.... Miracle: Historical sources attribute multiple healings to Augustine's intercession and ministry, though no specific medical diagnosis or clinical documentation survives. Medieval accounts describe conversions and spiritual transformations among those he encountered, and post-mortem veneration of his relics at Canterbury Abbey. caveat: Augustine was canonized pre-congregation, before the modern Consulta Medica system (established 1948–1959). His canonization followed early Church recognition of sanctity based on holiness and reputation rather than verified medical miracles. Consulta Medica requirement waived per user instruction. Saint Augustine of Canterbury, pray for us
SAINT OF THE DAY THURSDAY, 28 MAY, 2026 SAINT BERNARD OF MONTJOUX PRIEST (1020 - 1081) Bernard may have been the son of Count Richard of Menthon. It seems more likely though that he was of Italian birth. Nothing is really known of his parentage and early life. Tradition reports that a marriage was being arranged for young Bernard and he fled so as to be free to give his life to God. We do know that he was ordained to the priesthood and that he was appointed Vicar General of the diocese of Aosta, Italy. For approximately forty-two years he traveled throughout the country, visiting the remotest Alpine villages. He would sometimes extend his missionary journeys into the neighboring dioceses of Geneva, Novara and Tarentaise. Bernard had the reputation for enforcing clerical discipline and he built several schools. He is probably most famous for the hospices he built on the summits of passes over the Alps. Many pilgrims from France and Germany would travel over the Alps on their way to Rome, but it was always a possibility that one would die from freezing along the way. In the 9th century a system of hospices had been attempted, but had lapsed long before Bernard's time. Bernard's hospices in the 11th century were placed under the care of clerics and laymen and were well equipped for the reception of all travelers. Eventually these caretakers became Augustinian a monastery was built close by, still exists today. At some point in time Bernard traveled to Rome to receive formal recognition of the hospices and community and to obtain permission to accept novices. Bernard lived to the age of eighty-five and is believed to have died on May 28, 1081 at St. Lawrence Monastery in Novara, Italy. A now-famous breed of dogs, known for its endurance in high altitude and cold, was named in honor of this saint. Bernard's life has been the focus of many romantic plays and stories. Many of us may remember childhood stories of St. Bernard dogs coming to the rescue of stranded or injured victims on Alpine slopes. The dogs almost always seem to have a cask of Brandy attached to their collars and when the victims were revived by a good drink the dogs would lead them to safety. However romance was not what Bernard's life was about. He was strongly committed to the ideals taught by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. Bernard dedicated his life to bring the message of Christ to all and to correct the abuses of clerical life which he saw. He was deeply concerned for the care of the poor and disadvantaged. Living his life in the Alps he knew the dangers present and did what he could to relieve them. He is a model, not of romance, but of deep love and compassion, in imitation of God whom he loved and served with all his heart reprimanded. PATRON: Alpinists; mountain climbers; mountaineers; skiers; travelers in the mountains. SYMBOLS: Man in a mountain setting holding a bishop's crozier; white dog. St. Bernard Of Montjoux: Pray for us!
There is a place nearby selling St Bernard puppies. I see some people round about have them. I love it that they carried little kegs of brandy to revive people If there had not been these Catholic Monasteries high in the mountains how would people ever have gotten over the mountain passes. In Winter? It was the Catholic Monasteries that carried Europe through the Dark Ages after the Fall of Rome. There are 1400 registered Catholic charities in Ireland. What would people do without them all, all over the World? Yet the Catholic Church gets nothing but abuse.
Thanks and God bless you, Prayslie, for each day's post! ... Likewise, thanks and God's blessings to all other contributors...
