Saints of the Day & More

Edward, St. Edward's grandson called the Martyr, was born in 1004 in Islip, near Oxford. His father was King Ethelred II, called the discouraged. While still a child, had to take the path of exile and lived from 1014 to 1041 in Normandy with relatives of his mother. It is said that vowed to go on pilgrimage to Rome if the Divine Providence led him back to his homeland. When this happened, Eduardo wanted to fulfill faithfully the vote, but the pope dispensed. The money you would spend on the trip gave to the poor and part of it was devoted to the restoration of the monastery in West London (West Minster, Westminster today.) Despite the political failures of their government, Edward King of England from 1043 to 1066, left a vivid memory in his hometown. The reasons for this devotion, which continued through the centuries, are to be found not only in some wise administrative measures such as the abolition of a heavy military duty that afflicted the entire nation but especially in its ...

Born into a large peasant family, with deep Christian roots. Soon entered the seminary, where he professed the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order. Ordained priest, he worked in his diocese until, in 1921, he entered the service of the Holy See. In 1958 he was elected Pope, and their human and Christian qualities earned him the name "good pope." John Paul II beatified him in 2000 and established that his feast is celebrated on 11 October. Born on November 25, 1881 in Sotto il Monte, diocese and province of Bergamo (Italy). That same day he was baptized with the name of Angelo Giuseppe. It was the fourth of thirteen children. His family lived on the farm work. Family life Roncalli was patriarchal. Zaveri Her uncle, godfather, he attributed his first and fundamental religious training. The religious climate of the family and parish life earnest, were the first and fundamental school of Christian life, which marked the spiritual physiognomy of Angelo Roncalli. Received confirma...

Yet Therese died when she was 24, after having lived as cloistered Carmelite for less than ten years. She never went on missions, never founded a religious order, never performed great works. The only book of hers, published after her death, was an brief edited version of her journal called "Story of a Soul." (Collections of her letters and restored versions of her journals have been published recently.) But within 28 years of her death, the public demand was so great that she was canonized. Over the years, some modern Catholics have turned away from her because they associate her with over- sentimentalized piety and yet the message she has for us is still as compelling and simple as it was almost a century ago. Therese was born in France in 1873, the pampered daughter of a mother who had wanted to be a saint and a father who had wanted to be monk. The two had gotten married but determined they would be celibate until a priest told them that was not how God wanted a m...

Pio (Francesco Forgione) was born to Mamma Peppa and Grazio Forgione in the little town called Pietrelcina, in Southern Italy, during the month of flowers, May 25th 1887. He was fifth of eight children. His Mamma Peppa confided he was different from other boys: “he was never impolite or misbehaved”. He had celestial visions and diabolical oppressions from the age of five years and he saw and spoke with Jesus and Our Lady and with his Guardian Angel, but unfortunately this heavenly life was interwoven with hell and with the devil. In 1903, Discipline and ill health had been woven together to crown the youth of Pio. Doctors diagnosed him as consumptive and were sure he would die. Strong in spirit Pio received the Capuchin Franciscan garb initialling religious life and therefore; Noviciate with its intense study, prayer, austerity, penance and finally vows of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience. In 1909, we find him at Pietrelcina because of his illness, at his mother’s side. Now another inte...

Santa Rosa de Lima was born on April 20 1586, in Peru. Her father was Spanish businessman Gaspar de Flores and her mother, Maria d'Olivia, was a mestiza of Spanish and Incan ancestry. She was baptized as Isabel de Herrara. The infant Isabel was first baptized at home because of her poor health at birth. Eventually she was baptized at the church of San Sebastian. Isabel's complexion and features were both a problem and source of praise. The praise caused her name to be casually changed to Rose over the years, eventually becoming her name at her confirmation ceremony in 1597. Some say her face was transformed as a child when exposed to a mystical rose. But the praise and concentration on her extreme beauty vexed Rose throughout her life. She feared that the praise would make her proud and be a source of distraction to those who should be thinking of God, including herself. Over the years, she used mortification to refocus herself on God and remove distractions. This process that ...

