorable old man. He made peace between them. Some evil men plotted evil against him, by telling Emperor Julian that he made himself a judge and a ruler over the city. The Emperor brought him, rebuked him and said to him, \"Who has appointed you a judge and a ruler?\" St. Eusegnius replied with great courage, \"I am not a judge nor am I a ruler, but you have forsaken the worship of the God of Heaven, in Whose hands is your soul, and you worshipped unclean idols and you did not follow in the footsteps of those who came before you. I had been a soldier under the righteous Emperor Constantine for 60 years, and with his sons after him, and I did not see anyone as devilish as you.\". The Emperor was exceedingly angry with him, and he commanded that he be crucified and to apply lighted torches to his sides. They did all these things to him, but the saint endured them all for his love of the Lord Christ. At last, the Emperor commanded that his head be cut off. When he was approached by the swordsman, he asked him to wait until he prayed. When he finished praying, they beheaded him and he received the crown of martyrdom.
His prayers be with us, and Glory be to our Lord forever. Amen.
", "tags": "eusegnius eugenius soldier" } ], [ { "id": 126, "action": "On this day, the church celebrates the commemoration of the circumcision of the Lord Christ, to Whom is the glory. God had ordained the law of circumcision as a sign that His people would become a particular people over all others. This was that every male of the seed of Abraham be circumcised on the eighth day of his birth. God put every soul that did not obey this law under judgement.
As our Lord Jesus was born from the posterity of Abraham, according to the flesh, He willed to be circumcised on the eighth day, to fulfill the law of Moses and to relieve us from the heavy burden of this commandment, as St. Paul says, \"Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers.\" (Romans 15:8)
He also gave us the sign of the new covenant through baptism, as St. Paul says, \"In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in Baptism in which you also were raised with Him, through faith in the working of God, Who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.\" (Colossians 2:11-13)
Therefore, He demands from us to keep the spiritual circumcision, that is to say the circumcision of the heart, so that we may live for Him in righteousness and in holiness, for He says, \"Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.\" (John 3:5)
Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
Also, on this day was the departure of the prophet Elijah (Elias), the Tishbite, to heaven, alive. This prophet lived during the time of King Ahab. His heart was filled with sorrow, for he saw the king had turned from the worship of the God of Israel to the worship of idols. He followed Queen Jezebel, who helped the priests of Baalzebub. The worship of idols spread out in his days.
Therefore, Elijah stood before the king and said, \"As the Lord God of Israel lives, before Whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.\" (I Kings 17: 1) Immediately the brooks dried up, for there had been no rain in the land, and the grass dried up and the drought set in the whole land. God however did not forsake his zealous servant. He commanded him to go to the brook of Cherith, and the ravens came to him everyday and brought him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening.
The Lord ordered the water of the river to dry, but He did not forsake the prophet Elijah. God commanded him to go to Zarephath, which belonged to Sidon, where he found a widow gathering sticks and he asked her for bread to eat. She said to him, \"As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks, that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.\" Elijah said to her, \"Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel, 'The bin of flour shall not be used up; nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.'\" So she went away and did according to the words of Elijah, and she, the prophet, and her household ate for many days.
Elijah stayed with the widow until the drought had ended. She had a son who was sick, and his sickness progressed until he died. The prophet saw the grief of the woman. He took her son from her and carried him to the upper room where he was staying and laid him on his own bed. Then he cried out to the Lord and he stretched himself out on the child three times. The Lord heard the voice of Elijah and the soul of the child came back to him, and he was revived. Elijah took the child and brought him down and gave him to his mother alive. (I Kings 17:17-23)
When Jezebel knew that Elijah executed all the priests of Baal by the sword, she threatened to kill him. When he saw that, he arose and ran for his life. He went to Mount Horeb where he hid himself. The Lord talked to him, \"What are you doing here, Elijah?\" So he said, \"I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.\" The Lord said to him, \"... Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal... \" (I Kings 19:10-18)
When Ahab died and King Ahaziah reigned, he did evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father Ahab. Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and was injured. He sent messengers to inquire from Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, whether he would recover from his injury.
Elijah, the Prophet, met with his messengers and he told them to go and tell the King, \"Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron? Now therefore, thus says the Lord! You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.\"
When they said this to the King, the King knew that it was Elijah the prophet. The King sent to him a captain of fifty, and the prophet was sitting on the top of the hill. He said to Elijah, \"Man of God, the King has said, 'Come down.'\" So, Elijah answered and said to the captain, \"If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.\" And the fire came down from heaven and consumed them. Then the King sent another captain of fifty and said to him what the first captain said. And the fire came down from heaven and consumed them. The third captain came to Elijah and fell on his knees before him and pleaded with him. Elijah arose and went down with him to the King whom he rebuked. The King died in his bed. (2 Kings 1:1- 18)
After that, Elijah went to the Jordan River and he took with him Elisha, his disciple. He struck the water with his mantle, and the river was divided and the two of them crossed over on dry ground. While they were talking to each other, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, separated the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. (2 Kings 2:1-12)
His prayers be with us. Amen
Also on this day in 154 A.D., St. Marcianus, 8th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was born in Alexandria. When Pope Omanius departed, the fathers of the church gathered with the people of Alexandria and discussed whom they should choose for the vacant throne. By consensus, they chose Marcianus for his intellect and righteousness.
He sat on the throne of St. Mark for 9 years, 2 months and 26 days. He was always teaching his flock and protecting the church from all the foreign teachings. When he completed his well pleasing course to God, he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
Today also of the year 379 A.D., the great St. Basil, Bishop of Caesarea, departed. His father's name was \"Isosorus\" (Isidore), who was a priest and a holy man. He begot five children: St. Basil of Caesarea, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Kisarion (Cherion), St. Peter of Sebastia, and St. Machrina. They all lived in holiness all their lives.
He was instructed in the art of rhetoric, at the hands of the philosopher Libianius of Antioch, and he worked as an advocate. In 358 A.D., he abandoned the world and all its vain glories. He travelled through the wilderness of Egypt, where he witnessed the ascetics and was influenced by them. Upon his return, he withdrew to a wild and beautiful spot in Pontus and devoted himself to prayer and study. When the news of his holiness spread around, many came to him and they took him as a guide to lead them in the way of perfection.
In 362 A.D., he was promoted to the priesthood. He continued to teach the believers, to defend the faith, and to save those who had been lost.
In 370 A.D., he was ordained Bishop of Caesarea, Cappadocia. For his boldness in truth and for his rebuke of the emperors who conducted themselves against the doctrine and those who behaved immorally. Emperor Valens wanted to exile St. Basil, but he declined because of the death of his son. Another time, when the Emperor wanted to sign an order for his exile, the pen broke in his hand, he took another pen and that also broke, and the same thing happened to a third pen. Valens tore the paper and left the saint to shepherd his flock and manage his church in peace. St. Basil was filled with the Holy Spirit, and wrote the liturgy that is named after him. God wrought by his hands many signs and miracles. Among them, some heretics gained control over one of the churches and decided to close it unless someone opened it by his prayers. By the prayers of this saint, the church was opened and the believers gained access to it once again. Another sign: Abba Ephraim saw a pillar of light between earth and heaven and heard a voice saying, \"This is Basil.\" St. Ephraim came to the city of Caesarea and witnessed the virtues of St. Basil. St. Basil ordained him a deacon.
Among his miracles was that a woman wrote all her sins on paper and gave it to St. Basil. He prayed for her and her sins were forgiven, except one sin. He told her to go to Abba Ephraim to pray for her. When she went to Abba Ephraim, he sent her back to St. Basil saying, \"Hurry, go back to meet him before his death.\" When she came back, she found that he had passed away. She wept and she put the paper that she had written on his body and the written sins were blotted out. Also among his miracles was a Jewish physician, who was known for his professional accuracy and who told the saint that he would die after three days. The saint prayed to God, Who prolonged his life, and he did not die on the day that the physician expected him to die. The physician believed and was baptized with all his household.
Another example is that of a young man who wrote a covenant with the devil to deny his Christianity and his baptism. Through the prayer of the Saint, the young man was saved from the servitude of the devil.
This saint had many virtues and performed many miracles besides the above mentioned ones. He wrote many articles, homilies, and discourses. He put down canons which the believers follow till now. He also wrote commentaries on some of the Books of the Old and New Testaments.
His prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God forever and ever. Amen.
", "tags": "basil great bishop caesarea" } ], [ { "id": 127, "action": "The Departure of St. Silvester, Pope of Rome
On this day in the year 335 A.D., St. Silvester (Sylvester), Pope of Rome, departed. He was born in Rome. For his virtues, his ascetic life and his knowledge, he was chosen for the pontificate of Rome in 314 A.D., after the departure of his predecessor St. Miltiades. That was in the eleventh year of Emperor Constantine's reign and less than a year after the issuing of the edict of Milan, which granted freedom to Christianity.
He baptized Emperor Constantine, for he was not yet baptized. He was occupied with wars, demolishing pagan temples and building churches.
The life of this father was a bright and shining life. He continued to teach the people, and remove all doubts from them. He explained to them that which was difficult to understand. He frequently debated with the heretics and converted many of them to believe in the Lord Christ, and baptized them.
He composed several discourses and he wrote several books about the knowledge of God and the mystery of Incarnation.
During the seventh year of his papacy, the Ecumenical Council of Nicea convened, and he excommunicated Arius and all who supported him. When he completed his good course, he departed in peace. He occupied the Roman chair for 11 years.
His prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "silvester pope rome" } ], [ { "id": 128, "action": "On this day, the church of St. Macarius, in the monastery known after his name, was consecrated by the hand of Abba Benjamin, 38th Pope of Alexandria. This took place when El-Moquakas was appointed as a ruler and patriarch over Egypt by Emperor Heraclius. Both of them believed in the teachings of the Council of Chalcedon.
El-Moquakas started to persecute the Christians of Egypt (the Copts) because they refused to follow him. He pursued Pope Benjamin, the legitimate Pope of Alexandria, who took flight to upper Egypt. He moved from one church to another and from one monastery to another, confirming his flock in the faith. He did this for ten years, until the Arab conquest of Egypt and the death of El-Moquakas.
When Abba Benjamin returned to his throne, the elders of the wilderness of the holy desert of Scete (Scetis) asked him to consecrate for them the new church that they built there in the name of St. Macarius. He went with them joyfully. As he approached the monastery, the monks received him with palm fronds and olive branches, just as the city of Jerusalem received Christ when He entered it.
When he was consecrating the church and as he was starting to consecrate the altar, he saw the Hand of Christ anointing the altar with him. He fell upon his face in great fear, and one of the Cherubim raised him up and comforted him. Abba Benjamin said, \"Truly this is the house of the Lord and this is the door of heaven.\" He looked to the west side of the church and he saw an elder standing there with reverence and awesome appearance, and his shining face looked like an angel. He said to himself, \"Truly, if there a chair became vacant, I would make this man a bishop.\" The angel told him, \"Would you make this man a bishop?, and he is St. Macarius, the father of Patriarchs, bishops, and all the monks. He has come today in the spirit to rejoice with his children, and this place will be forever filled with righteous monks, and it will never be short of leaders and spiritual fruits.\" St. Benjamin said, \"Blessed is he and blessed are his children.\" The angel said, \"If his children obey his commandments and follow his orders, they will be with him in glory, but if they disobey, they will have no share with him.\"
Then St. Macarius said, \"Do not decide, my lord, what would happen to my children this way. For if one grape in a bunch remains, the blessing of the Lord will be on it. For if their love for one another remains among them, I believe that the Lord will never keep them away from His Kingdom.\"
St. Benjamin was amazed and marvelled at the abundant mercy of St. Macarius. He wrote what had taken place and placed it in the church as a perpetual memorial. He asked the Lord Jesus Christ that his departure might take place on a similar day. This was fulfilled, and he departed on the eighth day of Tubah, after he had been on the throne for 39 years. The altar in which he saw the Lord Christ was named after him.
His prayers be with. Amen.
Also on this day, of the year 617 A.D., the holy father Abba Andronicus, 37th Pope of Alexandria, departed. This father was from a rich family of great influence and his cousin was the chief of the imperial court at Alexandria. He was very well educated and he studied the holy scriptures and excelled in their interpretation. Because of his knowledge, his righteousness and his charity toward the poor, he was ordained a deacon. By consensus he was chosen to be patriarch, although he never lived in any monastery. He remained in Alexandria all the days of his papacy, not intimidated by the authority of the Melkites.
Shortly after the ordination of Abba Andronics, the Persians invaded the East and crossed the river Euphrates. They seized Halab, Antioch in Syria, Jerusalem, and many other cities. They killed and imprisoned many Christians. They captured Egypt and went to the City of Alexandria, around which there were six hundred inhabited monasteries. They killed all the inhabitants, plundered their possessions, and destroyed the monasteries. When the people of Alexandria heard what they had done, because of their fear, they opened the gates of the city for them.
The Persian King saw in a night dream someone saying to him, \"I have delivered to you the city. Do not destroy it. But kill its heroes for they are hypocrites.\" He arrested the Governor of the city, and tied him up in chains. He ordered the elders of the city to bring forth the men, from 18 to 50 years old to come forward to give everyone twenty denari, and to enlist them as soldiers for the city. Eighty thousand men came forward and he killed them all by the sword.
Afterward, the Persian King went with his army to Upper Egypt. He passed by the city of Nikios. He heard that there were some seven hundred monks living in cells and caves around it. He sent men to kill them. He continued to kill and destroy until Emperor Heraclius conquered him and drove him out of Egypt.
As for Pope Andronicus, he lived a virtuous life. He remained on the throne of St. Mark for 6 years, then departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 656 A.D., the blessed and holy father Abba Benjamin, 38th Pope of Alexandria, departed.
This father was from the city of Barset (Barshout), the province of El-Behiera. He was the son of wealthy parents.
He became a monk under the guidance of a holy elder by the name of Theonas in the monastery of St. Knobus nearby Alexandria. He grew in virtue and memorized the holy books of the church until he reached the level of Christian perfection.
One night he heard in a night vision someone saying, \"Rejoice Benjamin, for you will shepherd the flock of Christ.\" When he told his spiritual father about what he had heard, he said to him, \"The devil wants to hinder you. Beware of pride.\" He increased in virtue. His spiritual father took him to Pope Andronicus and told him about Abba Benjamin's vision. The Pope ordained him priest and put him in charge of the church affairs, and he excelled in his care.
When he was chosen to the patriarchate, he faced many tribulations. The angel of the Lord had revealed to him the hardships that the church was about to experience. The angel told him to flee with his bishops. St. Benjamin celebrated the Divine Liturgy and administered the Holy Mysteries to the people. He also commanded them to be steadfast in the faith of their fathers and informed them of what was about to happen. He wrote a circular to all the bishops and all the heads of the monasteries, advising them to hide until the hardships were over. Then he went to the wilderness of St. Macarius, then to Upper Egypt.
After the Pope had left Alexandria, the Chalcedonian El-Moquakas arrived, and took charge over the country and seized the church with authority from Emperor Heraclius. He persecuted the believers and arrested \"Mina\", St. Benjamin's brother, and tortured him severely. Then he burnt his sides, and finally killed him by drowning him.
Shortly after, Amr Ebn-Elas invaded the land of Egypt and stayed there for three years. In 360 A.M. (Anno Martyri), Amr went to Alexandria and gained control of its fortress. Many evil men took the chance and burned many churches, among them was St. Mark's Church on the seashore, and many other monasteries that were surrounding Alexandria, and plundered their contents. One of the sailors went to the church of St. Mark during this disturbance and he thrust his hand into the sarcophagus of St. Mark, thinking that he would find money. He did not find anything except a body. He stole the clothing that was on it and took the head with him, and hid it in his ship and did not tell anyone.
When Amr Ebn-Elas knew about the disappearance of Pope Benjamin, he sent a circular to all the cities of Egypt, giving orders that the Pope's hiding place be safe and secure. He asked the Pope to come back to his people and to take charge of the church. Pope Benjamin came back after he had been in hiding for 13 years. Amr Ebn-Elas was courteous toward him and honored him. He returned the churches and all their properties back to him.
When Amr was about to leave Alexandria, heading to Pentapolis (the five western cities), one of the ships could not move and was unable to leave. The captain of the ship was questioned and when they searched the ship they found the head of St. Mark. They called upon Pope Benjamin and he carried it and walked with the priests and the people while they were joyfully singing hymns, until they arrived to Alexandria. The captain of the ship paid a great amount of money to the Pope to build a church after the name of St. Mark.
This father was dedicated to converting the unbelievers to the Christian faith. He departed in peace after he had been on the apostolic throne for 37 years.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "benjamin 38th pope" } ], [ { "id": 129, "action": "The Departure of Abba Abraam, Companion of Abba Gawarga
On this day the blessed St. Abraam departed. His father was a pious man, merciful and kind to the poor. Because of his piety and good nature, he was entrusted to look after the treasury of his village, as well as that of the neighboring villages. When Egypt suffered a famine, he gave all he had to the needy.
As for St. Abraam's mother, she lived in the fear of God and Satan envied her, and provoked an evil man against her. As a result, he accused her to the Persians who captured and took her to Persia. During her captivity, one night she saw in a vision, one who told her; \"you shall return to your country.\" Shortly thereafter, the vision was fulfilled and she returned to her country, Egypt, safely.
After her husband's death, she wanted her son, Abraam, to be married, but he refused and told her of his desire for monastic life, and she rejoiced. As she bid him farewell at the outskirts of the city, she lifted up her arms toward heaven and prayed saying, \"Please Lord, accept him from me as an offering.\"
St. Abraam went to the wilderness of Sheheet (Scetis), where he became a monk and a disciple of St. Yoannis, the Archpriest of the wilderness.
Abba Abraam led an extremely harsh monastic life, exerting himself with long fasts and many worships. One day, St. Abraam saw the roof of his cell opened and the Lord Jesus came down, riding a heavenly chariot, and the Cherubim were praising Him. Abba Abraam knelt down in great fear and the Lord blessed him. Then the Lord Christ ascended to heaven. A sign remained in the roof of his cell as a commemoration of this visitation. His cell was near the cell of his spiritual father Abba Yoannis, which is known by \"Babgeeh\". An angel of the Lord used to visit Abba Abraam from time to time to comfort him.
One day he went to Mount Orion where he met with St. Gawarga. St. Gawarga came back with Anba Abraam to the wilderness of Sheheet and stayed with Abba Abraam until the day of their departure.
After the departure of Abba Yoannis to heaven, Abba Abraam became ill for 18 years. When the time of his departure drew near, Abba Abraam received the Holy Mysteries. Anba Yoannis appeared to him in the spirit and told him that the Lord Christ had prepared for him a heavenly banquet. Abba Abraam departed in peace at the age of 80.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our Lord forever. Amen.
", "tags": "abraam companion gawarga" } ], [ { "id": 130, "action": "Paramouni of Holy Theophany (Epiphany)
On this day it has been the tradition of the Orthodox Church, following the teachings of the holy fathers of the church, to fast until dusk, eating only what is permitted to be eaten during the holy forty days (Lent). If Christmas day or Epiphany falls on Wednesday or Friday, the saintly apostles ordained that the believers eat all the food that one is permitted to eat during the Pentecostal days (the post-resurrection fifty days). They are feasts to the Lord. The Paramouni days are fasted to compensate for the feast days, so that we may have the blessings of both the fast and the feast. In the custom of our Coptic Orthodox church, if the Paramouni day falls on Saturday or Sunday, it is the tradition to fast on the Friday that precedes them also. Then they pray on water before midnight and they wash and bless everyone who wants to be blessed. The reason to complete this before midnight is because of the fear that the little children may break their fasting by drinking water.
We ask Christ to purify us, cleanse us from all our abominations, forgive our sins, and make us worthy to receive the revelation of the glory of His divine nature in our hearts and in our deeds, as He revealed His glory in the Jordan River.
To Him be the Glory with His Good Father and His Holy Spirit, now and forever, and to the end of ages. Amen.
", "tags": "paramouni holy theophany epiphany" } ], [ { "id": 131, "action": "The Holy Theophany of Our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Baptism of the Lord christ)
On this day of the year 31 A.D., our Master, Lord and God, Jesus Christ, was baptized at the hands of St. John the Baptizer (the dyer). The feast is called in Greek the Feast of Theophany or the Feast of the Revelation of the Divine Nature of the Lord, for the Holy Trinity was revealed: our heavenly Father was heard from heaven saying, \"This is My beloved Son,\" and the Son standing in the Jordan river, and the Holy Spirit was descending in the form of a dove, and alighting upon Him.
St. John the Baptist bore witness that the Lord Christ, when He had been baptized, came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven saying,
\"This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.\"
St. John the evangelist said about this day, \"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Behold! The Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. This is He of Whom I said, 'After me comes a Man Who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' I did not know him but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.'\" (John 1:29-31) The glory of our Lord Jesus Christ was revealed on this day, that He is the Son of God and that He is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. For this reason, this feast has become a great feast for all believers, in which they are purified with water after the example of the baptism of our Lord, to Whom is the glory, to obtain forgiveness of their sins.
Glory, honor and worship to our Lord God, now and forever more and to the end of ages. Amen.
", "tags": "holy theophany our lord god savior jesus christ baptism lord christ" } ], [ { "id": 132, "action": "On this day, the church commemorates the honorable Angel Michael, the head of the heavenly host, the intercessor for the human race, and the faithful steward.
His intercession be for us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 306 A.D., the church celebrates the commemoration of the martyrdom of the courageous prince, St. Theodore El-Mishreke (The Oriental).
He was born in the City of Tyre in 270 A.D. In his youth, he enlisted in the Roman army and was promoted to the rank of commander. His father's name was Sadrikhos, \"Adrakos\" who was a high ranking official during the reign of Emperor Numerianus (283-284 A.D.), and his mother was the sister of Basilides, the minister.
When Emperor Numerianus died in the war against the Persians, his son, Justus, was fighting in the west. The two officials Sadrikhos and Basilides continued to run the affairs of the Empire, until the infidel Diocletian took charge of the Empire, and started to persecute the Christians. At that time, St. Theodore was in charge of the army that was fighting against the Persians. He saw a vision at night: a ladder was extended between earth and heaven, and at the top of the ladder the Lord sat on a great throne, surrounded by hosts of angels chanting. He also saw under the ladder a great beast which was the devil. The Lord said to St. Theodore, \"Your blood will be shed for My Name's sake.\" The saint asked the Lord, \"How about my friend Lawondius?\" The Lord replied, \"Not only Lawondius, but Banikaros, the Persian, also.\"
During a truce, between the Roman and Persian armies, St. Theodore met with Banikaros, the commander of the Persian army. St. Theodore guided him to Christianity and he believed in Christ.
Emperor Diocletian ordered that Prince Theodore be brought to him. The prince came back with his army and with him were Lawondius and Banikaros. When St. Theodore knew that the Emperor was going to ask him to worship idols, he told his soldiers, \"Whoever among you wants to fight for the Name of the Lord Christ, let him come and join me.\" They all shouted in one accord, \"We die with you and your God is our God also.\"
When he arrived in the city, he left his soldiers outside and went alone to the Emperor who received him well. The Emperor inquired about the war and the army and he asked St. Theodore to worship Apollo.
The saint answered in great courage and faith, \"I do not know any god that I can worship except my Master, Jesus Christ.\"
Diocletian commanded his soldiers to nail the Saint to a tree and to brutally torture him. But the Lord was strengthening and comforting him. Finally, he delivered up his pure soul into the hand of the Lord Whom he loved. He received the crown of eternal glory in the kingdom of heaven. The Emperor sent the priests of Apollo to the soldiers of the saint, to call upon them to worship the idols. They all shouted, \"We have no king except our Master, Jesus Christ, Lord of Lords, and King of Kings.\" When the Emperor heard what they said, he had them all beheaded. They received the crowns of martyrdom and eternal bliss.
Their prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, St. Anatole (Anatolius) was martyred. He was born in Persia. When he grew up, he became a soldier of the Roman Empire and was promoted to a commander in the army. He spent fifteen years in the army until the reign of Diocletian. He longed to chose the heavenly kingdom, preferring it over all the vain glory of this temporal world.
He came before the Emperor, took off his military attire and sword, threw them before him and confessed his faith in the Lord Christ. The Emperor was astonished at his boldness. When he knew that he was a Persian, the Emperor treated him with kindness, then sent him to Romanos that he might persuade him to change his counsel. Romanos failed to do that and he returned him to the Emperor. The Emperor tortured him with all kinds of tortures, sometimes by pressing his body, sometimes by beating him and casting him to wild beasts, and other times by cutting his tongue.
The Lord Jesus Christ sent to him His Angel to comfort him in all his afflictions. He remained under persecution for a long time and when the Emperor became weary of torturing him, he ordered his head cut off. He received the crown of martyrdom in the eternal kingdom.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "anatole anatolius" } ], [ { "id": 133, "action": "On this day, the church celebrates the commemoration of the miracle that our Lord Jesus Christ performed at Cana of Galilee. It was the first miracle that our Lord Jesus performed after His baptism. He was invited to the wedding with His virgin mother, St. Mary, and also some of His disciples.
When they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, \"They have no wine.\" Jesus said to her, \"Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.\" His mother said to the servants, \"Whatever He says to you, do it.\" There were set there six water pots of stone. Jesus said to them. \"Fill the water pots with water.\" And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, \"Draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast.\"
When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, he said to the bridegroom, \"Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine and when the guests have well drunk, then that which is inferior; but you have kept the good wine until now.\"
This was the beginning of the signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested His glory and His disciples believed in Him. (John 2:1-11)
To Him is the Glory with His Good Father and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.
On this day also, St. Theophilus the Monk, departed. He was the only son of a king of one of the Roman islands. He brought him up well in the Christian faith and knowledge. When he was 12 years old, he read in the epistle of St. Paul to the Hebrews, \"And you, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands. They will perish but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will fold them up and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not fail.\" (Hebrews 1:10-12) Then he read in his first epistle to the Corinthians, \"It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband... for I wish that all men were even as I myself... and I think I also have the spirit of God.\" (I Corinthians 7:1,2,7,40)
He also read in the holy gospel the words of the Lord, \"If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.\" (Matthew 19:21)
Theophilus left his father's house and all that was his, and went out in disguise. He went from one monastery to another until he arrived in Alexandria. From there, he went to the \"Glass Monastery\". When St. Boctor, the abbot of the monastery, saw him and knew by the spirit that he was a descendant of kings, he received him well and blessed him. He asked him about his story. St. Boctor was greatly surprised and glorified God and accepted him in the monastery. When he saw his successful, virtuous, and active spiritual life, he clothed him in the holy Eskeem. Ten years later, some soldiers sent by Theophilus' father came and took him by force. When he came before his father, he could not recognize him, for asceticism had changed his appearance. The saint revealed his identity to his father, who rejoiced greatly. The saint started to preach to his father telling him about life, death and judgement. His words left a mark in the heart of his father. His father took the crown off his head, relinquishing his throne to his brother. He went with his wife and St. Theophilus, their son to the \"Glass\" monastery, where the king became a monk and stayed with his son. St. Theophilus' mother became a nun in a convent. They all lived an ascetic life in worship and in virtue until the end of their days. When they completed their strife, they departed in peace.
Their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Demiana was martyred. This chaste and fighter virgin, was the daughter of Mark, Governor of El-Borollus, El-Zaafran, and Wadi Al-Saysaban in the Northern delta of the valley of the Nile. She was the only daughter to her parents. When she was one year old, her father took her to the church of the monastery of Al-Maymah. He offered alms, candles and oblations so that God might bless her and keep her in His care.
When she was fifteen years old, her father wanted her to be wed. She refused, and told him that she had vowed herself a bride to the Lord Christ. When she saw that her father was pleased with her intention, she asked him to build her a place where she could worship God in seclusion with her virgin friends. He fulfilled her wish and built her the house that she wanted. She lived in it with forty other virgins. They spent their time reading the holy scripture and in worship.
Shortly after, Emperor Diocletian sent for Mark, St. Demiana's father, and ordered him to worship the idols. He refused at first, but after the Emperor appeased him he obeyed his order and worshipped the idols and forsook the Creator of the Universe. When Mark returned to his official seat, and St. Demiana knew what had transpired, she rushed to meet him. She did not greet him, but said, \"What is it that I heard about you? I would have preferred to hear about your death rather than to hear that you have renounced your faith and forsaken the God Who created you from non-existence into being, to worship gods made by hands. Take note that if you do not return to your first faith and renounce the worship of stones, you are not my father and I am not your daughter,\" and she left him.
Her father was greatly moved by the words of his daughter, and he wept bitterly. In haste, he went to Diocletian and confessed the Lord Christ. When the Emperor could not convince him with threats and promises, he ordered him beheaded.
When Diocletian knew that the one who turned Mark from worshipping the idols was St. Demiana, his daughter. He sent her a prince to try first gently to convince her to worship idols, and if she disobeyed him to behead her. The prince went to her with two hundred soldiers and the instruments of torture. When he arrived at her palace, he said to her, \"I am a messenger sent from Emperor Diocletian. I came to call upon you according to the Emperor's orders, to worship his gods, so that he can grant you all that you want.\" The saint shouted in his face saying, \"May God denounce the messenger and the one by whom he was sent. Don't you have any shame at all to call stones and wood gods which are inhabited by devils? There is no god in heaven or on earth except one God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Eternal Creator, the Everlasting, Who is everywhere, Who knows all the secrets, and Who can throw you in hell where is the everlasting torment. As for me, I am the maidservant of my Master and my Savior Jesus Christ, and His Good Father and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity, Him I confess and upon Him I depend, and in His Name I die, and by Him I live forever.\"
The prince became exceedingly angry and ordered her to be placed in the Hinbazeen (the squeezing press), until her blood poured out of her body on the ground. The virgins were standing weeping over her. When they put her in prison, the angel of the Lord appeared to her, touched her body with his illumined wings, and she was healed of all her wounds. The prince used all his evil imagination to torture St. Demiana, once by tearing her flesh and another time by placing her in boiling oil. Through it all the Lord raised her up safely. When the prince saw that all his attempts were in vain, before the steadfastness of this pure virgin he ordered her beheaded, and all the other virgins with her. Thus, they all received the crowns of martyrdom.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "demiana" } ], [ { "id": 134, "action": "On this day St. Archiledis departed. This fighter was born in the city of Rome. His father's name was \"John\" and his mother's name was \"Sinclatiki\". They were righteous before the Lord and lived according to His commandments.
This saint's father died when he was 12 years old. When his mother wanted him to get married, he declined. She advised him to go to the Emperor to take over his father's position. She sent along with him two of their men and a precious gift to present to the Emperor. While they were sailing, they encountered a great tempest with high waves and strong winds, so that the ship was wrecked. The saint hung onto one of the ship's planks, and God saved him from drowning. When he made it to the seashore, he found a body of a dead man that was thrown to the shore by the waves.
He reflected on the transience of the world and its temporal nature, and said to himself, \"What do I have to do with this temporal world, and what would I profit when I die and become dust?\" He arose and prayed to the Lord Christ to guide him to the right way.
Then he walked diligently until he arrived at the monastery of St. Romanus. He gave to the abbot of the monastery what was left of his money. He stayed there living an ascetic life, denying himself food and clothing, until he reached a level of perfection. The Lord granted him the gift of healing the sick. He made an oath not to ever see the face of any woman.
When he did not return to his mother for a long time, and she did not know his whereabouts, she thought that he died, and she grieved much over him. She built a hostel for the poor and the strangers, and she lived in one of its rooms.
One day she heard two merchants talking about her son and his holy monastic life and the grace of God that was upon him. When she inquired about him, she became sure that it was him, her own son. She arose quickly and went to that monastery.
When she arrived, she sent to inform the saint of her arrival. St. Archiledis answered her saying that he had made an oath before God not to ever see a woman. She repeated her request, and threatened that if he did not allow her to see him, she would go to the wilderness to be eaten by the wild beasts.
When he learned of her persistence, and that he could not renege on his oath, he prayed to the Lord christ to take his soul. Then he told the gate keeper to allow her to come in while God had answered his request. When his mother entered his cell, she found that he had given up his spirit. She cried, wept and asked God to take her soul also, and God answered her prayer.
When they tried to separate their bodies, they heard a voice coming from St. Archiledis' body saying, \"Let my body be with the body of my mother, for I did not grant her own heart's desire to see me.\" They buried both of them in one grave. God honored this saint in performing many miracles.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Maximus, brother of St. Domadius (Domatius), departed. They were the children of Emperor Walendianus.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "maximus brother domadius domatius" } ], [ { "id": 135, "action": "The Departure of Obadiah, the Prophet
On this day, Obadiah, one of the prophets of the children of Israel, departed. He was the son of Hananya, the prophet from the tribe of Judah. Obadiah prophesied in the days of King Jehoshaphat, King of Judah.
It was said that Obadiah was the head of the fifty men who were sent by King Ahaziah, for the third time, to Elijah the Prophet. He came to Elijah in humility and pleaded with him not to destroy him as those who proceeded him, for fire had come down from heaven and burned them. He asked Elijah to have compassion upon him and to come with him to go to see King Ahaziah. The Prophet went with him as was told by the angel of the Lord. (2 Kings 1:15)
Thus, Obadiah realized that to serve Elijah the Prophet was far more noble than to serve earthly kings, and that if he were to accompany him, it would lead him to the service of the Heavenly King. He left the service of the King and followed Elijah, and was filled with the grace of God. He prophesied for more than twenty years. He prophesied about the destruction of the land of Edom, for they rejoiced for the distress of the people of God. (Obadiah 1-16) He also prophesied about the salvation of Jerusalem and her victory over the Family of Esau, and her victory over all her enemies. (Obadiah 17-21)
He lived more than seven hundred years before the advent of the Lord Christ. He departed and was buried in the tomb of his fathers.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "obadiah prophet" } ], [ { "id": 136, "action": "On this day, the honorable St. Philotheus, whose name means \"lover of God\", was martyred. He was born in the City of Antioch, of pagan parents, who worshipped a bull, which they fed cakes made of fine flour and sesame seed oil mixed with honey. They also anointed the bull with spices and fine perfumed oils three times every day, and they gave it wine and oil to drink. They established two places for the bull, one for the summer, and another for the winter. They put around its neck a collar of gold, and golden rings in its legs.
When Philotheus was ten years old, his father asked him to worship the bull, but he refused, his father left him without punishment, for he loved him as he was his only son. As for St. Philotheus, because of his young age, he did not know the Living God, and he thought that the sun was the god. He stood once looking at the sun and said, \"I beseech you, O sun, if you are God, tell me.\" He heard a voice coming from heaven saying, \"I am not God, but I am a servant and a slave to God, Whom you will know, and you will shed your blood for His Name's sake.\"
When God saw the integrity of the child's heart, He sent His angel to inform him about the creation of the world, and the incarnation of the Lord Christ, for the salvation of mankind. St. Philotheus was pleased, and rejoiced in his heart. From that time on, he fasted, prayed and gave alms to the poor and those who were in distress.
After one year had passed, his parents had a great banquet for their friends, and they asked their son to worship the bull before they ate and drank. The child stood in front of the bull and said, \"Are you the God that should be worshipped?\" A voice came out of the bull saying, \"I am not the God, but the devil has possessed me and I have become a deceiver of men.\" Then the bull jumped and attacked his parents and killed them instantly. The Saint ordered his servants to kill the bull, burn its body and scatter its ashes.
St. Philotheus prayed to God for the sake of his parents, and the Lord raised them up from the dead. Later on, he was baptized along with his parents in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God granted him the gift of healing the sick, and his repute reached Diocletian, the emperor. He brought him, and ordered him to offer incense to the idols, but he refused. The Emperor tortured him with all kinds of tortures, but the Saint never swayed from his determination. The Emperor tried again to persuade him by deception and flattery, and the Saint promised to worship Apollo as the Emperor commanded. The Emperor was pleased to hear this, and he brought Apollo along with 70 other idols, and 70 pagan priests and a herald went around to call upon the public in the city.
Great multitudes came to watch St. Philotheus worshiping Apollo. On their way, the saint prayed to the Lord Christ, and the earth was opened and swallowed the priests and the idol of Apollo. There was a great excitement and disturbance, and a great multitude believed and confessed the Lord Christ.
The Emperor was exasperated, and ordered them all beheaded, and they received the crown of martyrdom. St. Philotheus was also beheaded, and he received the crown of life.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, in the year 792 A.D,, St. John IV, 48th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He became a monk in St. Macarius' monastery. He persevered in intense worship and was reputed for his ascetic life. He was chosen by Pope Michael, 46th Pope of Alexandria and ordained a priest for the Church of St. Mina. Pope Michael entrusted him to manage the affairs of the church and to lead the people and direct all its property and offerings. He excelled in his duties.
When Anba Mina, 47th Pope of Alexandria, departed, the bishops, the priests, and the scholars of the City of Alexandria gathered and nominated several monks. They wrote the name of each of them on a piece of paper, and the name of Father John was among them. The bishops prayed and celebrated the Divine Liturgy for three days. Then, on the third day, they brought a child to draw one of the names. They found it to be the name of this saint, Father John. They returned the paper, mixed it with the other papers, and brought another child, who drew the same paper. This was repeated a third time. They were sure that the Lord had chosen Fr. John to become the next pope. They took him and ordained him patriarch in 768 A.D. He shepherded his flock well. He always preached the people confirming them in the Orthodox faith. He was also merciful to the poor and the needy.
During his days, there was a famine, to the point that one measure of grain (a Bushel) was sold for two Dinari. Many poor from different beliefs gathered every day at his door. He delegated to his disciple Mark to use the money of the churches to feed the poor and satisfy their needs. He offered to everyone without distinction of faith until God removed this famine.
Anba John was dedicated to building many churches. When the time of his departure drew near, he called on the priests and said to them, \"On the 16th of Tubah, I was born and was also ordained Pope, and on this day also I will depart from this world.\" When the bishops and the priests heard this, they wept and said, \"Who would become our Father after you?\" He said to them, \"The Lord Jesus Christ has chosen my disciple Fr. Mark to this rank.\"
After he had completed 23 years and several months in the papacy, he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "john iv 48th pope" } ], [ { "id": 137, "action": "On this day is the commemoration of the two honored saints Maximus and his brother Domatius (Domadius). Their father's name was Walendianus, he was one of the Roman emperors who feared God and was Orthodox in faith. God gave him these two sons who were angelic in their purity and holiness since their young age, always praying and reading the holy books.
When they realized the vanity of this world and all its glory, they decided to leave it and live a monastic life. They asked their father to allow them to go to the City of Nicea, to pray in the place where the first Universal Council was held in 325 A.D. Their father rejoiced, and he sent an entourage of soldiers and servants with them, as was the custom for the children of kings. When they arrived, they asked the soldiers to go back to their father and tell him that they wanted to stay there for some time. Then they revealed their thoughts to a saintly monk, that they desired to put on the holy garb of the monks. The monk did not agree with them because he feared their father, but he advised them to go to Syria where St. Agabius abided.
They went to St. Agabius and stayed with him until his departure. Before he departed, he put on them the monastic garb, and told them that he saw St. Macarius in a night vision saying, \"Command your two sons to come to me after your departure, so that they may become my children.\" Then St. Agabius told them, \"I desired to see St. Macarius in the flesh, but I have seen him in the spirit. After my departure, you should go to him in peace.\"
God granted them the gift of healing the sick. Their report was heard in all the countries, especially among the sea merchants and the travellers. They learned the trade of making ships' sails, and they were able to support themselves with money earned from selling them, and they gave the rest to the poor and the needy.
One day, one of their father's stewards saw a ship with the names \"Maximus and Domatius\" on its sail . He inquired of the owner of the ship about these names. The owner told the steward, \"These are the names of two monk brothers, which I have written on my ship as a blessing, so that God with their prayers may prosper my business.\" He described the brothers to him, as one with a full beard, and the other without a beard. The steward recognized them and he took the man and brought him before the Emperor. When the Emperor made certain about what he had heard, he sent their mother and the princess, their sister, to meet them. When the women met with the two saints and recognized them, they wept. Their mother wanted them to return with her, but the Saints refused, and they comforted the hearts of their mother and sister.
After a while, the Patriarch of Rome departed, and they remembered Maximus, whom they wanted to ordain in his place. His father rejoiced when he heard this. When the news arrived to St. Maximus and his brother, they remembered the command of their father Anba Agabius. They disguised themselves, and took the road along the Mediterranean sea shore, and when they were thirsty, God transformed for them the salty water into sweet water. They became very tired of walking, and their feet were bleeding. They slept on a hill because of their exhaustion and God sent them a certain power that carried them to the wilderness of Scetis where St. Macarius was residing. They told St. Macarius that they wanted to live under his guidance. When St. Macarius saw that they were of rich background, he thought that they would not be able to live in the desert because of its harsh living conditions. They answered him saying, \"If we are not able to live here, our father, we will return to where we came from.\" Then he taught them how to plait palm leaves, and he helped in building a cave (cell) for them. He also told them about someone who would take the work of their hands to sell and bring them back bread.
They lived in this manner for three years, never communicating with anyone. They only went to church to partake of the Divine Sacraments silently. St. Macarius marvelled, for they did not go to him all these years. He prayed to God to reveal to him their secret. He went to visit them in their cell where he stayed the night with them. When he woke up at midnight, as was his custom, to pray, he saw the two saints praying and a ray of light going from their mouths to heaven, and the devils were all around them like flies, and the angel of the Lord standing with a sword of fire to protect them. The next day, St. Macarius put on them the holy Eskiem, and asked them to pray for him. They bowed to the ground before him (made metanias) in silence.
When they completed their course, and the Lord wanted to take them away from the sorrows of this temporal world, St. Maximus became sick. He sent word to St. Macarius, asking him to come. When St. Macarius arrived, he found St. Maximus ill with a fever, and he comforted him. St. Macarius saw a company of prophets and saints, including St. John the Baptist and Emperor Constantine, gathered around the Saint until he delivered his pure spirit in dignity and in honor. St. Macarius wept and said, \"Blessed are you, O Maximus.\"
St. Domatius, his brother, wept bitterly, and asked St. Macarius to pray on his behalf to the Lord Christ to take him also to be with his brother. After three days, he also became sick, and when St. Macarius knew by the spirit he went to visit him. On his way, he saw the company of saints who carried St. Maximus before carrying the soul of St. Domatius ascending up to heaven. When he arrived at the cave, St. Macarius found that St. Domatius had passed away. St. Macarius put St. Domatius' body with his brother's, whose departure was on the 14th day of this month. St. Macarius ordered that the monastery be called after their names, the monastery of \"El-Baramus\" as it is known until today.
Their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 1826 A.D., Anba Yusab, the great scholar and honorable father, departed. He was the Bishop of Girga and Ekhmiem, and was known by the name \"El-Abbah\". He was born in the town of Nekhila in Upper Egypt, to rich parents who were compassionate to the poor and the needy. When Anba Yusab was 25 years old, his parents wanted him to be wed, but he refused. Because of his inclination towards the monastic life, he went to the estate of St. Anthony's monastery in the city of Boash. He stayed there for some time, during which his humility and piety were evident. This convinced the abbot to send him to the monastery. When he arrived, the monks received him with joy, for they had heard of his virtues and his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. Shortly after, they clothed him in the monk's tunic.
When the reports of this father reached Pope John, 107th Patriarch, he called Anba Yusab and kept him with him. After the Pope verified what he heard of Anba Yusab' righteousness and knowledge, he counseled with the bishops who agreed to ordain Anba Yusab a bishop over Ekhmiem and Girga. Anba Yusab refrained from accepting this rank because of its responsibilities; however, he was ordained against his will.
When he arrived at his diocese, Anba Yusab found many heretics mingled with his people. He built a church, and made a great effort to gather his flock, to teach them, to restore those who were lost, and to guide many of the heretics to the faith. He wrote several articles on the Incarnation of the Lord Christ and explained several difficult issues and ambiguous verses in the Bible. He urged his people to forsake all the bad customs that they were engaged in, both inside and outside the church. He succeeded in putting an end to the quarrels and divisions from those who were in opposition to the truth. He was merciful to the poor, and never judged anyone by his appearance. He was fair in judgement, never took sides, and did not accept bribes. He sent whatever money he had left to his brethren, the monks, in their monasteries. He did not own anything except the clothes that he wore and those things which fulfilled his basic needs. He never uttered anything but the truth, and was not afraid of the mighty rulers of the land. He shepherded his flock with the best of care.
When God wanted to take him away from this world, Anba Yusab became ill for a short period of time. While he was sick, he stayed some time in his diocese, and then in the cell of Pope Anba Peter, 109th Pope. Then he went to his monastery in the wilderness. The monks rejoiced to see him, and his blessed life ended there, and he gave his pure spirit into the hand of the Lord who loved him. He lived 91 years, 25 years before his monastic life, 31 years in the monastery, and 35 years as bishop.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "yusab bishop girga known as el- abbah" } ], [ { "id": 138, "action": "The Departure of St. James, Bishop of Nisibis
On this day of the year 338 A.D., St. James, Bishop of Nisibis, departed. He was born in the city of Nisibis, and was brought up there. He was Syrian by race.
Early in his youth, he chose the monastic life. He wore sackcloth made of hair to protect him from the heat of summer and the cold of winter. His food was composed of the vegetation of the earth, and his drink was only water. For this reason, he was very thin, but his soul was illumined and full of grace. He was worthy to receive the gift of prophecy and the performing of miracles. He also was able to foretell the future and he advised the people of what would happen to them in advance.
His miracles are numerous. One day he saw some promiscuous women jesting without shame by a spring of water, and they had let their hair down to take a bath. He prayed to God, and the water of the spring dried up, and the women's hair became white. When the women apologized to him and repented for what they had done, he prayed to God, and the water came back to the spring, but their hair remained white.
Another miracle occurred when he was passing by certain people who stretched a man on the ground and covered him as though he was dead. They asked the saint for some money for his burial. When they returned to the man, they found him dead. They came back to the saint and repented for what they had done. St. James prayed to God, and the man came back to life.
When his virtues became widely known, he was chosen to be a bishop over the city of Nisibis. He shepherded the flock of Christ very well, and protected his people from the Arian wolves. He was one of the bishops who attended the first Universal Council at Nicea in 325 A.D., and agreed on the excommunication and exile of Arius.
When Shapur, the Persian King, came and surrounded the city of Nisibis with his army, God, in answer to the prayer of St. James, brought swarms of mosquitoes and wasps over their horses and elephants which caused a great stampede and the animals fled away. The King of Persia then became fearful, and he fled with his army and the siege was ended. When the saint completed his good course, he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "james bishop nisibis" } ], [ { "id": 139, "action": "The Discovery of the Relics of St. Abahor (Pihour) St. Bisoura (Pisoura) and their Mother Ampira (Asra)
On this day, the church commemorates the discovery of the relics of St. Abahor, St. Bisoura, and their mother Ampira.
They were from the town of Shabas, near Desouk in Egypt. They were martyred during the era of idol worshipping, and their bodies were buried in the church of their town.
When the Europeans invaded Egypt, during the Crusades in 1248 A.D., they gained control of Damietta (Domiat) and all the surrounding towns. King El-Kamil, King of Egypt at that time, went out with his army to fight the invaders. On their way, they destroyed many churches, among which was the church of Shabas, where the relics of the saints were placed. One soldier opened the coffin of these saints, hoping to find something of value, rather he found these invaluable treasures that were of no value to him. He threw their relics beside the wall of the church and took the coffin and sold it. But the long suffering God was patient toward that soldier, until he went back to his camp. He was the first to be killed as witnessed by his companions on their return.
The precious relics were seen by the wife of one of the priests. She took them joyfully, and because of her fear, she entered the church and hid them in a side of the church and covered them with pieces of brick.
The relics remained hidden for twenty years, for the woman forgot everything about them. But God wanted to reveal the relics for the benefit of the faithful. The woman remembered them and she made it known to the rest of the faithful. The priests came and carried them while they were praying and praising God. They put them in a new coffin in the church. Anba Gabriel, the bishop of the diocese, ordered this day to be a feast and a memorial, and that their names be placed in the chronicle of the feasts of the Church.
Many miracles and signs were brought about by God through these relics. One of these miracles concerns a daughter of one of the believers who lost her sight and lost all hope for healing. She interceded through the saints' pure relics and was instantly healed and her sight returned. She glorified the Lord Christ Who honored His servants with this great honor.
The prayers of these saints be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "discovery relics abahor pihour bisoura pisoura mother ampira asra" } ], [ { "id": 140, "action": "On this day, St. Prochorus departed. He was one of the seventy disciples who were called by the Lord and sent to preach His Name, and granted the gift of healing and casting out of evil spirits. St. Prochorus was with the disciples in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost, and he was filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. He was chosen by the Apostles to be one of the seven deacons, who were filled with the Holy Spirit and with wisdom. (Acts 6:5) He accompanied St. John the Theologian, and travelled with him to many cities. St. John laid his hand on him and ordained him bishop for Nicomidia in Bithinia. He preached the Name of the Lord Christ, and restored many Greeks to the faith, baptizing them and teaching them to keep the Commandments. After he built a church for them and ordained priests and deacons, he went to the surrounding cities. He preached to them and baptized many of their inhabitants, as he also preached to and baptized many of the Jews. He endured many afflictions and hardships because of his preaching of the Name of Christ.
When he completed his course, he departed at a well-advanced age, and received the eternal bliss.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also is the commemoration of the consecration of St. John \"El-Koochy's\" church, which was in the city of Rome, and the relocation of the saint's relics to it. He was known as the owner of the Golden Bible.
This day also is the commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Behna and St. Anba Kloag the priest.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church john owner golden gospel transfer relics it also behna bahnou kloag bagoug priest" } ], [ { "id": 141, "action": "On this day, Our Lady, the all pure, Virgin St. Mary, the Mother of God, departed. As she was always praying in the holy sepulchre, the Holy Spirit informed her that she was about to depart from this temporal world. When the time of her departure arrived, the virgins of the Mount of Olives came to her, with the apostles, who were still alive, and they surrounded her bed. The Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom is the glory, with a host of thousands and thousands of angels came to her and comforted her and told her about the eternal joy that was prepared for her, and she rejoiced. The apostles and the virgins asked her to bless them. She stretched her hand and blessed them all, and she gave up her pure spirit in the hand of her Son and God, and He took her spirit to the heavenly mansions.
The apostles prepared the body in a fitting manner and carried it to Gethsemane. Some of the Jews blocked their way to prevent them from burying the body. One of the Jews seized the coffin with his hands, which were separated instantly from his body and they remained attached to the coffin. He regretted his evil deed and wept bitterly. Through the supplications of the saintly apostles, his hands were reattached to his body, and he believed in the Lord Christ. When they placed the body in the tomb, the Lord hid it from them.
St. Thomas the Apostle was not present at the time of St. Mary's departure. He wanted to go to Jerusalem and a cloud carried him there. On his way, he saw the pure body of St. Mary carried by the angels and ascended to heaven with it. One of the angels told him, \"Make haste and kiss the pure body of St. Mary,\" and he did.
When St. Thomas arrived where the disciples were, they told him about St. Mary's departure and he said to them, \"You know how I conducted myself at the resurrection of the Lord Christ, and I will not believe unless I see her body.\" They went with him to the tomb, and uncovered the place of the body but they did not find it, and everyone was perplexed and surprised. St. Thomas told them how he saw the holy body and the angels that were ascending with it. They heard the Holy Spirit saying to them, \"The Lord did not will to leave her body on earth.\" The Lord had promised his pure apostles to let them see her in the flesh once again. They were waiting for this promise to be fulfilled, until the 16th day of the month of Misra, when the promise was fulfilled and they saw her.
The years of her life on earth were 60 years. She was 12 years old when she left the temple. She spent 34 years in Joseph's house, until the Ascension of the Lord, and 14 years with St. John the Evangelist, according to the commandment of the Lord which he told her at the cross, \"Behold, this is your son,\" and to St. John, \"Behold, this is your mother.\"
Her intercession and blessings be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Hilaria, daughter of Emperor Zeno, departed. Emperor Zeno was an Orthodox believer, who loved the church. He had only two daughters, Hilaria and her sister, Thaopesta.
Their father brought them up and taught them the fundamentals of the Orthodox faith. Hilaria, since her young age, loved to live a solitary life, and she thought about the monastic life. When she was 18 years old, she left the court of her father and travelled to Egypt, disguised in men's clothing.
She went to the wilderness of St. Macarius, where she met a holy man by the name of Anba Pemwah. She told him about her desire to become a monk and she was ordained a monk under the name of Hilary. Three years later, Anba Pemwah found out that she was Hilaria, the daughter of Emperor Zeno. He kept her secret, and placed her in a cave, and visited her from time to time. She stayed there for fifteen years. When she did not grow a beard, the monks thought that she was an eunuch, and they called her \"Hilary, the eunuch\".
Meanwhile, her sister Thaopesta became possessed with an unclean spirit, and her father spent on her a great deal of money in vain. The men of his court advised the Emperor to send her to the elders of Sheheat (Scetis), for the fame of their holiness had spread to all the Roman districts. The Emperor sent her with one of the noble men in the empire, accompanied by many soldiers and several servants. He sent a letter with the nobleman to the elders of the wilderness telling them about his pain and grief. The Emperor told them that God had given him two daughters: one departed and did not return and he did not know where she was, and the other became possessed with an evil spirit who tormented her often. He asked them to pray for her, so that the Lord might heal her from what was ailing her, so that she would be a comfort to him in place of his disappeared daughter.
When the princess arrived at the wilderness of Sheheat (Scetis) with her entourage, and the elders read the emperor's letter, they prayed for her for many days, but she was not healed. At the end, the fathers decided that St. Hilary the eunuch (Hilaria, her sister) should take her and pray for her healing. St. Hilary refused, but the elders obliged her to take her. St. Hilary knew that she was her sister but her sister did not recognize her.
St. Hilaria embraced and kissed her sister often then left to weep outside. A few days later, Thaopesta, her sister, was healed from her illness, and St. Hilaria took her to the elders and said to them, \"Through your prayers, God has granted her healing.\" The elders sent Thaopesta back to her father in peace.
When Thaopesta arrived to her father, he and all those who were in the palace rejoiced for her safe return, and offered many thanks to the Lord Christ. Her father asked her about her stay in Sheheat (Scetis), and she said that St. Hilary, the eunuch who healed her by his prayers, embraced her and kissed her often. When the Emperor heard this, he had some doubts about this monk. He sent to the elders asking them to send St. Hilary, who healed his daughter, in order to receive his blessings. When the elders ordered \"him\" to go to the Emperor, \"he\" wept bitterly before the elders, pleading with them to spare \"him\" from the trip. They told \"him\" that the emperor was a righteous man who loved the holy church and that it was only proper not to disobey him according to the Holy Scriptures.
After a great effort, St. Hilaria went to the Emperor, who saluted \"him\" and all those who were with \"him\". Then, he had a private meeting with Hilaria together with the Empress. They asked \"him\", \"How did you \"the holy man\" embrace and kiss the princess?\" Then Hilaria asked them to bring the Bible and to pledge to \"him\" not to prevent \"him\" from going back to the wilderness after answering their inquiry. They brought the Bible and pledged to \"him\" as he wished. Then \"he\" made \"himself\" known to them saying, \"I am your daughter Hilaria,\" and she told them all that had happened to her. Her parents wept with a loud voice and all the people in the palace were in confusion.
She remained three months, then she wanted to return, and when her parents refused, she reminded them of their oath. Then the Emperor wrote to the Governor of Egypt, demanding him to send a hundred bushels of wheat every year and six hundred measures of oil and all that the monks needed in the wilderness, on a yearly basis. The Emperor saw to it also that many cells were built for the monks. He also built a beautiful palace in the monastery of St. Macarius. From that time on, the number of monks increased in the wilderness.
St. Hilaria stayed five years after her return to the wilderness, then departed in peace. No one knew that she was a woman until after her death.
Her prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 396 A.D., St. Gregory of Nyssa, the brother of St. Basil the Great, departed. This great father of the church was virtuous and so were his brothers. He was very well versed in the art of discourse and in the Greek language. He was also strongly zealous in his Orthodox faith.
When these good characteristics were known about him, he was chosen bishop against his will, and was ordained over the city of Nyssa. He shepherded the flock of Christ, that was entrusted to him, very well. He illumined the souls with his sermons and discourses. He interpreted many books of the Holy Bible. He was exiled at the time of Emperor Valens, but returned to Nyssa by the order of Emperor Theodosius the Great, in 378 A.D.
When the one hundred and fifty fathers gathered together in the second Universal Council in Constantinople, in 381 A.D., because of the heresy of Macedonius, the archbishop of the city, at the order of Emperor Theodosius, St. Gregory, was one of the fathers present. He silenced Sabilius, Macedonius, and Apolinarus, arguing their heretic opinions and exposing the fallacies of their heresies.
It was said about him, that while he was celebrating the divine liturgy, he saw the cherubim on the altar.
After thirty-three years as the bishop of Nyssa, his brother St. Basil came to visit him, for St. Gregory was sick as a result of his austere ascetic life. St. Gregory received his brother with joy. Once, when St. Gregory was about to start the holy mass, he fell into a trance, and the Virgin St. Mary appeared to him and said, \"Today, you will come to us.\" He departed the same day, and St. Basil, his brother, prayed over him, and he was buried with great honors.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "gregorius gregory nyssa brother basil great" } ], [ { "id": 142, "action": "The Departure of St. Anthony the Great (Antonius)
On this day, of the year 355 A.D., St. Anthony the Great, the star of the wilderness, and the father of all monks, departed.
This righteous man was born in the year 251 A.D. in the city of Qimn El-Arouse, to rich parents who loved the church and the poor. They raised him up in fear of the Lord. When he was twenty years old, his parents departed, and he had to take care of his sister.
Once, he entered the church and heard the words of the Lord Christ in the Gospel, \"If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven; and come, follow Me.\" (Matthew 19:21)
He returned to his house, decided to fulfill this commandment and considered it directed to him personally. He gave his wealth to the poor and needy, and he took his sister and placed her with some virgins.
At that time, monasticism had not yet been established. All those who wanted to live a solitary life went and lived on the outskirts of the city. This was what St. Anthony did as he dwelt alone, worshipping and living an ascetic life.
The devil fought him there by afflicting him with boredom, laziness, and the phantoms of women. He overcame the devil's snares by the power of the Lord Christ. After that, he went to one of the tombs, and he resided therein and closed the door on himself. Some of his friends used to bring him food. When the devil perceived his ascetic life and his intense worship, he was envious of him, and he beat him mercilessly, then left him unconscious. When his friends came to visit him and found him in this condition, they carried him to the church. After he somewhat recovered, he went back to the same place. The devil again resumed his war against St. Antonius, only this time the
phantoms were in the form of wild beasts, wolves, lions, snakes and scorpions. They appeared as if they were about to attack him or cut him into pieces. But the saint would laugh at them scornfully and say, \"If any of you have any authority over me, only one would have been sufficient to fight me.\" At his saying this, they disappeared as though in smoke, for God gave him the victory over the devils. He was always singing this psalm, \"Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those also who hate Him flee before Him.\" (Psalm 68:1)
St. Anthony used to prepare a quantity of bread that would sustain him for six months. He did not allow anyone to enter his cell, and whoever came to him, stood outside and listened to his advice. He continued in this condition of solitary worship for 20 years. Then by God's command, he went to El-Fayyoum and confirmed the brethren there in the faith, then returned to his monastery.
During the time of persecution, he longed to become a martyr. He left his monastery and went to Alexandria. He visited those who were imprisoned for the sake of Christ and comforted them. When the Governor saw that he was confessing the Lord Christ publicly, not caring what might happen to him, he ordered him not to show up in the city. However, the saint did not heed his threats. He faced him and argued with him in order that he might arouse his anger so that he might be tortured and martyred. But God preserved him all along, according to His will, for the benefit of many, and so the Governor left him alone. Then the saint went back to his monastery according to God's will, and many came to visit him and to hear his teachings.
He saw that these visits kept him away from his worship. As a result, he went far away to the eastern desert. He travelled with some bedouins to the inner wilderness for three days, until he found a spring of water and some palm trees, and then he chose to settle there. On this spot now stands the monastery of St. Anthony the Great. The bedouins came to him with bread, and the Lord drove away all the wild beasts from this place, for his sake.
On occasions, he would go to the monastery on the outskirts of the desert by the Nile to visit the brethren, then return to his inner monastery.
His fame spread abroad and it reached Emperor Constantine. The Emperor wrote to him, offering him praise and asked him to pray for him. The brethren were pleased with the Emperor's letter, but St. Anthony did not pay any attention to it, and he said to them, \"The books of God, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, commands us everyday, but we do not heed what they tell us, and we turn our backs on them.\" Under the persistence of the brethren who told him, \"Emperor Constantine loves the church,\" he accepted to write him a letter blessing him, and praying for the peace and safety of the empire and the church.
One day, he was bored, and he heard a voice telling him, \"Go out and see.\" He went out and saw an angel who wore a girdle with a cross, one resembling the holy Eskiem, and on his head was a head cover (Kolansowa). He was sitting while braiding palm leaves, then he stood up to pray, and again he sat to weave. A voice came to him saying, \"Anthony, do this and you will rest.\" Henceforth, he started to wear this tunic that he saw, and began to weave palm leaves, and never got bored again.
St. Anthony prophesied about the persecution that was about to happen to the church and the control of the heretics over it, the church victory and its return to its formal glory, and the end of the age.
When St. Macarius visited St. Anthony, St. Anthony clothed him with the monk's garb, and St. Anthony foretold him what would be of him.
When the day of the departure of St. Paul, the first hermit in the desert, drew near, St. Anthony went to him. St. Anthony buried St. Paul the hermit after he had clothed him in a tunic which was a present from St. Athanasius the Apostolic, 20th Pope of Alexandria.
When St. Anthony felt that the day of his departure had approached, he commanded his disciple to hide his body and to give his staff to St. Macarius, and to give one sheepskin cloak to St. Athanasius and the other sheepskin cloak to Anba Serapion, his disciple. He stretched himself on the ground and gave up his spirit. The angels and the saints took his spirit and carried it to the place of perpetual rest.
This saint lived for 105 years, struggling in the way of holiness and purity.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "anthony great antonius" } ], [ { "id": 143, "action": "On this day, of the year 97 A.D., St. Timothy, the Apostle, was martyred. He was born in the city of Lystra of the district of Lycaonia in Asia Minor, to a Greek father who worshipped the stars and a Jewish mother whose name was Eunice. (Acts 16:1-2, Timothy 1:5)
When St. Paul preached in Lystra, this saint heard his teachings and saw the signs that God wrought by his hands. He believed and was baptized. Timothy rejected the gods of his father and forsook the faith of his mother. He became a disciple of St. Paul the Apostle, followed him in his travels, and shared his labors.
In the year 53 A.D., St. Paul ordained St. Timothy bishop over the city of Ephesus and the neighboring cities. St. Timothy preached there and converted many to the Christian faith and baptized them.
St. Paul wrote two epistles to St. Timothy: the first of which was in 65 A.D., and the second was shortly before 67 A.D., urging him, \"Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine, continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.\" (1Tim. 4:16) He also wrote to him about the qualifications of bishop, priest, deacon, and the widow. He cautioned him also about false prophets and commanded him not to lay his hand on one in haste but only after thorough examinations and testing.
St. Paul called Timothy his son and his beloved. St. Timothy delivered four epistles for St. Paul: the first was the Epistle to Corinth, the second to Philippi, the third to Thessalonica, and the fourth to the Hebrews.
St. Timothy shepherded the flock of Christ extremely well, and he illumined minds by his teachings, instructions, and admonitions. He continued to rebuke the Jews and the Greeks, therefore they envied him and congregated against him and started beating him until he was martyred in the city of Ephesus. The believers took his body and buried it.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the great father Pope Kyrillos IV (Cyril), 110th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was born in the town of Sawamaa of the district of the city of Girga, to righteous parents in the year 1816 A.D. They gave him the name David (Daoud) after his grandfather. His father brought him up and educated him well. He grew up despising the things of the world and its vanities. When he was 22 years old, he went to the monastery of St. Anthony, where he conducted himself virtuously and lived an ascetic life, which convinced the abbot of the monastery, Father Athanasius (El-Kalousni), to clothe him with the garb of the monks. He continued to read and to study the holy books.
Two years after David's ordination as a monk, the abbot of the monastery departed. David (Daoud) was chosen, by the consensus of the monks, to become their abbot. Pope Petros \"El-Gawli\" (Anba Petros VII), 109th Pope of Alexandria, ordained him a priest, and he appointed him as abbot of the monastery. He took care of the state of affairs of the monastery and those concerning the monks.
He was very sharp intellectually and was very well versed in religious matters. When a problem transpired among the Ethiopians concerning some doctrinal issues, the Pope, Anba Petros called upon him to go to Ethiopia to solve these problems. He performed his duty admirably. Father Daoud returned on July 13, 1852, to find that Pope Petros had departed on April 15, 1852. When they tried to choose a successor to the Pope, there was a split in the people's opinions. Some wanted Father Daoud and others wanted to choose someone else.
Finally they decided to ordain Father Daoud an auxiliary bishop in the year 1853. He performed his duties as such, for a year and two months, during which, he showed discretion and good conduct, that made him worthy to be chosen patriarch on the 28th of Bashanse of 1571 A.M. (1854 A.D.).
He devoted all his efforts to disciplining the youth and educating them. He established the great Coptic school in the patriarchate. He also established another school in Haret-El-Sakkayeen. He paid great attention to the teaching of the Coptic language. He also established a great printing house and printed many church books.
Generally, the progress of the Copts at that time attributed to his efforts. He demolished the old church in the Patriarchate and built another, but he could not complete it because of his absence in Ethiopia for the second time.
This great pontiff upheld the canons of the church, and was charitable to the poor and the needy, and was deeply loved by his flock. He departed on the 23rd of Tubah in 1577 A.M. (1861 A.D.)
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pope cyril iv kyrillos 110th pope" } ], [ { "id": 144, "action": "On this day, St. Mary the Ascetic, the shut-in, departed. Her parents were among the wealthy and noble people of Alexandria. Several of the sons of the great men in the city asked to marry her, but she declined.
When her parents departed, she distributed all that they left among the poor, keeping just a modest part for herself. Then she joined a convent near the City of Alexandria, and wore the monastic garb. She exerted herself in worship for 15 years, then she put on the holy \"Eskeem\" and put on a garb made of hair. After she took the permission of the abbess, she shut herself in her cell, closed the door, and opened a small window in it to receive her provisions. She spent 22 years in this cell, fasting two days at a time. During the holy forty days fast (Lent), she fasted for three days, and then broke her fast on some pulses moistened with water.
On the 11th day of the month of Tubah, she asked for a little of the holy water. She washed her hands and feet, then she received the Holy Communion, and drank from the holy water. She became sick and stayed in her bed until the 21st of Tubah, when she received the Holy Mysteries once more. She called upon the abbess and all the sisters, bade them farewell, and asked them to visit her after three days. On the 24th day of Tubah, they visited her and found that she had departed in peace. They carried her to the church, and after praying over her, they placed her with the bodies of the virgin saints.
Her prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Bisada (St. Psati) was martyred. His father was from El-Kase and his mother, who was the daughter of one of the pagan priests, was from Ehreet. She was a believer in the Lord Christ. When the son of a pagan priest asked her to marry him, she took flight to El-Kase where she married a farmer, and God gave her a son whom she called Bisadi.
They brought him up in the fear of the Lord and in the keeping of His Commandments. When St. Bisadi was twenty years old, his father departed and left him a great wealth. St. Bisadi increased in the deeds of charity and righteousness.
When Emperor Diocletian issued his decree of worshipping the idols, the saint hid himself in his home, and continued to worship God. A voice came to him from heaven saying, \"Why are you delaying?\" Immediately, he rushed to the governor and confessed his faith saying, \"I am a Christian.\"
The Governor ordered him be tortured by beating with whips, hitting his head with pins, pulling out his nails, and dipping his fingers in vinegar and lime. He endured the torture for several days with great patience, and the Lord Christ healed all his wounds.
St. Bisadi performed several miracles, and the Governor became weary of torturing him; he chained him and sent him to the Governor of El-Fayyoum. There St. Bisadi raised a child from the dead. A large stone had fallen on the child while standing beside a wall. The bishop of the City of El-Fayyoum heard about St. Bisada, brought him and ordained him a priest. Then he went back to reappear before the Governor of El-Fayyoum who tortured him, then sent him to Alexandria where he received the crown of martyrdom.
St. Julius El-Akfahsi (who wrote the biographies of saints) took his body and gave it to his mother who was present. She returned with the body to her home town, Ehreet, and all the people of the town received the body of St. Bisadi with joy, and buried him with great honor. They built a church after his name, and the Lord performed many miracles through his body.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "bisada st psati priest" } ], [ { "id": 145, "action": "On this day, St. Peter the worshipper, departed. He was at first a tax collector, who was very cruel and had no mercy. Because of his selfishness and greed, he was nicknamed \"the merciless\". The Lord Jesus had compassion upon him and He wanted to turn him away from all his bad deeds.
One day, God sent him a poor man to ask him for a little food, and it thus happened that his servant arrived at the same time when the poor man was standing before him, with bread. The tax collector took a loaf of bread and hit the poor man with it on his head, not as an act of mercy, but to get rid of him so that he might not come back again.
That same night, Peter, the tax collector, saw a vision in his sleep, as though he was in the judgement day, where the scale of justice was erected, and he saw some people clothed in black in the ugliest forms. They came and put his sins and his injustices in the left pan of the scale. Then a group of the angels of light, with beautiful countenances and in white clothes, came and stood beside the right pan of the scale. They appeared perplexed, for they did not find anything to put in the pan. One of them came forward, and put in the loaf of bread with which he had hit the head of the poor man, and said, \"There is nothing for this man except this loaf of bread.\"
At this moment, Peter woke up from his sleep trembling and afraid. He started to rebuke himself for all that he had done. He started to be exceedingly merciful and compassionate, and he even gave his own tunic away. When nothing was left of his property, he left his town and sold himself as a slave, and paid the price to the poor.
When his good deeds became well known, he fled to the wilderness of St. Macarius, where he became a monk and lived an ascetic life with great devotion and good repute, that made him worthy to know the day of his departure. St. Peter called the elders of the monks and bade them farewell, and departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, we celebrate the commemoration of the martyrdom of the striving saint Anba Askala (Asela) the ascetic.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "askala asela ascetic" } ], [ { "id": 146, "action": "On this day, the forty-nine elder priests of Sheheat, Martinos, the envoy of the emperor, and his son, were martyred.
Emperor Theodosius the Less, the son of Emperor Arcadius, did not have a son. He wrote to the elders of Sheheat asking them to pray to God to grant him a son. St. Isidor wrote back to him saying that God did not will for him to have a son who would participate with the heretics after him.
When the Emperor read the message, he offered thanks to God. Some people gave him the advice to marry another wife to have offspring from her to inherit the empire after him. He said to them, \"I cannot do anything except what the elders of Sheheat demanded.\" He sent an envoy whose name was Martinos to consult with them about that. Martinos had a son named Zius who accompanied him on his visit to the elders in order to receive their blessings.
When they arrived and the elders read the message, they took the messenger to the body of St. Isidor, for he had departed. They called on him saying, \"Our father, we have received a letter from the Emperor. What shall we say to him?\" A voice came from the pure body saying, \"What I had said before, I also say now, that the Lord will never give him a son to participate with the heretics, even if he marries ten women.\" The elders wrote back to the Emperor recounting what they heard.
When the messenger wanted to return, the pagan berbers attacked the monastery. One of their great elders, whose name was Anba Yuannis, called upon the brethren and said, \"The berbers have come to kill us. Whoever amongst you would like to become a martyr, let him stand, and whoever is afraid, let him hide in the palace.\" Some of them hid in the palace, but he remained with the forty-eight elders, who were all slaughtered by the berbers.
Martinos and his son were hiding. The son looked up and saw the angels placing the crowns of glory on the elders who were killed. The son said to his father, \"I see spiritual beings putting crowns on the heads of the elders. I shall go to receive a crown like them.\" His father replied, \"And I also shall go with you, my son.\" Both revealed themselves to the berbers. They were killed and received the crown of martyrdom.
After the berbers had gone, the monks who were hiding in the palace came down, took the bodies, and placed them in a cave. They sang and said praises before the cave every night. Some people from the city of Batanoon came and took the body of Anba Yuannis and returned to their city. The elders of the monastery returned the body after a while. Also, some people from El-Fayyoum came and stole the body of Zius, the son of Martinos. When they arrived at the lake of El-Fayyoum, the angel of the Lord returned him to where the body of his father was. The elders also tried to separate the body of Zius, the son, from the body of his father several times, but they could not. Every time they moved the body of Zius, the angel of the Lord would return it to its place. One of the fathers heard one night, in a vision, someone saying, \"Praise God, we were not separated in the flesh, nor are we separated when we are with Christ. Why do you want to separate our bodies?\"
When persecution became rampant and the attacks on the monastery continued, the fathers relocated the bodies, to a cave which they built beside the church of St. Macarius. At the time of Anba Theodosius, 33rd Pope of Alexandria, they built a church for them. When Anba Benjamin, 38th pope, came to the wilderness, he established a feast day for them on the 5th of Amshir, which was the day of the relocation of their bodies to this church. In time, the church building deteriorated, and they moved the bodies to one of the cells until the time of Ibrahim El-Gohary, who built a church for them around the end of the 18th century, where they placed the bodies of the saints. The church is still in existence today in the monastery of St. Macarius.
The cell in which the bodies were kept is known today in Coptic as the cell of Ehme' Epseet, or the cell of the forty-nine.
Their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Anastasia departed. She was from a noble family in the city of Constantinople. She was very beautiful and had a great moral character. Emperor Justin, who was married, wanted to marry her. She refused and went and told his wife. The Empress sent her to Alexandria on a private ship. She built her a convent outside the city of Alexandria and named it after her.
When the Emperor knew where she was, he sent for her, but Anastasia escaped and hid herself in the wilderness of Sheheat (Scetis), disguised as a prince. She met with Anba Daniel, the archpriest of the wilderness, and revealed her story to him. He brought her to a cave, and asked one of the elders to fill a water pot for her once every week, and to place the pot at the door of the cave and leave. She remained in this place for 28 years, without anyone knowing that she was a woman. She used to write her thoughts on pieces of pottery, and leave them at the door of her cave. The elder who brought her the water used to take the pieces of pottery without knowing what was written on them and give them to St. Daniel.
One day he brought a piece of pottery to St. Daniel who wept when he read it, and said to his disciple, \"Come with me now to bury the body of the saint in that cave.\" When they entered her cave, they received blessings from each other. St. Anastasia said to Anba Daniel, \"For the sake of God, bury me with what I have on my body.\" Then she prayed and bade them farewell and departed in peace. They wept and buried her. When the disciple was caring for her burial, he found out that she was a woman, and he marvelled in silence.
After they buried her, and they returned to their place, the disciple knelt before St. Daniel and said, \"For the sake of God, tell me her story, for I have seen that she was a woman.\" The elder told him her story, that she was from one of the noble families of Constantinople, and how she surrendered herself to Christ, forsaking the vain glory of this world.
Her prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "anastasia" } ], [ { "id": 147, "action": "On this day, St. Sarapion was martyred. He was a native of the City of Binosah (Babousah), a town of Lower Egypt. He was wealthy, had many possessions, and he was also a charitable man. At the time of the persecution, he heard that the governor of Alexandria, Armanius, had arrived in Lower Egypt, the northern part of the country, to torture the Christians. He went out with his friend, Theodore and another friend who was a shepherd called Thomas. They all confessed the Name of Christ before the Governor, who cast them into prison.
When the people of his town heard about his arrest, they came carrying arms to kill the Governor and to free the saint. The saint constrained them and told them that he wanted to be martyred in the name of Christ and they went away.
The Governor took the saint with him to Alexandria on a ship, and there he tortured St. Sarapion with the pressing wheel (Hinbazin), and threw him in a ditch filled with fire. Then he put him in a cauldron full of pitch and bitumen and lit fire under him. Through it all, the Lord was with him and delivered him safely. At last they crucified him and threw arrows at him.
The angel of the Lord came and brought St. Sarapion down, and crucified the Governor in his place. They continued to throw arrows at the Governor as if he was the saint, while he was crying and saying, \"I am Armanius.\" The saint said to the Governor, \"The Lord God lives, you will not be brought down from the tree, until you bring out those who are in prison and spread the ccounts of their struggle.\" The Governor did as the saint told him. The number of martyrs that were beheaded on that day was 540 souls.
Then the Governor gave the responsibility of torturing the Saint to one of the princes, whose name was Orion. He traveled with the saint by sea to his own town. At night the ship was ashore at one of the villages, and they slept. In the morning, Orion found that the place where the ship was ashore was the town of the saint, and he marvelled, and he heard a voice saying, \"This is his town, you should get him out of the ship.\"
After they had tortured the saint, they beheaded him, and he received the crown of martyrdom. Orion wrapped the body of the saint in his tunic and delivered him to his family.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the church commemorates the honorable Archangel Suriel. He was with Ezra, the righteous prophet, and instructed him about many hidden mysteries. He is also the intercessor on behalf of sinners.
His intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the church celebrates the commemoration of the transfer of the relics of St. Timothy, the Apostle, from the City of Ephesus to Constantinople.
When Emperor Constantine built the City of Constantinople, he relocated the relics of many of the saints to it. When he heard about the whereabouts of the relics of St. Timothy, he sent some priests who carried the holy body to Constantinople. They placed it in the church of the apostles and the saints.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Abe-Fam, the Soldier, was martyred (Bifam or Phoebammon). He was born in Oseem (Awsim) to a wealthy father whose name was Anastasius, and a righteous mother whose name was Susanna.
They brought him up in the Christian faith. He grew up in the fear of God, merciful to the poor, and steadfast in prayer and fasting. His parents wanted him to get married, but he declined. When Emperor Diocletian reigned and knew that this saint did not raise incense to the gods, the Emperor sent to the governor Arianus to torture St. Abe-Fam if he did not offer incense to the idols.
Arianus went to Oseem and when he saw the saint he said, \"Peace be with you,\" and the saint replied, \"Why do you speak the word of peace? Did you not know that peace is only for the righteous?\" and \"there is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord.\" (Isaiah 48:22) The Governor became extremely angry and took the Saint to Qaw where he tortured him severely, then beheaded him. The Saint received the crown of martyrdom. God honored this saint by performing many miracles through his body.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "abe-fam soldier st phoebammon" } ], [ { "id": 148, "action": "On this day St. Clement was martyred. He was the son of a faithful woman whose name was Euphrosyne (Euphrasia) from the City of Angora.
When he grew up, his mother taught him the church's subjects and reared him with the Christian ethics. When he was 12 years old, he walked in the way of righteousness, and he reached a high level in worship and asceticism. He did not eat except dry vegetables, as did the three young men at the time of Daniel. When he was ordained deacon, he increased in searching the books, and the spirit of God was upon him.
His fame spread out until it reached Emperor Diocletian. He brought the saint, befriended him and promised him that he would adopt him if he agreed to worship the idols. When he did not give in to his demands, Diocletian tortured him with various tortures. However, God strengthened him and exposed His enemies by His might. Many tortured him, to an extent that he stood before seven courts to be judged by them, and every time God strengthened and comforted him. At last, they beheaded him and he received the crown of martyrdom. His body was taken by a faithful woman, whose name was Sophia, who buried him with great honor.
His prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, St. Kaou was martyred. He was from the City of Bamway (Bimay) in El-Fayyoum. At that time, Emperor Diocletian issued an edict commanding the worship of idols.
The saint resided in a home that he had built for himself outside of his city, where he worshipped God. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a vision saying, \"Why are you sitting here, while martyrdom is available? Arise now, and go to El-Lahoon where you will find the messenger of the Governor of Alexandria. Go and confess the Name of Christ before him and you will be granted the crown of martyrdom.\"
St. Kaou rose up from his sleep with great joy and he went to El-Lahoon and found the messenger at the seashore. When the messenger saw him, the messenger marvelled at St. Kaou's beautiful old age, and he honored him. The messenger took out from his pocket an idol made of gold and precious stones and said to the saint, \"This is the gift of the Emperor to the Governor of Ansena.\"
St. Kaou took it in his hand and admired its wonderful workmanship. Then he cast it to the ground and smashed it. The messenger became very angry and ordered him to be bound. He took him to the Governor of Ansena and told the Governor what St. Kaou had done. The Governor tormented him, then he sent him to the Governor of Bahnasa, who also tortured him.
When he did not surrender and did not worship the idols, he was beheaded and received the crown of martyrdom. Some believers came and took his body to the place where he used to worship and buried him there. They built a church after his name in the same place later on and God manifested many miracles in it.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "kaou" } ], [ { "id": 149, "action": "On this day, St. Eksani (St. Xene) departed. She was the daughter of one of the noble and rich families of Rome. She was the only daughter of her parents. She was brought up at an early age accustomed to fasting and prayers, visiting the prisoners and helping the needy.
She used to visit the convents in Rome to spend time in worship. She distributed what she brought with her among the poor and was satisfied with what the nuns ate. She read the biographies of the saints and prayed to God to grant her a share among them.
It happened that one of the ministers of Rome asked for her hand in marriage for his son. Her father was delighted about that and he brought her the best of clothing and the most precious gems and furnishings. Shortly before her wedding, she asked her mother to allow her to go to the monastery to visit her friends the nuns before getting married, in order to bid them farewell, and her mother gave her permission.
She took her precious ornaments and two of her maiden servants, and went quickly to the seashore. She found a ship going to Cyprus, which she embarked on. On her arrival, she went to St. Epiphanius and told him about her story. He advised her to go to the City of Alexandria.
She traveled to Alexandria, where she met Anba Theophilus, 23rd Pope of Alexandria. She informed him of her desire to live the monastic life. He agreed and he cut her hair and clothed her in the monastic garb.
She sold all of her jewels and clothes that she brought with her, and built a church in the name of St. Stephen, the Archdeacon. She resided with a group of virgins and nuns that Pope Theophilus settled with her.
She practiced asceticism and strived. She lived only on bread and some moistened vegetables. She did not eat any cooked food, and she slept on the ground. She struggled in that manner for more than 20 years.
When she departed, God manifested a sign in heaven to reveal the heavenly blessings that she received. At midday, a cross of light, whose light exceeded that of the sun, appeared in heaven, and around it a circle of stars that shone like crowns. The cross remained shining until her body was buried with the other saintly virgins, then it disappeared. The people knew that the appearance of the cross was to manifest her virtue.
Later on, the two maiden servants told the Pope her real story and how she had a covenant with them to conceal her story and to call her sister. The Pope marvelled, glorified God, and he wrote her biography.
Her prayers be with us. Amen.
Today also is the commemoration of St. Syriacus, the fighter.
His blessings be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "seriakos syriacus fighter" } ], [ { "id": 150, "action": "The Martyrdom of Saints Pistis, Helpis, Agape, and Their Mother, Sophia
On this day, the holy and blessed virgins, Pistis, Helpis, Agape, and their mother, Sophia, were martyred. St. Sophia was from a rich and noble family in Antioch. When she had these three girls, she called them Pistis, which means faith, Helpis, which means hope, and Agape, which means love.
When they grew up, she went with them to Rome to teach them the worship of God and His fear. Emperor Hadrianus (Hadrian), the infidel, heard about them and he summoned them before him. Their mother preached to them, and encouraged them to be steadfast in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, saying to them, \"Let not your determination grow faint or weak, and let not the glory of the world entice you, lest you lose the eternal glory. Be patient and persevere until you meet your Bridegroom, the Christ, with Whom you will enter into the everlasting joy.\" The oldest sister was 12 years old, the second was 10 years old and the youngest was 9 years old.
When they came before the Emperor, he asked the oldest to worship the idols, promising her that he would marry her to one of the great men in his kingdom, and that he would bestow on her many delights and pleasures, but she refused. He ordered her to be beaten with hammers, mutilating her breasts, and to place her in a cauldron of boiling water over the fire. The Lord was with her, saved her, and He granted her strength and peace, and everyone was astonished and glorified God. Then the Emperor commanded that she be beheaded.
Then they brought the second daughter before the Emperor. He also beat her severely and also placed her in the boiling water, then they brought her out and beheaded her. With the youngest daughter, her mother feared that she would weaken, so she encouraged and strengthened her. When the Emperor ordered her placed in the pressing wheel (Hinbazin), she cried to Christ, and He sent His angel who broke it.
The Emperor then ordered her to be thrown into the fire. She prayed and made the sign of the cross on her face. Then she threw herself in it. All those who were present saw three men in white robes surrounding her, and the fiery furnace was as cold as the dew. They marvelled, and many believed in the Lord Christ, and they were all beheaded.
The Emperor ordered afterwards that her sides be pierced with hot rods, but the Lord strengthened her and she did not feel the pain. Finally, she was beheaded. Their mother carried their bodies outside the city, sat and wept, and asked them to ask the Lord Christ to take her soul also. The Lord granted her wish and her spirit went immediately to her Creator. Some believers came and carried the bodies and buried them with great honors.
Emperor Hadrian was struck with small pox in his eyes, and he became blind. The worms grew in his body and he died a dreadful death, and God avenged the death of these saintly virgins.
Their blessings be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pistis helpis agape mother sophia" } ], [ { "id": 151, "action": "On this day of the year 381 A.D., one hundred and fifty fathers assembled upon the order of Emperor Theodosius the Great, in the city of Constantinople. They assembled to judge Macedonius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Sabellius and Apollinaris, for their blasphemy against God the Word and the Holy Spirit. When this blasphemy became widespread, the fathers of the church were concerned about the peace of the church, and made these heresies known to Emperor Theodosius. He ordered that a council be assembled, and invited Abba Timothy, 22nd Pope of Alexandria; Abba Damasus, Pope of Rome; Abba Petros (Peter), Patriarch of Antioch; and Abba Cyril (Kyrillos), Patriarch of Jerusalem. They came to the council with their bishops, except the Pope of Rome, who delegated others to attend on his behalf.
When the holy council convened in Constantinople, they called upon Macedonius. Abba Timothy, Pope of Alexandria, who was presiding over the council, asked him, \"What is your belief?\" Macedonius answered that the Holy Spirit was created like any other creature. Abba Timothy said, \"The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. If we say as you claim that the Spirit of God is created, we are saying, in essence, that His Life is created, and therefore, He is 'lifeless' without it.\" He advised Macedonius to renounce his erroneous belief. When he refused, Macedonius was excommunicated, anathematized and striped of his rank.
Then Abba Timothy asked Sabellius, \"And you, what is your belief?\" He answered, \"The Trinity is one being and one person.\" Abba Timothy said, \"If the Trinity is as you claim, then the mentioning of the Trinity is groundless, and your baptism is futile, because it is in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the Trinity would have suffered pain and died, and the saying of the gospel would be invalid, when it is said that the Son was in the Jordan River, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the likeness of a dove, and the Father called upon Him from heaven.\" Then Abba Timothy advised him to renounce his belief. When Sabellius did not accept, Abba Timothy excommunicated, anathematized and striped him of his rank.
Then Abba Timothy asked Apollinaris, \"And you, what is your belief?\" Apollinaris said, \"The Incarnation of the Son was by His union with the human flesh without the rational being, for His divinity replaced the soul and the mind of the human being.\" Abba Timothy replied, \"God the Word united with our nature to save us, therefore if He only united with the animal body, then He did not save mankind but the animals. Humans will rise on the day of Resurrection with the rational and speaking soul with which there will be the communication and the judgement, and with it they will be granted the blessing or the condemnation. Accordingly, the Incarnation would be in vain. If that was the case, why did He call Himself a man if He did not unite with the rational speaking soul?\" Then Abba Timothy advised him to turn away from his erroneous belief, but he also refused. He excommunicated Apollinaris as he did the other two friends.
Ultimately, the council excommunicated these three and all those who agreed with them. Then they completed the creed that was established by the fathers at the Council of Nicea until its saying, \"Of Whose Kingdom shall be no end.\" The fathers of the Council of Constantinople added, \"Truly we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, Giver of Life... to the end.\" They put down many canons that are still in the hands of the believers today.
The prayers of these holy fathers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, we celebrate the commemoration of the consecration of the Church of St. Peter, 17th Pope of Alexandria and the Seal of Martyrs . He was martyred in Alexandria during the last days of the reign of Diocletian the Infidel.
When Emperor Constantine the Great reigned, and all the idol temples were destroyed, churches were built. So the believers built this church west of Alexandria in the name of St. Peter, the Seal of Martyrs. The church existed till shortly after the reign of the Arabs over Egypt, when it was destroyed.
His blessings be with us and glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church peter seal martyrs" } ], [ { "id": 152, "action": "
On this day of the year 341 A.D., the great saint Anba Paul, the first hermit, departed. This Saint was from the city of Alexandria, and had a brother whose name was Peter. After the departure of their father, they divided the inheritance between them. When his brother took the greater share, Paul's feelings were hurt, by his brother's action. He said to his brother, \"Why don't you give me my rightful share of the inheritance of my father?\" Peter responded, \"You are a young man, and I am afraid that you might squander it. As for me, I will keep it for you.\"
When they did not agree with each other, they went to the governor to judge between them. On their way, they saw a funeral procession. Paul asked one of the mourners about the deceased man. Paul was told that he was one of the noble and rich people of the city, and that he left his riches and his wealth behind, and that they were taking him to bury him with only his garment.
St. Paul sighed in his heart and said to himself, \"What do I have to do then with all the money of this temporal world which I shall leave naked?\" He looked to his brother and said to him, \"My brother, let us return, for I shall not ask you for anything, not even for what is mine.\"
On their way back, Paul left his brother and went on his way until he came out of the city. Paul found a grave where he stayed for three days praying to the Lord Christ to guide him to what pleases Him. As for his brother, he searched for Paul diligently and when he did not find him, he was very sorry for what he had done.
God sent St. Paul an angel who took him out of this place, and walked with him until they reached the eastern inner wilderness. He stayed there for 70 years, during which he saw no one. He put on a tunic made of palm tree fiber. The Lord sent him a raven every day with a half loaf of bread.
When the Lord wanted to reveal the holiness of St. Paul and his righteousness, He sent His angel to St. Antony (Antonius) the Great, who thought that he was the first to dwell in the wilderness. The angel told St. Antony, \"There is a man who lives in the inner wilderness; the world is not worthy of his footsteps. By his prayers, the Lord brings rain and dew to fall on the earth, and bring the flood of the Nile in its due season.\"
When St. Antony heard this, he rose right away and went to the inner wilderness, a distance of one day's walk. God guided him to the cave of St. Paul. He entered, and they bowed to each other, and sat down talking about the greatness of the Lord.
In the evening, the raven came bringing a whole loaf of bread. St. Paul said to St. Antony, \"Now, I know that you are one of the children of God. For 70 years, the Lord has been sending to me everyday, half a loaf of bread, but today, the Lord is sending your food also. Now, go and bring me back in a hurry the tunic that Emperor Constantine had given to Pope Athanasius.\"
St. Antony went to St. Athanasius, and brought the tunic from him and returned to St. Paul. On his way back, he saw the soul of St. Paul carried by the angels up to heaven. When he arrived to the cave, he found that St. Paul had departed from this world. He kissed him, weeping, and clothed him in the tunic that he asked for, and he took his fiber tunic.
When St. Antony wanted to bury St. Paul, he wondered how could he dig the grave? Two lions entered the cave, bowed their heads before the body of St. Paul, and shook their heads as if they were asking St. Anthony what to do. St. Antony knew that they were sent from God. He marked the length and width of the body on the ground, and they dug the grave with their claws, according to St. Antony's directions. St. Anthony then buried the holy body, and went back to Pope Athanasius and told him what had happened. St. Athanasius sent men to bring St. Paul's body to him. They spent several days searching in the mountains, but they could not find the place of his grave. St. Paul appeared to the Pope in a vision and told him that the Lord would not allow the revelation of the location of his body. He asked the Pope not to trouble the men, but to have them brought back.
Pope Athanasius used to put the palm fiber tunic on three times a year during the Divine Liturgy. One time, he wanted to let the people know about the holiness of the owner of that tunic. He put it over a dead man, and the dead man rose up instantly. The news of this miracle spread all around the land of Egypt.
His prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, the pure saint Anba Longinus, the abbot of the El-Zugag monastery, departed. He was from Cilicia (in Asia Minor). He became a monk in one of the monasteries, where his father Lucianus became a monk after his wife had died.
When the abbot of this monastery departed, the monks wanted to appoint St. Lucianus an abbot over them, but he refused, for he shunned the vain glory of the world. He took his son Longinus and went to Syria, where they lived in a church. God revealed their virtues by performing many miracles through them. For fear of the vain glory of this world, Longinus went to Egypt with his father's permission.
When he arrived, he went to the monastery of El-Zugag, west of Alexandria. The monks received him with joy. After the departure of the abbot, the monks appointed Anba Longinus abbot over them, for what they saw of his virtues and his good conduct. Shortly after, his father Lucianus came to him, and they worked together in making the canvas sails of boats, and sold them to support themselves. God performed many miracles and signs on their hands. Father Lucianus departed from this world in peace, and shortly after, his son, Anba Longinus, departed also.
The prayers of these two saints be with us, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "longinus abbot el-zugag monastery" } ], [ { "id": 153, "action": "
On this day, St. James, the ascetic monk, departed. This father denounced the world since his childhood. He dwelt in a cave for 15 years, during which he struggled with long fasting and numerous prayers. He did not leave his cave all this time.
Some followers of the evil one plotted against him, and they sent him a harlot. She decorated herself and went and entered his cave. She tried to get closer to him and flirted with him to entice him to commit sin with her. But he preached to her, and reminded her of the fire of hell, and the eternal punishments. She repented on his hand and went back to the city, thanking God, Who had compassion on her and brought her back from the way of eternal death to the way of eternal life. God performed many miracles through him. When he finished his good struggle in this life, he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "james ascetic" } ], [ { "id": 154, "action": "
On this day, St. Agabus, one of the seventy disciples, was martyred. The seventy disciples were chosen by the Lord to go before Him to preach the gospel. St. Agabus was with the twelve disciples in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.
He received the gift of prophecy, as the Acts of the Apostles tells us, \"And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, 'Thus says the Holy Spirit, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'\" (Acts 21:10-11) This prophecy was fulfilled. (Acts 21:17-36) He also prophesied about a famine on all the earth, and this was fulfilled during the time of Claudius Caesar, the Roman Emperor. (Acts 11:27-28)
He preached the gospel together with the holy apostles. He went to many countries, teaching and converting many of the Jews and the Greeks to the knowledge of the Lord Christ. He sanctified them by the life-giving baptism.
This moved the Jews of Jerusalem to arrest him, and they tortured him by beating him severely, and putting a rope around his neck, and they dragged him outside the city. They stoned him there until he gave up his pure spirit. At this moment, a light came down from heaven. Everyone saw it as a continuous column between his body and heaven. A Jewish woman saw it and said, \"Truly this man was righteous.\" She shouted in a loud voice, \"I am a Christian and I believe in the God of this saint.\" They stoned her also and she died and was buried with him in one tomb.
Their prayers be with us and glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "agabus one seventy disciples" } ], [ { "id": 155, "action": "
On this day of the year 181 A.D., the holy father Anba Agrippinus, 10th Pope of Alexandria, departed. This father was holy and pure and he feared God. He was ordained a priest on the church of Alexandria.
When Pope Cladianus, 9th Pope departed, Anba Agrippinus was chosen Patriarch by the people and clergy of Alexandria. By the grace of God, he took over the apostolic throne of Alexandria and walked in the footsteps of the apostles.
Anba Agrippinus preached the word of God and taught the principle of faith with its life-giving laws. He Guarded his flock, with all his strength, by teaching them and praying on their behalf. He did not own any silver or gold, except for what met his basic personal needs. He completed his course after 12 years on the throne of St. Mark, and he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the church celebrates the commemoration of the saints Anba Bishay of Akhmim monastery, and Anba Abanub, known as the owner of the Golden Fan.
Their prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, the church commemorates the departure of St. Apollo, friend of St. Abib.
His prayers be with us all. Amen.
Today also, we celebrate the commemoration of the relocation of the relics of the forty-nine saints of the wilderness of Shiheet to their church in the monastery of St. Macarius.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "relocation relics forty-nine elders wilderness shiheet scetis" } ], [ { "id": 156, "action": "
On this day the church celebrates the appearance of the body of St. Apolidus (Hippolytus), Pope of Rome. He was a virtuous and a perfect man in his generation. He was chosen to the Roman See after Father Augius. This was in the first year of the enthronement of Abba Cladianus, 9th Pope of Alexandria. Pope Apolidus was always teaching his people and guarding them from the pagan influences, confirming them in the faith of the Lord Christ.
When reports of St. Apolidus reached the infidel Emperor Claudius Caesar, he arrested him and tortured him severely. The Emperor then tied his feet with a heavy stone, and cast him in the sea on the 5th day of Amshir.
On the following day, one of the faithful found the body of the saint floating above the water, and the stone was bound to his feet. The man took it to his home and shrouded the body. The news spread in the City of Rome and in all the neighboring cities, and it reached Caesar, who asked for the body, but the man hid it.
This father left a great wealth of teachings about the Incarnation, and several sermons about Christian teaching. He also established 38 by laws.
His prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, the saints Abakir; John; the three virgins, Theodora (which means the gift of God), Theopisti \"Theophana\" (which means the faithfulness of God), and Theodosia (which means the glory of God); and their mother, Athanasia (which means the immortal), were martyred.
St. Abakir was a monk since his young age, and St. John was a soldier in the private guards of the Emperor. They left Alexandria, their own home town, and lived in Antioch. When Diocletian incited the persecution against the Christians, they confessed their faith in the Lord Christ along with the virgins and their mother.
When the Emperor knew that they were from Alexandria, he returned them to the governor of Alexandria. When they came to Alexandria, and were brought before the Governor, they confessed their faith in the Lord Christ. He ordered them beheaded. St. Athanasia was comforting and confirming her daughters and telling them that if they were martyred, they would become the brides of Christ. The virgins were beheaded first, then their mother, then St. Abakir and St. John. Their bodies were cast to the wild beasts and to the birds of the sky. However, some believers came and took their bodies by night and they placed them in a coffin and hid them until the end of the time of persecution.
Their prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "abakir john three virgins mother" } ], [ { "id": 157, "action": "
On this day of the year 715 A.D., the Holy Father Abba Alexandros II (Alexander), 43rd Popeof Alexandria, departed. He was from the City of Bana. He became a monk in the monastery of Pateron (Barbarun) or the monastery of the fathers, which was also known as El-Zugag monastery, which was west of Alexandria. Because of his righteousness and his knowledge, he was chosen to the throne of St. Mark.
During his papacy, he suffered many hardships. He was contemporary to the Caliph El-Walid Ibn Abd-Elmalek. When the latter took the caliphate, he appointed his brother Abdallah a governor of Egypt in the year 698 A.D. He mistreated the Christians of Egypt, and confiscated the monasteries of the wilderness of Shiheet (Scetis).
His evil nature went to the extreme. One day he entered a monastery in Upper Egypt, and saw an icon of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, and inquired about it. He was told that it was the Virgin Mary, the Mother of Christ, the Savior of the world, he spat on the icon and said, \"If I live, I shall destroy all the Christians.\" He then blasphemed against the Lord Christ also.
At night, he saw a vision during his sleep which disturbed him, and filled his heart with fear. He wrote to his brother saying, \"that he suffered the day before as he saw a Man sitting on a great throne, and His face shone more than the sun, and around Him were thousands carrying arms. We were bound behind Him. When I asked who He was, I was told that He was Christ Jesus, the King of the Christians, Whom I mocked and despised the day before. One of the armed men came and pierced my side with a spear.\"
His brother was extremely sad when he heard about the vision. The same night, that man, Abdallah, caught a severe fever and died. Forty days later, his brother El-Walid died also. In 701 A.D. another Governor replaced Abdallah, and he followed his predecessor's policy. He mistreated the Christians, and arrested St. Alexandros and tortured him until the believers collected for him three thousand Dinari. God perished this Governor soon after that.
The following Governor, was even more wicked than the one before him. He ordered the arrest of the Pope, and asked him for three thousand Dinari. The Pope excused himself saying that part of the money that he paid to his predecessor was collected from some of the believers and the rest was borrowed. The Governor did not accept his words, and finally the Pope asked him for a grace period.
The Pope went to Upper Egypt to collect the money from the believers. During his travel, an ascetic monk asked two of his disciples to dig out a cave. While they were digging, they found five copper jars filled with gold. They kept one of them and gave the rest to the hermit, which he sent to the Pope. The two disciples took the gold and left the desert. They went out into the world, married, and owned cattle, slaves and maidenservants.
The Governor was informed about these two men, and he called them to him. He threatened them if they did not tell him the truth about their sudden wealth. They told him about the five jars of gold, and that four jars were given to the Pope. He rushed to the patriarchate and plundered all the church vessels. He seized the Pope, insulted him and put him in prison. He demanded from the Pope the jars and the three thousand Dinari. He did not release him until the Pope gave it all to him.
Shortly after that, this Governor died, and another even more evil came after him. He ordered the Christians to tattoo on their wrists, instead of the sign of the honorable Cross, the name of the \"beast\" that St. John the Theologian had prophesied about in all the land. He also commanded the Pope to tattoo the sign of the beast on his wrist, but the Pope refused. As the Governor insisted, the Pope asked him for three days. The Pope went to his cell and prayed to the Lord Jesus Christ not to forsake him so that he would not fail in this test. The Lord answered his prayer, so he fell with a brief sickness.
He went to the Governor and asked his permission to go to Alexandria. The Governor refused, thinking that the Pope was pretending to be sick just to escape the tattooing. Afterwards, the Lord inspired him that he would depart from this world after four days. He told this to his disciples, and asked them to prepare a carriage to carry his body and to bury him beside the holy fathers. He departed in peace, and was carried for his burial as he requested.
During the papacy of Abba Alexandros, the Melkites had a Patriarch in Egypt by the name of Anastasius, who was hated by his own people because he loved the Orthodox Copts and was peaceful with them. He left his own congregation and went to Pope Alexandros, and confessed the Orthodox faith before him. The Pope treated the Patriarch well, honored him and wanted to hand him the affairs of the patriarchate so he could go and worship in seclusion in one of the monasteries. Father Anastasius refused and said to him, \"If I had desired the patriarchal seat, I could have remained there, for I was a patriarch, but now I want to be your disciple.\" He finally accepted, however, to become a bishop in one of the bishoprics, and he shepherded the flock entrusted to him well.
Abba Alexandros remained on the seat of St. Mark for 24 years and 9 months.
His prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 728 A.D., St. Theodorus (Theodore), 45th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was a monk in a monastery near Mariut, which was known as the monastery of Tanboura, under the guidance of a virtuous elder called Yoannis (John). Abba Yoannis was inspired by the Holy Spirit that his disciple Tadros one day would become a Pope. He told those who were in authority.
Tadros struggled in his worship, and was perfect in his humility and meekness. He was chosen by the will of God to become the Pope of Alexandria. He shepherd the flock of the Lord Christ well. He continued to read and to preach to his people, especially on Sundays and on feast days. He completed 12 years on the seat of St. Mark and departed in peace.
His prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "theodorus theodore 45th pope" } ], [ { "id": 158, "action": "
On this day we celebrate the feast of presenting the Lord Christ to the temple after 40 days of His blessed birth. St. Joseph the righteous and His mother, the Virgin Mary, presented Him in the temple, to fulfill the Mosaic Law.
St. Luke the Evangelist says that when His parents brought Him according to the custom of the law, the just and devout Simeon the elder took Him in his arms and blessed God and said, \"Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your Word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all people, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the Glory of Your people Israel.\" (Luke 2:29-32)
Simeon was one of the 70 elders who translated the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek. This was in the time of Ptolemy Soter in the year 296 B.C., who was sent by the will of God to Jerusalem. He brought 70 men from among the learned Jewish teachers and scholars and commanded them to translate the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek.
He put every two of them in an isolated place so they would not agree on one translation, and to ensure a correct text after comparing all of the translations. Simeon the elder was one of them. When Simeon was translating the verse from Isaiah 7:14, \"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel,\" he was afraid to translate that a virgin would conceive, because the King would mock him. He wanted to translate the virgin as a \"young lady.\" He was disturbed because of this inaccurate translation, and God revealed to him in a vision that he would not die before he would see Christ the Lord born of a virgin.
This was fulfilled and he lived about three hundred years. When Christ was born; he was very well advanced in age and his sight dimmed.
When he carried the child Jesus in his hands, his sight came back to him, and the Holy Spirit told him, \"This is the child that you have been waiting for.\" He blessed God and said, \"You are letting Your servant depart in peace according to Your Word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the Glory of Your people Israel.\" (Luke 2:28-32)
The prayers of this righteous man be with us, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "feast presenting lord christ temple" } ], [ { "id": 159, "action": "
On this day of the year 458 A.D., the blessed father Anba Barsauma, the father of the Syrian monks, departed. His father was from Samosata. One of the saints prophesied about him before his birth, saying to his parents, \"There shall go forth from you a righteous fruit, whose fame shall spread out every where,\" and this prophecy was fulfilled.
When Barsauma grew up, he left his parents and went to the river Euphrates where he stayed with a holy man called Abraham. Afterwards, he lived a solitary life in the mountain and many disciples gathered around him. The water in this place was salty, and the saint prayed to God and the water became sweet. He used to fast for a week at a time. God wrought through him many miracles. St. Barsauma was a contemporary of St. Simeon the Stylite. When St. Barsauma knew about him, he went to visit him and they blessed each other. He was well known for his resistance to the heresy of Nestorius and his followers.
He attended the Universal Council at Ephesus at the invitation of Emperor Theodosius the Less, who gave him a great honor. Some accused St. Barsauma of eating, drinking and living a luxurious life. The Emperor called him and saw for himself St. Barsauma's righteousness and his ascetic living. The Emperor vindicated him and allowed him to return to his monastery with great honor.
When Emperor Marcian called for the Council at Chalcedon, the fathers asked the Emperor not to call upon St. Barsauma, for they knew of the grace that was in him. When the council agreed on the two natures of Christ, St. Barsauma resisted these heretic teachings and he was persecuted by the Chalcedonians.
When the Lord wanted to take St. Barsauma from the world, He sent him an angel to tell him that 4 days were left in his life on earth. He gathered his disciples and told them to go to the neighboring cities to confirm its people in the Orthodox faith. He blessed them and departed in peace.
At the time of his departure, a pillar of light appeared at the door of his cell which the faithful saw from afar. They came and found that St. Barsauma had departed. They took his blessings and buried him with great honors.
His prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, St. Paul, the Syrian, was martyred. He was born in the City of Alexandria to Syrian parents who lived afterwards in the City of Ashmunin. They were very rich merchants. St. Paul heard about the persecution of the Roman governors to Christians. He gave up his money to the poor, after the death of his parents, and prayed to God to guide him in the way that pleased Him. God sent him His angel Soriel, who said to the saint, \"The Lord has commanded that I be with you and strengthen you, so that you should not be afraid.\"
The saint arose and came before the governor of Antinoe (Ansena) and confessed the Lord Christ. The Governor ordered him to be stripped naked, beaten with whips, and burned in the sides with torches. The governor tried again to entice him with money, but the saint said to him, \"My parents left me a fortune of gold and silver, and I rejected them for the sake of the love of the Lord Christ. How can I look to your money now?\"
The Governor became angry to hear that and he tortured him with different kinds of tortures. The angel Soriel came to him, healed and strengthened him. The Governor ordered to release venomous serpents on him, but they did not harm him.
The Governor then went to Alexandria and took the saint with him and put him in prison, where St. Paul met his two friends: Anba Esi and his sister Teckla. His soul rejoiced when he saw them. God inspired him that he would be martyred in Alexandria.
When the Governor wanted to go back to his city, he ordered that the head of St. Paul be cut off at the sea shore. The faithful came and they took the body and prepared it for burial, and they kept it in their possession.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "paul syrian" } ], [ { "id": 160, "action": "
On this day, St. James the Apostle, son of Alphaeus, was martyred. After he had preached the Gospel in many cities, he returned to Jerusalem and entered the temple of the Jews. He preached the gospel publicly and proclaimed the faith of the Lord Christ and His resurrection. The Jews abducted him and brought him to Claudius, the deputy of the Roman emperor, and told him that he was preaching another king instead of Caesar. Claudius ordered him to be stoned to death, until he departed in peace. The faithful took his body and buried him beside the temple.
His prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, St. Justus, son of Emperor Numerian, was martyred. When he returned from war, he found that Emperor Diocletian had married his sister and had become the new emperor. Emperor Diocletian had apostatized the faith in the Lord Christ, and St. Justus was greatly sorrowful for what happened.
When the nobles of the empire met together to enthrone him in place of his father, he did not accept, for he preferred the heavenly kingdom over the earthly. He came before Diocletian and declared his faith in the Lord Christ. The Emperor sent St. Justus with his son Abali and his wife Theoclea to the Governor of Alexandria, and commanded him to persuade them first and to behead them if they did not obey.
When they arrived in Alexandria, the Governor received them and treated them well to persuade them. As he could not change their deep conviction in their faith in the Lord Christ, to Whom is the Glory, he sent St. Justus to Antinoe (Ansena), Abali, his son, to Basta (near Zagazig, Sharkia), and Theoclea to Sa (Salhagar, Gharbia). Each of them took a servant with him so when they completed their strife, the servant would take care of the body. They tortured them, beheaded them, and they received the crown of martyrdom.
Their prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, the ascetic, scholar and holy man, Anba Isidore of Pelusium (El-Pharma), departed. His parents were among the rich and noble people of Egypt. He was related to Pope Cyril and Pope Theophilus, patriarchs of Alexandria.
He was the only child of his parents, who cared about his education. They taught him the books of the church, and the Greek language in which he excelled and surpassed many. He was also ascetic and humble. When he knew that the people of Alexandria and the bishops wanted to make him the Patriarch of Alexandria, he took flight by night to Pelusium and became a monk in a monastery there.
Then he went to a small cave where he lived alone for several years. During these years, he wrote many books about emperors and governors. He also commented on many books of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. His epistles that he sent to bishops and patriarchs were counted as eighteen thousand epistles. The gifts of the Holy Spirit poured upon him, and he reached a good old age, then departed to the Lord in peace.
His prayers be with us all. Amen.
Today also, the honorable St. Philo, bishop of the Persians, was martyred by the hand of the Persian emperor. When he did not accept worshipping fire and the sun, they tortured him with different kinds of tortures, and then they beheaded him with the sword.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "philo bishop persian" } ], [ { "id": 161, "action": "
On this day, St. Fabianus, Pope of Rome, was martyred. This father was a righteous scholar. He was ordained Pope for the city of Rome, so he taught his people and guided them in the way of Christian perfection.
Decius, the head of the army, killed Emperor Philip, and replaced him as emperor. Decius incited a severe persecution against the Christians, and many were martyred. This infidel built a huge temple in the middle of the city of Ephesus, and erected in it idols, where he offered sacrifices to them. He then ordered to behead everyone who refused to sacrifice to these gods.
When Decius knew that St. Fabianus was against the worship of idols and that he was teaching the faithful to be steadfast in their faith, he brought him to Ephesus. Decius commanded St. Fabianus to sacrifice to the idols. St. Fabianus did not yield to him and ridiculed his idols. The Emperor punished him with many tortures for a long time and at the end, he beheaded him with the sword. St. Fabianus thus received the crown of martyrdom.
This pope stayed on the throne for 12 years, the major part of which was tranquil and peaceful.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "fabianus fabrianus pope rome" } ], [ { "id": 162, "action": "
On this day we celebrate, commemorating the honorable Michael the Archangel, the intercessor of mankind.
His intercession be with us. Amen.
Also on this day, St. Gelasius, the struggling ascetic, departed. He was born of Christian parents, who brought him up in the Christian faith. They taught him the church subjects, and then he was ordained a deacon in the church. He labored in his obedience to Christ and in carrying His yoke.
He went to the wilderness of Shiheet and became a monk. Afterwards, he was ordained a priest, and the angel of the Lord guided him to a distant place where many monks gathered around him, and he was a great example for them. He considered himself as one of them. He was patient and long suffering to the point that he transcribed the Holy Bible and placed it in the church for the other monks to read.
One day a stranger visited him and stole the transcribed Bible and went to try to sell it to someone. That person wanted to know its value, so he went to St. Gelasius and showed him the Bible. St. Gelasius knew that it was his book and asked him, \"For how much did he sell it to you?\" He answered, \"For sixteen Dinari.\" The saint said to him that it was cheap, and so the man took it and went to his home.
When the seller came back to him to pick up the price, he said to him, \"I have shown the Bible to Father Gelasius and he said that the price was too high.\" The seller asked, \"Did the father tell you anything else?\" The buyer replied, \"No.\" The man who stole the Bible said, \"I do not want to sell it.\" He took the book and went to Father Gelasius and gave it to him weeping and regretting what he did. The saint did not accept it from him. However, after the man had insisted with many tears, the saint at last accepted it from him.
God granted this saint the gift of performing miracles. One day, the monastery was presented with an amount of fish. After they were cooked, the cook asked one of the servants to guard it, but the servant ate a great part of it. When the cook knew what had happened, he was angry at that servant, for he ate before the time of eating and before the elders had blessed it. The cook beat him with a deadly hit that killed him.
The cook was afraid of what he had done and went to St. Gelasius and told him what had happened. The saint told him to take the body and put it in the church in front of the altar and to leave it there. The saint and the monks came to the church, prayed the Vespers prayer, and then the saint departed from the church, and the boy rose up and followed him. The monks did not know of this miracle until the saint had departed.
When this father finished the course of his life in a good old age, the Lord wanted him to rest from the labors of this world, and he departed leaving us with this good memory.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "gelasius" } ], [ { "id": 163, "action": "
On this day, St. Sergius, his father, his mother, his sister and many others with them, were martyred. This saint was born in the city of Atripe to a righteous father whose name was Theodore, and a faithful mother whose name was Mary.
When he was 20 years old, St. Sergius desired to die for the Name of the Lord Christ. He presented himself to Cyprianus (Cyprian), the governor, and confessed his faith in the Lord Christ. The governor commanded him to be tortured with different kinds of tortures and to cast him in prison. At night he saw in a vision as if he was in heaven, and he saw the mansions of the saints. His soul was greatly comforted, and the Lord Christ healed him from his afflictions.
A priest by the name of Mansoon heard about the labors of St. Sergius. Fr. Mansoon came with two deacons to Atripe and confessed the Name of the Lord Christ before the governor. The governor beat them with great cruelty. A multitude of people watched the tortures, and moved with compassion toward the priest, who could not do anything but to look at them, preach and command them to be steadfast in their faith in the Lord Christ. He prayed and blessed them and they all confessed the Orthodox faith. After they had been tortured, they were all beheaded, and received the crown of life. However, the Governor tortured the priest with fire, but the Lord saved him. The Governor sent him to Alexandria where he received his crown of martyrdom. As for St. Sergius, Governor Cyprianus brought him and tortured him with excruciating tortures but the Lord healed, strengthened and comforted him. They brought an idol and ordered him to worship it. He kicked the idol with his foot and it fell and broke. Cyprianus believed instantly and said, \"The god that cannot save itself, cannot save others.\" The captain of the soldiers \"Ohios\" continued to torture St. Sergius, and ordered to skin him and to rub his wounds with salt and vinegar, but the Lord gave him strength and grace.
His mother and his sister came to visit him and saw him in this condition, they wept bitterly, until his sister died from her extreme grief, but God raised her up by the prayers of the saint. St. Julius of Agfahs came, wrote the biography of St. Sergius, and promised him that he would take care of his body and his burial. The captain \"Ohios\" ordered that St. Sergius be tortured by pressing his body through the pressing wheel (Hinbazeen), that his nails be pulled out, that he be placed over an iron bed, with a fire under it, and that torches of fire be placed in his ears. The Lord strengthened him through all of this and healed him. When \"Ohios\" the captain was tired of torturing him, he decided to behead him.
St. Sergius called his mother and sister to bid them farewell. They came with the rest of his family and when they saw him tied up with the bridle of a horse that was dragging him to the place of his martyrdom, they protested to the Governor for his extreme cruelty. He ordered to behead them all and they all received the crown of life and the eternal bliss.
There was a young boy among the crowd whose eyes were opened by the Lord and he saw the souls of the saints who were martyred carried by the angels, ascending to heaven. He cried with a loud voice saying, \"O My Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me.\" His parents were afraid that the governor would hear him and destroy them because of him. When they could not calm him down, they put their hands upon his mouth to prevent him from screaming, asking the help of the Lord Christ, until he gave up his pure soul at the hand of the Lord.
Their prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this day also of the year 528 A.D., the holy father Abba Timothy III, 32nd Pope of Alexandria, departed. His enthronement on the apostolic throne was in 511 A.D. He suffered many hardships because he was steadfast in the Orthodox faith.
In his days, St. Severus, Patriarch of Antioch, came to Egypt escaping persecution. The two saints traveled together to Egyptian cities and monasteries confirming the people in the Orthodox faith. Because he did not agree with Emperor Marcion with regard to the canons of the Council of Chalcedon, he was exiled.
On the day of his exile, the faithful opposed the enforcement of the order of his exile, and many of them were killed, about two hundred thousand, by the order of the Emperor. The saint departed in exile together with St. Severus of Antioch, after he had been on the apostolic throne for 17 years.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "timothy 32nd pope" } ], [ { "id": 164, "action": "
On this day of the year 538 A.D., the holy father St. Severus, Patriarch of Antioch, departed. He was from Asia Minor. His grandfather, whose name was also Severus, saw in a vision someone telling him, \"The child who is for your son will strengthen Orthodoxy, and his name will be after your name.\" When his son had this saint, he called him Severus. He was taught the Greek wisdom and church subjects.
Once, the saint was strolling outside the city, a shut-in saint came out of his cave crying, \"Welcome to you Severus, teacher of Orthodoxy, and Patriarch of Antioch.\" Severus marvelled at how he called him by his name, for he did not know him before, and how he foretold what would become of him.
Severus grew in virtue and became a monk in the monastery of St. Romanus. The fame of his righteousness and his ascetic life spread out. When the Patriarch of Antioch departed, the bishops had a consensus to ordain him the Patriarch of the city in the year 512 A.D. The church was illuminated by his teachings which spread to all the universe, and he was one of the fathers who attended the Universal Council at Ephesus.
Shortly after, Emperor Anastasius died and Justinian, who was Chalcedonian in faith, reigned after him. He called upon this holy father and gave him great honors to persuade him to change his stand and to follow the Emperor's belief, but the Saint refused. The Emperor became angry, but the Saint did not fear his anger, and so the Emperor ordered him to be killed. Theodora, the Emperor's wife who was Orthodox in faith, knew about what the Emperor intended to do, so she told the saint to flee from his face.
St. Severus escaped to the land of Egypt and traveled everywhere and visited monasteries disguised as a monk. He strengthened the faith of the believers in the Orthodox doctrine. He dwelt in the city of Sakha in the home of a holy lay leader called Doretheos. God performed through him many miracles. He departed in the city of Sakha, and his body was relocated to the monastery of El-Zugag.
His prayers be with us all. Amen.
On this day also of the year 821 A.D., the great saint Abba James (St. Yacobus), 50th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was a monk in the monastery of St. Macarius. For his holiness and righteousness, he was chosen by a consensus to become patriarch after Pope Mark, 49th Pope, had departed. He was enthroned in the month of Bashans in the year 810 A.D.
St. James renovated the churches and populated the monasteries, and God granted him the gift of performing miracles. One of the deacons in Alexandria dared to say to him rudely, \"Pay what you owe to the churches, or else go to your monastery.\" The Pope replied to him, \"You will never see me again from now on.\" The deacon went home, immediately became sick and died shortly after.
Another miracle: There was a lay leader (Archon) named Macarius from Nabarouh who was very well advanced in years and had no children. After a while, God gave him a son. He made a feast to celebrate this occasion, and invited Abba James. During the celebration, the child died but his father did not panic. He carried the child in his hands and placed him in faith before the Pope, trusting that God would hear His chosen one, and give life to his child. The Pope took the child and made the sign of the cross on his forehead, his heart and his chest, while he prayed, \"My Master, Jesus Christ, the Giver of Life, raise this child alive again by Your mighty power.\" He breathed in his face, and the soul of the child returned to him, and he gave him to his father.
When he finished his good strife, Abba James departed in peace, after he had been on the throne of St. Mark for 10 years, 9 months and 28 days.
His prayers be with us, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "james yacobus 50th pope" } ], [ { "id": 165, "action": "
On this day St. Zechariah the Prophet, the son of Berechiah, one of the twelve minor prophets, departed. He was from the tribe of Levi, born in the land of Gilead, and was exiled to the land of the Chaldeans. In exile, he started to prophesy, in the second year of King Darius, 520 B.C. He prophesied about \"Jeshua, the son of Jozadak,\" and \"Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel,\" that they would rebuild the temple. (Ezra 5:1; 6:14)
He prophesied also about the entrance of the Lord to Jerusalem riding a donkey, the foal of a donkey (Zechariah 9:9); the thirty pieces of silver that Judas Iscariot received to deliver his Master to the Jews (Matthew 26:14-15); the scattering of the disciples on the night of the crucifixion; the coming of Christ in glory; and the grief of the children of Israel who did not believe in Him (Zechariah 12:10). He also prophesied about many other things. He was the prophet who was killed between the altar and the temple. He was buried in Jerusalem in the tomb of the prophets.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the consecration of the church of the forty martyrs from Sebaste by the hand of Emperor Licinius. It was the first church that was built after their names. St. Basil the Great consecrated it, wrote their biographies and established a great feast day for them.
Their intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the ascetic St. Paphnoute (Paphnotius) departed. He became a monk at a young age, and followed the hardest way in his monastic life. God inspired him to travel to the inner wilderness, and there he saw many hermits and anchorites and St. Paphnoute wrote about them. Among those was St. Timothy and St. Abu Nofr. In his travels, he suffered much hunger and thirst, but the angel of the Lord appeared to him often to strengthen him. When he finished his strife, he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "paphnoute paphnotius" } ], [ { "id": 166, "action": "
On this day the upright and righteous St. Elizabeth, mother of St. John the Baptist, departed. This holy woman was born in Jerusalem to a righteous father called Matthan from the tribe of Levi and from the house of Aaron the priest. Her mother's name was Sofia.
Matthan had three daughters. The first was called Mary, the mother of Salome, the midwife who cared for the Virgin St. Mary during her virginal birth. The name of the second daughter was Sofia, the mother of St. Elizabeth, the mother of St. John the Baptist. The youngest daughter was St. Hannah, the mother of the Virgin St. Mary, the mother of the Savior. Therefore, Salome, Elizabeth and the Virgin St. Mary were cousins.
When St. Zacharias the priest married St. Elizabeth, they lived in righteousness and holiness before God, as the evangelist said, \"They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.\" (Luke 1:6)
This upright woman was barren. She and her husband continually supplicated God who gave them St. John the Baptist. God was slow in answering their prayers until the time when the Virgin Mary conceived with the Word of God. When they were stricken in age, God sent His angel Gabriel to Zacharias to announce to him, \"Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John,\" (Luke 1:13) and the angel told him what would become of St. John.
The Virgin St. Mary visited St. Elizabeth to congratulate her on her pregnancy. \"And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.\" (Luke 1:41) When she gave birth to St. John, the shame of her barrenness was lifted up from her and her people. When she completed her days in purity, righteousness and chastity, she departed in peace.
Her intercession be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "elizabeth mother john baptist" } ], [ { "id": 167, "action": "
On this day St. Mina the monk was martyred. This saint was born in Akhmim to Christian parents who were farmers. Since his youth, his heart was inclined to renounce the world, so he became a monk in one of the monasteries of Akhmim.
For a period of time, he fasted two days at a time and he was ascetic in his food and drink. Then he went to El-Ashmounein and dwelt in a monastery there for 16 years without leaving it. When the Arabs ruled the country, St. Mina heard that they denied that God had a Son from His nature and essence, and equal with Him in Eternity. This denial of faith was painful to the saint, so he took permission from the abbot of the monastery and went to El-Ashmounein.
He came before the commander of the Arab camp and asked him, \"Is it true that you say that God has no Son from His nature and essence?\" The commander replied saying, \"We deny that saying about God and totally reject it.\" The saint told the Arab commander that it should only be rejected if His Son was born through parental procreation, but our belief is that the Lord Christ is God of God, and Light of Light. The commander replied, \"In our faith, this is blasphemy.\" The saint told him that the Bible says, \"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides in him.\" (John 3:36)
The commander became enraged at this and ordered his soldiers to cut the saint into pieces and to throw him into the sea. The believers gathered the pieces of his body, shrouded and buried it. They arranged a commemoration of St. Mina the monk on this day.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "mina menas monk" } ], [ { "id": 168, "action": "
On this day of the year 381 A.D., St. Malatius (Miltius) the Confessor, Patriarch of Antioch, departed. He was ordained a bishop for Sebaste in the year 357 A.D. He left it because of the rudeness of its people and lived a solitary life nearby the city of Halab in Syria. In the year 360 A.D., he was chosen a patriarch for Antioch during the days of Constantius, the son of Constantine the Great.
He was an eminent, learned and meek man, who was loved by everyone. When he entered the city of Antioch, he resisted the Arians and kept them away from the churches. When the Emperor heard that, he exiled him in the same year that he was enthroned patriarch. The noble men of the city of Antioch, the bishops and the priests met and wrote to the Emperor asking for the return of the Patriarch. The Emperor returned St. Malatius in shame to them.
When St. Malatius came back in the year 362 A.D., he did not cease resisting the Arians, excommunicating them and all those who believed in their doctrines. He made clear to them their errors and explained to them their blasphemy. He declared, preached and confirmed that the Son was of the same essence as the Father, consubstantial with Him in essence and in Godship. The followers of Arius returned to slander St. Malatius before Emperor Valens, who exiled him again to a country further away than the one to which he was exiled first. When he arrived to his exile, the bishops and the fathers that were exiled from different countries came and gathered around
and stayed with him.
St. Malatius did not slack in teaching and interpreting what was difficult to understand in the Holy Scriptures. His epistles reached his flock, in spite of the distance, confirming their faith in the Holy Trinity, preaching the faith of the Council of Nicea and refuting the teachings of Arius. He was in exile for many years until his return to Antioch in the year 378 A.D. He was present in the Council of Constantinople in the year 381 A.D. Then he departed in peace.
St. John Chrysostom (Golden Mouthed) praised St. Malatius on his feast day declaring his greatness and that he was not in any less stature than the apostles in honor for what he suffered from exile and humiliation for the sake of the Orthodox faith.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "malatius confessor patriarch antioch" } ], [ { "id": 169, "action": "
On this day we commemorate the relocation of the relics of St. Martianus (Martinianus) the fighter monk from Athens to Antioch. After he led an adulterous woman to repentance and then to monasticism, he placed her in one of the convents. Then he went to an island and visited many countries. Finally, he came to the city of Athens where he stayed for a short while, until he fell sick and departed in peace.
St. Demetrius, Patriarch of Antioch, took on the endeavor to relocate the relics of the saint during the reign of Emperor Valens the Infidel. St. Demetrius sent priests to Athens. They carried the body of St. Martianus with great honor to Antioch. He placed the body in a sarcophagus and appointed a feast to celebrate him on this day.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "relocation relics martianus monk" } ], [ { "id": 170, "action": "
On this day of the year 370 A.D., the blessed father Abba Peter II, 21st Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was the successor of St. Athanasius the apostolic, who was his teacher. Anba Peter II suffered many tribulations from the followers of Arius who often tried to kill him, but he escaped them.
He was forced to hide for two years, during which the Arians put in his place one of them named Lucius. Nevertheless, the believers were able to remove Lucius, the false pope, and brought back Anba Peter who remained on his chair for 6 years of persecution, during which he resisted the Arians. When he completed 8 years, the Lord relieved him from the toil of this world and he departed to the eternal bliss.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of Saints Basil, Theodore and Timothy, the martyrs, in the city of Alexandria.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "basil theodore timothy martyrs" } ], [ { "id": 171, "action": "
We celebrate on this day the commemoration of the pure Lady St. Mary the Virgin, the Mother of God, the Word, through whom was the salvation of Adam and his offspring.
Her intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also St. Onesimus, the disciple of St. Paul, was martyred. This saint was a slave for a man from Rome called Philemon who believed at the hands of St. Paul, when he heard his preaching in Rome.
Philemon departed from Rome on a business trip and took with him Onesimus among others of his servants. There the devil enticed Onesimus, so he stole money from his master and fled to Rome. According to the Divine Will, Onesimus attended the preaching of St. Paul, which he kept in his heart. He believed at the hand of St. Paul and his heart was filled with the grace and the fear of God. He remembered what he stole from his master and from others and since he did not have anything left from the stolen money to return to its rightful owners, he was sorrowful and told St. Paul about that.
St. Paul comforted him and wrote an epistle to Onesimus' master, Philemon, informing him in it, that Onesimus became a follower of Christ saying, \"I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains.\" St. Paul asked him to treat him gently and not to mind what he did but to consider what he lost as owed by the apostle.
When Onesimus took the epistle to his master Philemon, he was pleased by his faith and repentance and treated him as the apostle commanded. Furthermore, he offered him more money but St. Onesimus refused saying, \"I am rich with Christ.\" Then he bid Philemon farewell and returned to Rome.
St. Onesimus continued to serve St. Paul until his martyrdom and deserved to be ordained a priest. After the martyrdom of St. Paul, the governor of Rome seized him and exiled him to one of the islands. He remained there preaching and baptizing the people of the island. When the governor came to the island, he found him guiding the people to the belief in the Lord Christ. He was beaten severely and his legs were broken. He departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 911 A.D., the great father St. Gabriel, 57th Pope of Alexandria, departed. This saint became a monk at a young age, practicing many worships. He loved solitary life and wept much while praying, asking the Lord to save him from the snares of the devil. When Pope Mikhael, 56th Pope, departed, they chose this father to be the Pope in his place. He was ordained in the year 900 A.D. against his will. He cared for the church affairs well, and the duties of the patriarchate did not prevent him from his worship and asceticism.
He spent most of his days in the wilderness and whenever he had some affairs to take care of in Cairo or Alexandria, he would leave and then return back to the wilderness. He fought against the flesh and the devil by increasing fasting, watching, prayers and humility. He used to wake up in the night, put on a ragged garment, take a metal shovel and go around the bathrooms of the monks' cells, washing and cleaning them. He did the same for many years until the Lord looked upon his humility and humble heart, so He relieved his pains and gave him the grace of victory over sin and the body. This father was a worshipper, fighter and a preacher for 11 years, then he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also St. Zacharias, Bishop of Sakha, departed. He was the son of a scribe called John who left his job and was chosen to be a priest. His son Zacharias was raised on studying literary and religious subjects.
When he grew up, El-Wazeer appointed him as a scribe in his court. Afterward he agreed with a friend called Ptolemy who was the prefect of the town of Sakha, to leave their work and go to the wilderness to become monks. That coincided with the coming of a monk from the monastery of St. John the Short, so they decided to go with him to the monastery. When the ruler (El-Wazeer) knew about that, he prevented them from going to the monastery.
A few days later, they saw a vision as if someone was asking them, \"Why did you not fulfill your vow?\" Immediately, they left in secret, walking to the wilderness, without knowing their way. They met on their way, by the will of God, a monk who took them to the monastery of St. John the Short (Colobos). When their friends knew about that, they took a letter from the Governor to bring them back, but the Lord defeated their counsel. As for Zacharias and his friend, they put on the garb of the monks and exerted themselves in many worships. That was during the time of the saints Abba Gawargah and Abba Abraham who were the best guides for them.
When the Bishop of Sakha departed, the people wrote to the father, the Patriarch, asking for Zacharias to be their bishop. The Patriarch brought him and ordained him against his will. At the time of the ordination, when the Pope was about to put his hands on Zacharias' head, a light shined in the church and his face appeared as a bright star.
When he arrived to his diocese, the people rejoiced and went out to meet him with great honor. The church was illumined with his teachings. St. Zacharias was eloquent and filled with grace and he wrote many articles, sermons and discourses. He stayed on his chair for 30 years, then departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "zacharias bishop sakha" } ], [ { "id": 172, "action": "
On this day the church commemorates the departure of St. Maruta (Maruthas), bishop ofMarjferqat (Mia Farcane), and the relocation of the relics of the saints who were martyred there in the days of Emperor Diocletian.
St. Maruthas was a knowledgeable and righteous man. For this reason, Emperor Theodosius, father of Arcadius and Honorius, selected him to serve as a good will ambassador to the king of Persia, Sapor II, to negotiate with him the conditions of the truce that both wanted to sign. King Shapur (Sapor) welcomed him and housed him in a royal palace.
When St. Maruthas knew that the king had a demented daughter, he asked to bring her to him. He prayed over her and she was healed. King Shapur was overjoyed and became more courteous to St. Maruthas.
The saint asked the King for the relics of the saints who were martyred in Persia, and the King gave him permission to take them. The saint took the relics for which he built a church and a great fortress around it. Later on, a city was built inside the walls of the fortress, which was named after Maruthas.
After the saint had finished his mission, he returned to Emperor Theodosius, and stayed in Rome until his departure.
His prayers be with us and to our God is the Glory forever. Amen.
", "tags": "maruta maruthas bishop" } ], [ { "id": 173, "action": "
On this day, St. Eusebius, the son of Basilides, the minister, was martyred. This Saint was one of the soldiers who fought in the war against Persia. When Diocletian abandoned the faith, Basilides, informed his son, Eusebius, of what Diocletian had done. Then St. Eusebius in turn told his companions, the holy men: Abadir, Yustos, Ecladius, and Theodore about this matter. They all agreed to shed their blood in the Name of the Lord Christ.
When the war was over, they returned to Antioch carrying the flag of victory. The Emperor went out to meet them, and asked them to worship his idols with him, but they all refused. Eusebius pulled his sword out, and tried to kill Diocletian and all who were with him, but Diocletian fled and disappeared. If not for the presence of Basilides, Eusebius and the saints with him could have killed all the leaders of the government.
Romanus, one of the ministers of the Emperor, advised him to exile Eusebius to Egypt to be killed there. He sent him to the governor of Qift (Coptos), Maurianus, who inflicted upon him many tortures from the Hinbazeen (the squeezing wheel), dismemberment, and by severe beatings. The Lord sent to him His angel to strengthen him in his afflictions, to comfort him and to heal his wounds. The Lord showed him in a vision the paradise and the mansions of the saints, and the places that had been prepared for him, his father and his brother, and his soul exceedingly rejoiced.
The Governor ordered him to be burned in a fiery furnace outside the City of Ahnas. The angel of the Lord came and put out the fire and took St. Eusebius out safely. Finally the Governor ordered him beheaded and thus he received the crown of martyrdom.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "eusebius son basilides minister" } ], [ { "id": 174, "action": "
On this day St. Agapetus (Agapius), the bishop, departed. He was born of Christian parents during the time of the infidel emperors Diocletian and Maximianus. His parents brought him up in a Christian upbringing, and he was ordained a deacon. Then, he went to one of the monasteries and served the elders therein. He learned from them worship and asceticism and was accustomed to fasting and prayer. His food was legumes to break the fast. He grew in his ascetic life and in every virtue, and God wrought through him many miracles, among which were the following:
He healed a girl from a debilitating sickness which had stricken her for a long time, and doctors had failed to cure her. He also prayed once and God destroyed a beast which was devouring people. By his prayers, God granted healing to many sick people.
The news of his asceticism, righteousness and the power of his prayer spread everywhere. When Lucinus the governor heard about St. Agapius, he brought him by force and appointed him a soldier in his army. This did not prevent St. Agapius from continuing in his ascetic life and his worship and he rather increased in virtue.
Shortly after, God perished Diocletian and the God-loving emperor Constantine took over the empire after him. St. Agapius desired to gain his freedom and to return to his monastery, and God answered him.
Emperor Constantine had a servant who was very dear to him for the good qualities he had. The servant was stricken with an evil spirit which tormented him. Some friends of the Emperor advised him to ask Agapius, the soldier, to pray for his servant to be healed. The Emperor was surprised to know that one among his soldiers had the gift of healing. The Emperor sent for St. Agapius who prayed upon the servant, made the sign of the holy cross over him, and God healed him.
The Emperor rejoiced and wanted to reward him. St. Agapius refused to accept any reward except to be granted his release from military service to go back to the place of his worship. The Emperor granted him what he wanted. The saint returned to where he was before and he lived a solitary life. After a while, he was ordained a priest.
After the departure of the bishop of his town, the people asked for this saint from the abbot of the monastery, and he gave him his permission to leave. St. Agapius was ordained bishop and shepherded the flock of Christ with the best of care. He was granted the gift of prophecy and performing miracles. He rebuked the sinners for what they had done in secret. He rebuked the priests for forsaking teaching and instructing their flocks. His biography included more than one hundred miracles that he had performed, and he departed at a good old age.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Timothy of Gaza, and St. Matthias of the City of Koos (Quoce).
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "timothy matthias" } ], [ { "id": 175, "action": "
On this day, the Sts. Archippus, Philemon and Lycia the virgin, were martyred. They believed through St. Paul when he was preaching in Phrygia.
One day the pagans were celebrating the feast of Artamis. The saints entered their temple to see what they were doing and to see their rituals. They saw them offering sacrifices to the idol and glorifying it.
The divine zeal inflamed their hearts, and they went out of the temple and went to the church declaring the glory of the Lord Christ and magnifying His Holy Name. When the pagans heard about what the saints had done, they informed the Governor, who attacked the church and arrested them. He tortured the saints by driving hot nails in to their sides. He threw St. Archippus into a ditch and ordered him to be stoned until he gave up his pure spirit. St. Philemon and St. Lycia were also tortured with different kinds of tortures until they gave up their spirits.
Their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the martyrdom of the deacon Quona of the City of Rome, and the martyrdom of St. Mina of Cyprus.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "quona kona mina" } ], [ { "id": 176, "action": "
On this day, St. Hosea, the prophet, one of the twelve minor prophets of Israel, departed. This righteous man prophesied during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, King of Israel. (Hosea 1:1)
He mentioned in his prophecy some remarkable and marvelous things. He rebuked the children of Israel for their sins and their transgressions, and warned them in advance about the evil things that would befall them because of their offenses. He promised them the uplifting of these calamities if they returned to the Lord their God.
He also prophesied about the passions of our Savior, His resurrection and the salvation of the human race. He said, \"He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in his sight. Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord... \" (Hosea 6:1-3)
He prophesied also about the abolishment of the sting of death and the dominion of hell by saying, \"I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death, O Death, I will be your plagues! 0 Grave, I will be your destruction.\" (Hosea 13:14) \"O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?\" (I Corinthians 15:55)
He departed at a blessed old age.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Zadok and the 128 saints with him were martyred in Persia. Behram, King of Persia, brought them before him and ordered them to worship the sun. St. Zadok said to him, \"I do not worship except God, the Creator of the sun and all the universe.\" The King asked, \"Does this Sun have a god?\" The saint replied, \"Yes, and He is the Lord Christ, our God.\" The King ordered him beheaded. The saint prayed and the executioner cut his head. A great light appeared and all those who were present saw it and cried, saying, \"We are all Christians.\" The King ordered that their heads be cut off and they received the crown of martyrdom.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "zadok 12 who were him" } ], [ { "id": 177, "action": "
On this day of the year 330 A.D., St. Eustathius, Patriarch of Antioch, departed in exile. He was enthroned Patriarch of Antioch during the reign of the righteous Emperor Constantine the Great. He was righteous and well learned. He attended the Nicene Council, and the fathers gathered there agreed on excommunicating Arius and exiling him and all those who believed in his teachings. Those were Eusabius the Nicomedian; Thaoghonius, Bishop of Nicea; and Eusabius, Bishop of Caesarea.
After the council was concluded and the fathers went back to their parishes, those who were excommunicated pretended that they wished to go to Jerusalem, but instead they went to Antioch. There, they enticed a harlot with money and other things in order to accuse St. Eustathius the Patriarch that he fathered a child from her. She took the money and went to the church and said as they had instructed her. They pretended to disbelieve her and said, \"Bring forth your proof if you are truthful in what you are saying. We will not accept your statement unless you swear on the Bible that what you claim against this father is true.\" She swore to them and they replied, \"We do not need any more proof.\"
They condemned St. Eustathius and judged to strip him from his episcopal rank. They informed Emperor Constantine saying: \"A council of clerics judged to remove Fr. Eustathius, Patriarch of Antioch, from his office\". The Emperor believed their unfounded judgement, and he deposed and banished St. Eustathius to Thrace where the saint remained until his departure.
The Lord God, Who loves His holy servants, did not neglect to reveal the truth. The woman became ill with a debilitating long illness and suffered great pain. She realized that her suffering was a punishment for her false accusation against the Saint. She came and confessed before the people of the city that the charge she had brought against St. Eustathius the patriarch was untrue. She pointed at those who bribed her with money to lie. She indicated that the Patriarch was innocent and that the child was born to another man whose name was the same as the Patriarch. They convinced her to swear against the Saint but at the same time to mean in heart her friend who was the father of the child, to be saved from falsely swearing.
The priests resumed mentioning the name of St. Eustathius in the divine liturgy after his innocence was evident. He was eulogized and praised by St. John Chrysostom (of the Golden Mouth) on the day of his commemoration.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "eustathius patriarch antioch" } ], [ { "id": 178, "action": "
On this day St. Theodore (Theodoros), the Roman, was martyred. He was from the City of Astir (Peshotep) during the reign of the Emperors Maximianus and Diocletian. When they were informed that the saint did not adore their idols, they brought him and asked him to worship the idols but he refused.
They promised him precious gifts but he did not hearken to them. They tortured him by pressing his body in the Hinbazeen, and hacking parts of his body. He was burned with fire and beat him with whips. He endured all that because of his love for the Lord Christ Who sent His angels to comfort and strengthen him. Finally he was beheaded and received the crown of martyrdom.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "theodore roman" } ], [ { "id": 179, "action": "
On this day of the year 167 A.D., St. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, was martyred. His life began at the end of the first Christian century, and he became the disciple of St. John the Evangelist. He was the one about whom the Lord said, \"And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, 'These things says the First and the Last, Who was dead, and came to life: I know your works, tribulations and poverty, but you are rich; and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.'\" (Revelation 2:8-10)
St. Polycarp went to Rome in the year 157 A.D. to settle a dispute with Arikestus, Bishop of Rome, in regard to the Easter feast. He shepherded his flock well and remained on his chair for a long time until a good old age. He wrote many articles and discourses about the Holy Advent, death, hell, torments of hell, the virgin St. Mary and many others. He attracted many souls to the Lord with his life-giving teaching.
When Emperor Marcus Aurelius incited persecutions against Christians, they strongly pressured him saying, \"Swear and we will set you free; curse Christ and we will spare your life.\" Polycarp replied, \"I have served my Lord Christ for 86 years and He never harmed me so how can I blaspheme against my King Who saved me?\"
The Governor said, \"If you do not fear the wild beasts, I will make the fire consume you if you do not repent.\" St. Polycarp said, \"You threatened me with fire that burns for a while, then burns out, for you do not know the everlasting fire of judgement and the eternal punishment that are awaiting the evil ones. Now why are you lingering? Do whatever you want.\"
After severe tortures and many threats, the saint wished to shed his blood for Christ's name. He commanded and taught his people to be steadfast in faith and told them that they would not see his face after that day. They wept and tried to hold him down to prevent him from leaving but they failed to stop him.
He went and confessed the Lord Christ before the Governor who ordered to cut off his head after much torture; thus he received the crown of life. Some of the believers took his body, shrouded and buried it with great honor.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "polycarp bishop smyrna" } ], [ { "id": 180, "action": "
On this day we celebrate the commemoration of the appearance of the head of St. John the Baptist. Herod commanded his head to be cut off and brought on a platter and given to Herodias, according to her request. (Mark 6:7-28) It was said that after the feast he regretted the slaying of St. John so he kept the head in his house.
Aritas, the Arabic King, Herod's father-in-law, was enraged because Herod banished his daughter and married the wife of his brother, while his brother was still alive. Aritas instigated a war against Herod in revenge for his daughter. He overcame Herod, dispersed his army and destroyed the cities of Galilee.
When Tiberius Caesar learned that the reason for these wars was the slaying of a prophet, who was great among his people, by Herod, who banished his wife, the daughter of Aritas, the Arabian king, and married his brother's wife, he summoned Herod and Herodias to Rome. Herod hid the head of St. John in his palace and went to Rome. When he arrived there, Tiberius removed him from his position and stripped him of all his possessions and exiled him to Spain where he died. Herod's palace was ruined and became an example for those who might think of following in his footsteps.
A few years later, two believing men from Homs went to Jerusalem to spend the holy fast (Lent) there. Night fell on them while passing by the ruins of Herod's palace, so they spent the night there. St. John appeared to one of them and told him about his name and the whereabouts of his head and ordered him to take it to his house. When he woke up, the man told this to his friend and they went to the place where the head was buried. They dug and found a sealed pottery vessel. When they opened that vessel, a sweet aroma spread out of it. They found the holy head, took its blessing and placed it back in the vessel. The man that saw the vision took it to his house. He put it in a safe place and put a candle in front of it. Before his departure, he told his sister about it and she went on doing the same thing.
The head was handed from one person to another until it came to the hand of a follower of Arius who attributed the wonders and miracles that happened through the holy head to the heresy of Arius. The Lord commanded someone to force him out of his house. The place of the head remained unknown until the time of St. Cyril (Kyrillos), Bishop of Jerusalem. St. John appeared to Abba Martianus, Bishop of Homs, in his sleep and told him about the place of the head. He went there and found the head and that was on the thirtieth of the month of Amshir.
The prayers of this saint be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
On this day also of the year 1971 A.D., the holy and righteous father Abba Kyrillos the Sixth, theone hundred and sixteenth Pope of Alexandria, departed. God has accorded this pure father the gift of working great miracles even after his departure.
His prayers and blessings be with us. Amen.
", "tags": "appearance head john baptist" } ], [ { "id": 181, "action": "On this day of the year,
The enemy of the good did not stop but, moved some people against him. They accused him of committing the sin of infidelity. God's punishment for those liars was bitter. One of them burned to death, and the bowels of another poured out and died, the body of the third wasted out from a long sickness, the fourth was killed and the fifth repented with tears confessing his sins. As for the saint, he went to the desert and disappeared there, lest his stay be a stumble to others.
Since nothing was known of St. Narcissus whereabouts, another man was chosen in his place whose name was Dius. Dius remained for a short period of time; he then departed. Upon Dius' departure they chose another called Ghordinus. When the time of persecution was over, Abba Narcissus returned to Jerusalem where he was greeted by his people with great joy. Ghordinus asked him to take over his Chair but, he refused preferring the solitary life. Ghordinus insisted that he stays with him in his cell. St. Narcissus stayed with him for one year at the end of which Ghordinus departed and St. Narcissus acquired his Chair. He had aged and was very week so, he asked his people to choose another bishop, but they refused.
Alexander, Bishop of Cappadocia, came to Jerusalem to visit the Holy Land and pray. When he was about to return, after the feast, the people heard a great voice in the church of the Resurrection saying: \"Go to the gate of the city, the first one to enter it, seize him, make him stay to assist Narcissus.\" When, they went to the gate, they met the Bishop Alexander, and pleaded with him to stay to assist Abba Narcissus. After much resistant, Bishop Alexander decided to accept and stay until the departure of St. Narcissus.
This father remained on the Episcopal Chair for thirty seven years, and all the years of his life were one hundred and sixteen years.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also St. Alexandrus, the soldier, was martyred during the reign of the infidel Emperor Maximianus. When this saint refused to raise incense for the idols, the Emperor punished him. The Emperor ordered him hung by his hands and a large heavy stone tied to his feet. He ordered him to be beaten, his sides burned, and placed lit torches against his face. When all these tortures did not dissuade him, the Emperor ordered him beheaded and he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his intercession be with us. Amen.
Today also is the commemoration of Anba Marcura, the Bishop.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "commemoration marcura" } ], [ { "id": 182, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Macrobius (Makrawy) the Bishop
On this day the blessed Saint Anba Makrawy (Macrobius) the bishop was martyred. This father was of the nobles of Ashmun Grais (Ashmun Kharirat) and he was ordained bishop for Nikiu (Nakiyos). When persecution against Christians started, Youfanyous, the Governor, sent for the Saint to appear before him. Before he went to the Governor, he went before the Holy Altar, lifted up his hands and prayed. He hid the Altar accessories (Utensils) and the service vestments in a place in the altar. He prayed again to the Lord Christ to guard His church. Then he went with the messengers to the Governor who asked him about his name and his hometown. When the Governor realized that he was the Bishop of the city, he ordered him to be beaten and humiliated. They mixed lime with vinegar and poured it down his throat. Nevertheless, God guarded him and he was unharmed.
Later, the Governor sent him to Armenius, the Governor of Alexandria, who casted him into prison. The Lord made, through his hands, many signs. Eucharistos, the son of Julius EL-Akfahsi, the writers of the biography of the martyrs, was paralytic. St. Macrobius prayed over him and God healed him through his prayers. He celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Julius home, administered the Holy Mysteries to them, and asked Julius to care for his body and to write his biography.
When Armenius heard what this Saint was performing signs and wonders, he ordered him to be tortured with different kinds of tortures: to be squeezed with the wheel, to cut off his members, to cast him to ferocious lions, to throw him into the sea, and to cast him into hot fire. The Lord strengthened him and all these tortures did not harm him.
This Saint had a virgin sister called Mariam who served the church and two brothers named Yoannis and Isaac. They came to him while he was in prison and wept before him saying: \"You have been a father to us, after our father; so how can you depart and leave us orphans?\" He comforted, encouraged, consoled, and asked them to leave in peace.
Finally, not wanting to see the Saint tortured any more, Julius EL-Akfahsi advised the governor saying: \"Write the decree of this old man and get rid of him\" The Governor listened to him and ordered his head to be cut off. Julius took his body and swathed it in wrappings embroidered in gold. He placed a golden cross on his chest and sent the body with his men in a ship to his Episcopal seat in Nikiu. The ship sailed until it arrived to the city of Ashmun Grais (Ashmun Kharirat). It stopped as if it had been tied with chains and all attempts to move it failed. While they were trying to do that, a voice came out of the body saying: \"This is the place wherein God is pleased that my body shall rest.\" When they told the people of the city, they came out to the ship carrying palm branches. They carried the body with great honor to their city. He lived for one-hundred thirty one years; thirty of them as a priest, thirty nine as a bishop, and he completed his good strife and received the crown of life.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "macrobius makrawy bishop" } ], [ { "id": 183, "action": "On this day of the year
When he was chosen Patriarch, on the
When the King departed to the Lord, the Metropolitan and the Cabinet saw that the younger son was more suitable for ruling the kingdom, so they crowned him. Shortly afterwards, a monk from the monastery of Anba Antonius called Victor and along with him a companion named Mina came to Ethiopia. They asked the Metropolitan for money; but he refused to give it to them. The devil enticed them to scheme against him. One of them put on the garb of the bishops and the other one as his disciple. They falsified a letter from the father, the Patriarch, to the nobles of the government saying in it: \"We have been informed that a deceptive man called Peter came to you claiming that we have sent him as a Metropolitan for you and he is lying in that. The one who is carrying this massage to you is the legitimate Metropolitan Mina. We have been informed also that Peter has enthroned the younger son of the king instead of his older brother, against the church and civic laws. On the arrival of this message, you should exile both the Metropolitan and the king, consider Abba Mina the carrier of our message to be your legitimate metropolitan and to allow him to enthrone the older son a king.\"
The two monks handed the forged letter to the older son of the king. When he read the letter he gathered the cabinet and the nobles of the government and read it to them. They ordered the exile of Metropolitan Peter and seated Mina in his place. They then took away the crown from the younger son and crowned his older brother. Nevertheless, a dispute occurred between the false Metropolitan and his assistant, who took the liberties of the absence of his Metropolitan and expelled the servants, plundered all what he found, returned to Egypt, and became a Moslem. When the news reached Pope Cosmas, he grieved exceedingly. He sent a letter to Ethiopia excommunicating Mina the liar. The King of Ethiopia was outraged from Mina's actions and slew him. He asked for the return of Metropolitan Peter from his exile but found that he had departed to his Lord and Savior. The father, the Patriarch, refused to ordain for them another Metropolitan and so the four Patriarchs that followed him.
The days of this father were peaceful and tranquil, if not for this accident. He occupied the throne of St. Mark for twelve years and departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also St. Porphyry (Porphorius) was martyred. He was one of the most nobles of Banias, most charitable and caring for the poor. He visited those in prison because of their debts and paid off their obligations. When the era of persecution started, it was called in every place to worship the idols. The Saint heard that the prince was passing by, he stood in front of his house and shouted in his face, saying: \"I am Christian.\" After many failed trials from the prince to dissuade him on changing his faith, the prince ordered his neck to be cut off. The Saint received the crown of life, and the people of his town took his body, and shrouded it with expensive shrouds.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the blessed father and the lover of God Anba Hadid the priest departed. He was righteous and virtuous. The Lord granted him the gift of performing miracles and wonders and granted him the spirit of prophecy and knowing the hidden things. He revealed what was in the hearts of his visitors and healed those who were sick. It was said that he raised a dead man through his prayers. He departed, when he was one hundred years old, in a good old age.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "hadid priest" } ], [ { "id": 184, "action": "On this day a Holy Council convened on the island of Bani-Omar against those people called the Fourteenthians. The Fourteenthians celebrated the feast of the Holy Easter with the Jews on the fourteenth of the crescent of Neesan (April) which was on any day of the week. The Bishop of the island excommunicated them, and sent to Serapion Patriarch of Antioch, Democratus Bishop of Rome, Demetrius Patriarch of Alexandria, and Symmachus Bishop of Jerusalem to inform them of the heresy of these people. Each one of them sent an epistle indicating in it that Easter was only to be celebrated on the Sunday that follows the feast of the Jews and ordered to excommunicate everyone that contradict and disobey that.
A council of eighteen bishops convened and these holy epistles were read to them. They brought those heretics and read before them these epistles, some of them returned from their wrong opinion and the others insisted on their error. They prevented and excommunicated them from the Holy Church. Also, they decided to celebrate Easter as the order of the Holy Apostles saying: \"Any one that celebrate Easter on any other day than Sunday, had shared the Jews in their feasts and separated from the Christians.\"
The dispute on the feast of the Christian Passover (Easter) started between Asia Minor and Rome. Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, publicly announced the need of keeping the 14th of Neesan to commemorate the Crucifixion and the 16th of Neesan to commemorate the Resurrection (These were the original dates that the Crucifixion and Resurrection fall on regardless what day of the week they fell on) and the Christians of Mesopotamia, Cilicia, and Syria followed his opinion. Victor, Bishop of Rome, publicly announced the importance of putting into consideration that the Crucifixion be on a Friday and the Resurrection be on a Sunday, (since Friday is the day of the Crucifixion and Sunday is the day of the Resurrection). The Christians of Egypt, Greece, Pontus and Arabia agreed with him in that. The dispute between the two bishops intensified, nevertheless their friendship remained unchanged. Alexandria intervened in this subject, and its Patriarch Anba Demetrius the vine dresser (El-Karram), tried to mediate between these two opinions (By making the commemoration of the Crucifixion on Friday and the Resurrection on Sunday), and to be linked to the day 14th of Neesan (The Jewish Passover).
Pope Demetrius gathered the Alexandrian astronomers, among them was Ptolemy the astronomer which was from Farma, and with their help the Patriarch established the reckoning of the Epacts, which is known by the reckoning of El-Karmah. The reckoning of the Epacts was able to determine the day of the Jewish Passover (The slaughter of the Lamb) in any Egyptian Coptic year, and fix the Sunday after to be the Feast of Resurrection. This way he fulfilled what the Apostles commend that the Jewish Passover and the christian one not to be on the same day. The first Universal council that convened in Nicea, 325 A.D. approved that view and asked the Alexandrian Pope to issue a message on the feast and its date every year.
May the Lord Guard us against the enticement of Satan, with the blessing of the prayers of the saints. Amen.
On this day also St. Haboulyous (Hanulius) the prince of the city of Perga in Pamphylia was martyred. The love of this prince for Christ made him publicly confess his faith. Barnabakhas the Governor arrested him at Diocletian's command. He confessed the Lord Christ before him giving the Lord the honor with glorious hymns then he cursed the idols. The Prince became raged and ordered him to be crucified. The Saint praised Christ that made him worthy to be martyred in His Name. Then he delivered his soul in the hand of the Lord and received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God for ever. Amen.
", "tags": "haboulyous hanulius prince" } ], [ { "id": 185, "action": "On this day the ascetic holy father Anba Serapamon the Archpriest of Abu-Yehnis (John) monastery departed. This Saint became a monk in his youth at the monastery of the saint Abu-Yehnis. He stayed there for thirty two years in worshipping God and serving the elders. Then he was promoted to be the archpriest (Heagomain) of the monastery and was delegated to manage it. He added to his works of righteousness and ascetism, and he spent his day fasting from the day of his monkshood until the day of his departure. After spending twenty years in running the monastery, he shut himself up in a church and no one saw him for a period of ten years. During this period he only ate on Saturday and Sunday.
When the time of his departure drew near, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a vision and gave him a cross of fire saying: \"Take this cross in your hand\". The saint replied: \" How can I hold fire in my hands.\" The angel said: \"Do not be afraid for Christ have not given the fire dominion over you.\" The Saint extended his hand and took the cross from the angel. Then the angel told him: \"Be strong, partake of the Holy Mysteries and after three days I shall come and take you\".
When he woke up from his sleep, he told the elders about his vision. They wept, bid him farewell, and asked him to remember them. He asked them to remember him in their prayers. He departed on the third day and the elders were around him.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of St. Eudexia which is interpreted \"happiness\". This Saint was Samaritan by race and religion, from the city of Baalbek. The name of her father was Younan and the name of her mother was Hakeemah. She lived her early life in immorality. With the beauty of her face and physical appearance, she stumbled many and made them to fall into sin acquiring thereby great wealth.
A saintly monk from Jerusalem called Germanus heard about her. He went to her, preached her with solemn and frightful words, mentioning to her hell, worms, darkness, and the fearful punishments which are therein. She asked him: \"Does the body rise after death, and after it becomes dust to be judged?\" He replied \"Yes\". She asked him: \"What are the proofs on what you said, since the Torah that God gave to Moses the prophet and my fathers did not mention this?\" He explained to her with biblical and logical proofs until she was convinced. She asked him: \"If I go back on my evil works would God accept me?\" He replied: \"If you believed that the Lord Christ had come to the world, took away our sins by His Crucifixion, repented now a sincere repentance, and been baptized, He will accept you, and will not mention any of what you have done, but you will be as if you just have been borne.\"
Her heart opened to the faith and asked him to help her to fulfil that. He took her to the bishop of Baalbek and she confessed before him the Holy Trinity, the incarnation of the Word and His Crucifixion. While the Bishop was praying over the water to baptize her, the Lord opened her mind, she saw an angel attracting her to the water and the other angels were rejoicing for her. Then she saw an ugly terrifying looking person trying to drag her away from them and he was in wrath with her. What she saw increased her desire for repentance and baptism.
After her baptism, she gave all what she gained as fruit of her sin to the poor and needy. She entered a convent of nuns, she put on the garb of monasticism, and fought a good and perfect fight. Satan entered into some of her friends who informed the Governor about her. The Governor commanded his men to bring her. When she came into his house she found great lamentation and weeping for the governor's son had just died. She came to where the son was laid, prayed entreating the Lord Christ for his sake and He raised him up from death. The Prince believed in Christ through her. Another prince called Diogenes heard about her. He brought her before him, and she saw a soldier standing before him, who was blind in one eye, she prayed and made the sign of the cross over the eye, and it was opened. The prince released her instantly.
Shortly after this, another Prince called Bekeyfius was appointed, and he heard about her and had her brought to him. She asked the Lord Christ to give her a portion with the martyrs. The Prince commanded to cut off her head, and she received the crown of martyrdom.
May her intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also the honorable presbyter St. Peter departed. This father spent his life fasting, he shut himself in and was disciplined in praying days and nights. The Lord granted him the gift of knowing the future, healing the sick through the water and oil after praying over them. He was ordained a priest, after much reluctance, and he was forced to obey the order. He offered the incense and celebrated the Liturgy daily. The people of the city rejoiced saying: \"May the Lord grant us the forgiveness of our sins with his prayers and supplications.\" He had a wonderful power of reconciling persons at variance.
During his prayer one night, St. Peter the apostle appeared to him and told him: \"Hail to you for you have kept the priesthood without blemish. Hail to you for your prayers and masses had ascended as sweet aroma.\" When the Saint saw him, he was terrified. St Peter told him: \"I am the apostle Peter, do not be afraid for the Lord has sent me to comfort you and to inform you that you are leaving this toilsome world to the Eternal kingdom, so rejoice and be comforted.\" The priest rejoiced for that and said \"Remember me O My Father.\" When he said that he departed in happiness, glory and honor.
May the Lord have mercy on us with his prayers and blessings and Glory be to God for ever.
Amen.
", "tags": "peter priest" } ], [ { "id": 186, "action": "On this day, St. Dioscorus was martyred at the time of the Arabs. He was from Alexandria, and was brought up as Christian but for unexplained reason he left the faith of his fathers and adopted the faith of the Arabs. He had a married sister in the city of Fayyum. When she knew what her brother did, she sent a letter to him saying: \"I would have preferred that the news had come to me telling me that you had died a Christian, and I would have rejoiced, than that the news that reached me, that you are not dead, and you have abandoned the Faith of Christ your God.\" At the end she said: \"Know that this letter marks the end of the relation between you and me. From this time on do not show me your face and do not write me.\"
When he had read his sister's letter, he wept bitterly, and he smote his face and tore his beard. Then he rose in haste and girded up his loins, prayed entreating God fervently and made the sign of the cross over himself. He went out of his house and wandered about in the city. When the Muslims saw him in this condition, they brought him to the Governor who asked him: \"You have left Christianity and joined our religion, so what happened to you?\" He replied saying \"I have been born Christian, and I shall die Christian, and I do not know except this.\" The Governor threatened him, beat him and inflicted great pain upon him and when he did not change his opinion, he shut him up in prison. The Governor sent to the Khalifa of Egypt presenting his case to him. The Khalifa ordered the governor to offer him leaving the faith of the Christians and entering the faith of the Khalifa, if he obeyed to give him much money and to reward him, otherwise to burn him. The Governor brought him out of jail and asked him to deny his faith but he refused saying: \"I told you before that I have been born Christian, and I shall die Christian.\" He ordered him to be burnt. They dug a large pit outside the city, and they filled it with wood and they set fire in it. When the flames of the fire mounted up to a great height, they casted him in the pit after they had beaten him sorely and gashed his body with knives. He received the crown of martyrdom in the kingdom of heaven.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the departure of St. Theodsius the confessor, Bishop of Corinth which on the island of Cyprus. Julius, the Governor of this island, who had been appointed by Diocletian, had him brought before him. He demanded from him to deny the Lord Christ and to raise incense to the idols. When he did not obey his orders, he removed off the Saint's garments and lashed him painfully with whips made of buffalo hide, hanged him from his arms, and combed his body with steel combs inflicting him with gashes all over his body. Then they tied to his legs long iron bands, and dragged him to prison. He remained in prison until God perished Diocletian and Constantine the righteous Emperor reigned, who released him among all those who had been jailed for the sake of faith. St. Theodsius returned to his Episcopal Seat, and tended his flock, that he was entrusted with, well until he departed in peace.
May his intercession be with us and Glory be to God for ever. Amen.
", "tags": "theodotus bishop" } ], [ { "id": 187, "action": "On this day Sts. Philemon and Apollonius were martyred. Philemon was the jester and singer, and Apollonius was the musician for Arianus the governor of Ansena (Antinoe). They were very close friends and they wished to receive the crown of martyrdom. One day, Philemon went to the Governor and confessed the Lord Christ before him, so he ordered to shoot him with arrows. After that, Apollonius came before the Governor and he also confessed the Lord Christ. When the Governor recognized him he became angry and ordered to shoot him also with arrows. While they were shooting Apollonius, one of the arrows glanced back and struck the Governor's eye and destroyed it. Sts. Philemon and Apollonius completed their strife and received the crown of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also St. Mary the Israelite was martyred. This Saint did not know the Lord Christ and she lived an evil life. When she wished to repent and to return to the righteous life, the Lord sent to her a holy man who preached her, and revealed to her the way of salvation by believing in the Lord Christ. He told her that the soul has to give an answer about all her deeds on the day of Resurrection. After death and departing of this world every one will be rewarded according to his deeds and explained to her the fearful punishments for the evil doers. She asked him: \"What are the proofs on what you said, since the Torah that God gave to Moses the prophet and also my fathers did not mention this? so confirm to me the truth of what you said with biblical and logical proofs\".
After he explained and confirmed to her all these facts she became convinced in her heart and mind. She asked him: \"If I repent on my evil works would God accept me?\" He replied: \" If you believed that Christ had come to the world for the salvation of the human race, and walked in the way of repentance, God will accept you\" and she believed and repented. When the Governor knew about her, he brought her before him. When she insisted on her Christianity, he ordered her beheaded by the sword and she received the crown of martyrdom.
May her intercession be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "mary israelite" } ], [ { "id": 188, "action": "On this day St. Matthias, the apostle was martyred about 63 A.D. He was born in Bethlehem, followed the apostles and was chosen in place of Judas Iscariot in the upper room on the mount of Zion. Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples (altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said, \"Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; \"for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.\" (Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.) \"For it is written in the book of Psalms: 'Let his habitation be desolate, and let no one live in it'; and, 'Let another take his office.' \"Therefore, of these men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, \"beginning from the baptism of John to that day when He was taken up from us, one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.\" And they proposed two: Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, \"You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen \"to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.\" And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles. (Acts 1:15-26)
Afterwards he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and went to preach the Gospel until he came to the country of cannibals. The custom of those people was whenever they seized a stranger, they put him in prison for thirty days feeding him grass, then they bring him out and eat him. When St. Matthias came to them and preached among them the massage of love they seized him, plucked out his eyes and put him in prison. Before the thirty days were over God sent to him Andrew the apostle and his disciple. They came to the prison and saw the prisoners and what abominable things the people of the city did to them. Satan inspired the people of the city to seize them also and kill them.
When they were about to seize them, the two Saints prayed to the Lord, and a stream of water flowed from under one of the pillar of the prison. The water flowed out into the city, and rose up until it reached the necks of the people. When the people of the city gave up all hope of saving their lives, they came to the apostles, and wept before them confessing their sins. The apostles told them \"Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.\" They all believed and they released St. Matthias.
St. Matthias, along with St. Andrew and his disciple taught them the mystery of the Incarnation of the Lord Christ. The Apostles prayed and entreated God Who made the water to cease then they baptized them in the Name of the Holy Trinity. They also prayed to The Lord Christ Who removed from them their barbaric nature. The Apostles appointed over them bishops and priests. They tarried with them for a while during which they instructed them and confirmed them in the faith, then they left. The people of the city entreated them to come back to them speedily. St. Matthias went to the city of Damascus and preached there in the Name of the Lord Christ. The people of the city became angry so they took him and laid him upon an iron bed, they lighted a fire under it which did not harm him but his face was shining with light like the sun. They marvelled exceedingly and they all believed on the Lord Christ through St. Matthias the apostle who baptized them, and appointed priests for them. He tarried many days with them confirming them in the faith. Afterward he departed in peace in one of the city of the jews called Falawon (Pilawon) where his body was laid.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 188 A.D. (3rd of march) the holy father Pope Julian the Eleventh Pope of Alexandria departed. This father was a student in the seminary established by St. Mark, and was ordained priest in the city of Alexandria. He surpassed many in knowledge, righteousness, and purity so he was ordained Patriarch on the 9th of Baramhat (Year 178 A.D.) After his enthronement he saw that the pagans did not allow the bishops to leave the city of Alexandria, so he used to leave the city in secret to ordain priests everywhere. Before his departure the angel of the lord announced to him that the one who will bring him a cluster of grapes, is the one to succeed him on the Patriarchal Chair. One day, while Demetrius the vine dresser was trimming his trees, he found a cluster of grapes and was not in season. He took the cluster and gave it to the Patriarch Abba Julian who was pleased with the present. He gathered the bishops and told them about the vision and commanded them to enthrone him Patriarch after him.
This father composed many homilies and discourses, he taught the people continually, preached and visited them. He stayed on the Apostolic Chair for ten years then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also St. Arianus, the governor of Ansena was martyred. When he ordered to shoot St. Apollonius with arrows, and one of the arrows glanced back and struck his eye and destroyed it, as it is mentioned in the Seventh day of Baramhat, one of the believers told him: \"If you take some of his blood and smear your eye with it, you will receive your sight.\" The Governor took some of his blood, smeared his eye, and immediately he was able to see. Arianus believed on the Lord Christ, with great sorrow for all the evil things which he had done to the holy martyrs and the severity with which he tortured them. Then he rose up, destroyed his idols, and he refrained from torturing any of the believers.
When Diocletian heard the report of Arianus, he brought him, and asked him why he had forsaken the worship of his idols. Arianus began to tell him about the signs and wonders which God was working by the hands of the holy martyrs, and how, in spite of the tortures which he had inflicted upon them, and the cutting of their bodies, they rose up again whole. The Emperor became furious with him because of what he said and ordered him to be tortured severely, and to cast him into a pit and to cover it until he dies.
The Lord Christ sent His angel, who brought him out from the pit, and took him by the bed of the Emperor. The Emperor woke up from his sleep, and when he saw and recognized that he wasArianus, he was amazed and terrified. Diocletian again ordered him to be placed into a hair sack, and to cast him into the sea, so they did. Arianus the martyr delivered up his soul while he was in the hair sack. The Saint had told his kinsfolk when he bid them farewell that the Lord had told him in a vision of the night that He would take care of his body, return it to his town, and they could find it on the shore of Alexandria.
The Lord ordered a sea creature who carried the Saint, and brought him to the city of Alexandria, where it casted him on the shore. His men took his body, brought it to Ansena, and laid it with the bodies of the Saints Philemon and Apollonius. Thus, he finished his good fight and received the heavenly crown.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "arianus governor ansena" } ], [ { "id": 189, "action": "On this day the fighter St. Konan departed. This Saint was from a city called Antanyos in the country of Syria during the days when the Apostles were preaching the Name of the Lord Christ to Whome is the glory. His father's name was Nestor, his mother's name was Theodora, and they worshipped the stars. When this Saint grew and became a man, the virtues of purity, chastity, piety, and mercy were manifested in his life.
His parents wished to wed him but he refused. They forced him to get married, but he refused to have any relation with his wife and both remained virgins. Often he prayed saying: \" O God lead me to Your true Knowledge.\" Michael, the angel of the Lord appeared to him and ordered him to go to one of the apostles. Konan went to him, learned from him all the Laws of the Christian Faith, was baptized and received the Divine Mysteries. He went on listening to the teachings of the Apostles and he increased in purity, chastity, ascetism, and praying. God granted him the gift of performing miracles and the authority over the devil, and he attracted his parents to the faith in the Lord Christ.
Once, one of the unbelievers went to one of the temples to offer a sacrifice to satan. St. Konan knew this man, and he cried out against satan, rebuked him and commanded him to confess before the people telling them whom he was. The devil confessed that he was satan and was not a god. All the people were present cried out saying: \"One is the God of St. Konan,\" and they believed and were baptized.
When the Governor, who had been appointed by Claudius Caesar, heard about this Saint, he had him brought before him, and the saint confessed his faith in the Lord Christ. The Governor commanded him to be bound and beaten very severely. When the people of the city heard that, and because of their love to the Saint, they wanted to kill the Governor but he fled from them.
They released the Saint from his fetters, washed the blood off him, and carried him to their town. He lived for many years then departed to the Lord. The believers made his house a church and laid his body in it, from which many signs and wonders were manifested.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also was the martyrdom of Sts. Abrianus, Amrata his wife, Eusebius, Armanius, and the Forty Martyrs after they had been tortured severely in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "abrianus amrata wife eusebius armanius forty martyrs" } ], [ { "id": 190, "action": "Commemoration Of the Appearance Of The Glorious Cross
The church celebrates the appearance of the glorious Cross of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ twice:
The First on the sixteenth day of the month of Tute, 326 A.D. by the hands of the righteous Empress St. Helen, the mother of Constantine the great, the righteous Emperor. This Saint when her son Constantine accepted the Faith in the Lord Christ, she vowed to go to Jerusalem. Her righteous son prepared everything needed to fulfill this holy visit.
When she arrived to Jerusalem with multitude of soldiers, she asked about the place of the Cross but no one would tell her. She took one of the jewish elders and pressured him by hunger and thirst until he was forced to direct them to the place where they might find the Cross at the hill of Golgotha. She ordered them to clear out the site of Golgotha where they found three crosses and that was in the year 326 A.D. However, they did not know the cross upon which Our Lord Christ was crucified, they brought a dead man and they laid upon him one of the crosses and then the other but he did not rise up but when they laid the third cross upon him he rose up immediately, then they realized that this was the Cross of Our Lord Christ. The Empress and all the believers kneeled down before the Holy Cross, and she sent a piece of it with the nails to her son Constantine. Immediately after, she built the churches that were mentioned on the Sixteenth day of the blessed month of Tute.
The Second celebration that the church commemorates the Cross is on the Tenth day of the month of Baramhat by the hands of Emperor Heraclius, in 627 A.D. When the Persians were defeated by Heraclius they retreated from Egypt to their country. On their way back they passed through Jerusalem, a persian prince entered the church of the Cross which was built by Empress Helen. He saw a great light shinning from a piece of wood located on a place decorated with gold. He thrust his hand to it and there went forth from it fire which burned his fingers. The Christians told him that this is the base of the Holy Cross and they told him how it was discovered and no one was able to touch it except a Christian. He deceived the two deacons who were standing to guard it and gave them much money so they would carry this piece and go with it with him to his country. They took it and put it in a box and went with him to his country along with those who were captured from the city of Jerusalem.
When Emperor Heraclius heard that, he went with his army to Persia, fought with them and slew many of them. He traveled about this country searching for this piece of the Holy Cross but he could not find it, for the Persian prince had dug a hole in his garden and ordered the two deacons to put the box in it and buried it and then he killed them.
One of the captives of that Persian prince which was the daughter of one of the priests, was looking out of the window by chance and saw what happened. She went to Heraclius the Emperor and told him what she saw. He went with the bishops, priests and the soldiers to the place. They dug there and found the box, they took the piece of the Holy Cross out, in 628 A.D., wrapped it in magnificent apparel and Heraclius took it to the city of Constantinople and kept it there.
May the blessings of the Holy Cross be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "commemoration appearance glorious cross" } ], [ { "id": 191, "action": "The Martyrdom Of St. Basil (Basilaos) The Bishop
On this day St. Basil (Basilaos) the bishop was martyred. In the year 298 A.D., Abba Armon, Patriarch of Jerusalem, ordained this holy man among others to be bishops without stated Sees. He sent them to preach the Kingdom of Heaven in pagan cities. This Saint preached in many cities where they beat him and drove him out.
When he entered the city of Sharsunah, in Syria, he preached the Gospel, some of its people believed but the others became angry and drove him out. He went outside the city and dwelt in a cave where he gave himself to perpetual prayers and supplications to God that the people of the city might believe in Christ.
The son of the Governor of that city died, he was his only child, and he grieved on him exceedingly. On the day that the Governor buried his son, he saw him in a vision at night, standing before him saying: \"Call St. Basilaos and ask him to pray to the Lord Christ on my behalf because I am in great darkness.\" The Governor woke up from his dream and took the nobles of the city, went to the cave of St. Basilaos and asked him to enter the city to pray for his son. The Saint agreed to their request and went with them to where the Governor's son was buried. He prayed to God with fervent supplication and the son rose up alive with the power of God.
The Governor, his household, and many of the people of the city believed, and were baptized by the hands of this Saint. There were in the city a congregation of Jews who were envious of the Saint. They joined with the men of the city who did not believe, and rose up against the Saint and beat him and dragged him until he yielded up his soul in peace.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "basil basilaos bishop" } ], [ { "id": 192, "action": "On this day the church celebrates the commemoration of the head of the heavenly hosts the honorable Angel Michael, the intercessor for the human race.
May his intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also the church celebrates the commemoration of the revealing of the virginity of St. Demetrius the Twelfth Pope of Alexandria. The angel of the Lord appeared to St. Julian, the Eleventh Pope, before his departure and said: \"You are going to the Lord Christ, the one who will bring you tomorrow a cluster of grapes, is the one fit to be a Patriarch after you.\" On the morrow, this saint came with a cluster of grapes, Abba Julian held him and told the people: \"This is your Patriarch after me,\" and told them what the angel told him. After the departure of Abba Julian they took him and ordained him Patriarch on the 9th. of Baramhat (March 4th., 188 A.D.) and he was married.
Since no married Patriarch ever before this father been enthroned over the See of Alexandria, satan entered the hearts of the laity and made them talk and grumble against the Patriarch and the one who recommended him. The angel of God appeared to St. Demetrius and told him about that and ordered him to remove the doubt from their hearts by revealing to them his relation with his wife. When St. Demetrius refused, the angel told him: \"It is not meet that you save your self alone and let others be perished because of you. But because you are a shepherd you should fight to save your people also\".
On the next day, after he had finished celebrating the Divine Liturgy, he asked the people not to leave the church. He brought flamed charcoal, and brought his wife from the place of the women and the congregation wondered at his action, not knowing what he was going to do. He prayed and walked on the blazing fire, he took a piece of the blazing fire and put it in his shawl, then he took another piece and put it in his wife's shawl. He prayed again for a long time and both shawls did not burn. The congregation marvelled and asked him to tell them why he did that. He told them of his strife with his wife, and how his father and her father married them against their will, and they have lived together as a brother and sister since they were married forty-eight years ago, the angel of the Lord each night covered them with his wings, and no one knew that before that time until the angel of the Lord ordered him to reveal his secret.
The congregation marvelled for what they had seen and heard, they praised and glorified God asking the Saint to pardon them for what they had done or said and to forgive them. He accepted their apology, forgave them, blessed them, and sent them to their homes glorifying the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit talking about what they saw of wonders from this Saint.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also the righteous St. Malachias was martyred in the land of Palestine.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day the church also celebrates the commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Glathinos (Glazinos) who was in the early part of the reign of the Emperor Constantine the great. This Saint was from the city of Marmeen, near Damascus. He was acting with a group of people who were from the city of Heleopolis, Lebanon, and dedicated themselves to worship idols.
One day they gathered in the theater, and the actors poured cold water in a large brass basin, and started mocking those who go to the holy Christian baptism. They dipped one of those actors in the water, to act his baptism, when he came out of the water they put on him white cloth. This actor after he had come out of the water, refused to go on acting, and made it known that he prefered to die Christian on the Name of the Lord Christ, and he added to that saying: \"While you were mocking during my renewal with the Holy Baptism, I have witnessed a wondrous miracle.\" Those who were present became offended, and extremely furious for they were pagans. They seized the Saint, stoned him, and St. Glathinos delivered up his soul and received the crown of martyrdom, and was counted among the holy martyrs. His family and many of the Christians came, took his body, and buried him in the city where they built a church after his name.
May his blessings be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "glathinos damascus" } ], [ { "id": 193, "action": "On this day (March 8th, 264 A.D.) the great father Abba Dionysius, the fourteenth Pope of Alexandria, departed. His parents were stare worshippers of the Sun (Sabians) and they put emphasis on teaching him all the knowledge of that sect.
One day a Christian old woman passed by him, who had with her some pages of a book containing an Epistle of St. Paul the apostle and offered it to him to buy it. When he read it he found in it strange sayings and unusual knowledge. He asked her: \"For how much will you sell it?\" She said: \"For one dinar of gold.\" He gave her three dinars and asked her to find the rest of the pages of the book and he was willing to pay her double. She went and brought him more pages. Having read them through he found the book to be still incomplete, he asked her to search for the rest of the book. She told him: \"I found these quires among my father's books. If you want to acquire the complete book, go to the church and there you can find it.\"
He went and asked one of the priests to show him what is called the Epistles of Paul. He gave it to him, read it, and memorized it. Then he went to St. Demetrius the twelfth Pope, who taught and instructed him in the facts of the Christian faith then baptized him. He became well rehearsed in the doctrine and knowledge of the church, and Anba Demetrius appointed him a teacher for the people.
When Anba Demetrius departed and Anba Heraclas (Yaroklas) was enthroned, he appointed him as a deputy to judge among the believers and entrusted him to administer the affairs of the patriarchate.
When St. Heraclas departed, all the people agreed to appoint this father Patriarch. He was enthroned on the first of Tubah (December 28th, 246 A.D.) during the reign of Emperor Philip who was a lover of the Christians, and he shepherded his flock with the best of care, nevertheless, he suffered much tribulations. When Decius rose up against Philip and killed him, and reigned in his place, he incited persecution against the Christians. Decius slew many of the patriarchs, bishops, and believers. This father endured much suffering during that time. Decius died and Gallus reigned after him, and persecution quieted down during his reign.
When Gallus died and Valerian reigned in his place, he renewed the persecution severely against the Christians, and his men seized Abba Dionysius and imprisoned him. They asked him to worship the idols but he refused saying: \"We worship God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit the One God.\" They threatened him, killed few men in front of him to terrify him but he was not afraid. They banished him and shortly after, they brought him back and told him: \"We have been informed that you consecrate the offering secretly by yourself.\" He replied: \"We do not forsake our prayers day or night\" then he turned to the people present around him and told them: \"Go and pray and if I am away from you in the body, I shall be with you in spirit.\" The governor became raged and returned him to exile.
When Sapor king of Persia overcame Emperor Valerian and seized him, his son Gallienus, who was wise and gentle, took over the empire. He released all the believers who were in prison and brought back those who were in exile. He wrote to the Patriarch and the bishops a letter to assure their safety in opening the churches.
In the days of this father, certain people arose in the Arabian countries saying: \"That the soul dies with the body, and on the day of Resurrection, it shall be raised up with it.\" He gathered against them a council and anathematized them. When Paul of Samosata denied the Son, a Council assembled against him in Antioch, this Saint was not able to attend for his age. He wrote a letter to the council, rich with wisdom, explained in it the corruptive opinion of this heretic, and stated the true Orthodox belief. He finished his good strife, and departed in a good old age on (March 8th, 264 A.D.), having sat on the Apostolic Throne seventeen years, two month and ten days.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the return of the Great Sts. Anba Macarius the Great and Anba Macarius of Alexandria, from exile on an island in Upper Egypt. Emperor Valens the arian had exiled them to this island.
The natives of this island worshipped idols, and according to the orders of Valens the two Saints were tortured severely for three years. It came to pass one day that satan entered the daughter of the pagan priest of this island and tortured her. St. Macarius the great came forward and prayed over her and the Lord healed her and subsequently the priest and the people of the island believed on the Lord Christ. The Saints taught them the facts of the Christian faith and baptized them on the eve of the feast of Epiphany, 11th. of Tubah, changed the temple into a church, and with a revelation from the Lord Christ they ordained priests and deacons for them.
When they wished to return they did not know the way, so the angel of the Lord appeared to them, guided them walking, until they reached Alexandria. From there they went to the wilderness of Sheahat (Scetis). The monks of the wilderness came out to meat them, and they were at that time about fifty thousand monks among them were Anba John the short and Anba Bishoy, and they all rejoiced to meat their fathers.
The prayers of these Saints be with us. Amen.
On this day also the holy forty martyrs of the city of Sebastia were martyred. Emperor Constantine the great had appointed his friend Lecius ruler for the east and commanded him to treat the Christians well. When he arrived to his headquarter, he ordered his subordinate to worship the idols but they refused and cursed his idols. That night some of the soldiers and their children, from the city of Sebastia, made an agreement among themselves to go to the governor confessing their faith. While they were sleeping the angel of the Lord appeared to them, strengthened them and comforted their hearts.
In the morning they stood before the Governor and confessed their faith in the Lord christ, he threatened them but they were not afraid. He commanded his men to stone them, but the stones came back upon those who stoned them. He ordered to throw them in a nearby lake, which was icy. Their organs were severed because of the excessive cold. One of them whose strength was weakened, went out of the icy water and entered the bath house nearby the lake. The heat in the bath house melted the ice that was on him but he died quickly, and lost his reward.
One of the guards saw angels descending from the heaven and in their hands crowns, they placed them over the heads of the thirty nine martyrs and remained one crown in the hand of the angel. The guard went down into the lake shouting \"I am christian...I am christian.\" He took the crown that was in the hand of the angel and was counted among the martyrs.
Among the martyrs, were young men, whose mothers encouraged and strengthened them. Because they remained in the lake for a long time and they did not die, the Governor wished to break their legs, but the Lord took their souls and reposed them. He ordered to burn their bodies and to cast them after that into the sea. As they were carrying them out of the lake, they found a young man alive, so they left him. His mother took him and tried to threw him on the wagon with his mates but they put him off the wagon again for he was still alive. His mother took him and he died in her bosom so she put him back on the wagon. They took them outside the city and cast them into the fire which did not harm them, then they casted them into the river.
On the third day those holy martyrs appeared to the Bishop of Sebastia in a vision and told him: \"Go to the river and take our bodies.\" He went with the priests, deacons and the people to the river and found the bodies. They carried the bodies with great honor and placed them in a beautiful shrine, and their strife was heard in all the countries.
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "forty martyrs sebastia" } ], [ { "id": 194, "action": "On this day of the year 959 A.M. (Marsh 10, 1243 A.D.) departed the holy father Anba Kyrellos, the seventy fifth Pope of Alexandria, who was known as Ebn-Loqloq. This father was enthroned on the twenty third of the month of Baounah, 951 A.M. (June 17th., 1235 A.D.). There were objections at first in choosing him but finally they unanimously agreed on him.
During the days of this father a holy council convened, which was attended by all the bishops of the See of St. Mark, and they put down a comprehensive cannons for the church. The honorable scholar El-Safy Ebn El-Assal was the secretary of this council. This father sat on the Patriarchal Chair for seven years, eight month and twenty three days. He departed in El-Shamaa (Wax) monastery in the year 959 A.M. (March 10, 1243 A.D.)
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also St. Shenouda (Sinouti) El Bahnasawy was martyred. Certain men laid accusations against him before Maximianus, a governor appointed by Diocletian, that he was Christian. The Governor brought him, and asked him about his faith, and the Saint confessed his faith in the Lord Christ and that He was the True God. He ordered the soldiers to throw him on the ground, to beat him with hammers until his flesh was torn, and his blood flew on the ground, then they casted him into a prison with repulsive odor. The Lord sent Michael the Archangel to him, healed his wounds, encouraged and strengthened him. He told him that he will receive the crown of glory after he had endured what would befall him from severe tortures.
On the next morning the Governor ordered his soldiers to go and look at him, and they found him standing up praying. When they told the Governor about him and when he saw him whole and un-harmed, he was amazed and said: \"He is a sorcerer.\" Then he ordered to crucify him with his head downwards, and to light fire under him, but it did not harm him. They squeezed him with the wheel and finally they beheaded him and hacked his body into pieces with swords and casted him to the dogs which did not come near him. During the night the believers took him and poured over him expensive perfumes, shrouded him in costly wrappings, laid him in a coffin and buried him.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also the Sts. Eugenius, Agathodorus and Elpidius were martyred. These holy men were Christians, through their fathers and forefathers, walking in the way of God, and had a great deal of knowledge about the church subjects. St. Hermon (Armos) Patriarch of Jerusalem ordained them bishops without parishes to go around preaching and teaching the word of God.
They went and preached in many cities, and the people of one of the cities went out, beat them very severely, then they stoned them until they departed in peace and received the crown of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "eugenius agathodorus elpidius" } ], [ { "id": 195, "action": "On this day departed the righteous and ascetic St. Sarah the nun who was a native of Upper Egypt. Her parents, who were exceedingly rich, were Christians and had no other children. They raised her in a christian manner and taught her reading and writing. She was always reading the books of the church and especially the biography and sayings of the fathers the monks. She was influenced by their lives and desired the ascetic life. She went to one of the convents of Upper Egypt and dwelt there for many years serving the virgins.
Then she put on the monastic garb, persisting on fighting the lust of Satan for thirteen years until Satan was weary of her. When Satan was exasperated from her steadfastness and purity, he wished to overthrow her by the sin of pride. He appeared to her while she was standing praying on the roof of her cell and said to her: \"Rejoice for you have overcome Satan.\" She replied: \"I am a feeble woman, and I can not conquer you except by the power of the Lord Christ\" and then Satan vanished.
This Saint had many useful sayings that she used to say to the nuns. One of her sayings: \"I never set my foot upon the step of the ladder, and I never go up to the next step without thinking I may die before I raise my leg so that the enemy might not entice me with the hope of a long life.\" And she also said: \" IT is better for a man to show mercy even to satisfy men for the time will come that it will be to satisfy God.\" She also had many other sayings written in the Paradise of the Fathers. She stayed on the banks of the river in a cave for sixty years fighting a great fight and no one saw her until she departed to the eternal bless and she was eighty years old.
May her prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also St. Helias of Hnes was martyred.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "helias hnes" } ], [ { "id": 196, "action": "The Departure Of The Saint Anba Khail (Mikhail) the Forty Sixth Pope Of The See Of St. Mark
On this day of the year 483 A.M. (March 12th, 767 A.D.) the holy father Anba Khail (Mikhail), the forty six Pope of the See Of St. Mark, departed. This father was a monk in the monastery of St. Macarius and he was knowledgeable and ascetic. When Pope Theodorus the forty fifth Patriarch, his predecessor, departed the bishops of Lower Egypt (Delta) and the priests of Alexandria gathered in the church of Anba Shenouda in Cairo.
A Dispute arose among them about who was fit, and finally they called Anba Mousa, Bishop of Ouseem, and Anba Petros, Bishop of Mariout. When they arrived, Anba Mousa found the priests of Alexandria obstinate, he rebuked them for that, and dismissed them that night so their minds and souls might calm down. When they met the next day he mentioned to them the name of the priest Khail the monk in the monastery of St. Macarius. They unanimously agreed to his choice and obtained a decree from the Governor of Egypt to the elders of the wilderness of Sheahat (Wadi El-Natroun) to bring him from the monastery. On their way, when they arrived to Geza they found father Khail coming along with some elders to fulfill a certain task connected with the monastery. They seized him, bound him, and took him to Alexandria where they ordained him Patriarch on the 17th. of Tute, year 460 A.M. (September 14th., year 743 A.D.).
It Happened that there was a drought in the city of Alexandria for two years, and on that day the rain fell heavily for three days and the people of Alexandria considered that a good omen. During the reign of Marawan the last of the Khalifas of the Umayyad rule and during the governorship of Hefs Ebn El-Walid and during the days of this father many great tribulations fell upon the believers.
A large number of the believers fled from Egypt and the number of those who denied Christ was twenty-four thousand, and because of that the Patriarch was in great sorrow until God perished those were responsible for that. This father endured many difficulties from Abdel Malek Ebn-Marawan the new governor. He imprisoned, beaten, chained, and tortured him with many other ways of painful tortures, then he released him. The Patriarch went to Upper Egypt to collect alms and when he came back, the Governor took the money from him and threw him back in prison. When Keriakos king of Nuba knew that, he was extremely enraged, he prepared one hundred thousand soldiers and marched down to Egypt. Going threw Upper Egypt he slew all the Muslims that he met, until he reached El Fostat (Cairo), he camped around the city threatening to destroy it. When Abdel Malek the Governor saw the army surrounding the city and that all this had taken place for the sake of the Patriarch, he became terrified, so he released him from prison with great honor. The Governor entreated the Patriarch to mediate peace between him and the king of Nuba. The Patriarch agreed to his request, so he went with some of the clergy to meet the king and asked him to accept the peace from abdel Malek which the king accepted and returned back. Abdel Malek respected the Christians and lifted up all his retribution. When the father the Patriarch prayed for the sake of the Governor's daughter, who was possessed with an unclean spirit, and with his prayers the unclean spirit left her, the Governor increased his respect for the Christians.
This father debated with Cosmas the Melchite Patriarch concerning the Hypostatic Union. Pope Khail wrote him a letter, signed it along with his bishops, which said in it: \"It is not right to say that in Christ two distinct Natures or two distinct Persons after the Hypostatic Union.\" Cosmas was convinced with that and asked to become a bishop under the authority of Anba Khail. When Anba Khail completed his strife, he departed to the Lord whom he loved after he had spent on the Chair of St. Mark twenty-three and half years.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "khail mikhail forty sixth pope see mark" } ], [ { "id": 197, "action": "On this day the righteous Lazarus, the beloved of the Lord Christ, departed. He was the brother of Martha and Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair. When Lazarus fell sick the sisters sent to the Lord Christ saying: \"Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.\" When Jesus heard that, He said, \"This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.\" Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was\" to magnify the miracle.
Then after this He said to the disciples, \"Let us go to Judea again.\" The disciples told Him, \"Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?\" Jesus answered, \"Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. \"But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.\" These things He said, and after that He said to them, \"Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.\" Then His disciples said, \"Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.\" However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, \"Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.\"
When the Lord came to Bethany which is nearby Jerusalem He stood before the tomb and said: \"Take away the stone.\" Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, \"Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.\" Jesus said to her, \"Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?\" Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and prayed then he cried with a loud voice, \"Lazarus, come forth!\" And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, \"Loose him, and let him go.\" (John 11:1-45)
That was to manifest the reality of his death, so no one would think that this was deception with previous arrangement, for that the miracle was magnified and many believed.
The prayers of this righteous be with us. Amen.
On this day also the church celebrates the commemoration of the Sts. George the ascetic, Belasius the martyr, and Anba Joseph the bishop.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 1615 A.M. (March 26th., 1899 A.D.) the great father Anba Basilius, Metropolitan of Jerusalem, departed. This father was born in the village of El-Dabah, Farshout county, the province of Quena, for righteous parents. They nursed him with the milk of righteousness since his young age, as they taught him reading and writing, so he grew on loving perfection and moral excellence.
When he was twenty-five years old he went to the monastery of St. Antonios and put on the monastic garb in the year 1559 A.M. He persevered in worshipping and ascetism and because he was adorned with righteousness and piety they ordained him priest in the year 1565 A.M. and archpriest (Hegumen) in the year 1568 A.M., then they appointed him an Abott for the monastery. He managed the monastery well with gentleness, wisdom and meekness that made the blessed Anba Kyrellos IV to ordain him Metropolitan for Jerusalem and the parishes that were attached to him: El-Kaliobia, El-Sharkia, El-Dakahlia, El-Gharbia, Suez, Domiat, and Port-Said.
He had shown prudence in managing the affairs of these parishes that made him the center of admiration and pride to the Copts. All his efforts were dedicated for the building of churches all over his parish, buying and renovating properties in Jaffa and Jerusalem. He was loved by all the people of Syria and Palestine, regardless of their religion or political persuasion, especially the rulers of Jerusalem, for his wise policy and straight morals.
During his days a dispute aroused from the Ethiopians where they claimed their ownership for the monastery of El-Sultan in Jerusalem. Because of this father and his vigilance they could not establish an ownership for the monastery. He attended the enthronement of Pope Demetrius II, the hundred eleventh, and Pope Kyrellos V, the hundred twelfth. He spent his days in continuous effort for what was good for his people and departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also the church commemorates the martyrdom of Sedhom Bishay in Domiat on the 17th. of Baramhat year 1565 A.D. (March 25th., 1844 A.D.). He endured the torture for the Name of the Lord Christ and his martyrdom made the rising of the Cross during the Christian funeral processions openly, for it was forbidden before.
This martyr was a clerical employee in the government of the port of Domiat during the days of Mohammed Ali Basha the Governor of Egypt. A revolt of mobs in the port arose, they seized Sidhom Bishay and accused him falsely that he cursed Islam and witnessed against him before the religious judge a low uncivilized person and a donkey driver. The judge decided either he would forsake his faith or be killed, he whipped him and then sent him to the Governor of the city. After the Governor had examined his case he issued the same judgement against him as the judge did. Sidhom was steadfast in his Christian faith, not caring to be killed. They whipped, dragged him on his face down the stairs in the Governor palace, then they put him on a buffalo facing the tail and went around with him in the streets of the city insulting and degrading him. The Christians in the city became afraid and locked themselves in their houses.
The mob continued to insult him and tortured him in different ways until he was about to deliver his soul; so they brought him to the door of his house and left him there. His family went out and brought him inside and five days later he departed to heaven.
His departure was a great martyrdom, and the Christians counted him among the holy martyrs. They gathered regardless of their denomination and joined in his funeral in a celebration that there was nothing like it before. The Christians carried their arms and the priest put on their vestments headed by the Archpriest Yousef Michael who was the head of the Coptic congregation in Domiat and accompanied by the priests of the other denominations. They marched in his funeral in the streets of the city and in front of him the deacons carrying the banners of the Cross, and they arrived to the church where they prayed the funeral rites. The people went on objecting this reprehensible and painful incident and talking about the patience and endurance of the different kinds of torture in silence and the steadfastness of Sidhom the martyr.
The prominent people of the Christian community in Domiat deliberated as how to avoid these incidents in the future. They decided to ask the consuls of the foreign countries to mediate with the ruler of the country and the Pope the Patriarch of the Copts and sent to them detailed reports. Mr Michail Sorour the official representative of seven countries in Domiat was in charge of this mediation.
The ruler of Egypt was concerned about this incident and sent two official representatives to examine the case. So they reopened the inquiry and they realized the injustice and the ill-treatment that befell the great martyr and convicted the judge and the governor for their wrong doing, stripped them from their honor then exiled them. They asked, as a good will and to comfort the people, to allow the raising of the Cross publicly before the Christian funerals, and the ruler allowed that in Domiat. This was allowed later on all over the country during the Papacy of Pope Kyrellos IV.
The blessings of this great martyr be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "sedhom bishay domiat" } ], [ { "id": 198, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Isidore, Friend of Sina the Soldier
On this day St. Isidore the companion of Sina the soldier was martyred. Sina, who was a native of the city of Deknash, was one of the soldiers who accompanied the Governor of Farma. St. Isidore was his friend and he was working as wool maker. Both of them gave alms to the poor and needy with what they earned. One night both saw a vision and it seemed to them that a virgin came to them with crowns which she placed on their heads. When they woke up from their sleep they told each other about what they had seen, and they rejoiced greatly as they believed that the Lord had called them to receive the crown of martyrdom. They went to the Governor and sina unbound the soldier's girdle and cast it down before him and they both confessed the Lord Christ. He ordered their detention but God sent His angel and comforted them.
The Governor sent St. Sina to Alexandria and St. Isidore remained prisoner alone. After a short period St. Sina was returned back to the Farma and St. Isidore rejoiced at meeting his friend, and they told each other what had happened to them. The Governor tortured them severely and ordered St. Isidore to be cast into a pit with fire therein. St. Isidore asked the soldier to wait and he prayed asking our Lord Christ to accept his soul and to care for his body. He gave himself to the soldiers and they threw him into the pit but his body was not harmed in any way by the fire. The mother of St. Sina was weeping for her son because of his separation from his friend. After a short while St. Isidore delivered up his soul and at that time the mother of St. Sina saw a multitude of angels carrying away St. Isidore's soul.
May his intercession be with us and glory be to God fore ever. Amen.
", "tags": "isidore friend sina soldier" } ], [ { "id": 199, "action": "On this day St. Aristobulus, one of the seventy apostles that was chosen and sent to preach by the Lord before His passion, was martyred. He received along with the disciples the gifts of the Spirit the comforter, accompanied, ministered to them and preached with them the Life-giving Gospel. He turned many to the path of salvation, believed in the Lord Christ, baptized them and taught them the Divine commandments.
The disciples ordained him bishop for the city of Abratabias, and he went there, preached it's people, performed many miracles, taught and baptized them. Many tribulations and humiliation befell him from the Jews and the Greeks, who threw him out many times, and cast him with stones. Having finished his strife, he departed in peace. St. Paul had mentioned him in his Epistle to the Romans (Ch.16:10).
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the seven holy martyrs: Alexander the Egyptian, Agabius and Alexander from the city of Gaza, Timol (Timolaos) from Pontus, Dionysius from the city of Tripoli, and Romulus, and Blesius (Valesius) from the villages of Egypt. These men were joined together with the Christian love, and they came to the Governor of Caesarea, Palestine, and confessed before him the Lord Christ. They all were martyred and received the crown of martyrdom during the days of Diocletian.
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "alexander agabius alexander timol timolaos dionysius romulus blesius valesius" } ], [ { "id": 200, "action": "On this day of the year 623 A.M. (March 16th., 907 A.D.) the holy father Anba Khail (Mikhail), the fifty six Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was enthroned Patriarch on the 30th. of Baramouda 5296 A.M. (April 25th., year 880 A.D.). This father had nobel qualities, nevertheless a great sorrow came upon him.
Pope Cosma II built a church on the name of St. Ebtelmaos in the city of Danousher which was under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Sakha. The people of Danousher desired to invite the father the Patriarch Anba Mikhail and some of the neighboring bishops to consecrate this church but the Bishop of Sakha was not pleased with this idea. When they did against his wish and the father the Patriarch along with the bishops came, this bishop refused to stay and he left the church pretending that he was going to check on their meal. When the Bishop did not come back, and the time to start the service had passed, the bishops and the elders asked the father the Patriarch to begin the service. Having urged the Patriarch and pointed out that he was the father of them all and having authority over them, with difficulty he rose up and prayed the prayer of thanks giving and the offering of the Lamb. When the Bishop heard of this, and for his wickedness and his love for the glory of the world, he became enraged with the excuse that the Patriarch had violated the cannons of the church and celebrated the divine Liturgy in a parish without the permission of its bishop. He returned to the church in hast and Satan entered his heart, he transgressed against the holy and pure altar and the offering that was on it, then left the church full of wrath. The father the Patriarch completed the Divine Liturgy with calmness and maturity.
On the following day the Patriarch held a council from the bishops who were with him, the priests, and the scholars and they excommunicated this bishop and appointed another in his stead. That Bishop became furious, Satan entered his heart and he went to the Governor of Egypt Ahmad Ebn-Tolon and told him: \"The Patriarch is very wealthy, and his churches are filled with vessels, in gold and silver.\"
This Governor was preparing to go to war and needed funds to finance these preparations. He called the Patriarch and demanded the church funds and its vessels, but the Patriarch refused. He shut him up in prison with a deacon whose name was Ebn El-Monzer for a year during which the Pope ate only bread, salt, and boiled beans. John and Moses, two scribes of the Governor, agreed with the scribes of the Governor's minister John and his son Macarius to free the father the Patriarch and they asked for the minister's help who agreed to their request. He interceded on their behalf before the Governor Ebn-Tolon who agreed on a condition that the Patriarch pay him 20 thousand Dinar. The Patriarch wrote a promissory note to pay the amount on two installments: the first after one month and the second after four month and this way he was able to leave the prison. When the time came to pay the first instalment those scribes paid two thousand dinar, the minister contributed one thousand and Anba Michail paid seven thousands, he collected from the bishops and the believers.
The pope was compelled to travel to collect the sum required for the second instalment. When he was at the city of Belbays, a monk with ragged cloth passed by the Pope's disciples and told them: \"Go and tell your teacher that the lord will relieve him from his fine after forty days.\" When the father heard that he sent for that monk but they could not find him. Before that period had passed Ebn-Tolon died and his son Khamarawaih, who forgave the Patriarch of his debt, took his place year 875 A.M. He called the Patriarch, comforted him and then tore up the promissory note as the monk had prophesied.
The wicked Bishop that caused all these troubles for the holy father Anba Mikhail, the wrath of God came upon him in his life and his death to be an example for others. This father spent twenty seven years on the chair of St. Mark, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also the Lord raised the righteous lazarus from the dead and many people believed because of this great miracle. Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "raising lazarus from dead" } ], [ { "id": 201, "action": "On this day we celebrate the commemoration of the pure, and chaste, Virgin Mary the Theotokos, mother of the merciful, and the compassionate One.
May her intercession be with us. Amen
On this day also we commemorate the visit of Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ with his disciples to Bethany, which is near by Jerusalem. Lazarus, who had been dead, and Jesus raised him, sat at the table with Him, and Martha his sister served those who were present. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair, and the Lord praised her. He pointed out to His death by saying: \"She has kept this for the day of My burial.\" (John 12:1-8)
On this day also was the consultation of the chief Priests to put the righteous Lazarus to death, whome the Lord raised from the dead. For many, because of the greatness of this sign, had believed in Our lord Jesus christ.
To Him is the Glory forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consultation chief priests put lazarus death whom lord raised from dead" } ], [ { "id": 202, "action": "On this day of the year 386 A.D. the holy father Anba Kyrellos (Cyril), Bishop of Jerusalem, departed. This father was chosen in the year 348 A.D. as a successor for Anba Maximus, Bishop of Jerusalem, for his knowledge and righteousness. He did not stay long on his Chair, until a contention arose between him and Acacius Bishop of Caesarea about who had the right to be in primacy over the other. Kyrellos argument in that he was the successor of St. James, one of the Twelve Disciples.
Anba Kyrellos had sold some of the church vessels and distributed the money on the needy because of a famine that befell the land of Palestine. Acacius took this chance and made an effort to obtain an order to exile him from the country. Anba Kyrellos was exiled without any one listening to his case. In the year 359 A.D., he appealed his case before the council of Seleucia. The council called Acacius to hear from him his argument, but he did not attend, so they judged by removing him from his office, and the return of Kyrellos to his Chair (Parish). He did not stay long for Acacius went and enticed emperor Constans to assemble a council at Constantinople and the Arian bishops agreed with him. This council convened in the year 360 A.D. and ordered to exile this saint once more.
When Constans died, and was succeeded by Julian who ordered the return of all the exiled bishops to their chairs. This saint returned to his chair in the year 362 A.D. and shepherded his people faithfully and honestly, but he resisted the Arians. They went to emperor Valens the Arian who invalidated the order of his predecessor Julian stating the return of the exiled bishops to their chairs. This way St. Kyrellos was exiled for the third time, where he remained until the death of Valens in the year 379 A.D. When Theodosius the great reigned and assembled the one hundred fifty in a council against Macedonius (The second universal council), this father attended, and opposed Macedonius, Sabilius and other heretics. This Saint composed many Homilies and Exhortations, exceedingly profitable, in the Doctrines of faith and old traditions then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also the honored father, and the unblemished bishop Anba Michael bishop of the Chair of Naqadah, departed.
With his prayers may the Lord have mercy on us, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "michael bishop naqadah" } ], [ { "id": 203, "action": "The Departure of the Great Prophet Daniel
On this day of the last year of king Cyrus King of Babylon, the great righteous prophet Daniel Departed. This prophet was from the tribe of Judah, and from the posterity of king David. He was taken captive along with the Israelites by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon when he captured Jerusalem in the year 3398 of the world. He stayed in babylon for seventy years. This prophet was very young in age, however, he conducted himself in virtuous life, the Holy Spirit filled him and he prophesied in Babylon.
In the fourth year of the exile, Nebuchadnezzar the king saw a dreadful dream and was extremely frightened. When he woke up, he forgot the detail of his dream. He gathered all the wise men of Babylon to tell the king his dream and its meaning. If they failed to tell the king the dream and its interpretation they would all be killed, among those also were Daniel and the three young men. Daniel and the young men prayed to God with supplications to reveal to them the King's dream. God answered their prayers and revealed to Daniel the dream and its interpretation. Daniel went to the king and told him his dream and its interpretation. He also told him about the kings that they are about to rule after him, and what would happen to every one of them. Nebuchadnezzar was pleased with Daniel, and fell on his face before him. The king presented Daniel with great gifts and appointed him over the wise men of Babylon.
After some time had passed, Nebuchadnezzar saw another dream, and Daniel interpreted the dream for him. Daniel told the king that because of his arrogance, God would drive him from among men, to dwell among the beasts of the wild and would eat grass like oxen for seven years, and then God would bring him back to his kingdom, and all that happened to Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel also explained to Belshazzar, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, what the angel of the Lord had written on the wall, when king Belshazzar drank wine in the gold and silver vessels of the temple of the Lord. Daniel told the king: \" O king, the Most High gave Nebuchadnezzar your father, a kingdom and majesty, glory and honor... But when his heart was lifted up in pride, he was deposed from his kingdom and thrown from his throne into among the animals. And you, Belshazzar, although you knew all what happened to your father, yet you also lifted your heart against the Lord of heaven. They brought the vessels of the house of the Lord before you, and you , your lords, wives and concubines (mistresses) drank wine from these vessels... Then the fingers of a Hand were send from the Lord, and His writing was written: \"Mene, Mene, Tekel,
and Upharsin which meant:
Mene means: God has numbered your days as a king and terminated you rule.
Tekel means: You have been weighed in the balances of the Lord and was found wanting.
Upharsin means: your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians after you.
All of them came to pass and the king was killed with all his lords and the kingdom of the Chaldeans ended. Darius, king of Persia, ruled after him.
There was an idol in Babylon named \"Bael\" which king Darius worshiped. When Daniel was asked why he did not worship it, Daniel answered: \"I do not worship something that has no life in it.\" The king said to him: \"He is alive for he eats and drinks every day.\" Daniel told him that could not be true. The king was angry and wanted to check the matter for himself. He put the food and the drinks in the temple of the idol and closed the door and sealed it. On the next day, he went to the temple, opened the door and did not find the food nor the drinks. But Daniel with the help of some of his companions, covered the floor of the temple with fine ashes, found the feet tracks of those who entered the temple by night and stole the food and drinks.
The king arrested the seventy priests of the idol Bael, together with their wives and children and tortured them until they told him about the secret entrance to the temple. The king then ordered them all to be killed and allowed Daniel to destroy the idol and its altar. The people rebelled against the king and asked him to deliver Daniel to their hands. The king surrendered to their demands and Daniel was cast into the den of lions. However God kept Daniel safe and destroyed his enemies.
Daniel saw in a vision the kingdoms and the kings to come after him to rule the world to the end of time. He also saw the glory of God and the Divinity of Christ the Savior. He prophesied about His coming and His death, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the abolition of the sacrifice and the offerings, and all has been fulfilled.
This great prophet remained in Babylon for seventy years, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us, and glory be to God for ever. Amen.
", "tags": "great prophet daniel" } ], [ { "id": 204, "action": "On the eve of this day of the year 1684 A.M. which coincide with tuesday the 2nd. of April 1968 A.D., during the papacy of Pope Kyrellos VI, the hundred sixteenth Pope of Alexandria, our Lady and the pride of our faith started to transfigure in luminous spiritual forms in and around the domes of the church dedicated to her immaculate name in Zeiton, a suburb of Cairo.
This transfiguration continued in following nights in a manner that was never known in the East or the West. This transfiguration in some nights was as long as many hours, without stop, in front of tens of thousands of people from every race and religion, with every one seeing her, pointing at her and interceding to her with songs, hymns, tears, prayers and hails and She was looking to them in a compassionate way raising her hand at times to bless them in all directions.
The first one to notice this transfiguration was the workmen at the garage of the Public Transit System which was across the street from the church. The watchman Abdel-Aziz Aly, who was in charge of guarding the garage at that night, saw a luminous body over the dome of the church. He started shouting: \"light over the dome\" and he called the other workers in the garage. They all came and saw the bright light over the large dome of the church. When they looked closely, they saw a young lady in white, kneeling by the cross at the top of the dome. Because the dome had a round, smooth, and very sloping surface, it held the men as though they were nailed in their places watching the fate of the lady. Few seconds passed then they saw the kneeling lady as she stood over the dome. They gave out a cry of fear that she might fall down. They thought she was a girl in despair trying to commit suicide and they cried warning that person not to jump down and some of them called the police. The pedestrians, men and women started to gather around. The view of the lady was getting more clear and she appeared as a beautiful girl in a bright gown of light and had branches of olive tree in her hand, and around her flew white doves. Then they realized that they were seeing a heavenly spiritual view. They directed flood light to the luminous picture to remove all doubt from their minds, but instead it became more clear and bright. They cut the electricity off all the area but the lady remained in her heavenly illumination and her bright gown of light became more clear. She started moving around in a circle of light radiating from her body to all the directions around her. All the people then realized that this lady in front of them, without no doubt is the Virgin Mary. They started to shout and cry saying: \"She is the Virgin ... She is the Mother of Light ... \" They prayed with songs, hymns and hails all the night until the next morning.
Since that night the pure Virgin had transfigured in different spiritual views in front of thousands and ten of thousands of masses, Egyptian and foreigners, Christians and non-christians, men, women and children. Spiritual beings formed like doves would appear before, during and after the transfiguration zooming through the sky in a way raising the human from a materialistic to a heavenly atmosphere.
This transfiguration was in different forms. One of the most significant ways this apparition took place was that; the head of St. Mary under the vail looking down as in the picture of the sad Virgin and she was looking toward the Cross and that view would stay like this at times or slowly bow before the Cross at other times. The Cross itself will shine and illuminate although it was made of concrete. And some times an angel would appear standing behind her spreading his wings. That view might stay as long as many hours.
Another view was the view of the Mother of Light standing as a great Queen in a beautiful spiritual portrait radiating dignity, elegance and beauty. On her head was a crown of a queen as if it were made of diamonds and some times there appeared on the top of the crown a small luminous cross. And some times she appeared in the same way but carrying Christ, to Him is the Glory, in the form of a child on her hand and on His head a crown. And on other times she raised her both hands as She was blessing the world moving to the right, to the front, and to the left in a dignified way.
Many spiritual signs appeared before, during, and after the apparition of the Virgin the mother of the Lord's transfiguration. The appearance of tongues of yellowish flame would flash over the church and then subside and that repeated several times. Another form of the signs were the piritual beings formed like doves, larger than the doves that we know, appear about midnight or after, flying in the middle of darkness illuminating in a fast speed, appeared suddenly from no where, and also disappeared suddenly. These spiritual beings appeared in different formations and in varying numbers. A fact we should be aware of that pigeons do not fly during the night. Another sign was the shooting stars which were constantly falling and were seen very close to the apparition on many occasions as if coming down to glorify her from heaven. Another sign was the fragrance of incense. The smoke of the incense poured out of the domes in large quantities. Substance resembling clouds, thick fog or smoke would roll in toward the church and completely cover the church.
Also the illuminated cloud that appeared over the domes of the church in large volume and often proceeded the transfiguration of the Virgin or at times the cloud slowly formed in the shape of the virgin. Sometimes the apparition of the Virgin would appear from the clouds.
This transfiguration and all the spiritual signs were a forerunner and announcement for serious or important events to come in the near and far future. Or it might be a spiritual gesture from heaven to indicate the Lord's caring for His church and His people and our country.