SAINT OF THE DAY FRIDAY, 29 MAY, 2026 SAINT JULIA MARIA LEDÓCHOWSKA (MARIA URSULA OF JESUS) VIRGIN AND FOUNDRESS (17 April 1865 - 29 May 1939) Julia Maria Ledóchowska was born in Austria in 1865, the daughter of a Polish count and a Swiss noblewoman. Her large family was a school of saints. Her uncle, Cardinal Mieczyslaw Ledóchowski, the Primate of Poland, was persecuted and imprisoned for his opposition to the policies of the Prussian Kulturkampf ["culture war"]. Her older sister, Blessed Maria Teresa Ledóchowska, founded the Missionary Sisters of St. Peter Claver and is affectionately known as the "Mother of Black Africa". Julia Maria moved with her family to Poland when her father became ill in 1883. He died soon after, having given his blessing to her plans to enter the Convent of the Ursuline Sisters in Krakow. Julia took the religious name of "Maria Ursula of Jesus" and devoted herself to the care and education of youth. She organized the first residence in Poland for female university students. As prioress of the convent after the turn of the century, she received a request to found a boarding school for Polish girls in St. Petersburg, Russia, then a cosmopolitan, industrial city. The pastor of St. Catherine's Church, Msgr. Constantine Budkiewicz (a Polish nobleman), extended the invitation, and Pope St. Pius X gave his approval. So in 1907 Mother Ursula went with another sister to Russia to found a new convent and work among the Catholic immigrants. Although the nuns wore lay clothing, they were under constant surveillance by the secret police. At the beginning of World War I, Mother Ursula was expelled from Russia as an Austrian national. The Monsignor would be martyred by the Bolsheviks, and St. Petersburg would eventually be renamed "Leningrad". Mother Ursula fled to neutral Sweden. She organized relief efforts for war victims and charitable programs for Polish people living in exile, founded a monthly Catholic newspaper, and made extensive ecumenical contacts with Lutherans in Scandinavia. In 1920 M. Ursula, her sisters, and dozens of orphans (the children of immigrants) made their way back to Poland. During the tumultuous years that they had spent abroad, the growing Ursuline community had developed a distinctive charism and apostolate. Therefore Mother Ursula founded her own Congregation, the Ursuline Sisters of the Heart of Jesus in Agony. Her brother Vladimir, who had become Superior General of the Jesuits, helped to obtain Vatican approval of the new institute, which was to be devoted to "the education and training of children and youth, and service to the poorest and the oppressed among our brethren" (from the Constitutions). Between the two world wars, M. Ursula and her nuns taught catechism in the enormous factory town of Lodz. She organized a "Eucharistic Crusade" among the working-class children, encouraging those little "Knights of the Crusade" to write to Pope Pius XI in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of his priestly ordination. Some children wrote that they loved the Holy Father as much as their own parents. Others spoke of receiving Our Lord in their First Holy Communion, of wanting to be His apostles and missionaries. One child wrote: "How beautiful it would be if the Holy Father were to come to Poland." Mother Ursula Ledóchowska died on May 29, 1939 at the general house of her community in Rome. Pope John Paul II beatified her during his second pastoral visit to Poland, in 1983, the Holy Year of Redemption and the sixth centenary of Our Lady of Jasna Gora, in the city of Poznan, with schoolchildren from Lodz in attendance. While visiting his homeland in June 1983, the Holy Father spoke the following words: "It is the Saints and the Blessed who show us the path to the victory that God achieves in human history. Every individual is called to a similar victory. Every son and daughter of Poland who follows the example of her saints and beati. Their elevation to the altars in their homeland is the sign of that strength which is more powerful than any human weakness and more powerful than any situation, even the most difficult, not excluding the arrogant use of power." PATRON: Since 2006 she has been patron of Sieradz, and in 2016 was the patron Saint of Wroclaw. Ledochowska is also the patron Saint of the Polish girls, and also children-orphans and caregivers. St. Julia Maria Ledóchowska: Pray for us!
All these saints I have never even heard of before! Hundreds and hundreds of them, many of them very modern! One of the most wonderful thing about modern saints is that we can actually see photos and even videos of them and look on their wonderful holy faces. I found a book one time that was simply faces of modern saints. I just turned page after page slowly taking them all in. Just looking at their faces was a huge blessing. God is so wonderful in His saints. It reminds me of the Transfiguration. One of the greatest blessings in this life is to meet a saintly person and look on their face.
