SAINTS OCTOBER 29

 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 execution, Mayne was offered his life in return for a renunciation of his religion and an acknowledgment of the supremacy of the queen as head of the church. Declining both offers, he kissed a copy of the Bible, declaring that, "the queen neither ever was, nor is, nor ever shall be, the head of the church of England".

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.