Saint of the day .

Saint of the day: 19th July

Saint Arsenius



Monk. Born in Rome, in 354, Arsenius is said to have been a deacon, and later a tutor to the Emperor Theodosius' children in Constantinople.

He was rewarded with money, servants and possessions and lived a luxurious life. But after ten years he felt God calling him, gave everything away to join a group of desert monks near Wadi Narun in Egypt.

When barbarian invasions came, he went to live quietly on a rock called Petra.

St Arsenius died around 412. Always self-deprecating, he said: "I know a great deal of Greek and Latin learning. I have still to learn even the alphabet of how to be a saint."

Saint Arsenius , pray that the Holy Spirit shows us what humility is and grants us the gift to live humble lives in holiness .

Saint of the day: 20th July

Saint Kunigunde



Princess. St Kunigunde or Kinga, was born in 1226 in Hungary. Her family was distinguished for its political power as well as its holy women. Her aunts included St Elizabeth of Hungary, St Hedwig and St Agnes of Prague. Her sisters included St Margaret and Blessed Yolande.

At the age of 15 she became engaged to the man who was to become the next King of Poland, Boleslaw V. Soon after their wedding, they both took vows of chastity before the bishop and lived out their promises during their 40 years of married life. Queen Kunigunde spent her time caring for her young sister and visiting the poor and sick in hospitals.

When her husband died in 1279, she was expected to take over the reins of government, but she gave up her royal life and joined the Poor Clares, living in a convent she and her husband had established. She died 13 years later surrounded by her community. Many miracles are said to have occurred at her tomb.

In 1715, Pope Clement XI chose her as the special patron of Poles and Lithuanians.

St Kunigunde was canonized by Pope John Paul II in June 1999. More than half a million people attended the ceremony in a field outside the small town of Stary Sacz.


Saint Kunigunde , pray for the peoples of Poland and Lithuania .

Saint of the Day 21st July

Saint Victor of Marseilles



Martyr. The tomb of Saint Victor in Marseilles, was one of the most popular pilgrim shrines in western Europe, from the 9th century onwards. According to early writings about him, he was a Christian soldier martyred at Marseilles in about 290, during the persecutions of Maximian. His feast today is still kept in many parts of the Christian world.

He is depicted on two rood screens in Devon, at Tor Brian and Wolborough, dressed as a soldier, but holding a windmill.

Saint Victor of Marseilles , pray for us .

Saint of the day: 22nd July

Saint Mary Magdalene



Patron of repentant sinners and the contemplative life.

One of the followers of Christ, Mary Magdalene has been identified as the woman who anointed Jesus' feet with a precious oil. She was the first person to see the Risen Christ. On Easter Day she was weeping near the empty tomb when she saw a man who she thought was a gardener. He asked her why she was weeping. She replied: "Sir if you have carried him away tell me where to and I will come and take him."

The man was Jesus. He told her to go and tell the others what she had seen.

There are many apocryphal legends about Mary. In France it said that she evangelised Provence with her sister Martha and brother Lazarus. Hundreds of churches across Europe are dedicated to her.


Saint Mary Magdalene , pray for our daily conversion to Jesus .

Saint of the day: 23rd July

Saint Bridget of Sweden



Visionary. Bridget was born in Sweden in 1303. From the time she was a child, she was greatly devoted to the passion of Jesus. When she was only ten, she seemed to see Jesus on the cross and hear him say: "Look at me, my daughter." "Who has treated you like this?" cried little Bridget. "They who despise me and refuse my love for them," answered Jesus.

When she was fourteen, she married eighteen-year-old Ulf. Like Bridget, Ulf had set his heart on serving God. They had eight children, of whom one was St Catherine of Sweden. Bridget and Ulf served the Swedish court. Bridget was the queen's personal maid. She also tried to advise King Magnus and Queen Blanche from time to time.

All her life, Bridget experienced visions and heard messages from God.

In obedience to them, she visited many rulers and important people in the Church. She explained humbly what God expected of them. After her husband died, Bridget left the court to become a nun. Later, she started the order of the Most Holy Saviour, also known as Bridgettines.

A very active person, she worked with the poor and sick all her life and seemed to carry on a dialogue with God.

Shortly before she died, the saint went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. At the shrines there, she had visions of what Jesus had said and done in that place. All St Bridget's revelations on the sufferings of Jesus were published after her death. She died in Rome on this day in 1373. She was proclaimed a saint by Pope Boniface IX in 1391.

Saint Bridget of Sweden , pray for us that we may never despise Jesus or refuse His love for us.

Saint of the Day: 24th July

St John Boste


Priest and martyr. John Boste was born at Dufton, in Westmoreland, and studied at Oxford. After he became a Catholic in 1576, he went to Reims and was ordained priest in 1581.

Fr John went back to England where he worked in the north celebrating Mass and administering the Sacraments to recusant Catholics. He became the object of a massive manhunt and was finally captured and taken to London.

