St. Constantine the Great
புனிதர் பெரிய கான்ஸ்டன்டைன்
ரோமப்பேரரசின் 57வது பேரரசர்:
பிறப்பு: ஃபெப்ரவரி 27, 272
நைஸ்ஸஸ், பெரிய மோஸியா, ரோமப்பேரரசு (தற்போதைய செர்பியா)
இறப்பு: மே 22, 337 (வயது 65)
நிகொமேடியா, பித்தினியா, ரோமப்பேரரசு
“முதலாம் கான்ஸ்டன்டைன்” (Constantine I) என்று பொதுவாக அழைக்கப்படும் இவர், ரோமப்பேரரசின் 57வது ரோமப் பேரரசர் ஆவார். கி.பி. 324ம் ஆண்டுமுதல் 337ம் ஆண்டில் தாம் இறக்கும்வரை ஆட்சியில் இருந்த இவர், முதல் கிறிஸ்தவ ரோமப் பேரரசரானாவார். முக்கியத்துவம் வாய்ந்த ஒரு ஆட்சியாளராக இருந்த கான்ஸ்டன்டைன், எப்போதும் ஒரு சர்ச்சைக்குரிய நபராகவே இருந்தார். கிறிஸ்துவ துன்புறுத்தல்களை நிறுத்துவதும் ரோம சாம்ராஜ்யத்தில் உள்ள மற்ற எல்லா மதங்களுடனும் கிறிஸ்தவர்களுடனும் கிறிஸ்தவத்தை சட்டப்பூர்வமாக்குவதற்குமான முதல் பேரரசராக கான்ஸ்டன்டைன் இருந்தார்.
கி.பி. 308 முதல் 324 வரை ஆட்சி செய்த ரோமப் பேரரசன் “லிசினியஸ்” (Licinius) என்பவரை பின்னாளில் போரிட்டு வெற்றிகொண்ட கான்ஸ்டன்டைன், முதலில் அவரை 313ம் ஆண்டு, ஃபெப்ரவரி மாதம் சந்தித்து, “மிலன் பிரகடணம்” (Edict of Milan) எனும் ஒப்பந்தத்தை செய்துகொண்டனர். இதன்படி, கிறிஸ்தவ மக்கள், அடக்குமுறை இல்லாமல் தமது விசுவாசத்தை பின்பற்ற அனுமதியளிக்கப்பட்டனர். கிறிஸ்தவ போதகம் செய்ததற்கான தண்டனைகள் இரத்து செய்யப்பட்டன. இதற்காக, பலர் மறைசாட்சியாக உயிர்த்தியாகம் செய்திருந்தனர். பறிமுதல் செய்யப்பட்ட திருச்சபையின் சொத்துக்கள் திருப்பித் தரப்பட்டன. கிறிஸ்தவம் மட்டுமல்லாது, பிற மத மக்களுக்கும் அவர்களது விசுவாசத்தை பின்பற்றும் சுதந்திரம் அளிக்கப்பட்டது.
“பிளேவியஸ் வலேரியஸ் கான்ஸ்டன்ஷியஸ்” (Flavius Valerius Constantius) எனும் இயற்பெயர் கொண்ட இவரது தந்தையார், ஒரு ரோமன் இராணுவ (Roman Army officer) அதிகாரியான “பிளேவியஸ் கான்ஸ்டன்ஷியஸ்” (Flavius Constantius) ஆவார். இவரது தாயாரான “புனிதர் ஹெலெனா” (Saint Helena of Constantinople) ஒரு கிரேக்க பெண்மணியாவார். “கிழக்கு மரபுவழி திருச்சபையும்” (Eastern Orthodox Church), “ஓரியண்டல் மரபுவழி திருச்சபையும்” (Oriental Orthodox Church) இவரை புனிதராகப் போற்றுகின்றன.
ஆட்சி:
பேரரசர் கான்ஸ்டன்டைன் காலத்தில் ரோமானிய பேரரசின் பல நிர்வாக, நிதி, சமூக, மற்றும் இராணுவ சீர்திருத்தங்கள் இயற்றப்பட்டது. மேலும் அரசு, குடிமையில் மற்றும் இராணுவ அதிகாரங்கள் தனித்தனியே பிரித்து மறு சீரமைக்கப்பட்டது. மேலும் அப்போதே பணவீக்கத்தை கட்டுப்படுத்த சொலிடுஸ் என்ற ஒரு புதிய தங்க நாணயத்தை அறிமுகப்படுத்தினார். இது ஆயிரம் ஆண்டுகளுக்கு மேலாக பைசண்டைன் மற்றும் ஐரோப்பிய நாணயங்களின் பொதுவான நாணயமாக பயன்பட்டது. உள்நாட்டு அச்சுறுத்தல்கள் மற்றும் காட்டுமிராண்டிகளின் படையெடுப்புகளை எதிர்கொள்வதற்காக ரோமானிய இராணுவத்தில் தரவரிசை முறையில் வகைப்படுத்தி படைகளை பலப்படுத்தினர். கான்ஸ்டன்டைன் முந்தைய நூற்றாண்டின் உள்நாட்டு கலகத்தின் கைவிடப்பட்ட ரோமன் எல்லைகளை பழங்குடியினரிடமிருந்து வெற்றிகரமாக மீட்டார். கான்ஸ்டன்டைன் 324ல் பேரரசர்கள் மசேந்தியஸ் மற்றும் லிசினுஸ் ஆகியோருக்கு எதிரான உள்நாட்டு போர்களை வென்றதன் காரணமாக மேற்கு மற்றும் கிழக்கு ரோமின் ஒரே ஆட்சியாளரானார்.
கான்ஸ்டன்டைன் பண்டைக் கிரேக்கக் குடியேற்றமான பைசன்டியத்தை பேரரசின் தலைநகரமாக ஆக்கினார். அவர் காலத்தில் புதிய ரோம் என பெயரிடப்பட்ட இது பின்னர், அவர் பெயரால் கான்ஸ்டன்டினோப்பிள் என்று அழைக்கப்பட்டது. இது பைசன்டைன் பேரரசின் தலைநகரமாக ஆயிரம் ஆண்டுகளுக்கு மேலாக நீடித்திருந்தது. இதன் காரணமாக, அவர் பைசண்டைன் பேரரசின் நிறுவனர் என்று அழைக்கபடுகின்றார். அவரது அரசு அவருக்கு பின் வந்தவர்களால் தழைத்தோங்கியது.
அவர் மதச்சார்பற்ற ஆட்சியாளர்களின் ஒரு முன்மாதிரி மற்றும் சட்டப்பூர்வ பேரரசின் முன்னோடி என்று கூறப்பட்டார். ஆனால் சில விமர்சகர்கள் அவரை ஒரு கொடுங்கோல் அரசனாகவும் அவர் தன் ஆட்சியை தக்கவைத்து கொள்வதற்க்காக நடித்தார் என்றும் கூறுகின்றனர்.
மத கொள்கை:
கிறிஸ்தவம் வரலாற்றில் கான்ஸ்டன்டைன் - முதல் கிறிஸ்தவ பேரரசர் ஆவர். இயேசுவின் கல்லறை உள்ளதாக நம்பப்படும் ஜெருசலேம் நகரில் அவரது உத்தரவின் பேரில் புனித செபுல்ச்ரே திருச்சபை கட்டப்பட்டது. திருத்தந்தைகள் கான்ஸ்டன்டைன் மூலம் பெரிய அளவில் அதிகாரங்களைப் பெற்றனர்.
கடைசி காலம்:
கான்ஸ்டன்டைன் அவரது மரணத் தருவாயில் புனித அப்போஸ்தலர் தேவாலயம் அருகே ரகசியமாக கல்லறை கட்டி தயாராக வைக்க சொன்னார். அவரது மரணம் அவர் எதிர்பார்த்ததை விட விரைவிலேயே வந்தது. கி.பி. 337ம் ஆண்டு, ஈஸ்டர் விருந்திற்கு பின்னர் கான்ஸ்டன்டைன் தீவிரமாக நோய்வாய்ப்பட்டார். பின்னர் கான்ஸ்டான்டினோபிள் திரும்ப அவர் முயற்சித்தார். அவர் தனக்கு திருமுழுக்கு அளிக்கப்பட வேண்டும் என கேட்டார். அதற்கான ஏற்பாடுகளும் செய்யப்பட்டாலும் அதற்கு முன்பே அச்சிரோனில் 337ம் ஆண்டு, மே மாதம், 22ம் நாளன்று, பாஸ்கா பண்டிகையை தொடர்ந்து பெந்தகோஸ்து ஐம்பது நாள் திருவிழாவின் கடைசி நாளில் கான்ஸ்டன்டைன் இறந்தார்.
