Saint of the day .

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Saint of the day: 29th June

Peter and Paul

St Peter was in many ways the most impetuous of the apostles. A fisherman in Galilee when he met Jesus for the first time, he was told he would become a fisherman of men. His name originally was Simon. Jesus changed it to Kephas, an Aramaic word meaning rock.

When Jesus asked who the disciples thought who he was Peter said immediately: "You are the Christ. The Son of the Living God." Jesus replied: "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death will not prevail against it."

He continued: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Only later was this power extended to the rest of the apostles.

Peter was sometimes weak and let Jesus down - three times he denied having ever met him. But he was the first Apostle to see Jesus after the Resurrection and was given the responsibility of feeding the flock of Christ's followers.

St Peter was martyred in Rome under the Emperor Nero. Tradition says he was crucified upside down.

St Paul was also martyred in Rome, though as a Roman citizen he was beheaded instead of being crucified. As a young man he was fanatically anti-Christian. He encouraged the crowd to stone St Stephen to death and was probably responsible for the capture and death of many more Christians before his sudden conversion on the road to Damascus. From that day he preached his new faith tirelessly and led the mission to non-Jews. He was flogged, beaten, starved and shipwrecked but never lost his faith. The most important gift he said was love. "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I deliver my body to be burnt but have not love, I gain nothing."


Saint Peter and Saint Paul , pray for the bishops in the Church .

 

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The Martyrs of Rome


The Torches of Nero, by Henryk Siemiradzki. According to Tacitus, Nero used Christians as human torches




This day commemorates all those who died in the persecutions of Nero in the late first century and always falls after the feast of St Peter and St Paul. Little is known about many of these early Christians. Because of the lack of information, after 1969, several individual names were left out of the list of saints. Remembering them as a group in this way makes up for those whose histories have been lost.

There were Christians in Rome within a dozen or so years after the death of Jesus.

In 49-50 AD the Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews and Jewish Christians, from Rome. Perhaps many came back after Claudius' death because, in 54 AD, St Paul's letter was addressed to a Church with members from Jewish and Gentile backgrounds.

In July of 64 AD, more than half of Rome was destroyed by fire. Rumour blamed the tragedy on Nero, who wanted to enlarge his palace. He shifted the blame by accusing the Christians. According to the historian Tacitus, a "great multitude" of Christians was put to death because of their "hatred of the human race." Peter and Paul were probably among the victims.


The Martyrs of Rome , pray for us that the Holy Spirit may inspire us by your courageous example .

 

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Saint of the day: 1st July

Saint Oliver Plunkett

Archbishop. Martyr. Born in Co Meath, Ireland, in 1625, at a time when penal laws against Catholics were very severe, St Oliver studied with the Jesuits in Rome and became professor of theology at the Propaganda College.

In 1669 he was made Bishop of Armagh at Ghent and returned to Ireland. The church had become very neglected because of years of persecution and the shortage of bishops. Within his first months of office, he confirmed more than 10,000 people and set about reorganising the clergy, liturgy and education. Although the penalties for being a Catholic were very grave, the church in Ireland prospered under St Oliver and he managed to stay on friendly terms with the Protestant clergy in Ulster.

Eventually however, false allegations by Titus Oates that he was helping to organise a French invasion of England from Ireland, together with Judge Pemberton accusing him of setting up a false religion, landed St Oliver in prison accused of high treason. He was hung, drawn and quartered at Tyburn on this day in 1684. St Oliver was canonised in 1976.

Saint Oliver Plunkett , pray for the people of Ireland .

 

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Saint of the day: 2nd July



Saint John Francis Regis

Jesuit priest. St John was born in 1597, in Fontcouverte in south-eastern France and lived most of his life there. He worked as a teacher and priest through the plague years, tending the sick, visiting prisons, collecting food and clothing for the poor and setting up homes for the rehabilitation of prostitutes.

