St. Jane Frances de Chantal
Jane Frances Fremiot de Chantal was the foundress of the Order of the Visitation of Mary. She was born in 1572 and came from a noble family, her father gave her in marriage to the Baron von Chantal in 1592.  As mother she most zealously instructed the children in the ways of virtue and piety and in the observance of every divine precept. With great generosity she supported the poor and took special joy in seeing how divine Providence often blesses and increases the smallest larder.  Therefore she made a vow never to refuse anyone who asked for alms in the Name of Christ.

The death of her husband, who was accidentally shot while on the chase (1601), she bore with Christ-like composure and with all her heart forgave the person who had killed him; then she acted as sponsor for one of his children in order to show her forgiveness openly.  There was a holy friendship between her and her spiritual guide, Francis de Sales; with his approval she left her father and children and founded the Visitation nuns.

Thus, too, it should be with us—firm yet forgiving, and each at the proper place and in the proper measure. Our zeal must not make us hard, fanatic; neither may love degenerate into sentimentalism. In fundamentals, in faith, and in the commandments we must be firm, immovable, with no trace of tolerance; but in our contacts with men, patient, forgiving, tender, conciliatory. The Christian ought be firm and resolute as a father, mild and self-sacrificing as a mother. This tension between complementary virtues we find exemplified in a heroic degree in St. Jane Frances de Chantal.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.

St. Euplius
On August 12, 304 A.D., during the persecution of Diocletian at Catania, in Sicily, a deacon named Euplius was brought to the governor's hall and staunchly professed his faith.  With the Book of Gospels in his hand, he was called before the governor Calvisian and commanded to read from it. The saint read the passage: "Blest are they who suffer persecution for justice's sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."  Euplius then read the passage: "If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."  Questioned by the governor as to what this meant, the youth replied: "It is the law of my Lord, which has been delivered to me." Calvisian asked: "By whom?" Euplius replied: "By Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God."  With that, the governor ordered that he be led away to be tortured.  At the height of his torment Euplius was asked if he still persisted in Christianity.  The saintly youth answered: "What I said before, I say again: I am a Christian and I read the Sacred Scriptures."  The governor realized that he would never give up his faith, and ordered him to be beheaded. St. Euplius died April 29, 304 A.D., praising God all the while.

St. Clare
The Breviary says of her: "Following the example of St. Francis, she distributed all her possessions among the poor.  She fled from the noise of the world and betook herself to a country chapel, where St. Francis himself sheared off her hair and clothed her with a penitential garb (on March 18, 1212, at the age of eighteen).  Then she resided at the Church of St. Damian, where the Lord provided for her a goodly number of companions. So she established a community of nuns and acted as their superior at the wish of St Francis. For forty-two years she directed the nunnery with zeal and prudence, her own life serving as a constant sermon for her sisters to emulate.  Of Pope Innocent IV she requested the privilege that she and her community live in absolute poverty.  She was a most perfect follower of St. Francis of Assisi.

"When the Saracens were besieging Assisi and were preparing to attack the convent, St. Clare asked to be assisted as far as the entrance, for she was ill. In her hand she carried a vessel containing the blessed Eucharist as she prayed: O Lord, do not deliver over to beasts the souls that praise You! (Ps. 73).  Protect Your servants, for You have redeemed them by Your precious Blood. And in the midst of that prayer a voice was heard, saying: Always will I protect you !  The Saracens took to flight."

Heroic in suffering (she was sick for twenty-seven years), she was canonized only two years after her death. Thomas of Celano coined the saying: Clara nomine, vita clarior, clarissima moribus.

Clare was the first flower in the garden of the Poor Man of Assisi.  Poor in earthly goods, but rich in her utter poverty, she was a replica of Jesus, poor in the crib and on the Cross.  At her time the Church generally and many Church men were enmeshed in financial matters and political maneuvering.  Through the renewal of the ideal of poverty, St. Francis effected a "reform of Christian life in head and members."

In our twentieth century there still remain large areas with millions suffering under extreme poverty.  Poverty in itself is no virtue; but it should be made into a virtue.  Let us recall a few of the examples and texts from holy Scripture which show how precious poverty is and what deep reverence we should have toward it.  Christ was poor. His entrance into the world and His departure from it took place in circumstances of greatest need.  He had no house wherein to be born, no crib; no house wherein to die, no deathbed. Poverty stood watch at birth and remained to see His death.  "The foxes have dens and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head" (Matt. 3:20).

At least we can be moderate and frugal, and thereby find the way to the spirit of Christian poverty. St. Clare, help us.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Sts. Tiburtius and Susanna
A sense of reverential awe and deep respect fills us whenever we meet the martyrs of the ancient Church. Yet it is often very difficult to give a strictly historical account of their lives.  Nevertheless, even though we do not know all the biographical details, they are for us representatives of that "army of light," the martyrs, witnesses to Christ.  And we want to be inspired by their example.  Today the Martyrology tells this: "At Rome, between the two laurel trees, the death of the holy martyr Tiburtius.  During the persecution of Diocletian the magistrate Fabian forced him to tread barefoot upon burning coals. As it only served to make him profess the faith more boldly, he was ordered to be led outside the city until the third milestone and there beheaded. . . . At Rome, the holy virgin Susanna.  She came from an illustrious family, and was the niece of the saintly Pope Cams.  At the time of Diocletian she won the palm of martyrdom by being beheaded."

