December 24--Saints Adam and Eve, First Parents

Adam and Eve with Promise of Mary

Are the two people who brought evil to humanity considered saints of the Church? Even though they are not in the official Catholic Martyrology, they are accepted as being in Heaven. But let’s first consider their place in salvation history. First, they disobeyed God and brought about Original Sin and its consequences of concupiscence, sin, suffering, and death! Second, they lost original justice and original holiness, keeping us from benefiting from these graces. However, they also are the progenitors of humanity, from whom the Son of God is descended in his human nature. And, finally, they are the first holders of the covenant that God made with humanity in order to bring about our salvation!

Genesis 3:15 states the curse of God upon the serpent who tempted our parents:

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
They will strike at your head,
while you strike at their heel.

This is the protoevangelium, the first proclamation of the Good News of God’s gift of salvation! Here God states that Original Sin is not the final word. The final Word is Jesus Christ! Thus we can proclaim, “O happy fault! O truly necessary sin of Adam, that won for us so great a Redeemer!” We have Adam and Eve in the Old Testament and the New Adam and the New Eve, Jesus and Mary, in the New Testament. Even so, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception includes this passage from Genesis as the first reading!

Even though Adam and Eve are not thought of as official saints of the Catholic Church, there has been honor given to them throughout history. As well, the Eastern Orthodox Churches honor them. We can pray to them for their intercession. Saints Adam and Eve, pray for us!

December 20–Sts. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Patriarchs

Icon of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by Legacy Icons.

We don’t normally think of Old Testament figures as saints, but they are! When Jesus was crucified and died he descended into “hell” but not the hell of the damned, rather, the abode of the dead, also known as Hades in Greek and Sheol in Hebrew. There those who awaited the Resurrection were in, what is called, the bosom of Abraham. If we remember the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Lk. 16:19-31), Jesus tells of Lazarus resting with Abraham, who is clearly seen as being in a place of comfort and rest. “It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell” (CCC, 633).

Thus, Abraham, our father in faith, Isaac, the son of promise, and Jacob, who is called Israel, “one who contended with God,” were delivered from the abode of the dead and are now living in Heaven. These patriarchs, along with their wives, the matriarchs Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel, brought forth a new people, the nation of Israel, who became the people of the covenant under Moses. Then a new covenant was established with David, which promised a Messiah with an everlasting kingship from his house. Further, a final covenant was promised through the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, which would bring about everlasting peace and salvation through Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

In this season of Advent it’s worthwhile to remember our spiritual ancestors who prepared the way of the Lord. Let us learn from their faith, hope, and love. Let us imitate their perseverance, resilience, and fortitude. Let us go forth sharing the joy of our salvation through Jesus Christ. Saints Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel, pray for us!

December 12--Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Unborn

With Dobbs v. Jackson in 2022, Roe v. Wade was overturned. We rejoice that such a terrible decision has been overruled. However, many see the Dobbs decision as an attack on women and their “rights”. To that end there have been attempts to replace Roe with greater opportunities for abortion throughout the country. South Dakota, Florida, and Nebraska have rejected those attempts, thank God. But others have not.

This is where our Saint is so needed! Mary, the Virgin of Guadalupe, is the Patroness of the Unborn. She spoke to St. Juan Diego Cuahtlatoatzin as the Mother of the unborn Son of God in 1531. We pray for her intercession so that we can foster love and acceptance for the unborn, who are not burdens or problems to be fixed, but children of God! Mary is our mother. We pray for everyone: the unborn, for life and love; the mother of the unborn, for hope and courage; for the abortionist, for repentance and conversion; for our society, for perseverance and justice.


Virgin of Guadalupe,
Patroness of unborn children,
we implore your intercession
for every child at risk of abortion.
Help expectant parents to welcome from God
the priceless gift of their child’s life.

Console parents who have lost that gift
through abortion,
and lead them to forgiveness and healing
through the Divine Mercy of your Son.

Teach us to cherish
and to care for family and friends
until God calls them home.
Help us never to see others as burdens.

Guide our public officials
to defend each and every human life
through just laws.
Inspire us all to bring our faith into public life,
to speak for those who have no voice.

We ask this in the name of your Son,
Jesus Christ, who is Love and Mercy itself.
Amen. (USCCB)

December 4--St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctor

St. John Damascene, Wikimedia Commons

Is it lawful to make images of God? It would seem that it isn’t. The second commandment in Exodus says: “You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or serve them” (Ex. 20:4-5a). That is it! Or is it? The making of images of God, Mary, and the saints was condemned in the 8th century by the Byzantine Emperor Leo III.

This is where our saint comes into the story. St. John Damascene (born about AD 675, died AD 749) was a Catholic priest and monk in a monastery near Jerusalem, which had been conquered by the Muslims. Upon hearing of the prohibition of venerating images, or iconoclasm, he denounced the heresy: “Some criticize us for honoring images of our Saviour, our Lady, and other saints, let them remember that in the beginning God created us after his own image. On what grounds then do we show reverence to each other unless because we are made after God’s image?... But when God became man for our salvation, many people saw the things that he did. He lived among us, worked miracles, suffered, was crucified, roe again and was taken back to heaven. … But for the sake of those who were illiterate, the Fathers permitted the depiction of these events in images as concise memorials. Thus when we see the crucifix, we remember Christ’s saving passion. We fall down to worship not the piece of wood, but the One who is imaged, Christ crucified.”

We do not worship idols, we venerate images because they bring us to God! We, the created, adore God, the uncreated! St. John Damascene, pray for us!

Last Sunday in Ordinary Time--Christ the King

Our Lord, Christ the King Church, Cincinnati, Ohio

Why a feast for Christ the King? Because only in the Kingdom of God, with Christ as King, will we find the peace we are looking for. Pope Pius XI instituted this feast in 1925. The world had just gone through World War I. He wrote in the encyclical Quas primas: “Men must look for the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ…” (1). “That these blessings may be abundant and lasting in Christian society, it is necessary that the kingship of our Savior should be as widely as possible recognized and understood, and to the end nothing would serve better than the institution of a special feast in honor of the Kingship of Christ” (21).

