The Christians in Persia had enjoyed twelve years of peace during the reign of Isdegerd, son of Sapor III, when in 420 it was disturbed by the indiscreet zeal of Abdas, Christian Bishop who burned the Temple Fire, the great sanctuary of the Persians. King Isdegerd threatened to destroy all the churches of the Christians unless the Bishop would rebuild it. As Abdas refused to comply, the threat was executed; the churches were demolished, Abdas himself was put to death, and a general persecution began which lasted forty years. Isdegerd died in 421, but his son and successor, Varanes, carried on the persecution with greater fury. The Christians were submitted to the most cruel tortures.

Among those who suffered was St. Benjamin, a deacon, who had been imprisoned a year for, his Faith. At the end of this period an ambassador of the Emperor of Constantinople obtained his release on condition that he would never speak to any of the courtiers about religion. St. Benjamin, however, declared that it was his duty to preach Christ and that he could not be silent. Although he had been liberated on the agreement made between the ambassador and the Persian authorities, he would not acquiesce in it , and neglected no opportunity of preaching. After untold Suffering and tortures, St. Benjamin died a martyr about the year 424.

PRAYER: Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God  that through the intercession of Blessed Benjamin, Thy Martyr, we may be delivered from all bodily ills and may be cleansed in mind from evil thoughts, Amen,

  St. John was an intelligent teenager who did very well in school. He could have become a famous teacher, but he decided to serve God with his whole hear. He went to a monastery and tried very hard to get rid of his defects. Then he went to live for forty years by himself and spent all his time praying and reading the lives of the saints. At first, St, John was very badly tempted by the devil. The devil is always furious when people decide to give themselves completely to God. John felt all kinds of bad passions trying to make him give in and sin. But he put all his trust in Jesus and prayed harder than ever. So the temptations never made him fall into sin. In fact, he only grew holier. He became so close to God that many heard of his holiness and went to ask him for advice.

God gave St. John a wonderful gift. This was the gift of bringing peace to people who were upset and tempted. Once there came to him a man who was having terrible temptations. He asked St. John to help him and told him how hard it was for him to fight these temptations. St. John invited him to pray with him to God. After they had prayed, peace filled the poor man’s soul and he was never again trouble with those temptations.

When the Saint was seventy-four years old, he was chosen Abbot of Mt. Sinai and Superior of all the monks and hermits in the country. Another abbot asked St. John, before his death, to write the rules which he lived by all his life, so that others could follow his example. With great humility St. John wrote the book called the Climax of Perfection. And that is why he is called “Climacus.”

          It is very wise to keep a good book in our room and read from it a little bit each day.

Saint John Capistrano was born in Italy.  He was a lawyer and Governor of the city of Perugia.  When the enemies of the city threw John into prison, he started to think about what he was doing with his life.  In the meantime, his wife died.  John began to realize that the only thing that really mattered was to save his soul.  So when he was set free by a miracle, he entered the Franciscan monastery.  He was thirty years old at the time.  He did much penance.  For many years he ate no meat at all, except when he was sick.  He slept only three or four hours at night and his bed was a hard board.

After he was made a priest, John was sent out to preach.  He and St. Bernardine of Siena spread devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus everywhere.  John preached all over Europe for forty years, and all who heard his sermons were moved to love and serve Our Lord better.

The greatest moment in the life of this Saint came at the tremendous battle of Belgrade.  The Turks had made up their minds to conquer all Europe and wipe out the Church of Jesus.  The pope sent Saint John to all the Christian Kings of Europe to beg them to unite to fight the mighty Turkish army.  The Kings obeyed this poor, barefoot monk who stirred up their love of God and their courage with his fiery words.  But even though a big army of Christians came to fight Mohammed II and his Turks, it looked as though they would lose, for the enemy army was much bigger.  Then it was that the Saint himself, though he was seventy years old, ran to the front lines and encouraged the men to keep fighting.  Holding his crucifix up high, this thin small old man kept crying, "Victory, Jesus, victory!"  and the Christian soldiers felt full of more courage than ever.  They fought until the enemy ran away in great fear!

