Saints of the Week: The Theotokos, Therese, Michael, Wenceslaus, Jerome, Cosmas & Damian, and More
Happy Sunday! This week was filled with feasts of saints particularly famous among Catholics for their holiness and the great impact they had on the Church and the world. But all these saints understood during their lives that earthly fame isn’t the goal—the one thing that really matters is reaching Heaven.
There were two Marian feasts this week. Mother Mary is honored Sept. 28 under the title Undoer of Knots, referring to her ability to intercede with God and and help us solve even the worst problems of our lives. The Protection of Mary, Mother of God (Theotokos). On Oct. 1, 911 AD, after an all-night vigil in the Blachernae church of the Theotokos in Constantinople, St. Andrew the Fool for Christ and his disciple Epiphanius saw a vision. “At four o’clock in the morning, the Theotokos appeared above the people with a veil spread over her outstretched hands, as if to protect them. She was surrounded by angels and saints.” Andrew said, “Do you see the Queen and Lady of all is praying for the whole world?” (Source: ECPubs)
Sept. 29 used to be the feast of St. Michael the Archangel alone; in the new Roman calendar, it also commemorates Raphael and Gabriel the Archangels. Michael (name meaning “Who is like God?”) is mentioned in Daniel 12:1, and in Rev. 12:7-9 as fighting and casting down Satan and his demons. Gabriel appears to the prophet Daniel in the Old Testament; to St. Zachary to prophesy the birth of St. John the Baptist; and to the Blessed Virgin at the Annunciation to announce the coming of the Messiah. Raphael is featured in the Biblical book of Tobit, assisting the young Tobias to wed Sara and exorcise the demon plaguing her, before healing the elder Tobias.
St. Michael has also appeared in numerous visions over the centuries, including over the present Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome to end a pestilence; on Mt. Gargano to request a church (the one specifically commemorated Sept. 29); and to a U.S. Marine in 1950 in Korea, about which you can read in my previous article.
St. Therese of Lisieux (Oct. 1) or the “Little Flower” was born in 1873 to St. Louis Martin and St. Marie-Azelie Guerin Martin. Therese’s mother died when she was four, and the family moved to Lisieux. She received a vision of the Child Jesus just before turning 14, and became zealous to join a religious order (which all of her four sisters did as well). While in Italy, she even begged the pope to give her dispensation to join the Carmelites at the age of 15. After joining the Carmelites, she was known for her holiness and patience, though she developed tuberculosis which killed her in her early 20s. Therese was ordered to put down her memories and ideas, and she also wrote poetry; she is a Doctor of the Church. She famously developed “The Little Way” of attaining holiness, not by spectacular acts of heroism but by doing every little ordinary task well.
St. Wenceslaus (Sept. 28), “prince of the Czechs, who was the leader of the Bohemians, trained in divine and human wisdom by his grandmother St. Ludmilla. He was severe toward himself but gentle in ruling his kingdom and merciful to the poor. He redeemed in large numbers pagan slaves about to be sold that they might be baptized. After enduring many difficulties in ruling his subjects and in spreading the faith he was betrayed by his brother Boleslaus and killed by assassins in a church in Old Boleslavia [modern Altbunzlau] in Bohemia.” (ECPubs)
St. Jerome (Sept. 30), arguably the greatest Christian linguist in history, was born to a rich family and led a wild youth before converting. He became a monk, then a hermit, where he befriended a lion and studied Scripture and its languages. He became a priest and secretary to Pope Damasus I who commissioned Jerome’s most famous work, the Latin Bible translation called the Vulgate, which was the standard Bible translation for over a thousand years. He had ground-breaking views on the education of women and penned many brilliant theological works. Jerome is a Doctor and Father of the Church. Also this week was St. Eustochium (Sept. 28), the daughter of St. Paula, the friend of St. Jerome. Eustochium was a nun in Israel. She helped Jerome with his translation of the Bible, and he dedicated his treatise on virginity to her.
Sts. Cosmas and Damian (Sept. 26) were twin brothers and physicians in Asia Minor in the 3rd century. They treated patients for free and even healed miraculously. They were arrested and tortured but refused to deny their faith, and were ultimately beheaded. They were hugely popular in the Church for centuries, and their names appear in the Canon of the Mass.
Sept. 26 in the Byzantine Catholic calendar commemorated the death or passing of St. John the Apostle “who, son of Zebedee, with his brother James and Peter was a witness of the transfiguration and also of the passion of the Lord. At the cross he took Mary as his mother, at the command of the dying Lord. In the Gospel and his other writings he shows himself to be a theologian. He was found worthy to contemplate the glory of the incarnate Word, which he saw and proclaimed.” (ECPubs)
St. Vincent de Paul (Sept. 27) was born a peasant in 1581 AD, became a priest, and was sold into slavery. He converted his owner to Christianity and was freed, so he returned to France. He was a parish priest and started organizations to help the sick, the poor, the unemployed, the enslaved, and others. He became a royal chaplain and founded the Lazarists, but always focused on his work with the most needy.
St. Ananias (Oct. 1) received a vision of Christ telling him to go baptize the man who would become St. Paul (see Acts 9:10-19). Tradition says he was one of Christ’s 72 disciples, a missionary who was martyred by stoning in the Roman persecutions.
St. Isaac Jogues (Sept. 26) was a French Jesuit priest who became famous after escaping the Mohawks in Canada with mutilated hands, though he returned to the missions again and was eventually martyred; he and fellow martyred missionaries of North America are commemorated on Sept. 26. One of the martyrs, St. Rene Goupil, also celebrated Sept. 29, was a French Jesuit who came to North America as a medic. He was a missionary to the Hurons in what is now Canada. He and St. Isaac Jogues were captured and tortured by the cruel Iroquois tribe; Goupil became an official Jesuit brother while they were in captivity. He was killed with a tomahawk to the head, becoming the first martyr in North America.
