Saints of the Week: Transfiguration, Lawrence, E.Stein, Mary, Philomena, Miguel, Cyriacus, Oswald, Cajetan &More
We just celebrated the feast of the Transfiguration of Christ and the feast of Mary’s Assumption is approaching. This is a holy time, when we, like the saints we celebrated this past week, should draw ever closer to God.
Christ’s Transfiguration (Aug.6) occurred when the Apostles Peter, James, and John beheld Christ in His Divine Glory, flanked by Moses and Elias, as God the Father called upon the stunned apostles to listen to Christ, His beloved Son (see Lk.9; Matt.17; 2Peter). Read more here.
St. Lawrence (August 10) “was a deacon of St. Sixtus II, Pope and Martyr. When the prefect of Rome arrested him, he distributed the possessions of the Church to the poor to save them from confiscation [and presented the poor to the authorities as the Church’s treasures]. He was slowly roasted to death on a gridiron in 258.” Said to have joked that he was done on one side and could be turned over. St. Romanus (August 9), “a Roman soldier, converted by St. Lawrence, was cruelly beaten, and beheaded in 261.”1
St. Edith Stein (Aug.9), or Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, was born in 1891 to a German Jewish family. She became a brilliant intellectual, was an atheist for some time, and read her way into Catholicism. She became a Carmelite nun, writer, teacher, and lecturer. Nazi anti-Semitism cost her her positions and then her life as she and her sister were gassed at Auschwitz for being both Jewish and Catholic nuns. The “Basilica of Our Lady of the Snow, called also St. Mary Major, was built on the Esquiline at Rome by St. Liberius, Pope from 352 to 366. Popular tradition relates that the site was traced out by a miraculous fall of snow on this date, which is that of the Feast of the Church’s Dedication, [following a vision of Mary.]” Our Lady of Copacabana (Aug.5), patroness of Bolivia, is venerated at a spot that was once a hotspot of Incan pagan worship; later, a native Christian boy wanted to create a statue of Jesus’s mother. Miracles were reported through prayer before the statue.
St. Philomena (Aug. 11) was lost to history for centuries, but her grave was re-discovered and identified her as a martyr. St. Jean Vianney (Aug.8, see below) and Pauline Jaricot spread devotion to her, and some details about her have been revealed through visions; it is said she was still a young girl when she was martyred. The Blessed Virgin reportedly said in a vision, “To Philomena, nothing is refused,” and indeed her intercession has brought about many miracles. St. Miguel de la Mora (Aug.7) was a Mexican priest who secretly ministered to parishioners during anti-Catholic persecution and was martyred in front of his brother in 1927 while praying the Rosary for his executioners.
Sts. Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus (Aug.8): “Cyriacus, [a] Deacon, and his two companions, Largus and Smaragdus, were put to death in the persecution of Diocletian in 303.” Cyriacus, a miracle-worker and evangelizer, is one of the 14 Holy Helpers. St. Oswald of Northumbria (Aug. 5) returned from exile to unify Northumbria and spread Christianity. Charitable and pious, he founded monasteries and was killed in battle with pagans in 642. St. Cajetan (Aug.7) “founded the Order of Theatines, who endeavored to imitate the Apostles in absolute poverty, trusting alone in the divine Providence. The ‘Hunter of souls,’ as he was called, died in 1547, after a life of extraordinary austerity and mystical experiences.”
St. Donatus (Aug.7), “Bishop of Arezzo, in Tuscany, was beheaded under the Emperor Julian the Apostate in 361.” St. Nonna (Aug.5) converted her pagan husband, St. Gregory; mother of and praised by St. Gregory the Theologian, and St. Caesarius. Miraculously healed after a vision (d.374). St. Matthias the Apostle (Aug. 9, Byzantine) was one of Christ’s disciples during Jesus’s earthly ministry and was later chosen to replace Judas Iscariot the traitor among the 12 Apostles after Jesus’s Resurrection and Ascension. “Preached the Gospel for more than 30 years in Judea, Cappadocia, Egypt and Ethiopia…[emphasized] mortification of the flesh with regard to all its sensual and irregular desires. Martyr.”
Pope St. Sixtus II (Aug.6/7) or Xystus “and two of his deacons, St. Felicissimus and St. Agapitus, were martyred during the persecution of Decius in 258.” St. Clare of Assisi (Aug.11) “expressed to St. Francis the desire to consecrate herself to God. Together with him, she became the foundress of the Franciscan Nuns of the Second Order: the ‘Poor Clares.’ She governed her convent for forty-two years, and died in 1253.”
St. Dominic (August 4, Latin Mass), preacher and miracle-worker, founded one of the greatest religious orders and conquered heretical errors. “Dominic Guzman, born in Spain, opposed the disorders of the Albigenses. He founded the Order of the Friars Preachers, propagated devotion to the Rosary [after a vision], and saved the Western Church from heresy and anarchy. He died in 1221.” St. Jean-Marie Vianney (August 4): “The Cure d’Ars was born at Dardilly, near Lyons, in 1786. The sanctity of St. [Jean] Vianney gives to the obscure village of Ars a universal fame. As parish priest he converted sinners and directed souls, not only those of his own flock, but people of all nations and conditions who came to [confession and to] consult this spiritual director. [Fought with demons.] He died on August 4, 1859, and was canonized in 1925.”
St. Marianne Cope (Aug.9) was a German immigrant to America, a teacher, hospital supervisor, and religious sister. She went with other Franciscans to Hawaii to care for lepers and dedicated the rest of her life to the physical, educational, and spiritual betterment of the lepers (d.1918). “The Roman deacon Tiburtius [Aug.11], son of the prefect of Rome, was beheaded after suffering many cruel torments in 286 [His father Chromatius is also a saint]. Susanna, a holy virgin of high lineage, refused to marry the son of Diocletian, and was beheaded after grievous torments in 295.”