Jesus said: “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Mt 6:21). “If to Christ our Lord is given all power in heaven and on earth; if all men, purchased by his precious blood, are by a new right subjected to his dominion; if this power embraces all men, it must be clear that not one of our faculties is exempt from his empire. He must reign in our minds…. He must reign in our wills…. He must reign in our hearts…. He must reign in our bodies and in our members…. If all these truths are presented to the faithful for their consideration, they will prove a powerful incentive to perfection” (33).

Pope Pius XI fervently desired that we turn ourselves to Christ as King so that we may receive the blessings of love, holiness, and peace in our lives. We celebrate the Feast of Christ the King every year at the end of the liturgical calendar to look to the end of time when Christ will return in glory as King to judge all of humanity. “¡Viva Cristo Rey!”

November 19–“Saint” Mechtild of Magdeburg, Beguine, Third Order Dominican, and Mystic

Photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The language of love is one of complete self-gift of one to the other: “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16). Pope Benedict XVI wrote the encyclical Deus caritas est, wherein he wrote about love as eros in a way that transcends sexuality: “True, eros tends to rise ‘in ecstasy’ towards the Divine, to lead us beyond ourselves; yet for this very reason it calls for a path of ascent, renunciation, purification and healing” (5). It is this sense of ecstasy and transcendence that the mystics touch in their writings, as well as in their prayer lives with God.

Today’s “saint”, Mechtild of Magdeburg (born about 1210, died about 1282/1297), has not been officially canonized by the Catholic Church, although some have called her saint and blessed. Yet she experienced mystical revelations from the Holy Spirit from the age of twelve and continued to write about these throughout her life, published as The Flowing Light of the Godhead. There, she describes the union of her soul with God: “O Lord, love me excessively and love often and long; the oftener you love me, so much the purer do I become; the more excessively you love me, the more beautiful I become; the longer you love me, the more holy will I become upon earth.” And elsewhere: “And he, with great desire, shows her his divine heart. It glows like red gold in a great fire. And God lays the soul in his glowing heart so that he, the great God, and she, the humble maid, embrace and are one as water with wine. … Then she says, ‘Lord! You art my beloved! My desire! My flowing stream! My sun! and I am your reflection!’” This is the language of love beyond love!

October 31--All Hallow's Eve

From Shower of Roses.

Should we celebrate Halloween or condemn it as a manifestation of all that is evil since it was (supposedly) based on the Gaelic holiday Samhain? First, let’s get our origins straight. The word Halloween comes from “All Hallows’ Eve” which is another way of saying, “The Evening Before All Hallows’ Day.” What does “hallow” mean? It is from the Germanic word meaning a holy person or Saint! Thus Halloween is a shortening of “All Hallows’ E’en (Evening)”, the night before All Saints’ Day. Thus, it is NOT based on the Gaelic holiday of Samhain. November 1 was first celebrated as All Saints’ Day by Pope Gregory III (731-741) when he dedicated a chapel in St. Peter’s Basilica to all the saints and set it as a feast day. So Halloween is like Christmas Eve, the night before Christmas.

So should we celebrate it? Why shouldn’t we celebrate all the saints? We probably have many family members in heaven that the Church has not canonized as saints, but they are saints nonetheless! What about all the spooky and scary and yes, evil things associated with Halloween. Here is where prudence comes into play. We don’t celebrate and glorify evil! Evil can be associated with many things that are good and holy, such as Good Friday, when Christ was crucified. However, God’s grace can bring great good out of terrible evil. Christ’s death on the cross was the sacrifice that brought about our salvation. How we commemorate Halloween can be an expression of joy for the memory of all the saints. It is also a secular holiday that can be enjoyed for the pleasure of treating children. We can add our own Catholic twist to it by blessing the children who come to our doors. May all the Saints pray for us!

October 13--Bl. Maddalena Panattieri, Third Order Dominican

Portrait of Beata Maddalena Panattieri painted by Luigi Morgari, chiesa di San Domenico, Trino, Vercelli, Italy.

Child care, or babysitting as it is also known, is not seen as a glamorous job in our society. Taking care of little kids, who may be screaming and running and hitting and throwing temper tantrums, can be difficult. Nonetheless, today’s Blessed started her saintly career by teaching little ones the faith. As she was quite good at it, their mothers and then fathers and then the clergy, came to listen to her. Her teaching became preaching, which then drew crowds, and she became one of the most famous preachers in Italy at the time.

Bl. Maddalena Panattieri (1443-1503) lived in northern Italy and, at the age of twenty, became a Third Order Dominican, much like her hero, St. Catherine of Siena. That allowed her to be affiliated with the religious order while still living in the world. She received many spiritual gifts as well, including visions, transportation spiritually to the Holy Land, prophecy, and the stigmata, which she kept secret. She also served the poor and the sick and was known for her ascetic life. She was beatified by Pope Leo XII in 1827 after confirming her cultus, or the following of those who were devoted to her through the centuries.

The teaching of children in the faith, catechesis, is a noble endeavor and allows the Church to help the children grow in faith: “Train the young in the way they should go; even when old, they will not swerve from it” (Prv. 22:6). However, there is another grace-filled benefit to teaching children, teaching their parents. When we teach children the faith, they carry that home to connect with what their parents say and do. If parents do support the faith, they will grow in their own faith along with their children.

Bl. Maddalena Panattieri, pray for us!

October 12--Bl. Carlo Acutis, Holy Man

Photograph of Bl. Carlo Acutis, Copyrighted

He is a saint for the 21st century! Blessed Carlo Acutis (1991-2006) “was an Italian website designer who documented Eucharistic miracles and approved Marian apparitions, and catalogued both on a website he designed before his death from leukaemia. Acutis was noted for his cheerfulness, computer skills, and devotion to the Eucharist, which became a core theme of his life.” Even though he died at the age of 15, he was beatified in 2020 and has been approved for canonization, possibly in 2025.

