Saints of the Day & More

Around the year 320 in Constantinople by the Empress Helena found the True Cross , the cross that killed Jesus Christ, The Empress and her son Constantine were built on the site of the discovery of the Holy Sepulchre Basilica , which kept the relic. Years later, King Chosroes II of Persia, in 614 invaded and conquered Jerusalem and carried the cross , putting it under the feet of his throne as a sign of his contempt for Christianity. But in 628 the emperor Heraclius managed to beat him and recovered the Cross and took her back to Jerusalem on 14 September that year. This ceremony was performed in which the cross was taken in person by the emperor through the city. Since then, the day was noted in the liturgical calendars as that of the Exaltation of the True Cross. Christianity is a message of love . Why then exalt the Cross? In addition, the Resurrection , rather than the Cross, gives meaning to our lives. But that is the Cross , the scandal of the Cross , St. Paul. We would not have ...

A native of Pisa, she is reported as having experienced visions from an early age. On one occasion, the figure on the crucifix at the Holy Sepulchre church held out his hand to her. At another church, she saw a vision of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and three saints, including James the Greater. She was frightened by the light around these figures, and ran away. James pursued her, and led her back to the image of Jesus. Bona observed a very pronounced devotion to James for the rest of her life. By the age of ten, she had dedicated herself as an Augustinian tertiary. She regularly fasted from an early age, taking only bread and water three days a week. Four years later, she made the first of her many journeys, going to see her father who was fighting in the Crusades near Jerusalem. On her trip home, she was captured by Muslim pirates on the Mediterranean Sea, wounded, and subsequently imprisoned. Remains of Santa Bona, in Church of San Martino, PisaShe was later rescued by some of her countr...