Saint of the day

(From ICN)

26th July Joachim and Ann


Parents of the Virgin Mary. Little is known about the parents of Our Lady. Their story is told in the apocryphal Gospel of James but neither are mentioned in Holy Scripture.

The early cult of Joachim was recorded in the East with images on the columns of St Marks in Venice. Later, Giotto painted Joachim and Ann in the Arena Chapel in Padua.

They were also depicted together in stained glass at Great Malvern Priory, Hereford, Worcester and elsewhere (according to the Oxford Dictionary of Saints). Joachim is said to be buried in Jerusalem. 


Saint Joachim and Saint Ann , pray for grandparents .

(From ICN)

27th July Saints Aurelius and Natalia

Martyrs. These were two members of a group of five Christians martyred at Cordoba in Spain, by the Muslim Emir Abd ar-Rahman II in about 852. 

Aurelius was the son of a Muslim man and a Spanish woman who was a secret Christian. Natalia also came from a Muslim and Christian family. Aurelius had a relative, Felix who became Muslim for a time but then returned to his Christian faith and married a Christian wife Liliosa.

All four openly professed their faith and the women went out with their faces unveiled. They were arrested for apostacy and all beheaded, together with a monk, named George who had openly preached against the Muslim religion.

Saint Aurelius and Saint Natalia , pray for the persecuted .

(From ICN)

29th July - Saint Martha



Martha was the sister of Lazarus and Mary of Bethany. Jesus gently reproved her when she complained about Mary not helping with the cooking when he came to visit (Luke 10: 38-42). In the Gospel of John Martha appears at the Raising of Lazarus. It is also recorded that Martha served Jesus at supper six days before the Passover. (John 12: 1-2).

A medieval legend claims that Martha, Mary and Lazarus evangelised Provence. Her supposed relics were placed at the church in Tarascon in 1187.

She is a patron of housewives and lay sisters. She is often depicted with a ladle, a broom or a bunch of keys. She is represented in a Romanesque sculpture of the Raising of Lazarus at Chichester Cathedral.

Saint Martha , pray for housewives and lay sisters .

30th July - Saint Peter Chrysologus



Bishop. His name means 'Peter the golden-worded'. Born in around 380, he was Bishop of Ravenna from about 433 AD until his death in 450. Peter was born in Imola, where he was ordained a deacon by Cornelius, Bishop of Imola. Pope Sixtus III appointed him to the See of Ravenna in about the year 433. He was a counsellor of Pope Leo I.

Known as 'The Doctor of Homilies' - Peter was known for his short but inspired sermons. He is said to have been afraid of boring his audience. After hearing his first homily as bishop, Empress Galla Placidia is said to have given him the name 'Chrysologus.'

Galla Placidia was to become the patroness of many of Peter's projects. Peter spoke against the Arian and Monophysite teachings, condemning them as heresies, and explained topics such as the Apostles' Creed, John the Baptist, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the mystery of the Incarnation, in simple and clear language. Peter advocated daily reception of Holy Communion. He urged his listeners to have confidence to the forgiveness offered through Christ.

In the eighth century Felix of Ravenna preserved 176 of his homilies.

A contemporary portrait of St Peter Chrysologus is found in the mosaics of the Church of San Giovanni Evangelista in Ravenna.

Pope Benedict XIII declared him a Doctor of the Church in 1729.

Saint Peter Chrysologus , pray for us.

31st July - St Ignatius Loyola



Founder of the Jesuits. St Ignatius was born in 1491, the youngest son of a Basque nobleman. As a young man he was a soldier and was wounded at the Battle of Pamplona against the French. During a long convalescence he read the lives of the saints, and decided to dedicate himself to God.

After a year's retreat at Manresa in Catalonia he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and then from 1524 to 1534 he studied, beginning with Latin grammar with the schoolboys of Barcelona and ending by earning his Master of Arts degree at the University of Paris, at the age of 43.

From time to time he preached as a layman. He soon gathered a group of students around him, among them Francis Xavier, who wanted to be missionaries. Several of them were ordained to the priesthood and eventually they decided to offer their services to the Pope. Various tasks were assigned to them and it was eventually proposed that they become a religious order with the usual vows, and an additional one of being at the Pope's disposal at any time anywhere.

