Daily Saints

Saint Matthias

Saint Matthias, according to the Acts of the Apostles, was chosen by the apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following the latter’s betrayal of Jesus and his subsequent death.

There is no mention of a Matthias among the lists of disciples or followers of Jesus but according to Acts, he had been with Jesus from his baptism by John until his Ascension. No further information about Matthias is to be found in the canonical New Testament. The tradition of the Greeks says that St. Matthias planted the faith about Cappadocia and on the coasts of the Caspian Sea, residing chiefly near the port Issus.

His calling as an apostle is unique, in that his appointment was not made personally by Jesus, who had already ascended into heaven, and it was also made before the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the early Church.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthias_the_Apostle

Saint Matthias Read More »

Feast of Our Lady Fatima

Daily Saints

Feast of Our Lady Fatima
Our Lady of Fatima is a Catholic title of Mary, mother of Jesus, based on the Marian apparitions reported in 1917 by three shepherd children at the Cova da Iria in Fátima, Portugal.

Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children–Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin Lucia dos Santos–received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners, and for the conversion of Russia.

Mary gave the children three secrets. Following the deaths of Francisco and Jacinta in 1919 and 1920 respectively, Lucia revealed the first secret in 1927. It concerned devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The second secret was a vision of hell. When Lucia grew up she became a Carmelite nun and died in 2005 at the age of 97.

Pope John Paul II directed the Holy See’s Secretary of State to reveal the third secret in 2000; it spoke of a “bishop in white” who was shot by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows into him. Many people linked this vision to the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981.

The feast of Our Lady of Fatima was approved by the local bishop in 1930; it was added to the Church’s worldwide calendar in 2002.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_F%C3%A1timahttps://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/our-lady-of-fatima/

Feast of Our Lady Fatima Read More »

Saint Leopold Mandic

Daily Saints

Saint Leopold Mandic was a Croatian Capuchin friar and Catholic priest, ordained to the priesthood at the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice. After his ordination, Mandić was sent to posts in various Capuchin friaries in the Venice region and in his native Croatia.

Saint Leopold Mandic was physically malformed and delicate, he grew to a height of only 1.35 m (4’5″), with a clumsy walk. He developed tremendous spiritual strength in spite of his disabilities and became extremely popular in his ministry as a confessor, often spending 12–15 hours in the confessional.

Common to all his assignments was that of the duty of a confessor at the church which the friars served. This went on until 1906, when he was assigned to the Friary of Santa Croce in Padua. It was there that he would spend the rest of his life. He became known as an Apostle of Confession and an Apostle of Unity. He made a famous prayer that is the forerunner of today’s ecumenism.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_Mandi%C4%87

Saint Leopold Mandic Read More »

Saint Ignatius of Laconi

Daily Saints

Saint Ignatius of Laconi was a Roman Catholic professed religious born in Sardinia, and a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. He suffered a serious illness that made him vow that he would consecrate himself to God and join the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin if he managed to recover from it.

He asked for admission at the convent in Cagliari but the superiors there hesitated because of his delicate health. He made his profession on 10 November 1722. He was known for his strict and total obedience to his superiors, even when it required the denial of his own will.

He mingled with all people he met and was generous towards those who were ill. His modest demeanor was seen as a quiet sermon for all who saw him going about, which made him a noted figure. He spoke with exceptional kindness and great affection.

Despite poor health and infirmities he continued his work, however arduous. Even after he became blind in 1779, he continued to work for the benefit of those around him. He became known as a wonder worker and it was claimed that he had performed 121 miracles during his life. He died on 11 May 1781.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_of_Laconi

Saint Ignatius of Laconi Read More »

Saint Damien of Molokai

Daily Saints

Saint Damien of Molokai, also known as Father Damien, was a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. He was recognized for his ministry, which he led from 1873 until his death in 1889.

Saint Damien was forced to quit school at age 13 to work on the family farm. His father sent him to a college at Braine-le-Comte to prepare for a commercial profession, but as a result of a mission given by the Redemptorists in 1858, Joseph decided to pursue a religious vocation.

