Category: SAINT of the DAY

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Saint of the Day – 17 September – Saint Columba of Cordova

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Saint Columba of Cordova, also known as Columba of Cordoba and Columba of Spain, martyr. She is a part of the Martyrs of Córdoba. Born to a pious family in the 8th century, Columba’s brother was an abbot, and her sister and brother-in-law founded a double monastery at Tabanos, Spain. Her mother wanted her to marry, but Columba was drawn to religious life, and entered her sister’s monastery at Tabanos.

During the Moorish persecutions of Christians in 852, most of the nuns of Tabanos fled to Cordova. Columba refused to run, and made a public proclamation of her faith to a Moorish magistrate and denounced Muhammed and his law. The magistrate condemned her to be beheaded on September 17, 853. Her body was thrown into the Guadalquivir Marshes, but was recovered by other Christians and buried at the basilica of St. Eulalia at Fragellas. Her relics were taken later to and venerated at two churches, the abbey of Santa Maria de Nájera and to its dependent priory, which was dedicated to Saint Columba.

The fortified Santa María la Real of Nájera

Neither can I call myself anything else than what I am, a Christian.

Passion of Perpetua and Felicity (Tertullian)

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Feast of the Stigmata of St Francis of Assisi and Memorials of the Saints – 17 September

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St Robert Bellarmine SJ (1542-1621) Doctor of the Church, Bishop, Confessor, Theologian, Professor, Writer, Preacher, Mediator. (Optional Memorial) Feast day – 13 May (General Roman Calendar, 1932–1969)

Stigmata of St Francis of Assisi:
Two years before the great Saint Francis of Assisi died and when he was forty-two years old — one year after he had built the first crib in honour of Our Lord — he went off to a lonely mountain called Mount Alvernia, to prepare himself by forty days of fasting and prayer for the Feast of Saint Michael, the greatest of God’s Angels, whose Feast day is 29 September. On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on 14 September, Saint Francis received in his hands, feet and side the Sacred Wounds from Our Lord’s own body.

Never was a Saint more beautifully loved by Jesus than Saint Francis of Assisi. The wounds Jesus gave him stayed in his hands, feet and side and continually bled for two more years, until he died in 1226. The day on which Saint Francis received the Five Wounds of Our Lord was 14 September but so, that this beautiful event might have a feast day for itself, the Stigmata of Saint Francis is commemorated today, on 17 September. The simple liturgy of this holy Saint’s life might be put this way – the crib in 1223 and the Cross in 1224.

St Agathoclia
St Brogan of Ross Tuirc
St Columba of Cordova
St Crescentio of Rome
St Emmanuel Nguyen Van Trieu
St Flocellus

St Hildegard von Bingen OSB (1098-1179) Doctor of the Church, German Benedictine Abbess, Theologian, Writer, Composer, Philosopher, Poet, Mystic, Visionary, Founder, Scientist, Artist and Polymath. She is considered to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.

St Justin of Rome

St Lambert (c 635-c 700) Bishop & Martyr, Bishop of Maastricht, Confessor, Missionary.

St Narcissus of Rome
St Peter Arbues OSA (1442-1485) Priest Martyr
St Rodingus
St Satyrus of Milan
St Socrates
Bl Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary
St Stephen of England
St Theodora
St Uni of Bremen
St Zygmunt Sajna

St Zygmunt Szcesny Felinski TOSF (1822-1895) Archbishop of Warsaw and founder of the Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary, Apostle of poor, Confessor, Professor, Writer, Reformer.

Martyred in the Spanish Civil War
• Blessed Álvaro Santos Cejudo Moreno Chocano
• Blessed Juan Ventura Solsona
• Blessed Timoteo Valero Pérez

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Saints of the Day – 16 September – Saints Abundius and Abundantius of Rome

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Saints Abundius and Abundantius of Rome were martyrs who killed during the Diocletian persecution in the year 304. Abundius was a priest and Abundantius a deacon. The emperor ordered them to be arrested on suspicion of Christianity. When they refused to sacrifice to Hercules, they were tortured at Mamertine prison, and condemned to be beheaded. On the way to execution the two passed Senator Marcian who was grieving over his son John who had just died. Abundius prayed over John, and the boy returned to life; Marcian and John converted to Christianity on the spot. 

Prison of the Holy Apostles Peter & Paul (Mamertinum)

The executions were carried out at the 26th milestone of the Via Flaminia. Their bodies were later transferred to the church of Cosmas and Damian in Rome. The bodies of Marcianus and John were found around 1001 and transferred to Civita Castellana. In 1583, the relics of Abundius and Abundantius were transferred to the SS. Nome di Gesu, where they were placed under the church’s high altar. Aloysius Gonzaga heard mass there before becoming a Jesuit.

Church of the Gesù

For in him whom then with a latent foreboding of divinity they were in such wise demanding, they were seeking not only a priest — but moreover a future martyr.

The Life and Passion of St Cyprian (Pontius)

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Saint of the Day – 15 September – Saint Nicetas the Goth

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Saint Nicetas the Goth was a soldier and martyr born in the 4th-century, in the Gothic territory north of the Danube River. Coming from the upper class of his people. He was instructed in Christianity by Theophilus of Gothia, a converted bishop, between 325 and 341 AD.

Nicetas received his Greek name on the occasion of his baptism by Theophilus, a participant in the First Ecumenical Council. Pagan Goths began to oppose the spread of Christianity, which resulted in internecine strife. Nicetas fought in the Gothic civil war between the pagan Alaric and the Christian Fritigern. After the defeat of Alaric and after the invention of Gothic alphabets by Ulfilas, Nicetas worked intensely among the Goths for their conversion.

