Daily Saints

Saint Josephine Bakhita, Virgin

Patron Saint of Sudan and human-trafficking survivors; Canonized October 1, 2000 by Saint Pope John Paul II

In 1869, a daughter was born into a loving and well-respected family in western Sudan, in a village of the Daju tribe. Until the age of six, she and her three brothers and three sisters lived a happy and carefree life. That would all change around the year 1875 when one sister was abducted by Arab slave traders.

Two years later, she also became their victim. When her captor asked her name, she couldn’t remember so she didn’t respond. She might have forgotten her given name due to the trauma she faced. Her captor sarcastically gave her the name “Bakhita,” which means “fortunate,” claiming that he would bring her good luck.

After her captivity, Bakhita was forced to travel hundreds of miles on foot to the city of El-Obeid. On her journey, she was bought and sold more than once, and over the next several years she was bought and sold several more times.

During Bakhita’s captivity, she was forced to convert to Islam and was continually abused. She was beaten most days, one time so severely that she could barely move for more than a month, and she often was bound firmly with chains to prevent her escape. On her deathbed, she would still have painful memories of those chains.

One of the worst tortures she endured was the customary scarring of her breasts, belly, and arm with a sharp razor. Once the wound was inflicted, salt was then ground into it, causing permanent scarring and identifying the person as property.

Around the age of thirteen, the city in which she lived, El-Obeid, was threatened by revolutionaries. Bakhita’s owner, a Turkish general, decided to sell his slaves and return to his homeland. Bakhita was sold to an Italian Vice Consul working in the city of Khartoum, named Callisto Legnani.

For the next two years, Callisto treated Bakhita well, despite her being his slave. As a result, when the revolutionaries began to make advancements on the city and Callisto made plans to escape to save his life, Bakhita begged him to take her with him, preferring his kindness over a new owner. He did so and, with the help of a friend named Augusto Michieli, they safely arrived in Italy. Upon their arrival, Callisto gifted Bakhita to Augusto and his wife Maria.

In the Michielis’ home, Bakhita continued to be treated well, working as a nanny for their newborn daughter. Three years later, the Michieli family decided to move back to Sudan for business reasons and sold their property in Italy. During the transition, they entrusted Bakhita and their young daughter to the care of the Canossian Sisters in Venice. It was with those loving sisters that Bakhita was introduced to Jesus Christ, her true Master, and began her formation in the Catholic faith.

Within the Catholic faith, Bakhita began to discover the God Whom she had sensed in her heart from childhood. Through the sisters’ teaching and virtuous witness, Bakhita began to understand Who this great God is and to love Him all the more. When the Michielis returned to take their daughter and Bakhita to Sudan, Bakhita refused to go with them.

After days of trying to convince her, the Canossian Sisters involved the civil authorities, and in 1889, an Italian court ruled in Bakhita’s favor, declaring her free. She stayed with the sisters and on January 9, 1890, she was baptized, confirmed, and given her First Holy Communion by the Archbishop of Venice (later, Pope Pius X). She was given the baptismal name Josephine Margaret Fortunata, “Fortunata” being the Latin translation of the Arabic name “Bakhita.”

Thus, at the age of twenty-one, this fortunate young girl was flooded with God’s grace, and her formerly abused body and soul began a transformation. Josephine stayed with the sisters, entered their novitiate in 1893, and made her vows in 1896, becoming Sister Josephine Margaret Fortunata.

In 1902, Sister Josephine was assigned to the convent in Schio in northern Italy where she spent the rest of her life. In that convent, she was given the responsibilities of welcoming guests as the doorkeeper and worked as a cook and sacristan. She became well known and well loved by the locals for her beautiful and warm smile, kindness, and calm demeanor.

Many of the people affectionately referred to her as the “black mother.” She evangelized through her virtues and evident love of God and did not shy away from sharing her story, including her merciful heart that forgave her abusers. She served the people of God and grew in holiness in that convent for forty-two years.

At the end of her life, Sister Josephine suffered again, this time from illness. On her deathbed, she relived the horrors of her captivity but now confronted those horrors with God’s grace. Her last words were cries of love for our Blessed Mother. After her death, her effect upon the people of God was evident as she lay in state for three days while countless faithful came to express their love for her.

