Daily Saints

Saint Angela Merici, Virgin

1474–1540; Patron Saint of sickness, death of parents, disabled, handicapped, or physically challenged people; Canonized on May 24, 1807 by Pope Pius VII

Angela was the youngest of five children born to her virtuous and faith-filled parents. She was born in the town of Desenzano in northern Italy. Shortly afterward, her family moved to a farm just outside of town where Angela was raised. Angela was well trained in the Catholic faith as a youth. Each day, her father would read to the family about the lives of the saints from “The Golden Legend,” flooding little Angela’s mind and heart with a desire to imitate them. As a teenager, however, tragedy struck her family not once, not twice, but three times. Angela’s father, mother, and sister all died within a short period of time, leaving Angela and her three brothers orphaned.

After the deaths of her parents and sister, Angela and her youngest brother moved to the town of Salò, about fifteen miles north of Desenzano, to live with their uncle, her mother’s brother. Her uncle was also a virtuous man, and Angela continued to grow in her faith under his loving care.

Around the age of twenty or twenty-two, Angela joined the Third Order Franciscans, the lay branch of the larger Franciscan Order. Third Order Franciscans did not take the same vows as consecrated men and women and lived out their vocations in the midst of the world. As a Third Order Franciscan, Angela then began her lifelong custom of wearing the simple Franciscan Tertiary habit. She also informed her uncle that she wanted to dedicate her whole life to Christ, rather than get married. Soon after, her uncle died and Angela decided to move back to her family home in Desenzano to begin a new life as a lay Franciscan. She remained there for about the next twenty years.

At some point it is believed that Angela had one or more visions that increased her trust in God and deepened her commitment to her vocation. Angela was deeply concerned about whether her sister was in Heaven, and her heart longed for reassurance. Her answer came in the form of a vision she had of her sister joining in a Heavenly procession with angels and other young girls. This put Angela’s heart at rest. In that same vision or in a subsequent one, she saw a ladder leading to Heaven and several young virgins climbing that ladder. This vision became the seed of her calling to teach young girls about God and to form them for holy living. Angela began to teach young girls who would gather in her home each day to help them become better Christians. Soon, other young single women began to imitate her, welcoming girls into their homes. These laywomen teachers formed a loose association among themselves, joining in a united mission and lay vocation. After twenty years in Desenzano, Angela was invited to start another house in the nearby city of Brescia.

In Brescia, Angela became well known and well loved by many, especially by young women in need. She counseled many, including former prostitutes, the upper class, the poor, and all who sought her guidance. In 1535, at the age of sixty-one, Angela finally fulfilled the final part of her mission when she gathered twenty-eight other virgins to form the lay organization of women known as the “Company of Saint Ursula.” Saint Ursula was a fitting patron for them, since she was the patron saint of schoolgirls. The Company of Saint Ursula was the first secular institute for laity in the history of the Church. For women at that time, the only two options they traditionally had were either to enter marriage or to join a cloistered convent. This new lay association was the first to offer young women a third option. A couple of years later, Angela was elected the mother of this new company and remained so until her death in 1540. At the time of her death, the Company had about 150 members. Four years after her death, in 1544, Pope Paul III issued a Papal Bull approving the Rule of the Company of Saint Ursula. Though the Company of Saint Ursula remains today, some of the Company’s first members formally branched off into a new religious order called the Ursulines under the leadership of Archbishop Saint Charles Borromeo of Milan in 1572. Both the “Ursulines” and the “Company of Saint Ursula,” which are distinct entities in the Church, point to Saint Angela as their founder.

God used Saint Angela for a unique mission. She fell in love with her God at an early age, dedicated herself solely to Him as her Spouse, and followed His will as it unfolded. At first, her mission was a personal mission of loving girls and guiding them to God in her home. Eventually, God expanded that mission and enfolded it into His Church.

