Celebration of Saints October thru December 2020-2021 REDUCED

October – St Therese, the Little Flower Therese died when she was 24, after having lived as cloistered Carmelite for less than ten years She never went on missions, never founded a religious order, never performed great works The only book of hers, published after her death, was an brief edited version of her journal called "Story of a Soul." But within 28 years of her death, the public demand was so great that she was canonized Therese was born in France in 1873, the pampered daughter of a mother who had wanted to be a saint and a father who had wanted to be monk The two had gotten married but determined they would be celibate until a priest told them that was not how God wanted a marriage to work! They later had nine children, the five who lived were all daughters At the age of 11, Therese became so ill with a fever it was thought she was dying When Therese saw her sisters praying to statue of Mary in her room, Therese also prayed She saw Mary smile at her and suddenly she was cured Some people thought she made the whole thing up At the same time she had developed the habit of mental prayer She would find a place between her bed and the wall and in that solitude think about God, life, eternity Her life was never hard as she did little to help at home often times with outbursts of tears and tantrums Therese wanted to enter the Carmelite convent to join two of her sisters but she was uncertain of handling the rigors of Carmelite life Even at the age of 14, she was still being treated as a child by her family During one incident at home, Jesus had come into her heart and done what she could not herself He had made her more sensitive to her father's feelings than her own Shortly after, she entered the convent In her autobiography she referred to a difficult Christmas as her "conversion." Therese was known as the “Little Flower” but she had a will of steel When the superior of the Carmelite convent refused to take Therese because she was so young, she went to the bishop When the bishop also said no, she and her father went onto the Pope They had been forbidden to speak to him but that didn't stop Therese As soon as she got near him, she begged that he let her enter the Carmelite convent The Vicar General who had seen her courage was impressed and soon Therese was admitted to the Carmelite convent She worried about her vocation: " I feel in me the vocation of the Priest I have the vocation of the Apostle Martyrdom was the dream of my youth and this dream has grown with me Considering the mystical body of the Church, I desired to see myself in them all Charity gave me the key to my vocation I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart was burning with love I understood that Love comprised all vocations, that Love was everything, that it embraced all times and places in a word, that it was eternal! Then in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love my vocation, at last I have found it My vocation is Love!" At the age of 23 she took quite ill Her pain was so great that she said that if she had not had faith she would have taken her own life without hesitation One of her sisters in the same convent, journaled her final days Her sister, Pauline put together Therese's writings and sent numerous copies to other convents But Therese's "little way" of trusting in Jesus to make her holy and relying on small daily sacrifices instead of great deeds appealed to the thousands of Catholics and others who were trying to find holiness in ordinary lives Within two years, Catholics move because her notoriety worked tirelessly toward gaining her canonization in 1925 October – St Leger St Leger led a volatile life with questions on his blessed life Leger was raised at the court of King Clotaire II and by his uncle, Bishop Didon of Poitiers Leger was made archdeacon by his uncle, was ordained, and in about 651, became abbot of Maxentius Abbey, where he introduced the Rule of St Benedict He served the Queen and helped her govern when Clovis II died in 656, being named bishop of Autun in 663 He was able to reconcile the differing factions that had torn the See apart, introduced reforms, fortified the town, and was known for his concern for the poor On the death of Clotaire III, he supported young Childeric II for King against his brother Thierry, who had been backed by Ebroin, mayor of the palace Ebroin was exiled to Luxeuil and became a bitter enemy of Leger Leger became Childeric's adviser When Leger denounced the marriage of Childeric to his uncle's daughter, he also incurred the enmity of Childeric, and in 675 Leger was arrested at Autun and banished When Childeric was murdered, his successor restored Leger to his See Ebroin was also restored as mayor of the palace after he had had the incumbent murdered and persuaded the Duke of Champagne and the bishops of Chalons and Valence to attack Autun To save the town, Leger surrendered Ebroin had him blinded, his lips cut off, and his tongue pulled out Not satisfied, he convinced the King that Childeric had been