Category: SAINT of the DAY

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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)

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Saint of the Day – 22 August – Blessed William Lacey

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Blessed William Lacey, was a martyr of England and a priest. Born in Horton, West Riding, Yorkshire, he married a widow and both his step-sons became Jesuits.

He distinguished himself as a lawyer and as an ardent Catholic, using his house as a refuge for the much-oppressed Catholics of the time, being one of those gentlemen whose house was open to priests that came from the colleges abroad. Having been advised by them that he could not in good conscience attend Protestant churches, his absence was noted and he was forced to give up his position. He was subject to repeated fines, until he had to leave his home and stay with friends, but never long in one place. For fourteen years he suffered persecution for his faith, which included imprisonment at Hull. After the death of his wife, he went abroad and arrived at Reims, 22 June 1580. On 25 September following he went on to Pont-à-Mousson, and thence to Rome, where he obtained a dispensation. The dispensation was necessary as Lacy had been married twice.

He arrived at Douai in 1577 and, after the transference of the English College to Reims, was ordained priest on Holy Saturday, 1579. On his return to England in August he seems to have found a refuge with Robert Dymoke, hereditary Champion of England (d. in Lincoln gaol for his faith, 11 Sept 1580), at Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire. He was eventually arrested, 8 August, 1582. After condemnation the two martyrs shared one cell in a turret till 10 August, when Blessed Richard was moved to an underground dungeon.

York’s ‘Tyburn’ at Knavesmire, where the martyrs were executed

He was executed at Knavesmaire, just outside of York with Blessed Richard Kirkman. They are both members of the 158 Douai Martyrs.

My son, my son, remember eternal life; look up to Heaven and see the One Who reigns there; life is not taken from thee, it is exchanged for a better one.

St Symphorian’s mother

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Saints of the Day – 21 August – Saint Bernard of Lérida, Saint Gracia of Lérida, Saint Maria of Lérida

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Siblings, and children of Almanzor, Muslim caliph of Lerida, Catalonia, Spain, during the Moorish Occupation in the 12th century. Saint Bernard converted and became a Benedictine Cistercian monk at Poblet, taking the name Bernard. He then converted his two sisters Gracia and Maria, and together they attempted to convert their other brother, Almanzor, who turned them over to Moorish authorities. They were martyred in 1180.

Saint Bernard
Saint Gracia
Saint Maria

The exact circumstances surrounding their deaths are not known. Bernard, Gracia and Maria are venerated as the patron saints of Alcira, Valencia, Spain.

Muslim army in Iberia

Stand fast in the faith, and love one another, all of you, and be not offended at my sufferings.

St Perpetua

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Memorials of the Saints – 20 August

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Within the Octave of the Assumption

St Bernard O.Cist. (1090-1153) Abbot of the Order of Citeaux (the Cistercians), Confessor, “Doctor Mellifluus” of the Church and the Last Father of the Church,“The Bard of Mary”- Theologian, Reformer, Writer, Mystic, Preacher, Mariologist, Advisor, Mediator, Poet. St Bernard, the Founding Abbot of Clairvaux Abbey in Burgundy, France, was one of the most commanding Church leaders in the first half of the twelfth century, as well as, one of the greatest spiritual masters of all time and the most powerful propagator of the Cistercian reform.

St Amadour the Hermit
St Bernard of Valdeiglesius

St Bernardo Tolomei (1272 – 1348) Founder, Theologian, Mystic, Hermit, Lawyer, Soldier, Politician.

St Brogan
St Burchard of Worms
St Christopher of Cordoba
St Cristòfol Baqués Almirall
St Edbert of Northumbria
Bl Georg Hafner
Bl Gervais-Protais Brunel
St Gobert of Apremont
St Haduin of Le Mans
St Heliodorus of Persia
St Herbert Hoscam
St Leovigild of Cordoba
Bl Louis-François Lebrun
St Lucius of Cyprus
St Maximus of Chinon

Blessed Maria de Mattias ASC (1805-1866) Founder of the religious Congregation of the Sisters Adorers of the Blood of Christ, Mystic, Teacher, Preacher, Catechist

St Oswine of Deira (Died 651) King, Martyr, King of Deira in northern England.

