Daily Saints

Saint David

Saint David was born in Caerfai, south west Wales into an aristocratic family. He founded a Celtic monastic community at Glyn Rhosyn (The Vale of Roses). His foundation at Glyn Rhosyn became an important Christian shrine. David’s fame as a teacher and his asceticism spread among Celtic Christians, and he helped found about 12 monasteries.

For centuries, 1 March has been a national festival. Saint David was recognised as a national patron saint in the 12th century. Traditional festivities include wearing daffodils and leeks, recognised symbols of Wales and Saint David, respectively, eating traditional Welsh food including cawl and Welsh rarebit, and women wearing traditional Welsh dress. An increasing number of cities and towns across Wales including Cardiff, Swansea and Aberystwyth also put on parades throughout the day.

The date of Saint David’s death is believed to be 1 March 589. His final words to the community of monks were: “Brothers be ye constant. The yoke which with single mind ye have taken, bear ye to the end; and whatsoever ye have seen with me and heard, keep and fulfil.”

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_David%27s_Day
St David's Day 2017: everything you need to know about Wales' patron saint". The Daily Telegraph.
"St David (?-589)". BBC News. Archived from the original on 13 March 2017
Jenkins, Simon (2008). Wales: churches, houses, castles. Allen Lane. p. 125.

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Pope Hilarius

Daily Saints

Pope Hilarius was born in Sardinia. In 449, Hilarius served as a legate for Pope Leo I at the Second Council of Ephesus. His opposition to the condemnation of Flavian of Constantinople incurred the enmity of Dioscurus of Alexandria, who attempted to prevent him from leaving the city. Hilarius was able to make his escape and returned to Rome by an indirect route. He later erected an oratory at the Lateran in honor of John the Evangelist, to whom he attributed his safe passage.

As pope, he continued the policy of his predecessor, Leo I, who, in his contest with Hilary of Arles, had obtained from Emperor Valentinian III a famous rescript of 444 (called Novel 17) confirming the supremacy of the bishop of Rome. Hilarius continued to strengthen ecclesiastical government in Gaul and Spain.

In Rome, Hilarius worked zealously to counter the new emperor’s 467 edict of toleration for schismatic sects, which had been inspired, according to a letter of Pope Gelasius I, by a favourite of Emperor Anthemius named Philotheus, who espoused the Macedonian heresy. On one of the emperor’s visits to St Peter’s Basilica, the pope openly called him to account for his favourite’s conduct, exhorting him by the grave of St Peter to promise that he would allow no schismatical assemblies in Rome.

He was the bishop of Rome from 19 November 461 to his death on 29 February 468.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Hilarius
Alban Butler, Paul Burns. Butler's Lives of the Saints: February, p. 266. A&C Black, 1995
https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3774

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Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

Daily Saints

Born in Italy into a large family and baptized Francis, Saint Gabriel lost his mother when he was only four years old. He was educated by the Jesuits and, having been cured twice of serious illnesses, came to believe that God was calling him to the religious life. Young Francis wished to join the Jesuits but was turned down, probably because of his age, not yet 17. Following the death of a sister to cholera, his resolve to enter religious life became even stronger and he was accepted by the Passionists. Upon entering the novitiate he was given the name Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Ever popular and cheerful, Gabriel quickly was successful in his effort to be faithful in little things. His spirit of prayer, love for the poor, consideration of the feelings of others, exact observance of the Passionist Rule as well as his bodily penances—always subject to the will of his wise superiors— made a deep impression on everyone.
His superiors had great expectations of Gabriel as he prepared for the priesthood, but after only four years of religious life symptoms of tuberculosis appeared. Ever obedient, he patiently bore the painful effects of the disease and the restrictions it required, seeking no special notice. He died peacefully on February 27, 1862, at age 24, having been an example to both young and old.
Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows was canonized in 1920.

Sources:

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-gabriel-of-our-lady-of-sorrows/

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Saint Porphyrius

Daily Saints

Saint Porphyrius was bishop of Gaza from 395 to 420, known, from the account in his Life, for Christianizing the recalcitrant pagan city of Gaza, and demolishing its temples.

