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    Dear children! Today I invite you to come still closer to me through prayer. Little children, I am your mother, I love you and I desire that each of you be saved and thus be with me in Heaven. That is why, little children, pray, pray, pray until your life becomes prayer. Thank you for having responded to my call.

For more on Medjugorje, click on MEDJUGORJE

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Events Today in Church History

     For events throughout the centuries that are memorable in Church history today, click on TIME CAPSULES: ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME

Historical Events in Church Annals for August 25:

303 A.D.


Death of Saint Genesius, patron of actors and comedians. Legend has it that this Roman thespian sought to mock the Christians during an act on stage and, while playing a catechumen about to be baptized suddenly experienced a conversion. He was beheaded by the Roman Emperor Diocletian for refusing to worship the pagan gods.

608 A.D.


Election of Pope Saint Boniface IV as the 67th successor of Peter. He consecrated the pagan temple of Agrippa, which is today the Pantheon, to the memory of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and all the saints, thus instituting All Saints Day on November 1st. He also sanctioned moral and material improvements for the lower clergy. He would serve for seven years.

1213 A.D.


In the aftermath of the murder of Saint Thomas Becket by King Henry II, the archbishop of Canterbury Archbishop Langton, intent on holding the king to his pledge to the Pope, presented the blueprint charter for the Magna Carta at St. Albans and St. Paul's to the barons, noblemen and prelates of England. Two years later the king would be forced to sign the historic charter that would forever change how governments rule.

1248 A.D.


Saint Louis IX, King of France sets out on his quest to recover the Holy Land with his crusaders for the 7th Crusade.

1270 A.D.


Death of Saint Louis IX in Tunis, Africa from Typhus. For more on this holy monarch of France, see TODAY'S LITURGY

1282 A.D.


Death of Saint Thomas Cantelupe from Hereford, England. He served as Chancellor of England and bishop who was embroiled throughout his life in the politics of England, but remained ever true to the Holy See. After his death hundreds of miracles were attributed to him and he was canonized in 1320 by Pope John XXII.

1539 A.D.


The famed Abbey of Glastonbury, a cradle for English saints is dissolved as a Roman Catholic abbey and turned over to the Church of England, thus finalizing the split from Rome by Henry VIII.

1586 A.D.


Death of Saint Rose of Lima, virgin, religious and first saint from the new world. Some historians date her death on the 24th while others list her as having died in the early hours of the 25th of August.

1648 A.D.


Death of Saint Joseph Calasanz, priest, religious founder and educator. For more on this Spanish saint see TODAY'S LITURGY

Holy Father decries violence in Congo, implores peace during his Angeles Address at Castel Gandolfo

     During his Sunday Angelus Address from his summer residence at Castel Gandolfo in the hills above Rome, the Holy Father implored the world and the authorities responsible to stop the atrocities and violence that have ravaged the Congo, and allow the people to return to normal as God intended. He called for all to respect the Culture of Life and stop the warring that has claimed the senseless lives of so many. For more, click on Angelus Address.

      CASTELGANDOLFO (CWNews.com) - Pope John Paul II prayed in his Sunday Angelus message for the end to fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and called for the warring parties to respect life.

      "The violence in Africa has not diminished this week and my thoughts go out particularly to the population of Congo," the Holy Father said from his summer residence outside Rome. "I send a heartfelt appeal to the fighting factions to allow the population means to live and to avoid atrocities and massacres, looting, and depredation." Congo has been embroiled in violence since August 2 when President Laurent Kabila ordered Rwandan soldiers who helped him come to power last year to leave the country.

      "I ask all the forces implicated in the country's destiny to honor negotiations," he said. "This is the humanitarian road, reasonable and still possible, capable of preventing further tears and mourning and leading to a peaceful and long term solution which would prevent the conflict breaching the country's borders."

      The Holy Father, notably, did not make any reference to Thursday's attack by the United States against terrorist operations in Sudan and Afghanistan.

