Saint of the day .

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Saint of the day: 28th August

St Augustine of Hippo

Bishop and doctor of the church, St Augustine was born in Tagaste, Algeria, in 354. The son of a pagan father and a Christian mother, St Monica, he was brought up a Christian but not baptised.

Augustine studied rhetoric at Carthage and became a lawyer, but he gave this up and took up teaching and further study. For nine years he was absorbed by philosophy and Manichaeism, completely rejecting Christianity. He lived with his mistress and had a son, Adeotatus.

Gradually he became disillusioned with Manichaeism and came under the influence of the Christian bishop Ambrose in Milan. After a long interior conflict, vividly described in his Confessions, Augustine was converted and baptised around 387. He returned to Africa and with some friends established a quasi-monastery where study and conversions flourished. He
was ordained in 391 and four years later became bishop of Hippo.

Augustine's intellectual brilliance, wide education ardent temperament and mystical insights formed a personality of extraordinary quality. His writings have probably been more influential than any Christian writer since St Paul.

He lived out his faith in community actively involved in preaching and writing, caring for the poor and acting as judge in civil as well as church cases.

St Augustine was an upholder of law and order in a time of political strife caused by the disintegration of the Roman Empire. By the time of his death in 430, the Vandals were at the gates of Hippo.

after his conversion he wrote:

Late have I loved you. O beauty ever ancient,
ever new. Late have I loved you.
And behold you were within and I without. And without you I sought you.
And deformed I ran after those forms of beauty you have made.
You were with me and I was not with you.
Those things held me back from you
Things whose only being was to be with you.

You called, you cried, you broke through my deafness.
You flashed, you shone, you chased away my blindness.
You became fragrant. I inhaled and sighed for you.
I tasted and now hunger and thirst for you.
You touched me. Now I burn for your embrace.


St Augustine of Hippo , pray that we may know that in our searching He is to be found within .

 

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Saint of the day: 29th August

St John the Baptist

All that is known of St John comes from the Gospels. He was the son of Zachariah a Temple priest and Elizabeth, a quite old cousin of the Virgin Mary. An angel foretold his birth, adding that he would prepare people for the Lord. John lived in the wilderness dressed in camel skin, preached and baptised in the River Jordan.

"Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." he cried. "I baptise you with water but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

When Jesus asked to be baptised by John he was reluctant to do this, saying: "I need to be baptised by you." Jesus said of him: "there is not a greater prophet." He said of Jesus: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world."


St John the Baptist , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 30th August

St Fiacre

Irish hermit, patron saint of horticulturist and those suffering venereal disease. St Fiacre sought 'exile for Christ' in the 7th century leaving his native land for France where Bishop St Faro gave him land for a hermitage at Breuil, near Meaux.

St Fiacre was known as a skilful gardener. His cult flourished for many centuries and his devotees included St Vincent de Paul and Anne of Austria.

The place where he lived is now called Saint-Fiacre (Seine et Marne). The hackney carriages which were let for hire were called fiacres because they plied their trade from the Hotel Saint-Fiacres in Paris. The name is still in use to this day.


St Fiacre , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 31st August

St Aidan

Monk of Iona, first bishop and abbot of Lindisfarne. Born in Ireland, St Aidan came to England in the 7th century when King Oswald was living in exile with the monks at Iona during the Mercian invasion. The King became Christian and when he regained his throne he gave Aidan the island of Lindisfarne, close to the royal palace of Bamburgh.

Aidan converted many people. He founded churches and monasteries, liberated Anglo Saxon slaves and educated them. Aidan had a reputation for living very modestly. After Oswald died Aidan supported King Oswin and the two became good friends. One day Oswin gave him a fine horse but he gave it away to a poor man almost immediately. During Lent he went on retreat to the Inner Farne Island. In 651, he saw Bamburgh being burnt by Fenda, another militant King of Mercia. He prayed successfully for the wind to change, but died later that year.

The Vikings sacked Lindisfarne in 793 and St Aidan was forgotten for a while, but in the 10th century the monks of Glastonbury obtained his supposed relics and his cult was revived.

Bede praised him for his eloquence, his prayerfulness, peaceful nature, humility and care of the sick and poor.


St Aidan , pray that the Holy Spirit may grant us prayerfulness and a peaceful nature , ever watching for chances to care for our neighbours in need .

