Category: SAINT of the DAY

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Saint of the Day – 6 November – Saint Demetrian of Cyprus

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Saint Demetrian of Cyprus was a priest and monk and bishop in Cyprus in the ninth and tenth centuries. Born in Sika on Cyprus, he at first he resisted the appointment as bishop. Not wanting to exchange his quiet monastic life for a busy episcopal office in the city, he fled, and was hidden in a cave by a friend. Ultimately, however, his friend became uncomfortable with the situation, and Demetrian was convinced to return to the city and embrace his appointment. He served as bishop of Chytri for twenty-five years, from 885 until his death, and is acknowledged as that office’s most famous inhabitant.

Near the end of his life he saved a group of Christians from Muslims when the latter invaded and took captives to sell as slaves. Despite his advanced age, Demetrian followed them on the road and pleaded desperately for their release. Miraculously, the Muslims were persuaded and they released the captives to him.

Venerated as a patron saint of prisoners, Demetrian is also invoked by a prayer: “Loving Father, through the intercession of Saint Demetrian, rescue me from the anxieties that hold me captive.”

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Saint of the Day – 4 November – Blessed Frances d’Amboise

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Blessed Frances d’Amboise, also known as Francisca de Amboise, Françoise d’Amboise, was a daughter of Louis d’Amboise, Viscount de Thouars, and the Duchess of Brittany, being married to Peter II, Duke of Brittany at age 15.

Born on 28 September 1427 in Thouars, Deux-Sèvres, France, her marriage was not a happy one, and Peter sometimes abused her, but Frances softened Peter over the years, and he assisted in her charitable work. She established a Poor Clare convent at Nantes, France, and worked for the canonization of Saint Vincent Ferrer. She supported the Dominican convent at Nantes. Widowed in 1457, she entered into a conflict with King Louis XI who wanted to marry her, but ultimately was able to devote herself to religious life. Frances joined the Carmelite nuns at Bondon on 25 March 1468, making her final vows in 1469. She was a spiritual student of Blessed John Soreth. After working in the infirmary for a while, she was elected prioress for life in 1473. She is considered the foundress of the Carmelite nuns in France.

She died on 4 November 1485 at Les Couêts, Nantes, France of natural causes, and while in a religious ecstasy. Miracles were reported at her tomb. Her body had to be moved to save it during the Huguenot wars, and again in the French Revolution. She was beatified on 16 July 1863 by Pope Pius IX.

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Saint of the Day – 3 November – Blessed Alphais of Cudot

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Blessed Alphais of Cudot (also known as Alpais, Alpaida, Alpaidis) was born in 1150 at Cudot, diocese of Sens, France. Born to a poor peasant family, after the death of her father, she worked in the fields with her brothers. When her strength weakened, she looked after the sheep. It was discovered that she had contracted leprosy. She was relegated to a small hut where her relatives brought her food. One day her brothers decided to abandon her and stop feeding her. Some days later, her brothers, filled with remorse, returned to find all traces of leprosy had disappeared, which she attributed to the gentleness of the Virgin Mary. Although cured of the leprosy, she was paralyzed. She subsequently recovered the use of her right arm and hand. Alpaïs had frequent ecstasies during which she appeared as if asleep, almost dead. But when she woke up, she could describe her visions. The peasants from the surrounding area and then the Cistercian monks from a nearby abbey came to visit.

The Archbishop of Sens, Guillaume de Champagne, decided to investigate. He came himself to visit the girl and decided to replace the hut with a cell and build an adjoining church so that she could attend Mass every day.

Becoming known for holiness and penance, Alphais had the gift of inedia – subsisting solely on the Eucharist. She was a counselor to Queen Adela of France.

Her vita was written c. 1180 by the monk Peter of the nearby Cistercian monastery of Les Écharlis.

Patronage: against sickness; sick people, disabled, handicapped and physically challenged people.

And blessed Mary said to [Alpais]: “Because, dear sister, you bore long starvation in humility and patience, in hunger and thirst, without any murmuring, I grant you now to be fattened with an angelic and spiritual food. And as long as you are in this little body, corporeal food and drink will not be necessary for the sustaining of your body, nor will you hunger for bread or any other food because after you have once tasted the celestial bread and drunk of the living fountain you will remain fattened for eternity.” And so it was.

The Life of Alpais of Cudot

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Saint of the Day – 2 November – Saint Justus of Trieste

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Saint Justus of Trieste (also Justus the Martyr, Just of Trieste, Giusto, Just, Sergius) was a citizen of Trieste in Italy, known for his works and charities. When charges of being a Christian were brought against him by his fellow citizens, he was tried according to Roman law. Since he refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods, he was found guilty of sacrilegium and sentenced to death by drowning. In 293 he was thrown from a small boat into the Gulf of Trieste, off of the present-day promontory of Sant’Andrea.

