SAINTS FOR FEBRUARY 03

 SAINTS FOR FEBRUARY  03 

Bl. John Nelson, 1578 A.D. Jesuit martyr of England, a native of Skelton, near York. He was ordained at Douai at the age of forty. Sent to London in 1576, he was arrested in London and martyred at Tyburn by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. John became a Jesuit just before his death.  

St. Margaret of England. Cistercian nun. She was born in Hungary, to an English mother who was related to St. Thomas of Canterbury, England. She went with her mother on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and lived a life of austerity and penance in Bethlehem. Her mother died there, and Margaret made pilgrimages to Montserrat, in Spain, and to Puy, France. There she entered the Cistercian convent at Suave-Benite. When she died, her tomb became a pilgrimage shrine.  

St. Werburga, 699 A.D. Benedictine nun and patroness of Chester, England. The daughter of King Wulfhere of Mercia and St. Ermenilda, she was born in Staffordshire. Werburga resolutely refused to marry, insisting instead that she become a nun at Ely. After studying under St. Etheldreda, she departed the convent of Ely in 675 and assisted her uncle Ethelred, who was now king, in reforming the convents of the realm. She also founded communities at Hanbury, Trentham, and in Wedon, in Northamptonshire. Her remains were transferred from Trentham to Chester, where she became venerated as the patron saint of the city. She was reputed to have the ability to read the minds of others and was revered in her lifetime for miracles.  

St. Werburg, 785 A.D. Widow and abbess. A woman from Mercia, England, she became a nun after her husband died. Werburg entered a convent, possibly Bardney, where she became abbess.  

St. Caellainn, 6th century. Irish saint also called Caoilfionn. She is listed in the Martymlogy of Donegal, and a church in Roscommon is named in her honor.  

ST. BLAISE, BISHOP OF SEBASTE AND MARTYR-A physician in Armenia who was made a bishop, he is attributed with many miracles. One of these involved the miraculous removal of a fish bone from a young boy’s throat – which is why he is considered protector from throat diseases. After refusing to deny the Faith, he was beheaded in 316.  

ST. ANSGAR, BISHOP OF HAMBURG AND BREMEN, APOSTLE OF SCANDINAVIA