Christian Today

SAINTS FOR MARCH 31  ST. BALBINA, ROMAN MATRON, FOUNDRESS OF THE ROMAN CHURCH BEARING HER NAME , According to tradition, St. Balbina was the daughter of St. Quirinus, a Roman tribune. Father and daughter were baptized by Pope St. Alexander I. Under the Emperor Hadrian, they were arrested, tortured, and ultimately beheaded, probably around the year 130. Saint Balbina was buried on the Via Appia.  Mar.31 ST.BENJAMIN, DEACON AND MARTYR,   The Christians in Persia had enjoyed twelve years of peace during the reign of Isdegerd, son of Sapor III, when in 420 it was disturbed by the indiscreet zeal of Abdas, a Christian Bishop who burned the Temple of Fire, the great sanctuary of the Persians..Mar.31 St. Machabeo , Irish abbot of Armagh, Ireland, for four decades. He is also listed as Gilda-Marchaibeo. He governed the monastery of Sts. Peter and Paul.    

SAINTS FOR MARCH 30  St. Tola , 733 A.D. Irish bishop in Meath (Disert lola), Ireland. He sent missionaries to Europe and aided the expansion of scholarly studies.   St. Fergus, 6th century. Bishop of Downpatrick. Ireland. He may be identified with St. Fergus of Scotland.   St. Osburga , 1018 A.D. Abbess of a convent at Coventry, England, which had been founded by King Canute. Her shrine was a popular place of pilgrimage during the Middle Ages because of the many miracles reported there.   St. Patto, 788 A.D. Bishop of Werden, Saxony, Germany. A native of Britain, Patto served as an abbot in Saxony before becoming a bishop. He is sometimes listed as Pacificus.   St. John Climacus, Roman Catholic monk called “Climacus” from the title of his famous book, The Climax, or The Ladder of Perfection..Mar. 30 B. AMADEUS IX OF SAVOY, Amadeus was the son of Duke Louis I of Savoy. He was born in 1435 in Thonon, Savoy and betrothed as an infant to Princ...

SAINTS FOR MARCH 29  St. Mark, Martyred Roman Catholic Bishop of Arethusa, on Mount Lebanon. He destroyed a local pagan temple, enraging the pagan populace. Emperor Julian the Apostate ordered that Mark and other Christians rebuild the temples that they had destroyed. Mark fled rather than comply, but he surrendered when members of his flock were arrested. He was tortured by being dragged through the streets, but he remained so loyal to Christ and the Church that he was set free. Emperor Julian pardoned him. Feastday Mar. 29 St. Gladys , 5th century. Welsh saint, wife of St. Gundleus and mother of St. Cadoc. She was the daughter of Brychan of Brecknock, Wales. Tradition relates that Gundleus kidnapped Gladys. Their romance became part of the Arthurian legend.   St. Gwynllyw, 500 A.D. Husband of St. Gladys and father of St. Cadoc, a hermit of Wales. He is sometimes called Woollos or Gundleus. He and Gladys were reportedly bandits in Kind Arthur’s time, but they repented a...

SAINTS FOR MARCH 28  St. James Claxton, Blessed, 1588 A.D. Martyr in England. A native of Yorkshire and a devout Catholic, he studied at Reims and was ordained in 1582. Returning home to conduct missionary work in his former region, he was soon arrested and hanged, drawn, and quartered at Isleworth.   St. Venturino of Bergamo, Roman Catholic Dominican Monk , known for helping to organize a crusade, at the behest of Pope Clement VI (r. 1342-1352), against the Turks who were then menacing Europe. Feastday March 28 ST. CASTOR, MARTYR OF TARSO St. Castor is mentioned in both the Hieronymian and the Roman Martyrologies - the oldest catalogues of Christian martyrs of the Latin Church. According to tradition, he was martyred in Tarsus, in Cilicia, in what is now Turkey, possibly in the company of either St. Dorotheus or St. Stephen.  Mar. 28  

