Every Day In Christian History

 Open the portals! The Queen is approaching. Lift up, O eternal gates!” The endless parade of the blessed crowded about the wide-open gates of heaven.      There was tense expectancy, such as one finds along a line of march as a parade approaches. A roadway of clouds billowed the pathway from an uncorrupted grave to an incorruptible      throne. At last, borne by Angels, the lovely Mother arrives, the first Assumption Day, the Assumption of Mary.      The heavenly throng gasps with admiration. The celestial singers burst into song. The Angels hurry to and fro to catch a glimpse of her and to tell their companions of her beauty.      Jesus waits at the open entrance, throws His arms about His Mother, leads her triumphantly and happily to the very throne of the heavenly Father,      who leans forward and places solemnly and smilingly upon her beauteous head the crown, as the Holy Spirit, heavenly Spouse of the Virgin Mother casts warmth and light upon the      newcomer. Mary’s death was

 The Assumption of Mary was formally declared as a dogma in 1950 by Pope Pius XII. The Holy Father wrote, “By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ,      of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority declare and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God,      the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” The Assumption glorifies God.      It honors the Virgin Mary who is worthy of veneration and emulation precisely because of her unique role in God's loving plan of salvation.      Early Christians referred to Mary as "the Second Eve". Her "Yes" to the Lord is the counter to the "no" of Eve. This woman who was preserved from sin to become the living tabernacle,      the home of Jesus, is raised into heaven by God. The most important fact is that Mary was taken up into heaven in the first place.      It shows what is in store fo

 Vigils were kept on the evening before each feast day from the earliest days of the Church. On that evening all of the faithful would gather together to prepare themselves and      their dispositions for the feast they were about to celebrate. This might also include listening to readings from the Bible or a sermon on the topic by a Priest.      Mass would then be celebrated on the feast day and the fast would be broken. The Vigil of the Assumption would have been one of the Church's most important vigils.     “Of the glory and felicity of the Saints in the beatific vision St. Paul says with Isaiah that neither has mortal eyes seen, nor ears heard, nor can it enter into the heart of man      what God has prepared for those who love Him and who hope in Him. If on this account the glory even of the least of the Saints is ineffable,      what shall we say of the glory of the most blessed Mary, since among the Saints She is the most holy and She by Herself is more like to her Son than

 Maximilian was born in Poland and in his childhood, Our Mother appeared to him in a dream holding a white crown and a red crown.      He later related, “She asked if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr.      I said that I would accept them both.” At the age of 16, he entered the Franciscan Order. He was sent to study in Rome where he was ordained a priest in 1918.      Fr. Maximilian returned to Poland in 1919 and began spreading the Immaculate movement of Marian consecration. In 1927, he established an evangelization center near Warsaw and the      Friars utilized the most modern printing and a monthly magazine with a circulation of over one million. Maximilian started a radio station and he was a      true “Apostle of the Mass Media.” Maximilian was a ground-breaking theologian. His insights into the Immaculate Conception anticipated the Marian theology of the Second Vatican 

 Death of Our Mother took place in the presence of the Apostles, except Saint Thomas. Like her divine Son, she rose again and ascended to heaven on the third day after her death.      The holy Apostles called the two maidens who had assisted the Queen to anoint the body of the Mother of God with highest reverence and wrap it in the winding-sheets before it      should be placed in the casket. The refulgence issuing from it barred and blinded them in such a manner that they could neither see nor touch the body.      In fear and reverence the maidens left the room; Then St. Peter and St. John entered the oratory and perceived the effulgence and they heard the celestial music of the angels,      who were singing: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” From that time on many of the faithful expressed their devotion toward the most blessed Mary and from them      they were handed down to be repeated by us. The Apostles took upon their shoulders the sacred body and the tabernacle

 After founding the city of Loja, Ecuador in 1548, the Spanish colonized a mountain area, The Swan.     In 1594, a drought and plague of rats destroyed crops in the region. Threatened with famine in addition to pressure from the Spanish,      the local Indians had decided to emigrate in search of a better land, when an apparition of the Virgin changed their minds. A young native woman herding sheep to pasture met with      a most lovely Lady crowned with fragrant roses who stayed with her, conversing about God while the flock grazed. The people built the church, and rains fell.     October 12, 1594, was the apparition date and the end of the drought. The natives of El Cisne commissioned a statue from Diego de Robles of Quito. Carved of oak,      the statue of the Virgin holding the Child in her left hand and a scepter in her right. The statue was canonically crowned on September 8, 1930.      A new shrine begun in 1934 was consecrated on August 12, 1979, attended by a crowd of regional