In 1540 Pope Paul II gave his official approval and the Society of Jesus was born.

Ignatius Loyola directed the order from Rome. Under him its members grew from ten to more than a thousand, working from country to country in Europe and on missions in far distant lands. In 1547 it began its work of education and scholarship in schools and universities.

St Ignatius was said to be a man of compelling personality, with a great gift for friendship. But above all he was a man of prayer who received deep religious illumination. His book the Spiritual Exercises has been hugely influential for the past 400 years.

St Ignatius died in Rome in 1556. He was canonised in 1622.

St Ignatius of Loyola , pray for Pope Francis and all members of the Society of Jesus .

1st August 
- Saint Alphonsus Liguori



Bishop and founder of the Redemptorists. St Alphonsus was born in 1696 near Naples, the son of a Neapolitan nobleman. He studied law and became a distinguished and eloquent barrister. One day his rhetoric carried him away. He forgot to read an important point in a document and lost a case worth a large fortune. From that time onwards, he abandoned law and studied to be a priest.

Alphonsus was ordained in 1726 and by 1730 had become famous as a preacher. He established a convent and, in 1732, founded the Congregation of the Holy Redeemer for priests dedicated to preaching to the rural poor.

Alphonsus was a prolific author. In 1745 he published the first of his 111 devotional and theological works, the most important being Moral Theology. The 21,500 editions and the translations into 72 languages that his works have undergone attest to the fact that he is one of the most widely read Catholic authors. He was also proficient in the arts and was a musician, painter and poet.

His best known musical work is his Christmas hymn Quanno Nascetti Ninno, later translated into Italian by Pope Pius IX as Tu scendi dalle stelle ("From Starry Skies Thou Comest").

In his preaching, spiritual direction and writing, St Alphonsus aimed at simplicity, gentleness and intelligibility. He said a sermon should be meaningful to the simplest person in the congregation, as well as the most sophisticated.

He said: "He who trusts in himself is lost. He who trusts in God can do all things."

St Alphonsus became bishop of St Agatha del Goti in 1762. He resigned three years later at the age of 69 due to ill health and died in 1787. St Alphonsus was canonised in 1839 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1871.

Saint Alphonsus Liguori , pray for us.

2nd August 
- St Eusebius of Vercelli



Bishop. Born in Sardina, in the fourth century, to a Christian family who had suffered persecution for their faith, St Eusebius grew up in Rome, became a priest there and was named bishop of Vercelli in Piedmont in 340. During the early years of his episcopate he lived with his priests in an organised community - possibly the first bishop to do so.

His troubles began when he refused to condemn the great theologian Athanasius, who stood up against the Arian heresy that claimed Jesus could not have been God and man. The Emperor Constantius banished him for refusing to sign a document condemning Athanasius. For the next six years he lived in exile in Palestine, Asia Minor and Egypt, suffering much ill-treatment from those in charge of him. On one occasion he went on a four day hunger strike in protest.

After his release in 361 he visited Alexandria and Antioch in an attempt to reconcile opposing groups there. He then returned to Italy where he joined St Hilary of Poitier in the fight against Arianism. His last years were spent peacefully and he died at Vercelli in 370.

Several of his letters survive. Many scholars think he helped to write the Athanasian Creed which had a great influence on Christianity for many centuries.

St Eusebius of Vercelli , pray for us .

(From ICN)

3rd August - 

Saint Waldef

Cistercian abbot. Of noble birth, (the son of Earl Simon of Northampton and Matilda, the great niece of William the Conqueror) St Waldef (Waltheof) was born in 1100 and grew up in the Scottish court. He could have become a court cleric, but chose the monastic life, becoming an Austin canon at Nostell in Yorkshire. In 1134, he became prior of Kirkham. In 1140 he was a favourite to become Archbishop of York but King Stephen prevented this because he felt he would be too sympathetic to Scotland.

In his Life of Waldef, Jocelin of Furness writes: 'Waldef's face was the faithful interpreter of the inner man and gave 
convincing evidence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit inhabiting 
his heart. It was thin, but fair except where ruddy colour infused his 
cheeks, soft as doves. His handsome white hair was in keeping with
his reverend and religious character. His appearance showed grace 
infusing his spirit with happiness and exultation; 
it expressed the fact that the lord treasured him, and induced all who 
saw and spoke to him to hold him in affectionate reverence.'