On the night of Justus’ death the priest Sebastian was told in a dream that Justus’ body had been washed ashore in spite of the weights meant to hold it down. Sebastian gathered his fellow believers and they went searching for the body, which they found on what is today Riva Grumula. Justus was then buried not far from the shore where he had been found. In late antique times the area near Piazza Hortis in Trieste was a cemeterial one and there is a good possibility that the former basilica of the Holy Martyrs at the corner of Via Ciamician and Via Duca d’Aosta was built on Justus’ tomb.

In the Middle Ages, the body of Justus was translated to a chapel adjacent to the church of Mary Mother of God (the present-day Duomo), attested since the 6th century. When, in the 10th or 11th century, the chapel was joined to the church, the cathedral, though dedicated to Mary Mother of God, became known as the Cathedral of Saint Justus.

He is the patron saint of the city and diocese of Trieste. He is also patron saint of Albona, San Giusto Canavese and Misilmeri in Sicily.

Rusticus the prefect said to Liberianus, And what say you? Are you a Christian, and unwilling to worship [the gods]? Liberianus said, I too am a Christian, for I worship and reverence the only true God.

The Martyrdom of Justin

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Saint of the Day – 1 November – Saint Deborah the Prophetess

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Saint Deborah the Prophetess, also known as Deborah the Judge, Deborah the Matriarch, Debbora, was a Old Testament prophetess and judge, the only female judge mentioned in sacred scripture. She was married to a man called Lappidoth (lightning/torch).

She rendered her judgments beneath a date palm tree between Ramah in Benjamin and Bethel in the land of Ephraim.

The people of Israel had been oppressed by Jabin, the king of Canaan, whose capital was Hazor, for twenty years. Stirred by the wretched condition of Israel she sends a message to Barak, the son of Abinoam, at Kedesh in Naphtali, and tells him that the Lord God had commanded him to muster ten thousand troops of Naphtali and Zebulun and concentrate them upon Mount Tabor, the mountain at the northern angle of the great plain of Esdraelon. At the same time she states that the Lord God of Israel will draw Sisera, commander of Jabin’s army, to the Kishon River. Barak declines to go without the prophet. Deborah consents, but declares that the glory of the victory will therefore belong to a woman.

As Deborah prophesied, a battle is fought (led by Barak), and Sisera is completely defeated, thereafter there was peace for 40 years.

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Saint of the Day – 31 October – Saint Quentin

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Saint Quentin, also known as Quintin, Quintinus, was a Roman martyr. The son of a Roman senator called Zeno, he was a convert to Christianity. Becoming a missionary to Gaul with Saint Lucian of Beauvais and others (the martyrs Victoricus and Fuscian are said to have been Quentin’s followers), his preaching, miracles, and example won many converts in Amiens.

He was arrested in 286 by Prefect Rictius Varus during the Maximian persecution. The saint was manacled, tortured repeatedly, but refused to abjure his faith. The prefect left Amiens to go to Reims, the capital of Gallia Belgica, where he wanted Quentin judged. But, on the way, in 287, in a town named Augusta Veromanduorum (now Saint-Quentin, Aisne), Rictiovarus interrupted his journey to pass sentence: Quentin was tortured again, then beheaded and thrown by the soldiers into the marshes around the Somme. His body was recovered and buried by people he had helped convert, his tomb becoming known as a site for miracles. A blind woman named Eusebia, born of a senatorial family, came from Rome (following a divine order) and miraculously discovered the body, and a certain blind woman recovered her sight by the sacred relics. A small chapel was built nearby.

His relics were later re-discovered by Saint Eligius. When the relics were discovered, together with the great nails with which the body had been pierced, Eligius distributed these nails, the teeth, and hair in other places, and enclosed the rest of the sacred treasure in a rich shrine of his own work, which he placed behind the high altar of the church he rebuilt.

Patronage: bombardiers, chaplains, locksmiths, porters, tailors, and surgeons. Invoked against coughs, sneezes, and dropsy.

Hierax said, I was a Christian, and will be a Christian. And Pæon stood up and said, I too am a Christian.

The Martyrdom of Justin

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Saint of the Day – 30 October – Saint Marcellus the Centurion

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Saint Marcellus the Centurion, also known as Marcellus of Tangier, was a Roman centurion at Tangiers (in modern Morocco). During a celebration of the Emperor Maximian’s birthday, Marcellus refused to participate in the pagan offering ceremony. He threw away his arms and armour and symbol of his rank, openly declared himself a Christian, and was condemned to death.

Saint Cassian, the official shorthand writer, was so angry at the sentence that he refused to record the court proceedings and was martyred as well.

St. Marcellus’s relics were later brought to and enshrined at what now is León, Spain, and he became a patron saint of the city. The Plaza de San Marcelo in this city is named for him.

Then said the prefect Rusticus to Chariton, Tell me further, Chariton, are you also a Christian? Chariton said, I am a Christian by the command of God. Rusticus the prefect asked the woman Charito, What say you, Charito? Charito said, I am a Christian by the grace of God. Rusticus said to Euelpistus, And what are you? Euelpistus, a servant of Cæsar, answered, I too am a Christian, having been freed by Christ; and by the grace of Christ I partake of the same hope.

