Saints of the Week: Candlemas, Blaise, Dallan, Catherine de Ricci, J.Bosco, Brigid, Martina, Takayama Ukon, Marcella, &More
Happy Sunday! The Christmas season ended this week, and we are now approaching the penitential season of Lent. Our society is currently under attack by demonic forces, but we know that Christ told us demons can be cast out by prayer and fasting (Matt.17:21)—advice the saints we celebrated this past week took to heart.
The feast of Jesus’ Presentation in the Temple, also called Candlemas or the Purification of Mary (Feb. 2), commemorates the passage of Luke where Joseph and Mary, to fulfill the Mosaic Law, presented Christ in the Temple, where He was hailed by Sts. Simeon and Anna (Feb. 3). Anna was married and widowed young, and dedicated her life to God in the Temple; it is said she helped train Mother Mary when the latter was a child. God told Simeon he wouldn’t die without seeing the Messiah, and, upon seeing Jesus, Simeon recited a canticle of thanksgiving and prophesied the future suffering of Jesus and Mary. Candlemas is the end of the Christmas season. Read my previous article for more details. The second Marian feast this week was Our Lady of Suyapa (Feb. 3), an image of Mary under which she is honored and through which miracles are performed in Honduras.
St. Blaise (Feb. 3) was an Armenian physician and bishop particularly kind to animals, arrested after Romans seeking wild animals for the public execution of Christians found a host of the animals gathered around Blaise’s cave. Blaise ministered to his fellow prisoners and healed a child choking on a fishbone, hence the traditional blessing of throats on his feast. Blaise was supposed to be drowned, but he simply stood on the surface of the water, walking back to land after the pagans failed to accomplish the same feat. He was then beaten, his flesh torn with wool combs, and beheaded. Hugely popular in the past, one of the 14 Holy Helpers.
St. Dallan Forgaill (Jan. 29) was a 6th century Irish royal who went blind but still became the chief bard and poet of Ireland. He preserved Gaelic language and literature, and penned works including the Eulogy of Saint Columba and, most famously, the hymn we know as “Be Thou My Vision.” He was martyred by pirates.
St. Catherine de Ricci (Feb. 2) was born 1522 in Italy. A pious child, she became a Dominican tertiary and always experienced visions and ecstasies—and bad health. She could bilocate (be in two places at once), received a diamond ring from Jesus, and also had the stigmata (wounds of Christ). For 12 years she received weekly ecstasies of the Passion of Christ, with Jesus’s wounds appearing on her body. She reformed her religious house. Crowds flocked to her, and three popes were among those who sought her prayers.
St. John Bosco (Jan. 31) used to evangelize from a young age by performing carnival and circus tricks for his fellow children before repeating to them the homily he heard that day in church. He worked various jobs while attending seminary, and, after his ordination, became a tireless and loving educator and mentor for many young people. John founded the Salesians of Don Bosco to educate boys, and two other organizations. Son of Ven. Margaret Bosco and mentor of St. Dominic Savio.
St. Brigid of Ireland (Feb. 1) was born to a Pictish slave and a Scottish king of Leinster, Ireland. She was freed after her excessive generosity proved too much for her pagan father. She obtained her mother’s freedom, refused marriage, and took religious vows. When St. Patrick was told that he had accidentally used the form for ordaining priests when receiving Brigid’s vows, he said, “So be it, my son, she is destined for great things.” Brigid founded convents across Ireland, was a tireless traveler, and died in 523.
St. Martina of Rome (Jan. 30) was a wealthy Roman virgin who gave away her riches to the poor and dedicated herself to God. She was eventually tortured and martyred for refusing to worship pagan gods in the 3rd century, and a basilica in the Roman Forum is dedicated to her. St. Marcella (Jan. 31) was a wealthy married Roman noblewoman. Widowed after only seven months of marriage, she gathered a group of women to live in a religious community under the direction of St. Jerome. She was tortured by invading Goths who released her when they discovered she had already given away all her wealth to the poor (d.410).
Bl. Iustus Takayama Ukon (Feb. 3): “Born to a family of wealthy land owners in feudal Japan. After learning of Christianity from Jesuit missionaries, he converted at age 12. Married, layman, and a samurai. When Shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi banned Christianity, Takayama refused to give up his faith, lost all his lands, assets, rank and power, and was exiled to the Philippines in 1614 when all Christians were ordered deported. Takayama chose his faith over his career, his position and his wealth. Though he died of natural causes, because he contracted the fatal illness due to choosing his faith over the world, he is considered a martyr [catholicsaints.info].”
The Three Holy Hierarchs (Jan. 30): “Living in and around the 300s, Sts. Basil [the Great], Gregory [the Theologian], and John Chrysostom were great theologians during their age. And, not only were they highly acclaimed during their time, but we continue to read their words.” Christians who admired the saints split into factions, each extolling his favorite saint as the greatest, in an unchristian manner. The three saints appeared in a dream to a bishop, said they were all equal in God’s eyes, and requested a shared feast.