St Philibert of Jumièges (c 608–684) Abbot and Monastic Founder, particularly of Jumièges Abbey. 

St Porphyrius of Palestrina
St Ronald of Orkney
St Samuel the Patriarch
Bl Wladyslaw Maczkowski
St Zacchaeus the Publican

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Memorials of the Saints – 19 August

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Within the Octave of the Assumption

St John Eudes (1601-1680) Confessor, Priest, Missionary, Founder, Preacher, Writer, Mystic, he founded the Congregation of Jesus (The Eudists) and Mary and the Order of Our Lady of Charity and was the Author of the propers for the Mass and Divine Office of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Known as “The Apostle of Two Hearts.” Beatified on 25 April 1909 by Pope Pius X and Canonised on 31 May 1925 by Pope Pius XI. 

St Andrew the Tribune
St Badulf of Ainay
St Bertulf of Luxeuil
St Calminius
St Credan of Evesham
St Donatus of Mount Jura
St Elaphius of Châlons
St Guenninus
Bl Guerricus
Bl Hugh Green

Blessed Jordan of Pisa OP (c 1255–1311) Dominican Friar, Theologian, Professor, renowned Preacher, Founder of the Confraternity of the Holy Redeemer at Pisa, Visionary, Marian devotee, promoter and daring innovator of the vernacular Italian language as a ‘church’ language and a tool for evangelisation. On 23 August 1833, Blessed Jordan’s cultus was confirmed by Pope Gregory XVI and in 1838 he was Beatified by Pope Gregory XVI.

St Julius of Rome

St Louis of Toulouse OFM (1274-1297) Prince and Bishop, Neapolitan Prince of the Capetian House of Anjou, Franciscan Friar and Priest, Apostle of Prayer, of Penance and of the poor and the sick. He had received the last sacraments on the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady and on the 19th of August, 1297, while pronouncing the holy name of Mary, he yielded his soul to God. Because of the many miracles that were wrought at his tomb, he was Canonised as early as 1317, during the lifetime of his mother.

St Magnus of Anagni
St Magnus of Avignon
St Magnus of Cuneo
St Marianus of Entreaigues
St Marinus of Besalu
St Magino of Tarragona
St Mochta
St Namadia of Marsat
St Rufinus of Mantua
St Sarah the Matriarch
St Sebaldus
St Thecla of Caesarea
St Timothy of Gaza

Martyrs of Nagasaki – 15 Beati: A group of missionaries and their laymen supporters who were executed for spreading Christianity in Japan.
• Antonius Yamada
• Bartholomaeus Mohyoe
• Iacobus Matsuo Denji
• Ioachim Díaz Hirayama
• Ioannes Miyazaki Soemon
• Ioannes Nagata Matashichi
• Ioannes Yago
• Laurentius Ikegami Rokusuke
• Leo Sukeemon
• Ludovic Frarijn
• Marcus Takenoshita Shin’emon
• Michaël Díaz Hori
• Paulus Sankichi
• Pedro de Zúñiga
• Thomas Koyanagi
They were beheaded on 19 August 1622 at Nagasaki, Japan and Beatified on 7 May 1867 by Pope Pius IX.

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Saint of the Day – 19 August – Saint Sarah the Matriarch

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Saint Sarah the Matriarch, also known as Sari, Sarai, Sara, the wife of the Patriarch Abraham and also his step-sister. Her name means ‘princess’. A pious woman, renowned for her hospitality and beauty, she was a convert from paganism, the first female convert to the faith of Abraham. With her husband she was a nomad in the desert of Canaan.

When Abraham goes down to Egypt because of the famine, he induces Sara, who though sixty-five years of age is very beautiful, to say that she is his sister; whereupon she is taken to wife by the King of Egypt, who, however, restores her after a Divine admonition. In a variant account, she is taken in similar circumstances by Abimelech, King of Gerara, and restored likewise to Abraham through a Divine intervention.

