Dear children! In this time of grace I am calling all of you to open yourselves and to live the commandments which God has given you, that they may lead you through the Sacraments on the way of conversion. The world and worldly temptations are testing you, but you, little children, look at God’s creatures which He has given to you in beauty and humility and, little children, love God above everything and He will lead you on the way of salvation. Thank you for having responded to my call.

Concordance of Our Lady's Messages 1981-2014

Star of Bethlehem by Bruno Piglhein (c. 1894)

The 28th of February is the feast day of Pope Saint Hilary. He is also known as Pope Saint Hilarius.

Pope Saint Hilary lived in the 5th century and was the Bishop of Rome between 461 and 468. Little is known of his early life apart from that he was from Sardinia. He became archdeacon during Pope Saint Leo the Great pontificate and worked closely with him as an aid. He was sent as a papal legate to the Council of Ephesus in 449 where he fought against the monophysite heresy. His life was threatened because of this and he was forced to hide and he fled back to Rome. After Pope Leo’s death, he was elected as pope. As pope, Saint Hilary affirmed the rights of the papacy in spiritual matters, fighting against the Roman Emperor and sought the organisation and disciplining of the bishops of the Holy See. He worked to build and remodelled the Roman churches and public places, decorating them.

The 27th of February is the feast day of Saint Gabriel Possenti. He is the patron saint of Students, Youth, Clerics, Seminarians, and Abruzzi.

The following is from Catholic Encyclopedia:

Pasionist student; renowned for sanctity and miracles; born at Assisi, 1 March, 1838; died 27 February, 1862, at Isola di Gran Sasso, Province of Abruzzo, Italy; son of Sante Possenti and Agnes Frisciotti; received baptism on the day of his birth and was called Francesco, the name by which he was known before entering religion, educated at the Christian Brothers’ School, and at the Jesuit college at Spoleto. Immediately after the completion of his secular education, he embraced the religious state; on 21 September, 1856 he was clothed with the Passionist habit, and received the name of Gabriele dell’ Addolorata. He made his religious profession on 22 September, 1857, and then began his ecclesiastical studies as a Passionist student. He was gifted with talent of a higher order and with a wonderful memory; and in his exact observance of rule, his spirit of prayer, and his fervent devotion to the Passion of our Lord, to the Holy Eucharist, and to the Dolours of the Blessed Virgin. In the sixth year of his religious life he died of consumption; his death was that of the just, holy and edifying, and he was buried in the church attached to the retreat at Isola di Gran Sasso where his remains are still entombed, and where numerous prodigies have been wrought, and numerous conversions effected, through his intercession.

Little was known of Gabriel’s extraordinary spiritual gifts during his life. He was not singular, he conformed himself to the community life; he was only a fervent and exemplary Passionist novice and student hidden from the world in the cloister. After death, this young religious in a few years was declared venerable by the Church, thereby testifying that he had practised all the virtues in a heroic degree; and he was beatified and raised to the honours of the altar, by special privilege of the supreme pontiff before he was fifty years dead.

His solemn beatification took place on 31 May, 1908, in the Vatican basilica, in the presence of the cardinals then in Rome, of the Passionist fathers resident in Rome and of representatives from all the provinces of the congregation. Among those present were many who had known the beatified during his life, including one of his brothers, Father Norbert, C.P., his old spiritual director and confessor and Signor Dominico Tiberi, who had been miraculously cured through his intercession.

The Mass and Office in honour of Blessed Gabriel are allowed to the whole Passionist congregation, and his feast day is celebrated on 31 May. It is the express wish of Leo XIII and Pius X that he should be regarded as the chief patron of the youth of today, and especially as the patron of young religious, both novices and professed, in all that concerns their interior lives.

Arthur Devine.

The 24th of February is the feast day of Blessed Thomas Maria Fusco.

He lived between 1831 and 1891 and was born in Italy, and was the seventh child of a family of eight children. At an early age he was left an orphan and was sent to be raised by his uncle, who was also a priest. He himself became a priest when he was 24 years old and opened a school in his home. He became an itinerant missionary in southern Italy. He opened another school to train priests to become confessors after his travels. He founded the Priestly Society of the Catholic Apostolate to support the missions, gaining the papal approval to do so. He then started a new religious order of sisters, the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood which ministers orphan children. During this time, he was also a parish priest, a confessor to cloistered nuns and spiritual father to a lay group at the Shrine of the Lady of Mount Carmel. At the age of 59, he died of liver disease.

The 23rd of February is the feast day of Saint Polycarp of Smyrna.

The following is from Butler’s Lives of the Saints:

ST. POLYCARP, Bishop of Smyrna, was a disciple of St. John. He wrote to the Philippians, exhorting them to mutual love and to hatred of heresy. When the apostate Marcion met St. Polycarp at Rome, he asked the aged Saint if he knew him. “Yes,” St. Polycarp answered, “I know you for the first-born of Satan.” These were the words of a Saint most loving and most charitable, and specially noted for his compassion to sinners. He hated heresy, because he loved God and man so much. In 167, persecution broke out in Smyrna. When Polycarp heard that his pursuers were at the door, he said, “The will of God be done; ” and meeting them, he begged to be left alone for a little time, which he spent in prayer for “the Catholic Church throughout the world.” He was brought to Smyrna early on Holy Saturday; and, as he entered, a voice was heard from heaven, “Polycarp, be strong.” When the proconsul besought him to curse Christ and go free, Polycarp answered, “Eighty-six years I have served Him, and He never did me wrong; how can I blaspheme my King and Saviour?” When he threatened him with fire, Polycarp told him this fire of his lasted but a little, while the fire prepared for the wicked lasted forever. At the stake he thanked God aloud for letting him drink of Christ’s chalice. The fire was lighted, but it did him no hurt; so he was stabbed to the heart, and his dead body was burnt. “Then,” say the writers of his acts, “we took up the bones, more precious than the richest jewels or gold, and deposited them in a fitting place, at which may God grant us to assemble with joy to celebrate the birthday of the martyr to his life in heaven!”

