Ludmila, the first Czech saint, grandmother of Wenceslas, martyred 1100 years ago

From Radio Prague International:

Saint Ludmila, the first historically documented Duchess of Bohemia, was martyred 1100 years ago this September – strangled by assassins sent by her own daughter in law. Best known today as the grandmother and educator of the Czech patron saint “good King Wenceslas”, Saint Ludmila was among the few women in history to de facto rule over Bohemia.

Princess Ludmila, as she is also known, was the wife of Bořivoj, founder of the Přemyslid dynasty. Sometime in the late 9th century, he converted to Christianity during a visit to the court of Great Moravia, and was allegedly baptised by none other than Saint Methodius, the Byzantine missionary known along with his brother Cyril as the “Apostles of the Slavs”.

Little is known for certain about Ludmila’s life before the death of her husband, other than that she was the daughter of a Sorbian prince, likely born in Mělník, central Bohemia, married Bořivoj in her teens, and had as many as six children with him.

But, says Dr Jakub Izdný of the Institute of Czech History at Charles University, author of a new book on Ludmila published ahead of the 1100-year anniversary of her death, she is the first historically known Czech woman, and quite likely the first woman to rule Bohemia.

read more here @ Radio Prague International

More on St Ketevan

Further on from my post "Mystery of Saint Ketevan" in June 2011, comes this article from Past Horizons - Search for relics of martyr Queen Ketevan:

DNA analysis has confirmed that a relic discovered by archaeologists amongst the ruins of St. Augustine’s Church in Goa, southeast India, is likely to be that of 17th century Queen Ketevan from the Kingdom of Kakheti in eastern Georgia.

Since 1989, various delegations from Georgia have worked together with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to locate Ketevan the Martyr’s relics within the Augustinian church which was founded in 1572. There have been several unsuccessful attempts at locating the relics, but finally the continued searching has paid dividends for the team.

As per the literary sources, the relic box of Queen Ketevan was expected to be at the second window of the chapter chapel towards the Epistle side. Therefore, this area was systematically explored in 2004 for a stone sarcophagus, which was found broken into pieces due to the collapse of the wall. Whilst clearing the rubble the team also found an arm bone. Two other bone relics were recovered from outside the second window area, within intact stone boxes.

See also this post on the "Wordcraft & Statecraft" blog: Queen Ketavan's Bones Discovered & Identified

Kateri Tekakwitha - Native American Saint

From Huffington Post:

Some traditional Mohawks are treating the naming of the nation's first Native American saint with skepticism and fear that the Roman Catholic Church is using it to shore up its image and marginalize traditional spiritual practices.

They see the story of Kateri Tekakwitha as yet another reminder of colonial atrocities and religious oppression.

A Catholic convert at 20, she settled in Kahnawake, a Mohawk settlement south of Montreal where Jesuits had a mission and where she and other women performed mortification rituals such as self-flogging as part of their faith. At her death at the age of 24, Kateri's smallpox scars reportedly vanished and later she was reported to appear before several people. She is buried at a shrine on Kahnawake.

Canonisation of Hildegard von Bingen

From Huffington Post:

The Catholic Church seems ready to codify what music lovers have known for nearly a millennium: Hildegard von Bingen is a saint. Vatican Insider reports that Pope Benedict XVI will canonize the visionary Medieval composer this coming October.

Whether you're a confirmed Catholic, an apocalyptic atheist or a devout druid, if you haven't tuned in to Hildegard's work, you could be in for a revelation.

Babara Koob - Saint Marianne Cope

From Syracuse dot com:

Barbara Koob moved from Utica to Syracuse in the summer of 1862, when she was 24, to enter the convent of the Sisters of St. Francis.

Twenty-one years later, the woman the world now knows as Saint Marianne Cope left Syracuse to work as a missionary among the lepers in Hawaii. Even during her lifetime, many considered her a saint for her bravery, compassion and leadership. She spent 35 years ministering to hundreds of people so feared that the Kingdom of Hawaii banished them to a remote, desolate peninsula of Kalaupapa on the island of Molokai.