Sarai Is Taken to Pharaoh’s Palace 

After having been barren till the age of ninety, Sara, in fulfilment of a Divine promise, gives birth to Isaac (A name which means ‘Laughter’). Later, through jealousy, she ill-treats her handmaiden Hagar the Egyptian, who had borne a child to Abraham, and finally she forces that latter to drive away the bond-woman and her son Ishmael. Sara lived to the age of one hundred and twenty-seven years, and at her death her husband mourned greatly and buried her in the cave of Macphelah in Hebron. This was the first land owned by the Israelites in Canaan, which became known as the Cave of the Patriarchs. Isaiah alludes to Sara as the mother of the chosen people, and St. Peter praises her submission to her husband. In Galatians Paul also uses her as an allegory of the new covenant.

“For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise. These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother…Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise…Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.”

Sarah and Abraham
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Memorials of the Saints – 18 August

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Within the Octave of the Assumption of Our Lady

St Agapitus the Martyr (c 259- c 274) Roman Youth aged 15

St Helena (c 250 – c 330) Mother of Constantine the Great

St Macarius the Wonder-Worker (Died 850) Monk, Abbot, Defender of Icons, Miracle worker 

St Crispus of Rome
St Daig Maccairaill
Bl Domenico de Molinar
St Eonus of Arles
St Ernan
St Evan of Ayrshire
St Firminus of Metz
St Florus of Illyria
Bl Francus of Francavilla
Bl Gaspar di Salamanca
St Hermas of Rome
St John of Rome
St Juliana of Myra
St Juliana of Stobylum
St Laurus of Illyria
St Leo of Myra
Bl Leonard of Cava
St Maximus of Illyria
Bl Milo of Fontenelle
St Polyaenus of Rome
St Proculus of Illyria

Blessed Rinaldo of Concorezzo (c 1245 – 1321) Bishop of Vicenza from 1296 until his 1303 appointment as the Archbishop of Ravenna-Cervia holding that until his death, Doctor of Canon Law, Papal envoy, Arbitrator and Peace-maker. Archbishop Rinaldo was also a close friend of Dante Alighieri.

St Ronan of Iona
St Serapion of Rome

Massa Candida: Also known as Martyrs of Utica and the White Company: Three hundred 3rd century Christians at Carthage, who were ordered to burn incense to Jupiter or face death by fire. Martyrs. Saint Augustine of Hippo and the poet Prudentius wrote about them. They were forced to cast themselves into a pit of burning lime c 253 at Carthage, North Africa.

Happy, indeed, is she
to whom it is given to share this sacred banquet,
to cling with all her heart to Him
whose beauty all the heavenly hosts admire unceasingly,
whose love inflames our love,
whose contemplation is our refreshment,
whose graciousness is our joy,
whose gentleness fills us to overflowing,
whose remembrance brings a gentle light,
whose fragrance will revive the dead,
whose glorious vision will be the happiness
of all the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem

St Clare of Assisi

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Saint of the Day – 18 August – Saints Florus and Laurus

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Saints Florus and Laurus  were twin brothers who worked as stonemasons. They were originally from Byzantium but settled in Ulpiana, Dardania, south of modern Pristina, Kosovo. They were educated in masonry by two men named Maximus and Proculus, who were Christians, and who were later sentenced to death for being so.

Novgorod icon of Sts. Florus and Laurus

Likaion, the prefect of the district, employed the brothers in the construction of a pagan temple. The brothers gave their salaries to the poor. When the son of a local pagan priest named Mamertin was blinded by a chip of stone from the saints’ temple, Florus and Laurus cured the boy after he converted to Christianity. Mamertin also converted to Christianity as a result of his son’s recovery.

After the temple was finished, the twins brought together many local Christians. The group smashed all of the statues of the pagan gods, and a cross was set up in the temple, then they spent the whole night in prayer within it. As a result of this action, the local authorities had 300 Christians, including Mamertin and Mamertin’s son, burned to death.

Florus and Laurus were executed differently; Likaion had them thrown down an empty well, which was then covered with earth. Many years later their relics were recovered and transferred to Constantinople.

See how you lie prostrate unto death, while John who was killed is alive. You have lost the purple that received its colour from dye, John is forever gloriously clothed with the radiant purple from his blood.

St Peter Chrysologus

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Saint of the Day – 17 August – Pope St. Eusebius

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Saint Eusebius (died 21 October 310) was the bishop of Rome from 18 April 309 until his exile on 17 August 310. Not much is known about Eusebius’s early life, but he was probably Greek. His reign was short. The Liberian Catalogue gives its duration as only four months, from 18 April to 17 August, 309 or 310. 