Later, Alaric returned, defeated Fritigern, and resumed his persecution of Christians. The s aint denounced the persecutor for his cruelty and impiety, because he subjected the Christians to severe torments. Nicetas endured many tortures himself and was condemned to the stake in 372. All the while, he hept over his heart, under his robes, an icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Christ Child holding the Cross, carrying this after the Blessed Virgin appeared to him to provide comfort. The devil, shaped as an angel, induced Nicetas to sacrifice to the pagan gods for saving his life; the saint, however, put him to flight by means of prayer and the assistance of St Michael. Although he died at the stake, miraculously the fire did not touch his body, which was buried in Cilicia, and later transferred to Constantinople.

The veneration of this saint gave rise to the Slavic forms of his name: Nikita, Mykyta and Mikita. St Nicetas is prayed to for the preservation of children from birth defects and he is patron of Melendugno, Lecce, Italy.

At what point, then, shall I begin — from what direction shall I approach the description of his goodness, except from the beginning of his faith and from his heavenly birth? Inasmuch as the doings of a man of God should not be reckoned from any point except from the time that he was born of God.

The Life and Passion of St Cyprian (Pontius)

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Saint of the Day – 14 September – Saint Aelia Flaccilla

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Saint Aelia Flavia Flaccilla, known as Aelia Flacilla or Flacilla, was a Roman empress and may have been the daughter of Claudius Antonius, Prefect of Gaul. She was the first wife of Emperor Theodosius I. She was of Spanish descent. During her marriage to Theodosius, she gave birth to two sons, the future Emperors Arcadius and Honorius, as well as a daughter, Aelia Pulcheria.

Aelia Flacilla was a zealous supporter of the Nicene Creed, and she was considered a pillar of the Church and model of Christian virtue by Saint Gregory of Nyssa and others. She died in 385 of natural causes.

"The greatness of the good gift given her made her love for Him who gave it all the greater, so she bestowed every kind of attention on the maimed and the mutilated, declining all aid from her household and her guards, herself visiting the houses where the sufferers lodged, and providing every one with what he required. She also went about the chambers of the churches and ministered to the wants of the sick, herself handling pots and pans, and tasting broth, now bringing in a dish and breaking bread and offering morsels, and washing out a cup and going through all the other duties which are supposed to be proper to servants and maids. To them who strove to restrain her from doing these things with her own hands she would say, "It befits a sovereign to distribute gold; I, for the sovereign power that has been given me, am giving my own service to the Giver."

-Theodoret, Ecclesiastical History (Book V.18)

"It appears that, during the reign of Valens, had some dispute with his own clergy at Cyzicus, and had in consequence seceded from the Arians, and retired to Bithynia, near Constantinople. Here multitudes resorted to him; some also gathered from different quarters, a few with the design of testing his principles, and others merely from the desire of listening to his discourses. His reputation reached the ears of the emperor, who would gladly have held a conference with him. But the Empress Flacilla studiously prevented an interview from taking place between them; for she was the most faithful guard of the Nicene doctrines, and feared lest Eunomius might, by his powers of disputation, induce a change in the sentiments of the emperor."

-Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History (Book VII)
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Saint of the Day – 13 September – St Aigulf

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Saint Aigulf, also known as Aigulphe, Aygulf or Ayoul. He was Abbot of Lérins, and a martyr.

St. Benedict frees a monk possessed by a demon by striking him.

Aigulf was born in 630 in Blois and was a Benedictine monk at Fleury, France. He led a party of monks sent to retrieve the relics of Saint Bernard from the Lombards. Later, he was called upon to reform the Abbey of Saint Honorat.

He became abbot of Lérins around 671 and worked to restore monastic discipline, which had weakened over time. He replaced the monks’ own rules, which had been followed since the abbey’s origins, with the Rule of Saint Benedict. Many of the brothers supported him, but some resisted, and following a riot they conspired to have Aigulf and four of his supporters kidnapped by soldiers, taken to the island of Capri, Italy, blinded, tortured and murdered. The monks of Lérins claimed possession of his relics and have always considered Aygulf a martyr. A chapel was dedicated to him in the fortified monastery. 

Saint Aygulf is invoked for the healing of eye ailments.

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Saint of the Day – 12 September – Blessed Thomas of Zumárraga

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Blessed Thomas of Zumárraga was a Dominican friar, priest, missionary, and martyr of Japan.

Thomas was born in Vitoria, Spain, in 1577. In 1594, he was professed in the Order of Preachers in Vitoria. After he entered the Convento de San Esteban de Salamanca, he received the name of Fray Tomás del Espíritu Santo (Brother Thomas of the Holy Spirit). In 1601, he was sent to Mexico en route to the Philippines. Shortly after arriving, in 1603, Fray Francisco Morales, superior of the Dominicans in Manila, sent him to Japan to found a mission.

By the early 17th century Japan was mostly closed to foreigners, but he fearlessly preached the Gospel and worked tirelessly to establish Christian communities. He hid in the mountains in the area of Nagasaki and Ōmura, but in 1617 he was arrested alongside several other missionaries. After five years of imprisonment, he was burnt alive on 12 September 1622.

Pope Pius IX venerated him on 26 February 1866 with a decree of martyrdom, and later proclaimed him blessed on 7 May 1867.

 On all sides all men were flocking together to a spectacle, to us glorious from the devotion of faith, and to be mourned over even by the Gentiles. 

The Life and Passion of St Cyprian (Pontius)

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Saints of the Day – 11 September – Saints Felix, Regula and Essuperanzio 

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Saints Felix, Regula and Essuperanzio were martyrs beheaded together in the 3rd century, near Zürich, Switzerland, for converting to Christianity. Felix and Regula were brother and sister, while Essuperanzio was their servant. They are the patron saints of Zürich.

