Saints of the Day & More

St. Michael When GOD created the angels, these beautiful spirits of light and love lived in the Kingdom of Heaven, when GOD created them he gave them holiness, beauty, and wisdom. GOD wanted to test the angels to see if they loved him before they saw him face to face in Heaven. Outof many angels, one of the most powerful angels was Lucifer, whose name meant "Receiver of Light." Glad with his power, he shouted a yell of disobedience yelling "I shall not serve GOD!" But another Archangel, Michael, shouted a yell of love and obedience yelling "Who is like GOD?!" In a great battle, the Good Angels threw the Evil Angels out of Heaven and into Hell. As a reward for his love and obedience GOD made Michael Prince of the Celestial Courts. Since the beginning of time, St. Michael was the chief of the temple chosen by GOD. In the new testament Michael is the Guardian Angel and protector of the Holy Catholic Church. The name Michael means "Who is like GOD?" ...

Elijah אֵלִיָּהו Eliyahu "God is the Lord " or " My God is Yahweh"One of the many compounds containing the names Tetragrammaton which represents the divine name. It was a prophet who lived in the ninth century BC Speak of him in Chapters 17 to 21 1 Kings and chapters 1 and 2 2 Kings. By 1 Kings 17:1 and 1:8 2Kings Tishbé was a native of the region Gilead, East of Jordan River. The prophetic ministry of Elijah begins in the reign Ahab, son OmriWho ruled Israel between 874 BC and 853 BC The authors of the Books of Kings, cited as a source for their stories another book now unknown, Annals of the Kings of Israel (1 Kings 22:39.) Possibly such source or another directly referring to the prophet, the story is drawn on the confrontation between Elijah and King Ahab who did evil in the eyes of the Lord more than all who preceded him and he married Jezebel Itobaal daughter , king of Sidon and went after BaalServed him and bowed down before him. Elijah suddenly appears in th...

Elizabeth was a Spanish princess who was given in marriage to King Denis of Portugal at the age of twelve. She was very beautiful and very lovable. She was also very devout, and went to Mass every day. Elizabeth was a holy wife, but although her husband was fond of her at first, he soon began to cause her great suffering. Though a good ruler, he did not imitate his wife's love of prayer and other virtues. In fact, his sins of impurity gave great scandle to the people. Later, to make matters worse, the King believed a lie told about Elizabeth and one of her pages by another page, who was jealous of his companion. In great anger the King ordered the one he believed guilty, to be sent to a lime-burner. The lime-burner was commanded to throw into his furnace the first page who came. The good page set out obediently, not knowing death was waiting for him. On his way he stopped for Mass, since he had the habit of going daily. The first Mass had begun, so he stayed for a second one. In th...

St. Bernardino Realino was born into a noble family of Capri, Italy in 1530. After receiving a thorough and devout Christian education at the hands of his mother, he went on to study medicine at the University of Bologna, but after three years he switched to law and received his doctorate in 1563. Word of his learning, dedication, and legal brilliance spread rapidly, and in 1554 he was summoned to Naples to assume the position of auditor and lieutenant general. Shortly afterward, his exemplary young man came to the realization that he had a religious vocation and, aided by our Lady's appearance to him, joined the Society of Jesus, being ordained in 1567. For three years he labored unstintingly at Naples, devoting himself wholeheartedly to the service of the poor and the youth, and then he was sent to Lecce where he remained for the last forty-two years of his life. St. Bernardino won widespread recognition as a result of his ceaseless apostolic labors. He was a model confessor, a p...

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...

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...

Born in Italy in 1474 and is credited with having founded the first female religious community to educate girls. She grew up in a peasant family in a believer, where every night reading the life of a saint, and that the aroused much and excited by religion. Lost her father and mother while still very young and it impressed her very much. After all her life she would ask God for forgiveness for not trusting enough in her youth in Divine Providence that no one leaves. Her childhood is very patient and has to work hard but that makes it strong and makes sympathetic to poor girls who need help in order to be adequately instructed. Franciscan Tertiary and is made without having primary school but, becomes Minister of governors, bishops,doctors of the church,and priests. It had received the Holy Spirit the gift of the Council, which consists of knowing what is best to do and avoid each time. Seeing that the girls who were not educated and free her from mortal danger, and that theories were n...

Anthony was born in the village of Comas, near Heraclea in Upper Egypt Two Greek philosophers ventured out into the Egyptian desert to the mountain where Anthony lived. When they got there, Anthony asked them why they had come to talk to such a foolish man? He had reason to say that -- they saw before them a man who wore a skin, who refused to bathe, who lived on bread and water. They were Greek, the world's most admired civilization, and Anthony was Egyptian, a member of a conquered nation. They were philosophers, educated in languages and rhetoric. Anthony had not even attended school as a boy and he needed an interpreter to speak to them. In their eyes, he would have seemed very foolish. But the Greek philosophers had heard the stories of Anthony. They had heard how disciples came from all over to learn from him, how his intercession had brought about miraculous healings, how his words comforted the suffering. They assured him that they had come to him because he was a wise man....