The Martyrdom of Justin

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Saint of the Day – 29 October – Saint Abraham of Rostov

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Saint Abraham of Rostov, also known as Averkii, Avraamii, was a Russian convert from paganism and a monk, taking the name Abraham. Born in the 10th century in Galich, Russia, as a young man Abraham was struck down by a nearly fatal illness, then cured by prayer.

Becoming a travelling evangelist and preacher in Rostov, Russia, he had a vision of Saint John the Divine, who gave him his own staff, which Abraham used to smash the pagan stone idol of Veles (god of the underworld in Slavic paganism) in Rostov; he then built the monastery of the Theophany on the site of the old pagan temple, and the staff was later carried into battle by Ivan the Terrible who hoped to benefit from its holy power. Upon the successful defeat of the Kazan khans he returned it and ordered the construction of the stone Cathedral of the Theophany in 1553- 1555.

The saint built two parish churches, one dedicated to Saint John, and started charitable organizations. Chosen abbot, he led by doing the most menial tasks, and serving all others. Convinced by his preaching, many pagans were baptized

He died at the monastery of Rostov, Russia of natural causes and was buried at the church of the Theophany monastery.

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Saint of the Day – 28 October – Saint Diomedes the Younger

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Saint Diomedes the Younger, was born in 4th century Leucopolis, Cyprus. He was a student of Saint Trifillio and a miracle worker. When Cyprus was being attacked by Saracens, Diomedes made the sign of the cross at them and they converted from Islam to Christianity.

Leucopolis (Nicosia)
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Saint of the Day – 27 October – Saint Abbán of Magh-Armuidhe

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Saint Abbán of Magh-Armuidhe, also known as Eibbán and Moabba, was a son of Cormac, King of Leinster, Ireland. Born in 570, Abban was a nephew and disciple of Saint Ibar. He founded churches in Wexford, and monasteries in Magheranoidhe and Kilabbain. He died in 620 of natural causes.

Location of Leinster
Saint Ibar
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Saint of the Day – 26 October – Saint Lucian

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Saint Lucian, a martyr born in the 3rd century, spent his early life as a demon worshipper and sorcerer. When a Christian woman fended off his spells simply by making the Sign of the Cross, he gave up his idolatrous life and converted to Christianity. He turned his devotion to the study of magic to a study of the Faith, and spent the rest of his days working against the errors of his earlier life. He was martyred in 250 the persecutions Decius.

Patronages: Converts, possesed people

Emperor Decius

In June 251 Decius died alongside his co-emperor Herennius Etruscus in the Battle Abrittus against the Goths; their successors Trebonianus Gallus and Hostilian rescinded Decius’ decree, ending the persecution after eighteen months.

I have endeavoured to learn all doctrines; but I have acquiesced at last in the true doctrines, those namely of the Christians, even though they do not please those who hold false opinions.

St Justin Martyr

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Saint of the Day – 25 October – Saint Tabitha

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Saint Tabitha ‘(female gazelle’), also known as Dorcas, was a married lay woman in Joppa (Tel Aviv). She was a seamstress and widow mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. When she fell ill and died, she was raised from the dead by Saint Peter.

Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated means Dorcas). She was completely occupied with good deeds and almsgiving. Now during those days she fell sick and died, so after washing her, they laid [her] out in a room upstairs. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs where all the widows came to him weeping and showing him the tunics and cloaks that Dorcas had made while she was with them. Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed. Then he turned to her body and said, “Tabitha, rise up.” She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up. He gave her his hand and raised her up, and when he had called the holy ones and the widows, he presented her alive. This became known all over Joppa, and many came to believe in the Lord.

Acts 9:36-42

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Saint of the Day – 23 October – Saint Ignatius of Constantinople

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Saint Ignatius of Constantinople, also known as Ignatios and Nicetas, was a monk, priest, abbot and Patriarch of Constantinople born in 799 in Constantinople. Born the son the Byzantine emperor Michael I, he was thrust into tumultuous times. Iconoclasm was raging, and when he was fourteen, Emperor Leo V the Armenian had him forcibly castrated, which made him ineligible to become emperor, and imprisoned him in a monastery after his father’s deposition in 813. As a monk, he took the name Ignatius and eventually became abbot. He also founded three monasteries on the Princes’ Islands, a favorite place for exiling tonsured members of the imperial house.

Ignatius of Constantinople, Hagia Sophia

Empress Theodora appointed Ignatius as Patriarch on 4 July 847 in part because he supported venerating icons. As patriarch, Ignatius became an important ally for Theodora in the midst of the Iconoclast Controversy. Ignatius served as Patriarch of Constantinople from 4 July 847 to 23 October 858 and from 23 November 867 to his death on 23 October 877.