Felix was a member of the Theban legion which was based in Egypt under Saint Maurice and stationed in Agaunum in the Valais, Switzerland. When the legion refused to sacrifice to Emperor Maximian, the order was given to execute them. The siblings fled, reaching Zürich before they were caught, tried and executed in 286. After decapitation, they miraculously stood to their feet, picked up their own heads, walked forty paces uphill, and prayed before lying down in death. They were buried on the spot where they lay down, on the hilltop which would become the site of the Grossmünster.

This was revealed in a dream to a monk called Florentius in the 8th century. It contributed greatly to the massive conversion of the inhabitants of these regions to Christianity and had such an impact on Zurich that these three saints still appear on the seal of Zurich today.

And Hilarianus the procurator, who had just received the power of life and death in the place of the proconsul Minucius Timinianus, who was deceased, said, ‘Spare the grey hairs of your father, spare the infancy of your boy, offer sacrifice for the well-being of the emperors.’ And I replied, ‘I will not do so.’ Hilarianus said, ‘Are you a Christian?’ And I replied, ‘I am a Christian.’

St Perpetua

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Saints of the Day – 10 September – Sts Victor and Sosthenes of Chalcedon

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Saints Victor and Sosthenes of Chalcedon were soldiers and the executioners assigned to torture Saint Euphemia. However her faith and prayers converted them to Christianity. The Proconsul Priscus ordered Victor and Sosthenes to throw the saint into a red-hot furnace. In the flames, however, they saw angels who prevented them from touching the saint. When they refused to carry out the order, they were placed in shackles. Other soldiers, who threw Saint Euphēmia into the fire, were burnt by the flames, but inside the furnace the martyr remained unharmed.

St Victor of Chalcedon

They were subsequently martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian. The Proconsul tried to make them bow down to the idols, but they replied that they had come to know the true God and would not offer homage to demons. As they were led to the wild beasts, they begged the Lord to forgive the sins they had committed as pagans. Then a divine voice came from Heaven, calling them to their rest. The animals did not touch their bodies. Later, the two martyrs were buried secretly by some Christians.

Then I awoke, and perceived that I was not to fight with beasts, but against the devil. Still I knew that the victory was awaiting me.

St Perpetua

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Saint of the Day – 9 September – Blessed Maria de la Cabeza

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Blessed Maria de la Cabeza, born at Uceda, Guadalajara, Spain, was a Spanish peasant woman who married Saint Isidore. She is known in Spain as Santa María de la Cabeza (“Saint Mary of the Head”) or Maria Toribia.

Ss. Isidore and Maria Torribia

Maria’s date of birth is unknown, but it was sometime near the end of the 11th century or at the beginning of the 12th century. She is believed to have been born in Caraquiz, a little village close to Uceda. She subsequently lived in Torrelaguna, where she met and married Saint Isidore the Farmer. She spent her life working on the farm, cleaning local chapels and shrines, helping the poor.

With her husband she had her only son, Illan. The child one day fell down a deep well, leaving the parents with no recourse but prayer. Miraculously, the water level suddenly rose to the level of the ground, and the floating baby was rescued unharmed. As a result of this, she and her husband committed themselves to sexual abstinence as a form of devotion, and, from that time on, lived in different homes.

One story relates that Maria always kept a pot of stew on the fireplace in their humble rural dwelling. She knew that her husband Isidore would often bring home anyone who was hungry. One day he brought home more hungry people than usual. After she served many of them, Maria told him that there simply was no more stew in the pot. He insisted that she check the pot again, and she was able to spoon out enough stew to feed them all.

Torribia outlived her husband, who died in 1130. After his death, she lived as a hermit, performed miracles, and had visions.

The title of the Head is due to her head being a relic venerated for centuries, and the need to distinguish her from so many other Saints Mary.

She died in 1175 and her relics were displayed in a Franciscan convent in Torrelaguna, Spain, before being moved to Saint Andrew’s Church in Madrid in 1645, placed with the incorruptible body of her husband. In 1769, Charles III of Spain had the remains of Saint Isidore and his wife Maria relocated to the San Isidro Church, Madrid. The sepulcher has nine locks and only the King of Spain has the master key.

She was beatified by Pope Innocent XII on 11 August 1697.

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Saint of the Day – 8 September – St. Isaac the Great

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Saint Isaac the Great, also known as Sahak and Parthev, was born in 338, the son of Saint Nerses the Great, Catholicos of Armenia.

Left an orphan at a very early age, he received in Constantinople an excellent education, particularly in the Eastern languages. He was a married layman for several years. When he wife died he became a monk, succeeding his father as Catholicos (Patriarch) of Armenia in 390. He secured recognition from Constantinople of the status, rights and independence of the Armenian Church. From his position he worked to reform the Armenian Church, evangelize the Armenian people, and establish an Armenian identity. Through Isaac’s efforts the churches and monasteries destroyed by the Persians were rebuilt, education was cared for in a generous way, the pagan worship of Ormuzd which Shah Yezdigerd tried to set up was cast out, and three councils held to re-establish ecclesiastical discipline. He was also noted for his ascetic life.

Isaac worked with Saint Mesrop the Teacher to evangelize Armenia, and to develop an alphabet for the Armenian language. He supported the translation of the Bible and the Greek and Syrian Doctors of the Church into Armenian, and translated some of holy scripture himself. Isaac served as both civil and religious ruler of his people, established a national liturgy, and was responsible for the beginnings of Armenian literature. He was driven into retirement in 428 when the Persians conquered part of his territory, but later returned as Catholicos at Ashtishat from where he worked until he death. He is considered the founder of the Armenian Church.

He died at the age of 110 at Ashtishat, of natural causes.