St. Francis de Sales (Jan. 24) was a Frenchman trained as a lawyer who chose to become a priest. Assigned to the diocese of Geneva in Switzerland, a hotbed of heretical Calvinism, Francis converted many back to Catholicism through his preaching and pamphlets. He later became bishop of Geneva and was a gentle and loving pastor, arguing, “A spoonful of honey attracts more flies than a barrelful of vinegar.” His writings and preaching particularly focus on helping laypeople live holy lives in the world, including The Introduction to the Devout Life. Francis helped St. Jane Frances de Chantal to establish the Sisters of the Visitation, and died in 1622. He is the patron saint of journalists.
Bl. Columba Marmion (Jan. 30) was an Irish priest and professor who became a monk at the Belgian Abbey of Maredsous, where he eventually became Abbot. He was a wise preacher and spiritual director whose written works are considered excellent. Having endured the trials of WWI, he died in a flu epidemic in 1923.
St. Ignatius of Antioch (Feb. 1, Latin Mass) was a pagan convert to Christianity who succeeded St. Peter as bishop of Antioch. He survived the persecution of Roman Emperor Domition but during Trajan’s persecution was taken to Rome to be martyred by being thrown to wild beasts. During his journey to Rome, he wrote a series of letters to the churches of which he was in charge. He was the first writer to use the term “Catholic Church.” Father of the Church, mentioned in the Canon of the Mass. One legend says Ignatius was the child Jesus embraced in the Gospel of Mark (9:35-36).
St. Theophilus the Penitent (Feb. 4) was a 6th century archdeacon and treasurer of a Turkish church who lost his position. He signed a pact with the devil to exact revenge, but repented and broke the pact with Our Lady’s help. His story has inspired such famous stories as Goethe’s Faust. St. John de Brito (Feb. 4), a Portuguese noble, “was one of the earliest Jesuit missionaries in India to adopt elements of the local culture in his evangelization. He was eventually martyred because of his success and his steadfast refusal to accept honors and safety.” His converts included Prince Tadaya Theva, whose uncle then ensured John’s martyrdom (d.1690). St. Bathilde (Jan. 30) was a 7th century English girl kidnapped and enslaved to the Gallic (French) Mayor of the Palace. King Clovis II eventually married her, and as Queen she helped the poor, fought slavery, and aided the Church. Widowed, she served as her son’s regent and then became a nun.
Sts. Cyrus and companions (Jan. 31): “St. Cyrus was an Alexandrian doctor who used his calling to convert many of his patients to Christianity. He joined an Arabian physician named John in encouraging Athanasia and her three daughters to remain constant in their faith under torture at Canopus, Egypt. They [w]ere both seized and tortured, and then all six were beheaded.” St. Ansgar (Feb. 3) was a French monk who evangelized Denmark and Sweden, fought slavery, worked miracles, preached, and cared for the poor and sick. He founded Sweden’s first church, became an archbishop and papal legate, and converted the king of Jutland (d.865). St. Jeanne de Lestonnac (Feb. 2) chose her father’s Catholicism over her mother’s Calvinism and had seven children during 24 years of marriage. Widowed, she entered a monastery and then founded a new religious community.
Bl. Ela of Lacock (Feb. 1) was a 13th century English noblewoman, wife, and mother who served as High Sheriff of Wiltshire before becoming an abbess. Bl. Francis Taylor (Jan. 30) was a husband, father, and Lord Mayor of Dublin who was refused the Parliament seat he won and eventually martyred for being Catholic in 1621. St. Claudine Thévenet (Feb. 3) was the sister of two martyrs in the French Revolution, who went on to found and lead the Religious of Jesus and Mary. Bl. Alois Andritzki (Feb. 3) was a German priest martyred in Dachau for producing Christmas plays deemed to be anti-Nazi. Br. Juniper (Jan. 29) joined the Franciscans and was praised by St. Francis himself; Juniper was known for his excessive generosity. St. Gilbert of Sempringham (Feb. 4) was an English educator and cleric who spent his inheritance founding monasteries and helping the poor, wrote the only religious rule penned by an Englishman, and died c. 1189 at over 100 years’ old.
Bl. Maria Domenica Mantovani (Feb. 2) was Italian co-foundress of the Congregation of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family in 1892. St. Jean-Théophane Vénard (Feb. 2) was a 19th century French priest who was martyred—as he had always desired—while ministering to Christians in Vietnam. St. Jeanne de Valois (Feb. 4) was a sickly princess married off at an extremely young age; repudiated by her husband, she founded the Order of the Annonciades and dedicated herself to God (d.1505). St. Joseph of Leonessa (Feb. 4) was a Capuchin Franciscan priest and missionary to Turkey who survived attempted martyrdom to preach and minister in his native Italy (d.1612). St. Mutien Marie Wiaux (Jan. 30) was a Belgian member of the Brothers of the Christian Schools who inspired and educated fine arts students.