Just one person can do great things, if he is on God's side.  Let us make up our mind always to be on Our Lord's side and stand up for what is right.

St. John was born in the city of Damascus of a good Christian family. When his father died, he became the Governor of Damascus. At this time, the Emperor Leo made a law forbidding Christians to have statues or pictures of Our Lord and the Saints. St. John Damascus knew the Emperor was wrong and he joined with many others to defend this practice of the Christians. The Pope himself asked John to keep telling the people that it is a good thing to have statues and holy pictures. They made us think of Our Lord, our Blessed Mother and the Saints. But the Emperor would not give in to the Holy Father, and he again forbade statues to be put in public places. St John  bravely wrote three letters, telling the Emperor to give up his wrong ideas.
   
The Emperor became so furious that he wanted revenge. The Saint was condemned to have his right hand cut off. but the Blessed Mother attached it to his arm again in answer to his prayer.
   
This miracle made John decide to resign as Governor, give away all his money to the poor and become a monk. He kept on writing marvellous books to defend the Catholic religion, and at the same time he did all kinds of humble work in the monastery. One day he even went to sell baskets in the streets of Damascus. Many of those who had known him before were mean enough to laugh at him. Here was the man who had once been the Governor of the city now selling baskets that nobody wanted to buy! Imagine how St. John must have suffered! Yet he thought of Jesus, Son of God, who wanted to be born in a stable, and then he felt happy to imitate Our Lord's humility.
   
At the end of a long life full of merits, St. John died a peaceful, happy death.
   
Do we have nice pictures or statues of Our Lord, the Blessed Mother, and the Saint's? Let us look at them often. They will remind us to pray to them and to ask their help.

St. Ludger was born in Northern Europe. Since his parents were nobles, he was given a very good education. When he was just fourteen, he asked his parents to send him to the monastery school of Utrecht. There he saw St. Boniface and always treasured the memory of this great Saint. Another Saint named Gregory was his teacher and he found Ludger a very attentive and eager pupil.
   
After he had studied hard many years, he was made a priest. Now Ludger began to travel far and wide preaching to the people. He was very happy to share all that he had learned about God with everyone who listened to him. Many pagans were converted. Many Christians began to live much better lives. And St. Ludger built churches and monasteries everywhere.
   
Ludger worked very hard and made much progress. Then, suddenly the Saxons, a group of barbarians, attacked his land and drove all the priests out! It seemed as though all the Saint's work would be lost. But Ludger did not give up. He first found a safe place for his disciples and then went to Rome to ask the Holy Father what he should do.
   
For over three years, Ludger lived in the Benedictine monastery as a good, holy monk. But he did not forget his poor people at home. As soon as he could get back into his country, Ludger returned and continued his work. He labored very hard and converted many of the pagan Saxons.
   
When he was made bishop, Ludger gave even more good example by his great kindness and piety. Once, jealous men spoke against him to King Charlemagne, and the King ordered him to come to court to defend himself. Ludger went obediently. The next day when the King sent for him, Ludger said he would come as soon as he had finished his prayers. King Charlemagne was very angry at first. But St. Ludger explained that although he had great respect for the King, he knew that God came first. "Your Majesty will not be angry with me," he said, "for you yourself have told me always to put God first." At such a wise answer, the King realized that Ludger was very holy and from then on, he admired and loved him very much.
   
St. Ludger died on Passion Sunday. He performed his duties in the service of God even on the day he died.
    
Let us appreciate the good education our parents are giving us. Some day we will be happy to be able to use all that we have learned. 

