Daily Saints

Saints Cyril, Monk; Saint Methodius, Bishop

Daily Saints

Saint Cyril: c. 827–869; Saint Methodius: c. 815–885; Co-Patrons of Europe, Slavic peoples, unity of Eastern and Western Churches; Pre-Congregation canonization

Imagine what life would be like if you were unable to read because the language you spoke was not even in written form. No alphabet, no books, only a spoken language. This is the context into which our saints today were sent to preach the Gospel. 

Their story began in Thessalonica, Greece, a territory first evangelized by Saint Paul. Seven sons were born to a Greek-speaking imperial magistrate and his wife. Two of the boys were named Constantine and Michael. Their mother was most likely of Slavic descent, and the boys learned her unwritten language, along with Greek and Latin.

When Constantine was about fourteen years old, he was sent to the great Greek city of Constantinople to study. It was there that he also came to know the young Byzantine Emperor, Michael III, who was only a young child. After completing his education, Constantine decided to become a priest.

Shortly after his ordination, he was invited to teach and soon became well known as the “Philosopher.” Constantine’s brother Michael, about twelve years older than Constantine, began his career in civil service in Macedonia but chose to abandon that position to become a monk, taking the name Methodius.

When Constantine was about thirty years old and his brother Methodius was in his early forties, Constantine decided to give up his teaching career and embrace a life of prayer in his brother’s monastery.

Within a few years, however, Emperor Michael III, now an adult, asked Constantine to go on a mission to evangelize the Jews and Turks of Khazars, modern-day Russia, Ukraine, and Crimea. Methodius accompanied him on this mission, and they learned both Hebrew and Turkish so as to speak to the people in their native tongues.

Within a couple of years, Prince Rastislav of Moravia asked Emperor Michael III to send missionaries to Great Moravia, today’s Czech Republic. His people had rejected paganism and embraced Christianity, but they didn’t have anyone who could explain the faith to them in their native Slavic language since the Germanic clergy adhered strictly to Latin. It was this mission that would be the beginning of a new era and a new method of evangelization within the Church.

In Great Moravia, Constantine and Methodius began to translate the Bible and liturgical books into the Slavic language. Since there was no written form of the language or even an alphabet, Cyril created one. He translated the various sounds into symbols, which enabled him and his brother to then write down the sacred texts.

In addition to their translations, they began to teach the people and future Slavic clerics how to read their new written language. Eventually, the new alphabet developed into what is now known as the Cyrillic alphabet and is the basis of many Eastern European and Asian languages used by more than 250 million people today.

Despite the fact that the Slavic people were overjoyed to hear the Gospel and pray the liturgy in their native language, many of the Germanic clergy took issue with this approach. To solve this problem, the brothers traveled to Rome where they received the approval of Pope Adrian II, who ordained them bishops and sent them back to Great Moravia.

Before leaving Rome, however, Constantine fell sick. Before dying, he fully consecrated himself to God as a monk in one of the Greek monasteries, taking the monastic name Cyril. His brother Methodius then returned to Great Moravia to continue his work.

Bishop Methodius spent the next fourteen years evangelizing the people in their native language, forming clergy, and effectively administering the Church. He continued to endure harsh treatment from the Germanic clergy, even being imprisoned by them for a time, but he pressed on, extending his missionary work even beyond the borders of Great Moravia. 

It wasn’t until a millennia later that these brothers received the universal honor they deserved when the Western Church added them to its liturgical calendar. A century after that, Pope John Paul II, a Slav himself, honored these two brothers with the title of co-patrons of Europe and Apostles to the Slavs.

These great brothers teach us that the Gospel must be personal and understood through the prism of our own language, culture, and human experience. They also teach us that we must work to share the Gospel with others in ways that they understand and to which they can relate.

As we honor these great missionaries, ponder the ways that God wants to use you to reach out to others with His saving message. Though you might not be called to invent a new alphabet to do so, you will be called to step out of your comfort zone. Be courageous, creative, and zealous in this effort in imitation of these Apostles to the Slavs.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/february-14-saints-cyril-monk-and-methodius-bishop/

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Saint Martinian the Hermit

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Profile

Martinian became a hermit at age 18. He was a miracle worker. There are a couple of stories attached to Martinian; in them, the line between fact and a good story probably blurs a little.