Shortly after her death, cries for her canonization stirred among the faithful. Twelve years later, her cause for canonization was opened, and she was canonized by Pope John Paul II during the great jubilee year of 2000 in Saint Peter’s Square. Three years after her canonization, Pope John Paul II made an official visit to Khartoum, Sudan, honoring her on her home soil.

Saint Josephine was more than fortunate; she was greatly blessed by God. Later in life she not only forgave her captors, she also expressed her gratitude to them because God used their cruelty to lead her into the Catholic faith and consecrated life. Her witness reveals that God is all-powerful. He is able to take the worst and bring from it the best. He is able to transform tragedy into grace, abuse into mercy, hatred into love.

Ponder any way that you have been mistreated in life. If you find yourself angry or bitter, turn to this great saint and let her witness inspire you. In the end, she never lost hope. That hope led her from the cruelty of earthly masters to a holy slavery in the service of the divine King. If you find yourself bound by earthly masters, sins, or abuses, turn to the One Who promises complete liberation. Jesus must become our Master, and Saint Josephine shows us the way.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/february-8-saint-josephine-bakhita-virgin/

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Saint Giovanni of Triora

Daily Saints

Profile

The son of Antonio Maria Lantrua and Maria Pasqua Ferraironi, Francesco was educated in Barnabite schools. He joined the Franciscan Friars Minor in Rome, Italy on 9 March 1777, just a few days before he turned 17, taking the name Giovanni. He was ordained a priest in 1784, and taught theology in Tivoli and Tarquinia, Italy. He also became a superior of Franciscan convents in Tarquinia, Velletri and Montecelio, Italy.

In 1799 Giovanni joined the missions and was sent to China. In Macau, he learned the language, learned the culture, dressed like the locals, and began his work. In the summer of 1815, the Chinese authorities began a concerted effort to persecute and suppress Christianity. Father Giovanni was imprisoned on 26 July 1815 with several of his parishioners just after Mass. He was repeatedly tortured for several months, and repeatedly ordered to renounce his faith; However, he refused and he was martyred.

Born

15 March 1760 at Triora, Imperia, Italy as Francesco Maria Lantrua

Died

tied to a cross and then strangled to death on 7 February 1816 at Ch’angsha Fu, Hunan, China
buried in the cathedral of San Paolo in Macao, China
re-interred in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli, Rome, Italy

Venerated

25 March 1900 by Pope Leo XIII (decree of martyrdom)

Beatified

27 May 1900 by Pope Leo XIII

Canonized

1 October 2000 by Pope John Paul II

Source: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-giovanni-of-triora/

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Saint Paul Miki and Companions

Daily Saints

Patron Saints of Japan; Canonized by Pope Pius IX on June 8, 1862

On the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1549, Saint Francis Xavier and two other Jesuits arrived at the harbor of Kagoshima, becoming the first missionaries to enter Japan. Fewer than sixty-five years later, the Catholic faith was flourishing in Japan, with upwards of 300,000 converts.

Of the people of Japan, Saint Francis Xavier said, “These are the best people so far discovered, and it seems to me that among unbelievers no people can be found to excel them.” The Jesuits were successful in their missionary activity within the highly civilized Japanese culture because the members of the order respected the cultural norms, acted with great dignity and respect, and learned the language.

In 1587, however, things began to change. The Buddhist monks were increasingly concerned about the growing number of Christians, causing political tension for the ruler of Japan, Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi and his predecessor had been friendly and welcoming to the missionaries, perhaps in large part because they saw befriending these Europeans as politically and financially advantageous.

But because of new tensions, caused in part by some fanatical Christians, Hideyoshi outlawed Christianity, giving the missionaries six months to leave. Many remained, however, continuing their good work quietly, and Hideyoshi let them be.

In 1593, Spanish Franciscans began to arrive; they took a more confrontational approach to conversion than the Jesuits did. Tensions continued to grow, and in 1597, the situation came to a head. A Spanish ship became shipwrecked off the coast of Japan, and Hideyoshi seized its merchandise. The angry captain spoke recklessly to Hideyoshi, threatening that the Spanish missionaries were sent to prepare for a Spanish invasion of the island.

