|
CALENDAR of the SAINTS
04 February 2007 Anno Domini
Saint Aldate
Bishop of Gloucester, England. He rallied his flock and fellow citizens to resist invasion by pagans from western Britain.
Title: ST ANDREW CORSINI ATTENDED BY PUTTI ( 1630 )
Artist: Guido Reni
Saint Andrew Corsini
Following a wild and misspent youth, Andrew became a Carmelite at Florence. Studied at Paris and Avignon, France. Prior. Provincial of Tuscany in 1348. Bishop of Fiesole on 13 October 1349. Had the gifts of prophecy and miracles. Noted peacemaker between quarreling Italian houses.
Representation: holding a cross, with a wolf and lamb at his feet, and floating above a battlefield on a cloud or a white palfrey.
Beatified : 1374
Canonized : 29 April 1629 by Pope Urban VIII
Saint Aquilinus
Saint Aventinus of Chartres
Saint Aventinus of Troyes
Saint Claudiano
Saint Diodoro
Saint Donatus
Saint Elizabeth Canori Mora
Saint Eutychius of Rome
Saint Gelasius
Saint Geminus
Saint Gilbert of Sempringham
Son of the wealthy Norman knight Jocelin. When Gilbert showed no signs of becoming a soldier, his father exiled him to Paris to study. Gilbert returned as a master of arts, and opened a school for the children of the poor in Sempringham, paying special attention to training in religion. His father provided him a living from the rents on part of his lands in Sempringham and Tirington, but Gilbert redistributed most of this to the poor. Clerk in the household of bishop Robert Bloet of Lincoln. Ordained at age 40. When his parents died in 1130, Gilbert returned to the manor and began to spend his inheritance by founding Benedictine and Augustinian monasteries, and by providing for the poor. He drew up rules for an order of nuns later known as the Gilbertines, the only order founded on a rule designed by an Englishman, and which eventually grew to 26 houses before being suppressed in the persecutions of Henry VIII. Gilbert was the target of slander, once accused of helping the exiled Saint Thomas Becket, which accusation landed him in prison. When he was 90 years old, some of Gilbert's lay brothers revolted against his authority, but Pope Alexander III supported Gilbert. He became blind in his old age, put aside all rule of the lands and the orders, devoted himself to prayer and the communal life, and lived to be over 100 years old.
Saint Gillebert of Limerick
Saint Isidore of Pelusium
Saint Jane of Valois
Princess. Daughter of King Louis XI of France and Charlotte of Savoy. Cousin of Blessed Louise of Savoy. Deformed at birth and sickly through her life, she early developed a devotion to Our Lady, and the praying of the Angelus. Married at age 9 for political reasons to Louis, Duke of Orleans. Believing it her duty, she developed tender feelings for him, prayed for him, and praised him to others; when he because King Louis XII, he had their marriage annulled. Made Duchess of Berry, which province she ruled. With her Franciscan spiritual advisor Gilbert Nicolas ( aka Blessed Gabriel Mary ), she founded the Order of the Annonciades, whose chief rule was to imitate the virtues of Mary as described in the Bible.
Beatified : 21 April 1742 by Pope Benedict XIV
Canonized : 28 May 1950 by Pope Pius XII ( her cause had been submitted in 1614 ).
Saint Johanna of Frankrike
Blessed John Speed
Layman. Martyred for befriending and protecting Catholic priests including Saint John Boste. One of the Durham Martyrs.
Beatified : 1929 by Pope Pius XI.
Saint John de Britto
Portuguese nobility, and a favorite of Don Pedro, king of Portugal. Son of the governor of Brazil. Jesuit at age 15. Studied at the University of Coimbra. Priest.
Against the strenuous objections of his family, he volunteered for the missions in India in 1673, and was sent to Madura. There he studied the complex Indian caste system, and found that most converts belonged to the lowest caste. He realized that for Christianity to have a lasting influence in India, higher caste members must also convert. Worked at Malabar, Tanjore, Marava, and Madura. He established himself as an Indian ascetic, a Pandara Suami, lived as they lived, dressed in saffron cloak and turban, and held retreats in the wilderness in southern India where interested Indians could visit him.
In time he was accepted as a Suami, his reputation grew, and though the locals would sometimes torture him, he converted as many as 10,000. Appointed superior of the mission in 1685. Among them was a prince whom he told to give up his wives. One of the wives, the niece of the rajah, had John imprisoned and tortured for a month, but being a religious man was no crime, so he was released.
His success in converting Indians to Christianity brought on the ire of the Brahmins, the highest Indian caste, and they decided to kill him. John and his catechists were imprisoned, tortured, and ordered to leave the country. When he refused, the rajah ordered John executed. At the execution site, he knelt in prayer, and the rajah's order was read. The executioner hesitated; John told him, "My friend, I have prayed to God. On my part, I have done what I should do. Now do your part." He did. Saint John de Britto was beheaded and dismembered 11 February 1693 at Oreiour, India.
Beatified : 21 August 1853 by Pope Pius IX
Canonized : 1947 by Pope Pius XII
Saint Joseph of Leonissa
Third of eight children born to John Desideri, a wool merchant, and Serafina Paolini. His parents died when the boy was 12 years old, and he was raised and educated by his uncle Battista Desideri, a teacher in Viterbo. Desideri arranged a marriage for Eufranio with a local noble family, but the boy felt a call to religious life. Worry over his vocation, and fear of hurting his uncle, made Eufranio sick; he returned to Leonissa to recover There he met, and was greatly impressed by, a group of Capuchin monks. When Eufranio told his uncle of his desire to join them, Desideri insisted that he continue his studies.
