Saints of the Week: Holy Family, Thomas Becket, Holy Innocents, King David, Melany, & More
Happy Sunday! It’s the end of 2023, and the start of a new year—as well as the seventh day of Christmas! In other words, we should be celebrating Christ’s birth and all the blessings God has given us. No matter how difficult their lives were, the saints we celebrated this week always carried the joy of God in their hearts.
We celebrate the Holy Family—Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—on Dec. 31. Sacred tradition tells us that Mary was conceived without sin by a special grace of God and never chose to sin during her life. Tradition also says that St. Joseph was cleansed of Original Sin and did not sin thereafter in his life. Jesus, of course, was both God and man, and never did evil. But while the Holy Family might thus sound impossibly perfect, they faced many trials, tragedies, and obstacles in their lives, and are therefore examples to us. By always choosing to do God’s will, they demonstrated that it is indeed possible to do as Christ commanded (Matt. 5:48): “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.”
St. Thomas a Becket (Dec. 29) was an English martyr to a king’s thirst for power over ecclesiastical affairs. “Of Norman ancestry. Educated at Merton Priory, the University of Paris, in Bologna, Italy, and in Auxerre, France. Civil and canon lawyer. Soldier and officer. Archdeacon of Canterbury, England, ordained in 1154. Friend of King Henry II. Chancellor of England. Ordained on 2 June 1162 and appointed archbishop of Canterbury on 3 June 1162. Opposed the King’s interference in ecclesiastical matters which led to his being exiled several times and eventually murdered by supporters of the king. Martyr [catholicsaints.info].”
The Holy Innocents (Dec. 28) were the babies murdered by King Herod after Herod realized that the magi were not returning to tell him where to find the babe born to be the royal Messiah. Furious and fearful of a threat to his temporal power, Herod killed all the children who, by their age and innocence, resembled Baby Jesus (who was taken by Joseph and Mary to Egypt for safety). From Matt. 2:16-18: “Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry; and sending killed all the men children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying: A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”
King David (Dec. 29), one of the greatest of the ancient Jewish kings, committed great sins in his life, but he repented and sought the mercy of God. “Son of Jesse, and a shepherd in his youth. Anointed by the prophet Samuel. During war with the Philistines, David, relying on God, slew the giant Goliath and won the friendship of Jonathan, son of Saul; courtier. Married to Saul's daughter Michol. Forced into exile for political reasons. Married to Abigail. When Saul and Jonathan fell in battle, David was chosen King of Judah and Israel; he reigned for 33 years. Founder of the Judean dynasty at Jerusalem. National hero as a youth, soldier, reformer, father, prophet, musician, poet, hymnist, writer, sinner, and penitent. See 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Chronicles [catholicsaints.info].”
St. Melany the Younger (Dec. 31) “[ECPubs] who, with her husband St. Pinianus, left the city of Rome and set out for the Holy City of Jerusalem. There, she among the women consecrated to God and her husband among the monks, they practiced the religious life and both rested in a holy death [d.c. 439].” Pinianus and Melany’s two children died young and it was after those tragedies and meeting St. Augustine that the couple freed their slaves, gave their wealth to the poor, and entered religious life in Jerusalem, where Melany befriended Sts. Jerome and Paulinus of Nola. St. Melany (also called Melania) is personally important to me, as she is the patron saint of the Byzantine Catholic parish where I was raised.
St. John Francis Regis (Dec. 31) was a French Jesuit priest and catechist. He worked with plague victims, but was especially skilled at preaching, so he was sent to evangelize provinces under control of the French Huguenot heretics. He was very successful at swaying poor and humble folk, and lived very simply himself, saying, “The rich never lack confessors.” He helped young women become lacemakers and embroiderers and also established hostels for prostitutes who wished to reform their lives. He established a granary for the poor that sometimes was restocked miraculously, obtained money, food, and healthcare for the poor, and founded the Confraternities of the Blessed Sacrament. Some of his fellow Jesuits were jealous of his success, but his bishop recognized that Regis was doing nothing but good (d. 1640).
Bl. William Howard (Dec. 29) was a 17th century married English lord who was impoverished and exiled for political reasons. He was a diplomat for Emperor Ferdinand in Flanders and Switzerland. Arrested, he was acquitted of all charges. His property was reinstated subsequently and he returned to England, but was then falsely accused of complicity in the “Popish Plot” and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was in jail for two years without trial, and was killed because of his Catholicism even though he was not guilty of involvement in the “Plot.”