At that, Hideyoshi began to enforce his decade-old edict outlawing Christianity by arresting twenty-six Catholics—six Franciscan missionaries, seventeen Japanese and Korean lay Franciscans (three of whom were young boys), and three Jesuits. The Jesuits were Brother Paul Miki, only months away from being ordained a priest, another brother, and a priest.

Paul was born into an affluent Japanese family and became a Catholic when his whole family converted. At the age of twenty, he attended a new Jesuit seminary in Japan and became a brother two years later. He spent thirteen years as a Jesuit, during which time he was known as a gifted preacher who helped convert many of his countrymen.

When Brother Paul and his companions were arrested, they were tortured, had one of their ears severed, and were paraded 600 miles through many towns for 30 straight days, on display for all the people to see to dissuade them from being Christian. When they arrived in Nagasaki, the center of Christianity in Japan at that time, the soon-to-be martyrs were permitted to go to Confession one last time, chained to their crosses, secured with an iron collar, and lined up next to each other as four soldiers stood beneath them, each with spear in hand.

During it all, Father Pasio and Father Rodriguez kept encouraging the others. Brother Martin continually repeated, “Into your hands, Lord, I entrust my life.” Brother Francis and Brother Gonsalvo prayed aloud in thanksgiving. And Brother Paul Miki preached his final sermon, professing Jesus as the only way to salvation, forgiving his persecutors, and praying that they would turn to Christ and receive baptism.

Brother Paul continued to encourage the others, and as they all awaited death, they were filled with joy and continually cried out, “Jesus, Mary!” Then, with one thrust of the spear and one blow, each martyr went home to God.

Over the next 250 years, hundreds of thousands of Christians were martyred and many others were tortured mercilessly until they publicly renounced their faith. Despite this, pockets of Catholics remained and secretly practiced their faith. In 1854, Japan’s borders opened to the West, and numerous missionaries returned to feed the faith of these hidden Christians. By 1871, religious toleration returned, making public worship possible. Today, a national monument marks the place of the executions in Nagasaki.

Sometimes our attempts to share the faith with others appear to be silenced by the diabolical influences within the world. These martyrs of Nagasaki teach us that the seeds of faith can live on. The many martyrs that followed give witness to the power of God’s grace and the transforming character of His Word. How strong is your faith? Is it strong enough to endure torture and death? Allow the witness of these saints to inspire you to be more fervent.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/february-6-saints-paul-miki-and-companions-martyrs/

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Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr

Daily Saints

Patron Saint of breast cancer patients, martyrs, rape victims, bellfounders, and bakers; Invoked against earthquakes, natural disasters, and fires; Pre-Congregation canonization, later confirmed by Pope Saint

As with many of the early and most revered martyrs in our Church, very little is known about the life and death of Saint Agatha. She was born in either Palermo or Catania, Sicily around the year 231 and died a martyr’s death in Catania around the year 251 during the persecution of Christians ordered by the Roman emperor Decius.

Early devotion to her is attested to by the fact that she is one of the seven virgin martyrs listed in the Roman Canon (Eucharisitic Prayer I in today’s Missal). Since the fifth or sixth century, other details, hymns, art, and stories about her life and death have emerged. Much of what is written about her life, however, emerged centuries later, leaving its historical accuracy in question.

According to those later traditions, Agatha was born into a wealthy noble family. At the age of fifteen, she made a vow of virginity, choosing to devote herself and her wealth solely to Christ, her divine Spouse. Because she was very beautiful and wealthy, the local Roman Prefect Quintianus wanted to take her for his wife for impure reasons and to attain her wealth. She refused his every attempt.

When Emperor Decius issued a decree in 250, requiring all citizens to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods, Quintianus had an idea. He decided that if he arrested Agatha and threatened her with torture and death, she would renounce her Catholic faith and accept his offer of marriage. Instead, she deepened her devotion to Christ and once again refused him saying, “If you threaten me with wild beasts, know that at the Name of Christ they grow tame; if you use fire, from heaven angels will drop healing dew on me.”

Faced with another failure to steal her purity, Quintianus devised another plan. He imprisoned Agatha in the local brothel, thinking she would lose her virginity and then change her mind. However, she remained steadfast in her purity and faith in that ungodly environment.

