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CALENDAR of the SAINTS
28 August 2011 Anno Dómini
"....and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. ~ ~ Apocalypse
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Blessed Adelindis of Buchau, Martyr
Married. Widow. Founded the Buchau Abbey in Germany. At alater time she entered the Abbey as a nun; thereafter she served as its abbess.
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Bishop Saint Alexander of Constantinople
Bishop and apostle against Arianism. He was elected the bishop of Byzantium in 317, at age seventy-three. Alexander was well known for his wisdom and holiness. He attended the Council of Nicaea in 325 and joined Saint Alexander of Alexandria in condemning Anus and his heretical teachings. In A.D. 336, Anus was sponsored by Emperor Constantine the Great to be received into the Church. Alexander, unable to be a party to such a disastrous enterprise, prayed that either he or Arius be removed from the scene. Anus died the day before Alexander was to be exonerated in the court of Constantinople.
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Blessed Alfons Maria Mazurek, Martyr
A Discalced Carmelite friar, taking the name Alfons Maria of the Holy Spirit. He was ordained in July 1916. A Teacher and noted administrator, he was eventually appointed with the title of Professor at the Carmelite minor seminary. Prefect of the seminary. Prior of the Carmelite monastery at Czerna, Poland in 1930. Under his leadership, the house renewed their evangelization work in the community. He was beaten then shot on 28 August 1944 in Nawojowa Gora by Nazis zelots for being a Christian leader. One of the 108 Polish Martyrs of World War II.
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Bishop Saint Augustine of Hippo, Confessor, Doctor of The Church
Son of a pagan father who converted on his death bed, and of Saint Monica, a devout Christian. Raised a Christian, he lost his faith in youth and led a wild life. Lived with a Carthaginian woman from the age of 15 through 30. Fathered a son whom he named Adeotadus, which means the gift of God. Taught rhetoric at Carthage and Milan, Italy. After investigating and experimenting with several philosophies, he became a Manichaean for several years; it taught of a great struggle between good and evil, and featured a lax moral code. A summation of his thinking at the time comes from his Confessions: “God, give me chastity and continence – but not just now.”
Saint Augustine finally broke with the Manichaeans and was converted by the prayers of his mother and the help of Saint Ambrose of Milan, who baptized him. On the death of his mother he returned to Africa, sold his property, gave the proceeds to the poor, and founded a monastery. Monk. Priest. Preacher. Bishop of Hippo in A.D. 396. Founded religious communities. Fought Manichaeism, Donatism, Pelagianism and other heresies. Oversaw his church and his see during the fall of the Roman Empire to the Vandals. Doctor of the Church. His later thinking can also be summed up in a line from his writings: Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you.
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Blessed Aurelio da Vinalesa, Martyr
Member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. Martyred A.D. 28 August 1936, during the persecutions of the Second Spanish Republic.
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Saint Edmund Arrowsmith, Martyr
Son of the farmer Robert Arrowsmith and Margery Gerard Arrowsmith. His rebel parents refused to attend Protestant services, harbored priests in their home, and at one point were arrested for their actions, and dragged away in the night, leaving the child Edmund alone. Entered Douai College in 1605; he was forced to quit due to ill health.Ordained in France in 1611. Worked among beleaguered English Catholics in Lancashire for 15 years. Even in these oppressive times he was known for his pleasant disposition, sincerity, and energy.
Queen Elizabeth's governors and hierarchy lived on confiscated Catholic property, so public distrust of priests as agents of Catholic Spain working for a Spanish invasion, worked to their advantage, keeping the population in a constant state of paranoia, dependant on an intrusive government. To keep all this in place, Elizabeth had her own Inquisition. Edmund was arrested in 1622 for his faith, and spent his prison time arguing theology with the local Protestant bishop.
Edmund was unexpectedly freed by a pardon issued by King James I. After making the Spiritual Exercises, Edmund entered the Jesuits A.D. 1623, and returned to Lancashire for the remaining five years of his life.
Betrayed by the son of the landlord of the Blue Anchor Inn in south Lancashire, he was arrested by priest hunters, and imprisoned for his vocation. He decided to let the court prove the charge rather than help them with a confession, replying, "Would that I were worthy of being a priest!"When the jury found him guilty of being a Jesuit priest, he exclaimed, "Thanks be to God!"Brought to execution, he prayed for everyone in the kingdom, then said, "Be witnesses with me that I die a constant Roman Catholic and for Christ's sake; let my death be an encouragement to your going forward in the Catholic religion." His confession on the day of his execution was heard by fellow-prisoner Saint John Southworth, and his final words were "Bone Jesu" ( O good Jesus ). Hanged, drawn, and quartered A.D. 28 August 1628 at Lancaster, England; his hand is preserved as a relic at Saint Oswald's Church, Ashton-in-Makerfield, England. Canonized A.D. 25 October 1970, and named one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
Saint Fortunatus, Martyr
Martyred with Anthes and Gaius who suffered near Salerno, Italy, Saint Fortunatus is possibly one of the “Three Holy Brothers.” Their relics were enshrined in Salerno in A.D. 940.
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Saint Gorman
Benedictine monk at Reichenau.Missionary preacher throughout northern Europe.Bishop of Schleswig, Denmark.
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Saint Hermes of Rome, Martyr
Wealthy freed Roman slave. Brother of Saint Theodora of Rome. Martyred A.D. 125 in Rome. A catacomb in the Salesian Way bears his name.
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Blessed Hugh More, Martyr
Educated at Oxford and Gray's Inn.Converted to Catholicism at Rheims, France. For this crime he was hanged in A.D. 1588 at Grantham, Lincolnshire, England
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Blessed James Claxton, Martyr
Raised a devout Catholic. Educated and ordained at Rheims, France. Returned to England as a missionary priest to Yorkshire, for which ministry he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Ilseworth, England in A.D. 1588.