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

St. Philomena
On May 25, 1802, excavators in the ancient Catacomb of St. Priscilla in Rome came upon a well-preserved shelf tomb sealed with terra-cotta slabs in the manner usually reserved for nobility or great martyrs.  The tomb was marked with three tiles, inscribed with the following confusing words: LUMENA / PAXTE / CUMFI. However, if one places the first tile last and separates the words properly, the very intelligible sentence emerges: "Pax tecum, Filumena", which is, "Peace be with you, Philomena" Also inscribed on the tiles were symbols: a lily, arrows, an anchor and a lance, which would appear to indicate virginity and martyrdom. Inside the coffin there were discovered the remains of a girl of about twelve or thirteen years of age, along with a vial or ampulla of her dried blood.

Transferred to the Treasury of the Rare Collection of Christian Antiquity in the Vatican, the remains were soon forgotten by the public, especially since no record existed of a virgin martyr named Philomena.  But in 1805, a Neapolitan priest, Don Francesco di Lucia, traveling to Rome with his newly appointed bishop, requested and, after a brief delay, received the relics of this martyr "Philomena" to enshrine in his village church at Mugnano, near Naples.

Immediately upon the official donation of St. Philomena’s sacred remains, signal favors began to be granted through her intercession and unusual events to occur.  The favors, graces and even miracles started to increase, even before her enshrinement at Mugnano, and they steadily grew in number thereafter-such that this virgin martyr soon earned the title, "Philomena, Powerful with God."  In 1837, only 35 years after her exhumation, Pope Gregory XVI elevated this "Wonder-Worker of the Nineteenth Century" to sainthood.  In an act unprecedented in the history of Catholicism, she became the only person recognized by the Church as a Saint solely on the basis of her powerful intercession, since nothing historical was known of her except her name and the evidence of her martyrdom.

But truly, as her devotees have discovered, no case, of whatever matter is too trivial or too unimportant to concern her.  Among her most devoted clients was St. John Vianney (the Cure D'Ars) whose childlike devotion to this virgin Saint played an intimate part in his daily life.  Other Saints who were always devoted to her, prayed to her and sang her praises were : St. Peter Julian Eymard, St.Peter Chanel, St. Anthony Mary Claret, St. Madelaine Sophie Barat, St. Euphrasia Pelletier, St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, St. John Nepomucene Neumann, Blessed Anna Maria Taigi and Ven. Pauline Jaricot.

A number of Popes have also shown remarkable devotion to Philomena as well: Pope Leo XII (1823-1829) expressed the great admiration for this unknown child-saint and gladly gave his permission for the erection of altars and churches in her honor.  Pope Gregory XVI (1831-1846), who authorized her public veneration showed his esteem and devotion to the Saint by giving her the title of "Patroness of the Living Rosary."  A Mass and proper Office in her honor were approved by him in 1834 or 1835.  This is extraordinary privilege granted to comparatively few Saints. Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) proclaimed her "Patroness of the Children of Mary."  Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) made two pilgrimages to her shrine before his election to the papacy.  After he had become the Vicar of Christ, he gave a valuable cross to the sanctuary He approved the Confraternity of St. Philomena and later raised it to an Arch-confraternity (which is still headquartered at her shrine at Mugnano, Italy).  Pope St. Pius X (1903-1914) spoke warmly of her and manifested his devotion to her in various ways.  Costly gifts were given by him to her shrine.

Excerpted from TAN Books and Publishers, Inc.

St. Lawrence
This young deacon and heroic martyr is numbered among those saints who were most highly venerated by the ancient Roman Church.  Next to the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, that of St. Lawrence ranked highest in the Roman sanctoral cycle. "From the rising of the sun unto its setting," says St. Leo, "whenever the glory of Levites beams forth in splendor, Rome is deemed no less illustrious because of Lawrence than Jerusalem because of Stephen."

Even though we have no genuine account of St. Lawrence's martyrdom, we do possess considerable evidence from most ancient times regarding the particulars of his passion. Legendary Acts tell how Lawrence was a disciple of Pope Sixtus II (257-258), who dearly loved him because of his special talents, but principally because of his innocence; in spite of his youth, the Pope numbered him among the seven deacons of Rome and raised him to the position of archdeacon.  As such, Lawrence had the immediate care of the altar and was at the side of the saintly Pope whenever he offered the holy Sacrifice; to him also was confided the administration of the goods of the Church and the responsibility of caring for the poor.

During the persecution of Emperor Valerian (253-260), Sixtus II and his four deacons were martyred.  Very ardently Lawrence desired to die with his spiritual father and therefore said to him: "Father, where are you going without your son?  Where are you hastening, O priest, without your deacon? Never before did you offer the holy Sacrifice without assistants. In what way have I displeased you? In what way have you found me unfaithful in my office?  Oh, try me again and prove to yourself whether you have chosen an unworthy minister for the service of the Church. So far you have been trusting me with distributing the Blood of the Lord."

This loving complaint of joyous self-oblation Sixtus answered with words of prophecy: "I am not forsaking you, my son; a severer trial is awaiting you for your faith in Christ.  The Lord is considerate toward me because I am a weak old man.  But for you a most glorious triumph is in store. Cease to weep, for already after three days you will follow me".  After these comforting words he admonished him to distribute all the remaining Church goods allocated to the poor.  While Lawrence was dispersing these items in the house of a certain Narcissus, a blind man named Crescentius asked for healing help by the imposition of hands.  The holy deacon made the Sign of the Cross over him and the man began to see.

From his relations with Pope Sixtus, it was known that he acted as the steward over the Church's property.  He was arrested therefore and placed under the watch of a certain Hippolytus.  There in prison Lawrence cured the blind Lucillus and several other blind persons; impressed thereby, Hippolytus embraced the faith and died a martyr.  Ordered by the authorities to surrender the treasures of the Church, Lawrence asked for two days time during which to gather them.  The request was granted and he brought together in the house of Hippolytus the poor and the sick whom he had supported.  These he led to the judge. "Here are the treasures of the Church!"

