Christian Today

St. Pius V, Pope - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Pius V,  Roman Catholic Pope from 1566-1572 and one of the foremost leaders of the Catholic Reformation. Feastday April 30

Bl. Francis Dickenson - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Francis Dickenson, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Rochester. Feastday April 30

Mexico: Seminarian kidnapped and murdered on Independent Catholic News Mexico: Seminarian kidnapped and murdered

Dominican nuns in Iraq: a tale of devotion and courage on Independent Catholic News

St. Catherine of Siena - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Catherine of Siena, Roman Catholic Dominican tertiary, Doctor of the Church, Patron saint of Italy and Europe. Feastday April 29

St. Peter Chanel - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Peter Chanel, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr. Patron of Oceania, clubbed to death on Island of Futuna , New Hebrides in the Pacific. Feastday April 28

St. Louis de Montfort - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Louis de Montfort, Roman Catholic Priest and  founder of the Sisters of Divine Wisdom. Feastday April 28

St. Gianna Beretta Molla - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Gianna Beretta Molla, Roman Catholic laywoman and Patron of mothers, physicians, preborn children, Feastday April 28

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St. Zita - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Zita, Roman Catholic woman, she is the patroness of servants and is depicted in art with a bag and keys, or loaves of bread and a rosary. Feast day April 27

St. Cletus - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Cletus, Roman Catholic Pope and Martyr. He was the third bishop of Rome, and succeeded St. Linus, which circumstance alone shows his eminent virtue among the first disciples of St. Peter in the West. He sat twelve years, from 76 to 89. Feastday April 26

St. Cletus - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Cletus, Roman Catholic Pope and Martyr. He was the third bishop of Rome, and succeeded St. Linus, which circumstance alone shows his eminent virtue among the first disciples of St. Peter in the West. He sat twelve years, from 76 to 89. Feastday April 26

St. Mark - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Mark, The second Gospel was written by St. Mark, who, in the New Testament, is sometimes called John Mark. Both he and his mother, Mary, were highly esteemed in the early Church, and his mother's house in Jerusalem served as a meeting place for Christians there. St. Mark was associated with St. Paul and St. Barnabas (who was Mark's cousin) on their missionary journey through the island of Cyprus. Later he accompanied St. Barnabas alone. We know also that he was in Rome with St. Peter and St. Paul. Tradition ascribes to him the founding of the Church in Alexandria. St. Mark wrote the second Gospel, probably in Rome sometime before the year 60 A.D.; he wrote it in Greek for the Gentile converts to Christianity.Feastday April 25

Bl. William Marsden - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Robert Anderton, and Bl. William Marsden Roman Catholic Priests and English Martyrs. Summoned to London, where they were examined upon the celebrated "bloody question", whether they would fight against the Pope, even if the quarrel were for purely religious causes. Though they acknowledged Elizabeth as their lawful queen in all temporal matters, they would not consent to the required test. The sentence was then confirmed, and a proclamation was published, explaining their guilt. They were taken back and executed near the place where they had been cast ashore, being hanged, drawn, and quartered. Feastday April 25

Bl. William Marsden - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Robert Anderton, and Bl. William Marsden Roman Catholic Priests and English Martyrs. Summoned to London, where they were examined upon the celebrated "bloody question", whether they would fight against the Pope, even if the quarrel were for purely religious causes. Though they acknowledged Elizabeth as their lawful queen in all temporal matters, they would not consent to the required test. The sentence was then confirmed, and a proclamation was published, explaining their guilt. They were taken back and executed near the place where they had been cast ashore, being hanged, drawn, and quartered. Feastday April 25

St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Roman Catholic Franciscan Capuchin Martyr. A practicing lawyer, he traveled across Europe as a tutor to aristocrats but then started defending the poor. In 1612, he became a Franciscan Capuchin monk, taking the name of Fidelis. A missionary to Grisons, Switzerland, Fidelis was so successful that local Protestants claimed that he was a spy for the Austrian Emperor. Fidelis was stabbed to death. Feastday April 24

St. Mary Clopas - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Mary Clopas, Roman Catholic Mother of St. James the Less and Joseph, wife of Cleophas. She was one of the “Three Marys” who served Jesus and was present at the Crucifixion , and accompanied Mary Magdalen to the tomb of Christ. Tradition reports that she went to Spain as a missionary. Feastday April 24

