Christian Today

SAINTS FOR MARCH 01 St. David. According to tradition, St. David was the son of King Sant of South Wales and St. Non. He was ordained a priest and later studied under St. Paulinus. Later, he was involved in missionary work and founded a number of monasteries. The monastery he founded at Menevia in Southwestern Wales was noted for extreme asceticism. David and his monks drank neither wine nor beer - only water - while putting in a full day of heavy manual labor and intense study. Around the year 550, David attended a synod at Brevi in Cardiganshire. His contributions at the synod are said to have been the major cause for his election as primate of the Cambrian Church. He was reportedly consecrated archbishop by the patriarch of Jerusalem while on a visit to the Holy Land. He also is said to have invoked a council that ended the last vestiges of Pelagianism. David died at his monastery in Menevia around the year 589, and his cult was approved in 1120 by Pope Callistus II. He is revered ...

  SAINTS FOR FEBRUARY 28 St. Oswald of Worcester (died 29 February 992) was Archbishop of York from 972 to his death in 992. Feb. 28 ST. HILARIUS, POPE, St. Hilary, Roman Catholic, Pope from 461-468 and guardian of Church unity. Hilary rebuilt many Roman churches and erected the chapel of St. John Lateran. Feastday February 28 ST. ROMANUS, ABBOT , he adopted the life of a hermit in the Jura Mountains, France, at age thirty five and was joined by his brother, St. Lupicinus, and many other disciples. The two brothers thus found it necessary to establish two monasteries, at Condat and Leuconne, and a convent at La Beaume which was governed by their sister. Feb. 28

SAINTS FOR FEBRUARY  27  Bl. Mark Barkworth. Martyr of England , the first Benedictine to die at Tyburn. Born in Lincoinshire, he was a Protestant educated at Oxford. While in Europe, Mark visited Douai, France, and became a Catholic. He was ordained in Valladolid, Spain, in 1599, and became a Benedictine in Navarre while on his return to England. Mark was arrested soon after his return to his homeland, and three apostates testified against him. With Father Richard Filcock he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tybum on February 27 — the first English Benedictine Martyr.   St. Anne Line, 1601 A.D. English martyr from Dunmow, Essex. The daughter of William Heigham, she was disowned by him when she married a Catholic, Roger Line. Roger was imprisoned for being a Catholic and was exiled and died in 1594 in Flanders, Belgium. Anne stayed in England where she hid Catholic priests in a London safe house. In this endeavor she aided Jesuit Father John Gerard until her arrest...

SAINTS FOR FEBRUARY 26 ST. FAUSTINIANO, BISHOP OF BOLOGNA St. Alexander of Alexandria, Roman Catholic Pries t becoming the bishop of the see in 313. The heresy of Arianism was sweeping the region, as Arius was preaching the doctrine there. Alexander excommunicated Arius in 321, a decision upheld by a council. Alexander is also credited with drawing up the acts of the First General Council of Nicaea in 325. Feb. 26 St. Isabel of France, Roman Catholic Virgin and Nun. Sister of St. Louis and daughter of King Louis VIII of France and Blanche of Castile, she refused offers of marriage from several noble suitors to continue her life of virginity consecrated to God. She ministered to the sick and the poor, and after the death of her mother, founded the Franciscan Monastery of the Humility of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Longchamps in Paris. She lived there in austerity but never became a nun and refused to become abbess. Feastday February 26 St. Porphyry of Gaza, Roman Catholic Priest and bis...

  SAINTS FOR FEBRUARY  25 St. Walburga, 779 A.D. St. Walburga, Virgin. Walburga was born in Devonshire England, around 710. She was the daughter of a West Saxon chieftain and the sister of St. Willibald and Winebald. Walburga was educated at Wimborne Monastery in Dorset, where she became a nun. In 748, she was sent with St. Lioba to Germany to help St. Boniface in his missionary work. She spent two years at Bishofsheim, after which she became Abbess of the double monastery at Heidenheim founded by her brother Winebald. At the death of Winebald, St. Walburga was appointed Abbess of both monasteries by her brother Willibald, who was then Bishop of Eichstadt. She remained superior of both men and women until her death in 779. She was buried first at Heidenheim, but later her body was interred next to that of her brother, St. Winebald, at Eichstadt.   Bl. Maria Adeodata Pisani Roman Catholic Nun , had "a difficult childhood as her parents did not live together. She reno...

SAINTS FOR FEBRUARY  24  St. Adela, 1137 A.D. Benefactor and English princess. Adela was the youngest daughter of William the Conqueror. In 1080 she married Stephen of Blois. Throughout her life, Adela had an active role in English politics. She was famed for endowing churches and monastic institutions.   St. Cumine , 669 A.D. Irish abbot called “the White.” The abbot of Iona, Scotland, he wrote a biography of St. Columba.   The Martyrs of Carthage. Montanus, Lucius, Victoricus, Flavian and companions were ten disciples of St Cyprian of Carthage . They were martyred there under the reign of the Emperor Valerian in 259. The story of their imprisonment and martyrdom is well documented. The group were arrested by an official called Solon after St Cyprian was executed in 258. they spent many months kept in dark dungeons with little food or water. Somehow in such inhuman conditions, the little Christian community bonded and helped one another. When they were fi...

SAINTS FOR FEBRUARY  23  St. Boswell, 661 A.D. Abbot of Melrose, England, also called Boisil. Boswell trained as a monk under St. Aidan. As abbot, Boswell served as a biblical scholar. He was given a gift of prophecy and was known for his preaching, and he trained Sts. Cuthbert and Eghert. Boswell died of the plague.   St. Jurmin , 7th century. Prince of East Anglia, England, and a relative of King Anna . He is honored as a confessor, and his relics were enshrined at Bury St. Edmunds.   St. Milburga , 715 A.D. Benedictine abbess who received the veil from St. Theodore of Canterbury. She was the daughter of a king of Mercia and sister of Sts. Mildred of Thanet and Mildgytha. Milburga was abbess of Wenlock Abbey in Salop, Shropshire, England. Her father and her uncle, King Wulfhere, provided funds for the abbey. Among the remarkable abilities she evidenced were levitation and power over birds.   Martyrs of Sirmium, Two groups of Roman Catholic mart...