The 31st of January is the feast day of Saint John Bosco (16 August 1815 – 31 January 1888). He is also known as Don Bosco and is the patron saint of Christian apprentices, editors, publishers, schoolchildren, young people, magicians, and juvenile delinquents.

Saint John Bosco lived between 1815 and 1888 and was born in Italy to poor farmers. When he was two years old, his father died, and when he was nine he had his first vision where Jesus and Mary showed that he was to instruct poor, wayward boys and bring them closer to God. Saint John Bosco joined the priesthood and ministered to the poor neglected boys of Turin, Italy. Many of the boys ended in prison when they became teenagers. Don Bosco was a mentor and spiritually directed them, helping them to live a life of virtue and helped save many from a life of crime and poverty. He created a group called the oratory of Saint Francis de Sales and catechized them and established the Salesians of Don Bosco, whose priests minister and educate boys under the patronage of Saint Francis de Sales.

The 30th of January is the feast day of Saint Martina of Rome (d. 228 A.D.). She is the patron saint of Rome; and nursing mothers.

The following is from Catholic Encyclopedia:

Roman virgin, martyred in 226, according to some authorities, more probably in 228, under the pontificate of Pope Urban I, according to others. The daughter of an ex-consul and left an orphan at an early age, she so openly testified to her Christian faith that she could not escape the persecutions under Alexander Severus. Arrested and commanded to return to idolatry, she courageously refused, whereupon she was subjected to various tortures and was finally beheaded. The accounts of her martyrdom which we possess belong to a late period and as usual contain many amplifications which have not, as Baronius has already observed, any historical value. The relics of St. Martina were discovered on 25 Oct., 1634, in a crypt of an ancient church situated near Mamertine prison and dedicated to the saint. Urban VIII, who occupied the Holy See at that time, had the church repaired and, it would seem, composed the hymns which are sung at the office of the noble martyr, 30 January.

Acta SS. Bolland. (1643), January, I, II; BARONIUS, Ann. (1589), 228, I; SURIUS, De vit. SS. (1618), I, 9-10; VINCENT OF BEAUVAIS, Spec. Hist. (1473), XII, 27-29; MOMBRITIUS, Sanctuarium (Milan, 1749), II, CXXV-XL; Ragguaglio della vita di S. Martina vergine e martire (Rome 1801)

The 29th of January is the feast day of Saint Aquilinus of Milan (d. 1015 A.D.). He is also known as Saint Aquilinus of Cologne. He is the patron saint of hotel porters (facchini) in Milan.

Saint Aquilinus of Milan was born to a noble family in Bavaria, Germany. He was educated in Cologne Germany, ordained in the priesthood and turned down a bishopric in Cologne so he can be a missionary priest and preacher. He fought the heresies of Cathars, Manichaeans and the Arians in various European cities and was known for miraculously healing people from diseases. He settled in Milan, Italy but was stabbed to death in 1015 A.D. by Arian heretics who threw his body in the city sewer. His body was recovered and now buried in a chapel in the Basilica of San Lorenzo.

The 28th of January is the feast day of Saint Thomas Aquinas O.P. (1225 – 7 March 1274). He is the patron saint of academics; against storms; against lightning; apologists; Aquino, Italy; Belcastro, Italy; book sellers; Catholic academies, schools, and universities; chastity; Falena, Italy; learning; pencil makers; philosophers; publishers; scholars; students; University of Sto. Tomas; Sto. Tomas, Batangas; and theologians.

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

ST. THOMAS was born of noble parents at Aquino in Italy, in 1226. At the age of nineteen he received the Dominican habit at Naples, where he was studying. Seized by his brothers on his way to Paris, he suffered a two years’ captivity in their castle of Rocca-Secca; but neither the caresses of his mother and sisters, nor the threats and stratagems of his brothers, could shake him in his vocation. While St. Thomas was in confinement at Rocca-Secca, his brothers endeavored to entrap him into sin, but the attempt only ended in the triumph of his purity. Snatching from the hearth a burning brand, the Saint drove from his chamber the wretched creature whom they had there concealed. Then marking a cross upon the wall, he knelt down to pray, and forthwith, being rapt in ecstasy, an angel girded him with a cord, in token of the gift of perpetual chastity which God had given him. The pain caused by the girdle was so sharp that St. Thomas uttered a piercing cry, which brought his guards into the room. But he never told this grace to any one save only to Father Raynald, his confessor, a little while before his death. Hence originated the Confraternity of the “Angelic Warfare,” for the preservation of the virtue of chastity. Having at length escaped, St. Thomas went to Cologne to study under Blessed Albert the Great, and after that to Paris, where for many years he taught philosophy and theology. The Church has ever venerated his numerous writings as a treasure-house of sacred doctrine; while in naming him the Angelic Doctor she has indicated that his science is more divine than human. The rarest gifts of intellect were combined in him with the tenderest piety. Prayer, he said, had taught him more than study. His singular devotion to the Blessed Sacrament shines forth in the Office and hymns for Corpus Christi, which he composed. To the words miraculously uttered by a crucifix at Naples, “Well hast thou written concerning Me, Thomas. What shall I give thee as a reward?” he replied, “Naught save Thyself, O Lord.” He died at Fossa-Nuova, 1274, on his way to the General Council of Lyons, to which Pope Gregory X. had summoned him.

Reflection.—The knowledge of God is for all, but hidden treasures are reserved for those who have ever followed the Lamb.

The 27th of January is the feast day of Saint Angela Merici (21 March 1474 – 27 January 1540), also known as Angela de Merici. She is the patron saint of sickness, handicapped people, and loss of parents.

The following is from Catholic Encyclopedia:

Foundress of the Ursulines, born 21 March, 1474, at Desenzano, a small town on the southwestern shore of Lake Garda in Lombardy; died 27 January, 1540, at Brescia.

She was left an orphan at the age of ten and together with her elder sister came to the home of her uncle at the neighbouring town of Salo where they led an angelic life. When her sister met with a sudden death, without being able to receive the last sacraments, young Angela was much distressed. She became a tertiary of St. Francis and greatly increased her prayers and mortifications for the repose of her sister’s soul. In her anguish and pious simplicity she prayed God to reveal to her the condition of her deceased sister. It is said that by a vision she was satisfied her sister was in the company of the saints in heaven.

