Saints of the Week: Lady of the Rosary, Thomas, James, Abraham, Francis, Faustina, Simeon, J.Newman, Denis &More
As we mark a year since the horrific Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, the Holy Land, it is peculiarly appropriate to reflect on our own mortality and whether we are living holy lives, invoking the aid of the saints and Biblical patriarchs we celebrated this week.
Mary is celebrated under the title of Our Lady of the Rosary on Oct. 7, the anniversary of the great 1571 Christian victory saving Europe from invading Muslims, for which victory the Europeans prayed the Rosary. You can read my previous article for more details on the Rosary and Lepanto.
St. Thomas the Apostle (Oct. 6, Byzantine calendar) followed Christ throughout His public ministry. Thomas famously doubted the truth of the Resurrection but, upon seeing Christ and touching His wounds, Thomas gave the beautiful profession of faith (Jn. 20:28), “My Lord and my God.” He preached in various countries in Asia Minor, most famously in India, where he distributed money the king gave him for building a palace to the poor, and then converted the king (though Thomas was later martyred). A group of Christians in India still exists who hold the tradition that their ancestors were evangelized by Thomas.
St. James the Less or James Alphaeus (Oct. 9) was one of the 12 Apostles, Christ’s best friends, and therefore a personal witness of the public life, Passion, and Resurrection of Jesus. James was also a cousin of Jesus. After the Ascension of Christ and Pentecost, James preached in and around Eleutheropolis and then Egypt. Tradition says he was martyred by being thrown from the pinnacle of the Temple.
Abraham the Patriarch and his cousin Lotare commemorated on Oct. 9. Abraham is the forefather of the Israelites, the Chosen People, and his faith in God was “credited…to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). Jesus refers to Heaven as being in “Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22). Childless into his extreme old age, Abraham had Ishmael through Hagar and then Isaac through his wife Sara. The Bible refers to God multiple times as the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” God changed the patriarch’s original name Abram to Abraham, meaning “father of many nations,” promising (Gen. 26:4), “I will multiply thy seed like the stars of heaven: and I will give to thy posterity all these countries: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Abraham’s being told by God to sacrifice his son Isaac (from his action he is again stopped by God) prefigures Jesus, the Son of God, who died for the sins of mankind. Lot is most famous for being miraculously saved from the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when God destroyed them for their wickedness and sexual perversion (Gen. 19).
St. Francis of Assisi (Oct. 4) left a wild life for extreme poverty as a humble friar. Loving and joyous toward all, both humans and animals, Francis founded the Franciscan order and received the stigmata, or wounds of Christ’s Passion. Read my previous article for his story. St. Faustina Kowalska (Oct. 5) was born in 1905 in Poland, so poor that it took her years to find a convent that would accept her. She suffered greatly physically and experienced numerous visions, mystical experiences, and supernatural phenomena throughout her life, most famously Jesus’s vision to her as King of Divine Mercy. She worked to spread devotion to Divine Mercy and kept a diary of her experiences. You can read my previous article for more details on the Divine Mercy devotion.
St. Simeon Senex (Oct. 8–Senex means “old man” in Latin) is the holy man in the Bible whom God told that he would see the Messiah before his death. When Mary and Joseph brought Baby Jesus into the Temple to present Him to God according to the Law of Moses, Simeon recited his famous hymn of praise (Lk. 2:29-32), “Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word in peace; Because my eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples: A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” Simeon then prophesied to Mary (Lk. 2:34-35), “Behold this child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed.”
St. John Henry Newman (Oct. 9) was a 19th century Anglican cleric and intellectual whose involvement in the Oxford Movement, an effort to return to the Church Fathers and an objective standard of truth, led him down a path that ended in his conversion to Catholicism. He became a Catholic priest and eventually a cardinal. Newman founded Congregation of the Oratory houses in England and helped launch the Catholic University of Ireland, where he also served as rector for some years; out of the latter project came his famous and influential The Idea of a University. Catholic student clubs at U.S. colleges and universities are still called “Newman Centers.”
St. Denis of Paris (Oct. 9) was a 3rd century missionary to France and bishop of Paris. He was martyred by beheading during the Roman persecution of Valerius with Sts. Rusticus and Eleutherius by pagans angry at his evangelizing success. It is said Denis picked up his head after it was cut off and walked with it some distance from where he was executed. He is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. St. Bridget of Sweden (Oct.8, Latin Mass) “was married to prince Ulfo. After the death of the latter, she founded the Order of the Most Holy Savior, commonly called Bridgettines. She died at Rome in 1373 [Latin Mass Missal].”
Sts. Sergius and Bacchus (Oct. 7), from ECPubs: “The holy martyrs Sergius and Bacchus at Rosapha in the province of Augusta Euphratesia in Syria, martyrs. They were nobles at the court of the emperor Maximian, who valued them for their courage, wisdom, and zeal. They refused to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods, and the emperor turned against them, dressing them in women’s clothing and paraded them through the city of Rome. They were then sent to Asia to be tortured. Bacchus died first, and came back from the dead to urge Sergius to fidelity. He was then martyred.” Celebrated with Marcellus and Apuleius.
St. Bruno of Cologne (Oct. 6) was a German priest who became a professor of theology at Rheims, and later a hermit. He founded the Carthusian Order, focused around work, prayer, and transcribing manuscripts (Bruno also wrote Scriptural commentaries). Pope Urban II made him a Papal Advisor on reforming clergy but Bruno later returned to living as a hermit.
