The Blood of the martyrs

Church is suffering in Iraq

2010-12-07T07:22:00.000-08:00

CATHOLIC leaders in Iraq
have accused Western
nations and global agencies
like the UN of doing
nothing to protect the
Muslim country’s terrified
Christian minority.
“Christians are slaughtered
in their homes and churches,
and the ‘free’ world watches
in complete indifference,
responding only in a politically
correct, economically opportunistic
way,” said Syrian
Catholic Patriarch Ignace
Joseph III.
He was speaking after the
most ferocious assault yet by
Muslim radicals on the community.
The attack on
Catholics attending Sunday
evening Mass in Baghdad left
52 of them dead, including
three young priests, and 75
more injured.
Shortly before this, Iraqi
bishops at a synod in Rome
told of the terrorism and violence
Christians and other
minorities face: kidnappings,
bombings of churches,
schools and other properties,
and threats to Christian businesses,
as well as to their
lives.

Islamic extremists burst into
Our Lady of Salvation Church,
murdering the priests and taking
the congregation hostage.
A grenade was tossed into a
room where 60 parishioners
were huddling for safety.
As Iraqi forces stormed the
church, the Islamists surrounded
themselves with children
and blew themselves
and the children to bits, using
explosives hidden in suicide
vests.
A group linked to al-Qaeda
claimed responsibility for the
atrocity and warned that it
would open on Christians “the
doors of destruction and
rivers of blood.”
A few days after what Pope
Benedict called “a savage
act”, eleven car bombs aimed
at Christian shops and homes
in Baghdad exploded, killing
another 5 members of the
minority.Iraqi Christians say they are
in far greater danger now than
at any time in their long history.
They have been living in terror
since the bombing of their
places of worship began in
2004.In 1987 a census in Iraq
revealed there were 1.4 million
Christians still in the
country. Estimates put the figure
at between 500,000 and
800,000 today.

The coffins of two priests killed in the recent Islamist attack
on Catholics who were taking part in Sunday Mass in the
Syrian Catholic cathedral in Baghdad. Another priest and 49
laypeople died in the assault.

Source: Alive Newspaper

Poll: How often do you turn off technology and just talk?

2010-11-27T08:59:00.000-08:00

Poll: How often do you turn off technology and just talk?

LINEN ON THE HEDGEROW: A cry for peace from a 3 year old, and then he is ...

2010-11-23T12:25:00.000-08:00

LINEN ON THE HEDGEROW: A cry for peace from a 3 year old, and then he is ...: "3 year old Adam, shot through the mouth This is 3 year old Adam who was brutally martyred by Islamic fundamentalists on 31 October in Bagh..."

Blessed Jose Villanova: Priest and Martyr

2010-11-08T13:30:00.000-08:00

Blessed José Villanova was born in Turís Tormo (Valencia) January 20, 1902 and was baptized two days later. He took his vows in Carabanchel Alto (Madrid) on 25 July 1920, and in 1929 was ordained a priest and spent teaching. He had a long but fruitful apostolate is not, is that in Salamanca in Madrid.
In the early months of the revolution he lived in hiding in Madrid, so he could continue to exercise his apostolate. He was discovered September 29, 1936, arrested and shot.

He was Beatified October 28, 2007 as one of the Blessed Spanish Salesians, Martyrs of Madrid and Seville.

The new blessed Salesians, the former provinces of Madrid and Seville, were grouped under a single title: “Enrique Saiz and 62 companion martyrs.” Of them 22 were priests, 18 coadjutor Salesians, 16 students, 3 candidates, 3 and 1 co-operated. None had been involved in political or ideological struggles. Salesians practiced only the politics of the Our Father. They died only because they were religious. Today, they are presented as an example of courage and steadfastness in the faith. All died forgiving their persecutors, as did Christ on the cross. The Church honors their memory and presents them as a model of fidelity and consistency.

Source: Santi e Beati

Source: http://theblackcordelias.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/blessed-jose-villanova-september-29/#more-5277

Loyal to the Magisterium

2010-11-06T07:59:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, Christmas is just around the corner this year and Advent is beginning soon, how wonderful, nature is closing down and winter is just getting dressed and ready to show itself. I just wanted to drop in and say that I've been busy this past couple of weeks and months. I have also been lazy in blogging. I'm praying that will leave me soon. If my laziness was not bad enough as it is I've also started another blog on wordpress.com. I've decided to do my best this winter in between my study to give both blogs my greatest attention.

I would appreaciate it if you could visit my other blog ( which is in its early stages ) and give it a look. If your interested, subscribe to that also.

The address is www.loyaltothemagisterium.wordpress.com

God bless and remember, if you have any martyrs you dont see on this blog page, please do not hesitate to send them to me and I will put these blessed martyrs up straight away.

Pax Christi
Stephen Mc Eligott

Jacob Fernandez

2010-11-06T07:46:00.000-07:00

"2006/11/26, Jacob Fernandez, a lay Catholic, who worked in a Religious Bookshop at the Shrine of Mount St Thomas in Chennai, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu was murdered. He was attacked and killed for no reason in front of a crowd of terrified eyewitnesses present in the bookshop. Reportedly the assailant, in a state of violent excitement, demanded to see the parish priest and loudly claimed the Shrine area as Hindu property. The police said the suspect arrested was “mentally instable”, but local Catholics know the man as a fanatical extremist in contact with anti-social groups. Mr Fernandez was known as a devout Catholic who attended daily Mass at the Shrine and lived his life as a mission."

Source: http://www.catholicdoors.com/news/martyrs.htm

New French film 'Of Gods and Men'

2010-10-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

"Of Gods and Men

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Xavier Beauvois
Produced by Pascal Caucheteux
Written by Xavier Beauvois
Etienne Comar

Starring Lambert Wilson
Michael Lonsdale

Cinematography Caroline Champetier
Editing by Marie-Julie Maille
Studio Why Not Productions
Distributed by Mars Distribution
Release date(s) 18 May 2010 (2010-05-18) (Cannes)
8 September 2010
Running time 120 minutes
Country France
Language French
Budget € 4 million

Of Gods and Men is a 2010 French drama film directed by Xavier Beauvois, starring Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale. The original French title is Des hommes et des dieux, which means "Of Men and Gods". It centers around the monastery of Tibhirine, where Trappist monks lived in harmony with the largely Muslim population of Algeria, until seven of them were beheaded in a still unclear incident in 1996. The screenplay focuses on the time leading up to their death, with careful attention to authenticity. Principal photography took place at an abandoned monastery in Morocco.

The film won the Grand Prix at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. It became a big critical and commercial success in its domestic market. France submitted it for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards."

Watch the trailer here: http://cineuropa.org/trailer.aspx?lang=en&documentID=145420

Saint Augustine Webster, Martyr Of England

2010-10-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

Pictures do not seem to be working right now but I will do my best to get that back on track. In the meantime, please enjoy this short but powerful story of a great Martyr from England.

Pax Christi
Stephen

"Saint Augustine Webster was an English Catholic martyr.
He was educated at Cambridge University. He became the prior of Our Lady of Melwood, a Carthusian house at Epworth, on the Isle of Axholme, North Lincolnshire, in 1531. He was imprisoned on the orders of Thomas Cromwell when he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy and was hanged, beheaded and quartered at Tyburn on May 4, 1535.
He was canonised in 1970 as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales"

St.Januarius Feast day September 19th

2010-09-19T06:39:00.000-07:00

Yearly on the first weekend of May (on Saturday) and on the 19th September amazement spreads through Naples Cathedral. There one can marvel at how the blood of the beheaded San Gennaro liquifies in its ampoule.

The day of the blood miracle is an important feast for Naples and the people celebrate it accordingly. The Cathedral is surrounded by stalls selling sweets, cobs and all kinds of curiosities and kitsch.

In advance a procession takes place, whereby holy figures are carried through Spaccanapoli. The silver bust of San Gennaro leads the procession, followed by holy Teresa, Lucia, Patricia and many more. The Neapolitans like to bet on the sequence of these holy statues, while applauding their favourite saint in the hope that these would get a place at front at the following procession.

At the subsequent service a centuries-old ritual takes place: the Saint’s silver bust is positioned next to the altar and the ampoule with blood is shown to the faithful by the „abate del tesoro“ and then slowly turned. Shortly after this, traditional prayers of the „parenti di San Gennaro“ (relatives of San Gennaro, a group of faithful women, sitting in the front row) are said. These prayers heighten ecstatically until the blood liquifies. The wild rejoicing of the faithful is crowned by the sound of the cathedral’s bells ringing. The crowd starts pushing its way through to kiss the ampoule of blood. This overcrowded service is attended by spiritual authorities, political dignitaries and hundreds of anticipating believers.

According to the people this blood miracle takes place, when no disaster is expected in the near future. For most of the natives of Naples the service has an oracle character. The absence of the miracle augurs tragedy for Naples and its surroundings. For instance in 1980 before the harsh earthquake took its toll on 2000 lives, the blood didn’t liquify.

The people of Naples rather have a personal than religious relationship with San Gennaro. They present him their wishes with love and expect them to be fulfilled.

The story of the blood miracle.
Saint Gennaro was the bishop of Benevento and was beheaded during the persecution of Christians by Diocletian in 305. According to the legend a woman collected and kept some of the martyr’s blood in an ampoule, after he died. In 313 the miracle occurred for the first time, after the Saint’s skeleton and the ampoule with blood were brought to Naples. The skeleton was placed to rest in the catacomb together with the ampoule. In the 9th century the remains and blood of S. Gennaro were in a small chapel, next to the church, where in the 14th century the cathedral was built.

There are numerous records on the liquefaction of the blood, dating from times before 1649 when they officially started recording this miracle. One of the descriptions of the procession dates from the year 1389. According to writings in 1528 the blood miracle didn’t take place. This was the year the pest broke out and Naples didn’t receive its raise from France.

There are hundreds of records of the liquefaction dating from the 16th Century.

This well-documented phenomenon is still regarded as unexplained by believers and sceptics alike. Noted parapsychologist Hans Bender defined it the paranormal phenomenon with the best and historical documentation; physicist Enrico Fermi seems to have expressed interest as well.

It is also one of the few recurrent non-medical, physical “miracles” that might be studied scientifically.

Source: http://www.ucatholic.com/studies/the-miracle-of-st-januarius/?ref=nf

St.Boniface Bishop and Martyr

2010-06-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

The earliest "Life" of Boniface, written by Willibald around 765, does not mention his place of birth but that at an early age he attended a monastery at Examchester. The vita written by Otloh of St. Emmeram (1062-1066) says that his birth was at Crediton, but it is not clear on what basis this was.

Winfrid was of a respected and prosperous family. Against his father's wishes that he devoted himself at an early age to the monastic life. He received his theological training in the Benedictine monasteries of Adescancastre, near Exeter and (presumably) Nursling, on the western edge of Southampton, under the abbot Winbert. Winfrid taught in the abbey school and at the age of 30 became a priest. He wrote the first Latin grammar produced in England.

In 716 AD, Winfrid set out on a missionary expedition to Frisia, intending to convert the inhabitants by preaching to them in their own language, his own Old English language being similar to Old Frisian. His efforts, however, were frustrated by the war then being carried on between Charles Martel and Radbod, king of the Frisians, and he returned to Nursling.

In 723, Boniface felled the holy oak tree dedicated to Thor near the present-day town of Fritzlar in northern Hesse. He did this with the Prophet Elijah in mind. Boniface called upon Thor to strike him down if he cut the holy tree. According to St Boniface's first biographer, Willibald (an Anglo-Saxon priest come to Mainz after Boniface's death, not to be confused with the saint),[2] Boniface started to chop the oak down, when suddenly a great wind, as if by miracle, blew the ancient oak over. When Thor did not strike him down, the people were amazed and converted to Christianity. All belief in Thor ended. He built a chapel from its wood at the site where today stands the cathedral of Fritzlar. Later he established the first bishopric in Germany north of the old Roman Limes at the Frankish fortified settlement of Büraburg, on a prominent hill facing the town across the Eder River.

He had never relinquished his hope of converting the Frisians, and in 754 he set out with a small retinue for Frisia. He baptized a great number and summoned a general meeting for confirmation at a place not far from Dokkum, between Franeker and Groningen. Instead of his converts, however, a group of armed inhabitants appeared who slew the aged archbishop. Boniface's hagiographer reports that the Frisians killed the saint because they believed the chests he carried with him contained gold and other riches, but were dismayed when they discovered that there were only the bishop's books contained within.

His remains were eventually buried in the abbey of Fulda after resting for some time in Utrecht, and they are entombed within a shrine beneath the high altar of Fulda cathedral. The forcible conversion of Germany up to the Elbe River was executed by Charlemagne, who destroyed the Saxons' independence, though not that of the Frisians, in the last decades of the eighth century.

Catholic Bishop Luigi Padovese stabbed to death

2010-06-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/10228730.stm#

This is truly a sorrowful day for us all, and I have no doubt that he is in the Bosom of Jesus and Mary, may his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed through the Mercy of God, rest in Peace, Amen.

Pax Christi

Stephen <3

26 Passionists di Daimiel (Spain)

2010-06-03T06:24:00.000-07:00

26 Passionists di Daimiel (Spain), almost all young students, shot in different groups and in different places (+ 1936). [1 October 1989].

At 11:30pm on the night of 21 July 1936 a group of armed men arrived at the Passionist monastery of Santo Cristo de la Luz in Daimiel, Spain.[1] The members of the community were gathered for prayer when the superior of the community, Father Niceforo of Jesus, upon hearing the armed men exclaimed

“Gethsemane – this is our Gethsemane. Our spirit is deeply distressed as it contemplates the daunting perspective of Calvary, as was that of Jesus, and so too our human nature, in its weakness, trembles, becomes cowardly… But Jesus is with us. I am going to give you He who is the strength of the weak.. Jesus was comforted by an angel; it is Jesus himself who comforts and sustains us… Within a few moments we will be with Christ… Citizens of Calvary, take heart! Let us die with Christ! It is my duty to encourage you and I myself am encouraged by your example.”[2]

Father Nicefore then gave the community absolution and Holy Communion. The Passionists were ordered out of the church and led to the local cemetery under armed guard. [1] One of the five survivors later remarked ;

“Our imagination ran wild as we saw the already dug graves. Would they bury us alive…or dead? The thought of death frightened us, but the idea of being buried alive was even more terrifying.”[3]

The armed men split the Passionists into groups and headed in different directions. The religious were set free but their movements had been observed by the Popular Front and information regarding their locations was sent to various armed fighters in the error using phrases such as

“The Passionists of Daimiel are going to going to pass through here. Fresh meat! Don’t let them get away…”[3]

On 23 July 1936, Father Niceforo and four others were shot dead, seven more survived but after suffering from their injuries were executed three months later by firing squad.[4] Nine others were placed on a train to Ciudad Real. They were put in gaol, accused of being religious who were killing people. Then they were led down the street to be mocked and stoned by crowds. These Passionists were shot dead and buried in a mass grave, their alleged crime written on their wrists ‘For being Passionist religious from Daimiel’.[4] Ten other Passionists tried to get to Madrid by train or walking. They were taken off the train at Urda station and there, on the morning of July 25, shot dead.[4] Two others, Father Juan Pedro of Saint Anthony and the elderly Brother Pablo Maria of Saint Joseph managed to walk to Carrion de Calatrava in Ciudad Real where they hid for two months. They were discovered and shot as they kissed their crucifixes and exclaimed “Long Live Christ the King!”[4]

Eye-witnesses reported that all of the Passionists had forgiven their murderers before they died. A witness to the murder of Father Niceforo reported that after being shot the priest turned his eyes to heaven then turned and smiled at his murderers. At this point one of them, now more infuriated than ever, shouted:

“What, are you still smiling?”[3]

With that he shot him at point blank range.

Blessed Jakob Gapp

2010-05-31T13:18:00.000-07:00

Also known as
Jacob Gapp
Memorial
13 August
Profile
Seventh child in the working class family of Martin Gapp and Antonia Wach. Received a basic education in his native town, then entered the Franciscan high school in Hall in 1910. Austrian soldier on the Italian front from May 1915 till he was wounded in 1916; received the silver medal of Courage Second Class. On 4 November 1918 he became a prisoner of war in Riva del Garda; released 18 August 1919.

Entered the Marianist novitiate at Greisinghof, Upper Austria in 1921. Assigned to the Marian Institute in Graz as a teacher and sacristan for four years, while preparing for the seminary. Made his profession at Antony, France on 27 August 1925. In September 1925 Jakob entered the International Marianist Seminary in Fribourg, Switzerland. Ordained by Bishop Marius Besson at Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Fribourg on 5 April 1930.

Back in Austria he worked as a teacher, director of religious education, and chaplain in Marianist schools till 1938. Economic conditions were terrible; Father Gapp collected food and other necessities from students, and gave his own heating coal to the poor.

Nazism was on the rise in Germany and Austria. Father Gapp saw the incompatibility of Nazism and Christianity, and began preaching this truth. When German troops arrived in Austria in March 1938, he left Graz. His superiors sent him home as they believed his anti-Nazi preaching would bring on the wrath of the Reich; but those institutions were already marked for destruction.

In Tirol he enjoyed the last moments of peace in his life. He was an assistant pastor in Breitenwang-Reutte for two months when the Gestapo, in October 1938, ordered him not to teach religion. Father Gapp taught uncompromising love for all men and women without reference to nationality or religion, and that "God is your God, not Adolf Hitler." In a sermon on 11 December 1938 he defended Pope Pius XI against the attacks of the Nazis, and directed the faithful of the parish to read Catholic literature instead of Nazi propaganda. He was advised to leave the country.

He escaped to Bordeaux, France, where he worked as a chaplain and librarian. In May 1939 he went to Spain where he served in the Marianist communities at San Sebastian, Cadiz and Valencia. The Gestapo had followed him, and in 1942 he received word of two people across the border in France who claimed to be Jews fleeing from Nazis in Berlin, and who wanted instruction in Catholicism. When he crossed into France to minster to him, they abducted him.

Father Gapp was arrested on 9 November 1942 in Hendaye, France, and brought to Berlin. On 2 July 1943 he was condemned to death for speaking against the Reich. Burial of his remains were denied as the Nazis feared he would be seen as a martyr, and his grave become a site of silent demonstration and rebellion. On the afternoon of 13 August 1943 he was advised he would executed that night. He wrote two moving farewell letters, and was martyred.

"Action is more important than theory!" -Father Gapp
Born
26 July 1897 at Wattens, Austrian Tirol
Died
guillotined at 7.08pm 13 August 1943 at Plotzensee Prison, Berlin, Germany; remains used for research at the Anatomical-Biological Institute of the University of Berlin
Venerated
6 April 1995 by Pope John Paul II
Beatified
24 November 1996 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized
pending; if you have information related to the canonization of Blessed Jakob contact:
Vice-postulation
Haupstraße 3, 2100
Stetten, AUSTRIA

SOURCE: http://newsaints.faithweb.com/year/1943_files/Gapp.png

St. Theodosia of Constantinople

2010-05-29T06:05:00.000-07:00

St. Theodosia of Constantinople lived during the eighth century and was born in answer to the fervent prayers of her parents. After their deaths, she was raised at the women’s monastery of the Holy Martyr Anastasia in Constantinople. After distributing what remained of her parental inheritance to the poor, she became a nun. She also used part of the money to commission gold and silver icons of the Savior, the Theotokos, and St. Anastasia.

When Leo the Isaurian ascended the throne, he issued an edict that holy icons be destroyed everywhere. Above the Bronze Gates at Constantinople was a bronze icon of the Savior, which had been there for more than 400 years. In 730, the iconoclast Patriarch Anastasius ordered that the icon be destroyed.

The Virgin Martyr Theodosia and other women rushed to protect the icon and toppled the ladder with the soldier who was carrying out the command. The women then stoned Patriarch Anastasius.