murdered by Leger and his brother Gerinus Gerinus was stoned to death, and Leger was tortured and imprisoned at Fecamp Monastery in Normandy After two years Leger was summoned to court by Ebroin, deposed, and executed protesting his innocence to the end Though the Roman Martyrology calls him Blessed and a martyr, there is doubt among many scholars that he is entitled to those honors October – St Ewald the Fair & the Dark Martyred Northumbrian English brothers, one called "the Fair" and one called "the Dark,” were educated in Ireland They were given the same name, known by the difference in the color of their hair and complexions These priests of the Benedictine Order They were martyred together at Aplerbeke, near Dortmund, Germany, by local pagans about 692 Ewald the Black was the more learned of the two, but both were equally renowned for holiness of life They were apparently acquainted with St Willibrord, the Apostle of Friesland, and were taken with his zeal for the conversion of the Germans They entered upon their mission about 690 The scene of their labours was the country of the ancient Saxons The pagan Saxons, witnessing the activities of the Christian priests and missionaries, began to suspect that the Ewalds planned to convert their over-lord, destroy their temples and supplant their religion Inflamed with jealousy and anger, they resolved that the Ewalds should die An uprising followed and both priests were quickly seized Ewald the Fair was killed quickly by sword; Ewald the Black was tortured and torn limb from limb, after which both their bodies were cast into the Rhine This is understood to have happened on October at a place called Aplerbeck, today a district of Dortmund, where a chapel still stands Christian sources describe various miracles after the priests' deaths, including their martyred bodies being miraculously carried against the stream for the space of forty miles to the place in which the companions of the Ewalds were residing As they floated along, says the Catholic Encyclopedia, "a heavenly light, like a column of fire, was seen to shine above them." One of the martyrs appeared in vision to a monk (a companion of the Ewalds), and told him where the bodies would be found: "that the spot would be there where he should see a pillar of light reaching from earth to heaven" A spring of water is said to have gushed forth in the place of the martyrdom Monument of the Ewalds standing in Dortmund-Aplerbeck, Germany October – St Francis of Assisi In 1882 St Francis was baptized Giovanni after John the Baptist But his father wanted his son to be a cloth merchant So he renamed his son Francesco Francis had a life of wealth and permissiveness He loved to party Francis himself said, "I lived in sin" during that time Even as a dreamer, Francis was good at business, but not holiness! Francis wanted to be a noble, a knight Battle was the best place to win the glory and prestige he longed for He got his first chance when Assisi declared war on their longtime enemy, the nearby town of Perugia Most of the troops from Assisi were butchered in the fight He spent a year in captivity and he was ransomed Strangely, the experience didn't seem to change him He continued to party with as much joy and abandon as he had before the battle Francis' conversion did not happen overnight God had waited for him for twenty-five years and now it was Francis' turn to wait Francis started to spend time in prayer Sometimes God's grace overwhelmed him with joy But life couldn't just stop for God There was a business to run, customers to wait on His search for conversion led him to the ancient church at San Damiano While he was praying there, he heard Christ on the crucifix speak to him, "Francis, repair my church." Francis assumed this meant church with a small c the crumbling building he was in He took fabric from his father's shop and sold it to get money to repair the church His father saw this as an act of theft He dragged Francis before the bishop and in front of the whole town demanding that Francis return the money and renounce all rights as his heir The bishop was very kind to Francis; he told him to return the money and said God would provide And so he did He not only gave back the money but stripped off all his clothes until he was wearing only a hair shirt (a shirt of haircloth, worn by penitents.) In front of the crowd that had gathered he said, "Pietro Bernardone is no longer my father Francis went back to where this all began and begged for stones and rebuilt the San Damiano church with his own hands Soon Francis started to preach (He was never a priest, though he was later ordained a deacon under his protest.) Francis was not a reformer; he preached about returning to God and obedience to the Church Francis never wanted to found a religious order this former knight thought that sounded too military He thought of what he was doing as expressing God's brotherhood He practiced true equality by showing honor, respect, and love to every person Francis really felt that nature, all God's creations, were part of his brotherhood The