Saint Porphyrius was appointed bishop at the age of 45. He sent Marcus, his deacon and chronicler, to Constantinople in 398 to obtain an order to close the pagan temples of Gaza. An official named Hilarius duly arrived with soldiers to close the temples, but the Marneion remained open because Hilarius was bribed with a large sum of money (Vita 27). There was no great change, however, in the attitude of the people, who refused to allow Christians “to hold any civil office, but entreated them as naughty slaves”. He then went to Constantinople during the winter of 401–402, accompanied by the bishop of Caesarea Palaestina, and together they convinced the Empress Eudoxia.

The saint’s body is said to be buried in Saint Porphyrius’ Church, in Gaza City, in the State of Palestine.

Sources:

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

https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5554

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Blessed Domenico Lentini

Daily Saints

Saint Domenico Lentini was born on 20 November 1770 in Lauria. He was an Italian Roman Catholic priest.

In 1785 he felt a call to become a priest and he commenced his ecclesial studies alongside Giuseppe Ielpo who entered just a few months prior to him. Giuseppe would later become Lentini’s confessor.

Lentini was ordained as a priest in 1794 and served as a life-long parish priest in his hometown of Potenza where he dedicated himself to promoting Eucharistic devotion and to working alongside the poor of his area. But he also fostered a deep dedication to education and evangelization and often taught parishioners catechism and literature while also making himself available to hear the confessions of penitents.

He turned his home into a school where he taught theological studies and catechism to parishioners as well as other subjects such as literature. He taught such subjects to people with no need for compensation. Lentini often subjected himself to penitential practices and he sometimes deprived himself of nourishment in the spirit of living in total and constant penance with the corporal mortification of the flesh and sleeping of the floor.

In February 1828 he was before the Eucharist when he suffered a sudden and severe pain that forced him to his bed.He died on 25 February 1828 in his home in the evening around 8:30pm with a reputation for saintliness. He died with a crucifix in hand and a lighted candle at his side

Sources:

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

https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=7145

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Bl. Tommaso Maria Fusco

Daily Saints

Saint Tommaso Maria Fusco was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who established the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood. He was born 1 December 1831.

In Nocera he commenced his studies for the priesthood in 1847 which also marked the death of his uncle. He was ordained to the priesthood on 22 December 1855. Saint Tommaso Maria Fusco served as a parish priest and opened a school in his own home. He became a member of the Congregation of the Missionaries of Nocera in 1857 and became a traveler in the south to preach. He also established the Priestly Society of the Catholic Apostolate as a means of supporting missions, and it was to receive the formal papal approval of Pope Pius IX in 1874. He then founded the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood on 6 January 1873 and served as a parish priest in Pagani from 1874 to 1887. He wrote a number of publications on a variety of different topics that included moral theology.

Sources:

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

https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=7702

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Saint Polycarp

Daily Saints

Saint Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, disciple of Saint John the Apostle and friend of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, was a revered Christian leader during the first half of the second century.
Saint Ignatius, on his way to Rome to be martyred, visited Polycarp at Smyrna, and later at Troas wrote him a personal letter. The Asia Minor Churches recognized Polycarp’s leadership by choosing him as a representative to discuss with Pope Anicetus the date of the Easter celebration in Rome—a major controversy in the early Church.
Only one of the many letters written by Polycarp has been preserved, the one he wrote to the Church of Philippi in Macedonia.
At 86, Polycarp was led into the crowded Smyrna stadium to be burned alive. The flames did not harm him and he was finally killed by a dagger. The centurion ordered the saint’s body burned. The “Acts” of Polycarp’s martyrdom are the earliest preserved, fully reliable account of a Christian martyr’s death. He died in 155.

Sources:

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

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Saint Margaret of Cortona

Daily Saints

Saint Margaret of Cortona was born of farming parents in Laviano, Tuscany. Her mother died when Margaret was seven; life with her stepmother was so difficult that Margaret moved out. For nine years she lived with Arsenio, though they were not married, and she bore him a son. In those years, she had doubts about her situation. Somewhat like Saint Augustine, she prayed for purity—but not just yet.

