" Dread the torments suffered by the souls in Purgatory, and have compassion on them. Succor them by your prayers and deliver them by your good works" St. Albert the Great.

Miniatures Lives of the Saints, for Every Day in the Year, Volume 1; Volumes 28-146 1883

Martyrdom of Saint Josaphat Kuntsevych by Józef Simmler  (1823–1868)

• The Relics of St Josaphat in the Vatican

"The life of St. Josaphat is a lesson for all time. The two truths which he was charged by our Divine Lord to proclaim, and which he was to seal with his blood: the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff and the unity of the Church, are denied in our own day by the same sectaries, and all who maintain them assailed by the same fiendish cruelty." The Dublin Review, Part 1 page 46. 1877

"Stir up, O Lord, we beseech thee, in thy Church the Spirit wherewith the blessed Josephat thy Martyr and Pontiff was filled."  Thus prays our Mother, today, and the Gospel likewise points to the desire of obtaining pastors like to thee, O holy Bishop! The sacred text speaks of the false shepherd, who flees at first sight of the wolf; but the Homily, which explains it in the Night Office, brands equally with the title of hireling the keeper who, though he does not flee, suffers the enemy un-resisted to work havoc in the fold. May the divine Shepherd, whom thou didst imitate unto the end, even unto laying down thy life for the sheep, live again in all those whom he calls, like Peter, to exercise a greater love." The Liturgical Year: Passiontide and holy week, 3d edition. 1901 Abbot Prosper Gueranger OSB

"ST. JOSAPHAT was born in Volhynia, a province of Poland, of noble and virtuous parents who brought him up in lively sentiments of piety. During his childhood he was much affected at the thought of the sufferings which Jesus Christ had endured for the love of men, and one day when his mother was discoursing about our Lord's Passion, a dart issuing from the side of Jesus, as represented in a neighboring crucifix, transfixed his heart.

From that moment he felt himself powerfully inflamed with the fire of Divine Love, and gave himself up with such fervor to prayer and works of charity as to excite the wonder and admiration of all who beheld him. When he had reached the age of twenty, Josaphat received the religious habit in a convent of Basilian monks, where he practiced the most severe austerities and made rapid progress in virtue. His great reputation for sanctity and learning caused him to be raised to the office of Superior, and afterwards to the higher dignity of Archimandrite or Abbot. Finally, in spite of his earnest opposition, he was elected and consecrated Archbishop of Poloczk.

Invested with this new dignity, Josaphat continued the same humble and penitential way of life which he had followed within the walls of his monastery. Perfectly detached from earthly things, he devoted the whole of the revenue of his See to works of charity and the service of the Church. At the same time he gave himself up with unremitting assiduity to the care of his flock, whom he earnestly strove to preserve from the inroads of schism and heresy. Never was there to be found a more devoted champion of the rights and privileges of the Holy See, which he strenuously defended against the heretics both by his sermons and writings. Almighty God blessed his efforts with great success, and he was the means of bringing back innumerable souls to the unity of the Faith. His success in this respect drew upon him the hatred of certain fiery zealots, who conspired to effect his death; nor was their design hidden from our Saint, who in a public sermon forewarned the people of his approaching departure. Meanwhile he hastened to complete the visitation of his flock, that death might find him faithfully employed in the service of his Master and with his accounts made ready.

Having completed their preparation, the conspirators took occasion of the Archbishop's visit to Vitepsk in the course of his ministration, to carry their plot into execution. Rushing tumultuously to the Archiepiscopal residence, they entered with drawn swords, striking and slaying whomsoever they met. Josaphat immediately went forth to meet them. "My children," said he, "why do you slay my friends? Behold if you have anything against me, here I am." At these words, they rushed upon him, loaded him with blows, pierced him with their daggers, and finally struck off his head with an axe. His blessed body was cast into the neighboring river, but being discovered by a miraculous light, was taken out and interred with great solemnity and veneration. St. Josaphat accomplished his glorious martyrdom on November 12, A.D. 1623, being then in the forty-third year of his age."  Short lives of the saints, for every day in the year, Volume 3 By Rev. Henry Gibson 1897

Mother Cabrini and Pope leo XIII

"I will have no peace until I have wrested every last child from Protestant hands."

"We must pray without tiring, for the salvation of mankind does not depend on material success; nor on sciences that cloud the intellect. Neither does it depend on arms and human industries but on Jesus alone." Mother Cabrini

Prayer: Almighty and Eternal Father, Giver of all Gifts, show us Thy mercy, and grant, we beseech Thee, through the merits of Thy faithful Servant, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, that all who invoke her intercession may obtain what they desire according to the good pleasure of Thy Holy Will...(here name your request).