St. George - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. George, Roman Catholic Martyr. Patron of England & Catalonia. Pictures of St. George usually show him killing a dragon to rescue a beautiful lady. The dragon stands for wickedness. The lady stands for God's holy truth. St. George was a brave martyr who was victorious over the devil. He was a soldier in the army of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, and he was one of the Emperor's favorite soldiers. Now Diocletian was a pagan and a bitter enemy to the Christians. He put to death every Christian he could find. George was a brave Christian, a real soldier of Christ. Without fear, he went to the Emperor and sternly scolded him for being so cruel. Then he gave up his position in the Roman army. For this he was tortured in many terrible ways and finally beheaded. Feastday April 22

St. Abdiesus - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Abdiesus and Companions, Roman Catholic Martyrs of Persia who was caught up in the persecutions conducted by King Shapur II. Records indicate that Abdiesus was accompanied in his martyrdom by Abrosimus, Acepsimus, Azadanes, Azades, Bicor, Mareas, Milles, and a women named Tarbula. Some were Persian courtiers, others priests and bishops. Tarbula was the sister of St. Simeon, and suffered a particularly cruel death by sawing. Feastday April 22

Bl. Maria Gabriella Sagheddu - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Maria Gabriella Sagheddu, Roman Catholic  Trappist Nun. Patron of Ecumenism. Feastday April 22

St. Anselm - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Saint Anselm of Canterbury, Roman Catholic Priest, Archbishop of Canterbury  and Doctor of The Church. Feastday April 21

St. Francis Page - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Francis Page, Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest and English Martyr. Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Francis was a member of an English Protestant family of Harrow-on-the-Hill, in England. Reconciled to the Catholic faith, he was ordained in 1600 and sent from Douai, France, to England. He was arrested there two years later. While in prison, Francis entered the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. He was martyred at Tyburn, England, Feastday April 20

Bl. Robert Watkinson - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Robert Watkinson, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. Born at Hemingborough, Yorkshire, he left England and studied at Douai, France, and then Rome in preparation for his ordination in 1602 in Arras, France. Sent home to work for the reconversion of England, he was arrested almost immediately and executed at Tyburn. Robert was hanged, drawn, and quartered on April 20, with Blessed Francis Page. Feastday April 20

Bl. John Finch - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. John Finch, Roman Catholic layman and English Martyr. He was a yeoman farmer of Eccleston, Lancashire, who returned to the Church. He harbored priests and acted as a clerk and catechist. John was arrested and tried with Blessed James Bell. They were executed at Lancaster. Feastday April 20

St. Alphege of Canterbury - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Alphege of Canterbury, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. When in 1011 Canterbury was overrun by Danish invaders, who began to slaughter the townspeople, the archbishop presented himself to the Danes, declaring, “Spare those poor innocent victims. Turn your fury rather against me.” Alphege was thereupon consigned to a dungeon. Afterward, an epidemic among the Danes frightened them into releasing him. Newly freed, Alphege obtained the healing of many victims of the epidemic by his prayers and by distributing to them blessed bread. Despite this, the Danes later stoned and axed him to death in Greenwich. But eleven years later, it was to be a Danish king, Canute, who would honorably transfer Alphege’s body to Canterbury.Feastday April 19

Bl. James Duckett - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. James Duckett, Roman Catholic Layman and English Martyr. After being drawn to Catholicism, he refused to attend Protestant services and passed two terms in prison. He then took instructions and was baptized. James went to London, where he spent more time in prison and distributed Catholic materials. Arrested for his faith, he was imprisoned for nine years before his execution at Tyburn. Feastday April 20

St. Eleutherius & Anthia - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Sts. Eleutherius & Anthia, Roman Catholic Martyrs. Eleutherius was a bishop in Illyria, Dalmatia, with his mother, Anthia. He was a Roman, educated by Bishop Dynamius. At the age of twenty, Eleutherius himself became a bishop and was arrested for converting an imperial official. He was clubbed to death and Anthia was beheaded. Feastday April 18

St. Eleutherius & Anthia - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Sts. Eleutherius & Anthia, Roman Catholic Martyrs. Eleutherius was a bishop in Illyria, Dalmatia, with his mother, Anthia. He was a Roman, educated by Bishop Dynamius. At the age of twenty, Eleutherius himself became a bishop and was arrested for converting an imperial official. He was clubbed to death and Anthia was beheaded. Feastday April 18

