SAINTS FOR MARCH 17

SAINTS FOR MARCH 17 

ST. JOHN SARCANDER, PRIEST AND MARTYR, Martyred foe of the Hussites. He was born on December 20 at Skotschau, in Austrian Silesia, and educated at Prague. He was ordained in 1607 and served in various parishes, defending the faith against the Hussites. Mar.17

Bl. Peter Lieou, Roman Catholic Priest and Chinese Martyr. A Chinese native, he was converted to Catholicism and was consequently exiled to Mongolia in 1814. Permitted to return in 1827, he soon assisted the spread of Catholic missionary efforts and, during the persecution of Christianity by the Chinese government, managed to make his way into a prison where he gave comfort to Christian prisoners. He was caught and strangled. Feastday March 17

St. Joseph of Arimathea, 1st century. The councilor (Lk 23:50) who, after the Crucifixion, requested the body of Christ from Pontius Pilate and provided for a proper burial for Christ. An immensely popular figure in Christian lore, Joseph was termed in the New Testament the “virtuous and righteous man” (Lk 23:50) and the man “who was himself awaiting the kingdom of God” (Mk 15:43). Described as..... secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, [he] asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it” (In 19:38). According to the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, he helped establish the community of Lydda. He also was a prominent figure in the legends surrounding the Holy Grail, appearing in Rob-ert de Barron’s early thirteenth-century romance Joseph d ‘Arirnathea, William of Malmesbury’s twelfth-century De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae, and Thomas Mallory’s famed Morte D ‘Arthur; William of almesbury’s tale recounts Joseph’s arrival in England with the Holy Grail and the building of the first church on the isle at Glastonbury; the passage on Joseph, however, was added in the thirteenth century. Bl. Peter Lieou, Roman Catholic Priest and Chinese Martyr. A Chinese native, he was converted to Catholicism and was consequently exiled to Mongolia in 1814. Permitted to return in 1827, he soon assisted the spread of Catholic missionary efforts and, during the persecution of Christianity by the Chinese government, managed to make his way into a prison where he gave comfort to Christian prisoners. He was caught and strangled. Feastday March 17

Saint Patrick, b. 387 d.461, Patron of Ireland. St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world's most popular saints. Apostle of Ireland, born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387; died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, 17 March, 461. Along with St. Nicholas and St. Valentine, the secular world shares our love of these saints.