 Jane Frances was wife, mother, nun and founder of a religious community in France. At 21 she married Baron de Chantal, by whom she had six children.      At her castle she restored the custom of daily Mass, and was seriously engaged in various charitable works. Jane's husband was killed after seven years of marriage,      and she sank into deep dejection for four months at her family home. Jane managed to remain an insolent housekeeper. When she was 32, she met St. Francis de Sales who became her      spiritual director. She wanted to become a nun but he persuaded her to defer this decision. After three years Francis told her of his plan to found an institute of women which      would be a haven for those whose health, age or other considerations barred them from entering the already established communities. There would be no cloister,      and they would be free to undertake spiritual and corporal works of mercy. They were primarily intended to exemplify the virtues of Mary at th

 S CLARE OF ASSISI (1194-1253)     Clare’s father was a count and died when the girl was very young. After hearing St. Francis of Assisi preach in the streets, Clare confided to him her desire to live for God,      and the two became close friends. On Palm Sunday in 1212, her bishop presented Clare with a palm, which she apparently took as a sign. With her cousin Pacifica, Clare ran away to      enter religious life. She eventually took the veil from St. Francis at the Church of Our Mother of the Angels in Assisi. Clare founded the Order of      Poor Ladies and led it for 40 years. Everywhere the Franciscans established themselves throughout Europe depending solely on alms, forced to have complete faith on God.      Clare’s mother and sisters later joined the Order. Clare was humble, merciful, charming, optimistic, chivalrous, and every day she meditated on the Passion of Jesus.      Once when her convent was about to be attacked, she displayed the Sacrament in a Monstrance     at the

 St. Peter Nolasco was born in 1189 at Mas-des-Saintes-Puelles, near Castelnaudary, Languedoc, France. At the age of 25 he took a vow of chastity and signed over his vast estates      to the Church. The Blessed Virgin appeared to St. Peter, to Raymund of Pennafort, his confessor and to the king. She desired the establishment of the Mercedarian Religious Order.      Its members would seek to free Christian captives and offer themselves, if necessary, as an exchange. The complete name of this order is the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary for      the Ransom of Captives. The king went to the Cathedral for a Mass celebrated by the Bishop of Barcelona. St. Raymund went up into the pulpit     and narrated his vision. The king sought the blessing of the Bishop for the plan and the Bishop bestowed the habit on St. Peter and two others who vowed to give themselves      as a hostage. The Order was legally constituted at Barcelona by King James of Aragon was established in Spain and later approve

 As deacon in Rome, Lawrence was charged with the responsibility for the material goods of the Church, and the distribution of alms to the poor.      When Lawrence knew he would be arrested like the Pope, he sought out the poor, widows and orphans of Rome and gave them all the money he had on hand, selling even the sacred      vessels to increase the sum. When the prefect of Rome heard of this, he imagined that the Christians must have considerable treasure. He sent for Lawrence and he replied that      the Church was indeed rich. “I will show you a valuable part. But give me time to set everything in order and make an inventory.”      After three days he gathered a great number of blind, lame, maimed, leprous, orphaned and widowed persons and put them in rows.      When the prefect arrived, Lawrence simply said, “These are the treasure of the Church.” He was a Roman deacon under Pope St. Sixtus II. Four days after this Pope was put to death,      Lawrence and four clerics suffered mar

 On 1571, the port of Nagasaki was established by Portuguese traders, Jesuit missionaries, and a wealthy convert, Omura Sumitada. Most of its inhabitants were Catholic.      But in 1587, Japanese     nationalist leader banned missionaries. For the next three centuries, Nagasaki's Catholic community was repeatedly suppressed and persecuted.      After the Japanese government revoked its ban on     Christianity in 1873, many exiles returned to Nagasaki and began building a Cathedral. Consecrated in 1914, but not completed until 1925,      the handmade brick Cathedral was the largest Catholic Church in Asia. In 1929, a wooden statue of the Immaculate Conception, carved in Italy was placed over the Altar.      On August 9, 1945, the U.S. aircraft Bockscar dropped an atomic bomb that destroyed much of Nagasaki, killing over 70,000 people and leveling the Cathedral while Priests were      hearing confessions. That fall, Trappist monk recently discharged from military service, found the b