When she was twenty years old, her uncle died, and she returned to her paternal home at Desenzano. Convinced that the great need of her times was a better instruction of young girls in the rudiments of the Christian religion, she converted her home into a school where at stated intervals she daily gathered all the little girls of Desenzano and taught them the elements of Christianity. It is related that one day, while in an ecstasy, she had a vision in which it was revealed to her that she was to found an association of virgins who were to devote their lives to the religious training of young girls. The school she had established at Desenzano soon bore abundant fruit, and she was invited to the neighbouring city, Brescia, to establish a similar school at that place. Angela gladly accepted the invitation.

In 1524, while making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, she became suddenly blind when she was on the island of Crete, but continued her journey to the Holy Places and was cured on her return while praying before a crucifix at the same place where she was struck with blindness a few weeks before. When, in the jubilee year 1525, she had come to Rome to gain the indulgences, Pope Clement VII, who had heard of her great holiness and her extraordinary success as a religious teacher of young girls, invited her to remain in Rome; but Angela, who shunned publicity, returned to Brescia. Finally, on the 25th of November, 1535, Angela chose twelve virgins and laid the foundation of the order of the Ursulines in a small house near the Church of St. Afra in Brescia. Having been five years superior of the newly-founded order, she died.

Her body lies buried in the Church of St. Afra at Brescia. She was beatified in 1768, by Clement XIII, and canonized in 1807, by Pius VII. Her feast is celebrated 31 May. [Note: After this article was written, her feast was moved to 27 January.]

HEIMBUCHER, Orden und Kongregationen (Paderborn, 1896), 1 511 sqq., SEEB`CK, Herrlichkeit der katholischen Kirche (Innsbruck, 1900); GUÉRIN, Les petite Bollandsstes (Paris), III, 326 sqq., Bullarii Romani Continuatio, VII, pt. I; her biography has been written in French by BAUTHORS (Abbeville, 1894) at Notre Dame d’Alet (1885), PASTEL, (Paris, 1878); in German by an Ursuline (Innsbruck, 1893), by an Ursuline (Paderborn, 1892), in Italian by GIRELLI (Brescia, 1871);by SALVATORI (Rome, 1807).

MICHAEL OTT

The 26th of January is the feast day of Saint Timothy (1st c.). He is invoked against stomach and intestinal disorders.

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

TIMOTHY was a convert of St. Paul. He was born at Lystra in Asia Minor. His mother was a Jewess, but his father was a pagan; and though Timothy had read the Scriptures from his childhood, he had not been circumcised as a Jew. On the arrival of St. Paul at Lystra the youthful Timothy, with his mother and grandmother, eagerly embraced the faith. Seven years later, when the Apostle again visited the country, the boy had grown into manhood, while his good heart, his austerities and zeal had won the esteem of all around him; and holy men were prophesying great things of the fervent youth. St. Paul at once saw his fitness for the work of an evangelist. Timothy was forthwith ordained, and from that time became the constant and much-beloved fellow-worker of the Apostle. In company with St. Paul he visited the cities of Asia Minor and Greece—at one time hastening on in front as a trusted messenger, at another lingering behind to confirm in the faith some recently founded church. Finally, he was made the first Bishop of Ephesus; and here he received the two epistles which bear his name, the first written from Macedonia and the second from Rome, in which St. Paul from his prison gives vent to his longing desire to see his “dearly beloved son,” if possible, once more before his death. St. Timothy himself not many years after the death of St. Paul, won his martyr’s crown at Ephesus. As a child Timothy delighted in reading the sacred books, and to his last hour he would remember the parting words of his spiritual father, “Attende lectioni—Apply thyself to reading.”

Reflection.—St. Paul, in writing to Timothy, a faithful and well-tried servant of God, and a bishop now getting on in years, addresses him as a child, and seems most anxious about his perseverance in faith and piety. The letters abound in minute personal instructions for this end. It is therefore remarkable what great stress the Apostle lays on the avoiding of idle talk, and on the application to holy reading. These are his chief topics. Over and over again he exhorts his son Timothy to “avoid tattlers and busybodies; to give no heed to novelties; to shun profane and vain babblings, but to hold the form of sound words; to be an example in word and conversation; to attend to reading, to exhortation, and to doctrine.”

The 25th of January is the feast day of Saint Dwynwen (5th century). She is also known as Dwyn or Donwen and is the Welsh patron saint of lovers.

Saint Dwynwen lived in the 5th century and was a princess from Anglesey in Wales, the daughter of King Brychan Brycheiniog. She had fell in love with a young man, but did not want to marry him because of her piety and her intention to become a nun. She prayed that the desire for marriage would be removed from her, and that happiness will be granted to all lovers. She entered the religious life and built a convent in Llanddwyn Island. Her church and its “holy well” is a pilgrimage shrine, especially for lovers, from the Middle Ages till today.

The 25th of January is the feast day of the Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle.

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

THE great apostle Paul, named Saul at his circumcision, was born at Tarsus, the capital of Silicia, and was by privilege a Roman citizen, to which quality a great distinction and several exemptions were granted by the laws of the empire. He was early instructed in the strict observance of the Mosaic law, and lived up to it in the most scrupulous manner. In his zeal for the Jewish law, which he thought the cause of God, he became a violent persecutor of the Christians. He was one of those who combined to murder St. Stephen, and in the violent persecution of the faithful which followed the martyrdom of the holy deacon, Saul signalized himself above others. By virtue of the power he had received from the high priest, he dragged the Christians out of their houses, loaded them with chains, and thrust them into prison. In the fury of his zeal he applied for a commission to take up all Jews at Damascus who confessed Jesus Christ, and bring them bound to Jerusalem, that they might serve as examples for the others. But God was pleased to show forth in him His patience and mercy. While on his way to Damascus, he and his party were surrounded by a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, and suddenly struck to the ground. And then a voice was heard saying, “Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute Me?” And Saul answered, “Who art Thou, Lord?” and the voice replied, “I am Jesus, Whom thou dost persecute.” This mild expostulation of Our Redeemer, accompanied with a powerful interior grace, cured Saul’s pride, assuaged his rage, and wrought at once a total change in him. Wherefore, trembling and astonished, he cried out, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” Our Lord ordered him to arise and to proceed on his way to the city, where he should be informed of what was expected from him. Saul, arising from the ground, found that, though his eyes were open, he saw nothing. He was led by hand into Damascus, where he was lodged in the house of a Jew named Judas. To this house came by divine appointment a holy man named Ananias, who, laying his hands on Saul, said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, Who appeared to thee on thy journey, hath sent me that thou mayest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.” Immediately something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he recovered his sight. Then he arose and was baptized; he stayed some few days with the disciples at Damascus, and began immediately to preach in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. Thus a blasphemer and a persecutor was made an apostle, and chosen as one of God’s principal instruments in the con. version of the world.