SAINTS FOR MARCH 27  St Augusta, Roman Catholic Virgin martyr, the daughter of the duke of Friuli, in Italy. It is reported that the duke was so infuriated by Augusta's conversion to Christianity that he killed her with his own hand. Her shrine is near Treviso, in northern Italy. Feastday Mar.27 St. Alkeld , tenth century. A patroness of Yorkshire, England, she is also known as Athilda. Nothing is documented about her life, but she is depicted in a painting as being strangled by Dane invaders.   ST. RUPERT,BISHOP OF SALZBURG , Born of a noble family, St. Rupert travelled to Bavaria at the end of the 7th century as an itinerant monk. He founded a monastery near the ancient Roman city of Juvavum. Rupert gave the city the name Salzburg and became its first Bishop. He died March 27, Easter Sunday, around the year 710. Mar. 27  

SAINTS FOR MARCH 26  St. Margaret of Clitherow. Margaret Clitherow was born in Middleton, England, in 1555, of protestant parents. Possessed of good looks and full of wit and merriment, she was a charming personality. In 1571, she married John Clitherow, a well-to-do grazier and butcher (to whom she bore two children), and a few years later entered the Catholic Church. Her zeal led her to harbor fugitive priests, for which she was arrested and imprisoned by hostile authorities. Recourse was had to every means in an attempt to make her deny her Faith, but the holy woman stood firm. Finally, she was condemned to be pressed to death on March 25, 1586. She was stretched out on the ground with a sharp rock on her back and crushed under a door over laden with unbearable weights. Her bones were broken and she died within fifteen minutes. The humanity and holiness of this servant of God can be readily glimpsed in her words to a friend when she learned of her condemnation: "The sheriffs ha...

The movement away from Christianity We may see this wherever the great revolt from Christianity, which began in the eighteenth century, and which is so potent a factor today, has spread. It is naturally in France, where the revolt began, that the movement has attained its fullest development. There its effects are not disputed. The birth-rate has shrunk until the population, were it not for the immigration of Flemings and Italians, would be a diminishing quantity; Christian family life is disappearing; the number of divorces and of suicides multiplies annually; while one of the most ominous of all symptoms is the alarming increase of juvenile crime. But these effects are not peculiar to France. The movement away from Christianity has spread to certain sections of the population in the United States in England, in Germany, in Australia, countries providing in other respects a wide variety of circumstances. Wherever it is found, there in varying degrees the same results have followed, so...

SAINTS FOR MARCH 25   St. Dismas, the Good Thief crucified with Christ on Calvary . Feastday March 25 St. James Bird, Blessed, 1593 A.D. English martyr. Born in Winchester and raised as a Protestant, he embraced the Catholic Church at the age of nineteen. James visited Douai College in Reims, but he returned to England. There he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy and was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Winchester in his native city. He was beatified in 1929.   St. Harold, 1168 A.D. Martyred child of Gloucester, England. He was reported to have been slain by Jews in the area, and was venerated as a martyr. The veneration of the child martyrs is often considered as an example of the pervasive anti-Semitism of the period.    St. Robert of Bury St. Edmunds, 1181 A.D. traditionally, a boy martyr of the Middle Ages whose death was blamed upon local Jews. He was supposedly kidnapped and murdered by Jews on Good Friday at Bury St. Edmunds, England. As was the case w...

  SAINTS FOR MARCH 24  St. Timolaus & Companions, Eight Roman Catholic Martyrs who were beheaded at Caesarea, in Palestine, during the reign of Emperor Diocletian. According to the historian Eusebius of Caesarea, the names of the other martyrs were: Dionysius (two by this name), Alexander (two by this name), Romulus, Pausis, and Agapius. Feastday Mar.24 St. Hildelitba, 712 A.D. Benedictine abbess and supporter of Sts. Bede, Aldhelm, and Boniface. An Anglo Saxon princess, she became a nun at Chelles or Farmoutier. France, but was recalled by St. Erconwald to train her sister, Ethelburga, at Barking, England. When Ethelburga died, Hildelitha succeeded her. She is also called Hildilid and Hideltha.     ST. CATHERINE OF SWEDEN, VIRGIN, MOTHER OF ST. BRIDGET,  the daughter of an even more famous woman-Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden. Catherine, who was born about 1330, was a married woman who, with her husband, took a vow of continence. She went to Rome...