Good pictures are a great help to devotion. They tell a story at a glance, yet seem to leave the telling to the onlooker. They supply ideas to the unlearned and recall the wandering thoughts of preoccupied minds. Of all the Gospel stories none has been oftener painted than the Annunciation. It is one evidently dear to the artist mind. Yet why! There is no scope for elaborate grouping; only two figures are needed— an angel and a Virgin—None for elaborate scenery— only a little room at Nazareth. It must be the occasion then. Yes. The angel is a messenger, and his message changes a Virgin Child into the Immaculate Mother of God, changes the face of the earth: "Thou shalt renew the face of the earth." No wonder artists, with their keen appreciation of things, have chosen out this bit of Gospel story.

Let us think of it for a little time together. For on the 25th of March, we keep the Feast of the Annunciation, and it is well to be with the Church in our thoughts. We will try to reconstruct the scene. St. Ignatius, when he meditated, divided his subject into places, persons, and words. This division is good for serious study of any kind. We will therefore order our thoughts in some such wise. The scene is a little room in the village of Nazareth. The village is situated on the slope of a hill, on a range due west of the Sea of Galilee. The Nazarenes had a bad reputation, they were ignorant: poor, and vicious. "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" the cautious Nathaniel asked. "Come and see," Phillip answered. And we will come too. The persons are St. Gabriel and the Virgin espoused to a man called Joseph. The Archangel described himself to Zachary as "one of the seven who stand before the throne." There is deep significance in these words. "One of the seven" - impersonal, but distinguished - seven only. "Who stand"— ready to do the will of God; "before the Throne"— denoting the majesty of the service. Then we listen to the words of the salutation:

"Hail, full of grace !" Gabriel had just come from the presence of God, yet he was struck with the beauty of Mary's soul. And he tells her so. All great minds praise easily; it is the little of soul that grudge praise. "The Lord is with thee." This is a scriptural phrase used on sublime occasions— to Moses before starting on his perilous journey to Pharaoh's court; to Jeremias when "his soul was an adamant"; to the Apostles by Our Lord Himself, when about to leave them alone upon earth ; by the Church in her solemn rites. But of all the sublime occasions this was the most sublime.

"The Lord is with thee, thou blessed among women." And now we must look at her, this Blessed among women, the Lily of Israel. How beautiful painters have made her in their pictures. Their thoughts about her must have been beautiful. Her purity, her spotlessness of soul, her modesty of exterior, her deep humility seem to have taken hold of their imagination and have wrought themselves out upon their canvas. '
"She had found grace with God," the angel told her, and she had found favor with men. There never was a queen so reverenced, never a mother so loved, never a virgin so imitated. She has the faithful of the world at her feet. And greater still, she has the fallen, the crushed, the outcast. "Nature's solitaiy boast," the sinless one, seems to hold out hope to those who have forfeited seemingly every claim to hope.

Mary's soul was full of grace, the angel said. Not that it had attained the measure of its sanctity, but that she was perfect as a child could be. As Mother of God she would rise immeasurably higher. When Gabriel gave his message of praise Mary was startled and wondered what kind of salutation this might be. But the angel comforted her: "Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Be hold thou shalt conceive in tby womb, and thou shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the son of the Most High; and the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end.  Mary pondered: Jesus, Savior; David's son; King of the house of David, reigning forever. Then she was to be the Mother of the Messiah, the Mother of God. But she is a virgin. How can this be? she asks. The angel explains the mystery. "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. '

The Holy Ghost, the Son of God, all three Persons of the Blessed Trinity working in Mary's soul. She answered: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word." A moment at midnight, a maiden's consent, and the work of redemption began-- "And the Word was made Flesh."

The Church appoints many weeks of joy at Christmas in honor of Our Savior's birth; many weeks of sorrow in Lent in honor of His sacred Passion; many weeks of gladness at Easter in honor of His glorious Resurrection. But running through all this joy and sorrow and gladness is the daily triple homage paid to the Incarnation. When the sun rises, when it sets, when it is on the meridian, the bell rings out the "Angelus," and at the sacred words "the Word was made Flesh"every Catholic within hearing renders homage to God and the Son made Man for men. Eternity is the ever-present. Great truths do not happen there and become forgotten. So the eternal Church of God keeps for ever before her children this most wonderful of mysteries, and there rises up from earth to Heaven an everlasting praise in honor of the Son of God. We are Catholics. Shall we be dumb when the bell praises God? Shall we let the convent children and the peasantry of Catholic countries have all the praise to themselves? Or shall we in our own country be to ourselves reminders, and in default of a bell sing in our hearts the Angelus' triple praise? The "Angelus" well said three times a day would go far to the making of saints.

