Saints of the Day & More

The Virgin Mary, illuminated by God, he felt anxious to go visit her cousin Elizabeth. In his advanced age, was pregnant with God nothing is impossible. He had in mind the words of Paul to the Corinthians: "Charity is kind, does not seek only their own interest, and endures all things." A great apostle of the Universal Church, St. Ambrose, says these words about this day: "It was Mary who came forward to greet the first. She is the one who always comes forward to give demonstrations of affection to those you love." Mary does not seek reputation, fame or praise as in many of the views of our day. As I was filled with the grace of God, filled the house of her cousin of blessings. "As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit." Her cousin, very grateful, he said: "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of the womb. Whence to me that the mother of my Lord should come...

St. Joan of Arc is the patroness of soldiers and of France. On January 6, 1412, Joan of Arc was born to pious parents of the French peasant class, at the obscure village of Domremy, near the province of Lorraine. At a very early age, she heard voices: those of St. Michael, St. Catherine and St. Margaret. At first the messages were personal and general. Then at last came the crowning order. In May, 1428, her voices "of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret" told Joan to go to the King of France and help him reconquer his kingdom. For at that time the English king was after the throne of France, and the Duke of Burgundy, the chief rival of the French king, was siding with him and gobbling up evermore French territory. After overcoming opposition from churchmen and courtiers, the seventeen year old girl was given a small army with which she raised the seige of Orleans on May 8, 1429. She then enjoyed a series of spectacular military successes, during which the King was ab...

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...

Born in 923, probably in the Château de Menthon near Annecy, in Savoy; died at Novara, 1008. He was descended from a rich, noble family and received a thorough education. He refused an honorable marriage proposed by his father and decided to devote himself to the service of the Church. Sneaking away from the chateau the day before the wedding, he fled to Italy and joined the Benedictine order. Placing himself under the direction of Peter, Archdeacon of Aosta, under whose guidance he rapidly progressed, Bernard was ordained priest and on account of his learning and virtue was made Archdeacon of Aosta in 966, having charge of the government of the diocese under the bishop. Seeing the old pagan ways still prevailing among the people of the Alps, he resolved to devote himself to their conversion. For forty-two years he continued to preach the Gospel to these people and even into many cantons of Lombardy, effecting numerous conversions and working many miracles. In popular legend it is said...

Ethelbert, He married Berta Christian princess, daughter of the king of Paris, he asked her to be erected a church and some Christian priests hold sacred rites there. When Pope Gregory the Great heard the news, concluded that the time was ripe for the evangelization of the island. Entrusted with the mission to the prior of the Benedictine monastery of Saint Andrew, whose main characteristic was not courage, but humility and docility. That monk was Augustine. In 597 out of Rome leading a group of forty monks. He stopped at the island of Lerins. Here is discussed the bellicose temperament of the Saxons, and it terrified him to the point of him back to Rome to ask the pope to change his program. To encourage him, Gregory was appointed abbot and soon after, almost to make him take the final step, as soon came to Gaul, he consecrated bishop. He continued his journey with short steps. Finally he came to the British island of Thenet, where the king was personally welcome the invitation of his...

Born in 1515 in Florence, he showed the impulsiveness and spontaneity of his character from the time he was a boy. In fact one incident almost cost him his life. Seeing a donkey loaded with fruit for market, the little boy had barely formed the thought of jumping on the donkey's back before he had done it. The donkey, surprised, lost his footing, and donkey, fruit, and boy tumbled into the cellar with the boy winding up on the bottom! Miraculously he was unhurt. His father was not successful financially and at eighteen Philip was sent to work with an older cousin who was a successful businessman. During this time, Philip found a favorite place to pray up in the fissure of a mountain that had been turned into a chapel. We don't know anything specific about his conversion but during these hours of prayer he decided to leave worldly success behind and dedicate his life to God. After thanking his cousin, he went to Rome in 1533 where he was the live-in tutor of the sons of a fellow...

Toribio was born April 16, 1900 in Santa Ana De Guadalupe, Jalostotitlán, Jalisco, Mexico. He was baptized April 18, 1900 two days after he was born. He was baptized by Fr. Miguel Diaz Orozco. In August of 1901 Toribio was confirmed by Francisco Campos Bishop of Tabasco. Toribio was part of a very religious family. In a special way his sister Maria took care of him and inspired Toribio to the Religious life of a Priest. When he was seven one Easter morning he received his First Holy Communion. When he was nine his parents let him go to Jalostotitlán where Toribo attended school named Escuela De Rayitos. In this time he was an altar server in the church of La Santisima Virgen De la Asuncion, who he prayed to all his life. When the bells rang for Mass at 6 AM Toribio accompanied by his sister; he assisted in the Holy Sacrifice of Mass, where Toribio borrowed his service as an altar server with great devotion. Before returning to school at night Toribio went to visited the blessed sacrame...

