ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS AUGUST 8, St. Ellidius, Bl. John Felton, Bl. Mary MacKillop,

 ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS AUGUST 8 

St. Ellidius, 7th century. Patron saint of Himant, Powys, Wales, and of a church in the Scilly Isles of England. Also called Illog.  

Bl. John Felton, 1570 A.D. Martyr of England who promoted the papacy in London. Born in Bermondsey, London, to a Norfolk line, John nailed a copy of the Bull of Pope St. Pius V excommunicating Queen Elizabeth I to the doors of the bishop of London’s residence. Arrested and imprisoned, he was racked three times before being martyred in St. Paul’s churchyard. Pope Leo XIII beatified him in 1886.  

Bl. Mary MacKillop, 1909 A.D. The first native Australian to be beatified. Born Mary Helen MacKillop in Melbourne, she was of Scottish ancestry. Concerned with the poor and suffering, Mary founded the Sisters of St. Joseph and of the Sacred Heart. These sisters were dedicated to educating children. In 1873, she became Mary of the Cross, and two years later was elected mother general of her congregation. After many difficulties, Mother MacKillop received papal approval of her work in 1888 from Pope Leo XIII. When she died on August 8, 1909, in Sydney, there were one thousand women in her congregation. Pope John Paul II beatified her on January 19, 1995.