 

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Saint of the day: 1st September

Saint Giles

Hermit. Although he was one of the most popular saints of Western Europe in mediaeval times, little is known about St Giles. He is said to have lived near Arles in France, sometime during the ninth century. According to one legend, he had a pet hind. One day when the Visigoth king Wamba was hunting in the woods and shot an arrow into the undergrowth, he came across the saint wounded by the arrow, and holding the hind in his arms. The king's hunting dogs were miraculously rooted to the spot.

St Giles became known as a patron of the crippled, lepers and nursing mothers. In England 162 churches and at least 24 hospitals were dedicated to him. The most famous one is St Giles, in Edinburgh and St Giles, Cripplegate in London.

At least two famous fairs were named after in him in Winchester and Oxford. In Germany he was known as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.

His churches were often found at road junctions, which travellers could visit while their horses were being shod nearby. St Giles is also a patron of blacksmiths.


Saint Giles , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 2nd September

Saint William of Roskilde



Bishop. This Anglo Saxon priest was chaplain to Canute, king of England and Denmark from 1016-1035. He accompanied him on several trips to Scandinavia and became so concerned about the ignorance and superstition there, he decided to stay behind and preach the Gospel.

A caring and tireless pastor, William lived in Zeeland and eventually became bishop of Roskilde. In the early years he had many struggles with the fierce king Sweyn Estriden. One day, after the king pursued and killed several alleged criminals in a church, violating sanctuary, William banned him from the sacraments until he repented. Several of Sweyn's courtiers drew their swords, threatening to kill the saint, but, in a great stand-off, William showed he was not afraid to die. The king was so mortified by this incident he confessed his crime and donated land to Roskilde church by way of a peace offering. From that time on the two men became friends and worked together to spread the faith.

King Sweyn died in 1070 and St William died a few days later while waiting outside the church to receive the king's body. They were buried together at Roskilde.

Saint William of Roskilde , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 3rd September

Saint Gregory the Great

Mosaic in Westminster Cathedral : " Non Angli sed Angeli . "

Pope and doctor. Born in Rome in 540, St Gregory was the first of the sixteen Popes named Gregory. He came from a patrician family and was for a time the chief civil magistrate of Rome. He became a monk when he was about 35, having given his wealth away to establish several monasteries. From 579 to 585 he was the Pope's agent at Constantinople. Five years after his return to his monastery he was elected Pope - the first monk chosen for the office.
His papacy lasted fourteen years, during which time, Gregory was tireless, energetic and charitable. He abolished fees for burials. He looked after those suffering from famine. He would not allow injustice to Jews. He wrote hymns. He also reformed church worship and introduced what is now called 'Gregorian chant'.
Disregarding the right of the Byzantine emperor he made his own peace with the marauding Lombards and ransomed their prisoners.
One of his most far-reaching decisions came about after he saw blonde Anglo Saxon slaves for sale in the market. "They are not Angles, but Angels," he said, and decided to send missionaries to England.
St Gregory's writings influenced the church for many centuries. More than 800 of his letters and sermons survive - among them a book on the office and duties of a bishop, which came to be used throughout Christendom, and was translated into English by King Alfred and a long commentary on the Book of Job.
St Gregory the Great has been called the father of mediaeval papacy - without which the early middle ages would have taken much longer to emerge fro the chaos which followed the collapse of the Roman Empire.
He called himself: "The servant of the servants of God' - a name that the Popes have used ever since.



Saint Gregory the Great , pray for Pope Francis .

 

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Saint of the day: 4th September

Saint Cuthbert

Monk and bishop of Lindisfarne. Born in Northumberland in 634, Bede tells us that as a boy tending sheep on the hills above Leader Water, St Cuthbert had a vision in which he saw angels carrying the soul of Aidan to heaven. Later he became a monk under St Eata at Melrose. For many years he undertook long journeys on foot and on horseback preaching in the remotest parts of the country between Berwick and Galloway. In 664 he accompanied St Eata to Lindisfarne and travelled south to Durham. By nature he was a solitary, and in 676 he retired to the desolate island of Farne where he lived until 684 when he was called to be Bishop of Hexham. He quickly exchanged his see with Eata for that of Lindisfarne, where he worked tirelessly preaching, giving alms and visiting every part of his diocese. St Cuthbert was known for his great interest in birds and animals as well as for his gifts of healing. On one occasion he is said to have revived a dying baby with a kiss.
St Cuthbert attracted people by his simplicity and his holiness. Shortly before he died one night in 687, he withdrew to his retreat on Farne. The news was signalled to the community on Lindisfarne by the waving of torches from the clifftop. He was buried at Lindisfarne but after the Viking raids began, his remains were taken to Durham cathedral. In 1827 some ancient bones were discovered there under the site of an ancient mediaeval tomb.
About 135 churches are dedicated to Cuthbert in England and 17 in Scotland. His image is depicted in many churches and cathedrals. Place names such as Kirkcudbright in Galloway, Cotherstone in Yorkshire and Cubert in Cornwall were named after him. All the Farne Islands, said to be under his protection, are now a sanctuary for birds, seals and other wildlife.