Catholic Zealots continue to ignore cross boycott and plant ever more crosses at Auschwitz

     Despite pleas from bishops and clergy of Poland to not plant any more controversial crosses on a plot of land where the Holy Father prayed for the countless victims of Nazi aberrations at Auschwitz in Poland, more Catholics defied the request, adding fifty more crosses to the already 100 that were previously planted on this property annexed by the Polish government which is at a stalemate, because of legal reasons, to prevent it. The recent action has further infuriated Jewish interests who are strongly opposed to any Christian symbols at Auschwitz for they maintain they have a monopoly on the deaths at the Nazi death camp. For more, click on Auschwitz.

      OSWIECIM, Poland (CWNews.com) - Catholic groups on Sunday continued to erect dozens of crosses near the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, despite pleas by clergy and the protestations of Jewish leaders.

      More than 50 crosses, most nearly 13-feet tall, were added to the field of over 100 crosses as part of a campaign to prevent the original cross located in the field from being moved as demanded by Jewish groups. The original 26-foot cross was erected after Pope John Paul II prayed at the spot in 1979. Jewish groups said the presence of religious symbols at the location where more than 1 million Jews were murdered is an offense to their religion. The sponsors of the field of crosses said they want the cross to stay in memorial of the thousands of Polish Catholics also killed in the camps.

      Poland's bishops have said the placement of the crosses is irresponsible after initially taking a neutral stance. The Polish government canceled the lease on the property currently held by a war victims' group, but a legal challenge has delayed further action.

20,000 Catholics and Protestants pray together to end senseless violence in Northern Ireland

     An impressive array of Catholic and Protestants gathered together in Omagh, Northern Ireland Saturday to honor the twenty-eight citizens killed in a car-bomb a week earlier. Throughout the emerald isle all paused for a minute of silence to memorialize the dead and resolve to end the violence, including splinter groups who previously had been at odds. This tragedy has brought them together in an effort to strive for the peace accord first signed on Good Friday of this year. For more, click on Northern Ireland Memorial.

      OMAGH, Northern Ireland (CWNews.com) - Hundreds of thousands of people across Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic paused for a moment of silence on Saturday to mark the one week anniversary of a bombing that killed 28 people and wounded hundreds more. Meanwhile, a republican splinter group pledged to end their campaign of violence.

      More than 20,000 Protestants and Catholics crowded into Omagh's center for a tearful memorial service, and the rest of Ireland paused for a silent minute as they stood in churches, shops, town squares, and stadiums. The leaders of the country's Christian denominations -- Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican, and Methodist -- had called for a moment of silence at 3:10 pm, one week after a faction of the Irish Republican Army set off a car bomb in the crowded market center of Omagh.

      The bombers, the so-called Real IRA, claimed last Wednesday that they did not intend to kill the civilians and pledged to intend their armed revolution. Another violent splinter group, the Irish National Liberation Army, joined the cease-fire on Saturday, saying: "Armed struggle can never be the only option for revolutionaries."

On eve of anniversary of Princess Di's death, former Anglican head criticizes those who deified her

     After almost a year of frenzy in the media and public elevating Princess Diana Spencer to the status of a goddess who could do no wrong, the former head of the Anglican Church spoke out strongly in crushing the myth by asserting that the world has deified her into someone she wasn't and, in the process, England has turned into a "godless nation." Rather Lord Coggan, former Archbishop of Canterbury, criticized her loose lifestyle asserting that the divorced princess of Prince Charles, who was killed tragically in a car crash in a Paris tunnel nearly a year ago, should not be exemplified, honored or praised for her lifestyle. For more, click on Princess Di is no goddess

      LONDON (CWNews.com) - The former archbishop of Canterbury called the late Princess Diana a "false goddess" leading Britain astray, The Sunday Times newspaper reported.

      Lord Coggan told the newspaper that the national obsession with the princess, who died in a car accident nearly a year ago, has turned Britain into a godless nation. "Along came this false goddess and filled the gap for a time," said the former archbishop. "The British people identified with someone who had pretty loose morals and certainly loose sexual morals."

      Lord Coggan was the spiritual leader of the Anglican church from 1974 to 1980.

For more headlines and articles, we suggest you go to the Catholic World News site. CWN is not affiliated with the Daily CATHOLIC but provides this service via e-mail to the Daily CATHOLIC Monday through Friday.

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August 25, 1998 volume 9, no. 166   DAILY CATHOLIC