Catholic Saints

"By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks."

"And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, “For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.”"

"Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”"

"Remember us, O Lord. Reveal yourself in this time of our tribulation, and give me courage, O King of gods and Master of every dominion. Give me the power of persuasive speech when I face the lion and enable me to turn his heart to hatred of the one who is our enemy so that he and all those who share his feelings may perish. Save us by your arm and come to my aid, for I am alone and have no one on whom to rely but you, O Lord. “You know all things.26 You are fully aware that I hate the honors offered by the wicked and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised or of any alien. You know the straits I am in. I loathe the symbol of my proud position that I wear on my head on days when I appear in public. I detest it as if it were an unclean rag, and I do not wear it on days when I am in private. I, your servant, have never eaten at Haman’s table, nor have I attended any banquet of the king or drunk the wine of libations. From the day I changed my state until now, I have experienced no joy except in you, O Lord, God of Abraham. O God all-powerful, give heed to the pleas of those in despair. Deliver us from the power of the wicked and rescue me from my fear."

"“O my Lord, you alone are our King. Come to my assistance, for I am alone and have no one to help me but you. My life is in great danger. From my earliest days I was taught by my family that you, O Lord, chose Israel out of all the nations and our fathers from among all their forebearers, as an everlasting heritage, and that you have fulfilled all the promises you made to them. But now we have sinned against you, and you have handed us over to our enemies18 because we paid honor to their gods. You are just, O Lord. “However, now our enemies are not satisfied with our bitter slavery. They have vowed to their idols to annul the decree you have proclaimed and destroy your heritage, to silence the mouths of those who praise you and to destroy your altar and the glory of your house, and instead, to open the mouths of the nations to praise their worthless idols and to offer an earthly king everlasting praise. “O Lord, do not consign your scepter to gods who do not exist. Do not let our enemies exult in our downfall, but turn their designs against them and make an example of the chief of our persecutors."

"Remember that at home and everywhere else, you should accept other people's shortcomings in the same way that you want others to accept you."

"(About the Milan plague) It was, my children [...] God's great mercy. He wounded and healed; he scourged and consoled; he laid his hand on the rod of discipline and also offered us the stick of support and sustenance."

"If a spark of God's love has already been kindled in you, do not boast about it. Do not expose it to the wind. Close the door of your heart so that it does not grow cold."

"O great God! What moved you then to wait so long for me, far from you, if not your essential goodness, since all your ways are reduced to mercy and truth? To my rebellions, you opposed infinite patience; to my departures, a most gentle kindness; to the offences against you, the sighs of your living, generous and paternal Heart. Finally, You extended Your hand of help to my unhappy falls. You saw my humiliation and my pains, and then Your mercy triumphed, for in humiliation You raise the mountains of Your grace. And the first fruit of your grace was to inspire in me an ardent, irrepressible, insatiable desire for You, truth, light, food, peace of man, Your creature."

"Bartolo Longo, Storia del santuario di Pompei dedicato alla Vergine SS. del Rosario, volume I, Scuola tipografica editrice Bartolo Longo, Valle di Pompei, 1890."

"Bartolo Longo, in homage to the Madonna and the Sanctuary of Pompeii, took in 135 orphan girls and 70 children of prisoners, training them in arts suited to them and in agriculture, mixing asceticism and fetishism for the Madonna modernity in the extensive use of advertising, reports and photographs, and thus managing to place some of the orphan girls in kind and honest families."

"Let us ask Mary for her blessing. We now ask of thee, O Queen, a last favor which thou canst not refuse on this solemn day. Grant to all of us thy constant love and in a special manner thy maternal blessing. No, we will not leave thy feet today nor cease clasping thy knees till thou hast blessed us. Bless now, Mary, the sovereign Pontiff. To the first laurels of thy crown, to the ancient trophies of the Rosary, whence thou art called Queen of victories, add also this one, Mother, grant triumph to religion and peace to mankind. Bless our bishop, the priests and particularly those who promote the honor of thy Sanctuary; bless finally all those who are associated to thy new temple of Pompeii and who practice and spread devotion to thy most holy rosary. O blessed rosary of Mary, sweet chain which unites us to God, bond of love, which connects us with the angels, tower of safety against the assaults of hell, sure harbor in the universal shipwreck, never more shall we part with thee; thou shall be our comfort in the hour of agony: to thee the last kiss of our life; and the last word of our dying lips shall be thy sweet name, Queen of the Rosary of the Valley of Pompeii. Mother dear, only refuge of sinners, supreme comforter of the afflicted, blessed be thy name, now and forever, on earth and in heaven. Amen."