Reflection.—Listen to the words of the “Imitation of Christ,” and let them sink into your heart: “He who would keep the grace of God, let him be grateful for grace when it is given, and patient when it is taken away. Let him pray that it may be given back to him, and be careful and humble, lest he lose it.”

The 24th of January is the feast day of Saint Francis de Sales CO OM OFM Cap. (21 August 1567 – 28 December 1622). He is the patron saint of Baker, Oregon; Cincinnati, Ohio; Catholic press; Columbus, Ohio; confessors; deaf people; educators; Upington, South Africa; Wilmington, Delaware; writers; journalists; and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest.

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

FRANCIS was born of noble and pious parents, near Annecy, 1566, and studied with brilliant success at Paris and Padua. On his return from Italy he gave up the grand career which his father had marked out for him in the service of the state, and became a priest. When the Duke of Savoy had resolved to restore the Church in the Chablais, Francis offered himself for the work, and set out on foot with his Bible and breviary and one companion, his cousin Louis of Sales. It was a work of toil, privation, and danger. Every door and every heart was closed against him. He was rejected with insult and threatened with death. But nothing could daunt or resist him, and ere long the Church burst forth into a second spring. It is stated that he converted 72,000 Calvinists. He was then compelled by the Pope to become Coadjutor Bishop of Geneva, and succeeded to the see in 1602. At times the exceeding gentleness with which he received heretics and sinners almost scandalized his friends, and one of them said to him, “Francis of Sales will go to Paradise, of course; but I am not so sure of the Bishop of Geneva: I am almost afraid his gentleness will play him a shrewd turn.” “Ah,” said the Saint, “I would rather account to God for too great gentleness than for too great severity. Is not God all love? God the Father is the Father of mercy; God the Son is a Lamb; God the Holy Ghost is a Dove—that is, gentleness itself. And are you wiser than God?” In union with St. Jane Frances of Chantal he founded at Annecy the Order of the Visitation, which soon spread over Europe. Though poor, he refused provisions and dignities, and even the great see of Paris. He died at Avignon, 1622.

Reflection.—”You will catch more flies,” St. Francis used to say, “with a spoonful of honey than with a hundred barrels of vinegar. Were there anything better or fairer on earth than gentleness, Jesus Christ would have taught it us; and yet He has given us only two lessons to learn of Him—meekness and humility of heart.”

The 23rd of February is the feast day of Saint Polycarp of Smyrna (AD 69 – 155).

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 23rd of January is the feast day of Saint Marianne Cope (January 23, 1838 – August 9, 1918). She is also known as Saint Marianne of Molokaʻi. She is the patron saint of Lepers, outcasts, those with HIV/AIDS, and Hawaiʻi.

Saint Marianne Cope lived between 1838 and 1918. She was a German-born American immigrant working in a New York factor before she entered the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis in Syracuse. There she helped in health care and education. The Syracuse sisters volunteered to help run a station for victims of leprosy in Hawaii, and the left in 1883 to Molokai. They opened a hospital and a girls school in Molokai and took care of the home Saint Damien of Molokai created for men and boys. She miraculously did not contract leprosy even though she worked directly with leprosy afflicted patients over the many years she was there. She was canonised in 2012.

The 22nd of January is the feast day of Saint Anastasius of Persia (7th c.).

The following is from Catholic Encyclopedia:

St. Anastasius, once a magician, became a convert of the Holy Cross and was martyred in 628. He was a soldier in the army of Chosroes when that monarch carried the Cross from Jerusalem to Persia. The occasion prompted him to ask for information; then he left the army, became a Christian, and afterwards a monk in Jerusalem. His Persian name, Magundat, he changed to Anastasius. After seven years of the most exact monastic observance, he was moved, as he thought, by the Holy Ghost to go in quest of martyrdom and went to Cæsarea, then subject to the Persians. Reproaching his countrymen for their magic and fireworship, both of which he had once practised, he was taken prisoner, cruelly tortured to make him abjure, amid finally carried down near the Euphrates, to a place called Barsaloe, or Bethsaloe, according to the Bollandists, where his sufferings were renewed while at the same time the highest honours in the service of King Chosroes were promised him if he would renounce Christianity. Finally, with seventy others, he was strangled to death and decapitated, 22 January, 628. His body, which was thrown to the dogs, but was left untouched by them, was carried thence to Palestine, afterwards to Constantinople, and finally to Rome.

Acta SS., 3 Jan.; BUTLER, Lives of the Saints, 22 Jan.

T. J. CAMPBELL

The 21st of January is the feast day of Saint Agnes of Rome (c. 291 – c. 304) . She is the patron saint of betrothed couples; chastity; Children of Mary; Colegio Capranica of Rome; crops; gardeners; Girl Guides; girls; rape victims; virgins; the diocese of Rockville Centre, New York; and the city of Fresno.

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

ST. AGNES was but twelve years old when she was led to the altar of Minerva at Rome and commanded to obey the persecuting laws of Diocletian by offering incense. In the midst of the idolatrous rites she raised her hands to Christ, her Spouse, and made the sign of the life-giving cross. She did not shrink when she was bound hand and foot, though the gyves slipped from her young hands, and the heathens who stood around were moved to tears. The bonds were not needed for her, and she hastened gladly to the place of her torture. Next, when the judge saw that pain had no terrors for her, he inflicted an insult worse than death: her clothes were stripped off, and she had to stand in the street before a pagan crowd; yet even this did not daunt her. “Christ,” she said, “will guard His own.” So it was. Christ showed, by a miracle, the value which He sets upon the custody of the eyes. Whilst the crowd turned away their eyes from the spouse of Christ, as she stood exposed to view in the street, there was one young man who dared to gaze at the innocent child with immodest eyes. A flash of light struck him blind, and his companions bore him away half dead with pain and terror.

Lastly, her fidelity to Christ was proved by flattery and offers of marriage. But she answered, “Christ is my Spouse: He chose me first, and His I will be.” At length the sentence of death was passed. For a moment she stood erect in prayer, and then bowed her neck to the sword. At one stroke her head was severed from her body, and the angels bore her pure soul to Paradise.

