Saints' Discussion Forums

In the midst of this morning's prayer I found myself imagining I was starting this thread, in which I hope we can discuss a variety of books about the lives of Saints and also follow and celebrate the feasts of the Saints.  I'm thinking this might help to bring some people back to reading books, even though I wonder if most folks today would look up a Saint in the web before looking in a book.
I've chosen, and recommend, John Delaney's Dictionary because I find it the most useful and generally devotional of the dozen or more books I own on lives of Saints.  The three volumes in the Library of Catholic Devotion are much more beautiful, but almost always they have only one Saint per day and are awkward to carry.  Same comment for Butler's Lives and the monthly edition, although I admit I only have books for two months, plus a book for the first quarter of the year.  I pray you will join me in comments here.

Today is the feast of St Marcian aka Marian (dc 488), who fled the Visigoth occupation in Gaul and became a lay brother in the monastery at Auxerre.  His humility and remarkable rapport with both domestic and wild animals were greatly admired and led to the monastery being named for him after his death.

Today is the feast of St Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury and a Doctor of the Church, recognized as the Father of Scholarship due to his extensive writings of analysis of the truths of Faith through the aid of reason.  Born in 1033, he entered the Bec monastery in 1060, was elected prior in 1063, abbot in 1078, and Archbishop in 1093.

The Lovasik sounded strangely familiar to me, so I went to LibraryThing to find out more, and surprise- I have it too.  I've looked all over the house for it (well, truth is the house isn't really big).  I know I have at least one Saint book at camp; we expect to go there this weekend and I hope to read what you are reading

Today is the feast of Bishop St Theodore of Sykeon, Galatia, Asia Minor (d613).  He was a hermit as a youth, joined a monastery in Jerusalem, founded several others including Sykeon where he served as abbot until his selection as Bishop of Anastasiopolis.  He was renowned for miracles, prophesy, and healing.

   

Today is the feast of St George, one of the 14 Holy Helpers, who is believed to have been a soldier martyred in Syria in 303.  Sadly there is little tangible evidence, yet his legend has been widely celebrated throughout Christian history.

I've looked all over for the Lovasik book without success.  I have a card file for books I've loaned to others, or given away, but I can't find that either.  Now that we are at camp most of the time I am struggling with multiple distractions, but I have both my Delaney and Foley Saint books here and am fairly consistent about reading a Saint's life each day.  I find myself disappointed with some of the writing, and find myself searching often for more reverent comments already written here in Saintsworks.
Today is the feast of St Antonius Pierozzi, Archbishop of Florence from 1446-1459.  His remarkable career includes service as prior, superior, and provincial at numerous Dominican locations and
 Summa theologica moralis.  Tomorrow is the feast of St Mamertius, Bishop of Vienne, Gaul 461-dc 475.  He was originator of the penitential Rogation Days preceding the Feast of the Ascension.

Today is the feast of St Bruno, Bishop of Wurzburg 1033-1045.  He was an advisor to Conrad II and was believed responsible for ending the siege of Milan.  He was with the entourage of Emperor Henry III's expedition against the Hungarians, and died in 1045 when the building in which they were housed collapsed.  St Btuno pray for us.

I regret my inconsistency in posting here- I would love to have a thread honoring at least one Saint everyday, and much admire the many other threads and the effort of so many people, especially Cyril.  I would be very grateful for prayer to help me overcome several difficulties, as follows.
Most of my prayer books have many dates with no listing for a Saint, but several list multiple Saints for many days.  This leads me to distraction in comparing the articles for individual Saints, which causes me to think I see contradictions, and also causes me to struggle with the question of which Saint to honor.
I think Cyril has a great idea of keeping posts generally concise and thus permitting subsequent additions, but my search efforts frequently fail to find the prior entries for a saint, and my efforts to copy/quote often don't get to the intended destination.
For several days I've been struggling to write about St Joan of Arc (feast 5/30).  Sadly Foley's book does not include her (nor any other Saint on this date).  I suspect she is one of the best known Saints despite the dreadful controversies about her life.  For me, her life teaches many important lessons:
We must do our best to understand and follow God's Will.
To have the best chance to understand His Will we must seek guidance from the most credible sources available to us: the Holy Spirit, Scripture, the Church, wise and reliable aquaintances, and our God-given reason.
Again I ask your prayer and comment.  I will try to use the Insert Quote option in the Topic Summary below.

Today's feast in my Foley book is for St Charles Lwanga and 21 other Ugandan martyrs, canonized by Pope Paul VI on Oct 18, 1964.  Delaney states that about 100 Christians were martyred by King Mwanga, including 14 young court pages, a protestant minister, tthree soldiers, two judges, a young catechist, and a native chief.

