SAINTS FOR JULY 15

SAINTS FOR JULY 15

Bl. Alphonsus de Vaena, Bl. James Andrade, Bl. Joanninus de San Juan, Bl. John Fernandez, Bl. Nicholas Dinnis, Roman Catholic Jesuit Priests and Martyrs, In 1570 he joined the band of Jesuits led by Ignatius de Azevedo assigned to the West Indies. On board the ship, the Jesuits were put to death by the captain of the vessel, who was a Protestant Huguenot. Feastday July 15

ST. BONAVENTURE OF BAGNOREGIO, CARDINAL, BISHOP OF ALBAN AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

ST. POMPILIO M. PIROTTI, PIARIST

St. Athanasius, Bishop and victim of political turmoil. He was born about 830, the son of the duke of Naples, and he spent his younger years repairing the city, which had suffered during the Saracen occupation. He also ransomed Christians from Islamic captors. Feastday July 15

St. Swithun "Swithin". Swithun, also spelled Swithin, was born in Wessex, England and was educated at the old monastery, Winchester, where he was ordained. He became chaplain to King Egbert of the West Saxons, who appointed him tutor of his son, Ethelwulf, and was one of the King's counselors. Swithun was named bishop of Winchester in 852 when Ethelwulf succeeded his father as king. Swithun built several churches and was known for his humility and his aid to the poor and needy. He died on July 2. A long-held superstition declares it will rain for forty days if it rains on his feast day of July 15, but the reason for and origin of this belief are unknown.

St. Donald. All that is recorded of this saint, whose name is so common in Scotland, is that he lived at Ogilvy in Forfarshire in the eighth century, that his wife bore him nine daughters, and that on her death they formed a sort of community who led the religious life under his direction. But if no more is known of him, he has nevertheless left his mark otherwise, for the often found natural features, wells, hills, and so on, which are known as the "Nine Maidens", are so called in memory of his daughters. They are said to have afterwards entered a monastery founded by St. Darlugdach and St. Brigid at Abernethy, and were commemorated on July 18. The popularity of the name in Scotland must be attributed, not to veneration for the saint, but to the ubiquity of the sons of Somerled of the Isles, clan Donald.

St. Edith of Polesworth whose feast day is July 15, was the sister of King Athelstan of England. She married Viking king Sihtric at York in 925, and when he died the next year, she became a Benedictine nun at Polesworth, Warwickshire, where she was noted for her holiness and may have become Abbess. She may also have been the sister of King Edgar and aunt of St. Edith of Wilton; or possibly these were two different woman of Polesworth

St. Seduinus. English saint possibly identical to St. Swithin or Sithian.

St. David of Sweden, 1080 A.D. Benedictine bishop, born in England and sometimes called David of Muntorp. He went as a missionary to Sweden to aid Bishop Sigfrid of Vaxio, who had lost his three missionary nephews. Sigfrid sent David to Vastmanland, and there David founded a monastery at Munktorp or Monkentorp. He ruled that mon-astery as abbot until becoming the bishop of Vasteras

St. Plechelm, 775 A.D. A Benedictine companion to St. Wiro. Plecheim was from Northumbria, England, and was an ordained priest. He traveled with St. Wiro to establish a monastery at Odilienburg.