After a monthlong stay in the brothel, Agatha was summoned before Quintianus again. Filled with rage, he threatened her with torture and death. She faced him with courage and remained at peace, exuding joy at the opportunity to suffer for Christ. Her peaceful and joyful disposition only angered Quintianus further, so he had her stretched on a rack, her flesh torn with iron hoods, burned with torches, and whipped.

Finally, the sick and diabolical Quintianus ordered that her breasts be twisted and torn and then be cut off. To this, Agatha responded, “You cruel, impious, sacrilegious tyrant, do you feel no shame to torture a woman in her breasts, you, who from a mother’s breast drew your first nourishment?

You may destroy my body, for it is but weak and perishable; yet my soul, consecrated from my childhood to its Saviour, you cannot reach nor destroy.” After being sent back to prison in this mutilated state, Agatha saw Saint Peter appear to her and miraculously heal her wounds with a father’s love. The prison cell then radiated with light, frightening and confusing the guards.

Four days later, Quintianus summoned Agatha again. When she appeared before him healed of her wounds, Quintianus was shocked but his heart remained obstinate. This time he stripped her of her clothing and made her roll over burning coals and sharp stones. The wrath of God, however, flared up and there was an earthquake.

Part of the building they were in crumbled, killing two of Quintianus’ companions. The people of the town were outraged at what Quintianus had done to Agatha and blamed him for the earthquake. Again, Quintianus did not budge. After being sent back to prison, Agatha prayed and surrendered her spirit to the Lord, Who received her into her heavenly home.

It is shocking what people are capable of doing. Some are capable of the most hideous, diabolical, and self-serving acts. Others are capable of enduring those evils for the love of Christ with peace, strength, and joy. Regardless of the historical accuracy of the details of Saint Agatha’s life and death, her story, as it has been handed down, reveals the potential in every human heart.

We have the potential to be great sinners, the potential to be great saints, or somewhere in-between. Allow the witness of Quintianus to fill your heart with a holy fear of sin and the witness of Saint Agatha to move you from that “in-between.” Her courage and unwavering fidelity to Christ have shone a light for countless people throughout the centuries. One day, in Heaven, we will meet the true Saint Agatha and rejoice as we gaze upon the beauty and purity of her soul. Seek to make your soul radiate with that same glory by the grace of God and your fidelity to His holy will.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/february-5-st-agatha-virgin-martyr/

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Saint Joseph of Leonessa

Daily Saints

Profile

Eufranio was the third of eight children born to John Desideri, a wool merchant, and Serafina Paolini. His parents died when he was 12 years old, and he was raised and educated by his uncle Battista Desideri, a teacher in Viterbo, Italy. Desideri arranged a marriage for Eufranio with a local noble family, but the young man felt a call to religious life. Worry over his vocation and fear of hurting his uncle made Eufranio sick; he returned to Leonessa, Italy 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, his uncle insisted that he continue his studies.

Eufranio agreed, and moved to Spoleto, Italy 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 Franciscans on 8 January 1573 at age 18, taking the religious name Joseph. He suffered through several self-imposed austerities including fasting three days a week and sleeping on bare boards.

Joseph was ordained at Amelia, Italy on 24 September 1580. He was a preacher throughout the regions of Umbria, Lazio and Abruzzi regions of Italy. Father Joseph once converted an entire band of 50 highway bandits, who then showed up as a group for his Lent sermons.

Joseph was a missionary to Muslim Pera near Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey), receiving his commision on 1 August 1587. He was also a chaplain for 4,000 Christian galley slaves. He 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, Joseph once got home late, and was forced to sleep outside the walls of his assigned area; he was charged with being a spy for being in the wrong place, and spent a month in jail. He preached to any who would listen, brought lapsed Christians back to the Church and converted Muslims. He 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 Joseph resumed his vocation of wandering preacher to small villages throughout the country. He preached to and for the poor, and spread the teachings of the Council of Trent. He helped establish hospitals, homeless shelters, and food banks. He 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.