St Waldef wanted to bring the Cistercians at Rievaulx and the Austins at Kirkham together, but the canons objected strongly. In 1149 he became abbot of Melrose, taking over from someone who had a notorious temper. St Waldef developed a reputation for great kindness, gentleness and humility. He went on to found monasteries at Cultram and Kinross. In 1159 he was asked to be bishop of St Andrews but he refused as he knew death was near.

Jocelin also recalls that Abbot Waldef prone to take a nap whilst riding his horse, 'Brother Grizzel'. On such occasions the horse would pick his steps carefully and slowly, lest he should trip, but once the abbot was awake he would gallop swiftly, overtaking other steeds. 
Following Waldef's death, the horse was distraught and simply wasted away through sadness.

St Waldef was never formally canonised but a popular cult grew around him until the Reformation. During his life, many wonders were said to have taken place including visions at Christmas and Easter and miracles of multiplying food.

Saint Waldef , pray for us .

(From ICN)

4th August - 
Saint John Vianney



Patron saint of parish priests. St John Vianney 'the Cure D'Ars' was the son of a farmer. Born in 1786, he grew up during the aftermath of the French Revolution when clergy were outlawed and many schools were closed. He had little education, but at the age of 20, began training for the priesthood. His studies were interrupted by military conscription. Like many others, he deserted and got back to the seminary.

He found academic study difficult and just got through to his ordination because he was so devout.

The vicar-general said: "the Church needs not just learned priests but holy ones too."

After serving as a curate for two years in Ecully, he was sent to the woebegone village of Ars-en-Dombes as parish priest. This was to be his home for the rest of his life.

St John lived mainly on potatoes and preached vigorously against drinking, swearing and immorality. His homilies were so successful that many village inns were closed for lack of business. St John also showed a rare gift for listening and counselling, both in and out of the confessional. Soon people were coming to see him from miles away. Rumours spread of miracles including the multiplication of food at an orphanage he had founded. He tried to attribute these to St Philomena, and set up a shrine to her. But people were not taken in.

Every day he preached at 11am and then heard confessions for as long as 12 hours a day to begin with and then sixteen in his last years.

St John was quite strict as a young priest, but as he got older, he became more sympathetic to human frailty. Some stories would reduce him to tears.

Three times he left Ars to become a monk. Three times he came back. He refused state honours and promotion, except reluctantly becoming a canon. He sold those robes and gave the money to the poor.

Worn out by an endless stream of visitors asking for his advice, he died at the age of 73 in 1859. He was canonised in 1925.

Saint John Vianney , pray for priests .

5th August
 - Saint Oswald of Northumbria



King and martyr, St Oswald was the son of Ethelfrith, king of Northumbria. When Edwin seized the kingdom in 616, he fled to Scotland with his family and became a Christian at Iona. When Edwin died in 633, the royal exiles returned to Northumbria. Oswald's brothers, Osric and Eanfrid, were killed by the tyrannical British king Cadwalla. Although he had a much smaller army, Oswald beat Cadwalla's forces at a battle near Hexham. Cadwalla was killed.

Few of Oswald's subjects then were Christian. When peace was restored, he sent for a bishop to preach the Gospel. The first man who came was critical and strict and made no headway. He was soon replaced by the kindly St Aidan. Oswald interpreted his sermons and gave him the island of Lindisfarne for a monastery and episcopal seat near the royal residence of Bamburgh.

Under St Oswald's rule peace was restored in Northumbria and good relations developed with the Anglo Saxon kings. He married Cyneburga, daughter of the King of Wessex. But his reign did not last long. After only eight years St Oswald was killed by the pagan king Penda of Mercia at the battle of Maserfield. He was just 38. As he was dying, he prayed for the souls of his bodyguards who died with him. His body was dismembered and sacrificed to the god Woden in a pagan ritual.

His remains and relics were moved many times around the country. His skull was said to have been discovered in the tomb of St Cuthbert in 1827. Many miracles were attributed to them. Seventy churches are dedicated to him in England and there are many in Portugal, Bohemia, Holland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. St Oswald was celebrated for his heroism, his generosity and his piety.

