Christian Today

SAINTS OF THE DAY OCTOBER 31ST. Saint Wolfgang of Regensburg (c. 934 – October 31, 994) was bishop of Regensburg in Bavaria f St. Quentin, Roman Catholic Missionary and Martyr. he was again tortured and then was beheaded. Feastday Oct 31 St. Arnulf, Roman Catholic Benedictine martyred by the Saracens.Arnulf was a monk at Novalese, in Piedmont, Italy. When the area was overrun by the Saracens, he was put to death. Feastday: October 31

SAINT OF THE DAY OCTOBER 31 ST. ALPHONSE RODRIGUEZ, JESUIT

France: Knife attacker kills three, injures several, in Nice cathedral

Saint Alphonsus Rodríguez, S.J. was a Spanish Jesuit lay brother. Feastday: October 30

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 30 St. Arilda. Virgin, martyr of Gloucestershire, England. She was slain while defending her chastity. St. Arilda is honored by a church on Oldbury on the Hill. St. Talacrian, 6th century. Bishop of Scotland, also cal led Tarkin. He was probably of Pictish descent, serving as a bishop in Caledonia (Scotland). His name was listed in the Aberdeen Breviary. St. Ethelnoth. Archbishop of Canterbury, England called “the Good,” also called Aethelnoth. He was a monk at Glastonbury until 1020, when he was consecrated archbishop. Ethelnoth won the loyalty of King Canute II, who aided his work. A gifted scholar, he persuaded Canute to assist in the restoration of Chartres Cathedral in France. Bl. John Slade, 1583 A.D. Martyr of England. He was a native of Manston, Dorchestershire, and was educated at Oxford. John denied King Henry Viii’s supremacy in religious matters and was arrested and tried with Blessed John Bodey. They were hanged, drawn, and quarter...

SAINT OF THE DAY OCTOBER 30, ST. GERMAN, BISHOP OF CAPUA

Offense and Defense Against the Army of Hell By Br. Bernard Knapke, O.P. on October 29, 2020 “Our struggle is not with flesh and blood,” Saint Paul reminds us today. Our struggle is not with our political opponents. Our struggle is not with co-workers or difficult family members. Nor is it with systems, structures, or states. Not one of these is the arena of struggle. No, says Saint Paul, our struggle is “with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens” (Eph 6:10). We are warned to “stand firm against the tactics of the Devil.” Saint Paul uses the language of spiritual warfare. Satan is a military tactician in command of a demonic army, and he does not wage war aimlessly. He “prowls around like a roaring lion” seeking the ruin of souls (1 Pet 5:8). He “disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14) and works “false signs and wonders” (2 Thess 2:9). If we are a part of the angelic army opposing Sa...

SAINT OF THE DAY OCTOBER 29, ST. FELICIAN, MARTYR OF CARTHAGE

Bl. Maria Restituta, Roman Catholic Nun and Martyr. Sr. Mary Restituta was arrested by the Gestapo and accused not only of hanging the crosses but also of having written a poem mocking Hitler.On 29 October 1942 she was sentenced to death by the guillotine. Feastday: October 29 The Nazis offered her freedom if she would abandon the Franciscan sisters, but she refused. When a request for clemency reached the desk of Martin Bormann, a high ranking Nazi official, he replied that her execution would provide “effective intimidation” for others who might want to resist the Nazis. She spent the rest of her days in prison caring for other prisoners. She was beheaded on 30 March 1943. She was 48 years old.