Source: Manual of the Holy Catholic Church, Imprimatur 1906

St. Catherine was born in Sweden of holy parents. Her mother was St. Bridget and her father, the good Prince Ulfo. When she was seven, Catherine was placed in a convent to be educated.

At the age of fourteen, she was given in marriage to a good young nobleman. So well did Catherine speak of happiness of belonging to God alone that her husband agreed to live with her as her brother. These two holy servants of God spent most of their time in prayer, mortification and works of charity.

St. Catherine had to suffer insults and unkind treatment, even from her own relatives. yet, she did not become upset. She offered it all to God.

When St. Catherine accompanied her mother to Rome, she received news of her husband's death in Sweden. Many people wanted her to marry again, because she was still young and pretty. But Catherine firmly refused. With the help of God, she remained a virgin all her life.

Four hours a day Catherine prayed. She spent the rest of her time serving God and doing good to many people. After her mother died, she entered a convent, St. Catherine had the great joy of seeing her own mother canonized as a saint.
   
Let us learn from this pure virgin never to look at anything impure or displeasing to God.

St. Cuthbert lived in England. He was a poor shepherd boy who loved to play games with his friends. He was very good at them, too. One of his friends scolded him for loving to play so much. Cuthbert never forgot this wise correction. Our Lord granted him a vision when he was fifteen; and after that he strongly desired to become a saint. he entered a monastery and later became a missionary.

From one village to another, from house to house, Cuthbert went, on horse or foot. He did good everywhere, and brought many souls to God. So cheerful and kind was he that everyone felt attracted to him. Yet he himself was more contented to be alone with God.

When Cuthbert was made a Bishop, he worked just as hard as ever to help souls. As he lay dying, he urged his monks to live in peace and charity with everyone
  
Let us be so kind and good that no one will find it hard to get along with us.

"Go to Joseph and do all that he shall say to you," said Pharaoh, King of Egypt, to the famine-stricken people who came to buy corn in the land of plenty. This Joseph was the Hebrew to whom God had spoken in dreams, who had been sold a slave into Egypt by his own brethren, but who, because he was "full of the Spirit of God," was made Governor of the land.

"Thou shalt be over my house; without thy commandment no man shall move hand or foot in the whole land of Egypt," said Pharaoh the King.  "And he clothed him with a robe of silk, put a gold chain about his neck, and a ring upon his finger, and had him proclaimed the saviour of the world." And the Lord blessed the land of Egypt for Joseph s sake."  When the years of plenty had passed over the land, the famine came, as predicted, and continued for seven weary years.

Then the very men who sold their young brother into bondage journeyed from Canaan to Egypt. They were starving. Money they had in plenty, but of food they had none, so they stood before the Governor who held the keys of all the granaries of Egypt. And he knew them; but there was no resentment in his heart.

"Come nearer to me," he said. God sent me before you that you might be preserved; God hath made me lord of the whole land of Egypt and he pressed them to come down with their families and their flocks.

"Come down to me; linger not, then I will feed you." And Pharaoh the King added his persuasion: "I will give you all the good things of the land of Egypt for Joseph s sake!"  Then Jacob and his children and their kinsfolk, their flocks and herds, came down to the land of Gessen, a land apart from the busy cities, and settled there, saying:
 
"Only let my lord look favourably down upon us and we will gladly serve the King." But there was always a fear in the hearts of the ten brothers. Their crime had been so heinous; they could not believe Joseph had for given them. When, therefore, Jacob their old father died, they trembled lest Joseph, having nothing to restrain him, should revenge himself upon them. Such a thought was far from one in whom dwelt the "Spirit of God." "Fear not,"
he said; "I will feed you and your children." And he comforted them and spoke gently and mild to them. He kept his promise with princely munificence.

