I always hold my breath to see if his blood liquifies in Naples. There has been a lot of intense volcanic activity in the area. It is the only regular miracle that occurs very year I think. I seem to recall a Pope Attending one time. It just goes to show what a strong faith in it exists in Italy.
SAINTS OF THE DAY SUNDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER, 2026 SAINT ANDREW KIM TAEGON AND SAINT PAUL CHONG HASANG AND THEIR COMPANIONS KOREAN MARTYRS (DIED 1791–1888) This first native Korean priest was the son of Korean converts. His father, Ignatius Kim, was martyred during the persecution of 1839 and was beatified in 1925. After baptism at the age of fifteen, Andrew traveled thirteen hundred miles to the seminary in Macao, China. After six years he managed to return to his country through Manchuria. That same year he crossed the Yellow Sea to Shanghai and was ordained a priest. Back home again, he was assigned to arrange for more missionaries to enter by a water route that would elude the border patrol. He was arrested, tortured and finally beheaded at the Han River near Seoul, the capital. Paul Chong Hasang was a lay apostle and a married man, aged forty-five. Christianity came to Korea during the Japanese invasion in 1592 when some Koreans were baptized, probably by Christian Japanese soldiers. Evangelization was difficult because Korea refused all contact with the outside world except for an annual journey to Beijing to pay taxes. On one of these occasions, around 1777, Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in China led educated Korean Christians to study. A home church began. When a Chinese priest managed to enter secretly a dozen years later, he found four thousand Catholics, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were ten thousand Catholics. Religious freedom came in 1883. When Pope John Paul II visited Korea in 1984, he canonized Andrew, Paul, ninety-eight Koreans and three French missionaries who had been martyred between 1839 and 1867. Among them were bishops and priests, but for the most part they were laypersons: forty-seven women, forty-five men. Among the martyrs in 1839 was Columba Kim, an unmarried woman of twenty-six. She was put in prison, pierced with hot awls and seared with burning coals. She and her sister Agnes were disrobed and kept for two days in a cell with condemned criminals, but were not molested. After Columba complained about the indignity, no more women were subjected to it. The two were beheaded. A boy of thirteen, Peter Ryou, had his flesh so badly torn that he could pull off pieces and throw them at the judges. He was killed by strangulation. Protase Chong, a forty-one-year-old noble, apostatized under torture and was freed. Later he came back, confessed his faith and was tortured to death. PATRON: Korean clergy. PRAYER: O God, who have been pleased to increase your adopted children in all the world, and who made the blood of the Martyrs Saint Andrew Kim Tae-gon and his companions a most fruitful seed of Christians, grant that we may be defended by their help and profit always from their example. 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.
Dear God, thank you for the witness of these wonderful Martyrs. May we stay as Faithful if our won time someday comes.
SAINT OF THE DAY MONDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER, 2026 SAINT MATTHEW APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST No one was more shunned by the Jews than a publican, who was a Jew working for the Roman enemy by robbing his own people and making a large personal profit. Publicans were not allowed to trade, eat, or even pray with other Jews. One day, while seated at his table of books and money, Jesus looked at Matthew and said two words: "Follow me." This was all that was needed to make Matthew rise, leaving his pieces of silver to follow Christ. His original name, "Levi," in Hebrew signifies "Adhesion" while his new name in Christ, Matthew, means "Gift of God." The only other outstanding mention of Matthew in the Gospels is the dinner party for Christ and His companions to which he invited his fellow tax-collectors. The Jews were surprised to see Jesus with a publican, but Jesus explained that he had come "not to call the just, but sinners." St. Matthew is known to us principally as an Evangelist, with his Gospel being the first in the New Testament. His Gospel was written in Aramaic, the language that our Lord Himself spoke and was written to convince the Jews that their anticipated Messiah had come in the person of Jesus. Not much else is known about Matthew. According to tradition, he preached in Egypt and Ethiopia and further places East. Some legends say he lived until his nineties, dying a peaceful death, others say he died a martyr's death. In the traditional symbolization of the evangelists, based on Ezech. 1:5-10 and Rev. 4:6-7, the image of the winged man is accorded to Matthew because his Gospel begins with the human genealogy of Christ. PATRON: Accountants; bankers; bookkeepers; customs officers; security guards; stock brokers; tax collectors; Salerno, Italy. PRAYER: O God, who with untold mercy were pleased to choose as an Apostle Saint Matthew, the tax collector, grant that, sustained by his example and intercession, we may merit to hold firm in following you. 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.
One of the wonderful stories of are time is that so many of our most powerful priests had really radical conversion stories. As Jesus told us those who are forgiven most, love most because they have most cause to love. "Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little." — Luke 7:47 (ESV) These stories are such a comfort because they show the power and Mercy of God in such an incredible way. Also these men and women have such a huge freshness and humanity. They are not simply cardboard cut outs. So alive and vivid. A good example of this was the late Father Mark Beard whose homilies were always wonderful and his conversion story breathtaking.
