Saints of the Day: January 19th

Eastern Rite: January 19th
Saint Macarius of Egypt (d. A.D. 373)
Saint Macarius of Alexandria (d. A.D. 395)
Saint Euphrosinia Virgin

The Monk Makarios the Great of Egypt was born in the village of Ptinapor in Lower Egypt. At the wish of his parents he entered into marriage, but was soon a widower. Having buried his wife, Makarios told himself: "Take heed, Makarios, and have care for thy soul, wherefore it becometh thee to forsake earthly life". The Lord rewarded the saint with a long life, but from that time the mindfulness of death was constantly with him, impelling him to ascetic deeds of prayer and penitence. He began to visit the church of God more frequently and to be more deeply absorbed in Holy scripture, but he did not depart from his aged parents -- thus fulfilling the commandment about the honouring of parents. Until his parents end the Monk Makarios ("Makarios" -- from the Greek means "blessed") used his remaining substance to help his parents and he began to pray fervently, that the Lord might shew him a preceptor on the way to salvation. The Lord sent him such a guide in the person of an experienced monk-elder, living in the wilderness not far from the village. The elder took to the youth with love, guided him in the spiritual science of watchfulness, fasting and prayer, and taught him the handicraft of weaving baskets. Having built a separate cell not far from his own, the elder settled his student in it.

The local bishop arrived one day at Ptinapor and, knowing about the virtuous life of the monk, made him into the clergy against his will. But Blessed Makarios was overwhelmed by this disturbance of his silence, and therefore went secretly to another place. The enemy of salvation began a tenacious struggle with the ascetic, trying to terrify him, shaking his cell and suggesting sinful thoughts. Blessed Makarios shook off the attacks of the devil, defending himself with prayer and the sign of the cross. Evil people made up a slander against the saint, accusing him in the seduction of a maiden from a nearby village. They dragged him out of his cell, and jeered at him. The Monk Makarios endured the temptation with great humility. The money that he got for his baskets he sent off without a murmur for the welfare of the maiden. The innocence of Blessed Makarios was revealed when the maiden, being worried for many days, was not able to give birth. She then confessed in her sufferings that she had slandered the hermit, and she pointed out the real author of the sin. When her parents found out the truth, they were astonished and intended to go to the monk with remorse. But the Monk Makarios, shunning the vexation of people, fled that place by night and settled on a Nitrian mountain in the Pharan wilderness. Thus human wickedness contributed to the prospering of the righteous. Having dwelt in the wilderness for three years, he went to Saint Anthony the Great, the father of Egyptian monasticism, about whom he had heard that he was still alive in the world, and he longed with a desire to see him. The Monk Abba Anthony received him with love, and Makarios became his devoted student and follower. The Monk Makarios lived with him for a long time and then, on the advice of the saintly abba, he went off to the Skete wilderness-monastery (in the northwest part of Egypt). He so shone forth there by his ascetic deeds that he came to be called "a young-elder", insofar as having scarcely reached thirty years of age, he distinguished himself as an experienced and mature monk.

The Monk Makarios survived many demonic attacks against him: once he was carrying palm branches from the wilderness for weaving baskets, and a devil met him on the way and wanted to strike him with a sickle, but he was not able to do this and said: "Makarios, I suffer from thee great anguish because I am not able to vanquish thee; thine armour, by which thou art defended from me, is this -- thy humility". When the saint reached age 40, he was ordained to the dignity of priest and made the head (abba) of the monks living at the Skete wilderness. During these years the Monk Makarios often visited with Anthony the Great, receiving guidance from him in spiritual conversations. Blessed Makarios was deemed worthy to be present at the death of the holy abba and he received his staff in succession, together with which he received twice the spiritual power of Anthony the Great -- in the same way, as did once the prophet Elisha receive from the prophet Elias twice the grace with the mantle coming down from heaven.
The Monk Makarios accomplished many healings: people thronged to him from various places for help and for advice, asking his holy prayers. All this unsettled the quietude of the saint. He therefore dug out under his cell a deep cave and betook himself there for prayer and Divine meditation. The Monk Makarios attained to such daring in walking before God, that through his prayer the Lord resuscitated the dead. In spite of such lofty attainment of God-likeness, he continued to preserve his unusual humility. One time the holy abba caught a thief, putting his things on a donkey standing nearby the cell. Not giving the appearance that he was the owner of these things, the monk began quietly to help tie up the load. Having removed himself from the world, the monk told himself: "We bring nothing at all into this world; clearly, it is not possible to take anything out from hence. Bless the Lord in all things!".

