St. Anthony & Our Lady of Fatima

St. Damien of Moloka’i Feast date: May 10 The Catholic Church remembers St. Damien of Molokai on May 10. The Belgian priest sacrificed his life and health to become a spiritual father to the victims of leprosy quarantined on a Hawaiian island. Joseph de Veuser, who later took the name Damien in religious life, was born into a farming family in the Belgian town of Tremlo in 1840. During his youth he felt a calling to become a Catholic missionary, an urge that prompted him to join the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Damien’s final vows…

St. Peter of Tarantaise, bishop Feast date: May 08 Peter was born near Vienne, France in 1102 and died at Bellevaux, France in 1175. He was canonized in 1191. At the age of 20 he entered the Cistercian Order, and convinced his family to enter along with him.  His two brothers and his father entered the religious community of Bonneveaux with him, and his sister also followed thier example and became a religious. Ten years after he entered, Peter was sent to found a new house in the Tarantaise mountains near Geneva, Switzerland.  Here he opened a hospital which also served as a guest house for…

St. John of Beverley Feast date: May 07 St. John of Beverley was the Bishop of Hexham, and later of York. He was born in Harpham, Yorkshire, and died in Beverley on May 7, 721.As a youth, John manifested a strong desire to devote his life to God, and eventually left his native Yorkshire and traveled Kent where he studied at the famous ecclesiastical school of St. Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury.He returned toYorkshire upon the completion of his studies, and joined a Benedictine monastery where he devoted himself to contemplation. He was called out of his monastic seclusion to be consecrated as bishop of…

St. Rosa Venerini Feast date: May 07 On May 7, the Church celebrates the recently-canonized Italian educator Saint Rosa Venerini, who founded Catholic schools for girls and young women during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Her work is continued today by the “Venerini Sisters.” St. Rosa (also known as St. Rose) was declared a saint in 2006 by Pope Benedict XVI, who spoke in his canonization homily of her courageous work for “the spiritual elevation and authentic emancipation of the young women of her time.” He noted that St. Venerini “did not content herself with providing the girls…

St. Evodius of Antioch Feast date: May 06 Evodius was one of the 72 disciples of Christ, and Catholic tradition has always held that he was the first bishop of Antioch after St. Peter. However, we are not sure in what year he assumed the position. As bishop of Antioch, he was the first to coin the word “Christian” to refer to the disciples of Jesus. He probably died between the years 64-67, when he was then succeeded by St. Ignatius of Antioch.

Blessed Edmund Rice Feast date: May 05 May 5 is the feast of Blessed Edmund Rice, an Irish businessman who was so moved by the plight of children in the port city where he worked that he founded schools and eventually a religious order to serve them. Edmund was born in 1762 in Callan, Ireland. As a young man, he moved to Waterford and began to work for his uncle in the shipping business. He became quite wealthy, and when his uncle died, he took over as head of the company. When his wife passed away and his daughter grew up,…

St. Hilary of Arles Feast date: May 05 On May 5, Catholics celebrate Saint Hilary of Arles, a fifth-century bishop who gave up wealth and privilege in favor of austerity and sacrifice for the sake of the Church. Hilary was born during the year 401, most likely in the present-day French region of Loraine. He came from a wealthy background and received a traditional aristocratic education in philosophy and rhetoric, which he expected to put to use in a secular career. One of Hilary’s relatives, Honoratus, had founded a monastery in Lerins and given his life to the service of…

English Carthusian Martyrs Feast date: May 04 These 18 Carthusian monks were put to death in England under King Henry VIII between 1535-1540 for maintaining their allegiance to the Pope.   The Carthusians, founded by St. Bruno in 1054, are the strictest and most austere monastic order in the western Church.  They live an austere hermitic life, their ‘monastery’ actually being a number of hermitages built next to each other. When Henry VIII issued his “Act of Supremacy” declaring that all who refused to take an oath recognizing him as head of the Church of England committed an act of…

St. Pelagia Feast date: May 04 Pelagia (originally Margarita) was born as the beautiful daughter of pagan parents, and was said to have caught the eye of the Emperor Diocletian’s son. However, she had no desire to marry. One day, she attended mass, given by the bishop. She was so inspired by his sermon that she anonymously sought counsel through writing on wax tablets. He asked her to come in person. Under his inspiration, Pelagia was baptized. As a result of this, the emperor’s son turned against her, as did her mother. Together they reported her to the emperor in hopes that her faith…

Sts. Philip and James the Less, Apostles Feast date: May 03 Philip was born in Bethsaida in Galilee and was one of the 12 Apostles that Jesus called. Immediately, Philip began to convert others, finding his friend Nathaniel and telling him that Jesus was the one whom Moses and the other prophets had foretold. James the Lesser is called “Lesser” because he was younger than the other Apostle by the same name, James the Great. James the less was related in some way to Jesus, and after Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, he became the head of the Church in Jerusalem. He…