Daily Saints

Saint Marcellina

Saint Marcellina was born around the year 330 into a Roman Christian family. Her father served as Praetorian prefect of Gaul. After the death of their parents, she took responsibility for the upbringing of her younger brothers, Ambrose and Satyrus. As the eldest in her family, she made it a point to pass to her younger brothers the “desire not to express their virtue, but to become truly virtuous.”

She devoted herself to the practice of piety and asceticism, and received the veil of consecrated virginity from Pope Liberius. She lived a life of great austerity, which Ambrose tried to persuade her to mitigate. According to tradition, she turned the family home into a church dedicated in Mary, which later became Sant’Ambrogio della Massima.

After Ambrose had become Bishop of Milan in 374, he summoned his sister, Saint Marcellina, and found in her a zealous assistant in fostering and extending the ascetic life among the maidens of Milan. Ambrose dedicated his work on virginity, written in 377, Libri III de virginibus ad Marcellinam to her.

Saint Marcellina survived her brother by a year, dying in 398. Honored as a saint, she was buried in the crypt under the altar of the Ambrosian Basilica in Milan.

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Saint Marie-Madeleine Postel

Saint Marie-Madeleine Postel was a French Catholic professed religious and the founder of the Sisters of Christian Schools. The Benedictine nuns oversaw her education in Valognes after her initial schooling and it was during that time that she discerned a call to serve God in the religious life; she took a private vow to remain chaste as a step forward in this dream.

In 1774, Saint Marie-Madeleine Postel founded a school for girls in Barfleur which became a center for underground religious activities during the French Revolution for those who were unwilling to support the new regime. The school was shut down at the beginning of the Revolution but authorization was granted to her to keep the Blessed Sacrament in her house as the conflict continued and she carried it on her person at times to provide the Viaticum to those who were ill and at the verge of death.

The end of the Revolution saw Saint Marie-Madeleine Postel take up teaching and catechizing in Cherbourg where she taught around 300 children. She made her religious profession into the Third Order of Saint Francis in 1798. In 1832, she acquired a derelict convent in St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte to use as her headquarters which then prompted growth within the order.

Saint Marie-Madeleine Postel died in 1846. Her order continues its work in places such as Romania and Mozambique and in 2005 had 442 religious in 69 different locations worldwid

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Saint Vladimir the Great

Saint Vladimir was Prince of Novgorod and became ruler of Kievan Rus’ from 980 to 1015. He was born in 958 was the natural son and youngest son of Sviatoslav I of Kiev by his housekeeper Malusha. Hagiographic tradition of dubious authenticity also connects his childhood with the name of his grandmother, Olga of Kiev, who was Christian and governed the capital during Sviatoslav’s frequent military campaigns.

After the death of his father in 972, he was forced to flee to Scandinavia in 976 after his brother Yaropolk murdered his other brother Oleg of Drelinia. In Sweden, with the help of his relative Ladejarl Håkon Sigurdsson, ruler of Norway, he assembled a Varangian army and reconquered Novgorod from Yaropolk. By 980, Vladimir had consolidated the Rus’ realm to the Baltic Sea and had solidified the frontiers against incursions of Bulgarians, Baltic tribes and Eastern nomads.

In 987, after consultation with his boyars, Saint Vladimir reportedly sent envoys to study the religions of the various neighboring peoples whose representatives had been urging him to embrace their respective faiths. In 988, having taken the town of Chersonesus in Crimea, he allegedly boldly negotiated for the hand of emperor Basil II’s sister, Anna. In exchange for a marital tie, he also agreed to accept Christianity as his religion and to Christianize his people. When the wedding arrangements were settled, Saint Vladimir dispatched 6,000 troops to the Byzantine Empire, and they helped to put down the revolt.

During his Christian reign, Saint Vladimir lived the teachings of the Bible through acts of charity. He would hand out food and drink to the less fortunate, and made an effort to go out to the people who could not reach him. His work was based on the impulse to help one’s neighbors by sharing the burden of carrying their cross. He founded numerous churches, including the Desyatynna Tserkva (Church, or Cathedral, of the Tithes) (989), established schools, protected the poor and introduced ecclesiastical courts. He lived mostly at peace with his neighbors, the incursions of the Pechenegs alone disturbing his tranquility.