St. Lorenzo Ruiz of Manila (Sept. 28) is the Protomartyr (i.e. first martyr) of the Philippines. Half-Chinese and half-Filipino, he was a husband, father, and member of the Rosary Confraternity. Accused of murder for unknown reasons, he tried to escape by sea and ended up in Japan with Dominican missionaries. He was arrested, tortured, and martyred for his Christian faith in Japan.
There have been many Martyrs of China over the centuries, but they are all honored as a group on Sept. 28. You can read more about the martyred groups and individuals at Catholicsaints.info.
St. Remigius or Remi (Oct. 1, Latin Mass calendar), born 437 AD, was the bishop of Rheims in what is now France. An intelligent scholar, he was chosen as bishop when he was still below the normal age for priestly ordination. Remigius baptized Clovis, King of the Franks, and many of Clovis’s people, Christianizing the country. Remi’s brother St. Principius of Soissons (Sept. 25), also a bishop, was celebrated this week too.
Gideon the Judge (Sept. 26) is an Old Testament hero, sometimes considered the greatest of the Israelite Judges (pre-monarchy leaders). Gideon, called by God to fight the Midianites, demanded a miracle, which God graciously provided; Gideon then followed God’s instructions to choose only 300 men for his army. The men made so much noise that they totally confused the Midianites, who in the chaos killed each other!
St. Francis Borgia (Sept. 30) was related to a pope and a Spanish king, and was raised in the royal court. He was married and the father of eight children, serving as viceroy of Catalonia and Duke of Gandia. After his wife’s death, Francis joined the Jesuit order and became a priest and preacher. He held various important positions in the Jesuits, including General. He oversaw the founding of missions in the New World and insisted on Jesuits’ daily meditation, worried over what he thought a too-great focus on work over prayer. He fought heresy in the Catholic Reformation and is called the “Second Founder of the Society of Jesus [Jesuits].”
St. Callistratus and companions (Sept. 27). Callistratus was a Christian soldier in the Roman Empire who was ordered to sacrifice to idols, but refused. His courage under repeated torture inspired the conversion of 49 fellow soldiers, and they were martyred together in the year 304 AD.
St. Cleopas (Sept. 25) was a disciple of Jesus, the husband of one of the women who stood at the foot of Jesus’s cross and father of the apostle St. James the Lesser. He is most famous for being one of the first witnesses to the Resurrection after Jesus appeared to Cleopas and a companion disguised while they walked to Emmaus; they discovered Jesus’s identity only after he “broke the bread” for them, usually considered as referring to Jesus consecrating the Eucharist (see Luke 24).
St. Herman the Cripple (Sept. 25) was horribly deformed but a true genius; he is most famous for his hymns, particularly the Marian hymns Salve Regina and Alma Redemptoris Mater. St. Finbar (Sept. 25) was Irish, called “Fionnbharr” or “white head” because of his light hair. He went on pilgrimage to Rome and, according to legend, was ordained a bishop by a heavenly vision. Finbar was a miracle-worker, hermit, preacher, and monk whose monastery became famous in Ireland.
St. Cyprian (Sept. 26) was originally a pagan magician who fell madly in love with St. Justina, a Christian virgin. Justina foiled his demonic arts with the sign of the cross, and converted Cyprian, who then became a priest and a bishop. They were arrested for their faith, tortured, and beheaded c. 304 AD.
St. Gregory the Illuminator (Sept. 30) was married and a father but became a bishop in Armenia; a miracle-worker, he converted so many despite a long period of imprisonment that he is called the “Apostle to Armenia.” St. Rhipsime (Sept. 29) was a virgin who, with her companions, are the first Christian martyrs of Armenia. St. Sergius of Radonezh (Sept. 25) was a 14th century hermit, monk, abbot, and Metropolitan of Moscow—he was one of the foremost Russian saints and mystics. Sts. Elzear and Delphina (Sept. 27) were married nobles who lived chastely; they were lay Franciscans who dedicated themselves to caring for the poor and sick. St. Jan of Dukla (Sept. 29) was a Polish Franciscan preacher and confessor who ministered in Ukraine and worked to reconcile schismatics.
Sts. Aizan and Sazan (Oct. 1) were chieftains in Abyssinia, who helped to spread Christianity and were allies of those persecuted by heretics. St. Romanos the Melodist (Oct. 1) was a Syrian convert from Judaism and a deacon; he wrote some thousand hymns, though only 60-80 survive. Bl. Cecilia Eusepi (Oct. 1), a lay Servite, died at the age of 19, but not before impressing others with her humility and sanctity. Bl. Juan Elías Medina (Sept. 25) was a priest martyred in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War. Bl. Charles of Blois (Sept. 29) was a 14th century French noble, husband, and father who, despite his political warfare, was also known for his holiness.
You can also read about Ceolfrid, Firminus of Amiens, and Caian of Tregaian (Sept. 25); Amantius of Tiphernum, Nilus the Younger, Stephen of Rossano Calabro, Louis Tezza, and Colman of Elo (Sept. 26); Lorenzo of Ripafratta and Barrog the Hermit (Sept. 27); Nikita Budka and Exuperius of Toulouse (Sept. 28); John de Montmirail, Francesc de Paula Castelló Aleu, Luigi Monza, Antonio Arribas Hortigüela, Lazaro of Kyoto, Dadas of Persia and family, and Martyrs of Thrace (Sept. 29); Felicia Meda, Amato di Nusco, and Conrad of Urach (Sept. 30); Luigi Maria Monti, Juan de Palafox Mendoza, and Bavo of Ghent (Oct. 1).
Have a blessed week!