Saints of the Week: Sacred& Immaculate Hearts, Kevin, C.Lwanga, Boniface, Clotilde, Phero D., Columba, William& More
Happy Sunday! This past week we honored saints from all around the globe, but they all had one trait in common: love for Christ and His Church.
This week were the feasts of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (June 7) and the Immaculate Heart of Mary (June 8). We remember Jesus’s great love for us, that He took on Himself the guilt of our sins and died an excruciating death, and His heart was pierced by a lance. Mary, at the foot of her Son’s cross, felt His suffering in her heart too. As our Mother, and also our Queen (June 8), Mary wants to bring us to close union with Jesus and His heart. Read more in my previous pieces. We also honored Mary as Mother of Grace on June 9, and as Our Lady of Sunday (June 8), an apparition when Mary admonished people not to work on Sunday.
St. Kevin of Glendalough (June 3) left his royal birthright for an ascetic life in the beautiful valley of Glendalough, where he prayed in a cave. He attracted both animals and spiritual followers, so he founded a great monastery. A miracle worker, he died in 618. St. Charles Lwanga and Companions (June 3), including Joseph Mukaso, were members of the Ugandan royal court, converts. Charles shielded his fellow pages from the sexual advances of the ruler Mwanga. Charles was baptized just before he was burned to death in 1886.
St. Boniface (June 5) was an English Benedictine abbot who became the “Apostle of Germany.” Sent by the pope, he became a reforming bishop and missionary, but was killed in 754 with a group of companions while evangelizing the Frisians. Famously chopped down a pagan sacred oak to show the falsity of pagan gods’ “power.” St. Clotilde (June 3), a Burgundian princess, married and eventually converted King Clovis of the Franks. She helped launch the Christianization of what is now France, but suffered after being widowed due to the bloody strife between her sons and her grandsons’ murder. She always cared for the poor and died in 545.
St. Phêrô Dung (June 6): “Married layman in the apostolic vicariate of Central Tonkin (in modern Vietnam). Fisherman by trade. During the persecutions of emperor Tu Duc, he was ordered to stomp on a cross to show his contempt for Christianity; he refused. Martyr” in 1862.
St. Columba of Iona (June 9) was an Irish royal and bard who became a monk, preacher, and miracle-worker. A spiritual teacher of multiple other saints. Columba was exiled to Iona, and founded and led a monastery there. He and his monks evangelized the Picts, and Columba is said to have written 300 books (d.597). One of Columba’s monks was fellow Irishman St. Baithen of Iona (June 9), who succeeded Columba as abbot. Baithen, a wise counselor, would pray before every bite and work with one hand held up to heaven. Also June 9 are the brothers Sts. Primus and Felician, who were tortured and martyred under Diocletian in the 3rd century; theirs were the first relics moved from a basilica outside Rome.
St. William of York (June 8) was from an influential 12th century English family, but, though nominated as archbishop of York, he was deposed. Years later, he returned from exile to claim his see and had an enthusiastic welcome, but he died within two months, likely from poisoning. Many miracles occurred through his intercession. St. Rafael Guízar y Valencia (June 6) was a Mexican priest who founded schools and a religious congregation. He had to work in disguise and then leave Mexico due to persecution, but returned a bishop and boldly defied the government. Ordered shot on sight, he walked straight into the office of the governor, who was so afraid of causing an uprising he reversed his order.
St. Cyril of Alexandria, Doctor of the Church (June 9, Byzantine calendar): “Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, fought with his pen and his eloquence against the Nestorians. He presided in the name of Pope Celestine at the great Council of Ephesus, where the heresy of Nestorius was condemned, and he successfully defended the truth concerning the Mother of God and our Savior in His twofold nature of God and Man. He died in 444.” [Latin Mass Missal.] St. Ephrem of Syria (June 9), son of a 4th century pagan priest, converted and became a preacher with a devotion to Our Lady. He led Christians fleeing persecution to Edessa, where he founded a theological school. Wrote homilies, hymns, and poems and fought heresy; Ephrem is a Doctor of the Church. One of his spiritual students was the freed slave St. Julian of Mesopotamia (June 9).