St Isaac and St Mesrop
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Saint of the Day – 7 September – Blessed John Duckett

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Blessed John Duckett, was a priest and martyr, one of the Martyrs of Douai. Born in 1613 in Sedbergh, Yorkshire, the son of James and Francis Duckett and a relative and possibly the grandson of Blessed James Duckett, who had been executed at Tyburn on 19 April 1601 for printing Catholic books.

He was baptized on 24 February 1614 and educated at Sedbergh School. At the age of seventeen, he entered the English College, Douai; where he was ordained a priest by the Archbishop of Cambrai in 1639.

John possessed an extraordinary gift for prayer, and would spend whole nights in contemplation. On his way to the English mission, he spent two months in spiritual exercises, under the direction of his uncle, the Carthusian prior at Nieuport. He laboured for about a year in Durham and was arrested near Whisingham on his way to baptize two children, 2 July, 1644. The place which tradition declares to be that of his arrest is now marked by a tall stone cross. Carried to Sunderland, he was examined by a Parliamentary Committee of sequestrators, and placed in irons. He confessed his priesthood and was thereupon sent up to London with Father Ralph Corbie, S.J., who had been arrested about the same time near Newcastle-on-Tyne.

They were committed to Newgate, and edified the crowds of Catholics who flocked to see them by their joyousness, their sanctity, and their longing to suffer for Christ. A reprieve for one of them having been obtained, each refused to take it for himself. On his way to execution, Duckett astonished all by his supernatural joy; comforting those who wept for him, he said smiling: “Why weep you for me who am glad at heart of this happy day?” His jailers even were so struck by his gladness that they exclaimed “assuredly this man dies for a good cause”.

He suffered with Father Corbie, at Tyburn. In a farewell letter to the Bishop of Chalcedon, he wrote on the eve of his martyrdom: “I fear not death, nor I contemn not life. If life were my lot, I would endure it patiently; but if death, I shall receive it joyfully, for that Christ is my life, and death is my gain. Never since my receiving of Holy Orders did I so much fear death as I did life, and now, when it approacheth can I faint?”

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Saint of the Day – 6 September – Saint Zacharius the Prophet

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Saint Zacharius the Prophet, also known as Zaccaria, Zechariah (“Yahweh remembers”), was the son of Barachias, son of Addo, and a prophet who rose in Israel in the eighth month of the seventh year of the reign of King Darius, 520 B.C. He began to prophesy just two months after Haggai. The urgings of the two Prophets brought about the building of the second temple. He is the the author of the Book of Zechariah, the eleventh of the Twelve Minor Prophets.

Zechariah on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

The Book of Zechariah introduces him as the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo. The Book of Nehemiah identifies him as a Levitical priest. His work has both an allegorical history of his people, and prophecies of the Messiah to come.

In the eighth month, in the second year of king Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying: The Lord hath been exceeding angry with your fathers.

Zechariah 1: 1-2

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Saint of the Day – 5 September – Blessed  Peter Nguyễn Văn Tự

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Blessed Peter Nguyễn Văn Tự, also known as Phêrô Nguyễn Văn Tự or Peter Tu Van Nguyen, was a Dominican priest and martyr born in 1796, Nam Dinh, Vietnam. Growing up during a time of persecutions of Christians, he entered the seminary, was ordained a priest in 1826, and joined the Dominican Order on January 4, 1827.

For 12 years Peter served in parishes across the Diocese of Bùi Chu. When the 1832 edict under Emperor Minh Mạng came, he went into hiding for six years, yet continued ministering secretly, often at great risk. In June 1838, soldiers raided Kẻ Mốt village, confiscating religious items and torturing locals. His hiding spot was betrayed and he was arrest on June 29, 1838, alongside catechist Bùi Văn Úy.

While imprisoned, Peter boldly preached during interrogations and refused to trample on a crucifix. Sentenced to death, he prepared with prayer, confessing to a fellow priest and receiving Holy Communion. On September 5, 1838, at age 42, he was beheaded at Cổ Mễ execution grounds alongside Joseph Hoàng Lương Cảnh. His body was buried at Nghĩa Vũ parish, with relics now at Trung Lại church in Bắc Giang province.

He was beatified on May 27, 1900, by Pope Leo XIII.

O blessed, you may regard yourselves as having been translated from a prison to, we may say, a place of safety. It is full of darkness, but you yourselves are light; it has bonds, but God has made you free. Unpleasant exhalations are there, but you are an odour of sweetness. The judge is daily looked for, but you shall judge the judges themselves.

Tertullian (To the Martyrs)

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Saint of the Day – 4 September – St Moses the Prophet

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Moses (“saved from the waters”) was a Hebrew liberator, law giver, and prophet. He belonged to the tribe of Levi and was born in Egypt (10th century B.C.), at a time when Pharaoh had ordered the killing of all male Hebrew children. Exposed in the waters of the Nile, he was rescued by Pharaoh’s daughter and educated at court.

Having killed an Egyptian to save one of his brethren from ill-treatment, he fled to Madian where he married Jethro’s daughter. God appeared to him in the burning bush and commanded him to go and deliver his people, with the help of his brother Aaron, but Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go, and the terrible chastisements known as the Ten Plagues of Egypt only hardened his heart. However the last one, the death of every first born, forced him to yield, and the Hebrews departed, after celebrating the first Pasch.

The Finding of Moses

Then began, under the leadership of Moses, a long journey in the direction of the Promised Land. Moses himself is excluded from it because of his lack of confidence at the “Waters of Contradiction”. The Israelites finally reached the banks of the Jordan, after defeating the Amorrhites and Moabites, and Moses died on Mount Nebo after pronouncing the three discourses preserved in Deuteronomy, his position being inherited by Joshua. He was buried in the valley of Moab, but “no man knows his sepulchre”.

