Daily Saints

Saint Adalbert, Bishop and Martyr

Daily Saints

c. 956–997; Patron Saint of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic; Canonized by Pope Sylvester II in 999

Duke Slavník and his wife Střezislava, the parents of today’s saint, both came from noble ruling families in the Duchy of Bohemia, present-day Czech Republic. They had five sons, one of whom was Vojtěch. As a youth, Vojtěch became quite ill, so his faith-filled parents dedicated him to God as a priest if God would heal him. Vojtěch did recover and was sent to Magdeburg, Germany, to study under Bishop Adalbert, the first bishop of that diocese. During his ten years of study, Vojtěch grew in knowledge and holiness. He spent long hours in prayer and was very devoted to the care of the poor. Vojtěch had such a great respect for the Bishop of Magdeburg that he took his name when he received the Sacrament of Confirmation. Bishop Adalbert of Magdeburg was later canonized a saint, as was his student, Saint Adalbert of Prague, whose feast we celebrate today.

When the Bishop of Magdeburg died in 981, the young Adalbert returned home to Bohemia and was ordained a priest two years later by the Bishop of Prague. Soon after, the Bishop of Prague became quite ill and on his deathbed was filled with a fear of hell. He had lived a worldly life, seeking riches and comfort rather than holiness. The bishop’s dying witness had an effect upon Father Adalbert, causing him to deepen his commitment to the pursuit of holiness through penance, prayer, and simplicity of life. Shortly thereafter, Father Adalbert was chosen as the next bishop of Prague. Though resistant at first, he eventually accepted and was ordained a bishop in 983. It is said that once he became a bishop, Adalbert rarely smiled. He later remarked, “It is an easy thing to wear the mitre and a cross; but it is a most dreadful circumstance to have an account to give of a bishopric to the Judge of the living and the dead.” He truly felt the weight of his responsibility.

Bishop Adalbert was, at first, joyfully welcomed in Prague. From the beginning of his bishopric, he embraced a life of simplicity, prayed and fasted often, slept on the floor as penance, preached almost every day, and frequently visited the sick and imprisoned. Though the people in his diocese were Christian, they had not been Christian for long, and many of them held on to their former pagan ways. They commonly practiced polygamy, idolatry, slavery, and various other immoralities. Bishop Adalbert worked hard to address these evils but was met with such strong resistance that he had to flee to Rome. In Rome, the Holy Father permitted him to enter the Benedictine monastery of Saint Boniface. As a bishop-monk, he humbled himself, performing the most menial tasks in the monastery. During this time, he might have also visited Hungary to preach the Gospel, where he is believed to have baptized the soon-to-be king and future Saint Stephen of Hungary.

After about five years in the monastery, the pope sent Bishop Adalbert back to Prague with the instruction that, if the people remained hostile, he could once again leave. Bishop Adalbert arrived in Prague and was, at first, received with great joy. But after renewing the fight against the evils in his diocese, his life was again threatened. As a result, he returned to Rome and reentered the Benedictine monastery where he was made prior. Not long after, he traveled to Poland to assist his friend Duke Bolesław I and exercised his episcopacy in Gniezno, Poland.

After converting many in Poland, Bishop Adalbert obeyed Boleslaw’s wish that he travel north into Prussian territory along the Black Sea to convert the rough pagans of that land. Poland had just recently become a Christian nation, and Duke Bolesław wanted to convert the Prussians and bring them under his rule. The Prussians were a religious people who believed that everything in the created world had spirits. Animals, trees, and lands were revered and worshiped. Pagan priests practiced magic rituals, seeking favors from these countless spirits and also regularly sought to communicate with the dead. One fourteenth-century missionary described the Prussian people this way: “Because they did not know God, therefore, in their error, they worshiped every creature as divine, namely the sun, moon and stars, thunder, birds, even four-legged animals, even the toad. They also had forests, fields and bodies of water, which they held so sacred that they neither chopped wood nor dared to cultivate fields or fish in them” (Father Peter of Dusburg).

