🇬🇧 🇻🇦 Saint Alphege ♗ Feast: 19 April

 

Saint Alphege
Bishop & martyr ( 1012 Anno Domini A.D. ) Feast: 19 April
Saints Who Were Imprisoned

Alphege, also known as Aelfheah , was a monk in England . For a time he was an anchorite, living enclosed in a small cell, but later he became abbot of Bath Abbey & then Bishop of Winchester . Here Alphege furthered the cult of the saints & was also responsible for the building of a large organ in the cathedral.

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us.magnificat.net/

https://www.etsy.com/listing/625796941/saint-alphege-of-canterbury-alfheah-of

It is said that he was so generous that there were no beggars left in Winchester. After two decades in Winchester , Alphege became Archbishop of Canterbury ♗. When the Vikings invaded England in 1011 A.D., they laid siege to Canterbury. Alphege, instead of running away, went right up to the warriors & begged them to stop their slaughter He was held prisoner for 7 months, during which he set about converting as many of his captors as he could  

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https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/alphege-windows

He refused to be ransomed. In a drunken rage the soldiers decided to kill the archbishop. One of their leaders, Thorkell the Tall, tried to save him, offering all his possession except his ship in exchange for Alphege 's life. His offer failed & Alphege was killed ♗ Thorkell, it is thought, returned Alphege's body to his community, & decided shortly thereafter to defect to the English Alphege's relics are in Canterbury Cathedral

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https://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com/2012/04/st-alphege-thousand-years.html

Saint Thomas Becket is said to have invoked St. Alphege shortly before his own martyrdom

Merciful Father, grant that no burden or betrayal may make us lose sight of the need to make you known. Help us to preach you to our oppressors   & obtain their salvation

#SaintAlphege #PrayForUs

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youtu.be/8HaQh1ziJgM

https://hymnary.org/text/brief_life_is_here_our_portion

🇨🇦 🇻🇦 Blessed Marie Anne Blondin 🧼 🫧 Feast 18 April

Blessed Marie Anne Blondin
Founder, Sisters of St. Anne ( 1890 Anno Domini A.D.)       Feast: 18 April   

Esther Blondin, the daughter of poor farmers was born in Lower Canada . At 20, she entered domestic service, eventually finding work with a teaching order in Montreal There she learned to read & write & in time was hired to teach in a parochial school & even serve as principal

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giveusthisday.org/

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1723113204415801&set=pcb.1723114111082377&locale=es_LA

In 1848 A.D. Blondin proposed to the bishop ♗ of Montreal that she found a congregation dedicated to the "education of poor country children, both boys & girls in the same schools" (a daring proposal for its time). She won his approval, & so a novitiate was established for the new congregation, the Sisters of St. Anne. Blondin, who had taken the religious name Marie Anne, was selected to serve as superior.

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youtu.be/KQW8sEj91aQ

While the order quickly grew, a new chaplain began to exert dictatorial control. When Mother Marie Anne resisted, he compelled her to resign as superior. She complied without protest, but he was not satisfied until she had been relegated to complete obscurity, performing domestic chores in the laundry & kitchen There she spent her remaining years. Mother Marie Anne died on January 2, 1890 A.D. A generation would pass before her memory was restored to honor in her congregation

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https://youtu.be/KQW8sEj91aQ?si=RiQaGDq1SFTBZ7he

Blondin was beatified in 2001 A.D.

"The deeper a tree sinks its roots into the soil the greater are its chances of growing and producing fruit "

-Blessed Marie Anne Blondin , on being assigned to lowly work

#BlessedMarieAnneBlondin #PrayForUs

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https://sainte-anne.org/projets/saints-du-canada/

https://www.facebook.com/konprannlegliz/videos/messe-en-lhonneur-de-m%C3%A8re-marie-anne-blondin-paroisse-saint-michel-de-charpentie/751759252488413/