 Born into a prominent Jewish family in Poland, Edith abandoned Judaism in her teens. As a student at the University of Göttingen, she became fascinated by phenomenology,      an approach to philosophy. A brilliant philosopher who stopped believing in God, earned a doctorate in philosophy in 1916. Edith Stein was so captivated by reading the      autobiography of Teresa of Avila that she began a spiritual journey that led to her Baptism in 1922. Twelve years later she imitated Teresa by becoming a Carmelite,      taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She continued as a university teacher until 1922 when she moved to a Dominican school in Speyer;      her appointment as lecturer at the Educational Institute of Munich ended under pressure from the Nazis. After living in the Cologne Carmel (1934-38),      she moved to the Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands. In retaliation for being denounced by the Dutch Bishops, the Nazis arrested all Dutch Jews who had become Christians. 

 The crops were poor; there was much sickness, but the Virgin would not let her people plead in vain. She knew what hunger, poverty and pain was. She would help. Fervently,      confidently, lovingly, the people gathered at Mary’s little shrine and asked their Mother for aid. Suddenly the image of Mary     smiled and a sweet voice begged them to erect a Church in her honor and to build it on this spot. Our Mother promised that on the morrow she would show them where and how.      The dimensions of the Church are said to have been marked out with a line which is still visible. It reminds us of when Our Lord returned to Galilee with His first disciples,      and Jesus and His Mother were invited to a wedding at Cana, near Nazareth. Mary understood and was prepared to relieve the anxiety for the guests. When the chief steward,      who did not know where the wine had come from, tasted the water made wine, he went to the bridegroom, exclaiming in surprise,      “Every man first sets forth

 Born in old Castile, Spain, he was trained for the priesthood by a priest-uncle, studied the arts and theology, and became a canon of the Cathedral at Osma,      where there was an attempt to revive the apostolic common life described in the Acts of the Apostles. On a journey through France with his Bishop,      he came face to face with the then virulent Albigensian heresy at Languedoc. The Albigensians held to two principles—one good, one evil—in the world. All matter is evil.      Hence, they denied the Incarnation and sacraments. They abstained from procreation and took a minimum of food and drink.     The inner circle led what some people regarded as a heroic life of purity and asceticism not shared by ordinary followers.      Dominic sensed the need for the Church to combat this heresy, and was commissioned to be part of the preaching crusade against it.      He saw immediately why the preaching was not succeeding: the ordinary people admired and followed the ascetical heroes of

 This statue of our Mother of Schiedam is located in Holland. A merchant, who had stolen this image embarked with the intention of selling it at a fair price.      Mysteriously he could never get away from the port. Alarmed at this prodigy, he restored the image which he had taken away and it was solemnly translated to the Church of      St. John the Baptist. It was at the shrine of Our Mother of Schiedam that the mystic, Saint Lidwina spent whole nights in prayer and was drawn toward the Mother of God and prayed a      great deal before this miraculous image. The Mother of God revealed to her the extent of suffering Christ would ask her to endure but likewise assured her through her grace and      intercessory power. The Blessed Virgin Mary was true to her word as was Saint Lidwina in accepting the will of God in imitation to Our Mother’s Fiat.      Saint Lidwina prayed much despite her suffering, and was particularly devoted to the Eucharist and willingly bore her anguish for the lov

 Cajetan was born in 1480 of persons of the first rank among the nobility of the territory of Vicenza, in Lombardy. His father died when he was two years of age and he was      predisposed to piety by his mother. Cajetan studied law in Padua, receiving his degree in civil and canon law. In 1506 he worked as a diplomat for Pope Julius II,      with whom he helped reconcile the Republic of Venice. But he was not ordained a priest until the year 1516. With the death of Pope Julius II, Cajetan withdrew from the papal court.      He founded in 1522 a hospital for incurables. His interests were more devoted to spiritual healing than the physical kind, and joined the "Oratory of Divine Love",      a confraternity in Rome. A new congregation "Theatines" was canonically erected and the order grew at a fairly slow pace. He founded a bank to help the poor and offer an      alternative to usurers. It later became the Bank of Naples. Cajetan died in Naples And his remains are in

