Yesterday was the last day of July and the Month of the Precious Blood has ended. August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
On this date, August 1, 1943, eleven nuns exchanged their lives for 120 citizens of Nowogrodek. These eleven nuns were then murdered by the Nazis:They were beatified on March 5, 2000, by Pope John Paul ll. They are also known as the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. More information concerning their canonization and lives can be found at the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, Images of Heaven, and through Father Vincent A Lapomarda, SJ.
Photo Source: Adam Styka (1890-1959), Painting is from 1948
I have posted the August Rosary Intentions for the Catholic Community Forum. Please view the list, print it out, and pray for the intentions on the list this month. Here are Pope Benedict XVI's Intentions for the month of August:Members of the Senate voted 51-48 against an amendment to a bill that would uphold parental involvement laws on abortion. Opposed by pro-life groups and lawmakers, the amendment would promote teaching teenagers about birth control in an attempt to lower the number of teen pregnancies. Sponsored by pro-abortion Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat, the amendment would force taxpayers to fund sexual education programs. Pro-life lawmakers regarded it as an attempt to weaken support for the bill and said it would counter abstinence education efforts that are helping teenagers.However, Senator Dick Durbin (D- IL) has used a proceural motion to prevent the bill from going to a conference committee after the vote (3). A conference committee is required to work out the slight differences between the Senate's passed version and that of the House of Representatives.
Source: LifeNews
, a collection of lives of the saints, and the Life of Christ by Ludolph the Carthusian. In turn, he began to focus his life on Christ.
, even though he was a man without formal education.
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" The Portiuncula was an old church dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God which was abandoned . Francis had great devotion to the Queen of the world and when he saw that the church was deserted, he began to live there constantly in order to repair it. He heard that the Angels often visited it, so that it was called Saint Mary of the Angels, and he decided to stay there permanently out of reverence for the angels and love for the Mother of Christ.Today, the chapel of Portiuncula is situated inside the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels roughly 5 km from Assisi, Italy.
He loved this spot more than any other in the world. It was here he began his religious life in a very small way; it is here he came to a happy end. When he was dying, he commended this spot above all others to the friars, because it was most dear to the Blessed Virgin.
This was the place where Saint Francis founded his Order by divine inspiration and it was divine providence which led him to repair three churches before he founded the Order and began to preach the Gospel.
This meant that he progressed from material things to more spiritual achievements, from lesser to greater, in due order, and it gave a prophetic indication of what he would accomplish later.
As he was living there by the church of Our Lady, Francis prayed to her who had conceived the Word, full of grace and truth, begging her insistently and with tears to become his advocate. Then he was granted the true spirit of the Gospel by the intercession of the Mother of mercy and he brought it to fruition.
He embraced the Mother of Our Lord Jesus with indescribable love because, as he said, it was she who made the Lord of majesty our brother, and through her we found mercy. After Christ, he put all his trust in her and took her as his patroness for himself and his friars."