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Saint of the Day – 2 September – St Margaret of Louvain

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Saint Margaret of Louvain, also known as known as Margaretula, Margaret la Fière, Margaret van Leuven, Margaret van Löwen, Margarita Lovania, Fiere Margriet.

Death of Margaretha of Louvain by Pieter-Jozef Verhaghen

She was a maid born in 1207 to a poor family at Louvain, Brabant, Belgium. When a teenager, Margaret worked as a maid at the Sint Joris, an inn in Louvain owned by her uncle Aubert. Aubert and his wife sold the inn, planning to each enter the religious life. Margaret herself wanted to become a Cistercian nun.

The body of the blessed Margaretha of Louvain laid out.

On their last night in the inn, thieves broke in and murdered the owners while Margaret was out. She came home as the killers were leaving, seeing what they had done. She ran and the thieves gave chase. They caught up with her along the banks of the Dyle River, where they murdered her by slitting her throat. They threw her corpse into the Dyle, but when a large fish pushed the body upstream and an angel hovered over the river, shining a light on the body, it was recovered and buried on the riverbank where she was killed. Miracles were reported at her gravesite, and her remains were then translated and reinterred in a chapel in the yard of Saint Peter’s Church in the centre of town, where many miracles occured.

In 1905, Pope Pius X confirmed her cultus. Her shrine was made of gilded copper and adorned with semi-precious stones and co-financed by gifts from parishioners and young maids who honor Marguerite la Fière as their patron saint.

The funeral procession of Blessed Margaretha of Louvain

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Saints of the Day – 31 August – St Theodotus and St Rufina of Caesarea

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St Theodotus and St Rufina of Caesarea were husband and wife, martyrs in the persecutions of Aurelian, and parents of Saint Mamas. Born to patrician families in Paphlagonia, Asia Minor, they were devout Christians. When the persecutions of Christians began, Alexander, the magistrate of the city of Gangra, summoned them to trail because they refused to obey the imperial decree requiring all citizens to worship the pagan gods. Those who disobeyed would be tortured and put to death.

Since Theodotus was a noble, and Alexander could not torture or murder him because of that, so he sent him to the governor Faustus in Caesarea of Cappadocia. Faustus, who was notoriously ruthless, threw Theodotus into prison. Though pregnant, Rufina followed her husband into gaol. Fearing that he would not be able to withstand torture and would apostatise, Theodotus asked God to take his soul, a prayer which was granted. As a result of sorrow and the privations she experienced in prison, Saint Rufina gave birth prematurely. She prayed that God would permit her to follow her husband in death, and that He would also protect her child. Her prayer was also granted and Saint Mamas was raised by a pious woman named Ammia.

The prison, indeed, is the devil’s house as well, wherein he keeps his family. But you have come within its walls for the very purpose of trampling the wicked one under foot in his chosen abode.

Tertullian (To the Martyrs)

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Saint/s of the Day – 30 August – Bl Margaret Ward

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Blessed Margaret Ward, known as the Pearl of Tyburn, a martyr during the reign of Elizabeth I. Margaret was born a gentlewoman in Congleton, Cheshire, in Northwest England, in 1550. Later she travelled to London and went to work in the home of a woman of distinction called Whitall.

Whilst in London she assisted a priest called William Watson, who was imprisoned in the Bridewell prison. Ward befriended the gaoler’s wife, took food to Watson, and smuggled in rope to help Watson escape. She arranged for two Catholic watermen to meet Watson on the Thames below the prison walls; even though he broke his arm and leg during his escape, he was picked up by the watermen, “who rowed him to a safe hiding place”. The rope was traced back to Ward. She was arrested, charged, and tried for “aiding a traitor to escape” and was tortured by being hung by her wrists and beaten for eight days.

Margaret Clitherow, Anne Line, and Margaret Ward

Blessed Robert Southwell said Ward “was flogged and hung up by the wrists, the tips of her toes only touching the ground, for so long a time that she was crippled and paralyzed, but these sufferings greatly strengthened the glorious martyr for her last struggle”. Blessed John Roche was arrested and tried with Ward. They were offered release if they asked for the queen’s pardon and agreed to “conform to the established Church”, but they refused and were hanged at Tyburn on 30 August 1588. Ward and Roche were beatified in a large group in 1929.

Possibly such a woman could not have been slain unless she herself had willed it, because she was feared by the impure spirit.

Tertullian (Passion of Perpetua and Felicity)

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Saint of the Day – 29 August – Blessed Bronislava of Poland

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Blessed Bronislava of Poland, also known as Bronislava Odrowaz, Bronislava of Cracow, Bronislawa. She was a cousin of Saint Hyacinth and Blessed Czeslaw. The daughter of Count Stanislaus and Countess Anna of Prandata-Odrowaz, she was born at the castle of Kamien in Upper Silesia, Poland, in 1203, becoming at age sixteen a Premonstratensian nun at a convent founded by her maternal grandfather. Saint Hyacinth himself introduced her to this community of the Norbertines.

She was deeply devoted to the Holy Cross. After her profession in 1223, Christ Crucified appeared to her and said, “Bronislava, as my Cross has been your cross, so my glory will be your glory.” When the Tartars invaded Krakow in 1241, Bronislava, holding the cross in her hand, encouraged her sisters with the words, “Do not be afraid, the cross will save us.” She then knocked on the wall with her crucifix, at which a corridor opened before them and they all escaped into a nearby forest. Some of the Sisters joined another surviving convent, while Bronislava and a few others built huts on the ruins of their former home. They ministered to the poor, sick, and homeless of the surrounding countryside. The local population considered her their patroness on whom they could count when they needed protection.