St. Nathy (Aug.9) was an Irish cleric who founded a church and monastery, the latter famed for its learning and piety. He may have been a bishop and was certainly the spiritual teacher of St. Fechin of Fobar. Bl. Amadeus of Portugal (Aug.10) was a married Portuguese courtier who later became a monk, hermit, biblical commentator, and founder of the Amadeistene Franciscan reform (d.1482). Pope St. Hormisdas (Aug.6), father of Pope Silverius, began his papacy by ending schisms, including a break between Constantinople and Rome. His formula of faith is famous (d.523).
St. Addai (Aug.5), one of Jesus’s disciples, healed and converted King Abgar the Black and preached in Syria and Persia; one of his converts was St. Aggai in Edessa. St. Claudia of Rome (Aug.7) was a Roman matron, the wife and mother of saints. She hosted St. Peter in 42. St. Mary MacKillop (Aug. 8) was an educator and co-founder of Australia’s first religious order. She was excommunicated but later cleared of all false charges (d.1909). Bl. Tadeusz Dulny (Aug.6) was a Polish seminarian arrested by Nazis. He was abused and starved to death in Dachau in 1942. St. Emilian of Cyzicus (Aug.8) was the first bishop to defy Iconoclast Emperor Leo the Armenian’s heresy in the 9th century. Emilian died in prison. Bl. Augustine Ota (Aug. 10) was a Japanese catechist and Jesuit martyred in 1622.
St. Margaret the Barefooted (Aug.5) converted her abusive husband and ministered to the needy (d.1395). St. Alexander the Charcoal Burner (Aug.11) was a well-educated Greek who became a humble charcoal burner, but was later discovered and made bishop (martyred c.275). St. Maurilio of Rouen (Aug.9) was an 11th century Gallic hermit, abbot, peacemaker, and archbishop who built churches and combatted highway robbery. St. Bessus (Aug.10) was a 3rd century Theban Legion soldier, miracle-worker, evangelist, and martyr. Bl. Florentino Asensio Barroso (Aug.9) was a charitable bishop martyred in the Spanish Civil War. Sts. Justus and Pastor (Aug.6) were young boys martyred for refusing to worship idols. Bl. Richard Bere (Aug.9) was an English Carthusian choir monk martyred with others in 1537 for refusing to take the heretical Oath of Supremacy.
St. Blane (Aug.10) was a Scottish monk, bishop, missionary, and miracle-worker who could shoot lightning from his fingers (d.c.590). Bl. Faustino Oteiza Segura (Aug.9) was a sickly priest and teacher martyred in the Spanish Civil War. Bl. John Felton (Aug.8) was married to English Queen Mary’s maid of honor, and was martyred in 1570 for challenging London’s bishop to accept the excommunication of Queen Elizabeth. St. Afra (Aug.7) was converted by a bishop she hid and was martyred at the turn of the 4th century. Bl. Maurice Tornay (Aug.11) was a Swiss missionary priest to China and to Tibet, where he was martyred in 1949. Bl. Carlos Díaz Gandía (Aug. 11) was an active lay catechist, husband, and father martyred in 1936 in the Spanish Civil War.
St. Altmann of Passau (Aug.8) was an 11th century German bishop exiled for announcing the emperor’s excommunication. St. Myron of Crete (Aug.8) was a farmer whose charity to a band of thieves converted them; Myron became a priest and miracle-worker (d.350). St. Albert of Sicily (Aug.7) was a famous Carmelite preacher and miracle-worker (d.c.1307). Bl. Pierre-Michel Noël (Aug.5) was a priest imprisoned and left to die in a Hulk at Rochefort during the French Revolution. St. Attracta of Killaraght (Aug.11) worked with St. Patrick to evangelize Ireland. St. Viator (Aug.5) was a sixth century French Benedictine monk. Bl. Vincent de L'Aquila (Aug.7) was a Franciscan hermit who would levitate during prayer.
You can also read about Emidius of Ascoli, Mari, Arnaldo Pons, Abel of Rheims, Pierre-Michel Noël, Memmius, Venantius of Viviers, Paris, and Cassian of Autun (Aug. 5); Maria Francesca Rubatto, Carlos López Vidal, Glisente, Josep Bonet, Gezelin of Schlebusch, William of Altavilla, Gislain of Luxemburg, and Guillermo Sanz (Aug. 6); Victricius, Edmund Bojanowski, Ed.Bamber, Dalmacio Bellota Pérez, Agathangelus Nourry and Cassian, Thomas Whitaker, Jordan Forzatei, and Nicholas Postgate (Aug. 7); Antonio Silvestre Moya, Famianus, Paul Ge Tingzhu, W. Laskowski, and Antero Mateo (Aug. 8); John of Salerno, Firmus and Rusticus, Numidicus and martyrs, Phelim, Candida Maria, Cayetano G. Martin, JMHernández, and Claude Richard (Aug. 9); Archangelus Piacentini, Lazare Tiersot, Gerontius, Franciszek Drzewiecki, Augustine Ota, Our Lady of Good Success, F. François, Hugh of Montaigu, and Deusdedit the Cobbler (Aug. 10); and Rafael Alonso Gutiérrez, S.Rowsham, Equitius of Valeria, Rusticola, Jean-Georges Rehm, and John Sandys (Aug. 11).
Have a blessed week!
Quotes without links are from the Latin Mass Missal