Feastday: May 21
Birth: 272
Death: 337
Junior Emperor and emperor called the "Thirteenth Apostle" in the East. The son of Constantius I Chlorus, junior emperor and St. Helena, Constantine was raised on the court of co-Emperor Diocletian. When his father died in 306, Constantine was declared junior emperor of York, England, by the local legions and earned a place as a ruler of the Empire by defeating of his main rivals at the battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312. According to legend, he adopted the insignia of Christ, the chi-rho, and placed it upon his labarum - the military standards that held the banners his armies carried into battle to vanquish their pagan enemies. His purple banners were inscribed with the Latin for "In this sign conquer." Constantine then shared rule of the Empire with Licinius Licinianus, exerting his considerable influence upon his colleague to secure the declaration of Christianity to be a free religion. When, however, Licinius and Constantine launched a persecution of the Christians, Constantine marched to the East and routed his opponent at the battle of Adrianople. Constantine was the most dominating figure of his lifetime, towering over his contemporaries, including Pope Sylvester I. He presided over the Council of Nicaea, gave extensive grants of land and property to the Church, founded the Christian city of Constantinople to serve as his new capital, and undertook a long-sighted program of Christianization for the whole of the Roman Empire. While he was baptized a Christian only on his deathbed, Constantine nevertheless was a genuinely important figure in Christian history and was revered as a saint, especially in the Eastern Church.
Constantine I (Latin: Flavius Valerius Constantinus; Greek: Κωνσταντῖνος, translit. Kōnstantînos; 27 February c. 272 – 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from 306 to 337. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterranea (now Niš, Serbia), he was the son of Flavius Constantius, a Roman army officer born in Dardania who became one of the four emperors of the Tetrarchy. His mother, Helena, was Greek and of low birth. Constantine served with distinction under emperors Diocletian and Galerius campaigning in the eastern provinces against barbarians and the Persians, before being recalled west in 305 to fight under his father in Britain. After his father's death in 306, Constantine was acclaimed as emperor by the army at Eboracum (York). He emerged victorious in the civil wars against emperors Maxentius and Licinius to become sole ruler of the Roman Empire by 324.
As emperor, Constantine enacted administrative, financial, social and military reforms to strengthen the empire. He restructured the government, separating civil and military authorities. To combat inflation he introduced the solidus, a new gold coin that became the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. The Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile units (comitatenses), and garrison troops (limitanei) capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. Constantine pursued successful campaigns against the tribes on the Roman frontiers—the Franks, the Alamanni, the Goths and the Sarmatians—even resettling territories abandoned by his predecessors during the Crisis of the Third Century.
Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity.[notes 2] Although he lived much of his life as a pagan, and later as a catechumen, he began to favor Christianity beginning in 312, finally becoming a Christian and being baptised by either Eusebius of Nicomedia, an Arian bishop, or Pope Sylvester I, which is maintained by the Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church. He played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which declared tolerance for Christianity in the Roman Empire. He convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325, which produced the statement of Christian belief known as the Nicene Creed.[7] The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built on his orders at the purported site of Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem and became the holiest place in Christendom. The papal claim to temporal power in the High Middle Ages was based on the fabricated Donation of Constantine. He has historically been referred to as the "First Christian Emperor" and he did favour the Christian Church. While some modern scholars debate his beliefs and even his comprehension of Christianity,[notes 3] he is venerated as a saint in Eastern Christianity.
The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire.[10] He built a new imperial residence at Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople (now Istanbul) after himself (the laudatory epithet of "New Rome" emerged in his time, and was never an official title). It subsequently became the capital of the Empire for more than a thousand years, the later Eastern Roman Empire being referred to as the Byzantine Empire by modern historians. His more immediate political legacy was that he replaced Diocletian's Tetrarchy with the de facto principle of dynastic succession, by leaving the empire to his sons and other members of the Constantinian dynasty. His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and for centuries after his reign. The medieval church held him up as a paragon of virtue, while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity.[11] Beginning with the Renaissance, there were more critical appraisals of his reign, due to the rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources. Trends in modern and recent scholarship have attempted to balance the extremes of previous scholarship.
Constantine was a ruler of major importance, and he has always been a controversial figure.[12] The fluctuations in his reputation reflect the nature of the ancient sources for his reign. These are abundant and detailed,[13] but they have been strongly influenced by the official propaganda of the period[14] and are often one-sided;[15] no contemporaneous histories or biographies dealing with his life and rule have survived.[16] The nearest replacement is Eusebius's Vita Constantini—a mixture of eulogy and hagiography[17] written between AD 335 and circa AD 339[18]—that extols Constantine's moral and religious virtues.[19] The Vita creates a contentiously positive image of Constantine,[20] and modern historians have frequently challenged its reliability.[21] The fullest secular life of Constantine is the anonymous Origo Constantini,[22] a work of uncertain date,[23] which focuses on military and political events to the neglect of cultural and religious matters.[24]
Lactantius' De Mortibus Persecutorum, a political Christian pamphlet on the reigns of Diocletian and the Tetrarchy, provides valuable but tendentious detail on Constantine's predecessors and early life.[25] The ecclesiastical histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret describe the ecclesiastic disputes of Constantine's later reign.[26] Written during the reign of Theodosius II (AD 408–450), a century after Constantine's reign, these ecclesiastical historians obscure the events and theologies of the Constantinian period through misdirection, misrepresentation, and deliberate obscurity.[27] The contemporary writings of the orthodox Christian Athanasius, and the ecclesiastical history of the Arian Philostorgius also survive, though their biases are no less firm.[28]
The epitomes of Aurelius Victor (De Caesaribus), Eutropius (Breviarium), Festus (Breviarium), and the anonymous author of the Epitome de Caesaribus offer compressed secular political and military histories of the period. Although not Christian, the epitomes paint a favourable image of Constantine but omit reference to Constantine's religious policies.[29] The Panegyrici Latini, a collection of panegyrics from the late third and early fourth centuries, provide valuable information on the politics and ideology of the tetrarchic period and the early life of Constantine.[30] Contemporary architecture, such as the Arch of Constantine in Rome and palaces in Gamzigrad and Córdoba,[31] epigraphic remains, and the coinage of the era complement the literary sources.[32]
Pope Sylvester I and Emperor Constantine
Constantine was the first emperor to stop the persecution of Christians and to legalize Christianity, along with all other religions/cults in the Roman Empire. In February 313, he met with Licinius in Milan and developed the Edict of Milan, which stated that Christians should be allowed to follow their faith without oppression.[224][page needed] This removed penalties for professing Christianity, under which many had been martyred previously, and it returned confiscated Church property. The edict protected all religions from persecution, not only Christianity, allowing anyone to worship any deity that they chose. A similar edict had been issued in 311 by Galerius, senior emperor of the Tetrarchy, which granted Christians the right to practise their religion but did not restore any property to them.[225] The Edict of Milan included several clauses which stated that all confiscated churches would be returned, as well as other provisions for previously persecuted Christians. Scholars debate whether Constantine adopted his mother Helena's Christianity in his youth, or whether he adopted it gradually over the course of his life.[226]
Constantine possibly retained the title of pontifex maximus which emperors bore as heads of the ancient Roman religion until Gratian renounced the title.[227][228] According to Christian writers, Constantine was over 40 when he finally declared himself a Christian, making it clear that he owed his successes to the protection of the Christian High God alone.[229] Despite these declarations of being a Christian, he waited to be baptized on his deathbed, believing that the baptism would release him of any sins he committed in the course of carrying out his policies while emperor.[230] He supported the Church financially, built basilicas, granted privileges to clergy (such as exemption from certain taxes), promoted Christians to high office, and returned property confiscated during the long period of persecution.[231] His most famous building projects include the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Old Saint Peter's Basilica. In constructing the Old Saint Peter's Basilica, Constantine went to great lengths to erect the basilica on top of St. Peter's resting place, so much so that it even affected the design of the basilica, including the challenge of erecting it on the hill where St. Peter rested, making its complete construction time over 30 years from the date Constantine ordered it to be built.