Reflection.—Her innocence endeared St. Agnes to Christ, as it has endeared her to His Church ever since. Even as penitents we may imitate this innocence of hers in our own degree. Let us strictly guard our eyes, and Christ, when He sees that we keep our hearts pure for love of Him, will renew our youth and give us back the years which the canker-worm has wasted.

The 20th of January is the feast day of Saint Sebastian (d. c. 288 A.D.). He is the patron saint of soldiers, plague-stricken, archers, holy Christian death, athletes, Negombo, Roman Catholic Diocese of Tarlac, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bacolod.

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

ST. SEBASTIAN was an officer in the Roman army, esteemed even by the heathen as a good soldier, and honored by the Church ever since as a champion of Jesus Christ. Born at Narbonne, Sebastian came to Rome about the year 284, and entered the lists against the powers of evil. He found the twin brothers Marcus and Marcellinus in prison for the faith, and, when they were near yielding to the entreaties of their relatives, encouraged them to despise flesh and blood, and to die for Christ. God confirmed his words by miracle: light shone around him while he spoke; he cured the sick by his prayers; and in this divine strength he led multitudes to the faith, among them the Prefect of Rome, with his son Tiburtius. He saw his disciples die before him, and one of them came back from heaven to tell him that his own end was near. It was in a contest of fervor and charity that St. Sebastian found the occasion of martyrdom. The Prefect of Rome, after his conversion, retired to his estates in Campania, and took a great number of his fellow-converts with him to this place of safety. It was a question whether Polycarp the priest or St. Sebastian should accompany the neophytes. Each was eager to stay and face the danger at Rome, and at last the Pope decided that the Roman church could not spare the services of Sebastian. He continued to labor at the post of danger till he was betrayed by a false disciple. He was led before Diocletian, and, at the emperor’s command, pierced with arrows and left for dead. But God raised him up again, and of his own accord he Went before the emperor and conjured him to stay the persecution of the Church. Again sentenced, he was at last beaten to death by clubs, and crowned his labors by the merit of a double martyrdom.

Reflection.—Your ordinary occupations will give you opportunities of laboring for the faith. Ask help from St. Sebastian. He was not a priest nor a religious, but a soldier.

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 19th of January is the feast day of Saint Canute IV of Denmark (c. 1042 – 10 July 1086). He is also known as Canute the Holy.

The following is from Catholic Encyclopedia:

Also spelled CNUT.

Martyr and King of Denmark, date of birth uncertain; d. 10 July 1086, the third of the thirteen natural sons of Sweyn II surnamed Estridsen. Elected king on the death of his brother Harold about 1080, he waged war on his barbarous enemies and brought Courland and Livonia to the faith. Having married Eltha, daughter of Robert, Count of Flanders, he had a son Charles, surnamed the good. He was a strong ruler, as is proved by his stern dealing with the pirate Eigill of Bornholm. The happiness of his people and the interests of the Church were the objects he had most at heart. To the cathedral of Roskilde, still the royal burying-place, he gave his own diadem. His austerity was equalled by his assiduity in prayer. An expedition to England, in favour of the Saxons against William the Conqueror, planned by him in 1085, failed through the treachery of his brother Olaf. His people having revolted on account of the cruelties of certain tax-collectors, Canute retired to the island of Funen. There, in the church of St. Alban, after due preparation for death, the king, his brother Benedict, and seventeen others were surrounded and slain, 10 July, 1086. His feast is 19 January, translation, 10 July; his emblems, a lance or arrows, in memory of the manner of his death.

“Acta SS., July, III, 118-149, containing the life (written in 1105) by Aelnoth, a monk of Canterbury, and also that by SAXO GRAMMATICUS; BOLLANDISTS, “Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina”, (Brussels, 1898), 232; CHEVALIER. “Repertoire des sources historiques du moyen age” (Paris, 1905); I, col. 771; BUTLER, “Lives of the Saints”, 19 January.

PATRICK RYAN

The 18th of January is the feast day of Saint Margaret of Hungary (1242–1271). She was a Dominican nun and her parents were King Béla IV of Hungary and Maria Laskarina. Her older siblings were St. Kinga of Poland (Kunegunda) and the Blessed Yolanda of Poland and, the niece of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary through her father.

The following is from Catholic Encyclopedia:

Daughter of King Bela I of Hungary and his wife Marie Laskaris, born 1242; died 18 Jan., 1271. According to a vow which her parents made when Hungary was liberated from the Tatars that their next child should be dedicated to religion, Margaret, in 1245 entered the Dominican Convent of Veszprem. Invested with the habit at the age of four, she was transferred in her tenth year to the Convent of the Blessed Virgin founded by her parents on the Hasen Insel near Buda, the Margareten Insel near Budapest today, and where the ruins of the convent are still to be seen. Here Margaret passed all her life, which was consecrated to contemplation and penance, and was venerated as a saint during her lifetime. She strenuously opposed the plans of her father, who for political reasons wished to marry her to King Ottokar II of Bohemia. Margaret appears to have taken solemn vows when she was eighteen. All narratives call special attention to Margaret’s sanctity and her spirit of earthly renunciation. Her whole life was one unbroken chain of devotional exercises and penance. She chastised herself unceasingly from childhood, wore hair garments, and an iron girdle round her waist, as well as shoes spiked with nails; she was frequently scourged, and performed the most menial work in the convent.

Shortly after her death, steps were taken for her canonization, and in 1271-1276 investigations referring to this were taken up; in 1275-1276 the process was introduced, but not completed. Not till 1640 was the process again taken up, and again it was not concluded. Attempts which were made in 1770 by Count Ignatz Batthyanyi were also fruitless; so that the canonization never took place, although Margaret was venerated as a saint shortly after her death; and Pius VI consented on 28 July, 1789, to her veneration as a saint. Pius VII raised her feast day to a festum duplex. The minutes of the proceedings of 1271-1272 record seventy-four miracles; and among those giving testimony were twenty-seven in whose favour the miracles had been wrought. These cases refer to the cure of illnesses, and one case of awakening from death. Margaret’s remains were given to the Poor Clares when the Dominican Order was dissolved; they were first kept in Pozsony and later in Buda. After the order had been suppressed by Joseph II, in 1782, the relics were destroyed in 1789; but some portions are still preserved in Gran, Gyor, Pannonhalma. The feast day of the saint is 18 January. In art she is depicted with a lily and holding a book in her hand.

