The North American Martyrs

I probably will not have much time to spend on the computer for the next few days, so I will close out my month of Saints with 8 saints, to make up for the days that I miss.

Our saints for today are collectively known as The North American Martyrs or The Canadian Martyrs.  They were eight Jesuit missionaries who were tortured and martyred on various dates in the mid Seventeenth century in what is now southern Ontario and upstate New York.  They were missionaries to the Huron people, and so were considered legitimate targets by the Iroquois.  Their feast day, October 19, is listed on the Roman Calendar  under the title of "John de Brébeuf and Isaac Jogues, Priests, and Companions, Martyrs."

Since we rarely see the full list of the eight martyrs, here it is:  St. Jean de Brébeuf (1649),[1] St. Noël Chabanel (1649),[2] St. Antoine Daniel (1648),[3] St. Charles Garnier (1649),[2] St. René Goupil (1642),[4] St. Isaac Jogues (1646),[5] St. Jean de Lalande (1646),[6] and St. Gabriel Lalemant (1649).

St. Gertrude of Nivelles

Earlier this month, I mentioned St. Rocco for all the dog lovers.  Here is one for the cat lovers:  St. Gertrude of Nivelles (not to be confused with St. Gertrude the Great).  After the death of her father, Gertrude and her mother entered religious life together, founding a monastery at Nivelles in present day Belgium.  Gertrude was made abbess at the age of 26.  Legend says that, upon learning that the monastery's grain supply was infested with mice, she eliminated the pests through the power of prayer - thus making her the patron saint of cats.
Her feast day is March 17.

St. Denis

I chose St. Denis as our Saint of the day today because of an interesting legend that is attached to his story.  St. Denis (also called Dionysius, Dennis, or Denys), was born and raised in Italy and was sent as a missionary to what is now France.  He chose an island in the Seine (where Paris is now located) as the base for his missionary activity and so is known as the first Bishop of Paris.  Denis and his companions, Rusticus and Eleutherius, were captured by pagans and beheaded around 258 AD. 
Legend has it that after he was beheaded, Denis picked up his head and carried it for about 10 kilometers (6 miles), preaching a sermon the whole way.  St. Denis is usually depicted in sacred art carrying his own head.  He is the patron Saint of Paris.  His feast day is October 9.

Blessed Imelda

Today's saint is one that I just read about this weekend and thought I would share.  Her name is Blessed Imelda.  From the time she was a young child, Imelda was very pious and loved to pray.  By the age of 5 she was asking to be permitted to receive Our Lord in the Eucharist.  At that time, however, First Communion was not permitted until one was a teenager.  At the age of 9, she expressed a desire to enter religious life and was permitted to go to live with a convent of Dominican Sisters.  She still had a fervent desire to receive the Eucharist.  One day after Mass, when she was 11, she stayed behind in the Chapel praying. The nuns were startled to see a radiant Host suspended in the air above Imelda's head.  They called for the priest.  In the face of such a miracle, he could do nothing else but offer her her First Holy Communion.  She was so overcome with joy at receiving the sacrament, that she died of love.  Her feast day is May 13.

Pope St. Urban I

Since regular season football is winding down, today's Saint was chosen in honor of all you Buckeye football fans -- Coach Meyer's patron, Pope St. Urban I.

Pope Urban I was the first of eight Popes to carry that name and the only one who is recognized as a  Saint (two others are blessed).  He was Pope from 222 (succeeding Callixtus I, who was martyred) until 230.  Much of Urban's life and papacy are shrouded in mystery.  However, he is the first Pope whose reign can be definitely dated.  Legend says that Pope Urban was responsible for converting Valerianus, husband of St. Cecilia (whose feast day was yesterday). His feast day is May 25 . . . put that on your calendar to send Coach Meyer a card to wish him a happy feast day.

St. Wolfgang

Okay, so I really did not know who to write about today.  I started browsing and marveling at all the unusual Saints' names that you never hear about these days and then remembered one of my Brother-in-law's friends saying that he chose St. Wolfgang as his confirmation saint just because he liked the name.