Two holy popes were celebrated this week. Pope St. Sylvester I (Dec. 31) built up the Basilicas of St. John Lateran and St. Peter and sent papal legates to the First Council of Nicaea. The Donation of Constantine is said to have been given to Sylvester. Pope St. Felix I (Dec. 30) became pope in 269. He condemned Paul of Samosata’s Christological heresy, evangelized non-Christians, sanctioned celebrating Mass on martyrs’ graves, and is traditionally listed as a martyr.
The 20,000 Martyrs of Nicomedia (Dec. 28) were massacred in 303 in Bithynia (modern Turkey) during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian. Many of them were killed by being locked in churches which were then set on fire, after they refused to worship pagan idols.
Bl. Margaret Colonna (Dec. 30) was orphaned young and raised her brothers. She lived in prayerful retirement until she brought a community of Poor Clares into her family castle. She led the religious community, though her last years were made painful by a terrible ulcer. It is said Christ gave a ring to Margaret as a sign of her mystical espousal to Him.
Bl. Eugenia Ravasco (Dec. 30) grew up in a pious family in a time of anti-Church ideology in Italy, and became a catechist and helper of poor girls. She founded the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary to further this work and served as superior of the congregation, founded communities in multiple European countries. She died in 1900.
St. Ebrulf of Ouche (Dec. 29) was a 7th century married courtier in Gaul who became a hermit and then founded an abbey with a group of highway robbers he converted. St. Marcellus the Righteous (Dec. 29) was a 5th century Syrian abbot whose prayers saved Constantinople from fire and who attended the Council of Chalcedon. St. Aileran of Clonard (Dec. 29) was a monk and scholar who wrote biographies of famous Irish saints in 7th century Ireland. St. Egwin of Worcester (Dec. 30) was a 7th century English bishop and pilgrim who founded an influential Benedictine monastery in Evesham. Bl. Hryhorii Khomyshyn (Dec. 28) was a Greek Catholic bishop in Ukraine martyred by Soviets.
St. Caterina Volpicelli (Dec. 28) was a Franciscan tertiary and later foundress of the Institute of Handmaidens of the Sacred Heart and an orphanage. St. Iolande of Rome (Dec. 28) was under 20 years of age when she was tortured and martyred in 169 for aiding fellow Christian prisoners. St. Gowan of Wales (Dec. 28) was a 5th century Welsh queen, wife of King Tewdrig. St. Anysia of Salonika (Dec. 30) was a Greek virgin martyred after spitting in the face of a would-be pagan assailant. Bl. Johannes Riedgasser (Dec. 28) was a German abbot and visionary who visited and assisted other religious houses (d. 1600). Bl. Giovanni Maria Boccardo (Dec. 30) was an Italian priest who cared for the sick and poor, educated children, was a friend to several other saints, and founded the Poor Daughters of St. Cajetan (d. 1913). St. Marius Aventicus (Dec. 31) was a 6th century bishop, scholar, goldsmith, and protector of the poor.
St. Ruggero of Canne (Dec. 30) was an Italian bishop who was sheltered from weather by an eagle flying over his head as he traveled his diocese (d. 1129). The Martyrs of Seoul (Dec. 29) were seven laywomen beheaded in 1839 in South Korea. St. Columba of Sens (Dec. 31) was a virgin martyred with other Spanish Christians in the 3rd century. Bl. Jose Aparicio Sanz (Dec. 29) was a priest who worked with children and encouraged devotion to the Eucharist; martyred in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. St. Anthony of Lerins (Dec. 28) was a monk, hermit, and miracle worker who died in 6th century France. Bl. Matthia dei Nazzarei (Dec. 28) was a Benedictine abbess in medieval Italy. Bl. Giuseppina Nicoli (Dec. 31) was an Italian religious sister who worked with abandoned, homeless, and orphaned children (d. 1924).
You can also read about Caesarius of Armenia, Gregory of Cahors, Otto of Heidelberg, Theonas of Alexandria, and Troadius (Dec. 28); Trophimus of Arles, Gérard Cagnoli, Girald of Fontenelle, Thaddeus of Scythia, and Francis Ruiz (Dec. 29); Anysius, Sebastian of Esztergom, Geremar, Perpetuus, and Richard of Arnsberg (Dec. 30); Zoticus of Constantinople, Alan de Solminihac, Walembert of Cambrai, Leandro Gómez Gil, Wisinto, and Festus of Valencia and companions (Dec. 31).
Have a blessed year!