09 July - Zhao Rong was born in 1746 in Kweichou. He is from a pagan family. At the age of 20, he enlists in the Chinese Imperial Army. A few years later, during the government persecutions against Christians, he is in charge of guarding Christian prisoners. He then listened to the priests who spoke and continued to proclaim the Gospel while in detention.
08 July - Son of the crusader Bouchard de Marly, and Mathilde de Châteaufort (granddaughter of King Louis VI), born at the castle of Marly, he received like any noble a military education but in a very Christian environment. From a very young age, he showed great devotion to the Blessed Virgin, whom he called "his good Mother and his dear Mistress".
07 July - María Romero Meneses was born on 13 January 1902 into a well-to-do and religious family in Granada, Nicaragua. It was at the College of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians that she discovered the life and work of St. John Bosco. It was in Salesian spirituality that her plan for religious life was born.
06 July - Mary Goretti - known as Marietta - was born on 16 October 1890 in Corinaldo, in the region of the Italian Marches, whose capital is the port of Ancona, to a pious and very poor family. In 1899, the plot of land that her family cultivated was no longer sufficient to feed them and the Goretti's were forced to move to Le Ferriere di Conca, in the diocese of Albano, south of Rome.
05 July - Antoine was born in Cremona in the Duchy of Milan in 1503. He loses his father when he is only two years old. An only child, he is raised by his mother. He studied philosophy at the University of Pavia and then, in 1520, medicine in Padua. At the end of his studies, he practised as a doctor in Cremona between 1524 and 1527.
04 July - Elizabeth of Aragon, born in Saragossa on 4 January 1271, is the daughter of Peter III of Aragon, King of Aragon and Sicily, and Constance II of Sicily. Elizabeth was the great-niece of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, whose first name she bore. She married Denis I, the sixth King of Portugal, on 24 June 1282 in Trancoso.
03 July - Thomas is a Jew from Galilee and one of Jesus' twelve apostles. He doubts the resurrection of Jesus Christ, making him the symbol of religious unbelief. But it is his disbelief that gives him a unique place in the account of Jesus' apparitions.
02 July - Martinian of Rome is a Roman soldier assigned to guard the inmates of the Mamertine prison in Rome, together with Proces . They are particularly responsible for watching over St. Peter and St. Paul, according to tradition.
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.
19 May - Raphaël-Louis Rafiringa was born on 1 May 1856 in the Mahamasina district of Antananarivo. His father having lost his first child, wanted to baptize his second son Rakotonirina, meaning the one who is desired. Nevertheless, the local witchdoctor forbade him to do so under penalty of misfortune and so he called his son Firinga, meaning dustbin in order to preserve him from misfortune.
18 May - Eric was King of Sweden from about 1156 until his death on May 18, 1160, when his reign was marked by the first legendary attempt to convert the pagan Finns. According to the "Vita Santi Erici" written by the Bishop of Västerås, Israel Erlandsson in the 14th century, he organised a crusade in Finland.
March 31 - Saint Benjamin lived in the 5th century at Ctesiphon in Iraq. The Persians, at that time, essentially worshipped the Sun God in a dedicated temple.
At the end of its second General Assembly, held from 15 to 18 October 2024, the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace sent a message to government officials at all levels, as well as to all Malagasy and all people of goodwill.
Read more ...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.
Read more ...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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