I think the most touching thing of all is that Alessandro, Maria's killer converted after her death after she appeared to him in a vision in Spain. Alessandro visited Maria's mother and they attended her canonisation together in Rome. Allesandro's cause for Beatification is ongoing in Rome. I read reports of people who had met Allesandro and they were very impressed with him. His downfall was reading pornography which would have been very small beans compared to what we have on the internet now. I hear a huge amount of Catholic men are addicted to it. Even women. So sad. I read lately that St Maria Goretti is appearing regularly to Irish mystic Denis O'Leary. So interesting. https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/189...kGd9ik4Heo1bie9hoCe2MQAvD_BwE&lang_mismatch=1
My mother had an incredible devotion To St Maria Goretti and she passed away on this day 40 years ago. Incredible Saint!
Her relic is in altar at our little parish. She has always been a saint to inspire me...more so since my accident in helping with grace needed to continue forgiving young lady who hit us while drunk driving. I pray she finds peace and the love of Jesus Christ for her
From Sr. Julia Mary Darrenkamp FSP: "Happy feast day to one of my earliest Saint-friends! Sitting in the pew on July 4th at St. Thomas More Cathedral, I looked to my left and there she was. Such a lovely statue of St. Maria Goretti. I read her story when I was 13…just a year older than she was when she was martyred. It impressed my fervent Protestant heart to know there were heroes my own age. She, along with Bernadette, were my first introduction to Saints in the Catholic Church. I guess you could say they were my “sponsors.” That was many years ago. But true friends STAY friends, and I have her picture and relic next to my bed. Hoping she and Bernadette will sponsor me all the way to the pearly gates!" .
From Catholic Ireland.net: "This is believed to be a real photograph of Maria, one of only two photos that are known of."
SAINT OF THE DAY TUESDAY, 7 JULY, 2026 SAINT PANTAENUS DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH AND APOSTLE TO THE INDIES (2nd Century) This learned father and apostolic man flourished in the second century. He was by birth a Sicilian, by profession a Stoic philosopher. His esteem for virtue led him into an acquaintance with the Christians, and being charmed with the innocence and sanctity of their conversation, he opened his eyes to the truth. He studied the Holy Scriptures under the disciples of the apostles, and his thirst after sacred learning brought him to Alexandria, in Egypt, where the disciples of St. Mark had instituted a school of the Christian doctrine. Pantænus sought not to display his talents in that great mart of literature and commerce; but this great progress in sacred learning was after some time discovered, and he was drawn out of that obscurity in which his humility sought to bury itself. Being placed at the head of the Christian school some time before the year 179, by his learning and excellent manner of teaching he raised its reputation above all the schools of the philosophers, and the lessons which he read, and which were gathered from the flowers of the prophets and apostles, conveyed light and knowledge into the minds of all his hearers. The Indians who traded at Alexandria entreated him to pay their country a visit, whereupon he forsook his school and went to preach the Gospel to the Eastern nations. St. Pantænus found some seeds of the faith already sown in the Indies, and a book of the Gospel of St. Matthew in Hebrew, which St. Bartholomew had carried thither. He brought it back with him to Alexandria, whither he returned after he had zealously employed some years in instructing the Indians in the faith. St. Pantænus continued to teach in private till about the year 216, when he closed a noble and excellent life by a happy death. PRAYER: Lord God, you counted Saint Pantaenus among your holy pastors, renowned for faith and love which conquered evil in this world. By the help of his prayers keep us strong in faith and love and let us come to share his glory. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
SAINT OF THE DAY WEDNESDAY, 8 JULY, 2026 SAINT GRIMBALD OF WINCHESTER ABBOT (820 - July 8, 901) Grimbald became a monk about 840, was ordained priest in 870, and was abbot of Saint-Bertin. He entertained King Alfred on his way to Rome in 885. As a well-known scholar, he went to Rheims in 886. Upon the advice of Archbishop Eldred of Canterbury and through Fulk of Rheims, Alfred invited Grimbald to England in 887. Grimbald accepted the offer. He lived in Winchester in a small "monastery" and served as a court-scholar, assisting Alfred with his translations of Latin works into Old English, including Saint Gregory's Pastoral Care (Liber regulae pastoralis). Eventually, Grimbald was appointed the first professor of divinity at Oxford (some say that he actually founded the university). Upon the death of Eldred in 889, Alfred tried to persuade Grimbald to become archbishop of Canterbury, but he refused and became instead dean of the secular canons of New Minster at Winchester, the town-church where prominent citizens had burial rights. Alfred's son, King Edward, reburied his father and mother (Queen Alswithe) in this new church, which probably absorbed the small community that Grimbald had previously governed. (Later, King Henry I removed New Minster to Hyde, now called Saint Grimbald's monastery.) Grimbald restored learning in England. He may have brought to England the 9th-century manuscript of Prudentius, now at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, as well as the famous Utrecht Psalter. During his last illness, the extremely feeble Saint Grimbald rose out of bed and prostrated himself on the ground to receive the holy viaticum. Thereafter, he asked to be left alone with God for three days. On the fourth day the community was called into his chamber, and amidst their prayers the saint calmly breathed forth his happy soul. St. Grimbald of Winchester: Pray for us!