Lawrence was tortured, scourged, and scorched with glowing plates. In the midst of excruciating pain he prayed: "Lord Jesus Christ, God from God, have mercy on Your servant!"  And he besought the grace of faith for the bystanders. At a certain point the soldier Romanus exclaimed: "I see before you an incomparably beautiful youth. Hasten and baptize me."  He had observed how an angel dried the wounds of Lawrence with a linen cloth during his passion.

Again during the night he was dragged before the judge and threatened with immediate death. But he replied: "My God I honor and Him alone I serve.  Therefore I do not fear your torments; this night shall become as brightest day and as light without any darkness."  When placed upon the glowing gridiron, he jested with his executioners and the cruel tyrant.  "Now you may turn me over, my body is roasted enough on this side."  Shortly after this had been done, he cried again: "At last I am finished; you may now take from me and eat." Then turning to God in prayer: "I thank You, O Lord, that I am permitted to enter Your portals." To comfort him during his torments God said to him: "My servant, do not be afraid. I am with you." He was put to death upon the Viminal Hill and buried on the Tiburtinian Way.

Such the passion and death of this Christian hero, a story that in the Roman Breviary is told by the antiphons and responsories. Already in Constantine's time there was erected over his grave a church that belonged to the seven major basilicas of Rome, St. Lawrence Outside the Walls.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

The Gospel is from St. Matthew 14:22-33. Our Lord sent His disciples to row across the lake, knowing that they would meet strong, gale-force head-winds and be in danger. He did this because He wanted to strengthen their faith and trust in Himself. He intended to come to them at the right moment, working two miracles — walking on the water and calming the storm. This He did and the result was as He had intended — their faith in Him was strengthened, they declared He was the Messiah, the Chosen of God. Peter, already the recognized leader, and always the most daring among them, showed himself ready to risk drowning in order to prove his trust and confidence in Christ. While he trusted in Christ, all went well, but when his faith weakened he would have been lost were it not for the outstretched helping hand of his master. This was also a very necessary lesson in the education of Peter and his companions.

For us, too, there is a necessary lesson in this incident. It is that we must continue to trust in Christ and his loving Father, even when God seems to have deserted us. Most of the troubles and trials of our lives are caused by the injustice and lack of charity of our fellowmen. The remainder can be attributed to our own defects and sins or to some weakness in our mental and bodily make-up. But God foresees all these misfortunes, and can prevent them. Instead he lets them take their course, because they can and should be the means of educating us in our knowledge of life's true meaning and they should draw us closer to him.

Christ foresaw the storm and the grave risk His Apostles would run when He sent them off across the lake. But that trial and the grave danger they ran was for their own good, because they learned to realize that He was from God and they could always trust Him. Our trials and our earthly ailments are also foreseen by God and permitted by him (even if inflicted on us by a sinful fellowman) so that they will draw us closer to Him and help us on the road to heaven.

This they will do, if we accept them and bear with them until He comes to our aid. Our troubles in life are like the growing pains of our youth — they are necessary if we are to arrive at our full stature as sons of God. They form, mold and shape our religious character and bring us closer to God — if we allow them to do so. For the lukewarm Christian who rebels against God because of his earthly sufferings, they can do the opposite. He cannot see the purpose and value of suffering because he has never seriously pondered or grasped the real meaning of this life and God's loving plans for him.

As in the first reading today, God may not be in the tornadoes or earthquakes or roaring fires, nor does He cause them perhaps, but He is ever near to His true children when such calamities occur. He has a purpose in every trial or tribulation which crosses the path of our lives, a purpose always to our eternal advantage if only we will see and accept his will in these trials.

Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.

St. Dominic
The Martyrology gives the following: "At Bologna (upper Italy) the holy confessor Dominic, the saintly and learned founder of the Order of Preachers.  He preserved his virginity inviolate and gained for himself the grace of raising three dead persons to life.  By his word he crushed heresy in the bud and led many souls to piety and to religious life."

Born about 1175 in Castile (Spain), Dominic hailed from the illustrious Guzman family.  First he was a canon regular at Osma; then he founded the Dominican Order, which was approved in 1216. Alongside the Franciscans, it became the most powerful Order in medieval times, giving the Church illustrious preachers — St. Vincent Ferrer, and contemplatives, Sts. Thomas of Aquinas and Pius V — and contributing immeasurably to maintaining the purity of the faith. Through the example of apostolic poverty and the preaching of the word of God the Friar Preachers were to lead men to Christ.  To St. Dominic is attributed the origin and spread of the holy rosary.

The two contemporaries, Dominic and Francis, effected a tremendous spiritual rejuvenation through their own spiritual personalities and through their religious foundations.  Of the two, Dominic was the realist who surpassed the other intellectually and in organizational talent.  His spirit of moderation, clarity of thought, and burning zeal for souls have become the heritage of the Dominican Order.  Legend has contributed the following rare anecdote as preserved in the Breviary: "During pregnancy, Dominic's mother dreamed she was carrying in her womb a little dog that held a burning torch between its teeth; and when she had given birth, it set the whole world on fire.  By this dream it was made manifest beforehand how Dominic would inflame the nations to the practice of Christian virtue through the brightness of his holy example and the fiery ardor of his preaching."  He died at Bologna upon hearing the liturgy's prayer for the dying: "Come, ye saints of God, hasten hither, ye angels!"