Reflection.—If we love Jesus Christ, we shall love the Church and hate heresy, which rends His mystical body, and destroys the souls for which He died. Like St. Polycarp, we shall maintain our constancy in the faith by loves of Jesus Christ, Who is its author and its finisher.

The The 21st of February is the feast day of Saint Peter Damian. He is the patron saint of traceurs, and freerunners.

The following is from Butler’s Lives of the Saints:

ST. PETER DAMIAN was born in 988, and lost both parents at an early age. His eldest brother, in whose hands he was left, treated him so cruelly that a younger brother, a priest, moved by his piteous state, sent him to the University of Parma, where he acquired great distinction. His studies were sanctified by vigils, fasts, and prayers, till at last, thinking that all this was only serving God by halves, he resolved to leave the world. He joined the monks at Font-Avellano, then in the greatest repute, and by his wisdom and sanctity rose to be Superior. He was employed on the most delicate and difficult missions, amongst others the reform of ecclesiastical communities, which was effected by his zeal. Seven Popes in succession made him their constant adviser, and he was at last created Cardinal Bishop of Ostia. He withstood Henry IV. of Germany, and labored in defence of Alexander II. against the Antipope, whom he forced to yield and seek for pardon. He was charged, as Papal Legate, with the repression of simony; again, was commissioned to settle discords amongst various bishops, and finally, in 1072, to adjust the affairs of the Church at Ravenna. He was laid low by a fever on his homeward journey, and died at Faenza, in a monastery of his order, on the eighth day of his sickness, whilst the monks chanted matins around him.

Reflection.—The Saints studied, not in order to be accounted learned, but to become perfect. This only is wisdom and true greatness, to account ourselves as ignorant, and to adhere in all things to the teachings and instincts of the Church.

The 20th of February is the feast day of Saints Francisco and Jacinta Marto. They are the patron saints of bodily ills, Portuguese children, captives, people ridiculed for their piety, prisoners, sick people and against sickness.

Saints Francisco de Jesus Marto (1908 – 1919), his sister Jacinta de Jesus Marto (1910 – 1920), and their cousin Lucia dos Santos (1907-2005) witnessed three apparitions in 1916 of an angel while tending their sheep in Fatima, Portugal, and another six apparitions of the Virgin Mary in 1917. They were given many messages and warnings for the world, among which that they had to do penance and pray for the conversion of poor sinners. Though they were very young, they offered up many sacrifices as Our Lady had requested and prayed their rosary daily, even giving their lunches to the poor and practiced many forms of penances such as not drinking water on hot days and wearing rope against their skins. They faced ridicule due to the apparitions and endured many sufferings. Our Lady told the two visionaries, Francisco and Jacinta that they would die young and that she would bring them to heaven. They both fell ill from influenza in 1918 and Francisco died first, with Jacinta the following year after two hospitalisations. They are both buried at Our Lady of Fatima Basilica which is in Portugal.

The 19th of February is the feast day of Blessed Alvaro of Cordoba. He is also known as Alvarez of Cordova. He lived between 1350 and 1430 and was born to a noble family in Zamora, Spain.

He became a Dominican and preached throughout Spain, serving at the court of Queen Catherine. He made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and started to preach the crusades against the Muslims when he returned. The priory of Scala Caeli (Ladder of Heaven) at Cordova was founded by him, legend says that the angels helped in providing its building materials. He placed pictures of the holy places in Jerusalem in the gardens and help to make the Stations of the Cross popular. He begged for alms, though he could have obtained what he needed from the royal court. Another legend says that he found a dying beggar, whom he wrapped in a blanket and carried back to the convent. When he unwrapped the cloth, he found a crucifix only. He helped to spread devotion to the Way of the Cross in Western Europe and led a resistance against the anti-pope and help to bring Spain under the allegiance of the true Pope in Rome.

The 18th of February is the Feast day of Blessed Fra Angelico. He is the patron saint of Catholic artists.

Blessed Fra Angelico lived between 1387 and 1455, and was born Guido di Pietro in Tuscany, Italy. He later became a famous Renaissance painter. Blessed Fra Angelico would pray before he painted, his belief was that he needed to be Christlike in order to paint Christ perfectly. In 1407 he joined the Dominican Order and received the name of Brother John, or Angelic Brother John, or Fra Angelico (Angelic Friar) due to his holiness. He moved to the Friary in San Marco, Florence where there was an artistic community and gained the patronage of the Medici family thanks to his artistic talents. He worked on Saint Peter’s Basilica in various chapels in 1445 and was a prior to the convent in Fiesole from 1449 till shortly before he died. He is buried in the Dominican church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.

The 17th of February is the feast day of the seven holy founders of the Order of Servites.

Saint Manettus, also known as Saint Benedict dell’Antella and 6 other men founded the Order of Servites on 15th of August 1233. They were cloth merchants in the city of Florence, Italy who joined the Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They wanted to dedicate their lives under Our Lady’s title of the Mother of Sorrows. On the feast of the Assumption in 1233, Our Lady appeared to them asking them to live a life in seclusion and in prayer. They obeyed, and Mary appeared again in 1240 giving them a black habit and a scroll with “Servants of Mary” inscribed on it. She asked them to create a religious order under the Rule of Saint Augustine. The Servites’ charism is devotion to the Passion of Jesus and the Seven Sorrows of Our Lady. and was one of the five original mendicant religious orders. The order was formally approved in 1304 by Rome.

The 16th of February is the feast day of Saint Juliana of Nicomedia. She is the patron saint of sickness.