Today's feast is from Delaney for St Francis Caracciolo (1563-1608), who helped found and served seven years as Superior of Minor Clerks Regular. and later as prior of Santa Maria Maggiore in Naples.  He was reputed to have had gifts of ecstasies, miracles, and prophecies.

St Boniface (c672-754) who was known as the Apostle of Germany, was sent by Pope Gregory II on his first mission in 719.  Despite his appointment as bishop, and a letter of safe passage from Charles Martel, Boniface and 53 companions were martyred as they prepared for the celebration of Confirmation.

June 6 is the feast of St Norbert (c1080-1134), Archbishop of Magdeburg (Germany) and founder of the Order of Premonstratensians (aka Norbertines) in the Premontre region of France.  The Foley book comments the German archdiocese was difficult and dangerous but provides little detail.  Strangely, sadly, Foley adds several unnecessary distracting comments.

Today's feast is of St Paul of Constantinople, elected Patriarch by Orthodox bishops in 336 but immediately challenged by a rival, Macedonius, who was elected by Arian bishops.  Paul was deposed and banished until he was accepted by Emperor Constans I in 344, but again exiled in 350 to Armenia, where he was strangled.

Today's feast is of St Clodulf (c605-c696) aka Clou, also Cloud, who succeeded his father, St Arnoul as bishop of Metz in 657 and is reported to have served wisely for 40 years. 

Today's feast is of St Ephrem (c306-373) the only Syrian acclaimed as Doctor of the Church.  He was ordained deacon in Nisibis, but declined priesthood and episcopal consecration.  He was famous as a teacher but preferred an austere, simple life and fled to Edessa to escape Persian domination, and lived the rest of his life in a small cave.  He was known as the Harp of the Holy Spirit for the many hymns he composed.  Pray for us, St Ephrem.

Today is the feast of St Landry (dc 660), aka Landericus, Bishop of Paris from 650 to 660.  He was renowned for his devotion to the poor, and founded Saint Christopher's Hospital which became world-famous as Hotel-Dieu. 

I truly appreciate the St. Cloud and cloud posts eschator. :D

Pope St Leo III was Cardinal-priest at Santa Susanna when he was elected Pope in 795.  His feast was June 12, and Delaney reported Leo founded the Holy Roman Empire at Christmas 800 when he crowned Charlemagne as Emperor at St Peter's.  Please pray for us, St Leo.

Today is the feast of Archbishop St Bardo of Mainz (c982-1053), who also served for a time as chancellor and chief almoner of the Holy Roman Empire.  His lifestyle was austere and he was noted for aid to the  poor, enforcement of clerical celibacy, and opposition to simony.  He was educated at the abbey of Fulda, became a Benedictine monk there, and served as abbot of Kaiserwerth (1029) and later of Horsfeld (1031).

However can I understand and overcome my inconsistency in making these posts.  I still love reading the lives every day.  I first look for prior posts for the St of the day, and would quote/copy it and add a thought if I could.  When no Saint is already posted for the day, I look in Delaney or Foley and almost always find several, but then I face both the decision of which Saint to select, and which elements of their lives to celebrate.  Often little is reliably known about the Saints, but I but that doesn't seem worth mention.  I find myself struggling, and even more today when both Ss Peter and Paul are celebrated.  May they both pray for us.

It's fine reading these as pleasant surprises my friend to look forwards to. Irregularity has its purpose too. Whatever you prefer and find happiness with.

 :D

St. Peter and St. Paul, pray for us. :D

Thank you, Shin, for your encouragement.  Today is the feast for Ss Aquila and Prisca, the couple who were so helpful to St Paul.  They were expelled from Rome c42 by the Emperor's edict expelling all Jews.  St Paul visited them in Corinth, and they went with him to Ephesus where they resided until the Emperor's death.  It seems they returned to Rome, and their house served as a church, until they were martyred, according to the Roman Martyrology, although it was also reported they returned to Ephesus and were martyred there.  Pray for us Ss Aquila and Prisca.

Today is the feast of St Bonaventure (1221-74), who served as Minister General of the Franciscan Friars Minor, and later as Cardinal-Bishop of Albano when he developed the agenda for the 14th General Council of Lyons seeking reunion with the Eastern Church.  He was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1588.

Today is the feast of St Joseph Barsabbas, also called Justus, who was considered as replacement for Judas Iscariot as Apostle although St Matthias was chosen instead.  Delaney reports that some scholars believe Joseph was one of the 72 disciples that St Luke wrote about.

Today is the feast of St Lawrence of Brindisi (1559-1619).  He served as minister general of the Capuchin Franciscan order, also Papal emissary to many countries, and was named Doctor of the Church for his prolific writing and fluency in eight languages including Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.  At the age of 23 he had completed philosophy and Theology studies and was ordained  a priest.  St Lawrence, pray for us. 

   
Would not twenty-three have been considered too young for a man to be ordained a priest?