  The English protestant reformation and the dissolution of the monasteries, the root cause of most of the problems in our society.

SAINTS FOR MARCH 23  St.  Ethelwald. Benedictine hermit on Fame Island, England, a disciple of St. Cuthbert. He was a monk at Ripon originally. Ethelwald was buried at Lindisfame. He is also called Oidilwald.   ST. TURIBIUS OF MOGROVEJO, BISHOP OF LIMA, St. Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo, Roman Catholic Priest. Patron of Native rights; Latin American bishops and Peru. Feastday March 23 St. Rafqa, Roman Catholic Nun . St. Rafqa was sent with five other sisters to found a new monastery in Jrabta, Batroun in Lebanon. In 1899, she became blind and paralysis set in. Mar. 23

SAINTS FOR MARCH 22  St. Nicholas Owen. Nicholas was born at Oxford, England. He became a carpenter or builder and served the Jesuit priests in England for two decades by constructing hiding places for them in mansions throughout the country. He became a Jesuit lay brother in 1580, and was arrested in 1594 with Father John Gerard, and despite prolonged torture would not give the names of any of his Catholic colleagues; he was released on the payment of a ransom by a wealthy Catholic. Nicholas is believed responsible for Father Gerard's dramatic escape from the Tower of London in 1597. Nicholas was again arrested in 1606 with Father Henry Garnet, who he had served eighteen years, Father Oldcorne, and Father Oldcorne's servant, Brother Ralph Ashley, and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Nicholas was subjected to such vicious torture that he died of it on March 2nd. He was known as Little John and Little Michael and used the aliases of Andrews and Draper. He was canonized by Pop...

SAINTS FOR MARCH 21  St. Enda. Legend has him an Irishman noted for his military feats who was convinced by his sister St. Fanchea to renounce his warring activities and marry. When he found his fiancée dead, he decided to become a monk and went on pilgrimage to Rome, where he was ordained. He returned to Ireland, built churches at Drogheda, and then secured from his brother-in-law King Oengus of Munster the island of Aran, where he built the monastery of Killeaney, from which ten other foundations on the island developed. With St. Finnian of Clonard, Enda is considered the founder on monasticism in Ireland.   St. Benedicta Cambiagio Frassinello, Roman Catholic Nun founded the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence . The guiding charism of her order is their focus on the education of young girls and confidence in and abandonment to God in the living out of their vows. Feastday March 21 ST. NICHOLAS OF FLÜE, PATRON OF SWITZERLAND

SAINTS FOR MARCH 20  St. Photina, Roman Catholic Martyr . Photiona was the Samaritan woman with whom Jesus spoke at the well as was recounted in the Gospel of St. John, chapter four. Deeply moved by the experience, she took to preaching the Gospel, received imprisonment, and was finally martyred at Carthage. Feastday March 20 St. Cuthbert.   Cuthbert was thought by some to be Irish and by others, a Scot. Bede, the noted historian, says he was a Briton. Orphaned when a young child, he was a shepherd for a time, possibly fought against the Mercians, and became a monk at Melrose Abbey. In 661, he accompanied St. Eata to Ripon Abbey, which the abbot of Melrose had built, but returned to Melrose the following year when King Alcfrid turned the abbey over to St. Wilfrid, and then became Prior of Melrose. Cuthbert engaged in missionary work and when St. Colman refused to accept the decision of the Council of Whitby in favor of the Roman liturgical practices and immigrated with most of...

St. Joseph, Groom of B. Mary - Information on the Saint of the Day - Vatican News https://www.vaticannews.va/en/saints/03/19/st--joseph--groom-of-b--mary--patron-of-the-univeral-church.html SAINTS FOR MARCH 19 St. Lactali, 672 A.D. Abbot founder and disciple of St. Corngall in Ireland. Lactan was from County Cork and was educated in Bangor by Sts. Comgall and Molua. He became the abbot-founder of Achadh-Ur Abbey at Freshford, Kilkenny.