The following is from the Catholic Encyclopedia:

Suffered martyrdom during the Diocletian persecution. Both the Latin and Greek Churches mention a holy martyr Juliana in their lists of saints. The oldest historical notice of her is found in the “Martryologium Hieronymianum” for 16 February, the place of birth being given as Cumae in Campania (In Campania Cumbas, natale Julianae). It is true that the notice is contained only in the one chief manuscript of the above-named martyrology (the Codex Epternacensis), but that this notice is certainly authentic is clear from a letter of St. Gregory the Great, which testifies to the special veneration of St. Juliana in the neighbourhood of Naples. A pious matron named Januaria built a church on one of her estates, for the consecration of which she desired relics (sanctuaria, that is to say, objects which had been brought into contact with the graves) of Sts. Severinus and Juliana. Gregory wrote to Fortunatus, Bishop of Naples, telling him to accede to the wishes of Januaria (“Gregorii Magni epist.”, lib. IX, ep. xxxv, in Migne P.L., LXXXVII, 1015). The Acts of St. Juliana used by Bede in his “Martyrologium” are purely legendary. According to the account given in this legend, St. Juliana lived in Nicomedia and was betrothed to the Senator Eleusius. Her father Africanus was a pagan and hostile to the Christians. In the persecution of Maximianus, Juliana was beheaded after suffering frightful torturers. Soon after a noble lady, named Sephonia, came through Nicomedia and took the saint’s body with her to Italy, and had it buried in Campania. Evidently it was this alleged translation that caused the martyred Juliana, honoured in Nicomedia, to be identified with St. Juliana of Cumae, although they are quite distinct persons. The veneration of St. Juliana of Cumae became very widespread, especially in the Netherlands. At the beginning of the thirteenth century her remains were transferred to Naples. The description of this translation by a contemporary writer is still extant. The feast of the saint is celebrated in the Latin Church on 16 February, in the Greek on 21 December. Her Acts describe the conflicts which she is said to have with the devil; she is represented in pictures with a winged devil whom she leads by a chain.

MOMBRITIUS, Sanctuarium, II, fol. 41 v.-43 v.; Acta SS., FEB., II, 808 sqq.; MIGNE, P.G., CXIV, 1437-52; Bibliotheca hagiogr. lat., I, 670 sq.; Bibl. hagiogr. graeca (2nd. ed.), 134; NILLES, Kalendarium manuale, I (2nd ed., Innsbruck, 1896), 359; MAZOCCHI, In vetus S. Neapolitanae ecclesiae Kalendarum commentarius, I (Naples, 1744), 556-9; COCKAYNE, St. Juliana (London, 1872); Vita di S. Giuliana (Novara, 1889); BACKHAUS, Ueber die Quelle der mittelenglischen Legende der hl. Juliana und ihr Verhaltnis zu Cynewulfs Juliana (Halle, 1899).

J.P. KIRSCH

The 15th of February is the feast day of Saint Claude de la Clombiere. He is the patron saint of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The following is from Catholic Encyclopedia:

Missionary and ascetical writer, born of noble parentage at Saint-Symphorien-d’Ozon, between Lyons and Vienne, in 1641; died at Paray-le-Monial, 15 Feb., 1682. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1659. After fifteen years of religious life he made a vow, as a means of attaining the utmost possible perfection, to observe faithfully the rule and constitutions of his order under penalty of sin. Those who lived with him attested that this vow was kept with great exactitude. In 1674 Father de la Colombière was made superior at the Jesuit house at Paray-le-Monial, where he became the spiritual director of Blessed Margaret Mary and was thereafter a zealous apostle of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1676 he was sent to England as preacher to the Duchess of York, afterwards Queen of Great Britain. He lived the life of a religious even in the Court of St. James and was as active a missionary in England as he had been in France. Although encountering many difficulties, he was able to guide Blessed Margaret Mary by letter. His zeal soon weakened his vitality and a throat and lung trouble seemed to threaten his work as a preacher. While awaiting his recall to France he was suddenly arrested and thrown into prison, denounced as a conspirator. Thanks to his title of preacher to the Duchess of York and to the protection of Louis XIV, whose subject he was, he escaped death but was condemned to exile (1679). The last two years of his life were spent at Lyons where he was spiritual director to the young Jesuits, and at Paray-le-Monial, whither he repaired for his health. His principal works, including “Pious Reflections”, “Meditations on the Passion”, “Retreat and Spiritual Letters”, were published under the title, “Oeuvres du R. P. Claude de la Colombière” (Avignon, 1832; Paris, 1864). His relics are preserved in the monastery of the Visitation nuns at Paray-le-Monial.

SEQUIN, Vie du P. de la Colombière (Paris, 1876), tr. in Quarterly Series (London, 1883); LUBEN, Der ehrwurdige Diener Gottes P. Claudius de la Colombière (Einsiedeln, 1884); LETIERCE, Le Sacre Coeur, ses apotres et ses sanctuaires (Nancy, 1886); Lettres inedites de la bienheureuse Marguerite Marie (Toulouse, 1890); CHARRIER, Histoire du V. P. Claude de la Colombière (Paris, 1894); Bougaud, Histoire de la bienheureuse Marguerite Marie (Toulouse, 1900); Oeuvres completes du R. P. de la Colombière (Grenoble, 1901); HATTLER, Lebensbild der ehrwurdige P. Claudius de la Colombière (1903); POUPLARD, Notice sur le serviteur de Dieu, le R. P. Claude de la Colombière.

GERTRUDE DANA STEELE

The 14th of February is the Feast day of Saint Valentine. He is the patron saint of affianced couples, against fainting, beekeepers, happy marriages, love, plague, and epilepsy.