Emperor Leo ordered the women to be beheaded. St. Theodosia, an ardent defender of icons, was thrown in prison. She was given one hundred lashes a day for over one week. On the eighth day, she was led through the city, being beaten along the way. Ultimately, one of the soldiers stabbed her in the throat with a ram’s horn, and she received the crown of martyrdom.

Following the Triumph of Orthodoxy over iconoclasm she was recognized as a martyr and saint, and The body of the holy virgin martyr was reverently buried by Christians in the St. Euphemia Monastery in Constantinople, near a place called Dexiokratis. The tomb of St. Theodosia was glorified by numerous healings of the sick

BLESSED VASYL V. VELYCHKOVSKY, C.Ss.R.

2010-05-19T12:31:00.001-07:00

He was born on July 1, 1903 in Stanislaviv (Ivano-Fraankivsk’). His parents were Volodymyr and Anne (nee Theodorowych) who were catechists. In 1920 he entered the Major Seminary in Lviv.

While he was a deacon, he received his religious vocation. He made his novitiate in Holosko near Lviv. He made his first profession in August, 1925. Soon after he was ordained by Bishop Joseph Bocian to the priesthood.

The young Redemptorist was a teacher at the Redemptorist Minor Seminary at Zboisk until 1928. Then he became a missionary for seven years in the area of Volyn working for Church union with the Orthodox and serving the Ukrainian Catholics from Halychyna who lived there. In 1935 he returned to Halychyna and was very active as a missionary.

In 1943, Velychkovsky became the local superior in the house in Ternopil.

The second occupation of the communist soviets in Halychyna brought with it terror and persecution of the Church. In March 1945 he was arrested by the communists in Ternopil. He was taken to Kiev where for almost two years he underwent a terrible process of interrogation. The courts of Kiev sentenced him to the maximum penalty of death by a firing squad. After he spent three months on death row, his sentence was then commuted to ten years of hard labour. This took place in Vorkuta labour camps above the Arctic Circle.

In 1955 Fr. Velychkovsky returned to Lviv.

In 1959 he was appointed as Bishop, and in 1963 he was ordained as bishop by Metropolitan Slipyj in a hotel room in Moscow. Through him the hierarchy of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Ukraine was maintained throughout the time of the underground church.

In 1969 he was arrested for "organising secret theological courses in Ternopil" and also because he was listening to Vatican radio. He was sentenced to three years of hard labour in lager camps. During this time he went through severe torture and his health was destroyed.

Bishop Vasyl Velychkovsky was released in spring of 1972 and soon after died in Winnipeg on July 30, 1973.

Blessed Vasyl's relics were enshrined in St. Joseph's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on September 22, 2002.

If you would like more information about Blessed Vasyl, please contact our shrine office at:
204-338-7321 or visit Bishop Velychkovsky Martyr’s Shrine at www.bvmartyrshrine.com.

Blessed Nicholas Charnetskyj

2010-05-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

Dear Blog readers, just yesterday I had been to one of the most Holy Liturgies I have ever had the pleasure to attend. It was the Greek Catholic Church of Ukraine, it takes place on Thomas Lane, behind St.Marys Pro Cathedral just off O'Connoll Street in St.Kevins Oratory, the Liturgy begins at 16:00 every Sunday. It was our ( both I and my Wife ) first ever Eatern Rite Mass with my Ukrainian brothers and sisters, so we were unsure about the different practice within their Liturgy. A guide offered to help us out ( I forget his name at this moment ) and explained to us the Different Icons, and he showed me Blessed Nicholas among Many, and when he mentioned he was a Martyr, I told him about my blog and how I am always looking for a Martyr to place upon my blog. It is great the way God finds me new Martyrs for my blog, so the following is the story of Blessed Nicholas Charnetskyj, his bringing the ukrainian church to Ireland and also his Martyrdom for the Faith.

I would also like to on this occasion, ask Blessed Nicholas, to pray for the full unity of both east and west with Rome, and for the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine and around the world Amen. I would also like to ask your prayers for Fr.Serge who celebrated the Mass I attended just yesterday.

***************************************************************************************
In June 2001, Bishop Nicholas Charnetskyj was one of five Redemptorists among 27 martyrs beatified by Pope John Paul during his visit to the Ukraine. Fr Brendan McConvery, C.Ss.R., who lectures in scripture at Maynooth University and the Kimmage Institute, tells the story of Bishop Nicholas’s heroic suffering for the faith.

During his visit to the Ukraine last June, Pope John Paul beatified 27 martyrs and ‘confessors of the faith’, representing the countless members of the Greek Catholic Church of that country who witnessed to the faith during the darkest days of the Soviet occupation. They included eight bishops, seven diocesan priests, eight priest-religious, three sisters and one layman. The religious included five Redemptorists. One of them, Bishop Nicholas Charnetskyj visited Ireland to represent his church at the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in 1932.

Outwardly, the Ukrainian Catholic Church (also known as the Greek Catholic Church) resembles the Russian Orthodox Church. It has retained a married clergy. The Byzantine liturgy is celebrated in the Old Slavonic language. Western Catholics are usually struck by the length of the Sunday celebration. A typical parish mass can last about 11/2 or two hours. Everything is sung in beautiful, unaccompanied polyphonic singing. The churches are richly decorated with icons. But what distinguishes the Greek Catholics from the Orthodox is that they have been in communion with Rome since the 17th century.

Redemptorists in the Ukraine
The Redemptorists went to the Ukraine from Belgium at the beginning of the 20th century. They were one of the first religious communities founded in the Latin church to work among the Greek Catholics of Eastern Europe. The Redemptorists adopted the Greek Catholic way of celebrating the liturgy, and devoted themselves to their traditional apostolate of parish missions. They soon attracted young Ukrainian men, and within a few years there was a flourishing Redemptorist community.

Several diocesan priests joined the Redemptorists. Among them was Nicholas Charnetskyj. Born in 1884, he spent the first years of his priesthood as a seminary professor and spiritual director. He entered the Redemptorists in 1919 and was professed the following year. Pope Pius XI appointed him Apostolic Visitor for the Ukrainians in Volynia in 1931, and he was consecrated as bishop in the Redemptorist church in Rome. During the ceremony, his bishop’s mitre fell to the ground, but the new bishop swept away the embarrassment of the server with a joke: “Maybe it’s a sign that I’m going to lose my head like St Josephat” (the martyred bishop who brought the Ukrainian Church back to unity with Rome). Events were to prove it an accurate prophecy.

The following year, Bishop Nicholas came to Ireland to attend the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin. One of the purposes of a Eucharistic Congress is to show the universality and diversity of the church’s faith in the Eucharist through a number of solemn liturgies in different rites. Bishop Nicholas was chosen as celebrant of the Pontifical liturgy in the Byzantine Rite at the Jesuit Church in Gardiner Street, Dublin. While in Dublin, he stayed with the Redemptoristine Sisters at their convent in St Alphonsus Road. He visited most of the Redemptorist houses in Ireland, celebrating Mass each day in the distinctive Greek Catholic Rite.

Persecution
On his departure, he asked the sisters to remember in their prayers the persecuted church of Russia. Within a few years, the persecution was beginning to touch the Ukraine. The Russian occupation of 1939 led to the closure of churches and the dispersion of religious communities. Bishop Nicholas remained at his post in Lviv. The situation was not improved by the arrival of the Germans two years later, and Bishop Nicholas was held under close confinement.

When the Russians returned in 1944, the Ukrainian Catholic Church was declared to be illegal and its members to belong henceforth to the Orthodox Church. The first step in the dissolution was the arrest of all the Greek Catholic Bishops. Bishop Nicholas was charged with collaboration with the Nazis and with being an agent of the Vatican. He was tortured cruelly but bore his sufferings with great humility. One of his chief torturers was so impressed by the bishop’s humility that he asked his forgiveness. Bishop Nicholas gave him absolution and the kiss of peace.

Labour camps
Bishop Nicholas was sentenced to five years in a labour camp, one of the notorious gulags that Alexander Solzhenitsyn has described in such horrifying terms in The Gulag Archipelago. Since he steadfastly refused to admit to any crime, a further 10 years were added to his sentence. Under the Soviet system, prisoners were moved frequently from one camp to another to prevent anyone on the outside from learning too much about the system. During his years of detention, Bishop Nicholas passed through about 30 labour camps. It has been estimated that he spent a total of 600 hours under torture and interrogation. Nevertheless, he found ways even in the camps of continuing his work as a pastor, comforting other prisoners with a kind word or a verse of scripture.

When his health finally broke, Bishop Nicholas was released in 1956 and permitted to return to Lviv to die. He was able to spend his last days in a hired room with a Redemptorist brother as a companion. Despite serious ill-health, he resumed his work as bishop. He devoted much of his remaining energy to training future priests to work in ‘the underground church.’ Each of these priests needed a civil job as a cover for their secret lives as priests. Some were factory workers, doctors, engineers by day. For small groups of believers meeting in secret, they celebrated Mass and conferred the sacraments.

Death and funeral
Bishop Nicholas died on 2 April, 1959. Despite the outlawed status of his church, the faithful crowded into the room where he died for a solemn funeral liturgy around his body, clothed in his Redemptorist habit and bishop’s stole. It was accompanied to its last resting place by a Latin Catholic priest. It was to be more than another 30 years before the dark night of Soviet terror came to an end.

By a miracle of grace and the heroism of men like Bishop Nicholas, the church in the West Ukraine survived. The Redemptorists, like the other religious communities, went underground. New members were received and trained in such secrecy that even their families had no idea they were religious or priests. All had daytime jobs. One brother, who had been forced to leave his community, heard of a job as a night-watchman in a former Redemptorist monastery which had been turned into a factory. For many years, it had been a well-known centre of pilgrimage in honour of Our Lady. The brother applied for the job. Each night, he made a circuit of the building saying the 15 decades on the long Redemptorist rosary, which was the only part of his habit he had been able to keep. He was, he said, keeping it safe for Our Lady until she reclaimed her own. He had the happiness of seeing the monastery and church returned to the Redemptorists.

Source: http://www.catholicireland.net/pages/index.php?nd=68&art=173

FOREIGN NEWS

2010-05-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

INDIA: PRIEST IS MURDERED:

''A Catholic Priest has been murdered near the City of Mumbai. Police are currently trying to establish the reason for the killing of Fr.Peter Bombacha, who was 74 and well known to his local community and all faiths. Reacting to news of the killing, the Bishop of Vasai, Msgr Felix Machado described the Priest as ''a Priest full of faith, serving the Church and the people without discrimination of caste or creed, he forgot himself to serve the most poor and abandoned.

NIGERIA: TWO CHRISTIAN JOURNALISTS SLAIN:

"In an apparent attack by Muslims, two Christian journalists have been killed in the country. The Pair, Nathan Dabak, who was an assistant editor at ''the Light bearer'' Christian newspaper, and Sunday Gyang Bwede, a reporter with the same paper, were stabbed to death in the flash point of Jos. Youths linked with the Hausa community are suspected of carrying out the crime as the journalists mobile phones have apparently been used to boast of the crimes by the young killers.''

VENEZUELA: PRIEST STABBED TO DEATH:

An American Priest has been killed. Fr Esteban Woods, originally from Washington state was found dead at his home in Bolivar, apparently from stab wounds; he had been tied up before he died. Parishioners has become concerned for their Priest when he failed to open the Church doors for morning worship.''

Source: Irish Catholic Newspaper.

Blessed Titus Brandsma

2010-05-07T14:53:00.001-07:00

Anno Sjoerd Brandsma was born February 23, 1881 in the village of Oegeklooster near Bolsward in Friesland, as a son of Titus Brandsma, dairy farmer and Tjitsje Postma. At the age of 11, he asked his father's permission to enter the Franciscan minor seminary in Megen to begin preparatory studies. Anno was a frail boy and not blessed with the strong constitution typical of his people. He was a willing worker but could never handle the heavy farm work Frisian children customarily performed. Titus and Tjitsje, although concerned about his health, gave him permission to try the seminary and Anno left home in 1892, when he was 11 years old.

During his six-year stay Anno was known for his intelligence as well as his sense of humor. His classmates nicknamed him "Shorty." In his third year at the seminary he developed a severe intestinal disorder and lost a considerable amount of weight. The friars ordered a special diet for him, featuring cream, eggs, butter and other foods that enabled him to regain his lost weight. Anno soon recovered his health and returned with renewed energies to his studies. His superiors, however, not satisfied that he was strong enough for the rigors of Dutch Franciscan life, suggested that he seek a gentler form of life. The rejection hurt, but Anno accepted it with grace and resiliency.
Anno Brandsma joined the Carmelite fathers at Boxmeer on September 17, 1898. He chose his father’s name, Titus and making his first vows in 1899.

From the beginning of entering the Carmelite Monastery, Titus showed an extraordinary gift for journalism and writing. He translated the works of Saint Teresa of Avila from Spanish to Dutch, publishing them in 1901. Titus was ordained a Catholic Priest on June 17, 1905, and after further studies at the Roman Gregorian University, graduated on October 25, 1909 with a doctorate in philosophy. Father Titus Brandsma spent his early Ministry in education where he joined the faculty of the newly founded Catholic University of Nijmegen in 1923. His interest in mysticism ultimately led him to France, Germany, the United States, Italy, Spain and in 1935 he was named by the Dutch Hierarchy as National Spiritual Advisor to Catholic Journalists.

In 1935 he wrote against anti-Jewish marriage laws, which brought him to the attention of the Nazis. Titus later wrote that no Catholic publication could publish Nazi propaganda and still call itself Catholic; this led to more attention. Continually followed by the Gestapo, the Nazi attention led to his arrest on 19 January 1942. For several weeks he was shuttled from jail to jail, abused, and punished for ministering to other prisoners. Titus Brandsma was deported to the Dachau concentration camp in April 1942. There he was overworked, underfed, and beaten daily; he asked fellow prisoners to pray for the salvation of the guards. When he could no longer work, he was used for medical experiments. When he was no longer any use for experimentation, he was murdered. He died July, 26, 1942 by injection with a deadly drug that, ten minutes later, took his life at Dachau concentration camp; his executioner was a nurse who had been raised Catholic, but left the Church.

Titus Brandsma is honored as a martyr within the Roman Catholic church. He was beatified on 3 November 3, 1985 by Pope John Paul II. His canonizing is pending. In 2005, Titus Brandsma was chosen by the inhabitants of Nijmegen as the greatest citizen to have lived there.

Source:http://www.marypages.com/TitusBrandsmaEng.htm

Blessed Antonia Mesina

2010-04-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

10. Antonia Mesina, lay woman (+ Orgosolo, Nuoro 1935). At the age of 16, while gathering wood, she was killed by a prowler who tried to rape her. [4. October 1987).

Source:http://www.vatican.va/jubilee_2000/magazine/documents/ju_mag_01031997_p-58_en.html

Kang Wan Suk

2010-04-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

Columba Kang Wan-suk was born out of wedlock in 1761, to a noble family in Naepo, Chungcheong-do. Ever since her childhood she was remarkably wise and honest, and avoided any kind of wrong doing. Philip Hong Pil-ju who was martyred in 1801 was her step-son.
When she grew up, she became the second wife of Hong Ji-yeong, who lived in the Deoksan region. Soon after their marriage, she heard about the Catholic religion and became interested in it. She obtained some Catholic books which she read and came to realize the greatness of the Catholic faith. She believed that `God is the Master of heaven and earth, and what the name of this religion signifies is right, therefore, its doctrine must be true.`
Thereafter, Columba Kang believed her religion with passion and practiced self-denial. Such a life was sufficient to win her the admiration of many people. At the risk of putting herself in great danger, she took care of Catholics in prison during the Sinhae Persecution of 1791. While doing this work she herself was imprisoned once. She taught the catechism to her mother-in-law and her step-son, Philip Hong and introduced them to the Church. Despite all her efforts, she failed to convert her husband who mistreated her because of her faith. He finally left her and lived with a concubine.
One day, Columba Kang came to know that Catholics in Seoul were well versed in the catechism. After having consulted with her mother-in-law and her step-son Philip Hong, she moved to Seoul. She contacted the believers in Seoul and associated with them. When the Korean Catholics started a movement to invite priests, she provided financial support to those who were engaged in it.
Columba Kang was baptized by Father James Zhou Wen-mo who came to Korea at the end of 1794 and committed herself to helping his apostolate. Father James Zhou, on recognizing the high quality and sincerity of Columba Kang, appointed her as catechist, to take care of the believers.
Then, when the Eulmyo Persecution broke out in 1795, Columba Kang offered her house to Father James Zhou as a refuge. Her house was relatively safe because the social custom of Korean society, at that time, banned investigation of a house of the noble class, whose landlord was a woman. After that Columba Kang often moved for the safety of Father James Zhou. Everywhere she moved, her house served as a place of gathering for the faithful. It was at Columba Kang`s house that Agatha Yun Jeom-hye led the community of women virgins.
Columba Kang was able to influence many people and introduce them to the Church because she combined knowledge with wisdom and quick wit. Among them were people from different classes of society including noble women, widows, servants and maids. It was thanks to Columba Kang that Mary Song and her daughter-in-law Mary Sin, relatives of the royal family, received the Sacrament of Baptism from Father James Zhou. For such apostolic activities of Columba Kang the believers unanimously said, "Kang Wan-suk advised people with such wisdom and grace that even many devout male believers were inspired. It was like when one strikes the gong, sound follows."
When the Shinyu Persecution broke out in 1801, Columba Kang was immediately reported to the government office for her religious activities. Consequently, she was arrested in her house on April 6 (February 24, by the Lunar calendar) with the other believers who were there and was taken to the Police Headquarters in Seoul. Even in such a time of crisis Columba Kang was concerned about the safety of Father James Zhou.
To find out the whereabouts of Father James Zhou they tortured Columba Kang six times, but it was in vain. Her faith in God was so firm that even the executioners were moved and they exclaimed; "This woman is not a human being, but a god." During the three months she was imprisoned, Columba Kang never neglected her religious duties, and prepared herself for martyrdom by encouraging her companions in prison to be faithful to their belief and trust in God.
Columba Kang was condemned to death on July 2, 1801 (May 22, by the Lunar calendar). She was beheaded outside the Small West Gate in Seoul with her fellow believers and died a martyr. Columba Kang was 40 years old.
The Justice Ministry charged her with the following crimes:

"Kang Wan-suk was imbued with the Catholic religion and propagated it widely. She hid Father James Zhou for six years, and invited men and women of all classes to her house and instructed them in Catholicism."

In response, Columba Kang made her final statement as follows:

"I have learned about Catholicism, and it is my belief that `I shall go to the world of bliss (i.e., paradise) if I give my life for God, willingly.` Therefore, I do not have the slightest intention of changing my mind and betraying the teaching of the faith even if I have to die."

http://www.koreanmartyrs.or.kr/sbss124_en_view.php?num=32

Arshed Masih

2010-04-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

» 03/24/2010 21:08
PAKISTAN
Rawalpindi, Christian burned alive is buried. Police suspected of setting him on fire
by Fareed Khan
Arshed Masih's funeral was held today amid tight security. The silence of the Pakistani media and government on the matter. AsiaNews sources denounce the attempt at misdirection and reveal the last words of the victim: "The police set me on fire" following the instructions of the Muslim employer. In the past his wife repeatedly raped by officers.

Rawalpindi (AsiaNews) - the funeral of Arshed Masih, a 38 year-old Pakistani Christian, burned alive because he refused to convert to Islam was held today in Rawalpindi, under tight security. Hundreds of people attended the funeral, including members of civil society and NGO representatives. So far the police have arrested none of the alleged perpetrators and neither have steps been taken by the Federal Government or Ministry of minority groups. Meanwhile, more details have emerged on the crime: a well-informed source has told AsiaNews that police officers were the ones to set fire to the man, on the "instructions" of Arshed Masih.

The 38 year-old Pakistani Christian, married and father of three children, aged7 to 12, died on 22 March following the serious injuries sustained during the assault. He suffered burns on 80% of his body excluding any possibility of salvation. The violence of his assailants was sparked by the man’s refusal to convert to Islam.

Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the Justice and Peace of the Catholic Church of Pakistan (NCJP), confirmed to AsiaNews, his "strongest condemnation of this act brutal" and underlined that "a team has reached Rawalpindi and launched a parallel investigation into the facts”. He adds that "soon will we release a report, after proper verification of all elements”. The activist denounces, with regret, the silence of the Pakistani media about the incident and the lack of initiatives from the federal government and the Ministry of minority groups.

Meanwhile, rumours have begun circulating that Arshed Masih set fire to himself to protest against repeated violence and torture of his wife Martha Arshed, by police. The abuse allegedly took place in the police station, where the woman was summoned several times by officers after a complaint of theft by Sheikh Mohammad Sultan, the employer of the Christian couple. In the house of wealthy Muslim businessman cash for a value of 500 thousand rupees (about 6 thousand dollars) has disappeared.

Christian sources for AsiaNews in Pakistan deny this version, noting that some "elements" are casting doubt on the sexual violence and overturning the facts "to exonerate the employer and the police." An eyewitness, present in the hospital when Arshed Masih - still conscious - recounted the events to the investigators, says that "it was the police to set fire" to the man. The victim also added that "the police carried out the instructions of Sheikh Mohammad Sultan, at the scene along with other extremists."

Since 2005 Arshed Masih and his wife had worked and lived on the estate of the late Sheikh Mohammad Sultan. The pressure on them to renounce Christianity had lately become incessant. The owner had come so far as to threaten "dire consequences", to persuade them to embrace Islam. The couple were also accused of a recent theft by the owner who has promised to drop the complaint for their conversion.

BosNewsLife.com reports that the Muslim businessman has declined to comment on the crime. However some eyewitnesses have seen him near the place where the accident occurred, but it is unclear whether he actively participated in the attack. Their children - adds the site - are sleeping in the hospital because they are homeless. The mother is still in shock and is unable to speak.

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Rawalpindi,-Christian-burned-alive-is-buried.-Police-suspected-of-setting-him-on-fire-17975.html

English Martyr Saint Anne Line Hanged for her Catholic Faith

2010-04-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

The Murder Of Sister Cecilia Moshi Hanna

2010-04-10T06:38:00.000-07:00

On August 15, 2002 three armed assailants entered the Sacred Heart of Jesus Monastery in Baghdad Iraq and found a solitary Assyrian nun preparing to quietly retire to her room. Seventy-one year old Sister Cecilia Moshi Hanna was brutally attacked by the dagger wielding assailants and repeatedly stabbed to death. Sr. Cecilia’s neck was slit and her head severed from her body.

According to an August 24 press release by an Iraqi-based women’s organization, the Assyrian Women’s Union, Sr. Cecilia had belonged to the Order of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and had devoted her life to ministering to the poor and ill. Earlier on the evening of the attack, Sr. Cecilia had been at her family home in Baghdad until 9 p.m. Sr. Cecilia’s family had suggested that she stay at the family home rather than venture out into the night. However, Sr. Cecilia insisted on returning to the convent so as not to leave it unattended. Ordinarily, three nuns would have resided in the convent, but on that night none of the others were present.

It is widely believed that the three assailants had broken into the convent with the intention of murdering all three nuns normally living there. When only Sr. Cecilia was found, all three attackers apparently turned their assault upon the defenseless seventy-one year old woman. Sr. Cecilia succumbed to the flurry of knife stabbings, alone, in her room. On the following day, normally a special day of retreat for nuns throughout Iraq, Sr. Cecilia’s fellow nuns gathered for their annual event. Noting Sr. Cecilia’s atypical absence, the nuns searched only to discover Sr. Cecilia’s blood soaked and beheaded corpse lying in her room.

The very nature of the slitting and beheading is believed to be a prototypical signature of Islamic extremist putting of “infidels” to the sword. By killing Sr. Cecilia the day before a nationwide Christian spiritual retreat, the killers apparently hoped to maximally terrorize and horrify the Iraqi Christian community.

The murder of Sr. Cecilia is only the most recent in a series of Islamist attacks against Assyrian Christian civilians1, places of worship, and clergy. In the northern UN “Safe Haven,” attacks against Assyrian Christian villages (AINA, 10-16-1999), leaders (AINA, 02-19-2001, 08-19-1997) as well as Christmas-time bombings of convents (AINA, 12-25-1999) have been previously reported. In the government controlled area, widespread harassment of Christians as a backlash against US military threats against Iraq has been reported by visitors from the region. Assyrian Christians are often conveniently associated with their co-religionists in the West as enemies of Iraq. The Iraqi government has done nothing to quell the rising anti-Christian sentiment in Iraq. In fact, some have suggested complicity in fomenting Islamic fury by the regime as evidenced by the stricter enforcement of regulations on Christian religious institutions as well as the recent banning of certain Christian names.

Suspicion has been growing on Iraqi complicity in Sr. Cecilia’s murder as well since no official outcry or condemnation has been seen from the government, even following an unusually strongly worded letter by the Chaldean Patriarch Mar Raphael BeDaweed I, wherein he stated “I condemn strongly this criminal and inhumane act on one of our Chaldean nuns in Baghdad, and demand from the officials to work seriously in tracking down and punishing those criminal thugs…”. The government reportedly has one assailant in custody, but has made no further investigation or public statement of support for the Assyrian Christian community. One observer noted that the government’s motivation may have been to warn the West of the threat facing Christians in Iraq by Islamists in the event war was perpetrated upon Iraq. Referring to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the same observer also noted, though, that “such scheming would only be sensical in the insanely convoluted musings of a madman.”

Sr. Cecilia’s own family history is concurrently a testament of a family’s sacrifice and hardship as well as a metaphor for the Assyrian community’s grim history of persecution and displacement within Iraq and the region as a whole. Sr. Cecilia was born in Aradin in the historically Assyrian heartland of northern Iraq. During the Kurdish tribal insurrection of the 1960’s, Aradin as well as dozens of Assyrian villages caught in the crossfire between Iraqi governmental and Kurdish rebel gunfire were severely devastated. Sr. Cecilia’s family as well as thousands of others were forced to move to Mosul (ancient Nineveh). The family later moved to Baghdad where Sr. Cecilia continued to serve the Chaldean Church community.

The tragic irony in the murder of Sr. Cecilia remains, though, her service to the Christian communities in the parishes of St. Shmooni and St. Sultamahdukh in Iraq. St. Shmooni along with her seven children and St. Sultamahdukh were themselves martyrs of the Church of the East. Cecilia sadly continues in the seemingly endless line of holy woman martyrs in the Church of the East. The martyred and beloved Sr. Cecilia will herself likewise be remembered for her tireless and unending dedication to the service of all humanity in the name of Jesus Christ.

Blessed Agnese Phila, Lucia Khambang and 4 companions

2010-04-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

Blessed Phila Agnese, Lucia Khambang and 4 companions

Protomartyrs of Thailand

m. Songkhon (Thailand), December 26, 1940

Roman Martyrology: In the village of Song-Khon in Thailand, Blessed Martyrs Phila Agnese and Lucia Khambang, virgin of the Sisters Lovers of the Cross, and Agata Phutta, Cecilia Butsi, and Maria Viviana Hampai Phon, shot in the local cemetery because they refused to deny their Christian faith.

Christianity was introduced to Thailand in 1881 and in 1940 the Catholic faithful were already seven hundred. In the four years following, the French missionaries were forced to leave the country during the grip of war between Thailand and French Indochina. As is usual in such circumstances, national unity was regarded as a priority and instead “downgraded” danger to religious pluralism.

Songkhon The village, located on the shores of the Great Mekong River border with Laos, was the scene in 1940 of the glorious martyrdom of seven indigenous Christians: Filippo Siphong Onphitak, Phila Agnese, Lucia Khambang, Agata Phutta, Cecilia Buts, Bibiana Khamphai and Mary Phon.

religious Agnese Phila
Ban nahi (Thailand), 1909 – Songkhon (Thailand), December 26, 1940

Agnese Phila (in the Margaret) was born in 1909 in the village of Ban pay nahi, daughter of Joachim and Anna Thit Son Chum. The family then emigrated in the Christian village of Viengkhuk, where the Blessed received the baptism in 1924. Her godmother was the aunt of the famous Sister Lucia of Fatima. On December 7 she made her entry into the Congregation of the Lovers of the Cross at Siengvang in Laos. Two years after the Nov. 26 entry, her postulancy began Nov. 10 and in 1927 she entered the order with the name of Agnes the novitiate, which culminated with the occupation on November 16, 1928. In 1932 he was sent as a teacher at the school in Songkhon, where she was killed on December 26, 1940.

religious Lucia Khambang
Viengkhuk (Thailand), Jan 22, 1917 – Songkhon (Thailand), December 26, 1940

Lucia was born in the Khambang Christian village of Viengkhuk Jan 22, 1917, daughter of James and Mary Mag Dam Li. She was christened on March 10, while on June 4, 1925, when she was only eight years old, she received the sacrament of Confirmation and received for the first time the Holy Communion. On September 3, 1931 she entered the Congregation of the Lovers of the Cross. A postulant for three years, she began the novitiate on October 8, 1935 that lasted two years. Issued her profession to Siengvang in Laos on October 15, 1937. At the beginning of 1940 she was sent as a teacher Songkhon, where she was killed on December 26, 1940 at just twenty-years old.

Agata Phutta secular
Bi Keng Ban Pho (Thailand), 1881 – Songkhon (Thailand), December 26, 1940

Agata Phutta was born in the village of Bi Keng Ban Pho in 1881 from a pagan family. Only daughter, she converted to Christianity at thirty and was baptized and confirmed on March 3, 1918 in Siengvang. Being unmarried, she decided to serve in the kitchens of missions Songkhon, Mong Seng, Pkasè and again Songkhon, where she lived when she was also killed on December 26, 1940 at fifty-nine years of age.

Cecelia Butsi girl lay
Songkhon (Thailand), Dec 16, 1924 – Songkhon (Thailand), December 26, 1940

Cecilia Buts, daughter of Amato and Sinuen Thep Agata, was born at Songkhon December 16, 1924 and was christened after only two days. Officer to the kitchen of the mission, hers was a joyful and courageous character. The first day of martyrdom, during a meeting before the church, she declared herself Christian despite the death threats suffered by the police. She was then killed on December 26, 1940, at just sixteen.

Bibiana Khamphai girl lay
Songkhon (Thailand), Nov 4, 1925 – Songkhon (Thailand), December 26, 1940

Bibiana Khamphai was born in Songkhon November 4, 1925, daughter of Benedict and Lon Monica Di. She was baptized and confirmed less than two months after Dec. 28. A teenager with irreproachable conduct, good Christian, assiduous about the sacraments, attended the mission Songkhon, was also killed on December 26, 1940, at just fifteen years of age.

Maria Phon girl lay
Songkhon (Thailand), Jan 6, 1925 – Songkhon (Thailand), December 26, 1940

Maria was born in Phon Songkhon on January 6, 1926 to parents John the Baptist and Catherine Tan Pha. Just six days after birth was already baptized and confirmed. She lived with an aunt named Mary and attended the local mission. Particularly diligent in the Eucharist and other sacraments, was also killed on December 26, 1940, not yet fifteen.

But even hours dwell on all the events that led these women to spread Christian Thai their blood for Christ. The evening after the killing of the catechist Philip Siphong Onphitak the news is sparse at Songkhon, causing great sadness. The soldiers, hoping to convert the faithful, but had not calculated the presence of both religious Agnes Phila and Lucia Khambang, who realized that soon would come the time to give them the very witness of their faith.

Lu tried by every means to persuade the nuns to abandon their religion, but failed several attempts on the evening of Christmas summoned the entire village before the church, to communicate that he had received the order to destroy the Christian religion at the cost of killing faithful. During the night the sisters then wrote a letter to Lu arguing they were ready to die rather than deny Christ. Lu later returned to in the early afternoon asking: “So, your God, abandoned, yes or no?”. They argue: “No, not ever leave.” Lu invited the then descend to the river, but Sister Lucia and Sister Agnes, understanding his intention, preferred to be shot in the cemetery. Here, kneeling against a tree trunk, they were executed with young Cecilia, Bibiana and Mary. They were then buried in Songkhon.

The beatification of these seven Thai martyrs, was celebrated in Rome by Pope John Paul II on October 22, 1989 following the recognition of their heroic martyrdom which took place on September 1, 1988.

Author: Fabio Arduino

SOURCE: Santi e Beati

St.Gianna Beretta Molla

2010-04-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

"Saint Gianna Beretta Molla (October 4, 1922 – April 28, 1962) was an Italian pediatrician, wife and mother who is best known for refusing both an abortion and a hysterectomy when she was pregnant with her fourth child, despite knowing that continuing with the pregnancy could result in her death. She was canonized as a saint of the Catholic Church in 2004."

Mother and Martyr, who laid down her life for Christ when faced with the Choice of aborting her Child to save her own life, she refused, and when she gave birth to her child she passed away into paradise a week later.

St.Gianna Beretta Molla is one of the Many Saints and Martyrs within the Catholic Church who understood the true meaning of Christs words and received them well When he said ''Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'' ( John:15:13 )

By her Giving up her life for Christ and his little ones, St.Gianna really did live the true meaning of a womans role within the Church and Sacrament of Matrimony, one of which was to nurture and ( by the Grace of God ) give life, not take it.

Pax Christi
Stephen <3

St.Peter, Prince of the Apostles

2010-03-30T18:59:00.000-07:00

In the epilogue of the Gospel of John, Jesus hints at the death by which Peter would glorify God,[Jn. 21:18–19] saying "'…when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and take you where you do not want to go.'" This is understood as a reference to Peter's crucifixion.

According to the 1911 Catholic Encyclopedia, St. Peter labored in Rome during the last portion of his life, and there ended his life by martyrdom. The death of St. Peter is attested to by Tertullian at the end of the second century, and by Origen in Eusebius, Church History II.1. Origen says: "Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downwards, as he himself had desired to suffer".

Blessed Enrique Saiz Aparicio, Salesian Priest and Martyr

2010-03-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

He was born in Ubierna (Burgos) on December 1, 1889 and was baptized the following day. At 16, feeling the inclination to the religious and priestly life, he was admitted to the novitiate of Sarrià (Barcelona) and professed September 5, 1909. He was ordained at Salamanca, July 28, 1918. It was his field of apostolate colleges of Campello, Barcelona, Madrid and Salamanca, he was Director of Salamanca in Madrid, and then the student Theological Carabanchel Alto (Madrid), where he was surprised by the revolution. He distinguished himself for piety, zeal and dedication to the priesthood. Was more cautious, fatherly and understanding, while requiring the fulfillment of duty, which he gave the example. With sustained effort and continuous gained great amiability, constancy of character and spirit of mortification. Back in 1934, feeling closer to the revolution, he was preparing the minds of his martyrdom. On July 20, 1936 the House of Carabanchel Alto was attacked by militants. Don Enrique offered to die for everyone, but his offer was not accepted. All were jailed and destined for death. Then put back in freedom, the Servant of God sought a shelter for each and continued his interest in the fate of all. October 2, 1936, the militia, knowing the Priest, imprisoned him, and around 10 in the evening shot him. He was Beatified October 28, 2007.

In the vast inhuman massacre that was the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), the number of victims exceeded one million, striking persons of every class and every faith. By now, historians have recognized that within this terrible massacre, in the territories then called “red zone” in the hands of anarchists and the social community, there was a real persecution against Christians. The lay faithful only because Christians, were killed tens of thousands massacred and 4148 diocesan priests, 12 bishops, 283 nuns, 2365 religious (priests and brothers) for a total so far acknowledged that martyrs 6808 with destruction of many churches. Religious Every family gave its toll with a more or less high number of victims: the family of the Salesians of Don Bosco in this list is present with 97 members, belonging to three flourishing ‘ provinces’ of the Salesians and a ‘inspectors’ of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, divided as follows: 39 priests, 26 assistants, 22 clerks, 5 Salesian cooperators, 3 prospective Salesians and the Daughters of Mary Help. Salesian Martyrs are grouped into three local families: Valencia, Seville and Madrid. Those of Valencia were declared blessed in 2001.

The group of 42 martyrs of Madrid, is the largest headed by Salesian priest, Don Enrique Saiz Aparicio, who was born in the Ubierna on December 1, 1889 in the province of Burgos. He spent his childhood amid significant family difficulties, which affected the formation of his character, after having attended Salesian studying some houses, he made his first profession in 1909 in Barcelona – Sarria. After his studies in philosophy, he alternated his job as an educator between Salamanca and Madrid, excelling in literary qualities and no lack of evidence and concerns because of his tough character, even though he went dominating as he came closer to priestly ordination, which he received in 1918. There followed six years of intense activity between Salesian always Salamanca and Madrid, and was later first director of the College of Salamanca, and then those Carabauchel and Atocha in Madrid. His character changed completely becoming hard serene, charitable; he intensified his ascetic preparation, his spiritual direction, his inner life, his preaching in particular Eucharistic-Marian. And in the task of animating the Community and the aspirant Salesian Carabachel Alto on the outskirts of Madrid, he was surprised by the outbreak of the Civil War. Father Enrico Saiz Aparicio for some time seemed to have the martyrdom, in fact he told his brother: If God wanted me to Mars, back one step in front of the divine will; I will accept martyrdom with serenity . On the afternoon of July 20, 1936, The aspirant was stormed by gunmen red; Father Saiz gathered the kids in the hall and gave them his blessing Mary Help of Christians, then waved a white handkerchief headed toward the attackers, saying: “If you want blood, here I am. But you do not harm the boys. The aspirants were returned to their families and father and eight Salesians Saiz, with the usual tactics of the militia, were left free to be re-arrested outside the house and then eliminated one by one. Don Enrique Saiz was executed October 2, 1936, aged 47, the other Salesian martyrs, mostly young novices and students to Mohernando, were arrested during those six months at the end of 1936 and killed in varying days and places, a large group died December 6 1936. The blood of martyrs is the seed of new Christians and in the next 40 years, the Salesian Family, underwent a very large flowering of vocations to Salesian in Spain. The process for beatification of the 42 Salesian Martyrs in Madrid, began on December 7, 1957. Recently, this case was merged with that of the group of martyrs Salesians of Seville, formerly called Servant of God Antonio Luque and 20 Torrero comrades. The new joint process, thus including all 63 Martyrs Salesian in Madrid and Seville.

The beatification ceremony took place in Rome on 28 October 2007, under the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI.

Author: Antonio Borrelli

Source: Santi e Beati

Blessed Ladislaus (Wladyslaw) Bladzinski, Priest and Martyr

2010-03-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

Blessed Wladyslaw Bladzinski, priest of the Congregation of St. Michael the Archangel, was born in My_latycze, Ukraine, January 6, 1908 and died at Gross-Rosen, Germany, September 8, 1944. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Warsaw (Poland) June 13, 1999 with 107 other Polish martyrs.

Roman Martyrology: In Gross-Rosen locations in Germany, Bladzinski Blessed Ladislaus, a priest of the Congregation of St. Michael and martyr, at the same time the enemies of the Church deported from his native Poland in a stone quarry, where he was later killed.

Source: Santi e Beati

Blessed Pierre-Louis de La Rouchefoucauld-Bayers, Bishop and Martyr

2010-03-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

Blessed Pierre-Louis de La Rouchefoucauld-Bayers, Bishop and Martyr
Le Vivier, Blanzaguet, France, October 12, 1744 – Paris, September 2, 1792

Pierre-Louis de La Rouchefoucauld-Bayers was born in “Le Vivier” Blanzaguet, parish St-du-Cybard d’Eyrat, 12 October 1744. He was son of Messire Jean de La Rochefoucauld, lord of Maumont, Magnac, bars, and other places Vivier, knight of the military orders of Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel and St-Lazarre de Jérusalem, and Marguerite des Escots. His parents intended him to have an ecclesiastical career, Pierre-Louis was appointed in 1770 prior to commendatory Nanteuil, becoming the general agent of the Clergy in 1775. He was then appointed Bishop of Saintes in 1781. In this city he organized a relief fund against fire.

