My Dear Devotees of Saint Philomena,
    I hope to find you all well and the same goes for  your family and friends.
    I have been very busy here at the Sanctuary during this long period of silence and delay in sending out our regular newsletter. I will update you with the main events regard the devotion to our dear Saint Philomena.
    I am working with the webmaster on the structure of the new web sites, which we are putting together in  various languages and proofreading the existing texts, therefore you may find that some pages of the websites may not open as they have been blocked for revision. We have just finished the new website specially designed for the devotional items of Saint Philomena; you will find further information and link further below. I have also personally worked hard on the last revisions of my new book on Saint Philomena, which will be published and ready in Italian by the end of this month. The title of the Book is “Testimony of the light of Christ”. It comprises 26 years of my hard work and studies on the Filomenian Question.
   In this newsletter, you will find some of the events that have taken place since the beginning of the year 2010. The annual patronage and blessing of the sacred oil of Saint Philomena, which took place on the 17th January 2010. My first official journey to Molve, Croatia, to meet up with various devotees of Croatia and for a special liturgical event.
   As we are leading up to Easter! The Holy week is the preparation of the memorial of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. These are the days of penitence, almsgiving, self denial, meditation and reconciliation with God through the grace of the Risen Christ.
   During these days of the Holy season we must be like the Prodigal Son, in need of returning to God Our Father that waits on us with the love of a Father. Don’t remember the things of the past, forget whatever is behind our shoulders and free oneself from the weight of our sins.
   A Christian must always have the courage to always start from the beginning, cancelling the past and begin a new life. For a Christian and principally for the devotees of the “Martyr of Christ” Saint Philomena, the holy week and the Easter season must mark a moment of rebirth and renewal.
   During this time of the Passion of Christ and Holy Easter, I will commit my humble priestly prayers towards all your problems: your daily worries, your anxiety, children,  the suffering devotees, the sick, to our brothers of Haiti and Chile hit by the earthquakes and for the peace of Christ our Lord for the worldwide centers of the Filomenian family.
  With pastoral love, I also exhort you to  the participation of  the Sacraments of the Church, by going to confession and Holy Mass with joy in your heart, through prayer which is “The power of God”, by reciting the Holy Rosary and the chaplet of Saint Philomena for a good preparation to the Paschal Mystery.
   In conclusion, I wish you and all your families a serene and peaceful Easter and may you relive in your hearts the Easter joy similar to the community of the first Christians of the Church; of whom when meeting used to greet each other in the following way: “Brother, Christ has Risen” and the other would reply “Brother,  He has also Risen in my heart”.
   Thanking you all with great gratitude for all that you do in supporting the Sanctuary and the promotion of the devotion towards the “Princess of Heaven” during this “Year for priest”. With all my heart I wish you all a Holy Easter in the love of Jesus and Mary with the benediction of Saint Philomena.

                             
  THE RECTOR
Msg. Giovanni Braschi

SOME GOOD LINKS FOR THE EASTER SEASON
We have put some good web links together through some internet research, for you to share with all your friends and family to read, watch and use for all the Easter season.
Please just click on the following links:

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI FOR LENT 2010
Here is Benedict XVI's message for Lent, The message has as its theme: "The Justice of God Has Been Manifested Through Faith in Jesus Christ."

Prayers for Holy Week and Easter:

On Sunday the 17th January 2010 , we celebrated the patronage and annual blessing of Saint Philomena's Sacramental blessed oil. With the participation of over 1000 devotees and pilgrims, which all came in with the donation of the oil and so many other gifts. We also had the pleasure to have the first official pilgrimage from Wallis- Fotuna come for the special event and stay in the Sanctuary’s pilgrim home for 4 days. During the celebration of the Mass, all the oil and gifts were blessed, plus special prayers were said for all the worldwide devotees.
As many of you already know, this is the blessed oil which will be used during the year to lighten the lamp which burns before Saint Philomena's Sacred Body and also the only blessed oil to be distributed among the devotees.
The Solemn celebration of the annual Patronage and blessing of the exclusive sacramental oil of St. Philomena is held every year on the first Sunday after the 10th January. This blessed oil must only come from this Sanctuary, which is the only place in the world where Her Sacred Body lies since the 10th August 1805.
The Oil of St. Philomena is a sacramental and any other oil not originating from the Sanctuary of St. Philomena in Mugnano del Cardinale – Avellino – Italy , simply is not St. Philomena oil. The blessed oil is distributed to our official approved worldwide Centers and to all the devotees that make a request.
This Holy Oil CANNOT BE REPLICATED; please distrust in any other organization that may distribute oil which is not the original blessed oil of St. Philomena and does not come in the original red bottles of the Sanctuary, shown in the following pictures.