sparrow was as much his brother as the pope In one famous story, Francis preached to hundreds of birds about being thankful to God for their independence and for God's care The story tells us the birds stood still as he walked among him, only flying off when he said they could leave Francis was a man of action His simplicity of life extended to ideas and deeds If there was a simple way, no matter how impossible it seemed, Francis would take it So when Francis wanted approval for his brotherhood, he went straight to Rome to see Pope Innocent III Francis' final years were filled with suffering as well as humiliation Praying to share in Christ's passion he had a vision receiving the stigmata, the marks of the nails and the lance wound that Christ suffered, in his own body Years of poverty and wandering had made Francis ill He began to go blind, receiving surgery Through this suffering he wrote his beautiful Canticle of the Sun that expresses his brotherhood with creation in praising God Francis never recovered from this illness He died on October 4, 1226 at the age of 45 Francis is considered the founder of all Franciscan orders in Umbria, in 1181 October – St.Faustina Kowalski Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska of the Blessed Sacrament was born as Helena Kowalska, in Poland on August 25, 1905 She was the third of 10 children to a poor and religious family Faustina first felt a calling to the religious life when she was just seven-years-old and attended the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament After finishing her schooling, Faustina wanted to immediately join a convent However, her parents refused to let her Instead, at 16-yearsold, Faustina became a housekeeper to help her parents and support herself In 1924, Faustina experienced her first vision of Jesus While at a dance with one of her sisters, Faustina saw a suffering Jesus and then went to a Cathedral According to Faustina, Jesus instructed her to leave for Warsaw immediately and join a convent She did as she was instructed, arrived in Warsaw and entered Saint James Church in Warsaw, the first church she came across, and attended Mass While in Warsaw, Faustina approached many different convents, but was turned away every time She was judged on her appearances and sometimes rejected for poverty Finally, the mother superior for the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy decided to take in Faustina on the condition that she could pay for her own religious habit Working as a housekeeper, Faustina began to save her money and make deposits to the Convent Two years later, she finally received her habit and took the religious name of Sister Maria Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament and in 1928, she took her first religious vows as a nun In 1931 she was visited by Jesus, who presented himself as the "King of Divine Mercy" wearing a white garment with red and pale rays coming from his heart She was asked to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others, and an instrument for reemphasizing God's plan of mercy for the world In 1965, Archbishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla, who would later become Pope John Paul II, opened up the first investigations into Faustina's life and virtues He submitted a number of documents on her life to the Vatican and requested the official beatification process to start St Faustina Kowalska was beatified on April 18, 1993 and canonized on April 30, 2000, both by Pope St John Paul II October – St Bruno Bruno was born in Cologne about 1030, of the prominent Hartenfaust family He studied at the Cathedral school at Rheims, but it wasn’t until he returned to Cologne that he was ordained and became a Canon at St Cunibert's He then went back to Rheims as professor of theology, became head of the school the following year, and remained there until he was appointed chancellor of Rheims by its archbishop, Manasses Bruno was forced to flee Rheims when he and several other priests denounced Manasses in 1076 as unfit for the office of Papal Legate Bruno later returned to Cologne but went back to Rheims in 1080 when Manasses was deposed, and though the people of Rheims wanted to make Bruno archbishop, he decided to live the life of a eremite (hermit or recluse) under Abbot St Robert of Molesmes (who later founded Citeaux village, site of a famous abbey in France The abbey, largely through the activities of the 12th-century churchman and mystic St Bernard of Clairvaux, became the headquarters of the Cistercian order, which had abbeys scattered all over Europe.) However, he moved on to Grenoble with six companions in 1084 They were assigned a place for their hermitages in a desolate, mountainous, alpine area called La Grande Chartreuse, by Bishop St Hugh of Grenoble, who became Bruno’s confessor They built an oratory and individual cells, roughly followed the rule of St Benedict, and began the Carthusian Order They embraced a life of poverty, manual work, prayer, and transcribing manuscripts, though as yet they had no written rule The fame of the group