O Lord Jesus Christ, Savior of the world, mindful of Thy bountiful goodness and love, deign, we implore Thee, through the tender devotion of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini for Thy Sacred Heart, to hear our prayers and grant our petitions.

O God, the Holy Ghost, Comforter of the afflicted, Fountain of Light and Truth, through the ardent zeal of Thy humble handmaid, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, grant us Thy all powerful aid in our necessities, sanctify our souls and fill our minds with Divine Light that we may see the Holy Will of God in all things.

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, beloved spouse of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, intercede for us that the favor we now ask may be granted.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory, etc. (Three times)

Imprimatur: Samuel Cardinal Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago, 1943

• Sanctuary of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini

• These Splendid Sisters: Mother Cabrini An Apostle of the Italians by JAMES J. WALSH, 1926
  

" Frances Xavier Cabrini was born at St. Angelo on July 15, 1850. A few hours after her birth, a flock of white doves alighted in the courtyard, in which her father had spread the grain to dry. Fearing that the doves might damage the grain, he drove them away, but vainly so. They returned again and again-it was a happy omen!
When seven, she was confirmed, and at ten she received first holy Communion. As a child, she was so modest and amiable that she was named "the little Saint." She liked to play with dolls dressed as Nuns, whom she ruled as a little abbess, and making small paper boats, she would fill them with violets, and placing them on the water, she imagined she was sending Missionaries to pagan lands.

She received her early education from her Sister Rose, a licensed teacher. When thirteen, she entered the school of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart in Arluno, and at eighteen, having succeeded brilliantly in her studies, was granted a normal school certificate. Then she went home, losing her parents through death in the following years.

At that time Don Bassano Dede, parish priest of St. Angelo, needed aid in his pastoral work. Frances gladly helped him, teaching Christian doctrine to the children, visiting the sick and helping the poor. Later she taught school in a nearby town. All this time she felt strongly drawn to the Religious life and performed many acts of self-denial. Thus she slept on two boards in place of a mattress. Several times she applied for admission to different Religious Communities, but in vain.

Some time later when asked to supervise an orphanage in Cadogno, she at first refused, because she still hoped to become a Religious. Finally, she consented to try it for fifteen days. Those fifteen days became six years, and in 1880, she was still directing this work, surrounded by a group of young women, who also were desirous of dedicating themselves to the Missions.

That same year, the Bishop of Lodi commissioned her to found a Missionary Institute. Frances and her companions took over an ancient Franciscan Convent, and a few days later, Holy Mass was celebrated and Holy Communion was distributed to the new community. Then an Academy was opened, which was soon filled to capacity. Then Frances was elected Mother General of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. The Community grew and new houses sprang up quickly, among them two in the Papal City, Rome. On March 12, 1888 the Holy See approved the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart.

One day, Bishop Scalabrini, the founder of the Missionaries of Emigration, told her of the difficulties and misery of Italian emigrants in America, and suggested that Frances establish her Community in New York. Blessed Cabrini did not immediately act on this suggestion. But when in an audience, Pope Leo XIII said to her, "Not to the East, but to the West. Go to the United States," Blessed Cabrini no longer hesitated.

She landed in America on March 31, 1889, and immediately set to work, a work that lasted until her death. For the Italian children she erected schools, kindergartens, orphanages, hospitals and free dispensaries. She became active in all kinds of social welfare work.

In 37 years she erected 67 houses in Europe and America. At her death, her Community numbered five hundred Sisters, there were five thousand children in her schools, orphanages, etc. Her hospitals took care of almost one hundred thousand sick.

Blessed Cabrini died in Chicago on December 22, 1917, at the age of 67. On November 13, 1938, she was declared "Blessed" by Pope Pius XI. Her relics are preserved in the Chapel of the Cabrini High School, Chicago."  Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints: edited by Rev. Fr.  John Gilmary Shea 1925

El Greco. Saint Martin

"Saint Martin trembled on entering a Church and never sat, stood or spoke while there, because he remembered that he was before God, his Judge. Oh, that all who go to Church, would take to heart that they appear before their Judge! How differently would they conduct themselves! May you, at least, think earnestly of it. Say to yourself: "I go to my God; I shall appear before Him, who, in a little while, will be my Judge, and who will sentence me for all eternity. At this moment He is still my Savior, ready to pardon my sins and give me grace, that I may go to heaven. But soon He will judge me according to His justice." Considering all this carefully, you will surely avoid everything that is displeasing to God, and you will guard against the least disrespect. "This place is terrible. It is nothing less than the house of God and the gate of heaven," said the Patriarch Jacob of the place where he had seen, in his sleep, the Lord of Heaven. He was  afraid, because he had dared to sleep there, though he knew not that the place was holy. How much more reason have you to fear when you are irreverential in Church, as you know that it is, in a grander sense, the house of God the gate of heaven.