St. Wolfgang actually fulfills my earlier quest for a German Saint.  He was born in Swabia, Germany and entered a Benedictine Monastery receiving ordination in 971.  He was named Bishop of Regensburg the following year and distinguished himself as a reformer and statesman. He also served as tutor to Emperor Henry II.  His feast day is October 31.

St. Hemma

For today, I was looking for a German Saint in honor of my German heritage, but came up instead with St. Hemma (or Emma) of Gurk, who was Austrian (close enough for today).  Hemma was born into a noble family and was brought up in the court of the Empress St. Cunigunde, where she was given a firm foundation in the spiritual life.  She married and had two sons, but outlived both her husband and her children.  As a widow, she was a very wealthy woman, owning land, markets and tariff routes.  Cunigunde had brought Hemma up to serve God by serving others, so she used her wealth to establish foundations and houses to serve the poor. She also founded ten churches and an abbey where she lived out the last years of her life.  Her feast day is June 27.

Blessed Pier Giorgio

Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati reminds me a lot of Bl. John Paul II.  You know those pictures of John Paul II (then Fr. Wojtyla ) hiking and canoeing?  Pier Giorgio also enjoyed the outdoors and athletics, going on long hikes and mountain climbing expeditions and competing in skiing races.  He was equally enthusiastic about his faith, praying the rosary while hiking and attending daily Mass.  He had a particular devotion to the poor.  Although from a wealthy family, his father only gave him a small allowance so that he would not be spoiled by money.  Even so, Pier Giorgio gave much of his money away and literally gave away the clothes off his back.  When he died of poliomyelitis at the age of 24, his family was surprised to find the streets of the city lined with thousands of mourners - many of them the poor and needy who had been helped by the young man.  His feast day is July 4 (so you probably won't find many in the U.S. observing it).

St. Virgil

In my "Saint of the Day" posts, I have tried to keep away from the name saints of family members in order to avoid any hard feelings from those whose name saint I may not get to.  However, I break my rule today. 

Yesterday, when I was researching St. Verena, I came upon the listing for St. Virgil of Arles.  So this post is for Grandpa.

St. Virgil lived in the late 6th to early 7th century.  He was a friend of Pope St. Gregory the Great (have you noticed how many Saints have friends or relatives who are also Saints?  It pays to keep good company!).  He was the Metropolitan (Bishop) of Arles and it is said that Gregory gave him the pallium.  Virgil was not perfect.  He was reprimanded by Gregory on a couple occasions - once for participating in the forced conversion of Jews and once for not preventing the forced marriage of a woman who had chosen religious life.  I guess Virgil must have learned from his mistakes as he is now venerated as a Saint.  His feast day is March 5.

St. Verena

Well, I think I'll head back to the more obscure Saints. I chose today's Saint in honor of my friend, Verna, from whom I first learned about her.  Saint Verena was originally from Egypt and was supposedly a relative of St. Victor, a member of the Theban Legion.  She went to what is now Switzerland (called Rhaetia at that time) to care for Victor and tend his wounds.  When he and other members of the Legion were martyred, Verena stayed and became a hermit.  She is venerated in the Coptic Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches as well as by Roman Catholics.  Her feast day is September 1.

Blessed John XXIII

So let's bring this whole saint thing a little more current today.  Let's talk Bl. John XXIII.  Pope John XXIII died less than 3 years before I was born, so he was almost my lifetime.  He will be officially canonized in April at the same time as his more well-known successor, John-Paul II.  Pope John XXII was born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli , the fourth of fourteen children.  He served as papal nuncio of France, Bulgaria and Greece as well as Patriarch of Venice prior to being elected Pope in 1958.  He was the first pope in more than 500 years to take the name "John."  Because of his advanced age, he was expected to be somewhat of a "stop-gap" pope, but surprised everyone by calling the Second Vatican Council.  His feast day is not celebrated on the date of his death (as is the usual practice with Saints), but on October 11, the first day of the Council.