and their founder spread, and in 1090, Bruno was brought to Rome, against his wishes, by Pope Urban II (whom he had taught at Rheims) as Papal Adviser in the reformation of the clergy Bruno persuaded Urban to allow him to resume his eremitical state, founded St Mary's at La Torre in Calabria, declined the Pope's offer of the archbishopric of Reggio, became a close friend of Count Robert of Sicily, and remained there until his death on October He wrote several commentaries on the psalms and on St Paul's epistles He was never formally canonized because of the Carthusians' aversion to public honors but Pope Leo X granted the Carthusians permission to celebrate his feast in 1514, and his name was placed on the Roman calendar in 1623 October – St Artaldus Artaldus (also called Arthaud) was born in the castle of Sothonod in Savoy, a region in the Western Alps At the age of eighteen, he went to the court of Duke Amadeus III, but a year or two after, he became a Carthusian priest at Portes After many years, being a priest and an experienced and holy religious, he was sent by the prior of the Grande Chartreuse to found a charterhouse near his home, in a valley in the Valromey significantly called "the cemetery" Here Artaldus established himself with six of his brethren from Portes The community was no sooner settled in and built, when there buildings were destroyed by fire, and St Artaldus had to begin all over again He chose a fresh site on the Arvieres River, and his second foundation was soon built and occupied But a Carthusian cell could not contain the ever-increasing reputation of Artaldus: like his master St Bruno, he was consulted by the Pope, and when he was well over eighty, he was called from his monastery to be bishop of Belley, in spite of his vehement and reasonable protest However, after less than two years of his appointment as Bishop, his resignation was accepted, and he thankfully returned to Arvieres, where he lived in peace for the rest of his days During his last years, he was visited by St Hugh of Lincoln, who had come into France, and who, while he was prior of the charterhouse of Witham, had induced Henry II to become a benefactor of Arvieres The Magna vita of St Hugh recorded a gentle rebuke administered by Hugh when Artaldus asked him for political news in the presence of the community who had turned their backs upon the world to give themselves entirely to God The cultus of St Artaldus, called simply Blessed by the Carthusians, was confirmed for the diocese of Belley in 1834 He was 105 years old when he died October – St Pelagia (Margaret) Pelagia, more often called Margaret, on account of the magnificence of the pearl jewelry she loved and wore She was an actress of Antioch and thought of as a loose woman, she was equally celebrated for her beauty, her wealth and the disorder other life During a synod at Antioch, she passed Bishop St Nonnus of Edessa, who was struck with her beauty; the next day she went to hear him preach and was so moved by his sermon that she asked him to baptize her which he did She gave her wealth to Nonnus to aid the poor and left Antioch dressed in men's clothing She became a hermitess in a cave on Mount of Olivette in Jerusalem, where she lived, performing penances and known as "the beardless monk " Pelagia died as a result of extreme asceticism (her severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence), which had emaciated her to the point she could no longer be recognized According to Orthodox tradition, she was buried in her cell Upon the discovery that the renowned monk had been a woman, the "holy fathers" tried to keep it a secret, but the gossip spread and her relics drew pilgrims from everywhere Though a young girl of fifteen did exist and suffer martyrdom at Antioch in the fourth century, the story here told is a pious fiction, which gave rise to a whole set of similar stories under different names Pelagia died as a result of extreme asceticism (her severe self-discipline and avoidance of all forms of indulgence), which had emaciated her to the point she could no longer be recognized According to Orthodox tradition, she was buried in her cell Upon the discovery that the renowned monk had been a woman, the "holy fathers" tried to keep it a secret, but the gossip spread and her relics drew pilgrims from everywhere October – Sts Denis, Rusticus & Eleutherius The first mention we have of these three martyrs who died around 258 A.D comes in the sixth century in the writings of Saint Gregory of Tours Denis (or Dionysius as he is also called) is the most famous of the three Born and raised in Italy, he was sent as a missionary to Gaul (now France) circa 250 A.D by Pope St Clement along with five other bishops Denis made his base of missionary activity an island in the Seine near the city of Lutetia Parisorium what would become Paris For this reason he is known as the first bishop of Paris and the Apostle of France There he was captured by the Parisians along with Rusticus and Eleutherius Later writers have referred to these as Denis' priest and deacon, or his deacon