Christian Today

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS: St. Machabeo, Irish abbot of Armagh, Ireland, for four decades. He is also listed as Gilda-Marchaibeo. He governed the monastery of Sts. Peter and Paul.  Mar.31

ST. BALBINA, ROMAN MATRON, FOUNDRESS OF THE ROMAN CHURCH BEARING HER NAME According to tradition, St. Balbina was the daughter of St. Quirinus, a Roman tribune. Father and daughter were baptized by Pope St. Alexander I. Under the Emperor Hadrian, they were arrested, tortured, and ultimately beheaded, probably around the year 130. Saint Balbina was buried on the Via Appia.  Mar.31 ST.BENJAMIN, DEACON AND MARTYR  The Christians in Persia had enjoyed twelve years of peace during the reign of Isdegerd, son of Sapor III, when in 420 it was disturbed by the indiscreet zeal of Abdas, a Christian Bishop who burned the Temple of Fire, the great sanctuary of the Persians..Mar.31

ST. JOHN CLIMACUS, ABBOTT OF SINAI St. John Climacus, Roman Catholic monk called “Climacus” from the title of his famous book, The Climax, or The Ladder of Perfection..Mar. 30 B. AMADEUS IX OF SAVOY Amadeus was the son of Duke Louis I of Savoy. He was born in 1435 in Thonon, Savoy and betrothed as an infant to Princess Yolanda, the daughter of Charles VII of France. They were married in 1451, and Amadeus succeeded his father as duke of Savoy. A victim of epilepsy, he resigned his dukedom around 1471, Mar. 30

St. Mark, Martyred Roman Catholic Bishop of Arethusa, on Mount Lebanon. He destroyed a local pagan temple, enraging the pagan populace. Emperor Julian the Apostate ordered that Mark and other Christians rebuild the temples that they had destroyed. Mark fled rather than comply, but he surrendered when members of his flock were arrested. He was tortured by being dragged through the streets, but he remained so loyal to Christ and the Church that he was set free. Emperor Julian pardoned him. Feastday Mar. 29

St. Berthold, Roman Catholic Priest and the founder of the Carmelite Order. Feastday March 29

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS: St. Gladys, 5th century. Welsh saint, wife of St. Gundleus and mother of St. Cadoc. She was the daughter of Brychan of Brecknock, Wales. Tradition relates that Gundleus kidnapped Gladys. Their romance became part of the Arthurian legend.  St. Gwynllyw, 500 A.D. Husband of St. Gladys and father of St. Cadoc, a hermit of Wales. He is sometimes called Woollos or Gundleus. He and Gladys were reportedly bandits in Kind Arthur’s time, but they repented and became eremites.  St. Lasar, 6th century. Irish virgin, niece of St. Forchera, also called Lassar or Lassera. She was a nun, given to the care of Sts. Finan and Kieran at Clonard, Ireland.  Mar.29

ST. EUSTASIUS, BISHOP OF NAPLES St. Eustasius was Bishop of Naples during the anti-Christian persecutions of the third century. He was included in the first official edition of the Roman Martyrology, approved by Pope Gregory XIII in 1584.  Mar. 29

St. Venturino of Bergamo, Roman Catholic Dominican Monk, known for helping to organize a crusade, at the behest of Pope Clement VI (r. 1342-1352), against the Turks who were then menacing Europe. Feastday March 28

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS:St. James Claxton, Blessed, 1588 A.D. Martyr in England. A native of Yorkshire and a devout Catholic, he studied at Reims and was ordained in 1582. Returning home to conduct missionary work in his former region, he was soon arrested and hanged, drawn, and quartered at Isleworth.  Mar.28

ST. CASTOR, MARTYR OF TARSO St. Castor is mentioned in both the Hieronymian and the Roman Martyrologies - the oldest catalogues of Christian martyrs of the Latin Church. According to tradition, he was martyred in Tarsus, in Cilicia, in what is now Turkey, possibly in the company of either St. Dorotheus or St. Stephen.  Mar. 28

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The World Must Come to Walsingham - Crisis Magazine : This face, for centuries a memory, Non est species, neque decor, Expressionless, expresses God: it goes Past castled Sion. She knows what God knows, Not Calvary’s Cross nor crib at Bethlehem Now, and the world shall come to Walsingham. Frederick Wilhelmsen called Juan Donoso Cortés the Augustine of the nineteenth century: the chronicler of civilization’s …

