John
– later surnamed Chrysostomos, meaning “golden-mouthed” so called on
account of his eloquence – was born in Antioch in Syria around 347.
Raised by his widowed mother, he studied under Libanius, a famous orator
of the period.In 374, he joined a community of hermits in the mountains south of Antioch. After four years under the direction of a Syrian monk, he left them, and for the next two years he lived as an anchorite in a cave. The conditions of his crude abode and the severity of his mortifications caused him to become dangerously ill, and he was obliged to return to Antioch in 381. John was ordained a deacon that same year and for twelve years afterwards he served as a deputy to Bishop Flavian.
Upon the death of Nectarius, Archbishop of Constantinople, John was selected for that see by Emperor Arcadius. In this position, Chrysostom did away with many expenses which some of his predecessors had considered necessary to the maintenance of their dignity and devoted the money saved thereby to the relief of the poor and the support of hospitals for the sick and infirm. He also undertook the reformation of the clergy of his diocese by means of zealous exhortations and disciplinary actions which, though very necessary, were somewhat tactless in their severity. John added effect and force to these endeavors, by conducting himself as an exemplary model of what he desired so ardently to impress upon others.
Chrysostom
was banished from Constantinople in 403 after he delivered too zealous a
sermon against immodesty and vanity. The Empress Eudoxia took his words
as a direct insult against herself. His exile was of short duration
however, because a slight earthquake that shook the city was taken as a
terrifying sign by the superstitious lady. Shortly afterwards he was
again banished for preaching against the disorder, impropriety, and
superstition occasioned by the public games commemorating the raising of
a silver statue of Eudoxia in front of the great church dedicated to
the Divine Wisdom. He was exiled to a remote place called Cucusus in the
Taurus Mountains of Armenia, where he suffered greatly from the heat,
fatigue, and the cruelty and brutality of his guards. The local bishop,
however, vied with his people in showing the aging patriarch every mark
of kindness and respect.When a council was called by Pope Innocent and the Emperor Honorius to restore him to his see, Chrysostom’s enemies instead imprisoned the appointed papal legates, and sent him into further exile in Pityus at the eastern end of the Black Sea. He suffered intensely from his forced travel in the scorching heat and wet weather. When he and his escorts reached the Church of St. Basiliscus in Comana in Cappadocia, the clergy there, seeing he was close to death, took him in, changed him into white garments and administered Extreme Unction to him. He died the next day, September 14, 407, with the words "Glory to God in all things" on his lips.
“God the Father gathered all the waters together and called them the sea – mare. He gathered all his graces together and called them Mary – Maria,” writes the great Marian apostle St. Louis Marie de Montfort in his renowned work, Treatise on True Devotion to Mary.
In
1683, Vienna was besieged by Turkish invaders. Jan Sobieski, the devout
King of Poland, came to the assistance of Vienna with an army that was
vastly outnumbered by that of Mustapha. Early on the morning of
September 12, having himself served at Holy Mass, the King entrusted
himself and his army to the Virgin Mary, imploring her blessing upon
himself and his troops and her assistance in the upcoming conflict. Then
rising from his knees, the "Northern Lion," as he was called by the
Turks, said aloud: “Let us now march to the enemy with an entire
confidence in the protection of heaven, under the assured patronage of
the Blessed Virgin.” And charging upon the enemy camp, they defeated and
routed the Muslims completely. The Turkish forces were overwhelmed and
Vienna was saved under the banner of Mary Most Holy.
After
spending many years in the desert under the direction of St. Anthony,
Paphnutius, the holy confessor of Egypt, was made a bishop. Paphnutius
suffered persecution under the rule of Emperor Maximinus, which is said
to have been the bloodiest persecution of Christians during the Roman
Empire. After his right eye was gouged out, and his left knee hamstrung
and mutilated, the bishop was condemned to work in the mines for
refusing to comply with traditional Roman religious practices.
In
the small Italian town of Sant’ Angelo, a couple prayed for a child at
the shrine of St. Nicholas of Bari. They prayed for a son and promised
to dedicate him to God if their prayers were answered. In the Spring of
1245, Nicholas was born.
At
the time, Cartagena was the main slave market of the New World.