May the mercy of God be upon us all. May the Lord keep His people and church in peace, with the intercession of Our Lady and the pride of our race the pure Virgin St. Mary. Amen.
On this day also of the year 668 A.M. (May 20th. 952 A.D.) St. Macarius the fifty ninth Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was born in the city of Shoubra. He rejected the world since his youth and he desired the monastic life. He went to the monastery of St. Macarius at the wilderness of Sheahat (Scetis). He lived in virtues and good conduct made him worthy to be chosen a Patriarch, and a successor for Pope Cosma. He was enthroned on the first of Baramouda 648 A.M. (March 27th. 932 A.D.).
When he went forth from Alexandria going to visit the monasteries in the desert of Scetis according to the custom of his predecessors, he passed by his home town to visit his mother who was a righteous woman. When his mother heard that he had arrived she did not go out to meet him. When he had come to the house, he found her sitting down weaving and she did not greet him or paid attention to him. He thought that she did not know him. He told her: \"Don't you know that I am your son Macarius who was elevated to a great position and became a head for a great nation?\" She answered him with tears in her eyes: \"I did not ignore you and I know what became of you, but I would have rather seen you dead than seen you as a Patriarch. Before, you were responsible only for your own soul but now your are responsible about the souls of all your flock: Now remember you are in danger and it is difficult to escape it.\" She said that and went on weaving as she did before.
The father the Patriarch left her sad, and attended to his office with delegant and care. He instructed his people with preaching and sermons. He did not touch any of the church revenue, and did not lay his hand on any one without people consent. He commanded the bishops and the priests to watch their flock and to protect them with homilies and admonitions. He sat on the throne of St. Mark twenty years in peace and tranquility, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "macarius fifty-ninth pope" } ], [ { "id": 205, "action": "On this day the great St. Friska or Onesiphorus, one of the seventy apostles departed. This apostle was an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin. His parents kept the Law of Moses and were of those who followed the Savior, listened to His teachings, and witnessed His wonders and miracles.
When Our Lord raised the son of the widow of the city of Nain, this saint was present. He went without delay to the Lord Christ at once forsaking the light of the lamp of the Jewish Law, to be enlightened by the Sun of righteousness. He believed on Him heartily, was baptized, became one of the seventy apostles, and was present with the disciples in the upper room of Zion at the time of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
He preached the Gospel in many countries. He was ordained bishop for Khoranias, where he preached it's people and enlightened them with his teachings and sermons then baptized them. And having finished his holy strife he departed in peace. He received the crown of heavenly glory and he was seventy years old, twenty nine years of it as Jewish and forty one years as Christian. St. Paul mentioned him in his Second Epistle to Timothy (2 Tim. 4:19).
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 1362 A.M. (March 31st. 1646 A.D.) on Lazarus' Saturday Pope Mattheos III, the one hundredth Patriarch departed. He was known by the name Matthew El-Toukhy, a son of Christian parents from the city of Toukh El-Nasarah, El-Monofiah province. They feared God, caring for the strangers and charitable to the poor and the needy. God granted them a son, they called him Tadros, and they raised him well. They disciplined him with every spiritual discipline, and taught him the holy church books. The grace of God filled this blessed son, so he devoted himself to study and teach Christian education. The grace of God moved himto the angelic and ascetic life, so he went forth from his town, left his family and kinfolks and followed the commandments of the Lord Christ and went to the wilderness of Sheahat. He became a monk in the monastery of the great St. Macarius, and he fought a great fight in asceticism and worship. They ordained him a priest so he increased in asceticism and grew in virtues then they promoted him archpriest and head for the monastery.
Shortly after, Pope Yoannis XV, the ninety-ninth Patriarch departed, the fathers the bishops, the priests and the notables gathered to choose who would fit to be elevated to the Chair of St. Mark. They continued on praying asking the Lord Christ, to Him is the glory, to chose for them a good shepherd to guard His flock from the ravenous wolves. With the Will of the Lord Christ, the Shepherd of the shepherds, everyone agreed on choosing father Tadros the hegumen of St. Macarius monastery. They went to the monastery and forcibly seized him and enthroned him a Patriarch by the name Mattheos on the 4th. of El-Nasi (The intercalary days) year 1347 A.M. (September 7th. 1631 A.D.) and Anba Yoanis, the metropolitan of the Syrian monastery, headed the enthronement service.
When this Pope sat on the Apostolic Chair, he cared for Christ's flock with the best of care, and at the beginning of his days, there was peace and tranquility for the believers. The churches rested from the tribulations that they were under. Satan the enemy of the good envied him, he moved some evil doers against the Pope, so they went to the Governor in Cairo and told him that whomever sat on the Patriarchal Chair paid much money to the Governor. The Governor listened to their accusations and called the Patriarch to collect the dues. The notables went to meet the Governor who did not ask about the absence of the Patriarch but rather discussed the dues that the Patriarch pay. He forced them to bring four thousands Dinars. They left him with sadness and grief because of the heavy fine.
But God, to Him is the glory, who does not wish anyone to parish had put mercy in the heart of a Jewish man who paid the required fine to the Governor. The notables promised that man to pay him back, they divided the fine among them and allocated a small portion of this heavy fine for the Pope to pay. He went to Upper Egypt to collect the sum of money required from him, and because of his faith and his strong belief in God's help, the people with compassionate heart and willingly gave him what he asked them. Shortly after, he came to Lower Egypt to visit his flock, he went to the city of Berma, and the people of the city of Toukh his home town came to him and invited him to come to visit the city so they be blessed by him, and he fulfilled their request. During the days of this Patriarch a great famine befell all the land of Egypt, nothing like it happened before, the people suffered much and many died.
King of Ethiopia sent to the Patriarch asking for a Metropolitan. Pope Mattheos ordained for them a Metropolitan from the people of the city of Assiut and sent him to them. Much tribulations and sorrows befell this Metropolitan while he was there, until they removed him and ordained another one instead of him.
After the Pope had finished his pastoral visit to the people of Lower Egypt and his acceptance to the invitation of the people of Toukh to visit their city, he left Berma with them on their way to Toukh El-Nasarah. When he drew near from the city, the priests and the Christian mass received him with reverence, veneration, and spiritual hymns to befit his honor. He entered the church with honor and glory and stayed with them one year preaching and teaching the people.
On the blessed Saturday, the commemoration of the day in which the Lord raised Lazarus from the dead, he met the priests and the people after the liturgy, ate with them, and he bade them farewell saying, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that his tomb will be in the church of this city and that he will not depart Toukh. He dismissed the people and went to rest in the house of one of the deacons. When the deacon returned home, he knocked on the door of the Pope's room, when he did not get any answer he entered the room and found the Patriarch laying on his bed, looking toward the east, his hand over his chest as the Holy Cross and his spirit had departed in the Hands of the Lord. The priests and the people came in haste and found him departed and his look did not change, but his face was shining as the sun. They took his blessed body to the church, and prayed over him as worthy of the fathers the Patriarchs, and buried him in the church in the city of Toukh his home town. He stayed on the Apostolic Chair for fourteen years, six month and 23 days did not eat meat or drink wine in it, and departed in a good old age.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pope mattheos one hundredth pope" } ], [ { "id": 206, "action": "On this day the blessed St. Euphrasia (Eupraxia) the virgin departed. She was the daughter of a noble family in the city of Rome, who was related to Emperor Honorius. Before her father's departure, he asked the Emperor to care for her.
Her mother went to Egypt to collect the revenues and rent of her estates and orchards, which her husband had left her. She took her daughter, who was nine years of age, with her, and they lodged in one of the houses of virgins. The nuns of that convent were on high degree of asceticism, piety and devoutness, they never ate food with meat, oil, fruits, at no time drank wine and slept on the floor.
Eupraxia loved the life in that convent, and she was pleased with the nun that served her. That nun told her: \"Promise me that you will not leave this convent\"; and she promised her that. When her mother finished her work that she came to achieve, her daughter refused to return with her and she said to her mother: \"I have vowed myself to Christ, and I have no need for this world, for my true Bridegroom is the Lord Christ.\" When her mother knew that, she gave all her money and goods to the poor and needy, and she lived with her daughter in the convent for many years, then departed in peace.
When Emperor Honorius heard that, he sent asking for her. She answered back saying that she had vowed her self to the Lord Christ, and she can not break her covenant. The Emperor marvelled at her wisdom and righteousness and allowed her to stay.
Eupraxia contended strenuously in the ascetic life, she fasted two days at a time, then three, then four, and afterwards she fasted for a week at a time, and during the Holy Lent she did not eat anything which was cooked. Satan was jealous of her, and he smote her with an illness in her feet, gave her pain for a long time, until God had compassion on her and healed her. God granted her the gift of healing the sick, and she was beloved by all the sisters and the abbess for her humility and obedience to them.
One night the abbess saw in a vision crowns which had been prepared, and she asked: \"Who are these for?\", and she was told: \"These crowns for your daughter Eupraxia, she will be coming to us after a short while.\" The abbess told the nuns of the vision which she had seen, and commanded them not to tell Eupraxia about it. When her time came to depart of this world, she fell sick of a slight fever. The abbess and the nuns gathered around St. Eupraxia and asked her to remember them before the Divine Throne, then she departed in peace.
Then right after her departure the nun her friend departed, and shortly after, the abbess fell sick, so she gathered the nuns and told them: \"Choose whom will be abbess over you, for I am going to the Lord.\" When they came on the following morning to visit her, they found that she had departed.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also the church commemorates the departure of Pope Peter VI (Petros), the one hundred and fourth Patriarch in the year 1442 A.M. (April 2nd., 1726 A.D.). This blessed father and spiritual angel was the son of pure and Christian parents from the city of Assiut. They raised him well, educated him with ecclesiastic subjects and manners and he excelled in them. His name was Mourgan, but later on he became known by the name Peter El-Assuity. The grace of God was on him since his young age, and when he came to the age of maturity, he forsook the world and what in it, and longed to the monastic life. He went to the monastery of the great St.Antonios in the mount of El-Arabah, he dwelt there, became a monk and put on the monastic garb. He exerted himself in worship, and when he achieved the ascetic life, purity, righteousness, and humility, the fathers the monks chose him to be a priest. They took him against his will to Cairo, and he was ordained a priest, for the monastery of the great Saint Anba Paula the first hermit, among others, by the hand of Pope Yoannis El-Toukhy (103), in the church of the Lady the Virgin in Haret El-Roum. He increased in virtues and he became well known among the people.
When Pope Yoannis, the above mentioned, departed, the Chair became vacant after him for two month and six days. They went on looking for whom was fit for this honorable rank so they chose some priests and monks. They wrote their names on pieces of papers, placed them over the alter and celebrated the Divine Liturgy. On the third day after asking and supplicating God to raise the one He chooses, the lot fell on this father, so they realized that he was the chosen one by God. He was ordained Patriarch for the See of St. Mark on sunday the 17th. of Mesra 1434 A.M. (August 21st., year 1718 A.D.) at the church of St. Marcurius in Old Cairo. It was a great joy for his enthronement, which was attended by the Christian mass, foreign dignitaries, Catholics, Greeks, Armenians, and the military.
Afterwards, Pope Peter went to visit the cities of Lower Egypt, visited the churches, and at the end he arrived to Alexandria to visit the church of St. Mark the evangelist in the 11th. of Baramouda year 1438 A.M. He kissed the pure holy head of St. Mark, and he did extensive renovation inside the church. When he was about to return he was informed that a group in Alexandria planning to steal the holy head so he hid it in the monastery since that time. Then he gave a lamb made of silver as a gift and lit it over the tomb of the Evangelist, and he encircled it by a partition with windows looking inside. He went to Lower and Upper Egypt and the people of Egypt rejoiced.
During the days of this father, a group of priests and deacons came, delegated by the Emperor of Ethiopia, with extravagant gifts and a letter from the Emperor, asking for a Metropolitan. He deliberated the subject with Mr. Lotf-Allah Abu-Yousif a prominent notable of Cairo and others, and they all agreed on the honorable father Khristozolo bishop of Jerusalem. He was a blessed father, and knowledgeable teacher, so Pope Peter ordained him Metropolitan, and called him Khristozolo III. They went with him to Ethiopia happy and joyful, and he cared for that parish from 1720 - 1742 A.D. Pope Peter ordained Anba Athanasius bishop for Jerusalem.
During the papacy of this Pope many churches were built and consecrated with his blessed hand. Among those churches, the church of St. Mary on the Nile in the district of El-Maady, the church of Michael the archangel in Babylon, and the church of St. Mina the wonder worker in Fum El-Khalig - Cairo. The last two churches were built by the noble and charitable Mr. Lotf-Allah Abu-Yousif by his private funds, also he built the church of the Apostles in the monastery of St. Antonios, and also assumed and paid the cost of the enthronement festivals of the Patriarch. The days of this Pope were peaceful and tranquil, and he worked on implementing the church cannons especially he stopped the divorce, for whatever the reason. For that purpose he went to the Governor Ebn-Eiwaz and discussed the subject with the Muslim scholars, so they gave him a formal legal opinion and a decree that the No Divorce only apply to the Christians, and no one can object him for that in courts. He ordered the priests not to wed except in his presence. That was because a man, who was the son of a priest, protested against him. The man had divorced his wife and married another without the Patriarch's knowledge in the church. He ordered them to come before him so he might dissolve the illegal marriage, but the man refused and did not come. The Pope excommunicated the man, his wife and his father the priest for he had married them. This man died after sever illness in his mouth, and his father the priest went to the Pope, asked for his forgiveness, the Pope absolved him and shortly after he died.
This pope shepherded the flock of Christ with the best of care, and when he completed his strife, he fell sick for a short sickness and departed on the 26th. of Baramhat, year 1442 A.M. in the Holy Lent. His body was placed in the tomb of the Patriarchs in the church of St. Marcurius in Old Cairo. He remained on the Chair for 7 years, 7 month and 11 days. He was charitable, generous and merciful to his people as his predecessor. Pope Peter (Petros) El-Assuity was approximately forty six years old, and he was a contemporary of Sultan Ahmed III the Ottoman. The Chair remained vacant for 9 month and 11 days after him.
The year this pope departed, there was an outbreak of Plaque in the land along with severe drought, many bishops and priests departed and death befell the people from Alexandria toAswan.
May the lord have mercy on his people and benefit us with the prayers and blessings of Pope Petros El-Asuity, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pope peter vi one hundred fourth pope" } ], [ { "id": 207, "action": "On this day is the commemoration of the Crucifixion of Our Lord Jesus Christ Incarnate, to Him is the Glory, for the salvation of the world. The Holy Bible mentioned that: \"From the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.\" (Matthew 27:45) The sun had hidden its light when it saw its creator incarnated, hanging with His own free will on the wood of the Cross, inclined His head, and yielded up His spirit.
The Holy Church teaches us that: \" His Divinity parted not from His Humanity for a single moment, nor a twinkle of an eye, and He descended to the hades from the cross to save those in bondage therein.\" St. Peter also said: \"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison.\" (1 Peter 3:18-19) In the heavens He was in His might, and on earth He was a savior. Praise the Lord, the omnipotent God, Who is in every place, He saved us by giving Himself up, and opened to us the door of His kingdom.
To Him is the Glory, Power and Dominion forever. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 392 A.D. the blessed father, the lamp of the wilderness and the father of all the monks the great saint Anba Macarius, departed. This Saint was born in the village of Shabsheer - Menuf, from good and righteous parents. His father's name was Abraham and his mother's name was Sarah and they had no son. In a vision at night he saw the angel of the Lord and told him that God was about to give him a son, and his name will be known all over the earth, and he will have a multitude of spiritual sons.
Shortly after, this holy man had a son and called him Macarius which means \"Blessed.\" He was obedient to his parents, and the grace of God was upon him since his young age. When he grew up his father forced him to get married against his will, so he pretended that he was sick for several days. Then he asked his father if he might go to the wilderness to relax and that may make him recover from his illness speedily. He went to the wilderness and prayed to the Lord Christ to direct him to do what is pleasing to Him. While he was in the wilderness he saw a vision, and it seemed that one of the Cherubim, with wings, took his hands, and ascended up to the top of the mountain, and showed him all the desert, east and west, and north and south. The Cherub told him: \"God has given this desert to you and your sons for an inheritance.\" When he returned from the wilderness he found that his wife, who was still virgin, had died, and Macarius thanked the Lord Christ. Shortly after, his parents departed, and he gave all what they had left to the poor and the needy. When the people of Shabsheer saw his chastity and purity, they took him to the bishop of Ashmoun who ordained him a priest for them. They built a place for him outside the city, and they went to him to confess and to partake from the Holy Mysteries. They appointed a servant to take care of his needs and to sell for him the work of his hands.
When Satan saw St. Macarius growth in virtues, he brought on him a severe temptation. He inspired a girl that had defiled herself with a man to claim that St. Macarius is the one who had defiled her. When her family heard that, they went to him, insulted and beat him severely, inflicting much pain on him, which he endured silently. Macarius reproached himself saying \"O Macarius now you have a wife and a child, and it is meet for you to work day and night for your own food and for that of your child and your wife.\" He worked continually at weaving mats and baskets, and he gave them to the man who ministered unto him; and he sold them and gave the money to the woman. When the day of her delivery drew near her labor was exceedingly difficult, she continued to suffer for four days and did not deliver until she confessed her false accusation against the Saint and named the man that defiled her.
When the family of the girl heard that, they decided to go to ask for his forgiveness for what happened from them. When St. Macarius heard that, he fled away from them running from the vain glory of this world.
At that time he was 30 years old, and the angel of the Lord appeared to him and walked with him for two days until they came to Wadi El-Natroun and the Saint asked the angel: \"Appoint for me O master a place to live in.\" The angel replied: \"I have not marked out a place for you to live, lest you leave it in the future and transgress the commandment of God. Behold all the wilderness is yours, so wheresoever you wish, live there.\" St. Macarius dwelt in the Inner Desert, in the place of the monastery of Sts. Maximus and Domadius which is known now by the monastery of El-Baramous. He went to visit St. Antonios, who said about St. Macarius when he saw him: \"This is an Israelite in whom there is no guile.\" St. Antonios put on him the Holy Eskeem, then St. Macarius returned to his place. When the number of monks increased around him he built a church for them. His fame was known all over the country and many kings and Emperors heard about the miracles that God performed on his hands. He healed the daughter of the king of Antioch that was possessed by an unclean spirit. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and took him to a place and told him to make this place his abode, for many people will come to him in that place. He built a cell for himself and a church.
He thought one day that the world had no more righteous people, so a voice came to him from heaven saying: \"In the city of Alexandria there are two women who feared God.\" He took his staff, his provisions, and went to Alexandria and he asked around until he reached their house. When he entered, they welcomed him, washed his feet with warm water, and when he asked them about their life, one of them told him: \"There is no kinship between us and when we married these two brothers we asked them to leave us to be nuns but they refused. So we committed ourself to spent our life fasting till evening with often prayers. When each of us had a son, whenever one of them cry, any one of us would carry and nurse him even if he was not her own son. We are in one living arrangement, the unity in opinion is our model, and our husbands work is shepherding sheep, we are poor and only have our daily bread and what is left over we give it to the poor and the needy.\" When the Saint heard these words he cried saying: \"Indeed God looks to the readiness of the heart and grant the grace of His Holy Spirit for all those who wish to worship him.\" He bade them farewell and left returning to the wilderness.
There was an erring monk who strayed many by his saying that there was no resurrection of the dead. The bishop of the city of Osseem went to St. Macarius and told him about that monk. Abba Macarius went to that monk and stayed with him until the monk believed and returned from his error.
On the day of his departure, he saw Sts. Antonios and Pachomius, and a company of the saints, and he delivered up his soul. He was ninety-seven years old. St. Macarius had commanded his disciples to hid his body, but some of the natives of the city of Shabsheer came and stole his body, built a church for him and placed the body in it for around one hundred and sixty years until the Arab conquest and the rebuilding of his monastery, they returned the body to it.
In a manuscript in Shebeen El-Koum, was mentioned that St. Babnuda, his disciple, saw the soul of St. Macarius ascending to heaven, and he heard the devils crying out and calling after him, \"You have conquered us O Macarius.\" The Saint replied \"I have not conquered you yet.\" When they came to the gates of heaven they cried again saying \"You have conquered us\", and he replied as the first time. When he entered the gate of heaven they cried \"You have overcome us O Macarius.\" He replied \"Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ who has delivered me from your hands.\"
May his blessing be with us. Amen.
On this day also St. Domicos was martyred during the reign of the infidel Emperor Julian. Sapor (Shapur) Arsakis II king of Persia was in peace with the Roman Empire, and he paid tribute to the lover of God Emperor Constantine. A dispute took place between Emperor Julian and Sapor king of Persia, and the later prepared an army to fight the Romans. Julian offered the sacrifices to his idols in the city of Casius which was about six miles from Antioch where was the idol Apollon. The enemy of God went along with the magicians, sorcerers, and the army to meet the Persians. On his way he passed by an isolated place, where he saw a multitude of men, women, and children.
When he asked about this multitudes they told him: \"A monk who live in a cave in this place, perform miracles and heal the sick, and the multitudes that you see are the Christians that came to get his blessing and be cured from their illnesses.\" Julian became raged and sent a soldier to St. Domicos who talked to him in a threatening way saying: \"If you are living in this cave to please God so why you are seeking the gratitude of men? and why don't you hide your self from them?\" The Saint replied saying: \"I have given my soul and body to the hands of God, the God of heaven and earth the Lord Jesus Christ, and spent many years in seclusion in this cave, as for those who come to me with a strong faith, I can not dismiss them.\" When the Emperor heard his answer, he ordered his soldiers to seal the mouth of the cave with a wall and the Saint was inside where he delivered his soul therein.
Thus this Saint ended his pure life and received the crown of martyrdom on the 27th. of Baramhat, year 78 A.M. (March 23rd., year 362 A.D.).
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "domicos" } ], [ { "id": 208, "action": "On this day of the year 53 A.M. (337 A.D.) the righteous Emperor Constantine the great departed. His father's name was Constantius I Chlorus which means (Green), and his mother's name was Helena. Constantius reigned over Byzantium, Maximianus reigned over Rome, and Diocletian reigned over Antioch and Egypt. Constantius was pagan, but he was honorable, loved to do good, compassionate and merciful. He went to the city of El-Ruha (Urfa - Gr. Edessa) and there he saw Helena, liked her and he married her. She was a Christian, and she conceived Constantine. Constantius left her in El-Ruha and returned to Byzantium. She brought forth Constantine and raised him up very piously, taught him every kind of learning, sowed in his heart mercy and compassion for the Christians, but she did not dare to have him baptized.
Constantine grew up, and he was a bold and skilful horseman. He went to his father who rejoiced in him when he saw that he was full of wisdom, knowledge, and he was a skilful horseman. After his father's death he received the kingdom and he reigned with justice and integrity, and stopped all unfair practices. All the people were subject to him and they loved him and his righteous judgement spread throughout the Empire. The nobles of Rome sent asking him to come and save them from the injustice of Maximianus. Constantine marched with his army toward Rome to save them. During the war he saw in the heaven, in the middle of the day, a Cross made of stars, and on it was written in Greek words which being interpreted as \"With this you shall conquer.\" The light of the Cross was more shinning than the sun, and he shewed it to his ministers and the nobles of his kingdom. They read what was written, marvelled and they did not know for what reason that cross had appeared. That night the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a vision and told him: \"Make a sign for yourself like that sign which you had seen, and with it you shall conquer your enemies.\" The next morning, he prepared a large flag with the sign of the cross on it, and made the sign of the cross on all the armaments. He engaged with Maximianus in a battle and fought. Constantine overcame Maximianus who withdrew with his army, and while crossing the bridge over the Tiber river, the bridge broke and he and most of his men perished. Constantine entered Rome and its people welcomed him with joy and gladness, and its learned men praised the Honorable Cross and called it the Savior of their city. Then they celebrated for the Cross seven days and Constantine became the Emperor of the East and the West.
When Constantine established himself in Rome, he and most of his soldiers were baptized by the Pope of Rome, in the eleventh year of his reign, which is the fourth year after the appearance of the Honorable Cross. He sent throughout the kingdom and commanded to set free all those who were imprisoned for the sake of faith, and that they should not work during the Passion week as the Apostles commanded.
Then he sent his mother Helena to Jerusalem where she discovered the Holy Cross of Our Lord Christ. In the seventeenth year of his reign the Holy Council of the Three Hundred and Eighteen bishops assembled at Nicea in the year 325 A.D. which arranged the affairs of the Christians and put down the cannons of the church. He rebuilt the city of Byzantium and called it after his name \"Constantinia\" and he brought to it many of the bodies of the apostles and holy martyrs. He departed in the city of Nicomedia, they laid him in a gold sarcophagus, carried him and brought him to Constantinia. The Patriarch, bishops, priests, and all the people received him with prayers, psalms, and spiritual hymns, and laid him in the sanctuary of the holy apostles. All the days of his life were seventy five years.
To Our God is the glory, might, and dominion and may His mercy and grace be upon us forever. Amen.
On this day also of the year 1568 A.M. (April 5th., year 1852 A.D. the holy father Pope Peter (Petros) VII, the 109th. Pope of Alexandria, departed. This father was born in the village of Gawli - Manfalout, and his name was Mankarius. He forsake the world since his young age, and the Divine grace led him to the monastery of the great St. Antonios where he became a monk. He immersed in worship, asceticism and purity as he occupied himself by reading the ecclesiastic books and learned the theological and liturgical subjects. He was ordained priest for the monastery, he surpassed his fellows in the practice of virtues and performing the religious duties, and was called Fr. Marcurius. Then he was promoted to archpriest (Hegumen) for his asceticism, zeal, and the purity of his heart.
When his news reached Pope Marcus (Mark) VIII, he called him. A group of the Ethiopians had come, delegated from the king of Ethiopia asking for a Metropolitan instead of Anba Yousab their predecessor one who had departed. The Pope searched for an honorable, learned and just man, and he found these virtues in the Archpriest Marcurius, so he chose him to be a Metropolitan for Ethiopia. During the ordination, instead he ordained him a bishop without a parish and called him Theophilus and ordained Anba Macarius II a Metropolitan for the kingdom of Ethiopia in the year 1808 A.D.
After ordaining Anba Theophilus a bishop at large the Pope kept him with him in the patriarchate to help him in managing the church business and the affairs of the Coptic people.
When Pope Marcus VIII departed on the 13th. day of Kiahk year 526 A.M. (December 21st., year 1809), the bishops were present in Cairo met with the notables of the people and unanimously agreed to chose Anba Theophilus to be his successor. They ordained him Patriarch in St. Mark church in El-Azbakiah three days after the departure of Pope Marcus, on sunday the 16th. of Kiahk, year 1526 A.M. (December 24th., year 1809), and they called him Peter VIII and he was known by Petros El-Gawly. He was a gentle, meek, wise, greatly intelligent, outstandingly smart father with a nobel policy in caring for the people. He devoted himself to studying, reading and learning the ecclesiastic subjects and the holy books. He wrote a valuable text to defend the church and its teachings, and he provided the patriarchal library with valuable and rare texts. His era was a peaceful time in the land, so the church had a complete serenity and total freedom in worship, and the churches were renovated in Upper and Lower Egypt.
During his Papacy the Chair of El-Nuba and Sudan returned to the Chair of Alexandria after separation for five hundred years. The governor of Egypt Muhammad Ali Basha conquered Sudan and took over its land and consolidated it to the land of Egypt. Many of the people of Sudan returned to the Christian faith and many of the christian government employees and army men lived in Sudan. They built churches, then they asked Pope Petros to send them a bishop to shepherd the Christian people in these countries. He ordained for them a bishop who was nominated by the people of Sudan from among the monks called Damianus. This bishop departed during the days of Pope Petros so he ordained for them another.
This Pope, during his papacy, ordained twenty five bishops for the different parishes of Egypt and Nuba, and he ordained two Metropolitans For Ethiopia, the first was Anba Kyrellos IV in the year 1820, and the second in the year 1833 A.D.
God had performed many wonders through the hands of Pope Peter VII the most famous of them is the incident of the Nile Inundation. One year the flood of the Nile was not enough to water people, land and animals. The masses were worried about famine, inflation and high prices if the land could not be cultivated. They went to the Governor of Egypt asking to order the clergy to pray and supplicate God almighty that He might bless the water of the Nile and increase the flood water to be able to water the land to bring forth a plenteous crop and to avoid a famine that might befall the people. Pope Peter VII called the bishops and the clergy and went with them to the banks of the river where he celebrated the Divine Liturgy and after the service he washed the Holy Service utensils with water from the river, then he threw the water and the blessed Kourbana (Blessed Bread) in the river. The waves of the river roared, the water was disturbed and flooded, the deacons in haste removed all the elements used in the celebration, fearing of drowning. This incident glorified the Patriarch position before the Basha the Governor who made him close to him, and honor the men of his nation, and increased their authority and grace.
From these remarkable wonders also was the incident of the Holy Sepulcher light in Jerusalem. After prince Ibrahim Basha, Mohammed Ali Basha's son, had conquered Jerusalem and Syria year 1832 A.D., he invited Pope Peter VII to visit Jerusalem and attend to the service of the appearance of the light on Bright Saturday from the Sepulcher of the Lord Christ in Jerusalem as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchs did every year. The Pope accepted the invitation, and when he arrived, he was received with honor and reverence and he entered Jerusalem with a great procession and a splendid celebration, in which the governor, the rulers and the heads of the different Christian denominations participated. He realized with his wisdom that if he minister alone in the Holy sepulcher that would cause animosity between the Copts and the Greeks. The Pope asked the Basha to relieve him from this service, but he asked him to participate with the Greek Patriarch on the condition that he will be their third, for he doubted the authenticity of the light. On Bright Saturday the church of the holy sepulcher was crowded with the worshipers, the Basha ordered the people to evacuate the church to the spacious outer courtyard. When the time to start the service came the two Patriarchs and the Basha entered the Holy Sepulcher to pray the customary prayers. In the specific time, the light burst out of the Sepulcher in a way that terrified the Basha, who became in a daze and confusion, and the Pope attended to him until he recovered. The people outside in the courtyard were not deprived from the blessing of the light since one of the pillars of the western gate of the church split and the light appeared to them from the pillar. This incident increased the reverence and respect of the Pope before the Basha. His holiness the Pope made many repairs and renovations in the church of Resurrection.
During the days of this Pope, Mohammed Ali Basha wanted to join the Coptic church with the church of Rome because of the efforts of one of his catholic army generals, in return of the services of the French scientists and army leaders who offered the Governor to organize the Egyptian government. The Governor (Basha) called the master Ghali and his son Basilius and presented the subject to them, and they replied saying that this merge would cause revolt and unrest among the Coptic people so to avoid shedding of blood and to encourage the topic of unity, his family and himself would join the Catholic church, on a condition that they would not be forced to change their rituals or Eastern custom. The Basha accepted that solution and accordingly they declared their joining the Catholic faith, and only few followed them, nevertheless they all continued to worship in Coptic churches.
During his time, the monk Daoud (David) excelled among the monks of St. Antonios monastery, and was promoted to be the head of the monastery. The fruits of his effort became obvious, in organizing the monastery and improving the condition of the monks. Pope Peter chose him for his intelligence and good management and sent him to Ethiopia in an official church duty which he took care of it well, and his return to Egypt was after the departure of Pope Peter.
History will exalt the memory of Pope Peter (Petros), because the Russian Caesar sent his delegates to offer putting the Coptic Church under the protection of Caesar. The Pope refused the proposal graciously by asking: \"Does your Caesar live forever?\" When the envoy answered that he would die like all human beings, the Pope told him that he preferred the protector of the church would be her true shepherd, the King that does not die. The prince admired the Pope's faith and patriotism, and he left after taking the blessings from the Pope stating that he is truly the good successor for the Eternal King, Christ the Savior.
When this Pope finished his course and completed his strife, he departed in peace. They prayed over him in a great celebration on Paschal Monday, participated in it all the heads of the Christian denominations in St. Mark church in El-Azbakiah. He was buried beside his predecessor Pope Marcus, and Anba Sarapamon bishop of El-Menofia in the eastern side of the great cathedral in El-Azbakiah. He stayed on the Patriarchal Chair for 42 years, 3 month, and 12 days and the Chair remained vacant after him one year and 12 days.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of Anba Sarapamon, known as \"The Veiled\" Bishop of El-Monofia. This blessed and great Saint was contemporary of Pope Petros El-Gawly and one of his famous bishops. God had granted him the gift to heal the sick, and to cast out evil spirits. He was called Salib. When he was a young man, some evil women seized him and accused him of murdering a young man they had killed in the market. In the court, he lifted up his heart to God and with tears he asked the help of St. Mary and other saints. He looked to the slain person and asked him to confess before the judge who killed him. The slain person rose up and told the judge about the murderesses. The judge was astonished and set Salib free. Salib left the court and went immediately to St. Antonios monastery to become a monk, and later on, the Pope chose him a Bishop for El-Monofia.
When Mohammed Ali Basha asked the Pope's help concerning his daughter Zahra Hanem who was possessed by evil spirit, he sent Anba Sarapamon who healed her by praying over her. Mohammed Ali offered him money, but he refused saying that God's gifts are free. When the Governor insisted he asked for supplies and clothes for the monks in the monasteries, and to reinstate the Copts to their jobs in the government.
May his prayers be with us, and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "sarapamon known as veiled bishop el-monofia" } ], [ { "id": 209, "action": "On this day the church commemorates the Annunciation of our Lady, the Theotokos, the Virgin St. Mary. When the appointed time by God since eternity for the salvation of the human race had come, God sent Gabriel the Archangel to the Virgin St. Mary, who is from the tribe of Judah the house of king David, to announce her with the Divine conception and the Glorious Birth as the Holy Scriptures testifies: \" Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, \"Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!\" But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, \"Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. \"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. \"He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. \"And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.\" Then Mary said to the angel, \"How can this be, since I do not know a man?\" And the angel answered and said to her, \"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
Then the angel gave her the proof of the validity of his massage: \"Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. \"For with God nothing will be impossible.\" Then Mary said, \"Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.\" And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-36)
When she had accepted this Divine Annunciation, the Only Begotten Son, the Word of God, who is One of the Three eternal Persons, came and dwelt in her womb, a dwelling, the human race can not comprehend. And straightway He united with perfect humanity a complete unity inseparable and unchangeable after the unity.
This day then is the first-born of all feasts, for in it was the beginning of the salvation of the world which was fulfilled by the Holy Resurrection of our Lord, saving Adam and his offspring from the hands of Satan.
We ask Our God and Savior graciously to forgive our transgressions and excuse our sins. Amen.
On this day also the salvation was completed by the holy Resurrection, for Our Lord when he had finished His work upon earth, during a period of thirty three years, suffered of His own free will on the eve of the twenty-seventh day of this month, and He rose from the dead on this very day. As it was on this very day the incarnation of Christ was announced to the people of the world who were awaiting Him. On friday, the living and the dead rejoiced in their Salvation, and on sunday the living became certain of it, and they knew of their resurrection by the Resurrection of the body of Christ, Who was the first-fruits of the dead as the apostle Paul Said: \"But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.\" (1 Corinthians 15:20)
We ask Him according to His great mercy and His compassion that He may grant us the forgiveness of our sins. Amen.
", "tags": "resurrection lord christ from dead" } ], [ { "id": 210, "action": "On this day, the church commemorates of the Archangel Gabriel the announcer, for his honor is great with God, he was worthy to announce the birth of His only begotten Son to the virgin St. Mary. He also foretold Daniel the prophet about the return of the people of Israel from exile, about the first coming of Christ, to Whome is the glory, for the salvation of the world, and also about the end of the animal sacrifices. For what God had done for us through him it is meet for us to honor and venerate him.
May his intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, is the commemoration of the relocation of the relics of St. James (James the mangled). His biography and martyrdom are mentioned under the twenty seventh day of the month of Hatour.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, is the commemoration of Samson, one of the Judges of Israel. The name of the father of this righteous was Manoah from the tribe of Dan, and his mother was barren. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and announced her of his birth, and commanded her not to drink wine nor to eat unclean food all the days of her pregnancy. The angel also commanded her that no razor should come on his head, for the child was to be a Nazirite (dedicated) unto God from the womb, and that he would deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.
When she told her husband about what the angel had said to her, her husband asked God to allow the angel to appear to him. The angel appeared, and said to him: \"All that I commanded your wife let her observe.\" The woman conceived, and gave birth to Samson, and God blessed him and the Spirit of God filled him. At one time, he tore a lion apart as one would tear a young goat, and on another time, he killed thirty men and burned their fields. The Philistines rose against the tribe of Judah to fight and seize Samson, but Samson told the men of Judah: \"Swear to me that you will not deliver me to them or kill me yourselves.\" They said to him: \"No, but we will tie you securely and deliver you into their hands. We surely shall not kill you.\" They bound him with two new cords and brought him to the Philistines, who jumped upon him to kill him. The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the strong cords that were on his arms became as flax that were burnt with fire, and his bonds broke loose off his hands. He found a fresh jaw-bone of an ass, reached out and took it with his hand and killed a thousand men with it. Then he became very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord and said: \"You have given this great deliverance by the hands of you servant, and now shall I die from thirst... ?\" The all mighty God then split a hollow place and water came out. He drank and his spirit returned, and he survived. When he was in Gaza, the Philistines surrounded the place and laid wait for him all the night at the gate of the city to capture and kill him. Samson arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate, pulled them up, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill. The Philistines came to his wife, Delilah, and asked her to entice Samson to find out the secret of his strength. When Samson told her that the secret was in his hair, for he was a Nazirite (Dedicated unto God). She told his enemies, lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man to shave off the seven locks of hair off his head. She began to afflict him, as his strength went from him. The Philistines took him to their city, insulted him, and plucked out his eyes.
His hair grew again, and his strength came back to him. He went to the temple of their idol, and took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple. Samson leaned with all his strength on the two pillars and said: \"Let me die with the Philistines.\" The temple fell on three thousands of the Philistine people and their lords killing them all. So the dead that he killed on his death were more than he killed in his life. He judged for the people of Israel twenty years, then departed in peace.
To our God is the glory for ever. Amen.
", "tags": "samson one judges israel" } ], [ { "id": 211, "action": "On this day the holy father Abba Silvanus the monk departed. This blessed man became a monk in the monastery of St. Macarius, and he strove in every narrow path. He fasted for long periods with prayers and many vigils in humility and love and he became a great father. God had granted him to see Divine visions. He commanded his disciples never to cease working with their hands, and to give alms with what surpassed their needs.
One day a lazy monk saw him with his disciple absorbed in working with their hands, and he said to them: \"Do not labor for the food which perishes\" for it is written: \"Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.\" When the old man Abba Silvanus heard that, he told his disciple: \"Give the father a book, take him to the church to read, and shut the door on him without leaving with him any thing to eat;\" and the disciple did as he was commanded. When the ninth hour came the old man and his disciples ate and did not invite the monk. During that time the monk was gazing with his eyes toward the door waiting for someone to invite him to eat.
When he became very hungry, he left the church and asked the old man: \"Have the brethren eaten to day?\" and St. Silvanus replied \"Yes\". The monk asked: \"Why you did not call me to eat with them?\" He replied: \"You are a spiritual man has no need for food for the body. You have chosen the good part, but we are humans in need of food for the body, for this reason we need the work of our hands.\" The monk knew that he had transgressed with his words and he bowed before the holy man asking for his forgiveness. The holy man told the monk: \"O my son we need to work, for Mary needs Martha, and through Martha, Mary was praised.\" Thus the monk was rebuked by the teaching of this father, and he worked with his hands continually, and he gave alms with what remained over.
This father wrote many helpful discourses about the spiritual strife. When he finished his strife in a good old age, God made him know the time of his departure. He called the monks that were near by, he was blessed by them, and he asked them to remember him in their prayers, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also the Arabs of Upper Egypt rose up and attacked the desert of the great St. Macarius. They plundered what was in the churches and monasteries. The monks gathered together, prayed, and interceded with the holy fathers, and the Lord Christ drove them out. The monks were saved from their hands and they gave thanks unto God.
On this day also the righteous Aaron the priest, the brother of Moses the first prophet of the Law, departed. He was from the tribe of Levi, and God wrought by his hands many miracles in the land of Egypt. God chose him and his sons to be His priests, and gave them the tithes and the offerings of the children of Israel. When the sons of Korah rose up against him, God destroyed them, by commanding the earth to open its mouth and swallowed them up alive. He pleased God by his good conduct, keeping the Law, and then departed` in peace.
And glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "aaron priest" } ], [ { "id": 212, "action": "On this day St. Christopher was martyred. He was from the country, whose people were cannibals, those who believed on the hands of St. Matthias the apostle (As mentioned in the eighth day of the month of Baramhat). He had unsightly look and the body of a giant but his soul was good and gentle.
When he was captured by the soldiers of Emperor Decius the infidel he admonished them for afflicting the Christians. The captain of these soldiers beat him severely, and St. Christopher told him: \"If it was not the command of Christ which teaches me not to do unto others as they do unto us, other wise you and your soldiers could not be delivered from me.\" The captain sent to inform Decius concerning him, who sent two hundred soldiers to bring him. On their way, the bread they had was consumed except for a little of it. He prayed and blessed that little of bread and became in abundance. The soldiers marvelled exceedingly and believed on the Lord Christ the God of Christopher. When they arrived to Antioch they were baptized by the hands of Abba Paul the Patriarch.
When St. Christopher came before Decius, who became frightened from his appearance, tried to charm, persuade and deceive him to deny Christ. Then he sent two beautiful women to make him fall into sin with them. He rebuked and preached them and they believed on the Lord Christ. They confessed their faith in the Lord Before the Emperor, who ordered them to be beheaded and they received the crown of martyrdom. As of this Saint, he was cast into a huge cauldron over hot fire, but no harm whatsoever came to him. The people present were amazed and they believed on the Lord Christ. They came forward to remove him out of the cauldron but the Emperor ordered them to be cut off with the swords. The emperor finally ordered to cut off St. Christopher's neck and he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 1043 A.M., on the 29th of March 1327 A.D. Pope Yoannis the ninth, the eighty first Pope departed. He was from Nephia - Menofia and was known as Yoannis El-Nakady. During his days many tribulations befell the Christians, who were killed or burned or crucified. The Moslems ridiculed them by putting them on camels, dressing them with turbans and blue clothes. But the lord had sympathy upon his people with His great mercy. The Pope departed at Haret Zewaila and was buried at El Nastoor monastery after he had stayed on the Chair for 6 years and 6 months.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pope yoannis ninth eighty first patriarch" } ], [ { "id": 213, "action": "On this day Anba John, Bishop of Jerusalem, departed. He was born to Jewish parents, who kept the Law of the Torah. They instructed and taught him well and he excelled in the Law of Moses. He argued and disputed with the Christians until he became convinced of the coming of the Lord Christ, and that He was the true God. He believed on the hand of St. Justus, Bishop of Jerusalem, who baptized and ordained him a deacon. Because of his knowledge, and virtues they chose him a bishop of Jerusalem after the departure of St. Justus.
When Andrianus reigned, he commanded to rebuild the ruined parts of the city, he built a tower on the western gate (The gate of the Jewish temple) and he hanged an engraved tablet with his name on the door of that gate. He prevented the Christians from praying at the Golgotha and even passing through it. The Jews and the Gentiles became powerful and troubled the Christians much. Because of that many tribulations and sorrows befell this father, so he asked God that He might receive him. His supplication was accepted and he departed in peace after he stayed on the Episcopal Chair for two years.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 862 A.M. (March 29th. 1146 A.D.) the holy father Pope Michael, the seventy first Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, departed. He longed to the pure life since his young age so he became a monk in the monastery of St. Macarius. He lived in the desert until he was an old man, in a good pleasing life to God.
When Pope Gabriel (70) departed, the bishops, the priests and the lay leaders spent three month searching for who was best suited to succeed him. A monk from the monastery of St. Macarius, called Yoannis Ebn Kedran, came forward nominating himself supported in that by Anba Yacoub, bishop of Lekanah, Anba Christodolus, bishop of Fowa, and Anba Michael, bishop of Tanta. Nevertheless, the bishops of Upper Egypt, the priests of Alexandria and the lay leaders of Cairo did not accept that choice. Finally they all agreed to choose three of the monks and those were: Yoannis Abu El-Fatah, Michael of St. Macarius monastery, and Soliman El-Dekhiary of El-Baramous monastery. They cast a lot among them, and the lot fell on the monk Michael, and they ordained him a Patriarch on the 5th of Mesra, 861 A.M. (July 29th, year 1145 A.D.). He was an honorable old man loving for the poor and the needy. He took for himself a scribe to write his sermons and teachings that he sent to the bishops and priests. When he fell sick, he went to the monastery of St. Macarius, where he departed in peace, after he stayed on the Chair for eight month.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "holy michael seventy first pope see mark" } ], [ { "id": 214, "action": "The Martyrdom Of The Saints Victor, Decius, Eirene the Virginand those with them men, women and virgins
On this day the saints Victor, Decius, Eirene the virgin and those with them from men, women and virgins were martyred. These saints were during the reign of Emperor Constantine and his son who destroyed many idol temples and changed them to churches on the name of the Virgin Mary and the Saints. When Emperor Julian the infidel reigned, he supported idol worshipping, honored their priests, and slew many Christians. Some pagans informed the Emperor about these saints and how they destroyed the temples and the idols. He seized them, tortured them with different kinds of tortures and finally cut off their heads and they received the crowns of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "victor decius eirene virginand those them men women virgins" } ], [ { "id": 215, "action": "On this day the great prophet Ezekiel the son of Buzi departed. This righteous man was a priest, and Nebuchadnezzar exiled him with king Jehoiachin to Babylon. There in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar, the spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he prophesied about wondrous things for twenty two years. He spoke concerning the birth of the Lord Christ by the Lady the Virgin St. Mary and how after she had borne Him, she would remain a virgin: \"Then He brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces toward the east, but it was shut. And the LORD said to me, \"This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, because the LORD God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut\" (Ezekiel 44:1-2). He prophesied concerning the baptism that sanctify the soul of the man and his body, soften his stony heart, and make him a son of God by the descent of the Holy Spirit upon him. He admonished the priests for their forsaken the teaching of the people, warning them that God will ask for their souls from them if they neglect teaching them. He prophesied concerning the common resurrection and the rising of the bodies with their souls, and about their rewards for whatever they deserve. He said many useful sayings which are of benefit to those who read them, and God manifested through him many signs and great wonders. When the children of Israel worshipped idols in Babylon, he rebuked them and their leaders rose up and killed him. They buried him in the tomb of Shem and Arphaxad.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also St. Hepatius, Bishop of Gangra, in the province of Paphlognia (Pavlagonia), was martyred. He was in the early part of the fourth century, and he attended the first Universal Council at Nicea, year 325 A.D. He was one of the great fathers that defended the Divinity of the Word of God and His equality with His Father in essence, and refuted the error of the heresies of Arius, Appolonius, Novatius and others.
God had honored him with the gift of performing wonders, and was called the wonder worker. One of his wonders, during the days of Emperor Constans the son of Constantine the great: A beast entered the royal barns. The Emperor sent to the Saint asking him to go to the barns and kill that beast. The holy shepherd went there and after he prayed, he asked the servants to collect firewood in the yard of the city and put it on fire and they did. The Saint took his staff and put it in the beast's mouth and led it to the fire and it was burnt. As a commemoration of this miracle the Emperor ordered to hang the saint's picture over the doors of the barns.
On his way back, from Nicea after attending the first Universal Council, to Gangra, a group of heretics were waiting for him by the road, attacked him, stoned him and he was martyred (On the 31st. day of March) then threw his body in a hay barn. When the people of the city of Gangra knew of the departure of their good shepherd, they went in hast to the place where he was martyred and took the holy remains with great honor and buried him in the city.
May his blessings be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "hepatius bishop gangra" } ], [ { "id": 216, "action": "On this day is the commemoration of the appearance of the Lord Christ, to Whom is the glory, to Thomas the apostle on the eighth day from the glorious Resurrection as the Bible said: \"And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, \"Peace to you!\" Then He said to Thomas, \"Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.\" And Thomas answered and said to Him, \"My Lord and my God!\" Jesus said to him, \"Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.\" (John 20:26-29) When St. Thomas put his hand in the side of the Lord, his hand was about to be burned by the fire of the Divinity, and when he confessed His Divinity his hand was healed from the pain of the burning.
May the prayers of this Apostle be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 137 A.M. (421 A.D.) the hermit St. Mary of Egypt departed. She was born in the city of Alexandria about the year 61 A.M. (345 A.D.) from Christian parents. When she became twelve years old, Satan the enemy of the human race, seduced her, led her astray, and made her his net through which he caught innumerable souls.
She continued in this sinful conduct for seventeen years until the mercy of God touched her life, she met people going to Jerusalem and she went with them. Since she did not have what to pay for the trip, she gave her self to the owners of the ship in return, until she came to Jerusalem. She also went on doing the same there. She wished to enter through the door of the church of the Resurrection, but she felt a hidden power pulling her from the back preventing her from entering the church. Whenever she tried to enter she felt as someone preventing her from doing so, and right away she realized that was because of her uncleanliness. She lifted up her eyes with a broken heart, and she wept interceding with St. Mary and asked her to intercede on her behalf before her Beloved Son. She felt encouraged and wished to enter with those entering, nothing prevented her from entering, and she prayed therein to God asking Him to guide her for what was pleasing to Him.
She stood before the icon of the blessed and pure Virgin, and asked her fervently to guide her that she might save her soul. A voice came out of the icon saying: \"If you cross the Jordan river you will find rest and salvation.\" She rose in haste and when she left the court yard of the resurrection and on her way she met a man who gave her three small coins with which she bought bread. Then she crossed the Jordan river to the wilderness where she lived for forty seven years. She strove strenuously for seventeen years, Satan fought against her by the fornication that she repented from. She overcame with the grace of God and she ate all this period the herbs of the desert. In the forty fifth year of her living in the desert, St. Zosima went to the wilderness, according to the custom of the monks there, during the holy Forty Days of fast for devotion and asceticism.
While he was walking in the desert he saw this Saint from far and he thought that she was a shadow or mirage. He prayed to God to reveal to him the fact about this mirage, and he was inspired that it was a human being. He went toward the shadow, but it fled from him. When she saw that he is insisting on following her, she called him from behind a hill saying: \"O Zosima if you wish to talk to me, throw me a rag that I may cover myself for I am naked.\" He marvelled for she called him by his name, he threw to her what she covered herself with, and she came to him. After the greetings and the metanias, she asked him to pray for her because he was a priest. He asked her to tell him the story of her life from the beginning to the present time. After she told him, she asked him to bring with him in the next year the Holy Eucharist to partake of it. In the next year he came to her and she partook of the Holy Mysteries, then he gave her what he had from dates and lentils, she only took a handful of lentils, and she asked him to come to her in the next year. When he came to her in the next year he found that she had departed, a lion standing beside her and writing beside her saying \" Bury Mary, the poor woman, in the dust of which she was created.\" He marvelled from the writing and from the lion that was protecting her body and while he was thinking how he was going to dig to bury her, the lion came and dug a grave for her. He prayed over her and buried her. When he returned to his monastery, he told the monks the story of the strife of this holy woman, and they all increased in steadfastness in the Divine Mercy and progressed in the spiritual life. All the years of her life were seventy six years.
May her prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "mary egypt" } ], [ { "id": 217, "action": "On this day the righteous Joachim (Yonakhir - Zadok) departed. He was the father of St. Mary, the Theotokos, the mother of God incarnate. He was of the seed of David, and of the tribe of Judah, for he was the son of Jotham, the son of Lazarus, the son of Eldad who ascended up in genealogy to Solomon the king, the son of David whom God promised that his seed should reign over the children of Israel for ever. The wife of this righteous man, Hannah was barren, and both of them prayed and entreated God continually to give them a child. Having accepted their petition He gave them a good and sweet fruit, which satisfied all the men of the world, and removed from them the bitterness of servitude, and He made Joachim worthy to be called the father of the Lord Christ in regard of His marvelous and wondrous Incarnation. After God had pleased him with the birth of our Lady, his heart was rejoiced and he offered his offerings, and the shame had been removed from him, he departed in peace when the Virgin was three years old.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also the saint Anba Macrobius, the son of the governor of the city of Kaw, departed in peace. When Anba Severus, Archbishop of Antioch, was wondering around the cities of Upper Egypt, he came to the city of Kaw and Macrobius ministered unto him. He accompanied Anba Severus in his visit to the monastery of Anba Moses, where he saw from the holiness of the monks, their asceticism and devoutness, made him ask Anba Moses to accept him as a monk. Anba Moses indicated to him the hardship of the monastic life and its difficulties especially he was raised in luxury and family wealth, and the one that slept on silk, could not take the rough life. When Anba Moses saw the insistence of Macrobius on the monastic life he asked him first to resign his job that he took after his father, and to relinquish all his money and possessions. He went to his city Kaw, appointed his brother in his place, returned and put on the monastic garb. When his brothers Paul, Ilias, and Joseph saw what their brother had done, they came to him and became monks by the hands of Anba Moses.
Anba Macrobius built many monasteries and many monks, about a thousand gathered around him, and he also built convents for about a thousand nuns. He used his money to build many places for those that did not desire the monastic life, and he supported those who sought his help. Then he sent to Anba Moses asking to send him brethren to prepare those gathered around him for the monastic life, they came and put on them the monastic garb.
Christians from the cities of Assuit, Shatb, and neighboring cities came and gave him many gifts and much money to help him in building the churches and monasteries. He accepted it from them and blessed them. Anba Macrobius increased in virtues, asceticism and giving alms to the weak, needy, widows, orphans and the lonely, beside caring for his monasteries. His alms were from his own money not from that was offered. God granted St. Macrobius the gift of healing, they brought him the sick and he healed them with the power of God and the strength of their faith. The father the Patriarch Anba Theodosius, heard about him and he wrote to him praising and encouraging him to be steadfast in virtue, asceticism and loving the strangers and asked him to come for the people of Alexandria to be blessed by him. When he came to the Patriarch, he rejoiced with him and called the people of Alexandria to receive the blessing from him, and he ordained him a priest. Macrobius returned to his monastery, the people of Assuit and Shatb received him with songs and hymns until they came to the monastery. Many miracles were performed through his hands, and when he finished his good strife, he departed in peace. Multitudes gathered from Assuit, Shatb, Abu-Sergah, Kaw and the neighboring cities, and his brother Anba Yousab, who was appointed as his successor in running the monasteries in the fear of God, prayed and buried him.
The appearance of his body was on the seventh day of the blessed month of Tubah, seven hundred thirty three years after his departure by the hands of the deacon Los El-Talawy the servant of his monastery's church, during the days of Anba Yousab, bishop of Akhmeem and the notable Isaac the scribe of the prince Eiz-Eldeen El-Hamawy. Anba Yousab, bishop of Akhmeem, took the body out of its tomb in the mountain, down to the church of the monastery, where they buried him with hymns and praises.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the departure of Sts. Agapius and Theodora the martyrs, and the commemoration of St. Metruf the spiritual son of Anba Moses the Abbot of El-Baliana monastery.
May their intercession be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "agapius theodora metruf" } ], [ { "id": 218, "action": "On this day the three holy virgins: Agape, Eirene, and Shiona (Susinia) were martyred. They were from Thessalonica, and worshipped Christ as their parents. They chose the life of chastity and they agreed to devote themselves to the ascetic life. They fasted and prayed unceasingly, visited the convents often and participated with the virgins in their prayers and asceticism. When Maximianus the infidel, reigned, he restored the worship of the idols and shed the blood of many Christians. These saints were afraid and they fled to the mountain and hid themselves in a cave devoting themselves to their worship and asceticism.
Every week, an aged Christian woman visited them bringing all things needed and took the work of their hands to sell it, and distributed the remainder as alms to the poor. One day a malicious person observed the frequent visits of this old woman to the mountain, he followed her secretly until he knew the cave that she entered. He hid himself so she did not see him on her way back, and he thought that she was hiding precious things in it. After she left the cave by a distance he entered the cave and he found the precious pearls the prides of the Christ standing praying. He bound them, dragged them away, and brought them to the Governor of Thessalonica. He asked them about their faith, they confessed that they were Christians worshipping that Who was Crucified. The Governor became wrath with them, tortured them much, then cast them into the fire, and they delivered up their souls and received the crown of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also is the commemoration of the incident of the martyrdom of one hundred and fifty believers by the king of Persia. This king besieged Christian cities which were near the borders of his country, and captured many of them. When they refused to worship the sun and the stars, he commanded to cut off their heads, and they received the crowns of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "one hundred fifty believers by hand king persia" } ], [ { "id": 219, "action": "On this day in the middle of the fifth century the ascetic father and the struggling monk Abba Zocima the priest, departed. This Saint was born about the middle of the fourth century from Christian and holy parents, who were from Palestine. When he was five years old they handed him to a righteous old monk, who raised him in a Christian manner and taught him the doctrine of the church, and shortly after they ordained him a deacon. He became a righteous monk and grew in virtues.
He was continually praising God and he read the Scriptures day and night and during work also. When he had completed thirty five years in the monastery they ordained him a priest. Then he increased his ascetic labors and struggle. After spending thirteen years in this struggle the enemy sowed in his mind the evil thought that he was superior to all his contemporaries in virtues and righteousness. But the Lord willed to turn him away from this thought. He sent an angel to him and commanded him to go to the monastery which was near the river Jordan. He rose up and went to the monastery and he found therein righteous old men who were more perfect in their contending than him. He realized that he was far from what he thought in himself and he stayed there with them.
The custom of those monks during the Holy Lent, was that after they had fasted the first weak they partook the Holy Communion, then they left the monastery singing the twenty six psalm, and at the end of it, they prayed together. Then the abbot blessed them and they bed farewell to each other. Then they dispersed in the desert of Jordan and each of them carried out his spiritual fight by himself. St. Zosimus used to go out with them each year wondering in the desert asking God to show him who was more perfect than him.
As he was wondering about he met Mary the Egyptian (Coptic). He learned from her about her life history and the reason for her wondering in the desert. She asked him to visit her after one year to give her the Holy Mysteries. He came to her in the next year and gave her the Holy Communion. In the year after he revisited her again but he found her had departed and he buried her and told the monks of the monastery concerning her strife. After he had lived ninety nine years he departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also a great sign was made manifest through our holy father Pope Sinuthius (Shenouda I) the fifty fifth Pope of Alexandria. This Pope went to the desert of Scetis in order to fast the Holy Lent with the fathers the monks. On Palm Sunday many Arabs came to the desert of Scetis to plunder the monasteries. They stood on the rock east of the church of St. Macarius. Their swords were drawn in their hands ready to kill and steal. The bishops and the monks gathered together and decided to leave the desert before the Holy Feast of Resurrection (Easter) and they took counsel with Pope Shenouda who told them; \"As for me I will not leave the desert until I complete the Pascal week. On Maundy Thursday the situation became worse. The Pope took his staff that had the sign of the cross on it and he wanted to go out to meet the Arabs saying: \"It is better for me to die with the people of God\" but they prevented him from going out, but instead, he strengthened and comforted them. Then he went forth to meet the Arabs with his staff in his hand. When they saw him, they retreated and fled away as if they were pursued by an army of soldiers and from this day onwards they never came back to do any harm.
The prayers of this father be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "wonder took place hand pope sinuthius shenouda fifty fifth patriarch" } ], [ { "id": 220, "action": "On this day the holy father Anba Isaac the Disciple of the great father Anba Apollo, departed. This holy man renounced the world since his young age. He became a monk in the wilderness of Sheahat (Scetis), and a disciple of Anba Apollo for twenty five years. He fought a strenuous fight that weakened his body to kill his body desires, and control his will. He mastered the virtue of silence and quietness especially during the prayers and the Liturgies. He used to stand during the liturgy with his hands clasped and his head bent until the end of the prayer then he returned to his cell, shutting his door, and did not associate with any one that day. When they asked him: \"Why do you not talk to anyone who wish to talk to you during prayers or the Liturgy?\" He answered saying: \"There is time for talking and there is time for praying.\" When his departure drew near the fathers the monks gathered around him to receive his blessing and they asked him: \"Why did you flee from men.\" He answered them: \"I was not fleeing from men but from Satan. If a man hold a lighted lamp in the wind, it will be extinguished. So, it is with us when our hearts and minds shine because of the prayers and the Liturgy then we talk with each other, our hearts and minds become dark.\" And this holy father having finished his good spiritual strife, departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 861 A.M. (April 5th., 1145 A.D.) the great and holy father Pope Gabriel II, the seventy Pope of the See of St. Mark, who was known as Ibn Turaik, departed. This Pope was from the nobles of Cairo, and he was a writer, scribe, distinguished scholar, with a commendable conduct. He transcribed with his hand many Arabic and Coptic books, he retained its contents and comprehended its interpretations. The elders of the people and the clergy chose him for the Patriarchal Chair, and his enthronement was on the 9th. of Amshir, 847 A.M. (February 3rd., 1131 A.D.).
When he prayed his first Divine Liturgy in St. Macarius monastery as the custom of the previous Patriarchs, at the end of the Liturgy, he added to the profession after the saying: \"I believe and confess to the last breath, that this is the life-giving Flesh that Thine Only-Begotten Son, our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ, took from our Lady, the Lady of us all, the holy Mother of God, Saint Mary,\" this sentence \"He made it one with His Divinity.\" The monks objected, lest it would be understood from that there was mingling between His Divinity and His Humanity, and asked him to refrain from using it. He refused saying: \"This statement was added by a decree from the council of bishops.\" After a great and lengthy discussion, they decided to add this sentence: \"Without mingling, without confusion, and without alteration,\" because of the fear of falling in the heresy of Eutyches, and he agreed with them.
During his papacy, he ordained 53 bishops and many priests, he drew up Canons and laws concerning inheritance, and many other matters. He never took any money from anyone, nor he touched the revenue of the churches, or that of the religious endowments for the poor. When the governor of that time asked him for money, the nobles and people collected three hundred Dinars in gold and gave them to the governor on his behalf. He remained on the Episcopal Chair for fourteen years, two month and two days, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pope gabriel seventy pope who was known as ibn turaik" } ], [ { "id": 221, "action": "On this day, the pure and holy mother Theodora, departed. This holy woman was the only daughter of noble and Christian parents of Alexandria.
Her parents Provided for her costly apparels and many gold and silver accessories, for they wished to give her in marriage. This Saint refused that, for she desired in her heart the worship of God and the strife for His Name's sake. She sold all what her father bought her, gave to the needy, and then built a church outside the city of Alexandria, towards the west.
Then she went to the holy father Abba Athanasius, the apostolic (Fourth century), who shaved her hair and made her a nun in one of the convents outside the city of Alexandria. She devoted herself to the ascetic life, fought the spiritual fight, and became worthy to see divine visions, distinguish angels from satan, and know the thoughts of the minds.
Pope Athanasius visited her often and instructed her with his teachings. When he was exiled, he sent her many letters full of valuable sermons, and she was steadfast in her strife until the end of her life. She was contemporary to five Patriarchs: Alexandros, Athanasius, Petros, Timotheos and Theophilos. She put down many useful sayings, some of them by the grace that was in her; the others were from what she learned from those fathers.
Once she was asked: \"If a man talked to another evil words, would he silence him, or rebuke him, or close the ears and not listen to him?\" She replied saying: \"If a man put in front of you a table with good and bad foods, you can not say to him \"Take this or that for it is harmful for me,' but you overlook it and eat what you desired, so nothing should be said to who speak bad words to others but it is enough that the man does not let his ears enjoy what he is hearing.\"
She was also asked: \"How can the human overcome his enemy Satan?\" She answered saying: \"With fasting, prayer, and humility.\"
When she finished her strife, she departed in peace and was one hundred years old.
Her prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also marks the commemoration of the departure of Anba John, Bishop of Gaza.
His intercession be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "john bishop gaza" } ], [ { "id": 222, "action": "On this day, the holy father Anba Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, departed. This holy father was Bishop of Cappadocia, and he came to the city of Jerusalem to receive the blessing of the holy places and then return to his country.
St. Narcissus, who was the Bishop of Jerusalem at that time (Second century - his departure on the first day of Baramhat), was advanced in age and had reached over 110 years. He often asked his people that he wished to retire from his See, but they refused. When St. Alexander finished his visit and decided to return to his Chair in Cappadocia, the people of Jerusalem heard a voice from heaven saying: \"Go to the gate of the city, and the first one to enter it, seize him and make him stay with Narcissus to assist him.\" When they went to the gate they met the Bishop Alexander, and they pleaded with him to stay with Abba Narcissus to assist him. He refused because he could not leave his flock that the Lord Christ had entrusted him with. They told him about the voice which they had heard from heaven and that it was God's Will. He accepted and wrote to the people of his parish what had happened, apologized, and allowed them to appoint another bishop in his place. He remained in Jerusalem, assisting its bishop Anba Narcissus, for about 5 years.
After the departure of St. Narcissus, he continued to shepherd the people of Jerusalem with the best of care, until Maximianus, the infidel, seized him, inflicted him with severe tortures of every kind, and then imprisoned him. When Gordianus reigned, he released him, and when he died and Philip reigned, he released the rest of the confessors. This father sat in quietness and peace until Decius rose, killed Philip, and reigned in his stead.
Decius afflicted the Christians exceedingly; he seized this holy father and many others, and tortured them, especially this father. He beat him cruelly with sharp pins until he broke his ribs, then commanded to drag him by his feet and throw him in prison. He remained there until he delivered his pure soul in the hand of the Lord, and received the kingdom which is prepared for the saints.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also marks the commemoration of St. Antonios, Bishop of Tamoui.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "antonios bishop tamoui" } ], [ { "id": 223, "action": "On this day, the holy monks Anba Joshua and Anba Joseph were martyred. They were the disciples of St. Melius in the mount of Khorasan, and their biography is mentioned in the 28th day of Baramoudah, which is the day of martyrdom of their spiritual teacher Anba Melius.
Their prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also marks the commemoration of St. Dionisa (Denisa), the deaconess who was appointed by the apostles and the commemoration of St. Medius the martyr.
Their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the distinguished Pope and prudent pontiff, Anba Yoannis the seventeenth, 105th Patriarch of Alexandria, departed. The parents of this father were pious Christians from the city of Mallawy, in Upper Egypt. When he was 25 years old, he left this futile world and went to the monastery of St. Antonios. He became a monk there and his name was Abdel Sayed. Then he went to the monastery of Anba Paula, after its renovation. He exerted himself in worship, and educated himself. He learned reading and writing, for he was illiterate, then he thoroughly studied the holy books.
After he exerted himself in asceticism and a virtuous life, studying the church subjects and its books, the fathers the monks chose him as a priest for them. Pope Yoannis, 103rd Patriarch ordained him along with his fellow Mourgan El-Assuity, who became, later on, Pope Petros VI, 104th Patriarch. When Pope Petros VI, 104th Patriarch departed, the fathers the bishops, priests, and lay leaders discussed who would be fit for the Patriarchal Chair. They chose this father among others, and brought them from the monasteries to Cairo. After they prayed the Divine Liturgy for three days, they cast the lot, which fell on this father.
He was ordained a Patriarch in the church of the martyr Mercurius Abu Saifain, in Old Cairo, on Sunday, the sixth of Tubah, 1443 A.M. (January 12th., 1727 A.D.). After his ordination and before the reading of the Gospel, they opened the door to the tomb of the fathers the Patriarchs, as the custom, for the newly elected Pope to go down and take the cross and staff from the hand of his departed predecessor. After he went down and took the cross, the bones in the tomb crepitated, and he was terrified, so he ordered to stop this practice, saying that the crosses and staffs were in abundance. The purpose of this custom was that the successor will take a lesson from his departed predecessor, so he would not be deceived by the position and become arrogant, and seeing the fate of his predecessor would be a lesson and example before him always. The Pope stayed after his enthronement a week in Old Cairo, then went to the Patriarchal residence in Haret El-Rum.
This Pope dedicated himself to building churches and monasteries, their renovation and consecration. During his Papacy, a wonderful church was built in the monastery of Anba Paula, the first hermit in the Nemr Mount, and consecrated it himself. He was accompanied by Anba Ebraam, Bishop of El-Bahnasa, and an assembly of the notables. Among them was the archon Girgis El-Sourogy, who paid for the building of this church.
After that, Pope Youannis built a church, refectory, and other buildings in the monastery of the honorable saint Anba Antonios, the father of all monks. He consecrated it by his blessed hands and ordained there hegumens, priests, and deacons. The honorable archon Girgis El-Sourogy also paid for these buildings.
In the ninth year of his Papacy, in 1451 A.M., the Sultan ordered to raise the taxes for the Christians and Jews three folds. Later, these taxes were raised more and imposed over the monks, priests, children, poor, and beggars without exempting anyone, so the time of this father was difficult and sorrowful for the poor, professionals and trade workers.
During his time, there was also a great increase in prices and a severe earthquake shook Cairo in the middle of the night, which lasted for about an hour. The foundation of the earth violently shook, houses were destroyed, and people trembled then God Had mercy on his people and removed from them these bitter tribulations.
When Anba Khristozolo III, 102nd Metropolitan of the Chair of Ethiopia, departed, a group of Ethiopian lay leaders came to Pope Yoannis, in the 17th year of his Papacy, in 1460 A.M. (1744 AD.), and asked him to ordain for them a Metropolitan. He ordained for them the monk John (Youhanna), one of the priests of the monastery of our great father Anba Antonios, and called him Youannis XIV, and returned with joy with him.
This Pope lived long and lived until a good old age shepherding his flock with the best of care. When he finished his strife, he fell sick for a short illness and then departed in peace on the Monday of the Paschal week, the thirteenth of Baramoudah, year 1461 A.M. (April 20th., 1745 A.D.). He sat on the Chair 18 years, 3 months, and 8 days, and was buried in the tomb of the Patriarchs in the church of St. Mercurius Abu-Saifain in Old Cairo. He was contemporary to the Sultan Ahmed III and the Sultan Mahmoud I. The Chair remained vacant one month and ten days after his departure.
His blessings be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pope yoannis seventeenth 105th patriarch alexandria" } ], [ { "id": 224, "action": "On this day, that coincides with the ninth of April, 282 A.D., the holy father Anba Maximus, 15th Pope of Alexandria, departed. This father was born in Alexandria from Christian parents who raised and educated him well. He excelled in the Greek language. Then he learned the doctrine of the church and was a man that feared God.
Pope Heraclas, 13th Pope, ordained him deacon on the church of Alexandria. Then Pope Dionysius, 14th Pope, ordained him priest. Because of his advancement in virtues and knowledge, the fathers the bishops chose him for the Episcopal Chair after the departure of Pope Dionysius, and he was ordained on the twelfth of Hatour (November 9th., 264 A.D.).
Shortly after his enthronement, he received a letter from the council of Antioch, which included the grounds for excommunicating Paul of Samosata and his followers. He read it to the priests of Alexandria and issued a letter and sent it along with the letter of the council to all the cities of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Nuba. This was to warn them from the heresy of Paul of Samosata, which was abolished by the death of this heretic.
Pope Maximus fought and guarded his flock, confirmed them in the faith with sermons and admonitions for seventeen years and five days, then departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "holy maximus fifteenth pope" } ], [ { "id": 225, "action": "On this day, the church commemorates the consecration of the first altar that was built by the Jacobite Christians, who were residing in the land of Egypt for St. Nicholas, bishop of Mora. St. Nicholas was one of the fathers of the council of Nicea, the Three Hundred and Eighteen. This altar was built in the church of the saint Anba Shenouda, to the east of the city.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also, marks the commemoration of the consecration of the church of St. Agabus, one of the Seventy Apostles. He prophesied about the events that afflicted St. Paul saying: \"Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.'\" (Acts 21:10-11)
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Alexandra, the Empress, Emperor Diocletian's wife, departed. When the great martyr, St. George deluded Emperor Diocletian that he would worship his idols, the Emperor embraced his head and brought him into his royal palace. The Saint prayed and read some of the Psalms before Empress Alexandra and interpreted to her what he read. He explained to her the Divinity of the Lord Christ. His words entered her heart and she believed in the Lord Christ, to Whom is the glory.
When the Saint stood before the idols, he called the Name of the Lord Christ, and the idols were destroyed. The Emperor and those with him were humiliated. When the Emperor returned to the palace and told the Empress what had happened, she told him: \"Did I not tell you not to set yourself against the Galilean, for their God is strong and powerful?\" Diocletian became extremely raged, tortured her severely, then threw her in prison where she departed in peace.
Her prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 1372 A.M. (April 20th., 1656 A.D).), Pope Mark (Marcus) VI, 101st Patriarch of Alexandria, departed. He was known as Marcus El-Bahgoury. He was from Bahgourah, and became a monk in the monastery of St. Antonios.
When Pope Matteos III, 100th Pope, departed, the archon Beshara, the lay leader of that time, agreed with the people on ordaining this father. Anba Khristozolo, Bishop of Jerusalem, headed the celebration of the enthronement, on Sunday, the fifteenth of Barmoudah, 1362 A.M. (April 20th. 1646 A.D.), and was called Marcus VI. After his ordination, a vast dispute took place between him and the archon Beshara.
From his famous achievements, he issued an order preventing the monks from living in the world, ordering them to return to their monasteries. The monks were raged because of this order, did not consent to it, and refrained from obeying it. Satan, the enemy of the good, moved one of the monks called Kodsy, to write a petition to the Governor (Basha), accusing the Pope that he tortured the people and killed them. The Governor ordered an investigation to uncover the truth. During the inquiry, the monk denied writing the petition. The Pope was exonerated from the accusations that were in the complainant petition, but he was ordered to pay a heavy fine which was paid by the lay leaders of the country.
On the 21st of Tubah, 1365 A.M., an order was issued to prevent Christians from riding horses, wearing red caftans (A long sleeved outer garment), and red broadcloth skull caps. However they were to wear blue caftans thirty feet long.
The Patriarch went to Upper Egypt and stayed there for four years, during which he collected much money and was foolish in his conduct, to the point that all the people, bishops, priests, and lay leaders, were exasperated. The dispute, existed between him and the archon Beshara, went on until he returned to Cairo. He then reconciled with him, and his behavior was straighten after that. He built the prayer hall in the convent of the church of the virgin in Haret Zeewaila in Cairo.
Pope Marcus departed on the fifteenth of Barmoudah, 1372 A.M. (April 20th. 1656 AD.). He was buried in the church of Abu Saifain in Old Cairo, after he stayed on the Chair for ten full years. He was a contemporary to El Sultan Ibrahim I and El Sultan Mohammed IV, and the Chair was vacant for four years, seven months and sixteen days after him.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pope mark marcus vi 101st patriarch" } ], [ { "id": 226, "action": "On this day, St. Antipas, bishop of Pergamos, was martyred. He was a disciple of St. John the evangelist (Rev. 2).
Domitianus started persecuting and killing the Christians because he heard, that they were saying, that Christ was their God and King. This Saint was one of them. He was tortured severely, but adhered more to the faith. During his imprisonment, St. John the evangelist sent him a message to comfort and strengthen him. In his message, he called him faithful priest and good shepherd.
Finally, the Emperor placed him in a bull of brass and lighted fire under him until he delivered up his soul in the hand of the Lord. The believers took his body and placed it with great honor in the church.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "antipas bishop pergamos" } ], [ { "id": 227, "action": "On this day, St. James the Apostle, the son of Zebedee, and the brother of St. John, the Apostle, was martyred. After he had preached the Gospel in Judea and Samaria, he went to Spain. He preached the Gospel there, and its people believed in the Lord Christ. He returned to Jerusalem and pursued his ministry.
He always advised his flock to give alms to the poor, the needy, and the weak. They accused him before Herod who called him and asked him: \"Are you the one that instigating the people not to give the taxes to Caesar but to give it to the poor and the churches?\" Then he smote him with the sword, cutting off his head, and St. James received the crown of martyrdom.
Clement of Alexandria, from the fathers of the second century, said: \"The soldier that seized the Saint, when he saw his courage, he realized that there must be a better life and asked the Saint for his forgiveness. Then the soldier confessed Christianity and received the crown of martyrdom (Acts 12:1,2) along with the Apostle in the year 44 A.D.\"
Because Herod saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. So when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. (Acts 12:3-4)
So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, \"The voice of a god and not of a man!\" Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died. (Acts 12:21- 23)
As of the body of St. James, the believers took it, shrouded it, and buried it by the Temple. It was said that the body of St. James was translated to Spain, where James the elder considered to be its Apostle.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "james apostle brother john apostle" } ], [ { "id": 228, "action": "On this day St. Arsenius, the slave of St. Sousnyous, was martyred. When Emperor Diocletian was torturing St. Sousnyous, St. Sousnyous father told the Emperor that Sousnyous had a slave, whose name is Arsenius and that he worshiped Christ and denounced the worship of the idols.
The Emperor brought the slave and asked him about his belief. Arsenius confessed the Divinity of the Lord Christ, and also admonished the Emperor for deserting the worship of the true God and his insistence on worshiping the idols. The Emperor became furious and ordered him to beheaded him before his master, and thus he received the crown of martyrdom.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "arsenius slave sousnyous" } ], [ { "id": 229, "action": "On this day, St. Simeon the Armenian, Bishop of the country of Persia, and 150 with him, were martyred. This Bishop lived during the reign of Sapor (Shapur), the son of Hormiz, king of Persia, who was unjust and oppressive to the Christians.
This Saint wrote a letter to king Sapor and told him: \"Those whom the Lord Christ has bought with His honorable Blood had rid themselves from the servitude of men, and it is not conceivable for them to be in servitude for those who transgress the Law.\" When the king had read this letter, he became exceedingly wrath. He brought him, bound him with chains, and cast him into the prison. In prison, he found prisoners who worshipped the sun. The Saint rebuked them, taught them, and they believed in the Lord Christ.
They confessed their faith before the king, who brought the Saint from the prison, because he preached them the faith. The king ordered to cut off the heads of the Saint and the 150 persons with him, and they received the crown of martyrdom.
Their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 719 A.M., the blessed Youhanna (John) Abu Nagaah El-Kabeer, was martyred. He was one of the nobel Copts in the tenth and eleventh centuries. He was the head scribe in his time, as he was the lay leader during the reign of Al-Hakim Be-Amr Ellah the Fatimid Caliph. This great elder was a contemporary to Pope Philotheos, 63rd Patriarch, who was enthroned on March 28th. 979 A.D. and departed on November 8th. 1003 A.D.
Youhanna was a devout Christian, righteous, virtuous, charitable, and loving to the church. He was zealous in the Orthodox faith. When Al-Hakim Be-Amr Ellah completed the extermination of the people close to him and the leaders of the army, he turned to the notables and chiefs of the scribes. He called ten of them and offered them to adopt Islam. Youhanna, who was their head, was called first. Al-Hakim told him: \"I want you to leave your faith and adopt my faith, the Islam. I will make you my minister to manage the affairs of my kingdom.\" Youhanna replied saying: \"Give me a chance until tomorrow to deliberate the matter with myself\".
Youhanna went to his house, called his friends, informed them with what had happened, and told them: \"I am ready to die in the Name of the Lord Christ, and my reason for asking for the delay, not to deliberate the matter with myself but to see you and my family, to bid you and my family farewell, and to commend you and them. Now my brothers, do not ask for this vain glory, for you will loose the eternal glory of the Lord Christ Who satisfied us with the richness of the world, and now with His mercy, He had called us to the Kingdom of Heaven, so strengthen your hearts.\"
His golden words, which were full of wisdom, influenced those who heard them, strengthened their hearts, and they decided to die in the Name of the Lord Christ also. He made a great feast for them, and then they went to their homes. The next morning, Youhanna went to Al-Hakim Be-Amr Ellah who asked him: \"O Nagaah, have you decided?\" Youhanna (John) replied saying \"Yes\". The Caliph asked: \"Which way have you decided?\" Youhanna answered steadfastly and with courage: \"Remaining in my faith.\"
The Governor attempted with all ways of persuasion and threatening to make him forsake Christianity. John was steadfast as a rock; nothing shook him away from the Christian faith, and the Governor could not with all his powers make him renounce the faith of his fathers.
When the Governor failed with Youhanna, he ordered to remove his clothes, be tied to the squeezing wheels, and be beaten. They beat him five hundred lashes on his delicate body, and his flesh was torn and his blood flew as water. The whips that were used were made of cow hides; even the mighty ones could not bear one lash from it on their bodies, much less, this gentle branch.
Then the Governor ordered to beat him up to one thousand lashes. After he was beaten three hundred more lashes, he said as his Master: \"I am thirsty.\" They stopped beating him and informed the Governor who told them: \"Water him after you tell him forsake your faith.\" When they came to him with the water and told him as the Caliph ordered, Youhanna replied with pride and dignity: \"Take the water back to him, for I do not need it, because My Master Jesus Christ had watered me and quenched my thirst.\" The people who were standing around testified that they saw at this moment water dripping from his beard. When he said that, he delivered up his soul.
When they told the tyrant Governor about his death, he ordered them to beat the dead body to complete the one thousand lashes, and thus he was martyred, and received the crown of martyrdom that was prepared for him by the Great King Jesus Christ.
The History of the Patriarch did not mention the day that he was martyred, but El-Makrizi in his manuscripts said: \"The Vizier Fahd Ibn Ibrahim, one of the ten men and the companion of Youhanna Ibn Nagaah, was slained in the nineteenth of Barmoudah, 719 A.M. (April 14th., 1003 A.D.)\" The martyrdom of the blessed Youhanna Ibn Nagaah was mentioned in the History of the Patriarchs, before the mentioning of the martyrdom of the Vizier Fahd Ibn Ibrahim. Youhanna, in the feast that he made for his friends and kinfolks among whom were the other nine chosen ones, did not mention the account of the martyrdom of the Vizier Fahd in what he said during the feast. Accordingly, the martyrdom of this Saint was on the same day of the martyrdom of the Vizier fahd.
His blessings be with us. Amen.
This day also marks the commemoration of the martyrdom of the Elder the Vizier Abu Elaala Fahd Ibn Ibrahim, who was distinguished in the later half of the tenth century and early the eleventh century. He was also contemporary to Pope Philotheos, 63rd Patriarch, and from the Fatimid Caliphs, Al Emam Al-Azeez Be Allah, and his son Al-Hakim Be-Amr Allah.
He was an Orthodox Archon, adhered to his faith, faithful to his church, and charitable. During his life, he never turned down anyone who asked him. Whenever he went through the streets riding and one asked him, he would extend the sleeve of his cloak and the one asking would find much good in it, and that to hide his virtue of giving.
This vizier was one of the powerful and influential men of the government during the Fatimid Rule. Al-Hakim Be-Amr Allah appointed him head of all the scribes and department heads. He built the church of the martyr St. Mercurius in the present monastery of Anba Rowais, which was known then by Dair El-Khandaq.
It is documented in the History of the Patriarchs that when Al-Hakim Be-Amr Allah wanted to make the notable Coptic scribes apostatize their faith, the Vizier Fahd was one of the ten that was chosen for that purpose. He brought him and told him: \"You know that I have chosen and appointed you ahead of all the men in my government, then listen to me and be with me in my religion, so I will promote you more than what you are in now and be like a brother to me.\" When he did not answer him, he ordered his neck to be cut off and to burn his body. The fire remained burning for three days and the body did not burn, and his right hand that he extended to give alms, was sound at all the time as the fire never touched it.
It was mentioned also in the book of El-Khetat El-Tawfikiah that the Vizier Abu Elaala Fahd Ibn Ibrahim was discussing the affairs of the government with the head of the army, El-Housain Ibn Gawhar, and El-Hakim was luring him to apostatize his faith with many promises. When Fahd refused, he ordered his head to be cut off and to burn his body but God protected his body from burning. He was buried in the southern corner of the church of St. Mercurius, which he built in Dair El-khandaq. El-Makrizi wrote in his manuscripts: \"Fahd Ibn Ibrahim was killed after he had remained as a chief minister of the government for five years, nine months and twelve days.\"
God had took revenge severely from the wicked people that discredited Abu Elaala Fahd before the Caliph and changed his heart against him. Twenty-nine days after the departure of Fahd, the wicked man, Aly Ibn Omar Ibn El-addas, was killed, then his companion, Taher Mahmoud Ibn El-Nahawy, was killed.
The church also commemorates the rest of the ten chief ministers that the Governor asked them to apostatize their faith. When they refused and disobeyed him, he ordered to torture them. They were beaten with whips, and when the beating became cruel, four of them became Muslims, one of them died the same night, and the other three returned to their Christian Faith after the end of the time of persecution. The rest departed while they were being tortured and received the crown of martyrdom and acquired the eternal life.
On this day also, Daoud Ibn Ghobrial El-Bargy, the monk, was martyred. He was from the village of Berkit Karmout. He was tortured severely but did not forsake the faith, and he received the crown of martyrdom in the year 1099 A.M.
Their intercession be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "daoud david monk" } ], [ { "id": 230, "action": "On this day, St. Babnuda (Paphnute), who was from Dandara (Dendereh), was martyred. This Saint was a hermit monk. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him to put on the priesthood vestments and go appear before Arianus, the governor.
Arianus arrived with his ship and embarked by the city of Dandara, looking for that Saint. The Saint came to Arianus and cried out in his face with a loud voice, saying: \"I am Christian, and I believe in the lord Christ.\" When the Governor knew that he was the anchorite for whom he sought, he ordered him to be tortured severely. He chained him with iron fetters and cast him in a dark prison. A heavenly light shone upon him and an angel of the Lord appeared to him, healed his wounds, and comforted him. There was in the city a man, whose name was Kyrillos, with his wife, his daughter, and twelve young men. The Saint preached them and confirmed them in faith. They were all martyred by cutting of their heads, and they received the crown of martyrdom. The Governor was raged of him and ordered to hang a rock in his neck and cast him in the sea, and St. Babnuda received the crown of martyrdom.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "babnuda paphnute" } ], [ { "id": 231, "action": "On this day, we celebrate the commemoration of the Lady Virgin Mary, the Mother of God the Word.
Her intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Hierotheos (Berutawos) of Athens, departed. This father was one of the learned men in the city of Athens. He met the Apostle St. Paul, and many discussions took place between them which led to his belief on the Apostle's hand. He baptized him, taught him the Ordinances and Law of the church, and then ordained him a priest for this city. He frequently visited St. Dionysius the Areopagite, who was also one of the learned men in Athens.
This Saint was present at the time of the departure of the Lady Virgin Mary, and he stood in the midst of the apostles and comforted them with spiritual songs and hymns which he sang accompanied with musical instruments.
He converted many Jews and Gentiles to the knowledge of the Lord Christ. When the people wished to ordain him a bishop, he refused saying: \"I just wish to be able to perform the duties of a priest.\" Having finished his good strife, he went to the Lord Whom he loved.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "hierotheos athens" } ], [ { "id": 232, "action": "On this day the holy father Anba Isaac (Ishaq) departed. He was born in the city of Hourin - Shabas, from unblemished parents. His father's name was Abraham, and his mother's name was Susannah. His mother departed when he was a child, and his father, shortly after, married another wife.
In those days there was a famine, and his step-mother hated him. She only gave him a little bread, which he gave to the shepherds that he worked with. He fasted until sunset, although he was only five years old. When his father knew that, he went to see him to inquire into that. Knowing the matter, before his father came to him, he tied up three pieces of mud in his cloak, so that his father might think when he saw them from far that they were bread. When his father came and unrolled the cloak, he found three pieces of bread. The shepherds who were present testified that the boy had given them all what he had of bread, and others saw him tieing the pieces of mud in his cloak. His father marvelled and glorified God.
When Isaac grew up, he went and became a monk with a righteous man whose name was Elias, and he lived with him for many years. After the departure of Anba Elias, he went to the mount of Barnug and lived with an old man whose name was Anba Zacharias. His father went about everywhere trying to find him. When he found his son living with St. Zacharias, he asked him to return with him. His teacher Anba Zacharias advised him to obey his father and return with him.
He returned and stayed until his father's departure. He distributed all what his father left him to the poor and needy. He then built for himself a place out side the city, where he dwelt there alone. He went on asceticism and worship until he departed in peace.
They buried him in his place of worship, and the place was forgotten. After many years, God willed to reveal his body, and a great light appeared above his grave, which was seen by reapers for three consecutive days. The believers came, took his body, laid it on a camel, and journeyed with it until they came to a place between Horein and Nashrat. The camel stopped, knelt down, and would not get up again. They knew that this was the Lord's Will and they built a church for him in that place where they placed the body with great honor.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 44 A.M. (April 17th., 328 A.D.) the holy father Pope Alexander (Alexandros), 19th Pope of the See of St. Mark, departed.
This Pope was born in the city of Alexandria from Christian parents, and he grew up in serving the church. Pope Maximus ordained him a reader, Pope Theonas ordained him a deacon. Pope Peter (Petros the Seal of the Martyrs) ordained him a priest, and he was virgin and chaste.
When the time of Pope Petros (Peter) martyrdom drew near, Alexander and father Archelaus, who became Patriarch before him, went to him in prison, and asked him to lift the excommunication from Arius. Anba Petros excommunicated Arius again in their presence, and informed them that the Lord Christ had appeared to him and ordered him not to receive him again and that father Archelaus will be Patriarch after him and after Abba Archelaus, Pope Alexander will be ordained. He commanded that to the priests of Alexandria and ordered them not to accept Arius, and to have no fellowship with him. When Pope Archelaus sat on the Chair and received Arius, he only lived for six months and died. When Pope Alexandros sat, the lay leaders came and asked him to receive Arius, but he refused and added curses to what were already upon him. He told them: \"Pope Petros had commanded Pope Archelaus and myself to do that, and when Pope Archelaus had received Arius, God speedily removed him from his office.\"
Pope Alexander expelled Arius from the country. Arius went to Emperor Constantine and complained of the unjust treatment of this Pope. Emperor Constantine assembled the Ecumenical Council of the Three Hundred and Eighteen in the city of Nicea. The council was presided by Pope Alexander. He debated with Arius and revealed his denial of Christ, then excommunicated him and those who follow his belief.
Alexander, along with the rest of the fathers, uttered the Creed, and drew up the Canon, the Law, and the Statutes that are still in the hands of Christians until this day. After he put down regulations for Lent and the feast of Easter, he returned to his Chair, victorious and triumphant. He shepherded his flock with the best of care. He sat on the throne of the See of St. Mark for 15 years, 9 months and 20 days, then departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 535 A.M. (April 17th., 819 A.D.), the blessed father Pope Mark (Marcus), 49th Pope of the See of St. Mark, departed.
This Pope was from Alexandria, and he a was chaste, learned, and honorable man. Pope John ordained him a deacon, and he was an eloquent speaker. His voice was sweet and all those who heard him rejoiced in him. The Pope handed him the administration of the papal place, and he did nothing without his advice. When Pope John put on him the garb of monks in the monastery, one of the elder monks shouted saying: \"This deacon whose name is Mark shall, rightly and fittingly sit upon the throne of his father Mark, the Evangelist.\"
When pope John departed, the bishops unanimously agreed to choose him Patriarch. He fled to the desert, but they caught up with him, brought him back, and enthroned him Patriarch on the second of Amshir, 515 A.M. (January 26th., 799 A.D.).
He tended to the churches needs, and restored those that were in a ruinous state. He returned many of the heretics to the Orthodox faith, healed many of the sick, and cast out, of many of them, devils. He told them: \"What had happened to you was because you dared to partake of the Holy Mysteries with irreverence, so keep yourselves henceforward from the evil words that come out of your mouth.\" In his days, the Muslim Arabs conquered the Greek Isles, captured many of their women and children, brought them to Alexandria, and started to sell them. The Pope gathered money from the believers, and beside the funds of the monasteries that he had, he was able to pay three thousand Dinars to save and free them. He wrote for them bills of manumission and set them free. He provided those who wished to return to their country with whatever they needed, and those who wished to stay, he gave them in marriage and protected them. He took thought for the church of the Redeemer in Alexandria and restored it, but some evil men burned it, so he restored it again.
When the Lord willed to give him rest, he became sick. He prayed the Divine Liturgy and partook of the Holy Mysteries. He bade the bishops that were present farewell and departed in peace after staying on the Chair 20 years, 2 months and 21 days.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 567 A.M. (April 17th., 851 A.D.), the holy father Pope Michael (Khail), 53rd Pope of Alexandria, departed.
This father was a righteous monk, and he was ordained hegumen for the monastery of the saint Abba John. Because of his good conduct, they chose him Patriarch, and he was enthroned in the 24th. of Hatour 566 A.M. (November 20th., 849 A.D.).
When the Holy Fast came, he went to the desert of Scetis to keep the fast there. He remembered his earlier life in the wilderness, so he asked God with tears and supplication saying: \"O God, you know how much I love solitary life and I have no aptitude for the position that I am in.\" The Lord accepted his petition and he departed in peace after the feast of Passover.
He stayed on the Chair one year, four months and twenty-eight days.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "michael 1 53rd pope see mark" } ], [ { "id": 233, "action": "On this day, of the year 307 A.D., the great among the martyrs St. George, was martyred. He was born in Cappadocia; his father's name was Anastasius, and his mother's name was Theobaste. When he was twenty years old, his father died, and he went to Emperor Diocletian to take over his father's position. He found that the Emperor had apostatized the faith and ordered the worship of idols. George was sorrowful, and he gave all his wealth to the poor and needy and set free his slaves.
When he saw the edict of the Emperor against the Christians, he became raged and tore it. They took him before the Emperor, and he cried in their middest saying: \"For how long you shall pour your anger against the innocent Christians, and force those who know the true faith to adopt the faith that you are in doubt of because it is fraudulent? So, either you believe on this true faith, or at least do not disturb with foolishness those who are steadfast in it.\" The Emperor asked Mephnanius, one of his ministers, to pacify and persuade him. He asked him: \"Who taught you to be daring like this.\" The Saint answered: \"It is the truth,\" then started to explain it to him. The Emperor interrupted, reminding the Saint with the ranks that he bestowed on him, and promised him with more if he denied his Christ. The Saint refused with pride all these vain propositions. The Emperor tortured him severely, but the Lord strengthened him and healed all his wounds.
When the Emperor was weary of torturing him, he brought a magician, whose name was Athanasius, who gave the Saint a cup full of poison to drink. St. George made the sign of the cross over the cup then drank it. When no harm came upon him, the magician believed in the Lord Christ, and received the crown of martyrdom. The Emperor became raged and ordered to squeeze him until he delivered up his soul, and they cast his body out side the city.
The Lord Christ raised him up, and the Saint returned to the city. When the people saw him, three thousand and seven hundred souls believed. The Emperor ordered to cut off their heads and they received the crown of martyrdom.
When St. George stood before Emperor Diocletian, along with seventy kings that were sitting around him, they asked the Saint: \"We wish you to make these chairs that we are sitting on to put forth leaves, and bear fruit.\" The Saint prayed to the Lord Christ, the Lord accepted his supplication and the chairs put forth leaves and bore fruit.
They took him once to a cemetery and asked him to raise the dead therein. He prayed to the Lord Christ. The Lord raised them and after they talked to them, they returned to their graves and died. A poor woman, brought her son, who was blind, deaf and dumb, he prayed to the Lord Christ then made the sign of the cross over him, and he was healed right away.
Diocletain, during all that, went on torturing St. George, until he was weary and bored of that. He started to be pleasant to the Saint and promised to give him his daughter in marriage if he would offer the incense to his gods. The Saint pretended that he accepted his offer, and the Emperor rejoiced and brought him into the royal palace. While St. George was praying the Psalms, the Empress heard him and asked him to explain to her what he had said. He began to interpret to her all the events from the creation of the world to the Incarnation of the Lord Christ, and his words entered her heart and she believed in the Lord Christ, to Whom is the Glory.
The Emperor ordered to call upon all the men of the city to gather, in order to see Saint George offering the incense to the Emperor's gods. When multitude gathered by the idols, Gawargios (George) stood and cried at the idols in the Name of the Lord Christ the Savior of the world. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed all the idols. The Emperor and all those who were with him were ashamed and he returned to his palace full of fury and wrath. The Empress told him: \"Didn't I tell you not to oppose the Galileans, for their God is strong and mighty?\" The Emperor was exceedingly wrath with her, for he knew that St. George had brought her also to his faith. The Emperor with rage ordered to comb her body with a steel comb, then cut off her head, and she received the crown of martyrdom. Finally, Diocletian decided to put an end to the humiliation that befell him, so he ordered to cut off the head of St. George, and he received the crown of martyrdom. A Christian took the body, wrapped it in expensive shrouds, and took it to the city of Lydda, his home town, and they built a great church on his name there.
His intercession be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "george prince martyrs" } ], [ { "id": 234, "action": "On this day, of the year 596 A.M. (April 19th., 880 A.D.), the great father Pope Sinuthius (Shenouda I), 55th Pope of the See of St. Mark, departed. This holy father was a monk in the monastery of St. Macarius. He advanced in righteousness and worship, and was ordained archpriest for the monastery.
Shortly after, he was chosen for the Patriarchate with the recommendation of the people and bishops. He was enthroned on the 13th. of Tubah 575 A.D. (January 8th., 859 A.D.), and great tribulations and severe persecutions befell him. God performed through him many signs and healed many grievous sicknesses.
Once there was a drought in the city of Mariout for three years, the wells dried up and the farm land became barren. This father came to the church of St. Mina, celebrated the Divine Liturgy, and supplicated God to have mercy upon His creation. At the setting of the sun of that day, the rain began lightly then ceased. This father entered his room and stood up praying and he said: \"O My Lord Christ, have mercy on Thy people with the riches of Thy compassion, and let them be filled with Thy good pleasure.\" Before he finished his prayer, mighty thunders and lightnings started, and the rain descended like a flood, until the wells, the vineyards, and the farms were filled with water. The people rejoiced, glorifying God the wonder worker.
When this father was in the wilderness visiting the monasteries, the Arabs of Upper Egypt came to the desert of Scetis to plunder the monasteries and kill the monks. The Pope took his staff that had the sign of the cross on it and he went forth to meet them, when they saw the Cross they retreated and fled away. (The account of this wonder is mentioned in the ninth day of the month of Baramoudah).
Some men, in a village called Boukhnessa, one of the villages of Mariout, said that He Who suffered for us was only a man and that the Divinity had departed from Him. This Pope wrote a letter and sent it during the Holy Fast (Lent) to be read in all the churches. He said in it, \"God the Word suffered for us in His Body, and His Divinity was not separated from His humanity, not for a twinkling of an eye. The pain and suffering did not touch and affect the Divinity, as when you hammer a red hot iron, the iron suffers from the hammering but not the flame. For the passion of the Humanity to be of value, the Hypostatic union with the Divinity was a must, and through this passion Christ redeemed all the humanity.\"
Also, some men from the city of El-Balyana, and their bishops, said that the Divine Nature died. When the father heard that, he wrote to them saying: \"The Nature of God, the Word, is unknowable, intangible, and impassable for it was impossible for the pain to affect its essence. The participation of the Divinity with the humanity in passion is moral participation, to give a value to these sufferings, to pay the debt of the humanity to God the Omnipresent, and that would only be possible if the Divinity would participate morally without affecting His essence. So we say \"Holy God, Who was crucified for us, have mercy upon us.\" When his letter reached them, they turned from their error, and the bishops came and confessed the true and right faith before the Pope and asked for forgiveness.
Pope Shenouda I, cared greatly for the churches, their buildings, and their needs. He also cared for the places wherein pilgrims sojourned, and what money has left to him, he gave to the poor and the needy. When he finished his good course, he departed in peace. He stayed on the Chair of St. Mark for 21 years, 3 months and 11 days.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Sina, the companion of St. Isidore, was martyred. After the Governor of Farma had tortured the two friends and St. Isidore was martyred, he kept St. Sina in the prison until he was removed.
When the new Governor took charge with the command not to keep any one who confessed the Name of Christ, he heard about the presence of Sina in prison, and that he was a captain of soldiers. St. Sina was tortured much but did not turn from his counsel. The Governor immediately ordered to cut off his head and he received the crown of martyrdom. His mother was beside him when he was martyred, and she saw a multitude of angels carrying away his soul as she saw St. Isidore's soul at the time of his martyrdom before.
They took his body, shrouded it, laid it with the body of his friend St. Isidore in the city of Samanoud, and many signs and wonders appeared from them.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "sina soldier" } ], [ { "id": 235, "action": "On this day, St. Sarah and her two sons, were martyred. She was from the city of Antioch, the wife of a man whose name was Socrates, one of the governors of Emperor Diocletian. This Governor had denied Christ to please Diocletian, pretending before his wife that he did that because of his fear from the Emperor.
Sarah had two sons, she could not baptize in Antioch, because of her fear from the Emperor and her husband. She took them and sailed to Alexandria to baptize them there. God willed to reveal the greatness of her faith as a lesson to the generations to come. God brought forth a great tempest and the ship was about to be wrecked and drown. Sarah was afraid that her sons would be drowned without being baptized. She prayed a long prayer, then she wounded her right breast, took some of her blood, anointed them making the sign of the cross upon the foreheads, and over the hearts. Then she dipped them in the sea three times saying: \"In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.\"
After that, the winds died down, a great calm came on the sea, and the ship sailed toward Alexandria. When she arrived, took her sons, went to the church, and handed them to Pope Peter, the seal of the martyrs. He baptized them, together with the children of the city. When the Pope carried one of her sons to baptize him, the water froze. The Pope went on baptizing other children and came back to her sons, but the water froze again. The same thing occurred on the third attempt. The Pope was amazed and asked their mother about her story. She told him about all what happened to her at sea and what she did for her sons. He glorified God and said: \"It is indeed one baptism.\"
When the woman returned to Antioch, her husband denounced what she had done. He related what happened to the Emperor accusing his wife with adultery. The Emperor brought her and reproached her saying: \"Why did you go to Alexandria to commit adultery with the Christians?\" The Saint answered him: \"Christians do not commit adultery, and do not worship idols, and after this do what you wish, for you will not hear another word from me.\"
The Emperor asked her: \"Tell me what did you do in Alexandria?\" When she did not answer him, he ordered to tie her hands behind her, and to place her two sons on her belly, and to bum all three of them. She turned her face to the east and prayed. They burnt her, with her sons. She delivered up her pure soul along with her sons, and they all received the crown of martyrdom.
Their prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also marks the commemoration of Sts. Babnuda (Paphnute) the hermit, Theodore the worshipper, and the One hundred martyrs, who were martyred in Persia.
Their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "babnuda paphnute hermit theodore worshipper one hundred martyrs" } ], [ { "id": 236, "action": "On this day, St. Sousenyos was martyred. This Saint was the son of one of the friends of Emperor Diocletian. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and strengthened his heart on receiving the crown of martyrdom, and he kept this in his heart.
The Emperor sent him to the city of Nicomedia to restore the worship of idols. This Saint sorrowed exceedingly. He sent and brought a priest who taught him the doctrine of the church, the facts of the faith and baptized him.
When his father knew that, he accused him to the Emperor that he did not worship the idols. The Emperor ordered to torture him with severe tortures, but the Lord strengthened and comforted him. Finally, they cut off his head, and he received the crown of martyrdom.
The number of those who had seen him during his torture and believed because of him, were eleven hundred and seventy. They were martyred and received the crown of martyrdom,
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 1009 A.M. (April 21st, 1293 A.D.), Pope Youannis VII, 78th Patriarch, departed. After the lay leaders of Cairo had nominated Pope Gabriel III for the Papacy, some of the lay leaders of Egypt agreed to choose Youannis Ebn Abi-Saaid El-Soukary. They threw an altar lot which fell on Gabriel, but Youannis, the above mentioned, along with his supporters, quarreled with Gabriel. Youannis nullified the result of the lot and was enthroned in the 6th. of Tubah 978 A.M. (January 15th., 1262 A.D.), after the departure of Pope Athanasius III, his predecessor.
He remained on the Patriarchal Chair six years, nine months, and nineteen days, then he was dismissed. Pope Gabriel took over his place from the 24th. of Babah 985 A.M. to the 6th. of Tubah 987 A.M., then he was dismissed. Youannis was reinstated by the order of El-Sultan on the 7th. of Tubah. During Pope Youannis' days, in the year 980 A.M., El-Sultan ordered to dig a huge pit and throw the Christians in it, to be burned. He brought the Patriarch and mandated him to pay fifty thousand Dinars, which took two years to collect. Consequently, they released the Christians who suffered much tribulations in his time, and the bishops suffered much afflictions. Pope Gabriel, his predecessor,. 317 departed during Pope Youannis second period of heading the church, so he was listed in the list of the Patriarchs before Youannis.
Pope Youannis remained on the Chair in his second time of heading the church 22 years, 3 months, and 19 days, and departed in peace in the 26th. of Baramoudah 1009 A.M. He was buried in the gardens of El-Nastour monastery.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pope youannis vii 78th patriarch" } ], [ { "id": 237, "action": "On this day, the honorable Saint Boctor (Victor) Ebn Romanus, the minister of Emperor Diocletian, was martyred. His mother Martha had reared him in the Christian ethics. He was promoted in the ranks in the kingdom until he became the third in succession. He was then twenty years old.
He prayed and fasted much, visited the prisoners and assisted the poor and needy. When they cut off the head of St. Theodata, the mother of Sts. Cosmas and Damian, no one dared to bury her because they feared the Emperor. This Saint went forth and took the body, shrouded it, then buried her, not caring about the Emperor's order.
St. Boctor often admonished his father for worshipping the idols, so his father accused him before the Emperor. The Emperor had him brought and asked him to worship the idols to obey the imperial order. The saint took off his soldier girdle and threw it in his face saying: \"Take your gift that you gave me.\" His father suggested to the Emperor to send him to Alexandria to be tortured there.
On their way, his mother bid him farewell, crying, and he asked her to care for the poor, the widows, and the lonely. When he arrived to Alexandria, the governor Armanius tortured him many tortures, then he sent him to the governor of Ansena, who tortured him also, then cut off his tongue and plucked out his eyes. The Lord strengthened and comforted him every time. There was a fifteen years old girl who was watching his torture from the window of her house. She saw a crown coming down over his head. She confessed that before the governor and all those who were present. The Governor ordered her head to be cut off and also the head of St. Boctor. They received the crown of life in the Kingdom of Heaven.
There is a district in Alexandria until now known as El Boctoriah (Victoria), named after this Saint, because probably there was a church on his name in this district.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "boctor ebn romanus" } ], [ { "id": 238, "action": "On this day, St. Milius, the ascetic, was martyred. This father was an ascetic and fighter all the days of his life. He dwelt in a cave with his two disciples in mount Khurasan.
The two sons of the king of Khurasan went out to hunt wild animals and they set up their nets. This Saint fell in their net, and he was dressed in sackcloth made of hair, and his hair was exceedingly long. When they saw him they were afraid of him and asked him: \"Are you a man or a demon?\" He answered: \"I am a sinful man and I dwell here in this mount to worship the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God.\" They told him: \"There is no God except the sun and the fire, offer the sacrifices to them lest we kill you.\" He answered them: \"These things have been created by God. You are not aware of the truth. It is preferable for you to worship the true God, the creator of all these things.\" They asked him: \"Do you claim that he Whom the Jews crucified is God?\" He said to them: \"Yes, He Who was crucified for our sins, and Who was killed and died, is God indeed.\" The two princes were raged of him. They seized his two disciples, tortured, and then slew them.
As for St. Milius, they continued to torture him for two weeks. Finally, they made him stand up between them and shot arrows at him until he departed in peace. On the following day they went on hunting, followed a wild beast, and shot arrows at him, and God turned their arrows into their own hearts killing them.
The prayers of this Saint be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "milius ascetic" } ], [ { "id": 239, "action": "On this day, St. Erastus, one of the Seventy Apostles, departed. He received the grace of the holy spirit in the upper room of Zion with the Disciples. He preached, ministered, and suffered along with them frequently.
They laid the hands on him, and ordained him bishop for Jerusalem. He taught there and in many other places, and God worked great signs and wonders on his hands. As example he changed bitter salty water to sweet water.
He labored with St. Paul the apostle in his many journeys, for he ministered unto him. He is mentioned in chapter nineteen of the Acts of the Apostles. After he reached a good old age, he departed in peace.
His prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Acacius, Bishop of Jerusalem, departed. He was a pure and righteous man. He was persecuted for a long time, and God wrought many signs and wonders by his hands, then departed in peace.
His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "acacius bishop jerusalem" } ], [ { "id": 240, "action": "The Martyrdom of the Great Saint Mark, the Apostle The Evangelist of the Land of Egypt
On this day, which coincided with the 26th. of April 68 A.D., the great apostle St. Mark, the evangelist of the land of Egypt, was martyred. He was the first Pope of Alexandria and one of the Seventy Apostles.
His name was John, as the Holy Bible says: \"He came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying\" (Acts 12:12). He was the one that the Lord Christ, to Whom is the glory, meant when He said: \"Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples\" (Matthew 26:18).
His house was the first Christian church, where they ate the Passover, hid after the death of the Lord Christ, and in its upper room the Holy Spirit came upon them.
This Saint was born in Cyrene (One of the Five Western cities, Pentapolis - in North Africa). His father's name was Aristopolus and his mother's name was Mary. They were Jewish in faith, rich and of great honor. They educated him with the Greek and Hebrew cultures. He was called Mark after they emigrated to Jerusalem, where St. Peter had become a disciple to the Lord Christ. St. Peter was married to the cousin of Aristopolus. Mark visited St. Peter's house often, and from him he learned the Christian teachings.
Once Aristopolus and his son Mark were walking near the Jordan river, close by the desert, they encountered a raving lion and a lioness. It was evident to Aristopolus that it would be his end and the end of his Son, Mark. His compassion for his son compelled him to order him to escape to save himself. Mark answered, \"Christ, in whose hands our lives are committed, will not let them prey on us.\" Saying this, he prayed, \"O, Christ, Son of God protect us from the evil of these two beasts and terminate their offspring from this wilderness.\" Immediately, God granted this prayer, and the two beasts fell dead. His father marvelled and asked his son to tell him about the Lord Christ. He believed in the Lord Christ at the hands of his son who baptized him.
After the ascension of the Lord Christ, he accompanied Paul and Barnabas to preach the Gospel in Antioch, Seleucia, Cyprus, Salamis, and Perga Pamphylia where he left them and returned to Jerusalem. After the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem, he went with Barnabas to Cyprus.
After the departure of Barnabas, with the order of the Lord Christ, St. Mark went to Afrikia, Berka, and the Five Western cities. He preached the Gospel in these parts, and believed on his hands most of its people. From there, he went to Alexandria in the 1st. of Bashans 61 A.D.
When he entered the city, his shoe was torn because of the much walking in preaching and evangelism. He went to a cobbler in the city, called Anianus, to repair it. While he was repairing it the awl pierced his finger. Anianus shouted in Greek saying \"EIS THEOS\" which means \"O, ONE GOD\". When St. Mark heard these words his heart rejoiced exceedingly. He found it suitable to talk to him about the One God. The Apostle took some clay, spat on it and applied it to Anianus' finger, saying in the Name of Jesus Christ the Son of God, and the wound healed immediately, as if nothing happened to it.
Anianus was exceedingly amazed from this miracle that happened in the Name of Jesus Christ, and his heart opened to the word of God. The Apostle asked him about who was the only God that he cried for when he was injured. Anianus replied \"I heard about him, but I do not know him.\" St. Mark started explaining to him from the beginning, the creation of heaven and earth, the transgression and fall of Adam, the flood, how God sent Moses, who brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, and gave them the Law, the captivity of the children of Israel to Babylon, and the prophecies that foretold the coming of Christ.
Anianus invited him to go to his house and brought to him his children. The Saint preached and baptized them in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
When the believers in the Name of Christ increased and the pagan people of the city heard that, they were raged with anger and thought of slaying St. Mark. The faithful advised him to get away for a short while for the sake of the safety of the church and its care. St. Mark ordained St. Anianus a Bishop for Alexandria, three priests and seven deacons. He went to the Five Western Cities, remained there for two years preaching, and ordained bishops, priests, and deacons.
He returned to Alexandria where he found the believers had increased in number, and built a church for them in the place known as Bokalia (The place of cows), east of Alexandria on the sea shore.
It came to pass, when he was celebrating the feast of the Resurrection on the 29th day of Baramudah, year 68 A.D., the same day coincided with the great pagan Celebration for the feast of the god Syrabis, a multitude of them assembled and attacked the church at Bokalia and forced their way in. They seized St. Mark, bound him with a thick rope and dragged him in the roads and streets crying, \"Drag the dragon to the place of Cows.\" They continued dragging him with severe cruelty. His flesh was torn and scattered everywhere, and the ground of the city was covered with his blood. They cast him that night into a dark prison.
The angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him: \"O Mark, the good servant, rejoice for your name has been written in the book of life, and you have been counted among the congregation of the saints.\" The angel disappeared, then the Lord Christ appeared to him, and gave him peace. His soul rejoiced and was glad.
The next morning (30th of Baramudah), the pagans took St. Mark from the prison. They tied his neck with a thick rope and did the same as the day before, dragging him over the rocks and stones. Finally, St. Mark delivered up his pure soul in the hand of God, and received the crown of martyrdom, the apostolic crown, the crown of evangelism, and the crown of virginity.
Nevertheless, St. Mark's death did not satisfy the rage of the pagans and their hatred. They gathered much firewood and prepared an inferno to burn him. A severe storm blew and heavy rains fell. The pagans became frightened, and they fled away in fear.
The believers came and took the holy body, carried it to the church they built at Bokalia, wrapped it up, prayed over him and place it in a coffin. They laid it in a secret place in this church.
The prayers of this great Saint and honorable Evangelist be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "great mark apostle evangelist land egypt" } ], [ { "id": 241, "action": "The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Mother of God
On this day the church celebrates the birth of the pure Virgin St. Mary, the Mother of God (Theotokos), through whom Salvation came to mankind. She was born in the city of Nazareth, where her parents lived. Her father was grieved in his heart for he could not offer an offering to God for he did not have any children. In the fullness of time according to the Divine Will, the angel of the Lord was sent to announce Joachim, her father, while he was on the mountain praying, and said to him: \"The Lord will give you offspring through whom salvation comes to the world.\"
Immediately he went down the mountain believing what the angel told him, and he told his wife Anna of what he saw and heard. She rejoiced, gave thanks to the Lord, and vowed that the child who was to be born to her would become a servant in the house of the Lord all the days of her/his life. She conceived, and gave birth to this Saint and called her Mary who had become the Queen of all women of the world, and through her we have received the grace.
May her intercession be with us, and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "nativity blessed virgin mary mother god" } ], [ { "id": 242, "action": "On this day the righteous Job departed. He was a righteous man in his generation and upright in his time, as the bible testified about him: \"... there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?\" (Job 1:8) The devil envied him and asked God to allow him to harm Job and to destroy his wealth. God allowed that, because of His foreknowledge of the patience and perseverance of Job and that he would be an example and a model for those who come after him as the bible said: \"You have heard of the perseverance of Job
and seen the end intended by the Lord\" (James 5:11). In one day, Job lost his sons and daughters, his cattle, and all his wealth. In addition, the evil one also stricken his body with a Leprosy from his head to his feet. In all this Job offered thanksgiving and praise to God, and never murmured or grumbled against his Creator. All what he said was: \"May the day perish on which I was born\" (Job 3:3). He said also about the loss of his children: \"The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.\" (Job 1:21) \"In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong\" (Job 1:22).
The thing that hurt Job the most, was the harsh words of his wife and his friends. His wife advised him to blaspheme, but Job refused, and rebuked her saying: \"You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?\" In all this Job did not sin with his lips\" (Job 2:10).
Job remained sick for 30 years until he was purified as gold is purified with fire. At last the Lord spoke to him from the clouds and healed him from his sickness and doubled the wealth he had and gave him other sons and daughters. He lived to a good old age and departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also St. Tadros (Theodore) the disciple of St. Pachomius, the father of the spiritual monastic communal life (Coenobitic system), departed. He became monk at a young age under the guidance of Anba Pachomius and showed great asceticism, with extraordinary obedience, so that St. Pachomius loved him and he delegated him to preach to the brethren.
When St. Pachomius departed, St. Tadros replaced him. He was a good example in meekness and patience. When he completed his course, and finished his strife, he departed to the Lord whom he loved.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Philothaos was martyred. He was from the people of \"Doronka\" in the province of Assuit. He was tortured without denying his faith and finally he received the crown of martyrdom in the year 1096 A.M.
May his intercession be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "philothaos" } ], [ { "id": 243, "action": "On this day St. Jason, one of the seventy disciples who were chosen by the Lord, departed. He ministered with the disciples before the passion of the Savior, and performed many signs and wonders. Then he was supported by the grace and power on the day of Pentecost. He was born in Tarsus, and was the first to believe from this city. He accompanied St. Paul on his evangelical missions, and journeyed with him to many countries. He was arrested with St. Paul and Silas in Thesalonica, and when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. (Acts 17:9)
He was ordained bishop by St. Paul over Tarsus where he shepherded the church of Christ with the best of care. He preached the Gospel also in the city of Korkiras, many believed on his hands and he baptized them. He built for them a church in the name of St. Stephen the Archdeacon. When the Governor of the city knew about this, he arrested him and imprisoned him. He met seven thieves in the prison, taught them the faith and baptized them. They confessed their faith in the Lord Christ openly before the Governor who put them in a caldron filled with tar and sulphur, they departed and were granted the crown of martyrdom.
Then, the Governor brought St. Jason from the prison, and tortured him with much torture but he was not harmed. The daughter of the Governor watched this torture from her window and she believed in the Lord Christ, the God of St. Jason. She took off her jewelry and ornaments and distributed them among the poor, and confessed that she was Christian and believed in the God of Jason. Her father became angry, he threw her in prison, and ordered to throw arrows at her. She gave up her pure spirit in the hand of Christ whom she loved.
The Governor sent St. Jason to one of the islands to be tortured there. He took a boat with some soldiers to this island, and God drowned them all and saved St. Jason, who continued to teach and preach for many years until another Governor was installed. The new Governor brought him and the Christians who were with him, and tortured them much. When the Governor saw that his torture did not harm their bodies, he and all those in his city also believed in the Lord Christ Who only Has the power to protect His chosen one. The Saint baptized them all, taught them the commandments of the Gospel, and built for them churches. God performed through him many miracles and signs. He departed in a good old age.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Otimus the priest was martyred. He was born in Fowwa, and because of his righteousness, he was ordained a priest for his city. He taught and confirmed the faithful in the faith. Afterwards, he moved to mount Ansena. When Emperor Diocletian incited the persecution against the Christians, the account of this Saint reached Arianus the governor of Ansena. He brought him and offered him to worship the idols, and the Saint did not hearken to his orders. He tortured him much, but the Lord strengthened him. When the Governor became weary of his torturing, he ordered him to be burned. He was burned and received the crown of martyrdom.
His body was taken by a God fearing priest, who shrouded the body and hid it in a place until the end of the time of persecution. They built him a church where God revealed many miracles. It is believed that his body still exists in the city of Kalabsha near El-Santa.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 1094 A.M. (April 1378 A.D.), Pope Gabriel the fourth, the 86th Patriarch, departed. He was the abbot of the monastery of El-Moharrak. He sat on the apostolic throne on the 11th of Tubah, 1086 A.M. (January 6th, 1370 A.D.).
He was a great scholar and righteous ascetic. During his time, in the year 1370 A.D., a great light appeared during the night which looked like a day light and lingered until dawn. In 1371 A.D., there was a great flood in the river Nile valley which threatened to drown all the land.
He was contemporary of El-Sultan Shabaan and El-Sultan Ali Ebn-Shabaan El Mansour. He sat on the throne for 8 years, three months, and twenty two days. He was buried beside Simeon the shoe maker.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pope gabriel iv 86th patriarch alexandria" } ], [ { "id": 244, "action": "On this day of the year 221 A.M. (April 29th., 505 A.D.), Pope John the first, the twenty ninth Pope of Alexandria, departed. This father was born in Alexandria to Christian parents, and was attracted since his youth to the monastic life. He became a monk in the wilderness of St. Macarius, and he was chosen Patriarch after the departure of his predecessor Pope Athanasius the second. He did not accept but was taken by force by the bishops, priests, and lay leaders and ordained him on the first of Babah of the year 213 A.M. (September 29th., 496 A.D.). After his enthronement, he gave special attention to education and preaching for the edification and the steadfastness of the faithful in the Orthodox faith. He was the first Patriarch to be chosen from among the monks.
The Roman Emperor in Constantinople, at that time, was the righteous Emperor Zenon. For this reason the hand of the Patriarch was strengthened in spreading the Orthodox faith in all of Egypt. The Emperor sent all the needs of the monasteries from wheat, oil, wine and money to renew the buildings of their cells and to restore their churches. All the days of this pope were days of peace and tranquility. When he finished his good course, he became sick for a short time, and then departed in peace, after he had been on the throne of St. Mark for eight years and seven months.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 882 A.M. (April 29th., 1166 A.D.), Pope Yoannis the fifth, the 72nd. Patriarch of Alexandria, departed. He was John the monk from the monastery of Abu-Yehnis (John). He was enthroned on the 2nd. of El-Nasi (Intercalary days), year 863 A.M. (August 25th., 1147 A.D.) He was a holy, righteous, and pure man. In his days, the Copts (El-Nasarah - Christians) were persecuted by the Moslem governors (Emams) and Khalifas, and many were killed or sold as slaves. A monk named \"Bashnouna\" from the monastery of St. Macarius was martyred on the 24th. of Bashons year 880 A.M. (1164 A.D.) and his body was burned for he refused to change his faith. The bones of this Saint were preserved in the church of Abu-Serga. They also destroyed the church of St. Mina in Haret El-Rome, and the church of El-Zohari and many other churches in different parts of Cairo after they plundered what was in them. But God permitted these churches to be rebuilt by the Coptic layman Abu El-Fakher Salib Ebn-Mikhail.
The Patriarch was arrested during the days of El-Aadel Ebn El-Selar and was imprisoned because he refused to ordain a Metropolitan for Ethiopia instead of its Metropolitan who was still alive. The metropolitan name was Anba Michael El-Atfihi who was ordained by Pope Macarius. The Pope was released two weeks later because of the death of El-Aadel.
During the days of this Patriarch, the words \"Life-giving\" was added to the confession which became: \"This is the life-giving Flesh that Thine Only-Begotten Son, Our Lord, God and Savior, Jesus Christ, took from our Lady ...\"
He departed after he had been on the throne of St. Mark for 18 years, 8 month, and 4 days.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pope yoannis fifth seventy second patriarch" } ], [ { "id": 245, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Jeremiah the Prophet
On this day, the prophet Jeremiah, one of the major prophets, the son of Hilkiah the priest, was martyred. He prophesied in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah and Jehoiakim son of Josiah. God had chosen him for He said: \"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations\" (Jr 1:5). He rebuked the children of Israel for they left the worship of God and rejected His Commandments. He warned them of the anger of God if they did not return on their transgressions. When he saw their hard hearts and the fast approaching judgement of the Lord, he prayed fervently weeping so that God might forgive the sins of his people. God rejected his prayers with regard to those who did not obey him, and He moved Nebuchadnezzar to besiege Jerusalem. His soldiers conquered it under the leadership of Nebuzardan who killed many of them inside the city. After they had taken all the precious possessions of the temple, the king's palace, and the nobles of the people, they took with them all those who were left alive to Babylon. Among those who were driven to exile was the prophet Jeremiah. Nevertheless, when Nebuzardan saw him bound with the rest, he set him free. He then wrote his \"Lamentations\" for the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, the temple and the exile of his people for 70 years in babylon.
This Prophet prophesied about the coming of Our Lord and Savior, and His sufferings and passion. His life ended when the jews themselves stoned him in Egypt, and he died a martyr in prison.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "jeremiah prophet" } ], [ { "id": 246, "action": "On this day, St. Isaac El-Defrawi was martyred. He was born in the city of Defra, district of Tanta. When he grew up, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a vision, and told him to go to the town of Towwa, district of Beba, to receive the crown of martyrdom. He instantly went to his parents to bid them farewell, they wept and forbade him from doing that. The angel of the Lord appeared to him again and took him out of the town. When he arrived to Towwa, he professed his faith before the Governor saying: \"I believe in the Lord Christ\". The Governor placed him under guard until he had returned from the city of Nakyos.
It happened when St. Isaac was passing by, with the soldier, a blind man, was sitting on the wayside, asked him to give him sight. He said to him: \"Do not say give me, but let it be according to your faith\", and then he prayed to the Lord Christ for his sake, and the man was given sight straightaway. When the soldier saw that, he believed. When the Governor returned, the soldier confessed the Lord Christ before him, he ordered to cut off his head, and received the crown of martyrdom.
The Governor became angry at St. Isaac, and tormented him severely, then sent him to the city of El-Bahnasa to be tortured there. It happened when he was in the boat, he asked for a drink, and a sailor gave him little of water, and the man was with one eye. The Saint took some of the water and poured it over him, and the man received the sight in his blind eye immediately. When the Saint arrived to El-Bahnasa, the Governor tortured him severely, but the Lord comforted and healed him and finally the Governor ordered him to be beheaded, and he received the crown of life. Some of the faithful took his body and carried it to his town Defra and buried him there. Then they built a church after his name.
May his intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 395 A.D., the blessed father St. Macarius of Alexandria departed. He was a contemporary of St. Macarius the great (Senior), the father of the monks, and for this reason, he was called St. Macarius, the Junior. He became a monk at one of the monasteries near by Alexandria. For his asceticism, he became the father and the spiritual guide for all the monk's cells in the area that near by Alexandria, so he was also called the father of the cells.
He practiced many worships and possessed many virtues in his ascetic life. Among these practices, he once stayed for five days with his thoughts in heaven, occupied with early Saints, prophets, angels, apostles and the Lord Christ, while he was standing on his sleeping mat. After two nights, the devils started to scratch his feet, twisting themselves as snakes around his feet. They also showed him fire in his cell, however with patience, the fire and the phantoms disappeared. On the fifth day, he could not control his thoughts with regards to the needs of life. This happened so that he would not become proud of what he had spiritually achieved. He said to himself: \"I have remained in the ascetic life for 50 years, and they had not been like these five days.\"
After he had managed the schools of those were seeking to be baptized, he lived alone (Recluse) in the year 335 A.D. in el-Natroun desert, where he became the abbot of all the monasteries in this desert.
It happened that he walked in the desert for several days in unpaved road, and was placing sticks of reed during the way to help him recognize the way to come back. When he wanted to return, he found the devil had removed all the sticks to mislead him. When he became thirsty, God sent him a wild cow, and he drank from its milk, until he returned to his cell.
One day a hyena came to him and pulled his garment. He followed her to her den, and it brought out her three young ones. He found that they were all malformed, and was amazed from the intelligence of the animal. He prayed and put his hands on them, and they were healed. The hyena disappeared for a while, and she came back with a sheep skin which he used to sleep on until his departure.
At one time, the thoughts of pride disturbed him until he was weary of it. These thoughts invited him to come to Rome to heal the sick there, instead of them suffering the travel to him. He slept in his cell, and extended his feet outside the cell, and said to his thoughts: \"You can travel now if you can.\" When his thoughts went on disturbing him, he carried on his shoulder a basket full of sand, and walked in the desert until he became physically tired, the thoughts of pride left him, and he rested.
Once, he went to the monastery of St. Pachomius in a layman's garment, and stayed there during the forty days of Lent. No one saw him eating or sitting down. He was making baskets of palm leaves while he was standing. The monks said to St. Pachomius: \"Cast out this man from here, for he is not human.\" He asked them to be patient until God reveals his story to them. St. Pachomius inquired of God about him, and God told him that he was St. Macarius of Alexandria. They were all happy to hear that, they welcomed him and received his blessings. When he found that his virtues have been revealed, he returned to his monastery.
It happened that it did not rain for some time in Alexandria, and the Patriarch called him. When he arrived to Alexandria, the rain started to fall, and it continued to rain until they asked him to stop it. He prayed and God stopped it.
Emperor Valens exiled him with St. Macarius the great to one of the islands. They guided its people to the Christian faith, and then they returned to their monasteries.
He considered that the virtue that was revealed and became known to everyone, was rendered useless. When he heard that someone had a virtue that he did not have, he practiced this virtue until he mastered it more than him.
He completed his life in a good spiritual conduct until he reached a good old age, and departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, father Papnoda (Paphnute) who was from El-Bandarah, departed.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "paphnute el-bandarah" } ], [ { "id": 247, "action": "The Departure of St. Athanasius the Apostolic the 20th. Pope of Alexandria
On this day of the year 89 A.M. (373 A.D.) the great Pope Anba Athanasius the apostolic, the 20th. Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was born to pagan parents about the year 295 - 298 A.D. It happened that when he was in school, he saw some Christian children acting the Christian retuals some as priests, some as deacons and one of them as a bishop. He asked their permission to participate with them, but they refused saying: \"You are pagan, and you are not allowed to mix with us.\" He answered them: \"I am from now on a Christian.\" They rejoiced with him, they made him a patriarch over them in the play, they enthroned him on a high place, and they offered him honor and respect. At that time pope Alexandros passed by, when he saw them, he said to those who were with him about Athanasius: \"This child would be in a great position one day.\"
When Athanasius' father died, his mother brought him to Pope Alexandros, who taught them the principles of the Christian faith and baptized them. They gave their money to the poor, and stayed with the Pope, who taught Athanasius the church subjects, and ordained him deacon and made him a personal secretary. The gifts of the Holy spirit increased in him. He was chosen Patriarch on the 8th. of Bashans of the year 44 A.M. (May 5th., 328 A.D.) after the departure of Pope Alexanderos.
Pope Alexanderos had recommended Athanasius, his deacon, for the Papacy, who lived with St. Antonios the father of the monks and followed his example in asceticism. He manifested his brilliancy in exposing \"Arius\" in the universal council, when Arius said about Christ that he was \"similar\" in essence with the Father, St. Athanasius said: \"One in essence with the Father.\" In this fashion he manifested his excellence.
St. Athanasius hid himself in the mountains, after the departure of Pope Alexanderos for he believed of his unworthiness to this serious and important position. The people sought him until they found him, and brought him to the bishops, and was ordained Pope in 328 A.D. The historian Socrates testified about him saying: \"Athanasius fluency in speech and his outspokenness in the council of Nicea brought over him all the hardships that he encountered in his life.\"
After he became a Pope, he ordained for Ethiopia its first Metropolitan whose name was Anba \"Salama\". The church of Ethiopia have followed the church of Alexandria since that time. The spiritual and religious state in Ethiopia had established and settled since that time.
St. Athanasius was exiled away from his Chair five times: | | | |
The First Exile:
Arius, after he had been excommunicated, tried to return to Alexandria, by sending a misleading and flattering letter to Emperor Constantine, which touched him. The Emperor asked Pope Athanasius to take him back. Athanasius refused to accept him because that would be a contradiction to the decision of the Universal Council.
The Arians accused Pope Athanasius with these charges:
1. That he supported pope Philominus who rebelled against the government.
2. That he broke the communion cup of the priest Eskira, and destroyed his altar.
3. That he killed bishop Arsanius, and used his arms in sorcery.
4. That he also raped a nun.
The Pope cleared himself from the first charge. A council was assembled in Tyre, most of the attendants were Arians, were against Athanasius to look into these charges. In the second charge, the Lord moved the priest Eskira's heart, who had conspired with them to testify falsely against him, and he cleared the Pope from that charge.
With regard of the third charge, Arsanius the bishop, who had agreed with them to accuse the Pope falsely for his murder, came to the council. Pope Athanasius kept him in an adjacent room. The Arians brought two arms of a dead person and claimed that they were the arms of Arsanius. Then Arsanius was brought in, and showed his arms to the council and declared his regrets. The Arians said that Athanasius was a sorcerer and he was able to make arms for him. They became violent against Arsanius who left the council and went to the Emperor.
Then they looked in the matter of the rape, they brought a harlot who claimed that Athanasius raped her. One of the entourage of Pope Athanasius, a priest called Timothy said to her: \"How dare you to say that I came to your house, and overpowered your will?\" She thought that the priest was Athanasius for she did not know him, and she said: \"You are\". At once the false claim was exposed.
Athanasius could not meet the Emperor because of the interferences of the Arians, who accused him before the Emperor that he prevented the export of the wheat from Alexandria to the Emperor. The Emperor gave his order to exile Athanasius to Trefe (Treves) in France in February 5th., 335 A.D. where its bishop had met him with great honor.
Arius died a horrible death as Socrates said: \"God made Arius to die in a public washroom, where his bowels poured out of his body, and the people regarded his death as a punishment from the Divine Justice.\"
When the Emperor heard about the death of Arius, he recognized the innocence of Athanasius, and recommended while he was on his death bed, in the year 337 A.D. that Athanasius be returned to Alexandria. After the departure of Constantine, the Empire was divided, Constantine II over France, Egypt became under the rule of Constantius, and Constance over Italy.
With the mediation of Constantine, the Pope returned in the year 338 A.D. The people of Alexandria received him with great joy.
The Second Exile:
The Arians did not stop at that, but assembled a council, where they excommunicated Athanasius. They appointed instead someone called Gregory, and they sent their decision to Julius, Bishop of Rome. Pope Athanasius assembled a council in Alexandria in 340 A.D. where he protested against the Arians, then he wrote a letter to all the churches to declare his innocence.
However, the Arians influenced Philogorius to help to install their appointed Patriarch Gregory to take over the churches of Alexandria, and they also influenced Emperor Constantius. The people of Alexandria were horrified, and decided to resist, but the Arians attacked the churches in Alexandria on Good Friday, raped and slained many worshipers.
Pope Athanasius sought the help of all the churches in the world, left his Chair, and traveled to Rome. A council was assembled in Sardica, where they declared:
a. The innocence of Pope Athanasius
b. Confirmed the cannons and the Creed of faith of the Council of Nicea.
c. They excommunicated the Arian bishops.
d. Deposed Gregory from his office.
They delegated two bishops to meet Emperor Constans, the ruler of Italy, who agreed on what the council had decided, and threatened his brother Emperor Constantius with war if he did not return Athanasius to Alexandria. At the same time, some Egyptian radicals rose up and killed Gregory in 349 A.D. Athanasius returned for the second time to his Chair, and the people received him with joy. Gregory the Theologian, the writer of the liturgy, described this reception saying: \"The people came as the flood of the Nile,\" and he also pointed out to the palm branches, the carpets, and the many clapping hands.
The Third Exile:
The Arians did not like the return of Athanasius to Alexandria, and waited unwillingly until the death of Emperor Constans. The Arians accused Athanasius before Constantius that he collaborated with Magneutius who was the enemy of the Emperor. Constantius obtained a condemnation of Athanasius and his exile from a council assembled at Arles and another one at Milan. The soldiers went to the church of St. Mary which was built by Pope Theonas (The 16th. Patriarch). Athanasius was praying the Vespers service. The soldiers rushed inside the church to arrest him, but God blinded them from recognizing him from the rest of the people and the lamps were extinguished. Athanasius escaped and went to the desert, and remained for sometime with the monks. The Arians appointed George of Cappadocia, bishop on Alexandria, but the Orthodox refused to accept him and anathematized him. He took over all the churches and its properties. Nevertheless, the pagans whom he persecuted, killed him and burnt his body.
The Fourth Exile:
After the death of Constantius, Julian his cousin became Emperor. He wanted to rally the people of Alexandria so he returned Athanasius. Athanasius assembled a council in 362 A.D., and provided conditions for the acceptance of the Arians that wish to return to the church. He also gave a special attention to the preaching among the pagans. This was not appreciated by Emperor Julian, who loved and supported the pagans.
He ordered the arrest of Athanasius. Athanasius went out of Alexandria, and took a boat to Upper Egypt. The Governor followed him in another boat, and when he approached the boat of Athanasius, he asked about the boat of the Pope. They said to him that he was not too far away. The Governor went on his way in hurry but he did not find Athanasius, for he hid himself in another place.
Those around the Pope were greatly saddened because of the much tribulations that befell him. Athanasius told them, that in times of persecution, he felt great inner peace and that God took care of him and embraced him with His grace more than any other time in his life. He also said: \"The persecution of Emperor Julian is like a summer cloud that will go away.\" While they were in these conversation, the news came to them that Julian was killed in his war with the Persians, and that he was killed by St. Mercurius (Abu Sefain), and that he said just before his death: \"You have overcome me, O You son of Mary.\"
The Fifth Exile:
Jovian became Emperor after Julian had been killed, then Valens became Emperor and he was Arian. In 367 A.D. valens ordered the exile of Athanasius again. Athanasius was forced to leave Alexandria and hid in the tomb of his father. Meanwhile, the Emperor killed 30 bishops who were pro-Athanasius. The Emperor saw the determination of the Copts, and decided to lift the persecution, and to return Athanasius to his Chair in 368 A.D.
Although Athanasius reached the age of 72, he did not compromise in performing his duties. For his steadfastness and his firm stand for justice, the world described him by the saying: \"Athanasius against the world.\"
He wrote several books about the Arians, on the Incarnation, and other subjects. Abba Cosma (The 44th. Patriarch) praised these publications by saying: \"I ask anyone who would find the books of Athanasius to write them on paper, and for those who could not find paper, to write them on their clothes.\"
Athanasius was the first Pope to wear the monastic tunic from the hand of St. Antonios. He made it the uniform for bishops and patriarchs. He was the one who ordained St. Antonios a priest, and then Archpriest.
He departed in peace after he had been on the Apostolic Throne for forty five years.
May his prayers be with us, and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "athanasius apostolic 20th pope" } ], [ { "id": 248, "action": "On this day St. John of Senhout, departed. He was born in Senhout, his father's name was Macarius and his mother's name was Anna.
It came to pass that when he was tending the sheep flock of his father, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, showed him a crown of light and said to him: \"Why are you sitting here while many others are persecuted, now rise up and go to the city of Atrib (Banha), struggle for the Name of the Lord Christ\"; then the angel gave him the salutation of peace and departed from him. He bade farewell to his parents, went to the Governor, and confessed the Lord Christ before him. The Governor delivered him to one of the soldiers to entreat him kindly that perhaps he would change his mind and be obedient to him. However the Saint performed several miracles before the soldier that made him also believe in the Lord Christ and received the crown of martyrdom by the hands of the Governor. The Governor became angry and tortured the Saint with every kind of torture, but the Lord strengthened him and made him to endure it. Then the Saint was sent to Ansena (Antinoe), where he was again tortured. At the end they cut off his head by the sword. Julius El Akfahasy took his body, shrouded, and sent it to his town Senhout. The people received him with hymns and praise, and placed him in the church. The body of the Saint now is located in Shoubra El-Khema in Egypt.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also the holy father Anba Daniel the Archpriest of Sheahat (Scetis), departed. He was perfect and pure father. When his fame was noised abroad, many came to him among whom was St. Anastasia disguised in a man's apparel. She became a nun, and lived in a cell near him for 28 years and no one knew who he (She) was.
One day, the Saint saw a person whose name was Olagi (Eulogius), who worked as a stone cutter for a Karat of gold each day. With a very small portion of this he lived and with the remainder he fed the poor without saving any thing. When Abba Daniel saw his good fight and the excellence of his deeds, he asked God to give Olagi more money to increase his deeds of mercy. God answered his prayer, and Olagi found a treasure when he was cutting the stones, which he took and went to Constantinople. With the newly found money he became a minister to the Emperor, and forsake the deeds of mercy.
When St. Daniel heard about this, he went to Constantinople, and found what had become of Olagi, and that he had abandoned his deeds of mercy. Then the Saint saw in a vision as if the Lord Christ is sitting judging among the people and that he commanded to crucify St. Daniel and demanded from him the lost soul of Olagi. When the Saint rose up from his sleep, he went back to his monastery, and entreated God to bring Olagi back to his former state. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and rebuked him for rejecting God's judgement of His creation. Afterwards, the Emperor of Constantinople died and another reigned who dismissed Olagi and took his money and wanted to kill him. He escaped in order to save his life and returned to his town to cut the stones as before. Anba Daniel met Olagi and told him all what had happened to him because of him.
Many hardships befell St. Daniel because of the faith, and God manifested many miracles through him. He knew in advance the time of his departure from this world, he gathered all the monks around him, commanded, strengthened, and comforted them and then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us, and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "daniel archpriest sheahat scetis" } ], [ { "id": 249, "action": "On this day of 327 A.D., St. Helena the Empress, departed. She was born in the city of Raha (Edessa) for Christian parents about the year 247 A.D. They brought her up in a Christian manner, taught her the doctrine of the church and the religious ethics. She was very beautiful. When Emperor Constantius the First, Emperor of Byzantium, came to the city of Raha, and heard about this Saint, he sought her out and married her. She gave birth to Constantine who became the first Christian Emperor. She raised him up well, and taught him philosophy, wisdom and knighthood. During the reign of her son, she saw a vision at night as if one said to her: \"Go to Jerusalem and search carefully for the Honorable Cross and the Holy places.\" When she informed her son about this, he sent her with many soldiers to Jerusalem.
She searched for the wood of the Honorable Cross until she found it along with the other two crosses whereon the two thieves were crucified. She wanted to know which was the cross of the Lord Christ. St. Macarius, bishop of Jerusalem, told her that it was the cross that was written on the top of it: \"This is Jesus, king of the Jews.\" She asked him that she wished to see a miracle to make sure that it was the cross of the Lord. By the Will of God, a procession of a dead man was passing by at that time. She placed the other two crosses on the body of the dead man, but he did not rise. When she placed the third cross, straightway the dead rose up. Her faith increased and her joy multiplied. She built many churches as it is written under the 17th. day of the month of Tute. She gave the needed money to build the churches to St. Macarius, she took the honorable Cross and the nails and returned to her righteous son Emperor Constantine. He kissed the Cross and placed it in a case made of gold and decorated with precious stones, and placed some of the nails in his helmet.
St. Helena led a righteous life, and she endowed many endowments for the churches, monasteries and the poor. She departed at age of eighty.
May her prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 1168 A.M. (May 4th., 1452 A.D.) Pope Yoannis the eleventh, the 89th. Patriarch of Alexandria, departed. He was known as Yoannis El-Maksi for he was from El-Maksa in Cairo. His name was Farag before his ordination. He was enthroned Patriarch on the 16th. of Bashans, 1143 A.M. (May 11th., 1427 A.D.). He sat on the throne of St. Mark for 24 years, 11 month, and 23 days. His residence was in the patriarchal cell in Haret Zewala. When he departed, he was buried in the tomb of the monastery of El-Khandak. The Chair remained unoccupied after his departure, for four month and six days. He was contemporary to the rulers El-Ashraf, El-Aziz, El-Zaher, and El-Mansour. He encountered many hardships that required the intervention of the kings of Ethiopia who threatened the Egyptian government to cut the flow of the Nile because of the persecution of El-Nasara (The Copts, the Nazarenes). The Patriarch was forbidden to communicate with the kings of Ethiopia and Nubia without the permission and knowledge of the rulers of the government.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also of the year 1319 A.M. (May 14th., 1603 A.D.), Pope Gabriel the eighth, the 97th. Patriarch of Alexandria, departed during the reign of Sultan Ahmad the first, the Ottoman. He was from Meer, and became a monk in Anba Bishoy monastery in the wilderness of Sheahat (Scetis). His name was Shenouda, and was ordained Patriarch on sunday the 16th. of Baounah 1303 A.M. (June 20th., 1587 A.D.). The enthronement celebration was headed by Anba Zacharias, Bishop of Jerusalem, and Anba Kyrellos El-Khiami, in the church of St. Mercurius in Old Cairo. At the time of his ordination, the Copts were divided, and they chose for themselves four patriarchs, and they deposed him. He returned later on to his Chair at the time of Sultan Mourad the third, the Ottoman and his papacy was confirmed.
It came to pass (As was written in a document in St. Antonios monastery) that he decreed that the fast of the Apostles must start on the 21st. of Baounah until the 5th. of Abib, and that there should be no fasting during the three days of Nineva, the Advent fast should start on the first of Kiahk, and that the fast of the Virgin be left optional. All the Copts at that time approved what he had decreed. However, after his departure, they returned back to the old tradition of fasting.
He departed in the monastery of the Virgin Mary known as El-Sourian, after he had been on the throne of St. Mark for fifteen years, ten month, and twenty four days.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "gabriel eighth 97th patriarch alexandria" } ], [ { "id": 250, "action": "The Departure of the Three Hebrew Young Men Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael
On this day is the commemoration of the departure of the three young men the Saints: Hananiah (Ananias), Azariah (Azarias) and Mishael (Misael). These Saints were the sons of Jehoiakim king of Judah. They were exiled by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. When Nebuchadnezzar chose some of the exiled young men to be in his service. These young men and Daniel, their cousin, among those who were chosen. Ashpenaz the master of the eunuchs gave them other names: he gave Daniel the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah : Shadrach; to Mishael : Meshach; and to Azariah : Abed-Nego.
These young men purposed in their heart that they would not defile themselves with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore they requested of the chief of the eunuchs that they might not defile themselves. The chief of the eunuchs said to them, \"I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king.\" They said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over them: \"Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our countenances be examined before you, and the countenances of the young men who eat the portion of the king's delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.\" So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenance appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies. As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. When the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm, and he appointed them governors on all the provinces of Babylon. (Daniel 1:8-20)
When the king made an image of gold, and the three Hebrew young men did not worship it, those envious of them, accused them before the king that they did not worship the image. The king brought them and asked them about that and they confessed that they only worship the true God. He commanded them to be casted in a burning fiery furnace. The Lord sent His angel, who protected them and made the fire as a cool dew although it burnt the men that threw them in the fiery furnace. When the king saw that, he believed in their God and promoted them in the province of Babylon.
On the tenth day of Bashans, while they were praying, and kneeling down, they gave up the spirit at the hand of the Lord. A great earthquake occurred. The king was terrified, and inquired from Daniel about what had happened, who told him that the three Hebrew young men had died. The king came to the place and mourned them. He ordered that three beds made of ebony be made, and their bodies be wrapped in silk, and then placed on the beds. He also ordered a bed made of gold for himself, so that when he died, they would place him on it among them.
Pope Theophilos, the 23rd. Patriarch, built a church after their names and wanted to relocate their bodies to it. He delegated St. John the short and sent him to Babylon. When he arrived to the place where they were buried, he heard a voice saying: \"The Lord has ordained that our bodies remain in this place, but because of your labor of love, when you return, say to the Patriarch to fill the oil lamps with oil on the night of the consecration of the church, and the power of God will be revealed.\" When he returned, and told the Pope, he did as he was commanded, and the oil lamps (Kandeels) lighted up. They glorified God, and completed the consecration after the names of these Saints.
May their prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "three hebrew young men hananiah azariah mishael" } ], [ { "id": 251, "action": "On this day, St. Theoclia, the wife of St. Justus (Whose commemoration is on the 10th. day of Amshir - Vol.II, P.261) was martyred. After the Roman Emperor Diocletian had sent them to the Governor of Alexandria, he separated them. He sent St. Justus to Ansena (Antinoe), where he was martyred, and he sent St. Theoclia to Sa El-Hagar. When the Governor saw, her he was astonished, for those who leave the kingdom preferring to die instead. He first tried to persuade her, but she refused to accept his words saying: \"I have left my kingdom, accepted the separation of my husband since my youth, and I have been comforted for my son for the sake of the Lord Christ, so what could you give me?\" He ordered her to be beaten until her flesh was torn and then placed her in prison. The angel of the Lord appeared to her, comforted and strengthened her. When the prisoners witnessed that her wounds had been healed, they believed in the Lord Christ, and they received the crown of martyrdom. Then the Governor ordered her beheaded and she received the crown of martyrdom. Some believers came, paid the soldier silver, took her body, shrouded and placed it in a coffin until the end of the days of persecution.
May her prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also St. Paphnuti, the Bishop, departed. He became a monk in the wilderness of St. Macarius. He exerted himself in asceticism and worship and lived his monastic life eating dry beans and fasted for days. He learned how to read and write, and learned the doctrines of the church. He was ordained a priest, and stayed in the wilderness for thirty-five years. His virtues became known to everyone, and Pope Philotheos I, the sixty-third Patriarch of Alexandria, called him, and ordained him bishop.
He did not change his clothing except on the day of celebrating the Eucharist, then he put on his sackcloth that made of hair again. His spiritual fighting and asceticism were so intense that his body languished and he became ill. He asked God in his prayer: \"O My Lord Jesus Christ, do not take away from me Your blessings for the sake of my office of bishop.\" The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said: \"You know that when you were in the wilderness, there was no one to take care of you in your sickness, there was no one to minister to you, you could not find medications to relieve you, but God supported, sustained you, and kept sickness away from you. However, you are now in the world, and there are many who can take care of you, and offer you medications in your sickness.\"
He was a bishop for thirty two years. When the day of his departure drew near, he called the priests and the deacons, handed over to them the sacred property of the church and all its possessions, and told them: \"Behold know that I am departing to the Lord Christ. I have walked among you, and the Lord Jesus to Whom I am about to stand before, testifies that I have never taken even one dinar from all the money which came to me from the bishop's office.\" He blessed them, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "paphnotius st paphnuti bishop" } ], [ { "id": 252, "action": "On this day, the church commemorates the consecration of the church of the virgin St. Demiana. This pure and fighting virgin was the daughter of Mark, who was the governor of El-Borollus, El-Zaafran and the valley of Saisaban. She was the only child of her parents. When she was one year old, her father took her to the church that was in the monastery of El-Maima. He offered gifts there so that God might bless this daughter and keep her safe Him.
When she was fifteen years old, her father wanted to get her married. She refused and told him that she had vowed herself a bride for the Lord Christ. When she found that her father was pleased of her decision, she asked him to build her an isolated palace, so that she could worship God with her virgin friends, and right away he did what she asked. He built the palace where she and the forty virgins lived in. They spent their time by reading the Holy Bible and praying fervently to God.
Shortly after, Emperor Diocletian sent for Mark her father and ordered him to worship the idols, but he refused at first. However, after some persuasion, Mark obeyed him and worshipped the idols, forsaking the creator of the universe.
When Mark returned, and St. Demiana knew of what her father had done, she rushed to meet him without a greeting saying: \"What have I heard about you? I wished I have Heard the news of your death, and not knowing that you have forsaken God who have created you and worshipped what is made by hands. If you insist on what you have done and you do not relent by denouncing the idols, you are not my father, and I am not your daughter.\" She also said to him: \"It is better for you, O my father, that you die a martyr and live with Christ in heaven forever, than you live as a pagan here and die with the devil in hades forever.\" Then she left him. Her father was moved by what she said and wept bitterly. He went in hurry to Diocletian and confessed the Lord Christ before him. When Diocletian could not change his mind, he ordered him to be beheaded.
When Diocletian knew that the one who turned Mark away from worshipping the idols was his daughter Demiana, he sent to her a prince to persuade her at first, and if she did not obey, he would cut off her head. The Prince came to her with an entourage of one hundred soldiers armed with all instruments of torture. When he arrived to her palace, he went to her and said: \"I am an envoy sent by Emperor Diocletian. I came to ask you, according to his orders, to worship his gods, so he might grant you whatsoever you wish.\" St. Demiana shouted at the prince saying: \"Curse the messenger and he who sent him. Are you not ashamed to call stones and wood gods that only dwelt by devils? There is no other God in heaven or on earth except the one God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Creator, Who has no beginning and no end, the Omnipresent, and the Omniscient God, who will throw you in hell for eternal condemnation. As for me, I worship my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His Good Father and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity. I profess Him, depend on Him, and in His name I die and by Him I will live forever.\" The Prince became angry of what she said, and ordered her to be placed in the body press. Her blood poured out on the ground, and the virgins were standing, weeping for her. Then they put her in prison, where the angel of the Lord appeared to her and touched her body with his celestial wings and healed her from all her wounds.
The Prince was creative in the ways he tortured St. Demiana, sometimes by rending her flesh, or placing her in boiling grease and oil. In all that, the Lord strengthened her and raised her up whole. When the Prince saw that his efforts were of no avail and the steadfastness of this pure virgin, he ordered her to be beheaded with all the virgins with her. They all received the crowns of martyrdom.
(The account of her martyrdom is mentioned in the thirteenth day of the month of Tubah)
The Prince returned to Antioch, the city of the Emperor. The faithful came and gathered the bodies of the martyrs and kept them until the end of the days of persecution and the reign of the righteous Emperor the Christ-loving Constantine the great. He ordered to destroy the idol temples and built many churches after the names of the martyrs. He gathered the bodies of the martyrs in every place and placed them in the churches. He endowed the churches with the necessary income to maintain them.
When Constantine knew of all what had happened to St. Demiana, and how she endured for a long time in the valley of El-Saisaban, he delegated his blessed mother St. Helena to take burial clothing, go to El-Zaafran, and build a church in the name of St. Demiana and the forty virgins, there.
St. Helena came to the valley, went up to the palace, and found that the bodies were unharmed. She found St. Demiana in the place where she used to sit and around her the forty virgins. She kissed the body, taking the blessing of the Saint and wrapped the bodies with expensive shrouds. She gathered the craftsmen and architects, tore down the palace, and built instead a well built tomb (Cellar) underground. She laid the body of St. Demiana on an ivory bed, and covered her with a precious bedspread and laid the forty virgins around her in it. Then she built a small and beautiful church which had one dome on the top of it. The church was consecrated by Pope Alexandros, the nineteenth Patriarch of Alexandria, on the 12th. of Bashans. He also ordained a saintly bishop, priests, and deacons to serve in the church day and night in prayers.
The bishop of this area, El-Zaafran and El-Borollus, was martyred and his body was placed in this church among the bodies of other martyrs. Abba Yoannis, Bishop of El Borullus, said in his book, The History of the Church: \"The church was destroyed in the 8th. century by one of the Arab rulers, who built in its place a palace for his residence.\"
At this time, the water of the Mediterranean sea flooded the Delta of the Nile river until it reached the city of Samannoud to the western side of the church that called \"Zion\" by the old citadel. This flooding was caused by the deterioration of the barrier, which held back the sea water. When the news reached the king Hassan Ibn Atahia, he was saddened because this district brought the government much money because it was rich in its highly priced aromatic plants. One of his close aids, who was a Jew, told the king to bring the Patriarch of the Copts and order him to pray in faith to return everything to where they were before the flood.
God assisted this Patriarch through the help of one of the holy men who was known as El-Toffahi in this trying time. The Patriarch prayed in the church at Samannoud in the presence of the king. Then the Patriarch went out of the church raising the Cross. The people were saying Lord have mercy and the holy man, El-Toffahi, behind him. Instantly, the water receded to the north before them. The Patriarch, behind him El-Toffahi, the priests, the people, and the king continued to walk until they arrived to El-Zaafran where they erected tents for the king beside the destroyed palace, under which the body of St. Demiana along with the bodies of the forty martyrs were kept. The Patriarch prayed and knelt to the ground with all the people with him. At this moment, a great miracle and sign occurred that amazed everyone. A great wind blew in the sea and the waves became very high, which caused great quantities of sand to form a great barrier with the power of God almighty which was stronger than the original one. Then the winds calmed down. The Patriarch returned to the king, who received him with honor and told him: \"O Patriarch, ask from me, something to do for you.\" The Patriarch replied: \"I need your assistance in building a church in this place because it contains the bodies of Saints who were martyred, for they refused to worship idols. The king ordered that the place be cleaned. The Patriarch opened the door of the cellar, went down, and found the forty bodies of the martyrs around the bed of St. Demiana. The king ordered at once to build a church with one dome, which was consecrated by the Patriarch on the 12th. day of Bashans.
The news of this church spread in all the country and the people came with their offerings to it. The church was consecrated for the first time during the reign of Constantine and the second time was on this day.
The king ordered that no one disturb the Copts, so it was a peaceful and tranquil time in all Egypt. The king returned to his palace in Misr (Cairo) and always asked the Patriarch to visit him periodically. He came to visit the king with great honor till his departure.
The king of Egypt at that time was Hassan Ibn Atahia, who was just, loved the churches, and treated the bishops and the monks with great respect. He loved Pope Khail the first, the forty-sixth Patriarch of Alexandria (743 - 767 A.D.), and came often to visit him. He discussed the affairs of the country with him.
May the prayers of St. Demiana be with us. Amen.
This day also marks the commemoration of the relocation of the relics of St. John Chrysostom (Of the Golden Mouth), from the city of Cuma, where he departed to the city of Constantinople, in the year 437 A.D., with honor and respect befitting him. They laid him in the church of the holy Apostles, and this was during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II.
Empress Eudoxia, the wife of Emperor Arcadius, had exiled St. John, for he prevented her from attending the church and partaking from the Holy Mysteries, because she took by force a garden owned by a widow, and for other reasons. God avenged because of the Empress' evil deeds; she became sick and spent large sums of money. The Saint had departed in his exile and the Empress went to his tomb, wept, and asked his forgiveness. She was healed.
The biography of the Saint is under the 17th. day of the month of Hatour.
May his prayer be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 351 A.D., during the time of St. Kyrillos (Cyril), Patriarch of Jerusalem, and during the reign of Emperor Constantius, the sign of the honorable Cross appeared in the sky at the third hour of the day. The sign of the cross was surrounded with a light which exceeded the light of the sun, covering the area above Jerusalem, from Golgotha to the mount of Olive. All those who were in Jerusalem saw it, and they all rushed to the church of the resurrection, and were astonished and overwhelmed from the greatness of the sign. Many believed at that time.
The Patriarch wrote to Emperor Constantius saying: \"In the days of your blessed father, the sign of the Cross made of stars, appeared in the middle of the sky, and in your days, the sign of the Cross appeared also surrounded with great light. He forbade him from following the heresy of Arius. He also made this day a memorial in Jerusalem and one of the feasts celebrated there, and all other churches followed this tradition until today. For through the Cross we received the Salvation, and it is our armor against all our enemies if we armored ourselves with it in a strong faith.
May the blessing of the Cross be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 1485 A.M. (May 18th., 1769 A.D.), Pope Mark the Seventh, the one-hundred and sixth Patriarch of Alexandria, departed. He was from the city of Klosna, in the district of El-Bahnasa. His name was Simeon, and he went to the monastery of St. Antonios at a young age. He stayed there for a time and visited often the monastery of St. Paul in mount Nimra, where he became a monk and was ordained a priest. When Pope Yoannis the Seventeenth (The 105th. Patriarch) departed, he was chosen to succeed him on the Patriarchal Chair. They brought him from the monastery and ordained him Patriarch on Sunday, the 24th. of Bashans, 1461 A.M. (May 30th., 1745 A.D.) on the day of the feast of the entry of the Lord Jesus to Egypt.
This Pope was kind, with a very beautiful voice, and was very fluent in speech. After two years of his enthronement, there was a mutiny among the soldiers. Many of the princes were killed, some escaped to upper Egypt, and some escaped to the Arabian Peninsula. The Pope suffered a great deal in these days, from inside the church and from outside. God removed these tribulations after it had lingered for a time.
This pope ordained Abba Peter, a Metropolitan over Upper Egypt, to shepherd his flock from the snatching wolves. At the end of his days, Abba Yoannis the 14h., Metropolitan of Ethiopia the 103rd., departed. A delegation was sent by the king of Ethiopia, came to the Pope asking to ordain a Metropolitan for them. The Pope ordained Abba Yousab the 4th., six months before his departure, and Abba Yousab left Egypt to his Chair in Ethiopia, after the departure of Pope Mark. He departed when he was residing in the church of the virgin, in the monastery known as Adawiyya, in El-Maadi near Cairo. Before he delivered up his soul, he saw St. Antonios and St. Paula at the second hour of Thursday. The church was celebrating the feast of St. Demiana, the commemoration of Archangel Michael, and the departure of St. John Chrysostom.
Right after his departure, they took his body by a boat to the monastery of St. George, and placed it in the convent under the shrine. On Friday, the 13th. of Bashans, Metropolitan Yousab of Ethiopia, Abba Peter bishop of Upper Egypt, and all the archpriests, priests, deacons, and lay leaders washed the face of the departed Pope: his hands and his feet with rose water. They prepared him with precious spices, put on him his priestly clothing, and placed him in a coffin. They carried him in a procession to the church of St. Marcurius (Abu Saifain), where they prayed over him as befitting his honor and buried him in the tomb of the Patriarchs. He stayed on the Patriarchal Chair for twenty-three years, eleven months and eighteen days, and the Chair was vacant five months and five days after his departure. He was a contemporary to El-Sultans Mahmoud I, Osman III, and Moustafa III.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 1519 A.M. (May 19th., 1803 A.D.), the church commemorates the martyrdom of Master (Moallem) Malati. He was a scribe to Ayyoub Beck El-Defterdar, of the Mamaliks of Mohammed Beck Abu El-Dahab.
When the French occupied Egypt, they formed a department to look after national problems, and made Moallem Malati a general manager to it with the consent of the Christian and Moslem members, for his great managerial ability and wisdom. After the French had been driven out of Egypt, Moallem Gergis El-Gawhary, Moallem Wasef, and Moallem Malati were protected by the rulers of Egypt. However, in a disturbance at the time of Taher Pasha,the governor of Egypt, they arrested Moallem Malati, and cut off his head at Bab Zoweila in Cairo, and he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his intercession be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "master moallem malati" } ], [ { "id": 253, "action": "The Departure Of St. Arsanius The Tutor Of the Emperor's Children
On this day, of the year 445 A.D., the ascetic, fighter, and wise father St. Arsanius departed. He was born in Rome from a very rich Christian parents. They taught him church subjects and ordained him a deacon. He was highly knowledgeable in the Greek culture and endowed with great Christian values. When Emperor Theodosius the Great sought for a good and wise man to teach his sons Honorius and Arcadius, he could not find a better person than Arsanius. He brought him to his palace and entrusted the teaching of his sons to him. St. Arsanius taught them and admonished them, as was fitting. Since he devoted much exertion and toil in teaching them, he inflicted them once with painful beatings.
When Emperor Theodosius their father died, Honorius reigned over Rome and Arcadius reigned over Constantinople. The Saint remembered that he once beat them, and that Honorius desired to do him harm. While he was thinking of this, a voice came from the Lord saying: \"O Arsani, get out from this world and you shall be saved.\" Once he heard this voice, he did not tarry, changed his clothing, and came to the city Alexandria. Then he went to the wilderness of St. Macarius (Sheahat - Scete), where he fought a great fight with fasting, prayer and long vigils.
At the beginning of his monastic life, he reviewed his thoughts to a simple monk for advice. The monks were surprised and said to him: \"Does someone like Arsanius who is very well versed in Greek and Roman culture, need the advice of this simple monk?\" He told them that the Coptic Alpha Beta of this monk had not been mastered by Arsanius. He meant by this the virtues of that monk.
A messenger came from Rome carrying a will of one of St. Arsanius' relatives who had departed, granting all his possessions to the Saint. The Saint asked: \"When did this man die?\" The messenger answered: \"One year ago.\" The Saint said: \"I have died eleven years ago, and those who died to the world can not inherit others who died.\"
One of the noble women of Rome came to visit him because she heard of his righteousness. After she visited with him for a short while, she asked him to remember her in his prayer. He said to her: \"May God erase all your memory from my mind.\" She returned sorrowful and complained to the Pope in objection to this statement. Pope Theophylus clarified to her what he meant, that he was afraid, that the devil might use her memory to tempt him.
When Arsanius started his monastic life, he used to select for himself the white beans for his food. When the Abbot of the monastery noticed, he gently struck the monk, who was sitting beside Arsanius saying: \"It is not right that you distinguish yourself from your brethren by selecting the white beans.\" Arsanius said: \"This stroke is directed to you, O Arsanius!\"
Arsanius mastered the virtue of silence. When he was asked about that, he said: \"Many times I regretted that I have spoken, but I have never regretted on being silent.\" He was a very humble and modest man, who lived from selling the works of his hands by pleating palm leaves, and giving the rest to the poor. He put down many useful sayings and teachings. Whenever he entered the church, he hid behind a pillar of the church so no one would see him.
His appearance was good, his face was bright and very cheerful. He was tall in stature, but he became bowed because of his age. He visited Jerusalem when he was seventy years old, to be blessed by the holy places, and then he returned to Sheahat. When he departed, he was ninety-five years old: He spent forty years in Rome, forty years in the wilderness of St. Macarius, ten years in Mount Torah, three years in the monasteries of Alexandria, then he returned to Mount Torah and lived there for two years.
He had commanded his disciples to throw his body on a certain mountain, so that wild beasts and vultures would eat him. However, fear gripped him, just before his soul departed from his body and his disciples said to him: \"Is someone like Arsanius fearing death?\" He replied: \"Since I had become a monk, I dreaded this hour.\" He became calm, his soul was comforted, and a peaceful look covered his face as if he was saying: \" Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me\" (Psalms 23:4). He departed in peace in the year 445 A.D.
When Theodosius II, the son of Arcadius, knew of his death, he brought his body to Constantinople. He built a monastery on the same place where he departed, which was known in history as the monastery of El-Kosair.
From his sayings:
An old monk was sitting in his cell, heard a voice saying to him: \"Go out so I might show you the deeds of people.\" When he went out, he saw a man cutting wood. When he tried to carry it, he could not, and instead of reducing his load, he increased it, and tried to carry it again, but failed, and did this again and again. Then he walked away and saw another man getting water from a well and pouring it in a pot with a hole in it, and the man could not fill it. Then he saw two men riding on two horses, carrying a pole from each side. When they came to the door, their pride prevented that one would stay behind in order to get the pole in, and therefore they remained outside.
St. Arsanius explained this vision to them, saying: \"The wood cutter was a man with a multitude of sins. Instead of repenting, he added more and more to his sins. The man who wanted to fill the pot with water was a charitable man who gave alms from what he earned unjustly, and his reward was lost. The two men carrying the pole were carrying the burden of our Lord Christ, but with great pride, and therefore they both stayed outside the kingdom.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "arsanius tutor emperor's children" } ], [ { "id": 254, "action": "On this day, of the year 64 A.M. (348 A.D.), Abba Pachomius, the father of the spiritual communal life (Cenobitic life), departed. He was born in Thebes (Luxor) from pagan parents, who forced him to worship idols. He rejected and mocked this worship, then became a monk with St. Balamon (Palaemon). He lived in submission to him for many years, and he mastered well the ways of the monastic life. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him and commanded him to establish a communal and holy monastic life. Many monks gathered together to him, and he built for them many monasteries and established for them a system of manual labor, the times of prayers, and eating. He was the father of them all, with an Abbot in every monastery. He visited all the monasteries, from Aswan to Edfu to Donasa to the end of Upper Egypt to the north. He did not permit any one of his sons to become a priest for the sake of the vainglory of this world, and not to overlook the purpose of their monastic life of worship by being away from the world. He invited a priest from outside for each monastery to officiate the Divine Liturgy. When Pope Athanasius wanted to ordain him a priest, he fled from him. St. Athanasius asked his disciples to tell him that he who built his house on the rock that can not be shaken, and fled from the vainglory of the world, is blessed, and his disciples are also blessed.
He desired once to see Hades, and he saw in a night vision the habitation of the sinners and places of torment.
He remained the father of the Cenobites for forty years. When the time of his departure drew near, he called the monks, strengthened their faith, and appointed someone to take over his place after him, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Epimachus was martyred. He was born in Pelusium (Farma). He was a weaver along with his two companions: Theodore and Callinicos. When he heard that \"Youlamis\" the governor of Egypt, had come to torture the Christians, he preached his friends explaining the vainglory of this world, then he bade them farewell and went to El-Bakroug, which was near Demera. He came to the Governor who was torturing a woman, and then threw her in a furnace. The fiery furnace became like cool dew to her. The Governor then took her out of the furnace and cut off her head.
When Epimachus saw that, he came before the Governor, and confessed the Lord Christ, to Him is the glory. The Governor tortured him severely. He was twenty-seven years old. Then he ordered him to be squeezed on the wheel, and a drop of his blood splashed on the eyes of a blind maiden, and right away she was able to see. Her family believed in the Lord Christ. They were all martyred and received the crown of martyrdom. The Governor became angry and ordered him to be crucified, and then his head to be cut off. The executioner drew his sword but his strength failed and was unable to raise his sword. The same thing happened when another executioner tried and so with fourteen other executioners. When they failed to cut off his head, they tied a rope around his neck and dragged him until he delivered his soul into the hand of the Lord and received the crown of martyrdom.
One of the soldiers, who was deaf and dumb, carried the body to cast it away. When he touched the body, instantly he heard and spoke. Some of the believers from the city of Edku came and took the body and many signs and wonders took place from it.
When the people from Demera came to console his family and saw the signs and wonders which were revealed through him, they believed and were baptized. They numbered one thousand, seven-hundred and fifty, men, women, and children. His kinsfolk carried him to El-Barmoun with great honor. The Governor of El-Barmoun shrouded him with expensive shrouds from his own money and they built a church after his name.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "epimachus ephimachus pelusium" } ], [ { "id": 255, "action": "On this day, St. Simon the Zealot, the apostle of our Lord (Whose name also is Nathanael, Jn 1:45-55), was martyred. He was born in Cana of Galilee, and was expert in the Law and books of the prophets. He had a fervor zeal, so he was called the Zealot, and he was righteous, pious, and did not show favor to anyone. So when Philip the Apostle said to him: \"We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote; Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.\" Nathanael said to him, \"Can anything good come out of Nazareth?\" Philip said to him, \"Come and see.\" Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, and said of him, \"Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!\" Nathanael said to Him, \"How do You know me?\" Jesus answered and said to him, \"Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.\" Nathanael, who realized that He knew the hidden secrets, answered and said to Him: \"Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!\"
It was said that when he was a young man, he quarrelled with a man, killed him, and buried himunder the fig tree, and no one knew about it. It was also said that at the time of the slaughter of the children of Bethlehem by Herod, his mother hid him under a fig tree that was in her house. She nursed him during the night and hid him during the day, and continued to do so until the persecution of Herod died down. His mother did not tell him about this until he was fully grown and he never told anyone about this. When Jesus revealed that to him, he realized that He was the omniscient God, bowed before him, and was obedient to Him. He believed, followed Him, and became one of His twelve disciples.
After he had received the grace of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, he spoke with tongues, enlightened the world with his evangelism, and returned many to the faith in the Lord Christ. He preached in Africa, and in the country of El-Bejah which extended from Aswan to the Red sea. He also preached in the island of Bertanah, which was probably one of the islands by the shore of the Red sea. He preached there with the Name of Christ, and many tribulations befell him, but God added to his courage and strength. God manifested on his hands many signs, and finally he was martyred, crucified on a tree, and he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, four hundred Saints were martyred in Dendera, after they had suffered many tortures. This was at the end of the reign of Emperor Diocletian.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, is the commemoration of Deacon Mina the anchorite.
May his prayers guard us, and glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "mina deacon" } ], [ { "id": 256, "action": "The Commemoration of St. John The Evangelist
On this day the church commemorates St. John the Evangelist and his preaching in Asia Minor, the city of Ephesus, and the cities that are around it. Commemorates, the afflictions that he suffered and what befell him from the evil men who worshipped idols until he brought them to the knowledge of God and delivered them from the error of Satan by his teachings. The miracles that God performed through him. The writing of his Gospel, uttering in it with the eternity of the Son and His incarnation. His ascension to heaven in the Spirit, he saw the heavenly ranks and heard their praising and wrote about it in the book of Revelation.
This was during the reign of Emperor Domitianus (Domitian), when he exiled St. John, after he placed him in a cauldron filled with boiling oil, and was not harmed, to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation.
After Domitian had been killed in the year 96 A.D., St. John returned to Ephesus. He found some heretics of the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:6) who taught that Christ's birth was a natural birth from both Joseph and Mary. For this reason, he wrote his Gospel to refute their heresy.
St. John had ardent zeal for the salvation of sinners. Once he saved a youth, delivered him to the bishop, and told him: \"I entrust you with the safe keeping of this soul,\" but the youth, because of his bad conduct and the evil company that he kept, spoiled his morals and he became the head of a band of robbers. When St. John returned, he asked the bishop about the young man, who expressed his sorrow to St. John for the condition that became of this young man and told him what had happened. St. John rode a horse, took with him a guide, and travelled to his place. When he arrived to that place, he was caught by the thieves and they took him to their leader. When the leader saw St. John, he knew him, and was ashamed and tried to flee. St. John told him: \"My son, be merciful to yourself, because the door of hope is still open for your salvation, and I will be your intercessor before the Lord Christ.\" Then, the young man wept, returned repenting, and St. John administered to him the Holy Communion to strengthen him.
The biography of St. John is written under the fourth day of Tubah. This feast is a commemoration for his evangelism, and also because on this day a church was consecrated after his name in the city of Alexandria.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "john evangelist" } ], [ { "id": 257, "action": "The Departure of St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus
On this day, of the year 402 A.D., the great father St. Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, departed. He was born to Jewish parents, his father died, and left him with a sister and their mother brought them up well.
His father left him an untrained donkey and his mother asked him to sell it. He met a Christian man called Philotheus who wanted to buy the donkey, but the donkey kicked Epiphanius in his thigh, and he fell down on the ground unconscious. Philotheus made the sign of the cross over the place of injury and Epiphanius was cured of his pain instantly. Then Philotheus cried out over that donkey asking God that the donkey would die God answered his prayer, and the donkey fell down and died. Epiphanius inquired about the secret of the donkey's death and Philotheus told him that it was the cross. He guided him to the crucified Christ, the Son of God, Whom the Jews crucified in Jerusalem by His own will for the Salvation of the world. This remained in the mind of Epiphanius.
When one of the rich Jewish men died and had no one to inherit him, he left all his inheritance to Epiphanius. He used this inheritance to spend on the teachers of religion and Law. Once, when he was walking in the road, he saw a poor man asking for charity from one of the monks, and as the monk did not have any money to give, he took off his garment and gave it to him. As the poor man took this garment, St. Epiphanius saw a white dress coming down from heaven upon the monk instead off the garment that he gave away. He was astonished and went to the monk and asked him: \"Who are you and what is your faith?\" The monk told him that he was Christian. He asked the monk to guide him to the facts of the Christian faith. The monk brought him to the bishop who taught him the law of the Christian faith and baptized him.
Epiphanius desired to become a monk, and the bishop sent him to the monastery of St. Lucianus. He became a disciple to St. Hilarion, and the grace of God was with him. He excelled in the church subjects, monastic virtues, and its cannons.
St. Hilarion prophesied that he would become a bishop and commanded him to go to Cyprus, and not to refuse the office of bishop if it was offered to him. When the bishop of Cyprus departed, it happened that Epiphanius entered the city to buy certain necessities, and he had two monks with him. A saintly bishop was inspired to go to the market place to choose the monk that had two clusters of grapes, whose name was Epiphanius, to ordain him a bishop for Cyprus. When the bishop went to the market, he found him with the other two monks, with two clusters of grapes in his hand. He asked him about his name and he knew that he was the chosen one by God. He took him to the church and ordained him deacon, priest, then bishop. He revealed to the people his vision about him and the prophecy of St. Helarion was fulfilled.
St. Epiphanius followed a right course of conduct in his diocese, which was well pleasing to God. He wrote many books and discourses and he always preached about mercy. It happened that John, bishop of Jerusalem, was not merciful, so St. Epiphanius borrowed from him some of his gold and silver table vessels, and sold them and gave its price to the poor and the needy. When Abba John asked him to return them, he struck him in his eyes and he became blind. John asked the Saint to pray to heal him, and he prayed, and God opened one of John's eyes.
In the year 402 A.D., Empress Eudoxia called Epiphanius to help her to drive out St. John Chrysostom (Of the Golden Mouth) from Constantinople. However, he tried to reconcile them together, but he failed. She threatened him that she would open the temples of idols and close the churches if he did not work on his removal. But since he could not reconcile the differences between her and St. John, he returned to Cyprus and departed in the same year. (His body was relocated on the 28th. of Bashans).
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "epiphanius bishop cyprus" } ], [ { "id": 258, "action": "On this day, St. George (Ga'orgi), the companion of St. Abraam, departed. He was born to saintly Christian parents, and he shepherded the sheep of his father. He desired to become a monk, so he left the tending of the sheep, and he was fourteen years old. He went to the wilderness of St. Macarius. While he was walking on the road, the devil appeared to him in the form of an old man, and said to him: \"Your father thought that a wild beast has killed you, and he rent his garment, grieving over you. It is meet that you should return to your father to comfort his heart first then return to the wilderness\". The Saint was astonished for that, and thought in himself saying: \"The Holy Bible says: 'He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.'\" (Matthew 10:37) When he said that, the devil became like smoke and fled from him. Immediately, the angel of the Lord in the form of a monk appeared to him, and guided him to the monastery of Abba Orion (Arion). He remained there under the guidance of a holy monk for ten years, during which he never ate any cooked food or fruit and never drank wine.
He then desired to live alone in the inner wilderness and went to the monastery of the Roman Saints Maximus and Domadius in Scetis. At the same time, St. Abraam arrived to the monastery. They went together to the monastery of St. Macarius and met St. Yoannis, the archpriest of Sheahat. He gave them a cell close by him to live in, which was known as the cell of Bageeg, where St. Abraam departed, and after him St. George departed also, and he was seventy-two years old.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also marks the commemoration of the coming down of the Holy Spirit upon the holy disciples in the upper room of Zion. They spoke with different tongues and it is called the feast of Pentecost. The details of this feast are mentioned at the end of Vol. IV of the Synexarium.
May the blessings of the Pentecost be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "feast pentecost" } ], [ { "id": 259, "action": "On this day, the church commemorates the holy father Abba Isaac, the priest of El-Qalali (Cells). He was born in an Egyptian village from poor parents, but he was rich in his righteous works. He took the opportunity of the presence of the elders of the monks in the village to sell the works of their hands, and followed them to the wilderness. He served them under the yoke of obedience. When he became a monk, he excelled in asceticism and worship to the point that he never possessed two garments at the same time. They asked him once: \"Why don't you possess two garments?\" He answered: \"Because when I was in the world before being a monk, I did not have two garments at the same time.\"
He wept very often during his prayers, and he mixed his bread with the ashes of the censer and ate it. Once he became sick of a grievous sickness, and some of the brethren brought him food, but he did not eat it. One of the brethren described to him the benefits of food and urged him again to eat some of it. He insisted on not eating anything of it, and said to him: \"Believe me my brother that I desire to remain sick for thirty years.\"
When he became seasoned and everyone heard about his virtues, the fathers by consensus decided to ordain him a priest. He fled and disappeared among the fields. When they were looking for him, they passed by the field, where he was hiding in and sat to rest. They had with them a donkey, which went into the field and stood where the father was. When they went after the donkey to catch it, they found him, and they wanted to bind him so that he could not escape again. He said to them: \"I will not escape now, for I know that this is the will of God.\" He went with them, and they ordained him a priest, and he increased in obedience to the elders and in teaching the beginners the virtues. When the time of his departure drew near, they asked him: \"What can we do after you leave us?\" He told them: \"Do exactly as you have seen me do, if you wish to steadfast in the wilderness\", then he departed in peace.
May his prayer be with us. Amen.
This day also marks the commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Isidore. He was born in Antioch and his father's name was Bandalaon, who was one of the noble men in the empire of Diocletian, and his mother's name was Sofia. He had a sister whose name was Ophimia, and their parents taught them the Christian faith.
When Diocletian apostatized, St. Bandalaon and his son Isidore left all their possessions and went secretly to a mountain where they lived with a holy man whose name was Abba Samuel.
When the Emperor knew of what had happened, he brought them before him, and he tried to persuade Bandalaon with promises, then threatened him. When he refused, not paying attention to what he was saying, he cut off his head. St. Isidore, who was only twelve years old, was tortured with different kinds of tortures. His mother and sister were beside him, comforting him and strengthening him to endure. Then the Emperor ordered them to be beheaded. They received the crowns of life.
God performed many miracles on the hands of this Saint, and many believed through him and were martyred.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "isidorus isidore antioch" } ], [ { "id": 260, "action": "The Departure Of St. Ammonius The Hermit
On this day, of the year 73 A.M. (357 A.D.), the holy father Abba Ammonius departed. He was born in 294 A.D., in a village near Mariot. He was, as St. Antony was, born to a righteous and rich Christian family. He lost his parents while he was young and became under the guardianship of his uncle. He longed for the life of purity, chastity, and holiness. Nevertheless, his uncle forced him to be engaged to a rich girl against his will. Since he could not disobey his uncle, he talked to his bride to be, with a spiritual dialogue and through his holy life, he was able to have a good influence on her. He made her long to the life of purity and planted in her heart the desire to consecrate her self a bride for the True Bridegroom Jesus Christ. Thus they decided to accept the marriage but decided to live as a brother and sister.
They remained like this for seventeen years, keeping themselves pure and chaste, after which his wife departed to the eternal bliss. The Saint saw in a vision St. Antonios calling him to put on the monastic garb. When he woke from his sleep, he rose up and went to St. Isidore, who put on him the holy Eskeem. He dwelt with him for some time, after which he went to mount Tounah, where was St. Antonios.
St. Ammonius remained with St. Antonios for a while and became his disciple, and studied on his hands the cannons of the holy monasticism. He built for himself a cell in mount Tounah. He fervently worshipped God there, and the devil envied him. He came to him in the form of a nun and knocked his door. When he opened and asked the devil to pray with him, the devil became like a flame of fire. Then the devil went and dwelt in a woman and moved her to entice the Saint to fall in sin with her. She wore the best of her clothing and came to him at dusk, and knocked the door of his cell, saying: \"I am a traveling woman, and I had lost my way, and it is dark now. Please do not let me stay outside lest the wild beasts kill me, and you become responsible for my blood.\" When he opened the door and knew the snare of the devil who sent her, he started to preach her and put the fear in her heart of the tortures of hell which is awaiting the sinners, and indicated to her the delight and the bliss which is awaiting the righteous. God opened her heart, and she understood what he said to her. She knelt to his feet weeping and asked him to accept her and assist her in saving her soul. She took off her apparel and he put on her a sackcloth of hair. He cut off her hair and called her \"The simple minded or the naive\". He taught her the way to righteousness and she excelled through many prayers and fasting, and surpassed many saints by her fasting and perpetual prayers.
The devil tried to snare him again. This time in the form of a monk who went around in the monasteries weeping and saying: \"Abba Ammonius the hermit had married and he kept the woman with him in his cell. He had put the monks to shame and disgraced the monastic garb.\" When Abba Apollo (Ebelo), who was like the angels, heard of that, he took with him Abba Yousab and Abba Nohi (Bohi), and came to mount Tounah to the cell of Abba Ammonius. They knocked on the door of the cell, and when she opened to them they realized the matter. They entered and prayed together as the custom and sat to talk about the greatness of God. At the end of the day, Abba Ammonius told them, let us go to see the \"Naive\" for she was baking some bread. When they went out to where she was, they saw her standing in the midst of a great fire, and her hands were stretched out towards heaven praying. They marvelled exceedingly and glorified God. After they had eaten the bread, everyone went separately to sleep and the angel of the Lord revealed the story of the \"Naive\" with St. Ammonius to Abba Apollo, and that God brought them there to be present at the time of her departure.
About the third hour of the night, she became sick with fever. She knelt down and delivered up her soul at the hand of the Lord. They swathed her, and after praying over her, they buried her. Then Abba Ammonius told them about her virtues, and that for the eighteen years that she stayed with him, she never raised her face to look at him, and that her food was bread and salt. After this, St. Antonios sent him to El-Natroun valley to establish there new monasteries, and many believers followed him. He organized for them their livelihood and directed them with excellence. Soon after, this holy father departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "ammonius hermit" } ], [ { "id": 261, "action": "On this day, the church commemorates the pure and Virgin St. Mary, the mother of the Savior of the world, the intercessor of all the Christians, from whom came the salvation of Adam and his posterity.
May her intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Marcian departed. He was born in the city of Caesarea of Palestine. He became a monk since his young age at an elderly holy man living on a mountain near by his town called mount El-Safina (The ship). He fought a great and strenuous fight with many worships and he lived there for sixty six years, and his virtues became known.
An evil woman heard of him, and she said to some of those who talked about his virtues: \"For how long you will continue to praise him, while he is in a wilderness where he does not see the face of a women? If he saw me, I would stain his virginity and defile his holiness\". They rebuked her for what she said, because of what they knew of the purity and holiness of this Saint, but she made a wager with them that she would go to him and make him fall in sin. She straightway, rose up, took her ornaments, her expensive apparels and her perfumes in a piece of cloth, and put on an ugly dress and covered her face. She went to a place close by where the Saint was and waited until the evening, then knocked on the door of his cell, weeping, pretending that she had lost her way, and asked him to let her stay with him until the morning. The Saint pondered about her, if he left her outside, the wild beasts might eat her, and if he brought her in, the warfare would increase against him because of her. Finally, he opened the door to her, and went to another place in the cell. She arrayed herself in her beautiful apparel, adorned and perfumed herself, then attacked him tempting him to commit sin with her. He knew that she was a snare of Satan plotted up for him. He told her: \"Wait a little for me until I look at the road, for some people are used to come to me here every now and then.\" He went out and lighted a great fire, and he started throwing himself in the fire time after time saying to himself: \"If you can't bear the pain of a little fire, how can you bear the torment of the fire of hell?\" Then he fell on the ground weeping from the severity of the pain from the burns that he suffered on his feet and his fingers. As he tarried, she came out and saw him in that condition. She was terrified and she returned to her senses. She stripped off her expensive raiment, knelt at his feet, and begged him to help her to save her soul. He started to preach her telling her about the vanity of this world and its lusts, and she repented with all her heart. He took her to one of the convents, and asked the abbess to take charge of her and she lived there a life of purity and ascetism that was pleasing to God to the end of her life. She reached a high degree of holliness, received the gift of healing and she healed many from their infermities.
But as for St. Martinianus, fearing lest the enemy might bring to him another woman, departed to an island in the middle of the sea. He made an agreement with a sailor to sell the works of his hand, and to bring him food. However, a ship was wrecked near by the island, and a woman managed to hang on to one of the planks, and the waves washed her to this island. When the Saint saw her, he was preplexed and wanted to leave the island. The woman asked him to make her a nun and he did as she wished then gave her all what he had of bread. He crossed himself with the sign of the cross, and threw himself in the sea, hanging on the plank that she hung on and he put himself in the hand of the Almighty. The waves threw him on the land, and he wandered about in the mountains and deserts for two years until he arrived to the city of Athens, where he became ill. He called the bishop, and told him all what had happened to him, and then he gave up his soul in the hand of the Lord, and they buried him with great honor.
The woman that remained on the island, the sailor continued to bring her food until she departed, then he took her body to his country.
May the prayers of this saint be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "marcian martinianus" } ], [ { "id": 262, "action": "The Departure of St. Andronicus One of the Seventy Disciples
On this day, St. Andronicus departed. This disciple was chosen by the Lord to be among the seventy disciples whom He sent before Him to preach the kingdom of God. He received the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room on the day of the Pentecost. St. Paul mentioned his name in (Romans 16:7) saying: \"Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.\"
He preached the Gospel in many cities in the company of Junia, and they guided many to the Christian faith, and performed many miracles, healed the sick, and transformed the temples of idols to churches. When they completed their course, and the Lord willed to take them from this world, Andronicus became ill for a short time and departed in peace. Junia buried him in a cave, and he prayed to the Lord to take him also. He departed on the next day.
May their prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "andronicus one seventy disciples" } ], [ { "id": 263, "action": "On this day, St. Junia, one of the seventy disciples, departed. He was born in Beth Gubrin (Jibrin) from the tribe of Judah. He was chosen by the Lord to be one of the seventy disciples, and received the Holy Spirit. He preached the Gospel with the disciples and suffered many hardships. He accompanied
St. Andronicus in his preaching of the Gospel as it is mentioned on the 22nd. day of Bashans. St. Junia buried St. Andronicus, and he prayed that the Lord would take him also, and he departed in the following day. St. Paul mentioned him in Romans Chapter 16.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Julian and his mother were martyred in the city of Alexandria.
May their prayers be with us and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "julian yulianus mother alexandria" } ], [ { "id": 264, "action": "On this day, our Lord Jesus Christ came to the land of Egypt when He was a two years old child, as the Bible says in (Mt. 2:13) that the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying: \"Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.\" This was for two reasons: A. If He fell in the hand of Herod, and Herod could not kill Him, he would have thought that His flesh was a phantom.
B. The second reason was to bless the people of Egypt by being among them, so that the prophecy of Hosea (11:1) could be fulfilled which says: \"... out of Egypt I called My Son.\" And also the prophecy of Isaiah (19:1) be fulfilled: \"Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud, and will come into Egypt, the idols of Egypt will totter at His presence, and the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.\"
The Lord Jesus came to Egypt with Joseph, and His Virgin mother, and Salome. They passed in an estate called \"Basta\" where the Holy Family drank from a well, and the water of the well became a curing water for all sicknesses. Then they went to \"Meniet Samannoud\" and crossed the Nile to the western side. In this place, the Lord Jesus put His foot on a stone, and the trace of His foot appeared, and the stone was called \"Picha Isos\" in Coptic (or The heal of Jesus). From there, they went westward to Wadi El-Natroun, and St. Mary blessed the place, for her knowledge that many monasteries would be built there. Then they went to \"Al-Ashmoneen\" where they settled for several days, after which they went to Mount \"Qosqam\", where the monastery of St. Mary was later built, which has been known with the name \"El-Moharrak monastery\".
When Herod died, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying: \"Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child's life are dead.\" (Mt. 2:20-21). They came back to Cairo, and on their return they stayed in a cave which is today located in the church of Abu-Serga in Old Cairo. Then they passed by El-Mataryia, and they washed there from a well, and the well has been blessed since, and a tree of Balsam grew beside it, from its oil the Chrism (El-Myroun) is made which is used to consecrate new churches. From there, the Holy Family walked to El-Mahama (Mustorod), and from there to Israel.
We ought to celebrate this feast spiritually with joy, for Our Lord Jesus honored our land.
Glory to His Holy Name for ever. Amen.
On this day also, the prophet Habakkuk departed. He was one of the twelve minor prophets, and he was from the tribe of Levi. He was a singer using stringed musical instruments as it is indicated in this verse: \"The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills. To the chief musician. With my stringed instruments.\" (Habakkuk 3:19).
He prophesied at the time of king Jehoiakim. He lived long enough to see the return of the children of Israel from exile, and he prayed saying: (Habakkuk 3:2) He prophesied about the Incarnation of Christ and His birth, saying: (Habakkuk 3:3).
He finished his course, and departed in peace. A church after his name was built in Bartsa - El-Behera in Egypt at the time of the Christian Emperor Anastasius, and consecrated on the twenty fourth of Bashans.
May the prayers of this prophet be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 880 A.M. (May 19th., 1164 A.D.), St. Bashnouna was martyred. He was a monk in St. Macarius (Abu Maquar) monastery. During the fighting between the men of prince Dergham and the men of El-Wazir Shawer in the Fatimid rule, the monk was arrested. He was threatened with death if he did not convert to Islam, but he refused. They burned him alive, and he received the crown of martyrdom. The faithful took his bones and carried them to the church of Abu Serga in Old Cairo, in the place of wax, and they buried him there.
May his prayers be with us, and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "monk bashnouna el-maqari" } ], [ { "id": 265, "action": "On this day, St. Colluthus of Antinoe was martyred. He was the son of God fearing parents. His father was a governor over Antinoe. He was praying to the Lord Jesus to give him a son, and God gave him this saint. He taught him the Christian principles and the church doctrine. He was pure from his youth. His father wanted him to get married, but he did not accept. However, his sister was married to Arianus who became the governor after her father. When the Saint's parents departed, he built a hostel for the strangers. He also studied medicine and practiced it to cure the sick without charging them money.
When Diocletian apostatized, Arianus the governor followed him to keep his position, and started to persecute Christians. Then St. Colluthus rebuked him for forsaking the worship of the True God, and the Saint cursed the idols of the Emperor. Arianus did not hurt him for the sake of his sister, but he sent him to the governor of El-Bahnasa, where he was in prison for three years. His sister meditated for his release until another governor took over who threatened the saint and tortured him. The angel of the lord came to him to comfort and strengthen him. At last, the governor cut off his head, and he was granted the crown of Martyrdom. His family prepared his body for burial and kept him in a place until the end of the persecution, when they built a church for him. Many miracles appeared from his body.
The saint has a church from antiquity in \"Refa\" near Assuit. A memorial is celebrated every year on the day of his martyrdom. The visitors who come are blessed by the saint and his intercessions, For they are healed from their sicknesses. It is worth it to mention that this church contains a stone which has a great influence to keep scorpions away until this day.
May his prayers be with us, Amen.
On this day also of the year 1511 A.M. (1795 A.D.), the great layman Ibrahim El-Gohari, departed. He was born in the eighteenth century, and his parents were poor. His fathers name was Yousef El-Gohari whose trade was making clothing in Kalube. They taught him writing and arithmetic, and he excelled in them. He used to trans-scribe the religion books, and distribute them to the church at his own expense. He brought the books to Pope John (Youhanna) the Eighteenth, and 107th patriarch of Alexandria Who was enthroned from 1486-1512 A.M. (1769-1796 A.D.) The many books presented to the church by Ibrahim El-Gohari got the attention of the pope, together with the high cost of transcribing the books and binding them. The pope asked Ibrahim about his resource, and Ibrahim revealed to them his zealously and his godly life. The pope blessed him saying:\"may the lord uplift your name and bless your work, and keep your memory forever.\" The relation between Ibrahim El-Gohari and the pope became stronger from that time. When he started to work, Ibrahim was a scribe to one of the mamalik- The pope mediated with Moalem Rizk the chief scribe, and he took him as his private scribe. He continued in his position until the end of Ali Bek El-Kebir when Mohammed Abu- El-Daheb became the governor, and Ibrahim El-Gohari became the chief scribe of all of egypt, a position which is equal to prime minister today.
Ibrahim El-Gohari became more humble, generous, and charitable. He attracted to him the hearts of all the people. Ibrahim then married a righteous woman who shared with him his good nature and character. She helped him in his charitable deeds, and encouraged him to build and maintain churches. A son was born to them whom they called joseph, and a daughter whom they called Demiana. They lived in a place called \"Kantaret-ElDekka\".
When his son grew up, his father prepared for him a private home furnished with the est of furniture, and prepared for his wedding day. But God chose that his son be with him before his marriage, and Ibrahim was greatly grieved. He then closed the home, and it remained closed. The death of his son was the most shocking event in his life, but his desire to help the widows, the orphans and the poor intensely increased. Everyone was so astonished for his endurance, patience, and his great control over his disappoint When his wife resented the will of god, St. Anthony the great appeared to her in a dream, and comforted her saying,\"you must know that god loved your son, and he took him in his youth, and he loves his father for a reason, to keep his name pure, for the popularity of his father might have caused his son to shame him and ruin his reputation. this is a reward from God to your husband for his godliness and his righteousness. Be comforted, and continue in your good deeds.\" St. Anthony also appeared to Ibrahim El-Gohari, and he comforted him and strengthened his faith. When his wife rose up, and told her husband about her dream, he told her that he also saw the same dream that same night. They surrendered their will to god, and they changed their mourning clothes , and put on regular clothes. Their hearts were filled with comfort, and continued in their good and charitable deeds. Their Daughter Demiana also died shortly afterwards and she was a young virgin.
Ibrahim El-Gohari remained in his office until a coup occurred which forced Ibrahim Bek and Murad Bek together with Ibrahim El-Gohari to flee to upper egypt. The new Governor Hasan Qubtan persecuted the copts and forbade them to ride horses with saddles, and forbade them to use moslems as servants in their homes, and did not allow them to buy slaves. The copts responded by hiding in their homes and not leaving for many days. He also ordered to have an account of the endowments that Ibrahim El- Gohary's wife hid herself in a moslem home to which her had made great favors. But some of those who did not honor his favors, betrayed him by telling his wile was hiding. the governor forced her to tell him about the places they hied their possessions, and they confiscated all the silver and gold utensils and their horses saddles, and sold them for low prices. Some also Guided the governor to the house of his son which was looked after his death, and they also confiscated all its contents of furniture, and took them many days to sell them for they were plenty. The governor was called back to istanbul, and Ibrahim Bek and Mourad Bek returned to cairo on August 7, 1791 A.D. and Ibrahim El-Gohari returned to his former position, but he did not continue for more than four years, and he was loved by everyone. The people called Ibrahim El-Gohari the \"The Sultan of the Copts\" as it is indicated on the iconstasis of one of the churches in the monastery of St. Paula in the eastern desert, and also in the \"Katamares\" kept in the same monastery.
The famous historian El-Gabarty said about him: \"He had made Egypt great by his capability which endured for long time. He was one of the great world statesmen with a great decisive mind. He treated everyone according to their abilities, and did things that attracted the hearts and the love of the people to him. In Ramadan, he used to send gifts to prominent and non-prominent moslems. In his days, many churches and monasteries were built and maintained, and many endowment of the best of land were given, with the necessary provisions and salaries. Anba Yousab the bishop of Girga and Ekhmim said about him: \"He was one of the great people of his day, who was God-loving, giving all his possessions to the poor, and caring about the construction of churches. He loved all people of different religions, making peace with all, filling all the needs of everyone without prejudice.\"
His religious work is as follows: Ibrahim El-Gohari was famous for his love of the construction of churches and monasteries, and repairing what was destroyed by the evil hands. Because of his influential position in the government, and his great favor to the moslem rulers, he was able to issue regulations (Fatawi) to permit Copts to rebuild the destroyed churches and monasteries. He also donated many endowment of good land and money for the reconstruction, that amounted to 238 endowments as documented in the patriarchate.
He was also popular for the trans-scrubbing of rare books, and giving them as gifts to the churches and monasteries.
He was the first to build St. Mark cathedral in El-Azbakiya. The Copts were not allowed to build new churches or to repair the old ones, unless they get permission from the government, which were rarely granted.
One of the princesses came from Istanboul (Estana) on a pilgrimage to Mecca passing by Egypt, Ibrahim El-Gohari made everything possible to her comfort during her stay, and offered her many gifts. She wanted to reward him, and he asked her to get an order from the Sultan (Faraman) to permit the construction of a church in El-Azbakiya where he lived, and asked her about some other things needed by the Copts. The Sultan issued the permit, but he died before the construction of the church, and his brother Girgis El-Gohari completed it.
In order that the time of prayers be maintained in the church of the Virgin in Haret-Zoweila, he built a small church after the name of St. Mercurius (Abu-Saifain) beside it. This allowed him and the government Christian employees to attend the services and return to their work as the government allowed.
He also prepared the materials for the oil of Chrism (Myroun) from his own money, and his brother Girgis carried them to the Pope.
In 1499 A.M. (1783 A.D.), Ibrahim El-Gohari built all the northern wall of St. Antonios monastery, and built a water wheel. He built before that the southern and the western walls in 1498 A.M. The wall is known until today as El-Gohari's wall. He also renovated the building of the church of the Virgin in Haret
El-Roum in 1508 A.M. (1792 A.D.). He also built the church of Abu Saifain in the monastery of St. Paula in the Eastern desert, and in the monastery of El-Baramouse, he built the church of Sts. Apollo and Abib (The church was demolished in 1881 A.D. to enlarge the church of St. John). He also built palaces to the Lady Virgin in El-Baramouse and the Syrian monastery. He also built an extension to the southern end of the monastery of El-Baramouse, with a wall around it, and the extension was about 2400 square meter.
In summary, he built and maintained many churches and monasteries. He took care of the monks, and offered many offerings, candles, oil, veils, and church books to all the churches of Egypt. He also distributed charities among the poor and the needy everywhere, and gave them food and clothing. He gave special attention to widows and the orphans who had no one to help them, and provided monthly provisions for all their needs. his deeds were made known in his funeral eulogy by Pope Youannis, the 107th. Patriarch. He departed to his eternal home on Monday the 25th. of Bashans, 1511 A.M. (May 31st., 1795 A.D.) everyone grieved his departure including the governor Ibrahim Bek who walked in his funeral procession to honor him as he had honored him before his death. Pope Youannis eulogized him for his great love to him. He was buried in the private tomb that he built for himself beside the church of St. George in Old Cairo which had an oil lamp that was lit day and night. He died without leaving a posterity, but his memory lives forever.
The society for the revival of the Coptic churches in Cairo took action to renovate his tomb in Old cairo, and it has become a tourist attraction to all those who have heard about Ibrahim and his brother Girgis El-Gohari.
The biography of his brother Girgis is under the 17th. day of the month of Tute. He departed on the 17th. of Tute, 1557 A.M. (September 27th., 1810 A.D.)
May their prayers be with us, and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "most honored layman ibrahim el-gohari" } ], [ { "id": 266, "action": "The Martyrdom Of St. Thomas, the Apostle
On this day St. Thomas the apostle was martyred. He was born in Galilee, and the Lord chose him among the twelve disciples (Mathew 10:3). When the Lord wanted to go to raise Lazarus from the dead, Thomas said to the other disciples: \" (John 11:16). He also asked the Lord at the supper: \" (John 14:5-6). When the Lord Christ appeared to the disciples after the resurrection, and said to them \"Receive the Holy Spirit\", Thomas was absent. On his return, the disciples told him, \"We have seen the Lord.\" He said to them: \" (John 20:19-29).
After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost in the Upper room in Zion, the apostles dispersed everywhere to preach the Gospel, Thomas went to India. He worked there as a slave at one of the friends of the king, whose name was Lukios, who brought him to the king who inquired about his profession. Thomas said: \"I am builder, carpenter and a physician. He preached in his master's palace, and Lukios' wife believed and all his household.
The king asked him about his achievements, and he said: \"The palaces that I built were the souls that have become the temples of the King of Glory; the carpentry that I did was the Gospel that removes the thorns of sin; and the medicines I practiced are the Holy Mysteries which heal the poison of the evil one. The king became angry and tortured him, and bound him among four poles, cut off his skin and rubbed his wounds with salt and lime. The apostle Thomas endured the pains. Lukios' wife saw him suffering, and she fell from the window and died. Lukios came to him and said: \"If you raise my wife from the dead, I believe in your God.\" Thomas went to the room where the dead body was, and said: \"Arsabona (Arsonia), rise up in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.\" She rose instantly and bowed to the Saint. When her husband saw that, he believed and many more with him from the people of the city, and Thomas baptized them.
Once the sea drove a huge tree to the shore that no one could lift it up. St. Thomas asked the king for permission to lift it up and to use its wood in building a church. He got the permission, he made the sign of the cross, and he raised it and later he built the church, to which he ordained a bishop and priests.
St. Thomas left and went to a city called \"Kantoura\" (Kontaria), where he found an old man weeping bitterly because the king killed his six children. The Saint prayed over them, and the Lord raised them up. The idol priests were angry, and wanted to stone him. The first raised a stone to throw it at him, and his hand was paralyzed. The Saint prayed over his hand, he was healed instantly, and all the idol priests believed in the Lord Christ. Then St. Thomas went to the city of \"Parkenas\" and other cities, where he preached in the Name of Jesus Christ. The king heard about him, and he put him in prison. When he found out that he was teaching the prisoners the way of God, he tortured him, and at last he cut his head off, and he received the crown of martyrdom. He was buried in \"Melibar\", then his body was relocated to El-Raha.
May his prayers be with us, and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "thomas apostle" } ], [ { "id": 267, "action": "On this day of the year 232 A.M. (May 22nd., 516 A.D.), the saint Pope Youannis the second, the 30th. Patriarch of Alexandria, departed. He was a monk since his youth, and lived a solitary life. His reputation, because of his godly life spread everywhere, and was chosen a patriarch of the great city of Alexandria on the third of Baouna, 221 A.M. (May 29th., 505 A.D.). He wrote the biographies of the saints and sermons. The church lived in peace and tranquility at the time of the Orthodox Emperor Anastasius. St. Sawirus was the patriarch of Antioch, and he wrote a message to Pope Youannis on the one nature of Christ saying: \"Jesus Christ after the union with flesh has become of one nature with one Will without separation, and I believe in the same faith of Pope Cyril and Pope Dioscorus.\"
When Pope Youannis received this message, he was pleased, and he replied with a message filled with faith that testified to the union of the essence of God, and the trinity of His characters, and by the incarnation of the eternal Son of God, the Divine and the human nature have become one and no longer two natures, without separation, mingling, or confusion. He anathematized those who separate the two natures, those who confuse them and those who said that the suffering crucified Christ was only a man, and those who say that His Divine nature also suffered and died. He said that the Orthodox faith was to profess that God the word suffered by the flesh that united with. When Abba Sawiris read his message, he received it with joy, and made it public in all Antioch.
This Pope continued to take care about his people for 10 years, 10 months, and 23 days, and he departed.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Lazarus, the brother of mary and Martha, and the beloved of the Lord, departed after he had become the bishop of Cyprus.
After he had been raised from the dead by Our Lord, he followed the disciples. After the pentecost, they ordained him a bishop over Cyprus. He lived for forty years, and departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us, and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "lazarus beloved lord" } ], [ { "id": 268, "action": "The commemoration of the Relocation of the Body of St. Epiphanius
On this day of the year 403 A.D., the body of St. Epiphanius (His biography is under the 17th. of Bashans), arrived to the island of Cyprus. The boat that carried his body arrived to Cyprus from Constantinople on the 28th. day of Bashans. The priests and the people came with crosses, gospels, candles and incense and carried his body to the church. When they started to dig his tomb, two deacons did not allow them. They were excommunicated by the saints for their bad reputation. The body remained in the church for four days without a change or a stench. His body looked as if he was asleep. A saintly deacon came near the body and said: \"I know of your relationship with God, and that you can restrain these evil opponents.\" He then took an ax and hit the ground with it. The two opposing deacons fell on their faces immediately, and they were carried to their homes and died on the third day.
The body of the Saint was anointed and wrapped, they buried him in a marble sarcophagus in he church. Many miracles appeared from his body.
May his prayers be with us, and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "relocation body epiphanius" } ], [ { "id": 269, "action": "The Departure Of St. Simon the Stylite
On this day of the year 461 A.D., St. Simon departed. He was born in Antioch in 392 A.D. His father's name was John, and his mother's name was Martha. Many miraculous things happened because of him. Before his mother had conceived of him, St. John the Baptist appeared to her in a dream and told her of her conception and what he would become. At age sixteen, he became a monk in the mountain of Antioch, and he led a great ascetic life in worship and prayer. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and guided him in his monastic life to the life of St. Pachomius. He excelled in his worship to a level beyond the normal human level, so that he lived alone on a high place like a pillar, for 45 years, during which he ate grass.
This father wrote many useful ascetic teachings, and explained many church books. He departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us, and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "simon stylite" } ], [ { "id": 270, "action": "On this day of the year 818 A.M. (May 25th., 1102 A.D.), the holy father Pope Mikhail, the sixty eighth Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was knowledgeable in the church books from his youth, and recited them from memory. He desired to worship God, and went to the wilderness and became a monk in St. Macarius monastery. He was ordained a priest, then he went to a place near Singar, and lived there in a cave for more than 20 years, fighting the good spiritual war. His virtues were known to everyone. He was chosen to the Throne of St Mark and was enthroned on the 12th of Babah, 809 A.M. (October 9th., 1092 A.D.), after he had proclaimed the Orthodox faith. He took care of the priests of the churches of Alexandria. He did not allow \"Simony\", and returned all the properties of the church that the Pope before him took to himself. He never too to himself even one Dinar. He lived on very little money, and spent most of it to feed the poor and the needy. He paid the taxes for those who could not pay, and spent money to buy new vessels and books for the churches. He taught his people through preaching and sermons. When he completed his course, he gave his soul by the hand of the Lord Whom he loved. He was Pope for 9 years, 7 months,and 17 days.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the disciple Phorus (Fournous), one of the seventy disciples, departed. He served Christ for 3 years. After the ascension of the Lord, he served the apostles, and was filled with the Holy Spirit, the comforter on the day of Pentecost. Then he served St. Paul, and carried his epistles to many countries, and taught the Jews and pagans and baptized them. He suffered many afflictions, and departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us, and glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "fournous one seventy disciples" } ], [ { "id": 271, "action": "This day marks the commemoration of the consecration of the church of St. Leontius (Laventius) the Syrian. This Saint was martyred in the city of Tripoli on the twenty-second of Abib. A Christian woman, the wife of a great nobleman and prominent army commander, gave much money to the soldiers, and took his holy body. She wrapped it in expensive cloth and laid it in a coffer inside her house. She made a picture of him and she hung a lighted lamp before it.
It happened that Diocletian became angry with her husband and shut him up in prison in the city of Antioch. She became sad, and prayed to God, interceding with His saint Leontius, to save her husband from prison. God accepted her prayers. St. Leontius appeared to her husband in prison and told him, \"Do not grieve or be sorrowful, for you shall be delivered tomorrow, and you shall eat with the Emperor at his table, and you shall return safely to your house.\" The Saint, then, went to the Emperor, and woke him up. When the Emperor saw the Saint, he became terrified. The Saint told the Emperor, \"I have come to you, O Emperor, to order the release of the army commander. Honor him, and let him go to his house, lest you be destroyed.\" The Emperor, who was trembling, replied saying, \"Whatever you command me, O my lord, I will do.\" The next morning, the Emperor brought the commander out of prison, honored him, and dined with him at his own table. The Emperor told him about the horseman that appeared to him, then dismissed him to return to his home town.
When he arrived in Tripoli, his home town, he told his wife and his family what had happened to him. His wife told him, \"The good that happened to you was through the blessings of St. Leontius.\" Then she uncovered the body of the Saint, and he took the blessing of the Saint. When he saw his face, he realized that he was the one that had appeared to him in prison. After the perishing of Diocletian, they built a church in his name, relocated the body to it with great veneration, and the church was consecrated on this day.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Qozman (Cosmas) El-Tahawy and his companions were martyred.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
Today also, the church commemorates the great saint Abe-Fam (Bifam or Phoebammon) the soldier. This Saint was born in the city of Oseem (Giza). His father's name was Anastasius, who had a high ranking position, and his mother was a holy woman whose name was Susanna. He distributed his money on the works of righteousness and went before Armanius, governor of Alexandria, during the reign of Diocletian, to be martyred. Armanius tortured him much, then sent him to Arianus, governor of Ansena (Mallawy), who tortured him, excessively. However, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, and strengthened him. Saint Abe-Fam always lifted his eyes up toward heaven and finally they beheaded him. The believers then took the body and buried him with veneration in a hill of sand west of Tema (Souhag). This Saint completed his strife on the twenty-seventh of the month of Tubah during the reign of Diocletian, in the Fourth century. A church was built after his name in Tema and another in Oseem.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen
", "tags": "consecration church abe-fam epipham soldier" } ], [ { "id": 272, "action": "On this day, the church celebrates the appearance of the bodies of St. John the Baptist and Elisha the Prophet, the disciple of Elijah the Prophet, in the city of Alexandria.
Julian the Infidel wished to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem, having been destroyed by Emperor Vespasian and his son Titus. He intended with malice to prove the invalidity of the saying of the Lord in the Holy Gospel: \"Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left her upon another, that shall not be thrown down\" (Matthew 24:2). He supplied the Jewish people with money to rebuild it. He put Elebius, who asked the Jews to assist him secretly, in charge.
Many of the Jews, men, women, old and young, gathered. They started digging the foundation with eagerness, transferring the dirt and rocks away, some with baskets and the others in the tails of their dresses. St. Kyrillos (Cyril), bishop of Jerusalem, ridiculed what they were doing.
When they finished raising the rocks of the old foundation, they started to put down the new one. A severe earthquake took place, filled the excavation with dirt, dispersed the building material and killed many of the workers. The Jews were not terrified of that, and returned to the work again. Out of the depths of the earth, fiery balls came, showering the workers with rocks and hitting them so they stopped building. Many of them believed because of that and especially because they had fulfilled the prophesy of the Lord Christ, with their hands, about the destruction of the building of the temple from its foundation.
St. Gregory the Theologian and St. John Chrysostom had mentioned this incident. The Jewish historian Emian, in the fifth century, had mentioned this account also incidentally in his writings.
Nevertheless, the Jews told the Emperor, \"The reason for what happened is the presence of the bodies of Christian leaders in that place. They must be removed from it, otherwise the temple will not be built.\" Julian ordered that the bodies of the saints be removed from the place and burned. When they took the bodies of St. John the Baptist and Elisha the Prophet to burn them, some believers came forward to the soldiers, gave them a sum of silver and took the two bodies. They brought them to St. Athanasius, Pope of Alexandria. He was pleased and placed them in a special place until he could build a church for them.
One day St. Athanasius was sitting in the garden with his scribe, the one to be Pope Theophilos (23rd Pope) who succeeded him on the Chair, and told him, \"If God gives me long days, I will build in this place a church in the names of St. John the Baptist and Elisha the Prophet, and I will lay their bodies in it.\"
When Pope Theophilos was enthroned on the Chair of the See of St. Mark, he remembered what Pope Athanasius had told him. He built the church and relocated the pure bodies to it. On their way to the church carrying the holy bodies, they passed by a house of a pagan woman. This woman was in labor for the last four days. She had a difficult labor and she was in severe pain. When she heard the singing and the chanting of the people as they passed by, and when she knew what was happening, she vowed, saying, \"O John, the saint of God, if you deliver me from this tribulation, I will become a Christian.\" Before she had finished what she was saying, she gave birth to a boy, and she called him John. Then, her family and she were baptized. They laid the bodies with great honor in the church. Many miracles and wonders were manifested through them.
As of the end of Julian the infidel was as follows:
He decided to declare a war against Sapor, King of Persia.
St. Basilius the Great, the author of the liturgy, and some bishops went to meet him. Emperor Julian asked them, \"Why have you come.\" St. Basilius replied, \"We came asking for a shepherd\" He mocked them saying, \"Where did you leave the son of the carpenter?\" The Saint answered with courage and pride, \"We left him making a coffin for you, for you have lost all wisdom and knowledge.\" Julian told him, \"I have read and memorized it.\" St. Basilius replied, \"But you did not comprehend it.\" Julian became angry and ordered them seized, to be slain after his return from the war with Sapor. St. Basilius told him, \"You will not come back, for God has spoken by my mouth.\" The Emperor ordered them imprisoned.
The Emperor went to the war. St. Basilius prayed before the icon of St. Marcurius Abu-saifain, asking for the chastisement of the Emperor because he insulted his Lord Christ. St. Marcurius disappeared from the icon, and when he returned, his sword was dripping blood.