Saint Cuthbert , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 5th September

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Nun, foundress and missionary. Born in Albania in 1910, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, won recognition throughout the world for her work among the poorest of the poor. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 19, 2003. Among those present were hundreds of Missionaries of Charity, the Order she founded in 1950 as a diocesan religious community. Today the congregation also includes contemplative sisters and brothers and an order of priests. Speaking at the beatification Mass, Pope John Paul II declared her blessed, prompting waves of applause before the 300,000 pilgrims in St Peter's Square. In his homily, the Holy Father called Mother Teresa "one of the most relevant personalities of our age" and "an icon of the Good Samaritan." Her life, he said, was "a bold proclamation of the Gospel."
Born to Albanian parents in what is now Skopje, Macedonia (then part of the Ottoman Empire), Gonxha (Agnes) Bojaxhiu was the youngest of the three children who survived. For a time, the family lived comfortably, and her father's construction business thrived. But life changed overnight following his unexpected death.
During her years in school Agnes participated in a Catholic sodality and showed a strong interest in the foreign missions. At 18 she entered the Loreto Sisters of Dublin. In 1928 she said goodbye to her mother for the final time and made her way to a new land and a new life. The following year she was sent to the Loreto novitiate in Darjeeling, India. There she chose the name Teresa and prepared for a life of service. She was assigned to a high school for girls in Calcutta, where she taught history and geography to the daughters of the wealthy. But she could not escape the realities around her "the poverty, the suffering, the overwhelming numbers of destitute people."
In 1946, while riding a train to Darjeeling to make a retreat, Sister Teresa heard what she later explained as: "a call within a call. The message was clear. I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them." She also heard a call to give up her life with the Sisters of Loreto and, instead, to "follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor."
After receiving permission to leave Loreto, establish a new religious community and undertake her new work, she took a nursing course for several months. She returned to Calcutta, where she lived in the slums and opened a school for poor children. Dressed in a white sari and sandals (the ordinary dress of an Indian woman) she soon began getting to know her neighbors-especially the poor and sick - and getting to know their needs through visits.
The work was exhausting, but she was not alone for long. Volunteers who came to join her in the work, some of them former students, became the core of the Missionaries of Charity. Other helped by donating food, clothing, supplies, the use of buildings. In 1952 the city of Calcutta gave Mother Teresa a former hostel, which became a home for the dying and the destitute. As the Order expanded, services were also offered to orphans, abandoned children, alcoholics, the aging and street people.
For the next four decades Mother Teresa worked tirelessly on behalf of the poor. Her love knew no bounds. Nor did her energy, as she crisscrossed the globe pleading for support and inviting others to see the face of Jesus in the poorest of the poor. In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She died on this day in 1997.




Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta , inspired by your life may we find God in the poor , in those suffering in our midst from the poverty of loneliness .

 

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Saint of the day: 6th September

Blessed Bertrand

Dominican priest. Born near Nimes in France, in the 12th century, Bertrand first became a secular priest. Around 1208, he met St Dominic who was beginning his campaign to evangelise the Albigensians.
In 1215 he joined St Dominic's' newly-formed religious congregation, the Order of Preachers, who travelled about the country preaching on the Gospels.
He helped found the friary at Paris and was a constant companion of St Dominic before becoming the Provincial for Provence.
Bertrand died in 1230 and was proclaimed "blessed" by Pope Leo XIII in 1881.



Blessed Bertrand , pray for us .

[FONT=Verdana, helvetica, arial]also
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[FONT=Verdana,helvetica,arial]Saint Bee[/FONT]


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Nun. Little is known about this seventh century saint, but a village and headland in Cumbria are named after her. She was venerated for centuries in Northumberland. Historians think she was probably Irish, and may have been consecrated as a nun by St Aidan.
Some books refer to a Saint Bega of Hackness on this day. This saint lived about the same time as St Bee and may have been the same person. She is said to have been a nun at Hackness and had a shrine at Whitby.