When he was 43, he had a premonition about his own death. After a three-day retreat, he went back to work in the village of Louvesc. He heard confessions, said Mass and preached through a very cold and snowy Christmas, after which he caught pneumonia. Shortly before he died he experienced a vision of heaven.


Saint John Francis Regis , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 3rd July

Saint Thomas

The disciple Thomas is called 'Didymus the Twin' in the New Testament, but throughout the Christian world he is known as 'Doubting Thomas'. He searched for the truth but found it hard to accept or understand.

In St John's Gospel, when Jesus says: "I go to prepare a place for you. And I will come again and I will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going," Thomas says: "Lord we don't know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Then Jesus replied: "I am the way, the truth and the life."

St Thomas was not with the other apostles when Jesus appeared to them after his death, and refused to believe that he was alive unless he could see the marks of the nails. Eight days later he saw Jesus for himself, touched the wounds and said: "My Lord and my God."

It is believed that St Thomas went to India as a missionary. A Sixth century inscription at a church in Myapore, in Madras is dedicated to him and he is said to be buried there.


Saint Thomas , pray for us that in our doubts and in our searching for the truth we will be submissive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit .

 

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Saint of the day: 4th July

Saint Elizabeth of Portugal

St Elizabeth was forced into an arranged marriage with Denis, King of Portugal, when she was only twelve, in 1283. They had two children. Denis was not a good husband or father, but he let Elizabeth get on with her life, and she made the best of her situation. She built hospitals, hostels for travellers, a home for retired prostitutes and an orphanage. She spent her days caring for the sick. When Denis became ill he apologised to her for all his cruelties and she nursed him until his death.

Elizabeth became a Franciscan tertiary after she was widowed, and lived modestly with the Poor Clares at Coimbra often serving the community at table.

She spent her last years seeking peace among the fierce rulers of Iberia. When her son King Alphonso was about to go to war with her son-in-law, the King of Castile, she managed to negotiate peace between them.

She died on this day in 1336. Many miracles were attributed to her. She was canonised in 1625.

Saint Elizabeth of Portugal , pray for the people of Portugal .

 

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Saint of the day: 5th July

Saint Athanasius


Mount Athos




Abbot and founder. St Athanasius was born in Trebizond, Turkey, around 920 and studied at Constantinople. He became a monk, at St Michael's Monastery in Kymina in the Bithynian Olympus and then migrated to Mount Athos in Greece, where he founded the 'great laura' or monastery there in 961, with the help of his friend Nicephoras Phocas who later became emperor.

This was the start of the great monastic republic of Mount Athos, that thrives to this day. Athanasius and six other monks died in 1003, when a church roof collapsed.

By the time of his death there were 60 communities on the mountain. Throughout his life St Athanasius was offered many honours but refused them all. He was a great teacher of the early Eastern church.

Saint Athanasius , pray for us .

and Saint Morwenna

The patron of Morwenstow in Cornwall, St Morwenna lived in the sixth century and came from an Irish-Welsh family. According to legend, when the villagers were building a new church, she collected a stone from under a cliff on the beach and carried it on her head to the place where she wanted the church built. The villagers wanted to locate the church elsewhere. St Morwenna rested on the way and lay the stone down on the ground - whereupon a spring of water appeared. She got her church and a well was built over the spring.

Saint Morwenna , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 6th July

Saint Maria Goretti

Martyr. Born in Ancona, Italy, in 1890, Maria was the eldest daughter of a peasant family, known for her cheerful and devout nature. When she was just ten her father died. Two years later, a young neighbour, Alessandro Serenelli, became obsessed with Maria and started constantly pestering her. One day he tried to rape her. When she fought him off he stabbed her several times and she died the next day. Her murderer was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was 20 at the time. After eight years he underwent a religious conversion and repented of his crime. When he was released from prison 27 years later he was a changed man.

On Christmas Day 1937 Allessandro received Holy Communion side by side with Maria's mother. In 1950 Maria was canonised as a martyr for the Christian life. Her killer lived to 1970 and is often cited as an example by those campaigning against the death penalty.