Born

8 January 1556 at Leonessa, Umbria, Italy as Eufranio Desiderio

Died

Saturday 4 February 1612 at Umbria, Italy of cancer and post-operative problems from surgery for that cancer

Name Meaning

whom the Lord adds (Joseph)

Beatified

22 June 1737 by Pope Clement XII

Canonized

29 June 1746 by Pope Benedict XIV

Patronage

Leonessa, Italy

Representation

with Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen

Source: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph-of-leonessa/

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Saint Blaise, Bishop and Martyr

Daily Saints

Patron Saint of illnesses of the throat and other illnesses, wool workers, animals, bricklayers, bakers, farm workers; Pre-Congregation canonization

From 1346 to 1353, a bubonic plague commonly referred to as “Black Death” ravaged Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It was the most deadly pandemic in human history, with conservative estimates of its deadly toll reaching higher than 25 million people. Almost half of the people in Europe died in this pandemic.

During that plague, many Catholics prayed fervently. Out of that chaos, a new devotion to the “Fourteen Holy Helpers” emerged. Those holy helpers were fourteen saints who were believed to be powerful intercessors, especially to cure illness. Among those fourteen is today’s saint.

Very little is known about Saint Blaise. The earliest mention of his life was not written until about 200 years after his death, by the medical writer Aëtius Amidenus, who spoke of the intercessory power of Saint Blaise to help unlodge objects stuck in the throat.

The slightly more detailed Acts of Saint Blaise was written about 400 years after his death. Whether or not the stories written of him are true, what is certain is that the faithful have devoutly sought his intercession for centuries, and that practice continues today in the form of the blessing of throats on his feast day.

Legend has it that Blaise was an excellent physician in his hometown of Sebaste, Armenia, modern-day Silvas, Turkey. As a youth, he studied many of the great philosophers. When the Bishop of Sebaste died, Blaise was chosen as the new bishop by the popular acclaim “of all the people.”

Blaise was said to be a man of great faith and virtue, caring for his people in both body and soul. Many came to him for physical healing as a physician but also received many miracles. Many others came to him for spiritual healing, which was imparted by his deep faith. According to that same legend, even animals would listen to him and obey his commands, and he would heal them of ailments.

In the year 313, the co-ruling Roman Emperors, Constantine I and Licinius, jointly issued the Edict of Milan which established religious toleration throughout the Roman Empire. However, the Acts of Saint Blaise states that in 316, the Governor of Cappadocia, acting on an order by Licinius, began to arrest and kill Christians. Bishop Blaise is reported to have been among those arrested.

While on Blaise’s way to jail, the legend continues that a boy was choking on a fishbone, and the boy’s mother sent her son to Blaise for his prayers. Bishop Blaise miraculously cured him on the spot. Another story relates that on that journey to jail, a woman begged him to save her pig who had been seized by a wolf. Bishop Blaise ordered the wolf to release the pig and the wolf obeyed. Out of gratitude, the woman brought Blaise two wax candles to give light to his prison cell.

Despite these miracles, the governor insisted that Bishop Blaise renounce his Christian faith, which Blaise refused to do. Therefore, at the governor’s order, Blaise was ripped apart by metal combs used to comb wool and then beheaded.

Today, Saint Blaise is the patron saint of wool combers because of the legend of his torture and death by the metal combs. He is patron saint of animals because of his alleged authority over them. He is the patron saint of diseases of the throat and other illnesses because of the story that he healed the boy with a fishbone stuck in his throat, was a physician, and miraculously healed many others of their ailments. Two wax candles are used to bless throats today because of the legend of the candles brought to him in jail by the grateful woman.

As we reflect upon these stories that have been passed down through the years, perhaps the most important story to reflect upon is the story of faith that so many people have had for many centuries in the intercession of Saint Blaise.

From the people who might have sought his prayers at the time of his ministry, to those who sought his intercession during the Black Death centuries ago, to the priestly blessings today at Mass using candles to bless throats, God has used Saint Blaise in ways that he could have never foretold. This should reassure us that God wants us to turn to the intercession of the saints in our time of need.