St. Tryphon of Lampsacus (Feb. 1) was a 3rd century Phrygian goose-herd whose successful preaching, miraculous healings, and exorcisms caused his martyrdom by Roman authorities. Bl. Reginald of Orleans (Feb. 1) joined the Dominicans after being inspired by the Order’s holy founder, was healed by a vision of Our Lady, and inspired many in his turn with his eloquent preaching (d.1220). Pope St. Gelasius II (Jan. 29) was a Benedictine who took the papal office with popular support but had to flee to France after opposing Emperor Henry V and his anti-pope. St. Sigebert III of Austrasia (Feb. 1) was a 7th century king and father who bungled his military venture but was known for his piety and works of charity. Bl. John Nelson (Feb. 3) was a 16th century English Jesuit priest and exorcist, brutally martyred while forgiving Queen Elizabeth for his death. St. Lawrence the Illuminator (Feb. 3) fled Syria for Italy, where he became a bishop, abbot, peacemaker, and healer (d.576). St. Jarlath (Feb. 1) was a 5th century Irish bishop and student of St. Patrick.
St. Julian the Hospitaller (Jan. 29) was a 4th century noble who fulfilled the prophecy he would kill his parents when he mistook them for his wife and a lover in bed; in penance, he built a hospital so he could care for those in need. Bl. Andrew of Segni (Feb. 1) was a 13th century Italian hermit and mystic who fought off demons and refused the honor of a cardinalate. St. Gildas the Wise (Jan. 29) was a monk, priest, scholar, evangelizer, miracle-worker, abbot, and the earliest British historian (d.c.570). Bl. Alan of Lille (Jan. 30) was a 12th century French philosopher, theologian, professor, monk, and poet. St. David Galván-Bermúdez (Jan. 30) was a drunken wastrel who reformed, became a priest, and was martyred in Mexico in 1915 after ministering to victims of armed rebellion. Bl. Patrick O’Lougham (Feb. 1) was an Irish bishop martyred in 1611. St. Katharina Kaspar (Feb. 2) was the 19th century foundress of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ. St. Augustinus Park Chong-Won (Jan. 31) was a lay Korean catechist martyred in 1840.
Bl. Bronislaw Markiewicz (Jan. 29) was a 19th century Polish priest who founded the Society of Moderation and Work to help young people. Bl. Maria Cristina di Savoia (Jan. 31) was a queen, who had an unhappy marriage with the ruler of the Two Sicilies and was the mother of the Two Sicilies’ last king. St. Aedan of Ferns (Jan. 31) was a 6th century Irishman who was a hostage as a child but grew up to be a missionary, bishop, and monastic leader. St. Isidore of Pelusium (Feb. 4) was a monk, abbot, theologian, priest, and highly prolific correspondent (d.c.450). St. Marie Rivier (Feb. 3) was a sickly French girl who survived the persecution of the French Revolution to found the Sisters of the Presentation of Mary to educate and to care for orphans. St. Francesco Saverio Maria Bianchi (Jan. 31) was a Barnabite priest who ministered to those in need, worked miracles, and was the president of two colleges (d.1815). Bl. Helena Stollenwerk (Feb. 3) was a 19th century German who helped launch the Sisters-Servants of the Holy Spirit.
You can also read about Abundantia the Martyr, Daniel Altabella Gracia, Seustio and companions, Blath, Barbea, Bolesława Maria Lament, and Charles of Sayn (Jan. 29); Hyacintha of Mariscotti, Adelelmus, Theophilus the Younger, Sebastian Valfrè, Tôma Khuông, Aldegundis, and Zygmunt Pisarski (Jan. 30); Geminian of Modena, Julius of Orta, Louise degli Albertoni, Aiden, Ulphia of Amiens, Potamius of Troyes, Abraham of Abela, and Maria Yi Seong and Korean Martyrs (Jan. 31); Luigi Variara, Precordius, Benedict Daswa, Anna Michelotti, Orso of Aosta, Henry Morse, Cinnia of Ulster, Veridiana, and John of the Grating (Feb. 1); Adalbald of Ostrevant, Feock, Louis Brisson, Peter Cambiano, and Stephen Bellesini (Feb. 2); John Zakoly, Hadelin of Chelles, Margaret of England, Werburgh of Chester, Léone, Berlindis of Meerbeke, John Vallejo, Ia of Cornwall, Celerinus, and Benedictine Martyrs (Feb. 3); and Aventinus of Troyes, Rabanus Maurus, Nicholas Studites, Modan, Gilbert of Limerick, Angela Serafina Correggiari, Dionisio de Vilaregut, Alfonso de Meneses, Agnes of Büren, Jesuit Japan Martyrs, and John Speed (Feb. 4).
Have a blessed week!