St. Anthony & Our Lady of Fatima

Chair of Saint Peter Feast date: Feb 22 The Feast of the Chair of St. Peter celebrates the papacy and St. Peter as the first bishop of Rome. St. Peter’s original name was Simon. He was married with children and was living and working in Capernaum as a fisherman when Jesus called him to be one of the Twelve Apostles. Jesus bestowed to Peter a special place among the Apostles. He was one of the three who were with Christ on special occasions, such as the Transfiguration of Christ and the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was the…

St. Peter Damian Feast date: Feb 21 On Feb. 21, Catholics honor Saint Peter Damian, a Benedictine monk who strove to purify the Church during the early years of its second millennium. In his Sept. 9, 2009 general audience on the saint, Pope Benedict XVI described him as “one of the most significant figures of the 11th century … a lover of solitude and at the same time a fearless man of the Church, committed personally to the task of reform.” Born during 1007 in the Italian city of Ravenna, Peter belonged to a large family but lost both his…

St. Robert Southwell Feast date: Feb 21 Saint Robert Southwell, SJ (c. 1561 – February 21 1595,) an English Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, is one of the 40 martyrs of England & Wales murdered during the English anti-Catholic Reformation. Robert was born in Norfolk, the youngest of eight children in a well-to-do family with Catholic sympathies in the midts of the anti-Catholic sentiment started by the Anglican reformation. In 1576, he was sent to France to study with the Jesuits at the English college at Douai. After completing his education, he requested to join the Society of Jesus, but was…

Sts. Francisco and Jacinta Marto Feast date: Feb 20 Francisco, 11, and Jacinta, 10, are the youngest non-martyrs to be canonized in the history of the Church. The brother and sister, who tended to their families’ sheep with their cousin Lucia Santo in the fields of Fatima, Portugal, witnessed the apparitions of Mary, now commonly known as Our Lady of Fatima. During the first apparition, which took place May 13, 1917, Our Lady asked the three children to say the Rosary and to make sacrifices, offering them for the conversion of sinners. The children did, praying often, giving their lunch…

St. Conrad of Piacenza Feast date: Feb 19 Conrad was born into a noble family in northern Italy. He married the daughter of a nobleman, Euphrosyne. One day, while he was hunting, Conrad ordered his attendants to make a fire. The wind carried the flames, which set fire to nearby fields, forests, towns and villages. Upon seeing this, Conrad ran away in fear. Because he ran, an innocent man was convicted for spreading the fire and was condemned to death as punishment. Upon hearing of this, Conrad stepped forth to accept the blame, saving the innocent man’s life. He paid for…

St. Simon Feast date: Feb 18 A relative of Jesus’, possibly a first cousin. He is in the Gospel of Matthew, and is one of the brethren of Christ mentioned in Acts who was present at the birth of the Church on the first Pentecost. Reported to have been at the martyrdom of Saint James the Lesser, he was chosen to succeed James as bishop of Jerusalem. In 66, before the city fell to the Romans, the Christians received a divine warning, and evacuated to nearby Pella, with Simon as their leader. In the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem,…

St. Flavian Feast date: Feb 18 On Feb. 18, the Roman Catholic Church remembers Patriarch Saint Flavian of Constantinople, who is honored on the same date by Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine tradition and by Eastern Orthodox Christians. Known to Eastern Christians as “St. Flavian the Confessor,” the patriarch endured condemnation and severe beatings during a fifth-century dispute about the humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ. Though he died from his injuries, his stand against heresy was later vindicated at the Church’s fourth ecumenical council in 451. St. Flavian is closely associated with Pope St. Leo the Great, who also…

Seven Founders of the Order of Servites Feast date: Feb 17 These seven men were born in Florence, Italy and led lives as hermits on Monte Senario. They had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. On Friday, April 13, 1240, the hermits received a vision of Our Lady. She held in her hand a black habit, and a nearby angel bore a scroll reading “Servants of Mary.” Mary told them: “You will found a new order, and you will be my witnesses throughout the world. This is your name: Servants of Mary. This is your rule: that of Saint Augustine….

St. Onesimus Feast date: Feb 16 St. Onesimus was a slave to Philemon, an influential man who had been converted by St. Paul. Onesimus offended Philemon and fled in order to escape any sort of retribution. He then met St. Paul while Paul was in a Roman prison. Shortly after, Onesimus was baptized. Paul then sent a letter to Philemon asking for Onesimus’ freedom, so Onesimus could become one of his own assistants. This letter is the Epistle to Philemon and entreats Philemon to accept Onesimus “no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially…

St. Claude de la Colombière Feast date: Feb 15 On Feb. 15 the Catholic Church honors Saint Claude de la Colombiere, the 17th century French Jesuit who authenticated and wrote about Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque’s visions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. When he canonized St. Claude in 1992, Blessed John Paul II upheld him as a model Jesuit, recalling how the saint “gave himself completely to the Sacred Heart, ‘ever burning with love.’ Even in trials he practiced forgetfulness of self in order to attain purity of love and to raise the world to God.” Born in the south…