Constantine might not have patronized Christianity alone. He built a triumphal arch in 315 to celebrate his victory in the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312) which was decorated with images of the goddess Victoria, and sacrifices were made to pagan gods at its dedication, including Apollo, Diana, and Hercules. Absent from the Arch are any depictions of Christian symbolism. However, the Arch was commissioned by the Senate, so the absence of Christian symbols may reflect the role of the Curia at the time as a pagan redoubt.[232]
In 321, he legislated that the venerable Sunday should be a day of rest for all citizens.[233] In 323, he issued a decree banning Christians from participating in state sacrifices.[234] After the pagan gods had disappeared from his coinage, Christian symbols appeared as Constantine's attributes, the chi rho between his hands or on his labarum,[235] as well on the coin itself.[236]
The reign of Constantine established a precedent for the emperor to have great influence and authority in the early Christian councils, most notably the dispute over Arianism. Constantine disliked the risks to societal stability that religious disputes and controversies brought with them, preferring to establish an orthodoxy.[237] His influence over the Church councils was to enforce doctrine, root out heresy, and uphold ecclesiastical unity; the Church's role was to determine proper worship, doctrines, and dogma.[238]
North African bishops struggled with Christian bishops who had been ordained by Donatus in opposition to Caecilian from 313 to 316. The African bishops could not come to terms, and the Donatists asked Constantine to act as a judge in the dispute. Three regional Church councils and another trial before Constantine all ruled against Donatus and the Donatism movement in North Africa. In 317, Constantine issued an edict to confiscate Donatist church property and to send Donatist clergy into exile.[239] More significantly, in 325 he summoned the First Council of Nicaea, most known for its dealing with Arianism and for instituting the Nicene Creed. He enforced the council's prohibition against celebrating the Lord's Supper on the day before the Jewish Passover, which marked a definite break of Christianity from the Judaic tradition. From then on, the solar Julian Calendar was given precedence over the lunisolar Hebrew calendar among the Christian churches of the Roman Empire.[240]
Constantine made some new laws regarding the Jews; some of them were unfavorable towards Jews, although they were not harsher than those of his predecessors.[241] It was made illegal for Jews to seek converts or to attack other Jews who had converted to Christianity.[241] They were forbidden to own Christian slaves or to circumcise their slaves.[242][243] On the other hand, Jewish clergy were given the same exemptions as Christian clergy.[241][244]
St. Jose Maria Robles Hurtado
Feastday: May 21
Birth: 1888
Death: 1927
Beatified: November 22, 1992 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized: May 21, 2000 by Pope John Paul II
Saint José María Robles Hurtado (May 3, 1888-June 26, 1927) was a Mexican priest and one of the several priests martyred during the Cristero War.
José María Robles Hurtado (May 3, 1888 – June 26, 1927) was a Mexican priest and one of several priests martyred during the Cristero War.
Early life
He was born to the devoutly-Catholic family of Antonio Robles and Petronilla Hurtado in Mascota, Jalisco. At 12, he entered the seminary at Guadalajara.[2] He was ordained to the priesthood at Guadalajara in 1913, at 25. A few years later, he founded the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He wrote a number of works to propagate the Catholic faith and also catechized others in ways contrary to the laws of the country. While serving as the pastor at a parish in Tecolotlán, he began to promote greater devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through his preaching, his personal example, and his great devotion to the Eucharist. His fervency was so pronounced that he became known as the "Madman of the Sacred Heart." He was known to work tirelessly for the care of the sick in his parish, and he often spent several hours hearing confessions of his parishioners. He also worked for greater reverence to Our Lady of Guadalupe.[1] He was a Knight of Columbus council 1979.[1]
Persecution
The Constitution of 1917 prohibited any public processions or other devotional practices. Hurtado proposed the creation of a huge cross to be placed in the geographic center of Mexico, which he said would be symbolic of how Mexico recognized Christ as its king, and he organized a public ceremony for the laying of the cornerstone of the cross in direct violation of the existing constitution.[1]
In anticipation of the laying of the cornerstone, signs were placed throughout Mexico proclaiming Christ the "King of Mexico" and declaring the nation’s devotion to the Sacred Heart. In 1923, an estimated 40,000 Roman Catholics made their way to the site of the cross to take part in the groundbreaking ceremonies at the hill, which was at the time called "La Loma" and is now called the mountain of Christ the King. After the open display of defiance, the government decided to intensify its persecution of Catholics in Mexico and to ensure that Robles, in particular, would not engage in such acts again.[1]
Despite the increasing persecution of Catholics in general and the explicit invitations to him to leave Mexico personally, Robles remained and continued to minister to his congregation and tiy offer what solace he could to the survivors and families of Catholics who had been persecuted and killed by the government. Eventually, he even went further, and promoted the idea of armed defense of Catholics who were suffering from the persecution.[1]
Death
Robles Hurtado recognized the likelihood of being killed for his actions, and he wrote a poem in which he stated, "I want to love you until martyrdom."[1] He was arrested on June 25, 1927 for saying a prayer in the home of the Agraz family, which was hiding him. He was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged from an oak tree. The next day before dawn, he was led to the tree. In a final display of compassion for his executioners, he offered them a small votive candle that he had in his pocket to help light the path to the tree on which he was to be hanged. Upon arriving there, he forgave the men for what they were about to do. He took the noose into his own hands and said "Don't dirty your hands" to the man who brought it, kissed it, and placed it around his own neck.[1]
Veneration
He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 22, 1992[2] and canonized on May 21, 2000 by Pope John Paul II, together with others involved in the Cristero War, including Cristobal Magallanes Jara, his 24 companions in martyrdom, and María de Jesús Sacramentado Venegas.[3]
Relics
On February 27, 2012, the bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Guadalajara granted to Bishop James S. Wall of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gallup, a first class relic for the altar in Bishop Wall's chapel.[4] This relic was received on April 12, 2012, and is especially dear to the Diocese of Gallup because their patron is the Sacred Heart.
Bl. Jenaro Sanchez Delgadillo
Feastday: May 21
Birth: 1886
Death: 1927
Beatified: May 21, 2000 by Pope John Paul II
Saint Jenaro Sánchez Delgadillo (September 19, 1886-January 17, 1927) was a Mexican martyr who died in the Cristero War.
Jenaro Sánchez y Delgadillo was a Mexican Catholic priest who was executed by the Mexican military during the Cristero War in that country, born on September 19, 1886 and died on January 17, 1927. He is now honored as a martyr and saint by the Catholic Church.
Life
Sánchez Delgadillo was born in the town of Agualele, in the municipality of Zapopan, Jalisco, the son of Cristóbal Sánchez and Julia Delgadillo, on September 19, 1886.[1] With a scholarship, he entered the seminary of the Archdiocese of Guadalajara and was later ordained a priest of the Archdiocese by Archbishop José de Jesús Ortíz y Rodríguez on August 20, 1911.
Sánchez then served as a curate in various parishes of the Archdiocese, becoming known for his humility and his obedience to the pastors under whom he served. The care of the sick was a major focus of his ministry, as well as teaching the catechism to the children of the parish.[2] When he was stationed in Cocula, Jalisco, he taught classes at a minor seminary established within the parish.
As a result of the increasing tension between the Catholic Church and the government of Mexico, in 1917 the Archbishop of Guadalajara, Francisco Orozco y Jiménez, issued a pastoral letter on behalf of the bishops of Mexico—most of whom were then in exile in the United States—in which he detailed the sufferings he was enduring for defending the rights of the Church against government interference. For reading this letter publicly at the Sunday service in his church, Sánchez was jailed by the local police.