The following is from Butler’s Lives of the Saints:

VALENTINE was a holy priest in Rome, who, with St. Marius and his family, assisted the martyrs in the persecution under Claudius II. He was apprehended, and sent by the emperor to the prefect of Rome, who, on finding all his promises to make him renounce his faith ineffectual, commanded him to be beaten with clubs, and afterward to be beheaded, which was executed on the 14th of February, about the year 270. Pope Julius I, is said to have built a church near Ponte Mole to his memory, which for a long time gave name to the gate now called Porta del Popolo, formerly Porta Valentini. The greater part of his relics are now in the Church of St. Praxedes. To abolish the heathens’ lewd superstitious custom of boys ‘ drawing the names of girls, in honor of their goddess Februata Juno, on the 15th of this month, several zealous pastors substituted the names of Saints in billets given on this day.

Reflection.—In the cause of justice and truth, prudence should not be held in account; otherwise prudence is mere human respect. St. Paul says: “The wisdom of the flesh is death.”

The 13th of February is the feast day of Saint Catherine of Ricci. She is the patron saint of the sick.

The following is from Butler’s Lives of the Saints:

ALEXANDRINA of Ricci was the daughter of a noble Florentine. At the age of thirteen she entered the Third Order of St. Dominic in the monastery of Prato, taking in religion the name of Catherine, after her patron and namesake of Siena. Her special attraction was to the Passion of Christ, in which she was permitted miraculously to participate. In the Lent of 1541, being then twenty-one years of age, she had a vision of the crucifixion so heart-rending that she was confined to bed for three weeks, and was only restored, on Holy Saturday, by an apparition of St. Mary Magdalene and Jesus risen. During twelve years she passed every Friday in ecstasy, She received the sacred stigmata, the wound in the left side, and the crown of thorns. All these favors gave her continual and intense suffering, and inspired her with a loving sympathy for the yet more bitter tortures of the Holy Souls. In their behalf she offered all her prayers and penances; and her charity toward them became so famous throughout Tuscany that after every death the friends of the deceased hastened to Catherine to secure her prayers. St. Catherine offered many prayers, fasts, and penances for a certain great man, and thus obtained his salvation. It was revealed to her that he was in purgatory; and such was her love of Jesus crucified that she offered to suffer all the pains about to be inflicted on that soul. Her prayer was granted. The soul entered heaven, and for forty days Catherine suffered indescribable agonies. Her body was covered with blisters, emitting heat so great that her cell seemed on fire. Her flesh appeared as if roasted, and her tongue like red-hot iron. Amid all she was calm and joyful, saying, “I long to suffer all imaginable pains, that souls may quickly see and praise their Redeemer.” She knew by revelation the arrival of a soul in. purgatory, and the hour of its release. She held intercourse with the Saints in glory, and frequently conversed with St. Philip Neri at Rome without ever leaving her convent at Prato. She died, amid angels’ songs, in 1589.

Reflection.—If we truly love Jesus crucified, we must long, as did St. Catherine, to release the Holy Souls whom He has redeemed but has left to our charity to set free.

The 12th of February is the feast day of Saint Julian the Hospitaller. He is the patron saint of boatmen, carnival workers, childless people, circus workers, clowns, ferrymen, fiddlers, fiddle players, hospitallers, hotel-keepers, hunters, innkeepers, jugglers, knights, murderers, pilgrims, shepherds, to obtain lodging while traveling, travelers, wandering musicians, St. Julian’s; and Macerata.

Saint Julian the Hospitaller lived in the 4th century and was born in a wealthy noble European family. Though little is known about his life for certain, there is a legend that he married a noble widow but was put under a curse. The curse was that he would kill his parents one day. Julian and his wife moved very far away hoping to avoid this curse. However, Julian’s parents discovered where he was and decided to visit him unannounced while Julian was away. His wife gave them their bed to sleep overnight. Julian returned and found the couple in the bed, assuming his wife was with another man, he slew them both. When he learned of the truth, he spent his life in penance. Both he and his wife went to Rome as pilgrims and returned to create a hospital as part of their penance, dedicating the rest of their lives in caring for the sick and the poor. A leper came to stay in the hospital and later revealed himself to be an angel, telling Julian that God had granted him absolution for his sins. The river that the hospital was built next to, was crossed often by the crusaders.

The 11th of February is the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes. She is the patron saint of Lourdes, France, Quezon City of Metro Manila, Tagaytay City of Cavite, Barangay Granada of Bacolod City, Daegu, South Korea, Tennessee, Diocese of Lancaster, bodily ills, sick people, and protection from diseases.

Our Lady appeared to Bernadette Soubiroux on 11th February 1858 in Massabielle, southern France. Bernadette reported seeing 18 apparitions of the Woman Whom she described to be as “lovelier than I have ever seen” that year. The Woman in the apparition called Herself the “Immaculate Conception,” confirming the dogma which was defined by the Pope in the four years previously. Our Lady asked Bernadette to drink from a fountain at the grotto and a chapel to be built on the spot. Bernadette scratched at the dirt where a stream of pure water came forth and drank from it. The water prove to have healing properties, drawing pilgrims to the grotto worldwide. A basillica was eventually built in Massabielle, and was consecrated as the “Church of the Rosary” in 1876.

The 10th of February is the feast day of Saint Scholastica. She is the patron saint of schools; tests; books; reading; convulsive children; nuns; invoked against storms and rain; and Le Mans.