There he was tortured on the rack and returned to Dryburn near Durham.
On July 24, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered. John Boste was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1970 as a martyr of Durham. He is one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

St John Boste , pray for us .


and St Sharbel Makhluf









Lebanese hermit. Born in 1828, Joseph Zaroun Makluf was raised by an uncle after his father, a mule driver, had died when he was three. At the age of 23, Joseph joined the Monastery of St Maron at Annaya, Lebanon, and took the name Sharbel in honour of a second-century martyr. He professed his final vows in 1853 and was ordained six years later.(1828-1898)

Following the example of the fifth-century St. Maron, Sharbel lived as a hermit from 1875 until his death. His reputation for holiness prompted people to seek him to receive a blessing and to be remembered in his prayers. He followed a strict fast and was very devoted to the Blessed Sacrament. When his superiors occasionally asked him to administer the sacraments to nearby villages, Sharbel did so gladly.

He died in the late afternoon on Christmas Eve. Christians and non-Christians soon made his tomb a place of pilgrimage and of cures. Pope Paul VI beatified him in 1965 and canonized him 12 years later.

Pope John Paul II often said that the Church has two lungs (East and West) and it must learn to breathe using both of them. Remembering saints like Sharbel helps the Church to appreciate both the diversity and unity present in the Catholic Church.

When Sharbel was canonized in 1977, Bishop Francis Zayek, head of the US Diocese of St Maron, wrote: “St Sharbel is called the second St Anthony of the Desert, the Perfume of Lebanon, the first Confessor of the East to be raised to the Altars according to the actual procedure of the Catholic Church, the honor of our Aramaic Antiochian Church, and the model of spiritual values and renewal. Sharbel is like a Cedar of Lebanon standing in eternal prayer, on top of a mountain.”

St Sharbel Makhluf , pray for us .

Saint of the Day: 25th July

St James the Apostle




James was the brother of John the Evangelist. He is sometimes called James the Greater, to distinguish him from James the Lesser, who may have been shorter in stature. James and his brother John were called by Jesus as they worked with their father in a fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had already called another pair of brothers from a similar occupation: Peter and Andrew. “He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him” (Mark 1:19-20).

James was one of the three who witnessing the Transfiguration, the raising to life of the daughter of Jairus and the agony in Gethsemani.

Two incidents in the Gospels describe the temperament of this man and his brother. St Matthew tells that their mother came (Mark says it was the brothers themselves) to ask that they have the seats of honour (one on the right, one on the left of Jesus) in the kingdom. “Jesus said in reply, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ They said to him, ‘We can’” (Matthew 20:22). Jesus then told them they would indeed drink the cup and share his baptism of pain and death, but that sitting at his right hand or left was not his to give—it “is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father” (Matthew 20:23b). It remained to be seen how long it would take to realize the implications of their confident “We can!”

The other disciples became indignant at the ambition of James and John. Then Jesus taught them all the lesson of humble service: The purpose of authority is to serve. They are not to impose their will on others, or lord it over them. This is the position of Jesus himself. He was the servant of all; the service imposed on him was the supreme sacrifice of his own life.

On another occasion, James and John gave evidence that the nickname Jesus gave them—“sons of thunder”—was an apt one. The Samaritans would not welcome Jesus because he was on his way to hated Jerusalem. “When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, ‘Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?’ Jesus turned and rebuked them...” (Luke 9:54-55).

St James was beheaded in Judea in the year 44 CE. Some Christians believe that his disciples carried his body by sea to Padrón on the Galician coast. They then buried his body under what is now the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela.

St James' relics were discovered sometime between 791 CE and 842 CE. Santiago de Compostela then became a place of pilgrimage. Pope Leo XIII asserted that the relics of St James at Compostela were authentic in a papal bull. This papal bull was published on November 1, 1884.

Common symbols of St James include a traveler's hat and a scallop shell. The scallop shell is used to mark a network of pilgrimage routes. These routes lead to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela from many European countries. The pilgrimage to Compostella is depicted in Martin Sheen's film, 'The Way'.


St James the Apostle , pray for us .



Saint Christopher


Martyr, probably of the third century. Very little is known about St Christopher, but he is one of the most popular saints in the Eastern and Western churches.

According to legend he was the son of pagan parents, a man of giant stature who became a Christian and wanted to serve God. He lived alone by a ford where many travellers passed. One night he carried a child across the river and as he walked the child became so heavy he could hardly stand up. The child told him: “you have been carrying the whole world. I am Jesus Christ the king you seek.” The name Christopher means ‘Christbearer’.

To prove his statement the child ordered Christopher to fix his staff in the ground. The next morning it had grown into a palm-tree bearing fruit. The miracle converted many. This made the king of the region (possibly Dagnus of Samos in Lycia) very angry and he had Christopher beheaded.

There are many legends about the saint, dating back to the fifth century. The earliest known church dedicated to him was in Chalcedon around 450. The oldest picture of him, in the monastery on the Mount Sinai dates from the time of Justinian (527-65). The Mozarabic Breviary and Missal, ascribed to St Isidore of Seville (d. 636), contains a special office in his honour. Great veneration was shown to the saint in Venice, along the shores of the Danube, the Rhine, and other rivers where floods or ice-jams caused frequent damage. Coins with his image were cast at Würzburg, in Würtemberg, and in Bohemia.