God does not call every person to start a new movement within the Church or to spark the beginnings of a religious order, but He does call us all to see the needs of those around us and work to meet those needs with love and devotion. Saint Angela saw the need to care for and teach young girls. Ponder the needs that are present around you and in imitation of Saint Angela, offer yourself to God so that you may help meet those needs in accord with God’s divine will.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/january-27-saint-angela-merici-virgin/

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Saint Sebastian, Martyr

Daily Saints

c. 255–c. 288; Patron Saint of archers, pinmakers, athletes, against epidemics, and of a holy death; Pre-Congregation canonization

The glorious crown of martyrdom was placed on the head of Saint Sebastian not once but twice. He was born at Narbonne, Gaul (modern-day France), but was raised in Milan, Italy. During his childhood, the persecution of Christians was temporarily on hold, only to resume when Sebastian reached adolescence. Sebastian was a strong Christian who desired to assist those being persecuted for the faith. This holy desire led Sebastian to join the Roman army under the Emperor Carinus in 283, where he kept his Christian faith secret so he could have access to jailed Christians. In 284, Diocletian became Emperor and made Sebastian one of his bodyguards and intelligence officers, not knowing that Sebastian was a Christian. Shortly after this promotion, Sebastian discovered that Marcus and Marcellianus, brothers imprisoned for their faith, were being pressured by their pagan family and friends to save their lives by denying Christ. Their very own pagan parents pleaded, teary-eyed, with their twin sons to deny Christ.

Sebastian knew it was risky, but he openly revealed to all at the jail that he was a Christian. He exhorted the imprisoned brothers to stay strong in the faith, even if it meant their deaths. Sebastian preached so persuasively that eventually the brothers’ parents, the jailer, sixteen other prisoners, and more than sixty other family and friends were converted and baptized. Two of these received miraculous healings at the same time. When the ailing governor of Rome, Chromatius, heard about these healings, he sent for Sebastian. Sebastian then healed the governor himself and subsequently instructed him in the faith. After Chromatius and his son were baptized by the priest Polycarp, a future saint and martyr, Chromatius left his governorship and assisted in the conversion of many others to the Christian faith.

Sebastian and Polycarp decided that one of them should go with Chromatius and many of the new converts to the countryside for safety while the other would stay in Rome to help the persecuted Christians. After consulting the pope, it was decided that Sebastian would remain in Rome to be the “Defender of the Church,” since he enjoyed the favor of the emperor. During the following two years, despite his high status and access to the emperor, several of Sebastian’s converts were nonetheless martyred, including the twin brothers Marcus and Marcellianus.

In the year 286, the Emperor Diocletian found out that Sebastian was a Christian. Feeling betrayed, he ordered Sebastian’s death. The execution was to be public and brutal in an attempt to intimidate other Christians. Sebastian was bound, arrested, tied to a post, and blindfolded. The archers stretched their bows and were ordered to fill him with as many arrows “as an urchin is full of pricks” (The Golden Legend Vol. II). After penetrating his torso and limbs with arrows, they untied him and left his pierced body for dead. But Sebastian did not die! Instead, a holy woman named Irene came to bury his body and found him still alive! She was the wife of Saint Castulus, an officer in the Diocletian’s household, who had been martyred earlier that year. Irene carefully removed Sebastian’s arrows, took him to her home and nursed him back to health. Saint Irene would herself die a martyr just two years later.

After he had regained his health, many urged Sebastian to flee for his life. Instead, Sebastian presented himself before the emperor and firmly accosted him for his cruelty toward Christians. A nineteenth-century biographer placed these words on Sebastian’s lips as he confronted the most powerful man in the world: “Hearken to me O Prince! The priests of your temples deceive you by their wicked falsehoods against the Christians. They tell you, that we are enemies of the Empire; yet it is by our prayer that the Empire is made to prosper. Cease your unjust persecutions against us, and remember the day of reckoning is near at hand when you, too, shall be judged by an all-knowing Judge. (The Acts of the Early Martyrs, Fastré S.J.) The emperor, angered by Sebastian’s words and shocked that Sebastian was still alive, ordered again that he be executed. This time, Sebastian was beaten to death with clubs and thrown into a sewer.

