When our dear Papa Ratzinger announced on February 11 that he would be resigning the Papacy, it was quickly forgotten that the main item for that consistory was the announcement of the Canonization of Saints.
Our Holy Father Francis today in St. Peter's Square announced the canonization of Blessed Laura de Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya y Upeegui, virgin and foundress of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Mary Immaculate and St. Catherine of Siena; Blessed Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala, co-foundress of the Congregation of the Handmaids of St. Margaret Mary (Alacoque) and the Poor.
Most especially were Blessed Antonio Primaldo and Companions. Who were they? Following the excerpt from the Holy See's announcement is a reprise of my post from the feast of another martyr St. Maximilian Kolbe be inspired and be warned, for it happened before and it will happen again. Dr. Donald Prudlo, associate professor of Medieval History at Jacksonville State University, Alabama writes about their dramatic story:
“The significance of their sacrifice was clear. Antonio and his townsmen had, in reality, saved Europe – their bravery gave Christendom time both to regroup, and to realize the gravity of the threat. Mehmed II died the next year, at the age of only 49, frustrating Ottoman plans for expansion.
“The Martyrs of Otranto are an exceptional testimony of fidelity to Christ, even in the midst of terrible sufferings. Simple lay Christians, defeated, leaderless, yet bound by their profession of faith in a hostile world, the Martyrs will receive the greatest honor bestowed by the Church, canonization as saints this Sunday, 12 May.”
At the Mass of Canonisation today which in the Vatican City State is the Seventh Sunday of Easter not Asension Thursday Sunday, our Holy Father Francis said:
![[Blessed Antony Primaldi]]()
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Our Holy Father Francis today in St. Peter's Square announced the canonization of Blessed Laura de Santa Caterina da Siena Montoya y Upeegui, virgin and foundress of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Mary Immaculate and St. Catherine of Siena; Blessed Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala, co-foundress of the Congregation of the Handmaids of St. Margaret Mary (Alacoque) and the Poor.
Most especially were Blessed Antonio Primaldo and Companions. Who were they? Following the excerpt from the Holy See's announcement is a reprise of my post from the feast of another martyr St. Maximilian Kolbe be inspired and be warned, for it happened before and it will happen again. Dr. Donald Prudlo, associate professor of Medieval History at Jacksonville State University, Alabama writes about their dramatic story:
“Mehmed II was one of the most powerful and successful emperors in Ottoman Turkish history. He had taken the impregnable city of Constantinople in 1453, and had pacified the Balkan regions. By the 1470s Mehmed 'The Conqueror' was preparing a death blow to Europe. His fleet sailed the Mediterranean without challenge. Having taken 'New Rome' he set his sights on 'Old Rome.' In order to test the resolve of Christian Europe he sent an exploratory raiding party in 1480. Its target was the small maritime town of Otranto in far south Italy. During this expedition thousands of people were massacred, in what was really an attempt to instill terror into the inhabitants of the peninsula. After the city fell, its civil and religious leaders were either beheaded or sawn into pieces. Eight hundred men of the town were offered the choice between conversion to Islam or death. Led by the tailor Antonio Primaldi, acting as spokesman for the group, they were beheaded, one by one, on a hill outside town while their families watched.
“The significance of their sacrifice was clear. Antonio and his townsmen had, in reality, saved Europe – their bravery gave Christendom time both to regroup, and to realize the gravity of the threat. Mehmed II died the next year, at the age of only 49, frustrating Ottoman plans for expansion.
“The Martyrs of Otranto are an exceptional testimony of fidelity to Christ, even in the midst of terrible sufferings. Simple lay Christians, defeated, leaderless, yet bound by their profession of faith in a hostile world, the Martyrs will receive the greatest honor bestowed by the Church, canonization as saints this Sunday, 12 May.”
Today the Church proposes for our worship a host of martyrs, who were called together to the supreme witness to the Gospel in 1480. About eight hundred people, [who], having survived the siege and invasion of Otranto, were beheaded near that city. They refused to renounce their faith and died confessing the risen Christ. Where did they find the strength to remain faithful? Precisely in faith, which allows us to see beyond the limits of our human eyes, beyond the boundaries of earthly life, to contemplate “the heavens opened” – as St. Stephen said – and the living Christ at the right hand of the Father. Dear friends, let us conserve the faith [that] we have received and that is our true treasure, let us renew our fidelity to the Lord, even in the midst of obstacles and misunderstandings; God will never allow us to want [for] strength and serenity. As we venerate the martyrs of Otranto, let us ask God to sustain those many Christians who, in these times and in many parts of the world, right now, still suffer violence, and give them the courage and fidelity to respond to evil with good.
Franciscus
Mass following Canonization - Homily
May 12, 2013
![[Blessed Antony Primaldi]](http://saints.sqpn.com/saintaip.jpg)
TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2007
Before Lepanto came Otranto
According to the Roman Martyrology, today, August 14, the Church remembers and venerates “... the approximately eight hundred martyrs of Otranto, in Puglia, pressured to renounce the faith after the crushing assault of the Ottoman soldiers. They were exhorted by blessed Antonio Primaldo, an elderly tailor, to persevere in Christ, and thus through decapitation they obtained the crown of martyrdom.”
Sandro Magister of Chiesa writes today about it and reprints and article from last year written by Alfredo Mantovano, a Catholic jurist, senator, and a son of the same land that produced those martyrs, born in southern Puglia, the region of Otranto.
I'll give you a little taste:
Sandro Magister of Chiesa writes today about it and reprints and article from last year written by Alfredo Mantovano, a Catholic jurist, senator, and a son of the same land that produced those martyrs, born in southern Puglia, the region of Otranto.
I'll give you a little taste:
Eight hundred men, who five centuries ago suffered the treatment reserved in 2004 for the American antenna repairman Nick Berg, captured by Islamic terrorists in Iraq and killed to the cry of “Allah is great!” His executioner, after cutting his jugular, drew the blade around his neck until his head was detached, and then held this up as a trophy. Exactly as the Ottoman executioner did in 1480 to each of the eight hundred men from Otranto.Now, read the rest of it here, be chilled and inspired all at the same time.
But in case you doubt the validity, here are their severed heads!
