Saints of the Week: LaSalette, Matthew, Jonas, Hildegard, Joseph Cupertino, Bellarmine, Theban Legion, Eustace, Korea Martyrs &More
Happy Sunday! As autumn sets in, we should reflect on our own mortality and whether we are carrying our crosses in imitation of Christ, as the saints we celebrated this past week did.
Mother Mary appeared as Our Lady of LaSalette (Sept. 19), as a weeping lady wearing a crucifix, “to two shepherd children at La Salette, a small hamlet in the French Alps. Through the children she gave her message of ‘Reconciliation’ to the world. She insisted that this message be made known to all her people.”
St. Matthew the Apostle (Sept. 21), or Levi, was a tax collector, and thus a Roman collaborator disdained by his fellow Jews. When Jesus told Matthew to “Follow me,” however, Matthew immediately left everything to follow Christ (Matt. 9:9). His Gospel has traditionally been considered the first one written, sometime between 41 and 50 AD. It was written in either Aramaic or Hebrew to convince Jews that Jesus was the long-expected Messiah. Evangelized in Ethiopia and was martyred. Depicted with an angel based on one of the four living creatures in Revelation 4:7. Jonas the Prophet (Sept. 21/22) fled when God gave him a mission and was thrown into the sea when his ship was almost wrecked. Jonas was swallowed by a huge fish or whale, which regurgitated him so he could preach repentance to the city of Nineveh, which then begged God’s mercy (see book of Jonas).
St. Hildegard von Bingen (Sept. 17) is one of the most remarkable and versatile women in history, a female composer whose music is foundational for Western culture, and a Doctor of the Church. Born to the German nobility, she received visions from toddlerhood and became an anchoress, then head of a convent. At 42 years old, in 1141 AD, Jesus inspired her with miraculous ability to understand religious texts and ordered her in a vision to write down everything. She finished her first visionary work with papal approval. Hildegard was a brilliant scientist, botanist, healer, theologian, philosopher, and composer.
St. Joseph of Cupertino (Sept. 18) was born in a stable, like Jesus, to a recently widowed and impoverished mother. He was apprenticed to a shoemaker but at age 17 applied for admittance to the Friars Minor Conventuals, though he was refused because he was uneducated. The Capuchins accepted him as a lay-brother in 1620, but he was dismissed due to his mystical ecstasies and abused by his family. Joseph was eventually accepted at a Franciscan convent where his virtues were finally recognized and he was ordained a priest at age 25. Though almost illiterate, he had deep spiritual discernment and his life was a series of visions, ecstasies, and miracles. He frequently levitated in the air (hence his patronage of air travel). His activity was restricted and he was investigated for these phenomena, but he always remained joyful and humble.
St. Robert Bellarmine (Sept. 17) was born 1542 in Italy, and though he always suffered health problems, he was one of the lights of the Catholic Reformation (the response to the Protestant Revolt). A Jesuit, well-educated, he became a theology professor, preacher, and anti-heresy writer. He held many important positions in Rome, including Cardinal, but was always very generous to the poor. Bellarmine took “a fundamentally democratic position – authority originates with God, is vested in the people, who entrust it to fit rulers,” which enraged monarchs. Bellarmine was a friend or helper to Galileo, St. Francis de Sales, and St. Aloysius Gonzaga, and a Doctor of the Church.
The Theban Legion (Sept. 22) were slaughtered en masse in the late 200s AD. Over six thousand of these Christian Roman soldiers from Africa, led by St. Maurice, refused to participate in pagan sacrifices while putting down a revolt in modern-day Switzerland, and were all martyred. St. Eustace and his family (Sept. 20): Eustace was a Roman military leader who converted to Christianity after seeing a stag with a cross between its antlers and hearing a voice urging baptism while he was hunting. Called back into military service by Trajan during barbarian invasions, Eustace was militarily successful, but martyred with his whole family for their faith. One of the 14 Holy Helpers.