Legend says that one day a miserable, bedraggled woman named Zoe showed at his door requesting a traveler‘s hospitality. Martinian took her in, but her true colors soon showed as she cleaned up and showed herself to be a beautiful woman who tried to seduce Martinian. When he realized how tempted he was, he built a fire and put his feet in it; the pain, as you might imagine, was excruciating. Martinian said, “If I cannot stand this fire, how will I tolerate the fires of Hell?” He counseled her while she treated his wounds, converted her, and she became a nun in Bethlehem.

To save himself from his own weakness, the saint moved to a large rock surrounded on all sides by the sea. There he lived on bread and water brought to him by a Christian sailor who visited three times a year. After six years living exposed on the rock, he had a visitor – a young woman who washed up on the rock after her ship had gone down at sea. Before she could speak, he gave her all his provisions, promised to send his friend the sailor to rescue her when he returned, then threw himself into the sea. He washed up on shore, and two months later had the girl rescued. He then spent the rest of his days in Athens.

Born

  • c.350 at Caesarea, Palestine

Died

  • c.398 at Athens, Greece

Canonized

  • Pre-Congregation

Representation

  • dolphin
  • man standing on a rock in the sea

Source: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-martinian-the-hermit/

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Saint Benedict of Aniane

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Benedict was a born a Visigoth, the son of Aigul, Count of Maguelone. He was educated at the court of Pepin, and was a courtier and cup-bearer to King Pepin and Blessed Charlemagne. He was part of the 773 campaign of Charlemagne. He narrowly escaped drowning in the Tesin near Pavia, Italy while trying to save his brother.

Benedict became a Benedictine monk at Saint Sequanus monastery where he took the name Benedict. He lived two and a half years on bread and water, sleeping on the bare ground, praying through the night, and going barefoot.

In the Frankish empire, monasticism suffered lay ownership and the attacks of the Vikings. Monastic discipline decayed. In 779 Benedict founded the Aniane monastery on his own land; the monks did manual labor, copied manuscripts, lived on bread and water except on Sundays and great feast days when they added wine or milk, if they received any in alms. The results of his austere rule were disappointing, so he adopted the Benedictine Rule, and the monastery grew. He then reformed and inaugurated other houses; Saint Ardo travelled with him and served as his secretary.

Bishop Felix of Urgel proposed that Christ was not the natural, but only the adoptive son of God (Adoptionism); Benedict opposed this heresy, wrote against it, and assisted in the Synod of Frankfurt in 794.

Emperor Louis the Pious built the abbey of Maurmunster as a model abbey for Benedict in Alsace, France, and then Cornelimunster near Aachen, Germany, then made Benedict director of all the monasteries in the empire. The monk instituted widespread reforms, though because of opposition they were not as drastic as he had wanted.

Benedict participated in the synods in Aachen. He was an advisor and supporter of the emperor. He wrote the Capitulare monasticum, a systematization of the Benedictine Rule as the rule for all monks in the empire. He compiled the Codex regularum, a collection of all monastic regulations, and Concordia regularum, showing the resemblance of Benedict’s rule to those of other monastic leaders. The rules stressed individual poverty and chastity with obedience to a properly constituted abbot, himself a monk.

Benedict insisted upon the liturgical character of monastic life, including a daily Conventual Mass and additions to the Divine Office. He stressed the clerical element in monasticism which led to the development of teaching and writing as opposed to manual labor in the field. This direction lapsed some time after Benedict’s death, but had lasting effects on Western monasticism. Benedict is considered the restorer of Western monasticism and is often called “the second Benedict”.

Born

c.747 at Languedoc, France as Witiza

Died

  • 11 February 821 at Cornelimunster, Aachen, Germany of natural causes
  • buried on 12 February 821

Patronage

  • in Aniane and Dijon, France

Representation

  • Benedictine abbot with supernatural fire near him
  • man in a cave with food being lowered to him in a basket
  • man giving the habit to Saint William of Aquitaine

Source: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-benedict-of-aniane/

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Our Lady of Lourdes

Daily Saints

Patron Saint of the sick, asthma sufferers

Bernadette Soubirous was born on January 7, 1844, into a humble and very poor family in Lourdes, France. Her father was a miller and her mother washed laundry. The eldest of nine children, Bernadette received a simple education from the Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction, but frequent illness hindered her studies.

