SAINTS DECEMBER 18

 SAINTS DECEMBER 18

St. Winebald, 761 A.D. Benedictine abbot and missionary. The brother of Sts. Willibald and Walburga, he was born in Wessex, England, and went on a pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land with his brother and father. When their father died at Lucca, the brothers proceeded to Rome. Winebald remained in the Eternal City while his brother went on to the Holy Land. Winebald studied in Rome for seven years, went back to England, but then returned to Rome determined to enter the religious life. At the invitation of St. Boniface, he gathered together a group of English missionaries and went to Germany in 739. Winebald was ordained, labored in Thuringia and Bavaria, and then joined Wilibald in his missionary enterprise in Eichstatt, Frisia, Holland. With his brother, he founded the monastery of Heidenheim, Germany, where he served as abbot with his sister as abbess. He struggled against the local pagans and strove to make the monastery one of the leading ecclesiastical centers in Germany.

St. Flannan, 7th century, Bishop. Son of an Irish chieftain, Turlough he made a pilgrimage to Rome where Pope John IV consecrated him. On his return he became first bishop of Killaloe and also preached in the Hebrides.

St. Samthan, 6th century. Irish abbess and foundress of the convent of Clonbroney, County Longford. She was revered for her patronage of culture and spiritual perfection in the monastic traditions.

ST. GATIANUS, BISHOP OF TOURS, Sent in the 3rd century to evangelize the Roman province of Gaul, he was the first bishop of the city of Tours, where he met with great hostility, so much that he had to celebrate in the catacombs. There, with courage and perseverance, he preached the Gospel for 50 years. Dec. 18

ST. MALACHY, PROPHET, Lived between the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. on returning from the Babylonian exile, he denounced the external religiosity of his countrymen, far from God and justice. He exhorts us to prepare for the meeting with the Lord and foretells the coming of the messenger of God, John the Baptist.  Dec. 18

St. Paul My, Roman Catholic Vietnamese Martyr, Paul entered into Paris Foreign Missions and thus helped to spread the Catholic faith in Vietnam. He was seized by enemies of the Church and was martyred by strangulation. Feastday Dec.18

St. Rufus, Roman Catholic Martyr, with Zosimus, citizens of Antioch (or perhaps Philippi) who were brought to Rome with St. Ignatius of Antioch during the reign of Emperor Trajan. They were condemned to death for their Christianity and thrown to wild beasts in the arena two days before the martyrdom of Ignatius. FeastDay Dec. 18.