The following is from Butler’s Lives of the Saints:

OF this Saint but little is known on earth, save that she was the sister of the great patriarch St. Benedict, and that, under his direction, she founded and governed a numerous community near Monte Casino. St. Gregory sums up her life by saying that she devoted herself to God from her childhood, and that her pure soul went to God in the likeness of a dove, as if to show that her life had been enriched with the fullest gifts of the Holy Spirit. Her brother was accustomed to visit her every year, for “she could not be sated or wearied with the words of grace which flowed from his lips.” On his last visit, after a day passed in spiritual converse, the Saint, knowing that her end was near, said, “My brother, leave me not, I pray you, this night, but discourse with me till dawn on the bliss of those who see God in heaven.” St. Benedict would not, break his rule at the bidding of natural affection; and then the Saint bowed her head on her hands and prayed; and there arose a storm so violent that St. Benedict could not return to his monastery, and they passed the night in heavenly conversation. Three days later St. Benedict saw in a vision the soul of his sister going up in the likeness of a dove into heaven. Then he gave thanks to God for the graces He had given her, and for the glory which had crowned them. When she died, St. Benedict, her spiritual daughters, and the monks sent by St. Benedict mingled their tears and prayed, “Alas! alas! dearest mother, to whom dost thou leave us now? Pray for us to Jesus, to Whom thou art gone.” They then devoutly celebrated holy Mass, “commending her soul to God;” and her body was borne to Monte Casino, and laid by her brother in the tomb he had prepared for himself.” And they bewailed her many days;” and St. Benedict said, “Weep not, sisters and brothers; for assuredly Jesus has taken her before us to be our aid and defence against all our enemies, that we may stand in the evil day and be in all things perfect.” She died about the year 543.

Reflection.–Our relatives must be loved in and for God; otherwise the purest affection becomes inordinate and is so much taken from Him.

The 9th of February is the Feast day of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich.

Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich lived between 1774 and 1824 and was born in Germany to a peasant family. Since she was young, she received visions of the lives of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and the saints. Her guardian angel would appear to her when she was a child, and Jesus would visit while she was taking care of the sheep. Even the souls in purgatory would call for her prayers. She entered the religious life at the age of 28 years old, where she suffered physically from supernatural phenomena which left her bedridden. Her daily visions continued giving her insight into the spiritual realm which was recorded in books that they are now popular.

The 8th of February is the feast day of Saint Josephine Bakhita. She is the patron saint of Sudan and her feast day is dedicated as the International Day of Prayer to Stop Human Trafficking.

Saint Josephine Bakhita’s family were wealthy Sudanese living near Darfur. However, she when she was nine years old, she was kidnapped and became a slave. She was renamed Bakhita, meaning “fortunate” in Arabic by her kidnapper and was sold and resold, being maltreated by her owners until 1883 where she was purchased by an Italian consul. He treated her well, and they lived in Italy where she worked as a nanny until 1889 where the Italian government declared her to be free. She stayed in Italy and became a baptised Catholic in 1890, receiving her First Holy Communion from the future Pope St Pius X. She changed her name to Josephine, a Christian name, and entered the Institute of Canossian Daughters of Charity in 1896. She was nicknamed “Our Black Mother” by the Italians for her spirit and warm heart. She was recognised for her charity towards the children and the poor.

The 7th of February is the Feast of Saint Richard the King, he is also known as St. Richard of Wessex, St. Richard the Pilgrim, St. Richard the Saxon, St. Richard of Swabia, and St. Ricarius.

Saint Richard the King lived in 720 AD and was a Saxon king born in Wessex, England. Three of his children are saints, Saint Willibald, Saint Winnebald and Saint Walburga. His brother in law, Saint Boniface is also a saint. Saint Willibald was ill as a child and he was near his deathbed. Saint Richard wrapped him a blanket and placed him at the foot of a large crucifix where the child recovered. Saint Willibald, when he was a grown man, journeyed with his father, Saint Richard, and brother to go on a missionary pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land. Saint Richard, renounced his royal estate before his journey while his daughter entered a convent. In Italy, Saint Richard became ill and died, and was buried in Tuscany in the Church of San Frediano. Many miracles happened at his tomb. Some of his relics were sent to Eichstatt, Germany, where Winnebald, his son later became a Bishop.

The 6th of February is the Feast day of Saints Paul Miki and Companions.

The following is from Butler’s Lives of the Saints:

ABOUT forty years after St. Francis Xavier’s death a persecution broke out in Japan, and all Christian rites were forbidden under pain of death. A confraternity of martyrs was at once formed, the object of which was to die for Christ. Even the little children joined it. Peter, a Christian child six years old, was awakened early and told that he was to be beheaded, together with his father. Strong in grace, he expressed his joy at the news, dressed himself in his gayest clothing, and took the hand of the soldier who was to lead him to death. The headless trunk of his father first met his view; calmly kneeling down, he prayed beside the corpse, and, loosening his collar, prepared his neck for the stroke. Moved by this touching scene, the executioner threw down his sabre and fled. None but a brutal slave could be found for the murderous task; with unskilled and trembling hand he hacked the child to pieces, who at last died without uttering a single cry. Christians were branded with the cross, or all but buried alive, while the head and arms were slowly sawn off with blunt weapons. The least shudder under their anguish was interpreted it into apostasy. The obstinate were put to the most cruel deaths, but the survivors only envied them. Five noblemen were escorted to the stake by 40,000 Christians with flowers and lights, singing the litanies of Our Lady as they went. In the great martyrdom, at which thousands also assisted, the martyrs sent up a flood of melody from the fire, which only died away as one after another went to sing the new song in heaven. Later on, a more awful doom was invented. The victims were lowered into a sulphurous chasm, called the “mouth of hell,” near which no bird or beast could live. The chief of these, Paul Wiborg, whose family bad been already massacred for the faith, was thrice let down; thrice he cried, with a loud voice, “Eternal praise be to the ever-adorable Sacrament of the Altar.” The third time he went to his reward.

Reflection.—If mere children face torture and death with joy for Christ, can we begrudge the slight penance He asks us to bear?