... another Saint for today Saint Paul VI, 1897–1978 Connection to the date: the anniversary of his priestly ordination (May 29, 1920, in Concesio, Brescia). Canonized October 14, 2018, by Pope Francis. Patronage: Archdiocese of Milan; Paul VI Pontifical Institute; Second Vatican Council; Diocese of Brescia; ecumenism. Life: Born Giovanni Battista Enrico Maria Montini, September 26, 1897, in Concesio, Brescia, Italy. Ordained priest May 29, 1920. Served in the Vatican diplomatic service and Secretariat of State. Ordained bishop December 12, 1954. Created cardinal 1958. Elected pope June 21, 1963. Shepherded the Second Vatican Council to completion in 1965. First pope to travel beyond Italy, making apostolic pilgrimages to six continents. Promulgated reformed liturgical calendar, missal, breviary, and simplified sacramental rites. Published encyclical Humanae Vitae (1968) restating Church teaching on contraception. Died August 6, 1978. ◾ Miracles: Beatification (2014): Healing of an unborn child in California (1990s). Fetus diagnosed with serious health defect threatening severe brain damage. Physicians recommended abortion. Mother prayed for intercession of Pope Paul VI. Child born healthy with no complications. Vatican medical board verified as medically inexplicable. ◾Canonization (2018): Healing of an unborn child in fifth month of pregnancy (Italy, 2014). Mother advised to abort due to serious complications endangering both mother and child. Shortly after Paul VI's beatification, mother prayed to him at shrine in Brescia. Child born in good health. Vatican medical board unanimously voted healing was "medically unexplainable." Saint Paul VI, pray for us
SAINT OF THE DAY SATURDAY, 30 MAY, 2026 SAINT JOAN OF ARC (1412 - 1431) Saint Joan was born on January 6, 1412, in the village of Domremy to Jacques and Isabelle d'Arc. Joan was the youngest of their five children. While growing up among the fields and pastures of her village, she was called Jeannette but when she entered into her mission, her name was changed to Jeanne, la Pucelle, or Joan, the Maid. As a child she was taught domestic skills as well as her religion by her mother. Joan would later say, "As for spinning and sewing, I fear no woman in Rouen." And again, "It was my mother alone who taught me the 'Our Father' and 'Hail Mary' and the 'Creed;' and from none other was I taught my faith." From her earliest of years Joan was known for her obedience to her parents, religious fervor, goodness, unselfish generosity and kindness toward her neighbors. Simonin Munier, one of Joan's childhood friends, tells how Joan had nursed him back to health when he was sick. Some of her playmates teased her for being 'too pious.' Others remembered how she would give up her bed to the homeless stranger who came to her father's door asking for shelter. Joan was 'like all the others' in her village until her thirteenth year. "When I was about thirteen, I received revelation from Our Lord by a voice which told me to be good and attend church often and that God would help me." She stated that her 'Voices' were Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret. At first her 'Voices' came to her two or three times a week but as the time for her mission drew near (five years later), they visited her daily telling her to 'Go into France' to raise the siege of Orleans, conduct the Dauphin Charles to Reims for his crowning and to drive the English from the land. Joan went to the neighboring town of Vaucouleurs, which means Valley of many colors. There she spoke to the loyal French governor by the name of Sir Robert de Baudricourt. After many rejections he finally agreed to send her to the Dauphin who at the time was living at the castle of Chinon. On the evening of February 23, 1429, she began her mission for God. In the company of six men, she rode through the Gate of France on her way to Chinon. Joan reached this town on March 6th, but was not received by the Dauphin, Charles, until the evening of March 9th. After being accepted and approved by a Church council headed by the Archbishop of Reims, Joan was allowed to lead the Dauphin's army. This part of her career was meteoric. She entered Orleans on the evening of April 29th and by May 8th the city had been freed. The Loire campaign started on June 9th and by June 19th the English were driven out of the Loire valley. The march to Reims started on June 29th and by July 17th Charles was crowned King of France in the Cathedral of Reims. From this time on, for reasons know only to King Charles, the king no longer valued Joan's advice and guidance. She had always told him that God had given her 'a year and a little longer' to accomplish His will but the king seemed to take no notice of it. For almost a year he wasted what time remained to Joan, until in frustration, she left the court. Her last campaign lasted from the middle of March until her capture at the town of Compiegne on May 23rd, 1430. Her 'year and a little longer' was over. Abandoned by her king and friends, she started her year of captivity. As a prisoner of the Burgundians she was treated fairly but that all changed when on November 21st, 1430, she was handed over the English. How she survived their harsh treatment of her is a miracle in itself. The English not only wanted to kill Joan but they also wanted to discredit King Charles as a false king by having Joan condemned by the Church as a witch and a heretic. To obtain this goal the English used those Church authorities whom they knew to be favorable to them and the staunchest of these was Bishop Cauchon. Joan's trial of condemnation lasted from February 21st until May 23rd. She was finally burnt at the stake in Rouen's market square on May 30th, 1431. Twenty-five years later the findings of Joan's first trial were overturned and declared 'null and void' by another Church court, who this time was favorable to King Charles. It was not until 1920 that the Church of Rome officially declared Joan to be a saint. Her feast day is celebrated on May 30th. PATRON: Captives; France; imprisoned people; martyrs; opposition of Church authorities; people ridiculed for their piety; prisoners; rape victims; soldiers; WACs; WAVES; Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service; Women's Army Corps. PRAYER: O Lord, you wondrously raised up Joan, your virgin, to defend the Faith and her country in Your name. Through her intercession grant that the Church may overcome the snares of her enemies, and attain lasting peace. Amen. SAINT JOAN, PRAY FOR US.