In 1923 Sánchez was appointed as the vicar of the village of Tamazulita,[2] within the parish of Tecolotlan. Due to the prohibition of public worship by the Republic of Mexico, Sánchez conducted secret Masses in private homes. He and his parents were given shelter by the Castillo family at their home at Rancho La Cañada. On January 17, 1927, he was out hunting with Herculano, Crescenciano and Cresencio Castillo, Lucio Camacho and Ricardo Brambila. Soldiers were waiting for him. Though everyone said he should escape, he decided to stay and face the consequences. The soldiers took them prisoner and tied everyone back to back. The others were released but the soldiers hanged Sánchez from a nearby tree.[1]
Before dawn, the soldiers returned shot Sánchez in the left shoulder and then lowered the body to the ground. One of the soldiers then pierced his chest with a bayonet.[2]
Sánchez' body was then taken to a private home from which it was buried in the cemetery of Tecolotlan.
In 1934, with the approval of the Curia of Guadalajara, the remains were transferred to the parish church in Tecolotlan Cocula, Jalisco. He was beatified on November 22, 1992 by John Paul II and canonized by that same pope at the Jubilee of 2000, on May 21 of that year.
St. Gollen
Feastday: May 21
Death: 7th century
Welsh saint also listed as Collen or Colan. He gave his name to Llangollen, in Clwyd, Wales, and he is associated in legend with Glastonbury, England, and Rome.
St. Cristobal Magallanes Jara
Feastday: May 21
Birth: 1869
Death: 1927
Beatified: November 22, 1992 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized: May 21, 2000 by Pope John Paul II
Saint Cristóbal Magallanes Jara, also known as Christopher Magallanes is a martyr and saint venerated in the Catholic Church who was killed without trial on the way to say Mass during the Cristero War after the trumped up charge of inciting rebellion.
Cristóbal Magallanes Jara, also known as Christopher Magallanes (July 30, 1869 – May 25, 1927), is a priest and martyr of the Catholic Church who was killed without trial on the way to say Mass during the Cristero War after the trumped-up charge of inciting rebellion.
Early life
The Baptism of Cristobal Magallanes Jara; he was baptized on August 7th, 1869.
Cristóbal Magallanes Jara was born in Totatiche, Jalisco, Mexico on July 30, 1869. He was son of Rafael Magallanes Romero and Clara Jara Sanchez, who were farmers. He worked as a shepherd in his youth and enrolled in the Conciliar Seminary of San José in Guadalajara at the age of 19.[1]
Ordination and priestly life
Cristóbal was ordained at the age of 30 at Santa Teresa in Guadalajara in 1899 and served as chaplain of the School of Arts and Works of the Holy Spirit in Guadalajara. He was then designated as the parish priest for his home town of Totatiche, where he helped found schools and carpentry shops and assisted in planning for hydrological works, including the dam of La Candelaria. He took special interest in the evangelization of the local indigenous Huichol people[1] and was instrumental in the foundation of the mission in the indigenous town of Azqueltán.
A statue of Cristóbal Magallanes Jara on the exterior of Catedral de la Asunción de María Santísima in Guadalajara.
When government decrees closed the seminary in Guadalajara in 1914, Magallanes offered to open a clandestine seminary in his parish. In July 1915, he opened the Auxiliary Seminary of Totatiche,[2] which achieved a student body of 17 students by the following year[1] and was recognized by the Archbishop of Guadalajara, José Francisco Orozco y Jiménez, who appointed a precept and two professors to the seminary.
Death
Magallanes wrote and preached against armed rebellion, but was falsely accused of promoting the Cristero Rebellion in the area. Arrested on May 21, 1927, while en route to celebrate Mass at a farm, he gave away his few remaining possessions to his executioners, gave them absolution, and without a trial, he was killed four days later with Agustín Caloca in Colotlán, Jalisco. His last words to his executioners were "I die innocent, and ask God that my blood may serve to unite my Mexican brethren." He was succeeded as parish priest of Totatiche by José Pilar Quezada Valdés, who went on to become the first bishop of the Archdiocese of Acapulco.
Legacy
Magallanes was canonized by Pope John Paul II on May 21, 2000. He is celebrated in the Catholic Church with an optional memorial on 21 May.
The concluding sequence of the movie For Greater Glory (2012) says that the fictional character "Father Christopher" portrayed by actor Peter O'Toole was based on Cristobal Magallanes Jara.
Agustín Caloca Cortés
Agustín Caloca Cortés (May 5, 1898 – May 25, 1927) was one of the martyrs of Mexico during the Cristero War.[3]
Life
Agustin Caloca Cortés was born in San Juan Bautista del Teúl, Zacatecas, on the ranch of La Presa. His parents, Eduwiges and María Plutarca Cortés Caloca, were simple peasants. He began his clerical studies at the Guadalajara Seminary, but in 1914 this campus was closed due to the anticlericalism of the Carrancista leaders.[4] He then went to the Auxiliary Seminary of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Totatiche established by Cristóbal Magallanes Jara. In 1919 he re-entered the Guadalajara Seminary to study Theology. He was ordained on August 5, 1923, in the Cathedral Church of Guadalajara.[5]
At the request of Jara, Cortés was assigned as a parish priest and as prefect of the auxiliary seminary.[6] In December 1926 he had to flee with eleven fifth year students to Cocoatzco, where he remained until April 1927. In May 1927, he arrived at the seminary to announce that Mexican government soldiers were approaching Totatiche. He ordered the students to abandon the seminary and disperse among the town's population. After helping the students escape, he was taken prisoner and transferred to a jail in Colotlán where he was reunited with Magallanes Jara. He was purportedly offered his freedom by a military officer on account of his young age, but Caloca Cortes refused unless freedom was also granted to Magallanes Jara.[6]
His last words before execution by firing squad were, "We live for God and for Him we die."[6]
He was originally buried in Colotlán but his remains were later exhumed and transferred to the parish of San Juan Bautista in El Teúl.
St. Atilano Cruz Alvarado
Feastday: May 21
Birth: 1901
Death: 1928
Image of St. Atilano Cruz AlvaradoAs a boy, Atilano Cruz Alvarado, of Ahuetita de Abajo, Mexico, tended cattle. At the age of seventeen, he began studying for the priesthood. He was ordained in July of 1927. Father Cruz thus began his priestly ministry at a time when the Mexican government's persecution of the Catholic Church was in its most violent phase. Only a few months after his ordination, he was assigned to replace another parish priest shot to death by soldiers (Saint Toribio Romo Gonzalez). On June 29, 1928, Father Cruz went to join his pastor, (Saint) Justino Orona Madrigal (see July 2), at a nearby ranch, where they prayed and discussed the situation in their parish. As government troops raided the ranch at dawn on July 1, Father Cruz heard the soldiers gunning down Father Orona. Thereupon Father Cruz knelt in prayer to await the troops. Upon finding him, the soldiers executed him.
On May 21, 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized a group of 25 saints and martyrs who had died in the Mexican Cristero War. The vast majority are Catholic priests who were executed for carrying out their ministry despite the suppression under the anti-clerical laws of Plutarco Elías Calles after the revolution in the 1920s.[1][2] Priests who took up arms, however, were excluded from the process. The group of saints share the feast day of May 21.
St. Agustin Caloca Cortes
Feastday: May 21
Birth: May 5, 1898
Death: May 25, 1927
Beatified: Pope John Paul II
Canonized: May 21, 2000 by Pope John Paul II
Agustín Caloca Cortés was one of the martyrs of Mexico during the Cristero War.
Saint Eugene de Mazenod
புனிதர் யூஜின் டி மஸெனோட்
மர்சேல் ஆயர்/ துறவற உறுதிமொழிகள் ஏற்காத அமலமரியாள் சபை நிறுவனர்:
(Bishop of Marseille/ Founder of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate)
பிறப்பு: ஆகஸ்ட் 1, 1782
ஈக்ஸ்-என்-பிராந்தியம், ஃபிரான்ஸ்
(Aix-en-Provence, France)
இறப்பு: மே 21, 1861 (அகவை 78)
மார்செயில், ஃபிரான்ஸ்
(Marseille. France)
ஏற்கும் சமயம்:
ரோமன் கத்தோலிக்க திருச்சபை
(Roman Catholic Church)
முக்கிய திருத்தலங்கள்:
நொட்ரே-டேம் டி லா கார்டே, மார்செயில், ஃபிரான்ஸ்
(Shrine of Notre Dame de la Garde, Marseille, France)
அருளாளர் பட்டம்: அக்டோபர் 19, 1975
திருத்தந்தை ஆறாம் பவுல்
(Pope Paul VI)
புனிதர் பட்டம்: டிசம்பர் 3, 1995,
திருத்தந்தை இரண்டாம் ஜான் பவுல்
(Pope John Paul II)
நினைவுத் திருவிழா: மே 21
பாதுகாவல்: சிதைந்த குடும்பங்கள்
புனிதர் யூஜின் டி மஸெனோட், ஒரு ஃபிரெஞ்ச் கத்தோலிக்க குரு ஆவார். இவருக்கு 1975ம் ஆண்டு, அக்டோபர் மாதம், 19ம் நாளன்று, திருத்தந்தை ஆறாம் பவுல் அவர்களால் அருளாளர் பட்டமும், 1995ம் ஆண்டு, டிசம்பர் மாதம், 3ம் தேதியன்று, திருத்தந்தை இரண்டாம் ஜான் பவுல் அவர்களால் புனிதர் பட்டமும் வழங்கப்பட்டது.