“ On 24 March 1789, he was elected deputy of the clergy to the States General for the “Sénéchaussée de Saintes. He sat among the ranks of minorities and demonstrated hostility to reform, and after the session took refuge with his brother Francois-Joseph, Bishop of Beauvais, his sister abbess of Notre Dame de Soissons. But the French Revolution was still raging and they were discovered. Francois-Joseph was arrested on August 13, while Pierre-Louis asked partegiare his imprisonment and refused to flee from the Carmelite house in Paris a few days before the massacre. Right here, in fact, it happened on September 2, 1792, the massacre of 95 Christian martyrs much hatred to their faith, led by two brothers and another bishop, Jean-Marie du Lau.

“ Along with other victims of religious persecution who died in those days in Paris, for a total of 191 people, Pierre-Louis de La Rouchefoucauld-Bayers was beatified by Pope Pius XI on October 17, 1926.
Author: Fabio Arduino

Source: Santi e Beati

St.Blandina Virgin and Martyr

2010-02-27T06:29:00.000-08:00

"She belongs to the band of martyrs of Lyons who, after some of their number had endured the most frightful tortures, suffered a glorious martyrdom in the reign of Marcus Aurelius (177) and concerning whose death we have the touching report sent by the Church of Lyons to the Churches of Asia Minor (Eusebius, Church History V.2). The fanaticism of the heathen populace in Lyons had been excited against the Christians so that the latter, when they ventured to show themselves publicly, were harassed and ill-treated. While the imperial legate was away the chiliarch, a military commander, and the duumvir, a civil magistrate, threw a number of Christians, who confessed their faith, into prison. When the legate returned, the imprisoned believers were brought to trial.

Among these Christians was Blandina, a slave, who had been taken into custody along with her master, also a Christian. Her companions greatly feared that on account of her bodily frailty she might not remain steadfast under torture. But although the legate caused her to be tortured in a horrible manner, so that even the executioners became exhausted "as they did not know what more they could do to her", still she remained faithful and repeated to every question "I am a Christian and we commit no wrongdoing." Through fear of torture heathen slaves had testified against their masters that the Christians when assembled committed those scandalous acts of which they were accused by the heathen mob, and the legate desired to wring confession of this misconduct from the Christian prisoners.

In his report to the emperor the legate stated that those who held to their Christian belief were to be executed and those who denied their faith were to be released; Blandina was, therefore, with a number of companions subjected to new tortures in the amphitheater at the time of the public games. She was bound to a stake and wild beasts were set on her. They did not, however touch her. After this for a number of days she was led into the arena to see the sufferings of her companions. Finally, as the last of the martyrs, she was scourged, placed on a red-hot grate, enclosed in a net and thrown before a wild steer who tossed her into the air with his horns, and at lastkilled with a dagger. Her feast is celebrated 2 June."

Source: www.newadvent.org

St.Francis Jaccard, Priest and Martyr

2010-02-26T01:10:00.000-08:00

Roman Martyrology: In the fortress of Quang-Tr in Annam, now Viet Nam, the holy martyr Francis Jaccard, a priest of the Society for Foreign Missions of Paris, who, under Emperor Minh Ming, for Christ, suffered imprisonment and beatings and died, finally, strangled.

He was born in Onion (now dioc. Annecy) on Sept. 6. 1799 and then completed his studies in the seminaries of Melanie and Chambery, came in 1821 in the Foreign Missions of Paris. Ordained a priest, he was sent to the mission of Cochin China, and appointed Metropolitan General, took up residence at Phuong-Ru. Denounced by a treacherous pay (14 July, 1827), when he saw the village surrounded by soldiers, managed to hide in the thick of a forest of bamboo, but then, seeing no escape and ruin on the other hand, fearing that if he was not found, the fury of the troops would be unleashed upon the faithful, came out of hiding and surrendered to the soldiers. Conducted to Hue, he was charged with various translations and was able to earn the esteem of so deeply attached to the court, which obtained permission for him to return to his missionary work, while continuing to deal with any translation requirements. But he always lived in a state of alert because the prosecution did not promise in place a secure life. While, in fact, he was in the Christian village of Duong-Son, the pagans of the nearby village of Lao Cai-accused him of having led his people to rob, which is perfectly true. But the prefect did not accept his defense and informed the king, which put the punishment.

Past court to court, he was first sentenced to death and then his sentence was commuted to exile in the province of Ai-Lao (1833), then at Cam-Lo.

But here’s a novel question: the school is open from Candah Di-Loan aroused the ire of the king, who ordered its destruction, promoting, at the same time, surveys to find out what part he ad the Jaccard. Mandarins recognized him innocent, but no other questions, told him to apostate, his refusal to do so resulted in the Canga and chains being imposed and he was dragged to the prison in Quang-Tri, where he found his future companion in martyrdom, Tommaso Thien. There he had to undergo many floggings until he could no longer stand. Later the tongs were burning in the thighs thickened, thus burning his flesh to the bone, finally, on Sept. 20. 1838 he suffered death by strangulation, along with Thien.

The bodies of the martyrs were buried in them were, side by side, and in 1847 the relics were transported to Paris in the seminary of Foreign Missions. He was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on May 27. 1900. Canonized on June 19, 1988 by Pope John Paul II, together with 117 other Martyrs of Tonkin.

Source:www.theblackcordelias.wordpress.com

Blessed Joseph Fenollosa Alcayna

2010-02-22T05:37:00.000-08:00

Roman Martyrology: At Sagunto in Spain, Martyr Fenollosa Alcayna Joseph, Priest, who, during the persecution of the faith, spilled his blood for Christ.

He was Beatified by Pope John Paul II on March 11, 2001, as one of 233 Blessed Spanish Martyrs of Valencia, as part of the group known as Jose Aparicio Sanz and 73 companions, Priests and Laity of the Archdiocese of Valencia.

Source: Santi e Beati

St.Simon

2010-02-18T04:22:00.000-08:00

In St. Matthew's Gospel, we read of St. Simon or Simeon 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 doubt he is one of those brethren of Christ who are mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles as having received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. St. Epiphanius says that when the Jews massacred St. James the Lesser, his brother Simeon upbraided them for their cruelty.

The apostles and disciples afterwards met together to appoint a successor to James as bishop of Jerusalem, and they unanimously chose Simeon, who had probably assisted his brother in the government of that church. In the year 66 civil war broke out in Palestine, as a consequence of Jewish opposition to the Romans.

The Christians in Jerusalem were warned of the impending destruction of the city and appear to have been divinely ordered to leave it. Accordingly that same year, before Vespasian entered Judaea, they retired with St. Simeon 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 Hadrian afterwards entirely razed it. We are told by St. Epiphanius and by Eusebius that the church here flourished greatly, and that many Jews were converted by the miracles wrought by the saints. When Vespasian and Domitian had ordered the destruction of all who were of the race of David, St. Simeon had escaped their search; but when Trajan 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 - Simeon endured his sufferings with a degree of fortitude which roused the admiration of Atticus himself. His feast day is February 18

Source: www.catholicsaintoftheday.com

St. Piato

2010-02-17T16:23:00.000-08:00

Roman Martyrology: At Seclin in Gallia Belgica, now in France, St. Piato, revered as a Priest, Evangelist and Martyr of the territory of Tournai.

The Roman Martyrology, 1 Oct., Says that Piato was a priest who, starting in Rome, arrived in Gaul, with Quentin and his companions, to preach the Gospel.

Having been assigned Tournai as a field of his apostolate, there he was martyred during the persecution of Maximin. This news comes from Usuard, which, by its wording, was inspired to passive Piatonis, which we discuss later, and says that Piato was fellow of St. Dionysius. The name of this saint is also found in some supplement to the martyrology Geronimo must add that in 1922 the Roman Martyrology and not including Piatonis Piata Piatonis or that it was the usual spelling.

However, wait until the seventh century. for historical information on the saint in question. In the Life of St. Eligius, Bishop of Noyon-Tournai, his disciple Remembrance (d. 684) – unless it is an interpolation of more recent times – said that he discovered the body of St. Eligius Quentin who had been martyred with nails and, after much effort, also found the body of Piato, in the village of Seclin (North) in the territory of Mélantois. The bishop showed the crowd the long nails that had also been extracted from the body of this martyr, was buried the remains and build a mausoleum.

In the sec. VI develops a tradition, still valid at the end of the century. VIII, that the Belgica II was evangelized by some martyrs: Victorian, Fusco, Quentin and Luciano, Crispin and Piato. At their departure from Rome with St. Dionysius of Paris and his comrades was ordained Priest and sent from this region of Tournai.

We need to come to sec. X to find the first biography of Piatano, but once again the editor has copied the Life of St. Lucian of Beauvais, subject to change. According to this account, Piato, after his sermon in the region of Tournai, was arrested by the prefect Rizio-launch (character created second Delehaye, by law) with Quentin and his justice: a sword to slice off the top of the skull.

We note that this passage makes no mention of execution for nails mentioned in the Life of St. Eligius, but adds that the martyr was buried in Seclin (North), near Lille, and his tomb was built a Basilica.

The law was later expanded, “Piato converted thirty thousand pagans. After the punishment the body of the Martyr saint arose, he took with his own hands on top of his head cut off, went from Tournai, and guided by angels, took the place of decapitation, until Seclin, where he was buried, Piato thus belongs the ranks of the saints cefalofori.

Piato became the patron saint of Tournai and his name is found in the ancient litanies. At the time of the Norman invasion, his relics were transferred to St-Omer (news that is disputed by F. Lot), then to Chartres and then to Tournai. The body was later returned to Seclin, but this is unlikely because at Chartres in sec. XII claimed to possess the whole body on the other hand a survey of the relics carried in Seclin in 1853 noted the existence of only a few bones.

At Chartres the casket of Piato underwent various vicissitudes: the seal in silver and decorated since 1750 was stolen during the Revolution and sent to Paris, while the relics remained in the cathedral. In the district of the city there is also a parish dedicated to this Martyr.

In the crypt beneath the choir of the collegiate church of Seclin and dating at best the SEC. XIII preserves a sarcophagus of the Gallo-Roman city that has been identified with the tomb of Piato.

It was also suggested that the Saints of Chartres and in Tournai owe their existence to a relic of St. Piato, Martyr of Andra.

Author: Rombaut Van Doren

Source: Santi e Beati

Saint Leonardo de Porto Maurizio

2010-02-16T01:49:00.000-08:00

It is this saint to whom we owe the credit for having conceived the Via Crucis. Ligure (1676-1751), was the son of a sea captain. Born in Porto Maurizio, Imperia today, he studied in Rome at the Collegio Romano, then entered the retirement of St. Bonaventure, on the Palatine Hill, where he would wear the Franciscan habit. Posted in Corsica by the Pope to restore harmony among the citizens, he was able to obtain, despite the serious divisions among the inhabitants, an unthinkable embrace. The theme of the Cross was at the center of his preaching drew crowds to repentance and Christian piety. Alfonso Maria de Liguori called him “the greatest missionary of our century.”

Roman Martyrology: In Rome in the convent of Saint Bonaventura on the Palatine Hill, St. Leonard of Port Maurice, Priest of the Order of Friars Minor, who, full of love for souls, engaged all his life in preaching, in publishing books of devotion and to visit in over three hundred missions in Rome, Corsica and Northern Italy.

Young Franciscan Leonardo had asked to be a missionary in China. Cardinal Colloredo had replied: “Your China will be Italy.”

And at the end of the seventeenth century, Italy had enough misery and misfortune enough to be considered mission territory.

Leonardo was a student in Rome, when a friend suggested going to hear a sermon. A few steps, they found that a hanged man dangling from the gallows. “This is the sermon,” said the two young men.
A few days later, the son of a sea captain of Porto Maurizio, Liguria, followed by two figures of monks who climbed to the convent of San Bonaventura on the Palatine Hill, where he donned the habit of the Franciscans called “the riformella” or “displaced” .

Devoting himself to preaching, perhaps remembering that torture hanging from the gallows, including Leonardo was always in mind the other execution, hanging on the Cross. Therefore, his favorite theme was that of the Via Crucis, typically Franciscan devotion to which he gave the largest spread.

His preaching had something dramatic and tragic, often by torchlight and voluntary torture, which underwent between Leonardo, now placing his hand on the torch lit, now scourging blood.

Immense crowds flocked to hear him and be impressed by his fiery speech, which re-called to repentance and Christian piety. “He is the greatest missionary of our century,”said St. Alphonsus de Liguori. Often, the entire audience, during his sermons, burst into sobs.

He preached throughout Italy, but the region of Tuscany was beaten because of the cold Jansenism, he wanted to fight first of all with the fervor of his heart, then with his themes more effective, namely the Name of Jesus, the Madonna and the Via Crucis.

In a visit to Corsica, the island’s troubled robbers fired their muskets into the air, shouting: “Viva friar Leonardo, long live peace.”

Back in Liguria, was launching a galley, named in his honor, San Leonardo. But he was gravely ill, the sailors said: “The boat is water.”

Consumed by the missionary labors, he was finally recalled to Rome, where, with his impassioned sermons, which also assisted the Pope, he prepared the spiritual climate for the Jubilee of 1750. On that occasion, he planted the Via Crucis at the Colosseum, declaring that place sacred to the martyrs.

Historians have also demonstrated that the Colosseum was never martyred Christians, but the preaching ~ in good faith – of San Leonardo prevented the further destruction of the monument, hitherto regarded as a quarry of good stone.

It was his last effort. He died the following year, and San Bonaventura al Palatino it took the soldiers to hold back the crowd who wanted to see the Holy priest and take away his relics. “We lose a friend on earth – the Pope Lambertini said – but we gain a protector in heaven.”

It was he who suggested the definition of the Marian dogma of the Immaculate Conception, through consultation letters with all the pastors of the Church.

Source: Parish Archives

Source: www.theblackcordelias.wordpress.com

St.Josaphat

2010-02-13T05:36:00.000-08:00

St.Josaphat, ecumenical martyr, Please pray for the unity if the Easter dates, between and Orthodox and Catholic, and eventually the unity of them both in the Faith, Amen.

Blessed Joseph Ruiz Bruixola

2010-02-13T03:51:00.000-08:00

Roman Martyrology: In the village of vest in the same territory in Spain, Blessed Joseph Ruiz Bruixola, Priest and Martyr who deserved the same occasion to bring before God Almighty the palm of victory.

One of 233 Spanish Martyrs Beatified on March 11, 2001 by Pope John Paul, II, part of the group known as Jose Aparicio Sanz and 73 companions, Priests and Laity of the Archdiocese of Valencia.

Source: Santi e Beati

Saints Acindino (Acendino), Pegasus, Afton, Elpidiforo, Anempodisto and companions Martyrs in Persia

2010-02-12T08:09:00.000-08:00

The holy martyrs Acindino, Pegasus, Afton, Elpidiforo, Anempodisto and several of their companions suffered martyrdom in hatred of the Christian faith under King Shapur II of Persia, between the years 341 and 345.

Roman Martyrology: In Persia, the holy Acíndino, Pegasus, Afton, Elpidíforo, Anempodisto and many companions, Martyrs, who have suffered the passion has been handed down under the king Sabor II.

Source: Santi e Beati

Blessed Maria de Leon Alacuas (Emanuele Legua Martí)

2010-02-12T07:01:00.000-08:00

Roman Martyrology: In Madrid, also in Spain, blessed Leone (Emanuele) Legua Martí, a Priest of the Third Order of St. Francis of the hooded Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin and Martyr, in the same persecution that still got the crown of glory.

Leone (Emanuele) Legua Martí EIA was born in Alacuas (Valencia) April 23, 1875. He entered the congregation June 21, 1890, professed temporary vows on June 17 ,1892, perpetual vows on April 12, 1904 and was ordained a priest July 15, 1906. He occupied high positions in the institution and promoted religious observance. With great apostolic zeal against the boys from reeducate, he was the director of the Reformer in Madrid at the outbreak of civil war.

He was Beatified as one of the Blessed Martyrs of Our Spanish Tertiary Capuchin, 19 Spanish members of the Congregation of Our Lady of Sorrows Capuchin Tertiary (or Amigoniani), founded by Venerable Louis Amigo y Rerrer, and a sister, also a Capuchin Tertiary, victims of religious persecution of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), a sub-group of the 233 victims of the Spanish Civil War Beatified by Pope John Paul on March 11, 2001 .

The cause of canonization of these twenty religious martyrs was conducted at the archidiocese of Valencia together with seven other cases relating to as many cases of the martyrdom of members of different religious orders and congregations. In 1993-94 was issued the decree of validity of the unified diocesan process of these causes, May 13, 1997 the Positio super martyrdom was delivered to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

Source: Santi e Beati

Interview with Father Luigi on the persecution of Christians in India.

2010-02-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

There are no strong images in this video, however I do warn the viewer that Father Luigis story of the persecution in India is a difficult one to stomach and one that left me with tears in my eyes after hearing it. Through the intercession of Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, may there be peace in India, amen.

Blessed Leon Nowakowski

2010-02-10T05:20:00.001-08:00

Blessed Leon Nowakowski, Polish Diocesan Priest, was born in Byton (Kuyavian) June 28, 1913 and died in Piotrków Kujawski between 31 October and 1 November 1939. He was Beatified by Pope John Paul II in Warsaw (Poland) June 13, 1999 together with 107 other Polish Martyrs.

Roman Martyrology: In the town of Piotrków Kujawski in Poland blessed Leon Nowakowski, Priest and Martyr, who, during the military occupation of Poland, was shot as he defended the faith before the scheme enemy of God

Source: Santi e Beati

Seminary follows footsteps of persecuted English priests

2010-02-08T17:09:00.000-08:00

Blessed Julian Nakaura

2010-02-08T04:23:00.000-08:00

Jesuit Priest, native of Japan, Julian Nakaura was martyred in his homeland in the context of fierce waves of persecution against Christians. Following a rapid process started with the green light by the Holy See granted on 2 September 1994, his Martrydom was recognized on July 1, 2007 and he was beatified on November 24, 2008, during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, together with 187 other Japanese Martyrs.

Source: www.theblackdordelias.wordpress.com

St. Stephen the Younger, Monk, Eastern Martyr Constantinople, 715 – November 28, 764

2010-02-07T16:52:00.000-08:00

A Monk of the East, he lived in the eighth century, during the iconoclast period, of which he was a victim and Martyr. Born in Constantinople in 715, Stephen began at first under the direction of a hermit, then entered the monastery of Monte Sant’Aussenzio in Bithynia, where he became Aabbot. Here he lived, praying and doing the job of copying texts. At that time the emperor Constantine Copronymo, the iconoclast in his battle against the sacred images, had aimed particularly at the monks. Following the council of Hiera, which in 753 condemned the defenders of icons, Stephen openly sided against the emperor. This cost him long harassment, imprisonment and abuse. On November 28, 764 Stephen was killed by some officers of the palace at Constantinople, without the order of the emperor.

Roman Martyrology: At Constantinople, St. Stephen the Younger, Monk and Martyr, who, under the Emperor Constantine Copronymos, was subjected to various punishments for having defended the worship of sacred images, confirmed by the shedding of his blood the Catholic truth.

The Life of this eastern Monk, was written around the year 809 by his namesake Stephen, Deacon of Constantinople.

The Monk St Stephen the Younger, was born in 715 in Constantinople, ancient Byzantium, as a young man first began under the leadership of a hermit, but then choose the religious life, entering the monastery of Monte Sant’Aussenzio in Bithynia, near Chalcedon , where he became Hegumen (abbot).

Lived here for years devoted to prayer and as amanuensis, the distinguished work of monks who copied ancient texts.

At that time ruled the Eastern Emperor Constantine V Copronymos (718-775), son of Leo III Isaura (675-741) the emperor who in 726 began the religious policy of iconoclasm against the worship of images.

The iconoclast movement was continued with his son Constantine V, who engaged in a tough fight, especially against the monks also, convened the Council of Hiera, which in 753 condemned the defenders of the cult of sacred images.