The 5th of February is the feast day of Saint Agatha of Sicily. She is the patron saint of Sicily; bellfounders; breast cancer; bakers; Catania, Sicily; against fire; earthquakes; eruptions of Mount Etna; fire; jewelers; martyrs; natural disasters; nurses; Palermo, Sicily; rape victims; San Marino; single laywomen; sterility; torture victims; volcanic eruptions; nurses; wet nurses; and Zamarramala, Spain.

The following is from Butler’s Lives of the Saints:

ST. AGATHA was born in Sicily, of rich and noble parents—a child of benediction from the first, for she was promised to her parents before her birth, and consecrated from her earliest infancy to God. In the midst of dangers and temptations she served Christ in purity of body and soul, and she died for the love of chastity. Quintanus, who governed Sicily under the Emperor Decius, had heard the rumor of her beauty and wealth, and he made the laws against the Christians a pretext for summoning her from Palermo to Catania, where he was at the time. “O Jesus Christ!” she cried, as she set out on this dreaded journey, “all that I am is Thine; preserve me against the tyrant.”

And Our Lord did indeed preserve one who had given herself so utterly to Him. He kept her pure and undefiled while she was imprisoned for a whole month under charge of an evil woman. He gave her strength to reply to the offer of her life and safety, if she would but consent to sin, “Christ alone is my life and my salvation.” When Quintanus turned from passion to cruelty, and cut off her breasts, Our Lord sent the Prince of His apostles to heal her. And when, after she had been rolled naked upon potsherds, she asked that her torments might be ended, her Spouse heard her prayer and took her to Himself.

St. Agatha gave herself without reserve to Jesus Christ; she followed Him in virginal purity, and then looked to Him for protection. And down to this day Christ has shown His tender regard for the very body of St. Agatha. Again and again, during the eruptions of Mount Etna, the people of Catania have exposed her veil for public veneration, and found safety by this means; and in modern times, on opening the tomb in which her body lies waiting for the resurrection, they beheld the skin still entire, and felt the sweet fragrance which issued from this temple of the Holy Ghost.

Reflection.—Purity is a gift of God: we can gain it and preserve it only by care and diligence in avoiding all that may prove an incentive to sin.

The 4th of February is the feast day of Saint Joan of Valois, also known as Joan of France, Duchess of Berry.

The following is from Butler’s Lives of the Saints:

BORN of the blood royal of France, herself a queen, Jane of Valois led a life remarkable for its humiliations even in the annals of the Saints. Her father, Louis XI., who had hoped for a son to succeed him, banished Jane from his palace, and, it is said, even attempted her life. At the age of five the neglected child offered her whole heart to God, and yearned to do some special service in honor of His blessed Mother. At the king’s wish, though against her own inclination, she was married to the Duke of Orleans. Towards an indifferent and unworthy husband her conduct was ever most patient and dutiful. Her prayers and tears saved him from a traitor’s death and shortened the captivity which his rebellion had merited. Still nothing could win a heart which was already given to another. When her husband ascended the throne as Louis XII., his first act was to repudiate by false representations one who through twenty-two years of cruel neglect had been his true and loyal wife. At the final sentence of separation, the saintly queen exclaimed, “God be praised Who has allowed this, that I may serve Him better . than I have heretofore done.” Retiring to Bourges, she there realized her long-formed desire of founding the Order of the Annunciation, in honor of the Mother of God.

Under the guidance of St. Francis of Paula, the director of her childhood, St. Jane was enabled to overcome the serious obstacles which even good people raised against the foundation of her new Order. In 1501 the rule of the Annunciation was finally approved by Alexander VI. The chief aim of the institute was to imitate the ten virtues practised by Our Lady in the mystery of the Incarnation, the superioress being called “Ancelle,” handmaid, in honor of Mary’s humility. St. Jane built and endowed the first convent of the Order in 1502. She died in heroic sanctity, 1505, and was buried in the royal crown and purple, beneath which lay the habit of her Order.

Reflection.—During the lifetime of St. Jane, the Angelus was established in France. The sound of the thrice each day gave her hone in her sorrow, and fostered in her the desire still further to honor the Incarnation. How often might we derive grace from the same beautiful devotion, so enriched by the Church, yet neglected by so many Christians!

Dear children, you whom my Son loves, you whom I love with an immeasurable motherly love, do not permit for selfishness, for self love, to rule the world. Do not permit for love and goodness to be hidden. You who are loved, who have come to know the love of my Son, remember that to be loved means to love. My children, have faith. When you have faith you are happy and are spreading peace; your soul trembles with joy. My Son is in such a soul. When you are giving yourself for the faith, when you are giving yourself for love, when you are doing good to your neighbor, my Son smiles in your soul. Apostles of my love, I am turning to you as a mother. I am gathering you around myself and I desire to lead you on the way of love and faith, on the way which leads to the light of the world. I am here for the sake of love, for the sake of faith, because with my motherly blessing I desire to give you hope and strength on your way - because the way which leads to my Son is not easy. It is full of renunciation, giving, sacrifice, forgiveness and much, much love. But this way leads to peace and happiness. My children, do not believe lying voices which speak to you about false things, false glitter. You, my children, return to the Scripture. I am looking at you with immeasurable love, and through God's grace am making myself evident to you. My children, set out with me. May your soul tremble with joy. Thank you.

Concordance of Our Lady's Messages 1981-2014

Immaculate Conception by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (circa 1652)

The 3rd of February is the Feast day of Saint Blaise, also known as Saint Blase. He is the patron saint of animals, builders, drapers, choking, veterinarians, throats, infants, Maratea, Italy, Sicily, Dalmatia, Dubrovnik, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, Rubiera, stonecutters, carvers, and wool workers.