SAINTS FOR MARCH 18  St. Edward the Martyr . Edward was the eldest son of King Edgar of England and his first wife, Ethelfleda who died shortly after her son's birth. He was baptized by St. Dunstan and became King in 975 on his father's death with the support of Dunstan but against the wishes of his stepmother, Queen Elfrida, who wished the throne for her son Ethelred. Edward ruled only three years when he was murdered on March 18 while hunting near Corfe Dastle, reportedly by adherents of Ethelred, though William of Malmesbury, the English historian of the twelfth century, said Elfrida was the actual murderer. In the end, Elfrida was seized with remorse for her crime and, retiring from the world, she built the monasteries of Amesbury and Wherwell, in the latter of which she died. Edward was a martyr only in the broad sense of one who suffers an unjust death, but his cultus was considerable, encouraged by the miracles reported from his tomb at Shaftesbury;  ST. CYRIL, BISHOP O...

SAINTS FOR MARCH 17  ST. JOHN SARCANDER, PRIEST AND MARTYR ,  Martyred foe of the Hussites. He was born on December 20 at Skotschau, in Austrian Silesia, and educated at Prague. He was ordained in 1607 and served in various parishes, defending the faith against the Hussites. Mar.17 St. Joseph of Arimathea , 1st century. The councilor (Lk 23:50) who, after the Crucifixion, requested the body of Christ from Pontius Pilate and provided for a proper burial for Christ. An immensely popular figure in Christian lore, Joseph was termed in the New Testament the “virtuous and righteous man” (Lk 23:50) and the man “who was himself awaiting the kingdom of God” (Mk 15:43). Described as..... secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, [he] asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it” (In 19:38). According to the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, he helped establish the community of Lydda. He also was a prominent figure in the legends surrounding the Holy ...

SAINTS FOR MARCH 16  Bl. John Amias, 1589 A.D. Also called John Anne, a martyr in England. He was born and married near Wakefield where he became a cloth dealer. When his wife died, he went to Reims and was ordained a Priest in 1581. Returning to England, he worked until his arrest by English authorities. Hanged, drawn, and quartered at York with Blessed Robert Dalby, he was beatified in 1929.   Bl. Robert Dalby, 1589 A.D. English martyr . Born at Hemingborough, Yorkshire, he was a Protestant minister before he converted to Catholicism and left England to become a priest. Ordained in 1588 after studies at Douai and Reims, France, he returned home. The next year he was arrested and hanged, drawn, and quartered at York on March 16, with Blessed John Amias. He was beatified 1929.   St. Abban, 620 A.D. Abbot and Irish missionary. An Irish prince, Abban was the son of King Cormac of Leinster. He is listed as the nephew of St. Ibar. Abban founded many churches in th...

SAINTS FOR MARCH 15  Bl. William Hart, 1583 A.D. Martyr of England . Born in Wells, in Somerset, he studied at Oxford and then at Douai, Reims, France, and Rome. After receiving ordination in 1581, he went back to England and included among his associations Blessed Margaret Clitherow. William ministered to Catholic prisoners in York Prison, having several adventures in staying free. He was betrayed to English authorities by an apostate from Clitherow's estate. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at York and beatified in 1886.   St. Aristobulus, 1st century. Martyred disciple of Christ, one of the seventy-two sent out into the world by the early Church. He is possibly mentioned by St. Paul and is identified with Zebedee, the father of Sts. James and John. Aristobulus preached in Britain, although no documentation supports this or his martyrdom in the British Isles.   St. Louise de Marillac, Roman Catholic Nun she met St. Vincent de Paul, who became her spiritual...