St. Frances of Rome

I have had a difficult time choosing a saint for today, but I have finally settles on Frances of Rome.  She lived in the late 1300's to the early 1400's.  When she was young, she wanted to become a nun, but her parents married her off when she was only 12.  It was a happy marriage and, unlike other aristocratic women of her time, she raised her own children.  She was devoted to the poor and sick.  It was said that she could always see her guardian angel at her side and one dark night when she set out to perform a charitable errand, her angel walked before her shining a supernatural light so that she could see where she was going.  Her feast is March 9.

St. Lorenzo

St. Lorenzo Ruiz is the first Filipino saint. He lived in the 1600's and was married with two sons and a daughter. In his late 20's or early 30's he was involved or accused of involvement in a criminal case. He fled the country in fear of receiving a death sentence. He and his companions who were Christian Missionaries ended up in Japan, where Christians are under persecution. Lorenzo was arrested and tortured, and eventually killed, but he refused to denounce his faith. His feast day is September 28.

St. Lorenzo, pray for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

Benedict & Scholastica

St. Benedict, founder of the rule for monastic life, is fairly well known (at least I Catholic circles), but did you know he had a twin sister?  Her name was Scholastica, and she is also a Saint.  Scholastica, like her brother, also dedicated her life to God from and early age.  She founded a monastery of nuns located not far from Benedict's monastery.  The brother and sister would meet once a year at a house (as the women were not permitted to enter the monks' monastery or vice versa).  On one occasion, she asked her brother to remain until the next day, but he did not want to spend the night away from his monastery.  She prayed, and a thunderstorm started so that neither Benedict, nor the monks that had accompanied him were able to leave, so they spent the night in spiritual discussion.  Three days later, Benedict had a vision of his sister's soul leaving the earth in the form of a shining white dove.  St. Scholastica's feast day is February 10.  (St. Benedict's is July 11).

Another Margaret

St. Margaret of Scotland was an English princess who escaped with her mother to Scotland to escape from the king who had conquered their country.  The Scottish King fell in love with the princess and they were married (kind of like in the fairy tales).  Margaret civilized her husband and the Scottish court.  The King and Queen set a good example for their subjects by praying together and feeding the poor with their own hands.  They had eight children - the youngest son became St. David.  Her feast day is Nov 16.

I am thankful for the great resources I have available to learn about the Saints.  Books:  This Saint's For You by Thomas Craughwell, 39 New Saints You Should Know by Brian O'Neel and Saint Who? also by O'Neel and the website Catholic.org (also Wikipedia). I hope some of you are enjoying the saint stories, 'cause I really am!

Bernadette

I am thankful for he beauty of the natural world.  Especially that gorgeous sunset this evening . . . thank you, Jesus!

My Saint for today is my almost-name Saint, Bernadette.  If I had not been named Rebecca, I would have been Bernadette, so she holds a special place in my heart.  I think Bernadette's story is pretty well known.  When she was a young girl, Mary appeared to her several times in a grotto outside Lourdes, France.  On one visit, Mary told her to dig in the dirt and she uncovered a hidden spring.  The waters of the spring have healing properties - 68 miraculous healings are officially recognized by the Church, although there are probably thousands more that have not met the strict criteria to be officially recognized.  However, I think the coolest thing about Bernadette is that, when her body was exhumed during the investigation into the cause for her canonization (30 years after her death) she was found to be incorrupt.  Her feast day is April 16.

St. Martin of Tours

I am thankful for the intangible gifts of faith, hope, love, respect, freedom, dignity, etc.  Only if you have been given these gifts can you expect to be able to give them to others . . . and you really don't have them yourself unless you share them.