The following is from Butler’s Lives of the Saints:

ST. BLASE devoted the earlier years of his life to the study of philosophy, and afterwards became a physician. In the practice of his profession he saw so much of the miseries of life and the hollowness of worldly pleasures, that he resolved to spend the rest of his days in the service of God, and from being a healer of bodily ailments to be- come a physician of souls. The Bishop of Sebaste, in Armenia, having died, our Saint, much to the gratification of the inhabitants of that city, was appointed to succeed him. St. Blase at once began to instruct his people as much by his example as by his words, and the great virtues and sanctity of this servant of God were attested by many miracles. From all parts the people came flocking to him for the cure of bodily and spiritual ills. Agricolaus, Governor of Cappadocia and the Lesser Armenia, having begun a persecution by order of the Emperor Licinius, our Saint was seized and hurried off to prison. While on his way there, a distracted mother, whose only child was dying of a throat disease, threw herself at the feet of St. Blase and implored his intercession. Touched at her grief, the Saint offered up his prayers, and the child was cured; and since that time his aid has often been effectually solicited in cases of a similar disease. Refusing to worship the false gods of the heathens, St. Blase was first scourged; his body was then torn with hooks, and finally he was beheaded in the year 316.

Reflection.—There is no sacrifice which, by the aid of grace, human nature is not capable of accomplishing. When St. Paul complained to God of the violence of the temptation, God answered, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for power is made perfect in infirmity.”

The 2nd of February is the Feast of Presentation of the Lord, also known as Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or Candlemas.

The following is from Butler’s Lives of the Saints:

THE law of God, given by Moses to the Jews, ordained that a woman, after childbirth, should continue for a certain time in a state which that law calls unclean, during which she was not to appear in public, nor presume to touch anything consecrated to God. This term was of forty days upon the birth of a son, and double that time for a daughter. On the expiration of the term, the mother .vas to bring to the door of the tabernacle, or Temple, a lamb and a young pigeon, or turtle-dove, as an offering to God. These being sacrificed to Almighty God by the priest, the woman was cleansed of the legal impurity and reinstated in her former privileges.

A young pigeon, or turtle-dove, by way of a sin-offering, was required of all, whether rich or poor; but as the expense of a lamb might be too great for persons in poor circumstances, they were allowed to substitute for it a second dove.

Our Saviour having been conceived by the Holy Ghost, and His blessed Mother remaining always a spotless virgin, it is evident that she did not come under the law; but as the world was, as yet, ignorant of her miraculous conception, she submitted with great punctuality and exactness to every humbling circumstance which the law required. Devotion and mal to honor God, by every observance prescribed by His law, prompted Mary to perform this act of religion, though evidently exempt from the precept. Being poor herself, she made the offering appointed for the poor; but; however mean in itself, it was made with a perfect heart, which is what God chiefly regards in all that is offered to Him. Besides the law which obliged the mother to purify herself, there was another which ordered that the first-born son should be offered to God, and that, after its presentation, the child should be ransomed with a certain sum of money, and peculiar sacrifices offered on the occasion.

Mary complies exactly with all these ordinances. She obeys not only in the essential points of the law, but has strict regard to all the circumstances. She remains forty days at home; she denies herself, all this time, the liberty of entering the Temple; she partakes not of things sacred; and on the day of her purification she walks several miles to Jerusalem, with the world’s Redeemer in her arms. She waits for the priest at the gate of the Temple, makes her offerings of thanksgiving and expiation, presents her divine Son by the hands of the priest to His Eternal Father, with the most profound humility, adoration, and thanksgiving. She then redeems Him with five shekels, as the law appoints, and receives Him back again as a sacred charge committed to her special care, till the Father shall again demand Him for the full accomplishment of man’s redemption.

The ceremony of this day was closed by a third mystery—the meeting in the Temple of the holy persons Simeon and Anne with Jesus and His parents. Holy Simeon, on that occasion, received into his arms the object of all his desires and sighs, and praised God for being blessed with the happiness of beholding the so-much-longed-for Messias. He foretold to Mary her martyrdom of sorrow, and that Jesus brought redemption to those who would accept of it on the terms it was offered them; but a heavy judgment on all infidels who should obstinately reject it, and on Christians, also, whose lives were a contradiction to His holy maxims and example. Mary, hearing this terrible prediction, did not answer one word, felt no agitation of mind from the present, no dread for the future; but courageously and sweetly committed all to God’s holy will. Anne, also, the prophetess, who in her widowhood served God with great fervor, had the happiness to acknowledge and adore in this great mystery the Redeemer of the world. Simeon, having beheld Our Saviour, exclaimed: “Now dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word, because my eyes have seen Thy salvation.” This feast is called CANDLEMAS, because the Church blesses the candles to be borne in the procession of the day.

Reflection.—Let us strive to imitate the humility of the ever-blessed Mother of God, remembering that humility is the path which leads to abiding peace and brings us near to the consolations of God.

The 1st of February is the feast day of Saint Brigid of Ireland, also known as Saint Brigid of Kildare. She is the patron saint of babies; blacksmiths; boatmen; brewers; cattle; chicken farmers; children whose parents are not married; children with abusive fathers; children born into abusive unions; Clan Douglas; dairymaids; dairy workers; Florida; fugitives; infants; Ireland; Leinster, mariners; midwives; milk maids; nuns; poets; poor; poultry farmers; poultry raisers; printing presses; sailors; scholars; travellers; and watermen.