and sub deacon, but we have no further information on them After a long imprisonment and several aborted executions, the three martyrs were beheaded with a sword and their bodies were thrown into the river Denis' body was retrieved from the Seine by his converts and buried The chapel that was built over his tomb grew into the abbey of Saint-Denis In the ninth century, Denis' story and identity became fused and confused with Dionysius the Areopagite and Pseudo-Dionysius, but later scholarship has re-established his identity as a separate saint Recognized since the time of St Gregory as a special saint of Paris, Denis is the patron saint of France Denis is pictured as he was martyred -headless (with a vine growing over the neck) and carrying his own mitered head and not pictured with Saints Rusticus & Eleutherius Saint Eleutherius Saint Rusticus October 10 – Francis Borgia Francis was a young nobleman at the court of the King of Spain He became a Duke when he was only thirty-three and lived a happy, peaceful life with his wife Eleanor and their eight children But unlike so many other powerful nobles, Francis was a perfect Christian gentleman, a true man of God and his great joy was to receive Holy Communion often This happy life ended when his beloved wife died Francis did something that astonished all the nobles of Spain; he gave up his Dukedom to his son Charles and became a Jesuit priest So many people came to his first Mass that they had to set up an altar outdoors His Superior tested him by treating him in exactly the opposite way he had been used to all his forty-one years of life He who had once been a Duke had to help the cook, carrying wood for the fire and sweeping the kitchen When he served food to the priests and brothers, he had to kneel down in front of them all and beg them to forgive him for being so clumsy! Still he never once complained or grumbled The only time he became angry was when anyone treated him with respect as if he was still a Duke Once a doctor who had to take care of a painful wound Francis had gotten said to him: "I am afraid, my lord, that I have to hurt your grace." The saint answered that he would not hurt him more than he was right then by calling him "my lord" and "your grace." It was not too long before the humble priest accomplished wonderful works for God's glory as he preached everywhere and advised many important people He spread the Society of Jesus all over Spain and in Portugal When he was made Superior General of the Jesuits, he sent missionaries all over the world Under his guidance, the Jesuits grew to be a very great help to the Church in many lands Through all such success, Borgia remained completely humble December 18 – ST Rufus Another day with very little information to write As with many martyrs, there was so little written and not always, a lot of proof Sometimes their stories are even said to be legendary But St Rufus and Zosimus (a Byzantine historian of the fifth and sixth century) were citizens of Antioch (or perhaps Philippi) who were brought to Rome with St Ignatius of Antioch during the reign of Emperor Trajan They were condemned to death for their Christianity and thrown to wild beasts in the arena two days before the martyrdom of Ignatius December 19 – St Nemesius Not much today but we can not dismiss this Martyr of Egypt He was burned alive in Alexandria, Egypt, during the persecutions under Emperor Trajanus Decius Nemesius was arrested and scourged and then burned to death Like Christ, he was executed between two criminals December 20 - St Dominic of Silos St, Dominic of Silos was a Benedictine abbot and defender of the faith Born in Canas, Navarre, Spain, circa 1000, he entered the Benedictines at San Millan de Ia Cogolla King Garcia III of Navarre challenged him when he became abbot of the monastery, and Dominic refused to surrender part of the Benedictine lands to the crown For this he was exiled But King Ferdinand I of Castile and Leon sent him to Silos and made him abbot of St Sebastian’s later called St Dominic's Dominic reformed the abbey, built the cloisters in Romanesque style, and started a scriptorium (a room apart from others in a monastery, just for writing and copying) that became famous throughout the region One of the most beloved saints in Spain, Dominic also rescued Christian slaves from the Moors Dominic was noted for miracles of healing December 21 – St Peter Canisius In 1565, the Vatican was looking for a someone with no fear of reprisal, to carry out simple errands but dangerous in many ways in the 16th century The first envoy who tried to carry decrees through territory of hostile Protestants and vicious thieves was robbed of the precious documents Rome needed someone courageous but also someone above suspicion They chose Peter Canisius At 43 he was a well-known Jesuit who had founded colleges that even Protestants respected They gave him a cover as official "visitor" of Jesuit foundations But Peter couldn't hide the decrees the same way we think of doing this today Peter traveled from Rome and successfully crisscrossed through Germany