யூஜின் டி மஸெனோட் ஃபிரான்சில் பிரபுக் குடும்பம் ஒன்றில் பிறந்தார். இவரது தந்தை பெயர் "சார்ள்ஸ்" (Charles Antoine de Mazenod) ஆகும். இவரது தாயார், "மேரி ரோஸ்" (Marie Rose Joannis) ஆவார். கி.பி. 1790ம் ஆண்டு ஏற்பட்ட ஃபிரான்ஸ் புரட்சியை அடுத்து, புரட்சியாளர்களின் வற்புறுத்தலால் தமது குடும்பத்தினருடன் இத்தாலி நாட்டுக்கு புலம்பெயர்ந்து சென்றார். கையிருப்பிருந்த பணம் கரைந்ததாலும், நிதிச் சுமையாலும் யூஜினின் பெற்றோர் பிரிந்தனர். அவரது தாயாரும் சகோதரியும் ஃபிரான்ஸ் திரும்பினர். அக்காலத்திய புரட்சியாளரின் சட்டப்படி, அவர்கள் விவாகரத்து பெற்றால் அபகரிக்கப்பட்ட அவர்களது சொத்துக்கள் திரும்ப அவர்களிடமே தரப்படும் என்பதால் யூஜினின் தாயார் விவாகரத்துக்கு விண்ணப்பித்து அதனை பெற்றார். இத்தாலியிலும் நிரந்தரமாக வாழ வழியற்ற யூஜின், வெனிஸ், நேப்பிள்ஸ், இறுதியில் சிசிலியிளுள்ள பலெர்மோ (Venice, Naples, Palermo in Sicily) ஆகிய இடங்களில் வசித்தபின்னர் தமது இருபது வயதில் ஃபிரான்ஸ் திரும்பினார். 1808ம் ஆண்டு குரு மடத்தில் இணைந்து இறையியல், மெய்யியல் கல்விகளைக் கற்று கி.பி. 1811ம் ஆண்டு, டிசம்பர் மாதம், 21ம் நாளன்று, குருத்துவ அருட்பொழிவு செய்விக்கப்பட்டார்.
அமலமரியாளின் தியாகிகள் (Oblates of Mary Immaculate) சபை உருவாக்கல்:
ஏழைகள் வாழும் சேரிப்புறம், வைத்தியசாலை, சிறைச்சாலை போன்ற இடங்களில் சென்று பணியாற்றினார். தனது பணியின் தேவையை உணர்ந்த இவர் ஒரு புதிய சபையை உருவாக்கினார். கி.பி. 1816ம் ஆண்டில் "மிகவும் கைவிடப்பட்டவர்களுக்கான குழு" (Group for most abandoned of Provence) என்ற பெயருடன் புதிய குழுவாக மறை மாவட்டத்தால் அதிகாரபூர்வமாக ஏற்றுக் கொள்ளப்பட்டது. இதில் 5 குருக்கள் மாத்திரமே இருந்தார்கள்.
கி.பி. 1826ம் ஆண்டு ஃபெப்ரவரி 17ம் நாள் இக்குழுவின் பெயர் "அமலமரியின் மறைபரப்புத் தியாகிகள்" (Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate) என மாற்றப்பட்டது. கி.பி. 1832ம் ஆண்டு இவர் மார்செயில் ஆயராக பதவி உயர்வு பெற்றார்.
இலங்கையில் அமலமரியாளின் தியாகிகள்:
கி.பி. 1847ம் ஆண்டு காலப்பகுதியில் இலங்கை கத்தோலிக்கத் திருச்சபை பெரும் சவால்களை எதிர்நோக்கியது. அவர்களின் பணியின் தேவை அதிகமாக காணப்பட்டது. இதனால் அங்கு குருக்களின் தேவையும் அதிகரித்தது. அப்பொழுது இருந்த ஆயர் ஒராசியோ பெற்றக்கினி குருக்களைத் தேடி ஐரோப்பா சென்றார். ஃபிரான்ஸில் அவர் ஆயர் யூஜினை சந்தித்து, அவரை இலங்கையில் பணியாற்ற சில குருக்களை அனுப்புமாறு கேட்டுக் கொண்டார்.
இதனை ஏற்றுக் கொண்ட யூஜின் டி மஸெனோட் மூன்று அமலமரியாளின் தியாகிகளை இலங்கைக்கு அனுப்ப முன்வந்தார். முதன் முதலில் கி.பி. 1847ம் ஆண்டு, நவம்பர் மாதம், 28ம் தேதி, அருட்தந்தை செமேரியாவின் தலைமையில் மூன்று அமலமரியாளின் தியாகிகள் தென்னிலங்கையின் காலி துறைமுகத்தை வந்தடைந்தார்கள். இவர்கள் அங்கிருந்து கி.பி. 1848ம் ஆண்டு, ஃபெப்ரவரி மாதம், 4ம் தேதியன்று, வடக்கே மன்னார் வந்தடைந்தார்கள். பின் ஊர்காவற்றுறை சென்றார்கள். அமலமரியாளின் தியாகிகளின் பணி யாழ்ப்பாணத்தில் ஆரம்பமாகி விரிந்தது. அமலமரியாளின் தியாகிகளே 1862ம் ஆண்டு, திருக்குடும்ப கன்னியர் சபையினரை இலங்கைக்கு அழைத்து வந்தார்கள்.
கி.பி. 1837 – 1861ம் ஆண்டு காலத்தில், தென் கிழக்கு ஃபிரான்ஸ் (South-Eastern France) நாட்டின் “புரொவென்ஸ்” (Provence) பிராந்தியத்திலுள்ள “மார்செய்ல்” (Marseille) மறைமாவட்டத்தின் ஆயராக பணியாற்றிய யூஜின், தமது பதவி காலத்தில் “நோட்ரே-டேம்-டி-லா கர்ட்” (Basilica of Notre-Dame de la Garde) பேராலயத்தைக் கட்டினார். இவர், 1852ம் ஆண்டு, உள்ளூர் கத்தோலிக்க குருவான “ஜோசஃப்-மரி டிமோன்-டேவிட்” (Joseph-Marie Timon-David) என்பவரை மார்செய்ல் (Marseille) நகரில், இயேசுவின் திருஇருதய சபை (Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus) நிறுவிட ஊக்குவித்தார்.
Also known as
Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod
Profile
Eldest son of Charles-Antoine De Mazenod and Marie-Rose Joannis. His mother was of the French middle class, convent educated, and wealthy; his father was an aristocrat, classically educated, and poor. Their marriage, and Eugene's home life, were plagued by constant family in-fighting, and interference from his maternal grandmother and a neurotic maternal aunt. The women never let his father forget that they brought the money to the family.
On 13 December 1790, at age eight, Eugene fled with his family to exile in Italy to escape the French Revolution. He spent eleven years in Italy, living in Nice, Turin, Venice, Naples, and Palermo. While he learned Italian and German from dealing with people day to day, the bulk of his education came in Venice from Father Bartolo Zinelli, a local priest. In Palermo he was exposed to a wild and worldly life among rich young Italian nobles.
After the Revolution, his mother returned to France, but his father stayed in Italy, ostensibly for political reasons. Upon his own return to France in 1802 in an attempt to reclaim the family lands, Eugene tried to reunite his parents, but failed, and they were divorced, an unusual event in the early 19th century. His often unsupervised youth, the constant fighting at home, and the eventual break up of his family led to his patronage of dysfunctional families and those in them.
