Decem-15-acem Sogglem Santam

Octave of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary; 

Feast of Our Lady, Queen of the Seraphic Order, i.e., the Franciscan order; 

Commemoration of the consecration of St. Eusebius, Bishop of Vercelli, whose birthday in the Lord (Dies Natalis) is on August 1, while his liturgical feast is set for tomorrow, December 16, by order of Pope Benedict XIII; 

The Holy Martyrs of Rome, Saints Irenaeus, Anthony, Theodore, Saturninus, Victor & 17 others, who suffered for Christ in the persecution of Valerian; 

The Holy Martyrs of Africa, Saints Caelianus, Candidus, Faustinus, Fortunatus, Januarius, Lucius, & Mark; 

The Holy Martyrs of Gorazde in Croatia, Saints Josepha Bojanc, Josepha Fabian, Catherine Ivanisevic & Teresa Banja, nuns kidnapped, & murdered by Serb terrorists in Odium fidei, December 15, 1941, after a failed rape attempt, the fifth nun Carolina Ana Leidenix was murdered by them, December 23, 1941; not yet canonized by a Catholic Pope; 

The Holy Martyrs of Madrid in Spain, Saints Raymond Eirin Mayo & Pau Gracia Sanchez, murdered by Communist bandits, not yet canonized by a Catholic Pope;

St. Bacchus Dachak, martyred by the Mahomettan Infidels illegally occupying Jerusalem in Israel during the time of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI (780-797) & his wife Empress Irene, for refusing to apostatize to the Devil's own "religion" of Mahomettanism; 

St. Valerian, Martyr, Bishop of Abbenza, in Africa, who, being upwards of eighty years old, in the persecution of the Vandals, under the Arian King Genseric, was asked to deliver the vessels of the church, & as he constantly refused, an order was issued to drive him all alone out of the city, & all were forbidden to allow him to stay either in their houses or on their land. For a long time he remained lying on the public road, in the open air, & thus, in the confession & defense of the Catholic verity, closed his blessed life; 

St. Adalbert, Benedictine, of the family of the Dukes of Lorraine, Bishop, first of Verdun, then of Metz, he progressed the Cluniac reform & founded several religious houses, besides revitalizing his Alma Mater, the Benedictine Monastery of Gorze; 

St. Christiana, in Georgia, beyond the Euxine Sea (Black Sea), who, though enslaved by the Iberi tribe, was so gifted with the power of working miracles that she converted the royal family & the inhabitants of that country (Caucasian Iberia) to the faith of Christ, in the time of Constantine (She seems to be identical with St. Nune, as she's called by the Armenians, & St. Nino, as she's called by the Grusians: Link);

St. Flann, also called Florentius, Abbot of Bangor in Ireland; 

St. Julia, Camaldolese nun at Arezzo; 

St. Margaret of Fontana (link); 

St. Marinus, Abbot of Cava in Campania; 

St. Mark, Mercedarian lay knight & monk at the Monastery of St. Matthew in Xativa or Jativa, in the Kingdom of Valencia, in Spain; 

St. Mary of Peace ("Santa Maria della Pace"), Mercedarian nun at the Monastery of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Granada in Spain, wonderworker or thaumaturge, died Dec. 15, 1606 A.D.;

St. Mary of the Crucifix, at Brescia (link); 

St. Mary Victoria Fornari-Strata, at Genoa, foundress of the Order of the Annunciation, also called the Blue Nuns (link); 

St. Maximinus the Dragontamer, Abbot of Micium or Micy, near Orleans, confessor; 

King St. Offa of Essex, abdicated to live as a hermit in Rome (link); 

St. Paul, Abbot of Mount Latros in Bithynia in Eastern Greece; 

St. Silvania, (Silvia, Sylvania, or Sylvia), a learned woman of Constantinople, who fought against heresies, her history seems lost, all that's known is that she died in 420 A.D.; 

St. Urbitius, French priest, he fled from his kidnappers, Mahomettan Infidels, & settled in Huesca in Spain, as a hermit (link); 

UNCANONIZED:

Virginia Centurione-Bracelli; 

Charles Steeb. 

And elsewhere in divers places, many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.

V: All ye Holy Martyrs, pray for us.

R: Thanks be to God!