Though God is fully capable of directly answering our prayers, He often chooses to use the mediation of others to impart His grace. Reflect upon your own devotion to Saint Blaise and all the saints. Seek out your special patron. Entrust your prayers to him or her and know that when you do, your patron offers you and your needs to God.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/february-3-saint-blase-bishop-and-martyr/

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Presentation of the Lord

Daily Saints

Mary and Joseph were faithful Jews who obeyed the Law of Moses. Jewish Law prescribed that two ritual acts needed to take place for a firstborn son. First, the mother of a newborn son was ritually unclean for seven days, and then she was to “spend thirty-three more days in a state of blood purity” (Leviticus 12). During these forty days she was not to “touch anything sacred nor enter the sanctuary till the days of her purification are fulfilled.” For this reason, today’s feast has at times been called the “Purification of Mary.”

Second, the father of the firstborn son was to “redeem” the child by making an offering to the priest of five shekels so that the priest would then present the child to the Lord (see Numbers 18:16). Recall that the firstborn male of all the Egyptians, animals and children, was killed during the tenth plague, but the firstborn males of the Israelites were spared.

Thus, this offering made for the firstborn son in the Temple was a way of ritually redeeming him in commemoration of protection during that plague. Since Jesus was presented in the Temple for this redemption, today’s feast is now referred to as the “Presentation in the Temple.”

“Candlemass” is also a traditional name given to today’s feast because as early as the fifth century, the custom of celebrating this feast with lighted candles had developed. The lit candles symbolized Simeon’s prophecy that Jesus would be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles.” Lastly, this Feast has been referred to as the “Feast of the Holy Encounter” because God, in the Person of Jesus, encountered Simeon and Anna in the Temple.

Today’s feast is celebrated in our Church forty days after Christmas, marking the day that Mary and Joseph would have brought Jesus into the Temple. Though Mary was pure and free from sin from the moment of her conception, and though the Son of God did not need to be redeemed, Mary and Joseph fulfilled these ritual obligations.

At the heart of this celebration is the encounter of Simeon and Anna with the Christ Child in the Temple. It is in that holy encounter that Jesus’ divinity is manifested by a human prophet for the first time. At His birth, the angels proclaimed His divinity to the shepherds, but in the Temple, Simeon was the first to understand and proclaim Jesus as the Savior of the World. He also prophesied that this salvation would be accomplished by a sword of sorrow that would pierce the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Anna, a prophetess, also came forward and “gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38). Thus, these ritual acts were also a moment in which Jesus’ divine mission was made manifest to the world.

As we celebrate Mary’s ritual purification and Jesus’ ritual redemption, we should see them as acts in which we are called to participate. First, each of us is unworthy of entering the true Temple of the Lord in Heaven. Yet we are invited to enter that Temple in union with Mary, our Blessed Mother. It was her consent to the will of God that opened the door of God’s grace to us all, enabling us to spiritually become Jesus’ “mother” by allowing Him to be born in our hearts by grace. With her, we are now able to appear before God, purified and holy in His sight.

We must also see Saint Joseph redeeming us as he presented Jesus in the Temple. In offering Christ Jesus to the priest to offer Him to the Father, Saint Joseph also presents all who strive to live in union with Jesus. The hope is that, like Simeon and Anna, others will see God alive within us and experience the Savior of the World through us.

Ponder, today, your soul being the new temple of the Lord, and acknowledge your need to be purified and offered to the Father in Heaven. As Christ continues to enter into the temple of your soul, pray that He will shine forth for others to see so that, like Simeon and Anna, they will encounter our Lord within you.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/february-2-presentation-of-the-lord-feast/

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Saint Brigid of Ireland

Daily Saints

Profile

Brigid was the daughter of Dubtach, pagan Scottish king of Leinster, and Brocca, a Christian Pictish slave who had been baptized by Saint Patrick. Just before Brigid’s birth, her mother was sold to a Druid landowner. Brigid remained with her mother till she was old enough to serve her legal owner Dubtach, her father.

Brigid grew up marked by her high spirits and tender heart, and as a child, she heard Saint Patrick preach, which she never forgot. She could not bear to see anyone hungry or cold, and to help them, often gave away things that were Dubtach’s. When Dubtach protested, she replied that “Christ dwelt in every creature”.