In a Christmas present, the Sisters of St. Francis learned Monday that Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed Mother Marianne a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, and she will be canonized next year. The designation came after an intense, detailed process of nearly 40 years. The Franciscan sisters gathered thousands of pages of research about their heroine, toured the places she lived and worked and collected information about possible miracles, including two the Vatican ultimately ruled were healings of people whose recovery doctors could not explain.

The long journey to sainthood began with a modest life in Central New York. From 1862 to 1883, the future saint walked the streets of Syracuse in her roles as Franciscan leader and administrator of St. Joseph’s Hospital. She was among the Franciscan sisters who opened the 15-bed hospital in 1869 in a former dance hall and saloon on Prospect Hill.

Great set of links at the bottom of the article.

Saint Katharine Drexel

From Philly Burbs:

She was an assertive Philadelphia debutante who dreamed of changing the world and had the family fortune to make it happen.

In a time before women could vote, she built more than 60 schools and founded Xavier University for blacks in the segregated South.

Katharine Drexel became a nun only after founding her own religious order to control how the money was spent. And 11 years after being named a Catholic saint, she is to take her place among the most famous women in American history.

Drexel will be inducted this weekend into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y.

Members of her order, based in Bensalem and founded in 1891, were overjoyed this week at the news, hoping it will allow Drexel’s life mission to inspire a new audience. The sisters will travel this weekend to Seneca Falls for ceremonies in the birthplace of the women’s suffrage movement.

“I think she would accept this award only if it gave her an opportunity to draw more attention to her mission for justice and the cries of the poor in our society today, especially among people of color and among the Native American communities,” said Sister Suchalski, president of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.

Mystery of Saint Ketevan

I would like to follow up with anyone who has any further information on the remains of the Georgian Saint Ketavan who is belived to be buried on Goa.

My blog post from 2009 - Saint Ketevan

Times of India (May 2009) - Georgians keen to put up statue at Old Goa

Times of India (April 2009) - Mystery over Georgian queen's relics

The Messanger (2007) - had an article which might not be available

Daily News & Analysis (2006) - queen's bone found in Goa

St Ketevan - article

Wikipedia - Saint Ketevan of Mukhrani

St Ismeria - More on the Legend

Further to my post: St Ismeria - Greatgrandmother of Jesus comes this article from AOL - Scholar uncovers legend of Jesus' greatgrandmother:

The story of Ismeria was discovered by Catherine Lawless, a history lecturer at Ireland's University of Limerick, in two manuscripts from 14th- and 15th-century Florence, Italy. But while it's tempting to believe that these recently unearthed papers shed new light on the Virgin Mary's family, Lawless told AOL News that, just like "The Da Vinci Code," the tale is almost certainly a work of fiction.

There is no biblical-era evidence to support the manuscripts' assertion that Ismeria was the mother of St. Anne, who later gave birth to Mary. (Other medieval sources suggest Ismeria may have been Anne's sister). Instead, Lawless suspects that the story may have been created by a religious order as a "morality tale" intended to teach Florentine women how to be good wives, and later, widows.

St. Ismeria - Greatgrandmother of Jesus

From Sify News:

A historian has identified the great-grandmother of Jesus.

According to Florentine medieval manuscripts analyzed by a historian, the great-grandmother of Jesus was a woman named St. Ismeria.

St. Ismeria likely served as a role model for older women during the 14th and 15th centuries.

The legend of St. Ismeria sheds light on both the Biblical Virgin Mary's family and also on religious and cultural values of 14th-century Florence.

Lawless studied the St. Ismeria story, which she said has been "ignored by scholars," in two manuscripts: the 14th century "MS Panciatichiano 40" of Florence's National Central Library and the 15th century "MS 1052" of the Riccardiana Library, also in Florence.

"According to the legend, Ismeria is the daughter of Nabon of the people of Judea, and of the tribe of King David," wrote Lawless.

She married "Santo Liseo," who is described as "a patriarch of the people of God." The legend continues that the couple had a daughter named Anne who married Joachim. After 12 years, Liseo died. Relatives then left Ismeria penniless.

