Daily Saints

Saint Robert of Newminster

Saint Robert of Newminster was born in Gargrave in Yorkshire, England. He studied at the University of Paris, where he is said to have composed a commentary – since lost – on the Psalms. He became a parish priest, returning to serve Gargrave where he was made rector. He became a Benedictine joining the monks of Saint Mary’s Abbey in York.

About 1138, Saint Robert headed a group of monks sent out from Fountains to establish Newminster Abbey near the castle of Ralph de Merlay and his wife, Juliana, daughter of Gospatric II, Earl of Lothian, west of Morpeth in Northumberland. Abbot Robert was said to be was favoured with the gift of prophecy and miracles. During his abbacy three colonies of monks were sent to found new monasteries at Pipewell in Northamptonshire (1143), Roche in South Yorkshire (1147), and Sawley in Lancashire (1148).

Saint Robert ruled and directed the monks at Newminster for 21 years. The small monastery of only 17 monks was one of the first to be dissolved in 1535 by Henry VIII, and the site has been privately owned since.

Saint Robert was described as a devout, prayerful, and gentle man. He is known for being merciful in his judgment of others and a warm and considerate companion. He was zealous regarding his own vows of poverty.

Sources:

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

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Saint Norbert of Xanten

Daily Saints

Saint Norbert of Xanten, also known as Norbert Gennep, was a bishop of the Catholic Church and founder of the Premonstratensian order of canons regular.

He adopted such strict discipline that it killed his first three disciples. This may be why he failed to reform the canons of Xanten, who denounced him as an innovator at the Council of Fritzlar in 1118. He then resigned his benefice, sold all his property and gave the proceeds to the poor. In settlement after settlement he encountered a demoralized clergy, lonely, often practicing concubinage and feeling that the official Church cared little about them.

He also became acquainted with the Cistercian administrative system that created an international federation of monasteries with fair amount of centralized power, though local houses had a certain amount of independence. These reforms, written up in their “Charter of Charity” would affect him significantly in his own future work.

In 1126 Pope Honorius II appointed Norbert to the Archbishopric of Magdeburg, where he put into practice the precepts he instituted at Prémontré. Several assassination attempts were made as he began to reform the lax discipline of his see. He was instrumental in protecting the Church’s rights against the secular power during the Investiture Controversy.

Sources:

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

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Saint Boniface

Daily Saints

Saint Boniface, known as the apostle of the Germans, was an English Benedictine monk who gave up being elected abbot to devote his life to the conversion of the Germanic tribes. Two characteristics stand out: his Christian orthodoxy and his fidelity to the pope of Rome.

How absolutely necessary this orthodoxy and fidelity were is borne out by the conditions Saint Boniface found on his first missionary journey in 719 at the request of Pope Gregory II. Paganism was a way of life. What Christianity he did find had either lapsed into paganism or was mixed with error. The clergy were mainly responsible for these latter conditions since they were in many instances uneducated, lax and questionably obedient to their bishops. In particular instances their very ordinations were questionable.

These are the conditions that Saint Boniface was to report in 722 on his first return visit to Rome. The Holy Father instructed him to reform the German Church. The pope sent letters of recommendation to religious and civil leaders. Boniface later admitted that his work would have been unsuccessful, from a human viewpoint, without a letter of safe-conduct from Charles Martel, the powerful Frankish ruler, grandfather of Charlemagne. Boniface was finally made a regional bishop and authorized to organize the whole German Church. He was eminently successful.

In the Frankish kingdom, he met great problems because of lay interference in bishops’ elections, the worldliness of the clergy and lack of papal control.

During a final mission to the Frisians, Boniface and 53 companions were massacred while he was preparing converts for confirmation.

In order to restore the Germanic Church to its fidelity to Rome and to convert the pagans, Boniface had been guided by two principles. The first was to restore the obedience of the clergy to their bishops in union with the pope of Rome. The second was the establishment of many houses of prayer which took the form of Benedictine monasteries. A great number of Anglo-Saxon monks and nuns followed him to the continent, where he introduced the Benedictine nuns to the active apostolate of education.

Sources:

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

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Saint Charles Lwanga

Daily Saints

Saint Charles Lwanga was a member of the Baganda tribe. He was born in the Kingdom of Buganda, the central and southern part of modern Uganda, and served as chief of the royal pages and later major-domo in the court of King Mwanga II of Buganda. He was baptised by Pere Giraud on 15 November 1885.