Imagine being called Grimbald! It reminds me of the Book the Lord of the Rings. So many of the saints have had extraordinary deaths. Many of them forecast their deaths to the hour. In others all kinds of visions and extraordinary events. Even at their funerals. I was told a wonderful story about a little old lady who used to go to daily mass at a monastery in Ireland. One day she turned up for confession to the Abbot and told him Our Lord has told her she was going to die that night. The priest of course poo poohed this all as a crazy notion. Next day they found the old lady dead at home. She had spring cleaned her house from top to bottom so it sparkled. She was wearing her habit as a Third Order of St Francis lying neatly in bed with her arms crossed on her chest and a smile on her face.
From Catholic Ireland.net Saint Kilian of Kilmore (640 - 689) Martyr Summary of St Kilian: an Irish monk, who like Columbanus, Fiacra, Fursey and Feargal went on an adventure to Europe spreading the good news from Mullagh, Co Cavan. He was put to death in 689. Patrick Duffy traces his story. From Mullagh, Co Cavan St Kilian was born in the parish of Mullagh, Co Cavan. which has a church and heritage centre dedicated to him. Here in 1989 the people of the parish celebrated the 13th centenary of his death. There is also a church dedicated to him at Lauragh, Tuosist, Co Kerry and a pattern is celebrated in his honour every 8th July. Kilian is believed to have received his religious training at the monastery in Rosscarbery, Co. Cork founded by St. Fachtna in the fourth century. St. Kilian later founded his own monastery off Kilmakilloge harbour in the Kenmare area, where he trained his fellow monks and laid plans for one of the greatest pilgrimages ever undertaken from the shores of Ireland. From Kilmakilloge harbour, Kilian and his twelve companions , their heads tonsured in the traditional fashion of the Irish monks, set sail on their mission in a hide-covered boat. Their journey finally brought them to Rome where Pope Conan directed them to Germany and to the province of Franconia, where they set up their headquarters at Wurzburg in the year 686. All around, the countryside was pagan, with perhaps a few pockets of Christians here and there. The influence of the earlier Barbarian invasion was still felt. Up the Rhine and the Main to Würzburg, Germany Kilian is said to have sailed from neighbouring Kilmacillogue harbour with eleven companions on a mission to Germany. The group landed at the mouth of the Rhine and travelled up the river until they reached the mouth of its tributary, the Main; then they sailed up this as far as the town of Würzburg. To Rome From there he went on to Rome arriving during the pontificate of Pope Conon (686-7) and stayed there for two years. Some accounts say Pope Conon confirmed him in his mission to Thuringia and Eastern Franconia. Martyrdom On his return to Würzburg, however, Kilian found that the Duke Gosbert had married his brother’s widow, Geilana. When Kilian explained that according to Canon Law the marriage was unlawful, the duke agreed to separate. But Geilana was not happy and plotted against Kilian. She had him murdered along with two companions Colman and Totnan, probably in 689. Cult grows, Fifty Years Later Kilian and his companions seem to have been forgotten after their martyrdom. But fifty years after their death when the English missionary St Boniface and his companion Burchard of Wessex arrived in the area, they found evidence of Kilian’s influence. Burchard became the first bishop of Würzburg in 752 and transferred the relics of Kilian and his companions, which were being revered for many cures from illnesses, into the cathedral he built in Würzburg and dedicated to St Kilian. St Kilian’s Cathedral, Würzburg The present-day cathedral named after Kilian is one of the largest Romanesque churches in Germany. Kilian is the principal patron of Würzburg; his figure appears on seals and coins and a Kilianfest held every year is the occasion of an annual mystery play about his life. Martyrology of Tallaght News of Kilian’s martyrdom was brought back to Ireland and is recorded in the ninth-century Irish Martyrology of Tallaght: hymns and folk-songs were composed in his honour. There was a house of Irish monks in the city of Würzburg from the ninth century until the fifteenth and there are manuscripts of commentaries written in Old Irish on the Scriptures. In 1989 the late Cardinal Tomás Ó Fiaich visited the city to lecture about these writings and contacts. P.S. Links between Würzburg and Ireland Today Irish influence remains in Würzburg today as there is a GAA club called St Kilian’s with hurling and football teams that compete successfully at European level. St Kilian’s is the name of a German school (Deutsche Schule) in Dublin. It is situated on the Eurocampus in Clonskeagh, quite near to University College, Dublin. It provides a German language education from kindergarten, through primary and secondary levels. ******************************