For years, Eugene struggled in himself, drawn on the one hand to the wordly life he knew from Palermo, and the beauty of the religious life he had seen in Venice with Don Bartolo. In an effort to work it out, Eugene began teaching catechism and working with prisoners in 1805. God won at last, assisted by a mystical experience at the foot of a cross on Good Friday 1807 when Eugene was momentarily touched by the full force of the love of God. He entered the seminary of Saint Sulpice, Paris in 1808. Ordained on 21 December 1811 at age 29 at Amiens, France.
Because of his noble birth, he was immediately offered the position of Vicar General to the bishop of Amiens. Eugene renounced his family's wealth, and preferred to become a parish priest in Aix-en-Provence, working among the poor, preaching missions and bringing them the church in their native Provencal dialect, not the French used by the upper classes. He worked among the sick, prisoners, the poor, and the overlooked young. Eugune contracted, and nearly died from, typhus while working in prisons.
Eugene gathered other workers around him, both clergy and laymen. They worked from a former Carmelite convent, and the priests among them formed the Missionaries of Provence who conducted parish missions throughout the region. They were successful, and their reputation spread, bringing requests for them outside the region. Eugene realized the need for formal organization, and on 17 February 1826 he received approval from Pope Leo XII to found a new congregation, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate founded on his core of missionaries.
Though he would have preferred to remain a missionary, Eugene knew that position with the Church hierarchy would allow him to insure the success of his little congregation. He was appointed Vicar-General of Marseille in 1823. Titular bishop of Icosia on 14 October 1832. Co-adjutor in 1834. Bishop of Marseilles, France on 24 December 1837, ordained by Pope Gregory XVI.
He founded 23 parishes, built or retored 50 churches, cared for aged and persecuted priests, restored ecclesiastical discipline, and developed catechetics for young people. Started work on the cathedral and shrine of Notre-Dame de la Garde in Marseille. Welcomed 33 congregations of religious brothers and sisters into the diocese. More than doubled the number of priests in his diocese, and celebrated all ordinations himself.
Eugene realigned parishes and maneuvered behind the scenes to weaken the government monopoly on education. He was an outspoken supporter of the papacy, and fought government intervention into Church matters. Publicly endorsed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, and worked for its promulgation. His printed writings run to 25 volumes. Made a peer of the French Empire. Archbishop of Marseille in 1851 by Pope Blessed Pius IX. Helped Saint Emily de Vialar re-build the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Apparition after their move to Marseille. Named senator and member of the Legion of Honour by Napoleon III in 1856. Proposed as cardinal in 1859.
On 2 December 1841, Bishop de Mazenod's first overseas missionaries arrived in Canada. By the time of his death in 1861, there were six Oblate bishops and over 400 missionaries working in ten countries. The Oblates continue their good work to this day with some 5,000 missionaries in 68 countries.
Born
1 August 1782 at Aix-en-Provence, southern France as Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod
Died
• 21 May 1861 at Marseille, France of cancer
• on 12 December 1936, his body was exhumed and found to be intact
• part of his heart is venerated at Blessed Sacrament Chapel at the Oblate-owned Lourdes Grotto of the Southwest in San Antonio, Texas, USA
Canonized
3 December 1995 by Pope John Paul II at Saint Peter's Square, Rome, Italy
Patronage
dysfunctional families
Blessed Franz Jägerstätter
Also known as
Franz Jaegerstaetter
Profile
Born to Rosalia Huber and Franz Bachmeier, servants too poor to get married. His father died in World War I when the boy was less than ten years old; his mother then married local famer Heinrich Jägerstätter who adopted Franz. Franz had little formal education, but his adoptive father was serious about the boy being able to read so that he could educate himself. At age 20 he began three years of work in the iron ore industry. He led a rather wild and dissolute life in his early 20's, but by his late 20's had settled down to life as a peasant farmer, became serious about his faith, married, and became the father of three daughters. He worked as sacristan for his parish, arranging funeral and prayer services, attended Mass daily, and developed a special ministry to the bereaved.
He became known as a vocal critic of the Nazis; he was the only one in his village to vote against Austrian unification with Germany in 1938, when greeted with "Heil Hitler" would respond "Pfui Hitler", and basically had no social life in the town because of his beliefs. When drafted into the army of the Third Reich, Franz could not reconcile such service with his faith; after a brief period served behind the lines, he refused to report for further service, was arrested, imprisoned in Linz, Austria, and Berlin, Germay, given a military trial, and finally executed. He spent time in prison praying, supporting other prisoners, and writing a series of letters and essays.
Born
20 May 1907 in Sankt Radegund, Oberösterreich, Austria
Died
beheaded on 9 August 1943 in Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg, Germany
Beatified
26 October 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI
Martyrs of the Mexican Revolution
Profile
The 1917 Mexican constitution was pointedly anti-clerical and anti-Church, and its adoption instituted years of violent religious persecution including expulsion of foreign priests, closing of parochial schools, and the murders of several priests and lay leaders who work to minister to the faithful and support religious freedom. 25 of them who died at different times and places but all as a result of this persecution were celebrated together. They each have separate memorials, but are also remembered as a group.
• Saint Agustin Caloca Cortes
• Saint Atilano Cruz Alvarado
• Saint Cristobal Magallanes Jara
• Saint David Galván-Bermúdez
• Saint David Roldán-Lara
• Saint David Uribe-Velasco
• Saint Jenaro Sánchez DelGadillo
• Saint Jesús Méndez-Montoya
• Saint Jose Isabel Flores Varela
• Saint José María Robles Hurtado
• Saint Julio álvarez Mendoza
• Saint Justino Orona Madrigal
• Saint Luis Batiz Sainz
• Saint Manuel Moralez
• Saint Margarito Flores-García
• Saint Mateo Correa-Magallanes
• Saint Miguel de la Mora
• Saint Pedro de Jesús Maldonado-Lucero
• Saint Pedro Esqueda Ramírez
• Saint Rodrigo Aguilar Alemán
• Saint Roman Adame Rosales
• Saint Sabas Reyes Salazar
• Saint Salvador Lara Puente
• Saint Toribio Romo González
• Saint Tranquilino Ubiarco Robles
Canonized
21 May 2000 by Pope John Paul II
Saint Godric of Finchale
Also known as
Godrick
Profile
Oldest of three children born to a freedman Anglo-Saxon farmer. An adventurous seafaring man, Godric spent his youth in travel, both on land and sea, as a peddler and merchant mariner first along the coast of the British Isles, then throughout Europe. Sometime sailor, sometime ship's captain, he lived a seafarer's life of the day, and it was hardly a religious one. He was known to drink, fight, chase women, con customers, and in a contemporary manuscript, was referred to as a "pirate". Converted upon visiting Lindisfarne during a voyage, and being touched by the life of Saint Cuthbert of Lindisfarne.
Pilgrim to Jerusalem and the holy lands, Saintiago de Compostela, the shrine of Saint Gaul in Provence, and to Rome, Italy. As a self-imposed austerity, and a way to always remember Christ's lowering himself to become human, Godric never wore shoes, regardless of the season. He lived as a hermit in the holy lands, and worked in a hospital near Jerusalem. Hermit for nearly sixty years at Finchale, County Durham, England, first in a cave, then later in a more formal hermitage; he was led to its site by a vision of Saint Cuthbert. It was a rough life, living barefoot in a mud and wattle hut, wearing a hair shirt under a metal breastplate, standing in icy waters to control his lust, living for a while off berries and roots, and being badly beaten by Scottish raiders who strangely thought he had a hidden treasure.
Noted for his close familiarity with wild animals, his supernatural visions, his gift of prophecy, and ability to know of events occurring hundreds or thousands of miles away. Counseled Saint Aelred, Saint Robert of Newminster, Saint Thomas Beckett, and Pope Alexander III. Wrote poetry in Medieval English. The brief song Sainte nicholaes by Godric is one of the oldest in the English language, and is believed to be the earliest surviving example of lyric poetry. He was said to have received his songs, lyrics and music, complete during his miraculous visions.