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 29 St. Colman of Kilmacduagh, 623 A.D. Abbot­bishop, son of the Irish chieftain, Duac. He lived as a hermit at Arranmore and Burren, in County Clare, Ireland. Made a bishop against he will, he founded a monastery at Kilmacduagh, on land given by King Guaire of Connaught. The Douai Martyrs, More than 160 priests trained in the English College of Douai, France, returned to England and Wales and faced arrest, torture, and execution by English authorities. A large group, more than eighty­were beatified in 1929, and English dioceses celebrate the feasts of these martyrs. St. Elfleda, 1000 A.D. Benedictine abbess, the daughter of Earl Ethelwold, who founded her abbey in Ramsey, England. St. Kennera, 4th century. A virgin martyr of Scotland educated with Sts. Ursula and Regulus of Patras, Greece. She was a hermitess in Kirk Kenner, Galloway, Scotland. St. Cuthbert Mayne, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. Before being brought to the place of...

St. Jude Thaddeus and St. Simon, two of the least known Apostles, are paradoxically among the closest to their Master, two of his cousins. At least, the tradition is quite certain of it as regards Jude Thaddeus, since it is clear from the Scriptures that his father, Alpheus, was the brother of St. Joseph, while his mother, Mary Cleophas, was a cousin of the Virgin. As for Simon, things are shrouded in fog. Many faces, an Apostle The Gospel names St. Simon as the tenth apostle, just before Jude Thaddeus. Many identify in Simon the homonymous cousin of Christ, brother of James the Younger. The Byzantines identify in him Nathanael of Cana and the canteen director at the wedding of Cana, while St. Fortunatus of Poitiers states that Simon and Jude Thaddeus were buried in Suanir, a city in Persia, where they suffered martyrdom. According to tradition, it is almost certainly in this part of the world that Simon, known as the Zealot or the Canaanite, as the evangelists Matthew and Mark call...

Saints Oct. 28 St. Jude Thaddaeus, Apostle and Martyr. St. Jude was one of the 12 Apostles of Jesus. St. Joachim Royo, Roman Catholic Priest and Dominican martyr in China. A Spaniard, Joachim was sent to China with Blessed Peter Sanz and was ordained there. He was strangled to death in a prison after horrible atrocities. St. John Dat, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr of Vietnam. He was a native of that land, ordained in 1798, and arrested in that same year and imprisoned for three months before being beheaded. St. Simon the Zealot, Roman Catholic Martyr. Simon was surnamed the Zealot for his rigid adherence to the Jewish law and to the Canaanite law. He was one of the original followers of Christ. Western tradition is that he preached in Egypt and then went to Persia with St. Jude, where both suffered martyrdom.

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 28 St. Eadsin, 1050 A.D. Archbishop of Canterbury, England, who crowned King St. Edward the Confessor.

SAINT OF THE DAY OCTOBER 27 ST. EVARISTUS, POPE ST. FRUMENTIUS, BISHOP, APOSTLE OF ETHIOPIA

Sts. Vincent, Sabina, & Christeta, Roman Catholic martyrs who were executed at Avila, Spain, during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305). Feastday Oct 27

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 27 St. Abban of Murnevin, fifth century. Abbot and missionary, called Ewin, Evin, Neville, or Nevin. He is listed as a nephew of St. Kevin and is confused with St. Abban of Magh­Armuidhe. Abban is best known for his association with the monastery of Rosmic­Treoin of New Ross. St. Odhran, 563 A.D. Also Otteran and Oran, an Irish abbot. After serving as abbot of Meath, he journeyed to Scotland with St. Columba to promote the faith and died at Lona. Odhran was the first Irish monk to die at Lona. He may have founded Latteragh Abbey in Tipperary He is considered the principal patron saint of Waterford, Ireland.

SAINT OF THE DAY OCTOBER 26TH ST. DEMETRIUS, MARTYR

St. Evaristus, Roman Catholic Pope. St. Evaristus succeeded St. Clement in the See of Rome in the reign of Trajan and governed the Church about eight years, being the fourth successor of St. Peter.