When Bishop Adalbert arrived in Prussia, his preaching was initially successful. However, his life was soon threatened, and he had to move on to other places. He continued to endure the wrath of the locals, including a pagan priest who saw him as a threat to their way of life. That pagan priest, together with a mob, killed the bishop one day, cut off his head, and placed it on a pole. Two years later, Bolesław I bought Adalbert’s body from the pagans at the cost of the weight of his body in gold. Once his body was back in Poland, Bishop Adalbert’s funeral was celebrated, and he was buried in the Cathedral of Gniezno. In 999, Pope Sylvester II canonized him a saint, and a year later, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III came to the Cathedral of Gniezno and prayed at Saint Adalbert’s grave. Devotion to him rapidly grew, and his intercession for the newly converted lands in which he ministered was readily sought for centuries.

Though in some lights Saint Adalbert’s ministry as a bishop could be judged as unsuccessful, his courage, fidelity to the Gospel, and the shedding of his blood are credited for the ongoing conversion of many throughout Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary. In the late second century, the famous Christian writer Tertulian wrote, “The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.” Though the preaching of God’s Word opens minds and hearts to the Truth, history shows that the joyful embrace of suffering, especially martyrdom for the Gospel, powerfully nourishes the seeds of the Word of God that has been preached. Saint Adalbert first sowed the seed of God’s Word and then watered those seeds with his blood. The result was that the lands in which he ministered began to grow abundantly in the faith of Christ, becoming Christian nations for the centuries that followed.

As you ponder Saint Adalbert’s life, consider whether you find any similarities in your life. Do you work to share the Gospel with family and friends, only to find your efforts bear little or no evident fruit? If so, take inspiration from today’s saint, and follow his example of courageous dedication to the end, laying down your life sacrificially so that the witness of your love will nourish the seed that God has sown through you.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/april-23-saint-adalbert-bishop-and-martyr/

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Saint Epipodius of Lyon

Daily Saints

Profile

Epipodius was a friend of and worker with Saint Alexander of Lyon. He was imprisoned, tortured, and martyred during the persecutions of Marcus Aurelius. Though he never joined an order, Epipodius was a confirmed celibate bachelor, devoting his time to work with and for God. He was betrayed to imperial authorities by a servant. He was a martyr.

Born

  • 2nd century at Lyon, France

Died

  • beheaded in 178
  • relics at the church of Saint Irenaeus at Lyon, France
  • miracles reported at the tomb

Canonized

  • Pre-Congregation

Patronage

  • bachelors
  • betrayal victims
  • torture victims

Source: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-epipodius-of-lyon/

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 Saint Anselm of Canterbury, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Daily Saints

c. 1033–1109; Especially invoked by scholastic philosophers and in Canterbury; Possibly canonized prior to 1170; canonization confirmed by Pope Alexander VI on October 4, 1494; Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Clement XI in 1720

He was an Italian, Frenchman, and Englishman; a monk, prior, abbot, archbishop, philosopher, theologian, and spiritual writer; today he is a saint, a Doctor of the Church, and commonly referred to as the “Father of Scholasticism.” Anselm was born into a noble family in the town of Aosta, located in the Italian Alps. As a youth, his devout mother set a pious example which he readily followed. When Anselm was fifteen, he wanted to enter the monastic life, but his father would not give consent. So the abbot refused his entrance. His mother had since passed, so she could not intervene. Disillusioned, Anselm’s faith wavered for the next several years. Coming to his senses, he pursued studies in France and eventually arrived at the Benedictine Abbey of Bec around the age of twenty-six. Anselm quickly became close to and a devoted student of the prior, Lanfranc. When Anselm’s father died, Anselm was in a quandary about what to do. Should he return home to receive the inheritance of his father’s estate and put it to good use? Or should he abandon it and become a monk? Lanfranc directed him to a holy bishop for spiritual advice, and Anselm decided on religious life. He returned to the Abbey of Bec and became a monk at the age of twenty-seven.

After Anselm enjoyed three blessed years of monastic life, Lanfranc, the prior, was appointed abbot of another abbey. Anselm was chosen as the prior of Bec at the age of thirty under the elderly founding abbot, Herluin. Though some of the monks disapproved of this appointment due to Anselm’s youth, his wisdom, personality, heartfelt kindness, and holiness soon won them over. He remained the prior for the next fifteen years.

As prior, Anselm studied, prayed, taught, and administered the abbey remarkably well. He was such a success that the Abbey of Bec became one of the most respected institutions in all of Europe. At Bec, Anselm wrote seven of his thirteen works, including two of his most famous ones: Monologion and Proslogion. Anselm had a profound faith, fueled by a life of intense mystical prayer, and it was his prayer and faith that directed his thinking and writing. He believed that unless God first revealed Himself, our minds could never grasp Him, could never grasp Truth.