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

St. Cyriac and Companions
The Acts concerning these martyrs give many fictional details. Together with Sisinius, Largus and Smaragdus, Cyriac languished a long time in prison. Among the miracles that Cyriac worked was that of freeing through his prayer Arthemia, the daughter of Emperor Diocletian, from an evil spirit. Thereupon he was sent to the Persian king Sapor and performed a similar miracle in favor of his daughter Jobias. But after baptizing the king and 430 of his entourage, he returned to Rome. Upon orders from Maximian the Emperor, he was arrested, chained, and dragged to prison. Four days later he was taken from confinement, drenched with seething pitch, and tortured on the rack; in company with Smaragdus and twenty other Christians he finally was beheaded on the Via Salaria near the gardens of Sallust."

Popular piety has numbered St. Cyriac among the "Fourteen Holy Helpers." The existence of a martyr with this name seems well attested by the trustworthy Depositio Martyrum of 354. The remaining details in the above account are pure fiction. But the story may bring to mind that endless series of heroic souls who suffered for Christ even more dreadful tortures than those fiction describes.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

The Fourteen Holy Helpers
The Fourteen Holy Helpers are invoked as a group because of the Black Plague which devastated Europe from 1346 to 1349.  Among its symptoms were the black tongue, a parched throat, violent headache, fever, and boils on the abdomen.  The victims were attacked without warning, robbing them of their reason, and killed within a few hours; many died without the last Sacraments.  No one was immune, and the disease wreaked havoc in villages and family circles. T he epidemic appeared incurable. The pious turned to Heaven, begging the intervention of the saints, praying to be spared or cured.  Each of these fourteen saints had been efficacious in interceding in some aspect for the stricken during the Black Plague.  The dates are the traditional feast days; not all the saints are on the General Roman Calendar.

1. St. George (April 23rd), soldier-martyr. Invoked for protection for domestic animals and against herpetic diseases.  Also patron of soldiers, England, Portugal, Germany, Aragon, Genoa and Venice.
2. St. Blaise (also Blase and Blasius) (February 3rd), bishop and martyr. He is invoked against diseases of the throat.  Blessing of the throats takes place on his feast day.
3. St. Erasmus (also St. Elmo) (June 2nd), bishop and martyr.  He is invoked against diseases of the stomach and intestine, protection for domestic animals and patron of sailors.
4. St. Pantaleon (July 27th), bishop and martyr. Invoked against consumption, protection for domestic animals and patron of physicians and midwives.
5. St. Vitus (also St. Guy) (June 15th), martyr. Invoked in epilepsy, chorea ("St. Vitus' dance"), lethargy, and the bites of poisonous or mad animals and against storms.  Also protection for domestic animals. Patron of dancer and actors.
6. St. Christopher (also Christophorus) (July 25th), martyr. Invoked against the plague and sudden death.  He is the patron of travelers, especially motorists, and is also invoked in storms.
7. St. Denis (also Dionysius) (October 9th), bishop and martyr.  Invoked against diabolical possession and headaches.
8. St. Cyriacus (also Cyriac) (August 8th), deacon and martyr.  Invoked against diseases of the eye and diabolical possession.  Also interceded for those in temptation, especially at the time of death.
9. St. Acathius (also Acacius) (May 8th), martyr. Invoked against headaches and at the time of death's agony.
10. St. Eustace (also Eustachius, Eustathius) (September 20th), martyr. Invoked against fire — temporal and eternal.  Patron of hunters.  Patron in all kinds of difficulties, and invoked in family troubles.
11. St. Giles (also Aegidius) (September 1st), hermit and abbot.  Invoked against the plague, panic, epilepsy, madness, and nightmares and for a good confession.  Patron of cripples, beggars, and breastfeeding mothers.
12. St. Margaret of Antioch (July 20th), virgin and martyr. Invoked against backache. Patron for women in childbirth.
13. St. Catherine of Alexandria (November 25th), virgin and martyr. Invoked against diseases of the tongue, protection against a sudden and unprovided death. Patroness of Christian philosophers, of maidens, preachers, wheelwrights and mechanics. She is also invoked by students, orators, and barristers as "the wise counselor."
14. St. Barbara (December 4th), virgin and martyr. Invoked against fever and sudden death. Patron of builders, artillerymen and miners. Also invoked against lightning, fire and sudden death.

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St. Sixtus II and companions
Even as the storm of persecution created by Emperor Valerian raged against the Church, the papal throne was not vacant. Sixtus, a Greek, was elected to succeed Stephen.  The emperor's decrees had ordered the Christians to take part in state religious ceremonies and forbade them to assemble in cemeteries.  For nearly a year Sixtus managed to evade the authorities before he was gloriously martyred.

Valerian issued his second edict ordering the execution of Christian bishops, priests, and deacons.  Sixtus had taken to holding services in the private cemetery of Praetextatus because it was not watched as closely by the authorities as was the cemetery of Calixtus.  But in early August of 258, while Sixtus was seated on his episcopal chair and surrounded by the brethren, the soldiers broke in arresting Sixtus and four deacons who were in attendance.  After a formal judgment, Sixtus was led back to the very place where he had been arrested, to face execution. His chief deacon Lawrence, upon hearing the news, hastened to his side, desiring to die with his bishop.  Sixtus consoled his deacon by telling him that he would follow in three days with even greater glory.  The soldiers then placed Sixtus in his chair and swiftly beheaded him.  True to the great pope's words, Lawrence was arrested three days later and executed the same day.