Growing up, she spoke the local dialect of Occitan and learned some French in her teenage years. Her family was so poor that all eleven lived together for free in a relative’s one-room basement that was formerly used as a prison or dungeon.

When Bernadette was fourteen years old, she went with her sister and a friend to gather some firewood to heat their home. Bernadette fell behind as they searched for wood near a naturally occurring rock grotto. She then heard the sound of a rushing wind but saw only a wild rose moving.

Then, from within the grotto, she saw a dazzling light and the figure of a small young lady in white with yellow roses on her feet. The other two girls saw nothing. Bernadette asked her sister not to tell anyone, but her sister later told their mother. Bernadette’s mother punished the girls for lying and forbade them to return to the grotto.

Three days later, Bernadette felt drawn to return to the grotto, so she and her two companions begged for permission from her mother who reluctantly agreed. Bernadette brought with her a bottle of holy water. When they arrived at the cave, the three girls knelt to pray the rosary. Before finishing the first decade, the young woman in white appeared. Bernadette sprinkled holy water in her direction, telling her that if she were from God she should stay; if not, she should leave. The woman smiled and stayed for the rest of the rosary and then departed.

By this time, some of the local townspeople began to hear about these encounters. Some were superstitious, thinking it was the souls of dead relatives. Others believed it was the Blessed Virgin Mary. Four days later, Bernadette returned to the cave accompanied by a few grown-ups. When the lady appeared, she spoke to Bernadette for the first time, in Occitan. The lady spoke to Bernadette in a remarkably formal and respectful manner, not the way an adult would normally speak to a poor peasant girl. She asked Bernadette if she was willing to return for the next fourteen days. Bernadette agreed.

Bernadette recounts the following about the next two weeks of visions: “I came back for a fortnight. The vision appeared every day, except one Monday and one Friday. She repeated to me several times that I was to tell the priests they were to build a chapel there, and I was to go to the fountain to wash, and that I was to pray for sinners. During this fortnight, she told me three secrets which she forbade me to tell anyone. I have been faithful until now.”

As word spread, the numbers in attendance grew to 30, 100, 350, 800, 1000, 1,500, culminating with almost 10,000. During the fortnight, the local police got involved and threatened Bernadette and her family. However, Bernadette persevered. The lady asked people to pray for sinners and to do penance.

During the ninth vision, the lady asked Bernadette to drink from a spring of water in the cave. She found only a small muddy puddle so she drank from it. This left mud on her face, which caused many of the onlookers to ridicule her, to the embarrassment of her family. Over the next two days, the little mud puddle turned into a flowing spring of clear water.

Many began to believe when a woman’s paralyzed arm was cured after bathing it in the new spring of water. Throughout the fourteen days, Bernadette continually asked the lady’s name, because the parish priest had asked her to do so. Each time, the lady only smiled. 

Upon the conclusion of the fourteen days, life returned to normal for the next three weeks. However, on March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, Bernadette was drawn once again to the grotto. This time, she repeatedly asked the lady’s name. The lady responded, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

Bernadette was a young, simple, and poorly educated peasant girl. She had no idea what the “Immaculate Conception” was. But she repeated the name to herself over and over so she wouldn’t forget. When she told the parish priest, he was stunned. Only four years prior, the pope had issued the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. This fact, especially, helped convince the Church leaders that the apparitions were authentic.

Since that time, the waters in Lourdes have continued to flow, and over seventy healings have been recorded, studied, and confirmed by a rigorous scientific process. Countless thousands more healings have been professed by the faithful. Millions of people now visit Lourdes every year, making it one of the most frequented pilgrimage sites in the world. The sick flock to this holy grotto to bathe in or drink the miraculous water, seeking a cure for their ailments.