Saint Oswald , pray for us .

6th August 

- Saint Sixtus



Pope and martyr. St Sixtus was a Greek philosopher who became a Christian and was made Pope Sixtus II in 257. In that year, the Emperor Valerian issued his first decree condemning Christianity. He ordered that the farms and estates, honours, goods and even lives of those who refused to renounce their faith should be sacrificed.

Pope Sixtus fled to the catacombs along the Appian Way with his followers. The emperor's soldiers found them and Sixtus was beheaded as he sat preaching. Six deacons were killed with him: Januarius, Vincentius, Magnus, Stephanus, Felicissimus and Agapitus. Lawrence of Rome, his best-known deacon, suffered martyrdom on 10 August, three days after his bishop, as Sixtus had prophesied. Their bodies were carried by mourners to the cemetery of St Callistus.

It is this Sixtus who is referred to by name in the Roman Canon of the Mass. The Tridentine Calendar commemorated Sixtus, Felicissimus, and Agapitus on the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, 6 August.

He is one of the most highly esteemed martyrs of the early Roman church.

Saint Sixtus , pray for us .

7th August - St Cajetan



Founder and reformer. The son of a count, Cajetan was born in Vicenza, Italy, in 1480. He graduated from the University of Padua with law degrees. After working in the papal offices in Rome he was ordained a priest. With the death of Pope Julius II in 1513. Cajetan withdrew from the Papal Court.

Recalled to Vicenza by the death of his mother, he founded a hospital for incurables in 1522. By 1523 he had established a hospital in Venice, as well - in spite of opposition from his family. He eventually founded the Congregation of Clerks Regular, or 'Theatans' which became one of the great orders of the Counter Reformation.

Cajetan established a bank to help the poor and offer an alternative to the loan sharks. This later became the Bank of Naples.

Cajetan encouraged everyone to receive Holy Communion frequently. He said: "I shall never be happy," he said, "until I see Christians flocking to feed on the Bread of Life with eagerness and delight, not with fear and shame."

Cajetan lived very simply and died at the age of 67. In his last sickness, he lay on hard boards, even though the doctor advised him to have a mattress. "My Saviour died on a cross," he said. "Let me at least die on wood." He died on this day in 1547, in Naples and was canonised by Pope Clement X in 1671.

His remains are in the church of San Paolo Maggiore in Naples; outside the church is Piazza San Gaetano, with a statue.

Saint Cajetan , pray for us .

8th August 

 - Saint Dominic



Founder of the Dominicans. St Dominic was born at Calaruega in Castile in 1170, the youngest son of the town warden. His uncle educated him and he became an Austin Canon at Osma cathedral. In 1201, he was made sub-prior. Three years later, on his way to Denmark he met the Cathars for the first time. These were a popular sect that lived communally and had a number of extreme beliefs including the idea that the body was of no importance.

While Simon de Monfort set about bringing them back to Christianity by brute force, sacking fine cities, burning them to the ground and slaughtering the inhabitants, Dominic dedicated himself to their reconciliation through patient and gentle argument. He didn't convert many Cathars but he saved a few lives. One day, he interceded in court on behalf of a Cathar about to be condemned to death. That young man became a Christian and later joined the Dominican order.

Three times Dominic refused a bishopric as he believed he was called to other work. He took a leading role in the foundation of Toulouse University and then set about establishing communities of sacred learning where members could be devoted to study, teaching and preaching, as well as prayer. He retained the Divine Office but it was chanted in a more simple form.

The Dominican order rapidly spread all over Europe and became a pioneering missionary force in Asia and later the Americas. St Dominic spent his last years travelling, preaching and establishing communities and churches in Italy, Spain and France.

St Dominic died in 1221. Popular devotion to this gentle saint sprang up soon after his death. He was canonised in 1234. His tomb, at Bologna, was built 30 years later by Pisano and embellished by Michelangelo. There are many fine images of him by other artists of the time including Fra Angelico at Fiesolo and Florence.

His usual attributes in art are a lily and a black and white dog, a pun on the the name of Dominic and the Dominicans (Domini canis).

Saint Dominic , pray for members of the Dominican Order .