During the war, Julian was shot by an arrow in his liver. Thlodoritius said in his history of the church: \"When this infidel Emperor was stabbed, he took a handful of the blood that was pouring out of his side and scattered it toward the heaven, saying, 'You have defeated me O Son of Mary.'\" The prophesy of St. Basilius was fulfilled in him and the church was saved from his evil. When St. Macarius, Bishop of Edko, was martyred, they placed his body with the bodies of St. John the Baptist and Elisha the Prophet.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the church celebrates the departure of Pope Yoannis (John) the Eighteenth, the 107th Pope of Alexandria. He was of the people of El-Fayyoum and his name was Joseph. He became a monk in the monastery of the great St. Antonios on the mount of El-Araba. When Pope Marcus the seventh, his predecessor, departed, the bishops, priests, and the notables of the people unanimously agreed on choosing him a Patriarch. They brought him and ordained him a Patriarch in the church of the martyr St. Marcurius in Old Cairo. That was on Sunday, 15th of Babah, 1486 A.M. (October 23, 1769 A.D.). He was called Yoannis the Eighteenth, the 107th Pope of Alexandria.
During his days, the Pope of Rome attempted to attract the Eastern Churches and especially the Orthodox Church of Egypt (The Coptic Church) to the Catholic rite. He published the proceedings of the Council of Chalcedone in a book and distributed it in all the countries of the East. This council had caused the schism of the church, and the Saint Pope Dioscorus (25th Patriarch) had refused to recognize the legitimacy of this council.
The Pope of Rome then sent an envoy to Pope Yoannis carrying a message inviting him to be united with him. Pope Yoannis gave this message to Anba Yusab El-Abbah, bishop of Girga. He asked him to study it and to respond to it. This great scholar and distinguished theologian replied, refuting all the claims of Rome. He defended his church, its faith, and its doctrines, a splendid defense that immortalized his memory. However, the book of the proceedings of the Council of Chalcedone brought the opposite results of what Rome expected from publishing it. The book was a proof of the sound teachings and doctrines of the Coptic Orthodox church. The Bishop of Rome was sorry for publishing the book in the East, and he gathered its copies and burned them.
During the papacy of Pope Yoannis (John) many tribulations and hardships befell him from the rulers of the country and the Ottoman governors. The Turkish commander of the army seized the patriarchate treasury and took all its funds. That forced the Pope to disappear from the oppression and the injustice of those rulers who over tasked the Christians with their unjust rules and the enormous increase of taxes stipulated from them.
Pope Yoannis participated with Ibrahim El-Gohary, the head scribe at that time, in restoring the monasteries and the churches. He also made the Holy Myron. He departed on the second day of the blessed month of Baounah, 1512 A.M. (June 7, 1797 A.D.). He remained on the patriarchal chair for twenty-six years, seven months, and sixteen days. He was buried in the tomb of the patriarchs in the church of St. Marcurius Abu-Saifain. The chair remained vacant three months and twenty-six days after his departure.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pope yoannis eighteenth 107th pope" } ], [ { "id": 273, "action": "On this day, the first church in the name of St. George was built in Egypt in the city of Beer Maa in the Oasis. As was consecrated also on this day a church in his name in the city of Birma, district of Tanta. For after the perishing of Diocletian, and the reign of the righteous Emperor Constantine, all the temples of the idols were destroyed. Churches were built after the name of the heroic martyrs, who strived with their blood to defend the faith.
Some Christian soldiers in the land of Egypt, had donated a piece of the land where the city of Birma is now located. One of them was a righteous and meek young man, who lived on a piece of this land with some of the farmers. In this area there was a well of water. This young man heard of the wonders of the great among the martyrs, St. George. He searched until he found his biography. He wrote it, and it comforted him to read it, which he did without boredom.
While he stood praying, on the evening of the twenty-fourth of the month of Bashans, he saw that an assembly of the saints had come down beside the well. They were praising God and chanting with angelic voices. They were surrounded by heavenly light, and he was astounded. One of them, who was in the uniform of a soldier, came forward and informed him that he was Gawargios (George) who was martyred at the hands of Diocletian. He ordered him to build a church for him on that site, for that was the Will of God. The assembly left him, and raised up to heaven while they were glorifying the Most High.
The young man spent that night awake till morning. Few days passed during which he was thinking about how he could build this church, knowing that he did not have the money for a small piece of it. One night, while he stood praying, the great martyr St. George appeared to him. The Saint pointed out to him the place to build the church. Then he directed the young man to another place and told him, \"Dig here and you shall find what you need to build the church.\" When he woke up in the morning, he went where the honorable martyr had directed him. He dug there and found a vessel filled with gold and silver. He praised God, and glorified his patron saint. He built the church and called the father the Patriarch who consecrated it on this day.
The relics of St. George, that were kept in his church in the city of Beer Maa in the Oasis, were relocated to the monastery of Anba Samuel by its monks. That was during the days of the Saint Abba Mattheos (87th Patriarch), and the monastery was under the direction of Fr. Zachary Ebn-Elkomos and Fr. Soliman El-Qualamony.
During the Papacy of Pope Gabriel (88th Patriarch) the relics of the saint were relocated to his well-known church in Old Cairo. That was on the 16th of Abib, 1240 A.M. (July 10, 1024 A.D.). A great celebration takes place annually, where the church was built beside the water well, to commemorate this venerable event. There, many signs of casting out of evil spirits and healing of the sick take place with the intercession of this great martyr.
May his prayers be with us. Ame
n.
On this day also, the ascetic and fighter St. Martha, departed. She was born in the city of Mesr (Cairo) to wealthy Christian parents. She loved fornication and unchastity in her youth and her works became known. However, the mercy of God from above encompassed her, and moved her to go to the church. That was on the Nativity of Our Lord. When she came to its door and wished to go inside, the servant delegated to watch the door told her, \"It is not meet for you to go into the holy church, for you know what you are?\" A confrontation took place between them, and when the Bishop heard the clamor, he came to the door of the church to see what had happened. When he saw the girl, he said to her, \"Do you not know that the house of God is holy, and only the pure enter it.\" She wept and said, \"Accept me O father, for I am repentant from this instant, and have decided not to go back to my sin.\" The bishop replied, \"If it is true what you have said, go and bring back here all your silk clothes and gold ornaments.\"
She went quickly and brought back all of her clothes and ornaments and gave them to the Bishop. He ordered that they be burned immediately, then he shaved off the hair of her head. He put on her the monastic garb and sent her to one of the convents. She fought a great spiritual fight, and she frequently said in her prayers: \"O Lord, if I could not bear the disgrace from the servant of Your house, so please do not put me to shame before Your angels and saints.\" She continued the spiritual fight for twenty-five years, during which she did not go out of the door of the convent, then departed in peace.
May her prayers be with us. Amen
Today also marks the martyrdom of St. Alladius (Hilarius or Hilarion), bishop of one of the countries of the East. One day, he rebuked Emperor Julian for worshipping the idols. The Emperor replied, \"If I am, in your opinion infidel, because I do not worship that whom was crucified, I shall make you also forsake worshipping him.\" Then the Emperor handed him to one of his officers and commanded him to torture Alladius without mercy for one year. When he did not turn away from his firm intention, he lit a fire in a pit and threw him in it, but no harm came upon him. Many believed, and the Emperor ordered their heads to be cut off. Finally, they brought the saint out of the pit, and ordered to cut off his head. He delivered up his soul in the hand of the Lord Christ and received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also marks the departure of Pope Cosmas the First (44th Patriarch), in the year 446 A.M. (June 24, 730 A.D.). He was from the village of Abi-Sair. He became a monk in the monastery of St. Macarius. He was ordained against his will a patriarch on Sunday the 30th of Baramhat, 445 A.M. (Marsh 729 A.D.). He did not cease, since his enthronement, from asking God to repose his soul speedily. God responded to his request after one year and three months of his enthronement.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
Today also, the saint Anba Abraam, Bishop of El-fayyoum and El-Giza, departed. This was in the year 1630 A.M. (June 10, 1914 A.D.). This saint, whose name was Paul (Boulos), was born in 1545 A.M. (1829 A.D.) in the Estate of \"Gilda\", district of Mallawi, governate of Miniah, to righteous parents. They brought him up in a Christian manner. They sent him to the church school, where he learned religious subjects and the church hymns. As he was a very bright student, Anba Yousab, the Bishop of Sunabbo ordained him a deacon for the church of Gilda. His heart longed for the monastic life, so he went to El-Muharrak monastery where he was ordained a monk by the name of Paul Gabriel El-Muharraki. He was nineteen years old.
He was meek, humble, had a pure life, and he prayed much in seclusion. Accordingly, the monks loved him exceedingly. When Anba Yakoubos, bishop of El-Meniah, heard of him, he summoned him. He retained him in the episcopate for a period of time during which he promoted him to a priest. When he returned to his monastery, the monks with a consensus decided to make him the abbot over the monastery after the death of their Abbot. He was then promoted to archpriest (hegumen) in the days of Abba Demitrius the second (111th Patriarch). He remained Abbot of the monastery for five years, during which the monastery was the refuge for thousands of the poor. So he was called the father of the poor and the destitute. During his time as abbot, he did not spare an effort to improve the condition of the monastery spiritually and physically. He improved its finances by developing its agricultural land. As he increased his charity toward the poor, the orphans and the widows, some of the monks became more resentful of him, for they considered these charitable works as squandering and extravagant acts. They complained against him to Anba Morcos, Metropolitan of El-Behira, who was the acting Patriarch after the death of Pope Demitrius. Anba Morcos accepted their complaints and deposed him as the abbot of their monastery. Shortly after his dismissal, he left El-Muharrak monastery and went to the monastery of El-Baramous. Several monks from the El-Muharrak monastery went to the monastery of El-Baramous, with archpriest Bolous (Abba Abraam), because they did not like the attitudes of the complaining monks. He stayed there for some time studying the Bible and teaching the monks.
The abbot of the monastery of El-Baramous at that time was archpriest Youhanna the Scribe, who became later on Pope Kyrillos the fifth (112th Patriarch). In the year 1597 A.M. (1881 A.D.), Pope Kyrillos the Fifth chose and ordained him a bishop for the parish of El-Fayyoum and El-Giza. He replaced its reposed bishop, Anba Eisak, and was ordained with the name of Abba Abraam. During his episcopate, he became famous for two attributes:
The First:
His charity to the multitude of poor that came to the bishopric residence. He gave them all what he had of money. He made the bishopric residence a shelter for many of them. He offered clothing for those who had no clothes and food for those who were hungry. He never allowed anyone to offer him food that was better than that offered to the poor. Once he went down to visit the poor while they were eating, and found that the food he was offered that day was better than that offered to them. He became very sad, and immediately relieved the nun supervising the feeding service of the poor from her duties.
The Second:
He was famous for his prayer of faith. Many miracles were performed, through his prayers, on his hands. His fame was spread to all parts of Egypt and also to some parts of Europe. Many patients, of different religions, came to him, seeking the blessing of his prayers and were healed. Anba Abraam was well read of the holy books. He always gave to his visitors advice, instructions and sermons which showed the great depth of his knowledge. More important was that he possessed a pure nature and many virtues. Particularly, his severe denial of himself, and his true renouncement of the pleasures of life and its vain glory. His food and clothing were just bare necessities. His ambition never looked up to the glory of higher ranks or positions. When the Patriarch wanted to promote him to the rank of metropolitan he apologized saying that the Holy Bible did not mention any ranks in the priesthood except the ranks of the priest and the bishop.
He was also straightforward in revealing his own opinion, looking only for the truth. He never gave any attention to the rank and greatness of people in higher places, for their greatness was far less than the greatness of the truth. For this reason, all the metropolitans and bishops of the church avoided his anger and sought to please him.
Abba Abraam departed to the heavenly bless on the third of Baouna, 1630 A.M. (June 10, 1914 A.D.). More than ten thousand Christian and Moslems walked in his funeral precession. His pure body was laid in the tomb, which was prepared for him in the monastery of the Virgin Mary in El-Ezab. Many miracles were manifested through him after his departure, and his tomb became and still is a pilgrimage for many who have special needs or infirmities.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "abraam bishop el-fayyoum" } ], [ { "id": 274, "action": "On this day, St. Sanusi (Shenousi), who was from Balkim, was martyred. When he was a young man, he tended the sheep. He used to give his food to the young shepherds, and spend his day fasting. He visited the sick and those who were in prison.
One night, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a vision and told him, \"Rise up, and go before the governor and confess your God to receive the crown of martyrdom.\" When he woke up from his sleep, he told that to his mother. She was sorry and wept for she was unable to prevent him. He had heard about a righteous holy woman, in the city of Shoubra, whose name was Mariam. She received the poor and the sojourners and did many good deeds. He went to her, and both agreed on receiving the crown of martyrdom. They went to Arsanos, the governor, who was residing in a ship anchored on the bank of the river Nile. They cried out before him saying, \"We are Christians.\" He ordered that they be tortured. While they were torturing them, St. Mariam delivered up her soul in the hand of the Lord. The Lord Christ comforted and strengthened St. Sanusi. When the Governor failed to change his conviction, he sent him with many others to the Governor of Ansena (Antinoe), who tortured him severely. Then, he brought a sorcerer from Akhmeem, who gave the Saint a drink mixed with poison. The Saint having made over it the sign of the Cross, drank it, and no harm came to him. When the governor was tired of torturing him, he ordered him put to death. They cut off his head with the sword. The sorcerer believed when he saw that, so they cut off his head also. Both received the crown of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, Saint Anba Amoun and St. Sophia were martyred.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also, marks the martyrdom of St. John of Herakleia.
May his prayer be with us. Amen.
Today also, marks the departure of the Saint Aba-Hour in the mount of El-Amoud in the East.
May his prayer be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 1036 A.M. (May 29th, 1320 A.D.) Pope Yoannis the Eighth (80th Patriarch), departed. He was from Meniat Bani-Khosaim, and was known as El Mo'ataman Ebn El-Kedees, and his name was Yohanna Ben-Ebsal. He became a monk in the monastery of El-Shahran, and was ordained Patriarch on the nineteenth of Amshir, 1016 A.M. (February 14th, 1300 A.D.). During his days severe tribulations befell the Christians. They forced them to tinge their turbans with the color blue. Churches were closed in old Cairo, Cairo, and then in different parts of the country except the monasteries in Alexandria, and some churches in other cities. An envoy from the king of Spain came to intercede on behalf of the Christians. Two churches were opened, one of them was the Coptic church of the Virgin Lady in Haret Zeewailah and the other was the Malachite church of St. Nicholas in Elhamzawe. He was a contemporary of the Saint Anba Barsouma known as El-Erian Ebn-Eltaban, who departed during his days. The Patriarch prayed over him on the 5th of El-Nasi 1021 A.M. This Patriarch was the last to reside in the church of Abu-Saifain in Cairo. He was the first to relocate the patriarchal chair to the church of the Virgin Lady in Haret Zeewailah. He was residing there in the year 1303 A.D. when a severe earthquake took place that destroyed a large part of Syria and Egypt. Ebn-kabre indicated that this Patriarch had made some changes in the Liturgy. He departed after remaining on the chair for twenty years, three months, and fifteen days and was buried in the monastery of El-Shahran.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pope yoannis eighth 80th patriarch" } ], [ { "id": 275, "action": "On this day, St. James of the East (Oriental), the confessor, departed. He lived and worshipped in one of the monasteries of the East. He was a contemporary of Emperor Constantine the Great, Julian the Infidel, and Jovianus the Believer. When the latter was killed, Valens, his brother, reigned in his stead. He was an arian and he closed the Orthodox churches and allowed the Arians to open their churches. The grace of God moved this Saint and he went to the city of Constantinia. He met the Emperor on his way to war. He stood before the Emperor and said, \"I ask you to open the churches of the believers, that they may pray for you, so may God make you victorious against your enemies, otherwise God will forsake you and you will be defeated before your enemies.\" The Emperor became angry at what St. James said and commanded to beat and imprison him. The Saint told him; \"Know that you shall be defeated before your enemies, and you shall die by burning.\" The Emperor became enraged and ordered to keep him under guard until he should return from war. The Saint told him, \"If you return safely, then God has not spoken by my mouth.\"
The Emperor went on to fight his enemies. When the two armies faced each other, the Lord forsake him, so he was defeated before his enemies. They pursued him until he came to a certain village to which they set fire. Its people escaped, but he and some of his men remained and they were burned. Those of his soldiers who returned to the city of Constantinia told the believers what had happened. Thus the prophecy of the holy man was fulfilled. The believers assembled, and brought him out of prison with great honor. The Arians knew that the divine grace and the spirit of prophecy dwelt in him, as they believed in the accuracy of his faith. Many turned from their error, confessing that the Son of God is equal with the Father in essence.
This saint spent the rest of the days of his life in devotion to the ascetic life, and in fighting the spiritual fight until he departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the two great Sts. Anba Bshay (Ebsoy) and Anba Botros (Peter) were martyred.
Their relics are located in Sedfah, the governorate of Asyut.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also, marks the commemoration of the consecration of the church of the great saint Anba Boctor (Victor) in the region of Sho, east of El-Khesous.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church boctor victor region sho" } ], [ { "id": 276, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Theodore the Monk
On this day, St. Theodore the Monk, was martyred. He was born in the city of Alexandria. He became a monk in one of the monasteries near the city, and became known for his pure life and strenuous asceticism.
When Constantius, the son of the righteous emperor Constantine, followed the Arians, he sent an arian patriarch to Alexandria called Gawargios. He was accompanied by a number of soldiers. He exiled St. Athanasius, the Pope of Alexandria, and sat in his place after he had killed many of the believers. St. Theodore, with Christian zeal, disputed with the Arians, and exposed their infidelity. The alien Patriarch seized him, tortured him much, then ordered that he be tied to the legs of unbridled horses. The horses were then released. St. Theodore's body was torn to pieces and his head was smashed. He delivered up his soul into the hand of the Lord and received the crown of martyrdom. The believers collected his holy members, and laid them in a coffin. They established a feast for him on this day.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "theodore monk" } ], [ { "id": 277, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Abaskhiroun the Soldier
On this day, the honorable St. Abaskhiroun, who was from the city of Qalin, was martyred. He was one of the soldiers of Arianus, governor of Ansena (Antinoe). When the Edict of Diocletian to worship the idols was issued, this Saint arose in the middle of the people present, exposed the infidelity of the Emperor, and cursed his idols. They seized him and shut him up in the prison, which was in the palace of the Governor, in Asyut. Five other soldiers agreed with him to shed their blood in the Name of Christ. Their names were: Alfius, Armanius, Arkias, Peter, and Cranius. When they came before the Governor, he cut off their girdles, tortured them, crucified some and cut off the heads of the others. As for St. Abaskhiroun, the Governor tortured him with different kinds of tortures, but the Lord comforted him, strengthened him, and healed his wounds. The Governor brought a sorcerer, whose name was Alexander. He gave the Saint some deadly poison, saying; \"O master of the powers of darkness, manifest in this Christian your powers.\" The Saint took the poison, made the sign of the cross over it, and drank it, but no harm came upon him. The sorcerer marvelled, and he believed in the God of St. Abaskhiroun. The Governor cut off the head of the sorcerer, and he received the crown of martyrdom. The Governor became more enraged with the Saint. He tortured him extensively, then he ordered to cut off his head, and he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "abaskhiroun soldier" } ], [ { "id": 278, "action": "On this day, of the year 901 A.M., is the commemoration of the consecration of the church of the Virgin Lady, the Mother of God. This church is in the city known as El-Mahammah (Mostorod) which means \"bath\" because of the fountain of water flowing from the spring. This spring the Mother of God had sprung out upon her return from her visit to the land of Egypt. When Joseph went to Egypt as the Angel had said, he went to Upper Egypt. On his way back, he came to El-Mataryah, and then to El-Mahammah. A church was built in that place in the name of the Virgin Lady.
May her intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, is the commemoration of St. Tamada and her children, and Armenius and his mother.
May their intercession be with us. Amen.
This day also marks the martyrdom of George (Girgis), the new martyr. He was an Ishmealite as was his father. He believed in the Lord Christ and became a monk. They seized, and punished him severely. They took him before the Governor El-Zaher, where he confessed his faith in the Lord Christ. The Governor attempted to make him forsake his faith by offering him expensive gifts, but he refused. The Governor ordered to cut his neck off, and he received the crown of martyrdom in the year 1103 A.M. (1387 A.D.).
May his intercession be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "george girgis new martyr" } ], [ { "id": 279, "action": "On this day, of the year 2947 of the world, the upright and great, Samuel the Prophet, departed. This righteous man was born in Ramathaim Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim. His father's name was Elkanah and his mother was Hannah. She was barren, and by continual supplication, the Lord gave her Samuel. She raised him in her house for three years, and then she offered him to the temple of God as she vowed before she conceived him. He served Eli the priest until he grew up. Eli's two sons had behaved badly and defiled the temple.
While Samuel was lying down to sleep, the LORD called Samuel. And he answered, \"Here I am!\" So he ran to Eli and said, \"Here I am, for you called me.\" And Eli said, \"I did not call; lie down again.\" And he went and lay down. And the LORD called yet again, \"Samuel!\" So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, \"Here I am, for you called me.\" And Eli answered, \"I did not call, my son; lie down again.\" Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, nor was the word of the LORD yet revealed to him. And the LORD called Samuel again a third time. Then Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, \"Here I am, for you did call me.\" Then Eli perceived that the LORD had called the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, \"Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, 'Speak, LORD, for Your servant hears.' \" So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Then the LORD came and stood and called as at other times, \"Samuel! Samuel!\" And Samuel answered, \"Speak, for Your servant hears.\" Then the LORD said to Samuel: \"Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. \"In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them. And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.\" (1 Samuel 3:1-14)
Afterward, the Lord commanded Samuel to anoint Saul the son of Kish, a king for Israel. When Saul disobeyed the Lord Samuel anointed David, the son of Jesse, a king by the command of the Lord. He prophesied and judged for the people of Israel for twenty years.
May his prayer be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Lucilianus and four others with him, were martyred. He was a priest for the idols during the reign of Emperor Aurelianus Caesar. He witnessed the torturing of the martyrs, their beating, burning, and being hacked to pieces. He also witnessed many being thrown into the fire without being harmed. He marvelled and realized that his idols did not posses the power to do likewise and the God that does these signs is the true God. Straightway, he cried saying, \"I am Christian, I am Christian.\" They seized him, and brought him before the Emperor who rebuked him for that. He promised him many gifts, then threatened him. Since he did not return from his firm intention, he tortured him severely then cast him into prison.
Then the Emperor brought him again with the other four Christians and threw them into the fire. God sent heavy rain and it quenched the fire. Finally, they hung him upon a wooden cross and nailed his body with long nails. Thus he delivered up his soul in the hand of the Lord. As for the other four, they cut off their heads and they all received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
Today also, we celebrate the commemoration of the relocation of the relics of St. Marcurius Abu-Saifain to his church in Cairo. That was during the papacy of Pope Yoannis (94th Pope of Alexandria).
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "relocation relics mercurius cairo" } ], [ { "id": 280, "action": "On this day, St. Dabamon, was martyred. A man named \"Warshenoufa\" (Ouarshenoufa) was called upon to be a bishop, but he fled to \"kahmoun\" (Tahmoun), diocese of Bana. There, he found a lodging with two brothers called Dabamon (Eudaeman) and Bastamon (Episteman). That night, the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, \"Why are you asleep while the fight is on, and the crowns are prepared? Arise and go to the governor and confess Christ to receive the crown of martyrdom.\"
When he rose up, he told the two brothers about his vision. They all agreed to receiving the crowns. They went to the governor and professed the Name of the Lord Christ before him. The Governor tortured them, and put them in prison. Then, he took them with him from Benchileel to Sanhour. He asked them to raise incense for the idols, but they refused. The Governor tortured them again and the Lord sent his angel to comfort them.
Then he took them to Sa, where the priest of the idols told the governor that a woman named Dabamon from Degwah had cursed the gods. She was a righteous and charitable woman who had a daughter named Youna. They weaved fabrics and painted beautiful drawings on them. They sold it and gave whatever was left as alms. The governor sent an executioner named Eulogi. When he saw her righteousness and her good nature, he refrained from killing her, and took her with him to the governor. There she met St. Warshenoufa and his two companions. The governor tortured her excessively and ordered to squeeze her with the press. The Lord strengthened her and raised her whole again. Meanwhile, Eulogi, the executioner that brought her, professed the Lord Christ. He was beheaded, and received the crown of martyrdom. The governor also ordered Dabamon to be beheaded outside the city. They took her out, and the women were around her weeping, but she was rejoicing. They cut her head off and she received the crown of martyrdom.
May her prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 312 A.D., the righteous Emperor Constantine the great, issued his Edict to close all the pagan temples, and open all the churches throughout the whole Roman Empire. The news of the Edict arrived to Alexandria on this day, and all the people rejoiced exceedingly along with the heavenly hosts. All the Christians made this day a great feast day. This was at the beginning of the enthronement of Pope Alexandros the first, the 19th Patriarch of Alexandria.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
Today also, of the year 1434 A.M. (June 15, 1718 A.D.), Pope Yoannis the Sixteenth, the 103rd Patriarch of Alexandria, departed. This Pope was known by the name \"Yoannis El-Tokhi\". His parents were Christians from Tokh El-Nasara, the diocese of El-Menoufia. They brought their son, whose name was Ibrahim, with the best of care. They provided him with the best of education. God blessed him from his youth, thus he grew up in virtue and in a chaste life.
When his father departed, he forsake the world and desired the monastic life. He went to the monastery of St. Antony in the wilderness of Araba, and became a monk there. He put on the garb of the monk and attired with the holy Eskeem. When he showed his dedication in worship and asceticism, the fathers the monks chose him to be a priest. Pope Mattheos, the Fourth, ordained him a priest for the monastery, in the church of the Virgin Lady in Haret Zeewailah. He became more righteous in his new priestly rank, and increased his worship, until his godliness, humility and meekness became well known. When Pope Mattheos departed, the bishops, priests and lay leaders, met to choose a good shepherd. They elected a number of priests and monks, among whom was this father. They casted an altar lot after they had celebrated the holy liturgy for three consecutive days, asking God to guide them to the one who is fit to shepherd His people. When the lot was made, it fell on this father. They knew and realized that God had chosen him for this office. He was ordained on Sunday, the ninth of Baramhat, 1392 A.M. (May 5th, 1676 A.D.). He was called Yoannis the 16th. The celebration of his enthronement was splendid and the joy prevailed everywhere in Egypt.
He gave his attention to the restoration of the monasteries and the churches. He restored the holy places in Jerusalem and paid off its debts. He renovated many churches and monasteries which he consecrated by his blessed hands. He gave special attention to the monastery of St. Paul, the first hermit, in mount Nemra. The monastery was desolate for a period of more than one hundred years. He opened it, restored it, reestablished the monastic life in it, and made it better than before. He prepared books, veils, altar accessories, and relics of saints for it, and consecrated it himself. He ordained many priests, deacons and monks for it on Sunday the 19th of Bashans, 1421 A.M. (May 25, 1705 A.D.). He visited the monastery of the great St. Antony, the father of the monks, in mount El-Kalzam, four times: the first was in the month of Kiahk, 1395 A.M. (1678 A.D.), accompanied by the head of the monastery, and some monks. The second was in the 20th of Baramouda, 1411 A.M. (1695 A.D.) at the end of the holy fast. He was accompanied by Fr. John the Virgin, the priest of the church of the Virgin in Haret El-Room and the honorable deacon El-Moallem Girgis El-Toukhy Abu Mansour, and El-Moallem Soliman El-Sarraf El-Shenrawi. The third time was in Misra 1417 A.M. (1701 A.D.), and the fourth time was in 1421 A.M. (1705 A.D.) to consecrate the monastery of St. Paul.
In the blessed month of Abib, 1417 A.M., a great tribulation befell the Orthodox Christians of Egypt, during the reign of the governor Mohammed Pasha. An accusation had reached him that the Coptic Christians had built new buildings in their churches. The Governor appointed an Agha, architects, and judges to go and investigate the accusation. They came back with the evidence that there were many new constructions in the churches. However, God did not forsake His people by the prayers of this godly Pope. Many honorable people in Egypt went to the Governor to intercede on behalf of the Christians. The Governor ordered that a fine be paid as a penalty. The Pope met with the lay leaders El-Moallem Youhanna Abu Masri, El-Moallem Girgis Abu Mansour, and El-Moallem Ibrahim Abu Awad. They agreed unanimously that the Pope would visit the Christians in their homes, and collect what needed to be collected. The penalty was collected and paid to the Governor. The lay leaders were able to pay it back to the people and every one rejoiced. The churches were opened, and there was peace. The Pope took it hard going to the homes of the believers asking for money, so he went to the monastery of St. Antony on the 7th of the month of Misra, 1417 A.M. for a retreat.
In 1419 A.M., the Pope desired to make the Holy Oil (Myron). The Lord answered his request, and moved the heart of a Christian, the great lay leader, El-Moallem Girgis Abu Mansour, the administrator of the churches of El-Muallakah and Haret El-Roum. He was charitable to the poor and the needy, cared for the places of the saints and martyrs. He participated in every good deed with the Pope. He prepared what was needed (oil, spices, perfumes), and the Holy Myron was cooked and consecrated by the Pope in the Church of the Virgin in Haret El-Roum. The Myron had not been made for a period of two hundred and forty seven years, during which, 18 Popes sat on the throne of St. Mark. He was also the first to build the Patriarchate residence in Haret El-Roum, and dedicated properties and revenue for it.
In 1425 A.M. (1709 A.D.), this Pope visited Jerusalem, with some of the bishops, many archpriests, priests, and laymen. The honored deacon El-Moallem Girgis Abu Mansour El-Toukhy, paid all the expenses of this trip. He also paid all the expenses for the renovation of the church of the Virgin known as El-Muallakah in Old Cairo.
The Pope visited the churches, and monasteries. He also visited St. Mark church in Alexandria. He traveled everywhere in both Lower and Upper Egypt. In his time, he allowed the Holy Elements (the Body and the Blood of Christ) to be taken to the sick and those who could not come to the church. This Pope was loved by everyone, and he was honored and respected for his humility, meekness, and his love for the poor. His door was always open to everyone who would call upon him. The days of his papacy were quiet. The Lord was with him, and delivered him from all his sorrows. He accepted his prayers and supplications and he lived to a good old age.
When he completed his course, he became sick for a short time. Then he departed in peace, with his friend the honorable lay leader Girgis Abu Mansour within one week. Many mourned him, and the bishops, the priests, and the lay leaders attended the prayers on his body. They carried him with great honor, and placed the body in the tomb of the Patriarchs in the church of St. Mercurius Abu Saifain in Old Cairo, in the 10th of Baounah, 1434 A.M., after he had been on the throne of St. Mark for forty two years and three months.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 1578 A.M. (15th of June, 1862 A.D.), is the commemoration of the enthronement of Pope Demitrius the second, the 111th Patriarch. This father was born in the village of Galda, the governorate of El-Menia. He became a monk in the monastery of St. Macarius. When the abbot of the monastery departed, he was chosen to become the new abbot. He did well in managing the monastery. For his good virtues, he was ordained a Pope to succeed the great Pope Abba Kyrillos the fourth, the 110th Patriarch.
He completed the construction of St. Mark Cathedral, built many buildings in the patriarchate, and in his monastery in the area of Atrees. In 1869 A.D., he attended the celebration for the opening of the Suez Canal, and met many kings. He was well respected by Sultan Abdel-Aziz. When this Pope came before him to greet him, the Pope kissed the sultan on his chest. The Sultan was troubled, and the guards asked the Pope why he did that. The Pope said, \"The book of God says: 'The king's heart in the hand of the Lord' (Proverbs 21:1), when I kissed his heart, I have kissed the hand of God.\" The Sultan was pleased with his answer, and gave him many farm lands to help the poor and the schools. The Pope traveled on a governmental boat to visit the churches in Upper Egypt. He regained those who were lost and strengthened the faithful.
After he had completed in the papacy seven years, seven months, and seven days, he departed in peace on the eve of Epiphany, the 11th of Tubah, 1586 A.M. (Jan. 18th, 1870 A.D.).
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen
", "tags": "enthronement pope demitrius second 111th patriarch alexandria" } ], [ { "id": 281, "action": "On this day, the honorable St. Claudius, was martyred. He was the son of Ptolemy (Abtelmawos), who was Emperor Numerianus' brother. He was loved by the people of Antioch for his courage and good appearance. Because they loved him so greatly, they painted a picture of him on the doors of the city of Antioch.
When Diocletian reneged the faith and incited the persecution against the Christians, this Saint agreed with St. Boctor (Victor) Ebn Romanus to be martyred for the sake of the Name of Christ. Satan appeared to them in the form of an old man and told them, \"O my sons, you are young men, the sons of nobility, and I am afraid for you from this infidel Emperor; so if he asked you to worship the idols, accept his command, and in your houses you can worship Christ in secret.\"
They realized that he was satan disguised as an old man and told him, \"O you who are filled with all evil, go away from us.\" Straightway the old man changed his appearance and became like a black slave and told them, \"Behold, I will go before you to the Emperor and instigate him to shed your blood.\"
The Emperor brought St. Claudius and proposed to him the worship of the idols, and promised to give him his father's position. Claudius neither accepted his promise, nor submitted to his order. He spoke to him boldly and fearlessly reviling him for worshipping the idols. The Emperor did not dare to harm him for the people of Antioch loved him. Romanus, St. Victor's father, advised the Emperor to send him to Egypt to be killed there. He sent him with a letter to the Governor of Ansena (Antinoe) stating in it: \"Claudius neither obeyed our orders, nor hearkened our words. Persuade him with all your power first, and if he does not return on his counsel, cut off his head.\" When the Saint heard that, he called Sidrakhos, his sister's husband, asked him to care for his sister, his possessions and bid him farewell. The Saint went with the soldiers to Egypt. When he arrived to Arianus, the governor of Ansena, he received him standing, kissed his hand, and said, \"O my master Claudius, do not transgress the command of the Emperor.\" The Saint replied, \"I was not sent to you for you to lead me astray by your words, but that you might fulfil what the emperor commanded.\" They argued with each other till Arianus became enraged with the answers of the Saint, and he drove the spear into the Saint. He delivered up his pure spirit and received the crown of martyrdom. Some of the believers, took his body and shrouded it. They placed it with the body of St. Victor who was martyred shortly before that. After the end of the time of persecution, Victor's mother came, and took their bodies to Antioch.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the church celebrates the commemoration of the consecration of the altar of the Forty martyrs of Sebastia, in the church of the Savior, in Alexandria.
May their intercession be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration altar forty martyrs alexandria" } ], [ { "id": 282, "action": "On this day, the church celebrates the commemoration of the angel Michael, the Archangel, the intercessor of the human race. The one who appeared to Joshua the son of Nun, encouraged him, and told him, \"Nay, but as captain of the hosts of the Lord am I now come.\" He made the city of Jericho to fall into his hands, and he stopped the sun for him.
May his intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 135 A.D., St. Justus, the Sixth Pope of the See of St. Mark, departed. This saint was an honorable and learned man before his ordination. He was baptized by St. Mark the Apostle, along with his father, his mother and others. St. Anianus, the second pope, ordained him a deacon, then a priest, and appointed him to preach, and teach the people. He was chosen for the papacy to succeed Pope Primus. He shepherded his people with the best of care for ten years. He departed at a pleasing good old age.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the twelfth of Baounah, 808 A.M. (June 6th, 1092 A.D.), the great Pope, St. Kyrillos the Second, the 67th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He became a monk in Sawma'et (Cell) of Singar. Because of his knowledge and righteousness, they chose him a Patriarch, a successor to St. Christodolus, the 66th Pope. His enthronement was on 22nd of Baramhat, 794 A.M. (March 18th, 1078 A.D.).
Some of the bishops disobeyed the Pope and decided to depose him. They assembled a council from forty-seven bishops for this purpose. When the Fatimid governor knew of this dissension, he called the bishops to his orchard. He harshly talked to them with words God had put in his mouth. The overseer of the orchard (Yaseeb) sided with those who opposed the Pope. Peter, the pope's disciple, reproved him and an exchange of words took place between them while the Pope was coming out of the meeting. The Pope told the overseer, \"If the Governor has authority, Christ has authority over the heaven and earth.\" The Pope dismounted his horse, and made a matonia before him, which was on Saturday the 23rd of Misra, 802 A.M. On the next Saturday, the governor became enraged with the overseer of his orchard. He went there and ordered the beheading of the overseer. That was in the same place where the Pope had made the matonia to him and in the same hour.
The Governor told the dissenting bishops, \"You all should be in accordance, and obey your Archbishop.\" Thus, they all were reconciled, and went to the church of St. Marcurius. They celebrated the Divine liturgy on Saturday and Sunday and then went to their parishes rejoicing. This Pope remained on the Chair for fourteen years, two month, and thirteen days, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also, marks the martyrdom of St. Euphemia. She was the wife of a man who feared God, and gave much alms. He kept three festivals each month: the commemoration of the angel Michael, on the twelfth day; the commemoration of the Mother of God (Theotokos), on the twenty-first day; and the commemoration of the Nativity of our Lord, on the twenty-ninth day of each month. When the day of his departure drew near, he commanded his wife, to keep this custom, to not stop the giving of alms, and to do the acts of charity especially on these three festivals. He painted a picture of the honorable angel Michael and gave it to her.
After the departure of her husband, she continued to fulfill his will. Satan was jealous of her, and he came to her disguised as a monk, who talked to her expressing his pity for her. He advised her to get married, to bring forth children, and to refrain from doing charitable deeds lest she finish her money. He told her also that her husband had received the Kingdom and he had no need of the alms giving. She answered saying, \"I have vowed not to consort with another man after my husband.\" She went on saying, \"If birds as the doves and the ravens do not take second mates, how then can men who are created in the form and likeness of God do this?\" The devil left her angry.
When the feast of the Angel had come, and she had prepared all what she needed as her custom, Satan appeared to her in the form of an angel and said to her, \"Peace be to you, the angel Michael has sent me to you, commanding you to cease from these alms, and to marry a believing man.\" Then he told her, \"A woman without a man is like a ship without a captain,\" and he began to bring her proofs out of the Holy Bible in regard of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and others like them who married wives and pleased God. She replied saying, \"If you are an angel of God, where is the Cross, the symbol of your military service? For the soldier of the King never goes to any place without this symbol with him.\" When Satan heard these words from her, he returned to his original form, and jumped on her to choke her. She cried for the angel Michael, whose feast she was celebrating, and he delivered her immediately from him. The angel Michael told her, \"Go and arrange your affairs, for you shall depart from this world today. And behold the Lord has prepared for you what eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, nor has it occurred to the heart of man,\" then he gave her the greeting of peace, and went up into heaven.
After, St. Euphemia had celebrated the feast of the angel Michael, she sent for the father the bishop and the priests. She gave them all her money to give to the poor and the needy. Then, she took the Picture of the honorable angel Michael and prayed before it. She laid it upon her face and breast, then departed in peace.
May her prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "euphemia" } ], [ { "id": 283, "action": "On this day, of the year 419 A.D., the holy father St. John the second, bishop of Jerusalem, departed. He became a monk in the monastery of St. Hilarion, with the great father St. Epiphanius, bishop of Cyprus. His virtues and knowledge became well known, so they chose him a bishop for Jerusalem in the year 388 A.D., after the ordination of St. Epiphanius, bishop of Cyprus.
After the ordination of St. John a bishop, the enemy of good led him astray through the love of money. He gathered much money, made silver vessels for his table, and neglected the poor and the needy. When St. Epiphanius heard that, he was troubled for what he knew about his friend St. John, from asceticism, righteousness, worshipping and being merciful. St. Epiphanius, because of is old friendship with St. John, came from Cyprus to Jerusalem. He made it appear that he had come to visit and worship the holy places, and visit the saints, but in fact he came to meet Abba John. When he arrived in Jerusalem, Abba John invited him for a visit. He prepared a table for St. Epiphanius and put these silver vessels on the table before him. When St. Epiphanius saw that, his heart was in pain, for he saw that his friend Abba John had in him no mercy for the poor and the needy. St. Epiphanius devised a plan to put his hands on these silver vessels. He went to one of the monasteries of Jerusalem, and sent to Abba John asking to borrow these vessels from him. He pretended that some of the elders of Cyprus came to visit him and he wished to offer them food using them. When Abba John sent the vessels to St. Epiphanius, he took them, sold them and gave the money as alms to the poor and needy.
A few days later, Abba John asked for the vessels, but St. Epiphanius asked him to wait a while on him. Abba John repeated his demand a second and a third time. When St. Epiphanius did not return them, Abba John seized him by the hem of his garment in the church of Resurrection and said to him, \"I will not let you go until you give me back my silver vessels.\" St. Epiphanius prayed to the Lord Christ, and entreated Him for the sake of his old friend. Abba John became blind. He wept, and entreated St. Epiphanius to help him. St. Epiphanius prayed for his sake and one of his eyes was healed. He looked at him and said, \"Behold, the Lord Christ has left blind one of your eyes as a reminder for you.\" He reminded him of his earlier benevolent life, and told him that he had sold his vessels and gave their price as alms. He also told Abba John that he only came to Jerusalem to substantiate what he had heard about his greed and love of the world. Abba John awoke from his foolishness and inadvertence. He walked diligently in the path of charity beyond what can be described. He gave as alms all that he owned of money, clothes, and the vessels. He forsake all things worldly to the point that they did not find even a \"Dirham\" with him when he departed. God granted him the gift of healing the sick and performing signs. After he finished in his episcopate thirty one years, he departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the church in Egypt celebrates a feast for the honorable angel Gabriel. The angel Gabriel announced Daniel with the return of the children of Israel from captivity, the coming of the Lord Christ, the time of His coming, that He would be killed, the destruction of Jerusalem, and that no other Messiah would come after Him except the anti-Christ. This angel is the one who announced to Zachariah the birth of John, and six months later, he came with the glad tidings of the salvation of the world when he announced to the Virgin Mary saying, \"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; ... And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.\" (Luke 1:31-33) Therefore, our church has arranged this feast to venerate this honorable angel.
May his intercession be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "archangel gabriel announcer daniel prophet" } ], [ { "id": 284, "action": "On this day, of the year 1658 A.M. (1942 A.D.) Pope Yoannis the Nineteenth, 113th Patriarch of Alexandria, departed. He was born in the village of Dair Tasa, Asyiut governorate in the year 1571 A.M. (1855 A.D.). His parents were righteous, therefore he was raised on piety and godliness. He drank the love of virtuous life and loved, since his young age, to read the biographies of saints. He longed to follow their example, accordingly he went to the monastery of the Virgin Lady known as El-Baramous in Wadi El-Natroun, in the month of Baramoudah, 1591 A.M. He became a monk on the third of Kiahk, 1592 A.M. (1876 A.D.). Because of his fervent worship, intelligence, and intellect, the fathers unanimously agreed to nominate him to be a priest. Pope Kyrillos the fifth, 112th Patriarch, ordained him a priest in the year 1593 A.M., then hegumen in Baramhat, 1594 A.M., and appointed him on the same day to be the head of the monastery. He remained the head of the monastery for ten years, during which he was an example of, ambition, honesty, purity of conduct, firmness, godliness, and good management.
When the Chair of the diocese of El-Biharah became vacant, the people chose Yoannis a metropolitan for that Chair. He was ordained on the twelfth of Baramhat, 1603 A.M. (1887 A.D.) and also was appointed as a deputy of the See of St. Mark. After the departure of Anba Yoannis, metropolitan of El-Menofaya at that time, the people of the diocese nominated him to care for them. The diocese of El-Menofaya was added to his duties in the year 1610 A.M. (1894 A.D.), and he became the metropolitan of El-Biharah, El-Menofaya, and the deputy of the See of St. Mark.
Since his official seat was in Alexandria, he established there a theological school to educate the monks. He sent from its students a mission to Athens for higher theological studies. The revenue of the church properties was inconsiderable. By his good judgement, the revenue increased year after year. Because of the highrise buildings that he built and the renovation of the old ones. He also gave great care for the Coptic schools, elementary and high, until their standard became equivalent to the best schools. He built and renovated most of the churches in his parish. He also gave special attention to the monasteries in his jurisdiction, which were improved greatly because of his good care and close supervision. Because of his foresight, and prudence, the government chose him as a representative for the Copts in many councils and committees at the general assembly, the committee for formulating the constitution and many others.
He spent forty-two years as a metropolitan, which were full of splendid works. When the blessed Pope Kyrillos the fifth, departed, on the first of Misra, 1643 A.M. (August 7th, 1927 A.D.) the Holy Synod convened on the fourth of Misra. They unanimously agreed to chose him Acting Pope to run the affairs of the church until ordaining a patriarch. As a result of that, the Holy Synod had received many nominations from the parishes approving that choice.
He performed his duties as Acting Patriarch for one year, four months, and ten days. During this period he administered the affairs of the See of St. Mark very well, during which also the Holy Synod, with Anba Yoannis presiding, issued a canon to regulate the affairs of the monasteries and the monks. He organized a committee to oversee the church properties and those of the monasteries and to review their accounts.
From what everyone knew of his purity, virtuous life, good character, asceticism, and piety, they all unanimously agreed to chose him a patriarch with nominations from the bishops, priests and lay leaders. He was enthroned a patriarch on Sunday the seventh of Kiahk 1645 A.M. (December 16th, 1928 A.D.) in the great St. Mark cathedral in Cairo (Azbakiah). That took place with a great celebration attended by the representatives of the King, princes, ministers, important Egyptian personalities, the metropolitans of different denominations eastern and western, and ambassadors of foreign countries.
After his ordination, Pope Yoannis directed his attention to caring for the affairs of the Coptic People and the church. He established a higher theological institution for the education of the monks in the city of Helwan. He ordained for the kingdom of Ethiopia, a Coptic Metropolitan andfour well-learned Ethiopian bishops. He travelled to Ethiopia to reaffirm the unity between the Coptic and Ethiopian churches. He stayed there for thirteen days where they received him with great honor and respect. In Addis Ababa, he ordained the head of the Ethiopian monks (the successor of St. Takla Haymanot) a bishop.
With the will of God, he made the Holy Oil (Myron) in the year 1648 A.M. (1930 A.D.). The last time the oil was made was one hundred and ten years earlier during the papacy of Pope Peter, 109th Pope of Alexandria. Pope Yoannis made the Holy Oil a second time, specially for the kingdom of Ethiopia, attended by Anba Kyrillos, metropolitan of Ethiopia, and Anba Peter, an Ethiopian bishop.
His contributions, too numerous to be mentioned completely, include watching over the welfare of the church, kindness to the needy, support for charitable organizations, moral and financial support for the Coptic teaching institutions, and assistance on valuable projects that financially and spiritually benefitted the Copts.
During Pope Yoannis' papacy, a war broke out between Ethiopia and Italy, during which most of the Ethiopian bishops died except Anba Abraam and another bishop. When Italy occupied Ethiopia, the Emperor departed from his country. Anba Kyrillos, the metropolitan of Ethiopia, was exiled to Egypt, for he refused to agree with Italy on separating the Ethiopian church from the Coptic Orthodox church. In November, 1937 A.D., the Italian governor of Ethiopia decided the independence of the Ethiopian church and its separation from the Alexandrian See. He appointed Anba Abraam, the Ethiopian bishop, a patriarch for Ethiopia. Nevertheless, God punished him for his betrayal. He became blind and died shortly after. The Alexandrian Holy Synod decided to excommunicate him, not recognizing him nor the bishops that he ordained. This situation in Ethiopia did not last long; during the Second World War the Emperor of Ethiopia regained his kingdom from Italy. Anba Kyrillos returned to his church with great honor, in May 1942 A.D.
When Pope Yoannis had realized the return of the Ethiopian church to its mother church, the Coptic Church, he was stricken with the ailments of old age. He departed in peace on Sunday 14th of Baounah, 1658 A.M. (June 21st, 1942 A.D.).
May his prayers be with us. Amen
On this day also, Sts. Apakir, John, Ptolemy and Philip, were martyred. St. Apakir was born in the city of Damanhur, and had a rich brother called Philip. They had agreed with two priests, one called John and the other called Ptolemy, to receive the crown of martyrdom. They went to the city of Kartsa (Kartes), and confessed the name of the Lord Christ before the Governor. The governor ordered to shoot them to death with arrows, but the arrows did not touch them. They were then cast into red hot fire, but the angel of the lord delivered them from it. Then the governor commanded to tie them to the tails of horses, and to drag them from Kartes to the city of Damanhur, but the Lord guarded them from any harm. The governor commanded that their heads be cut off outside the city of Damanhur. They received the crown of martyrdom. People from the city of Sa came and took the body of St. Apakir, built for him a church, and laid his body inside it. Many signs and wonders took place through him. The people of Damanhur came and took the bodies of John, Ptolemy, and Philip, wrapped them in expensive shrouds and buried them there.
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "apakir john ptolemy philip" } ], [ { "id": 285, "action": "On this day, of the year 1684 A.M., that coincided with Saturday the 22nd of June, 1968 A.D., and in the tenth year of the papacy of Pope Kyrillos the sixth, 116th Pope of Alexandria, the official delegation of the Pope of Alexandria received the relics of the great St. Mark the Apostle, the evangelist of the Egyptian land and the first Patriarch of the See of St. Mark from the hand of Pope Paul the Sixth, Pope of Rome, in the Papal palace, Vatican City.
The delegation consisted of ten metropolitans and bishops, seven of them were Coptic and three Ethiopians, and three lay leaders. The Alexandrian papal delegation left Cairo on Thursday the 23rd of Baounah, 1684 A.M. (June 20th, 1968 A.D.) on a special plane accompanied by 90 of the Coptic personalities, among them, seven priests. They were received by a delegation of cardinals and priests delegated by Pope Paul the Sixth, and the ambassador of Egypt to the Vatican, at the airport in Rome.
Twelve o'clock, the morning of Saturday the 15th of Baounah (June 22nd), was the appointed time for the Alexandrian Papal delegation to meet the Pope of Rome and receive the relics of St. Mark the Apostle. At the appointed time, the delegation went in headed by Anba Marcus, metropolitan of Abu-Teeg and Tahta, and were received by Pope Paul VI in his private office. Pope Paul greeted the delegation, commending Pope Kyrillos the sixth, and the church of Alexandria. He congratulated the delegation on the opening of the new St. Mark Cathedral and the receiving of the relics of St. Mark. Anba Marcus, the head of the delegation, replied with a short speech, in which he carried the greetings of his brother, the Pope of Alexandria. Then he handed him a letter from Pope Kyrillos the sixth, thanking him and introducing the members of the delegation.
Pope of Rome, along with the head of the Alexandrian delegation, then carried the box that contained the relics of St. Mark. They all walked in a procession to a grand room, which was prepared to receive the Copts, accompanied by the official delegates to witness this historical and joyful moment. The box containing the relics was placed on a special table. The Roman Pontiff came forward and knelt before the box and kissed it. He was followed by Anba Marcus, the head of the Alexandrian Papal delegation, who was followed by the members of the delegation. During the veneration of the relics of St. Mark the Apostle, the Coptic priests and deacons present chanted appropriate ecclesiastical hymns. Joy filled the hearts of everyone, Egyptian and foreign. An atmosphere of spirituality and holiness filled the room.
The Roman Pope then sat on his throne, and Anba Gregorius, bishop of higher studies and scientific research, gave a speech in English, representing the delegation. He expressed in it the greetings of Pope Kyrillos the Sixth, and the joy of the Christians of Egypt and Ethiopia for the return of the relics of St. Mark the Apostle after eleven centuries. During which the body of St. Mark was absent from the country in which he was martyred.
Pope of Rome, replied in an official speech in French, that he read while sitting on the throne. In it he exalted the history of the Alexandrian church, and its long struggle in the field of dogma. He also praised its heros, and its learned people such as Athanasius the apostolic, Kyrillos (Cyril) the Pillar of Faith, Pantaenus and Clement. He hoped that the celebration of the day would be a sign of love and a bond between the church of Alexandria and the church of Rome. The Roman Pope asked in his speech also from the head, Cardinal Doval, and members of the Roman Papal delegation to carry his greetings, admiration, and appreciation to Pope Kyrillos the Sixth, the clergy of the church of Alexandria, Egypt and its people.
Afterwards, the Pope and Anba Marcus, the head of the delegation, rose up to exchange the commemorative gifts. Anba Marcus gave the Pope the presents which were sent by H.H. Pope Kyrillos. Pope of Rome admired the precious gifts and asked Anba Marcus to convey his thanks to H.H. Pope Kyrillos. The Pope in return gave the members of the delegation commemorative presents.
The Roman Pope, then gave Anba Marcus, the head of the Alexandrian Papal delegation, an official document dated May 28th, 1968 A.D. testifying that the relics were authentic and belonged to St. Mark the Apostle, and were taken from their original place with veneration. The document was signed by Cardinal Porfeer, the deputy of Vatican City. Thus, the official celebration of handing over the relics of St. Mark the Apostle ended, and the delegation went back to their hotel.
May the blessings of St. Mark be with us all. Amen
On this day also, is the commemoration of the appearance of the body of the honorable saint, and great martyr Mari Mina, and the consecration of his church at Maryut (Mareotis). Now, the body of this saint was hidden, and the Lord wished to reveal it. It came to pass that there was a shepherd, who pastured his sheep near the place where the body of the saint was buried. One day, one of his sheep, which was sick of a skin disease (mangy), dipped itself in the water of a pond which was near that place. It then went out of the water, and rolled itself in the sand of that place, and it was healed straightway. When the shepherd saw this wonder, he marvelled, and took the sand of that place and mixed it with the water of the pond. He smeared every mangy sheep, or any that had a deformity, and they were healed immediately.
The report of this shepherd became widespread in all the regions of the empire, until the emperor of Constantinople heard of it. He had an only daughter who was leprous. Her father sent her there. She questioned the shepherd about how she could get rid of her illness, and he told her. She took some of that sand and mixed it with the water. She retired to her quarters and smeared her body with the mixture and slept that night in that place. She saw in a dream St. Mina and he told her, \"Rise up early and dig in this place and you shall find my body.\" When she woke up from her sleep, she found herself healed. She dug in that place, and she found the holy body. She sent to her father to inform him about what had happened. He rejoiced exceedingly, thanked God and praised His Holy Name. He sent men and money and built a church in that place which was consecrated on this day.
When Arcadius and Honorius reigned they ordered a city to be built there which was called Maryut. The masses came to this church interceding with the blessed Mari Mina. God had honored him by the miracles and wonders that were manifested from his pure body, until the Moslems occupied the city and destroyed it.
The biography of this saint is mentioned under the fifteenth day of Hatour.
May his intercession be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church mari mina maryut" } ], [ { "id": 286, "action": "The Departure of St. Abba Nofer the Anchorite
On this day, the ascetic father, Abba Nofer the Anchorite, departed at a good old age, and of a glorious memory, in the desert of Upper Egypt. The grace of God had moved St. Paphnoute (Paphnutius), and he longed to see the servants of God, the Anchorites. He saw many of them, among them St. Abba Nofer, and wrote their biographies.
He said that once he went into the desert and found a well of water and a palm tree. Then he saw the saint coming to him, naked, and the hair of his head and beard covered his body. When St. Paphnutius saw him, he was afraid and thought that he was a spirit. Saint Abba Nofer encouraged him, made the sign of the cross, and prayed the Lord's prayer, then said to him, \"Welcome O Paphnoute.\" When he called him by his name, St. Paphnutius calmed down. They prayed together, then sat, and talked about the greatness and goodness of God.
St. Paphnutius asked Abba Nofer to tell him about his life and how he came to that place. Abba Nofer replied, \"I was in a monastery wherein lived holy and righteous monks. I heard them talking about the greatness of those anchorites who dwelled in the desert and their good virtues. I said to them, 'Are there any who are better than you?' They said to me, 'Yes, those anchorites who dwell in the wilderness. We live near the world, if we are sorrowful or sad, we find someone to console us; if we are sick, we find someone to visit and treat us; if we are naked, we find someone to clothe us. Those who live in the wilderness lack all these things.' When I heard that from them, my heart became anxious.
\"When the night came, I took a little bread and I went out from the monastery. Then I prayed to the Lord Christ and asked Him to guide me to the place where I was to live. The Lord facilitated my way and I found a holy and righteous man. I dwelt with him, and he taught me all about the life and the ways of the hermits and the anchorites. After I came to this place, I found a palm tree, and a well. The tree bore twelve clusters of dates each year. One cluster of dates is enough food for me for a month, and I drink water from this well. I have lived here for sixty years during which I have never seen the face of a man except yours.\"
While they were talking together the angel of the Lord came down, and told St. Abba Nofer that his departure was near. Straightway, his color changed and became like fire, then he bowed his knees and worshipped God. After he embraced St. Paphnutius, he delivered up his pure soul. St. Paphnutius wrapped him, and buried him in his cave. St. Paphnutius wished to live in the place of Abba Nofer. But after he had buried him, the palm tree dried and fell down and the water of the well dried up. That happened by the Will of God, so St. Paphnoute would return to the world and tell us about the holy hermits that he had seen.
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to god forever. Amen.
", "tags": "nofer anchorite" } ], [ { "id": 287, "action": "On this day, of the year 1684 A.M., that coincided with Monday the 24th of June, 1968 A.D., and in the tenth year of the papacy of Pope Kyrillos the Sixth, 116th Pope of Alexandria, the relics of the great saint, the beholder of God, St. Mark the Apostle, the Evangelist of the Egyptian land and the first Patriarch of Alexandria, were returned to Egypt. Pope Kyrillos had delegated an official delegation to travel to Rome to receive the relics of St. Mark the Apostle from Pope Paul VI. The papal delegation consisted of ten metropolitans and bishops, seven of them were Coptic and three Ethiopians, and three of the prominent Coptic lay leaders. The Alexandrian delegation received the relics of St. Mark the Apostle on Saturday the 22nd of June, 1968 A.D. from Pope Paul VI. The moment of handing over the holy relics, after eleven centuries, during which the body of St. Mark was kept in the city of Venice, in Italy, was a solemn and joyful moment.
The next day, Sunday 16th of Baounah (June 23rd), the Alexandrian Papal delegation celebrated a festive pontifical liturgy in the church of St. Athanasius the Apostolic in Rome. The ten metropolitans, bishops, and the priests accompanying the delegation, all served in the liturgy. Members of the Roman Papal delegation, the Copts who accompanied the Delegation, and those who lived in Rome, newspaper and news agency reporters, and many foreign dignitaries attended the liturgy.
The Alexandrian Papal delegation carrying the holy relics, on Monday the 24th of June, 1968 A.D., went to the airport in an official procession, preceded by the motorcycles and police escort. They boarded a plane which came especially from Cairo. The plane arrived at Cairo airport at ten thirty P.M. of the same day. Awaiting the arrival of the relics were, Pope Kyrillos the Sixth, Mari Ignatius Yacoub, the Antiochian Patriarch for the Syrian Orthodox, a great number of coptic and foreign bishops, the head of various denominations and religions, Egyptian and foreign, and thousands of the Egyptian masses, Christian and Muslims. They sang and chanted enjoyable religious songs, waiting for the arrival of the plane.
When the plane landed, H.H. Pope Kyrillos went up the stairs of the aircraft, and received the precious box that contained the relics of St. Mark the Apostle, from the head of the delegation. Many, and especially those who were in the balcony of the airport, at this particular moment, saw three white doves flying over the aircraft. Since pigeons do not fly during the night, these were not ordinary pigeons. Perhaps, it was the spirits of the saints welcoming the relics of the great St. Mark. It is worthy to note also that the plane was suppose to arrive at five o'clock but it was delayed for no apparent reason till it was dark. Perhaps also, it was just for the spectators to witness and see these flying doves.
The Pope disembarked the aircraft carrying the box on his shoulder in the middle of the chanting and singing of the deacons, followed by a tremendous procession of thousands chanting with the deacons in joy and jubilation. The head of the Roman Papal delegation, Cardinal Doval, Cardinal of Algeria, was amazed by this tremendous religious rally. He also expressed that he was deeply touched by the devoutness of the Copts and their great honor and veneration for St. Mark. He said that what he saw far exceeded his expectations, especially that the masses had to wait from five o'clock P.M., the expected time of arrival of the aircraft, till ten thirty or even later. Pope Kyrillos returned to the old St. Mark Cathedral in El-Azbakiah with the box of the relics. He placed the box on top of the main altar which was consecrated in the name of St. Mark the Apostle. The box remained there till the third day of its arrival, when the Pope carried it to the new St. Mark Cathedral in its inauguration.
May the blessings of St. Mark be with us all. Amen
On this day also, the great saint Anba Latsoun of El-Bahnesa, departed. One day, he went to the church and heard the words of the Lord Christ in the Holy Gospel saying: \"For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what advantage is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?\" (Luke 9:24-25) These words kindled his heart, so he left the world and went to the wilderness of Scetis (Sheahat). There he fought a great fight with ceaseless fasting and prayers. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and commanded him to go to St. Isidore, to clothe him with the holy Eskeem. He went to him, and after forty days St. Isidore clothed him with it. He increased in his asceticism, then he lived a solitary life in the wilderness.
There, he was visited by St. Balamon (Palaemon). Satan had appeared to him disguised as a woman. Satan tried to persuade him to marry her by mentioning some of the Old Testament men that were married but yet were righteous. St. Balamon realized that he was the devil. He crossed himself with the sign of the cross, and prayed to the Lord to save him. The devil became like smoke and disappeared. St. Balamon went to St. Latsoun to take his advice on devil warfare. He instructed him on how to overcome the devil and his deception. St. Balamon then went back to his abode. As of St. Latsoun, he increased in his asceticism until he departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "latsoun el-bahnasawy" } ], [ { "id": 288, "action": "On this day, of the year 1684 A.M., that coincided with Tuesday the 25th of June, 1968 A.D., and in the tenth year of the papacy of Pope Kyrillos the Sixth, 116th Pope of Alexandria, the holy church celebrates the inauguration of the new St. Mark Cathedral in Dair El-Anba Rowais, which was known also as Dair El-Khandaq.
For this occasion and for the return of the relics of St. Mark the Apostle from Rome, after being in the city of Venice in Italy for eleven centuries, i.e. since the ninth century, a great religious celebration was organized. The celebration was headed by H.H. Pope Kyrillos the Sixth and was attended by President Gamal Abdel Naser, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Emperor Haile Selassie the First, Emperor of Ethiopia, and many of the heads of different religions and representatives of churches from all around the world. Among those religious leaders was Mari Ignatius Yacoub the Third, the Antiochian Patriarch for the Syrian Orthodox.
Many momentous speeches, were delivered in different languages for this occasion. The speakers were, Pope Kyrillos the Sixth, the Patriarch of the Syrian Orthodox, Cardinal Doval, the head of the Roman Papal delegation, the Catholicos Patriarch of Ethiopia, the secretary general of the World Council of Churches, and the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia. They all expressed their joy on this happy and blessed day, saluting the church of Alexandria, which had a glorious history, with salutation of appreciation and respect.
At the end of the speeches the Pope along with the President of Egypt and the Emperor of Ethiopia went to the entrance of the new Cathedral. They unveiled the curtains from the commemorative plaque that was prepared to perpetuate this historical day. This celebration was attended by the journalists, the international news agencies' reporters, radio, television and more than six thousand Egyptians and foreigners.
May the blessings of St. Mark be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 321 A.M. (June 25th, 605 A.D.) St. Damianos, 35th Pope of Alexandria, departed. He became a monk in his early years in the desert of Scete. He continued to fight and to devote himself to God for sixteen years. He was ordained a deacon in the monastery of St. John the Short. Then he went to the monastery of the fathers which is to the west of Alexandria, and there he increased his asceticism.
When Pope Peter (34) was enthroned on the See of St. Mark, he brought and appointed Damianos a private secretary. Damianos pursued a good course of life and everyone loved him. When Pope Peter departed, the bishop unanimously agreed to ordain him a patriarch. He was enthroned a patriarch on the second of Abib 285 A.M. (June 26th, 569 A.D.). He cared for his flock well and he wrote many epistles and discourses.
In the wilderness of Scete, there were some followers of Melitius El-Assyuty, who drank wine a few times during the night before they intended to partake of the Holy Communion. They claimed that the Lord Christ gave to His disciples two cups: the first He did not say, \"This is My Blood\" but when he gave them the second cup he said, \"This is My Blood.\" St. Damianos showed them their error. He clarified to them that the first cup was the cup of the Jewish passover, and He nullified it with the second cup. He also told them that the canons of the church ban those that eat before communion from partaking of the Holy Eucharist. Some of them turned from their evil, but those that did not turn from their evil council were driven out of the wilderness.
When Anba Theophanius, the Antiochian Patriarch departed, they ordained a successor to him called Peter, who sent a letter to Pope Damianos which said, \"There is no need for us to say that God is the three Persons.\" When Pope Damianos read this letter he became enkindled with zeal. He wrote him a letter which explained that God is, in no doubt, one in His Godhead, one in essence, but He is Three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, One God. He wrote to him many testimonies from the Holy Scriptures and from the sayings of the holy fathers. Nevertheless, Peter refused to return to the truth, and insisted on his error. Pope Damianos ordered that his name not be mentioned in the Divine Liturgy for twenty years until the heretic died.
Pope Damianos remained for thirty five years, eleven month, and sixteen days, teaching and preaching to his flock. He departed at a good old age.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "damianos 35th pope" } ], [ { "id": 289, "action": "On this day, of the year 1684 (Wednesday, June 26th, 1968), the church celebrated the first Pontifical Liturgy in the new St. Mark Cathedral in the monastery of Anba Rowais, which was known as Dair El-Khandaq, where the relics of St. Mark were placed after his return from Venice and Rome.
On the morning of Wednesday the 19th of Baounah (June 26th) at about six o'clock, Pope Kyrillos took the box of the relics of St. Mark, that he had placed on the altar of the old St. Mark Cathedral in El-Azbakiah upon its arrival. He brought it in his private car to the new St. Mark Cathedral.
The Pontifical Divine Liturgy that was celebrated on this occasion was headed by H.H. Pope Kyrillos the Sixth, and participating with him were the patriarch Mari Ignatius Yacoub the Third, the Antiochian Patriarch for the Syrian Orthodox, and a number of Syrian, Indian and Armenian Orthodox bishops. This celebration was attended by Emperor Haile Selassie the First, Emperor of Ethiopia, Cardinal Doval, the head of the Roman Papal delegation and Cardinal of Algeria, many of the heads of different religions and representatives of churches from all around the world, and more than six thousand Egyptians and foreigners.
During the Liturgy, the box that contained the relics of St. Mark the Apostle was placed on a table in the middle of the eastern part of the altar of the Cathedral, and remained there till the end of the liturgy. Right after the liturgy, Pope Kyrillos went down carrying the box along with the Emperor, the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch and the heads of the churches in a magnificent procession. They went to the sanctuary that was prepared for St. Mark under the main altar of the Cathedral. Pope Kyrillos placed the box inside the marbled altar, which was covered by a large marble slab and on it was the altar table.
The different choral groups then sang, successively in different languages, songs and hymns that befit the occasion in salutation for St. Mark. They sang in Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian, Armenian, Greek, Latin, and in Arabic. The day was a joyous day and one of the most blessed days in the history of the church of Alexandria.
May the blessings of St. Mark be with us all. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 28 A.M. (June, 312 A.D.) Pope Archelaus, the Eighteenth Pope of Alexandria, departed. He was a priest in the church of Alexandria. When Pope Peter the first, the seal of martyrs, received the crown of martyrdom, the believers in Alexandria agreed and gathered the bishops. They ordained Archelaus the priest a Patriarch instead of Pope Peter,as he commended before his departure from this world. When he was enthroned on the patriarchal chair in the 19th of Kiahk, 28 A.M. (December 24th, 311 A.D.), a group of people came to him and asked him to accept Arius in the church. He accepted their petition against the command of his father Pope Peter, but he did not remain on the Chair longer than six months, then departed.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also, in the year 675 A.M. (June, 959 A.D.), marks the martyrdom of St. George, the new martyr, known as El-Mezahem. His father was a Moslem bedouin. He married a Christian woman from the city of Demerah El-kibliah. He had from her three sons, one of them was this Saint, and they called him El-Mezahem.
He used to go with his mother to the church at a young age. He also used to see the children of the Christians dress in white on the days that they partook of the Holy Mysteries. He longed that his mother would dress him like them, and allow him to eat from whatever they ate at the altar. His mother told him that could not be, unless he was baptized. She gave him a portion of the blessed Eulogia bread, that they distributed to the people, and it tasted in his mouth like that of honey. He meditated in his heart and said, \"If the taste of this bread that was not consecrated by prayers tastes like this, what will be the taste of the Offering?\" His longing for the faith in Christ increased from that time.
When he grew up, he married a Christian woman, and he told her that he wished to become a Christian. She told him that he had to be baptized. He went to Birma, was baptized there and was called George (Girgis). When this matter became known, he went to Domiat. The Moslems there recognized him, seized him and tortured him. Then he escaped and fled to the city of Saft Abu-Trab, where he stayed for three years. When his matter became known again he went to the city of Katurah, and remained there serving the church of St. George, then went back to Demerah.
When the Moslems of the city of Demerah knew his history, they seized him, and delivered him to the governor who put him in prison. The Moslems assembled and broke the door of the prison. They beat the Saint severely, split open his head, and left him between life and death. When some of the believers came on the morrow to bury him, for they thought that he was dead, they found him alive. The Moslems convened a council, and threatened him, but he did not change his conviction. They hung him up on the mast of a ship, but the governor ordered that he be taken down and cast him up in prison.
His wife strengthened him, and comforted him. She taught him to believe that the punishment which had come upon him was because of his sins; lest Satan lead him astray and he might boast that he became like the martyrs. The angel of the Lord appeared to him, comforted him, strengthened him, and informed him that he would receive the crown of martyrdom on the next day. On the next morning, the Moslems gathered with the governor and demanded from him that the head of El-Mozahem be cut off. He handed him over to them. They took him, and cut off his head near the church of the angel Michael in the city of Demerah. They cast his body in hot fire for a day and a night. But his body did not burn, so they put him in a barrel and threw him into the river. By the Will of God the barrel landed on the shore of an island, which was inhabited by a believing woman. She took his body, shrouded him, hid him in her house until they built a church for him, in which they laid his body.
May his intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Bishai Anoub, which means \"fine gold\", was martyred. He was from the city of Banios, in the diocese of Domiat. He was one of the soldiers of Cyprianus, governor of Athribis. When persecution was incited against the Christians, he went to the governor and confessed his faith in the Lord Christ before him. The governor tortured him, then sent him to the governor of Ansena (Antinoe). St. Bishai openly declared his faith in Christ before Arianus, the governor of Ansena, who tortured him severely. Finally, he ordered his head cut off outside the city. A great multitude followed him outside of the city. One of them, was the keeper of the lions of Arianus, the governor, and he had with him two lions bound with chains. One of them rushed forward, broke the chain, and attacked the Saint to devour him. Immediately, the angel of the Lord appeared, took the Saint and brought him to the city of Ain-Shams where his martyrdom was consummated.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "bishai anoub" } ], [ { "id": 290, "action": "The Departure of Elisha, the Prophet
On this day, of the year 3195 of the world, the holy prophet Elisha, departed. This prophet was born in one of the villages of Israel called Alamut. His father's name was Shaphat. Elisha was a servant to the holy prophet Elijah. When the Lord would take up Elijah the prophet into heaven, he went with him to the river Jordan. Elijah said to Elisha, \"Ask what I shall do for you, before I be taken away from you.\" Elisha asked, \"I pray you, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me,\" and it was as he asked. (2 Kings 2:1-18)
Elisha divided the river and passed through it. Then he went to Jericho and went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some youths came from the city and mocked him, and said to him, \"Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!\" So he turned around and looked at them, and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the LORD. And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. (2 Kings 2:23-24)
A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, \"Your servant my husband is dead, and the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.\" So Elisha said to her, \"What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?\" And she said, \"Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.\" Then he said, \"Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors; empty vessels; do not gather just a few.\" With his prayers the Lord blessed the oil and all the vessels became full. The woman sold the oil and paid off her debt. (2 Kings 4:1-7) He also raised the son of the Shunammite woman from the dead.
When Naaman the Syrian came to him, he healed him from his leprosy. Naaman offered him much money and costly clothes, but he refused them. Nevertheless, when his servant Gehazi took them for himself, the prophet knew that by the spirit. Elisha became angry and told him, \"Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever.\"
Elisha had performed many signs and miracles. He prophesied for about fifty years. When Elisha died, they buried him. And the raiding bands from Moab invaded the land in the spring of the year. So it was, as they were burying a man, a plundering band was seen, and they cast the man in the tomb of Elisha; and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, stood on his feet, and went back to his people. (2 Kings 13:20-21)
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "elisha prophet" } ], [ { "id": 291, "action": "On this day, the church celebrates the commemoration of the first church to be built in the name of the Virgin Lady, the All pure St. Mary, the Theotokos (Mother of God), through whom the salvation of Adam and his posterity was fulfilled. When the two apostles Paul and Silas preached among the gentiles, many believed of them in the city of Philippi. They built a church there in the name of the Virgin, the Mother of God, and its consecration was on that day. It is meet for us to celebrate for her a spiritual festival, for she has borne the Savior of the world.
May her intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Timothy of Memphis (El-Masry) was martyred. He was one of the soldiers of Arianus, governor of the city of Ansena. When he read the Edict of the Emperor Diocletian, which commanded the worship of idols, this soldier rose up in the middle of the people, seized the Edict, and tore it up saying, \"There is no God except Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God.\" The Governor became enraged. He seized Timothy by the hair of his head, and cast him down on the ground. He commanded him to be beaten until his flesh was mangled. The Saint cried out, saying, \"O my Lord Jesus Christ, help me for there is no God but You.\" God considered his endurance, and sent His angel, who healed his wounds. The Saint returned to the Governor crying, \"There is no God except Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God.\" The Governor tortured him severely again, and finally he cut off his head and thus St. Timothy received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also (June 15th, 106 A.D.) marks the departure of St. Cedron (Kardonos), the Fourth Patriarch of Alexandria. This father was baptized by the hand of St. Mark the apostle, and the evangelist of the land of Egypt. He learned the doctrines and the books of the Church. After the departure of Pope Melius, he was ordained a Pope for the See of St. Mark in the 7th of Tute (September 5th, 95 A.D.). He shepherded his people with the best of care, by preaching, teaching, and instructing them for eleven years, one month, and twelve days, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "cedron kardonos fourth patriarch alexandria" } ], [ { "id": 292, "action": "The Consecration of the Church of Sts. Cosmas, Damian, Their Mother, and Brothers
On this day, the church celebrates the consecration of the church of St. Cosmas (Kozman), Damian, their brothers, Anthimus, Londius, and Abrabius and their mother Theodata. They were from one of the Arab countries. Their mother feared God and was compassionate and merciful towards strangers and the needy. She became a widow, while her children were young. She raised them and taught them the fear of God. Cosmas and Damian studied medicine, and they treated the sick freely. As for their brothers, they went to the desert and became monks.
When Diocletian renegaded the faith and ordered the worship of idols, he was told that Cosmas and Damian were preaching in the Name of the Lord Christ in every city and urging others not to worship the idols. He commanded them brought and delivered to the governor of the city, who tortured them with different kinds of tortures. Then he asked them the whereabouts of their brothers. Upon finding out, he brought the brothers and their mother. He ordered them to raise incense for the idols, but they refused. Then he ordered the five to be squeezed through the wheel. When they experienced no harm, he took them out and cast them in red-hot fire for three days and three nights then cast them in a hot steaming room. Finally, he placed them on red-hot iron beds. Through all this, the Lord strengthened and healed them.
When the governor became weary of torturing them, he sent them to the Emperor who also tortured them. Their mother constantly encouraged them and comforted them. The Emperor rebuked her, and she cursed him in his presence and also cursed his idols. He ordered her head cut off, and she received the crown of martyrdom. Her body remained on the ground, no one dared to bury it, because of their fear of the Emperor. St. Cosmas screamed at those present saying, \"Men of the city, is there not one merciful person among you who will cover the body of this poor old widow and bury her?\" Straightway, Victor, Ebn-Romanus, came forward and took the body, shrouded it, then buried it.
When the Emperor heard what Victor had done, he ordered him to be exiled to Egypt where he received the crown of martyrdom. The next day, the Emperor ordered the beheading of Sts. Cosmas, Damian, and their brothers. They received the crown of life in the Kingdom of Heaven. After the time of persecution was over, many churches were built for them, where God manifested many signs and wonders.
May their intercession be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church cosmas damian mother brothers" } ], [ { "id": 293, "action": "The Departure of St. Abba Noub the Confessor
On this day, the holy and pure father Abba Noub the confessor, departed. This Saint was a devoted monk in one of the monasteries of Upper Egypt. That was during the time of Diocletian, who tortured the martyrs severely and shed their blood.
One day, someone mentioned the name of the saint Abba Noub before Arianus, governor of Ansena. Arianus brought him and asked him to worship the idols. The Saint replied, \"How can I abandon my Lord Jesus Christ and worship the idols that are made of stones?\" Arianus tortured Abba Noub much then exiled him to the five western cities (Pentapolis). Abba Noub stayed in prison there for seven years, until God had perished Diocletian. When the righteous emperor Constantine reigned, he ordered the release of all those who were in prison for the Name of Christ. Constantine also asked that they be brought to him, so that he might be blessed by them, especially the honored ones as Zacharia El-Ahnasy, Maximus El-Fayyumy, Agabius from the city of Dakhnin, and Abba Noub from the city of Balaos. The envoy of the Emperor went to all the countries releasing the prisoners, who left singing and praising God.
The holy father Abba Noub returned from the five cities (Pentapolis) and lived in mount Beshla (Sebla) near his hometown. The envoy of the Emperor met Abba Noub, and took him with him to Ansena. There he met the Christians and the bishops who ordained him a priest. While he was consecrating the Offering and as he said, \"Hollies for the Holy,\" he saw the Lord Christ, to Him is the Glory, in His heavenly splendor, in the altar forgiving the sins of the people who were repentant.
The envoy traveled back to the Emperor along with the holy fathers who were seventy two in number. Every two of them rode a chariot. They passed by a city, where there were convents for the virgins. Seven hundred virgins went out to meet them with songs and hymns and they sang to them until they were out of their sight. When the holy fathers arrived and came before the Emperor, he asked them to change their clothes with new ones, but they refused. He was blessed by them, kissed their wounds and honored them. He offered them money, but they refused to take any except what the churches needed for vestments and vessels. The Emperor then embraced them and bid them farewell, and they returned to their countries. St. Abba Noub went back to his monastery and when he finished his strife he departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "noub confessor" } ], [ { "id": 294, "action": "The Martyrdom of the Great Saint Anba Moses the Black
On this day, St. Moses the Black, whose life story is remarkable, was martyred. This saint took the Kingdom of Heaven by force, exactly as our Lord Jesus Christ said: \"The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.\" (Matthew 11:12). In his early life, St. Moses was a slave to people who worshiped the sun. He was a mighty man who loved to eat and drink excessively. He killed, robbed and committed all evil. No one could stand up before him, or challenge him.
On many occasions, he lifted up his eyes to look to the sun and to talk to it saying, \"O Sun!! if you are God, let me know it.\" Then he said, \"And you O God whom I do not know, let me know you.\"
One day, he heard someone saying to him, \"The monks of Wadi El-Natroun know the real God. Go to them and they will tell you.\" Instantly, he rose up, girded his sword and went to the wilderness of Shiheat. He met St. Esidorous (Isidore) the priest, who was frightened when he saw him, because of his appearance. St. Moses comforted him by saying that he came to the monks so that they might let him know the real God. St. Esidorous took him to St. Macarius the Great, who preached to him, taught him the faith and baptized him. He accepted St. Moses as a monk and taught him to live in the wilderness. St. Moses dashed in many worships, and fought a spiritual fight which was greater than that fought by many saints.
However, the devil fought him intensively with his old habits of excessive eating, drinking, and fornication. He informed St. Esidorous about everything which came upon him in his fight with the Enemy. He comforted him and taught him how to overcome the snares of the devil. It was told about him, that when the elders of the Monastery slept, he used to go round to their cells and take their water pots and fill them with water which he brought from a well at a far distance from the monastery. After many years in spiritual struggle, the devil envied him, and struck him with a sore on his foot which made him sick and bed-ridden. When he knew that this was from the devil, he increased in his asceticism and worship, until his body became as a burnt wood. God looked to his patience, healed his illness, and removed all his pains. The blessing of the Lord came upon him.
After a while, he became the Father and the spiritual guide of 500 brothers, who elected him to be ordained a priest. When he came before the Patriarch to be ordained, the patriarch wanted to test him by asking the elders, \"Who brought this black here? Cast him out.\" He obeyed, and left saying to himself, \"It is good what they have done to you, O black colored one.\" The Patriarch, however, called him back and ordained him a priest, and said to him, \"Moses, all of you now has become white.\"
One day, he went with some elders to St. Macarius the Great, who said to them, \"I see among you one to whom belong the crown of martyrdom.\" St. Moses answered him, \"Probably it is me, for it is written: 'For all they that take with the sword, shall perish with the sword.'\" (Matt. 26:25) After they returned to the monastery, it did not take long until the Barbarians attacked the monastery. He told the brethren, \"Whoever wants to escape, let him escape.\" They asked him, \"And you O father, why do you not also escape?\" He replied that he had waited for this day for long time. The Barbarians entered the monastery and killed him with seven other brothers. One of the brethren was hiding, and saw the angel of the Lord, with a crown in his hand standing by and waiting for him. He went out from his hiding place to the Barbarians and he was also martyred. Beloved Ones, contemplate in the power of repentance, and what it did. It transformed an infidel slave who was a murderer, adulterer and robber into a great Father, teacher, comforter, and priest who wrote rules for the monks, and saint whose name is mentioned on the altar in our prayers. His Body is located now in the Monastery of El-Baramouse.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God for ever. Amen.
", "tags": "great moses black" } ], [ { "id": 295, "action": "On this day, St. Jude, one of the Seventy disciples, was martyred. This Apostle preached in many cities, and in the islands, where he built a church. He went to Edessa, healed its king Abgar from his sickness and baptized him. After this he went to the city of Araz, preached there, and baptized many of its people. The governor of the city seized him, and tortured him with many tortures. Then, they shot at him with arrows, so he delivered up his pure soul. He is the writer of the Epistle attributed to his name in the New Testament which is filled with wisdom and grace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the holy father and fighter St. Peter the Fourth, 34th Pope of Alexandria, departed. His predecessor Pope Theodosius was exiled by the orders of Emperor Vespasian because he did not agree with him on the resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon. When the Pope departed in exile, the Emperor did not permit the ordination of a new Patriarch. The lay leaders of the city of Alexandria went to its governor, who was an honorable and forthright man, and expressed to him their grief because of the vacancy of the Patriarchal chair. He advised them to go to the monastery of El-Zogag as if they were going to pray, there they could then ordain the patriarch of their choice. They rejoiced at this counsel. The bishops took Abba Peter to the monastery of El-Zogag and ordained him Patriarch on the first of Mesra, 283 A.M. (July 25th, 567 A.D.).
Before this, Anba Severus had departed and the Antiochian chair remained vacant. When the people of Antioch heard that the Egyptians had ordained for themselves a patriarch, they also ordained for themselves a patriarch called Theophanius. He and Pope Peter exchanged letters concerning the Orthodox faith. Each one mentioned his brother in the Divine Liturgy, nevertheless they did not dare to go to their official seats. Pope Peter resided in the monastery of Epiphaniah south of El-Zogag monastery, as Theophanius was residing in the monastery of Aphtonius in the outskirts of Antioch.
In those days, there were six hundred monasteries and thirty-two villages on the outskirts of Alexandria; all their inhabitants were Orthodox. The city of Alexandria, the cities of Upper and Lower Egypt, the monks of the monasteries of the desert of Scete, Ethiopia and Nuba were under the authority of Pope Peter. He did not cease sending Epistles to the believers to confirm them in the Orthodox faith. He went around visiting the monasteries of Alexandria and its villages, teaching, admonishing, and strengthening them. He chose a holy and learned man called Damianos and appointed him as his scribe. Pope Peter delegated to him the care of the churches, and he became a patriarch after him. Pope Peter went on caring for his flock, confirming them in the Orthodox faith until he departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God for ever. Amen.
", "tags": "peter fourth 34th pope" } ], [ { "id": 296, "action": "On this day, of the year 2570 of the world, the great prophet Joshua Son of Nun, departed. He was born, in the year 2460 of the world, in Egypt (Fifty three years before the deliverance of the people of Israel from the bondage of Pharaoh). He was a disciple and servant to Moses. Moses, after leading the people of Israel out of Egypt with the might of the Divine arm and the extraordinary wonders, brought them to the nearby mount of Sinai. He went up the mount taking with him Joshua, his minister, to receive the commandments. During the war of Israel against Am-a-lek, Joshua was the leader of the soldiers.
When Moses chose twelve men to spy out the promised land, one from each tribe, Joshua was one of them. He completed this mission with honesty. He and Caleb alone brought forth the true and accurate information about the promised land. Therefore they alone entered this land without the people of Israel that came out of the land of Egypt. Because they had murmured and doubted in the sincerity of the promises of God, God swore in His anger that they would not enter to His rest. Their children that they begot after their deliverance from Egypt, entered this land along with Joshua and Caleb.
After the death of the great prophet Moses in the year 2553 of the world, the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun saying: \"Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them; the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.\" (Joshua 1:1-8).
Joshua's heart was strengthened and he sent out two men to spy out the land secretly. So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there. The woman hid them; and they swore to spare her and all her household. Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall. (Joshua 2:1-15) Then Joshua opened (i.e. conquered) Jericho after he had gone around its walls several times and when they shouted with a great shout the great walls of the city fell down. The people went up into the city and killed both man and beast. The two men that had spied out the country, went into Rahab's house and brought her, her father, her mother, her brethren, and all that she had, out of the camp. Joshua spared their lives as the two spies promised her for she had spared their lives, and hid them. Then they burnt the city, and all that was therein. The gold, and the silver and vessels of brass and iron, were taken to the treasury of the house of the Lord.
The Lord was with this righteous man, so he opened many cities, killed many kings, and the nations feared him. Because of the great fear, the inhabitants of Gibeon worked craftily, and went and pretended to be ambassadors. And they took old sacks on their donkeys, old wineskins torn and mended, old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. And they went to Joshua, and said to him, \"We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us.\" But the men of Israel said to them, \"Perhaps you dwell among us; so how can we make a covenant with you?\" They said to them, \"From a very far country your servants have come, because of the name of the LORD your God; for we have heard of His fame ... this bread of ours we took hot for our provision from our houses on the day we departed to come to you. But now look, it is dry and moldy ... and these our garments and our sandals have become old because of the very long journey.\" Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live; and the rulers of the
congregation swore to them. Three days later, after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them. Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, \"Why have you deceived us, saying, 'We are very far from you,' when you dwell near us? Now therefore, you are cursed, and none of you shall be freed from being slaves.\" Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the house of the LORD. (Joshua 9:3-27)
Joshua fought with the five Amorite kings, hence the hand of the Lord had helped him by casting down great stones from heaven upon them. The children of Israel fought them before the city of Gibeon, and he made the sun stand still until the five kings and their soldiers were destroyed. Joshua divided the land according to the command of God among the children of Israel. He gave the priests cities to dwell in, and land for their cattle. He set apart five cities of refuge wherein all those who had committed a murder unintentionally might dwell.
When he completed about one hundred ten years and reached a good old age, he gathered together the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges and their officers, and commanded them to keep the commandment of the Law and not to deviate from worshipping God, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, is the commemoration of the consecration of a church in the name of the honorable angel Gabriel the announcer, on the Naklon mount, in El-Fayyoum.
May his intercession be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church archangel gabriel" } ], [ { "id": 297, "action": "On this day, St. Ananias, the apostle, departed. The apostles ordained this saint bishop for the city of Damascus. He preached therein with the life-giving gospel, as he preached also in the city of Beth-Gabriel and converted many of its people to the faith, and baptized them and their children.
St. Ananias was the one to baptize the apostle Paul when the Lord sent him to him. When he baptized St. Paul, something like scales fell from his eyes, and he received his sight at once. God wrought many great miracles by his hands; and many of the Jews and Gentiles believed through his preaching. Afterwards, Lucianus the governor seized St. Ananias, and tortured him with sever tortures, such as burning his sides with fiery torches. Finally, Lucianus took him outside the city, and commanded him stoned until St. Ananias delivered up his pure soul in the hand of the Lord.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Thomas of Shentalet (Sandalat) was martyred. Michael, the angel of the Lord, appeared to this Saint when he was twenty-one years old, while he was sleeping in the field tending the pigs. The angel Michael commanded him to go and confess the Lord Christ. St. Thomas went to Alexandria and confessed his faith before the governor who tortured him with different kinds of tortures. There were with him under the torture St. Babnuda, of the city of El-Bandara, and Anba Shenousy, from the city of Balkim, and they encouraged each other to endure. After many tortures, the governor sent St. Thomas to Arianus, the governor of Ansena, where he was beheaded and received the crown of martyrdom. There were seven hundred men and nine women martyred during his days.
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "thomas shentalet" } ], [ { "id": 298, "action": "On this day, of the year 283 A.M. (June 22nd, 567 A.D.) St. Theodosius, the thirty-third Pope of Alexandria, departed. After the departure of Pope Timothy, the bishops and the Orthodox Christians gathered and ordained this father a patriarch. He was a learned man, and well rehearsed in the church books. Soon after, the enemy of the good enticed some evil men from the city of Alexandria, to take Acacius, Archdeacon of the churches of the city of Alexandria, and appoint him a patriarch. That happened with the help of Julian, who was excommunicated by Pope
Timothy for his approval of the council of Chalcedon.
When they appointed Acacius, they exiled Pope Theodosius to the city of Germanos. St. Severus, the Antiochian Patriarch, who was residing in Sakha, in the Egyptian land, comforted and strengthened him. He reminded him of the tribulation that came upon the apostles, and John Chrysostom (of the golden mouth). Six month after the exile of Pope Theodosius, he went to the city of Malig, and dwelt there for two years. Afterwards, the people of the city of Alexandria went to the governor and demanded from him the return of their legitimate shepherd, and the expulsion of Acacius the Fraudulent. When the news reached Emperor Justinian and the God-loving Empress Theodora, she sent a letter to the church in Alexandria to ask about the legitimacy of the ordination of Pope Theodosius, for if it was according to the canon of the church he should be reinstated on his chair. A council of lay people and one hundred twenty priests convened and unanimously agreed that Theodosius was ordained with the consent of the bishops and the people and according to the canons of the church. Acacius was present in this council; he rose up confessing that he had transgressed. He asked for forgiveness and to remain as archdeacon as he was before. They sent these facts to the Empress. Since the Emperor was in agreement with the faith of the council of Chalcedon, he wanted to attract the Pope to this erroneous faith. He wrote to his representative in Alexandria saying, \"If the Patriarch Theodosius agreed with us in faith, along with his papacy, add the governorship of the city of Alexandria, but if he did not agree, he should be expelled from the city.\" When the Patriarch heard that, he said, \"That what the devil had told the Lord Christ after he showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, 'All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me'\". The Patriarch then left the city and went to Upper Egypt and stayed there confirming the believers.
Later on, the Emperor called St. Theodosius to Constantinople, so he went with some of the learned priests. The Emperor received him with great honor, and seated him in a distinguished place. He tried to flatter him, and talk gently to him, to persuade him to agree on the faith of the council of Chalcedon. When he did not yield, he exiled him to Upper Egypt, and appointed in his place a person called Paul. When this Paul arrived to Alexandria, its people did not receive him. He remained there for a year and only few followed him. When the Emperor heard of this, he commanded to shut the churches until the people submitted to the patriarch he appointed. The believers built a church in the name of St. Mark and another on the name of Sts. Cosmas and Damian outside the city where they were able to receive the Holy Mysteries and baptize their children.
When the Emperor heard that, he had the churches opened. Pope Theodosius, when he heard this, feared that the Emperor might have intended to lure the people by that act. He wrote a letter to the believers to confirm them in the Orthodox faith and to warn them from the deception of this infidel. He lived four years in Alexandria, and remained in exile in Upper Egypt for twenty-eight years. He spent thirty-one years, four months, and fifteen days in the patriarchate. This Pope wrote many discourses and useful teachings.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the church celebrates the Commemoration of the Consecration of the Church of Anba Sarabamoun, the martyr, Bishop of Nikios.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church sarabamoun bishop nikios" } ], [ { "id": 299, "action": "On this day, the seven ascetic saints in Tounar Mount (Tona), were martyred. These were: Basadi, Cotolus, Ardama, Moses, Esey, Parkalas (Mikalas), and a monk called Cotolus. The angel of the Lord had appeared to Sts. Basadi and Cotolus and commanded them to confess the name of the Lord Christ. They rose up straightway to go to the governor. They met the five saints embarking a ship going to the governor to also confess the Lord Christ. They all agreed together on receiving the crown of martyrdom. They went to the governor and confessed the Lord Christ. He tortured them excessively, then hung stones from their necks, and shut them up in prison. The Lord appeared to them, comforted, strengthened, and promised them the kingdom. The governor then sent them to Alexandria, where they were tortured severely. He threw them into cauldrons full of sulphur and pitch, and lighted a great fire under them, then he took them out and threw them away. The Lord sent His angel who healed them. They came back to the governor and confessed the Lord Christ before him. One hundred thirty persons witnessed that. They confessed the Lord Christ, were martyred, and they received the crown of martyrdom. The Governor intensified the torture on the seven saints, and finally cut off their heads with the sword, and they received the crown of martyrdom.
May their intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, Sts. Abba Hour and his mother Theodora, were martyred. Abba Hour was a soldier in the army of Antioch. He came to Alexandria, and confessed the Lord Christ before its governor. He commanded that Abba Hour's hands be cut off, that he be tied to the tail of an ox and dragged through the city. Then he was thrown into a pit filled with snakes which did not harm. him. During all that torture, he cried out to the Lord Christ, who healed and strengthened him. His mother came to see him and she rejoiced in his strife.
They told the governor about her, and he had her brought to him. He asked her to sacrifice to the idols but when she refused he became enraged at her, and frightened her but she was not afraid of his raging. He commanded to put red-hot iron rods in her sides. When they did so she rejoiced and sang hymns to venerate the Lord for He made her worthy to suffer for His Holy Name. Later on she delivered up her soul and received the crown of martyrdom.
As for St. Abba Hour (Hor), they placed him in a cauldron of boiling oil and tar, and he praised God until he delivered up his soul and received the crown of martyrdom. His brother Abba Bishai (Pishai) was martyred on the first day of El-Nasi (Intercalary days).
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "hour mother theodora" } ], [ { "id": 300, "action": "The Nativity of St. John, the Baptist
On this day, the church celebrates the nativity of St. John the Baptist. He whom none born of women was greater. He who kneeled to the Lord Christ while he was still in his mother's womb, and was worthy to lay his hand upon the head of the Son of God during Baptism. The Holy Bible said about him: \"Now Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her. Now so it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zacharias. And his mother answered and said, 'No; he shall be called John.' But they said to her, 'There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.' So they made signs to his father; what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, saying, 'His name is John.' And they all marveled. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, praising God. He prophesied about his son, saying. 'you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways.'\" (Luke 1:57-76)
When he was two years old, the wise men (Magi) came, Herod killed the children, some divulged about this child and the soldiers searched for him to kill him. Zechariah took the child and brought him to the sanctuary, laid him on the altar and told the soldiers, \"I have received him from this place\". The angel of the Lord caught up the child and brought him to the desert of Ziphana, so the soldiers became enraged and they killed his father Zechariah. For this reason the Lord had said to the Jews: \"That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.\" (Matthew 23:35) So the child John grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts more than twenty years living an angelic life, till the day of his manifestation to Israel. (Luke 1:80).
And John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. (Matthew 3:4) He lived in the wilderness persevering in prayers and asceticism, until the Lord ordered him, to fulfill the prophesies, to preach to the people about the coming of the Savior of the World. For he was sent from God, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. (John 1:6-8)
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being high priests, the Word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: \"The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; and the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' \" (Luke 3:1-6)
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, \"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!\" (Matthew 3:1-2)
Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. (Matthew 3:5-6)
While the people were waiting, and thinking in their hearts about John if he was the Christ, John answered, saying to them all, \"I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.\" (Luke 3:16-17) Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, \"I have need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?\" But Jesus answered and said to him, \"Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.\" Then he allowed Him. Then Jesus, when He had been baptized, came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, \"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.\" (Matthew 3:13-17) (Luke 3:20-22)
Then John's disciples came to him and said, \"Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified; behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!\" John answered and said, \"A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.' He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.\" (John 3:26-36)
But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, \"Brood of vipers! Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 3:7-10) (Luke 3:7-9)
When Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, against all the Laws, St. John the Baptist came to him. He admonished him for his transgression and all the evil things that he was doing. So Herod ordered, according to the instigation of Herodias the adulterer, to seize John, chain him and imprison him in the fortress called Macronda.
John remained in this jail for a year, without Herod being able to slay him. His disciples visited their teacher, frequently and courageously, in prison. As he did not neglect his duties toward them, proving to them that Jesus was the expected Christ. When the news of the wonders that our Savior did noised everywhere, John wanted his disciples to be eye witnesses to the wonders of Christ, to be confirmed in their faith in him.
While he was in prison, John sent two of his disciples to Christ, who said to Him, \"Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?\" Jesus answered and said to them, \"Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind receive their sight and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.\" (Matthew 11:2-6)
As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, \"What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: 'Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.' Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying: 'We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; we mourned to you, And you did not lament.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is justified by her children.\" (Matthew 11:7-19)
The Lord Christ, to Whom is the Glory, also said about John the Baptist: \"He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.\" (John 5:35) Herodias desired to get rid of John the Baptist, so she executed her scheme during the celebration of Herod's birthday.
When Herod's birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, \"Give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter.\" And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him at the table, he commanded it to be given to her. So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard
of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart. (Matthew 14:2-13) The joy of the people celebrating Herod's birthday turned into sorrow. As of the head, it flew up from their hands and was crying out saying: \"It is not right for you to take your brother's wife.\"
The martyrdom of St. John took place at the end of the thirty-first or at the beginning of the thirty-second year of the Christ. The life of this Saint was like that of the angels in purity. He was filled with the Holy Spirit while he was in his mother's womb, and was martyred for his witnessing to the truth.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "nativity john baptist" } ], [ { "id": 301, "action": "On this day, St. Febronia, the ascetic virgin, was martyred. This saint was the niece of the superior of a convent that had fifty virgins, in a place called \"Ouryana\" in Mesopotamia. Her aunt brought her up in the fear of God and taught her the reading of the Holy Books. St. Febronia vowed herself to the Lord Christ, and she fought the good fight by asceticism, fasting for two days at a time, and unceasing in her prayers.
When Emperor Diocletian issued his edict to worship idols, many Christians were martyred by his hands. When the virgins heard that, they were afraid and left the convent and went into hiding. None was left in the convent except St. Febronia, another sister and the abbess. On the following day, the envoys of the Emperor came, seized the abbess, and humiliated her. St. Febronia said to them, \"Take me and set free this old woman.\" But they took her as well, bound in ropes, and brought them to the Governor. At that time she was twenty years old, and was attractive. The Governor asked her to worship the idols and promised her many things but she refused. He ordered that she be beaten with rods, and her dress to be torn off. The abbess cried out to him saying, \"May God rip you up, O wild beast, for you want to put to shame this young orphan girl.\" The Governor was wrathful, and ordered St. Febronia to be squeezed by the wheel, and to comb her body with an iron comb until her flesh was completely torn. During all that, she prayed to the Lord asking for help. He then cut out her tongue and smashed her teeth so that she could not pray. But the Lord strengthened her and comforted her. Finally, the Governor ordered her head cut off, and she received the crown of martyrdom. A righteous man took her body and shrouded it with costly shrouds, and placed it in a golden box.
May her prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the fighters Sts. Bioukha and Banayen, departed. They were priests in thechurch of \"Tunah\" of the diocese of \"Tanda\". Their father was the steward of this church. Ithappened when the priest Banayen was celebrating the Divine Liturgy, someone came calling himto see his father who was dying in that instant. He answered him saying, \"I cannot take off mypriestly vestment before the end of the service. If God is willing, I shall see him before he dies, otherwise it will be the will of God.\"
His father asked for him three times, and he responded with the same answer. When he finishedthe mass, he found his father had departed. The church vessels were stored in a place known onlyby his father. Banayen the priest went to St. Daniel, the priest of the wilderness of Shiheet, who guided him by Divine inspiration, to the place where the vessels were stored. These two saints lived a virtuous life until they departed in peace.
May their prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "bioukha tayaban banayen priests" } ], [ { "id": 302, "action": "The Departure of St. Thaddaeus, the Apostle
On this day, St. Thaddaeus, the Apostle, departed. The Lord had chosen him among the twelve disciples. When he received the grace of the Comforter along with the disciples, he travelled around the world preaching the Gospel. He returned many of the Jews and Gentiles to the knowledge of God and Baptized them. Then he went to the land of Syria and preached to its people and many believed through his hands. He suffered from the Jews and Gentiles, much humiliation and many tortures, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "thaddaeus apostle" } ], [ { "id": 303, "action": "On this day, of the year 160 A.D. (June 27th, 444 A.M.), the great father, the pillar of faith and the lamp of the Orthodox church, St. Kyrillos (Cyril) the First, the Alexandrian Pope, and the twenty-fourth Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, departed.
This saint was the son of the sister of Pope Theophilus (23rd patriarch). He was raised by his uncle at the school of Alexandria where he was educated in its Theological and Philosophical subjects needed to defend Christianity and the Orthodox faith. After he learned a great deal of these subjects, his uncle sent him to the monastery of St. Macarius in the wilderness. There, he became a disciple to a righteous old monk called Sarabamon. He taught him the church books, and the sayings of the pure fathers. He trained his mind and body by practicing the works of righteousness and virtues for a period of time.
After he spent in the wilderness five years, Pope Theophilus sent him to Abba Sarapion, the honorable bishop, so he increased in wisdom and knowledge. Shortly after, the bishop returned him to Alexandria. His uncle was rejoiced, ordained him a deacon, appointed him a preacher in the cathedral and made him his scribe. Whenever Kyrillos gave a sermon, he captured the hearts of his listeners with his eloquence, fluency, and his strong influence. Since that time, he became well known for his vast knowledge, his great righteousness, and his deep influence in his teaching. When his uncle Pope Theophilus departed in the 18th of Babah 128 A.M. (October 15th, 412 A.M.), they enthroned this father in his place on the 20th of Babah, 128 A.M. (Oct. 17th, 412 A.D.). The church was illumined with his knowledge, and he gave special attention to resisting paganism and defending the Christian faith. He started to refute the falsity of Emperor Julian the Infidel in his ten essays that had been written after his apostasy. These were the favorite readings of the pagan young people of Alexandria and their pride, for they believed that it destroyed the principles of the Christian faith. Pope Kyrillos refuted them in terms that were clear, strong and convincing.
He set out to rebut the heretics until he was able to close their churches and seize their contents. He ordered the expulsion of the Jews from Alexandria which led to a disturbance and confrontation between the Jews and the Christians. This led to the widening of the contention between the governor and this great saint. Because of his strong devotion to the Christian ethics and teachings, he found himself compelled to ask for reconciliation with the governor. However, the governor refused to accept the reconciliation, and the conflict between them continued for a period of time.
When the heresy of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, emerged, a Universal Council convened for him. He denied that the Virgin was the mother of God (Theotokos). Two hundred bishops assembled in the city of Ephesus during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II, known by Theodosius the Less. St. Cyril (Kyrillos), Pope of Alexandria, presided over this council. He debated Nestorius, explained to him his heretic opinion, and threatened him with excommunication and exile from his Chair, if he did not change his erroneous opinion. St. Kyrillos composed twelve discourses wherein he explained the true faith, refuting the error of Nestorius. Anba John, Patriarch of Antioch, and some of the bishops of the East disagreed with him, taking Nestorius' side. Nevertheless, shortly after, they came back and agreed with Kyrillos who was victorious over the enemies of the church. He wrote many discourses and valuable epistles, confirming in them, that God the Word is One Nature, One Will, and One Person incarnated. He anathematized anyone who separated Christ or differed from this true faith. The Emperor exiled Nestorius in the year 435 A.D. to the land of Egypt, and remained in the city of Akhmim until his death in the year 440 A.D. From the monumental works of Pope Kyrillos was the commentary of the Holy Books.
When he finished his strife, he fell sick for a short time and departed in peace. He remained on the Alexandrian Chair for thirty-one years, eight months, and ten days.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the great Pope Celestine, bishop of the city of Rome, departed (July 27th, 432 A.D.). This saint was the disciple of St. Boniface, bishop of Rome. At the time of his death, he commended that father Celestine would succeed him, and then he cautioned him saying, \"Take heed O my son for there would be ravening wolves in the city of Rome.\" This father was a righteous and well learned monk. When Pope Boniface departed on September 4th, 422 A.D., they ordained Celestine in his place on September 10th, 422 A.D., during the reign of Emperor Honorius. This Emperor died in the city of Raffeen in France in the year 423 A.D. One of the Emperors (Julian the Infidel) wanted to appoint Nestorius a patriarch for Rome and expel Celestine the saintly Pope. The people rose up and expelled Nestorius which made Emperor Julian enraged against him. This Saint fled to one of the monasteries nearby Pentapolis (Five cities) and dwelt there. God wrought many signs and miracles by his hands.
Then, the angel Raphael appeared to him in a dream saying: \"Rise up and go to the city of Antioch to its patriarch St. Dimitrius, and abide with him for the Emperor had decided in his heart to kill you upon his return from the war.\" When he woke up, he went forth from that monastery along with two brothers and came to the city of Antioch. He found its Patriarch ill, told him what had happened to him, and stayed in one of the monasteries of Antioch. Sts. Ignatius and Boniface along with a third venerable person appeared to the Emperor in a dream and said to him, \"Why have you left the city of the saints without a bishop. Behold, God will remove your soul from you, and you shall die by the hands of your enemies.\" The Emperor asked, \"What shall I do?\" They replied, \"Do you believe in the Son of God?\" He answered saying, \"I do believe.\" They said to him, \"Send and bring our son bishop Celestine with honor, and restore him to his throne.\" When the Emperor awoke from his dream, he wrote to the patriarch of Antioch, Demetrius, asking him to inform his envoys of the whereabouts of Celestine, and return him to his See. They found him and returned him to his Chair with great honor, and the people received him with joy and
happiness. The peace and the affairs of the church were established by his presence.
When Nestorius blasphemed and the Council assembled for him, Celestine was unable to attend the Council, because of his illness, so he sent two priests with a letter excommunicating Nestorius in it. The Emperor believed in what Nestorius said, nevertheless he yielded to the decisions of the Council and exiled Nestorius to Egypt.
When the Lord willed for Celestine to depart from this world, St. Boniface, his predecessor, and St. Athanasius, the Apostolic, appeared to him and told him, \"Affirm your people in the faith, for Christ is calling you.\" When he woke up he commanded his people saying, \"Take heed to yourselves, for behold ravening wolves shall come into this city.\" Having said this he added, \"I am leaving, for the saints are calling for me.\" When he said that, he departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "celestine pope rome" } ], [ { "id": 304, "action": "The Commemoration of the Relocation of the Relics of Sts. Apakir and John.
On this day, the church commemorates the relocation of the relics of the honorable Sts. Apakir and John. After they received the crown of martyrdom as it is mentioned in the account of the sixth day of the month of Amshir, some of the believers took their bodies. They laid them in the church of St. Mark the Evangelist, which is to the south of Alexandria. They remained there until the days of St. Cyril (Kyrillos), the Pillar of Faith, the angel of the Lord appeared to him and commanded him to relocate the relics of these two saints to the other church of St. Mark by the seaside. He relocated them with great honor, then built a church for them in this district.
They arranged for them a feast on this day. Beside the church there was a pagan temple wherein many heathens gathered. When they saw the wonders that were manifested in the church of these two saints many of them believed in the Lord Christ.
May their prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "relocation relics apakir john" } ], [ { "id": 305, "action": "The Martyrdom of Sts. Peter and Paul, the Apostles
On this day, the two great saints Peter and Paul, were martyred. Peter was from Bethsaida, and he was a fisherman. The Lord chose him on the second day of His baptism after He chose Andrew his brother. He had fervent faith and strong zeal. When the Lord asked His disciples: \"Who do men say that I am?\" So they answered, \"Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.\" ... Simon Peter answered and said, \"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.\" (Mat. 16:13-20) After he received the grace of the Holy Spirit, he went around in the world preaching of the crucified Christ, and he converted many to the faith. God wrought great and innumerable signs and wonders by his hands. He wrote two catholic Epistles to the believers.
When he came to the city of Rome, he found there St. Paul the Apostle. Through their preaching, most of the people of Rome believed, so Nero seized Peter and commanded to crucify him. Peter asked them to crucify him head downwards, and he delivered up his soul into the hand of the Lord.
As of St. Paul the Apostle, he was born in Tarsus two years before the advent of the Savior. He was a Jew, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. He was well learned in the Law of the Torah, and he was jealous for it. He persecuted the Christians. When they stoned St. Stephen, Paul was guarding the clothes of those who were stoning him. He took from Caiaphas, the high priest, letters to the synagogues of Damascus, to bind the Christians and bring them to Jerusalem. As he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, \"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?\" And he said, \"Who are You, Lord?\" And the Lord said, \"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.\" Then He ordered him to go to Ananias in Damascus, who baptized him, and he received his sight at once. He was filled by the grace of the Comforter, and he proclaimed boldly the Faith. He went around in the world preaching of the crucified Christ. He suffered much beatings, imprisonment, and was bound with fetters, some of which are mentioned in the book of the Acts of the Apostles and in his Epistles. He went to Rome and proclaimed the Faith there and many believed by his hands. He wrote for them the Epistle to the Romans which was the first of his fourteen Epistles.
Finally, Nero seized him, tortured him severely and ordered his head cut off. While St. Paul was passing along with the executioner, he met a damsel who was a kinswoman of the Emperor Nero, and who had believed through him. She walked along with St. Paul, weeping, to where they carried out the sentence. He comforted her and asked her for her veil. He wrapped his head with the veil, and asked her to return back. The executioner cut off his head and left it wrapped in the veil of the young girl, and that was in the year 67 A.D. The young girl met the executioner on his way back to the Emperor, and asked him about Paul and he replied, \"He is lying where I left him and his head is wrapped in your veil.\" She told him, \"You are lying, for he and Peter had just passed by me, they were arrayed in the apparel of kings, and had crowns decorated with jewels on their heads, and they gave me my veil, and here it is.\" She showed it to the executioner, and to those who were with him. They marvelled, and believed on the Lord Christ. God wrought by the hands of Peter and Paul many great signs and wonders, that they even carried the sick out into the streets ... that as Peter came by ... his shadow might fall on them ... and they were all healed. (Acts 5:15) The handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from Paul's body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. (Acts 19:12)
May their prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "peter paul apostles" } ], [ { "id": 306, "action": "On this day, St. Aoulimpas, who was called Paul, one of the seventy apostles, was martyred. This Apostle ministered to the disciples and carried the epistles of St. Peter to the Gentiles. He went with him to the city of Rome, preached there, taught and converted many to the Faith. When St. Peter was martyred, this Apostle was the one to take his body off the cross, shroud him, and take him to the house of one of the believers. Someone accused him, before the Emperor Nero, of being one of the disciples of Peter. Nero brought him and questioned him. The Saint confessed that the Lord Christ is the true God. Nero tortured him severely. Then he asked him, \"How do you wish to die?\" The Saint replied saying, \"I only wish to die for the Name of Christ. Kill me any way you wish, and bring me speedily to my desire.\" Nero ordered to beat him and to crucify him, head downwards, like his teacher St. Peter. They did so and he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Theodosia, mother of St. Proconius, along with two prefects and twelve other women, were martyred. When Theodosia heard that her son became Christian, and the Emperor had tortured him severely until he was close to death, she went to see him. She found them bringing him out of prison and all his wounds were healed. She and all those who were with her marvelled. They all cried saying, \"We believe in the God of Proconius.\" The Emperor ordered their heads cut off and they received the crown of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "theodosia companions" } ], [ { "id": 307, "action": "On this day, the ascetic father, St. Shenouda (Shenoute), the Archimandrite, departed. This father was born in the city of Shandaweil (Shenalolet) in the district of Akhmim. His father was a farmer, who owned flocks of sheep.
When Shenouda grew up, his father entrusted him with the care of the sheep. He tended to the sheep, gave his food to the shepherd, and he spent his day fasting. His father took him to his uncle Anba Bgoul (Bigal) to bless him. Anba Bgoul laid the boy's hands on his own head and said, \"You bless me, my child, for you will be a father for many peoples.\" His father left him with his uncle and returned home. One day he heard a voice from heaven saying, \"Shenouda has become the Archimandrite.\" Since that time, he exerted himself with many worships and intense asceticism.
When Anba Bgoul (Bigal) departed, Shenouda replaced him. He followed the monastic communal rules that were formulated by St. Pakhom, and he added to them a pledge the monk had to sign before joining the monastery.
The number of monks during his days reached 1800 monks. That monastery, still standing west of the city of Souhag, has a church and is known as the monastery of Anba Bishoy. Anba Shenouda had built another monastery, the number of its monks reached 2200 monks, which is still standing and is known as the monastery of Anba Shenouda.
Once, an army commander asked Anba Shenouda to lend him his girdle to wear during the war so that God might make him victorious. The Saint gave it to him and the commander overcame his enemies.
Anba Shenouda became a shining light to all the world with his sermons, discourses, and canons that he put for the good of the monks, hierarchies, and laity, men and women. He attended the Council of the two hundred that gathered at Ephesus with the holy father Anba Kyrillos (24th), and he admonished Nestorius the heretic. Before his departure, he asked his disciples to support him so that he might worship his creator. He worshiped God and then commanded them to follow his footsteps and told them, \"I commit you to God\" then he departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Ignatius was martyred in Rome in the year 107 A.D. He was chosen Bishop for Antioch, succeeding St. Peter the Apostle, in the year 69 A.D., during the reign of Emperor Trajan. When the Emperor heard that this Saint had attracted many by his teachings to believe in the Lord Christ, he brought him and asked him, \"Are you Ignatius the Theophoros?\" He replied, \"Yes, I am.\" The Emperor inquired about the meaning of his name. The saint replied saying, \"It means 'Godbearer.'\" The Emperor said, \"Do you think that we do not carry our gods to support us in wars?\" The Saint answered, \"How can these statues be gods? Listen, there is no God except the only God that created the Heaven and Earth, and His Son Jesus Christ who was incarnated to save mankind. So if you had believed in Him, you would be content now in your kingship.\"
The emperor attempted to persuade him to forsake Christianity, but he refused. The Emperor was enraged, ordered him bound with fetters, and taken to Rome to be thrown to the beasts. Ignatius responded by kissing the fetters that would be his means of receiving the crown of martyrdom. The believers tried to save him by paying bribes to the soldiers, but he refused, for he was yearning for martyrdom.
He went on his way to Izmir (Smyrna), where he wrote a letter to the Christians of Rome that said in it: \"I am afraid that your love may be harmful. If you wish to prevent my death, that will not be difficult for you. But allow me to be slaughtered wherever the altar has been prepared. I am wheat which must be ground, to make bread, to be offered to Jesus Christ. Whenever the people will not behold me anymore, I will behold our Lord Jesus Christ.\"
When he arrived in Rome, they threw him to the beasts. A lion attacked him and grabbed him by his neck. The Saint delivered up his soul in the hand of the Lord. Then the lion released him and went back to his place, and the believers came and carried his body with great honor to a place they prepared for him in Antioch.
May his prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "st ignatius bishop antioch rome" } ], [ { "id": 308, "action": "On this day, St. Bishoy, whose memorial is honorable, the star of the desert, departed. He was born in a town called Shansa in Egypt, and he had six brothers. His mother saw an angel in a vision saying to her, \"The Lord says to you, give Me one of your children to serve Me.\" She answered, \"Lord, take whoever you want.\" The angel took the hand of Anba Bishoy, who was thin and his body was frail. His mother told the angel, \"My Lord, take one who is strong to serve the Lord.\" \"This is whom the Lord has chosen,\" answered the Angel.
Later on, St. Bishoy went to the wilderness of Shiheet and became a monk by the hand of Anba Bemwah (Bamouyah), who also ordained St. John \"Yehness\" the Short a monk. St. Bishoy struggled in much asceticism and many worships that made him worthy to see the Lord Christ. Emperor Constantine appeared to him in a vision, saying, \"Had I known how great is the honor of monks, I would have abandoned my kingdom and became a monk.\" St. Bishoy told him, \"You have banished the heathen worship and exalted Christianity, and has not Christ given you anything?\" Emperor Constantine answered him, \"The Lord has given me many gifts, but none of them is like the honor of the monks.\"
During his days, an ascetic old man appeared in the mountain of Ansena, who was reputed for his righteousness and to whom many people gathered. But he deviated from the true faith and the devil lead him astray. He taught that there is no Holy Spirit, and many were deceived by his sayings. Anba Bishoy heard about him, and he went to him and he had with him a weaved basket with three ears. When he visited the old man and his followers, they asked him about the reason for making three ears for the basket. He answered, \"I have a Trinity, and everything I do, is like the Trinity.\" They said to him, \"Then, Is there a thing called the Holy Spirit?\" Then he started to explain to them from the Holy Scriptures, from the Old and New Testaments. He indicated to them that the Holy Spirit is One of the three Persons of the Trinity. He convinced them, and they returned to the true faith. Then he returned to his monastery in the wilderness of Scete (Shiheet). When the barbarians invaded the wilderness, he left it and dwelt on Mount Ansena, where he departed. After the time of persecution had ended, they brought his body with the body of St. Paul of Tamouh to his monastery in the wilderness of Shiheet.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Piroou and St. Athom were martyred. These two Saints were born in the city of \"Sonbat\", of Christian parents who were righteous, loving works of righteousness and charitable deeds. Their father's name was John and their mother's was Mary. St. Piroou was blond with curled hair, tall in stature, with blue eyes. St. Athom was tall in stature with white complexion, dark eyes and black beard. When Piroou was thirty years old, and Athom was twenty-seven, they attended church consistently during masses, and continued to give alms and provide shelter for strangers.
When persecution was incited against the Christians, they took some goods and went to the town of El-Farma to trade there. They found the body of a Saint called \"Noua\" with some of the soldiers. They bought the body from them with silver, placed the body in a marbled sarcophagus in their own home. They hung an oil lamb before it, and many miracles appeared from the body. The two saints reflected upon the vanity of the world, and the blessings of paradise. They distributed their money among the poor, went to Alexandria and confessed Christ before the Governor. He tortured them by beating and whipping them until their blood poured out on the ground. They hanged them and put fire under them. The Angel of the Lord came and brought them down and healed their wounds. Then, the Governor sent them to El-Farma. When the Governor of El-Farma saw their courage and the beauty of their appearance, he offered them the worship of the idols. When they refused, he pulled out the nails of their hands and feet. Then he put them on iron rods and lit fire under them.
During this, the wife of the Governor died, and he asked the two Saints to forgive him for what he had done to them. They prayed to God for her and God raised her from the dead. The Governor and every one with him believed. He released the two Saints and they returned to their town \"Sonbat\". They gave the poor whatever was left of their money. They gave the body of St. Noua to a righteous man called Sarabamon. They asked him to hang an oil lamp before it at all times. Then, they went to the Governor and confessed Christ. He ordered them beaten and dragged in the city until their blood poured out on the ground. A deaf and dumb woman took some of the blood and anointed her ears and tongue with it. Instantly she was healed. She glorified the Lord Christ and confessed Him. The Governor ordered them all to be beheaded. They all received the crown of martyrdom. The righteous Sarabamon, and some people from Sonbat were present. They took the bodies of the two Saints, shrouded them, and took them to their town. A church was built for them, where their bodies and the body of St. Noua were placed. It was said that their bodies are now located in the church of St. Barbara in Old Cairo.
May their prayers be with us, Amen.
On this day also, St. Balanah the priest, was martyred. He was from the city of Bara, of the diocese of Sakha. When he heard of the persecution of the faithful and the slaying of the saints, he distributed all his money to the poor and the needy. He then went to \"Antinoe\" (Ansena), and confessed the Lord Christ before the governor. He tortured St. Balanah much with different kinds of tortures until he delivered up his soul in the hands of the Lord.
May his prayers be with us, Amen.
This day also, marks the martyrdom of St. Epime (Pimanon) (Bima). He was the chief of the village of \"Panokleus\" of the district of El-Bahnasa. He was rich and merciful to the poor. The Lord Christ appeared to him in a vision and told him, \"Arise, go to the Governor and confess My Name, for there you have a crown prepared for you.\" When he awoke from his sleep, he distributed all his money to the poor and the needy. Then he prayed, and went to El-Bahnasa, and confessed the Lord Christ. When he confessed that he was the chief of the village, the Governor asked him about the vessels of the church in his town, and offered him the worship of the idols. St. Bima answered him saying, \"I will not give you the vessels, and as for worshipping the idols, I only worship my Lord Jesus Christ.\" The Governor ordered his tongue cut off, and torture by the press and by burning. But the Lord saved and healed him.
The Governor then, sent him to Alexandria, where he was imprisoned. Julius El-Akfahsi (the writer of the biographies of the saints) had a sister possessed with an evil spirit. This Saint prayed for her and she was healed. The report of this miracle spread out and many believed. The Governor became furious and he tortured the Saint with the press and by pulling out his nails. The Lord strengthened him and healed him. When the Governor became weary of torturing him, he sent him to Upper Egypt. There he was beheaded, and he received the crown of martyrdom. The servants of Julius El-Akfahsi carried his body to his town.
May his prayers be with us, Amen.
Today also, St. Cyrus (Karas) departed. He was the brother of Emperor Theodosius the Great. This saint knew well the vanity of the world and its temporal nature. He left all his possessions and went out wandering without a destination. God guided him to the inner Western Wilderness, where he lived for many years alone, without seeing man or beast.
There was in the wilderness of Shiheet (Scete) a holy priest called Bamwa (Pimwah) who shrouded the body of St. Hilaria. This father longed to see one of the servants of Christ, the hermits. The Lord helped him until he came to the inner wilderness, and he saw many of the saints. Everyone of them told him about his name, and the reason he came to the wilderness. But St. Pimwah asked each of them, \"Is there is anyone who lives further in the inner desert?\" They answered him, \"Yes.\" He continued to walk until he finally arrived at St. Karas, the last one of them. St. Karas called him from inside his cell, \"Welcome, Anba Pimwah, the priest of Shiheet.\" Anba Pimwah entered his cell, and after the greetings, St. Karas asked him about the news of the world, the governors and the faithful. At night, St. Karas prayed for a long time, then he knelt to the ground and delivered up his soul in the hands of the Lord. Anba Pimwah buried him in his cloak, then he returned glorifying God, telling everyone about the Saint and his strife.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever, Amen.
", "tags": "cyrus karas brother emperor theodosius" } ], [ { "id": 309, "action": "On this day, St. Simon, the Apostle, was martyred. He was the son of Cleophas, brother of Joseph the Just, to whom the Virgin Mary was betrothed. He received the grace of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room of Zion, and was ordained bishop for Jerusalem succeeding St. James the Apostle. He converted many of the Jews to the faith in the Lord Christ. The Lord wrought many wonders in his hands, and he urged the people for chastity and purity. When Emperor Trajan heard about him, he brought him, tortured him much, and then cut off his head. He was one hundred twenty years old.
May his prayers be with us, Amen.
On this day also, in the year 166 A.D. St. Cladianus (Celadion), the ninth Pope of the See of St. Mark, departed. He was a knowledgeable man, and righteous in his life. He was chosen Patriarch in the 8th of Tubah (January 16th, 152 A.D.), after the departure of his predecessor Pope Marcianus. He continued to teach, preach, and better his people, until he departed in peace after he had stayed on the Chair for fourteen years and six months.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever, Amen.
", "tags": "cladianus celadion ninth pope see mark" } ], [ { "id": 310, "action": "On this day, St. Theodore, Bishop of Pentapolis (Five Cities) was martyred. He was ordained by Pope Theonas (16th) a bishop for the Five Cities (Pentapolis). One year after his ordination, Diocletian incited the persecution against the Christians everywhere. He appointed a prince called Pilate, governor of Africa and its provinces. He heard that this bishop was confirming the Christians in their Christian Faith, so he brought him and ordered him to offer a sacrifice to the idols. He replied, \"I offer daily the sacrifice for the Creator of the idols.\" The Governor asked him, \"Is there any other god beside Artemis and Apollo? \" The Saint replied, \"Yes, Jesus Christ the creator of all things.\" The Governor became angry from his answer and ordered his torture. They spent forty days torturing him by beating and crucifying him. When he did not return from his true faith they cut off his head and he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us, Amen.
On this day also, of the year 299 A.D., St. Theodore, Bishop of Corinth, three women, and two governors, one called Lucianus and the other Dagnanius, were martyred. When some evil men accused the Saint before these two afore-mentioned governors, that he was a Christian, and bishop of Corinth, the governors brought him and asked him about his belief. He confessed that he was Christian. They tortured him by beating and dragging him in the streets. He admonished them for their forsaking the true God, and worshipping the hand made stones. They ordered to cut out his tongue. They cut off his tongue and threw it away. A believing woman took it and handed it to the Saint who placed it back in its place, and by the power of God it healed as it was.
He started again to explain the invalidity of the worshipping of idols. Those gathered marvelled and many of them believed as the governor Lucianus also believed. Dagnanius the governor became enraged and he killed St. Theodore as he killed three women who were following him as he was going to the place of execution. Shortly after, Lucianus convinced Dagnanius and he also believed in the Lord Christ. Both went to Cyprus, confessed the Lord Christ before its governor. He cut off their heads and they also received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us, Amen.
This day also, of the year 1561 A.D., marks the departure of the great Saint Anba Gabriel VII, 95th Pope of Alexandria.
He was born in the area around the monastery of El-Mouharraq, and at a young age he became a monk in the wilderness of St. Macarius. Because of his good conduct and his great righteousness, they ordained him Patriarch after the departure of Pope John XIII (94th Pope). That was in the year 1518 A.D. after the Ottoman conquest.
He remained in the papacy about forty-three years, preaching and teaching the flock. Some of his important accomplishments, were the renovation of the monasteries of Anba Antonius, and Anba Paul, the first hermit, in the Eastern desert, and the monastery of El-Mouharraq in Upper Egypt.
Some people in authority asked him to approve things against the welfare of his flock. The Pope chose to leave his Chair and he went to the monastery of St. Antonius, for he desired to keep what the Lord said: \"Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.\" (John 15:13) The Lord examined him but he endured thankfully, and received the blessing that the Lord gave for those persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Then, he fell sick for a short illness, and departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever, Amen.
", "tags": "gabriel vii 95th pope" } ], [ { "id": 311, "action": "On this day, Sts. John and Simon, his cousin, who were from the city of Shoubramalas (Ziftah-Gharbiah), were martyred. The mother of St. John was barren, and his father prayed ceaselessly to the Lord to give him a son, whom he would vow to the Lord. He saw in a vision St. John the Baptist, who told him that the Lord would give him a son. When this Saint was born, his father called him John, and he built a church in the name of St. John the Baptist. When the boy grew and was twelve years old, hisfather put him in charge of tending the sheep. John gave his food to the shepherds, and he fasted until the evening daily. When his father heard this, he went to him to verify that. When the boy saw him, he was afraid that his father might beat him, and he wanted to flee. His father calmed him and asked him about his food. John replied, \"It is inside the hut.\" When the father went inside, he found the basket full of hot bread. He returned and told his mother what had happened and both rejoiced for the grace that was bestowed upon their son. They prevented their son from tending the sheep, and handed him to one who taught him the church books.
When John became eighteen years old, they ordained him a priest. Simon, his cousin, who was also tending to the sheep of his father, left that and became a disciple of this Saint. God wrought many signs by the hands of St. John. When Diocletian denied Christ and worshipped idols, Sts. John and Simon went to Alexandria. They confessed the Lord Christ before its Governor, who tortured them much. Finally, he cut off their heads, and they received the crown of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the great saint, Anba Isaiah, who was a hermit in the wilderness of Shiheet (Scetis), departed.
May his prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Ame
n.
", "tags": "isaiah hermit" } ], [ { "id": 312, "action": "On this day, the church celebrates the commemoration of the honorable Archangel Michael, the perpetual intercessor of the human race before God the Pantocrator. \"Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; ... that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world;\" (Revelation 12:7-9) and crushed his power over the Christians.
May his intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Abba Hour, was martyred. He was born in Siriakous to a father, who was an iron worker. He wished to become a martyr, so he went to El-Farma where he confessed the Lord Christ before its Governor. He tortured him much but the Lord comforted him and healed his wounds. The Governor was amazed when he saw that. That governor, his wife and his children believed in the Lord Christ. They became martyrs by the hands of another governor, who also kept on torturing the Saint Abba Hour. When he became weary of torturing him, he sent him to Ansena, where he was squeezed by the wheel, crucified head down, and burned by fire. Finally they cut off his head, and he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Ame
n.
", "tags": "hour el-siriakousy" } ], [ { "id": 313, "action": "On this day, the holy father, Anba Pisentius, Bishop of Qift, departed. This Saint became a monk in his early years, devoted himself to the ascetic life, and learned the church books. He never looked upon the face of a woman. Once a woman, who had a serious sickness, waited until he came out of the church, and drew near him to kiss his hand, for her belief was that she would be healed. But when he saw that she was getting close to him, he walked faster. Since she was unable to catch him, she took a handful of the dust upon which his feet had trodden, and placed it on the site of the pain and she was healed.
When he was ordained a bishop, he used to see the angels fluttering their wings around the altar while he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy. He was eloquent in his sermons; no one became weary of listening to his teachings.
When the Lord informed him that his departure drew near, he gathered his people, taught them, and strengthened them in the Faith. Then, he departed in peace. God manifested many miracles from his body. His disciple took a piece of his shroud which healed many of the sick.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Apamon, was martyred. He was from the city of Toukh, the diocese of Banha. The Angel Michael appeared to him and commanded him to go to Ansena and confess Christ. He went and confessed the Lord Christ before Eukhius, the governor. He tortured him much with the press (the wheel), red-hot iron bed, and by whipping him with whips. Then he cast him in a hot water cauldron. In all that, the Lord strengthened and raised him up sound. He was worthy for the Lord Christ to appear to him, and promised him the Kingdom of Heaven. This Saint performed many signs and miracles. When they cut off his head he received the crown of martyrdom. St. Julius El-Akfahasi was present, took his body, shrouded it with costly shrouds and sent his body with two of his men to his hometown.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also, marks the martyrdom of St. Shenouda. He was a righteous man, keeping the Christian commandments. That was in the early days of the Arab conquest of Egypt. Some of his enemies laid an accusation against him before the Moslem ruler. He brought him and asked him to leave his faith but he refused, and proudly declared his faith in the Lord Christ. The ruler became enraged, tortured him, and finally cut off his head, and he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Ame
n.
", "tags": "shenoute during early arab rule" } ], [ { "id": 314, "action": "On this day, of the year 303 A.D. (July 8th), St. Procopius (Proconius), was martyred. He was born in the city of Jerusalem, his father was a Christian whose name was Christophorus, which means \"Bearer of Christ.\" His mother's name was Theodosia, and she was a worshipper of idols. When his father died, Theodosia took her son, and went to Antioch. She presented much money and expensive gifts to the Emperor Diocletian, and asked him to make her son a governor for one of the cities. He accepted her gift, answered her request, and appointed her son the governor of the city of Alexandria. He commanded that Procopius torture the Christians.
When the Saint had gone a little way from the City of Antioch, he heard a voice from heaven calling him by his name, and censured his deed. The voice also threatened him by death because he dared and accepted to do what was against the command of God. Procopius asked, \"Who are you, O my Lord? I beseech you to show me yourself.\" A cross of light appeared to him, and he heard a voice which said to him, \"I am Jesus , the Son of the Living God, Who was crucified in Jerusalem.\" He was afraid and trembled, and he turned to the city of Bit-Shaan (Bisan). He made for himself a cross of gold like the cross that appeared to him.
On his way to Alexandria, some of the bedouins attacked him to plunder whatever he had. But he overcame them by the cross that he had. His mother told him, \"You must offer sacrifices to the gods who delivered you from your enemies.\" The Saint replied, \"Rather, I will offer the sacrifice to Jesus Christ, Who helped me by the power of His cross.\" When his mother heard his words, she became angry, and sent to Diocletian to inform him about that. The Emperor sent to the Governor of Caesarea, Palestine, to investigate the matter, and to handle his torture. When the Governor brought him, Procopius confessed his faith in the Lord Christ. The governor beat him so severely that he was close to death, then he cast him in prison. The Lord Christ appeared to him, surrounded by His angels, released him from his bonds, and healed his wounds. The next morning, the Governor asked about the Saint, and they told him that they found him free and sound. He had him brought to the temple of the idols, where the Governor was going to pray. When the Saint came, and the people saw him whole, they all marvelled, and they all cried out in the name of Christ saying, \"We are Christians, and we believe in the God of Procopius.\" Among them were two prefects, twelve women, and St. Theodosia, mother of St. Proconius. They cut off their heads, and they received the crown of martyrdom. That was on the sixth day of the month of Abib.
The Governor ordered the return of the Saint to prison, until he could determine what to do with him. He brought him back three days later and told him, \"Behold, I have waited three days for you to return to your mind, to have mercy on yourself, and to offer sacrifice for the gods.\" The Saint replied, \"The Lord Christ is the only true God. As for these statues, which are made of stone and wood, they are not gods and can neither harm nor help.\" The Governor became angry and ordered the soldiers to cut his sides with swords. A swordsman, whose name was Archelaus, stretched out his hand to cut the sides of the Saint, whereupon his hand dried up, and fell down dead. The Governor ordered to stab him with knives and pour vinegar in his wounds. Then they dragged him by his feet to the prison, where he stayed for three days. The Governor was wondering what he should do with him. Then he threw him into a pit filled with fire, but the Lord delivered him and no harm came upon him. Finally, the Governor ordered to cut off his head and he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 1064 A.M. (July 8th, 1348 A.D.), Pope Peter the Fifth, 83rd Patriarch of Alexandria, departed. He was known as Peter (Boutros) Ebn-dawoud. He was from St. Macarius monastery, and was a priest in El-Shahraan monastery. He was enthroned on the 6th of Tubah, 1056 A.M. (January 2nd, 1340 A.D.). All the days of his papacy were peaceful and tranquil. He departed after staying in his Chair for eight years, six months, and six days, and was buried in Old Cairo.
May his prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Ame
n.
", "tags": "peter fifth 83rd patriarch alexandria" } ], [ { "id": 315, "action": "On this day, of the year 379 A.D., the holy father, St. Ephraem (Ephraim) the Syrian, departed. He was born in the city of Nissibis, in the beginning of the fourth century to pagan parents, during the days of the righteous Emperor Constantine. It happened that he met with St. James bishop of Nissibis, who preached to him and taught him the particulars of the Christian Faith. Ephraem believed on his hands. St. James baptized him and Ephraim stayed with him. He excelled in his worship that surpassed his contemporaries. He debated the pagans and overcame them by the grace that was within him. When the council of Nicea convened, he went with his teacher St. James to attend the council.
One day, it happened that while St. Ephraem was praying, he saw a pillar of light which extended from earth to heaven. When he marvelled at what he saw, he heard a voice saying to him, \"That what you saw is St. Basil, Bishop of Caesaria.\" St. Ephraem longed to see St. Basil and he went to Caesaria. He entered the church and stood in a corner of it. He saw St. Basil in his priestly vestments embroidered with gold. St. Ephraim doubted the holiness of St. Basil. The Lord showed him a white dove that alighted over St. Basil's head. God then inspired St. Basil of the presence of St. Ephraem. St. Basil called him by his name, and St. Ephraem marvelled at how he knew him. They greeted each other, and St. Basil ordained him a deacon.
St. Ephraem increased his asceticism, and many great virtues were manifested through him that surpass description. Among which was that of an honorable woman, who was ashamed to confess her sins orally to St. Basil. She wrote on a paper her sins which she had committed since her youth, and gave it to St. Basil. When he received it and knew what was written in it, he prayed for her. The piece of paper became blank except for only one great sin. The woman wept, and entreated him to pray for her that God might forgive this sin for her. St. Basil told her, \"Go to the wilderness where St. Ephraem is and he will pray for you.\" The woman went to him and told him what had happened. He said to her, \"I am not worthy of this honor, go back to St. Basil for he is a high priest. Go now quickly before he departs from this world.\" When the woman returned, she found that St. Basil had departed, and was carried on the heads of the priests. She wept, and threw the piece of paper on his coffin. She prayed to God interceding through the saint. Then, she took the piece of paper, and she found it completely blank.
St. Ephraem had performed many miracles. In his days, Ebn-Disan the Infidel appeared. This father debated with him until he overcame his erroneous opinions. He wrote many articles and discourses. When he completed his strife, he departed to the Lord.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Cyriacus (Qyriacus) and St. Julietta, his mother, were martyred. When Cyriacus was three years old, his mother left Iconium, her native land, taking her son with her. She went to Tarsus, fleeing from the Governor that was persecuting the Christians. However, she found the Governor there in Tarsus. Some had laid accusation against her before the Governor. He brought her and ordered her to worship the idols. She answered him, \"What you say to me cannot be accepted by a three year-old child.\" The governor said to her, \"We can ask your child.\" God then made the child talk, who cried out saying, \"Your gods are made of stone and wood by the hands of men, there is no other True God except my Lord Jesus Christ.\" Those who heard the child were amazed, and the Governor was exposed. For that reason, he inflicted pain over the child that surpassed his age. He also tortured his mother with many kinds of tortures. But the Lord God delivered them safely each time. Many saw this and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and received the crown of martyrdom. Finally, the Governor ordered to cut the heads off of St. Cyriacus (Qyriacus) and St. Julietta, his mother, and they received the crown of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the honorable saint Anba Horesius of Soul, was martyred.
May his intercession be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "horesius harsios soul" } ], [ { "id": 316, "action": "On this day, St. John, the owner of the Golden Gospel, departed. This saint was born in the city of Rome. His father was a rich man whose name was Atrofius (Trabius). His father gave him a copy of the Gospel of St. John written in letters of gold and bound with a golden cover and from this he was generally known as \"John of the Golden Gospel.\" John rejoiced exceedingly with this gift. A monk, who was on his way to Jerusalem, came to visit his father's house. John asked the monk to take him with him. The monk told him that he was going to Jerusalem and not to the monastery. He also told him that he was young and could not endure the rough life that the monks practiced. Nevertheless, John was sincere in his intention, so he embarked on a ship, without telling anyone, to the monastery of that monk. When the Abbot saw him, he refused to accept him because of his young age, and explained to him that the monastic life was difficult for one like him. John pleaded with him, and when the Abbot saw his firm intention and strong conviction, he accepted him. He shaved his head, and arrayed him in the holy garb of the monastic life. John devoted himself to the ascetic life with many worships. The Abbot often advised him saying, \"Have pity on yourself, and do as the rest of the brethren.\" But John used to answer, saying, \"The power of God and your prayers support me.\" Seven years later, he saw in a vision, who told him, \"Rise, and go to your parents, that you might receive their blessings before your departure from this world.\" This vision was repeated on three consecutive nights, and he told the Abbot about it. The Abbot told him that this was from God, and advised him to go to see his parents.
When he left the monastery, he found a poor man wearing ragged garments, he took them from him, and gave him his own monk's garb. When he arrived at his father's house, he lived for three years, near the door of the house, in a small hut made of straw. He ate, during this time, the fragments from his father's table which the servants threw to him. Whenever his mother passed by him, she was disgusted by his smell and the appearance of his clothes.
When his departure drew near, the Lord made it known to him that after three days he would depart from this world. St. John sent and called his mother. Without telling her that he was her son, he made her swear to bury him in that hut with whatever clothes he had on. Then, he gave her the golden Gospel and said to her, \"Whenever you read in it, remember me.\" When his father returned to the house, she showed him the Gospel, and immediately he recognized that it was the Gospel of his son John. They came in haste to St. John and asked him about the Gospel and about their son. He asked them to assure him that they would not bury him except in the clothes that he had on, and then he told them that he was their son. They wept with a great weeping. When the nobles of the city of Rome heard that, they gathered to see this righteous monk. After three days, he departed and his mother clothed him with the clothes that she had prepared for his wedding day before he went to the monastery. Thereupon she fell sick, and her husband remembered the oath that they had given. Immediately he removed the clothes of his son and clothed him with the old ragged cloth that he had on and buried him in the hut in which he had lived. Many miracles were manifested from his body. Then they built a church in his name and placed his body in it.
May his prayers with us. Amen.
On this day also, was the arrival of the holy relics of St. George, the great martyr, to his church in Old Cairo. A monk called Fr. Marcus, who was the hegumen and Abbot of El-Qualamoun monastery, used to visit the villages and the cities every year to visit the Christians. One night, while he was visiting someone in one of the villages he used to visit, he saw St. George (Gawargios) in a vision, who told him, \"Take my body from the woman that will be coming to you tomorrow, and place it in my church that is in Old Cairo.\"
On the next day, a woman came to him and told him that she had a box that her father had brought before his death from the church of St. George in Palestine. This fulfilled the vision, and he went with her and examined the box. Then, he went to Pope Gabrial, 88th Pope, and told him about the vision and the box. Immediately the Pope rose up and took with him the priests and the deacons, and went to where the box was. After they took the blessings of the holy relics and gave some money to the woman, they carried the box in a venerable celebration. They brought it to the church of St. George in Old Cairo where many signs were manifested from it.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "recovery holy relics george great martyr" } ], [ { "id": 317, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Euphemia
On this day, St. Euphemia, was martyred. When Barsiros (Briskos), one of the deputies of Diocletian, was passing down the road, there were with him some of the saints with iron chains round their necks like dogs. This saint saw them and her heart waxed hot. She was sorry for them and she wept. Then, she cursed the Emperor, his idols, and admonished the Governor saying, \"O you whose heart is like a stone, do you not have compassion on these holy men! or are you not afraid that their God might destroy you?\" The Governor became enraged and informed the Emperor about what she had done and said. The Emperor brought her and asked her about her belief. She confessed that she was Christian. He tortured her severely by beating and burning until she delivered up her pure soul in the hand of the Lord.
May her prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "euphemia" } ], [ { "id": 318, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. James the Apostle, Bishop of Jerusalem
On this day, St. James the Apostle, Bishop of Jerusalem, who was the son of Alphaeus, was martyred. (Mat. 10:3) The Holy Bible mentioned his brothers, Joses, Simon, and Judas, the sons of Cleophas. (Mat. 13:55) The Greek word \"Cleophas\" means in the Syriac language \"Alphaeus\". His mother, the sister of the Virgin, was also called Mary and was the wife of Cleophas. (John 19:25) When he grew up he was known as James the Just. For there was a drought in Palestine and he prayed to God, Who sent the rain and watered the land, as Josephus, the Jewish historian, testified. He was called James the Less, to identify him from St. James the son of Zebedee, and the brother of St. John the beloved.
It was said that the Lord had appointed him bishop of Jerusalem when he appeared to him. \"After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.\" (I Cor. 15:7) He was called the head of the church in Jerusalem for it was the mother church and from it the Good News had spread to the other churches. He wrote a liturgy, with which the Armenians still pray.
During his time and in the year 53 A.D. a Council of the Apostles and priests convened in Jerusalem and St. James presided over it. During this Council St. James said, \"Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, \"but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood ... \" (Acts 15:19-21) St. James preached and taught the Name of the Lord Christ, brought many back to the faith, and baptized them. God wrought by his hands many signs and wonders.
One day, many of the Jews came to him and asked him to tell them about the Lord Christ. They thought that he would tell them that Jesus was his brother. St. James went up to the pulpit, and began to explain to them the Godhead of the Lord Christ, His eternal existence, and His equality with God the Father. When they heard this they were wrath with him, they dragged him down, and beat him severely. One of them beat the apostle on the head with an iron rod, and he delivered up his soul instantly.
It was said about this Saint, that he never drank wine, and never wore clothes, but always wore a linen loin-cloth, and that he kneeled so often during his worship and praying that his feet and knees became wollen, and the skin of his knees became like that of the camels.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "james apostle bishop jerusalem" } ], [ { "id": 319, "action": "On this day, of the year 284 A.M., which is the first year of the martyrs, the great saint Anba Bidaba, and his companion, the priest Andrew, his nephew, and St. Christodoulas, were martyred. Anba Bidaba, who was known by El-Gawhary, was bishop of the city of Qift, in Upper Egypt, during the days of the governor Arianus, and the reign of Emperor Diocletian.
This great saint was born in the city of Armant to Christian parents who raised him since his young age in a Christian manner. His mother's sister had a son, called him Andrew and raised him in a Christian way. Andrew and his cousin Bidaba liked each other and decided to forsake the world. They eagerly read the Bible and religious books, they widened their comprehension and they became the authority of their times in piety and godliness. When Bidaba was ten years old he had memorized most of the religious books and spiritual teachings. They fasted two days at a time without food or water and when they ate, they only ate bread and salt, accompanied by fervent prayers day and night.
One day while they were thinking about the vanity of this world, they decided to leave their families and live lives of seclusion in a deserted place. They went to the Eastern mount where they found Anba Eisak. This saint comforted and strengthened them to endure the hardships to receive the Eternal Life.Anba Eisak blessed them and commanded them to go to another place where they could live a life of solitude and spend all their time in worship. Then he told Anba Bidaba, \"O, my son you shall shepherd the flock of Christ, many toils, tribulations and great persecutions will befall you.\" He told Andrew, \"You also shall receive a crown, after your strife, that has been prepared for you.\"
They left Anba Eisak and went to the western side and built for themselves a cell. They had full knowledge and excellent skills in transcribing the holy books. They did that for little money to support their life and donated whatever was left to the poor and the needy. The bishop of this district came, once he heard about them, and ordained Anba Bidaba a priest and Andrew a deacon. They went to a church in one of the nearby cities once every forty days to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. One day they went to the church, and found the bishop there so Anba Bidaba stood in reverence and respect for the bishop. The bishop was sitting on his chair looking at St. Bidaba, and he was amazed to see the face of the Saint shining as the moon, and light emanating from him and on his head was a crown of gold decorated with precious stones. The bishop asked them to bring this saint and his companion Andrew.
When they came to see him, he asked them to stay with him, but Anba Bidaba refused, preferring to live in the barren desert than live under the care of the bishop. Nevertheless, St. Andrew accepted to stay under the care of the bishop. Anba Bidaba returned to his cell weeping and saying, \"I ask you O my Lord Christ to consecrate that place for Thy self that Your Name might be mentioned in it for ever.\" Then he left that place and went to another area further away. A few days later the bishop sent a messenger to the cell seeking the Saint but he did not find him. The bishop built a church in the name of this saint in that place and consecrated it on the thirteenth day of the month of Kiahk. As for St. Bidaba, he went to the church taking a different way to pray. Many signs and miracles were wrought by his hands, and he increased in grace and blessing.
When his fame spread, and his name was acclaimed, many came to him and he healed their spiritual and physical sicknesses. The people asked the bishop Anba Tadros saying, \"We ask you O our father to bring for us Anba Bidaba to be blessed by him and to stay among us for a period of time.\" The bishop did as they asked.
When Anba Bidaba came to the city of Bahgourah, district of Nagaa-Hammady, there was a man, whose name was John, who had only one daughter, who was attractive. His neighbors were furious against him, and used sorcery against her, for they asked her father to give her in marriage to one of their sons, but he refused. But, the Saint Anba Bidaba prayed for her, and she became as normal as she had been, and God nullified the witchcraft away from her. When her family saw their daughter healed by the hand of that saint, they came and kneeled before him, and kissed his hands thanking him for his act. The Saint told them, \"Thank God and praise Him, for the grace that healed your daughter was not from me.\" They left him rejoicing.
When it was Sunday and the people were gathered in the church, they brought the Saint to the bishop who promoted him to Hegumen (Archpriest). He stayed with the bishop for nine days then went back to the mountain. Later on, the bishop of Qift departed, so the people of the area gathered and unanimously decided to nominate Abba Bidaba to be ordained in his place. They decided to go to Pope Peter the First (The seal of martyrs and the 17th Patriarch) to ordain him a bishop for them. The angel of the Lord appeared to the Pope in a vision and told him, \"Go to Upper Egypt and bring the Archpriest Bidaba and ordain him a bishop for the city of Qift, for the Lord has chosen him.\" Early next morning the delegations of the believers came asking to ordain the honorable father Bidaba a bishop. The Pope sent four priests with a letter to the Saint. When they arrived, he received the letter from them and read in it, \"It is written in the Holy Bible whoever hears from you, heard from Me, and whoever refuses you, refused Me.\" St. Bidaba cried bitterly and said, \"Woe to me the poor sinner for the Devil wishes my perishing.\" Then he prayed saying, \"Let it be according to Your Will, O Lord, and not according to mine, for You know that I am weak, powerless, and incapable of handling this position.\"
The messengers of the Pope embarked with him to the Pope. The Pope asked the people of the parish, \"Who do you chose to be a bishop over you.\" They unanimously answered saying, \"Abba Bidaba, for he is worthy for this honorable ministry.\" The Pope ordained him a bishop for the diocese of Qift. While he was laying his hand over his head, a voice from heaven said, \"Worthy, worthy, worthy O Bidaba to receive this position.\" He remained with the Pope for a few days, during which he celebrated the Divine Liturgy. Whenever he placed his hand over the chalice to make the sign of the cross, the wine changed to blood. The Pope was amazed and looked at the saint and said, \"Truly you are chosen from God.\" He asked the Pope to allow him to go to his parish. He embarked in a sailing boat, which had a handicapped man, that did not walk for twenty-two years. While he was getting aboard the boat the saint's leg slipped and stepped over the leg of that handicapped man. The man's legs were healed and he jumped up immediately praising God. All those in the ship praised God and asked the saint to remember them in his prayers and to bless them.
Many miracles were wrought by his hands during his journey. When they arrived safely at their hometown, the people of the parish went out with candles, crosses, censers, olive branches and palm branches, in their hands to receive him. They took him in a procession until they entered the church and he sat on his Episcopal Chair. He lived in asceticism, as he had lived before, praying continually day and night. His food was bread and salt and his dress was a cloth of hair. He performed many signs and wonders.
When Emperor Diocletian incited persecution against the Christians, governor Arianus came to upper Egypt, and seized the Christians. He threw them in prisons, and tortured them severely, along his way until he arrived at Esna. When the saint Anba Bidaba knew of that, he was kindled with a spiritual zeal and said, \"Is it right for me to remain here, and my brothers, the Christians facing unbearable tortures? No, I must go there and die with them as a sacrifice of faith.\" He called the people and celebrated a pontifical Liturgy and after he administered to them the Holy Mysteries, he preached to them saying, \"We must not be afraid to be martyred in the Name of the Lord Christ, not be afraid of hot fire, arrows or spears, and swords drawn against our necks. As also you need to be merciful to the poor, comfort the grieved, be vigilant in your prayers and fasting for they are your aid by which you can overcome obstacles and cast out the devil that weaken your faith in the Lord Christ.\" The bishop preached and strengthened his people, and after he made the sign of the holy cross over them, blessed them and bid them farewell saying, \"I shall go to be martyred by the hand of Arianus the governor.\" The people cried and wept for his departure, but he comforted and strengthened them.
Afterwards, he left them and went to the city of Esna, accompanied by the blessed Fr. Andrew and Anba Christodoulas. The bishop Anba Bidaba looked at them and said, \"Where are you going?\" They replied, \"We are going with you to die for our love of Christ.\" The bishop looked at them and saw the grace of God had come down upon them and their faces shining like the moon. He strengthened and commanded them to be steadfast in their faith in Christ. He told them, \"On this night I saw in a vision an angel who had with him three crowns and I asked him to whom did these belong? He said one for you, one for your cousin, and one for Christodoulas, so let us go to Esna.\"
When they arrived at Esna, they saw a multitude of Christians, bishops, priests, deacons, and believers, being tortured. The governor brought them and ordered them to raise incense for the gods, but they cried saying, \"We are Christians and we do not fear you, O infidel governor. We do not worship these defiled gods that were made by human hands. Our God that we worship, is in heaven, the creator of everything with the Word of His might, visible and invisible, to Whom is the Glory, Honor, and Worship with His good Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto the age of ages, Amen.\" When the Governor heard their words and saw their steadfastness, he ordered to cut their heads off with the sword.
During that time, Anba Bidaba was standing, watching the Christians being tortured, and he saw angels coming down from heaven, and in their hands, crowns of light for the heads of those who were martyred, and raising them to the heaven with great honor and glory. The Bishop and his companions went forward and cried out saying, \"We are Christians, and we believe in Jesus Christ the Lord of all creatures and the God of every power.\" The Governor asked them, \"From where are you?\" Then he asked the bishop about his name. The Bishop replied, \"I am the lowly Bidaba.\" The Governor said, \"I think you are the bishop of this land, but I am amazed at how you could dare to say these words. Did you not dread my retaliation and fear my authority and majesty? Have you not seen the torture that has been prepared for those who confess that Name?\" The Saint answered courageously and said, \"Have you not heard the saying of the Book by the mouth of Lord Jesus Christ, 'Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.' (Mat. 10:32-33) Because of this promise, we confess Our Lord Jesus Christ to the utter most breath.\" The Governor tried, by promising him money and position once and then threatening him in other time, to change his council and his faith in the Lord Christ, and when he failed, he ordered that the Saint be imprisoned in one of the prisons. When the saints in prison saw him, they saluted him and said, \"Would you vanquish for us this governor, for you have been given the victory from the Lord of hosts.\" While they were talking about the greatness and goodness of God, the Archangel Michael appeared to the Bishop and said, \"Hail to you O honored one, let your soul rejoice today for God has accepted all your toil, asceticism, and struggle for the sake of faith. You shall receive three crowns: the first, for your worship and asceticism since your young age, the second, for shepherding the flock on the straight path, and the third, for your martyrdom. You shall be crowned with these crowns with glory and honor to receive the heavenly glories.\" The angel ascended, and the Saint stood and prayed saying, \"Hear me O Father the Pantocrator, may my petition rise before You, and You smell it as a sweet incense that pleases You, I ask You O father for Thy people and saints who do mercy for the poor, and accept my soul in Your hands that I may receive the heavenly glories, for to You is the Glory, Honor, and Worship with Your Good Father and the Holy Spirit, forever. Amen.\"
When he finished his petition he saw the Lord our Savior and around Him the angels coming to comfort him, saying, \"My consolation O beloved Bidaba, I am with you.\" Then the magnificent procession ascended to heaven. On the next morning, the governor ordered all the prisoners brought to the place where the people of the city gathered. When they saw the saints they cried saying, \"We are Christians and we believe in one God, the God of Anba Bidaba.\" The governor became enraged and brought the Saint and those who were with him and ordered their heads cut off. The blood flowed like streams. The skies were filled by the pure angels welcoming the spirits of those righteous saints. St. Bidaba, St. Andrew, and St. Christodoulas received the crown of eternal life.
May their blessings be with us. Amen.
This day also marks the martyrdom of the honorable St. Pantaleemon, the Physician. This saint was born in the city of Ta'madan. His father, whose name was Astochius (Asturius), was pagan, and his mother, whose name was Unala (Ulana), was Christian. They taught him the medical profession. A priest lived near their house, and every time Pantaleemon passed by him, and the priest saw his stature, his comeliness, his knowledge, and his wisdom, he was sorrowful for him for he was away from God. The priest entreated God in his prayers, to guide Pantaleemon to the way of salvation. Having repeated his petition to God for Pantaleemon's sake, the Lord told him in a vision that he would believe through him. The priest rejoiced, and started to speak to him whenever he passed before him, until a friendship grew between them. The priest started to explain to him the corruptness of idol worshipping and the nobility of the Faith of the Lord Christ and the noble life of its followers. He also told him about those who believe in Christ, and the signs and wonders wrought by their hands.
When Pantaleemon, the Physician, heard that, he rejoiced and desired to perform these signs to perfect his medical profession. One day, he was passing through the market-place of the city, and he saw a man, whom a serpent had bitten, lying on the ground and the serpent was standing up before him. He said to himself, \"I will put to test the words of my teacher, the priest, who told me, 'If you believe in the Lord Christ, you shall work miracles in His Name.'\" He drew near that man, and prayed a long prayer, asking the Lord Christ to manifest His Power in healing that man, and in killing that serpent, so that it might not harm anyone else. When he finished his prayer, the man rose up alive, and the serpent fell down dead. Pantaleemon's faith increased; he went to the priest, who baptized him, and he went on practicing medicine.
One day a blind man came to Pantaleemon that he might heal him, but his father sent him away. The Saint asked him, \" Who was asking for me?\" His father replied, \"It was a blind man, and you can not heal him.\" The Saint told him, \"You shall see the glory of God.\" He called the blind man back, and asked him, \"If you can see will you believe in the God Who shall heal your eyes?\" The man said, \"Yes, I will believe.\" The Saint prayed over him a long and a profound prayer, and then he laid his hand upon the eyes of the blind man, and said, \"In the Name of the Lord Christ receive your sight.\" Straightway, he received his sight and believed in the Lord Christ. When his father saw that, he also believed. The saint brought them to the priest who baptized them.
When his father departed, the Saint set his slaves free and gave all his money to the poor. He treated the sick freely, and asked them to believe in Christ. The other physicians were jealous of him, and they laid accusation against him, the priest and many others who had believed, before the Emperor. He brought them and threatened to torture them if they did not deny the Lord Christ. When they did not yield to his threats, he tortured them severely then cut off their heads. The Emperor exaggerated in torturing St. Pantaleemon, he cast him to the lions which did not harm him, and the Lord strengthened and healed him. Finally, the Emperor ordered to cut off his head and he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 1085 A.M. (July 13th, 1369 A.D.) Pope Youanis X, 85th Patriarch of Alexandria, departed. He was known by El-Mo'ataman the Syrian, and he was from Damascus, Syria. He was a righteous and knowledgeable man. He was enthroned on the twelfth of Bashans, 1079 A.M. (May 7th, 1363 A.D.). He remained on the throne for six years, two months, and seven days. He departed in peace and was buried in Old Cairo beside Simon the shoe maker.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pope youanis x 85th patriarch alexandria" } ], [ { "id": 320, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Theodore of Shotep
On this day, of the year 220 A.D., St. Theodore of Shotep was martyred. His father's name was John and he was from the city of Shotep in Upper Egypt. He went with his regiment to the city of Antioch, where he married the daughter of a pagan noble man, and begot by her this St. Theodore. When his mother wanted to present him to the house of idols to be educated there, his father refused. She became angry, drove him away, and the child remained with his mother. His father John prayed ceaselessly, and entreated God to guide his son Theodore to the path of salvation. The child grew up, and learned philosophy, wisdom, and literature. The Lord Christ illuminated his heart, and Theodore went to a righteous bishop who baptized him. When his mother heard of this she was sorrowed greatly, but the Saint did not mind her.
He joined the army and advanced in the ranks until he became one of the great generals during the reign of Emperor Lucianus. The people of the city of Eukhitos worshipped a great serpent, and offered to him a human sacrifice every year. While St. Theodore was passing through this district, he saw a woman crying bitterly. He asked her about the reason for her crying. She answered him saying, \"I am a widow and they have taken my two sons to offer them as a sacrifice to the serpent, although I am Christian.\" He said to himself, \"They have wronged this woman, but God shall avenge her.\" He came down from his horse, and turned his face towards the East and prayed, then drew near the serpent. The people of the city were watching him from the tops of the walls of the city. The serpent was fourteen cubits long, but God gave him power over it, and he speared it with his spear and killed it, and delivered the sons of the widow.
After this, Theodore came to Egypt to search for his father, and he stayed with him until he died, and then returned to Antioch. He found that the Emperor had apostatized the faith and started to persecute the Christians. He came before him and confessed the Lord Christ. The Emperor ordered him beaten with rods, burned, and cast into the fire. He delivered up his soul and received the crown of martyrdom. A Christian woman took his body - it was said that she was his mother - after she gave much money to the soldiers and hid his body until the end of the time of persecution. Churches were built in his name in many cities.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "theodore shotep" } ], [ { "id": 321, "action": "On this day, is the commemoration of the Virgin Lady, St. Mary, the mother of the Savior of the world, the great shelter, and the inexhaustible treasure.
May her intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Sisinnios (Sosenius), the Eunich, departed. He was one of the men in the palace of Emperor Theodosius. He was full of grace and wisdom, and his compassion was great. When the third Ecumenical Council convened in Ephesus to judge Nestorius, this saint ministered to St. Cyril (Kyrillos) the Great, and the rest of the holy members of the council. He fell ill and St. Cyril prayed to God for his sake, and St. Sisinnios was healed from his sickness. He gave all his money to the poor and the needy, then departed in peace. St. Cyril prayed over him, and arranged an annual commemoration for him on this day.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "sisinnios sosenius eunich" } ], [ { "id": 322, "action": "On this day, the great St. Macarius, the son of Basilidis the Chancellor, was martyred. When themessengers reviewed the order of Emperor Diocletian, which dictates the worship of idols, with Macarius, he did not heed them. When the Emperor knew that, he sent Macarius to the governor of Alexandria. He bid farewell to his mother, and asked her to care for the poor and the needy, then he went with the envoy. The Lord Christ appeared to him in a vision, encouraged him, and told him what would happen to him. When he arrived to the city of Alexandria, he stood before Armanius the governor, who deceitfully treated him well because he knew that he was the son of Basilidis the Chancellor. When Macarius did not change his counsel, the governor tortured him with all kinds of torture. While he was being tortured, his soul was taken up to heaven and he saw the habitations of the saints. Afterwards, the governor sent him to Nikios where he was tortured again. They cut off his tongue and arms and placed hot nails in his sides. God wrought many miracles on his hands. Among these was a procession, in which a dead man passed by him. The saint asked the Lord Christ to reveal His glory, and the man rose from the dead instantly. The man told the people around him of what he saw in Hades, and that Christ is the Lord of all. Many believed, and they were beheaded and received the crown of martyrdom.
It happened that Arianus the governor of Antinoe (Ansena) was present in Alexandria, who took the saint with him on his way back to Ansena. When he arrived in Shatanouf (Setnuf, Pshati), the ship stopped and they could not move it again. The governor ordered the soldiers to disembark the saint, where they cut-off his head. Thus, he finished his strife and received the crown of martyrdom. When the righteous emperor Constantine reigned, he sent the commander Eulogius with an order to open the churches, renovate the fallen ones, and to destroy the pagan temples. The Saint appeared to him in a vision and told him about the place of his body. He went to the place and brought out the body, built a church after his name, and placed the body in it. God performed many miracles through the body of St. Macarius.
May his prayers be with us, Amen.
Also on this day, St. Leontius of Tripoli (Lawendius), was martyred. He was born in Tripoli to Christian parents. He was handsome, perfect in his conduct, and gentle in his relationships. He read continuously the Holy Scriptures, especially the book of Psalms until he memorized it. When he enlisted in the army, he preached to his fellow soldiers, and demonstrated to them the corruption of idol worshipping. He advised them to refrain from its worship, some of them followed his advice while others were enticed by the devil and informed the commander that Leontius despised the idols, and was preaching that Christ was the true God.
The commander brought him to investigate the matter. The Saint answered the commander with the saying of St. Paul: \"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword?\" (Romans 8:35)
The commander became enraged, and he threw the saint in prison. The next day, he brought him back, and asked him, \"With what power do you dare to disobey the Emperor, and to drive the people away from worshipping the gods?\" The Saint answered, \"Truly I desire that all people come to the obedience of Christ. You too will inherit the Eternal Kingdom, if you abandon your error, and worship Christ.\" The commander ordered him to be beaten until his blood poured out on the ground, while the saint was praising God and glorifying His name. One of the soldiers sympathized with him, and came close to him, saying, \"I greatly sympathize with you, therefore I want you to sacrifice to the gods, so you will be pardoned.\" The Saint cried out at him saying, \"Go away from me Satan.\" The commander increased his torture until he delivered up his pure spirit while he was in prison.
A rich believing woman came, gave money to the soldiers and to the prison guard, and took the body. She wrapped it in a golden shroud, and put him in a coffin inside her home, until the end of the time of persecution.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever, Amen.
", "tags": "leontius tripoli lawendius" } ], [ { "id": 323, "action": "On this day, St. Longinus the Soldier, was martyred. He was Greek by nationality, from one of the countries of Cappadocia. When Tiberius Caesar reigned, and appointed Pilate governor of the land of Judah, Longinus was one of the soldiers that accompanied him.
When the time arrived that Our Lord wished to save the creation, Longinus was one of the soldiers that were in charge of crucifying the Lord of Glory. It happened that after the Lord had delivered up His soul, Longinus pierced His side with a spear, and blood and water flowed from His Side. Longinus marvelled exceedingly when he saw this, and his amazement increased when he saw that the sun became dark, the curtain of the Temple was rent, the rocks were split, and that the dead rose up from the tombs. He believed and realized all the miracles which Our Lord performed from His Birth to His Crucifixion. When the righteous Joseph took the body of the Savior, shrouded Him, and laid it in the sepulcher, this Saint was standing there with the guards when they sealed the tomb.
When Our Lord rose from the sealed tomb, Longinus was perplexed, and he asked God to explain to him this mystery. Our Lord sent to him the Apostle Peter, who told him everything which had been prophesied concerning the Redeemer. He believed, abandoned the military service, went back to his country, and preached the Name of Christ.
When Pilate heard about this, he wrote to Tiberius about him, who ordered his head cut off, and thus he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us, Amen.
On this day also, is the commemoration of the martyrdom of the blessed St. Marina, who overcame the Devil. She was one of the daughters of the nobles of Antioch. Her parents were pagan. When her mother died, her father sent her to a nanny to raise her, who was a Christian. She taught Marina the Faith of Christ. When Marina reached the age of fifteen years, her father died. One day she heard her nurse talking about the biography of the martyrs and what glory they receive in the Kingdom of Heaven. She longed to become a martyr in the Name of the Lord Christ. One day St. Marina went out of her house with her maiden servants, and on her way she passed by Lopharius Ebrotus, the governor, who admired her much when he saw her. He ordered her brought to him. When the soldiers came to her, she told them that she was Christian. In turn, when they told the governor this, he was distressed for he liked her, and he had her brought to him by force. He offered her the worship of the idols and asked her to forsake God, but she refused. Then he asked her, \"What is your name? and from where are you?\" She told him, \"I am Christian. I believe in the Lord Christ, and my name is Marina.\" He tried to persuade her by many promises and promised to marry her, but she did not heed him. When she cursed and insulted him, he ordered her body scraped with iron combs, then rubbed with vinegar, salt and lime, which they did. Nevertheless, she endured with patience. They cast her in prison, thinking that she was about to die. Immediately the angel of the Lord came, and healed all her wounds. While she was standing up praying, and her hands were extended in the form of a cross, a huge and terrifying serpent came forth. When she saw it she was frightened and her whole body trembled. The serpent swallowed her up, and her soul almost departed from her. She made the sign of the cross and prayed while she was in the belly of the serpent. It split open and fell on the ground dead. St. Marina went out unharmed.
The next morning, the governor ordered her brought to him. When he saw that she was well, he marvelled much, and told her, \"Marina, your sorcery has become evident today, so listen to me.Worship the gods and much good would be for you, and I will give you all that I have promised you.\" She looked to him and to the dumb idols with contempt and said, \"I worship the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, the God of heavens and earth, and whatever you wish to do with me, do, for I will not heed you.\" The governor ordered her hanged on the wheel, the squeezing wheel, and squeezed very tightly. They did so, then cast her in prison. The angel of the Lord came to her, and healed her. Then the Devil appeared to her and said, \"O Marina, if you obey the governor that would be for your good for he is merciless, and he wishes to erase your name from the face of the earth.\" She realized that he was the Devil. Straightway she caught the hair of his head, and she took an iron rod and started to beat him, saying, \"Stop it O Satan.\" Then she bound him with the sign of the cross, not to depart from before her until he told her all about what he does to the human race. When she pressed him, he told her, \"I am the one who makes adultery, stealing, blasphemy, and earthly desires, good and desirable to the human. And if I do not overcome him, I steer sleep and laziness against him, so he will not pray and ask for the forgiveness of his sins.\" The Saint straightway expelled him.
When the governor saw her he marvelled much, then he ordered to uncover her body, and to fill a large cauldron with melted lead, and to immerse her in it. When they did so, she asked the Lord to make this a baptism for her. The Lord sent his angel in the form of a dove. She immersed while saying, \"In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God Amen.\" A voice from heaven called her and said, \"O Marina you have been baptized in the baptismal water.\" She rejoiced exceedingly, and those who were present heard what had happened to the saint. Many of them believed, and the governor ordered to cut off their necks, and afterwards ordered to cut off St. Marina's holy head. The executioner took her and went outside the city, then told her, \"My lady Marina, I see the angel of the Lord and with him a crown of bright light.\" She said, \"I ask you to tarry on me until I have prayed.\" She extended her arms and prayed fervently, then told the executioner, \"Do what you have been ordered to do.\" She bowed her neck to the executioner who told her, \"I could not do so.\" The saint told him, \"If you do not do so, you would not have a share in the Kingdom of God.\" When he heard what she said, he took the sword and cut her neck off then he cut his neck also while he was saying, \"I believe in the God of St. Marina.\" He fell down beside her and he received the crown of martyrdom in the Kingdom of Heaven. The Lord had manifested from her body many signs and healing miracles. Her body is presently located in the church of the Lady the Virgin Mary in Haret El-Roum.
May her prayers and intercession be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "marina antioch" } ], [ { "id": 324, "action": "On this day, St. Apanoub (Abba Nob) was martyred. He was born in the city of Nehisa (District of Talkha). His parents were pure and merciful and they reared him in the fear of God. When Diocletian incited the persecution against the Christian, St. Apanoub was twelve years old, and he desired to shed his blood for the Name of Christ.
One day he went to the church, and he heard the priest teaching the believers, strengthening them in the Faith, warning them from worshipping the idols, and encouraging them to deliver themselves over to death for the sake of the Lord Christ. He returned to his house, and set before him all what his father had left him of gold, silver, and apparels and told himself it is written, \"The world is passing away, and the lust of it.\" (I John 2:17) Straightway he rose up, and gave all his money to the poor and needy, then went to Samanoud, walking along the river bank. He confessed the Name of the Lord Christ before Lucianus the governor, who tortured him severely. Then he hung him up upon the mast of his ship head downwards. The governor sat down to eat and to drink, and the vessel which was in his hand became a stone. The angel of the Lord came down from heaven, released the saint, and wiped up the blood that was running down from his nose and mouth. The governor and his soldiers were greatly disturbed. Strong winds blew, that made the ship to sail fast to Athribis. When they arrived, the soldiers unfastened their belts, and cast them before the governor, then confessed the Lord Christ and they received the crown of martyrdom.
The governor of Athribis tortured St. Apanoub (Abba Nob) severely, then sent him to the city of Alexandria. There, he was tortured until he delivered up his pure soul and received the crown of martyrdom. St. Julius El-Akfahsi was present, he wrote the biography of St. Apanoub, took his body and sent it with some of his men to his hometown Nehisa.
Many churches were built in his name. Many signs and miracles were manifested from his body which is now located in his church in the city of Samnanoud.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 416 A.M. St. Simeon the First, 42nd Pope of Alexandria, departed. This Pope was Syrian in nationality, and his parents brought him to El-Zugag monastery, west of the city of Alexandria, wherein is the body of St. Severus, the Antiochian. He became a monk there, and he learned to read and to write, and he learned by heart the books of the Church. Pope Agathon ordained him a priest. When his virtues and knowledge became well known, they elected him for the patriarchate. He was ordained a patriarch in 23rd of Kiahk, of the year 409 A.M. (December 19, year 692 A.D.).
He called his spiritual guide and delegated to him the management of the affairs of the patriarchate. He devoted himself to fasting, praying, and reading the Scriptures. He ate only bread, salt and cumin, and uncooked legumes, until he made the spirit of lust subjected to his rational and understanding soul. God wrought great signs and miracles by his hands, among which were the following: Some of the priests of the city of Alexandria, were resentful of him, and they plotted to kill him. They went to a magician who prepared a deadly poison for them and he gave it to them in a bottle. In turn they gave it to the Pope as if it was a medicine to use and bless them. Pope Simeon drank that drink after he had received the Holy Mysteries and no harm came to him. As they failed in their scheme, they worked up another deadly poison in some of the figs. Then they deceived the appointed one to prepare the Korban from making it that night, so the Pope would not be able to celebrate the Divine Liturgy and receive the Holy Mysteries. They went to the Pope in the morning and gave him the figs as a present. They pressed him until he ate some of the figs, which made him ill, and he was bed-redden for forty days. When the Khalifah Abdel-Aziz came to Alexandria, the Pope could not go out to welcome him. The Khalifa asked about the Patriarch, the Christian scribes told him what had happened. He ordered to burn the priests and the magician. The Pope besought the Khalifa with tears to have mercy on them. The Khalifa marvelled at his gentleness and compassion, then he pardoned the priests and burned the magician.
Since that time he increased in reverence and respect in the sight of the Khalifa, who allowed him to build churches and monasteries. He built two monasteries at Helwan, south of Cairo. This Pope appointed a priest whose name was Mina, to administer all the properties of the church, to take care of its funds, endowments, sacred vessels and books. Nevertheless, Mina mishandled his duties, to the point that he had denied what he had from the church's funds. Fr. Mina fell ill and was not able to talk. When Pope Simeon heard that, he was sorry and asked the Lord to heal him, lest the properties of the church's be lost. The Pope sent one of his disciples to the wife of that priest to ask her about the properties of the church. When he drew near to the house, he heard the crying and weeping, and he was informed that the priest had died. He went in and bowed his head to kiss him in salutation to his priesthood. Straightway, the dead man rose, sat up and talked, thanking the Lord Christ, and confessing that the prayers of St. Simeon on his behalf had raised him up from the dead. The priest came hastily to the Pope repenting and weeping, and returned all that he had from the church's funds. During the papacy of St. Simeon there were some who took concubines besides their wives, and he excommunicated them until they returned from their transgression. He remained on the Patriarchal Chair for seven years and seven months, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "simeon first 42nd pope" } ], [ { "id": 325, "action": "On this day, St. Thecla, who was contemporary to St. Paul the Apostle, departed. When St. Paul went forth from Antioch and came to the city of Nicomedia, there was a certain believer, whose name was Sefaros, took him to his house. Many gathered together to hear St. Paul's teaching. When this virgin Thecla heard St. Paul's teaching, she looked out from the window of her house so that she might hear more of his teachings. Her heart was pleased with his teachings, and she followed the apostle. Her father and her family were grieved and wanted to prevent her from following St. Paul to his meetings. When she did not heed their counsel, her father presented her situation to the governor, to prevent her from listening to St. Paul's teachings. The governor brought the apostle Paul, examined his teachings, and when he could find no cause for complaint against him, he shut him up in prison.
St. Thecla took off her expensive attire and ornaments, and came to St. Paul in prison, and bowed down at his feet. When her parents sought her, they could not find her. When they found out that she was with St. Paul in prison, the Governor ordered to burn her. Her mother cried out saying, \"Burn her to be an example for the other women of noble families who believe in the teaching of the Apostle.\" They threw her in the fire, which did not harm her. She escaped and came to St. Paul, then went to Antioch. There, a nobleman saw her, and was captivated with her beauty. He asked to marry her, but she refused saying, \"I am the pride of Christ.\" He informed the governor of the city about her, who seized her and cast her to the lions, which did not harm her for two days. Then she came to where St. Paul was, he comforted her, strengthened her and commanded her to preach Christ in Iconium. She went there and preached the Faith of Christ, and then went to her own city and converted her father to the Faith of Christ. Having finished her fight, she departed in peace.
May her prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also marks, the martyrdom of the Saint Abba Isaac, who was from Shama, district of Ashmoun. He worked as a gardener and overseer of an orchard. He was pious, gentle, and devoted to God. He did not eat meat or drink wine. He fasted two days at a time, then broke the fast with legumes. He visited the poor and the needy, and gave them what was left of his wages. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a vision and commanded him to go to the governor and confess the Name of Christ to receive the crown of martyrdom. Abba Isaac rejoiced, distributed all that he had, went to the governor, and confessed the Lord Christ. The governor tortured him much, but the Lord strengthened and healed him. Afterwards, the governor cut off his holy head and he received the crown of martyrdom. The people of his hometown came and took his pure body with great honor. The Lord wrought many great signs and wonders of his holy body.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, was the martyrdom of St. Hilaria (Liyarya). She was born in the city of Demliana which is near by the city of Demera, to pious Christian parents. She was chaste, and she fasted and prayed continually. When she was twelve years old, the angel of the Lord appeared to her while she was working and told her, \"Why are you sitting here, and the strife is going on and the crown of martyrdom is prepared for you.\"
She gave all that she had to the poor and departed to Toah, and then to the city of Sarsana, district of El-Shouhada, Menoufiah. She located the governor and confessed the Lord Christ before him. He tortured her much. St. Shenousy was there. He comforted and strengthened her. The governor intensified his torture by making gashes in her body with an iron comb, and he drove red-hot iron pegs into her ears. Afterwards, he bound her along with seven thousand, six hundred martyrs, took them with him and departed. While they were on the ship, a crocodile jumped from the water and snatched away an only child from his mother, who wept and lamented for her son. This saint had compassion on her, and prayed to the Lord Christ. The crocodile returned the child alive and sound. When they came to Toah, the governor cast St. Hilaria (Liyarya) in the fire which did not harm her. Then they hacked off her members, cut off her head and cast them in the fire, thus she received the crown of martyrdom.
May her prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also marks, the martyrdom of Sts. Thecla and Mouji (Mugi). They were born in the city of Kerakus, and they were brought up by a God-fearing woman, who was a teacher. Once when they were crossing the river they saw the governor torturing the Christians. They were amazed from his hard-heartedness. The angel of the Lord appeared to them, and showed them the glory of the saints. They went to Alexandria, where they confessed the Lord Christ before the governor, who tortured them severely. Then, he cut off the head of St. Mouji. As off St. Thecla, he sent her to the city of Demtaw, where she was martyred, after much torture. Thus they received the crown of martyrdom.
May there prayers be with us. Amen.
Today also, St. Antonius (Andona), was martyred. He was born in the city of Beba, to pious and merciful parents. When he heard about the torture of the martyrs, he went to Ansena, and confessed the Lord Christ before the governor. The governor ordered him shut to death with arrows. When no harm came upon him, he sent him bound with St. Abimachus and two other martyrs to Alexandria. The Governor shut up the three in prison and crucified St. Antonius head downwards but he was not harmed. When the governor became weary of torturing him, he sent him to the governor of Farma. There he found St. Mina in prison, and they rejoiced for their meeting. The governor of Farma tortured Antonius, at times by combing his body with iron combs, and at other times by casting him in a cauldron filled with boiling oil, but the Lord strengthened and healed him. Afterwards, they cut off his head and thus he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Abakragoun, who was from El-Batanoon, was martyred. He was formerly a thief. Two young men plotted with him to steal. They went to the cell of a monk, and they found him keeping a vigil, praying. They waited until he had finished his prayer and had lain down. Nevertheless, he remained standing praying until they became weary and troubled. At dawn, the old monk went out to the thieves, and when they saw him they bowed down before him, and cast down their swords. He preached to them, taught them, and they became monks under his direction.
St. Abakragoun fought a very great fight, and devoted himself to the ascetic life. The old monk prophesied to him that he would receive the crown of martyrdom for the Name of Christ, and his saying was fulfilled later on. Six years latter the devil incited persecution against the church, St. Abakragoun bid his spiritual father farewell and took his blessings. He went to Nakios, and confessed the Name of the Lord Christ before the governor, who was appointed by Maximianus Caesar. The governor tortured him much and then took him to Alexandria. Then he was tortured by hanging him on the mast of the ship five times, and each time the ropes broke. Then they placed him in a sack made of hide, and threw him into the sea.
The angel of the Lord brought him out of the water, and commanded him to go to Samanoud. On his way he passed by the city of El-Benwan, and its people recognized him. They brought to him everyone who had an infirmity and they were healed by his prayers.
When he arrived at Samanoud, God wrought on his hands many signs. He raised, by his prayers, the daughter of Justus the Vizier from the dead. Justus, his wife, and all his soldiers, believed, and they all received the crown of martyrdom, and they were numbered, nine hundred thirty-five men. As for St. Abakragoun, they sent him back to Alexandria. After they tortured him with different kinds of tortures, they cut off his head, and he received the crown of martyrdom. The angel of the Lord appeared to a priest from the city of Menuf, told him about the place of the body of the saint, and the priest went and took it. After the end of the time of persecution, they built a church in his name in the city of El-Batanoon, and placed his body in it.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also, marks the martyrdom of St. Domadius El-Souriani (The Syrian). He was brought up n Persia, and learned Astrology, and wished to become Christian. One day he found a Persian monk in the market, whose name was Aughalis, who taught him the way of God and he rejoiced exceedingly. He began to preach to the people of his house, and to teach them what might facilitate them to the path of Faith. Then he was baptized, and became a monk. He performed many great deeds that the brethren were jealous of him. When he felt that, he left them and went to the monastery of St. Sergius. There he lived with a hermit for ten years during which he did not eat any cooked food. Then they ordained him a deacon.
While he was ministering with the hermit priest in the sanctuary, he saw a white dove of most beautiful appearance, which came down and descended upon the altar. Domadius thought that it was a real dove, so he made a motion with his hand to drive the dove off, for he was worried about the content of the chalice. After the service was ended, the priest asked him, \"What did disturb you during the liturgy?\" Domadius told him what he had seen. The priest told him, \"If you see the dove again tell me.\" In the next day, the priest went up to the altar to celebrate the liturgy as usual, and when Domadius saw the dove, he told the priest, \"My father the dove has come.\" The priest looked around but he could not see anything. He bowed his head before God with weeping and prayer by day and night for a period of time, until he was worthy to see this dove. He realized that this was the sign of the Holy Spirit. He did not say anything to St. Domadius lest pride fill his heart, but he told the bishop who had ordained him a priest.
When the news of his holiness reached the patriarch of this area, he wished to visit him. When St. Domadius knew of this, he fled from there and came to the church of St. Cosmas, where he lived for a while nearby, feeding on the vegetation of the earth. God wrought on his hand many signs and miracles.
When Emperor Julian went out to fight against the Persians, he passed by the cave of this saint. They told him about the saint, so he ordered him stoned. The soldiers stoned him and his disciple, until a great heap of stones stood over the cave. Many years later, God revealed his body, a church was built for him and God manifested many wonders in it.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
Today also the church celebrates the commemoration of the consecration of the church of the great St. Mercurius Abu-Saifain. The biography of his life is written under the twenty- fifth day of the month of Hatour.
May his blessing be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 316 A.M., the saint Anba Palamon the anchorite, departed. He was an anchorite in the Eastern Mount in a town called El-Kasre and El-Sayad, district of Nagaa-Hammady, governorate of Quena. The Devil was weary of tempting this father, and failed to overcome him. The Devil took every chance to direct his snares against him.
One day, the man of God Anba Palamon rose up, took the work of his hand, and walked toward the countryside of Egypt. While he was walking in his way, he was weeping for his sins. The enemy of the good led him astray in the mountain, for seven days, until he was close to death from hunger and thirst, for it was summer. Finally, he collapsed, fell on the ground, wishing to die. God, the lover of mankind, wished not to leave His servant Anba Palamon fall prey to the devil, so He ordered the devil to leave him. When the old man realized that, he cried saying, \"O Lord Jesus Christ help me.\" Instantly he heard a voice saying to him, \"Do not be afraid, for the enemy can not overcome you. Rise and walk a short distance to the south. You shall find a righteous old monk whose name is Talasoun. Tell him about all that the devil has brought on you, and the grievous sin that he tempted you with in your young age. He will pray on your behalf so that your sins will be forgiven.\" The blessed Anba Palamon rose up, carried the works of his hands, and walked in the mount reciting Psalm fifty four, \"Save me, O God, by Your name, And vindicate me by Your strength. Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers have risen up against me, And oppressors have sought after my life; They have not set God before them. Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is with those who uphold my life. He will repay my enemies for their evil. Cut them off in Your truth. I will freely sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, O LORD, for it is good. For He has delivered me out of all trouble; And my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies.\" He also recited Psalms 68, \"Let God arise, Let His enemies bescattered; Let those also who hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, So drive them away; As wax melts before the fire, So let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad; Let them rejoice before God; Yes, let them rejoice exceedingly.\" He did not cease praying until
God guided him to the place of Anba Talasoun.
When Anba Talasoun saw him, he rejoiced exceedingly, greeted him, held his hand and pulled him up the rock where he lived. They prayed, then sat down talking about the greatness of God. Anba Talasoun asked Anba Palamon about how he found his way to come to visit him in this wilderness. Then Anba Palamon started crying and kneeled, saying, \"Please forgive me O my beloved holy father.\" Anba Talasoun said, \"The Lord Jesus Christ forgives to all of us all our transgressions.\" Anba Palamon replied saying, \"I am ashamed to tell you, O my holy father, about the enormous sin that befell me by the Devil without knowing.\" Anba Talasoun told him, \"It is written 'Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed.'\"
When Anba Palamon saw that the blessed Anba Talasoun was comforting and encouraging him, he started to tell him, \"While I was living in the monastery, I asked God to forgive me my sins. I also read in the holy books of the fathers which are inspired by the Spirit of God, that solitary life brings forth the fear of God, and God despises mockery and laughing for no reason. So I decided to live a solitary life in my small home, to not talk to anyone, and never to laugh, but to cry on my sins by day and night. The Devil often fought against me. He tried to please my heart with laughter but I did not heed him, and I never cursed. I fought for a long time through these tribulations, steadfast in the salvation of our Lord Christ until the enemy was wrath with me. One day I took the work of my hands, walked in the mount to go to sell it and buy a little of bread. After I was at a considerable distance from my abode, the Devil captivated me, and right away I lost my mind. He removed the Name of God from my mouth and I was no longer reciting the Divine sayings. The mount changed entirely before me, the sandy earth became black. When I looked before me I saw a new city, had splendid buildings, magnificent houses, rich palaces, and the city had shining armored gat which was fortified as a city of a king, surrounded by trees and gardens. When I saw it, I wondered about this city and its great distinction.
\"When I inclined to enter the city thinking that its people might buy from me the work of my hands. As I came close to the walls of the city, I found a turning water wheel (sakieh), and I saw a sorrowful woman. Her face was very gloomy. Her clothes were torn and her veil covered her eyes for the sake of decency. She was standing beside the well, running the water wheel and watering the vines. When she saw me, she sat down, covered her head and said, 'Bless me O my holy father.' In hast she put down the baskets before me then said, 'Sit down and rest O my beloved father for you had become tired from what you have carried.' She sat me down beside running water, she took water in her hands, poured it on my feet, and washed them as someone taking blessings. She acted as a woman of a rich man. I asked her, 'O faithful woman, tell me, if I enter this city with the work of my hands would I find one who would buy it from me?' She said, 'Yes, they would buy it from you. Nevertheless, leave it and I will buy it from you, and I will give you all that you need. For I was married to a rich man who died recently and left me much money and herds of cattle. I pick the fruits of these enormous vines, and I do not have anyone to oversee it. I wish to have a man like you, to whom I can hand all my possessions, to handle the way he sees fit. So if you accept, O my holy father, to come and oversee my house and to take charge of all my possessions, I will take you as a husband.' I replied, 'If the monk gets married, shame and disgrace follow him.' Then the woman told me, 'If you do not take me as a wife, be an overseer for my possessions. You supervise it during the day, for I own fields, cattle, barns, vineyards, slaves and maiden servants, and when the night falls you shall fulfill your prayers.' Then she rose up, and took me to her house. She prepared a table of different kinds of foods and placed it before me.
Afterwards, she went to her room, and put on expensive and extravagant clothes, then came and embraced me. I was surprised and I held fast to the power of God almighty, and crossed myself with the sign of the cross. All that I saw immediately vanished as the smoke before the winds, and nothing of what this woman did remained.
\"Instantly, I realized that all of this was the doing of the Devil who wished to make me fall in sin. I cried bitterly, and regretted much what I had done. The Lord had compassion on me with His tender mercy, and sent me His angel who comforted me, and promised the forgiveness of my sins and told me, 'Go to the saint Anba Talasoun who is nearby you, and confess to him your sins. Tell him that you have come to him so that the Lord may forgive your sins through his prayers.'\" The saint Anba Talasoun prayed saying, \"O my son may the Lord forgive you and myself.\" Subsequently, a table came down from heaven, they ate, then Anba Palamon returned to his place of worship in peace.
This Saint received the gift of healing from God. The beasts were friendly to him, he fed them by his hands, and they licked his feet. He lived naked, so God lengthened his hair until it covered his whole body. He fasted the whole week, only ate on Saturday and Sunday. He ate a half loaf of bread that God sent him with the raven. Often he ate from the vegetation of the mount. He was merciful, compassionate, and tender like His creator. When the night fell, he went down from his place of worship, to visit the prisoners, orphans, widowers, those in trouble, and the sojourners, as his strength allowed him, to help them from the price of the works of his hands.
St. Palamon was fervent in his asceticism and worship. He persevered, all the days of his life, in the daily and nightly prayers, and watching all night in ascetic worships. St. Pachomius, the father of the monastic cenobite, was the disciple of this saint. When St. Pachomius rejected paganism and adopted Christianity, he wished to live a life of asceticism and worship, so the priest of his hometown directed him to go to the great hermit Anba Palamon. Pachomius handed the care for the poor and the needy in his town to another elder monk, and went to Anba Palamon. When he arrived, he knocked the door of his cell. The old man looked from an aperture and asked him, \"Who are you O brother? and what do you want?\" Pachomius answered hastily, \"I, O blessed father, looking for the Christ the God Whom you do worship, and I beg your fatherhood to accept me and to make me a monk.\" Abba Palamon told him, \"O my son, monasticism is not an unrestricted labor, and the man does not come into it as he pleases, for many had adopted it not knowing its hardships, and when they adopted it they could not endure it, and you have heard about it without knowing its contention.\"
Pachomius replied, \"Do not turn my request, and my desire, and do not put off the flame of my zeal. Accept me, be patient with me, and examine me, and afterward do whatever you see fit with me.\" The old man told him, \"Go, O my son test your self alone for a period of time, then come back to me for I am willing to labor with you as much as my weakness allows so you might know your own self. The monastic piety needs toughness and asceticism, and I will teach you first its extent. Then you go and examine your self if you could endure the matter or not. My intent in that, God knows, is for the sake of your teaching and discipline and not for any other reason. When we, O my beloved son, knew the vanity and trickery of this world, we came to this distant place, and carried on our shoulders the cross of our Christ, not the wooden rod, but the overcoming of the flesh, subduing its lusts, and wasting its power. We spent the night praying and glorifying God. Often we vigil from sun set till the morning praying and working much with our hands, making either ropes, braid palm fibers, weave palm leaves or hair to resist sleep and to have what our bodies need and to feed the poor as the apostle said, 'remember the needy.' We entirely do not know the eating of oil, cooked food or drinking liquors. We fast till the evening of the summer days, and two days at a time during the winter then we break the fast by eating only bread and salt. We keep away the boredom by remembering death, and how close it is. We refute every pride and exaltation and guard ourselves from evil thoughts by humility and piety. By this ascetic strive that is accomplished by the grace of God, we offer our souls a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, not only once but many times. For according to the strive and how much we exert ourselves in it, we realize spiritual gifts, remembering the saying of the Lord, \"Those overcame themselves, seize the Kingdom of Heaven.\"
When Pachomius heard from Abba Palamon these sayings that he never heard before, he was more assured by the spirit, and was encouraged on facing the hardships and endure the pains. He replied saying, \"I am confident in the Lord Christ first, and by the support of your prayers second, I would be able to fulfill all the precepts, and persevere with you till death.\"
Pachomius then kneeled before him and kissed his hand. The old man preached him and instructed him about the importance of mortifying the flesh, the humility and contrition of the heart. He told him, \"If you kept what I told you, did not go back, or vacillate between two opinions, we will rejoice with you.\" Then he told him, \"Do you think my son that by all what I mentioned to you from asceticism, praying, watching and fasting we ask for the glory of men, no my son, it is not like that. We lead you to the works of salvation so we would be blameless, for it is written every apparent thing is light, and we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of heaven. Now go back to your abode so you might examine your self and test her for few days for what you are asking is not an easy task.\"
Pachomius answered him saying, \"I have examined myself in every thing, and I hope with the Grace of God and your holy prayers, that your heart would be pleased toward me.\" The old man answered, \"Well.\"
Anba Palamon accepted him with joy, then left him for ten days testing him in prayer, watching and fasting. Three month later and after he tested his patience, endurance, strife and will, he prayed over him, clipped off his hair, and put on him the garb of the monks (El-Eskeem) in year 304 A.D.
They persevered together on asceticism and prayer as they worked in their spare times in weaving hair and knitting clothes to gain their bare necessities, and what they spared they gave to the needy. Whenever they were vigilance and the sleep overcame them, they went out their cells and moved sand from one place to another to exhaust their bodies and remove the sleep away from them. The old man went on preaching the young man and encouraging him saying, \"Be courageous O Pachomius, let your devotion to God always be flamed with the fire of love, and be before Him, in fear, humility, and persevering in praying and kneeling without boredom. Be watchful lest the tempter examine you and grief you.\"
It came in the biography of St. Pachomius in a manuscript in the monastery of El-Baramous the following:
One day someone knocked on the door of Sts. Palamon and Pachomius to visit them, and he spent the night with them. The pride and self-reliance had overcome that person. While they were talking about the words of God and before them was fire, for it was winter, the guest told them, \"Whoever of you has strong faith in God, let him rise up, stand on this blazing embers, and recite the prayer which the Lord had taught to His disciples.\" When the old man St. Palamon heard that, he admonished him saying, \"Cursed is the defiled devil who planted this thought in your heart. so stop talking.\" The guest did not head to the words of the old man and said, \"I, I would.\" He rose up and stood on the blazing coal while saying the Lord's prayer slowly. Then he stepped out the fire which did not touch his body with any harm, and went to his abode with arrogance. Pachomius told Anba Palamon, \"God knows
that I marveled about this brother who stood on the amber and his feet did not burn.\" The old man replied saying, \"Do not be amazed for there is no doubt that this from the work of the Devil. The Lord had allowed his feet not to be burned as it is written to the crooked, God sends crooked ways. Believe me O my son, if you know the torment that is prepared for him, you will be weeping for his wretchedness.\"
The Devil came to this man in the form of a woman and enticed him to allow her to enter his cell. Because of the pride and the blindness of his perception, he did not realize the danger that surrounded him. The lust filled his heart toward her, and immediately the devil struck and threw him on the ground and he remained as a dead man for a day. When he regained his conscious and his faculties, he went to Abba Palamon weeping and remorseful for what he had done. He asked for their help and prayers for the devil had captivated him by his own free will. While he was talking to them, the old man and his disciple were weeping, the evil spirit suddenly came over him. He went to the mountain, and he lost his mind. He was astray for a period of time, then he threw himself in a fire which burned him. When the old man knew that, he was grieved. His disciple asked him, \"How God allowed this to happen to him after he confessed and asked for repentance with tears and remorse.\" The Abba answered, \"God with His foreknowledge knew that the repentance of this brother was not sincere, so He allowed him to reap what he did.\"
While St. Pachomius was still staying with his teacher Anba Palamon, one day he was wondering in the wilderness, and he came to the village of Tabanseen. When he was praying, the angel of the Lord appeared and told him, \"O Pachomius, with the order of the Lord, build a monastery in the spot that your are standing on, hence many will come to you seeking monasticism.\" He returned to the old man Anba Palamon and told him what the angel had told him, and his intention of fulfilling the Will of God. Anba Palamon was sad for the departure of his disciple and said, \"How could you leave me after seven years you spent with me in obedience and submission and I am an old man. I see that it is easier on me to accompany you than you leaving me.\"
They moved south until they came to Tabanseen, and started to build a monastery. That was in the year 311 A.D., and Pachomius was thirty years old. When they finished building the monastery, Anba Palamon told his disciple Pachomius, \"My beloved son I long to return to my cell and the place of my solitude. I had known that God had appointed you to establish this monastery, which will grow and be filled with God pleasing monks. You shall receive power and long suffering to manage them. As of myself, I have became old, weak, and the time of my departure had drew near. So I see that my solitary life is best for me. Nevertheless, I ask from your kindness that you do not deprive me from seeing you from now and then. I shall come to visit you as the few days left for me allow.\" They were separated after they prayed with each other, and they visited each other. In one of the visits of Anba Palamon, he became ill and departed to the Lord that he served and loved since his young age. Anba Pachomius took the blessings of his teacher, shrouded and buried him.
Many wonders and miracles have been attributed to this saint. An ancient church in his name is located in the town of El-Kasre and El-Sayad in a monastery named after him which had other churches in the name of the Virgin St. Mary, the archangel Michael, St. Mercurius Abu-Saifain, and St. Demianah. A great festival celebration is celebrated annually in his feast day.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "palamon monks" } ], [ { "id": 326, "action": "On this day, the righteous man St. Joseph, the carpenter, who was worthy to be called the father of Christ in the flesh, departed at a good old age. The Holy Gospel bore witness that he was a righteous man, and God chose him to be betrothed to the all-pure, our lady, the Virgin St. Mary. When he finished his course, his strife, his toil in the journey together with the Lord and the Virgin Lady from Bethlehem to the land of Egypt, and the tribulations that befell him from the Jews, he departed in peace. When the time came for him to depart from this world, to the world of the living, the Lord Christ was present at his departure, and laid His hand upon his eyes. He extended his arms, and delivered up his soul, and was buried in the tomb of his father Jacob. All the days of his life were one hundred and eleven years; forty years before his marriage, fifty-two years married, and nineteen years a widow. His departure was in the sixteenth year of the advent of the Lord Christ.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 101 A.M. (July 20th, 385 A.D.), St. Timothy, 22nd Pope of Alexandria, departed. This saint was enthroned in the seventeenth of Baramhat, 95 A.M. (March 14th, 379 A.D.). He shepherded the flock of Christ with the best of care, and guarded them from the Arian wolves. In the sixth year of his papacy, Emperor Theodosius the Great reigned, who ordered the assembly of the Ecumenical Council at Constantinople to judge Macedonius the enemy of the Holy Spirit. This Pope presided over this council, and he disputed with Macedonius, Sabilius, and Apolinarius and refuted their erroneous council as it is mentioned in the first day of Amshir. This saint took great care concerning the buildings of the churches in Alexandria and elsewhere. He was knowledgeable and eloquent, and he left many sayings refuting the heresy of the Arians. He remained on the Chair for six years, four months and six days, then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "timothy 22nd pope" } ], [ { "id": 327, "action": "On this day, was the consecration of the church of St. Abba Fam.
May his intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Apamon (Abba Amoun), who was from the city of Tarnut, was martyred. This saint came to Upper Egypt, and he saw the tortures which were being inflicted by the infidels upon the holy martyrs. He went to Arianus, the governor of Ansena (Antinoe), and confessed the Lord Christ before him. Arianus tortured him severely, by beating him, combing him by iron combs, and drove sharp long nails through his body. The Lord Christ strengthened and healed him.
Then, Arianus sent him to Alexandria. The angel of the Lord appeared to him, encouraged, and strengthened him. There he was tortured much and many were martyred because of him. Among them was a virgin, whose name was Theophila, she came and stood up before the governor, confessed the Lord Christ, and admonished him for his worship of the idols. He cast her in the fire but the Lord saved her, and finally they cut off her head as they cut also the head of St. Apamon.
May there prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "apamon abba amoun" } ], [ { "id": 328, "action": "The Departure of St. Mary Magdalene
On this day, St. Mary Magdalene, departed. The Lord Christ cast seven demons out of her, she followed Him, and she served Him during His passion, crucifixion, death, and burial. She came early with the other Mary to the sepulcher, and saw the stone had been rolled back and the angel was sitting on it. When they became frightened the angel told them, \"Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not her; for He is risen.\" (Matthew 28:1-7) The savior appeared to her and told her, \"Go to my brethren, and say to the, I ascend to my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.\" (John 20-17)
She came and told the disciples about the resurrection of the Lord, and after the ascension of the Lord, she remained ministering to the disciples. She received the gifts of the Spirit of Comfort, fulfilling the prophesy of Joel the prophet which said, \"And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.\" (Joel 2:28)
This saint preached with the disciples, and brought back many women to the Faith of Christ. The apostles ordained her a deaconess, to teach the women, and to assist in their baptism. She received many insults and humiliation from the Jews, and she departed in peace while she was still ministering unto the disciples.
May her prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "mary magdalene" } ], [ { "id": 329, "action": "On this day, the church commemorates the relocation of the relics of St. Andrew the apostle from Syria to Constantinople, at the order of the righteous emperor Constantine. He built for his name a beautiful altar and consecrated it on this day.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Ouarshenoufa (Warshenofius) was martyred. He was well learned, righteous, and pious. When they asked him to become a bishop, he fled to the city of Tahmoun (Galgamoun, or Dalgamoun), and spent the night there with two God loving, Christian brothers. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and told him to go to the governor, and confess Christ before him. When he woke up, he told the two brothers about the vision. They all agreed to go together to go to the governor. They came to the governor, confessed the Name of Christ before him, and he tortured them severely. Then he took them with him to Sanhour where he continued to torture them. Then he took them to the city of Sa, gathered all the confessors and read to them the edict of the emperor to worship the idols. St. Ouarshenoufa jumped and took the emperor's edict and tore it to pieces. The governor was enraged and ordered him to be thrown in a fiery furnace and thus he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever, Amen.
", "tags": "ouarshenoufa warshenofius" } ], [ { "id": 330, "action": "The Martyrdom of Sts. Mercurius and Ephraem
On this day, the two honorable Sts. Mercurius and Ephraem (Ephraim) were martyred. These saints were loving brethren in the spirit, and kinsmen in the flesh, and they were born in the city of Akhmim. They became monks in one of the monasteries of Upper Egypt, and they remained their for twenty year.
Satan, the enemy of good, brought tribulation upon the Orthodox Church, and the followers of Arius entered the churches to offer the sacrifices upon the altars of the Orthodox. These two saints rose up and came to the church and cast aside the bread and wine which the Arians had laid on the alter and said, \"He who has not been baptized in the Name of the Holy Trinity is only fit to offer up an offering on the altar of idols.\" The Arians seized the saints and beat them very severely, until they delivered their souls into the hand of the Lord and they received the crown of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "mercurius ephraem" } ], [ { "id": 331, "action": "On this day, St. Apoli (Aboli), son of Justus, son of Emperor Nomarius, was martyred. This Saint was the crown prince of the Roman empire. He was away in war, and when he returned to Antioch, he found Diocletian had already established the pagan worship of idols. Although Apoli was capable of killing him and taking the empire over from him, he preferred the heavenly everlasting kingdom. St. Apoli came forward, and confessed Christ before Diocletian. In the beginning, Diocletian handled him gently, but when he failed to attract him to the worship of the idols, he banished him along with his father, Justus, and his mother, Theoclia to the city of Alexandria. He wrote to Armanius, its governor, to persuade them to offer sacrifice to the gods, and if they refuse, to separate them from each other.
Armanius, knowing their royal positions, sent Justus (the father) to Ansena (Antinoe), his wife to the city of Sa, and Apoli, their son, to Basta. He also left to each of them one of their servants to minister unto them. When Apoli arrived in the city of Basta, he confessed Christ before its governor who tortured him severely. He beat him, burned him, and dismembered him. When the governor saw that many became Christians because of what they saw from the steadfastness of the Saint to the tortures, and that the Lord was healing him from his wounds, he ordered to cut off his holy head, and thus received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 1643 A.M. (August 7, 1927 A.D.) the righteous and honorable father Pope Kyrillos V, 112th Pope of Alexandria, departed. This father was born in the city of Tezment, governorate of Beni-Swaif in 1831 A.D. His pious parents named him John, brought him up well, and raised him up in the Christian morals. He had a strong desire to study the Holy Bible and the biography of the saints.
When he was 12 years old, in 1843 A.D., he was ordained a deacon and carried the deaconate duties ardently. Because he was inclined at a young age to the life of asceticism, and solitary life, he left the world, and went to St. Mary's monastery (Known by El-Sourian) in Wadi El-Natrun. There he became a disciple to the spiritual elder, the hegumen, Fr. Girgis El-Far, the father of confession of the monks. When John's father discovered where he was, he came to the monastery and brought him back, but because of his love for the ascetic life, he did not stay long. He returned to the wilderness, and became a monk at El-Baramous monastery in the year 1850 A.D. He excelled in his monastic duties and became known for his asceticism, purity, and gentleness, and became a good paragon to the other monks. He was ordained a priest in 1851 A.D., then promoted to Hegumen (Archpriest) in 1852 A.D. The number of monks in the monastery then was small and its income was very little. This Father worked hard in transcribing and selling books to churches. The income was used to buy the necessities of the monks, such as food and clothing.
His virtues of knowledge, righteousness, and gentleness became well known. He was ordained a Patriarch, in the 23rd of Babah, 1591 A.M. (November 1st, 1874 A.D.) in a venerable celebration. He directed his attention to building churches, renovating monasteries, being merciful to the poor, and caring for the affairs of the monks. In 1892 A.D., he chose to be exiled, rather than to squander the properties of the monasteries. Anba Youanis, Metropolitan of El-Behara, Menoufia, and then the deputy of the See of St. Mark, was also exiled with him. Afterwards, both returned from their exile with much respect and honor.
During his papacy the church was adorned by knowledgeable and holy men: among them was the great father, the man of purity, meekness, and charity, Anba Abraam, Bishop of El-Fayoum virtues had spread vastly, and his almsgiving to the poor had reached a point where he did not save any money. All the donations he received from the benevolent, he gave to the poor and needy. He also performed many wonders such as healing the sick and casting out evil spirits. Another was the well learned, great theologian and skillful orator, the Hegumen (Archpriest) Philotheos Ibrahim El-Tantawy, rector of the great St. Mark Church. Also, the well learned father the honorable and the ascetic monk the Hegumen Fr. Abdel Messih Saleeb El-Baramousy, who was well educated in Coptic, Ethiopian, Greek, and Syrian languages. He also knew some French and English. He was characterized with immeasurable patience in research and examining religious books. In return, he left valuable publications which speak of his prominence.
Pope Kyrillos appointed the late Habib Girgis, who was the dean of the theological seminary, to be his deacon. He dedicated his life to the seminary and its improvement. Mr. Girgis assisted the Pope in expanding its buildings in Mahmasha. Pope Kyrillos often visited the seminary and blessed its students. This deacon was a skillful speaker. He accompanied the Pope in his pastoral visits to Upper Egypt and Sudan. He translated many religious books from foreign languages to Arabic and published El-Karmaperiodical, to spread the facts of the faith in a positive way. He published many books, among them were: The Seven Sacraments of the Church, The Consoler of the Faithful, The Mystery of Piety, and many others. He taught and nurtured many generations of clerical men who flourished in the church and filled it with their sermons and religious publications.
The Pope gave the utmost of his efforts to lift his flock to the highest spiritual level, as he was prudent in printing the church books. He departed in peace, after spending fifty-two years, nine months and six days on the Patriarchal chair.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "kyrillos v cyril 112th pope" } ], [ { "id": 332, "action": "The Departure of St. Pa'esa (Athanasia)
On this day, St. Pa'esa, departed. She was born in Menouf, to pious and rich parents. When her parents died, she turned her house into a shelter for the poor and the sojourner. She accepted everyone that came to her fulfilling their every need until she ran out of money. Evil people gathered around her, and turned her mind to the ungodly way. She turned her home into a house of prostitution. When this news reached the elders of Shiheet, they sorrowed for her with great sorrow. The elders called upon St. John, the Short, and asked him to go to her, as an act of mercy, and to aid her in saving her soul, in turn for the good that she had done for them.
The saint obeyed the elders and asked them to support him with their prayers. When St. John came to where she lived, he asked her maid to announce his presence. When the maid informed her, Pa'esa adorned herself, and called him in. As he was walking, he was saying, \"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. For thou art with me.\" (Ps. 23:4) When he sat down, he looked to her and said, \"Why did you belittle the Lord Christ, and do this evil deed?\" She trembled, and her heart was melting from the words of the Saint who bent his head and started weeping. She asked him, \"Why do you weep?\" He answered, \"Because I see the devils playing on your face, and therefore I weep for you.\" She asked him, \"Is there any repentance for me?\" He replied, \"Yes, but not in this place.\" She said to him, \"Take me wherever you wish.\"
Then he took her to one of the convents close by the wilderness of Shiheet. On their way it became dark. St. John told her to sleep in one place, while he slept far away from her. When he stood up to pray the midnight prayer, he saw a pillar of light coming down from heaven to earth, and the angels of God were carrying the Soul of Pa'esa. When he approached her, he found that she had departed. Then he knelt down and prayed fervently, with tears, asking God to reveal to him concerning her fate. He heard a voice saying, \"Her repentance was accepted in the moment that she repented.\" After the saint had buried her, he returned to the Elders and told them what had happened. They all glorified the Lord who accepts the repentants and forgive their sins.
May her prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pa'esa athanasia" } ], [ { "id": 333, "action": "On this day, St. Simeon (Simon) the Stylite, departed. He was from Syria and he had shepherded his father's flocks since he was young. He regularly attended the church. The Grace of God moved him and he came to one of the monasteries, where he stayed and worshiped God in great asceticism. He exerted himself with much fasting and excessive thirst. Then he tied a rope around his loins until it pierced his flesh, and a repulsive smell came out of him. When the other monks were offended by his smell, he left the monastery and came to a pit where he dwelt for a short time. The abbot of the monastery saw in a vision, as someone was telling him, \"Why did you send away My servant Simon? Seek him, and bring him back,\" as if the voice was rebuking them for his dismissal from the monastery. The abbot informed the brethren of this vision and they became troubled and they began to look for St. Simeon until they found him in the pit, without food or water. They confessed to him their transgression, asked for his forgiveness, and brought him back to the monastery. When they started to exalt him, he felt that he was unworthy, so he left the monastery secretly, and came to a certain rock, where he lived for sixty days without sleeping. Afterwards, the Angel of the Lord came to him, comforted him, and told him that God had called him for the salvation of many souls. Then he dwelt over a pillar, thirty cubits in height, for fifteen years. He performed many signs and great wonders, and preached to all those who came to him.
His father sought him, but did not find him and he died without seeing him. His mother, after a long time, found out about him, so she came to him where he was staying on that pillar. There she wept greatly, then she slept under that pillar. The Saint asked the Lord Christ to have mercy on her. His mother died while she was sleeping, and they buried her under the pillar.
Satan became envious of the saint for all his good deeds, and moved against him. He smote him in one of his legs with ulcerations which forced him to use the other leg for many years, until the diseased leg rotted, and worms dropped from it under the pillar. A chief of a band of thieves came to him and slept under his pillar. The Saint prayed to Christ on his behalf, and he stayed for a few days, and died. The Saint asked Christ to supply him with water, and a spring of water sprang up at the foot of the pillar. Then he moved to a taller pillar, where he stayed on top for thirty years. After he completed forty-eight years in worshipping, he departed to the Lord. He preached many people, taught them, and brought many back to the knowledge of Christ.
When the patriarch of Antioch heard about his departure from this world, he came to him and took his body to Antioch in great veneration.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, in the year 116 A.D., Pope Aprimos (Primus), Fifth Patriarch of Alexandria, departed. He was baptized by St. Mark the Apostle. He was one of the three who were ordained priests by St. Mark the Apostle, along with Bishop Anianus, the Second Patriarch. Pope Aprimos was ascetic, pious, and filled with good deeds. He was ordained to the apostolic chair on the 22nd of Baounah (June 16th, 106 A.D.). During his papacy, the church was in peace and tranquility.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pope abriamus primus fifth patriarch alexandria" } ], [ { "id": 334, "action": "On this day, the righteous King Hezekiah son of Ahaz the King, departed. He was of the seed of David, of the tribe of Judah. There was no king appointed over the children of Israel, like this righteous man, after David. The other kings worshipped the idols and built altars for them. After becoming King, Hezekiah destroyed the idols, and demolished their altars, therefore God rewarded him for more than what he had done. In the fourteenth year of his kingdom, Sennacherib, King of Persia, came and besieged Jerusalem. He was a great and very powerful king, and all the other kings in his time were afraid of him. Hezekiah also feared him, and sent him large sums of money, but Sennacherib was not satisfied with them. Instead, he threatened and intimidated Hezekiah, and he reviled, with his unclean tongue, God, the Glorious and Most High, saying, \"Do not be deceived by your God that you are depending on him saying, 'Do not deliver Jerusalem to the hands of King of Persia.'\" Then Hezekiah wept, rent his garments, and he put on hair sackcloth, and went into the House of the Lord and prayed saying, \"O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands; wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them. Now therefore, O LORD our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the LORD God, You alone.\" (2 Kings 19:15-19) Then King Hezekiah sent a letter to Isaiah the Prophet to inform him about what Sennacherib had said and asked him to pray for him. Isaiah answered and told him that God would strengthen his heart and God will do to Sennacherib an action, the like of which has never been heard of in all the earth. That night, the angel of the Lord went forth, and slew one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; and when they arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. The rest were conquered and returned to their countries. When Sennacherib went to worship in the house of his gods, his sons slew him with the sword and killed him. (2 Kings 19:35-37) Thus Hezekiah escaped his hands and glorified God.
In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the Prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, \"Thus says the LORD: 'Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.'\" Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the LORD. Then it happened, before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, \"Return and tell Hezekiah ... I will add to your days fifteen years ... \" Hezekiah said to Isaiah, \"What is the sign that the LORD will heal me ... \" Then Isaiah said, \"This is the sign to you from the LORD, ... the shadow of the sun will be brought ten degrees backward ... \" (2 Kings 20:1-11) All the kings feared him and they brought tribute to him, because they knew that God was with him. King Hezekiah reigned for twenty-nine years and all the days of his life were fifty-four years when he departed in peace. His prayer which he uttered through the Holy Spirit when he was healed of his sickness is written in the book of Isaiah (38:10-20).
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, was the consecration of the Church of the great St. Anthony (Antonios).
May his blessing be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "consecration church great anthony antonios" } ], [ { "id": 335, "action": "The Departure of St. John the Soldier
On this day, the devout St. John the Soldier, departed. He was born to pious Christian parents. When he grew up, he joined the army of the Infidel Emperor Julian. Julian had sent him with other soldiers to afflict the Christians where ever they went. He pretended that he was in agreement with his fellow soldiers in their persecution of the Christians but in fact he was defending them. He treated the Christians well, fulfilling their needs. He also used to fast, and pray continually and give alms. He lived a life like unto the lives of the righteous, until he departed in peace. God manifested many miracles from his grave.