The imperial court’s resentment of Ignatius began when he refused communion to and excommunicated a high ranking imperial court member, Bardas, for incest. Bardas exiled Empress Theodora, attempting to gain more power, but Ignatius refused to approve of this. Emperor Michael III, influenced by Bardas, removed Ignatius as patriarch and exiled him in 857. A synod was convened which deposed Ignatius on the basis of a canon which prohibited a bishop being appointed by a secular power. Photius, an associate of Bardas (and the one who plunged his church and billions of people into a millennia long schism and hell by condemning the Filioque), was made patriarch on Christmas Day of 858.

A schism resulted from Photius I’s election because many bishops saw Ignatius’s exit as illegitimate. Ignatius had only a few supporters once Photius I became patriarch. Most agreed that Ignatius had legitimately resigned, but some of his supporters appealed to Rome for him. A synod of 170 bishops deposed and anathematised Ignatius, but the schism escalated when Pope Nicholas I stepped in. Pope Nicholas I questioned Photius I’s legitimate status as patriarch. Papal legates retried Ignatius in a synod in 861, which said that Photius I was the legitimate patriarch, but Nicholas I rejected that synod and held his own synod which condemned Photius I and declared Ignatius the legitimate patriarch. He excommunicated Photius I and declared all his ordinations invalid.

In 867, Emperor Michael III was murdered and replaced by Basil I, his co-emperor. Basil I exiled Photius I and restored Ignatius as patriarch. Basil I effectively undid the last nine years of church history, restoring the Ignatian bishops and nullifying everything Photius I did.

Ignatius died on the 23 October 877 of natural causes, and his relics lie in the church of Saint Michael, Constantinople.

Ignatius is appointed patriarch by Empress Theodora
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Saints of the Day – 22 October – Saints Alodia & Nunilo of Huesca

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Saints Alodia & Nunilo of Huesca, Spanish sisters and martyrs, born in Huesca, Spain in the 9th century. They were born to a Muslim father and Christian mother, and were raised Christian. When their father died, their mother married another Muslim man who persecuted the girls, imprisoned them, and turned them over to die during the persecution of Abdur Rahman II.

In defiance of thier stepfather’s prohibition that they attend church and his demand that they marry and convert to Islam, they were sent to live with their aunt, who was also Christian, in Castile. In 851, Abd ar-Rahman II issued a decree that all Christian children to a Muslim father had to convert to their father’s religion or be executed. After repeated failed attempts to get the sisters to agree to convert, they were arrested, put in solitary confinement, then “handed over to women of dubious morality to make them change their lifestyle”, and “were also pestered by many suitors to marry”. The sisters still refused, so they were beheaded in Huesca, Spain, on October 22, 851.

Their patronages are: child abuse victims, martyrs, people ridiculed for their piety, runaways, unmarried laywomen.

Carving of Nunilo and Alodia on the collegiate church of Alquézar.

Farewell, and be mindful of my faith; and let not these things disturb, but confirm you.

Passion of Perpetua and Felicity (Tertullian)

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Saint of the Day – 21 October – Blessed Sancho of Aragon

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Blessed Sancho of Aragon, priest and martyr. Born a prince (infante) of Spain, he was the fourth son of Blessed James I, King of Aragon. Turning from worldly ways, he joined the Mercedarians (Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy), receiving the habit from Saint Peter Nolasco himself.

He became Archbishop of Toledo, Spain n 1266, when he was only 16 years old.

In 1275 he raised troops to engage Marinid armies that had attacked Andalusia. On 21 October 1275 he tried to intercept a numerically superior Marinid army in the battle of Martos but was defeated and taken prisoner. Muslims cut off his hand with the ring of his office, and then martyred him for refusing to apostatise.

But let the world look to this, which accounts banishment a penalty. To them, their country is too dear, and they have the same name as their parents; but we abhor even our parents themselves if they would persuade us against God.

Life and Passion of St. Cyprian (Pontius)

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Saint of the Day – 20 October – Saint Artemius Megalomartyr

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Saint Artemius Megalomartyr, also known as Artemios of Antioch, Artemois the Greatmartyr, Challita, Shallita (‘The empowered one’). Artemius was a noted soldier and military leader under Emperor Constantine the Great. Imperial prefect of Egypt and Duke of Alexandria, appointed by Emperor Constantius; he used his position to spread the faith.

During the reign of Julian the Apostate, Artemius became a fanatical Arian heretic, hunting and persecuting monks, nuns and bishops, including Saint Athanasius. However, through prayer and the horror of the persecutions, Artemius returned to orthodox Christianity, supported the Faith, and turned on pagans, including Julian. He was accused by heathens of destroying idols, arrested, taken to Antioch, tortured and martyred. Julian had Artemius tortured in various fashions while exhorting him to renounce his Christianity, but Artemius repeatedly confirmed his faith, and ultimately had his head cut off.

The coming executioner was instantly looked for who should strike through that devoted neck of the most sacred victim; and thus, in the daily expectation of dying, every day was to him as if the crown might be attributed to each.

