Anna Wang

 I have subscribed to a flocknote called Breakfast with the Saints and I have to credit them with the inspiration for the post today. This is a Saint that is entirely new to me, and I find that these are often my favorite posts. 

Anna Wang was born to a poor but devout Catholic family in Majiazhuang, Hebei, China in 1886. Her mother died when she was only five years old, but she was blessed to have the guidance of Sister Lucy Wang to continue the faith formation that her mother had started. When Anna was 11, her family tried to force her into an arranged marriage, which was common at that time. Anna resisted strongly motivated by her desire to serve God and remain faithful to her Catholic beliefs. 

Just a few years later, on July 21, 1900, the village was invaded by anti-Christian members of the Boxer Rebellion intent on destroying the church and killing Christians and foreigners. The Boxers rounded up Christians and demanded that the renounce their faith or face death. Many complied in order to safeguard their children and families. Anna spent her final hours in prayer for solace and strength. She resolutely refused to denounce her faith and encouraged others to remain strong. 

Anna was beheaded at the age of 14, on July 22, 1900. Her body was thrown into a mass grave. Over a year later, her body was exhumed for a proper burial. 

Although specific patronages have not been assigned to Anna, she is unofficially a patron of China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, youth, the innocent and the Chinese Diaspora. Her feast day is July 22.

St. Anna Wang, pray for us.

Pope St. Leo III

 I received a request to talk about St. Leo the Great today on his feast day. I did a post about Leo the Great a few years ago, and I don't like to repeat, so here is a link to the prior post - Joyful Spirit: Pope St. Leo the Great

I don't like to repeat because there are so many Saints that I have not learned about yet. So today, we will learn about one of St. Leo the Great's namesakes.

Pope St. Leo III was born in Rome to Asupius and Elizabeth. He is believed to have been of Greek origin. He was made cardinal-priest of Santa Susanna by Pope Adrian I. He was also vestiarius, or chief of the pontifical treasury. He was elected to the papacy on December 26, 795, the date of Pope Adrian's funeral, and was consecrated the next day. With the letter he sent to the Frankish King, Charlemagne, informing him of his election, St. Leo also sent the keys of the confession of St. Peter and the standard of the city. Charlemagne was recognized as protector of the Holy See and gifted Pope Leo with treasures that allowed him to be a great benefactor of churches and charitable institutions. On Christmas Day in 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Emporer.

Pope Leo III died in 816 after a reign of over 20 years. His Feast Day is June 12.

Pope Saint Leo III, pray for us.

St. Sylvester I

 Today the Universal Church celebrates the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, or to give it its full name, the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Lateran. I have heard several homilies about why we as a Church celebrate this building and I believe I have a good understanding of it, but I'm not sure that I could explain it well. You might want to ask a member of the ordained clergy as they are taught how to preach about such things. Instead, I am going into history to tell you a bit about St. Sylvester I, who as pope presided over the dedication of the Basilica in 324.

Pope St. Sylvester I was born in Rome about 284 or 285. All that is known of his life before he was elected Pope is that his father's name was Rufinus.

He was elected to the Papacy in January 314. During his reign, he convened the Council of Arles in 314, which condemned the Donatist sect, and the first council of Nicaea in 325, which aimed to resolve the Arian controversy. His papacy also coincided with the conversion and baptism of Emperor Constantine. Some legends (histories?) say that Pope Sylvester was the one who baptized Constantine.

The Lateran Palace was gifted to the pope by Constantine in the reign of Sylvester's predecessor, Pope Miltiades. The palace basilica was converted and extended, becoming the residence of Pope Sylvester I, and eventually the Cathedral of Rome. 

Sylvester was pope for 24 years and 11 months. He died in the year 335 at about 50 years of age. His feast day is December 31.

Pope St. Sylvester I, pray for us.

Flora and Mary

 I was looking for a female Saint for today's post and found two. Ss. Flora and Mary lived in Spain in the ninth century, when much of that country was controlled by the Moors. 

Flora was born to an Islamic father and a Christian mother. Her father died when she was young and she was brought up in the Christian faith by her mother. Betrayed by her brother, she was beaten and given to him to abuse because of her faith. She eventually escaped and met Mary.

Mary was the child of a Christian father and an Islamic mother. Her mother converted sometime after her marriage. When Mary's mother died, Mary was sent to be educated at a convent, and her brother, Walabonsus, was sent to a monastery. They were reunited when Walabonsus was appointed as one of the supervisors of Mary's convent. On July 16, 851, Walabonsus was executed by Muslim authorities. 

Flora and Mary met at the church of St. Acisclus and decided to denounce Islam together. Under Islamic law, Flora and Mary were found guilty of two different crimes; Flora was executed for apostacy and Mary for blasphemy. Before being executed, they were threatened with being thrown in a brothel. They were beheaded on November 24, 851. Their feast day is November 24.

Ss. Flora and Mary, pray for us.

Peter Wu Guosheng

 One of aims with these Saint posts is to give my handful of faithful readers a better idea of the vast diversity of the Communion of Saints. Our Saint for today fulfills that aim while also having his Feast Day today.

Wu Guosheng was born in 1768 in Longping, China. He was an innkeeper and was known in the community for his sense of justice, his care of the poor and his gregarious nature. When a Catholic layman named Xu stopped at his inn, Mr. Wu got his first introduction to Christianity. Xu convinced Wu to believe in Christ. 