Africans by the thousands were being shipped in from the Congo and
Angola and it was estimated that one third of them died in transit due
to their harsh treatment and the foul conditions of the voyage. Other
Jesuits had been working among them prior to Peter’s arrival in 1610,
but whereas they visited the slaves where they worked, Peter met them at
the wharf. Most often he boarded the slave ships before they even
docked, going down into their filthy and disease-ridden holds to treat
the terror-stricken human cargo. Infants and the dying, he would baptize
immediately; to the others he offered food, clothing and medical
assistance; with the help of interpreters, he taught them about the
sacraments and how to pray, educating them in the Catholic faith before
baptizing them. In the course of forty years, Peter instructed and
baptized over 300,000 slaves.
Many
days passed before Almighty God finally completed the masterpiece of
His creation. For nine months, the soul of Mary had given form to her
virginal body, and the hour, the moment, of her joyful birth approached.
As the suffocating Palestinian summer neared its end, the mellowing sun
poured abundant torrents of golden light on the opulent plain of
Samaria, ripening the rich orchards of autumn fruit. On a magnificent
September day, with nature adorned in radiant beauty, the most Holy
Virgin came into the world in the white-walled city of Nazareth.
Anne
and Joachim had been childless for many years, but the Lord had at last
answered their prayers. They saw their daughter Mary as the measure of
His celestial goodness to them. Little did they suspect, however, the
veritable treasures the Most High had instilled in the soul of their
child. They could not have imagined the wonder of her Immaculate
Conception. They did not realize that the Mother of the Redeemer now lay
in their loving arms.
After
the death of the Frankish king in 511, his realm was divided among his
four sons. Born in 524, Clodoald was the youngest son of Clodomire,
second son of the king. When Clodomire died in battle, leaving his
section of the kingdom to his own three sons, the princes were sent to
Paris to live with their grandmother, St. Clotilda.
Bega
was the daughter of an Irish King. Her father had promised her in
marriage to the son of the King of Norway, but Bega had already
consecrated her life to Christ by a vow of virginity. A bracelet marked
with a cross was given to her by an angel as a token of her sacred
promise. The day before her wedding, she escaped with the help of the
holy bracelet: it guided her outside to a clod of earth and she was
transported across the Irish Sea and safely deposited upon the English
coast at Cumbria.
Laurence
was born of noble parentage in Venice in 1381. His father having died
when Laurence was still very young, his mother was left a widow at a
very young age indeed. Rejecting any thoughts of remarrying, she
resolutely turned her attention to her own sanctification and her young
children’s early training in the practice of virtue. In this she was
aided by Laurence’s innate attraction to all that pertained to God, an
inclination of soul he demonstrated from his most tender years. Devoting
herself to her children and to works of charity, fasting, assiduous
prayer and her own mortification, the young widow was nevertheless
perturbed by the extreme severity with which her son treated his body
and the continual application of his mind to the exercises of religion.
Born
in 1235 at Viterbo in the domains of the Papal States, Rose was gifted
with a profound spirituality even as a young child. Endowed by God with
the gift of miracles, at the age of three she raised her maternal aunt
to life. Her great love for the poor compelled her to assist them in
every possible way. From her earliest years she gave herself over to
prayer and penance for the conversion of sinners and at seven she
retired to a little cell within her parents’ home. Rose’s health
succumbed under the severe penances she imposed upon herself and the
following year she fell gravely ill. During her illness Our Lady
appeared to her in a dream and cured her. She was instructed by the
Mother of God to be clothed in the habit of St. Francis as a tertiary,
but to remain at home and be an example to her neighbors. 
With
deep concern she exhorted them to repent of their sins and to convert.
Urging them to be faithful to the authority of the Pope, Rose likewise
admonished those who yielded to the Emperor. Before long, crowds began
to gather in the vicinity of her home, hoping for a glimpse of her. When
her father, frightened by all the attention his daughter attracted,
forbade her to even leave the house to preach under pain of physical
punishment, the local parish priest intervened and convinced him to
withdraw his prohibition. For two years the child Franciscan preached
conversion to her fellow citizens. Her ardent words were often
accompanied by prodigies that stunned the crowds. The stone on which she
stood to speak, for example, was seen to rise up off the ground and
sustain her in midair during her preaching. While the general population
was moved to conversion and penance by her words and example, the
partisans of the Emperor were incensed against the young preacher and
actively clamored for her death. The civil authorities, however, while
they were alarmed by her public exhortations, they would not go so far
as to condemn a mere child to death and instead exiled her and her
parents from Viterbo. In January, 1250 they took refuge first in
Soriano, where, on December 5 of the same year Rose prophesied the
imminent death of the emperor. Her prediction came to pass on December
13 and soon after, Pope Innocent IV regained control of the Papal States
through a stipulation in the emperor’s own will which directed that all
lands he had taken from the Church be returned. Soon afterwards, Rose
and her parents went to Vitorchiano. A sorceress there had greatly
influenced the citizens of this hillside town and the young apostle set
about her public preaching once more. Her exhortations moved the people
but failed with the sorceress herself. Undaunted, Rose had an immense
wooden pyre built in the public square and climbing to the top, she had
it set on fire. For three hours she stood unscathed in the midst of the
devouring flames singing the praises of God. Sincerely moved by the
miracle, the repentant sorceress fell to her knees.