NEMETHY-FRAKNOI, Arpadhazi b. Margit tortenetehez (Budapest, 1885), being contributions on the history of Blessed Margaret of the House of Arpaden; DEMKO, Arpadhazi b. Margit elete (Budapest, 1895), a life of the saint. Further bibliographical particulars in Arpad and the Arpaden, edited by CSANKI (Budapest, 1908), 387-388; minutes of the proceedings of 1271-72, published in Monumenta Romana Episcopotus Vesprimiensis, I (Budapest, 1896).

A. ALDASY

The 17th of January is the feast day of Saint Anthony the Great (January 12, 251 – January 17, 356). He is also known as Anthony of Egypt, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, and Anthony of Thebes. He is the patron saint of skin diseases, basket makers, brushmakers, gravediggers, Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, and Rome.

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

ST. ANTONY was born in the year 251, in Upper Egypt. Hearing at Mass the words, “If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor,” he gave away all his vast possessions. He then begged an aged hermit to teach him the spiritual life. He also visited various solitaries, copying in himself the principal virtue of each. To serve God more perfectly, Antony entered the desert and immured himself in a ruin, building up the door so that none could enter. Here the devils assaulted him most furiously, appearing as various monsters, and even wounding him severely; but his courage never failed, and he overcame them all by confidence in God and by the sign of the cross. One night, whilst Antony was in his solitude, many devils scourged him so terribly that he lay as if dead. A friend found him thus, and believing him dead carried him home. But when Antony came to himself he persuaded his friend to carry him, in spite of his wounds, back to his solitude. Here, prostrate from weakness, he defied the devils, saying, “I fear you not; you cannot separate me from the love of Christ.” After more vain assaults the devils fled, and Christ appeared to Antony in glory. His only food was bread and water, which he never tasted before sunset, and sometimes only once in two, three, or four days. He wore sackcloth and sheepskin, and he often knelt in prayer from sunset to sunrise. Many souls flocked to him for advice, and after twenty years of solitude he consented to guide them in holiness—thus founding the first monastery. His numerous miracles attracted such multitudes that he fled again into solitude, where he lived by manual labor. He expired peacefully at a very advanced age. St. Athanasius, his biographer, says that the mere knowledge of how St. Antony lived is a good guide to virtue.

Reflection.—The more violent were the assaults of temptation suffered by St. Antony, the more firmly did he grasp his weapons, namely, mortification and prayer. Let us imitate him in this if we wish to obtain victories like his.

Previous (Chapter)

The 16th of January is the feast day of Saint Priscilla of Rome (1st c.).

The following is from Catholic Encyclopedia:

(Or Prisca.)

Jewish tentmakers, who left Rome (Aquila was a native of Pontus) in the Jewish persecution under Claudius, 49 or 50, and settled in Corinth, where they entertained St. Paul, as being of their trade, on his first visit to the town (Acts, 18:1f.). The time of their conversion to the Faith is not known. They accompanied St. Paul to Ephesus (Acts, 18:18-19), instructed the Alexandrian Apollo, entertained the Apostle Paul at Ephesus for three years, during his third missionary journey, kept a Christian church in their house (I Cor., 16:19), left Ephesus for Rome, probably after the riot stirred up by the silversmith Demetrius (Acts, 19:24-40), kept in Rome also a church in their house (Rom., 16:3-5), but soon left that city, probably on account of the persecution of Nero, and settled again at Ephesus (II Tim., 4:l9). The Roman Martyrology commemorates them on 8 July. It is not known why Scripture several times names Priscilla before Aquila; the different opinions are given by Cornely, (Rom., 772). A number of modern difficulties based on the frequent change of residence of Aquila and Priscilla are treated by Cornely, (Rom., 16:3-5).

HAGEN, Lexicon Biblicum (Paris, 1905); LE CAMUS in VIG., Dict. de la Bible (Paris, 1895); KLOSS and KAULEN in Kirchenlex. (Freiburg, 1882).

A. J. MAAS

Image Credit: Wellcome Library, London. St. Paul is staying in the house of Aquila and his wife Priscilla, the family are making tents and St. Paul is writing. Engraving by J. Sadeler after Jodocus Winghe. Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The 15th of January is the feast day of Saint Arnold Janssen S.V.D. (5 November 1837 – 15 January 1909). He was a GErman-Dutch Roman Catholic Priest and missionary.

The following is from Catholic Encyclopedia:

Founder and first superior-general of the Society of the Divine Word, b. at Goch in the Rhine Province, Germany, 5 Nov., 1837; d. at Steyl, Holland, 15 Jan., 1909. At a very tender age he manifested an inclination for the priesthood. After completing his Classical studies at the diocesan college of Gaesdonck in the northern Rhine Province, he took up the study of philosophy at the Academy of Munster, and then entered the University of Bonn. Having completed his theological studies at Bonn and at Munster, he was ordained, 15 Aug., 1861. He devoted some years to pastoral work and the teaching of Christian doctrine, in 1873 becoming chaplain and director at the Ursuline convent of Kempen. As diocesan president of the Apostleship of Prayer he laboured for the propagation of that association, and in this capacity felt called to found a missionary centre for Germany. The result was the establishment of the Mission House of St. Michael at Steyl, Holland, 8 Sept., 1875. Out of this grew the Society of the Divine Word, which received canonical approbation in 1901. The congregation now has flourishing missions in all parts of the world, and, besides that at Steyl, has four mission houses in Germany and Austria and two in the United States. The institution at Techny, Ill., called St. Mary’s Mission House, was opened 2 Feb., 1909, and was followed by another mission house, opened September, 1912, at Girard, Pa., the object of both institutions is to educate priests for the heathen missions in charge of the society. The spirit of the founder lives also in the many educational institutions conducted by the members of the Society of the Divine Word. In conjunction with his missionary work Father Janssen in 1889 founded the congregation of the Servant Sisters of the Holy Ghost, who assist the priests in their missionary undertakings. This congregation numbers some 600 sisters, who have a home for the aged at Techny, Ill. In 1912 Father Janssen’s society numbered 625 priests, 1250 students for the priesthood, and 800 lay brothers.

[Note: Arnold Janssen was beatified by Pope Paul VI in 1975.] HERM. RICHARZ

The 14th of January is the feast day of Saint Felix of Nola (d. ca. 250). He is the patron saint of Nola, Italy.