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 26 St. Bean. On December 16, there is named in the Roman Martyrology and in certain Irish calendars a Saint Bean in Ireland, who had been confused with the St. Bean whose feast is still observed in the Scottish diocese of Aberdeen, but on October 26, as founder of the bishopric of Mortlach in Banff which was the forerunner of that of Aberdeen. Nothing else is known about him. The fourteenth century chronicler Fordun, states that he was made bishop by Pope Benedict VIII, at the request of Malcolm Canmore, who is said to have founded an Episcopal monastery at Mortlach. If true, this would be between 1012 and 1024; but the See of Mortlach is generally said to date from 1063. St. Bean's dwelling place is supposed to have been at Balvanie, near Mortlach (Bal­beni­mor, "the dwelling of Bean the Great"). St. Alfred the Great, 899 A.D. King of Wessex, scholar, and renowned Christian monarch. Alfred was born in 849, the fifth son of the Wessex ki...

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 25 St. Marnock. Irish bishop, a disciple of St. Columba. He resided on Jona, Scotland, and is also called Marnan, Marnanus, or Marnoc. He died at Annandale and is revered on the Scottish border. His name was given to Kilmarnock, Scotland. St. John Houghton, Roman Catholic Carthusian Monk and Protomartyr of the English Reformation. He refused to swear to the Oath of Supremacy, the first man to make this refusal. Dragged through the streets, he was executed at Tyburn with four companions by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. Parts of his remains were put on display in assorted spots throughout London. St. John Roberts, Roman Catholic Benedictine Priest and English Martyr. With Blessed Thomas Somers, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn. St. Ambrose Edward Barlow, Roman Catholic Benedictine Priest and English Martyr. he was taken from Lancaster Castle, drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, hanged, dismembered, quartered, and boil...

SAINT OF THE DAY OCTOBER 24, ST. ANTONY MARY CLARET, BISHOP, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE MISSIONARIES SONS OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

Saints Oct. 24 St. Anthony Mary Claret, Roman Catholic Priest. Archbishop and missionary, and was confessor of Isabella II of Spain. He founded the congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, commonly called the Claretians. Feastday October 24 Martyrs of Nagran, a large group of Christian martyrs, possibly as many as 340, who suffered at Nagran, in southwestern Arabia. Abdullah ibn Kaab, also called Aretas, was the leader of the martyrs and the chief of the Beni Harith. He and his companions were slain by Dhu Nowas, or Dunaan, a Jew who commanded heathen Jews and Arabs. A woman and her small children were among the victims. The martyrdom is recorded in the Koran. Feastday October 24

SAINT OF THE DAY OCTOBER 23 ST. JOHN OF CAPESTRANO, FRANCISCAN, PATRON OF THE MILITARY CHAPLAINS ST. SEVERIN BOETHIUS, ROMAN PHILOSOPHER AND MARTYR

Saints Oct. 23 St. Paul Tong Buong, Roman Catholic Vietnamese martyr. A native of Vietnam, he served in the bodyguard of the king. A convert, he was Arrested by Vietnamese authorities for being a Christian, he was tortured, humiliated, and beheaded. St. John of Capistrano, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr. In 1456 at age 70 he led a crusade against the invading Ottoman Empire at the siege of Belgrade with the Hungarian military commander John Hunyadi. St. John, at the age of seventy, was commissioned by Pope Callistus III to preach and lead a crusade against the invading Turks. Marching at the head of seventy thousand Christians, he gained victory in the great battle of Belgrade against the Turks in 1456. Three months later he died at Illok, Hungary. His feast day is October 23. He is the patron of jurists.

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 23 Bl. Thomas Thwing, 1680 A.D. English martyr. Born at Heworth, Yorkshire, England, he studied at Douai, France, where he was ordained in 1665. Returning home, he labored for fifteen years in the Yorkshire area as chaplain for his cousin, Sir Miles Stapeton, and as a school chaplain. Arrested in 1680 for supposed complicity in the Titus Oates Plot with his uncle, Sir Thomas Gascoigne, he was condemned and hanged, drawn, and quartered at York. St. Clether, 520 A.D. Welsh saint also called Cleer, Clydog, Scledog, Citanus, or Cleodius. He was a descendant of a local king in Wales. Clether left Wales and went to Cornwall, England. Churches including St. Clear near Liskeard were built in his honor. He is reported to have been martyred. A second Clether is commemorated on November 3. St. Elfleda, 936 A.D. AngloSaxon princess, Benedictine nun at Glastonbury, England. She lived as a recluse and was admired by St. Dunstan.