Macario was born in upper Egypt, around 300, and spent his youth as a shepherd. Driven by an intense grace, retired from an early age, confined to a narrow cell where he divided his time between prayer, penitential practices and the manufacture of mats. A woman falsely accused him that he had attempted to do violence. As a result, Macario was dragged through the streets, beaten and treated as hypocritical disguised as a monk. All suffered with patience, and even sent the woman the product of his work, saying: "Macario, now you have to work harder, because you have to hold to another." But God made known his innocence: the woman who had slandered him could not give birth until they revealed the name of the father of the child. This brings the fury of the people turned to admiration for the humility and patience of a saint. To escape the esteem of men, Macario took refuge in the vast desert Scete melancholy, when I was about thirty years. Here he lived sixty years and was the s...

With the shepherds spent a few days ago an unusual event that turned out well. Tended their herds to meet its tough job so strange when they saw a clear vision of angels as they were told at first incomprehensible things and soon established. Yes, there, in a CASUCO, was the Child of which he spoke with his mother and a boy. They did what they could in their crudeness and lack commanded by the circumstances. As I was assured it was the "light that illuminated the people who lived in the shadow of death" of what they gave to help and to look good with that family that seemed to be poorer than them. It was hard for them to accept the miracle that was so clear. The angels said, because ... were right. The Three Wise Men came about. They were the last to arrive to see if that Child and entertain a little more ... because you can not find it! Roads traveled widely around the world. They came from far away. It took fear, cold and heat. Until they were lost but, wondering and inquir...

John son of Zebedee and Salome, brother of James, was able to capture images with exquisite literary sublime thoughts of God. Man of spiritual elevation, is considered the eagle that rises to the dizzy heights of the Trinitarian mystery, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." It's the closest to Jesus and he is near at the most solemn of his life. It is with him at the Last Supper, during the process and, alone among the apostles, witnesses his death at the hand of the Virgin. At the foot of the cross John represented us when Jesus told him Mary was his mother. Making Mary our mother . But contrary to what may suggest the representations of art, John was not a fanciful and delicate man, and it would put the nickname Master him and his brother James - "sons of thunder" - to show us a lively temperament and impulsive, outside commitments and doubts, to seem intolerant. In the Gospel he presents himself as "the discipl...

St.Lucy was born in Sicily 283 AD.Lucy was a beautiful rich virgin.Lucy had a many young men who wanted to marry her.Lucy denied them because she took the vows of virginity.One day one young man saw her and asked to marry him.She denied him.He got frustrated at her and accused her of being Catholic.In 304 the emperor tried to make her denounce her faith.But she would always say "Long Live Christ the King and the Holy Spirit." So he asked her "Is the holy spirit in you?" She responded "Those who's hearts are pure are the temples of the Holy Spirit." The emperor was furious and told her furiously "Well I will make you fall in to the hands of sin and the Holy Spirit will abandon you." She responded again saying "I will never happen because the Holy Spirit will protect me." But nothing could make her sin. She said to them "Do you not see I am the temple of the Holy Spirit and that he protects me?" The emperor had her eyes take...

St. Catherine Laboure, virgin, was born on May 2, 1806. At an early age she entered the community of the Daughters of Charity, in Paris, France. Three times in 1830 the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Catherine Laboure, who then was a twenty-four year old novice. On July 18, the first apparition occurred in the community's motherhouse. St. Catherine beheld a lady seated on the right side of the sanctuary. When St. Catherine approached her, the heavenly visitor told her how to act in time of trial and pointed to the altar as the source of all consolation. Promising to entrust St. Catherine with a mission which would cause her great suffering, the lady also predicted the anticlerical revolt which occurred at Paris in 1870. On November 27, the lady showed St. Catherine the medal of the Immaculate Conception, now universally known as the "Miraculous Medal." She commissioned St. Catherine to have one made, and to spread devotion to this medal. At that time, only her spiritual dire...

Catherine was born 282, Alexandria, Egypt. Catherine was was virgin. She was very beautiful. Once the Emperor Maximinus of Rome was taking over Egypt, he saw how beautiful she was. He want her to marry him. He asked her to marry him she refused because, she took her vows of virginity. So he got angry he sent her to be tortured. She was imprisoned and the people who visited her converted when she spoke to them. The emperor was frustrated, so he had tortured on the breaking wheel. Once she touched the wheel the wheel broke it self. Finally she was beheaded. She died on earth but born in the glory of Christ 305, Alexandria, Egypt. She has many patronages here are some of them educators, girls, jurists, knife sharpeners, lawyers,and librarians. She is part of the fourteen holy helpers. It dosen't say when or by who she was canonized. Prayer Father may the blood of Catherine of Alexandria be a seed for us to be better christians so we too can give our blood for you. We ask this through ...