Excerpted from The Popes: A Papal History, J.V. Bartlett

St. Cajetan
Cajetan, a co-founder of the Theatines, received the office of protonotary at Rome from Pope Julius II when still quite young.  After he was ordained priest in 1516, he left the papal court and dedicated himself entirely to the service of the Lord. With his own hands he cared for the sick. Such zeal did he show for the salvation of his fellowmen that he was surnamed the "huntsman for souls."

In order to raise the standards of ecclesiastical discipline among the clergy, Cajetan founded in 1524 a community of Clerks Regular who were to lead an apostolic life.  They were to look with disdain upon all earthly belongings, to receive no income, to accept no salaries from the faithful; only from that which was freely offered were they allowed to retain the means of livelihood.  Thus they were to rely unreservedly upon Divine Providence.

St. Cajetan often prayed eight hours daily. He was particularly active during the Breviary reform under Pope Clement VII.  He was kind, mild, but above all, humble.  He asked God that no one should know the place of his burial. While attending the Christmas celebration at St. Mary of the Crib, he is said to have been given the grace of receiving from Mary the Child Jesus into his arms.  During the sack of Rome by the soldiers of Charles V in 1527, he was tortured and cast into prison because he refused to surrender certain church monies which, in fact, he had distributed among the poor.  An insurrection filled him with such grief and sorrow that he took sick and died.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

St. Donatus
"At Arezzo in Tuscany the death of the holy bishop Donatus.  Besides other miracles, he restored, by means of his prayer, a chalice broken by pagans, according to the account of Pope St. Gregory I.  He was slain under Julian the Apostate about the year 363" (Martyrology).

Legend says that he was born at Nicomedia of parents who had both been slain for Christ's sake. With the holy monk Hilarinus he fled to Arezzo in Tuscany, of which city he afterwards became Bishop. There the Prefect Quadratian, during the persecution under Julian, about 362, commanded both Hilarinus and Donatus to worship idols, and when they both refused, they were slain.  Hilarinus was beaten to death with clubs.  Donatus was in diverse ways savagely tortured, and then put to the sword.  The Christians buried their bodies honourably close by the city.

This feast became widespread in the West in the 11th century and was introduced into the Roman calendar in 1457 to commemorate the victory over Islam in Belgrade.  Before that, the Transfiguration of the Lord was celebrated in the Syrian, Byzantine, and Coptic rites.  The Transfiguration foretells the glory of the Lord as God, and His Ascension into heaven.  It anticipates the glory of heaven, where we shall see God face to face. Through grace, we already share in the divine promise of eternal life.

The Transfiguration 
Our divine Redeemer, being in Galilee about a year before His sacred Passion, took with him St. Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, Sts. James and John, and led them to a retired mountain.  Tradition assures us that this was Mount Thabor, which is exceedingly high and beautiful, and was anciently covered with green trees and shrubs, and was very fruitful. I t rises something like a sugar-loaf, in a vast plain in the middle of Galilee.  This was the place in which the Man-God appeared in His glory.

Whilst Jesus prayed, he suffered that glory which was always due to his sacred humility, and of which, for our sake, He deprived it, to diffuse a ray over His whole body.  His face was altered and shone as the sun, and his garments became white as snow. Moses and Elias were seen by the three apostles in his company on this occasion, and were heard discoursing with him of the death which he was to suffer in Jerusalem.

The three apostles were wonderfully delighted with this glorious vision, and St. Peter cried out to Christ, "Lord, it is good for us to be here.  Let us make three tents: one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias" Whilst St. Peter was speaking, there came, on a sudden, a bright shining cloud from heaven, an emblem of the presence of God's majesty, and from out of this cloud was heard a voice which said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him" The apostles that were present, upon hearing this voice, were seized with a sudden fear, and fell upon the ground; but Jesus, going to them, touched them, and bade them to rise.  They immediately did so, and saw no one but Jesus standing in his ordinary state.

This vision happened in the night.  As they went down the mountain early the next morning, Jesus bade them not to tell any one what they had seen till he should be risen from the dead.

Excerpted from Butler's Lives of the Saints, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

Sts. Sixtus II & Felicissimus & Agapitus
The Martyrs Archdeacon Laurence, Pope Sixtus, Deacons Felicissimus and Agapitus, the Soldier Romanus were citizens of Rome, and suffered in the year 258 under the emperor Valerian (253-259).  Holy Pope Sixtus, born at Athens, received a fine education, preached in Spain and was made bishop in Rome following the martyr's death of Holy Pope Stephen.  These were times when a pope occupying the Roman throne, was known to choose death for the faith.  In a short while St Sixtus also was arrested and put in prison together with his deacons Felicissimus and Agapitus.

When the holy archdeacon Laurence visited Pope Sixtus, whom they held in prison, he cried out with tears: "Whither art thou gone, father?  Why hast thou forsaken thine archdeacon, with whom always thou hast offered the Bloodless Sacrifice?  Take thy son with thee, that I may be thy companion in having blood shed for Christ!" St Sixtus answered him: "I have not forsaken thee, my son. I am old and go to an easy death, but yet greater sufferings await thee.  Know, that after three days upon our death thou shalt follow after me.  And now go, take the church treasury and distribute it to the poor and needy Christians."  St Laurence zealously did the bidding of the holy hierarch.

Having heard, that Pope Sixtus had been taken to trial with the deacons, St Laurence went there so as to witness their deed, and he said to the holy bishop: "Father, I have already fulfilled thy command, and distributed by hand thine treasury; forsake me not!"  Hearing something about treasure, soldiers put him under guard, and the other martyrs were beheaded (+6 August 258).