The following is from Catholic Encyclopedia:

Born at Nola, near Naples, and lived in the third century. After his father’s death he distributed almost all his goods amongst the poor, and was ordained priest by Maximum Bishop of Nola. In the year 250, when the Decian persecution broke out, Maximus was forced to flee. The persecutors seized on Felix and he was cruelly scourged, loaded with chains, and cast into prison. One night an angel appeared to him and bade him go to help Maximus. His chains fell off, the doors opened, and the saint was enabled to bring relief to the bishop, who was then speechless from cold and hunger. On the persecutors making a second attempt to secure Felix, his escape was miraculously effected by a spider weaving her web over the opening of a hole into which he had just crept. Thus deceived, they sought their prey elsewhere. The persecution ceased the following year, and Felix, who had lain hidden in a dry well for six months, returned to his duties. On the death of Maximus he was earnestly desired as bishop, but he persuaded the people to choose another, his senior in the priesthood. The remnant of his estate having been confiscated in the persecution, he refused to take it back,and for his subsistence rented three acres of land, which he tilled with his own hands. Whatever remained over he gave to the poor, and if he had two coats at any time he invariably gave them the better. He lived to a ripe old age and died 14 January (on which day he is commemorated), but the year of his death is uncertain. Five churches were built in his honour, outside Nola, where his remains are kept, but some relics are also at Rome and Benevento. St. Paulinus, who acted as porter to one of these churches, testifies to numerous pilgrimages made in honour of Felix. The poems and letters of Paulinus on Felix are the source from which St. Gregory of Tours, Venerable Bede, and the priest Marcellus have drawn their biographies (see PAULINUS OF NOLA). There is another Felix of Nola, bishop and martyr under a Prefect Martianus. He is considered by some to be the same as the above.

AMBROSE COLEMAN

The 13th of January is the feast day of Saint Hilary of Poitiers (c. 310 – c. 367). He is also known as the “Hammer of the Arians” and the “Athanasius of the West.”

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

ST. HILARY was a native of Poitiers in Aquitaine. Born and educated a pagan, it was not till near middle age that he embraced Christianity, moved thereto mainly by the idea of God presented to him in the Holy Scriptures. He soon converted his wife and daughter, and separated himself rigidly from all un-Catholic company. In the beginning of his conversion St. Hilary would not eat with Jews or heretics, nor salute them by the way; but afterwards, for their sake, he relaxed this severity. He entered Holy Orders, and in 353 was chosen bishop of his native city. Arianism, under the protection of the Emperor Constantius, was just then in the height of its power, and St. Hilary found himself called upon to support the orthodox cause in several Gallic councils, in which Arian bishops formed an overwhelming majority. He was in consequence accused to the emperor, who banished him to Phrygia. He spent his three years and more of exile in composing his great works on the Trinity. In 359 he attended the Council of Seleucia, in which Arians, semi-Arians, and Catholics contended for the mastery. With the deputies of the council he proceeded to Constantinople, and there so dismayed the heads of the Arian party that they prevailed upon the emperor to let him return to Gaul. He traversed Gaul, Italy, and Illyria, wherever he came discomfiting the heretics and procuring triumph of orthodoxy. After seven or eight years of missionary travel he returned to Poitiers, where he died in peace in 368.

Reflection.—Like St. Hilary, we, too, are called to a lifelong contest with heretics; we shall succeed in proportion as we combine hatred of heresy, with compassion for its victims.

The 12th of January is the feast day of Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys C.N.D. (17th April 1620 – 12th January 1700). She is the patron saint against poverty; loss of parents; and people rejected by religious orders.

Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys lived between 1620 and 1700 and was born in France to a large middle-class Christian family. She had a religious experience when she was 20 years old and decided to dedicate her life to God through the Virgin Mary and entered an apostolate which taught underprivileged children. At the age of 32, she agreed to become a missionary in the New World as a lay teacher, teaching children of the colonists and the Native Americans. There Marguerite helped young ladies in preparing for marriage and family life as pioneer women. She was known as the “Mother of the Colony” as she signed and witness many marriage certificates of early settlers. Besides this, she also helped built the first church and school and founded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal which is still active today. Now, she is considered the co-foundress of Montreal for all her efforts in apostolic and missionary work. She is the first canonised woman saint in Canada.

The 11th of January is the feast day of Pope Saint Hyginus (died c. 142).

The following is from Catholic Encyclopedia:

Reigned about 138-142; succeeded Pope Telesphorus, who, according to Eusebius (Hist. eccl., IV, xv), died during the first year of the reign of the Emperor Antonius Pius — in 138 or 139, therefore. But the chronology of these bishops of Rome cannot be determined with any degree of exactitude by the help of the authorities at our disposal to-day. According to the “Liber Pontificalis”, Hyginus was a Greek by birth. The further statement that he was previously a philosopher is probably founded on the similarity of his name with that of two Latin authors. Irenaeus says (Adv. haereses, III, iii) that the Gnostic Valentine came to Rome in Hyginus’s time, remaining there until Anicetus became pontiff. Cerdo, another Gnostic and predecessor of Marcion, also lived at Rome in the reign of Hyginus; by confessing his errors and recanting he succeeded in obtaining readmission into the bosom of the Church, but eventually he fell back into the heresies and was expelled from the Church. How many of these events took place during the time of Hyginus is not known. The “Liber Pontificalis” also relates that this pope organized the hierachy and established the order of ecclesiastical precedence (Hic clerum composuit et distribuit gradus). This general observation recurs also in the biography of Pope Hormisdas; it has no historical value, and according to Duchesne, the writer probably referred to the lower orders of the clergy. Eusebius (Hist. eccl. IV, xvi) claims that Hyginus’s pontificate lasted four years. The ancient authorities contain no information as to his having died a martyr. At his death he was buried on the Vatican Hill, near the tomb of St. Peter. His feast is celebrated on 11 January.

DUCHESNE, (ed.) Liber Pontificalis, I, 131; Acta Ss., Jan. I, 665; HARNACK, Geschichte der altchristl. Literatur, II: Die Chronologie, I (Leipzig, 1897), 144 sq.

J.P. KIRSCH

The 10th of January is the feast day of Saint William of Bourges (c. 1140 – 10 January 1209). He is also known as Saint William of Donjeon and Saint Guillaume de Donjeon. He is the patron saint of University of Paris and gunsmiths.