Life and Passion of St. Cyprian (Pontius)

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Saint of the Day – 19 October – Blessed Agnès of Jesus

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Blessed Agnès of Jesus, also known as Agnès Galand, Agnes of Jesus Galand, Agnes of Jesus of Langeac, Agnes of Langeac, was a was a French nun of the Dominican Order. Born on 17 November 1602 in Le Puy, Haute-Loire, she consecrated herself to the Virgin Mary at age seven.

Agnès Galand was born the third of seven children of Pierre Galand, a cutler by trade, and his wife, Guillemette Massiote. When she was five years old, she was entrusted to a religious institute for her education. Even from that early age, she showed a strong sense of spiritual maturity. Agnes joined the Dominican Monastery of St. Catherine of Siena at Langeac in 1623. At her receiving of the religious habit she took the name Agnes of Jesus. Soon after her own profession, she was assigned to serve as the Mistress of novices for the community. Galand was elected to lead her community as prioress in 1627. She was later deposed from this office, but she accepted her demotion with indifference and grace.

She was a mystic, St Louis de Montfort noted this:

I shall simply relate an incident which I read in the life of Mother Agnes of Jesus, a Dominican nun of the convent of Langeac in Auvergne. … One day the Blessed Virgin appeared to Mother Agnes and put a gold chain around her neck to show her how happy she was that Mother Agnes had become the slave of both her and her Son. And St. Cecilia, who accompanied our Lady, said to her, “Happy are the faithful slaves of the Queen of Heaven, for they will enjoy true freedom.”

In 1631, Agnes experienced the most famous of her visions, in which the Blessed Virgin Mary urged her to pray for an unknown priest with the command, “Pray to my Son for the Abbé of Prébrac.” Jean-Jacques Olier was the current holder of that office, and while at a retreat led by Vincent de Paul, he experienced a vision in which Agnes appeared to him, though he was unacquainted with her. He sought out the nun who had appeared to him in the dream. When he met Agnes, she told him: “I have received orders from the Holy Virgin to pray for you. God has destined you to open the first seminaries in France.” Olier would go on to found the Society of Saint-Sulpice. Before her death, she related to her community her great desire that they pray for priests.

She died on 19 October 1634 in Langeac and was declared venerable on 19 March 1808 by Pope Pius VII.

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Saint of the Day – 17 October – Saint John the Short

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Saint John the Short, also known as John Colobus, John Kolobos, John the Little, John the Dwarf, Yoannis Pi Kolobos, was a Coptic Desert Father born in 339 at Thebes, Egypt. Born to a poor but pious family, from age 18, John lived in an underground cave he dug in the desert of Skete. He was the spiritual student of Saint Poemen and Saint Ammoes.

Noted for being short of stature, short of temper, and conceited by nature; he did not grow in height, but as his faith increased, so did his gentleness and humility. John lived on only flatbread and vegetables his entire life and ate only one meal a day. In later life he was known for absent-mindedness, his thoughts being on the spiritual life. As a test of his new humble obedience, his director Pambo ordered him to water a walking staff stuck in the sand; John obeyed and went on watering it twice a day even though the water was about 12 miles from where they lived. After three years, the piece of wood sprouted and grew into a fruitful tree. Pambo took some of this tree’s fruits and went around to all the elder monks, saying “take, eat from the fruit of obedience”. John was ordained a priest by Pope Theophilus and became abbot of the monastery he founded around the Tree of Obedience.

To escape Berber invaders around 395, he fled Skete and lived for years as a hermit on Mount Qolzum, near the current city of Suez. He was the spiritual teacher of Saint Arsenius, and died in 405 at Mount Qolzum, Egypt, of natural causes. When Saint John died, his servant, who had been in a nearby village, had a vision of him being carried to heaven by a group of angels and saints.

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Saint of the Day – 16 October – Saint Lull

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Saint Lull, also known as Lul, Lullon, Lullus, Lulo, was an 8th century Wessex monk at Malmesbury Abbey in England, and missionary to Germany with St Boniface. During a pilgrimage to Rome in 737, he met Boniface and decided to join him in his missionary work in northern Germany. In 738, Lullus joined the Benedictine monastery of Fritzlar, founded by Boniface in 732. There, his teacher was abbot Saint Wigbert, who had also come from England.

St Boniface ordained him a priest with a mission of training new priests. He was bishop of Mainz, Germany, succeeding Boniface, and first abbot of the Benedictine Hersfeld Abbey. He is historiographically considered the first official sovereign of the Electorate of Mainz.

And after the death of Boniface, Lull took charge of missionary work. He founded several monasteries in the region and died on 16 October 786 in Hersfeld Abbey at Bad Hersfeld, and is buried in the church.