Dubtach tried to sell her to the King of Leinster, and while they bargained, she gave a treasured sword of her father‘s to a leper. Dubtach was about to strike her when Brigid explained she had given the sword to God through the leper, because of its great value. The King, a Christian, forbade Dubtach to strike her, saying “Her merit before God is greater than ours”. Dubtach solved this domestic problem by giving Brigid her freedom.

Brigid’s aged mother was in charge of her master’s dairy. Brigid took charge ,and often gave away the produce. But the dairy prospered under her (hence her patronage of milk maids, dairy workers, cattle, etc.), and the Druid freed Brigid’s mother.

Brigid returned to her father, who arranged a marriage for her with a young bard. Bride refused, and to keep her virginity, went to her Bishop, Saint Mel of Ardagh, and took her first vows. Legend says that she prayed that her beauty be taken from her so no one would seek her hand in marriage; her prayer was granted, and she regained her beauty only after making her vows. Another tale says that when Saint Patrick heard her final vows, he mistakenly used the form for ordaining priests. When told of it he replied, “So be it, my son, she is destined for great things.”

Brigid’s first convent started in c.468 with seven nuns. At the invitation of bishops, she started convents all over Ireland. She was a great traveler, especially considering the conditions of the time, which led to her patronage of travelers, sailors, etc.

Brigid invented the double monastery, the monastery of Kildara, which means Church of the Oak, that she ran on the Liffey river being for both monks and nuns. Saint Conleth became its first bishop; this connection and the installation of a bell that lasted over 1000 years apparently led to her patronage of blacksmiths and those in related fields.

Born

453 at Faughart, County Louth, Ireland

Died

1 February 523 at Kildare, Ireland of natural causes
interred in the Kildare cathedral
relics transferred to Downpatrick, Ireland in 878 where they were interred with those of Saint Patrick and Saint Columba of Iona
relics re-discovered on 9 June 1185
head removed to Jesuit church in Lisbon, Portugal

Canonized

Pre-Congregation

Name Meaning

fiery arrow (= brigid)

Patronage

babies
blacksmiths
boatmen
cattle
chicken farmers
children whose parents are not married
dairymaids
dairy workers
fugitives
geese
infants
Ireland
mariners
midwives
milk maids
newborn babies
nuns
poets
poultry
poultry farmers
poultry raisers
printing presses
sailors
scholars
travelers
watermen
Douglas, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Ivrea, Turin, Italy
Leinster, Ireland
Kildare, Ireland, diocese of

Representation

abbess, usually holding a lamp or candle, often with a cow nearby
abbess with her hand on an altar
holding a cross with a flame over her head

Source: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-brigid-of-ireland/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigid_of_Kildare#/media/File:Sainte_Brigitte_%C3%A9glise_Macon.jpg

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Saint John Bosco, Priest

Daily Saints

Patron Saint of apprentices, boys, editors, laborers, magicians, students; Canonized by Pope Pius XI on April 1, 1934

The youngest of three sons, John Bosco was born into a poor family in northwest Italy in the rural hamlet of Becchi. His father, a farmhand for a neighboring family, died when John was only two. His mother continued to raise her sons with much love and affection.

Until the age of twelve, John spent most of his time trying to support the family by working as a shepherd and farmhand like his father. His family’s poverty made it difficult for him to obtain a good education. His learning came from his lived experience, homelife, and the sermons at church that he listened to attentively.

At the age of nine, John had the first of many dreams that would greatly influence him. In his dream, he came across a group of rough boys who were talking and cursing. John became angry with them and raised his fists to threaten them for their cursing. Suddenly, a man appeared in his dream who was radiant like the sun.

The man said to John, “Conquer the hearts of these, your friends, not with violence but with charity. Begin at once. Teach them the evil of vice and the excellence of virtue.” When John asked the man who he was, the man replied, “I am the Son of the lady I will send to be your teacher.” With that, the Blessed Mother appeared in the dream and began to teach John about his future mission of caring for boys with kindness.

John began his “ministry” when he was only ten. He would attend the shows of entertainers who performed juggling, magic tricks, and acrobatics. John studied their shows and then attempted to imitate them for other boys, always including prayers within the show and lessons he learned from Sunday sermons.