Because he learned Latin well from his brother, his superiors decided to allow him to become a priest. During his religious studies, Damien prayed daily before a picture of St. Francis Xavier, patron of missionaries, to be sent on a mission. Three years later when his brother Father Pamphile (Auguste) could not travel to Hawaiʻi as a missionary because of illness, Damien was allowed to take his place.

He taught the Catholic faith to the people of Hawaii. Father Damien also cared for the patients and established leaders within the community to build houses, schools, roads, hospitals, and churches. He dressed residents’ ulcers, built a reservoir, made coffins, dug graves, shared pipes, and ate poi with them, providing both medical and emotional support.

After eleven years caring for the physical, spiritual, and emotional needs of those in the leper colony, Father Damien contracted leprosy. He continued with his work despite the infection but finally succumbed to the disease on 15 April 1889. Father Damien has been described as a “martyr of charity”.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Damien

Saint Damien of Molokai Read More »

Saint Pachomius the Great

Daily Saints

Saint Pachomius the Great is generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism. At age 21, Pachomius was swept up against his will in a Roman army recruitment drive, a common occurrence during this period of turmoil and civil war. With several other youths, he was put onto a ship that floated down the Nile and arrived at Thebes in the evening.

After studying seven years with Palaemon, Pachomius set out to lead the life of a hermit near St. Anthony of Egypt, whose practices he imitated until Pachomius heard a voice in Tabennisi that told him to build a dwelling for the hermits to come to.

Pachomius established his first monastery between 318 and 323 at Tabennisi, Egypt. His elder brother John joined him, and soon more than 100 monks lived nearby. Pachomius set about organizing these cells into a formal organization.

Saint Pachomius continued as abbot to the cenobites for some forty years. During an epidemic (probably plague), Saint Pachomius called the monks and strengthened their faith. By the time Pachomius died, eight monasteries and several hundred monks followed his guidance. His reputation as a holy man has endured.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachomius_the_Great

Saint Pachomius the Great Read More »

Saint Peter of Tarentaise

Daily Saints

Saint Peter of Tarentaise was born in 1102 on a farm near Saint-Maurice-l’Exil, not far from the Cistercian Bonnevaux Abbey. He was a Cistercian monk who served as the archbishop of Tarentaise (as Peter II) from 1141 until his death.

In 1132, Saint Peter, his abbot, and twelve other monks founded Tamié Abbey in a defile of the Bauges mountains, as a daughter house of Bonnevaux. Once Abbot John was satisfied that the monks had adequate shelter, he returned to Bonnevaux, leaving Saint Peter as abbot of the new monastery. In 1142, at the insistence of his superiors including Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter reluctantly accepted the position as the Archbishop of Tarentaise.

In his episcopal role he applied the Cistercian principles he had learned as an abbot to restore the diocese and met with a good deal of success since the diocese’s management had declined and discipline lax. He removed corrupt priests (and elevated good priests to important pastoral positions) and promoted education for all the faithful

He rebuilt a hospice in poor repair at Little St. Bernard Pass. He also founded a charity which distributed food to farms in the surrounding hills. This would become known as pain de Mai and became a tradition continued in the region until the French Revolution.

He longed for the simple and pious life of a monk. In 1155 he disappeared and was later found as a lay brother in a remote convent in Switzerland. After about a year, when the monks discovered who he was, they alerted the archdiocese. Saint Peter was reluctant to emerge from his newfound solitude but was welcomed back into his archdiocese with much enthusiasm on the part of the people.

Saint Peter of Tarentaise died in 1174 as he attempted to mediate between feuding monarchs after a serious but brief illness. Miracles were reported at his tomb after his death and this led Pope Celestine III to canonize Peter as a saint in mid-1191.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_II_of_Tarentaise

Saint Peter of Tarentaise Read More »

Saint Rose Venerini

Daily Saints

Saint Rose was born at Viterbo in Italy, the daughter of a doctor. Following the death of her fiancé she entered a convent, but soon returned home to care for her newly widowed mother. Meanwhile, Saint Rose invited the women of the neighborhood to recite the rosary in her home, forming a sort of sodality with them.