In honor of Veterans' Day, our Saint of the day is St. Martin de Tours.  St. Martin is the patron saint of soldiers and his feast day is today, as well.  Coincidence?  I don't think so.  When Martin was 15, he was forced to join the army. One day, riding through the gates of the city, he saw a beggar in such ragged clothes he was nearly naked.  Martin took off his own cloak, cut it in half with his sword and gave half to the beggar.  That night in a dream, he saw Jesus wearing the 1/2 cloak that he had given to the beggar.

St. Josephine Bakhita

St. Josephine Bakhita was born in the Sudan.  Around the age of 7-9, she was kidnapped by slave traders and sold into slavery.  Because of the trauma of her abduction, she was unable to remember her own name, so the slave traders called her Bakhita, which means "lucky" in Arabic. During the next 12 years she was sold several times and was often treated cruelly.  Finally, she was sold to an Italian Vice-Counsel, who took her with him upon his returned to Italy. Bakhita became the nanny to the daughter of the Vice Counsel's friend.  During a family move, the daughter and nanny were sent to stay at a convent for a time. When the mother came to pick up her daughter and the nanny, Bakhita refused to go. The authorities ruled in Bakhita's favor as slavery was against the law in Italy.  She stayed with the nuns, converted to Catholicism - taking the name Josephine, and eventually joined the order.  Her feast day is February 8.

St. Christopher

I am thankful for my parish family.  I spent the morning with our Youth Ministry group and some great parent volunteers.  The rest of the Core Team and the parent volunteers took the youth out to rake leaves for elderly parishioners while I stayed at the Church to get a lunch ready for them when they got back.  While we were eating, the Knights of Columbus came in to prepare a meal for a Memorial Mass (neither group was aware that the other had plans to use the kitchen today, so we had to share).  I wish I had a husband so that he could be a Knight.  They are a great bunch of guys!

Today's Saint is St. Christopher.  Although St. Christopher was removed from the Church's universal calendar in the late 60's, devotion to him was not suppressed (contrary to popular belief), it was just confined to local calendars.  He is considered a martyr of the early church, but most (if not all) stories of Christopher are primarily legend.  He has been invoked as the patron saint of travelers for . . . . well just about forever.  I have a St. Christopher medal in my car. 

St. Tarcisius

 

 

 

I am thankful for my faith and those who have taught me and supported me in my faith.

My Saint for today is St. Tarcisius. Tarcisius was a young acolyte during a time when the Christians were persecuted in Rome. One day he was entrusted with taking the Blessed Sacrament to Christians in prison. On the way, he was accosted by some boys his own age who wanted to see what he was carrying. When he refused to show them, they got angry and beat him to death. His feast day is celebrated on 15 August, but, since that day is occupied by the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, he is not mentioned in the General Roman Calendar, but only in the Roman Martyrology.

 

St. Catherine of Siena

"If you are what you are meant to be, you will set the whole world on fire."  St. Catherine of Siena.

St. Catherine was the 24th of 25 children in her family (and you thought I came from a big family!).  She had mystic visions from a young age and also at a young age decided never to marry.  She became a Dominican tertiary and ministered to the sick and dying.  She developed a reputation for performing miracles, settling disputes and mending feuds.  Catherine even began a correspondence with Pope Gregory XI and was instrumental in bringing the papacy back to Rome from Avignon, France.  Her feast day is April 29. 

Today I am thankful for take-out food.  Sometimes, one would just rather not cook.

A patron for dog lovers

Today I am thankful for paid time off (PTO!).  I have gotten myself slightly over-committed this Fall and was really getting stressed, so I took me a PTO day!  Feels kinda like having Saturday in the middle of the week.

For all my dog-loving friends, today I will tell you about St. Rocco.  Rocco lived in Italy at a time when the Black Plague was ravaging Europe.  He spent his time ministering to the sick and dying.  It is said that he cured hundreds of plague victims by tracing the cross on their foreheads.  When he noticed the tell-tale signs of plague in his own body, he left town so as not to infect anyone else.  Each day, a dog came to him carrying a loaf of bread in its mouth.  Thanks in part to the dog that kept him from starving, Rocco recovered from the illness and returned to ministering to others.  Because of this, he is the patron Saint of dogs.  His feast day is Aug 16.