SAINTS FOR MARCH 14   St. Boniface Curitan, 660 A.D. Evangelist to the Picts and Scots. Probably a Roman by birth, Boniface was the bishop of Ross, England. He introduced Roman observances into the British territories and founded a vast number of parishes.   Martyrs of Valeria, two Roman Catholic Monks and Martyrs . Two monks hanged from a tree by the Lombards. Pope St. Gregory I the Great reported that after dying, the monks could be heard singing Psalms. Mar. 14 St. Mathilda, Roman Catholic Queen. The pious Queen adorned the throne by her many virtues. She visited and comforted the sick and the afflicted, instructed the ignorant, succored prisoners, and endeavored to convert sinners, and her husband concurred with her in her pious undertakings. After twenty-three years of married life King Henry died, in 936. No sooner had he expired than she had a Mass offered up for the repose of his soul, and from that moment she renounced all worldly pomp. Mar. 14 Bl. Dominic Jorj...

SAINTS FOR MARCH 13  Bl. Agnello of Pisa. The founder of the English Franciscan province, Blessed Agnello, was admitted into the Order by St. Francis himself on the occasion of his sojourn in Pisa. He was sent to the Friary in Paris, of which he became the guardian, and in 1224, St. Francis appointed him to found an English province; at the time he was only a deacon. Eight others were selected to accompany him. True to the precepts of St. Francis, they had no money, and the monks of Fecamp paid their passage over to Dover. They made Canterbury their first stopping place, while Richard of Ingworth, Richard of Devon and two of the Italians went on to London to see where they could settle.  It was the winter of 1224, and they must have suffered great discomfort, especially as their ordinary fare was bread and a little beer, which was so thick that it had to be diluted before they could swallow it. Nothing, however, dampened their spirits, and their simple piety, cheerfulness and...

SAINTS FOR MARCH 12  St. Alphege , 951 A.D. Bishop and prophet, called "the Elder" or "the Bald." Also known as Elphege, he was the bishop of Winchester, England. There he ordained St. Dunstan. A holy prophet, Alphege is credited with helping to restore monasticism to England.   St. Mura McFeredach, 645 A.D. Irish abbot and disciple of St. Columba. He was named abbot of Fahan and is patron saint of Fahan in County Derry. Also called Muran and Murames, he is remembered by one of his crosses that remains standing at Fahan.   St. Paul Aurelian , 573 A.D.  Welsh bishop. Probably of Roman-Welsh descent, he was the son of a local Welsh chieftain. He studied under St. Illtyd at the Ynys Byr monastery and, according to tradition, was granted permission to become a hermit. Ordained, he nevertheless gathered around himself a group of followers and acquired such a reputation for goodness that a king in Brittany asked him to preach the Christian faith to his subjects....

SAINTS FOR MARCH 11  St. Constantine. Constantine was king of Cornwall. Unreliable tradition has him married to the daughter of the king of Brittany who on her death ceded his throne to his son and became a monk at St. Mochuda monastery at Rahan, Ireland. He performed menial tasks at the monastery, then studied for the priesthood and was ordained. He went as a missionary to Scotland under St. Columba and then St. Kentigern, preached in Galloway, and became Abbot of a monastery at Govan. In old age, on his way to Kintyre, he was attacked by pirates who cut off his right arm, and he bled to death. He is regarded as Scotland's first martyr  St. Aengus , 824 A.D. Called Dengus and "the Culdee," a hermit and author of the Festlology of the Saints of Ireland, The Felire. The term Culdee refers to Aengus' love of solitude: Ceile De was a name given to the hermits of the time. Aengus, born in Clonengh, Ireland, became a solitary monk on the banks of the river Nore, where he ...

 SAINTS FOR MARCH 10  ST. JOHN OGILVIE, JESUIT AND MARTYR. Born in 1569, John Ogilvie belonged to Scottish nobility. Raised a Calvinist, he was educated on the continent. Exposed to the religious controversies of his day and impressed with the faith of the martyrs, he decided to become a Catholic. In 1596, at age seventeen he was received into the Church at Louvain. Later John attended a variety of Catholic educational institutions, and eventually he sought admission into the Jesuits. He was ordained at Paris in 1610 and asked to be sent to Scotland, hoping some Catholic nobles there would aid him given his lineage. Finding none, he went to London, then back to Paris, and finally returned to Scotland. John's work was quite successful in bring back many people to the Faith. Some time later he was betrayed by one posing as a Catholic. After his arrest he was tortured in prison in an effort to get him to reveal the names of other Catholics, but he refused. After three trials, Jo...