 Among the passengers of a ship lost in a storm near Rio de Janeiro, were some Brazilian pilgrims returning from a visit to the shrine of the Virgin of Copacabana in Bolivia.      They called upon the Virgin to intercede for them and they were landed safely on the Brazilian shores. In token of gratitude,      they called the spot Copacabana and it has since become one of the world’s favorite resorts. The missionaries who came with the Spanish conquerors naturally planted the Cross in      all large Incan centers and a Church was built in Copacabana. In the year 1581, a young Indian lad, Francisco desired earnestly that his town be dedicated to Our Mother.      In secret, he started to construct a statue of the Virgin and Child to be presented to the village. Finally after months of disappointments and successes,      he finished his labor of love, Our Mother of Copacabana – a Virgin with all of the features of his own race, in her arms an Infant.      The Virgin, Our Mother of Copacaba

 The Transfiguration of Christ is the culminating point of His public life, as His Baptism is its starting point and His Ascension its end.      Mount Tabor was the site of the revelation. On July 22, 1456, Crusaders defeated the Turks at Belgrade. News of the victory reached Rome on August 6,      and Pope Callistus III placed the feast on the following year. A Church first raised there in the 4th century was dedicated on August 6. At His Transfiguration,      Christ showed his disciples the splendor of his beauty, to which he will shape and color those who are his: ‘He will reform our lowness configured to the body of his glory’      (Phil. 3:21) The Transfiguration also echoes the teaching by Jesus that God is not "the God of the dead, but of the living".      Although Moses had died and Elijah had been taken up to heaven centuries before, they now live in the presence of the Son of God,      implying that the same return to life can apply to all who face death and have fa

 The history of Shrine Basilica of Our Mother of Snows is closely connected with the history of the conversion of the Paravars of the Pearl Fishery Coast.      Once the Paravars of Pearl Fishery Coast had a sharp dispute with the Muslims of this area regarding the right of Pearl Fishing. The leaders of Parava villages requested the      Portuguese to rescue them from the cruelties of the Muslims and they were routed. As a token of gratitude to their redeemers,      the Paravars from about 22 villages numbering about 30,000 embraced Christianity in the year 1535-37. In October 1542, St. Francis Xavier arrived on the shores of the Pearl      Fishery Coast to catechize them and strengthen them further in their faith. The beautiful statue of Our Mother of Snows has always been looked upon as a miraculous one,      as many miracles are said to have occurred in the Shrine from the time of its installation at St. Paul’s Church. In 1582, through the efforts of the Jesuits,      a Church dedica

 The Church Universal commemorates the consecration of the four great Roman Basilicas, the Mother Churches of Christendom, viz., St. John Lateran, St. Peter, St. Paul Outside the Walls,      and St. Mary Major. By means of these feasts the Church seeks to link all Christians with the Holy See. This feast commemorates the miracle of the snowfall that occurred during      the night of August 4-5 in the year 358 on the site where the Basilica now stands. The Virgin Mary appeared in a dream to two faithful Roman Christians,      the patrician John and his wife, as well as to Pope Liberius asking that a Church be built in her honor on the site where snow would fall on the night of August 4-5.      Pope Liberius traced the outlines of the Church in the snow and the first Basilica was built on that site. It was completed about a century later by Pope Sixtus III,      after the Council of Ephesus in 431 during which Mary was declared to be the Mother of God. During the pontifical Mass,      th

 Our Mother of Dordrecht, in Holland was built by Saint Sauters in about the year 1300, on the spot designated by an Angel who was sent by the Blessed Virgin.      Saint Sauters planned on building the Church when she only had three small coins in her purse. The saint afterward received the crown of martyrdom in the same Church where the      shrine was erected, as Saint Sauters had been murdered by the builders of the Chapel out of greed. There is a legend that Saint Sauters rose from the dead after her murder.      There is a painting of Saint Sauters in the Church of Saint Nicholas holding a Church in her hands as she looks up at a statue of the Blessed Virgin holding the Infant Jesus      on her right arm. To render her memory more celebrated, God caused a fountain to flow, after her death, which, through the intercession of the Saint and recourse to Mary,      cured fevers. The healing water soothes troubled minds, brings relief to aching brows and strength to weakened limbs as Ma