After Sebastian’s death, he appeared in a vision to a holy woman named Lucina and asked her to remove his remains from the sewer and bury him in the catacombs of Callixtus. She did so that night. A basilica was later built there in his memory. This church and cemetery remain an important pilgrimage site today. In the centuries that followed his martyrdom, Saint Sebastian became well known for his intercessory power, especially in fighting off the bubonic plague in the fourteenth century. More recently, he has also been honored as the patron saint of athletes because of his dogged perseverance.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/january-20-saint-sebastian-martyr/

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The Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle

Daily Saints

c. 33–34; Patron Saint of missionaries, evangelists, writers, public workers, ropemakers, saddlemakers, and tentmakers; Invoked against hailstorms and snakebites

Paul was born a Jew in the Roman city of Tarsus, in modern-day Turkey. On the eighth day, he was circumcised and received the Hebrew name Saul. At a young age, Saul began to study the Law of Moses in Jerusalem under Gamaliel, a member of the Sanhedrin and one of the most respected Pharisees and Doctors of the Law of his era. The Pharisees had enumerated 613 laws found within the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. Saul would have studied each of these laws carefully.

When Saul was in his early twenties, Jesus of Nazareth began His public ministry during which He challenged the rigid interpretations that the Pharisees taught about the Law of Moses. Jesus was crucified three years later when Saul was about twenty-five. Now a Pharisee himself, Saul was diametrically opposed to Jesus’ teachings, believing that they were in opposition to the Law of Moses that he had come to know so well through the distorted lens of the pharisaical teachings. After Jesus’ crucifixion, Saul zealously devoted himself to persecuting those who were Jesus’ followers. Even when his own teacher, Gamaliel, recommended the followers of Jesus be ignored, Saul could not hold himself back.

The earliest documented martyrdom in the Church after Jesus’ death took place with Saul’s consent, when those who stoned Saint Stephen laid their cloaks at Saul’s feet as Saul looked on. After that, Saul received a letter of permission from the high priest in Jerusalem to go beyond the city, searching from house to house to arrest those who followed Jesus, bringing them back in chains to stand trial in Jerusalem. As he took this letter of permission with him on a journey to Damascus, Saul had an experience that would not only change his life forever but also change the entire world.

“On his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ He said, ‘Who are you, sir?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting’” (Acts 9:3–5). With that, Saul was blinded and had to be led into the city of Damascus, where he stayed for three days, fasting, praying, and pondering this encounter.

In that city was a disciple of Jesus named Ananias. Ananias knew about Saul’s persecution of the Church and feared him greatly. But Jesus appeared to Ananias and told him to go to Saul, lay his hands on him, heal him, and baptize him. Jesus explained that “this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and Israelites, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name” (Acts 9:15–16). Ananias did as he was instructed, and Saul listened, converted, was baptized, and began a new life as an apostle of the Lord Jesus. Eventually Saul began to use his Roman name “Paul” rather than his Hebrew name “Saul.”

Our feast today not only celebrates Saint Paul, it specifically celebrates his conversion. Think about that glorious conversion. Those three days that Saul spent in Damascus after encountering Jesus on the road changed his life. During those three days, he pondered Jesus’ words, fasted, prayed, listened, thought, and changed. Facing the truth within his soul might not have been easy, but he did it. From that time on, the zeal that he had poured into persecution became zeal for the spreading of the Gospel.

The first three years after his conversion were spent in Arabia, perhaps in prayer, study, and preparation for his new mission. God used this time of solitude to bring about a deeper conversion in Saul’s heart and to form him into a powerful instrument. After three years, he returned to Damascus and then continued to travel far and wide, proclaiming Jesus as the Christ. Over the approximately twenty-seven years that followed, Paul arguably became the greatest evangelist in the history of the world. At least thirteen of the twenty-seven New Testament books are traditionally attributed to Paul, providing us with much of what we know about Jesus. His letters are not only historical in nature, they are also rich in theology, providing the most sturdy foundation for all that we believe as Christians today. Paul personally founded more than a dozen Christian communities during his missionary travels, but the members of those communities then went forth to found many more, making Paul not only a spiritual father to many early Christians but also a spiritual grandfather to countless others. He was tireless in his efforts, despite enduring much suffering:

Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure (2 Corinthians 11:25–27).

