Every Day In Christian History

 1) The Prophecy of Simeon.     2) The Flight into Egypt.     3) The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple.     4) The Meeting of Jesus and Mary on the Way of the Cross.     5) The Crucifixion.     6) The taking down of the Body of Jesus from the Cross.     7) The burial of Jesus.     On Calvary there were in a sense two Altars, one in the Body of Jesus, and the other in the Immaculate Heart. Christ immolated His flesh, Mary, her heart,      her own soul. In the Gospels, Mary is recorded as being present at Calvary. She understood what the Will of God was and was faithful, co-operating with her Son as      Co-Redemptrix. She had prepared the victim for sacrifice and now she offered Him on the Altar of Calvary. Mary had three loves in her Heart: God, her Son, and souls.      She so loved the world that she gave her only Son. Behold Mary on Calvary, she suffers and prays; she stands, as one offering sacrifice.

 Our Mother of Myans in Savoy is located on a little hill between Modane and Chambery near the Mont Cenis tunnel. One can recognize,      as there is a huge statue of the Blessed Virgin standing atop the shrine’s belfry. The Church became famous for a miracle that occurred there in 1248.      On the evening of November 24th a tremendous earthquake shook the region causing Mont Granier, to disintegrate into huge boulders which came crashing down and 16 villages      were crushed and 5,000 lives lost. The Church of Myans, however, was spared, though gigantic boulders were stopped abruptly at the very door of the Church.

 A soldier named Dionysius remained behind on the island of Sicily to engage in banditry, having been enticed by the wealth on the island and his greed for the money he felt      he could easily steal from others. Assault, theft and murder meant nothing to him. There was a certain man named Giles who lived in the city of Catania.      As Giles passed through the wood beneath Mount Etna, a bandit barred his way and threatened his life with a dagger. Suddenly the earth shook violently and a globe of blinding      light appeared nearby. From within the light a woman’s voice heard not touch the devotee and cease this life of banditry. Dionysus retreated alone to his cave to weep over his sins.      Knowing his sincerity, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him where he lived to comfort him. Dionysius kept the faith and continued to live on Valverde as a hermit.      One night he was rapt in prayer when he was struck by an intense beam of light and saw a cloud in which the Madonna appeared

 Early in history the monks acquired the image of Our Mother of Puig, carved on a slab of marble, which was brought there by Angels.      In 712 AD, the monks sadly buried their treasure to hide it from desecration, along with the Church bell, under the floor of the monastery, and fled for their lives.      After five centuries, the Moors were expelled from Valencia, and the plaque of Our Mother of Puig played a part in its liberation. King Jamie I of Aragon moved on Valencia      with his armies. The Moors, in an effort to trick the Christians into sending their troops to the wrong place, moved to attack the ancient fortress of Puig. St. Peter Nolasco,      was in Puig when the battle took place. One of the soldiers came to him and reported that when he had been on night guard he had seen strange lights over the old ruined Church      of Our Mother of Puig; St. Peter suggested to the king that all the soldiers should receive the Sacraments and pray to know what God was trying to tell

 Our Mother of the Conception, at the Capuchin Convent of Donay, in Flanders, where is seen a picture of the Immaculate Conception, which was miraculously preserved from fire,      in the year 1553. The county of Flanders became part of the domain of the Duke of Burgundy in the year 1384, and became a possession of the Habsburg’s in 1477.      The University of Douai was founded in 1562. There was a Benedictine priory founded at Douai in 1605. In the year 1609 a translation of the Old Testament was published there      and combined with the recently published New Testament from Rheims to create the famous Douay-Rheims Bible that is still considered to be the standard for the complete Catholic Bible.     The town was taken by the French army and became a permanent part of France in the year 1668.

 The shrine of Our Mother of Divine Providence is situated in a rural district of the diocese of Fossano, Italy. In the year 1521 the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a deaf mute,      Bartolomeo Coppa. The first apparition occurred on May 8th when she cured Bartolomeo of his disability and told him to preach penance to the inhabitants of Fossano.      In a second apparition on May 11th, the Blessed Virgin brought Bartolomeo three loaves of bread and again asked him to preach penance to the people of Fossano.      A plague broke out among the Fossanesse, who only then had recourse to Our Mother. After having been granted a release from the plague through the intercession of the Blessed      Virgin Mary, the grateful people of the region had a Chapel built which was known as Our Mother of Divine Providence. This Chapel was later replaced with a larger Church.      In the year 1872, the Bishop Emiliano Manacorda, a personal friend of Saint Don Bosco arrived at the diocese and work began s

 On this date in 2003, Giuseppe Bernardini, Archbishop of Izmir, Turkey, and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop of Washington,      dedicated an oratory to Our Mother of Ephesus in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Turkey having recently refused to participate in the American      invasion of Iraq, Bernardini prayed, "May Our Mother of Ephesus bring peace to the world.” Located in the rear of the crypt church, the mosaic of Our Mother of Ephesus is based      on Vermont resident Elizabeth Moore Fraser's vision during her 1959 pilgrimage to Ephesus, Turkey, where many believe Mary spent her last days.      Praying at Mary's House for her disabled nephews, Fraser heard Mary say, "The reward for suffering is so great that even if you were told you wouldn’t know.     " Many years later, she engaged artist Robert Smith to paint the Blessed Mother as she had seen her.

