From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   May 29th - Sts. Conon (Father) and Conon (Son), Martyrs   
      
   Died 275   
      
   The Holy Priest-Martyr Konon (Conon) lived in Iconium (Asia Minor). Having   
   become a widower, he withdrew with his young son to a monastery. By his   
   pious   
   life the saint was granted help from above-he cast out devils, he healed the   
   sick, gave sight to the blind, and preached the teaching of Christ amongst   
   the   
   pagans, converting many. Reports about him reached the governor Dometian, a   
   persecutor of Christians. The officer, asked him why he had chosen so severe   
   and   
   mortified a life. To which the saint replied:   
      
   "Those who live according to the spirit of the world are fond of pleasures   
   and   
   ease; but those who live according to the Spirit of God, study to purchase   
   the   
   kingdom of heaven by pain and tribulation. As for me, my desire is to   
   forfeit my   
   life here, that I may forever reign with Jesus Christ."   
      
   Saint Konon was brought to trial and they directed him to offer sacrifice to   
   idols, but the preacher would not and he was handed over for tortures. At   
   the   
   trial was brought also the seventeen year old son of the martyr-Deacon   
   Konon.   
   After deceitful persuasions failed to get him to renounce the True Faith,   
   both   
   father and son were subjected to cruel tortures: having stripped and laid   
   them   
   on a red-hot cot, they drenched them with hot oil, they threw them in a   
   cauldron   
   with boiling tin, sulfur and tar, they suspended them upside down and   
   scorched   
   them with a choking smoke,-but preserved by Heavenly power, the martyrs   
   remained   
   unharmed. The shamed torturers in a rage then resorted to an horrid means to   
   destroy the preachers-to saw them up with a wooden saw. Learning of this   
   sentence, the saints asked time for prayer and they cried out to the Lord:   
      
   "We give thanks to Thee, O Lord, for vouchsafing us to suffer for Thine   
   Name! We   
   beseech Thee, grant peace unto Thine Church, put to shame its persecutors,   
   strengthen and increase those believing in Thee, grant us to come unto Thee   
   and   
   give peace unto our souls".   
      
   And there resounded the Voice of God from the sky, summoning up the holy   
   sufferers. Having signed themselves with the Sign of the Cross, the holy   
   martyrs   
   consigned their souls to the Lord. And at once an earthquake happened, and   
   all   
   the idolous temples in the city collapsed.   
      
   Monks secretly buried the bodies of the martyrs at the monastery, where the   
   saints during life had asceticised. This occurred during the reign of   
   Aurelian   
   in the years 270-275. The relics of the holy martyrs were later on   
   transferred   
   to Italy, to the city of Acerno (Campania).   
      
      
   Saint Quote   
   Beware of becoming vexed or impatient at the faults of others; for it would   
   be   
   folly when you see a man falling into a ditch, to throw yourself into   
   another to   
   no purpose.   
   -St. Bonaventure   
      
   Bible Quote   
   23 And you, O children of Sion, rejoice, and be joyful in the Lord your God:   
   because he hath given you a teacher of justice, and he will make the early   
   and   
   the latter rain to come down to you as in the beginning. 24 And the floors   
   shall   
   be filled with wheat, and the presses shall overflow with wine and oil.   
   (Joel   
   2:23-24)   
      
      
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   Prayer to Saint Mariana de Jesus for our country   
      
   Saint  Mariana de Jesus, pure Lily of Quito, you offered  fervent and   
   continuous   
   prayers to Our Lord for your fellow men, encouraged men to do good by   
   heroic   
   and singular examples of virtues and austere penances  and appeased the   
   Divine   
   Wrath from punishing sin.  In addition to the example of great charity and   
   love,   
   you offered to Our Lord the precious flower of your youth so that your   
   fellow   
   men would not perish.  Deign, oh celestial maiden and holy sister of ours,   
   to   
   save our country from the abyss in which irreligion and immorality has   
   thrown   
   us. Restore the Faith that has died in so many hearts,  return the sanctity   
   of   
   the customs back to our homes , defend our children from the plague of   
   atheism,   
   communicate to our girls your  modesty and reserve and make the rules of the   
   Gospel of Jesus Christ reign in both our civic and political lives.   
      
   Oh Saint Mariana de Jesus, our heavenly compatriot! Intercede for our   
   country,   
   defend it from its enemies, and preserve it from infection of errors that   
   cause   
   discord and antichristian hatreds.  May that heroic sacrifice that you made   
   of   
   your life for your country bear fruit by virtue of Christian order and civic   
   virtues.  Allow to flourish order, peace, and harmony, under whose   
   protection   
   all humanity can work for the prosperity of our country and the defense of   
   the   
   Church.  Amen.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)