One time the Monk Makarios was walking along the way and, seeing a skull lying upon the ground, he asked it: "Who art thou?" The skull answered: "I was a chief-priest of the pagans. When thou, Abba, dost pray for those situated in hell, we do receive some mitigation". The monk asked: "What are these torments?" "We are sitting in a great fire, -- answered the skull, -- and we do not see one another. When thou prayest, we begin to see each other somewhat, and this affords us some comfort". Having heard such words, the monk began weeping and asked: "Are there yet more fiercesome torments?" The skull answered: "Down below us are located those, which did know the Name of God, but spurned Him and kept not His commandments. They endure yet more grievous torments".

Once during prayer Blessed Makarios heard a voice: "Makarios, thou hast reached such attainment as have two women living in the city". The humble ascetic, taking up his staff, went to the city, found the house where the women lived, and knocked. The women received him with joy, and the monk said: "Because of you I have come from a far wilderness, and I want to know about your good deeds; tell about them, keeping nothing secret". The women answered with surprise: "We live with our own husbands, and we have not such virtues". But the saint continued to insist, and the women then told him: "We entered into marriage with two brothers by birth. After all this time of life in common we have told each other not one evil thing nor insulting word, and never do we quarrel between ourselves. We asked our husbands to release us into a women's monastery, but they were not agreeable, and we gave a vow not to utter one worldly word until death". The holy ascetic glorified God and said: "In truth the Lord does not seek virgins nor married women, and neither monks nor worldly persons, but doth value the free intent of the person within the arbitrariness of his free will to offer thanks to the Holy Spirit, which acts and which rules the life of each person, yearning to be saved".

During the years of the reign of the emperor Valens -- an Arian heretic (364-378), the Monk Makarios the Great together with the Monk Makarios of Alexandria was subjected to persecution by the adherents of the Arian bishop Luke. They seized both elders and, imprisoning them on a ship, transported them onto a wild island where there lived pagans. By the prayers of the saints there, the daughter of a pagan priest received healing, at which the pagan priest and all the inhabitants of the island accepted holy Baptism. Learning about what had happened, the Arian bishop became ashamed and permitted the elders to return to their own monasteries.
The meekness and humility of the monk transformed human souls. "An harmful word, -- said Abba Makarios, -- and it makes good things bad, but a good word makes bad things good". On the questioning of the monks, how to pray properly, the monk answered: "For prayer it does not require many words, it is needful only to say: "Lord, as Thou desirest and as Thou knowest, have mercy on me". If an enemy should fall upon thee, it is needful but to utter: "Lord, have mercy!" The Lord knoweth that which is useful for us, and doth grant us mercy". When the brethren asked: "In what manner ought a monk to comport himself?", the monk answered: "Forgive me, I am a poor monk, but I beheld monks being saved in the remote wilderness. I asked them, how might I make myself a monk. They answered: "If a man doth not withdraw himself from everything which is situated in the world, it is not possible to be a monk". At this point I answered: "I am weak and not able to be such as ye". The monks therewith answered: "If thou art not able to be such as we, then sit in thy cell and dwell in contrition about thy sins"."
The Monk Makarios gave advice to a certain monk: "Flee from people and thou shalt be saved". That one asked: "What does it mean to flee from people?" The monk answered: "Sit in thy cell and dwell in contrition about thy sins". The Monk Makarios said also: "If thou wishest to be saved, be as one who is dead, who is not given over to anger when insulted, and not puffed up when praised". And further: "If for thyself, slander -- is like praise, poverty -- like riches, deficiency -- like abundance, thou shalt not perish. Since it is not possible, that in piety believers and ascetic seekers should fall into unclean passions and demonic seductions".

The prayer of the Monk Makarios saved many in perilous circumstances of life, and preserved them from harm and temptation. His benevolence was so great, that they said about him: "Just as God covereth the world, so also doth Abba Makarios cover offenses which he, having seen, is as though he had not seen, and having heard, as though he had not heard".

The monk lived until age 97. Shortly before his end there appeared to him the Monks Anthony and Pakhomios, bringing the joyful message about his transition into a blessed Heavenly monastery. Having given admonition to his disciples and having given them blessing, the Monk Makarios asked forgiveness from all and bid farewell with the words: "Into Thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit".

Holy abba Makarios spent sixty years in the wilderness, being dead to the world. The monk spent most of the time in conversation with God, being often in a state of spiritual rapture. But he never ceased to weep, to repent and to work. The abba rendered his rich ascetic experience into profound theological works. Fifty discourses and seven ascetic tracts form the precious legacy of spiritual wisdom of the Monk Makarios the Great.

His idea, that the highest blessedness and purpose of man -- the unity of the soul with God -- is a primary principle in the works of the Monk Makarios. Recounting the means by which to attain to mystical union, the monk relies upon the experience of both the great teachers of Egyptian monasticism and upon his own experience. The way to God and the experience of the holy ascetics of Communality with God is revealed to each believer's heart. Therefore Holy Church also includes within the general use of vespers and matins the ascetic prayers of the Monk Makarios the Great.