Born
1069 at Walpole, Norfolk, England
Died
1170 at Finchale, County Durham, England of natural causes
Blessed Hyacinth-Marie Cormier
Also known as
• Louis-Stanislas-Henri Cormier
• Henri Cormier Bracquemond
Memorials
• 21 May (chosen in rememberance of the date of his election to Master of the Dominicans)
• 17 December (Martyrologium Romanum)
Profile
Born to a family of wealthy merchants, the son of François-Bernard Cormier and Marguerite-Felicité Bracquemond, he was baptized at the age of one day with the name Louis-Stanislas-Henri Cormier, but his family always called him Henri. His father died when Louis was a small boy, his brother soon after, and his uncle, a parish priest, helped raise him. Studied at home, then with the Christian Brothers, and entered the minor seminary in the diocese of Orléans, France at age 13. Could play the flageolet (a woodwind similar to a recorder), organ and ophicleide (a brass, trumpet-like instrument), and was known as a fine singer; Franz Liszt is reported to have admired Louis’ skills at the organ.
Henry became a Dominican tertiary while in seminary, graduated at the top of his class, and was ordained on 17 May 1856, having obtained a special dispensation as he was technically too young. Received the Dominican habit on 29 June 1856, taking the name Hyacinthe-Marie. Afflicted with a recurring hemorrhaging problem, he continued his studies and was allowed to make his profession on 23 May 1859 though everyone assumed it was on his death-bed. However, he survived, soon after made a complete recovery, and became active in his Order and his house.
Noted confessor and teacher, he is known to have written 171 texts in his life. Master of novices. Prior of the convent of Corbara in Corsica, France in 1863. Prior-Provincial of Toulouse, France from 1865 to 1874. Prior of the Dominican community in Marseilles, France. Served as Prior-Provincial again from 1878 to 1888. Definitor of the Dominican General Chapter of Lyons, France in 1891. Procurator of the Dominicans, working in Rome, Italy. In 1899 Pope Leo XIII considered elevating Father Hyacinthe-Marie to cardinal, but held off due to the political problems with France that would ensure over the appointment.
Served as the 76th Master of the Dominicans from 21 May 1904 until 1916. He restored many of the suppressed Dominican provinces, and helped the Order expand into western United States. Founded the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena of Auch. Noted and powerful preacher. Worked for the beatifications of Blessed Reginald of Orléans, Blessed Bertrand Garrigue, Blessed Raymond of Capua, and Blessed Andrew Abellon. Helped re-organize what became the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome. He finally retired to live his remaining days as a prayerful monk at the priory of the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome.
Born
8 December 1832 in Orléans, Loiret, France as Henri Cormier Bracquemond
Died
• 12:30pm on 17 December 1916 at the priory of the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome, Italy of natural causes
• interred at the church of San Domenico e San Sisto, Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Rome in December 1934
Beatified
20 November 1994 by Pope John Paul II
Saint Restituta of Corsica
Also known as
Restitude, Restitute, Ristituta
Additional Memorial
5 August (in Calenzana, Corsica, France which commemorates her intercession that miraculously ended a plague there)
Profile
We have two stories about this martyr, one medieval with limited information, the second later in composition, and much more colourful.
The oldest sources say that Restituta fled persecution in north Africa with five male companions (possibly the Martyrs of Noli). She evangelized the Balagne region of Corsica, and was martyred by Roman authorities during one of the imperial persecutions (dates vary).
The later documents say that she was born to a pagan family with ties to the imperial Roman army, converted to Christianity as a girl and was soon denounced to anti–Christian local authorities. She was beaten and stoned to get her to renounce Christianity. When she refused, she was thrown into a fire, but would not burn. She was then beaten with iron combs, but her wounds bled milk. These miracles converted several of the soldiers who were guarding and torturing her. She was then taken out to sea and thrown in to drown, but a chunk of cork floated her back to shore while the pagans on the boat were drowned. Her tormentors finally gave up on these slow, torturous methods of murder, and beheaded her with several other stubborn Christians. These martyrs then picked up the severed heads and walked to the place where the first chapel of Saint Restituta was built.
Died
• beheaded 21 May in 217, 218, 225 or 303 (records vary)
• relics interred under the altar in the chapel of Saint Resistude in Calenzana in the 16th century and re-discovered during repairs in 1951
Patronage
• Calenzana, Corsica, France (declared in 1984 by the Congregation for Divine Worship)
• Balagne, Corsica, France (declared in 1984 by the Congregation for Divine Worship)
Saint Collen of Denbighshire
Also known as
Colan, Gollen
Profile
Monk in Wales, Brittany and Cornwall. Believed to have travelled to Rome, Italy. Lived as a hermit in a small cave near Glastonbury Abbey. Abbot of a monastery in Wales. The Welsh town of Llangollen (Collen's enclosure), Clwd is named for him, indicating that it formed around his hermitage and church.
Collen was at the right time and place to be a transitional figure in the folklore of the region. There are tales of him slaying a Welsh giantess to save the people of Llangollen (the church there still has an image of him in this triumph), and of fighting a duel with a Saracen in front of the Pope. Stories have him being taken to the land of faerie, but always as a Christian, and always showing the power of God over the old ways.
Legend says that Collen was once invited to dine with the King of the Fairies; some say he was asked by a man, some say by a fairy, and some say by a talking peacock; I cannot say. The saint declined three times, but finally accepted. Though the king appeared to live in an enormous castle, wealthy and fair, surrounded by courtiers and servants, and seated before a table groaning under the weight of good eatings. Collen, however, knew him for the lying spirit he was. The saint reminded the king of the fate of the Godless, then sprinkled holy water in all directions; in an instant there was nothing left but an angry, demonic bird, flying away from the scene.
Another version has it that Collen, while he lived as a hermit near Glastonbury, was summoned to settle the eternal May Day struggle of Gwynn ap Nudd, Lord of the Underworld, with Gwyther, Lord of Summer, for the hand of the fair Creiddylad, the Maiden of Spring. Collen ordained that the quarrel would be resolved on Doomsday, and not before. Then with a sprinkle of holy water, the faerie folk and fortress disappeared.
Born
c.600 in Wales
Blessed Pietro Parenzo
Profile
Born to the Italian nobility, the son of Giovanni, a senator and judge; his mother‘s name was Odolina. We know he had brothers, and was married at one point, but nothing else survives of his early life. Served in the court of Pope Innocent III. Chosen rector and papal governor of Orvieto, Italy in 1199, a turbulent area used as a base by Patarine Cathar heretics, and in the middle of endless struggles and machinations of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, between supporters of the Pope and those of the Emperor of Germany; Pietro was given a mission to bring peace and suppress heresy which meant he was welcomed with open arms by orthodox Catholics, with open opposition by the supporters of the various heresies and factions. Kidnapped by a gang of Patarine heretics, he was beaten and offered freedom if he would retract all anti–heresy laws in the area, and agree to never trouble the Patarines and Carthars again; he declined. Martyr. The backlash against his killers led to a popular uprising, suppression and exile of the heretics.
Born
12th century Rome, Italy
Died
• hit in the head with a hammer by Patarine heretic kidnappers on 21 May 1199 in a hut just outside Orvieto, Italy; other kidnappers stabbed his body numerous times with knives and swords
buried in the graveyard of the church of Santa Maria in Orvieto
• relics in the Chapel of the Corporal in the cathedral of Orvieto
Beatified
• popularly considered a martyr at the time of his death, there were commemorations beginning in 1200
• his tomb became a stopping point for people passing through Orvieto while on pilgrimages to Rome, Italy
• 16 March 1879 by Pope Leo XIII (cultus confirmation)
Patronage
Orvieto, Italy
Saint Hospitius of Cap-Saint-Hospice
Also known as
Ospicio, Sospis
Profile
Hermit at a place now named Cap-Saint-Hospice in his honour, living in the ruins of an old tower, wearing heavy iron chains, living off bread and dates and not even that during Lent. Foretold the invasion of Gaul by the Lombards. A Lombard patrol c.575, finding Hospitius loaded with chains and living in isolation, decided he was some type of criminal; Hospitius agreed that he was a terrible sinner, with a litany of offenses to his shame. Convinced he was a danger of some sort, one of the soldiers raised his sword to kill the old hermit; the soldier's sword arm became paralyzed, moving again only after Hospitius made the sign of the cross over it. The soldier was converted on the spot, and spent the rest of his life in service to God. Hospitius foretold the hour of his own death, spent his last hours in prayer, took off his chains, and passed on.