Here are some of his inspiring quotations:

• “The Virgin Mary is the only woman in my life.”
• “The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on earth we will have a foretaste of heaven.”
• “By standing before the Eucharistic Christ, we become holy.”
• “Continuously ask your guardian angel for help. Your guardian angel has to become your best friend.”
• All people are born as originals but many die as photocopies.”
• To always be close to Jesus, that’s my life plan”.
• “Sadness is looking at ourselves, happiness is looking towards God.”
• “Not me, but God.”
• “The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of heaven".
• “The only thing we have to ask God for, in prayer, is the desire to be holy.”
• “Our soul is like a hot air balloon. If by chance there is a mortal sin, the soul falls to the ground. Confession is like the fire underneath the balloon enabling the soul to rise again. . . It is important to go to confession often.”
• “Our goal must be infinite, not the finite. The infinite is our homeland. Heaven has been waiting for us forever.”
• “The Eucharist is the highway to heaven.”

Bl. Carlo Acutis, pray for us!

October 3–St. Mother Theodore Guerin, Religious

 

Official portrait of Saint Mother Theodore Guerin released by the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods in their press kit as a promotional image.

The American frontier was served by many religious communities of women to educate and serve both Catholic immigrants and Indigenous Americans. These included saints such as St. Katherine Drexel, St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, and today’s saint, St. Mother Theodore Guérin. Born in France in 1798, she expressed a desire to become a religious sister at an early age. She entered religious life in 1825 and became a teacher and administrator at schools in France. In 1839 the bishop of Vincennes, Indiana requested help from women religious in France to send missionaries to help with the influx of Catholic immigrants. Sr. Theodore was recommended and accepted the call under the inspiration of the Rule of the congregation: "The Congregation being obliged to work with zeal for the sanctification of souls, the sisters will be disposed to go to whatsoever part of the world obedience calls them." She then founded a new order in Indiana establishing a women’s academy which became a college, parish schools and other schools, orphanages, and free pharmacies. She died in 1856 after an adulthood of poor health. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006.

The Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods quote St. Mother Theodore: “What have we to do in order to be saints? Nothing extraordinary; nothing more than what we do every day. Only do it for [God’s] love…” They write about her dependence on God’s Providence: “She’s a saint now, but during her life she was a real person who dealt with real problems. She didn’t want to take on the difficult mission of leaving France to start a congregation in the frontier of Indiana. However, her trust in Providence — the protective care of God — led her to Saint Mary-of-the-Woods where she accomplished amazing things.” St. Mother Theodore Guerin, pray for us!

September 26--Sts. Cosmas and Damian, Martyrs

 

The Beheading of Sts. Cosmas and Damian by Fra Angelico.

Their names are in the Roman canon: “In communion with those whose memory we venerate,… your blessed apostles and martyrs, Peter and Paul, Andrew,… Cosmas and Damian and all your saints.” Today’s saints are twin brothers who practiced medicine and surgery for free, and thus called “unmercenaries” or “silverless” in Greek, in order to bring people to the Christian faith. Sts. Cosmas and Damian were Arabs living in the Roman province of Cilicia, which today is the southern coast of Turkey. They were martyred during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian in the late third or early fourth century. Diocletian tried to exterminate Christianity from the Roman Empire and was quite successful in raising martyrs to God, including Cosmas and Damian by beheading. Although this is the extent of what is known about them, their story became popular and they were venerated widely throughout Europe.

We honor Sts. Cosmas and Damian because of their willingness to suffer and die as Jesus did. However, they were missionary disciples using their skill in medicine to heal for free as Jesus did. “The Catholic Church is the world's largest non-governmental provider of health care….” “It can be said in general, however, that Catholic hospitals provide a great deal of free or poorly compensated inpatient care and primary care services through clinics and medical outreach programs for the uninsured. Often, Catholic hospitals become known as a ‘provider of last resort’ for uninsured and underinsured citizens.”

Visit the sick is one of the corporal works of mercy as prescribed in Mt. 25:31-46. We can follow the examples of Sts. Cosmas and Damian by healing others, whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually. We may dedicate ourselves to the healing ministries or those who are in our lives. Sts. Cosmas and Damian, pray for us!

September 9--Bl. Frédéric Ozanam, Holy Man

 

Blessed Frédéric Ozanam. Frontispiece from Complete Works of Frederic Ozanam, Lecoffre editions, Paris , 1862 ( second edition). PD-US-expired.

“What can I do? I am just one person.” We may ask ourselves that question and respond in the same manner, especially when we believe our efforts are few and far between. And yet, just one person bore the Son of God. As well, just one person IS the Savior of the world. Today’s blessed is just one person and he is the inspiration for about 800,000 persons worldwide in 140 countries. Bl. Frédéric Ozanam (1813-1853) co-founded the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in 1833 “for the sanctification of its members by personal service of the poor.” As a law student in Paris he saw the need to help others in their need. He promoted service to the poor by the laity following the model of St. Vincent de Paul and under the guidance of Bl. Rosalie Rendu, a sister of the Daughters of Charity. That model uses small “conferences” of laity to work to help the poor in their areas. There are about 4,400 conferences in the United States alone. Bl. Frédéric died in 1853 of tuberculosis and was beatified by Pope St. John Paul II in 1997.

Pope John Paul said of him: “Frédéric Ozanam loved everyone who was deprived. From his youth, he became aware that it was not enough to speak about charity and the mission of the Church in the world: rather what was needed was an effective commitment of Christians in the service of the poor. … He observed the real situation of the poor and sought to be more and more effective in helping them in their human development. He understood that charity must lead to efforts to remedy injustice. Charity and justice go together.” Join the Vincentians and serve others! Bl. Frédéric Ozanam, pray for us!