loaded down with the Tridentine tomes 250 pages each not to mention the three sacks of books he took along for his own university! For many years during the Reformation, Peter saw the students in his universities swayed by the flashy speeches and the well-written arguments of the Protestants Peter was not alone in wishing for a Catholic catechism that would present true Catholic beliefs undistorted by fanatics Finally, King Ferdinand himself ordered Peter and his companions to write a catechism A friend and colleague of Peter’s Father Lejay was obviously the logical choice, being a better writer than Peter to carry out the directive When Father Lejay died, King Ferdinand would wait no longer Peter said of writing: "I have never learned to be elegant as a writer, but I cannot remain dumb on that account." The first issue of the Catechism appeared in 1555 and was an immediate success Peter approached Christian doctrine in two parts: wisdom including faith, hope, and charity and justice avoiding evil and doing good, linked by a section on sacraments Because of the success and the need, Peter quickly produced two more versions: a Shorter Catechism for middle school students which concentrated on helping this age group choose good over evil by concentrating on a different virtue each day of the week; and his shortest Catechism for young children which included prayers for morning and evening, for mealtimes, etc to get them used to praying Peter died December 21, 1597 He is known as the Second Apostle of Germany and was named a Doctor of the Church December 22 - St Chaeromon It’s always disappointing when information on the personal and/or spiritual life a saint has not been duly noted St Chaeromon is definitely one of those saints He was a Bishop of Nilopolis, in Egypt When the persecution was instituted by Emperor Trjanus Decius, Chaeromon was quite elderly He and several companions fled into the Arabian desert and were never seen again The bishop and his companions are listed as martyrs December 23 – St John of Kanty John Cantius was born in Kęty, a small town near Oświęcim, Poland He attended the Kraków Academy and in 1418 he became a Doctor of Philosophy Upon graduation he spent the next three years conducting philosophy classes at the university, while preparing for the priesthood After he was ordained , he became rector at the school of the Canons Regular of the Most Holy Sepulcher in Miechow While there, he was offered a professorship of Sacra Scriptura (Sacred Scripture) back at his alma mater, the Kraków Academy, which would later be named the Jagiellonian University He got a doctorate in theology and eventually became director of the theology department He held the professorship until his death in 1473 Cantius spent many hours copying manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures, theological tracts, and other scholarly works During his time in Kraków, Cantius became well known in the city for his generosity and compassion toward the poor, especially needy students at the university He subsisted on what was strictly necessary to sustain his life, giving alms regularly to the poor He made one pilgrimage to Jerusalem and four pilgrimages on foot to Rome John Cantius was beatified in Rome by Pope Clement X on 28 March 1676 He was named patron of Poland and Lithuania by Pope Clement XII in the year 1737 Ninety-one years after his beatification, John Cantius was canonized on 16 July 1767, by Pope Clement XIII December 24 – St Adele St Adele, Widow A daughter of King Dagobert II of Germany, St Adele became a nun upon the death of her husband, making provisions for her son, the future father of St Gregory of Utrecht She founded a convent at Palatiolum near Trier and became its first Abbess, ruling with holiness, prudence, and compassion St Adele was among the disciples of St Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, and a letter in his correspondence is addressed to her After a devout life filled with good works and communion with God, she passed away in 730 December 25 – St Eugenia Here it is Christmas day We are rejoicing for this is the day that Jesus Christ was born And He, nor his mother, Mary of father, Joseph, are not written on this page today They will be received in due time But today is a day to rejoice that we have a remarkable person remembered because of the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ There definitely was a Roman martyr named Eugenia but much of of her story is legend According to it she was the daughter of Duke Philip of Alexandria, governor of Egypt during the reign of Emperor Valerian She fled her father's house dressed in men's clothing and was baptized by Helenus, bishop of Heliopolis, who sent her to an abbey of which she later became abbot Accused of adultery by a woman she had cured of a sickness and whose advances she had resisted, she was hailed before a judge to answer the charges; the judge was her father Exonerated when she revealed she was a woman and his daughter, she converted him to Christianity (he later became a bishop and was beheaded for