Fr. Giovanni Braschi’s first official visit in Molve, Croatia From the 29th January – 1 February 2010

Msg. Giovanni Braschi , the Rector of the Sanctuary, was pleased to make his first official visit to the Church of Assumption in Molve, Croatia for a very special annual gathering which takes place every year in January, with the participation of over 500 devotees which united together from various parts of Croatia. The event was very special and he was emotionally touched by the great welcome and hospitality which was given to him during his stay and Liturgical celebration. It was a great honor to be invited by   Reverend Father Ivan Poleto of the Church with St. Philomena in Molve, Croatia. He is very devoted to St. Philomena and is also the Priest that discovered that the statue in his church was walled up under the altar, by reading through old documented books he found in the Church on his arrival as Pastor, with this he dismantled the wall to see if it was true and as the documents said, there lies a beautiful Statue of our Dear Princess. The devotees of Croatia have great love and devotion towards our dear Princess.
Some pictures of the event and Pictures of the Church of the Aussmption in Molve, near Zagrab Croatia, with the Statue of St. Philomena under one of the Altars.

Saint Philomena Football team in Mugnano del Cardinale, Avellino, Italy.

We Welcome you all to our new web site with the  devotional items of Saint Philomena. This site is designed to give the worldwide devotees of Saint Philomena the possibility to receive the original devotional items of our dear Saint. As many do not have the possibilities to visit the Sanctuary of Saint Philomena here in Mugnano del Cardinale, Avellino, Italy. Saint Philomena’s home on earth and also the home of all the Filomenian devotees. The sale and donations of these devotional items, go towards the daily costs of the up keeping and maintenance work of the Sanctuary. Thanking you all for your support” All devotional items are  blessed  before  shipping.

Please click on the following link to visit our new St. Philomena devotional items web site:

Please visit our official web site often and if possible sign up to our forum on our English website so we can send you our regular online newsletters, as it is continuous contact and news directly from the Sanctuary, keeping updated with all the worldwide events.

Support the Sanctuary of Saint Philomena
“To love Saint Philomena is to love Her Sanctuary Her home on earth”
If you can, please send a donation, if not pray for the works of the Sanctuary, tell people about them and spread the devotion to our Little Saint.
Ways to send a donation  
If you are able to send a donation please send it direct to the Sanctuary. This is possible through various methods.
By personal check payable to the “ Sanctuary of St. Philomena” and make sure to send it through registered or express mail to the Sanctuary's address which is at the bottom of this newsletter.
Online with credit card or through www.Paypal.com to the Sanctuary's
e-mail address: SantaFilomena@philomena.it you will find further information and full procedure on our web site under the heading donate or by clicking the following donation button.

By bank transfer to the Sanctuary's Bank account:
SANTUARIO SANTA FILOMENA
BANCA DELLA CAMPANIA – fil n° 0007
BANK ACCOUNT: n° 1279013
SWIFT CODE: BPMOIT22
IBAN: IT19L0539275790000001279013
Please contact the Sanctuary direct for any further information you require.

PLEASE PASS OUR NEWSLETTERS ON TO YOUR FRIENDS AND OTHER DEVOTEES OF SAINT PHILOMENA YOU KNOW, TO KEEP THEM INFORMED OF THE REGULAR EVENTS AND NEWS DIRECT FROM THE SANCTUARY.