One of Anselm’s greatest philosophical contributions is his ontological argument for the existence of God. In his first great work, Monologion, Anselm argued that we can arrive at the existence of God using deductive reasoning. For example, if we consider the idea of “good,” we are aware of varying degrees of goodness. Therefore, there must be that which is supreme goodness itself. This supreme good must also be responsible for all else that is good. God is that Goodness. He does not simply have goodness, He is Goodness. In his great work, Proslogion, Anselm began with the concept of a being than which no greater can be conceived. From that concept, he goes through logical deductions that lead him to conclude that a being than which no greater can be conceived necessarily exists. This argument has been one of the most discussed and contested arguments in philosophy.

Philosophy was not Anselm’s only love. He was also a profound spiritual writer, theologian, and composer of many beautiful prayers. His spiritual writings are not only theoretical, they are also personal and intimate. His deep love for God and for our Blessed Mother shines through.

In 1078, Abbot Herluin died and Anselm was elected his successor by the unanimous consent of the monks, a role he would valiantly fulfill for the next fifteen years. As abbot, Anselm periodically traveled on various properties that had been donated to the abbey across the English Channel. His counsel was also regularly sought out by the English king and his good friend Lanfranc, who had since been made the Archbishop of Canterbury. Anselm’s visits to Canterbury, coupled with the domineering intellectual influence of the Abbey of Bec, made him the ideal successor to Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury. When Lanfranc died, Anselm became the next Archbishop of Canterbury at the age of sixty.

Anselm’s consecration as archbishop was at first delayed because of conflicts with King William II regarding the confiscation of church property and the king’s perceived right to appoint bishops independently of the pope. King William eventually became quite ill, and, for fear of hell, he repented, and Anselm was installed. Once installed as Archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm came into conflict with King William once again and was exiled from his see. After the death of King William, the new king, King Henry, welcomed Anselm back, but Anselm soon found himself engaged in yet another dispute about the appointment of new bishops. He was once again exiled. Even in exile, God used Archbishop Anselm in powerful ways. He continued writing beautiful and profound theology, defended the nature of the Trinity at a Church council in Rome, and acted as a counselor to the pope. His times in exile also gave a lasting witness to the truths for which he was exiled. That witness not only had an impact on those in his time but also for the generations to follow. Anselm’s final years were more peaceful after he and the king worked out a compromise, and he returned to his see in Canterbury.

Saint Anselm is considered a “confessor” because he suffered for his defense of the Church and the Gospel. He fiercely defended the autonomous spiritual authority of the Church and refused to participate in financial abuses between the state and church. In addition to being a confessor, Saint Anselm’s writings continue to have a profound impact upon the Church. He stands out as one of the greatest theologians between Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas. His prayers inflame hearts with deep devotion. His love for our Blessed Mother is inspiring. His theological explanation of the Trinity, grace, truth, and the Incarnation have provided a firm foundation for a deeper understanding of our faith. Above all, we can ponder Saint Anselm’s deep conviction that when faith in God comes first, understanding follows. If you struggle in life in any way, follow this saint’s example by placing your trust in God first, and then wait upon Him to lead you.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/april-21-st-anselm-archbishop/

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Easter Sunday

Catholic Special Day, Daily Saints

Today’s glorious solemnity is the ultimate cause of all joy, fulfillment, happiness, and glory. If Jesus only died on the Cross, destroying death, something would be missing—the restoration of life into a transformed and glorified living. Easter is not only about the forgiveness of sins, it’s about the temporal and eternal glorification of every human soul who dies and rises with Christ. When we focus upon the Gospel and consider the many lessons Jesus taught and the example He set, the Cross is often considered the difficult message and Easter the easy message. But is it?

The message of the Cross, as presented to us through both Jesus’ teachings and His lived example, is certainly challenging. Each one of us is called to the same depth of selfless surrender of our lives to the Father’s will. We must each die completely to ourselves, be purified from every sin and every attachment to sin, from every bad habit and every worldly thought, and from everything that is not God and God alone. When our calling to die with Christ and to embrace His Cross is clearly understood, as it has been by the saints, it is likely that Christians become overwhelmed at the seemingly daunting and impossible task of dying in and with Christ.