his faith) Eugenia converted many others, including her mother, Claudia, and suffered martyrdom by sword for her faith in Rome, where she had gone with her mother December 26 – St Stephen (Good King Wenceslas) The name of St Stephen may not come to mind from the saint himself, but from a long-standing Christmas song: “Good King Wenseslas.” The song starts out “Good King Wenceslas was born on the Feast of Stephen.” In the song a miracle occurs, but not attributed to the life of our saint Saint Stephen was one of the first ordained deacons of the Church He was also the first Christian martyr The Greek word from which we derive the English word martyr literally means witness In that sense, every Christian is called to bear witness to Jesus Christ, in both their words and their actions His behavior, even forgiving those who were taking his life while he was being stoned to death, he spoke his last words, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit Lord, not hold this sin against them." This was a beautiful reflection of how conformed he truly was to the Lord Jesus Christ It is recorded in Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 7:54-60), which immediately follows the Gospels in the New Testament The 6th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles contains an account of the choice of the first seven deacons of the Church As the Apostles worked to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ as his elders, some of the Greek-speaking widows were being neglected in their practical needs The Twelve decided to ordain seven deacons to oversee their care In doing so, the deacons extended the pastoral care of the Apostles, the first Bishops of the early Church, enabling them to attend more to teaching Of the seven ordained, Stephen was the oldest and given the title of "archdeacon," the chief among them Little is known about him before this account Like most of the early Christian leaders, he was Jewish, but may have come came from among the Greek speaking or Hellenistic believers, the ones feeling slighted in the distribution of alms Great preaching and miracles were attributed to Stephen The Bible records that Stephen "full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people." Stephen s popularity created enemies among some Jews, members of the Synagogue of Roman Freedmen They debated with him, to generate evidence against him in furtherance of their persecution of the early Church Stephen was put on trial for blasphemy He defended himself as best he could While he concluded that defense, he looked up and saw a vision of Jesus standing at the right hand of God He said, "Look, I can see heaven thrown open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." That vision was taken as the final proof of blasphemy to the Jews who did not believe Jesus was the Messiah or Son of God For them, Jesus could not possibly be beside the Father in Heaven The crowd rushed upon Stephen and carried him outside of the city to stone him to death Watching the trial and execution was a Rabbi named Saul of Tarsus, a virulent persecutor of the early Church Shortly thereafter, that Rabbi would himself encounter the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus and be dramatically converted His encounter is recorded in the 9th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles He took the name Paul as a sign of his new life in Jesus Christ and went on to become the great apostle to the Gentiles Stephen was buried by Christians, but the location of his tomb is not specified in the New Testament and may have been forgotten for a time In 415 a Christian priest claimed he had a vision of the tomb and located Stephen s remains A name inside the tomb confirmed the find December 27 – St John the Apostle and Evangelist St John the Apostle, the son of Zebedee and Salome, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus John was called to be an Apostle by our Lord in the first year of His public ministry He is considered the same person as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos and the Beloved Disciple John's older brother was St James the Great, another one of Jesus' Twelve Apostles Jesus referred to the brothers as "Boanerges," meaning "sons of thunder." John is believed to be the longest living apostle and the only not to die a martyr's death John, along with Peter and James, were the only witnesses of the raising of Daughter of Jairus, and the closest witnesses to the Agony in Gethsemane John was the one who reported to Jesus they had "'forbidden' a non-disciple from casting out demons in Jesus' name." This prompted Jesus to state, "he who is not against us is on our side." John and Peter were the only two apostles sent by Jesus to make preparations for the final Passover meal, the Last Supper During the meal, St John sat next to Jesus, leaning on him John was the only one of the Twelve Apostles who did not forsake the Savior in the hour of His Passion He stood faithfully at the cross when the Savior made him the guardian of His Mother After the Assumption of Mary, John went