The feast of the Visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth recounted in the Gospel of Luke. Elizabeth welcomed Mary as “blessed among women", and Mary responded with her Magnificat. The feast was instituted in the thirteenth century; by then the event it commemorates was already a favorite of Christian artists.
In 1524, at Camerino, Italy, Blessed Battista Varano. Converted from a worldly life, she joined the Poor Clares. She enjoyed mystic gifts, and described them in her writings. She declared that she considered God’s graces “not so much as gifts, as deposits that He confided to my care, or rather as funds with which I should accrue benefits for Him.”
In 1787, Blessed Felix of Nicosia. He followed his father’s profession as a shoemaker. He applied to join the Capuchins for seven years before he was finally accepted into the order. He collected alms, prayed, healed illnesses, looked after prisoners, and nursed the sick.
Our daily martyrology was written by Fr. Hugh Feiss, OSB. Copyright © 2008 by the Monastery of the Ascension, Jerome, ID 83338.