In his mid-fifties, Paul was arrested and spent years in prison. Being a Roman citizen, he appealed to Rome and was eventually sent there for trial. In Rome, he suffered martyrdom at around the age of sixty, possibly as a result of the persecutions of the Emperor Nero. Though we do not know for certain how he died, tradition states that he was beheaded with a sword.

It’s easy to see Saint Paul in the bright light of all that he accomplished. But one truth we must never forget is that he was only a man. He was a man who experienced a profound conversion and dedicated the rest of his life to the will of God. Saint Paul must be a model for each of us. As we ponder his conversion today, think about your own conversion. If you are not as zealous for God as was Saint Paul, work to change that. You are just as capable of living a radical Christian life as was Saint Paul. Allow God to fill you with zeal so that God may use you in glorious ways.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/january-25-the-conversion-of-saint-paul-apostle/

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Saint Frances de Sales, Bishop and Doctor

Daily Saints

1567–1622; Patron Saint of authors, journalists, writers, deaf persons, educators; Canonized on April 8, 1665 by Pope Alexander VII; Declared a Doctor of the Church in 1877 by Pope Pius IX

Saint Francis de Sales was born fifty years after an Augustinian priest named Father Martin Luther ignited the Protestant Reformation, and just twenty-five years after John Calvin’s anti-Catholic teachings spread to Geneva, Switzerland. Francis was born into a noble family in the Duchy of Savoy, modern-day France, not far from Geneva. Because of his noble family heritage and his father’s influence, Francis was given an excellent education, eventually earning doctorates in civil law and theology. His father had selected a noblewoman for Francis to marry. He also had planned for his gifted son to enter into politics, but Francis was led in a different direction.

In 1586, at the age of nineteen, Francis attended a Calvinist lecture on predestination, which led him to believe he was destined for hell. This greatly affected him, and he struggled with the idea for months. Eventually, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother and the Memorare prayer, Francis was freed from this error and turned his focus to the pure love of God. After experiencing firsthand the effects that erroneous theology can have on a person, Francis devoted himself to a life of celibacy and began pursuing his God-given desire to be a priest. Though reluctant at first, his father eventually agreed to his son’s ordination and then helped to have him appointed to an important position in the Diocese of Geneva.

Because Geneva was under the control of the Calvinists, Father de Sales preached and resided in a cathedral some twenty miles south of Geneva. As a newly ordained priest, he began to make a name for himself. His sermons were preached with gentlemanlike qualities, showing great respect for those who disagreed with him. He never shied away from the theological truths under attack by the errors of the Reformation. He avoided controversy and criticism, focusing instead on virtues, prayer, holiness, and overcoming sin. Despite his kind nature and charitable approach, he was harshly treated by the many local anti-Catholics, some of whom even threatened his life.

In 1602, at the age of thirty-five, Father de Sales was ordained Bishop of Geneva, and his evangelical fervor moved ahead at full throttle. His intention was to win back the citizens of Geneva to the Catholic Church. So many had left, following the teachings of Calvin. For the first couple of years, Bishop de Sales was ineffective in winning over many converts. But little by little, one soul at a time, he began to have success. His success especially came in the form of placing written explanations of the faith under people’s doors, inviting them back to the Catholic Church. His preaching was clear, respectful, truthful, and charitable. His motto was “He who preaches with love, preaches effectively.”

Bishop de Sales was a very practical man, especially when it came to his theology. He believed that holiness was not reserved for those in the monastery or convent. He believed that everyone, in every state in life, within every occupation, was called to a life of sanctity. This conviction is most clearly seen in his most famous published book, Introduction to the Devout Life. This book was a compilation of letters he had sent to his spiritual directees over the years, which began by giving clear and practical advice on the importance of being purged of sin and of attachment to sinful habits. It then taught how to grow in the virtues, especially humility; navigate temptations; and overcome anxiety and sadness. It also provided exercises on how to renew one’s life of devotion, which was nothing other than loving and pleasing God with one’s life. This book, along with other writings, won many to the faith. In 1610, he assisted one of his spiritual directees, the future Saint Jane de Chantal, to establish the women’s Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary. His inspiring letters to her became a source of spiritual formation for the women of her newly founded order.