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Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite

Saint Nicodemus the Hagiorite was born Nicholas Kallivroutsis on the Greek island of Naxos. He was an ascetic monk, mystic, theologian, and philosopher. According to his biographer, he was possessed of “great acuteness of mind, accurate perception, intellectual brightness, and vast memory”, qualities which were readily apparent to those who furthered him along in his learning.

He passed from the tutelage of his parish priest to that of Archimandrite Chrysanthos, who was the brother of Cosmas. From there he made his way to Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey), where he studied at the Evangelical School. Here he studied theology, as well as ancient Greek, Latin, French, and Italian. He studied at Smyrna but was forced to abandon his studies during a time of Ottoman persecution. Instead he entered the Dionysiou monastery on Mount Athos in 1775.

Saint Nicodemus decided to embrace the monastic life, following the example of three monks he had encountered, Gregory, Niphon, and Arsenios. He aligned himself with the monks known as Kollyvades, who sought a revival of traditional Orthodox practices and patristic literature, and he spent the remainder of his life at work translating and publishing those works. He also composed many original books of his own.

He wrote ascetic prayer literature and influenced the rediscovery of hesychasm, a method of contemplative prayer from the Byzantine period. He is most famous for his work with Macarius of Corinth on the anthology of monastic spiritual writings known as The Philokalia, as well as for his compilation of canons known as the Pedalion which he co-wrote with a hieromonk named Agapios Monachos.

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Saint Ferdinando Maria Baccilieri

Saint Ferdinando Maria Baccilieri was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Secular Servites. He was born on May 1821. He received his education in his parents’ school. He eventually studied with the Barnabites in Bologna and the Jesuits in Ferrara.

When he studied with the Jesuits he felt that he had a strong calling to the religious life and desired to join the missions in the East as a means of spreading the message of the Gospel. However this idea never materialized. He underwent his theological and philosophical studies (and also learnt civil and canon law) and was ordained to the priesthood upon the completion of his studies on March 1844.

He was sent to Bologna to the troubled parish of Galeazza Pepoli – as a sign of the archdiocese’s esteem for his work he was appointed as the parochial vicar of that parish. He was later professed as a Secular Servite in 1855. In 1867 he lost his voice and was forced to write out homilies and addresses and have others deliver them for him. Despite this he continued to focus on hearing confessions and caring for the parish community the work of his congregation. In 1862, he opened a small convent for girls and in 1866 formalized it under a Rule that would evolve into a religious congregation.

The congregation he had founded was devoted to the instruction of children in a religious education and also catered to providing assistance to the ill. The congregation also worked for the promotion of parish activities. He welcomed the poor and was known for his enlightened views of Christian attitudes towards the poor. He had become well known for restoring a troubled parish to one brimming with the faith and was made its parochial vicar as a result of his good work and effort in the Bolognese parish.

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Saint Amalberga

Saint Amalberga, also referred to as Amalberga of Maubeuge, was a Merovingian nun in the 7th century.

The biography of Amalberga of Maubeuge is probably written by Abbott Hugo of Lobbes (1033–1063) between 1033 and 1048. Apart from a few Merovingian details, her genealogy was copied from another 11th-century hagiography, namely the Martyr story of Catherine of Alexandria.

Saint Amalberga was born in Brabant. Her father was Saint Geremarus and is said to be the niece of Pippin of Landen. She married the Duke Witger of Lotharingia and bore 5 children. It is said that all her children became saints: Emebert, Reineldis, Pharaildis, Ermelindis and Gudula.

After the birth of Gudula, their youngest child, Witger decided to become a Benedictine in Lobbes. Saint Amalberga, on the other hand, joined the Benedictine nuns of Maubeuge.

Saint Amalberga’s feast day is celebrated on July 10 and should not be confused with another saint, virgin Amalberga of Temse who died in 772.

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Saint Bernardino Realino

Saints Bernardino Realino was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Jesuits. He was born in Carpi on 1 December 1530 to nobles.

He first attended school at Modena. Realino began his studies in philosophy and medicine in Bologna but altered this midcourse to law. In 1556, he graduated with a doctorate in law. Through his family’s influence, he was appointed as the podestà of both the Cassine and Felizzano cities – he served as a judge in Felizzano. He was viewed as honest and became the praetor of Castelleone. He also became noted in these places for his legal brilliance and learning. He entered the service of Francesco Ferdinando d’Avalos and moved to Naples to act as the superintendent of the fiefs of the Marquis.