[FONT=Verdana,helvetica,arial]Saint Bee , pray for us .
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Saint of the day: 7th September

Blessed John Duckett and Blessed Ralph Corby

Born near Sedburgh in Yorkshire, John Duckett studied at the English college of Douay and was ordained priest in 1639. He studied for three years in Paris before returning to England. He carried out his ministry for about a year before being arrested around the same time as another priest, Jesuit Ralph Corby. Father Ralph, who was born in Dublin and was educated in St Omer, Seville and Valladolid had ministered in England for 12 years before he was captured while celebrating Mass.
The Jesuit order tried feverishly to save Fr Ralph. When a 'reprieve' came, he appealed for Fr John who was younger, to be spared instead of him, but Fr John said he could not walk away and leave his friend.
In fact the judges ignored the reprieve and condemned both priests to death. On this day, in 1644, at ten o'clock, the two men mounted the cart that would take them to Tyburn. Their heads were shaved and they wore their cassocks. Each made a short speech, then embraced each other before they were executed.
They were beatified in 1929.
John Duckett was a distant relative of another martyr of the Reformation, the publisher Blessed James Duckett.


Blessed John Duckett and Blessed Ralph Corby , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 8th September

Our Lady's birthday

We do not usually celebrate the birthdays of the saints. Instead we celebrate the day they died, because that is the day they were born into the joys of heaven.

But the birthday of Mary, is an exception. We do celebrate her birthday because she came into this world full of grace and because she was to be the Mother of Jesus.

In both the East and West, Mary is the most important of saints. St Matthew describes how, when the angel Gabriel came to her and said: 'Hail favoured one, the Lord is with you', she replied simply: 'Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be be done unto me according to your word.'

When Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, Elizabeth said: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.' It was on this occasion that Mary sang her beautiful Magnificat:

My soul glorifies the Lord,
My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour .

Holy Mary , Mother of God , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 9th September

Saint Peter Claver

Missionary and patron saint of the African slaves. The son of a Catalonian farmer, Peter Claver was born at Verdu, in 1581. He obtained his first degrees at the University of Barcelona. At the age of 20 he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tarragona. While he was studying philosophy at Majorca in 1605, Alphonsus Rodriguez, the door-keeper of the college, advised him to set out to evangelize the Spanish colonies in America.

Peter followed this advice, and in 1610 landed at Cartagena, now Colombia, where he went on to minister to slaves for the next 44 years.

Cartagena was the chief slave-market of the New World. A thousand slaves captured in Guinea, the Congo, and Angola were shipped there each month. Conditions on the ships were so bad that half of the slaves died before they reached land.

When Peter Claver saw what was happening he said he wanted to be "the slave of the negroes forever".

Although he was a shy man and lacked confidence, he became a daring campaigner on behalf of the slaves and worked tirelessly to help them. .Every month when the arrival of the negroes was signalled, Claver went out to meet them on the pilot's boat, carrying food, medicines and water.

While the slaves were penned up at Cartagena waiting to be purchased and dispersed, Claver instructed and baptized them. He then did all he could to follow up what happened to each individual as they were sent to the mines and plantations. He also went to visit British prisoners captured of marauding ships. Peter spent much of his time in the city jails whose inmates included prisoners of the Inquisition.

The slave merchants soon became his enemies and people in high society shunned the churches where he brought the slaves, although one Spanish lady, Isabel de Urbina always supported him.

He spirit was unbroken by the last four years of his life when he was left alone in a small room, half paralysed and in pain. An African servant that was asked to looked after him treated him very unkindly. But when visitors voiced their concern, he said: "my sins deserve more punishment than this."

Peter Claver died on 8 September, 1654. During his life he baptized and instructed more than 300,000 Negroes. He was beatified on 16 July, 1850, by Pius IX, and canonized 15 January, 1888, by Leo XIII. On 7 July, 1896, he was proclaimed the special patron of all the Catholic missions among the Negroes. Alphonsus Rodriguez was canonized on the same day as Peter Claver.