The Norbertine rule was rigorous. They lived in cells that had dirt floors and no stoves; they suffered intensely from cold and frost, following a vow of extreme poverty and had no contact with the outside world. After 15 years of solitary, austere religious life, Bronislava accepted the burden of becoming a Superior. Later she became a hermitess on the hill of Sikornik. When Saint Hyacinth died, she received a vision of him ascending to heaven holding the hand of the Blessed Virgin.

Bronislava died on August 29, 1259, two years after her beloved cousin. Both of them had been devoted to the holy Mother of God and to her Rosary in its earliest form. Her body was taken to the convent church and she was invoked as a saint. Her relics were placed in a precious reliquary and were carried in solemn procession each year on the anniversary of her death. In 1707 she was designated a patroness of Krakow and Poland, of orphans, young people, a happy death and of the prevention of disease.

She was beatified by Pope Gregory XVI on 23 August 1839, after being attributed for protecting Zwierzyniec from cholera in 1835. The efforts of the Polish bishops toward the canonization of Bronislava in 1947 by Pope Pius XII were thwarted by 40 years of Communist rule.

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The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist and Memorials of the Saints – 29 August

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The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist

St Sabina of Rome (Died c 126) Martyr, Widow

Blessed John of Perugia`OFM (Died 1231) Martyr, Friar of the Friars Minor

Blessed Peter of Sassoferrato OFM (Died 1231) Martyr, Friar of the Friars Minor

St Adelphus
St Adausia of Rome
St Alberic of Bagno de Romagna
St Basilia of Sirmium
Bl Bronislava
St Candida of Rome
St Edwold the Hermit
St Euthymius of Perugia
St Maximian of Vercelli
St Medericus
St Nicaeus of Antioch
St Paul of Antioch
St Repositus of Velleianum
Bl Richard Herst
St Sabina of Troyes
St Sator of Velleianum
St Sebbe of Essex
St Velleicus
St Victor of La Chambon
St Vitalis of Velleianum

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Saint of the Day – 28 August – Blessed Adelindis of Buchau

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Blessed Adelindis of Buchau, also known as Adelindis of Poulagy, Adelindis of Swabia and Adelinda, Adele, Adelaide. Blessed Adelindis was the founder of the Imperial Abbey Buchau Ladies’ Convent, in today’s Bad Buchau near the Federsee lake in Swabia, Francia (Württemberg, Germany).

Adelindis kneels at right at the founding of the Abbey

Adelindis was born c. 729, the daughter of Duke Hildeprand of Spoleto, a member of the Lombard nobility, later under the protection of Charlemagne. Her mother Regarde was the daughter of Gotfrid and came from Bavaria. She married the Frankish Count Warin II around 750. In 770 she and her husband founded the Buchau Abbey.

She is not to be confused with the second Abbess, a woman of the same name and a countess who entered the convent as a nun to atone when her three sons were killed attempting to abduct their sister from it in order to marry her off.

In her memory, the Adelindis Festival, a homeland and children’s festival, is celebrated in Bad Buchau every two years on August 28.

Attributed arms of Adelindis of Swabia
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Saint of the Day – 27 August – Saint Poemen

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Saint Poemen (meaning ‘Shepherd’), born in 340, is the most quoted Father in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers. 

Poemen lived at a monastery in Scetis in Egypt, one of the earliest centres of Christian monasticism. In 407 AD the monastery was overrun by barbarian raiders, scattering the monks. Poemen and Anoub, along with a handful of monks, fled to Terenuthis, on the river Nile. After leaving Scetis, his group first lived in an abandoned pagan temple. The diaspora of monks resulting from these raids lead to Poemen and his group keeping alive the collective wisdom of the monks of Scetis by creating the bulk of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers.

Although noted for his strong discipline, (permitting himself and his brothers four hours of sleep a day and spending the rest of the time in chores, prayers or study) he was also tolerant of the weakness of others. One story recounts that some of the older monks approached Poemen for his advice on how to treat monks who fell asleep during their prayers. They were inclined to wake the sleeping monk, while Poemen took a more compassionate approach, advising, “For my part, when I have seen a brother who is dozing, I put his head on my knees and let him rest.” Poemen was typically opposed to giving excessively harsh penances —when a monk came to him who had committed a “great sin”, Poemen reduced his penance from three years to three days.

He once recalled a straying monk back to virtue by sending him a bottle of wine on the birth of a bastard child, in ‘celebration’, which struck the monk’s conscience so hard that he dismissed his mistress. Poemen was described as a charismatic speaker who taught more by example than by lecturing others. When a visiting monk asked him if he should assume a role of authority over the brothers he was living with, Poemen responded by saying, “No, be their example, not their legislator.” Judgment of others was also abhorrent to him. He once stated that, “A man may seem to be silent, but if his heart is condemning others, he is babbling incessantly.” He also urged frequent Communion for all.

He died in 450, of natural causes.

Selected sayings of Poemen

  • The beginning of evil is the lack of vigilance.
  • Silence is not a virtue when charity calls for speech. 
  • A living faith consists of thinking little of self, and showing consideration for others.
  • Do not lay open your conscience to anyone whom you do not trust in your heart.
  • To instruct your neighbour is the same thing as reproving him. 
  • If you take little account of yourself, you will have peace, wherever you live. 
  • To throw yourself before God, not to measure your progress, to leave behind all self-will; these are the instruments for the work of the soul. 
  • Give not your heart to that which does not satisfy your heart.
  • If you are silent, you will possess peace wherever you live.
  • The nature of water is soft, and the nature of stone is hard; but if a bottle is hung above the stone, allowing the water to fall down drop by drop, it wears away the stone. So it is with the Word of God: it is soft and our heart is hard, but the man who hears the Word of God often opens his heart to the fear of God. 
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One Minute Reflection – 27 August – “The one who is least among all of you is the one who is the greatest.”