SAINTS FOR MARCH 09  St. Bosa, 705 A.D. Bishop of York, praised by St. Bede. Bosa was a Benedictine monk at Whitby, England a monastery ruled by St. Hilda. In 678, he was consecrated a bishop by St. Theodore. He was involved in St. Wilfrid's refusal to accept the division of the see of York. Bosa became the bishop in 691, when Wilfrid was exiled by King Aldfrid. St. Bede called Bosa a man of unusual merit and sanctity, "a man beloved of God."   STS. FORTY MARTYRS OF SEBASTE ST. CATHERINE OF BOLOGNA, VIRGIN, CLARES ST. FRANCESCA ROMANA, FOUNDRESS OF THE OBLATES OF TOR DE’ SPECCHI

SAINTS FOR MARCH 08 Bl. John Larke, 1544 A.D. English martyr and priest. John Larke served as a pastor in Bishopgate, Woodford, Essex, and then Chelsea until his arrest for opposing the religious supremacy of King Henry VIII of England. He was executed at Tybum with John Ireland and Jermyn Gardiner. His longtime patron was St. Thomas More.   March 8  St. Senan. Senan was born of Christian parents at Munster, Ireland. He was a soldier for a time and then became a monk under Abbot Cassidus, who sent him to Abbot St. Natalis at Kilmanagh in Ossory. Senan became known for his holiness and miracles and attracted great crowds to his sermons. He made a journey to Rome, meeting St. David on the way back. He built several churches and monasteries, and then settled on Scattery Island, where he built a monastery that soon became famous. He died at Killeochailli on the way back from a visit to St. Cassidus monastery  St. Beoadh , 518 A.D. Irish bishop. He was called Aeodh, rec...

SAINTS FOR MARCH 07  St. Deifer , 6th century. Welsh abbot and founder of Bodfare in Clwyd, Wales.   St. Enodoch , 520 A.D. Welsh saint of the line of the chieftain Brychan of Brecknock, also called Wenedoc.   St.  Esterwine , 668 A.D. Benedictine abbot, a relative of St. Benedict Biscop. A noble from Northumbria, England, he was abbot of Wearmouth Abbey during a period of Benedict’s absence.   Bl. John Ireland , 1544 A.D. English martyr and chaplain to St. Thomas More. He became a pastor at Eltham, Kent, prior to his arrest for resisting the supremacy of King Henry VIII of England over the Church of England. Executed at Tyburn, he died with Blesseds Jermyn Gardiner and John Larke.  STS. PERPETUA AND FELICITAS, MARTYRS ST. TERESA MARGARET REDI, VIRGIN AND CARMELITE

SAINTS FOR MARCH 06  St. Baldred, 8th century. Bishop of Scotland, successor of St. Kentigern in Glasgow. He retired from his see to become a hermit on the Firth of Forth.   St. Bilfrid , 8th century. Benedictine hermit, the silversmith who bound the Lindisfarne Gospels. He was a hermit in Lindisfarne, Ireland, off the coast of Northumbria, in northern England, where he aided Bishop Eaddfrid in preparing the binding of that masterpiece. He used gold, silver, and gems to bind the famous copy of the Gospels of St. Cuthbert. His relics were enshrined in Durham, England, in the eleventh century.   St. Cadroe , 976 A.D. A Scottish prince and Benedictine abbot. He studied in Arrnagh, Ireland, and went to England where tradition states he saved London from a fire. In Fleury, France, Cadroe became Benedictine. Soon after, he became the abbot of Waul sort Monastery on the Meuse River in Belgium. He then went to Metz, Prance, to become abbot of St. Clements’s monastery....