Died
• 21 May 581
• buried by his friend, Austadius, Bishop of Cimiez
• relics distributed to the French towns of Lerins, Nice, Villefranche, La Turbie, and San-Sospis
Blessed Hemming of Åbo
Profile
Studied in Uppsala, Sweden and Paris, France; one of his classmates in Paris became Pope Clement VI. Priest. Canon of the cathedral of Åbo, Turku (in modern Finland) in 1329. Evangelizing bishop of Åbo in 1338 where he served for 28 years. He renewed the faith of his flock, improved the education, training and discipline of his priests, improved liturgical furnishings and diocesan finances, and worked for peace among the peoples of his area. Friend of Saint Bridget of Sweden.
Born
late 13th century in Balinge parish, north of Uppsala, Sweden
Died
21 May 1366 of natural causes
Beatified
• miracles reported at his tomb, and by 1400 there were pilgrimages made to it
• Pope Leo X approves enshrining of his relics in the cathedral of Åbo, Turku (in modern Finland) in 1514
Blessed Manuel Gómez González
Profile
Ordained in 1902 in the archdiocese of Braga, Portugal. Transferred to the diocese of Frederico Westphalen, Brazil in 1913. Known as a concerned pastor to his flock, and for his social work in the region. Martyred with his altar boy, Blessed Adilo Daronche.
Born
29 May 1877 in San José de Ribarteme, Pontevedra, Spain
Died
21 May 1924 in Feijão Miúdo, Três Passos, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Beatified
21 October 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI
Blessed Jean Mopinot
Also known as
Brother Léon
Profile
Member of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, entering the novitiate on 14 January 1744. Imprisoned on a ship in the harbor of Rochefort, France and left to die during the anti–Catholic persecutions of the French Revolution. One of the Martyrs of the Hulks of Rochefort.
Born
12 December 1724 in Rheims, Ardennes, France
Died
21 May 1794 aboard the prison ship Deux-Associés, in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France
Beatified
1 October 1995 by Pope John Paul II
Saint Bairfhion of Killbarron
Also known as
Barrfoin, Barrindus
Profile
Led the church founded by Saint Columba in Drum Cullen, Offaly, Ireland in the 6th century. Later lived in Killbarron near Ballyshannon, Donegal, Ireland. Legend says that the sailed to America even before Saint Brendan the Navigator.
Born
Irish
Patronage
• Drumcuillan, County Laoghis, Ireland
• Killbarron, County Donegal, Ireland
Blessed Adilio Daronch
Profile
Young lay person in the diocese of Frederico Westphalen, Brazil. Martyr.
Born
25 October 1908 in Dona Francisca, Cachoeira do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Died
martyred on 21 May 1924 in Feijão Miúdo, Três Passos, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Beatified
21 October 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI
Blessed Silao
Profile
Born to the Irish nobility. Priest. Benedictine monk. Abbot. Bishop. Having encountered opposition from a local lord, Silao went to Rome, Italy to appeal for support from Pope Gregory VII, but died on the road on the return trip.
Born
early 11th century Ireland
Died
• late 11th century in Lucca, Italy of natural causes
• relics in Lucca, Italy
Saint Paternus of Vannes
Also known as
• Paternus the Elder
• Paterno, Patern, Pern
Profile
Fifth-century bishop of Vannes in Brittany (in modern France). Late in life he retired from his see to spend his final years as a hermit.
Died
c.475
Saint Serapion the Sindonite
Profile
Early desert monk whose unflinching dedication to the ascetic life was an example to many others at the beginning of the monastic movement. Pilgrim to Rome, Italy.
Born
Egypt
Died
356 of natural causes
Saint Ageranus of Blèze
Also known as
Ayran, Ayrman
Profile
Benedictine monk. Martyred defending the altar at the monastery of Blèze, Côte-d'Or, France against Norman invaders.
Died
in 888 at Blèze, Côte-d'Or, France
Saint Polieuctus of Caesarea
Also known as
Polieuto, Polieutto
Profile
Martyr.
Died
Caesarea, Cappadocia (in modern Turkey)
Saint Isberga
Also known as
Itisberga
Profile
Sister of Charlemagne. Nun at Aire in the Artois region of France.
Died
c.800 of natural causes
Patronage
Artois, France
Saint Secundus of Alexandria
Profile
Priest. Martyred along with a group of unnamed clergy in the persecutions of Constantius for opposing the Arian heresy.
Died
Pentecost season, year unknown, at Alexandria, Egypt
Blessed Lucio del Rio
Profile
Mercedarian priest. Confessor of King James II of Castille, and the Infanta Isabella.
Born
1242
Died
1342 at the Santa Eulalia Mercedarian convent in Barcelona, Spain of natural causes
Saint Genesius of Blèze
Profile
Benedictine monk. Martyred defending the altar at the monastery Blèze, Côte-d'Or, France against Norman invaders.
Died
888 at Blèze, Côte-d'Or, France
Saint Ansuinus of Blèze
Profile
Priest. Martyred defending the altar at the monastery at Blèze, Côte-d'Or, France against Norman invaders.
Died
in 888 at Blèze, Côte-d'Or, France
Saint Berard of Blèze
Profile
Benedictine monk. Martyred defending the altar at the monastery Blèze, Côte-d'Or, France against Norman invaders.
Died
888 at Blèze, Côte-d'Or, France
Saint Sifrard of Blèze
Profile
Benedictine monk. Killed defending the altar at the Blèze Abbey, Côte-d'Or, France against Norman invaders.
Died
888 at Blèze, Côte-d'Or, France
Saint Rodron of Blèze
Profile
Benedictine monk. Killed defending the altar at the Blèze Abbey, Côte-d'Or, France against Norman invaders.
Died
888 at Blèze, Côte-d'Or, France
Saint Nicostratus of Caesarea Philippi
Profile
Soldier. Tribune in the imperial Roman army. Martyred with other soldiers.
Died
Caesarea Philippi
Saint Adalric of Blèze
Profile
Young boy. Martyred at the monastery of Blèze, Côte-d'Or, France against Norman invaders.
Died
in 888 at Blèze, Côte-d'Or, France
Saint Antiochus of Caesarea Philippi
Profile
Soldier. Tribune in the imperial Roman army. Martyred with other soldiers.
Died
Caesarea Philippi
Saint Theobald of Vienne
Also known as
Thibaud of Vienne
Profile
Archbishop of Vienne, France from 970 to 1001.
Died
1001
Saint Eutychius of Mauretania
Profile
Deacon in Mauretania Caesariensis in North Africa. Martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian.
Saint Timothy of Mauretania
Profile
Deacon in Mauretania Caesariensis in North Africa. Martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian.
Saint Polius of Mauretania
Profile
Deacon in Mauretania Caesariensis in North Africa. Martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian.
Saint Valens of Auxerre
Profile
Bishop. Martyred with three boys whose names have not come down to us.
Died
Auxerre, France
Saint Secundinus of Cordoba
Profile
Martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian.
Died
c.306 in Cordoba, Spain
Saint Mancio of évora
Also known as
Mancinelli
Profile
Sixth century bishop of évora, Portugal. Martyr.
Saint Victorius of Caesarea
Profile
Martyr.
Died
Caesarea, Cappadocia (in modern Turkey)
Saint Donatus of Caesarea
Profile
Martyr.
Died
Caesarea, Cappadocia
Saint Synesius
Profile
Martyr.
Saint Vales
Profile
Fourth century priest in France.
Saint Theopompus
Profile
Martyr.
Martyrs of Egypt
Profile
Large number of bishops, priests, deacons and lay people banished when the Arian heretics seized the diocese of Alexandria, Egypt in 357 and drove out Saint Athanasius and other orthodox Christians. Many were old, many infirm, and many, many died of abuse and privations while on the road and in the wilderness. Very few survived to return to their homes in 361 when Julian the Apostate recalled all Christians; and then many of those later died in the persecutions of Julian.
Martyrs of Pentecost in Alexandria
Profile
An unspecified number of Christian clerics and lay people who, on Pentecost in 338, were rounded up by order of the Arian bishop and emperor Constantius, and were either killed or exiled for refusing to accept Arian teachings.
Died
339 in Alexandria, Egypt