When it comes to the Resurrection, one might be tempted to say that it is easy to accept the message it presents. New life in Christ, the fullness of joy, complete transformation, and eternal beatitude in Heaven—these initially appear easy to embrace. However, the challenge that the profound reality of Easter presents to us is that we can be certain that our current understanding of what it means to share in the Resurrection of Christ is but the faintest shadow of the reality. In truth, very few people in this life have come close to understanding the glory to which we are called on account of the Resurrection. Saints Francis of Assisi, Catherine of Sienna, John of the Cross, Thérèse of Lisieux, to name a few, are among those who penetrated the mystery of Easter while still here on earth. They achieved this spiritual knowledge only by fully dying with Christ through a life of profound prayer, penance, and charity that completely united their souls to the Most Holy Trinity.

As we celebrate Easter, it is important to know that we do not yet know all that is promised to us by the Resurrection of Christ. If we can at least know that, then our spiritual appetites will make us hungry to know. Too often, Christians go through life satisfied with the most basic understanding of the Gospel. We know that God became man, lived His life, gathered followers, taught and performed miracles, died on the Cross, rose again, ascended into Heaven, and sent the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, we have hope in His promise that if we remain in His grace, then we will share in Heaven after we die. But this is an exceptionally incomplete view of the full reality that has been comprehended in this life by the saints. It is their understanding we must seek with every power of our souls.

What does it mean to share in the new life of Christ? What does it mean to share in the glory of the Resurrection? What will Heaven be like for those who enter into the highest realms of glory in this life compared to those who only do the basics? What will the New Heavens and the New Earth be like when Jesus returns in all His glory for the Final Judgment? If these are questions you have never deeply pondered and probed, then know that the answers that await you are more glorious than you could ever imagine. In other words, if you were to sit quietly and spend all day trying to imagine the best and most glorious life, trying to use your mind to draw a picture of the happiness and full joy of Heaven, you can be certain that you could never even come close to imagining the reality. That humble fact ought not discourage you; it should fill your conscience with a desire to know what you do not know. That is the first step.

A deep and vast spiritual comprehension of the joy of sharing fully in the Resurrection of Christ can only be given to us by a direct infusion of grace by God Himself. When a soul receives this infused knowledge, they become so overwhelmed with wonder and awe that they realize that committing even the smallest sin is absolute foolishness and is the path to the loss of everything. They realize that if they were to gain everything this world has to offer—every comfort, wealth, power, and prestige—they would be absolutely miserable compared to the person who shares fully in the Resurrection. They realize that the only thing worth anything is the complete abandonment of one’s life to the will of God, a willingness to suffer anything and everything for Christ, to serve and not be served, to forgive everyone completely, to love with every fiber of their being, and to continuously remain in a state of prayerful recollection with God.

If living such a life seems impossible, it’s not. It only seems that way when we fail to grasp the prize that awaits those who strive for the perfection of divine union. The Easter message and mystery is not just about being good and happy. It’s not just about trusting in the hope of Heaven after we die. The fullness of the message and mystery of Easter can only be understood if we begin the long and difficult journey toward divine union. Only those who begin it in haste have a chance of completing it. Begin it today by acknowledging that there is so much that you do not know. There is so much that God is calling you to and wants to bestow upon you. There is more joy in the Resurrection of Christ than anything else in life. Don’t aim for the lowly and passing things of life—aim for the highest heights of glory. Seek to understand the Resurrection this Easter so that you will be able to share more fully in the higher grades of glory that God wants to bestow upon you.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/easter-sunday/

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Prayer Meditation for Holy Saturday

Daily Saints

My Lord, today all is silent.  You have given Your precious life for the salvation of the world.  You died a horrific death, poured out all Mercy from Your wounded Heart, and now You rest in peace in the tomb as the soldiers keep vigil.

Lord, may I also keep vigil with You as You sleep.  I know that this day ends with Your glorious triumph, Your victory over sin and death.  But for now I sit quietly mourning Your death.  

Help me, dear Lord, to enter into the sorrow and the silence of this Holy Saturday.  Today no Sacraments are celebrated.  Today the world waits in mourning in anticipation of the glory of new life!  

As I keep vigil, awaiting the celebration of Your Resurrection, fill me with hope.  Help me to look forward to the celebration of Your Resurrection and also to look forward to the hope of my own share in the new life You won for the world.  I entrust my whole being to You, dear Lord, as You lay lifeless and still.  May Your rest transform the brokenness of my own soul, my weaknesses, my sin, and my frailty.  You are glorious, and You bring the greatest good out of Your apparent defeat.  I trust in Your power to do all things, and I entrust my life to You.  Jesus, I trust in You.