Mary Glowrey - Saint in Waiting

From the Herald Sun:

Mary Glowrey, a Melbourne University graduate who went on to work as a missionary in India, looks set to become the nation's second saint after the first stage of the long process began yesterday.

Glowrey was born in 1887 in Birregurra, 135km southwest of Melbourne, but moved to Melbourne to study medicine.

After graduating with a bachelor of medicine and a bachelor of surgery, Ms Glowrey worked for a short time in Sydney before moving to Melbourne's Eye and Ear Hospital and St Vincent's Hospital. She later opened her own practice on Collins St.

She said she had her religious calling at East Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral in 1915 after reading a pamphlet about the plight of children in India.

In 1920 she migrated to Bangalore, where she joined the Congregation of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and carried out missionary work there until her death in 1957.

From the Catholc Archdiocese of Melbourne:

The Catholic Women’s League of Victoria and Wagga Wagga has been working closely with the Society of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in India for the past two years preparing for the commencement of Mary Glowrey’s cause.

The Archbishop of Bangalore, the Most Rev. Dr. Bernard Moras, appointed Fr Paul Puthanangady on 11 November this year to assist and guide the Society of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the preparation of all documents and records needed in the preliminary phase of Mary Glowrey’s cause. The Catholic Women’s League of Victoria and Wagga Wagga hold more than 80% of Mary Glowrey’s personal writings.

From the Catholic Women's League Australia:

The inaugural President of the League was Mary Glowrey, a gifted young doctor whose actions were grounded in an understanding of the absolute inviolability of human life. In 1920, Mary left her thriving career as an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist. Surrendering herself completely to God’s will, Mary sailed for India to become a medical missionary with the Congregation of the Society of Jesus Mary Joseph in Guntur. Pope Pius XI bestowed a special blessing on her medical mission work and Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart, as Mary Glowrey was then known, became the first nun-doctor missionary.

Blessed Angela of Foligno

Speech made by Pope Benedict XVI and translated and reproduced at Catholic net:

Today I would like to speak to you about Blessed Angela of Foligno, a great medieval mystic who lived in the 13th century. Usually, one is fascinated by the heights of the experience of union with God that she attained, but perhaps too little consideration is given to the first steps, her conversion, and the long path that led her from the beginning -- the "great fear of hell" -- to the goal: total union with the Trinity.

Mary McKillop - Saint in Waiting

(1842-1909)

Co-Founder of the Order of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart

Mary McKillop was born in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy of Scots parentage. Mary worked as a shop-girl, governess and teacher to support her family. Mary yearned for penitential form of religious life and so placed herself under the direction of Father Julian Tennison-Woods, parish priest of Penola, South Australia.

Mary founded the Order of the Sisters of St Joseph (19/3/1866) at Penola, South Australia, with the encouragement and guidance of Father Tenison-Woods. The Order was dedicated to the education of poor children. Mary was the first member and the first Superior of the Order. The Josephites spread to Adelaide and other parts of South Australia, and membership grew rapidly.

However, Tenison-Woods came into conflict with the clergy over educational matters and as a result Mary was excommunicated by Bishop Shiel of Adelaide (22/9/1871) for alleged insubordination. The excommunication placed on her was lifted 6 months later. In Rome (1873), Mary obtained papal approval for the Sisterhood. She traveled widely throughout Europe, observing teaching methods.

Back in Adelaide, Mary was elected Superior-General of the Sisterhood. Mary worked tirelessly for the education of the children of the poor, especially in the bush. She founded numerous schools, convents and charitable institutions throughout Australia to that end up till her own death in Sydney (1908).

But Mary soon came into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church establishment by insisting on an equalitarian rather than hierarchial organization. Bishop Reynolds told her to leave his diocese (1883) and Mary transferred the Headquarters of the Josephites to Sydney. Mary suffered a stroke (1901) an though she maintained her mental faculties, she was an invalid till he death (1909).

Mother Mary became the first Australian to be formally proposed to Rome as a candidate for canonization (1973), she was beautified (1990s) by Pope John Paul II. The Order of the Josephites works throughout Australia, New Zealand and Peru.