View of the monastery ruins from the tower of the town church
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Saint of the Day – 13 October – St. Chelidonia

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St. Chelidonia, was a Benedictine nun and hermitess. Born in Ciculum, Abruzzi, Italy, she became a recluse in the mountains near Subiaco, in a cave now called Marra Ferogna. Chelidonia received her habit from Cardinal Cuno of Frascati. When she died in 1152, many, including Pope Eugenius III, saw her soul ascend to heaven. Her remains are in the church of St. Scholastica in Subiaco, and she is patron of that city.

Abbey of Saint Scholastica, Subiaco

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Saint of the Day – 11 October –Saint Philip the Deacon

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Saint Philip the Deacon, also known as Philip of Hierapolis and Philip the Evangelist. Born at Caesarea, Palestine, he was one of the seven Jerusalem deacons mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. He preached and performed miracles in Samaria, converting many, including the magician Simon Magus. Upon being commanded by an angel, he travelled from Jerusalem to Gaza, converting and baptizing the eunuch of Queen Candace of Ethiopia on the way.

Transported to Azotus by angels, he preached throughout the region, finally returning to Caesarea where he lived with his four daughters, virgins with the gift of prophecy. Philip met with Saint Paul the Apostle on his last journey to Jerusalem. Some traditions say be became bishop of Tralles (modern Aydin, Turkey).

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Saint of the Day – 9 October – Saint Abraham the Patriarch

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Saint Abraham the Patriarch, originally Abram, was the founder of the Hebrew nation and father of all believers in the true God. He was born at Ur, Chaldea, 1948 years after the creation of the world.

Thare had three sons, Abram, Nachor, and Aran. Abram married Sarai. Thare took Abram and his wife, Sarai, and Lot, the son of Aran, who was dead, and leaving Ur of the Chaldees, came to Haran and dwelt there till he died. Then, at the call of God, Abram, with his wife, Sarai, and Lot, and the rest of his belongings, went into the Land of Chanaan.

During his travels and adventures, which took him to Egypt as well as had him battle kings, he met Melchisedech, king of Salem, who brought forth bread and wine, and blessed him. Abram gave him tithes of all he had; but for himself he reserved nothing. God promised Abram that his seed should be as the stars of heaven, and he would possess the land of Chanaan.

Abraham was told of the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah but obtained from God the promise that He would not destroy them if He found ten just men therein. The next morning Abraham, looking from his tent towards Sodom, saw the smoke of destruction ascending to heaven.

Abraham had a dispute with Abimelech over a well at Bersabee, which ended in a covenant being made between them. It was after this that the great trial of the faith of Abraham took place. God commanded him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. When Abraham had his arm raised and was in the very act of striking, an angel stayed his hand and made the most wonderful promises to him of the greatness of his posterity because of his complete trust in God.

Sarah died at the age of 127, and Abraham, having purchased from Ephron the Hethite the cave in Machpelah near Mambre, buried her there. He married Cetura, and had by her six children. Finally, leaving all his possessions to Isaac, he died at age 170, and was buried by Isaac and Ismael in the cave of Machpelah.

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Saint of the Day – 8 October – Saint Nestor of Thessalonica

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Saint Nestor of Thessalonica, martyr, was a wrestler known for having been the student of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica, who instructed Nestor in the Faith. The emperor was visiting Thessaloniki, and he built a high platform in the midst of the city so that a gigantic barbarian named Lyaios could wrestle there, seen by all. Beneath the platform many spears and other sharp weapons were placed pointing upward. When Lyaios defeated his opponents, he threw them down onto the spears. As a method of execution, Christians were killed in this way. When Nestor saw how Emperor Maximian rejoiced over the victories of his champion, he despised his pride. Seeing the miracles of Saint Demetrios, however, he was inspired and went to the prison where the holy martyr was confined, and fell at his feet.

“Pray for me, O Servant of God Demetrios,” he said, “that by your prayers, God may help me to beat Lyaios, and put an end to him who brings reproach upon the Christians.”

The saint, after making the Sign of the Cross over Nestor, told him that he would prevail over Lyaios, and then suffer for Christ. Nestor mounted the platform without fear and exclaimed: “Help me, O God of Demetrios.” After he defeated Lyaios, he hurled him down onto the spears, where he died.

Maximian (co-ruler with Diocletian) became enraged and ordered that both Nestor and Demetrios should be put to death. Saint Demetrios was stabbed with spears, and Saint Nestor was beheaded.

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Saint of the Day – 6 October – Blessed Artaldo of Belley

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Blessed Artaldo of Belley, also known as Artaldus, Artaud, Arthaud, Arthold, Artholdus, Artoldo, was a 13th-century Carthusian Bishop of Belley, France. Artaldus was born in the castle of Sothonod in Savoy. At the age of eighteen, he went to the court of Duke Amadeus III, but a year or two after, he became a Carthusian at Portes. After many years, being a priest and an experienced and holy religious, he was sent by the prior of the Grande Chartreuse to found a charterhouse near his home, in a valley in the Valromey significantly called “the cemetery”. Here Artaldus established himself with six of his brethren from Portes. The community was no sooner well settled down, than there buildings were destroyed by fire, and St. Artaldus had to begin all over again. He chose a fresh site on the Arvieres River, and his second foundation was soon built and occupied, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in 1132.