From the Byzantine Matins of Great & Holy Saturday:
“Today the one who holds all creation in his hand
is himself held in the tomb,
a rock covers the One who covered the heavens with beauty,
Life has fallen asleep,
Hades is seized with fear,
and Adam is freed from his bonds.
Glory to your work of salvation;
through it you have accomplished the eternal Sabbath rest,
and You grant us the gift of your holy resurrection.”
 
Source: https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/triduum-and-easter-prayers/prayer-meditation-for-holy-saturday/

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Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion

Catholic Special Day, Daily Saints

Perhaps one of the most surprising practices on Good Friday is that the Mass is not celebrated. Instead, Jesus’ saving Sacrifice is commemorated by the full reading of the Passion account, the veneration of the Cross, and the distribution of Holy Communion that was consecrated the day before. Why wouldn’t we celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass on Good Friday? Saint Thomas Aquinas gives a profound answer to this question in his masterful work, Summa Theologica (See III.83). In part, he says the following:

Reply to Objection 2. The figure ceases on the advent of the reality. But this sacrament is a figure and a representation of our Lord’s Passion, as stated above. And therefore on the day on which our Lord’s Passion is recalled as it was really accomplished, this sacrament is not consecrated.

A careful reading of that passage, as well as the rest of that article, tells us that there is great power in the Liturgical Year, and in our annual Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday. We celebrate Mass daily throughout the year, except on Good Friday, so that we can receive the fruit of the Passion every day. The Church teaches that Mass is an efficacious sign, meaning that the Mass both signifies Christ’s sacrifice and actually makes it present. But on Good Friday, we celebrate our Lord’s Passion in the reality of time. Therefore, in terms of grace, nothing is lost by the absence of Mass on Good Friday. Instead, we must understand that the day of Good Friday itself becomes a powerful instrument of grace. Our liturgical Commemoration of our Lord’s Passion on Good Friday enables us to share in His saving act of redemption, just as the Mass does every other day of the year.

Setting aside the profound depth of theology present in this teaching, what does this mean, practically, for those who participate in the Good Friday Liturgy today? Here are a few thoughts for pondering.

As you prayerfully participate in the Liturgical Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion, know that this day itself is endowed with grace and power. The grace does not come through the sacramental “Memorial” of the Lord’s Passion but from the reality encountered in this once-a-year Commemoration. This day itself is a real and sanctifying participation in the fruit of Jesus’ saving Sacrifice.

To better understand this, look into your own soul and consider any ways that you have experienced God’s grace powerfully and uniquely on Good Friday. Perhaps, in years past, you entered into the Triduum in a prayerful and recollected way. Call that experience to mind, and understand that this deep encounter with our Lord was especially made possible because those days are holy.

Today, as you celebrate Good Friday, understand that the floodgates of Heaven are opened to you in a way unlike any other day of the year. Seize this moment in time. Seize this once-a-year opportunity to enter into our Lord’s suffering and death. Do so prayerfully, meditatively, truly, and intentionally. Especially honor the hours between noon and three o’clock. Try to set that time aside for nothing other than prayer and recollection. This day is sanctified. Time is sanctified. By entering into prayer during these hours of sanctified time, you will discover that God is especially present to you.

Read the Passion. Pray the Stations of the Cross. Recite the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. Gaze at a crucifix. Fast, keep vigil, be attentive, and be open to the abundance of grace our Lord wishes to bestow upon you this Good Friday, especially by participating in the liturgical Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion during the sacred hours when our Lord hung on the Cross. Today, “the figure ceases on the advent of the reality.” Today, the reality is here, captured in time, made present to you. Stand before His sacred Cross, and allow His mercy to pour forth upon you from His wounded side.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/good-friday/

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Holy Thursday

Catholic Special Day, Daily Saints

Holy Thursday is also called Maundy Thursday. “Maundy” comes from the Latin word mandatum, which is translated “mandate.” It is on this night that our Lord gave the mandate to “do this in remembrance of me.” That mandate was the command to celebrate the Most Holy Eucharist until the end of time, a mandate that the faithful continue to keep.