See also my post: Mother Mary McKillop

Saint Birgitta

From Science Daily:

The putative skull of Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden that has been kept in a shrine in Vadstena Abbey is probably not authentic. A new study conducted at Uppsala University reveals that the two skulls, believed to be from Saint Bridget and her daughter Catherine (Katarina), are not from maternally related individuals. Furthermore, dating shows that the skulls are not from the time period when Bridget and Catherine lived.

Vadstena parish assigned Associate Professor Marie Allen's research group at Uppsala University's Department of Genetics and Pathology the task of examining DNA from both skulls, in order to confirm kinship and authenticity. A sensitive method based on analysis of the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA was used to analyse the skulls. This method makes it possible to examine very small amounts of DNA, and it is often a successful analysis on aged and degraded material.

Relics of Joan of Arc

From Discovery News:

The so-called "relics of Joan of Arc," overseen by the Archbishop of Tours in Chinon, France, do not contain the charred remains of the Catholic saint.

Rather, the artifacts consist of a mummified cat leg bone and human rib, both dating to the 6th-3rd century B.C., according to a new study.

The "relics," which have fooled onlookers for decades, did resemble burnt bones, in keeping with historical accounts of the death of Joan of Arc (ca. 1412-1431), who was convicted of heresy and executed by burning.

Medical examiners, pathologists, geneticists, biochemists, a radiologist, zoologist and archaeologist all participated in the extensive study, which was accepted for publication in the journal Forensic Science International.

The bottle containing the bones first surfaced at a pharmacy in 1867. Its label read: "Remains found under the pyre of Joan of Arc, maiden of Orleans."

Different techniques, including DNA analysis, several forms of microscopy, chemical analysis and carbon dating, were used to examine the bottle's contents.

A few years ago, Philippe Charlier, a forensic scientist at Raymond Poincare Hospital in Garches, France, and his team first determined that the bottle contained an approximately 4-inch-long human rib covered with a black coating. It also housed part of a cat femur covered with the same coating, three fragments of "charcoal" and "a brownish textile scrap" about the same length as the rib.

From National Geographic 4th April 2007:

The charred bones that were long believed to be remains of St. Joan of Arc don't belong to the French heroine but are instead the remains of an Egyptian mummy, a new study has shown.

Philippe Charlier, a forensic scientist at the Raymond Poincaré Hospital in Paris, France, obtained permission last year to study the relics from the church in Normandy where they are housed.

History Making News

From BBC News: Turkey demands the return of the bones of St Nicholas.

A Turkish archaeologist has called on his government to demand that Italy return the bones of St Nicholas to their original resting place.

The 3rd Century saint - on whom Santa Claus was modelled - was buried in the modern-day town of Demre in Turkey.

But in the Middle Ages his bones were taken by Italian sailors and re-interred in the port of Bari.

The Turkish government said it was considering making a request to Rome for the return of the saint's remains.

From BBC News: 15th Century Papal Bull

Work to preserve a 15th Century letter from the Pope founding the University of St Andrews has been completed.

The Bull of Foundation is one of a series of six letters from the Pope, sent in 1413, which brought the institution into existence.

It took experts three weeks to restore the Papal Bull, including surface cleaning, repairing edge tears and the realignment of the document's silk tag.

The document will now be able to be displayed to the public.

From the Telegraph: Tomb of 3rd Cent Notorious General

Chinese archaeologists have unearthed a large third-century tomb which they say could be that of Cao Cao, the politician and general infamous in East Asia for his Machiavellian tactics.

The tomb, discovered in Xigaoxue village near the ancient city of Anyang in Henan Province, has an epitaph and inscription that appear to refer to Cao Cao, Central China Television said on Sunday.

A Chinese proverb, "speak of Cao Cao and he appears", is the the equivalent of "speak of the devil" in English.

Normalising the Virgin Mary

From the Telegraph:

Church leaders turned the Virgin Mary from being a "serious, official, imperial" figure into a normal "mum" to widen Christianity's appeal, according to a leading medieval historian.

Speaking at the Hay Festival in Wales, Mary Rubin, the author of Mother of God – A History of the Virgin Mary, said the transformation took place in the 11th and 12th century, with images of her knitting and cooking.

