01 July - Saint Thierry or Thierry du Mont d'Hor was the son of Lord Marcard, a famous highwayman. He would have been born in the 5th century or at the very beginning of the 6th century and would have died around 533. On his wedding day, he discovered that he had a monastic vocation.

June 24 - Saint John the Baptist or John the Baptist is the prophet of the Most High who announced the coming of Jesus as the Lamb of God. He also baptized Jesus on the banks of the Jordan River, hence his name Baptist because he baptized. He is the forerunner of the Messiah.

23 June - Joseph Cafasso was born in 1811 in Castelnuovo d'Asti, in Piedmont, then annexed to France. He is the third of the four children of Jean Cafasso and Orsola Beltramo. His younger sister is Marianna, Joseph Allamano's future mother. Suffering from a malformation of the spine, he is small in stature, and remains crippled all his life.

22 June - Born as Pontius Meropius Anicius, he was part of one of the wealthiest families in Bordeaux. His tutor was the poet Ausone. He was consul suffect in 379. Like St. Ambrose of Milan, he passed from a political career to an ecclesiastical vocation.

21 June - A member of the illustrious House of Gonzaga, Louis de Gonzaga was born on 9 March 1568 in Castiglione delle Stiviere, under the Republic of Venice, Italy. He was the first son of Ferdinand I Gonzaga, lord and then Marquis of Castiglione and Marta Tana de Santena, and the eldest of a family of ten children. His mother takes special care of his religious education.

June 20 - Silvère, who was the 58th pope from 536 to 537, was the legitimate son of Pope Hormisdas, born before his father had been ordained, a unique case in the history of the Papacy. It was probably ordained on June 1 or 8, 536.

19 June - Romuald was born around 950 in the family of the Onesti, Dukes of Ravenna, and grew up in the oriental comfort, the taste for pleasures, the easy life of his aristocratic milieu. Deeply troubled by the murder of a relative, Duke Serge of Ravenna, committed by his father during a duel, he withdrew from the world to do penance in his name.

18 June - Born in Tripoli, Leonce was a Phoenician soldier in the Roman army, he read the scriptures assiduously and evangelized his comrades. He was arrested, because of his faith, by one of his superiors. He declared himself a Christian, was imprisoned, tortured and died a martyr.

June 17 - Son of Hyvarnion, a bard from Great Britain and Rivanone who is said to have lived for a time at the court of the Frankish king Childebert, Hervé, born around 520, is blind from birth. His parents would have lived in the manor of Lanrioul in Plouzévédé. After the death of her husband, Rivanone would have settled on the territory of Keran, where she would have raised her son still in his infancy.

16 June - Jean-François Régis, born 31 January 1597 in Fontcouverte, Aude (France). Of modest origin, Jean-François Régis obtained a scholarship, at the age of 14, to study at the Jesuit college of Béziers, now the Lycée Henri IV.

15 June - Daughter of Laurent Cousin, a modest ploughman, and his wife Marie Laroche, Germaine was born in Pibrac, a small village 15 km west of Toulouse, in 1579. Afflicted with scrofula, she also had an atrophied hand. Her mother died when she was still very young.

June 14 - Elisha is an Old Testament prophet whose activity is described in the Second Book of Kings. He was the son of Shaphat, a rich farmer from Abel-Mehola in the Jordan Valley. When Elijah meets him, Elisha plows his field with 12 other people, each leading a pair of oxen (1 Kings 19, 19).

Message from the Bishops at the end of the Pilgrimage

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, You who have come in such large numbers to take part in this national pilgrimage, as well as all of you who are following it from home through the media. We, the bishops of Madagascar, would like to express our deep gratitude to you for having responded to our invitation and for having brought this jubilee initiated by Pope Francis to life spiritually. With you, we take up Mary's song: ‘My soul exalts the Lord’ and we repeat with her: ‘What shall I repay the Lord for all the good he has done me?’....

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Love and Salvation

Christmas is a great joy, because it is the love of God that has come to us, proclaims Fr. Bizimana Innocent, Provincial Superior of the Salesians Don Bosco of Madagascar and Mauritius, presenting his Christmas greetings. Salvation is accomplished, so life is not in danger of disappearing. It is this love and this salvation that we wish to fill our life so that we have peace.

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Zatti, our brother

The short film "Zatti, our brother" (Argentina, 2020) focuses on one of the most difficult episodes of his life. We are in Viedma, in 1941: at the age of 60, Zatti is forced to leave the hospital he has attended for decades. His faith and strength are tested.

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