St. Quintin was a Roman, descended of a senatorial family, and is called by his historian the son of Zeno. Full of zeal for the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and burning with a holy desire to make his powerful name and the mysteries of his love and mercy known among the infidels, he left his country, renounced all prospects of preferment, and, attended by St. Lucian of Beauvais, made his way to Gaul. They preached the faith together in that country till they reached Amiens, in Picardy, where they parted. Lucian went to Beauvais, and having sown the seeds of divine faith in the hearts of many, received the crown of martyrdom in that city. St. Quintin stayed at Amiens, endeavouring by his prayers and labours to make that country a portion of our Lord's inheritance. God made him equally powerful in words and works, and his discourses were authorized and strongly recommended by great numbers of miracles, and illustrated and enforced by a most holy and mortified life. The reward of his chari...

The Jews held a feast to give thanks for the harvest, 50 days after Easter. Hence the name Pentecost. Then the meaning of the celebration changed to give thanks for the Law given to Moses. In this event recalled the day when Moses went to Mount Sinai and received the tablets of the law and taught the people of Israel what God wanted of them. And celebrated the alliance of the Old Testament God established with the people: they are committed to live according to His commandments and God promised to be with them forever. People came from many places at the Temple of Jerusalem, the feast of Pentecost. As part of this Jewish holiday is where comes our Christian festival of Pentecost. The Promise of the Holy Spirit At the Last Supper, Jesus promised to his apostles: "My Father will give you another Advocate, who will be with you forever-the Spirit of Truth" (John 14, 16-17). Later they said: "I have said these things while I am with you, but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who...

Etymologically means "God willing." It comes from the Latin language. This young bishop died in 603 such a day like today. Given their merits, virtues and its unconditional surrender to the other, agreed to be a young bishop. When his apostolate was brilliant and everyone will profess a great affection, he had the terrible Brunehaut, the woman who ruled Austrasia in the name of his grandson Thierry II had only fifteen. Didier had no hairs on the tongue. So he had no choice but to strike hard the vices of the court, especially the rapes and all other scandals of the sort. The Brunhault, on their own, convened a council at Chalon with the sole intention that this man of God may be silent. The year was 602. The holy bishop was faced with a woman named Justa - that its name has only letters - which complained to everyone that Didier had raped her. To confirm his claim, he was an employee of Thierry, to say that he witnessed the rape. Speak to what the bishops speak of Lyon and ot...

Known as the "Saint of the Impossible". Rita Lotti was born in 1381 in the tiny hamlet of Roccaporena, near Cascia, in the Province of Umbria, Italy. Her parents Antonio and Amata looked upon their only child as a very special gift from God since she was born to them as they were already getting on in years. The Lottis were a devout Christian couple, offering their daughter the witness of strong faith in God and a practical example of Gospel living, especially in their role as official peacemakers or reconcilers among their fellow citizens. It should not have been surprising then that Rita, who shared her parents strong faith and religious devotion, would have desired to dedicate her life to God as a nun. Unexpected, rather, was the response of Antonio and Amata, who preferred to see Rita married, and who, in fact, had arranged a suitable husband for her. Though initially disappointed, Rita understood this choice to be the expression of God’s will for her and so she consented...

The Pazzi family, whose name is linked to the conspiracy against the Medici Grand Duke, in times of our holy, it was still the most important in Florence. Catherine de 'Pazzi (Mary Magdalene is the name of the holy Carmelite who took the day of her religious profession) was born in 1566 in a century rich in events in the civil and religious history in Italy and characterized by exceptional flowering of great saints. Maria Magdalena de Pazzi also participated in the historical and social situation of his time writing letters very brave to the Pope, cardinals, bishops and princes, noting the causes of the evils afflicting the Church, which she attributed to spiritual shortcomings of Christians and their pastors. This is a wonderful side of the saint associated with the passion of Christ with the stigmata and other mystical phenomena as visions, ecstasy, rapture, during which was difficult theological issues. Three sisters, responsible for the spiritual director, transcribed the revel...