SAINTS FOR MARCH 05  ST. LUCIUS I, POPE -Pope St Lucius was sent into exile shortly after his election in 253. After his return to Rome, he opposed the rigorism of the Novatians, who refused absolution to Christians who had lapsed during persecutions. St Lucius allowed them to return to the Church after a suitable penance.   St. Piran . Piran was a hermit near Padstow in Cornwall and sometimes called Perran. He is the patron saint of tin mines there and is often erroneously identified with St. Kyran (Kieran) of Saighir.  St. Caron. Titular saint of Tregaron, in Dyfed, Wales, England  St. Carthach , 540 A.D. An Irish bishop, called “the Elder” and Carthage. He was the successor of St. Kieman in Ossory. He was the son or grandson of a local king.   St. Colman of Armagh . St. Colman of Armagh: Disciple of St. Patrick, buried by him in Armagh, Ireland.   St. Kieran , 530 A.D. The “first born of the saints of Ireland,” sometimes listed as Kieran ...

  SAINTS FOR MARCH 04  St. Owen, Benedictine monk. Once a steward in the household of St. Etheldreda, he entered a Benedictine monastery at Lastingham, England, under St. Chad. He later migrated to Lichfield, following St. Chad.   Saint Casimir, Roman Catholic Born in 1458, St Casimir was of Lithuanian origin, the son of the King of Poland. He renounced the crown of Hungary at the urging of the Pope, and refused an arranged marriage designed to expand his realms. St Casimir was only 25 when he died, having overcome the seductions of power and luxury.    St. Basil and Companions , Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs. Martyred bishop, with Agathodorus, Elpidius, Ephraem, lftherius, Eugene, Arcadius, Capito, and Nestor. These prelates served as bishops. Nestor and Arcadius were rnartyred on Cyprus. The others died in the Crimean area and elsewhere in southern Russia. Mar. 4 St. Lucius I, Roman Catholic Priest and elected Pope to succeed Pope St. Cornelius on J...

SAINTS FOR MARCH 03  St Cunegunda she was married to St Henry, the Holy Roman Emperor. She built numerous monasteries and churches, and was known for her care for the poor. After her husband died, she became a nun, devoting herself to caring for her sick sisters, and taking on the humblest tasks.  Mar. 3 St. Sacer , 7th century. Also called Mo-Sacra, an Irish abbot. He is honored as the founder of the monastery of Saggard, Dublin.   St. Cele-Christ , 728 A.D. Bishop of Leinster, England. His name is from Christicola, meaning “Christwor-shipper.”    St. Lamalisse , 7th century. Scottish hermit. An Island near Arran, Scotland, is named in his honor.   St. Foila , 6th century.  Co-patroness of Kil-Faile and Kil-Golgan parishes in Galway, Ireland, the sister of St. Colgan.   St. Katharine Drexel , 1955 A.D. Saint Katharine Drexel, Religious, Born in 1858, into a prominent Philadelphia family, Katharine became imbued with love for God an...

SAINTS FOR MARCH 02  St. Chad , 673 A.D. Irish archbishop and brother of St. Cedd, also called Ceadda. He was trained by St. Aidan in Lindisfarne and in England. He also spent time with St. Egbert in Ireland. Made the archbishop of York by King Oswy, Chad was disciplined by Theodore, the newly arrived archbishop of Canterbury, in 669. Chad accepted Theodore’s charges of impropriety with such humility and grace that Theodore regularized his consecration and ap-pointed him the bishop of Mercia. He established a see at Lichfield. His relics are en-shrined in Birmingham. In litur-gical art he is depicted as a bishop, holding a church.   St. Cynibil d, 7th century. Evangelist to the Anglo-Saxons and the brother of Sts. Chad and Cedd.   St. Fergna, 637 A.D. An abbot of lona, Scotland the successor of St. Columba and a relative of the saint. He is called “the White.”   St. Gilstlianm 5th or 6th century.  The uncle of St. David of Wales and a monk at Me...