After turning down advancements within the Church, Bishop de Sales chose instead to devote his time and energy to the salvation of souls within his local diocese. It is said that Bishop de Sales won back as many as 40,000 Catholics who had become Calvinists. After nine years as a priest and twenty years as a bishop, Bishop de Sales suffered a stroke and died soon after. It is believed that one of the last things he wrote were the words “Humility, humility, humility,” his dying exhortation to his flock.

As we honor this holy bishop, try to imagine what it would have been like had he been your shepherd. He would have taken your call to holiness seriously. He would have exhorted you to overcome sin by fully confessing your sins in the Sacrament, and to then grow in virtue, especially humility. He would have helped you to learn and believe every truth revealed by God through His Catholic Church, and to seek every practical way imaginable by daily prayer and meditation to become a saint. He would have regularly reminded you that holiness is not reserved for the monk alone. You, within the context of your state in life, are also called. Respond as one of his flock and resolutely determine to follow the path God has in store for you, seeking to love Him and glorify Him with your life.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/january-24-saint-francis-de-sales-bishop-and-doctor/

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Saint Vincent, Deacon and Martyr

Daily Saints

Late Third Century–c. 304; Patron Saint of vinegar makers, wine makers, brickmakers, and sailors; Pre-Congregation canonization

Saint Augustine deeply admired today’s deacon-martyr, Saint Vincent of Saragossa. The above quote comes from one of five existing homilies Augustine delivered on the heroism, faith, and witness of this saintly man, whose martyrdom occurred during Diocelatian’s fierce persecution of the Church in the early 300s. But the blood of martyrs is a holy sacrifice that extinguishes the fires of the devil and fuels the faith of those who ponder such sacred sacrifices. As Augustine would preach in a subsequent sermon, “the devil suffered greater torments from Vincent not being vanquished than Vincent did from the devil persecuting him.”

Vincent was born in today’s Spain and carries the title of “protomartyr,” indicating he was the first, or “proto,” man to die for Christ on the Iberian Peninsula. Little is known of his life, but the testimony of Saint Augustine sheds light on his character. As with many early saints, many legends are attributed to him.

According to these legends, the Bishop Valerius of Saragossa, Spain, had a speech impediment, which led him to first ordain and then appoint Deacon Vincent, who was well spoken, as his personal preacher. The local Roman governor at the time, Dacian, ruthlessly carried out the edict of the Emperor Diocletian to force Christians to renounce their faith by burning incense to Roman gods. Both the elderly bishop and his deacon were arrested by Dacian and imprisoned. While in prison, Deacon Vincent said to the bishop, “Father, if you order me, I will speak.” The bishop replied, “Son, as I committed you to dispense the word of God, so I now charge you to answer in vindication of the faith which we defend.” That was all Vincent needed. At that moment, the words of Holy Scripture were fulfilled in Vincent, “When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:19–20). The deacon gave his “sermon” with serenity in the face of torture and death, and the governor was tormented by his own outrage.

Legend has it that Vincent was scourged, stretched on the rack, fixed to a fiery grate, lacerated with iron hooks, burned with hot iron, and then thrown onto the prison floor covered with broken glass. Through it all, Vincent remained at peace, for he did not fear “those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28). The legend concludes that Vincent’s joy in the face of this torture was so great that it caused one of his jailers to immediately convert.

The governor, however, was not yet done. He gave Vincent a soft bed on which to recuperate, hoping to entice him to renounce his God through comfort. But neither threats of violence nor promises of comforts held any appeal for Vincent. No sooner was he laid upon the bed than he died. His body was thrown to vultures, but ravens came to his defense. Another account, from a sermon by Saint Leo, states that Vincent’s body was cast into the sea, but Providence washed him ashore, and his fellow Christians gave him a dignified burial where a shrine was later erected over his grave. The place in southern Spain where, according to legend, these final events unfolded, is now called Cape Saint Vincent. Flocks of ravens and vultures still hover over this very coast.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/january-22-saint-vincent-deacon-and-martyr/

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Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of the Unborn Children

Daily Saints

We remember today the tragic United States Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, issued on January 22, 1973, that essentially legalized abortion in all fifty states for almost fifty years. By God’s grace, that decision was finally overturned on June 24, 2022, by the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson. Though that latter decision gives us much to be grateful for, the battle for the sanctity of life must continue, since the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling simply deferred the decision on abortion to state legislatures. Thus, abortion remains legal in the majority of states in the United States and continues to be legal in many other countries around the world.