May his blessing be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "john soldier" } ], [ { "id": 336, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Julietta
On this day, St. Julietta was martyred. She was born in the city of Caesaria, in Cappadocia, to rich Christian parents. She inherited great wealth from them. An oppressor defrauded her from her wealth by bribing false witnesses against her. When that evil man knew that she wished to inform against him, and expose his lies and extortion, he informed the governor of Cappadocia that she was Christian. She said within herself that the temporal wealth of this world is nothing to make her lose herself for, but if she gain the eternal life to come, no one would be able to take it from her. When she came before the governor, she confessed the name of Christ. The governor cast her in fire, and she delivered up her pure spirit in the hands of the Lord. She received instead of her temporal possessions, the eternal life and St. Basil the Great praised her immensely.
May her prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "julietta" } ], [ { "id": 337, "action": "On this day, God sent His honorable angel Gabriel to announce to St. Joachim of the birth of the Virgin, the mother of the incarnated God. This righteous man and his wife St. Anna (Hannah) were stricken in years and had no children for Anna was barren. The children of Israel used to insult him because he had not begotten a son. Because of this, these two saints were sad, and prayed continually, and entreated God by day and by night. They vowed that the child they would beget would be made a steward for the temple.
While St. Joachim was praying over the mountain, he fell into a deep sleep and Gabriel, the angel of the Lord, appeared to him and announced to him that his wife Anna would conceive and bear a child, that would delight his eyes and please his heart; and likewise all the world would rejoice and be glad. When he woke from his sleep, he came to his house, and told his wife about the vision, which she believed. Anna conceived forthwith, and brought forth our Lady, the Virgin Mary, and St. Anna became more honorable than all the women of the world.
May her intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 193 A.M. (July 31, 477 A.D.) St. Timothy II, the twenty-sixth Pope of the See of St. Mark, departed. This father was chosen for the Patriarchate after the departure of the striving father Pope Dioscorus on the third of Babah, 172 A.M. (October 1, 455 A.D.). He suffered many hardships for the sake of preserving the Orthodox faith. Emperor Leo, the Great, banished him to the island of Gagra (Gangra), in Paphlognia (Pavlagonia), where he was detained for seven years until he was returned by Emperor Leo, the Less, with great honor. He spent the rest of his days in establishing the faithful in the Orthodox faith. He departed in peace after he spent twenty-one years and ten months on the throne of St. Mark.
May his blessings be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "timothy timotheos 26th pope" } ], [ { "id": 338, "action": "On this day, the nine saints: Lazarus the Elder, his wife Salomi, and their children; Abeem (Animo), Antonius, Hosea, Lazarus, Aniana, Semuna, and Marcolus, were martyred. Lazarus was one of the teachers of the Jewish Law. His father was one of the Seventy Elders who translated the Torah by the order of Ptolemy, King of Egypt. This just man taught his children the Law of Moses.
When Antiochus, King of Rome, reigned over the Syrian land, he besieged Jerusalem and afflicted the Jewish nation with cruelty. He compelled them to break the Law of their fathers and to eat what was forbidden them such as pork meat and the like. Many of them feared his might and obeyed him. Nevertheless, these righteous persisted on keeping the Law, which had been given to them by God. Antiochus tortured them severely, by flogging them, crucifying, burning, and plowing their bodies with metal combs. The righteous woman Salomi, encouraged them until they had fulfilled their martyrdom. Then, she also cast herself in the fire without waiting for them to throw her into it. Thus, they received the crown of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the church celebrates the confession of St. Peter, the Apostle, that \"Christ is the Son of the living God.\" When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples saying, \"Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?\" So they said, \"Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.\" He said to them, \"But who do you say that I am?\" And Simon Peter answered and said, \"You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.\" Jesus answered and said to him, \"Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven, and I also say to you that you are Peter and on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.\" Then He commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. (Matthew 16:13-20)
May the Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "confession peter apostle christ is son living god" } ], [ { "id": 339, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. Ari, the Priest of Shatanouf
On this day, St. Ari (Ori), the priest of Shatanouf, was martyred. He was exceedingly merciful, pure in soul and body, to the extent that he was worthy to foretell future things by the Divine Inspiration. When the governor of Nakios, heard about him, he had the Saint brought before him and ordered the Saint to offer incense to the idols. When St. Ari refused, the governor tortured him much, then sent him to Alexandria, where he was also severely tormented with excruciating tortures. Then they cast him in prison, where God wrought many miracles on his hands. His news spread and many came to him from everywhere. When the governor heard this, he ordered him beheaded. Thus he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "ari priest shatanouf" } ], [ { "id": 340, "action": "On this day, St. Matra was martyred during the papacy of Pope Demetrius, the twelfth patriarch of Alexandria, and in the days of Emperor Decius. When this Saint heard the imperial Edict read ordering the worship of idols, he went and took the arm of the statue of the idol Apollo, which was made of pure gold. He cut it in pieces, and gave them to the poor. When they searched for the idol's arm, and could not find it, they seized many because of it. St. Matra came forward and told them, \"I am he who took it.\" They tortured him much, and then cast him into the fire, but the angel of the Lord saved him from it. Then they cut off his hands and his feet and crucified him on a tree, head downwards. A blind man came and took some of the blood that was dripping from the Saint's mouth and smeared his eyes with it, and he regained his sight. Afterwards, the Saint was beheaded, and he received the crown of martyrdom.
May his intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Pigebs (Bekhebs) was martyred. He was from the city of Ashmoun-Tanah. He was a soldier under the command of prince Antiochus. When the prince knew that he was Christian, he had him brought along with Anba Klog, the bishop, Anba Nehro, who was from Tersa and Anba Phillip, and asked them about their faith. They confessed that they were Christian. He tortured them severely.
Later on he bound St. Pigebs and sent him with others to the Baramon. They spent many days in the ship without eating or drinking. When they arrived to the Baramon, they tortured St. Pigebs severely, and finally they hacked his body in pieces with a cleaver, thus he received the crown of martyrdom. A believing man from the Baramon came and took St. Pigebs body and sent it to his hometown Ashmoun-Tanah. Ninety-five others received the crown of martyrdom along with the Saint.
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pigebs bekhebs" } ], [ { "id": 341, "action": "The Departure of St. Moisis, Bishop of Ouseem
On this day, the holy father Anba Moisis (Moses), Bishop of Ouseem, departed. He was pure and chaste from a young age. He learned the church subjects, and was ordained a deacon. Then he went to the desert of Scetis and became a monk, under the direction of a righteous man. Anba Moisis served him for eighteen years, devoting himself to praying and fasting, and was adorned with humility and love. As the report of his virtues noised throughout, he was ordained a bishop for Ouseem after Anba Gamoul. He pursued a good, virtuous life, increased in righteousness, and he shepherded the flock of Christ with the best of care. He was ascetic and did not own anything all his life. He suffered, along with Pope Michael, 46th Patriarch of Alexandria, many tribulations. God wrought many signs and miracles on his hands. Often, Anba Moisis foretold incidents before their occurrences. For example, once he told Anba Tadros, Bishop of Misr, that the King would not return to his kingdom, and it was so.
When he completed his strife and was in a good old age, he had a short illness. When he knew the time of his departure, he called his congregation, blessed them, commended them, and asked them to pray for him. They all wept and asked him to remember them before Christ. He stretched out his hand, prayed, bid them farewell and departed in peace. He remained in his chair for more than twenty years.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "moisis bishop ouseem" } ], [ { "id": 342, "action": "On this day, the church celebrates the commemoration of the honorable Archangel Michael. With his supplications God brings the water of the Nile up to its measure and blesses the fruits of the earth.
May his intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, is the commemoration of the enthronement of the Righteous Emperor Constantine the Great, over the city of Rome. When he reigned over Byzantium, succeeding his father Constantius Chlorus in the year 306 A.D., he abolished the injustice throughout the kingdom. His fairness and fame spread throughout the Empire. The nobles of Rome asked him to come and save them from the injustice of Maximianus. He sorrowed for their misfortune, and he pondered in what way he could deliver them. The sign of the cross appeared to him, to which he adhered. Constantine went and fought against Maximianus and defeated him. While Maximianus was retreating, crossing the bridge over the Tiber River, the bridge broke and he perished, drowning along with his soldiers. That was in the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Constantine. When Emperor Constantine entered Rome, all its nobles and people welcomed him in a grand festival, and with great joy. They celebrated his victory for seven successive days. The poets of Rome and its orators praised the Honorable Cross, describing it as the savior of their city and the supporter of their Emperor.
The account of the appearance of the Cross to Emperor Constantine and his victory over Maximianus is written under the commemoration of the departure of this righteous Emperor, which is on the twenty-eighth day of the month of Baramhat.
Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "reign emperor constantine great" } ], [ { "id": 343, "action": "The Feast of Transfiguration of Our Lord on Mount Tabor
On this day, the church celebrates the commemoration of the transfiguration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Mount Tabor. The disciples, Peter, James and John, were with Him, and about whom the Lord said, \" .... there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom.\" (Mt. 16:28) He fulfilled His promise, for six days later, He took His three disciples, up on a high mountain, where He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking to the Lord.
The Lord wants to teach us that He is the Lord of Moses whom He can raise from the dead, and that He is the God of Elijah whom He can bring back from heaven. St. Peter said to Jesus, \"Lord, it is good for us to be here, if you wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.\" This indicated the weakness of Peter for he thought that the Lord needed something to cover Him from the sun. It also indicated his good character, for he did not think of himself or the other disciples. We should not marvel at the lack of knowledge of the disciples, for they were not yet perfected. While Peter was still speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, so that Peter would know that Jesus was not in need of tabernacles made by hands. Suddenly a voice came out of the cloud saying, \"This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.\" (Mt. 17:1-8) When the disciples heard the voice, they fell on their faces and were exceedingly afraid. Jesus came and touched them with His blessed hand, saying, \"Rise, and have no fear.\" And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but the Lord Jesus alone.
To Him is the Glory forever. Amen.
", "tags": "feast transfiguration our lord mount tabor" } ], [ { "id": 344, "action": "The Commemoration of the Great Sign, the Lord had Manifested During the Papacy of St. Theophilus
On this day, the church celebrates the commemoration of the great miracle which God performed during the papacy of St. Theophilus, the twenty-third pope of Alexandria. There was in the city of Alexandria, a Jewish man whose name was Philexinos. He was very rich, feared God and practiced the Law of Moses. There was also in the city two poor Christian men, one of them blasphemed saying, \"Why do we worship Christ and remain poor, while this Jewish man Philexinos is very rich?\" The other man answered him saying, \"The possessions of this world are nothing before God, for if it was, He would not give it to the worshippers of idols, adulterers, thieves, and murderers. The prophets were poor and persecuted, as also the apostles were, and the Lord said, 'the least of these my brethren'\" (Matthew 25:40). Satan, the enemy of good, would not permit that man to accept any of the words of his friend. The rebellious friend went to Philexinos the Jew and asked him to accept him as his servant. Philexinos replied, \"It is not lawful for me to employ anyone unless he believes in my faith, but if you want alms, I can give some to you.\" This miserable man replied, \"Take me to your house, and I will adopt your faith and I will do whatsoever you command me.\"
Philexinos took him to the synagogue and the chief of the Jews asked him before all the Jewish congregation saying, \"Is it true that you have denied your Christ and become a Jew like us?\" He replied, \"Yes,\" and that debased man rejected Christ the Lord before the Jewish congregation. Thus to poverty in money he added poverty in Faith. Then the chief of the Jews commanded them to make for him a cross of wood. They gave him a reed, on the top of which was a sponge full of vinegar, and a spear. Then they said to him, \"Spit upon this cross, offer to him this vinegar, and pierce the cross with this spear and say, 'I pierce you O Christ.'\" That debased man did everything as they commanded him. When he pierced the honorable cross with his sinful hand, blood and water flowed forth, and ran down on the ground. Then this apostate dropped dead instantly, and dried up like a rock.
Great fear fell upon all those who were present, many of them believed and cried, saying, \"One is the Lord God of the Christians, and we believe in Him.\" Then they took the blood, and anointed their faces and eyes with it. Philexinos took also some of the blood and sprinkled it on his daughter who was born blind, and she saw straightway. He believed as well as his household, and many others of the Jews. Afterwards, they informed Pope Theophilus about this incident. He took Abba Kyrellos (Pope Kyrellos I), many of the priests and people, and went to the synagogue of the Jews, where he saw the cross, the blood and water. The Pope took the blood and water, blessed himself and also blessed the people. He wiped the blood from the floor, and laid it in a vessel for blessing. He ordered the wooden cross carried to the church. Afterwards those present confessed their faith before the Pope who baptized them in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and blessed them. Then they went to their homes giving thanks to the Lord Christ and glorifying his Holy Name.
Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "great sign lord had manifested during papacy theophilus" } ], [ { "id": 345, "action": "The Commemoration of the Departure of St. Mary Known as Marina, the Ascetic
On this day, the church celebrates the commemoration of the departure of the nun St. Marina, who was the daughter of a very rich Christian man. Her name was Mariam, and her mother died when she was a little girl. Her father raised her, and brought her up well. When he wanted to give her in marriage, and to go himself and become a monk in one of the monasteries, she told him, \"O my Father, why would you save your own soul, and destroy mine?\" He answered saying, \"What shall I do with you? You are a woman.\" She told him, \"I will take off my woman's dress and will put on the garb of a man.\" She rose up straightway, shaved off the hair on her head and put on the garb of a man. When her father saw her strong determination and persistent desire, he gave all his possessions to the poor, keeping only a very little for himself, and he called her Marina instead of Mariam (Mary).
Then he went to one of the monasteries, and lived in one of the cells with his daughter, for ten years, fighting the spiritual fight. Then her father, who was an old man, died. St. Marina was left by herself, and she doubled her fasting, prayers and increased her asceticism. No one knew that she was a woman, and they attributed her soft voice to her intense asceticism and vigilant prayers.
Once the abbot of the monastery sent her, together with three monks, to the city on certain business of the monastery, and they lodged in an inn. That same night, one of the king's soldiers lodged in that inn, and he saw the daughter of the owner of the inn, and he defiled her virginity. He instructed her to tell her father, \"that the young monk, Father Marina, did that to me.\" When she had conceived, and her father knew that, he asked her and she answered saying, \"that it was the young monk, abba Marina, who did that to me.\" Her father then became angry, went to the monastery and began to curse and insult the monks. The Abbot met with him, comforted and calmed him down and then sent him away. The Abbot then called this saint and rebuked her much. When she knew what had happened, she wept and bowed down and said, \"I am young, I have sinned, forgive me O my Father.\" The Abbot was furious with her, and cast her out of the monastery. She dwelt outside of the monastery for a long time. When the daughter of the inn keeper had the baby, her father took him to St. Marina, set him down before her and left. She took the child, moved among the surrounding shepherds and nursed him with milk. She increased her fasting and prayers for the three years, that she was expelled from the monastery. The monks felt pity upon her and asked the Abbot to readmit her. The Abbot consented to their request and readmitted her to the monastery after he had laid heavy penalties and severe rules upon the Saint. She performed very hard labors, such as cooking, cleaning, and watering, as well as her regular monastic duties.
When the child grew, he became a monk. After St. Marina had completed forty years, she fell ill for three days then departed in peace. The Abbot ordered to take off her old ragged clothes and dress her with new ones prior to carrying her to the place of praying. When they removed her clothing, and found that she was a woman, they all shouted out saying, \"God have mercy.\" They informed the Abbot who came, marvelled, and wept because of what he had done to her. The Abbot then called the inn keeper and told him that the monk Marina was a woman not a man. The inn keeper went to where her body was and wept much. After they prayed over her body, they came forward to be blessed from her body. One of the monks had sight only in one eye, he put his face close to her body and immediately he gained sight in his blind eye. After she was buried, God allowed a devil to torment the inn keeper's daughter and the soldier, her friend, and brought them to where the Saint was buried and both confessed their iniquity in front of everyone. God manifested innumerable miracles through her blessed body.
May her prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "mary known as marina ascetic" } ], [ { "id": 346, "action": "On this day, was the assumption of the body of our pure Lady St. Mary, the Mother of God. While she was keeping vigil, praying in the Holy Sepulchre, and waiting for the happy minute of her liberation from the bonds of the flesh, the Holy Spirit informed her of her forthcoming departure from this vain world. When the time drew near, the disciples and the virgins of the Mt. of Olives (Zeiton) came and the Lady was lying on her bed. Our Lord, surrounded by thousands and thousands of angels, came to Her. He consoled her, and announced her with the everlasting joy which was prepared for Her. She was happy, and she stretched out her hands, blessed the Disciples, and the Virgins. Then, she delivered up her pure soul in the hand of her Son and God, Jesus Christ, Who ascended her to the higher habitations. As of the pure body, they shrouded it and carried it to Gethsemane.
On their way, some of the Jews blocked the way in the face of the disciples to prevent the burial. One of them seized the coffin. His hands were separated from his body, and remained hanging until he believed and repented for his mischievous deed. With the prayers of the holy disciples, his hands were reattached to his body as they had been before.
St. Thomas was absent at the time of St. Mary's departure, but he came after the burial. On his way back to Jerusalem, St. Thomas saw angels carrying St. Mary's pure body and ascending with it to heaven, and one of the angels said to him, \"Hurry and kiss the pure body of St. Mary.\" When he arrived to the disciples, they informed him about St. Mary's departure. He told them, \"I will not believe, unless I see her body, as you all know how I did doubt the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ before.\" They took him to the tomb, to uncover the body but they did not find it, and they were perplexed and amazed. St. Thomas told them how he saw the pure body ascending to heaven, carried by angels.
The Holy Spirit then told them, \"The Lord did not Will to leave Her Holy body on earth.\" The Lord had promised his pure apostles that they would see her in flesh another time. They were waiting for the fulfillment of this truthful promise, until the sixteenth day of the month of Misra, when the promise of seeing her was fulfilled. They saw her sitting on the right hand of her Son and her Lord, surrounded by the angelic Host, as David prophesied and said, \"At your right hand stands the queen.\" (Psalm 45:9) St. Mary's life on earth was sixty years. She spent twelve years of them in the temple, thirty years in the house of the righteous St. Joseph, and fourteen years in the care of St. John the Evangelist, as the Lord commanded her saying, \"Woman behold your Son,\" and to St. John, \"Behold your Mother.\"
May Her intercession be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 1391 A.M. (August 15, 1675 A.D.) Pope Mattias IV (Mattheos), 102nd Patriarch, departed. He was known as Matta El-Meeri. This father was born to pious Christian parents, who were righteous, merciful and benevolent. They were of the rich people of the city of Meer, Ashmonain district, the diocese of Qousqam, which is known as El-Mouharaq. They had vast farm land and live-stock. They had three boys, one of them was this righteous Father. He was the closest to his parents, and his name was Guirguis. They raised him with prudence, and brought him up with good manners and decency. They never asked him, as they did his brothers, to work on the farm, or attend to the live-stock. Instead he dedicated himself to reading and learning until he became more informed about the Holy books than his contemporaries. He was able to explain and interpret their meanings to those who had difficulties with them.
When he grew up, he renounced this vain world and went to the monastery of St. Mary known as \"El-Baramos\" in the wilderness of Sheahat (Scetis), where he stayed for six years. He saw in a dream that his parents were grieved over him for they thought that he was dead, since they had not found him. Immediately he informed his brothers in the monastery who advised him to go to his home-town to see his parents. He went to Meer and greeted his parents who became exceedingly happy when they saw him alive. Afterwards, they wished to wed him, but when the Saint learned from a friend what his parents intended to do, he escaped and returned again to the monastery.
The monks welcomed him back with great joy. He lived with these holy men in love and faithful service, so they nominated him to the monastic rank. Then he was ordained a priest for the monastery, and after a short time, he wore the Eskeem. He exhausted himself with vigilance, prayers, worships, and kneeling more than was required from the other monks. He fasted from sunset to the sunset of the next day and in the winter he fasted two days at a time. He kept this manner all the days of his life until he realized the favor of God, because of his good deeds, acceptable worship, and asceticism.
When Pope Marcos VI, 101St Patriarch, departed, the bishops, priests, and the lay leaders sought a new righteous shepherd to ordain in his place. They asked the monks of the wilderness and the monasteries to guide them to one fit for this position. The monks guided them to this father. When they asked him to come to Misr (Cairo), he refused to comply with their request. So they were forced to send a soldier from the government, who seized him, and brought him to Misr.
Meanwhile the people of Misr (Cairo) seized another righteous priest called John, and wanted to ordain him Patriarch, and as a result of that a conflict developed. The governor apprehended the two candidates and imprisoned them for forty days. When the matter prolonged, the bishops met and decided to cast an altar lot which was done before all the congregation. The soldiers also cast among them another lot in the government building. Each time they drew the lot it fell on Guirguis. One night the soldiers of the governor saw a burning candle hovering over Father Guirguis' head while he was in prison. Finally they nominated this father after the considerable contention, and all the congregation was pleased. He was ordained on Sunday, 30th of Hatour, 1377 A.M. (Dec. 6th, 1660 A.D.) during the reign of the Ottoman Sultan, Mohammed IV.
The celebration of his ordination was a splendid and grand celebration which was attended by many of the other Christian denominations. When he was enthroned as the Patriarch in the Patriarchal cell at Haret-Zewailah, he considered marital and family matters, and church affairs in stern, just and fair judgements. He was meek and humble, disliked attention and exaltedness, so he never sat on a chair in the church, but stood beside it until the end of the service. He visited widows, orphans, and prisoners, and cared for the monks in the monastery, fulfilling their needs. He cherished the monasteries and the churches, as he lived a simple life as those monks lived in the wilderness. During his papacy the church was in peace and tranquility and the church was enlightened with his grace. In the year 1387 A.M. (1671 A.D.), a grievous plague befell Egypt, which perished many.
He ordained two successive metropolitans for Ethiopia after the departure of its Metropolitan Youanis the Thirteenth. The first was Anba Khristozollo II, who remained on the chair from 1665 to 1672 A.D., during the reign of King Wasilidis. The second was Anba Shenouda I, who remained on the chair from 1672 to 1694 A.D. during the time of John I.
Pope Mattias IV, was the last to dwell in the patriarchal cell at Haret-Zewailah for he moved his residency to Haret-El-Roum in 1660 A.D. just after his ordination.
During his papacy Pope Mattias endured some hardships:
+ The devil entered the heart of a Christian man and motivated him to go to the tax collector to over tax the Christians, which put a great burden on them. They complained to the Pope, who sent for the tax collector. The Pope forbade him, but he did not cease his wicked act. The Pope ex-communicated him, and the man died a horrible death.
+ Another time, a woman came to the pope complaining that her husband had divorced her and married another woman. The Pope sent for him and asked him to come with his second wife. When this man came, the Pope ordered them to be separated, but the second wife refused saying, \"How can that be while I am pregnant with his child?\" Then the Pope said, \"The Lord Christ will judge between the two marriages.\" Just as the second woman left the Pope's cell, she aborted and the fetus came out of her womb. A great fear transpired because of this incident. The man separated from her and returned to his first wife. Pope Mattias became respected, honored, and revered by his people.
+ Another time, some infidels wanted to demolish St. Marcurius' \"of the two swords,\" Church at old Cairo. They went to the governmental office and appointed someone in charge of this matter. When the Pope heard about their intentions, he grieved much and spent that night's vigil beseeching God, and interceding with St. Marcurius to annul their conspiracy and save the church from destruction. While the soldiers were asleep around the church, a wall fell on them. They all died, and the news spread around the city. The wicked conspiracy was annulled and everyone glorified God.
During Pope Mattias' days, the enemy of good, stirred up the unbelievers against the Christians. But Christ, to Whom is the Glory, always vanquished their council and perished them through the prayers of Pope Mattias, for he shepherded the flock of Christ faithfully.
When the time of his departure drew near, he went to the tomb of the Patriarchs in Misr and said to it, \"Open and receive me so I can dwell with my righteous brothers.\" After he returned to his residence, he fell sick with the illness of death. He called the bishops and priests and commended them on the flock of Christ. He also called the Abbess of the convent and gave her all he had, and asked her to hand them to his successor, as they were the property of the church. Then he departed in peace at a good old age, after he had remained on the chair of St. Mark for fourteen years, eight months, and nine days. He was seventy-five years old and was buried in the tomb of the Patriarchs in the church of St. Marcurius in Old Cairo. The chair remained vacant after him for seven months.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "mattias iv mattheos 102nd patriarch alexandria" } ], [ { "id": 347, "action": "The Martyrdom of St. James the Soldier
On this day, St. James, the soldier, departed. He was born in Mengoug (Manug), district of Ebso (Psoi), to God fearing Christian parents. God gave them three daughters before they had this saint. They committed the daughters to a nunnery to be taught, and brought up, in the fear of God. They learned and read the Holy Bible and the church teachings. When their father asked them to return, they refused for they preferred to stay in the nunnery and they dedicated themselves as brides of Christ. Their parents sorrowed, but God consoled them by giving them this saint. They rejoiced in him, and when he was six years old, his father sent him to Ebso to learn reading and writing. After he finished his education his father put him in charge of his money and possessions.
The father had an old man, who shepherded his sheep. This old man was adorned with several virtues and James took him as a role model. When the devil provoked persecution against the Christians, the old man handed over the sheep to the father of James and left to become a martyr. James asked his father if he could go to bid the shepherd farewell and then come back, and his father allowed him to do so. When James went with the shepherd, he found the governor in upper Egypt torturing St. Justus, son of Emperor Nomarius. The old man told James, \"Look O my son, the person that you see being tortured is the son of an emperor, who has forsaken the world and its vain glory, and followed Christ, so what the poor like us, would do? Then be patient, and do not be sorrowful because of your
separation from your parents.\" They came before the governor and confessed the Lord Christ. The governor tortured them severely, then beheaded the old man.
The governor tortured St. James severely by beating him with whips. Then he placed a piece of red-hot iron on his chest. The saint lifted up his eyes and appealed for help to the Lord Christ, Who saved him and healed him from his afflictions. Then, they put him in a sack, and cast him in the sea, but the angel of the Lord raised him up from the sea. Then the saint returned, and stood before the governor who sent him to the city of El-Farma. There the governor tortured him, by cutting his tongue, tearing out his eyes, torturing him on the wheel, and combing his flesh. Sourial, the angel of God, came down and saved him. When the governor was tired of torturing him, he commanded James' head cut off, along with two other martyrs, whose names were Abraham and John, who were from Samannoud. They all received the crown of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "james soldier" } ], [ { "id": 348, "action": "On this day, of the year 340 A.D. the saint Abba Alexander, Patriarch of the city of Constantinople, departed. He was an honorable saint who suffered many hardships from the followers of Arius. When St. Athanasius the Apostolic, the twentieth Pope of Alexandria, renewed the excommunication of Arius, he went to Constantinople. Arius complained to Emperor Constantius, Son of the righteous Emperor Constantine, about St. Athanasius' conduct against him. When the emperor refused his petition, Arius asked the emperor to instruct Abba Alexander to accept him in the communion of the church. The emperor sent to this father saying, \"Athanasius had defied us because he did not accept Arius, and you know that we appointed you to this position, so you must not transgress our command. Make my heart glad, and reinstate Arius.\" St. Alexander replied saying, \"The church does not accept him for he does not worship the Holy Trinity.\" The Emperor said, \"Arius had confessed his faith in the Holy Trinity before me and that the Son is of one essence with the Father.\" Then the saint answered, \"If Arius had confessed that, let him write his confession by his own hand.\" The emperor brought Arius and he wrote down the faith with his own hand, contrary to what he had in his heart. Then the emperor made him swear on the Holy Bible that was his faith, but he swore falsely. The emperor said to Abba Alexander, \"What do you have against him now, since he has written his faith with his own hand, and taken an oath on the Holy Bible.\" Abba Alexander replied, \"Pope Athanasius renewed the excommunication of Arius, which was signed by your father, Emperor Constantine along with the three hundred and eighteen fathers, and expelled him and all his followers from Alexandria. Wait for one week, and if nothing happens to him during this week, then his profession of faith is sincere, and his oath is righteous. Then I will receive him in the communion of the church.\" The emperor agreed to his request.
When the patriarch went back to his church, he commanded his congregation to fast, along with him, for seven days and pray to God that He might save His church from the sin of Arius. After the week ended, and on the eve of Sunday, the heretics took Arius and started strolling with him in the streets of the city rejoicing that their leader would be accepted in the church. In the morning, Arius went to the church and sat down with the priests in front of the altar. Then Abba Alexander entered the church, being sad, and not knowing what to do. When he started the liturgy, Arius felt a colic and had to run to the washroom, where his bowels poured out of his body. When Arius delayed in returning, his followers went to the washroom, found him dead, and they were ashamed. The faithful glorified the Lord Christ, Who does not forsake His church. The emperor was amazed at that, and realized that Arius was lying in his writing and in his oath. He also perceived the holiness of Abba Alexander, the truthfulness of his faith, and the erroneous belief of Arius. He glorified the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and confessed publicly that the Trinity is one in essence. This Father having completed his life in a good course, and arrived at a good old age, departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Eudaemon (Wadamon), of the city of Armant (El-Armanti), was martyred. One day, he had visitors in his house, who were heathen, and they were saying to each other, \"We have heard that a lady arrived to the city of Ashmonain carrying a young Child who resembled the children of Kings.\" Others asked, \"Did this Child come to the land of Egypt?\" and everyone was talking about this Child. After the guests had left, Eudaemon rose up, rode his donkey and went to the city of Ashmonain. When he arrived, he saw the Child Jesus with his mother Mariam (Mary), and he kneeled before Him. As the Child saw what Eudaemon had done, the Child smiled and said, \"Peace be with you Eudaemon, you have labored and come here in person to assert what you have heard from your guests about Me. Thence I will stay in your home, which will be a house for Me forever.\" St. Eudaemon marvelled and said, \"O My Lord I wish that You will come and live in my house and I will be Your servant forever.\" The Child replied saying, \"Your home will be a house for Me and My mother forever. When you return home and the heathen hear that you came to Me, they will be sorry and hurt, and they will shed your blood in your house. Don't be afraid because I will receive you in My heavenly kingdom forever, the place of perpetual joy, which has no end. You will be the first martyr in Upper Egypt.\" Then Eudaemon kneeled down before the Lord Christ, the Child, Who blessed him, then he returned to his home.
Upon Eudaemon's return to Armant, the heathen heard about his arrival. The news that Eudaemon had visited the Child Jesus, spread in the city. They came to him in haste asking, \"Is all that they say about you true?\" Eudaemon replied saying, \"Yes, I went to the Lord Christ, Who blessed me and said, 'I am coming to dwell in your house with My mother, forever.'\" The heathens shouted out as one person, drew their swords, and killed him. Thus, Eudaemon received the crown of martyrdom on this day. When paganism was abolished, and Christianity spread in the land, the Christians converted the house of St. Eudaemon into a church, and named it after St. Mary and her Son, to Whom is the everlasting Glory. This church is the one called El-Gishouna, which means \"the church of the living,\" in the outskirts of Armant, which still exists now.
May God have mercy on us through the intercession of our Lady the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, and the intercession of the martyr Eudaemon, the pure faithful, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "eudaemon armant el-armanti" } ], [ { "id": 349, "action": "The Translocation of the Body of St. Macarius to His Monastery in Scetis
On this day, the church celebrates the return of the body of St. Macarius to his monastery in the desert of Sheahat (Scetis). After the departure of St. Macarius, some of the natives of the city of Shanshour (Shabsheer) came and stole his body. They built a large church for him, and placed the body in it. Later on, his body was moved to another town where he stayed for four hundred forty years, till the time of Pope Michael V (Anba Mikhail V), the 71st Pope. When Pope Michael went to the wilderness to observe the holy fast in the monastery, he sighed and said, \"How much I yearn that God would help us so that the body of our father Anba Macarius be in our midst.\"
Later on, the abbot of the monastery, the Archpriest (Hegumen) Michael, went with some of the elders on certain business of the monastery, and they thought of bringing back the body of the saint to their monastery. They came to where the body was, but the people of the town and the governor assembled against them with swords and sticks and prevented them from taking the body. The elders spent the night in great sorrow. The governor saw that night a vision of St. Macarius telling him, \"Let my children take my body and do not prevent them.\" The governor was frightened and he called the elders and gave them the body. The elders took the body with great joy, and many faithful people followed them to bid the body farewell.
When the ship arrived in Mariot, they spent the night. The next morning they celebrated the Divine Liturgy and received the Holy Mysteries. Then they loaded the body on a camel to the wilderness. Midway through the journey, they needed to rest, but the Abbot said, \"As the Lord lives, we do not rest until the Lord shows us the place where the angel of the Lord held our father's hand.\" So they kept moving until the camel knelt down and did not get up. The camel started to turn his head around, licking the body and bowing his head down to the ground. Then the elders knew that was the right place, and they glorified God.
As they reached the monastery, all the monks came out holding candles and singing. Then they carried the body on their shoulders and went into the church in a great celebration, and God performed many wonders on that day.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "translocation body macarius monastery scetis" } ], [ { "id": 350, "action": "The Martyrdom of the Seven Young Men of Ephesus
On this day, of the year 252 A.D., the seven holy young men of the city of Ephesus: Maximus, Malchus, Martinianus, Dionysius, John, Serpion and Constantine, were martyred. They were soldiers of Emperor Decius, who appointed them to guard the royal treasury. When the emperor established the worship of idols, certain men made accusation against them. They hid themselves in a cave, lest they become weakened and deny the Lord Christ. When the emperor knew that, he ordered the blocking of the cave's entrance, shutting them in. One of the soldiers was a believer in the Lord Christ. He engraved their life story on a tablet of brass and left it inside the cave. Thus the seven holy young men delivered up their pure souls.
God wanted to honor them as His faithful servants, so He inspired the bishop of Ephesus about the place of the cave. The Bishop went and opened the entrance to the cave, and found their bodies uncorrupted. He knew from the brass tablet that they had been there for about two hundred years. That was during the reign of the Emperor Theodosius the Less. As they knew also from the coins, which they found with them that they were during the time of emperor Decius, because it had his picture on them.
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "seven young men ephesus" } ], [ { "id": 351, "action": "On this day, the church celebrates the commemoration of the All pure St. Mary, the Mother of God the Word, who intercede for us before her beloved Son.
May her prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Irene (i.e. peace), departed. She was the daughter of a pagan king, whose name was Lucianus. She was exceedingly beautiful. Her father loved her very much, therefore he built a fortified mansion for her. He assigned thirteen maids to serve, guard and protect her from what might defile the name and honor of her family. St. Irene was then six years old, and her father left some statues for her to worship. Her father also assigned a wise old teacher to instruct her.
Once St. Irene saw in a vision, a dove with an olive leaf in her mouth, and the dove came and laid it on a table before her. Then there came an eagle with a crown, which he laid also on the table. Afterwards, a raven came with a serpent, which he laid on the table. St. Irene was frightened by this vision, and she revealed this vision to her teacher. Her father was unaware that the teacher was Christian. The teacher explained the vision to her saying, \"The dove is the teaching of the Law, the olive leaf is baptism, the eagle is the victory and the crown is the glory of the saints. The raven is the king and the serpent is the persecution.\" He concluded his talk by saying that she had to struggle for the sake of the Faith in the Lord Christ.
One day, her father came to visit her, and proposed that she marry one of the princes. She asked him for three days in which she might think it over. After her father had left, she went to the statues, and asked them to advise her on what was right for her, but they did not answer her. The saint lifted up her eyes to heaven, and said, \"O God of the Christians, guide me to whatever pleases you.\" The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, \"Tomorrow one of the disciples of St. Paul will come to you, will teach you what you need to know, and then will baptize you.\" The next day, St. Timothy, the Apostle, came to her, taught her the essentials of Christianity and baptized her.
When her father knew that, he summoned her. When he verified this news from her, her profession in the Lord Christ, he tied her to the tail of an untamed horse, and then released it. Nevertheless, God preserved her and she was not harmed. Instead, the horse itself turned and grasped with his mouth the arm of her father, hurled him on the ground, and her father fell dead. With the prayers of his daughter, St. Irene, he was risen alive. The father, his wife and three thousand persons became Christians, and they all were baptized. God honored this saint with several inspired miracles which she wrought before governors and kings and many had believed because of her. When she fulfilled her strife, she departed in peace.
May her prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "irene eirene" } ], [ { "id": 352, "action": "On this day, the great righteous prophet Micah, departed. He prophesied about Samaria and Jerusalem during the time of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezkiah, kings of Judeah. He prophesied about the incarnation of the Lord, to Whom is the Glory, saying, \"For behold, the Lord is coming out of His high place. He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.\" (Micah 1:3) He prophesied about His birth in Bethlehem, saying, \"But you Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me. The one to be ruler in Israel. Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.\" (Micah 5:2) He prophesied about the futility of the Jewish temple and the going forth of the Law of the Gospel from Zion, saying, \" ... For out of Zion the Law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.\" (Micah 4:2) He also prophesied about the perdition of Ahab, king of Israel. (Micah 5:15,16) When this prophet finished his strife in peace, he departed at a good old age. He preceded the Lord Christ by about eight hundred years.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, in the year 1103 A.M. (1387 A.D.), St. Hadid, was martyred. He was from the Giza Governorate.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "hadid" } ], [ { "id": 353, "action": "On this day, is the commemoration of the martyrdom of the thirty thousand Christians in the city of Alexandria. When Emperor Marcianus banished Pope Dioscorus to the island of Gagra, he appointed Brotarius, a Patriarch, in his place. The bishops of Egypt refused to have a fellowship with him. They assembled a council against him, the Council of Chalcedon, and the tome of Leo Brotarius became raged and with the aid of the government forces he attacked and plundered the monasteries and churches. Then he confiscated all their endowments for himself and he became wealthy. Thieves attacked him during the night, killed him, and plundered what he had. His friends sent to the Emperor saying, \"The followers of Dioscorus were the ones that killed the Patriarch that was appointed by the Emperor.\"
The Emperor became furious and sent a number of his soldiers, who killed about thirty thousand Christians in the city of Alexandria.
Shortly after, Marcianus died and was succeeded by Leo the Great. The bishops of Egypt seized this opportunity and ordained Fr. Timothy a Patriarch for Alexandria. Immediately the new Pope assembled a council and excommunicated the Council of Chalcedon. The heretics informed the Emperor saying, \"Those who killed Brotarius ordained for themselves a Patriarch without permission from the Emperor.\" The Emperor was enraged and he exiled Abba Timothy and his brother Anatolius to the island of Gagra. They remained there for seven years until Emperor Leo the Less released them. After the return of Pope Timothy, he cooperated with Abba Peter of Antioch, and assembled a council of five hundred bishops in the capital. This council judged to refuse the Council of Chalcedon, and also affirmed the teaching of the unity of the natures of the Lord Christ. They also presented their report to the Emperor who approved it. The Emperor issued an edict that dictated to abide by this council report only. As a result, the Sees of Alexandria, Constantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem were united for a long time.
May the prayers of these fathers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Demian was martyred in the city of Antioch. He suffered many tortures and endured severe afflictions until he delivered up his soul in the hand of the Lord.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "damian antioch" } ], [ { "id": 354, "action": "On this day, the great hermit and the blessed St. Takla Haymanot, the Ethiopian, departed. He was born in a village nearby Jerusalem which was the share of Zadok and Abia-thar the priests during the reign of King Soliman, son of King David.
Zadok begot Azariah, Azariah begot Zadok, who was named after his grandfather, and Zadok begot Levi, and so forth till the father of this saint was born. His name was Tsega Ze-Ab (which means the Grace of the Father) and he married a woman whose name was Sarah. They were righteous, God fearing and very rich. They always celebrated the commemoration of the honorable Archangel Michael on the twelfth day of each Coptic month, and gave alms to the poor and the needy.
Sarah, the mother of this saint, was very beautiful, meek and adorned with many virtues, hence they called her \"Egezi-Hareya\" (i.e. God has chosen her). However, She and her husband were bitter and sad because they did not have any children. She went daily to the church imploring God to give her a child that would delight her heart. Her husband also went to the church at the time of the offering of the incense and taught the congregation the fundamentals of faith. Every time he went to the church he took from his own money an offering to the house of God. They both agreed to disperse their money to the poor, the needy, the monasteries and the churches.
Meanwhile the king died, and another king reigned who worshipped the idols. The new king demolished the churches and built pagan temples. He was unjust and he plundered and captured women, among them \"Egezi-Hareya\", the mother of St. Takla. Later she returned safely to her husband and both glorified God and praised His Holy Name.
Afterwards, the angel of the Lord appeared to them in a vision at night, and announced to them the birth of this saint. When the saint was about one and half years old, a famine befell Ethiopia. When the twelfth day of the blessed month of Baramhat, the commemoration of the honorable head of the Heavenly hosts, drew near, Sarah, the mother of the child, was crying because she was not able to celebrate this occasion. The child wiped away her tears with his little hands and yet he was still unable. to talk. He pointed to her to carry him to where there was a plate with a little flour in it. She took him to the plate where he dipped his hand in the flour. The flour increased until it was pouring onto the floor. She brought baskets and every time she emptied the plate, it became full again, until she had filled twelve baskets. His mother then knew that God was with the child. Then she brought to him the empty container of oil. He placed his hand over it and it was filled with the power of God. In the same fashion, other containers in the house were filled. When Tsega Ze-Ab, the father of the child, returned from the church and knew what happened, he glorified God. They celebrated the commemoration of the archangel Michael, fed the poor and all the neighbors.
God honored this saint with many miracles that he performed during his life and also after his departure. When St. Takla Haymanot completed his good strife, he departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the fighter father, St. Thomas, Bishop of Mar'ash, departed. He was an ascetic worshipper, who fasted and prayed continually, with many merciful deeds. Therefore, they ordained him a bishop for the city of Mar'ash. He shepherded the flock of Christ with the best of care. When the infidel Emperor Diocletian reigned, he sent one of his representatives to the city of Mar'ash to torture the Christians. He started with this saint. He ordered the saint to worship the idols. The saint not only disobeyed him but also rebuked him on his idolatry. He tortured the saint severely by flogging, and dismemberment, then he cast him in an abandoned prison. From time to time, he ordered to dismember one of his organs. First they cut his ears, then nose, lips, his legs, then they smashed his teeth. He was left in this prison for twenty-two years. His congregation thought that he had died, and they celebrated an annual commemoration for him. A faithful woman came to him by night, and threw to him provisions through a small opening.
The saint remained in this condition until the righteous Emperor Constantine reigned and declared the glory of the Christian faith, and ordered the release of the faithful from prisons. The woman informed some priests of the whereabouts of this saint. The priests came to the saint, carried him to the church with songs and hymns. The people came forward for his blessing and kissed the places where he was dismembered.
When the Emperor assembled the council of Nicea, this saint was one of those attended. As the Emperor came to the council, he knelt before the fathers and kissed their hands. When he knew what had happened to this father, he asked for his blessings. As the council adjourned, he and the other bishops returned to their dioceses. He gathered his priests and congregation, read to them the creed that was instituted by the council, and also explained to them what was difficult to understand. Afterwards the saint lived for a short period then departed in peace, when his episcopate was about forty years.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "thomas bishop mar'ash syria" } ], [ { "id": 355, "action": "On this day, the great ascetic father, St. Bessarion, departed. He was born in Misr (Egypt) to Christian parents. When he grew up, he longed for the monastic life, so he went to Anba Anthony (Antonius), under whose direction he remained for a while. Then he went to Anba Macarius, and stayed under his guidance for a while. Later on, he wandered about in the desert, never lodging in a place with a roof. He possessed absolutely nothing of this world, and he had only one coarse hairy sack-cloth. He used to carry the Gospel, and went round the cells of the monks crying. If they asked him the reason for his weeping, he would reply, \"My riches have all been stolen, and I have escaped from death. My family have fallen from honor into disgrace.\" His words referred to the great loss that befell the human race by the fall of the first father Adam by breaking the first commandment. Those who did not understand what his words meant would console him saying, \"God shall restore what has been stolen from you.\"
The fathers had recorded for him many signs:
+ Once he was walking with his two disciples, John and Dulas, by the shore of the Red Sea (salty water). When they became thirsty, St. Bessarion took some of its water and prayed over it. The water became sweet and they all drank of it.
+ Another time, they brought to the wilderness of Scetis a mad man, who was possessed by demons, for the elders to pray over. Because the elders knew that St. Bessarion despised the glory of men, they did not want to ask him to pray over the sick man, but rather they put the man in the church where the saint usually stood. When St. Bessarion came into the church and found the man there asleep, he woke him up, and the man rose up healed and with a sound mind. God wrought many signs on his hands. He pleased God and then departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year 1661 A.M. (August 31st, 1945 A.D.), Pope Macarius III, 114th Patriarch of Alexandria, departed.
He was born in the city of El-Mahalla El-Koubra, on February 18th, 1872 A.D., to an old, respectable family. His family was know by El-Kasees family (The family of the priest), which was virtuous and godly. He grew up from a young age in a religious and pious atmosphere. He received his primary and secondary education in El-Mahalla El-Koubra and Tanta. Even as a young man, he was ascetic, longed for solitary life, and enthusiastic about memorizing the church hymns. When he was sixteen years old, he deserted the world and went to the monastery of Anba Bishoy in Wadi El-Natroun, in the year 1888 A.D., to fulfill his desire for asceticism and worship. His name was Monk Abdel-Mesieh. He devoted himself to worship and to the study of the Holy Bible, ecclesiastical books, and Coptic rituals. In a short time his virtues and righteousness were evident, and his pure life became known to the monks. He was distinguished for transcribing books, and his Coptic and Arabic penmanship was exquisite. He perfected the religious Coptic artistic decorations. After he was ordained a priest he spent about six years in the pure ascetic life.
In the year 1895 A.D., Macarius went to the Baramous monastery, where he was ordained Archpriest (hegumen) by Pope Kyrillos V, and became his private secretary. The Pope delegated him to teach the Coptic and French languages in the theological school for monks. He intended to ordain him a bishop for Misr (Cairo), but two years after the arrival of Fr. Abdel-Meseih to Cairo, Anba Michael, bishop of Assiut, departed. A delegation from Assiut came to Cairo, they chose this honorable hegumen and nominated him to be a metropolitan for Assiut.
In the beginning, the Pope did not accept their petition, for he kept Macarius in order to ordain him a bishop for Cairo and as an assistant to His Holiness, in managing the affairs of the See of St. Mark. But when the delegation persisted in their demand, the Pope accepted their petition, and ordained Macarius a metropolitan for Assiut on July 11th, 1897 A.D. (Abib 5th, 1613 A.M.). He called him Macarius, and he was twenty-four years old. He went to his parish as a young man, with no armors but his piety, asceticism, and knowledge. He embarked, with the wisdom of the elders inspite of his young age, with his strong will, and with the help of the Lord, on bringing together the factions of his congregation, and establishing the Faith. So, he maintained the unity of his people, and the position and reverence of the church, and he was quite successful in it. He was not content with the program that he placed for the church reform, but he also held an immense Coptic conference in the city of Assiut in year 1910 A.D., inspite of all the objections that rose against it. He also submitted along with Anba Theophilus, then bishop of Manfalot and Abnoup, in early 1920 A.D., a petition to Pope Kyrillos V. This petition contained the required administrative and financial reforms, which indicated his great competence. When Pope Kyrillos V, departed in 1928 A.D., the people nominated Abba Macarius for the Patriarchal chair to achieve the required reforms, but the circumstances then prevented that. When Pope Yoannis IXX, departed, the Divine grace permitted that Anba Macarius be enthroned on the throne of St. Mark. He was ordained Patriarch for the See of St. Mark on Sunday, February 19th, 1944 A.D.
After his enthronement to the Patriarchal chair, Anba Macarius issued on February 22nd, 1944 A.D., a historical document. Its main objective was to reform the monasteries, and promote their monks spiritually, and scientifically. He also ordered that the heads and the administrators of the monasteries be accountable. This lead to a major contention between the Holy Synod and the General Coptic Community Council (Maglis El-Milli).
On June 7th, 1944 A.D., the Holy Synod submitted a memorandum to the Pope and to the minister of Justice. They objected to the draft of the Marital and Personal Law for the non-Muslim denominations, for it subverted a canon of the Coptic Orthodox Church, as it affected two of the Holy Sacraments of the church which are the sacrament of Priesthood and Matrimony. These sacraments are cornerstone of the Christian religion and worship.
The dispute between the Synod and the Council continued, and all the attempts of reconciliation failed. The efforts of the Pope to eliminate the misunderstanding failed also. The council insisted on interfering in what was not its jurisdiction, and in what was the core jurisdiction of the Holy Synod. As a result, the Pope was compelled to leave the Capital, and the Papal residence, for seclusion in Helwan, then went to the Eastern monasteries accompanied by the metropolitans. He remained for a while in St. Antony's monastery then went to the monastery of Anba Paul. All these painful events had strong impact in all the circles and distressed every devout in the church.
When the Prime Minister knew about the departure of the Pope to the monastery, he worked on the return of the Pope in honor to his Chair, and his efforts were successful. Meanwhile, the Coptic Community Council (Maglis El-Milli) sent a letter to the Pope asking for his return, to be able to manage the affairs of the church, and promised the cooperation in the needed reforms. Later, the Pope returned from the monastery, and the people received him with joy and reverence. The Holy Synod convened, with Anba Macarius presiding, on January 1st, 1945, and issued many resolutions, which follow:
+ The representation of The Ethiopian church in the Alexandrian Synod.
+ The exchange of delegations between Egypt and Ethiopia, and the establishment of a seminary in Ethiopia.
+ Restriction of divorce on the grounds of adultery only.
+ Legislation of the Family and Marital Law.
+ Rules for nominating and electing the Patriarch that coincide with the canons of the church and its tradition.
+ Establishment of a Theological seminary for the monks.
+ Formation of a permanent committee to revue all the ecclesiastical books.
+ The safeguarding of the endowment funds, and improvement of the office procedures at the administrative offices of the patriarchate.
+ Strict enforcement of the Monastic Law that was issued on June 3rd, 1937 A.D., and the return of all the monks that were living outside their monasteries.
+ Establishment of a record in each church to register the members of each Coptic family, and another to register the baptized, the departed, and the deacons.
On June 6th, 1945 A.D., the Russian Patriarch visited Cairo. Pope Macarius sent a delegation of metropolitans and bishops to be in his reception. Then they exchanged the cordial visits. Once again a dispute between H.H. the Pope and the General Coptic Community Council (Maglis El-Milli) took place. This time the dispute was not resolved before the Pope took the initiative to defend the position and dignity of his nation, the canons of the churches, and the Family Marital Law for non-Muslims in particular. On May 30th, 1945 A.D. all the leaders of the non-Muslim denominations in Egypt, headed by the Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, presented a memorandum to the minister of Justice objecting to the special law that regulated the denominational family affairs courts.
Also copies were sent to the senate and the house of representatives. The memorandum focused on the objections, to better suit the Christian rites and traditions.
The Pope suffered from a severe weakness two weeks before his departure that forced him to rest in his residence. On Thursday evening, the 24th of Misra, 1661 A.M. (August 30th, 1945 A.D.), he felt fatigued and he suffered from heart failure. The doctors rushed to his bedside trying to save him till dawn. At 9:15 Friday morning, 31st of August, 1945 A.D., his pure soul departed to its creator. On Sunday, the second of September, his pure body was taken to its final resting place in the church with the signs of grief and sorrow. His coffin was placed beside the bodies of the patriarchs, his predecessors. He remained on the Patriarchal throne for one year, six months, and nineteen days. May God accept him in the habitations of the righteous.
Coincidentally, an earthquake was felt in Cairo at 2:45pm at the time of his burial. Everyone felt it, and the believers were touched, for nature shared their sorrow for the departure of this pure saint.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "macarius 114th pope" } ], [ { "id": 356, "action": "On this day, St. Moses (Moisees) and his righteous sister Sarah, were martyred. They were born to rich, Christian parents. When their parents departed, St. Moisees wanted to give his sister in marriage, and to hand over to her all their possessions, and to go and become a monk. She answered him and said, \"If you would get married first, then I also can get married.\" He said, \"I have committed many sins, and I want to become a monk to blot out my sins. I can not attend to the marriage and the salvation of my soul at the same time.\" She answered him saying, \"O my brother, how can you cast me to the snares of this transitory world, while you seek to save your own soul?\" He said, \"Whatever you wish, I will do.\" She said, \"What you do for your self, I likewise will do for myself.\"
When he saw her strong determination, he dispersed all their money to the poor and the needy. He took his sister to a convent for virgins, which was outside Alexandria. He also entered one of the monasteries for men. They did not see each other for ten years.
When Emperor Decius incited persecution against the Christians, during the papacy of Pope Demetrius, the twelfth Patriarch of Alexandria, many were martyred. St. Moses (Moisees) sent to his sister Sarah to bid her farewell and to inform her that he wished to shed his blood in the Name of the Lord Christ. She rose up immediately and asked the abbess to release her. After she took the blessings of her sisters the nuns, she joined her brother on his way to Alexandria. They confessed the Lord Christ before the governor. After they had been tortured severely, their heads were cut off, and they received the crowns of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Agabius, the Soldier, and his pious sister Thecla, were martyred. They lived during the time of Julian the Infidel, and they confessed the Lord Christ before him. He cast them to the lions, and they received the crowns of martyrdom.
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "agabius soldier sister thecla" } ], [ { "id": 357, "action": "On this day, St. Benjamin and his sister St. Eudexia, were martyred. Their parents were pious Christians who loved sojourners. They brought them up in a Christian manner.
When Benjamin grew up, he longed to be martyred for the sake of the Name of Christ. He went to \"Shatanouf\" and confessed the Lord Christ before the governor. The governor tortured him much then cast him in prison. When his parents and sister knew about this, they came to him weeping, but he comforted them, and told them about the vanity of the world and the life of the coming age which has no end. When his sister heard that, she told him, \"God lives, I shall not separate from you until we die together.\"
The governor cast them in a dark place for twenty days. Then he took them out and hung heavy stones on their necks and threw them in the river. The Angel of the Lord came and loosened the stones. They swam until they arrived at the town of Petra. A virgin found them and rescued them. They then returned to the governor and again they confessed The Lord Christ before him. The governor ordered to cut off their heads and they received the crown of martyrdom. The faithful built a church in their names in their town \"Shanshour.\"
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Mary the Armenian, was martyred. She was captured by the Moslems, who asked her to deny her faith in the Lord Christ. She refused, so they tortured her severely, but she remained steadfast in her faith. They threatened to burn her alive in a blazing pit, by the gate of Zoweila in Cairo. Many gathered there, and the crowd tried to frighten her from the suffering and to persuade her to change her counsel, but she answered saying, \"It is good that I deliver up my soul in the hands of my Master, Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ.\" Then she quickly threw herself in the fiery pit. Thus she received the crown of martyrdom.
May her prayers be with us, and Glory be to God forever, Amen.
", "tags": "mary armenian" } ], [ { "id": 358, "action": "The Commemoration of the Patriarchs: , , and
On this day, the church celebrates the holy Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Our father Abraham:
Who can describe the virtues of he who became father to many nations? He believed in God, obeyed Him, and did not doubt His promises. The Lord appeared to him in a vision at night and told him, \"Get out of your country, away from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.\" (Genesis 12:1-2) Then the Lord appeared to Abraham in the form of three men. He welcomed them, for they were strangers, and God promised him the birth of Isaac. Abraham was then one hundred years old; Sarah, his wife, was advanced in age, and they believed the promise of God.
When Isaac was born, Abraham, his father, circumcised him on the eighth day of his birth. Although he was sure that through his procreation all the nations of the earth would be blessed, God told him, \"Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and offer him there as a burnt offering.\" He did not doubt the promise of God. He began to offer his son as a sacrifice, confident that God would raise him, and raise offspring through him. When he fulfilled the sacrifice of Isaac by intention, God revealed his virtues to the generations to come by saying, \"By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven.\" (Genesis 22:1-18) That was fulfilled and he was called the father of Christ in flesh. (Luke 3:34) He departed in peace when he was one hundred seventy-five years old.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
Our father Isaac:
He was born by a divine promise, and he was perfect in piety and obedience to God and to his father. He was willing to be sacrificed by his father as an offering to God, although he was the son of the promise, and his father begot him when he was one hundred years old. Isaac was not a child then, for the Bible said, \"So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and went to the place which was afar off.\" Some historians say that Isaac's age then was about thirty-seven years old. He obeyed his father, and laid down his neck for slaying, but the angel of the Lord ordered his father not to lay his hand on the lad. As it was considered that Abraham had fulfilled the sacrifice of his son by intention, it was also considered that Isaac was sacrificed by intention.
He suffered many tribulations and sorrows. God gave him two sons, Esau and Jacob. Isaac loved Esau for his bravery. When Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, \"My son ... behold now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death. Now therefore, please ... go out to the field and hunt game for me. And make me savory food ... that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.\" Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. She spoke to Jacob her son, saying, \"... Go now to the flock and bring me from there two choice kids of the goats, and I will make savory food from them for your father, such as he loves ... that he may bless you before his death.\" Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, \"Look, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth-skinned man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be a deceiver to him; and I shall bring a curse on myself and not a blessing.\" But his mother said to him, \"Let your curse be on me, my son.\" (Genesis 27:1-29) She did that by a divine inspiration. Jacob did as his mother ordered him, and his father ate and blessed him. Isaac departed in peace when he was one hundred eighty years old.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
The father of the Tribes Jacob:
Esau, his brother, hated him for he took the blessing of their father from him. Jacob feared Esau, and fled to Laban, his uncle. He shepherded Laban's sheep for seven years and Laban gave Jacob his daughter, Leah, in marriage. Then Jacob served another seven years, and Laban gave him his second daughter, Rachel, in marriage. (Genesis 29:15-30) Then Laban, his uncle, told him, \"The sheep that are streaked shall be your wages, then all the flocks bore streaked.\" (Genesis 31:4-8)
God made him exceedingly wealthy. He returned with his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and God blessed him with twelve sons. He saw God face to face and wrestled with him until the breaking of day, and God called him Israel.
He suffered many sorrows and tribulations, such as the selling of Joseph his son as a servant to the Egyptians, the loss of his sight, the severe famine, and others as mentioned in the Holy Bible. His son Joseph then rose to power and became the second man in Egypt after the Pharaoh, and he tried until he was able to bring his father Jacob to Egypt, where he stayed for seventeen years. When his departure drew near he called his twelve sons and blessed them. When he blessed Judah, he said, \"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.\" That was a prophesy about the coming of the Lord Christ from his seed. When he was one hundred forty-seven years, he departed in peace, after commanding that he be buried in the tomb of his fathers. Joseph carried him in the chariot of Pharaoh, brought him to the land of Canaan, where he was buried with his fathers.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "patriarchs: abraham isaac jacob" } ], [ { "id": 359, "action": "On this day, Sts. Athanasius, the Bishop, Gerasimus (Jarasimus), and Theodotus, his two servants, were martyred. Certain men laid an accusation against the bishop before Arianus, the governor, that he had baptized the daughter of Antonios, the chancellor. Arianus brought St. Athanasius and asked him to worship the idols. The bishop refused and declared his faith in the Lord Christ. The governor tortured him with severely painful tortures, and when he saw him getting firmer in his faith, he ordered to cut off his neck and the necks of the two servants with him. Some believers took their bodies, shrouded them, and laid them in coffins. God honored them by manifesting many signs and wonders from their bodies.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, in the year 515 A.D., the body of the great saint Anba John, the Short, was relocated from Al-Qulzum (Red Sea) to the wilderness of Scetis. When Pope John (Youhanna), 48th Pope of Alexandria, was in the wilderness of Scetis, some of the monks expressed their wish to relocate the relics of St. John, the Short, to his monastery. The Grace of God moved the Pope, and he wrote a letter by the hand of the Hegumen Kosman and Hegumen Boctor, from the elders, and sent them to Al-Qulzum. They were not able to take the body because it was in the hands of the followers of the Council of Chalcedon. So they returned empty handed.
Shortly after, a prince from the Arabs took charge of Al-Qulzum, and he was a friend of Anba Michael, bishop of Epla'os. Once again the Patriarch wrote another letter to the bishop expressing his wish to take the body of St. John and to send it with the monks carrying his letter. The bishop rejoiced with the letter, and informed the prince about the wish of the Patriarch. The prince asked, \"How could they reach the place?\" His scribe answered him, \"Let the monks put Arab garments over their own apparel, and let them come with us to the place.\" The monks came in, along with the Arabs, to the place where the body was. The monks carried the body and walked all night until they came to Misr, and then went to the wilderness. The monks of the monastery of St. Macarius went out carrying crosses and censers and met them with songs and hymns. They brought the body of St. John to where the body of St. Macarius was. They poured many perfumes and fragrant oil over him, then carried him to his monastery while they were chanting. The monks of his monastery received him with joy and happiness. When Pope Mark (Marcus), 49th Patriarch, was ordained, and went to the wilderness with the bishops of Lower Egypt and some priests, he visited the monastery of this saint. He uncovered the holy relic of the saint, and he was blessed by it. He covered him with the sackcloth that was covering him, then wrapped him in fine linens. The monks praised and thanked God, and sang many hymns and songs for this holy father.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "arrival holy relic john short wilderness scetis" } ], [ { "id": 360, "action": "The Departure of St. Malachi, the Prophet
On this day, the great prophet, Malachi, one of the twelve minor prophets, departed. He prophesied about the return of the people from captivity in Babylon to Jerusalem. He rebuked the children of Israel because of their transgression against God and His Law. He also admonished them because of their vile offerings, and prophesied about the acceptance of the Gentiles when he said, \"For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations.\" (Malachi 1:11) He pointed out to them that they did not give the tithes nor their first fruits, by saying, \"'Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now in this,' says the LORD of hosts, 'If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,' says the LORD of hosts.\" (Malachi 3:10-11)
He prophesied about the coming of St. John the baptizer before the Lord, the Savior of the World, by saying, \"'Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,' says the LORD of hosts.\" (Malachi 3:1) He also prophesied about the coming of Elijah before the Lord at His second coming, saying, \"Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.\" (Malachi 4:5-6)
Having pleased God by his strife, and having completed his days in peace, he departed to God Whom he loved.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "malachi prophet" } ], [ { "id": 361, "action": "On this day, St. Eutychus, the disciple of St. John the Evangelist, departed. After he spent some time with the apostle, Eutychus asked for his permission to go to St. Paul, the Apostle, and St. John allowed him. He went to St. Paul and preached the Name of Christ with him, and returned many of the Jews and the pagans to the Lord Christ and baptized them. He converted temples of idols to churches, and he endured tribulations, imprisonment, and beatings for many days. He was cast in the fire, but he was not harmed, and was cast to the lions, which did not harm him but rather became friendly towards him. He went to Sebastia and preached there, and the angel of the Lord was with him and strengthened him.
It was said, that this saint was the young man who sat in a window and \"was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead,\" and St. Paul raised him with his prayers. (Acts
May his blessings be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Pishay (Abshai), the brother of St. Bahor (Abba Hor - St. Hour), was martyred. He was from the city of Antioch, and because of his piety and knowledge, he was ordained a priest. When his brother, Abba Hour, and his mother went to Alexandria, they were martyred on the twenty-ninth of the month of Baounah. This saint gave all his possessions to the poor and the needy, and came to Alexandria to be blessed by their bodies. When he saw the two bodies, he wept much, then went to the governor and confessed the Lord Christ before him. The governor tortured him much until he delivered up his pure soul. The governor ordered his body burned along with the bodies of his brother and his mother, and the bodies of other martyrs, eighty-eight in number.
Certain believers came and took the bodies of Sts. Pishay, Abba Hour, their mother, and the bodies of Sts. Tabamoun (Damon), of the city of Danbak (Debkeya), Abimachus (Bimakos), from the city of El-Baramon, and Barashenoufah (Wursunufa), of the city of Teliah (Tuluya), and carried them to the city of Ansabashy (Ablasi), where the believers received them with great reverence.
May their prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "pishay abshai antiochian" } ], [ { "id": 362, "action": "The Departure of St. Titus, the Apostle
On this day, St. Titus, the Apostle, was martyred. He was born in Crete, and he was the nephew of the governor of the island. He learned the Greek language, its literature and wisdom, and he excelled in it. He was meek and merciful. When the news of our Lord Jesus Christ spread in all the land of Palestine and Syria, the governor of Crete, the uncle of this saint, wanted to confirm what he had heard about the magnificent signs, and eminent teachings of Christ. He sent Titus to verify that and to bring him accurate information.
When Titus arrived in the land of Judah, he saw the signs and heard the Divine words of the Lord Christ. He compared the words and miracles of our Lord to the words and deeds of the Greeks, and he found a great and clear difference between them. So he believed in the Lord Christ, and sent to his uncle telling him all that he had seen and heard. When the Lord chose the seventy apostles, Titus was one of them. After the ascension of our Lord Christ, Titus received the grace of the Holy Spirit along with the disciples. He accompanied the apostle Paul to many countries. When St. Paul went to Rome, St. Titus returned to Crete. He built a church there, and ordained for it priests and deacons. Having finished his apostolic strife, St. Titus departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "titus apostle" } ], [ { "id": 363, "action": "On this day, the church celebrates the commemoration of the honorable Angel Raphael, the third of the Archangels, and the dedication of his church outside the city of Alexandria. During the time of Pope Theophilus, the twenty-third Patriarch, a faithful woman came from Rome, with her children and had with her a picture of the honorable Archangel Raphael. She had inherited much money from her husband. She revealed to the Pope her desire to build many churches. He showed her a large heap, which was in front of the patriarchate, which she removed and built a church in its place. Then she built another church in the name of the Angel Raphael, which was consecrated on this day.
The intercession of this honorable angel be with us. Amen.
On this day also, St. Andrianus, one of the commanders of the army of the emperor, was martyred. This saint, whenever he saw a martyr he would ask him, \"Why do you do that to yourself?\" They answered him, \"In the hope of the eternal life, and the everlasting kingdom.\" He went to the emperor and confessed the Lord Christ. The Emperor tortured him much then imprisoned him with many martyrs. Anatolia, the wife of this saint, cut off her hair, and dressed in a man's apparel. She came to the prison and ministered to the martyrs. She strengthened her husband, comforted and consoled him. When other women heard about what she did, they did the same.
Later on the emperor ordered the legs of the prisoners broken until they die. This saint came and encouraged her husband until he delivered his soul to the hand of the Lord. After all the martyrs had delivered up their souls, the emperor ordered their bodies burned, but God brought down dew which put out the fire. Some believers carried the bodies to Pisidia. A prince asked to marry St. Anatolia, but she refused. When she finished her strife, she departed in peace.
May their prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, of the year
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "yoannis xiv 96th pope" } ], [ { "id": 364, "action": "On this day, St. Leparius (Liberius), Bishop of Rome, departed. He was ordained during the reign of Emperor Constance, the son of Constantine. When Athanasius, Pope of Alexandria, and Paul, Patriarch of Constantinople, were exiled, they came to him. St. Liberius took them to Emperor Constance, who wrote to his brother, and they were allowed to return.
After Constance was killed in Rome, Constantius sent to St. Liberius asking him to accept the followers of Arius, and to accept the exile of Athanasius, but he refused this petition. Constantius exiled St. Liberius, then came to Rome where he killed the killers of his brother. The heads of the monasteries and the priests met him and asked him to release their father Liberius. The emperor returned him from his exile, and he continued to teach and preach to his flock. He resisted the followers of Arius, until he departed in peace. He sat on the episcopal throne for fifteen years.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, the ascetic saint, Anba Poimen (Baymon), departed. He was born about the year
This father left to us many profitable teachings such as:
+ If you see a brother who has transgressed, despair not of him, but wake up his soul, comfort him, and lighten his burden, so that he may rise up from his fall.
+ Teach your heart what your tongue says.
+ One of the brethren said to him, \"If I see a brother whose conduct is wicked, I do not feel comfortable to bring him to my cell. On the other hand, if his conduct is good, I rejoice and bring him to my cell cheerfully.\" The saint replied, \"If you treat well the brother who is good, then you must treat that brother whose works are inferior with a double portion of goodness, for he is sick and needs healing.\"
+ Then he told this brother, \"There was a monk in a monastery, who had fallen into a transgression, and he was always weeping, and supplicating God saying, 'O Lord, I have sinned against You, please forgive me.' A voice came to him, 'I have not forsaken you, except when you have forsaken your brother in the time of his trial.'\"
+ Anba Poimen also added, \"If we cover over the sins of our brethren, God will cover over our sins. And if we make it known, God will do the same of our inequities.\"
Having finished his days and having arrived at a good old age that was pleasing to God, he departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "poimen hermit" } ], [ { "id": 365, "action": "On this day, in the year
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
This day also marks, the departure of the righteous prophet Amos, one of the twelve minor prophets. He prophesied in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam the son of Joash, King of Israel. God had sent him to the children of Israel to caution them and advise them to bear fruit that befits repentance before the coming of the day of vengeance. He prophesied concerning the passion of the Lord and the darkness of the sun on that day. He also prophesied concerning the lamentation and sorrow which should come upon the children of Israel after this, how their festivals should be turned into days of sorrow, and their joy into weeping; how they should lack he help of God, and how they should hunger and thirst through the lack of teaching and knowledge, how they should be scattered in all countries among the nations. And all these things were fulfilled upon them. It was said that this prophet was killed because of his harsh rebuke for their sins. This prophet lived about eight hundred years before the advent of the Lord Christ.
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
On this day also, in the year
Then he left the cave and lived on the roof of the church. He endured the summer heat and the winter cold, until his skin became dark from much worship and asceticism. He remained in this state for fifteen years.
During his days, a great persecution befell the Christian nation. The churches were shut and the Christians were forced to wear blue turbans. As for this saint, the ruler seized him, severely smote him, then cast him in prison. When he was released, he went to the monastery of El-Shahran, where he lived on the roof of the church and he increased in his asceticism. He did not replace his white turban. The rulers of that time from princes, judges and others, visited him and saw his white turban, but no one dared to force him to wear a blue one for they knew that the power of God was with him. The saint continually asked and supplicated God to take his anger away from His people. Having completed his strife, he departed at a good old age, in the year
May his prayers be with us. Amen.
Today also, in the year
In the year
May his prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
", "tags": "yoannis xv 99th pope" } ], [ { "id": 366, "action": "A Thanksgiving To God
Come all you faithful people, whom have been bought by the pure Blood of our Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ. Let us glorify Him for what He bestowed upon us from His benevolence and goodness, and abundantly gave us from His blessings and richness. He brought us to this day, which is the last day of the Coptic year, and we are physically healthy, steadfast in our faith, and following the footsteps of our holy fathers. We greatly thank God for He did not deal with us according to our bad deeds but He lingered on us, and kept us, to this day, in peace, awaiting our return to Him in repentance, so that he might grant us forgiveness.
So let us weep before Him with deep sighs for the transgressions and sins that we have committed. Let us repent from all our hearts on all that we have committed, from inequities and trespasses, and commit ourselves before Him to live pure and chaste lives. We ask Him to strengthen us in the True Faith, to preserve us from the snare of Satan, to grant us His perfect peace, and to repose the souls of our departed ones with the intercession of the Virgin Lady St. Mary, and all the angels and the saints.
Glory, Honor, and Worship to Our God now and forever and unto the age of ages. Amen.
", "tags": "a thanksgiving god" } ] ] }, property: function(m) { return m.planetary.day.start; }, calculate: function(definitions, property) { var date = new Date(property * 1000); var cd = new Intl.DateTimeFormat('en', { calendar:'coptic', dateStyle:"short"}) var cdl = cd.format(date).split(",")[0].split("/"); var doy = ((parseInt(cdl[0]) - 1) * 30) + parseInt(cdl[1]); return definitions.actions[doy]; } }; //Defines Calendar Objects and Methods var module_synaxarium_catholic_patrons = { definitions: { name: "Catholic Saints (Patronage)", description: "Catholic patron saints selectable by patronage", group: { id: "synaxarium", text: "Synaxarium", info: "true" }, actions: [ null, [ { "id": 2, "action": "Mary", "tags": "mary", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 3, "action": "Alcira, Valencia, Spain; Diocese Of Grand Island, Nebraska, Usa; Diocese Of Lake Charles, Louisiana, Usa; Diocese Of Lincoln, Nebraska, Usa; Exeter College, Oxford; Nuns; South Carolina, Usa; Teutonic Order; Order Of Teutonic Knights; Uruguay; Virgins", "tags": "louisiana knights nuns teutonic carolina charles island nebraska uruguay usa exeter oxford lake college order grand alcira valencia virgins lincoln south spain" }, { "id": 4, "action": "Justin of Chieti", "tags": "justin chieti", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 5, "action": "City Of Chieti, Italy", "tags": "city italy chieti" }, { "id": 6, "action": "Odilo", "tags": "odilo", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 7, "action": "Jaundice; Souls In Purgatory", "tags": "jaundice souls purgatory" }, { "id": 8, "action": "Joseph Mary Tomasi", "tags": "joseph mary tomasi", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 9, "action": "Liturgy", "tags": "liturgy" } ], [ { "id": 10, "action": "Munchin", "tags": "munchin", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 11, "action": "Diocese Of Limerick, Ireland; Limerick, Ireland", "tags": "limerick ireland" }, { "id": 12, "action": "Basil the Great", "tags": "great basil", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 13, "action": "Hospital Administrators; Reformers; Russia", "tags": "russia reformers administrators hospital" } ], [ { "id": 14, "action": "Genevieve (Genofeva)", "tags": "genofeva genevieve", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 15, "action": "Disasters; Drought; Fever; Paris, France; Rain, Excessive; Security Forces, French; Women'S Army Corps, Wacs", "tags": "drought excessive disasters corps paris france fever rain women forces french wacs security army" } ], [ { "id": 16, "action": "Pharaildis", "tags": "pharaildis", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 17, "action": "Childhood Diseases; Ghent, Belgium", "tags": "childhood ghent belgium diseases" }, { "id": 18, "action": "Angela of Foligno", "tags": "foligno angela", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 19, "action": "Death Of Children; People Ridiculed For Their Piety; Sexual Temptation; Temptations, Protection Against", "tags": "people death ridiculed children temptation sexual temptations piety" }, { "id": 20, "action": "Eugendus", "tags": "eugendus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 21, "action": "City Of Saint-Oyen, Tarentaise, France; City Of Saint-Oyen, Valley Of Aoste, Italy; City Of Saint-Oyens, Vaud, Switzerland", "tags": "switzerland italy saint-oyen city france aoste valley vaud saint-oyens tarentaise" }, { "id": 22, "action": "Elizabeth Ann Seton", "tags": "elizabeth ann seton", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 23, "action": "Diocese Of Shreveport, Louisiana, Usa; In-Law Problems; Opposition Of Church Authorities", "tags": "louisiana church shreveport in-law opposition usa authorities problems" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 24, "action": "Raymond of Pennafort", "tags": "raymond pennafort", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 25, "action": "Attorneys, Lawyers, Barristers; Canonists, Canon Lawyers; Faculties Of Law; Law, Schools Or Faculties Of; Lawyers; Medical Record Librarians; Schools Of Law", "tags": "schools medical attorneys canonists librarians faculties law canon barristers lawyers record" } ], [ { "id": 26, "action": "Albert of Cashel", "tags": "cashel albert", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 27, "action": "Cashel, Ireland", "tags": "cashel ireland" } ], null, null, null, [ { "id": 28, "action": "Benedict Biscop", "tags": "biscop benedict", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 29, "action": "English Benedictines", "tags": "benedictines english" }, { "id": 30, "action": "Marguerite Bourgeous", "tags": "marguerite bourgeous", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 31, "action": "Loss Of Parents, Mother, Father; Poverty Or Impoverishment, Protection Against", "tags": "parents impoverishment mother poverty loss" }, { "id": 32, "action": "Margaret of Castello", "tags": "castello margaret", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 33, "action": "Poverty Or Impoverishment, Protection Against", "tags": "impoverishment poverty" } ], [ { "id": 34, "action": "Hilary of Poitiers", "tags": "poitiers hilary", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 35, "action": "Backward Children; Snake Bites; Snakes, Protection Against", "tags": "snakes children snake backward bites" } ], [ { "id": 36, "action": "Felix of Nola", "tags": "felix nola", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 37, "action": "Perjury, Protection Against", "tags": "perjury" }, { "id": 38, "action": "Macrina the Elder", "tags": "elder macrina", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 39, "action": "Poverty Or Impoverishment, Protection Against", "tags": "impoverishment poverty" }, { "id": 40, "action": "Sava", "tags": "sava", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 41, "action": "Serbia", "tags": "serbia" }, { "id": 42, "action": "Nino", "tags": "nino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 43, "action": "Georgia, Former Ussr", "tags": "georgia ussr former" } ], [ { "id": 44, "action": "Teath", "tags": "teath", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 45, "action": "Saint Teath, Cornwall", "tags": "saint cornwall teath" } ], [ { "id": 46, "action": "Fursey of Peronne", "tags": "fursey peronne", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 47, "action": "Peronne, France", "tags": "peronne france" } ], [ { "id": 48, "action": "Anthony the Abbott", "tags": "anthony abbott", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 49, "action": "Erysipelas; Hermits, Recluses; Hogs, Pigs, Swine; Monks", "tags": "monks hermits recluses swine erysipelas hogs pigs" }, { "id": 50, "action": "Giles", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 51, "action": "Hermits, Recluses", "tags": "recluses hermits" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 52, "action": "Sebastian", "tags": "sebastian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 53, "action": "Archers; Armourers; Arrowsmiths; Fletchers; Athletes; Contagious Diseases; Diseased Cattle, Protection Against; Diseases, Contagious; Enemies Of Religion; Iron Mongers, Hardware, Hardware Stores; Lead Workers; Neighborhood Watch; Physicians (Diseases, Contagious); Plague; Police, Local, Municipal; Potters; Racquet Makers; Rio De Janeiro, Brazil; Serbian Peoples; Soldiers", "tags": "diseases enemies serbian peoples arrowsmiths stores mongers iron local soldiers diseased archers watch neighborhood rio armourers racquet physicians makers de plague hardware janeiro athletes potters police workers religion brazil lead municipal cattle fletchers contagious" }, { "id": 54, "action": "Giles", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 55, "action": "Rams", "tags": "rams" } ], [ { "id": 56, "action": "Agnes", "tags": "agnes", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 57, "action": "Children Of Mary; Girls; Young Girls", "tags": "mary young children girls" }, { "id": 58, "action": "Meinrad", "tags": "meinrad", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 59, "action": "Einsiedeln, Switzerland; Hospitality, Hospitallers; Swabia, Germany", "tags": "swabia switzerland hospitality einsiedeln hospitallers germany" } ], [ { "id": 60, "action": "Vincent of Digne", "tags": "digne vincent", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 61, "action": "Digne, France", "tags": "france digne" }, { "id": 62, "action": "Vincent Pallotti", "tags": "pallotti vincent", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 63, "action": "Missionary Priests", "tags": "missionary priests" }, { "id": 64, "action": "Dominic of Sora", "tags": "sora dominic", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 65, "action": "Snakes, Protection Against", "tags": "snakes" }, { "id": 66, "action": "Vincent of Saragossa", "tags": "saragossa vincent", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 67, "action": "Vinegar Makers; Vintners; Winegrowers", "tags": "makers vinegar vintners winegrowers" }, { "id": 68, "action": "Laura Vicuna", "tags": "vicuna laura", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 69, "action": "Abuse Victims; Loss Of Parents, Mother, Father", "tags": "parents loss mother victims abuse father" } ], null, [ { "id": 70, "action": "Francis de Sales", "tags": "francis de sales", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 71, "action": "Archdiocese Of Cincinnati, Ohio, Usa; Authors; Catholic Press; Catholic Writers; Deaf; Diocese Of Columbus, Ohio, Usa; Diocese Of Wilmington, Delaware; Editors; Journalists; Writers", "tags": "editors catholic journalists wilmington press deaf columbus delaware ohio writers cincinnati usa authors arch" } ], [ { "id": 72, "action": "Dwynwen", "tags": "dwynwen", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 73, "action": "Sick Animals", "tags": "animals sick" }, { "id": 74, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 75, "action": "Sick Animals", "tags": "animals sick" } ], [ { "id": 76, "action": "Titus", "tags": "titus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 77, "action": "Crete", "tags": "crete" }, { "id": 78, "action": "Timothy", "tags": "timothy", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 79, "action": "Stomach Disorders", "tags": "stomach disorders" }, { "id": 80, "action": "Paula", "tags": "paula", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 81, "action": "Widows", "tags": "widows" } ], [ { "id": 82, "action": "Devota", "tags": "devota", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 83, "action": "Corsica; Monaco", "tags": "corsica monaco" } ], [ { "id": 84, "action": "Thomas Aquinas", "tags": "thomas aquinas", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 85, "action": "Academies, Roman Catholic; Apologists; Booksellers; Catholic Schools, Catholic Academies; Chastity, Invoked For; Colleges; Pencil Makers; Scholars; Schools; Schools, Catholic; Students; Theologians; Universities, Catholic", "tags": "roman schools scholars catholic colleges booksellers theologians apologists makers chastity academies invoked pencil students universities" }, { "id": 86, "action": "Glastian", "tags": "glastian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 87, "action": "Kinglassie, Fife, Scotland", "tags": "kinglassie fife scotland" }, { "id": 88, "action": "Julian of Cuenca", "tags": "cuenca julian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 89, "action": "City Of Cuenca, Spain; Diocese Of Cuenca, Spain; For Rain", "tags": "cuenca city rain spain" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 90, "action": "John Bosco", "tags": "john bosco", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 91, "action": "Apprentices; Editors; Mexican Young People; Workers, Young; Young People, Mexican; Youth", "tags": "editors people workers mexican apprentices youth young" } ], [ { "id": 92, "action": "Bridgid of Ireland", "tags": "bridgid ireland", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 93, "action": "Blacksmiths; Cattle; Dairy Workers; Fugitives; Healers; Ireland; Nuns; Poultry Raisers, Chicken Farmers; Printing Presses; Scholars", "tags": "scholars raisers fugitives farmers presses workers printing nuns chicken ireland cattle blacksmiths poultry healers dairy" } ], [ { "id": 94, "action": "Adalbald of Ostrevant", "tags": "adalbald ostrevant", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 95, "action": "Parents Of Large Families", "tags": "families large parents" } ], [ { "id": 96, "action": "Blaise", "tags": "blaise", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 97, "action": "Carvers; Coughs; Against; Dalmatia; Dubrovnik; Goitres; Throat Ailments; Whooping Cough, Protection Against; Wool Combers; Wool Weavers", "tags": "throat weavers wool goitres dubrovnik coughs ailments whooping cough dalmatia combers carvers" }, { "id": 98, "action": "Anskar", "tags": "anskar", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 99, "action": "Denmark; Germany; Iceland", "tags": "iceland germany denmark" }, { "id": 100, "action": "Ansgar", "tags": "ansgar", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 101, "action": "Scandinavia", "tags": "scandinavia" } ], [ { "id": 102, "action": "John de Britto", "tags": "john de britto", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 103, "action": "Istanbul, Turkey; Constantinople; Missions, Portuguese", "tags": "missions turkey portuguese istanbul constantinople" }, { "id": 104, "action": "Joseph of Leonessa", "tags": "joseph leonessa", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 105, "action": "Turkey, Capuchin Missions To", "tags": "missions capuchin turkey to" }, { "id": 106, "action": "Andrew Corsini", "tags": "corsini andrew", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 107, "action": "Civil Disorder, Riot (Against)", "tags": "against civil disorder riot" } ], [ { "id": 108, "action": "Gundisalvus Garcia", "tags": "garcia gundisalvus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 109, "action": "Bombay, India", "tags": "bombay india" } ], [ { "id": 110, "action": "Peter Baptist", "tags": "peter baptist", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 111, "action": "Japan", "tags": "japan" } ], null, [ { "id": 112, "action": "Jerome Emiliani", "tags": "jerome emiliani", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 113, "action": "Abandoned Children; Orphans; Scripture Scholars", "tags": "scholars children abandoned orphans scripture" }, { "id": 114, "action": "Cuthman", "tags": "cuthman", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 115, "action": "Bachelors; Poverty Or Impoverishment, Protection Against", "tags": "poverty impoverishment bachelors" } ], [ { "id": 116, "action": "Apollonia", "tags": "apollonia", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 117, "action": "Dentists; Toothache", "tags": "dentists toothache" }, { "id": 118, "action": "Raynald of Nocera", "tags": "raynald nocera", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 119, "action": "Nocera, Italy", "tags": "italy nocera" } ], [ { "id": 120, "action": "Scholastica", "tags": "scholastica", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 121, "action": "Convulsive Children; Nuns", "tags": "convulsive children nuns" } ], null, [ { "id": 122, "action": "Julian the Hospitaller", "tags": "hospitaller julian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 123, "action": "Carnival Workers, Carnies; Childless People; Circus Workers; Ferrymen; Fiddlers, Fiddle Players; Hospitality, Hospitallers; Jugglers; Knights; Murderers; To Obtain Lodgings While Travelling; Wandering Musicians, Minstrels", "tags": "knights childless obtain musicians travelling lodgings carnies jugglers fiddle people hospitality circus minstrels carnival while fiddlers workers murderers wandering hospitallers players ferrymen" } ], [ { "id": 124, "action": "Modomnoc", "tags": "modomnoc", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 125, "action": "Bees", "tags": "bees" } ], [ { "id": 126, "action": "Cyril and Methodius", "tags": "cyril methodius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 127, "action": "Bohemia; Bulgaria; Czechoslovakia; Ecumenists, Unity Of The Eastern And Western Churches; Europe; Moravia; Unity Of The Eastern And Western Churches; Yugoslavia", "tags": "churches ecumenists bohemia bulgaria eastern moravia czechoslovakia unity yugoslavia europe western" }, { "id": 128, "action": "Valentine", "tags": "valentine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 129, "action": "Affianced Couples, Betrothed Couples, Engaged Couples; Fainting, Faintness; Greeting Card Manufacturers; Greetings; Kidney Disease, Protection Against; Lovers", "tags": "affianced manufacturers greeting couples engaged lovers greetings betrothed disease kidney card fainting faintness" }, { "id": 130, "action": "Maro", "tags": "maro", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 131, "action": "Maronites, Maronite Christians; Volperino, Italy", "tags": "christians maronite italy volperino maronites" } ], [ { "id": 132, "action": "Berach", "tags": "berach", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 133, "action": "Kilbarry, Ireland", "tags": "ireland kilbarry" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 134, "action": "Simon the Apostle", "tags": "simon apostle", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 135, "action": "Curriers", "tags": "curriers" } ], [ { "id": 136, "action": "Barbatus of Benevento", "tags": "barbatus benevento", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 137, "action": "Benevento, Italy", "tags": "benevento italy" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 138, "action": "Margaret of Cortona", "tags": "cortona margaret", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 139, "action": "Homeless People, Hoboes, Tramps; Loss Of Parents, Mother, Father; Penitent Women; Reformed Prostitutes; Sexual Temptation; Single Laywomen; Temptations, Protection Against", "tags": "single people reformed parents tramps penitent hoboes laywomen prostitutes women sexual temptation temptations mother homeless loss" } ], [ { "id": 140, "action": "Polycarp of Smyrna", "tags": "smyrna polycarp", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 141, "action": "Earaches, Protection Against", "tags": "earaches" }, { "id": 142, "action": "Polycarp", "tags": "polycarp", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 143, "action": "Dysentery", "tags": "dysentery" } ], null, [ { "id": 144, "action": "Walburga", "tags": "walburga", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 145, "action": "Antwerp, Belgium; Coughs; Against; Dog Bites; Famine, Protection Against; Gronigen, Nederlands; Harvests; Oudenarde, Belgium; Zutphen, Nederlands", "tags": "zutphen antwerp dog famine coughs belgium oudenarde gronigen nederlands harvests bites" }, { "id": 146, "action": "Caesarius of Nanzianzen", "tags": "nanzianzen caesarius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 147, "action": "Bachelors", "tags": "bachelors" } ], null, [ { "id": 148, "action": "Anne Line", "tags": "anne line", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 149, "action": "Childless People; Converts", "tags": "converts childless people" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 150, "action": "Charles the Good", "tags": "charles good", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 151, "action": "Counts; Crusaders", "tags": "counts crusaders" } ], [ { "id": 152, "action": "Anselm of Nonantola", "tags": "anselm nonantola", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 153, "action": "Nonantola, Italy", "tags": "nonantola italy" } ], [ { "id": 154, "action": "Casimir", "tags": "casimir", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 155, "action": "Lithuania; Poland; Russia; Young People, Lithuanian", "tags": "people lithuanian russia poland young lithuania" }, { "id": 156, "action": "Casimir of Poland", "tags": "poland casimir", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 157, "action": "Bachelors; Kings; Princes", "tags": "kings bachelors princes" } ], [ { "id": 158, "action": "Piran", "tags": "piran", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 159, "action": "Cornwall, England; Tin Miners", "tags": "tin england cornwall miners" } ], null, [ { "id": 160, "action": "Drausinus", "tags": "drausinus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 161, "action": "Champions; Invincible People; To Be Invincible; Enemy Plots, Protection Against", "tags": "be people invincible enemy plots champions" }, { "id": 162, "action": "Agnes of Rome", "tags": "rome agnes", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 163, "action": "Chastity, Invoked For", "tags": "chastity invoked for" } ], [ { "id": 164, "action": "John of God", "tags": "john god", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 165, "action": "Alcoholism; Book Trade; Bookbinders; Booksellers; Dying People, Invoked By; Fire Fighters; Heart Patients; Hospital Workers; Hospitals; Nurses; Printers; Sick; Tultepac, Mexico", "tags": "booksellers dying printers sick fighters trade heart alcoholism mexico book people patients tultepac hospitals workers hospital fire bookbinders nurses" } ], [ { "id": 166, "action": "Catherine of Bologna", "tags": "bologna catherine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 167, "action": "Art; Artists; Liberal Arts; Temptations, Protection Against", "tags": "arts liberal temptations artists art" }, { "id": 168, "action": "Isberga", "tags": "isberga", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 169, "action": "Artois Region", "tags": "artois region" }, { "id": 170, "action": "Frances of Rome", "tags": "rome frances", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 171, "action": "Automobile Drivers, Automobilists, Motorists; Death Of Children; Lay People, Laity; Motorists; Roman Housewives; Widows", "tags": "roman people death widows automobile motorists children lay laity drivers housewives automobilists" } ], null, [ { "id": 172, "action": "Eulogius of Cordoba", "tags": "eulogius cordoba", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 173, "action": "Coppersmiths", "tags": "coppersmiths" } ], [ { "id": 174, "action": "Mura McFeredach", "tags": "mura mcferedach", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 175, "action": "Fahan, Ireland; The O'Neill Clan", "tags": "clan o'neill fahan ireland" } ], null, [ { "id": 176, "action": "Matilda", "tags": "matilda", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 177, "action": "Disappointing Children; Queens; Sceond Marriages", "tags": "sceond children marriages queens disappointing" } ], [ { "id": 178, "action": "Louise de Marillac", "tags": "louise de marillac", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 179, "action": "Disappointing Children; Loss Of Parents, Mother, Father; Social Workers", "tags": "parents social workers children mother loss disappointing" } ], null, [ { "id": 180, "action": "Joseph of Arimathea", "tags": "joseph arimathea", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 181, "action": "Cemetery Keepers, Or Caretakers; Coffin-Bearers; Funeral Directors; Gravediggers; Pallbearers; Tin Miners; Tin Smiths; Tinsmiths", "tags": "tinsmiths cemetery gravediggers directors coffin-bearers tin miners caretakers funeral pallbearers keepers smiths" }, { "id": 182, "action": "Agnes of Rome", "tags": "rome agnes", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 183, "action": "Colegio Capranica Seminary Of Rome", "tags": "rome capranica colegio seminary" }, { "id": 184, "action": "Patrick", "tags": "patrick", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 185, "action": "Archdiocese Of Boston, Massachusetts, Usa; Archdiocese Of New York, New York, Usa; Diocese Of Burlington, Vermont, Usa; Diocese Of Corpus Christi, Texas, Usa; Diocese Of Fort Worth, Texas, Usa; Diocese Of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Usa; Diocese Of Norwich, Connecticut, Usa; Diocese Of Portland, Maine, Usa; Diocese Of Sacramento, California, Usa; Engineers; Excluded People; Fear Of Snakes; Ireland; Nigeria; Snake Bites; Snakes, Protection Against", "tags": "california christi worth connecticut ireland snake massachusetts portland excluded bites pennsylvania norwich vermont harrisburg people texas nigeria boston new usa york maine engineers fear arch corpus snakes sacramento fort burlington" }, { "id": 186, "action": "Gertrude of Nivelles", "tags": "nivelles gertrude", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 187, "action": "Accomodations; Cats; Fear Of Mice Or Rats; Protection Against Rats; The Recently Dead; To Obtain Lodgings While Travelling", "tags": "rats recently cats obtain while mice accomodations fear dead travelling lodgings" }, { "id": 188, "action": "Giles", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 189, "action": "Fear Of Night", "tags": "night fear" } ], [ { "id": 190, "action": "Anselm of Lucca, the Younger", "tags": "anselm lucca younger", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 191, "action": "Mantua, Italy", "tags": "mantua italy" } ], [ { "id": 192, "action": "Joseph", "tags": "joseph", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 193, "action": "Archdiocese Of Louisville, Kentucky, Usa; Austria; Belgium; Bohemia; Bursars; Cab Drivers; Cabinetmakers; Canada; Carpenters; Church; Communism, Opposition To; Confectioners; Council Of Vatican Ii; Croatia; Diocese Of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Usa; Diocese Of Manchester, New Hampshire, Usa; Diocese Of Nashville, Tennessee, Usa; Diocese Of San Jose, California, Usa; Diocese Of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, Usa; Doubters; Dying; Dying People, Invoked By; Engineers; Families; Fathers; Hesitation, Protection Against; Holy Death; House Hunters Or Sellers; House Hunting; Interior Souls; Ions, Chinese; Joiners; Korea; Married Couples; Mexico; Oblates Of Saint Joseph; Peru; Pioneers; Province Of Carinthia; Province Of Styria, Austria; Province Of Tyrol, Austria; Russia; Social Justice; Travelers; Unborn Children; Universal Church; Vietnam; Workers", "tags": "louisiana church dying california canada children universal croatia joiners ii louisville vatican tyrol jose souls pioneers chinese council carpenters west bohemia holy doubters carinthia couples travelers interior sellers wheeling-charleston drivers nashville korea opposition bursars peru manchester joseph fathers cabinetmakers married mexico families social justice people cab unborn vietnam communism hesitation baton styria new usa engineers rouge hunters hunting tennessee arch belgium san ions death austria workers house oblates russia province hampshire confectioners virginia kentucky" } ], [ { "id": 194, "action": "Cuthbert", "tags": "cuthbert", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 195, "action": "Diocese Of Hexham And Newcastle, England; Durham, England", "tags": "hexham england durham newcastle" } ], [ { "id": 196, "action": "Nicholas von Flue", "tags": "nicholas flue von", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 197, "action": "Councilmen", "tags": "councilmen" } ], null, null, null, [ { "id": 198, "action": "Dismas", "tags": "dismas", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 199, "action": "Condemned Criminals; Prisoners; Prisoners, Imprisonment, Captives, Imprisoned People; Reformed Thieves; Theft, Thieves; Undertakers", "tags": "captives people reformed imprisonment theft undertakers condemned criminals thieves imprisoned prisoners" } ], [ { "id": 200, "action": "Braulio", "tags": "braulio", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 201, "action": "Aragon, Spain", "tags": "aragon spain" }, { "id": 202, "action": "Margaret of Clitherow", "tags": "margaret clitherow", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 203, "action": "Businesswomen", "tags": "businesswomen" }, { "id": 204, "action": "Mochelloc", "tags": "mochelloc", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 205, "action": "Kilmallock, Limerick, Ireland; Storms At Sea", "tags": "storms ireland limerick sea kilmallock" } ], [ { "id": 206, "action": "Rupert", "tags": "rupert", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 207, "action": "City Of Salzburg, Austria; Province Of Salzburg, Austria", "tags": "province city salzburg austria" } ], null, [ { "id": 208, "action": "Armogastes", "tags": "armogastes", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 209, "action": "Poverty Or Impoverishment, Protection Against", "tags": "impoverishment poverty" } ], null, null, null, [ { "id": 210, "action": "Francis of Paola", "tags": "francis paola", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 211, "action": "Naval Officers; Navigators; Peace; Invoked As Peacemaker; Pilots, Maritime; Sailors; Sea, Those Associated With The", "tags": "officers naval as navigators maritime sea those sailors pilots peacemaker invoked peace the associated" }, { "id": 212, "action": "Ia", "tags": "ia", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 213, "action": "Saint Ives, Cornwall", "tags": "saint cornwall ives" } ], [ { "id": 214, "action": "Richard of Chichester", "tags": "richard chichester", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 215, "action": "Coachmen", "tags": "coachmen" } ], [ { "id": 216, "action": "Benedict the Black", "tags": "benedict black", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 217, "action": "Black Missions, African Missions; Black People, Negroes, African-Americans; Palermo, Italy", "tags": "palermo people missions italy black african african-americans negroes" }, { "id": 218, "action": "Isidore of Seville", "tags": "seville isidore", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 219, "action": "Computers, Computer Users, Computer Technicians, Pc Technicians; The Internet", "tags": "users computers technicians pc computer internet" } ], [ { "id": 220, "action": "Vincent Ferrer", "tags": "ferrer vincent", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 221, "action": "Brick Makers; Builders; Hospital Workers; Pavement Workers; Plumbers", "tags": "builders workers brick makers plumbers hospital pavement" } ], null, [ { "id": 222, "action": "John Baptist de la Salle", "tags": "salle baptist de la john", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 223, "action": "Abuse Victims; School Principals, Schoolmasters; School Teachers; Teachers", "tags": "schoolmasters teachers principals school victims abuse" } ], [ { "id": 224, "action": "Julia of Billiart", "tags": "billiart julia", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 225, "action": "Poverty Or Impoverishment, Protection Against", "tags": "impoverishment poverty" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 226, "action": "Godeberta", "tags": "godeberta", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 227, "action": "Drought Relief; Epidemics", "tags": "drought epidemics relief" }, { "id": 228, "action": "Gemma Galgani", "tags": "galgani gemma", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 229, "action": "Loss Of Parents, Mother, Father; Temptations, Protection Against", "tags": "mother temptations parents loss" }, { "id": 230, "action": "Stanislaus of Cracow", "tags": "stanislaus cracow", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 231, "action": "Archdiocese Of Cracow Poland", "tags": "cracow poland arch" } ], null, null, null, null, [ { "id": 232, "action": "Drogo", "tags": "drogo", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 233, "action": "Baume-Les-Messieurs; Broken Bones; Cattle; Coffee House Owners Or Keepers; Fleury-Sur-Loire; Gall Stones; Hernia; Kidney Disease, Protection Against; Mute People, Muteness, Dumbness; Ruptures, Protection Against; Sheep; Unattractive People", "tags": "baume-les-messieurs fleury-sur-loire kidney coffee sheep keepers unattractive owners gall ruptures muteness people hernia stones dumbness broken house mute disease bones cattle" }, { "id": 234, "action": "Bernadette of Lourdes", "tags": "bernadette lourdes", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 235, "action": "Lourdes; People Ridiculed For Their Piety; Poverty Or Impoverishment, Protection Against; Shepherdesses", "tags": "people ridiculed shepherdesses impoverishment poverty lourdes piety" }, { "id": 236, "action": "Benedict Joseph Labre", "tags": "joseph benedict labre", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 237, "action": "Homeless People, Hoboes, Tramps; People Rejected By Religious Orders", "tags": "orders people tramps hoboes rejected religious homeless by" } ], null, [ { "id": 238, "action": "Gebuinus", "tags": "gebuinus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 239, "action": "Cathedral-Chapter Of Langres", "tags": "langres cathedral-chapter" } ], [ { "id": 240, "action": "Expeditus", "tags": "expeditus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 241, "action": "Expeditious Or Prompt Solutions; Against Procrastination; Navigators", "tags": "navigators procrastination solutions prompt expeditious" } ], null, [ { "id": 242, "action": "Conrad of Parzham", "tags": "conrad parzham", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 243, "action": "Capuchin-Franciscan Province Of Mid-America", "tags": "province mid-america capuchin-franciscan" }, { "id": 244, "action": "Beuno", "tags": "beuno", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 245, "action": "Children, Sick; Diseased Cattle, Protection Against; Sick Animals", "tags": "diseased children animals cattle sick" } ], [ { "id": 246, "action": "Theodore of Sykeon", "tags": "theodore sykeon", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 247, "action": "For Rain", "tags": "for rain" } ], [ { "id": 248, "action": "George", "tags": "george", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 249, "action": "Aragon, Spain; Armourers; Boy Scouts; Butchers; Catalonia; Cavalry, Italian; Chivalry; England; Ferrara, Italy; Genoa, Italy; Georgia, Former Ussr; Gozo; Greece; Herpes; Horse Men, Riders, Equestrians; Istanbul (Constantinople); Istanbul, Turkey; Constantinople; Knights; Order Of The Garter; Palestinian Christians; Portugal; Saddlers, Saddlemakers; Soldiers; Syphilis; Teutonic Order; Order Of Teutonic Knights", "tags": "herpes italy knights greece istanbul palestinian teutonic riders georgia butchers soldiers horse syphilis ferrara italian armourers men constantinople chivalry saddlemakers gozo england christians equestrians turkey former aragon order scouts cavalry genoa catalonia saddlers garter ussr boy spain portugal" }, { "id": 250, "action": "Ibar", "tags": "ibar", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 251, "action": "Begerin, Ireland", "tags": "begerin ireland" }, { "id": 252, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 253, "action": "Greek Catholic Church In America", "tags": "catholic america church greek" } ], null, [ { "id": 254, "action": "Mark", "tags": "mark", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 255, "action": "Cattle Breeders; Egypt; Notaries; Teenagers (Esp. Girls); Venice", "tags": "teenagers girls egypt venice notaries cattle esp. breeders" }, { "id": 256, "action": "Mark the Evangelist", "tags": "evangelist mark", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 257, "action": "Attorneys, Lawyers, Barristers; Diocese Of Venice, Florida, Usa; Impenitence, Protection Against; Prisoners, Imprisonment, Captives, Imprisoned People; Scrofulous Diseases, Struma", "tags": "captives attorneys people imprisonment scrofulous venice florida diseases usa imprisoned barristers impenitence prisoners lawyers struma" }, { "id": 258, "action": "Mark the Apostle", "tags": "apostle mark", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 259, "action": "Insect Bites; Lions", "tags": "insect lions bites" } ], null, [ { "id": 260, "action": "Adelelmus", "tags": "adelelmus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 261, "action": "Burgos, Spain; Domestic Workers, Maids, Butlers, Manservants, Servants", "tags": "maids butlers workers servants domestic burgos manservants spain" }, { "id": 262, "action": "Zita", "tags": "zita", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 263, "action": "Domestic Workers; Domestic Workers, Maids, Butlers, Manservants, Servants; Homemakers, Housewives, Housekeepers; Lost Keys, Against Losing Keys; Maids; Servants (Women)", "tags": "housekeepers maids losing workers servants domestic women keys manservants homemakers housewives butlers lost" }, { "id": 264, "action": "Maughold", "tags": "maughold", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 265, "action": "Isle Of Man", "tags": "man isle" } ], [ { "id": 266, "action": "Peter Chanel", "tags": "peter chanel", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 267, "action": "Oceania", "tags": "oceania" }, { "id": 268, "action": "Pollio", "tags": "pollio", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 269, "action": "Lectors", "tags": "lectors" } ], [ { "id": 270, "action": "Catherine of Siena", "tags": "siena catherine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 271, "action": "Fire Prevention; Italy; Miscarriages, Protection Against; Nurses, Italian; Nursing Services; People Ridiculed For Their Piety; Sexual Temptation; Siena Italy; Temptations, Protection Against", "tags": "siena prevention services people italy ridiculed nursing temptation sexual temptations piety miscarriages fire nurses italian" }, { "id": 272, "action": "Catherine of Sweden", "tags": "sweden catherine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 273, "action": "Miscarriages, Protection Against", "tags": "miscarriages" }, { "id": 274, "action": "Peter of Verona", "tags": "verona peter", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 275, "action": "Inquisitors", "tags": "inquisitors" } ], [ { "id": 276, "action": "Adjutor", "tags": "adjutor", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 277, "action": "Drowning, Death Or Danger From; Swimmers; Yachtsmen", "tags": "yachtsmen death danger drowning swimmers from" } ], [ { "id": 278, "action": "Peregrine Laziosi", "tags": "laziosi peregrine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 279, "action": "Aids Patients; Breast Cancer; Cancer Victims; Open Sores", "tags": "open breast patients aids cancer victims sores" }, { "id": 280, "action": "Brieuc", "tags": "brieuc", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 281, "action": "Purse Makers", "tags": "purse makers" } ], null, [ { "id": 282, "action": "Philip of Zell", "tags": "zell philip", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 283, "action": "Babies", "tags": "babies" }, { "id": 284, "action": "James the Lesser, Apostle", "tags": "apostle james lesser", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 285, "action": "Dying; Dying People, Invoked By; Fullers; Hatmakers, Hatters, Milliners", "tags": "people fullers hatmakers dying hatters milliners" }, { "id": 286, "action": "Philip and James, Apostles", "tags": "apostles james philip", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 287, "action": "Uruguay", "tags": "uruguay" } ], [ { "id": 288, "action": "Judas Cyriacus", "tags": "judas cyriacus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 289, "action": "Ancona, Italy", "tags": "ancona italy" }, { "id": 290, "action": "Florian", "tags": "florian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 291, "action": "Austria; Battle, Protection Against; Chimney Sweeps; Fire Fighters; Flood; Harvests; Linz, Austria; Poland; Soap Boilers; Water, Danger From", "tags": "chimney sweeps soap austria boilers danger battle flood water linz poland from fire harvests fighters" }, { "id": 292, "action": "Pelagia of Antioch", "tags": "pelagia antioch", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 293, "action": "Sexual Temptation", "tags": "temptation sexual" }, { "id": 294, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 295, "action": "Souls In Purgatory", "tags": "souls purgatory" } ], [ { "id": 296, "action": "Hydroc", "tags": "hydroc", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 297, "action": "Lanhydroc, Cornwall", "tags": "cornwall lanhydroc" } ], [ { "id": 298, "action": "Dominic Savio", "tags": "savio dominic", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 299, "action": "Boys, Young; Children'S Choir; Choir Boys; Choirboys, Choirs; Juvenile Delinquents; Pueri Cantores; Pueri Cantors", "tags": "choir cantores cantors children choirs juvenile boys choirboys pueri young delinquents" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 300, "action": "Gorfor", "tags": "gorfor", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 301, "action": "Llanover, Gwent, Wales", "tags": "wales gwent llanover" } ], [ { "id": 302, "action": "John of Avila", "tags": "john avila", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 303, "action": "Andalusia; Clergy, Diocesan; Diocesan Priests; Priests (Spanish, Secular); Spain; Spanish Secular Clergy", "tags": "diocesan priests clergy secular spanish andalusia spain" }, { "id": 304, "action": "Solange", "tags": "solange", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 305, "action": "Drought Relief; Shepherdesses", "tags": "drought relief shepherdesses" } ], null, [ { "id": 306, "action": "Philip of Agirone", "tags": "agirone philip", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 307, "action": "Agirone, Sicily; United States Army Special Forces", "tags": "sicily agirone special united forces states army" }, { "id": 308, "action": "Pancras", "tags": "pancras", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 309, "action": "Cramps, Protection Against; Oaths; Perjury, Protection Against; Treaties", "tags": "treaties perjury cramps oaths" } ], [ { "id": 310, "action": "Servatus", "tags": "servatus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 311, "action": "Against Mice, Protection Against; Foot Problems; Feet Problems; Leg Disease Or Trouble; Protection Against Rats; Rheumatoid Sufferers; Rheumatism, Arthritis; Success", "tags": "rats sufferers trouble success leg feet foot arthritis against mice disease rheumatism rheumatoid problems" } ], [ { "id": 312, "action": "Matthias the Apostle", "tags": "matthias apostle", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 313, "action": "Diocese Of Great Falls-Billings, Montana, Usa", "tags": "montana great falls-billings usa" }, { "id": 314, "action": "Matthias", "tags": "matthias", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 315, "action": "Reformed Alcoholics; Smallpox", "tags": "alcoholics reformed smallpox" } ], [ { "id": 316, "action": "Dymphna", "tags": "dymphna", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 317, "action": "Asylums (For The Mentally Ill); Craftsmen And Women; Diabolical Possession; Diseases, Nervous; Epilepsy; Family Happiness Or Harmony; Illness (Mental); Incest Victims; Insanity; Loss Of Parents, Mother, Father; Martyrs, Murdered As Confessors Of The Faith Or For Moral Integrity; Mental Health Professionals, Caregivers, Psychiatrists, Therapists; Mentally Ill; Nervous Diseases; Neurological Disorders; Nurses Of Mentally Ill; Possession (By The Devil); Princesses; Rape Victims; Runaways; Sleepwalkers", "tags": "runaways craftsmen disorders faith neurological diseases diabolical sleepwalkers psychiatrists insanity family mother ill epilepsy loss devil illness confessors nervous rape therapists murdered princesses happiness asylums for as moral possession harmony mentally health martyrs mental by parents integrity incest professionals caregivers women victims nurses" }, { "id": 318, "action": "Hallvard", "tags": "hallvard", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 319, "action": "Innocence; Oslo, Norway; Virtue", "tags": "virtue norway oslo innocence" } ], [ { "id": 320, "action": "John Nepomucene", "tags": "john nepomucene", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 321, "action": "Bohemia; Bridge Builders; Bridges; Confessions, To Make A Good One; Confessors; Czechoslovakia; Detraction; Discretion; Indiscretions, Protection Against; Running Water; Silence; Slander", "tags": "make bohemia builders discretion slander bridge a indiscretions water running confessors czechoslovakia one detraction confessions bridges silence good" }, { "id": 322, "action": "Simon Stock", "tags": "simon stock", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 323, "action": "Bordeaux, France", "tags": "france bordeaux" }, { "id": 324, "action": "Adam", "tags": "adam", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 325, "action": "Gardeners; Horticulturalists", "tags": "horticulturalists gardeners" }, { "id": 326, "action": "Honorius of Amiens", "tags": "amiens honorius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 327, "action": "Bakers Of Holy Wafers; Confectioners; Corn Chandlers; Flour Merchants; Oil Refiners; Pastry Chefs", "tags": "chandlers merchants wafers bakers refiners chefs pastry flour corn confectioners holy oil" }, { "id": 328, "action": "Ubald Baldassini", "tags": "ubald baldassini", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 329, "action": "Children, Sick; Migraine; Against Migraines; Migraine Sufferers; Neuralgia", "tags": "sufferers migraine children neuralgia migraines sick" }, { "id": 330, "action": "Marcellus", "tags": "marcellus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 331, "action": "Conscientious Objectors", "tags": "conscientious objectors" } ], [ { "id": 332, "action": "Paschal Baylon", "tags": "baylon paschal", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 333, "action": "Cooks, Chefs; Eucharist, The; Eucharistic Congresses And Organizations; Eucharistic Guilds; Shepherds; Women, Italian", "tags": "eucharist eucharistic congresses cooks chefs women shepherds guilds organizations italian" } ], [ { "id": 334, "action": "Eric of Sweden", "tags": "sweden eric", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 335, "action": "Sweden", "tags": "sweden" } ], [ { "id": 336, "action": "Dunstan", "tags": "dunstan", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 337, "action": "Armourers; Blacksmiths; Goldsmiths; Locksmiths; Music, Musicians", "tags": "locksmiths music musicians blacksmiths goldsmiths armourers" }, { "id": 338, "action": "Pudentiana", "tags": "pudentiana", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 339, "action": "Philosophers", "tags": "philosophers" }, { "id": 340, "action": "Giles", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 341, "action": "Blacksmiths", "tags": "blacksmiths" } ], [ { "id": 342, "action": "Bernardine of Siena", "tags": "siena bernardine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 343, "action": "Advertisers, Advertising; Diocese Of San Bernardino, California, Usa; Gambling Addicts; Compulsive Gambling; Uncontrolled Gambling; Hoarseness; Hoarseness, Protection Against; Italy; Lungs; Chest; Respiratory Problems; Public Relations", "tags": "bernardino san relations uncontrolled advertisers italy california advertising public lungs addicts compulsive usa gambling chest hoarseness respiratory problems" }, { "id": 344, "action": "Basilissa", "tags": "basilissa", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 345, "action": "Breast-Feeding; Chilblain; Chilblains, Protection Against; Nursing Mothers", "tags": "chilblains nursing mothers chilblain breast-feeding" }, { "id": 346, "action": "Giles", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 347, "action": "Breast-Feeding; Nursing Mothers", "tags": "nursing mothers breast-feeding" }, { "id": 348, "action": "Theodore of Pavia", "tags": "theodore pavia", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 349, "action": "Pavia, Italy", "tags": "italy pavia" } ], [ { "id": 350, "action": "Zeno of Verona", "tags": "verona zeno", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 351, "action": "Children Learning To Speak Or Talk; Children Learning To Walk", "tags": "speak children talk walk learning" }, { "id": 352, "action": "Eugene de Mazenod", "tags": "mazenod de eugene", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 353, "action": "Dysfunctional Families", "tags": "families dysfunctional" } ], [ { "id": 354, "action": "Rita of Cascia", "tags": "cascia rita", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 355, "action": "Children, Desire For; Desperate Situations; Desperate, Forgotten, Impossible Or Lost Causes Or Situations; Hopeless (Or Desperate) Cases; Impossible Cases; Infertility; Parenthood; Physical Spouse Abuse; Victims Of Spouse Abuse (Physical), Protection Against; Wounds", "tags": "impossible or infertility children forgotten wounds physical spouse abuse causes situations cases parenthood victims desperate desire hopeless lost" }, { "id": 356, "action": "Giles", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 357, "action": "Physically Disabled", "tags": "disabled physically" } ], [ { "id": 358, "action": "William of Rochester", "tags": "rochester william", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 359, "action": "Adopted Children", "tags": "adopted children" } ], null, [ { "id": 360, "action": "Genistus", "tags": "genistus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 361, "action": "Aynac, France", "tags": "france aynac" }, { "id": 362, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 363, "action": "Babies", "tags": "babies" }, { "id": 364, "action": "Zenobius", "tags": "zenobius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 365, "action": "Florence, Italy", "tags": "florence italy" }, { "id": 366, "action": "Gerard of Lunel", "tags": "gerard lunel", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 367, "action": "Montesanto, Italy", "tags": "montesanto italy" }, { "id": 368, "action": "Bede the Venerable", "tags": "bede venerable", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 369, "action": "Lectors", "tags": "lectors" } ], [ { "id": 370, "action": "Philip Neri", "tags": "neri philip", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 371, "action": "Rome", "tags": "rome" } ], null, [ { "id": 372, "action": "Bernard of Montjoux (or Menthon)", "tags": "or montjoux bernard menthon", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 373, "action": "Alpinists; Mountaineers, Mountain Climbers", "tags": "mountaineers alpinists climbers mountain" }, { "id": 374, "action": "Bernard of Montjoux", "tags": "montjoux bernard", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 375, "action": "Skiers", "tags": "skiers" } ], null, [ { "id": 376, "action": "Ferdinand III of Castile", "tags": "ferdinand castile iii", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 377, "action": "Authority, Persons In; Engineers; Engineers, Spanish Army; Governors; Magistrates; Parents Of Large Families; Poor; Poor People, Paupers; Prisoners; Prisoners, Imprisonment, Captives, Imprisoned People; Rulers; Seville, Spain; Tertiaries", "tags": "persons captives rulers imprisoned spanish magistrates families seville people poor tertiaries engineers army prisoners authority parents imprisonment paupers governors large spain" }, { "id": 378, "action": "Joan of Arc", "tags": "arc joan", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 379, "action": "France; Martyrs, Murdered As Confessors Of The Faith Or For Moral Integrity; Opposition Of Church Authorities; Prisoners, Imprisonment, Captives, Imprisoned People; Soldiers, American; Soldiers, French; Women Appointed For Voluntary Emergency Services (Waves); Women'S Army Corps, Wacs", "tags": "captives appointed church faith voluntary imprisoned american soldiers france confessors opposition wacs murdered emergency services as people corps moral martyrs french waves army prisoners imprisonment integrity women authorities" }, { "id": 380, "action": "Walstan", "tags": "walstan", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 381, "action": "Agricultural Workers; Farm Workers; Farmers; Field Hands; Field Workers; Husbandmen; Ranchers", "tags": "field husbandmen farm farmers workers agricultural ranchers hands" }, { "id": 382, "action": "Giles", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 383, "action": "Poor People, Paupers; Woods, Forests, Woodlands", "tags": "people poor woods woodlands forests paupers" } ], [ { "id": 384, "action": "Petronilla", "tags": "petronilla", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 385, "action": "Mountain Travellers; Treaties Between The Popes And Frankish Emperors", "tags": "between mountain popes treaties emperors frankish travellers" } ], [ { "id": 386, "action": "Justin Martyr", "tags": "justin martyr", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 387, "action": "Apologists; Clowns; Lecturers", "tags": "lecturers clowns apologists" }, { "id": 388, "action": "Giles", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 389, "action": "Lepers", "tags": "lepers" } ], [ { "id": 390, "action": "Erasmus (Elmo)", "tags": "elmo erasmus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 391, "action": "Abdominal Pains; Ammunition/Ordnance /Explosive Workers; Appendicitis; Birth Pains; Childbirth; Childhood Intestinal Diseases; Colic; Danger At Sea; Navigators; Sailors; Seasickness; Stomach Disorders; Women In Labor", "tags": "labor disorders diseases appendicitis seasickness stomach ammunition/ordnance navigators danger abdominal sea childhood sailors intestinal workers childbirth birth pains colic /explosive women" }, { "id": 392, "action": "Catherine of Sweden", "tags": "sweden catherine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 393, "action": "Abortion, Protection Against", "tags": "abortion" } ], [ { "id": 394, "action": "Charles Lwanga", "tags": "charles lwanga", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 395, "action": "African Catholic Youth Action; Converts; Torture Victims; Young People, African", "tags": "people catholic torture african converts youth young victims action" }, { "id": 396, "action": "Kevin", "tags": "kevin", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 397, "action": "Archdiocese Of Dublin, Ireland; Blackbirds; Glendalough, Ireland", "tags": "blackbirds ireland dublin glendalough arch" }, { "id": 398, "action": "Morand", "tags": "morand", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 399, "action": "Vintners", "tags": "vintners" } ], [ { "id": 400, "action": "Clotilde", "tags": "clotilde", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 401, "action": "Adopted Children; Death Of Children; Disappointing Children; Exiles, People In Exile; Parents Of Large Families; Queens", "tags": "families people exile death parents children exiles queens adopted large disappointing" } ], null, [ { "id": 402, "action": "Jarlath", "tags": "jarlath", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 403, "action": "Archdiocese Of Tuam, Ireland", "tags": "tuam arch ireland" }, { "id": 404, "action": "Gotteschalk", "tags": "gotteschalk", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 405, "action": "Linguists; Lost Vocations; Princes", "tags": "lost princes vocations linguists" } ], null, [ { "id": 406, "action": "Medard", "tags": "medard", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 407, "action": "Bad Weather, Protection Against", "tags": "bad weather" } ], [ { "id": 408, "action": "Anne Marie Taigi", "tags": "anne marie taigi", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 409, "action": "Verbal Spouse Abuse; Victims Of Spouse Abuse (Verbal), Protection Against", "tags": "victims spouse abuse verbal" } ], [ { "id": 410, "action": "Maximus of Aquila", "tags": "aquila maximus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 411, "action": "Aquila, Italy", "tags": "aquila italy" } ], [ { "id": 412, "action": "Barnabas, Apostle", "tags": "barnabas apostle", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 413, "action": "Cyprus", "tags": "cyprus" } ], [ { "id": 414, "action": "John of Sahagun", "tags": "sahagun john", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 415, "action": "Salamanca, Spain", "tags": "salamanca spain" } ], [ { "id": 416, "action": "Anthony of Padua", "tags": "anthony padua", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 417, "action": "American Indians, Native Americans; Amputees; Asses; Barren Women; Elderly People; Faith In The Blessed Sacrament; Harvests; Lost Articles; Mail; Oppressed People; Poor; Poor People, Paupers; Portugal; Seekers Of Lost Articles; Shipwrecks, Protection Against; Starving Or Starvation; Starving People, Protection Against; Swineherds; Tigua Indians; Travel Hostesses; Travelers", "tags": "travel articles faith tigua shipwrecks american lost travelers elderly americans native starving people blessed sacrament oppressed asses poor swineherds mail amputees barren seekers indians hostesses paupers starvation women harvests portugal" } ], null, [ { "id": 418, "action": "Vitus", "tags": "vitus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 419, "action": "Actors; Animals, Danger From; Comedians; Dancers; Dog Bites; Dogs; Dog Lovers; Dog Fanciers; Epilepsy; Lightning, Protection Against; Marching Auxiliaries; Nervous Diseases; Oversleeping, Protection Against; Saint Vitus'S Dance Nervous Disorder; Rheumatic Chorea; Sicily; Snake Bite Victims; Snake Bites; Storms, Protection Against", "tags": "chorea vitus diseases snake rheumatic epilepsy from danger bite oversleeping animals nervous marching auxiliaries storms dog lightning fanciers dance dancers sicily lovers comedians dogs disorder victims actors bites" }, { "id": 420, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 421, "action": "Mariners", "tags": "mariners" }, { "id": 422, "action": "Germaine Cousin", "tags": "germaine cousin", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 423, "action": "Abuse Victims; Child Abuse Victims; Loss Of Parents, Mother, Father; Peasant Girls, Young Country Girls, Girls Who Live In Rural Areas; Poverty Or Impoverishment, Protection Against; Shepherdesses; Unattractive People", "tags": "live impoverishment mother young loss abuse unattractive child girls shepherdesses poverty people peasant parents country rural who areas victims" } ], [ { "id": 424, "action": "John Francis Regis", "tags": "francis john regis", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 425, "action": "Children, Illegitimate; Marriage; Social Workers", "tags": "marriage workers children illegitimate social" }, { "id": 426, "action": "Benno", "tags": "benno", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 427, "action": "Munich, Germany", "tags": "germany munich" } ], [ { "id": 428, "action": "Botulph", "tags": "botulph", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 429, "action": "Boston, Massachusetts, Usa", "tags": "usa boston massachusetts" }, { "id": 430, "action": "Himerius", "tags": "himerius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 431, "action": "Cremona, Italy", "tags": "cremona italy" }, { "id": 432, "action": "Herve", "tags": "herve", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 433, "action": "Eye Disorders", "tags": "eye disorders" } ], [ { "id": 434, "action": "Calogerus", "tags": "calogerus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 435, "action": "Fragalata, Sicily", "tags": "fragalata sicily" }, { "id": 436, "action": "Elizabeth of Schonau", "tags": "elizabeth schonau", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 437, "action": "Temptations, Protection Against", "tags": "temptations" } ], [ { "id": 438, "action": "Gervase", "tags": "gervase", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 439, "action": "Haymakers", "tags": "haymakers" } ], null, [ { "id": 440, "action": "Aloysius Gonzaga", "tags": "gonzaga aloysius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 441, "action": "Aids Care-Givers; Aids Patients; Catholic Youth; Jesuit Students; Single Laywomen; Students In Jesuit Colleges; Teenagers, Teenage Children; Young People, Christian; Youth", "tags": "single laywomen catholic patients colleges jesuit teenagers teenage people care-givers children aids youth students young christian" }, { "id": 442, "action": "Lazarus", "tags": "lazarus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 443, "action": "Order Of Saint Lazarus", "tags": "order lazarus" }, { "id": 444, "action": "Raymond of Barbastro", "tags": "barbastro raymond", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 445, "action": "City Of Barbastro, Huesca. Aragón. Espańa; Diocese Of Barbastro, Espańa", "tags": "aragón. barbastro city espańa huesca." } ], [ { "id": 446, "action": "Thomas More", "tags": "thomas more", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 447, "action": "Adopted Children; Attorneys, Lawyers, Barristers; Civil Servants; Court Clerks; Diocese Of Arlington, Virginia, Usa; Diocese Of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, Usa; Lawyers; Politicians; Step-Parents; Widowers", "tags": "widowers attorneys politicians step-parents civil children pensacola-tallahassee arlington virginia florida court usa servants barristers adopted lawyers clerks" }, { "id": 448, "action": "Nicetas", "tags": "nicetas", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 449, "action": "Romania", "tags": "romania" }, { "id": 450, "action": "Alban", "tags": "alban", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 451, "action": "Converts; Refugees; Torture Victims", "tags": "converts torture victims refugees" } ], [ { "id": 452, "action": "Joseph Cafasso", "tags": "joseph cafasso", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 453, "action": "Prisoners (Italian); Prisoners, Imprisonment, Captives, Imprisoned People; Prisons; Spiritual Directors Of Clergy", "tags": "captives people imprisoned imprisonment directors clergy prisons spiritual italian prisoners" } ], [ { "id": 454, "action": "John the Baptist", "tags": "john baptist", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 455, "action": "Baptism; Bird Dealers; Convulsions; Convulsive Children; Cutters; Diocese Of Charleston, South Carolina, Usa; Diocese Of Dodge City, Kansas, Usa; Diocese Of Paterson, New Jersey, Usa; Diocese Of Portland, Maine, Usa; Diocese Of Savannah, Georgia, Usa; Farriers, Horseshoe Makers; Florence, Italy; Genoa, Italy; Highways, Motorways; Jordan; Knights Hospitaller; Knights Of Malta, Maltese Knights; Motorways; Penzance, Cornwall, England; Protection Of Lambs; Sassano, Italy; Spas; Spasms; Torino, Italy; Turin, Italy", "tags": "spas italy knights charleston children penzance horseshoe portland florence lambs dodge georgia carolina hospitaller torino city farriers spasms sassano motorways jersey paterson kansas makers malta bird new usa maine convulsions england highways dealers convulsive savannah maltese protection baptism genoa cutters cornwall turin south jordan" } ], [ { "id": 456, "action": "Eurosia", "tags": "eurosia", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 457, "action": "Bad Weather, Protection Against", "tags": "bad weather" } ], null, [ { "id": 458, "action": "Cyril of Alexandria", "tags": "cyril alexandria", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 459, "action": "Alexandria, Egypt", "tags": "egypt alexandria" } ], null, [ { "id": 460, "action": "Paul, Apostle", "tags": "apostle paul", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 461, "action": "Archdiocese Of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Usa; Catholic Action; Catholic Action (In Italy); Cursillo Movement; Diocese Of Birmingham, Alabama; Diocese Of Covington, Kentucky, Usa; Diocese Of Las Vegas, Nevada, Usa; Diocese Of Providence, Rhode Island, Usa; Diocese Of Worcester, Massachusetts, Usa; Evangelists; Greece; Hospital Public Relations; Kavala, Greece; Lay Apostolate; Lay People, Laity; Malta; Missionary Bishops; Poisonous Snakes; Poznan Poland; Rope Makers; Rope Braiders; Saddlers, Saddlemakers; Snake Bites; Snakes, Protection Against; Tent Makers", "tags": "providence poisonous italy covington alabama missionary greece poland snake massachusetts in braiders action rhode relations bites worcester lay pennsylvania rope movement island las apostolate bishops poznan philadelphia catholic people kavala makers laity malta saddlemakers usa tent arch birmingham cursillo snakes public nevada evangelists vegas saddlers hospital kentucky" }, { "id": 462, "action": "Peter the Apostle", "tags": "peter apostle", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 463, "action": "Archdiocese Of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Usa; Bridge Builders; Butchers; Clock Makers; Watch Makers; Diocese Of Jackson, Mississippi, Usa; Diocese Of Las Vegas, Nevada, Usa; Diocese Of Marquette, Michigan, Usa; Diocese Of Providence, Rhode Island, Usa; Diocese Of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Usa; Exeter College, Oxford; Foot Problems; Feet Problems; Frenzy, Protection Against; Harvesters; Locksmiths; Longevity, Long Life; Net Makers; Popes; Poznan Poland; Ship Builders; Shipwrights; Universal Church", "tags": "providence church foot universal poland locksmiths butchers rhode builders clock longevity frenzy pennsylvania watch shipwrights island las net poznan philadelphia popes bridge mississippi feet makers ship marquette usa exeter oxford arch problems college long jackson nevada life harvesters scranton vegas michigan" }, { "id": 464, "action": "Peter", "tags": "peter", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 465, "action": "Fishermen", "tags": "fishermen" } ], [ { "id": 466, "action": "Basilides", "tags": "basilides", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 467, "action": "Prison Officers (Italian)", "tags": "italian officers prison" } ], [ { "id": 468, "action": "Oliver Plunket", "tags": "plunket oliver", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 469, "action": "Urban University, Rome", "tags": "rome university urban" } ], [ { "id": 470, "action": "Bernadine Realino", "tags": "realino bernadine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 471, "action": "Lecce, Italy", "tags": "lecce italy" }, { "id": 472, "action": "Processus and Martinian", "tags": "martinian processus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 473, "action": "Prison Guards, Officers", "tags": "guards officers prison" } ], [ { "id": 474, "action": "Thomas, Apostle", "tags": "thomas apostle", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 475, "action": "Architects; Blind People; Builders; Carpenters; Construction Workers; East Indies; Geometricians; India; Joiners; Masons; Pakistan; Quantity Surveyors; Sri Lanka (Formerly Ceylon); Surveyors", "tags": "pakistan quantity ceylon sri joiners lanka east formerly carpenters builders geometricians construction masons india surveyors people blind indies architects workers" }, { "id": 476, "action": "Phocas the Gardener", "tags": "gardener phocas", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 477, "action": "Agricultural Workers; Farm Workers; Farmers; Field Hands; Field Workers; Husbandmen; Ranchers", "tags": "field husbandmen farm farmers workers agricultural ranchers hands" } ], [ { "id": 478, "action": "Ulric", "tags": "ulric", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 479, "action": "Against Mice, Protection Against; Augsburg; Birth Complications, Protection Against; Dizziness Or Vertigo, Protection Against; Frenzy, Protection Against; Moles, Protection Against", "tags": "complications augsburg dizziness frenzy vertigo against mice birth moles" }, { "id": 480, "action": "Elizabeth of Portugal", "tags": "elizabeth portugal", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 481, "action": "Difficult Marriages; Invoked In Time Of War; Jealousy, Protection Against; Peace; Invoked As Peacemaker; Queens; Tertiaries; Victims Of Adultery Or Unfaithfulness; Victims Of Jealousy", "tags": "invoked as victims unfaithfulness adultery jealousy difficult time marriages queens peacemaker war peace tertiaries" } ], null, [ { "id": 482, "action": "Maria Goretti", "tags": "goretti maria", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 483, "action": "Children Of Mary; Girls; Loss Of Parents, Mother, Father; Teenagers (Esp. Girls); Young People, Students; Youth", "tags": "teenagers girls parents people mary children youth mother young esp. students loss" } ], [ { "id": 484, "action": "Illidius", "tags": "illidius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 485, "action": "Clermont (Formerly Averna), France", "tags": "formerly france averna clermont" } ], [ { "id": 486, "action": "Killian", "tags": "killian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 487, "action": "Bavaria; Diocese Of Wurzburg; Gout; Gout Sufferers, Protection Against; Rheumatoid Sufferers; Rheumatism, Arthritis; Whitewashers", "tags": "sufferers gout bavaria arthritis whitewashers wurzburg rheumatism rheumatoid" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 488, "action": "Benedict", "tags": "benedict", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 489, "action": "Agricultural Workers; Farm Workers; Farmers; Field Hands; Field Workers; Husbandmen; Ranchers; Bachelors; Coppersmiths; Dying People, Invoked By; Erysipelas; Gall Stones; Inflammatory Diseases, Protection Against; Kidney Disease, Protection Against; Monks; Nettle Rash, Protection Against; Poison, Protection Against; Religious, People In Religious Orders; Servants Who Broke Their Masters' Property; Speliologists, Spelunkers, Potholers, Cavers, Cave Scientists; Temptations, Protection Against; Witchcraft, Protection Against", "tags": "potholers dying nettle inflammatory diseases kidney ranchers broke property cave field monks gall agricultural religious witchcraft rash servants bachelors masters' scientists people farm poison cavers stones hands spelunkers erysipelas orders husbandmen farmers speliologists workers coppersmiths disease temptations who" } ], [ { "id": 490, "action": "Veronica", "tags": "veronica", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 491, "action": "Photographers", "tags": "photographers" } ], [ { "id": 492, "action": "Francis Solano", "tags": "francis solano", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 493, "action": "Bolivia", "tags": "bolivia" }, { "id": 494, "action": "Henry II", "tags": "henry ii", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 495, "action": "Childless People; Dukes; Kings; People Rejected By Religious Orders", "tags": "orders people dukes childless rejected religious kings by" } ], [ { "id": 496, "action": "Kateri Tekakwitha", "tags": "tekakwitha kateri", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 497, "action": "Exiles, People In Exile; World Youth Day", "tags": "people exile exiles day youth world" } ], [ { "id": 498, "action": "Plechelm", "tags": "plechelm", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 499, "action": "Holland, The Nederlands, The Netherlands", "tags": "nederlands netherlands holland" }, { "id": 500, "action": "Swithun", "tags": "swithun", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 501, "action": "Stavenger, England; Winchester, England", "tags": "stavenger england winchester" }, { "id": 502, "action": "Bonaventure", "tags": "bonaventure", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 503, "action": "Bowel Disorders", "tags": "bowel disorders" }, { "id": 504, "action": "Vladimir", "tags": "vladimir", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 505, "action": "Murderers", "tags": "murderers" } ], null, [ { "id": 506, "action": "Clement of Ohrid", "tags": "ohrid clement", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 507, "action": "Macedonia", "tags": "macedonia" } ], [ { "id": 508, "action": "Camillus de Lellis", "tags": "lellis de camillus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 509, "action": "Hospital Workers; Hospitals; Nurses; Nurses' Associations; Sick", "tags": "associations workers hospital hospitals nurses' nurses sick" } ], null, [ { "id": 510, "action": "Margaret (or Marina) of Antioch", "tags": "or antioch margaret marina", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 511, "action": "Childbirth; Death; Dying People, Invoked By; Escape From Devils; Exiles, People In Exile; Kidney Disease, Protection Against; Loss Of Milk By Nursing Mothers; Peasants; Pregnant Women; Queens College Cambridge; Women; Women Giving Birth", "tags": "exile dying exiles kidney milk loss from devils mothers giving people nursing queens escape cambridge by college death childbirth peasants disease birth women pregnant" } ], null, [ { "id": 512, "action": "Mary Magdalene", "tags": "mary magdalene", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 513, "action": "Contemplatives, Contemplative Life; Glove Makers; Penitent Sinners; Penitent Women; Reformed Prostitutes; Sexual Temptation", "tags": "glove reformed contemplative penitent prostitutes contemplatives makers life sexual temptation women sinners" }, { "id": 514, "action": "Joseph of Palestine", "tags": "joseph palestine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 515, "action": "Guardians", "tags": "guardians" } ], [ { "id": 516, "action": "Bridget", "tags": "bridget", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 517, "action": "Sweden", "tags": "sweden" } ], null, [ { "id": 518, "action": "James the Greater", "tags": "greater james", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 519, "action": "Blacksmiths; Chile; Furriers; Guatemala; Horse Men, Riders, Equestrians; Knights; Laborers; Milliners (Hatmakers); Nicaragua; Rheumatoid Sufferers; Rheumatoid Sufferers; Rheumatism, Arthritis; Spain; Spanish Conquistadors", "tags": "knights spanish riders horse rheumatism men nicaragua laborers hatmakers arthritis milliners blacksmiths rheumatoid sufferers guatemala equestrians chile furriers spain conquistadors" }, { "id": 520, "action": "Christopher", "tags": "christopher", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 521, "action": "Automobile Drivers, Automobilists, Motorists; Bachelors; Bus Drivers; Fruit Dealers; Fullers; Holy Death; Journeys, Safe; Market Carriers; Motorists; Pilgrims; Porters; Rab, Croatia; Sudden Death, Protection Against; Transportation, Transportation Workers; Travelers; Truckers, Truck Drivers, Lorry Drivers", "tags": "lorry fullers croatia safe truckers rab travelers drivers carriers bachelors fruit truck bus pilgrims porters sudden dealers death workers automobile motorists transportation journeys market automobilists holy" }, { "id": 522, "action": "Margaret of Castello", "tags": "castello margaret", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 523, "action": "Right To Life Groups", "tags": "groups right life" } ], [ { "id": 524, "action": "Joachim", "tags": "joachim", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 525, "action": "Grandfathers; Grandparents", "tags": "grandparents grandfathers" } ], [ { "id": 526, "action": "Pantaleon", "tags": "pantaleon", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 527, "action": "Doctors; Doctors, Physicians; Medical Profession; Physicians; Tuberculosis, Consumption", "tags": "medical consumption physicians profession tuberculosis doctors" } ], null, [ { "id": 528, "action": "Martha", "tags": "martha", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 529, "action": "Cooks; Cooks, Chefs; Dieticians; Domestic Workers, Maids, Butlers, Manservants, Servants; Homemakers, Housewives, Housekeepers; Hoteliers (Italian); Housewives; Servants; Waiters, Waitresses", "tags": "housekeepers maids waiters workers servants domestic cooks chefs italian waitresses dieticians manservants hoteliers homemakers housewives butlers" }, { "id": 530, "action": "Olaf of Norway", "tags": "norway olaf", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 531, "action": "Norway", "tags": "norway" }, { "id": 532, "action": "Olaf II", "tags": "olaf ii", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 533, "action": "Carvers; Kings", "tags": "kings carvers" } ], [ { "id": 534, "action": "Peter Chrysologus", "tags": "chrysologus peter", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 535, "action": "Golden-Tounges Orator", "tags": "golden-tounges orator" } ], [ { "id": 536, "action": "Ignatius of Loyola", "tags": "loyola ignatius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 537, "action": "Jesuit Order; Jesuits; Retreats; Spiritual Exercises", "tags": "jesuit order retreats jesuits spiritual exercises" }, { "id": 538, "action": "Neot", "tags": "neot", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 539, "action": "Fish", "tags": "fish" } ], [ { "id": 540, "action": "Alphonsus de Liguori", "tags": "de liguori alphonsus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 541, "action": "Confessors; Final Perseverance; Moral Theologians; Theologians; Theologians, Moral; Vocations", "tags": "perseverance final theologians moral vocations confessors" }, { "id": 542, "action": "Friard", "tags": "friard", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 543, "action": "Fear Of Wasps", "tags": "wasps fear" } ], null, [ { "id": 544, "action": "Lydia Purpuraria", "tags": "lydia purpuraria", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 545, "action": "Dyers, Cloth Dyers, Purplers", "tags": "dyers cloth purplers" } ], [ { "id": 546, "action": "John Vianney", "tags": "vianney john", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 547, "action": "Archdiocese Of Dubuque, Iowa, Usa; Clergy, Parochial; Priests", "tags": "priests clergy parochial iowa usa dubuque arch" } ], [ { "id": 548, "action": "Afra", "tags": "afra", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 549, "action": "Augsburg; Converts; Martyrs, Murdered As Confessors Of The Faith Or For Moral Integrity; Penitent Women", "tags": "as penitent augsburg moral faith women confessors converts integrity martyrs murdered" }, { "id": 550, "action": "Emygdius", "tags": "emygdius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 551, "action": "Earthquakes", "tags": "earthquakes" } ], null, [ { "id": 552, "action": "Donat", "tags": "donat", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 553, "action": "Llandunwyd, Glamorgan", "tags": "glamorgan llandunwyd" }, { "id": 554, "action": "Cajetan", "tags": "cajetan", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 555, "action": "Job Seekers, Unemployed People", "tags": "seekers unemployed job people" } ], [ { "id": 556, "action": "Dominic", "tags": "dominic", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 557, "action": "Astronomers; Criminals", "tags": "astronomers criminals" }, { "id": 558, "action": "Ellidius", "tags": "ellidius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 559, "action": "Hirnant, Powys, Wales", "tags": "wales powys hirnant" } ], [ { "id": 560, "action": "Nathy", "tags": "nathy", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 561, "action": "Diocese Of Achonry, Ireland", "tags": "achonry ireland" } ], null, [ { "id": 562, "action": "Clare of Assisi", "tags": "clare assisi", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 563, "action": "For Good Weather; Gilders; Laundry Workers, Laundresses, Washerwomen; Santa Clara Indian Pueblo; Telegraphs; Telephones; Television Writers", "tags": "gilders for indian laundry workers laundresses washerwomen telegraphs weather pueblo santa writers television telephones clara good" }, { "id": 564, "action": "Attracta", "tags": "attracta", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 565, "action": "Diocese Of Achonry, Ireland", "tags": "achonry ireland" } ], null, [ { "id": 566, "action": "Cassian of Imola", "tags": "imola cassian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 567, "action": "Shorthand Writers; Stenographers", "tags": "writers shorthand stenographers" }, { "id": 568, "action": "Fachanan", "tags": "fachanan", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 569, "action": "Diocese Of Ross, Ireland", "tags": "ross ireland" } ], [ { "id": 570, "action": "Maximillian Kolbe", "tags": "kolbe maximillian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 571, "action": "Drug Addiction; Families; Political Prisoners; Pro-Life Movement", "tags": "families pro-life drug movement addiction prisoners political" } ], [ { "id": 572, "action": "Tarcisius", "tags": "tarcisius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 573, "action": "First Communicants", "tags": "first communicants" } ], [ { "id": 574, "action": "Roch", "tags": "roch", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 575, "action": "Cattle; Cholera; Diseased Cattle, Protection Against; Diseases, Contagious; Dogs; Dog Lovers; Dog Fanciers; Invalids; Istanbul (Constantinople); Istanbul, Turkey; Constantinople; Knee Diseases Or Trouble; Patricia, Italy; Pestilence (Relief); Physicians (Diseases, Contagious); Plague; Prisoners; Surgeons; Tile Makers", "tags": "italy invalids diseases istanbul patricia surgeons diseased cholera relief constantinople trouble dog physicians knee pestilence makers plague fanciers prisoners tile turkey lovers cattle dogs contagious" } ], [ { "id": 576, "action": "John of Monte Marano", "tags": "monte john marano", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 577, "action": "Monte Marano", "tags": "monte marano" }, { "id": 578, "action": "Clare of Montefalco", "tags": "clare montefalco", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 579, "action": "Montefalco, Italy", "tags": "italy montefalco" } ], [ { "id": 580, "action": "Helena", "tags": "helena", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 581, "action": "Converts; Difficult Marriages; Diocese Of Helena, Montana, Usa; Divorced People; Empresses", "tags": "people divorced empresses converts montana difficult marriages usa helena" } ], null, [ { "id": 582, "action": "Herbert Hoscam", "tags": "hoscam herbert", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 583, "action": "Conze (Conza), Italy", "tags": "conze conza italy" }, { "id": 584, "action": "Bernard of Clairvaux", "tags": "clairvaux bernard", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 585, "action": "Bees; Gibraltar; Queens College Cambridge; Wax Melters, Wax Refiners", "tags": "college melters refiners bees wax queens gibraltar cambridge" }, { "id": 586, "action": "Agnes of Rome", "tags": "rome agnes", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 587, "action": "Girl Scouts", "tags": "girl scouts" } ], [ { "id": 588, "action": "Pius X", "tags": "pius x", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 589, "action": "Diocese Of Des Moines, Iowa, Usa; Diocese Of Great Falls-Billings, Montana, Usa; Diocese Of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri, Usa; Pilgrims (Sick)", "tags": "great moines springfield-cape girardeau des falls-billings montana iowa usa pilgrims missouri sick" } ], null, [ { "id": 590, "action": "Rose of Lima", "tags": "lima rose", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 591, "action": "Americas; Central America; Central And South America; Diocese Of Santa Rosa, California, Usa; Florists, Flower Growers; Gardeners; India; Latin America; Nurses, Peruvian; Peru; Philippines; Philosophers; Security Forces, Peruvian; South America; Vanity, Protection Against; Villareal Samar, Phillipines", "tags": "california flower gardeners samar philosophers villareal central rosa vanity peruvian peru americas india florists forces usa security latin phillipines philippines santa growers south nurses america" }, { "id": 592, "action": "Tydfil", "tags": "tydfil", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 593, "action": "Merthyr Tydfil, Wales", "tags": "wales tydfil merthyr" }, { "id": 594, "action": "Philip Benizi", "tags": "benizi philip", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 595, "action": "Sergio Osmena, Zamboanga Del Norte, Philippines", "tags": "zamboanga sergio philippines norte osmena del" } ], [ { "id": 596, "action": "Bartholomew the Apostle", "tags": "apostle bartholomew", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 597, "action": "Butchers; Florentine Cheese Merchants; Florentine Salt Merchants; Tanners; Trappers; Twitching, Protection Against; Whiteners", "tags": "butchers cheese merchants florentine trappers salt twitching tanners whiteners" } ], [ { "id": 598, "action": "Genesius", "tags": "genesius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 599, "action": "Actors; Attorneys, Lawyers, Barristers; Clowns; Converts; Printers; Theatrical Profession", "tags": "attorneys profession converts printers clowns theatrical barristers actors lawyers" }, { "id": 600, "action": "Louis IX", "tags": "ix louis", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 601, "action": "Archdiocese Of Saint Louis, Missouri, Usa; Crusaders; Death Of Children; Difficult Marriages; Distillers; French Monarchs; Grooms, Bridegrooms; Haberdashers; Kings", "tags": "grooms death distillers bridegrooms children monarchs difficult french haberdashers arch usa louis marriages kings missouri crusaders" }, { "id": 602, "action": "Joseph Calasanctius", "tags": "joseph calasanctius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 603, "action": "Schools, All Christian", "tags": "schools all christian" } ], [ { "id": 604, "action": "Teresa of Jesus Jornet e Ibars", "tags": "jornet e jesus ibars teresa", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 605, "action": "Pensioners, Old Age; Senior Citizens", "tags": "age citizens old pensioners senior" } ], [ { "id": 606, "action": "Monica", "tags": "monica", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 607, "action": "Alcoholism; Difficult Marriages; Disappointing Children; Homemakers, Housewives, Housekeepers; Married Women; Mothers; Verbal Spouse Abuse; Victims Of Spouse Abuse (Verbal), Protection Against", "tags": "housekeepers victims verbal children spouse difficult housewives mothers abuse marriages women homemakers alcoholism married disappointing" }, { "id": 608, "action": "Margaret the Barefooted", "tags": "barefooted margaret", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 609, "action": "Abuse Victims; Difficult Marriages", "tags": "marriages victims difficult abuse" } ], [ { "id": 610, "action": "Augustine of Hippo", "tags": "augustine hippo", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 611, "action": "Brewers; Diocese Of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Usa; Diocese Of Kalamazoo, Michigan, Usa; Diocese Of Superior, Wisconsin, Usa; Diocese Of Tucson, Arizona, Usa; Theologians", "tags": "bridgeport theologians kalamazoo arizona michigan usa brewers superior tucson wisconsin connecticut" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 612, "action": "Raymond Nonnatus", "tags": "nonnatus raymond", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 613, "action": "Accused (Falsely); Archdiocese Of Dubuque, Iowa, Usa; Childbirth; Children; Expectant Mothers; Falsely Accused; Innocent People (Falsely Accused); Midwives; Obstetricians; Pregnant Women", "tags": "people innocent midwives accused falsely childbirth children expectant mothers obstetricians iowa usa dubuque women pregnant arch" }, { "id": 614, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 615, "action": "Children", "tags": "children" } ], [ { "id": 616, "action": "Fiacre", "tags": "fiacre", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 617, "action": "Box Makers; Cab Drivers; Fistula; Gardeners; Haemorrhoid Sufferers; Horticulturalists; Hosiers; Pewterers; Syphilis; Taxi Drivers; Tile Makers; Veneral Disease", "tags": "sufferers box pewterers cab taxi makers syphilis fistula disease drivers veneral gardeners horticulturalists hosiers haemorrhoid tile" } ], null, [ { "id": 618, "action": "Gregory the Great", "tags": "great gregory", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 619, "action": "Choir Boys; Gout; Gout Sufferers, Protection Against; Music, Musicians; Plague; Teachers", "tags": "choir sufferers gout teachers music plague musicians boys" } ], [ { "id": 620, "action": "Rhuddlad", "tags": "rhuddlad", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 621, "action": "Llanrhyddlad, Anglesey, Wales", "tags": "wales llanrhyddlad anglesey" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 622, "action": "Cloud", "tags": "cloud", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 623, "action": "Diocese Of Saint Cloud, Minnesota, Usa; Nail Makers", "tags": "nail makers minnesota cloud usa" }, { "id": 624, "action": "Anastasius the Fuller", "tags": "anastasius fuller", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 625, "action": "Fullers", "tags": "fullers" } ], null, [ { "id": 626, "action": "Peter Claver", "tags": "peter claver", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 627, "action": "Black Missions, African Missions; Black People, Negroes, African-Americans; Colombia; Diocese Of Lake Charles, Louisiana, Usa; Diocese Of Shreveport, Louisiana, Usa; Foreign Missions; Inter-Racial Justice, Race Relations, Racial Harmony; Missions; Slavery; Writers Of Catechisms", "tags": "louisiana foreign african inter-racial relations missions charles race slavery african-americans negroes colombia justice people shreveport harmony usa lake racial black writers catechisms" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 628, "action": "Guy of Anderlecht", "tags": "anderlecht guy", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 629, "action": "Anderlecht, Belgium; Bachelors; Convulsive Children; Horned Animals; Rabies, Hydrophobia, Mad Dogs; Sacristans; Sextons; Sheds; Stables; Outbuildings; Work Horses; Working Horses", "tags": "horned children outbuildings working work animals stables bachelors sextons sheds sacristans mad belgium convulsive horses anderlecht dogs hydrophobia rabies" } ], [ { "id": 630, "action": "John Chrysostom", "tags": "john chrysostom", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 631, "action": "Eloquence, Sacred; Istanbul (Constantinople); Orators; Preachers; Speakers (Orators)", "tags": "sacred preachers istanbul eloquence orators speakers constantinople" } ], [ { "id": 632, "action": "Notburga", "tags": "notburga", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 633, "action": "Agricultural Workers; Farm Workers; Farmers; Field Hands; Field Workers; Husbandmen; Ranchers; Peasants", "tags": "field husbandmen farm farmers workers agricultural peasants ranchers hands" } ], [ { "id": 634, "action": "Hernan", "tags": "hernan", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 635, "action": "Loc-Har, Brittany, France", "tags": "loc-har brittany france" } ], [ { "id": 636, "action": "Cornelius", "tags": "cornelius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 637, "action": "Earaches, Protection Against; Twitching, Protection Against", "tags": "earaches twitching" }, { "id": 638, "action": "Dulcissima", "tags": "dulcissima", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 639, "action": "City Of Sutri, Italy; Diocese Of Sutri, Italy", "tags": "sutri city italy" }, { "id": 640, "action": "Ninian", "tags": "ninian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 641, "action": "Diocese Of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada", "tags": "nova canada antigonish scotia" } ], [ { "id": 642, "action": "Agathoclia", "tags": "agathoclia", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 643, "action": "Aragon, Spain", "tags": "aragon spain" }, { "id": 644, "action": "Robert Bellarmine", "tags": "bellarmine robert", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 645, "action": "Archdiocese Of Cincinnati, Ohio, Usa; Canonists, Canon Lawyers; Catechists; Catechumens; Contagious Diseases", "tags": "canonists diseases canon ohio catechumens cincinnati catechists usa lawyers arch contagious" }, { "id": 646, "action": "Odilia", "tags": "odilia", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 647, "action": "Canons Regular Of The Order Of The Holy Cross; Crosier Fathers; Crosier Order", "tags": "regular order canons crosier fathers cross holy" } ], [ { "id": 648, "action": "Joseph of Cupertino", "tags": "joseph cupertino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 649, "action": "Air Travelers; Astronauts; Aviators, Aviation; Death, Happy; Degree Candidates; Examination Candidates; Flying; Students (Examinees)", "tags": "travelers air aviation death aviators examinees flying degree candidates examination happy astronauts students" }, { "id": 650, "action": "Ludmila", "tags": "ludmila", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 651, "action": "Czechoslovakia; Duchesses; In-Law Problems; Throat Ailments", "tags": "throat in-law duchesses czechoslovakia ailments problems" } ], [ { "id": 652, "action": "Januarius", "tags": "januarius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 653, "action": "Blood Banks; Naples, Italy", "tags": "blood banks italy naples" } ], [ { "id": 654, "action": "Andrew Kim Taegon", "tags": "kim taegon andrew", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 655, "action": "Korean Clergy", "tags": "korean clergy" } ], [ { "id": 656, "action": "Matthew", "tags": "matthew", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 657, "action": "Accountants; Bankers; Bookkeepers; Customs Officers; Security Guards; Tax Collectors", "tags": "guards officers collectors bookkeepers customs tax accountants security bankers" }, { "id": 658, "action": "Matthew the Apostle", "tags": "apostle matthew", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 659, "action": "Financial Officers; Guards; Money Managers; Stock Brokers", "tags": "managers guards officers stock financial brokers money" } ], [ { "id": 660, "action": "Maurice", "tags": "maurice", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 661, "action": "Alpine Troops; Armies; Austria; Cramps, Protection Against; Dyers; Dyers, Cloth Dyers, Purplers; Gout; Gout Sufferers, Protection Against; Infantrymen; Piedmont; Piedmont Region; Sardinia; Savoy; Soldiers; Swordsmiths; Weavers", "tags": "purplers piedmont sufferers weavers cramps gout austria savoy dyers soldiers infantrymen swordsmiths alpine sardinia armies cloth troops region" } ], [ { "id": 662, "action": "Adamnan", "tags": "adamnan", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 663, "action": "Raphoe, Ireland", "tags": "raphoe ireland" } ], null, [ { "id": 664, "action": "Finbar", "tags": "finbar", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 665, "action": "Barra, Scotland; Cork, Ireland", "tags": "barra cork scotland ireland" }, { "id": 666, "action": "Cadoc of Llancarvan", "tags": "llancarvan cadoc", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 667, "action": "Cramps, Protection Against; Glandular Disorders", "tags": "disorders cramps glandular" } ], [ { "id": 668, "action": "Cosmas and Damian", "tags": "cosmas damian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 669, "action": "Apothecaries; Barbers; Blind People; Chemical Industry, Chemical Manufacturers; Chemists (Pharmacists); Doctors; Doctors, Physicians; Druggists (Pharmacists); Hairdressers; Hernia; Medical Profession; Pharmacists/Druggists; Physicians; Surgeons", "tags": "manufacturers pharmacists medical people blind pharmacists/druggists barbers industry chemists physicians hairdressers chemical hernia profession doctors druggists surgeons apothecaries" } ], [ { "id": 670, "action": "Vincent de Paul", "tags": "paul de vincent", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 671, "action": "Cabinetmakers; Catholic Charities; Charitable Societies; Diocese Of Reno, Nevada, Usa; Hospitals; Madagascar; Prisoners; Prisoners, Imprisonment, Captives, Imprisoned People; Spiritual Help; St Vincent De Paul Societies; Vincentian Service Corps", "tags": "captives charitable charities imprisoned societies st reno service help cabinetmakers people catholic paul corps de vincentian usa hospitals spiritual prisoners madagascar imprisonment nevada vincent" }, { "id": 672, "action": "Agnes of Rome", "tags": "rome agnes", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 673, "action": "Diocese Of Rockville Centre, New York, Usa", "tags": "centre new york usa rockville" }, { "id": 674, "action": "Giles", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 675, "action": "Spur Makers", "tags": "spur makers" } ], [ { "id": 676, "action": "Wenceslaus", "tags": "wenceslaus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 677, "action": "Bohemia; Brewers; Czechoslovakia; Moravia", "tags": "czechoslovakia moravia bohemia brewers" }, { "id": 678, "action": "Thiemo", "tags": "thiemo", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 679, "action": "Engravers", "tags": "engravers" } ], [ { "id": 680, "action": "Michael the Archangel", "tags": "archangel michael", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 681, "action": "Airborne (Paratroopers); Ambulance Drivers, Emergency Medical Technicians, Emts, Paramedics; Banking; Battle; Brussels; Caltanissett, Sicily; Cornwall, England; Death; Diocese Of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, Usa; Diocese Of Springfield, Massachusetts, Usa; Dying People, Invoked By; England; Fencing; Germany; Grocers; Haberdashers; Hatmakers, Hatters, Milliners; Holy Death; Knights; Papua New Guinea; Paratroopers; Police Officers; Possession (By The Devil); Puebla, Mexico; Radiologists, Radiotherapists; San Miguel De Allende, Mexico; Security Forces; Sibenik, Croatia; Sick; Solomon Islands", "tags": "ambulance dying knights radiologists croatia massachusetts solomon brussels sick islands grocers officers banking emts technicians airborne paramedics devil florida drivers springfield paratroopers emergency miguel fencing mexico radiotherapists people hatmakers hatters battle allende pensacola-tallahassee possession de forces milliners puebla new usa germany security england papua guinea by medical san death sicily police caltanissett haberdashers cornwall sibenik holy" }, { "id": 682, "action": "Gabriel the Archangel", "tags": "archangel gabriel", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 683, "action": "Ambassadors, Argentinian; Broadcasters; Communication Workers; Diplomatic Services; Diplomats; Messengers; Philatelists; Portugal; Postal Services; Postal Workers; Radio And Radio Workers; Signals, Military; Stamp Collectors; Telecommunications; Telegraphs; Telephones; Television; Television Workers", "tags": "communication telegraphs telecommunications diplomatic services broadcasters argentinian ambassadors postal military telephones messengers television stamp radio philatelists workers diplomats collectors signals portugal" }, { "id": 684, "action": "Raphael the Archangel", "tags": "archangel raphael", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 685, "action": "Blind People; Diseases Of The Eye; Doctors, Physicians; Eye Disorders; Guardian Angels; Happy Meetings; Health Inspectors; Nightmares, Protection Against; Obsession; Pharmacists/Druggists; Travelers; Youth", "tags": "travelers people blind pharmacists/druggists guardian obsession eye disorders nightmares physicians diseases health doctors youth meetings happy inspectors angels" }, { "id": 686, "action": "Giles", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 687, "action": "Disabled", "tags": "disabled" }, { "id": 688, "action": "Michael", "tags": "michael", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 689, "action": "Danger At Sea", "tags": "sea danger" }, { "id": 690, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 691, "action": "Dying People, Invoked By", "tags": "people dying" } ], [ { "id": 692, "action": "Jerome", "tags": "jerome", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 693, "action": "Archivists, Librarians, Libraries; Bible Scholars; Exegetes, Scriptural; Librarians, Libraries; Scholars, Scripture; Translators", "tags": "scholars scriptural archivists librarians libraries translators scripture bible exegetes" } ], [ { "id": 694, "action": "Therese of Lisieux", "tags": "therese lisieux", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 695, "action": "Aids Patients; Aviators, Aviation; Black Missions, African Missions; Central Africa; Diocese Of Fairbanks, Alaska, Usa; Diocese Of Fresno, California, Usa; Diocese Of Pueblo, Colorado, Usa; Florists, Flower Growers; Foreign Missions; France; Missionaries; Missions; Restoration Of Religious Freedom In Russia; Tuberculosis, Consumption", "tags": "foreign california flower african tuberculosis africa fairbanks missions central france missionaries religious aids florists patients consumption restoration pueblo fresno usa aviation aviators black russia colorado freedom growers alaska" }, { "id": 696, "action": "Bavo", "tags": "bavo", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 697, "action": "Ghent, Belgium; Haarlem, Nederlands; Holland, The Nederlands, The Netherlands", "tags": "haarlem netherlands ghent nederlands holland belgium" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 698, "action": "Francis of Assisi", "tags": "francis assisi", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 699, "action": "Animal Welfare Societies, Humane Societies; Animals; Archdiocese Of Denver, Colorado, Usa; Archdiocese Of San Francisco, California, Usa; Archdiocese Of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Usa; Assisi, Italy; Catholic Action; Colorado; Diocese Of Salina, Kansas, Usa; Ecologists, Ecology; Families; Italy; Merchants; Merchants, Italian; Santa Fe, New Mexico, Usa; Tapestry Workers; Zoos", "tags": "denver ecology italy merchants california francisco welfare action societies animals ecologists salina italian assisi mexico families catholic fe kansas humane new usa animal arch san zoos workers tapestry colorado santa" }, { "id": 700, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 701, "action": "Animals", "tags": "animals" }, { "id": 702, "action": "Petronius", "tags": "petronius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 703, "action": "Bologna, Italy", "tags": "italy bologna" }, { "id": 704, "action": "Giles", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 705, "action": "Edinburgh, Scotland", "tags": "edinburgh scotland" } ], null, [ { "id": 706, "action": "Bruno", "tags": "bruno", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 707, "action": "Ruthenia", "tags": "ruthenia" } ], null, [ { "id": 708, "action": "Pelagia", "tags": "pelagia", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 709, "action": "Actresses", "tags": "actresses" } ], [ { "id": 710, "action": "Louis Betrand", "tags": "betrand louis", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 711, "action": "Colombia", "tags": "colombia" }, { "id": 712, "action": "Geminus", "tags": "geminus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 713, "action": "San Gemini, Italy", "tags": "san gemini italy" }, { "id": 714, "action": "Andronicus", "tags": "andronicus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 715, "action": "Silversmiths", "tags": "silversmiths" } ], [ { "id": 716, "action": "Francis Borgia", "tags": "francis borgia", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 717, "action": "Earthquakes; Portugal", "tags": "earthquakes portugal" } ], [ { "id": 718, "action": "Alexander Sauli", "tags": "sauli alexander", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 719, "action": "Corsica", "tags": "corsica" }, { "id": 720, "action": "Gummarus", "tags": "gummarus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 721, "action": "Childless People; Courtiers; Cowherds; Difficult Marriages; Divorced People; Glove Makers; Guardians; Hernia; Separated Spouses", "tags": "people glove childless divorced makers guardians cowherds hernia courtiers separated difficult spouses marriages" } ], [ { "id": 722, "action": "Edwin", "tags": "edwin", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 723, "action": "Converts; Homeless People, Hoboes, Tramps; Kings; Parents Of Large Families", "tags": "families people parents tramps hoboes converts kings homeless large" } ], [ { "id": 724, "action": "Colman of Stockerau", "tags": "stockerau colman", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 725, "action": "Cattle; Hanging; Hanged People, Protection Against", "tags": "hanged people hanging cattle" } ], [ { "id": 726, "action": "Callistus I", "tags": "callistus i", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 727, "action": "Cemetery Workers", "tags": "workers cemetery" } ], [ { "id": 728, "action": "Teresa of Avila", "tags": "teresa avila", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 729, "action": "Commissariat, Spanish Military; Headaches; Opposition Of Church Authorities; People In Needd Of Grace; Religious, People In Religious Orders; Writers, Spanish Catholic", "tags": "orders people catholic church needd religious writers headaches military opposition commissariat spanish grace authorities" } ], [ { "id": 730, "action": "Hedwig", "tags": "hedwig", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 731, "action": "Bavaria; Death Of Children; Difficult Marriages; Duchesses; Silesia; Victims Of Jealousy", "tags": "death bavaria jealousy children duchesses silesia difficult marriages victims" }, { "id": 732, "action": "Gerard Majella", "tags": "gerard majella", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 733, "action": "Childbirth; Confessions, To Make A Good One; Expectant Mothers; Lay Brothers; Motherhood; Mothers; Pregnant Women; Pro-Life Movement; Unborn Children", "tags": "make brothers a unborn childbirth pro-life lay children expectant one mothers motherhood movement confessions women pregnant good" }, { "id": 734, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 735, "action": "Mothers", "tags": "mothers" }, { "id": 736, "action": "Margaret Mary Alacoque", "tags": "mary alacoque margaret", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 737, "action": "Devotees Of The Sacred Heart; Loss Of Parents, Mother, Father; Polio", "tags": "sacred parents polio devotees mother heart loss" }, { "id": 738, "action": "Agnes of Rome", "tags": "rome agnes", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 739, "action": "Virgins", "tags": "virgins" } ], null, [ { "id": 740, "action": "Luke", "tags": "luke", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 741, "action": "Artists; Brewers; Butchers; Craftworkers; Doctors; Glassworkers; Lacemakers; Medical Profession; Notaries; Painters; Physicians; Sculptors; Surgeons", "tags": "butchers craftworkers lacemakers medical physicians profession notaries glassworkers sculptors painters doctors artists brewers surgeons" }, { "id": 742, "action": "Peter of Alcantara", "tags": "peter alcantara", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 743, "action": "Brazil; Estremadura, Spain; Watchmen", "tags": "brazil estremadura watchmen spain" }, { "id": 744, "action": "Giles", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 745, "action": "Lame, The", "tags": "lame the" }, { "id": 746, "action": "Luke the Apostle", "tags": "luke apostle", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 747, "action": "Butchers; Doctors, Physicians", "tags": "butchers doctors physicians" } ], [ { "id": 748, "action": "Frideswide", "tags": "frideswide", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 749, "action": "Oxford, England; University Of Oxford, England", "tags": "university england oxford" } ], null, [ { "id": 750, "action": "Viator", "tags": "viator", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 751, "action": "Catechists", "tags": "catechists" }, { "id": 752, "action": "Ursula", "tags": "ursula", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 753, "action": "Catholic Schools, Catholic Academies; Holy Death", "tags": "schools catholic death academies holy" } ], null, [ { "id": 754, "action": "John of Capistrano", "tags": "capistrano john", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 755, "action": "Chaplains, Military; Judges; Judges/Jurists; Jurists; Jurors", "tags": "judges judges/jurists jurors jurists military chaplains" } ], [ { "id": 756, "action": "Anthony Mary Claret", "tags": "mary anthony claret", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 757, "action": "Catholic Press", "tags": "press catholic" }, { "id": 758, "action": "Anthony Claret", "tags": "anthony claret", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 759, "action": "Savings Banks", "tags": "savings banks" } ], [ { "id": 760, "action": "Crispin and Crispinian", "tags": "crispin crispinian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 761, "action": "Cobblers; Glove Makers; Leatherworkers; Saddlers, Saddlemakers; Tanners", "tags": "glove makers cobblers saddlers saddlemakers tanners leatherworkers" } ], null, [ { "id": 762, "action": "Frumentius", "tags": "frumentius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 763, "action": "Ethiopia", "tags": "ethiopia" } ], [ { "id": 764, "action": "Jude", "tags": "jude", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 765, "action": "Desperate Situations; Hopeless (Or Desperate) Cases; Lost Or Desperate Causes", "tags": "or causes situations cases desperate hopeless lost" }, { "id": 766, "action": "Jude Thaddeus", "tags": "thaddeus jude", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 767, "action": "Desperate, Forgotten, Impossible Or Lost Causes Or Situations; Diocese Of Saint Petersburg, Florida, Usa; Hospital Workers", "tags": "impossible workers forgotten florida petersburg causes situations usa hospital desperate lost" } ], [ { "id": 768, "action": "Narcissus", "tags": "narcissus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 769, "action": "Insect Bites", "tags": "insect bites" } ], [ { "id": 770, "action": "Dorothy of Montau", "tags": "dorothy montau", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 771, "action": "Parents Of Large Families; Prussia", "tags": "families large parents prussia" } ], [ { "id": 772, "action": "Quentin", "tags": "quentin", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 773, "action": "Coughs; Against", "tags": "against coughs" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 774, "action": "Martin de Porres", "tags": "martin de porres", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 775, "action": "Barbers; Black People, Negroes, African-Americans; Education, Public; Hairdressers; Health Service, Public; Inter-Racial Justice, Race Relations, Racial Harmony; Justice, Social; Mixed Race, People Of; Mulattoes, Bi-Racial Or Multi-Racial People; Poor People, Paupers; Protection Against Rats; Public Education; Public Health Service; Social Justice; Television (Peru); Trade Unionists, Spanish", "tags": "rats inter-racial spanish relations race barbers trade bi-racial service african-americans negroes peru social justice people unionists mulattoes poor hairdressers harmony health television multi-racial racial education public black paupers mixed" }, { "id": 776, "action": "Pirmin", "tags": "pirmin", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 777, "action": "Poison, Protection Against; Snakes, Protection Against", "tags": "snakes poison" } ], [ { "id": 778, "action": "Charles Borromeo", "tags": "borromeo charles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 779, "action": "Apple Orchards; Bishops; Catechists; Catechumens; Diocese Of Monterey, California, Usa; Seminarians; Spiritual Directors Or Leaders; Starch Makers; Ulcers; Ulcer Sufferers, Protection Against", "tags": "bishops ulcer sufferers directors california monterey makers orchards leaders starch catechumens catechists usa seminarians apple spiritual ulcers" } ], null, [ { "id": 780, "action": "Leonard of Noblac", "tags": "leonard noblac", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 781, "action": "Blacksmiths; Brigands (Danger From); Childbirth; Coal Miners; Coppersmiths; Locksmiths; Porters; Prisoners; Prisoners Of War, Pow'S; Prisoners, Imprisonment, Captives, Imprisoned People; Robbers, Danger From; Thieves, Danger From", "tags": "captives pow imprisoned from locksmiths danger thieves robbers coal people brigands blacksmiths porters prisoners miners imprisonment childbirth coppersmiths war" }, { "id": 782, "action": "Winoc", "tags": "winoc", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 783, "action": "Whooping Cough, Protection Against", "tags": "whooping cough" }, { "id": 784, "action": "Agnes of Rome", "tags": "rome agnes", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 785, "action": "Bodily Purity", "tags": "purity bodily" } ], [ { "id": 786, "action": "Willibrord", "tags": "willibrord", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 787, "action": "Convulsions; Epilepsy; Holland; Holland, The Nederlands, The Netherlands; Netherlands", "tags": "netherlands convulsions nederlands holland epilepsy" }, { "id": 788, "action": "Florentius of Strasburg", "tags": "florentius strasburg", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 789, "action": "Gall Stones; Ruptures, Protection Against", "tags": "stones gall ruptures" } ], [ { "id": 790, "action": "Cybi", "tags": "cybi", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 791, "action": "Cuby, Cornwall; Landulph, Cornwall; Llangibby, Monmouthshire, Wales; Llangybi, Cardigan, Wales; Tregony, Cornwall", "tags": "landulph llangibby tregony cardigan monmouthshire cornwall cuby llangybi wales" }, { "id": 792, "action": "Marcellus", "tags": "marcellus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 793, "action": "Langres Cathedral", "tags": "langres cathedral" } ], null, [ { "id": 794, "action": "Andrew Avellino", "tags": "avellino andrew", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 795, "action": "Apoplexy (Strokes); Death, Sudden; Holy Death; Naples, Italy; Possession (By The Devil); Strokes; Sudden Death, Protection Against", "tags": "sudden death italy apoplexy devil strokes possession naples holy by" } ], [ { "id": 796, "action": "Martin of Tours", "tags": "tours martin", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 797, "action": "Beggars; Cavalry; Geese; Geese; Goose; Horse Men, Riders, Equestrians; Horse-Riders; Horses; Infantry; Quartermasters; Reformed Alcoholics; Soldiers; Winegrowers", "tags": "quartermasters reformed equestrians goose horse infantry soldiers horses cavalry alcoholics horse-riders geese winegrowers beggars men riders" }, { "id": 798, "action": "Giles", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 799, "action": "Beggars", "tags": "beggars" } ], [ { "id": 800, "action": "Patiens of Metz", "tags": "patiens metz", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 801, "action": "Metz, France", "tags": "france metz" } ], [ { "id": 802, "action": "Homobonus", "tags": "homobonus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 803, "action": "Business People; Clothworkers; Garment Workers; Merchants; Shoemakers; Tailors; Tradespeople", "tags": "people merchants tradespeople workers garment clothworkers business shoemakers tailors" }, { "id": 804, "action": "Frances Xavier Cabrini", "tags": "cabrini xavier frances", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 805, "action": "Emigrants; Hospital Administrators; Immigrants; India; Migrants", "tags": "migrants immigrants emigrants hospital administrators india" }, { "id": 806, "action": "Didacus", "tags": "didacus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 807, "action": "Franciscan Laity; Franciscan Lay", "tags": "franciscan lay laity" } ], [ { "id": 808, "action": "Laurent (Lawrence)", "tags": "laurent lawrence", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 809, "action": "Archives; Archivists, Librarians, Libraries; Armories; Armourers; France; Incest Victims", "tags": "victims archivists librarians libraries archives france incest armourers armories" }, { "id": 810, "action": "Lawrence", "tags": "lawrence", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 811, "action": "Butchers; Confectioners; Cooks, Chefs; Laundry Workers, Laundresses, Washerwomen; Lumbago; Poor; Poor People, Paupers; Restauranteurs; Sri Lanka (Formerly Ceylon); Stained Glass Workers; Glass Painters", "tags": "laundry glass ceylon sri lanka formerly butchers washerwomen chefs painters stained people poor laundresses restauranteurs workers cooks paupers lumbago confectioners" }, { "id": 812, "action": "Lawrence O'Toole", "tags": "o'toole lawrence", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 813, "action": "Archdiocese Of Dublin, Ireland", "tags": "dublin arch ireland" } ], [ { "id": 814, "action": "Leopold", "tags": "leopold", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 815, "action": "Austria; Parents Of Large Families", "tags": "families large parents austria" }, { "id": 816, "action": "Albert the Great", "tags": "albert great", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 817, "action": "Archdiocese Of Cincinnati, Ohio, Usa; Medical Technicians; Scientists", "tags": "medical technicians ohio cincinnati usa scientists arch" } ], [ { "id": 818, "action": "Gertrude", "tags": "gertrude", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 819, "action": "Against Mice, Protection Against; West Indies", "tags": "against mice west indies" }, { "id": 820, "action": "Lebuin (Liafwine)", "tags": "liafwine lebuin", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 821, "action": "Dying", "tags": "dying" }, { "id": 822, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 823, "action": "Dying", "tags": "dying" }, { "id": 824, "action": "Gertrude the Great", "tags": "great gertrude", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 825, "action": "Nuns; Popes", "tags": "popes nuns" } ], [ { "id": 826, "action": "Elizabeth of Hungary", "tags": "elizabeth hungary", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 827, "action": "Bakers; Catholic Charities; Countesses; Death Of Children; Homeless People, Hoboes, Tramps; In-Law Problems; Nursing Services; People Ridiculed For Their Piety; Sisters Of Mercy; Tertiaries", "tags": "ridiculed children charities tramps countesses piety services people catholic sisters mercy nursing in-law tertiaries problems death hoboes bakers homeless" }, { "id": 828, "action": "Acisclus", "tags": "acisclus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 829, "action": "Cordoba, Spain", "tags": "cordoba spain" }, { "id": 830, "action": "Hugh of Lincoln", "tags": "lincoln hugh", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 831, "action": "Children, Sick; Swans", "tags": "swans children sick" }, { "id": 832, "action": "Gregory Thaumaturgus", "tags": "thaumaturgus gregory", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 833, "action": "Desperate, Forgotten, Impossible Or Lost Causes Or Situations", "tags": "impossible forgotten causes situations desperate lost" } ], [ { "id": 834, "action": "Odo", "tags": "odo", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 835, "action": "For Rain", "tags": "for rain" } ], null, null, null, [ { "id": 836, "action": "Cecilia", "tags": "cecilia", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 837, "action": "Albi, France; Archdiocese Of Omaha, Nebraska, Usa; Composers; Martyrs, Murdered As Confessors Of The Faith Or For Moral Integrity; Music, Musicians; Musical Instrument Makers; Singers; Vocalists", "tags": "instrument composers faith musicians france confessors murdered nebraska as moral music makers martyrs albi usa musical arch singers vocalists integrity omaha" } ], [ { "id": 838, "action": "Clement I", "tags": "i clement", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 839, "action": "Children, Sick; Hatmakers, Hatters, Milliners; Marble Workers", "tags": "hatmakers workers hatters children milliners marble sick" } ], [ { "id": 840, "action": "Colman of Cloyne", "tags": "colman cloyne", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 841, "action": "Cloyne, Ireland", "tags": "cloyne ireland" } ], [ { "id": 842, "action": "Catherine of Alexandria", "tags": "alexandria catherine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 843, "action": "Apologists; Archivists, Librarians, Libraries; Attorneys, Lawyers, Barristers; Craftsmen Who Work With A Wheel (Potters, Spinners, Etc.); Dying People, Invoked By; Jurists; Jurors; Knife Grinders, Knife Sharpeners; Learning; Librarians, Libraries; Mechanics; Potters; Preachers; Scribes; Secretaries; Students; Students, Women; Tanners; Turners; Wheelwrights; Women, Young And Students", "tags": "archivists librarians dying etc. craftsmen preachers apologists jurists work young spinners mechanics barristers sharpeners attorneys people libraries knife jurors women scribes wheelwrights secretaries turners tanners lawyers learning grinders wheel potters a who students" } ], [ { "id": 844, "action": "John Berchmans", "tags": "berchmans john", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 845, "action": "Altar Servers; Novices Of The Oblates Of Saint Joseph; Young People, Students; Youth", "tags": "novices people altar youth joseph young students servers oblates" }, { "id": 846, "action": "Leonard of Port Maurice", "tags": "maurice leonard port", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 847, "action": "Imperia Italy; Missioners In Catholic Lands; Missions; Parish Missions", "tags": "imperia missions catholic missioners italy parish lands" } ], [ { "id": 848, "action": "Virgilius", "tags": "virgilius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 849, "action": "City Of Salzburg, Austria; Slovenes", "tags": "city salzburg slovenes austria" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 850, "action": "Andrew, Apostle", "tags": "apostle andrew", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 851, "action": "Achaia; Amalfi, Italy; Diocese Of Constantinople; Fish Dealers, Fishmongers; Fishermen; Gout; Gout Sufferers, Protection Against; Greece; Patras, Greece; Russia; Scotland; Sicily; Singers; Vocalists; University Of Patras, Greece; Women Who Wish To Become Mothers", "tags": "italy patras wish become greece amalfi scotland mothers fishermen constantinople gout university dealers fish sufferers singers sicily achaia russia vocalists who women fishmongers" } ], null, [ { "id": 852, "action": "Bibiana", "tags": "bibiana", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 853, "action": "Diocese Of Los Angeles, California, Usa; Hangovers; Single Laywomen; Torture Victims", "tags": "single laywomen hangovers california torture los usa victims angeles" } ], [ { "id": 854, "action": "Francis Xavier", "tags": "francis xavier", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 855, "action": "Apostleship Of Prayer; Archdiocese Of Indianapolis, Indiana, Usa; Black Missions, African Missions; Borneo; Diocese Of Alexandria, Louisiana, Usa; Diocese Of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Usa; Diocese Of Joliet, Illinois, Usa; East Indies; Foreign Missions; Goa, India; Japan; Missionaries; Missioners Of The Precious Blood; Missions; Mongolia, Outer; Navigators; Pelota Players, Argentinian; Propagation Of The Faith; Tourism, Spanish", "tags": "indianapolis louisiana foreign missioners blood apostleship faith japan african pelota green propagation spanish bay east missions navigators goa missionaries joliet indiana india borneo argentinian mongolia outer prayer usa alexandria illinois wisconsin arch tourism precious indies black players" } ], [ { "id": 856, "action": "Barbara", "tags": "barbara", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 857, "action": "Architects; Armourers; Artillery; Bomb Technicians; Brass Workers; Builders; Death By Artillery, Protection Against; Dying People, Invoked By; Engineers, Military, Italian; Firemen (Italian); Fireworks And Fireworks Manufacturers; Fortifications; Founders; Genoa, Italy; Gunners; Hatmakers, Hatters, Milliners; Impenitence, Protection Against; Marines (Italian); Martyrs, Murdered As Confessors Of The Faith Or For Moral Integrity; Mathematicians; Military Engineers; Mine Collapse, Protection Against; Miners; Ordnancemen And Cannoners; Prisoners, Imprisonment, Captives, Imprisoned People; Saltpetre Workers; Smelters; Sudden Death, Protection Against; Syria; Tilers; Warehouses", "tags": "captives italy dying artillery faith smelters brass mathematicians imprisoned manufacturers ordnancemen builders founders marines cannoners technicians confessors italian murdered armourers gunners tilers people fortifications fireworks as hatmakers hatters moral mine milliners military martyrs engineers prisoners miners by sudden warehouses death bomb architects workers collapse imprisonment firemen integrity genoa syria impenitence saltpetre" }, { "id": 858, "action": "Catherine of Sweden", "tags": "sweden catherine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 859, "action": "Miscarriage Prevention", "tags": "prevention miscarriage" }, { "id": 860, "action": "Maruthas", "tags": "maruthas", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 861, "action": "Persia; Iran", "tags": "iran persia" }, { "id": 862, "action": "Osmund", "tags": "osmund", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 863, "action": "Paralysis, Paralysed People; Ruptures, Protection Against", "tags": "people ruptures paralysed paralysis" }, { "id": 864, "action": "St. Barbara", "tags": "st. barbara", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 865, "action": "U.S. Army Field Artillery", "tags": "u.s. artillery army field" } ], [ { "id": 866, "action": "Sabas", "tags": "sabas", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 867, "action": "Lectors", "tags": "lectors" } ], [ { "id": 868, "action": "Nicholas", "tags": "nicholas", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 869, "action": "Bari, Italy; Restauranteurs", "tags": "italy restauranteurs bari" } ], [ { "id": 870, "action": "Ambrose", "tags": "ambrose", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 871, "action": "Bee Keepers; Candle-Makers; Commissariat, French Army; Learning", "tags": "bee candle-makers commissariat french army keepers learning" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 872, "action": "Eulalia", "tags": "eulalia", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 873, "action": "For Rain; Miscarriages, Protection Against; Runaways; Torture Victims", "tags": "runaways for torture rain miscarriages victims" } ], [ { "id": 874, "action": "Damasus", "tags": "damasus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 875, "action": "Archaeologists", "tags": "archaeologists" } ], null, [ { "id": 876, "action": "Lucy", "tags": "lucy", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 877, "action": "Blind People; Cutlers; Diseases Of The Eye; Eye Disorders; Glaziers; Haemorrhage", "tags": "people blind eye cutlers disorders haemorrhage diseases glaziers" } ], [ { "id": 878, "action": "Spyridon", "tags": "spyridon", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 879, "action": "Corfu (Kerkira) Island, Greece", "tags": "kerkira greece corfu island" }, { "id": 880, "action": "John of the Cross", "tags": "cross john", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 881, "action": "Contemplatives, Contemplative Life; Mystics, Mystical Theology; Spanish Poets", "tags": "contemplative poets mystical contemplatives life theology spanish mystics" } ], null, null, null, [ { "id": 882, "action": "Flannan of Killaloe", "tags": "flannan killaloe", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 883, "action": "Diocese Of Killaloe", "tags": "killaloe" } ], null, [ { "id": 884, "action": "Dominic of Silos", "tags": "dominic silos", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 885, "action": "Insects, Protection Against; Rabies, Hydrophobia, Mad Dogs", "tags": "insects dogs hydrophobia rabies mad" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 886, "action": "Victoria", "tags": "victoria", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 887, "action": "Cordoba, Spain", "tags": "cordoba spain" }, { "id": 888, "action": "Dagobert II", "tags": "dagobert ii", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 889, "action": "Kidnap Victims; Kings; Parents Of Large Families", "tags": "families parents kings kidnap victims large" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 890, "action": "Stephen", "tags": "stephen", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 891, "action": "Bricklayers; Building Trade; Deacons; Hungary; Stone Masons", "tags": "bricklayers trade stone hungary building masons deacons" } ], [ { "id": 892, "action": "John the Apostle", "tags": "apostle john", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 893, "action": "Art Dealers; Asia Minor; Burns; Compositors; Typesetters; Engravers; Friendships; Lithographers; Papermakers; Poison Sufferers; Poison, Protection Against; Taos, New Mexico; Theologians; Turkey (Asiatic)", "tags": "asia typesetters friendships asiatic taos papermakers theologians mexico poison new lithographers art dealers compositors sufferers turkey burns minor engravers" }, { "id": 894, "action": "Fabiola", "tags": "fabiola", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 895, "action": "Abuse Victims; Difficult Marriages; Divorced People; Victims Of Adultery Or Unfaithfulness", "tags": "unfaithfulness people adultery divorced difficult marriages victims abuse" }, { "id": 896, "action": "John the Evangelist", "tags": "john evangelist", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 897, "action": "Diocese Of Cleveland, Ohio, Usa", "tags": "cleveland ohio usa" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 898, "action": "Liberius", "tags": "liberius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 899, "action": "Gall Stones", "tags": "stones gall" } ], null ] }, property: function(m) { return m.planetary.day.start; }, calculate: function(definitions, property) { var date = new Date(property * 1000); var year = date.getYear() + 1900; const leap = new Date(year, 1, 29).getDate() === 29; var doy = Math.floor((date - new Date(date.getFullYear(), 0, 0)) / 1000 / 60 / 60 / 24); doy = leap ? doy - 1 : doy; return definitions.actions[doy] != null ? definitions.actions[doy] : [0]; } }; //Defines Calendar Objects and Methods var module_synaxarium_catholic_saints = { definitions: { name: "Catholic Saints (Name)", description: "Catholic patron saints by name and a short description of their life", group: { id: "synaxarium", text: "Synaxarium", info: "true" }, actions: [ null, [ { "id": 2, "action": "Mary", "tags": "knights order exeter charles oxford nuns valencia louisiana alcira teutonic spain college lincoln virgins nebraska grand lake island usa mary carolina uruguay south" }, { "id": 3, "action": "\n Mary, also known as St. Mary the Virgin, the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Mary, Mary Mother of God or the Virgin Mary is believed by many to be the greatest of all Christian saints. The Virgin Mother \"was, after her Son, exalted by divine grace above all angels and men.\"\n
\nMary is venerated with a special cult, called by St. Thomas Aquinas, hyperdulia, as the holiest of all creatures. The main events of her life are celebrated as liturgical feasts of the universal Church.
Mary's life and role in the history of salvation is foreshadowed in the Old Testament, while the events of her life are recorded in the New Testament. Traditionally, she was declared the daughter of Sts. Joachim and Anne. Born in Jerusalem, Mary was presented in the Temple and took a vow of virginity. Living in Nazareth, Mary was visited by the archangel Gabriel, who announced to her that she would become the Mother of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit.
She became betrothed to St. Joseph and went to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, who was bearing St. John the Baptist. Acknowledged by Elizabeth as the Mother of God, Mary intoned the Magnificat.
When Emperor Augustus declared a census throughout the vast Roman Empire, Mary and St. Joseph went to Bethlehem, his city of lineage, as he belonged to the House of David. There Mary gave birth to Jesus and was visited by the Three Kings.
Mary and Joseph presented Jesus in the Temple, where St. Simeon rejoiced and Mary received word of sorrows to come later. Warned to flee, St. Joseph and Mary went to Egypt to escape the wrath of King Herod. They remained in Egypt until King Herod died and then returned to Nazareth.
Nothing is known of Mary's life during the next years except for a visit to the Temple of Jerusalem, at which time Mary and Joseph sought the young Jesus, who was in the Temple with the learned elders.
The first recorded miracle of Jesus was performed at a wedding in Cana, and Mary was instrumental in calling Christ's attention to the need. Mary was present at the Crucifixion in Jerusalem, and there she was given into John the Apostle's care. She was also with the disciples in the days before the Pentecost, and it is believed that she was present at the resurrection and Ascension.
No scriptural reference concerns Mary's last years on earth. According to tradition, she went to Ephesus, where she experienced her \"dormition.\" Another tradition states that she remained in Jerusalem. The belief that Mary's body was assumed into heaven is one of the oldest traditions of the Catholic Church.
Pope Pius XII declared this belief Catholic dogma in 1950. The four Catholic dogmas are: Mother of God, Perpetual virginity of Mary, the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary. The feast of the Assumption is celebrated on August 15. The Assumption was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. According to Pope Pius XII, the Virgin Mary \"having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.\"
In 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception - that Mary, as the Mother of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, was free of original sin at the moment of her conception. The feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on December 8. The birthday of Mary is an old feast in the Church, celebrated on September 8, since the seventh century.
Other feasts that commemorate events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary are listed in the Appendices. Pope Pius XII dedicated the entire human race to Mary in 1944. The Church has long taught that Mary is truly the Mother of God .
The Blessed Virgin Mary may be taken as a patroness of any good activity, for she is often cited as the patroness of all humanity. Mary is also associated with protecting many occupations and locations.
St. Paul observed that \"God sent His Son, born of a woman,\" expressing the union of the human and the divine in Christ. As Christ possesses two natures, human and divine, Mary was the Mother of God in his human nature.
This special role of Mary in salvation history is clearly shown in the Gospel where she is seen constantly at her son's side during his soteriological mission. Because of this role, exemplified by her acceptance of Christ into her womb, her offering of him to God at the Temple, her urging him to perform his first miracle, and her standing at the foot of the Cross at Calvary Mary was joined fully in the sacrifice by Christ of himself.
Pope Benedict XV wrote in 1918: \"To such an extent did Mary suffer and almost die with her suffering and dying Son; to such extent did she surrender her maternal rights over her Son for man's salvation, and immolated him - insofar as she could in order to appease the justice of God, that we might rightly say she redeemed the human race together with Christ.\"
Mary is entitled to the title of Queen because, as Pope Pius XII expressed it in a 1946 radio speech, \"Jesus is King throughout all eternity by nature and by right of conquest: through him, with him, and subordinate to him, Mary is Queen by grace, by divine relationship, by right of conquest, and by singular election.\"
Mary possesses a unique relationship with all three Persons of the Trinity, thereby giving her a claim to the title of Queenship. She was chosen by God the Father to be the Mother of his Son; God the Holy Spirit chose her to be his virginal spouse for the Incarnation of the Son; and God the Son chose her to be his mother, the means of incarnating into the world for the purposes of the redemption of humanity.
This Queen is also our Mother. While she is not our Mother in the physical sense, she is called a spiritual mother, for she conceives, gives birth, and nurtures the spiritual lives of grace for each person. As Mediatrix of All Graces, she is ever present at the side of each person, giving nourishment and hope, from the moment of spiritual birth at Baptism to the moment of death.
In art, Mary is traditionall portrayed in blue. Her other attributes are a blue mantle, crown of 12 stars, pregnant woman, roses, and/or woman with child.
Hundreds of thousands of pieces of Marian artwork and sculptures have been created over the years from the best and most brilliant artists, like Michelangelo and Botticell, to simple peasant artists. Some of the most early examples of veneration of Mary is documented in the Catacombs of Rome. Catacomb paintings show Mary the Blessed Virgin with her son.
The confidence that each person should have in Mary was expressed by Pope Pius IX in the encyclical Ubipriinum : \"The foundation of all our confidence. . . is found in the Blessed Virgin Mary. For God has committed to Mary the treasury of all good things, in order that everyone may know that through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation. For this is his will, that we obtain everything through Mary.\"
", "tags": "mary", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 4, "action": "Justin of Chieti", "tags": "italy chieti justin city" }, { "id": 5, "action": "\n A patron of Chieti, Italy. He has been venerated there for centuries and was possibly a bishop.\n
\n", "tags": "chieti justin", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 6, "action": "Odilo", "tags": "odilo souls jaundice purgatory" }, { "id": 7, "action": "\n A\n \n monk\n \n at Cluny, Odilo was named\n \n abbot\n \n in 994. He practiced great austerities, and sold church treasures to feed the poor during a famine in 1006. During his abbacy, he increased substantially, the number of abbeys dependent on Cluny, and with\n \n Abbot\n \n \n Richard\n \n of Saint-Vanne was responsible for the\n \n acceptance\n \n in\n \n France\n \n of \"the truce of God\" and the rule guaranteeing\n \n sanctuary\n \n to those seeking refuge in a church. He was devoted to the Incarnation and the Blessed Virgin. He inaugurated All Souls' Day with an annual commemoration of the departed faithful, and experienced ecstacies. Ill the last five years of his life, he died while on a visitation of his monasteries at a\n \n priory\n \n at Souvigny on January 1. He had been\n \n abbot\n \n for more than fifty years. His\n \n feast day\n \n is January 1.\n
\n", "tags": "odilo", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 8, "action": "Joseph Mary Tomasi", "tags": "tomasi liturgy mary joseph" }, { "id": 9, "action": "\n Cardinal\n \n confessor\n \n of Pope Clement XI. Born the son of the duke of Palermo, he became a member of the Theatine Order. Sent to Rome, he became the\n \n confessor\n \n of\n \n Cardinal\n \n Giovanni Francesco Albani, proving instrumental in convincing the\n \n cardinal\n \n to accept elevation as pope in 1700 under pain of mortal sin. In return, the newly elected pontiff forced\n \n Joseph\n \n to accept appointment as a cardinal. While he served capably as a cardinal, his first preoccupation was as a brilliant liturgical scholar who published some of his works under the pseudonym J. M. Carus.Among his most notable contributions were: Codices Sacramentorunz Nongentis Annis Vetustiores (1680), including the Missale Gothicurn and the Missale Francorum; Responsalia etA ntiphonaria Ronzanae Ecclesiae a Sancto Gregorio Magno Disposita (1686); and the Antiqua Libri Missaruni Romanae Ecclesiae (1691). Beatified in 1803, he was canonized in 1986 by Pope\n \n John\n \n Paul II.\n
\n", "tags": "tomasi mary joseph", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 10, "action": "Munchin", "tags": "munchin limerick ireland" }, { "id": 11, "action": "\n Patron of Limerick, Ireland, called \"the Wise.\" He may have been a bishop, but he is commonly known as Maincin, or \"little monk.\" It is believed that Munchin was born in County Clare.\n
\n", "tags": "munchin", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 12, "action": "Basil the Great", "tags": "administrators russia reformers basil great hospital" }, { "id": 13, "action": "\n St. Basil the Great was born at Caesarea of Cappadocia in 330. He was one of ten\n \n children\n \n of St. Basil the Elder and St. Emmelia. Several of his brothers and sisters are honored among the saints. He attended school in Caesarea, as well as\n \n Constantinople\n \n and Athens, where he became acquainted with St. Gregory Nazianzen in 352. A little later, he opened a school of\n \n oratory\n \n in Caesarea and practiced law. Eventually he decided to become a\n \n monk\n \n and found a monastery in\n \n Pontus\n \n which he directed for five years. He wrote a famous monastic rule which has proved the most lasting of those in the East. After founding several other monasteries, he was ordained and, in 370, made\n \n bishop\n \n of Caesaria. In this post until his death in 379, he continued to be a\n \n man\n \n of vast learning and constant activity, genuine eloquence and immense charity. This earned for him the title of \"Great\" during his\n \n life\n \n and\n \n Doctor\n \n of the Church after his death. Basil was one of the giants of the early Church. He was responsible for the victory of Nicene\n \n orthodoxy\n \n over\n \n Arianism\n \n in the Byzantine East, and the\n \n denunciation\n \n of\n \n Arianism\n \n at the Council of\n \n Constantinople\n \n in 381-82 was in large measure due to his efforts. Basil fought simony, aided the victims of drought and famine, strove for a better clergy, insisted on a rigid clerical discipline, fearlessly denounced\n \n evil\n \n wherever he detected it, and excommunicated those involved in the widespread prostitution traffic in Cappadocia. He was learned, accomplished in statesmanship, a\n \n man\n \n of great personal holiness, and one of the great orators of Christianity. His\n \n feast day\n \n is January 2.\n
\n", "tags": "basil great", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 14, "action": "Genevieve (Genofeva)", "tags": "corps genevieve excessive french genofeva paris army france drought wacs disasters security forces rain fever women" }, { "id": 15, "action": "\n St. Genevieve was a fair and courageous peasant girl who was born around 422 in Nanterre, France, to a man named Severus and a woman named Gerontia.\n
\nWhen Genevieve was only seven-years-old, St. Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre visited Nanterre on his way to Britain. While he was there, many people flocked to receive his blessing. The young Genevieve stood amid a crowd which had gathered around the man of God who singled her out and foretold her future sanctity. At her request, the holy Bishop led her to a church, accompanied by all the faithful, and consecrated her to God as a virgin.
The next day, Germanus asked Genevieve if she had remembered the promise she made to God. She did and proclaimed she would always fulfill it faithfully. He presented her with a cross engraved brass medal to always wear around her neck, as a reminder of the consecration she made of herself to God. He ordered her to never wear any other bracelets, necklaces or jewelry, to avoid falling into vanity.
Encouraged by Germanus, Genevieve dedicated her life to prayer, practices of devotion and a acts of penance. When she was only 15-years-old, she met with the Bishop of Paris and asked to become a nun. From this moment, she also began praying continuously and fasting, eating only twice a week, as a sign of her complete dedication to the Lord.
Following the death of her parents, Genevieve went on to live with her grandmother in Paris and traveled, sharing the faith, performing acts of charity, praying for the sick and prophesying. Her dedicated Christian way of life was filled with the signs of the Holy Spirit working through her.
The signs of the working of the Holy Spirit accompanying this holy young woman included miracles and spiritually inspired predictions. She frequently had visions of heavenly angels and saints. However, when she shared those visions and experiences of the Lord, people began to turn against her. They called her a hypocrite and accused her of being a false visionary. In fact, they were determined to drown her in a lake of fire. However, the Bishop Germanus intervened and silenced those who were accusing her of false statements, and persecuting her.
Genevieve was appointed by the Bishop to look after the welfare of the consecrated virgins. She did so faithfully and helped to lead them into a greater degree of holiness as they grew closer to the Lord Jesus.
Genevieve had a great influence over Childeric, the King of Gaul who overtook Paris. During a time when Paris suffered with great famine, Genevieve traveled by boat to Troyes and brought back several boats full of corn. Although he was a pagan, Childeric respected her and spared the lives of several prisoners on her behalf.
She also had an effect on King Clovis. He listened to her advice and under her request, he granted freedom to several of his prisoners.
When Attila and his army of Huns came upon Paris, the Parisian Christians were prepared to run, but Genevieve spoke to them and convinced them to stay within their homes, fast and pray to the Lord. She assured them they would have the protection of Heaven. Her prediction came true as Attila suddenly changed his path and turned away from Paris.
Genevieve died at 89-years-old on January 3, 512.
Shortly after she was buried, the people built a small church over her tomb, asking for the intercession of Saints Peter and Paul. Although her tomb remains there and can still be seen today, it is empty.
Her relics were encased by St. Eligius in a handmade gold and silver shrine around 630. Over the years, the Normans destroyed the church several times. Once it was rebuilt around 856, St. Genevieve's relics were returned and miracles began happening, making this church famous all throughout France.
Paris experienced proof of Genevieve's intercession on many occasions. The most famous occurrence was the miracle of Des Ardens, or the burning fever. In 1129, a violent fever swept through the city, and doctors couldn't stop the people from dying. The shrine of Genevieve was carried in a procession to the cathedral, and during the ceremony, those who touched her shrine were healed by the power of the Lord. Throughout the whole town, no one else became sick, all the ill recovered and only three people died.
Pope Innocent visited the city the following year and asked that an annual festival be held in commemoration of the miracle every year on November 26. His goal, as is always the case with such practices, was to keep their faith alive by reminding the faithful that the Lord always works in the lives of those who pray and draw close to Him.
St. Genevieve is the patron saint of Paris. She is depicted dressed in a long flowing gown with a mantle covering her shoulders and is often shown with a loaf of bread, representing her generosity toward those in need. Her feast day is celebrated on January 3.
", "tags": "genevieve genofeva", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 16, "action": "Pharaildis", "tags": "diseases pharaildis ghent belgium childhood" }, { "id": 17, "action": "\n Also called Vareide, Varelde, Veerle, and Verylde, a patron saint of Ghent. A Flemish maiden, she was compelled to marry against her\n \n will\n \n and was subsequently abused by her husband for refusing to consummate the union. She also apparently irritated her husband with her nighttime visits to churches. Pharaildis is honored as a\n \n miracle\n \n worker.\n
\n", "tags": "pharaildis", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 18, "action": "Angela of Foligno", "tags": "angela temptation foligno piety temptations ridiculed children people sexual death" }, { "id": 19, "action": "\n Franciscan tertiary and mystic. Born in Foligno, Italy, in 1248, Angela married and had several children. Wealthy, she took part in the social events of the city until 1285, when she had a vision. Following that mystical experience, Angela became a member of the Franciscan Third Order. When her husband died, she gave away her possessions and started a community of\n \n tertiaries\n \n devoted to the care of the needy. Her visions, which were recorded by her confessor, demonstrated a mature mystical union with\n \n Christ\n \n and the gift of revelation. She is sometimes called \"the Mistress of Theologians.\" Her\n \n tomb\n \n is in the church of St. Francis in Foligno. Many miracles have been recorded there.\n
\n", "tags": "angela foligno", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 20, "action": "Eugendus", "tags": "valley saint-oyens vaud france tarentaise aoste switzerland saint-oyen italy eugendus city" }, { "id": 21, "action": "\n Fourth\n \n abbot\n \n of Condat, near Geneva, Switzerland. Also called Oyand, Eugendus was never ordained, but he was a noted\n \n Scripture\n \n scholar.\n
\n", "tags": "eugendus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 22, "action": "Elizabeth Ann Seton", "tags": "authorities louisiana usa opposition shreveport seton ann church elizabeth problems in-law" }, { "id": 23, "action": "\n Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton was the first native born American to be canonized by the Catholic Church.\n
\nBorn two years before the American Revolution, Elizabeth grew up in the upper class of New York society. She was a prolific reader, and read everything from the Bible to contemporary novels.
In spite of her high society background, Elizabeth's early life was quiet, simple, and often lonely. As she grew a little older, the Bible was to become her continual instruction, support and comfort -and she would continue to love the Scriptures for the rest of her life.
In 1794, Elizabeth married the wealthy young William Seton, with whom she was deeply in love. The first years of their marriage were happy and prosperous. Elizabeth wrote in her diary at first autumn, \"My own home at twenty-the world-that and heaven too-quite impossible.\"
This time of Elizabeth's life was to be a brief moment of earthly happiness before the many deaths and partings she was to suffer. Within four years, William's father died, leaving the young couple in charge of William's seven half brothers and sisters, as well as the family's importing business.
Events moved quickly from there with devastating effect. Both William's business and health failed. He was finally forced to file a petition of bankruptcy and, in a final attempt to save William's health, the Setons sailed for Italy, where William had business friends.
Unfortunately, William died of tuberculosis while in Italy. Elizabeth's one consolation was that he had recently awakened to the things of God.
The many enforced separations from dear ones by death and distance served to draw Elizabeth's heart to God and eternity. The accepting and embracing of God's will - \"The Will,\" as she called it - would be a keynote in her spiritual life.
Elizabeth's deep concern for the spiritual welfare of her family and friends eventually led her into the Catholic Church.
In Italy, Elizabeth captivated everyone by her kindness, patience, good sense, wit, and courtesy. During this time Elizabeth became interested in the Catholic Faith and, over a period of months, her Italian friends guided her in Catholic instruction.
Elizabeth's desire for the Bread of Life was to be a strong force leading her to the Catholic Church.
Having lost her mother at an early age, Elizabeth felt great comfort in the idea that the Blessed Virgin was truly her mother. She asked the Blessed Virgin to guide her to the True Faith and officially joined the Catholic Church in 1805.
At the suggestion of the president of St. Mary's College in Baltimore, Maryland, Elizabeth started a school in that city. The school had originally been secular but once news of her entrance to Catholicism spread, several girls were removed from her school. It was then Seton, and two other young women who helped her in her work, began plans for a Sisterhood. They established the first free Catholic school in America. When the young community adopted their rule, they made provisions for Elizabeth to continue raising her children.
On March 25, 1809, Elizabeth Seton pronounced her vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, binding for one year. From that time she was called Mother Seton.
Although Mother Seton became afflicted with tuberculosis, she continued to guide her children. The Rule of the Sisterhood was formally ratified in 1812. It was based upon the Rule St. Vincent de Paul had written for his Daughters of Charity in France. By 1818, in addition to their first school, the sisters had established two orphanages and another school. Today, six groups of sisters can trace their origins to Mother Seton's initial foundation.
Seton's favorite prayer was the 23rd Psalm and she developed a deep devotion to the Eucharist, Sacred Scripture, and the Virgin Mary.
For the last three years of her life, Elizabeth felt that God was getting ready to call her, and this gave her great joy. Mother Seton died in 1821 at the age of 46, only sixteen years after becoming a Catholic. She was beatified by Pope John XXIII on March 17, 1963 and was canonized on September 14, 1975 by Pope Paul VI.
A wonderful prayer in Saint Elizabeth's name is:
\nLord God, you blessed Elizabeth Seton with gifts of grace as wife and mother, educator and foundress, so that she might spend her life in service to your people. Through her example and prayers may we learn to express our love for you in love for our fellow men and women. We ask this through Christ our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
\n St. Raymond of Pennafort, Patron Saint of Canonists (Feast day - January 7) Born in Spain, St. Raymond was a relative of the King of Aragon. From childhood he had a tender love and devotion to the Blessed Mother. He finished his studies at an early age, and became a famous teacher. He then gave up all his honors and entered the Order of the Dominicans. St. Raymond was very humble and very close to God. He did much\n \n penance\n \n and was so\n \n good\n \n and kind that he won many sinners to God. With King\n \n James\n \n of Aragon and\n \n St. Peter\n \n Nolasco he founded the Order of Our Lady of Ransom. The brave religious of this Order devoted themselves to saving poor Christians captured by the Moors.\n
\nOnce he went with King James to the Island of Majorca to preach about Jesus. King James was a man of great qualities, but he let himself be ruled by passions. There on the Island, too, he was giving bad example. The Saint commanded him to send the woman away. The King said he would, but he did not keep his promise. So St. Raymond decided to leave the Island. The King declared he would punish any ship captain who brought the Saint back to Barcelona. Putting all his trust in God, Saint Raymond spread his cloak upon the water, tied up one corner of it to a stick for a sail, made the Sign of the Cross, stepped onto the cloak, and sailed along for six hours until he reached Barcelona. This miracle moved the King. He was sorry for what he had done, and he became a true follower of St. Raymond. St. Raymond was one hundred years old at the time of his death.
", "tags": "pennafort raymond", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 26, "action": "Albert of Cashel", "tags": "albert cashel ireland" }, { "id": 27, "action": "\n Patron saint of Cashel, Ireland. Listed traditionally as an Englishman who labored in\n \n Ireland\n \n and then in Bavaria, Albert went to\n \n Jerusalem\n \n and died in\n \n Regensburg\n \n on his return journey.\n
\n", "tags": "albert cashel", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, null, [ { "id": 28, "action": "Benedict Biscop", "tags": "benedict english benedictines biscop" }, { "id": 29, "action": "\n Benedict Biscop Born Biscop Baducing c. 628,\n \n St. Benedict\n \n Biscop served King Oswui of Northumbria as a warrior until 653 when he accompanied\n \n St. Wilfrid\n \n on a pilgrimage to Rome. After their return to Britain, Baducing travelled again to\n \n Rome\n \n with Alcfrith, the son of Oswui, and in 666, Biscop was tonsured at St.-Honorat at Lérins, where he took the monastic name Benedict. He made a third trip to\n \n Rome\n \n and returned in 669 with Theodore of Tarsus, who had recently been appointed\n \n archbishop\n \n of Canterbury. Theodore appointed Benedict\n \n abbot\n \n of Sts. Peter and Paul monastery in\n \n Canterbury\n \n (now St. Augustine's). In Benedict of Nursia and on the rules of seventeen other monasteries he had visited in his travels. On a fourth trip to\n \n Rome\n \n in 679, he assured Pope Agatho of the\n \n orthodoxy\n \n of the English church, and he returned with books and pictures that created cultural ties between Britain and the Continent. John, the\n \n abbot\n \n of St. Martin's in Rome, came to Britain with Biscop to teach the monks Roman\n \n rubrics\n \n and script. Benedict's last trip to\n \n Rome\n \n (685) resulted in many additions to the\n \n libraries\n \n at Wearmouth and Jarrow, which Biscop had founded in 682. Benedict died c. 689/90, and his\n \n relics\n \n were translated c. 980 from Wearmouth to Thorney. Glastonbury also claims his relics.\n
\n", "tags": "benedict biscop", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 30, "action": "Marguerite Bourgeous", "tags": "mother loss poverty impoverishment bourgeous parents marguerite" }, { "id": 31, "action": "\n Marguerite had survived many threats in the twenty-six years she had been in wilderness of Canada. She had lived through\n \n Iroquois\n \n attacks, a fire that destroyed her small village, plagues on the ships that she took back and forth to France, but nothing threatened her dreams and hopes more than what her own\n \n bishop\n \n said to her in 1679. He told her that she had to join her Congregation of Notre Dame with its teaching sisters to a cloistered religious order of Ursulines. This was not the first\n \n time\n \n she'd heard this command. Whether from a misplaced desire to protect her Sisters or from discomfort in dealing with an active religious order of women,\n \n bishops\n \n had long wanted to fit her into the usual mold of cloistered orders.\n
\nBut Marguerite had overcome many challenges to get to this day and was not deterred. In her own native France, she had belonged to a sodality of women who cared for the sick.
The stories of hardships and dangers in Montreal that made other people shiver had awakened a call from God in her to serve the Native Americans and settlers who endured this adversity. She met with the governor of what was then called Ville Marie and convinced him she was the person he was looking for to help start a school for the children of Montreal.
When she arrived in Ville Marie, as it was called then, she found that few children survived to school age. She helped the remarkable Jeanne Mance, who ran the hospital, to change this tragedy. When she finally had children to teach, she had to set to up school in a stable.
So she was not ready to surrender to the bishop. There was too much at stake. She reminded him that the Ursulines because they were cloistered could not go out and teach, as her Sisters had done. The poor and uneducated would not and could not travel to a Quebec cloister over miles of frontier at the risk of their lives.
But her Sisters were more than willing to live in huts in order to fulfill their call from God. She had set up schools all over the territory, not just for children. When the king, in well-meaning ignorance, had sent untrained orphans over to be colonists she had set up a school for the women to teach them how to survive and thrive in Canada.
How could they do the work for God that they had done so well in a cloister?
The bishop replied, \"I cannot doubt, Mother Bourgeoys, that you will succeed in moving heaven and earth as you have moved me!\" The Congregation remained an active teaching order, one of the very first of its kind for women. Their rule had to go through one more attempt at turning them into a cloister but Marguerite lived to see the triumph when their Rule was made official in 1698. She was canonized in 1982 by Pope John Paul II.
Remember someone who taught you something very important. How did this person change your life? Write a letter or contact this person in some other way to let them know this.
Blessed Marguerite Bourgeoys, you survived attacks of all kinds on your faith and service. Help me keep my vocation strong despite the threats of the world and my own doubts. Amen
", "tags": "marguerite bourgeous", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 32, "action": "Margaret of Castello", "tags": "poverty castello margaret impoverishment" }, { "id": 33, "action": "\n Blessed Margaret of Citta-di-Castello, Virgin\n
\nIt must have been about the year 1293 when some women of Citta-di-Castello in Umbria, who had gone one day to pray in their parish church, found within, a destitute blind child of about six or seven, who had been abandoned there by her parents. The kind souls were filled with pity for the little waif, and, poor though they were, they took charge of her - first one family and then another, sheltering and feeding her until she became practically the adopted child of the village. One and all declared that, far from being a burden, little Margaret brought a blessing upon those who befriended her. Some years later, the nuns of a local convent offered her a home. The girl rejoiced at the prospect of living with religious, but her joy was short-lived. The community was lax and worldly; Margaret's fervor was a tacit reproach to them, nor did she bring them the profit they had anticipated. Neglect was succeeded by petty persecution, and then by active calumny. Finally she was driven forth ignominiously to face the world once more.
However, her old friends rallied around her. One couple offered her a settled home, which became her permanent residence. At the age of fifteen, Margaret received the habit of a tertiary from the Dominican fathers, who had lately established themselves in Citta-di-Castello, and thence forth, she lived a life entirely devoted to God. More than ever did God's benediction rest upon her. She cured another tertiary of an affliction of the eyes which had baffled medical skill, and her mantle extinguished a fire which had broken out in her foster parents' house. In her desire to show her gratitude to the people of Citta-di-Castello, she undertook to look after the children while their parents were at work. Her little school prospered wonderfully, for she understood children, being very simple herself. She set them little tasks which she helped them to perform; she instructed them in their duty to God and to man, instilling into them her own great devotion to the sacred Childhood, and she taught them the psalms which, inspite of her blindness, she had learned by heart at the convent. We are told that when at prayer she was frequently raised a foot or more from the ground, remaining thus for a long time. Thus she lived, practically unknown outside her own neighborhood, until the age of thirty-three, when she died amidst the friends who loved her, and was buried by their wish in the parish church, where many remarkable miracles took place. The cult of Blessed Margaret was confirmed in 1609.
", "tags": "castello margaret", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 34, "action": "Hilary of Poitiers", "tags": "bites children snake poitiers snakes hilary backward" }, { "id": 35, "action": "\n \"They didn't know who they were.\" This is how Hilary summed up the problem with the Arian\n \n heretics\n \n of the fourth century.\n
\nHilary, on the other hand, knew very well who he was -- a child of a loving God who had inherited eternal life through belief in the Son of God. He hadn't been raised as a Christian but he had felt a wonder at the gift of life and a desire to find out the meaning of that gift. He first discarded the approach of many people who around him, who believed the purpose of life was only to satisfy desires. He knew he wasn't a beast grazing in a pasture. The philosophers agreed with him. Human beings should rise above desires and live a life of virtue, they said. But Hilary could see in his own heart that humans were meant for even more than living a good life.
If he didn't lead a virtuous life, he would suffer from guilt and be unhappy. His soul seemed to cry out that wasn't enough to justify the enormous gift of life. So Hilary went looking for the giftgiver. He was told many things about the divine -- many that we still hear today: that there were many Gods, that God didn't exist but all creation was the result of random acts of nature, that God existed but didn't really care for his creation, that God was in creatures or images. One look in his own soul told him these images of the divine were wrong. God had to be one because no creation could be as great as God. God had to be concerned with God's creation -- otherwise why create it?
At that point, Hilary tells us, he \"chanced upon\" the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. When he read the verse where God tells Moses \"I AM WHO I AM\" (Exodus 3:14), Hilary said, \"I was frankly amazed at such a clear definition of God, which expressed the incomprehensible knowledge of the divine nature in words most suited to human intelligence.\" In the Psalms and the Prophets he found descriptions of God's power, concern, and beauty. For example in Psalm 139, \"Where shall I go from your spirit?\", he found confirmation that God was everywhere and omnipotent.