"What does it cost thee, Mary, to hear us? What does it cost thee to save us? Did not Jesus entrust to thy hands all the treasures of his graces and mercies? Thou sittest as Queen at the right hand of thy Son, crowned with immortal glory, above all the choirs of angels. Thou extendest thy dominion as far as the heavens expand; the earth and all the creatures that people it are subject to thee. Thy power even reaches Hell, and thou alone, Mary, canst rescue us from the devil’s grasp. Thou art almighty by grace, and therefore thou canst save us. Now if you sayest thou willest not help us because we are ungrateful children and unworthy of thy protection, tell us at least to whom shall we have recourse in order to be released from so many evils? Oh! No, thy maternal heart will never bear to see the ruin of thy children. The divine Child we behold on thy knees, the mystical crown we admire in thy hand, both inspire us with hope that we will be heard. And full of confidence in thee, we throw ourselves at thy feet, we trust ourselves as feeble children into the arms of the tenderest amongst mothers, and today, this very day, we expect from thee the graces we are longing for."

"It is but too true that we, although thy children, are the first who crucify Jesus in our hearts and wound anew thy heart by our sins. We confess it, we deserve the severest chastisements; yet remember how thou didst receive, on the top of Golgotha, the last drops of that divine blood, and the testament of our dying Redeemer. And this testament of a God, sealed with the blood of a Man-God, appointed thee our Mother, the Mother of sinners. Thus, as our Mother, thou art our Advocate and our Hope. To thee, amidst sighs, do we lift up our hands, crying for mercy! Have pity, good mother, have pity on us, on our souls, on our families, on our relations, on our friends, on our departed brethren, above all, on our enemies, and on so many who claim the name of Christians, yet wound the loving heart of thy Son. Pity, Mother, we now implore thee for pity on the erring nations, on all Europe, on the whole world, that they may repair repentant to thy heart. Be merciful to all, Mother of mercy."

"O august Queen of victories, Virgin who reignest in paradise, whose mighty name causes heaven to rejoice and hell to tremble, glorious Queen of the most holy Rosary, we, thy happy children chosen by thy goodness in this century to build thee a temple at Pompeii, kneeling at thy feet on this solemn day to commemorate thy latest triumphs on the spot where idols and demons were formerly worshipped, pour out with tears the feelings of our hearts and with a filial confidence lay before thee our miseries. From that throne of mercy where thou sittest as Queen, Mary, turn down thy pitiful eyes on us, on our families, on Italy, on Europe, and the whole Church; take into pity the afflictions which overwhelm us and the cares which embitter our lives. Thou seest, O Mother, how many dangers of soul and body, how many calamities and afflictions press upon us. O Mother, keep back the arm of justice of thy indignant Son, and conquer by thy mercy the hearts of sinners, since they are our brethren and thy children, redeemed through the blood of our sweet Jesus and through the wounds of thy most tender heart pierced with the sword. Show thyself to all in this day, as thou art, the Queen of peace and mercy"

"With the audacity of despair, I raised my face and hands to Heaven and turned to the heavenly Virgin: "If it is true," I cried, "that you promised Saint Dominic that those who propagate the Rosary will be saved, I will be saved, because I will not leave this Earth without having propagated your Rosary here.""

"Those who propagate the Rosary are saved! This thought was like a flash of lightning breaking the darkness of a stormy night. Satan, who held me captive as his prey, saw his defeat and forced me even more into his infernal coils. It was the last struggle, a desperate struggle."