Throughout the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are approximately 40–50 million abortions every year. That translates into about 125,000 abortions every day. Up until the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, the WHO further estimated that twenty-two percent of all pregnancies in the United States ended by abortion, over one million abortions every year. These numbers are conservative estimates, given that the WHO promotes abortion.

Too often, abortion advocates premise their arguments on a woman’s right to do what she wants with her own body. Yet a baby in the womb is a new life, distinct from the mother’s, with as much dignity, beauty, and value as any other life, including the mother’s. The psalmist puts it this way, “You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works!” (Psalm 139:13–14).

It is true that an unplanned pregnancy brings with it a myriad of concerns. But no such concern is so grave that it justifies taking an innocent life at its most vulnerable stage of development. “Such attacks strike human life at the time of its greatest frailty, when it lacks any means of self-defense” (Saint John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, #11).

Much rhetoric has unsuccessfully attempted to justify abortion. Yet while debate over abortion never ceases, eternal truths never change. “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person—among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church #2270).

In response to this ongoing attack against human life, the bishops of the United States have designated today as “a particular day of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life and of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion” (GIRM #373). Note that our bishops wisely call for two distinct actions today. First, they call for prayer so that the innate right to life is legally guaranteed. Without this most fundamental right, no other rights matter. Second, they acknowledge the countless violations that have already been committed against human dignity by abortion, and call us to do penance to help atone for those violations.

Today, call to mind that the weakest, most vulnerable, and most at-risk human beings need you. Statistically speaking, the most dangerous place to live is within the womb. Also call to mind every mother who finds herself in an unplanned pregnancy. Both child and mother need your prayers and your acts of penance—that every mother makes the choice for life, and that the right to life will be enshrined in every civil law throughout the world. Your acts of penance help atone for every abortion committed, especially for the repentance and healing of everyone involved. Don’t underestimate the power of your prayers and penance. Unite yourself to the Body of Christ, and do your part to bring healing to the past and true hope for the future.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/january-22-day-of-prayer-for-the-legal-protection-of-unborn-children-usa-memorial/

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Saint Agnes

Daily Saints

c. 291–c. 304; Patron Saint of those seeking chastity and purity, engaged couples, rape victims, gardeners, young girls, and girl scouts; Pre-Congregation canonization

According to one tradition, the daughter of Emperor Constantine the Great—the first emperor to convert to Christianity and legalize its practice—contracted leprosy. Her name was Constantina. Seeking a cure, she approached the tomb of today’s young virgin-martyr and tearfully beseeched her intercession. The tradition further states that Constantina was indeed healed, and, in gratitude, her father commissioned the building of a church over Saint Agnes’ grave. To this day, a church adorns that same spot. To this day, it is named in honor of Saint Agnes. And to this day, the faithful beseech Agnes’ intercession in the same fashion as Constantina in days of old.

Very little is known about Saint Agnes, except for Saint Ambrose’s brief words written many decades after her death. We do know for certain that she was martyred at the age of twelve or thirteen. Later traditions have supplied what history cannot, including what follows.

Agnes was born into a noble Christian family in Rome. She was said to have been quite beautiful, which, together with her wealth and holiness, caused many young noblemen to seek her as their bride. But Agnes’ eyes beheld One Who was the most beautiful of all—her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. After taking in His beauty, she could look upon no one else. She dedicated herself to a life of virginity.

Such self-gift, however, was neither well received nor well understood by the young men of her time. Agnes was reported to the local prefect Sempronius for being a Christian, in an attempt to dissuade her from her vow of chastity. The prefect first tried to convince Agnes to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods. She refused. Her heart was firm in its devotion to her Beloved. The prefect then tried to frighten her by displaying some instruments of torture in the hands of the cruel executioner himself. Agnes showed no fear and refused to burn incense to false gods. Outraged, the prefect ordered that she be taken to brothels to be violated by immoral men.