But still he was troubled. He knew the giftgiver now, but what was he, the recipient of the gift? Was he just created for the moment to disappear at death? It only made sense to him that God's purpose in creation should be \"that what did not exist began to exist, not that what had begun to exist would cease to exist.\" Then he found the Gospels and read John's words including \"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God...\" (John 1:1-2). From John he learned of the Son of God and how Jesus had been sent to bring eternal life to those who believed. Finally his soul was at rest. \"No longer did it look upon the life of this body as troublesome or wearisome, but believed it to be what the alphabet is to children... namely, as the patient endurance of the present trials of life in order to gain a blissful eternity.\" He had found who he was in discovering God and God's Son Jesus Christ.
After becoming a Christian, he was elected bishop of Poitiers in what is now France by the laity and clergy. He was already married with one daughter named Apra.
Not everyone at that time had the same idea of who they were. The Arians did not believe in the divinity of Christ and the Arians had a lot of power including the support of the emperor Constantius. This resulted in many persecutions. When Hilary refused to support their condemnation of Saint Athanasius he was exiled from Poitiers to the East in 356. The Arians couldn't have had a worse plan -- for themselves.
Hilary really had known very little of the whole Arian controversy before he was banished. Perhaps he supported Athanasius simply because he didn't like their methods. But being exiled from his home and his duties gave him plenty of time to study and write. He learned everything he could about what the Arians said and what the orthodox Christians answered and then he began to write. \"Although in exile we shall speak through these books, and the word of God, which cannot be bound, shall move about in freedom.\" The writings of his that still exist include On the Trinity, a commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, and a commentary on the Psalms. He tells us about the Trinity, \"For one to attempt to speak of God in terms more precise than he himself has used: -- to undertake such a thing is to embark upon the boundless, to dare the incomprehensible. He fixed the names of His nature: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Whatever is sought over and above this is beyond the meaning of words, beyond the limits of perception, beyond the embrace of understanding.\"
After three years the emperor kicked him back to Poitiers, because, we are told by Sulpicius Severus, the emperor was tired of having to deal with the troublemaker, \"a sower of discord an a disturber of the Orient.\" But no one told Hilary he had to go straight back to his home and so he took a leisurely route through Greece and Italy, preaching against the Arians as he went.
In the East he had also heard the hymns used by Arians and orthodox Christians as propaganda. These hymns were not based on Scripture as Western hymns but full of beliefs about God. Back at home, Hilary started writing hymns of propaganda himself to spread the faith. His hymns are the first in the West with a known writer.
Some of use may wonder at all the trouble over what may seem only words to us now. But Hilary wasn't not fighting a war of words, but a battle for the eternal life of the souls who might hear the Arians and stop believing in the Son of God, their hope of salvation.
The death of Constantius in 361 ended the persecution of the orthodox Christians. Hilary died in 367 or 368 and was proclaimed a doctor of the Church in 1851.
In Exodus, the Prophets, and the Gospel of John, Hilary found his favorite descriptions of God and God's relationship to us. What verses of Scripture describe God best for you? If you aren't familiar with Scripture, look up the verses that Hilary found. What do they mean to you?
Saint Hilary of Poitiers, instead of being discouraged by your exile, you used your time to study and write. Help us to bring good out of suffering and isolation in our own lives and see adversity as an opportunity to learn about or share our faith. Amen
", "tags": "poitiers hilary", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 36, "action": "Felix of Nola", "tags": "nola perjury felix" }, { "id": 37, "action": "\n Felix was the son of Hermias, a Syrian who had been a Roman soldier. He was born on his father's estate at\n \n Nola\n \n near Naples, Italy. On the death of his father, Felix distributed his inheritance to the poor, was ordained by\n \n Bishop\n \n \n St. Maximus\n \n of Nola, and became his assistant. When Maximus fled to the\n \n desert\n \n at the beginning of Decius'\n \n persecution\n \n of the Christians in 250, Felix was seized in his stead and imprisoned. He was reputedly released from prison by an angel, who directed him to the ailing Maximus, whom he brought back to Nola. Even after Decius' death in 251, Felix was a hunted\n \n man\n \n but kept well hidden until the\n \n persecution\n \n ended. When Maximus died, the people unanimously selected Felix as their Bishop, but he declined the honor in favor of Quintus, a senior priest. Felix spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n on a small piece of land sharing what he had with the poor, and died there on January 14. His\n \n tomb\n \n soon became famous for the miracles reported there, and when St. Paulinus became\n \n bishop\n \n of\n \n Nola\n \n almost a century later (410), he wrote about his predecessor, the source of our information about him, adding legendary material that had grown up about Felix in the intervening century. His\n \n feast day\n \n is January 14th.\n
\n", "tags": "nola felix", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 38, "action": "Macrina the Elder", "tags": "poverty impoverishment elder macrina" }, { "id": 39, "action": "\n Grandmother of Sts. Basil and Gregory of Nyssa. She was trained in the\n \n faith\n \n by St. Gregory Thaumaturgis. During the\n \n persecution\n \n instituted by Emperor Diocletian, Macrina and her husband had to flee Neocaesarea, in Pontus. They lived on the shores of the Black Sea.\n
\n", "tags": "elder macrina", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 40, "action": "Sava", "tags": "serbia sava" }, { "id": 41, "action": "\n Sava was the son of Stephen I, founder of the Nemanydes dynasty, and also known as Sabas. He became a\n \n monk\n \n on\n \n Mount Athos\n \n in\n \n Greece\n \n when he was seventeen. With his father, who abdicated in 1196, he founded Khilandrai Monastery on\n \n Mount Athos\n \n for Serbian monks and became Abbot. He returned home in 1207 when his brothers, Stephen II and Vulkan, began to quarrel, and civil\n \n war\n \n broke out. Sava brought many of his monks with him, and from the headquarters he established at Studenitsa Monastery, he founded several monasteries and began the reformation and\n \n education\n \n of the country, where\n \n religion\n \n and\n \n education\n \n had fallen to a low estate. He was named\n \n metropolitan\n \n of a new Serbian\n \n hierarchy\n \n by Emperor\n \n Theodore II\n \n Laskaris at Nicaea; was consecrated, though for political reasons unwillingly, by\n \n Patriarch\n \n Manuel I in 1219; returned home bringing more monks from Mount Athos; and in 1222 crowned his brother Stephen II King of Serbia. Through his efforts, he finished the uniting of his people that had been begun by his father, translated religious works into Serbian, and gave his people a native clergy and hierarchy. He made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, was later sent on a second visit there on an ecclesiastical mission, and died on the way back at Tirnovo, Bulgaria, on January 14. He is the patron of Serbia. His\n \n feast day\n \n is January 14th.\n
\n", "tags": "sava", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 42, "action": "Nino", "tags": "former georgia nino ussr" }, { "id": 43, "action": "\n Virgin and the\n \n Apostle\n \n of Georgia, also listed as Christiana. According to custom, she was born in Cappadocia and became a slave. Taken to Iberia, she won the respect of many locals with her patience and goodness and by the miracles she supposedly performed. Brought to the royal palace, she converted the king and queen who then requested that the Roman Emperor\n \n Constantine the Great\n \n send missionaries and bishops. After helping to found the Church in Georgia, Nino retired to the\n \n life\n \n of a hermitess, spending the rest of her\n \n life\n \n in prayer. While there is no\n \n doubt\n \n about her historical existence or her work, Nino has been the subject of numerous tales and legends.\n
\n", "tags": "nino", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 44, "action": "Teath", "tags": "cornwall teath" }, { "id": 45, "action": "\n Possibly a daughter of Brychan of Brecknock in Wales. A Cornwall church bears her name. She may also be St. Ita.\n
\n", "tags": "teath", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 46, "action": "Fursey of Peronne", "tags": "peronne fursey france" }, { "id": 47, "action": "\n Irish monastic founder, the brother of Sts. Foillan and Ulan, praised by St. Bede. Fursey was born on the island of Inisguia en Lough Carri, Ireland, as a noble. He founded Rathmat Abbey, now probably Killursa. In 630 Fursey and his friends went to East Anglia, England, where he founded a monastery near Ugremouth on land donated by King Sigebert. In his later years, Fursey went to\n \n France\n \n to build a monastery at Lagny, near Paris, France. He was buried in Picardy. St.\n \n Bede\n \n and others wrote about Fursey's intense ecstasies.\n
\n", "tags": "peronne fursey", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 48, "action": "Anthony the Abbott", "tags": "abbott anthony pigs recluses swine hogs hermits erysipelas monks" }, { "id": 49, "action": "\n Two Greek philosophers ventured out into the Egyptian\n \n desert\n \n to the mountain where Anthony lived. When they got there, Anthony asked them why they had come to talk to such a foolish man? He had\n \n reason\n \n to say that -- they saw before them a\n \n man\n \n who wore a skin, who refused to bathe, who lived on bread and water. They were Greek, the world's most admired civilization, and Anthony was Egyptian, a member of a conquered nation. They were philosophers, educated in languages and rhetoric. Anthony had not even attended school as a boy and he needed an interpreter to speak to them. In their eyes, he would have seemed very foolish.\n
\nBut the Greek philosophers had heard the stories of Anthony. They had heard how disciples came from all over to learn from him, how his intercession had brought about miraculous healings, how his words comforted the suffering. They assured him that they had come to him because he was a wise man.
Anthony guessed what they wanted. They lived by words and arguments. They wanted to hear his words and his arguments on the truth of Christianity and the value of ascetism. But he refused to play their game. He told them that if they truly thought him wise, \"If you think me wise, become what I am, for we ought to imitate the good. Had I gone to you, I should have imitated you, but, since you have come to me, become what I am, for I am a Christian.\"
Anthony's whole life was not one of observing, but of becoming. When his parents died when he was eighteen or twenty he inherited their three hundred acres of land and the responsibility for a young sister. One day in church, he heard read Matthew 19:21: \"If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.\" Not content to sit still and meditate and reflect on Jesus' words he walked out the door of the church right away and gave away all his property except what he and his sister needed to live on. On hearing Matthew 6:34, \"So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today,\" he gave away everything else, entrusted his sister to a convent, and went outside the village to live a life of praying, fasting, and manual labor. It wasn't enough to listen to words, he had to become what Jesus said.
Every time he heard of a holy person he would travel to see that person. But he wasn't looking for words of wisdom, he was looking to become. So if he admired a person's constancy in prayer or courtesy or patience, he would imitate it. Then he would return home.
Anthony went on to tell the Greek philosophers that their arguments would never be as strong as faith. He pointed out that all rhetoric, all arguments, no matter how complex, how well-founded, were created by human beings. But faith was created by God. If they wanted to follow the greatest ideal, they should follow their faith.
Anthony knew how difficult this was. Throughout his life he argued and literally wrestled with the devil. His first temptations to leave his ascetic life were arguments we would find hard to resist -- anxiety about his sister, longings for his relatives, thoughts of how he could have used his property for good purposes, desire for power and money. When Anthony was able to resist him, the devil then tried flattery, telling Anthony how powerful Anthony was to beat him. Anthony relied on Jesus' name to rid himself of the devil. It wasn't the last time, though. One time, his bout with the devil left him so beaten, his friends thought he was dead and carried him to church. Anthony had a hard time accepting this. After one particular difficult struggle, he saw a light appearing in the tomb he lived in. Knowing it was God, Anthony called out, \"Where were you when I needed you?\" God answered, \"I was here. I was watching your struggle. Because you didn't give in, I will stay with you and protect you forever.\"
With that kind of assurance and approval from God, many people would have settled in, content with where they were. But Anthony's reaction was to get up and look for the next challenge -- moving out into the desert.
Anthony always told those who came to visit him that the key to the ascetic life was perseverance, not to think proudly, \"We've lived an ascetic life for a long time\" but treat each day as if it were the beginning. To many, perseverance is simply not giving up, hanging in there. But to Anthony perseverance meant waking up each day with the same zeal as the first day. It wasn't enough that he had given up all his property one day. What was he going to do the next day?
Once he had survived close to town, he moved into the tombs a little farther away. After that he moved out into the desert. No one had braved the desert before. He lived sealed in a room for twenty years, while his friends provided bread. People came to talk to him, to be healed by him, but he refused to come out. Finally they broke the door down. Anthony emerged, not angry, but calm. Some who spoke to him were healed physically, many were comforted by his words, and others stayed to learn from him. Those who stayed formed what we think of as the first monastic community, though it is not what we would think of religious life today. All the monks lived separately, coming together only for worship and to hear Anthony speak.
But after awhile, too many people were coming to seek Anthony out. He became afraid that he would get too proud or that people would worship him instead of God. So he took off in the middle of the night, thinking to go to a different part of Egypt where he was unknown. Then he heard a voice telling him that the only way to be alone was to go into the desert. He found some Saracens who took him deep into the desert to a mountain oasis. They fed him until his friends found him again.
Anthony died when he was one hundred and five years old. A life of solitude, fasting, and manual labor in the service of God had left him a healthy, vigorous man until very late in life. And he never stopped challenging himself to go one step beyond in his faith.
Saint Athanasius, who knew Anthony and wrote his biography, said, \"Anthony was not known for his writings nor for his worldly wisdom, nor for any art, but simply for his reverence toward God.\" We may wonder nowadays at what we can learn from someone who lived in the desert, wore skins, ate bread, and slept on the ground. We may wonder how we can become him. We can become Anthony by living his life of radical faith and complete commitment to God.
In His Footsteps: Fast for one day, if possible, as Anthony did, eating only bread and only after the sun sets. Pray as you do that God will show you how dependent you are on God for your strength.
Prayer: Saint Anthony, you spoke of the importance of persevering in our faith and our practice. Help us to wake up each day with new zeal for the Christian life and a desire to take the next challenge instead of just sitting still. Amen
", "tags": "anthony abbott", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 50, "action": "Giles", "tags": "recluses hermits giles" }, { "id": 51, "action": "\n A native of Assisi, Italy, Giles was one of the earliest followers of St. Francis, from whom he received the\n \n habit\n \n in 1208. He accompanied Francis on many of his missions around Assisi, made a pilgrimage to Compostela, visited\n \n Rome\n \n and the Holy Land, and then made an unsuccessful visit to\n \n Tunis\n \n to convert the Saracens. The Christians in Tunis, fearful of the repercussions of his religious fervor, forced him back on a boat as soon as he landed. He spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n living in Italy, living from about 1243 at the Monte Rapido hermitage on the outskirts of Perugia, where he died in 1263. He experiences ecstacies, had a vision of\n \n Christ\n \n at Cetona, and is considered the most perfect example of the primitive Franciscan. He is spoken of at length in \"The Little Flowers of St. Francis\" and Francis called him his \"Knight of the round table.\" Known for his austerity and silence, his \"The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles\" is noted for its humor, deep understanding of human nature, and optimism.\n
\n", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 52, "action": "Sebastian", "tags": "sebastian arrowsmiths local armourers fletchers neighborhood serbian physicians archers enemies religion workers iron rio police stores potters diseases municipal racquet watch cattle brazil diseased makers athletes contagious janeiro plague hardware soldiers lead de peoples mongers" }, { "id": 53, "action": "\n Nothing is known about St. Sebastian's youth other than the fact he may have come from southern France and he was educated in Milan. He joined the Roman Army in 283 AD, ostensibly to be of service to other Christians who were being persecuted by the Romans. St. Sebastian distinguished himself and for his excellent service, he was promoted to serve in the Praetorian Guard to protect Emperor Diocletian.\n
\nWhile serving as a Praetorian Guard, Marcus and Marcellian, twin brothers, were imprisoned for refusing to make public sacrifices to the Roman gods. The brothers were deacons of the Christian Church. During their imprisonment, their parents visited them to implore them to renounce Christianity. However, St. Sebastian convinced both parents to convert to Christianity. St. Sebastian also converted several other prominent individuals, including the local prefect.
This led to his discovery and he was reported as a Christian to Emperor Diocletian in 286. The Emperor, who was already infamous for ordering the deaths of hundreds of Christians, scolded Sebastian and ordered him to be killed by having him tied to a stake on a training field and used as target practice.
Archers riddled his body with arrows, his body was described as, \"full of arrows as an urchin.\" Believed to be dead, the archers left his body for retrieval and burial. He was recovered by Irene of Rome, whose Christian husband was a servant to Diocletian and also martyred. Irene discovered that Sebastian was still living and she hid him and nursed him back to health.
Once well, Sebastian went in search of Diocletian to surprise him. He managed to catch Diocletian by a stairwell and proceeded to criticize him loudly and publically for his persecution of the Christians. Diocletian, surprised that Sebastian was still alive, was immediately taken aback, but recovered his composure. This time, he would not permit Sebastian to escape with his life. He ordered his former guard to be beaten to death with clubs, then thrown into the sewers.
His body was recovered by a Christian woman, named Lucina, and she secretly buried him in the catacombs beneath Rome.
Nearly 80 years after his death, around 367, his remains were moved to a basilica in Rome, built by Pope Damasus I. His body, or at least some relics from his body were reportedly removed and shared with a community of monks in France. His cranium was sent to a German monastery where it was placed in a special silver case in 934. The relic remains in its case today in a special reliquary in Ebersberg.
St. Sebastian was commonly invoked as a protector against the plague. According to historical records, he defended the city of Rome against the plague in 680. His association with the plague could be because he survived being shot full of arrows and in pagan belief, pestilence was delivered by arrows shot by the gods above. Even Christian Romans would appreciate this symbolism. That symbolism is even captured in artwork as late as the Renaissance, where artists painted plague victims with black arrows in their body.
In artwork, St. Sebastian is depicted with arrows shot into his body, often tied to a post or a tree. His second execution is virtually never depicted.
St. Sebastian is the patron saint of soldiers, athletes, and those who desire a saintly death.
", "tags": "sebastian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 54, "action": "Giles", "tags": "rams giles" }, { "id": 55, "action": "\n A native of Assisi, Italy, Giles was one of the earliest followers of St. Francis, from whom he received the\n \n habit\n \n in 1208. He accompanied Francis on many of his missions around Assisi, made a pilgrimage to Compostela, visited\n \n Rome\n \n and the Holy Land, and then made an unsuccessful visit to\n \n Tunis\n \n to convert the Saracens. The Christians in Tunis, fearful of the repercussions of his religious fervor, forced him back on a boat as soon as he landed. He spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n living in Italy, living from about 1243 at the Monte Rapido hermitage on the outskirts of Perugia, where he died in 1263. He experiences ecstacies, had a vision of\n \n Christ\n \n at Cetona, and is considered the most perfect example of the primitive Franciscan. He is spoken of at length in \"The Little Flowers of St. Francis\" and Francis called him his \"Knight of the round table.\" Known for his austerity and silence, his \"The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles\" is noted for its humor, deep understanding of human nature, and optimism.\n
\n", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 56, "action": "Agnes", "tags": "mary children young agnes girls" }, { "id": 57, "action": "\n St. Agnes of Rome was born in 291 AD and raised in a Christian family. Agnes was very beautiful and belonged to a wealthy family. Her hand in marriage was highly sought after, and she had many high ranking men chasing after her. However, Agnes made a promise to God never to stain her purity. Her love for the Lord was great and she hated sin even more than death!\n
\nWhenever a man wished to marry Agnes, she would always say, \"Jesus Christ is my only Spouse.\"
According to legend, the young men she turned away became so angry and insulted by her devotion to God and purity that they began to submit her name to authorities as a Christian follower.
In one incident, Procop, the Governor's son, became very angry when she refused him. He tried to win her for his wife with rich gifts and promises, but the beautiful young girl kept saying, \"I am already promised to the Lord of the Universe. He is more splendid than the sun and the stars, and He has said He will never leave me!\"
In great anger, Procop accused her of being a Christian and brought her to his father, the Governor. The Governor promised Agnes wonderful gifts if she would only deny God, but Agnes refused. He tried to change her mind by putting her in chains, but her lovely face shone with joy.
Next he sent her to a place of sin, but an Angel protected her. At last, she was condemned to death. Even the pagans cried to see such a young and beautiful girl going to death. Yet, Agnes was as happy as a bride on her wedding day. She did not pay attention to those who begged her to save herself. \"I would offend my Spouse,\" she said, \"if I were to try to please you. He chose me first and He shall have me!\" Then she prayed and bowed her head for the death-stroke of the sword.
Other accounts of Agnes' life hold the Prefect Sempronius responsible for her martyrdom. It is said he condemned the young girl to be dragged through the streets naked. Some versions of the legend state that Agnes' hair grew instantly to cover her entire body and all the men who attempted to rape the beautiful virgin were immediately struck blind.
The stories go on to explain that another man presided over Agnes' trial after Sempronius excused himself. The new man sentenced Agnes to death. At first, Agnes was tied to a stake, but either the wood would not burn or the flames parted away from her. This prompted an officer to draw his sword and behead the girl. It is believed that her blood, which poured out to the stadium, was soaked up with cloths by Christians.
She died a virgin-martyr at the age of 12 or 13 on 21 January 304.
Agnes was buried beside the Via Nomentana in Rome. Her bones are currently conserved beneath the high altar in the church of Sant'Angese fuori le mura in Rome, which was built over the catacomb that held her tomb. Her skull is preserved in the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone in Rome's Piazza Navona.
In 1858, Father Caspar Rehrl, an Austrian missionary founded the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes.
St. Agnes is widely known as the patron saint of young girls. She is also the patron saint of chastity, rape survivors and the Children of Mary. She is often represented with a lamb, the symbol of her virgin innocence, and a palm branch, like other martyrs. She is shown as a young girl in robes holding a palm branch with the lamb either at her feet or in her arms.
Her feast day is celebrated on January 21. On her feast day, it is customary for two lambs to be brought in to be blessed by the pope. On Holy Thursday the lambs' wool is removed and woven into the pallium the pope gives to a newly consecrated archbishop as a sign of his power and union with the pope.
", "tags": "agnes", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 58, "action": "Meinrad", "tags": "meinrad swabia einsiedeln hospitality switzerland hospitallers germany" }, { "id": 59, "action": "\n St. Meinrad,\n \n martyr\n \n is venerated as the patron and in some sense the founder of the Benedictine\n \n abbey\n \n of Einsiedeln in\n \n Switzerland\n \n which has kept an unbroken continuity since Carolingian times. He settled as a hermit at Einsiedeln, where he was murdered by two ruffians to whom he had given\n \n hospitality\n \n in 861. His\n \n feast day\n \n is January 21st.\n
\n", "tags": "meinrad", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 60, "action": "Vincent of Digne", "tags": "vincent digne france" }, { "id": 61, "action": "\n Bishop of Digne,\n \n France\n \n Originally from Africa, he became\n \n bishop\n \n of\n \n Digne\n \n and was later venerated as the patron saint of the city.\n
\n", "tags": "vincent digne", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 62, "action": "Vincent Pallotti", "tags": "vincent priests missionary pallotti" }, { "id": 63, "action": "\n St. Vincent Pallotti,\n \n Priest\n \n (Feast - January 22) Born in\n \n Rome\n \n in 1795,\n \n St. Vincent\n \n became a\n \n priest\n \n and dedicated himself completely to\n \n God\n \n and cared for souls. He dreamed of gaining for\n \n Christ\n \n all non-Catholics, especially the Mohammedans. To this end he inaugurated a revolutionary program which envisaged the collaboration of the\n \n laity\n \n in the apostolate of the clergy. But\n \n St. Vincent\n \n was also well aware of the many deprivations in the natural sphere that hindered the spread of the Faith. He thus obtained and spent huge sums for the poor and underprivileged. He founded\n \n guilds\n \n for workers, agriculture schools, loan associations, orphanages and\n \n homes\n \n for girls - all of which made him the pioneer and precursor of\n \n Catholic\n \n Action. His great legacy was the congregation which he founded for urban mission work, known as the \"Society for\n \n Catholic\n \n Action\". This indefatigable laborer for\n \n Christ\n \n in 1850 from a severe cold which he most likely caught on a cold rainy night after giving his cloak to a beggar who had none.\n
\n", "tags": "vincent pallotti", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 64, "action": "Dominic of Sora", "tags": "sora dominic snakes" }, { "id": 65, "action": "\n Benedictine\n \n abbot\n \n and founder. Born in Foligno, Umbria, Italy, he established monasteries in the old kingdom of Naples. He died at Sora, in Latium.\n
\n", "tags": "sora dominic", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 66, "action": "Vincent of Saragossa", "tags": "vincent winegrowers vintners saragossa makers vinegar" }, { "id": 67, "action": "\n St. Vincent, the protomartyr of Spain, was a deacon of the 3rd century. Together with his Bishop, Valerius of Saragossa, he was apprehended during a\n \n persecution\n \n of Dacian the governor of Spain. Valerius was banished but Vincent was subjected to fierce tortures before ultimately dying from his wounds. According to details of his death (which seem to have been considerably developed later on), his flesh was pierced with iron hooks, he was bound upon a red-hot gridiron and roasted, and he was cast into a prison and laid on a floor strewn with broken pottery. But through it all his constancy remained unmoved (leading to his jailer's conversion) and he survived until his friends were allowed to see him and prepare a bed for on which he died. The saint's fame spread rapidly throughout Gaul and\n \n Africa\n \n - we have several sermons of St. Augustine given on his feast day. His\n \n feast day\n \n is January 22.\n
\n", "tags": "vincent saragossa", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 68, "action": "Laura Vicuna", "tags": "mother loss abuse victims laura father parents vicuna" }, { "id": 69, "action": "\n Laura was born on April 5, 1891, as the first child of Senora Mercedes Pino and Jose Domingo Vicuna, a soldier who belonged to a noble Chilean family. A civil war broke out and her father had to flee his country. A few days after the birth of the second child Julia Amanda, Senor Vicuna, worn out physically and mentally, died, leaving his wife and children alone.\n
\nSeeing that she could not survive there, she decided to leave the country. She finally found work at a large \"hacienda\" owned by Senor Manuel Mora. He was a typical Argentine \"gaucho\", a dreamy Latin lover and a shady character.
Senora Mercedes let herself be won over by his promises of help, and accepted his protection. His financial support would allow her to enroll her two girls as pupils in the Salesian Sisters' school in Junin, but at what price!
Laura was very happy living under the serene guidance of the young Missionary Sisters. She discovered God, His love, and allowed herself to be surrounded by it.
God's love stimulated her to love in return. Thus, Laura made herself available to all, helping them in any way she could. She was a leader and everyone's friend. Laura accepted God's love. Laura was fascinated by the ideal of the Sisters and secretly hoped to consecrate herself to God in the service of her brothers and sisters.
\"I wish Mamma would know you better and be happy,\" she often prayed before the tabernacle. Laura was distressed about her mother's situation with Senor Mora; her mother was indeed far away from God and Senor Mora was the cause. The struggle for living and providing for her daughters had wearied her. In a moment of stress and discouragement, she had given in to his demands.
But Laura would do her best to give her mamma God's friendship once again.
Love is stronger than death, love creates and maintains life. Deeply believing this, Laura said to the Lord: \"I offer you my life for that of my mother.\"
The winter of 1903 in Junin was extremely severe, with persistent rain and dampness. Laura became weaker with each passing day; she was wasting away. Although her mother took her home to Quilquihue, where the climate was more pleasant and helpful, there was no improvement in her health. Laura knew she would not recover. God had accepted her offering... her self-immolation.
Laura's mother remained day and night at her bedside, surrounding her with care and attention. Laura kept looking at her tenderly. Now it was time to reveal her secret.
\"Mamma, I'm dying, but I'm happy to offer my life for you. I asked Our Lord for this.\" Her mother was shocked. She fell on her knees sobbing. She instantly understood everything.
\"Laura, my daughter, please forgive me... O dear God, please forgive my life of sin... Yes, I will start again.\"
Laura's face was now serene and at peace.
", "tags": "vicuna laura", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 70, "action": "Francis de Sales", "tags": "usa authors wilmington editors delaware writers sales ohio columbus cincinnati journalists francis catholic de arch press deaf" }, { "id": 71, "action": "\n St. Francis de Sales was born to a noble family at Chateau de Sales in the Kingdom of Savoy near Geneva, Switzerland on August 21, 1567. He was a Bishop and Doctor of the Church.\n
\nFrancis was both intelligent and gentle. From a very early age, he desired to serve God. He knew for years he had a vocation to the priesthood, but kept it from his family. His father wanted him to enter a career in law and politics.
In 1580, Francis attended the University of Paris, and at 24-years-old, he received his doctorate in law at the University of Padua.
All the time, he never lost his passion for God. He studied theology and practiced mental prayers, but kept quiet about his devotion. To please his father, he also studied fencing and riding.
God made his will clear to Francis one day while he was riding. Francis fell from his horse three times that day. Every time he fell, the sword came out of the scabbard, and every time it came out, the sword and scabbard came to rest on the ground in the shape of the Christian cross.
After much discussion and disagreement from his father, Francis was ordained to the priesthood and elected provost of the Diocese of Geneva, in 1593, by the Bishop of Geneva.
During the time of the Protestant reformation, Francis lived close to Calvinist territory. He decided he should lead an expedition to bring the 60,000 Calvinists back to the Catholic Church.
For three years, he trudged through the countryside, had doors slammed in his face and rocks thrown at him. In the bitter winters, his feet froze so badly they bled as he tramped through the snow.
Francis' unusual patience kept him working. No one would listen to him, no one would even open their door. So, Francis found a way to get under the door. He wrote out little pamphlets to explain true Catholic doctrine and slipped them under the doors. This is one of the first records we have of religious tracts being used to communicate the true Catholic faith to people who had fallen away from the Church.
The parents wouldn't come to him, so Francis went to the children. When the parents saw how kind he was as he played with the children, they began to talk to him.
By the time Francis returned home, it is believed he brought 40,000 people to the Catholic Church.
He forged wonderful alliances with Pope Clement VIII and Henry IV of France, and in 1601 Francis joined Henry IV on a diplomatic mission. He was to give Lenten sermons at the Chapel Royal. Henry grew attached to Francis and saw him as a \"rare bird\" who was devout, knowledgeable and a gentleman.
In 1602, Bishop Granier died and Francis was consecrated Bishop of Geneva, although he continued to reside in Annecy. He only set foot in the city of Geneva twice -- once when the Pope sent him to try to convert Calvin's successor, Beza, and another when he traveled through it.
In 1604, Francis took one of the most important steps in his life -- the step toward extraordinary holiness and mystical union with God.
In Dijon, Francis saw a widow listening closely to his sermon -- a woman he had seen already in a dream. Jane de Chantal was a dedicated Catholic Christian on her own, as Francis was, but it was only when they became friends they began to become saints.
Jane wanted him to take over her spiritual direction, but, not surprisingly, Francis wanted to wait. \"I had to know fully what God himself wanted. I had to be sure that everything in this should be done as though his hand had done it.\" Jane was on a path to mystical union with God and, in directing her, Francis was compelled to follow her and become a mystic himself.
Years after working with Jane, he made up his mind to form a new religious community. In 1610, he founded The Order of Visitation.
Francis was overworked and often ill because of his constant load of preaching, visiting, and instruction -- even catechizing a deaf man so he could take first Communion. He believed the first duty of a bishop was spiritual direction and wrote to Jane, \"So many have come to me that I might serve them, leaving me no time to think of myself. However, I assure you that I do feel deep-down- within-me, God be praised. For the truth is that this kind of work is infinitely profitable to me.\" For him active work did not weaken his spiritual inner peace but strengthened it.
He gave spiritual direction to most people through letters, which attested to his remarkable patience. \"I have more than fifty letters to answer. If I tried to hurry over it all, I would be lost. So, I intend neither to hurry or to worry. This evening, I shall answer as many as I can. Tomorrow I shall do the same and so I shall go on until I have finished.\"
During this time, it was wrongly thought that achieving real holiness of life was a task reserved for only for the clergy and those in religious life, and not for lay men and women. In addition, that only contemplatives, people who withdraw from active participation in the world, could really achieve holiness.
Francis insisted that every Christian was called to holiness and sanctity, lived within their own state in life. In holding that belief, he reflected the teaching of Jesus and the early Church Fathers.
Francis laid the groundwork for the teaching of the Second Vatican Council on what is now called the ?universal call to holiness. It reaffirms the teaching of Jesus and the early Church that every Baptized Christian is called to sanctity, no matter what their career or state in life. In every career and state in life, Christians can become more and more like Jesus Christ. That is, after all, what holiness really means.
Francis gave spiritual direction to lay people who were living real lives in the real world. He had proven with his own life that people could grow in holiness while involved in a very active occupation. He also recognized that Christian marriage and family life is itself a call to holiness.
His most famous book, INTRODUCTION TO THE DEVOUT LIFE, was written for ordinary lay people in 1608, not just the clergy and religious. Written originally as letters, it became an instant success all over Europe -- though some clergy rejected the notion that lay men and women could achieve holiness in the experience of their daily life. Some tore it up because Francis encouraged dancing and jokes!
For Francis, the love of God was like romantic love. He said, \"The thoughts of those moved by natural human love are almost completely fastened on the beloved, their hearts are filled with passion for it, and their mouths full of its praises. When it is gone, they express their feelings in letters, and can't pass by a tree without carving the name of their beloved in its bark. Thus, to those who love God can never stop thinking about him, longing for him, aspiring to him, and speaking about him. If they could, they would engrave the name of Jesus on the hearts of all humankind.\"
The key to love of God was prayer.
\"By turning your eyes on God in meditation, your whole soul will be filled with God. Begin all your prayers in the presence of God.\"
For busy people living in the world, he advised, \"Retire at various times into the solitude of your own heart, even while outwardly engaged in discussions or transactions with others and talk to God.\"
The test of prayer was a person's actions.
\"To be an angel in prayer and a beast in one's relations with people is to go lame on both legs.\"
He believed the worst sin was to judge someone or to gossip about them. Even if we say we do it out of love we're still doing it to look better ourselves. We should be as gentle and forgiving with ourselves as we should be with others.
As he became older and more ill he said, \"I have to drive myself but the more I try the slower I go.\" He wanted to be a hermit but he was more in demand than ever. The Pope needed him, then a princess, then Louis XIII. \"Now I really feel that I am only attached to the earth by one foot...\" He died on December 28, 1622, after giving a nun his last word of advice: \"Humility.\"
St. Francis de Sales was beatified on January 8, 1661 and canonized on April 19, 1665 by Pope Alexander VII.
He is often featured with the Heart of Jesus and a Crown of Thorns.
In 1923, Pope Pius XI named St. Francis de Sales the patron saint of Catholic writers and the Catholic press because of the tracts and books he wrote. He is also the patron saint of the deaf, journalists, adult education, and the Sisters of St. Joseph. His feast day is celebrated on January 24.
", "tags": "de francis sales", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 72, "action": "Dwynwen", "tags": "dwynwen sick animals" }, { "id": 73, "action": "\n A Welsh saint credited with the saying: \"Nothing wins hearts like cheerfulness.\" A member of the\n \n family\n \n of Brychan of Brecknock, she is venerated throughout\n \n Wales\n \n and Cornwall, England.\n
\n", "tags": "dwynwen", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 74, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas sick animals tolentino" }, { "id": 75, "action": "\n Born in 1245 in Sant'Angelo,\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Tolentino took his name from\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Myra, at whose shrine his\n \n parents\n \n prayed to have a child. Nicholas became a\n \n monk\n \n at 18, and seven years later, he was ordained a priest. He gained a reputation as a preacher and a confessor. C. 1274, he was sent to Tolentino, near his birthplace. The town suffered from civil strife between the Guelphs, who supported the pope, and Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor, in their struggle for control of Italy. Nicholas was primarily a\n \n pastor\n \n to his flock. He ministered to the poor and the criminal. He is said to have cured the sick with bread over which he had prayed to Mary, the mother of God. He gained a reputation as a wonder-worker. Nicholas died in 1305 after a long illness. People began immediately to petition for his canonization.\n \n Eugene IV\n \n canonized him in 1446, and his\n \n relics\n \n were rediscovered in 1926 at Tolentino.\n
\n", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 76, "action": "Titus", "tags": "crete titus" }, { "id": 77, "action": "\n A\n \n disciple\n \n and companion of\n \n St. Paul\n \n to whom the great saint addressed one of his letters. Paul referred to\n \n Titus\n \n as \"my true child in our common faith\". Not mentioned in the\n \n Acts\n \n of the Apostles, he was noted in\n \n Galatians\n \n where Paul writes of journeying to\n \n Jerusalem\n \n with Barnabas, accompanied by Titus. He was then dispatched to Corinth, Greece, where he successfully reconciled the\n \n Christian\n \n community there with Paul, its founder.\n \n Titus\n \n was later left on the island of Crete to help organize the Church, although he soon went to Dalmatia, Croatia. According to Eusebius of Caesarea in the Ecclesiastical Histor y, he served as the first\n \n bishop\n \n of Crete. He was buried in Cortyna (Gortyna), Crete; his head was later translated to\n \n Venice\n \n during the invasion of Crete by the Saracens in 832 and was enshrined in St. Marks, Venice, Italy.\n
\n", "tags": "titus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 78, "action": "Timothy", "tags": "disorders stomach timothy" }, { "id": 79, "action": "\n Born at Lystra, Lycaenia, Timothy was the son of a Greek father and Eunice, a converted Jewess. He joined\n \n St. Paul\n \n when Paul preached at\n \n Lystra\n \n replacing Barnabas, and became Paul's close friend and confidant. Paul allowed him to be circumcised to placate the Jews, since he was the son of a Jewess, and he then accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey. When Paul was forced to flee Berea because of the enmity of the\n \n Jews\n \n there, Timothy remained, but after a\n \n time\n \n was sent to\n \n Thessalonica\n \n to report on the\n \n condition\n \n of the Christians there and to encourage them under persecution, a report that led to Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians when he joined Timothy at Corinth. Timothy and Erastus were sent to Macedonia in 58, went to\n \n Corinth\n \n to remind the Corinthians of Paul's teaching, and then accompanied Paul into Macedonia and Achaia. Timothy was probably with Paul when the\n \n Apostle\n \n was imprisoned at Caesarea and then Rome, and was himself imprisoned but then freed. According to tradition, he went to Ephesus, became its first bishop, and was stoned to death there when he opposed the\n \n pagan\n \n festival of Katagogian in honor of Diana. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy, one written about 65 from Macedonia and the second from\n \n Rome\n \n while he was in prison awaiting execution. His\n \n feast day\n \n is January 26.\n
\n", "tags": "timothy", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 80, "action": "Paula", "tags": "paula widows" }, { "id": 81, "action": "\n Born in\n \n Rome\n \n of a noble\n \n family\n \n on May 5, 347. Paula married Toxotius, and the couple had five\n \n children\n \n - Toxotius, Blesilla, Paulina, Eustochium, and Rufina. They were regarded as an ideal married couple, and on his deathin 379, she renounced the world, lived in the greatest austerity, and devoted herself to helping the poor. She met\n \n St. Jerome\n \n in 382 through St.\n \n Epiphanius\n \n and Paulinus of\n \n Antioch\n \n and was closely associated with Jerome in his work while he was in Rome. The death of her daughter Blesilla in 384 left her heartbroken, and in 385 she left\n \n Rome\n \n with Eustochium, traveled to the Holy Land with Jerome, and a year later settled in\n \n Bethlehem\n \n under his spiritual direction. She and Eustochium built a hospice, a monastery, and a convent, which Paula governed. She became Jerome's closest confidante and assistant, taking care of him and helping him in his biblical work, build numerous churches, which were to\n \n cause\n \n her financial difficulties in her old age, and died at\n \n Bethlehem\n \n on January 26. She is the patroness of widows. Her\n \n feast day\n \n is January 26.\n
\n", "tags": "paula", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 82, "action": "Devota", "tags": "monaco devota corsica" }, { "id": 83, "action": "\n Virgin\n \n martyr\n \n of Corsica, France, who was slain on the rack. Patroness of\n \n Corsica\n \n and Monaco, her\n \n relics\n \n are in Monaco on the Riviera di Ponente.\n
\n", "tags": "devota", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 84, "action": "Thomas Aquinas", "tags": "universities colleges aquinas thomas booksellers theologians academies makers students apologists pencil catholic chastity schools invoked roman scholars" }, { "id": 85, "action": "\n Thomas is believed to have been born in the castle of Roccasecca in the old county of the Kingdom of Sicily, which is now known as the Lazio region of Italy, in 1225. His parents were well-off, but as the youngest son Thomas was expected to enter the monastery.\n
\nAt 5-years-old, Thomas began his education at Monte Cassino, where he remained until the military conflict between Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX reached the abbey. He was then transferred and enrolled at the studium generale in Naples.
It is believed that Thomas was introduced to his philosophical influences - Aristotle, Averroes, and Maimonides - at the university, where he also met John of St. Julian, a Dominican preacher, who influenced him to join the recently founded Dominican Order.
When Thomas' family learned of his decision, his mother Theodora arranged for him to be moved to Paris. When Thomas was travelling to Rome, his brothers captured him and returned him to their parents at the castle of Monte San Giovanni Campano.
Thomas was held captive in the castle for one year as his family tried to keep him from joining the Dominican Order. In the year he was held, Thomas tutored his sisters and communicated with members of the Dominican Order.
In an effort to change Thomas' mind, two of his brothers hired a prostitute to seduce him, but legends claim Thomas drove her off with a fire iron. That night, two angels appeared to him in a dream and strengthened his resolve to remain celibate.
When Theodora realized she could not sway her son, she tried to preserve the family name by arranging for his escape through a window. She believed a secret escape was better than appearing to accept his decision.
Following his escape in 1244, Thomas turned to Naples, then to Rome and met the Master General of the Dominical Order, Johannes von Wildeshausen.
The next year, Thomas went to study at the Faculty of the Arts at the University of Paris, where he is believed to have met Dominican scholar Albertus Mangus, the Chair of Theology at the College of St. James.
In 1248, Thomas chose to follow Mangus to the new studium generale at Cologne rather than accepting Pope Innocent IV's offer to appoint him abbot of Monte Cassino as a Dominican. Though Thomas hesitated, when they reached the university, Mangus appointed him magister studentium.
Thomas was quiet and seldom spoke at the university, leading other students to believe he was mentally delayed, but Mangus prophetically said, \"You call him the dumb ox, but in his teaching, he will one day produce such a bellowing that it will be heard throughout the world.\"
Following the conclusion of his education, Thomas taught in Cologne as an apprentice professor and instructed students on the books of the Old Testament. It was during this time he wrote Expositio super Isaiam ad litteram, Postilla super Ieremiam, and Postilla super Threnos.
In 1252, Thomas returned to Paris to earn his master's degree in theology. As an apprentice professor, he lectured on the Bible and devoted his final three years of his education to Peter Lombard's Sentences.
Thomas composed a commentary on Sentences, titled Scriptum super libros Sententiarium and wrote De ente et essentia.
\nThe spring of 1256 saw Thomas appointed regent master in theology at Paris, and one of his first works after assuming the office was Contra impugnantes Dei cultum et religionem, in defense of mendicant orders, which William of Saint-Amour had been attacking.
Between 1256 to 1259, Thomas spent his tenure writing several books, such as Questiones disputatae de veritate, Quaestiones quodlibetales, Expositio super librum Boethii De trinitate, and Expositio super librum Boethii De hebdomadibus. At the conclusion of his regency, Thomas was in the process of writing one of his most famous works, Summa contra Gentiles.
In 1259, Thomas completed his first regency and returned to Naples, where he was appointed general preacher. In September 1261, he was asked to lecture in Orvieto, and during his stay he finished Summa contra Gentiles, as well as Catena aurea, and Contra errores graecorum.
In 1265, Thomas was summoned to Rome to serve as the papal theologian and was later ordered by the Dominican Chapter of Agnani to teach at the studium conventuale, which was the first school to teach the full range of philosophical subjects of both moral and natural natures.
While teaching, Thomas wrote his most famous work, Summa theologiae, which he believed was particularly useful to beginning students \"because a doctor of Catholic truth ought not only to teach the proficient, but to him pertains also to instruct beginners.\"
He continued to write and released several more books until 1268, when he was called to Paris for a second teaching regency. He was named regent master again and stayed until 1272. During this time, he wrote De virtutibus and De aeternitate mundi.
At the conclusion of his regency, the Dominicans called Thomas to establish a university wherever he wanted with a staff of whomever he wished. He established the university in Naples and took the regent master post. In 1273 Thomas was seen by the sacristan Domenic of Caserta to be crying and levitating in prayer before an icon of the crucified Christ at the Dominican convent of Naples, in the Chapel of Saint Nicholas.
During this prayer, Christ is said to have told him, \"You have written well of me, Thomas. What reward would you have for your labor?\"
Thomas replied, \"Nothing but you, Lord.\"
Following this exchange, something happened but Thomas never wrote or spoke of it. He abandoned his routine and, when begged to return to work, replied, \"I cannot, because all that I have written seems like straw to me.\"
In May of 1274, Thomas was called to the Second Council of Lyon, where his works for Pope Urban IV would be presented. While journeying to the meeting, Thomas hit his head on the branch of a fallen tree and fell ill. He was escorted to Monte Cassino to recover, then he set out again.
Unfortunately, he became ill once again and stopped at the Cistercian Fossanova Abbey, where the monks cared for him for several days.
He received his last rites and prayed, \"I receive Thee, ransom of my soul. For love of Thee have I studied and kept vigil, toiled, preached and taught...\"
Thomas died on March 7, 1274 during a commentary on the Song of Songs. Thomas' remains were placed in the Church of the Jacobins in Toulouse on January 28, 1369.
It is not known who beatified Thomas, but on July 18, 1323, Pope John XXII canonized him.
His original feast day was March 7, the day of his death, but because the date often falls within Lent, in 1969, a revision of the Roman Calendar changed his feast day to January 28, the date his relics were moved to Toulouse. Pope Pius V declared Saint Thomas a doctor of the church, saying Thomas was \"the most brilliant light of the Church.\"
\nSaint Thomas' remains were moved to the Basilique de Sant-Sernin, Toulouse between 1789 and 1974. They were then returned to the Church of the Jacobins.
In the 16th century, the university in Paris, that Thomas often taught at, was renamed the College of Saint Thomas, and in the 20th century it was relocated to the convent of Saints Dominic and Sixtus before being transformed into the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Saint Thomas' comments and philosophical writings are still debated today, and his aesthetic theories, such as the concept of claritas, deeply influenced the literary writings of James Joyce and Italian semiotician Umberto Eco.\nSaint Thomas is often depicted with an open book or writing with a quill.
A Student's Prayer by St. Thomas
Come, Holy Spirit, Divine Creator, true source of light and fountain of wisdom! Pour forth your brilliance upon my dense intellect, dissipate the darkness which covers me, that of sin and of ignorance.
Grant me a penetrating mind to understand, a retentive memory, method and ease in learning, the lucidity to comprehend, and abundant grace in expressing myself. Guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and bring it to successful completion.
This I ask through Jesus Christ, true God and true man, living and reigning with You and the Father, forever and ever.
", "tags": "aquinas thomas", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 86, "action": "Glastian", "tags": "scotland glastian fife kinglassie" }, { "id": 87, "action": "\n Bishop and patron of Kinglassie, Fife, and Scotland. He served as mediator between the Scots and Picts.\n
\n", "tags": "glastian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 88, "action": "Julian of Cuenca", "tags": "julian spain rain city cuenca" }, { "id": 89, "action": "\n Bishop of Cuenca, Spain, when that city was taken from the Moors. He supported himself and the poor of his\n \n diocese\n \n with his own labors. Julian is the patron of Cuenca.\n
\n", "tags": "julian cuenca", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 90, "action": "John Bosco", "tags": "people editors young john workers youth bosco apprentices mexican" }, { "id": 91, "action": "\n John Bosco, also known as Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco and Don Bosco, was born in Becchi, Italy, on August 16, 1815. His birth came just after the end of the Napoleonic Wars which ravaged the area. Compounding the problems on his birthday, there was also a drought and a famine at the time of his birth.\n
\nAt the age of two, John lost his father, leaving him and his two older brothers to be raised by his mother, Margherita. His \"Mama Margherita Occhiena\" would herself be declared venerable by the Church in 2006.
Raised primarily by his mother, John attended church and became very devout. When he was not in church, he helped his family grow food and raise sheep. They were very poor, but despite their poverty his mother also found enough to share with the homeless who sometimes came to the door seeking food, shelter or clothing.
When John was nine years old, he had the first of several vivid dreams that would influence his life. In his dream, he encountered a multitude of boys who swore as they played. Among these boys, he encountered a great, majestic man and woman. The man told him that in meekness and charity, he would \"conquer these your friends.\" Then a lady, also majestic said, \"Be strong, humble and robust. When the time comes, you will understand everything.\" This dream influenced John the rest of his life.
Not long afterwards, John witnessed a traveling troupe of circus performers. He was enthralled by their magic tricks and acrobatics. He realized if he learned their tricks, he could use them to attract others and hold their attention. He studied their tricks and learned how to perform some himself.
One Sunday evening, John staged a show for the kids he played with and was heartily applauded. At the end of the show, he recited the homily he heard earlier in the day. He ended by inviting his neighbors to pray with him. His shows and games were repeated and during this time, John discerned the call to become a priest.
To be a priest, John required an education, something he lacked because of poverty. However, he found a priest willing to provide him with some teaching and a few books. John's older brother became angry at this apparent disloyalty, and he reportedly whipped John saying he's \"a farmer like us!\"
John was undeterred, and as soon as he could he left home to look for work as a hired farm laborer. He was only 12 when he departed, a decision hastened by his brother's hostility.
John had difficulty finding work, but managed to find a job at a vineyard. He labored for two more years before he met Jospeh Cafasso, a priest who was willing to help him. Cafasso himself would later be recognized as a saint for his work, particularly ministering to prisoners and the condemned.
In 1835, John entered the seminary and following six years of study and preparation, he was ordained a priest in 1841.
His first assignment was to the city of Turin. The city was in the throes of industrialization so it had slums and widespread poverty. It was into these poor neighborhoods that John, now known as Fr. Bosco, went to work with the children of the poor.
While visiting the prisons, Fr. Bosco noticed a large number of boys, between the ages of 12 and 18, inside. The conditions were deplorable, and he felt moved to do more to help other boys from ending up there.
He went into the streets and started to meet young men and boys where they worked and played. He used his talents as a performer, doing tricks to capture attention, then sharing with the children his message for the day.
When he was not preaching, Fr. Bosco worked tirelessly seeking work for boys who needed it, and searching for lodgings for others. His mother began to help him, and she became known as \"Mamma Margherita.\" By the 1860s, Fr. Bosco and his mother were responsible for lodging 800 boys.
Fr. Bosco also negotiated new rights for boys who were employed as apprentices. A common problem was the abuse of apprentices, with their employers using them to perform manual labor and menial work unrelated to their apprenticeship. Fr. Bosco negotiated contracts which forbade such abuse, a sweeping reform for that time. The boys he hired out were also given feast days off and could no longer be beaten.
Fr. Bosco also identified boys he thought would make good priests and encouraged them to consider a vocation to the priesthood. Then, he helped to prepare those who responded favorably in their path to ordination.
Fr. Bosco was not without some controversy. Some parish priests accused him of stealing boys from their parishes. The Chief of Police of Turin was opposed to his catechizing of boys in the streets, which he claimed was political subversion.
In 1859, Fr. Bosco established the Society of St. Francis de Sales. He organized 15 seminarians and one teenage boy into the group. Their purpose was to carry on his charitable work, helping boys with their faith formation and to stay out of trouble. The organization still exists today and continues to help people, especially children around the world.
In the years that followed, Fr. Bosco expanded his mission, which had, and still has, much work to do.
Fr. Bosco died on January 31, 1888. The call for his canonization was immediate. Pope Pius XI knew Fr. Bosco personally and agreed, declaring him blessed in 1929. St. John Bosco was canonized on Easter Sunday, 1934 and he was given the title, \"Father and Teacher of Youth.\"
In 2002, Pope John Paul II was petitioned to declare St. John Bosco the Patron of Stage Magicians. St. Bosco had pioneered the art of what is today called \"Gospel Magic,\" using magic and other feats to attract attention and engage the youth.
Saint John Bosco is the patron saint of apprentices, editors and publishers, schoolchildren, magicians, and juvenile delinquents. His feast day is on January 31.
", "tags": "bosco john", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 92, "action": "Bridgid of Ireland", "tags": "bridgid presses blacksmiths fugitives raisers healers chicken dairy cattle workers nuns printing ireland farmers poultry scholars" }, { "id": 93, "action": "\n Saint Brigid was born Brigit, and shares a name with a Celtic goddess from whom many legends and folk customs are associated.\n
\nThere is much debate over her birthparents, but it is widely believed her mother was Brocca, a Christian baptized by Saint Patrick, and her father was Dubthach, a Leinster chieftain. Brocca was a slave, therefore Brigid was born into slavery.
When Dubthach's wife discovered Brocca was pregnant, she was sold to a Druid landowner. It is not clear if Brocca was unable to produce milk or was not present to care for Brigid, but legend states Brigid vomited any food the druid attempted to feed her, as he was impure, so a white cow with red ears sustained her instead.
Many stories of Brigid's purity followed her childhood. She was unable to keep from feeding the poor and healing them.
One story says Brigid once gave her mother's entire store of butter, that was later replenished after Brigid prayed.
When she was about ten-years-old, Brigid was returned to her father's home, as he was her legal master. Her charity did not end when she left her mother, and she donated his possessions to anyone who asked.
Eventually, Dubthach became tired of her charitably nature and took her to the king of Leinster, with the intention of selling her. As he spoke to the king, Brigid gave his jeweled sword to a beggar so he could barter it for food for his family. When the king, who was a Christian, saw this, he recognized her heart and convinced Dubthach to grant her freedom by saying, \"Her merit before God is greater than ours.\"
After being freed, Brigid returned to the Druid and her mother, who was in charge of the Druid's dairy. Brigid took over and often gave away milk, but the dairy prospered despite the charitable practice, and the Druid eventually freed Brocca.
Brigid then returned to Dubthach, who had arranged for her to marry a bard. She refused and made a vow to always be chaste.
Legend has it Brigid prayed that her beauty be taken so no one would want to marry her, and the prayer was granted. It was not until after she made her final vows that her beauty was restored.
Another tale says that when Saint Patrick heard her final vows, he accidentally used the form for ordaining priests. When the error was brought to his attention, he simply replied, \"So be it, my son, she is destined for great things.\"
Little is known about Saint Brigid's life after she entered the Church, but in 40 she founded a monastery in Kildare, called the Church of the Oak. It was built above a pagan shrine to the Celtic goddess Brigid, which was beneath a large oak tree.
Brigid and seven friends organized communal consecrated religious life for women in Ireland and she founded two monastic institutions, one for men and one for women. Brigid invited a hermit called Conleth to help her in Kildare as a spiritual pastor.
Her biographer reported that Brigid chose Saint Conleth \"to govern the church along with herself.\"
She later founded a school of art that included metalwork and illumination, which Conleth led as well. It was at this school that the Book of Kildare, which the Gerald of Wales praised as \"the work of angelic, and not human skill,\" was beautifully illuminated, but was lost three centuries ago.
There is evidence that Brigid was a good friend of Saint Patrick's and that the Trias Thaumaturga claimed, \"Between St. Patrick and Brigid, the pillars of the Irish people, there was so great a friendship of charity that they had but one heart and one mind. Through him and through her Christ performed many great works.\"
Saint Brigid helped many people in her lifetime, but on February 1 525, she passed away of natural causes. Her body was initially kept to the right of the high altar of Kildare Cathedral, with a tomb \"adorned with gems and precious stones and crowns of gold and silver,\" but in 878, during the Scandinavian raids, her relics were moved to the tomb of Patrick and Columba.
In 1185, John de Courcy had her remains relocated in Down Cathedral. Today, Saint Brigid's skull can be found in the Church of St. John the Baptist in Lumiar, Portugal. The tomb in which it is kept bears the inscription, \"Here in these three tombs lie the three Irish knights who brought the head of St. Brigid, Virgin, a native of Ireland, whose relic is preserved in this chapel. In memory of which, the officials of the Altar of the same Saint caused this to be done in January AD 1283.\"
A portion of the skull was relocated to St. Bridget's Church and another was sent to the Bishop of Lisbon in St. Brigid's church in Killester.
Saint Brigid's likeness is often depicted holding a reed cross, a crozier, or a lamp.
Saint Brigid Hearth Keeper Prayer
\nCourtesy of SaintBrigids.org
Brigid of the Mantle, encompass us,
\nLady of the Lambs, protect us,
\nKeeper of the Hearth, kindle us.
\nBeneath your mantle, gather us,
\nAnd restore us to memory.
\nMothers of our mother, Foremothers strong.
\nGuide our hands in yours,
\nRemind us how to kindle the hearth.
\nTo keep it bright, to preserve the flame.
\nYour hands upon ours, Our hands within yours,
\nTo kindle the light, Both day and night.
\nThe Mantle of Brigid about us,
\nThe Memory of Brigid within us,
\nThe Protection of Brigid keeping us
\nFrom harm, from ignorance, from heartlessness.
\nThis day and night,
\nFrom dawn till dark, From dark till dawn.
\n Noble and martyr, who faced some of the most vicious in-laws ever recorded. Adalbald was the son or grandson of\n \n St. Gertrude\n \n of Hamage and was born in Flanders. He was a nobleman at the court of Dagobert I of France. Going to Gascony, in France, to put down a local rebellion, he met a noblewoman, Rictrudis, daughter of Ernold. He married Rictrudis despite the objections of her relatives who resented his military activities in her region. Both Adalbald and Rictrudis dedicated themselves to\n \n acts\n \n of mercy and to religious projects. Adalbald then returned to Gascony only to face his in-laws who killed him. Many miracles were recorded at his tomb, and Adalbald was named a martyr.\n
\n", "tags": "ostrevant adalbald", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 96, "action": "Blaise", "tags": "whooping wool carvers cough throat weavers ailments goitres coughs dubrovnik dalmatia blaise combers" }, { "id": 97, "action": "\n Saint Blaise was the bishop of Sebastea and a doctor. The first known record of the saint's life comes from the medical writings of Aëtius Amidenus, where he is recorded as helping with patients suffering from objects stuck in their throat. Many of the miraculous aspects of St. Blaise's life are written of 400 years after his martyrdom in the \"Acts of St. Blaise.\"\n
\nSaint Blaise is believed to begin as a healer then, eventually, became a \"physician of souls.\" He then retired to a cave, where he remained in prayer. People often turned to Saint Blaise for healing miracles.
In 316, the governor of Cappadocia and of Lesser Armenia, Agricola, arrested then-bishop Blaise for being a Christian. On their way to the jail, a woman set her only son, who was chocking to death on a fish bone, at his feet.
Blaise cured the child, and though Agricola was amazed, he could not get Blaise to renounce his faith. Therefore, Agricola beat Blaise with a stick and tore at his flesh with iron combs before beheading him.
In another tale, Blaise was being led to the prison in Sebastea, and on the way came across a poor old woman whose pig had been stolen by a wolf. Blaise commanded the wolf return the pig, which it did -alive and uninjured - to the amazement of all.
When he reached Sebastea, the woman came to him and brought two fine wax candles in an attempt to dispel the gloom of his darkened cell.
In the Middle Ages, Blaise became quite popular and his legend as a beast tamer spread. He was then referred to as the \"saint of the wild beast.\"
Many German churches are dedicated to Saint Blaise, sometimes called Saint Blasius.
In Great Britain, the village of St. Blazey got its name from Saint Blaise, and a church dedicated to the saint can be found in Decon hamlet of Haccombe, near Newton Abbot.
There is a Saint Blaise's Well in Kent, and the water is believed to have medicinal properties. A Blessing of the Throats ceremony is held every February 3 at Saint Etheldreda's Church in Londan and Balve, Germany.
A Catholic middle school was named after Saint Blaise in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The name was decided upon when the link between Bradford and the woolen industry was connected to the way St. Blaise was martyred: with woolcomb.
Saint Blaise is often depicted holding two crossed candles in his hand, or in a cave with wild animals. He is also often shown with steel combs. The similarity of the steel combs and the wool combs made a large contribution to Saint Blaise's leadership as the patron saint of wool combers and the wool trade.
", "tags": "blaise", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 98, "action": "Anskar", "tags": "denmark iceland anskar germany" }, { "id": 99, "action": "\n Born in Picardy,\n \n St. Anskar\n \n was the\n \n apostle\n \n to the Scandinavians. He was educated at Corbie, a Benedictine monastery, and taught at Corvey, a daughter house in Westphalia. Louis I the Pious had at that\n \n time\n \n allied himself with Harald of\n \n Denmark\n \n in a dynastic dispute on the\n \n condition\n \n that Harald and his country become Christian. When Louis sought a missionary,\n \n Archbishop\n \n \n Ebbo\n \n of Rheims and\n \n Abbot\n \n Wala of Corvey recommended Anskar. His mission began c. 826 in\n \n Schleswig\n \n and ended the following year with Harald's defeat. Bjorn of\n \n Sweden\n \n later permitted Anskar to preach in Sweden, where he established the first church in Scandinavia at Björnskö. Louis named Anskar first\n \n bishop\n \n of\n \n Hamburg\n \n in 831, and the following year,\n \n Gregory IV\n \n appointed him papal\n \n legate\n \n to the Scandinavians. The Swedish mission collapsed in 845, after\n \n Vikings\n \n destroyed Hamburg. Appointed\n \n Archbishop\n \n of\n \n Bremen\n \n in 851, Anskar renewed his missionary work and converted Haarik II of Sweden. Anskar did as much as he could to alleviate the harsh conditions of the Viking slave trade. He also founded hospitals. Nicholas I canonized Anskar shortly after his death.\n
\n", "tags": "anskar", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 100, "action": "Ansgar", "tags": "scandinavia ansgar" }, { "id": 101, "action": "\n Ansgar was born of a noble\n \n family\n \n near Amiens. He became a\n \n monk\n \n at Old Corbie monastery in Picardy and later at New Corbie in Westphalia. He accompanied King Harold to\n \n Denmark\n \n when the exiled King returned to his native land and engaged in missionary work there. Ansgar's success caused King Bjorn of\n \n Sweden\n \n to invite him to that country, and he built the first\n \n Christian\n \n Church in Sweden. He became\n \n Abbot\n \n of New Corbie and first\n \n Archbishop\n \n of\n \n Hamburg\n \n about 831, and Pope\n \n Gregory IV\n \n appointed him\n \n Legate\n \n to the Scandinavian countries. He labored at his missionary works for the next fourteen years but saw all he had accomplished destroyed when invading\n \n pagan\n \n \n Northmen\n \n in 845 destroyed\n \n Hamburg\n \n and overran the Scandinavian countries, which lapsed into paganism. He was appointed first\n \n Archbishop\n \n of\n \n Bremen\n \n about 848, and the See was united with that of\n \n Hamburg\n \n by Pope Nicholas I. Ansgar again returned to\n \n Denmark\n \n and\n \n Sweden\n \n in 854 and resumed his missionary activities, converting Erik, King of Jutland. Ansgar's success was due to his great preaching ability, the austerity and\n \n holiness\n \n of his life, and the miracles he is reputed to have performed. Though called \"the\n \n Apostle\n \n of the North\" and the first\n \n Christian\n \n missionary in Scandinavia, the whole area lapsed into\n \n paganism\n \n again after his death at\n \n Bremen\n \n on February 3rd. His name is also spelled Anskar.\n
\n", "tags": "ansgar", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 102, "action": "John de Britto", "tags": "portuguese istanbul constantinople john britto de turkey missions" }, { "id": 103, "action": "\n Jesuit\n \n martyr\n \n in India. He was a native of Lisbon, Portugal, was dedicated at birth to St. Francis Xavier, and was a noble friend of King Pedro. He entered the Jesuits at the age of fifteen. In his effort to promote conversions among the native Indian people as a missionary to Goa, he wandered through\n \n Malabar\n \n and other regions and even adopted the customs and dress of the Brahmin caste which gave him access to the noble classes. In 1683,\n \n John\n \n had to leave\n \n India\n \n but returned in 1691. Arrested, tortured, and commanded to leave India, he refused and was put to death. Pope Pius XII canonized him in 1947.\n
\n", "tags": "de britto john", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 104, "action": "Joseph of Leonessa", "tags": "to joseph capuchin turkey leonessa missions" }, { "id": 105, "action": "\n Capuchin Franciscan who served as a missionary to\n \n Christian\n \n galley\n \n slaves\n \n in Constantinople. Born in Leonissa, Italy, he became a Capuchin at age eighteen. In 1587 he started his mission and was arrested, released, and then imprisoned and tortured by the Turks. Eventually set free, he returned to\n \n Italy\n \n and died there of cancer.\n
\n", "tags": "leonessa joseph", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 106, "action": "Andrew Corsini", "tags": "against disorder andrew riot civil corsini" }, { "id": 107, "action": "\n Carmelite\n \n miracle\n \n worker and papal legate. He was born in\n \n Florence\n \n on November 30, 1302, a member of the powerful Corsini family. Wild in his youth, Andrew was converted to a holy\n \n life\n \n by his mother and became a Carmelite monk. He studied in\n \n Paris\n \n and Avignon, France, returning to his birthplace. There he became known as the\n \n Apostle\n \n of Florence. He was called a\n \n prophet\n \n and\n \n miracle\n \n worker. Named as the\n \n bishop\n \n of\n \n Fiesole\n \n in 1349, Andrew fled the honor but was forced to accept the office, which he held for twelve years. He was sent by Pope\n \n Urban V\n \n to\n \n Bologna\n \n to settle disputes between the nobles and commoners, a mission he performed well. Andrew died in\n \n Fiesole\n \n on January 6, 1373. So many miracles took place at his death that Pope Eugenius IV permitted the immediate opening of his cause.\n
\n", "tags": "corsini andrew", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 108, "action": "Gundisalvus Garcia", "tags": "garcia gundisalvus bombay india" }, { "id": 109, "action": "\n Franciscan\n \n martyr\n \n of Japan. Born in the East Indies in 1556, of Portuguese descent, he served the Jesuits in\n \n Japan\n \n as a catechist before becoming as businessman. In 1591, he joined the Franciscans at\n \n Manila\n \n in the Philippines as a lay brother. Returning to\n \n Japan\n \n with\n \n St. Peter\n \n Baptist, he was crucified at Nagasaki. He was canonized in 1862.\n
\n", "tags": "garcia gundisalvus", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 110, "action": "Peter Baptist", "tags": "peter japan baptist" }, { "id": 111, "action": "\n Franciscan\n \n martyr\n \n in Japan. Born near Avila, Spain, he became a Franciscan in 1567 and was sent first to\n \n Mexico\n \n and then to the Philippines in 1583. Ten years later he was ordered to\n \n Japan\n \n where he worked as commissary for the order in the islands. Arrested by officials, he and twenty six others were all crucified near\n \n Nagasaki\n \n at the order of the Taiko Toyotomi Hideyoshi who had launched the\n \n persecution\n \n of the Christians in Japan. Canonized in 1862, Peter and the others are called the Martyrs of Japan.\n
\n", "tags": "peter baptist", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 112, "action": "Jerome Emiliani", "tags": "scripture jerome emiliani abandoned orphans children scholars" }, { "id": 113, "action": "\n Jerome Emiliani lay chained in the dark dirty dungeon. Only a short\n \n time\n \n before he had been a military commander for\n \n Venice\n \n in charge of a fortress. He didn't care much about\n \n God\n \n because he didn't need him -- he had his own\n \n strength\n \n and the\n \n strength\n \n of his soldiers and weapons. When Venice's enemies, the League of Cambrai, captured the fortress, he was dragged off and imprisoned. There in the dungeon, Jerome decided to get rid of the chains that bound him. He let go of his worldly attachments and embraced God.\n
\nWhen he finally was able to escape, he hung his metal chains in the nearby church of Treviso -- in gratitude not only for being freed from physical prison but from his spiritual dungeon as well.
After a short time as mayor of Treviso he returned his home in Venice where he studied for the priesthood. The war may have been over but it was followed by the famine and plague war's devastation often brought. Thousands suffered in his beloved city. Jerome devoted himself to service again -- this time, not to the military but the poor and suffering around him. He felt a special call to help the orphans who had no one to care for them. All the loved ones who would have protected them and comforted them had been taken by sickness or starvation. He would become their parent, their family.
Using his own money, he rented a house for the orphans, fed them, clothed them, and educated them. Part of his education was to give them the first known catechetical teaching by question and answer. But his constant devotion to the suffering put him in danger too and he fell ill from the plague himself. When he recovered, he had the ideal excuse to back away, but instead his illness seemed to take the last links of the chain from his soul. Once again he interpreted his suffering to be a sign of how little the ambitions of the world mattered.
He committed his whole life and all he owned to helping others. He founded orphanages in other cities, a hospital, and a shelter for prostitutes. This grew into a congregation of priests and brothers that was named after the place where they had a house: the Clerks Regular of Somascha. Although they spent time educating other young people, their primary work was always Jerome's first love -- helping orphans.
His final chains fell away when he again fell ill while taking care of the sick. He died in 1537 at the age of 56.
He is the patron saint of abandoned children and orphans.
Become a foster parent. Millions of children need the love and care of a foster family. Contact your local Family Services agency or Catholic Charities to find out how you can help.
Saint Jerome Emiliani, watch over all children who are abandoned or unloved. Give us the courage to show them God's love through our care. Help us to lose the chains that keep us from living the life God intended for us. Amen
", "tags": "emiliani jerome", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 114, "action": "Cuthman", "tags": "poverty cuthman bachelors impoverishment" }, { "id": 115, "action": "\n A saint of southern England, a holy Shepard near Steyning in Sussex. He cared for his aging mother and, aided by his neighbors, built a church in Steyning. Cuthman, who was known for his miracles, was honored in the church that he built. His\n \n relics\n \n were later transferred to FeCamp, in France.\n
\n", "tags": "cuthman", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 116, "action": "Apollonia", "tags": "apollonia dentists toothache" }, { "id": 117, "action": "\n St. Apollonia, who died in the year 249, was martyred for not renouncing her\n \n faith\n \n during the reign of Emperor Philip. The account of the\n \n life\n \n of\n \n St. Apollonia\n \n was written by\n \n St. Dionysius\n \n to Fabian,\n \n Bishop\n \n of Antioch. Apollonia had all her teeth knocked out after being hit in the face by a\n \n Christian\n \n persecutor under the reign of Emperor Philip. After she was threatened with fire unless she renounced her faith, Apollonia jumped into the flames voluntarily. She is considered the patron of dental diseases and is often invoked by those with toothaches. Ancient art depicts her with a golden tooth at the end of her necklace. Also in art, she is seen with pincers holding a tooth.\n
\n", "tags": "apollonia", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 118, "action": "Raynald of Nocera", "tags": "raynald nocera italy" }, { "id": 119, "action": "\n Benedictine\n \n bishop\n \n Born in Umbria, Italy, to\n \n parents\n \n of German stock, he entered the Benedictines and served the order in various capacities until receiving appointment as\n \n bishop\n \n of\n \n Nocera\n \n in 1222.Owing to the excellence of his service as bishop, he is considered the patron saint of that city.\n
\n", "tags": "raynald nocera", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 120, "action": "Scholastica", "tags": "children nuns scholastica convulsive" }, { "id": 121, "action": "\n St. Scholastica, sister of St. Benedict, consecrated her\n \n life\n \n to\n \n God\n \n from her earliest youth. After her brother went to Monte Cassino, where he established his famous monastery, she took up her abode in the neighborhood at Plombariola, where she founded and governed a monastery of nuns, about five miles from that of St. Benedict, who, it appears, also directed his sister and her nuns. She visited her brother once a year, and as she was not allowed to enter his monastery, he went in company with some of his brethren to meet her at a house some distance away. These visits were spent in conferring together on spiritual matters. On one occasion they had passed the\n \n time\n \n as usual in\n \n prayer\n \n and pious conversation and in the evening they sat down to take their reflection.\n \n St. Scholastica\n \n begged her brother to remain until the next day.\n \n St. Benedict\n \n refused to spend the night outside his monastery. She had recourse to\n \n prayer\n \n and a furious thunderstorm burst so that neither\n \n St. Benedict\n \n nor any of his companions could return home. They spent the night in spiritual conferences. The next morning they parted to meet no more on earth. Three days later\n \n St. Scholastica\n \n died, and her holy brother beheld her\n \n soul\n \n in a vision as it ascended into heaven. He sent his brethren to bring her body to his monastery and laid it in the\n \n tomb\n \n he had prepared for himself. She died about the year 543, and\n \n St. Benedict\n \n followed her soon after. Her\n \n feast day\n \n is February 10th.\n
\n", "tags": "scholastica", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 122, "action": "Julian the Hospitaller", "tags": "knights fiddle julian hospitaller carnies obtain jugglers wandering musicians players workers minstrels while hospitallers travelling murderers fiddlers lodgings childless carnival ferrymen hospitality people circus" }, { "id": 123, "action": "\n Patron saint of boatmen, innkeepers, and travelers, also called \"the Poor.\" Reported in the doubtful Golden Legend, Julian slew his noble\n \n parents\n \n in a case of mistaken identity. He believed his wife was with another\n \n man\n \n and struck them both. His wife returned home from church soon after. In penance, Julian and his wife went to Rome. Returning after receiving absolution, Julian built an inn and a hospital for the poor. He even put a leper into his own bed. That leper was an angel.\n
\n", "tags": "hospitaller julian", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 124, "action": "Modomnoc", "tags": "bees modomnoc" }, { "id": 125, "action": "\n Irish\n \n bishop\n \n and a\n \n disciple\n \n of\n \n St. David\n \n of Wales. Sometimes called Domnoc or Dominic, he was a member of the royal Irish\n \n family\n \n of O'Neil and ended his years as a hermit at Tibraghny in Kilkenny When Modomnoc returned to\n \n Ireland\n \n after studying with St. David, swarms of bees left\n \n Wales\n \n to follow him, thus supposedly being introduced to Ireland.\n
\n", "tags": "modomnoc", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 126, "action": "Cyril and Methodius", "tags": "europe methodius ecumenists unity yugoslavia bohemia western eastern czechoslovakia cyril moravia bulgaria churches" }, { "id": 127, "action": "
\n Cyril and Methodius must have often wondered, as we do today, how\n \n God\n \n could bring spiritual meaning out of worldly concerns. Every mission they went on, every struggle they fought was a result of political battles, not spiritual, and yet the political battles are forgotten and their work lives on in the Slavic peoples and their literature.\n
\nTradition tells us that the brothers Methodius and Constantine (he did not take the name Cyril until just before his death) grew up in Thessalonica as sons of a prominent Christian family. Because many Slavic people settled in Thessalonica, it is assumed Constantine and Methodius were familiar with the Slavic language. Methodius, the older of the two brothers, became an important civil official who would have needed to know Slavonic. He grew tired of worldly affairs and retired to a monastery. Constantine became a scholar and a professor known as \"the Philosopher\" in Constantinople. In 860 Constantine and Methodius went as missionaries to what is today the Ukraine.
When the Byzantine emperor decided to honor a request for missionaries by the Moravian prince Rastislav, Methodius and Constantine were the natural choices; they knew the language, they were able administrators, and had already proven themselves successful missionaries.
But there was far more behind this request and the response than a desire for Christianity. Rastislav, like the rest of the Slav princes, was struggling for independence from German influence and invasion. Christian missionaries from the East, to replace missionaries from Germany, would help Rastislav consolidate power in his own country, especially if they spoke the Slavonic language.
Constantine and Methodius were dedicated to the ideal of expression in a people's native language. Throughout their lives they would battle against those who saw value only in Greek or Latin. Before they even left on their mission, tradition says, Constantine constructed a script for Slavonic -- a script that is known today as glagolithic. Glagolithic is considered by some as the precursor of cyrillic which named after him.
Arriving in 863 in Moravia, Constantine began translating the liturgy into Slavonic. In the East, it was a normal procedure to translate liturgy into the vernacular. As we know, in the West the custom was to use Greek and later Latin, until Vatican II. The German hierarchy, which had power over Moravia, used this difference to combat the brothers' influence. The German priests didn't like losing their control and knew that language has a great deal to do with independence.
So when Constantine and Methodius went to Rome to have the Slav priesthood candidates ordained (neither was a bishop at the time), they had to face the criticism the Germans had leveled against them. But if the Germans had motives that differed from spiritual concerns, so did the pope. He was concerned about the Eastern church gaining too much influence in the Slavic provinces. Helping Constantine and Methodius would give the Roman Catholic church more power in the area. So after speaking the brothers, the pope approved the use of Slavonic in services and ordained their pupils.
Constantine never returned to Moravia. He died in Rome after assuming the monastic robes and the name Cyril on February 14, 869. Legend tells us that his older brother was so griefstricken, and perhaps upset by the political turmoil, that he intended to withdraw to a monastery in Constantinople. Cyril's dying wish, however, was that Methodius return to the missionary work they had begun.
He couldn't return to Moravia because of political problems there, but another Slavic prince, Kocel, asked for him, having admired the brothers' work in translating so much text into Slavonic. Methodius was allowed by the pope to continue saying Mass and administering baptism in the Slavonic tongue. Methodius was finally consecrated bishop, once again because of politics -- Kocel knew that having a Slavonic bishop would destroy the power of the Salzburg hierarchy over his land. Methodius became bishop of Sirmium, an ancient see near Belgrade and given power over Serbo-Croatian, Slovene, and Moravian territory.
The German bishops accused him of infringing on their power and imprisoned him in a monastery. This lasted until Germany suffered military defeats in Moravia. At that time the pope intervened and Methodius returned to his diocese in triumph at the same time the Germans were forced to recognize Moravian independence. There was a loss involved -- to appease the Germans a little, the pope told Methodius he could no longer celebrate liturgy in the vernacular.
In 879 Methodius was summoned to Rome to answer German charges he had not obeyed this restriction. This worked against the Germans because it gave Methodius a chance to explain how important it was to celebrate the liturgy in the tongue people understood. Instead of condemning him, the pope gave him permission to use Slavonic in the Mass, in Scripture reading, and in the office. He also made him head of the hierarchy in Moravia.
The criticism never went away, but it never stopped Methodius either. It is said that he translated almost all the Bible and the works of the Fathers of the Church into Slavonic before he died on April 6 in 884.
Within twenty years after his death, it would seem like all the work of Cyril and Methodius was destroyed. Magyar invasions devastated Moravia. And without the brothers to explain their position, use of the vernacular in liturgy was banned. But politics could never prevail over God's will. The disciples of Cyril and Methodius who were driven out of Moravia didn't hide in a locked room. The invasion and the ban gave them a chance to go to other Slavic countries. The brothers' work of spreading Christ's word and translating it into Slavonic continued and laid the foundation for Christianity in the region.
What began as a request guided by political concerns produced two of the greatest Christian missionaries, revered by both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, and two of the fathers of Slavonic literary culture.
Cyril and Methodius believed in the importance of celebrating liturgy in our own language, a privilege we have only had in last twenty years. If this change took place before your time, ask older Catholics about the differences that have taken place in their worship because of this change. If you were worshipping during the change, reflect on how celebrating in the vernacular has helped your worship and your spiritual life.
Saints Cyril and Methodius, watch over all missionaries but especially those in Slavic countries. Help those that are in danger in the troubled areas. Watch over the people you dedicated your lives to. Amen
", "tags": "cyril methodius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 128, "action": "Valentine", "tags": "greeting betrothed greetings manufacturers fainting faintness kidney engaged lovers valentine couples disease affianced card" }, { "id": 129, "action": "\n
\nSaint Valentine, officially known as Saint Valentine of Rome, is a third-century Roman saint widely celebrated on February 14 and commonly associated with \"courtly love.\"
Although not much of St. Valentine's life is reliably known, and whether or not the stories involve two different saints by the same name is also not officially decided, it is highly agreed that St. Valentine was martyred and then buried on the Via Flaminia to the north of Rome.
In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church removed St. Valentine from the General Roman Calendar, because so little is known about him. However, the church still recognizes him as a saint, listing him in the February 14 spot of Roman Martyrolgy.
The legends attributed to the mysterious saint are as inconsistent as the actual identification of the man.
One common story about St. Valentine is that in one point of his life, as the former Bishop of Terni, Narnia and Amelia, he was on house arrest with Judge Asterius. While discussing religion and faith with the Judge, Valentine pledged the validity of Jesus. The judge immediately put Valentine and his faith to the test.
St. Valentine was presented with the judge's blind daughter and told to restore her sight. If he succeeded, the judge vowed to do anything for Valentine. Placing his hands onto her eyes, Valentine restored the child's vision.
Judge Asterius was humbled and obeyed Valentine's requests. Asterius broke all the idols around his house, fasted for three days and became baptized, along with his family and entire 44 member household. The now faithful judge then freed all of his Christian inmates.
St. Valentine was later arrested again for continuing to try to convert people to Christianity. He was sent to Rome under the emperor Claudius Gothicus (Claudius II). According to the popular hagiographical identity, and what is believed to be the first representation of St. Valentine, the Nuremberg Chronicle, St. Valentine was a Roman priest martyred during Claudius' reign. The story tells that St. Valentine was imprisoned for marrying Christian couples and aiding Christians being persecuted by Claudius in Rome. Both acts were considered serious crimes. A relationship between the saint and emperor began to grow, until Valentine attempted to convince Claudius of Christianity. Claudius became raged and sentenced Valentine to death, commanding him to renounce his faith or be beaten with clubs and beheaded.
St. Valentine refused to renounce his faith and Christianity and was executed outside the Flaminian Gate on February 14, 269. However, other tales of St. Valentine's life claim he was executed either in the year 269, 270, 273 or 280. \nOther depictions of St. Valentine's arrests tell that he secretly married couples so husbands wouldn't have to go to war. Another variation of the legend of St. Valentine says he refused to sacrifice to pagan gods, was imprisoned and while imprisoned he healed the jailer's blind daughter. On the day of his execution, he left the girl a note signed, \"Your Valentine.\"
Pope Julius I is said to have built a church near Ponte Mole in his memory, which for a long time gave name to the gate now called Porta del Popolo, formerly, Porta Valetini.
The romantic nature of Valentine's Day may have derived during the Middle Ages, when it was believed that birds paired couples in mid-February. According to English 18th-century antiquarians Alban Butler and Francis Douce, Valentine's Day was most likely created to overpower the pagan holiday, Lupercalia.
Although the exact origin of the holiday is not widely agreed upon, it is widely recognized as a day for love, devotion and romance.
Whoever he was, Valentine did really exist, because archaeologists have unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to St. Valentine. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius marked February 14th as a celebration in honor of his martyrdom.
Relics of St. Valentine can be found all over the world. A flower-crowned skull of St. Valentine can be found in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, Rome. In 1836, other relics were exhumed from the catacombs of Saint Hippolytus on the Via Tiburtina and were identified as Valentine's. These were transported for a special Mass dedicated to those young and in love.
Fr. John Spratt received a gift from Pope Gregory XVI in 1836 contianing a \"small vessel tinged\" with St. Valentine's blood. This gift now stands placed in Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin, Ireland.
Other alleged relics were found in Prague in the Church of St Peter and Paul at Vysehrad; in the parish church of St. Mary's Assumption in Chelmno Poland; at the reliquary of Roquemaure in France; in the Stephansdom in Vienna; in Balzan in Malta and also in Blessed John Duns Scotus' church in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, Scotland.
St. Valentine is the Patron Saint of affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers, and young people. He is represented in pictures with birds and roses and his feast day is celebrated on February 14.
", "tags": "valentine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 130, "action": "Maro", "tags": "maro christians italy maronite volperino maronites" }, { "id": 131, "action": "\n St. Maro chose a solitary abode not far from the city of\n \n Cyrrhus\n \n in Syria, and there in a\n \n spirit\n \n of mortification, he lived mainly in the open air. He had indeed a little hut covered with goatskins to shelter him in case of need, but he very seldom made use of it. Finding the ruins of the heathen temple, he dedicated it to the true God, and made it his house of prayer.\n \n St. John\n \n Chrysostom, who had a great regard for him, wrote to him from Cucusus, the place of his banishment, and, recommending himself to his prayers, begged to hear from him as often as possible. Maro was a\n \n disciple\n \n of St. Zebinus. He drew great crowds by his spiritual wisdom. He trained many\n \n hermits\n \n and monks and founded three monasteries. It is believed the\n \n Maronites\n \n take their name from Bait-Marun monastery near the source of the Orantes river, where a church was erected over his tomb. His\n \n feast day\n \n is February 14th.\n
\n", "tags": "maro", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 132, "action": "Berach", "tags": "berach ireland kilbarry" }, { "id": 133, "action": "\n Irish\n \n abbot\n \n and nephew of St. Freoch. He was raised by his uncle and became a\n \n disciple\n \n of St. Kevin. Berach, who is sometimes called Barachias or Berachius, founded an\n \n abbey\n \n at Clusin-Coirpte, in Connaught, Ireland. He is the patron saint of Kilbarry, County Dublin.\n
\n", "tags": "berach", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 134, "action": "Simon the Apostle", "tags": "simon apostle curriers" }, { "id": 135, "action": "\n In St. Matthew's Gospel, we read of\n \n St. Simon\n \n or\n \n Simeon\n \n who is described as one of our Lord's brethren or kinsmen. His father was Cleophas, St. Joseph's brother, and his mother, according to some writers, was our Lady's sister. He would therefore be our Lord's first cousin and is supposed to have been about eight years older than He. No\n \n doubt\n \n he is one of those brethren of\n \n Christ\n \n who are mentioned in the\n \n Acts\n \n of the\n \n Apostles\n \n as having received the\n \n Holy Spirit\n \n on Pentecost. St.\n \n Epiphanius\n \n says that when the\n \n Jews\n \n massacred St.\n \n James\n \n the Lesser, his brother\n \n Simeon\n \n upbraided them for their cruelty. The\n \n apostles\n \n and disciples afterwards met together to appoint a successor to\n \n James\n \n as\n \n bishop\n \n of Jerusalem, and they unanimously chose Simeon, who had probably assisted his brother in the government of that church. In the year 66 civil\n \n war\n \n broke out in Palestine, as a consequence of\n \n Jewish\n \n opposition to the Romans. The Christians in\n \n Jerusalem\n \n were warned of the impending destruction of the city and appear to have been divinely ordered to leave it. Accordingly that same year, before\n \n Vespasian\n \n entered Judaea, they retired with St.\n \n Simeon\n \n at their head to the other side of the Jordan, occupying a small city called Pella. After the capture and burning of Jerusalem, the Christians returned and settled among the ruins until the Emperor\n \n Hadrian\n \n afterwards entirely razed it. We are told by St.\n \n Epiphanius\n \n and by Eusebius that the church here flourished greatly, and that many\n \n Jews\n \n were converted by the miracles wrought by the saints. When\n \n Vespasian\n \n and\n \n Domitian\n \n had ordered the destruction of all who were of the race of David, St.\n \n Simeon\n \n had escaped their search; but when\n \n Trajan\n \n gave a similar injunction, he was denounced as being not only one of David's descendants, but also a Christian, and he was brought before Atticus, the Roman governor. He was condemned to death and, after being tortured, was crucified. Although he was extremely old - tradition reports him to have attained the age of 120 -\n \n Simeon\n \n endured his sufferings with a degree of\n \n fortitude\n \n which roused the admiration of\n \n Atticus\n \n himself. His\n \n feast day\n \n is February 18\n
\n", "tags": "simon apostle", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 136, "action": "Barbatus of Benevento", "tags": "barbatus benevento italy" }, { "id": 137, "action": "\n Bishop of Benevento, Italy. He was born in\n \n Italy\n \n about 612 and was ordained in Marcona. Sent to Benevento, Barbatus evangelized and converted many. When the city was put under siege by Byzantine Emperor Constans II in 663, Barbatus predicted that the assault would end. When peace came, Barbatus was named\n \n bishop\n \n of Benevento. He attended the Council of\n \n Constantinople\n \n in 680. lie died in Benevento on February 29.\n
\n", "tags": "barbatus benevento", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 138, "action": "Margaret of Cortona", "tags": "temptation mother homeless loss reformed prostitutes tramps single penitent temptations margaret parents cortona hoboes people laywomen sexual women" }, { "id": 139, "action": "\n Margaret of Cortona, penitent, was born in Loviana in\n \n Tuscany\n \n in 1247. Her father was a small farmer. Margaret's mother died when she was seven years old. Her stepmother had little care for her high-spirited daughter. Rejected at home, Margaret eloped with a youth from\n \n Montepulciano\n \n and bore him a son out of wedlock. After nine years, her lover was murdered without warning. Margaret left Montpulciano and returned as a penitent to her father's house. When her father refused to accept her and her son, she went to the Friars\n \n Minor\n \n at\n \n Cortona\n \n where she received asylum. Yet Maragaret had difficulty overcoming temptations of the flesh. One\n \n Sunday\n \n she returned to Loviana with a cord around her neck. At Mass, she asked pardon for her past scandal. She attempted to mutilate her face, but was restrained by\n \n Friar\n \n Giunta. Margaret earned a living by nursing sick ladies. Later she gave this up to serve the sick poor without recompense, subsisting only on alms. Evenually, she joined the Third Order of St. Francis, and her son also joined the Franciscans a few years later. Margaret advanced rapidly in\n \n prayer\n \n and was said to be in direct contact with Jesus, as exemplified by frequent ecstacies.\n \n Friar\n \n Giunta recorded some of the messages she received from God. Not all related to herself, and she courageously presented messages to others. In 1286, Margaret was granted a charter allowing her to work for the sick poor on a permanent basis. Others joined with personal help, and some with financial assistance. Margaret formed her group into tertiaries, and later they were given special status as a congregation which was called The Poverelle (\"Poor Ones\"). She also founded a hospital at\n \n Cortona\n \n and the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mercy. Some in\n \n Cortona\n \n turned on Margaret, even accusing her of illicit relations with\n \n Friar\n \n Giunta. All the while, Margaret continued to preach against\n \n vice\n \n and many, through her, returned to the sacraments. She also showed extraordinary love for the mysteries of the\n \n Eucharist\n \n and the Passion of\n \n Jesus\n \n Christ. Divinely warned of the day and hour of her death, she died on February 22, 1297, having spent twenty-nine years performing\n \n acts\n \n of penance. She was canonized in 1728. Her\n \n feast day\n \n is February 22nd.\n
\n", "tags": "margaret cortona", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 140, "action": "Polycarp of Smyrna", "tags": "polycarp smyrna earaches" }, { "id": 141, "action": "\n Bishop of Smyrna, martyr, and one of the foremost leaders of the Church in the second century. Few details of his\n \n life\n \n are extant with any reliability beyond his famous martyrdom, which was recounted in the Martyrium Polycarpi. It is believed, however, that he was converted to the\n \n faith\n \n by\n \n St. John\n \n the\n \n Evangelist\n \n about 80 A.D. and became\n \n bishop\n \n of\n \n Smyrna\n \n about 96 A.D. He was, as was his friend St. Ignatius of Antioch, one of the most important intermediary links between the apostolic and the patristic eras in the Church, especially in\n \n Christian\n \n \n Asia\n \n Minor. A defender of orthodoxy, he opposed such heretical groups as the\n \n Marcionites\n \n and Valentinians. He also authored a surviving epistle to the Philippians, exhorting them to remain strong in the faith. The letter is of great interest to scholars because it demonstrates the existence of\n \n New Testament\n \n texts, with quotes from\n \n Matthew\n \n and Luke, the\n \n Acts\n \n of the Apostles, and the first letters of Peter and John. When Ignatius was being taken to\n \n Rome\n \n to be put to death, he wrote of Polycarp being clothed \"with the garment of grace.\" Polycarp was himself arrested by Roman officials in\n \n Smyrna\n \n soon after returning from a trip to\n \n Rome\n \n to discuss the date for Easter. He refused to abjure the faith, telling his captain that he had served\n \n Christ\n \n for eighty six years. The\n \n Romans\n \n burned him alive with twelve companions. The year of his death has been put at 155 or 156, although Eusebius of Caesarea places the year at 167 or 168, meaning it would have fallen in the reign of\n \n Marcus\n \n Aurelius. If so, changes in the year of his birth would be necessary. The most detailed account of his death was the Martyrium Polycarpi.\n
\n", "tags": "polycarp smyrna", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 142, "action": "Polycarp", "tags": "polycarp dysentery" }, { "id": 143, "action": "\n Imagine being able to sit at the feet of the\n \n apostles\n \n and hear their stories of\n \n life\n \n with\n \n Jesus\n \n from their own lips. Imagine walking with those who had walked with Jesus, seen him, and touched him. That was what Polycarp was able to do as a\n \n disciple\n \n of\n \n Saint John\n \n the Evangelist.\n
\nBut being part of the second generation of Church leaders had challenges that the first generation could not teach about. What did you do when those eyewitnesses were gone? How do you carry on the correct teachings of Jesus? How do you answer new questions that never came up before?
With the apostles gone, heresies sprang up pretending to be true teaching, persecution was strong, and controversies arose over how to celebrate liturgy that Jesus never laid down rules for.
Polycarp, as a holy man and bishop of Smyrna, found there was only one answer -- to be true to the life of Jesus and imitate that life. Saint Ignatius of Antioch told Polycarp \"your mind is grounded in God as on an immovable rock.\"
When faced with heresy, he showed the \"candid face\" that Ignatius admired and that imitated Jesus' response to the Pharisees. Marcion, the leader of the Marcionites who followed a dualistic heresy, confronted Polycarp and demanded respect by saying, \"Recognize us, Polycarp.\" Polycarp responded, \"I recognize you, yes, I recognize the son of Satan.\"
On the other hand when faced with Christian disagreements he was all forgiveness and respect. One of the controversies of the time came over the celebration of Easter. The East, where Polycarp was from, celebrated the Passover as the Passion of Christ followed by a Eucharist on the following day. The West celebrated Easter on the Sunday of the week following Passover. When Polycarp went to Rome to discuss the difference with Pope Anicetus, they could not agree on this issue. But they found no difference in their Christian beliefs. And Anicetus asked Polycarp to celebrate the Eucharist in his own papal chapel.
Polycarp faced persecution the way Christ did. His own church admired him for following the \"gospel model\" -- not chasing after martyrdom as some did, but avoiding it until it was God's will as Jesus did. They considered it \"a sign of love to desire not to save oneself alone, but to save also all the Christian brothers and sisters.\"
One day, during a bloody martyrdom when Christians were attacked by wild animals in the arena, the crowd became so mad that they demanded more blood by crying, \"Down with the atheists; let Polycarp be found.\" (They considered Christians \"atheists\" because they didn't believe in their pantheon of gods.) Since Polycarp was not only known as a leader but as someone holy \"even before his grey hair appeared\", this was a horrible demand.
Polycarp was calm but others persuaded him to leave the city and hide at a nearby farm. He spent his time in prayer for people he knew and for the Church. During his prayer he saw a vision of his pillow turned to fire and announced to his friends that the dream meant he would be burned alive.
As the search closed in, he moved to another farm, but the police discovered he was there by torturing two boys. He had a little warning since he was upstairs in the house but he decided to stay, saying, \"God's will be done.\"
Then he went downstairs, talked to his captors and fed them a meal. All he asked of them was that they give him an hour to pray. He spent two hours praying for everyone he had every known and for the Church, \"remembering all who had at any time come his way -- small folk and great folk, distinguished and undistinguished, and the whole Catholic Church throughout the world.\" Many of his captors started to wonder why they were arresting this holy, eighty-six-year-old bishop.
But that didn't stop them from taking him into the arena on the Sabbath. As he entered the arena, the crowd roared like the animals they cheered. Those around Polycarp heard a voice from heaven above the crowd, \"Be brave, Polycarp, and act like a man.\"
The proconsul begged the eighty-six-year-old bishop to give in because of his age. \"Say 'Away with the atheists'\" the proconsul urged. Polycarp calmly turned to the face the crowd, looked straight at them, and said, \"Away with the atheists.\" The proconsul continued to plead with him. When he asked Polycarp to swear by Caesar to save himself, Polycarp answered, \"If you imagine that I will swear by Caesar, you do not know who I am. Let me tell you plainly, I am a Christian.\" Finally, when all else failed the proconsul reminded Polycarp that he would be thrown to the wild animals unless he changed his mind. Polycarp answered, \"Change of mind from better to worse is not a change allowed to us.\"
Because of Polycarp's lack of fear, the proconsul told him he would be burned alive but Polycarp knew that the fire that burned for an hour was better than eternal fire.
When he was tied up to be burned, Polycarp prayed, \"Lord God Almighty, Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have received knowledge of you, God of angels and powers, of the whole creation and of the whole race of the righteous who live in your sight, I bless you, for having made me worthy of this day and hour, I bless you, because I may have a part, along with the martyrs, in the chalice of your Christ, to resurrection in eternal life, resurrection both of soul and body in the incorruptibility of the Holy Spirit. May I be received today, as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, among those who are in you presence, as you have prepared and foretold and fulfilled, God who is faithful and true. For this and for all benefits I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you, through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom be to you with him and the Holy Spirit glory, now and for all the ages to come. Amen.\"
The fire was lit as Polycarp said Amen and then the eyewitnesses who reported said they saw a miracle. The fire burst up in an arch around Polycarp, the flames surrounding him like sails, and instead of being burned he seemed to glow like bread baking, or gold being melted in a furnace. When the captors saw he wasn't being burned, they stabbed him. The blood that flowed put the fire out.
The proconsul wouldn't let the Christians have the body because he was afraid they would worship Polycarp. The witnesses reported this with scorn for the lack of understanding of Christian faith: \"They did not know that we can never abandon the innocent Christ who suffered on behalf of sinners for the salvation of those in this world.\" After the body was burned, they stole the bones in order to celebrate the memory of his martyrdom and prepare others for persecution. The date was about February 23, 156.
When faced with challenges to your Christian life, try a version of Polycarp's prayer of martyrdom: \"Lord God Almighty, Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have received knowledge of you, God of angels and powers, of the whole creation and of the whole race of the righteous who live in your sight, I bless you, for having made me worthy of this day and hour, I bless you, because I may have a part, along with the martyrs, in the chalice of your Christ, to resurrection in eternal life, resurrection both of soul and body in the incorruptibility of the Holy Spirit. For this and for all benefits I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you, through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, through whom be to you with him and the Holy Spirit glory, now and for all the ages to come. Amen.\"
Saint Polycarp, sometimes Christ seems so far away from us. Centuries have passed since he and the apostles walk the earth. Help us to see that he is close to us always and that we can keep him near by imitating his life as you did. Amen
", "tags": "polycarp", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 144, "action": "Walburga", "tags": "dog zutphen oudenarde bites antwerp famine nederlands coughs gronigen harvests walburga belgium" }, { "id": 145, "action": "\n St. Walburga, Virgin (Feast day - February 25) Walburga was born in Devonshire England, around 710. She was the daughter of a West Saxon chieftain and the sister of\n \n St. Willibald\n \n and Winebald. Walburga was educated at Wimborne Monastery in Dorset, where she became a nun. In 748, she was sent with\n \n St. Lioba\n \n to\n \n Germany\n \n to help\n \n St. Boniface\n \n in his missionary work. She spent two years at Bishofsheim, after which she became\n \n Abbess\n \n of the double monastery at Heidenheim founded by her brother Winebald. At the death of Winebald,\n \n St. Walburga\n \n was appointed\n \n Abbess\n \n of both monasteries by her brother Willibald, who was then\n \n Bishop\n \n of Eichstadt. She remained\n \n superior\n \n of both men and women until her death in 779. She was buried first at Heidenheim, but later her body was interred next to that of her brother, St. Winebald, at Eichstadt. at a small church called Holy Cross around which a group of canonesses were gathered.\n
\n", "tags": "walburga", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 146, "action": "Caesarius of Nanzianzen", "tags": "bachelors caesarius nanzianzen" }, { "id": 147, "action": "\n Brother of St. Gregory\n \n Nazianzus\n \n and son of St. Gregory the Elder. Caesarius studied medicine and\n \n philosophy\n \n at Alexandria, Egypt, and in Constantinople. Famous as a physician, Caesarius was appointed to the court of Emperor Julian the Apostate, who tried repeatedly to get him to renounce the\n \n Christian\n \n faith. Caesarius was only a catechumen, a\n \n Christian\n \n in training, but he resigned from the court rather than deny Christ. He served Emperor Jovian as physician and was the treasurer for Emperor Valens. In 468, after a harrowing experience during an earthquake at Nicaca, in Bithynia, Caesarius was baptized. His brother gave the details of Caesarius'\n \n life\n \n while conducting his funeral.\n
\n", "tags": "caesarius nanzianzen", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 148, "action": "Anne Line", "tags": "line childless anne people converts" }, { "id": 149, "action": "\n English\n \n martyr\n \n from Dunmow, Essex. The daughter of William Heigham, she was disowned by him when she married a Catholic, Roger Line. Roger was imprisoned for being a\n \n Catholic\n \n and was exiled and died in 1594 in Flanders, Belgium. Anne stayed in England where she hid\n \n Catholic\n \n priests in a London safe house. In this endeavor she aided Jesuit Father\n \n John\n \n Gerard until her arrest. Anne was hanged in Tyburn on February 27, 1601. Pope Paul VI canonized Anne Line in 1970 as one of the\n \n Forty Martyrs\n \n of England and Wales.\n
\n", "tags": "line anne", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 150, "action": "Charles the Good", "tags": "charles counts crusaders good" }, { "id": 151, "action": "\n In 1086, St. Canute, King of\n \n Denmark\n \n and father of Blessed Charles the Good, was slain in St. Alban's Church, Odence. Charles who was only a few years old was taken by his mother to the court of Robert, Count of Flanders, his maternal grandfather. When he grew up, he became a knight and accompanied Robert in a crusade to the Holy Land where he distinguished himself; on their return, Charles also fought against the English with his uncle. On Robert's death, his son\n \n Baldwin\n \n succeeded him and designated Charles as the heir. At the same time, he arranged for Charles' marriage to the daughter of the Count of Clermont. During Baldwin's rule, Charles was closely associated with him, and the people came to have a high regard for his wise and beneficent ways as well as his personal holiness. At Baldwin's death, in 1119, the people made his cousin their ruler. Charles ruled his people with wisdom, diligence, and compassion; he made sure that times of truce were respected and fought against black marketeers who horded food and were waiting to sell it at astronomical prices to the people. This encouraged their undying wrath and one day in 1127 as Charles was praying in the Church of\n \n St. Donatian\n \n they set upon him and killed him.Blessed Charles the Good\n \n feast day\n \n is March 2nd.\n
\n", "tags": "charles good", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 152, "action": "Anselm of Nonantola", "tags": "nonantola italy anselm" }, { "id": 153, "action": "\n Benedictine\n \n abbot\n \n and duke. He was born in Forum Juhi, modern Friuli, Italy, heir to a local title and brother-in-law of King Aistulf, the Lombard ruler who married Anselm's sister, Gisaltruda. Anselm left his titles and power, and in 750 founded a monastery at Tanano, Italy. Two years later he built the monastery of\n \n Nonantola\n \n near Modena, Italy. He then went to\n \n Rome\n \n where Pope Stephen II invested him with the\n \n habit\n \n of the Benedictine Order. Anselm founded many charitable institutions; however, he lost his patronage when Aistulf died. Desiderius, the new Lombard ruler, banished Anselm from his kingdom in 756. He went to Monte Cassino for seven years, until\n \n Desiderius\n \n fell to the armies of Charlemagne. Anselm remained in\n \n Nonantola\n \n until his death. He is patron of the region.\n
\n", "tags": "nonantola anselm", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 154, "action": "Casimir", "tags": "people lithuanian russia poland casimir lithuania young" }, { "id": 155, "action": "\n Casimir grew up in a world where his\n \n life\n \n was not his own. As a prince of Poland, the second son of King Casimir IV and\n \n Elizabeth\n \n of Austria, his\n \n life\n \n was scheduled to cement his father's authority and increase Poland's power.\n
\nCasimir realized from an early age that his life belonged to someone else, but to a much higher King than his father. Despite pressure, humiliation, and rejection, he stood by that loyalty through his whole life.
Born the third of thirteen children in 1461, Casimir was committed to God from childhood. Some of that commitment was the result of a tutor, John Dlugosz, whose holiness encouraged Casimir on his own journey.
It may be hard for us to imagine royal luxury as a pressure. But for Casimir, the riches around him were temptations to forget his true loyalties. Rebelling against the rich, fashionable clothes he was expected to enjoy, he wore the plainest of clothes.
Rejecting even ordinary comforts, he slept little, spending his nights in prayer. And when he did sleep, he lay on the floor not on a royal bed. Even though he was a prince, many of those around him must have laughed and joked at his choices. Yet, in the face of any pressure, Casimir was always friendly and calm.
Though his father must have wondered about him, he must have seen and admired Casimir's strength. He showed that he misunderstood this strength when he sent Casimir as head of an army to take over the throne of Hungary at the request of some nobles there. Casimir felt the whole expedition was wrong but was convinced to go out of obedience to his father. He could not help but feel at every step that it was disobedient to his other Father. So when soldiers started deserting, he was only too glad to listen to the advice of his officers and turn back home. His feelings were confirmed when he discovered that Pope Sixtus IV had opposed the move.
His father, however, was furious at being deterred from his plans and banished Casimir to a castle in Dobzki, hoping that imprisonment would change Casimir's mind. Casimir's commitment to what he believed was right only grew stronger in his exile and he refused to cooperate with his father's plans any more despite the pressure to give in. He even rejected a marriage alliance his father tried to form. He participated in his true King's plans wholeheartedly by praying, studying, and helping the poor.
He died at the age of 23 in 1484 from lung disease. He was buried with his favorite song, a Latin hymn to Mary called \"Omni die dic Mariae\" which we know as \"Daily, Daily Sing to Mary.\" Because of his love for the song, it is known as the Hymn of St. Casimir though he didn't write it.
Casimir is patron saint of Poland and Lithuania.
Where do your loyalties lie? Is there a part of your life where you feel your loyalties divided and feel pressure to follow worldly commitment? Today choose the action that best serves Christ the King.
Saint Casimir, help us to remember that our true King is Jesus Christ and always serve him with joy and love. Help us to turn to our true Father for guidance and protection. Amen
", "tags": "casimir", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 156, "action": "Casimir of Poland", "tags": "poland kings princes casimir bachelors" }, { "id": 157, "action": "\n Patron saint of\n \n Poland\n \n and Lithuania. He was born in 1458 or 1460, the third of thirteen\n \n children\n \n of King Casimir IV and\n \n Elizabeth\n \n of Austria, daughter of Albert II of Habsburg. He was born on October 3, 1460, in the royal palace at Cracow, Poland. The young prince was trained in\n \n spirituality\n \n and displayed\n \n holiness\n \n at an early age. When Casimir IV ordered Casimir to lead an army against King Matthias I Corvinus of\n \n Hungary\n \n in 1471, he refused. Casimir believed an attempt to seize the Hungarian\n \n throne\n \n was unjust and refused to take part in it. He was confined to the castle of Dzoki as punishment, and there he refused as well to marry, as his father commanded. When his father was away from\n \n Poland\n \n from 1479-1483, Casimir served as regent of the nation. Casimir died of consumption on March 4 while visiting Grodno, Lithuania. Buried at Vilnius, Lithuania, his\n \n tomb\n \n became famed for miracles, and he was canonized in 1522 by Pope Adrian VI . Casimir is also patron of the Knights of\n \n St. John\n \n and is invoked against enemies of\n \n Poland\n \n and the faith.\n
\n", "tags": "casimir poland", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 158, "action": "Piran", "tags": "cornwall tin piran miners england" }, { "id": 159, "action": "\n Piran was a hermit near Padstow in Cornwall and sometimes called Perran. He is the patron saint of tin mines there and is often erroneously identified with St. Kyran (Kieran) of Saighir. His\n \n feast day\n \n is March 5th.\n
\n", "tags": "piran", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 160, "action": "Drausinus", "tags": "people champions plots enemy invincible drausinus be" }, { "id": 161, "action": "\n Bishop of Soissons, France, also called Drausius. Educated by St. Anseric, Drausinus fostered monastic\n \n life\n \n in his diocese. He built a monastery at Rethondes, two churches, and a\n \n convent\n \n at Soissons. Drausinus' shrine was visited by\n \n St. Thomas Becket\n \n just before his own martyrdom.\n
\n", "tags": "drausinus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 162, "action": "Agnes of Rome", "tags": "agnes for chastity rome invoked" }, { "id": 163, "action": "\n A popular saint about whom little is known, Agnes is said to have been a beautiful, wealthy Roman maiden who had, in childhood, dedicated herself to God. Some say that a rejected suitor betrayed her to authorities; others say that she was asked at 13 to\n \n sacrifice\n \n to the gods and marry, both of which she refused. Legends tell of her being thrown into a brothel, where her purity was miraculously preserved. Having escaped that fate, she was martyred. In the IV Century, Constantia, the daughter of Constantine, built a\n \n basilica\n \n on the site of her tomb.\n \n St. Ambrose\n \n wrote about Agnes in De virginitate, and Damasus I wrote an epitaph for her.\n \n Prudentius\n \n composed a\n \n hymn\n \n in her honor. Her emblem in art is the lamb because of the similarity between her name and the Latin word for lamb, agnus.\n
\n", "tags": "rome agnes", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 164, "action": "John of God", "tags": "fighters book dying booksellers hospitals patients workers trade nurses alcoholism bookbinders printers john sick fire hospital tultepac heart god mexico people" }, { "id": 165, "action": "\n From the\n \n time\n \n he was eight to the day he died,\n \n John\n \n followed every impulse of his heart. The challenge for him was to rush to follow the promptings of the\n \n Holy Spirit\n \n gave him, not his own human temptations. But unlike many who act impulsively, when\n \n John\n \n made a decision, no\n \n matter\n \n how quickly, he stuck with it, no\n \n matter\n \n what the hardship.\n
\nAt eight years old, John heard a visiting priest speak of adventures that were waiting in the age of 1503 with new worlds being opened up. That very night he ran away from home to travel with the priest and never saw his parents again. They begged their way from village to village until John fell sick. The man who nursed him back to health, the manager of a large estate, adopted John. John worked as a shepherd in the mountains until he was 27. Feeling pressure to marry the manager's daughter, whom he loved as a sister, John took off to join the Spanish army in the war against France. As a soldier, he was hardly a model of holiness, taking part in the gambling, drinking, and pillaging that his comrades enjoyed. One day, he was thrown from a stolen horse near French lines. Frightened that he would be captured or killed, he reviewed his life and vowed impulsively to make a change.
When he returned he kept his spur of the moment vow, made a confession, and immediately changed his life. His comrades didn't mind so much that John was repenting but hated that he wanted them to give up their pleasures too. So they used his impulsive nature to trick him into leaving his post on the pretext of helping someone in need. He was rescued from hanging at the last minute and thrown out of the army after being beaten and stripped. He begged his way back to his foster-home where he worked as a shepherd until he heard of a new war with Moslems invading Europe. Off he went but after the war was over, he decided to try to find his real parents. To his grief he discovered both had died in his absence.
As a shepherd he had plenty of time to contemplate what God might want of his life. When he decided at 38 that he should go to Africa to ransom Christian captives, he quit immediately and set off for the port of Gibraltar. He was on the dock waiting for his ship when he saw a family obviously upset and grieving. When he discovered they were a noble family being exiled to Africa after political intrigues, he abandoned his original plan and volunteered to be their servant. The family fell sick when they reached their exile and John kept them alive not only by nursing them but by earning money to feed them. His job building fortifications was grueling, inhuman work and the workers were beaten and mistreated by people who called themselves Catholics. Seeing Christians act this way so disturbed John that it shook his faith. A priest advised him not to blame the Church for their actions and to leave for Spain at once. John did go back home -- but only after he learned that his newly adopted family had received pardons.
In Spain he spent his days unloading ship cargoes and his nights visiting churches and reading spiritual books. Reading gave him so much pleasure that he decided that he should share this joy with others. He quit his job and became a book peddler, traveling from town to town selling religious books and holy cards. A vision at age 41 brought him to Granada where he sold books from a little shop. (For this reason he is patron saint of booksellers and printers.)
After hearing a sermon from the famous John of Avila on repentance, he was so overcome by the thought of his sins that the whole town thought the little bookseller had gone from simple eccentricity to madness. After the sermon John rushed back to his shop, tore up any secular books he had, gave away all his religious books and all his money. Clothes torn and weeping, he was the target of insults, jokes, and even stones and mud from the townspeople and their children.
Friends took the distraught John to the Royal Hospital where he was interned with the lunatics. John suffered the standard treatment of the time -- being tied down and daily whipping. John of Avila came to visit him there and told him his penance had gone on long enough -- forty days, the same amount as the Lord's suffering the desert -- and had John moved to a better part of the hospital.
John of God could never see suffering without trying to do something about it. And now that he was free to move, although still a patient, he immediately got up and began to help the other sick people around him. The hospital was glad to have his unpaid nursing help and were not happy to release him when one day he walked in to announce he was going to start his own hospital.
John may have been positive that God wanted him to start a hospital for the poor who got bad treatment, if any, from the other hospitals, but everyone else still thought of him as a madman. It didn't help that he decided to try to finance his plan by selling wood in the square. At night he took what little money he earned and brought food and comfort to the poor living in abandoned buildings and under bridges. Thus his first hospital was the streets of Granada.
Within an hour after seeing a sign in a window saying \"House to let for lodging of the poor\" he had rented the house in order to move his nursing indoors. Of course he rented it without money for furnishings, medicine, or help. After he begged money for beds, he went out in the streets again and carried his ill patients back on the same shoulders that had carried stones, wood, and books. Once there he cleaned them, dressed their wounds, and mended their clothes at night while he prayed. He used his old experience as a peddler to beg alms, crying through the streets in his peddler's voice, \"Do good to yourselves! For the love of God, Brothers, do good!\" Instead of selling goods, he took anything given -- scraps of good, clothing, a coin here and there.
Throughout his life he was criticized by people who didn't like the fact that his impulsive love embraced anyone in need without asking for credentials or character witnesses. When he was able to move his hospital to an old Carmelite monastery, he opened a homeless shelter in the monastery hall. Immediately critics tried to close him down saying he was pampering troublemakers. His answer to this criticism always was that he knew of only one bad character in the hospital and that was himself. His urge to act immediately when he saw need got him into trouble more than a few times. Once, when he encountered a group of starving people, he rushed into a house, stole a pot of food, and gave it to them. He was almost arrested for that charity! Another time, on finding a group of children in rags, he marched them into a clothing shop and bought them all new clothes. Since he had no money, he paid for it all on credit!
Yet his impulsive wish to help saved many people in one emergency. The alarm went out that the Royal Hospital was on fire. When he dropped everything to run there, he found that the crowd was just standing around watching the hospital -- and its patients -- go up in flames. He rushed into the blazing building and carried or led the patients out. When all the patients were rescued, he started throwing blankets, sheets, and mattresses out the windows -- how well he knew from his own hard work how important these things were. At that point a cannon was brought to destroy the burning part of the building in order to save the rest. John stopped them, ran up the roof, and separated the burning portion with an axe. He succeeded but fell through the burning roof. All thought they had lost their hero until John of God appeared miraculously out of smoke. (For this reason, John of God is patron saint of firefighters.)
John was ill himself when he heard that a flood was bringing precious driftwood near the town. He jumped out of bed to gather the wood from the raging river. Then when one of his companions fell into the river, John without thought for his illness or safety jumped in after him. He failed to save the boy and caught pneumonia. He died on March 8, his fifty-fifth birthday, of the same impulsive love that had guided his whole life.
John of God is patron saint of booksellers, printers, heart patients, hospitals, nurses, the sick, and firefighters and is considered the founder of the Brothers Hospitallers.
When you feel the urge to serve, help, or pray do you act on it or argue yourself out of it? Today if you feel an impulse to do good, do it immediately as John of God would have done without thinking of how practical or how embarrassing it might be.
Saint John of God, help us to act out of love as soon as we feel the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Help us learn to fight the little voices in our heads and hearts that give us all sorts of practical reasons to wait or delay in our service of God. Amen
", "tags": "john god", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 166, "action": "Catherine of Bologna", "tags": "liberal catherine artists arts temptations bologna art" }, { "id": 167, "action": "\n St. Catherine of Bologna was an Italian nun and artist born as Catherine de' Vigri on September 8, 1413 in Bologna, Italy.\n
\nShe was the member of an aristocratic family and the daughter of a diplomat to the Marquis of Ferrara. Catherine received a wonderful education in reading, writing, singing and drawing while being raised at the court of the Duke of Ferrara. Catherine excelled in painting, Latin and the viola.
When the daughter eventually married, she wanted Catherine to remain in her service, but Catherine, feeling a calling to the religious life, left the court.
In 1426, at 13-years-old, she entered the convent of Corpus Domini at Ferrara and became a Franciscan Tertiary.
During this time, her convent disagreed in whether to continue following the Augustinian rule or to instead adhere to the Franciscan rule. A Rule is a specific expression of the Christian life which calls the men or women of a particular religious order to a daily pattern of prayer, work and charity.
Catherine was determined to live a life of perfection, and was admired by her companions for her holiness.
In 1432, Catherine and other young women of Ferrara founded a monastery of the Order of Poor Clares, an order founded by St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi.
Catherine was openly willing to serve the more humble roles in the convent. She was a laundress, a baker and a caretaker for the animals.
Through her efforts with Pope Nicholas V, the Poor Clare convent at Ferrara erected an enclosure, and Catherine was appointed Superioress. That office made her responsible for providing pastoral care and spiritual oversight to all of sisters. The reputation of the Community for its holiness and austerity became widespread.
In 1456, Catherine returned to Bologna with her superiors and the governors there requested she found a second monastery of the same Order and be the Abbess of the convent.
Catherine continued to paint and to write beautiful spiritual guides and poetry. She wrote the Treatise on the 7 Spiritual Weapons Necessary for Spiritual Warfare. And, her painting of St. Ursula remains on display in a Venice gallery.
Throughout her life, Catherine experienced visions of both Jesus Christ and Satan, which she documented in her treatise. In one instance, she had the baby Jesus placed in her arms by the Blessed Virgin Mary.
During the Lenten season of 1463, Catherine became seriously ill, and on March 9th she passed away.
She was buried without a coffin and her body was exhumed eighteen days later because of many cures attributed to her at her graveside and the sweet scent coming from her grave. Her body was discovered incorrupt and remains so today. That means it has not decayed. Catherine is dressed in her religious habit seated upright on a golden throne behind glass in the chapel of the Poor Clares in Bologna.
Her skin has since been blackened due to exposure from oil lamps and soot.
Saint Catherine was beatified in 1524 by Pope Clement VII and canonized on May 22, 1712 by Pope Clement XI. She is the patron saint of artists, the liberal arts, against temptations and of Bologna.
Her feast day is celebrated on March 9.
St. Catherine's piety, charity, and kindness attracted many to follow her along the road to Christian perfection. The beauty of her life and death encourages us to live in perfect charity as a Lenten goal.
Pope Benedict described this humble saint as, \"From the distance of so many centuries she is still very modern and speaks to our lives. She, like us, suffered temptations, she suffered the temptations of disbelief, of sensuality, of a difficult spiritual struggle. She felt forsaken by God, she found herself in the darkness of faith. Yet in all these situations she was always holding the Lord's hand, she did not leave him, she did not abandon him. And walking hand in hand with the Lord, she walked on the right path and found the way of light.\"
", "tags": "bologna catherine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 168, "action": "Isberga", "tags": "isberga artois region" }, { "id": 169, "action": "\n Also Itisberga, a Benedictine nun and supposedly a sister of Charlemange. She was a member of a\n \n convent\n \n at\n \n Aire\n \n in Artois, France, and is venerated as a patroness of the region.\n
\n", "tags": "isberga", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 170, "action": "Frances of Rome", "tags": "lay frances laity housewives motorists roman widows children people automobilists rome drivers death automobile" }, { "id": 171, "action": "\n Frances was born in the city of\n \n Rome\n \n in 1384 to a wealthy, noble family. From her mother she inherited a quiet manner and a pious devotion to God. From her father, however, she inherited a strong will. She decided at eleven that she knew what\n \n God\n \n wanted for her -- she was going to be a nun.\n
\nAnd that's where her will ran right up against her father's. He told Frances she was far too young to know her mind -- but not too young to be married. He had already promised her in marriage to the son of another wealthy family. In Rome at that time a father's word was law; a father could even sell his children into slavery or order them killed.
Frances probably felt that's what he was doing by forcing her to marry. But just as he wouldn't listen to her, Frances wouldn't listen to him. She stubbornly prayed to God to prevent the marriage until her confessor pointed out, \"Are you crying because you want to do God's will or because you want God to do your will?\"
She gave in to the marriage -- reluctantly. It was difficult for people to understand her objection. Her future husband Lorenzo Ponziani was noble, wealthy, a good person and he really cared for her. An ideal match -- except for someone who was determined to be a bride of Christ.
Then her nightmare began. This quiet, shy thirteen year old was thrust into the whirl of parties and banquets that accompanied a wedding. Her mother-in-law Cecilia loved to entertain and expected her new daughter-in-law to enjoy the revelry of her social life too. Fasting and scourging were far easier than this torture God now asked her to face.
Frances collapsed from the strain. For months she lay close to death, unable to eat or move or speak.
At her worst, she had a vision of St. Alexis. The son of a noble family, Alexis had run away to beg rather than marry. After years of begging he was so unrecognizable that when he returned home his own father thought he was just another beggar and made him sleep under the stairs. In her own way, Frances must have felt unrecognized by her family -- they couldn't see how she wanted to give up everything for Jesus. St. Alexis told her God was giving her an important choice: Did she want to recover or not?
It's hard for us to understand why a thirteen-year-old would want to die but Frances was miserable. Finally, she whispered, \"God's will is mine.\" The hardest words she could have said -- but the right words to set her on the road to sanctity.
St. Alexis replied, \"Then you will live to glorify His Name.\" Her recovery was immediate and complete. Lorenzo became even more devoted to her after this -- he was even a little in awe of her because of what she'd been through.
But her problems did not disappear. Her mother-in-law still expected her to entertain and go on visits with her. Look at Frances' sister-in-law Vannozza --happily going through the rounds of parties, dressing up, playing cards. Why couldn't Frances be more like Vannozza?
In a house where she lived with her husband, his parents, his brother and his brother's family, she felt all alone. And that's why Vannozza found her crying bitterly in the garden one day. When Frances poured out her heart to Vannozza and it turned out that this sister-in-law had wanted to live a life devoted to the Lord too. What Frances had written off as frivolity was just Vannozza's natural easy-going and joyful manner. They became close friends and worked out a program of devout practices and services to work together.
They decided their obligations to their family came first. For Frances that meant dressing up to her rank, making visits and receiving visits -- and most importantly doing it gladly. But the two spiritual friends went to mass together, visited prisons, served in hospitals and set up a secret chapel in an abandoned tower of their palace where they prayed together.
But it wasn't fashionable for noblewomen to help the poor and people gossiped about two girls out alone on the streets. Cecilia suffered under the laughter of her friends and yelled at her daughters-in-law to stop theirs spiritual practices. When that didn't work Cecilia then appealed to her sons, but Lorenzo refused to interfere with Frances' charity.
The beginning of the fifteenth century brought the birth of her first son, Battista, after John the Baptist. We might expect that the grief of losing her mother-in-law soon after might have been mixed with relief -- no more pressure to live in society. But a household as large as the Ponziani's needed someone to run it. Everyone thought that sixteen-year-old Frances was best qualified to take her mother-in-law's place. She was thrust even more deeply into society and worldly duties. Her family was right, though -- she was an excellent administrator and a fair and pleasant employer.
After two more children were born to her -- a boy, Giovanni Evangelista, and a girl, Agnes -- a flood brought disease and famine to Rome. Frances gave orders that no one asking for alms would be turned away and she and Vannozza went out to the poor with corn, wine, oil and clothing. Her father-in-law, furious that she was giving away their supplies during a famine, took the keys of the granary and wine cellar away from her.
Then just to make sure she wouldn't have a chance to give away more, he sold off their extra corn, leaving just enough for the family, and all but one cask of one. The two noblewomen went out to the streets to beg instead.
Finally Frances was so desperate for food to give to the poor she went to the now empty corn loft and sifted through the straw searching for a few leftover kernels of corn. After she left Lorenzo came in and was stunned to find the previously empty granary filled with yellow corn. Frances drew wine out of their one cask until one day her father in law went down and found it empty. Everyone screamed at Frances. After saying a prayer, she led them to cellar, turned the spigot on the empty cask, and out flowed the most wonderful wine. These incidents completely converted Lorenzo and her father-in-law.
Having her husband and father-in-law completely on her side meant she could do what she always wanted. She immediately sold her jewels and clothes and distributed money to needy. She started wearing a dress of coarse green cloth.
Civil war came to Rome -- this was a time of popes and antipopes and Rome became a battleground. At one point there were three men claiming to be pope. One of them sent a cruel governor, Count Troja, to conquer Rome. Lorenzo was seriously wounded and his brother was arrested. Troja sent word that Lorenzo's brother would be executed unless he had Battista, Frances's son and heir of the family, as a hostage. As long as Troja had Battista he knew the Ponzianis would stop fighting.
When Frances heard this she grabbed Battista by the hand and fled. On the street, she ran into her spiritual adviser Don Andrew who told her she was choosing the wrong way and ordered her to trust God. Slowly she turned around and made her way to Capitol Hill where Count Troja was waiting. As she and Battista walked the streets, crowds of people tried to block her way or grab Battista from her to save him. After giving him up, Frances ran to a church to weep and pray.
As soon as she left, Troja had put Battista on a soldier's horse -- but every horse they tried refused to move. Finally the governor gave in to God's wishes. Frances was still kneeling before the altar when she felt Battista's little arms around her.
But the troubles were not over. Frances was left alone against the attackers when she sent Lorenzo out of Rome to avoid capture. Drunken invaders broke into her house, tortured and killed the servants, demolished the palace, literally tore it apart and smashed everything. And this time God did not intervene -- Battista was taken to Naples. Yet this kidnapping probably saved Battista's life because soon a plague hit -- a plague that took the lives of many including Frances' nine-year-old son Evangelista.
At this point, her house in ruins, her husband gone, one son dead, one son a hostage, she could have given up. She looked around, cleared out the wreckage of the house and turned it into a makeshift hospital and a shelter for the homeless.
One year after his death Evangelista came to her in a vision and told her that Agnes was going to die too. In return God was granting her a special grace by sending an archangel to be her guardian angel for the rest of her life. She would always been able to see him. A constant companion and spiritual adviser, he once commanded her to stop her severe penances (eating only bread and water and wearing a hair shirt). \"You should understand by now,\" the angel told her, \"that the God who made your body and gave it to your soul as a servant never intended that the spirit should ruin the flesh and return it to him despoiled.\"
Finally the wars were over and Battista and her husband returned home. But though her son came back a charming young man her husband returned broken in mind and body. Probably the hardest work of healing Frances had to do in her life was to restore Lorenzo back to his old self.
When Battista married a pretty young woman named Mabilia Frances expected to find someone to share in the management of the household. But Mabilia wanted none of it. She was as opposite of Frances and Frances had been of her mother-in- law. Mabilia wanted to party and ridiculed Frances in public for her shabby green dress, her habits, and her standards. One day in the middle of yelling at her, Mabilia suddenly turned pale and fainted, crying, \"Oh my pride, my dreadful pride.\" Frances nursed her back to health and healed their differences as well. A converted Mabilia did her best to imitate Frances after that.
With Lorenzo's support and respect, Frances started a lay order of women attached to the Benedictines called the Oblates of Mary. The women lived in the world but pledged to offer themselves to God and serve the poor. Eventually they bought a house where the widowed members could live in community.
Frances nursed Lorenzo until he died. His last words to her were, \"I feel as if my whole life has been one beautiful dream of purest happiness. God has given me so much in your love.\" After his death, Frances moved into the house with the other Oblates and was made superior. At 52 she had the life she dreamed of when she was eleven. She had been right in discerning her original vocation -- she just had the timing wrong. God had had other plans for her in between.
Frances died four years later. Her last words were \"The angel has finished his task -- he beckons me to follow him.\"
Do you have a spiritual friend who helps you on your journey, someone to pray with and serve with? If you don't have one now, ask God to send you such a companion. Then look around you. This friend, like Frances' Vannozza, may be near you already. Try sharing some of your spiritual hopes and desires with those closest to you. You may be surprised at their reaction. (But don't force your opinions on others or get discouraged by lack of interest. Just keep asking God to lead you.)
Saint Frances of Rome, help us to see the difference between what we want to do and what God wants us to do. Help us to discern what comes from our will and what comes from God's desire. Amen
", "tags": "rome frances", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 172, "action": "Eulogius of Cordoba", "tags": "coppersmiths eulogius cordoba" }, { "id": 173, "action": "\n Martyred\n \n priest\n \n of Cordoba, Spain, slain by the Moors. Arrested in 850 , Eulogius, a noted scholar of Scripture, wrote Exhortation to Martyrdom for two young virgin martyrs, Flora and Mary, who were beheaded. Released, Eulogius was named\n \n archbishop\n \n of Cordoba or Toledo. Before being consecrated, he aided Leocritia, a young Moorish\n \n woman\n \n who had converted to Christianity. They were caught and beheaded. Eulogius also wrote: The Memorial of the Saints and an Apologia.\n
\n", "tags": "eulogius cordoba", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 174, "action": "Mura McFeredach", "tags": "mura fahan clan mcferedach o'neill ireland" }, { "id": 175, "action": "\n Irish\n \n abbot\n \n and\n \n disciple\n \n of St. Columba. He was named\n \n abbot\n \n of Fahan and is patron saint of Fahan in County Derry. Also called Muran and Murames, he is remembered by one of his crosses that remains standing at Fahan.\n
\n", "tags": "mura mcferedach", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 176, "action": "Matilda", "tags": "sceond children disappointing marriages queens matilda" }, { "id": 177, "action": "
\n Matilda was the daughter of Count Dietrich of\n \n Westphalia\n \n and Reinhild of Denmark. She was also known as Mechtildis and Maud. She was raised by her grandmother, the\n \n Abbess\n \n of Eufurt convent. Matilda married Henry the Fowler, son of Duke Otto of Saxony, in the year 909. He succeeded his father as Duke in the year 912 and in 919 succeeded King Conrad I to the German throne. She was noted for her piety and charitable works. She was widowed in the year 936, and supported her son Henry's claim to his father's throne. When her son Otto (the Great) was elected, she persuaded him to name Henry Duke of Bavaria after he had led an unsuccessful revolt. She was severely criticized by both Otto and Henry for what they considered her extravagant charities. She resigned her inheritance to her sons, and retired to her country home but was called to the court through the\n \n intercession\n \n of Otto's wife, Edith. When Henry again revolted, Otto put down the insurrection in the year 941 with great cruelty. Matilda censored Henry when he began another revolt against Otto in the year 953 and for his ruthlessness in suppressing a revolt by his own subjects; at that\n \n time\n \n she prophesized his imminent death. When he did die in 955, she devoted herself to building three convents and a monastery, was left in charge of the kingdom when Otto went to\n \n Rome\n \n in 962 to be crowned Emperor (often regarded as the beginning of the Holy Roman Empire), and spent most of the declining years of her\n \n life\n \n at the\n \n convent\n \n at Nordhausen she had built. She died at the monastery at Quedlinburg on March 14 and was buried there with Henry. Her\n \n feast day\n \n is March 14th.\n
\n", "tags": "matilda", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 178, "action": "Louise de Marillac", "tags": "mother loss marillac disappointing social workers parents children de louise" }, { "id": 179, "action": "\n Louise de Marillac was born probably at Ferrieres-en-Brie near Meux, France, on August 12, 1591. She was educated by the Dominican\n \n nuns\n \n at Poissy. She desired to become a nun but on the advice of her confessor, she married Antony LeGras, an official in the Queen's service, in 1613. After Antony's death in 1625, she met\n \n St. Vincent\n \n de Paul, who became her spiritual adviser. She devoted the rest of her\n \n life\n \n to working with him. She helped direct his Ladies of Charity in their work of caring for the sick, the poor, and the neglected. In 1633 she set up a training center, of which she was Directress in her own home, for candidates seeking to help in her work. This was the beginning of the Sisters (or Daughters, as Vincent preferred) of Charity of\n \n St. Vincent de Paul\n \n (though it was not formally approved until 1655). She took her\n \n vows\n \n in 1634 and attracted great\n \n numbers\n \n of candidates. She wrote a rule for the community, and in 1642, Vincent allowed four of the members to take vows. Formal approval placed the community under Vincent and his Congregation of the Missions, with Louise as Superior. She traveled all over\n \n France\n \n establishing her Sisters in hospitals, orphanages, and other institutions. By the\n \n time\n \n of her death in\n \n Paris\n \n on March 15, the Congregation had more than forty houses in France. Since then they have spread all over the world. She was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1934, and was declared Patroness of Social Workers by Pope\n \n John XXIII\n \n in 1960. Her\n \n feast day\n \n is March 15th.\n
\n", "tags": "de marillac louise", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 180, "action": "Joseph of Arimathea", "tags": "coffin-bearers pallbearers tin directors gravediggers joseph miners caretakers funeral smiths keepers arimathea tinsmiths cemetery" }, { "id": 181, "action": "\n The councillor (Lk 23:50) who, after the Crucifixion, requested the body of\n \n Christ\n \n from\n \n Pontius Pilate\n \n and provided for a proper burial for Christ. An immensely popular figure in\n \n Christian\n \n lore,\n \n Joseph\n \n was termed in the\n \n New Testament\n \n the \"virtuous and righteous man\" (Lk 23:50) and the\n \n man\n \n \"who was himself awaiting the kingdom of God\" (Mk 15:43). Described as .... . secretly a\n \n disciple\n \n of\n \n Jesus\n \n for fear of the Jews, [he] asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it\" (In 19:38). According to the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, he helped establish the community of Lydda. He also was a prominent figure in the legends surrounding the Holy Grail, appearing in Robert de Barron's early thirteenth-century romance\n \n Joseph\n \n d 'Arirnathea, William of Malmesbury's twelfth-century De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae, and Thomas Mallory's famed Morte D 'Arthur; William of almesbury's tale recounts Joseph's arrival in England with the Holy Grail and the building of the first church on the isle at Glastonbury; the passage on Joseph, however, was added in the thirteenth century.\n
\n", "tags": "arimathea joseph", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 182, "action": "Agnes of Rome", "tags": "seminary colegio capranica agnes rome" }, { "id": 183, "action": "\n A popular saint about whom little is known, Agnes is said to have been a beautiful, wealthy Roman maiden who had, in childhood, dedicated herself to God. Some say that a rejected suitor betrayed her to authorities; others say that she was asked at 13 to\n \n sacrifice\n \n to the gods and marry, both of which she refused. Legends tell of her being thrown into a brothel, where her purity was miraculously preserved. Having escaped that fate, she was martyred. In the IV Century, Constantia, the daughter of Constantine, built a\n \n basilica\n \n on the site of her tomb.\n \n St. Ambrose\n \n wrote about Agnes in De virginitate, and Damasus I wrote an epitaph for her.\n \n Prudentius\n \n composed a\n \n hymn\n \n in her honor. Her emblem in art is the lamb because of the similarity between her name and the Latin word for lamb, agnus.\n
\n", "tags": "rome agnes", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 184, "action": "Patrick", "tags": "boston connecticut bites snake patrick harrisburg sacramento ireland texas corpus maine fort engineers snakes york arch massachusetts vermont pennsylvania new norwich portland fear burlington usa excluded worth people christi california nigeria" }, { "id": 185, "action": "\n St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world's most popular saints. He was born in Roman Britain and when he was fourteen or so, he was captured by Irish pirates during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. At the time, Ireland was a land of Druids and pagans but Patrick turned to God and wrote his memoir,\n \n The Confession\n \n . In\n \n The Confession\n \n , he wrote:\n
\n\"The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same. I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain.\"
Patrick's captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britain and was reunited with his family.
A few years after returning home, Patrick saw a vision he described in his memoir:
\"I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: 'The Voice of the Irish.' As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea-and they cried out, as with one voice: 'We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.'\"
The vision prompted his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, whom he had studied under for years, and was later ordained a bishop and sent to take the Gospel to Ireland.
Patrick arrived in Slane, Ireland on March 25, 433. There are several legends about what happened next, with the most prominent claiming he met the chieftan of one of the druid tribes, who tried to kill him. After an intervention from God, Patrick was able to convert the chieftain and preach the Gospel throughout Ireland. There, he converted many people -eventually thousands - and he began building churches across the country.
He often used shamrocks to explain the Holy Trinity and entire kingdoms were eventually converted to Christianity after hearing Patrick's message.
Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering he died March 17, 461.
He died at Saul, where he had built the first Irish church. He is believed to be buried in Down Cathedral, Downpatrick. His grave was marked in 1990 with a granite stone.
St. Patrick's day quotes that help sum up this rowdy and revered holiday
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day in true Irish style with \"the freshest of food and oldest of drink.\"
\nConfessio: The Confession of St. Patrick
\nEpistola ad Coroticum: Letter To Coroticus
\r\nDe abusionibus saeculi
\r\nDe Tribus habitaculis
\nCollectio Hibernensis Canonum: Irish Collection of Canon law
\nPrayer about St. Patrick
\nLorica of Saint Patrick
\nSt Patrick's Breastplate
\nPrayer for the Faithful by Saint Patrick
The Catholic Encyclopedia (1907) is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history.
Complete listing of St. Patrick
Croagh Patrick, i.e. St. Patrick's mountain. This mountain was one of his places of retreat and stories state this is where his ministry to Ireland began.
St. Patrick's Purgatory, one of his chosen places of solitude and retreat was the island of Lough Derg.
Patrician Brothers, founding the Religious congregation of the Brothers of Saint Patrick.
Maynooth College, the National College of Saint Patrick, at Maynooth in County Kildare, about twelve miles from Dublin, founded in the year 1795.
Marie de France contributions to French literature consist of lays, the \"Ysopet\", and a romance published by Roquefort under the title, \"Legend of the Purgatory of Saint Patrick\"
Aubrey Thomas Hunt de Vere traces the progress of spiritual thought in the development of the nations, notably Ireland, in \"The Legend of St. Patrick\" (London, 1872)
In His Footsteps:
Patrick was a humble, pious, gentle man, whose love and total devotion to and trust in God should be a shining example to each of us. So complete was his trust in God, and of the importance of his mission, he feared nothing -not even death.
\"The Breastplate,\" Patrick's poem of faith and trust in God:
\"Christ be within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ inquired, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.\"
", "tags": "patrick", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 186, "action": "Gertrude of Nivelles", "tags": "recently cats mice rats lodgings dead accomodations obtain gertrude while fear travelling nivelles" }, { "id": 187, "action": "\n Benedictine abbess, the daughter of Blessed Pepin of Landen and Blessed Itta of Ida. Itta founded Nivelles\n \n Abbey\n \n and installed Gertrude as\n \n abbess\n \n in 639. Gertrude was a mystic, gifted with visions. She befriended the Irish saints Foillian and Ultan. Gertrude is a patroness of travelers and gardeners.\n
\n", "tags": "gertrude nivelles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 188, "action": "Giles", "tags": "night fear giles" }, { "id": 189, "action": "\n A native of Assisi, Italy, Giles was one of the earliest followers of St. Francis, from whom he received the\n \n habit\n \n in 1208. He accompanied Francis on many of his missions around Assisi, made a pilgrimage to Compostela, visited\n \n Rome\n \n and the Holy Land, and then made an unsuccessful visit to\n \n Tunis\n \n to convert the Saracens. The Christians in Tunis, fearful of the repercussions of his religious fervor, forced him back on a boat as soon as he landed. He spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n living in Italy, living from about 1243 at the Monte Rapido hermitage on the outskirts of Perugia, where he died in 1263. He experiences ecstacies, had a vision of\n \n Christ\n \n at Cetona, and is considered the most perfect example of the primitive Franciscan. He is spoken of at length in \"The Little Flowers of St. Francis\" and Francis called him his \"Knight of the round table.\" Known for his austerity and silence, his \"The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles\" is noted for its humor, deep understanding of human nature, and optimism.\n
\n", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 190, "action": "Anselm of Lucca, the Younger", "tags": "anselm lucca italy younger mantua" }, { "id": 191, "action": "\n Bishop and nephew of Pope Alexander II, called Anselm the Younger by his contemporaries. He was born in Mantua, Italy, in 1036, and was named\n \n bishop\n \n of\n \n Lucca\n \n by his uncle. He accepted the symbols of office from Emperor Henry IV, repenting immediately because of the Church's stand against allowing secular rulers to perform such acts. Anselm resigned his office and became a Benedictine monk. Pope Gregory VII, Alexander II's successor, placed him back in Lucca, but a quarrel with the priests of that city forced him to leave. Anselm went to Canossa, Italy, where he became the spiritual advisor to Countess Matilda. He was also named a papal legate, with wide-ranging jurisdictions over the local religious institutions. Pope\n \n Victor\n \n III made him papal\n \n legate\n \n of all Lombardy, Italy. Anselm was well versed in\n \n Scripture\n \n and wrote some important treatises. He died in\n \n Mantua\n \n on March 18, 1086.\n
\n", "tags": "younger lucca anselm", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 192, "action": "Joseph", "tags": "joiners justice council korea holy hunting san joseph church ions oblates unborn carinthia dying belgium death rouge province louisiana peru vietnam opposition hesitation communism confectioners russia jose bohemia families engineers ii bursars travelers workers cab baton universal tyrol arch nashville pioneers canada carpenters doubters hunters croatia wheeling-charleston west house married new california couples children interior tennessee cabinetmakers usa souls vatican chinese kentucky manchester virginia social mexico styria fathers people hampshire louisville drivers austria sellers" }, { "id": 193, "action": "\n Everything we know about the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus comes from Scripture and that has seemed too little for those who made up legends about him.\n
\nWe know he was a carpenter, a working man, for the skeptical Nazarenes ask about Jesus, \"Is this not the carpenter's son?\" (Matthew 13:55). He wasn't rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24).
Despite his humble work and means, Joseph came from a royal lineage. Luke and Matthew disagree some about the details of Joseph's genealogy but they both mark his descent from David, the greatest king of Israel (Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38). Indeed the angel who first tells Joseph about Jesus greets him as \"son of David,\" a royal title used also for Jesus.
Novena for Workers, the Unemployed and Underemployed
We know Joseph was a compassionate, caring man. When he discovered Mary was pregnant after they had been betrothed, he knew the child was not his but was as yet unaware that she was carrying the Son of God. He knew women accused of adultery could be stoned to death, so he resolved to send her away quietly to not expose her to shame or cruelty. However, when an angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him, 20 \"Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins,\" he did as the angel told him and took Mary as his wife. (Matthew 1:19-25).
When the angel came again to tell him that his family was in danger, he immediately left everything he owned, all his family and friends, and fled to a strange country with his young wife and the baby. He waited in Egypt without question until the angel told him it was safe to go back (Matthew 2:13-23).
We know Joseph loved Jesus. His one concern was for the safety of this child entrusted to him. Not only did he leave his home to protect Jesus, but upon his return settled in the obscure town of Nazareth out of fear for his life. When Jesus stayed in the Temple we are told Joseph (along with Mary) searched with great anxiety for three days for him (Luke 2:48). We also know that Joseph treated Jesus as his own son for over and over the people of Nazareth say of Jesus, \"Is this not the son of Joseph?\" (Luke 4:22)
We know Joseph respected God. He followed God's commands in handling the situation with Mary and going to Jerusalem to have Jesus circumcised and Mary purified after Jesus' birth. We are told that he took his family to Jerusalem every year for Passover, something that could not have been easy for a working man.
Since Joseph does not appear in Jesus' public life, at his death, or resurrection, many historians believe Joseph probably had died before Jesus entered public ministry.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Apocryphal Date for Joseph's birth is 90 BC in Bethlehem and the Apocryphal Date of his death is July 20, AD 18 in Nazareth.
Joseph is the patron saint of the dying because, assuming he died before Jesus' public life, he died with Jesus and Mary close to him, the way we all would like to leave this earth.
Joseph is also patron saint of the Universal Church, families, fathers, expectant mothers (pregnant women), travelers, immigrants, house sellers and buyers, craftsmen, engineers, and working people in general.
We celebrate two feast days for Joseph: March 19 for Joseph the Husband of Mary and May 1 for Joseph the Worker. March 19 has been the most commonly celebrated feast day for Joseph, and it wasn't until 1955 that Pope Pius XII established the Feast of \"St. Joseph the Worker\" to be celebrated on May 1. This is also May Day (International Workers' Day) and believed to reflect Joseph's status as the patron of workers.
Many places and churches all over the world are named after St. Joseph, including the Spanish form, San Jose, which is the most commonly named place in the world. Joseph is considered by many to also be the patron saint of the New World; of the countries China, Canada, Korea, Mexico, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Peru, Vietnam; of the regions Carinthia, Styria, Tyrol, Sicily; and of several main cities and dioceses.
In art, Joseph is typically portrayed as an older man, with grey hair and a beard, often balding, sometimes appearing frail and a marginal figure next to Mary and Jesus, if not entirely in the background. Some statues of Joseph show his staff topped with flowers. St. Joseph is shown with the attributes of a carpenter's square or tools, the infant Jesus, his lily blossomed staff, two turtle doves, or a spikenard.
There is much we still wish we could know about Joseph -- exactly where and when he was born, how he spent his days, exactly when and how he died. But Scripture has left us with the most important knowledge: who he was -- \"a righteous man\" (Matthew 1:18).
In His Footsteps:
\nJoseph was foster father to Jesus. There are many children separated from families and parents who need foster parents. Please consider contacting your local Catholic Charities or Division of Family Services about becoming a foster parent.
Prayer:
\nSaint Joseph, patron of the universal Church, watch over the Church as carefully as you watched over Jesus, help protect it and guide it as you did with your adopted son. Amen
Enjoy additional prayers to St Joseph... click here
", "tags": "joseph", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 194, "action": "Cuthbert", "tags": "cuthbert durham newcastle england hexham" }, { "id": 195, "action": "\n Cuthbert was thought by some to be Irish and by others, a Scot. Bede, the noted historian, says he was a Briton. Orphaned when a young child, he was a shepherd for a time, possibly fought against the Mercians, and became a\n \n monk\n \n at Melrose Abbey. In 661, he accompanied\n \n St. Eata\n \n to Ripon Abbey, which the\n \n abbot\n \n of Melrose had built, but returned to Melrose the following year when King Alcfrid turned the\n \n abbey\n \n over to St. Wilfrid, and then became\n \n Prior\n \n of Melrose.\n \n Cuthbert\n \n engaged in missionary work and when St. Colman refused to accept the decision of the Council of Whitby in favor of the Roman liturgical practices and immigrated with most of the monks of Lindisfarn to Ireland,\n \n St. Eata\n \n was appointed\n \n bishop\n \n in his place and named\n \n Cuthbert\n \n \n Prior\n \n of Lindisfarn. He resumed his missionary activities and attracted huge crowds until he received his abbot's permission to live as a hermit, at first on a nearby island and then in 676, at one of the Farnes Islands near Bamborough. Against his will, he was elected\n \n bishop\n \n of Hexham in 685, arranged with\n \n St. Eata\n \n to swap Sees, and became\n \n bishop\n \n of Lindisfarn but without the monastery. He spent the last two years of his\n \n life\n \n administering his See, caring for the sick of the plague that decimated his diocese, working numerous miracles of healing, and gifted with the ability to prophesy. He died at Lindisfarn.\n \n Feast day\n \n is March 20.\n
\n", "tags": "cuthbert", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 196, "action": "Nicholas von Flue", "tags": "flue nicholas councilmen von" }, { "id": 197, "action": "\n Hermit and Swiss political figure. Born near Sachseln, Canton Obwalden, Switzerland, he took his name from the Flueli river which flowed near his birthplace. The son of a peasant couple, he married and had ten\n \n children\n \n by his wife, Dorothea Wissling, and fought heroically in the forces of the canton against\n \n Zurich\n \n in 1439. After serving as magistrate and highly respected councilor, he refused the office of governor several times and, in 1467, at the age of fifty and with the consent of his wife and family, he embraced the\n \n life\n \n of a hermit, giving up all thought of political activity. Nicholas took up residence in a small cell at Ranft, supposedly surviving for his final nineteen years entirely without food except for the Holy Eucharist. Renowned for his\n \n holiness\n \n and wisdom, he was regularly visited by civic leaders, powerful personages, and simple men and women with a variety of needs. Through Nicholas' labors, he helped bring about the inclusion of Fribourg and Soleure in the Swiss Confederation in 1481, thus preventing the eruption of a potentially bloody civil war. One of the most famous religious figures in Swiss history, he was known affectionately as \"Bruder Klaus,\" and was much venerated in Switzerland. He was formally canonized in 1947. He is considered the patron saint of Switzerland.\n
\n", "tags": "flue nicholas von", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, null, [ { "id": 198, "action": "Dismas", "tags": "undertakers condemned criminals reformed dismas prisoners imprisoned imprisonment people thieves captives theft" }, { "id": 199, "action": "\n All that is known of Dismas is that he is the\n \n Good\n \n Thief crucified with\n \n Christ\n \n on Calvary. The other thief is known as Gestas. A completely unsubstantiated myth from the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy that enjoyed great popularity in the West during the\n \n Middle Ages\n \n had two thieves who held up the Holy\n \n Family\n \n on the way to Egypt. Dismas bought off Gestas with forty drachmas to leave them unmolested, whereupon the Infant predicted that they would be crucified with Him in Jerusalem, and that Dismas would accompany Him to Paradise. His\n \n feast day\n \n is March 25th.\n
\n", "tags": "dismas", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 200, "action": "Braulio", "tags": "spain braulio aragon" }, { "id": 201, "action": "\n ST BRAULIO, BISHOP OF SARAGOSSA (A.D. 651) At the\n \n college\n \n founded in\n \n Seville\n \n by St Isidore, one of the more promising of the alumni was a boy of noble birth called Braulio, who grew up to be so eminent a scholar that Isidore regarded him as a friend and\n \n disciple\n \n rather than a pupil, and used to send him his own writings to correct and revise. Braulio prepared for the\n \n priesthood\n \n and was ordained, and when in 631 the see of\n \n Saragossa\n \n became vacant at the death of his brother\n \n Bishop\n \n John, the neighbouring prelates assembled to\n \n elect\n \n a successor and their choice fell upon Braulio. As a pastor, St Braulio laboured zealously to teach and encourage his people, and at the same\n \n time\n \n to extirpate the Arian\n \n heresy\n \n which continued to flourish even after the\n \n conversion\n \n of King Reccared. He kept in close touch with St Isidore, whom he assisted in his task of restoring church order and regularizing ecclesiastical discipline: a small portion of the correspondence between the two saints has survived. He took part in the fourth Council of Toledo, which was presided over by his friend and master St Isidore, and also in the fifth and sixth. The last-named assembly charged him to write an answer to Pope Honorius I, who had accused the Spanish\n \n bishops\n \n of\n \n negligence\n \n in the fulfilment of their duties. His defence was dignified and convincing. The\n \n good\n \n \n bishop\n \n s duties did not prevent his constant ministrations in his\n \n cathedral\n \n church and in that of our Lady del Pilar , where he spent many hours of the day and night in prayer. Luxury of all kinds he abhorred: his garments were rough and plain, his food simple and his\n \n life\n \n austere. An eloquent preacher and a keen controversialist, he could carry conviction by his telling arguments and absolute sincerity. His liberality to the poor was only matched by his tender care of all his flock. The close of his\n \n life\n \n was saddened by failing eyesighta heavy trial to anyone, but especially to a scholar. As his end drew near, he realized that he was dying, and the last day of his\n \n life\n \n was spent in the recitation of psalms. His\n \n feast day\n \n is the March 26.\n
\n", "tags": "braulio", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 202, "action": "Margaret of Clitherow", "tags": "businesswomen clitherow margaret" }, { "id": 203, "action": "\n St. Margaret Clitherow was born in Middleton, England, in 1555, of protestant parents. Possessed of\n \n good\n \n looks and full of wit and merriment, she was a charming personality. In 1571, she married\n \n John\n \n Clitherow, a well-to-do grazier and butcher (to whom she bore two children), and a few years later entered the\n \n Catholic\n \n Church. Her\n \n zeal\n \n led her to harbor fugitive priests, for which she was arrested and imprisoned by hostile authorities. Recourse was had to every means in an attempt to make her deny her Faith, but the holy\n \n woman\n \n stood firm. Finally, she was condemned to be pressed to death on March 25, 1586. She was stretched out on the ground with a sharp rock on her back and crushed under a door over laden with unbearable weights. Her bones were broken and she died within fifteen minutes. The humanity and\n \n holiness\n \n of this servant of\n \n God\n \n can be readily glimpsed in her words to a friend when she learned of her condemnation: \"The sheriffs have said that I am going to die this coming Friday; and I feel the weakness of my flesh which is troubled at this news, but my\n \n spirit\n \n rejoices greatly. For the love of God, pray for me and ask all\n \n good\n \n people to do likewise.\" Her\n \n feast day\n \n is March 26th.\n
\n", "tags": "clitherow margaret", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 204, "action": "Mochelloc", "tags": "limerick sea storms kilmallock ireland mochelloc" }, { "id": 205, "action": "\n Patron saint of Kilmallock, Limerick, Ireland. He is also called Celloch, Cellog, Motalogus, and Mottelog.\n
\n", "tags": "mochelloc", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 206, "action": "Rupert", "tags": "province rupert salzburg city austria" }, { "id": 207, "action": "\n Bishop and missionary, also listed as Robert of Hrodbert. A member of a noble Frankish family, he was appointed\n \n bishop\n \n of Worms, Germany, and then dedicated himself to spreading the\n \n faith\n \n among the Germans. With the patronage of Duke Thedo of Bavaria, he took over the deserted town of luvavum about 697, which was renamed Salzburg, Austria. Rupert founded a church, a monastery, and a school; brought in groups of missionaries; and established a nunnery at Nonnberg with his sister, Eerentrudis, serving as the first abbess. He died at\n \n Salzburg\n \n and is venerated as the first\n \n archbishop\n \n of this major\n \n diocese\n \n in the West. Rupert is revered as the\n \n Apostle\n \n of Bavaria and Austria.\n
\n", "tags": "rupert", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 208, "action": "Armogastes", "tags": "poverty impoverishment armogastes" }, { "id": 209, "action": "\n Martyrs of the Vandals. Annogastes was a member of the household of Prince Theodoric, son of the Vandal king Geiseric. Geiseric, an Anan heretic, persecuted Christians who refused to accept that heresy. Armogastes was banished to the mines and was then forced to herd cattle in Carthage, dying there. Archinirnes and Saturus were also martyred by Geiseric. Saturus was the head of Vandal King Hunneric's palace, and he was forced to live as a beggar.\n
\n", "tags": "armogastes", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, null, [ { "id": 210, "action": "Francis of Paola", "tags": "sea paola naval pilots sailors officers navigators as peacemaker francis maritime those the invoked peace associated" }, { "id": 211, "action": "\n Francis was born at Paola,\n \n Italy\n \n and was educated at the Franciscan friary of San Marco there, and when fifteen became a hermit near Paola. In 1436, he and two companions began a community that is considered the\n \n foundation\n \n of the Minim Friars. He built a monastery where he had led his eremitical\n \n life\n \n some fifteen years later and set a Rule for his followers emphasizing penance, charity, and humility, and added to the three monastic vows, one of\n \n fasting\n \n and\n \n abstinence\n \n from meat; he also wrote a rule for\n \n tertiaries\n \n and nuns. He was credited with many miracles and had the\n \n gifts\n \n of prophesy and insight into men's hearts. The Order was approved by Pope\n \n Sixtus IV\n \n in 1474 with the name\n \n Hermits\n \n of St. Francis of\n \n Assisi\n \n (changed to Minim Friars in 1492). Francis established foundations in southern\n \n Italy\n \n and Sicily, and his fame was such that at the request of dying King Louis XI of France, Pope\n \n Sixtus II\n \n ordered him to France, as the King felt he could be cured by Francis. He was not, but was so comforted that Louis' son Charles VIII, became Francis' friend and endowed several monasteries for the Minims. Francis spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n at the monastery of Plessis, France, which Charles built for him. Francis died there on April 2nd and was canonized in 1519. His\n \n feast day\n \n is April 2.\n
\n", "tags": "francis paola", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 212, "action": "Ia", "tags": "ia ives cornwall" }, { "id": 213, "action": "\n Persian martyr, a Greek slave slain for the faith. Ia was so successful in converting Persian\n \n woman\n \n that she was arrested and tortured by King Shapur II's forces for several months. She was flogged to death and then beheaded.\n
\n", "tags": "ia", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 214, "action": "Richard of Chichester", "tags": "richard chichester coachmen" }, { "id": 215, "action": "\n Bishop and leading figure in England during his era, also called\n \n Richard\n \n de Wyche. Born at Wyche, Worcestershire, England, he was orphaned while a young lad, managed to regain his fortune which had been mismanaged by others, and received an excellent\n \n education\n \n at Oxford, Paris, and Bologna, Italy. At Oxford, he studied under the famous Robert Grossteste and became friends with St. Edmund Rich. He earned a doctorate in\n \n law\n \n from the University of Bologna. He was appointed chancellor of\n \n Oxford\n \n in 1235 and then chancellor to Edmund Rich, who by now was\n \n archbishop\n \n of Canterbury. After accompanying Edmund into retirement at the Cistercian\n \n abbey\n \n of Pontigny, France, he departed the community upon Edmund's death, taught at the Dominican house in Orkans, and was ordained there in 1243. Upon going home to England, he was named chancellor to Edmund's successor,\n \n St. Boniface\n \n of Savoy. When King Henry Ill appointed Ralph\n \n Neville\n \n to the see of\n \n Chichester\n \n in 1244, Boniface declared the\n \n nomination\n \n invalid and named\n \n Richard\n \n to the post, an act which caused an uproar in the kingdom. Finally, in 1245, Pope\n \n Innocent IV\n \n found in Richard's favor, but\n \n Richard\n \n was prevented from entering his palace by the machinations ,of Henry. Only after the king was threatened with\n \n excommunication\n \n was\n \n Richard\n \n able to take up his duties. He insisted upon strict adherence to discipline among the clergy, aided the poor, and fearlessly denounced the corruption and vices of the contemporary Church and the royal court. His death came at Dover, in a home for poor priests, while delivering a plea for a crusade.\n \n Richard\n \n was canonized in 1262, and his\n \n tomb\n \n became a popular shrine noted for its miracles until the Reformation in England.\n
\n", "tags": "richard chichester", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 216, "action": "Benedict the Black", "tags": "african-americans african negroes benedict black italy people palermo missions" }, { "id": 217, "action": "\n There is a saint called Benedict the Black or Benedict the Moor. He was born a slave near Messina, Italy. He was freed by his master and became a solitary, eventually settling with other\n \n hermits\n \n at Montepellegrino. He was made\n \n superior\n \n of the community, but when he was about thirty-eight, Pope Pius IV disbanded communities of solitaries and he became a Franciscan lay brother and the cook at St. Mary's\n \n convent\n \n near Palermo. He was appointed, against his will,\n \n superior\n \n of the\n \n convent\n \n when it opted for the reform, though he could neither read nor write. After serving as superior, he became\n \n novice\n \n master but asked to be relieved of this post and return to his former position of cook. His holiness, reputation for miracles, and his fame as a\n \n confessor\n \n brought hordes of visitors to see the obscure and humble cook. He died at the convent, was canonized in 1807, and is the patron of Blacks in the United States. The surname \"the Moor\" is a misnomer originating from the Italian il moro (the black). His\n \n feast day\n \n is April 4th.\n
\n", "tags": "benedict black", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 218, "action": "Isidore of Seville", "tags": "pc seville computer internet technicians isidore users computers" }, { "id": 219, "action": "\n Isidore was literally born into a\n \n family\n \n of saints in sixth century Spain. Two of his brothers, Leander and Fulgentius, and one of his sisters, Florentina, are revered as saints in Spain. It was also a\n \n family\n \n of leaders and strong minds with Leander and Fulgentius serving as\n \n bishops\n \n and Florentina as abbess.\n
\nThis didn't make life easier for Isidore. To the contrary, Leander may have been holy in many ways, but his treatment of his little brother shocked many even at the time. Leander, who was much older than Isidore, took over Isidore's education and his pedagogical theory involved force and punishment. We know from Isidore's later accomplishments that he was intelligent and hard-working so it is hard to understand why Leander thought abuse would work instead of patience.
One day, the young boy couldn't take any more. Frustrated by his inability to learn as fast as his brother wanted and hurt by his brother's treatment, Isidore ran away. But though he could escape his brother's hand and words, he couldn't escape his own feeling of failure and rejection. When he finally let the outside world catch his attention, he noticed water dripping on the rock near where he sat. The drops of water that fell repeatedly carried no force and seemed to have no effect on the solid stone. And yet he saw that over time, the water drops had worn holes in the rock.
Isidore realized that if he kept working at his studies, his seemingly small efforts would eventually pay off in great learning. He also may have hoped that his efforts would also wear down the rock of his brother's heart.
When he returned home, however, his brother in exasperation confined him to a cell (probably in a monastery) to complete his studies, not believing that he wouldn't run away again.
Either there must have been a loving side to this relationship or Isidore was remarkably forgiving even for a saint, because later he would work side by side with his brother and after Leander's death, Isidore would complete many of the projects he began including a missal and breviary.
In a time where it's fashionable to blame the past for our present and future problems, Isidore was able to separate the abusive way he was taught from the joy of learning. He didn't run from learning after he left his brother but embraced education and made it his life's work. Isidore rose above his past to become known as the greatest teacher in Spain.
His love of learning made him promote the establishment of a seminary in every diocese of Spain. He didn't limit his own studies and didn't want others to as well. In a unique move, he made sure that all branches of knowledge including the arts and medicine were taught in the seminaries.
His encyclopedia of knowledge, the Etymologies, was a popular textbook for nine centuries. He also wrote books on grammar, astronomy, geography, history, and biography as well as theology. When the Arabs brought study of Aristotle back to Europe, this was nothing new to Spain because Isidore's open mind had already reintroduced the philosopher to students there.
As bishop of Seville for 37 years, succeeding Leander, he set a model for representative government in Europe. Under his direction, and perhaps remembering the tyrannies of his brother, he rejected autocratic decision- making and organized synods to discuss government of the Spanish Church.
Still trying to wear away rock with water, he helped convert the barbarian Visigoths from Arianism to Christianity.
He lived until almost 80. As he was dying his house was filled with crowds of poor he was giving aid and alms to. One of his last acts was to give all his possessions to the poor.
When he died in 636, this Doctor of the Church had done more than his brother had ever hoped; the light of his learning caught fire in Spanish minds and held back the Dark Ages of barbarism from Spain. But even greater than his outstanding mind must have been the genius of his heart that allowed him to see beyond rejection and discouragement to joy and possibility.
", "tags": "seville isidore", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 220, "action": "Vincent Ferrer", "tags": "vincent ferrer plumbers workers builders pavement makers brick hospital" }, { "id": 221, "action": "\n St. Vincent Ferrer is the patron saint of builders because of his fame for \"building up\" and strengthening the Church: through his preaching, missionary work, in his teachings, as\n \n confessor\n \n and adviser. At\n \n Valencia\n \n in Spain, this illustrious son of\n \n St. Dominic\n \n came into the world on January 23, 1357. In the year 1374, he entered the Order of\n \n St. Dominic\n \n in a monastery near his native city. Soon after his profession he was commissioned to deliver lectures on philosophy. On being sent to Barcelona, he continued his scholastic duties and at the same\n \n time\n \n devoted himself to preaching. At Lerida, the famous university city of Catalonia, he received his doctorate. After this he labored six years in Valencia, during which\n \n time\n \n he perfected himself in the\n \n Christian\n \n life. In 1390, he was obliged to accompany\n \n Cardinal\n \n Pedro de Luna to France, but he soon returned home. When, in 1394, de Luna himself had become Pope at\n \n Avignon\n \n he summoned\n \n St. Vincent\n \n and made him Master of the sacred palace. In this capacity\n \n St. Vincent\n \n made unsuccessful efforts to put an end to the great schism. He refused all ecclesiastical dignities, even the cardinal's hat, and only craved to be appointed apostolical missionary. Now began those labors that made him the famous missionary of the fourteenth century. He evangelized nearly every province of Spain, and preached in France, Italy, Germany, Flanders, England, Scotland, and Ireland. Numerous conversions followed his preaching, which\n \n God\n \n Himself assisted by the gift of miracles. Though the Church was then divided by the great schism, the saint was honorably received in the districts subject to the two claimants to the Papacy. He was even invited to Mohammedan Granada, where he preached the gospel with much success. He lived to behold the end of the great\n \n schism\n \n and the\n \n election\n \n of Pope\n \n Martin\n \n V. Finally, crowned with labors, he died April 5, 1419. His\n \n feast day\n \n is April 5.\n
\n", "tags": "vincent ferrer", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 222, "action": "John Baptist de la Salle", "tags": "baptist salle teachers john abuse victims principals schoolmasters school de la" }, { "id": 223, "action": "\n St. John Baptist de La Salle was born in 1651, in Reims, France. He was the eldest son of wealthy parents. At the age of eleven, La Salle was committed becoming a priest. At the age of sixteen, he was named Canon of Reims Cathedral. At the age of eighteen, he received a master's degree in classical literature and arts, as well as philosophy.\n
\nSadly, La Salle's parents died within a year of each other in 1671 and 1672. La Salle had to manage his parent's estate which included educating his four brothers and two sisters. Once this was done, he was ordained to the priesthood on April 9, 1678. He was 26 years old. He continued his studies until he received his doctorate in theology.
During this time, La Salle also worked with the Sisters of the Child Jesus to educate girls, serving as chaplain and confessor for their school. While performing this work, he met Adrian Nyel, who was himself a supervisor of teachers at a boys school in Reims. Through Nyel, a wealthy woman asked La Salle to be involved with the endowment of a new school for poor children. She provided the money, as long as La Salle agreed to help run the school.
La Salle gradually became preoccupied with work at the new school. He was aware that teachers needed training and direction, and that the children had few opportunities for success. He calculated that if he lent his talents to the school, and worked with both teachers and students, he could improve their lives.
La Salle worked with the teachers to educate them and teach them manners. He invited them to live in his home where he provided them with direction. This made them more effective with the students, and in turn improved outcomes for them.
There was a larger problem. Poverty was widespread in France during this time, and few families could afford to educate their children. La Salle felt the best way to approach this problem would be to establish a community devoted to the education of children, regardless of their ability to pay. He resigned his post as Canon at the Cathedral, left his comfortable family home to live with the teachers, and established the Brothers of the Christians Schools.
Surprisingly, this approach brought resistance from both the secular education system and the Church. The Church was initially opposed to the foundation of an order committed to education, and the secular educators were opposed to the elimination of tuition. They felt it would reduce the prices people would be willing to pay them.
Nonetheless, La Salle was successful. He even expanded his school to offer teaching to young men.
In 1685, La Salle established the first school for the training of educators in Reims.
La Salle worked as an educator all his life. He lived until 1719, when he died on April 7, which happened to be Good Friday.
La Salle was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on February 19, 1888 and canonized by him on May 24, 1900. His feast day is April 7. He is the patron saint of all educators.
", "tags": "baptist salle john de la", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 224, "action": "Julia of Billiart", "tags": "billiart poverty julia impoverishment" }, { "id": 225, "action": "\n Foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame. Maria Rose Julia Billiart was born in Cuvilly, France. She took a vow of\n \n virginity\n \n while young and worked so hard for the poor that she collapsed, remaining a cripple until 1804 when she was miraculously cured. She stayed in Amiens, where the Institute of Notre Dame was founded by Julia and pious friends in 1804. In 1809 she was forced to move to Namur, and the Motherhouse was instituted there. By the\n \n time\n \n of her death, there were fifteen convents in operation. Pope Paul VI canonized her in 1969.\n
\n", "tags": "billiart julia", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 226, "action": "Godeberta", "tags": "drought godeberta relief epidemics" }, { "id": 227, "action": "\n Abbess who was received into the religious\n \n life\n \n by St. Eligius, the\n \n bishop\n \n of Noyon, France. Godebertha was from Amiens. After establishing a\n \n convent\n \n in Noyon, she was made abbess. King Clotaire III built her convent. Godebertha was a\n \n miracle\n \n worker who stopped a plague and a raging fire.\n
\n", "tags": "godeberta", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 228, "action": "Gemma Galgani", "tags": "galgani mother loss temptations parents gemma" }, { "id": 229, "action": "\n St. Gemma Galgani, also known as the Flower of Lucca, was an Italian mystic often referred to as the \"Daughter of Passion,\" for her intense replication of the Passion of Christ. She was born on March 12, 1878, in a small Italian town near Lucca.\n
\nAt a very young age, Gemma developed a love for prayer. She made her First Communion on June 17, 1887. Gemma was loved by her teachers and her fellow students, as a student at a school run by the Sisters of St. Zita. Though quiet and reserved, she always had a smile for everyone. Unfortunately, Gemma had to quit school due to her chronic ill health before completing the course of study.
Throughout her life, Gemma was to be chosen with many mystical experiences and special graces. These were often misunderstood by others, causing ridicule. Gemma suffered heartaches in reparation, remembering that Our Lord Himself had been misunderstood and ridiculed.
Gemma had an immense love for the poor and helped them in any way she could. After her father's death, the 19-year-old Gemma became the mother-figure for her seven brothers and sisters. When some of her siblings became old enough to share the responsibility, Gemma went to live briefly with a married aunt.
At this time, two young men proposed marriage to her. However, Gemma refused because she wanted silence, retirement, and more than ever, she desired to pray and speak only to God.
Gemma returned home and almost immediately became very ill with meningitis. Throughout this illness, her one regret was the trouble she caused her relatives who took care of her. Feeling herself tempted by the devil, Gemma prayed for help to the Venerable Passionist, Gabriel Possenti. Through his intercession, Gemma was miraculously cured.
Gemma wished to become a nun, but her poor health prevented her from being accepted. She offered this disappointment to God as a sacrifice.
Gemma predicted that the Passionists would establish a monastery at Lucca; this came to pass two years after her death. Today, Gemma's relics remain at the Passionist monastery in Lucca.
On June 8, 1899, Gemma had an internal warning that some unusual grace was to be granted to her. She felt pain and blood coming from her hands, feet and heart. These were the marks of the stigmata. Each Thursday evening, Gemma would fall into rapture and the marks would appear.
Such marks, called the stigmata in the language of the Catholic Church, refers to the appearance of the wounds of the crucified Jesus Christ appearing on the bodies of some men and women whose lives are so conformed to His that they reflect those wounds of redemptive love for others.
The stigmata remained until Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. When the bleeding would stop, the wounds would close, and only white marks would remain in place of the deep gashes. \nGemma's stigmata would continue to appear until her confessor, Reverend Germanus Ruoppolo, advised her to pray for their disappearance due to her declining health. Through her prayers, the phenomenon ceased, but the white marks remained on her skin until her death.
Through the help of her confessor, Gemma went off to live with another family where she was allowed more freedom for her spiritual life than she was at home. She was frequently found in a state of ecstasy and on one occasion she was believed to have levitated. Her words spoken during her ecstasies, were recorded by her confessor and a relative from her adoptive family.
At the end of her ecstasies, she returned to normal and carried on quietly and serenely. Gemma often saw her guardian angel. She sent her guardian angel on errands, usually to deliver a letter or oral message to her confessor in Rome.
During the apostolic investigations into her life, all witnesses testified that there was no artfulness in Gemma's manner. Most of her severe penances and sacrifices were hidden from most who knew her.
In January of 1903, Gemma was diagnosed with tuberculosis. At the start of Holy Week in 1903, Gemma began suffering greatly. She died at age 25 on Holy Saturday, April 11.. The Parish Priest in her company said, \"She died with a smile which remained upon her lips, so that I could not convince myself that she was really dead.\"
St. Gemma Galgani was beatified on May 14, 1933 by Pope Pius XI and canonized on May 2, 1940, only 37 years after her death, by Pope Pius XII. She is the patron saint against temptations, against the death of parents, against tuberculosis, of students and of pharmacists. Her feast day is celebrated on April 11.
", "tags": "galgani gemma", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 230, "action": "Stanislaus of Cracow", "tags": "cracow arch poland stanislaus" }, { "id": 231, "action": "\n Stanislaus was born of noble\n \n parents\n \n on July 26th at Szczepanow near Cracow, Poland. He was educated at Gnesen and was ordained there. He was given a canonry by\n \n Bishop\n \n Lampert Zula of Cracow, who made him his preacher, and soon he became noted for his preaching. He became a much sought after spiritual adviser. He was successful in his reforming efforts, and in 1072 was named\n \n Bishop\n \n of Cracow. He incurred the enmity of King Boleslaus the Bold when he denounced the King's cruelties and injustices and especially his kidnapping of the beautiful wife of a nobleman. When Stanislaus excommunicated the King and stopped services at the\n \n Cathedral\n \n when Boleslaus entered, Boleslaus himself killed Stanislaus while the\n \n Bishop\n \n was saying\n \n Mass\n \n in a\n \n chapel\n \n outside the city on April 11. Stanislaus has long been the symbol of Polish nationhood. He was canonized by Pope\n \n Innocent IV\n \n in 1253 and is the principle patron of Cracow. His\n \n feast day\n \n is April 11th.\n
\n", "tags": "cracow stanislaus", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, null, null, [ { "id": 232, "action": "Drogo", "tags": "unattractive fleury-sur-loire keepers ruptures sheep stones drogo gall muteness hernia dumbness cattle house kidney owners bones disease broken coffee mute baume-les-messieurs people" }, { "id": 233, "action": "\n Flemish noble orphaned at birth who became a hermit, also called Droun. He became a penitential pilgrim, visiting shrines, and then became a shepherd at Sebourg, France. Stricken with an illness that made him physically repulsive, Drogo built a hut at Sebourg and stayed there as a hermit for forty years. He is a patron of shepherds.\n
\n", "tags": "drogo", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 234, "action": "Bernadette of Lourdes", "tags": "piety poverty shepherdesses impoverishment bernadette ridiculed people lourdes" }, { "id": 235, "action": "\n St. Bernadette was born in Lourdes, France on January 7, 1844. Her parents were very poor and she was the first of nine children. She was baptized at St. Pierre's, the local parish church, on January 9. As a toddler, Bernadette contracted cholera and suffered extreme asthma. Unfortunately, she lived the rest of her life in poor health.\n
\nOn Thursday, February 11, 1858, fourteen-year-old Bernadette was sent with her younger sister and a friend to gather firewood, when a very beautiful lady appeared to her above a rose bush in a grotto called Massabielle (Tuta de Massavielha).
The woman wore blue and white and smiled at Bernadette before making the sign of the cross with a rosary of ivory and gold. Bernadette fell to her knees, took out her own rosary and began to pray. Bernadette later described the woman as \"uo petito damizelo,\" meaning \"a small young lady. Though her sister and friend claimed they were unable to see her, Bernadette knew what she saw was real.
Three days later, Bernadette, her sister Marie, and other girls returned to the grotto, where Bernadette immediately knelt, saying she could see \"aquero\" again. She fell into a trance and one girl threw holy water at the niche and another threw a rock that shattered on the ground. It was then that the apparition disappeared.
On February 18, Bernadette said \"the vision\" asked her to return to the grotto each day for a fortnight. With each visit, Bernadette saw the Virgin Mary and the period of daily visions became known as \"la Quinzaine sacrée,\" meaning \"holy fortnight.\"
When Bernadette began to visit the grotto, her parents were embarrassed and attempted to stop her, but were unable to do so. On February 25, Bernadette claimed to have had a life-changing vision.
The vision had told her \"to drink of the water of the spring, to wash in it and to eat the herb that grew there\" as an act of penance. The next day, the grotto's muddy waters had been cleared and fresh clear water flowed.
On March 2, at the thirteenth of the apparitions, Bernadette told her family the lady said \"a chapel should be built and a procession formed.\"
During her sixteenth vision, which Bernadette claims to have experienced for over an hour, was on March 25. Bernadette claimed she had asked the woman her name, but her question was only met with a smile. Bernadette asked again, three more times, and finally the woman said, \"I am the Immaculate Conception.\"
Though many townspeople believed she had indeed been seeing the Holy Virgin, Bernadette's story created a division in her town. Many believed she was telling the truth, while others believed she had a mental illness and demanded she be put in a mental asylum. Some believed Bernadette's visions meant she needed to pray for penance.
Church authorities and the French government rigorously interviewed the girl, and by 1862 they confirmed she spoke truth. Since Bernadette first caused the spring to produce clean water, 69 cures have been verified by the Lourdes Medical Bureau, and after what the Church claimed were \"extremely rigorous scientific and medical examinations,\" no one was able to explain what caused the cures.
The Lourdes Commission that initially examined Bernadette, ran an analysis on the water but were only able to determine it contained a high mineral content. Bernadette believed it was faith and prayer that was responsible for curing the sick.
Bernadette asked the local priest to build a chapel at the site of her visions and the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is now one of the major Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world. Many other chapels and churches has been built around it, including the Basilica of St. Pius X, which can accommodate 25,000 people and was dedicated by the future Pope John XXIII when he was the Papal Nuncio to France.
Following the miracles and constructions, Bernadette decided she did not like the attention she was getting and went to the hospice school run by the Sisters of Charity of Nevers, where she was taught to read and write. Though she considered joining the Carmelites, her health was too fragile.
On July 29, 1866, Bernadette took the religious habit of a postulant and joined the Sisters of Charity at their motherhouse at Nevers. Her Mistress of Novices was Sister Marie Therese Vauzou and the Mother Superior at the time named her Marie-Bernarde, in honor of her grandmother.
Bernadette spent the rest of her life there working as an infirmary assistant, and later a sacristan. People admired her humility and spirit of sacrifice. Once a nun asked her if she had temptations of pride because she was favored by the Blessed Mother. \"How can I?\" she answered quickly. \"The Blessed Virgin chose me only because I was the most ignorant.\"
Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with tuberculosis of the bone in her right knee and was unable to take part in convent life. She died in the Sainte Croix (Holy Cross) Infirmary of the Convent of Saint-Gildard at the age of 35 on April 16, 1879, while praying the holy rosary.
Even on her deathbed Bernadette suffered severe pain and, keeping with the Virgin Mary's admonition of \"Penance, Penance, Penance,\" she proclaimed \"all this is good for Heaven!\" Bernadette's last words were, \"Blessed Mary, Mother of God, pray for me. A poor sinner, a poor sinner.\"
The nuns of Saint-Gildard, with the support of the bishop of Nevers, applied to the civil authorities for permission to bury Bernadette's body in a small chapel dedicated to Saint Joseph, which was within the confines of the convent. Permission was granted on April 25, 1879, and on April 30, the local Prefect pronounced his approval of the choice of the site for burial. On May 30, 1879, Bernadette's coffin was transferred to the crypt of the chapel of Saint Joseph, where a very simple ceremony was held to commemorate the event.
Thirty years layer, on September 22, two doctors and a sister of the community exhumed her body. They claimed the crucifix and rosary she carried had been oxidized but her body remained incorrupt. The incorruption was cited as one of the miracles supporting her canonization.
The group washed and redressed Bernadette's body then buried it in a new double casket. The Church exhumed her body again on April 3, 1919, and the doctor who examined her said, \"The body is practically mummified, covered with patches of mildew and quite a notable layer of salts, which appear to be calcium salts ... The skin has disappeared in some places, but it is still present on most parts of the body.\"
In 1925, Bernadette's body was exhumed yet again. This time relics were sent to Rome and an imprint of her face was molded, which was used to create a wax mask to be placed on her body. There were also imprints of her hands to be used for the presentation of her body, which was placed in a gold and crystal reliquary in the Chapel of Saint Bernadette at the mother house in Nevers.
In 1928, Doctor Comte published a report on Bernadette's exhumation in the second issue of the Bulletin de I'Association medicale de Notre-Dame de Lourdes, where he wrote:
\"I would have liked to open the left side of the thorax to take the ribs as relics and then remove the heart which I am certain must have survived. However, as the trunk was slightly supported on the left arm, it would have been rather difficult to try and get at the heart without doing too much noticeable damage.
\"As the Mother Superior had expressed a desire for the Saint's heart to be kept together with the whole body, and as Monsignor the Bishop did not insist, I gave up the idea of opening the left-hand side of the thorax and contented myself with removing the two right ribs which were more accessible.
\"What struck me during this examination, of course, was the state of perfect preservation of the skeleton, the fibrous tissues of the muscles (still supple and firm), of the ligaments, and of the skin, and above all the totally unexpected state of the liver after 46 years. One would have thought that this organ, which is basically soft and inclined to crumble, would have decomposed very rapidly or would have hardened to a chalky consistency. Yet, when it was cut it was soft and almost normal in consistency. I pointed this out to those present, remarking that this did not seem to be a natural phenomenon.\"
Saint Bernadette is often depicted in prayer with a rosary or appealing to the Holy Virgin. She was beatified in 1925 and canonized by Pope Piuis XI in December 1933. Saint Bernadette is the patroness of illness, people ridiculed for their piety, poverty, shepherds, shepherdesses, and Lourdes, France.
", "tags": "lourdes bernadette", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 236, "action": "Benedict Joseph Labre", "tags": "orders homeless religious labre by joseph benedict tramps hoboes people rejected" }, { "id": 237, "action": "\n Called \"the Beggar of Rome,\" a pilgrim recluse. He was born in Amettes, France, on March 25, 1748, the eldest of eighteen children. Studying under his uncle, a\n \n parish\n \n priest, at Erin, France, Benedict tried to join the Trappists, Carthusians, and\n \n Cistercians\n \n but was refused by these orders. In 1770, he made a pilgrimage to the major shrines of Europe, settling in\n \n Rome\n \n in 1774. There he lived near the Colosseum and earned fame for his sanctity. Benedict was devoted to the Blessed Sacrament and attended the Forty Hours devotion in the city. He died in\n \n Rome\n \n on April 16, and was\n \n beatified\n \n in 1860. He was canonized in 1883.\n
\n", "tags": "benedict labre joseph", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 238, "action": "Gebuinus", "tags": "cathedral-chapter gebuinus langres" }, { "id": 239, "action": "\n Archbishop of Lyons, France, who is patron of the\n \n cathedral\n \n \n chapter\n \n of Langres.\n
\n", "tags": "gebuinus", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 240, "action": "Expeditus", "tags": "solutions expeditious prompt procrastination expeditus navigators" }, { "id": 241, "action": "\n At one\n \n time\n \n there was much talk of a Saint Expeditus, and some\n \n good\n \n people were led to believe that, when there was need of haste, petitioning Saint Expeditus was likely to meet with prompt settlement. However, there is no adequate\n \n reason\n \n to think that any such saint was ever invoked in the early\n \n Christian\n \n centuries; in fact it is more than doubtful whether the saint ever existed. In the \"Hieronymianum\" the name Expeditus occurs among a group of martyrs both on the 18th and 19th of April, being assigned in the one case to Rome, and in the other to\n \n Melitene\n \n in Armenia; but there is no vestige of any tradition which would corroborate either mention, whereas there is much to suggest that in both lists the introduction of the name is merely a copyist's blunder. Hundreds of similar blunders have been quite definitely proved to exist in the same document.\n
\nThere is also a story which pretends to explain the origin of this \"devotion\" by an incident of modern date. A packing case, we are told, containing a body of a saint from the catacombs, was sent to a community of nuns in Paris. The date of its dispatch was indicated by the use of the word \"spedito\", but the recipients mistook this for the name of the martyr and set to work with great energy to propagate his cult. From these simple beginnings, it is asserted, a devotion to St. Expeditus spread rapidly through many Catholic countries. It should be pointed out that though the recognition of St. Expeditus as the patron of dispatch depends beyond doubt upon a play upon words - still the particular story about the Paris nuns falls to pieces, because as far back as 1781 this supposed martyr, St. Expeditus, was chosen patron of the town of Acireale in Sicily, and because pictures of him were in existence in Germany in the eighteenth century which plainly depicted him as a saint to be invoked against procrastination.
", "tags": "expeditus", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 242, "action": "Conrad of Parzham", "tags": "parzham conrad mid-america capuchin-franciscan province" }, { "id": 243, "action": "\n Franciscan mystic and lay brother. Born Carl Birndorfer in Parzham, Bavaria, Germany, on December 22, 1818, he became a Capuchin lay brother in 1849. For more than thirty years, Conrad served as\n \n porter\n \n or\n \n doorkeeper\n \n of the shrine of Our Lady of Altotting, and he was known for his\n \n Marian\n \n devotions. Conrad had the gift of\n \n prophecy\n \n and of reading people's hearts. He died in Altotting on April 21. He was canonized in 1934.\n
\n", "tags": "parzham conrad", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 244, "action": "Beuno", "tags": "beuno cattle sick animals diseased children" }, { "id": 245, "action": "\n Beuno's untrustworthy legend has him a\n \n monk\n \n in\n \n Wales\n \n who founded his own community and performed numerous miracles, among them, restoring St. Winifred's head after she was beheaded. However, he does seem to have been an effective preacher who evangelized much of North\n \n Wales\n \n and founded a monastery at Clynnog Fawr (Carnavonshire). His\n \n feast day\n \n is April 21st.\n
\n", "tags": "beuno", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 246, "action": "Theodore of Sykeon", "tags": "sykeon rain theodore" }, { "id": 247, "action": "\n Abbot and bishop. A native of Sykeon, in Galatia,\n \n Asia\n \n Minor, he was the son of a Byzantine imperial messenger and possibly of a prostitute. Entering a monastery in Jerusalem, he served there for many years until becoming\n \n abbot\n \n of a number of monastic institutions. He predicted the rise of Emperor\n \n Maurice\n \n and cured a royal prince of leprosy. About 590, he was appointed\n \n bishop\n \n of Anastasiopol is, in Galatia.\n
\n", "tags": "sykeon theodore", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 248, "action": "George", "tags": "knights constantinople order saddlers george armourers boy riders horse herpes gozo scouts istanbul garter genoa men teutonic christians spain portugal cavalry former italy georgia equestrians syphilis greece aragon italian chivalry ussr catalonia england turkey saddlemakers ferrara palestinian butchers soldiers" }, { "id": 249, "action": "\n It is uncertain when Saint George was born and historians continue to debate to this day. However, his death date is estimated to be April 23, 303 A.D.\n
\nThe first piece of evidence of George's existance appeared within the works of the Bollandists Daniel Papebroch, Jean Bolland, and Godfrey Henschen's Bibliotheca Hagiographica Graeca. George was one of several names listed in the historical text, and Pope Gelasius claimed George was one of the saints \"whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose actions are known only to God.\"
George was born to a Gerontios and Polychronia, a Roman officer and a Greek native of Lydda. Both were Christians from noble families of the Anici and George, Georgios in the original Greek, was raised to follow their faith.
When George was old enough, he was welcomed into Diocletian's army. By his late 20's, George became a Tribunus and served as an imperial guard for the Emperor at Nicomedia.
On February 24, 303 A.D., Diocletian, who hated Christians, announced that every Christian the army passed would be arrested and every other soldier should offer a sacrifice to the Roman gods.
George refused to abide by the order and told Diocletian, who was angry but greatly valued his friendship with George's father.
When George announced his beliefs before his peers, Diocletian was unable to keep the news to himself.
In an effort to save George, Diocletian attempted to convert him to believe in the Roman gods, offered him land, money and slaves in exchange for offering a sacrifice to the Roman gods, and made several other offers that George refused.
Finally, after exhausting all other options, Diocletian ordered George's execution. In preparation for his death, George gave his money to the poor and was sent for several torture sessions. He was lacerated on a wheel of swords and required resuscitation three times, but still George did not turn from God.
On April 23, 303 A.D., George was decapitated before Nicomedia's outer wall. His body was sent to Lydda for burial, and other Christians went to honor George as a martyr.
Saint George and the Dragon
There are several stories about George fighting dragons, but in the Western version, a dragon or crocodile made its nest at a spring that provided water to Silene, believed to be modern-day Cyrene in Libya.
The people were unable to collect water and so attempted to remove the dragon from its nest on several ocassions. It would temporarily leave its nest when they offered it a sheep each day, until the sheep disappeared and the people were distraught.
This was when they decided that a maiden would be just as effective as sending a sheep. The townspeople chose the victim by drawing straws. This continued until one day the princess' straw was drawn.
The monarch begged for her to be spared but the people would not have it. She was offered to the dragon, but before she could be devoured, George appeared. He faced the dragon, protected himself with the sign of the Cross, and slayed the dragon.
After saving the town, the citizens abandoned their paganism and were all converted to Christianity.
Interesting Facts
Prayer for St. George
St. George,
Heroic Catholic soldier and defender of your Faith, you dared to criticize a tyrannical Emperor and were subjected to horrible torture. You could have occupied a high military position but you preferred to die for your Lord.
\nObtain for us the great grace of heroic Christian courage that should mark soldiers of Christ. Amen
\n Missionary to Ireland, also called Iberius and Ivor. With Sts. Kiaran, Ailbhe, Declan, and others, he evangelized the two regions of Leinster and Meath. Ibar perhaps predated\n \n St. Patrick\n \n in Ireland, although Patrick is generally considered the first successful missionary among the Irish. Ibar also founded Beggery Monastery on the island of Beg Eire.\n
\nPhoto Provided By: Andreas F. Borchert
", "tags": "ibar", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 252, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "greek church tolentino catholic nicholas america" }, { "id": 253, "action": "\n Born in 1245 in Sant'Angelo,\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Tolentino took his name from\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Myra, at whose shrine his\n \n parents\n \n prayed to have a child. Nicholas became a\n \n monk\n \n at 18, and seven years later, he was ordained a priest. He gained a reputation as a preacher and a confessor. C. 1274, he was sent to Tolentino, near his birthplace. The town suffered from civil strife between the Guelphs, who supported the pope, and Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor, in their struggle for control of Italy. Nicholas was primarily a\n \n pastor\n \n to his flock. He ministered to the poor and the criminal. He is said to have cured the sick with bread over which he had prayed to Mary, the mother of God. He gained a reputation as a wonder-worker. Nicholas died in 1305 after a long illness. People began immediately to petition for his canonization.\n \n Eugene IV\n \n canonized him in 1446, and his\n \n relics\n \n were rediscovered in 1926 at Tolentino.\n
\n", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 254, "action": "Mark", "tags": "egypt venice breeders teenagers mark cattle notaries girls esp." }, { "id": 255, "action": "\n Much of what we know about St. Mark, the author of the Second Gospel, comes largely from the New Testament and early Christian traditions. Mark the Evangelist is believed to be the 'John Mark' referred to in the Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early Church found in the Canon of the New Testament.\n
\nHe was the son of Mary of Jerusalem (Acts 12:12) whose home became a meeting place for the apostles. He is also the cousin of St. Barnabas (Colossians 4:10), a Levite and a Cypriot.
Mark joined St. Paul and St. Barnabas on their first missionary journey to Antioch in 44 A.D. When the group reached Cyprus, Christian tradition holds that Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem, possibly because he was missing his home (Acts 13:13). This incident may have caused Paul to question whether Mark could be a reliable missionary. This created a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas and led Paul to refuse Mark's accompaniment on their second journey to the churches of Cilicia and the rest of Asia Minor.
However, it can be assumed the troubles between Paul and Mark did not last long, because when Paul was first imprisoned, Mark, who was at the time in Rome with plans of visiting Asia Minor, visited him as one of his trusted companions (Col 4:10).
Mark's hopes to visit Asia Minor were most likely carried out, because during Paul's second captivity and just before his martyrdom, Paul wrote to Timothy at Ephesus advising him to \"take Mark and bring him with you [to Rome], for he is profitable to me for the ministry\" (2 Timothy 4:11). If Mark returned to Rome at this time, he was probably there when Paul was martyred.
According to Christian tradition, Mark also held a close relationship with St. Peter, who referred to Mark has 'his son' in his letter addressed to a number of churches in Asia Minor (1 Peter 5:13). Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus and Papias all indicate that Mark was an interpreter for Peter.
Although Papias states Mark had not personally heard the Lord speak firsthand and, like Luke, Mark was not one of the twelve apostles, some believe Mark was likely speaking of himself when he wrote the description of Jesus' arrest in Gethsemani. \"Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked\" (Mark 14:51-52).
St. Mark lived for years in Alexandria, where he died as a martyr while being dragged through the streets.
Mark's Gospel was probably written between 60 and 70 A.D., and was based upon the teachings of St. Peter. It is believed Mark provided both Luke and Matthew with basic sources for their Gospel's.
He was probably the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, although he is not mentioned in connection to the city by either Clement of Alexandria nor by Origen.
In 828, relics of St. Mark were stolen from Alexandria and taken to Venice, Italy. There they are enshrined in a beautiful cathedral dedicated to the saint.
St. Mark's symbol is a winged lion. This is believed to be derived from his description of St. John the Baptist, as \"a voice of one crying out in the desert\" (Mark 1:3). The wings come from Ezekiel's vision of four winged creatures as the evangelists.
He is often depicted as writing or holding his Gospel. He is sometimes shown as a bishop on a throne or as a man helping Venetian sailors.
St. Mark is the patron saint of Venice. His feast day is celebrated on April 25.
", "tags": "mark", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 256, "action": "Mark the Evangelist", "tags": "usa venice diseases barristers lawyers mark florida prisoners impenitence evangelist imprisoned attorneys scrofulous struma imprisonment people captives" }, { "id": 257, "action": "\n Much of what we know about St. Mark, the author of the Second Gospel, comes largely from the New Testament and early Christian traditions. Mark the Evangelist is believed to be the 'John Mark' referred to in the Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early Church found in the Canon of the New Testament.\n
\nHe was the son of Mary of Jerusalem (Acts 12:12) whose home became a meeting place for the apostles. He is also the cousin of St. Barnabas (Colossians 4:10), a Levite and a Cypriot.
Mark joined St. Paul and St. Barnabas on their first missionary journey to Antioch in 44 A.D. When the group reached Cyprus, Christian tradition holds that Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem, possibly because he was missing his home (Acts 13:13). This incident may have caused Paul to question whether Mark could be a reliable missionary. This created a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas and led Paul to refuse Mark's accompaniment on their second journey to the churches of Cilicia and the rest of Asia Minor.
However, it can be assumed the troubles between Paul and Mark did not last long, because when Paul was first imprisoned, Mark, who was at the time in Rome with plans of visiting Asia Minor, visited him as one of his trusted companions (Col 4:10).
Mark's hopes to visit Asia Minor were most likely carried out, because during Paul's second captivity and just before his martyrdom, Paul wrote to Timothy at Ephesus advising him to \"take Mark and bring him with you [to Rome], for he is profitable to me for the ministry\" (2 Timothy 4:11). If Mark returned to Rome at this time, he was probably there when Paul was martyred.
According to Christian tradition, Mark also held a close relationship with St. Peter, who referred to Mark has 'his son' in his letter addressed to a number of churches in Asia Minor (1 Peter 5:13). Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus and Papias all indicate that Mark was an interpreter for Peter.
Although Papias states Mark had not personally heard the Lord speak firsthand and, like Luke, Mark was not one of the twelve apostles, some believe Mark was likely speaking of himself when he wrote the description of Jesus' arrest in Gethsemani. \"Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked\" (Mark 14:51-52).
St. Mark lived for years in Alexandria, where he died as a martyr while being dragged through the streets.
Mark's Gospel was probably written between 60 and 70 A.D., and was based upon the teachings of St. Peter. It is believed Mark provided both Luke and Matthew with basic sources for their Gospel's.
He was probably the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, although he is not mentioned in connection to the city by either Clement of Alexandria nor by Origen.
In 828, relics of St. Mark were stolen from Alexandria and taken to Venice, Italy. There they are enshrined in a beautiful cathedral dedicated to the saint.
St. Mark's symbol is a winged lion. This is believed to be derived from his description of St. John the Baptist, as \"a voice of one crying out in the desert\" (Mark 1:3). The wings come from Ezekiel's vision of four winged creatures as the evangelists.
He is often depicted as writing or holding his Gospel. He is sometimes shown as a bishop on a throne or as a man helping Venetian sailors.
St. Mark is the patron saint of Venice. His feast day is celebrated on April 25.
", "tags": "mark evangelist", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 258, "action": "Mark the Apostle", "tags": "bites lions mark apostle insect" }, { "id": 259, "action": "\n Much of what we know about St. Mark, the author of the Second Gospel, comes largely from the New Testament and early Christian traditions. Mark the Evangelist is believed to be the 'John Mark' referred to in the Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early Church found in the Canon of the New Testament.\n
\nHe was the son of Mary of Jerusalem (Acts 12:12) whose home became a meeting place for the apostles. He is also the cousin of St. Barnabas (Colossians 4:10), a Levite and a Cypriot.
Mark joined St. Paul and St. Barnabas on their first missionary journey to Antioch in 44 A.D. When the group reached Cyprus, Christian tradition holds that Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem, possibly because he was missing his home (Acts 13:13). This incident may have caused Paul to question whether Mark could be a reliable missionary. This created a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas and led Paul to refuse Mark's accompaniment on their second journey to the churches of Cilicia and the rest of Asia Minor.
However, it can be assumed the troubles between Paul and Mark did not last long, because when Paul was first imprisoned, Mark, who was at the time in Rome with plans of visiting Asia Minor, visited him as one of his trusted companions (Col 4:10).
Mark's hopes to visit Asia Minor were most likely carried out, because during Paul's second captivity and just before his martyrdom, Paul wrote to Timothy at Ephesus advising him to \"take Mark and bring him with you [to Rome], for he is profitable to me for the ministry\" (2 Timothy 4:11). If Mark returned to Rome at this time, he was probably there when Paul was martyred.
According to Christian tradition, Mark also held a close relationship with St. Peter, who referred to Mark has 'his son' in his letter addressed to a number of churches in Asia Minor (1 Peter 5:13). Clement of Alexandria, Irenaeus and Papias all indicate that Mark was an interpreter for Peter.
Although Papias states Mark had not personally heard the Lord speak firsthand and, like Luke, Mark was not one of the twelve apostles, some believe Mark was likely speaking of himself when he wrote the description of Jesus' arrest in Gethsemani. \"Now a young man followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body. They seized him, but he left the cloth behind and ran off naked\" (Mark 14:51-52).
St. Mark lived for years in Alexandria, where he died as a martyr while being dragged through the streets.
Mark's Gospel was probably written between 60 and 70 A.D., and was based upon the teachings of St. Peter. It is believed Mark provided both Luke and Matthew with basic sources for their Gospel's.
He was probably the first bishop of Alexandria, Egypt and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, although he is not mentioned in connection to the city by either Clement of Alexandria nor by Origen.
In 828, relics of St. Mark were stolen from Alexandria and taken to Venice, Italy. There they are enshrined in a beautiful cathedral dedicated to the saint.
St. Mark's symbol is a winged lion. This is believed to be derived from his description of St. John the Baptist, as \"a voice of one crying out in the desert\" (Mark 1:3). The wings come from Ezekiel's vision of four winged creatures as the evangelists.
He is often depicted as writing or holding his Gospel. He is sometimes shown as a bishop on a throne or as a man helping Venetian sailors.
St. Mark is the patron saint of Venice. His feast day is celebrated on April 25.
", "tags": "apostle mark", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 260, "action": "Adelelmus", "tags": "adelelmus butlers servants workers manservants spain burgos maids domestic" }, { "id": 261, "action": "\n Hermit and founder,\n \n disciple\n \n of\n \n St. Bernard\n \n of Thiron. Adelelmus was born in Flanders, Belgium. He founded the monastery of Etival-en-Charnie.\n
\n", "tags": "adelelmus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 262, "action": "Zita", "tags": "zita keys butlers women servants workers manservants lost homemakers losing housewives maids housekeepers domestic" }, { "id": 263, "action": "\n St. Zita was born into a poor but holy\n \n Christian\n \n family. Her older sister became a Cistercian nun and her uncle Graziano was a hermit whom the local people regarded as a saint. Zita herself always tried to do God's\n \n will\n \n obediently whenever it was pointed out to her by her mother. At the age of twelve Zita became a housekeeper in the house of a rich weaver in Lucca, Italy, eight miles from her home at Monte Sagrati. As things turned out, she stayed with that\n \n family\n \n for the last forty-eight years of her life. She found\n \n time\n \n every day to attend\n \n Mass\n \n and to recite many prayers, as well as to carry out her household duties so perfectly that the other servants were jealous of her. Indeed, her work was part of her religion! She use to say: \"a servant is not holy if she is not busy; lazy people of our position is fake holiness.\" At first, her employers were upset by her generous\n \n gifts\n \n of food to the poor, but in time, they were completely won over by her patience and goodness and she became a very close friend.\n \n St. Zita\n \n was given a free reign over her working schedule and busied herself with visits to the sick and those in prison. Word spread rapidly in\n \n Lucca\n \n of her\n \n good\n \n deeds and the heavenly\n \n visions\n \n that appeared to her. She was sought out by the important people, and at her death in 1278 the people acclaimed her as a saint. She is the patroness of domestic workers. Her\n \n feast day\n \n is April 27.\n
\n", "tags": "zita", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 264, "action": "Maughold", "tags": "isle maughold man" }, { "id": 265, "action": "\n Irish\n \n bishop\n \n converted by St. Patrick, also listed as Macull and Maccaldus. Originally an outlaw, he was spiritually changed by\n \n St. Patrick\n \n and performed\n \n penance\n \n and entered the religious life. Maughold was told to leave\n \n Ireland\n \n as part of his\n \n penance\n \n and set sail, landing on the Isle of Man. There he evangelized the people and was elected bishop.\n
\n", "tags": "maughold", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 266, "action": "Peter Chanel", "tags": "peter chanel oceania" }, { "id": 267, "action": "
\n In\n \n St. Peter\n \n Chanel,\n \n Priest\n \n and\n \n Martyr\n \n (Feast day - April 28) The protomartyr of the South Seas,\n \n St. Peter\n \n Chanel was born in 1803 at Clet in the\n \n diocese\n \n of Belley, France. His intelligence and simple piety brought him to the attention of the local priest, Father Trompier, who saw to his elementary education. Entering the diocesan Seminary, Peter won the affection and the esteem of both students and professors. After his ordination he found himself in a rundown country\n \n parish\n \n and completely revitalized it in the three year span that he remained there. However, his\n \n mind\n \n was set on missionary work; so, in 1831, he joined the newly formed\n \n Society\n \n of\n \n Mary\n \n (Marists) which concentrated on missionary work at home and abroad. To his dismay, he was appointed to teach at the seminary at\n \n Belley\n \n and remained there for the next five years, diligently performing his duties.\n
\nIn 1836, the Society was given the New Hebrides in the Pacific as a field for evangelization, and the jubilant St. Peter was appointed Superior of a little band of missionaries sent to proclaim the Faith to its inhabitants. On reaching their destination after an arduous ten month journey, the band split up and St. Peter went to the Island of Futuna accompanied by a laybrother and an English layman, Thomas Boog. They were at first well received by the pagans and their king Niuliki who had only recently forbidden canabalism. However, the kings jealousy and fear were aroused when the missionaries learned the language and gained the people's confidence; he realized the adoption of the Christian Faith would lead to the abolition of some of the prerogatives he enjoyed as both highpriest and sovereign.
Finally, when his own son expressed a desire to be baptized, the king's hatred erupted and he dispatched a group of his warriors to set upon the saintly head of the missionaries. Thus, on April 28, 1841, three years after his arrival, St. Peter was seized and clubbed to death by those he had come to save. And his death brought his work to completion - within five months the entire island was converted to Christianity.
", "tags": "peter chanel", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 268, "action": "Pollio", "tags": "lectors pollio" }, { "id": 269, "action": "\n Martyr. Pollio was a member of the\n \n Christian\n \n community of Cybalae, Pannonia, a province on the Danube, serving as a lector. He was put to death during the\n \n persecution\n \n launched by Emperor Diocletian.\n
\n", "tags": "pollio", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 270, "action": "Catherine of Siena", "tags": "temptation nurses people piety catherine italian services prevention miscarriages temptations siena nursing ridiculed fire italy sexual" }, { "id": 271, "action": "\n St. Catherine of Siena was born during the outbreak of the plague in Siena, Italy on March 25, 1347. She was the 25th child born to her mother, although half of her brothers and sisters did not survive childhood. Catherine herself was a twin, but her sister did not survive infancy. Her mother was 40 when she was born. Her father was a cloth dyer.\n
\nAt the age of 16, Catherine's sister, Bonaventura, died, leaving her husband as a widower. Catherine's parents proposed that he marry Catherine as a replacement, but Catherine opposed this. She began fasting and cut her hair short to mar her appearance.
Her parents attempted to resist this move, to avoid marriage, but they were unsuccessful. Her fasting and her devotion to her family, convinced them to relent and allow her to live as she pleased. Catherine once explained that she regarded her father as a representation of Jesus and her mother as Our Lady, and her brothers as the apostles, which helped her to serve them with humility.
Despite Catherine's religious nature, she did not choose to enter a convent and instead she joined the Third Order of St. Dominic, which allowed her to associate with a religious society while living at home.
Fellow Dominican sisters taught St. Catherine how to read. Meanwhile, she lived quietly, isolated within her family home.
St. Catherine developed a habit of giving things away and she continually gave away her family's food and clothing to people in need. She never asked permission to give these things away, and she quietly put up with their criticisms.
Something changed her when she was 21. She described an experience she referred to as her \"mystical marriage to Christ.\" There are debates over whether or not St. Catherine was given a ring with some claiming she was given a bejeweled ring, and other claiming the ring was made of Jesus's skin. St. Catherine herself started the rumor of the latter in her writings, but she was known to often claim the ring itself was invisible.
Such mystical experiences change people, and St. Catherine was no exception. In her vision, she was told to reenter public life and to help the poor and sick. She immediately rejoined her family and went into public to help people in need.
She often visited hospitals and homes where the poor and sick were found. Her activities quickly attracted followers who helped her in her mission to serve the poor and sick.
St. Catherine was drawn further into the world as she worked, and eventually she began to travel, calling for reform of the Church and for people to confess and to love God totally. She became involved in politics, and was key in working to keep city states loyal to the Pope. She was also credited with helping to start a crusade to the Holy Land. On one occasion, she visited a condemned political prisoner and was credited with saving his soul, which she saw being taken up to heaven at the moment of his death.
St. Catherine allegedly was given the stigmata, but like her ring, it was visible only to herself. She took Bl. Raymond of Capua has her confessor and spiritual director.
From 1375 onwards, St. Catherine began dictating letters to scribes. She petitioned for peace and was instrumental in persuading the Pope in Avignon to return to Rome.
She became involved in the fractured politics of her time, but was instrumental in restoring the Papacy to Rome and in brokering peace deals during a time of factional conflict and war between the Italian city states.
She also established a monastery for women in 1377 outside of Siena. She is credited with composing over 400 letters, her Dialogue, which is her definitive work, and her prayers. These works are so influential that St. Catherine would later be declared a Doctor of the Church. She is one of the most influential and popular saints in the Church.
By 1380, the 33-year-old mystic had become ill, possibly because of her habit of extreme fasting. Her confessor, Raymond, ordered her to eat, but she replied that she found it difficult to do so, and that possibly she was ill.
In January of 1380, her illness accelerated her inability to eat and drink. Within weeks, she was unable to use her legs. She died on April 29, following a stroke just a week prior.
St. Catherine's feast day is April 29, she is the patroness against fire, illness, the United States, Italy, miscarriages, people ridiculed for their faith, sexual temptation, and nurses.
", "tags": "siena catherine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 272, "action": "Catherine of Sweden", "tags": "miscarriages sweden catherine" }, { "id": 273, "action": "\n SAINT CATHERINE OF SWEDEN Virgin, c.1330-1381 This saint is the daughter of an even more famous woman-Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden. Catherine, who was born about 1330, was a married\n \n woman\n \n who, with her husband, took a vow of continence. She went to\n \n Rome\n \n in 1348, where her mother had gone after the death of Catherine's father. Catherine's husband died after she had been in\n \n Rome\n \n a short time, and for the next twenty-five years the two women used that city as a base for\n \n pilgrimages\n \n to a variety of places, including Jerusalem. When not on pilgrimage, they spent their days in\n \n prayer\n \n and meditation and in working with the poor and instructing them in religion. This seemingly quiet\n \n life\n \n was not without perils and adventures. Dissolute young lords repeatedly sought to seduce the Swedish princess, but God's providence unfailingly thwarted their efforts. After the trip to Jerusalem, Bridget died, and Catherine took her mother's body back to Sweden, burying it at Vadstena, in the\n \n convent\n \n of the Order of the Holy Savior, which Bridget had founded. Catherine became\n \n superior\n \n of the order and died on March 24, 1381, mourned like her mother by the whole of Sweden.\n
\n", "tags": "sweden catherine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 274, "action": "Peter of Verona", "tags": "inquisitors verona peter" }, { "id": 275, "action": "\n Also called Peter of Verona, an inquisitor and martyr. Peter was born at Verona, Italy, in 1205. Both of his\n \n parents\n \n were Catharists, a\n \n heresy\n \n that denied\n \n God\n \n created the material world. Even so, Peter was educated at a\n \n Catholic\n \n school and later at the University of Bologna. While in Bologna, Peter was accepted into the Dominican Order by St. Dominic. He developed into a great preacher, and was well known for his inspiring sermons in the\n \n Lombardy\n \n region. In addition, around the year 1234, he was appointed by Pope\n \n Gregory IX\n \n as inquisitor of Northern Italy, where many Catharists lived. Peter's preaching attracted large crowds, but as inquisitor he made many enemies.\n
\nIn 1252, while returning from Como to Milan, he was murdered by a Catharist assassin at the age of forty-six. The following year, he was canonized by Pope Innocent IV. Although his parents were members of a heretical sect, St. Peter of Verona was strong in his Catholic Faith. However, his faithfulness to the Gospel message in his preaching as a Dominican, brought about much opposition, and eventually Peter paid with his life for preaching the truth. One of the hazards of preaching and living the Gospel is that we must be considered undesirable according to worldly values. With faith in the Father, and as his children, we are called to stand firm and never waver from the truth in the face of death. Canonized the year after his death by Pope Innocent IV, he was also named the patron saint of inquisitors. Since 1969, his cult has been locally confined. His feast day is April 29th.
", "tags": "verona peter", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 276, "action": "Adjutor", "tags": "from danger yachtsmen drowning adjutor death swimmers" }, { "id": 277, "action": "\n A Norman lord, master of Vernonsur-Seine, who distinguished himself in the First Crusade. He was captured by the Muslims during the campaign but managed to escape from slavery. He returned to\n \n France\n \n and entered the\n \n abbey\n \n of Tiron. There he became a recluse, remaining recollected until his death of April 30.\n
\n", "tags": "adjutor", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 278, "action": "Peregrine Laziosi", "tags": "laziosi cancer aids patients victims peregrine open breast sores" }, { "id": 279, "action": "\n Peregrine Laziosi was born of a wealthy\n \n family\n \n at Forli, Italy, in 1260. As a youth he was active in politics as a member of the anti-papal party. During one uprising, which the Pope sent\n \n St. Philip\n \n Benizi to mediate, Philip was struck in the face by Peregrine. When Philip offered the other cheek, Peregrine was so overcome that he repented and converted to Catholicism. Following the instructions of the Virgin\n \n Mary\n \n received in a vision, Peregrine went to\n \n Siena\n \n and joined the Servites. It is believed that he never allowed himself to sit down for thirty years, while as far as possible, observing\n \n silence\n \n and solitude. Sometime later, Peregrine was sent to\n \n Forli\n \n to found a new house of the Servite Order. An ideal priest, he had a reputation for fervent preaching and being a\n \n good\n \n confessor. When he was afflicted with cancer of the foot and amputation had been decided upon, he spent the night before the operation, in prayer. The following morning he was completely cured. This\n \n miracle\n \n caused his reputation to become widespread. He died in 1345 at the age of eighty-five, and he was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. St. Peregrine, like St. Paul, was in open defiance of the Church as a youth. Once given the\n \n grace\n \n of\n \n conversion\n \n he became one of the great saints of his time. His great fervor and qualities as a\n \n confessor\n \n brought many back to the true Faith. Afflicted with cancer, Peregrine turned to\n \n God\n \n and was richly rewarded for his Faith, enabling him over many years to lead others to the truth. He is the patron of cancer patients.\n
\n", "tags": "peregrine laziosi", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 280, "action": "Brieuc", "tags": "brieuc makers purse" }, { "id": 281, "action": "\n Bishop educated by St. Germanus, in Auxerre, France. He is believed to have been born in Dyfed or Cardiganshire, Wales, circa 420. Ordained in France, Brieuc returned to England as a missionary. Known also as Briocus, Briomaglus, or Brioc, he converted his\n \n parents\n \n and became known for his miracles. He also converted Conan, a local ruler of Brittany, France, and founded a monastery near the present site of the town of\n \n Saint-Brieuc\n \n in Brittany. He remained in Brittany, dying at the age of ninety. Brieuc is venerated in Cornwall, England, and is credited with stopping a plague.\n
\n", "tags": "brieuc", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 282, "action": "Philip of Zell", "tags": "philip babies zell" }, { "id": 283, "action": "\n Benedictine hermit and founder. An Anglo Saxon, he undertook a pilgrimage and then became a hermit in the area around Worms. Meeting King\n \n Pepin the Short\n \n of the Franks, he became a friend and advisor to the monarch. He also attracted various followers and founded the monastery of Zell, so named because it had its start with his single \"cell,\" or room.\n
\n", "tags": "philip zell", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 284, "action": "James the Lesser, Apostle", "tags": "hatters fullers apostle lesser milliners dying james hatmakers people" }, { "id": 285, "action": "\n St.\n \n James\n \n the Less, the author of the first\n \n Catholic\n \n Epistle, was the son of Alphaeus of Cleophas. His mother\n \n Mary\n \n was either a sister or a close relative of the Blessed Virgin, and for that reason, according to\n \n Jewish\n \n custom, he was sometimes called the brother of the Lord. The\n \n Apostle\n \n held a distinguished position in the early\n \n Christian\n \n community of Jerusalem.\n \n St. Paul\n \n tells us he was a\n \n witness\n \n of the Resurrection of Christ; he is also a \"pillar\" of the Church, whom\n \n St. Paul\n \n consulted about the Gospel.\n
\nAccording to tradition, he was the first Bishop of Jerusalem, and was at the Council of Jerusalem about the year 50. The historians Eusebius and Hegesippus relayed that St. James was martyred for the Faith by the Jews in the Spring of the year 62, although they greatly esteemed his person and had given him the surname of \"James the Just.\"
Tradition has always recognized him as the author of the Epistle that bears his name. Internal evidence based on the language, style, and teaching of the Epistle reveals its author as a Jew familiar with the Old Testament, and a Christian thoroughly grounded in the teachings of the Gospel. External evidence from the early Fathers and Councils of the Church confirmed its authenticity and canonicity.