Dedication of St. Mary Major
St. Mary Major is important to Christendom for three reasons:

(a) It stands as a venerable monument to the Council of Ephesus (431), at which the dogma of Mary's divine Motherhood was solemnly defined; the definition of the Council occasioned a most notable increase in the veneration paid to Mary.

(b) The basilica is Rome's "church of the crib," a kind of Bethlehem within the Eternal City; it also is a celebrated station church, serving, for instance, as the center for Rome's liturgy for the first Mass on Christmas.  In some measure every picture of Mary with the divine Child is traceable to this church.

(c) St. Mary Major is Christendom's first Marian shrine for pilgrims.  It set the precedent for the countless shrines where pilgrims gather to honor our Blessed Mother throughout the world.  Here was introduced an authentic expression of popular piety that has been the source of untold blessings and graces for Christianity in the past as in the present.

The beginnings of St. Mary Major date to the Constantinian period. Originally it was called the Sicinini Basilica; it was the palace of a patrician family by that name before its transformation into a church by Pope Liberius. The story of its origin is legendary, dating from the Middle Ages.  The Breviary gives this version: "Liberius was on the chair of Peter (352-366) when the Roman patrician John and his wife, who was of like nobility, vowed to bequeath their estate to the most holy Virgin and Mother of God, for they had no children to whom their property could go.  The couple gave themselves to assiduous prayer, beseeching Mary to make known to them in some way what pious work they should subsidize in her honor.

"Mary answered their petition and confirmed her reply by means of the following miracle. On the fifth of August — a time when it is unbearably hot in the city of Rome — a portion of the Esquiline would be covered with snow during the night.  During that same night the Mother of God directed John and his wife in separate dreams to build a church to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary on the site where they would see snow lying.  For it was in this manner that she wanted her inheritance to be used.

"John immediately reported the whole matter to Pope Liberius, and he declared that a similar dream had come to him.  Accompanied by clergy and people, Liberius proceeded on the following morning in solemn procession to the snow-covered hill and there marked off the area on which the church in Mary's honor was to be constructed."

Under Pope Sixtus III (432-440) the basilica was rebuilt, and upon the occasion of the definition of Mary's divine Motherhood by the Council of Ephesus, consecrated to her honor (432).  He decorated the apse and walls with mosaics from the lives of Christ and His blessed Mother, which even to this day beautify the church and belong to the oldest we possess.  As early as the end of the fourth century a replica of the Bethlehem nativity grotto had been added; on this account the edifice became known as "St. Mary of the Crib."  To the Christian at Rome this church is Bethlehem. Other names for the basilica are: Liberian Basilica, because it dates to the time of Pope Liberius; St. Mary Major (being the largest church in Mary's honor in Rome); Our Lady of the Snow, because of the miracle that supposedly occasioned its erection.

We could point out how the divine Motherhood mystery dominates all Marian liturgy; for the Theotokos doctrine has kept Mariology Christo-centric in the Church's worship.  Although recent popular devotion to Mary has become to a certain extent soft and sentimental and has, one may say, erected its own sanctuary around Mary as the center, devotion to our Blessed Mother in the liturgy has always remained oriented to Christ.  In the liturgy the divine Motherhood has always been the bridge from Mary to Jesus. One need only examine Matins in honor of Mary or the Masses from her Common to be reassured. Everywhere Christ takes the central position, and Mary is the Christbearer.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

St. Emygdius
Emygdius was born in Treves [Germany] of a noble Frank family.  In his twenty-third year he embraced the faith of Christ in spite of opposition of his parents who were idolaters, and this faith he steadfastly professed.  He lived with three disciples, Euplus, Germanus and Valentinus.  He scorned human pleasures, and thus he applied himself the more entirely to divine things.  Fired with a burning love of the neighbor, he journeyed to Rome in order to bring about the salvation to many souls, and he was there received as a guest, in the Island of the Tiber, where he cured, by baptism, the daughter of his host, who had been ill for five years of an incurable disease. A little later he opened the eyes of a blind man, in the presence of the people by the sign of the Cross.  Thereupon the crowd, thinking that he was the son of Apollo, carried him off by force to the Temple of Aesculapius. he there declared himself the servant of Christ, and by calling upon Christ's name he restored to health a great number of sick persons, who were vainly beseeching the help of the idol.  Emygdius tore down the altars, and having broken in pieces the statue of Aesculapius, he cast it into the Tiber.  These acts, and the conversion of thirteen hundred of the heathen, which followed, together with that of the priests of Aesculapius, enraged Posthumius Titanus, the Prefect of City.  Emygdius, by the counsel of an angel, escaped from his threats, and betook himself to the Pontiff, Saint Marcellus, by whom he was consecrated Bishop, and sent to Ascoli.

On his way thither Emygdius converted a multitude of persons to Christ by the many miracles which he wrought.  The demons, whose wailing issued from the idols and filled the temples upon his arrival at Ascoli, declared a traveler to be the cause of their distress.  The people were aroused, and sought to slay him, whereupon Polymius, the Governor, who was brought out by the tumult, called Emygdius to him, and in a long fruitless discourse he urged him to worship Jupiter and the goddess Angaria, the patroness of Ascoli.  He even promised him as a reward the hand of his daughter Polisia, whom Emygdius converted to Christ and baptized on the spot.  Her baptism was followed by that of sixteen hundred men, the Saint having drawn, by a miracle, an abundance of water from the rock.  Thrown into fury by these events, Polymius cut off the head of the holy Bishop, whereupon the body, wonderful to relate, stood erect, and bearing in its hands the head which had been cast upon the ground, carried it to the Oratory, a distance of three hundred feet. it was removed thence to the principal church, where it is honored by the people of Ascoli, as well as by a multitude of people from other parts of [Italy].  The blessed death of Emygdius took place during the persecution of Diocletian.

