Saints of the Day & More

Saint Alexius, born in Rome in the fourth century, was the only son of parents pre-eminent among the Roman nobles for both their virtue and their great wealth. They were particularly noted for their almsgiving; three tables were prepared every day for all who came for assistance — pilgrims, the poor and the sick. Their son, fruit of their prayers, was married with splendid feasting to a noble young lady of the imperial family, but on his wedding night, by God’s special inspiration, he secretly left Rome, longing for a solitude where he could serve God alone. He went to Edessa in the far East, gave away all that he had brought with him, content thereafter to live by alms at the gate of Our Lady’s church in that city. His family, in the deepest grief, could not fathom the mystery of his disappearance, and would have been consoled if God had taken him instead through death. It came to pass that the servants of Saint Alexius, whom his father had sent in search of him, arrived in Edessa, an...

The first carried the announcement of the Christian faith in Japan was Saint Francis Xavier, who worked there from 1549 to 1551. In a few years became Christians around 300,000. Humanly speaking, it is double the "secret" which made possible the expansion: the respect that the Jesuit missionaries were the modes of Japanese life and beliefs not directly opposed to Christian teaching, and commitment of local elements to insert in word and in administration. Jesuit catechist was a young man named Paul Miki, born between 1564 and 1566, from a rich family from Kyoto. I wanted to be a priest but his ordination was postponed "sine die", because the only diocese had not yet bishop. Furthermore, in 1587 the Emperor Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who proposed the conquest of Korea changed its benevolent attitude towards Christians and issued a decree expelling foreign missionaries. The order was fulfilled in part: some missionaries remained in the country incognito, and in 1593 some Spa...