In 1564, he joined the Jesuits and began his period of the novitiate. In 1567, he was ordained to the priesthood. He was later sent to found a Jesuit house and college in Lecce in 1574. In 1583, he began a movement for diocesan priests to foster their virtues and to improve their moral-theological education to make them better confessors and preachers. Saints Bernardino Realino spent most of his life going from place to place preaching parish missions. He taught catechism and visited slaves on the galleys in the harbour at Naples.

In 1610, he suffered a fall and sustained two wounds that never healed. Not long before his death blood was taken from one leg wound and placed in glass vials; his health took a sharp decline in June 1616.

He is often dubbed as the “Apostle of Lecce” for his commitment to the poor and for his preaching abilities.

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Saint Theodoric of Mont d’Hor

Saint Theodoric of Mont d’Hor was born in the district of Rheims. He was a disciple of Saint Remigius who became abbot of Saint-Thierry Abbey.

He became a monk and was made superior of an abbey founded by St. Remigius. After he received holy orders, he became famous for the many extraordinary conversions he did and for converting the sinners to repent. He succeeded as well in converting an infamous house into a nunnery of pious virgins.

King Thierry, son of Clovis, is said to have been cured of ophthalmia by the saint touching his eyes with oil. It is said that King Thierri assisted at his funeral, and esteemed himself honoured in being one of his bearers to the grave. His relics, lest they should be exposed to the impiety of the Normans, were hidden underground, but discovered in 976, and are still preserved in a silver shrine.

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First Martyrs of the Church of Rome

The First Martyrs of the Church of Rome were Christians martyred in the city of Rome during Nero’s persecution in 64 AD. This feast first came into the General Roman Calendar in the 1969 calendar reforms. The intention of the feast is to give a general celebration of early Roman martyrs.

In July of 64 AD, Rome was devastated by fire. Largely made up of wooden tenements, fire was a frequent occurrence in the city. Rumor blamed the tragedy on the unpopular emperor Nero, who wanted to enlarge his palace. He accused the Christians. According to the historian Tacitus, many Christians were put to death “not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind.”

This feast is a replacement for the many Roman martyr feasts, whose absence allowed for a less cluttered and more “dies natale” based sanctoral calendar of more major saints. It also permitted the greater celebration of ferias, partially enacting the Second Vatican Council’s call for the Proper of Time to take a greater precedence.

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Saints Peter and Paul

The feast day of Saints Peter and Paul is a liturgical feast in honor of their martyrdom in Rome. It is one of five additional feasts ranked as a great feast in the Eastern Orthodox tradition and is often celebrated with an all-night vigil starting the evening before.

The New Testament clearly shows Peter as the leader of the apostles, chosen by Jesus to have a special relationship with him. With James and John he was privileged to witness the Transfiguration, the raising of a dead child to life, and the agony in Gethsemane. His mother-in-law was cured by Jesus. He was sent with John to prepare for the last Passover before Jesus’ death. His name is first on every list of apostles.

And to Peter only did Jesus say, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:17b-19).

But the Gospels prove their own trustworthiness by the unflattering details they include about Peter. He clearly had no public relations person. It is a great comfort for ordinary mortals to know that Peter also has his human weakness, even in the presence of Jesus.

Peter is willing to accept Jesus’ doctrine of forgiveness, but suggests a limit of seven times. He walks on the water in faith, but sinks in doubt. He refuses to let Jesus wash his feet, then wants his whole body cleansed. He swears at the Last Supper that he will never deny Jesus, and then swears to a servant maid that he has never known the man. He loyally resists the first attempt to arrest Jesus by cutting off Malchus’ ear, but in the end he runs away with the others. In the depth of his sorrow, Jesus looks on him and forgives him, and he goes out and sheds bitter tears. The Risen Jesus told Peter to feed his lambs and his sheep (John 21:15-17).

Paul’s central conviction was simple and absolute: Only God can save humanity. No human effort—even the most scrupulous observance of law—can create a human good which we can bring to God as reparation for sin and payment for grace. To be saved from itself, from sin, from the devil, and from death, humanity must open itself completely to the saving power of Jesus.

Paul never lost his love for his Jewish family, though he carried on a lifelong debate with them about the uselessness of the Law without Christ. He reminded the Gentiles that they were grafted on the parent stock of the Jews, who were still God’s chosen people, the children of the promise.

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