The Evil Spirit, who appeared to St. Martin in his last hour, was easily driven away with the words: " Wherefore art thou standing there, thou blood-thirsty beast? Thou has nothing to expect from me." Consider well; if Satan dares to tempt so holy a man; if he can fill him with fear and confusion; what will he not do to those whose have led an indolent, lukewarm, or even sinful life? "The devil has descended upon you," says Holy Writ; "he is full of great wrath because he knows that he has but little time." St. Martin feared not, but drove him away, because his conscience was free from anything with which Satan could reproach him. Oh! happy is he, who cannot be reproached in his last hour with anything that he has not confessed already and expiated. St. Martin was accustomed to fight during his life with Satan; therefore he easily conquered him in death. Think deeply on it; those who accustom themselves during their lives to fight with Satan's temptation, will be able, by the grace of God, to do the same on their death-bed. But how will those fare, who, during the greater part of their lives, have consented to the temptations  of Satan? Oh! there is good reason to fear that, in their last hour, they will do the same, and thus go to eternal perdition. Impress this point well upon your mind, and accustom yourself in time to fight bravely against Satan and his temptations, as otherwise your are lost for all eternity. "Vainly do they promise themselves security in their dying hour, who, during their life, resist not temptation." says St. Leo. "If Satan finds any one who is not  watchful, and well experience in fighting, he will easily conquer him," says St. Cyprian." On the Life of Each Saint for every day in the year. Rev. F. X. Wininger D.D., S.J. 1876

"THIS famous bishop was born in Hungary, and was taken to Italy in his infancy. At ten years of age, he became a Catechumen, that is, he placed himself under instruction for the Christian faith, against the will of his parents, who were idolators. At fifteen he was compelled by his father to enter the army, and served under Constantius and Julian. While he was a soldier, he performed that remarkable charity of cutting off half of his cloak, with his sword, to cover a poor man whom he met at the gate of Amiens, almost naked, shaking with cold, in a very hard winter, and begging alms of those that passed by. The following night he saw Jesus Christ dressed in that half of his cloak, which he had given to the poor man, and was bid to look at it well, and see whether he knew it. He then heard our Saviour say to the angels that surrounded him: "Martin, yet a Catechumen, has clothed me with this garment." This encouraged him to finish what he had begun; and therefore, leaving the military life, he was baptized, and went to St. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, by whom he was instructed in all virtue, and ordained acolyth. After some time, being made bishop of Tours, he preserved in that dignity an humble mind; and notwithstanding the great distractions of his charge, lived in solitude, and was most severe to himself in all the rigours of a monastic life. Thus eminent in all sanctity, which God likewise testified in many miracles wrought by him, at the age of fourscore and one he died happily, in the year 397. Pray for all pastors of the Church, that the great humility and piety of this prelate may be their example; that while they are watchful in the concerns of their flock, they may be likewise solicitous in the care of their own souls. And for yourself, if you desire the necessary assistance of Heaven, seek it by your charity to the poor. This

Prayer

"O holy Martin, have compassion on our depth of misery! A winter more severe than that which caused you to divide your cloak now rages over the world. Many perish in the icy night brought on by the extinction of faith and the cooling of charity. Come to the aid of those unfortunates, whose torpor prevents them from asking assistance. Wait not for them to pray, but forestall them for the love of Christ in whose name the poor man of Amiens implored you, whereas they scarcely know how to utter it. And yet their nakedness is worse than the beggar's, stripped as they are of the garment of grace, which their fathers received from thee and handed down to posterity.

How lamentable, above all, has become the destitution of France, which you once enriched with the blessings of Heaven, and where your benefits have been requited with such injuries! Deign to consider, however, that our days have seen the beginning of reparation, close by your holy tomb restored to our filial veneration. Look upon the piety of those grand Christians whose hearts were able, like the generosity of the multitude, to rise to the height of the greatest projects. See the pilgrims, however reduced their numbers, now taking once more the road to Tours, traversed so often by people and kings in better days of its history Has that history of the brightest days of the Church, of the reign of Christ the King, come to an end, O Martin? Let the enemy imagine he has already sealed our tomb. But the story of your miracles tells us that you can raise up even the dead. Was not the catechumen of Liguge snatched from the land of the living when you called him back to life, and Baptism? Supposing that, like him, we were already among those whom the Lord remembers no more, the man or the country that has Martin for protector and father need never yield to despair. if you deign to bear us in mind, the Angels will come and say again to the supreme Judge: "This is the man, this it the nation for whom Martin prays," and they will be commanded to draw us out of the dark regions where dwell the people without glory, and to restore us to Marin, and to our nobles destinies.