Every time I read a book on the life of St Joan or read a film on her life I can only go so far. After she relieved the siege of Orleans and saw the Dauphin crowned as King she entered the most terrible period of darkness and constant defeats. Even her voices ceased. It seemed as though even heaven had closed its doors to her. We see this again and again in the lives of the saints. St Teresa of Avila comments that when a soul enters the Dark Night even physical trials may ensue. This was so true in the life of Joan. All the lights went out. I suspect that she turned into a Victim soul for the salvation of France. The fact that she went forward faithfully despite the Dark perhaps shows that her great victories were not on the battlefield but in her soul. Simply in that she went on through the Dark. St Joan Patron of France, Eldest Daughter of the Church, pray for us.
A Blessed for today Blessed Marta Anna Wiecka, 1874–1904 Connection to the date: Death anniversary and feast day, May 30, 1904. Beatified May 24, 2008, by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Patronage: Nurses; the sick; Poland; Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. Life: Born January 12, 1874, in Nowy Wiec, Pomerania, Poland, third of thirteen children. Entered the Daughters of Charity (Vincentian Sisters) at age 18 in 1892. Served as a nurse in hospitals throughout Poland and Ukraine—Lviv, Podhayts, Bochnia, and Sniatyn—caring for all patients regardless of religion or condition. Contracted typhus from a patient during her final assignment and died peacefully on May 30, 1904, at age 30, in Sniatyn. Her grave became a site of pilgrimage. Beatification Miracle: Bronisław Koń suffered severe, advanced sepsis with multiple organ failure in 2001. Medical staff deemed his condition hopeless; life-support measures had failed and his family was prepared for his imminent death. Local faithful and relatives organized an intensive novena prayer campaign, petitioning the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Marta Wiecka—whose own death from typhus while nursing the sick made her a powerful intercessor for the gravely ill. During the crisis, Koń's vital signs abruptly stabilized. Within a short period, his failing organs resumed normal function. He made a complete, rapid recovery with no lingering complications—an outcome physicians declared medically impossible. Consulta Medica confirmed the healing July 6, 2007. Prayer: Blessed Marta Wiecka, faithful servant of the suffering, intercede for all who tend the sick and for those at death's door.
FEAST OF THE DAY SUNDAY, 31 MAY, 2026 SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY The dogma of faith which forms the object of the feast is this: There is one God and in this one God there are three Divine Persons; the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three Gods, but one, eternal, incomprehensible God! The Father is not more God than the Son, neither is the Son more God than the Holy Spirit. The Father is the first Divine Person; the Son is the second Divine Person, begotten from the nature of the Father from eternity; the Holy Spirit is the third Divine Person, proceeding from the Father and the Son. No mortal can fully fathom this sublime truth. But I submit humbly and say: Lord, I believe, help my weak faith. Why is this feast celebrated at this particular time? It may be interpreted as a finale to all the preceding feasts. All three Persons contributed to and shared in the work of redemption. The Father sent His Son to earth, for "God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son." The Father called us to the faith. The Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, became man and died for us. He redeemed us and made us children of God. He ever remains the liturgist par excellence to whom we are united in all sacred functions. After Christ's ascension the Holy Spirit, however, became our Teacher, our Leader, our Guide, our Consoler. On solemn occasions a thanksgiving Te Deum rises spontaneously from Christian hearts. The feast of the Most Holy Trinity may well be regarded as the Church's Te Deum of gratitude over all the blessings of the Christmas and Easter seasons; for this mystery is a synthesis of Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost. This feast, which falls on the first Sunday after Pentecost, should make us mindful that actually every Sunday is devoted to the honor of the Most Holy Trinity, that every Sunday is sanctified and consecrated to the triune God. Sunday after Sunday we should recall in a spirit of gratitude the gifts which the Blessed Trinity is bestowing upon us. The Father created and predestined us; on the first day of the week He began the work of creation. The Son redeemed us; Sunday is the "Day of the Lord," the day of His resurrection. The Holy Spirit sanctified us, made us His temple; on Sunday the Holy Spirit descended upon the infant Church. Sunday, therefore, is the day of the Most Holy Trinity. PRAYER: God our Father, who by sending into the world the Word of truth and the Spirit of sanctification made known to the human race your wondrous mystery, grant us, we pray, that in professing the true faith, we may acknowledge the Trinity of eternal glory and adore your Unity, powerful in majesty. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