September 4--Bl. Martyrs of the Holy Family, Maria Stella Mardosewicz and Ten Companions

 Feast of Blessed Mary Stella & 10 Companions.

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn. 15:12-13). The Church has venerated the martyrs from her very beginnings, starting with St. Stephen and continuing even to today. Today’s blesseds were sisters who started a convent in Nowogródek, Poland, modern Belarus. They started a school, looked after the local church, and did works of charity.

At the start of World War II, Nowogródek was occupied by Soviet, then later, Nazi forces. The Gestapo then came and arrested 120 men. The sisters prayed that they may be accepted as an offering for the men. “Mother Stella led their prayers, in which the nuns asked God: ‘If sacrifice is needed, accept it from us and spare those who have families.’” They were arrested on July 31, 1943 with the intent to execute them that night. The sisters then offered themselves in place of the men, but were denied. On August 1 they “were taken to a large pine forest where an open pit had been prepared for them. They were shot to death and immediately dumped into the mass grave.” Their bodies were exhumed in 1945.

In his beatification homily, Pope St. John Paul II stated: “We thank you, O blessed martyrs of Nowogródek, for your witness of love, for your example of Christian heroism and for your trust in the power of the Holy Spirit. ‘Christ chose and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit in your lives and that your fruit should abide’ (cf. Jn 15: 16). You are the greatest inheritance of the Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth. You are the inheritance of the whole Church of Christ for ever!” Blessed martyrs, pray for us!

August 30--St. Euphrasia Eluvathingal, Virgin

St. Euphrasia Eluvathingal

The Church is not only Catholic, but catholic. The word catholic means universal. It was mentioned by St. Ignatius of Antioch in AD 110 to distinguish the Church from heretical groups. This is worthwhile for today’s saint because she is from India. The Catholic Church is all over the world! St. Euphrasia Eluvanthingal (1877-1952) was born in Karal State, which is on the Malabar Coast of India, where tradition has it that the apostle Thomas evangelized the people. She joined the Carmelite Order of the Syro-Malabar Church, which is an Eastern Catholic Church in union with Rome. She was a novice mistress at her convent and then Mother Superior. She became known as the “Praying Mother” due to her life of prayer and devotion to the Sacred Heart. She was canonized by Pope Francis in 2014. It is written of her: “Mother Euphrasia grew in humility, poverty and holiness as she completely obeyed the will of God every moment. The whole life of this virgin was full of continuous prayer, penance and reparation. Mother Euphrasia who found contentment in loving Jesus, her divine spouse, was always in the forefront in receiving censure and abuses. All those who approached her she helped with motherly love, prayer and good advice.”

The Church is one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. We are united as one through our faith and baptism. Sainthood is conferred on those who have demonstrated heroic virtue and holiness in their lives, giving us models to draw from. We are catholic in that we are all called to be with Jesus in community with the Catholic Church. We are apostolic because of the continuous succession of bishops and popes from Peter and the apostles. St. Euphrasia exemplified each of these marks through her life and holiness. St. Euphrasia, pray for us!

August 19–St. John Eudes, Priest and Founder

Anonymous, St. John Eudes, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons.

Priests are the backbone of parish life. A good pastor can help his parish grow in love for God and each other, building parish life. But how does one become a good priest? That was the problem that today’s saint, St. John Eudes, faced when he decided to found the Congregation of Jesus and Mary. He founded and staffed three seminaries. St. John Eudes (1601-1680) was ordained in 1625 in France and eight years later became a parish missionary, going from parish to parish to preach renewal, giving 110 missions.

Pope Benedict XVI, in a general audience during the Year of the Priest in 2009, said, “Prompted by a lucid awareness of the grave need for spiritual assistance in which souls lay because of the inadequacy of the majority of the clergy, the Saint, who was a parish priest, founded a congregation specifically dedicated to the formation of priests. He founded his first seminary in the university town of Caen, a particularly appreciated experience which he very soon extended to other dioceses. The path of holiness, which he took himself and proposed to his followers, was founded on steadfast trust in the love that God had revealed to humanity in the priestly Heart of Christ and in the maternal Heart of Mary. In those times of cruelty, of the loss of interiority, he turned to the heart to speak to the heart, a saying of the Psalms very well interpreted by St Augustine. He wanted to recall people, men and women and especially future priests, to the heart by showing them the priestly Heart of Christ and the motherly Heart of Mary. Every priest must be a witness and an apostle of this love for Christ's Heart and Mary's Heart.” We need good priests! St. John Eudes, pray for us!

August 13--St. Radegund, Religious

St. Radegunda, Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Daughter of a king, kidnapped at age twelve, married to the King of France as his fifth wife and subsequently mistreated by him due to her life of prayer and service, today’s saint, St. Radegund (520-587), withstood such abuse. However, her husband had her brother murdered, which prompted her to go to the bishop to allow her to become a nun. When he hesitated in fear of the king, she demanded, “If you refuse to consecrate me a deaconess, you fear man more than God, and he will require you to account for my soul.” The bishop acquiesced. After this, St. Radegund wrote, “I asked myself, with all the ardor of which I am capable, how I could best forward the cause of other women, and know, if our Lord willed, my own personal desires might be of advantage to my sisters.” She founded a double monastery–for men and women–Holy Cross in Poitiers, France. She was known for her asceticism and her learning.

Some say that the Church does not respect women because women are not ordained. Wherein does power lie? Not in ordination. Look to St. Radegund as a model of power. She founded a double monastery and served others. True power is about humility, love, and service. Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt. 20:25-28). Love is power! St. Radegund, pray for us!

August 8--St. Mary MacKillop, Virgin, Religious, and Foundress

Australian Stamp of St. Mary MacKillop.