But a Carthusian cell could not contain the ever-increasing reputation of Artaldus: like his master St. Bruno, he was consulted by the Pope, and when he was well over eighty, he was called from his monastery to be bishop of Belley. However, after less than two years of episcopate, his resignation was accepted, and he returned to Arvieres, where he lived in peace for the rest of his days. During his last years, he was visited by St. Hugh of Lincoln, who had come into France, and who, while he was prior of the charterhouse of Witham, had induced Henry II to become a benefactor of Arvieres.

The cultus of St. Artaldus, called simply Blessed by the Carthusians, was confirmed for the diocese of Belley in 1834. He was 105 years old when he died on 6 October 1206, the same day as the founder of his order, St Bruno.

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Saint of the Day – 4 October – Saint Damaris of Athens

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Saint Damaris of Athens, was the first woman convert in Athens. She listened to St Paul preach there. She was married to Saint Dionysius the Areopagite.

But certain men adhering to him, did believe; among whom was also Dionysius, the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Acts 17:42

Saint Damaris and Saint Dionysius borrom right

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Saint of the Day – 2 October – Saint Theophilus of Bulgaria

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Saint Theophilus of Bulgaria, was a Benedictine monk and confessor. Originally from Bulgaria, he joined a monastery in Asia Minor and was an outspoken opponent of the imperial policies of lconoclasticism. For this he was sent into exile by Emperor Leo III the Isaurian, and was brutally mistreated.

Original design of the St Benedict medal

In accord with the emperor’s orders, the saint was subjected to beatings and led through the city tied up like a criminal. The emperor then gave Theophilus over into the charge of the official, Hypatius, who tried repeatedly to compel Theophilus to accept the Iconoclastic heresy. Theophilus remained steadfast in the Faith, and Hypatius converted instead. Because of this, Hypatius gained the emperor’s permission to set the saint free.

Theophilus died in 750.

Leo III the Isaurian

Leo III the Isaurian was described as ‘Islamic minded’.

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Saints of the Day – 1 October – Blessed Ralph Crockett & Blessed Edward James

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Blessed Ralph Crockett & Blessed Edward James were priest martyrs in England, and two of the Martyrs of Douai.

Ralph Crockett was born at Barton, near Farndon, Cheshire in 1522. He was educated at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and then became a schoolmaster in Norfolk for a year before going to Gloucester Hall, Oxford. After a year, he went to Ipswich, where he was a schoolmaster for five years. In 1581, persecutions increased after the death of Edmund Campion, so he withdrew to Cheshire for about two years. In 1584, he left for France, and began studies at the English College then located at Rheims. He was ordained at Rheims in 1585, and continued his studies for a year, but his health being compromised, he asked to return to England. He and three other priests, Thomas Bramston, George Potter, and Edward James, left from Dieppe, but the ship ran ashore 19 April 1586 at Littlehampton, Sussex.

Ralph and Edward, with two others, John Oven and Francis Edwardes, were selected for trial, which took place at Chichester on 30 September 1588. Crockett, James and Edwardes were condemned to death, under the Jesuits, etc. Act 1584, for being priests and coming into the realm; but Oven on taking the Oath of Supremacy was respited.

On1 October 1588. Ralph ascended the scaffold and blessed the crowd in Latin which brought shouts of anger upon him, however he changed into praying in English whereupon the crowd cheered. He and Edward faced their deaths without fear and were executed after absolving each other.

His father Adam, in his later years entered the Catholic Church on the Continent and his descendants remained recusant and continued to practise their Catholic faith in the face of continued persecution.

In 1929 Ralph was beatified by Pope Pius XI.

Edward James was born at Barton, Breaston, near Long Eaton, Derbyshire. He was educated at Derby School, St John’s College, Oxford, the English college at Rheims and the Venerable English College at Rome. In October 1579, he and William Filby sailed from Dover for Calais. The following August, Edward and ten others travelled to the English College, Rome. In October 1583, James was ordained as a priest in Rome by Bishop Thomas Goldwell, the last survivor of the English bishops who had refused to accept the Protestant Revolution.

In early February 1586, James left Rheims for the mission, accompanied by Stephen Rowsham who had been banished from England the year before. They met up with Ralph Crockett in Dieppe. He was captured on board a ship at Littlehampton, Sussex, on 19 April 1586, with three other priests, Thomas Bramston, George Potter, and his fellow martyr, Ralph Crockett, and they were charged with being Catholic priests and coming into the realm of England contrary to an Act of Parliament of 1584. All four were sent to London and put in prison there on 27 April 1586, where they remained for more than two years without trial.