According to Sacred Scripture, Holy Thursday was a power-packed day and night. It began with Jesus sending Peter and John ahead to prepare the Upper Room for the celebration of the Passover meal. That meal would become the beginning of the New Passover. During the meal, Jesus gave a witness of selfless, sacrificial service by fulfilling the role of a servant and washing the feet of the disciples. After that, Jesus transformed the bread and wine into His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity for the very first time, and the disciples received Holy Communion. By commanding them to “do this in remembrance of me,” Jesus instituted the new sacramental priesthood. He also predicted that one of those priests would betray Him and another would deny Him, a sign that His chosen priests then and now are also sinners. In John’s Gospel, Jesus gave a lengthy sermon and then went out to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray in agony as He awaited His arrest. Peter, James, and John went with Him but fell asleep, abandoning our Lord in His last agony. Jesus was arrested, endured the scrutiny of the High Priests Annas and Caiaphas, and then was imprisoned so that He could be sent for judgment by Pilate. During the interrogations, the disciples fled, and Peter, the future leader of the Church, denied he knew Jesus three times.

Was this truly a “holy” night? Indeed. True holiness is not a matter of having everything in your life be easy. It’s not about having the most entertaining and comfortable life possible. It’s not about avoiding every obstacle and difficulty that might befall you. Holiness is about fidelity to the fulfillment of the will of the Father in Heaven. Jesus fulfilled the Father’s will that night flawlessly. He set the stage for the coming of the Holy Spirit, instituted the Sacraments, and prepared to empower those Sacraments with His very life, which would be sacrificed the following day.

During the evening of Holy Thursday, after the conclusion of the Mass, the faithful accompany Jesus on a procession from the church to an altar of repose where our Lord’s sacred Body is placed until midnight. Whether you are able to kneel before that altar tonight or not, be with our Lord in prayer. Keep vigil with Him. Hear our Lord say to you, “My soul is sorrowful even to death. Remain here and keep watch with me” (Matthew 26:38). If you struggle with accompanying our Lord in prayer, then hear Him say to you what He said to Peter, “So you could not keep watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:40–41). If you bring burdens with you tonight, say with our Lord, “My Father, if it is not possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your will be done!” (Matthew 26:42). With a concerted effort, remain recollected throughout this night, tomorrow, and Saturday. It all begins tonight but culminates with Easter joy on Sunday. Enter Jesus’ suffering and death so that you can also share in His Resurrection!

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/holy-thursday/

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Saint Bernadette of Lourdes

Daily Saints

Profile

Bernadette was the oldest of six children born to Francois and Louise Casterot, and grew up very poor. She was hired out as a servant from age 12 to 14. She was a shepherdess. On 11 February 1858, around the time of her first Communion, she received a vision of the Virgin. She received seventeen more in the next five months, and was led to a spring of healing waters. She moved into a house with the Sisters of Nevers at Lourdes where she lived, worked, and learned to read and write. The sisters cared for the sick and indigent, and at age 22 they admitted Bernadette into their order since she was both. Always sick herself, and often mistreated by her superiors, she died with a prayer for Mary‘s aid. Since the appearances of Mary to young Bernadette in 1858, more than 200 million people have visited the shrine of Lourdes.

Born

  • 7 January 1844 at Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées, France

Died

  • 16 April 1879, Nevers, Nièvre, France of natural causes
  • body incorrupt
  • the sisters covered the body in wax, and it is on display in Nevers

Venerated

  • 18 November 1923 by Pope Pius XI (decree on heroic virtues)

Beatified

  • 14 June 1925 by Pope Pius XI

Canonized

  • 8 December 1933 by Pope Pius XI

Name Meaning

  • brave as a bear

Patronage

  • against bodily ills
  • against illness
  • against poverty
  • against sickness
  • Lourdes, France
  • people ridiculed for their piety
  • poor people
  • shepherdesses
  • shepherds
  • sick people

Source: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-bernadette-of-lourdes/

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Saint César de Bus

Daily Saints

Profile

Cesar was a middle child – the seventh of thirteen children, and raised as a pious child. He became a soldier at age 18, and fought in the war against the Huguenots. He joined the navy to fight in the siege of La Rochelle, but illness kept him from the fight. He lived for three years in Paris, France, devoted to poetry and painting and to wild and frivolous living. Back in his home town of Cavaillon, he took over the position of his late brother as canon of Salon, a position he wanted for its income and connections instead of its spiritual significance. One night while on his way to a masked ball, he passed a shrine where a small light was burning before an image of the Virgin Mary. He was suddenly overwhelmed by the memory that a friend, Antoinette Reveillade, had prayed fervently for his salvation. He realized that there was no way he could live a life offending God and then expect to be accepted in the end. There, on the road, he had a complete conversion.