John Vianney was a man with vision; he wanted to become a priest. But he had to overcome his meager formal schooling, which inadequately prepared him for seminary studies.      His failure to comprehend Latin lectures forced him to discontinue. But his vision of being a Priest urged him and after a lengthy battle with the books, John was ordained.      As Pastor of the parish at Ars, John encountered people who were indifferent and quite comfortable with their style of living. His vision led him through severe fasts and less sleep.      His work as a confessor is John Vianney’s most remarkable accomplishment. Unless a man was dedicated to his vision of a priestly vocation,      he could not have endured this giving of self day after day. Many people look forward to retirement but John had no thoughts of retirement. As his fame spread,      more hours were consumed in serving God’s people. Even the few hours he would allow himself for sleep were disturbed frequently by the devil. In 192

 Our Mother of Bows was a shrine in London. In the year 1071, Mary’s image there had been carried away by a storm, together with more than 600 houses.      It fell uninjured with such violence that it broke into the pavement and sunk into the earth and it was never possible to draw it out. There is a Church currently in London named      St. Mary-le-Bow that was constructed in 1080 by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Church of Saint Mary-le-Bow takes its name from the Norman arches or bows,      which were considered a novelty. There is a saying that to be a true Londoner one must be born within hearing distance of the bells of Saint Mary-Le-Bow.      It is now an Anglican Church.

 Born in La Mure d'Isère in France, Peter Julian's faith journey drew him from being a priest in the Diocese of Grenoble to joining the Marists to founding the Congregation of      the Blessed Sacrament. In addition to those changes, Peter Julian coped with poverty, his father's initial opposition to Peter's vocation, serious illness,      a Jansenistic overemphasis on sin and the difficulties of getting diocesan and later papal approval for his new religious community. His years as a Marist,      including service as a provincial leader, saw the deepening of his Eucharistic devotion, especially through his preaching     of Forty Hours in many parishes. Inspired at first by the idea of reparation for indifference to the Eucharist,      Peter Julian was eventually attracted to a more positive spirituality of Christ-centered love. Members of the men's community, which Peter founded,      alternated between an active apostolic life and contemplating Jesus in the Euchar

 Our Mother of Angels is located six hundred yards from the city of Assisi, in Italy. It was a desolate locality, and apparently an unsettled one where robbers and the lawlessness      flourished, for the Benedictines who had lived at the monastery felt it was too hazardous to remain there. They abandoned the monastery, relocating to Mount Subasio,      which was a fortified monastery. The original Chapel is thought to date from the 4th Century, and was built by holy hermits who had come from the Valley of Josaphat.      They brought relics of the Blessed Virgin with them to the region when they constructed the Chapel. When St. Francis chanced to come upon the little abandoned Chapel of Our Mother      of Angels in the year 1208, it was almost completely hidden in shrubs and brush. St. Francis entered the hidden Church which measured only twenty-two feet by thirteen feet,      and saw the ancient fresco that had been placed above the main altar. It was an image of the Assumption of the

 Faber was born to a peasant family in the village of Villaret in France. He went to Paris to pursue his education and had Francis Xavier and Ignatius Loyola became roommates      at the University of Paris and are all recognized by the Jesuits as founders of the Society of Jesus. He became a master of the Spiritual Exercises was the first of the companions      to be ordained. Peter Faber had a gentle spirit and a tendency to be very hard on himself. Ignatius proved to be the perfect mentor for him,      and Faber eventually became the master of the Spiritual Exercises. While hard on himself, Faber was gentle with others and became a gifted pastor of souls, winning others for Jesus.      Faber was sent to Germany in 1541, where he found the state of the Church in disarray. He worked for the renewal of the Church a person at a time,      leading many in the Spiritual Exercises. Princes, prelates, and priests would especially find Peter Faber a gentle source of instruction and guidance

 Born to the nobility, Alphonsus was a child prodigy; he received his doctorate in law from the University of Naples. He had his own legal practice by age 21,      and was soon one of the leading lawyers in Naples,     though he never attended court without having attended Mass first. As he matured and learned more and more of the world, he felt a call to religious life.      He studied theology, and was ordained at age 29.     He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer at Scala, Italy in1732. Appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Sant’Agata de’ Goti, Italy by Pope Clement XIII in 1762.      Worked to reform the clergy and revitalize the faithful in a diocese with a bad reputation. When he was the Bishop, one of Alphonsus’s priests led a worldly life,      and resisted all attempts to change. He was summoned to Alphonsus, and at the entrance to the Bishop‘s study he found a large crucifix laid on the threshold.      When the priest hesitated to step in, Alphonsus quietly said,