I have been praying for the intercession of this wonderful Priest and for his soul if needed. His homilies are so powerful...I love him without ever meeting him.
SAINT OF THE DAY TUESDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER, 2026 SAINT THOMAS OF VILLANOVA BISHOP AND CONFESSOR (1488 - September 8, 1555) Born during 1488 in the Spanish region of Castile, in the town of Villanova de los Infantes, Thomas Garcia was raised to take after the faith and charitable works of his parents Alphonsus and Lucia. His father, a mill worker, regularly distributed food and provisions to the poor, as did his mother. Generous and devout from an early age, their son was also intellectually gifted, beginning his studies at the University of Alcala at age 16. Within ten years he had become a professor of philosophy at that same university, where he taught for two years before being offered a more prestigious position at the University of Salamanca. Thomas, however, chose not to continue his academic career. After his father's death, he had determined to leave much of his inheritance to the poor and sick rather than retaining it himself. At age 28, after much deliberation, Thomas embraced a life of chastity, poverty, and religious obedience with his entry into the monastic Order of St. Augustine. Thomas made his first vows as an Augustinian in 1517 and was ordained a priest in 1518. He taught theology within his order and became renowned for his eloquent and effective preaching in the churches of Salamanca. This led to his appointment as a court preacher and adviser to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Presented with the prospect of being named an archbishop, Thomas initially declined and instead continued his work within the Order of St. Augustine, during a period that saw its expansion across the sea to Mexico. In August of 1544, however, he was ordered by his religious superiors to accept his appointment as the Archbishop of Valencia. Thomas arrived wearing the same well-worn monastic habit that he had worn for several years and would continue wearing for years to come. Given a donation to decorate his residence, he funnelled the money to a hospital in need of repair. After his installation, he visited local prisons and ordered changes to be made in response to their inhumane conditions. While continuing his life of monastic asceticism, the archbishop worked to improve the spiritual lives and living conditions of the faithful. He gave special attention to the needs of the poor, feeding and sheltering them in his own residence. During the same period he worked to promote education, restore religious orthodoxy, and reform the lifestyles of clergy and laypersons. After 11 years leading the Archdiocese of Valencia, St. Thomas of Villanova succumbed to a heart condition at the end of a Mass held in his home on Sept. 8, 1555. He is said to have died on the floor rather than in his bed, which he insisted on offering to a poor man who had come to his house. Pope Alexander VII canonized him in 1658. PATRON: Santolan, (Pasig City), Alimodian and Miag-ao (Iloilo), Villanova University. PRAYER: Most glorious Saint Thomas, pattern of Christian perfection and perfect model of priestly zeal, by that glory which as a reward of thy merits, has been granted thee in heaven, turn thine eyes of mercy upon us and come to our assistance before the throne of the Most High. While living on earth thou didst have as thy chief characteristic the very charity of Christ. Armed with this thou didst spend thine entire life in giving aid to the wretched, counsel to the doubtful, and consolation to the afflicted; thou didst draw back to the paths of virtue those who had gone astray, thus bringing to Jesus Christ the souls redeemed by His Precious Blood. Now that thou art so powerful in heaven, continue thy task of giving help to all and be our watchful protector, so that, through thine intercession, being delivered from all temporal misfortunes and confirmed in our faith and in love, we may be victors in our struggle with the powers of evil and may merit with thee to praise and bless our Lord through all eternity. Amen.
Not all Bishops go for the rich palace, the servants, the money, the flattery, the power. This one didn't. But so many do go for the rich trappings that it is very easy to go along with this all without thinking. But St Thomas reminds us that there is indeed another way. I watched a video of Father Reihill describing how the Bishop of Nashville invited him down to join him. He was surprised to find the Bishop driving his own car. He had come to expect Bishops to have their own driver. Not only this but the Bishop found the time to spend with Fr Reihill for two or three days. He even took him to the cemetery spot where a grave had been bought for him and to talk of the resurrection when he would rise from that spot. Years ago during the war there I was walking through a devastated poor part of Belfast. It was pretty well a dump, building blown up, heavily armed British Army soldiers and police everywhere. They reckon that up to one quarter of Catholic young people had been in prisons or Internment Camps. Huge levels of unemployment and poverty. One Parish was so poor it did not have the money to heat its Church in a bitterly cold winter. But then a huge black limousine swept past with a uniformed chaffeur. The Cardinal of Ireland sat ensconced in the back. Tears began to stream down my eyes as I saw this. It does not have to be this way. People like St Thomas shows us this. Archiepiscopal Palace of Alcalá de Henares