fter
World War II, Austria was divided between four countries: America,
France, the United Kingdom, and Russia. At the time, Russia was still
communist. The section of Austria controlled by the communists was the
richest, and included the city of Vienna. The Viennese were subject to
the all the atrocities and tyrannies of communism. However, in 1946, Fr.
Petrus Pavlicek, after making a pilgrimage to Mariazell, the principle
Marian shrine in Austria, was told by an interior voice: “Do as I say and there will be peace.”
In
590 Pope Pelagius died of a plague that had swept through Rome. Gregory
was unanimously elected pope in the same year, but continued to live
with monastic simplicity. As pope, Gregory sought peace with the
invading Lombards. For nine years he strived for a settlement between
the Byzantine Emperor and king of the Lombards, Agilulf, but was
eventually forced to negotiate a separate treaty for the safety of Rome
and the surrounding districts.
William
was an Anglo-Saxon priest, who was appointed as chaplain to Canute, the
King of England and Denmark. He traveled with the king to Denmark and
remained behind to evangelize the country when he saw how the people
were in need. He was consecrated as the Bishop of Roskilde in 1044.
From
time to time throughout History, God reminds His creatures, in very
vivid ways, of "the four last things” – Death, Judgment, Heaven or Hell.
In his History of the English Church, St. Bede the Venerable records one such occasion as it was told by an Irish monk named Haemgisl.
Heavenly
Child, lovable Mary, the Eternal Father delights in your birth, for He
beholds in your coming into this world one of His creatures who is so
perfect that she will become the worthy Mother of His divine Son.
O
Chosen One among the daughters of Adam, admirable Mary, the Son of God
delights in your birth, for He beholds the one chosen to be His Mother,
and oh! such a beloved Mother.
O
Chosen One among the daughters of Adam, lovable Mary, the Eternal Word
takes delight in your birth, for He sees the source of His Immaculate
Blood.
O
Chosen One among the daughters of Adam, admirable Mary, the Redeemer,
promised to mankind from the beginning of the world, takes delight in
your birth, for He sees the one who is destined to become the
Co-redemptress of souls by uniting her tears to the Blood shed on the
Cross to save mankind.
Resplendent
Lily of Paradise, lovable Mary, the Holy Spirit takes delight in your
birth for He sees in you the soul never stained by sin, which would
forever be His worthy Temple.
Most
Beautiful Branch of the tree of David, most admirable Mary, whose birth
was such a consolation to St. Joachim and St. Anne who were delighted
to be the parents of so holy a child, may your birth be the consolation
of my soul, by obtaining for me from God, victory over the world and
detachment from all the things of this earth.
Resplendent
Morning Star, lovable Mary, your birth was the cause of great joy to
the angels, for they beheld in you the Mother of the Redeemer of the
world, who by His Death would repair the loss sustained by the fall of
rebellions angels in paradise.
Brilliant
Aurora of Heaven, lovable Mary, your birth brought great consolation to
the souls of the saints detained in limbo, for it announced the
approach of the Sun of Justice, Jesus Christ, who would enlighten their
darkness and then conduct them to paradise.
Mediatrix
between God and mankind, admirable Mary, by your birth you perfected
the joy of all the children of Adam, who, through you, have received the
Author of Grace, for He has made you the treasurer of all the graces
which are imparted to us.
The
Order of Our Lady of Ransom and Mercy had been founded in the year 1218
at the request of the Holy Mother of God for the purpose of ransoming
Christians held captive by the Moors. Its members pledged themselves to
pay the ransom demanded for the release of these Christians by their
Muslim captors or, when unable to do so, would offer themselves to be
held as hostages in their place, with the promise of future payment.
Margaret
Ward was born a gentleman's daughter at Congleton in Cheshire, England,
and for a time lived as a lady's companion in the house of a lady of
distinction named Whitall, then residing in London.