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Blessed John Roche and Blessed Margaret Ward, Martyrs
Blessed Margaret Ward was a gentle woman born at Congleton in Cheshire, in the service of another gentle woman, Whitall, in London. She had visited in the Bridewell prison, Mr. Richard Watson, a secular priest; to him she smuggled a rope, but in making use of it to escape, Watson had fallen and broken an arm and a leg. He was gotten away by Margaret's young Irish serving-man, John Roche, who, to assist the priest's escape, changed clothes with him and so, was himself arrested. When charged, both Blessed Margaret and Blessed John refused to disclose Mr. Watson's whereabouts. They were offered their liberty if they would ask the Queen's pardon and promise to go to church; to which they replied that they had done nothing that could reasonably offend her Majesty, and that it was against their conscience to attend a protestant church. So they were condemned. These martyrs, who suffered with such firm constancy and patience, were forbidden to speak to the people from the scaffold because their persecutors were afraid of the impression they would make; "but the very death of so many saint-like innocent men (whose lives were unimpeachable), and of several young gentlemen, which they endured with so much joy, strongly pleaded for the cause for which they died."
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Saint Julian of Auvergne, Martyr
Officer in the imperial Roman army. Closet Christian. Retired from the army and fled to Auvergne during the persecutions of Decius. At one point he was hidden by Saint Ferreolus. Later surrendered to pursuing Christian-hunters, and made a public announcement of his faith. Beheaded near Brioude, Gaul; water from a spring that grew nearby was later believed to cure headaches. Relics enshrined at the monastery of Saint Julian until destroyed by Norse invaders; the site of the relics became known for miraculous cures, especially in the family of Saint Gregory of Tours, who wrote about them. At least 80 French townships have some variant of his name.
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Blessed Levkadia Herasymiv, Martyr
One of the Martyrs Killed Under Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe. Greek Catholic. Entered the Sisters of Saint Joseph in 1931, taking her vows in 1933. Arrested for her faith by the NKVD in 1951, and sent to Borislav (in the modern Czech Republic), then exiled to Tomsk, Siberia. She contracted tuberculosis, and was relocated to Kharsk, Siberia on 30 June 1952.
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Saint Moses the Black, Martyr
Born into slavery to an Egyptian official's family. An unruly thief, he was driven from the house and fell in with a band of robbers. On the run, he took refuge with hermits at the monastery of Petra in the desert of Skete, Egypt. He was converted and joined them as a monk.Priest. Possessed of supernatural gifts. A confirmed pacifist, he refused to defend himself with his monastery was attacked. He was murdered A.D. 405 by Berbers at Petra, Skete, Egypt. Relics at the Church of Al Adra (the Virgin).
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Saint Pelagius, Martyr
A child martyr put to death in Pannonia during the persecutions ordered by Emperor Numerian Maximian. He is revered as the patron saint of Constance, in Switzerland, owing to the transfer of his relics to that place early in the tenth century.
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Blessed Robert Morton, Martyr
English martyr. Born in Bawtry, Yorkshire, he left England and studied for the priesthood at Reirns and Rome. After ordination in A.D. 1587, he returned home immediately and was soon arrested. He was executed at Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. Robert was beatified in A.D. 1929 as one of the Martyrs of London of A.D. 1588.
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Saint Rumwald, Martyr
A largely legendary saint who was a prince, the son of King Aldfrith and Queen Cuneburga, in the kingdom of Northumbria, England. He is said to have been only three days old when, upon his Baptism, he declared the profession of faith and then died. While venerated for centuries in parts of England, he is considered to be the subject of highly dubious traditions.
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Blessed Teresa Bracco, Martyr
Born to Giacomo Bracco and Anna Pera, two humble and devoutly Catholic farmers. A pious child, she early developed a devotion to the Eucharist and the Virgin Mary, and as she grew older would go into ecstatic trances while staring at the Blessed Sacrament. Went to Mass daily, and prayed her rosary while doing daily chores.Murdered by a Nazi officer who shot her A.D. 28 August 1944 in the woods bear Santa Giulia, Dego, Savona, Italy, while she fought to keep from being raped.
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Blessed Thomas Felton, Martyr
English martyr. The son of Blessed John Felton, he was born at Bermondsey, England, in A.D. 1568. Leaving England to study at Reims, France, he entered the Friars Minim and went home to England to recover from an illness. He was arrested and imprisoned for two years. Released, he was again put in prison and hanged at lsleworth, London.
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Blessed Thomas Holford, Martyr
English martyr. Also known as Thomas Acton, he was born at Aston, in Cheshire, England. Raised a Protestant, he worked as a schoolmaster in Herefordshire until converting to the Catholic faith. He left England and was ordained at Reims in 1583. Going home, he labored in the areas around Cheshire and London until his arrest. He was hanged at Clerkenwell in London.
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Bishop Saint Vivian
Bishop of Saintes, France. He dedicated his life to relieving the suffering of the local people caused by the invading Visigoths.
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Saint William Den, Martyr
Protestant minister who converted to Catholicism. Studied for the priesthood at Rheims, France.Ordained in 1581. Returned to England as a home missioner.Arrested and exiled for his work, he returned and was arrested in London. Condemned to death for the crime of priesthood. Martyred A.D. 1588 at Mile End Green, East London, England.
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Blessed William Guntei, Martyr
Martyr of Wales. A native of Raglan, Gwent, Wales, he was a Catholic who received ordination at Reims, France, in 1587. He returned to England to work for the Catholic mission. Captured, he was hanged at Shoreditch and beatified in 1929.
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