Earthly life, according to the teachings of the Monk Makarios, possesses with all its works only a relative significance: to prepare the soul, to make it capable for the perception of the Heavenly Kingdom, to establish in the soul an affinity with the Heavenly fatherland. "The soul -- for those truly believing in Christ -- it is necessary to transpose and to transform from out of the present degraded condition into another condition, a good condition: and from out of the present perishing nature into another, Divine nature, and to be remade anew -- by means of the power of the Holy Spirit". To attain this is possible, if "we truly believe and we truly love God and have penetrated into all His holy commands". If the soul, betrothed to Christ on holy Baptism, does not itself co-operate in its gifts of the grace of the Holy Spirit, then it is subjected to "an excommunication from life", as is shewn by a lack of attaining blessedness and incapacity to union with Christ. In the teaching of the Monk Makarios, the question about the unity of Divine Love and Divine Truth is experientially decided. The inner action of the Christian determines the extent of the perception by him of this unity. Each of us acquires salvation through grace and the Divine gift of the Holy Spirit, but to attain a perfect measure of virtue -- which is necessary for the soul's assimilation of this Divine gift, is possible only "by faith and by love with the strengthening of free will". Thus, "as much by grace, as much also by truth" does the Christian inherit eternal life. Salvation is a Divine-human action: we attain complete spiritual success "not by Divine power and grace alone, but also by the accomplishing of the proper labours"; from the other side -- it is not alone within "the measure of freedom and purity" that we arrive at the proper solicitude, it is not without "the co-operation of the hand of God above". The participation of man determines the actual condition of his soul, thus self-determining him to good or evil. "If a soul still in the world does not possess in itself the sanctity of the Spirit for great faith and for prayer, and does not strive for the oneness of Divine communion, then it is unfit for the heavenly kingdom".

The miracles and visions of Blessed Makarios are recorded in a book by the Presbyter Ruphinos, and his Life was compiled by the Monk Serapion, bishop of Tmuntis (Lower Egypt), one of the reknown workers of the Church in the IV Century.

Saint Makarios of Alexandria, like Makarios of Egypt, was a great ascetic and monastic head, and he accomplished many miracles. Learning about some particular ascetic feat of this or that monk, he attempted to imitate him in that ascetic deed. Thus, having heard that a certain monk used only one pound of bread in a day, he started to eat only so much and even less. Wishing to shorten his sleep, he stayed for 20 whole days under the open sky, enduring heat by day and cold by night. One time Saint Makarios picked a bunch of grapes. He very much wanted to eat them, but he conquered this desire in himself and gave the grapes to a still weaker monk. That one, wanting to preserve his abstinence, gave the grapes to another, and that one -- to a third and so forth. At the very end the bunch of grapes returned to the Monk Makarios. The ascetic was astonished at the abstention of his disciples and gave thanks to God. One time a proud thought came over the saint -- to go to Rome to heal the sick. Struggling with the temptation, the saint filled up a sack of sand, loaded it on himself and went for a long walk into the wilderness, and until he exhausted his body the proud thought did not leave him.
By his ascetic life, fasting, and renunciation of things earthly, the Monk Makarios acquired the gifts of wonderworking and of seeing the inner thoughts of people, and he was granted many miraculous visions. Thus, it was granted the monk to see how one of the ascetics of the holy monastery -- the Monk Mark -- was communicated the Holy Mysteries from the hands of Angels, and how careless brethren received during the time of partaking in place of the Body of Christ burning coals from those of the nether regions. Saint Makarios was glorified by many miracles of healing the sick and casting out devils. Saint Makarios of Alexandria died in about 394-395 at age 100. He wrote "Discourse about the Origin of the Soul" included in the text of the sequenced Psalter.

The Holy Martyress Euphrasia the Virgin was born at Nikomedia into an illustrious family. She was a christian and noted for her beauty. During the time of the Maximian persecution against christians, the governor of the city tried to compel Euphrasia to offer sacrifice to idols; when she refused, he gave orders for her to be beaten, and then given over to a soldier for desecration. The saint prayed tearfully to the Lord that He would preserve her virginity, and God heard her prayer. Saint Euphrasia suggested to the soldier that he help her find an herb, which would protect him from enemy weapons and death. But this herb, she explained, held its power only when received from a virgin and not from a woman. The soldier believed Saint Euphrasia and went with her into the garden. The holy virgin gathered the herb, which lay underfoot, and suggested to the soldier that he try its power on her. She placed the herb to her neck and ordered the soldier to strike forcefully with his sword. Thus her prayer was answered, and the wise virgin offered her soul to God, having preserved her pure virginity (+ 303).