Statues of St Christopher were placed at the entrances of churches and homes, and frequently at bridges. These statues and his pictures often bore the inscription: "Whoever shall behold the image of St. Christopher shall not faint or fall on that day." The saint, who is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, is patron of Baden, Brunswick, Mecklenburg, and several other cities, as well as bookbinders, gardeners and mariners. He is invoked against lightning, storms, epilepsy and pestilence. But he is best know as the patron saint of travellers.

Saint Christopher , pray for us .

Saint of the Day: 26th July

Saint Joachim and Saint 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 .

Saint of the Day: 27th July

Saint Aurelius and Saint 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 Christians today who are in a situation similar to yours .

Saint of the Day: 28th July

Saint Samson



Welsh abbot and bishop. The life of this 5th century saint was written within 50 years of his death and is believed to be the earliest biography in existence of a British Celtic saint.

According to the ancient text, Samson was educated and ordained at St Illtyd's school in Glamorgan. He then went to another monastery on Caldey Island where he became abbot. He also spent some time in Ireland and as a hermit on the banks of the River Severn. He lived in Cornwall, and Brittany where he established a monastery at Dol. He also seems to have been in Jersey and Guernsey and the Scilly Isles. He interceded with the Frankish king Childbert I on behalf of the dispossessed Breton ruler Judual.

Many miracles were attributed to Samson. There are ancient churches dedicated to him in Cornwall, Brittany and elsewhere . Recent research indicates that he must have been an important evangelizer in Cornwall and the Channel Islands.

Saint Samson , pray for us .

Saint of the Day: 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 Lazerus at Chichester Cathedral.

Saint Martha , pray for us .

Saint of the Day: 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 all who preach homilies during the Liturgy of the Word .

Saint of the Day: 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 distany 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 Loyola , pray for Pope Francis S.J. and for all other members of the Society of Jesus . May they be true to the Jesuit motto "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam" , "to the greater glory of God" .

Saint of the day: 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.

In 1745 he published the first of his 36 devotional and theological works, the most important being Moral Theology.

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 .

Saint of the day: 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 that we may be faithful to Truth whatever the consequences .

Saint of the day: 3rd August

Saint Waldef

19th century sketch of Waldef's 12th century tomb


Cistercian abbot. Of noble birth, St Waldef 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.

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.

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 .

Saint of the day: 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 .

( The following is also on the Daily Reflections thread , but I think it is worth repeating )

Today we celebrate the feast day of that great hero of our faith, St John Vianney, the Curé d’Ars, who is the patron saint of parish priests. On this holy day the liturgy invites us to consider the miracle of Jesus walking on water, defying gravity, contravening nature and suspending the natural law in order to reveal his glory and power.

We are inclined to be rather sceptical today about the miracles. We ask ourselves, ‘Did Jesus actually walk on water, or is this just a kind of literary device, employed by ancient writers to highlight someone special?’ But, in fact, the Gospels don’t give us this option, and neither does the Church. The Church believes in miracles and teaches that the New Testament provides us with eyewitness accounts which are totally and absolutely reliable. Other ancient writers might conflate imagination and reality, but the writers of the Scriptures did not: Jesus actually did walk on water!

More important than the miracle itself, however, is perhaps the word Jesus speaks in the midst of the storm: ‘Take heart, it is I; have no fear’ (v. 27). Whatever the challenges, circumstances or difficulties we are currently facing, Jesus speaks these words into our lives. No matter how much we are buffeted, battered and tossed about by the storms of life, Jesus is right there with us, by our side, saying to us, as he said to the disciples, ‘Take heart; it is I; have no fear.’

One of the ways God helps us not to be afraid is by pointing us to the lives of the saints, and today we can take courage and inspiration from the life of St John Vianney, a faithful son of the Church and fine witness of the life in the Spirit. He was a kind and merciful confessor, who understood human frailty and weakness and spent long hours hearing confession and ministering to souls. He once said: ‘I impose only a small penance on those who confess their sins properly; the rest I perform in their place.’ He had an acute sense of the mercy and goodness of God and said: ‘God is quicker to forgive than a mother to snatch her child from the fire.’

Today, we pray for all parish priests that they may strive to emulate the witness of their patron saint, St John Vianney and, like him, give their lives in selfless service of their parishioners.

Saint of the day: 5th August

Saint Oswald of Northumbria

A 12th-century painting of St Oswald in Durham Cathedral .

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 of Northumbria , pray for us .

Saint of the day: 6th August

Saint Sixtus



Pope and martyr. St Sixtus was a Greek philosopher who became a Christian and was made Pope 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. Four deacons were killed with him. Their bodies were carried by mourners to the cemetery of St Callistus. He is one of the most highly esteemed martyrs of the early Roman church.


Saint Sixtus , pray for any who suffer because they are Christians .

Saint of the day: 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 in 1516 and returned to to his home city.

In spite of opposition from his family, he began organising charitable work among the sick and poor of the city, eventually founding the Congregation of Clerks Regular, or Theatans which became one of the great orders of the Counter Reformation.

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.

St Cajetan , pray for us .