St Augusta, Roman Catholic Virgin martyr, the daughter of the duke of Friuli, in Italy. It is reported that the duke was so infuriated by Augusta's conversion to Christianity that he killed her with his own hand. Her shrine is near Treviso, in northern Italy. Feastday Mar.27

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS: St. Alkeld, tenth century. A patroness of Yorkshire, England, she is also known as Athilda. Nothing is documented about her life, but she is depicted in a painting as being strangled by Dane invaders. Mar.27

ST. RUPERT,BISHOP OF SALZBURG Born of a noble family, St. Rupert travelled to Bavaria at the end of the 7th century as an itinerant monk. He founded a monastery near the ancient Roman city of Juvavum. Rupert gave the city the name Salzburg and became its first Bishop. He died March 27, Easter Sunday, around the year 710. 

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS:St. Margaret of Clitherow. Margaret Clitherow was born in Middleton, England, in 1555, of protestant parents. Possessed of good looks and full of wit and merriment, she was a charming personality. In 1571, she married John Clitherow, a well-to-do grazier and butcher (to whom she bore two children), and a few years later entered the Catholic Church. Her zeal led her to harbor fugitive priests, for which she was arrested and imprisoned by hostile authorities. Recourse was had to every means in an attempt to make her deny her Faith, but the holy woman stood firm. Finally, she was condemned to be pressed to death on March 25, 1586. She was stretched out on the ground with a sharp rock on her back and crushed under a door over laden with unbearable weights. Her bones were broken and she died within fifteen minutes. The humanity and holiness of this servant of God can be readily glimpsed in her words to a friend when she learned of her condemnation: "The sheriffs...

St. Margaret Clitherow, Roman Catholic English Martyr. She was born in Middleton, England, in 1555, of protestant parents. Possessed of good looks and full of wit and merriment, she was a charming personality. In 1571, she married John Clitherow, a well-to-do grazier and butcher (to whom she bore two children), and a few years later entered the Catholic Church. Her zeal led her to harbor fugitive priests, for which she was arrested and imprisoned by hostile authorities. Recourse was had to every means in an attempt to make her deny her Faith, but the holy woman stood firm. Finally, she was condemned to be pressed to death on March 25, 1586. She was stretched out on the ground with a sharp rock on her back and crushed under a door over laden with unbearable weights. Her bones were broken and she died within fifteen minutes. Her feast day is March 26th.

ST. CASTULUS, MARTYR ON THE VIA LABICANA St. Castulus was a chamberlain, of the Emperor Diocletian, who hid Christians during the persecutions. Betrayed by an apostate, he was arrested and tortured, but remained faithful to Christ to the very end. According to tradition, he was buried alive in a quarry on the Via Labicana near Rome.  Mar.26

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS: St. Harold, 1168 A.D. Martyred child of Gloucester, England. He was reported to have been slain by Jews in the area, and was venerated as a martyr. The veneration of the child martyrs is often considered as an example of the pervasive anti-Semitism of the period.  St. James Bird, Blessed, 1593 A.D. English martyr. Born in Winchester and raised as a Protestant, he embraced the Catholic Church at the age of nineteen. James visited Douai College in Reims, but he returned to England. There he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy and was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Winchester in his native city. He was beatified in 1929.  St. Kennocha, 1007 A.D. Nun of Scotland, also called Kyle or Enoch. She lived in a convent in Fife, Scotland, and is venerated in Glasgow. St Robert of Bury St. Edmunds, 1181 A.D. traditionally, a boy martyr of the Middle Ages whose death was blamed upon local Jews. He was supposedly kidnapped and murdered by Jews on G...