Saint Peter Claver , pray for those in slavery today .

and St Ciaran of Clonmacnoise

Abbot. St Ciaran was born around 512, the son of a travelling carpenter from Connaught. He studied under St Finnian, taking a dun cow with him for milk. Later he became a monk on Arran island where he was taught by St Enda, and was ordained priest in 534. He then moved to Senan on Slattery Island. Finally he settled at Clonmacnoise on the River Shannon in Co Meath, where he founded a monastery with ten companions. Ciaran helped with the building work but died before it was finished.He was only 33.

Many stories are told of St Ciaran. It is said he had a tame fox which used to carry his satchel. One community of monks found that because he was so generous to all and sundry, it put a great strain on the community resources and they said to him: "Go away, for we cannot suffer you here with us."

Clonmacnoise became one of the greatest centres of learning in Ireland. It survived Viking raids and plunderings during various Irish and Anglo Norman wars, continuing until 1552. Some ruins still exist. The Clonmacnoise crozier can be seen at the National Museum in Dublin.

St Ciaran of Clonmacnoise , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 10th September

Saint Finnian of Moville

Abbot and bishop. This sixth century saint is said to have been an Ulsterman, from the royal race of Dal Fiatach. He was educated at Dromore and then Whithorn in Galloway. He was probably ordained in Rome, before returning to Ireland, bringing with him a manuscript of a Latin biblical text.

Finnian founded a monastery at Dromin in Louth, and another at Moville in County Down where a great school grew. He became famous as a scholar and teacher. One of his pupils was St Columba.


Saint Finnian of Moville , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 11th September

Saint Deiniol

Bishop and monk. This sixth century saint is said to have come from the family of Coel Godebog, a Celtic chieftain from Strathclyde. He was called 'of the Bangors' because he founded the monasteries of Bangor Fawr, on the Menai straights and Bangor Iscoed, (Clwyd) on the River Dee. Bede said this was the most famous monastery of British Christianity. It had more than 2,000 monks. Many of them were massacred by Ethlefrith of Northumbria in 615.

A few churches are dedicated to St Deiniol including Bangor, Marchwiail and Worthenbury and Llanfor near Bala.


Saint Deiniol , pray for us .

also

Saints Protus and Hyacinth

Martyrs. St Hyacinth is notable among Roman martyrs because his grave and epitaph were found intact in recent times, with his charred remains. The discovery was made in 1845 in the cemetery of the Basilla on the old Salarian Way in Rome. Part of the tomb of Protus was also discovered - confirming ancient legends which said that the saints died together.

It is said that the pair were servants of Eugenia, the Christian daughter of a prefect of Egypt. She fled with them from Egypt to Rome, but they were all captured and put to death by fire during the reign of the Emperor Valerian.

Saints Protus and Hyacinth , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 12th September



Saint Guy of Anderlecht

Layman. Guy was a farm labourer born in Brabant around 950 who was made sacristan of the church at Laeken near Brussels. According to legend he invested his small savings in a business which failed. After losing his home and his job he went on a seven-year long pilgrimage, wandering from shrine to shrine as far as Jerusalem.

In 1020 he returned home exhausted and sick and died shortly afterwards at the public hospital in Anderlecht.

Through the years a cult formed around his grave and his shrine became a popular pilgrim site, particularly associated with horses.

An annual pilgrimage to Anderlecht by Brussels cab drivers continued until the start of the First World War.


Saint Guy of Anderlecht , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 13th September

Saint John Chrystostom

Archbishop. Born in 347, the son of an army officer at Antioch, John was brought up by his widowed mother. In 373 he went to live as a monk in a mountain community and became quite ill because of the austere regime there. In 381 he returned to Antioch and became a deacon serving the local church, until he was ordained priest in 407.

He was soon made the bishop's assistant and was responsible for teaching the Christian poor of the city. John became famous as a preacher. In 398 he was elected archbishop of Constantinople. A wholehearted reformer, very outspoken and sometimes tactless, he attacked the rich and powerful and made enemies among them. He eventually was deposed and sent into exile in Armenia for three years. For his own safety he was then sent further away in 407 to Pitys in Iberia. Exhausted, he died on the road in 407.

St John is honoured as one of the four great Greek doctors of the church and above all as a preacher. He aimed to expound the Bible so that everyone would understand its teaching and practical application.

In his sermons he appeals, threatens, sympathises, caricatures, and deals in concrete examples rather than vague abstractions. Many passages in his homilies and letters are as relevant now as they were in the fifth century.