to Ephesus, according to Church tradition He later became banished by the Roman authorities to the Greek Island of Patmos; this is where he allegedly wrote the Book of Revelation It is said John was banished in the late 1st century, during the reign of the Emperor Domitian, after being plunged into boiling oil in Rome and suffering no injuries It is also said that all those who witnessed the miracle in the Colosseum were converted to Christianity Emperor Domitian was known for his persecution of Christians John is known as the author of the Gospel of John and four other books in the New Testament - the three Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation The authorship of the Gospel is credited to the "disciple whom Jesus loved," and John 21:24 claims the Gospel of John is based on the "Beloved Disciple's" testimony However, the true authorship has been debated on since 200 St John is called the Apostle of Charity, a virtue he had learned from his Divine Master, and which he constantly inculcated by word and example The "beloved disciple" died after AD 98, where a stately church was erected over his tomb It was afterwards converted into a Mohammedan mosque St John is the patron saint of love, loyalty, friendships, and authors He is often depicted in art as the author of the Gospel with an eagle, symbolizing "the height he rose to in his gospel." In other icons, he is shown looking up into heaven and dictating his Gospel to his disciple December 28 – St Anthony the Hermit Anthony was born about circa 468 at Valeria in Lower Pannonia, a Slavic community When he was eight years old, his father died and he was first entrusted to the care of St Severinus After the death of Severinus, an uncle, Bishop Constantius of Lorsch in Bavaria took charge of his upbringing While in Bavaria, Anthony became a monk He returned to Italy in 488 and joined the cleric Marius and his companions as a hermit at Lake Como However, he gained so many disciples that he was forced to flee Anthony then went to Lerins in Gaul and became a monk there However, he lived only two years at Lerins before his death, renowned for his miracles and spirituality December 29 – St Aileran Monk, biographer, and scholar-also called Sapiens the Wise Aileran was one of the most distinguished professors at the school of Clonard in Ireland St Finian welcomed Aileran to Clonard In 650, Aileran became rector of Clonard, and was recognized as a classical scholar and a master of Latin and Greek He wrote The Fourth Life of St Patrick, a Latin-Irish Litany and The Lives of St Brigid and St Fechin of Fore His last work was a treatise on the genealogy of Christ according to St Matthew A fragment of another of Aileran's works has survived: A Short Moral Explanation of the Sacred Names Scholarly institutions across Europe read this work aloud annually Aileran died from the Yellow Plague His death on December 29, 664 is chronicled in the Annals of Ulster December 30 - St Anysia of Salonika Saint Anysia of Salonika was a Christian virgin and martyr from Greece of the 4th century She was a wealthy woman who used her personal funds to She dedicated herself to vows of chastity and poverty, praying and aid the poor A soldier accosted her in the street and tried to drag her to a pagan sacrifice Anysia resisted a Roman soldier who apprehended her on the way to Mass He discovered she was a Christian, he beat her, and intended to drag her to a pagan temple to sacrifice to Roman gods When he tore off her veil (a reminder of her vow of chastity), she spit in his face, and he murdered her December 31 – St Sylvester St Sylvester, born in Rome, was ordained by Pope St Marcellinus during the peace that preceded the persecutions of Diocletian He passed through those days of terror, witnessed the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian, and saw the triumph of Constantine in the year 312 Two years later he succeeded St Melchiades as Bishop of Rome In the same year, he sent four assistants to represent him at the great Council of the Western Church, held at Aries He confirmed it's decision The Council of Nice was assembled during his reign, in the year 325, but not being able to assist at it in person, on account of his great age, he sent his assistants, who headed the list of subscribers to its decrees, preceding the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch St Sylvester was Pope for twenty-four years and eleven months He died in the year 335 ... (syllabic) October 28 - St Jude Thaddaeus St Jude, known as Thaddaeus, was a brother of St James the Less, and a relative of Our Saviour He was one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus Images of St Jude often... Cardinal of the Church Because of his skills of organization and dealing with people, the Pope promoted Charles Borromeo to the office of Secretary of State, the Cardinal Protector of several... immigrants of France, Belgium and Holland Later he became professor of moral philosophy and social ethics in the major seminary of Cracow and in the Faculty of philosophy at the Catholic University of