But the church became so worried about people worshipping Mary rather than Christ that rosaries were introduced in the late middle ages to "create a way of praying to Mary that is more monitored," she added.

Saint Ketevan

From the Times of India:

Scientists have conducted a DNA analysis on bones believed to have been relics of Georgian queen Ketevan preserved in St Augustine's complex at Old Goa, but the mystery continues as a matching analysis of her other relics in Georgia needs to be done to confirm the findings.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Goa, received the DNA report recently from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. "We were able to isolate the ancient DNA but the amplification and sequencing needs to be done following a different protocol, which is still not commercially available in the laboratory, and we require an advanced kit to carry out a phase 2 analysis," N Taher, deputy superintending archaeologist, Goa said.

A matching DNA report of the queen's remains in Georgia will also help carry the research to its logical conclusion. "We are not very sure if the bone relics belong to the queen and we will request a Georgian delegation coming to Goa later this month to do a sequencing of their specimen for verification," Taher added.

Augustinian Friars, who also had their mission in Iran, came in contact with the Georgian Queen (1565-1624) in Shiraz, Iran, and held her in high esteem. She was put to death by Shah Abbas I of Iran in 1624 after several years of imprisonment for her refusal to give up Christianity.

The Augustinian Friars exhumed her body after four months and took the relics to Georgia and interred them at the Alaverdi Cathedral, and also brought a hand and palm to Goa.

After the ASI started excavations to conserve the site at St Augustine's complex two decades back, in 2004-05, archaeologists found three bones in the chapter chapel in the convent of St Augustine.

Bone relics of other dignitaries were also being preseved in six chamber boxes in the chapel. "The remains of five chamber boxes can be seen at the site, except for the one with Queen Ketevan's remains," Abhijit Ambekar, an archaeologist said.

A long bone was found below the second window within the chapel and two more fragments behind the second window close to the coping stone of the chamber box. Research will continue to find out whether the remains were also taken anywhere out of the complex, sources said. St Augustine's complex crumbled after materials were sourced for construction elsewhere. It was also neglected after the Portuguese asked the Augustinian Friars to leave in 1835.

The search for the queen's remains may take longer as relics in other tombstones may have to be examined, Taher said. "As scientific analysis is available, we may have to take up other specimens of bone relics for analysis."

The Georgian team comprises Fr R Georgi, dean of St Kethevan church in Tibilisi, capital of Georgia, and a team of archaeologists and media persons.

Concluded Taher, "The Georgians are coming to Goa as they have an emotional tie with the events related to their patron saint and St Augustine's complex is significant to them."

Saintly Relics

Now, a bit of news on the medieval front.

From the Guardian:
"The new medieval gallery at the British Museum is full of beautiful images of saints in ivory, stone, gold and wood - but invisible to visitors, it also holds the bones of 39 real saints, whose discovery came as a shock to their curator.

The relics, packed in tiny bundles of cloth including one scrap of fabric over 1,000 years old, were found when a 12th-century German portable altar was opened for the first time since it came into the British Museum collection in 1902.

It was in for a condition check and cleaning, before going on display in the gallery that opens tomorrow - but to the amazement of James Robinson, curator of medieval antiquities, when it was opened a linen cloth was revealed, and inside it dozens of tiny bundles of cloth, each neatly labelled on little pieces of vellum.

The most precious was the relic of St Benedict, an Italian who in the early 6th century was credited as the father of the western monastic tradition, founding monasteries and establishing guiding principles still followed at many monasteries. The relic was wrapped in cloth that was itself an extraordinary object, a piece of silk from 8th or 9th century Byzantium.

Each Roman Catholic altar-stone is supposed to contain at least one relic of a saint, usually in the form of minute flakes of bone. There was a clue on the back of the museum's altar in a list of names beginning slightly implausibly with John the Baptist, and including saints James, John and Mary Magdalene."

Sister Alphonsa of Kottayam

From The Times of India:
"The Catholic Church in India will have its first woman saint on October 12 when Pope Benedict XVI canonises Sister Alphonsa of Kottayam, Kerala, 62 years after she died.