ST. DISMAS St. Dismas, the Good Thief crucified with Christ on Calvary. Feastday March 25 ST. QUIRINUS  was buried in the Catacomb of Praetextatus on the Via Appia, and his name was listed in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, as well as the Itineraries to the graves of the Roman martyrs. His relics were given by Pope Leo IX to his sister Gepa, abbess of Neuss, in 1050, and were placed in the Church of  St .  Quirinus  in Neuss. Mar. 25  ST. LUCY FILIPPINI,VIRGIN, FOUNDRESS OF THE MAESTRE PIE FILIPPINI St. Lucy Filippini, Co-foundress of the Italian institute of the Maestre Pie, the Filippine. With Rosa Venerini, Lucy started training schoolmistresses at Monte Fiascone. The institute evolved from this work.Roman Catholic Nun. Feastday Mar.25

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS:St. Caimin, 635 A.D. An Irish hermit of Inniskeltra. He lived on an island in Loughberg, founding a monastery and a chapel on the island of the Seven Churches with St. Senan. A fragment of his Psalter still remains.  St. Cairlon, 6th century. The archbishop of Cashel, Ireland, restored to life by St. Dageus. Cairlon, also called Caorlan, was an abbot when St. Dageus brought him back to life. When he was appointed to the see of Cashel, Dageus and his monks placed themselves under his rule.  St. Domangard. 500 A.D. Patron of Maghera, County Down, Ireland, sometimes called Donard. He was a contemporary of St. Patrick and a hermit. The site of his hermitage, a mountain, now bears the name SlieveDonard.  St. Hildelitba, 712 A.D. Benedictine abbess and supporter of Sts. Bede, Aldhelm, and Boniface. An Anglo Saxon princess, she became a nun at Chelles or Farmoutier. France, but was recalled by St. Erconwald to train her sister, Ethelburga, at Barking, ...

ST. CATHERINE OF SWEDEN, VIRGIN, MOTHER OF ST. BRIDGET  the daughter of an even more famous  woman-Saint Bridget  ( Birgitta ) of  Sweden .  Catherine , who was born about 1330, was a married woman who, with her husband, took a vow of continence. She went to Rome in 1348, where her mother had gone after the death of Catherine's father. Mar.24

St. Rafqa, Roman Catholic Nun. St. Rafqa was sent with five other sisters to found a new monastery in Jrabta, Batroun in Lebanon. In 1899, she became blind and paralysis set in. Mar. 23

St. Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo, Roman Catholic Priest. Patron of Native rights; Latin American bishops and Peru. Feastday March 23

St.  Ethelwald. Benedictine hermit on Fame Island, England, a disciple of St. Cuthbert. He was a monk at Ripon originally. Ethelwald was buried at Lindisfame. He is also called Oidilwald.  Mar.23

ST. TURIBIUS OF MOGROVEJO, BISHOP OF LIMA

St. Callinica & Basilissa, Roman Catholic Women Martyrs of Galatia. Wealthy matrons, Callinica and Basilissa spent their fortunes bringing aid to the imprisoned Christians in their area. They were arrested for their generosity and slain. Feastday March 22

St Nicholas Owen was born in 1562 in Oxford into a devout recusant family, and trained as a carpenter and joiner. As a Jesuit lay brother he became the servant of Henry Garnet SJ, the Superior of the English mission, in 1588 - a time when the penalty for Catholic priests discovered in England was torture and death. .Mar. 22 ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS: St. Nicholas Owen. Nicholas was born at Oxford, England. He became a carpenter or builder and served the Jesuit priests in England for two decades by constructing hiding places for them in mansions throughout the country. He became a Jesuit lay brother in 1580, and was arrested in 1594 with Father John Gerard, and despite prolonged torture would not give the names of any of his Catholic colleagues; he was released on the payment of a ransom by a wealthy Catholic. Nicholas is believed responsible for Father Gerard's dramatic escape from the Tower of London in 1597. Nicholas was again arrested in 1606 with Father Henry Garnet, who h...

St. Lea, Roman Catholic fourth-century saint in the Roman Catholic Church based on the authority of Jerome., soon after her marriage she was widowed and left very sound financially. Instead of retiring as a wealthy widow, however, she joined a convent of consecrated virgins in the city—shedding all the money and social standing she possessed. In later years she was named the prioress of the convent. Feastday Mar.22

ST. PAUL, BISHOP OF NARBONNE AND MARTYR  A notable missionary who is known principally because of reports made of him by St. Gregory of Tours . According to Gregory, Paul was ordained at Rome and, with other missionaries including Sts. Saturninus and Dionysius, he was assigned to Gaul to preach the Gospel. He enjoyed considerable success in the region around Narbonne, founding several churches there. He is also mentioned in various legends. Mar.22