"I felt my heart bursting. In such darkness of soul, a friendly voice seemed to whisper in my ear those words that I myself had read and that my holy friend, now deceased, often repeated to me: If you seek salvation, spread the Rosary. These are Mary's promises."

"[Last words] My only desire is to see Mary, who saved me and will save me from the clutches of Satan."

"God is patient and long-suffering because He is strong: being almighty, He does not become angry or seek revenge, because everything is subject to Him. He is gentle, good by nature, that is, generous with His riches, but, because of our faults, just in His punishment. He waits for man to repent, but then condemns him if he remains obstinate."

"The religious state is indeed the highest, but it is not suitable for all."

"A brilliant priest who had a special knack. That night he fed the poor with chicken-stew."

"We must avoid lies as we would a pestilence."

"A man without prayer is an animal without the use of reason."

"That this Prince cur'd the King's Evil, is beyond Dispute: And since the Credit of this Miracle is unquestionable, I see no reason why we should Scruple believing the rest... King Edward the Confessor was the first that cur'd this Distemper, and from him it has descended as an Hereditary Miracle upon all his Successors. To dispute the Matter of Fact, is to go to the Excesses of Scepticism, to deny our Senses, and be incredulous even to Ridiculousness."

"A son was born to Henry, King of England, whom the ambassador Otto baptized and named Edward in honour of the most glorious confessor and King Edward."

"Henrico regi Angliæ natus est filius, quem ab Othone legato baptizatum, in honorem gloriosissimi confessoris et regis Edwardi, Edwardum vocavit."

"Know that I have granted, and by this my present charter confirmed, to all my barons and vassals of England all the liberties and good laws which Henry, king of the English, my uncle, granted and conceded to them. I also grant them all the good laws and good customs which they enjoyed in the time of King Edward."

"Eadward's tomb before the high altar soon became the scene of many miracles. As the last English king of the old royal line he was naturally remembered with feelings of affection, that found expression in acts of devotion and legends of his holiness. Among these legends his vision that the seven sleepers of Ephesus had turned on to their left sides is one of the most famous. Another of greater historical importance, as proving that he practised the custom of episcopal investiture, must be reserved for the life of Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester. He is said to have healed many persons, and especially those suffering from ulcers, by touching them. William of Malmesbury declares that those who knew him while he lived in Normandy said that he performed some miracles of this kind before he came to the throne, and that it was therefore a mistake to assert, as some people then did, that he had this power, not because of his holiness, but in virtue of his hereditary royalty. By the end of the twelfth century it appears to have generally been believed that the kings of England had the gift of healing in virtue of their anointing, and down to the early part of the eighteenth century the power of curing the ‘king's evil’ was held to descend as an ‘hereditary miracle’ upon all the rightful successors of the Confessor."

"The so-called laws of Eadward are said to have been drawn up from declarations made on oath by twelve men of each shire in 1070; the earliest extant version of them was perhaps compiled by Ranulf Glanvill. Probably in 1070 the Conqueror declared that all should live under Eadward's law, together with such additions as he had made to it, and a like promise was made by Henry I in his charter of 1100. These grants, which should be compared with Cnut's renewal of Eadgar's law, signified that the people should enjoy their national laws and customs, and that English and Normans should dwell together in peace and security."

"I restore to you the law of King Edward together with such emendations to it as my father made with the counsel of his barons."

"A halo of tenderness spread in after-time round this last King of the old English stock; legends told of his pious simplicity, his blitheness and gentleness of mood, the holiness that gained him his name of "Confessor" and enshrined him as a saint in his abbey-church at Westminster. Gleemen sang in manlier tones of the long peace and glories of his reign, how warriors and wise councillors stood round his throne, and Welsh and Scot and Briton obeyed him. His was the one figure that stood out bright against the darkness when England lay trodden under foot by Norman conquerors; and so dear became his memory that liberty and independence itself seemed incarnate in his name. Instead of freedom, the subject of William or Henry called for the "good laws of Eadward the Confessor.""