She is the first saint of Australia and, at one time, was excommunicated by her bishop. Now that’s a headline! The daughter of Scottish immigrants, St. Mary MacKillop was born in Melbourne in 1842. As a teen she became a governess and eventually taught at a school and opened her own boarding school. In 1866 Fr. Julian Woods invited her and her sisters to open a Catholic school. That same year other women joined St. Mary and they became the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, also known as the Josephites. The local bishop invited them to found a new school. The religious community developed a rule which “emphasized poverty, a dependence on divine providence, no ownership of personal belongings, faith that God would provide and willingness to go where needed.”

They expanded, but this sometimes caused issues about control of the schools. Bishops wanted episcopal control, while St. Mary MacKillop wanted control of the schools by the religious order. Two bishops told the sisters to leave their dioceses and another excommunicated her on grounds that she was insubordinate. Eventually, the excommunication was lifted. St. Mary persevered, her order was approved by Pope Leo XIII and their structure, living in the community and not in convents, along with the superior general being chosen by the congregation, was maintained. They primarily educated children, but also served the poor and those in need. St. Mary MacKillop died in 1909 and was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. Today there are over 600 Josephites serving in six countries.

It takes a strong will as well as a loving, holy life to become a saint! Sometimes, our fallen brothers and sisters in the Church can be a source of suffering! Let us not be discouraged! St. Mary MacKillop, pray for us.

August 3--St. Lydia of Thyatira, Holy Woman

Dr. med. Detlef Bihn, CC BY-SA 4.0,via Wikimedia Commons

“We set sail from Troas, … and from there to Philippi.  On the sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river where we thought there would be a place of prayer.  We sat and spoke with the women who had gathered there.  One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.  After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, ‘If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,’ and she prevailed on us” (Acts 16:11a, 12a, 13-15).

This reading is from the Easter season, telling the story of the first convert of Europe–St. Lydia. This passage shows how Paul, like Jesus, received support from women. Lydia was a dealer in purple cloth, which meant that she was involved in an industry that involved great wealth. Only the rich or the royal could afford purple cloth. She was wealthy. Furthermore, she is the head of the household–her household is baptized. She offers the invitation. All these indicate that Lydia was a strong, independent, wealthy, businesswoman! Paul accepted her invitation and her house became a house church.

St. Lydia played a pivotal role in the evangelization of Europe. Women play pivotal roles in the evangelization of others: their families, their friends, their colleagues, their community. St. John Paul II wrote in his Letter to Women in 1995: “Thank you, every woman, for the simple fact of being a woman! Through the insight which is so much a part of your womanhood you enrich the world's understanding and help to make human relations more honest and authentic.” St. Lydia, pray for us!

July 24--St. Kinga (Cunegunda), Holy Woman

Grzegorz Czarnic, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Can a woman both be married and a virgin and be dedicated to loving both husband and God? Yes! We have two excellent examples of that unique calling: Our Blessed Mother Mary and St. Kinga. St. Kinga’s story is one of devotion to God through her role as Queen of Poland. Born in Hungary in 1224 to the King of Hungary, St. Kinga had many saintly relatives. St. John Paul II, in his canonization homily said, when “she was to marry Prince Boleslaus, she convinced him to live a life of virginity for the glory of God, and after a waiting-period of two years the spouses made a vow of perpetual chastity….

“This way of life, perhaps difficult to understand nowadays, yet deeply rooted in the tradition of the early Church, gave Saint Kinga that inner freedom which enabled her to be concerned first of all with the things of the Lord and to lead a profound religious life. Today let us reconsider this great testimony. Saint Kinga teaches us that both marriage and virginity lived in union with Christ can become a path to holiness. Today Saint Kinga rises to safeguard these values. She reminds us that the value of marriage, this indissoluble union of love between two persons, cannot be brought into question under any circumstances. Whatever difficulties may arise, one may not abandon the defence of this primordial love which has united two persons and which is constantly blessed by God. Marriage is the way of holiness, even when it becomes the way of the Cross. …

“[S]he esteemed chastity and virginity, rightly seeing in this state an extraordinary gift whereby man experiences in a special way his own freedom.” We need both holy marriages to raise godly families and consecrated virgins dedicated completely to serving God.

July 16--St. Bartholomew of Braga, O.P., Bishop

See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Today's saint was canonized by Pope Francis in 2019, 429 years after his death. This is much longer than the average 181 years. It was also an equipollent canonization, which means that the normal requirement for two miracles can be dispensed if the pope declares that the saint has been venerated continuously since ancient times.

So what makes St. Bartholomew of Braga worthy of such an unusual declaration? He was born in Portugal in 1514, entered the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) in 1527, and was ordained a priest, teaching theology for his order. He was ordained bishop of Braga in 1559 and attended sessions in the Council of Trent from 1561-1563. He contributed 268 suggestions, collaborated with St. Charles of Borromeo regarding the duties and virtues of priests, and “exercised great influence in the discussions, particularly those with regard to the decrees on the reform of ecclesiastical life.” After the Council he returned to Braga to implement the decrees. He resigned in 1582 and retired to a convent until his death in 1590. All in all, he was a good, holy bishop. He is patron saint of catechists, teachers of the faith.

For example, he wrote about prayer: “We ought continually to raise our hearts to God, … and expose them to the rays of His light, so that our prayer should kindle a fire in our souls, from whence a heat may come forth which will spread over all our actions. We must strive to procure this peace by every possible effort, and ask it of God with many sighs, so that amidst this crowd of affairs and continual distractions, our minds may remain always quiet and calm, and preserve their liberty and vigour.” Words of a true teacher and shepherd of his people! St. Bartholomew, pray for us!