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS: St. Enda. Legend has him an Irishman noted for his military feats who was convinced by his sister St. Fanchea to renounce his warring activities and marry. When he found his fiancée dead, he decided to become a monk and went on pilgrimage to Rome, where he was ordained. He returned to Ireland, built churches at Drogheda, and then secured from his brother-in-law King Oengus of Munster the island of Aran, where he built the monastery of Killeaney, from which ten other foundations on the island developed. With St. Finnian of Clonard, Enda is considered the founder on monasticism in Ireland.  Mar.21

St. Benedicta Cambiagio Frassinello, Roman Catholic Nun founded the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence. The guiding charism of her order is their focus on the education of young girls and confidence in and abandonment to God in the living out of their vows. Feastday March 21

ST. NICHOLAS OF FLÜE, PATRON OF SWITZERLAND One of the most famous religious figures in Swiss history, he was known affectionately as " Bruder Klaus ," and was much venerated in Switzerland. He was formally canonized in 1947. He is considered the patron saint of Switzerland. Mar. 21

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS:Mar.20 St. Cuthbert.  Cuthbert was thought by some to be Irish and by others, a Scot. Bede, the noted historian, says he was a Briton. Orphaned when a young child, he was a shepherd for a time, possibly fought against the Mercians, and became a monk at Melrose Abbey. In 661, he accompanied St. Eata to Ripon Abbey, which the abbot of Melrose had built, but returned to Melrose the following year when King Alcfrid turned the abbey over to St. Wilfrid, and then became Prior of Melrose. Cuthbert engaged in missionary work and when St. Colman refused to accept the decision of the Council of Whitby in favor of the Roman liturgical practices and immigrated with most of the monks of Lindisfarn to Ireland, St. Eata was appointed bishop in his place and named Cuthbert Prior of Lindisfarn. He resumed his missionary activities and attracted huge crowds until he received his abbot's permission to live as a hermit, at first on a nearby island and then in 676, at one of th...

St. Photina, Roman Catholic Martyr. Photiona was the Samaritan woman with whom Jesus spoke at the well as was recounted in the Gospel of St. John, chapter four. Deeply moved by the experience, she took to preaching the Gospel, received imprisonment, and was finally martyred at Carthage. Feastday March 20 St. John, Sergius, & Companions. Roman Catholic Monks who resided in the laura, or an eremetical monastery, of St. Sabas, near Jerusalem. They were martyred by a band of Arabs who devastated the community. One of the wounded monks, named Stephen, composed a poem in honor of the martyred and to commemorate the event. Feastday March 20

ST. JOHN NEPOMUCEN, PRIEST AND MARTYR OF PRAGUE In his early childhood,  John Nepomucene  was cured of a disease through the  prayers of his good parents . In thanksgiving, they consecrated him to the service of God. After he was ordained, he was sent to a parish in the  city of Prague . He became a  great preacher , and thousands of those who listened to him changed their way of life. Mar. 20 ST. JOHN, ABBOTT

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS: St. Lactali, 672 A.D. Abbot founder and disciple of St. Corngall in Ireland. Lactan was from County Cork and was educated in Bangor by Sts. Comgall and Molua. He became the abbot-founder of Achadh-Ur Abbey at Freshford, Kilkenny.  Mar.19

ST. JOSEPH, SPOUSE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, PATRON OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH The Just Man In his Gospel, Matthew describes St Joseph as "just". Mary’s future husband, faced with the inexplicable pregnancy of his fiancé, does not consider his wounded pride or dignity. Instead, his first thought is to save her from popular animosity or, worse still, from the stoning to which she risks being condemned. He does not want to repudiate her publicly but intends divorcing her informally and in secret. It’s precisely at that moment of understandable anguish and suffering that the love of God comes, in the shape of an Angel, to encourage him. The Angel inspires Joseph to make the right choice, which is always to overcome fear. These are the words of the Angel: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name Him Jesus". The Obedient Man...