St. Petroc (June 4) was a Welsh prince who founded and led a monastery in Cornwall. He made a pilgrimage to Rome, and after confidently and wrongly predicting a weather event on the way home went to Jerusalem and India as penance, whence he returned with a wolf friend. Petroc defeated a huge serpent, founded monasteries, and converted a king in Cornwall. Several of his students are saints.
St. José de Anchieta (June 9) spent decades suffering back pain but his evangelization work in the New World won him the title Apostle of Brazil. Besides spreading the faith, José educated and wrote plays for the natives, making him the father of Brazilian literature. While a hostage of the Tamoyo tribe, he composed and memorized 4,172 lines of Latin poetry in honor of Mary. St. Medard of Noyon (June 8) was a 6th century French noble inspired by a vision to be a monk. He became a bishop famous for caring for the poor, building churches and monasteries, and accurately forecasting weather (hence his patronage of meteorologists). A large eagle is said to have flown over Medard and shielded him from the weather.
Bl. Anne Marie Taigi (June 9) was a worldly Italian wife and mother—and adulteress. She reformed, became a Trinitarian tertiary, cared for the poor and sick, and received visions and the gift of prophecy. She reformed her husband and became a counselor to popes, cardinals, and royalty (d.1837). St. Melania the Elder (June 8) was widowed at age 21 and raised her children alone. She became a pilgrim to the Holy Land, where she founded a monastery, and influenced her granddaughter St. Melany (d.410).
St. Norbert of Xanten (June 6) was a German courtier who became a priest as a career move but later founded the Norbertines, became a preacher and reformer, and launched a movement. Worked against heresy and schism (d.1134). St. Francis Caracciolo (June 4) became a priest after a miraculous recovery from leprosy. He ministered to condemned criminals and helped found a congregation devoted to the Blessed Sacrament and helping those in need (d.1608). Bl. Ferdinand of Portugal (June 5) was the royal leader of an unsuccessful military expedition against the Moors. He offered himself as a hostage, and died in 1443 due to abuse in imprisonment by the Muslims.
St. Anne of St. Bartholomew (June 7) was a Spanish shepherdess who joined the Carmelites and became the friend and secretary of St. Teresa of Avila. A reformer, poetess, and prioress, she founded a Carmelite house in Antwerp, Belgium in 1612. St. Robert of Newminster (June 7) was an English Benedictine monk who founded abbeys in Newminster and multiple other locations. Received visions and supernatural gifts, as well as demonic attacks. He fasted so vigorously during Lent that his brothers tried to get him to eat buttered oatcake, which, when he refused, was returned to him miraculously by an angel (d.1159).
St. Pelagia of Antioch (June 9), to defend her chastity from the pagan soldiers arresting her, threw herself out of a window c.311. Bl. Adam Arakawa (June 5) was a Japanese samurai martyred for protecting a church and its parishioners. St. Gotteschalk (June 7) was a Prince of the Wends and military conqueror who apostatized, returned to the faith, and became an evangelizer, including by interpreting sermons for his people. Bl. Stanislaw Kostka Starowieyski (June 4) was a decorated WWI soldier, founder of the Polish Army in 1918, and a pious and charitable married man martyred by Nazis. Bl. Meinwerk of Paderborn (June 5) was a Saxon appointed bishop by the emperor, who proved a particularly zealous pastor, a patron of architecture, and the means of obtaining charity for the poor from the emperor (d.1036). Bl. Henry the Shoemaker (June 9), from Luxembourg, founded the Confraternity of Sts. Crispin and Crispinian to assist his fellow cobblers’ spiritual progress (d.1666). Bl. Robert Salt and companions (June 9), including William Greenwood and John Davy, were English Carthusians starved to death in 1537 for refusing the Oath of Supremacy. Bl. Alexander of Kouchta (June 9) was a Bulgarian hermit who fed local peasants during a Tartar invasion (d.1439).
Bl. Luigi Boccardo (June 9) was an Italian professor, preacher, spiritual director, and founder of the Sisters of Jesus the King in 1932. St. Anthony Mary Gianelli (June 7) was an Italian farm boy who was ordained unusually young and became a bishop and founder of multiple congregations (d.1846). St. Deochar (June 7) was a hermit appointed abbot by Charlemagne, and who served the royal court; cured a boy of blindness. St. Colman of Dromore (June 7) knew St. Patrick; a miracle-worker and first abbot-bishop of the diocese of Dromore (d.c.585). St. Meriadoc I of Vannes (June 7) was a rich Welsh lord who gave it all to the poor so he could be a hermit and then a bishop. Bl. Maria Droste (June 8) dedicated her life to the redemption and aid of sinful women and erring priests. St. Jacques Berthieu (June 8) was a 19th century French Jesuit missionary to Madagascar, where he was martyred. Bl. István Sándor (June 8) was a Hungarian Salesian martyred by Communists in 1953. Bl. Peter de Amer (June 8) was a 13th century Mercedarian knight and Master-General of the order.