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

WILLIAM BERRUYER, of the illustrious family of the ancient Counts of Nevers, was educated by Peter the Hermit, Archdeacon of Soissons, his uncle by the mother’s side. From his infancy William learned to despise the folly and emptiness of the world, to abhor its pleasures, and to tremble at its dangers. His only delight was in exercises of piety and in his studies, in which he employed his whole time with indefatigable application. He was made canon, first of Soissons and afterwards of Paris; but he soon resolved to abandon the world, and retired into the solitude of Grandmont, where he lived with great regularity in that austere Order until finally he joined the Cistercians, then in wonderful odor of sanctity. After some time he was chosen Prior of the Abbey of Pontigny, and afterwards became Abbot of Chaalis. On the death of Henri de Sully, Archbishop of Bourges, William was chosen to succeed him. The announcement of this new dignity which had fallen on him overwhelmed him with grief, and he would not have accepted the office had not the Pope and his General, the Abbot of Citeaux, commanded him to do so. His first care in his new position was to conform his life to the most perfect rules of sanctity. He redoubled all his austerities, saying it was incumbent on him now to do penance for others as well as for himself. He always wore a hair-shirt under his religious habit, and never added to his clothing in winter or diminished it in summer; he never ate any flesh-meat, though he had it at his table for strangers. When he drew near his end, he was, at his request, laid on ashes in his hair-cloth, and in this posture expired on the 10th of January, 1209. His body was interred in his cathedral, and, being honored by many miracles, was taken up in 1217, and in the year following William was canonized by Pope Honorius III.

Reflection.—The champions of faith prove the truth of their teaching no less by the holiness of their lives than by the force of their arguments. Never forget that to convert others we must first see to our own souls.

The 9th of January is the feast day of Saint Adrian of Canterbury (died 9 January 710). He is also known as Hadrian of Canterbury.

The following is from Catholic Encyclopedia:

An African by birth, died 710. He became Abbot of Nerida, a Benedictine monastery near Naples, when he was very young. Pope Vitalian intended to appoint him Archbishop of Canterbury to succeed St. Deusdedit, who had died in 664, but Adrian considered himself unworthy of so great a dignity, and begged the Pope to appoint Theodore, a Greek monk, in his place. The Pope yielded, on condition that Adrian should accompany Theodore to England and be his adviser in the administration of the Diocese of Canterbury. They left Rome in 668, but Adrian was detained in France by Ebroin, the Mayor of the Palace who suspected that he had a secret mission from the Eastern Emperor, Constans II, to the English kings. After two years Ebroin found that his suspicion had been groundless and allowed Adrian to proceed to England. Immediately upon his arrival in England, Archbishop Theodore appointed him Abbot of St. Peter in Canterbury, a monastery which had been founded by St. Augustine, the apostle of England, and became afterwards known as St. Austin’s. Adrian accompanied Theodore on his apostolic visitations of England and by his prudent advice and co-operation assisted the Archbishop in the great work of unifying the customs and practices of the Anglo-Saxon Church with those of the Church of Rome. Adrian was well versed in all the branches of ecclesiastical and profane learning. Under his direction the School of Canterbury became the centre of English learning. He established numerous other schools in various parts of England. In these schools of Adrian were educated many of the saints, scholars, and missionaries, who during the next century rekindled the waning light of faith and learning in France and Germany. After spending thirty-nine years in England Adrian died in the year 710 and was buried at Canterbury. His feast is celebrated 9 January, the day of his death.

MICHAEL OTT

The 8th of January is the feast day of Saint Apollinaris Claudius (2nd c.). He is also known as Apollinaris of Hierapolis or Apollinaris the Apologist.

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

CLAUDIUS APOLLINARIS, Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia, was one of the most illustrious prelates of the second age. Notwithstanding the great encomiums bestowed on him by Eusebius, St. Jerome, Theodoret, and ethers, but little is known of his actions; and his writings, which then were held in great esteem, seem now to be all lost. He wrote many able treatises against the heretics, and pointed out, as St. Jerome testifies, from what philosophical sect each heresy derived its errors. Nothing rendered his name so illustrious, however, as his noble apology for the Christian religion which he addressed to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, about the year 175, soon after the miraculous victory that prince had obtained over the Quadi by the prayers of the Christians. St. Apollinaris reminded the emperor of the benefit he had received from God through the prayers of his Christian subjects, and implored protection for them against the persecution of the pagans. Marcus Aurelius published an edict in which he forbade any one, under pain of death, to accuse a Christian on account of his religion; by a strange inconsistency, he had not the courage to abolish the laws then in force against the Christians, and, as a consequence, many of them suffered martyrdom, though their accusers were also put to death. The date of St. Apollinaris’ death is not known; the Roman Martyrology mentions him on the 8th of January.

Reflection.—”Therefore I say unto you, all things whatsoever you ask when you pray, believe that you shall receive: and they shall come unto you.”

The 8th of January is the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord.

Connected with the Solemnity of the Epiphany, both feasts are the biblical manifestation of Jesus as the Son of God. After Saint John the Baptist baptised Jesus, the voice of God was heard “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The earth’s waters were sanctified at Jesus baptism, which gave the water the power to beget sons of God by Baptism. We become Christian by imitating Jesus and be baptised, which is the first sacrament of initiation into the Church. This feast is the end of the Christmas season on the liturgical calendar.

Image: The Baptism of Christ by Francesco Albani (1630/1635)

The 7th of January is the feast day of Saint Raymond of Penyafort O.P. (c. 1175 – 6 January 1275). He is the patron saint of canon lawyers; and all types of lawyers.

The following is from Catholic Encyclopedia:

Born at Villafranca de Benadis, near Barcelona, in 1175; died at Barcelona, 6 January, 1275. He became professor of canon law in 1195, and taught for fifteen years. He left Spain for Bologna in 1210 to complete his studies in canon law. He occupied a chair of canon law in the university for three years and published a treatise on ecclesiastical legislation which still exists in the Vatican Library.

Raymond was attracted to the Dominican Order by the preaching of Blessed Reginald, prior of the Dominicans of Bologna, and received the habit in the Dominican Convent of Barcelona, whither he had returned from Italy in 1222. At Barcelona he was co-founder with St. Peter Nolasco of the Order of Mercedarians. He also founded institutes at Barcelona and Tunis for the study of Oriental languages, to convert the Moors and Jews.

At the request of his superiors Raymond published the Summa Casuum, of which several editions appeared in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1229 Raymond was appointed theologian and penitentiary to the Cardinal Archbishop of Sabina, John of Abbeville, and was summoned to Rome in 1230 by Gregory IX, who appointed him chaplain and grand penitentiary.