SAINTS OCT 22 St. Mary Salome. One of the “Three Marys” who served Christ. She was the mother of St. James the Great and St. John, and was the wife of Zebedee. Mary Salome witnessed the Crucifixion and was among the women who were at the burial place on the day of the Resurrection. Feastday October 22 St. Bertharius, Roman Catholic Monk and Martyr. In 883, the monastery was again attacked by Muslims, and Bertharius was killed along with some other monks at the altar of St. Martin on October 22 of that year in the church of Saint Salvator at the foot of the hill. Feastday Oct 22 St. Alodia, Roman Catholic Martyr and Confessor. Martyr and confessor, the daughter of a Muslim father and a Christian mother in Huesca, Spain. Alodia and her sister, Nunilo, were caught up in the persecutions conducted by Abdal-Rabman II, the ruler of Cordoba. Alodia and Nunilo dedicated themselves to Christ, despite their father's disapproval, and were arrested. When they refused to deny Christ,...

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 22 St. Donatus of Fiesole, 874 A.D. An Irishman who became bishop of Fiesole, Italy traveling through that city while returning from a pilgrimage to Rome in 829, Donatus entered the cathedral. Candles caught light and bells rang, prompting the people to elect him bishop. He was a noted scholar and became advisor to Lothair I and his son, Louis II.

SAINT OF THE DAY OCTOBER 22 ST. JOHN PAUL II, POPE The school of suffering Karol Wojtyła – “Lolek” to his family and friends – learned a great deal from suffering. The boy, born in 1920 in Wadowice, Poland, lost his mother when he was nine. When he was twelve, his elder brother died. He enrolled at university in Krakow at the age of nineteen to study his passion, Polish literature, but a year later Germany invaded Poland, the university was closed, and the professors deported to concentration camps. In the hungry, bleak years of the German occupation, Karol, the aspiring actor who staged clandestine theater performances with his friends, came to know the world of manual laborers, the hardness of their lives as well as their great dignity, becoming a laborer himself in a stone quarry and a chemical plant. There was light even in this dark time. His father, a man of profound prayer, taught him how to invoke the Holy Spirit. A friend, the tailor Jan Tyranowski, showed Karol the beauty...

Saints Oct 21 Bl. Giuseppe "Pino" Puglis, Roman Catholic Priest. September 15, 1993) was a Roman Catholic priest in the rough Palermo neighbourhood of Brancaccio. He openly challenged the Mafia who controlled the neighbourhood, and was killed by them on his 56th birthday. His life story has been retold in a book, Pino Puglisi, il prete che fece tremare la mafia con un sorriso (2013), and portrayed in a film, In the Sunlight (2005). St. Laura of Saint Catherine of Siena, Roman Catholic Colombian nun. In 1914 she founded the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Mary Immaculate and St. Catherine of Siena. St. Ursula Roman Catholic Virgin Martyr. St. Maichus

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 21 St. Tuda , 664 A.D. Irish monk and bishop. He succeeded St. Colman as bishop of Lindisfarne, and he was a supporter of the Roman Rite versus the Celtic Church in England. He died after only one year in his see from an outbreak of plague. No other facts are available about him, owing to the destruction of so many records in the sacking of Lindisfarne by the Danes in the ninth century.