The following is from Butler’s Lives of the Saints:

NEXT to the glorious St. Patrick, St. Bridgid, whom we may consider his spiritual daughter in Christ, has ever been held in singular veneration in Ireland. She was born about the year 453, at Fochard in Ulster. During her infancy, her pious father saw in a vision men clothed in white garments pouring a sacred unguent on her head, thus prefiguring her future sanctity. While yet very young, Bridgid consecrated her life to God, bestowed everything at her disposal on the poor, and was the edification of all who knew her. She was very beautiful, and fearing that efforts might be made to induce her to break the vow by which she had bound herself to God, and to bestow her hand on one of her many suitors, she prayed that she might become ugly and deformed. Her prayer was heard, for her eye became swollen, and her whole countenance so changed that she was allowed to follow her vocation in peace, and marriage with her was no more thought of. When about twenty years old, our Saint made known to St. Mel, the nephew and disciple of St. Patrick, her intention to live only to Jesus Christ, and he consented to receive her sacred vows. On the appointed day the solemn ceremony of her profession was performed after the manner introduced by St. Patrick, the bishop offering up many prayers, and investing Bridgid with a snow-white habit, and a cloak of the same color. While she bowed her head on this occasion to receive the veil, a miracle of a singularly striking and impressive nature occurred: that part of the wooden platform adjoining the altar on which she knelt recovered its original vitality, and put on all its former verdure, retaining it for a long time after. At the same moment Bridgid’s eye was healed, and she became as beautiful and as lovely as ever.

Encouraged by her example, several other ladies made their vows with her, and in compliance with the wish of the parents of her new associates, the Saint agreed to found a religious residence for herself and them in the vicinity. A convenient site having been fixed upon by the bishop, a convent, the first in Ireland, was erected upon it; and in obedience to the prelate Bridgid assumed the superiority. Her reputation for sanctity became greater every day; and in proportion as it was diffused throughout the country the number of candidates for admission into the new monastery increased. The bishops of Ireland, soon perceiving the important advantages which their respective dioceses would derive from similar foundations, persuaded the young and saintly abbess to visit different parts of the kingdom, and, as an opportunity offered, introduce into each one the establishment of her institute.

While thus engaged in a portion of the province of Connaught, a deputation arrived from Leinster to solicit the Saint to take up her residence in that territory; but the motives which they urged were human, and such could have no weight with Bridgid. It was only the prospect of the many spiritual advantages that would result from compliance with the request that induced her to accede, as she did, to the wishes of those who had petitioned her. Taking with her a number of her spiritual daughters, our Saint journeyed to Leinster, where they were received with many demonstrations of respect and joy. The site on which Kildare now stands appearing to be well adapted for a religious institute, there the Saint and her companions took up their abode. To the place appropriated for the new foundation some lands were annexed, the fruits of which were assigned to the little establishment. This donation indeed contributed to supply the wants of the community, but still the pious sisterhood principally depended for their maintenance on the liberality of their benefactors. Bridgid contrived, however, out of their small means to relieve the poor of the vicinity very considerably; and when the wants of these indigent persons surpassed her slender finances, she hesitated not to sacrifice for them the movables of the convent. On one occasion our Saint, imitating the burning charity of St. Ambrose and other great servants of God, sold some of the sacred vestments that she might procure the means of relieving their necessities. She was so humble that she sometimes attended the cattle on the land which belonged to her monastery.

The renown of Bridgid’s unbounded charity drew multitudes of the poor to Kildare; the fame of her piety attracted thither many persons anxious to solicit her prayers or to profit by her holy example. In course of time the number of these so much increased that it became necessary to provide accommodation for them in the neighborhood of the new monastery, and thus was laid the foundation and origin of the town of Kildare.

The spiritual exigencies of her community, and of those numerous strangers who resorted to the vicinity, having suggested to our Saint the expediency of having the locality erected into an episcopal see, she represented it to the prelates, to whom the consideration of it rightly belonged. Deeming the proposal just and useful, Conlath, a recluse of eminent sanctity, illustrious by the great things which God had granted to his prayers, was, at Bridgid’s desire, chosen the first bishop of the newly erected diocese. In process of time it became the ecclesiastical metropolis of the province to which it belonged, probably in consequence of the general desire to honor the place in which St. Bridgid had so long dwelt.

After seventy years devoted to the practice of the most sublime virtues, corporal infirmities admonished our Saint that the time of her dissolution was nigh. It was now half a century since, by her holy vows, she had irrevocably consecrated herself to God, and during that period great results had been attained; her holy institute having widely diffused itself throughout the Green Isle, and greatly advanced the cause of religion in the various districts in which it was established. Like a river of peace, its progress was steady and silent; it fertilized every region fortunate enough to receive its waters, and caused it to put forth spiritual flowers and fruits with all the sweet perfume of evangelical fragrance. The remembrance of the glory she had procured to the Most High, as well as the services rendered to dear souls ransomed by the precious blood of her divine Spouse, cheered and consoled Bridgid in the infirmities inseparable from old age. Her last illness was soothed by the presence of Nennidh, a priest of eminent sanctity, over whose youth she had watched with pious solicitude, and who was indebted to her prayers and instructions for his great proficiency in sublime perfection. The day on which our abbess was to terminate her course, February 1, 523, having arrived, she received from the hands of this saintly priest the blessed body and blood of her Lord in the divine Eucharist, and, as it would seem, immediately after her spirit passed forth, and went to possess Him in that heavenly country where He is seen face to face and enjoyed without danger of ever losing Him. Her body was interred in the church adjoining her convent, but was some time after exhumed, and deposited in a splendid shrine near the high altar.

In the ninth century, the country being desolated by the Danes, the remains of St. Bridgid were removed in order to secure them from irreverence; and, being transferred to Down-Patrick, were deposited in the same grave with those of the glorious St. Patrick. Their bodies, together with that of St. Columba, were translated afterwards to the cathedral cf the same city, but their monument was destroyed in the reign of King Henry VIII. The head of St. Bridgid is now kept in the church of the Jesuits at Lisbon.

Reflection.—Outward resemblance to Our Lady was St. Bridgid’s peculiar privilege; but all are bound to grow like her in interior purity of heart. This grace St. Bridgid has obtained in a wonderful degree for the daughters of her native land, and will never fail to procure for all her devout clients.