The Great Cloud of Witnesses

01/26/2023

WELL, FACEBOOK HAS CHANGED THINGS AGAIN. SO FROM NOW ON, THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE GREAT CLOUD OF WITENSSES WILL HAVE TO ACCESS MY PERSONAL WEBSITE DIRECTLY. I WILL NOT BE POSTING TO THIS PAGE ANYMORE.

Daily Thought from the Saints "Listen with the ear of your heart." – St. Benedict of Nursia Daily Scripture Verse "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us." Romans 8:18 Daily Meditation "The shock of sorrow comes only to thos...

01/26/2023

Martyred Family of Constantinople
January 26
Saint Mary and Saint Xenophon were married and the parents of Saint John and Saint Arcadius. Theirs was a wealthy family of Senatorial rank in 5th century imperial Constantinople, but were known as a Christians who lived simple lives. To give their sons a good education, Xenophon and Mary sent them to university in Beirut, Phoenicia. However, their ship wrecked, there was no communication from them, and the couple assumed, naturally, that the young men had died at sea. In reality, John and Arcadius had survived and decided that instead of continuing to Beirut, they were going to follow a calling to religious life and became monks, eventually living in a monastery in Jerusalem. Years later, Mary and Xenophon made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem - where they encountered their sons. Grateful to have their family re-united, and taking it as a sign, Xenophon and Mary gave up their positions in society in Constantinople, and lived the rest of their lives as a monk and anchoress. in Jerusalem. A few years later, the entire family was martyred together.

01/25/2023

St. Arnold Janssen (1837–1909) was born in Germany to a large Catholic family. He was a man of simple faith who studied theology, entered the priesthood, and served as a school teacher. He had a profound devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which awakened in him an increasing desire for missiona...

01/24/2023

Saint Felician of Foligno (c. 160–c. 250) is the patron saint of Foligno. According to Christian tradition, he was born in Forum Flaminii (present-day San Giovanni Profiamma), on the Via Flaminia, of a Christian family, around 160. He was the spiritual student of Pope Eleutherius and evangelized i...

01/23/2023

Second son of Adam and Eve, slain by his brother Cain because the latter's oblation was not accepted favorably by God as was Abel's. For his death in this way he is regarded as a type of Our Savior. His death symbolizes, too, the bloody sacrifice of the Cross and the unbloody one of the altar. He is...

01/22/2023

St. Anastasius the Persian (7th c.) was the son of a Persian sorcerer. He became a Zoroastrian soldier in the army of Khosrau II, the Persian monarch who absconded the True Cross of Christ from Jerusalem and took it to Persia in 614. St. Anastasius inquired about the mysterious Cross and the Christi...

01/21/2023

Saint Meinrad (c. 797 – 21 January 861) was a hermit and a Roman Catholic saint. Meinrad was born into the family of the Counts of Hohenzollern and was educated at the abbey school of Reichenau, an island in Lake Constance, under his kinsmen, the Benedictine Abbots Hatto and Erlebald. There he bec...

01/20/2023

Eustochia Esmeralda Calafato (March 25, 1434 in Messina – January 20, 1485 also in Messina) is a Franciscan Italian Saint belonging to the Order of the Poor Clares. She is co-patroness of Messina, which is also the center of her following. She was born in the village of Santissima Annunziata, near...

01/19/2023

St. Canute IV of Denmark (1042 – 1086 A.D.), also known as Canute the Holy, was one of thirteen sons born to the king of Denmark. Canute later succeeded his brother to the throne and reigned as king from 1080 to 1086. He was a devout Catholic, a zealous propagator of the faith, and a brave warrior...

01/18/2023

St. Margaret of Hungary (1242–1271) was the daughter of King Bela IV of Hungary, and niece of the famed St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Her royal parents made a vow to God that if Hungary was saved from the Mongol invasion they would dedicate Margaret to religion. God heard their prayer and the country ...

01/17/2023

St. Anthony of the Desert (251–356 A.D.), also known as St. Anthony the Great, was a leading figure among the Desert Fathers, the early Christian monks who lived in the Egyptian desert in the 3rd and 4th centuries. The story of his life was written by St. Athanasius of Alexandria. St. Anthony's pa...

01/16/2023

In 1219, with the blessing of Saint Francis, Berard left Italy with Peter, Adjute, Accurs, Odo and Vitalis to preach in Morocco. En route in Spain, Vitalis became sick and commanded the other friars to continue their mission without him. They tried preaching in Seville, then in Muslim hands, but mad...