Maria was a beautiful Italian young lady that was twelve years old, who lived on a farm. One day Alessandro Serenelli, a teenager of nineteen years of age, who helped at the farm. He stayed in Maria's house and wanted her to to lose her pureness. He tried to rape her. "No! No!" Maria screamed, "Don't touch me Alessandro! It's a sin. God does not want it! You'll go to hell." When Maria started to fight back, he took a knife and stabbed her in the heart fourteen times. Maria fell to the ground with a yell of pain, "Oh my God, I will die! Mama! Mama!" Alessandro ran away from the seen. Maria was taken to the hospital where she stayed for two day. When a priest asked if she forgave her assassin she replied "Yes I forgive him by the love of Jesus and I want him to be with me in heaven. God forgive him." Maria died kissing a crucifix and hold a medal of Our Lady. She died July 6. 1902. She was beatified April 27, 1947 by Pope Pius XII a...

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...

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...

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...

What a marvelous life of Saint Catherine of Siena is not unusual for both the role played in the history of his time, but how exquisitely feminine with what worked. The Pope, whom she called by the name of "sweet Christ on earth," he complained the little courage and invited him to leave Avignon and return to Rome, with most human words as these: "Courage, manfully, Father! I tell him not to be shaking. " A young man who sentenced to death and had accompanied her to the scaffold, he said at the last moment "to weddings, sweet my brother! soon you'll be in the long life. " But the voice of submissive women changed in tone and often resulted in that "I want" that brooked no misrepresentations when it came into play the good of the Church and harmony among citizens. Catherine was born in Siena (Italy) on March 25, 1347 and was the twenty-fourth daughter of James and Lapa Benincasa. At seven years held its mystical marriage with Christ. This was ...

Agnes was born into a noble family in Gracciano, a small village near Montepulciano in Tuscany, Italy where, at the age of nine, she entered the monastery (or convent). in 1281, the administration of the castle of Proceno, a fief of Orvieto, invited the nuns of Montepulciano to send some of their sisters to Proceno to found a new convent. Agnes was among the sisters at the new convent. In 1288 Agnes, despite her youth at 20 years of age, was selected as prioress. There she gained a reputation for performing miracles: people suffering from mental and physical ailments seemed cured by her presence. She was reported to have "multiplied loaves", creating many from a few on numerous occasions, recalling the Gospel miracle of the loaves and fishes. Later about 1306, Agnes established a convent of Dominican nuns in Gracciano. She presided over this convent until her death. After her death, her body was said to remain incorrupt rather than decomposing. It was reported that a perfumed...

Luigi Orione was born in Pontecurone, Diocese of Tortona, 23 June 1872. At 13 he was received into the Franciscan convent in Voghera (Pavia) who left after a year for health reasons. From 1886 to 1889 he was a student of St. John Bosco in Turin Oratory Valdocco. On October 16, 1889 he entered the seminary of Tortona. While still a young priest, he devoted himself to live in solidarity with the fellow in the Society of Mutual Help in San Marciano and St. Vincent. On July 3, 1892, opened the first Oratory in Tortona to care for the Christian education of youth. The following year, on 15 October 1893 Luigi Orione, a clergyman of 21 years, opened a school for poor boys in the neighborhood of San Bernardino. On 13 April 1895 Luigi Orione was ordained a priest and at the same time, Bishop won the clerical habit to six students at his school. Soon, Don Orione Mornico opened new homes in Lausanne (Pavia), in Noto (Sicily) in Sanremo, in Rome. About Founder grew young clerics and priests who fo...

Frances was born in the city of Rome in 1384 to a wealthy, noble family. From her mother she inherited a quiet manner and a pious devotion to God. From her father, however, she inherited a strong will. She decided at eleven that she knew what God wanted for her -- she was going to be a nun. And that's where her will ran right up against her father's. He told Frances she was far too young to know her mind -- but not too young to be married. He had already promised her in marriage to the son of another wealthy family. In Rome at that time a father's word was law; a father could even sell his children into slavery or order them killed. Frances probably felt that's what he was doing by forcing her to marry. But just as he wouldn't listen to her, Frances wouldn't listen to him. She stubbornly prayed to God to prevent the marriage until her confessor pointed out, "Are you crying because you want to do God's will or because you want God to do your will?" ...