ST. GASPARE OF THE BUFALO, PRIEST, FOUNDER OF THE MISSIONARIES OF THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD ST. HILARION, ABBOT

ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 20 St. Acca, 742 A.D. Bishop and scholar, a companion of early English saints and missionaries. Acca was born in Northumbria, England, and was educated in the company of St. Bosa, a Benedictine apostle of great courage. He also met St. Wilfrid, who appointed him the abbot of St. Andrew's Monastery in Hexham, England. Acca joined St. Wilfrid as early as 678 and accompanied him to Rome in 692. When Wilfred died in 709, Acca succeeded him as the bishop of Hexham. He spent his monastic and Episcopal years erecting parish churches in the area. He also introduced Christian arts and promoted learning. Acca brought a famous cantor; a man named Maban, to Hexham, and with him introduced the Roman Chants. St. Bede dedicated several of his works to Acca, who also promoted other Christian writers. For reasons undocumented, Acca was driven out of Hexham in 732. He retired to a hermitage in Withern, in Galloway. Just before his death in 742 he returned to Hexham ...

Saints Oct. 20 Bl. Oleksa Zaryckyj, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr. Shortly after he was re-interned in concentration camp Dolinka near Karaganda, where he died a martyr of the faith. St. Paul of the Cross, Roman Catholic Priest and founder of the Passionists. Feastday October 20 St. Caprasius of Agen , Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr. The death of St. Faith prompted Caprasius to declare openly his Christianity. He was joined by his mother, Alberta, his brothers Primus and Felician, and by companions. They were put to death when they refused to deny the faith.Oct 20

SAINT OF THE DAY OCTOBER 20, ST. MARIA BERTILLA BOSCARDIN, VIRGIN OF VICENZA

  STS. JOHN DE BRÉBEUF AND ISAAC JOGUES, PRIESTS AND COMPANIONS, JESUITS, CANADIAN MARTYRS -  Among the Hurons When the Jesuits in France decided to begin a mission to bring the Word of God to the indigenous peoples of New France, or present-day Canada, the newly ordained Fr. Jean de Brébeuf (b. 1593 – d. 1649) was ready. Already in his youth, he had made a vow never to refuse martyrdom if it came; and he knew that in this distant land full of vast forests, snow and warring tribes, it might come. He arrived in the territory of the Huron (Wendat) people in 1626. For twenty years he labored among this people, living with them, compiling the first dictionary of their language, and writing a catechism in Wendat. Echon, or “he who carries a heavy load,” the Hurons called him. Some of them accepted baptism. Gradually, others joined the mission: the Jesuits Fr. Isaac Jogues (b. 1607–d. 1646), Fr. Gabriel Lalement (b. 1610–d. 1649); Fr. Antoine Daniel (b. 1601–d. 1648); Fr. Charles Ga...

 Sts. Isaac Jogues and Rene Goupil, Roman Catholic Jesuit Priests and Martyrs. Two of the six North American Martyrs. Captured and tortured to death at the hands of the Indians. St. Anthony Daniel, Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest and Martyr of New France. He was slain by the Iroquois. He is one of the eight Canadian Martyrs. St. Charles Garnier, Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest and Martyr. Charles was murdered by a war party of Iroquois, He is  one of the North American Martyrs. St. Jean de Brebeuf , Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest and Martyr of New France. Patron saint of Canada Brebeuf and his assistant, Gabriel Lalemant, were captured and tortured to death by the Iroquois. St. Theofrid Feastday: October 19 728 A.D. Abbot and martyr. He was serving as abbot of Carmery-en-Velay when the community was attacked by a band of Saracens. He died as a result of the injuries he received at their hands and was thereafter venerated as a martyr. In some lists he is called Chaffre or Theoftoy....

 ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 19  St. Eadnot, 1016 A.D. Bishop of Dorchester, England, who was a champion of St. Oswald of York. He is listed as a martyr in some records, having been slain in an invasion by the Danes.    St. Frideswide, 735 A.D. Benedictine hermitess and nun, the daughter of Prince Didan of the Upper Thames region of England. She is sometimes called Fredeswinda. When Prince Algar of a neighboring kingdom asked for her hand in marriage, Frideswide fled to Thomwry Wood in Birnsey, where she became a hermitess. She founded the St. Mary’s Convent in Oxford and is patroness of the University of that City. Her relics are extant. In liturgical art she is depicted as Benedictine, sometimes with an ox for companion.   St. Philip Howard , 1595 A.D. One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Philip was the earl of Arundel and Surrey and, although a Catholic, led a religiously apathetic life until his personal conversion, after which he was a ...

Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation: A Charming Blast from the Past: "My Name Day -- Co... : Eighth Day Books celebrated its 32nd anniversary this weekend and offered a discount of 35% on all used books and 20% off new. I found this ...

 Saints for Oct. 18 St. Peter of Alcantara , Roman Catholic Fransican Priest. Feast day is October 18th. St. Gwen, Roman Catholic Widowed Martyr. She is sometimes called Blanche, Wenn, or Candida. She was the daughter of a Chieftain, Brychan or Brecknock. Saxon pagans martyred Gwen at Talgrarth Feast day is October 18th. St. Justus of Beauvais, Roman Catholic Martyr. Justus was reported to the authorities to be a Christian magician, and soldiers were sent to arrest him. When confronted at Beauvais, Justus, who was nine years old, confessed that he was a Christian, and he was immediately beheaded Feast day is October 18th.

  ST. LUKE, EVANGELIST, PHYSICIAN, PATRON OF ARTISTS The Gentile Doctor St Paul speaks of St Luke – the author of the Third Gospel and of the Acts of the Apostles – in the Letter to the Colossians, referring to him as the “Luke, the beloved physician” (Col 4:14). According to Eusebius, the Church historian, Luke was born in Antioch, and was a Gentile; in fact, in the Letter to the Colossians, when speaking of his companions, Paul always mentions first “those of the circumcision” (that is, the Jews), without including Luke among them (cf. Col 4:10-11). And in his Gospel, Luke shows a particular sensitivity with regard to the evangelization of the Gentiles. The parable of the Good Samaritan is found only in his Gospel; and it is Luke who records Jesus’ appreciation for the faith of the widow of Zarephath, of Naaman the Syrian, and of the Samaritan leper – the only one of the ten lepers who were healed who returned to express his gratitude. At the side of St Paul We know nothing of th...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54581827  

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54581827  

Saints October 17   Bl. Jane Louise Barre and Jane Reine Prin , Roman Catholic Nuns. Ursuline martyrs. Known in the religious life as Sisters Cordula and Laurentina respectively, the 3 were guillotined by officials of the French revolutionary government at Valenciennes and were members of the Ursuline nuns martyred during the French Revolution. Feast day is October 17th. Bls. Marie Magdalen Desjardin and Marie Louise Vanot, Roman Catholic Nuns and Martyrs . Ursuline martyrs of the French Revolution. She was guillotined in Valenciennes with Marie Louise Vanot. In religion, Marie Magdalen was called Marie-Augustine. Marie Louise was called Natalie. Feast day is October 17th. St. Francis Isidore Gagelin , Roman Catholic Priest and Vietnam Martyr.  Born in Montperreux, France, in 1799, he entered the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris. He was sent to Vietnam in 1822, where he was ordained a priest. In 1833, Francis was seized by anti-Christian forces and was martyred by strangu...

 ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 17  St. Colman of Kilroot , 6th century. Abbotbishop of Kiltrout, near Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. He was a disciple of St. Ailbhe of Emly.   Sts. Ethelbert and Etheired, 670 A.D. Martyred great grandsons of King Ethelbert of Kent, England (d. 616), at Eastery near Sandwich. Their shrine is at Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire.   St. Louthiem, 6th century. Irish saint, patron of St. Ludgran in Cornwall, England. Also called Luchtighem.   St. Regulus, 4th century. An Abbot of Scotland. He is best known for bringing the relics of St. Andrew to Scotland from Greece.   St. Richard Gwyn , 1584 A.D. One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Also called Richard White, he was born in Montgomeryshire, Wales, in 1547, and studied at Cambridge University, England. Converted from Protestantism, he returned to Wales in 1562, married, had six children, and opened a school. Arrested in 1579, he spent four yea...