St. Margaret Clitherow

I am thankful that I live now.  Although it sometimes would appear to be more romantic to have lived in an earlier age, unquestionably our ancestors faced many hardships that we could never dream of.

Case in point:  my Saint for today is St. Margaret Clitherow, feast day March 25.  St. Margaret lived in England in the 16th century.  Despite the fact that it was illegal to be Catholic in England at that time, she converted to Catholicism and was determined to hear Mass daily and give her children a Catholic upbringing.  This meant breaking the law by hiring a Catholic tutor to teach her children and building secret cupboards in her home to hide priests, vestments and the sacred vessels needed for Mass.  When she was caught harboring a priest, she was arrested.  She refused to enter a plea in order to spare her family the ordeal of testifying at her trial.  She was condemned to being crushed to death.

Bl. J.H. Newman

Lest anyone should think that I am not being fair to our Brothers in Christ, I will choose for my Saint of the Day Blessed John Henry Newman. Blessed John Henry was born in 1801 in England and was raised in the Church of England. As an adult, he was part of a movement to return the Church of England to many Catholic beliefs and forms of worship traditional in the medieval times. He converted to Catholicism and was eventually made a Cardinal. His feast day is October 9.

P.S. Yesterday, I told you all who I chose for my confirmation Saint and why. For those of you who chose a Confirmation Saint, who did you choose and why?

Day 3 of Thankful/Saints

Today, I am thankful for parks . . . in particular, out Ohio State Park system.  Still free and open to the public so that anyone can go and enjoy the natural beauty whenever they want.  I was invited by Jo Ann to go with her and another friend down to Cedar Falls at Hocking Hills today to enjoy the last of the fall color.  What a beautiful day for a hike. I would like to post pics, but I am still having troube with that.


My Saint for today is my Confirmation Saint, St. Elizabeth of Hungary.  I chose her as my Confirmation St. because most of the other female Saints I knew of at the time were Nuns, and I knew that I did not have a calling to the religious life.  I wanted a laywoman and St. Elizabeth fit the bill.  She was the daughter of the King of Hungary and married a prince (at the age of 14).  In spite of her position at court, she lived an austere life, practiced penance and devoted herself to the poor.  She was widowed at a young age and died at the age of 24.  She is the patron saint of bakers, countesses, death of children, falsely accused, the homeless, nursing services, tertiaries, widows, and young brides. Feast day: Nov. 17.

Saints day 2

Blessed Dia de Los Muertos to everyone.

Today I honor my name Saint, Saint Anne. No, there is no Saint Rebecca (I checked). I may just have to be the first one (Ha!). Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the Grandmother of Jesus. She shares a feast day (July 26) with her husband, Joachim. Together they are the patron saints of Grandparents. Anne is also the patron saint of infertility, housekeepers, lace makers, seamstresses, broom makers and second hand clothes dealers. She is one busy Saint!

Today I am thankful for the harvest and those whose work brings us the food we eat. I received a bushel of apples from my Godfather's orchard last week and am making applesauce today! Thanks Uncle Jerry!

Thankful and saintly?

For the last couple of years, I posted on FaceBook a thankful thought for each day of November.  Last year, my cousin posted something about a different Saint each day of November.  I like both ideas.  I won't promise to be faithful to doing this every day, but I will try.

Today, I am thankful for Autumn.  The fall color today has just seemed so radiant, it is like a blessing around every corner!

The Saint that I chose for today is in honor of my cousin, Susie, who did this last year:  Saint Susanna.  St. Susanna's feast day is August 11.  Most of what is known about her is based on legend . . . meaning that not much is really known about her. She is listed in the Roman Martyrology, so we know that she was martyred.  It is believed that she was beheaded.  She is said to have been the daughter of St. Gabinus and the niece of Pope Caius.