Saint John Chrystostom , pray for priests in their preparation of their homilies .

 

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Saint of the day: 14th September

Saint Notburga

Laywoman. Notburga was born around 1250 to a poor peasant family in the Tyrol. At the age of 18 she was employed as a kitchen maid in the castle of Count Henry of Rattenberg. The family squandered more food on pig-swill than Notburga's parents ate in weeks. She saved all the leftovers from the Count's family table and gave them to the poor. Count Henry's wife did not approve of this and had her dismissed.

Notburga then went to work for a farmer near Eben where she stayed for several years earning a reputation for being very capable and hardworking.

When Count Henry's wife died, his second wife needed a good woman to manage her household and asked for Notburga. The Count speedily brought her back and she stayed with the family until her death in 1313.

Notburga is one of the patron saints of servants. She is remembered for her hard work, charity and prayerfulness. Her relics were placed at the nearby church of St Rupert, in Eben. In 1718 they were placed in a position of honour over the high altar.

Saint Notburga , pray that we cooperate with God's grace and be servants of those in need .

 

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Saint of the day: 15th September

[FONT=Verdana,helvetica,arial]Saint Catherine of Genoa[/FONT]

Married woman and mystic. Born in Genoa in 1447, Catherine Fieschi entered into an arranged marriage with a wealthy young man named Julian when she was just 16. He turned out to be a foul-tempered womanizer and she endured his bad behaviour for several years, until in 1473, she underwent some kind of conversion experience which changed her life, and that of her husband too. For the next 20 years the couple devoted themselves to caring for the sick in the Pammatone hospital and eventually went to live there. At one point Catherine contracted the plague herself and nearly died. Julian eventually became a Franciscan tertiary, dying 13 years before his wife.
From the time of her conversion Catherine lead an intensely religious life - receiving Communion each day when the practice was not usual. She spent much time in fasting and prayer as well as being very industrious. She has been described as an example of a religious contemplative who managed to combine 'other-worldliness' with a very practical streak. She wrote a treatise on Purgatory and a dialogue between the body and the soul.
Catherine was very ill for the last three years of her life and died in 1510.
She is the patron of Genoa and of Italian hospitals.


[FONT=Verdana,helvetica,arial]Saint Catherine of Genoa, pray for us .
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also the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows

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Under this title, Our Lady is the patron saint of Slovakia, the state of Mississippi, the Congregation of Holy Cross, Mola di Bari, Apulia, Italy and in Barangay Paloway, San Andres, Catanduanes, Philippines.
The Seven Sorrows of Mary are a popular devotion in the Church. There is a devotional prayer which consists of meditation on:
The Prophecy of Simeon over the Infant Jesus.(Luke 2:34)
The Flight into Egypt of the Holy Family. (Matthew 2:13)
The Loss of the Child Jesus for Three Days. (Luke 2:43)
The Meeting of Jesus and Mary along the Way of the Cross. (Luke 23:26)
The Crucifixion where Mary stands at the foot of the cross. (John 19:25)
The Descent from the Cross where Mary receives the dead body of Jesus in her arms. (Matthew 27:57)
The Burial of Jesus. (John 19:40)

"At the cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.
Through her heart, his sorrow sharing,
All his bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword has passed."
(Stabat Mater)



[FONT=Verdana,helvetica,arial]Our Lady of Sorrows , pray for the sorrowful .
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Saint of the day: 16th September

Saint Cornelius

Pope and martyr. A Roman priest, Cornelius was elected Pope to succeed Fabian in an election delayed fourteen months by Decius' persecution of the Christians.

One of the main issues of his pontificate was the treatment of Christians who had abandoned their faith during the persecution.

He condemned those confessors who were lax in not demanding penance of these Christians. On the other hand, he also denounced the Rigorists, headed by Novatian, a Roman priest, who declared that the Church could not pardon lapsed Christians, and declared himself Pope - the first antipope.

Cornelius proclaimed that the Church had the authority and the power to forgive repentant lapsed Christians and could readmit them to the sacraments and the Church after they had performed proper penances.

A synod of Western bishops in Rome in October 251 upheld Cornelius, condemned the teachings of Novatian, and excommunicated him and his followers.

When persecutions of the Christians started up again in 253 under Emperor Gallus, Cornelius was exiled to Centum Cellae (Civita Vecchia), where he died a martyr.

Saint Cornelius , pray for unity in the Church .