The reputation of the saint for juridical science decided the pope to employ Raymond of Peñafort’s talents in re-arranging and codifying the canons of the Church. He had to rewrite and condense decrees that had been multiplying for centuries, and which were contained in some twelve or fourteen collections already existing. We learn from a Bull of Gregory IX to the Universities of Paris and Bologna that many of the decrees in the collections were but repetitions of ones issued before, many contradicted what had been determined in previous decrees, and many on account of their great length led to endless confusion, while others had never been embodied in any collection and were of uncertain authority.

The pope announced the new publication in a Bull directed to the doctors and students of Paris and Bologna in 1231, and commanded that the work of St. Raymond alone should be considered authoritative, and should alone be used in the schools. When Raymond completed his work the pope appointed him Archbishop of Tarragona, but the saint declined the honour. Having edited the Decretals he returned to Spain. He was not allowed to remain long in seclusion, as he was elected General of the Order in 1238; but he resigned two years later. During his tenure of office he published a revised edition of the Dominican Constitutions, and it was at his request that St. Thomas wrote the Summa Contra Gentiles. St. Raymond was canonized by Clement VIII in 1601. His Summa de Poenitentia et Matrimonio is said to be the first work of its kind. His feast is 23 January.

Monumenta Historica Ord. Proed., V, iv; Bullarium Ord. Proed.; PENIA, Vita S. Raymundi; MORTIER, Hist. des Maitres Generaux (Paris, 1903); FINKE, Acta Aragonensia, II (1908), 902-904; QUETIF-ECHARD, Script. Ord. Proed.; BALME, Raymundiana (1901).

The 6th of January is the feast day of Saint André Bessette C.S.C. (9 August 1845 – 6 January 1937). He is also known as Brother André or Saint André of Montreal and was born as Alfred Bessette.

Saint André Bessette was the eighth child of twelve children in a poor working class family of Quebec, Canada. He was a weak and sickly child and his father died when he was only nine years old due to a lumber accident. When he was twelve years old, his mother died of tuberculosis. He worked in various jobs and entered the Congregation of the Holy Cross when he was 25 years old as a lay brother. For most of his life, he served as a porter in Quebec’s Notre Dame College. He welcomed and prayed for people he had met, especially if they were ill or suffering. An epidemic of sickness occurred and André used his gift of healing which he credited to Saint Joseph, whom he was devoted to. He became popular for his sanctity and tens of thousands of people came to see him for healing and prayer. He answered their letters and receive people in person all day. His Order wanted to purchase a piece of land on Mount Royal, and Bessette buried Saint Joseph medals in the property. The owners then sold the land to the Order and André organised a chapel to be dedicated to Saint Joseph on it. He died at the age of 91 and a million people visited his coffin.

The 6th of January is the Epiphany of Our Lord. It is also known as also Theophany or Three Kings’ Day.

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

THE word Epiphany means “manifestation,” and it has passed into general acceptance throughout the universal Church, from the fact that Jesus Christ manifested to the eyes of men His divine mission on this day first of all, when a miraculous star revealed His birth to the kings of the East, who, in spite of the difficulties and dangers of a long and tedious journey through deserts and mountains almost impassable, hastened at once to Bethlehem to adore Him and to offer Him mystical presents, as to the Ding of kings, to the God of heaven and earth, and to a Man withal feeble and mortal. The second manifestation was when, going out from the waters of the Jordan after having received Baptism from the hands of St. John, the Holy Ghost descended on Him in the visible form of a dove, and a voice from heaven was heard, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” The third manifestation was that of His divine power, when at the marriage-feast of Cana He changed the water into wine, at the sight whereof His disciples believed in Him. The remembrance of these three great events, concurring to the same end, the Church has wished to celebrate in one and the same festival.

Reflection.—Admire the almighty power of this little Child, Who from His cradle makes known His coming to the shepherds and magi—to the shepherds by means of His angel, to the magi by a star in the East. Admire the docility of these kings. Jesus is born; behold them at His feet? Let us be little, let us hide ourselves, and the divine strength will be granted to us. Let us be docile and quick in following divine inspirations, and we shall then become wise of the wisdom of God, powerful in His almighty power.

Image: The Adoration of the Magi by Edward Burne-Jones (1904)

The 5th of January is the feast day of Saint John Nepomucene Neumann CSsR (March 28, 1811 – January 5, 1860).

Saint John Neumann lived between 1811 and 1860 and was born in Bohemia which is today, the Czech Republic. He came to the United States in 1836 seeking ordination. He had entered the seminary in Bohemia but the bishop fell ill and the ceremony could not go ahead. Bohemia at that time had many priests and the ordination was never rescheduled. He was eventually ordained in New York and he joined the Redemptorist and became a bishop. He is the first American man and American bishop to be canonised as a saint. He built many churches, schools, hospitals, and orphanages. He was known for having a strong devotion to the Holy Eucharist which he promoted.

The 4th of January is the feast day of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton S.C., (August 28, 1774 – January 4, 1821). She is the patron saint of Catholic Schools; Shreveport, Louisiana; the State of Maryland; widows; and people who have lost their parents or children.

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton lived between 1774 and 1821 and was born in New York City. Her family was wealthy and influential. She married a businessman and they both lived in Wall Street where they attended an Episcopalian church. Her husband’s father died, and she took in his six younger siblings with her own five children. She was introduced to Catholicism when she went to Italy and converted to the faith after her husband died. They lost the family fortune but Elizabeth went on to found the first Catholic school in the United States as well as the first American religious community, the Sisters of Charity. She is the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonised as a saint.

Dear children, sadly, among you, my children, there is so much battle, hatred, personal interests and selfishness. My children, so easily you forget my Son, His words, His love. Faith is being extinguished in many souls, and hearts are being grasped by material things of the world. But my motherly heart knows that there are still those who believe and love, who are seeking how to draw all the closer to my Son, who are tirelessly seeking my Son - then, in this way, they are also seeking me. These are the humble and the meek with their pain and suffering which they carry in silence with their hopes and, above all, with their faith. These are the apostles of my love. My children, apostles of my love, I am teaching you that my Son is not only asking for continuous prayers, but also for works and feelings - that you believe, that you pray, that with your personal prayers you grow in faith, that you grow in love. To love each other is what He asks for - that is the way to eternal life. My children, do not forget that my Son brought the light to this world, and He brought it to those who wanted to see it and receive it. You be those, because this is the light of truth, peace and love. I am leading you in a motherly way to adore my Son; that you love my Son with me; that your thoughts, words and actions may be directed to My Son - that they may be in His name. Then my heart will be fulfilled. Thank you.

The Messages 1981-2018

Mater Dolorosa by Carlo Dolci (circa 1650)