Several years after her visions, Bernadette entered religious life. Of the visions, she would later say, “The Virgin used me as a broom to remove the dust. When the work is done, the broom is put behind the door again.” This “broom” was canonized in 1933. The grotto of Lourdes, however, was much bigger than Bernadette. It was Our Lady’s gift to the people. It was her proclamation that she was the Immaculate Conception and her formal acceptance of the title here on earth.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/february-11—our-lady-of-lourdes

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Saint Scholastica, Virgin

Daily Saints

Patron Saint of nuns, school, tests, reading, convulsive children; Invoked against storms and rain; Pre-Congregation canonization

Little is known about the life of Saint Scholastica, yet her influence upon the Church is undeniable. She was born into a wealthy family around the year 480 AD, in the town of Nursia, central Italy, shortly after the fall of the Western Roman emperor. It was a chaotic time, politically speaking, but also a time when God began to manifest His divine stability through her. She had one brother, most likely a twin, by the name of Benedict. Benedict and Scholastica are now honored as great saints. Both had a powerful influence upon monastic life as we have it today, Benedict being the father of Western monasticism and Scholastica its mother.

As a child, Scholastica dedicated herself to the service of God, taking no interest in the things of this world. She lived modestly, despite being raised in a wealthy home. When Benedict left home to become a hermit and to eventually found a monastery with a new monastic rule, she marveled at his hidden life of prayer and work. His vocation called out to her, and she received permission from the local bishop to enter a home of virgins who chose to adopt Benedict’s new monastic rule. Benedict assisted them and made Scholastica the abbess of the home.

Benedict’s new form of monasticism focused on forming permanent, self-contained, and self-supporting monasteries that followed a strict regimen of prayer and work. After aspirants’ callings were tested for a period of time, they made vows, permanently committing themselves to God and the community.

Their lives became structured and ordered under the direction of an abbot or abbess to whom the monks and nuns vowed obedience. Soon after Benedict’s humble monastery on Monte Cassino began to bloom, Scholastica received permission to adopt his rule with a group of virgins, making them the first convent of Benedictine nuns. In the centuries to follow, their way of life spread far and wide across the Western world.

In his book Dialogues, Pope Saint Gregory captures the holy love that Benedict and Scholastica shared. Though Scholastica’s convent was only a few miles from Benedict’s monastery, the two would only get together once a year, in keeping with their strict rule of life. Those meetings fanned into flames their shared love for God and the fruits of their prayer and mutual calling to this new way of life. Each year they met at a nearby house and spent the day conversing on the holiest of topics. When these twins were around the age of sixty-three, they met for what would be their final conversation on earth. They spent the day praising God and engaged in spiritual talk.

After a light dinner, Benedict announced that he and his companions needed to leave and return to the monastery. Scholastica begged him to stay so that they could continue conversing about God throughout the night. Benedict responded to her, “Sister, what are you saying? I simply cannot stay outside my cell.” Scholastica knew, however, that their holy conversation needed to continue, so she bowed her head in prayer, and God sent forth a lightning storm so powerful that Benedict and his brothers could not leave.

Scholastica’s love for Benedict and her desire to continue with the praises of God throughout the night met with God’s approval and God provided the way. They parted the next day, and three days later, Benedict had a vision of his sister’s soul being taken to Heaven in the form of a dove. He had his brothers bring her body to the monastery, and Scholastica was buried in the grave intended for Benedict. Four years later, Benedict died and was buried in the same grave with his sister. The two were united by grace and a shared mission in this life, and they would forever share a grave from which they will rise together on the last day.

Pope Saint Gregory opines that Scholastica’s prayers were answered over Benedict’s objection because her love was great. “She did more which loved more,” he wrote. The witness of these siblings should especially teach us the value of holy friendships that mutually build each other up and give glory to God. We are made not only for communion with God, but for communion with one another. These saintly siblings give witness to this holy fact.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/february-10-saint-scholastica-virgin/

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Saint Jerome Emiliani, Priest

Daily Saints

Patron Saint of orphans and abandoned children; Canonized on July 16, 1767 by Pope Clement XIII

For some, the greatest tragedies in life lead them down a dark path. For others, tragedy is met with faith and hope and becomes the beginning of personal transformation. Such was the case with today’s saint.