Saint Maria Goretti , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 7th July

Saint Sunniva

An Irish princess and nun. According to legend, she set sail from Ireland with several companions in search of a haven in which to live lives consecrated to Christ.

The group reached an uninhabited island called Seije off the west coast of Norway and settled there in caves, praying and living off fish.

One day a Viking called Jarl Haakon landed and started looking for them. They hid in caves. Huge boulders crashed down and blocked all the entrances and they died there. Years later St Sunniva's incorrupt body was discovered and a cult grew around her.

In 995 Olaf Tryggyason built a chapel in her honour. In 1170 her relics were moved to Bergen. Several churches, some of them ruined, still exist on the island.

Saint Sunniva , pray for the people of Norway .

 

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Saint of the day: 8th July


Saint Kilian

A 7th century Irish missionary and martyr, St Kilian left from Mullagh for Germany with 11 companions. They crossed the North Sea, arriving at Ascaffenburg on the Rhine then sailed up the Rhine and the Main to Werzburg, where Kilian converted the local ruler. He then visited Pope Conon who is said to have asked him to form a mission to Thuringia and Eastern Franconia in about 686.

St Kilian probably met a violent death. A huge cult grew around him in northern Europe. He is the principle patron of Wurzburg where a mystery play about his life is performed every year.

His figure appears on coins and seals and there are several hymns about him. He is celebrated in Ireland, Austria and Germany on this day.

Saint Kilian , pray for the peoples of Germany and Austria .

 

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Saint of the day: 9th July

The Martyrs of Gorkum

These were a group of nineteen religious, including Franciscans, Dominicans Premonstratensian Canons and diocesan priests who were hanged by militant Dutch Calvinists at Briel, in 1572, during the war of independence with Spain.

After imprisonments and tortures, a mob hauled them before the fanatical pirate Admiral Lumey. William of Orange ordered their release and the local authorities deplored the arrest but to no avail. When the group refused to deny Catholic teaching on the Eucharist and the Papacy, they were tortured and hanged at a deserted monastery near Briel. They were canonised in 1867.


Martyrs of Gorkum , pray that all , whatever their creed , be delivered from religious fanaticism .

 

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Saint of the day: 10th July

Saints Rufina and Secunda

Martyrs. These early Christian saints were the daughters of Asterius, a Roman senator. He arranged for them to marry Armentarius and Verinus and, because all four were Christian, the matches seemed perfect.

However, when the Emperor began persecuting Christians, the two young men renounced their faith. The women refused to do this and ran away. They were captured and scourged at the orders of a prefect named Junus Donatus, before being beheaded.

A pagan lady named Plautilla buried their bodies in a spot called the Black Forest outside Rome. It was renamed the White Forest after the sisters. A church was built in their honour.

Saints Rufina and Secunda , pray for us that the Holy Spirit may grace us with your courage .

also St Alexander

Martyr. He is is among the martyrs named in one of the Eucharistic prayers of the Mass, but little is known about his life. He was buried in the cemetery of the Jordani on the Salarian Way and is one of the seven martyrs remembered on this day, all said to be sons of St Felicity.

St Alexander , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 11th July

Saint Benedict

Abbot and founder of Subiaco and Monte Cassino; author of the Rule which bears his name; Patriarch of Western Monasticism; and patron of Europe.

St Benedict was born at Nursia in Umbria around 480 and was educated in Rome. At about the age of 20, he went to live as a hermit in a cave in the mountains of Subiaco. Many men followed his example and he set up twelve monastic communities, each with 12 monks.

In 529 St Benedict set out for Monte Cassino with a small group. There they established a monastery which was to become the most famous in Western Christendom, and a model for thousands which followed.

The monasteries became centres of learning, agriculture, hospitality and medicine in a way St Benedict probably never foresaw.

There is no evidence that St Benedict was ever a priest. As his communities grew his reputation spread and towards the end of his life he was even visited by the Gothic king Totila.

