SAINTS JANUARY 15

 SAINTS JANUARY 15

St. Blaithmaic, 823 A.D. Irish abbot who sought martyrdom among the Danes, he went to England and encountered the Danes and was murdered on the altar steps of the abbey church at lona.  

St. Ita. Ita was reputedly of royal lineage. She was born at Decies, Waterford, Ireland, refused to be married, and secured her father's permission to live a virginal life. She moved to Killeedy, Limerick, and founded a community of women dedicated to God. She also founded a school for boys, and one of her pupils was St. Brendan. Many extravagant miracles were attributed to her (in one of them she is reputed to have reunited the head and body of a man who had been beheaded; in another she lived entirely on food from heaven), and she is widely venerated in Ireland. She is also known as Deirdre and Mida. 

 

St. Teath. Possibly a daughter of Brychan of Brecknock in Wales. A Cornwall church bears her name. She may also be St. Ita.  

St. Sawl, 6th century. Welsh chieftain and the father of St. Asaph, the great Welsh saint 

St. Ceolwulf, 764 A.D. King of Northumbria, England, and patron of St. Bede. He resigned in 738 and became a monk at Lindisfame. St. Bede dedicated his Ecclesiastical History to “the most gracious King Ceolwulf.”  

St. Liewellyn & Gwrnerth, 6th century. Welsh monks of Welshpool and Bardsey, Wales.  

                                                                               

St. Lleudadd, 6th century. Welsh abbot, companion of St. Cadfan to Brittany, France, also listed as Laudatus. He was formerly the abbot of Bardsey, in Gwynedd, Wales.

St. Francisco Fernandez de Capillas, Roman Catholic Martyr Spanish missionary who became the first Catholic martyr in China after he was beheaded in Fu'an, Fujian in China. Feastday Jan 15

St. Nina, Roman Catholic laywoman. Scholars believe she was a slave to whom the name Nino (the Georgian form of Nina) was given; she has also been identified as Christiana. The quiet piety of her life and her preaching converted many people, and when she cured Queen Nana of a seemingly incurable disease, Nina converted the queen. When King Mirian also became a Christian, he sent to Constantinople for bishops and priests. Nina continued to preach throughout Georgia until her death at Bodke. A church dedicated to the memory of St. George was built on the site of her grave. Feastday Jan 15

ST PAUL, THE FIRST HERMIT. Very little is known about St Paul, who is recognized as the first Christian hermit. A nobleman from Egypt, he fled to the desert during the persecution of Decius. According to tradition, his cell is found on Mt Sinai. He died at a very old age, after more than 90 years of solitary life.  Jan 15

ST. MAURO, ABBOT

ST. JOHN CALIBITA, MONK Jan 15