As she looked to her future under the spiritual guidance of a Jesuit priest, Saint Rose became convinced that she was called to become a teacher in the world rather than a contemplative nun in a convent. Clearly, she made the right choice: She was a born teacher, and the free school for girls she opened in 1685 was well received.

Soon the cardinal invited her to oversee the training of teachers and the administration of schools in his diocese of Montefiascone. As Saint Rose’s reputation grew, she was called upon to organize schools in many parts of Italy, including Rome. Her disposition was right for the task as well, for Rose often met considerable opposition but was never deterred.

She died in Rome in 1728, where a number of miracles were attributed to her. She was beatified in 1952 and canonized in 2006. The sodality, or group of women she had invited to prayer, was ultimately given the rank of a religious congregation. Today, the so-called Venerini Sisters can be found in the United States and elsewhere, working among Italian immigrants.

Sources:

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-rose-venerini/

Saint Rose Venerini Read More »

Saint Dominic Savio

Daily Saints

Saint Dominic Savio was an Italian student of John Bosco. His parents had ten children in all. His father was a blacksmith and his mother, a seamstress. They were poor, hardworking and pious.

His parents took great care to give him a Christian upbringing. By the age of four, Dominic was able to pray by himself and was occasionally found in solitude, praying. A chaplain at Murialdo when Dominic was five years old noted in a statement to John Bosco that he came to notice Dominic due to his regular church attendance with his mother.

At the age of five, he learned to serve Mass, and would try to participate at Mass every day as well as go regularly to Confession. Having been permitted to make his First Communion at an early age, he had much reverence for the Eucharist

When Saint Dominic’s health started to steadily deteriorate, he still spent most of his time with his friends, talking with them, and encouraging those who were experiencing troubles. He died at the age of 14, possibly from pleurisy.

He was noted for his piety and devotion to the Catholic faith, and was canonized a saint by Pope Pius XII in 1954.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Savio

Saint Dominic Savio Read More »

Saint Hilary of Arles

Daily Saints

Born in France in the early fifth century, Saint Hilary came from an aristocratic family. In the course of his education he encountered his relative, Honoratus, who encouraged the young man to join him in the monastic life. Saint Hilary did so. He continued to follow in the footsteps of Honoratus as bishop. Saint Hilary was only 29 when he was chosen bishop of Arles.

The new, youthful bishop undertook the role with confidence. He did manual labor to earn money for the poor. He sold sacred vessels to ransom captives. He became a magnificent orator. He traveled everywhere on foot, always wearing simple clothing.

That was the bright side. Saint Hilary encountered difficulty in his relationships with other bishops over whom he had some jurisdiction. He unilaterally deposed one bishop. He selected another bishop to replace one who was very ill–but, to complicate matters, did not die! Pope Saint Leo the Great kept Saint Hilary a bishop but stripped him of some of his powers.

Saint Hilary died at 49. He was a man of talent and piety who in due time, had learned how to be a bishop.

Sources:

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-hilary-of-arles/

Saint Hilary of Arles Read More »

Saint Matthias

Sources:

Feast of Our Lady Fatima

Sources:

Saint Leopold Mandic

Sources:

Saint Ignatius of Laconi

Sources:

Saint Damien of Molokai

Sources:

Saint Pachomius the Great

Sources:

Saint Peter of Tarentaise

Sources:

Saint Rose Venerini

Sources:

Saint Dominic Savio

Sources:

Saint Hilary of Arles

Sources:

Ways to Donate

Paypal

Using Zelle

Mail a Check

Quick Links

Contact us

Location:

Contact #

Email:

Quick Links

Contact us

Location:

Contact #

Email:

Ways to Donate

Using Zelle

Mail a Check

Paypal