St. Edward the Martyr, Roman Catholic English King. Mar. 18

ST. CYRIL, BISHOP OF JERUSALEM AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH When Maximus died,  Cyril  was consecrated as  bishop  of  Jerusalem . Because he was supported by the Arian  bishop  of Caesarea, Acacius, the orthodox criticized the appointment and the Arians thought they had a friend. Both factions were wrong, but  Cyril  wound up in the middle. When a famine hit  Jerusalem , the poor turned to  Cyril  for help. Mar.18 ST. ANSELM, BISHOP OF LUCCA Anselm served in his diocese with great zeal while observing monastic piety in his spiritual life. Celebrating daily Mass with tearful devotion, he spent several hours each day in prayer. In accordance with the ecclesiastical reforms championed by  Pope Gregory , Anselm mandated the restoration of ecclesiastical discipline among the canons of his cathedral. Mar.18

ST. PATRICK, BISHOP, APOSTLE OF IRELAND A boy at prayer Maewyn Succat, the name with which Patrick was baptized, was born in Roman Britain between 385 and 392, to a Christian family. At the age of fifteen or sixteen he was kidnapped by a handful of Irish pirates who took him with them to Northern Ireland and sold him as a slave. In his  Confession , in which he signs himself Patricius and tells the experience of those years, he writes, “Love for God and His fear grew in me, and so faith. In a single day I recited one hundred prayers, and at night almost as many. I prayed in the woods and mountains, even before the dawn. Neither the snow, nor the ice, nor the rain seemed to touch me.” After six years of imprisonment, Patrick had in a dream a premonition of freedom, and, obeying the sight he had as he slept, escaped surveillance and went the roughly 200 kilometers that separated him from the coast, on foot. There he was able to induce some sailors to have pity on him, who ...

English Historical Fiction Authors: Deadly Plague: How It Devastated One-Third of Euro... : By Sarah Natale Medieval medical knowledge was insufficient to halt the spread of the fatal disease called the Black Death, which ravaged ...

Bl. John Amias, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. Hanged, drawn, and quartered at York with Blessed Robert Dalby, Feastday March 16 Bl. Robert Dalby, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. A Protestant minister before he converted to Catholicism and left England to become a priest. he was arrested and hanged, drawn, and quartered at York.Mar.16 ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS:  St. Abban, 620 A.D. Abbot and Irish missionary. An Irish prince, Abban was the son of King Cormac of Leinster. He is listed as the nephew of St. Ibar. Abban founded many churches in the old district of Ui Cennselaigh, in modern County Wexford and Ferns. His main monastery is Magheranoidhe, in Adamstown, Ireland. This monastery's fame is attributed in some records to another Abban, that of New Ross. Abban is also associated with Kill-Abban Abbey in Leinster, serving as abbot there until March 16, 620. He is revered in Adamstown, which was once called Abbanstown.   St. Finian Lobharm, 56...

St. Abban, Roman Catholic Abbot and Irish missionary. An Irish prince, Abban was the son of King Cormac of Leinster. He is listed as the nephew of St. Ibar. Abban founded many churches in the old district of Ui Cennselaigh, in modern County Wexford and Ferns. His main monastery is Magheranoidhe, in Adamstown, Ireland. This monastery's fame is attributed in some records to another Abban, that of New Ross. Abban is also associated with Kill-Abban Abbey in Leinster, serving as abbot there until March 16, 620. He is revered in Adamstown, which was once called Abbanstown. Feastday March 16

STS. HILARIOUS AND TAZIANO, MARTYRS OF AQUILEIA

St. Leocrita. Roman Catholic Virgin Martyr. She lived in Cordoba, Spain, with her Muslim Moorish parents until her conversion. St. Eulogius sheltered her. They were both scourged and beheaded. Mar. 15 Bl. William Hart, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at York. Mar. 15

ST. LOUISE DE MARILLAC, CO-FOUNDRESS OF THE DAUGHTERS OF CHARITY St. Louise de Marillac, Roman Catholic Nun she met St. Vincent de Paul, who became her spiritual adviser. She devoted the rest of her life to working with him. She helped direct his Ladies of Charity in their work of caring for the sick, the poor, and the neglected. Feastday March 15 ST. CLEMENT M. HOFBAUER, REDENTORIST was born in Moravia (the Czech Republic) on December 26, 1751. He worked for a time as a baker, but feeling called to a different life, he studied whenever he could. After time in a Norbertine monastery and as a hermit,  Clement  went on pilgrimage to Rome, where he joined the Redemptorists. Mar. 15 ST. ZACHARY, POPE Encourged the missionary work of  Saint  Boniface, and appointed  Saint  Abel as archbishop of Rheims, France. When Venetian slavers bought slaves at Rome to sell to Saracens in Africa,  Zachary  bought them all so that ...