"He was a compassionate Prince, and very tender in taxing his Subjects: He had nothing of Luxury or Excess in his Palate, but was remarkably Temperate at Table. And though he did not decline appearing like a Prince in his Habit, especially upon Collar-Days, yet he was always Bigger than his Equipage, and far from being Proud of the Pomp and Grandeur of his Station. From the Prosperity of his Reign, the Prophetick Spirit, with which he is said to be endow'd, and the Miracles he wrought, we may make this Remark, That God prefers the Heart to the Head; Piety to Parts, and Capacity; and is much better pleas'd with the right use of the Will, than the Advantage of the Understanding."

"(In the hospital, before dying, while forgiving his murderer) I want him with me in Heaven."

"Maria Goretti followed in the footsteps of the young martyrs of early Christianity who gave their lives to defend their purity. (...) Keep the testimony of Saint Maria Goretti constantly before your eyes. As a model of martyrdom, little Maria, after bringing her murderer to the path of Christian virtue, continues to help all those who are ready to accept the Gospel with its strict but liberating moral demands. In particular, she encourages you, dear children and young people. Little Maria offers new strength to all who, in the struggle, turn against evil and direct themselves toward goodness, trust, and longing for Christ."

"Maria Goretti's life was indeed a struggle, but its end was both magnificent and dramatic. She was so weak—how could a twelve-year-old child defend herself against brutal violence? How could she not yield to the villain who attacked and overwhelmed her? On one side stood spiritual strength, and on the other, physical strength. Spiritual courage and physical strength began to fight each other. When you look at this scene, you might say that strength won. However, when we look more closely, we must conclude that spiritual courage triumphed. Thus, the weakness of this girl overcame the strength of the criminal. Violence was stopped and defeated by a defenseless, weak, simple, modest child who had nothing else to oppose it but her clear conscience and desire to preserve Christian ideals. Maria Goretti won."

"A small and gentle martyr of purity."

"Maria was also greatly admired for her humble origins, which she redeemed with the strength with which she defended her dignity as a human being and daughter of God. Her cult therefore had social significance, as Palmiro Togliatti understood when he cited her as an example to young communists in a speech in the 1950s."

"I beseech you, request my brethren, for his Sake, who redeemed us all, to be careful to supply my want and insufficiency, as I hope they will. Nothing grieves me so much, as this England, which I pray God soon to convert."

"For there is nothing so hateful to me, as Sin, and that only, for the Love of my Saviour."

"He pursued his missionary labours in his native county of Lancaster with great zeal and success."

"The commandant, the archbishop, and his clergy, were singled out for the most horrible of all deaths, and sawn asunder. Need it be added, that they who revelled in cruelties so truly diabolical, spared not the altars of God, or the images of the saints, or aught that was holy and venerable."

"Tu septiformis munere, Dexterae Dei tu digitus, Tu rite promissum Patris, Sermone ditans guttura."

"Gloria Patri Domino, Natoque qui a mortuis Surrexit, ac Paraclito, In saeculorum saecula. Amen."

"Accende lumen sensibus: Infunde amorem cordibus: Infirma nostri corporis Virtute firmans perpeti."

"Veni Creator Spiritus, Mentes tuorum visita, Imple superna gratia, Quae tu creasti pectora. Qui Paraclitus diceris, Donum Dei altissimi Fons vivus, ignis, caritas, Et spiritalis unctio."

"The Lord came all the way from heaven to earth for us, so we can surely go the short distance from the castle to Eisenach for Him! ... We must not sadden God with sullen looks. Whatever we do, we must do gladly."

"The ministering Saint, fresh from the poor of Christ."

"We women were allowed to stand at the Cross. We saw His wounds bleed and His eyes grow dim. As He was dying Jesus put His faith in us, we were to carry His love through the whole world and here we sit and have forgotten Him."

"The last request of Christ was that we should love one another as He loved us. But are we obeying Him, dear Brother? The moment we own anything we want to increase our possessions by depriving some one else. And if we are asked to share what we own, we are unwilling to part with it. We are made loveless by our possessions."