St. Apollonius the Apologist - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Apollonius the Apologist, Roman Catholic Martyr whose Apologia, or defense of the faith, is considered one of the most priceless documents of the early Church. Apollonius was a Roman senator who was denounced as a Christian by one of his slaves. The Praetorian Prefect, Sextus Tigidius Perennis, arrested him, also putting the slave to death as an informer. Perennis demanded that Apollonius denounce the faith, and when he refused, the case was remanded to the Roman senate. There a debate took place between Perennis and Apollonius that clearly outlines the beauty and the value of Christianity. Despite his eloquent defense, Apollonius was condemned and beheaded. Feastday April 18

St. Anicetus - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Anicetus, Roman Catholic Pope a Syrian from Emesa. He became pope about 155 and actively opposed Marcionism and Gnosticism. His pontificate saw the appearance of the controversy between East and West over the date of Easter. St. Polycarp, a disciple of John, is reported to have visited him in Rome about the dispute, which was to accelerate and grow more heated over the following centuries. Feastday April 17

St. Stephen Harding - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Stephen Harding, O.Cist. Roman Catholic English monk and abbot, who was one of the founders of the Cistercian Order. Feastday April 17

St. Bernadette Soubirous - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Bernadette Soubirous, Roman Catholic Nun. Feastday April 16

St. Benedict Joseph Labré - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Benedict Joseph Labré, Roman Catholic Patron of Unmarried men (bachelors), rejects, mental illness, mentally ill people, insanity, beggars, hobos, the homeless. Feastday April 16

Bl. Pierre Delepine - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Pierre Delepine, Roman Catholic layman and a martyr during the French Revolution. Feastday April 16

Bl. Francoise Suhard Menard - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Francoise Suhard Menard, Roman Catholic laywoman martyred during the French Revolution. Feastday April 16

Bl. Francoise Micheneau Gillot - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Francoise Micheneau Gillot, Roman Catholic laywoman martyred during the French Revolution. Feastday April 16

Bl. Anne Maugrain - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Anne Maugrain, Roman Catholic laywoman martyred during the French Revolution. Feastday April 16

St. John Baptist de la Salle - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. John Baptist de la Salle, Roman Catholic Priest. He founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (approved in 1725) and established teacher colleges (Rheims in 1687, Paris in 1699, and Saint-Denis in 1709). He was one of the first to emphasize classroom teaching over individual instruction. He also began teaching in the vernacular instead of in Latin. His schools were formed all over Italy. In 1705, he established a reform school for boys at Dijon. John was named patron of teachers  Feastday April 7

St. Henry Walpole - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Henry Walpole,  Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest and English Martyr. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered in York, England. Feastday April 7

Bl. Edward Oldcorne - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Edward Oldcorne, Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest and English Martyr. He was then condemned to death at Worcester for alleged complicity in the Gunpowder Plot . Feastday April 7

Bl. Alexander Rawlins - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Alexander Rawlins, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. Missionary, and companion in death with Henry Walpole. Alexander was born in Worcestershire, England, where he was jailed twice for his fervent Catholicism. In 1589 he went to the English seminary in Reims and was ordained there in 1590. Returning to England the following year, Alexander was arrested. He was condemned to death and on April 7, 1595, and along with Henry Walpole was hanged, drawn, and quartered in York, England. Feastday April 7

St. Celestine I - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Celestine I, Roman Catholic Pope. The founder of the papal diplomatic service and sent Palladius to evangelize Ireland in 431. Feastday April 6

St. Sixtus I - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Sixtus I, Roman Catholic Pope and Martyr, during the reign of Hadrian c. 115-c. 125.  Feastday April 6

Bl. Pierino Morosini - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Pierino Morosini. Roman Catholic woman. Pierina made a private vow of chastity to God and was attacked by a would-be rapist, and died soon after. Feastday April 5

Cameroon: Missionary priests and nun kidnapped on Independent Catholic News

St. Vincent Ferrer - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Vincent Ferrer, Roman Catholic Valencian Dominican friar, missionary and a logician. Feastday April 5

Martyrs of London - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Martyrs of London, Three groups of Roman Catholic martyrs who were put to death in the late sixteenth century in London by English authorities. 1). Martyrs executed for treason, by virtue of their supposed complicity in the entirely spurious plot known as the “Conspiracy of Reims and Rome.” 2). A group that suffered martyrdom following the defeat of the Spanish Armada and the increase of anti-Catholic feeling in Elizabethan England. 3). A group suffering martyrdom as a result of the British government’s enforcement of anti-Catholic policies. Feastday April 5