Your zeal, however, for the advancement of God's kingdom knew no limits. Inspire, then, strengthen and multiply the apostles all over the world who. like you, are driving out the remnant of infidelity. Restore Christian Europe which still honors your name, to the unity so unhappily dissolved by schism and heresy. in spite of the many efforts to the contrary, maintain your noble fatherland in its post of honor, and in its traditions of brave fidelity. may your devout clients in all lands experience that your right arm still suffices to protect those who implore you. In Heaven today, as the Church sings, the Angels are full of joy, the Saints proclaim your glory, the Virgins surround you saying: "Remain with us for ever." is not this the continuation of what your life was here on Earth when you and the virgins vied with each other in showing mutual veneration, when Mary their Queen accompanied by Thecla and Agnes loved to spend long hours with you in your cell, Marmoutier, which thus became, says your historian, like the dwellings of the Angels? Imitating their brothers and sisters in Heaven, virgins and monks, clergy and pontiffs turn to you, never fearing that their numbers will cause any one of them to receive less, knowing that your life is a light sufficient to enlighten all and that one glance from martin will secure to them the blessings of the Lord."  In Lumine Fidei: Liturgical year for traditional Catholics, Don Gueranger.

"On the last day of his life, November 10, 1608, Saint Andrew rose to say Mass. He was eighty-eight years old, and so weak he could scarcely reach the altar. He began the Judica me, Deus, the opening prayer, but fell forward, the victim of apoplexy. Laid on a straw mattress, his whole frame was convulsed in agony, while the ancient fiend, in visible form, advanced as though to seize his soul. Then, while the onlookers prayed and wept, he invoked Our Lady, and his Guardian Angel seized the monster and dragged it out of the room. A calm and holy smile settled on the features of the dying Saint and, as he gazed with a grateful countenance on the image of Mary, his holy soul winged its way to God.

Reflection: Saint Andrew, who suffered so terrible an agony, is invoked as special protector from an unprovided and sudden death. Ask this holy priest to be with you in your last hour, and bring Jesus and Mary to your aid." Sanctoral

"This saint was a fit instrument of the Holy Ghost, in directing others in the paths of perfect virtue, because dead to himself, and a man of prayer. He never  spoke of himself, never thought of his own actions except of his weaknesses, which he had always before his eyes in the most profound sense of his own nothingness, baseness, total insufficiency, and weakness. Those who talk often of themselves, discover that they are deeply infected with the disease of the devil, which is pride, or with the poison of vanity, its eldest daughter.They have no other reward to expect, but what they now receive, the empty breath of sinners. Even this incense is only affected hypocrisy. For men, by that base passion which they betray, become justly contemptible and odious to those very persons whose vain applause they seem to court." The Catholic Year by Fr. John Gother

St. Teresa advises all persons to shun such directors, as pernicious to souls both by the contagion of self-conceit and vain-glory which they spread, and by banishing the Holy Ghost with his light and blessing; for nothing is more contrary to him than a spirit of vanity and pride. The most perfect disinterestedness, contempt of the world, self-denial,  obedience, and charity, are no less essential ingredients of a  Christian, and especially an ecclesiastical spirit, than meekness and humility."
Rev. Fr. Alban Butler The lives of the fathers, martyrs, and other principal saints Vol 11 1821 

Prayer
O most glorious saint, whom God has made our protector against apoplexy; Seeing that thou thyself didst die of that disease, we earnestly pray thee to preserve us from an evil so dangerous and so common.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.

The Raccolta The lives of the fathers, martyrs, and other principal saints 1878

• "The rage of tyrants who were masters of the world, spread the faith which they vainly endeavored by fighting against heaven to extinguish. The martyrs who died for it, sealed it with their blood, and gave a testimony to Jesus Christ, which was, of all others, the strongest and most persuasive. Other Christians who fled, became the apostles of the countries whither they went. Whence St. Austin compares them to torches, which, if you attempt to put them our by shaking them, are kindled, and flame so much the more. The martyrs, by the meekness and fervor of their lives, and their constancy in resisting evil to death, converted an infidel world, and disarmed the obstinacy of the most implacable enemies of the truth. But what judgments must await those Christians who, by the scandal of their sloth and worldly spirit, dishonor their religion, blaspheme Christ, withdraw even the faithful from the practice of the gospel, and tempt a Christian world to turn infidel?" The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, and Other Principal saints, Vol 11. Rev. Fr. Alban Butler 1821