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One Minute Reflection – 27 August – “The Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary” and the celebration of St Joseph Calasantius (1557-1648) Spanish Confessor – Readings: Ps 33:12, Ps 33:2, Wis 10:10-14, Matt 18:1-5

At that time, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in their midst, and said, Amen I say to you, unless you turn and become like little children, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matt 18:1-5

REFLECTION – “Come,” said Christ to his apostles, “and learn from me” – not, to be sure, how to cast out demons with heavenly power, nor how to cleanse lepers, nor how to enlighten the blind, nor how to raise the dead… But you, he says, “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart”. For this can be learned and practiced by everyone in general, whereas the works of signs and mighty deeds are neither always necessary and appropriate for everyone, nor are they bestowed on everyone.

Humility, then, is the teacher of all the virtues; it is the most firm foundation of the heavenly edifice; it is the Savior’s own magnificent gift. For a person may perform without danger of pride all the miracles that Christ worked if he strains after the meek Lord not because of his exalted signs but because of his patience and humility. But a person who itches to command unclean spirits, to bestow the gift of health on the sick, or to show some wondrous sign to the people is far from Christ even though he invokes the name of Christ in his displays, because by reason of his proud mind he does not follow the Teacher of humility.

Even when he was returning to his Father he prepared what I might call his testament, and he left this to his disciples: “A new commandment I give you,” he said, “that you love one another; as I have loved you, you must also love one another.” And immediately he added: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”. He did not say: If you also perform signs and mighty deeds, but: “If you have love for one another.” Certainly no one can observe this but the gentle and the humble.

St John Cassian

PRAYER – O God, Who through St Joseph, Thy Confessor, did graciously will to provide Thy Church with a new method for the training of youth, in the spirit of understanding and holiness grant, we beseech Thee, that, following his example and through his intercession, we may live and teach so as to acquire an everlasting reward. Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen

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Feast of the Seven Joys of Our Lady – 27 August

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The Seven Joys of Our Lady – 27 August

St Joseph Calasanz Sch.P. (1557-1648) Spanish Confessor, Priest, Teacher, Lawyer, Founder of the Pious Schools. Patron of all Schools, Colleges, all study institutions and of all students.

St Caesarius of Arles (470-543) Archbishop and Church Father, Theologian, Preacher, Apostle of charity, Legislator, Administrator, Writer, Reformer.

St Carpophorus
St David Lewis
St Decuman
St Ebbo of Sens
St Etherius of Lyons
St Euthalia of Leontini
St Fortunatus of Potenza
Bl Gabriel Mary
St Gebhard of Constance
St Giovanni of Pavia
St Honoratus of Potenza
St John of Pavia
St Licerius of Couserans
St Malrubius of Merns
St Narnus of Bergamo
St Phanurius
St Poemen
Bl Roger Cadwallador
St Rufus of Capua
St Sabinian of Potenza
St Syagrius of Autun

Martyrs of Tomi – 5 Saints: A group of 17 Christians imprisoned and executed for their faith during the persecutions of Diocletian. They miraculously were unburned by fire and untouched by wild animals. We know the names and a few details on five of them – John, Mannea, Marcellinus, Peter and Serapion. They were tied to stakes and burned alive; they emerged unharmed – thrown to wild animals in the amphitheatre; the animals ignored them; they were beheaded in 304 in Tomi, Mesia (modern Costanza, Romania).

Martyrs of Nagasaki – 14 Beati: A group of fourteen missionaries and Japanese native Christians, who were Martyred together for their faith. They died on 16 August 1627 in Nagasaki, Japan and were Beatified on 7 May 1867 by Pope Pius IX.
• Blessed Antonius of Saint Francis
• Blessed Bartolomé Díaz Laurel
• Blessed Caius Akashi Jiemon
• Blessed Francisca Pinzokere
• Blessed Francisco of Saint Mary
• Blessed Franciscus Kuhyoe
• Blessed Leo Kurobyoe Nakamura
• Blessed Lucas Tsuji Kyuemon
• Blessed Ludovicus Matsuo Soyemon
• Blessed Magdalena Kiyota
• Blessed Maria Shobyoe
• Blessed Michaël Koga Kizayemon
• Blessed Thomas Sato Shin’emon
• Blessed Tsuji Shobyoe

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Saint of the Day – 26 August – St. Victor of Caesarea

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Saint Victor of Caesarea, martyr. Also known as Vittore. He was crucified at Caesarea, Mauretania, in Africa during the persecutions of the first century. Not to be confused with Saint Victor the Martyr, a Spanish hermit martyred by Moors in the ninth century.

Saint Victor of Caesarea

And we came near to place, the walls of which were such as if they were built of light; and before the gate of that place stood four angels, who clothed those who entered with white robes. And being clothed, we entered and saw the boundless light, and heard the united voice of some who said without ceasing, ‘Holy! Holy! Holy!’

Tertullian (The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity)

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Saint of the Day – 25 August – Blessed Miguel de Carvalho SJ

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Miguel de Carvalho SJ, also known as Michael Carvalho, was born in Braga, in 1579, to a noble and wealthy family. In 1597, he joined the Society of Jess in. In 1602, he studied in Portuguese India. After completing his studies of philosophy and theology at St. Paul’s College in Goa, he was ordained to the priesthood. For several years, he was a professor of theology at the Academy. On 21 August 1621, he arrived in Japan where there was an increasing persecution of Catholics in social life. Hidetada Tokugawa, the second shōgun of the Tokugawa dynasty, issued a decree which banned the practice and teaching of the Christian faith, and under the threat of loss of life, all missionaries had to leave Japan. This decree started the bloody persecution of Christians, which lasted several decades.