The Hegumen Stephen openly sided against the rules of this Counci convened by the emperor and the Papal rules, which will ultimately be disowned with the approval of the veneration of images, with the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.

Meanwhile, Constantine V Copronymos in June of 762, commanded the Hegumen of Monte Sant’Aussenzio, respect and adherence to the canons promulgated Hiera, since they refused, he was taken to the monastery of Chrysopoli at Constantinople and from there sent into exile in Island Proconnesus, where his mother and sister were allowed to join him.

After a year, in 763, he was brought back to Constantinople, where more than 300 monks were jailed because of their dedication to the veneration of images.

After another year of continued harassment and abuse, on November 28, 764, Abbot Stephen was killed by some officers of the palace, while the festivities were under way for the Empress Eudoxia, but without any order of the emperor.

The Greek Church recognized him as a martyr, with his memorial on November 28, and on that date and title,he is included in the Roman Martyrology.

Author: Antonio Borrelli

source: Santi e Beati

St.Paul Miki and companions.

2010-02-06T04:29:00.000-08:00

Paul was the son of a Japanese military leader. He was born at Tounucumada, Japan, was educated at the Jesuit college of Anziquiama, joined the Jesuits in 1580, and became known for his eloquent preaching. He was crucified on Februay 5 with twenty-five other Catholics during the persecution of Christians under the Taiko, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, ruler of Japan in the name of the emperor. Among the Japanese layment who suffered the same fate were: Francis, a carpenter who was arrested while watching the executions and then crucified; Gabriel, the nineteen year old son of the Franciscan's porter; Leo Kinuya, a twenty-eight year old carpenter from Miyako; Diego Kisai (or Kizayemon), temporal coadjutor of the Jesuits; Joachim Sakakibara, cook for the Franciscans at Osaka; Peter Sukejiro, sent by a Jesuit priest to help the prisoners, who was then arrested; Cosmas Takeya from Owari, who had preached in Osaka; and Ventura from Miyako, who had been baptized by the Jesuits, gave up his Catholicism on the death of his father, became a bonze, and was brought back to the Church by the Franciscans. They were all canonized as the Martyrs of Japan in 1862. Their feast day is February 6th.

St.Agatha

2010-02-05T06:01:00.000-08:00

One of the most highly venerated virgin martyrs of Christian antiquity, put to death for her steadfast profession of faith in Catania, Sicily. Although it is uncertain in which persecution this took place, we may accept, as probably based on ancient tradition, the evidence of her legendary life, composed at a later date, to the effect that her martyrdom occurred during the persecution of Decius (250-253).

Historic certitude attaches merely to the fact of her martyrdom and the public veneration paid her in the Church since primitive times. In the so-called Martyrologium Hieronymianum (ed. De Rossi and Duchesne, in Acta SS., Nov. II, 17) and in the ancient Martyrologium Carthaginiense dating from the fifth or sixth century (Ruinart, Acta Sincera, Ratisbon, 1859, 634), the name of St. Agatha is recorded on 5 February. In the sixth century Venantius Fortunatus mentions her in his poem on virginity as one of the celebrated Christian virgins and martyrs (Carm., VIII, 4, De Virginitate: Illic Euphemia pariter quoque plaudit Agathe Et Justina simul consociante Thecla. etc.). Among the poems of Pope Damasus published by Merenda and others is a hymn to St. Agatha (P.L., XIII, 403 sqq.; Ihm, Damasi Epigrammata, 75, Leipzig, 1895). However, this poem is not the work of Damasus but the product of an unknown author at a later period, and was evidently meant for the liturgical celebration of the Saint's feast. Its content is drawn from the legend of St. Agatha, and the poem is marked by end-rhyme. From a letter of Pope Gelasius (492-496) to a certain Bishop Victor (Thiel. Epist. Roman. Pont., 495) we learn of a Basilica of St. Agatha in fundo Caclano, e.g., on the estate of that name. The letters of Gregory I make mention of St. Agatha at Rome, in the Subura, with which a diaconia or deaconry was connected (Epp., IV, 19; P.L., LXXVII, 688). It was in existence as early as the fifth century, for in the latter half of that century Rieimer enriched it with a mosaic. This same church was given the Arian Goths by Rieimer and was restored to Catholic worship by Pope Gregory I (590-604).

Although the martyrdom of St. Agatha is thus authenticated, and her veneration as a saint had even in antiquity spread beyond her native place, we still possess no reliable information concerning the details of her glorious death. It is true that we have the Acts of her martyrdom in two versions, Latin and Greek, the latter deviating from the former (Acta SS., I, Feb., 595 sqq.). Neither of these recensions, however, can lay any claim to historical credibility, and neither gives the necessary internal evidence that the information it contains rests, even in the more important details, upon genuine tradition. If there is a kernel of historical truth in the narrative, it has not as yet been possible to sift it out from the later embellishments. In their present form the Latin Acts are not older than the sixth century. According to them Agatha, daughter of a distinguished family and remarkable for her beauty of person, was persecuted by the Senator Quintianus with avowals of love. As his proposals were resolutely spurned by the pious Christian virgin, he committed her to the charge of an evil woman, whose seductive arts, however, were baffled by Agatha's unswerving firmness in the Christian faith. Quintianus then had her subjected to various cruel tortures. Especially inhuman seemed his order to have her breasts cut off, a detail which furnished to the Christian medieval iconography the peculiar characteristic of Agatha. But the holy virgin was consoled by a vision of St. Peter, who miraculously healed her. Eventually she succumbed to the repeated cruelties practised on her. As already stated, these details, in so far as they are based on the Acts, have no claim to historical credibility. Allard also characterizes the Acts as the work of a later author who was more concerned with writing an edifying narrative, abounding in miracles, than in transmitting historical traditions.

Both Catania and Palermo claim the honour of being Agatha's birthplace. Her feast is kept on 5 February; her office in the Roman Breviary is drawn in part from the Latin Acts. Catania honours St. Agatha as her patron saint, and throughout the region around Mt. Etna she is invoked against the eruptions of the volcano, as elsewhere against fire and lightning. In some places bread and water are blessed during Mass on her feast after the Consecration, and called Agatha bread.

Saint Margarito Flores Garcia

2010-02-04T05:56:00.000-08:00

He was born in Taxco, Guerrero (Diocese of Chilapa) on February 22, 1899. Pastor of Atenango del Rio, Guerrero (Diocese of Chilapa). His three years in the ministry were enough to know his priestly character. The Vicar General of the Diocese appointed him vicar to act as pastor of Atenango del Rio, Guerrero. Father Margarito set to work. He was discovered and identified as a priest when he was about to reach that goal; he was imprisoned and taken to Tulimán, Guerrero, where orders were given to shoot him. Father Margarito asked permission to pray, he knelt for a moment, kissed the ground and then rose and waited for the shots that destroyed his head and forever united him to Christ the Priest, on November 12, 1927. On May 21, 2000, he was Canonized by Pope John Paul II together with 24 other martyrs of Mexico. The group is known as Christopher Magallanes Jara and 24 companion and is celebrated with an optional Memorial on May 21.Each is celebrated separately, on their martrydom anniversary.

Roman Martyrology: In the city of Tulimán Mexico, Saint Margarito Flores, Priest and Martyr, who, during the great persecution against the Church, was arrested for his priesthood and crowned by glorious martyrdom with the shooting.

Source: Santi e Beati

St.Blaise, Bishop and Martyr.

2010-02-03T04:07:00.000-08:00

The ninth-century martyrologies of Europe in their lists, which are accompanied by historical notices, give on 15 February the name of St. Blasius, Bishop of Sebaste and martyr. The Greek synaxaria mention him under 11 February. In the oldest known recension of the so-called martyrology of St. Jerome the name of St. Blasius does not appear; it is only in the later, enlarged catalogues that he is mentioned. The historical notices concerning him in the above-mentioned martyrologies and synaxaria rest on the legendary Acts. All the statements agree that St. Blasius was Bishop of Sebaste in Armenia and most of the acounts place his martyrdom in the reign of Licinius (about 316). As these reports may rest on old traditions which are bound up with the veneration of the saint in the Church liturgy, they are not to be absolutely rejected.

It can perhaps be assumed that St. Blasius was a bishop and that he suffered martyrdom at the beginning of the fourth century. All the particulars concerning his life and martyrdom which are found in the Acts are purely legendary and have no claim to historical worth. There are besides various recensions of the text of the Acts. According to the legend Blasius was a physician at Sebaste before he was raised to the episcopal see. At the time of the persecution under Licinius he was taken prisoner at the command of the governor, Agricolaus. The hunters of the governor found him in the wilderness in a cave to which he had retired and while in prison he performed a wonderful cure of a boy who had a fishbone in his throat and who was in danger of choking to death. After suffering variousforms of torture St. Blasius was beheaded; the Acts relate also the martyrdom of seven women.

The veneration of the Oriental saint was brought at an early date into Europe, as is shown by the recitals in the historical martyrologies of the ninth century, and the Latin recension of the legend of St. Blasius; so that Blasius became one of the most popular saints of the Middle Ages. The actual reason for the unusual veneration has not yet been made clear. Most probably one ground was that according to the legend he was a physician and wonderful cures were ascribed to him; for this reason the faithful sought his help and intercession when ill. Numberless churches and altars were dedicated to him and many localities (Taranto, Ragusa, the Abbey of St. Blasius in the Black Forest, etc.) claimed to possess some of his relics. He was also one of the Fourteen Holy Martyrs.

In many places on the day of his feast the blessing of St. Blasius is given: two candles are consecrated, generally by a prayer, these are then held in a crossed position by a priest over the heads of the faithful or the people are touched on the throat with them. In other places oil is consecrated in which the wick of a small candle is dipped and the throats of those present are touched with the wick. At the same time the following blessing is given: "Per intercessionem S. Blasii liberet te Deus a malo gutteris et a quovis alio malo" (May God at the intercession of St. Blasius preserve you from throat troubles and every other evil). In some dioceses is added: "in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus" and the priest makes the sign of the cross over the faithful. In the Latin Church his feast falls on 3 February, in the Oriental Churches on 11 February. He is represented holding two crossed candles in his hand (the Blessing of St. Blasius), or in a cave surrounded by wild beasts, as he was found by the hunters of the governor.

Source: www.newadvent.org

Blessed Henryk Hlebowicz

2010-02-01T12:39:00.001-08:00

Blessed Henryk Hlebowicz, Polish Diocesan Priest, was born in Grondo on June 1, 1904, died in Borysów November 9, 1941. He was Beatified by Pope John Paul II in Warsaw (Poland) June 13, 1999, together with 107 other Polish martyrs.

Roman Martyrology: In the town of Borysów in Poland, blessed Henry Hlebowicz, Priest and Martyr, shot during the war in hatred of the faith.

Source: Santi e Beati

Sts. Nicander, Bishop and Hermes

2010-01-31T14:54:00.000-08:00

Roman Martyrology: At Myra in Lycia, in modern Turkey, Holy Martyrs Nicander, Bishop, and Hermes, a Priest.

A passio Metaphrastes not included in Menologion Simeon Logoteta, still unpublished, is the only extant document concerning these martyrs.

According to the news of sinassari Byzantine commemorating Nicander and Hermes, to 4 November, the first was bishop of Myra in Lycia, and the second priest ordained bishop by the Apostle Titus of Crete. There would therefore be in the first century. For their zeal to convert the inhabitants to the Christian faith, they were denounced to the governor of the city Libanius. They had them tie back of the horses broke into a gallop. Thus dragged to the ground, the Saints had all the skin torn wetting the soil with their blood. Later they suspended the easel, striking through a wooden board and they are exposed to fire. Since they were miraculously preserved from the flames, the tyrant ordered to plant their nails in the heart and guts. Still alive, were thrown into a grave and covered with earth. Martyrologies unknown to the medieval West, the two Martyrs were introduced to Licia always to November 4, from C. Baronius in the Roman Martyrology.

Author: Antonio Calisi

Source: Santi e Beati

Blessed Peter Vicev, Pavel (Joseph) Džidžov and Josaphat (Robert Matthew) Shishkov.

2010-01-31T05:20:00.000-08:00

Roman Martyrology: At Sofia, Bulgaria, Blessed Peter Vicev, Pavel (Joseph) Džidžov and Jehoshaphat (Robert Matthew) Shishkov, priests of the Congregation of the Augustinians of the Assumption, who, unjustly accused of treason under an atheist regime and thrown into prison because they were Christians, in their mortal combat deserve to receive the reward of eternity, the faithful disciples of Christ.

Joseph Dzjidzjov was born in the Bulgarian town of Plovdiv July 19, 1919, to a Catholic family in the Latin rite. In 1926 he became a student of School of the Assumption St. Andrew in his native country. From 1931 to 1938 he studied in the College of St. Augustine, in the same city. On February 2, 1938 as a trainee recruit, he finally entered Noseroa, France, and assumed the religious name of Pavel.
He studied philosophy and theology in Lormoa, near Paris, until 1942, when he made his perpetual profession of vows.

Then forced by illness to return to Bulgaria, he continued his theological studies as an irregular student. On January 26, 1945 in Plovdiv, he was ordained a priest in the Latin rite. To Varna he was then sent, to study economics and social sciences, in order to delegations following the various activities relating to housing and economic management of the mission. Father Pavel, a very good student and active, exerted a positive influence on his comrades. With courage, he didn’t hide his anti-communist ideas and beliefs and then, for this reason, was kept firmly under control by the secret services of Bulgaria’s new leadership.

His superiors then entrusted him with the job of treasurer of the College St. Augustine in Plovdiv and later treasurer of the Eastern Vicariate. Constantly followed by the communist militia during the night of July 4, 1952, he was arrested in seminary recruitment of Plovdiv, together with Father Kamen Vicev. Pavel Dzjidjov figured second in the list of complaints.

For him and his brothers Kamen Vitchev and Josaphat Chichkov the death sentence was issued October 3, 1952, and were shot in the night between 11 and November 12, 1952 in Sofia, Bulgarian capital, along with Blessed Bishop Eugenio Bossilkov. The place of their burial in the cemetery of the city has never been discovered. The three priest martyrs were beatified by Pope John Paul II May 26, 2002.

Author: Fabio Arduino

Source: Santi e Beati

Saint Jean-Charles Cornay

2010-01-30T04:19:00.000-08:00

Jean-Charles Cornay was a French priest who, instead, was killed in contempt of faith in Tonkin (Vietnam). And in a very bloody: he was torn to pieces. He belonged to the Institute for Foreign Missions of Paris and had arrived in Macao. Precusagli the way to China, his goal, he remained in Tonkin. Here he was betrayed, falsely accused of fomenting an insurgency, tortured, and – after refusing to recant – sentenced to death in 1837 at age 28.

Roman Martyrology: In the fortress of Son-Tay Tonkin, now Vietnam, San Giovanni Carlo Cornay, priest of the Society for Foreign Missions of Paris, and Martyr, who, after cruel tortures, by decree of Emperor Minh M Ng was rendered into pieces and eventually beheaded for his Christian faith.

Many missionaries and indigenous Christians sprayed the Vietnamese earth with their blood, being killed for their faith in God. 117 of them, Tonkin Martyrs, were canonized in Rome June 19, 1988 by Pope John Paul II and among them was the French priest Jean-Charles Cornay.

Born in Loundun, in the French department of Vienne, 27 February 1809, his parents were Jean-Baptiste and Françoise Mayaud, they raised him and his two sisters in the faith. Subsequently he studied at the college of Saint-Louis, Saumur and later with the Jesuits of montmorillonite. He wast a regular student, humble and with a gentle character.

His vocation surprised his parents; when he expressed the desire to become a missionary he was met with reluctance and misunderstanding. He had to start his first battle at a time to respond positively to the call of God, opposing the opinion of parents, while affirming his filial love.

He spent a brief period at the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Paris, a period of uncertainty due to the revolution of July, in which the seminary was a target. Jean-Charles recorded it in his memoirs: “Hier on penetrate dans notre séminaire et l’on a affiché sept ou huit portant Mort aux billets Jésuites de la rue du Bac, et comme poignard a signature”.

His departure was sudden for Cornay replaced another missionary. His destination was to be Seu-Tchouan in China two thousand kilometers from the coast. He landed in Macau after six months of travel. Had to reach Tonkin, but the two guides sent to meet him never arrived. Jean-Charles Cornay finally arrived in Tonkin in 1831, the height of anti-Christian persecution.

As time passed, his hopes of reaching China one day decreased. He decided to remain in this land and on April 26, 1834 he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop at Havard Hanio after a trip on the Red River disguised as Chinese. During the grueling period in which he exercised his ministry he was always calm, cheerful and characterized by a spirit of holiness.

In 1835 he was arrested by French missionaries and others against him, the authorities forged a charge of treason for having buried the weapons in a land they tilled. He was then locked in a series of bamboo cages, a torture very common in Vietnam at that time, and since he was young and had a beautiful voice was forced to sing for his persecutors, but he chose to sing the Salve Regina. Finally he was sentenced to death by the court subremo and, on the orders of Emperor Minh Mang, beheaded September 20, 1837 at the fortitude of Son Tay.

In his last letter to his parents, he wrote: “You will receive Lorsque cette lettre, mon cher père, ma chere mere, affligez ne vous pas de ma mort, en consentant à mon départ, vous avez déjà fait la plus grande partie du sacrifice. Under the terms of the award, his body was then “cut into pieces and [...] the head, after being exposed for three days, [...] thrown into the river.” The courageous example of Cornay determined the vocation of St. Theophane Venard. The Martyrologium Romanum today commemorates St Giancarlo Cornay, on the anniversary of his birth into heaven.

Author: Fabio Arduino

Source: Santi e Beati

Blessed Symeon Lukac

2010-01-29T11:49:00.000-08:00

Greek Catholic. Born to a farm family. Entered the seminary in 1913; his studies were interruprted by World War I, but he graduated in 1919. Ordained in 1919. Taught moral theology at the seminary in Ivano-Franksivsk. Believed to have been secretly ordained a bishop in April 1945; the secrecy was necessitated by Soviet persecution of the Church. Arrested for his faith by Soviet secret police on 26 October 1949; held until 11 February 1955. Worked as a covert priest after his release. Imprisoned again in July 1962. Contracted tuberculosis and died in prison; martyr.

SOURCE: http://saints.sqpn.com/saints51.htm

Ghassibe Kayrouz

2010-01-28T03:33:00.000-08:00

I have only one request, forgive those who killed me (Ghasibe Kayrouz)

During the Lebanese civil war, a young man preparing to enter the seminary was killed. Ghasibe Kayrouz was born to a poor Maronite family near Beirut. From his childhood, the Catholic faith was introduced to him by the example of his parents who educated their children in a spirit of prayer and love to God.

After his father’s death, Ghassibe helps his family to survive by teaching religion to children in the countryside. It is at this point that Ghassibe’s extraordinary Faith reveals itself. It is in this love for God that he enters the Jesuit seminary in Beirut. Ghassibe’s Passion arrives upon his decision, one Christmas, to return to his native village. He never reaches his home, however, as he is captured and held hostage by a Muslim family who want to blackmail Ghassibe’s family for land. Ghassibe’s witness to Faith until death is provoked following his decision to knowingly make the sign of the Cross in this Muslim house. The Muslim men of the house, enraged by this, kill Ghassibe.

Later, after his death, his family discovered a letter which was written by Ghassibe himself. In it, they learned that even before his death, he had a premonition about his future martyrdom. It might probably have started when three of is friends were killed for their faith.

In the testament, he wrote, “I have only one request, forgive those who killed me.” He also offered his blood for the conversion of sinners in Lebanon and for peace, love, and reconciliation not only in Lebanon, but also in the whole world.

Blessed Władysław Findysz.

2010-01-27T04:15:00.001-08:00

Ladislaus Findysz was born on 13th December 1907 in Krościenko Niżne, near Krosno (Poland) to Stanislaus Findysz and Apollonia Rachwał, peasants of long-standing Catholic tradition. The following day, 14th December 1907, he was baptised in the parish church of the Holy Trinity in Krosno, and so began for him the life of grace.

