Saints of the Day & More

Saint Robert was born in the district of Craven, near Skipton in North Yorkshire, probably in the village of Gargrave. He studied at the University of Paris, where he is said to have composed a commentary - since lost - on the Psalms. He became a parish priest, returning to serve in his hometown of Gargrave, where he was made rector. He later became a Benedictine at Whitby, joining a band of monks from Saint Mary's Abbey in York. They established a monastery in the winter of 1132 in a valley near Skeldale, on land given them by Archbishop Thurston. The first two years were difficult, and the monks struggled in extreme poverty. Initially they lived in a makeshift structure on the banks of the River Skell. But despite the hardships, the monks were known for their holiness, austerity, and dedication to the strict Benedictine way of life. Eventually, their fame brought a new novice, Hugh, Dean of York, who relinquished all his wealth to the community, and allowed for the building of mo...

St. Boniface was born at Crediton, or Kirton, in Devonshire, about the year 680, and at his baptism named Winfrid. When he was but five years old, his chief delight was to hear holy men converse about God and heavenly things. The edifying deportment and holy instructions of certain pious monks, who, being employed in preaching in that country, happened to come to his father's house, gave him a strong desire to devote himself to God in a religious state; and though he was then only a child, the deep impressions which their words left upon his heart were never after effaced. His father exerted his whole authority to divert him from his inclination to a monastic life; till being visited by a dangerous sickness, he acknowledged in it the hand of God, chastising him for opposing his son's vocation, which he from that time gave him free leave to pursue. Winfrid was educated from thirteen years of age in the monastery of Escancester, or Exeter, under the holy abbot Wolphard. With the ...

The life of St George is popular in Europe during the Middle Ages, thanks to a rather "sober" in their reporting. According to legend, the saint was a Christian knight who seriously injured a swamp dragon that terrorized the inhabitants of a small town. The people seized with fear was about to flee, when St. George said he had only to believe in Jesus Christ for the dragon died. The king and his subjects became the point and the monster died. By then broke the cruel persecution of Diocletian and Maximian, the saint then began to encourage those who hesitate in the faith, for which he received cruel punishment and torture, but all in vain. The emperor ordered the beheading of the saint, a sentence that was carried out without difficulty, but when Diocletian returned from the execution site was consumed by fire down from heaven. This popular version of the saint's life, which actually leads to St. George was truly a martyr Diospolis (ie Lydda) in Palestine, probably before ...

Father John Ogilvie came from a noble family. He was born in Drum-na-Kelth (Scotland) in 1579 and was educated in Calvinism. At thirteen, his father sent him to France, Italy and Germany to give a more complete education. They had their first contacts with Catholicism as religious disputes were very popular in those places. He converted to Catholicism and was received into the Church of Scotland College of Louvain in 1596, seventeen. Embracing the Catholic faith meant for John to break with the family and the loss of support that she received, a waiver to a brilliant career and the pursuit reserved for traitors. On November 15, 1599 entered the Jesuit novitiate in Brno, studied philosophy at Gratz, was a professor at the Jesuit college in Vienna and eventually studied theology at Olmütz, being ordained a priest in Paris in 1610. After three years of pastoral life in the city of Rouen got permission to go to England. He arrived in Scotland, under the guidance of an ex, dedicated to hors...

Saint Serapion of Algiers was born in Ireland in 1179. He was a Mercedarian friar who is venerated as a martyr by the Catholic Church, and as a proto-martyr by the Mercedarian Order. According to tradition, he was born either in Ireland or England and served in the armies of Richard the Lion-Heart and Leopold VI during the Crusades. He then participated in the Reconquista, serving in the army of Alfonso VIII. He met St. Peter Nolasco and became a Mercedarian in 1222. The Mercedarians’ goal was to free Christian captives held by Muslim states, and Serapion offered himself as a hostage at Algiers in exchange for some Christian captives. When the ransom money did not arrive in time Serapion was killed. According to Christian tradition, he was nailed on an X-shaped cross and was dismembered. He died on November 14 1240 in Algiers. Prayer Father may the martyrdom of your proto-martyr of the order devoted to our mother of mercy. Be an example of strength in faith in you forever. We ask yhis...