Jerome was born into an upper-class ruling family in Venice. When Jerome was around the age of ten, his father died. Jerome continued to grow in virtue and pursue his studies. He was not known for excelling, but for being sociable, friendly, cheerful, strong-minded, and enthusiastic.

When he was a teenager, Jerome joined the military, as was common in his family. While in the military, Jerome became more ambitious about obtaining honors than growing in virtue. His ambitions were realized as he was honored with promotions in rank. At the age of twenty-five, he participated in the War of the League of Cambrai and was given command of the fortress of Castelnuovo, just west of Venice. In 1511, after many of his soldiers abandoned him, he and three others were captured and imprisoned.

At first, Jerome perceived his capture as a defeat, but it would be the beginning of his lasting victory in Christ. While chained from head to foot and imprisoned, Jerome had time to reflect upon his life. Though his imprisonment lasted only a month, it was a powerful and transforming month. He returned to the faith of his youth, opened his heart to Christ, and especially turned to the intercession of the Mother of God. He vowed to her that if she were to set him free, he would change his life and devote himself to the will of God. And that’s what happened, to an extraordinary degree.

On September 27, 1511, Jerome encountered the Mother of God in his cell as a woman clothed in white. She accepted his promise, gave him the keys to his chains, and then led him through the compound and out of the city without being noticed by the guards. By her inspiration, he walked to the town of Treviso where he entered the church, presented himself before a statue of Our Lady, and his life began to change. Jerome remained in military service for the next few years but then abandoned his worldly ambitions and began to study theology.

By the year 1526, Jerome’s mother and two of his brothers had died, leaving him to care for one of his brother’s orphaned sons. By then, Jerome had a heart for charity; just like his imprisonment, this tragedy became the beginning of his future calling to care for abandoned and orphaned children. Of this period in his life, a close friend would later write, “By often listening to the word of God, he started to recall his ingratitude. He remembered his sins against the Lord. He wept often and, at the foot of the Crucified Lord, prayed to him not to be his judge, but his savior.”

In 1528, a severe famine and plague struck Venice, and many children were left orphaned. In addition to caring for his nephews, Jerome began to care for other orphans, providing for them out of his own means. He was a man energized by love and tireless in his care of the poor, abandoned, sick, and orphaned. He even took care of those who had died by ensuring their proper burial. In the years to follow, his warm and energetic personality, coupled with his faith and devotion to the suffering Christ, enabled him to build hospitals, orphanages, and places of refuge for reformed prostitutes.

In 1532, Jerome moved to Somasca, a city between Venice and Milan, and with two priests, founded the “Company of the Servants of the Poor” (later called the Order of the Somascan Fathers). These priests committed themselves to a life of poverty and service of the poor, sick, and especially orphaned children.

Jerome devoted himself to the wholehearted proclamation of the Gospel in both his words and deeds. He organized his brothers and their homes with great skill. Many converted and grew fervent in their faith. His devotion to those suffering from the plague was so great that he himself contracted the disease and died a martyr of the plague in early February, 1537.

Saint Jerome was, at first, seduced by the glory and honor one can attain from the world. Apparent tragedy, for him, turned into glory. His imprisonment and suffering opened his eyes; he repented and turned his life toward Christ. He found his Lord in the poor, suffering, sick, and orphaned. He loved His Lord in them and became single-minded in his service.

Ponder your own ambitions in life. It is easy to become seduced by the passing “glory” of this world. But that false glory is fleeting. Seek to imitate this holy man by discovering the presence of God in those most in need of your love. Love them. See their dignity. Become an instrument of God’s mercy for them, and you, like Saint Jerome, will have discovered your purpose in life.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/february-8-saint-jerome-emiliani-priest/

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Saint Josephine Bakhita, Virgin

Daily Saints

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

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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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Contact us

Location:

1235 S.Magnolia Ave. Anaheim, CA 92804-5115

Contact #

 (657) 208-2038

Email:

 [email protected]

Ways to Donate

Using Zelle

Add San Jose Filipino Ministry as a new recipient, Send your donation using"[email protected]"

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Payable to - San Jose Filipino Ministry 
Address - 1235 S Magnolia Ave
Anaheim, CA 92804-5115 

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