July 7--The Blessed Ulma Family, Martyrs

The Ulma Family

The Church has beatified and canonized married couples, as well as members of the same family, but only one family has been beatified together as martyrs, the Blessed Ulma Family. Pope Francis spoke of them on the day of their beatification:

“Today in Markowa, Poland, the martyrs Józef and Wiktoria Ulma, and their seven children, were beatified: an entire family exterminated by the Nazis on 24 March 1944 for having given shelter to a number of persecuted Jews. They opposed the hatred and violence that characterized that time with evangelical love. May this Polish family, which represented a ray of light in the darkness of the Second World War, be for all of us a model to imitate in the zeal for goodness and service to those in need.…”

Jesus said: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn. 15:13). The Ulmas gave the ultimate sacrifice of love, their lives, in order to protect and save eight Jews. However, they were all denounced so that the lands of the Jewish family could be taken away. All were killed by immediate and summary execution as a sign to the Polish people to not hide Jews. The Jews were executed first, then, in front of their children, Józef and Wiktoria, who was pregnant, and finally the other six children aged eight, seven, six, four, three, and two. They were buried in front of their house, but later, relatives exhumed and reburied the bodies, including the unnamed infant boy, who was born during the execution.

This is a terrible and tragic story, except that it is not! True, the execution of both Jews and Catholics is horrific. But the love and sacrifice shown by such martyrdoms is heroic. Blessed Ulmas, pray for us!

June 30--Venerable Pierre Toussaint, Holy Man

 

Venerable Pierre Toussaint by Franck Louissant

The following is a sketch of Venerable Pierre Toussaint by the Archdiocese of New York Cultural Diversity Apostolate:

“Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1766-1853) was born a slave in Haiti and died a freeman in New York City. He is credited by many with being the father of Catholic Charities in New York. Pierre was instrumental in raising funds for the first Catholic orphanage and began the city’s first school for black children. He also helped to provide funds for the Oblate Sisters of Providence, a religious community of black nuns founded in Baltimore and played a vital role in providing resources to erect Old Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Lower Manhattan. During a Yellow Fever epidemic when many of the city’s political leaders fled the city in search of healthier rural climates, Pierre Toussaint cared for the sick and the dying. He was a successful entrepreneur, who did not hesitate to share the fruits of his labor with others.

“In recognition of Pierre Toussaint’s virtuous life, the late Cardinal Cooke introduced Pierre’s cause for canonization at the Vatican in 1968. In December 1989, the late Cardinal O’Connor had the remains of Pierre Toussaint transferred from Lower Manhattan to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in midtown Manhattan where he is buried as the only lay person, alongside the former Cardinal-Archbishops of New York City. On December 17, 1997, Pope John Paul II declared Pierre Toussaint, Venerable, thus placing him firmly on the road to becoming North America’s first black saint. Venerable Pierre Toussaint was a man who was proud of his faith, proud of his culture and committed to serving others.”

We need saints to remind us that God is calling us to sainthood in our own time and in our own situation. We pray for Venerable Pierre Toussaint so he may pray for us.

June 25--St. Maximus of Turin, Bishop

 

English: Maximus of Turin, medieval book painting

“It is obvious that we preach willingly and do the work of God joyfully. But when we see many of the brethren coming to church sluggishly and particularly on Sundays not taking part in the heavenly mysteries, we preach reluctantly–not because we dislike speaking but because our preaching oppresses the negligent rather than changes them. Therefore we preach reluctantly and cannot be silent. For our preaching brings either the kingdom or punishment to our congregation–the kingdom to believers but punishment to the faithless. For when a brother does not participate in the sacraments of the Lord, he is, before God, necessarily a deserter from the divine camp. And how can one excuse himself who, on the day of the sacraments, scorns the heavenly meal while preparing a meal at home for himself and, in seeing to his stomach’s needs, neglects his soul’s medicine?”

These blunt words are from a homily from today’s saint, St. Maximus of Turin. St. Maximus was bishop of an outlying town subject to barbarian incursions in the late fifth century. He is known for his sermons and homilies that have survived through the ages. He did not water down his message. He knew his flock and preached to their needs. He spoke about almsgiving: “Giving alms promises refreshment to people withered near to death by sin, like moisture revives what has been dried up.” He spoke about sin: “I indignantly press upon you your wrongdoing, first correcting you with spiritual blows and then enriching you with gifts of the pearl. I have chosen, I say, to lay blame on your sin with bitter accusation rather than to foster it with kindling dissimulation. For whoever does not reprove his brother when he sins is encouraging him, in a certain way, to sin.” St. Maximus, pray for us!

June 20--Martyrs of Ireland, Bishops, Priests, and Laity

 

Singhson67, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1992 Pope John Paul II beatified seventeen martyrs killed under English rulers, including Elizabeth I and Oliver Cromwell, between 1584 and 1654. They included three bishops, seven priests, one brother, five laymen and one laywoman. The pope proclaimed:

“And how can we fail to sing the praises of the seventeen Irish Martyrs being beatified today?…

“We admire them for their personal courage. We thank them for the example of their fidelity in difficult circumstances, a fidelity which is more than an example: it is a heritage of the Irish people and a responsibility to be lived up to in every age.

“In a decisive hour, a whole people chose to stand firmly by its covenant with God: ‘All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do’.… The religious and political turmoil through which these witnesses lived was marked by grave intolerance on every side. Their victory lay precisely in going to death with no hatred in their hearts. They lived and died for Love. Many of them publicly forgave all those who had contributed in any way to their martyrdom.

“The Martyrs' significance for today lies in the fact that their testimony shatters the vain claim to live one's life or to build a model of society without an integral vision of our human destiny, without reference to our eternal calling, without transcendence.…

“To the Martyrs' intercession I commend the whole people of Ireland: their hopes and joys, their needs and difficulties. May everyone rejoice in the honor paid to these witnesses to the faith. God sustained them in their trials. He comforted them and granted them the crown of victory. May he also support those who work for reconciliation and peace in Ireland today!

“Blessed Irish Martyrs, intercede for the beloved Irish people!”