Excerpted from Saints of Carmel - Proper Offices of the Saints Granted to the Barefoot Carmelites' 1896 edition, Carmelite Spirituality Blog

St. Oswald
Forced to flee from Northumbria to Scotland when his father, Aethelfrith, was defeated and killed by Raedwald in 617, Oswald was converted to Christianity at Iona while he was in Scotland. When his uncle, King St. Edwin of Northumbria, was killed in battle against pagan King Penda of Mercia and Welsh King Cadwallon in 633, Oswald assembled an army and in 634 defeated a superior force under Cadwallon, who was killed in a battle near Hexham, and Oswald became King of Northumbria.  He attributed his victory to a vision he had had of St. Columba promising him victory and to a huge cross he had erected the night before the battle.  He brought St. Aidan to his kingdom to preach Christianity, gave him the island of Lindisfarne for his see, and acted as his interpreter.  He built churches and monasteries, brought in monks from Scotland to bring his people back to Christianity, and was known for his personal piety and charity.  He married Cyneburga, daughter of Cynegils, first Christian king of Wessex, and died a few years later, on August 5, while fighting against the superior forces of Penda at Maserfield.  He was only thirty-seven at his death.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.

St. John Vianney
During the French Revolution a small band of Ursuline nuns was imprisoned in the Bastille.  To cheer her disconsolate companions, one of the group passed wheaten discs of bread, cut from the loaf of the daily rations, to memorialize the happy days when they were free and could receive Our Lord in Holy Communion.  At that time all religious schools and churches were closed, and those who harbored priests were imprisoned.

At the Vianney farmhouse near Dardilly, France, fugitive priests were offered a refuge.  Here their son was prepared in his tenth year for the reception of Holy Communion by a hunted priest.

While tending his father's sheep, John Vianney fashioned a small statue of Our Lady out of clay.  He hid it in the hollow of an old tree with this petition: "Dear Lady Mary, I love you very much; you must bring Jesus back to His tabernacles very soon!"

On a visit to his aunt at Ecully, John listened to her praises of Father Balley, the parish priest, and he sought the Father's advice regarding his vocation to the priesthood.  The pastor appraised the overgrown, awkward youth of faltering speech and devoid of general education.  Though John was unable to answer the questions pertaining to earthly science which Father asked him, yet, when the priest put to him the questions of the catechism, his face became luminous with lively interest.  He answered every question correctly, and in a manner beyond his years.  The amazed pastor took this evidence as a sign from heaven, prophesying, "You will become a priest!"

The ensuing years brought many trials to John.  He was conscripted; his mother died; he failed often in his studies.  Ordained as a Mass priest, August 12, 1815, he remarked to Our Lady, Queen of the Clergy: "Here is your priest, O Blessed Mother! Stay close to me.  Help me to be a good priest!"

As a curate and as a pastor, St. John Vianney's daily instruction on the catechism found an inspired audience, among whom were noted orators such as Père Lacordaire, O.P., the famed preacher of Notre Dame.  The saintly pastor performed many miracles, but the greatest was his own manner of Eucharistic living.  It was his Lord, living in Father Vianney, who made him "spend and be spent" in ceaseless service for both sinner and saint in the sacred tribunal of penance.

— Rev. Vincent F. Kienberger, O.P.

Blessed Frédéric Janssoone OFM
Frédéric Janssoone was born on November 19, 1838, in the North of France.  His mother was Flemish.  His parents are devout and cultured people and give him a solid education.  He loses his father on January 13, 1848, when he is only nine years old.  Four years later Frédéric feels a call to priesthood and enters the Collège d’Hazebrouck, first, and then the Institution Notre-Dame des Dunes.  In 1855, though, he has to leave school to look for a job to support his mother.

After his mother’s death, in 1861, Frédéric was able to complete his studies. In 1864 he entered the novitiate of the Franciscans in Amiens.  He was ordained a priest in Bourges on August 17, 1870, and took part in the foundation of the convent of Bordeaux and becomes superior of this community.  In 1876 he is sent to Holy Land to be the assistant to the head guard of the Sacred Sites in Palestine.  He helps with administration, promotes a renewal of the custom of Holy Land pilgrimages, reestablishes the ritual of the Way of the Cross in the streets of Jerusalem, and directs the construction of Saint-Catherine’s parish, next to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.  He revises the set of customary regulations that had developed through the centuries between the Latins, the Greeks and the Armenians for the use and maintenance of the shrines of Bethlehem and the Holy Sepulcher. He also is an excellent preacher.

In 1881 he makes his first trip to Canada to establish an annual fund-raising for the Holy Land. In 1888 he returns to Trois-Rivières where he founds the Commissariat for the Holy Land in Canada, that he will direct for 28 years. He preaches retreats and organizes pilgrimages to Saint-Anne-de-Beauprè, the Sanctuaire de la Réparation à Pointe-aux-Trembles and to Saint-Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, where he meets and becomes a friend of Frère André. He dies of stomach cancer in Montreal on August 4, 1916. He was beatified by Pope John-Paul II on September 25, 1988.

Excerpted from the Canadian Religious Conference

The Finding of the Body of St. Stephen
The second festival in honor of the holy protomartyr St. Stephen was instituted by the Church on the occasion of the discovery of his precious remains.  His body lay long concealed, under the ruins of an old tomb, in a place twenty miles from Jerusalem, called Caphargamala, where stood a church which was served by a venerable priest named Lucian.