St. Therese of Lisieux (Oct. 3) was a 19th century French nun who lived her short life in relative obscurity, but whose holiness, childlike faith, burning love, writings, and “Little Way” of offering every little action to God have made her a Doctor of the Church and an inspiration to millions. Read my previous article for her story. The Miracle of Ocotlán (Oct. 3) was an apparition of Jesus Christ crucified in Mexico in 1847 after a deadly earthquake.
Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos (Oct. 5) was born in Germany in 1819 but came to America to minister to German-speaking immigrants, and where he was ordained a Redemptorist priest. He was an excellent spiritual director, teacher, and confessor, and obtained a dispensation for his seminarians not to be drafted into the U.S. Army during the Civil War from Abraham Lincoln. Seelos evangelized across many states, and died while working with victims of the Yellow Fever in New Orleans.
Bl. Raymond of Capua (Oct. 5) was a 14th century Italian Dominican priest who supported the Crusade against the Muslims, called for the pope to return to Rome from Avignon, and supported the true pope against an anti-pope during the schism. He was a zealous reformer as master-general of the Dominican order, and was the spiritual director of and advisor to the great St. Catherine of Siena.
St. Dionysius the Areopagite (Oct. 3), a philosopher, and St. Damaris of Athens(Oct. 4), his student, were converted by St. Paul in Greece (see Acts 17:34). Dionysius became the first bishop of Athens and evangelized there. Both Dionysius and Damaris were eventually martyred. The Miracle of Ocotlán (Oct. 3) was a vision of the crucified Christ that appeared in the sky over the earthquake-devastated town of Ocotlán, Mexico, in 1847. The Martyrs of Arima (Oct. 7) were eight Japanese laymen and laywomen martyred together in 1613.
St. Ammon the Great (Oct. 4) was an Egyptian who lived chastely with his wife for 18 years before becoming a desert hermit and founding monastic communities that later grew so great as to be called the “City of God.” St. Libaire the Great (Oct. 7) was born to a noble family with many saintly siblings. She was working as a shepherdess when Emperor Julian the Apostate tried to make her become pagan; she broke his statue of Apollo, and was martyred. St. John Leonardi (Oct. 9) was the founder of the Clerks Regular of the Mother of God; he died while caring for plague victims. St. Placid (Oct. 5), sent by St. Benedict to Sicily, was murdered with his fellow monks by pirates in 541.
St. Reparata (Oct. 8) was a 20-year-old virgin in Caesarea arrested and tortured for her faith in the persecutions of Roman Emperor Decius. She miraculously survived being thrown into a furnace but was beheaded. St. Charitina (Oct. 5) was a young girl who proclaimed her faith before Emperor Diocletian and was tortured and martyred for it. Pope St. Mark (Oct. 7) held the papal office for less than a year in 336 AD, but built two basilicas during that time. St. Osyth (Oct. 7) was married to King Sighere of Essex and gave birth to his son; she eventually became a nun, but was martyred by Danish raiders. St. Edmund of Scotland (Oct. 3) was a prince and soldier, son of St. Margaret of Scotland, who became a monk in England.
The Martyrs of Brazil(Oct. 3) were a group of Portuguese Catholic priests and faithful hacked to death in 1645 for their Catholic faith by Calvinists and Indians. Bl. Marie Rose Durocher (Oct. 6) was a 19th century Canadian nun who co-founded the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. St. Pelagia the Penitent (Oct. 8) was an actress and courtesan who converted, disguised herself as a man, and lived as a monk. St. Francis Trung Von Tran (Oct. 6) was a Vietnamese soldier martyred in 1858.
St. Mother Theodore Guerin (Oct. 3) was a French nun who came to America to found schools, orphanages, and pharmacies. Bl. John Adams (Oct. 8) was an English Protestant minister who converted, became a Catholic priest, and was martyred in 1586. Bl. Pietro da Imola (Oct. 5) was a lawyer and Grand Prior of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, devoted to caring for the sick. St. Thaïs the Penitent (Oct. 8) was a rich courtesan in 4th century Egypt who converted and became a nun. St. Andronicus, an Antiochan goldsmith, and his wife St. Athanasia (Oct. 9) were a pious couple who became monks in Egypt after the death of their two children.
Pope St. Mark (Oct. 7) “occupied the Holy See for a few months, and died in 336. [Missal]” Bl. Szilárd István Bogdánffy (Oct. 3) was a Hungarian and a bishop in Romania, who died after years of abuse in Communist camps and prison. Bl. Jean Hunot (Oct. 7) was a priest martyred in the French Revolution on the Hulks of Rochefort. St. Faith (Oct. 6) was a young martyr during the Roman persecutions. St. Keyna (Oct. 7) was a Welsh hermitess, one of the many saintly children of King Brychan of Brecknock, and a foundress of churches.
You can also read about Gerard of Brogne, Maddalena the Greater, Ewald the Fair, and Ewald the Black (Oct. 3); Enrique Morant Pellicer, Callisthene and Adauctus, Quintius of Tours, Prosdoce and family, and Peter of Damascus (Oct. 4); Anna Schaeffer, Alberto Marvelli, Tranquilino Ubiarco Robles, and Marian Skrzypczak (Oct. 5); Alberta of Agen, Anna Maria Gallo, Plàcid Fàbrega Julià, and Martyrs of Kyoto and Capua (Oct. 6); Dubtach, Gerold, Justina of Padua, Apuleius, Quarto, and Marcellus (Oct. 7); and Hugh Canefro, Nestor, and Felix of Como (Oct. 8); and Publia and Louis Bertrand (Oct. 9).
Have a blessed week!1
This article is adapted from two published last year.