Carvalho hid in plain view, disguised as a soldier for two years. When the local governor openly confessed that Carvalho was a missionary, and the actual purpose of his stay was to preach and convert the locals to Christianity, he was expelled from the island. With the help of fellow believers, he went to Nagasaki, where the Jesuit Provincial, Francisco Pacheco advised him to remain prudent in the implementation of the apostolate and directed him to care for a small group living in a suburban area. On 22 July 1623, as he returned from the pastoral ministry in Ōmura, Carvalho was arrested thanks to an accusation from an informant.

In the local prison, he joined Franciscan Luis Sotelo, Dominican Pedro Vásquez, and two Japanese Franciscans, Ludovicus Sasada and tertiary Ludovicus Baba. Miguel spent his time in captivity with the celebration of daily Mass and prayer. On 24 August, a death sentence was ordered, which was performed the next day in Ōmura. On 25 August 1624, Carvalho and his companions were burned at the stake.

The steadfastness and joy that he showed convicts in the face of martyrdom for the faith, aroused the admiration of his contemporaries. Carvalho was beatified by Pope Pius IX on 7 July 1867. The death of the martyrs is commemorated by an obelisk in Ōmura.

‘Thanks be to God, that joyous as I was in the flesh, I am now more joyous here.’

Saint Perpetua

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Quote of the Day – 25 August – St Louis IX

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Quote of the Day – 25 August – St Louis IX (1214-1270) Confessor, King of France

The instructions which St Louis gave to the heir of his crown and which, he had constantly observed himself, testify to his great devotion and holiness.
These were the last admonitions of the Holy King:

  1. Love God, the Almighty, above all else.
  2. Flee sin more quickly than you would a serpent.
  3. Become not fainthearted, in adversity.
  4. Become not elevated, in the days of prosperity.
  5. Show the wounds of your soul frequently, to your spiritual physician and refuse no remedies, however bitter, to heal them.
  6. Pray diligently.
  7. Be compassionate and generous to the poor.
  8. If your mind is harassed with doubt, consult a devout man.
  9. Keep faithful and pious counsellors around you and dismiss those who are wicked.
  10. All that is good hold fast: all that is bad discard.
  11. Lend a willing ear to those who speak of God.
  12. Listen not to calumniators and slanderers.
  13. So long as you reign, leave not unpunished those who blaspheme God and the Saints.
  14. First be grateful to God, then to men.
  15. Love and protect justice and neither neglect nor despise the complaints of the needy.
  16. In your own affairs, when they are not perfectly clear, speak and act against yourself.
  17. Refund immediately the possessions of others.
  18. Protect the clergy.
  19. Love and honour your parents.
  20. If you are obliged to war against Christians, spare the Churches and the Convents.
  21. Endeavour to terminate all contentions with kindness.
  22. Guard all your officials with a watchful eye.
  23. Ever show due reverence to the Pope.
  24. Overstep not the bounds of moderation in your expenses.
  25. When I have departed, let prayers and Masses be said for the repose of my soul.
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St Bartholomew the Apostle and Martyr and all the Saints for 24 August

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St Bartholomew the Apostle and Martyr

St Abban
St Abyce
St Agofridus of Lacroix
Bl Antonio de Blanes

St Audoin/Ouen of Rouen (c605-684) Bishop, Confessor, Evangeliser and Missionary, French Official and Adviser, Writer, Peace-makers and Diplomat. Audoin was both Lord Chancellor of France and Officer of the Palace or Administrator.

St Emilie de Vialar (1797–1856) Religious Sister and Founder of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition, Apostle of Charity .Her sanctity was officially recognised by the Church when she was Canonised on 24 June 1951 by Pope Pius XII.

St Eutychius of Troas
St George Limniotes
St Irchard

St Jeanne-Antide Thouret (1765-1826) French Religious and the Founder of the Thouret Sisters – renamed the Sisters of Divine Charity., Apostle of Charity and the Poor and helpless, Teacher. Thouret’s life was one of service to children and the ill across France in schools and hospitals – some of which her order established. This active apostolate did not cease when the French Revolution forced her into exile. She continued her work in both Switzerland and the Kingdom of Prussia. St Jeanne-Antide was Canonised on 14 January 1934 by Pope Pius XI.

St Patrick the Elder
St Ptolemy of Nepi
St Romanus of Nepi
St Sandratus
St Taziano of Claudiopolis

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Saint of the Day – 24 August – St George Limniotes

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St George Limniotes, a martyr and hermit. Born in 635, he pursued the life of a hermit on Mount Olympus, near Constantinople. Like all hermits, he prayed, fasted, and practiced contemplation, his sanctity gaining him the love of the locals, who sought his counsel and prayers. During his life the heresy of Iconoclasm raged, and he fiercely defended icons and demolished the arguments of the Iconoclasts. For this, in the year 730, at age ninety-five, he was martyred. His murderers mutilated his face, cutting off his nose before they burnt him to death.

Manifestly he was assuredly saved who had been glorified in such a spectacle.

Tertullian (Passion of Perpetua and Felicity)

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Saint of the Day – 23 August – Saints Altigianus and Hilarinus

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Saints Altigianus and Hilarinus, martyrs and monks of the French Burgundian monastery of Saint-Seine founded two centuries earlier by Saint Sequanus. The Moors who had invaded Spain in the early eighth century spread their conquest for a time into parts of France, and penetrated the country all the way to the Burgundian city of Autun. Their advance was not halted until 732, when the Frankish ruler Charles Martel defeated them between Poitiers and Tours. It was about this time that Altigianus and Hilarinus were slain with the sword by the Moors at or close to the Saint-Seine monastery, not far from Autun.

He was bathed with such a quantity of blood, that the people shouted out to him as he was returning, the testimony of his second baptism, “Saved and washed, saved and washed.”

Tertullian (Passion of Perpetua and Felicity)