There were 117 catholics martyred in Vietnam from the years of 1625-1886. They were either Crucified, flogged, beheaded, starved and in the 1886 they were shot to death. There were many of our brothers and sisters that were killed for loving the Virgin Mary, Christ and adoring the Blessed Sacrament. Here are the names of all 117 of Our Fallen brothers and sister which were martyred in Vietnam, Agnes Le Thi Thanh, the mother of six Andrew Dung-Lac An Tran Andrew Thong Kim Nguyen Andrew Trong Van Tram Andrew Tuong Anthony Dich Nguyen Anthony Quynh Nam Augustine Huy Viet Phan Augustine Moi Van Nguyen Augustin Schoeffer Bernard Due Van Vo Dominic Hanh Van Nguyen Dominic Henares, a Dominican bishop from Spain Dominic Nicholas Dat Dinh Dominic Trach Doai Dominic Uy Van Bui Dominic Xuyen Van Nguyen Dominic Kham Viet Pham Dominic Tran Duy Ninh Dominic Cam Dominic Huyen Dominic Toai Dominic Mau Dominic Nhi Dominic Nguyen Dominic Mao Emmanuel Trieu Van Nguyen Francis Chieu Van Do Francis Gil de ...

Born in second century AD Rome. Cecilia was a marvelous musician. Cecilia was a virgin and also beautiful. Cecilia was to be wed at the age of thirteen. Every young man wanted to marry her. But her parents chose who she would marry. They chose a man named Valerian. In the evening of her wedding-day, with the music of the marriage-hymn ringing in her ears, Cecilia renewed the vow by which she had consecrated her virginity to God "Pure be my heart and undefiled my flesh; for I have a spouse you know not of—an angel of my Lord." She, her husband,and her brother were arrested.Her husband,and brother were killed first."Do you not know," was her answer to the threats of the prefect, "that I am the bride of my Lord Jesus Christ ?" The death appointed, for her was suffocation, and she remained a day and a night in a hot-air bath, heated seven times its wont. But "the flames had no power over her body, neither was a hair of her head singed." The lictor se...

The feast is associated with an event recounted not in the New Testament, but in the apocryphal Infancy Narrative of James. According to that text, Mary's parents, Joachim and Anne, who had been childless, received a heavenly message that they would bear a child. In thanksgiving for the gift of their daughter, they brought her, when still a child, to the Temple in Jerusalem to consecrate her to God. Mary remained in the Temple until puberty, at which point she was assigned to Joseph as guardian. Later versions of the story (such as the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Gospel of the Nativity of Mary) tell us that Mary was taken to the Temple at around the age of three in fulfillment of a vow. Tradition held that she was to remain there to be educated in preparation for her role as Mother of God. This feast commemorates the dedication of the church of Saint Mary, which was built in Jerusalem near the site if the Temple. With Christians of the East, the Latin Church also recalls on th...

Raphael Kalinowski was September 1, 1835 Vilnius, Lithuania. He was a Polish Discalced Carmelite friar born as Józef Kalinowski inside the Russian partition of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in the city of Vilnius.He was also in the military. He was a teacher, engineer, prisoner of war, royal tutor, and priest. He was ordained as priest at Czerna in 1882 by Bishop Albin Dunajewski.He also founded a Carmelite Sisters convent in Przemyśl in 1884, and Lvov in 1888 .Who founded many monasteries around Poland after the suppression by the Russians. He died November 15, 1907 in Poland. He lived to be seventy two years old. He was beatified in 1983, Kraków, Poland and canonized 17 November 1991, St. Peter's Basilica, Rome by Pope John Paul The II. He was the first man to be so recognized in the order of the Discalced Carmelites, since Saint John of the Cross. Prayer God almighty you gave us St.Saint Raphael Kalinowski to be an example of a person of great sacrifice. May his life be an exa...

Saint Romanus of Antioch is venerated as a martyr. In 303 at the beginning of the Diocletian persecution, a deacon called Romanus in Palestine suffered martyrdom at Antioch. He was taken prisoner, was condemned to death by fire, and was bound to the stake however, as the Emperor Galerius was then in Antioch. Romanus was brought before him. At the emperor's command Romanus' tongue was cut out. Tortured in various ways in prison he was finally strangled. Eusebius speaks of his martyrdom in De martyribus Palestin.Relates other details and gives Romanus a companion in martyrdom, a Christian by name Barulas. On this account several historians, among them Baronius, consider that there were two martyrs named Romanus at Antioch, though more likely there was but the one whom Eusebius mentions. Prudentius has introduced legendary features into his account, and his connection of the martyrdom of Barulas with that of Romanus is probably arbitrary. The feast day of St. Romanus is observed o...

Francesca Cabrini was born on July 15, 1850, in the village of Sant’ Angelo. At Codongno, Italy, in the diocese of Lodi, she founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart in 1880. In 1887 she established many schools, hospitals and orphanages. With the encouragement of Pope Leo XII, she set out for the United States of America in 1889, where for the next 28 years, she established many schools, hospitals and orphanages. Her missionary zeal also led her to South America where she founded schools in Argentina, Brazil and Nicaragua. Mother Cabrini died in Chicago on December 22nd, 1917, and on July 7, 1946 she became the first United States citizen to be cannonized PRAYER Lord let us not shy away from your divine service and let the spirit of your beloved Sister Francesca Cabrini be an example to spread your word to those in all areas of this earth. Whether It'd be in schools, hospitals, orphanages, churches, and even to those who roam the earth and have never heard of your divine...