St. John Grande (June 3) was a Spanish businessman who became a hermit, founded a hospital, and ministered to prisoners and vulnerable women (d.1600). St. Adam of Guglionesi (June 3) was an 11th century abbot, confessor, reformer, and peacemaker. St. Liphardus (June 3) was a French lawyer who became a hermit and is depicted fighting a dragon. St. Auditus of Braga (June 3) was a bishop and martyr in 2nd century Portugal. Bl. Margaret of Vau-le-Duc (June 4) was a 13th century Cistercian abbess under whom learning and piety flourished. Bl. Joseph Imbert (June 9) was a Jesuit vicar apostolic of Moulins martyred in the French Revolution. St. Metrophanes (June 4) was a patriarch of Constantinople; the city’s location was reportedly a result of his influence on its founder Constantine. St. Filippo Smaldone (June 4) was a priest and founder of a religious congregation who educated deaf-mutes (d.1923). St. Cornelius McConchailleach (June 4) was an Irish abbot and archbishop who died while on pilgrimage in 1176.
Bl. Sylvester Ventura (June 9) was the cook for his Camaldolese convent, where angels would assist his work. St. Franco of Assergi (June 5) was a 13th century hermit known for his miracles and connection with animals. St. Daminh Huyen (June 5) was a married Vietnamese layman, fisherman, and father martyred in 1862. St. Dorotheus of Tyre (June 5) escaped persecution to be a bishop and evangelizer for over 50 years before he was martyred in the 4th century at age 107. St. Jarlath of Tuam (June 6) was an Irish abbot-bishop and prophet who founded a monastery and college (d.c.540). Bl. Gilbert of Neufontaines (June 6) was a 12th century husband, father, and crusader who became a Premonstratensian abbot who cared for the sick. St. Marcellin-Joseph-Benoît Champagnat (June 6) founded the Marists in 1817 to teach young men. Bl. Józef Wojciech Guz (June 6) was a Polish priest martyred by Nazis in 1940.
You can also read about Diego Oddi, Genesius of Clermont, Phaolo Vu Van Duong, Francis Ingleby, Glunshallaich and Cronan, Charles-Rene Collas du Bignon, Conus of Lucania, Davinus, Our Lady of Vladimir, Morand, and Isaac of Cordoba (June 3); Antoni Zawistowski, Pacificus of Cerano, Nennoc, Francesco Pianzola, Breaca, Optatus of Milevis, Quirinus of Sescia, Francis Ronci, Edfrith, Buriana, Aldegrin, Walter of Fontenelle, and Cyrinus of Aquileia and companions (June 4); and Daminh Toai, Illidius of Clermont, Eutichius of Como, Count Genesius, Adalbert Radiouski, Luke Loan, Cosmas, Sanctius of Cordoba, Eoban, Adalar, Claudius and Egypt Martyrs, and Gregorio of Lilybaeum (June 5).
Also this week were Bertrand of Aquileia, Falco of Cava, Phero Thuan, Paulina and family, Alexander of Fiesole, Vinh-Son Duong, Claudius of Besancon, Eustorgius II, Ceratius, Gerard Tintorio, and Daniel of Bergamo (June 6); Wallabonsus and Jeremiah, Landulf of Asti, Basilissa Fernandez, Demosthenes Ranzi, Meriadoc II, Aventinus of Larboust, Vulflagius, Lycarion, Potamiaena Minor, Justus of Condat, Odo of Massay, and Daniel of Skete (June 7); Clodulf of Metz, Theodore the Recruit, Victorinus of Camerino, Bron, Heraclius of Sens, Gildard of Rouen, and Syra (June 8); Arnulf of Velseca, Richard of Andria, Maximian of Syracuse, and Luciano V.Acuña (June 9).
Have a blessed week!