In 1408 St. Vincent Ferrer once suddenly interrupted his sermon to declare that there was among his hearers a young Franciscan who would be one day a greater preacher than himself, and would be set before him in honor by the Church. This unknown friar was Bernardine. Of noble birth, he had spent his youth in works of mercy, and had then entered religion. Owing to a defective utterance, his success as a preacher at first seemed doubtful, but, by the prayers of Our Lady, this obstacle was miraculously removed, and Bernardine began an apostolate which lasted thirty-eight years. By his burning words and by the power of the Holy Name of Jesus, which he displayed on a tablet at the end of his sermons, he obtained miraculous conversions, and reformed the greater part of Italy. But this success had to be exalted by the cross. The Saint was denounced as a heretic and his devotion as idolatrous. After many trials he lived to see his innocence proved, and a lasting memorial of his work establishe...

Maria Bernarda (of first name: Verena) was born and baptized in Auw (canton of Aargau, Switzerland) on May 28, 1848. It was the fourth daughter of Henry and Catherine Butler, humble peasants and practicing Catholics. At the end of basic school education, was devoted to domestic chores and work in the field. In his youth entered a nunnery. Feeling that God called her to live in that place, returned to her parents, where, our work, prayer and apostolate, continued to feed his vocation until, on November 12, 1867, at 19 years old, entered the Franciscan Monastery of Mary Help of Christians, in Altstätten (Switzerland). On May 4, 1868 took the Franciscan habit, taking the religious name Maria Bernarda of the Sacred Heart of Mary. He made his religious profession on October 4, 1869. Noted for his profound virtue and his human qualities, therefore, soon to be appointed master of novices and, later, superior service, who served until his departure for missions. When Archbishop Peter Schumache...

Saint Venantius was according to Christian tradition a 15-year old who was tortured, and martyred by decapitation at Camerino during the persecutions of Decius. Martyred with him were 10 other Christians, including the priest Porphyrius, Venantius' tutor; and Leontius, bishop of Camerino. Before Venantius was killed, he was scourged, burned with flaming torches, hanged upside-down over a fire, had his teeth knocked out and his jaw broken, thrown to the lions, and tossed over a high cliff. His 11th century Acts state additionally that he managed to briefly escape from Camerino and hide at Raiano, where a church was later dedicated to him.

The son of humble peasants, Martin Baylon and Elizabeth Yubero, St. Paschal was born on May 16, 1540 in Torrehermosa, Aragón (Spain). The second of six children. Pascual called him because he was born on the eve of Pentecost. From 7 to 24 years as a shepherd. Such was his love for the Eucharist that the owner of the herd said the best gift you could give the child was one day enable him to attend weekday Mass. From the field where the pastor could see the steeple of the village church. Every now and then knelt to adore the Blessed Sacrament from afar. One day, while the priest consecrated, other shepherds heard him shout: "There he comes, there it is!". He fell to his knees. He had seen Jesus coming at the time. The Lord appeared to him several times as manly or bright star. Since childhood was harsh penances, such as walking barefoot through stony roads. When a sheep going to the paddock next door, paid the low wages of the grass that the sheep had eaten. Sign in with Franc...

Saint Simon Stock was born of one of the most illustrious Christian families of England, at the castle of Harford in 1164. Certain prodigies marked him, while an infant in the cradle, as a soul chosen by the Mother of God for Her own. Not yet one year old, he was heard to say the Angelic Salutation distinctly, before he had reached the age to learn it. As soon as he could read he began to recite the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin, and he would never cease to do so daily. He read Holy Scripture on his knees at the age of six. He became the object of the jealous persecution of one of his brothers, and at the age of twelve determined to leave and go to live in a forest. He found a very large hollow tree which became his oratory; and there Simon Stock lived like an angel of the desert. There he triumphed over the demon, as he would later tell his religious, only by the assistance of the Most Holy Virgin. When, deprived in his retreat of the Sacraments, he suffered sharp remorse and fe...

"On the fortieth day after the resurrection, he ascended into heaven with his body, in which he had risen, and his soul, and took his seat at the right hand of the Father; thence on the tenth day he sent the Holy Spirit" (Profession of Faith by Pope St. Leo IX, 1053). Jesus ascended into heaven body and soul, by His own power. He now sits at the right hand of His Father, enthroned, even insofar as He is man, as King of the Universe. From heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to assist His Church, and there He pleads for us as our Mediator and Advocate with the Father. He remains present in His Church through the Mass and the sacraments, the liturgy, the Gospels, and especially through His real presence, body, blood, soul and divinity, in the Holy Eucharist.