  ST. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH, BISHOP, MARTYR IN ROME A precious link to the Apostles For the Christians of the first and early second centuries, Christianity was like an explosion of light not only in the world but in their lives. It was new life, something so unexpected and undeserved that, persecutions notwithstanding, all they could do was praise. The man named Ignatius – he liked to call himself Theophoros, or “God-bearer” – was a part of this Church of the Apostolic age. We know little of his early life. Tradition has it that he was a convert. Whatever his origins may be, he became the second or – if we count St. Peter as the first – the third bishop of Antioch, in the Roman province of Syria, the city where “the disciples were for the first time called Christians” (Acts 11:26). Ignatius was a friend of St. Polycarp, who was a disciple of St. John, so it is possible that Ignatius, too, knew the beloved disciple. Almost everything else that we know of him comes from the seven lett...

Cardinal Pell, the Living Martyr - Crisis Magazine : “Thank you for your testimony.” With these words, Pope Francis greeted Cardinal George Pell who, on coming out of Covid-19 quarantine, went to meet the Pope in audience. Martyr in the Greek language means “witness” or “testimony.” In essence it is the basic call of every Christian, every follower of Jesus Christ, to give testimony …

  ST.HEDWIG, DUCHESSE OF POLONIA, RELIGIOUS It was not difficult to demonstrate charity, even if the body was clothed in silk and a tiara rested on one’s head. Providing for the poor was a common practice for nobles in the Middle Ages. Even if some were motivated by a careless philanthropy, many others were inspired by a genuine piety. But whether done out of choice or obligation, this custom was the rule… and rules were meant to be broken. The richness of poverty St Hedwig was the exception to the rule. In the latter part of the 12 th  century, she was married to the Duke of Lower Silesia, Henry the Bearded. She soon became a mother, ultimately giving birth to six children. From the beginning, the young duchess seemed to her subjects like a beautiful queen: not because of her regal attire, but on account of her prompt generosity, which was always ready to comfort and support the poorest and most needy among them. Although she herself was German, she was close to her people, a...

 St. Gerard Majella, Roman Catholic lay brother of the Congregation of the Redeemer. This great saint is invoked as a patron of expectant mothers as a result of a miracle effected through his prayers for a woman in labor. Feast day is October 16th.

 ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 16  St. Eliphius , 362 A.D. Irish or Scottish martyr, also called Eloff. He was martyred in Toul, France. His relics were enshrined in Cologne, Germany, in the tenth century.  St. Kiara , 680 A.D. Irish virgin, a disciple of St. Fintan Munnu Kiara, who is also listed as Chier, lived near Nenagh, in Tipperary, Ireland.

Rethinking the Enlightenment - Crisis Magazine : “We are victims of our century,” wrote one of the Carmelites of Compiègne before going to the guillotine in 1794, “and we must sacrifice ourselves that it be reconciled to God.” Attacks on Catholic churches, anti-Christian elites, and suffocating political correctness—the eighteenth century witnessed cultural conflict every bit as intense as our own today. Yet …

  ST. THERESA OF JESUS, VIRGIN, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH, DISCALCED CARMELITE From novels to hard reality The daughter of a Jewish convert and his second wife, Saint Teresa of Avila, was born on March 28, 1515. She had a happy childhood with her brothers and cousins, and was fascinated by novels that told tales of chivalry. After the death of her elder brother, John, in 1524 and the loss of her mother, Beatrice, the young woman was sent to study at the Augustinian Monastery of Our Lady of Grace, where she was struck by a first existential crisis. After serious illness, she returned to her father’s home, and witnessed the departure of her beloved brother Rodrigo for the Spanish colonies overseas. In 1536, she was hit by the so-called “great crisis” and came to the firm decision to enter the Carmelite monastery of the Incarnation at Avila. Her father, however, was  opposed, and Teresa fled home. Accepted by the nuns, she made her profession on 3 November, 1537. “I felt shaken to the...