As was typical with many boys, John and his brother were always fighting with each other. This was one of the reasons that John decided to leave home at age twelve to look for work. A few years later, John caught the attention of a newly ordained priest and future saint, Father Joseph Cafasso, who saw his intellectual gifts and assisted him with his education. By the time John was twenty, Father Cafasso, with the help of some money from John’s mother, helped him enroll in the seminary. After six years of study, at the age of twenty-six, John was ordained a priest.

After ordination, Father John joined his mentor, Father Cafasso, in Turin to continue his studies at the Institute of Saint Francis where Father Cafasso was in charge. The two also engaged in ministry to the poor and imprisoned, cared for girls at a boarding school, and assisted in country parishes. It was in the prisons that Father John became aware of the number of boys who needed help.

Of this experience, he later wrote in his Memoirs, “I saw large numbers of young lads aged from 12 to 18, fine healthy youngsters, alert of mind, but seeing them idle there, infested with lice, lacking food for body and soul, horrified me. Public disgrace, family dishonor, and personal shame were personified in those unfortunates.” He thought to himself, “Who knows?…if these youngsters had a friend outside who would take care of them, help them, teach them religion…they could be steered away from ruin…”

Many of them were repeat offenders, and Father John’s heart was drawn to help them. His dream from when he was nine years old began to come to fruition as he sought to teach them, encourage them, listen to them, and befriend them as a mentor and spiritual father.

Father John’s plan was to found an oratory to provide structure and purpose for these boys. He helped them get jobs by teaching trades. At the same time, he provided them with food and shelter, taught them catechism, and gave them moral guidance and hope. Within ten years, Father John was assisting as many as 800 boys in need.

Less than a decade later, in 1861, some of the boys Father John mentored wanted to follow in his footsteps and assist other boys. Therefore, Father John founded the Society of St. Francis de Sales with a priest, seminarians, and a high school boy.

The Salesian Order was formally approved by the Vatican in 1869. In 1871 Father John expanded his mission by founding a Salesian religious order of women called the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians to care for girls. Finally, in 1874 he founded the Salesian Cooperators, a lay organization that worked with the male and female Salesian Orders.

Saint John Bosco saw a need as he encountered troubled, imprisoned, poor, orphaned, but good-hearted young boys. He followed his inspiration not to be harsh with them, but to offer them loving discipline, friendship, education, skills to support themselves, and a family within his oratory. This loving concern for these young boys overflowed into the hearts of many others, and God used this saintly man to save the souls of many by raising up an army of workers to care for them.

Ponder those in your life who are troubled, abandoned, disgraced, or struggling in other ways. Strive to imitate Saint John Bosco by seeing the good in them and helping to draw that goodness out so that they will find hope in the midst of their struggles with despair.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/january-31-saint-john-bosco-priest/

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Saint Adelelmus

Daily Saints

Profile

Adelelmus was a manservant, a soldier for France, with a promising career. While on pilgrimage to Rome, Italy, he met Saint Robert at the Chaise-Dieu monastery in Issoire (in modern France). Soon after, Adelelmus retired from military life to become a Benedictine monk at Issoire under the spiritual direction of Saint Robert. He was known as a miracle worker as well.

Adelelmus’s reputation for holiness spread. Constance of Burgundy, Queen of Castile, Spain was so impressed by him that in 1079, she and King Alphonsus VI of Castile built a monastery in Burgos, Spain on condition that he serve as its first abbot. Soon after, he added a church and hospital to the house. Adelelmus joined in the war to drive away the Moors from Spain.

One night, while out on some holy business, abbot Adelelmus and his aide were caught in a storm. Adelelmus ordered his assistant to light a candle so they could see to finish their journey. Not only was he able to light the exposed candle in the rain, but it stayed lit throughout their whole wet, windy, stormy trip.

Born

11th century at Laudun, Poitou, France

Died

c.1100 at Burgos, Castilla la Vieja, Spain of natural causes

Patronage

butlers
domestic servants
housemaids
maids
manservants
servants
Burgos, Spain
La Chaise-Dieu, France

Source: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-adelelmus/

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Presentation of the Lord

Saint Brigid of Ireland

Saint John Bosco, Priest

Patron Saint of apprentices, boys, editors, laborers, magicians, students; Canonized by Pope Pius XI on April 1, 1934

Saint Adelelmus

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