The date of its writing cannot be determined exactly. According to some scholars it was written about the year 49 A.D. Others, however, claim it was written after St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans (composed during the winter of 57-58 A.D.). It was probably written between the years 60 and 62 A.D.
St. James addresses himself to the \"twelve tribes that are in the Dispersion,\" that is, to Christians outside Palestine; but nothing in the Epistle indicates that he is thinking only of Jewish Christians. St. James realizes full well the temptations and difficulties they encounter in the midst of paganism, and as a spiritual father, he endeavors to guide and direct them in the faith. Therefore, the burden of his discourse is an exhortation to practical Christian living.
", "tags": "apostle lesser james", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 286, "action": "Philip and James, Apostles", "tags": "philip apostles james uruguay" }, { "id": 287, "action": "\n Philip was born in Bethsaida, Galilee. He may have been a\n \n disciple\n \n of\n \n John\n \n the Baptist and is mentioned as one of the\n \n Apostles\n \n in the lists of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and in Acts. Aside from the lists, he is mentioned only in\n \n John\n \n in the New Testament. He was called by\n \n Jesus\n \n Himself and brought\n \n Nathanael\n \n to Christ. Philip was present at the\n \n miracle\n \n of the loaves and fishes, when he engaged in a brief dialogue with the Lord, and was the\n \n Apostle\n \n approached by the Hellenistic\n \n Jews\n \n from\n \n Bethsaida\n \n to introduce them to Jesus. Just before the Passion,\n \n Jesus\n \n answered Philip's query to show them the Father, but no further mention of Philip is made in the\n \n New Testament\n \n beyond his listing among the\n \n Apostles\n \n awaiting the\n \n Holy Spirit\n \n in the Upper Room. According to tradition he preached in\n \n Greece\n \n and was crucified upside down at\n \n Hierapolis\n \n under Emperor Domitian. His\n \n feast day\n \n is May 3.\n
\n", "tags": "philip apostles james", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 288, "action": "Judas Cyriacus", "tags": "ancona judas cyriacus italy" }, { "id": 289, "action": "\n The principal patron of Ancona, St. Judas Cyriacus, may possibly have been a local\n \n bishop\n \n who died or was killed during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. On the other hand, he has been conjecturally identified with Judas,\n \n bishop\n \n of Jerusalem, who was slain during a riot in the year 133. The local tradition of Ancona, however, connects its patron with Judas Quiriacus, a legendary Jew who is supposed to have revealed to the Empress Helen, the place in which the Holy Cross lay hidden, and after being baptized and made\n \n bishop\n \n of Jerusalem, to have suffered martyrdom under Julian the Apostate. A fantastic account of his dialogue with the emperor Julian, and of the torments endured by him and his mother Anna, is furnished in the so-called \"Acts\" of his martyrdom. Ancona is said to owe to the Empress\n \n Galla\n \n Placidia the\n \n relics\n \n of its patron, but the saint's head was brought over from\n \n Jerusalem\n \n by Henry, Count of Champagne, who built a church in the town of Provins to contain it. His\n \n feast day\n \n is May 4th.\n
\n", "tags": "judas cyriacus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 290, "action": "Florian", "tags": "soap from fighters sweeps florian fire poland flood danger water boilers harvests linz chimney battle austria" }, { "id": 291, "action": "\n The\n \n St. Florian\n \n commemorated in the Roman\n \n Martyrology\n \n on May 4th, was an officer of the Roman army, who occupied a high administrative post in Noricum, now part of Austria, and who suffered death for the\n \n Faith\n \n in the days of Diocletian. His legendary \"Acts\" state that he gave himself up at Lorch to the soldiers of Aquilinus, the governor, when they were rounding up the Christians, and after making a bold confession, he was twice scourged, half-flayed alive, set on fire, and finally thrown into the river Enns with a stone around his neck. His body, recovered and buried by a pious woman, was eventually removed to the Augustinian\n \n Abbey\n \n of St. Florian, near Linz. It is said to have been at a later date translated to Rome, and Pope Lucius III, in 1138, gave some of the saint's\n \n relics\n \n to King Casimir of\n \n Poland\n \n and to the\n \n Bishop\n \n of Cracow. Since that time,\n \n St. Florian\n \n has been regarded as a patron of\n \n Poland\n \n as well as of Linz, Upper Austria and of firemen. There has been popular devotion to\n \n St. Florian\n \n in many parts of central Europe, and the tradition as to his martyrdom, not far from the spot where the Enns flows into the Danube, is ancient and reliable. Many miracles of healing are attributed to his\n \n intercession\n \n and he is invoked as a powerful protector in danger from fire or water. His\n \n feast day\n \n is May 4th.\n
\n", "tags": "florian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 292, "action": "Pelagia of Antioch", "tags": "temptation sexual pelagia antioch" }, { "id": 293, "action": "\n Roman martyred virgin. She was a\n \n disciple\n \n of\n \n St. Lucian\n \n of\n \n Antioch\n \n and was fifteen when Roman soldiers came to her house to arrest her for being a Christian. Rather than be arrested and risk losing her virginity, she hurled herself from the roof and died. She was greatly praised by\n \n St. John\n \n Chrysostom, and her name is included in the Eucharistic\n \n Prayer\n \n in the Ambrosian Mass.\n
\n", "tags": "pelagia antioch", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 294, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "purgatory nicholas souls tolentino" }, { "id": 295, "action": "\n Born in 1245 in Sant'Angelo,\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Tolentino took his name from\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Myra, at whose shrine his\n \n parents\n \n prayed to have a child. Nicholas became a\n \n monk\n \n at 18, and seven years later, he was ordained a priest. He gained a reputation as a preacher and a confessor. C. 1274, he was sent to Tolentino, near his birthplace. The town suffered from civil strife between the Guelphs, who supported the pope, and Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor, in their struggle for control of Italy. Nicholas was primarily a\n \n pastor\n \n to his flock. He ministered to the poor and the criminal. He is said to have cured the sick with bread over which he had prayed to Mary, the mother of God. He gained a reputation as a wonder-worker. Nicholas died in 1305 after a long illness. People began immediately to petition for his canonization.\n \n Eugene IV\n \n canonized him in 1446, and his\n \n relics\n \n were rediscovered in 1926 at Tolentino.\n
\n", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 296, "action": "Hydroc", "tags": "cornwall lanhydroc hydroc" }, { "id": 297, "action": "\n The patron saint of Lanhydroc Cornwall, England.\n
\n", "tags": "hydroc", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 298, "action": "Dominic Savio", "tags": "savio choirs boys delinquents choir choirboys cantores cantors juvenile pueri children young dominic" }, { "id": 299, "action": "\n Dominic Savio was born on April 2, 1842 in the village of Riva in northern Italy. His father was a blacksmith and his mother a seamstress. He had nine brothers and sisters. His family was poor but hardworking. They were devout and pious Catholics.\n
\nWhen he was just two years old, Dominic's family returned to their native village of Castlenuovo d'Asti, (Today, Castlenuovo Don Bosco) near the birthplace of John Bosco. Bosco would himself later be canonized as a Saint by the Church and became a major influence on the life of Dominic.
As a small child, Dominic loved the Lord and His Church. He was very devout in practicing his Catholic faith. For example, he said grace before every meal and refused to eat with those who did not. He was always quick to encourage others to pray.
Dominic attended Church regularly with his mother and was often seen kneeling before the Tabernacle in prayer. He even prayed outside the Church building. It did not matter to Dominic if the ground was covered with mud or snow, he knelt and prayed anyway.
Dominic was quickly recognized as an exceptional student who studied hard and performed well in school. He became an altar server. He also attended daily Mass and went to confession regularly. He asked to receive his first communion at the age of seven. This was not the practice in the Church of Italy at the time. Normally, children received their first holy communion at the age of twelve. Dominic's priest was so impressed with his intelligence concerning the faith, his love for the Lord and his piety that he made an exception. Dominic said that the day of his First Communion was the happiest day of his life.
On the Day he received his first communion, Dominic wrote four promises in a little book. Those promises were:
I will go to Confession often, and as frequently to Holy Communion as my confessor allows.
\nI wish to sanctify the Sundays and festivals in a special manner.
\nMy friends shall be Jesus and Mary.
\nDeath rather than sin.
The young Dominic graduated to secondary school and walked three miles to school each day. He undertook this chore gladly. While walking to school on a hot day a farmer asked why he wasn't yet tired. Dominic cheerfully replied, \"Nothing seems tiresome or painful when you are working for a master who pays well.\"
Although he was young, Dominic was clearly different than his peers. When two boys stuffed a school heating stove with snow and rubbish. The boys were known troublemakers and were likely to face expulsion if caught, so they blamed Dominic for the misdeed. Dominic did not deny the accusation and he was scolded before the class. However, a day later the teacher learned the truth. He asked Dominic why he did not defend himself while being scolded for something he did not do. Dominic mentioned he was imitating Jesus who remained silent when unjustly accused.
Dominic's teacher spoke well of him and brought him to the attention of Fr. John Bosco, who was renowned for looking after hundreds of boys, many of them orphaned and poor. In October 1854, Dominic was personally introduced to Fr. Bosco - along with his father.
At the meeting, Bosco wanted to test Dominic's intelligence and understanding of the Catholic faith. He gave Dominic a copy of The Catholic Readings, which was a pamphlet that dealt with apologetics. He expected Dominic to provide a report the next day, but just ten minutes later Dominic recited the text and provided a full explanation of its significance. This solidified Bosco's high opinion of Dominic.
Dominic expressed an interest in becoming a priest and asked to go to Turin to attend the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales. Fr. Bosco agreed to take him.
At the Oratory, Dominic studied directly under Fr. Bosco. He worked diligently and always asked questions when he did not understand something. He renewed his First Communion promises that he wrote in his little book at the age of seven. After six months at the Oratory, Dominic delivered a speech on the path to sainthood. In his speech, he made three outstanding points; it is God's will that we ALL become saints, it is easy to become a saint, and there are great rewards in heaven for saints.
Dominic's desire to become a saint troubled him however. He wondered to himself how someone as young as he was could become a saint? In his zeal, he tried voluntary mortification and other voluntary penances, hoping that they would help him to grow closer to Jesus and help him to be less concerned with his own needs. He even made his bed uncomfortable and wore thin clothes in winter. When Fr. Bosco observed these practices, he corrected Dominic. He explained that as a child, what he should do instead was to devote himself to his studies and to be cheerful. He discouraged Dominic from any more physical penances. Dominic's happy demeanor quickly returned.
At the same time Dominic was developing his reputation as a fantastic student, his health began to fail. He started to lose his appetite and Fr. Bosco became concerned. Dominic was taken to the doctor who recommended that he be sent home to his family to recover. Dominic wanted to stay at the oratory, but Fr. Bosco insisted he go home. Everybody expected Dominic to recover, except for Dominic himself who insisted he was dying.
Before he departed, Dominic made the Exercise of a Happy Death and predicted this would be his final devotion.
After four days at home, Dominic's health worsened. The doctor ordered him to bed to rest. He then performed bloodletting, which was still performed at that time. Over the next four days, Dominic was bled ten times before the doctor was satisfied he would recover.
But Dominic was sure of his impending death. He implored his parents to bring the parish priest so he could make a last confession. They obliged him and Dominic made a confession and was given the Anointing of the Sick. He asked his father to read him the prayers for the Exercise of a Happy Death. Then he fell asleep. Hours later he awoke and said to his father: \"Goodbye, Dad, goodbye ... Oh what wonderful things I see!\" Dominic fell asleep and died within minutes. It was March 9, 1857 and Dominic was merely 14 year of age.
His father wrote to Fr. Bocso to report the sad news.
Fr. Bosco was powerfully touched by Dominic and he wrote a biography, \"The Life of Dominic Savio.\" The biography quickly became popular and would eventually be read in schools across Italy. As people learned about Dominic, they called for his canonization.
Detractors argued that Dominic was too young to be canonized and pointed out that he was not a martyr. However, Pope Pius X disagreed and opened his cause for canonization.
Dominic Savio was declared venerable in 1933 by Pope Pius XI, beatified in 1950, then canonized in 1954 by Pope Pius XII.
Saint Dominic is the patron saint of choirboys, the falsely accused, and juvenile delinquents. His feast day is May 6, moved from March 9. Many schools and institutions dedicated to boys are dedicated to him.
", "tags": "savio dominic", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 300, "action": "Gorfor", "tags": "gwent wales llanover gorfor" }, { "id": 301, "action": "\n A saint of Wales, patron of Llanover, in Gwent, Wales.\n
\n", "tags": "gorfor", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 302, "action": "John of Avila", "tags": "diocesan secular spanish andalusia john clergy avila spain priests" }, { "id": 303, "action": "\n The\n \n Apostle\n \n of\n \n Andalusia\n \n and the spiritual advisor of St. Teresa, St. Francis Borgia,\n \n St. John\n \n of the Cross,\n \n St. Peter\n \n of Alcantara, and others. He was born on January 6, 1499, at Almodovar del Campo, Spain. After studying\n \n law\n \n at the University of Salamanca, he left the university to be a hermit. He then went to Alcala, where he was ordained.\n \n John\n \n drew great crowds with his fiery denunciations of\n \n evil\n \n and his many sermons. A brief imprisonment by the\n \n Inquisition\n \n in\n \n Seville\n \n made him even more popular. His missionary efforts were centered on Andalusia, and his letters and other writings have become Spanish classics.\n \n John\n \n was canonized in 1970.\n
\n", "tags": "avila john", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 304, "action": "Solange", "tags": "solange shepherdesses relief drought" }, { "id": 305, "action": "\n St. Solange d. 880, Born of a poor\n \n family\n \n of vineyard workers near Bourges, France, she became a shepherdess whose beauty attracted the lustful attention of a noble in Poitiers. He kidnapped her, but when she leaped from the horse on which he was carrying her off, he pursued and killed her. The sources of the story are questionable, however.\n \n Feastday\n \n is May 10.\n
\n", "tags": "solange", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 306, "action": "Philip of Agirone", "tags": "sicily philip special united forces states agirone army" }, { "id": 307, "action": "\n Supposedly the first\n \n Christian\n \n missionary to preach in\n \n Sicily\n \n Although almost certainly a legendary figure, he is venerated in the hill town of Agirone, Sicily.\n
\n", "tags": "agirone philip", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 308, "action": "Pancras", "tags": "perjury cramps pancras oaths treaties" }, { "id": 309, "action": "\n We have no reliable historical information about this martyr. Legend tells us he was born at the end of the third century and brought up by an uncle in\n \n Rome\n \n after the death of his parents. Both he and his uncle became Christians. Pancras was beheaded in 304 during Diocletian's persecution. He was only 14 years old.\n
\nPancras is especially venerated in England because Augustine of Canterbury dedicated his first church to Pancras and his relics were presented as a gift to the king of Northumberland. A district in London is named St. Pancras after him.
What do you know about the faith of teenagers? Whatever age you are, check into your parish youth group or a youth service organization to find out more and perhaps join or help out.
St. Pancras, pray for all teenagers that their faith may be as strong as yours, strong enough to lead them through all the trials of their life.
", "tags": "pancras", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 310, "action": "Servatus", "tags": "foot mice rats leg rheumatoid trouble rheumatism sufferers arthritis servatus success disease feet problems" }, { "id": 311, "action": "\n Bishop of Tongres (in the modern Low Countries), best known for having been the\n \n host\n \n of\n \n St. Athanasius\n \n during the latters exile from his see of Alexandria, Egypt. He was probably an Armenian. Servatus was active at the Council of\n \n Rimini\n \n in 359. He\n \n prophesied\n \n the Hun invasion of\n \n France\n \n in the mid-fifth century.\n
\n", "tags": "servatus", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 312, "action": "Matthias the Apostle", "tags": "usa falls-billings apostle montana great matthias" }, { "id": 313, "action": "\n How does one qualify to be an apostle?\n
\nThe first act of the apostles after the Ascension of Jesus was to find a replacement for Judas. With all the questions, doubts, and dangers facing them, they chose to focus their attention on finding a twelfth apostle. Why was this important? Twelve was a very important number to the Chosen People: twelve was the number of the twelve tribes of Israel. If the new Israel was to come from the disciples of Jesus, a twelfth apostle was needed.
But Jesus had chosen the original twelve. How could they know whom he would choose?
One hundred and twenty people were gathered for prayer and reflection in the upper room, when Peter stood up to propose the way to make the choice.
Peter had one criterion, that, like Andrew, James, John, and himself, the new apostle be someone who had been a disciple from the very beginning, from his baptism by John until the Ascension. The reason for this was simple, the new apostle would must become a witness to Jesus' resurrection. He must have followed Jesus before anyone knew him, stayed with him when he made enemies, and believed in him when he spoke of the cross and of eating his body -- teachings that had made others melt away.
Two men fit this description -- Matthias and Joseph called Barsabbas. They knew that both these men had been with them and with Jesus through his whole ministry. But which one had the heart to become a witness to his resurrection. The apostles knew that only the Lord could know what was in the heart of each. They cast lots in order to discover God's will and Matthias was chosen. He was the twelfth apostle and the group was whole again as they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
That's the first we hear of Matthias in Scripture, and the last. Legends like the Acts of Andrew and Matthias testify to Matthias' enthusiastic embrace of all that being an apostle meant including evangelization, persecution, and death in the service of the Lord.
How does one qualify to be an apostle?
Clement of Alexandria says that Matthias, like all the other apostles, was not chosen by Jesus for what he already was, but for what Jesus foresaw he would become. He was elected not because he was worthy but because he would become worthy. Jesus chooses all of us in the same way. What does Jesus want you to become?
Have you ever felt like an afterthought, a latecomer? Or have you ever resented someone new who was added to your group? Try to see your community as not complete without the newcomer, whether you or someone else. Welcome any newcomers to your parish, work, or family community this week as someone chosen by God.
Saint Matthias, pray that we may become worthy witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus in the way we live the eternal life we have right now.
", "tags": "apostle matthias", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 314, "action": "Matthias", "tags": "alcoholics smallpox matthias reformed" }, { "id": 315, "action": "\n How does one qualify to be an apostle?\n
\nThe first act of the apostles after the Ascension of Jesus was to find a replacement for Judas. With all the questions, doubts, and dangers facing them, they chose to focus their attention on finding a twelfth apostle. Why was this important? Twelve was a very important number to the Chosen People: twelve was the number of the twelve tribes of Israel. If the new Israel was to come from the disciples of Jesus, a twelfth apostle was needed.
But Jesus had chosen the original twelve. How could they know whom he would choose?
One hundred and twenty people were gathered for prayer and reflection in the upper room, when Peter stood up to propose the way to make the choice.
Peter had one criterion, that, like Andrew, James, John, and himself, the new apostle be someone who had been a disciple from the very beginning, from his baptism by John until the Ascension. The reason for this was simple, the new apostle would must become a witness to Jesus' resurrection. He must have followed Jesus before anyone knew him, stayed with him when he made enemies, and believed in him when he spoke of the cross and of eating his body -- teachings that had made others melt away.
Two men fit this description -- Matthias and Joseph called Barsabbas. They knew that both these men had been with them and with Jesus through his whole ministry. But which one had the heart to become a witness to his resurrection. The apostles knew that only the Lord could know what was in the heart of each. They cast lots in order to discover God's will and Matthias was chosen. He was the twelfth apostle and the group was whole again as they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
That's the first we hear of Matthias in Scripture, and the last. Legends like the Acts of Andrew and Matthias testify to Matthias' enthusiastic embrace of all that being an apostle meant including evangelization, persecution, and death in the service of the Lord.
How does one qualify to be an apostle?
Clement of Alexandria says that Matthias, like all the other apostles, was not chosen by Jesus for what he already was, but for what Jesus foresaw he would become. He was elected not because he was worthy but because he would become worthy. Jesus chooses all of us in the same way. What does Jesus want you to become?
Have you ever felt like an afterthought, a latecomer? Or have you ever resented someone new who was added to your group? Try to see your community as not complete without the newcomer, whether you or someone else. Welcome any newcomers to your parish, work, or family community this week as someone chosen by God.
Saint Matthias, pray that we may become worthy witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus in the way we live the eternal life we have right now.
", "tags": "matthias", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 316, "action": "Dymphna", "tags": "runaways dymphna insanity professionals craftsmen integrity princesses harmony parents illness happiness family faith caregivers devil therapists martyrs sleepwalkers diabolical moral asylums women health psychiatrists nurses mother diseases incest murdered victims for epilepsy mentally rape confessors disorders mental loss by possession nervous as ill neurological" }, { "id": 317, "action": "\n Dymphna was born in Ireland sometime in the seventh century to a pagan father and devout Christian mother. When she was fourteen, she consecrated herself to Christ and took a vow of chastity. Soon afterward, her mother died and her father - who had loved his wife deeply - began to suffer a rapid deterioration of his mental stability.\n
\nSo unhinged was Dymphna's father, Damon, that the King's counselors suggested he remarry. Though he was still grieving for his wife, he agreed to remarry if a woman as beautiful as she could be found.
Damon sent messengers throughout his town and other lands to find woman of noble birth who resembled his wife and would be willing to marry him, but when none could be found, his evil advisors whispered sinful suggestions to marry his own daughter. So twisted were Damon's thoughts that he recognized only his wife when he looked upon Dymphna, and so he consented to the arrangement.
When she heard of her father's misguided plot, Dymphna fled her castle with her confessor, a priest named Gerebran, two trusted servants, and the king's fool. The group sailed toward what is now called Belgium, and hid in the town of Geel.
Though it becomes uncertain what exactly happened next, the best-known version claims the group settled in Geel, where Dymphna built a hospital for the poor and sick, but in using her wealth, her father was able to discover her location.
When Damon found his daughter was in Belgium, he traveled to Geel and captured them. He ordered the priest's head to be separated from his body and attempted to convince Dymphna to return to Ireland and marry him.
When Dymphna refused, Damon became enraged and drew his sword. He struck Dymphna's head from her shoulders and left her there. When she died, Dymphna was only fifteen-years-old. After her father left Geel, the residents collected both Dymphna and Gerebran's remains and laid them to rest in a cave.
In defense of her purity, Dymphna received the crown of martyrdom around the year 620 and became known as the \"Lily of Éire. In 1349, a church honoring St. Dymphna was built in Geel, and by 1480, so many pilgrims were arriving in need of treatment for mental ills, that the church was expanded. The expanded sanctuary was eventually overflowing again, leaving the townspeople to accept them into their homes, which began a tradition of care for the mentally ill that continues to this day.
Unfortunately, in the 15th century, the original St. Dymphna Church in Geel burned to the ground, and the magnificent Church of St. Dymphna was erected and consecrated in 1532, where it still stands above the location her body was originally buried.
Many miracles have been proven to take place at her shrine in the church erected in her honor, and her remains were placed in a silver reliquary in the church. Some of her remains can also be found at the Shrine to Saint Dymphna in the United States.
The priest who had helped Dymphna was also sainted, and his remains were moved to Xanten, Germany.
The United States National Shrine of Saint Dymphna is at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Massillon, Ohio and St. Dymphna's Special School can be found in ballina, County Mayo, Republic of Ireland.
Saint Dymphna is the patroness of those suffering nervous and mental afflictions as well as victims of incest.
Traditionally, Saint Dymphna is often portrayed with a crown on her head, dressed in royal robes, and holding a sword. In modern art, Saint Dymphna is shown holding the sword, which symbolizes her martyrdom, quite awkwardly. She is also often shown holding a lamp, while some holy cards feature her wearing green and white, holding a book and white lilies.
Prayer:
\nHear us, O God, Our Saviour, as we honor St. Dymphna, patron of those afflicted with mental and emotional illness. Help us to be inspired by her example and comforted by her merciful help. Amen.
\n According to tradition, Hallvard was a Norwegian, son of Vebjorn of Husaby. He became a trader in the Baltic Islands. While defending a\n \n woman\n \n who bought\n \n sanctuary\n \n on his ship from three men accusing her of\n \n theft\n \n (he offered to make\n \n restitution\n \n to them), he was killed, with the woman, by arrows from the men. Though they attached a stone to his body when they cast it into the sea, it came to the surface, and the whole story came out. He has long been revered as a\n \n martyr\n \n for his defense of an innocent\n \n person\n \n and is the patron saint of Oslo. His\n \n feast day\n \n is May 15.\n
\n", "tags": "hallvard", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 320, "action": "John Nepomucene", "tags": "running a water nepomucene detraction make bohemia one bridge bridges silence indiscretions discretion confessions john confessors good slander czechoslovakia builders" }, { "id": 321, "action": "\n In his early childhood,\n \n John\n \n Nepomucene was cured of a disease through the\n \n prayers\n \n of his\n \n good\n \n parents. In thanksgiving, they consecrated him to the service of God. After he was ordained, he was sent to a\n \n parish\n \n in the city of Prague. He became a great preacher, and thousands of those who listened to him changed their way of life. Father\n \n John\n \n was invited to the court of Wenceslaus IV. He settled arguments and did many kind deeds for the needy people of the city. He also became the queen's confessor. When the king was cruel to the queen, Father\n \n John\n \n taught her to bear her cross patiently. One day, about 1393, the king asked him to tell what the queen had said in confession. When Father\n \n John\n \n refused, he was thrown into prison. A second time, he was asked to reveal the queen's confession. \"If you do not tell me,\" said the king, \"you shall die. But if you obey my commands, riches and honor\n \n will\n \n be yours.\" Again Father\n \n John\n \n refused. He was tortured. The king ordered to be thrown into the river. Where he drowned, a strange brightness appeared upon the water. He is known as the \"martyr of the confessional.\" He is patron of Czechoslovakia, where he is invoked against floods and against slander. His\n \n feast day\n \n is May 16.\n
\n", "tags": "nepomucene john", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 322, "action": "Simon Stock", "tags": "simon bordeaux france stock" }, { "id": 323, "action": "\n Although little is known about Simon Stock's early life, legend has it that the name Stock, meaning \"tree trunk,\" derives from the fact that, beginning at age twelve, he lived as a hermit in a hollow tree trunk of an oak tree. It is also believed that, as a young man, he went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land where he joined a group of Carmelites with whom he later returned to Europe. Simon Stock founded many Carmelite Communities, especially in University towns such as Cambridge, Oxford, Paris, and Bologna, and he helped to change the Carmelites from a hermit Order to one of mendicant friars. In 1254 he was elected Superior-General of his Order at London. Simon Stock's lasting fame came from an apparition he had in Cambridge, England, on July 16, 1251, at a\n \n time\n \n when the Carmelite Order was being oppressed. In it the Virgin\n \n Mary\n \n appeared to him holding the brown\n \n scapular\n \n in one hand. Her words were: \"Receive, my beloved son, this\n \n scapular\n \n of thy Order; it is the special sign of my favor, which I have obtained for thee and for thy\n \n children\n \n of Mount Carmel. He who dies clothed with this\n \n habit\n \n shall be preserved from eternal fire. It is the badge of salvation, a shield in\n \n time\n \n of danger, and a pledge of special peace and protection.\" The\n \n scapular\n \n (from the Latin, scapula, meaning \"shoulder blade\") consists of two pieces of cloth, one worn on the chest, and the other on the back, which were connected by straps or strings passing over the shoulders. In certain Orders, monks and\n \n nuns\n \n wear scapulars that reach from the shoulders almost to the ground as outer garments. Lay persons usually wear scapulars underneath their clothing; these consist of two pieces of material only a few inches square. There are elaborate rules governing the wearing of the scapular: although it may be worn by any Catholic, even an infant, the investiture must be done by a priest. And the\n \n scapular\n \n must be worn in the proper manner; if an individual neglects to wear it for a time, the benefits are forfeited. The\n \n Catholic\n \n Church has approved eighteen different kinds of scapulars of which the best known is the woolen brown scapular, or the\n \n Scapular\n \n of Mount Carmel, that the Virgin\n \n Mary\n \n bestowed on Simon Stock. His\n \n feast day\n \n is May 16th.\n
\n", "tags": "simon stock", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 324, "action": "Adam", "tags": "adam horticulturalists gardeners" }, { "id": 325, "action": "\n Hermit and abbot, a native of Fermo, Italy, where he began a severe\n \n life\n \n of\n \n recollection\n \n in a cave on the slopes of Mount Vissiano. Attracting many followers,\n \n Adam\n \n was invited to join the\n \n Benedictine Order\n \n and entered San Sabine Monastery. Within the monastery he maintained his\n \n prayer\n \n \n life\n \n and rigorous self-discipline. His example led to his\n \n election\n \n as abbot.\n
\n", "tags": "adam", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 326, "action": "Honorius of Amiens", "tags": "flour pastry amiens chefs confectioners chandlers holy corn merchants refiners oil wafers honorius bakers" }, { "id": 327, "action": "\n Bishop of Amiens, France, a patron of bakers and confectioners, also called Honore The Rue Saint Honore in\n \n Paris\n \n was named after him. Honoratus was born in Port le Grand. Many miracles were reported at his shrine.\n
\n ", "tags": "amiens honorius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 328, "action": "Ubald Baldassini", "tags": "migraine ubald sick sufferers neuralgia children migraines baldassini" }, { "id": 329, "action": "\n Ubald Baldassini was born of a noble\n \n family\n \n in\n \n Gubbio\n \n Italy, was orphaned in his youth, and was educated by his uncle, the\n \n Bishop\n \n of Gubbio. Ubald was ordained, was named deacon of the cathedral, reformed the canons, and then left a few years later to become a hermit. Dissuaded from the eremitical\n \n life\n \n by Peter of Rimini, he returned to\n \n Gubbio\n \n and in 1126, was named\n \n Bishop\n \n of\n \n Perugia\n \n but refused the honor. He became\n \n Bishop\n \n of\n \n Gubbio\n \n in 1128 and persuaded Emperor\n \n Frederick II\n \n not to sack Gubbio, as he had\n \n Spoleto\n \n during one of his forays into Italy. Ill the last two years of his life, Ubald died at\n \n Gubbio\n \n on May 16, and was canonized in 1192. His\n \n feastday\n \n is May 16th.\n
\n", "tags": "ubald baldassini", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 330, "action": "Marcellus", "tags": "marcellus conscientious objectors" }, { "id": 331, "action": "\n St. Marcellus was elected Pope in 307, the last years of the\n \n persecution\n \n of the Church by Diocletian. He undertook the ecclesiastical reorganization of the Church and was most merciful to those who repented after having denied their Faith. When certain people known as the\n \n Lapsi\n \n refused to do\n \n penance\n \n for their\n \n apostasy\n \n and thus were not pardoned by St. Marcellus, the tyrant Emperor Maxentius sent\n \n St. Marcellus\n \n into exile, where he died in 309 as a result of privations.\n
\n", "tags": "marcellus", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 332, "action": "Paschal Baylon", "tags": "baylon shepherds chefs guilds paschal eucharist eucharistic italian organizations congresses cooks women" }, { "id": 333, "action": "\n Franciscan lay brother and mystic. Born to a peasant\n \n family\n \n at Torre Hermosa, in Aragon, on Whitsunday, he was christened Pascua in honor of the feast. According to accounts of his early life, Paschal labored as a shepherd for his father, performed miracles, and was distinguished for his austerity. He also taught himself to read. Receiving a vision which told him to enter a nearby Franciscan community, he became a Franciscan lay brother of the Alcantrine reform in 1564, and spent most of his\n \n life\n \n as a humble doorkeeper. He practiced rigorous\n \n asceticism\n \n and displayed a deep love for the Blessed Sacrament, so much so that while on a mission to France, he defended the doctrine of the Real Presence against a Calvinist preacher and in the face of threats from other irate Calvinists. Paschal died at a friary in Villareal, and was canonized in 1690. In 1897 Pope Leo XIII declared him patron of all eucharistic confratemities and congresses. Since 1969, his veneration has been limited to local calendars.\n
\n", "tags": "baylon paschal", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 334, "action": "Eric of Sweden", "tags": "eric sweden" }, { "id": 335, "action": "\n Martyred king of Sweden, the author of the Code of Uppland or King Eric's Law. A devout Christian,\n \n Eric\n \n spread the\n \n faith\n \n through out the nation after his crowning in 1150. He campaigned against the\n \n pagan\n \n Finns and persuaded\n \n Bishop\n \n Henry of Uppsala, an Englishman, to remain in missionary service in Finland.\n \n Eric\n \n was slain by Swedish nobles who were allies of Prince Magnus of Denmark. They beheaded him near Uppsala as Magnus' any entered the region.\n \n Eric\n \n was never officially canonized but is patron of Sweden.\n
\n", "tags": "eric sweden", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 336, "action": "Dunstan", "tags": "blacksmiths locksmiths armourers music musicians goldsmiths dunstan" }, { "id": 337, "action": "\n Born of a noble\n \n family\n \n at Baltonsborough, near Glastonbury, England, Dunstan was educated there by Irish monks and while still a youth, was sent to the court of King Athelstan. He became a Benedictine\n \n monk\n \n about 934 and was ordained by his uncle, St. Alphege,\n \n Bishop\n \n of Winchester, about 939. After a\n \n time\n \n as a hermit at Glastonbury, Dunstan was recalled to the royal court by King Edmund, who appointed him\n \n abbot\n \n of Glastonbury\n \n Abbey\n \n in 943. He developed the\n \n Abbey\n \n into a great center of learning while revitalizing other monasteries in the area. He became advisor to King Edred on his\n \n accession\n \n to the\n \n throne\n \n when Edmund was murdered, and began a far-reaching reform of all the monasteries in Edred's realm. Dunstan also became deeply involved in secular politics and incurred the enmity of the West Saxon nobles for denouncing their immorality and for urging peace with the Danes. When\n \n Edwy\n \n succeeded his uncle Edred as king in 955, he became Dunstan's bitter enemy for the Abbot's strong censure of his scandalous lifestyle.\n \n Edwy\n \n confiscated his\n \n property\n \n and banished him from his kingdom. Dunstan went to\n \n Ghent\n \n in\n \n Flanders\n \n but soon returned when a rebellion replaced\n \n Edwy\n \n with his brother Edgar, who appointed Dunstan\n \n Bishop\n \n of Worcester and London in 957. When\n \n Edwy\n \n died in 959, the civil strife ended and the country was reunited under Edgar, who appointed Dunstan\n \n Archbishop\n \n of Canterbury. The king and\n \n archbishop\n \n then planned a thorough reform of Church and state. Dunstan was appointed\n \n legate\n \n by Pope\n \n John\n \n XII, and with\n \n St. Ethelwold\n \n and St. Oswald, restored ecclesiastical discipline, rebuilt many of the monasteries destroyed by the Danish invaders, replaced inept secular priests with monks, and enforced the widespread reforms they put into effect. Dunstan served as Edgar's chief advisor for sixteen years and did not hesitate to reprimand him when he thought it deserved. When Edgar died, Dunstan helped\n \n elect\n \n Edward the\n \n martyr\n \n king and then his half brother Ethelred, when Edward died soon after his election. Under Ethelred, Dunstan's influence began to wane and he retired from politics to\n \n Canterbury\n \n to teach at the\n \n Cathedral\n \n school and died there. Dunstan has been called the reviver of\n \n monasticism\n \n in England. He was a noted musician, played the harp, composed several hymns, notably Kyrie Rex splendens, was a skilled metal worker, and illuminated manuscripts. He is the patron of armorers, goldsmiths, locksmiths, and jewelers. His\n \n feast day\n \n is May 19th.\n
\n", "tags": "dunstan", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 338, "action": "Pudentiana", "tags": "philosophers pudentiana" }, { "id": 339, "action": "\n Also known as Potentiana, a Roman virgin and daughter of St. Pudens. According to legend, she was the daughter of the Roman senator named in St. Paul's Second Letter to Timothy who gave away her wealth to the poor, aided the burials of Christians, and died at the age of sixteen. As her name is not found in any of the ancient martyrologies and owing to the unreliability of her origins, the cult of Pudentiana was suppressed in 1969 and her veneration is confined to her\n \n basilica\n \n in Rome.\n
\n", "tags": "pudentiana", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 340, "action": "Giles", "tags": "blacksmiths giles" }, { "id": 341, "action": "\n A native of Assisi, Italy, Giles was one of the earliest followers of St. Francis, from whom he received the\n \n habit\n \n in 1208. He accompanied Francis on many of his missions around Assisi, made a pilgrimage to Compostela, visited\n \n Rome\n \n and the Holy Land, and then made an unsuccessful visit to\n \n Tunis\n \n to convert the Saracens. The Christians in Tunis, fearful of the repercussions of his religious fervor, forced him back on a boat as soon as he landed. He spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n living in Italy, living from about 1243 at the Monte Rapido hermitage on the outskirts of Perugia, where he died in 1263. He experiences ecstacies, had a vision of\n \n Christ\n \n at Cetona, and is considered the most perfect example of the primitive Franciscan. He is spoken of at length in \"The Little Flowers of St. Francis\" and Francis called him his \"Knight of the round table.\" Known for his austerity and silence, his \"The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles\" is noted for its humor, deep understanding of human nature, and optimism.\n
\n", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 342, "action": "Bernardine of Siena", "tags": "compulsive chest relations san bernardino siena uncontrolled problems respiratory advertising advertisers italy addicts lungs bernardine usa hoarseness public gambling california" }, { "id": 343, "action": "\n In the year 1400, a young\n \n man\n \n came to the door of the largest hospital in Siena. A plague was raging through the city so horrible that as many as twenty people died each day just in the hospital alone. And many of the people who died were those who were needed to tend the ill. It was a desperate situation -- more and more people were falling ill and fewer and fewer people were there to help them.\n
\nThe twenty-year-old man who stood there had not come because he was ill but because he wanted to help. And he brought not new patients but young men like himself willing to tend the dying. For four months Bernardine and his companions worked day and night not only to comfort the patients but to organize and clean the hospital. Only at the end of the plague did Bernardine himself fall ill -- of exhaustion.
But that was Bernardine's way -- whatever he did, he put his whole self into it. Immediately after he recovered he was back caring for the sick -- but this time, he was responsible not for a whole hospital but one person -- an invalid aunt. Yet for fourteen months she got his full attention. Throughout his life, he put as much energy into caring for one person as for hundreds, as much commitment into converting one citizen as to preaching to a whole city.
After his aunt died, Bernardine started to think about where his life should be going. The son of a noble family, he had been orphaned at seven and raised by an aunt. We are told as a young person that he hated indecent talk so much that he would blush when he heard it. Even his schoolmates hesitated to make him so uncomfortable but apparently one adult citizen thought it would be a great joke to needle Bernardine. In a public marketplace he stopped Bernardine and started to talk to him in a shameful way. But if he had thought to get away with his cruel trick, he was surprised when Bernardine slapped him in the face. The man slunk away, shamed in front of the very crowd he'd been trying to impress.
Bernardine, who had come to Siena to study, threw himself into prayer and fasting to discover what God wanted him to do. One might have expected him to continue his work with the sick but in 1403 he joined the Franciscans and in 1404 he was ordained a priest.
The Franciscans were known as missionary preachers, but Bernardine did very little preaching with because of a voice that was weak and hoarse. For twelve years he remained in the background, his energies going to prayer or to his own spiritual conversion and preparation.
At the end of that time, he went to Milan on a mission. When he got up to preach his voice was strong and commanding and his words so convincing that the crowd would not let him leave unless he promised to come back.
Thus began the missionary life of the one whom Pope Pius II called a second Paul. As usual, Bernardine through his whole self, body and soul, into his new career. He crisscrossed Italy on foot, preaching for hours at a time, several times a day. We are told he preached on punishment for sin as well as reward for virtue but focusing in the end on the mercy of Jesus and the love of Mary. His special devotion was to the Holy Name of Jesus.
Some who were jealous denounced him to the pope by saying he preached superstition. Silenced for a short while, Bernardine was soon cleared and back to preaching.
Bernardine refused several cities that wanted him as bishop but he was unable to avoid being named vicar general of his order. All his energy during that period went to renewing the original spirit of the order.
Soon, however, Bernardine heard the call to go back to preaching which consumed his last days. As a matter of fact, even when it was clear he was dying, he preached fifty consecutive days. He died in 1444 when he was almost 64 years old.
Saint Bernardine of Siena, words were very important to you. You spent most of your life speaking the golden words of Jesus' mercy and his Holy Name. And you abhorred words that were shameful. Pray for us that we may always choose to speak Jesus' name with reverence and choose words of love over words of shame. Amen
", "tags": "bernardine siena", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 344, "action": "Basilissa", "tags": "breast-feeding chilblain chilblains nursing mothers basilissa" }, { "id": 345, "action": "\n Basilla, also known as Basilissa, was a member of a noble Roman family. She refused to marry Pompeius, a Roman patrician, after her\n \n conversion\n \n to Christianity. She was beheaded for her\n \n faith\n \n when she was denounced to Emperor Galienus by Pompeius and remained steadfast in her refusal to marry him. The facts of the story are uncertain. Her\n \n feast day\n \n is May 20th.\n
\n", "tags": "basilissa", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 346, "action": "Giles", "tags": "mothers breast-feeding nursing giles" }, { "id": 347, "action": "\n A native of Assisi, Italy, Giles was one of the earliest followers of St. Francis, from whom he received the\n \n habit\n \n in 1208. He accompanied Francis on many of his missions around Assisi, made a pilgrimage to Compostela, visited\n \n Rome\n \n and the Holy Land, and then made an unsuccessful visit to\n \n Tunis\n \n to convert the Saracens. The Christians in Tunis, fearful of the repercussions of his religious fervor, forced him back on a boat as soon as he landed. He spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n living in Italy, living from about 1243 at the Monte Rapido hermitage on the outskirts of Perugia, where he died in 1263. He experiences ecstacies, had a vision of\n \n Christ\n \n at Cetona, and is considered the most perfect example of the primitive Franciscan. He is spoken of at length in \"The Little Flowers of St. Francis\" and Francis called him his \"Knight of the round table.\" Known for his austerity and silence, his \"The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles\" is noted for its humor, deep understanding of human nature, and optimism.\n
\n", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 348, "action": "Theodore of Pavia", "tags": "italy pavia theodore" }, { "id": 349, "action": "\n Little is known of the early\n \n life\n \n of\n \n St. Theodore\n \n of Pavia. We are first introduced to him as\n \n Bishop\n \n of Pavia. Theodore headed the See of\n \n Pavia\n \n from 743 to 778. During his thiry-five year service in\n \n Pavia\n \n he was subject to great opposition. Several times he was banished from his\n \n diocese\n \n by the Arian Lombard kings. Undoubtedly Theodore preached against the Arian\n \n heresy\n \n and was thus punished. Nonetheless, he remained faithful to the end and was eventually canonized. His\n \n feast day\n \n is May 20th.\n
\n", "tags": "pavia theodore", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 350, "action": "Zeno of Verona", "tags": "walk speak zeno learning talk children verona" }, { "id": 351, "action": "\n Zeno was born in Africa. He received an excellent classical\n \n education\n \n and in 362, was named\n \n bishop\n \n of Verona, Italy. He was active in missionary work, converted many, and fought Arianism. He built a\n \n basilica\n \n at Verona, founded a\n \n convent\n \n that he directed, encouraged charities in his people, and wrote widely on a ecclesiastical subjects, particularly the virgin birth of Christ, in which are revealed many of the customs and practices of the times. He died in 371.\n
\n", "tags": "zeno verona", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 352, "action": "Eugene de Mazenod", "tags": "eugene dysfunctional families mazenod de" }, { "id": 353, "action": "\n Eugene de Mazenod was born on August 1, 1782, at Aix-en-Provence in France. Early in\n \n life\n \n he experienced the upheaval of the French Revolution.\n \n None\n \n the less, he entered the seminary, and following ordination he returned to labor in Aix-en-Provence. That area had suffered greatly during the Revolution and was not really a safe place for a priest. Eugene directed his ministry toward the poorest of the poor. Others joined his labors, and became the nucleus of a religious community, the Missionaries of Provence. Later Eugene was named\n \n Bishop\n \n of Marseille. There he built churches, founded parishes, cared for his priests, and developed catechetics for the young. Later he founded the Oblates of\n \n Mary\n \n Immaculate, and in 1841 the Oblates sailed for missions in five continents. Pius XI said, \"the Oblates are the specialists of difficult missions.\" After a\n \n life\n \n dedicated to spreading the\n \n Good\n \n News, Eugene died on May 21, 1861. He was\n \n beatified\n \n by Pope Paul VI in 1975. His\n \n feast day\n \n is May 21.\n
\n", "tags": "de eugene mazenod", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 354, "action": "Rita of Cascia", "tags": "cases wounds infertility or desperate hopeless situations parenthood cascia physical desire lost rita forgotten abuse victims children spouse impossible causes" }, { "id": 355, "action": "\n Augustiniannun, also called Margarita. She was born in Roccaporena, near Spoleto, Italy, in 1381, and expressed from an early age the desire to become a nun. Her elderly\n \n parents\n \n insisted that she be married at the age of twelve to a\n \n man\n \n described in accounts of her\n \n life\n \n as cruel and harsh. She spent eighteen extremely unhappy years, had two sons, and was finally widowed when her husband was killed in a brawl. Both sons also died, and Rita, still anxious to become a nun, tried unsuccessfully to enter the\n \n Augustinians\n \n in their\n \n convent\n \n at Cascia. She was refused because she was a\n \n widow\n \n and because of the requirement that all sisters should be virgins. Finally, in 1413, the order gave her entry, and she earned fame for her austerity, devotion to prayer, and charity.\n
\nIn the midst of chronic illnesses, she received visions and wounds on her forehead which resembled the crown of thorns. She died on May 22 at Cascia, and many miracles were reported instantly. Canonized in 1900, she is honored in Spain as La Santa de los Impossibles and elsewhere as a patron saint of hopeless causes.
", "tags": "cascia rita", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 356, "action": "Giles", "tags": "physically disabled giles" }, { "id": 357, "action": "\n A native of Assisi, Italy, Giles was one of the earliest followers of St. Francis, from whom he received the\n \n habit\n \n in 1208. He accompanied Francis on many of his missions around Assisi, made a pilgrimage to Compostela, visited\n \n Rome\n \n and the Holy Land, and then made an unsuccessful visit to\n \n Tunis\n \n to convert the Saracens. The Christians in Tunis, fearful of the repercussions of his religious fervor, forced him back on a boat as soon as he landed. He spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n living in Italy, living from about 1243 at the Monte Rapido hermitage on the outskirts of Perugia, where he died in 1263. He experiences ecstacies, had a vision of\n \n Christ\n \n at Cetona, and is considered the most perfect example of the primitive Franciscan. He is spoken of at length in \"The Little Flowers of St. Francis\" and Francis called him his \"Knight of the round table.\" Known for his austerity and silence, his \"The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles\" is noted for its humor, deep understanding of human nature, and optimism.\n
\n", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 358, "action": "William of Rochester", "tags": "children rochester adopted william" }, { "id": 359, "action": "\n St. William of Rochester whose\n \n feast day\n \n is May 23rd is the patron saint of adopted children. William was a well-to-do burgher at Perth, Scotland. He went on pilgrimage to\n \n Jerusalem\n \n with his adopted son David who murdered him near Rochester, England. When a mentally deranged\n \n woman\n \n found his body and cared for it, she was miraculously cured of her mental problems. Reportedly miracles occurred at his grave, and it is said that he was canonized by Pope\n \n Alexander IV\n \n in 1256, though there is no record of such a canonization. There is a shrine dedicated to William at Rochester Cathedral.\n
\n", "tags": "rochester william", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 360, "action": "Genistus", "tags": "genistus france aynac" }, { "id": 361, "action": "\n Bishop of Astorga, Spain, formerly a Benedictine\n \n monk\n \n at Argeo, Spain. He was also\n \n abbot\n \n of San Pedro de Montes at Vierzo. Named\n \n bishop\n \n in 895, he built many institutions in that diocese. In 931, Gennadius resigned and lived as a recluse until his death.\n
\n", "tags": "genistus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 362, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas babies tolentino" }, { "id": 363, "action": "\n Born in 1245 in Sant'Angelo,\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Tolentino took his name from\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Myra, at whose shrine his\n \n parents\n \n prayed to have a child. Nicholas became a\n \n monk\n \n at 18, and seven years later, he was ordained a priest. He gained a reputation as a preacher and a confessor. C. 1274, he was sent to Tolentino, near his birthplace. The town suffered from civil strife between the Guelphs, who supported the pope, and Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor, in their struggle for control of Italy. Nicholas was primarily a\n \n pastor\n \n to his flock. He ministered to the poor and the criminal. He is said to have cured the sick with bread over which he had prayed to Mary, the mother of God. He gained a reputation as a wonder-worker. Nicholas died in 1305 after a long illness. People began immediately to petition for his canonization.\n \n Eugene IV\n \n canonized him in 1446, and his\n \n relics\n \n were rediscovered in 1926 at Tolentino.\n
\n", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 364, "action": "Zenobius", "tags": "italy zenobius florence" }, { "id": 365, "action": "\n Fact and fiction are intermingled in the traditional history of St. Zenobius, the principle patron of Florence, Italy. There are no contemporary records from which to reconstruct a reliable biography. A member of the Geronimo\n \n family\n \n of Florence, he is said to have been baptized at the age of twenty-one by\n \n Bishop\n \n Theodore, who afterwards ordained him and made him his archdeacon. The virtues and learning of Zenobius won him the friendship of\n \n St. Ambrose\n \n of Milan, by whose advice he was called to\n \n Rome\n \n by Pope St. Damasus. After carrying out successfully a mission from the\n \n Holy See\n \n to Constantinople, he returned to Italy. Upon the death of Theodore he was chosen\n \n Bishop\n \n of Florence, and edified all men by his eloquence, his miracles and the holy\n \n life\n \n he led with his deacon, St. Eugenius and his subdeacon, St. Crescentius. Five dead persons, we are told, were resuscitated by him, including a child who was run over by a cart as he played in front of the Cathedral.\n \n St. Zenobius\n \n died at the age of eighty and was buried at first in San Lorenzo and then in the Cathedral. Scenes from the\n \n life\n \n of\n \n St. Zenobius\n \n \n form\n \n the subject of many pictures by old masters in the Florentine galleries. His\n \n feast day\n \n is May 25th.\n
\n", "tags": "zenobius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 366, "action": "Gerard of Lunel", "tags": "lunel italy montesanto gerard" }, { "id": 367, "action": "\n Patron saint of Monte Santo, near Ancona, Italy, also called Gerius. He was a Franciscan tertiary who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He died in Monte Santo on his way back from his homeland of France. His cult was approved by\n \n popes\n \n Benedict XIV and Pius VI.\n
\n", "tags": "lunel gerard", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 368, "action": "Bede the Venerable", "tags": "bede venerable lectors" }, { "id": 369, "action": "\n Bede was born near\n \n St. Peter\n \n and\n \n St. Paul\n \n monastery at Wearmouth-Jarrow, England. He was sent there when he was three and educated by Abbots Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrid. He became a\n \n monk\n \n at the monastery, was ordained when thirty, and except for a few brief visits elsewhere, spent all of his\n \n life\n \n in the monastery, devoting himself to the study of\n \n Scripture\n \n and to teaching and writing. He is considered one of the most learned men of his\n \n time\n \n and a major influence on English literature. His writings are a veritable summary of the learning of his\n \n time\n \n and include commentaries on the\n \n Pentateuch\n \n and various other books of the Bible, theological and scientific treatises, historical works, and biographies. His best-known work is HISTORIA ECCLESIASTICA, a history of the English Church and people, which he completed in 731. It is an account of\n \n Christianity\n \n in England up to 729 and is a primary source of early English history. Called \"the Venerable\" to acknowledge his\n \n wisdom\n \n and learning, the title was formalized at the Council of\n \n Aachen\n \n in 853. He was a careful scholar and distinguished stylist, the \"father\" of English history, the first to date events anno domini (A.D.), and in 1899, was declared the only English\n \n doctor\n \n of the Church. He died in Wearmouth-Jarrow on May 25. His\n \n feast day\n \n is May 25th.\n
\n", "tags": "bede venerable", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 370, "action": "Philip Neri", "tags": "rome philip neri" }, { "id": 371, "action": "\n St. Philip Neri was a Christian missionary and founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, a community of Catholic priests and lay brothers.\n
\nHe was born in Florence on July 21, 1515 as one of four children to Francesco Neri.
From a very young age, Philip was known for being cheerful and obedient. He was affectionately referred to as \"good little Phil.\" He received his early teachings from friars at the Dominican monastery in Florence, San Marco.
At 18-years-old, Philip went off to live with a wealthy family member in San Germano. He was sent there to assist in - and possibly inherit - the family business. However, soon after his arrival, Philip experienced a mystical vision, which he eventually spoke of as his Christian conversion. This event was an encounter with the Lord and it dramatically changed his life.
He soon lost interest in owning property or participating in business. He felt a call from the Holy Spirit to radically live for and serve the Lord Jesus Christ and His Church.
So, Philip set out for Rome.
Once in Rome, Philip was the live-in tutor for a fellow Florentine's sons. Under Philip's guidance, the two boys improved in all aspects of life and faith, proving Philip's special talent with human relationships and in bringing out the best in people.
During his first two years in Rome, Philip spent his time in a solitary life. He also dedicated a lot of time to prayer. He ate very small meals of bread, water and a few vegetables, practicing an ascetical life.
In 1535, Philip began studying theology and philosophy at the Sapienza and at St. Augustine's monastery. Although he was considered a \"promising scholar,\" after three years of studies, Philip gave up any thought of ordination. He set out to help the poor people of Rome and to re-evangelize the city. Sadly, Rome had lost its first love and its inhabitants were no longer really living as Christians.
He began talking to people on street corners and in public squares; he made acquaintances in places where people commonly gathered.
Philip, compared to Socrates, had a knack for starting up conversations and leading his listeners to consider a new and better way of life, the Christian Way. He easily caught others' attention with his warm personality and incredible sense of humor. He encouraged groups of people to gather for discussions, studies, prayer and the enjoyment of music. His customary question was always, \"Well, brothers, when shall we begin to do good?\"
Losing no time in converting good conversation to good actions, Philip would lead his followers to hospitals to wait on the sick or to the Church, to pray to and encounter Jesus Christ.
In short, Philip was an evangelist. He loved to share the Gospel and help people to find or rediscover their faith in Jesus Christ.
His days were dedicated to helping others, but his nights were set aside for solitude spent praying in the church or in the catacombs beside the Appian Way.
In 1544, on the eve of Pentecost, Philip saw what appeared to be a globe of fire. It is said the fire entered his mouth, causing Philip to feel his heart dilate. Philip was filled with such paroxysms of divine love that caused him to scream out, \"Enough, enough, Lord, I can bear no more.\" Philip then discovered a swelling over his heart, though it caused him no pain.
In 1548, with the help of his confessor, Father Persiano Rossa, Philip founded a confraternity for poor laymen to meet for spiritual exercises and service of the poor, the Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity.
Philip's appealing nature won him over friends from all societal levels, including that of Ignatius of Loyola, Pius V and Charles Borromeo.
At 34-years-old, Philip had already accomplished so much, but his confessor was determined that his work would be more effective as a priest. Finally convinced, Philip was ordained to the diaconate and then to the priesthood on May 23, 1551.
From there, Philip went to live with Father Rossa and other priests at San Girolamo and carried on his mission, but mostly through the confessional.
Before sun up, until sun down, Philip spent hours sitting and listening to people of all ages. Sometimes Philip broke out informal discussions for those who desired to live a better life. He spoke to them about Jesus, the saints and the martyrs.
Influenced by St. Francis Xavier, Philip thought of going to India to join the foreign mission field, but was dissuaded by his peers because Rome still needed Philip's ministry and influence.
A large room was built above the church of San Girolamo to tend to Philip's growing number of pilgrims and other priests were called on to assist him. Philip and the priests were soon called the \"Oratorians,\" because they would ring a bell to call the faithful in their \"oratory.\"
The foundation of the Congregation of the Priests of the Oratory would be laid a few years later with members who encouraged others to deepen their faith. Philip's rule for them was simple - share a common table and to perform spiritual exercises. Philip didn't want his followers to bind themselves to the life with a vow and he did not want them to denounce their property.
Philip's organization was officially approved by Pope Gregory XIII in 1575.
The Congregation was given an ancient church, but Philip made the quick decision to demolish it because the structure was in ruins and the size was not large enough. He had plans of rebuilding on a larger scale. People from all over, including Charles Borromeo and Pope Gregory, contributed financially toward the rebuilding.
By April 1577, the New Church was completed enough for the Congregation of the Oratory to be transferred there, but Philip stayed at San Girolamo for another seven years.
Philip was constantly in a crowd of people; he allowed his followers free access to him and continued hearing confessions and engaging in ministry and prayer.
In the words of one of his biographers, Philip was \"all things to all men.... When he was called upon to be merry, he was so; if there was a demand upon his sympathy, he was equally ready...\"
Philip was respected and loved throughout Rome; he became a trusted advisor to popes, kings, cardinals and equally as important to the poor.
He whole-heartedly desired the reform of the Catholic Church and worked toward that with a sense of gentleness and friendship, rather than criticism and harshness.
His efforts to reach out to the lay people of Rome and not simply associate with the clergy made him one of the great figures in the Counter Reformation of the Catholic Church. Sadly, the Catholic Church had fallen into clericalism. He soon earned the title, \"Apostle of Rome.\"
On the Feast of Corpus Christi, May 25, 1595, Philip was told by his physician that he was not healthy. He had not looked well for ten years. Philip realized his time had come to pass on to the Lord. For the remainder of the day, he listened to confessions and saw his visitors as normal.
Before heading off to bed, Philip stated, \"Last of all, we must die.\"
Around midnight of May 26, 1595, Philip suffered from a hemorrhage and passed away at 80-years-old. His body lays in the New Church, where the Oratorians still serve.
St. Philip Neri was beatified by Pope Paul V on May 11, 1615 and canonized by Pope Gregory XV on March 12, 1622.
He is the patron saint of Rome, US Special Forces, humor and joy and his feast day is celebrated on May 26.
", "tags": "philip neri", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 372, "action": "Bernard of Montjoux (or Menthon)", "tags": "alpinists mountain climbers montjoux mountaineers bernard or menthon" }, { "id": 373, "action": "\n Bernard of Montjoux was probably born in Italy. He became a priest, was made\n \n Vicar\n \n General of Aosta, and spent more than four decades doing missionary work in the Alps. He built\n \n schools\n \n and churches in the\n \n diocese\n \n but is especially remembered for two Alpine hospices he built to aid lost travelers in the mountain passes named Great and Little Bernard, after him. The men who ran them in\n \n time\n \n became Augustinian canons regular and built a monastery. The Order continued into the twentieth century. He was proclaimed the patron saint of Alpinists and mountain climbers by Pope Pius XI in 1923. He is sometimes fallaciously referred to as Bernard of Menthon and the son of Count\n \n Richard\n \n of Menthon, which he was not. His\n \n feast day\n \n is May 28th.\n
\nBernard became patron and protector of skiers because of his four decades spent in missionary work throughout the Alps.
", "tags": "or montjoux menthon bernard", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 374, "action": "Bernard of Montjoux", "tags": "montjoux bernard skiers" }, { "id": 375, "action": "\n Bernard of Montjoux was probably born in Italy. He became a priest, was made\n \n Vicar\n \n General of Aosta, and spent more than four decades doing missionary work in the Alps. He built\n \n schools\n \n and churches in the\n \n diocese\n \n but is especially remembered for two Alpine hospices he built to aid lost travelers in the mountain passes named Great and Little Bernard, after him. The men who ran them in\n \n time\n \n became Augustinian canons regular and built a monastery. The Order continued into the twentieth century. He was proclaimed the patron saint of Alpinists and mountain climbers by Pope Pius XI in 1923. He is sometimes fallaciously referred to as Bernard of Menthon and the son of Count\n \n Richard\n \n of Menthon, which he was not. His\n \n feast day\n \n is May 28th.\n
\nBernard became patron and protector of skiers because of his four decades spent in missionary work throughout the Alps.
", "tags": "montjoux bernard", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 376, "action": "Ferdinand III of Castile", "tags": "authority paupers parents imprisoned persons spanish families engineers magistrates spain poor castile ferdinand imprisonment captives large seville tertiaries rulers prisoners governors people iii army" }, { "id": 377, "action": "\n Ferdinand III of Castile was the son of Alfonso IX, King of Leon, and Berengaria, daughter of Alfonso III, King of Castile (Spain). He was declared king of Castile at age eighteen. Ferdinand was born near Salamanca; proclaimed king of Palencia, Valladolid, and Burgos; his mother advised and assisted him during his young reign. He married Princess Beatrice, daughter of Philip of Suabia, King of\n \n Germany\n \n and they had seven sons and three daughters. His father (the king of Leon) turned against him and tried to take over his rule. The two reconciled later, and fought successfully against the Moors. In 1225, he held back Islamic invaders; prayed and fasted to prepare for the war; extremely devoted to the Blessed Virgin. Between 1234-36, Ferdinand conquered the city of Cordoba from the Moors. Queen Beatrice died in 1236, and he overtook\n \n Seville\n \n shortly thereafter. He founded the\n \n Cathedral\n \n of\n \n Burgos\n \n and the University of Salamanca; married Joan of Ponthieu after the death of Beatrice. He died on May 30th after a prolonged illness, and buried in the\n \n habit\n \n of his secular Franciscan Order. His remains are preserved in the\n \n Cathedral\n \n of\n \n Seville\n \n and was canonized by Pope Clement X in 1671. Ferdinand was a great\n \n administrator\n \n and a\n \n man\n \n of deep faith. He founded\n \n hospitals\n \n and bishoprics, monasteries, chuches, and cathedrals during his reign. Her also compiled and reformed a code of laws which were used until the modern era. Ferdinand rebuilt the\n \n Cathedral\n \n of\n \n Burgos\n \n and changed the mosque in\n \n Seville\n \n into a Cathedral. He was a just ruler, frequently pardoning former offenders to his throne. His\n \n feast day\n \n is May 30th.\n
\n", "tags": "iii ferdinand castile", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 378, "action": "Joan of Arc", "tags": "services integrity church waves american imprisoned authorities faith opposition france martyrs wacs moral emergency women corps joan voluntary murdered appointed imprisonment captives arc confessors french prisoners as soldiers people army" }, { "id": 379, "action": "\n St. Joan of Arc is the patroness of soldiers and of France.\n
\nOn January 6, 1412, Joan of Arc was born to pious parents of the French peasant class in the obscure village of Domremy, near the province of Lorraine. At a very early age, she was said to have heard the voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret.
At first the messages were personal and general, but when she was 13-years-old, she was in her father's garden and had visions of Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret, each of whom told her to drive the English from French territory. They also asked that she bring the Dauphin to Reims for his coronation.
After their messages were delivered and the saints departed, Joan cried, as \"they were so beautiful.\"
When she was sixteen-years-old, she asked her relative, Durand Lassois, to take her to Vaucouleurs, where she petitioned Robert de Baudricourt, the garrison commander, for permission to visit the French Royal Court in Chinon.
Despite Baudricourt's sarcastic response to her request, Joan returned the following January and left with the support of two of Baudricourt's soldiers: Jean de Metz and Bertrand de Poulengy.
Jean de Metz admitted Joan had confided in him, saying, \"I must be at the King's side ... there will be no help if not from me. Although I would rather have remained spinning [wool] at my mother's side ... yet must I go and must I do this thing, for my Lord wills that I do so.\"
With Metz and Poulengy at her side, Joan met Baudricourt and predicted a military reversal at the Battle of Rouvray near Orléans, which were confirmed several days later by a messenger's report. When Baudricourt realized the distance of the battle's location and the time it would have taken Joan to make the journey, he concluded she had seen the reversal by Divine revelation, which caused him to believe her words.
Once she had Baudricourt's belief, Joan was granted an escort to Chinon through hostile Burgundian territory. For her safety, she was escorted while dressed as a male soldier, which later led to charges of cross-dressing, but her escorts viewed as a sound precaution.
Two members of her escort confirmed they and the people of Vaucouleurs gave her the clothing and had been the ones to suggest she don the outfit.
When she arrived in the Royal Court, she met in a private conference with Charles VII and won his trust. Yolande of Aragon, Charles' mother-in-law, planned a finance relief expedition to Orléans and Joan asked to travel with the army while wearing armor, which the Royal government agreed to. They also provided Joan's armor and she depended on donations for everything she took with her.
With a donated horse, sword, banner, armor, and more, Joan arrived to Orléans and quickly turned the Anglo-French conflict into a religious war.
Charles' advisors worried Joan's claims of doing God's work could be twisted by his enemies, who could easily claim she was a sorceress, which would link his crown to works of the devil. To prevent accusations, the Dauphin ordered background inquiries and a theological exam at Poitiers to verify Joan's claims.
In April 1429, the commission of inquiry \"declared her to be of irreproachable life, a good Christian, possessed of the virtues of humility, honesty and simplicity.\" Rather than deciding on whether or not Joan was acting on the basis of divine inspiration, theologians at Poitiers told the Dauphin there was a \"favorable presumption\" on the divine nature of her mission.
Charles was satisfied with the report but theologians reminded him Joan must be tested. They claimed, \"[t]o doubt or abandon her without suspicion of evil would be to repudiate the Holy Spirit and to become unworthy of God's aid.\"
They suggested her test should be a test of her claim to lift the siege of Orléans, as she originally predicted would happen.
In response to the test, Joan arrived at Orléans on April 29, 1429, where Jean d'Orléans, the acting head of the ducal family of Orléans, ensured she was excluded from war councils and kept ignorant of battles.
During the five months prior to Joan's arrival to Orléans, the French had only attempted one offensive assault, which resulted in their defeat, but after her arrival, things began to change.
Though Joan claimed the army was always commanded by a nobleman and that she never killed anyone in battle since she preferred only to carry her banner, which she preferred \"forty times\" better than a sword, several noblemen claimed she greatly effected their decisions since they accepted she gave Divinely inspired advice.
On May 4, the Armagnacs captured the fortress of Saint Loup and the next day led to fortress Saint-Jean-le-Blanc, which was deserted. With Joan at the army's side, English troops approached the army to stop their advance but a cavalry charge was all it took to turn the English away without a fight.
The Armagnacs captured an English fortress build around the Les Augustins monastery and attacked the English stronghold Les Tourelles on May 7. Joan was shot with an arrow between her neck and shoulder as she held her banner outside Les Tourelles, but returned to encourage the final assault to take the fortress. The next day, the English retreated from Orléans and the siege was over.
When Joan was in Chinon and Poitiers, she had declared she would show a sign at Orléans, which many believe was the end of the siege. Following the departure of the English, prominent clergymen began to support her, including the Archbishop of Embrun and the theologian Jean Gerson, each of which wrote supportive treatises.
After the Orléans victory, Joan was able to persuade Charles VII to allow her to march into other battles to reclaim cities, each of which ended in victory. When the military supplies began to dwindle, they reached Troyes, where Brother Richard, a wandering friar, had warned the city about the end of the world and was able to convince them to plant beans, which yields an early harvest. Just as the beans ripened, Joan and the army arrived and was able to restore their supplies.
Following their march to Troyes, Joan and the French military made its way to Paris, where politicians failed to secure Duke Philip of Burgundy's agreement to a truce. Joan was present at the following battles and suffered a leg wound from a crossbow bolt. Despite one failed mission - taking La-Charité-sur-Loire\" - Joan and her family were ennobled by Charles VII in reward of her actions on the battlefield.
A truce with England came following Joan's ennoblement but was quickly broken. When Joan traveled to Compičgne to help defend against an English and Burgundian siege, she was captured by Burgundian troops and held for a ransom of 10,000 livres tournois. There were several attempts to free her and Joan made many excape attempts, including jumping from her 70-foot (21m) tower, landing on the soft earth of a dry moat, but to no avail. She was eventually sold to the English for 10,000 gold coins and was then tried as a heretic and witch in a trial that violated the legal process of the time.
Clerical notary Nicolas Bailly, who was responsible to collect testimony against Joan, was unable to find any evidence against her. Without evidence, the courts lacked grounds to initiate trial but one was opened anyway. They denied Joan the right to a legal advisor and filled the tribunal with pro-English clergy rather than meeting the medieval Church's requirement to balance the group with impartial clerics.
When the first public examination opened, Joan pointed out that the partisans were against her and she asked for \"ecclesiastics of the French side\" to provide balance, but her request was denied.
Jean Lemaitre, the Vice-Inquisitor of Northern France, objected to the trial from the beginning and many eyewitnesses later reported he was forced to cooperate after the English threatened to kill him. Other members of the clergy were threatened when they refused as well, so the trial continued.
The trial record includes statements from Joan that eyewitnesses later claimed astonished the court since she was an illiterate peasant who was able to escape theological traps. The most well-known exchange was when Joan was \"[a]sked if she knew she was in God's grace, she answered: 'If I am not, may God put me there; and if I am, may God so keep me.'\"
The question is a trap because the church doctrine was that no one could be certain of being in God's grace. If she answered yes, she would have been charged with heresy, but if she answered no, she would have been confessing her own guilt. Notary Boisguillaume later testified that \"[t]hose who were interrogating her were stupefied.\"
Many members of the tribunal later testified important parts of the transcript were altered.
Joan was held in a secular prison guarded by English soldiers, instead of being in an ecclesiastical prison with nuns as her guards per Inquisitorial guidelines. When Joan appealed to the Council of Basel and the Pope to be placed in a proper prison, Bishop Cauchon denied her request, which would have stopped his proceeding.
While imprisoned, Joan wore military clothing so she could tie her clothing together, making it harder to be raped. There was no protection in a dress, and a few days after she started wearing one she told a tribunal member that \"a great English lord had entered her prison and tried to take her by force.\" Following the attempted rape, Joan returned to wearing male clothing as a precaution and to raise her defenses against molestation.
Jean Massieu testified her dress had been taken by the guards and she had nothing else to wear.
When she returned to male clothing, she was given another count of hersy for cross-dressing, though it was later disputed by the inquisitor presiding over court appeals after the war. He found that cross-dressing should be evaluated based on context, including the use of clothing as protection against rape if it offered protection.
In accordance to the inquisitor's doctrine, Joan would have been justified in wearing armor on a battlefield, men's clothing in prison and dressing as a pageboy when traveling through enemy territory.
The Chronique de la Pucelle states it deterred molestation when Joan was camped in the field but she donned a dress when men's garments were unnecessary.
Clergy who testified at the posthumous appellate trial confirmed that she wore male clothing in prison to deter molestation.
Though the Poitiers record did not survive the test of time, Joan had referred the court to the Poitiers inquiry when questioned about her clothing and circumstances indicate the Poitiers clerics approved the practive. She had also kept her hair short through the military campaigns and during her imprisonment, which Inquisitor Brehal, theologian Jean Gerson and all of Joan's supporters understood was for practical reasons.
Despite the lack of incriminating evidence, Joan was condemned and sentenced to die in 1431.
Eyewitness accounts of Joan's execution by burning on May 30, 1431 describe how she was tied to a tall pillar at the Vieux-Marché in Rouen. She asked Fr. Martin Ladvenu and Fr. Isambart de la Pierre to hold a crucifix before her and an English soldier made a small cross she put in the front of her dress. After she died, the English raked the coals to expose her body so no one could spread rumors of her escaping alive, then they burned her body two more times to reduce it to ashes so no one could collect relics. After burning her body to ash, the English threw her remains into the Seine River and the executioner, Geoffroy Thérage, later said he \"... greatly feared to be damned.\"
In 1452, during an investigation into Joan's execution, the Church declared a religious play in her honor at Orléans would let attendees gain an indulgence by making a pilgrimage to the event.
A posthumous retrial opened following the end of the war. Pope Callixtus III authorized the proceeding, which has also been called the \"nullification trial,\" after Inquisitor-General Jean Bréhal and Joan's mother Isabelle Romée requested it.
The trial was meant to determine if Joan's condemnation was justly handled, and of course at the end of the investication Joan received a formal appeal in November 1455 and the appellate court declared Joan innocent on July 7 1456.
Joan of Arc was a symbol of the Catholic League during the 16th century and when Félix Dupanloup was made bishop of Orléans in 1849, he pronounced a panegyric on Joan of Arc and led efforts leading to Joan of Arc's beatification in 1909. On May 16, 1920, Pope Benedict XV canonized her.
Centuries after her death, Joan became known as a semi-legendary figure. There were several sources of information about her life, time on the battlefield and trials, with the main sources being chronicles.
Many women have seen Joan as a brave and active woman who operated within a religious tradition that believed a person of any class could receive a divine calling.
Joan of Arc has been depicted in several works by famous writers such as William Shakespeare (Henry VI, Part 1), Voltaire (The Maid of Orleans), Mark Twain (Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc), and many many more.
Images depicting Joan of Arc often show her with short hair adorned in armor.
There are several prayers to Joan of Arc, including the \"Prayer of Thanks and Gratitude to St. Joan of Arc,\" written by Andrea Rau:
Dear Patron Saint,
Thank you for accompanying me throughout the day, and in the work that I did. Thank you also for your guidance and your counsel. Please help me to listen to God and to you, dear Saint, that I may do what I am called to do. Please intercede on my behalf and beg God to take all my faults and turn them into virtues. I thank you for all you have done for me, and all the things you have interceded for on my behalf. Please continue to pray for me and for all the souls who need it.
St. Joan of Arc, Pray for us.
Amen.
", "tags": "arc joan", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 380, "action": "Walstan", "tags": "husbandmen farm hands field workers agricultural ranchers walstan farmers" }, { "id": 381, "action": "\n Penitent and model of charity. Born at Bawburgh, near Norwich, England, he was renowned for his charity and intense personal goodness, spending his\n \n life\n \n in prayer. Wealthy, he gave away his goods and worked as a farmhand at Taverham and Costessey. Walstan became a popular saint in the area of Norwich and became the hero of various legends. His shrine at Bawburgh was much visited until the English Reformation of the sixteenth century when it was destroyed.\n
\n", "tags": "walstan", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 382, "action": "Giles", "tags": "poor woodlands paupers woods giles people forests" }, { "id": 383, "action": "\n A native of Assisi, Italy, Giles was one of the earliest followers of St. Francis, from whom he received the\n \n habit\n \n in 1208. He accompanied Francis on many of his missions around Assisi, made a pilgrimage to Compostela, visited\n \n Rome\n \n and the Holy Land, and then made an unsuccessful visit to\n \n Tunis\n \n to convert the Saracens. The Christians in Tunis, fearful of the repercussions of his religious fervor, forced him back on a boat as soon as he landed. He spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n living in Italy, living from about 1243 at the Monte Rapido hermitage on the outskirts of Perugia, where he died in 1263. He experiences ecstacies, had a vision of\n \n Christ\n \n at Cetona, and is considered the most perfect example of the primitive Franciscan. He is spoken of at length in \"The Little Flowers of St. Francis\" and Francis called him his \"Knight of the round table.\" Known for his austerity and silence, his \"The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles\" is noted for its humor, deep understanding of human nature, and optimism.\n
\n", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 384, "action": "Petronilla", "tags": "mountain frankish emperors travellers treaties between petronilla popes" }, { "id": 385, "action": "\n St. Petronilla is believed to have been the daughter of St. Peter. Until the XVII Century, she was called his physical daughter, and since then, she has been thought a spiritual daughter who was consecrated to his service. Legends quoted in Manichćan documents relate that Peter cured her of a palsy. Stories found in the writings of\n \n St. Marcellus\n \n (and retold in The Golden Legend) say that Peter, who thought his daughter too beautiful, asked\n \n God\n \n to afflict her with a fever, of which he refused to cure her until she began to be perfected in the love of God. She is said to have refused Count Flaccus' hand in marriage. Traditions say she died a natural death, but accounts of her martyrdom can be found. Petronilla is thought to have been Aurelia Petronilla, a scion of the gens Flavius, the\n \n family\n \n of\n \n Vespasian\n \n and Domitian. She was also related to St. Domitilla, who was exiled in I Century to Pandateria, whose\n \n property\n \n on the Via Ardentina became a catacomb cemetary. Inscriptions there describe Petronilla as a martyr. During the papacy of\n \n Siricius\n \n (384-399), a\n \n basilica\n \n was built on the site of her tomb. In the VIII Century, Gregory III established a place of public\n \n prayer\n \n in the basilica, and her\n \n relics\n \n were translated to St. Peter's, where a\n \n chapel\n \n was dedicated in her honor.\n \n Charlemagne\n \n (d. 814) and Carlomen (d. 771) were considered adopted sons of St. Peter, and they, along with the French monarchs who succeeded them, considered Petronilla their sister. Her\n \n chapel\n \n became the\n \n chapel\n \n of the\n \n kings\n \n of France. Her emblem, like that of St. Peter, is a set of keys.\n
\n", "tags": "petronilla", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 386, "action": "Justin Martyr", "tags": "martyr justin clowns apologists lecturers" }, { "id": 387, "action": "\n Christian apologist, born at Flavia Neapolis, about A.D. 100, converted to Christianity about A.D. 130, taught and defended the Christian religion in Asia Minor and at Rome, where he suffered martyrdom about the year 165. Two \"Apologies\" bearing his name and his \"Dialogue with the Jew Tryphon\" have come down to us. Leo XIII had a Mass and an Office composed in his honour and set his feast for 14 April.\n
\nAmong the Fathers of the second century his life is the best known, and from the most authentic documents. In both \"Apologies\" and in his \"Dialogue\" he gives many personal details, e.g. about his studies in philosophy and his conversion; they are not, however, an autobiography, but are partly idealized, and it is necessary to distinguish in them between poetry and truth; they furnish us however with several precious and reliable clues. For his martyrdom we have documents of undisputed authority. In the first line of his \"Apology\" he calls himself \"Justin, the son of Priscos, son of Baccheios, of Flavia Neapolis, in Palestinian Syria\". Flavia Neapolis, his native town, founded by Vespasian (A.D. 72), was built on the site of a place called Mabortha, or Mamortha, quite near Sichem (Guérin, \"Samarie\", I, Paris, 1874, 390-423; Schürer, \"History of the Jewish People\", tr., I, Edinburgh, 1885). Its inhabitants were all, or for the most part, pagans. The names of the father and grandfather of Justin suggest a pagan origin, and he speaks of himself as uncircumcised (Dialogue, xxviii). The date of his birth is uncertain, but would seem to fall in the first years of the second century. He received a good education in philosophy, an account of which he gives us at the beginning of his \"Dialogue with the Jew Tryphon\"; he placed himself first under a Stoic, but after some time found that he had learned nothing about God and that in fact his master had nothing to teach him on the subject. A Peripatetic whom he then found welcomed him at first but afterwards demanded a fee from him; this proved that he was not a philosopher. A Pythagorean refused to teach him anything until he should have learned music, astronomy, and geometry. Finally a Platonist arrived on the scene and for some time delighted Justin. This account cannot be taken too literally; the facts seem to be arranged with a view to showing the weakness of the pagan philosophies and of contrasting them with the teachings of the Prophets and of Christ. The main facts, however, may be accepted; the works of Justin seem to show just such a philosophic development as is here described, Eclectic, but owing much to Stoicism and more to Platonism. He was still under the charm of the Platonistic philosophy when, as he walked one day along the seashore, he met a mysterious old man; the conclusion of their long discussion was that he soul could not arrive through human knowledge at the idea of God, but that it needed to be instructed by the Prophets who, inspired by the Holy Ghost, had known God and could make Him known (\"Dialogue\", iii, vii; cf. Zahm, \"Dichtung and Wahrheit in Justins Dialog mit dem Jeden Trypho\" in \"Zeitschr. für Kirchengesch.\", VIII, 1885-1886, 37-66).
The \"Apologies\" throw light on another phase of the conversion of Justin: \"When I was a disciple of Plato\", he writes, \"hearing the accusations made against the Christians and seeing them intrepid in the face of death and of all that men fear, I said to myself that it was impossible that they should be living in evil and in the love of pleasure\" (II Apol., xviii, 1). Both accounts exhibit the two aspects of Christianity that most strongly influenced St. Justin; in the \"Apologies\" he is moved by its moral beauty (I Apol., xiv), in the \"Dialogue\" by its truth. His conversion must have taken place at the latest towards A.D. 130, since St. Justin places during the war of Bar-Cocheba (132-135) the interview with the Jew Tryphon, related in his \"Dialogue\". This interview is evidently not described exactly as it took place, and yet the account cannot be wholly fictitious. Tryphon, according to Eusebius (Hist. eccl., IV, xviii, 6), was \"the best known Jew of that time\", which description the historian may have borrowed from the introduction to the \"Dialogue\", now lost. It is possible to identify in a general way this Tryphon with the Rabbi Tarphon often mentioned in the Talmud (Schürer, \"Gesch. d. Jud. Volkes\", 3rd ed., II, 377 seq., 555 seq., cf., however, Herford, \"Christianity in Talmud and Midrash\", London, 1903, 156). The place of the interview is not definitely told, but Ephesus is clearly enough indicated; the literary setting lacks neither probability nor life, the chance meetings under the porticoes, the groups of curious onlookers who stop a while and then disperse during the inteviews, offer a vivid picture of such extemporary conferences. St. Justin lived certainly some time at Ephesus; the Acts of his martyrdom tell us that he went to Rome twice and lived \"near the baths of Timothy with a man named Martin\". He taught school there, and in the aforesaid Acts of his martyrdom we read of several of his disciples who were condemned with him.
In his second \"Apology\" (iii) Justin says: \"I, too, expect to be persecuted and to be crucified by some of those whom I have named, or by Crescens, that friend of noise and of ostentation.\" Indeed Tatian relates (Discourse, xix) that the Cynic philosopher Crescens did pursue him and Justin; he does not tell us the result and, moreover, it is not certain that the \"Discourse\" of Tatian was written after the death of Justin. Eusebius (Hist. eccl., IV, xvi, 7, 8) says that it was the intrigues of Crescens which brought about the death of Justin; this is credible, but not certain; Eusebius has apparently no other reason for affirming it than the two passages cited above from Justin and Tatian. St. Justin was condemned to death by the prefect, Rusticus, towards A.D. 165, with six companions, Chariton, Charito, Evelpostos, Pćon, Hierax, and Liberianos. We still have the authentic account of their martyrdom (\"Acta SS.\", April, II, 104-19; Otto, \"Corpus Apologetarum\", III, Jena, 1879, 266-78; P. G., VI, 1565-72). The examination ends as follows:
\"The Prefect Rusticus says: Approach and sacrifice, all of you, to the gods. Justin says: No one in his right mind gives up piety for impiety. The Prefect Rusticus says: If you do not obey, you will be tortured without mercy. Justin replies: That is our desire, to be tortured for Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and so to be saved, for that will give us salvation and firm confidence at the more terrible universal tribunal of Our Lord and Saviour. And all the martyrs said: Do as you wish; for we are Christians, and we do not sacrifice to idols. The Prefect Rusticus read the sentence: Those who do not wish to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the emperor will be scourged and beheaded according to the laws. The holy martyrs glorifying God betook themselves to the customary place, where they were beheaded and consummated their martyrdom confessing their Saviour.\"
Justin was a voluminous and important writer. He himself mentions a \"Treatise against Heresy\" (I Apology, xxvi, 8); St. Irenćus (Adv. Hćr., IV, vi, 2) quotes a \"Treatise against Marcion\" which may have been only a part of the preceding work. Eusebius mentions both (Hist. eccl., IV, xi, 8-10), but does not seem to have read them himself; a little further on (IV, xviii) he gives the following list of Justin's works: \"Discourse in favour of our Faith to Antoninus Pius, to his sons, and to the Roman Senate\"; an \"Apology\" addressed to Marcus Aurelius; \"Discourse to the Greeks\"; another discourse called \"A Refutation\"; \"Treatise on the Divine Monarchy\"; a book called \"The Psalmist\"; \"Treatise on the soul\"; \"Dialogue against the Jews\", which he had in the city of Ephesus with Tryphon, the most celebrated Israelite of that time. Eusebius adds that many more of his books are to be found in the hands of the brethren. Later writers add nothing certain to this list, itself possibly not altogether reliable. There are extant but three works of Justin, of which the authenticity is assured: the two \"Apologies\" and the \"Dialogue\". They are to be found in two manuscripts: Paris gr. 450, finished on 11 September, 1364; and Claromont. 82, written in 1571, actually at Cheltenham, in the possession of M.T.F. Fenwick. The second is only a copy of the first, which is therefore our sole authority; unfortunately this manuscript is very imperfect (Harnack, \"Die Ueberlieferung der griech. Apologeten\" in \"Texte and Untersuchungen\", I, Leipzig, 1883, i, 73-89; Archambault, \"Justin, Dialogue a vec Tryphon\", Paris, 1909, p. xii-xxxviii). There are many large gaps in this manuscript, thus II Apol., ii, is almost entirely wanting, but it has been found possible to restore the manuscript text from a quotation of Eusebius (Hist. eccl., IV, xvii). The \"Dialogue\" was dedicated to a certain Marcus Pompeius (exli, viii); it must therefore have been preceded by a dedicatory epistle and probably by an introduction or preface; both are lacking. In the seventy-fourth chapter a large part must also be missing, comprising the end of the first book and the beginning of the second (Zahn, \"Zeitschr. f. Kirchengesch.\", VIII, 1885, 37 sq., Bardenhewer, \"Gesch. der altkirchl. Litter.\", I, Freiburg im Br., 1902, 210). There are other less important gaps and many faulty transcriptions. There being no other manuscript, the correction of this one is very difficult; conjectures have been often quite unhappy, and Krüger, the latest editor of the \"Apology\", has scarsely done more than return to the text of the manuscript.
In the manuscript the three works are found in the following order: second \"Apology\", first \"Apology\", the \"Dialogue\". Dom Maran (Paris, 1742) re-established the original order, and all other editors have followed him. There could not be as a matter of fact any doubt as to the proper order of the \"Apologies\", the first is quoted in the second (iv, 2; vi, 5; viii, 1). The form of these references shows that Justin is referring, not to a different work, but to that which he was then writing (II Apol., ix, 1, cf. vii, 7; I Apol., lxiii, 16, cf. xxxii, 14; lxiii, 4, cf. xxi,1;lxi, 6, cf. lxiv, 2). Moreover, the second \"Apology\" is evidently not a complete work independent of the first, but rather an appendix, owing to a new fact that came to the writer's knowledge, and which he wished to utilize without recasting both works. It has been remarked that Eusebius often alludes to the second \"Apology\" as the first (Hist. eccl., IV, viii, 5; IV, xvii, 1), but the quotations from Justin by Eusebius are too inexact for us to attach much value to this fact (cf. Hist. eccl., IV, xi, 8; Bardenhewer, op. cit., 201). Probably Eusebius also erred in making Justin write one apology under Antoninus (161) and another under Marcus Aurelius. The second \"Apology\", known to no other author, doubtless never existed (Bardenhewer, loc. cit.; Harnack, \"Chronologie der christl. Litter.\", I, Leipzig, 1897, 275). The date of the \"Apology\" cannot be determined by its dedication, which is not certain, but can be established with the aid of the following facts: it is 150 years since the birth of Christ (I, xlvi, 1); Marcion has already spread abroad his error (I, xxvi, 5); now, according to Epiphanius (Hćres., xlii, 1), he did not begin to teach until after the death of Hyginus (A.D. 140). The Prefect of Egypt, Felix (I, xxix, 2), occupied this charge in September, 151, probably from 150 to about 154 (Grenfell-Hunt, \"Oxyrhinchus Papyri\", II, London, 1899, 163, 175; cf. Harnack, \"Theol. Literaturzeitung\", XXII, 1897, 77). From all of this we may conclude that the \"Apology\" was written somewhere between 153 and 155. The second \"Apology\", as already said, is an appendix to the first and must have been written shortly afterwards. The Prefect Urbinus mentioned in it was in charge from 144 to 160. The \"Dialogue\" is certainly later than the \"Apology\" to which it refers (\"Dial.\", cxx, cf. \"I Apol.\", xxvi); it seems, moreover, from this same reference that the emperors to whom the \"Apology\" was addressed were still living when the \"Dialogue\" was written. This places it somewhere before A.D. 161, the date of the death of Antoninus.
The \"Apology\" and the \"Dialogue\" are difficult to analyse, for Justin's method of composition is free and capricious, and defies our habitual rules of logic. The content of the first \"Apology\" (Viel, \"Justinus des Phil. Rechtfertigung\", Strasburg, 1894, 58 seq.) is somewhat as follows:
Second \"Apology\":
The \"Dialogue\" is much longer than the two apologies taken together (\"Apol.\" I and II in P.G., VI, 328-469; \"Dial.\", ibid., 472-800), the abundance of exegetical discussions makes any analysis particularly difficult. The following points are noteworthy:
Besides these authentic works we possess others under Justin's name that are doubtful or apocryphal.
The \"Answers to the Orthodox\" was re-edited in a different and more primitive form by Papadopoulos-Kerameus (St. Petersburg, 1895), from a Constantinople manuscript which ascribed the work to Theodoret. Though this ascription was adopted by the editor, it has not been generally accepted. Harnack has studied profoundly these four books and maintains, not without probability, that they are the work of Diodorus of Tarsus (Harnack, \"Diodor von Tarsus., vier pseudojustinische Schriften als Eigentum Diodors nachgewiesen\" in \"Texte und Untersuch.\", XII, 4, Leipzig, 1901).
The only pagan quotations to be found in Justin's works are from Homer, Euripides, Xenophon, Menander, and especially Plato (Otto, II, 593 sq.). His philosophic development has been well estimated by Purves (\"The Testimony of Justin Martyr to early Christianity\", London, 1882, 132): \"He appears to have been a man of moderate culture. He was certainly not a genius nor an original thinker.\" A true eclectic, he draws inspiration from different systems, especially from Stoicism and Platonism. Weizsäcker (Jahrbücher f. Protest. Theol., XII, 1867, 75) thought he recognized a Peripatetic idea, or inspiration, in his conception of God as immovable above the heavens (Dial., cxxvii); it is much more likely an idea borrowed from Alexandrian Judaism, and one which furnished a very efficacious argument to Justin in his anti-Jewish polemic. In the Stoics Justin admires especially their ethics (II Apol., viii, 1); he willingly adopts their theory of a universal conflagration (ekpyrosis). In I Apol., xx, lx; II, vii, he adopts, but at the same time transforms, their concept of the seminal Word (logos spermatikos). However, he condemns their Fatalism (II Apol., vii) and their Atheism (Dial., ii). His sympathies are above all with Platonism. He likes to compare it with Christanity; apropos of the last judgment, he remarks, however (I Apol., viii, 4), that according to Plato the punishment will last a thousand years, whereas according to the Christians it will be eternal; speaking of creation (I Apol., xx, 4; lix), he says that Plato borrowed from Moses his theory of formless matter; similarly he compares Plato and Christianity apropos of human responsibility (I Apol., xliv, 8) and the Word and the Spirit (I Apol., lx). However, his acquaintance with Plato was superficial; like his contemporaries (Philo, Plutarch, St. Hippolytus), he found his chief inspiration in the Timćus. Some historians have pretended that pagan philosophy entirely dominated Justin's Christianity (Aubé, \"S. Justin\", Paris, 1861), or at least weakened it (Engelhardt, \"Das Christentum Justins des Märtyrers\", Erlangen, 1878). To appreciate fairly this influence it is necessary to remember that in his \"Apology\" Justin is seeking above all the points of contact between Hellenism and Christianity. It would certainly be wrong to conclude from the first \"Apology\" (xxii) that Justin actually likens Christ to the pagan heroes of semi-heroes, Hermes, Perseus, or Ćsculapius; neither can we conclude from his first \"Apology\" (iv, 8 or vii, 3, 4) that philosophy played among the Greeks the same role that Christianity did among the barbarians, but only that their position and their reputation were analogous.
In many passages, however, Justin tries to trace a real bond between philosophy and Christianity: according to him both the one and the other have a part in the Logos, partially disseminated among men and wholly manifest in Jesus Christ (I, v, 4; I, xlvi; II, viii; II, xiii, 5, 6). The idea developed in all these passages is given in the Stoic form, but this gives to its expression a greater worth. For the Stoics the seminal Word (logos spermatikos) is the form of every being; here it is the reason inasmuch as it partakes of God. This theory of the full participation in the Divine Word (Logos) by the sage has its full value only in Stoicism (see LOGOS). In Justin thought and expression are antithetic, and this lends a certain incoherence to the theory; the relation established between the integral Word, i.e. Jesus Christ, and the partial Word disseminated in the world, is more specious than profound. Side by side with this theory, and quite different in its origin and scope, we find in Justin, as in most of his contemporaries, the conviction that Greek philosophy borrowed from the Bible: it was by stealing from Moses and the Prophets that Plato and the other philosophers developed their doctrines (I, xliv, lix, ls). Despite the obscurities and incoherences of this thought, he affirms clearly and positively the transcendent character of Christianity: \"Our doctrine surpasses all human doctrine because the real Word became Christ who manifested himself for us, body, word and soul.\" (II, Apol., x, 1.) This Divine origin assures Christianity an absolute truth (II, xiii, 2) and gives to the Christians complete confidence; they die for Christ's doctrine; no one died for that of Socrates (II, x, 8). The first chapters of the \"Dialogue\" complete and correct these ideas. In them the rather complaisant syncretism of the \"Apology\" disappears, and the Christian thought is stronger.
Justin's chief reproach to the philosophers is their mutual divisions; he attributes this to the pride of the heads of sects and the servile acquiesence of their adherents; he also says a little later on (vi): \"I care neither for Plato nor for Pythagoras.\" From it all he concludes that for the pagans philosophy is not a serious or profound thing; life does not depend on it, nor action: \"Thou art a friend of discourse\", says the old man to him before his conversion, \"but not of action nor of truth\" (iv). For Platonism he retained a kindly feeling as for a study dear in childhood or in youth. Yet he attacks it on two essential points: the relation between God and man, and the nature of the soul (Dial., iii, vi). Nevertheless he still seems influenced by it in his conception of the Divine transcendency and the interpretation that he gives to the aforesaid theophanies.
That which Justin despairs of attaining through philosophy he is now sure of possessing through Jewish and Christian revelation. He admits that the soul can naturally comprehend that God is, just as it understands that virtue is beautiful (Dial., iv) but he denies that the soul without the assistance of the Holy Ghost can see God or contemplate Him directly through ecstasy, as the Platonic philosophers contended. And yet this knowledge of God is necessary for us: \"We cannot know God as we know music, arithmetic or astronomy\" (iii); it is necessary for us to know God not with an abstract knowledge but as we know any person with whom we have relations. Thr problem which it seems impossible to solve is settled by revelation; God has spoken directly to the Prophets, who in their turn have made Him known to us (viii). It is the first time in Christian theology that we find so concise an explanation of the difference which separates Christian revelation from human speculation. It does away with the confusion that might arise from the theory, taken from the \"Apology\", of the partial Logos and the Logos absolute or entire.
For Philo the Bible is bery particularly the Pentateuch (Ryle, \"Philo and Holy Scripture\", XVII, London, 1895, 1-282). In keeping with the difference of his purpose, Justin has other preferences. He quotes the Pentateuch often and liberally, especially Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy; but he quotes still more frequently and at greater length the Psalms and the Books of Prophecy -- above all, Isaias. The Books of Wisdom are seldom quoted, the historical books still less. The books that we never find in his works are Judges, Esdras (except one passage which is attributed to him by mistake-Dial., lxxii), Tobias, Judith, Ester, Canticles, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Abdias, Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus. It has been noticed, too (St. John Thackeray in \"Journ. of Theol. Study\", IV, 1903, 265, n.3), that he never cites the last chapters of Jeremias (apropos of the first \"Apology\", xlvii, Otto is wrong in his reference to Jer., 1, 3). Of these omissions the most noteworthy is that of Wisdom, precisely on account of the similarity of ideas. It is to be noted, moreover, that this book, surely used in the New Testament, cited by St. Clement of Rome (xxvii, 5) and later by St. Irenćus (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., V, xxvi), is never met with in the works of the apologists (the reference of Otto to Tatian, vii, is inexact). On the other hand one finds in Justin some apocryphal texts: pseudo-Esdras (Dial., lxxii), pseudo-Jeremias (ibid.), Ps. xevi (xcv), 10 (Dial., lxxii; I Apol., xli); sometimes also errors in ascribing quotations: Zacharias for Malachias (Dial., xlix), Osee for Zacharias for Malachias (Dial., xiv). For the Biblical text of Justin, see Swete, \"Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek\", Cambridge, 1902, 417-24.
The testimony of Justin is here of still greater importance, especially for the Gospels, and has been more often discussed. The historical side of the question is given by W. Bousset, \"Die Evangeliencitaten Justins\" (Göttingen, 1891), 1-12, and since then, by Baldus, \"Das Verhältniss Justins der Märt. zu unseren synopt. Evangelien\" (Münster, 1895); Lippelt, \"Quć fuerint Justini mart. apomnemoneumata quaque ratione cum forma Evangeliorum syro-latina cohćserint\" (Halle, 1901). The books quoted by Justin are called by him \"Memoirs of the Apostles\". This term, otherwise very rare, appears in Justin quite probably as an analogy with the \"Memorabilia\" of Xenophon (quoted in \"II Apol.\", xi, 3) and from a desire to accommodate his language to the habits of mind of his readers. At any rate it seems that henceforth the word \"gospels\" was in current usage; it is in Justin that we find it for the first time used in the plural, \"the Apostles in their memoirs that are called gospels\" (I Apol., lxvi, 3). These memoirs have authority, not only because they relate the words of Our Lord (as Bossuet contends, op. cit., 16 seq.), but because, even in their narrative parts, they are considered as Scripture (Dial., xlix, citing Matt., xvii, 13). This opinion of Justin is upheld, moreover, by the Church who, in her public service reads the memoirs of the Apostles as well as the writings of the prophets (I Apol., lxvii, 3). These memoirs were composed by the Apostles and by those who followed them (Dial., ciii); he refers in all probability to the four Evangelists, i.e. to two Apostles and two disciples of Christ (Stanton, \"New Testament Canon\" in Hastings, \"Dictionary of the Bible\", III, 535). The authors, however, are not named: once (Dial., ciii) he mentions the \"memoirs of Peter\", but the text is very obscure and uncertain (Bousset, op. cit., 18).
All facts of the life of Christ that Justin takes from these memoirs are found indeed in our Gospels (Baldus, op. cit., 13 sqq.); he adds to them a few other and less important facts (I Apol., xxxii; xxxv; Dial., xxxv, xlvii, li, lxxviii), but he does not assert that he found them in the memoirs. It is quite probable that Justin used a concordance, or harmony, in which were united the three synoptic Gospels (Lippelt, op. cit., 14, 94) and it seems that the text of this concordance resembled in more than one point the so-called Western text of the Gospels (cf. ibid., 97). Justin's dependence on St. John is indisputably established by the facts which he takes from Him (I Apol., lxi, 4, 5; Dial., lxix, lxxxviii), still more by the very striking similarity in vocabulary and doctrine. It is certain, however, that Justin does not use the fourth Gospel as abundantly as he does the others (Purves, op. cit., 233); this may be owing to the aforesaid concordance, or harmony, of the synoptic Gospels. He seems to use the apocryphal Gospel of Peter (I Apol., xxxv, 6; cf. Dial., ciii; Revue Biblique, III, 1894, 531 sqq.; Harnack, \"Bruchstücke des Evang. des Petrus\", Leipzig, 1893, 37). His dependence on the Protevangelium of James (Dial., lxxviii) doubtful.
Justin's attitude towards philosophy, described above, reveals at once the tendency of his polemics; he never exibits the indignation of a Tatian or even of a Tertullian. To the hideous calumnies spread abroad against the Christians he sometimes answers, as do the other apologists, by taking the offensive and attacking pagan morality (I Apol., xxvii; II, xii, 4, 5), but he dislikes to insist on these calumnies: the interlocutor in the \"Dialogue\" (ix) he is careful to ignore those who would trouble him with their loud laughter. He has not the eloquence of Tertullian, and can obtain a hearing only in a small circle of men capable of understanding reason and of being moved by an idea. His chief argument, and one calculated to convert this hearers as it had converted him (II Apol., xii), is the great new fact of Christian morality. He speaks of men and women who have no fear of death (I Apol., ii, xi, xlv; II, ii; Dial., xxx), who prefer truth to life (I Apol., ii; II, iv) and are yet ready to await the time allotted by God (II, iv1); he makes known their devotion to their children (I, xxvii), their charity even towards their enemies, and their desire to save them (I Apol., lvii; Dial., cxxxiii), their patience and their prayers in persecution (Dial., xviii), their love of mankind (Dial., xciii, cx). When he contrasts the life that they led in paganism with their Christian life (I Apol., xiv), he expresses the same feeling of deliverance and exaltation as did St. Paul (I Cor., vi, II). He is careful, moreover, to emphasize, especially from the Sermon on the Mount, the moral teaching of Christ so as to show in it the real source of these new virtues (I Apol., xv-xviii). Throughout his exposé of the new religion it is Christian chastity and the courage of the martyrs that he most insists upon.
The rational evidences of Christianity Justin finds especially in the prophecies; he gives to this argument more than a third of his \"Apology\" (xxx-liii) and almost the entire \"Dialogue\". When he is disputing with the pagans he is satisfied with drawing attention to the fact that the books of the Prophets were long anterior to Christ, guaranteed as to their authenticity by the Jews themselves, and says that they contain prophecies concerning the life of Christ and the spread of the Church that can only be explained by a Divine revelation (I Apol., xxxi). In the \"Dialogue\", arguing with Jews, he can assume this revelation which they also recognize, and he can invoke the Scriptures as sacred oracles. These evidences of the prophecies are for him absolutely certain. \"Listen to the texts which I am about to cite; it is not necessary for me to comment upon them, but only for you to hear them\" (Dial., liii; cf. I Apol., xxx, liii). Nevertheless he recognizes that Christ alone could have given the explanation of them (I Apol., xxxii; Dial., lxxvi; cv); to understand them the men and women of his time must have the interior dispositions that make the true Christian (Dial., cxii), i.e., Divine grace is necessary (Dial., vii, lviii, xcii, cxix). He also appeals to miracles (Dial., vii; xxxv; lxix; cf. II Apol., vi), but with less insistence than to the prophecies.
God. Justin's teaching concerning God has been very diversely interpreted, some seeing in it nothing but a philosophic speculation (Engelhardt, 127 sq., 237 sqq.), others a truly Christian faith (Flemming, \"Zur Beurteilung des Christentums Justins des Märtyrers\", Leipzig, 1893, 70 sqq.; Stählin, \"Justin der Märtyrer und sein neuester Beurtheiler\", 34 sqq., Purves, op. cit., 142 sqq.). In reality it is possible to find in it these two tendencies: on one side the influence of philosophy betrays itself in his concept of the Divine transcendency, thus God is immovable (I Apol., ix; x, 1; lxiii, 1; etc.); He is above the heaven, can neither be seen nor enclosed within space (Dial., lvi, lx, cxxvii); He is called Father, in a philosophic and Platonistic sense, inasmuch as He is the Creator of the world (I Apol., xlv, 1; lxi, 3; lxv, 3; II Apol., vi, 1, etc.). On the other hand we see the God of the Bible in his all-powerful (Dial., lxxxiv; I Apol., xix, 6), and merciful God (Dial., lxxxiv; I Apol., xix, 6), and merciful God (Dial., cviii, lv, etc.); if He ordained the Sabbath it was not that He had need of the homage of the Jews, but that He desired to attach them to Himself (Dial., xxii); through His mercy He preserved among them a seed of salvation (lv); through His Divine Providence He has rendered the nations worthy of their inheritance (cxviiicxxx); He delays the end of the world on account of the Christians (xxxix; I Apol., xxviii, xlv). And the great duty of man is to love Him (Dial., xciii).
", "tags": "justin martyr", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 388, "action": "Giles", "tags": "lepers giles" }, { "id": 389, "action": "\n A native of Assisi, Italy, Giles was one of the earliest followers of St. Francis, from whom he received the\n \n habit\n \n in 1208. He accompanied Francis on many of his missions around Assisi, made a pilgrimage to Compostela, visited\n \n Rome\n \n and the Holy Land, and then made an unsuccessful visit to\n \n Tunis\n \n to convert the Saracens. The Christians in Tunis, fearful of the repercussions of his religious fervor, forced him back on a boat as soon as he landed. He spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n living in Italy, living from about 1243 at the Monte Rapido hermitage on the outskirts of Perugia, where he died in 1263. He experiences ecstacies, had a vision of\n \n Christ\n \n at Cetona, and is considered the most perfect example of the primitive Franciscan. He is spoken of at length in \"The Little Flowers of St. Francis\" and Francis called him his \"Knight of the round table.\" Known for his austerity and silence, his \"The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles\" is noted for its humor, deep understanding of human nature, and optimism.\n
\n", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 390, "action": "Erasmus (Elmo)", "tags": "sea seasickness labor stomach sailors navigators workers childbirth childhood women erasmus abdominal diseases intestinal pains ammunition/ordnance colic disorders birth appendicitis danger elmo /explosive" }, { "id": 391, "action": "\n Erasmus was also known as Elmo. He was the\n \n bishop\n \n of Formiae, Campagna, Italy, and suffered martyrdom during Diocletian's\n \n persecution\n \n of the Christians. He once fled to Mount\n \n Lebanon\n \n during the\n \n persecution\n \n and lived a\n \n life\n \n of solitude there for some time, being fed by a raven. After the emperor discovered his whereabouts, he was tortured and thrown in prison. Legend claims that an\n \n angel\n \n released him and he departed for Illyricum, eventually suffered a martyr's death and was one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Legend records that when a blue light appears at mastheads before and after a storm, the seamen took it as a sign of Erasmus's protection. This was known as \"St. Elmo's fire\". The blue electrical discharges under certain atmospheric conditions have also been seen on the masks or riggings of ships. Erasmus is also invoked against stomach cramps and colic. This came about because at one\n \n time\n \n he had hot iron hooks stuck into his intestines by persecutors under Emperor Diocletian. These wounds he miraculously endured. His\n \n Feast day\n \n is June 2nd.\n
\n", "tags": "erasmus elmo", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 392, "action": "Catherine of Sweden", "tags": "sweden abortion catherine" }, { "id": 393, "action": "\n SAINT CATHERINE OF SWEDEN Virgin, c.1330-1381 This saint is the daughter of an even more famous woman-Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden. Catherine, who was born about 1330, was a married\n \n woman\n \n who, with her husband, took a vow of continence. She went to\n \n Rome\n \n in 1348, where her mother had gone after the death of Catherine's father. Catherine's husband died after she had been in\n \n Rome\n \n a short time, and for the next twenty-five years the two women used that city as a base for\n \n pilgrimages\n \n to a variety of places, including Jerusalem. When not on pilgrimage, they spent their days in\n \n prayer\n \n and meditation and in working with the poor and instructing them in religion. This seemingly quiet\n \n life\n \n was not without perils and adventures. Dissolute young lords repeatedly sought to seduce the Swedish princess, but God's providence unfailingly thwarted their efforts. After the trip to Jerusalem, Bridget died, and Catherine took her mother's body back to Sweden, burying it at Vadstena, in the\n \n convent\n \n of the Order of the Holy Savior, which Bridget had founded. Catherine became\n \n superior\n \n of the order and died on March 24, 1381, mourned like her mother by the whole of Sweden.\n
\n", "tags": "sweden catherine", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 394, "action": "Charles Lwanga", "tags": "people lwanga african torture charles youth action victims catholic young converts" }, { "id": 395, "action": "\n For those of us who think that the\n \n faith\n \n and\n \n zeal\n \n of the early Christians died out as the Church grew more safe and powerful through the centuries, the martyrs of Uganda are a reminder that\n \n persecution\n \n of Christians continues in modern times, even to the present day.\n
\nThe Society of Missionaries of Africa (known as the White Fathers) had only been in Uganda for 6 years and yet they had built up a community of converts whose faith would outshine their own. The earliest converts were soon instructing and leading new converts that the White Fathers couldn't reach. Many of these converts lived and taught at King Mwanga's court.
King Mwanga was a violent ruler and pedophile who forced himself on the young boys and men who served him as pages and attendants. The Christians at Mwanga's court who tried to protect the pages from King Mwanga.
The leader of the small community of 200 Christians, was the chief steward of Mwanga's court, a twenty-five-year-old Catholic named Joseph Mkasa (or Mukasa).
When Mwanga killed a Protestant missionary and his companions, Joseph Mkasa confronted Mwanga and condemned his action. Mwanga had always liked Joseph but when Joseph dared to demand that Mwanga change his lifestyle, Mwanga forgot their long friendship. After striking Joseph with a spear, Mwanga ordered him killed. When the executioners tried to tie Joseph's hands, he told them, \"A Christian who gives his life for God is not afraid to die.\" He forgave Mwanga with all his heart but made one final plea for his repentance before he was beheaded and then burned on November 15, 1885.
Charles Lwanga took over the instruction and leadership of the Christian community at court -- and the charge of keeping the young boys and men out of Mwanga's hands. Perhaps Joseph's plea for repentance had had some affect on Mwanga because the persecution died down for six months.
Anger and suspicion must have been simmering in Mwanga, however. In May 1886 he called one of his pages named Mwafu and asked what the page had been doing that kept him away from Mwanga. When the page replied that he had been receiving religious instruction from Denis Sebuggwawo, Mwanga's temper boiled over. He had Denis brought to him and killed him himself by thrusting a spear through his throat.
He then ordered that the royal compound be sealed and guarded so that no one could escape and summoned the country's executioners. Knowing what was coming, Charles Lwanga baptized four catechumens that night, including a thirteen-year-old named Kizito. The next morning Mwanga brought his whole court before him and separated the Christians from the rest by saying, \"Those who do not pray stand by me, those who do pray stand over there.\" He demanded of the fifteen boys and young men (all under 25) if they were Christians and intended to remain Christians. When they answered \"Yes\" with strength and courage Mwanga condemned them to death.
He commanded that the group be taken on a 37 mile trek to the place of execution at Namugongo. The chief executioner begged one of the boys, his own son, Mabaga, to escape and hide but Mbaga refused. The cruelly-bound prisoners passed the home of the White Fathers on their way to execution. Father Lourdel remembered thirteen-year-old Kizito laughing and chattering. Lourdel almost fainted at the courage and joy these condemned converts, his friends, showed on their way to martyrdom. Three of these faithful were killed on road.
A Christian soldier named James Buzabaliawo was brought before the king. When Mwanga ordered him to be killed with the rest, James said, \"Goodbye, then. I am going to Heaven, and I will pray to God for you.\" When a griefstricken Father Lourdel raised his hand in absolution as James passed, James lifted his own tied hands and pointed up to show that he knew he was going to heaven and would meet Father Lourdel there. With a smile he said to Lourdel, \"Why are you so sad? This nothing to the joys you have taught us to look forward to.\"
Also condemned were Andrew Kagwa, a Kigowa chief, who had converted his wife and several others, and Matthias Murumba (or Kalemba) an assistant judge. The chief counsellor was so furious with Andrew that he proclaimed he wouldn't eat until he knew Andrew was dead. When the executioners hesitated Andrew egged them on by saying, \"Don't keep your counsellor hungry -- kill me.\" When the same counsellor described what he was going to do with Matthias, he added, \"No doubt his god will rescue him.\" \"Yes,\" Matthias replied, \"God will rescue me. But you will not see how he does it, because he will take my soul and leave you only my body.\" Matthias was cut up on the road and left to die -- it took him at least three days.
The original caravan reached Namugongo and the survivors were kept imprisoned for seven days. On June 3, they were brought out, wrapped in reed mats, and placed on the pyre. Mbaga was killed first by order of his father, the chief executioner, who had tried one last time to change his son's mind. The rest were burned to death. Thirteen Catholics and eleven Protestants died. They died calling on the name of Jesus and proclaiming, \"You can burn our bodies, but you cannot harm our souls.\"
When the White Fathers were expelled from the country, the new Christians carried on their work, translating and printing the catechism into their natively language and giving secret instruction on the faith. Without priests, liturgy, and sacraments their faith, intelligence, courage, and wisdom kept the Catholic Church alive and growing in Uganda. When the White Fathers returned after King Mwanga's death, they found five hundred Christians and one thousand catchumens waiting for them. The twenty-two Catholic martyrs of the Uganda persecution were canonized.
Martyrs of Uganda, pray for the faith where it is danger and for Christians who must suffer because of their faith. Give them the same courage, zeal, and joy you showed. And help those of us who live in places where Christianity is accepted to remain aware of the persecution in other parts of the world. Amen
", "tags": "charles lwanga", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 396, "action": "Kevin", "tags": "dublin glendalough kevin arch ireland blackbirds" }, { "id": 397, "action": "\n Known in\n \n Ireland\n \n as Coemgen as well as Kevin, according to tradition he was born at the Fort of the White Fountain in Leinster, Ireland, of royal descent. He was baptized by St.\n \n Cronan\n \n and educated by St. Petroc. He was ordained, and became a hermit at the Valley of the Two Lakes in Glendalough. After seven years there, he was persuaded to give up his solitary life. He went to Disert-Coemgen, where he founded a monastery for the disciples he attracted, and later moved to Glendalough. He made a pilgrimage to Rome, bringing back many\n \n relics\n \n for his permanent\n \n foundation\n \n at Glendalough. He was a friend of\n \n St. Kieran\n \n of Clonmacnois, and was entrusted with the raising of the son of King Colman of Ui Faelain, by the king. Many extravagant miracles were attributed to Kevin, and he was reputed to be 120 years old at his death. His\n \n feast day\n \n is June 3rd.\n
\n", "tags": "kevin", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 398, "action": "Morand", "tags": "morand vintners" }, { "id": 399, "action": "\n Benedictine patron of wine growers. He was born into a noble\n \n family\n \n near Worms, Germany, and was educated at the\n \n cathedral\n \n school. Ordained, he made a pilgrimage to Compostela, Spain, and entered the Benedictines at Cluny, under St. Hugh. About 1100, Morand was sent to lower Alsace at the request of Count Frederick Pferz, who had just restored\n \n St. Christopher\n \n Church at Altkirch. Morand became the count's counselor and was revered for his miracles. He is patron of wine makers because he endured one\n \n Lent\n \n by eating only a bunch of grapes.\n
\n", "tags": "morand", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 400, "action": "Clotilde", "tags": "clotilde exiles families disappointing queens exile parents children people large death adopted" }, { "id": 401, "action": "
\n Clotilde\n \n St. Clotilde\n \n (c. 474- 545) and her husband King\n \n Clovis\n \n (c. 466-511) founded the Merovingian dynasty, which ruled the Franks for over 200 years. They were married in 492 or 493, and she converted him to\n \n Christianity\n \n in 496. When\n \n Clovis\n \n died, Clotilde retired to Tours. Her sons' quarrels caused her great sorrow. She died at the\n \n tomb\n \n of St.\n \n Martin\n \n of\n \n Tours\n \n and was buried in Sainte-Genevieve in Paris, a church that she and\n \n Clovis\n \n founded.\n \n St. Clotilde\n \n at\n \n prayer\n \n was a popular theme in Medieval art.\n
\n", "tags": "clotilde", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 402, "action": "Jarlath", "tags": "tuam arch ireland jarlath" }, { "id": 403, "action": "\n St. Jarlath,\n \n Bishop\n \n (Feast - June 6th) Jarlath is regarded as the founder and principle patron of the\n \n Archdiocese\n \n of\n \n Tuam\n \n in Galway, Ireland. He belonged to the Conmaicne family, perhaps the most important and powerful\n \n family\n \n in Galway during that period. Jarlath was trained by a holy\n \n man\n \n and ordained a\n \n priest\n \n along with his cousin. He then founded the monastery of Cluain Fois, just outside Tuam, and presided over that monastery as abbot-bishop. Later, Jarlath opened a school attached to the monastery, one which soon became known as a great center of learning.\n \n St. Brendan\n \n of\n \n Clonfert\n \n and\n \n St. Colman of Cloyne\n \n were among his pupils at the school. Jarlath died around 550 A.D.\n
\n", "tags": "jarlath", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 404, "action": "Gotteschalk", "tags": "gotteschalk princes linguists vocations lost" }, { "id": 405, "action": "\n Martyred prince of the Wends who denied the\n \n faith\n \n when his father was slain by\n \n Christian\n \n Saxons. He served in the army of King\n \n Canute\n \n of Denmark, married Canute's daughter, and became a\n \n Christian\n \n again. Taking over his former lands, Gotteschalk brought in Saxon monks and built churches. He was murdered by agents of his brother-in-law at Lenzen on the Elbe River. There is considerable\n \n doubt\n \n concerning Gotteschalk's martyrdom and sanctity.\n
\n", "tags": "gotteschalk", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 406, "action": "Medard", "tags": "bad weather medard" }, { "id": 407, "action": "\n St. Medard , Bishop, born in Salency, Picardy, he was ordained at thirty three, attained fame as a preacher and missioner, and became\n \n bishop\n \n of Vermandois in 530.\n \n Feast day\n \n June 8\n
\n", "tags": "medard", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 408, "action": "Anne Marie Taigi", "tags": "verbal taigi spouse anne marie abuse victims" }, { "id": 409, "action": "\n Feast day: June 09: Anne\n \n Mary\n \n Taigi (1769 - 1837) Born at Siena, daughter of a druggist named Giannetti, whose business failed, she was brought to\n \n Rome\n \n and worked for a\n \n time\n \n as a domestic servant. In 1790 she married Dominic Taigi, a butler of the Chigi\n \n family\n \n in Rome, and lived the normal\n \n life\n \n of a married\n \n woman\n \n of the working class. In the discharge of these humble duties and in the bringing up of her seven\n \n children\n \n she attained a high degree of holiness. Endowed with the gift of prophecy, she read thoughts and described distant events. Her home became the rendezvous of cardinals and other dignitaries who sought her counsel. She was\n \n beatified\n \n in 1920.\n
\n", "tags": "anne marie taigi", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 410, "action": "Maximus of Aquila", "tags": "aquila maximus italy" }, { "id": 411, "action": "\n Martyred deacon of Aquila, Italy. He was thrown over a cliff by the Roman authorities for refusing to deny the faith. Maximus is patron saint of Aquila.\n
\n", "tags": "aquila maximus", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 412, "action": "Barnabas, Apostle", "tags": "apostle cyprus barnabas" }, { "id": 413, "action": "
\n All we know of Barnabas is to be found in the New Testament. A Jew, born in\n \n Cyprus\n \n and named Joseph, he sold his property, gave the proceeds to the Apostles, who gave him the name Barnabas, and lived in common with the earliest converts to\n \n Christianity\n \n in Jerusalem. He persuaded the community there to accept Paul as a disciple, was sent to Antioch, Syria, to look into the community there, and brought Paul there from Tarsus. With Paul he brought Antioch's donation to the\n \n Jerusalem\n \n community during a famine, and returned to\n \n Antioch\n \n with\n \n John\n \n Mark, his cousin. The three went on a missionary journey to Cyprus, Perga (when\n \n John\n \n \n Mark\n \n went to Jerusalem), and\n \n Antioch\n \n in Pisidia, where they were so violently opposed by the\n \n Jews\n \n that they decided to preach to the pagans. Then they went on to\n \n Iconium\n \n and\n \n Lystra\n \n in Lycaonia, where they were first acclaimed gods and then stoned out of the city, and then returned to\n \n Antioch\n \n in Syria. When a dispute arose regarding the observance of the\n \n Jewish\n \n rites, Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem, where, at a council, it was decided that pagans did not have to be circumcised to be baptized. On their return to Antioch, Barnabas wanted to take\n \n John\n \n \n Mark\n \n on another visitation to the cities where they had preached, but Paul objected because of\n \n John\n \n Mark's\n \n desertion\n \n of them in Perga. Paul and Barnabas parted, and Barnabas returned to\n \n Cyprus\n \n with Mark; nothing further is heard of him, though it is believed his rift with Paul was ultimately healed. Tradition has Barnabas preaching in\n \n Alexandria\n \n and Rome, the founder of the Cypriote Church, the\n \n Bishop\n \n of\n \n Milan\n \n (which he was not), and has him stoned to death at\n \n Salamis\n \n about the year 61. The apochryphal Epistle of Barnabas was long attributed to him, but modern scholarship now attributes it to a\n \n Christian\n \n in\n \n Alexandria\n \n between the years 70 and 100; the Gospel of Barnabas is probably by an Italian\n \n Christian\n \n who became a Mohammedan; and the\n \n Acts\n \n of Barnabas once attributed to\n \n John\n \n \n Mark\n \n are now known to have been written in the fifth century. His\n \n feast day\n \n is June 11.\n
\n", "tags": "apostle barnabas", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 414, "action": "John of Sahagun", "tags": "sahagun spain salamanca john" }, { "id": 415, "action": "\n John Gonzales de Castrillo was born at Sahagun,\n \n Leon\n \n Spain. He was educated by the Benedictine monks of Fagondez monastery there and when twenty, received a canonry from the\n \n bishop\n \n of Burgos, though he already had several benefices. He was ordained in 1445; concerned about the\n \n evil\n \n of pluralism, he resigned all his benefices except that of\n \n St. Agatha\n \n in Burgos. He spent the next four years studying at the University of\n \n Salamanca\n \n and then began to preach. In the next decade he achieved a great reputation as a preacher and spiritual director, but after recovering after a serious operation, became an Augustinian\n \n friar\n \n in 1463 and was professed the following year. He served as master of novices, definitor,\n \n prior\n \n at Salamanca, experienced visions, was famous for his miracles, and had the gift of reading men's souls. He denounced\n \n evil\n \n in high places and several attempts were made on his life. He died at Sahagun on June 11, reportedly poisoned by the mistress of a\n \n man\n \n he had convinced to leave her. He was canonized in 1690 as\n \n St. John\n \n of Sahagun. His\n \n feast day\n \n is June 12th.\n
\n", "tags": "sahagun john", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 416, "action": "Anthony of Padua", "tags": "asses anthony americans shipwrecks paupers oppressed american travel padua swineherds faith indians native articles travelers starving portugal harvests lost women poor elderly seekers amputees barren mail tigua sacrament starvation blessed hostesses people" }, { "id": 417, "action": "\n Saint Anthony was born Fernando Martins in Lisbon, Portugal. He was born into a wealthy family and by the age of fifteen asked to be sent to the Abbey of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, the then capital of Portugal. During his time in the Abbey, he learned theology and Latin.\n
\nFollowing his ordination to the priesthood, he was named guestmaster and was responsible for the abbey's hospitality. When Franciscan friars settled a small hermitage outside Coimbra dedicated to Saint Anthony of Egypt, Fernando felt a longing to join them.
Fernando eventually received permission to leave the Abbey so he could join the new Franciscan Order. When he was admitted, he changed his name to Anthony.
Anthony then traveled to Morocco to spread God's truth, but became extremely sick and was returned to Portugal to recover. The return voyage was blown off-course and the party arrived in Sicily, from which they traveled to Tuscany. Athony was assigned to the hermitage of San Paolo after local friars considered his health.
As he recovered, Anthony spent his time praying and studying.
An undetermined amount of time later, Dominican friars came to visit the Franciscans and there was confusion over who would present the homily. The Dominicans were known for their preaching, thus the Franciscans assumed it was they who would provide a homilist, but the Dominicans assumed the Franciscans would provide one. It was then the head of the Franciscan hermitage asked Anthony to speak on whatever the Holy Spirit told him to speak of.
Though he tried to object, Anthony delivered an eloquent and moving homily that impressed both groups. Soon, news of his eloquence reached Francis of Assisi, who held a strong distrust of the brotherhood's commitment to a life of poverty. However, in Anthony, he found a friend.
In 1224, Francis entrusted his friars' pursuits of studies to Anthony. Anthony had a book of psalms that contained notes and comments to help when teaching students and, in a time when a printing press was not yet invented, he greatly valued it.
When a novice decided to leave the hermitage, he stole Anthony's valuable book. When Anthony discovered it was missing, he prayed it would be found or returned to him. The thief did return the book and in an extra step returned to the Order as well.
The book is said to be preserved in the Franciscan friary in Bologna today.
Anthony occasionally taught at the universities of Montpellier and Toulouse in southern France, but he performed best in the role of a preacher.
So simple and resounding was his teaching of the Catholic Faith, most unlettered and the innocent could understand his messages. It is for this reason he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XII in 1946.
Once, when St. Anthony of Padua attempted to preach the true Gospel of the Catholic Church to heretics who would not listen to him, he went out and preached his message to the fish. This was not, as liberals and naturalists have tried to say, for the instruction of the fish, but rather for the glory of God, the delight of the angels, and the easing of his own heart. When critics saw the fish begin to gather, they realized they should also listen to what Anthony had to say.
He was only 35-years-old when he died and was canonized less than one year afterward by Pope Gregory IX. Upon exhumation some 336 years after his death, his body was found to be corrupted, yet his tongue was totally incorrupt, so perfect were the teachings that had been formed upon it.
He is typically depicted with a book and the Infant Child Jesus and is commonly referred to today as the \"finder of lost articles.\"
St Anthony is venerated all over the world as the Patron Saint for lost articles, and is credited with many miracles involving lost people, lost things and even lost spiritual goods.
", "tags": "anthony padua", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 418, "action": "Vitus", "tags": "lightning bites disorder snake dance dogs marching dancers comedians oversleeping actors dog diseases storms vitus victims animals epilepsy lovers fanciers from sicily rheumatic chorea auxiliaries danger nervous bite" }, { "id": 419, "action": "\n Unreliable legend has Vitus, the only son of a senator in Sicily, become a\n \n Christian\n \n when he was twelve. When his conversions and miracles became widely known to the\n \n administrator\n \n of Sicily, Valerian, he had Vitus brought before him, to shake his faith. He was unsuccessful, but Vitus with his tutor, Modestus, and servant, Crescentia, fled to Lucania and then to Rome, where he freed Emperor Diocletian's son of an\n \n evil\n \n spirit. When Vitus would not\n \n sacrifice\n \n to the gods, his cure was attributed to sorcery. He, Modestus, and Crescentia were subjected to various tortures from which they emerged unscathed, and were freed when during a storm, temples were destroyed and an\n \n angel\n \n guided them back to Lucania, where they eventually died. So much for the legend. What is fact is that their cult goes back centuries and that they were Christians who were martyred in Lucania. A great devotion to Vitus developed in\n \n Germany\n \n when his\n \n relics\n \n were translated to\n \n Saxony\n \n in 836. He is one of the\n \n Fourteen Holy Helpers\n \n and is the patron of epileptics, those afflicted with St. Vitus' Dance (named after him}, dancers, and actors, and is a protector against storms.\n \n Feast day\n \n - June 15th.\n
\n", "tags": "vitus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 420, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas mariners tolentino" }, { "id": 421, "action": "\n Born in 1245 in Sant'Angelo,\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Tolentino took his name from\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Myra, at whose shrine his\n \n parents\n \n prayed to have a child. Nicholas became a\n \n monk\n \n at 18, and seven years later, he was ordained a priest. He gained a reputation as a preacher and a confessor. C. 1274, he was sent to Tolentino, near his birthplace. The town suffered from civil strife between the Guelphs, who supported the pope, and Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor, in their struggle for control of Italy. Nicholas was primarily a\n \n pastor\n \n to his flock. He ministered to the poor and the criminal. He is said to have cured the sick with bread over which he had prayed to Mary, the mother of God. He gained a reputation as a wonder-worker. Nicholas died in 1305 after a long illness. People began immediately to petition for his canonization.\n \n Eugene IV\n \n canonized him in 1446, and his\n \n relics\n \n were rediscovered in 1926 at Tolentino.\n
\n", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 422, "action": "Germaine Cousin", "tags": "cousin unattractive shepherdesses parents young impoverishment live who peasant girls mother areas abuse victims child germaine loss poverty country rural people" }, { "id": 423, "action": "\n When Hortense decided to marry Laurent Cousin in Pibrac, France, it was not out of love for his infant daughter. Germaine was everything Hortense despised. Weak and ill, the girl had also been born with a\n \n right\n \n hand that was deformed and paralyzed. Hortense replaced the love that Germaine has lost when her mother died with cruelty and abuse.\n
\nLaurent, who had a weak character, pretended not to notice that Germaine had been given so little food that she had learned to crawl in order to get to the dog's dish. He wasn't there to protect her when Hortense left Germaine in a drain while she cared for chickens -- and forgot her for three days. He didn't even interfere when Hortense poured boiling water on Germaine's legs.
With this kind of treatment, it's no surprise that Germaine became even more ill. She came down with a disease known as scrofula, a kind of tuberculosis that causes the neck glands to swell up. Sores began to appear on her neck and in her weakened condition to fell prey to every disease that came along. Instead of awakening Hortense's pity this only made her despise Germaine more for being even uglier in her eyes.
Germaine found no sympathy and love with her siblings. Watching their mother's treatment of their half-sister, they learned how to despise and torment her, putting ashes in her food and pitch in her clothes. Their mother found this very entertaining.
Hortense did finally get concerned about Germaine's sickness -- because she was afraid her own children would catch it. So she made Germaine sleep out in the barn. The only warmth Germaine had on frozen winter nights was the woolly sheep who slept there too. The only food she had were the scraps Hortense might remember to throw her way.
The abuse of Germaine tears at our hearts and causes us to cry for pity and justice. But it was Germaine's response to that abuse and her cruel life that wins our awe and veneration.
Germaine was soon entrusted with the sheep. No one expected her to have any use for education so she spent long days in the field tending the sheep. Instead of being lonely, she found a friend in God. She didn't know any theology and only the basics of the faith that she learned the catechism. But she had a rosary made of knots in string and her very simple prayers: \"Dear God, please don't let me be too hungry or too thirsty. Help me to please my mother. And help me to please you.\" Out of that simple faith, grew a profound holiness and a deep trust of God.
And she had the most important prayer of all -- the Mass. Every day, without fail, she would leave her sheep in God's care and go to Mass. Villagers wondered that the sheep weren't attacked by the wolves in the woods when she left but God's protection never failed her. One day when the rains had swollen the river to flood stage, a villager saw the river part so that she could cross to get to the church in time for Mass.
No matter how little Germaine had, she shared it with others. Her scraps of food were given to beggars. Her life of prayer became stories of God that entranced the village children.
But most startling of all was the forgiveness to showed to the woman who deserved her hatred.
Hortense, furious at the stories about her daughter's holiness, waited only to catch her doing wrong. One cold winter day, after throwing out a beggar that Germaine had let sleep in the barn, Hortense caught Germaine carrying something bundled up in her apron. Certain that Germaine had stolen bread to feed the beggar, she began to chase and scream at the child. As she began to beat her, Germaine opened her apron. Out tumbled what she had been hiding in her apron -- bright beautiful flowers that no one had expected to see for months. Where had she found the vibrant blossoms in the middle of the ice and snow? There was only one answer and Germaine gave it herself, when she handed a flower to her mother and said, \"Please accept this flower, Mother. God sends it to you in sign of his forgiveness.\"
As the whole village began to talk about this holy child, even Hortense began to soften her feelings toward her. She even invited Germaine back to the house but Germaine had become used to her straw bed and continued to sleep in it. There she was found dead at the age of 22, overcome by a life of suffering.
With all the evidence of her holiness, her life was too simple and hidden to mean much beyond her tiny village -- until God brought it too light again. When her body was exhumed forty years later, it was found to be undecayed, what is known as incorruptible. As is often the case with incorruptible bodies of saints, God chooses not the outwardly beautiful to preserve but those that others despised as ugly and weak. It's as if God is saying in this miracle that human ideas of beauty are not his. To him, no one was more beautiful than this humble lonely young woman.
After her body was found in this state, the villagers started to speak again of what she had been like and what she had done. Soon miracles were attributed to her intercession and the clamor for her canonization began.
In this way, the most unlikely of saints became recognized by the Church. She didn't found a religious order. She didn't reach a high Church post. She didn't write books or teach at universities. She didn't go to foreign lands as a missionary or convert thousands. What she did was live a life devoted to God and her neighbor no matter what happened to her. And that is all God asks.
Do you make excuses not to help others because you have so little yourself? Share something this week with those in need that may be painful for you to give up.
Saint Germaine, watch over those children who suffer abuse as you did. Help us to give them the love and protection you only got from God. Give us the courage to speak out against abuse when we know of it. Help us to forgive those who abuse the way you did, without sacrificing the lives of the children who need help. Amen
", "tags": "germaine cousin", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 424, "action": "John Francis Regis", "tags": "illegitimate john social workers francis marriage children regis" }, { "id": 425, "action": "\n St.\n \n John\n \n Francis Regis\n \n Confessor\n \n of the\n \n Society\n \n of\n \n Jesus\n \n June 16 True virtue, or\n \n Christian\n \n perfection, consists not in great or shining actions, but resides in the heart, and appears to great edification, though in the usual train of common and religious duties constantly performed fidelity and fervor. Such a\n \n life\n \n has its trials, and often a severer martyrdom than that which stands the test of the flames. This we find in the\n \n life\n \n of the holy servant of God,\n \n John\n \n Francis Regis. He was born on the 31st of January, in 1597, at Foncouverte, a village in the\n \n diocese\n \n of Narbonne in Languedoc. His parents,\n \n John\n \n Regis, who was descended from a younger branch of the noble house of Deplas, in Rovergue, and Magdalen Darcis, daughter to the\n \n lord\n \n of Segur, were distinguished amongst the nobility of Lower Languedoc by their virtue. Their eldest son was killed in the siege of Villemur, in a rally made by the Huguenot garrison. Francis was one of the youngest brothers. At five years of age he fainted away hearing his mother speak of the horrible misfortune of being eternally damned; which discourse made a lasting impression on his tender heart. In his childhood he never discovered any inclination to the amusements of that age. The same disposition made him refuse at his school to join his companions in the innocent diversions of an age generally too eager for play. His first master was one of a morose, hasty temper, under whom this modest and bashful child had much to suffer; all which he bore without the least complaint. The Jesuits having opened a public school at Beziers, he was one of the first whom the reputation of its professors drew to the new college. His gravity increased with his years, nor was he to be seen in the beautiful walks which were chiefly crowded by his school fellows. Avaricious of his time, he scarcely allowed himself any for necessary relaxation. Sundays and holidays were a most precious\n \n time\n \n to him, and he divided them entirely between pious reading and devotions at home and in the church. He was often seen on those days retired in a\n \n chapel\n \n and bathed in tears in the presence of\n \n Jesus\n \n Christ, the tender object of his affections. His conduct made him for some\n \n time\n \n the subject of his young companions' score and railleries; which his constancy changed at last into veneration. He performed many exercises in honor of the Blessed Virgin, with a particular confidence in her patronage, especially after he was enrolled in a confraternity under her name erected in the Jesuits college. He had a singular devotion to his\n \n good\n \n angel, and improved every escape from any danger into a motive of redoubling his fervor and gratitude towards God. By the influence of his holy example, and by his religious discourses, which were animated with a peculiar unction and divine fire, he inflamed many of his companions with the love of virtue, and reclaimed several from dangerous courses. Six of the most fervent associated them selves with him in the same lodgings, and formed a kind of regular seminary, looking upon him as their living rule, and honoring him as a saint and their master in a spiritual life. In the eighteenth year of his age he was visited with a dangerous sickness, under which his patience and piety moved exceedingly all that came to see him. Soon after his recovery he made a spiritual retreat to deliberate on the choice of a state of life; and finding in his heart a strong impulse to devote himself to labor in procuring the\n \n salvation\n \n of souls in the\n \n Society\n \n of Jesus, and being confirmed by the advice of his\n \n confessor\n \n that this desire was a call of God, he earnestly begged to be admitted, and was readily received by F. Francis Suarez,\n \n provincial\n \n of the Jesuits, then at Beziers, upon his visitation of that college. The\n \n postulant\n \n entered his noviceship with great joy at Toulouse, in the nineteenth year of his age, on the 8th of December, 1616. Here being no longer divided between study and prayer, he gave himself to so close a union with\n \n God\n \n as to seem to he never without attention to his presence. His punctual exactness and fervor in the minutes actions and duties, raised them all to a great value: and by the excellence and purity of his motives, they became steps to an eminent into nor perfection. Here he laid the deep\n \n foundation\n \n of those virtues which formed his distinguishing\n \n character\n \n during his whole life, humility, contempt of the world, holy\n \n hatred\n \n of himself, charity to the poor, and love of God, and\n \n zeal\n \n for his glory. The meanest employs were his delight, such as the most humbling duties of a religious state, to wait at table, and cleanse the house: also to make the beds, and dress the sores of the poorest and most loathsome patients in the hospital, where he considered\n \n Jesus\n \n \n Christ\n \n in his most afflicted members. He was as austere to himself as he was tender to others, which made his companions say, that he was his own eternal persecutor. He seemed never to do anything to indulge his senses, which he studied to curb and mortify. The\n \n spirit\n \n of\n \n prayer\n \n accompanied all his actions. The interior fire of his breast appeared in his looks. He was often seen at the foot of the altar without motion as in a kind of rapture; and he spoke of\n \n God\n \n with such a feeling unction, that he inspired all that heard him with his holy love, and excited the most tepid to fervor. After two years of probation, he made his religious\n \n vows\n \n in 1618, and was then sent to Cahors to finish his rhetoric, and the following year to Tournon to perform his course of philosophy; but to preserve the fire of devotion in his heart under the dissipation of those studies, he joined to them frequent visits of the blessed sacrament, pious reading, and set times of holy recollection, though he made even his studies a continuation of his commerce with God, in a continual recourse to him by devout aspirations. Such was his fidelity in every action, that his superiors attested they never observed in him the least breach of any\n \n college\n \n duty; which procured him the name of the\n \n angel\n \n of the college. Desiring to\n \n form\n \n himself principally to the sacred function of teaching the poor the ways of\n \n salvation\n \n he undertook, by his superior's consent, the charge of instructing the menial servants, and the poor of the town of Tournon, to whom he distributed the alms of the college. On Sundays and holidays he preached in the adjacent villages, and summoned the\n \n children\n \n to catechism with a little bell. The little township of Andance having the\n \n happiness\n \n to fall under his particular care, it quite changed its face: the saint's\n \n zeal\n \n soon banished out of it drunkenness licentiousness, and swearing, restored the frequent use of the\n \n sacraments\n \n and established there first the confraternity of the\n \n blessed sacrament, the\n \n rules of which this holy man, then only two-and-twenty years old, but full of the\n \n spirit\n \n of devotion, drew up, and which was afterwards propagated to other places. He regulated families, composed differences, and reformed all manner of irregularities: such was the authority which his\n \n sanctity\n \n and holy\n \n prudence\n \n procured him. Having finished his course of\n \n philosophy\n \n in 1621, he was sent to teach the\n \n schools\n \n of humanity at Billom, Auch, and Puy; in which employ he spared no application for the assistance of his scholars, both in their studies and in exciting them to virtue, loving them as a tender mother does her children, and being beloved and reverenced by them as a saint. He was particularly diligent in procuring them all relief in sickness, and by his\n \n prayers\n \n obtained the sudden recovery of one whose\n \n life\n \n was despaired of but he was most sensible to their spiritual infirmities. Being informed of a grievous\n \n sin\n \n committed by one of them, he burst into a torrent of tears, and after a short recollection, he made, in the transport that had seized him, so pathetic a discourse to his scholars on the severity of God's judgments, that the terrors with which it struck their minds never forsook them their whole lives after, as several of them used to say. The edifying example, simplicity, humility, modesty, and penitential air of the master, was a most moving and continual sermon to them; and such was the powerful influence it had, that they were visibly distinguished from others by the regularity of their lives. To solicit the blessings of\n \n heaven\n \n for them he always spent some\n \n time\n \n at the foot of the altar before he entered the school, and implored the assistance of their\n \n angel\n \n guardians in their behalf. His union with\n \n God\n \n was perpetual; and from hence flowed his other virtues, particularly his saintly exterior comportment. To animate himself in spirit, notwithstanding the fatigues of his employment, he added many other devotions to the daily hour's meditation, and other\n \n prayers\n \n enjoined by the rules of the society. He often begged leave of the\n \n superior\n \n to make extraordinary communions, besides those that were regular in the house; and having obtained it, broke out in transports of joy, which testified his insatiable desire of, and the great comfort he received from that divine food. He prepared himself to receive it by private austerities and public humiliations, and by spending a great part of the night before in the church. On Sundays and holidays he continued to instruct the poor people with wonderful unction and fruit, and even in his familiar conversation turned all to some spiritual advantage. After he had taught the lower classes seven years; two at Billom, one at Auch, and four at Puy; he began the study of divinity at Toulouse, in 1628, in which, by his assiduity and the pregnancy of his wit, he made an uncommon progress; yet, out of a fear of applause, he sought to make himself contemptible by an affected simplicity and pretended ignorance. In the vacation, at the\n \n time\n \n which the students spent in their country-house for the necessary relaxation of their mind, Regis withdrew into private places to converse with\n \n God\n \n almost the whole day; and in the night, after a short sleep, he arose and\n \n stole\n \n secretly into the domestic chapel; which a companion having discovered, and informed the\n \n superior\n \n thereof, he received this answer: \"Interrupt not the sweet communications of that\n \n angel\n \n with God.\" Notice being given him by his superiors, in the beginning of the year 1630, to prepare himself for holy orders, he felt in his breast the struggle of the strongest sentiments of an humble terror and a glowing zeal; but as he saw the\n \n will\n \n of\n \n God\n \n intimated in the order of his superiors, his fears were calmed, and he disposed himself for that sacrament, by retirement, austerities, prayer, and fervorous desires. He then longed for the\n \n happiness\n \n of approaching the altars, so that he promised his\n \n superior\n \n to say thirty masses for him, because he had hastened the\n \n time\n \n of his ordination. When ordained, he took\n \n time\n \n to prepare, by\n \n prayer\n \n and penance, to offer the divine sacrifice, and celebrated his first\n \n mass\n \n with the most tender devotion, and in one continued torrent of tears, so that those who were present could not contain theirs, and, by the divine fire which sparkled in his countenance, thought him like an\n \n angel\n \n than a\n \n man\n \n at the altar. The same year,\n \n Toulouse\n \n being afflicted with a violent plague, Francis made pressing instances to obtain leave to serve the sick. In 1631, after the course of his studies was over, he made the third year of his novitiate, during which he was obliged to go to Foncouverte to settle some\n \n family\n \n affairs, where he spent his\n \n time\n \n in visiting the poor and sick, catechizing the\n \n children\n \n every morning, and preaching to the people twice a day. His begging for the poor, going through the streets followed by crowds of them and children, and carrying upon his shoulders a fagot, a straw bed, or such like things for the necessitous, drew on him many insults, once from the very soldiers, and bitter remonstrances from his brothers and other friends; but he rejoiced in the humiliations of the cross, and answered that they became a\n \n minister\n \n of the gospel which had been established by them. Their contempt of him was at last converted into admiration, and everyone discerned in his actions a divine\n \n wisdom\n \n and\n \n zeal\n \n which differs from worldly prudence, and rejoices with David if its simplicity\n \n appeals\n \n contemptible to men. He lived among his kindred as one truly deal to the world: not like those religious persons, who, wanting the\n \n spirit\n \n of a their vocation, seek earthly comforts among them. Having composed the differences his relations, and edified them by his\n \n humility\n \n and heavenly life, he was ordered to go to the\n \n college\n \n of\n \n Pamiers\n \n to supply the place of a master who was fallen sick. In the mean\n \n time\n \n his superiors, from the experience they had of his vocation and talents for an apostolic life, resolved to apply him solely to the missions; in which he accordingly spent the last ten years of his life, beginning them in Languedoc, continuing them through the Vivarez, and ending them with his\n \n life\n \n in the Velay, of which\n \n Le Puy\n \n is the capital. The summer he employed in cities and towns, as the husbandmen then were taken up with their tillage; but the winter seasons he consecrated to the villages and the country. F. Regis entered upon his apostolic course at\n \n Montpellier\n \n in 1631 arriving there in the beginning of summer; and immediately opening his mission by instructing the\n \n children\n \n and preaching to the people upon Sundays and holidays in the church of the college. His discourses were plain and familiar; after a clear exposition of the\n \n Christian\n \n truth, which he had taken for his subject, he closed them with moral and pathetic exhortations he delivered them with such vehemence that sometimes his voice and\n \n strength\n \n failed him; and with such unction that both preacher and audience often were dissolved in tears, anti the most hardened left the church with hearts full of compunction. He was always resorted to by a numberless audience of all ranks, though principally of the poor. A famous preacher was astonished to see how his catechisms were admired, and the great conversions they effected, while elegant sermons had so few to hear them, and produced so little fruit The\n \n reason\n \n was, the word of\n \n God\n \n became a two edged sword in the mouth of Regis, who spoke it from a heart full of the\n \n spirit\n \n of God, whereas it was lost under the pomp of an affected rhetoric The saint never refused himself to the rich, but he used to say they would never want confessors, and that the poor destitute part of Christ's flock were his share and his delight. He thought that he ought to live only for them. He spent usually the whole morning in the confessional, at the altar, or in the pulpit; the afternoon he devoted to the\n \n hospitals\n \n and prisons, sometimes forgetting his meals, having, as he once said, no leisure to think of them. He begged from door to door for the poor; procured them physicians and all necessaries when sick, and dressed himself their most loathsome sores. He was seen loaded with bundles of straw for them; and when laughed a by the children, and told that this made him ridiculous, he answered: \"With all my heart, we receive a double advantage when we purchase a brother's relief with our own disgrace.\" He established an association of thirty gentlewomen to procure assistance for the prisoners. He converted several Huguenots, and many lewd women; and when told the repentance of these latter is seldom sincere, he answered; \"If my labors hinder one\n \n sin\n \n they\n \n will\n \n be well bestowed.\" Towards winter he went to Sommiers, the capital of Lavonage, twelve miles from Montpellier, and with incredible labor declaring\n \n war\n \n against\n \n vice\n \n and extreme ignorance, saw his endeavors crowned with the most surprising success all over that country, penetrating into the most inaccessible places, and deterred by no rigors of weather, living chiefly on bread and water, taking sometimes a little milk; always abstaining from fish, flesh, eggs, and wine; allowing himself very little rest at night on some hard bench or floor and wearing a hair-shirt. With a crucifix in his hand, he boldly stopped a troop of enraged soldiers from plundering a church, and another\n \n time\n \n demanded and obtained of a Calvinist officer the\n \n restitution\n \n of a poor man's goods which had been plundered, without mentioning the high indignities and ill treatment he had received from the soldiers to the commander's great astonishment. The Vivarez had been for fifty years the center of\n \n Calvinism\n \n in France, and the seat of horrible wars and desolation. The pious\n \n bishop\n \n of Viviers, in 1633, by earnest entreaties drew Regis into his diocese, received him with great veneration, and took him with him in his visitation, during which the father made a most successful mission over that whole diocese. The count de la Mothe Brion, who had lived as a wise\n \n man\n \n of the world, was so moved with the unction of the holy man's sermons, as entirely to devote himself to fasting, prayer, and alms. This nobleman, by his\n \n zeal\n \n and charities, very much contributed to assist the saint in his holy enterprises; in which he was seconded by another gentleman, named De la Suchere, who had formerly been the saint's scholar. At Puy, Regis undertook the reformation of many negligent pastors, brought many lewd women, and some the most obstinate and abandoned, to become patterns of fervor among the penitents, and converted a Calvinist lady of great reputation at Usez. About that\n \n time\n \n \n God\n \n permitted a storm to be raised against his servant for his trial; for amidst these glorious successes he was accused loudly as a disturber of the peace of families by his indiscreet zeal, and as a violent man, who spared no one in his invectives and satires. The\n \n bishop\n \n defended him, till wearied out with repeated complaints, he wrote to his\n \n superior\n \n to recall him, and sending for the saint, gave him a severe reprimand; adding that he found himself under a\n \n necessity\n \n of dismissing him. Regis, who had all along neglected to take any measures for his own justification, answered him with such humility, and with such an unfeigned love of humiliations and the cross, that the\n \n prelate\n \n was charmed with his virtue; and being undeceived by others in regard to him, he praised him in public, and continued him with his employ till the beginning of the year 1634, when the missionary was ordered by his superiors to repair to Puy, but went loaded with letters full of the highest commendations of his\n \n virtue\n \n and\n \n prudence\n \n from the\n \n good\n \n bishop. The saint wrote earnestly to the general of the society, desiring to be employed on a mission to the barbarous Hurons and\n \n Iroquois\n \n in Canada, and received a favorable answer; but at the request of count de la Mothe, he returned early the next year to the\n \n diocese\n \n of Viviers, to labor in the\n \n conversion\n \n of Calvinists, and in the instruction of the ignorant at Cheylard, and on the other estates of that gentleman. It is incredible how much the apostolic\n \n man\n \n underwent in this rough country, in the highest mountains, in which he was once locked up three weeks by the snows,\n \n lying\n \n on the bare ground, eating only black bread, and drinking water, with the addition of astonishing\n \n voluntary\n \n mortification,- fasts, disciplines to blood, and hair shirts. The count was so edified, and so moved with the inexpressible fruits of his labors, that he founded a perpetual mission for two Jesuits at Cheylard, giving to it a principal of sixteen thousand livres, and his fine house there for their residence. Regis made his next mission at Privas with equal fruit, and thence was called by the\n \n bishop\n \n of Valence to St. Aggreve, a mountainous savage place, the nest of\n \n heresy\n \n in his diocese. Among his heroic actions and virtues here, it is recorded, that one\n \n Sunday\n \n going into an inn to stop the excesses committed by lewd company assembled in it, he received from one a box on the ear, without any other reply than this: \"I thank you; if you knew me you would judge that I deserve much more.\" Which meekness overcame their obstinacy. After three months' labors in this neighborhood, by the same bishop's orders he repaired to Saint Andre des Fangas, and was from thence recalled to Marlhes in the Vivarez about the end of the year 1635. In the first of these two places, a boy falling from the top of a high pair of stairs to the bottom near the holy man, then at his\n \n prayer\n \n in a corner, was found without hurt; in the latter, a\n \n woman\n \n would take his tapered cloak to mend, keeping two rags as\n \n relics\n \n by applying them to two of her children, cured one of a fever, the other her of a formed dropsy. The\n \n curate\n \n of Marlhes, in a\n \n deposition\n \n upon oath, for the process of the canonization of the servant of God, gave this testimony of him: \"He was indefatigable, and employed both night and day in his sacred functions. He was under the bitterest affliction whenever he was informed that\n \n God\n \n had been offended. Then he forgot his natural meekness, and appearing transported with holy anger, he with a voice of thunder deterred the most resolute libertines. He would have sacrificed a thousand lives to prevent one sin. A word from him sufficed to inflame the coldest hearts and to soften the hardest. After the mission, I knew not my own parishioners, so much I found them reformed. No\n \n violence\n \n of cold, no snows blocking up all passages, no mountains, or torrents swelled by rains, could be an obstacle to his zeal. His ardor communicated an intrepidity to others; for when he went to any place, innumerable troops followed, and met him through all sorts of difficulties and dangers. I have seen him in the most rigorous season stop in the middle of a forest, to content the crowds, desirous to hear him speak concerning salvation. I have seen him at the top of a mountain, raised on a heap of snow, hardened by the frost, preach and instruct the whole day, and after that spend the whole night in hearing confessions. Winter being over he returned to Puy about the end of April, in 1636, testifying that he found his\n \n strength\n \n and courage not abated, but increased by his labors. He met at the\n \n college\n \n here his general's refusal of the mission of Canada, which frustrated his hopes of martyrdom. This refusal he imputed to his sins. The four remaining years of his\n \n life\n \n were taken up in missions in the Velay, a mountainous country, the winters in the villages, the summers in Puy, the\n \n bishop\n \n of which city made use of his counsels and ministry to reform his flock. He preached and catechized at Puy, first in the Jesuits' church; but this being too little, he removed to that of\n \n St. Peter\n \n le Monstiers, belonging to the Benedictines. His discourses were without art, but clear to the meanest capacities, and delivered with that emotion of heart, and so moving a tone of voice, that he seemed transported by a divine fire above himself; and all who heard him declared, that \"Francis preached the word of\n \n God\n \n as it is in itself; whereas others seemed, in comparison of him, to preach themselves.\" His audience usually consisted of four or fire thousand. His\n \n provincial\n \n in his visitation, hearing him, wept during the whole sermon. He formed an association of virtuous ladies to relieve the poor, and another in favor of the prisoners; for both which incredible funds were raised; and in times of need\n \n God\n \n miraculously multiplied the corn he had stored up, three several times: of which verbal processes were drawn up, and juridical information taken before ecclesiastical and secular judges: and these miracles were confirmed by fourteen credible witnesses in the\n \n acts\n \n of his canonization. His constant readiness and extreme diligence to run to the sick, and his happy success in assisting them in spirituals, were recompensed by several cures effected on the spot by his prayers, the unexceptionable relation of which may be read at length in F. Daubenton's History of his life. Nor were the conversions of many sinners less miraculous. Among these, a certain voluptuous rich merchant had long endeavored to blacken the saint's reputation by his slanders; who in return bought of him all he wanted for his poor. Having softened him to a more tractable temper by these and other\n \n good\n \n offices, he laid hold of a favorable opportunity of representing to sum what could be the end of his pains, and the fruit of all his riches which death must soon bereave him of; the\n \n man\n \n was struck, and having revolved in his\n \n mind\n \n all night the reflections the words of the\n \n man\n \n of\n \n God\n \n raised in him, came the next day to lay open the agitation of his\n \n soul\n \n to him. The saint having for some\n \n time\n \n continued to excite in him still l ivelier apprehensions of the divine judgments, and conducted him through sentiments of\n \n hope\n \n and divine love to the dispositions of a perfect penitent, he heard his general confession, which the other made with such a flood of tears that the\n \n confessor\n \n judged the greatness of his\n \n contrition\n \n might require a smaller penance. The penitent asked him why he had so much spared his weakness. The zealous\n \n pastor\n \n answered that he took upon himself to discharge the rest of his debt, which mildness added still more to the fervor of this repenting sinner. His meekness and patience made a conquest of those souls which were so hardened as to be able to resist his zeal. A young\n \n man\n \n enraged that the saint had converted and drawn from him the object of his impure passion, resolved to kill him. The\n \n man\n \n of\n \n God\n \n discovered by a divine light his wicked intention, and said to him: \"Dear brother, why do you bear this ill-will to one that would hazard his\n \n life\n \n to procure you the greatest of blessings, eternal salvation?\" The sinner, ov ercome by his sweetness, fell at his feet, begged his pardon, and became a sincere convert. Three other young noblemen, on a like occasion, resolved revenge Regis met them with courage, saying to them: \"You come with a design upon my life. What concerns me is not death, which is the object of my wishes: but the state of damnation that you are in, and regard so little.\" The libertines stood as if stunned: Regis embracing them with the tenderness of a parent, induced them to repent; and they made their confessions to him, and led regular lives till their deaths. Addressing drunkards and other sinners, with his eyes all on fire with zeal, he often by one moving\n \n sentence\n \n reclaimed them from their disorders. When he had received a blow on the cheek, the magistrates could not prevail upon him to denounce the delinquent; but the offender, moved by his charity, became of his own accord his sincere penitent. The servant of\n \n God\n \n was extremely solicitous in removing all occasions of sin, and preventing the promiscuous company of young men and women. He converted many prostitutes with the help of charitable contributions, founded a retreat to secure the\n \n virtue\n \n of such penitents, till his\n \n rector\n \n fearing that house could not be maintained, forbade him to meddle in it; he moreover gave him many severe reprimands even in public, accused his\n \n zeal\n \n as too forward, and forbade him to hear confessions, instruct the poor, or visit the sick, only on certain days and at appointed times. Regis suffered many humiliations and\n \n mortification\n \n under this superior, without even allowing anyone to speak in his justification; till the succeeding rector, convinced of his innocence and prudence, restored to him the care of the refuge, and the whole field of his former labors. His\n \n zeal\n \n exposed him often to occasions of martyrdom, and to open insults; and once he was cruelly beaten. He was also censured bitterly by many, and even by several of his own brethren; but his\n \n rector\n \n undertook his defense, and\n \n God\n \n crowned his labors with incredible success; in which he was seconded by the great\n \n vicar\n \n Peter le Blanc, his constant friend, without whose counsel he undertook nothing. This is the summary of his transactions at Puy during the four last summers of his missions: the winters he employed in laboring in the country, the most abandoned part of which was his first care and chief delight. The country inhabitants of the Velay in some parts, especially in the mountains, were very rustic, and perfectly savage:\n \n Calvinism\n \n had insinuated itself, and\n \n ignorance\n \n and the grossest vices prevailed in many of the wilder places. The boroughs and villages are situated in the\n \n diocese\n \n of Puy Vienne, Valence, and Viviers. The saint's first mission among them was in the beginning of the year 1636, to Fay and the neighboring places. Hugh Sourdon, LL. D. engaged him to lodge in his house. The\n \n man\n \n of\n \n God\n \n finding his kind host's son Claudius Sourdon, aged fourteen years, entirely deprived of all sight for the six months past, from a deflection; upon his eyes, with excessive pain, he exhorted him to confidence in God, and retired into a neighboring room to\n \n prayer\n \n with some of the family, which he had not ended when the child recovered his sight, and distinguished everybody in the assembly which then met to hear the first catechistical instruction; and from that\n \n time\n \n never felt any more either of that pain or deflection, as he attested before the\n \n bishops\n \n of Puy and Valence, being then fourscore years old. Upon this, another\n \n man\n \n forty years of age, who had been blind eight years, was brought to the saint, who making the\n \n sign of the cross\n \n over him, immediately restored his sight. By the fame of these two miracles, this mission was opened with wonderful concourse and fruit. His conduct in it is thus described by Claudius Sourdon, with whom he lodged, in a juridical\n \n deposition\n \n that grave\n \n person\n \n gave before two bishops: \"His whole behavior breathed sanctity. Men could neither see nor hear him without being inflamed with the love of God. He celebrated the divine mysteries with such devotion that he seemed like an\n \n angel\n \n at the altar. I have observed him in familiar intercourse become silent and recollected, and all on fire: then speaking of\n \n God\n \n with a fervor and rapidity that proved his heart to be carried away with an impulse from heaven.\n
\n", "tags": "regis francis john", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 426, "action": "Benno", "tags": "munich germany benno" }, { "id": 427, "action": "\n St. Benno, (1010-1106) bishop. Born in Hildesheim,\n \n Germany\n \n and educated in the abey of St. Michael, he bacame a\n \n canon\n \n at Gozlar in Hanover,\n \n chaplain\n \n to Emperor\n \n Henry III\n \n and in 1066\n \n bishop\n \n of Meissen. He was imprisoned for a year for backing the nobility againsty\n \n Henry IV\n \n supported Pope Gregory VII was desposed by the\n \n bishops\n \n who sold out to the emperor shifted his allegiance to the\n \n antipope\n \n Guibert and appears to have been heavily enmeshed in contemporary pollitics. Sources however are untrustworthy. In his last years he was a missioner to the Wends. He was canonized in 1523.\n \n Feast day\n \n June 16.\n
\n", "tags": "benno", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 428, "action": "Botulph", "tags": "boston botulph massachusetts usa" }, { "id": 429, "action": "\n Sts. Botulph and Adulph were two noble English brothers, who opened their eyes to the light of\n \n faith\n \n in the first dawning of the day of the gospel upon our ancestors. Astonished at the great truths which they had learned, and penetrated with the most profound sentiments which\n \n religion\n \n inspires, they traveled into the Belgic Gaul, there to find some religious houses and\n \n schools\n \n of virtue, which were then scarce in England. Such was the progress of these holy men that they soon were judged fit to be themselves masters. Nor was it long before Adulph was advanced to the bishopric of Maestricht, which he administered in so holy a manner, that he is honored in\n \n France\n \n among the saints on the 17th of June.\n \n St. Botulph\n \n returned to England to bring to his own country the treasure he had found. Addressing himself to king Ethelmund, he begged some barren spot of ground to found a monastery. The king gave him the wilderness of Ikanho where he built an abbey, and taught the brethren whom he assembled there the rules of\n \n Christian\n \n perfection, and the institutes of the holy fathers. He was beloved by everyone, being humble, mild, and affable. All his discourse was on things which tended to edification, and his example was still far more efficacious to instill the true\n \n spirit\n \n of every virtue. When he was oppressed with any sickness he never ceased thanking and praising\n \n God\n \n with holy Job. Thus he persevered to a\n \n good\n \n old age. He was purified by a long illness before his happy death, which happened in the same year with that of St. Hilda, 655. His monastery having been destroyed by the Danes, his\n \n relics\n \n were part carried to the monastery of Ely, and part to that of Thorney. St. Edward the\n \n Confessor\n \n afterwards bestowed some portion of them on his own\n \n abbey\n \n of Westminster. Few English saints have been more honored by our ancestors. Four parishes in London, and innumerable others throughout the country, bear his name. Botulph's town, now Boston, in Lincolnshire and Botulph's bridge, now Bottle-bride, in Huntingdonshire, are so called from him. Leland and Bale\n \n will\n \n have his monastery of Ikanho to have been in one of those two places; Hickes says at Boston; others think it was towards Sussex; for Ethelmund seems to have been king of the South -Saxons. Thorney\n \n abbey\n \n was situated in Cambridgeshire, and was one of those whose abbots sat in parliament. It was founded in 972, in honor of\n \n St. Mary\n \n and St. Botulph. In its church lay interred St. Botulph, St. Athulf, St. Huna, St. Tancred, St. Tothred, St. Hereferth, St. Cissa, St. Bennet, St. Tova, or Towa, to whose\n \n memory\n \n a fair\n \n chapel\n \n called Thoueham, half a mile off in the wood, was consecrated. Thorney was anciently called Ancarig, that is, the Isle of Anchorets. Part of the\n \n relics\n \n of\n \n St. Botulph\n \n was kept at Medesham, afterwards called Peterburgh. See Dr. Brown Willis, on mitered Abbeys, t. 1, p. 187, and the\n \n life\n \n of\n \n St. Botulph\n \n publisher! by Mabillon, Act. Ben. t. 3, p. 1, and by Papebroke, t. 3, Junij, p. 398. The anonymous author of this piece declares he had received some things which he relates from the disciples of the saint who had lived under his direction. There is also in the Cottonian library, n. l l l, a MS.\n \n life\n \n of Saint Botulph compiled by Folcard, first a\n \n monk\n \n of St. Bertin's at St. Omer, afterwards made by the conqueror\n \n abbot\n \n of Thorney in 1068. See also Narratio de Sanctis qui in Anglia quiescunt, translated from the English-Saxon into Latin by Francis Junius, and published by Dr. Hickes, Diss. Epist. pp. 118, l l 9. Thesauri, t. 1.\n
\n", "tags": "botulph", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 430, "action": "Himerius", "tags": "italy himerius cremona" }, { "id": 431, "action": "\n Bishop of Amelia, in Umbria, Italy. Himerius'\n \n relics\n \n were translated to\n \n Cremona\n \n in 995, where he is a patron of the region.\n
\n ", "tags": "himerius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 432, "action": "Herve", "tags": "disorders eye herve" }, { "id": 433, "action": "\n Welsh bard who was is a popular patron in Brittany, France. Herve, sometimes called Harvey or Hervues, was the son of the bard Hyvarnion, and was born blind. Raised by his uncles because his mother was a hermitess, he was taken to Brittany. There he built an\n \n abbey\n \n at Lanhourneau, and he was venerated as a\n \n miracle\n \n worker and bard. He is invoked against eye trouble, and he is depicted with a wolf. Tales and legends associated Herve with a wolf.\n
\n", "tags": "herve", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 434, "action": "Calogerus", "tags": "fragalata sicily calogerus" }, { "id": 435, "action": "\n A Greek hermit and missionary called \"the Anchoret.\" He received the monastic\n \n habit\n \n from the pope in Rome, and lived as a hermit for more than three decades near Girgenti, in Sicily. Calogerus is also reported to have served as a missionary on the isles of Lepari.\n
\n", "tags": "calogerus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 436, "action": "Elizabeth of Schonau", "tags": "schonau temptations elizabeth" }, { "id": 437, "action": "\n A Benedictine\n \n abbess\n \n who was a gifted mystic. She had her first vision in 1152 and was known for ecstasies, prophecies, and diabolical visitations. She became\n \n abbess\n \n in 1157 . Her cult was never formalized, but she is listed as a saint in the Roman Martyrology. Her brother, Ethbert, a Benedictine abbot, wrote her biography and recorded her\n \n visions\n \n in three books.\n
\n", "tags": "schonau elizabeth", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 438, "action": "Gervase", "tags": "gervase haymakers" }, { "id": 439, "action": "\n Untrustworthy tradition has Gervase and his twin brother, Protase, the sons of Vitalis and Valeria, who suffered martyrdom for their Faith. Both\n \n children\n \n were also martyred for their Faith; Gervase was beaten to death with a lead tipped whip and Protase was beheaded. They are considered the first martyrs of\n \n Milan\n \n ever since St. Ambrose, guided by a vision, unearthed their remains there. His\n \n feast day\n \n is June 19th.\n
\n", "tags": "gervase", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 440, "action": "Aloysius Gonzaga", "tags": "gonzaga people colleges teenagers children jesuit single students aids young patients youth teenage christian catholic aloysius care-givers laywomen" }, { "id": 441, "action": "\n St. Aloysius was born in Castiglione, Italy. The first words St. Aloysius spoke were the Holy Names of\n \n Jesus\n \n and Mary. He was destined for the military by his father (who was in service to Philip II), but by the age of 9 Aloysius had decided on a religious life, and made a vow of perpetual virginity. To safeguard himself from possible temptation, he would keep his eyes persistently downcast in the presence of women.\n \n St. Charles Borromeo\n \n gave him his first Holy Communion. A kidney disease prevented St. Aloysius from a full social\n \n life\n \n for a while, so he spent his\n \n time\n \n in\n \n prayer\n \n and reading the lives of the saints. Although he was appointed a page in Spain, St. Aloysius kept up his many devotions and austerities, and was quite resolved to become a Jesuit. His\n \n family\n \n eventually moved back to Italy, where he taught catechism to the poor. When he was 18, he joined the Jesuits, after finally breaking down his father, who had refused his entrance into the order. He served in a hospital during the plague of 1587 in Milan, and died from it at the age of 23, after receiving the last\n \n rites\n \n from St. Robert Bellarmine. The last word he spoke was the Holy Name of Jesus. St. Robert wrote the\n \n Life\n \n of St. Aloysius.\n
\n", "tags": "gonzaga aloysius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 442, "action": "Lazarus", "tags": "order lazarus" }, { "id": 443, "action": "\n Lazarus is the poor\n \n man\n \n at the gate of the rich\n \n man\n \n in Christ's parable related in Luke. (Luke 16:19-31) His name was perpetuated in the\n \n Middle Ages\n \n by such words as Lazaretto (hospital), Lazarone (a beggar in the street), and the Order of St. Lazarus, which though a military order, had as one of its objectives, the care of lepers. His\n \n feast day\n \n is June 21st.\n
\n", "tags": "lazarus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 444, "action": "Raymond of Barbastro", "tags": "espańa aragón. huesca. city raymond barbastro" }, { "id": 445, "action": "\n Augustinian bishop. Born at Durban, France, he entered the\n \n Augustinians\n \n and in 1104 was appointed\n \n bishop\n \n of Barbastro, Aragon, Spain. He is venerated as the patron saint of Barbastro.\n
\n", "tags": "raymond barbastro", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 446, "action": "Thomas More", "tags": "widowers florida pensacola-tallahassee lawyers barristers arlington servants more adopted court thomas attorneys civil children politicians clerks usa step-parents virginia" }, { "id": 447, "action": "\n Thomas More was born in London on February 7, 1478. His father, Sir John More, was a lawyer and judge who rose to prominence during the reign of Edward IV. His connections and wealth would help his son, Thomas, rise in station as a young man. Thomas' mother was Agnes Graunger, the first wife of John More. John would have four wives during his life, but they each died, leaving John as a widower. Thomas had two brothers and three sisters, but three of his siblings died within a year of their birth. Such tragedies were common in England during this time.\n
\nIt is likely that Thomas was positively influenced from a young age by his mother and siblings. He also attended St. Anthony's School, which was said to be one of the best schools in London at that time. In 1490, he became a household page to John Morton, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England. Archbishop Morton was a Renaissance man and inspired Thomas to pursue his own education.
Thomas More entered Oxford in 1492, where he would learn Latin, Greek and prepare for his future studies. In 1494, he left Oxford to become a lawyer and he trained in London until 1502 when he was finally approved to begin practice.
Almost as soon as More became a lawyer, he found himself contemplating another path in life. For two years, between 1503 and 1504, More lived next to a Carthusian monastery and he found himself called to follow their lifestyle of simple piety. He often joined their spiritual exercises.
By 1504, More had decided to remain in the secular world, and stood for election to Parliament. But he did not forget the pious monks who inspired his practice of the faith.
Thomas More married his first wife, Jane Colt in 1505. They would have four children together before her death in 1511. Their marriage was reportedly happy and Thomas often tutored her in music and literature.
After Jane's death in 1511, Thomas quickly remarried to Alice Harpur Middleton, who was a wealthy widow. Alice was not particularly attractive, and her temperament was less docile than Jane's. The wedding took place less than a month after Jane's passing and was poorly received by his friends.
It was rumored that Thomas married her because he wanted a stepmother for his four children, and she was a woman of wealth and means. It is believed the pair knew each other for some time prior to their marriage. They would have no children together. Thomas accepted Alice's daughter from her previous marriage as his own.
Thomas was considered a doting father, and he often wrote letters to his children when he was away on work. He also insisted that his daughters receive the same education as his son. His daughters were well known for their academic accomplishments.
In 1504, More was elected to Parliament to represent the region of Great Yarmouth, and in 1510 rose to represent London. During his service to the people of London, he earned a reputation as being honest and effective. He became a Privy Counselor in 1514.
More also honed his skills as a theologian and a writer. Among his most famous works is \"Utopia,\" about a fictional, idealistic island society. The work is widely regarded as part satire, part social commentary, part suggestion. Utopia is considered one of the greatest works of the late Renaissance and was widely read during the Enlightenment period. It remains well by scholars read today.
From 1517 on, Henry VIII took a liking to Thomas More, and gave him posts of ever increasing responsibility. In 1521, he was knighted and made Under-Treasurer of the Exchequer.
The King's trust in More grew with time and More was soon made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, which gave him authority over the northern portion of England on behalf of Henry.
More became Lord Chancellor in 1529.
More was immediately effective, working with speed and precision that is admired today. He was likely one of Henry VIII's most effective servants, and was fiercely loyal to the king.
During his tenure as Lord Chancellor, More prosecuted those accused of heresy and worked tirelessly to defend the Catholic faith in England. This was an arduous, but achievable task as long as he enjoyed Henry's favor. However, in 1530, as Henry worked to obtain an annulment from his wife, Catherine, More refused to sign a letter to the Pope, requesting an annulment. This was More's first time crossing Henry.
The relationship between More and Henry became strained again when seeking to isolate More, Henry purged many of the clergy who supported the Pope. It became clear to all that Henry was prepared to break away from the Church in Rome, something More knew he could not condone.
In 1532, More found himself unable to work for Henry VIII, whom he felt had lost his way as a Catholic. Faced with the prospect of being compelled to actively support Henry's schism with the Church, More offered his resignation, citing failing health. Henry accepted it, although he was unhappy with what he viewed as flagging loyalty.
In 1533, More refused to attend the coronation of Anne Boylen, who was now the Queen of England. More instead wrote a letter of congratulations. The letter, as opposed to his direct presence offended Henry greatly. The king viewed More's absence as an insult to his new queen and an undermining of his authority as head of the church and state.
Henry then had charges trumped up against More, but More's own integrity protected him. In the first instance, he was accused of accepting bribes, but there was simply no evidence that could be obtained or manufactured. He was then accused of conspiracy against the king, because he allegedly consulted with a nun who prophesied against Henry and his wife, Anne. However, More was able to produce a letter in which he specifically instructed the nun, Elizabeth Barton, not to interfere with politics.
On April 13, 1534, More was ordered to take an oath, acknowledging the legitimicies of Anne's position as queen, of Henry's self-granted annulment from Catherine, and the superior position of the King as head of the church. More accepted Henry's marriage to Anne, but refused to acknowledge Henry as head of the church, or his annulment from Catherine. This led to his arrest and imprisonment. He was locked away in the Tower of London.
He faced trial on July 1 and was convicted by a court that included Anne Boylen's own father, brother and uncle, hardly an impartial jury. Still, More had one thing going for him. He could not break the law of which he was accused if he remained silent. However, he had no defense against treachery, and several dubious witnesses were able to contrive a story that he had spoken words that had the same effect as treason.
Despite a brilliant defense of himself and persuasive testimony, grounded in truth and fact, More was convicted in fifteen minutes. The court sentenced him to be hanged, drawn, and quartered, which was the traditional punishment for treason.
Henry was pleased with the outcome, although likely upset that one of his favorite advisers refused, even upon pain of death, to sanction his annulment and break from Rome. Henry was a Machiavellian king and while he may have regretted the loss of More, he was more intent upon retaining his authority.
As a final act of mercy, Henry commuted More's punishment to mere decapitation.
More ascended the scaffold on July 6, 1535, joking to his executioners to help him up the scaffold, but that he would see himself down. He then made a final statement, proclaiming that he was \"the king's good servant, but God's first.\"
Following his death, it was revealed that More wore a hair shirt, a garment destined to be itchy, and worn to as a sign of atonement and repentance. It became obvious to all that he was a man of deep piety, asceticism, voluntary self discipline, and penitence.
More's decapitated body was buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London, in an unmarked grave. His head was put on display, but his daughter Margaret possibly bribed someone to take it down. The skull may be in the vault of a church in Canterbury.
Thomas More has been widely remembered as a man of tremendous integrity, and he has since been described as a martyr and canonized a saint.
Pope Leo XIII beatified More in 1886, and he was canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 19, 1935.
His feast day is June 22.
He is the patron saint of adopted children lawyers, civil servants, politicians, and difficult marriages.
", "tags": "more thomas", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 448, "action": "Nicetas", "tags": "romania nicetas" }, { "id": 449, "action": "\n A close friend of St. Paulinus of Nola, St.\n \n Nicetas\n \n was\n \n bishop\n \n of\n \n Remesiana\n \n in Dacia (modern Romania and Yugoslavia) and was noted for his successful missionary activities, especially among the Bessi, a race of marauders, which Paulinus commemorates in a poem.\n \n Nicetas\n \n wrote several dissertations on faith, the creed, the Trinity, and liturgical singing, and is believed by some scholars to be the author of Te Deum. We know little of\n \n Nicetas\n \n himself beyond the fact that on at least two occasions, he made his way from a country which Paulinus regarded as a wild region of snow and ice to visit his friend at\n \n Nola\n \n in Campania.\n \n St. Jerome\n \n also speaks very appreciatively of his work in converting the people of Dacia, but of the details of his missionary expeditions, the manner of his promotion to the episcopate, or the date of his death, we know nothing. His\n \n feast day\n \n is June 22nd.\n
\n", "tags": "nicetas", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 450, "action": "Alban", "tags": "refugees torture alban victims converts" }, { "id": 451, "action": "\n St. Alban was the first\n \n martyr\n \n of England, his own country (homeland). During a\n \n persecution\n \n of Christians, Alban, though a pagan, hid a\n \n priest\n \n in his house. The\n \n priest\n \n made such a great impression on him that Alban received instructions and became a\n \n Christian\n \n himself.\n
\nIn the meantime, the governor had been told that the priest was hiding in Alban's house, and he sent his soldiers to capture him. But Alban changed clothes with his guest, and gave himself up in his stead. The judge was furious when he found out that the priest had escaped and he said to Alban, \"You shall get the punishment he was to get unless you worship the gods.\" The Saint answered that he would never worship those false gods again. \"To what family do you belong?\" demanded the judge. \"That does not concern you,\" said Alban. \"If you want to know my religion, I am a Christian.\" Angrily the judge commanded him again to sacrifice to the gods at once. \"Your sacrifices are offered to devils,\" answered the Saint. \"They cannot help you or answer your requests. The reward for such sacrifices is the everlasting punishment of Hell.\"
Since he was getting nowhere, the judge had Alban whipped. Then he commanded him to be beheaded. On the way to the place of execution, the soldier who was to kill the Saint was converted himself, and he too, became a martyr.
", "tags": "alban", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 452, "action": "Joseph Cafasso", "tags": "cafasso prisons italian directors prisoners clergy joseph imprisoned imprisonment people captives spiritual" }, { "id": 453, "action": "\n Joseph Cafasso was born at Castelnuovo d'Asti in the Piedmont, Italy, of peasant parents. He studied at the seminary at Turin, and was ordained in 1833. He continued his theological studies at the seminary and university at\n \n Turin\n \n and then at the Institute of St. Franics, and despite a deformed spine, became a brilliant lecturer in\n \n moral theology\n \n there. He was a popular teacher, actively opposed Jansenism, and fought state\n \n intrusion\n \n into Church affairs. He succeeded Luigi Guala as\n \n rector\n \n of the Institute in 1848 and made a deep impression on his young\n \n priest\n \n students with his\n \n holiness\n \n and insistence on discipline and high standards. He was a sought-after\n \n confessor\n \n and spiritual adviser, and ministered to prisoners, working to improve their terrible conditions. He met\n \n Don Bosco\n \n in 1827 and the two became close friends. It was through Joseph's encouragement that Bosco decided his vocation was working with boys.\n \n Joseph\n \n was his adviser, worked closely with him in his foundations, and convinced others to fund and found religious institutes and charitable organizations.\n \n Joseph\n \n died on June 23 at\n \n Turin\n \n and was canonized in 1947. His\n \n feast day\n \n is June 23rd.\n
\n", "tags": "cafasso joseph", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 454, "action": "John the Baptist", "tags": "knights spas hospitaller florence baptism bird dodge maine spasms jersey genoa kansas motorways cutters turin italy georgia city savannah south farriers torino baptist john maltese penzance protection new lambs portland children paterson makers england highways jordan usa cornwall carolina sassano dealers horseshoe convulsive charleston convulsions malta" }, { "id": 455, "action": "\n John the Baptist was a contemporary of Christ who was known for evangelization and his baptizing of Jesus Christ.\n
\nJohn the Baptist was born through the intercession of God to Zachariah and Elizabeth, who was otherwise too old to bear children. According to scriptures, the Angel Gabriel visited Elizabeth and Zachariah to tell them they would have a son and that they should name him John. Zachariah was skeptical and for this he was rendered mute until the time his son was born and named John, in fulfillment of God's will.
When Elizabeth was pregnant with John, she was visited by Mary, and John leapt in her womb. This revealed to Elizabeth that the child Mary carried was to be the Son of God.
John began public ministry around 30 AD, and was known for attracting large crowds across the province of Judaea and around the Jordan River. When Jesus came to him to be baptized, John recognized him and said, \"It is I who need baptism from you.\"
Jesus told John to baptize Him anyway, which he did, whereupon the heavens opened, and the Spirit of God was seen like a dove. The voice of God spoke, saying, \"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.\"
John instructed his followers to turn to Christ, calling Him the \"Lamb of God\" and these people were among the first Christians.
Following his baptism of Christ, John's popularity grew so much that he alarmed King Herod. Herod ordered him arrested and imprisoned.
John spoke with Herod on several occasions and condemned his marriage to his half-brother's wife.
This condemnation would be his downfall as King Herod promised to grant a wish to his daughter. In revenge for John the Baptist's condemnation of her mother's scandalous marriage to Herod, she asked for John's head. King Herod reluctantly obliged. John the Baptist died sometime between 33 and 36 AD.
John the Baptist's feast day is June 24, and the anniversary of his death is August 29 and is sometimes celebrated with a second feast. John the Baptist is the patron saint of Jordan, Puerto Rico, French Canada and many other places.
", "tags": "john baptist", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 456, "action": "Eurosia", "tags": "bad eurosia weather" }, { "id": 457, "action": "\n A French martyr, a victim of the Saracens. She was born in Bayonne, France, and was slain at Jaca in the Pyrenees of Aragon, Spain, when she refused to marry a Saracen. She is protectress of Jaca and is also called Orosia.\n
\n", "tags": "eurosia", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 458, "action": "Cyril of Alexandria", "tags": "alexandria cyril egypt" }, { "id": 459, "action": "\n St. Cyril of Alexandria,\n \n Bishop\n \n and\n \n Doctor\n \n of the Church (June 27) Cyril was born at Alexandria, Egypt. He was nephew of the\n \n patriarch\n \n of that city, Theophilus. Cyril received a classical and theological\n \n education\n \n at\n \n Alexandria\n \n and was ordained by his uncle. He accompanied\n \n Theophilus\n \n to\n \n Constantinople\n \n in 403 and was present at the\n \n Synod\n \n of the Oak that deposed\n \n John\n \n Chrysostom, whom he believed guilty of the charges against him. He succeeded his uncle\n \n Theophilus\n \n as\n \n patriarch\n \n of\n \n Alexandria\n \n on Theophilus' death in 412, but only after a riot between Cyril's supporters and the followers of his rival Timotheus. Cyril at once began a series of attacks against the Novatians, whose churches he closed; the Jews, whom he drove from the city; and governor Orestes, with whom he disagreed about some of his actions. In 430 Cyril became embroiled with Nestorius,\n \n patriarch\n \n of Constantinople, who was preaching that\n \n Mary\n \n was not the Mother of\n \n God\n \n since\n \n Christ\n \n was Divine and not human, and consequently she should not have the word theotokos (God-bearer) applied to her. He persuaded Pope Celestine I to convoke a\n \n synod\n \n at Rome, which condemned Nestorius, and then did the same at his own\n \n synod\n \n in Alexandria. Celestine directed Cyril to depose Nestorius, and in 431, Cyril presided over the third General Council at Ephesus, attended by some two hundred bishops, which condemned all the tenets of Nestorius and his followers before the arrival of\n \n Archbishop\n \n \n John\n \n of\n \n Antioch\n \n and forty-two followers who believed Nestorius was innocent. When they found what had been done, they held a council of their own and deposed Cyril. Emperor Theodosius II arrested both Cyril and Nestorius but released Cyril on the arrival of Papal Legates who confirmed the council's actions against Nestorius and declared Cyril innocent of all charges. Two years later,\n \n Archbishop\n \n John, representing the moderate Antiochene bishops, and Cyril reached an agreement and joined in the condemnation, and Nestorius was forced into exile. During the rest of his life, Cyril wrote treatises that clarified the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation and that helped prevent Nestorianism and Pelagianism from taking long-term deep root in the\n \n Christian\n \n community. He was the most brilliant theologian of the Alexandrian tradition. His writings are characterized by accurate thinking, precise exposition, and great reasoning skills. Among his writings are commentaries on John, Luke, and the Pentateuch, treatises on dogmatic theology, and Apologia against Julian the Apostate, and letters and sermons. He was declared a\n \n doctor\n \n of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1882. His\n \n feast day\n \n is June 27th.\n
\n", "tags": "alexandria cyril", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 460, "action": "Paul, Apostle", "tags": "worcester rhode bites birmingham in snake saddlers vegas relations cursillo braiders poisonous evangelists tent action movement snakes catholic italy arch providence nevada massachusetts pennsylvania philadelphia alabama greece laity kavala apostle las island makers saddlemakers bishops lay hospital poznan usa public covington kentucky poland paul missionary people apostolate rope malta" }, { "id": 461, "action": "\n Saint Paul is one of the most important and influential of all the saints. Many of his writings are contained in the Canon of the Bible and have influenced the growth and development of the Church since the first century.\n
\nSt. Paul was originally known as Saul, and he was a Roman citizen and a Pharisee. He even presided over the persecutions of the early Christians and was present at the martyrdom of St. Stephen.
However, Saul experienced a powerful vision that caused him to convert to Christianity while on the road to Damascus. He was duly baptized and took the name Paul.
Paul traveled the world, first to Arabia then back to Damascus. He also visited Jerusalem to see St. Peter, the first pope and pay homage to him. During these travels, he preached ceaselessly, often drawing criticism and ire from those who rebuffed his message. Jews, in particular, hated his preaching as they saw him convert people to Christianity from Judaism.
Eventually, Paul returned to Tarsus, where he was born. He preached there until he was called by Barnabus to come to Antioch. After a year spent in Antioch, a famine occurred in Jerusalem and the pair was dispatched to the city with alms.
The accomplished this mission, and returned to Antioch.
Paul and Barnabus then went forth on a mission to Cypress and throughout Asia Minor. They established several churches in their travels. After establishing his churches, Paul remained in communication with the faithful, often writing letters to answer questions and resolve disputes.
The letters that have survived have become part of the Bible. It is believed that Paul wrote other letters, which were lost even before the Bible was established by the Church. Paul's writings are important because they provide good advice for how Christians should live.
Paul traveled throughout much of Europe, particularly in Macedonia, Greece, and Italy. While preparing for a missionary trip to Spain, he was imprisoned in Caesarea by the Jews for two years. He traveled again, was shipwrecked in Malta, and was imprisoned for another two years for preaching in Rome. Despite these imprisonments, Paul continued to preach.
Paul eventually made his way to Spain, then returned to the East, and finally returned to Rome once again. In 67 AD, Paul was arrested in Rome for a second time and this time he was beheaded under the insane Emperor Nero. According to John Chrysostom, Nero knew Paul personally.
Paul is among the most famous, intelligent and influential of the apostles. There are some who argue that he was the leader of the apostles, but this is not supported by the evidence. Instead, he likely preached at the request of St. Peter, who was pope.
St. Paul is the patron saint of missionaries, evangelists, writers, journalists, authors, public workers, rope and saddle makers, and tent makers. His feast day is on June 29 when he is honored with Saint Peter, although he is also honored on other days throughout the year, January 25, for his conversion, February 16, for his shipwreck, and Nov. 18 for the dedication of his Basilica.
", "tags": "apostle paul", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 462, "action": "Peter the Apostle", "tags": "rhode vegas long exeter church mississippi oxford problems foot locksmiths peter net jackson bridge universal college arch providence popes marquette michigan nevada ship pennsylvania philadelphia scranton frenzy harvesters watch apostle las island makers feet poznan usa shipwrights longevity poland builders butchers life clock" }, { "id": 463, "action": "\n Peter, who was also known as Simon Peter of Cephas, is considered the first Pope. Despite his papacy, Peter had humble beginnings and became one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was ordained by Jesus in the \"Rock of My Church\" written in Matthew 16:17-18, which says, \"Jesus replied, 'Simon son of Jonah, you are a blessed man!\n
\nBecause it was no human agency that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my community. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it.'\"
Peter was a native of Bethsaida, near Lake Tiberias and was the son of Jonah. He and his brother Andrew were fishermen on Lake Genesareth. The Bible chronicles when the brothers met Jesus in Luke chapter 5, which reads:
\"Now it happened that he was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats at the water's edge. The fishermen had got out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats -- it was Simon's -- and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, 'Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.' Simon replied, 'Master, we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.' And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signaled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled both boats to sinking point.
When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, 'Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.' For he and all his companions were completely awestruck at the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners. But Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid; from now on it is people you will be catching.' Then, bringing their boats back to land they left everything and followed him.\"
Just like that, Peter followed Jesus and his life was changed forever. Though he was one of the first disciples called to follow Jesus and eventually became the spokesman for the group, Peter is known for his \"little faith.\"
In Matthew 14, Jesus and his disciples came ashore, where a large crowd waited. Jesus healed the sick and by the end of the day, his disciples told him to tell everyone to go to the villages for food but Jesus performed a miracle and made five loaves of bread and two fish feed the group of five-hundred people. Following the miracle, Jesus told the disciples to take their boat to the other side of a nearby river while he sent the crowds away.
After he bid farewell to the throngs of people, he prayed by himself in the hills. As he prayed, the boat the disciples were on was experiencing rough waves and \"In the fourth watch of the night,\" Jesus approached their boat as he walked on the water. When his disciples spied Jesus walking on the water, they were afraid but Jesus called to them and said, \"Courage! It's me! Don't be afraid.\" Peter answered \"Lord ... if it is you, tell me to come to you across the water.\"
Jesus told him to come so Peter began to walk toward Jesus on the surface of the water. It wasn't until he noticed the wind that he began to fear and cried \"Lord ... save me!\" Jesus touched him and said, \"You have so little faith ... why did you doubt?\"
This is one of many stories involving Peter and Jesus. Another famous story is Peter's attempt to save Jesus from the soldiers who came to take Him to his doom. As described in John 18:10-12, \"Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, 'Put your sword back in its scabbard; am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?' The cohort and its tribune and the Jewish guards seized Jesus and bound him.\"
Following the failed attempt to save Jesus, Peter was recorded denying Jesus, which The Savior foretold during the Last Supper in Mark 14:18-31:
\"And while they were at table eating, Jesus said, 'In truth I tell you, one of you is about to betray me, one of you eating with me.' They were distressed and said to him, one after another, 'Not me, surely?' He said to them, 'It is one of the Twelve, one who is dipping into the same dish with me. Yes, the Son of man is going to his fate, as the scriptures say he will, but alas for that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born.'
\"And as they were eating he took bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to them. 'Take it,' he said, 'this is my body.' Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he handed it to them, and all drank from it, and he said to them, 'This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, poured out for many. In truth I tell you, I shall never drink wine any more until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.'
\"After the psalms had been sung they left for the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, 'You will all fall away, for the scripture says: I shall strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered; however, after my resurrection I shall go before you into Galilee.'
\"Peter said, 'Even if all fall away, I will not.' And Jesus said to him, 'In truth I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will have disowned me three times.' But he repeated still more earnestly, 'If I have to die with you, I will never disown you.' And they all said the same.\"
Regardless of his claims, Peter did deny Christ three times. His denials were recorded in Mark 14:66-72:
\"While Peter was down below in the courtyard, one of the high priest's servant-girls came up. She saw Peter warming himself there, looked closely at him and said, 'You too were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.' But he denied it. 'I do not know, I do not understand what you are talking about,' he said. And he went out into the forecourt, and a cock crowed.
\"The servant-girl saw him and again started telling the bystanders, 'This man is one of them.' But again he denied it. A little later the bystanders themselves said to Peter, 'You are certainly one of them! Why, you are a Galilean.' But he started cursing and swearing, 'I do not know the man you speak of.'
\"And at once the cock crowed for the second time, and Peter recalled what Jesus had said to him, 'Before the cock crows twice, you will have disowned me three times.' And he burst into tears.\"
Matthew 26:69-75 and John 18:17-27 also tell the story of Peter disowning Jesus three times. Following Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, it was Peter who first entered the empty tomb. It was described in Luke 24:12 that when Peter heard Mary of Magdala, Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James, claim Jesus' tomb was empty, he \"went off to the tomb, running. He bent down and looked in and saw the linen cloths but nothing else; he then went back home, amazed at what had happened.\"
1 Corinthians 15:3-7 describes how Jesus resurrected and appeared before Peter first. \"The tradition I handed on to you in the first place, a tradition which I had myself received was that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried; and that on the third day, he was raised to life, in accordance with the scriptures; and that he appeared to [Peter of] Cephas; and later to the Twelve; and next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still with us, though some have fallen asleep; then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles.\"
Following his resurrection, Christ came before his disciples several times. John:21:12-23 describes an instance when Peter is given three chances to admit his love for Jesus, and each time he says he does.
\"Jesus said to them, 'Come and have breakfast.' None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, 'Who are you?' They knew quite well it was the Lord. Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish.
\"This was the third time that Jesus revealed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead. When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?' He answered, 'Yes, Lord, you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my lambs.'
\"A second time he said to him, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' He replied, 'Yes, Lord, you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Look after my sheep.' Then he said to him a third time, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' Peter was hurt that he asked him a third time, 'Do you love me?' and said, 'Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep.
\"In all truth I tell you, when you were young you put on your own belt and walked where you liked; but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and somebody else will put a belt round you and take you where you would rather not go.'
\"In these words he indicated the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God. After this he said, 'Follow me.' Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them -- the one who had leant back close to his chest at the supper and had said to him, 'Lord, who is it that will betray you?'
\"Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, 'What about him, Lord?' Jesus answered, 'If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.' The rumour then went out among the brothers that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus had not said to Peter, 'He will not die,' but, 'If I want him to stay behind till I come.'\"
Jesus offered Peter three chances to follow Him and with the three confirmations of love, Peter was able to balance his three previous denials.
In the time following Christ's Ascension, Peter stood as the unquestionable head of the Apostles, which the book of Acts clearly describes. He went on to appoint the replacement of Judas Iscariot, spoke first to the crowds that had assembled after the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he was the first Apostle to perform miracles in the name of the Lord, and he rendered judgment upon the deceitful Ananias and Sapphira, both of whom were stealing from church members and God alike.
Peter was instrumental in bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles. He baptized the Roman pagan Cornelius, and at the Council of Jerusalem gave his support to preach to Gentiles, thereby permitting the new Church to become universal.
There are so many stories about Peter that it is nearly impossible to fully encompass his deeds, but one story of note was when he was imprisoned by King Herod Agrippa but was able to escape with the help of an angel.
King Herod had begun to persecute specific members of the church and had James, the brother of John beheaded. The Jewish community was grateful for the persecutions so Herod continued and went after Peter. As described in Acts 12:4-11:
\"As it was during the days of Unleavened Bread that he had arrested him, he put him in prison, assigning four sections of four soldiers each to guard him, meaning to try him in public after the Passover. All the time Peter was under guard the church prayed to God for him unremittingly.
\"On the night before Herod was to try him, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, fastened with two chains, while guards kept watch at the main entrance to the prison. Then suddenly an angel of the Lord stood there, and the cell was filled with light. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him. 'Get up!' he said, 'Hurry!' -- and the chains fell from his hands.
\"The angel then said, 'Put on your belt and sandals.' After he had done this, the angel next said, 'Wrap your cloak round you and follow me.' He followed him out, but had no idea that what the angel did was all happening in reality; he thought he was seeing a vision.
\"They passed through the first guard post and then the second and reached the iron gate leading to the city. This opened of its own accord; they went through it and had walked the whole length of one street when suddenly the angel left him. It was only then that Peter came to himself. And he said, 'Now I know it is all true. The Lord really did send his angel and save me from Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.'\"
Following his escape, Peter resumed his apostolate in Jerusalem and his missionary efforts included travels to such cities of the pagan world as Antioch, Corinth, and eventually Rome. He made reference to the Eternal City in his first Epistle by noting that he writes from Babylon. Through a variety of works, it is certain that Peter died in Rome and that his martyrdom came during the reign of Emperor Nero, believed to be in 64 AD.
Testimony of his martyrdom is extensive, including Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, St. Clement I of Rome, St. Ignatius, and St. Irenaeus. According to rich tradition, Peter was crucified on the Vatican Hill upside down because he declared himself unworthy to die in the same manner as the Lord. He was then buried in Rome near the Vatican on Vatican Hill.
In the early 4th century, Emporor Constantine I honored Peter with a large basilica over the site of his burial despite the slope of Vatican Hill, which first needed to be excavated. According to a letter, Pope Vitalian sent a cross with filings said to be from Peter's chains to the queen of Oswy, Anglo-Saxon King of Northumbria in 665 along with unspecified relics of Peter.
In 1950 human bones were discovered beneath the alter of St. Peter's Basilica and many claimed they belonged to Peter. In 1953 an excavation found St. Peter's tomb in Jerusalem bearing his previous name Simon, as well as the tombs of the other apostles, Mary, and Jesus.
In the 1960s, discarded debris from the excavation beneath St. Peter's Basilica were re-examined and were identified as the bones of a male human. This discovery caused Pope Paul VI in 1968 to announce they were likely to belong to the Apostle Peter. On November 24, 2013, Pope Francis revealed the relics of nine bone fragments for the first time in public during a Mass celebrated at St. Peter's Square.
While Peter's chief feast day is June 29, he is also honored on February 22 and November 18. In liturgical art, he is depicted as an elderly man holding a key and a book. His symbols include an inverted cross, a boat, and the cock.
", "tags": "apostle peter", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 464, "action": "Peter", "tags": "fishermen peter" }, { "id": 465, "action": "\n Peter, who was also known as Simon Peter of Cephas, is considered the first Pope. Despite his papacy, Peter had humble beginnings and became one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was ordained by Jesus in the \"Rock of My Church\" written in Matthew 16:17-18, which says, \"Jesus replied, 'Simon son of Jonah, you are a blessed man!\n
\nBecause it was no human agency that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my community. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it.'\"
Peter was a native of Bethsaida, near Lake Tiberias and was the son of Jonah. He and his brother Andrew were fishermen on Lake Genesareth. The Bible chronicles when the brothers met Jesus in Luke chapter 5, which reads:
\"Now it happened that he was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats at the water's edge. The fishermen had got out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats -- it was Simon's -- and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, 'Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.' Simon replied, 'Master, we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.' And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signaled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled both boats to sinking point.
When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, 'Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.' For he and all his companions were completely awestruck at the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners. But Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid; from now on it is people you will be catching.' Then, bringing their boats back to land they left everything and followed him.\"
Just like that, Peter followed Jesus and his life was changed forever. Though he was one of the first disciples called to follow Jesus and eventually became the spokesman for the group, Peter is known for his \"little faith.\"
In Matthew 14, Jesus and his disciples came ashore, where a large crowd waited. Jesus healed the sick and by the end of the day, his disciples told him to tell everyone to go to the villages for food but Jesus performed a miracle and made five loaves of bread and two fish feed the group of five-hundred people. Following the miracle, Jesus told the disciples to take their boat to the other side of a nearby river while he sent the crowds away.
After he bid farewell to the throngs of people, he prayed by himself in the hills. As he prayed, the boat the disciples were on was experiencing rough waves and \"In the fourth watch of the night,\" Jesus approached their boat as he walked on the water. When his disciples spied Jesus walking on the water, they were afraid but Jesus called to them and said, \"Courage! It's me! Don't be afraid.\" Peter answered \"Lord ... if it is you, tell me to come to you across the water.\"
Jesus told him to come so Peter began to walk toward Jesus on the surface of the water. It wasn't until he noticed the wind that he began to fear and cried \"Lord ... save me!\" Jesus touched him and said, \"You have so little faith ... why did you doubt?\"
This is one of many stories involving Peter and Jesus. Another famous story is Peter's attempt to save Jesus from the soldiers who came to take Him to his doom. As described in John 18:10-12, \"Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, 'Put your sword back in its scabbard; am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?' The cohort and its tribune and the Jewish guards seized Jesus and bound him.\"
Following the failed attempt to save Jesus, Peter was recorded denying Jesus, which The Savior foretold during the Last Supper in Mark 14:18-31:
\"And while they were at table eating, Jesus said, 'In truth I tell you, one of you is about to betray me, one of you eating with me.' They were distressed and said to him, one after another, 'Not me, surely?' He said to them, 'It is one of the Twelve, one who is dipping into the same dish with me. Yes, the Son of man is going to his fate, as the scriptures say he will, but alas for that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born.'
\"And as they were eating he took bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to them. 'Take it,' he said, 'this is my body.' Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he handed it to them, and all drank from it, and he said to them, 'This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, poured out for many. In truth I tell you, I shall never drink wine any more until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.'
\"After the psalms had been sung they left for the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, 'You will all fall away, for the scripture says: I shall strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered; however, after my resurrection I shall go before you into Galilee.'
\"Peter said, 'Even if all fall away, I will not.' And Jesus said to him, 'In truth I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will have disowned me three times.' But he repeated still more earnestly, 'If I have to die with you, I will never disown you.' And they all said the same.\"
Regardless of his claims, Peter did deny Christ three times. His denials were recorded in Mark 14:66-72:
\"While Peter was down below in the courtyard, one of the high priest's servant-girls came up. She saw Peter warming himself there, looked closely at him and said, 'You too were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.' But he denied it. 'I do not know, I do not understand what you are talking about,' he said. And he went out into the forecourt, and a cock crowed.
\"The servant-girl saw him and again started telling the bystanders, 'This man is one of them.' But again he denied it. A little later the bystanders themselves said to Peter, 'You are certainly one of them! Why, you are a Galilean.' But he started cursing and swearing, 'I do not know the man you speak of.'
\"And at once the cock crowed for the second time, and Peter recalled what Jesus had said to him, 'Before the cock crows twice, you will have disowned me three times.' And he burst into tears.\"
Matthew 26:69-75 and John 18:17-27 also tell the story of Peter disowning Jesus three times. Following Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, it was Peter who first entered the empty tomb. It was described in Luke 24:12 that when Peter heard Mary of Magdala, Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James, claim Jesus' tomb was empty, he \"went off to the tomb, running. He bent down and looked in and saw the linen cloths but nothing else; he then went back home, amazed at what had happened.\"
1 Corinthians 15:3-7 describes how Jesus resurrected and appeared before Peter first. \"The tradition I handed on to you in the first place, a tradition which I had myself received was that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried; and that on the third day, he was raised to life, in accordance with the scriptures; and that he appeared to [Peter of] Cephas; and later to the Twelve; and next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still with us, though some have fallen asleep; then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles.\"
Following his resurrection, Christ came before his disciples several times. John:21:12-23 describes an instance when Peter is given three chances to admit his love for Jesus, and each time he says he does.
\"Jesus said to them, 'Come and have breakfast.' None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, 'Who are you?' They knew quite well it was the Lord. Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish.
\"This was the third time that Jesus revealed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead. When they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?' He answered, 'Yes, Lord, you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my lambs.'
\"A second time he said to him, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' He replied, 'Yes, Lord, you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Look after my sheep.' Then he said to him a third time, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' Peter was hurt that he asked him a third time, 'Do you love me?' and said, 'Lord, you know everything; you know I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep.
\"In all truth I tell you, when you were young you put on your own belt and walked where you liked; but when you grow old you will stretch out your hands, and somebody else will put a belt round you and take you where you would rather not go.'
\"In these words he indicated the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God. After this he said, 'Follow me.' Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them -- the one who had leant back close to his chest at the supper and had said to him, 'Lord, who is it that will betray you?'
\"Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, 'What about him, Lord?' Jesus answered, 'If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.' The rumour then went out among the brothers that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus had not said to Peter, 'He will not die,' but, 'If I want him to stay behind till I come.'\"
Jesus offered Peter three chances to follow Him and with the three confirmations of love, Peter was able to balance his three previous denials.
In the time following Christ's Ascension, Peter stood as the unquestionable head of the Apostles, which the book of Acts clearly describes. He went on to appoint the replacement of Judas Iscariot, spoke first to the crowds that had assembled after the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he was the first Apostle to perform miracles in the name of the Lord, and he rendered judgment upon the deceitful Ananias and Sapphira, both of whom were stealing from church members and God alike.
Peter was instrumental in bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles. He baptized the Roman pagan Cornelius, and at the Council of Jerusalem gave his support to preach to Gentiles, thereby permitting the new Church to become universal.
There are so many stories about Peter that it is nearly impossible to fully encompass his deeds, but one story of note was when he was imprisoned by King Herod Agrippa but was able to escape with the help of an angel.
King Herod had begun to persecute specific members of the church and had James, the brother of John beheaded. The Jewish community was grateful for the persecutions so Herod continued and went after Peter. As described in Acts 12:4-11:
\"As it was during the days of Unleavened Bread that he had arrested him, he put him in prison, assigning four sections of four soldiers each to guard him, meaning to try him in public after the Passover. All the time Peter was under guard the church prayed to God for him unremittingly.
\"On the night before Herod was to try him, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, fastened with two chains, while guards kept watch at the main entrance to the prison. Then suddenly an angel of the Lord stood there, and the cell was filled with light. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him. 'Get up!' he said, 'Hurry!' -- and the chains fell from his hands.
\"The angel then said, 'Put on your belt and sandals.' After he had done this, the angel next said, 'Wrap your cloak round you and follow me.' He followed him out, but had no idea that what the angel did was all happening in reality; he thought he was seeing a vision.
\"They passed through the first guard post and then the second and reached the iron gate leading to the city. This opened of its own accord; they went through it and had walked the whole length of one street when suddenly the angel left him. It was only then that Peter came to himself. And he said, 'Now I know it is all true. The Lord really did send his angel and save me from Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.'\"
Following his escape, Peter resumed his apostolate in Jerusalem and his missionary efforts included travels to such cities of the pagan world as Antioch, Corinth, and eventually Rome. He made reference to the Eternal City in his first Epistle by noting that he writes from Babylon. Through a variety of works, it is certain that Peter died in Rome and that his martyrdom came during the reign of Emperor Nero, believed to be in 64 AD.
Testimony of his martyrdom is extensive, including Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, St. Clement I of Rome, St. Ignatius, and St. Irenaeus. According to rich tradition, Peter was crucified on the Vatican Hill upside down because he declared himself unworthy to die in the same manner as the Lord. He was then buried in Rome near the Vatican on Vatican Hill.
In the early 4th century, Emporor Constantine I honored Peter with a large basilica over the site of his burial despite the slope of Vatican Hill, which first needed to be excavated. According to a letter, Pope Vitalian sent a cross with filings said to be from Peter's chains to the queen of Oswy, Anglo-Saxon King of Northumbria in 665 along with unspecified relics of Peter.
In 1950 human bones were discovered beneath the alter of St. Peter's Basilica and many claimed they belonged to Peter. In 1953 an excavation found St. Peter's tomb in Jerusalem bearing his previous name Simon, as well as the tombs of the other apostles, Mary, and Jesus.
In the 1960s, discarded debris from the excavation beneath St. Peter's Basilica were re-examined and were identified as the bones of a male human. This discovery caused Pope Paul VI in 1968 to announce they were likely to belong to the Apostle Peter. On November 24, 2013, Pope Francis revealed the relics of nine bone fragments for the first time in public during a Mass celebrated at St. Peter's Square.
While Peter's chief feast day is June 29, he is also honored on February 22 and November 18. In liturgical art, he is depicted as an elderly man holding a key and a book. His symbols include an inverted cross, a boat, and the cock.
", "tags": "peter", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 466, "action": "Basilides", "tags": "italian basilides officers prison" }, { "id": 467, "action": "\n Martyr of Egypt, defender of St. Potomiana.\n \n Basilides\n \n was a soldier of the guard of the prefect of Egypt. When involved in the execution of St. Potomiana, he defended her against a mob. Receiving the faith,\n \n Basilides\n \n was also martyred.\n
\n", "tags": "basilides", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 468, "action": "Oliver Plunket", "tags": "oliver urban plunket university rome" }, { "id": 469, "action": "\n Oliver Plunkett was born in Loughcrew in County Meath,\n \n Ireland\n \n on November 1, 1629. In 1647, he went to study for the\n \n priesthood\n \n in the Irish\n \n College\n \n in Rome. On January 1, 1654, he was ordained a\n \n priest\n \n in the Propaganda\n \n College\n \n in Rome.\n
\nDue to religious persecution in his native land, it was not possible for him to return to minister to his people. Oliver taught in Rome until 1669, when he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland. Archbishop Plunkett soon established himself as a man of peace and, with religious fervor, set about visiting his people, establishing schools, ordaining priests, and confirming thousands.
1673 brought a renewal of religious persecution, and bishops were banned by edict. Archbishop Plunkett went into hiding, suffering a great deal from cold and hunger. His many letters showed his determination not to abandon his people, but to remain a faithful shepherd. He thanked God \"Who gave us the grace to suffer for the chair of Peter.\" The persecution eased a little and he was able to move more openly among his people. In 1679 he was arrested and falsely charged with treason. The government in power could not get him convicted at his trial in Dundalk. He was brought to London and was unable to defend himself because he was not given time to bring his own witnesses from Ireland. He was put on trial, and with the help of perjured witnesses, was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. With deep serenity of soul, he was prepared to die, calmly rebutting the charge of treason, refusing to save himself by giving false evidence against his brother bishops. Oliver Plunkett publicly forgave all those who were responsible for his death on July 1, 1681. On October 12, 1975, he was canonized a saint. His feast day is July 1st.
", "tags": "oliver plunket", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 470, "action": "Bernadine Realino", "tags": "realino lecce bernadine italy" }, { "id": 471, "action": "\n St. Bernardino Realino was born into a noble\n \n family\n \n of Capri,\n \n Italy\n \n in 1530. After receiving a thorough and devout\n \n Christian\n \n \n education\n \n at the hands of his mother, he went on to study medicine at the University of Bologna, but after three years he switched to\n \n law\n \n and received his doctorate in 1563. Word of his learning, dedication, and legal brilliance spread rapidly, and in 1554 he was summoned to\n \n Naples\n \n to assume the position of\n \n auditor\n \n and lieutenant general.\n
\nShortly afterward, his exemplary young man came to the realization that he had a religious vocation and, aided by our Lady's appearance to him, joined the Society of Jesus, being ordained in 1567. For three years he labored unstintingly at Naples, devoting himself wholeheartedly to the service of the poor and the youth, and then he was sent to Lecce where he remained for the last forty-two years of his life.
St. Bernardino won widespread recognition as a result of his ceaseless apostolic labors. He was a model confessor, a powerful preacher, a diligent teacher of the Faith to the young, a dedicated shepherd of souls, as well as Rector of the Jesuit college in Lecce and Superior of the Community there. His charity to the poor and the sick knew no bounds and his kindness brought about the end of vendettas and public scandals that cropped up from time to time.
So greatly was this saint loved and appreciated by his people that in 1616, as he lay on his death bed the city's magistrates formally requested that he should take the city under his protection. Unable to speak, St. Bernardino bowed his head. He died with the names of Jesus and Mary on his lips. His feast day is July 2nd.
", "tags": "realino bernadine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 472, "action": "Processus and Martinian", "tags": "officers prison processus martinian guards" }, { "id": 473, "action": "\n Martyrs buried on the\n \n Aurelian\n \n Way. According to tradition, they were two Roman martyrs who were much venerated in the Eternal City, including having a\n \n basilica\n \n on the Aurelian. They joined the\n \n Apostles\n \n Peter and Paul in the\n \n Mamertine Prison\n \n in\n \n Rome\n \n before their executions. A spring flowed miraculously in the prison, and Processus and Martinian, both wardens, were baptized in the\n \n miraculous\n \n waters. Their\n \n relics\n \n are preserved in St. Peter's Basilica. Their cults have been limited to local calendars since 1969.\n
\n", "tags": "martinian processus", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 474, "action": "Thomas, Apostle", "tags": "surveyors geometricians pakistan construction india lanka workers indies ceylon quantity thomas carpenters blind apostle east formerly builders masons sri architects people joiners" }, { "id": 475, "action": "\n St. Thomas was born a Jew and was called to be one of the twelve Apostles. His birth and death dates are unknown, but his feast day is celebrated July 3. He lived before the formal establishment of the Catholic Church but is recognized as the patron saint of architects.\n
\nHe was a dedicated but impetuous follower of Christ. When Jesus said He was returning to Judea to visit His sick friend Lazarus, Thomas immediately exhorted the other Apostles to accompany Him on the trip which involved certain danger and possible death because of the mounting hostility of the authorities.
At the Last Supper, when Christ told His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them to which they also might come because they knew both the place and the way, Thomas pleaded that they did not understand and received the beautiful assurance that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
St. Thomas is best known for his role in verifying the Resurrection of his Master. Thomas' unwillingness to believe that the other Apostles had seen their risen Lord on the first Easter Sunday earned him the title of \"doubting Thomas.\"
Eight days later, on Christ's second apparition, Thomas was gently rebuked for his skepticism and furnished with the evidence he had demanded - seeing in Christ's hands the point of the nails. Thomas even put his fingers in the nail holes and his hand into Christ's side. After verifying the wounds were true, St. Thomas became convinced of the reality of the Resurrection and exclaimed, \"My Lord and My God,\" thus making a public Profession of Faith in the Divinity of Jesus.
St. Thomas is also mentioned as being present at another Resurrection appearance of Jesus - at Lake Tiberias, when a miraculous catch of fish occurred.
This is all that we know about St. Thomas from the New Testament. Tradition says that at the dispersal of the Apostles after Pentecost this saint was sent to evangelize to the Parthians, Medes, and Persians. He ultimately reached India, carrying the Faith to the Malabar coast, which still boasts a large native population calling themselves \"Christians of St. Thomas.\"
According to tradition, Thomas was killed in an accident when a fowler shot at a peacock and struck Thomas instead. Following his death, some of his relics were taken to Edessa while the rest were kept in what is now known as India. They can still be found within the San Thome Basilica in Chennai, Mylapore, India.
The relics taken to Edessa were moved in 1258 to Italy, where they can be found in the Cathedral of St. Thomas the Apostle in Ortona, Italy. However, it is believed that Saint Thomas' skull rests in the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian on the Greek Island Patmos.
In art, Saint Thomas is commonly depicted as a young man holding a scroll, or as a young adult touching the resurrected Christ's wounds.
Saint Thomas was mentioned in several texts, including one document called The Passing of Mary, which claims then-apostle Thomas was the only one to witness the Assumption of Mary into heaven, while the other apostles were transported to Jerusalem to witness her death.
While the other apostles were with Mary, Thomas was left in India until after her first burial, when he was transported to her tomb and he saw her bodily assumption into heaven, when her girdle was left behind.
In versions of the story, the other apostles doubted Thomas' words until Mary's tomb was discovered to be empty with the exception of her girdle. Thomas and the girdle were often depicted in medieval and early Renaissance art.
Prayer to Saint Thomas the Apostle
Dear Saint Thomas,
You were once slow in believing that Christ had gloriously risen; but later, because you had seen him, you exclaimed: \"My Lord and my God!\"
According to an ancient story, you rendered most powerful assistance for constructing a church in a place where pagan priests opposed it.
Please bless architects, builds and carpenters that through them the Lord may be honored.
Amen.