Ralph Crockett, Edward James, John Oven and Francis Edwardes, were sent for trial at Chichester on 30 September 1588. All four were condemned to death for being priests and entering England, but Oven then took the Oath of Supremacy, in accordance with the Act of Supremacy 1559, and was reprieved. On 1 October 1588, the other three were drawn on a hurdle to Broyle Heath, near Chichester, where Edwardes recanted and was also reprieved. Crockett and James continued to refuse to recant and to take the oath.

He was beatified by Pope Pius XI.

What a difference between the death of the sinner and the death of the just man! This same difference is found in their lives. The life of the sinner has been sweet and pleasant, but his end is bitter and terrible. The life of the just man has been filled with trials and sacrifices, but his end is sweet and peaceful. That which made up the happiness of the sinner during life is his torment at death, but that which made up the pain and suffering of the just man during life is his happiness and consolation at death. The death of the sinner brings an end to the goods and pleasures of time, and plunges him into the evils and sufferings of eternity. The death of the just man brings an end to the evils and sufferings of time, and bids him enter into the goods and pleasures of eternity. What a difference between the death of the sinner and the death of the just man. Which death do you choose?

Father François Nepveu

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Saint of the Day – 30 September – Saint Leopardus the Slave 

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Saint Leopardus the Slave, martyr, was a slave in the household of Julian the Apostate, nephew of Constantine the Great, a maniacal persecutor of Christianity, and one of the many types of Antichrist which have arisen over the centuries. A more unfortunate or dangerous placement cannot be imagined.

Not much is recorded about Saint Leopardus’ early life, but in 362, in Rome, he was martyred for his faith, having withstood the tyrant.

Julian the Apostate

Slain by Saint Mercurius, the Apostate’s last words were: “Thou hast conquered, Galilean.”

Saint Mercurius

Saint Mercurius, who wielded a sword given to him by the Archangel Michael.

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Saints of the Day – 29 September – Saints Gudelia, Sapor, Casdoe, Gabdelas & Dadas

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All martyrs in the the persecution of Shapur II.

Saint Dadas of Persia was a Persian noble related to King Shapur II. He was married to Saint Casdoe, and Saint Gabdelas may have been their son. All three were martyred together in 368 for refusing to deny Christianity, being run through with swords.

Saint Sapor of Persia was also a relative of King Shapur II, who had him executed for his faith around the same time and in the same way.

Saint Gudelia was a maiden martyred in the persecutions of Shapur II in the year 340.

The Coronation of the Infant Shapur II

The day before that on which we were to fight, I saw in a vision that Pomponius the deacon came hither to the gate of the prison, and knocked vehemently. I went out to him, and opened the gate for him; and he was clothed in a richly ornamented white robe, and he had on manifold calliculæ. And he said to me, ‘Perpetua, we are waiting for you; come!’ And he held his hand to me, and we began to go through rough and winding places. Scarcely at length had we arrived breathless at the amphitheatre, when he led me into the middle of the arena, and said to me, ‘Do not fear, I am here with you, and I am labouring with you;’ and he departed.

St Perpetua

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Saint of the Day – 28 September – Saint Lioba of Bischofsheim

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Saint Lioba of Bischofsheim, also known as Lioba of Wimborne, Leoben, Liobgytha, Liobgetha, Truthgeba, was an Anglo-Saxon Benedictine nun born in 710 in Wessex, England as Truthgeba (‘God’s gift’). A relative of Saint Boniface, she was born to noble parents who had long prayed for a child.

She was educated at the convent of Minster-in-Thanet in Wimborne in Dorset, England. She was a nun at Wimborne at a time when Saint Tetta of Wimborne served as abbess.

In 748 Lioba led a group of 30 nuns, one of whom was Saint Agatha of Wimborne, to Germany to help the missionary work of Saint Boniface and found convents. They based their work at Bischofsheim in Würzburg, Franconia, followed the Benedictine Rule, and Lioba served as abbess. This holy woman was noted for her intelligence, her endless optimism and positive attitude for the work, and her constant study of the scriptures. Her work and the houses she founded were instrumental in the conversion of Germany to Christianity.

Lioba retired from her position in 776 only to start another house Schornsheim, Mainz. She visited the court of Charlemagne in Aachen, Germany and became a close friend of Empress Hildegard.

In her later years, she retired with a few other Anglo-Saxon nuns to an estate near Mainz in Schornsheim. The estate was given by Charlemagne for her exclusive use. She died on or about 28 September 782. Saint Boniface’s will had originally designated that Leoba was to be buried in his own tomb. When Lioba died, however, she was placed in a tomb near his. She was acclaimed for many miracles: saving a village from fire; saving a town from a terrible storm by turning aside lightning; protecting the reputation of the nuns in her convent; and saving the life of a fellow nun who was gravely ill – all accomplished through prayer.

Lioba’s grave was the site of many miracles. These miracles include: freeing a man of tightly bound iron rings around his arms and curing a man from Spain of his twitching disorder. Due to these miracles, some of which were witnessed by Rudolf, her relics were translated twice to ensure their safety and are now behind an altar in a church dedicated to Mary and the virgins of Christ in Petersberg near Fulda.