June 15–St. Vitus, Martyr

 

https://www.saintforaminute.com/saints/saint_vitus

Many early martyrs of the Church were legendary, meaning that they may have had a life that was not historical by modern standards, but did have some basis in fact. That is probably the case with today’s saint. St. Vitus, according to legend, lived and died during the worst persecutions of the early Church under the reign of Emperor Diocletian in the early 300s. He was said to be about twelve years old and was taken to Rome to drive out a demon that had possessed the son of Diocletian. He was successful in the exorcism but was still tortured and died a martyr. One version has him being boiled in oil.

Given this legend it seems a wonder that he is still listed in the Roman Martyrology, the official book of saints in the Catholic Church. Nonetheless, there were quite a few martyrs under Diocletian’s rule and St. Vitus is one of them. Veneration spread very early and fast with a shrine dedicated to him by the fifth century spreading especially to Slavic lands, including Bohemia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Croatia. He is the patron saint of actors, comedians, and dancers due to the tradition from 16th century Germany that by dancing before a statue of St. Vitus on his feast day people could gain a year’s good health.

Does this mean the Catholic Church made up martyrs to take advantage of people? No! Persecution of Christians was, and is, quite real. A December 2023 National Catholic Register article stated: “A report from the watchdog group Open Doors found that the persecution of Christians is at the highest point in three decades. It found that some of the worst locations for Christians were North Korea, Somalia, Yemen, Eritrea, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Sudan and India.” St. Vitus, pray for us!

May 19--Pentecost

 

El Greco, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Happy Birthday to our dear Mother Church! It was on Pentecost thousands of years ago when the Church was born to continue Jesus’ mission in the world; to help bring about forgiveness and offer salvation to humanity through Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples so they could share the love of God with everyone they met. They were bestowed the gifts of the Holy Spirit so those gifts could enable others to come to God’s love.

Jesus commissioned them to spread the Good News: "Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn. 20: 21). But first he said to wait for the Advocate, the Holy Spirit who would come upon them: “‘When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning’” (Jn. 15:26-27).

So now we have been commissioned and anointed. We have been given the gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. We use them when we are called to testify to our faith. We have been given the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. We live lives that demonstrate our commitment to Christ and his bride, the Church.

We trust in God to love us, to guide us, and to grace us so that we may be his witnesses and ambassadors to the world:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created,
and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen.

May 17--St. Paschal Baylon, Religious

 

Art Credit: Saint Paschal Baylon Adoring the Blessed Sacrament (Detail) by Claude Francois (1615-1685); Metropolitan Museum of Art (Open Access)

The 10th National Eucharistic Congress is scheduled to take place July 17-21 in Indianapolis. One of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage routes is through the Omaha Archdiocese with a Mass at St. Cecilia’s Cathedral June 23. We are in the midst of the three-year National Eucharistic Revival to help Catholics “revive our understanding of and devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist!” It is exactly what our saint of the day, St. Paschal Baylon, would have approved because he is the patron saint of Eucharistic Congresses.

St. Paschal lived in Spain from 1540-1592 during the Golden Age of the Church in Spain. He was a shepherd during his youth and became a Franciscan friar at the age of 24. As such he was a cook, gardener, beggar, and porter. “He is best remembered, however, as a contemplative and a mystic who experienced ecstatic visions during extended periods of prayer before the Holy Eucharist. It was the joy of his life to pray in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.” Pope Leo XIII proclaimed him the patron saint of Eucharistic Congresses, calling him the “seraph of the Eucharist”: “Now, in the glorious ranks of those, the ardor of whose piety towards the great Mystery of the faith was more evident and overflowing, Paschal Baylon holds a most prominent place; for, being gifted with a soul which aspired above all things to Heaven, he embraced a severer mode of life, entering the Order of Minors of the Strict Observance, and from the contemplation of the Holy Eucharist he derived that science and wisdom which placed him, though formerly an unpolished and illiterate man, in a position to solve the most difficult questions of the faith.”

Let us pray before the tabernacle and adore Our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist. St. Paschal Baylon, pray for us!

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

 

Ascension by Giotto, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

“When they had gathered together they asked him,
‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’
He answered them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.’
When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, ‘Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven’” (Acts 1:6-11).

“Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Go into the whole world
and proclaim the gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.’
So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs” (Mk. 16:15-16, 19-20).

There we have it! Jesus’ mission is completed, but it is still ongoing. We are called to continue his mission; to go forth and evangelize and love and serve as he has done for us. We are called to participate in his mission so that we will also receive glory and honor as members of his body.

March 27--Bl. Francesco Faà di Bruno, Priest and Founder

Faà di Bruno’s Formula

“Science and faith do not mix.” Wrong! We have many giants of science and mathematics who were faithful members of the Catholic Church, including Galileo, Pasteur, Mendel, Copernicus, Pascal, Bacon, and ​​Lemaître, who developed the Big Bang Theory. We can also include today’s saint, Bl. Francesco Faà di Bruno, among them as a mathematician for whom Faà di Bruno’s Formula is named. Born in northern Italy in 1825 to parents of nobility, he had a wide-ranging career as an army officer, a professor of mathematics and recipient of a Doctor of Science degree from the Universities of Paris and Turin, a friend of St. John Bosco, social reformer, and overseer of the construction of a church in Turin, Italy. However, that was not enough for him! He discerned a vocation to the priesthood and was finally ordained at age 51. He founded the Minim Sisters of St. Zita in 1881 to provide aid to maids and domestic servants, later unmarried mothers, and then, prostitutes.

Pope St. John Paul II said of him in his beatification homily: “He used to say: ‘Giving oneself to God is equivalent to giving oneself to a superior activity, which drags us along like the swollen and tumultuous waters of a raging torrent. . .’. From the love for God came that love for ‘neighbor’, which pushed Francesco Faà di Bruno onto the path of the poor, the humble, the defenseless, making him a giant of faith and charity. Thus was born a whole series of works and welfare activities which are not easy to list. Even in the scientific field he was able to bear his coherent testimony as a believer, in a period in which dedication to science seemed incompatible with a serious commitment to faith.” Science and faith DO mix! Bl. Francesco, pray for us!