During these ordeals, Agnes knew her Heavenly Spouse would protect her. Evil men could stain their swords with her blood, but they could never profane her body consecrated to Christ. At the brothels, the men looked at her with lust from a distance, but appeared more frightened of her than she was of them. None dared approach her. None dared defile her. It is said that only one young man did approach her, only to be immediately struck blind and brought to the ground. Through a prayer spoken by Agnes, though, his sight was restored.

The prefect, having failed to convert Agnes back to paganism, or to defile her body, then condemned her to a death by beheading. Agnes willingly offered her neck to the executioner, who trembled with fear as he approached, while she was as joyful as a bride waiting to meet her Bridegroom.

Saint Agnes, along with Saint Cecilia, was one of the earliest martyrs whose name was honored by its insertion into the Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer I in today’s Mass.) Her name in Latin means “lamb.” As a result, since the sixteenth century, every year on her feast day two lambs are brought to the Roman basilica built over her tomb. Their wool is shorn and weaved into various pallia, vestments covering the shoulders. These very pallia are later placed on the shoulders of archbishops by the pope himself on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Along with his crozier, or staff, the pallium symbolizes a bishop’s role as shepherd.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/january-21-st-agnes-virgin-martyr/

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Saint Fabian, Pope and Martyr

Daily Saints

Died 250; Patron Saint of Rome; Pre-Congregation canonization; Elected pope 236

It wasn’t until 313 that Christianity was legalized by the emperor, Constantine the Great. Up until that time, Christians were widely persecuted by various emperors trying to please their gods. Fabianus (Fabian) was born into this Roman culture, most likely around the year 200. Although we know nothing about his early life, we do know that he served as pope for fourteen years.

Fabian’s election to the papacy took place in a divinely inspired way. After the death of Pope Anterus, who served for only one year, Fabian, a layman, traveled from his farm to the city of Rome to attend the election of the new Bishop of Rome with the people and clergy. It is not known what status Fabian held in the Church as he traveled to Rome. Yet no one present even considered Fabian as a possible pope, since other far more noble churchmen were being considered. During the public discussions, however, all that changed. The fourth century Church historian, Eusebius, explains what happened next. “All of a sudden…a dove flew down from above and settled on his head as clear imitation of the descent of the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove upon the Savior; whereupon the whole people, as if moved by one divine inspiration, with all eagerness and with one soul cried out ‘worthy,’ and without more ado took him and placed him on the episcopal throne” (Ecclesiastical History). Just as the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove at His Baptism, it appears that the Father chose an unsuspecting farmer as His Son’s new vicar on Earth.

Fabian’s reign as pope began during a relatively peaceful period in Rome. Prior to that, from the time of the Apostles, there had been only sporadic persecutions of Christians in the Roman Empire. Hatred of Christians first began with Nero in 64 and continued in various forms under successive emperors until the Emperor Decius rose to power in 249, thirteen years after Fabian became pope. Within a year of Decius’ ascension to the emperor’s throne, he issued an edict that required everyone in the empire to offer sacrifice both to the Roman gods and for the good of the emperor himself. What’s more, the sacrifices had to be confirmed by the magistrate who, after witnessing the sacrifice, would issue a certificate verifying the sacrilegious deed had been completed. Those who refused could be imprisoned or killed.

In the face of persecution and the threat of death, some Christians went through the motions of offering sacrifice to save their lives. Others fled and hid. Pope Fabian was among those who looked persecution and death in the face and accepted them. Pope Fabian and many other Christians died as martyrs for the faith.

In addition to his martyrdom and his divine election as pope, Saint Fabian is also known for being a good administrator of the Church, organizing the Church into various districts with appointed leaders. He had a heart for evangelization and sent several bishops as missionaries to Christianize Gaul (present-day France). Lastly, like many other saints of his time, he stomped out heresy, working to preserve the pure and orthodox faith.