In the year 415, on Friday, the 3d of December, about nine o'clock at night, Lucian was sleeping in his bed in the baptistery, where he commonly lay in order to guard the sacred vessels of the church.  Being half awake, he saw a tall, comely old man of a venerable aspect, who approached him, and, calling him thrice by his name, bid him go to Jerusalem and tell Bishop John to come and open the tombs in which his remains and those of certain other servants of Christ lay, that through their means God might open to many the gates of His clemency.  This vision was repeated twice.  After the second time, Lucian went to Jerusalem and laid the whole affair before Bishop John, who bade him go and search for the relics, which, the Bishop concluded, would be found under a heap of small stones which lay in a field near his church. In digging up the earth here, three coffins or chests were found. Lucian sent immediately to acquaint Bishop John with this.  He was then at the Council of Diospolis, and, taking along with him Eutonius, Bishop of Sebaste, and Eleutherius, Bishop of Jericho, came to the place.

Upon the opening of St. Stephen's coffin the earth shook, and there came out of the coffin such an agreeable odor that no one remembered to have ever smelled anything like it. There was a vast multitude of people assembled in that place, among whom were many persons afflicted with divers distempers, of whom seventy-three recovered their health upon the spot. They kissed the holy relics, and then shut them up. The Bishop consented to leave a small portion of them at Caphargamala; the rest were carried in the coffin with singing of psalms and hymns, to the Church of Sion at Jerusalem. The translation was performed on the 26th of December, on which day the Church has ever since honored the memory of St. Stephen, commemorating the discovery of his relics on the 3rd of August probably on account of the dedication of some church in his honor.

— Excerpted from Butler's Lives of the Saints

St. Lydia
Saint Lydia was born during the first century in Thyatira, a town famous for its dye works in Asia Minor, famous for its dye works, (hence, her name which means purple seller).  She was a seller of purple dye and was St. Paul's first convert at Philippi. The following is from the Acts of the Apostles:

And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped God, did hear: whose heart the Lord opened to attend to those things which were said by Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying: If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us (Acts 16:14-15).

She was baptized with her household. Thereafter, Paul made his home with her while in Philippi.

Lydia was a woman of hospitality, a woman of faith. As a successful businesswoman, she most likely had a home spacious enough to welcome guests and to use her home as a Christian center, where others would gather for the Holy Mass and prayer. After Paul and Silas were released from prison, they went immediately to Lydia’s house to see and encourage the believers gathered there. Lydia served the Lord through her gift of hospitality by welcoming others into her home.

— Excerpted from Catholic Fire

Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War
Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War is the name given by the Catholic Church to the people who were killed by Republicans during the war, because of their faith.  During this Civil War of 1936-1939, and especially in the early months of the conflict, individual clergymen were executed while entire religious communities were persecuted, leading to a death toll of 13 bishops, 4,172 diocesan priests and seminarians, 2,364 monks and friars and 283 nuns, for a total of 6,832 clerical victims, as part of what is referred to as Spain’s Red Terror, besides the numerous laity.

Pope John Paul II was the first Pope to beatify a large number of martyrs from the Spanish Civil War. Pope Benedict XVI beatified 498 more Spanish martyrs in October 2007, in the largest beatification ceremony in the history of the Catholic Church.

Among the 498 martyrs beatified in October 2007, figure Mother Manuela Arriola and companions – the 23 Martyrs Adorers.  Four more Adorers are in the process of being beatified.  Thus the Congregation of Sisters Adorers is honoured with 27 Martyrs, being true to the desire of our Holy Foundress, St Maria Micaela, who wanted the candidates who wished to follow the Adorers’ life-style to have the vocation to martyrdom.

The two years prior to the Nationalist Movement were, as we know, years of general calamities for the whole of Spain.  Madrid was razed by hunger and misery, so much so that if one had not experienced it from close ranges, its description could appear as a fable or a fiction.

On the 28th of July, 1936, the spacious convent at no.7, Duke of Osuna street, the headquarters of the general government of Sisters Adorers was confiscated by the government to designate it as a blood hospital.  The militiamen, rifle in their hands in cars aided by them drove the sisters as they considered convenient.  It was a common belief that it would take only a few days until the situation would be normalized.  How unaware they were of the sad reality that was approaching.

The Superior General of the Sisters Adorers very earnestly looked for ways and means to protect the sisters from the dangers to which they would be exposed.  She found several flats where the sisters from the Generalate house were accommodated and those who came to Madrid and several other cities where they faced the same risk.  A group of 23 sisters settled themselves in the flat rented at No.15 Constanilla de Los Angeles Street.

On November 9, 1936, by mid-afternoon, a terrible bombarding started near the house.  As customary in such moments, they went down to the mezzanine floor, where the owner of the house sheltered them.  A group of militiamen entered the porch screaming ‘The nuns! Where are the nuns? And by pushing and pulling they put them all into a truck.

Everything took place in a span of a few hours. They were arrested and taken to the nearest jail.  At the dawn of November 10th, the 27 Sisters Adorers were shot dead, because of their unwavering Christian faith.  Their life was not taken away from them, it was given up willingly, without hiding themselves or escaping when faced with danger.  All of them knew that martyrdom awaited them and they welcomed it as His Handmaids!

They incarnated the words they spoke……

“Let us eagerly await death, for love of God”
“With trust placed in God we will move forward”.
“Lord, what do you want from us? Are you happy with your Handmaids?”
“Lord, we trust that you will not give us more than what we can endure.”
‘Good-bye, until we meet in heaven…”

Excerpted from the Congregation of Sisters Adorers Handmaids of the Blessed Sacrament and of Charity