He was a Ugandan convert to the Catholic Church who was martyred with a group of his peers and is revered as a saint by both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. The persecution started after Mwanga, a ritual pedophile, ordered a massacre of Anglican missionaries, including Bishop James Hannington who was the leader of the Anglican community. Joseph Mukasa Balikuddembe, the Catholic major-domo of the court and a lay catechist, reproached the king for the killings, against which he had counseled him.

The king called a court assembly in which he interrogated all present to see if any would renounce Christianity. Led by Lwanga, the royal pages declared their fidelity to their religion, upon which the king condemned them to death, directing that they be marched to the traditional place of execution. Three of the prisoners, Pontian Ngondwe, Athanasius Bazzekuketta, and Gonzaga Gonza, were murdered on the march there. Twelve Catholic boys and men and nine Anglicans were then burnt alive.

Sources:

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

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Saints Marcellinus and Peter

Daily Saints

Saints Marcellinus and Peter are venerated within the Catholic Church as martyrs who were beheaded. Little is known about the actual lives of these two men. Pope Damasus I claimed that he heard the story of these two martyrs from their executioner who went on to become a Christian. Pope Damasus states that they were killed at an out-of-the-way spot by the magistrate Severus or Serenus, so that other Christians would not have a chance to bury and venerate their bodies. The two saints happily cleared the spot chosen for their death: a thicket overgrown with thorns, brambles, and briers three miles from Rome.

Pope Damasus, who opened their catacombs, also remarks that he wrote a Latin epitaph with the details of their death with which he adorned their tomb. The martyrs were venerated by Christians in the centuries after their martyrdom. Their sepulcher is mentioned in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, which includes the information that Marcellinus was a priest and that Peter was an exorcist. From the 7th century onwards, their sepulcher became a site of pilgrimage, and their feast day is recorded in local liturgies and hagiographies. According to the Liber Pontificalis, Constantine the Great built a basilica in their honor, since a structure built by Damasus had been destroyed by the Goths.

They are generally represented as men in middle age, with tonsures and palms of martyrdom; sometimes they hold a crown each. In the catacombs named after them, a fresco dating from the 4th or 5th centuries, represents them without aureolae, with short beards, next to the Lamb of Christ. In another fresco from the 5th or 6th centuries, in the catacombs of Pontian, they are beardless and depicted alongside Saint Pollio.

Sources:

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

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Saint Justin Martyr

Daily Saints

Saint Justin never ended his quest for religious truth even when he converted to Christianity after years of studying various pagan philosophies.

As a young man, he was principally attracted to the school of Plato. However, he found that the Christian religion answered the great questions about life and existence better than the philosophers.

Upon his conversion he continued to wear the philosopher’s mantle, and became the first Christian philosopher. He combined the Christian religion with the best elements in Greek philosophy. In his view, philosophy was a pedagogue of Christ, an educator that was to lead one to Christ.

Saint Justin is known as an apologist, one who defends in writing the Christian religion against the attacks and misunderstandings of the pagans. Two of his so-called apologies have come down to us; they are addressed to the Roman emperor and to the Senate.

For his staunch adherence to the Christian religion, Saint Justin was beheaded in Rome in 165.

Sources:

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-justin-martyr/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Martyr

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Saint Bernard of Menthon

Daily Saints

Saint Bernard of Menthon was born probably in the Château de Menthon, near Annecy, then in the County of Savoy, a part of the Kingdom of Burgundy. When he had reached adulthood, he decided to devote himself to the service of the Church and refused an honorable marriage proposed by his father.

Placing himself under the direction of Peter, the Archdeacon of Aosta, under whose guidance he rapidly progressed, Saint Bernard was ordained a priest and worked as a missionary in the mountain villages. Later, on account of his learning and virtue, he was appointed to succeed his mentor as archdeacon of the cathedral, giving him charge of the government of the diocese, directly under the bishop.

For 42 years, he continued to preach the Gospel to these people and even into many cantons of Lombardy, effecting numerous conversions and working many miracles.

He is the patron saint of adopted children. Following his death, he gained local acclaim and was canonised by Pope Alexander IV in 1256. The last act of St. Bernard’s life was the reconciliation of two noblemen whose strife threatened a fatal outcome. He died in June 1081 in the Imperial Free City of Novara and was interred in the monastery of St. Lawrence.

