Marian Valley

14/08/2026

Dearest Pilgrims,

Come and join us at Marian Valley for Mass in Honour of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Today at 11am and 4pm.

08/08/2026

Dear Pilgrims,

Please remember that this Saturday is a Holy Day of Obligation for the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

See attached our Bulletin and Shrine News for this 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the week running 9th - 15th August 2026.

God bless you all!

01/08/2026

Dear Pilgrims,

We welcome Brother Paweł Debert OSPPE who is visiting Marian Valley during his summer vacation from his studies in Rome.

Please continue to pray for him and for Pauline vocations.

See attached our Bulletin and Shrine News for this 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the week running 2nd - 8th August 2026.

God bless you all!

29/07/2026

Dear Pilgrims, today we celebrated at Marian Valley, the memorial of the Friends of Jesus, Sts. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.

— Christ in the House of Martha and Mary (c.1654?), attributed to Jan Vermeer (1632-1675), National Gallery of Scotland.

Martha was the sister of Mary of Bethany and Lazarus. In the West, her feast day comes a week after that of St Mary Magdalene because of the old and probably erroneous tradition that Mary Magdalene was the same person as Martha’s sister. Modern scholarship having made matters clearer, Martha, Mary and Lazarus have since 2021 been celebrated together on this day, which was formerly assigned to Martha alone.

Lazarus repays reflection. His resuscitation forms such a key part of salvation history – which is why it has a Sunday in Lent dedicated to it – that it is easy to forget Lazarus himself. But as Monsignor Ronald Knox says somewhere, he deserves our sympathy and not only our envy, because this was not a resurrection. Lazarus was still mortal and he had his dying to do all over again at some point in the future. What Lazarus thought of being brought back to Earth is not recorded. The presence of the incarnate Lord must have made up for the postponement of Heaven, but – where less dramatic circumstances are concerned – we should think of Lazarus when we prepare to make spectacular acts of charity on behalf of people who may not necessarily appreciate our interventions.

25/07/2026

Dear Pilgrims,

Please see our Bulletin and Shrine News for this 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, The Week 26th JUly - 1st August 2026

God bless you all!

24/07/2026

Dear Pilgrims,

Today the 24th July, we celebrated two interesting saints, one, well known and the other, not well known.

St Charbel Makhlouf (1828 - 1898)

He was born in the Lebanon, the son of a mule-driver, and brought up by his uncle, who did not approve of his devotion to prayer and solitude. He would go secretly to the monastery of St Maron at Annaya, and eventually became a Maronite monk and was ordained priest. After being a monk for many years, he was drawn to a closer imitation of the Desert Fathers and became a hermit.
At his hermitage he lived a severely ascetic life with much prayer and fasting. He refused to touch money and considered himself the servant of anyone who came to stay in the three other cells that the hermitage possessed. He spent the last 23 years of his life there, and increasing numbers of people would come to receive his counsel or his blessing.

Saint Declan of Ardmore (Aird Mhór), County Waterford (Contæ Phort Láirge), Ireland (Éire).

He was an early Irish bishop and abbot. According to sacred tradition, He is said to be one of four bishops (being Saints Ailbhe (Elvis), Ciaran (Kieran), and Ibar (Ivor) [sometimes St. Abban, the Nephew of Ibar is included]) to have preceded Saints Patrick and Brigid in Ireland in the early 5th century, although he is also sometimes made a contemporary of the Welsh patron Saint David in the mid-6th century.

17/07/2026

Dear Pilgrims,

This Sunday we welcome Fr. Marek Dutkiewicz OSPPE to Marian Valley!!!

Please see our Bulletin and Shrine News for this 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, The Week 19-25 July 2026

God bless you all!

16/07/2026

09/07/2026

Dear Pilgrims!

Marian Valley would like to invite you all to our Sister Monastery "Penrose Park" in NSW for the 25th Anniversary of the Coronation of the Black Madonna Icon. the Rector of the Shrine and Provincial of the Order in Australia, Fr Jaroslaw Zan will be the Main Celebrant, and is also the reason the Coronation of the Icon took place to begin with. If you cannot attend, please Pray for the Success of the Day and for the Pilgrims and the Pauline Fathers.

God bless you all.

04/07/2026

𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘 | 𝐒𝐓. 𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇 𝐎𝐅 𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐆𝐀𝐋

Rainha Santa Isabel, or Saint Elizabeth, was the child of King Peter III and Queen Constance of Aragon, Spain. Elizabeth’s older brothers would become successive kings of Aragon, Alfonso III and James II. Her namesake was her great-aunt, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.

Although Elizabeth enjoyed the privileges of a royal upbringing, her stature did not distract her from her faith. By age eight, she regularly fasted, attended Mass, and prayed the entire Divine Office daily. Unlike other girls, she sought virtue and glory for God rather than indulging in frivolous activities. She used her royal status as a platform for service of the poor, sick, and suffering.

In 1279, Elizabeth’s father arranged her marriage to the seventeen-year-old King Denis of Portugal in order to strengthen Spain’s political alliance with Portugal. In 1282, twelve-year-old Elizabeth wedded King Denis, becoming Queen Elizabeth of Portugal. Elizabeth showed remarkable grace in the face of her husband’s immoral lifestyle and infidelity, treating him with love and fulfilling her duties as queen with humility. They had two children: their daughter, Constance, in 1290, and a year later, their son, Afonso, who would succeed his father as King of Portugal.

Queen Elizabeth’s virtuous living stood out in the royal court, and she humbly and lovingly offered to God the ridicule she suffered. As queen, she attended daily Mass, engaged in penance, and prayed the Divine Office. She aided the poor and the sick, personally distributing food and money to those in need at the palace door. When the king grew angry at her generosity, she continued her charitable work secretly. Using her royal position, she constructed monasteries, churches, and hospitals.

The royal family included the king’s illegitimate children whom Elizabeth treated with love. Her son, Afonso, however, resented the attention his father paid to the children born out of wedlock. Tensions escalated to the point of war, but Queen Elizabeth rode out to the scene of the battle, kneeling between her husband and son, begging for peace. She successfully reconciled the two, earning the title of “Angel of Peace.”

When King Denis died in 1325, Queen Elizabeth retired to a house next to a Poor Clare monastery and joined the Third Order Franciscans. For the next eleven years, she lived in simplicity and poverty, continuing her charitable work and welcoming all who sought her counsel. She again played the role of peacemaker when her son, now King Afonso, initiated a war against his own son-in-law. Shortly thereafter, Elizabeth fell ill and died on July 4, 1336. She was buried in the Covent of Santa Clara that she had founded in Coimbra. Years later, her body was found to be incorrupt. In 1912, medical examiners and Church officials declared that her body remained free of decay, looking as if she were only sleeping.

𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐘𝐄𝐑:
Saint Elizabeth, you were a queen, but that royal dignity paled in comparison to the saintly virtues you acquired. Please pray that I will imitate your example and seek only those things that are eternal, rejecting the world’s fleeting seductions. May we learn from your life of prayer and charity, and discover the peace and joy that you did so that we will give eternal glory to God in Heaven.

Saint Elizabeth of Portugal, pray for us.
Jesus, we trust in You. 𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐍

𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐂𝐄:
https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/