Another kind of visitation came one night, when he was standing praying by a window. It is written: 'the whole world seemed to be gathered into one sunbeam and brought thus before his eyes.'

When death was at hand, in 550, he was carried into the chapel where he received communion and died. He was buried in the same grave as his sister St Scholastica.

St Benedict said: "If you are really a servant of Jesus Christ, let the chain of love hold you firm in your resolve, not a chain of iron."

His emblems are a broken cup, (which contained poison) and a raven (which flew away with it).


Saint Benedict , pray for the peoples of Europe and for all who live the monastic life .

 

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Saint of the day: 12th July

Saint Veronica

Traditionally, St Veronica was a woman of Jerusalem who was so filled with compassion when she saw Jesus carrying his cross on the way to Golgotha, that she wiped his face with her veil. Legends say an image of his face was left on the cloth.

There are many stories about St Veronica. One associates her as the woman suffering from an issue of blood who Jesus healed. Another claims she was Martha, sister of Lazarus. One story described her as the wife of Zacchaeus, or of a Roman officer. Most accounts originate several hundred years after the time in which she is meant to have lived. Veronica means 'true image' .

A cloth said to be the Veil of Veronica has been kept at St Peter's in Rome since the eighth century.

Saint Veronica , pray for us .

 

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Saint of the day: 13th July

Saint Mildred

Abbess. This early English saint was the daughter of Merewald, king of Mercia and Ermenburga, princess of Kent.

St Mildred went to a convent school near Paris. Her parents wanted to arrange a marriage for her, but she refused and became a nun at Minster-in-Thanet. The abbey had been built by her mother on land provided by Egbert of Kent in compensation for murdering her brothers.

St Mildred became Abbess around 694. She was known for her tranquil nature and generosity towards the poor, especially women and children - 'a comforter for all in affliction.'

Before the Reformation her tomb was a place of pilgrimage. There are Benedictine nuns at Minster again today.

Saint Mildred , inspired by your example , may we cooperate with the Holy Spirit , allowing Him to make us tranquil in nature and generous to the poor .

 

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Saint of the day: 14th July

Saint Camillus

Patron of nurses and the sick. Born in Naples in 1550, St Camillus was very tall, (six foot six) and, as a young man, hot-tempered and a wild gambler. He spent some time in the Venetian army fighting the Turks before contracting a disease which left him lame in one leg. He then lost everything through gambling. For a few months he worked as labourer for the Franciscans. During this time, he experienced a change of heart and tried to join the order, but his health prevented this. Instead he offered himself to the hospital of San Giacomo in Rome. In time he became bursar there.

On the advice of St Philip Neri, Camillus later was ordained priest and formed a nursing order caring for the sick in their homes, in hospitals and prisons. Working through the plague years, some rowed out to look after galley slaves on war ships, others went to the battlefields of Hungary and Croatia, setting up the first recorded 'military ambulance unit'.

St Camillus was a pioneer in insisting on fresh air, suitable diets and the isolation of patients with contagious diseases. He set up 15 houses and eight hospitals working in them personally himself. He suffered a number of serious illnesses, but continued working almost until the day he died, in Genoa in 1614. He was canonised in 1746.


Saint Camillus , pray for those who care for the sick .

 

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Saint of the day: 15th July

Saint Bonaventure

Franciscan friar, bishop and cardinal. St Bonaventure was born at Bagnoreggio, near Orvieto in 1218. A brilliant philosopher, he was made head of the Franciscans at a time when the order was expanding very quickly and there were many differences of opinion as to how it should be organised. St Bonaventure always worked for peace and reconciliation. Though a man of the highest intellectual attainments, highly educated and intellectual, he lived simply and rejected most honours.

St Bonaventure often said that a fool's love and knowledge of God may be greater than that of a humanly wise man.

When the Pope's envoy came to visit him at the friary of Mugello - to bring him his cardinal's hat - he asked him to hang it on a tree, and wait a few minutes because his hands were wet as he was washing the community's dishes.