In 1919, on concluding his studies in the elementary school, run by the Felician Sisters (CSSF) in Krościenko Niżne, he entered the state-run grammar school. As a young pupil, Ladislaus joined the Marian Solidality. In May 1927 he sat the school leaving exams and joined in a retreat organised for school leavers. In the autumn of that year he moved to Przemyśl and entered the major seminary, beginning studies in philosophy and theology at the Institute there. His preparation for the priesthood was guided by the Rector, Blessed Father John Balicki. The high point of this formative period was priestly ordination, which Monsignor Anatol Nowak, Bishop of Przemyśl, conferred on Ladislaus on 19th June 1932, in his cathedral. After a month’s leave, on 1st August, Father Findysz took up his posting as assistant curate in the parish of Borysław (today in the Ukraine). On 17th September 1935 he was appointed curate in the parish of Drohobycz (also in the Ukraine), and on 1st August 1937 he was transferred to the parish of Strzyżów, again as curate, where on 22nd September 1939, he was appointed as parish administrator. Following this, on 10th October 1940, Ladislaus was appointed as curate in Jasło, and then on 8th July of the following year as administrator of the Parish of SS. Peter and Paul Apostles in Nowy Żmigród. A year later, on 13th August 1942, he became parish priest of this same parish.

Three years as pastor of Nowy Żmigród were marked by unfailing commitment to pastoral work and the painful experiences of the War. On 3rd October 1944, along with the rest of the town’s inhabitants, Father Ladislaus was expelled by the Germans. On his return, on 23rd January 1945, he committed himself to reorganizing the parish.

Father Ladislaus’ service continued after the War through the hard times of the communist regime. Father Findysz continued with the work of moral and religious renewal in the parish, giving his all to protect the faithful – especially the young – from the systematic and intensive atheism imposed by Communism. He also helped the inhabitants of the parish with material aid, regardless of their nationality or denomination. He saved numerous (Greek Catholic) families from Łemki, who were severely persecuted by the communist authorities, and threatened with expulsion from their place of residence without the slightest chance of reprieve. Father Findysz’s pastoral work put the communist authorities ill at ease. From 1946 onwards he was placed under surveillance by the secret services. In 1952 the academic authorities suspended him from teaching the Catechism in the secondary school. He was prevented from continuing his activity throughout the parish because, on two occasions (in 1952 and 1954), the district authorities rejected his request for permission to live within the border area where part of the parish was situated.

As far as the ecclesiastical authorities were concerned Father Ladislaus was considered a zealous parish priest, receiving recognition as an honorary canon in 1946, subsequently being accorded the privilege of the rochet and mantelletta in 1957. In the same year he was appointed as vice-dean of the Nowy Żmigród deanery, being appointed dean in 1962.

In 1963 he began the pastoral activity of the “Conciliar Works of Charity” (a sort of Vatican Council spiritual support). He sent letters of exhortation to parishioners living in irregular religious and moral situations, encouraging them to reorder their Christian lives. The communist authorities reacted very severely to this activity and accused him of forcing the faithful to participate in religious rites and practices. On 25th November 1963, after being interrogated by the Procurator of the Voivodeship of Rzeszów, he was arrested and imprisoned in Rzeszów Castle. From 16th to 17th December 1963 his trial took place in the Voivodeship tribunal in Rzeszów, and he was condemned and given a custodial sentence of two years and six months. The motivation for the investigation, the accusation and the subsequent condemnation of Father Findysz was rooted in the Decree of “Protection of the Freedom of Conscience and Denomination” of 5th August, 1949. This, however, was simply an instrument in the hands of the communist authorities to restrict, and ultimately eliminate, “faith” and the Catholic Church from public and private life in Poland. Father Findysz was also publicly discredited, libelled and condemned through specially edited publications in the press. He was kept in the Rzeszów Castle prison where he suffered from malnutrition as well as being subjected to physical, psychological and spiritual humiliation. On 25th January 1964, he was transferred to the central prison in Montelupich Street in Cracow.

Just before being arrested in September 1963, Father Ladislaus underwent a serious operation in Gorlice hospital to remove his thyroid gland, and the state of his health remained uncertain due to the risk of complications. He convalesced under the care of the medics whilst waiting for a second surgical intervention planned for December of the same year – this time to remove a cancerous growth in the oesophagus. Without doubt, the interrogation, trial and imprisonment had serious implications for the state of Father Findysz’s health and he had to be cared for in the prison hospital. Due to a lack of proper care and the requisite medical expertise his health did not improve, but above all because the planned surgery to remove the cancerous growth of the oesophagus and a blockage of the stomach was postponed. In reality, he was condemned to a slow death. The illness ran its course as indicated in the results of medical examinations undertaken in the prisons of Rzeszów and Cracow. Indeed, the very first clinical examination undertaken by the prison doctor on 9th December 1963 already revealed an abscess in the throat with a suspected tumour of the oesophagus.

From the outset of Father Ladislaus’ condemnation to a custodial sentence, his lawyer, and the diocesan curia of Przemyśl, sought recourse to the Procurator and the Tribunal of Rzeszów, petitioning for the suspension of his arrest on grounds of the precarious state of his health and the risk of death. The requests were refused. They were, however, accepted by the Supreme Court in Warsaw as late as at the end of February 1964.

Given the serious state of his health, Father Ladislaus returned to Nowy Żmigród from prison on 29th February 1964. Manifesting great patience and submission to God’s will, he remained in the presbytery, bearing the sufferings of his illness as well as exhaustion. In April he was admitted to the specialist hospital in Wrocław. In spite of the treatment the clinical tests confirmed the diagnosis of a cancerous growth between the oesophagus and the stomach. Further medical examination confirmed that Father Findysz’s tumour, given its advanced state of growth, was no longer operable. Suffering with his pulmonary emphysema, and a relapse into severe anaemia which meant that death was close at hand, he returned home.

During the summer months he took part in the spiritual retreat for priests in the major seminary of Przemyśl. This was to be his last retreat in preparation for death.

On the morning of 21st August 1964, after having received the Sacraments, he died in the presbytery of Nowy Żmigród, and on 24th August was buried in the parish cemetery. Monsignor Stanislaus Jakiel, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Przemyśl, presided at the funeral, together with 130 priests and many faithful.

On 27th June 2000, following numerous requests from the faithful, Monsignor Kazimierz Górny, Bishop of Rzeszów, began the diocesan process for the beatification of the Servant of God Ladislaus Findysz. The acts of the diocesan inquest were sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome on 18th October 2002.

During the Roman stage of the cause for beatification the theological consulters and then the members of the Congregation – Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops – recognised that the Servant of God, Father Ladislaus Findysz, was arrested and condemned by the authorities of the Communist regime on account of his proclamation of the Gospel. What’s more, his imprisonment and the physical and spiritual suffering he endured were directly responsible for his death. This being the case, it is necessary to recognise Father Findysz as a Martyr for the faith. This proposal was presented to the Holy Father and was duly approved by him. Then on 20th December 2004, in the presence of His Holiness Pope John Paul II, the decree of the Congregation for the Cause of Saints was promulgated, recognising Father Ladislaus Findysz as a Martyr for the faith. The Apostolic Letter, with which His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI inscribed him in the Roll of Blessed, was solemnly published in Warsaw on 19th June 2005 at the conclusion of the National Eucharistic Congress.

This is the first successful cause for beatification based on the martyrdom of a Servant of God who was the victim of the Communist Regime in Poland. What’s more, this is the first cause for beatification in the Diocese of Rzeszów.

St.Paul

2010-01-25T01:26:00.000-08:00

Saint Albert, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem

2010-01-24T06:54:00.000-08:00

Born to a wealthy and promininent noble Italian family. Well educated, especially in theology and law. Ordained, he served as canon to Holy Cross Abbey in Mortara, Italy. Abbey prior. Bishop of Bobbio, Italy in 1184. Bishop of Vercelli. Mediated disputes between Pope Clement III and Frederick Barbarossa, and for his efforts was named Prince of the Empire. Papal legate to Northern Italy. Negotiated peace between Parma and Piacenza in 1199. Helped formulate the Rule for Saint Borcard and his hermits. This Rule later was adopted as the Rule for the Carmelites, and thus Albert is considered a cofounder of the order. Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1205 under Pope Innocent III, a position that generally led to conflict with the Muslims, and martyrdom. Since his lands were wholly in the hands of Saracens, he established his see city at Akka (Acre). Held the office nearly ten years. Well known for his involvement in both state and church matters, and as a peacemaker to the Frankish factions in his see. Summoned to serve in the General Council of the Lateran, but murdered before he could attend.

St.Vincent

2010-01-22T04:14:00.000-08:00

Deacon of Saragossa, and martyr under Diocletian, 304; mentioned in the Roman Martyrology, 22 Jan., with St. Anastasius the Persian, honoured by the Greeks, 11 Nov. This most renowned martyr of Spain is represented in the dalmatic of a deacon, and has as emblems a cross, a raven, a grate, or a fire-pile. He is honoured as patron in Valencia, Saragossa, Portugal etc., is invoked by vintners, brickmakers, and sailors, and is in the Litany of the Saints. His Acts were read in the churches of Africa at the end of the fourth century, as St. Augustine testifies in Sermon 275. The present Acts (Acta SS., III Jan., 6) date from the eighth or ninth century, and were compiled from tradition. Anal. Boll., I, 259, gives another life. All agree in substance with the metric life by Prudentius (P.L., LX, 378). He was born at Saragossa; his father was Eutricius (Euthicius), and his mother, Enola, a native of Osca. Under the direction of Valerius, Bishop of Sargossa, Vincent made great progress in his studies. He was ordained deacon and commissioned to do the preaching in the diocese, the bishop having an impediment of speech. By order of the Governor Dacian he and his bishop were dragged in chains to Valencia and kept in prison for a long time. Then Valerius was banished, but Vincent was subjected to many cruel torments, the rack, the gridiron, and scourgings. He was again imprisoned, in a cell strewn with potsherds. He was next placed in a soft and luxurious bed, to shake his constancy, but here he expired.

His body was thrown to be devoured by vultures, but it was defended by a raven. Dacian had the body cast into the sea, but it came to shore and was buried by a pious widow. After peace was restored to the Church, a chapel was built over the remains outside the walls of Valencia. In 1175 the relics were brought to Lisbon; others claim that they came to Castres in 864. Cremona, Bari, and other cities claim to have relics. Childeric I brought the sole and dalmatic to Paris in 542, and built a church in honour of St. Vincent, later called St-Germain-des-Prés. Regimont, near Bezières, had a church of the saint as early as 455. Rome had three churches dedicated to St. Vincent; one near St. Peter's, another in Trastevere, and the one built by Honorius I (625-38) and renewed by Leo III in 796. A pilaster found in the basilica of Salona in Dalmatia shows an inscription of the fifth or sixth century in honour of the saint (Rom. Quartalschrift, 1907, Arch. 135).

St.Agnes

2010-01-21T05:35:00.000-08:00

According to tradition, Saint Agnes was a member of the Roman nobility born c. 291 and raised in a Christian family. She suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve or thirteen during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, on January 21 304.

The Prefect Sempronius wished Agnes to marry his son, and on Agnes' refusal he condemned her to death. As Roman law did not permit the execution of virgins, Sempronius had a naked Agnes dragged through the streets to a brothel. As she prayed, her hair grew and covered her body. It was also said that all of the men who attempted to rape her were immediately struck blind. When led out to die she was tied to a stake, but the bundle of wood would not burn, whereupon the officer in charge of the troops drew his sword and beheaded her, or, in some other texts, stabbed her in the throat. It is also said that the blood of Agnes poured to the stadium floor where other Christians soaked up the blood with cloths. She did not want to marry but wanted to have God in her life.

A few days after Agnes' death, a girl named Emerentiana was found praying by her tomb; she claimed to be the daughter of Agnes' wet nurse, and was stoned to death after refusing to leave the place and reprimanding the pagans for killing her foster sister. Emerentiana was also later canonized.

Agnes' bones are conserved in the church of Sant'Agnese fuori le mura in Rome, built over the catacomb that housed Agnes' tomb. Her skull is preserved in a side chapel in the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone in Rome's Piazza Navona.

An early account of Agnes' death, stressing her steadfastness and virginity, but not the legendary features of the tradition, is given by Saint Ambrose.

St.Fabian Pope and Martyr.

2010-01-20T04:30:00.000-08:00

(FABIANUS)

Pope (236-250), the extraordinary circumstances of whose election is related by Eusebius (Church History VI.29). After the death of Anterus he had come to Rome, with some others, from his farm and was in the city when the new election began. While the names of several illustrious and noble persons were being considered, a dove suddenly descended upon the head of Fabian, of whom no one had even thought. To the assembled brethren the sight recalled the Gospel scene of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Saviour of mankind, and so, divinely inspired, as it were, they chose Fabian with joyous unanimity and placed him in the Chair of Peter. During his reign of fourteen years there was a lull in the storm of persecution.

Little is known of his pontificate. The "Liber Pontificalis" says that he divided Rome into seven districts, each supervised by a deacon, and appointed seven subdeacons, to collect, in conjunction with other notaries, the "acta" of the martyrs, i.e. the reports of the court-proceedings on the occasion of their trials (cf. Eus., VI, 43). There is a tradition that he instituted the four minor orders. Under him considerable work was done in the catacombs. He caused the body of Pope St. Pontianus to be exhumed, in Sardinia, and transferred to the catacomb of St. Callistus at Rome. Later accounts, more or less trustworthy, attribute to him the consecration (245) of seven bishops as missionaries to Gaul, among them St. Denys of Paris (Greg. of Tours, Hist. Francor., I, 28, 31). St. Cyprian mentions (Ep., 59) the condemnation by Fabian for heresy of a certain Privatus (Bishop of Lambaesa) in Africa. The famous Origen did not hesitate to defend, before Fabian, the orthodoxy of his teaching (Eusebius, Church History VI.34). Fabian died a martyr (20 Jan., 250) at the beginning of the Decian persecution, and was buried in the Crypt of the Popes in the catacomb of St. Callistus, where in recent times (1850) De Rossi discovered his Greek epitaph (Roma Sotterranea II, 59): "Fabian, bishop and martyr." The decretals ascribed to him in Pseudo-Isidore are apocryphal.

St. Peter Ramirez Esqueda

2010-01-19T17:29:00.000-08:00

He was born in Mexico in San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco (Diocese de San Juan de los Lagos) April 29, 1887. As a priest he devoted himself with special care and passion to the catechesis of children. He founded various centers of study and a school for the catechetical formation. When he was in prison he was beaten so severely that a wound opened on his face. A soldier, after hitting him, said, “Now you will be sorry that you are a priest.” But Father Pedro answered, “No, not even a moment, and I miss just watching the sky.” On November 22, 1927 they pulled him out of jail for justice, children surrounded him and father Esqueda repeated insistently: “Do not neglect to study the catechism, nor any reason to leave out the Christian doctrine.” They three shots were fired. He is remembered along with the Mexican saints and martyrs of the twentieth century.

Roman Martyrology: In the city of Teocaltitlán in Mexico, St. Peter Esqueda Ramírez, Priest and Martyr, who, during the persecution in Mexico was thrown into prison for his priesthood, and finally shot.

The 25 Mexican Martyred Saints (Christopher Magallanes Jara and 24 fellows), by the will of John Paul II, immediately after Canonization, were placed in the Roman Calendar on May 21 as an optional memorial. The Martyrologium Romanum commemorates each Saint and Blessed separately, each on the anniversary of martyrdom.

St. Archelais, St. Thecla and St. Susanna

2010-01-18T06:21:00.000-08:00

St. Archelais, St. Thecla and St. Susanna were Christian virgins of the Romagna region of Italy. During the persecution by Diocletian in the third century, these holy virgins dressed themselves in men’s clothing, cut their hair and went to the Italian province of Campagna. Settling in a remote area, they continued to pursue an ascetical life of fasting and prayer. They received the gift of healing from God, treated the local inhabitants, and converted many pagans to Christ.

When the governor of the district heard of these healings, he had the holy women brought to Salerno. He threatened St. Archelais with torture and death if she did not offer sacrifice to idols. With firm hope in the Lord, the saint refused and denounced the folly of worshipping soulless statues. The governor ordered the saint to be torn apart by hungry lions, but the beasts meekly lay at her feet. In a rage, the governor ordered the lions to be killed, and locked the holy virgins in prison.

In the morning, having suspended St. Archelais from a tree, the torturers began to rake her with iron utensils and pour hot tar on the wounds. The saint prayed even more loudly, and suddenly a light shone over her and a voice was heard, “Fear not, for I am with you.”

St. Archelais was defended by the power of God. When they wanted to crush her with an immense stone, an angel pushed it to the other side, and it crushed the torturers instead. A judge ordered the soldiers to behead the holy virgins, but the soldiers did not dare to put their hands upon the saints. Sts. Archelais, Thekla and Susanna then said to the soldiers, “If you do not fulfill the command, you shall have no respect from us.” Thus, the holy martyrs were beheaded in 293.

Rome Reports

2010-01-18T03:52:00.001-08:00

St.Margeret Clitherow English Martyr

2010-01-17T03:21:00.000-08:00

John Pridmore reformed east end gangster talks about St Margeret Clitherow,English Martyr, in Dublin Nov 2007 at Youth Rosary Rally

Blessed Martin Lumbreras Sanchez Perez Peralta and Melchiorre

2010-01-05T08:13:00.000-08:00

Spanish Blessed Martin of St. Nicholas Lumbreras Peralta, professed priest of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, was Martyred with his brother Melchior of Saint Augustine Sanchez just arrived in the Japanese city of Nagasaki, were closed in a dark cell, and then burnt. John Paul II beatified them April 23, 1989.

Roman Martyrology: At Nagasaki in Japan, and Melchiorre Blessed Martin Lumbreras Peralta Sánchez Pérez, Priests and Martyrs of the Order of Saint Augustine, who just arrived in this city were arrested and thrown into a dark cell, and finally burned at the stake.

Martin was born in Zaragoza Lumbreras a noble family in 1598. He took the habit of an Augustinian convent in Recollet Borja, taking vows in Zaragoza in 1619. Three years later, in July, 1622, he set out from Cadiz to the islands of the Philippines, where he arrived the following year, accompanied by thirteen Augustinian Recollect missionaries. Led to the withdrawal was particularly cloistered and his superiors assigedn him to the convent of Manila, in the first place as sacristan major, then for a period of eight years as novice master. In recent years, he greatly promoted the cult of the Virgin of Pilar, to which he dedicated a picture and an altar in the church of S. Nicola.

His desire was still hidden Japan: live and die for the Christian community, as proven at that time. In a letter dated August 4, 1631 he announced his desire to the vicar general, and exactly one year later, on August 4, 1632, he departed from Manila for Japan in the company of Fr Melchior of Saint Augustine who would be his constant companion until his martyrdom. Both arrived in Nagasaki eight days later.

Melchiorre Sanchez was born in Granada in 1599. At the age of nineteen he professed his religious vows in the convent of Augustinian Recollects of his hometown. In 1621, he departed for the Phillipines in the company of twenty-three other Augustinian Recollect missionaries, arriving in Manila in July of 1622. He learned the Tagalog dialects and Hisaya and exercised the apostolate in the recently opened missions of Mindanao, without a doubt the most difficult of the archipelago. He also spent some time in Manila as a preacher of the Spaniards until August 4, 1632, when he made his desire to go to Japan.

From that moment his life took place beside Martin.

Enmities had arisen between the Chinese traders, who had led them there, one of them denounced their entry into the territory to the governor of Nagasaki. Informed of the betrayal, the missionaries immediately sought a way to the mountains, where they met Father Domenico Equicia, who introduced them and instructed them in the idiom of the country. However, their stay in the mountains did not last long because their anxiety soon pushed them down in a city where, discovered and recognized by government agents, they were taken November 3, 1632, when they still had not taken place three months after their arrival.

The government tried, in the name of the emperor, to make them renounce Christianity, but to no avail. Irritated signed the death warrant that was executed on December 11.