Martyrs of Valeria, two Roman Catholic Monks and Martyrs. Two monks hanged from a tree by the Lombards. Pope St. Gregory I the Great reported that after dying, the monks could be heard singing Psalms. Mar. 14 Bl. Dominic Jorjes. A Roman Catholic martyr of Japan, a Portuguese who settled in that country. He was arrested for sheltering Blessed John Spinola. He was burned alive in Nagasaki, Japan, on November 18.Feastday Mar.14 Bl. Ambrose Fernandez, Roman Catholic Martyr of Japan. Ambrose was born in Sisto, Portugal, in 1551. He went to Japan as a trader but entered the Jesuits in 1577 as a lay brother. Arrested by the Japanese, he died in Suzota prison. Feastday Mar.14 St. Boniface Curitan, Roman Catholic Evangelist to the Picts and Scots. Probably a Roman by birth, Boniface was the bishop of Ross, England. He introduced Roman observances into the British territories and founded a vast number of parishes.  Feastday Mar.14

ST. MATILDE, QUEEN St. Mathilda, Roman Catholic Queen. The pious Queen adorned the throne by her many virtues. She visited and comforted the sick and the afflicted, instructed the ignorant, succored prisoners, and endeavored to convert sinners, and her husband concurred with her in her pious undertakings. After twenty-three years of married life King Henry died, in 936. No sooner had he expired than she had a Mass offered up for the repose of his soul, and from that moment she renounced all worldly pomp. Mar. 14 ST. PLACIDO RICCARDI, MONK OF SAINT PAUL OF ST. PAUL OUTSIDE THE WALLS study led to a conversion experience, a pilgrimage to Loreto, and entry to the Cassinese Benedictine abbey of Saint-Paul-Outside-the-Walls in Rome on 12 November 1866; he made his final profession on 19 January 1868, taking the name  Placido .Mar. 14

Blessed Agnellus of Pisa, O.F.M., was an Roman Catholic Italian Friar Minor and founder of the Franciscan Order in England.Mar. 13 St. Ramirus and Companions, Roman catholic Martyrs of Spain. Ramirus served as prior of St. Claudus Monastety in Leon, Spain. The community was set upon by the Visigoths who, as Arians, opposed orthodox Christianity. The abbot, St Vincent, was put to death, followed two days later by Ramirus and the entire community. Feastday Mar. 13

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS: Bl. Agnello of Pisa. The founder of the English Franciscan province, Blessed Agnello, was admitted into the Order by St. Francis himself on the occasion of his sojourn in Pisa. He was sent to the Friary in Paris, of which he became the guardian, and in 1224, St. Francis appointed him to found an English province; at the time he was only a deacon. Eight others were selected to accompany him. True to the precepts of St. Francis, they had no money, and the monks of Fecamp paid their passage over to Dover. They made Canterbury their first stopping place, while Richard of Ingworth, Richard of Devon and two of the Italians went on to London to see where they could settle.  It was the winter of 1224, and they must have suffered great discomfort, especially as their ordinary fare was bread and a little beer, which was so thick that it had to be diluted before they could swallow it. Nothing, however, dampened their spirits, and their simple piety, cheerfulness and ...

ST. SABINUS OF HERMOPOLIS, MARTYR IN EGYPT With other Christians, he retreated into the wilderness to escape the persecutions of Diocletian, but was betrayed to the authorities by a beggar he had helped.  Martyr .  Died . drowned in the River Nile in  Egypt c .307;  Mar. 13 ST. CHRISTINA OF PERSIA, MARTYR  she lived during the third century and was the daughter of a rich and powerful  magistrate  believed to have been named  Urbain . He was deep in the practices of  heathenism  and had a number of  golden idols , which he distributed among the poor. Mar. 13 ST. LEANDER, BISHOP OF SEVILLE Leander  was born at Cartagena, Spain, of Severianus and Theodora, illustrious for their virtue. St. Isidore and Fulgentius, both bishops were his brothers, and his sister, Florentina, is also numbered among the saints. He became a monk at Seville and then the bi...