March 21--St. Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello, Religious

St. Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello by Unknown Artist, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

“Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). Where do we hear the word of Christ? First, from our parents in the domestic church of the family. Then from our priests in the parish church. But many of us have received the privilege of hearing the word of Christ in our schools! Catholic education has been central to the mission of the Church. Today’s saint provided another way in which to enrich the faith of children, and especially, girls, through the word of Christ.

St. Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello was born in 1791 in Italy and died on March 21, 1858. Her Vatican biography states: “She was wife, religious and foundress. She let the Holy Spirit guide her through married life to the work of education and religious consecration. She founded a school for the formation of young women and also a religious congregation, and did both with the generous collaboration of her husband. This is unique in the annals of Christian sanctity. Benedetta was a pioneer in her determination to give a high quality education to young women, for the formation of families for a ‘new Christian society’ and for promoting the right of women to a complete education.” “Along with instruction, she joined formation in catechesis and in useful skills like cooking and sewing, aiming to transform her students into ‘models of Christian life’ and so assure the formation of families.” She was canonized by Pope St. John Paul II in 2002.

Catholic education is an efficient ministry which shares the word of Christ and brings about salvation to our children. It is not a luxury, but a necessity for the benefit of our children, our families, our society, and our future. St. Benedetta, pray for us!

March 13--St. Leander of Seville, Bishop

 San Leandro by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

“I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.” “Our profession of faith begins with God, for God is the First and the Last, the beginning and the end of everything. The Credo begins with God the Father, for the Father is the first divine person of the Most Holy Trinity; our Creed begins with the creation of heaven and earth, for creation is the beginning and the foundation of all God's works” (CCC, 198). These words, which we say every Sunday during Mass, are an expression of our faith. This is the Niceno-Constantinopolitan, or Nicene Creed, formulated at the Councils of Nicea in 325 and Constantinople in 381.

We have today’s saint, St. Leander of Seville, to thank for this addition to the liturgy; he was bishop of Seville in the 6th century. The Visigoths had overrun Spain and were converted through the Arian heresy, which stated that Jesus was the first creation of God, but was not God. The Church was separated between Arian and Catholic bishops and peoples. St. Leander introduced the Creed as a way to help reinforce the orthodox Catholic faith among the people in 589 at the Third Council of Toledo. This brought about the conversion of the Visigoth King of Spain and the reconciliation of the Arian faction to the true faith of the Church. This version of the Creed also introduced the filioque clause, that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son, which spread to the rest of Latin-speaking Catholicism and was accepted throughout the Western Catholic Church by 1000.

It is necessary to know the faith in order to live the faith and to bring others to the truth, who is Jesus Christ. St. Leander, pray for us.

March 8--St. John of God, Religious

 

St. John of God saving the Sick from a Fire at the Royal Hospital in 1549 by Manuel Gómez-Moreno González licensed under Public Domain.

Hospitals are a true legacy of the Catholic Church. The Council of Nicea in AD 325 decreed that every cathedral city should have a hospital to care for sick travelers. The importance of caring for the sick goes back to Jesus and the corporal works of mercy, when he said of those he identified with: “I was … ill and you cared for me” (Mt. 25:36). So it is not unusual for us to find saints who either founded hospitals or religious orders to care for the sick. That is the case with today’s saint, St. John of God.

Born in Portugal in 1495, João Duarte Cidade, John of God, lived the life of a soldier. After 40 years, he sought meaning and, after hearing a sermon by St. John of Avila, realized his sinfulness and publicly beat himself begging for mercy and repentance. He was committed to a mental hospital where St. John visited him and advised him to serve others rather than inflict punishment on himself. This persuaded John of God and he started attending to the sick poor, begging for funds for medical supplies and attending to patients in the hospital. He gathered others around him and founded the Order of Hospitallers. He died in 1550 from pneumonia after saving a man from drowning in Granada, Spain. He was declared patron of the dying and of hospitals by Pope Leo XIII. The Order of Hospitallers of St. John of God administers over 300 hospitals, services, and centers in 53 countries.

Catholic hospitals serve God by healing as Jesus did. Today, the Catholic Church is the largest non-governmental provider of health care in the world, with over 600 hospitals and 1,400 long-term care facilities in the United States alone! St. John of God, pray for us.

February 18–Blessed Fra Angelico, Religious

San Marco Altarpiece by Fra Angelico in the public domain.

The Italian Renaissance produced some amazing artists, including Raphael, da Vinci, and Michelangelo. The Italian Renaissance also produced some amazing saints, including St. Catherine of Genoa, St. Benedict the African, and St. Angela Merici. However, there is only one figure of the Italian Renaissance who is both an amazing artist and a saint, Blessed Fra Angelico. Born Guido di Pietro about 1395 near Florence, Italy, Brother John of Fiesole, also known as Fra Angelico, which means Angelic Brother, joined the Dominican order in 1423 and received training as an illuminator. He became famous for his art and painted frescoes, altarpieces, and other sacred artwork in Florence and Rome.

Pope St. John Paul II beatified him in 1982, and later declared him patron of Catholic artists: “Angelico was reported to say ‘He who does Christ's work must stay with Christ always’. This motto earned him the epithet ‘Blessed Angelico’, because of the perfect integrity of his life and the almost divine beauty of the images he painted, to a superlative extent those of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”

“The English writer and critic William Michael Rossetti wrote…: ‘From various accounts of Fra Angelico's life, it is possible to gain some sense of why he was deserving of canonization. He led the devout and ascetic life of a Dominican friar, and never rose above that rank; he followed the dictates of the order in caring for the poor; he was always good-humored. All of his many paintings were of divine subjects, and it seems that he never altered or retouched them, perhaps from a religious conviction that, because his paintings were divinely inspired, they should retain their original form. He was wont to say that he who illustrates the acts of Christ should be with Christ.’” Praise God for beauty, art, and holiness!