On the stake, both missionaries went there after being tied loosely to the poles, so that if they could have changed their mind to escape the torment. Melchior died four hours after the start of execution, while Martin, to the amazement of the spectators, held out for eighteen hours.
Their martyrdom was immediately reported. Already in 1633 the Bishop Diego Valente was the first to receive news from Macao, where Portuguese traders testified to the martrydom of twenty-two. Some years later, in 1637, Pedro de San Juan, the governor of Macao put in place a broader testimony, Portuguese merchants of thirty-six, thirty-two of whom were present for martyrdom. Only in 1920 but was issued the decree introducing the process of Apostles.

Following the approval, on November 28, 1988, of their martyrdom, they were Beatified in Rome by Pope John Paul II April 24, 1989.

Fr. Aloysius Liguda

2010-01-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

"Not much is known about the death of Fr. Aloysius Liguda. According to eye-witnesses he was drowned along with nine other prisoners on December 9, 1942, in the concentration camp at Dachau. But his Calvary was a long one, since he endured nearly three years of suffering before his death. He was arrested in Gorna Grupa in February, 1940, and he passed through two different concentration camps (Stutthof and Sachsenhausen) before his detention at Dachau. He experienced forced labor, hunger, beatings, and other inhuman treatment, but his presence was a support to other prisoners. His spirit of tranquility and his sense of humor helped many to endure the brutal ity of the concentration camp. Even in the most trying situations he found words of encouragement or a joke to share with others. He remained faithful to his religious missionary vocation in the midst of torture and disdain for human dignity until his martyrdom.

Aloysius Liguda was born in Winow, not far from Nysa. He was the sixth of seven children. His family was deeply religious, and this had an enormous influence on his life. The nearness of the SVD mission house in Nysa helped him to identify his vocation, and at the age of 15 he joined the minor seminary. World War I interrupted his education, since he was called to military service. He saw action in Flanders and in France, and by the end of the war he held the rank of sergeant. After the war he returned to Nysa to finish his studies there. In 1920 he was accepted into the novitiate at St. Gabriel, Austria. At final vows he requested an assignment to China or Papua New Guinea. But the superiors sent him to Poland, where he arrived in 1928 (one year after his ordination).

Before his perpetual vows in 1926 his prefect wrote about him: “His intellectual ability is very good. He could be well suited for the teaching profession.” So it was no surprise that he was directed toward teaching. After receiving Polish citizenship and passing the entrance examinations for the university, he studied Polish literature and contemporary history. His obligatory two years of student teaching were done at the minor seminary in Gorna Grupa. He was quite appreciated for his teaching, which he thoroughly enjoyed. His students at Gorna Grupa remembered him as a good, kind and always well-prepared teacher. One of them wrote that he still fondly remembered him as somebody “who used to bring joy, a smile and tranquility to every class.” In addition to his full teaching load, Fr. Liguda was frequently asked to give spiritual conferences and to serve as a confessor for various religious communities. He was known and appreciated as a retreat master and spiritual director. Already at the time of his first appointment he had a desire to do retreat work. Some of his conferences and homilies were published, and they continued to have an influence among young people long after his death. In his first years at Gorna Grupa he published Audi Filia (Listen, Daughter), a collection of Sunday sermons to students at a girls’ secondary school. It became a kind of bestseller in homiletics. Two other books followed: ‘Bread and Salt’ and ‘Forward and Higher’.

Fr. Aloysius was also quite aware of the importance of formation in religious life, and he had a special interest in the youth apostolate. His charisma and his intellectual preparation helped him to communicate well with young people.

Fr. Aloysius had a remarkable sensitivity for justice, and he was known for defending others who were in desperate situations. In the concentration camps he was not afraid to continue this defense of others, which of course brought upon him beatings and other sadistic punishments. He was 44 when he died — the oldest of our four martyrs.

Fr. Aloysius was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 13, 1999, together with three companions from the Society of the Divine Word, as part of a group of 107 Polish martyrs of the Second World War."

St.Thomas Becket

2009-12-29T05:11:00.000-08:00

On December 29, the Catholic Church remembers St. Thomas Becket, the other Thomas who was martyred for the Catholic Faith in England by a king named Henry over matters of Church governance.

Thomas was born in London on the 21st of December in either 1117 or 1118 to Gilbert Becket and Matilda Roheise. His parents were buried in Old St. Paul's Cathedral. When Thomas was 10 he learned to read at the Merton Priory in England and then traveled to the Mainland for further studies of canon and civil law in Paris, Bologna, and Auxerre.

After his studies were concluded he returned to England around 1141 where he gained the attention of Theobold, Archbishop of Canterbury, who sent him on several missions to Rome and ordained him a deacon in 1154. Soon after this, he was named Archdeacon of Canterbury. About this same time King Stephen died, leaving Henry the II as the new king. At Archbishop Theobold's urging, King Henry named Thomas the Lord High Chancellor of England. Thomas and King Henry were close friends and both spent a good deal of time “living it up.”

Thomas was so zealous in carrying out his duties as chancellor that many of the English clergy distrusted him. His loyalty to Henry, a Norman, was also seen by some as treachery since Thomas was a Saxon and should have been protecting the Saxons from the reaching of the Norman king.

When Archbishop Theobold died in 1161, King Henry thought that naming Thomas the new Archbishop of Canterbury would solidify his position as sole head of England; something that had long been opposed by Archbishop Theobold.

Thomas warned the King that if he were to become the Archbishop, he would fulfill his duty as zealously for the Church as he had as chancellor for England. The King insisted, even obtaining a dispensation from the Pope for Thomas to hold both positions. In 1162 Thomas was named Archbishop of Canterbury and immediately the conflicts that he had warned King Henry about began.

He resigned as Chancellor, excommunicated one of the nobles, and successfully opposed a new land tax by the king. Within two years, Thomas fled to France in exile after more fighting with the king over the Constitutions of Clarendon which were an attempt by the king to define clearly the various spheres of authority between church and state.

King Louis VII of France welcomed Thomas and let him stay at the Cistercian Abbey of Pontigny for two years until threats by King Henry forced him to move. During this time, Thomas was in constant contact with Pope Alexander III who sympathized but wanted to try a more diplomatic approach to resolving the crisis than Thomas wanted.

In 1166 the pope granted Thomas permission to take what measures he saw fit to try to bring the matter to a close. Thomas immediately excommunicated several of the king's councilors. In 1167 the pope appointed arbiters to try to resolve the authority disputes peacefully, but Thomas refused to compromise. In 1169 Thomas excommunicated two bishops loyal to King Henry. In 1170 King Henry had himself crowned king by the Archbishop of York and the pope threatened to excommunicate all of Britain unless the king agreed to work out a compromise with Thomas.

Thomas returned to England in November of 1170 and immediately declared the Constitutions of Clarendon null and void. Henry, in a rage, said “Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?” or similar words. Four of his knights, Reginald Fitzurse, Hugh de Moreville, William de Tracy, and Richard le Breton, took this as a clear command from the king and murdered Thomas during vespers in Canterbury Cathedral on December 29, 1170.

Thomas Becket was canonized in 1173. On July 12, 1174, in an attempt to calm a revolt, King Henry II did public penance at Thomas' tomb.

In 1538, three years after having St. Thomas More beheaded for opposing the rule of the Catholic Church by the king, King Henry VIII had the shrine of St. Thomas Becket destroyed in an act of vengeance. He also had Thomas' relics destroyed and any mention of his name obliterated.

St. Stephen ( the first martyr of the church )

2009-12-26T04:22:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a good Christmas day, Christmas day was also my birthday that I share with the Lord, although his birthday is much more important than mine. Today celebrates the feast day of the above martyr St.Stephen whose name in aramaic ( the language of Jesus ) when transliterated means ''Kelil''.

"St. Stephen's Day, or the Feast of St. Stephen, is a Christian saint's day celebrated on 26 December in the Western Church and 27 December in the Eastern Church. Many Eastern Orthodox churches adhere to the Julian calendar and mark St. Stephen's Day on 27 December according to that calendar, which places it on January 9 according to the Gregorian calendar used in secular (and Western) contexts. It commemorates St Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr.

Acts of the Apostles tells the story of how Stephen was tried by the Sanhedrin (high priests) for blasphemy against Moses and God (Acts 6:11) and speaking against the Temple and the Law (Acts 6:13-14) (see also Antinomianism). He was stoned to death (c. A.D. 34–35) by an infuriated mob encouraged by Saul of Tarsus, the future Saint Paul: "And Saul entirely approved of putting him to death" (8:1). [3]. Stephen's final speech was presented as accusing the Jews of persecuting prophets who spoke out against their sins:

'"Which one of the Prophets did your fathers not persecute, and they killed the ones who prophesied the coming of the Just One, of whom now, too, you have become betrayers and murderers." (7:52)
Saint Stephen's name is simply derived from the Greek Stephanos, meaning "crown", which translated into Aramaic as Kelil. Traditionally, Saint Stephen is invested with a crown of martyrdom for Christianity; he is often depicted in art with three stones and the martyrs' palm. In Eastern Christian iconography, he is shown as a young beardless man with a tonsure, wearing a deacon's vestments, and often holding a miniature church building or a censer."

Cassandra Martyrs ( Martyrs for charity )

2009-12-17T16:32:00.001-08:00

Shepherding has taken many forms in the history of the Good Shepherd Sisters. In the Philippines, on November 21, 1983, it was shepherding in a shipwreck. Sisters Mary Consuelo Chuidian, Concepcion Conti, Virginia Gonzaga, and Catherine Loreto were on board the M/V Doña Cassandra when it sank in shark-infested waters off the coast of Northeastern Mindanao, Philippines. Survivors told of the four Sisters praying, distributing life vests, helping children put theirs on, instructing other passengers to hasten towards the life rafts and to be ready to abandon ship, not calculating how little time they had to save themselves, until time did run out.

Blessed Maximilian (Maksymilian) Binkiewicz

2009-11-29T12:19:00.000-08:00

Blessed Maximilian (Maksymilian) Binkiewicz, Priest and Martyr
Gmina Żarnowiec, Poland, February 21, 1908 – Dachau, Germany, August 24, 1942

Blessed Maksymilian Binkiewicz, Polish diocesan priest, was born in Gmina Żarnowiec (Olkusz) February 21, 1908 and died in Dachau, Germany, August 24, 1942. He was Beatified by Pope John Paul II in Warsaw (Poland) June 13, 1999 together with 107 other Polish martyrs.

Roman Martyrology: In the prison camp at Dachau near Munich in Germany, Monaco, blessed Maximian Binkiewicz, Priest and Martyr, who, during the war, was deported by the invading soldiers from Poland because of his faith in Christ and he died under torture and torture.

Maria Teresa Ferragud Roig and her four martyr daughters

2009-11-22T04:40:00.000-08:00

Here is a great addition to the blog.

Thanks once again to all who e-mail me their martyrs.

God bless
Stephen

Saint Giordano Ansalone, Dominican Priest, Martyr

2009-11-20T08:16:00.000-08:00

Saint Giordano Ansalone, Dominican Priest, Martyr
Santo Stefano Quisquina (Agrigento), 1 November 1598 – Nagasaki (Japan), November 17, 1634

In 1625, he reached Seville on foot, he left for the missions. After a break of about a year in Mexico, across the Pacific in the summer of 1626, he reached the Philippine Islands. First two years costs between the Philippines, Cagayan in northern Luzon, then lived for four years among the Chinese of a colony of the suburb of Binondo, Manila, in the Parish and the Hospital S. Gabriel, built for them. Studied the language, the mentality and customs from the Chinese, showing true forerunner of inculturation and dialogue with non-believers. To do this he also wrote an opera, hopelessly lost, which compiled the main religious beliefs and philosophical ideas of the Chinese, discussing them with the data of faith and Catholic doctrine, for an enlightening comparison. In 1632, the midst of this persecution, he went to Japan, disguised as a merchant, to bring aid and comfort: for a year he was the Vicar Provincial of this mission. Seriously ill on the island of Kyushu, “he implored the Virgin Mary to be cured until they had killed Christ.” He was jailed August 4, 1634 and subjected to unspeakable torture.

Saint Peter Chanel ( ProtoMartyr )

2009-11-14T04:21:00.000-08:00

"In 1831, he joined the forming Society of Mary (Marists), who would concentrate on local missions and foreign missionary work. Instead of being selected as a missionary, however, the Marists used his talents as the spiritual director at the Seminary of Belley, where he stayed for five years. In 1833 he accompanied Fr Jean-Claude Colin to Rome to seek approval of the nascent Society. In 1836, the Marists, finally formally approved by Pope Gregory XVI, were asked to send missionaries to the territory of the South West Pacific. Chanel, professed a Marist on 24 September 1836 was made the superior of a band of Marist missionaries that set out on 24 December from Le Havre. They were accompanied by Bishop Jean Baptiste Pompallier who was to become the first Bishop of New Zealand. Pompallier had been appointed by Gregory XVI to care for the Vicariate Apostolic of Western Oceania. Pompallier based himself in New Zealand from 1838 and became the first Bishop of Auckland, New Zealand in 1848.

Travelling via the Canary Islands (8 Jan 1837) where Fr Claude Bret (Chanel's friend) caught a flu-like virus which led to his death at sea (20 Mar 1837) and then Valparaiso (28 June) (where the French Picpus Fathers who had care of the Vicariate of Eastern Oceania had their base) and Gambier (13 Sept) then Tahiti (21 Sept) where the group transferred to the Raiatea and set sail for Tonga (23 Oct) before first dropping two missionaries at ʻUvea (still named Wallis by the French), the mainseat of the mission. Pierre Chanel went to neighbouring Futuna Island, accompanied by a French laybrother Marie-Nizier Delorme. They arrived on 8 November 1837 with an English Protestant layman named Thomas Boag who had been resident on the island and had joined them at Tonga seeking passage to Futuna.

Martyrdom:
The group was initially well received by the island's king, Niuliki. Once the missionaries learned the local language and began preaching directly to the people, the king grew restive. He believed that Christianity would take away his prerogatives as high priest and king. When the king's son, Meitala, sought to be baptized, the king sent a favoured warrior, his son-in-law, Musumusu, to "do whatever was necessary" to resolve the problem. Musumusu initially went to Meitala and the two fought. Musumusu, injured in the fracas ,went to Chanel feigning need of medical attention. While Chanel tended him a group of others ransacked his house. Musumusu took an axe and clubbed Chanel on the head. Pierre died that day, April 28, 1841.

The news of Chanel's death took months to reach the outside world. It was almost a year before Marists in France learned of it; for those in New Zealand it took half that time. Two weeks after the killing the William Hamilton, a passing American trading ship, took Br Marie-Nizier, Boag and others to Wallis (arriving 18 May 1841) and safety. In time it came on to Kororareka, New Zealand. There Marie Nizier told Pompallier’s deputy, Fr Jean-Baptiste Épalle, that Peter Chanel had been murdered."

Stephen Raymond Bou Pascual

2009-11-09T09:29:00.000-08:00

Roman Martyrology: In the area of La Nucia near Alicante in Spain ever, blessed Stephen Raymond Bou Pascual, priest and martyr, who, during the same persecution as a faithful disciple, merited salvation in the blood of Christ.

He was Beatified on March 11, 2001 by Pope John Paul II, as one of 233 Blessed Spanish Martyrs of Valencia, victims of the Spanish Civil War

Blessed Theodore Romza, Bishop and Martyr.

2009-11-07T03:44:00.000-08:00

On the day when the Church indicates for us to contemplate the glory of all the saints, in communion with all of us on earth, in heaven already living eternal happiness, also used the liturgical feast of Ukrainian Romza Teodoro, one of the martyrs of the twentieth century Beatified by Pope John Paul II. He was born April 14, 1911 in the Carpathian region. After studying in Rome he was ordained a priest of the Greek-Catholic community in 1936. Returned to his diocese of Mukachevo, he became a bishop at only thirty-three. He bravely lived his ministry during very difficult years, between the horrors of war first and then the communist threat. On October 27, 1947 he was authorized to visit a church in his district. But in reality it was a trap, his carriage was struck by a truck and survivors beaten with iron bars. To be sure to kill him, the Bishop Romza was taken to a hospital where he was also poisoned. But the courageous testimony that he had left did not die: the years of persecution the against the Greek-Catholic community kept his memory alive.

Roman Martyrology: In the town of Mukachevo in Ukraine, Blessed Theodore Romza, Bishop and Martyr, who, during Prohibition of faith, responsibility for achieving the palm of glory for having preserved fidelity to the Church.

The way of the Cross.

2009-11-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

Hello, I have just received my internet back so thats been a real treat and I thank the Lord for such a gift. There is certainly something about autobiographical writing which I disdain, however a break free from posting martyrs, I feel, may well prove to be a positive one.

Before my conversion to Christianity the Rock'n'roll lifestyle was pretty much how I lived: the alcohol, the drugs, the hatred, the pride, ( pride of which I still struggle to get rid of every day ). I felt I was going against the norm with such behaviour, however after reading how Jesus suffered during his passion, and the martyrs who imitated his example, it really gave me food for thought on how I was actually going with the norm.

Most of us need alcohol to have a good time, but The Holy Spirit through Saint Paul teaches us that we can be happy without such things and that our happiness does not depend on it.

Most of us have sexual relations outside of marriage, yet Jesus and the Martyrs denounced the temptations of the flesh and swam against the tide of such normalities that have always existed in the world.

Most of the world nailed these martyrs to the cross because the message they preached was not to their convenience. It didn't sound normal to them; it went against the norm, so rather than accept the antidote to happiness they threw it to the lions. The evidence of over 1 billion Christians today shows that, although these martyrs may have been thrown to the lions, the message they delivered shall never be devoured.

Let us honour those Martyrs who rebelled against hatred and repayed evil with love.

God bless and take care
Stephen

Brother Richie Fernando ( Jesuit Martyr )

2009-11-02T06:54:00.000-08:00

St Magdalene of Nagasaki

2009-10-21T03:57:00.000-07:00

St Magdalene of Nagasaki (died 1634), an Augustinian Tertiary in Japan, in spite of great danger and difficulty, remained faithful to Jesus Christ until her martyrdom.

Born in the early seventeenth century, Magdalene belonged to a devout Christian family. Her parents were martyred around 1620, when Magdalene was in her teens.

It was around this time that the first Augustinians arrived in Japan. As a committed Catholic Christian, Magdalene made herself known to them. She served as a catechist and interpreter for the early Augustinian missionaries.

She found their Augustinian spirituality appealing, with its emphasis on the search for God, interior life, and community. She asked to be accepted into the Order of Saint Augustine, and in 1625 was formally received into the Augustinian Third Order.

Being a Christian in Japan became more and more difficult, and with the growth of Christianity persecution became stronger. Magdalene fled to the hills, where she worked at bringing the Word of God to those who did not know Jesus, and strengthening the faith of those who did.

In 1632 the Augustinians Francis of Jesus Terrero and Vincent of Saint Anthony Simoens, who had been her first counsellors, were burned to death by the pagan Japanese government because of their Christian faith. This only served to make Magdalene's faith and commitment to Christ even stronger. She located two other Augustinian Friars, Martin of Saint Nicholas Lumbreras and Melchior of Saint Augustine Sánchez. They mutually encouraged each other in persevering in the faith..

Eventually these two Friars were also martyred. Magdalene then took as her spiritual guide Jordan of Saint Stephen, a Dominican. Dominicans also follow a variant of the Rule of St Augustine.

She considered becoming a full-fledged Dominican sister, but continued religious persecution kept her from doing so.

Moved by her strong Christian conviction, and when she could hide no more, Magdalene voluntarily declared herself a follower of Jesus. She was arrested, threatened, ridiculed and tortured, but her Christian witness was strong and unfailing.

After 13 days of torture, wearing her Augustinian habit, Magdalene was suspended upside down in a pit of garbage and eventually died of her tortures. Then her body was burned and her ashes scattered.

Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1981 and canonized her in 1987.