Saint Bernard of Menthon was a canon regular and founder of the Great St Bernard Hospice, as well as its associated Canons Regular of the Hospitaller Congregation of Great Saint Bernard. He gave his name to the Saint Bernard breed of dog, originally bred for the cold environment of the hospice.

Sources:

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

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Saint Julius the Veteran

Daily Saints

Saint Julius the Veteran, also referred to as Julius of Durostorum, is a Roman Catholic, Anglican and Eastern Orthodox saint and martyr.

Saint Julius’ date to conversion is unknown but he served as a Roman soldier for 27 years first as a conscript, then returning as a [veteran], totaling seven military campaigns in total. Given the years and locations in which Julius served, Rev. Herbert Musurillo, S.J. writes that Julius likely served in the Legio XI Claudia. Julius was Christian his entire military career.

Saint Julius the Veteran was brought to trial before the prefect, Maximus, after being arrested by Maximus’ staff soldiers for refusing to make a public sacrifice to the Roman gods. Upon hearing of his military service, Maximus complimented Julius for being a wise and serious man.

In gratitude for his military service, Maximus proposed Saint Julius a bargain: if Saint Julius offered the public sacrifice, Maximus would accept blame for the sin of the sacrifice and would give Saint Julius freedom, a ten-year bonus payment, and immunity from future charges. Saint Julius declined the offer and was sentenced to death. Saint Julius was killed by the sword in Durostorum, the Roman camp in Moesia Inferior.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_the_Veteran#:~:text=Saint%20Julius%20the%20Veteran%20(Latin,feast%20day%20is%2027%20May.

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Saint Philip Neri

Daily Saints

Saint Philip Neri was an Italian priest noted for founding a society of secular clergy called the Congregation of the Oratory. He was also known as the “Second Apostle of Rome” after Saint Peter.

Saint Philip Neri was carefully brought up, and received his early teaching from the friars at San Marco, the famous Dominican monastery in Florence. At the age of 18, in 1533, Philip was sent to his uncle, Romolo, a wealthy merchant at San Germano, to assist him in his business, and with the hope that he might inherit his uncle’s fortune. But soon after coming to San Germano, Philip had a religious conversion. From then onward, he no longer cared for things of the world and decided in 1533 to live in Rome.

He began those labors amongst the sick and poor which, in later life, gained him the title of “Apostle of Rome”. He also ministered to the prostitutes of the city. In 1538 he entered into the home mission work for which he became famous, traveling throughout the city, seeking opportunities of entering into conversation with people, and of leading them to consider the topics he set before them. For seventeen years Philip lived as a layman in Rome, probably without thinking of becoming a priest. But in 1551, Saint Philip Neri received all the minor orders, and was ordained deacon and finally priest.

Saint Philip Neri embodied several contradictions, combining popular veneration with intensely individual piety. He became deeply involved with the Church while seeking to reform a corrupt Rome and an indifferent clergy. He is one of the influential figures of the Counter-Reformation and is noted for converting to personal holiness many of the influential people within the Church itself.

Sources:

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

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Feast of Mary Help of Christians

Daily Saints

The Feast of Mary Help of Christians was instituted by Pope Pius VI. To commemorate his own sufferings and those of the church during his exile Pope Pius VII extended the feast of the Seven Dolours of Mary to the Catholic Church on 18 September 1814. To give thanks to God and Our Lady, on 15 September 1815 he declared 24 May, the anniversary of his first return, to be henceforth the feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians.

The Marian feast has been celebrated by the Order of Servites since the 17th century. The veneration to Mary became popular under this title in Rome especially, where the feast was especially promoted by John Bosco and Vincent Pallotti. Bosco was an ardent promoter of devotion to “Mary, Help of Christians”. He built a huge basilica in her honour in 1868 and founded a religious congregation for women, under the title of, “The Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians”.

The church focuses in this feast on the role of Our Lady’s intercession in the fight against sin in the life of a believer. In addition, it focuses on Our Lady as one who assists Christians as a community, through her intercession, in fighting against anti-Christian forces.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Help_of_Christians#:~:text=Mary%2C%20the%20Help%20of%20Christians,Roman%20Calendar%20on%2024%20May.

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Saint Robert of Newminster

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Saint Norbert of Xanten

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Saint Boniface

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Saint Charles Lwanga

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Saints Marcellinus and Peter

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Saint Justin Martyr

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Saint Bernard of Menthon

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Saint Julius the Veteran

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Saint Philip Neri

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Feast of Mary Help of Christians

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