The Martyrs of Korea (Sept. 20) were celebrated as a group this week. Among the foremost of them were Andrew Kim Taegon (see my previous piece), the first native Korean priest, and Paul Chong Hasang. Paul, a diplomatist and apologetical writer, kept the faith alive in Korea after all the clergy in the country were martyred. The pope responded to his appeal for the validity of the Korean Catholic diocese. Paul was martyred while a seminarian. Augustinus Yu Chin-Kil (Sept. 22) was a Korean layman and married catechist also martyred for the faith.
St. Januarius and companions (Sept. 19): Januarius was the 4th century bishop of Benevento in Italy, arrested and martyred with deacons he was visiting in jail during the persecutions of Diocletian. His blood was preserved and dried; to this day, it still continues to liquefy miraculously on his feast day. St. Cadoc of Wales (Sept. 21) was a Welsh abbot, hermit, bishop, and miracle-worker who converted his royal parents. He founded a monastery, evangelized, and was martyred by pagan Saxons. St. Theodore of Canterbury (Sept. 19) was a bishop who did great work in the 600s AD in unifying and leading the Church in England.
The Stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi (Sept. 17—the stigmata is the wounds of Christ’s Passion that some saints receive). Catholicsaints.info: “While in meditation on Mount Alvernia in the Apennines in September 1224, Saint Francis received a vision of a six winged angel. Francis saw that the angel was crucified. When the angel departed, Francis was left with wounds in his hands, feet, and side as though he had been crucified. The wound in his side often seeped blood.” While in Assisi, I saw the shoes specially made for Francis because of the bleeding from his feet. St. Satyrus of Milan (Sept. 17) was a Roman prefect and brother of Sts. Marcellina and Ambrose of Milan.
St. Thomas of Villanova (Sept. 22) was a Spanish friar and bishop known for his great charity to the poor and his mercy toward sinners. Bl. Daudi Okelo and Jildo Irwa (Sept. 18) were born to the Ugandan Acholi tribe. Daudi converted around the age of 15, while Jildo converted at 11. They were both catechists, instructing others in the faith and leading them in prayer, particularly the Rosary. Caught in the midst of one outbreak of frequent local infighting, the zealous young Christians were martyred by being speared and knifed to death in 1918. St. Carolus Hyon Song-Mun (Sept. 19), was a married Korean father and catechist. Travelled extensively to help missionaries, wrote a book about the persecuted Christians, ministered to his fellow prisoners, and was executed as were multiple family members.
St. Zygmunt Szcesny Felinski (Sept. 17) was a 20th century freedom fighter and Archbishop of Warsaw exiled for his denunciations of Russian crimes. Józef Kut (Sept. 18) was a Polish priest imprisoned, tortured, and then martyred in Dachau concentration camp. St. Gunthildis of Suffersheim (Sept. 22) was a pious 11th century milk-maid and servant known for her charity to the poor and her miracles. St. Richardis of Andlou (Sept. 18) was the wife of King Charles the Fat and thus Holy Roman Empress; after a false accusation of infidelity, she proved her innocence and then left the throne to become a nun. St. Tôma Tran Van Thien (Sept. 21) was a Vietnamese seminarian and martyr, beaten and strangled in 1838.
St. François Jaccard (Sept. 21) was a French missionary martyred in Vietnam. St. Susanna of Eleutheropolis (Sept. 20) was a deaconess martyred by Julian the Apostate. St. Mary de Cerevellon (Sept.19) founded the female branch of the Mercedarian Order (d.1290). St. Settimio of Jesi (Sept.22) was a soldier, convert, and bishop martyred for evangelizing (d.c.307). St.Ignatius of Santhia (Sept.22) was a military chaplain and Capuchin priest.
You can also read about Jonah the Priest (Sept. 22); Jacques Honoré Chastán, Mark Scalabrini,and Caterina Aliprandi of Asti (Sept. 21); Francisco Martin Fernández de Posadas, and Lawrence Mary Joseph Imbert (Sept. 20); Alonso de Orozco Mena, Martyrs of Phunon, and Emily de Rodat (Sept. 19); Salvador Chuliá Ferrandis, Ariadne, Ðaminh Trach Ðoài, and Ferreolus the Tribune (Sept. 18); and Lambert of Liege, Sophia, and her daughters Faith, Hope, and Charity (Sept. 17).
Have a blessed week!