St. Anthony & Our Lady of Fatima

St. Blaise Feast date: Feb 03 Blaise was a hard-working bishop dedicated to encouraging the spiritual and physical health of his people in Sebastea, Armenia. Although the Edict of Toleration which granted freedom of worship in the Roman empire had been signed five years prior, religious persecution still raged in the country. According to a legend, a mother came to him with her young son who had a fish bone lodged in his throat. At Bishop Blaise’s command, the child coughed up the bone. In another tale, Blaise was being led to the prison in Sebastea, and on the way came…

Presentation of the Lord Feast date: Feb 02 At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among the celebrations she describes is the Epiphany (January 6), the observance of Christ’s birth, and the gala procession in honor of his Presentation in the Temple 40 days later—February 15. This feast emphasizes Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple more than Mary’s purification. The observance spread throughout the Western Church in the fifth and sixth centuries. Because the Church in the West…

St. Brigid of Ireland Feast date: Feb 01 On Feb. 1 Catholics in Ireland and elsewhere will honor Saint Brigid of Kildare, a monastic foundress who is – together with Saint Patrick and Saint Columcille – one of the country’s three patron saints. St. Brigid directly influenced several other future saints of Ireland, and her many religious communities helped to secure the country’s conversion from paganism to the Catholic faith. She is traditionally associated with the Cross of St. Brigid, a form of the cross made from reeds or straw that is placed in homes for blessing and protection. Some…

St. John Bosco Feast date: Jan 31 On Jan. 31, the Roman Catholic Church honors St. John Bosco (or “Don Bosco”), a 19th century Italian priest who reached out to young people to remedy their lack of education, opportunities, and faith. John Bosco was born in August of 1815 into a family of peasant farmers in Castelnuovo d’Asti – a place which would one day be renamed in the saint’s honor as “Castelnuovo Don Bosco.” John’s father died when he was two years old, but he drew strength from his mother Margherita’s deep faith in God. Margherita also taught her…

St. Hyacintha of Mariscotti Feast date: Jan 30 Born of a noble family near Viterbo (Italy,) Hyacintha entered a local convent of sisters who followed the Third Order Rule. However, she supplied herself with enough food, clothing and other goods to live a very comfortable life amid these sisters who had pledged to mortification. At one point in her time there, a serious illness required that Hyacintha’s confessor bring Holy Communion to her room. Upon entering, he was scandalized to see how soft of a life she had provided for herself, so he advised her to live more humbly. After hearing this, Hyacintha then disposed of her…

St. Gildas the Wise Feast date: Jan 29 St. Gildas was probably born around 517 in the North of England or Wales. His father’s name was Cau (or Nau) and, came from noble lineage, and he most likely had several brothers and sisters. There is writing which suggests that one of his brothers, Cuil (or Hueil), was killed by King Arthur (who died in 537 AD), and it also appears that Gildas may have forgiven Arthur for this. There are two accounts of the life of St. Gildas the Wise, neither of which tell the same story. He lived in a time when…

St. Thomas Aquinas Feast date: Jan 28 On Jan. 28, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates Saint Thomas Aquinas, the 13th century theologian who showed that the Catholic faith is in harmony with philosophy and all other branches of knowledge. Blessed John Paul II, in his 1998 letter “Fides et Ratio,” said St. Thomas “had the great merit of giving pride of place to the harmony which exists between faith and reason,” knowing that “both the light of reason and the light of faith come from God … Hence there can be no contradiction between them.” Thomas was born during 1225…

St. Angela Merici Feast date: Jan 27 Angela Merici, foundress of the Ursuline Sisters, was born in the small Italian town of Desenzano on the shore of Lake Garda in 1474. As a young girl, Angela lost in succession her sister and both of her parents. She went to live with a wealthy uncle in the town of Salo where, without benefit of formal schooling, Angela grew in poise, wisdom, and grace. The age in which Angela lived and worked (the 16th Century), was a time which saw great suffering on the part of the poor in society. Injustices were carried…

Sts. Timothy and Titus Feast date: Jan 26 On Jan. 26, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the liturgical memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, close companions of the Apostle Paul and bishops of the Catholic Church in its earliest days. Both men received letters from St. Paul, which are included in the New Testament.   Pope Benedict XVI discussed these early bishops during a general audience on Dec. 13, 2006, noting “their readiness to take on various offices” in “far from easy” circumstances. Both saints, the Pope said, “teach us to serve the Gospel with generosity, realizing that this also…

Conversion of St. Paul  Feast date: Jan 25 The great apostle was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin.  He surpassed all his peers in zeal for the Jewish law and their traditions, which he thought to be the cause of God, and became one of the most fierce enemies and persecutors of Christians. He was one of the conspirators in the martyrdom of St. Stephan. After the martyrdom of the holy deacon, the priests and magistrates of the Jews raised a violent persecution against the church at Jerusalem, in which Saul placed himself above the others. In the fury of his…