Martyrs of Lesbos - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Martyrs of Lesbos, Five virgin Roman Catholic maidens who suffered martyrdom for the faith on the Greek island of Lesbos. Feastday April 5

St. Maria Crescentia Hoss - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Maria Crescentia Hoss, Roman Catholic Nun. She was a contemplative nun of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis. Feastday April 5

St. Isidore of Seville - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Isidore of Seville, Roman Catholic Priest and Doctor of The Church. Isidore was the first Christian writer to try to compile a summa of universal knowledge, in his most important work, the Etymologiae his learning caught fire in Spanish minds and held back the Dark Ages of barbarism from Spain. Feastday April 4

St. Benedict the Moor - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Benedict the Moor, Roman Catholic Monk. Patron Saint of African missions; African American; black missions; black people; Palermo, Sicily San Fratello, Sicily. Feastday April 3

St. Richard of Wyche - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Richard of Chichester , Roman Catholic Bishop of Chichester. In Chichester Cathedral a shrine dedicated to Richard had become a richly decorated centre of pilgrimage. In 1538, during the reign of Henry VIII, the shrine was plundered and destroyed by order of Thomas Cromwell.St Richard of Chichester is patron saint of Sussex in southern England; since 2007, his translated saint's day of 16 June has been celebrated as Sussex Day. Feastday April 3

St. Agape - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Agape, Roman Catholic Martyr, Agape and her sisters Chionia and Irene, Christians of Thessalonica, Macedonia, were convicted of possessing texts of the Scriptures despite a decree issued in 303 by Emperor Diocletian naming such possessions a crime punishable by death. When they further refused to sacrifice to pagan gods, the governor, Dulcitius, had Agape and Chionia burned alive. When Irene still refused to recant, Dulcitius ordered her sent to a house of prostitution. There she was unmolested after being exposed naked and chained, she was put to death either by burning or by an arrow through her throat. Feastday April 3

St. Ebba the Younger - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Ebba the Younger,  Roman Catholic Nun. Abbess of Coldingham, England, on the Scottish border, called “the Younger.” She and her nuns were martyred by Danes in an invasion. She mutilated her face to discourage rape by the invading Danes. The raiders set fire to Coldingham, killing all of the nuns. Feastday April 2

Bl. Tarsykia Matskiv - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Tarsykia Matskiv, Roman Catholic Nun. On the morning of 17 July 1944 at 8 a.m., a Russian soldier rang the convent door. When Sr Taryskia answered the door she was shot without warning and died. Feastday April 2

Bl. Simeon Lukach - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Simeon Lukach Roman Catholic Priest and Bishop. On 26 October 1949 he was arrested by the NKVD and was released on 11 February 1955. He functioned as an underground member of the clergy, but in July 1962 he was arrested for a second time and appeared in court with Bishop Ivan Sleziuk, who too was an underground bishop. While in prison, he was stricken with tuberculosis, which hastened his death. Feastday April 2

Bl. Peter Verhun - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Peter Verhun, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr. Peter was a priest for Ukrainian Catholics at Berlin, Germany. Apostolic Visitor to Germany. Peter was arrested for his faith in 1945, and exiled to Siberia. Feastday April 2

St. Pedro Calungsod - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Pedro Calungsod, Roman Catholic Filipino  Martyr. While missionary work in Guam, along with Diego San Vitores, they were both murdered after baptizing an infant and mother who converted to the Roman Catholic faith. Feastday April 2

Bl. Olha Bida - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Olha Olympia Bida, Roman Catholic Nun. She was arrested with two other sisters, imprisoned for a while, then exiled to the Tomsk region of Siberia.Under conditions of heavy forced labour, Succumbing to a serious illness, she died on 28 January 1952. Feastday April2

St. Theodora - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Theodora, Roman Catholic Martyr. According to the Acta of Pope St. Alexander (r 105-115), she was the sister of St. Hermes and was martyred some time after her brother. She had given aid and care to her brother during his difficult time in prison. Feastday April1

Bl. Anacleto González Flores - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Anacleto González Flores. Roman Catholic layman. He was taken to the Colorado jail, where his torture included being hung by his thumbs until his fingers were dislocated and having the bottom of his feet slashed. He refused, however, to supply his captors with any information. José Anacleto González Flores was condemned to death and was shot together with the Vargas González brothers and Luis Padilla Gómez on that same day, 1 April 1927.