One day she was waiting for Arsenio and was instead met by his dog. The animal led Margaret into the forest where she found Arsenio murdered. This crime shocked Margaret into a life of penance. She and her son returned to Laviano, where she was not well received by her stepmother. They then went to Cortona, where her son eventually became a friar.
In 1277, three years after her conversion, Margaret became a Franciscan tertiary. Under the direction of her confessor, who sometimes had to order her to moderate her self-denial, she pursued a life of prayer and penance at Cortona. There she established a hospital and founded a congregation of tertiary sisters. The poor and humble Margaret was, like Francis, devoted to the Eucharist and to the passion of Jesus. These devotions fueled her great charity and drew sinners to her for advice and inspiration. She was canonized in 1728. St. Margaret of Cortona’s liturgical feast is celebrated on February 22.

Sources:

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-margaret-of-cortona/

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Saint Peter Damian

Daily Saints

Maybe because he was orphaned and had been treated shabbily by one of his brothers, Peter Damian was very good to the poor. It was the ordinary thing for him to have a poor person or two with him at table and he liked to minister personally to their needs.
Peter escaped poverty and the neglect of his own brother when his other brother, who was archpriest of Ravenna, took him under his wing. His brother sent him to good schools and Peter became a professor.

Already in those days, Peter was very strict with himself. He wore a hair shirt under his clothes, fasted rigorously and spent many hours in prayer. Soon, he decided to leave his teaching and give himself completely to prayer with the Benedictines of the reform of Saint Romuald at Fonte Avellana. They lived two monks to a hermitage. Peter was so eager to pray and slept so little that he soon suffered from severe insomnia. He found he had to use some prudence in taking care of himself. When he was not praying, he studied the Bible.

The abbot commanded that when he died Peter should succeed him. Abbot Peter founded five other hermitages. He encouraged his brothers in a life of prayer and solitude and wanted nothing more for himself. The Holy See periodically called on him, however, to be a peacemaker or troubleshooter, between two abbeys in dispute or a cleric or government official in some disagreement with Rome.
Finally, Pope Stephen IX made Peter the cardinal-bishop of Ostia. He worked hard to wipe out simony—the buying of church offices–and encouraged his priests to observe celibacy and urged even the diocesan clergy to live together and maintain scheduled prayer and religious observance. He wished to restore primitive discipline among religious and priests, warning against needless travel, violations of poverty, and too comfortable living. He even wrote to the bishop of Besancon complaining that the canons there sat down when they were singing the psalms in the Divine Office.
He wrote many letters. Some 170 are extant. We also have 53 of his sermons and seven lives, or biographies, that he wrote. He preferred examples and stories rather than theory in his writings. The liturgical offices he wrote are evidence of his talent as a stylist in Latin.

He asked often to be allowed to retire as cardinal-bishop of Ostia, and finally Pope Alexander II consented. Peter was happy to become once again just a monk, but he was still called to serve as a papal legate. When returning from such an assignment in Ravenna, he was overcome by a fever. With the monks gathered around him saying the Divine Office, he died on February 22, 1072. In 1828, he was declared a Doctor of the Church.

Sources:

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-peter-damian/

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Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto

Daily Saints

Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese shepherd children from Aljustrel, received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fátima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. At that time, Europe was involved in an extremely bloody war. Portugal itself was in political turmoil, having overthrown its monarchy in 1910; the government disbanded religious organizations soon after.

At the first appearance, Mary asked the children to return to that spot on the thirteenth of each month for the next six months. She also asked them to learn to read and write and to pray the rosary “to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.” They were to pray for sinners and for the conversion of Russia, which had recently overthrown Czar Nicholas II and was soon to fall under communism. Up to 90,000 people gathered for Mary’s final apparition on October 13, 1917.
Less than two years later, Francisco died of influenza in his family home. He was buried in the parish cemetery and then re-buried in the Fátima basilica in 1952. Jacinta died of influenza in Lisbon in 1920, offering her suffering for the conversion of sinners, peace in the world, and the Holy Father. She was re-buried in the Fátima basilica in 1951. Their cousin Lúcia dos Santos, became a Carmelite nun and was still living when Jacinta and Francisco were beatified in 2000; she died five years later. Pope Francis canonized the younger children on his visit to Fátima to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first apparition–May 13, 2017. The shrine of Our Lady of Fátima is visited by up to 20 million people a year.

Sources:

https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saints-jacinta-and-francisco-marto/

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Saint David

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Pope Hilarius

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Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows

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Saint Porphyrius

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Blessed Domenico Lentini

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Bl. Tommaso Maria Fusco

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Saint Polycarp

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Saint Margaret of Cortona

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Saint Peter Damian

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Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto

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