We learn some details of his career from an epitaph for his tomb which Pope Damasus ordered. It appears that the grave internal dissentions caused in the Roman Church by the readmittance of the apostates (lapsi) during the persecution of Diocletian, and which had already arisen under Marcellus, continued under Eusebius. The latter maintained the attitude of the Roman Church, adopted after the Decian persecutions (250-51), that the apostates should not be forever debarred from ecclesiastical communion, but on the other hand, should be readmitted only after doing proper penance.

This view was opposed by a faction of Christians in Rome under the leadership of one Heraclius. It is likely that Heraclius and his supporters sought to compel by force their admittance to divine worship, which was resented by the faithful gathered in Rome about Eusebius. In consequence both Eusebius and Heraclius were exiled by Emperor Maxentius. Eusebius was deported to Sicily, where he died soon after. Miltiades ascended the papal throne, 2 July, 311. The body of his predecessor was brought back to Rome, probably in 311, and was placed in a separate cubiculum of the Catacomb of Callistus. His firm defense of ecclesiastical discipline and the banishment which he suffered therefore caused him to be venerated as a martyr, and in his epitaph Pope Damasus honours Eusebius with this title.

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Saint of the Day – 16 August – Bl. Simon Kiyota Bokusai and Companions

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Bl. Simon Kiyota Bokusai and Companions were Japanese converts to the Faith, and martyrs. After having served in the military, the nobleman Simon Kiyota Bokusai (born 1559 in Kiyota) became a catechist, founding a school for this purpose. After learning of the catechetical school, the pagan Japanese emperor ordered him to close it. When in turn he refused to comply with this unjust order, the emperor condemned Simon and his wife Magdalena to be put to death by crucifixion together with another Catholic family living under their roof. The latter family consisted of Thomas Gengoro, his wife Mary, and their young son, James Bunzo.

Shortly before his execution, Simon confided to a religious in a letter, “I hope that, if my sins offer no obstacle, I may go in a few hours to enjoy eternal happiness. I entreat you to obtain for me perseverance.” The next day, before setting out for the place of their crucifixion in Kokura, Simon, Magdalena, Thomas, Mary, and James all knelt down before a crucifix to prepare themselves. When later the five reached the execution site, they individually prostrated themselves before the respective crosses on which they were to die. Simon and the rest were then crucified upside down soon after sunrise on 16 August, their bodies burned and their ashes scattered.

Nagasaki Martyrs

They were beatified on 7 May 1867 by Pope Pius IX. There is an additional memorial for Blessed Simon Kiyota Bokusai on 10 September as one of the 205 Martyrs of Japan.

O most brave and blessed martyrs! O truly called and chosen unto the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ! Whom whoever magnifies, and honours, and adores, assuredly ought to read these examples for the edification of the Church, not less than the ancient ones, so that new virtues also may testify that one and the same Holy Spirit is always operating even until now, and God the Father Omnipotent, and His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, whose is the glory and infinite power for ever and ever. Amen.

Tertullian

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Saint of the Day – 14 August – St Marcellus of Apamea

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St Marcellus of Apamea, bishop and martyr. Marcellus was born in Cyprus and martyred in Syria in the year 389. Having been raised strongly in the Faith by an illustrious Cypriot family, and after the reception of a great education, Saint Marcellus became a high ranking civil magistrate noted for his possessing all the virtues. In the year 375, when his wife died and his children were provided for, he left the island and devoted himself to a monastic life in Syria. Whilst there the people of Apamea chose him as their bishop. As bishop, he worked with evangelical fervor to bring pagans to Christ.

Saint Marcellus received permission from the emperor Theodosius the Great to destroy a temple of Jupiter at Apamea, but the demon inhabiting it resisted all attempts to demolish its lair. Saint Marcellus blessed some water and commanded that this be sprinkled around the wood used as leverage to undermine the great stone columns of the temple. After this, the wood burned fast, the columns fell down and the whole pagan temple collapsed in upon itself.

The Temple of Jupiter on the Capitolium

When the Roman soldiers sent to assist him, demolished another pagan temple, the saint was seized by furious pagans and thrown into a fire, where he died.