Saints of the Day & More

She lived in the twelfth century and died about 1160. Although data are not known their homeland and life, a legend says that at age 14 she retired to a cave on Mount Coscina and then another of Mount Pellegrino , near Palermo. In the Middle Ages were devoted to various churches and was considered the protectress and patroness of Palermo. Her remains were discovered July 15 Pope Urban VIII included it as a saint in the Martyrology . Is invoked as a lawyer against the plague and earthquakes. The iconography is presented as a hermit or coated with Augustinian habit . Its main attributes are: a crown of roses, in allusion to her name, and a crucifix and a skull for her asceticism. References: Catholic.Net

Youssef (Joseph) was born on May 8, 1828 in a small town in Lebanon called Biqa - Kafra. It was the fifth son of Anthony and Bridget Choudiac Makhlouf , simple peasants with faith . Two of his maternal uncles were monks in the monastery of Quzhaya which was about an hour away from Biqa - Kafra. Joseph frequently visited and stayed with them helping with the divine , sharing in their prayers and songs and listening to their wise counsel. I was twenty when he left home and family to enter the monastery of Our Lady of Mayfouk Lebanese Maronite Order . Upon receiving the habit of a novice it changed its name to Charbel , a name of a martyr of the Church of Antioch who died in the year 107 under the rule of Trajan. When his mother and his uncle learned of his decision, immediately went to fetch the monastery trying to convince him to return. Finally , Bridget, also convinced his son 's vocation , he said: If you were not to be good religious I would say : Go home ! But now I know the Lo...

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...

Saint Paternus of Avranches in Normandy (c. 482-565) was born around the year 482, although the exact year is unknown, in Poitiers, Poitou. He was born into a Christian family. His father Patranus went to Ireland to spend his days as a hermit in holy solitude. Because of this, Paternus embraced religious life. He became a monk at the Abbey of Marnes in France. Later on, St Paternus went to Wales where he built a monastery called Llanpatenvaur.Before long, he wished to attain the perfection of Christian virtue by a life of penance in solitude. He went into solitude with his fellow monk, Saint Scubilion. The forest of Seicy in the diocese of Coutances was the place he became a hermit. At a later date, the abbot of the region who knew Paternus recommended him to the Bishop of Coutances and the bishop made him a priest in 512. Together with St Scubilion he evangelized the western coasts and established several monasteries of which he was made the abbot general. Prayer Father may we follow ...

John's nickname comes from the famous treatise on asceticism written by John and entrusted to the abbot of Raithu, The Ladder of Paradise (Greek climax, which means stairs). His biographer, the monk Daniel Raithu Monastery, southwest Sinai, writes that John was born in Palestine and the age of six left the hometown to retire to a monastery in Sinai. There he received the monastic tonsure at four years of income and lived 19 years in community under the guidance of a holy old man, named Martyrdom. When the master died, John retired to a solitary cell on Mount Sinai, a few miles from the monastery, where he was down on Saturday and Sunday to participate in religious ceremonies with the other brothers. In the cell there was only a wooden cross, a table and a bench that served as chair and bed. Their only wealth were the books of Holy Scripture and the writings of the Fathers of the Church, including Pastoralis Regula of St. Gregory the Great, translated into Greek by a patriarch of An...

Hermit and Swiss political figure. Born near Sachseln, Canton Obwalden, Switzerland, he took his name from the Flueli river which flowed near his birthplace. The son of a peasant couple, he married and had ten children by his wife, Dorothea Wissling, and fought heroically in the forces of the canton against Zurich in 1439. After serving as magistrate and highly respected councilor, he refused the office of governor several times and, in 1467, at the age of fifty and with the consent of his wife and family, he embraced the life of a hermit, giving up all thought of political activity. Nicholas took up residence in a small cell at Ranft, supposedly surviving for his final nineteen years entirely without food except for the Holy Eucharist. Renowned for his holiness and wisdom, he was regularly visited by civic leaders, powerful personages, and simple men and women with a variety of needs. Through Nicholas’ labors, he helped bring about the inclusion of Fribourg and Soleure in the Swiss Co...

Conrad's date of birth is uncertain. He belonged to one of the noblest families of Piacenza, and having married when he was quite young, led a virtuous and God-fearing life. On one occasion, when he was engaged in his usual pastime of hunting, he ordered his attendants to fire some brushwood in which game had taken refuge. The prevailing wind caused the flames to spread rapidly, and the surrounding fields and forest were soon in a state of conflagration. A mendicant, who happened to be found near the place where the fire had originated, was accused of being the author. He was imprisoned, tried, and condemned to death. As the poor man was being led to execution, Conrad, stricken with remorse, made open confession of his guilt; and in order to repair the damage of which he had been the cause, was obliged to sell all his possessions. Thus reduced to poverty, Conrad retired to a lonely hermitage some distance from Piacenza, while his wife entered the Order of Poor Clares. Later he went...

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...

Benedictine hermit. Also called Peter Orseolo, he was a member of one of the most noble houses of Venice and, at the age of twenty, became an admiral in the Venetian Navy. After a series of successful campaigns against the Dalmatian pirates, he was elected Doge of Venice in 967, supposedly securing his elevation by poisoning his predecessor Peter Candiani IV, as was charged by St. Peter Damian. For two years Peter ruled with consummate skill, assisting Venice to weather a series of political crises. Then, without any warning and without informing his family, he disappeared from Venice and secretly entered the Benedictine abbey of Cuxa, in the Spanish Pyrenees. There he devoted himself to a life of severe austerity and asceticism, working as a humble sacrist until St. Romuald suggested that he become a hermit. He lived alone until his death. PRAYER Lord you blessed us with the memory of St. Pietro I Orseolo, may we ask for his interssession at the moment we are before you and the Holy C...

Cyrano was an abbot of the seventh century. He lived in France in the seventh century and his life has told us and later told a biographer with many details and specifics. Berry was the son of noble. Eventually, he became bishop of Tours, the diocese most desirable of those times. He was educated in the city of Saint Martin. He was introduced in court to make a brilliant career. The father had even prepared a nice girl for marriage. One day, Cyrano left the court. Following the devotion to St. Martin of Tours became a hermit near his grave. Later, the clergy of the city welcomed him. Cyrano had given his entire estate to the poor the Gospel. Without anyone noticing, he left to join the bishop Tours Flavio, an Irishman who had a community of pilgrimage throughout Europe. Once in Rome, worked hard until they returned to France to found a monastery in the town of Longoret. This community grew under the guidance of St. Cyrano. That was a great austerity of life in all the monks. In other w...