Isidore was born in Madrid April 4 1082. He lived humbly. Because of the Arabic invasions he moved to a small village near Seville. A little after he moved he got married to Maria De la Cabeza, who was also declared a saint. Around 1109 he returned to Madrid and worked for a rich family. During that time his only son Juan was born. His boss told him he can not go to daily mass. His neighbors accused him to his boss that he would leave work to hear mas; but Isidore responded to him "I know sir,that I am your servant; but but I have another calling, the one of service and obedience." His life as a laborer was a good one. He also demonstrated his devotion to Saint Mary Madelene. One day he went to work very early. That morning he had gone to mass. the other worker saw he was not there so they all left. Isidore got there but saw no one. He did four times the work; his work and three others work. He started to pray when two angels came and helped him work. His boss was going out s...

Their legend states that Victor was a Roman soldier of Italian ancestry, serving in the city of Damascus in Syria during the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius. He was tortured -including having his eyes gouged out- by a commander named Sebastian. While he was suffering from these tortures, the sixteen-year old spouse of one of his brothers-in-arms, named Corona, comforted and encouraged him. For this, she was arrested and interrogated. According to the passio of Corona, which is considered largely fictional, Corona was bound to two bent palm trees and torn apart as the trunks were released.Victor was beheaded in Damascus in 160 AD. Other sources state that they were husband and wife.

On Sunday, 13 May 1917, ten year old Lúcia Santos and her younger cousins, siblings Jacinta and Francisco Marto, were tending sheep at a location known as the Cova da Iria near their home village of Fátima in Portugal. Lúcia described seeing a woman "brighter than the sun, shedding rays of light clearer and stronger than a crystal ball filled with the most sparkling water and pierced by the burning rays of the sun." Further appearances are reported to have taken place on the thirteenth day of the month in June and July. In these, the woman exhorted the children to do penance and to make sacrifices to save sinners. The children subsequently wore tight cords around their waists to cause pain, abstained from drinking water on hot days, and performed other works of penance. Most importantly, Lúcia said that the lady had asked them to pray the rosary every day, repeating many times that the rosary was the key to personal and world peace. This had particular resonance since many Po...

It was under the persecution of Domitian, during which John the Evangelist was condemned to be burned alive in the cauldron of boiling oil, that Flavia Domitilla was honored with banishment and death for the sake of our Redeemer, whom she had chosen for her Spouse. She was of the imperial family, being a niece of Flavius Clemens, who adorned the consular dignity by martyrdom. She was one of the Christians belonging to the court of the Emperor Domitian, who show us how rapidly the religion of the poor and humble made its way to the highest classes of Roman life. A few years previous to this, St Paul sent to the Christians of Philippi the greetings of the Christians of Nero's palace. There is still extant, not far from Rome, on the Ardeatine Way, the magnificent subterranean cemetery which Flavia Domitilla ordered to be dug on her praedium, and in which were buried the two martyrs, Nereus and Achilleus, whom the Church honors today together with the noble virgin who owes her crown to...

Saint Francis was born in Grottaglie, near Taranto, on December 17, 1642. This eloquent Jesuit missionary, who was called "the apostle of Naples", distinguished himself by his boundless zeal for the conversion of sinners and his love for the poor, the sick and the oppressed. In 1666, before the age of 24 years, San Francisco was ordained a priest. During the next five years, he taught at the "Collegio dei Nobili" which the Jesuits had in Naples. At 28 he entered the Society of Jesus. From 1671-1674, he assisted in the missionary work to the famous preacher Agnello Bruno. After completing his studies in theology, he was named the top man of the Church of the Gesu Nuovo in Naples. It is said that made at least 400 per year sinners. The Holy visiting prisons, hospitals and did not hesitate to follow the sinners to the dens of vice, where sometimes he was brutally abused. St. Francis died on May 11, 1716 and was buried in the Church of the Jesuits in Naples. His canoniz...

The Leper Priest, the Hero of Molokai. Born in Tremelo, Belgium, on January 3, 1840, he joined the Sacred Hearts Fathers in 1860. He was bom Joseph and received the name Damien in religious life. In 1864, he was sent to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he Was ordained. For the next nine years he worked in missions on the big island, Hawaii. In 1873, he went to the leper colony on Molokai, after volunteering for the assignment. Damien cared for lepers of all ages, but was particularly concerned about the children segregated in the colony. He announced he was a leper in 1885 and continued to build hospitals, clinics, and churches, and some six hundred coffins. He died on April 15 , on Molokai. Slandered by a Protestant minister, Mr. Hyde, Damien was defended by Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote an impassioned defense of Damien in 1905. He was declared venerable in 1977. Pope John Paul II declared him beatified on June 4, 1995.