Eufranio agreed, and moved to Spoleto to do so, but kept in contact with the monks. Following a novitiate year in which the monks did everything to test and dissuade the young man, he joined the Capuchin Franciscan on 8 January 1573 at age 18, taking the religious name Joseph. Suffered through several self-imposed austerities including fasting three days a week and sleeping on bare boards. Ordained at Amelia on 24 September 1580. Preacher throughout the regions of Umbria, Lazio and Abruzzi. Once converted an entire band of 50 highway bandits, who then showed up as a group for his Lent sermons.
Missionary to Muslim Pera near Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey), receiving his commission on 1 August 1587. Chaplain for 4,000 Christian galley slaves. Often offered to take the place of some slave who was being worked to death, but the authorities never accepted. Ministering to prisoners in a remote camp, he got home late, and was forced to sleep outside the walls of his assigned area; spent a month in jail, charged as a spy for being in the wrong place. Preached to any who would listen, brought lapsed Christians back to the Church and converted Muslims. Worked with prisoners during a plague outbreak.
Joseph repeatedly sought an audience with the Sultan; he planned to ask for a decree of religious freedom. His forceful methods led to his being arrested and condemned to death for trespassing on royal property. Hung by hooks over a smoky fire for three days, he was freed (legend says by an angel), and returned to Italy, in autumn 1589.
There he resumed his vocation of wandering preacher to small villages throughout the country. Preached to and for the poor, and spread the teachings of the Council of Trent. Helped establish hospitals, homeless shelters, and food banks. Ministered in prisons, to the sick, and the poor. With his crucifix in hand, he would wade into gang fights and brawls, praying, and preaching peace and good sense.
Beatified : 22 June 1737 by Pope Clement XII
Canonized : 29 June 1746 by Pope Benedict XIV
Saint Liephard
Bishop. Travelled with King Caedwalla on pilgrimage to Rome. Martyred in 640 near Cambrai, France.
Saint Magnus
Saint Maria de Mattias
Born to a pious and educated upper class family. Though women of her day were forbidden a formal education, she learned to read and write, and much about her faith at home from her father. Being an upper class girl of the time, she grew up isolated and self-involved, but in her mid-teens she felt the hollowness of her life, and began to search for more meaning. She prayed for enlighten and received a mystical vision that led her to leave home and wander the roads, explaining the love of God to any who would listen.
At age 17 she attended a mission preached by Saint Gaspare de Bufalo, and saw the obvious changes to people who attended. She wanted to have the same effect, and with the aid of Venerable Giovanni Merlini she founded the Congregation of the Sisters Adorers of the Blood of Christ in Acuto, Italy on 4 March 1834, a woman's congregation for teaching girls. She expanded their work to teaching and catechizing women and boys. Though, due to the social mores of the time she was not allowed to speak to men, they would often gather on their own, sometimes in hiding, to listen to her teaching. Pope Pius IX assigned her to running the San Luigi Hospice in Rome, and from there she worked to expand the Adorers. The congregation experienced occasional opposition from the clergy, but always support from the laity; they ran 70 schools by Mary's death, most in small isolated towns, and over 400 by her beatification.
Beatified : 1 October 1950 by Venerable Pope Pius XII
Canonized : 18 May 2003 by Pope John Paul II
Saint Modan
Saint Nicholas Studites
Saint Nils Hermansson of Linköping
Saint Nithard
Benedictine monk at Corbie, Saxony (in modern Germany). Worked with Saint Ansgar, preaching to pagans in Scandinavia. Martyred by a band of Swedes in 845.
Blessed Obitius
Knight. He narrowly escaped drowning, and during that experience he had a vision of Hell which changed his life. He became a Benedictine monk at Brescia, doing penance and working for the nearby Benedictine convent.
Beatified : 1900 (cultus confirmed).
Saint Papia
Saint Phileas
Saint Philoromus
Saint Rabanus Maurus
He grew up in the abbey of Fulda. Disciple of Saint Alcuin of Tours and Saint Eigil. Benedictine monk. Headmaster of the abbey school. Deacon. Priest. Abbot. Bishop of Mainz. Noted for his charity, feeding up to 300 poor at his house each day. Promoted the education of the clergy. Wrote bible commentaries, homilies, poetry, including one that praised and preserved the memory of Saint Frederick of Utrecht.
Saint Rembert
Saint Simon of Saint Bertin
Saint Theophilus the Penitent Archdeacon of Adana in Cilicia. Offered the bishopric of Adana, Cilicia ( modern Turkey ); he declined, saying he was not adequate to the task. Due to slander, the new bishop removed him from his position in the Church. In anger, he signed a pact with a demon to avenge himself on the bishop and regain his position. When he came to his senses, he begged for the help of Our Lady who intervened, recovered the pact, and tore it up. The pact was burned in the public square, and this legend has figured in many dramas since, including Goethe's Faust.
Blessed Thomas Plumtree
Studied at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Rector of Stubton. Chaplain to northern insurgents in the Catholic Rising of the North against the repressions of Queen Elizabeth I. Captured when the revolt failed completely, he was arrested at the altar, and charged with celebrating Mass. Offered his freedom if he would denounce Catholicism; he declined. He was hanged in 1570 in the market place at Durham Castle. Martyr. Beatified : 1886
Saint Vincent of Troyes
Saint Vulgis
( Beautification and Canonization dates will be provided to underscore the 'rush to sainthood' mockery of the New-Church. )
|