Such was the man whom Israel loved "above all his sons"

We know of another Joseph, a Hebrew likewise, one "full of the Spirit of God, a just man." To the first Joseph it was Pharaoh who spoke, and the dominion given was over a pagan, earthly kingdom. To the second it was God Himself Who spoke, and the dominion was over the treasures of Heaven Mary, Immaculate Mother, and Jesus, Son of God. The powers of the Patriarch of old were wonderful. God gave into his hands the sustenance of thousands of people. From his childhood upwards He spoke to him in dreams, and was with him throughout his whole career.

To Joseph, son of David, God spoke in dreams likewise; He was with him "all the days of his life." He put under his protection the Virgin Mother and the little Saviour of mankind. It was Joseph who was their protector at Bethlehem, who planned their flight into Egypt, and nourished them there; who chose the place of their home. It was he to whom Jesus "was subject" during the hidden life. If Pharaoh s wisdom was shown in his choice of a governor for Egypt, is not God's wisdom shown in His choice of a guardian for Mary, a foster-father for Our Lord? Will it be hard to guess at the virtues of Joseph, son of David, when we know those of the son of Jacob ? The Patriarch was powerful, prudent, mild and gentle, forgiving and long-suffering, true to his word, faithful to his promises. We cannot suppose that the Patriarch of the Gospel, with his high calling, could be less powerful, prudent, or wise, less faithful to his promises, and less gracious. So we will come to him with our little troubles, our hopes and disappointments and our needs, spiritual and temporal, and we will ask him for protection, spiritual food, counsel, and help.

He will help us with fatherly love if we trust him with childlike confidence. "Go to Joseph," is still the command, and "do all that he shall tell thee" that is, do as he did, be prudent as he, obedient, self-sacrificing, silent and humble as he; then will come to pass that other word: "I will give you all good things for Joseph's sake."

Source: Saints and Festivals, Imprimatur 1913

Three coloring pictures can be found at the bottom of this post.

                                                   PRAYER FOR HOLY PURITY

Saint Joseph, father and guardian of virgins, into whose faithful keeping were entrusted Innocency itself, Christ Jesus, and Mary, the Virgin of virgins, I pray and beseech thee through Jesus and Mary, those pledges so dear to thee, to keep me from all uncleanness, and to grant that my mind may be untainted, my heart pure, and my body chaste; help me always to serve Jesus and Mary in perfect chastity. Amen.

St. Cyril was born in Jerusalem and at the age of thirty was ordained a priest.  He was given the duty of instructing and preparing the people for baptism.  Cyril taught in a very clear, simple was that everyone could understand.  He often repeated the words o the Holy Bible.  Because the words of the Bible are the words of God, they move people's hearts.

When the Bishop died, Cyril was chosen to take his place.  Not long after he became Bishop of Jerusalem, a bright cross appeared in the sky.  It was two miles long and reached from Mount Calvary, where Jesus died, to Mount Olivet, where Jesus suffered the Agony in the Garden.  Perhaps this was a sign of the great persecutions the Church had to suffer in this period. 

In Saint Cyril's time, the emperor Julian, who had given up his Christian faith, said that Jesus had been wrong when He declared that the temple of Jerusalem would not be rebuilt.  He decided to try to prove it.  So he spent much money and sent all the materials for a new temple.  May people helped by giving jewels and precious metals.  Yet Saint Cyril was sure that the temple could not be built, because Jesus, Who is God, said so.  And sure enough, first a storm, then an earthquake and finally a fire stopped the Emperor, and those with him had to give up.  God had put an end to their wicked plan!

Let us make up our minds never to read or to listen to anything which is different from what Jesus and His holy Church teach. us.
A coloring picture can be found below.