St Bonaventure died during the second Council of Lyon in 1274. He was canonised in 1482 and made a doctor of the church in 1588. His emblem is a cardinal's hat.

Saint Bonaventure , pray that we be responsive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit who desires that we be instruments of peace and reconciliation .

also St Swithun

Bishop. Not much is known about this ninth century saint. He was a trusted counsellor to kings Egbert and Ethelwulf and known for his care for the poor. He also had a reputation as a healer. St Swithun was made bishop of Winchester in 852 and died in 862.

He had asked to be buried in the cathedral churchyard, but a hundred years later his remains were moved into the cathedral, where his shrine became a centre for pilgrimage. It was rebuilt several times through the centuries, but destroyed at the Reformation. The cathedral authorities restored the shrine in 1962.

There are 58 ancient churches in England dedicated to St Swithun.

According to tradition, if the weather is good, or poor, on his feast day we can expect the same for the next forty days.

St Swithun , pray that we have good weather today .

 

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Saint of the day: 16th July

Our Lady of Mount Carmel

This is the patronal feast of the Carmelites. The Order of Carmelites takes its name from Mount Carmel in Israel, which was the first place dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and where a chapel was erected in her honour before her Assumption into heaven.

16 July is also the feast of the 'Scapular of Mount Carmel' On that day in 1251, pious tradition says, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Saint Simon Stock, General of the Carmelites at Cambridge, England, showed him the scapular and promised supernatural favours and her special protection to his Order and to all persons who would wear her scapular.

To obtain the indulgences and other benefits promised to those who wear the Carmelite scapular, a person must be invested by a priest who has the requisite faculties and must lead a consistent Christian life.

Prayer:

Lord, let the motherly prayer of the glorious Virgin come to our help. Through her support help us reach the true mount which is Christ. Amen.

Another prayer to Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the Flos Carmeli (Flower of Carmel) composed by Saint Simon Stock.

O Beautiful Flower of Carmel, most fruitful vine, splendour of heaven, holy and singular, who brought forth the Son of God, still ever remaining a pure virgin, assist us in our necessity! O Star of the Sea, help and protect us! Show us that you are our Mother! Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, pray for us!

 

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Saint of the day: 17th July

Saint Alexis

Called the 'Man of God'. According to a contemporary account, he was a nameless man who died at the hospital of Edessa in Mesopotamia in 430. Later poems in Greek and Latin call him Alexis.

He had lived by begging and shared the alms he was given with other poor people. He is also said to have performed many healings. After his death it was learned that he was the son of a Roman patrician who had left a wealthy bride on their wedding day and gone on a long pilgrimage to Rome.

Many years later he is said to have returned to his father's house, where he spent his last 17 years as a beggar unrecognised, sleeping in a corner under the stairs.

The legend of Alexis was very popular in mediaeval times. In the eleventh century a long epic poem was written about him. In 1370, he was chosen as patron of the Alexian brothers, a nursing order.


Saint Alexis , pray for nurses that they may be a source of healing .

 

[Colin]

Saint of the day: 18th July

Saints Edburga of Bicester and Edburga of Winchester

St Edburga's Church in Bicester, Oxfordshire

St. Edburga of Winchester

These were two early English saints. St Edburga of Bicester died around 650. She was a nun and probably an abbess. The base of a shrine dedicated to her can still be seen in the church at Stanton Harcourt in Oxfordshire.

Her namesake, St Edburga of Winchester, lived 300 years later. She was a daughter of Edward the Elder, King of Wessex and grand daughter of King Alfred the Great. She became a nun at the Abbey of St Mary's in Winchester and was known for her gentle and kind nature. A cult formed around her after her death, celebrated particularly in Wessex and Westminster. Pilgrims flocked to her shrine at Pershore Abbey until the Reformation.


Saints Edburga of Bicester and Edburga of Winchester , pray for
us .