- Source: http://www.stlukeorthodox.com/


Roman Rite: January 19th
Saint Fabian (d. A.D. 250)
Blessed Thomas of Cori (1655–1729) [Franciscan 1st Order]
Saint Eustichia Calafato (1435-1446)[Franciscan 2nd Order]



Fabian was a Roman layman who came into the city from his farm one day as clergy and people were preparing to elect a new pope. Eusebius, a Church historian, says a dove flew in and settled on the head of Fabian. This sign united the votes of clergy and laity and he was chosen unanimously.
He led the Church for 14 years and died a martyr’s death during the persecution of Decius in a.d. 250. St. Cyprian wrote to his successor that Fabian was an “incomparable” man whose glory in death matched the holiness and purity of his life.
In the catacombs of St. Callistus, the stone that covered Fabian’s grave may still be seen, broken into four pieces, bearing the Greek words, “Fabian, bishop, martyr.”

- Source: Saint of the Day
Lives, Lessons and Feast
By Leonard Foley, O.F.M.; revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.





Thomas of Cori (1655-1729), priest, O.F.M. Born in Cori (Latina) on June 4, 1655, Thomas knew a childhood marked by the premature loss first of his mother and then of his father, thus being left alone at the age of 14 to look after his younger sister. Shepherding sheep, he learned wisdom from the simplest things. Once his sister was married, the youth was free to follow the inspiration that for some years he had kept in the silence of his heart: to belong completely to God in the Religious Life of a Franciscan. He had been able to get to know the Friars Minor in his own village at St. Francis convent. Once his two sisters were settled in good marriages and he was rendered free of all other preoccupations, he was received into the Order and sent to Orvieto (PG) to fulfill his novitiate year. After professing his vows according to the Rule of St. Francis and completing his theological studies, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1683. He was immediately nominated vice master of novices at Holy Trinity convent in Orvieto, since his superior recognized at once his gifts.

After a short time, Fr. Thomas heard of the hermitages that were beginning to bloom in the Order and the intention of the superiors of the Roman Province to inaugurate one at the convent at Civitella (today Bellegra). His request was accepted, and the young friar thus knocked at the door of the poor convent in 1684, saying, "I am Fr. Thomas of Cori, and I come here to become holy!" In speech perhaps distant from ours, he expressed his anxiousness to live the Gospel radically, after the spirit of Saint Francis.

From then, Fr. Thomas lived at Bellegra until death, with the exception of six years in which he was Guardian at the convent of Palombara, where he initiated the Hermitage modeled after the one at Bellegra. He wrote the Rule first for one and then for the other, observing it scrupulously aid consolidating by word and example the new institution of the two Hermitages.

St. Thomas did not close himself up in the Hermitage, forgetting the good of his brothers and sisters, and the heart of the Franciscan vocation, which is apostolic. He was called with good reason the Apostle of Sublacense (the Subiaco region), having crossed the territory and its villages with the indefatigable proclamation of the Gospel, in the administration of the sacraments and the flowering of miracles at his passage, a sign of the presence and nearness of the Kingdom. His preaching was clear and simple, convincing and strong. He did not climb the most illustrious pulpits of his time; his personality was able to give its best in an ambit restricted to our territory, living his Franciscan vocation in littleness and in the concrete choice of the poorest.

Exquisite charity. St. Thomas of Cori was to his brothers a very gentle father. In face of the resistance of some brothers before his will to reform and his radicality in living the Franciscan ideal, the Saint knew how to respond with patience and humility, even finding himself alone to mind the convent. He had understood well that every true reform initiates itself. The considerable correspondence that is here annexed demonstrates St. Thomas' attention to the smallest expectations and needs of his Friars, and of numerous friends, penitents and Friars who turned to him for his counsel. In the convent, he demonstrated his spirit of charity in his availability for every necessity, even the most humble.

Rich in merits, he fell asleep in the Lord on January 11, 1729. St. Thomas of Cori shines among us and in Rome, of which he is the co-patron, above all in his thirst for a Christian and Franciscan ideal that is pure and lived in its essentials. A provocation for all of us not to take lightly the Gospel and itsall-encompassing exigencies.

~Source: Vatican




Saint Eustichia Calafato: Foundress and Poor Clare. She was born circa 1435, the daughter of Countess Matilda Carafata, at Messina, Sicily. Betrothed, Eustochium lost her fiance before they could wed. When her father died in 1446, she became a Poor Clare at Bascio convent and devoted herself to penance and charitable activities. Her mother and sister were at Monte Vergine Convent, and Eustochium went there for the stricter observances. She became abbess in 1462. She was canonized in 1988. In some lists her name is Eustachia or Smaragda.


~Source: Catholic Online