Cesar was ordained in 1582. He became a canon in Avignon. He was profoundly affected reading a biography of Saint Charles Borromeo, and tried to take him as a model in all things, especially his devotion to catechesis. He worked as a catechist in Aix-in-Provence, France, an area in turmoil following the Religious Wars. Saint Francis de Sales called him “a star of the first magnitude in the firmament of Catechesis.” He founded the Ursulines of Province and the Fathers of Christian Doctrine (Doctrinarians). The Fathers were destroyed during the French Revolution, but an Italian branch, the Doctrinarian Fathers continues today with houses in Italy, France and Brazil.

Born

  • 3 February 1544 in Cavillon, Vaucluse, France

Died

  • Easter Sunday, 15 April 1607 in Avignon, Vaucluse, France of natural causes
  • interred in the church of Saint Mary in Monticelli in Rome, Italy

Venerated

  • 8 December 1821 by Pope Pius VII (decree of heroic virtues)

Beatified

  • 27 April 1975 by Pope Paul VI

Canonized

  • 15 May 2022 by Pope Francis
  • the canonization miracle involved the healing a young woman of “meningitis in patient with cerebral hemorrhage” in 2016 in Salerno, Italy

Patronage

  • catechists
  • Christian Doctrine Fathers

Source: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-cesar-de-bus/

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Saint Peter Gonzales

Daily Saints

Profile

Peter was a Castilian nobility who misspent a worldly youth. He was educated by his uncle, the bishop of Astorga, Spain. He became a priest, primarily as a step to high office. He obtained special papal dispensation to become Canon of Palencia when he was officially still too young. During a grand Christmas Day entrance into the city, his horse was spooked by the noise of the crowds. It threw him in all his finery onto a dung-heap, much to the delight of the citizens who knew his was a political, not a spiritual appointment.

Dazed, filthy, humiliated, and with the undeniable understanding that his parishioners thought he was a hack, he withdrew from the world for a period of prayer and meditation. It worked. He had a true conversion experience and spent the rest of his life making up for his lost youth and the mockery he made of his position. He joined the Dominicans. Family and friends tried to draw him back to his old life and their planned pursuit of position, but he responded, “If you love me, follow me! If you cannot follow me, forget me!”

Peter was a confessor and court chaplain to King Saint Ferdinand III of Castile. Against the opposition of more worldly courtiers, he reformed court life around the king. He worked for the Crusade against the Moors, accompanied Ferdinand into the battlefields, and then worked for humane treatment of Moorish prisoners.

A favorite of the king, Peter feared the honors and easy life would lead him to a return to his previous ways, so he left the court and evangelized to shepherds in the hills, along the waterfronts, and among Spanish and Portuguese sailors who still venerate him and consider him their special patron, blending his story with that of Saint Elmo, and calling upon him for protection in the face of bad weather.

Legend says that when he lacked food for those in his charge, he would kneel and pray by a river; fish would leap onto the banks.

Born

  • 1190 at Astorga, Spain

Died

  • 15 April 1246 at Saintiago de Compostela, Tui, Spain
  • buried in the cathedral at Tuy, Spain

Beatified

  • 1254 by Pope Innocent IV

Canonized

  • 13 December 1741 by Pope Benedict XIV (cultus confirmed)

Patronage

  • boatmen
  • fishermen
  • mariners
  • sailors
  • watermen
    —
  • Tui, Spain
  • Tui-Vigo, Spain, diocese of

Prayers

“Almighty God, you bestowed the singular help of Blessed Peter on those in peril from the sea. By the help of his prayers may the light of your grace shine forth in all the storms of this life and enable us to find the harbor of everlasting salvation. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. – General Calendar of the Order of Preachers”

Representation

  • Dominican holding a blue candle or a candle with a blue flame
  • Dominican lying on his cloak which is spread over hot coals
  • Dominican holding fire in his bare hands
  • Dominican catching fish with his bare hands
  • Dominican beside the ocean, often holding or otherwise protecting a ship
  • Dominican with a boat
  • Dominican with an anchor
  • Dominican with a torch
  • Dominican with a book

Source: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-gonzales/

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