St. Pachomius was born about 292 in the Upeer Thebaid in Egypt and was inducted into the Emperor's army as a twenty-year-old. The great kindness of Christians at Thebes toward the soldiers became embedded in his mind and led to his conversion after his discharge. After being baptized, he became a disciple of an anchorite, Palemon, and took the habit. The two of them led a life of extreme austerity and total dedication to God; they combined manual labor with unceasing prayer both day and night. Later, Pachomius felt called to build a monastery on the banks of the Nile at Tabennisi; so about 318 Palemon helped him build a cell there and even remained with him for a while. In a short time some one hundred monks joined him and Pachomius organized them on principles of community living. So prevalent did the desire to emulate the life of Pachomius and his monks become, that the holy man was obliged to establish ten other monasteries for men and two nunneries for women. Before his death i...

Saint Agathius also known as Achatius or Acacius of Byzantium. was a Cappadocian centurion of the imperial army. He was arrested for his faith on charges by Tribune Firmus in Perinthus, Thrace, tortured, and then brought to Byzantium where he was scourged and beheaded, being made a martyr because he would not give up his Christian Faith. Constantine the Great built a church in his honour. His relics were translated ca. 630 to a spring at Squillace, close by the Vivarium, the monastery founded in the previous century by Cassiodorus in the heel of Italy. He was known in Squillace as San Agario. A relic of his arm was brought to Guardavalle in 1584 by the bishop of Squillace, Marcello Sirleto, hence Agathius' patronage of this city. Relics from Squillace were also brought to Cuenca and Ávila in Spain, where he is known as San Acato.

The story reminds the King Boleslaw II of Poland (1058-1079) for his military victories that solidified its young state and expanded, the development of land which he promoted a new regional organization, and legal and economic reforms. But the first Polish historian, Vicente Kadlubeck, this king also recalls the grave injustices and private conduct immoral. But on his way Boleslav found a severe censor. Like John the Baptist for Herod, the brave bishop of Krakow, Stanislaw, raised his voice, warning the sovereign power over the duty to respect the rights of others. Stanislaus was born in Szczepanowski (Poland) by the year 1030, of parents rather poor. He made his first studies with the Benedictines of Krakow, and then perfected in Belgium and Paris. When he returned to his country, was distinguished for his zeal and by the charitable initiatives carried out with charity and intelligence. Dead Bishop of Krakow, Pope Alexander III appointed him his successor. His appointment was promote...

St. Dominic Savio was born in Italy in 1842. One day when he was just four, he disappeared and his good mother went looking for him. She found the little fellow in a corner praying with his hands joined and his head bowed. He already knew all his prayers by heart! At five, he was an altar boy. When he was seven, he received his First Holy Communion. On that solemn day, he chose a motto: "Death, but not sin!" and he kept it always. "A teenager such as Dominic, who bravely struggled to keep his innocence from Baptism to the end of his life, is really a saint," said Pope St. Pius X. Yes, Dominic was an ordinary boy with an extraordinary love for God. At the age of twelve, Dominic entered the school run by John Bosco. Everyone in the school saw from the way he prayed that this boy was different. He greatly loved all the boys, and even though he was younger, he used to worry about them. He was afraid that they would lose the grace of God by sinning. One day, a fellow bro...

Born in Jerusalem, within a family of Jewish converts. In the early death of his twin brother, St. Angelus decided to enter the Carmelite Order, and is admitted to the monastery on Mount Caramel in Palestine. In the thirteenth century, the Carmelites went from being a contemplative order to become a mendicant order, remember that it was the century of the spiritual revolution of St. Francis of Assisi and Saint Dominic de Guzman. San Angel is eventually sent to Rome to deliver a message to Pope Honorius III. Then get the commission to go to Sicily to help preach against the heresy of the Cathars, who had taken control of the island. However, shortly after his landing in Sicily, St. Angelus was killed by treachery with five stab wounds in the back, ordered by the leader of heretics. At the site where a church was built died, and his tomb soon became a pilgrimage site. The Carmelite Order St. Angelus venerated as a saint at least since 1456. In 1459 Pope Pius II approved his cult. St. A...