Blessed Metod Dominik Trčka, New Martyr Of Slovakia

2009-10-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

Succumbed to pneumonia on this date back in 1959 in a Czechoslovakian prison. Illness was contracted when confined to solitary confinement as punishment for singing a Christmas carol.

Blessed Metod, pray for us!

Ss. Cyprian & Cornelius

2009-10-16T04:46:00.000-07:00

Archbishop Mar Paulos Faraj Rahho

2009-10-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

Paulos Faraj Rahho was born to a Chaldean family in 1942 in Mosul. He spent nearly all his life in Mosul, a city with one of the largest and oldest Christian populations in Iraq. In 1954 he entered the St. Peter's junior and major seminary in Baghdad in order to become a priest. After his ordination on June 10, 1965 he briefly worked in Baghdad before being appointed to St. Isaiah's Church in Mosul. Between 1974 and 1976, Rahho completed his religious studies in Rome. Rahho later founded the church of the Sacred Heart in Tel Keppe, a town some 20 kilometers north of Mosul. "He also opened an orphanage for handicapped children".

In 2001, Pope John Paul II appointed him archbishop of the Archeparchy of Mosul. On February 16, 2001, he was ordained Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul, giving him responsibility for around 20,000 Catholics in ten parishes. He was ordained by the Patriarch of Babylon. His church is known in Mosul as Safina (The Ship), but parishioners called it the Holy Spirit Church.

Rahho expressed disquiet at the moves to incorporate Sharia law more fundamentally into the Iraqi constitution, and continued throughout his life to lead worship in difficult situations. During his 2007 trip to Rome, with the patriarch of Babylon Emmanuel III Delly who was then appointed cardinal, Rahho confided that he had been threatened by gunmen in his native town. Following the start of the Iraq war, persecution of Christians in Iraq increased dramatically. Rahho commented on the precarious situation of Mesopotamian Christians in an interview with Asia News shortly before his kidnapping.

Late on February 29, 2008, according to a report given by the Catholic News Service, Archbishop Rahho was kidnapped from his car in the Al-Nur district of the city; his bodyguards and driver were killed.[7] According to church officials, "gunmen sprayed the Archbishop's car with bullets, killed two bodyguards and shoved the bishop into the trunk of a car. In the darkness, he managed to pull out his cellphone and call the church, telling officials not to pay a ransom for his release, they said. "He believed that this money would not be paid for good works and would be used for killing and more evil actions," the officials said". Other reports stated that also investigators believed the archbishop may have been shot at the time of the kidnapping.

The kidnappers demanded Christians contribute to the jihad, through jizya. [10] The captors also demanded the release of Arab (Non-Iraqi) detainees and that they be paid three million dollars for Rahho's release. The kidnappers also demanded that Iraqi Christians form a militia to fight the US forces.

On March 13, 2008, it was reported that the Archbishop's body had been found buried in a shallow grave near Mosul. Officials of the Chaldean Church in Iraq said they had received a call telling them where the body was buried. Reports over the cause of death were contradictory. An official of the morgue in Mosul said the archbishop, who had health problems, including high blood pressure and diabetes, might have died of natural causes. Police at the Mosul morgue said the Archbishop "appeared to have been dead a week and his body bore no bullet wounds". Nineveh Deputy Governor Khasro Goran stated that when relatives and authorities went to the location specified by the kidnappers and found the body, it had "gunshot wounds".

Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho is believed to be the highest-ranking Chaldean Catholic clergyman to have been killed in the current Iraq war. The funeral services were held in the town of Karamlesh, with Chaldean Catholic Cardinal Emmanuel Delly in presence.

Blessed Zoltan Lajos Meszlenyi

2009-10-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

"Ordained on 28 October 1915. Auxiliary Bishop of Esztergom, Hungary and Titular Bishop of Sinope on 22 September 1937. Martyred in the anti-Christian persecutions of the Communists."

Should you have any more information relevant to the canonization of this particular Martyr, please e-mail details to: thebloodofthemartyrs@live.co.uk

Thank you and God bless
Stephen.

Blessed Ivan Ziatyk

2009-10-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

The end of World War II was the beginning of a terrible period in the history of Ukraine, of the Greek-Catholic Church, and of the Lviv Province of CSsR. Having arrested all the Greek-Catholic bishops, in the spring of 1946 Soviet secret police gathered Redemptorists from Ternopil, Stanislaviv, Lviv, and Zboiska to Holosko, and placed them in a non-heated wing of the monastery. Fr. Ziatyk was among those gathered in Holosko. Redemptorists stayed there for two years under constant surveillance of the secret police. Their presence was checked three or four times a week. The confreres were often taken for interrogation, in the course of which they were promised various benefits in exchange for betrayal of their faith and monastic vocation. On 17 October 1948 all the Redemptorists staying in Holosko were told to board trucks which transported them to the Studite monastery in Univ.

The verdict was announced to Fr. Ziatyk in Kiev on 21 November 1951. He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for “cooperating with anti-Soviet nationalistic organization and anti-Soviet propaganda”. The term was to be served in the Ozernyi Lager prison camp near the town of Bratsk in Irkutsk region.

During his imprisonment, Fr. Ziatyk suffered terrible tortures. According to witnesses, on Good Friday 1952 Fr. Ivan Ziatyk was heavily beaten with sticks, soaked in water, and left unconscious outside, in the Siberian frost. Beating and cold caused his death in a prison hospital three days later, on 17 May 1952. Fr. Ziatyk was buried in the Taishet district of Irkutsk region. The Great Architect laid another precious tile into the great mosaic of martyrdom…

St.Polycarp (A.D. 69-155).

2009-10-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

St.David Lewis ( Last Welsh Martyr )

2009-10-12T06:57:00.000-07:00

He was born at Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, in 1616 and raised as a Protestant.

At sixteen years of age, while visiting Paris, he converted to Catholicism and subsequently went to study in Rome, where in 1642 he was ordained as a Catholic priest. Three years later, he became a Jesuit.

He was arrested in November 1678, at Llantarnam in Monmouthshire, and condemned as a Roman Catholic priest and for saying Catholic masses, at the Assizes in Monmouth in March 1679. Like St John Wall and St John Kemble, he was then sent to London to be examined by Titus Oates (the originator of the Popish Plot) and others.

He was brought for trial at the Lenten Assizes in Monmouth on 16 March 1679. He was brought to the bar on a charge of High Treason – for having become a Catholic priest and then remaining in England.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge of being an accessory to the Popish Plot, but five or six witnesses claimed they had seen him say Mass and perform other priestly duties. For this Lewis was found guilty and sentenced to death by Sir Robert Atkins. The condemned priest was brought to Newgate Prison in London with John Kemble (Herefordshire) and questioned about the "plot". Oates, William Bedloe, Dugdale and Prace were unable to prove anything against him. Lord Shaftesbury advised him that if he gave evidence about the "plot" or renounced his Catholic faith, that his life would be spared and he would be greatly rewarded. Lewis said in his dying speech, "discover the plot I could not, as I knew of none; and conform I would not, for it was against my conscience". He was returned to Usk and waited for three months for his call to death by execution.

He was finally brought back to Usk in Monmouthshire for his execution, and was hanged on 27 August 1679. After the Titus Oates affair (1679–80), the remaining Welsh-speaking Catholic clergy were either executed or exiled.

Franz Jägerstätter

2009-10-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

Franz Jägerstätter (May 20, 1907 — August 9, 1943; born as Franz Huber) was an Austrian conscientious objector during World War II and has been declared Blessed by the Roman Catholic Church. As in most countries at the time, refusal to serve mandatory military service in war time was a criminal offense in Germany, and Jägerstätter was sentenced to death and executed.

Franz Jägerstätter (in English also spelt Franz Jaegerstaetter) was born in Sankt Radegund, Austria, a small village near Salzburg and Braunau am Inn. He was the illegitimate child of Rosalia Huber and Franz Bachmeier. The child was first brought up by his grandmother, Elisabeth Huber. Franz's natural father was killed in World War I when he was still a child, and when his mother married, Franz was adopted by her husband, Heinrich Jägerstätter.

In his youth, Franz had gained a reputation for being a wild fellow, but, in general, his daily life was like that of most Austrian peasants. In 1933, he fathered an out of wedlock daughter, Hildegard Auer.

In 1936, he married Franziska Schwaninger, a girl from a nearby village, and they went to Rome on their honeymoon. A Catholic by birth, he experienced a religious awakening - apparently about the time of his marriage – and later served as sexton of his parish church.

When German troops moved into Austria in 1938, Jägerstätter was the only person in the village to vote against the Anschluss. Although he was not involved with any political organization, and did undergo one brief period of military training, he remained openly anti-Nazi, and publicly declared he would not fight in the war.

Blessed Natalia Tułasiewicz, New Martyr Of Poland

2009-10-06T10:54:00.000-07:00

“A teacher from Poznan & a leader in the apostolate of lay people. During the occupation, she volunteered to leave for the Third Reich together with of ther women condemned to do heavy work in order to give them spiritual comfort. When the Gestapo found out, she was arrested, tortured and humiliated in public and was condemned to death in the Rawensbruck camp. On Good Friday, with the strength that was still in her, she climbed a stool in the hut and gave a talk to the prisoners on the passion and resurrection of Jesus. Two days later, they brought her to die in a gas-chamber.”

Eleven Nuns of NowogrodekFr

2009-10-06T10:28:00.000-07:00

The Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth arrived in Nowogródek in 1929 at the behest of Bishop Zygmunt Lozinski.The Sisters became an integral part of the life of the town. During the Nazi and Soviet occupation of Poland, the Sisters invested great effort in preparing for the religious services - for the residents of the town, liturgical prayer became a beacon of hope amid the hopelessness of the occupation.

The Nazi terror in Nowogródek began with the 1942 extermination of the Jews. Of the 20,000 inhabitants of the town before the war, approximately half were Jews. The Germans murdered about 9,500 of the Jews in a series of "actions" and sent the remaining 550 Jews to slave labor camps. This was followed by a surge in Polish arrests, then the slaughter of 60 people, including two priests. This situation was repeated on 18 July 1943, when more than 120 people were arrested and slated for execution.

The Sisters unanimously expressed their desire to offer their lives in sacrifice for the imprisoned. Sister Maria Stella shared the Sisters' decision with their chaplain Father Zienkiewicz and rector, saying, "My God, if sacrifice of life is needed, accept it from us and spare those who have families. We are even praying for this intention." Almost immediately, the plans for the prisoners were changed - they were deported to work camps in Germany, and some of them were even released. When the life of Father Zienkiewicz was threatened, the Sisters renewed their offer, saying, "There is a greater need for a priest on this earth than for us. We pray that God will take us in his place, if sacrifice of life is needed."

Without warning or provocation, on 31 July 1943, eleven of the sisters were imprisoned, loaded into a van and driven beyond the town limits. The eleven nuns were killed on 1 August 1943 in the woods 5 km (3 mi) beyond Nowogródek, and buried in a common grave. After the execution, Sister M. Malgorzata Banas, the community's sole surviving member, located the place of the martyrdom, and remained the guardian of their common grave until her own death in 1966. The Church of the Transfiguration, known as Biała Fara, or "White Church", now contains the relics of the eleven martyrs.

San Lorenzo, first Phillipino Martyr and Saint.

2009-10-06T09:37:00.000-07:00

St.John Ogilvie, Scottish Martyr

2009-10-05T04:28:00.000-07:00

A portrait painted in the northern French town of Douai of Saint John Ogilvie, Roman Catholic martyr.

John Ogilvie claimed to be from a noble family in the North East and to have been raised as a Protestant. He was educated on the continent, converted to Roman Catholicism and was ordained as Jesuit priest at Paris in 1610. He travelled back to Scotland in 1613 disguised as a soldier, John Watson, one of three priests who returned as missionaries ut dedocerem haeresim (“to unteach heresy") in a country where the celebration of mass had been banned. However, in 1614 he was betrayed to the authorities in Glasgow, arrested and interrogated in prison there and in Edinburgh. After three trials, Ogilvie was convicted of high treason for refusing to accept the supremacy of King James in spiritual matters. He was hanged at Glasgow Cross on 10 March 1615.

In 1967, John Fagan, a former docker living in Easterhouse (the only parish in the world named after the martyr Ogilvie) made a remarkable recovery from stomach cancer. Claims were made for the miraculous intervention of John Ogilive and these were accepted by the Roman Catholic authorities after a lengthy investigation. In 1976, at a ceremony in Rome attended by over 4,000 people from Scotland, John Ogilvie was canonised by Pope Paul VI and became Scotland's first saint for over 700
years.

The Catholic Martyrs of Uganda

2009-10-05T04:12:00.000-07:00

Blessed Fr. Oleksa Zarytsky, Greek Catholic Martyr

2009-10-02T06:02:00.000-07:00

“Blessed Fr. Oleksa Zarytsky was born in 1912 in the village of Biche, in the Lviv Region. In 1931, he entered the seminary in Lviv. He received his ordination to the priesthood from Metropolitan Andrei Sheptyts’kyi in 1936. In 1948, he was imprisoned for ten years and deported to Karaganda. After his early release in 1957, he was named Apostolic Administrator of Kazakhstan and Siberia, but was shortly thereafter imprisoned again for a three-year term. He died as a martyr for the faith on 30 October 1963 in the Dolynka concentration camp near Karaganda.”

Padre Pro

2009-10-01T01:59:00.000-07:00

Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez, S.J. (January 13, 1891 – November 23, 1927) was a Mexican Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, executed during the persecution of the Catholic Church under the presidency of Plutarco Elías Calles after trumped up charges of involvement in an assassination attempt against former President Álvaro Obregón. Fr. Pro was beatified by John Paul II as a martyr on September 25, 1988.

The Following photographs are genuine and captured all that took place:

Iqbal Masih ( Child Martyr )

2009-09-29T02:34:00.000-07:00

Fr.William Tirry

2009-09-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

William Tirry (1609 – May 12, 1654) was a martyred Irish Roman Catholic priest who was beatified by Pope John Paul II for his loyalty to the church.

Tirry was born in County Cork, Ireland in 1608, the nephew of the bishop of Cork-Cloyne. He joined the Augustinian Order in Cork and studied in Valladolid, Spain and Paris, France. Upon completion of his education in Paris, he spent five years (1636–1641) in Brussels, Belgium.

He returned to Ireland in 1641, and in 1649 was chosen as Prior (local superior) of the Augustinian house in Skreen. This was the same year that marked the beginning of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. A law was enacted on January 6, 1653 declaring that any Roman Catholic priest in Ireland was guilty of treason. Tirry was forced into hiding alongside other priests, but was captured when three men reported his whereabouts for money.

William was imprisoned at Clonmel and refused to adopt the Protestant religion. He was executed by hanging on May 12, 1654. An account told by a friar who had been tried with William supplies some details of the day: "William, wearing his Augustinian habit, was led to the gallows praying the rosary. He blessed the crowd which had gathered, pardoned his betrayers and affirmed his faith. It was a moving moment for Catholics and Protestants alike''

The 25 Mexican Martyrs

2009-09-22T03:42:00.000-07:00

In the 20th Century, our neighbors to the South risked Martyrdom rather than give into the demands of the Masonic government
to become a State church. Priests were outlawed, and if found tortured and martyred; Bishops were exiled as non-persons
because they refused to reject the Papacy and give allegiance to the State. Although these Priest-Martyrs knew to
remain in Mexico meant a sure Martyrdom, they chose death, so that while they were able they could bring the
Sacraments to the faithful. These are true stories taken where the Martyrs lived and died for the Faith.

Fr.Maximilian Kolbe

2009-09-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Maximilian Kolbe (January 8, 1894–August 14, 1941), also known as Maksymilian or Massimiliano Maria Kolbe and “Apostle of Consecration to Mary,” born as Rajmund Kolbe, was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz in Poland.

Father Ragheed Ganni

2009-09-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

ROMA, June 5, 2007 – They killed him on the Sunday after Pentecost, after he had celebrated Mass in his parish church, dedicated to the Holy Spirit, in Mosul.

They killed Father Ragheed Ganni, a Chaldean Catholic priest, together with three subdeacons who were with him – Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed. The assailants led Bidawed’s wife away, and struck down the four men in cold blood. Then they placed vehicles loaded with explosives around their corpses, so that no one would dare to approach them. It was late in the evening before the police in Mosul were able to defuse the explosives and collect the bodies.

The Chaldean Church immediately mourned for them as martyrs. Benedict XVI prayed for them from Rome. Father Ragheed was one of the most limpid and courageous witnesses of the Christian life in a country among the most afflicted.

He was born in Mosul 35 years ago. After graduating from the local university with an engineering degree in 1993, from 1996 to 2003 he studied theology in Rome at the Angelicum, the Pontifical Saint Thomas Aquinas University, pursuing a license in ecumenical theology. Apart from Arabic, he spoke fluent Italian, French, and English. He was a correspondent for the international agency “Asia News,” of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.

Hear the voice of a Christian Martyr singing a hymn in Arabic to the Blessed Mother, while watching a slideshow of his funeral mass. Hear the angelic voice of Father Ragheed Ganni

Archbishop Oscar Romero

2009-09-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

As archbishop, he witnessed ongoing violations of human rights and started a group which spoke out on behalf of the poor and victims of the Salvadoran civil war. In many ways Romero was closely associated with Liberation Theology and he openly condemned both Marxism and Capitalism.[2] In 1980, he was assassinated by a right-wing group headed by former major Roberto D'Aubuisson as he finished giving his homily. This provoked an international outcry for reform in El Salvador. After his assassination, Romero was succeeded by Monsignor Arturo Rivera.

Romero was killed by a shot to the heart on March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass at a small chapel located in a hospital called "La Divina Providencia", one day after a sermon where he had called on Salvadoran soldiers, as Christians, to obey God's higher order and to stop carrying out the government's repression and violations of basic human rights. According to an audio-recording of the Mass, he was shot while holding up the Eucharist. When he was shot, his blood spilled over the altar.

St.George the great martyr

2009-09-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

The martyrdom of Saint George, by Paolo Veronese, 1564.It is likely that Saint George was born to a Christian noble family in Nicomedia, during the late third century between about 275 AD and 285 AD, and he died in Lydda, Palestine.His father, Geronzio (Latin Gerontius), was a Roman army official from Cappadocia and his mother was from Palestine. They were both Christians and from noble families of Anici, so by this the child was raised with Christian beliefs. They decided to call him George, meaning "worker of the land". At the age of 14, George lost his father; a few years later, George's mother, Policronia (Polychronia), died. Eastern accounts give the names of his parents as Anastasius and Theobaste.

Then George decided to go to Nicomedeia, the imperial city of that time, and present himself to Emperor Diocletian to apply for a career as a soldier. Diocletian welcomed him with open arms, as he had known his father, Geronzio—one of his finest soldiers. By his late 20s, George was promoted to the rank of Tribunus and stationed as an imperial guard of the Emperor at Nicomedeia.

In the year AD 302, Diocletian (influenced by Galerius) issued an edict that every Christian soldier in the army should be arrested and every other soldier should offer a sacrifice to the Pagan gods. But George objected and with the courage of his faith approached the Emperor and ruler. Diocletian was upset, not wanting to lose his best Tribune and the son of his best official, Geronzio. George loudly renounced the Emperor's edict, and in front of his fellow soldiers and Tribunes he claimed himself to be a Christian and declared his worship of Jesus Christ. Diocletian attempted to convert George, even offering gifts of land, money and slaves if he made a sacrifice to the Pagan gods. The Emperor made many offers, but George never accepted.

Recognizing the futility of his efforts, Diocletian was left with no choice but to have him executed for his refusal. Before the execution George gave his wealth to the poor and prepared himself. After various torture sessions, including laceration on a wheel of swords in which he was resuscitated three times, George was executed by decapitation before Nicomedia's city wall, on April 23, 303. A witness of his suffering convinced Empress Alexandra and Athanasius, a pagan priest, to become Christians as well, and so they joined George in martyrdom. His body was returned to Lydda for burial, where Christians soon came to honour him as a martyr.