Mr. Wu was not yet baptized, but he was already a very enthusiastic Christian. He began to evangelize the people who came to his inn, insisting that they accept Jesus. Fr. Luo Madi from Sichuan went to visit Wu and felt that the innkeeper's way of forcing the faith on people was wrong. He invited Wu Guosheng to Chongqing to see how other Catholics evangelize. Seeing the model set by others, he deeply regretted his earlier behavior. In 1796, Fr. Luo baptized him with the Christian name of Peter. 

Peter now returned to Longping to evangelize his local community. The Catholic Community in Longping grew to several hundred people. 

In 1814, a new wave of persecution against Christians spread across China. Peter Wu Guosheng was arrested on April 3 of that year. While in prison, he encouraged the other prisoners, reciting Scripture and singing hymns. When the magistrate tried him, he forced him to trample on the cross. Peter refused to apostatize, so he was convicted and sentenced to death. On November 7, 1814, he was tied to a cross and surrendered his life to Christ.

St. Peter Wu Guosheng, pray for us.

Marcella

 I was at church late this evening with our Women's Group. I don't have much time to post, but I would like to share the story of a female state.

Once more I am relying on Butler's Lives of the Saints.

St. Marcella is styled by St. Jerome the glory of the Roman Ladies. She was born in about 325 to a noble Roman family who lived in a palace on the Aventine Hill. After she lost her husband just seven months into her marriage, she decided to devote her life to imitation of the ascetics of the East, giving herself over to prayer, charity and mortification of the flesh. Her example was followed by other noble women who put themselves under her direction. Marcella's home became a center for Christian activity. When Pope Damasus called St. Jerome to Rome to be his confidential secretary, arrangements were made for Jerome to lodge at Marcella's hospitality house. Jerome gave readings and lectures to her community.

Most of what we know about Marcella comes from letters written by St. Jerome. She was a frequent recipient of his correspondence. She examined his arguments closely and was not afraid to rebuke him for his hasty temper. 

When the Goths plundered Rome in 410, they maltreated Marcella trying to make her disclose where she had hidden her supposed treasures, which in fact had been distributed to the poor long before. Marcella only feared for her favorite pupil, Principia. At her plea, God moved them to compassion and both Marcella and Principia were escorted to the Basilica of St. Paul where they were afforded sanctuary. The 85-year-old Marcella died of her injuries shortly after. Her Feast Day is January 31.

St. Marcella, pray for us.

Jacob of Alaska

 So far this month, I have been very busy, so I feel like I have been "phoning it in" on my Saint posts. Today I wanted to give you something more interesting. I was thinking of the time that my Dad spent as a hospital chaplain and remembered that I have recently gotten to know another hospital chaplain. Fr. Jacob lives at our parish and serves in the hospitals around the city.

When I did a search for "St. Jacob", I found a story that is a little outside my ordinary line. I hope that you will enjoy this side trip into Orthodoxy.

Jacob Netsvetov was born in 1802 on Atka Island, Alaska. His father was Russian, and his mother was an Aleut from Atka Island. When the family moved to Irkutsk, Russia, in 1823, Jacob enrolled in Irkutsk Theological Seminary. He was ordained as a subdeacon on October 1, 1825, as a deacon on October 31, 1826, and was elevated to the Holy Priesthood on March 4, 1828. The newly ordained Fr. Jacob yearned to return and minister in his native Alaska. Archbishop Michael provided the young priest with two antimensia (sacred altar cloths used in the Eastern Orthodox liturgy). One would be used in the new church that Fr. Jacob would build; the other would be for his missionary activity. Less than two months after his priestly ordination, he set out for Alaska with his father and his wife.

The Atka "parish" that comprised Fr. Jacob's new assignment stretched for nearly 2000 miles, including Amchitka, Attu, Copper, Bering, and the Kurile Islands. Being fully bi-lingual and bi-cultural, he was uniquely positioned to care for the souls of his Alaskan parishioners. When he arrived in Atka, the church had not yet been built. Fr. Jacob built a large tent in which to conduct liturgy. Later, when he traveled on his missionary journeys, he carried this tent with him. When he completed his first six months in his parish, Fr. Jacob recorded that he had baptized 16, chrismated 442, married 53 couples and buried 8.

At his parish, he built a school where the children would learn to read and write in both Russian and Unangen Aleut. He was very active both physically and intellectually. He hunted and gathered for his own sustenance, prepared specimens of fish and animals for natural history museums and corresponded with St. Innocent Veniaminov on matters of linguistics and translations. He created an alphabet in the Unangen-Aleut language and translated the scriptures. 

After the deaths of his wife and his father, Fr. Jacob petitioned his bishop for permission to return to Irkutsk and enter a monastery. Permission was granted contingent upon the arrival of a replacement. None ever came. Father was eventually convinced that God's plan for his life was with his flock in Alaska. He was appointed to lead the new Kvikhpak Mission. Here he learned new languages, embraced new peoples and cultures, devised another alphabet and built another church. He traveled hundreds of miles up and down the Yukon river and baptized hundreds of Indians, many from formerly hostile tribes. 

In 1863, one of Fr. Jacob's assistants leveled spurious and slanderous charges against him. He was summoned to Sitka by the bishop. He was quickly cleared of all charges, but his age and worsening health compelled him to remain in Sitka until his death on July 26, 1864.

Jacob Netsvetov was canonized by the Orthodox Church in America in 1994. His feast day is July 26.

St. Jacob of Alaska, pray for us.