(From ICN)

9th August
 - Saint Theresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)



Martyr. Patron of Europe. Edith Stein, born in 1891 in Breslau, Poland, was the youngest child of a large Jewish family. She was an outstanding student, well versed in philosophy with a particular interest in phenomenology.

While Stein had earlier contacts with Roman Catholicism, it was her reading of the autobiography of St Teresa of Ávila during summer holidays in Bad Bergzabern in 1921 that caused her conversion.

Baptized on 1 January 1922, in Cologne Cathedral, she was dissuaded by her spiritual advisers from immediately seeking entry to the religious life, and obtained a position to teach at the Dominican nuns' school in Speyer from 1923 to 1931. While there, she translated Thomas Aquinas' De Veritate (Of Truth) into German, familiarized herself with Roman Catholic philosophy in general, and tried to bridge the phenomenology of her former teacher, Husserl, to Thomism. She visited Husserl and Heidegger at Freiburg in April 1929, the same month that Heidegger gave a speech to Husserl on his 70th birthday.

In 1932 she became a lecturer at the Catholic Church-affiliated Institute for Scientific Pedagogy in Münster, but antisemitic legislation passed by the Nazi government forced her to resign the post in 1933.

In a letter to Pope Pius XI, she denounced the Nazi regime and asked the Pope to openly denounce the regime "to put a stop to this abuse of Christ's name."

Her letter received no answer, and it is not known for certain whether the Pope ever read it. However, in 1937 the Pope issued an encyclical written in German, Mit brennender Sorge (With Burning Anxiety), in which he criticized Nazism, listed violations of the Concordat between Germany and the Church of 1933, and condemned antisemitism.

Edith Stein entered the Discalced Carmelite monastery St Maria vom Frieden (Our Lady of Peace) in Cologne in 1933 and took the religious name of Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. There she wrote her metaphysical book Endliches und ewiges Sein (Finite and Eternal Being), which attempted to combine the philosophies of St Thomas Aquinas and Husserl.

To avoid the growing Nazi threat, her Order transferred her and her sister, Rosa, who was also a convert and an extern sister of the Carmel, to the Discalced Carmelite monastery in Echt, Netherlands. There she wrote Studie über Joannes a Cruce: Kreuzeswissenschaft ("Studies on John of the Cross: The Science of the Cross").

Even prior to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Stein believed she would not survive the war, going as far to write the Prioress to request her permission to 'to offer herself to the heart of Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement for true peace' and created a will. Her fellow sisters would later recount how Stein begin "quietly training herself for life in a concentration camp, by enduring cold and hunger" after the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940.
When the Nazis conquered Holland, Teresa was arrested, and with her sister Rose, was sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Teresa died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz in 1942 at the age of 51.

In 1987, she was beatified in Cologne Cathedral by Pope John Paul II and canonized by him on October 11, 1998.

On that day, the Holy Father said: "Out of the unspeakable human suffering caused by the Nazis in western Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, there blossomed the beautiful life of dedication, consecration, prayer, fasting, and penance of Saint Teresa. Even though her life was snuffed out by the evil of genocide, her memory stands as a light undimmed in the midst of evil, darkness, and suffering."

Saint Theresa Benedicta of the Cross , pray for the peoples of Europe .

(From ICN)

10th August - 

Saint Laurence



St Laurence was a deacon who worked closely with Pope Sixtus II. He is thought to have been born in Spain, at Huesca, a town in the Aragon region. According to legend he brought the Holy Grail - the chalice which Jesus used at the last supper, to Spain. Today the Holy Grail is venerated in a special chapel in Valencia Cathedral, Spain.

Laurence was martyred a few days after Pope Sixtus during the persecutions of the Emperor Valerian.

In the three days before he was executed he is said to have given everything he owned to the poor.

The prefect of Rome had ordered him to bring him the wealth of the church. Instead he gathered thousands of lepers, blind and sick people, orphans and widows, brought them to the prefect and said: "The church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor." Whereupon the prefect became so angry he took a red hot gridiron and killed St Laurence with it.

St Laurence died praying for the conversion of Rome. Five ancient basilicas are dedicated to him there. During mediaeval times his cult was immensely popular across Europe, particularly in Spain.

St Laurence , pray for us .