 The Atomic Age is an age of despair. In defining the dogma of the Assumption, the Church has given us a great sign of hope to help us overcome our despair.      Men have turned away from God more and more since the end of the Middle Ages. At present the advances of science was to bring us a heaven on earth; instead      it has done the opposite; instead of solving all our problems, science has handed us an overwhelmingly great one that we despair of ever solving. The atom bomb is not the      only cause of the pessimism in our age but it is symbolic of our age. Our optimism at the advance of science was completely wrong, because it left out God. The God who created us,      the God who died for us, is still watching over us and caring for us. He will help us if we turn to Him. It is Mary’s role to lead us to God. Mary’s Assumption is a great sign      of hope in an age of despair. The Assumption reminds us our goal is not on this earth, but in Heaven. No matter how great our troubles

 Pilgrimages were already being made to the shrine of Our Mother of the Highest Grace in the town of Higuey in the Dominican Republic. Ponce de Leon and his crew were      saved from shipwreck through their prayers to this Virgin. Our Mother appeared to Nina while she prayed before the statue in their home Chapel and told her to request from      her father a gift, a painting of Our Mother of Highest Grace. Ponce de Leon searched and one day while returning from a three-day trip, he asked for lodging at a small hut;      his host granted this at the same time to an old man with a long white beard; the latter crouched against the walls, carefully guarding an apparent treasure in his saddle-bags.      Ponce de Leon, forgetting the old man, told his host of his daughter’s wish. The old man hearing this, exclaimed, “The Virgin of Highest Grace does exist! I have brought the      painting with me. Take it to Nina.” The two men fell on their knees to give homage to the holy image. When they

 The Weeping Madonna of Syracuse was mass-produced in a factory in Tuscany and shipped to various locations throughout the world. This plaque of Our Mother of Tears was purchased      for a wedding gift for a couple who wed on March 21st, 1953. The couple liked the plaque and placed it on the wall over their bed. She soon became pregnant, but the happy couple      soon learned that the pregnancy caused her to suffer from toxemia that caused convulsions and temporary blindness. On the morning of 29 August, 1953, she awoke to find that her      sight had been restored. She saw that the image was weeping. Her relatives went close up to the plaque and could well see that tears were really falling from the eyes of the Madonna.      The plaque of Our Mother of Tears was publicly displayed, convincing even the skeptics of the prodigy as many of the sick were miraculously healed of their ailments. Some of the      tears were collected for scientific examination, and the findings were analogous

 St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven is the name of a Basilica in Rome. It dates to the 6th century, and is located on the highest point of Capitoline Hill,      on the site where a Sibyl is supposed to have prophesied to Emperor Augustus the birth of Christ. The name Altar of Heaven is based on how Augustus enjoyed a vision in which he      saw the Virgin and Child standing on an Altar of Heaven. A brilliant light shone forth from the sky; it churned and swirled, forming a halo. Within its center, Augustus saw      a most beautiful Mother with a Baby in her arms. She stood upon a splendid white Altar and her figure was surrounded by little Angels and from heaven a voice rang out,      “This is the promised young girl who will give a Savior to the world, and that is the Altar of the Son of God.” Overcome by the marvelous sight, Augustus fell to his knees,      with his forehead to the ground, remained a long time in silent adoration of the Mother and Child. He commanded that an Altar be er

 In the year 636, a small group of people standing on the seashore witnessed a ship without sails came into the harbor of Bolougne.      It finally came to rest in the estuary, seemingly of its own accord. One of the witnesses boarded the boat and confirmed that there was no one aboard,      and that the vessel had no oars or sails. The ship, however, bore a statue of our Mother. The citizens welcomed Mary to their city by erecting to her a shrine which reached      its height of glory in the 12th Century. In modern times, four exact replicas of our Mother of Bolougne toured France for more than seven years as a symbol of French devotion to Mary.

 St. Bonet, was for ten years the Bishop of Clermont in Auvergne. He was known to be greatly devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He actually saw the Blessed Virgin        Mary while he was praying alone in the Church. On that day, he was interrupted from his prayers when he heard angelic voices singing in heavenly harmonies.        He lifted his head to see a multitude of Angels entering the Church, their light filling the entire place. With them were many of the Saints behind the Angels.        They were followed by the Queen of Heaven, who was seated upon a magnificent throne. When the heavenly procession stopped before the main Altar, the Blessed Virgin        herself turn to Bonet to say Mass. Some of the Saints approached the holy Bishop, and clothed him in a Chasuble of marvelous workmanship that the Blessed Virgin        had brought for him to say this Mass. The Saints and Angels assisted the Bishop as Acolytes. When the Mass was ended the Blessed Virgin, the Saints and Angels l

Here at Olion, in Catalonia, Spain, Our Mother was once venerated under the title of Our Mother of Castelbruedo. It is related that every year on the day of        the Annunciation, three lights of a blue color were seen, shining through the glass windows of the Church at Olion in Catalonia. Here Our Mother       is venerated under the title of Our Mother of Castelbruedo. The lamps and the wax candles were likewise lighted by invisible hands, and all disappeared three        days after the feast, on the twenty-eighth of March. Despite all investigation, the lights and their extinguishing could not be accounted for; but it was universally        taken for granted that all this was to honor our Mother’s great feast.