Till now, all eyes had been on Mother Teresa’s sainthood process. Sister Alphonsa’s name came up suddenly in March this year. It was then realised that the Kerala nun had been in line for sainthood long before Mother Teresa died in 1997.

The sainthood will be announced at a ceremony at the Vatican for which preparations are on in full swing.

Born Anna Muttathupadathu in 1910 in Kudamaloor, near Kottayam, Sister Alphonsa lost her mother at an early age and was brought up by her maternal aunt. The family wanted to marry young Anna off, but she was keen on following the religious path. She assumed the name, Alphonsa, after joining the Franciscan Clarist convent in Bharananganam in 1927.

Sister Alphonsa died when she was 36 after a prolonged illness and a life of immense suffering. She had accidentally stepped on burning embers and badly burnt her feet and legs up to her knees. But the incident also earned her a reprieve from the marriage. After joining the convent, she had bouts of haemorrhage, malaria, pneumonia and even tuberculosis and was mostly confined to bed.

Her beatification was ordained by Pope John Paul II in February 1986. In June 2007, Pope Benedict XVI authorized her canonization after he approved a miracle attributed to her. After lengthy deliberations, the Vatican identified the healing of a one-year-old boy in Kerala, Jinil, who could not walk because of a congenital disability. Jinil began walking the day his parents took him to Sister Alphonsa’s tomb for prayers. Sister Alphonsa will be the second Christian saint from India after Gonsalo Garcia and the first woman."


From The News Tribune:
"Christian leaders hailed the move to canonize Sister Alphonsa, a nun from southern India, saying it would provide solace to Christians who have been victims of violent attacks by Hindu mobs in eastern and southern India in recent months.

The Vatican's canonization procedures require that two miracles be attributed to the candidate. After the church confirms one miracle, the person is beatified - and put on the road to sainthood.

In 1986, the church credited Sister Alphonsa with healing a boy with a club foot, said Dominic Vechor, chancellor of the Palai Diocese in Kerala.

The second miracle attributed to the nun, Vechor said, also involved healing the club foot of a baby boy, Jinil Shahji. Shahji, now 10 years old, has traveled to Rome with his family to watch Sunday's ceremony, Vechor said.

It was through her own feet that Sister Alphonsa, who was born in the southern Indian state of Kerala in 1910, expressed her religious devotion. According to a Vatican biography, she stepped on hot coals to burn and disfigure her feet to escape an arranged marriage and become a nun."


From The Australia:
"Many Indian clergy and pilgrims are expected to attend the special mass at the Vatican for Alphonsa Muttathupadathu, who died in 1946, aged 36.

She is the second Indian to be elevated to sainthood. The first, 16th-century martyr Gonsalo Garcia, was canonised in 1862. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who died in 1997, was beatified in 2003 - the first step to sainthood.

Christians account for 2.3per cent of India's billion-plus, mostly Hindu, population."


From Fox News:
"Christian leaders hailed the move to canonize Sister Alphonsa, a nun from southern India, saying it would provide solace to Christians who have been victims of violent attacks by Hindu mobs in eastern and southern India in recent months.

"We can draw certain spiritual consolation from her canonization. This means we have one more saint in heaven who is from India and whom we can approach to intercede," said Dominic Emmanuel, a spokesman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India."

Miracles of Mother Mary MacKillop

From "The Herald Sun" newspaper:
"The Vatican has launched a judicial inquiry into the case of an Australian woman who claims to have been cured of inoperable lung cancer in 1993 through the intercession of saint-in-waiting Mary MacKillop.

Two doctors will examine the case for evidence of a second miracle needed for sainthood. The first miracle, which led to the beatification of Mary MacKillop, was the cure of another woman of leukaemia in 1961. In 1995 Pope John Paul beatified Mary MacKillop, earning her the title of Blessed (Mother) Mary.

The latest development is the closest the Josephite order, which Mary MacKillop founded, has come to meeting the requirement for a documented second miracle, Fairfax newspapers report."


More on Mary MacKillop:
Blessed Mary MacKillop - Sisters of St. Joseph website
Mary MacKillop in Portland
Blessed Mary MacKillop
Mary MacKillop - wikipedia website