Saints for Today Oct. 14 St. Teresa of Ávila , also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, Doctor of The Church, Roman Catholic Carmelite nun, writer of the Counter Reformation, and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer. She was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered to be a founder of the Discalced Carmelites along with John of the Cross. St. Callistus, Roman Catholic Layman and Spanish Martyr. Callistus went to France with St. Mercurialis to fight against the Saracens (Muslim Invaders), dying in battle. Feastday Oct 15

Hawley vs. the Know-Nothings - Crisis Magazine : At last. On the first day of Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republican senators stood up to the anti-religious bigotry of their Democratic colleagues over the disgraceful treatment of Judge Barrett’s Catholic faith. One of the greatest highlights was Senator Josh Hawley’s impassioned opening statement against the blatant anti-Catholic bigotry …

  ST. CALLISTUS I, POPE AND MARTYR SAINT OF THE DAY

 Saints Oct. 14 Bl. Marie Poussepin, Roman Catholic Nun. She began her institute of the Dominican Sisters of Charity in Angerville, France. She started with high hopes and one companion, and postulants soon came to fill the ranks. The sisters wore the colors of the Order. Feast day is October 14th. Pope Callixtus I Roman Catholic Priest and Pope, also called Callistus I, was the bishop of Rome from c. 218 to his death in 223. He lived during the reigns of the Roman Emperors Elagabalus and Alexander Severus. He was martyred for his Christian faith. Feastday Oct 14

 ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 14 St. Burchard, 754 A.D. Disciple of St. Boniface and a missionary to Germany. Burchard was a priest of Wessex, England, and Benedictine. In 732, he went to Germany, serving under St. Boniface who consecrated him the first bishop of Würzburg. In 749, Burchard was sent by the Frankish King Pepin the Short to Rome, where he received Pope St. Zachary's approval of Pepin’s accession to the Frankish throne. After founding the abbey of St. Andrew's, Burchard resigned from his see around 753. He retired to Hamburg, Germany, and the monastic life, dying there on February 2.   St. Manakus . Welsh abbot of Holyhead, Wales, also called Manaccus. He was a co worker of St. Cybi. Manakus died in Cornwall, England.

Protesters Topple Junipero Serra Statue In San Rafael To Mark Indigenous Peoples' Day : Protesters pulled down a statue of Junipero Serra in downtown San Rafael, Monday evening.

  Bl. Alexandrina Maria da Costa, Roman Catholic Laywoman. On Holy Saturday of 1918, Alexandrina Maria da Costa, a fourteen-year-old native of Balasar, Portugal, was sewing when three men broke into her home, threatening to violate her chastity. Resolute to preserve her purity, she fled by jumping out a window. The thirteen-foot plunge to the ground crippled her for life. Feast day is October 13th.

 ENGLISH SPEAKING SAINTS OCTOBER 13  St. Edward the Confessor. Edward the Confessor was the son of King Ethelred III and his Norman wife, Emma, daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy. He was born at Islip, England, and sent to Normandy with his mother in the year 1013 when the Danes under Sweyn and his son Canute invaded England. Canute remained in England and the year after Ethelred's death in 1016, married Emma, who had returned to England, and became King of England. Edward remained in Normandy, was brought up a Norman, and in 1042, on the death of his half brother, Hardicanute, son of Canute and Emma, and largely through the support of the powerful Earl Godwin, he was acclaimed king of England. In 1044, he married Godwin's daughter Edith. His reign was a peaceful one characterized by his good rule and remission of odious taxes, but also by the struggle, partly caused by his natural inclination to favor the Normans, between Godwin and his Saxon supporters and the Norman ba...