 In the country near Foggia, there was a forest of oak trees, on the outskirts of which lived an elderly peasant, poor and miserable of life. He owned a team of oxen with        which he worked the adjacent field and managed thereby to keep body and soul together. He was much devoted to the Blessed Virgin, who decided to repay him for his devotion        and bestow her graces on him in a singular manner. On a Saturday in the early spring, Mary appeared to him in the midst of the foliage of the oak trees; her garments were        trimmed with stars from which dazzling rays of light shone forth. The old man was startled at this unexpected and splendid sight and began to pray. His two oxen likewise        bowed their heads in mute adoration. The vision vanished and when the peasant raised his eyes he saw in the crotch of the tree a lovely statue of Our Mother. Quickly he ran        to his rude little hut, obtained a metal vase, filled it with oil and returning to the tree, hung it as a la

 In the year 1128, a plague afflicted the city of Soissons. For six consecutive days, the victims went to the shrine of Our Mother and called out to her for help.        The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to them, accompanied by heavenly hosts of angels. The people who witnessed the miracle and believed were healed. The Bishop asked all who        were healed to make a Novena of thanks and to kiss the slipper of the Holy Virgin kept in the Church. A rustic servant of one of the knights of Soissons came to the Church        for the festival which was to follow the Novena. While his companions gave gifts and talked of the slipper of Our Mother, he gave nothing but scoffed at the idea.        His blasphemous mouth was drawn toward his ear with such sharp pain that his eyes seemed to slip out of his head. A tumor appeared and covered his face, making it unfit for        human use. Roaring and writhing, he threw himself before the Altar of Mary, begging for help, as he had offended the Mother

 This feast was instituted by the Apostles. Absorbed in profound contemplation, the humble Virgin of Nazareth, Spouse of Joseph was pondering the ills which afflict humanity,       at the same time fostering in her heart the most ardent longing for the advent of the Messiah promised by the prophets. The human mind will never understand perfectly how        much the Incarnation accomplished in Mary. Her blind obedience was the crowning act of her devotedness to God’s will. Mary’s consent to be the Mother of God was given on our        behalf, too. This incarnation was a spiritual marriage between the Son of God and our humanity. The mystery of the Annunciation reminds us of our indebtedness to Mary,        as well as of her glories.

 During the middle Ages, when many a knight rode off to the Crusades but never returned. Among the many widows left behind, Jura was devoted to the Mother of God whose image        in her Chapel was constantly supplied with fresh flowers. One day in wintertime she went searching in the woods for some fragrant twig to grace her Marian shrine.        Thorn trees do not bloom in winter, but our Mother’s devotee prayed that she might find a love-offering. Childlike in her confidence in Mary, she was not surprised to        find blossoms on a thorn tree. Some days later, she went at dusk to get another fresh spray from the obliging thorn-tree and found the light of campfire. She found a        small statue, not pretty, rudely carved of wood and painted in bright colors; yet there was no doubt about its identity as a statue of the Mother of God. She took it home,        rejoicing and fixed a niche for it in the Chapel. There the lady and her followers watched and prayed until midnight. Alas

 The Battle of Lepanto was a naval war that took place between the ships of the Catholic Holy League and the navy of the Turks Empire. For hundreds of years the Ottoman Empire        had been making advances into Europe. Pope Pius V implored all of Christendom to pray the Rosary to the Blessed Virgin Mary to obtain her intercession before the throne of God        for their victory. The war took place on the 7th of October, 1571. The Turks had not lost any significant naval wars yet they were defeated. The battle was won through the power        of Mary, Our Lady of Victory. The news filled the Christian world with joy. In thanksgiving to the Mother of God for her help, glorious, solemn, pontifical ceremonies of gratitude        were held in the Basilica of Mary. After Lepanto, Pius V instituted the Feast of the Holy Rosary in Rome, and Clement XI extended it to the world. Mary, our Mother, the Queen        of Victory and of Peace, stands for our final victory for our peace. Mary will a

 A certain young man entered the Cistercian Monastery at Citeaux. He found the religious life very hard, especially the coarse fare that was served in the refectory.        He almost died of hunger, for he could not force himself to eat the food. He prayed to Our Mother with great fervor to help him overcome this weakness of the flesh.        Our Mother, full of tenderness for the young souls who seek to follow her Son in the narrow way of religion, had compassion on him. He rose up full of joy at these words;        and she took him by the hand, and led him to the place where the great crucifix was hung, where on our Lord and Savior shows His Five Sacred Wounds. When with great awe and        reverence he dipped his crust in the Wound of Our Savior’s Side. Kneeling down, he gave thanks to Our Lord and His Blessed Mother, filled with love to endure the hardships        of holy poverty; for he now knew that Our Lord can give that which makes sweet the bread of tribulation through the vi