", "tags": "apostle thomas", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 476, "action": "Phocas the Gardener", "tags": "husbandmen gardener phocas hands field agricultural workers ranchers farm farmers" }, { "id": 477, "action": "\n Martyred\n \n Christian\n \n gardener who lived at Sinope, in Paphiagonia, on the Black Sea and was put to death during the persecutions launched by Emperor Diocletian. Phocas is sometimes confused with Phocas of Antioch, although there is no\n \n doubt\n \n about the historical act of his martyrdom. According to tradition, he gave welcome to the Roman soldiers sent to find and execute him and, as they did not know who he was, he agreed to take them to the Phocas whom they sought. After fixing them food and allowing them to sleep in his house, he went out and dug his grave, using the rest of the night to prepare his soul. In the morning he led them to his prepared grave and informed them of his identity. When they were aghast and hesitated to slay him, he encouraged them to complete their task and behead him. He is especially venerated in the East and was long considered a patron saint for sailors.\n
\nST. PHOCUS dwelt near the gate of Sinope, a city of Pontus, and lived by cultivating a garden, which yielded him a handsome subsistence, and wherewith plentifully to relieve the indigent. In his humble profession he imitated the virtue of the most holy anchorets, and seemed in part restored to the happy condition of our first parents in Eden. To prune the garden without labour and toil was their sweet employment and pleasure. Since their sin, the earth yields not its fruit but by the sweat of our brow. But still, no labour is more useful or necessary, or more natural to man, and better adapted to maintain in him vigour of mind or health of body than that of tillage; nor does any other part of the universe rival the innocent charms which a garden presents to all our senses, by the fragrancy of its flowers, by the riches of its produce, and the sweetness and variety of its fruits; by the melodious concert of its musicians, by the worlds of wonders which every stem, leaf, and fibre exhibit to the contemplation of the inquisitive philosopher, and by that beauty and variegated lustre of colours which clothe the numberless tribes of its smallest inhabitants, and adorn its shining landscapes, vying with the brightest splendour of the heavens, and in a single lily surpassing the dazzling lustre with which Solomon was surrounded on his throne in the midst of all his glory. And what a field for contemplation does a garden offer to our view in every part, raising our souls to God in raptures of love and praise, stimulating us to fervour, by the fruitfulness with which it repays our labour, and multiplies the seed it receives; and exciting us to tears of compunction for our insensibility to God by the barrenness with which it is changed into a frightful desert, unless subdued by assiduous toil! Our saint joining prayer with his labour, found in his garden itself an instructive book, and an inexhausted fund of holy meditation. His house was open to all strangers and travellers who had no lodging in the place; and after having for many years most liberally bestowed the fruit of his labour on the poor, he was found worthy also to give his life for Christ. Though his profession was obscure, he was well known over the whole country by the reputation of his charity and virtue.
When a cruel persecution, probably that of Dioclesian in 303, was suddenly raised in the church, Phocas was immediately impeached as a Christian, and such was the notoriety of his pretended crime, that the formality of a trial was superceded by the persecutors, and executioners were despatched with an order to kill him on the spot wherever they should find him. Arriving near Sinope, they would not enter the town, but stopping at his house without knowing it, at his kind invitation they took up their lodging with him. Being charmed with his courteous entertainment, they at supper disclosed to him the errand upon which they were sent, and desired him to inform them where this Phocas could be most easily met with? The servant of God, without the least surprise, told them he was well acquainted with the man, and would give them certain intelligence of him next morning. After they were retired to bed he dug a grave, prepared everything for his burial, and spent the night in disposing his soul for his last hour. When it was day he went to his guests, and told them Phocas was found, and in their power whenever they pleased to apprehend him. Glad at this news, they inquired where he was. \"He is here present,\" said the martyr, \"I myself am the man.\" Struck at his undaunted resolution, and at the composure of his mind, they stood a considerable time as if they had been motionless, nor could they at first think of imbruing their hands in the blood of a person in whom they discovered so heroic a virtue, and by whom they had been so courteously entertained. He indirectly encouraged them, saying, that as for himself, he looked upon such a death as the greatest of favours, and his highest advantage. At length recovering themselves from their surprise, they struck off his head. The Christians of that city, after peace was restored to the church, built a stately church which bore his name, and was famous over all the East. In it were deposited the sacred relics, though some portions of them were dispersed in other churches.
St. Asterius, bishop of Amasea about the year 400, pronounced the panegyric of this martyr, on his festival, in a church, probably near Amasea, which possessed a small part of his remains. In this discourse 1 he says, \"that Phocas from the time of his death was become a pillar and support of the churches on earth: he draws all men to his house; the highways are filled with persons resorting from every country to this place of prayer. The magnificent church which (at Sinope) is possessed of his body, is the comfort and ease of the afflicted, the health of the sick, the magazine plentifully supplying the wants of the poor. If in any other place, as in this, some small portion of his relics be found, it also becomes admirable, and most desired by all Christians.\" He adds, that the head of St. Phocas was kept in his beautiful church in Rome, and says, \"The Romans honour him by the concourse of the whole people in the same manner they do Peter and Paul.\" He bears testimony that the sailors in the Euxine, Ćgean, and Adriatic seas, and in the ocean, sing hymns in his honour, and that the martyr has often succoured and preserved them; and that the portion of gain which they in every voyage set apart for the poor is called Phocas's part. He mentions that a certain king of barbarians had sent his royal diadem set with jewels, and his rich helmet a present to the church of St. Phocas, praying the martyr to offer it to the Lord in thanksgiving for the kingdom which his Divine Majesty had bestowed upon him. St. Chrysostom received a portion of the relics of St. Phocas, not at Antioch, as Baronius thought, and as Fronto le Duc and Baillet doubt, but at Constantinople as Montfaucon demonstrates. 2 On that solemn occasion the city kept a great festival two days, and St. Chrysostom preached two sermons, only one of which is extant. 3 In this he says, that the emperors left their palaces to reverence these relics, and strove to share with the rest in the blessings which they procure men. The emperor Phocas built afterwards another great church at Constantinople in honour of this martyr, and caused a considerable part of his relics to be translated thither. The Greeks often style St. Phocas hiero-martyr or sacred martyr, which epithet they sometimes give to eminent martyrs who were not bishops, as Ruinart demonstrates against Baronius.
", "tags": "phocas gardener", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 478, "action": "Ulric", "tags": "ulric mice complications birth frenzy moles dizziness vertigo augsburg" }, { "id": 479, "action": "\n Ulric was born at Augsburg, Germany. He was educated at\n \n St. Gall\n \n \n Abbey\n \n in\n \n Switzerland\n \n and by his uncle, St. Adalbeo,\n \n bishop\n \n of Augsburg. Ulric succeeded to the See as\n \n bishop\n \n in 923, and when\n \n Augsburg\n \n was plundered and ravaged by the Magyars, he led its inhabitants in the task of rebuilding the city and its cathedral. In his old age, he retired to St. Gall, named his nephew as his successor, and was accused of nepotism for his action. His canonization by Pope\n \n John XV\n \n in 993 is the first recorded canonization by a Pope. His\n \n feast day\n \n is July 4th.\n
\n", "tags": "ulric", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 480, "action": "Elizabeth of Portugal", "tags": "unfaithfulness peace war adultery jealousy as time peacemaker queens victims portugal marriages tertiaries elizabeth invoked difficult" }, { "id": 481, "action": "\n Elizabeth was a Spanish princess who was given in marriage to King Denis of\n \n Portugal\n \n at the age of twelve. She was very beautiful and very lovable. She was also very devout, and went to\n \n Mass\n \n every day.\n \n Elizabeth\n \n was a holy wife, but although her husband was fond of her at first, he soon began to\n \n cause\n \n her great suffering. Though a\n \n good\n \n ruler, he did not imitate his wife's love of\n \n prayer\n \n and other virtues. In fact, his sins of impurity gave great scandle to the people.\n
\nLater, to make matters worse, the King believed a lie told about Elizabeth and one of her pages by another page, who was jealous of his companion. In great anger the King ordered the one he believed guilty, to be sent to a lime-burner. The lime-burner was commanded to throw into his furnace the first page who came. The good page set out obediently, not knowing death was waiting for him. On his way he stopped for Mass, since he had the habit of going daily. The first Mass had begun, so he stayed for a second one. In the meantime, the King sent the wicked page to the lime-burner to find out if the other had been killed. And so it was this page who was thrown into the furnace! When the King learned what had happened, he realized that God had saved the good page, punished the liar, and proven Queen Elizabeth to be innocent.
This amazing event helped greatly to make the King live better. He apologized to his wife in front of everyone and began to have a great respect for her. In his last sickness, she never left his side, except for Mass, until he died a holy death. St. Elizabeth lived for eleven more years, doing even greater charity and penance. She was a wonderful model of kindness toward the poor and a successful peacemaker between members of her own family and between nations.
Because St. Elizabeth was faithful to daily Mass, she found strength to carry her many great crosses. And because her page was faithful to daily Mass, he escaped death. We should try our best to make it a habit to go to Mass daily.
", "tags": "elizabeth portugal", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 482, "action": "Maria Goretti", "tags": "people mary mother loss teenagers students youth parents children young maria girls goretti esp." }, { "id": 483, "action": "\n Born on October 16 1890 in Corinaldo, in the Ancona Province in Italy, her farmworker father moved his family to Ferrier di Conca, near Anzio. When he died of malaria, Maria's mother had to struggle to feed her children.\n
\nMaria's mother, brothers, and sisters worked in the fields while she cooked, sewed, kept the house clean, and watched her youngest sister Teresa. Though the family's circumstances were extremely difficult, they were very close and loved God.
On July 5, 1902, Maria was sitting outside the steps of her home sewing her 18-year-old brother or neighbor -it is unclear which - Alessandro's shirt while he threshed beans in the barnyard. As she concentrated on her sewing, Alessandro surprised her and grabbed her from her steps. When he tried to rape her, Maria cried that it was a mortal sin and warned he would go to hell.\n\n
When Alessandro persisted, she fought him and screamed, \"No! It is a sin! God does not want it!\" At her words, Alessandro began to choke her and she said she would rather die than submit. Upon hearing her words, Alexander pulled out a knife and stabbed her eleven times. When she attempted to reach the door, he stabbed her three more times then fled.
Teresa woke to the sounds of her sister's cries and began to cry. Maria's family returned home and found her bleeding on the floor. They quickly took her to the nearest hospital in Nettuno, where she underwent surgery without anesthesia.
Unfortunately, her wounds were beyond the surgeon's ability to help. Halfway through the surgery, the man asked her, \"Maria, think of me in Paradise.\"
As she lay on the table, she looked up at him and said, \"Well, who knows which of us is going to be there first?\"
She did not realize how terrible her situation was, and the surgeon replied, \"You, Maria.\"
She said, \"Then I will think gladly of you.\" She also mentioned concerns for her mother. The next day, Maria forgave Alessandro and said she wanted to see him in Heaven with her. She died that day while looking upon an image of the Virgin Mary and holding a cross to her chest.
Shortly after Maria's family discovered her, Alexander was captured and questioned. He admitted Maria was a physical virgin as he was unable to assault her and he was sentenced to thirty years. He also admitted he had attempted to persuade her to accompany him to bed on several occasions in the past and had attempted to rape her before.
Alessandro remained unrepentant for his actions until he had a dream that he was in a garden. Maria was there and gave him lilies, which immediately burned in his hands. When he woke, he was a changed man. He repented his crime and living a reformed life. When he was released 27-years-later, he went directly to Maria's mother and begged her forgiveness, which she gave, saying, \"If my daughter can forgive him, who am I to withhold forgiveness?\"
Maria Goretti was beatified by Pope Pius XII in a ceremony at Saint Peter's Basilica on April 27, 1947.
Three years later, on June 24, 1950, Maria was declared a saint and Alessandro was present in the St. Peter's crowd to celebrate her canonization. He later became a laybrother of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, where he lived in a monastery and worked as its receptionist and gardener until his death.
Saint Maria is called a martyr because she fought against Alessandro's attempts at sexual sin; however, the most important aspects of her story are how she forgave her attacker - her concern for her enemy extending even beyond death - and the miracle her forgiveness produced in his life.
Saint Maria's body can be found in the crypt of the Basilica of Nostra Signora delle Grazie e Santa Maria Goretti in Nettuno. Though several claim her body is incorrupt, she has been proven to be corrupt. Her body is kept in a statue which lies beneath the altar and has been mistaken to be all of her remains.
Images of Saint Maria often represent her with wavy hair dressed in either white or farm clothes and is often depicted holding lilies.
", "tags": "maria goretti", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 484, "action": "Illidius", "tags": "illidius formerly clermont france averna" }, { "id": 485, "action": "\n Bishop of Clermont, France. Also known as Allyre, he was much respected by St. Gregory of Tours. Illidius did much to establish\n \n Clermont\n \n as a leading monastic and cultural center in the region.\n
\n", "tags": "illidius", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 486, "action": "Killian", "tags": "gout whitewashers killian wurzburg rheumatoid rheumatism sufferers arthritis bavaria" }, { "id": 487, "action": "\n An Irish monk,\n \n St. Kilian\n \n was consecrated Bishop, went to\n \n Rome\n \n with eleven companions in 686, and received permission from Pope Conon to evangelize Franconia (Baden and Bavaria). He was successful, with two followers - Colman, a priest, and Totnan, a deacon - in his missionary endeavors until he converted Gosbert, Duke of Wurzburg, who had married Geilana, his brother's widow. According to legend, while Gosbert was away on a military expedition, Geilana is reputed to have had the three missionaries beheaded when she found that Gosbert was going to leave her after Kilian had told him the marriage was forbidden by the Church. His\n \n feast day\n \n is July 8th.\n
\n", "tags": "killian", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 488, "action": "Benedict", "tags": "cave hands cavers masters' temptations dying farm farmers orders coppersmiths rash servants workers who stones potholers gall bachelors property religious diseases speliologists kidney benedict agricultural field broke scientists ranchers poison witchcraft disease husbandmen inflammatory nettle spelunkers people erysipelas monks" }, { "id": 489, "action": "\n St. Benedict is believed to have been born around 480, as the son to a Roman noble of Norcia and the twin to his sister, Scholastica.\n
\nIn the fifth century, the young Benedict was sent to Rome to finish his education with a nurse/housekeeper. The subject that dominated a young man's study then was rhetoric -- the art of persuasive speaking. A successful speaker was not one who had the best argument or conveyed the truth, but one who used rhythm, eloquence, and technique to convince. The power of the voice without foundation in the heart was the goal of the student's education. And that philosophy was reflected in the lives of the students as well. They had everything -- education, wealth, youth -- and they spent all of it in the pursuit of pleasure, not truth. Benedict watched in horror as vice unraveled the lives and ethics of his companions.
Afraid for his soul, Benedict fled Rome, gave up his inheritance and lived in a small village with his nurse. When God called him beyond this quiet life to an even deeper solitude, he went to the mountains of Subiaco. Although becoming a hermit was not his purpose in leaving, there he lived as a hermit under the direction of another hermit, Romanus.
One day, during his time living in a cave above a lake as a hermit, the Devil presented Benedict's imagination with a beautiful, tempting woman. Benedict resisted by rolling his body into a thorn bush until it was covered in scrapes. It is said through these body wounds, he cured the wounds of his soul.
After years of prayer, word of his holiness brought nearby monks to ask for his leadership. He warned them he would be too strict for them, but they insisted -- then tried to poison him when his warning proved true. The story goes, the monks attempted to poison Benedict's drink, but when he prayed a blessing over the cup - it shattered.
So Benedict was on his own again -- but not for long. The next set of followers were more sincere and he set up twelve monasteries in Subiaco where monks lived in separate communities of twelve.
He left these monasteries abruptly when the envious attacks of another hermit made it impossible to continue the spiritual leadership he had taken.
But it was in Monte Cassino he founded the monastery that became the roots of the Church's monastic system. Instead of founding small separate communities he gathered his disciples into one whole community. His own sister, Saint Scholastica, settled nearby to live a religious life.
After almost 1,500 years of monastic tradition his direction seems obvious to us. However, Benedict was an innovator. No one had ever set up communities like his before or directed them with a rule. What is part of history to us now was a bold, risky step into the future.
Benedict had the holiness and the ability to take this step. His beliefs and instructions on religious life were collected in what is now known as the Rule of Saint Benedict -- still directing religious life after 15 centuries.
In this tiny but powerful Rule, Benedict put what he had learned about the power of speaking and oratorical rhythms at the service of the Gospel. He did not drop out of school because he did not understand the subject! Scholars have told us that his Rule reflects an understanding of and skill with the rhetorical rules of the time. Despite his experience at school, he understood rhetoric was as much a tool as a hammer was. A hammer could be used to build a house or hit someone over the head. Rhetoric could be used to promote vice ... or promote God. Benedict did not shun rhetoric because it had been used to seduce people to vice; he reformed it.
Benedict did not want to lose the power of voice to reach up to God simply because others had use it to sink down to the gutter. He reminded us \"Let us consider our place in sight of God and of his angels. Let us rise in chanting that our hearts and voices harmonize.\" There was always a voice reading aloud in his communities at meals, to receive guests, to educate novices. Hearing words one time was not enough -- \"We wish this Rule to be read frequently to the community.\"
Benedict realized the strongest and truest foundation for the power of words was the Word of God itself: \"For what page or word of the Bible is not a perfect rule for temporal life?\" He had experienced the power of God's word as expressed in Scripture: \"For just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to him who sows and bread to him who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it\" (Isaiah 55:10-11).
For prayer, Benedict turned to the psalms, the very songs and poems from the Jewish liturgy that Jesus himself had prayed. To join our voices with Jesus in praise of God during the day was so important that Benedict called it the \"Work of God.\" And nothing was to be put before the work of God. \"Immediately upon hearing the signal for the Divine Office all work will cease.\" Benedict believed with Jesus that \"One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God' \" (Matthew 4:4).
But it wasn't enough to just speak the words. Benedict instructed his followers to practice sacred reading -- the study of the very Scriptures they would be praying in the Work of God. In this lectio divina, he and his monks memorized the Scripture, studied it, and contemplated it until it became part of their being. Four to six hours were set aside each day for this sacred reading. If monks had free time it \"should be used by the brothers to practice psalms.\" Lessons from Scripture were to be spoken from memory not read from a book. On Benedict's list of \"Instruments of Good Works\" is \"to enjoy holy readings.\"
In one story of Benedict's life, a poor man came to the monastery begging for a little oil. Although Benedict commanded that the oil be given, the cellarer refused -- because there was only a tiny bit of oil left. If the cellarer gave any oil as alms there would be none for the monastery. Angry at this distrust of God's providence, Benedict knelt down to pray. As he prayed a bubbling sound came from inside the oil jar. The monks watched in fascination as oil from God filled the vessel so completely that it overflowed, leaked out beneath the lid and finally pushed the cover off, cascading out on to the floor.
In Benedictine prayer, our hearts are the vessel empty of thoughts and intellectual striving. All that remains is the trust in God's providence to fill us. Emptying ourselves this way brings God's abundant goodness bubbling up in our hearts, first with an inspiration or two, and finally overflowing our heart with contemplative love.
Benedict died on 21 March 543, not long after his sister. It is said he died with high fever on the very day God told him he would. He is the patron saint of Europe and students.
St. Benedict is often pictured with a bell, a broken tray, a raven, or a crosier. His feast day is celebrated on July 11.
", "tags": "benedict", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 490, "action": "Veronica", "tags": "photographers veronica" }, { "id": 491, "action": "\n Saint Veronica is known as the woman who offered a cloth to Jesus so He could wipe His face on the way to His crucifixion. The cloth is believed to exist today in the Vatican and is considered one of the most treasured relics of the Church.\n
\nSaint Veronica is not mentioned in the Bible, but is known to us by Catholic tradition and in the Sixth Station of the Cross, \"Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus.\"
Legend states that as Christ was walking to Calvary, his face dripping with sweat and blood, Saint Veronica, a bystander, was moved with compassion. She approached Jesus and offered Him a cloth, likely her veil, which He accepted and used to wipe His face.
The image of his face was subsequently imprinted on the cloth.
There are no legends from the period which speak of Veronica either before or after her act of compassion. We do not know when she was born or when she died. She is literally lost to history. However, the cloth may still exist today, kept safe at St. Peter's in Rome.
This particular cloth bearing the likeness of Christ's face, although ancient and difficult to distinguish, is considered one of the most treasured relics in the Vatican. According to legend, it is the original relic, although throughout the ages many copies were created and some were passed along as genuine.
Most of what we know about the veil was recorded in the medieval period, although it was first mentioned as being in the hands of Pope John VII in the early eighth century. The veil and the legend surrounding it became very popular in the thirteenth though fifteenth centuries when the veil was on public display. Indulgences were granted for people who performed devotions before it.
The fate of the veil was obscured by violence in 1527 by the Sack of Rome in which it may have been destroyed. Many reproductions were created at this time, and it is unfortunately unclear if the veil still kept by the Vatican is the original or a reproduction.
In 1616, Pope Paul V banned the production of all copies of the veil, which has become popular. In 1629, Pope Urban VIII went a step further and ordered the destruction of all copies, or that existing copies should be delivered to the Vatican. Anyone who disobeyed this order was to be excommunicated.
The Veil of Veronica has since been kept from the public and rarely has been seen since. There are six known copies in the world, and there is one kept in St. Peter's basilica which is allegedly the same one from the Medieval period. If true, then it is possible this is the original relic. None of these relics have been photographed in detail or have been subjected to forensic testing.
The relic is kept in a frame, cut to match the outline of the original image on the cloth.
The Vatican's relic is displayed, although briefly, on the 5th Sunday of Lent each year. According to those who have seen the relic up close, there is minimal detail.
As for Saint Veronica, she is honored with a feast on July 12. Her icons show a woman holding a cloth upon which the face of Christ is imprinted. She is the patron of laundry workers and photographers.
The woman of Jerusalem who wiped the face of Christ with a veil while he was on the way to Calvary. According to tradition, the cloth was imprinted with the image of Christ's face.\" Unfortunately, there is no historical evidence or scriptural reference to this event, but the legend of Veronica became one of the most popular in Christian lore and the veil one of the beloved relics in the Church. According to legend, Veronica bore the relic away from the Holy Land, and used it to cure Emperor Tiberius of some illness. The veil was subsequently seen in Rome in the eighth century, and was translated to St. Peter's in 1297 by command of Pope Boniface VIII. Nothing is known about Veronica, although the apocryphal Acts of Pilate identify her with the woman mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew who suffered from an issue of blood. Her name is probably derived from Veronica , as was reported by Giraldus Cambrensis. The term was thus a convenient appellation to denote the genuine relic of Veronica's veil and so differentiate from the other similar relics, such as those kept in Milan. The relic is still preserved in St. Peter's, and the memory of Veronica's act of charity is commemorated in the Stations of the Cross. While she is not included in the Roman Martyrology, she is honored with a feast day. Her symbol is the veil bearing the face of Christ and the Crown of Thorns.
", "tags": "veronica", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 492, "action": "Francis Solano", "tags": "francis solano bolivia" }, { "id": 493, "action": "\n This saint was born at Montilla in\n \n Andalusia\n \n in 1549, did his studies in the school of the Jesuits, and in 1569, joined the Franciscan Observance at his birth place. He was duly professed and in 1576 ordained priest. Full of\n \n zeal\n \n and charity and an ardent desire for the\n \n salvation\n \n of souls, he divided his\n \n time\n \n between silent retirement and the ministry of preaching. Francis exercised his ministry in southern\n \n Spain\n \n for many years and heroically during the plague of 1583 at Granada, when he himself was struck down but made a quick recovery. After the epidemic was passed, Francis was selected to go with Father Balthazar Navarro to Peru. The missionaries to Panama, crossed the Isthmus, and again took ship on the other side. But approaching Peru, they ran into a bad storm and were driven aground on a sand bank. The ship looked as if she were going to pieces, and the master ordered that she be abandoned, leaving aboard her, a number of negro\n \n slaves\n \n for whom there was no room in the single lifeboat. Francis had these men under instruction and he now refused to leave them, so he remained behind on the ship, which was breaking up. He gathered them around him, encouraged them to trust in the mercy of\n \n God\n \n and the merits of\n \n Jesus\n \n Christ, and then baptized them. This he had scarcely done when the vessel parted amidships and some of the negroes were drowned. The remainder were on the part of the hull that was firmly aground and there they remained for three days, Francis keeping up their courage and rigging signals of distress. When the weather broke, the ship's boat returned and took them off to join the others in a place of safety, where they eventually were conveyed to Lima, Peru. Now began twenty years of untiring ministry among the Indians and Spanish colonists. It is said that St. Francis had the \"gift of tongues\", and for his miracles he was called the \"wonder-worker of the New World\"; in his funeral sermon Father Sabastiani, S.J., said that\n \n God\n \n had chosen him to be \"the\n \n hope\n \n and edification of all Peru, the example and\n \n glory\n \n of Lima, the splendor of the Seraphic order\". A\n \n habit\n \n of his, very reminiscent of his religious father and namesake, was to take a lute and sing to Our Lady before her altar. He died on July 14, 1610, while his brethren was singing the conventual Mass, at the moment of consecration, saying with his last breath, \"Glory be to God\". His whole life, says Alvarez de Paz, was a holy uninterrupted course of zealous action, yet at the same time, a continued prayer.\n \n St. Francis Solano\n \n was canonized in 1726. His\n \n feast day\n \n is July 13th.\n
\n", "tags": "francis solano", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 494, "action": "Henry II", "tags": "orders religious by childless dukes ii kings henry people rejected" }, { "id": 495, "action": "\n Emperor, called the Good, declared the patron saint of the Benedictine Oblates by Pope St. Pius X. He was probably born in Hildesheim, Bavaria, Germany, on May 3,973. When his father died he became the duke of Bavaria in 995 and emperor in 1002 when his cousin\n \n Otto III\n \n died. His wife was St. Cunegundis, and St. Herisbert was his chancellor. A patron of the Benedictines, he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Benedict VIII. He was also miraculously cured by St. Benedict. Tradition states that Henry wanted to be a Benedictine and lived as an Oblate. He was canonized in 1146 by Pope Eugene III.\n
\n", "tags": "henry ii", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 496, "action": "Kateri Tekakwitha", "tags": "exiles tekakwitha youth exile world people day kateri" }, { "id": 497, "action": "\n St. Kateri Tekakwitha is the first Native American to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. She was born in 1656, in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon. Her mother was an Algonquin, who was captured by the Mohawks and who took a Mohawk chief for her husband.\n
\nShe contracted smallpox as a four-year-old child which scarred her skin. The scars were a source of humiliation in her youth. She was commonly seen wearing a blanket to hide her face. Worse, her entire family died during the outbreak. Kateri Tekakwitha was subsequently raised by her uncle, who was the chief of a Mohawk clan.
Kateri was known as a skilled worker, who was diligent and patient. However, she refused to marry. When her adoptive parents proposed a suitor to her, she refused to entertain the proposal. They punished her by giving her more work to do, but she did not give in. Instead, she remained quiet and diligent. Eventually they were forced to relent and accept that she had no interest in marriage.
At age 19, Kateri Tekakwitha converted to Catholicism, taking a vow of chastity and pledging to marry only Jesus Christ. Her decision was very unpopular with her adoptive parents and their neighbors. Some of her neighbors started rumors of sorcery. To avoid persecution, she traveled to a Christian native community south of Montreal.
According to legend, Kateri was very devout and would put thorns on her sleeping mat. She often prayed for the conversion of her fellow Mohawks. According to the Jesuit missionaries that served the community where Kateri lived, she often fasted and when she would eat, she would taint her food to diminish its flavor. On at least one occasion, she burned herself. Such self-mortification was common among the Mohawk.
Kateri was very devout and was known for her steadfast devotion. She was also very sickly. Her practices of self-mortification and denial may not have helped her health. Sadly, just five years after her conversion to Catholicism, she became ill and passed away at age 24, on April 17, 1680.
Her name, Kateri, is the Mohawk form of Catherine, which she took from St. Catherine of Siena.
St. Kateri Tekakwitha was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Oct. 21, 2012. She is the patroness of ecology and the environment, people in exile and Native Americans.
", "tags": "tekakwitha kateri", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 498, "action": "Plechelm", "tags": "netherlands plechelm holland nederlands" }, { "id": 499, "action": "\n A Benedictine companion to St. Wiro. Plecheim was from Northumbria, England, and was an ordained priest. He traveled with\n \n St. Wiro\n \n to establish a monastery at Odilienburg.\n
\n", "tags": "plechelm", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 500, "action": "Swithun", "tags": "swithun winchester stavenger england" }, { "id": 501, "action": "\n Swithun, also spelled Swithin, was born in Wessex, England and was educated at the old monastery, Winchester, where he was ordained. He became\n \n chaplain\n \n to King\n \n Egbert\n \n of the West Saxons, who appointed him tutor of his son, Ethelwulf, and was one of the King's counselors. Swithun was named\n \n bishop\n \n of Winchester in 852 when Ethelwulf succeeded his father as king. Swithun built several churches and was known for his\n \n humility\n \n and his aid to the poor and needy. He died on July 2. A long-held\n \n superstition\n \n declares it\n \n will\n \n rain for forty days if it rains on his\n \n feast day\n \n of July 15, but the\n \n reason\n \n for and origin of this\n \n belief\n \n are unknown.\n
\n", "tags": "swithun", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 502, "action": "Bonaventure", "tags": "disorders bowel bonaventure" }, { "id": 503, "action": "\n St. Bonaventure,\n \n Bishop\n \n and\n \n Doctor\n \n of the Church (Feast day-July 15)\n
\nSt. Bonaventure, known as \"the seraphic doctor,\" was born at Bagnoregio, in the Lazio region of central Italy, in 1221. He received the name of Bonaventure in consequence of an exclamation of St. Francis of Assisi, when, in response to the pleading of the child's mother, the saint prayed for John's recovery from a dangerous illness, and, foreseeing the future greatness of the little John, cried out \"O Buona ventura\"-O good fortune!
At the age of twenty-two St. Bonaventure entered the Franciscan Order. Having made his vows, he was sent to Paris to complete his studies under the celebrated doctor Alexander of Hales, an Englishman and a Franciscan. After the latter's death he continued his course under his successor, John of Rochelle. In Paris he became the intimate friend of the great St. Thomas Aquinas. He received the degree of Doctor, together with St. Thomas Aquinas, ceding to his friend against the latter's inclination, the honor of having it first conferred upon him. Like St. Thomas Aquinas, he enjoyed the friendship of the holy King, St. Louis.
At the age of thirty-five he was chosen General of his Order and restored a perfect calm where peace had been disturbed by internal dissensions. He did much for his Order and composed The Life of St. Francis . He also assisted at the translation of the relics of St. Anthony of Padua. He was nominated Archbishop of York by Pope Clement IV, but he begged not to be forced to accept that dignity. Gregory X obliged him to take upon himself a greater one, that of Cardinal and Bishop of Albano, one of the six suffragan Sees of Rome. Before his death he abdicated his office of General of the Franciscan Order. He died while he was assisting at the Second Council of Lyons, on July 15, 1274.
", "tags": "bonaventure", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 504, "action": "Vladimir", "tags": "vladimir murderers" }, { "id": 505, "action": "\n St. Vladimir I, 956-1015, Grandson of\n \n St. Olga\n \n and illegitimate son of Sviastoslav, grand duke of Kiev, and his mistress, Malushka, he was given Novgorod to rule by his father. Civil\n \n war\n \n broke out between his half-brothers Yaropolk and Oleg; Yaropolk made himself ruler by defeating and killing Oleg, and when he captured Novgorod, Vladimirwas forced to flee to Scandinavia in 977. Vladimir returned with an army and captured Novgorod and defeated and slew Yaropolk at Rodno in 980; Vladimir was now sole ruler of Russia, notorious for his barbarism and immorality. After his conquest of Kherson in the Crimea in 988, he became impressed by the progrerss of\n \n Christianity\n \n and approached Eastern Emperor Basil II about marrying the emperor's daughter Ann. He was converted, reformed his\n \n life\n \n and married Anne. On his return to Kiev, he invited Greek missionaries to Russia, let his people to Christianity, borrowed canonical feacures from the West and built\n \n schools\n \n and churches. His later years were troubled by rebellions led by the sons of his first marriages, although two sons by Anne, SS Romanus and David became martyrs. In 1014 he was obliged to march against his rebellious son Yaroslav in Novgorod, fell ill on the way and died at Beresyx, Russia. He is patron of the Russian Catholics.\n \n Feastday\n \n July 15.\n
\n", "tags": "vladimir", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 506, "action": "Clement of Ohrid", "tags": "ohrid macedonia clement" }, { "id": 507, "action": "\n One of the Seven\n \n Apostles\n \n of Bulgaria. He became a\n \n bishop\n \n in the reign of Khan Simeon, the first Slav to become a bishop. He founded a monastery at Okhrida, near Velitsa, Bulgaria, and was so successful in his missionary work that he is one of the Seven\n \n Apostles\n \n of the region. He died on July 17.\n
\n", "tags": "ohrid clement", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 508, "action": "Camillus de Lellis", "tags": "camillus nurses associations hospitals workers sick lellis de nurses' hospital" }, { "id": 509, "action": "\n St. Camillus de Lellis was born at Bocchianico, Italy. He fought for the Venetians against the Turks, was addicted to gambling, and by 1574 was penniless in Naples. He became a Capuchin novice, but was unable to be professed because of a diseased leg he contracted while fighting the Turks. He devoted himself to caring for the sick, and became director of St. Giacomo Hospital in Rome. He received permission from his\n \n confessor\n \n (St. Philip Neri) to be ordained and decided, with two companions, to found his own congregation, the Ministers of the Sick (the Camellians), dedicated to the care of the sick. They ministered to the sick of\n \n Holy Ghost\n \n Hospital in Rome, enlarged their facilities in 1585, founded a new house in\n \n Naples\n \n in 1588, and attended the plague-stricken aboard ships in Rome's harbor and in Rome. In 1591, the Congregation was made into an order to serve the sick by Pope Gregory XIV, and in 1591 and 1605, Camillus sent members of his order to\n \n minister\n \n to wounded troops in\n \n Hungary\n \n and Croatia, the first field medical unit. Gravely ill for many years, he resigned as\n \n superior\n \n of the Order in 1607 and died in\n \n Rome\n \n on July 14, the year after he attended a General\n \n Chapter\n \n there. He was canonized in 1746, was declared patron of the sick, with\n \n St. John\n \n of God, by Pope Leo XIII, and patron of nurses and nursing groups by Pope Pius XI. His\n \n feast day\n \n is July 18th.\n
\n", "tags": "de camillus lellis", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 510, "action": "Margaret (or Marina) of Antioch", "tags": "pregnant dying or death milk marina queens margaret childbirth mothers college women cambridge exiles kidney exile escape disease from peasants loss devils by birth antioch nursing people giving" }, { "id": 511, "action": "\n Martyr of\n \n Antioch\n \n in Pisidia, sometimes called Marina. She is traditionally believed to be the daughter of a\n \n pagan\n \n \n priest\n \n who became a Christian. Beautiful, Margaret refused proposals from Olybrius, the local prefect, who imprisoned her and tortured her cruelly. Margaret was eventually beheaded, after being swallowed by a dragon and enduring several other legendary adventures. Margaret is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, and she spoke to St. Joan of Arc. This cult was suppressed.\n
\n", "tags": "or marina margaret antioch", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 512, "action": "Mary Magdalene", "tags": "sinners temptation mary glove reformed prostitutes contemplatives life makers penitent magdalene sexual contemplative women" }, { "id": 513, "action": "\n St. Mary Magdalene is one of the greatest saints of the Bible and a legendary example of God's mercy and grace. The precise dates of her birth and death are unknown, but we do know she was present with Christ during his public ministry, death and resurrection. She is mentioned at least a dozen times in the Gospels.\n
\nMary Magdalene has long been regarded as a prostitute or sexually immoral in western Christianity, but this is not supported in the scriptures. It is believed she was a Jewish woman who lived among Gentiles, living as they did.
The Gospels agree that Mary was originally a great sinner. Jesus cast seven demons out of her when he met her. After this, she told several women she associated with and these women also became followers.
There is also debate over if Mary Magdalene is the same unnamed women, a sinner, who weeps and washes Jesus' feet with her hair in the Gospel of John. Scholars are skeptical this is the same person.
Despite the scholarly dispute over her background, what she did in her subsequent life, after meeting Jesus, is much more significant. She was certainly a sinner whom Jesus saved, giving us an example of how no person is beyond the saving grace of God.
During Jesus' ministry, it is believed that Mary Magdalene followed him, part of a semi-permanent entourage who served Jesus and his Disciples.
Mary likely watched the crucifixion from a distance along with the other women who followed Christ during His ministry. Mary was present when Christ rose from the dead, visiting his tomb to anoint his body only to find the stone rolled away and Christ, very much alive, sitting at the place they laid Him. She was the first witness to His resurrection.
After the death of Christ, a legend states that she remained among the early Christians. After fourteen years, she was allegedly put into a boat by Jews, along with several other saints of the early Church, and set adrift without sails or oars. The boat landed in southern France, where she spent the remaining years of her life living in solitude, in a cave.
St. Mary Magdalene's feast day is July 22. She is the patroness of converts, repentant sinners, sexual temptation, pharmacists, tanners and women, and many other places and causes.
", "tags": "magdalene mary", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 514, "action": "Joseph of Palestine", "tags": "guardians palestine joseph" }, { "id": 515, "action": "\n A convert from\n \n Judaism\n \n and patron of\n \n St. Eusebius of Vercelli\n \n and St. Epiphanus. One tradition states that\n \n Joseph\n \n was so moved by the deathbed\n \n Baptism\n \n of the great\n \n Jewish\n \n rabbi, Hillel, that he became a Christian. His\n \n Jewish\n \n congregation beat him and threw him in a river, but he still refused to abjure the faith. He was made a comes by Emperor Constantine and built\n \n Christian\n \n churches in Galilee.\n \n Joseph\n \n protected\n \n St. Eusebius of Vercelli\n \n and St. Epiphanus. St.\n \n Epiphanius\n \n wrote Joseph's biography.\n
\n", "tags": "palestine joseph", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 516, "action": "Bridget", "tags": "sweden bridget" }, { "id": 517, "action": "\n Saint Birgitta was the daughter of Uppland's Lagman, Birger Petersson and his wife, Ingeborg, who was a member of the same clan as the reigning family. Birgitta's family was pious; her father went to confession every Friday and made long and arduous pilgrimages as far away as the Holy Land.\n
\nBirgitta's mother died, leaving Birgitta, ten years old, Katharine, nine and a newborn baby boy, Israel. The children were sent to their maternal aunt for further education and care. It seems that as a young child, Birgitta had a dream-vision of The Man of Sorrows. This dream was very vivid. Birgitta asked Him who had done that to Him. His answer: 'All those who despise my love.' The memory of this dream never left Birgitta and may have even left an indelible mark on her sub-conscious. As was usual during the Middle Ages, Birgitta was married when she was 13 years old to a young man, Ulf Gudmarsson with whom she had eight children, four daughters and four sons, all of them survived infancy, and that was very rare at that time.
When the King of Sweden, Magnus Eriksson married Blanche of Namur, he asked his kinswoman, Birgitta to come and be Lady-in Waiting and to teach the young queen the language and customs of her new country. After her years of service at Court, Birgitta and Ulf made the long pilgrimage to Santiago di Compostela. On the return journey Ulf became dangerously ill in Arras. Birgitta feared for his death and sat all night by his bed praying, and then a bishop appeared to her, promised that Ulf would recover and 'God had great things for her to do.' He told her that he was Denis, Patron of France. Ulf recovered and was able to continue his work as Lagman in the province of Närke until early in the year 1344, when he was very ill so Birgitta took him to the monks at Alvastra where he died and was buried. Birgitta remained in a little house near the abbey and she spent along hours in prayer by Ulf's grave. She said that she 'loved him like my own body.' She arranged her affairs among her children and various charities and prayed for guidance. She was 41 years old and in the abbey at Alvastra God called her 'be My Bride and My canal'. He gave her the task of founding new religious order, mainly for women. He said that the other orders had fallen into decay and this new order would be a vineyard whose wine would revivify the Church. He showed her how her abbey church was to be built, gave directions concerning the clothing and prayers of the nuns, 60 in all, who needed priests as chaplains, 13 priests, 4 deacons and 8 lay brothers. These two communities were to be ruled by an abbess, who was to represent the Blessed Virgin Mary together with the Apostles in the Upper Room in Jerusalem.
King Magnus Eriksson donated a little palace and much land to the new monastery, but almost as soon she had begun altering the palace and organising the work, Christ appeared to her and asked her to go to Rome and wait there until she got the pope to return from France to Rome. She was to be there during the Holy Year 1350. Birgitta left Sweden at the end of 1349 never to return. For the rest of her life she saw visions concerning the reform of the Church, messages to kings and popes and many other persons in high places, directing them to work for the Church. It may be noted that Birgitta never wrote in the first person. She always said the she carried a message from a very High Lord. Although she had longed to become a nun, she never even saw the monastery in Vadstena. In fact, nothing she set out to do was ever realised. She never had the pope return to Rome permanently, she never managed to make peace between France and England, she never saw any nun in the habit that Christ had shown her, and she never returned to Sweden but died, worn out old lady far from home in July 1373. She can be called the Patroness of Failures. In this she was like her Lord. He was also classed as failure as He hung on the Cross. Birgitta was a successful failure as she was canonized in 1391.Birgitta was the only women ever to found a religious Order, Ordo Sanctissimi Salvatoris. It was never a double order but an order primarily for women with permanent chaplains, ruled by an abbess. The brothers had as their head, not a prior but a Confessor General who was responsible for the spiritual business of both convents.
The order spread swiftly throughout Europe with monasteries from Scandinavia right through Europe down to Italy. In modern times is has expanded into five different, juridically independant branches; Spain 1629, Rome 1911, U.S.A. 1970, Mexico at the change of the century. None of these foundations have brothers (except U.S.A. which has one male convent). The last Birgittine father died in Altomünster 1863. She is the patroness of Sweden. Her feast day is July 23.
", "tags": "bridget", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 518, "action": "James the Greater", "tags": "knights james riders guatemala horse blacksmiths spanish men furriers rheumatism milliners spain equestrians conquistadors greater hatmakers chile laborers rheumatoid sufferers arthritis nicaragua" }, { "id": 519, "action": "\n Nothing is known of St. James the Greater's early life, though it has been established that he is the son of Zebedee and Salome and brother of John the disciple.\n
\nThe title \"the Greater\" was added to St. James' name to help distinguish him from the Apostle James \"the Less,\" who is believed to have been shorter than James \"the Greater.\"
Saint James the Greater was one of Jesus' first disciples. James was fishing with his father and John the Apostle when Jesus came to the shores of the Sea of Galilee and called for the fisherman, who were unable to catch any fish that day, to dip their nets in the water once again.
When the fishermen followed Jesus' instructions, they found their nets full, and after emptying the fish on board, the boats nearly sank from their weight.
Later, James was one of only three called by Jesus to witness his Transfiguration, and when he and his brother wanted to call fire upon a Samaritan town, both were rebuked by Jesus.
Following Christ's Ascension, James spread the Gospel across Israel and the Roman kingdom as well. He traveled and spread the Word for nearly forty years in Spain.
It is said that one day, as he prayed, The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him and asked him to build her a church, which he did.
Later, James returned to Jerusalem but was martyred for his faith by King Herod, who decapitated him. Saint James the Greater is known as the first apostle to die.
As he was not allowed to be buried following his martyrdom, his remains were taken to Compostela, Spain, by some of his followers, who buried him.
In the ninth century his remains were discovered and moved to a tomb in Santiago de Compostela. Today, his remains can still be found in the Cathedral of Santiago.
Because Santiago de Compostela is the most frequently visited place pilgrims migrate to following Rome and Jerusalem, Pope Leo declared it a shrine.
St. James the Greater Prayer
O glorious Apostle,
\nSt. James, who by reason of thy fervent and generous heart
\nwast chosen by Jesus to be a witness of His glory on Mount Tabor,
\nand of His agony in Gethsemane;
\nthou, whose very name is a symbol of warfare and victory:
\nobtain for us strength and consolation in the unending warfare of this life,
\nthat, having constantly and generously followed Jesus,
\nwe may be victors in the strife and deserve to receive the victor's crown in heaven.
\nAmen.
\n Saint Christopher is one of the most popular Catholic Christian heroes of the Faith. He is a saint, indeed listed as a martyr. He may have also been named Reprobus. He apparently died under the Roman Emperor Decius, in 251 AD. Most Catholics refer to him as Saint Christopher anyway, and his medals and the popular devotions to him are among the most common in Catholic piety.\n
\nOther than his listing as a martyr, there are no primary sources referring to St. Christopher, only stories and traditions which have been passed down.
According to these accounts, St. Christopher was extremely tall, and by some accounts he was even a giant! He was surely a man of significant physical stature. But, more importantly, he was a spiritual giant and a sure model and inspiration for the Christian faithful.
Christopher decided one day that he wanted to serve the greatest king he could. He presented himself before his local ruler and entered service, until he noticed the king cross himself at the mention of the devil, revealing that the king believed the Devil to have more power.
St. Christopher then decided to serve the Devil. During his search, he encountered a band of thieves, whose leader referred to himself as the Devil. But when this leader avoided a Christian cross out of fear, St. Christopher learned there was someone even more powerful than the Devil.
St. Christopher found a hermit who taught him all about Christ, the King of Kings. The hermit suggested that he spend his life in prayer and fasting, a thing which St. Christopher, a large and probably often hungry man found difficult, he objected. The hermit suggested he then find something else that would please Christ. St. Christopher offered to work at a nearby river, and help travelers across. The fording was dangerous and many with less strength people had drowned. The hermit advised St. Christopher this would please Christ.
One day, a child approached St. Christopher by the river and asked to be helped across. St. Christopher obliged. However, as he entered midstream, the river rose and the child's weight grew and became extremely heavy. It was only by great exertion that St. Christopher safely delivered the child to the other side.
When St. Christopher asked the child why he was so heavy, the child explained that He was the Christ and when St. Christopher carried Him, he also carried the weight of the whole world on his shoulders. The child then vanished.
Other legends state that St. Christopher traveled after this experience and evangelized thousands of people. Arriving in Lycia in Asia Minor, and witnessing to Christians there who were being martyred. At that time, St. Christopher was detained and ordered to offer a sacrifice to the emperor. When he refused, it was decided to attempt to persuade him with money and women. Two women were sent to seduce him, but instead he converted them to Christianity.
After this, it was decided to have him killed, but various attempts to assassinate him failed. Eventually, he was arrested and beheaded.
The name \"Christopher\" means Christ-bearer, and may allude to the legend of the man carrying the Christ Child across the river. Saint Christopher also did not become popularized in the Church until the 7th century, about three centuries after his supposed death. We know of his popularity because around the 7th century, churches and monasteries began to be named after him. This adds credibility to the supposition that St. Christopher was merely a legendary figure and not a real person.
There is also speculation that St. Christopher could have also been confused with St. Menas, an Egyptian saint. Both Christopher and Menas are referred to as \"Christ bearers\" and are patrons of travelers.
St. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers and of children. His feast day is July 25. Because he is not officially recognized by the Church, he has no date of beatification or canonization. Despite these technicalities, it is widely thought that he was real and that he continues to intercede on behalf of Christians, especially children, today.
", "tags": "christopher", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 522, "action": "Margaret of Castello", "tags": "castello right groups life margaret" }, { "id": 523, "action": "\n Blessed Margaret of Citta-di-Castello, Virgin\n
\nIt must have been about the year 1293 when some women of Citta-di-Castello in Umbria, who had gone one day to pray in their parish church, found within, a destitute blind child of about six or seven, who had been abandoned there by her parents. The kind souls were filled with pity for the little waif, and, poor though they were, they took charge of her - first one family and then another, sheltering and feeding her until she became practically the adopted child of the village. One and all declared that, far from being a burden, little Margaret brought a blessing upon those who befriended her. Some years later, the nuns of a local convent offered her a home. The girl rejoiced at the prospect of living with religious, but her joy was short-lived. The community was lax and worldly; Margaret's fervor was a tacit reproach to them, nor did she bring them the profit they had anticipated. Neglect was succeeded by petty persecution, and then by active calumny. Finally she was driven forth ignominiously to face the world once more.
However, her old friends rallied around her. One couple offered her a settled home, which became her permanent residence. At the age of fifteen, Margaret received the habit of a tertiary from the Dominican fathers, who had lately established themselves in Citta-di-Castello, and thence forth, she lived a life entirely devoted to God. More than ever did God's benediction rest upon her. She cured another tertiary of an affliction of the eyes which had baffled medical skill, and her mantle extinguished a fire which had broken out in her foster parents' house. In her desire to show her gratitude to the people of Citta-di-Castello, she undertook to look after the children while their parents were at work. Her little school prospered wonderfully, for she understood children, being very simple herself. She set them little tasks which she helped them to perform; she instructed them in their duty to God and to man, instilling into them her own great devotion to the sacred Childhood, and she taught them the psalms which, inspite of her blindness, she had learned by heart at the convent. We are told that when at prayer she was frequently raised a foot or more from the ground, remaining thus for a long time. Thus she lived, practically unknown outside her own neighborhood, until the age of thirty-three, when she died amidst the friends who loved her, and was buried by their wish in the parish church, where many remarkable miracles took place. The cult of Blessed Margaret was confirmed in 1609.
", "tags": "castello margaret", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 524, "action": "Joachim", "tags": "grandfathers joachim grandparents" }, { "id": 525, "action": "\n By tradition Joachim and Anne are considered to be the names of the\n \n parents\n \n of Mary, the Mother of God. We have no historical evidence, however, of any elements of their lives, including their names. Any stories about Mary's father and mother come to us through legend and tradition.\n
\nWe get the oldest story from a document called the Gospel of James, though in no way should this document be trusted to be factual, historical, or the Word of God. The legend told in this document says that after years of childlessness, an angel appeared to tell Anne and Joachim that they would have a child. Anne promised to dedicate this child to God (much the way that Samuel was dedicated by his mother Hannah -- Anne -- in 1 Kings).
For those who wonder what we can learn from people we know nothing about and how we can honor them, we must focus on why they are honored by the church. Whatever their names or the facts of their lives, the truth is that it was the parents of Mary who nurtured Mary, taught her, brought her up to be a worthy Mother of God. It was their teaching that led her to respond to God's request with faith, \"Let it be done to me as you will.\" It was their example of parenting that Mary must have followed as she brought up her own son, Jesus. It was their faith that laid the foundation of courage and strength that allowed her to stand by the cross as her son was crucified and still believe.
Such parents can be examples and models for all parents.
Anne (or Ann) is the patron saint of Christian mothers and of women in labor.
Parents of Mary, pray for all parents that they may provide the loving home and faithful teaching that you provided your daughter. Amen
", "tags": "joachim", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 526, "action": "Pantaleon", "tags": "physicians tuberculosis doctors medical profession consumption pantaleon" }, { "id": 527, "action": "\n St Pantaleon came from Nicomedia, near the Black Sea, in Asia. He was such a famous\n \n doctor\n \n that the Emperor himself chose him for his own doctor. Pantaleon was a Christian, but the bad influence from the\n \n pagan\n \n court caused him to give up his\n \n Christian\n \n \n faith\n \n entirely.\n
\nA holy priest named Hermolaos made him realize what a sin he had committed. Pantaleon listened to him, detested his sin and joined the Church once more. To make up for what he had done, he greatly desired to suffer and die for Jesus. In the meantime, he imitated Our Lord's charity by taking care of poor sick people without any charge for his medical services.
When the Emperor Diocletian began his persecution, Pantaleon at once gave away everything he owned to the poor. Not long afterwards, he was accused of being a Christian. He was given the choice of denying his Faith or being put to death. No torture could force Pantaleon to deny his Faith.
There has been strong devotion in past ages to this Saint. In the East he is called the \"Great Martyr and Wonder-worker.\" Saint Pantaleon's feast day is July 27th.
", "tags": "pantaleon", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 528, "action": "Martha", "tags": "butlers chefs martha dieticians hoteliers italian waitresses servants workers manservants maids homemakers housewives cooks housekeepers waiters domestic" }, { "id": 529, "action": "\n \"Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus.\" This unique statement in John's gospel tells us of the special relationship Jesus had with Martha, her sister, and her brother.\n
\nApparently Jesus was a frequent guest at Martha's home in Bethany, a small village two miles from Jerusalem. We read of three visits in Luke 10:38-42, John 11:1-53, and John 12:1-9.
Many of us find it easy to identify with Martha in the story Luke tells. Martha welcomes Jesus and his disciples into her home and immediately goes to work to serve them.
Hospitality is paramount in the Middle East and Martha believed in its importance. Imagine her frustration when her sister Mary ignores the rule of hospitality and Martha's work in order to sit and listen to Jesus. Instead of speaking to her sister, she asks Jesus to intervene.
Jesus' response is not unkind, which gives us an idea of his affection for her. He observes that Martha is worried about many things that distract her from really being present to him. He reminds her that there is only one thing that is truly important -- listening to him. And that is what Mary has done.
In Martha we see ourselves -- worried and distracted by all we have to do in the world and forgetting to spend time with Jesus. It is, however, comforting to note that Jesus loved her just the same.
The next visit shows how well Martha learned this lesson. She is grieving the death of her brother with a house full of mourners when she hears that Jesus has just come to the area. She gets up immediately and leaves the guests, leaves her mourning, and goes to meet him.
Her conversation with Jesus shows her faith and courage. In this dialogue she states clearly without doubt that she believes in Jesus' power, in the resurrection, and most of all that Jesus is the Son of God.
Jesus tells her that he is the resurrection and the life and then goes on to raise her brother from the dead. Our final picture of Martha in Scripture is the one that sums up who she was.
Jesus has returned to Bethany some time later to share a meal with his good friends. In this home were three extraordinary people. We hear how brother Lazarus caused a stir when was brought back to life.
We hear how Mary causes a commotion at dinner by annointing Jesus with expensive perfume. But all we hear about Martha is the simple statement: \"Martha served.\" She isn't in the spotlight, she doesn't do showy things, she doesn't receive spectacular miracles. She simply serves Jesus.
We know nothing more about Martha and what happened to her later. According to a totally untrustworthy legend Martha accompanied Mary to evangelize France after Pentecost.
But wouldn't it be wonderful if the most important thing that could be said about us is \"They served\"?
Martha is the patron saint of servants and cooks.
In Her Footsteps
\nDorothy Day said: \"If everyone were holy and handsome, it would be easy to see Christ in everyone. But it was not Christ's way for himself. Ask honestly what you would do when a beggar asked at your house for food.
\nWould you give it on an old cracked plate, thinking that was good enough? Do you think that Martha and Mary thought that the old and chipped dish was good enough for their guest?
\nIt is not a duty to help Christ -- it is a privilege.\" In what ways do you serve Christ others grudgingly or sparingly? How can you serve them the way Martha served Christ, putting her whole self into it?
Prayer
\nSaint Martha, pray for us that we might serve Jesus better.
\nHelp us to overcome our distractions and worries to listen to his words and be present to him this day.
\nAmen.
\n King of\n \n Norway\n \n and a martyr, also called Olaf Haraldsson. The son of King Harald Grenske of Norway, he spent most of his youth as a Norse raider until 1010 when he was baptized at Rouen. In 1013, he journeyed to England and offered his services to King Ethelred against the invading Danes. Returning home in 1015 after succeeding to the throne, he embarked upon a\n \n war\n \n to free\n \n Norway\n \n from the domination of the Danes and the Swedes, defeating Earl Sweyn at Nesje in 1016. He also immediately requested that missionaries be sent from England to advance the Christianization of Norway. Owing to the harsh\n \n nature\n \n of his rule, he faced a rebellion of nobles in 1029. Through the aid of the formidable King\n \n Canute\n \n of Denmark, the rebels overthrew him and drove him into exile in Russia. Olaf returned in 1031 but was slain in battle at Stiklestad, Norway, on July 29. While neither popular nor considered especially holy during his lifetime, Olaf was soon revered after death owing to reports of miracles occurring at his tomb. He was greatly respected as a champion of Norwegain independence, and his shrine became the\n \n foundation\n \n of the\n \n cathedral\n \n of Trondheim, which was a popular place of pilgrimage during the Middle Ages. He is the patron of Norway, and was canonized in 1164.\n
\n", "tags": "olaf norway", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 532, "action": "Olaf II", "tags": "kings olaf carvers ii" }, { "id": 533, "action": "\n Olaf was the son of Harold Grenske, a\n \n lord\n \n in Norway. Olaf Haraldsson, often called \"the Fat\", spent his youth as a pirate. He was baptized in Rouen, and in 1013, went to England to aid King Ethelred against the Danes. He returned to\n \n Norway\n \n in 1015, captured most of\n \n Norway\n \n back from the Danes and Swedes, defeated Earl Sweyn at the battle of Nesjar in 1016, and became king. He set about unifying and Christianizing his realm, but the harshness of his rule precipitated a revolt of the nobles in 1029, and aided by\n \n Canute\n \n of Denmark, they defeated him and forced him to flee to Russia. He returned in 1030 and attempted to recover his kingdom, but was slain at the Battle of Stiklestad in\n \n Norway\n \n on July 29th. Though not too popular during his lifetime, miracles were reported at his shrine, and a\n \n chapel\n \n was built, which became the\n \n cathedral\n \n of Trondheim; it became a great pilgrimage center for all Scandinavia. He is one of the great heroes of\n \n Norway\n \n for his efforts to unify and Christianize Norway, of which he is patron. He was canonized in 1164 and his\n \n feast day\n \n is July 29th.\n
\n", "tags": "olaf ii", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 534, "action": "Peter Chrysologus", "tags": "orator golden-tounges peter chrysologus" }, { "id": 535, "action": "\n St. Peter Chrysologus,\n \n Bishop\n \n and\n \n Doctor\n \n of the Church (Feast-July 30) Born at Imola,\n \n Italy\n \n in 380,\n \n St. Peter\n \n was baptized, educated, and ordained a deacon by Cornelius,\n \n Bishop\n \n of Imola.\n \n St. Peter\n \n merited being called \"Chrysologus\" (golden-worded) from his exceptional oratorical eloquence. In 433, Pope Sixtus III consecrated him\n \n bishop\n \n of Ravenna. He practiced many\n \n corporal\n \n and spiritual works of mercy, and ruled his flock with utmost diligence and care. He extirpated the last vestiges of\n \n paganism\n \n and other abuses that had sprouted among his people, cautioning them especially against indecent dancing. \"Anyone who wishes to frolic with the devil,\" he remarked, \"cannot rejoice with Christ.\" He also counseled the heretic\n \n Eutyches\n \n (who had asked for his support) to avoid causing division but to learn from the other\n \n heretics\n \n who were crushed when they hurled themselves against the Rock of Peter. He died at Imola,\n \n Italy\n \n in 450 and in 1729 was made a\n \n Doctor\n \n of the Church, largely as a result of his simple, practical, and clear sermons which have come down to us, nearly all dealing with Gospel subjects.\n
\n", "tags": "peter chrysologus", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 536, "action": "Ignatius of Loyola", "tags": "jesuits exercises jesuit order loyola retreats ignatius spiritual" }, { "id": 537, "action": "\n Born Inigo Lopez de Loyola in 1491, the man known as Ignatius of Loyola entered the world in Loiola, Spain. At the time, the name of the village was spelled \"Loyola,\" hence the discrepancy. Inigo came of age in Azpeitia, in northern Spain. Loyola is a small village at the southern end of Azpeitia.\n
\nInigio was the youngest of thirteen children. His mother died when he was just seven, and he was then raised by Maria de Garin, who was the wife of a blacksmith. His last name, \"Loyola\" was taken from the village of his birth.
Despite the misfortune of losing his mother he was still a member of the local aristocracy and was raised accordingly. Inigio was an ambitious young man who had dreams of becoming a great leader. He was influenced by stories such as The Song of Roland and El Cid.
At the age of sixteen, he began a short period of employment working for Juan Velazquez, the treasurer of Castile. By the time he was eighteen, he became a soldier and would fight for Antonio Manrique de Lara, Duke of Nájera and Viceroy of Navarre.
Seeking wider acclaim, he began referring to himself as Ignatius. Ignatius was a variant of Inigio. The young Ignatius also gained a reputation as a duelist. According to one story, he killed a Moor with whom he argued about the divinity of Jesus.
Ignatius fought in several battles under the leadership of the Duke of Najera. He had a talent for emerging unscathed, despite participating in many battles. His talent earned him promotions and soon he commanded his own troops.
In 1521, while defending the town of Pamplona against French attack, Ignatius was struck by a cannonball in the legs. One leg was merely broken, but the other was badly mangled. To save his life and possibly his legs, doctors performed several surgeries. There were no anesthetics during this time, so each surgery was painful. Despite their best efforts, Ignatius' condition deteriorated. After suffering for a month, his doctors warned him to prepare for death.
On June 29, 1521, on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Ignatius began to improve. As soon as he was healthy enough to bear it, part of one leg was amputated which while painful, sped his recovery.
During this time of bodily improvement, Ignatius began to read whatever books he could find. Most of the books he obtained were about the lives of the saints and Christ. These stories had a profound impact on him, and he became more devout.
One story in particular influenced him, \"De Vita Christi\" (The life of Christ). The story offers commentary on the life of Christ and suggested a spiritual exercise that required visualizing oneself in the presence of Christ during the episodes of His life. The book would inspire Ignatius' own spiritual exercises.
As he lay bedridden, Ignatius developed a desire to become a working servant of Christ. He especially wanted to convert non-Christians.
Among his profound realizations, was that some thoughts brought him happiness and others sorrow. When he considered the differences between these thoughts, he recognized that two powerful forces were acting upon him. Evil brought him unpleasant thoughts while God brought him happiness. Ignatius discerned God's call, and began a new way of life, following God instead of men.
By the spring of 1522, Ignatius had recovered enough to leave bed. On March 25, 1522, he entered the Benedictine monastery, Santa Maria de Montserrat. Before an image of the Black Madonna, he laid down his military garments. He gave his other clothes away to a poor man.
He then walked to a hospital in the town of Manresa. In exchange for a place to live, he performed work around the hospital. He begged for his food. When he was not working or begging, he would go into a cave and practice spiritual exercises.
His time in prayer and contemplation helped him to understand himself better. He also gained a better understanding of God and God's plan for him.
The ten months he spent between the hospital and the cavern were difficult for Ignatius. He suffered from doubts, anxiety and depression. But he also recognized that these were not from God.
Ignatius began recording his thoughts and experiences in a journal. This journal would be useful later for developing new spiritual exercises for the tens of thousands of people who would follow him. Those exercises remain invaluable today and are still widely practiced by religious and laity alike.
The next year, in 1523, Ignatius made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. His goal was to live there and convert non-believers. However, the Holy Land was a troubled place and Church officials did not want Ignatius to complicate things further. They asked him to return after just a fortnight.
Ignatius realized he needed to obtain a complete education if he wanted to convert people. Returning to Barcelona, Ignatius attended a grammar school, filled with children, to learn Latin and other beginning subjects. He was blessed with a great teacher during this time, Master Jeronimo Ardevol.
After completing his primary education, Ignatius traveled to Alcala, then Salamanca, where he studied at universities. In addition to studying, Ignatius often engaged others in lengthy conversations about spiritual matters.
These conversations attracted the attention of the Inquisition.
In Spain, the Inquisition was responsible for ferreting out religious dissent and combating heresy. The Inquisition was not as it has long been depicted in the media.
The Inquisition accused Ignatius of preaching without any formal education in theology. Without this training, it was likely that Ignatius could introduce heresy by way of conversation and misunderstanding.
Ignatius was questioned three times by the Inquisition, but he was always exonerated.
Ignatius eventually decided he needed more education, so he traveled north, seeking better schools and teachers. He was 38 years old when he entered the College of Saint Barbe of the University of Paris. This education was very structured and formalized. Later, Ignatius would be inspired to copy this model when establishing schools. The ideas of prerequisites and class levels would arise from the Jesuit schools, which here heavily inspired by Ignatius' experience in Paris.
Ignatius earned a master's degree at the age of 44. When he subsequently applied for his doctorate, he was passed over because of his age. He also suffered from ailments, which the school was concerned could impact his studies.
While at school in Paris, Ignatius roomed with Peter Faber and Francis Xavier. Faber was French and Xavier was Basque. The men became friends and Ignatius led them in his spiritual exercises. Other men soon joined their exercises and became followers of Ignatius. The group began to refer to themselves as \"Friends in the Lord,\" an apt description.
The circle of friends, shared Ignatius' dream of traveling to the Holy Land, but conflict between Venice and the Turks made such a journey impossible. Denied the opportunity to travel there, the group then decided to visit Rome. There, they resolved to present themselves to the Pope and to serve at his pleasure.
Pope Paul III received the group and approved them as an official religious order in 1540. The band attempted to elect Ignatius as their first leader, but he declined, saying he had not lived a worthy life in his youth. He also believed others were more experienced theologically.
The group insisted however, and Ignatius accepted the role as their first leader. They called themselves the Society of Jesus. Some people who did not appreciate their efforts dubbed them \"Jesuits\" in an attempt to disparage them. While the name stuck, by virtue of their good work the label lost its negative connotation.
Ignatius imposed a strict, almost military rule on his order. This was natural for a man who spent his youth as a soldier. It might be expected that such rigor would dissuade people from joining, but it had the opposite effect. The order grew.
The Society of Jesus soon found its niche in education. Before Ignatius died in 1556, his order established 35 schools and boasted 1,000 members. The order was responsible for much of the work of stopping the spread of the Protestant Reformation. The Society advocated the use of reason to persuade others and combat heresy.
Today, the Society of Jesus is known for its work in educating the youth around the world. Several universities have been founded in the name of Ignatius and in the traditional Jesuit spirit. The Jesuits also perform many other important works around the globe.
Ignatius' passed away on July 31, 1556, at the age of 64. He was beatified by Pope Paul V on July 27, 1609 and canonized on March 12, 1622. His feast day is July 31. He is the patron saint of the Society of Jesus, soldiers, educators and education.
", "tags": "loyola ignatius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 538, "action": "Neot", "tags": "fish neot" }, { "id": 539, "action": "\n Hermit, and relative of King Alfred the Great. A\n \n monk\n \n of Glastonbury, England, he was ordained before he departed to become a hermit in Cornwall. Tradition states that King Alfred visited him for his counsel.\n
\n", "tags": "neot", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 540, "action": "Alphonsus de Liguori", "tags": "liguori theologians perseverance moral final vocations alphonsus de confessors" }, { "id": 541, "action": "
\n Bishop,\n \n Doctor\n \n of the Church, and the founder of the Redemptorist Congregation. He was born Alphonsus Marie Antony\n \n John\n \n Cosmos Damien Michael Gaspard de Liguori on September 27,1696, at Marianella, near Naples, Italy. Raised in a pious home, Alphonsus went on\n \n retreats\n \n with his father, Don Joseph, who was a naval officer and a captain of the Royal Galleys. Alphonsus was the oldest of seven children, raised by a devout mother of Spanish descent. Educated at the University of Naples, Alphonsus received his doctorate at the age of sixteen. By age nineteen he was practicing law, but he saw the transitory\n \n nature\n \n of the secular world, and after a brief time, retreated from the\n \n law\n \n courts and his fame. Visiting the local Hospital for Incurables on August 28, 1723, he had a vision and was told to consecrate his\n \n life\n \n solely to God. In response, Alphonsus dedicated himself to the religious life, even while suffering\n \n persecution\n \n from his family. He finally agreed to become a\n \n priest\n \n but to live at home as a member of a group of secular missionaries. He was ordained on December 21, 1726, and he spent six years giving missions throughout Naples. In April 1729, Alphonsus went to live at the \"Chiflese College,\" founded in\n \n Naples\n \n by Father\n \n Matthew\n \n Ripa, the\n \n Apostle\n \n of China. There he met\n \n Bishop\n \n Thomas Falcoia, founder of the Congregation of Pious Workers. This lifelong friendship aided Alphonsus, as did his association with a mystic, Sister\n \n Mary\n \n Celeste. With their aid, Aiphonsus founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer on November 9, 1732. The\n \n foundation\n \n faced immediate problems, and after just one year, Alphonsus found himself with only one lay brother, his other companions having left to\n \n form\n \n their own religious group. He started again, recruited new members, and in 1743 became the\n \n prior\n \n of two new congregations, one for men and one for women. Pope Benedict XIV gave his approval for the men's congregation in 1749 and for the women's in 1750. Alphonsus was preaching missions in the rural areas and writing. He refused to become the\n \n bishop\n \n of\n \n Palermo\n \n but in 1762 had to accept the papal command to accept the see of\n \n St. Agatha\n \n of the Goths near Naples. Here he discovered more than thirty thousand uninstructed men and women and four hundred indifferent priests. For thirteen years Alphonsus fed the poor, instructed families, reorganized the seminary and religious houses, taught theology, and wrote. His austerities were rigorous, and he suffered daily the pain from rheumatism that was beginning to deform his body. He spent several years having to drink from tubes because his head was so bent forward. An attack of rheumatic fever, from May 1768 to June 1769, left him paralyzed. He was not allowed to resign his see, however, until 1775. In 1780, Alphonsus was tricked into signing a submission for royal approval of his congregation. This submission altered the original rule, and as a result Alphonsus was denied any authority among the Redemptorists. Deposed and excluded from his own congregation, Alphonsus suffered great anguish. But he overcame his depression, and he experienced visions, performed miracles, and gave prophecies. He died peacefully on August 1,1787, at\n \n Nocera\n \n di Pagani, near\n \n Naples\n \n as the\n \n Angelus\n \n was ringing. He was\n \n beatified\n \n in 1816 and canonized in 1839. In 1871, Alphonsus was declared a\n \n Doctor\n \n of the Church by Pope Pius IX. His writings on moral, theological, and ascetic matters had great impact and have survived through the years, especially his\n \n Moral Theology\n \n and his Glories of Mary. He was buried at the monastery of the Pagani near Naples. Shrines were built there and at\n \n St. Agatha\n \n of the Goths. He is the patron of confessors, moral theologians, and the lay apostolate. In liturgical art he is depicted as bent over with rheumatism or as a young priest.\n
\n", "tags": "alphonsus de liguori", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 542, "action": "Friard", "tags": "friard fear wasps" }, { "id": 543, "action": "\n Hermit companion of St. Secundel. Friard lived on the island of Vindomitte, near Nantes, France.\n
\n", "tags": "friard", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 544, "action": "Lydia Purpuraria", "tags": "dyers purpuraria cloth lydia purplers" }, { "id": 545, "action": "\n Lydia Purpuraria (1st century) was born at\n \n Thyatira\n \n (Ak-Hissar), a town in\n \n Asia\n \n Minor, famous for its dye works, (hence, her name which means purple seller). She became Paul's first convert at Philippi. She was baptized with her household, and Paul stayed at her home there. Her feast date is August 3.\n
\n", "tags": "lydia purpuraria", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 546, "action": "John Vianney", "tags": "arch usa priests parochial john clergy vianney dubuque iowa" }, { "id": 547, "action": "\n Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney, known as John in English, was born May 8, 1786 in Dardilly, France and was baptized the same day. He was the fourth of six children born to Matthieu and Marie Vianney.\n
\nJohn was raised in a Catholic home and the family often helped the poor and housed St. Benedict Joseph Labre when he made his pilgrimage to Rome.
In 1790, when the anticlerical Terror phase of the French Revolution forced priests to work in secrecy or face execution, young Vianney believed the priests were heroes.
He continued to believe in the bravery of priests and received his First Communion catechism instructions in private by two nuns who lost their convents to the Revolution.
At 13-years-old, John made his first communion and prepared for his confirmation in secrecy.
When he was 20-years-old, John was allowed to leave the family farm to learn at a \"prsbytery-school\" in Écully. There he learned math, history, geography and Latin.
As his education had been disrupted by the French Revolution, he struggled in his studies, particularly with Latin, but worked hard to learn.
In 1802, the Catholic Church was reestablished in France and religious freedom and peace spread throughout the country.
Unfortunately, in 1809, John was drafted into Napoleon Bonaparte's armies. He had been studying as an ecclesiastical student, which was a protected title and would normally have excepted him from military services, but Napoleon had withdrawn the exemption in some dioceses as he required more soldiers.
Two days into his service, John fell ill and required hospitalization. As his troop continued, he stopped in at a church where he prayed. There he met a young man who volunteered to return him to his group, but instead led him deep into the mountains where military deserters met.
John lived with them for one year and two months. He used the name Jerome Vincent and opened a school for the nearby village of Les Noes' children.
John remained in Les Noes and hid when gendarmes came in search of deserters until 1810, when deserters were granted amnesty.
Now free, John returned to Écully and resumed his ecclesiastic studies. He attended a minor seminary, Abbe Balley, in 1812 and was eventually ordained a deacon in June 1815.
He joined his heroes as a priest August 12, 1815 in the Couvent des Minimes de Grenoble. His first Mass was celebrated the next day and he was appointed assistant to Balley in Écully.
Three years later, when Balley passed away, Fr. John Vianney was appointed parish priest of the Ars parish. With help from Catherine Lassagne and Benedicta Lerdet, La Providence, a home for girls, was established in Ars.
When he began his priestly duties, Fr. Vianney realized many were either ignorant or indifferent to religion as a result of the French Revolution. Many danced and drank on Sundays or worked in their fields.
Fr. Vianney spent much time in confession and often delivered homilies against blasphemy and dancing. Finally, if parishioners did not give up dancing, he refused them absolution.
He spent 11 to twelve hours each day working to reconcile people with God. In the summer months, he often worked 16-hour days and refused to retire.
His fame spread until people began to travel to him in 1827. Within thirty years, it is said he received up to 20,000 pilgrims each year.
He was deeply devoted to St. Philomena and erected a chapel and shrine in her honor. When he later became deathly ill but miraculously recovered, he attributed his health to St. Philomena's intercession.
By 1853, Fr. Vianney had attempted to run away from Ars four times, each attempt with the intention of becoming a monk but decided after the final time that it was not to be.
Six years later, he passed away and left behind a legacy of faith and was viewed as the champion of the poor.
On October 3, 1873, Pope Pius IX proclaimed Fr. Vianney as \"venerable\" and on January 8, 1905, Pope Pius X beatified him. St. John Vianney was canonized on May 31, 1925. His feast day was declared August 9 but it was changed twice before it fell to August 4.
St. John Vianney would often say: \"Private prayer is like straw scattered here and there: If you set it on fire, it makes a lot of little flames. But gather these straws into a bundle and light them, and you get a mighty fire, rising like a column into the sky; public prayer is like that.\"
Prayer of St. John Vianney
\nI love You, O my God, and my only desire is to love You until the last breath of my life.
\nI love You, O my infinitely lovable God, and I would rather die loving You, than live without loving You.
\nI love You, Lord and the only grace I ask is to love You eternally...
\nMy God, if my tongue cannot say in every moment that I love You, I want my heart to repeat it to You as often as I draw breath.
\n Martyr and penitent, listed in some records as the daughter of the king of Cyprus. Afra was caught up in the persecutions of Emperor\n \n Diocletian\n \n in Roman Augsburg. She is listed in the\n \n Martyrology\n \n Hieronymianum. Afra possibly operated a brothel in\n \n Augsburg\n \n or served as a prostitute in the\n \n temple\n \n of Venus, living with her mother, Hilaria, and serving women Eunomia, Eutropia, and Digna. When the persecutions started in Augsburg,\n \n Bishop\n \n Narcissus of Gerona, Spain, arrived in the city and took lodging with Afra and Hilaria, not knowing their profession. His\n \n holiness\n \n attracted the women, who converted. When officials came looking for the bishop, Afra hid him under a pile of flax. Afra and her household were baptized, and her uncle Dionysius was ordained as a bishop. Arrested, Afra was burned to death, tied to a tree on the small island of Lech. She was buried in\n \n Augsburg\n \n and her mother erected a\n \n chapel\n \n for her tomb. Soon after, Hilaria and her serving women were burned alive in their house. Afra's remains were buried in a church named after her. Pilgrims visited her shrine as early as 565. In 1012, the Benedictine monastery of\n \n St. Ulrich\n \n and\n \n St. Afra\n \n displayed her sarcophagus. The\n \n Acts\n \n of Afra give an account of her martyrdom.\n
\n", "tags": "afra", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 550, "action": "Emygdius", "tags": "earthquakes emygdius" }, { "id": 551, "action": "\n Bishop and martyr, also called Emidius. He was a\n \n pagan\n \n of Trier, Germany, who became a Christian. While visiting Rome, he destroyed a\n \n pagan\n \n temple. Pope\n \n St. Marcellus\n \n I or Marcellinus sent him to Ascoli Piceno. There he suffered martyrdom with Eupolus, Germanus, and Valentius. This tradition is untrustworthy. Emygdius'\n \n relics\n \n are in Ascoli. He is a patron against earthquakes.\n
\n", "tags": "emygdius", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 552, "action": "Donat", "tags": "donat llandunwyd glamorgan" }, { "id": 553, "action": "\n Patron saint of St. Donat's or Llandunwyd, Glamorgan, Wales. Nothing else is known, but in some lists he is called Dunwyd.\n
\n", "tags": "donat", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 554, "action": "Cajetan", "tags": "unemployed cajetan seekers job people" }, { "id": 555, "action": "\n In 1523, the Church was in sad shape. People could not get the spiritual nourishment they needed from the large\n \n numbers\n \n of uneducated and even immoral priests who took their money but returned nothing. When\n \n good\n \n priests and laypeople turned to the\n \n hierarchy\n \n for help, they found leaders at best apathetic and indifferent to their concerns.\n
\nHow should a good Catholic respond to this situation? We all known how Luther and others responded -- by splitting away from the Catholic Church when their pleas went unheard.
Cajetan took a different route. Just as concerned as Luther was about what he observed in the Church, he went to Rome in 1523 -- not to talk to the pope or the hierarchy but to consult with members of a confraternity called the Oratory of the Divine Love. When he had first come to Rome many years before, he had felt called to some unknown great work there. A few years later he returned to his hometown of Vicenza -- his great work seemingly unrealized. He had however studied for the priesthood and been ordained and helped re-establish a faded confraternity whose aims were promoting God's glory and the welfare of souls.
In the years he had been gone from Rome, he had founded another Oratory in his home town and Verona where he had promoted spiritual life and care for the poor and sick not only with words but with his heroic example. He told his brothers, \"In this oratory we try to serve God by worship; in our hospital we may say that we actually find him.\" But none of the horrors he saw in the hospitals of the incurables depressed him as much as the wickedness he saw everywhere he looked.
In his former confraternity, he found other clergy who felt the way he did. They didn't want to split off from the Church, they wanted to restore it. So they decided to form an order based on the lives of the apostles in the hopes that these lives would inspire them and others to live holy lives devoted to Jesus. In order to accomplish this they would focus on moral lives, sacred studies, preaching and pastoral care, helping the sick, and other solid foundations of pastoral life. This new order was known as Theatines Clerks Regular because it was an order of the regular clergy and because a bishop known as Theatensis was their first superior general (although Cajetan is considered the founder).
Not surprisingly, they didn't find thousands of formerly greedy and licentious priests flocking to their door. But Cajetan and the others persevered even in the face of open opposition from laity and clergy who didn't want to reform. It was his holy example that converted many as well as his preaching.
Worn out by the troubles he saw in his Church and his home, Cajetan fell ill. When doctors tried to get him to rest on a softer bed then the boards he slept on, Cajetan answered, \"My savior died on a cross. Let me died on wood at least.\" He died on August 7, 1547.
Do you have concerns about the Church or about certain people in power in the Church? Have you ever thought of leaving the Church because of these concerns? What positive steps could you take instead of splitting from the Church to help promote holiness and love of God and others?
Saint Cajetan, when we see things that trouble us in our Church, help us to continue to love her. Guide us to the positive steps we need to take to work within the Church for renewal. Help us to be examples of holiness to all. Amen
", "tags": "cajetan", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 556, "action": "Dominic", "tags": "astronomers criminals dominic" }, { "id": 557, "action": "\n Saint Dominic was born in Caleruega, Spain in 1170. His parents were members of the Spanish nobility and related to the ruling family. His father was Felix Guzman, and was the royal warden of the village. His mother, Bl. Joan of Aza, was a holy woman in her own right.\n
\nAccording to one legend, his mother made a pilgrimage to an abbey at Silos. Legend says there were many signs of the great child she would bear. One of the most common legends says that during the pilgrimage, Joan had a dream of a dog leaping from her womb with a torch in its mouth. The animal \"seemed to set the earth on fire.\" His parents named him Dominic a play on the words Domini canis, meaning the Lord's dog in Latin. An alternative, and possibly more likely story says he was named after St. Dominic de Silos, a Spanish monk who lived a century before.
It is known that Dominic was educated in Palencia, and he concentrated on theology and the arts. He spent six years studying theology and four the arts. He was widely acclaimed as an exemplary student by his professors. In 1191, a famine left many people desolate and homeless across Spain. Dominic sold everything he had, including his furniture and clothes and bought food for the poor. When he sold his manuscripts, required for study, he replied, \"Would you have me study from these dead skins when people are dying of hunger?\"
On two other occasions, Dominic attempted to sell himself into slavery to the Moors to obtain the freedom of others.
In 1194, Dominic joined a Benedictine order, the Canons Regular in Osma. He became the superior, or prior of the chapter in 1201.
In 1203 he joined his bishop, Diego de Acebo on a trip to Denmark. His mission was to help find a bride for Crown Prince Ferdinand. Although an agreement was made, the princess died before she could depart for Spain.
Her untimely death left the pair free to travel where they wished. They opted to travel to Rome, where they arrived in late 1204. The reason for this trip was that Bishop Diego de Acebo wanted to resign his office to pursue a new mission, the conversion of unbelievers.
Pope Innocent III did not wish the pair to travel to a distant land filled with unbelievers. Instead, the pair were asked to go to southern France, the region of Languedoc, to convert heretics back to the true faith.
At that time, the Albigensian heresy was flourishing. This heresy was so dangerous that it even praised the suicide of its members, often by means of self-inflicted starvation! The heresy wrongly taught that all material things,including the human body itself, were fundamentally evil. The Christian faith teaches otherwise. In fact, it proclaims the very resurrection of the Body.
A group of monks, an order of Benedictines who returned to an ancient Rule known as the Cistercians, were specifically assigned to combat the heresy through prayer, fasting and instruction, but they made little headway. According to writings from the period, some of the monks had become worldly and even pompous in their approach, surrounding themselves with material artifacts which repulsed the Albigensians.
Diego and Dominic were austere by comparison to some of these worldly monks and this austerity and personal self discipline appealed to many of the heretics who had been deceived in their thinking.
When Dominic debated the heretics, they could not defend themselves. Naturally, there is no defense against the truth. Many heretics threatened Dominic with violence. Despite the threats, Dominic traveled throughout the region, preaching and converting many back to Catholic Christian faith and practice.
Dominic recognized the need for a physical institution in Southern France to preserve the gains he made against the Albigensian heresy. The nobility needed a place to educate their children and Catholic women needed a safe place away from hostile heretics. Dominic established a convent at Prouille in 1206, which would become the first Dominican house. Bishop Diego and Dominic established their headquarters there. The monastery remains to this day as the Notre-Dame-de-Prouille Monastery.
In January 1208, the French nobility decided to take up arms against the heretics, after they murdered a papal legate. During the crusade that followed, Dominic consistently appealed for mercy for the heretics who were often the victims of atrocities. Dominic followed the armies and spent his time reconciling survivors to the Church.
Around this time, two things have been attributed to St. Dominic, although both are questioned by historians.
The first is his status as the first Inquisitor of the Inquisition. The first formal Inquisition was established as early as 1184, when Dominic would have been a teenager. The purpose of the Inquisition was to combat heresy by bringing the accused to trial and giving them an opportunity to repent. Although modern depictions accuse the Inquisition of being a bloodthirsty institution that liberally employed torture and death, such insinuations are generally false. The Inquisition was the first to provide many of the rights afforded to accused persons in modern courts. It was very progressive for its time.
There had been earlier courts to combat heresy, but these were not known as the inquisition.
In any case, while Dominic devoted his life to combating heresy, he was by no means the first inquisitor. It is possible he did advise various judges on Catholic orthodoxy when questions arose. There are no primary sources from the period which say Dominic was directly involved with the Inquisition.
The second thing concerns the Rosary. According to legend, St. Dominic received the Rosary during a period of prayer at the abbey in Prouille. This allegedly took place in 1214 during an apparition of the Virgin Mary.
This legend is a matter of some dispute among historians, but while similar devotions existed before this time, there is no record of the Marian rosary in this form before. Also, the Marian Rosary became popular following this event, suggesting the legend may be true.
Dominic became famous as a result of his mercy and his work. Several other prominent religious figures of the time petitioned for Dominic to be made bishop. He refused at least three attempts at promotion, saying he would rather run away with nothing than become a bishop.
Dominic remained steadfast to his mission to establish an order dedicated to promoting morality and the expulsion of heresy.
In July 1215, Dominic was granted permission to form his own religious order for this purpose. He was joined by six followers. The group followed a Rule of Life which included a strict routine of discipline, including prayer and penance. They also established a system of education. They often traveled the countryside to preach.
His order was confirmed on December 22, 1216, and in 1217, Pope Honorius III dubbed Dominic and his followers \"The Order of Preachers.\"
In the summer of 1217, Dominic decided it was time to send his followers out to grow the order. The band of seventeen men was ordered to depart Prouille and to go out across Europe to spread the order. The decision was a fateful one which proved successful. New members began to appear in great numbers across the continent.
After sending out his followers, Dominic headed to Rome to meet with the Pope and seek support for his mission.
Shortly afterwards, Pope Honorarius III elevated Dominic to the rank of \"Master of the Sacred Palace.\" The position has been occupied by Dominican preachers since Dominic himself in 1218.
Pope Honorarius III issued a Bull, a papal decree, asking all clergy across Europe to support the Order of Preachers. He then asked Dominic to assist with a new mission. The Pope noted that the religious orders for women in Rome were becoming lax in their discipline. He desired to bring them together to restore their discipline. He assigned Dominic this task.
He gave Dominic an old church, San Sisto, which required renovation. Once complete, Dominic did the hard work of persuading several orders of nuns to relocate. Somehow, he accomplished this mission. However, the arrival of the nuns meant that Dominic's small order had no place to call home in Rome. The Pope rewarded Dominic with a new church, the basilica of Santa Sabina. The basilica remains the headquarters of the Dominican order to this day.
Following these successes, Dominic began a period of travel that would continue for the rest of his life. His followers managed to establish several new houses which were growing rapidly.
According to writings about him, Dominic chose for himself only the most meager of provisions. His accommodations and clothes were described as \"mean.\" He refused to sleep on a bed. When he reached the edge of a town, he removed his sandals and walked barefoot, regardless of the path. He constantly prayed or issued instruction as he walked and whenever he faced discomfort, he praised God. His only possessions were a small bundle and a staff. In his bundle he kept a copy of the Gospel of Matthew and the Epistles of St. Paul, which he would read over and over again. He always drew great crowds wherever he went.
As Dominic traveled, he recognized the need for written rules for his monks to follow. His order had previously adopted the Rule of St. Augustine, but they recognized a need for a more formal constitution.
This was worked out between 1220 and 1221. The constitution was revolutionary for its time. Every superior was to be elected for a limited period of time. The order was to be supported with alms, and still is to this day. Preaching and study were to be the dominant work of the Dominica orders.
By spring of 1221, Dominic went back to his travels. He began with a trip to Venice, then returned to Bologna where he had established a convent in 1218.
In July of 1221, Dominic took ill with a fever. He asked to be laid on the ground, still refusing a bed. He exhorted his brothers to keep a spirit of humility and charity. After several weeks of illness, he made a last confession and a will, then passed away on August 6. He died in the presence of his brother Dominicans. Dominic was just 51.
Dominic's body was placed in a humble sarcophagus in 1223. It was then moved to a shrine in 1267.
Pope Gregory IX canonized St. Dominic on July 13, 1234, and his feast day is August 8.
Saint Dominic is the patron saint of astronomers, the Dominican Republic, and the innocent who are falsely accused of crimes. He is commonly depicted in icons with a dog, or lilies, holding a book. His hair always appears cut with a tonsure.
", "tags": "dominic", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 558, "action": "Ellidius", "tags": "ellidius hirnant powys wales" }, { "id": 559, "action": "\n Patron saint of Himant, Powys, Wales, and of a church in the Scilly Isles of England. Also called Illog.\n
\n", "tags": "ellidius", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 560, "action": "Nathy", "tags": "achonry ireland nathy" }, { "id": 561, "action": "\n Nathy is surnamed Cruimthir (the priest). He was born at Luighne, Sligo,\n \n Ireland\n \n and became a\n \n disciple\n \n of St. Finnian of Clonnard, who made him a bishop. He was founder-abbot of a monastery, which is questioned by some in view of his surname. His cult was confirmed in 1903. His\n \n feast day\n \n is August 9.\n
\n", "tags": "nathy", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 562, "action": "Clare of Assisi", "tags": "santa telephones clara weather laundry pueblo laundresses writers good gilders telegraphs workers television indian clare washerwomen assisi" }, { "id": 563, "action": "\n St. Clare of Assisi was born in Assisi on July 16, 1194, as Chiara Offreduccio, the beautiful eldest daughter of Favorino Sciffi, Count of Sasso-Rosso and his wife Ortolana. Tradition says her father was a wealthy representative of an ancient Roman family and her mother was a very devout woman belonging to the noble family of Fiumi.\n
\nAs a young girl, Clare dedicated herself to prayer. At 18-years-old, she heard St. Francis of Assisi preach during a Lenten service in the church of San Giorgio and asked him to help her live according to the Gospel. On Palm Sunday in 1212, Clare left her father's home and went to the chapel of the Porziuncula to meet with Francis. While there, Clare's hair was cut off and she was given a plain robe and veil in exchange for her rich gown.
Clare joined the convent of the Benedictine nuns of San Paulo, near Bastia, under Francis' orders. When her father found her and attempted to force her back into his home, she refused and professed that she would have no other husband than Jesus Christ. In order to give her the greater solitude she desired, Francis sent Clare to Sant' Angelo in Panzo, another Benedictine nuns monastery.
Clare's sister Catarina, who took the name Agnes, joined her at this monastery. The two remained there until a separate dwelling was built for them next to the church of San Damiano.
Overtime, other women joined them, wanting to also be brides of Jesus and live with no money. They became known as the \"Poor Ladies of San Damiano.\" They all lived a simple life of austerity, seclusion from the world, and poverty, according to a Rule which Francis gave them as a Second Order. St. Clare and her sisters wore no shoes, ate no meat, lived in a poor house, and kept silent most of the time. Their lives consisted of manual labor and prayer. Yet, they were very happy, because Our Lord was close to them all the time.
San Damiano became the center of Clare's new order, which was then known as the \"Order of Poor Ladies of San Damiano.\" For a brief period of time, the order was directed by St. Francis himself and by 1216, Clare became the abbess of San Damiano. Ten years after Clare's death, the order became known as the Order of Saint Clare.
While serving as the leader of her order, Clare defended them from the attempts of prelates to impose a rule on them that more closely followed the Rule of Saint Benedict than Francis. Clare was so devoted and dedicated to Francis that she was often referred to as \"alter Franciscus,\" or another Francis. She encouraged and aided the man she saw as a spiritual father figure, and took care of him as he grew old.
Following Francis' death, Clare continued to promote her order, fighting off every attempt from each pope trying to impose a rule on her order that would water down their \"radical commitment to corporate poverty.\"
In 1224, an army of rough soldiers from Frederick II came to attack Assisi. Although very sick, Clare went out to meet them with the Blessed Sacrament on her hands. She had the Blessed Sacrament placed at the wall where the enemies could see it. Then on her knees, she begged God to save the Sisters.
\"O Lord, protect these Sisters whom I cannot protect now,\" she prayed. A voice seemed to answer: \"I will keep them always in My care.\" In that moment, a sudden fright struck the attackers and they fled as fast as they could without harming anyone in Assisi.
St. Clare became sick and suffered great pains for many years, but she expressed that no pain could trouble her. So great was her joy in serving the Lord that she once exclaimed: \"They say that we are too poor, but can a heart which possesses the infinite God be truly called poor?\"
On August 9, 1253, Pope Innocent IV declared Clare's rule would serve as the governing rule for Clare's Order of Poor Ladies. Two days later, Clare died at 59-years-old. Her remains were placed in the chapel of San Giorgio while the church dedicated to her remains was being built. At Pope Innocent's request, the canonization process for Clare began immediately, and two years later in 1255, Pope Alexander IV canonized Clare as Saint Clare of Assisi.
The construction of the Basilica of Saint Clare was finished in 1260, and on October 3, 1260 Clare's remains were transferred there and buried beneath the high altar. Nearly 600 years later, her remains were transferred once again to a newly constructed shrine in the crypt of the Basilica of Saint Clare. Her body is no longer claimed to be incorrupt.
The Order of Poor Ladies was officially changed to the Order of Saint Clare in 1263 by Pope Urban IV.
St. Clare was designated as the patron saint of television in 1958 by Pope Pius XII, because when St. Clare was very ill, she could not attend mass and was reportedly able to see and hear it on the wall in her room.
She is also the patroness of eye disease, goldsmiths, and laundry.
Clare is often pictured carrying a monstrance or pyx, to commemorate the time she warded off the soldiers at the gates of her convent with the Blessed Sacrament. St. Clare's feast day is celebrated on August 11.
", "tags": "clare assisi", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 564, "action": "Attracta", "tags": "attracta ireland achonry" }, { "id": 565, "action": "\n Hermitess and co-worker with St. Patrick, also called Araght or Taraghta. She is traditionally listed as a daughter of a noble Irish family. Her father opposed her religious vocation but Attracta went to\n \n St. Patrick\n \n at Coolavin, Ireland, and made her\n \n vows\n \n to him. Attracta founded a\n \n hospice\n \n on Lough Gara called Killaraght. She also performed miracles, while living at Drum, near Boyle.\n
\n", "tags": "attracta", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 566, "action": "Cassian of Imola", "tags": "writers shorthand cassian imola stenographers" }, { "id": 567, "action": "\n Martyr of Imola, near modern Ravenna, Italy. He was a teacher arrested for being a Christian. His students were invited to hack him to death when he refused to deny Christ.\n \n Prudentius\n \n recorded Cassian's grisly martyrdom, noting that the students could not wield mortal blows, thus prolonging the martyr's agony. His cult is confined to local calendars.\n
\n", "tags": "imola cassian", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 568, "action": "Fachanan", "tags": "ross ireland fachanan" }, { "id": 569, "action": "\n This saint's feast is observed liturgically throughout all\n \n Ireland\n \n and he is patron of the\n \n diocese\n \n of Ross, where he was probably the first bishop. He was born at Tulachteann, was one of the pupils of St. Ita, and founded the monastery of Molana on an island in the Blackwater, near Youghal. But his great achievement was the establishment of the monastic school of Ross, at what is now Rosscarbery, in county Cork, one of the most famous\n \n schools\n \n of Ireland, which flourished for three hundred years and survived in some\n \n form\n \n until the coming of the Normans. Fachanan (Fachtna) suffered for a\n \n time\n \n from blindness, from which he recovered at the\n \n intercession\n \n of St. Ita's sister, who was about to give birth to St. Mochoemog.\n \n St. Fachanan\n \n was revered as a \"wise and upright man\", with a great gift for preaching; St. Cuimin of connor said of him that he was \"generous and steadfast, fond of preaching to the people and saying nothing that was base or displeasing to God\". His\n \n feast day\n \n is August 13th.\n
\n", "tags": "fachanan", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 570, "action": "Maximillian Kolbe", "tags": "political maximillian prisoners families pro-life kolbe movement drug addiction" }, { "id": 571, "action": "\n St. Maximilian Kolbe was born as Raymund Kolbe on January 8, 1894, in the Kingdom of Poland, part of the Russian Empire. He was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar and a martyr in the German death Camp of Auschwitz during World War II.\n
\nSt. Maximilian Kolbe was very active in promoting the Immaculate Virgin Mary and is known as the Apostle of Consecration to Mary. Much of his life was strongly influenced by a vision he had of the Virgin Mary when he was 12.
\"That night I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both.\"
One year after his vision, Kolbe and his elder brother, Francis joined the Conventual Franciscans. In 1910, Kolbe was given the religious name Maximilian, after being allowed to enter the novitiate, and in 1911, he professed his first vows.
At the age of 21, Kolbe earned a doctorate in philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University. He would also earn a doctorate in theology by the time he was 28.
St. Maximilian Kolbe organized the Militia Immaculata (Army of the Immaculate One) after witnessing demonstrations against Pope St. Pius X and Benedict XV. His goal was to work for the conversion of sinners and enemies of the Church, specifically, the Freemasons and he would so with the intercession of Mary.
In 1918, he was ordained a priest and continued his work of promoting Mary throughout Poland. Over the next several years, Kolbe took on publishing. He founded a monthly periodical titled, \"Rycerz Niepokalanej\" (Knight of the Immaculate). He also operated a religious publishing press and founded a new Conventual Franciscan monastery at Niepokalanow, which became a major religious publishing center.
Kolbe also founded monasteries in both Japan and India. To this day, the monastery in Japan remains prominent in the Roman Catholic Church in Japan.
In 1936, Kolbe's poor health forced him to return home to Poland, and once the WWII invasion by Germany began, he became one of the only brothers to remain in the monastery. He opened up a temporary hospital to aid those in need. When his town was captured, Kolbe was sent to prison but released three months later.
Kolbe refused to sign a document that would recognize him as a German citizen with his German ancestry and continued to work in his monastery, providing shelter for refugees - including hiding 2,000 Jews from German persecution. After receiving permission to continue his religious publishing, Kolbe's monastery acted as a publishing house again and issued many anti-Nazi German publications.
On February 17, 1941, the monastery was shut down; Kolbe was arrested by the German Gestapo and taken to the Pawiak prison. Three months later, he was transferred to Auschwitz.
Never abandoning his priesthood, Kolbe was the victim to severe violence and harassment. Toward the end of his second month in Auschwitz, men were chosen to face death by starvation to warn against escapes. Kolbe was not chosen but volunteered to take the place of a man with a family.
It is said during the last days of his life Kolbe led prayers to Our Lady with the prisoners and remained calm. He was the last of the group to remain alive, after two weeks of dehydration and starvation. The guards gave him a lethal injection of carbolic acid. The stories tell that he raised his left arm and calmly awaited death.
St. Maximilian Kolbe died on August 14 and his remains were cremated on August 15, the same day as the Assumption of Mary feast day.
Recognized as the Servant of God, Kolbe was beatified as a \"Confessor of the Faith\" on October 17, 1971 by Pope Paul VI and canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 10, 1982. Pope John Paul II declared Kolbe not a confessor, but a martyr.
Kolbe's is often depicted in a prison uniform and with a needle being injected into an arm. He is the patron saint of drug addicts, prisoners, families, and the pro-life movement and his feast day is celebrated on August 14.
", "tags": "kolbe maximillian", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 572, "action": "Tarcisius", "tags": "tarcisius communicants first" }, { "id": 573, "action": "\n Tarsicius was an acolite or perhaps a deacon at Rome. He was accosted and beaten to death on the Appian Way by a mob while carrying the\n \n Eucharist\n \n to some Christians in prison. The incident is included in\n \n Cardinal\n \n Wiseman's novel \"Fabiola\", and Pope Damasus wrote a poem about it. Tarsicius is the patron of first communicants and his\n \n feast day\n \n is August 15\n
\n", "tags": "tarcisius", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 574, "action": "Roch", "tags": "constantinople dogs patricia physicians istanbul italy dog pestilence diseases trouble cattle lovers diseased makers turkey fanciers contagious roch knee relief tile surgeons prisoners cholera plague invalids" }, { "id": 575, "action": "\n Untrustworthy sources say he was probably born at Montpellier, France, son of the governor there. He was orphaned when he was twenty. He went on pilgrimage to\n \n Rome\n \n and devoted himself to caring for the victims of a plague that was ravaging Italy. He became a victim himself at\n \n Piacenza\n \n but recovered and was reputed to have performed many miracles of healing.\n
\nOn his return to Montpellier, he was imprisoned for five years as a spy in pilgrim's disguise when his uncle, who was governor, ordered him imprisoned (His uncle failed to recognize him, and Roch failed to identify himself.) Roch died in prison and was only then identified as the former governor's son by a birthmark in the form of a cross on his chest. Another biographer says that he was arrested as a spy at Angers, Lombardi, and died in prison there.
When miracles were reported at his intercession after his death, a popular cult developed and he is invoked against pestilence and plague. He is also the patron of invalids. He is known as Rocco in Italy and Roque in Spain. His feast day is August 16th.
", "tags": "roch", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 576, "action": "John of Monte Marano", "tags": "marano monte john" }, { "id": 577, "action": "\n Benedictine bishop. appointed by Pope\n \n St. Gregory VII\n \n in 1074. He is the patron saint of Monte Marano, Italy.\n
\n", "tags": "marano monte john", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 578, "action": "Clare of Montefalco", "tags": "italy clare montefalco" }, { "id": 579, "action": "\n Clare was born at Montefalco, Italy, around 1268. As a young\n \n woman\n \n she joined a\n \n convent\n \n of Franciscan tertiaries. This group established Holy Cross\n \n Convent\n \n at Montefalco in 1290, adopting the Rule of St. Augustine. Clare's sister Joan was the\n \n abbess\n \n of this community, but at her death Clare succeeded her. She led an austere life, being particularly devoted to the Passion of\n \n Christ\n \n and His Cross. When Clare died in 1308, an image of the Cross was found imprinted on her heart, and her body remained incorrupt. Whe was canonized in 1881 by Pope Leo XIII. Her\n \n feast day\n \n is August 17th. The\n \n life\n \n of\n \n St. Clare\n \n reminds us that we are all called to a\n \n life\n \n of\n \n prayer\n \n and dedication. Still, we must not expect or anticipate special favors. We are to be satisfied with the simple\n \n relationship\n \n we establish with God.\n
\n", "tags": "clare montefalco", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 580, "action": "Helena", "tags": "usa empresses montana helena divorced marriages people converts difficult" }, { "id": 581, "action": "\n St. Helena was the mother of Emperor Constantine the Great and an Empress of the Roman Empire. Very little is known about Helena's early life, but it is believed she is from Drepanum (later known as Helenopolis) in Asia Minor and born into a poor family and lower class in the Roman culture of the day. St. Ambrose described Helena as a \"good stable-maid.\"\n
\nDespite her background, Helena married Constantius Chlorus. With him she birthed her only son, Constantine. around the year 274. Nearly two decades later in 292, Constantius, now co-Regent of the West, got swept up in his rising stature and divorced Helena for Theodora, the step-daughter of Emperor Maximinianus Herculius. It is believed he did this to advance his own reputation and advance his standing in the Roman society.
Constantine was forever loyal to his dear mother, whom he loved very much. As he grew and became a member of the inner circle, he never left Helena's side. Following the death of Constantius in 308, Constantine became Emperor and summoned his mother back into inner circle and the imperial court. Helena received the title of Augusta.
Constantine ordered all to honor his mother. He even had coins minted, bearing her image. Through her son's influence, Helena began to embrace Christianity. With her title of Augusta Imperatrix, Helena was given free reign over the imperial treasury. She was tasked with locating relics of Christian tradition.
Between the years 326-328, Helena took a trip to the Holy Places in the Middle East. During her journey, Helena had many churches constructed, including the one at the site of Jesus Christ's birth - the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem and another at the site of his ascension - Church of Eleona on the Mount of Olives.
During this time Jerusalem was still being rebuilt after Titus' destruction. Around the year 130, Emperor Hadrian had a temple built over the site of Jesus' death. This temple was believed to be dedicated to Venus. Helena had this temple destroyed and chose a site in this location to be excavated. This led to the discovery of three crosses.
Tradition says Helena brought a woman near death to the crosses. There she had the woman place a hand on all three crosses. Nothing happened when she touched the first two crosses, but when she placed her hand on the third cross she suddenly recovered. Helena declared the third cross to be the True Cross. At this site, Constantine ordered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to be built.
Theodoret of Cyrus, an influential theologian, wrote that that during her search, Helena also discovered the nails of the crucifixion. She had one of the nails placed in Constantine's helmet and one in the bridle of his horse to aid him with their miraculous powers. Churches were built at these sites, as well.
Several of the relics believed to be found by St. Helena are located in Cyprus. Among these are parts of Jesus' tunic, pieces of the holy cross, and pieces of the rope used to tie Jesus to the cross. When Helena returned to Rome from Jerusalem in 327, she brought parts of the True Cross back with her. She stored these in her palace's chapel. They can still be seen to this day, though her palace has been converted to the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem.
St. Helena died around 330 with her dearly devoted son by her side. She was then buried in the Mausoleum of Helena outside of Rome. Her sarcophagus can be seen in the Pio-Clementine Vatican Museum.
St. Helena was renowned for helping not only individuals, but entire communities through her works of charity. She often sought out to help the poor and destitute. She would visit churches and leave them with rich donations. St. Helena was a very devout servant of God, so much so that one would easily believe her to have been a follower of Jesus Christ from birth. Through her influence and work, Christianity continued to spread throughout the known world.
St. Helena is the patron saint of new discoveries and her feast day is celebrated on August 18.
", "tags": "helena", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 582, "action": "Herbert Hoscam", "tags": "hoscam conze herbert italy conza" }, { "id": 583, "action": "\n Archbishop and patron saint of Conze, Italy. He was English by birth but served as\n \n prelate\n \n of the Basilicata area.\n
\n", "tags": "herbert hoscam", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 584, "action": "Bernard of Clairvaux", "tags": "bees cambridge refiners queens bernard wax melters clairvaux college gibraltar" }, { "id": 585, "action": "\n St. Bernard,\n \n Abbot\n \n and\n \n Doctor\n \n of the Church\n \n St. Bernard\n \n was born of noble parentage in Burgundy, France, in the castle of Fontaines near Dijon. Under the care of his pious\n \n parents\n \n he was sent at an early age to a\n \n college\n \n at Chatillon, where he was conspicuous for his remarkable piety and\n \n spirit\n \n of recollection. At the same place he entered upon the studies of theology and Holy Scripture. After the death of his mother, fearing the snares and temptations of the world, he resolved to embrace the newly established and very austere institute of the Cistercian Order, of which he was destined to become the greatest ornament. He also persuaded his brothers and several of his friends to follow his example. In 1113, St. Bernard, with thirty young noblemen, presented himself to the holy Abbot, St. Stephen, at Citeaux. After a novitiate spent in great fervor, he made his profession in the following year. His\n \n superior\n \n soon after, seeing the great progress he had made in the spiritual life, sent him with twelve monks to found a new monastery, which afterward became known as the celebrated\n \n Abbey\n \n of Clairvaux.\n \n St. Bernard\n \n was at once appointed\n \n Abbot\n \n and began that active\n \n life\n \n which has rendered him the most conspicuous figure in the history of the 12th century. He founded numerous other monasteries, composed a number of works and undertook many journeys for the honor of God. Several Bishoprics were offered him, but he refused them all. The reputation of\n \n St. Bernard\n \n spread far and wide; even the\n \n Popes\n \n were governed by his advice. He was commissioned by Pope\n \n Eugene III\n \n to preach the second Crusade. In\n \n obedience\n \n to the Sovereign Pontiff he traveled through\n \n France\n \n and Germany, and aroused the greatest enthusiasm for the holy\n \n war\n \n among the masses of the population. The failure of the expedition raised a great storm against the saint, but he attributed it to the sins of the Crusaders.\n \n St. Bernard\n \n was eminently endowed with the gift of miracles. He died on August 20, 1153. His\n \n feast day\n \n is August 20.\n
\n", "tags": "bernard clairvaux", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 586, "action": "Agnes of Rome", "tags": "rome agnes scouts girl" }, { "id": 587, "action": "\n A popular saint about whom little is known, Agnes is said to have been a beautiful, wealthy Roman maiden who had, in childhood, dedicated herself to God. Some say that a rejected suitor betrayed her to authorities; others say that she was asked at 13 to\n \n sacrifice\n \n to the gods and marry, both of which she refused. Legends tell of her being thrown into a brothel, where her purity was miraculously preserved. Having escaped that fate, she was martyred. In the IV Century, Constantia, the daughter of Constantine, built a\n \n basilica\n \n on the site of her tomb.\n \n St. Ambrose\n \n wrote about Agnes in De virginitate, and Damasus I wrote an epitaph for her.\n \n Prudentius\n \n composed a\n \n hymn\n \n in her honor. Her emblem in art is the lamb because of the similarity between her name and the Latin word for lamb, agnus.\n
\n", "tags": "rome agnes", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 588, "action": "Pius X", "tags": "usa pius falls-billings moines springfield-cape girardeau missouri montana sick great x pilgrims iowa des" }, { "id": 589, "action": "\n On June 2, 1835, Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto saw the light of earth at Riesi, Province of Treviso, in Venice; on August 20, 1914, he saw the light of heaven; and on May 29, 1954, he who had become the two hundred fifty-ninth pope was canonized St. Pius X.\n
\nTwo of the most outstanding accomplishments of this saintly Pope were the inauguration of the liturgical renewal and the restoration of frequent communion from childhood. He also waged an unwavering war against the heresy and evils of Modernism, gave great impetus to biblical studies, and brought about the codification of Canon Law. His overriding concern was to renew all things in Christ.
Above all, his holiness shone forth conspicuously. From St. Pius X we learn again that \"the folly of the Cross\", simplicity of life, and humility of heart are still the highest wisdom and the indispensable conditions of a perfect Christian life, for they are the very source of all apostolic fruitfulness.
His last will and testament bears the striking sentence: \"I was born poor, I have lived in poverty, and I wish to die poor.\" His feast day is August 21.
", "tags": "x pius", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 590, "action": "Rose of Lima", "tags": "growers florists flower forces america philosophers phillipines peru india americas samar rose nurses peruvian philippines lima santa usa latin villareal vanity gardeners central security south rosa california" }, { "id": 591, "action": "\n Historians remember St. Rose of Lima for her piety and chastity. Born in 1586 in Lima, Peru to Spanish colonists, and named Isabel Flores de Olivia, she was exceptionally beautiful.\n
\nHer beauty was so great that she was nicknamed \"Rose,\" a name that remains with her to this day. According to legend, a servant had a vision where her face turned into a rose. At her confirmation in 1597, she officially took the name of Rose.
From an early age, Rose wanted to become a nun. She often prayed and fasted in secret. She performed secret penances, some of which were painful and severe. She performed daily adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and took daily communion.
As a young woman, her beauty began to attract suitors. To deter these men, St. Rose marred her face, rubbing it with pepper to make it blister. She cropped her hair short.
Her parents opposed her plan to take a vow of chastity. This resulted in a clash of wills, because her parents wanted her to marry. Her father eventually relented and gave her a room to herself.
St. Rose kept herself cloistered in her room, spending long periods in prayer. It was said she slept only two hours per night so as to have more time for prayer.
She quit eating meat altogether, an extreme dietary restriction for that time.
When she turned 20, she was permitted to join the Third Order of St. Dominic. She continued a life of extreme prayer, fasting and penance. On one occasion she burned her hands as a self-imposed act of penance.
She was known to wear a heavy silver crown, with spikes that could pierce her flesh. The spikes reminded her of the Crown of Thorns. At one point, one of the spikes become so lodged in her skull that the crown was removed with great difficulty.
St. Rose died in on August 25, 1617, at the age of 31. According to legend, she accurately predicted the date of her death. Her funeral was a major event attended by all the city's authorities.
Pope Clement IX beatified her in 1667 and Pope Clement X recognized her as a saint, canonizing her in 1671. Her feast day is August 23 around the world, although some countries, like Peru, celebrate her on August 30.
St. Rose is the patroness of embroiderers, gardeners, florists, those who suffer ridicule for their piety, and people who suffer family problems.
", "tags": "rose lima", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 592, "action": "Tydfil", "tags": "merthyr wales tydfil" }, { "id": 593, "action": "\n Welsh martyr, reportedly from the clan of Brychan. She was slain by a group of\n \n pagan\n \n Picts or Saxons and is venerated at Merthyr-Tydfil, Glamorgan. Wales.\n
\n", "tags": "tydfil", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 594, "action": "Philip Benizi", "tags": "norte philip zamboanga philippines sergio benizi osmena del" }, { "id": 595, "action": "\n Servite\n \n cardinal\n \n and preacher. Born in Florence, Italy, to a noble family, he was educated in\n \n Paris\n \n and\n \n Padua\n \n where he earned a doctorate in medicine and philosophy. He practiced medicine for some time, but in 1253 he joined the Servite Order in Florence. He served as a lay brother until 1259, when his superiors directed him to be ordained. Philip soon became known as one of the foremost preachers of his era, becoming master of novices at\n \n Siena\n \n in 1262 and then\n \n superior\n \n of several friaries and\n \n prior\n \n general of the Servites against his own wishes. in 1267. Reforming the order with\n \n zeal\n \n and patience, he was named as a possible candidate to become pope by the influential\n \n Cardinal\n \n Ottobuoni just before the\n \n election\n \n to choose a successor to Pope Clement IV. This possibility was so distressing to Philip that he fled and hid in a cave until the\n \n election\n \n was finally over. He attended the Council of Lyons which brought about a brief reunion with the Orthodox, worked to bring peace between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines in 1279, assisted St. Juliana in founding the third order of the Servites, and in 1284, dispatched the first Servite missionaries to the Far East. He retired to a small Servite house in Todi, where he died on August 22. He was canonized in 1671.\n
\n", "tags": "philip benizi", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 596, "action": "Bartholomew the Apostle", "tags": "cheese whiteners florentine merchants apostle bartholomew butchers salt trappers tanners twitching" }, { "id": 597, "action": "\n St. Bartholomew, 1st. century, one of the 12.\n
\nAll that is known of him with certainty is that he is mentioned in the synoptic gospels and Acts as one of the twelve apostles. His name, a patronymic, means \"son of Tolomai\" and scholars believe he is the same as Nathanael mentioned in John, who says he is from Cana and that Jesus called him an \"Israelite...incapable of deceit.\" The Roman Martyrology says he preached in India and Greater Armenia, where he was flayed and beheaded by King Astyages. Tradition has the place as Abanopolis on the west coast of the Caspian Sea and that he also preached in Mesopotamia, Persia, and Egypt. The Gospel of Bartholomew is apochryphal and was condemned in the decree of Pseudo-Gelasius. Feast Day August 24.
", "tags": "apostle bartholomew", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 598, "action": "Genesius", "tags": "lawyers genesius actors barristers printers attorneys clowns profession converts theatrical" }, { "id": 599, "action": "\n Creation and Redemption are part of a grand masterpiece of love initiated by God, the Divine Artist. He created the world out of love, in love and for love. All who dwell upon it can become a manifestation of His Beauty - by responding to His invitations of grace.\n
\nThere is an integral connection between beauty and the Christian vocation to manifest the presence of the living God in this world. Beauty is a path to encountering the God who is its source and summit.
To be fully Christian is to be fully human, and fully alive. We are paintbrushes in the hand of God the Divine Artist, and through us He intends to manifest his beauty.
In Saint John Paul's \"Letter to Artists\" he referred to all artists as \"Images of the Creator.\" He wrote, \"to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art. Art must make perceptible, and as far as possible attractive, the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God.\"
The late Pope explained, \"Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence. It is an invitation to savor life and to dream of the future. That is why the beauty of created things can never fully satisfy. It stirs that hidden nostalgia for God, which a lover of beauty like Saint Augustine could express in incomparable terms: \"Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you!\" (John Paul II)
He called Christian artists to create \"epiphanies of beauty\" and encouraged the flourishing of all the arts in a great renewal of humanity for our age. His letter began with these words from the Book of Genesis: \"God saw all that He had made, and it was very good (Genesis 1:31).\" It still is. Included among artists are actors and playwrights.
In the early years of the first Christian Millennium, the theatre was debased and inhuman because human culture had become debased. Even though Christians desired to participate in the culture, they often avoided the theatre because of this.
That is one of the reasons why the story of the actor and martyr named St. Genesius is so unique and inspiring.
It is also very timely.
We live in an age when the theatre is again becoming debased. As our culture moves away from God, it is losing an understanding of the dignity of the human person. When a culture rejects God, it rejects beauty.
That is why we need contemporary Christian artists to create new \"epiphanies of beauty\" for a new missionary age. The story of St. Genesius needs to be re-told in this hour. The witness of his martyrdom, along with his intercession, can help inspire new Christian playwrights, actors and artists.
What we know about St. Genesius comes from an ancient Christian tradition which was affirmed in a seventh century document called the Acts of the Martyrs which tells his story.
During the brutal persecution of Christians under the evil emperor Diocletian in the third and fourth centuries, a pagan man named Genesius wrote a play mocking Christianity.
The emperor Diocletian traveled to Rome in the year 303 to celebrate twenty years as an emperor. Genesius knew of the emperors hatred of Christianity and thought he could advance himself by writing and performing in a play which mocked the Christian faith which Diocletian was hell bent on destroying.
Christian tradition tells us that Genesius decided that the best way to learn this Christian way in order to write such a satirical play and act in it, was to deceive members of the Christian community into believing that he wanted to enter the catechumenate and prepare for Baptism.
He was successful. They accepted him into the catechumenate.
It was during the months of instruction in preparation for Baptism that Genesius decided to make the Christian claims that Baptism washed away sin and brought the baptized into a new life in Jesus Christ the subject of his play.
He planned to mock the claim on stage, in front of Diocletian! However, during the period of instruction in the Christian Way, he found himself increasingly drawn to the Savior whom the Christians proclaimed and became conflicted.
He finally left the catechumenate and rejected the claims of Christianity.
He then decided to proceed with his blasphemous plan to write a play which was a parody of Christianity and perform it in front of the Emperor. He wanted to curry favor with this evil emperor and enhance his standing in the empire.
When the time came for the performance of the play, before the emperor, Genesius appeared on stage, playing a bedridden sick man who cried out to be Baptized. An actor playing a Christian priest came to baptize the sick man. The entire play was supposed to mock the Savior Jesus Christ and the Christian way of life.
But, the Lord had other plans.
As the actor playing the Christian priest poured water over the head of Genesius, the grace of God fell upon him. He encountered the Risen Jesus Christ and saw the truth of the Christian faith. \nAccording to the Acts, Genesius began to give testimony to Jesus Christ in front of all who were watching and affirmed the Christian faith. He boldly called on Diocletian to give his life to Jesus Christ in these words:
I came here today to please an earthly Emperor but what I have done is to please a heavenly King. I came here to give you laughter, but what I have done is to give joy to God and his angels. From this moment on, believe me, I will never mock these great mysteries again. I now know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true God, the Light, the Truth and the Mercy of all who have received his gift of baptism. O great Emperor, believe in these mysteries! I will teach you, and you will know the Lord Jesus Christ is the true God.\"
Diocletian became enraged. He had this holy, newly baptized Christian, tortured and beheaded when he refused to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. Genesius is the Patron Saint of Actors. St. Genesius, pray for us!
", "tags": "genesius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 600, "action": "Louis IX", "tags": "usa haberdashers ix distillers french bridegrooms grooms missouri monarchs marriages kings crusaders children arch louis death difficult" }, { "id": 601, "action": "\n Louis IX was born in Poissy,\n \n France\n \n in 1214 to Louis VIII and Blanche of Castille. He succeeded to the\n \n throne\n \n at the age of twelve under the regency of his mother. On his twenty-first birthday he assumed full kingship. He was well known for protecting the French clergy from secular leaders and for strictly enforcing laws against blasphemy. Louis generally remained neutral in international disputes. However, because of a dispute between the Count of Le Marche and the Count of Poitiers, in which\n \n Henry III\n \n supported the Count of Le Marche, he was forced to go to\n \n war\n \n with England. In 1242 Louis defeated\n \n Henry III\n \n at Tailebourg. After the war, he made\n \n restitution\n \n to the innocent people whose\n \n property\n \n had been destroyed. He established the\n \n Sorbonne\n \n (1252) and the monasteries of Rayaumont, Vavert, and Maubuisson. Louis led two crusades, the Sixth and the Seventh Crusades. He was captured and imprisoned during the Sixth (1244-1249). At the onset of the Seventh Crusade in 1270, Louis died of dysentry.\n \n Boniface VIII\n \n canonized him in 1297.\n
\n", "tags": "louis ix", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 602, "action": "Joseph Calasanctius", "tags": "all calasanctius joseph christian schools" }, { "id": 603, "action": "\n Founder of the Religious Schools, called the Scolopi or Piarists.\n \n Joseph\n \n was born in Peralta, Aragon, Spain. He went to\n \n Rome\n \n in 1592 and joined the Confraternity of\n \n Christian\n \n Doctrine, founding his congregation as a result of his work with neglected children.\n \n Joseph\n \n suffered unjust accusations but was restored as head of his congregation before he died. He was canonized in 1767.\n
\n", "tags": "calasanctius joseph", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 604, "action": "Teresa of Jesus Jornet e Ibars", "tags": "ibars jornet e senior age old citizens pensioners jesus teresa" }, { "id": 605, "action": "\n Foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor. Born in Catalonia, Spain, she overcame many difficulties in her youth and eventually became a teacher at Lerida. Desirous to enter the religious life, she failed to win entry into the\n \n convent\n \n at the advice of her spiritual director, decided to launch her own congregation. On January 27, 1872, at Barbastro, Spain, she began the Little Sisters of the Poor, called the Little Sisters of the Abandoned Age. Considerable zeal, she had founded by the\n \n time\n \n of death more than fifty houses for her congregation. Beatified in 1958, she was canonized in 1974 by Pope VI.\n
\n", "tags": "ibars jornet e jesus teresa", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 606, "action": "Monica", "tags": "verbal alcoholism children monica spouse women disappointing mothers married abuse victims homemakers marriages housewives housekeepers difficult" }, { "id": 607, "action": "\n Saint Monica, also known as Monica of Hippo, is St. Augustine of Hippo's mother. She was born in 331 A.D. in Tagaste, which is present-day Algeria.\n
\nWhen she was very young, she was married off to the Roman pagan Patricius, who shared his mother's violent temper. Patricius' mother lived with the couple and the duo's temper flares proved to be a constant challenge to young Monica.
While Monica's prayers and Christian deeds bothered Patricius, he is said to have respected her beliefs.
Three children were born to Monica and Patricius: Augustine, Navigius, and Perpetua. Unfortunately, Monica was unable to baptize her children and when Augustine fell ill, Monica pleaded with Patricius to allow their son to be baptized.
Patricius allowed it, but when Augustine was healthy again, he withrew his permission.
For years Monica prayed for her husband and mother-in-law, until finally, one year before Patricius' death, she successfully converted them.
As time passed, Perpetua and Navigius entered the religious life, but unfortunately Augustine became lazy and uncouth. This greatly worried Monica, so when Patricius died, she sent the 17-year-old Augustine to Carthage for schooling.
While in Carthage, Augustine became a Manichaean, which was a major religion that saw the world as light and darkness, and when one died, they were removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light, which is where life comes from.
After Augustine got his education and returned home, he shared his views with Monica, who drove him from her table. Though it is not recorded how much time passed, Monica had a vision that convinced her to reconcile with her wayward son.
Monica went to a bishop, who told her, \"the child of those tears shall never perish.\"
Inspired, Monica followed Augustine to Rome, where she learned he had left for Milan. She continued her persual and eventually came upon St. Ambrose, who helped her convert Augustine to Christianity following his seventeen-year resistance.
Augustine later wrote a book called Confessions, in which he wrote of Monica's habit of bringing \"to certain oratories, erected in the memory of the saints, offerings of porridge, bread, water and wine.\"
When Monica moved to Milan, a bishop named Ambrose told her wine \"might be an occasion of gluttony for those who were already given to drink,\" so she stopped preparing wine as offerings for the saints.
Augustine wrote: \"In place of a basket filled with fruits of the earth, she had learned to bring to the oratories of the martyrs a heart full of purer petitions, and to give all that she could to the poor - so that the communion of the Lord's body might be rightly celebrated in those places where, after the example of his passion, the martyrs had been sacrificed and crowned.\"
After a period of six months, Augustine was baptized in the church of St. John the Baptist at Milan. The pair were led to believe they should spread the Word of God to Africa, but it the Roman city of Civitavecchia, Monica passed away.
Augustine recorded the words she imparted upon him when she realized death was near. \"Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled.\"
She was buried at Ostia, and her body was removed during the 6th century to a hidden crypt in the church of Santa Aurea in Osta, near the tomb of St. Aurea of Ostia.
In 1430, Pope Martin V ordered her relics to be brought to Rome and many miracles were reported to have occurred along the way. Later, Cardinal d'Estouteville built a church to honor St. Augustine called the Basilica di Sant'Agostino, where her relics were placed in a chapel to the left of the high altar.
Her funeral epitaph survived in ancient manuscripts and the stone it was originally written on was discovered in the church of Santa Aurea in 1945.
Douglas Boin translated the tablet's Latin to read:
\"Here the most virtuous mother of a young man set her ashes, a second light to your merits, Augustine.
As a priest, serving the heavenly laws of peace, you taught [or you teach] the people entrusted to you with your character. A glory greater than the praise of your accomplishments crowns you both - Mother of the Virtues, more fortunate because of her offspring.\"
Fun Fact
\nThe city of Santa Monica, California is named after Monica, as were the \"weeping\" springs outside the city.
St. Monica Prayer
St. Monica,
\nI need your prayers.
\nYou know exactly how I'm feeling because you once felt it yourself.
\nI'm hurting, hopeless, and in despair.
\nI desperately want my child to return to Christ in his Church but I can't do it alone.
\nI need God's help.
\nPlease join me in begging the Lord's powerful grace to flow into my child's life.
\nAsk the Lord Jesus to soften his heart, prepare a path for his conversion, and activate the Holy Spirit in his life.
\nAmen.
\n Wife and model of charity. She was born into a poor\n \n family\n \n at San Severino, Ancona, Italy. Married at fifteen, she suffered through ill treatment from her husband with prayer, while begging alms for the poor and sick. She walked as barefooted as the lowliest beggar.\n
\n", "tags": "margaret barefooted", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 610, "action": "Augustine of Hippo", "tags": "usa tucson hippo connecticut kalamazoo brewers theologians bridgeport augustine wisconsin arizona superior michigan" }, { "id": 611, "action": "\n This famous son of\n \n St. Monica\n \n was born in\n \n Africa\n \n and spent many years of his\n \n life\n \n in wicked living and in false beliefs. Though he was one of the most intelligent men who ever lived and though he had been brought up a Christian, his sins of impurity and his\n \n pride\n \n darkened his\n \n mind\n \n so much, that he could not see or understand the Divine\n \n Truth\n \n anymore. Through the\n \n prayers\n \n of his holy mother and the marvelous preaching of St. Ambrose, Augustine finally became convinced that\n \n Christianity\n \n was the one true religion. Yet he did not become a\n \n Christian\n \n then, because he thought he could never live a pure life. One day, however, he heard about two men who had suddenly been converted on reading the\n \n life\n \n of St. Antony, and he felt terrible ashamed of himself. \"What are we doing?\" he cried to his friend Alipius. \"Unlearned people are taking\n \n Heaven\n \n by force, while we, with all our knowledge, are so cowardly that we keep rolling around in the mud of our sins!\"\n
\nFull of bitter sorrow, Augustine flung himself out into the garden and cried out to God, \"How long more, O Lord? Why does not this hour put an end to my sins?\" Just then he heard a child singing, \"Take up and read!\" Thinking that God intended him to hear those words, he picked up the book of the Letters of St. Paul, and read the first passage his gaze fell on. It was just what Augustine needed, for in it, St. Paul says to put away all impurity and to live in imitation of Jesus. That did it! From then on, Augustine began a new life.
He was baptized, became a priest, a bishop, a famous Catholic writer, Founder of religious priests, and one of the greatest saints that ever lived. He became very devout and charitable, too. On the wall of his room he had the following sentence written in large letters: \"Here we do not speak evil of anyone.\" St. Augustine overcame strong heresies, practiced great poverty and supported the poor, preached very often and prayed with great fervor right up until his death. \"Too late have I loved You!\" he once cried to God, but with his holy life he certainly made up for the sins he committed before his conversion. His feast day is August 28th.
", "tags": "augustine hippo", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 612, "action": "Raymond Nonnatus", "tags": "obstetricians usa midwives children women falsely mothers iowa pregnant accused childbirth dubuque people arch innocent nonnatus raymond expectant" }, { "id": 613, "action": "\n Raymond was born at Portella, Catalonia, Spain. He was delivered by caesarean operation when his mother died in childbirth. Hence his name non natus (not born). He joined the\n \n Mercedarians\n \n under\n \n St. Peter\n \n Nolasco at Barcelona. He succeeded Peter as chief ransomer and went to Algeria to ransom slaves. He remained as hostage for several\n \n slaves\n \n when his money ran out and was sentenced to be impaled when the governor learned that he had converted several Mohammedans. He escaped the death\n \n sentence\n \n because of the ransom he would bring, but was forced to run the gauntlet. He was then tortured for continuing his evangelizing activities but was ransomed eight months later by Peter Nolasco. On his return to\n \n Barcelona\n \n in 1239, he was appointed\n \n Cardinal\n \n by Pope Gregory IX, but died at Cardona a short distance from\n \n Barcelona\n \n the next year while on the way to Rome. He was canonized in 1657. He is the patron saint of expectant mothers and\n \n midwives\n \n because of the\n \n nature\n \n of his own birth. Although his mother died in labor, Raymond miraculously survived the ordeal. His\n \n feast day\n \n is August 31.\n
\n", "tags": "nonnatus raymond", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 614, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "children nicholas tolentino" }, { "id": 615, "action": "\n Born in 1245 in Sant'Angelo,\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Tolentino took his name from\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Myra, at whose shrine his\n \n parents\n \n prayed to have a child. Nicholas became a\n \n monk\n \n at 18, and seven years later, he was ordained a priest. He gained a reputation as a preacher and a confessor. C. 1274, he was sent to Tolentino, near his birthplace. The town suffered from civil strife between the Guelphs, who supported the pope, and Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor, in their struggle for control of Italy. Nicholas was primarily a\n \n pastor\n \n to his flock. He ministered to the poor and the criminal. He is said to have cured the sick with bread over which he had prayed to Mary, the mother of God. He gained a reputation as a wonder-worker. Nicholas died in 1305 after a long illness. People began immediately to petition for his canonization.\n \n Eugene IV\n \n canonized him in 1446, and his\n \n relics\n \n were rediscovered in 1926 at Tolentino.\n
\n", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 616, "action": "Fiacre", "tags": "syphilis tile veneral horticulturalists fistula fiacre hosiers gardeners taxi cab sufferers pewterers makers haemorrhoid disease drivers box" }, { "id": 617, "action": "\n St. Fiacre (Fiachra) is not mentioned in the earlier Irish calendars, but it is said that he was born in\n \n Ireland\n \n and that he sailed over into\n \n France\n \n in quest of closer solitude, in which he might devote himself to God, unknown to the world. He arrived at Meaux, where Saint Faro, who was the\n \n bishop\n \n of that city, gave him a solitary dwelling in a forest which was his own patrimony, called Breuil, in the province of Brie. There is a legend that St.\n \n Faro\n \n offered him as much land as he could turn up in a day, and that St. Fiacre, instead of driving his furrow with a plough, turned the top of the soil with the point of his staff. The anchorite cleared the ground of trees and briers, made himself a cell with a garden, built an\n \n oratory\n \n in honor of the Blessed Virgin, and made a\n \n hospice\n \n for travelers which developed into the village of Saint-Fiacre in Seine-et-Marne. Many resorted to him for advice, and the poor, for relief. His charity moved him to attend cheerfully those that came to consult him; and in his\n \n hospice\n \n he entertained all comers, serving them with his own hands, and sometimes miraculously restored to health those that were sick. He never allowed any\n \n woman\n \n to enter the enclosure of his hermitage, and Saint Fiacre extended the prohibition even to his chapel; several rather ill-natured legends profess to account for it. Others tell us that those who attempted to transgress, were punished by visible judgements, and that, for example, in 1620 a lady of Paris, who claimed to be above this rule, going into the oratory, became distracted upon the spot and never recovered her senses; whereas Anne of Austria, Queen of France, was content to offer up her\n \n prayers\n \n outside the door, amongst the other pilgrims.\n
\nThe fame of Saint Fiacre's miracles of healing continued after his death and crowds visited his shrine for centuries. Mgr. Seguier, Bishop of Meaux in 1649, and John de Chatillon, Count of Blois, gave testimony of their own relief. Anne of Austria attributed to the meditation of this saint, the recovery of Louis XIII at Lyons, where he had been dangerously ill; in thanksgiving for which she made, on foot, a pilgrimage to the shrine in 1641. She also sent to his shrine, a token in acknowledgement of his intervention in the birth of her son, Louis XIV. Before that king underwent a severe operation, Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, began a novena of prayers at Saint-Fiacre to ask the divine blessing. His relics at Meaux are still resorted to, and he is invoked against all sorts of physical ills, including venereal disease. He is also a patron saint of gardeners and of cab-drivers of Paris. French cabs are called fiacres because the first establishment to let coaches on hire, in the middle of the seventeenth century, was in the Rue Saint-Martin, near the hotel Saint-Fiacre, in Paris. Saint Fiacre's feast is kept in some dioceses of France, and throughout Ireland on this date. Many miracles were claimed through his working the land and interceding for others. Feast day is September 1st.
", "tags": "fiacre", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 618, "action": "Gregory the Great", "tags": "gout gregory teachers music boys musicians sufferers great plague choir" }, { "id": 619, "action": "\n Pope Saint Gregory I, also known as the Great, was the Pope of the Catholic Church between 590 and 604 AD.\n
\nGregory was born around 540 in Rome. The exact date of his birth is unknown. Although the Western Roman Empire had collapsed long before his birth, many ancient Roman families still commanded great wealth and influence in the city. Gregory was born into one such family. His great-great-grandfather was Pope Felix III who reigned from 483 to 492. (Astute readers may suspect this to be a scandal, but this was at a time before the clergy took vows of celibacy.)
His father was named Gordianus, and he was a senator and a Prefect of Rome. Gordianus also held a position in the Church with the title of Regionarius, but there are no records from the time which describe the post. Gregory's mother was Silvia, also from a noble family. Silvia's sister (Gregory's aunt), Pateria are both recognized as saints in the Catholic and Orthodox churches. Gregory had a brother, but nothing is recorded, neither his name or his fate.
Gregory's family was very wealthy and owned estates on the island of Sicily which provided income.
When Gregory was just two years old in 542, the Plague of Justinian swept through the region. This plague was caused by a now-extinct strain of Yersinia Pestis, more commonly known as the Black Death. The plague was the most severe outbreak of deadly disease the world had ever known and remained the worst such incident until the Black Death in the 14th century. About a third of the population in Italy was wiped out by the disease.
In addition to disease, the barbarian Ostrogoths sacked Rome in 546. The Franks attempted an invasion in 554. Both of these incursions were short lived. It is unclear how these massive events impacted Gregory's development as a child, but it is thought his family retreated to Sicily during part of that time. Peace followed in Italy after these upheavals.
Gregory was well educated and excelled in all his studies. He also became an expert in law. He excelled so much he became the Prefect of Rome, just as his father had been. Gregory was only 33 years old.
After Gregory's father had died, Gregory had the family villa in Rome converted into a monastery. Today the monastery still stands as the San Gregorio Magno al Celio. This famous monastery fell into ruin in the following centuries but was restored during the 17th and 18th centuries.
As a monk, Gregory was hard and strict. When a monk on his deathbed confessed to stealing three pieces of gold, Gregory ordered he be left to die alone. After the poor monk had died, Gregory ordered his body thrown on a dung heap along with the three coins. Then, in a turn of heart, Gregory offered 30 Masses for the deceased monk.
Pope Pelagius II, who reigned from 579 to 590, chose Gregory to serve as an ambassador to the imperial court in Constantinople.
The Pope had a problem with the Lombards invading from the west. Gregory was ordered to request military aid from the emperor. But the emperor felt there were greater threats to the east, and he refused Gregory's request.
In 590, Pope Pelagius II died, and Gregory was proclaimed pope by acclamation. This was not something Gregory wanted, but he accepted the burden nevertheless.
Gregory made clear he preferred the monastic life in a series of writings praising it. He also referred to himself as a servant of God. The habit remains in practice to this day and many clergy still refer to themselves as servants.
Pope Gregory was famous for the emphasis he put on missionary work. He sent many people out to bring many to Jesus and into the Church. Anglo-Saxon Britain was, at that time, still on the frontier of Christendom. It was Pope Gregory who dispatched St. Augustine (of Canterbury) to Kent in 597 (not to be confused with St. Augustine of Hippo).
Pope Gregory made many changes to the Mass, some of which remain today, The position of the Our Father in the Mass remains where Pope Gregory placed it.
He emphasized the aspect of service to the poor for deacons. The number of deacons was increasing in number and they were seen as less essential as extensions of the Bishop than they were in the early Church. Deacons were often tasked with giving alms to the poor, and at least one was assigned to each church and ordained for this purpose.
Pope Gregory may have also established \"cantus planus,\" known in English as plainchant. Most today know this style of singing as Gregorian Chant. The melodious, monophonic music is known throughout the Church and closely associated with medieval monasteries. Gregorian chant gives us the oldest music we still have in the original form, some dating to the centuries just after the death of Gregory. It remains a matter of some dispute just how involved Pope Gregory was in the development of the style. Some music historians argue the credit is a misattribution that rightly belongs to his less famous successor of a century later, Gregory II.
Pope Gregory was well known for his alms to the poor, and he gave quite generously of the riches donated to the Church by the wealthy people of Rome. Everything from money to land was given to the poor in some fashion. He made clear to his subordinates that their duty was to relieve the distress faced by the poor.
He ordered his clergy to go out into the streets to find and care for the poor in person. Any clergy who were unwilling to go into the streets and help the poor were replaced. Assets of the Church were liquidated to provide income for alms. Clergy doing this work were paid four times a year and given a gold coin as a sort of bonus.
When a famine struck Rome in the 590s, Pope Gregory ordered the Church to use its assets to feed the poor. At that time, the Church controlled nearly two thousand square miles of land, overseen by the clergy and used to generate income. Now, instead of selling the produce of the land, Pope Gregory ordered it shipped to Rome and given away for free. In this way, he saved thousands of people from certain death.
Pope Gregory himself refused to eat until his monks returned from their work of handing out food.
He also made certain to dine with a dozen poor people at each meal.
Gregory is widely considered the be the first medieval pope, and he was a prolific writer.
Because of his great respect for the poor, it was Pope Gregory and the Church that became the most respected --and obeyed force in Rome and across Italy.
From the time of Gregory onwards, the people looked to the Church for government rather than the distant and indifferent emperors in Constantinople.
Pope Gregory suffered from arthritis in his last years. He died on March 12, 604 AD. He was immediately proclaimed a saint by means of popular acclaim.
Saint Gregory's relics remain in St. Peter's Basilica to this day.
In 1969, the Second Vatican Council moved Saint Gregory's feast day from March 12 to September 3 so it would not fall during Lent. During Lent, there are no obligatory memorials. The Eastern Orthodox Church also venerates Saint Gregory, honoring him on March 12.
Both Anglican and Lutheran Christians also venerate Pope Saint Gregory.
He is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers.
", "tags": "great gregory", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 620, "action": "Rhuddlad", "tags": "rhuddlad anglesey llanrhyddlad wales" }, { "id": 621, "action": "\n Welsh virgin, patroness of Llanrhyddlad in Anglesey, Wales.\n
\n", "tags": "rhuddlad", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 622, "action": "Cloud", "tags": "usa cloud nail makers minnesota" }, { "id": 623, "action": "\n On the death of Clovis, King of the Franks, in the year 511 his kingdom was divided between his four sons, of whom the second was Clodomir. Thirteen years later he was killed fighting against his cousin, Gondomar, leaving three sons to share his dominions. The youngest of these sons of Clodomir was St. Clodoald, a name more familiar to English people under its French\n \n form\n \n of Cloud from the town of Saint-Cloud near Versailles. When Cloud was eight years old, his uncle Childebert plotted with his brother, to get rid of the boys and divide their kingdom. The eldest boy, Theodoald was stabbed to death. The second, Gunther fled in terror, but was caught and also killed. Cloud escaped and was taken for safety into Provence or elsewhere.\n
\nChildebert and his brother Clotaire shared the fruits of their crime, and Cloud made no attempt to recover his kingdom when he came of age. He put himself under the discipline of St. Severinus, a recluse who lived near Paris, and he afterwards went to Nogent on the Seine and had his heritage where is now Saint-Cloud. St. Cloud was indefatigable in instructing the people of the neighboring country, and ended his days at Nogent about the year 560 when he was some thirty-six years old. St. Cloud's feast day is September 7th.
", "tags": "cloud", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 624, "action": "Anastasius the Fuller", "tags": "fuller anastasius fullers" }, { "id": 625, "action": "\n Martyr from Aquileia, near modern Venice, Italy. A fuller or cloth merchant, Anastasius moved to Salona in Dalmatia, Yugoslavia. There he painted a cross on the door of his shop and was speedily arrested and drowned.\n
\n", "tags": "fuller anastasius", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 626, "action": "Peter Claver", "tags": "justice negroes relations charles harmony claver missions catechisms louisiana shreveport peter race racial foreign african-americans writers lake black slavery usa african colombia inter-racial people" }, { "id": 627, "action": "\n St. Peter Claver was born at Verdu, Catalonia, Spain, in 1580, of impoverished\n \n parents\n \n descended from ancient and distinguished families. He studied at the Jesuit\n \n college\n \n of Barcelona, entered the Jesuit novitiate at\n \n Tarragona\n \n in 1602 and took his final\n \n vows\n \n on August 8th, 1604. While studying\n \n philosophy\n \n at Majorca, the young religious was influenced by\n \n St. Alphonsus\n \n Rodriguez to go to the Indies and save \"millions of perishing souls.\"\n
\nIn 1610, he landed at Cartagena (modern Colombia), the principle slave market of the New World, where a thousand slaves were landed every month. After his ordination in 1616, he dedicated himself by special vow to the service of the Negro slaves-a work that was to last for thirty-three years. He labored unceasingly for the salvation of the African slaves and the abolition of the Negro slave trade, and the love he lavished on them was something that transcended the natural order.
Boarding the slave ships as they entered the harbor, he would hurry to the revolting inferno of the hold, and offer whatever poor refreshments he could afford; he would care for the sick and dying, and instruct the slaves through Negro catechists before administering the Sacraments. Through his efforts three hundred thousand souls entered the Church. Furthermore, he did not lose sight of his converts when they left the ships, but followed them to the plantations to which they were sent, encouraged them to live as Christians, and prevailed on their masters to treat them humanely. He died in 1654.
", "tags": "claver peter", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 628, "action": "Guy of Anderlecht", "tags": "sacristans outbuildings dogs horses work belgium sheds hydrophobia bachelors horned mad rabies animals stables children anderlecht working guy sextons convulsive" }, { "id": 629, "action": "\n St. Guy of Anderlecht (1012) was born near Brussels. He was poor and uneducated but led an austre life. He gave up and lost what little he had. Returning from a seven year pilgrimage, he took on foot to\n \n Jerusalem\n \n and Rome, he died in Anderlecht. Miracles were reported at the grave of this 'poor\n \n man\n \n of Anderlecht'. His\n \n feast day\n \n is September 12.\n
\n", "tags": "guy anderlecht", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 630, "action": "John Chrysostom", "tags": "istanbul constantinople chrysostom john sacred speakers eloquence preachers orators" }, { "id": 631, "action": "\n St. John, named Chrysostom (golden-mouthed) on account of his eloquence, came into the world of\n \n Christian\n \n parents, about the year 344, in the city of Antioch. His mother, at the age of 20, was a model of virtue. He studied rhetoric under Libanius, a pagan, the most famous orator of the age.\n
\nIn 374, he began to lead the life of an anchorite in the mountains near Antioch, but in 386 the poor state of his health forced him to return to Antioch, where he was ordained a priest.
In 398, he was elevated to the See of Constantinople and became one of the greatest lights of the Church. But he had enemies in high places and some were ecclesiastics, not the least being Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, who repented of this before he died. His most powerful enemy, however, was the empress Eudoxia, who was offended by the apostolic freedom of his discourses. Several accusations were brought against him in a pseudo-council, and he was sent into exile.
In the midst of his sufferings, like the apostle, St. Paul, whom he so greatly admired, he found the greatest peace and happiness. He had the consolation of knowing that the Pope remained his friend, and did for him what lay in his power. His enemies were not satisfied with the sufferings he had already endured, and they banished him still further, to Pythius, at the very extremity of the Empire. He died on his way there on September 14, 407.
", "tags": "chrysostom john", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 632, "action": "Notburga", "tags": "peasants husbandmen hands field agricultural notburga workers ranchers farm farmers" }, { "id": 633, "action": "\n Patroness of poor peasants and servants in the Tyrol. Born in Rattenberg, in the Tyrol, she was the daughter of peasants. At eighteen she became a servant in the household of Count Henry of Rattenberg When\n \n Notburga\n \n repeatedly gave food to the poor, she was dismissed by Count Henry's wife, Ottilia, and took up a position as a servant to a humble farmer. Meanwhile, Henry suffering a run of misfortune and setbacks, wasted no\n \n time\n \n restoring\n \n Notburga\n \n to her post after his wife died.\n \n Notburga\n \n remained his housekeeper for the rest of her life, and was famous for her miracles and concern for the poor.\n
\n", "tags": "notburga", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 634, "action": "Hernan", "tags": "loc-har france brittany hernan" }, { "id": 635, "action": "\n Hermit and patron saint of Loc Horn, in Brittany, France. Hernan was a Briton who fled his homeland when the Anglo Saxons conquered the area.\n
\n", "tags": "hernan", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 636, "action": "Cornelius", "tags": "cornelius earaches twitching" }, { "id": 637, "action": "\n Cornelius whose\n \n feast day\n \n is September 16th. A Roman priest,\n \n Cornelius\n \n was elected Pope to succeed Fabian in an\n \n election\n \n delayed fourteen months by Decius'\n \n persecution\n \n of the Christians. The main issue of his pontificate was the treatment to be accorded Christians who had been apostasized during the persecution. He condemned those\n \n confessors\n \n who were lax in not demanding\n \n penance\n \n of these Christians and supported St. Cyprian,\n \n Bishop\n \n of Carthage, against Novatus and his dupe, Felicissimus, whom he had set up as an antibishop to Cyprian, when Novatus came to Rome. On the other hand, he also denounced the Rigorists, headed by Novatian, a Roman priest, who declared that the Church could not pardon the lapsi (the lapsed Christians), and declared himself Pope. However, his declaration was illegitimate, making him an antipope. The two extremes eventually joined forces, and the Novatian movement had quite a vogue in the East. Meanwhile,\n \n Cornelius\n \n proclaimed that the Church had the authority and the power to forgive repentant\n \n lapsi\n \n and could readmit them to the\n \n sacraments\n \n and the Church after they had performed proper penances. A\n \n synod\n \n of Western\n \n bishops\n \n in\n \n Rome\n \n in October 251 upheld Cornelius, condemned the teachings of Novatian, and excommunicated him and his followers. When persecutions of the Christians started up again in 253 under Emperor Gallus,\n \n Cornelius\n \n was exiled to Centum Cellae (Civita Vecchia), where he died a\n \n martyr\n \n probably of hardships he was forced to endure.\n
\n", "tags": "cornelius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 638, "action": "Dulcissima", "tags": "italy sutri city dulcissima" }, { "id": 639, "action": "\n A virgin\n \n martyr\n \n known only as patron saint of Sutri, Italy, formerly part of the Papal States.\n
\n", "tags": "dulcissima", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 640, "action": "Ninian", "tags": "canada antigonish ninian nova scotia" }, { "id": 641, "action": "\n According to the untrustworthy\n \n life\n \n of Ninian by St. Aelred, he was the son of a converted chieftain of the Cumbrian Britons, studied at Rome, was ordained, was consecrated a\n \n bishop\n \n and returned to evangelize his native Britain. He had his own church built by masons from St. Martin's Monastery in Tours, which became known as The Great Monastery and was the center of his missionary activities. From it Ninian and his monks evangelized neighboring Britons and the Picts of Valentia. Ninian was known for his miracles, among them curing a chieftain of blindness, which cure led to many conversions. His\n \n feast day\n \n is September 16.\n
\n", "tags": "ninian", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 642, "action": "Agathoclia", "tags": "spain agathoclia aragon" }, { "id": 643, "action": "\n Virgin martyr, a patroness of a region in Aragon, Spain. Agathoclia was an abused slave who suffered for the\n \n faith\n \n in a public trial.\n
\n", "tags": "agathoclia", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 644, "action": "Robert Bellarmine", "tags": "usa canonists contagious diseases bellarmine robert lawyers catechists canon ohio cincinnati catechumens arch" }, { "id": 645, "action": "\n Born at Montepulciano, Italy, October 4, 1542,\n \n St. Robert Bellarmine\n \n was the third of ten children. His mother, Cinzia Cervini, a niece of Pope Marcellus II, was dedicated to almsgiving, prayer, meditation, fasting, and\n \n mortification\n \n of the body.\n
\nRobert entered the newly formed Society of Jesus in 1560 and after his ordination went on to teach at Louvain (1570-1576) where he became famous for his Latin sermons. In 1576, he was appointed to the chair of controversial theology at the Roman College, becoming Rector in 1592; he went on to become Provincial of Naples in 1594 and Cardinal in 1598.
This outstanding scholar and devoted servant of God defended the Apostolic See against the anti-clericals in Venice and against the political tenets of James I of England. He composed an exhaustive apologetic work against the prevailing heretics of his day. In the field of church-state relations, he took a position based on principles now regarded as fundamentally democratic - authority originates with God, but is vested in the people, who entrust it to fit rulers.
This saint was the spiritual father of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, helped St. Francis de Sales obtain formal approval of the Visitation Order, and in his prudence opposed severe action in the case of Galileo. He has left us a host of important writings, including works of devotion and instruction, as well as controversy. He died in 1621.
", "tags": "robert bellarmine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 646, "action": "Odilia", "tags": "odilia canons order crosier holy regular cross fathers" }, { "id": 647, "action": "\n \n Saint Odilia\n \n
\nAbout the year 300, Saint Odilia and ten other virgins set out from England on a pilgrimage to the East. By accident or plan the ship in which they sailed went up the Rhine. They were captured by some soldiers and taken to Cologne. There the young women were killed in defense of their Christian faith and their purity. St. Odilia's future role as the Patroness of the Order of the Holy Cross is pictured by the Crosier standard and her motto, \"I have chosen the cross.\"
St. Louis of France helps found the Parish House
The Paris house of the Crosiers is very important in the history of Saint Odilia. It was here that she appeared to John of Eppa with her special message. The Crosier community was founded in Paris in 1258. King St. Louis was particularly interested in the Order of the Holy Cross because of his great devotion to the Passion of Christ. Construction of the Church was begun about the year 1268.
Saint Odilia appears to Brother John in Paris
In the spring of 1287, Saint Odilia appeared three times to Brother John of Eppa, a Crosier lay brother, in the Paris monastery. She told him that God had commanded her to be the Protectress of the Order and where her relics were to be found. Brother John and his companion, Father Louis, journeyed to Cologne and the garden of Arnulph where the relics were buried.
Saint Odilia's relics are found and taken to Huy
After overcoming the skepticism of Arnulph, the two Crosiers began to dig around the pear tree in his garden where Odilia said the relics were to be found. Three urns were unearthed containing the remains of Odilia, Ida and Emma. Many cures took place through the intercession of Saint Odilia. The newly-discovered relics were taken to the mother house of the Crosiers at Huy, Belgium, with great solemnity.
Persecuted by the world, The Order loses the relics
The Order suffered much during the Protestant Revolt, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars. The Mother house at Huy was destroyed but a priest managed to escape with the relics of St. Odilia. They were to remain in a parish church in Kerniel, Belgium, for many years.
The relics of Saint Odilia are returned to the Order
In 1949, the relics of Saint Odilia were returned from the parish church at Kerniel where they had been since the French Revolution, to the care of the Order of the Holy Cross. They were taken in solemn procession from Kermiel to the Crosier monastery at Diest, Belgium as shown in these windows. In 1952 a major relic of Saint Odilia was brought to Onamia, Minnesota. A shrine in honor of the Patroness of the Order and the Patroness of the blind and afflicted was then set up in the seminary chapel.
Shrine of Saint Odilia
It was a long, long time ago, in the fourth century, that Odilia, the daughter of a powerful ruler of Britain, went to her martyrdom at Cologne, Germany, together with Ursula and a group of other virgins. These virgins were seeking a place where they might practice their faith in peace and quiet, but at the gates of Cologne they were met by fierce and cruel barbarians. The life-story of these valiant women ends here. They chose death.
The work of the Saints in heaven, though sometimes unseen and unheralded, is richer by far than it was on earth. So it was with Saint Odilia. About eight hundred years later, in 1287, she appeared to John Novelan, a lay brother of the Crosier Order in Paris, and told him she had been appointed by God to be the Patron Saint and Protectress of the members of the Order of the Holy Cross (now commonly called Crosier Fathers). She informed him also that her relics were to be found in an orchard in Cologne and begged him to get permission to unearth them. He did ask permission of his superior but was refused. Saint Odilia was persistent; she appeared twice more. Finally the Prior consented and commanded a priest of the Order to accompany the brother.
When these two reached Cologne, they had little trouble finding the relics. Joyfully they informed the Archbishop, who came personally to witness the findings.
Saint Odilia had instructed Brother John that her relics were to be taken to the Motherhouse of the Order at Huy in Belgium. Both at Cologne and on the way to Huy various cures took place, of blindness, of paralysis and other bodily infirmities.
In 1797, at the time of the French Revolution, the monastery at Huy was totally destroyed; and although the relics were saved they were lost to the Order. \r\nFortunately, just recently, in 1949, Saint Odilia \"came back home\". Her relics were returned to the order, and a large portion of one of her bones was brought to Onamia, Minnesota, and now rests in her Shrine here. It can be viewed by entering the Shrine, where it is encased in a marble reliquary. \r\nSaint Odilia has promised to shower a stream of graces upon the Crosier Fathers and upon all those who invoke her aid in their hour of need. For centuries it has been the practice in the Crosier Order to bless water in honor of Saint Odilia, dipping her relic in it and asking God to give it \"power against all diseases and bodily infirmities\". Many are the cures, especially of diseases of the eyes, obtained through her intercession.
Thousands of people, from every state, send in their petitions to be included in the novenas, and many letters of thanks are received from people whose favors have been granted. Apparently Saint Odilia is kept busy in heaven showering graces and blessings upon her friends on earth.
Retreat
In July of each year, the Crosier Fathers and Brothers offer a one-day healing retreat, focusing on Saint Odilia, Patroness of the Blind and Afflicted and Patroness of the Crosiers. This retreat is held at the National Shrine of Saint. Odilia in Onamia, Minnesota.
Novena
Novenas in honor of Saint Odilia are made at Crosier Monastery twice a month, beginning on the 5th and 17th of each month, and the national novena is held from July 10-July 18.
", "tags": "odilia", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 648, "action": "Joseph of Cupertino", "tags": "examination happy astronauts aviators travelers cupertino joseph degree examinees flying aviation candidates students death air" }, { "id": 649, "action": "\n St. Joseph was born at Cupertino, in the diocese of Nardo in the Kingdom of Naples, in 1603. After spending his childhood and adolescence in simplicity and innocence, he finally joined the Franciscan Friars Minor Conventual. After his ordination to the holy priesthood, he gave himself up entirely to a life of humiliation, mortification, and obedience. He was most devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary and promoted devotion to her among all classes of people.\n
\nHis mother considered him a nuisance and treated him harshly. Joseph soon became very slow and absent-minded. He would wander around, going nowhere, his mouth gaping open. But he had a bad temper, too, and so, he was not at all popular. He tried to learn the trade of shoemaking, but failed. He asked to become a Franciscan, but they would not accept him. Next, he joined the Capuchins, but eight months later, they sent him away because he could not seem to do anything right.
He dropped piles of dishes and kept forgetting to do what he was told. His mother was not at all pleased to have the eighteen-year-old Joseph back home again, so she finally got him accepted as a servant at the Franciscan monastery. He was given the monks habit and put to hard work taking care of the horses.
About this time, Joseph began to change. He grew more humble and gentle, more careful and successful at his work. He also began to do more penance. Now, it was decided that he could become a real member of the Order and start studying for the priesthood. Although he was very good, he still had a hard time with studies. The examiner happened to ask him to explain the only thing he knew well, and so he was made a deacon, and later a priest.
After this, God began to work many amazing miracles through St. Joseph. Over seventy times, people saw him rise from the ground while saying mass or praying. Often he went into ecstasy and would be completely rapt up in talking with God. He became so holy that everything he saw made him think of God, and he said that all the troubles of this world were nothing but the \"play\" battles children have with popguns.
St. Joseph became so famous for the miracles that he was kept hidden, but he was happy for the chance to be alone with his beloved Lord. On His part, Jesus never left him alone and one day came to bring him to Heaven. Pope Clement XIII canonized him in 1767. He is the patron saint of air travelers, pilots and the mentally handicapped.
It is said that the life of this saint was marked by ecstasies and levitations. The mere mention of God or a spiritual matter was enough to take him out of his senses; at Mass he frequently floated in the air in rapture. Once as Christmas carols were being sung, he soared to the high altar and knelt in the air, rapted in prayer. On another occasion, he ferried a cross thirty-six feet high through the air to the top of a Calvary group as easily as one might carry a straw.
The people flocked to him in droves seeking help and advice in the confessional, and he converted many to a truly Christian life. However, this humble man had to endure many severe trials and terrible temptations throughout his life. He died on September 18, 1663.
Prayer of St. Joseph of Cupertino
\nO Great St. Joseph of Cupertino who while on earth did obtain from God the grace to be asked at your examination only the questions you knew, obtain for me a like favour in the examinations for which I am now preparing.
\nIn return I promise to make you known and cause you to be invoked.
\nThrough Christ our Lord.
\nSt. Joseph of Cupertino, Pray for us.
\nAmen.
\n St. Ludmila was the daughter of a Slavic prince, she married Duke Borivoy of Bohemia, whom she followed into the Church. They built a church near\n \n Prague\n \n and tried unsuccessfully to force\n \n Christianity\n \n on their subjects. On the death of Borivoy, his sons Spytihinev and Ratislav, who had married Drahomira, succeeded him, and Ludmila brought up the latters son Venceslaus. On the death of Ratislav, Drahomira became regent, kept Wenceslaus from Ludmila and reportedly caused her to be strangled at Tetin. Her\n \n Feastday\n \n is September 16th.\n
\n", "tags": "ludmila", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 652, "action": "Januarius", "tags": "naples januarius blood italy banks" }, { "id": 653, "action": "\n St. Januarius was born in\n \n Italy\n \n and was\n \n bishop\n \n of Benevento during the Emperor Diocletion persecution.\n \n Bishop\n \n Januarius went to visit two\n \n deacons\n \n and two laymen in prison. He was then also imprison along with his deacon and lector. They were thrown to the wild beasts, but when the animals did not attack them, they were beheaded. What is believed to be Januarius' blood is kept in Naples, as a relic. It liquifies and bubbles when exposed in the cathedral. Scientists have not been able to explain this\n \n miracle\n \n to date.\n \n St. Januarius\n \n lived and died around 305 A.D. and his\n \n feast day\n \n is September 19th.\n
\n", "tags": "januarius", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 654, "action": "Andrew Kim Taegon", "tags": "taegon clergy andrew korean kim" }, { "id": 655, "action": "\n Feastday: September 20\n
\nThe evangelization of Korea began during the 17th century through a group of lay persons. A strong vital Christian community flourished there under lay leadership until missionaries arrived from the Paris Foreign Mission Society.
During the terrible persecutions that occurred in the 19th century (in 1839, 1866, and 1867), one hundred and three members of the Christian community gave their lives as martyrs. Outstanding among these witnesses to the faith were the first Korean priest and pastor, Andrew Kim Taegon, and the lay apostle, Paul Chong Hasang.
Among the other martyrs were a few bishops and priests, but for the most part lay people, men and women, married and unmarried, children, young people, and the elderly. All suffered greatly for the Faith and consecrated the rich beginnings of the Church of Korea with their blood as martyrs.
Pope John Paul II, during his trip to Korea, canonized these martyrs on May 6, 1984, and inserted their feast into the Calendar of the Universal Church.
", "tags": "taegon kim andrew", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 656, "action": "Matthew", "tags": "collectors tax customs guards accountants officers bankers security bookkeepers matthew" }, { "id": 657, "action": "\n Little is known about St. Matthew, except that he was the son of Alpheus, and he was likely born in Galilee. He worked as a tax collector, which was a hated profession during the time of Christ.\n
\nAccording to the Gospel, Matthew was working at a collection booth in Capernaum when Christ came to him and asked, \"Follow me.\" With this simple call, Matthew became a disciple of Christ.
From Matthew we know of the many doings of Christ and the message Christ spread of salvation for all people who come to God through Him. The Gospel account of Matthew tells the same story as that found in the other three Gospels, so scholars are certain of its authenticity. His book is the first of the four Gospels in the New Testament.
Many years following the death of Christ, around 41 and 50 AD, Matthew wrote his gospel account. He wrote the book in Aramaic in the hope that his account would convince his fellow people that Jesus was the Messiah and that His kingdom had been fulfilled in a spiritual way. It was an important message at a time when almost everyone was expecting the return of a militant messiah brandishing a sword.
It is thought he departed for other lands to escape persecution sometime after 42 AD. According to various legends he fled to Parthia and Persia, or Ethiopia. Nothing is recorded of Matthew's passing. We do not know how he died, if his death was natural or if he was martyred.
Saint Matthew is often depicted with one of the four living creatures of Revelation 4:7, which reads, \"The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a bull, the third living creature had a human face, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.\"
Matthew was a tax collector and is therefore the patron saint of bankers. The Church established St. Matthew's feast day as September 21.
St. Matthew Prayer
\nO Glorious St. Matthew, in your Gospel you portray Jesus as the longed-for Messiah who fulfilled the Prophets of the Old Covenant and as the new Lawgiver who founded a Church of the New Covenant.
\nObtain for us the grace to see Jesus living in his Church and to follow his teachings in our lives on earth so that we may live forever with him in heaven.
\n Little is known about St. Matthew, except that he was the son of Alpheus, and he was likely born in Galilee. He worked as a tax collector, which was a hated profession during the time of Christ.\n
\nAccording to the Gospel, Matthew was working at a collection booth in Capernaum when Christ came to him and asked, \"Follow me.\" With this simple call, Matthew became a disciple of Christ.
From Matthew we know of the many doings of Christ and the message Christ spread of salvation for all people who come to God through Him. The Gospel account of Matthew tells the same story as that found in the other three Gospels, so scholars are certain of its authenticity. His book is the first of the four Gospels in the New Testament.
Many years following the death of Christ, around 41 and 50 AD, Matthew wrote his gospel account. He wrote the book in Aramaic in the hope that his account would convince his fellow people that Jesus was the Messiah and that His kingdom had been fulfilled in a spiritual way. It was an important message at a time when almost everyone was expecting the return of a militant messiah brandishing a sword.
It is thought he departed for other lands to escape persecution sometime after 42 AD. According to various legends he fled to Parthia and Persia, or Ethiopia. Nothing is recorded of Matthew's passing. We do not know how he died, if his death was natural or if he was martyred.
Saint Matthew is often depicted with one of the four living creatures of Revelation 4:7, which reads, \"The first living creature was like a lion, the second like a bull, the third living creature had a human face, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.\"
Matthew was a tax collector and is therefore the patron saint of bankers. The Church established St. Matthew's feast day as September 21.
St. Matthew Prayer
\nO Glorious St. Matthew, in your Gospel you portray Jesus as the longed-for Messiah who fulfilled the Prophets of the Old Covenant and as the new Lawgiver who founded a Church of the New Covenant.
\nObtain for us the grace to see Jesus living in his Church and to follow his teachings in our lives on earth so that we may live forever with him in heaven.
\n Maurice was an officer of the Theban Legion of Emperor Maximian Herculius' army, which was composed of Christians from Upper Egypt. He and his fellow legionnaires refused to\n \n sacrifice\n \n to the gods as ordered by the Emperor to insure victory over rebelling Bagaudae. When they refused to obey repeated orders to do so and withdrew from the army encamped at Octodurum (Martigny) near Lake Geneva to\n \n Agaunum\n \n (St. Maurice-en-Valais), Maximian had the entire Legion of over six thousand men put to death. To the end they were encouraged in their constancy by\n \n Maurice\n \n and two fellow officers, Exuperius and Candidus. Also executed was\n \n Victor\n \n (October 10th), who refused to accept any of the belongings of the dead soldiers. In a follow-up action, other Christians put to death were Ursus and another\n \n Victor\n \n at Solothurin (September 30th); Alexander at Bergamo; Octavius, Innocent, Adventor, and Solutar at Turin; and Gereon (October 10th) at Cologne. Their story was told by St. Eucherius, who became\n \n Bishop\n \n of Lyons about 434, but scholars\n \n doubt\n \n that an entire Legion was massacred; but there is no\n \n doubt\n \n that\n \n Maurice\n \n and some of his comrades did suffer martyrdom at Agaunum.\n \n Feast day\n \n - September 22nd.\n
\n", "tags": "maurice", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 662, "action": "Adamnan", "tags": "adamnan ireland raphoe" }, { "id": 663, "action": "\n Adamnan, born in Drumhome, Donegal, Ireland, became a\n \n monk\n \n at the monastery there. Later at Iona, of which he became ninth\n \n abbot\n \n in 679. He gave\n \n sanctuary\n \n to Aldfrid when the crown of Northumbria was in dispute after the death of Aldfrid's father, King Oswy. In 686, when Aldfrid had ascended the throne, Adamnan visited him to secure the release of Irish prisoners. Two years later Adamnan visited several English monasteries and was induced by\n \n St. Ceolfrid\n \n to adopt the Roman calendar for Easter. Adamnan worked ceaselessly thereafter with much success to get Irish monks and monasteries to replace their Celtic practices with those of Rome. His success in convincing the Council of Birr that women should be exempt from wars and that women and\n \n children\n \n should not be taken prisoners or slaughtered caused the agreement to be called Adamnan's law. A scholar noted for his piety, he wrote a\n \n life\n \n of St. Columba, one of the most important biographies of the early Middle Ages. He also wrote DE LOCIS SANCTIS, a description of the East told to him by a Frank bishop, Arculf, whose ship was driven ashore near Iona on the way back from Jerusalem. Adamnan is thought by some in\n \n Ireland\n \n to be the same as St. Eunan, though this is uncertain. He died at Iona on September 23 which is his feast day.\n
\n", "tags": "adamnan", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 664, "action": "Finbar", "tags": "cork finbar barra scotland ireland" }, { "id": 665, "action": "\n He was the son of an artisan and a lady of the Irish royal court. Born in Connaught, Ireland, and baptized Lochan, he was educated at Kilmacahil, Kilkenny, where the monks named him Fionnbharr (white head) because of his light hair; he is also known as Bairre and Barr. He went on pilgrimage to\n \n Rome\n \n with some of the monks, visiting\n \n St. David\n \n in\n \n Wales\n \n on the way back. Supposedly, on another visit to\n \n Rome\n \n the Pope wanted to consecrate him a\n \n bishop\n \n but was deterred by a vision, notifying the pope that\n \n God\n \n had reserved that honor to Himself, and Finbar was consecrated from\n \n heaven\n \n and then returned to Ireland. At any rate, he may have preached in Scotland, definitely did in southern Ireland, lived as a hermit on a small island at Lough Eiroe, and then, on the river Lee, founded a monastery that developed into the city of Cork, of which he was the first bishop. His monastery became famous in southern\n \n Ireland\n \n and attracted numerous disciples. Many extravagant miracles are attributed to him, and supposedly, the sun did not set for two weeks after he died at Cloyne about the year 633. His\n \n feast day\n \n is September 25th.\n
\n", "tags": "finbar", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 666, "action": "Cadoc of Llancarvan", "tags": "disorders glandular cramps cadoc llancarvan" }, { "id": 667, "action": "\n A Welsh\n \n bishop\n \n and martyr, a companion of St. Gildas. Cadoc is also called Docus, Cathmael, and Cadvael. He founded Llancarfan Monastery near Cardiff, Wales, before becoming a missionary on the coast of Brittany, in France. Returning to Britain, Cadoc was involved in the Saxon occupation of the British lands. H e was martyred by the Saxons near Weedon, England.\n
\n", "tags": "llancarvan cadoc", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 668, "action": "Cosmas and Damian", "tags": "cosmas manufacturers medical profession druggists apothecaries physicians chemists chemical barbers hernia blind industry damian pharmacists/druggists doctors people surgeons pharmacists hairdressers" }, { "id": 669, "action": "\n Sts.\n \n Cosmas\n \n and Damian were brothers, born in Arabia, who had become eminent for their skill in the science of medicine. Being Christians, they were filled with the\n \n spirit\n \n of charity and never took money for their services. At Egaea in Cilicia, where they lived, they enjoyed the highest esteem of the people. When the\n \n persecution\n \n under\n \n Diocletian\n \n broke out, their very prominence rendered them marked objects of persecution. Being apprehended by order of Lysias, governor of Cilicia, they underwent various torments about the year 283. Their\n \n feast day\n \n is September 26th. They are\n \n patron saints\n \n of pharmacists.\n
\n", "tags": "damian cosmas", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 670, "action": "Vincent de Paul", "tags": "st charities charitable de imprisoned reno hospitals catholic vincentian societies nevada spiritual vincent corps madagascar captives imprisonment service cabinetmakers usa prisoners paul people help" }, { "id": 671, "action": "\n St. Vincent de Paul was born to a poor peasant family in the French village of Pouy on April 24, 1581. His first formal education was provided by the Franciscans. He did so well, he was hired to tutor the children of a nearby wealthy family. He used the monies he earned teaching to continue his formal studies at the University of Toulose where he studied theology.\n
\nHe was ordained in 1600 and remained in Toulose for a time. In 1605, while on a ship traveling from Marseilles to Narbone, he was captured, brought to Tunis and sold as a slave. Two years later he and his master managed to escape and both returned to France.
St. Vincent went to Avignon and later to Rome to continue his studies. While there he became a chaplain to the Count of Goigny and was placed in charge of distributing money to the deserving poor. He became pastor of a small parish in Clichy for a short period of time, while also serving as a tutor and spiritual director.
From that point forward he spent his life preaching missions to and providing relief to the poor. He even established hospitals for them. This work became his passion. He later extended his concern and ministry to convicts. The need to evangelize and assist these souls was so great and the demands beyond his own ability to meet that he founded the Ladies of Charity, a lay institute of woman, to help, as well as a religious institute of priests - the Congregation of Priests of the Mission, commonly referred to now as the Vincentians.
This was at a time when there were not many priests in France and what priests there were, were neither well-formed nor faithful to their way of life. Vincent helped reform the clergy and the manner in which they were instructed and prepared for the priesthood. He did this first through the presentation of retreats and later by helping develop a precursor to our modern day seminaries. At one point his community was directing 53 upper level seminaries. His retreats, open to priests and laymen, were so well attended that it is said he infused a \"Christian spirit among more than 20,000 persons in his last 23 years.\"
The Vincentians remain with us today with nearly 4,000 members in 86 countries. In addition to his order of Vincentian priests, St. Vincent cofounded the Daughters of Charity along with St. Louise de Marillac. There are more than 18,000 Daughters today serving the needs of the poor in 94 countries.\nHe was eighty years old when he died in Paris on September 27, 1660.He had \"become the symbol of the successful reform of the French Church\". St. Vincent is sometimes referred to as \"The Apostle of Charity\" and \"The Father of the Poor\".
His incorrupt heart can be found in the Convent of the Sisters of Charity and his bones have been embedded in a wax effigy of the Saint located at the Church of the Lazarist Mission. Both sites are located in Paris, France.
Two miracles have been attributed to St Vincent - a nun cured of ulcers and a laywoman cured of paralysis. As a result of the first, Pope Benedict XIII beatified him on August 13, 1729. Less than 8 years later (on June 16, 1737) he was canonized by Pope Clement XIII. The Bull of Canonization recognized Vincent for his charity and reform of the clergy, as well as for his early role in opposing Jansenism.
It has been reported that St. Vincent wrote more than 30,000 letters in his lifetime and that nearly 7,000 had been collected in the 18th century. There are at least five collections of his letters in existence today.
The feast day for St. Vincent, the patron of all charitable societies, is September 27.
", "tags": "vincent de paul", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 672, "action": "Agnes of Rome", "tags": "usa centre agnes new york rome rockville" }, { "id": 673, "action": "\n A popular saint about whom little is known, Agnes is said to have been a beautiful, wealthy Roman maiden who had, in childhood, dedicated herself to God. Some say that a rejected suitor betrayed her to authorities; others say that she was asked at 13 to\n \n sacrifice\n \n to the gods and marry, both of which she refused. Legends tell of her being thrown into a brothel, where her purity was miraculously preserved. Having escaped that fate, she was martyred. In the IV Century, Constantia, the daughter of Constantine, built a\n \n basilica\n \n on the site of her tomb.\n \n St. Ambrose\n \n wrote about Agnes in De virginitate, and Damasus I wrote an epitaph for her.\n \n Prudentius\n \n composed a\n \n hymn\n \n in her honor. Her emblem in art is the lamb because of the similarity between her name and the Latin word for lamb, agnus.\n
\n", "tags": "rome agnes", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 674, "action": "Giles", "tags": "makers spur giles" }, { "id": 675, "action": "\n A native of Assisi, Italy, Giles was one of the earliest followers of St. Francis, from whom he received the\n \n habit\n \n in 1208. He accompanied Francis on many of his missions around Assisi, made a pilgrimage to Compostela, visited\n \n Rome\n \n and the Holy Land, and then made an unsuccessful visit to\n \n Tunis\n \n to convert the Saracens. The Christians in Tunis, fearful of the repercussions of his religious fervor, forced him back on a boat as soon as he landed. He spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n living in Italy, living from about 1243 at the Monte Rapido hermitage on the outskirts of Perugia, where he died in 1263. He experiences ecstacies, had a vision of\n \n Christ\n \n at Cetona, and is considered the most perfect example of the primitive Franciscan. He is spoken of at length in \"The Little Flowers of St. Francis\" and Francis called him his \"Knight of the round table.\" Known for his austerity and silence, his \"The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles\" is noted for its humor, deep understanding of human nature, and optimism.\n
\n", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 676, "action": "Wenceslaus", "tags": "wenceslaus brewers bohemia czechoslovakia moravia" }, { "id": 677, "action": "\n St. Wenceslaus, also known by Vaclav, was born near Prague, and was the son of Duke Wratislaw. He was taught\n \n Christianity\n \n by his grandmother, St. Ludmila. The Magyars, along with Drahomira, an anti-Christian faction murdered the Duke and St. Lumila, and took over the government. Wenceslaus was declared the new ruler after a coup in 922. He encouraged Christianity. Boleslaus, his brother, no longer successor to the throne, after Wenceslaus' son was born, joined a group of noble Czech dissenters. They invited Wenceslaus to a religious festival, trapped and killed him on the way to Mass. He is the patron saint of\n \n Bohemia\n \n and his\n \n feast day\n \n is Sept. 28.\n
\n", "tags": "wenceslaus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 678, "action": "Thiemo", "tags": "thiemo engravers" }, { "id": 679, "action": "\n Benedictine\n \n bishop\n \n and martyr, also cal led Theodinarus. A member of the\n \n family\n \n of the counts of Meglin, Bavaria, Germany, he entered the Benedictines at Niederltaich and soon acquired fame for his skill as a painter, metalworker, and sculptor. He was elected\n \n abbot\n \n of St. Peter's, Salzburg, in 1077 and appointed\n \n archbishop\n \n of Salzburg, Austria, in 1090. His office brought him into conflict with the German King\n \n Henry IV\n \n (r. 1056-1106) during the Investiture Controversy and, as Thiemo sided with Pope\n \n St. Gregory VII\n \n (r.1073-1085) in the struggle, Henry exiled him. Journeying to Palestine to aid the crusading movement, he was captured by the Muslims and imprisoned at\n \n Ascalon\n \n (modern Israel). Tortured for a long time, he was finally killed for refusing to abjure the faith.\n
\n.
", "tags": "thiemo", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 680, "action": "Michael the Archangel", "tags": "knights haberdashers florida technicians archangel medical holy officers san puebla de pensacola-tallahassee dying forces solomon papua banking death michael devil hatters sibenik grocers paramedics paratroopers milliners ambulance radiotherapists battle massachusetts germany airborne police croatia springfield new sick allende hatmakers radiologists miguel england caltanissett sicily cornwall usa people by possession brussels emts fencing mexico islands guinea security emergency drivers" }, { "id": 681, "action": "\n Saint Michael the Archangel isn't a saint, but rather he is an angel, and the leader of all angels and of the army of God. This is what the title \"Archangel\" means, that he is above all the others in rank.\n
\nSt. Michael has four main responsibilities or offices, as we know from scripture and Christian tradition.
Very little is known about St Michael other than what we know from scriptures, which themselves are sparse.
In Daniel, St. Michael is mentioned twice. The first time as one who helped Daniel, and the second time he is mentioned with regard to the end times of the world when he will stand for the \"children of thy people.\"
His next mention comes in the Epistle of St. Jude, where St. Michael is said to guard the tombs of Moses and Eve and has contended with Satan over the body of Moses.
The final mention is in Revelation, where St. Michael and his angels, do battle with the dragon.
There are other scriptures where St. Michael is implied, but not mentioned by name, such as the angel; who defends the gate to Paradise, who defends against Balaam, and \"who routed the army of Sennacherib.\"
Today, St. Michel is invoked for protection, especially from lethal enemies. He is also the patron of soldiers, police and doctors.
", "tags": "archangel michael", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 682, "action": "Gabriel the Archangel", "tags": "argentinian services communication stamp archangel postal military collectors broadcasters ambassadors gabriel television workers portugal signals diplomatic telegraphs messengers diplomats telephones telecommunications philatelists radio" }, { "id": 683, "action": "\n St. Gabriel is an angel who serves as a messenger for God to certain people. He is one of the three archangels. Gabriel is mentioned in both the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible. First, in the Old Testament, Gabriel appears to the prophet Daniel to explain his visions. Gabriel is described as, \"one who looked like man,\" as he interprets Daniel's visions. He speaks to Daniel while he is sleeping. After Gabriel's first visit, Daniel becomes tired and sick for days. Gabriel later visits Daniel again providing him with more insight and understanding in an answered prayer.\n
\nIn the New Testament, Gabriel, described as \"an angel of the Lord,\" first appears to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. He tells him, \"Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.\" Luke 1:13.
After Elizabeth conceived and was six months pregnant, Gabriel appears again. The Book of Luke states he was sent from God to Nazareth to visit the virgin married to a man named Joseph. Gabriel said to Mary, \"Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.\" Luke 1:28.
\"Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
\n31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
\n32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
\n33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.\" Luke 1:30-33
Gabriel told Mary she would conceive from The Holy Ghost and the baby will be the Son of God.
After the Annunciation of Mary, Gabriel is not spoken of again.
Gabriel's attributes are the Archangel; he is clothed in blue or white; and is seen carrying a lily, a trumpet, a shining lantern, a branch from Paradise, a scroll or a scepter. In art, Gabriel is most commonly represented in the scene of the Annunciation. In art, Gabriel is often represented in the scene of the Annunciation.
He is occasionally cited as the one who blows God's trumpet to indicate the Lord's return to Earth. However, the person designated with this task varies; different passages cite different people. The earliest known identification of Gabriel as the trumpet holder comes in 1455 represented in Byzantine art.
Gabriel is recognized as the patron saint of messengers, telecommunication workers, and postal workers. His feast day is celebrated on September 29, along with St. Michael and St. Raphael.
", "tags": "archangel gabriel", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 684, "action": "Raphael the Archangel", "tags": "nightmares archangel inspectors physicians travelers health happy diseases meetings blind guardian raphael obsession disorders pharmacists/druggists doctors eye youth people angels" }, { "id": 685, "action": "\n St. Raphael is one of the seven Archangels who stand before the throne of the Lord, and one of the only three mentioned by name in the Bible. He appears, by name, only in the Book of Tobit. Raphael's name means \"God heals.\" This identity came about because of the biblical story that claims he \"healed\" the earth when it was defiled by the sins of the fallen angels in the apocryphal book of Enoch.\n
\nDisguised as a human in the Book of Tobit, Raphael refers to himself as \"Azarias the son of the great Ananias\" and travels alongside Tobit's son, Tobiah. Once Raphael returns from his journey with Tobiah, he declares to Tobit that he was sent by the Lord to heal his blindness and deliver Sarah, Tobiah's future wife, from the demon Asmodeus. It is then that his true healing powers are revealed and he makes himself known as \"the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord\" Tobit 12:15.
The demon Asmodeus killed every man Sarah married on the night of the wedding, before the marriage could be consummated. Raphael guided Tobiah and taught him how to safely enter the marriage with Sarah.
Raphael is credited with driving the evil spirit from Sarah and restoring Tobit's vision, allowing him to see the light of Heaven and for receiving all good things through his intercession.
Although only the archangels Gabriel and Michael are mentioned by name in the New Testament, the Gospel of John speaks of the pool at Bethesda, where many ill people rested, awaiting the moving of the water. \"An angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond; and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under\" John 5:1-4. Because of the healing powers often linked to Raphael, the angel spoken of is generally associated with St. Raphael, the Archangel.
St. Raphael is the patron saint of travelers, the blind, bodily ills, happy meetings, nurses, physicians and medical workers. He is often pictured holding a staff and either holding or standing on a fish. His feast day is celebrated on September 29, along with St. Michael and St. Gabriel.
", "tags": "raphael archangel", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 686, "action": "Giles", "tags": "disabled giles" }, { "id": 687, "action": "\n A native of Assisi, Italy, Giles was one of the earliest followers of St. Francis, from whom he received the\n \n habit\n \n in 1208. He accompanied Francis on many of his missions around Assisi, made a pilgrimage to Compostela, visited\n \n Rome\n \n and the Holy Land, and then made an unsuccessful visit to\n \n Tunis\n \n to convert the Saracens. The Christians in Tunis, fearful of the repercussions of his religious fervor, forced him back on a boat as soon as he landed. He spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n living in Italy, living from about 1243 at the Monte Rapido hermitage on the outskirts of Perugia, where he died in 1263. He experiences ecstacies, had a vision of\n \n Christ\n \n at Cetona, and is considered the most perfect example of the primitive Franciscan. He is spoken of at length in \"The Little Flowers of St. Francis\" and Francis called him his \"Knight of the round table.\" Known for his austerity and silence, his \"The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles\" is noted for its humor, deep understanding of human nature, and optimism.\n
\n", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 688, "action": "Michael", "tags": "sea michael danger" }, { "id": 689, "action": "\n Saint Michael the Archangel isn't a saint, but rather he is an angel, and the leader of all angels and of the army of God. This is what the title \"Archangel\" means, that he is above all the others in rank.\n
\nSt. Michael has four main responsibilities or offices, as we know from scripture and Christian tradition.
Very little is known about St Michael other than what we know from scriptures, which themselves are sparse.
In Daniel, St. Michael is mentioned twice. The first time as one who helped Daniel, and the second time he is mentioned with regard to the end times of the world when he will stand for the \"children of thy people.\"
His next mention comes in the Epistle of St. Jude, where St. Michael is said to guard the tombs of Moses and Eve and has contended with Satan over the body of Moses.
The final mention is in Revelation, where St. Michael and his angels, do battle with the dragon.
There are other scriptures where St. Michael is implied, but not mentioned by name, such as the angel; who defends the gate to Paradise, who defends against Balaam, and \"who routed the army of Sennacherib.\"
Today, St. Michel is invoked for protection, especially from lethal enemies. He is also the patron of soldiers, police and doctors.
", "tags": "michael", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 690, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas people dying tolentino" }, { "id": 691, "action": "\n Born in 1245 in Sant'Angelo,\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Tolentino took his name from\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Myra, at whose shrine his\n \n parents\n \n prayed to have a child. Nicholas became a\n \n monk\n \n at 18, and seven years later, he was ordained a priest. He gained a reputation as a preacher and a confessor. C. 1274, he was sent to Tolentino, near his birthplace. The town suffered from civil strife between the Guelphs, who supported the pope, and Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor, in their struggle for control of Italy. Nicholas was primarily a\n \n pastor\n \n to his flock. He ministered to the poor and the criminal. He is said to have cured the sick with bread over which he had prayed to Mary, the mother of God. He gained a reputation as a wonder-worker. Nicholas died in 1305 after a long illness. People began immediately to petition for his canonization.\n \n Eugene IV\n \n canonized him in 1446, and his\n \n relics\n \n were rediscovered in 1926 at Tolentino.\n
\n", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 692, "action": "Jerome", "tags": "bible jerome scripture librarians translators exegetes scriptural libraries archivists scholars" }, { "id": 693, "action": "\n Before he was known as Saint Jerome, he was named Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus. He was born around 342 AD, in Stridon, Dalmatia. Today, the town, which ceased to exist in Jerome's time, would likely be in Croatia or Slovenia.\n
\nThe young Jerome was educated by Aelius Donatus, who was a famous Roman grammarian. From him, the young Jerome learned Latin and Greek. Little else is known of his childhood other than his parents were probably well-to-do and Christian. Despite their efforts to raise Jerome properly, the young man behaved as he chose.
Around the age of 12 or so, Jerome traveled to Rome to study grammar, philosophy and rhetoric. It is likely that due to his training in rhetoric, he may have considered a career in law. By his own admission, he quickly forgot his morals. While he was not studying, Jerome pursued pleasure. In particular, he pursued women, even though he knew his behavior was wrong.
To alleviate the feelings of guilt he often felt afterwards, Jerome would visit the crypts in Rome and imagine himself in hell. He did so every Sunday, even though he was not a Christian. Jerome succeeded in frightening himself, but not in changing his ways.
Fortunately, Jerome had as a companion, Bonosus, who was a Christian influence. His influence is part of what persuaded Jerome to become a Christian and change his ways for the better.
In or around the year 366, Jerome decided to become a Christian and was baptized by Pope Liberius.
Now interested in theological matters, Jerome set aside secular matters to pursue matters of the faith. He traveled with Bonosus to Trier where there were schools for him to gain ecclesiastical training.
In 370, he traveled close to home, ending up in a monastery at Aquileia. The monastery was overseen by Bishop St. Valerian, who had attracted some of the greatest minds in Christendom. While in Aquileia, Jerome met Rufinus and the two men became friends. Rufinis was a monk who became renown for his translations of Greek works into Latin. Jerome himself was developing his skills as a translator, a skill he developed during his time in the Roman catacombs, translating the inscriptions on the tombs.
Following his time in Aquileia, Jerome traveled next to Treves, Gaul where he began to translate books for his own use. His goal was to build a personal library.
After a time in Gaul, he returned to Aquileia in 373. While there, Jerome and his friend Bonosus had a falling out and decided to part ways. Bonosus departed for an island in the Adriatic where he would live as a hermit for a time.
Jerome traveled to the east, bound for Antioch by way of Athens.
In 374, Jerome finally reached Antioch, after making several lengthy stops along the way. While in that city, Jerome began writing his first work, \"Concerning the Seven Beatings.\"
During that same year, disease made Jerome ill while taking the lives of some of his companions. It is unclear what disease was responsible, or if different illnesses had taken his friends. During his illness, Jerome had visions which made him even more religious.
Jerome went into the desert to live for four years, living as a hermit southwest of Antioch. He was frequently ill during this time.
After he emerged from his hermitage, Jerome was quickly embroiled in conflicts within the Church at Antioch. This was not something Jerome wanted to be associated with. Jerome made clear that he did not want to become a priest, preferring instead to be a monk or a hermit. But Church officials in Antioch as well as Pope Damasus wanted him to be ordained. Jerome relented on the condition he would not be expected to serve in any ministry and would still be allowed to pursue his monastic life. He was subsequently ordained.
Making the most of his freedom as a priest, Jerome traveled to Constantinople where he studied under St. Gregory of Nazianzus, who was renown as a great theologian.
After St. Gregory left Constantinople in 382, Jerome traveled to Rome for a council of the Church and met Pope Damasus. Following the council, Pope Damsus kept Jerome in Rome and made him his secretary.
While serving as secretary to the pope, Jerome also promoted the ideal of asceticism to everyone around him. Included in this group were women of the city of Rome who wanted to live saintly lives.
Pope Damasus died in 384, and this exposed Jerome to criticism and controversy. Jerome was a sarcastic man of great wit. He became unpopular because of his attitude and made a number of enemies. While Pope Damasus was alive, he could shield Jerome from criticism, but now Jerome faced the vengeance of the enemies he made. Both prominent pagans who resented his promotion of the faith and fellow Christians who lacked his wit attacked him with vicious rumors. Among the rumors were accusations that he was behaving inappropriately with the woman we now know as Paula. At that time, she was one of his students in asceticism.
Paula was a widow with four children who deeply mourned the loss of her husband. Jerome provided counseling and instruction to her and she became a lifelong friend and follower of Jerome, assisting him in his work.
Eventually, Jerome decided to return to the Holy Land to escape the calumny in Rome. He headed east and arrived in Antioch in 386. Shortly after, Jerome was met by Paula, her daughter, and several other followers. The group went first to Jerusalem, then on to Alexandria, Egypt. They settled in Bethlehem and had a monastery built there which included dormitories for women.
Jerome was a hard worker and he wrote extensively defending the virginity of Mary, which some clerics dared to question. He also engaged in several debates against various other heresies including a lengthy battle with his old friend Rufinus. Jerome was easily upset, and even the venerable St. Augustine exchanged words with him. Eventually, Jerome and Augustine repaired their relationship and were able to correspond as friends and colleagues.
Of all the things that made Jerome famous, nothing was so legendary as his translation of the Bible. Jerome began work while he was still in Rome under Pope Damasus. He spent his entire life translating the scriptures from Hebrew and Old Latin.
In the year 404 Paula died, later to become a saint of the Church. Rome was sacked by Alarc the Barbarian in 410. These events distressed Jerome greatly. Violence eventually found its way to Bethlehem disrupting Jerome's work in his final years.
Jerome died on September 30, 420. His death was peaceful and he was laid to rest under the Church of the Nativity. His remains were later transferred to Rome.
Saint Jerome is the patron saint of archaeologists, Biblical scholars, librarians, students and translators.
His feast day is September 30.
", "tags": "jerome", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 694, "action": "Therese of Lisieux", "tags": "growers aids florists flower fresno missions tuberculosis africa russia pueblo aviators france patients aviation consumption foreign religious freedom black lisieux colorado usa african alaska missionaries restoration central fairbanks therese california" }, { "id": 695, "action": "\n Generations of Catholics have admired this young saint, called her the \"Little Flower\", and found in her short\n \n life\n \n more\n \n inspiration\n \n for their own lives than in volumes by theologians.\n
\nYet Therese died when she was 24, after having lived as cloistered Carmelite for less than ten years. She never went on missions, never founded a religious order, never performed great works. The only book of hers, published after her death, was an brief edited version of her journal called \"Story of a Soul.\" (Collections of her letters and restored versions of her journals have been published recently.) But within 28 years of her death, the public demand was so great that she was canonized.
Over the years, some modern Catholics have turned away from her because they associate her with over- sentimentalized piety and yet the message she has for us is still as compelling and simple as it was almost a century ago.
Therese was born in France in 1873, the pampered daughter of a mother who had wanted to be a saint and a father who had wanted to be monk. The two had gotten married but determined they would be celibate until a priest told them that was not how God wanted a marriage to work! They must have followed his advice very well because they had nine children. The five children who lived were all daughters who were close all their lives.
Tragedy and loss came quickly to Therese when her mother died of breast cancer when she was four and a half years old. Her sixteen year old sister Pauline became her second \r\nmother -- which made the second loss even worse when Pauline entered the Carmelite convent five years later. A few months later, Therese became so ill with a fever \r\nthat people thought she was dying.
The worst part of it for Therese was all the people sitting around her bed staring at her like, she said, \"a string of onions.\" When Therese saw her sisters praying to statue of Mary in her room, Therese also prayed. She saw Mary smile at her and suddenly she was cured. She tried to keep the grace of the cure secret but people found out and badgered her with questions about what Mary was wearing, what she looked like. When she refused to give in to their curiosity, they passed the story that she had made the whole thing up.
Without realizing it, by the time she was eleven years old she had developed the habit of mental prayer. She would find a place between her bed and the wall and in that solitude think about God, life, eternity.
When her other sisters, Marie and Leonie, left to join religious orders (the Carmelites and Poor Clares, respectively), Therese was left alone with her last sister Celine \r\nand her father. Therese tells us that she wanted to be good but that she had an odd way of going about. This spoiled little Queen of her father's wouldn't do housework. She thought if she made the beds she was doing a great favor!
Every time Therese even imagined that someone was criticizing her or didn't appreciate her, she burst into tears. Then she would cry because she had cried! Any inner wall she built to contain her wild emotions crumpled immediately before the tiniest comment.
Therese wanted to enter the Carmelite convent to join Pauline and Marie but how could she convince others that she could handle the rigors of Carmelite life, if she couldn't handle her own emotional outbursts? She had prayed that Jesus would help her but there was no sign of an answer.
On Christmas day in 1886, the fourteen-year-old hurried home from church. In France, young children left their shoes by the hearth at Christmas, and then parents would fill them with gifts. By fourteen, most children outgrew this custom. But her sister Celine didn't want Therese to grow up. So they continued to leave presents in \"baby\" Therese's shoes.
As she and Celine climbed the stairs to take off their hats, their father's voice rose up from the parlor below. Standing over the shoes, he sighed, \"Thank goodness that's the last time we shall have this kind of thing!\"
Therese froze, and her sister looked at her helplessly. Celine knew that in a few minutes Therese would be in tears over what her father had said.
But the tantrum never came. Something incredible had happened to Therese. Jesus had come into her heart and done what she could not do herself. He had made her more sensitive to her father's feelings than her own.
She swallowed her tears, walked slowly down the stairs, and exclaimed over the gifts in the shoes, as if she had never heard a word her father said. The following year she entered the convent. In her autobiography she referred to this Christmas \r\nas her \"conversion.\"
Therese be known as the Little Flower but she had a will of steel. When the superior of the Carmelite convent refused to take Therese because she was so young, the formerly shy little girl went to the bishop. When the bishop also said no, she decided to go over his head, as well.
Her father and sister took her on a pilgrimage to Rome to try to get her mind off this crazy idea. Therese loved it. It was the one time when being little worked to her advantage! Because she was young and small she could run everywhere, touch \r\nrelics and tombs without being yelled at. Finally they went for an audience with the Pope. They had been forbidden to speak to him but that didn't stop Therese. As soon as she got near him, she begged that he let her enter the Carmelite convent. She had to be carried out by two of the guards!
But the Vicar General who had seen her courage was impressed and soon Therese was admitted to the Carmelite \r\nconvent that her sisters Pauline and Marie had already joined. Her romantic ideas of convent life and suffering soon met up with reality in a way she had never expected. Her father suffered a series of strokes that left him affected not only physically but mentally. When he began hallucinating and grabbed for a gun as if going into battle, he was taken to an asylum for the insane. Horrified, Therese \r\nlearned of the humiliation of the father she adored and admired and of the gossip and pity of their so-called friends. As a cloistered nun she couldn't even visit her father.
This began a horrible time of suffering when she experienced such dryness in prayer that she stated \"Jesus isn't doing much to keep the conversation going.\" She was so grief-stricken that she often fell asleep in prayer. She consoled herself by saying that mothers loved children when they lie asleep in their arms so that God must love her when she slept during prayer.
She knew as a Carmelite nun she would never be able to perform great deeds. \" Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can \r\nprove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love.\" She took every chance to sacrifice, no matter how small it would seem. She smiled at the sisters she didn't like. She ate everything she was given without complaining -- so that she was often given the worst leftovers. One time she was accused of breaking a vase when she was not at fault. Instead of arguing she sank to her knees and begged forgiveness. These little sacrifices cost her more than bigger ones, for these went unrecognized by others. No one told her how wonderful she was for these little secret humiliations and good deeds.
When Pauline was elected prioress, she asked Therese for the ultimate sacrifice. Because of politics \r\nin the convent, many of the sisters feared that the family Martin would taken over the convent. Therefore Pauline asked Therese to remain a novice, in order to allay the fears of the others that the three sisters would push everyone else around. This meant she would never be a fully professed nun, that she would always have to ask permission for everything she did. This sacrifice was made a little sweeter when Celine entered the convent after her father's death. Four of the sisters were now together again.
Therese continued to worry about how she could achieve holiness in the life she led. She didn't want to just be good, she wanted to be a saint. She thought there must be a way for people living hidden, little lives like hers. \" I have always wanted to become a saint. Unfortunately when I have compared myself with the saints, I have always found that there is the same difference between the saints and me as there is between a mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds and a humble grain of sand trodden underfoot by passers-by. Instead of being discouraged, I told myself: God would not make me wish for something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint. It is impossible for me to grow bigger, so I put up with myself as I am, with all my countless faults. But I will look for some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight, a little way that is quite new.
\" We live in an age of inventions. We need no longer climb laboriously up flights of stairs; in well-to-do houses there are lifts. And I was determined to find a lift to carry me to Jesus, for I was far too small to climb the steep stairs of perfection. So I sought in holy Scripture some idea of what this life I wanted would be, and I read these words: \"Whosoever is a little one, come to me.\" It is your arms, Jesus, that are the lift to carry me to heaven. And so there is no need for me to grow up: I must stay little and become less and less.\"
She worried about her vocation: \" I feel in me the vocation of the Priest. I have the vocation of the Apostle. Martyrdom was the dream of my youth and this dream has grown with me. Considering the mystical body of the Church, I desired to see myself in them all. Charity gave me the key to my vocation. I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was burning with love. I understood that Love comprised all vocations, that Love was everything, that it embraced all times and places...in a word, that it was eternal! Then in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love...my vocation, at last I have found it...My vocation is Love!\"
When an antagonist was elected prioress, new political suspicions and plottings sprang up. The concern over the Martin sisters perhaps was not exaggerated. In this small convent they now made up one-fifth of the population. Despite this and the fact that Therese was a permanent novice they put her in charge of the other novices.
Then in 1896, she coughed up blood. She kept working without telling anyone until she became so sick a year later everyone knew it. Worst of all she had lost her joy and confidence and felt she would die young without leaving anything behind. Pauline had already had her writing down her memories for journal and now she wanted her to continue -- so they would have something to circulate on her life after her death.
Her pain was so great that she said that if she had not had faith she would have taken her own life without hesitation. But she tried to remain smiling and cheerful -- and succeeded so well that some thought she was only pretending to be ill. Her one dream as the work she would do after her death, helping those on earth. \"Upon my death I will let fall a shower of roses; I wish to spend my heaven in doing good upon the earth.\" She died on September 30, 1897 at the age of 24 years old. She herself felt it was a blessing God allowed her to die at exactly that age. she had always felt that she had a vocation to be a priest and felt God let her die at the age she would have been ordained if she had been a man so that she wouldn't have to suffer.
After she died, everything at the convent went back to normal. One nun commented that there was nothing to say about Therese. But Pauline put together Therese's writings (and heavily edited them, unfortunately) and sent 2000 copies to other convents. But Therese's \"little way\" of trusting in Jesus to make her holy and relying on small daily sacrifices instead of great deeds appealed to the thousands of Catholics and others who were trying to find holiness in ordinary lives. Within two years, the Martin family had to move because her notoriety was so great and by 1925 she had been canonized.
Therese of Lisieux is one of the patron saints of the missions, not because she ever went anywhere, but because of her special love of the missions, and the prayers and letters she gave in support of missionaries. This is reminder to all of us who feel we can do nothing, that it is the little things that keep God's kingdom growing.
", "tags": "therese lisieux", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 696, "action": "Bavo", "tags": "haarlem ghent nederlands bavo netherlands holland belgium" }, { "id": 697, "action": "\n This famous hermit, also called Allowin, was a nobleman, and native of that part of Brabant called Hesbaye. After having led a very irregular\n \n life\n \n he was left a widower, and was moved to\n \n conversion\n \n to\n \n God\n \n by a sermon which he heard\n \n St. Amand\n \n preach at Ghent. Going home he distributed all his money among the poor, and went to the monastery at\n \n Ghent\n \n that was afterwards called by his name. Here Bavo received the\n \n tonsure\n \n at the hand of\n \n St. Amand\n \n and was animated to advance daily in the fervor of his\n \n penance\n \n and the practice of virtue.\n \n St. Bavo\n \n seemed to have accompanied\n \n St. Amand\n \n on his missionary journeys in\n \n France\n \n and Flanders, setting an example by the humiliation of his heart, the\n \n mortification\n \n of his will, and the rigor of his austerities.\n \n St. Amand\n \n after some\n \n time\n \n gave him leave to lead an eremitical life, and he is said first to have chosen for his abode a hollow trunk of a large tree, but afterward, built himself a cell at Mendonck, where vegetables and water were his chief subsistance.\n \n St. Bavo\n \n is said on one occasion to have done\n \n penance\n \n for selling a\n \n man\n \n into serfdom by making the\n \n man\n \n lead him by a chain to the common lockup. Bavo at length returned to the monastery at Ghent, where\n \n St. Amand\n \n had appointed\n \n St. Floribert\n \n Abbot; and with his approval Bavo built himself a new cell in a neighboring wood, where he lived a recluse until the end of his life.\n \n St. Amand\n \n and\n \n St. Floribert\n \n attended him on his death bed and his peaceful passage made a deep impression on all who were present. As in the\n \n diocese\n \n of\n \n Ghent\n \n so that in\n \n Haarlem\n \n in Holland,\n \n St. Bavo\n \n is titular of the\n \n Cathedral\n \n and patron of the diocese. His\n \n feast day\n \n is October 1.\n
\n", "tags": "bavo", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 698, "action": "Francis of Assisi", "tags": "francisco san humane fe ecology families kansas merchants action workers francis tapestry catholic italy arch societies denver italian new animals zoos welfare colorado animal santa usa salina mexico ecologists california assisi" }, { "id": 699, "action": "\n Founder of the Franciscan Order, born at\n \n Assisi\n \n in Umbria, in 1181.\n
\nIn 1182, Pietro Bernardone returned from a trip to France to find out his wife had given birth to a son. Far from being excited or apologetic because he'd been gone, Pietro was furious because she'd had his new son baptized Giovanni after John the Baptist. The last thing Pietro wanted in his son was a man of God -- he wanted a man of business, a cloth merchant like he was, and he especially wanted a son who would reflect his infatuation with France. So he renamed his son Francesco -- which is the equivalent of calling him Frenchman.
Francis enjoyed a very rich easy life growing up because of his father's wealth and the permissiveness of the times. From the beginning everyone -- and I mean everyone -- loved Francis. He was constantly happy, charming, and a born leader. If he was picky, people excused him. If he was ill, people took care of him. If he was so much of a dreamer he did poorly in school, no one minded. In many ways he was too easy to like for his own good. No one tried to control him or teach him.
As he grew up, Francis became the leader of a crowd of young people who spent their nights in wild parties. Thomas of Celano, his biographer who knew him well, said, \"In other respects an exquisite youth, he attracted to himself a whole retinue of young people addicted to evil and accustomed to vice.\" Francis himself said, \"I lived in sin\" during that time.
Francis fulfilled every hope of Pietro's -- even falling in love with France. He loved the songs of France, the romance of France, and especially the free adventurous troubadours of France who wandered through Europe. And despite his dreaming, Francis was also good at business. But Francis wanted more..more than wealth. But not holiness! Francis wanted to be a noble, a knight. Battle was the best place to win the glory and prestige he longed for. He got his first chance when Assisi declared war on their longtime enemy, the nearby town of Perugia.
Most of the troops from Assisi were butchered in the fight. Only those wealthy enough to expect to be ransomed were taken prisoner. At last Francis was among the nobility like he always wanted to be...but chained in a harsh, dark dungeon. All accounts say that he never lost his happy manner in that horrible place. Finally, after a year in the dungeon, he was ransomed. Strangely, the experience didn't seem to change him. He gave himself to partying with as much joy and abandon as he had before the battle.
The experience didn't change what he wanted from life either: Glory. Finally a call for knights for the Fourth Crusade gave him a chance for his dream. But before he left Francis had to have a suit of armor and a horse -- no problem for the son of a wealthy father. And not just any suit of armor would do but one decorated with gold with a magnificent cloak. Any relief we feel in hearing that Francis gave the cloak to a poor knight will be destroyed by the boasts that Francis left behind that he would return a prince.
But Francis never got farther than one day's ride from Assisi. There he had a dream in which God told him he had it all wrong and told him to return home. And return home he did. What must it have been like to return without ever making it to battle -- the boy who wanted nothing more than to be liked was humiliated, laughed at, called a coward by the village and raged at by his father for the money wasted on armor.
Francis' conversion did not happen over night. God had waited for him for twenty-five years and now it was Francis' turn to wait. Francis started to spend more time in prayer. He went off to a cave and wept for his sins. Sometimes God's grace overwhelmed him with joy. But life couldn't just stop for God. There was a business to run, customers to wait on.
One day while riding through the countryside, Francis, the man who loved beauty, who was so picky about food, who hated deformity, came face to face with a leper. Repelled by the appearance and the smell of the leper, Francis nevertheless jumped down from his horse and kissed the hand of the leper. When his kiss of peace was returned, Francis was filled with joy. As he rode off, he turned around for a last wave, and saw that the leper had disappeared. He always looked upon it as a test from God...that he had passed.
His search for conversion led him to the ancient church at San Damiano. While he was praying there, he heard Christ on the crucifix speak to him, \"Francis, repair my church.\" Francis assumed this meant church with a small c -- the crumbling building he was in. Acting again in his impetuous way, he took fabric from his father's shop and sold it to get money to repair the church. His father saw this as an act of theft -- and put together with Francis' cowardice, waste of money, and his growing disinterest in money made Francis seem more like a madman than his son. Pietro dragged Francis before the bishop and in front of the whole town demanded that Francis return the money and renounce all rights as his heir.
The bishop was very kind to Francis; he told him to return the money and said God would provide. That was all Francis needed to hear. He not only gave back the money but stripped off all his clothes -- the clothes his father had given him -- until he was wearing only a hair shirt. In front of the crowd that had gathered he said, \"Pietro Bernardone is no longer my father. From now on I can say with complete freedom, 'Our Father who art in heaven.'\" Wearing nothing but castoff rags, he went off into the freezing woods -- singing. And when robbers beat him later and took his clothes, he climbed out of the ditch and went off singing again. From then on Francis had nothing...and everything.
Francis went back to what he considered God's call. He begged for stones and rebuilt the San Damiano church with his own hands, not realizing that it was the Church with a capital C that God wanted repaired. Scandal and avarice were working on the Church from the inside while outside heresies flourished by appealing to those longing for something different or adventurous.
Soon Francis started to preach. (He was never a priest, though he was later ordained a deacon under his protest.) Francis was not a reformer; he preached about returning to God and obedience to the Church. Francis must have known about the decay in the Church, but he always showed the Church and its people his utmost respect. When someone told him of a priest living openly with a woman and asked him if that meant the Mass was polluted, Francis went to the priest, knelt before him, and kissed his hands -- because those hands had held God.
Slowly companions came to Francis, people who wanted to follow his life of sleeping in the open, begging for garbage to eat...and loving God. With companions, Francis knew he now had to have some kind of direction to this life so he opened the Bible in three places. He read the command to the rich young man to sell all his good and give to the poor, the order to the apostles to take nothing on their journey, and the demand to take up the cross daily. \"Here is our rule,\" Francis said -- as simple, and as seemingly impossible, as that. He was going to do what no one thought possible any more -- live by the Gospel. Francis took these commands so literally that he made one brother run after the thief who stole his hood and offer him his robe!
Francis never wanted to found a religious order -- this former knight thought that sounded too military. He thought of what he was doing as expressing God's brotherhood. His companions came from all walks of life, from fields and towns, nobility and common people, universities, the Church, and the merchant class. Francis practiced true equality by showing honor, respect, and love to every person whether they were beggar or pope.
Francis' brotherhood included all of God's creation. Much has been written about Francis' love of nature but his relationship was deeper than that. We call someone a lover of nature if they spend their free time in the woods or admire its beauty. But Francis really felt that nature, all God's creations, were part of his brotherhood. The sparrow was as much his brother as the pope.
In one famous story, Francis preached to hundreds of birds about being thankful to God for their wonderful clothes, for their independence, and for God's care. The story tells us the birds stood still as he walked among him, only flying off when he said they could leave.
Another famous story involves a wolf that had been eating human beings. Francis intervened when the town wanted to kill the wolf and talked the wolf into never killing again. The wolf became a pet of the townspeople who made sure that he always had plenty to eat.
Following the Gospel literally, Francis and his companions went out to preach two by two. At first, listeners were understandably hostile to these men in rags trying to talk about God's love. People even ran from them for fear they'd catch this strange madness! And they were right. Because soon these same people noticed that these barefoot beggars wearing sacks seemed filled with constant joy. They celebrated life. And people had to ask themselves: Could one own nothing and be happy? Soon those who had met them with mud and rocks, greeted them with bells and smiles.
Francis did not try to abolish poverty, he tried to make it holy. When his friars met someone poorer than they, they would eagerly rip off the sleeve of their habit to give to the person. They worked for all necessities and only begged if they had to. But Francis would not let them accept any money. He told them to treat coins as if they were pebbles in the road. When the bishop showed horror at the friars' hard life, Francis said, \"If we had any possessions we should need weapons and laws to defend them.\" Possessing something was the death of love for Francis. Also, Francis reasoned, what could you do to a man who owns nothing? You can't starve a fasting man, you can't steal from someone who has no money, you can't ruin someone who hates prestige. They were truly free.
Francis was a man of action. His simplicity of life extended to ideas and deeds. If there was a simple way, no matter how impossible it seemed, Francis would take it. So when Francis wanted approval for his brotherhood, he went straight to Rome to see Pope Innocent III. You can imagine what the pope thought when this beggar approached him! As a matter of fact he threw Francis out. But when he had a dream that this tiny man in rags held up the tilting Lateran basilica, he quickly called Francis back and gave him permission to preach.
Sometimes this direct approach led to mistakes that he corrected with the same spontaneity that he made them. Once he ordered a brother who hesitated to speak because he stuttered to go preach half-naked. When Francis realized how he had hurt someone he loved he ran to town, stopped the brother, took off his own clothes, and preached instead.
Francis acted quickly because he acted from the heart; he didn't have time to put on a role. Once he was so sick and exhausted, his companions borrowed a mule for him to ride. When the man who owned the mule recognized Francis he said, \"Try to be as virtuous as everyone thinks you are because many have a lot of confidence in you.\" Francis dropped off the mule and knelt before the man to thank him for his advice.
Another example of his directness came when he decided to go to Syria to convert the Moslems while the Fifth Crusade was being fought. In the middle of a battle, Francis decided to do the simplest thing and go straight to the sultan to make peace. When he and his companion were captured, the real miracle was that they weren't killed. Instead Francis was taken to the sultan who was charmed by Francis and his preaching. He told Francis, \"I would convert to your religion which is a beautiful one -- but both of us would be murdered.\"
Francis did find persecution and martyrdom of a kind -- not among the Moslems, but among his own brothers. When he returned to Italy, he came back to a brotherhood that had grown to 5000 in ten years. Pressure came from outside to control this great movement, to make them conform to the standards of others. His dream of radical poverty was too harsh, people said. Francis responded, \"Lord, didn't I tell you they wouldn't trust you?\"
He finally gave up authority in his order -- but he probably wasn't too upset about it. Now he was just another brother, like he'd always wanted.
Francis' final years were filled with suffering as well as humiliation. Praying to share in Christ's passion he had a vision received the stigmata, the marks of the nails and the lance wound that Christ suffered, in his own body.
Years of poverty and wandering had made Francis ill. When he began to go blind, the pope ordered that his eyes be operated on. This meant cauterizing his face with a hot iron. Francis spoke to \"Brother Fire\": \"Brother Fire, the Most High has made you strong and beautiful and useful. Be courteous to me now in this hour, for I have always loved you, and temper your heat so that I can endure it.\" And Francis reported that Brother Fire had been so kind that he felt nothing at all.
How did Francis respond to blindness and suffering? That was when he wrote his beautiful Canticle of the Sun that expresses his brotherhood with creation in praising God.
Francis never recovered from this illness. He died on October 4, 1226 at the age of 45. Francis is considered the founder of all Franciscan orders and the patron saint of ecologists and merchants.