Source: https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/january-20-saint-fabian-pope-and-martyr/

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Saint Liberata of Como

Daily Saints

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Liberata was born to a wealthy, Italian nobility; she was the sister of Saint Faustina of Como. Their mother died when they were very small, and they were raised by a guardian. Their father tried to arrange marriages for them, but both girls were drawn to religious life and fled their homes for Como, Italy, where they became Benedictine nuns. They founded the Santa Margarita convent in Como; it lasted over 1,000 years.

In Como, the sisters came across a woman dying on a cross, having been crucified by her husband for unknown reasons; Liberata took her down from the cross and miraculously healed her wounds by praying over her.

Born

Rocca d’Olgisio, Italy

Died

580 of natural causes
buried at the cemetery of the convent of Santa Margarita at Como, Italy
relics in the cathedral of Como

Canonized

Pre-Congregation

Patronage

babies
Cerreto Guidi, Italy

Representation

with Saint Faustina of Como (her sister)
with Saint Margaret (the patron of the convent Liberata founded)
Benedictine nun holding a lily
holding two babies in swaddling clothes; they represent two young saints, traditionally Saint Vital and Saint Valeria, the sisters met as infants; this image led to her tradition of patronage of babies, for safe childbirth and related matters

Source: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-liberata-of-como/

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Saint Margaret of Hungary

Daily Saints

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Margaret was the daughter of King Bela IV of Hungary and Marie Laskaris; grand-daughter of the Byzantine emperor. When Hungary was freed from the Tatars, her parents had pledged their next child to God. To keep this promise, Margaret was placed in a Dominican convent at Veszprem, Hungary at age 3; Blessed Helen of Hungary served as her novice mistress. She transferred at age ten to the convent of the Blessed Virgin founded by her parents on the Hasen Insel near Buda, where she lived the rest of her life. At one point, her father arranged a marriage for her to King Ottokar II of Bohemia, but she adamantly refused. She took vows at age 18. She was known for severe self-imposed penances, and for kindness to those of lower social station. The investigation for her canonization lists 27 miracles including healings and a case of awakening from death.

Born

1242

Died

18 January 1271 at Budapest, Hungary
relics given to the Poor Clares at Pozsony (modern Bratislava, Slovak Republic) when the Dominican Order in the area was dissolved
most of her relics were destroyed in 1789, but some are still preserved at Gran, Gyor, Pannonhalma, Hungary

Beatified

28 July 1789 by Pope Pius VI

Canonized

19 November 1943 by Pope Pius XII

Patronage

against flood

Representation

Dominican holding a lily and a book
princess with a lily
Dominican in prayer with a globe of fire over her head

Source: https://catholicsaints.info/saint-margaret-of-hungary/

Saint Margaret of Hungary Read More »

Saint Angela Merici, Virgin

1474–1540; Patron Saint of sickness, death of parents, disabled, handicapped, or physically challenged people; Canonized on May 24, 1807 by Pope Pius VII

Saint Sebastian, Martyr

c. 255–c. 288; Patron Saint of archers, pinmakers, athletes, against epidemics, and of a holy death; Pre-Congregation canonization

The Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle

c. 33–34; Patron Saint of missionaries, evangelists, writers, public workers, ropemakers, saddlemakers, and tentmakers; Invoked against hailstorms and snakebites

Saint Frances de Sales, Bishop and Doctor

1567–1622; Patron Saint of authors, journalists, writers, deaf persons, educators; Canonized on April 8, 1665 by Pope Alexander VII; Declared a Doctor of the Church in 1877 by Pope Pius IX

Saint Vincent, Deacon and Martyr

Late Third Century–c. 304; Patron Saint of vinegar makers, wine makers, brickmakers, and sailors; Pre-Congregation canonization

Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of the Unborn Children

Saint Agnes

c. 291–c. 304; Patron Saint of those seeking chastity and purity, engaged couples, rape victims, gardeners, young girls, and girl scouts; Pre-Congregation canonization

Saint Fabian, Pope and Martyr

Died 250; Patron Saint of Rome; Pre-Congregation canonization; Elected pope 236

Saint Liberata of Como

Saint Margaret of Hungary

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