", "tags": "francis assisi", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 700, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas animals tolentino" }, { "id": 701, "action": "\n Born in 1245 in Sant'Angelo,\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Tolentino took his name from\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Myra, at whose shrine his\n \n parents\n \n prayed to have a child. Nicholas became a\n \n monk\n \n at 18, and seven years later, he was ordained a priest. He gained a reputation as a preacher and a confessor. C. 1274, he was sent to Tolentino, near his birthplace. The town suffered from civil strife between the Guelphs, who supported the pope, and Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor, in their struggle for control of Italy. Nicholas was primarily a\n \n pastor\n \n to his flock. He ministered to the poor and the criminal. He is said to have cured the sick with bread over which he had prayed to Mary, the mother of God. He gained a reputation as a wonder-worker. Nicholas died in 1305 after a long illness. People began immediately to petition for his canonization.\n \n Eugene IV\n \n canonized him in 1446, and his\n \n relics\n \n were rediscovered in 1926 at Tolentino.\n
\n", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 702, "action": "Petronius", "tags": "italy petronius bologna" }, { "id": 703, "action": "\n Bishop of Bologna. The son a Roman praetorian prefect named Petronius in Gaul, he was most likely a Roman official who went to Palestine and visited the holy places. Influenced by the visit, he entered the\n \n priesthood\n \n and later became\n \n bishop\n \n of\n \n Bologna\n \n about 432. His two main achievements were the repair of the many buildings and churches destroyed by the Goths during their invasion of the Western Empire and building the monastery of\n \n St. Stephen\n \n in the design of the sacred sites of the Holy Land. Petronius figured in a fictitious\n \n life\n \n which was immensely popular during the Middle Ages.\n
\n", "tags": "petronius", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 704, "action": "Giles", "tags": "scotland edinburgh giles" }, { "id": 705, "action": "\n A native of Assisi, Italy, Giles was one of the earliest followers of St. Francis, from whom he received the\n \n habit\n \n in 1208. He accompanied Francis on many of his missions around Assisi, made a pilgrimage to Compostela, visited\n \n Rome\n \n and the Holy Land, and then made an unsuccessful visit to\n \n Tunis\n \n to convert the Saracens. The Christians in Tunis, fearful of the repercussions of his religious fervor, forced him back on a boat as soon as he landed. He spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n living in Italy, living from about 1243 at the Monte Rapido hermitage on the outskirts of Perugia, where he died in 1263. He experiences ecstacies, had a vision of\n \n Christ\n \n at Cetona, and is considered the most perfect example of the primitive Franciscan. He is spoken of at length in \"The Little Flowers of St. Francis\" and Francis called him his \"Knight of the round table.\" Known for his austerity and silence, his \"The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles\" is noted for its humor, deep understanding of human nature, and optimism.\n
\n", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 706, "action": "Bruno", "tags": "bruno ruthenia" }, { "id": 707, "action": "\n Bruno was born in\n \n Cologne\n \n of the prominent Hartenfaust family. He studied at the\n \n Cathedral\n \n school at Rheims, and on his return to\n \n Cologne\n \n about 1055, was ordained and became a\n \n Canon\n \n at St. Cunibert's. He returned to Rheims in 1056 as professor of theology, became head of the school the following year, and remained there until 1074, when he was appointed chancellor of Rheims by its archbishop, Manasses. Bruno was forced to flee Rheims when he and several other priests denounced\n \n Manasses\n \n in 1076 as unfit for the office of Papal Legate. Bruno later returned to\n \n Cologne\n \n but went back to Rheims in 1080 when\n \n Manasses\n \n was deposed, and though the people of Rheims wanted to make Bruno archbishop, he decided to pursue an eremitical life. He became a hermit under\n \n Abbot\n \n \n St. Robert of Molesmes\n \n (who later founded Citeaux) but then moved on to\n \n Grenoble\n \n with six companions in 1084. They were assigned a place for their hermitages in a desolate, mountainous, alpine area called La Grande Chartreuse, by\n \n Bishop\n \n \n St. Hugh\n \n of Grenoble, whose\n \n confessor\n \n Bruno became. They built an\n \n oratory\n \n and individual cells, roughly followed the rule of St. Benedict, and thus began the Carthusian Order. They embraced a\n \n life\n \n of poverty, manual work, prayer, and transcribing manuscripts, though as yet they had no written rule. The fame of the group and their founder spread, and in 1090, Bruno was brought to Rome, against his wishes, by Pope\n \n Urban II\n \n (whom he had taught at Rheims) as Papal Adviser in the reformation of the clergy. Bruno persuaded Urban to allow him to resume his eremitical state, founded St. Mary's at La Torre in Calabria, declined the Pope's offer of the archbishopric of Reggio, became a close friend of Count Robert of Sicily, and remained there until his death on October 6. He wrote several commentaries on the\n \n psalms\n \n and on St. Paul's epistles. He was never formally canonized because of the Carthusians' aversion to public honors but Pope Leo X granted the Carthusians permission to celebrate his feast in 1514, and his name was placed on the Roman calendar in 1623. His\n \n feast day\n \n is October 6.\n
\n", "tags": "bruno", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 708, "action": "Pelagia", "tags": "actresses pelagia" }, { "id": 709, "action": "\n Pelagia, more often called Margaret, on account of the magnificence of the pearls for which she had so often sold herself, was an actress of Antioch, equally celebrated for her beauty, her wealth and the disorder ofher life. During a\n \n synod\n \n at Antioch, she passed\n \n Bishop\n \n St.\n \n Nonnus\n \n of Edessa, who was struck with her beauty; the next day she went to hear him preach and was so moved by his sermon that she asked him to baptize her which he did. She gave her wealth to\n \n Nonnus\n \n to aid the poor and left\n \n Antioch\n \n dressed in men's clothing. She became a hermitess in a cave on Mount of Olivette in Jerusalem, where she lived in great austerity, performing penances and known as \"the beardless monk\" until her sex was discovered at her death. Though a young girl of fifteen did exist and suffer martyrdom at\n \n Antioch\n \n in the fourth century, the story heretold is a pious fiction, which gave rise to a whole set of similar stories under different names. Her\n \n feast day\n \n is October 8th.\n
\n", "tags": "pelagia", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 710, "action": "Louis Betrand", "tags": "colombia betrand louis" }, { "id": 711, "action": "\n Louis was born in\n \n Valencia\n \n Spain, in a\n \n family\n \n of nine children. His\n \n good\n \n \n parents\n \n brought him up well, and he became a Dominican priest. He was very severe as a master of the novices, but even though he did not have a\n \n good\n \n sense of humor, he taught the novices to give themselves completely to God. When first he began to preach, it did not seem as though he would be very successful, but his deep love for souls brought great results. At the age of thirty-six, St. Louis left for South America. He stayed in the New World only about six years, but in that short time, this great\n \n apostle\n \n baptized thousands of persons. Although he knew only Spanish,\n \n God\n \n gave him the gift of tongues, so that when he spoke, all the different tribes of Indians understood him. Yet his apostolate was not without dangers. A tribe called the\n \n Caribs\n \n of the Leeward Islands even tried to poison the saint when he visited them to preach the gospel of Our Lord. Once he was called back to Spain, St. Louis trained other preachers, teaching them to prepare themselves by fervent prayer, first of all. The last two years of his\n \n life\n \n were full of painful sufferings, but still he kept preaching. Finally he was carried from the\n \n pulpit\n \n to his bed, and he never left it again, for he died eighteen months later. His\n \n feast day\n \n is October 9.\n
\n", "tags": "betrand louis", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 712, "action": "Geminus", "tags": "gemini italy geminus san" }, { "id": 713, "action": "\n Patron saint of San Gemini, Umbria, Itlay. He is claimed by both the Baslians and Benedictines as a patron.\n
\n", "tags": "geminus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 714, "action": "Andronicus", "tags": "andronicus silversmiths" }, { "id": 715, "action": "\n Hermit who had a remarkable experience with his wife, Athanasia. Andronicus was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and became a silversmith. Marrying Athanasia, he went to Antioch, where they lost their two children, possibly in a local plague. Both Andronicus and Athanasia returned to Egypt, where they became\n \n hermits\n \n in the desert. Athanasia, who was dressed as a man, lived in a separate hermitage. After twelve years, a\n \n monk\n \n named Athanasius came to visit Andronicus. The two went on a pilgrimage to\n \n Jerusalem\n \n and then joined a monastery near Alexandria. When Athanasius died, a note was found identifying her as Athanasia, Andronicus' wife. Andronicus who died soon after, was buried with Athanasia.\n
\n", "tags": "andronicus", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 716, "action": "Francis Borgia", "tags": "earthquakes francis borgia portugal" }, { "id": 717, "action": "\n Francis was a young nobleman at the court of the King of Spain. He became a Duke when he was only thirty-three and lived a happy, peaceful\n \n life\n \n with his wife Eleanor and their eight children. But unlike so many other powerful nobles, Francis was a perfect\n \n Christian\n \n gentleman, a true\n \n man\n \n of\n \n God\n \n and his great joy was to receive\n \n Holy Communion\n \n often. This happy\n \n life\n \n ended when his beloved wife died. Francis did something that astonished all the nobles of Spain; he gave up his Dukedom to his son Charles and became a Jesuit priest. So many people came to his first\n \n Mass\n \n that they had to set up an altar outdoors, but his\n \n Superior\n \n tested him by treating him in exactly the opposite way he had been used to all his forty-one years of life. He who had once been a Duke had to help the cook, carrying wood for the fire and sweeping the kitchen. When he served food to the priests and brothers, he had to kneel down in front of them all and beg them to forgive him for being so clumsy! Still he never once complained or grumbled. The only\n \n time\n \n he became angry was when anyone treated him with respect as if he was still a Duke. Once a\n \n doctor\n \n who had to take care of a painful wound Francis had gotten said to him: \"I am afraid, my lord, that I have to hurt your grace.\" The saint answered that he would not hurt him more than he was\n \n right\n \n then by calling him \"my lord\" and \"your grace.\" It was not too long before the humble\n \n priest\n \n accomplished wonderful works for God's\n \n glory\n \n as he preached everywhere and advised many important people. He spread the\n \n Society\n \n of\n \n Jesus\n \n all over\n \n Spain\n \n and in Portugal. When he was made\n \n Superior\n \n General of the Jesuits, he sent missionaries all over the world. Under his guidance, the Jesuits grew to be a very great help to the Church in many lands. Through all such success,\n \n St. Francis Borgia\n \n remained completely humble. His\n \n feast day\n \n is October 10.\n
\n", "tags": "francis borgia", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 718, "action": "Alexander Sauli", "tags": "sauli alexander corsica" }, { "id": 719, "action": "\n The\n \n Apostle\n \n of\n \n Corsica\n \n and bishop. He came from a prominent\n \n family\n \n of Lombard, Italy, born in\n \n Milan\n \n in 1533. At an early age he entered the Barnabite Congregation, and became a teacher at the University of\n \n Pavia\n \n and\n \n superior\n \n general of the congregation. In 1571 he was appointed by Pope Pius V to Aleria on Corsica. Taking three companions, Alexander rebuilt churches, founded seminaries and colleges, and stood off the pirate raids in the area. He became the\n \n bishop\n \n of\n \n Pavia\n \n after refusing other sees, serving only a year before his death. Alexander was a noted\n \n miracle\n \n worker. He was also spiritual advisor to\n \n St. Charles Borromeo\n \n and to\n \n Cardinal\n \n Sfondrato, who became Pope Gregory XIV. He was canonized in 1904 by Pope St. Pius X.\n
\n", "tags": "sauli alexander", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 720, "action": "Gummarus", "tags": "spouses glove gummarus separated childless makers courtiers cowherds divorced marriages people hernia guardians difficult" }, { "id": 721, "action": "\n Gummarus was a son of the\n \n lord\n \n of Emblem, near Lierre in Brabant. He grew up without learning to read or write, but served at the court of Pepin, where from a\n \n spirit\n \n of\n \n religion\n \n he was faithful in every\n \n duty\n \n and liberal in owrks of mercy. Pepin raised hinm to a high post, and proposed a match between him and a lady of\n \n good\n \n birth named Guinimaria, and the marriage was solemnized with their mutual consent. This marriage, which seemed unhappy in the eyes of the world, was directed by\n \n God\n \n to perfect the\n \n virtue\n \n of His servant and exalt him to the\n \n glory\n \n of saints: for Guinimaria was extravagant and perverse in her ways, cruel, capricious and altogether unteachable.\n \n Life\n \n became from that\n \n time\n \n a train of continual trials for Gummarus.\n \n St. Gummarus\n \n for several years endeavoured by all means which\n \n prudence\n \n and charity could suggest to encourage his wife to ways more agreeable to\n \n reason\n \n and religion. Then he was called upon by King Pepin to attend him in his wars, and he was absent eight years. Returning home, he found his wife had thrown all things into disorder, and that few among his servants, vassals or tenants had escaped her oppression. She was so mean that she even refused beer to the reapers at harvest. Gummarus made to every one of them full\n \n restitution\n \n and satisfaction; and Guinimaria was so far overcome by his patience and kindness as to be ashamed of her past conduct, and to seem penitent. This change, however, was only exterior, and her wilfulness broke out again worse than ever. Gummarus tried to reclaim her: but at length he gave up the attempt and lived a retired life. With St. Romuold he is said to have founded the\n \n abbey\n \n at Lierre which afterwards bore his name. His\n \n feast day\n \n is October 11th.\n
\n", "tags": "gummarus", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 722, "action": "Edwin", "tags": "homeless families kings edwin parents tramps hoboes people large converts" }, { "id": 723, "action": "\n In the year 616, King Ethelfrith was slain in battle by Redwald, King of the East Angles. Edwin of Deira became king of the whole kingdom of Northumbria and after the death of Redwald, he had a certain lordship over the other English kings. He married Ethelburga, daughter of St. Ethelbert, King of Kent after promising to allow her to practice her\n \n Christian\n \n religion. St. Paulinus was sent as\n \n chaplain\n \n to the Queen and\n \n bishop\n \n for his converts. When Queen Ethelburga gave birth to a daughter, she was baptized with twelve others on Whitsunday, and called Eanfleda; they were the first fruits of the Northumbrians. Edwin was a\n \n man\n \n of unusual\n \n wisdom\n \n and deliberated in his heart to which\n \n religion\n \n he should follow. Paulinus continued to instruct him and to pray for his conversion. King Edwin was baptized at York at\n \n Easter\n \n in the year 627, on the site of the present York Minster, in the wooden church of\n \n St. Peter\n \n which he had caused to be built. This\n \n good\n \n king had reigned seventeen years when the Welsh Cadwalon marched in arms against him with Penda of Mercia, a pagan. King Edwin met them at Hatfield Chase on October 12, 633, and in the ensuing battle he was slain.\n \n St. Edwin\n \n was certainly vernerated in England as a martyr, but though his claims to\n \n sanctity\n \n are else doubtful than those of some other royal saints, English and other, he has had no liturgical cultus so far as is known. His\n \n relics\n \n were held in veneration, churches were dedicated in his\n \n honour\n \n in London and at Brean in Somerset; and Pope Gregory XIII permitted him to be represented among the English martyrs on the walls of the\n \n chapel\n \n of the Venerabile at Rome. His\n \n feast day\n \n is October 12th.\n
\n", "tags": "edwin", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 724, "action": "Colman of Stockerau", "tags": "hanging cattle hanged colman stockerau people" }, { "id": 725, "action": "\n An Irish or Scottish pilgrim who was martyred in Austria while on the way to the Holy Land. Tortured and hanged as a spy, he edified everyone with his courage. His body remained preserved, and miracles were reported at his grave. The Austrians realized that Colman was a holy man, put to death by mistake. He became a patron saint of Austria.\n
\n", "tags": "stockerau colman", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 726, "action": "Callistus I", "tags": "i workers callistus cemetery" }, { "id": 727, "action": "\n Imagine that your biography was written by an enemy of yours. And that its information was all anyone would have not only for the rest of your\n \n life\n \n but for centuries to come. You would never be able to refute it -- and even if you couldno one would believe you because your accuser was a saint.\n
\nThat is the problem we face with Pope Callistus I who died about 222. The only story of his life we have is from someone who hated him and what he stood for, an author identified as Saint Hippolytus, a rival candidate for the chair of Peter. What had made Hippolytus so angry? Hippolytus was very strict and rigid in his adherence to rules and regulations. The early Church had been very rough on those who committed sins of adultery, murder, and fornication. Hippolytus was enraged by the mercy that Callistus showed to these repentant sinners, allowing them back into communion of the Church after they had performed public penance. Callistus' mercy was also matched by his desire for equality among Church members, manifested by his acceptance of marraiges between free people and slaves. Hippolytus saw all of this as a degradation of the Church, a submission to lust and licentiousness that reflected not mercy and holiness in Callistus but perversion and fraud.
Trying to weed out the venom to find the facts of Callistus' life in Hippolytus' account, we learn that Callistus himself was a slave (something that probably did not endear him to class-conscious Hippolytus). His master, Carporphorus made him manager of a bank in the Publica Piscina sector of Rome where Callistus took in the money of other Christians. The bank failed -- according to Hippolytus because Callistus spent the money on his own pleasure-seeking. It seems unlikely that Carporphorus would trust his good name and his fellow Christians' savings to someone that unreliable.
Whatever the reason, Callistus fled the city by ship in order to escape punishment. When his master caught up with him, Callistus jumped into the sea (according to Hippolytus, in order to commit suicide). After Callistus was rescued he was brought back to Rome, put on trial, and sentenced to a cruel punishment -- forced labor on the treadmill. Carporphorus took pity on his former slave and manager and Callistus won his release by convincing him he could get some of the money back from investors. (This seems to indicate, in spite of Hippolytus' statements, that the money was not squandered but lent or invested unwisely.) Callistus' methods had not improved with desperation and when he disrupted a synagogue by shouting for money, he was arrested and sentenced again.
This time he was sent to the mines. Other Christians who had been sentenced there because of their religion were released by negotiations between the emperor and the Pope (with the help of the emperor's mistress who was friendly toward Christians). Callistus accidentally wound up on the same list with the persecuted brothers and sisters. (Hippolytus reports that this was through extortion and connniving on Callistus' part.) Apparently, everyone, including the Pope, realized Callistus did not deserve his new freedom but unwilling to carry the case further the Pope gave Callistus an income and situation -- away from Rome. (Once again, this is a point for suspecting Hippolytus' account. If Callistus was so despicable and untrustworthy why provide him with an income and a situation? Leaving him free out of pity is one thing, but giving money to a convicted criminal and slave is another. There must have been more to the story.)
About nine or ten years later, the new pope Zephyrinus recalled Callistus to Rome. Zephyrinus was good-hearted and well-meaning but had no understanding of theology. This was disastrous in a time when heretical beliefs were springing up everywhere. One minute Zephyrinus would endorse a belief he thought orthodox and the next he would embrace the opposite statement. Callistus soon made his value known, guiding Zephyrinus through theology to what he saw as orthodoxy. (Needless to say it was not what Hippolytus felt was orthodox enough.) To a certain extent, according to Hippolytus, Callistus was the power behind the Church before he even assumed the bishopric of Rome.
When Zephyrinus died in 219, Callistus was proclaimed pope over the protests of his rival candidate Hippolytus. He seemed to have as strong a hatred of heresy as Hippolytus, however, because he banished one of the heretics named Sabellius.
Callistus came to power during a crucial time of the Church. Was it going to hang on to the rigid rules of previous years and limit itself to those who were already saints or was it going to embrace sinners as Christ commanded? Was its mission only to a few holy ones or to the whole world, to the healthy or to the sick? We can understand Hippolytus' fear -- that hypocritical penitents would use the Church and weaken it in the time when they faced persecution. But Callistus chose to trust God's mercy and love and opened the doors. By choosing Christ's mission, he chose to spread the Gospel to all.
Pope Callistus is listed as a martyr but we have no record of how he was martyred or by whom. There were no official persecutions at the time, but he may well have been killed in riots against Christians.
As sad as it is to realize that the only story we have of his life is by an enemy, it is glorious to see in it the fact that the Church is large enough not only to embrace sinners and saints, but to proclaim two people saints who hold such wildly opposing views and to elect a slave and an alleged ex-convict to guide the whole Church. There's hope for all of us then!
", "tags": "i callistus", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 728, "action": "Teresa of Avila", "tags": "commissariat authorities orders needd opposition spanish religious headaches writers church grace avila military catholic people teresa" }, { "id": 729, "action": "\n Teresa of Avila was born Teresa Ali Fatim Corella Sanchez de Capeda y Ahumada in Avila, Spain. Less than twenty years before Teresa was born in 1515, Columbus opened up the Western Hemisphere to European colonization. Two years after she was born, Luther started the Protestant Reformation. Out of all of this change came Teresa pointing the way from outer turmoil to inner peace.\n
\nTeresa's father was rigidly honest and pious, but he may have carried his strictness to extremes. Teresa's mother loved romance novels but because her husband objected to these fanciful books, she hid the books from him. This put Teresa in the middle -- especially since she liked the romances too. Her father told her never to lie but her mother told her not to tell her father. Later she said she was always afraid that no matter what she did she was going to do everything wrong.
When she was seven-years-old, she convinced her older brother that they should \"go off to the land of the Moors and beg them, out of love of God, to cut off our heads there.\" They got as far as the road from the city before an uncle found them and brought them back. Some people have used this story as an early example of sanctity, but this author think it's better used as an early example of her ability to stir up trouble.
After this incident she led a fairly ordinary life, though she was convinced that she was a horrible sinner. As a teenager, she cared only about boys, clothes, flirting, and rebelling. When she was 16, her father decided she was out of control and sent her to a convent. At first she hated it but eventually she began to enjoy it -- partly because of her growing love for God, and partly because the convent was a lot less strict than her father.
Still, when the time came for her to choose between marriage and religious life, she had a tough time making the decision. She'd watched a difficult marriage ruin her mother. On the other hand being a nun didn't seem like much fun. When she finally chose religious life, she did so because she though that it was the only safe place for someone as prone to sin as she was.
Once installed at the Carmelite convent permanently, she started to learn and practice mental prayer, in which she \"tried as hard as I could to keep Jesus Christ present within me....My imagination is so dull that I had no talent for imagining or coming up with great theological thoughts.\" Teresa prayed this way off and on for eighteen years without feeling that she was getting results. Part of the reason for her trouble was that the convent was not the safe place she assumed it would be.
Many women who had no place else to go wound up at the convent, whether they had vocations or not. They were encouraged to stay away from the convents for long period of time to cut down on expenses. Nuns would arrange their veils attractively and wear jewelry. Prestige depended not on piety but on money. There was a steady stream of visitors in the parlor and parties that included young men. What spiritual life there was involved hysteria, weeping, exaggerated penance, nosebleeds, and self- induced visions.
Teresa suffered the same problem that Francis of Assisi did -- she was too charming. Everyone liked her and she liked to be liked. She found it too easy to slip into a worldly life and ignore God. The convent encouraged her to have visitors to whom she would teach mental prayer because their gifts helped the community economy. But Teresa got more involved in flattery, vanity and gossip than spiritual guidance. These weren't great sins perhaps but they kept her from God.
Then Teresa fell ill with malaria. When she had a seizure, people were so sure she was dead that after she woke up four days later she learned they had dug a grave for her. Afterwards she was paralyzed for three years and was never completely well. Yet instead of helping her spiritually, her sickness became an excuse to stop her prayer completely: she couldn't be alone enough, she wasn't healthy enough, and so forth. Later she would say, \"Prayer is an act of love, words are not needed. Even if sickness distracts from thoughts, all that is needed is the will to love.\"
For years she hardly prayed at all \"under the guise of humility.\" She thought as a wicked sinner she didn't deserve to get favors from God. But turning away from prayer was like \"a baby turning from its mother's breasts, what can be expected but death?\"
When she was 41, a priest convinced her to go back to her prayer, but she still found it difficult. \"I was more anxious for the hour of prayer to be over than I was to remain there. I don't know what heavy penance I would not have gladly undertaken rather than practice prayer.\" She was distracted often: \"This intellect is so wild that it doesn't seem to be anything else than a frantic madman no one can tie down.\" Teresa sympathizes with those who have a difficult time in prayer: \"All the trials we endure cannot be compared to these interior battles.\"
Yet her experience gives us wonderful descriptions of mental prayer: \"For mental prayer in my opinion is nothing else than an intimate sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us. The important thing is not to think much but to love much and so do that which best stirs you to love. Love is not great delight but desire to please God in everything.\"
As she started to pray again, God gave her spiritual delights: the prayer of quiet where God's presence overwhelmed her senses, raptures where God overcame her with glorious foolishness, prayer of union where she felt the sun of God melt her soul away. Sometimes her whole body was raised from the ground. If she felt God was going to levitate her body, she stretched out on the floor and called the nuns to sit on her and hold her down. Far from being excited about these events, she \"begged God very much not to give me any more favors in public.\"
In her books, she analyzed and dissects mystical experiences the way a scientist would. She never saw these gifts as rewards from God but the way he \"chastised\" her. The more love she felt the harder it was to offend God. She says, \"The memory of the favor God has granted does more to bring such a person back to God than all the infernal punishments imaginable.\"
Her biggest fault was her friendships. Though she wasn't sinning, she was very attached to her friends until God told her \"No longer do I want you to converse with human beings but with angels.\" In an instant he gave her the freedom that she had been unable to achieve through years of effort. After that God always came first in her life.
Some friends, however, did not like what was happening to her and got together to discuss some \"remedy\" for her. Concluding that she had been deluded by the devil, they sent a Jesuit to analyze her. The Jesuit reassured her that her experiences were from God but soon everyone knew about her and was making fun of her.
One confessor was so sure that the visions were from the devil that he told her to make an obscene gesture called the fig every time she had a vision of Jesus. She cringed but did as she was ordered, all the time apologizing to Jesus. Fortunately, Jesus didn't seem upset but told her that she was right to obey her confessor. In her autobiography she would say, \"I am more afraid of those who are terrified of the devil than I am of the devil himself.\" The devil was not to be feared but fought by talking more about God.
Teresa felt that the best evidence that her delights came from God was that the experiences gave her peace, inspiration, and encouragement. \"If these effects are not present I would greatly doubt that the raptures come from God; on the contrary I would fear lest they be caused by rabies.\"
Sometimes, however, she couldn't avoid complaining to her closest Friend about the hostility and gossip that surrounded her. When Jesus told her, \"Teresa, that's how I treat my friends\" Teresa responded, \"No wonder you have so few friends.\" But since Christ has so few friends, she felt they should be good ones. And that's why she decided to reform her Carmelite order.
At the age of 43, she became determined to found a new convent that went back to the basics of a contemplative order: a simple life of poverty devoted to prayer. This doesn't sound like a big deal, right? Wrong.
When plans leaked out about her first convent, St. Joseph's, she was denounced from the pulpit, told by her sisters she should raise money for the convent she was already in, and threatened with the Inquisition. The town started legal proceedings against her. All because she wanted to try a simple life of prayer. In the face of this open war, she went ahead calmly, as if nothing was wrong, trusting in God.
\"May God protect me from gloomy saints,\" Teresa said, and that's how she ran her convent. To her, spiritual life was an attitude of love, not a rule. Although she proclaimed poverty, she believed in work, not in begging. She believed in obedience to God more than penance. If you do something wrong, don't punish yourself -- change. When someone felt depressed, her advice was that she go some place where she could see the sky and take a walk. When someone was shocked that she was going to eat well, she answered, \"There's a time for partridge and a time for penance.\" To her brother's wish to meditate on hell, she answered, \"Don't.\"
Once she had her own convent, she could lead a life of peace, right? Wrong again. Teresa believed that the most powerful and acceptable prayer was that prayer that leads to action. Good effects were better than pious sensations that only make the person praying feel good.
At St. Joseph's, she spent much of her time writing her Life. She wrote this book not for fun but because she was ordered to. Many people questioned her experiences and this book would clear her or condemn her. Because of this, she used a lot of camouflage in the book, following a profound thought with the statement, \"But what do I know. I'm just a wretched woman.\" The Inquisition liked what they read and cleared her.
At 51, she felt it was time to spread her reform movement. She braved burning sun, ice and snow, thieves, and rat-infested inns to found more convents. But those obstacles were easy compared to what she face from her brothers and sisters in religious life. She was called \"a restless disobedient gadabout who has gone about teaching as though she were a professor\" by the papal nuncio. When her former convent voted her in as prioress, the leader of the Carmelite order excommunicated the nuns. A vicar general stationed an officer of the law outside the door to keep her out. The other religious orders opposed her wherever she went. She often had to enter a town secretly in the middle of the night to avoid causing a riot.
And the help they received was sometimes worse than the hostility. A princess ordered Teresa to found a convent and then showed up at the door with luggage and maids. When Teresa refused to order her nuns to wait on the princess on their knees, the princess denounced Teresa to the Inquisition.
In another town, they arrived at their new house in the middle of the night, only to wake up the next morning to find that one wall of the building was missing.
Why was everyone so upset? Teresa said, \"Truly it seems that now there are no more of those considered mad for being true lovers of Christ.\" No one in religious orders or in the world wanted Teresa reminding them of the way God said they should live.
Teresa looked on these difficulties as good publicity. Soon she had postulants clamoring to get into her reform convents. Many people thought about what she said and wanted to learn about prayer from her. Soon her ideas about prayer swept not only through Spain but all of Europe.
In 1582, she was invited to found a convent by an Archbishop but when she arrived in the middle of the pouring rain, he ordered her to leave. \"And the weather so delightful too\" was Teresa's comment. Though very ill, she was commanded to attend a noblewoman giving birth. By the time they got there, the baby had already arrived so, as Teresa said, \"The saint won't be needed after all.\" Too ill to leave, she died on October 4 at the age of 67.
She is the founder of the Discalced Carmelites. In 1970 she was declared a Doctor of the Church for her writing and teaching on prayer, one of two women to be honored in this way.
St. Teresa is the patron saint of Headache sufferers. Her symbol is a heart, an arrow, and a book. She was canonized in 1622.
", "tags": "avila teresa", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 730, "action": "Hedwig", "tags": "hedwig silesia jealousy duchesses victims marriages children bavaria death difficult" }, { "id": 731, "action": "\n Duchess and widow, the patroness of Silesia, a region of eastern Europe. Also called Jadwiga in some lists, she died in a Cistercain convent, having taken vows. Hedwig was born in Andechs, Bavaria, Germany, the daughter of the Duke of\n \n Croatia\n \n and Dalmatia. She was the aunt of St.\n \n Elizabeth\n \n of Hungary. At the age of twelve, Hedwig was marrie to Duke Henry of Silesia, the head of the Polish Royal family. She bore him seven children, and they had a happy marriage. Henry founded a Cistercain\n \n convent\n \n at Trebnitz, as well as\n \n hospitals\n \n and monasteries. Henry died in 1238 and Hedwig became a Cistercain at Trebnitz. She had to leave her\n \n prayers\n \n to make peace among her offspring, and she buried a child who was killed fighting against the Mongols. She died in the\n \n convent\n \n on October 15.Many miracles were reported after her death, and she was canonized in 1266.\n
\n", "tags": "hedwig", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 732, "action": "Gerard Majella", "tags": "a unborn pregnant make pro-life movement one childbirth mothers women confessions brothers majella children lay expectant good gerard motherhood" }, { "id": 733, "action": "\n St. Gerard Majella is the patron of expectant mothers. He was born in 1726 in Muro, Italy to a family of seven. Majella grew up in a poverty with a great respect for the poor. As he was just 12 when his father passed away, he was forced to grow up fast. Shortly after his father's death, his mother sent him away to live with his uncle and learn to become a tailor, like his father. After a few years of working as a sewing apprentice, Majella took on a job with the local Bishop of Lacedonia as a servant.\n
\nOnce Majella began earning money as a journeyman at the age of 21, he split his earnings with his mother, the poor of Muro and the rest in offerings for the poor souls. As the days passed, Majella began to grow pale and thin, often fasting and in prayer at a nearby Cathedral.
He applied to the Capuchin monastery at Muro twice, but was turned down both times. Majella was told his health was not well enough for such a strenuous life. However, Majella did not give up. In 1749, at the age of 23, he joined the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer and just three years later became a professed lay brother.
Majella lived with the three vows of Poverty, Chasity and Obedience. He stayed close with the poor and worked very many different jobs. He served as sacristan, gardener, porter, infirmarian, and tailor. However, because of his great piety, extraordinary wisdom, and his gift of reading consciences, he was permitted to counsel communities of religious women. Majella was often called on by the poor and the sick. Wherever his presence was demanded he graciously presented himself. He was there to \"do the Will of God.\"
This humble servant of God also had faculties associated with certain mystics including, levitation, bi-location and the ability to read souls. His charity, obedience, and selfless service as well as his ceaseless mortificationfor Christ, made him the perfect model of lay brothers.
Throughout his years of life, several reported miracles are tied to Majella including, restoring a boy's life after he fell from a high cliff; blessing a poor farmer's crops, ridding it of mice; blessing a poor family's supply of wheat, causing it to last until the next harvest; and he multiplied bread for the poor on several occasions.
Along with his miracles effected through prayers for woman in labor, Majella's last recorded miracle is one that many credit toward his becoming the patron of expectant mothers. Shortly before his death, Majella encountered a young girl. He had dropped his handkerchief and she set out to return it, only to be told to keep it. Majella told her she \"may need it someday.\" Years after Majella's passing, the young girl became married and with child. She unexpectedly went into labor and was on the verge of losing her baby. She called for Majella's handkerchief to be applied to her. Almost immediately, her pain abated and she proceeded to give birth to a healthy child, something very rare during that time.
His prayers are sought for the children, unborn children, women in childbirth, mothers, expectant mothers, motherhood, falsely accused people, good confessions, lay brothers and Muro Lucano, Italy.
Even as Majella became ill with tuberculosis, he only desired to live in God's will. His one last request was that a small placard be placed on his door stating, \"Here the will of God is done, as God wills, and as long as God wills.\" Majella was told the Will of God wanted him to get better, and almost at once he became well. However, this only lasted for a month and quickly he became very ill once again. St. Gerard Majella died of disease on October 16, 1755 at the age of 29, living in the religious life for six years.
Due to the numerous miracles performed through Majella's prayers, proceedings for his canonization began shortly after his death. In 1893, Majella was beatified by Pope Leo XIII and on December 11, 1904, Pope Pius X canonized the man of God.
Prayer: O Great Saint Gerard, beloved servant of Jesus Christ, perfect imitator of your meek and humble Savior, and devoted Child of the Mother of God: enkindle within my heart one spark of that heavenly fire of charity which glowed in your heart and made you an angel of love. O glorious Saint Gerard, because when falsely accused of crime, you did bear, like your Divine master, without murmur or complaint, the calumnies of wicked men, you have been raised up by God as the Patron and Protector of expectant mothers. Preserve me from danger and from the excessive pains accompanying childbirth, and shield the child which I now carry, that it may see the light of day and receive the lustral waters of baptism through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
", "tags": "majella gerard", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 734, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "mothers nicholas tolentino" }, { "id": 735, "action": "\n Born in 1245 in Sant'Angelo,\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Tolentino took his name from\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Myra, at whose shrine his\n \n parents\n \n prayed to have a child. Nicholas became a\n \n monk\n \n at 18, and seven years later, he was ordained a priest. He gained a reputation as a preacher and a confessor. C. 1274, he was sent to Tolentino, near his birthplace. The town suffered from civil strife between the Guelphs, who supported the pope, and Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor, in their struggle for control of Italy. Nicholas was primarily a\n \n pastor\n \n to his flock. He ministered to the poor and the criminal. He is said to have cured the sick with bread over which he had prayed to Mary, the mother of God. He gained a reputation as a wonder-worker. Nicholas died in 1305 after a long illness. People began immediately to petition for his canonization.\n \n Eugene IV\n \n canonized him in 1446, and his\n \n relics\n \n were rediscovered in 1926 at Tolentino.\n
\n", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 736, "action": "Margaret Mary Alacoque", "tags": "mary heart loss mother polio sacred devotees margaret parents alacoque" }, { "id": 737, "action": "\n St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a French Roman Catholic Visitation nun and mystic, is greatly recognized for her devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.\n
\nShe was born in 1647 in France as the only daughter of Claude and Philiberte Lamyn Alacoque. Margaret has always shown an intense love for the Blessed Sacrament and preferred silence over typical childhood play. She began practicing severe corporal mortification after her first communion at 9-years-old.
She continued this until rheumatic fever confined her to her bed for four years. After making a vow to the Blessed Virgin Mary to consecrate herself to religious life, Margaret instantly returned to perfect health. In recognition of this favor, Margaret added the name Mary to her baptismal name.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque experienced visions of Jesus Christ for most of her life, but thought they were a normal part of life and continued to practice austerity.
After the death of her father, Margaret and her family were forced into poverty when a relative refused to hand over the family's assets. Margaret's only comfort in life was her frequent visits to pray before the Blessed Sacrament at a local church.
At 17-years-old, Margaret's family was able to regain control of their assets. Margaret's mother started encouraging her to become more social, in hopes she would find a suitable husband.
One night, after attending a ball in an evening dress, Margaret had a vision of Christ, scourged and bloody. He accused Margaret of forgetting about him. He showed her that His heart was full of love for her because of the promise she made to His Blessed Mother as a child. After this vision, Margaret was determined to fulfill the vow she made years ago. She entered the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial in May 1671 to become a nun.
St. Margaret Mary was admitted to wearing the religious habit in August 1671 but was not officially admitted to profession until November 1672. Although she was described as humble, simple, kind and patient, Margaret had to prove the authenticity of her vocation.
During her time in this monastery, Margaret received several private revelations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. These visions showed her the \"form of the devotion, the chief features being reception of Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month, Eucharistic adoration during a 'Holy hour' on Thursdays, and the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart.\" The Lord Jesus requested His love be made evident through her.
In her vision, she was instructed to spend an hour every Thursday night meditating on Jesus' Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, a practice, known as \"The Holy Hour,\" that later became widespread.
In December 1673, Jesus appeared to Margaret Mary again, and allowed her to rest her head on His heart. His human heart was to be the symbol of His divine-human love. He revealed to her the wonders of His love. He explained to her that he wished to make these wonders known to all the world, and that He chose her for His work.
Margaret Mary convinced her superior, Mother de Saumaise, her visions were authentic. However, she struggled with convincing others of the validity of her apparitions, even those in her own community. A group of theologians declared her visions delusions and suggested she eat better. Even parents of children she instructed began calling her an imposter.
Margaret eventually gained the support from the community's confessor, St. Claude de la Colombiere, who declared her visions were genuine. Finally, all opposition from the community, regarding Margaret's visions, ended in 1683, when Margaret Mary became the assistant to the Superior.
St. Margaret Mary, who later became known as Novice Mistress, led the monastery in observing the Feast of the Sacred Heart privately, and inspired the construction of a chapel built to honor the Sacred Heart.
Margaret Mary died a couple of years later, at the age of 43, on October 17, 1690, while being anointed. She spoke the words, \"I need nothing but God, and to lose myself in the heart of Jesus.\"
After her death, the devotion to the Sacred Heart was adopted by the Jesuits but remained controversial within the Church. The practice did not become officially recognized until 75 years later.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque was the topic of discussion long after hear death. People talked about her mission and qualities, her revelations and spiritual maxims and her teachings on the Sacred Heart. On September 18, 1864, Margaret Mary was beatified by Pope Pius IX. When her tomb was opened a few years later, two immediate cures took place and her body laid incorrupt.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque was officially canonized on May 13, 1920 by Pope Benedict XV and, in 1928, Pope Pius XI upheld the Church's position regarding the credibility behind her visions of Jesus Christ. He stated Jesus \"manifested Himself\" to Margaret and the chief features of devotion to the Sacred Heart are \"reception of Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month, Eucharistic adoration during a 'Holy hour' on Thursdays, and the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart.\"
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque is the patron saint of devotees of the Sacred Heart, and those suffering with polio and from the loss of parents. Her feast day is celebrated on October 16. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, a French Roman Catholic Visitation nun and mystic, is greatly recognized for her devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
She was born in 1647 in France as the only daughter of Claude and Philiberte Lamyn Alacoque. Margaret has always shown an intense love for the Blessed Sacrament and preferred silence over typical childhood play. She began practicing severe corporal mortification after her first communion at 9-years-old.
She continued this until rheumatic fever confined her to her bed for four years. After making a vow to the Blessed Virgin Mary to consecrate herself to religious life, Margaret instantly returned to perfect health. In recognition of this favor, Margaret added the name Mary to her baptismal name.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque experienced visions of Jesus Christ for most of her life, but thought they were a normal part of life and continued to practice austerity.
After the death of her father, Margaret and her family were forced into poverty when a relative refused to hand over the family's assets. Margaret's only comfort in life was her frequent visits to pray before the Blessed Sacrament at a local church.
At 17-years-old, Margaret's family was able to regain control of their assets. Margaret's mother started encouraging her to become more social, in hopes she would find a suitable husband.
One night, after attending a ball in an evening dress, Margaret had a vision of Christ, scourged and bloody. He accused Margaret of forgetting about him. He showed her that His heart was full of love for her because of the promise she made to His Blessed Mother as a child. After this vision, Margaret was determined to fulfill the vow she made years ago. She entered the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial in May 1671 to become a nun.
St. Margaret Mary was admitted to wearing the religious habit in August 1671 but was not officially admitted to profession until November 1672. Although she was described as humble, simple, kind and patient, Margaret had to prove the authenticity of her vocation.
During her time in this monastery, Margaret received several private revelations of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. These visions showed her the \"form of the devotion, the chief features being reception of Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month, Eucharistic adoration during a 'Holy hour' on Thursdays, and the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart.\" The Lord Jesus requested His love be made evident through her.
In her vision, she was instructed to spend an hour every Thursday night meditating on Jesus' Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, a practice, known as \"The Holy Hour,\" that later became widespread.
In December 1673, Jesus appeared to Margaret Mary again, and allowed her to rest her head on His heart. His human heart was to be the symbol of His divine-human love. He revealed to her the wonders of His love. He explained to her that he wished to make these wonders known to all the world, and that He chose her for His work.
Margaret Mary convinced her superior, Mother de Saumaise, her visions were authentic. However, she struggled with convincing others of the validity of her apparitions, even those in her own community. A group of theologians declared her visions delusions and suggested she eat better. Even parents of children she instructed began calling her an imposter.
Margaret eventually gained the support from the community's confessor, St. Claude de la Colombiere, who declared her visions were genuine. Finally, all opposition from the community, regarding Margaret's visions, ended in 1683, when Margaret Mary became the assistant to the Superior.
St. Margaret Mary, who later became known as Novice Mistress, led the monastery in observing the Feast of the Sacred Heart privately, and inspired the construction of a chapel built to honor the Sacred Heart.
Margaret Mary died a couple of years later, at the age of 43, on October 17, 1690, while being anointed. She spoke the words, \"I need nothing but God, and to lose myself in the heart of Jesus.\"
After her death, the devotion to the Sacred Heart was adopted by the Jesuits but remained controversial within the Church. The practice did not become officially recognized until 75 years later.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque was the topic of discussion long after hear death. People talked about her mission and qualities, her revelations and spiritual maxims and her teachings on the Sacred Heart. On September 18, 1864, Margaret Mary was beatified by Pope Pius IX. When her tomb was opened a few years later, two immediate cures took place and her body laid incorrupt.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque was officially canonized on May 13, 1920 by Pope Benedict XV and, in 1928, Pope Pius XI upheld the Church's position regarding the credibility behind her visions of Jesus Christ. He stated Jesus \"manifested Himself\" to Margaret and the chief features of devotion to the Sacred Heart are \"reception of Holy Communion on the first Friday of each month, Eucharistic adoration during a 'Holy hour' on Thursdays, and the celebration of the Feast of the Sacred Heart.\"
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque is the patron saint of devotees of the Sacred Heart, and those suffering with polio and from the loss of parents. Her feast day is celebrated on October 16.
", "tags": "mary margaret alacoque", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 738, "action": "Agnes of Rome", "tags": "rome agnes virgins" }, { "id": 739, "action": "\n A popular saint about whom little is known, Agnes is said to have been a beautiful, wealthy Roman maiden who had, in childhood, dedicated herself to God. Some say that a rejected suitor betrayed her to authorities; others say that she was asked at 13 to\n \n sacrifice\n \n to the gods and marry, both of which she refused. Legends tell of her being thrown into a brothel, where her purity was miraculously preserved. Having escaped that fate, she was martyred. In the IV Century, Constantia, the daughter of Constantine, built a\n \n basilica\n \n on the site of her tomb.\n \n St. Ambrose\n \n wrote about Agnes in De virginitate, and Damasus I wrote an epitaph for her.\n \n Prudentius\n \n composed a\n \n hymn\n \n in her honor. Her emblem in art is the lamb because of the similarity between her name and the Latin word for lamb, agnus.\n
\n", "tags": "rome agnes", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 740, "action": "Luke", "tags": "physicians doctors sculptors artists brewers surgeons glassworkers medical butchers craftworkers profession notaries painters luke lacemakers" }, { "id": 741, "action": "\n Luke, the writer of the Gospel and the\n \n Acts\n \n of the Apostles, has been identified with St. Paul's \"Luke, the beloved physician\" (Colossians 4:14). We know few other facts about Luke's\n \n life\n \n from\n \n Scripture\n \n and from early Church historians.\n
\nIt is believed that Luke was born a Greek and a Gentile. In Colossians 10-14 speaks of those friends who are with him. He first mentions all those \"of the circumcision\" -- in other words, Jews -- and he does not include Luke in this group. Luke's gospel shows special sensitivity to evangelizing Gentiles. It is only in his gospel that we hear the parable of the Good Samaritan, that we hear Jesus praising the faith of Gentiles such as the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian (Lk.4:25-27), and that we hear the story of the one grateful leper who is a Samaritan (Lk.17:11-19). According to the early Church historian Eusebius Luke was born at Antioch in Syria.
In our day, it would be easy to assume that someone who was a doctor was rich, but scholars have argued that Luke might have been born a slave. It was not uncommon for families to educate slaves in medicine so that they would have a resident family physician. Not only do we have Paul's word, but Eusebius, Saint Jerome, Saint Irenaeus and Caius, a second-century writer, all refer to Luke as a physician.
We have to go to Acts to follow the trail of Luke's Christian ministry. We know nothing about his conversion but looking at the language of Acts we can see where he joined Saint Paul. The story of the Acts is written in the third person, as an historian recording facts, up until the sixteenth chapter. In Acts 16:8-9 we hear of Paul's company \"So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' \" Then suddenly in 16:10 \"they\" becomes \"we\": \"When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.\"
So Luke first joined Paul's company at Troas at about the year 51 and accompanied him into Macedonia where they traveled first to Samothrace, Neapolis, and finally Philippi. Luke then switches back to the third person which seems to indicate he was not thrown into prison with Paul and that when Paul left Philippi Luke stayed behind to encourage the Church there. Seven years passed before Paul returned to the area on his third missionary journey. In Acts 20:5, the switch to \"we\" tells us that Luke has left Philippi to rejoin Paul in Troas in 58 where they first met up. They traveled together through Miletus, Tyre, Caesarea, to Jerusalem.
Luke is the loyal comrade who stays with Paul when he is imprisoned in Rome about the year 61: \"Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers\" (Philemon 24). And after everyone else deserts Paul in his final imprisonment and sufferings, it is Luke who remains with Paul to the end: \"Only Luke is with me\" (2 Timothy 4:11).
Luke's inspiration and information for his Gospel and Acts came from his close association with Paul and his companions as he explains in his introduction to the Gospel: \"Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus\" (Luke 1:1-3).
Luke's unique perspective on Jesus can be seen in the six miracles and eighteen parables not found in the other gospels. Luke's is the gospel of the poor and of social justice. He is the one who tells the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man who ignored him. Luke is the one who uses \"Blessed are the poor\" instead of \"Blessed are the poor in spirit\" in the beatitudes. Only in Luke's gospel do we hear Mary 's Magnificat where she proclaims that God \"has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty\" (Luke 1:52-53).
Luke also has a special connection with the women in Jesus' life, especially Mary. It is only in Luke's gospel that we hear the story of the Annunciation, Mary's visit to Elizabeth including the Magnificat, the Presentation, and the story of Jesus' disappearance in Jerusalem. It is Luke that we have to thank for the Scriptural parts of the Hail Mary: \"Hail Mary full of grace\" spoken at the Annunciation and \"Blessed are you and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus\" spoken by her cousin Elizabeth.
Forgiveness and God's mercy to sinners is also of first importance to Luke. Only in Luke do we hear the story of the Prodigal Son welcomed back by the overjoyed father. Only in Luke do we hear the story of the forgiven woman disrupting the feast by washing Jesus' feet with her tears. Throughout Luke's gospel, Jesus takes the side of the sinner who wants to return to God's mercy.
Reading Luke's gospel gives a good idea of his character as one who loved the poor, who wanted the door to God's kingdom opened to all, who respected women, and who saw hope in God's mercy for everyone.
The reports of Luke's life after Paul's death are conflicting. Some early writers claim he was martyred, others say he lived a long life. Some say he preached in Greece, others in Gaul. The earliest tradition we have says that he died at 84 Boeotia after settling in Greece to write his Gospel.
A tradition that Luke was a painter seems to have no basis in fact. Several images of Mary appeared in later centuries claiming him as a painter but these claims were proved false. Because of this tradition, however, he is considered a patron of painters of pictures and is often portrayed as painting pictures of Mary.
He is often shown with an ox or a calf because these are the symbols of sacrifice -- the sacrifice Jesus made for all the world.
Luke is the patron of physicians and surgeons.
", "tags": "luke", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 742, "action": "Peter of Alcantara", "tags": "watchmen peter brazil spain estremadura alcantara" }, { "id": 743, "action": "\n Saint Peter of Alcantara was born in Alcantara, Spain in 1499. His father was the Governor of the province and his mother came from a noble family. He was privately tutored and attended the University of Salamanca. After he returned home from university, he joined the Franciscans.\n
\nPeter was accepted as a Franciscan Friar of the Stricter Observance in the Friary at Manxaretes Extramadura in 1515.
At the young age of 22, he was sent to found a community of the Stricter Observance at Badajoz.
He was ordained as a priest in 1524 and in 1525 he became Guardian of the friary of St. Mary of the Angels at Robredillo, Old Castile.
He later entered the Order of the reform of the Discalced Friars. By 1538, he was elected the Superior of St. Gabriel province. As the superior, he drew up new constitutions for the order of Stricter Observance, however these were met with resistance. Eventually he resigned from this post.
Peter then began a new life, one of less formal responsibility but one of greater spiritual responsibility. He took up his spiritual cross and preached with great success to the poor. Peter preferred preaching to this group more than any other and he frequently drew inspiration from the Old Testament books. His sermons often concentrated on the topic of on compassion.
When Peter was not preaching, he would spend long periods of time in solitude. From 1553 to early 1555, he spent this time alone in meditation and prayer. Following these two years of solitude, Peter made a pilgrimage to Rome, barefoot the entire way. While in Rome he obtained permission from Pope Julius III to establish friaries, departing on his new mission just before the Holy Father's death.
Along his way home, Peter established several friaries. These friaries were compelled to follow a strict constitution, mush like the ones he endeavored to impose in St. Gabriel province.
This time, his new constitution contained reforms that proved fruitful and were later adopted across Spain.
Peter was known for frequently experiencing ecstasy, a state where he was entirely consumed with the warmth and light of the Holy Spirit. These euphoric moments were common during his prayer and meditation. Some claim to have witness him levitate.
When he was close to death, Peter took to his knees and prayed. When he was offered water he refused it saying, \"Even my Lord Jesus Christ thirsted on the Cross.\" Peter died in prayer on October 18, 1562.
Following his death, Peter was beautified by Pope Gregory XV on April 18, 1622. He was subsequently canonized by Pope Clement IX on April 28, 1669.
St. Peter of Alcantara is the patron saint of the Nocturnal Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
", "tags": "peter alcantara", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 744, "action": "Giles", "tags": "lame the giles" }, { "id": 745, "action": "\n A native of Assisi, Italy, Giles was one of the earliest followers of St. Francis, from whom he received the\n \n habit\n \n in 1208. He accompanied Francis on many of his missions around Assisi, made a pilgrimage to Compostela, visited\n \n Rome\n \n and the Holy Land, and then made an unsuccessful visit to\n \n Tunis\n \n to convert the Saracens. The Christians in Tunis, fearful of the repercussions of his religious fervor, forced him back on a boat as soon as he landed. He spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n living in Italy, living from about 1243 at the Monte Rapido hermitage on the outskirts of Perugia, where he died in 1263. He experiences ecstacies, had a vision of\n \n Christ\n \n at Cetona, and is considered the most perfect example of the primitive Franciscan. He is spoken of at length in \"The Little Flowers of St. Francis\" and Francis called him his \"Knight of the round table.\" Known for his austerity and silence, his \"The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles\" is noted for its humor, deep understanding of human nature, and optimism.\n
\n", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 746, "action": "Luke the Apostle", "tags": "physicians doctors apostle butchers luke" }, { "id": 747, "action": "\n Luke, the writer of the Gospel and the\n \n Acts\n \n of the Apostles, has been identified with St. Paul's \"Luke, the beloved physician\" (Colossians 4:14). We know few other facts about Luke's\n \n life\n \n from\n \n Scripture\n \n and from early Church historians.\n
\nIt is believed that Luke was born a Greek and a Gentile. In Colossians 10-14 speaks of those friends who are with him. He first mentions all those \"of the circumcision\" -- in other words, Jews -- and he does not include Luke in this group. Luke's gospel shows special sensitivity to evangelizing Gentiles. It is only in his gospel that we hear the parable of the Good Samaritan, that we hear Jesus praising the faith of Gentiles such as the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian (Lk.4:25-27), and that we hear the story of the one grateful leper who is a Samaritan (Lk.17:11-19). According to the early Church historian Eusebius Luke was born at Antioch in Syria.
In our day, it would be easy to assume that someone who was a doctor was rich, but scholars have argued that Luke might have been born a slave. It was not uncommon for families to educate slaves in medicine so that they would have a resident family physician. Not only do we have Paul's word, but Eusebius, Saint Jerome, Saint Irenaeus and Caius, a second-century writer, all refer to Luke as a physician.
We have to go to Acts to follow the trail of Luke's Christian ministry. We know nothing about his conversion but looking at the language of Acts we can see where he joined Saint Paul. The story of the Acts is written in the third person, as an historian recording facts, up until the sixteenth chapter. In Acts 16:8-9 we hear of Paul's company \"So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.' \" Then suddenly in 16:10 \"they\" becomes \"we\": \"When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.\"
So Luke first joined Paul's company at Troas at about the year 51 and accompanied him into Macedonia where they traveled first to Samothrace, Neapolis, and finally Philippi. Luke then switches back to the third person which seems to indicate he was not thrown into prison with Paul and that when Paul left Philippi Luke stayed behind to encourage the Church there. Seven years passed before Paul returned to the area on his third missionary journey. In Acts 20:5, the switch to \"we\" tells us that Luke has left Philippi to rejoin Paul in Troas in 58 where they first met up. They traveled together through Miletus, Tyre, Caesarea, to Jerusalem.
Luke is the loyal comrade who stays with Paul when he is imprisoned in Rome about the year 61: \"Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers\" (Philemon 24). And after everyone else deserts Paul in his final imprisonment and sufferings, it is Luke who remains with Paul to the end: \"Only Luke is with me\" (2 Timothy 4:11).
Luke's inspiration and information for his Gospel and Acts came from his close association with Paul and his companions as he explains in his introduction to the Gospel: \"Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus\" (Luke 1:1-3).
Luke's unique perspective on Jesus can be seen in the six miracles and eighteen parables not found in the other gospels. Luke's is the gospel of the poor and of social justice. He is the one who tells the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man who ignored him. Luke is the one who uses \"Blessed are the poor\" instead of \"Blessed are the poor in spirit\" in the beatitudes. Only in Luke's gospel do we hear Mary 's Magnificat where she proclaims that God \"has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty\" (Luke 1:52-53).
Luke also has a special connection with the women in Jesus' life, especially Mary. It is only in Luke's gospel that we hear the story of the Annunciation, Mary's visit to Elizabeth including the Magnificat, the Presentation, and the story of Jesus' disappearance in Jerusalem. It is Luke that we have to thank for the Scriptural parts of the Hail Mary: \"Hail Mary full of grace\" spoken at the Annunciation and \"Blessed are you and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus\" spoken by her cousin Elizabeth.
Forgiveness and God's mercy to sinners is also of first importance to Luke. Only in Luke do we hear the story of the Prodigal Son welcomed back by the overjoyed father. Only in Luke do we hear the story of the forgiven woman disrupting the feast by washing Jesus' feet with her tears. Throughout Luke's gospel, Jesus takes the side of the sinner who wants to return to God's mercy.
Reading Luke's gospel gives a good idea of his character as one who loved the poor, who wanted the door to God's kingdom opened to all, who respected women, and who saw hope in God's mercy for everyone.
The reports of Luke's life after Paul's death are conflicting. Some early writers claim he was martyred, others say he lived a long life. Some say he preached in Greece, others in Gaul. The earliest tradition we have says that he died at 84 Boeotia after settling in Greece to write his Gospel.
A tradition that Luke was a painter seems to have no basis in fact. Several images of Mary appeared in later centuries claiming him as a painter but these claims were proved false. Because of this tradition, however, he is considered a patron of painters of pictures and is often portrayed as painting pictures of Mary.
He is often shown with an ox or a calf because these are the symbols of sacrifice -- the sacrifice Jesus made for all the world.
Luke is the patron of physicians and surgeons.
", "tags": "apostle luke", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 748, "action": "Frideswide", "tags": "frideswide university england oxford" }, { "id": 749, "action": "\n Benedictine hermitess and nun, the daughter of Prince Didan of the Upper Thames region of England. She is sometimes called Fredeswinda. When Prince Algar of a neighboring kingdom asked for her hand in marriage, Frideswide fled to Thomwry Wood in Birnsey, where she became a hermitess. She founded the St. Mary's\n \n Convent\n \n in\n \n Oxford\n \n and is patroness of the university of that city. Her\n \n relics\n \n are extant. In liturgical art she is depicted as a Benedictine, sometimes with an ox for companion.\n
\n", "tags": "frideswide", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 750, "action": "Viator", "tags": "catechists viator" }, { "id": 751, "action": "\n He was a\n \n lector\n \n in the Church where\n \n St. Justus\n \n presided in Lyons.\n \n St. Justus\n \n died about the year 390, and\n \n St. Viator\n \n survived him only a few weeks. He is named in the Roman\n \n Martyrology\n \n on October 21, and the translation of their bodies together to Lyons on September 2nd and buried in the church of the Machabees. His\n \n feast day\n \n is October 21.\n
\n", "tags": "viator", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 752, "action": "Ursula", "tags": "academies holy ursula catholic schools death" }, { "id": 753, "action": "\n According to a legend that appeared in the tenth century, Ursula was the daughter of a\n \n Christian\n \n king in Britain and was granted a three year postponement of a marriage she did not wish, to a\n \n pagan\n \n prince. With ten ladies in waiting, each attended by a thousand maidens, she embarked on a voyage across the North sea, sailed up the Rhine to Basle, Switzerland, and then went to Rome. On their way back, they were all massacred by\n \n pagan\n \n Huns at\n \n Cologne\n \n in about 451 when Ursula refused to marry their chieftain. According to another legend, Amorica was settled by British colonizers and soldiers after Emporer Magnus Clemens Maximus conquered Britain and Gaul in 383. The ruler of the settlers, Cynan Meiriadog, called on King Dionotus of Cornwall for wives for the settlers, whereupon Dionotus sent his daughter Ursula, who was to marry Cynan, with eleven thousand maidens and sixty thousand common women. Their fleet was shipwrecked and all the women were enslaved or murdered. The legends are pious fictions, but what is true is that one Clematius, a senator, rebuilt a\n \n basilica\n \n in\n \n Cologne\n \n that had originally been built, probably at the beginning of the fourth century, to honor a group of virgins who had been martyred at Cologne. They were evidently venerated enough to have had a church built in their honor, but who they were and how many of them there were, are unknown. From these meager facts, the legend of Ursula grew and developed.\n \n Feast day\n \n October 21.\n
\n", "tags": "ursula", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 754, "action": "John of Capistrano", "tags": "judges jurists judges/jurists chaplains john military capistrano jurors" }, { "id": 755, "action": "\n St.\n \n John\n \n was born at Capistrano,\n \n Italy\n \n in 1385, the son of a former German knight in that city. He studied\n \n law\n \n at the University of\n \n Perugia\n \n and practiced as a lawyer in the courts of Naples. King Ladislas of\n \n Naples\n \n appointed him governor of Perugia. During a\n \n war\n \n with a neighboring town he was betrayed and imprisoned. Upon his release he entered the Franciscan community at\n \n Perugia\n \n in 1416. He and St.\n \n James\n \n of the March were fellow students under St. Bernardine of Siena, who inspired him to institute the devotion to the holy Name of\n \n Jesus\n \n and His Mother.\n \n John\n \n began his brilliant preaching apostolate with a deacon in 1420. After his ordination he traveled throughout Italy, Germany, Bohemia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and\n \n Russia\n \n preaching\n \n penance\n \n and establishing numerous communities of Franciscan renewal. When Mohammed II was threatening\n \n Vienna\n \n and Rome, St. John, at the age of seventy, was commissioned by Pope\n \n Callistus III\n \n to preach and lead a crusade against the invading Turks. Marching at the head of seventy thousand Christians, he gained victory in the great battle of Belgrade against the Turks in 1456. Three months later he died at Illok, Hungary. His\n \n feast day\n \n is October 23. He is the patron of jurists.\n
\n", "tags": "capistrano john", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 756, "action": "Anthony Mary Claret", "tags": "mary anthony catholic claret press" }, { "id": 757, "action": "\n Claretian\n \n archbishop\n \n and founder. Anthony was born in Salient in Catalonia, Spain, in 1807, the son of a weaver. He took up weaving but then studied for the priesthood, desiring to be a Jesuit. Ill health prevented his entering the Order, and he served as a secular priest. In 1849, he founded the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, known today as the Claretians, and the Apostolic Training Institute of the Immaculate Conception, Claretian nuns. From 1850 to 1857, Anthony served as the\n \n archbishop\n \n of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. He returned to the court of Queen Isabella II as confessor, and went into exile with her in 1868. In 1869 and 1870, Anthony participated in the First Vatican Council. He died in the Cistercian monastery of Fontfroide in southern\n \n France\n \n on October 24, 1870. Anthony\n \n Mary\n \n Claret had the gift of\n \n prophecy\n \n and performed many miracles. He was opposed by the liberal forces of\n \n Spain\n \n and\n \n Cuba\n \n and endured many trials.\n
\n", "tags": "anthony claret mary", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 758, "action": "Anthony Claret", "tags": "anthony banks claret savings" }, { "id": 759, "action": "\n Claretian\n \n archbishop\n \n and founder. Anthony was born in Salient in Catalonia, Spain, in 1807, the son of a weaver. He took up weaving but then studied for the priesthood, desiring to be a Jesuit. Ill health prevented his entering the Order, and he served as a secular priest. In 1849, he founded the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, known today as the Claretians, and the Apostolic Training Institute of the Immaculate Conception, Claretian nuns. From 1850 to 1857, Anthony served as the\n \n archbishop\n \n of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. He returned to the court of Queen Isabella II as confessor, and went into exile with her in 1868. In 1869 and 1870, Anthony participated in the First Vatican Council. He died in the Cistercian monastery of Fontfroide in southern\n \n France\n \n on October 24, 1870. Anthony\n \n Mary\n \n Claret had the gift of\n \n prophecy\n \n and performed many miracles. He was opposed by the liberal forces of\n \n Spain\n \n and\n \n Cuba\n \n and endured many trials.\n
\n", "tags": "anthony claret", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 760, "action": "Crispin and Crispinian", "tags": "cobblers glove crispin saddlers crispinian leatherworkers makers saddlemakers tanners" }, { "id": 761, "action": "\n Unreliable legend had Crispin and Crispinian, noble Roman brothers who with St. Quintinus, went to Gaul to preach the gospel and settled at Soissons. They were most successful in convert work during the day and worked as shoemakers at night. By order of Emperor Maximian, who was visiting in Gaul, they were haled before Rictiovarus (whose position is unknown and even his existence is doubted by scholars), a hater of Christians, who subjected them to torture; when unsuccessful in trying to kill them, he committed\n \n suicide\n \n whereupon Maximian had the two brothers beheaded. They are the patrons of shoemakers, cobblers, and leatherworkers. Their\n \n feast day\n \n is October 25th.\n
\n", "tags": "crispin crispinian", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 762, "action": "Frumentius", "tags": "frumentius ethiopia" }, { "id": 763, "action": "\n Called \"Abuna\" or \"the father' of Ethiopia, sent to that land by St. Athanasius. Frumentius was born in Tyre, Lebanon. While on a voyage in the\n \n Red Sea\n \n with St. Aedesius, possibly his brother, only Frumentius and Aedesius survived the shipwreck. Taken to the Ethiopian royal court at Aksum, they soon attained high positions. Aedesius was royal cup bearer, and Fruementius was a secretary. They introduced\n \n Christianity\n \n to that land. When Abreha and Asbeha inherited the Ethiopian\n \n throne\n \n from their father, Frumentius went to Alexandria, Egypt, to ask\n \n St. Athanasius\n \n to send a missionary to Ethiopia. He was consecrated a\n \n bishop\n \n and converted many more upon his return to Aksum. Frumentius and Aedesius are considered the\n \n apostles\n \n of Ethiopia.\n
\n", "tags": "frumentius", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 764, "action": "Jude", "tags": "cases or lost jude causes desperate hopeless situations" }, { "id": 765, "action": "\n St. Jude, known as Thaddaeus, was a brother of St. James the Less, and a relative of Our Saviour. He was one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus and his attribute is a club. Images of St. Jude often include a flame around his head, which represent his presence at Pentecost, when he accepted the Holy Spirit alongside the other apostles. Another attribute is St. Jude holding an image of Christ, in the Image of Edessa.\n
\nSometimes he can also be seen holding a carpenter's ruler or is depicted with a scroll or book, the Epistle of Jude.
Biblical scholars agree St. Jude was a son of Clopas and his mother Mary was the Virgin Mary's cousin. Ancient writers tell us that he preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Lybia. According to Eusebius, he returned to Jerusalem in the year 62, and assisted at the election of his brother, St. Simeon, as Bishop of Jerusalem.
Saint Jude is not the same person as Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Our Lord and despaired because of his great sin and lack of trust in God's mercy.
Jude was the one who asked Jesus at the Last Supper why He would not manifest Himself to the whole world after His resurrection. Little else is known of his life. Legend claims that he visited Beirut and Edessa and could have been martyred with St. Simon in Persia.
He is an author of an epistle (letter) to the Churches of the East, particularly the Jewish converts, directed against the heresies of the Simonians, Nicolaites, and Gnostics. Though Saint Gregory the Illuminator has been credited as the \"Apostle to the Armenians,\" the Apostles Jude and Bartholomew are believed to have brought Christianity to Armenia, where Jude was rumored to have later been martyred.
There is some debate about where Jude died, though most Biblical scholars agree he was martyred. He is believed to have been martyred either in Armenia or Beirut.
Following his death, St. Jude's body was brought to Rome and left in a crypt in St. Peter's Basilica. Today his bones can be found in the left transept of St. Peter's Basilica under the main altar of St. Joseph in a tomb he shares with the remains of the apostle Simon the Zealot.
Pilgrims came to St. Jude's grave to pray and many reported a powerful intercession, leading to the title, \"The Saint for the Hopeless and the Despaired.\" Two Saints, St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Bernard, had visions from God asking them to accept St. Jude as \"The Patron Saint of the Impossible.\"
Roman Catholics invoke St. Jude when in desperate situations because his New Testament letter stresses that the faithful should persevere in the environment of harsh, difficult circumstances -just as their forefathers had done before them; therefore, he is the patron saint of desperate cases.
The Chicago Police Department and Clube de Regatas do Flamengo - the Rio de Janeiro soccer team - have made Saint Jude their patron saint and there are several hospitals who have also accepted him as their patron saint, including the well-known children's hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
There have also been several sites across the world dedicated to the Apostle Jude, including shrines and churches. The National Shrine of Saint Jude was founded in 1955 and can be found in England.
There are two mentions of Jude in the New Testament: Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13.
When Jude was mentioned in the Bible, it was often in relation to James (Jude of James) which is traditionally interpreted to mean \"Jude, brother of James\" as in the King James version of Luke 6:16; however, \"Jude, son of James\" appears in Protestant translations such as the NIV, NIRV, and the New King James Version. The same discrepancy occurs in Acts 1:13.
In John 14:22, a disciple called \"Judas not Iscariot\" is assumed to be the apostle Jude, though critics believe it is too ambiguous to believe it is a certainty.
When the apostles are listed in Matthew 10:3 and Mark 3:18, Jude's name does not appear but \"Thaddeus\" does. This occurrence led early Christians to believe Jude was known as both \"Jude\" and \"Thaddeus,\" the latter of which could have been a sort of nickname.
\"Thaddeus\" may have become a popular nickname for Jude following Judas Iscariot's betrayal. To add further confusion to Jude's second name, the name Thaddeus is often indistinguishable from Thaddeus of Edessa, one of the Seventy Disciples.
A popular Roman Catholic prayer to Saint Jude is:
\"O most holy apostle, Saint Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the Church honoureth and invoketh thee universally, as the patron of hopeless cases, and of things almost despaired of. Pray for me, who am so miserable.
\"Make use, I implore thee, of that particular privilege accorded to thee, to bring visible and speedy help where help was almost despaired of. Come to mine assistance in this great need, that I may receive the consolation and succor of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly (here make your request) and that I may praise God with thee and all the elect throughout eternity.
\"I promise thee, O blessed Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favour, to always honour thee as my special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to thee. Amen.\"
The Novena - a prayer said nine days in a row - to Saint Jude is:
\"Apostle and Martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, near kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor for all who invoke thee, special patron in time of need; to thee I have recourse from the depth of my heart, and humbly beg thee, to whom God hath given such great power, to come to my assistance; help me now in my urgent need and grant my earnest petition. I will never forget thy graces and the favors thou dost obtain for me and I will do my utmost to spread devotion to thee. Amen.\"
", "tags": "jude", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 766, "action": "Jude Thaddeus", "tags": "usa situations petersburg florida forgotten thaddeus workers impossible causes desperate jude lost hospital" }, { "id": 767, "action": "\n St. Jude, known as Thaddaeus, was a brother of St. James the Less, and a relative of Our Saviour. He was one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus and his attribute is a club. Images of St. Jude often include a flame around his head, which represent his presence at Pentecost, when he accepted the Holy Spirit alongside the other apostles. Another attribute is St. Jude holding an image of Christ, in the Image of Edessa.\n
\nSometimes he can also be seen holding a carpenter's ruler or is depicted with a scroll or book, the Epistle of Jude.
Biblical scholars agree St. Jude was a son of Clopas and his mother Mary was the Virgin Mary's cousin. Ancient writers tell us that he preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Lybia. According to Eusebius, he returned to Jerusalem in the year 62, and assisted at the election of his brother, St. Simeon, as Bishop of Jerusalem.
Saint Jude is not the same person as Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Our Lord and despaired because of his great sin and lack of trust in God's mercy.
Jude was the one who asked Jesus at the Last Supper why He would not manifest Himself to the whole world after His resurrection. Little else is known of his life. Legend claims that he visited Beirut and Edessa and could have been martyred with St. Simon in Persia.
He is an author of an epistle (letter) to the Churches of the East, particularly the Jewish converts, directed against the heresies of the Simonians, Nicolaites, and Gnostics. Though Saint Gregory the Illuminator has been credited as the \"Apostle to the Armenians,\" the Apostles Jude and Bartholomew are believed to have brought Christianity to Armenia, where Jude was rumored to have later been martyred.
There is some debate about where Jude died, though most Biblical scholars agree he was martyred. He is believed to have been martyred either in Armenia or Beirut.
Following his death, St. Jude's body was brought to Rome and left in a crypt in St. Peter's Basilica. Today his bones can be found in the left transept of St. Peter's Basilica under the main altar of St. Joseph in a tomb he shares with the remains of the apostle Simon the Zealot.
Pilgrims came to St. Jude's grave to pray and many reported a powerful intercession, leading to the title, \"The Saint for the Hopeless and the Despaired.\" Two Saints, St. Bridget of Sweden and St. Bernard, had visions from God asking them to accept St. Jude as \"The Patron Saint of the Impossible.\"
Roman Catholics invoke St. Jude when in desperate situations because his New Testament letter stresses that the faithful should persevere in the environment of harsh, difficult circumstances -just as their forefathers had done before them; therefore, he is the patron saint of desperate cases.
The Chicago Police Department and Clube de Regatas do Flamengo - the Rio de Janeiro soccer team - have made Saint Jude their patron saint and there are several hospitals who have also accepted him as their patron saint, including the well-known children's hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
There have also been several sites across the world dedicated to the Apostle Jude, including shrines and churches. The National Shrine of Saint Jude was founded in 1955 and can be found in England.
There are two mentions of Jude in the New Testament: Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13.
When Jude was mentioned in the Bible, it was often in relation to James (Jude of James) which is traditionally interpreted to mean \"Jude, brother of James\" as in the King James version of Luke 6:16; however, \"Jude, son of James\" appears in Protestant translations such as the NIV, NIRV, and the New King James Version. The same discrepancy occurs in Acts 1:13.
In John 14:22, a disciple called \"Judas not Iscariot\" is assumed to be the apostle Jude, though critics believe it is too ambiguous to believe it is a certainty.
When the apostles are listed in Matthew 10:3 and Mark 3:18, Jude's name does not appear but \"Thaddeus\" does. This occurrence led early Christians to believe Jude was known as both \"Jude\" and \"Thaddeus,\" the latter of which could have been a sort of nickname.
\"Thaddeus\" may have become a popular nickname for Jude following Judas Iscariot's betrayal. To add further confusion to Jude's second name, the name Thaddeus is often indistinguishable from Thaddeus of Edessa, one of the Seventy Disciples.
A popular Roman Catholic prayer to Saint Jude is:
\"O most holy apostle, Saint Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the Church honoureth and invoketh thee universally, as the patron of hopeless cases, and of things almost despaired of. Pray for me, who am so miserable.
\"Make use, I implore thee, of that particular privilege accorded to thee, to bring visible and speedy help where help was almost despaired of. Come to mine assistance in this great need, that I may receive the consolation and succor of Heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly (here make your request) and that I may praise God with thee and all the elect throughout eternity.
\"I promise thee, O blessed Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favour, to always honour thee as my special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to thee. Amen.\"
The Novena - a prayer said nine days in a row - to Saint Jude is:
\"Apostle and Martyr, great in virtue and rich in miracles, near kinsman of Jesus Christ, faithful intercessor for all who invoke thee, special patron in time of need; to thee I have recourse from the depth of my heart, and humbly beg thee, to whom God hath given such great power, to come to my assistance; help me now in my urgent need and grant my earnest petition. I will never forget thy graces and the favors thou dost obtain for me and I will do my utmost to spread devotion to thee. Amen.\"
", "tags": "thaddeus jude", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 768, "action": "Narcissus", "tags": "bites narcissus insect" }, { "id": 769, "action": "\n St. Narcissus was born towards the end of the first century in AD 99. He was almost 80-years-old when he was placed at the head of the church of Jerusalem, making him the 30th bishop of that see.\n
\nIn 195, he and Theophilus, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, presided together in a council of the bishops of Palestine held at Caesarea regarding the time Easter is celebrated. It was then decreed that the feast of Easter is to be kept always on a Sunday.
Bishop and historian, Eusebius says this particular Easter miracle can be attributed to Narcissus \"One year on Easter-eve the deacons did not have any oil for the lamps in the church, which was necessary at the solemn divine office on that day. Narcissus ordered those who had care of the lamps to bring him some water from the neighboring wells. This being done, he pronounced a devout prayer over the water. Then he bade them pour it into the lamps; which they did. The water was immediately converted into oil, to the great surprise of all the faithful.\"
However, not even the veneration of all good men could shelter Narcissus from the malice of the wicked.
Three persistent sinners, fearing Narcissus' severity in the observance of religious discipline, accused him of an unimaginable crime. The sinners maintained they were telling the truth by adding additional security into their claims. If they were not speaking the truth, one wished he might perish by fire, another, that he might be struck with a leprosy, and the third, that he might lose his sight.
Nevertheless, their accusations were found to be false and Divine Retribution was called upon them.
The first was burnt in his house, along with his whole family, by an accidental fire in the night. The second was struck with a universal leprosy; and the third, terrified by these examples, confessed the conspiracy and slander, and by the abundance of tears which he continually shed for his sins, lost his sight before his death.
Soon after, Narcissus decided to leave Jerusalem for a life of solitude. His reasons for doing so weren't clear. Some believed he left because he could not bear the shock of the bold slander, and others believed leaving had always been a wish of his.
He spent several years undiscovered in his retreat, where he enjoyed all the happiness and advantage which a close conversation with God can bestow.
After he departed, the neighboring bishops chose a new pastor for Narcissus' church until he decided to return.
Once Narcissus returned, years later, the faithful rejoiced and convinced Narcissus to once again assume the administration of the diocese. He accepted.
As Narcissus started to reach an extreme old age, he made St. Alexander his coadjutor.
A coadjutor is a bishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop, and often also designated as his successor.
St. Narcissus continued to serve his flock, and even other churches, by his diligent prayers and his earnest exhortations to unity and concord, as St. Alexander testifies in his letter to the Arsinoites in Egypt, where he says that Narcissus was at that time about 116 years old.
St. Narcissus passed away soon after in AD 216, at the age of 117.
He is often depicted as a Bishop holding a thistle in blossom, with a pitcher of water next to him or with an angel shown carrying his soul to heaven.
His feast day is celebrated on October 29.
", "tags": "narcissus", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 770, "action": "Dorothy of Montau", "tags": "dorothy families large parents montau prussia" }, { "id": 771, "action": "\n Widow and hermitess. She was born a peasant on February 6, 1347, in Montau, Prussia. After marrying a wealthy swordsmith, Albrecht of Danzig, Poland, she bore him nine\n \n children\n \n and changed his gruff character. He even accompanied her on pilgrimages. However, when she went to\n \n Rome\n \n in 1390, Albrecht remained at home and died during her absence. A year later Dorothy moved to Marienswerder, where she became a hermitess. She had\n \n visions\n \n and spiritual gifts. Dorothy died on June 25 and is the patroness of Prussia. She was never formally canonized.\n
\n", "tags": "montau dorothy", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 772, "action": "Quentin", "tags": "coughs against quentin" }, { "id": 773, "action": "\n Quentin was also known as Quintinus. According to legend, he was a Roman, went to Gaul as a missionary with\n \n St. Lucian\n \n of Beauvais, and settled at Amiens in Picardy. He was so successful in preaching that he was imprisoned by prefect Rictiovarus, tortured, and then brought to\n \n Augusta\n \n Veromanduorum (Saint-Quentin), where he was again tortured and then was beheaded. His\n \n feast day\n \n is October 31st.\n
\n", "tags": "quentin", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 774, "action": "Martin de Porres", "tags": "justice multi-racial hairdressers negroes relations mulattoes bi-racial paupers de harmony education peru spanish television barbers race porres racial health trade african-americans poor unionists rats black mixed service public martin social inter-racial people" }, { "id": 775, "action": "\n St. Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru on December 9, 1579. Martin was the illegitimate son to a Spanish gentlemen and a freed slave from Panama, of African or possibly Native American descent. At a young age, Martin's father abandoned him, his mother and his younger sister, leaving Martin to grow up in deep poverty. After spending just two years in primary school, Martin was placed with a barber/surgeon where he would learn to cut hair and the medical arts.\n
\nAs Martin grew older, he experienced a great deal of ridicule for being of mixed-race. In Peru, by law, all descendants of African or Indians were not allowed to become full members of religious orders. Martin, who spent long hours in prayer, found his only way into the community he longed for was to ask the Dominicans of Holy Rosary Priory in Lima to accept him as a volunteer who performed the most menial tasks in the monastery. In return, he would be allowed to wear the habit and live within the religious community. When Martin was 15, he asked for admission into the Dominican Convent of the Rosary in Lima and was received as a servant boy and eventually was moved up to the church officer in charge of distributing money to deserving poor.
During his time in the Convent, Martin took on his old trades of barbering and healing. He also worked in the kitchen, did laundry and cleaned. After eight more years with the Holy Rosary, Martin was granted the privilege to take his vows as a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic by the prior Juan de Lorenzana who decided to disregard the law restricting Martin based on race.
However, not all of the members in the Holy Rosary were as open-minded as Lorenzana; Martin was called horrible names and mocked for being illegitimate and descending from slaves.
Martin grew to become a Dominican lay brother in 1603 at the age of 24. Ten years later, after he had been presented with the religious habit of a lay brother, Martin was assigned to the infirmary where he would remain in charge until his death. He became known for encompassing the virtues need to carefully and patiently care for the sick, even in the most difficult situations.
Martin was praised for his unconditional care of all people, regardless of race or wealth. He took care of everyone from the Spanish nobles to the African slaves. Martin didn't care if the person was diseased or dirty, he would welcome them into his own home.
Martin's life reflected his great love for God and all of God's gifts. It is said he had many extraordinary abilities, including aerial flights, bilocation, instant cures, miraculous knowledge, spiritual knowledge and an excellent relationship with animals. Martin also founded an orphanage for abandoned children and slaves and is known for raising dowry for young girls in short amounts of time.
During an epidemic in Lima, many of the friars in the Convent of the Rosary became very ill. Locked away in a distant section of the convent, they were kept away from the professed. However, on more than one occasion, Martin passed through the locked doors to care for the sick. However, he became disciplined for not following the rules of the Convent, but after replying, \"Forgive my error, and please instruct me, for I did not know that the precept of obedience took precedence over that of charity,\" he was given full liberty to follow his heart in mercy.
Martin was great friends with both St. Juan Macías, a fellow Dominican lay brother, and St. Rose of Lima, a lay Dominican.
In January of 1639, when Martin was 60-years-old, he became very ill with chills, fevers and tremors causing him agonizing pain. He would experience almost a year full of illness until he passed away on November 3, 1639.
By the time he died, he was widely known and accepted. Talks of his miracles in medicine and caring for the sick were everywhere. After his death, the miracles received when he was invoked in such greatness that when he was exhumed 25 years later, his body exhaled a splendid fragrance and he was still intact.
St. Martin de Porres was beatified by Pope Gregory XVI on October 29, 1837 and canonized by Pope John XXIII on May 6, 1962.
He has become the patron saint of people of mixed race, innkeepers, barbers, public health workers and more. His feast day is November 3.
", "tags": "martin porres de", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 776, "action": "Pirmin", "tags": "poison snakes pirmin" }, { "id": 777, "action": "\n Benedictine bishop. Born in Aragon, Spain, he was of Visigothic descent and was forced to flee\n \n Spain\n \n when the Arabs invaded in the eighth century. He journeyed to the Rhineland where he founded abbeys at Reichenau, Amorbach, and Murbach, and rebuilt or restored other churches and monastic communities including Dissentia Abbey, which he brought under the Benedictine Rule. He was honored by the pope with the rank of chorepiscopus, or regional prelate, adding to his reputation as one of the foremost Benedictines in Germany. Pirmin wrote Dicta Pirinini, a popular catechism.\n
\n", "tags": "pirmin", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 778, "action": "Charles Borromeo", "tags": "leaders charles catechumens monterey borromeo apple starch ulcers spiritual catechists directors seminarians makers bishops usa ulcer sufferers california orchards" }, { "id": 779, "action": "\n Saint Charles Borromeo was born on October 2, 1538 at the castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore near Milan. His father was the Count of Arona and his mother a member of the House of Medici. He was the third of six children born to the couple.\n
\nAt the age of 12, the young Count Charles Borromeo dedicated himself to a life of service to the Church. His uncle gave to him the family income from the Benedictine abbey of Saints Gratinian and Felinus. Even as a youth, his integrity was obvious. He was explicit in telling his father that he could only keep the money required for his education and to prepare him for service to the Church. All other funds belonged to the poor of the Church and were to be passed along to them.
The young count suffered from a speech impediment that made him appear slow to those who did not know him. Despite this challenge, he performed well and impressed his teachers. He attended the University of Pavia and learned Latin. He was praised because he was hardworking and thorough.
In 1554 his father passed away and although Charles was a teenager, responsibility for his household fell to him. Charles continued in his studies and earned a doctorate in canon and civil law.
His responsibility for his household resulted in financial difficulties, and Charles earned a reputation for being short of funds.
Life sped up for the young count after his uncle, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Medici became Pope Pius IV on December 25, 1559. The new pope asked his nephew to come to Rome and appointed him as a cardinal-deacon. With the rank came the job of assisting and advising his uncle full-time. A month later, Pope Pius IV made his nephew a cardinal.
With the new rank came even more duties including the government of the Papal States, the supervision of the Knights of Malta, the Franciscans, and the Carmelites. He was only 23 years old.
The young Borromeo used his leadership role in the Vatican to promote learning and he established a literary academy. He wrote of some of the lessons and lectures in the book, Noctes Vaticanae.
Borromeo was appointed administrator of the Archdiocese of Milan in 1560. Since he would become the ecclesiastical administrator of Milan, he decided that the Lord was calling him to the priesthood.
In 1561, he founded a college at Pavia dedicated to St. Justina of Padua.
In 1562 his brother died and his family urged him to leave the service of the church to preserve the family name. However, Borromeo refused. He became more insistent upon becoming a good bishop and in compelling others to lead exemplary lives of clerical service.
Borromeo was ordained first to the order of deacon. Then, he was ordained to the holy priesthood on September 4, 1563. Then, he was ordained as a bishop on December 7, 1563. He became Archbishop of Milan in May 12, 1564.
In 1566, Archbishop Borromeo's benefactor and uncle, Pope Pius IV died. Borromeo had already developed a reputation as a young, idealistic reformer in Rome, and he continued that mission in Milan. Milan was the largest diocese in the Catholic Church at the time and corruption was rampant.
The driving out of corruption was a critical matter during Borromeo's time. The Protestant Reformation was spreading throughout northern Europe and constantly threatened to move south. The greatest defense against Protestant doctrinal errors and claims against the hierarchy of the Catholic Church was reform and the restoration of integrity to the Catholic Church. Archbishop Borromeo saw this clearly and he made this his mission.
His strategy was to provide education to many clergy he saw as ignorant. He founded schools and seminaries and colleges for clergy.
He also ended the selling of indulgences, a form of simony (Catholic Catechism #2120, and ordered monasteries to reform themselves. He made a lot of visits to various locations to inspect for himself. He ordered the simplification of church interiors, which was a major point of contention between some Catholics and Protestants. The complex and busy interiors were claimed to be a distraction from the worship of God. This danger was acknowledged during the Council of Trent which Archbishop Borromeo enforced. Even tombs belonging to his own relatives were cleared of inappropriate ornaments and embellishments.
His work of cleaning up the Church also made him enemies. On one occasion a member of a small, decrepit order known as the \"Humiliati\" attempted to assassinate him with a pistol, but missed.
Many of his subordinates and secular officials complained about the Archbishop throughout his career. However, the existence of these enemies only emboldened Borromeo and served as confirmation that his efforts to eradicate corruption were working.
In 1576 a famine struck Milan followed by the plague, and many of the wealthy and powerful fled the city. Archbishop Borromeo remained. He used his own fortune to feed the starving people. When that money was spent, he took loans and went deep into debt. He may have fed 70,000 people per day. Eventually, the Archbishop convinced the local governor to return to his post and care for the people.
In 1583, Archbishop Borromeo traveled to Switzerland and began work suppressing heresy there. Protestant heresies, along with witchcraft and sorcery had been widely reported. He founded the Collegium Helveticum to serve and educate Swiss Catholics.
Eventually, the Archbishop's life of work and toil began to take its toll. In 1584, he became ill with a fever. He returned to Milan where his conditioned worsened. When it became obvious he would die, he was given his last Sacraments. He died on November 3, at the age of 46.
He was beatified on May 12, 1602 by Pope Paul V. He was subsequently canonized by Pope Paul V on November 1, 1610.
St. Charles Borromeo's feast day is celebrated on November 4. He is the patron of bishops, catechists, Lombardy, Italy, Monterey, California, cardinals, seminarians, spiritual leaders, and Sao Carlos in Brazil.
St. Charles Borromeo has a beautiful shrine in the Milan Cathedral and is often depicted in art wearing his robes, barefoot, carrying the cross with a rope around his neck and his arm raised in blessing.
", "tags": "charles borromeo", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 780, "action": "Leonard of Noblac", "tags": "robbers coal leonard noblac imprisoned blacksmiths coppersmiths locksmiths childbirth pow war miners brigands imprisonment captives from porters prisoners danger people thieves" }, { "id": 781, "action": "\n Hermit-abbot, a convert of St. Remigius. He was a French courtier offered a bishopric, but became a recluse at Micy, France. He then lived at Limoges, France, and he was given land by the royal court on which he founded Noblac Abbey, later called Saint-Leonard. He is a patron of Women in labor and prisoners of war.\n
\n", "tags": "leonard noblac", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 782, "action": "Winoc", "tags": "whooping winoc cough" }, { "id": 783, "action": "\n Winoc+ Founding abbot, also called Winnoc. Perhaps a Welshman, or from Britain, he was raised in Brittany, France, and became a\n \n monk\n \n at St. Peter's monastery at Sithiu (Saint-Omer) under St. Bertin. One tradition states that he was of royal British blood. He and three friends later founded a monastery near Dunkirk which became a missionary center for the region. They labored among the Morini people at Wormhont. Winoc also established a church and a hospital. Feast day: November 6.\n
\n", "tags": "winoc", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 784, "action": "Agnes of Rome", "tags": "rome agnes purity bodily" }, { "id": 785, "action": "\n A popular saint about whom little is known, Agnes is said to have been a beautiful, wealthy Roman maiden who had, in childhood, dedicated herself to God. Some say that a rejected suitor betrayed her to authorities; others say that she was asked at 13 to\n \n sacrifice\n \n to the gods and marry, both of which she refused. Legends tell of her being thrown into a brothel, where her purity was miraculously preserved. Having escaped that fate, she was martyred. In the IV Century, Constantia, the daughter of Constantine, built a\n \n basilica\n \n on the site of her tomb.\n \n St. Ambrose\n \n wrote about Agnes in De virginitate, and Damasus I wrote an epitaph for her.\n \n Prudentius\n \n composed a\n \n hymn\n \n in her honor. Her emblem in art is the lamb because of the similarity between her name and the Latin word for lamb, agnus.\n
\n", "tags": "rome agnes", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 786, "action": "Willibrord", "tags": "nederlands netherlands holland epilepsy willibrord convulsions" }, { "id": 787, "action": "\n Apostle of Frisia, Netherlands, a missionary archbishop. Born in Northumbria, England, circa 658, he studied at Ripon monastery under\n \n St. Wilfrid\n \n and spent twelve years studying in\n \n Ireland\n \n at the\n \n abbey\n \n of Rathmelsigi (most likely Mellifont, County Louth) under Sts.\n \n Egbert\n \n and Wigbert. After receiving ordination and extensive training in the field of the missions, he set out about 690 with a dozen companions for Frisia, or Friesland. In 693, he went to\n \n Rome\n \n to seek papal approval for his labors, Pope Sergius I (r. 687-701) gave his full\n \n approbation\n \n and, during Willibrord's second Roman visit, the pontiff consecrated him\n \n archbishop\n \n to the Frisians, in 696, with his see at Utrecht. In his work, Willibrord also received much support and encouragement from the Frankish leader; Pepin of Heristal (r. 687-714). Willibrord founded the monastery of Echternach, Luxembourg, to serve as a center of missionary endeavors, and extended the efforts of missionaries into\n \n Denmark\n \n and Upper Friesland. He faced chronic dangers from outraged pagans, including one who nearly murdered him after he tore down a\n \n pagan\n \n idol. In 714, Duke Radbod reclaimed the extensive territories acquired by Pepin, and Willilbrord watched all of the progress he had made be virtually undone. After Radbod's death, Willibrord started over with great enthusiasm, receiving invaluable assistance, from St. Boniface. Willibrord died on retreat at Echternach on November 7. For his efforts, he is called the\n \n Apostle\n \n of the Frisians.\n
\n", "tags": "willibrord", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 788, "action": "Florentius of Strasburg", "tags": "ruptures florentius stones gall strasburg" }, { "id": 789, "action": "\n Irish\n \n bishop\n \n of Strasbourg, France. He went to Alsace and there he became a hermit on Mount Ringelberg. After curing the blind and deaf daughter of St. King Dagobert II, he had the king's patronage in founding a monastery. He was appointed the\n \n bishop\n \n of Strasbourg and founded\n \n St. Thomas\n \n Monastery, mostly staffed by Irish.\n
\n", "tags": "strasburg florentius", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 790, "action": "Cybi", "tags": "cornwall wales cardigan cybi cuby llangybi landulph llangibby monmouthshire tregony" }, { "id": 791, "action": "\n Welsh abbot, one of the most venerated saints in Anglesey, also called Cuby and Kabius. Born in Cornwall, England, and a cousin of\n \n St. David\n \n of Wales, he refused the\n \n throne\n \n of his area. Cybi went to Monmouthshire and then to Avanmore, in Ireland, to study under St. Anda. On Anglesey, an island near Holyhead, Wales, Cybi founded a monastery called Caer Cybi. He is the patron of Llangebby and Llangybi, as well as Cornwall, Tregony, Landulf, and Cuby.\n
\n", "tags": "cybi", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 792, "action": "Marcellus", "tags": "marcellus cathedral langres" }, { "id": 793, "action": "\n St. Marcellus was elected Pope in 307, the last years of the\n \n persecution\n \n of the Church by Diocletian. He undertook the ecclesiastical reorganization of the Church and was most merciful to those who repented after having denied their Faith. When certain people known as the\n \n Lapsi\n \n refused to do\n \n penance\n \n for their\n \n apostasy\n \n and thus were not pardoned by St. Marcellus, the tyrant Emperor Maxentius sent\n \n St. Marcellus\n \n into exile, where he died in 309 as a result of privations.\n
\n", "tags": "marcellus", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 794, "action": "Andrew Avellino", "tags": "devil avellino strokes by possession holy apoplexy andrew naples italy death sudden" }, { "id": 795, "action": "\n Theologian, founder, and friend of St. Charles Borromeo. Born in 1521 at Castonuevo, Sicily, and baptized Lancellato, he took the name of Andrew as a Theatine monk. A devoted young\n \n man\n \n who was also very handsome, Andrew studied in\n \n Venice\n \n and in Naples, being ordained and receiving a Doctorate of Laws at the age of twenty-six. He served in the ecclesiastical court in\n \n Naples\n \n until he realized that he was capable of\n \n lying\n \n in order to win a legal argument. His remorse led to his retirement from the court, and he was commissioned by the\n \n archbishop\n \n of\n \n Naples\n \n to reform a lax\n \n convent\n \n in the city. He was attacked by a group of men who opposed this reformation and was taken to the Theatine monastery to recuperate in safety. Andrew entered the Order of Theatines, which had been founded just a few years before by St. Cajetan. After completing his novitiate, Andrew visited the shrines of Rome, returning to\n \n Naples\n \n to become the director of novices for the Theatines. He also founded several new Theatine monasteries, serving as\n \n superior\n \n in some.\n \n St. Charles Borromeo\n \n learned to depend on Andrew's\n \n wisdom\n \n in affairs of the Church. He also wrote treatises and preached. Andrew died on November 10, 1608. He is a patron of\n \n Sicily\n \n and is invoked against sudden death. He is buried in Naples.\n
\n", "tags": "avellino andrew", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 796, "action": "Martin of Tours", "tags": "riders infantry reformed men alcoholics soldiers winegrowers horse-riders horses geese cavalry goose beggars martin tours equestrians horse quartermasters" }, { "id": 797, "action": "\n Saint Martin of Tours was born in in Savaria, Pannonia in either the year 316 or 336 AD. That region is what is today the nation of Hungary. His father was a tribune, which is a high-ranking officer in the Imperial Horse Guard. Martin and his family went with his father when he was assigned to a post at Ticinum, in Northern Italy. It is here that Martin would grow up.\n
\nJust before Martin was born, Christianity was legalized in the Roman Empire and the bloody persecution of Christians soon came to an end. It was not the official religion of the State, but it could be practiced and proclaimed openly. The Gospel message soon flourished in ancient Rome, transforming the empire. Martin's parents were pagans, but at the age of 10, Martin chose to respond to the call of the Gospel and become a Christian.
At the age of fifteen, Martin was required to follow his father into the cavalry corps of the Roman military. By the time he was 18, Martin is believed to have served in Gaul, and also eventually Milan and Treves. Scholars think he served as part of the emperor's guard.
As a young soldier, Martin encountered a beggar in Amiens. The beggar was unclothed and it was very cold. Martin removed his cloak and with his sword, he cut it in half. He gave this half to the beggar and dressed himself in the remnant. That night, Martin had a vision in which Christ appeared to him. The vision spoke to him, \"Martin, a mere catechumen has clothed me.\" A catechumen is one who is being instructed in the Christian faith. In the early centuries of Christianity, that was a long process of instruction - and Martin was deeply dedicated to it.
About the age of 20, Martin made clear to his superiors that he would no longer fight, following his formed Christian conscience. He refused his pay prior to a battle and announced he would not join in the combat. He became the first recognized conscientious objector in recorded history. His proclamation occurred before a battle near the modern German city of Worms. His superiors accused him of cowardice and ordered that he be imprisoned. Martin offered to demonstrate his sincerity by going into battle unarmed. This was seen as an acceptable alternative to jailing him, but before the battle could occur, the opposing army agreed to a truce and no conflict took place. Martin was subsequently released from military service.
Now out of the military service, Martin could fully dedicate himself to service of Jesus Christ and the Church. He traveled to Tours where he began studying under Hilary of Poitiers, who is now recognized as a doctor of the Church. Martin's studies lasted until Hilary was forced into temporary exile, likely because of his refusal to participate in a political dispute.
Martin then traveled to Italy. According to one account, Martin was confronted by a highwayman and led him to faith in Jesus Christ. Another account tells of Martin confronting the Devil. While on this journey, Martin had a vision which compelled him to return to his mother in Pannonia. He did so and led his own mother to faith in Jesus Christ. Martin attempted to persuade his father to embrace faith in Jesus Christ, but as far as we know, his father refused.
After bringing his mother to the Church, Martin then turned to confronting a growing heresy which was afflicting the faithful and sowing confusion. He became involved in countering the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of Jesus Christ. The reaction against him was so violent from the Arian leaders that he was compelled to flee. Martin took up residence on an island in the Adriatic where he lived as a hermit for a time.
Martin's teacher Hilary returned to Tours from temporary exile in 361 so Martin traveled there to work and study. Hilary gave Martin a small grant of land where he and his disciples lived.
Martin established a monastery which would be inhabited by the Benedictines. Established in 361, the Liguge Abbey was destroyed during the French Revolution, then reestablished in 1853. The abbey remains to this day. From the site of his abbey, Martin worked to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ and Baptism into His Church in the surrounding areas. He was an extraordinary evangelist.
In 371, the city of Tours needed a new bishop and the people decided to call Martin to the office. Martin did not want the job so the people decided to trick him into the office. The people insisted he was needed to administer to someone sick, so he came out as quickly as he could. He did not even bother to improve his appearance. When he learned it was a trick to make him a bishop, Martin actually tried to hide. He was quickly discovered and the people called him forward to be ordained to the office of Bishop. Even though he did not really want the office, he was ordained - and he became a holy and hardworking Bishop.
As a Bishop Martin established a system of parishes to manage his diocese. He made a point to visit each parish at least once per year. In addition to his appointed rounds, Martin combated paganism, particularly the Druid religion which was still prevalent at the time. He passionately and faithfully proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ and won many to the Christian faith.
Yet, he longed for more prayer and wanted to pursue a monastic life. In the year 372 Martin established an abbey at Marmoutier so he could retreat there and live as a monk with the many disciples he had attracted.
In the following years, a heresy broke out in the church. An aesthetic sect called the Priscillianists after their leader, Priscillian, had developed in Spain and Gaul. The First Council of Saragossa condemned the heresy, but the Priscillians did not change they practices. This prompted one bishop, Ithacius of Ossonoba to petition the Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus to put him to death. Martin was opposed to the sentence of death, and was joined by Bishop Ambrose of Milan in his opposition. Martin traveled to Trier where the Emperor held court. Martin was able to persuade the Emperor to refrain from putting Priscillian and his followers to death. However, after Martin left, Ithacius persuaded the Emperor to change his mind again and Priscillian and his followers were executed in 385.
Martin was so upset by Ithacius, he refused to communicate with his fellow bishop until the Emperor pressured him to resume communicating with his colleague.
Martin died in Candes-Saint-Martin, Gaul in 397.
The Hagiographer Sulpicius Severus, knew Martin personally and wrote about his life. Many miracles and the casting out of demons were attributed to Martin during his lifetime. According to one account, Martin, while trying to win Druids to follow Jesus Christ and renounce their pagan beliefs, was dared to stand in the path of a sacred tree that was being felled. Martin agreed and was missed by the falling pine, although standing right in its path. This was widely seen as miraculous and a symbol that the message he proclaimed about Jesus Christ was true. Many were converted to the Christian faith.
Veneration of St. Martin became popular in the Middle Ages, and was popular with the Frankish kings.
Saint Martin is the patron of the poor, soldiers, conscientious objectors, tailors, and winemakers. Many locations across Europe have also been placed under his patronage. His feast is on November 11. He commonly appears on horseback and is shown cutting his cloak in half with a sword.
", "tags": "martin tours", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 798, "action": "Giles", "tags": "beggars giles" }, { "id": 799, "action": "\n A native of Assisi, Italy, Giles was one of the earliest followers of St. Francis, from whom he received the\n \n habit\n \n in 1208. He accompanied Francis on many of his missions around Assisi, made a pilgrimage to Compostela, visited\n \n Rome\n \n and the Holy Land, and then made an unsuccessful visit to\n \n Tunis\n \n to convert the Saracens. The Christians in Tunis, fearful of the repercussions of his religious fervor, forced him back on a boat as soon as he landed. He spent the rest of his\n \n life\n \n living in Italy, living from about 1243 at the Monte Rapido hermitage on the outskirts of Perugia, where he died in 1263. He experiences ecstacies, had a vision of\n \n Christ\n \n at Cetona, and is considered the most perfect example of the primitive Franciscan. He is spoken of at length in \"The Little Flowers of St. Francis\" and Francis called him his \"Knight of the round table.\" Known for his austerity and silence, his \"The Golden Sayings of Brother Giles\" is noted for its humor, deep understanding of human nature, and optimism.\n
\n", "tags": "giles", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 800, "action": "Patiens of Metz", "tags": "metz patiens france" }, { "id": 801, "action": "\n Patron saint of Metz, France. He served as the fourth\n \n bishop\n \n of that diocese.\n
\n", "tags": "metz patiens", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 802, "action": "Homobonus", "tags": "tailors garment merchants business homobonus workers shoemakers tradespeople people clothworkers" }, { "id": 803, "action": "\n Confessor and a patron of tailors and cloth workers. He was born in Cremona, Italy, where he became a merchant. Married, he was a model of\n \n virtue\n \n beloved by all. Homobonus died on November 13 while attending\n \n Mass\n \n at\n \n St. Giles\n \n Church in Cremona. His fellow citizens petitioned the\n \n Holy See\n \n for his canonization, which was performed in 1199.\n
\n ", "tags": "homobonus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 804, "action": "Frances Xavier Cabrini", "tags": "immigrants administrators india cabrini emigrants migrants xavier frances hospital" }, { "id": 805, "action": "\n St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was born as Maria Francesca Cabrini on July 15, 1850 in Sant' Angelo Lodigiano, Lombardy, Italy. She was born two months premature and the youngest of thirteen children. Unfortunately, only three of her siblings survived past adolescence and Frances would live most of her life in a fragile and delicate state of health.\n
\nFrances became dedicated to living a life for religious work from a young age and received a convent education at a school ran by the Daughters of the Sacred Heart. She graduated with high honors and a teaching certificate.
When Frances was 18, she applied for admission to the religious congregation of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart, but was turned down because of her poor health. Instead, a priest asked her to teach at the House of Providence Orphanage in Cadagono, Italy. She taught at the girls' school for six years and drew a community of women in to live the religious way of life.
In 1877, she became Mother Cabrini after she finally made her vows and took the religious habit, also adding Xavier to her name in honor of St. Francis Xavier.
When the House of Providence Orphanage closed, her bishop asked her, along with six other women from her orphanage in Cadagono, to found the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart to care for the poor children in both schools and hospitals. Frances composed the Rule and Constitution for the religious institute.
In its first five years, the institute established seven homes and a free school and nursery. Frances wanted to continue her mission in China, but Pope Leo XIII urged her to go to the United States, a nation that was becoming flooded with Italian immigrants who needed her help. \"Not to the East, but the West,\" was his advice to her.
On March 31, 1889, Frances arrived in New York City along with six other sisters ready to begin her new journey. However, right from the beginning she encountered many disappointments and hardships. The house originally attended for her new orphanage was no longer available, but Frances did not gve up, even though the archbishop insisted she return to Italy.
After she refused, Archbishop Michael Corrigan found them housing with the convent of the Sisters of Charity. Frances then received permission to found an orphanage in what is now West Park, New York and now known as Saint Cabrini Home.
Filled with a deep trust in God and endowed with a wonderful administrative ability, Frances founded 67 institutions, including orphanages, schools, and hospitals, within 35 years dedicated to caring for the poor, uneducated, sick, abandoned, and especially for the Italian immigrants. Her institutions were spread out in places all over the United States, including New York, Colorado, and Illinois.
Frances was known for being as resourceful as she was prayerful. She was always able to find people to donate their money, time, and support for her institutions.
In 1909, Frances became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
Eight years later, on December 22, 1917, Frances passed at the age of 67, due to complications from dysentery at the Columbus Hospital, one of her own hospitals, in Chicago, Illinois.
Frances' body was originally placed at the Saint Cabrini Home, but was exhumed in 1931 as part of her canonization process. Her head is preserved in Rome at the chapel of the congregation's international motherhouse. One of her arms is at the national shrine in Chicago, and the rest of her body rests at a shrine in New York.
Frances has two miracles attributed to her. She restored sight to a child who was believed to have been blinded by excess silver nitrate, and she healed a terminally ill member of her congregation.
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini was beatified on November 13, 1938, by Pope Pius XI and canonized by Pope Pius XII on July 7, 1946, making her the first United States citizen to be canonized. Her feast day is celebrated on November 13 and she is the patron saint of immigrants.
", "tags": "xavier cabrini frances", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 806, "action": "Didacus", "tags": "franciscan lay didacus laity" }, { "id": 807, "action": "\n Didacus was a native of the little town of San Nicolas of del Puerto in the\n \n diocese\n \n of Seville, and his\n \n parents\n \n were poor folk. Near that town a holy\n \n priest\n \n led an eremitical life. Didacus obtained his consent to live with him and, though very young, he imitated the austerities and devotions of his master. They cultivated together a little garden, and also employed themselves in making wooden spoons, trenchers and such like utensils. After having lived thus a recluse for some years he was obliged to return to his home, but he soon after went to a\n \n convent\n \n of the Observant\n \n Friar\n \n Minors at Arrizafa, and there took the\n \n habit\n \n among the lay brothers. After his profession he was sent to the mission of his Order in the Canary Islands, where he did a great work in instructing and converting the people. Eventually, in 1445, he, though a lay brother, was appointed chief guardian of a chief\n \n convent\n \n in those islands, called Fuerteventura. After four years he was recalled to Spain, and lived in several friaries about\n \n Seville\n \n with great fervor and recollection. In the year 1450 a jubilee was celebrated at\n \n Rome\n \n and,\n \n St. Bernardine of Siena\n \n being canonized at the same time, very many religious of the Order of St. Francis were assembled there. Didacus went there with FAther Alonzo de Castro, and at\n \n Rome\n \n he had to attend his companion during a dangerous illness. His devotion in this\n \n duty\n \n attracted the notice of his superiors and he was put in charge of the many sick friars who were accommodated in the infirmary of the\n \n convent\n \n of Ara Caeli.\n \n St. Didacus\n \n was thus engaged for three months, and is said to have miraculously restored some of his patients. He lived for another thirteen years after his return to Spain, chiefly at the Friaries of Salcedo and Alcala in Castille. In 1463 he was taken ill at Alcala and in his last moments asked for a cord (such as the Friars wear); he put it about his neck and, holding a cross in his hands begged the pardon of all his brethren assembled about his bed. THen, fixing his eyes on the crucifix, he repeated with great tenderness the words of the\n \n hymn\n \n on the cross, \"Dulce lignum, dulces clavos, dulce pondus sustinet\", and peacefully died on November 12. Several miracles were attributed to him in his lifetime and many more through his\n \n intercession\n \n after his death. King Philip II, out of gratitude for one in favor of his son, solicitated the saint's canonization which was decreed in 1588. His\n \n feast day\n \n is November 13th.\n
\n", "tags": "didacus", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 808, "action": "Laurent (Lawrence)", "tags": "librarians armories archives armourers france incest libraries victims lawrence laurent archivists" }, { "id": 809, "action": "\n St. Lawrence, it appears, was born about the year 1125. When only ten years old, his father delivered him up as a hostage to Dermod Mac Murehad, King of Leinster, who treated the child with great inhumanity, until his father obliged the tyrant to put him in the hands of the\n \n Bishop\n \n of Glendalough, in the county of Wicklow. The holy youth, by his fidelity in corresponding with the divine grace, grew to be a model of virtues. On the death of the bishop, who was also\n \n abbot\n \n of the monastery,\n \n St. Lawrence\n \n was chosen\n \n abbot\n \n in 1150, though he was only twenty-five years old, and governed his numerous community with wonderful\n \n virtue\n \n and prudence. In 1161\n \n St. Lawrence\n \n was unanimously chosen to fill the new\n \n metropolitan\n \n See of Dublin. About the year 1171 he was obliged, for the affairs of his diocese, to go over to England to see the king, Henry II, who was then at Canterbury. The Saint was received by the Benedictine monks of\n \n Christ\n \n Church with the greatest honor and respect. On the following day, as the holy\n \n archbishop\n \n was going to the altar to officiate, a maniac, who had heard much of his sanctity, and who was led on by the\n \n idea\n \n of making so holy a\n \n man\n \n another St. Thomas, struck him a violent blow on the head. All present concluded that he was mortally wounded; but the Saint came to himself, asked for some water, blessed it, and having his wound washed with it, the blood was immediately stopped, and the\n \n Archbishop\n \n celebrated Mass. In 1175\n \n Henry II\n \n of England became offended with Roderic, the monarch of Ireland, and St.Lawrence undertook another journey to England to negotiate a\n \n reconciliation\n \n between them. Henry was so moved by his piety, charity, and\n \n prudence\n \n that he granted him everything he asked, and left the whole negotiation to his discretion. Our Saint ended his journey here below on the 14th of November, 1180, and was buried in the church of the\n \n abbey\n \n at Eu, on the confines of Normandy. His\n \n feast day\n \n is November 14th.\n
\n", "tags": "lawrence laurent", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 810, "action": "Lawrence", "tags": "laundry lumbago paupers painters restauranteurs washerwomen lanka confectioners workers cooks ceylon poor chefs laundresses lawrence stained formerly glass butchers sri people" }, { "id": 811, "action": "\n St. Lawrence, it appears, was born about the year 1125. When only ten years old, his father delivered him up as a hostage to Dermod Mac Murehad, King of Leinster, who treated the child with great inhumanity, until his father obliged the tyrant to put him in the hands of the\n \n Bishop\n \n of Glendalough, in the county of Wicklow. The holy youth, by his fidelity in corresponding with the divine grace, grew to be a model of virtues. On the death of the bishop, who was also\n \n abbot\n \n of the monastery,\n \n St. Lawrence\n \n was chosen\n \n abbot\n \n in 1150, though he was only twenty-five years old, and governed his numerous community with wonderful\n \n virtue\n \n and prudence. In 1161\n \n St. Lawrence\n \n was unanimously chosen to fill the new\n \n metropolitan\n \n See of Dublin. About the year 1171 he was obliged, for the affairs of his diocese, to go over to England to see the king, Henry II, who was then at Canterbury. The Saint was received by the Benedictine monks of\n \n Christ\n \n Church with the greatest honor and respect. On the following day, as the holy\n \n archbishop\n \n was going to the altar to officiate, a maniac, who had heard much of his sanctity, and who was led on by the\n \n idea\n \n of making so holy a\n \n man\n \n another St. Thomas, struck him a violent blow on the head. All present concluded that he was mortally wounded; but the Saint came to himself, asked for some water, blessed it, and having his wound washed with it, the blood was immediately stopped, and the\n \n Archbishop\n \n celebrated Mass. In 1175\n \n Henry II\n \n of England became offended with Roderic, the monarch of Ireland, and St.Lawrence undertook another journey to England to negotiate a\n \n reconciliation\n \n between them. Henry was so moved by his piety, charity, and\n \n prudence\n \n that he granted him everything he asked, and left the whole negotiation to his discretion. Our Saint ended his journey here below on the 14th of November, 1180, and was buried in the church of the\n \n abbey\n \n at Eu, on the confines of Normandy. His\n \n feast day\n \n is November 14th.\n
\n", "tags": "lawrence", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 812, "action": "Lawrence O'Toole", "tags": "dublin o'toole lawrence arch ireland" }, { "id": 813, "action": "\n Augustinian\n \n archbishop\n \n of Dublin, Ireland. He was born at Leinster, the Son of Murtagh, chief of the Murrays, in Castledermot, Kildare. Taken hostage by King Dermot McMurrogh of Leinster in a raid, Lawrence was surrendered to the\n \n bishop\n \n of Glendalough. Lawrence became a monk, and in 1161 was named\n \n archbishop\n \n of Dublin. He was involved in negotiating with the English following their invasion of Ireland, and in 1172 convened a\n \n synod\n \n at Cashel. He also attended the General Lateran Council in\n \n Rome\n \n in 1179, and was named papal\n \n legate\n \n to Ireland. While on a mission to King\n \n Henry II\n \n of England, Lawrence died at Eu, Normandy, France. He was canonized in 1225.\n
\n", "tags": "o'toole lawrence", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 814, "action": "Leopold", "tags": "families large parents austria leopold" }, { "id": 815, "action": "\n Leopold was born at Melk, Austria, in 1073. He was educated by\n \n Bishop\n \n Altman of Passau, and at the age of twenty-three, he succeeded his father as military governor of Austria.\n
\nIn 1106, Leopold married Emperor Henry IV's daughter, who bore him eighteen children, eleven of whom survived childhood. Known for his piety and charity, in 1106 he also founded three monasteries.
In 1125, Leopold refused to become Emperor upon the death of his brother-in-law, Henry V. He died in 1135 at one of the monasteries he had founded. He was canonized by Pope Innocent VIII in 1486.
When one carries out the duties of one's state of life with fairness, justice, and virtue, as did Leopold, many people are won over not only to a peaceful political scene, but also to a life of faith and virtue. His feast day is November 15.
", "tags": "leopold", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 816, "action": "Albert the Great", "tags": "usa technicians medical ohio albert cincinnati great scientists arch" }, { "id": 817, "action": "\n The saint and doctor of the Church who would be known as Albertus Magnus was born sometime before the year 1200. He was probably born in Bavaria, a fact we infer because he referred to himself as \"Albert of Lauingen,\" a town which still stands today in southern Germany.\n
\nWe do not know for sure all the details of his family origins, but we know he was well educated. He attended the University of Padua where he learned about Aristotle and his writings. This instruction in philosophy would become the foundation of his later work.
Sometime around the year 1223 or so, Albert experienced an encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary. This encounter moved him so much that he chose to become a member of the Dominican Order. He thereafter studied theology.
He excelled in his studies and later became a lecturer for the Dominicans at Cologne. He also traveled around the region to lecture gaining regional, then international acclaim.
At the same time he started lecturing, Albert produced \"Summa de Bono,\" after collaboration with Phillip the Chancellor, who was a renown theologian from France.
In 1245, Albert became a master of theology under Gueruc of Saint-Quentin. He was the first German Dominican to achieve the title. He later went on to teach theology at the University of Paris, and became the Chair of Theology at the College of St. James. One of his students was the famous Thomas Aquinas who would also become a doctor of the Church and a saint.
Albert was very interested in Aristotle, and he made commentary on nearly all of Aristotle's works. He also studied the teachings of several Muslim scholars. At this time, the Islamic world led Europe in terms of scholarship, science, and medicine.
In 1254, Albert became the provincial of the Dominican Order. By all accounts, he was a capable and efficient administrator.
Five years later, in 1259, Albert participated in the General Chapter of the Dominicans along with Thomas Aquinas and several other contemporary leaders of the Order. They created a program of study for the Dominican order and developed a curriculum for philosophy. From this course of study would later arise the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, in Rome. Today, the university which is known as the \"Angelicum,\" is one of the foremost theological colleges in the world. It is still run by the Dominican order.
In 1260, impressed with his acumen, Pope Alexander IV appointed Albert as bishop of Regensburg. Although he was a bishop, Albert refused to ride a horse and went everywhere on foot. This seemingly unusual practice was consistent with the rules of his order. The life of a bishop did not agree with Albert and he resigned from his post in 1263.
In that same year, Pope Urban IV accepted his resignation and reassigned him to preach about the Eighth Crusade to German-speaking people. The crusade was intended to recapture the city of Tunis in North Africa for Christendom, and was a total failure.
In his later years, Albert became renowned as a mediator. He mediated disputes between individuals as well as resolving a dispute between the people of Colonge and their bishop. He also founded Germany's oldest university in that city.
Before his death, he mourned the early passing of his great student, Thomas Aquinas, who would later be recognized as a saint and doctor of the Church. Aquinas died in 1274. Albert spent his last years defending the work of Aquinas which is among the most important work in the Church.
Albert became ill in 1278 and he died on November 15, 1280.
During his life, Albert wrote thirty eight volumes covering topics ranging from philosophy to geography, astronomy, law, friendship and love.
Three years after his death, his grave was opened and his body found to be incorrupt. When his grave was again opened centuries later in 1483, they only found his skeleton. His relics are presently found in the St. Andreas church in Colonge.
Albert was beatified in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV. He was canonized and recognized as a doctor of the Church in 1931, by Pope Pius IX. He is the patron saint of scientists. His feast day is November 15.
", "tags": "albert great", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 818, "action": "Gertrude", "tags": "west indies gertrude mice" }, { "id": 819, "action": "\n St. Gertrude, Virgin (Patroness of the West Indies) Feastday-November 16\n \n St. Gertrude\n \n was born at Eisleben in Saxony. At the age of five, she was placed in the care of the Benedictine\n \n nuns\n \n at Rodalsdorf and later became a nun in the same monastery, of which she was elected\n \n Abbess\n \n . The following year she was obliged to take charge of the monastery at Helfta, to which she moved with her nuns.\n
\nSt. Gertrude had enjoyed a good education. She wrote and composed in Latin, and was versed in Sacred Literature. The life of this saint, though not replete with stirring events and striking actions, was one of great mental activity. It was the mystic life of the cloister, a life hidden with Christ in God. She was characterized by great devotion to the Sacred Humanity of Our Lord in His Passion and in the Blessed Eucharist, and by a tender love for the Blessed Virgin. She died in 1302.
", "tags": "gertrude", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 820, "action": "Lebuin (Liafwine)", "tags": "lebuin liafwine dying" }, { "id": 821, "action": "\n Benedictine called Leaf Wine in his native England who worked with St. Boniface. He was a\n \n monk\n \n at Ripon, England, who went to\n \n Germany\n \n in 754. There he worked with St. Marchelm among the Frisians. Lebuin went to a\n \n pagan\n \n gathering at Marklo, where he won the respect of the Westphalian Saxons.\n
\n", "tags": "lebuin liafwine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 822, "action": "Nicholas of Tolentino", "tags": "nicholas dying tolentino" }, { "id": 823, "action": "\n Born in 1245 in Sant'Angelo,\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Tolentino took his name from\n \n St. Nicholas\n \n of Myra, at whose shrine his\n \n parents\n \n prayed to have a child. Nicholas became a\n \n monk\n \n at 18, and seven years later, he was ordained a priest. He gained a reputation as a preacher and a confessor. C. 1274, he was sent to Tolentino, near his birthplace. The town suffered from civil strife between the Guelphs, who supported the pope, and Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor, in their struggle for control of Italy. Nicholas was primarily a\n \n pastor\n \n to his flock. He ministered to the poor and the criminal. He is said to have cured the sick with bread over which he had prayed to Mary, the mother of God. He gained a reputation as a wonder-worker. Nicholas died in 1305 after a long illness. People began immediately to petition for his canonization.\n \n Eugene IV\n \n canonized him in 1446, and his\n \n relics\n \n were rediscovered in 1926 at Tolentino.\n
\n", "tags": "nicholas tolentino", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 824, "action": "Gertrude the Great", "tags": "popes great gertrude nuns" }, { "id": 825, "action": "\n St. Gertrude the Great, or St. Gertrude of Helfta, was born on January 6, 1256 in Germany. She eventually chose to follow the Lord by pursuing a vocation as a Benedictine Nun. Her deep relationship with the Lord in prayer led to her being hailed as a mystic. She was also regarded as a great theologian.\n
\nAlthough little is known about Gertrude's childhood, it is widely accepted that at just four-years-old, she was enrolled in the Cistercian monastery school of Helfta in Saxony, under the governance of Abbess Gertrude of Hackerborn.
The Cistercian movement was an effort to bring the Benedictine religious community back to a stricter and more faithful adherence to the original \"Rule\" or way of life encouraged by St Benedict. Some sources speculate that Gertrude's parents offered their child as an oblate, a lay person especially dedicated to God or to God's service, while others believe she may have entered the monastery school as an orphan.
St. Mechtilde, the younger sister of the Abbess Gertrude, took care of young Gertrude. Gertrude and Mechtilde had a strong bond that only grew deeper with time, allowing Mechtilde to have a great influence over Gertrude.
Gertrude, known for being charming and able to win people over, entered the Benedictine Order at Helfta and became a nun. She devoted herself to her studies, and received an education in many different subjects. Gertrude was both fluent in Latin and very familiar with scripture and works from the Fathers of the Church, including Augustine.
In 1281, 25-year-old Gertrude experienced her first series of visions that would continue until the day she passed away. Her visions altered her life and she saw this moment as her new birth. Her priorities turned away from secular teachings and focuses more on studying Scripture and theology. Her life became full with this awakening and she was an enthusiastic student, writing for the spiritual benefit of others.
Gertrude once had a vision on the feast of John the Evangelist, described in Gertrude's writings. As she rested her head near Jesus' wound on his side, she could hear the beating of his heart. She asked St. John if he, too, felt the beating of Jesus' Divine Heart on the night of the Last Supper. He told her he was saving this revelation for a time when the world needed it to rekindle its love.
She went on to become one of the great mystics of the 13th century. Along with St. Mechtilde, she practiced what is known as \"nuptial mysticism,\" seeing herself as the bride of Christ. She embraced charity for both rich and poor, she was a simple woman with a deep solidarity with those not yet ready for the beatific vision, who are still being purified in the state of repose known as purgatory.
Gertrude assisted at the deathbeds and mourned for the loss of both Abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn in 1291 and her dearly loved St. Mechtilde in 1298. Gertrude's health began to deteriorate, but she continued to only show her love for the Lord.
\"Until the age of 25, I was a blind and insane woman... but you, Jesus, deigned to grant me the priceless familiarity of your friendship by opening to me in every way that most noble casket of your divinity, which is your divine Heart, and offering me in great abundance all your treasures contained in it\".
On November 17, 1301, Gertrude passed away a virgin and joined her Bridegroom forever.
Throughout her life, Gertrude produced numerous writings, although only a few still exists today. One of her longest surviving works is Legatus Memorialis Abundantiae Divinae Pietatis (The Herald of Divine Love). Her other standing works include, her collection of Spiritual Exercises and Preces Gertrudianae (Gertrudian Prayers).
The Herald of Divine Love is composed of five different books. Book two is the core of the work, and was written solely by Gertrude. It is a notable piece of writing, because it includes detailed descriptions of Gertrude's visions and a veneration of Christ's heart. The other four books are believed to have been composed by other nuns.
Although Gertrude was never formally canonized, Rome approved a liturgical office of prayer and readings in her honor. To separate her from Abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn, Pope Benedict XIV gave her the title, \"the Great,\" making her the only woman saint to be called, \"the Great.\"
St. Gertrude the Great is the Patroness of the West Indies and she is often invoked for souls in purgatory. Her feast day is celebrated on November 16.
", "tags": "great gertrude", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 826, "action": "Elizabeth of Hungary", "tags": "charities services sisters problems death in-law bakers mercy tramps catholic piety hungary children elizabeth homeless tertiaries countesses nursing ridiculed hoboes people" }, { "id": 827, "action": "\n St. Elizabeth of Hungary, also known as St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, was born in Hungary on July 7, 1207 to the Hungarian King Andrew II and Gertrude of Merania.\n
\nAs soon as her life began, she had responsibilities from being a royal pressed upon her. While Elizabeth was very young, her father arranged for her to be married to Ludwig IV of Thuringia, a German nobleman. Because of this plan, Elizabeth was sent away at the age of four for education at the court of the Landgrave of Thuringia.
Elizabeth's mother, Gertrude, was murdered in 1213, when Elizabeth was just six-years-old. According to history, the murder was carried out by Hungarian noblemen due to the conflict between Germans and the Hungarian nobles. From this point on, Elizabeth's perspective on life and death dramatically changed and she sought peace with prayer.
Happiness was returned to her young life in 1221 when she was formally married to Ludwig, whom she deeply loved. Together the couple had three beautiful children, two of whom became members of nobility and the third entering the religious life, becoming abbess of a German convent.
Elizabeth continued to live a life full of prayer and a service to the poor. Ludwig, who was now one of the rulers of Thuringia, supported all of Elizabeth's religious endeavors even though she was a part of the royal court. She began to lead an austerely simple life, practiced penance, and devoted herself to works of charity. She used her royal position to advance her mission for charity.
In 1223, Franciscan friars arrived in Thuringia and taught 16-year-old Elizabeth all about Francis of Assisi's ideals. She then forth decided to live her life mirroring his.
She wore simple clothing and set aside time every day to take bread to hundreds of poor people in her land. Ludwig and Elizabeth were politically powerful and lived with a remarkable generosity toward the poor.
In 1226, when disease and floods struck Thuringia, Elizabeth took to caring for the victims. It is said she even gave away the royal's clothing and goods to the afflicted people. Elizabeth had a hospital built and provided for almost a thousand poor people daily.
Elizabeth's life was full of love and faith. However, tragedy struck when Ludwig passed away from illness in 1227. It is said upon hearing the news, she said, \"He is dead. He is dead. It is to me as if the whole world died today.\" His remains were entombed at the Abbey of Reinhardsbrunn.
Elizabeth vowed to never remarry and to live a life similar to a nun, despite pressure from relatives.
Her vows included celibacy and an agreement of complete obedience to her confessor and spiritual director, Master Conrad of Marburg. His treatment of Elizabeth was very strict and often harsh. He held her to a standard that many saw as impossible to meet. He provided physical beatings and sent away her children. However, she continued to keep her vow, even offering to cut off her own nose, so she woud be too ugly for any man to want.
In 1228, Elizabeth joined the Third Order of St. Francis. Elizabeth, having received her dowry, founded a hospital in honor of St. Francis, where she personally attended to the ill. She ministered to the sick and provided support to the poor.
Elizabeth's life was consumed deeply by her devotion to God and her charitable labor. She passed away at the age of 24, on November 17, 1231 in Marburg, Hesse.
One of her greatest known miracles occurred when she was still alive, the miracle of roses. It is said that during one of her many trips delivering bread to the poor in secret, Ludwig met with her and asked her questions to erase everyone's suspicions that she was stealing treasures from the castle. He asked her to reveal the contents under her cloak, and as she did a vision of white and red roses was seen. To Ludwig, this meant God's protection was evident. In other versions, it was her brother-in-law who found her. Elizabeth's story is one of the first of many that associates Christian saints with roses.
Another living miracle involved a leper lying the bed she shared with her husband. Her mother-in-law discovered Elizabeth had placed a leper in the bed, and feeling enraged, she informed Ludwig. Annoyed with the situation, Ludwig removed the bedclothes and instantly the \"Almighty God opened the eyes of his soul, and instead of a leper he saw the figure of Christ crucified stretched upon the bed.\"
After her death, miraculous healings began to occur at her graveside near her hospital. Examinations were held for those who had been healed from 1232 to 1235. The investigations, along with testimony from Elizabeth's handmaidens and companions and the immense popularity surrounding her, provided enough reason for her canonization.
Pope Gregory IX canonized her on May 27, 1235.
St. Elizabeth's feast day is celebrated on November 17 and she is the patron saint of bakers; beggars; brides; charities; death of children; homeless people; hospitals; Sisters of Mercy; widows.
Elizabeth's body was laid in a gold shrine in the Elisabeth Church in Marburg. Although the shrine can still be seen today, her body is no longer there. One of her own descendents scattered her remains at the time of the Reformation.
St. Elizabeth is often depicted with a basket of bread to show her devotion for the poor and hungry. She is also painted in honor of the \"Miracle of Roses\" and \"Crucifix in the Bed.\"
St. Elizabeth has been praised by Pope Benedict XVI as a \"model for those in authority.\"
", "tags": "elizabeth hungary", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 828, "action": "Acisclus", "tags": "acisclus spain cordoba" }, { "id": 829, "action": "\n A\n \n martyr\n \n whose\n \n life\n \n is mentioned by St. Eulogius, alongside the sufferings of his sister, Victoria. This\n \n martyr\n \n lived in CĂłrdoba, Spain. When arrested, Acisclus and\n \n Victoria\n \n clearly maintained their\n \n Christian\n \n \n faith\n \n and were condemned to death after prolonged torture.\n \n Victoria\n \n was shot by arrows and Acisclus was beheaded. Some records indicate the two died during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian. There is considerable\n \n doubt\n \n about whether\n \n Victoria\n \n ever existed at all, but both she and Acisclus are remembered in Mozarabic liturgical rites.\n
\n", "tags": "acisclus", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 830, "action": "Hugh of Lincoln", "tags": "swans sick children hugh lincoln" }, { "id": 831, "action": "\n Hugh of\n \n Lincoln\n \n was the son of William,\n \n Lord\n \n of Avalon. He was born at Avalon Castle in\n \n Burgundy\n \n and was raised and educated at a\n \n convent\n \n at Villard-Benoit after his mother died when he was eight. He was professed at fifteen, ordained a deacon at nineteen, and was made\n \n prior\n \n of a monastery at Saint-Maxim. While visiting the Grande Chartreuse with his\n \n prior\n \n in 1160. It was then he decided to become a Carthusian there and was ordained. After ten years, he was named\n \n procurator\n \n and in 1175 became\n \n Abbot\n \n of the first Carthusian monastery in England. This had been built by King\n \n Henry II\n \n as part of his\n \n penance\n \n for the\n \n murder\n \n of Thomas Becket.\n
\nHis reputation for holiness and sanctity spread all over England and attracted many to the monastery. He admonished Henry for keeping Sees vacant to enrich the royal coffers. Income from the vacant Sees went to the royal treasury. He was then named bishop of the eighteen year old vacant See of Lincoln in 1186 - a post he accepted only when ordered to do so by the prior of the Grande Chartreuse. Hugh quickly restored clerical discipline, labored to restore religion to the diocese, and became known for his wisdom and justice.
He was one of the leaders in denouncing the persecution of the Jews that swept England, 1190-91, repeatedly facing down armed mobs and making them release their victims. He went on a diplomatic mission to France for King John in 1199, visiting the Grande Chartreuse, Cluny, and Citeaux, and returned from the trip in poor health. A few months later, while attending a national council in London, he was stricken and died two months later at the Old Temple in London on November 16. He was canonized twenty years later, in 1220, the first Carthusian to be so honored.
", "tags": "hugh lincoln", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 832, "action": "Gregory Thaumaturgus", "tags": "gregory situations forgotten impossible causes thaumaturgus desperate lost" }, { "id": 833, "action": "\n Gregory was of a distinguished\n \n pagan\n \n family. He was born at Neocaesarea, Pontus, and studied\n \n law\n \n there. About 233, he and his brother, Athenodorus, accompanied his sister, who was joining her husband in Caesarea, Palestine, while they continued on to\n \n Beirut\n \n to continue their\n \n law\n \n studies. They met Origen and instead of going to Beirut, entered his school at Caesarea, studied theology, were converted to\n \n Christianity\n \n by Origen, and became his disciples. Gregory returned to Neocaesarea about 238, intending to practice law, but was elected\n \n bishop\n \n by the seventeen Christians of the city. It soon became apparent that he was gifted with remarkable powers. He preached eloquently, made so many converts he was able to build a church, and soon was so reknowned for his miracles that he was surnamed Thaumaturgus (the wonderworker). He was a much-sought-after arbiter for his\n \n wisdom\n \n and legal\n \n knowledge\n \n and ability, advised his flock to go into hiding when Decius'\n \n persecution\n \n of the Christians broke out in 250, and fled to the\n \n desert\n \n with his deacon. On his return, he ministered to his flock when plague struck his See and when the Goths devastated Pontus, 252-254, which he described in his \"Canonical Letter.\" He participated in the\n \n synod\n \n of Antioch, 264-265, against Samosata, and fought sabellianism and Tritheism. It is reported that at his death at Neocaesarea, only seventeen unbelievers were left in the city. He is invoked against floods and earthquakes (at one\n \n time\n \n he reportedly stopped the flooding Lycus, and at another, he moved a mountain). According to Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Thaumaturgus experienced a vision of Our Lady, the first such recorded vision. He wrote a panegyric to Origen, a treatise on the Creed, and a dissertation addressed to Theopompus; St. Gregory of\n \n Nyssa\n \n wrote a panegyric to Gregory Thaumaturgus. His\n \n feast day\n \n is November 17th.\n
\n", "tags": "gregory thaumaturgus", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 834, "action": "Odo", "tags": "rain odo" }, { "id": 835, "action": "\n Odo was born near Le Mans, France. He was raised in the households of Count Fulk II of Anjou and Duke William of Aquitaine, received the\n \n tonsure\n \n when he was nineteen, received a canonry at St. Martin's in Tours, and then spent several years studying at Paris, particularly music, under Remigius of Auxerre. Odo became a\n \n monk\n \n under\n \n Berno\n \n at Baume-les-Messieurs near Besancon in 909, was named director of the Baume Monastery school by Berno, who became\n \n abbot\n \n of the newly founded Cluny, and in 924 was named\n \n abbot\n \n of Baume. He succeeded\n \n Berno\n \n as second\n \n abbot\n \n of Cluny in 927, continued Berno's work of reforming abbeys from Cluny, and in 931 was authorized by Pope\n \n John XI\n \n to reform the monasteries of northern\n \n France\n \n and Italy. Odo was called to\n \n Rome\n \n by Pope\n \n Leo VII\n \n in 936 to arrange peace between Alberic of\n \n Rome\n \n and Hugh of Provence, who was besieging the city, and succeeded temporarily by negotiating a marriage between Alberic and Hugh's daughter; Odo returned to\n \n Rome\n \n twice in the next six years to reconcile Alberic and Hugh. Odo spread Cluny's influence to monasteries all over Europe, encountering and overcoming much opposition, and successfully persuaded secular rulers to relinquish control of monasteries they had been illegally controlling. He died at\n \n Tours\n \n on the way back to\n \n Rome\n \n on November 18. He wrote hymns, treatises on morality, an epic poem on the Redemption, and a\n \n life\n \n of\n \n St. Gerald of Aurillac\n \n . His\n \n feast day\n \n is November 18th.\n
\n", "tags": "odo", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, null, [ { "id": 836, "action": "Cecilia", "tags": "vocalists integrity omaha faith instrument cecilia music musicians france martyrs moral arch nebraska murdered composers makers musical singers confessors usa albi as" }, { "id": 837, "action": "\n In the fourth century a Greek religious romance on the Loves of Cecilia and Valerian was written in glorification of virginal life with the purpose of taking the place of then-popular sensual romances.\n
\nConsequently, until better evidence is produced, we must conclude that St. Cecilia was not known or venerated in Rome until about the time when Pope Gelasius (496) introduced her name into his Sacramentary.
It is said that there was a church dedicated to St. Cecilia in Rome in the fifth century, in which Pope Symmachus held a council in 500.
The story of St. Cecilia is not without beauty or merit. She is said to have been quite close to God and prayed often:
In the city of Rome there was a virgin named Cecilia, who came from an extremely rich family and was given in marriage to a youth named Valerian. She wore sackcloth next to her skin, fasted, and invoked the saints, angels, and virgins, beseeching them to guard her virginity
During her wedding ceremony she was said to have sung in her heart to God and before the consummation of her nuptials, she told her husband she had taken a vow of virginity and had an angel protecting her. Valerian asked to see the angel as proof, and Cecilia told him he would have eyes to see once he traveled to the third milestone on the Via Appia (Appian Way) and was baptized by Pope Urbanus.
Following his baptism, Valerian returned to his wife and found an angel at her side. The angel then crowned Cecilia with a chaplet of rose and lily and when Valerian's brother, Tibertius, heard of the angel and his brother's baptism, he also was baptized and together the brothers dedicated their lives to burying the saints who were murdered each day by the prefect of the city, Turcius Almachius.
Both brothers were eventually arrested and brought before the prefect where they were executed after they refused to offer a sacrifice to the gods.
As her husband and brother-in-law buried the dead, St. Cecilia spent her time preaching and in her lifetime was able to convert over four hundred people, most of whom were baptized by Pope Urban.
Cecilia was later arrested and condemned to be suffocated in the baths. She was shut in for one night and one day, as fires were heaped up and stoked to a terrifying heat - but Cecilia did not even sweat.
When Almachius heard this, he sent an executioner to cut off her head in the baths.
The executioner struck her three times but was unable to decapitate her so he left her bleeding and she lived for three days. Crowds came to her and collected her blood while she preached to them or prayed. On the third day she died and was buried by Pope Urban and his deacons.
St. Cecilia is regarded as the patroness of music, because she heard heavenly music in her heart when she was married, and is represented in art with an organ or organ-pipes in her hand.
Officials exhumed her body in 1599 and found her to be incorrupt, the first of all incurrupt saints. She was draped in a silk veil and wore a gold embroidered dress. Officials only looked through the veil in an act of holy reverence and made no further examinations. They also reported a \"mysterious and delightful flower-like odor which proceeded from the coffin.\"
St. Cecilia's remains were transferred to Cecilia's titular church in Trastevere and placed under the high altar.
In 1599 Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati, nephew of Pope Gregory XIV, rebuilt the church of St. Cecilia.
", "tags": "cecilia", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 838, "action": "Clement I", "tags": "hatters children i workers sick milliners hatmakers marble clement" }, { "id": 839, "action": "\n Little is known of this apostolic father beyond a few facts. He was a\n \n disciple\n \n of S. Peter, and perhaps of S. Paul. It is thought that the Clement whom S. Paul praises as a faithful fellow- worker, whose name is written in the Book of\n \n Life\n \n [Philippians 4:3], was Clement, afterwards\n \n bishop\n \n of Rome. But there is great difficulty in admitting this supposition. It is certain that Clement, the idol of the Petrine party in the Primitive Church, about whom their myths and traditions circled lovingly, was quite removed in feeling from the Pauline party.\n
\nAccording to Tertullian, Clement succeeded S. Peter immediately in the episcopal government of the Church at Rome. But in the list of bishops given us by Irenaeus and Eusebius he occupies the third place after the apostle, that is, after Linus and Cletus (Anacletus). It is, however, probable that the Church at Rome had at first two successions, one Petrine, the other Pauline, but that they speedily merged into one; and this will account for the confusion in the lists of the first bishops of Rome. Clement probably was Petrine, and Cletus Pauline bishop, the former ruling the converted Jews, the latter the Gentile converts. We know nothing of the events of his pontificate, except that there was a schism at Corinth, which drew forth a letter from him which is preserved. S. Jerome and S. Irenaeus do not say that he died a martyr's death, but Rufinus and Zosimus give him the title of martyr; but this title by no means implies that he had died for the faith; it had anciently more extended signification than at present, and included all who had witnessed a good confession, and suffered in any way for their faith.
This is all that we know of S. Clement. But imagination has spun a web of romance about his person.
The Clementine Recognitions and Homilies are an early romance representing the disputation of S. Peter and Simon Magus; they have a story running through them to hold the long disquisitions together, of which S. Clement is the hero. It is, however, pure romance, with, perhaps, only this basis of truth in it, that Clement is represented as the devoted adherent and disciple of S. Peter. The Clementines are thoroughly anti-Pauline, as are also the Apostolic Constitutions, in which again S. Clement appears prominently.
The legend of the martyrdom of S. Clement relates that, in the reign of Trajan, when Mamertinus was prefect of the city, and Toractianus count of the offices, a sedition arose among the rabble of Rome against the Christians, and especially against Clement, bishop of Rome. Mamertinus interfered to put down the riot, and having arrested Clement, sent him to the emperor, who ordered his banishment to Pontus, where he was condemned to work in the marble quarries. He found many Christians among his fellow-convicts, and comforted and encouraged them. The only spring of drinking water was six miles off, and it was a great hardship to the convicts to have to fetch it all from such a distance. One day Clement saw a lamb scraping at the soil with one of its forefeet. He took it as a sign that water was there; dug, and found a spring.
As Clement succeeded in converting many pagans, he was sent to Aufidianus, the prefect, who ordered him to be drowned in the sea with an old anchor attached to his neck. His body was recovered by his disciple Phoebus. The relics of S. Clement were translated to Constantinople (860) by S. Cyril on his return from his mission to the Chazars, whilst engaged in the Chersonese on his Sclavonic translation of the Gospels. Some of the relics found their way to Rome, and were deposited in the church of San Clemente, where they are still reverently preserved. These consist of bones, some reddened earth, a broken vase containing some red matter, a little bottle similarly filled, and an inscription stating that these are the relics of the Holy Forty Martyrs of Scilita, and also of Flavius Clement.
In art S. Clement of Rome is represented as a Pope with an anchor at his side. [His death is placed at about 100 A.D.]
From The Lives of the Saints by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, M.A., published in 1914 in Edinburgh.
", "tags": "i clement", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 840, "action": "Colman of Cloyne", "tags": "cloyne ireland colman" }, { "id": 841, "action": "\n St. Colman of Cloyne -\n \n Feast day\n \n - November 24th He was born in Munster, Ireland, son of Lenin. He became a poet and later, royal bard at Cashel. He was baptized by\n \n St. Brendan\n \n when he was fifty years old with the name Colman. He was ordained, and was reputed to be St. Columba's teacher. He became the first\n \n bishop\n \n of Cloyne, of which he is patron, in eastern Cork.\n
\n", "tags": "cloyne colman", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 842, "action": "Catherine of Alexandria", "tags": "etc. catherine craftsmen a spinners libraries learning dying work secretaries young tanners grinders sharpeners wheelwrights librarians lawyers barristers knife who turners apologists women scribes potters jurists wheel attorneys archivists students jurors alexandria people preachers mechanics" }, { "id": 843, "action": "\n Saint Catherine of Alexandria is a canonized saint in the Catholic Church who, per Christian tradition, was martyred around 305 in Alexandria, Egypt. Of course, the Church of the first Millennium was undivided. She is also recognized as the Great Martyr and Saint by the Orthodox Church. There are no surviving primary sources attesting to her existence, but the fact that her memory, and the stories about her, have been kept alive - and handed down in the tradition - certainly confirm her existence, and her life of heroic virtue and holiness.\n
\nThe young saint was born around 287 in Alexandria, Egypt. At that time, Alexandria was one of the finest cities in the world, and a center of learning and culture as well as faith.
Christian tradition states she was of noble birth, possibly a princess. As a member of the nobility, she was also educated and was an avid scholar. Around the age of fourteen, she experienced a moving vision of Mary and the infant Jesus, and she decided to become a Christian.
Although she was a teenager, she was very intelligent and gifted. When the emperor Maxentius began persecuting Christians, Catherine visited him to denounce his cruelty.
Rather than order her execution, Maxentius summoned fifty orators and philosophers to debate her. However, Catherine was moved by the power of the Holy Spirit and spoke eloquently in defense of her faith. Her words were so moving that several of the pagans converted to Christianity and were immediately executed.
Unable to defeat her rhetorically or to intimidate her into giving up her belief, the emperor ordered her to be tortured and imprisoned.
Catherine was arrested and scourged. Despite the torture, she did not abandon her faith. Word of her arrest and the power of her faith quickly spread and over 200 people visited her. According to some legends, the emperor's own wife, Valeria Maximilla was converted by Catherine. The emperor eventually executed his own wife over her conversion. However, this is not mentioned in the historical record and may be a legend. It is believed that Maximilla was alive and with her husband at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, seven years after the death of Catherina.
Following her imprisonment, Maxentius made a final attempt to persuade the beautiful Catherine to abandon her faith by proposing marriage to her. This would have made her a powerful empress. Catherine refused, saying she was married to Jesus Christ and that her virginity was dedicated to him.
The emperor angrily ordered her to be executed on a breaking wheel. The breaking wheel is an ancient form of torture where a person's limbs are threaded among the spokes and their bones are shattered by an executioner with a heavy rod. It is a brutal punishment that results in a slow and painful death, normally reserved for the worst criminals.
When Catherine was presented before the wheel, she touched it and a miracle occurred that caused the wheel to shatter.
Unable to torture her to death, the emperor simply ordered her beheaded.
One account claimed that angels took her body to Mt. Sinai. In the sixth century, the Emperor Justinian ordered a monastery established in her name. The monastery, Saint Catherine's, remains to this day and is one of the oldest in the world.
Around the year 800, a legend spread that her body has been found with her hair still growing and a constant stream of oil coming from her body. Nothing exists to this day of her remains, and her very existence has been called into question.
Despite these questions, and the possibility that her story may be confused with that of one or more other saints, she is still venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church as a Martyr. Many Roman Catholics also venerate her to this day as one of the great virgin saints of the early Church.
During the medieval period, St. Catherine was one of the most famous saints of the Church. She has was a popular subject in renaissance art and many paintings from the period are dedicated to her.
Catherine is still a very popular Catholic name.
The spiked wheel is a popular symbol often associated with St. Catherine.
Her feast day is Nov. 25, and she is the patron of a great many professions and causes. Her patronage includes students, unmarried girls, apologists and many more as well as many places around the world.
", "tags": "alexandria catherine", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 844, "action": "John Berchmans", "tags": "people berchmans john joseph youth servers novices students young altar oblates" }, { "id": 845, "action": "\n Eldest son of a shoemaker,\n \n John\n \n was born at Diest, Brabant. He early wanted to be a priest, and when thirteen became a servant in the household of one of the\n \n Cathedral\n \n canons at Malines,\n \n John\n \n Froymont. In 1615, he entered the newly founded Jesuit\n \n College\n \n at Malines, and the following year became a Jesuit novice. He was sent to\n \n Rome\n \n in 1618 to continue his studies, and was known for his diligence and piety, impressing all with his\n \n holiness\n \n and stress on perfection in little things. He died there on August 13. Many miracles were attributed to him after his death, and he was canonized in 1888. He is the patron of altar boys. His\n \n feast day\n \n is November 26.\n
\n", "tags": "berchmans john", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 846, "action": "Leonard of Port Maurice", "tags": "imperia parish lands missioners leonard italy catholic maurice port missions" }, { "id": 847, "action": "\n Franciscan proponent of the Blessed Sacrament, the devotion of the Sacred Heart, and the Stations of the Cross, as well as the Immaculate Conception. He was born Leonard Casanova in Port Maurice, Porto Maurizio, Italy, and joined the Franciscans of the Strict Observance in 1697. Ordained in 1703, he began preaching all over the\n \n Tuscany\n \n region of Italy. By 1736 he was attracting huge crowds in\n \n Rome\n \n and elsewhere, and he erected almost six hundred\n \n Stations of the Cross\n \n throughout the lands. In 1744, Leonard was sent by Pope Benedict XIV to preach on Corsica, returning to\n \n Rome\n \n in 1751 after receiving a summons from the pope. Leonard died at his friary, St. Bonaventure, on November 26. He was canonized in 1867 and named patron of\n \n parish\n \n missions.\n
\n", "tags": "maurice leonard port", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 848, "action": "Virgilius", "tags": "slovenes virgilius salzburg city austria" }, { "id": 849, "action": "\n Benedictine bishop, also called Vergilius, Virgil, Ferghil, and Feargal. A native of Ireland, he entered a monastery and probably served as\n \n abbot\n \n of Aghaboe before setting out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He then spent two years in France, later going to Bavaria, Germany, where he assisted St. Rupert, the\n \n Apostle\n \n of Austria. He was elected\n \n abbot\n \n of the Benedictine\n \n abbey\n \n of\n \n St. Peter\n \n at\n \n Salzburg\n \n and\n \n bishop\n \n of the city about 765. A noted intellectual, he believed that the earth was a sphere, which brought him into conflict with\n \n St. Boniface\n \n of\n \n Mainz\n \n who twice denounced him to Rome. Both times Virgilius was exonerated, and his reputation as an\n \n Apostle\n \n of Carinthia (modern southern Austria), where he conducted missionary labors, was unblemished. Besides rebuilding the\n \n cathedral\n \n of Salzburg, he encouraged a vast missionary venture into Carinthia. Virgilius died after returning from one such mission on November 27, in Salzbwg. He was canonized in 1232.\n
\n", "tags": "virgilius", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 850, "action": "Andrew, Apostle", "tags": "gout vocalists constantinople amalfi fishmongers russia become who fishermen patras mothers italy scotland women greece fish apostle singers wish sicily andrew dealers sufferers university achaia" }, { "id": 851, "action": "\n St. Andrew, also known as Andrew the Apostle, was a Christian Apostle and the older brother to St. Peter.\n
\nAccording to the New Testament, Andrew was born in the village of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee during the early first century. Much like his younger brother, Simon Peter, Andrew was also a fisherman. Andrew's very name means strong and he was known for having good social skills.
In the Gospel of Matthew, it is said Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee and saw Andrew and Simon Peter fishing. It is then he asked the two to become disciples and \"fishers of men.\"
In the Gospel of Luke, Andrew is not initially named. It describes Jesus using a boat, believed to be solely Simon's, to preach to the multitudes and catch a large amount of fish on a night that originally was dry. Later, in Luke 5:7, it mentions Simon was not the only fisherman on the boat, but it is not until Luke 6:14 that there is talk of Andrew being Simon Peter's brother.
However, the Gospel of John tells a separate story, stating Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist. When Jesus walked by one day, John the Baptist stated, \"Behold, the Lamb of God!\" It is then that Andrew and another made the decision to follow Jesus.
Little else is said about Andrew in the Gospels, but it is believed Andrew was one of the closer disciples to Jesus. It was he who told Jesus about the boy with the loaves and fishes, according to John 6:8. When Philip wanted to speak to Jesus about Greeks seeking him, he spoke to Andrew first. Andrew was also present at the last supper.
Per Christian tradition, Andrew went on to preach the Good News around the shores of the Black Sea and throughout what is now Greece and Turkey. Andrew was martyred by crucifixion in Patras. He was bound, rather than nailed, to a cross, as is described in the Acts of Andrew. He was crucified on a cross form known as \"crux decussata,\" which is an X-shaped cross or a \"saltire.\" Today this is commonly referred to as \"St. Andrew's Cross.\" It is believed Andrew requested to be crucified this way, because he deemed himself \"unworthy to be crucified on the same type of cross as Jesus.\"
Andrew's remains were originally preserved at Patras. However, some believe St. Regulus, who was a monk at Patras, received a vision telling him to hide some of Andrew's bones. Shortly after Regulus' dream, many of Andrew's relics were transferred to Constantinople by order of Roman emperor Constantius II around 357. Regulus later received orders in a second dream telling him to take the bones \"to the ends of the earth.\" He was to build a shrine for them wherever he shipwrecked. He landed on the coat of Fife, Scotland.
In September 1964, Pope Paul VI had all of St. Andrew's relics that ended up in Vatican City sent back to Patras. Now, many of Andrew's relics and the cross on which he was martyred are kept in the Church of St. Andrew in Patras.
St. Andrew is venerated in Georgia as the first preacher of Christianity in that territory and in Cyprus for having struck the rocks creating a gush of healing waters upon landing on the shore.
His saltire cross is featured on the flag of Scotland and is represented in much of his iconography. He is commonly portrayed as an old man with long white hair and a beard, often holding the Gospel book or a scroll.
St. Andrew is the patron saint of fishermen and singers. He is also the patron saint to several countries and cities including: Scotland, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Patras and his feast day is celebrated on November 30.
", "tags": "apostle andrew", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 852, "action": "Bibiana", "tags": "usa angeles single torture victims hangovers los california bibiana laywomen" }, { "id": 853, "action": "\n St. Bibiana, Virgin and\n \n Martyr\n \n (Feast day - December 2nd) Other than the name, nothing is known for certain about this saint. However, we have the following account from a later tradition.\n
\nIn the year 363, Julian the Apostate made Apronianus Governor of Rome. St. Bibiana suffered in the persecution started by him. She was the daughter of Christians, Flavian, a Roman knight, and Dafrosa, his wife. Flavian was tortured and sent into exile, where he died of his wounds. Dafrosa was beheaded, and their two daughters, Bibiana and Demetria, were stripped of their possessions and left to suffer poverty. However, they remained in their house, spending their time in fasting and prayer.
Apronianus, seeing that hunger and want had no effect upon them, summoned them. Demetria, after confessing her Faith, fell dead at the feet of the tyrant. St. Bibiana was reserved for greater sufferings. She was placed in the hands of a wicked woman called Rufina, who in vain endeavored to seduce her. She used blows as well as persuasion, but the Christian virgin remained faithful.
Enraged at the constancy of this saintly virgin, Apronianus ordered her to be tied to a pillar and beaten with scourges, laden with lead plummets, until she expired. The saint endured the torments with joy, and died under the blows inflicted by the hands of the executioner.
", "tags": "bibiana", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 854, "action": "Francis Xavier", "tags": "argentinian blood wisconsin missions louisiana india goa faith spanish borneo players navigators francis indies outer indiana arch prayer tourism foreign indianapolis bay apostleship japan green precious pelota black propagation missioners xavier alexandria usa east african missionaries illinois mongolia joliet" }, { "id": 855, "action": "\n St. Francis Xavier was a Navarrese-Basque Roman Catholic missionary born in the Kingdom of Navarre on April 7, 1506. His father was a privy counselor and finance minister to King John III of Navarre. He was the youngest in his family and resided in a castle which still partially stands today and is in the possession of the Jesuit order.\n
\nAs the young Francis grew, he was surrounded by war. Navarre was the target of a campaign by King Ferdinand of Aragon and Castile, and the kingdom was eventually conquered.
When the war stopped and Francis came of age, he was sent to study at the University of Paris. While there he roomed with his friend, Peter Favre. The pair met and were heavily influenced by Ignatius of Loyola, who encouraged Francis to become a priest.
In 1530, Francis Xavier earned his master's degree, and went on to teach philosophy at the University of Paris.
On August 15, 1534, Francis Xavier along with Peter Favre, and several other friends, made vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The men planned to travel to the Holy Land to convert non-believers. Francis Xavier started his study of theology that same year and was ordained on June 24, 1537.
Pope Paul III approved the formation of their order in 1540, which became The Society of Jesus. The order is more popularly became known as the Jesuits.
While Francis Xavier was becoming a priest, Portugal was colonizing India. The Portuguese settlers in India and elsewhere were losing their faith and Christian values. To restore these values, the King of Portugal asked the Pope to send missionaries to the region.
Pope Paul III asked the new order to take the mission, particularly since they could not undertake their preferred mission to the Holy Land due to warfare there. Ignatius ultimately decided to send Francis.
Francis Xavier left for India in 1541, on his thirty-fifth birthday. As he departed he was informed that the pope appointed him to be the Papal Nuncio in the East. A Papal Nuncio is a diplomat who takes up permanent residence in another country to formally represent the Church there. He arrived in the region and colony of Goa, India on May 6, 1542.
Although Goa had churches and even a bishop in the Portuguese colony, there were few people to preach and minister to the Portuguese, especially outside the walls of the city.
A major problem Francis quickly recognized was the nature of the people and their intentions. Many sailors and settlers were former prisoners who had been recruited from Portuguese jails or were fleeing mistakes they made back home. None of them came to spread or live virtuous lives. Instead they came to escape Portugal, find adventure, or to make fortunes. Still, they settled and made families.
Xavier ministered first to the sick and the children. Then he learned about the native people of the Pearl Fishery Coast, which had been baptized a decade earlier, but were never taught their faith. Xavier began ministering to them. He spent three years among them, but was often embarrassed by the conduct of his Portuguese countrymen who were already Catholic, but frequently misbehaved.
Xavier built 40 churches for the people of the Pearl Fishery Coast. Xavier encountered difficulty in his mission because he usually worked to convert the people first, instead of their leaders.
Xavier eventually decided to travel to Malacca and the Maluku Islands to evangelize the people there. He spent about two years in the region, and while in Malacca, a Japanese man named Anjiro caught up with him. Anjiro was accused of murder in Japan but had managed to flee. Learning about Xavier, he decided to find Xavier and tell him about Japan, which he did. Xavier converted Anjiro to Christianity, making him the first Japanese convert to Christianity.
Xavier returned to Goa for about a year to attend to his official responsibilities, but he was very interested in visiting Japan. In 1549, he finally departed for the country, arriving in July of that year.
The local daimyo warmly received Xavier, but forbade his subjects from converting to Christianity. In addition to the legal obstacle, Xavier found language to be a barrier. The Japanese language was different than any other he had previously encountered.
Xavier was surprised to find that his poverty was a barrier to his communication. Poverty was not respected in feudal Japan as it was in Europe, so Xavier was compelled to change his strategy. On one occasion, when meeting with a local prince, Xavier arranged to be finely dressed and for his fellow missionaries to wait on him. He had gifts from India delivered to him. The charade had the desired effect and improved his reputation.
Despite his efforts, the Japanese were not easily converted. Most held fast to their traditional Buddhist or Shinto beliefs. The Japanese also found the concept of hell as a place of eternal torment to be difficult to accept.
Some traditionalists, including priests from the native religions, grew hostile toward Xavier and Christianity. Xavier established a few congregations, but the religion was suppressed from spreading by the nobility to grew to mistrust the outsiders and their faith. Eventually, Christianity became the subject of great persecution, forcing many to go underground with their belief.
Xavier finished his work in Japan for the time and decided to return to India with a stop in Goa. During his voyage, he was petitioned to meet with the Chinese emperor and argue for the release of several Portuguese prisoners as a representative of their government. Xavier decided to make the trip to China, but first felt the need to return to his headquarters in Goa.
He departed India for the last time in April, 1552 and stopped in Malacca to obtain official documents attesting to his status as a representative of the Portuguese king. However, the harbor in Malacca was now controlled by Alvaro da Gama, the Captain of Malaca and the son of Vasco da Gama.
Da Gama was not friendly to Xavier who refused to recognize his official status as Papal Nuncio. He confiscated the gifts Xavier intended for the Chinese emperor and staffed his ship with a new crew, loyal to himself.
Xavier's ship reached China in August, stopping at an island off the Chinese coast. From there, Xavier was on his own. He managed to find a man to agree to take him to China for a large fee, but while he was waiting for his boat to arrive became ill with a fever. Xavier died on December 3, 1552.
Xavier was buried on the island until February 1553 when his body was removed and taken to Malacca where it was buried at a church for a month. Then one of Xavier?s companions moved his body to his own residence for the rest of the year. In December, his body was moved to Goa. Xavier remains buried in a silver casket enclosed in a glass case.
Several of his bones have been removed. His right arm, used to bless converts, is on display in Rome. Another arm bone is kept on Coloane island, in Macau, which today is part of China.
Xavier was beatified by Pope Paul V on Oct. 25, 1619, and canonized by Gregory XV on March 12, 1622 at the same ceremony as Ignatius of Loyola. He is the patron of Catholic missions and his feast day is on December 3.
", "tags": "xavier francis", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 856, "action": "Barbara", "tags": "barbara saltpetre mine manufacturers technicians armourers founders impenitence artillery firemen integrity mathematicians dying military ordnancemen death imprisoned bomb faith hatters marines genoa cannoners fortifications brass martyrs engineers workers moral milliners italy smelters sudden warehouses italian murdered miners imprisonment hatmakers captives syria confessors by gunners collapse prisoners fireworks as builders architects people tilers" }, { "id": 857, "action": "\n Saint Barbara, also known as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian Greek martyr born mid-third century in Heliopolis, Phoenicia.\n
\nBarbara was the daughter to a rich pagan named Dioscorus. After the death of Barbara's mother, Dioscorus dedicated his life to his only daughter.
Barbara was known for being extremely beautiful. As a way of \"protecting\" her, Dioscorus shielded her from the world by locker her high up within a tower. He allowed only her pagan teachers to see her.
Barbara spent her days gazing upon the hills and admiring all of God's creations. She often pondered about the \"First Cause and Creator of so harmonious and splendid a world.\" She soon realized the idols her father and teachers worshiped were not of God's creation.
Barbara secretly became a Christian and dedicated her life to knowing the true God and making Him known to others. She offered herself completely to the Lord, choosing a life of consecrated virginity.
As Barbara grew older, her father, Dioscorus began presenting men to her for marriage. She refused them all and warned her father that his persistence could forever damage their relationship.
Dioscorus allowed for Barbara to leave her tower, hoping some freedom would change her attitude. Barbara used this opportunity to meet other Christians. They taught her about the Lord Jesus, the Holy Trinity and the Church. A priest from Alexandria, disguised as a merchant, baptized Barbara into Christ and His Church.
While Barbara was out exploring the world, her father had a private bath-house built for her. The original architectural plans were for two windows to be built, but, while her father was away, Barbara advised the workers to make a third window ? creating a Trinity of light.
Barbara's bathhouse became a place full of healing power and many miracles occurred there. St. Simeon Metaphrastes even compared it to the stream of Jordan.
After Dioscorus returned, Barbara informed him she had become a Christian and would no longer worship his idols. Full of rage, her father grabbed his sword and went to strike her. Before he could do so, Barbara ran off.
Her father chased after her, but was abruptly stopped when a hill blocked his way. The hill opened and hid Barbara within a crevice. Dioscorus searched and searched for his daughter, but could not find her.
Dioscorus came across two shepherds and asked them if they had seen her. The first denied, but the second betrayed Barbara. Some legends indicate that he was turned to stone and his flock was turned into locusts.
Her father Dioscorus beat his daughter, locked her up and starved her. He then handed her over to Martianus, the prefect of the city. Together, they continued to beat and torture her, but Barbara never renounced her Christian faith. She prayed to Jesus and he appeared to heal her wounds. This only made Martianus try harder to get her to renounce the Lord and her Christian faith. She refused and her Lord gave her strength to stand firm.
Barbara, along with another virtuous Christian woman named Juliana, were injured with rakes and hooks and led naked throughout the city.
After Barbara prayed, an angel came and covered the pair with a robe and torches used to burn Barbara went out when they came near her.
Finally, Barbara was condemned to death by beheading by her father. Her martyrdom took place on December 4th.
Seen as a punishment for their actions, Dioscorus and Martianus were both killed after being struck by lightning.
In the 6th century relics of St. Barbara were taken to Constantinople. Six hundred years later, they were taken to Kiev by the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenos. Today, they rest at the St. Vladimir cathedral in Kiev.
Doubt and questions surrounding the history of St. Barbara caused her to be removed from the General Roman Calendar, but not from the Catholic Church's list of saints.
The United States Army Field Artillery Association and the United States Army Air Defense Artillery Association hold the Order of Saint Barbara as an honorary society within the military.
St. Barbara is depicted with mini chains, standing by or holding a tower with three windows, carrying a palm branch, and sometimes with cannons.
She is the patron saint of armourers, artillerymen, architects, mathematicians, miners and the Italian Navy. St. Barbara is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, venerated because their intercession is believed to be particularly effective against diseases. Barbara is often invoked against lightning and fire, with associations of explosions. Her feast day is celebrated on December 4.
", "tags": "barbara", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 858, "action": "Catherine of Sweden", "tags": "sweden prevention miscarriage catherine" }, { "id": 859, "action": "\n SAINT CATHERINE OF SWEDEN Virgin, c.1330-1381 This saint is the daughter of an even more famous woman-Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden. Catherine, who was born about 1330, was a married\n \n woman\n \n who, with her husband, took a vow of continence. She went to\n \n Rome\n \n in 1348, where her mother had gone after the death of Catherine's father. Catherine's husband died after she had been in\n \n Rome\n \n a short time, and for the next twenty-five years the two women used that city as a base for\n \n pilgrimages\n \n to a variety of places, including Jerusalem. When not on pilgrimage, they spent their days in\n \n prayer\n \n and meditation and in working with the poor and instructing them in religion. This seemingly quiet\n \n life\n \n was not without perils and adventures. Dissolute young lords repeatedly sought to seduce the Swedish princess, but God's providence unfailingly thwarted their efforts. After the trip to Jerusalem, Bridget died, and Catherine took her mother's body back to Sweden, burying it at Vadstena, in the\n \n convent\n \n of the Order of the Holy Savior, which Bridget had founded. Catherine became\n \n superior\n \n of the order and died on March 24, 1381, mourned like her mother by the whole of Sweden.\n
\n", "tags": "sweden catherine", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 860, "action": "Maruthas", "tags": "persia maruthas iran" }, { "id": 861, "action": "\n Bishop of Maiferkat, in Syria, who wrote the accounts of the Martyrs of\n \n Persia\n \n persecuted under King Shapur II. Maruthas also wrote hymns and was a friend of\n \n St. John\n \n Chrysostom. He was instrumental in restoring the Church in\n \n Persia\n \n in the reign of King Yezdigerd. Maruthas is called \"the Father of the Syrian Church.\" He was also a gifted medical specialist.\n
\n", "tags": "maruthas", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 862, "action": "Osmund", "tags": "ruptures paralysis paralysed osmund people" }, { "id": 863, "action": "
\n Bishop of Salisbury who helped compile the Domesday Book. A member of the Norman nobility, he was the son of Count Henry of Seez and Isabella, half-sister of King\n \n William the Conqueror\n \n of England. He took part in the Norman Conquest and served Williamas his chancellor. In 1078, he was appointed\n \n bishop\n \n of Salisbury, completing the\n \n cathedral\n \n there and founding a\n \n cathedral\n \n \n chapter\n \n of canons regular and school for clerics. Osmund also assisted the king in assembling the massive\n \n census\n \n which became the Domesday Book. In the dispute over investiture between King William II and\n \n St. Anselm\n \n of Canterbury, Osmund initially sided with the king, but later he admitted he had made a mistake, and he begged Anselm's forgiveness. Osmund also collected\n \n manuscripts\n \n for the\n \n cathedral\n \n library, was a copier and binder of books, authored a\n \n life\n \n of St. Aldhelm, and was thought to be responsible for drawing up the books governing the liturgical matters for the\n \n diocese\n \n such as the\n \n Mass\n \n and Divine Office, the so called Sarum Use. Canonized in 1457 by Pope Callistus III, he was the last English\n \n person\n \n to be declared a saint until the canonization of Sts. Thomas More and\n \n John\n \n Fisher in 1935.\n
\n", "tags": "osmund", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 864, "action": "St. Barbara", "tags": "u.s. barbara artillery field st. army" }, { "id": 865, "action": "\n Saint Barbara, also known as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian Greek martyr born mid-third century in Heliopolis, Phoenicia.\n
\nBarbara was the daughter to a rich pagan named Dioscorus. After the death of Barbara's mother, Dioscorus dedicated his life to his only daughter.
Barbara was known for being extremely beautiful. As a way of \"protecting\" her, Dioscorus shielded her from the world by locker her high up within a tower. He allowed only her pagan teachers to see her.
Barbara spent her days gazing upon the hills and admiring all of God's creations. She often pondered about the \"First Cause and Creator of so harmonious and splendid a world.\" She soon realized the idols her father and teachers worshiped were not of God's creation.
Barbara secretly became a Christian and dedicated her life to knowing the true God and making Him known to others. She offered herself completely to the Lord, choosing a life of consecrated virginity.
As Barbara grew older, her father, Dioscorus began presenting men to her for marriage. She refused them all and warned her father that his persistence could forever damage their relationship.
Dioscorus allowed for Barbara to leave her tower, hoping some freedom would change her attitude. Barbara used this opportunity to meet other Christians. They taught her about the Lord Jesus, the Holy Trinity and the Church. A priest from Alexandria, disguised as a merchant, baptized Barbara into Christ and His Church.
While Barbara was out exploring the world, her father had a private bath-house built for her. The original architectural plans were for two windows to be built, but, while her father was away, Barbara advised the workers to make a third window ? creating a Trinity of light.
Barbara's bathhouse became a place full of healing power and many miracles occurred there. St. Simeon Metaphrastes even compared it to the stream of Jordan.
After Dioscorus returned, Barbara informed him she had become a Christian and would no longer worship his idols. Full of rage, her father grabbed his sword and went to strike her. Before he could do so, Barbara ran off.
Her father chased after her, but was abruptly stopped when a hill blocked his way. The hill opened and hid Barbara within a crevice. Dioscorus searched and searched for his daughter, but could not find her.
Dioscorus came across two shepherds and asked them if they had seen her. The first denied, but the second betrayed Barbara. Some legends indicate that he was turned to stone and his flock was turned into locusts.
Her father Dioscorus beat his daughter, locked her up and starved her. He then handed her over to Martianus, the prefect of the city. Together, they continued to beat and torture her, but Barbara never renounced her Christian faith. She prayed to Jesus and he appeared to heal her wounds. This only made Martianus try harder to get her to renounce the Lord and her Christian faith. She refused and her Lord gave her strength to stand firm.
Barbara, along with another virtuous Christian woman named Juliana, were injured with rakes and hooks and led naked throughout the city.
After Barbara prayed, an angel came and covered the pair with a robe and torches used to burn Barbara went out when they came near her.
Finally, Barbara was condemned to death by beheading by her father. Her martyrdom took place on December 4th.
Seen as a punishment for their actions, Dioscorus and Martianus were both killed after being struck by lightning.
In the 6th century relics of St. Barbara were taken to Constantinople. Six hundred years later, they were taken to Kiev by the daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenos. Today, they rest at the St. Vladimir cathedral in Kiev.
Doubt and questions surrounding the history of St. Barbara caused her to be removed from the General Roman Calendar, but not from the Catholic Church's list of saints.
The United States Army Field Artillery Association and the United States Army Air Defense Artillery Association hold the Order of Saint Barbara as an honorary society within the military.
St. Barbara is depicted with mini chains, standing by or holding a tower with three windows, carrying a palm branch, and sometimes with cannons.
She is the patron saint of armourers, artillerymen, architects, mathematicians, miners and the Italian Navy. St. Barbara is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, venerated because their intercession is believed to be particularly effective against diseases. Barbara is often invoked against lightning and fire, with associations of explosions. Her feast day is celebrated on December 4.
", "tags": "barbara st.", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 866, "action": "Sabas", "tags": "sabas lectors" }, { "id": 867, "action": "\n Sabas was born at Mutalaska, Cappadocia, near Caesarea. He was the son of an army officer there who when assigned to Alexandria, left him in the care of an uncle. Mistreated by his uncle's wife, Sabas ran away to another uncle, though he was only eight. When the two uncles became involved in a lawsuit over his estate, he again ran away, this\n \n time\n \n to a monastery near Mutalaska. In\n \n time\n \n the uncles were reconciled and wanted him to marry, but he remained in the monastery. In 456, he went to\n \n Jerusalem\n \n and there entered a monastery under St. Theoctistus. When he was thirty, he became a hermit under the guidance of St. Euthymius, and after Euthymius' death, spent four years alone in the\n \n desert\n \n near Jericho. Despite his desire for solitude, he attracted disciples, organized them into a\n \n laura\n \n in 483, and when his one hundred fifty monks asked for a\n \n priest\n \n and despite his opposition to monks being ordained, he was obliged to accept ordination by\n \n Patriarch\n \n Sallust of\n \n Jerusalem\n \n in 491. He attracted disciples from\n \n Egypt\n \n and Armenia, allowed them a\n \n liturgy\n \n in their own tongue, and built several\n \n hospitals\n \n and another monastery near Jericho. He was appointed\n \n archimandrite\n \n of all\n \n hermits\n \n in Palestine who lived in separate cells, but his custom of going off by himself during\n \n Lent\n \n caused dissension in the monastery, and sixty of his monks left to revive a ruined monastery at Thecuna. He bore them no illwill and aided them with food and supplies. In 511, he was one of a\n \n delegation\n \n of abbots sent to Emperor Anastasius I, a supporter of Eutychianism, which Sabas opposed, to plead with the Emperor to mitigate his\n \n persecution\n \n of orthodox\n \n bishops\n \n and religious. They were unsuccessful. Sabas supported\n \n Elias\n \n of\n \n Jerusalem\n \n when the Emperor exiled him, was a strong supporter of theological orthodoxy, and persuaded many to return to orthodoxy. He was a vigorous opponent of Origenism and monophysitism. In 531, when he was ninety-one, he again went to Constantinople, this\n \n time\n \n to plead with Emperor Justinian to suppress a Samaritan revolt and protect the people of\n \n Jerusalem\n \n from further harassment by the Samritans. He fell ill soon after his return to his\n \n laura\n \n from this trip and died on December 5 at\n \n Laura\n \n Mar Saba, after naming his successor. Sabas is one of the most notable figures of early\n \n monasticism\n \n and is considered one of the founders of Eastern monasticism. The\n \n laura\n \n he founded in the desolate, wild country between\n \n Jerusalem\n \n and the Dead Sea, named Mar Saba after him, was often called the Great\n \n Laura\n \n for its preeminence and produced many great saints. It is still inhabited by monks of the Eastern\n \n Orthodox Church\n \n and is one of the three or four oldest monasteries in the world. His\n \n feast day\n \n is December 5th.\n
\n", "tags": "sabas", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 868, "action": "Nicholas", "tags": "restauranteurs nicholas bari italy" }, { "id": 869, "action": "\n The great veneration with which St. Nicholas has been honored for many ages and the number of altars and churches all over the world that are dedicated in his memory are testimonials to his wonderful holiness and the glory he enjoys with God. As an episcopal see, and his childhood church falling vacant, the holy Nicholas was chosen bishop, and in that station became famous by his extraordinary piety and zeal and by his many astonishing miracles. The Greek histories of his life agree he suffered an imprisonment of the faith and made a glorious confession in the latter part of the persecution raised by Dioletian, and that he was present at the Council of Nicaea and there condemned Arianism. It is said that St. Nicholas died in Myra, and was buried in his cathedral.\n
\nSt. Nicholas' episcopate at Myra during the fourth century is really all that appears indubitable authentic, according to Alban Butler, an English Roman Catholic priest from the 1700s. This is not for lack of material, beginning with the life attributed to the monk who died in 847 as St. Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople. Nevertheless, the universal popularity of the saint for so many centuries requires that some account of the legends surrounding his life should be given.
St. Nicholas, also known as \"Nikolaos of Myra,\" was a fourth century saint and Greek bishop of Myra. Nicholas was born in Asia Minor in the Roman Empire as an only child to Christian parents. Nicholas would take nourishment only once on Wednesdays and Fridays, and that in the evening according to the canons. \"He was exceedingly well brought up by his parents and trod piously in their footsteps. The child, watched over by the church, enlightened his mind and encouraged his thirst for sincere and true religion.\" Both of his parents tragically died during an epidemic when he was a young man, leaving him well off, but to be raised by his uncle - the Bishop of Patara. Nicholas was determined to devote his inheritance to works of charity, and his uncle mentored him as a reader and later ordained him as a presbyter (priest).
An opportunity soon arose for St. Nicholas and his inheritance. A citizen of Patara had lost all his money, and needed to support his three daughters who could not find husbands because of their poverty; so the wretched man was going to give them over to prostitution. Nicholas became informed of this, and thus took a bag of gold and threw it into an open window of the man's house in the night. Here was a dowry for the eldest girl and she was soon duly married. At intervals Nicholas did the same for the second and the third; at the last time the father was on the watch, recognized his benefactor and overwhelmed Nicholas with his gratitude. It would appear that the three purses represented in pictures, came to be mistaken for the heads of three children and so they gave rise to the absurdstory of the children, resuscitated by the saint, who had been killed by an innkeeper and pickled in a brine-tub.
Coming to the city of Myra when the clergy and people of the province were in session to elect a new bishop, St. Nicholas was indicated by God as the man they should choose. This was during the time of persecutions in the beginning of the fourth century and \"as he [Nicholas] was the chief priest of the Christians of this town and preached the truths of faith with a holy liberty, the divine Nicholas was seized by the magistrates, tortured, then chained and thrown into prison with many other Christians. But when the great and religious Constatine, chosen by God, assumed the imperial diadem of the Romans, the prisoners were released from their bonds and with them the illustrious Nicholas, who when he was set at liberty returned to Myra.\"
St. Methodius asserts that \"thanks to the teaching of St. Nicholas the metropolis of Myra alone was untouched by the filth of the Arian heresy, which it firmly rejected as death-dealing poison,\" but says nothing of his presence at the Council of Nicaea in 325.
According to other traditions St. Nicholas was not only there during the Council of Nicaea in 325, but so far forgot himself as to give the heresiarch Arius a slap in the face. The conciliar fathers deprived him of his episcopal insignia and committed him to prison; but our Lord and His Mother appeared there and restored to him both his liberty and his office.
St. Nicholas' presence was found in a separate occasion involving three imperial officers simply on their way to duty in Phrygia. When the men were back again in Constantinople, the jealousy of the prefect Ablavius caused them to be imprisoned on false charges and an order for their death was procured from the Emperor Constantine. When the officers heard this they remembered the example they had witnessed of the powerful love of justice of the Bishop of Myra and they prayed to God that through his merits and by his instrumentality they might yet be saved. That night St. Nicholas appeared in a dream to Constatine, and told him with threats to release the three innocent men, and Ablavius experienced the same thing. In the morning the Emporor and the prefect compared notes, and the condemned men were sent for and questioned. When he heard they had called on the name of the Nicholas of Myra who appeared to him, Constatine set them free and sent them to the bishop with a letter asking him not to threaten him any more, but to pray for the peace of the world. For a long time, this has been the most famous miracle of St. Nicholas, and at the time of St. Methodius was the only thing generally known about him.
The accounts are unanimous that St. Nicholas died and was buried in his episcopal city of Myra, and by the time of Justinian, there was a basilica built in his honor at Constantinople.
An anonymous Greek wrote in the tenth century that, \"the West as well as the East acclaims and glorifies him. Wherever there are people, in the country and the town, in the villages, in the isles, in the furthest parts of the earth, his name is revered and churches are built in his honor. Images of him are set up, panegyrics preached and festivals celebrated. All Christians, young and old, men and women, boys and girls, reverence his memory and call upon his protection. And his favors, which know no limit of time and continue from age to age, are poured out over all the earth; the Scythians know them, as do the Indians and the barbarians, the Africans as well as the Italians.\" \nWhen Myra and its great shrine finally passed into the hands of the Saracens, several Italian cities saw this as an opportunity to acquire the relics of St. Nicholas for themselves. There was great competition for them between Venice and Bari.
Bari won and the relics were carried off under the noses of the lawful Greek custodians and their Mohammedan masters. On May 9, 1087 St. Nicholas' relics safetly landed in Bari, a not inappropriate home seeing that Apulia in those days still had large Greek colonies. A new church was built to shelter the relics and the pope, Bd. Urban II, was present at their enshrining.
At Myra \"the venerable body of the bishop, embalmed as it was in the good ointments of virtue exuded a sweet smelling myrrh, which kept it from corruption and proved a health giving remedy against sickness to the glory o f him who had glorified Jesus Christ, our true God.\" The translation of the relics did not interrupt this phenomenon, and the \"manna of St. Nicholas\" is said to flow to this day. It was one of the great attractions that drew pilgrims to his tomb from all parts of Europe.
The image of St. Nicholas is, more often than any other, found on Byzantine seals. In the later middle ages nearly four hundred churches were dedicated in his honor in England alone, and he is said to have been represented by Christian artists more frequently than any saint, except our Lady.
St. Nicholas is celebrated as the patron saint of several classes of people, especially, in the East, of sailors and in the West of children. The first of these patronage is most likely due to the legend that during his lifetime, he appeared to storm tossed mariners who invoked his aid off the coast of Lycia and brought them safely to port. Sailors in the Aegean and Ionian seas, following a common Eastern custom, had their \"star of St. Nicholas\" and wished one another a good voyage in the phrase \"May St. Nicholas hold the tiller.\"
The legend of the \"three children\" is credited to his patronage of children and various observances, ecclesiastical and secular, connected there with; such were the boy bishop and especially in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, the giving of presents in his name at Christmas time.
This custom in England is not a survival from Catholic times. It was popularized in America by the Dutch Protestants of New Amsterdam who converted the popish saint into a Nordic magician (Santa Claus = Sint Klaes = Saint Nicholas) and was introduced into this country by Bret Harte. It is not the only \"good old English custom\" which, however good, is not \"old English,\" at any rate in its present form. The deliverance of the three imperial officers naturally caused St. Nicholas to be invoked by and on behalf of prisoners and captives, and many miracles of his intervention are recorded in the middle ages.
He is also the patron saint of Greece, Apulia, Sicily and Loraine, and of many citiesand dioceses (including Galway) and churches innumerable. At Rome the basilica of St. Nicholas in the Jail of Tully (in Carcere) was founded between the end of the sixth and the beginning of the seventh centuries. He is named in the preparation of the Byzantine Mass. St. Nicholas became recognized as a saint long before the Roman Catholic Church began the regular canonizing procedures in the late 10th century. Therefore, he does not have a specific date of canonization, rather records of him exist in a gradual spread until his stories became widley known and celebrated. St. Nicholas' feast day is December 6.
", "tags": "nicholas", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 870, "action": "Ambrose", "tags": "commissariat french candle-makers army bee learning keepers ambrose" }, { "id": 871, "action": "\n Saint Ambrose, also known as Aurelius Ambrosius, is one of the four original doctors of the Church. He was the Bishop of Milan and became one of the most important theological figure of the 4th century.\n
\nAmbrose was born around 340 AD to a Roman Christian family. He grew up with his siblings, Satyrus and Marcellina, in Trier, Belgic Gaul (present-day Germany). It is believed by many that when Ambrose was just an infant, a swarm of bees landed on his face and left behind a drop of honey. To his father, this was a sign that Ambrose would become someone great with a wonderful sense for speaking.
After Ambrose's father passed away, he was educated in Rome, where he studied law, literature and rhetoric. Ambrose received a place on the council, like his father, and was made consular prefect, or the Governor, of Liguria and Emilia around 372. Ambrose?s headquarters were in Milan, the then second capital of Italy.
Ambrose remained Governor until 374 when he became the Bishop of Milan. After the former Bishop of Milan died, Ambrose attended the election to prevent any uproars between the Nicene Church and the Arians. While giving an address, the assembly began calling for him to become the next bishop.
Ambrose was known for his Nicene beliefs, but Arians also favored him because he had previously shown charity in theological matters. However, being neither baptized or trained in theology, Ambrose refused to become the next bishop.
He ran and attempted to hide, but his colleague gave him up. Within a week's time, Ambrose was baptized, ordained and duly consecrated bishop of Milan on December 7, 374.
As bishop, he donated all of his land and gave his money to the poor. This made him widely popular and often times more politically powerful than even the emperor.
He studied theology with Simplician, a presbyter of Rome. Using his new education, along with his knowledge of Greek, he took the time to study the Old Testament and Greek authors. He used all of this while preaching; his abilities impressed Augustine of Hippo, who previously thought poorly of Christian preachers.
After meeting Ambrose, Augustine reevaluated himself and was forever changed. In 387, Ambrose baptized Augustine, who he had a great influence on. St. Monica, Augustine's mother, loved Ambrose \"as an angel of God who uprooted her son from his former ways and led him to his convictions of Christ.\"
According to legend, Ambrose tried to put an end to Arianism in Milan. He often attempted to theologically dispute their propositions. The Arians appealed to many high position leaders, but Ambrose was able to stay one step ahead. The Arians increasing strength proved troublesome for Ambrose. Around 386, the Emperor Valentinian II and his mother, Justine, along with many other people, including clergy, laypersons, and military, professed Arianism.
They demanded some of the churches in Milan be dedicated to them, one in the city and one in the suburbs. Ambrose refused and was ordered to appear in front of the council, where he then spoke eloquently in defense of the Church. He is quoted with stating: If you demand my person, I am ready to submit: carry me to prison or to death, I will not resist; but I will never betray the church of Christ. I will not call upon the people to succour me; I will die at the foot of the altar rather than desert it. The tumult of the people I will not encourage: but God alone can appease it.
The imperial court did not like Ambrose's religious principles, but he was sought out to help and speak to Magnus Maximus to prevent him from descending upon Italy. Ambrose was successful.
During a second attempt, the embassy was not successful and Milan was taken. Justine and Valentinian II fled, but Ambrose stayed. He is credited with doing a great service to the sufferers during this time.
In 385, Ambrose once again refused handing over the Portian basilica to Valentinian II, this time to be used by Arian troops. A year later, Ambrose was again ordered to hand over the church for Arian use. Ambrose and his congregation barricaded themselves within the church walls until the imperial order rescinded.
After Theodosius I, emperor of the East, married Justine, Ambrose had him excommunicated for the massacre of 7,000 people. The emperor did several months? worth of public penance.
In his later years, Ambrose retired in Bologna and assisted in the transferring of saints Vitalis and Agricola's relics.
Two years after Theodosius died, after he acquired the possession of the Roman empire, Ambrose passed away on April 4, 397. He was succeeded as bishop of Milan by Simplician.
Ambrose's body remains in the church of St. Ambrogio in Milan, along with the bodies of Saints Gervase and Protase.
St. Ambrose was generous to the poor. He considered them not a group of outsiders, but rather those of the united people. To him, giving to the poor was just a repayment of God's resources, which were intended for everyone equally.
He introduced reforms in the order and manner of public worship. He was known for his \"liturgical flexibility that kept in mind that liturgy was a tool to serve people in worshiping God, and ought not to become a rigid entity that is invariable from place to place.\"
Ambrose is credited with advising Augustine of Hippo to follow local liturgical customs. \"When I am at Rome, I fast on a Saturday; when I am at Milan, I do not. Follow the custom of the church where you are,\" he stated. This advice remains today, and is translated in English as the saying, \"When in Rome, do as the Romans do.\"
Some believe Ambrose was a Christian Universalist, based on interpretations of his writing. The Theological treatises of Ambrose had great influences on Popes Damasus, Siricius and Leo XIII. Ambrose studied largely on the virginity of Mary and her role as Mother of God. He viewed celibacy as superior to marriage and saw Mary as virginity's model.
Ambrose authored many of the Church's important writings and hymns. He is credited with composing the repertory Ambrosian chant, also known as the Antiphonal Chant. He is also credited with composing the hymn \"Te Deum,\" which is believed to have been written when he baptized Augustine of Hippo.
St. Ambrose is the Confessor and Doctor of the Church. He is the patron saint of bee keepers, beggars, learning and Milan, and his feast day is celebrated on December 7.
", "tags": "ambrose", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 872, "action": "Eulalia", "tags": "runaways torture rain victims miscarriages eulalia" }, { "id": 873, "action": "\n St. Eulalia of Merida, Virgin and\n \n Martyr\n \n (Feast day - December 10) Eulalia of Merida was born in\n \n Spain\n \n in the last decade of the third century. It is almost universally accepted that she suffered martyrdom for the Faith. What little else is known of her to date is based mostly on legend. It is believed that Eulalia, as a twelve year old girl, tried to remonstrate with Judge Dacian of Merida for forcing Christians to worship false gods in accord with the edict of Diocletian. Even though Dacian was at first amused and tried to flatter her, Eulalia would not deny Christ. Finally, Dacian ordered that her body be torn by iron hooks. Fire was applied to her wounds to increase her sufferings, and in the process her hair caught fire. She was asphyxiated by the smoke and flames, gaining the crown of martyrdom around the year 304.\n
\n", "tags": "eulalia", "hide": "filter" } ], [ { "id": 874, "action": "Damasus", "tags": "damasus archaeologists" }, { "id": 875, "action": "\n All lovers of\n \n Scripture\n \n have\n \n reason\n \n to celebrate this day. Damasus was the pope who commissioned Saint Jerome to translate the Scriptures into Latin, the Vulgate version of the Bible.\n
\nDamasus was a sixty-year-old deacon when he was elected bishop of Rome in 366. His reign was marked by violence from the start when another group decided to elect a different pope. Both sides tried to enforce their selections through violence. Though the physical fighting stopped, Damasus had to struggle with these opponents throughout his years as pope.
Damasus may not have won this battle directly, but he won the war by initiating works that outlasted all his opponents. Not only did he commission the Vulgate translation but he also changed the liturgical language of the Church from Greek to Latin. He worked hard to preserve and restore the catacombs, the graves of the martyrs, and relics.
Damasus was a writer -- but he didn't author many-volumed treatises as other Christian writers did. Damasus liked to write epigrams in verse: short sayings that capture the essence of what needed to be said. He wrote many epigrams on martyrs and saints. And he wrote one about himself that shows his humility and the respect he had for the martyrs. In a Roman cemetery is the papal crypt he built. All that is left of him there, however, is this: \" I, Damasus, wished to be buried here, but I feared to offend the ashes of these holy ones.\" Instead, when he died in 384, he was buried with his mother and sister.
The arrangement of the names of Christ, however, is manifold: Lord, because He is Spirit; Word, because He is God; Son, because He is the only-begotten son of the Father; Man, because He was born of the Virgin; Priest, because He offered Himself as a sacrifice; Shepherd, because He is a guardian; Worm, because He rose again; Mountain, because He is strong; Way, because there is a straight path through Him to life; Lamb, because He suffered; Corner-Stone, because instruction is His; Teacher, because He demonstrates how to live; Sun, because He is the illuminator; Truth, because He is from the Father; Life, because He is the creator; Bread because He is flesh; Samaritan, because He is the merciful protector; Christ, because He is anointed; Jesus, because He is a mediator; Vine, because we are redeemed by His blood; Lion, because he is king; Rock, because He is firm; Flower, because He is the chosen one; Prophet, because He has revealed what is to come.
From The Faith of the Early Fathers , by William A. Jurgens, Copyright 1970, the Order of St. Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota
Damasus' love and respect for Scripture is shown in his authorization of the Vulgate translation. Spend 30 minutes today reading and meditating on Scripture. Try to make this a daily habit. One way to do this is keep a Bible open by your bedside and read it first thing in the morning and last thing before you turn out the light at night.
Prayer: Saint Damasus, instead of worrying about the short term of life on earth, you took God's view and looked to the things that last. Pray for me that I may be able to look beyond immediate popularity and fleeting favors, and choose to do the things that God wants me to do. Amen
", "tags": "damasus", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 876, "action": "Lucy", "tags": "disorders diseases haemorrhage eye glaziers cutlers blind lucy people" }, { "id": 877, "action": "\n Lucy's history has been lost and all we really know for certain is that this brave woman who lived in Syracuse lost her life during the persecution of Christians in the early fourth century. Her veneration spread to Rome so that by the sixth century the whole Church recognized her courage in defense of the faith.\n
\nBecause people wanted to shed light on Lucy's bravery, legends began to crop up. The one that has passed the test of time tells the story of a young Christian woman who vowed to live her life in service of Christ. Her mother tried to arrange a marriage for her with a pagan and Lucy knew her mother could not be swayed by a young girl's vow, so she devised a plan to convince her mother that Christ was the better partner for life.
After several prayers at the tomb of Saint Agatha, Lucy saw the saint in a dream. St. Agatha told Lucy her mother's illness would be cured through faith, which Lucy used to persuade her mother to give the dowry money to the poor and allow her to commit her life to God.
While Lucy and her mother were grateful to God, the rejected bridegroom was deeply angered and betrayed Lucy's faith to the governor Paschasius. The governor attempted to force her into defilement at a brothel, but the guards who came to take her away were unable to move her, even after hitching her to a team of oxen.
The guards heaped bundles of wood around her but it wouldn't burn so they finally resorted to their swords, and Lucy met her death.
Though details of her life remain unknown, it is widely known that during her lifetime Christians were persecuted for their faith. They were forced to endure horrific torture and often met painful ends during Diocletian's reign. Though the details surrounding her death remain only as legends, it is all modern-day Christians can rely on.
Lucy's legend did not end with her death. According to later accounts, Lucy warned Paschasius he would be punished. When the governor heard this he ordered the guards to gouge out her eyes; however, in another telling, it was Lucy who removed her eyes in an attempt to discourage a persistent suitor who greatly admired them.
When her body was being prepared for burial, they discovered her eyes had been restored.
Sigebert (1030-1112), a monk of Gembloux, wrote sermo de Sancta Lucia, in which he described Lucy's body as remaining undisturbed in Sicily for 400 years until Faroald II, Duke of Spoleto, seized the island and transferred Lucy's remains to Abruzzo, Italy. It was later removed by Emperor Otho I in 972 to Metz and left in the church of St. Vincent. There is much confusion about what happened to her body after its stay at St. Vincent's, but it is believed that several pieces of her body can be found in Rome, Naples, Verona, Lisbon, Milan, Germany, France and Sweden.
In 1981, thieves stole all but her head but police were able to recover them on her feast day.
Lucy, whose name can mean \"light\" or \"lucid,\" is the patron saint of the blind. She is often seen with the emblem of eyes on a cup or plate. In paintings, she is often depicted with a golden plate holding her eyes and often holds a palm branch, which is a symbol of victory over evil.
Saint Lucy's Prayer:
\nSaint Lucy, you did not hide your light under a basket, but let it shine for the whole world, for all the centuries to see. We may not suffer torture in our lives the way you did, but we are still called to let the light of our Christianity illumine our daily lives. Please help us to have the courage to bring our Christianity into our work, our recreation, our relationships, our conversation -- every corner of our day. Amen
\n A native of Cyprus, St. Spyridon was a sheep farmer who had been tortured during the persecutions of Diocletian. Famed for this\n \n knowledge\n \n of the Bible, Spyridon was married and had\n \n children\n \n at the\n \n time\n \n of his elevation to the see of Tremithius. Legends say that he attended the Council of\n \n Nicaea\n \n (321), but his name is not on the official list of attending bishops. He attended the Council of\n \n Sardica\n \n (c. 343), at which Constantius requested the condemnation of Athanasius of Alexandria. Spyridon died c. 348.\n
\n", "tags": "spyridon", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 880, "action": "John of the Cross", "tags": "mystical theology spanish contemplatives john life mystics cross poets contemplative" }, { "id": 881, "action": "\n Saint John of the Cross was born Juan de Yepes y Alvarez, in Fontiveros, Avila, Spain in 1542. His father was employed by wealthy family members as an accountant, but they disowned him when he married a poor woman from the lower class. As a result of his family's poverty, John's family suffered greatly.\n
\nHis father died when he was three, and his older brother, Luis died two years after that, likely because of malnutrition. John's mother eventually found work weaving which helped her to feed her family.
As a child, John was sent to a boarding school for poor and orphaned children. He was given a religious education from a young age and chose to follow a religious path, even as a child. He served as an acolyte at an Augustinian monastery. As he grew older, he went to work in a hospital while attending a Jesuit school.
In 1563, he was able to join the Carmelite Order and took the name, \"John of St. Matthias.\" He made vows the following year, and was sent to the university in Salamanca to study theology and philosophy. He became an expert in the Bible and dared to translate the Song of Songs into Spanish, an act which was controversial since the Church forbade the translation of the Bible from Latin -a measure to protect the original meanings in the scripture.
John became a priest in 1567 and considered joining the Carthusian Order where monks lived cloistered in individual cells. He was attracted by the simple and quiet life. However, he encountered Theresa of Avila, a charismatic Carmelite nun. Theresa asked John to follow her.
John was attracted by the strict routine followed by Theresa, a routine she hoped to reintroduce to her order, as well as her devotion to prayer and simplicity. Her followers went barefoot, and were therefore known as the discalced Carmelites.
On Nov. 28, 1568, Theresa founded a new monastery. The same day, John changed his name again to John of the Cross. Within a couple years, John and his fellow friars, relocated to a larger site for their monastery. He remained at this location until 1572.
In 1572, John traveled to Avila at the invitation of Theresa to become her confessor and spiritual guide. He remained in Avila until 1577. While there, he had a vision of Christ and made a drawing that remains to this day called, \"Christ from Above.\" The little drawing shows Christ on the cross, looking down on him from above. The image has been preserved for centuries.
Around 1575, a rift within the Carmelite order began to grow and create controversy between various monastic houses. There was disagreement between the Discalced Carmelites and the ordinary Carmelites, over reform.
The Discalced Carmelites sought to restore the original, strict routine and regimen that the order had when it was founded. In 1432, the strict rules of the order were \"mitigated\" relieving the Carmelites of some of their most strict rules. Some Carmelites, such as Theresa of Avila, felt this liberalization of their rule had interfered with their order and practice. Theresa, along with John, sought to restore the original rule.
The Carmelites had been undergoing reform since 1566, under the direction of two Canonical Visitors from the Dominican Order, sent by the Vatican. The intervention of the Holy See as well as the political machinations of King Phillip II and his court, led to dramatic, even violent disagreement between the Carmelites.
In late 1577, John was ordered to leave the monastery in Avila and to return to his original house. However, John's work to reform the order had already been approved by the Papal Nuncio, who was a higher authority. Based on that, John chose to ignore the lower order and stay.
On December 2, 1577, a group of Carmelites broke into John's residence and kidnapped him. He was taken by force to the order's main house in Toledo. He was brought before a court and placed on trial for disobedience. He was punished by imprisonment.
A cell was made for him in the monastery that was so small he could barely lie on the floor. He was fed only bread and water, and occasional scraps of salt fish. Each week he was taken into public and lashed, then returned to his cell. His only luxuries were a prayer book and an oil lamp to read it by. To pass the time he wrote poems on paper that was smuggled to him by the friar charged with guarding his cell.
John became known as a remarkable and influential poet, especially following his death. He has been cited as an influence to many poets, mystics, and artists, even Salvador Dali.
After nine months, John managed to pry his cell door from its hinges and escape.
He joined Teresa's nuns in Toledo, and spent six weeks in the hospital to recover. In 1579, he was sent to the town of Baeza to be rector of a new college and to support the Discalced Carmelites in Andalusia.
In 1580, Pope Gregory formally authorized the split between the Discalced Carmelites and the rest of the order. This ended the rift within the order. At that time, there were about 500 members in the order living in 22 houses.
During the last few years of his life, John traveled and established new houses across Spain.
In 1591, John became ill with a skin condition that resulted in an infection. He died on December 14, 1591, John of the Cross died.
Shortly following his burial, there was a dispute over where he should be buried. The dispute was resolved by removing his legs and arms. Over the years, parts of his body were placed on display or buried across several places.
Saint John of the Cross was beatified by Pope Clement X in 1675, and Canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726.
He is the patron of Contemplatives, mystics and Spanish poets and his feast day is celebrated on December 14.
", "tags": "cross john", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, null, [ { "id": 882, "action": "Flannan of Killaloe", "tags": "killaloe flannan" }, { "id": 883, "action": "\n St. Flannan 7th. cent. bishop. Son of an Irish chieftain, Turlough he made a pilgrimage to\n \n Rome\n \n where Pope\n \n John IV\n \n consecrated him. On his return he became first\n \n bishop\n \n of\n \n Killaloe\n \n and also preached in the Hebrides. His\n \n feast day\n \n is December 18th.\n
\n", "tags": "killaloe flannan", "hide": "filter" } ], null, [ { "id": 884, "action": "Dominic of Silos", "tags": "mad rabies dogs insects silos hydrophobia dominic" }, { "id": 885, "action": "\n Benedictine\n \n abbot\n \n and defender of the faith. Born in Canas, Navarre, Spain, circa 1000, he entered the Benedictines at San Millan de Ia Cogolla. King Garcia III of\n \n Navarre\n \n challenged him when he became\n \n abbot\n \n of the monastery, and Dominic refused to surrender part of the Benedictine lands to the crown. For this he was exiled, going to King Ferdinand I of Castile and Leon, who made him\n \n abbot\n \n of\n \n St. Sebastian\n \n \n Abbey\n \n at Silos, now called St. Dominic's. Dominic reformed the abbey, built the cloisters in Romanesque style, and started a\n \n scriptorium\n \n that became famous throughout the region. One of the most beloved saints in Spain, Dominic also rescued\n \n Christian\n \n \n slaves\n \n from the Moors. Dominic's shrine is noted for its place in the birth of Dominic de Guzman, the founder of the Order of Preachers. Dominic de Guzman's mother begged for a child there. Dominic was also noted for miracles of healing.\n
\n", "tags": "silos dominic", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 886, "action": "Victoria", "tags": "victoria spain cordoba" }, { "id": 887, "action": "\n There is very little known about St. Victoria. With her sister Anatolia, she refused importunate suitors. Both were imprisoned and starved by their suitors but persisted in refusing marriage. Anatolia was converted to\n \n Christianity\n \n and converted many in Picenum before being denounced for her faith, for which she was tortured and executed at Thora on Lake Velino in Italy. When\n \n Victoria\n \n refused to\n \n sacrifice\n \n to\n \n pagan\n \n gods, she too was executed, perhaps at Tribulano. The guard was converted by their example and was also martyred. Their whole story is probably a pious myth, though they did actually live.\n \n Feast day\n \n is December 23rd.\n
\n", "tags": "victoria", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 888, "action": "Dagobert II", "tags": "dagobert families ii kings victims parents large kidnap" }, { "id": 889, "action": "\n Martyred king of Austrasia. The son of King Sigebert II , Dagobert took the\n \n throne\n \n as a child and was forced into exile.\n \n Bishop\n \n Dido of Poitiers, France, took him to\n \n Ireland\n \n when Childebert was named king. Dagobert regained his\n \n throne\n \n in 675 , but he was murdered only four years later. Ebroin, the mayor of the palace, slew him on December 23 while on a hunting trip. Dagobert was a friend of St. Wilfrid.\n
\nSt. Dagobert, faithful and true, with our sadness,
\nbut above all, with God's most merciful Grace,
\nplease hear us ad come to the help and defense of
\nthe unborn and the helpless...
Amen
A life not fulfilled in Christ is no life at all.
\nWhere true Charity is, there is where Our Blessed Lord is.
\nTherefore, in this world of Souls, we need to be like St. Paul.
\nMay the Most Holy Trinity, be always Praised and Adored in Heaven
\nand on earth, forever and ever.
Litany to St. Dagobert (Dagobert II)
St. Dagobert, Faithful King, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Son of the Catholic Church, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Victim and Martyr, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Founder of Monasteries, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Friend of Saints, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Champion of the people, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Determined against Adversity, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Help against Injustice, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Defender of helpless Victims, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Instrument of God, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Guide of light and Wisdom, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Restorer of Peace, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Just servant, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Faithful until the End, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Peace be with you, Pray for us.
\nSt. Dagobert, Friend of God, Pray for us.
Published with permission to Catholic Online, with many thanks to Brother Francis Nave.
", "tags": "dagobert ii", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 890, "action": "Stephen", "tags": "deacons hungary bricklayers stone masons building stephen trade" }, { "id": 891, "action": "\n Saint Stephen was one of the first ordained deacons of the Church. He was also the first Christian martyr. The Greek word from which we derive the English word martyr literally means witness. In that sense, every Christian is called to bear witness to Jesus Christ, in both their words and their actions. Not all are asked to shed their blood.\n
\nThose who do shed their blood for the faith are the greatest of witnesses. They have been especially honored since the very beginning of Christianity. Stephen was so conformed to Jesus in his holy life that his martyrdom was both a natural and supernatural sign of his love for the Lord. It also inspired the early believers as they faced the first round of brutal persecution.
His behavior, even forgiving those who were taking his life while he was being stoned to death, was a beautiful reflection of how conformed he truly was to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is recorded in Chapter 7 of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 7:54-60), which immediately follows the Gospels in the New Testament.
The 6th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles contains an account of the choice of the first seven deacons of the Church. As the Apostles worked to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ as his elders, some of the Greek-speaking widows were being neglected in their practical needs. The Twelve decided to ordain seven deacons to oversee their care. In doing so, the deacons extended the pastoral care of the Apostles, the first Bishops of the early Church, enabling them to attend more to teaching.
Of the seven ordained, Stephen was the oldest and given the title of \"archdeacon,\" the chief among them. Little is known about him before this account. Like most of the early Christian leaders, he was Jewish, but may have come came from among the Greek speaking or Hellenistic believers, the ones feeling slighted in the distribution of alms.
Great preaching and miracles were attributed to Stephen. The Bible records that Stephen \"full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.\" Stephen s popularity created enemies among some Jews, members of the Synagogue of Roman Freedmen. They debated with him, to generate evidence against him in furtherance of their persecution of the early Church.
They accused him of blasphemy, of speaking against God and Moses. The charges inflamed the local populace which demanded he be tried and punished. When Stephen was put on trial, several false witnesses were brought forward by the Sanhedrin to testify that he was guilty of blasphemy. He was charged with predicting that Jesus would destroy the Temple and for preaching against Mosaic law.
Stephen was filled with wisdom from heaven. He responded by detailing the history of Israel and outlining the blessings God had bestowed upon his chosen people. He also explained how disobedient Israel had become, despite the goodness and mercy of the Lord. Stephen explained that Jesus had come to fulfil the law of Moses, not destroy it. He quoted extensively from the Hebrew scriptures to prove his case.
Finally, he admonished the Sanhedrin, saying, \"You stubborn people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears. You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Can you name a single prophet your ancestors never persecuted? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Upright One, and now you have become his betrayers, his murderers. In spite of being given the Law through angels, you have not kept it.\" (Acts 7:51-53)
As Stephen concluded his defense, he looked up and saw a vision of Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He said, \"Look, I can see heaven thrown open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.\" That vision was taken as the final proof of blasphemy to the Jews who did not believe Jesus was the Messiah or Son of God. For them, Jesus could not possibly be beside the Father in Heaven. The crowd rushed upon Stephen and carried him outside of the city to stone him to death.
As Stephen was being brutally stoned, he spoke his last words, \"Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, do not hold this sin against them.\" Words which echoed the very words of Jesus on the Cross. Following those words, Stephen died, in the Lord.
Watching the trial and execution was a Rabbi named Saul of Tarsus, a virulent persecutor of the early Church. Shortly thereafter, that Rabbi would himself encounter the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus and be dramatically converted. His encounter is recorded in the 9th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. He took the name Paul as a sign of his new life in Jesus Christ and went on to become the great apostle to the Gentiles.
Stephen was buried by Christians, but the location of his tomb is not specified in the New Testament and may have been forgotten for a time. In 415 a Christian priest claimed he had a vision of the tomb and located Stephen s remains. A name inside the tomb confirmed the find.
St. Stephen is often depicted with stones, a Gospel Book, a miniature church and a martyr's palm frond. He is the patron saint of Altar Servers, bricklayers, casket makers and deacons and his feast day is celebrated on December 26.
Join with us in offering this prayer, written by Deacon Keith Fournier, seeking his intercession:
\"Lord Jesus, Receive my Spirit\" (St. Stephen, Martyr)
A Prayer by Deacon Keith Fournier
\nLord Jesus, you chose Stephen as the first deacon and martyr of your One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The heroic witness of his holy life and death reveals your continued presence among us. Through following the example of his living faith, and by his intercession, empower us by your Holy Spirit to live as witnesses to the faith in this New Missionary Age. No matter what our state in life, career or vocation, help us to proclaim, in both word and in deed, the fullness of the Gospel to a world which is waiting to be born anew in Jesus Christ. Pour out upon your whole Church, the same Holy Spirit which animated St Stephen, Martyr, to be faithful to the end, which is a beginning of life eternal in the communion of the Trinity.
\n St. John, Apostle and Evangelist\n
\nSt. John the Apostle, the son of Zebedee and Salome, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. John was called to be an Apostle by our Lord in the first year of His public ministry. He is considered the same person as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos and the Beloved Disciple. John's older brother was St. James the Great, another one of Jesus' Twelve Apostles. Jesus referred to the brothers as \"Boanerges,\" meaning \"sons of thunder.\" John is believed to be the longest living apostle and the only not to die a martyr's death.
John, along with Peter and James, were the only witnesses of the raising of Daughter of Jairus, and the closest witnesses to the Agony in Gethsemane. John was the one who reported to Jesus they had \"'forbidden' a non-disciple from casting out demons in Jesus' name.\" This prompted Jesus to state, \"he who is not against us is on our side.\"
John and Peter were the only two apostles sent by Jesus to make preparations for the final Passover meal, the Last Supper. During the meal, St. John sat next to Jesus, leaning on him rather than lying along the couches.
John was the only one of the Twelve Apostles who did not forsake the Savior in the hour of His Passion. He stood faithfully at the cross when the Savior made him the guardian of His Mother.
After the Assumption of Mary, John went to Ephesus, according to Church tradition. He later became banished by the Roman authorities to the Greek Island of Patmos; this is where he allegedly wrote the Book of Revelation. It is said John was banished in the late 1st century, during the reign of the Emperor Domitian, after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering no injuries. It is also said that all those who witnessed the miracle in the Colosseum were converted to Christianity. Emperor Domitian was known for his persecution of Christians.
John is known as the author of the Gospel of John and four other books in the New Testament - the three Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation. The authorship of the Gospel is credited to the \"disciple whom Jesus loved,\" and John 21:24 claims the Gospel of John is based on the \"Beloved Disciple's\" testimony. However, the true authorship has been debated on since 200. In his Eclesiastical History, Eusebius states the First Epistle of John and the Gospel of John are agreed upon as John's. Eusebius continues to state the second and third epistles of John are not John the Apostle's.
In the Gospel of John, the phrase \"the disciple whom Jesus loved,\" or \"the Beloved Disciple\" is used five times, but is not used in any other New Testament accounts of Jesus.
St. John is called the Apostle of Charity, a virtue he had learned from his Divine Master, and which he constantly inculcated by word and example. The \"beloved disciple\" died in Ephesus after AD 98, where a stately church was erected over his tomb. It was afterwards converted into a Mohammedan mosque.
St. John is the patron saint of love, loyalty, friendships, and authors. He is often depicted in art as the author of the Gospel with an eagle, symbolizing \"the height he rose to in his gospel.\" In other icons, he is shown looking up into heaven and dictating his Gospel to his disciple.
St. John, Apostle and Evangelist's feast day is celebrated on December 27.
", "tags": "apostle john", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 894, "action": "Fabiola", "tags": "unfaithfulness fabiola adultery abuse victims divorced marriages people difficult" }, { "id": 895, "action": "\n Fabiola was a wealthy Roman Patrician of the famous Fabia family. She was for a\n \n time\n \n a member of St. Jerome's circle but fell away, divorced her husband for his dissolute life, and remarried. On the death of her second husband, she returned to the Church, devoted herself to charitable works and aiding churches, and built the first\n \n Christian\n \n public hospital in the West, where she personally tended the sick. She visited Jerome at\n \n Bethlehem\n \n in 395, supported him in his controversy with\n \n Patriarch\n \n \n John\n \n of Jerusalem, decided not to join Paula's community, and on her return to Rome, continued her charitable work, opening a\n \n hospice\n \n for poor pilgrims at Porto with St. Pammachius. Jerome wrote two treatises for her and is the source of most of our information about her. Her\n \n feast day\n \n is December 27th.\n
\n", "tags": "fabiola", "hide": "filter" }, { "id": 896, "action": "John the Evangelist", "tags": "usa ohio evangelist john cleveland" }, { "id": 897, "action": "\n Saint\n \n John\n \n the Divine as the son of Zebedee, and his mother's name was\n \n Salome\n \n [Matthew 4:21, 27:56;\n \n Mark\n \n 15:40, 16:1]. They lived on the shores of the sea of Galilee. The brother of Saint John, probably considerably older, was Saint James. The mention of the \"hired men\" [Mark 1:20], and of Saint John's \"home\" [John 19:27], implies that the\n \n condition\n \n of\n \n Salome\n \n and her\n \n children\n \n was not one of great poverty.\n
\nSS. John and James followed the Baptist when he preached repentance in the wilderness of Jordan. There can be little doubt that the two disciples, whom Saint John does not name (John 1:35), who looked on Jesus \"as he walked,\" when the Baptist exclaimed with prophetic perception, \"Behold the Lamb of God!\" were Andrew and John. They followed and asked the Lord where he dwelt. He bade them come and see, and they stayed with him all day. Of the subject of conversation that took place in this interview no record has come to us, but it was probably the starting-point of the entire devotion of heart and soul which lasted through the life of the Beloved Apostle.
John apparently followed his new Master to Galilee, and was with him at the marriage feast of Cana, journeyed with him to Capernaum, and thenceforth never left him, save when sent on the missionary expedition with another, invested with the power of healing. He, James, and Peter, came within the innermost circle of their Lord's friends, and these three were suffered to remain with Christ when all the rest of the apostles were kept at a distance [Mark 5:37, Matthew 17:1, 26:37]. Peter, James, and John were with Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. The mother of James and John, knowing our Lord's love for the brethren, made special request for them, that they might sit, one on his right hand, the other on his left, in his kingdom [Matthew 20:21]. There must have been much impetuosity in the character of the brothers, for they obtained the nickname of Boanerges, Sons of Thunder [Mark 3:17, see also Luke 9:54]. It is not necessary to dwell on the familiar history of the Last Supper and the Passion. To John was committed by our Lord the highest of privileges, the care of his mother [John 19:27]. John [the \"disciple whom Jesus loved\"] and Peter were the first to receive the news from the Magdalene of the Resurrection [John 20:2], and they hastened at once to the sepulchre, and there when Peter was restrained by awe, John impetuously \"reached the tomb first.\"
In the interval between the Resurrection and the Ascension, John and Peter were together on the Sea of Galilee [John 21:1], having returned to their old calling, and old familiar haunts.
When Christ appeared on the shore in the dusk of morning, John was the first to recognize him. The last words of the Gospel reveal the attachment which existed between the two apostles. It was not enough for Peter to know his own fate, he must learn also something of the future that awaited his friend. The Acts show us them still united, entering together as worshippers into the Temple [Acts 3:1], and protesting together against the threats of the Sanhedrin [Acts 4:13]. They were fellow-workers together in the first step of Church expansion. The apostle whose wrath had been kindled at the unbelief of the Samaritans, was the first to receive these Samaritans as brethren [Luke 9:54, Acts 8:14].
He probably remained at Jerusalem until the assumption of the Virgin, though tradition of no great antiquity or weight asserts that he took her to Ephesus. When he went to Ephesus is uncertain. He was at Jerusalem fifteen years after Saint Paul's first visit there [Acts 15:6]. There is no trace of his presence there when Saint Paul was at Jerusalem for the last time.
Tradition, more or less trustworthy, completes the history. Irenaeus says that Saint John did not settle at Ephesus until after the death SS. Peter and Paul, and this is probable. He certainly as not there when Saint Timothy was appointed bishop of that place. Saint Jerome says that he supervised and governed all the Churches of Asia. He probably took up his abode finally in Ephesus in 97. In the persecution of Domitian he was taken to Rome, and was placed in a cauldron of boiling oil, outside the Latin gate, without the boiling fluid doing him any injury. [Eusebius makes no mention of this. The legend of the boiling oil occurs in Tertullian and in Saint Jerome]. He was sent to labor at the mines in Patmos. At the accession of Nerva he was set free, and returned to Ephesus, and there it is thought that he wrote his gospel. Of his zeal and love combined we have examples in Eusebius, who tells, on the authority of Irenaeus, that Saint John once fled out of a bath on hearing that Cerinthus was in it, lest, as he asserted, the roof should fall in, and crush the heretic. On the other hand, he showed the love that was in him. He commended a young man in whom he was interested to a bishop, and bade him keep his trust well. Some years after he learned that the young man had become a robber. Saint John, though very old, pursued him among the mountain fastnesses, and by his tenderness recovered him.
In his old age, when unable to do more, he was carried into the assembly of the Church at Ephesus, and his sole exhortation was, \"Little children, love one another.\"
The date of his death cannot be fixed with anything like precision, but it is certain that he lived to a very advanced age. He is represented holding a chalice from which issues a dragon, as he is supposed to have been given poison, which was, however, innocuous. Also his symbol is an eagle.
From The Lives of the Saints by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, M.A., published in 1914 in Edinburgh.
", "tags": "evangelist john", "hide": "filter" } ], null, null, [ { "id": 898, "action": "Liberius", "tags": "gall stones liberius" }, { "id": 899, "action": "\n Bishop of Ravenna, Italy. He is revered as the founder of that Italian see.\n
\n", "tags": "liberius", "hide": "filter" } ], null ] }, property: function(m) { return m.planetary.day.start; }, calculate: function(definitions, property) { var date = new Date(property * 1000); var year = date.getYear() + 1900; const leap = new Date(year, 1, 29).getDate() === 29; var doy = Math.floor((date - new Date(date.getFullYear(), 0, 0)) / 1000 / 60 / 60 / 24); doy = leap ? doy - 1 : doy; return definitions.actions[doy] != null ? definitions.actions[doy] : [0]; } };