It's a fair question about priesthood qualifications, but so many doctrines have been changed it is sadly difficult to think of much that is constant.  The primary Capuchin website confirms his age was 23 at ordination.  My book of canon law is at home, and also a bit out of date, but my intent is to check what is there.  Also to search web, unless anyone else can help.

Quora.com cites canon law for ordination is 25, but adds that bishops can dispense for age over 24 1/2 and also apply to Rome for dispensation for a younger ages.

Today's feast is for St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787), Bishop, Doctor of the Church, and founder of the Redemptorist congregation in 1732.  He received doctorates in both canon and civil law from the University of Naples at the age of 16, but in 1726 was ordained as Oratorian priest and focused on apostolic missions. His books on Moral Theology and Glories of Mary have been widely acclaimed.

I am remiss in not having acknowledged that I am frequently using the Saint of the Day book by Fr Leonard Foley OFM, but often adding concepts from John Delaney.  Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration, and I was slow to notice Foley's explanation of changes in this edition (1990) and related remarks.  He said he added Roman Calendar Solemnities which have no specific Sunday or other Holy Day, but I need to bring an older edition to camp to understand which ones he refers to.
Next he comments the Solemnity is the highest category of Liturgical Celebration, citing seven, two each for our Lord Jesus and Holy Mother Mary, but not specified, and three more, for Ss Joseph, John the Baptist, and Peter and Paul (6/29).
Foley comments that Feasts ate the next highest Celebration, followed by Obligatory Memorials (about 1/3 of Saints Days), and Optional Memorials.  Until today I did not realize that my reference to the Feast day of a Saint was inappropriate, and I regret it.  I don't mean to seem "legalistic," I just believe in trying to keep our terminology precise and consistent.
Lord Jesus, Ss Peter, John, James, and John please pray for us, and help us imagine the Glory, Majesty, Splendor, and Beauty of our Lord Jesus.

As a long-ago BA major in English Lit, I have harbored for a long time a deep concern that many forces, particularly in the US, seem to conspire to render our English language virtually meaningless because so many words are used with a great many different meanings, and our academic powers seem to value poetic license, creative logic, and original expression more highly than truth, reason, and Revelation.
I appreciate and support freedom of speech in many aspects, but I deplore spin, deceit, and error, and so I admire almost every (mostly historic) Catholic effort to identify and correct those manifestations in the works of authors whether Catholic or otherwise.
Although I deeply enjoy reading almost every day one of my Dictionaries or Lives of the Saints, I struggle when I find discrepancies and other problems, which seem to me to undermine the faith of many, whether these problems occur in Scripture or other religious writings.  I'd like to see Imprimaturs require a much higher standard of accuracy.  I would be grateful to here what you think, and I wonder if you would be disturbed by comment on errors, omissions, etc in this thread.

Since year-end, I've been struggling about which Dictionary of Saints to follow in 2022.  I've read through both of my Foley editions, and several others, and have been inconsistently reading Oxford, Butler, Lodi's Saints of the Roman Calendar, Library of Catholic Devotion, and a couple others.  I still want to read a Saint Life each morning, and I very much enjoy looking at the posts here, even though it's hard sometimes to find one of the Saints of the day.  I'm fascinated that our Saints-works calendar seems to name a Saint each day but doesn't connect to details of the Saint's life.  I wonder if it might be possible to connect links or add text to the calendar.
I've decided to use the Catholic Devotion Lives, even though it's old (1958), because the lives are written concisely and most days offer just one Saint, which reduces my dilemma trying to decide which Saint to select for comment.
Needless to say, I still can't decide where to post my entries. 

eschator83, How about posting in Saints' & Spiritual Life General Discussion?

Thank you very much for your interest and encouragement.  I am struggling with priorities, I suppose.  Early every day I read the Saint of the day in one of my Saint books, after my morning prayer and my Word of the Lord card (see separate post).  Then I come to Works, read Shin's quotes, and all other posts.  Next my goal is a post or two here, and then to move on to my reading, writing, and a couple other websites. Eventually, of course, chores and errands.
I search in Works for prior entries on a Saint of the day, and if I find any, I'd like to link to them, or if copy them.  When I can't find saint here, I go to Butler or Delaney or Oxford or sometimes to a Saint of the day website.  Yesterday for the first time I found our Works Calendar that lists a Saint but doesn't seem to provide any biography.  I'm thinking about posting that Saint if there is no prior info in Works.  I am now off to find info about St Polycarp.

I remember back when the calendar was started I wished to link it to some mini hagiographies. :D

I also considered linking it to the Martyrology. That latter project is a possibility, it would be easier to achieve.

As for hagiographies, it is a more complex and time consuming project, as there is no single compilation of hagiographies in English that could be used due to various issues with some of the material. So it's a big project of sifting through multiple old public domain sources. If people post extracts from old public domain sources sufficiently to the forum, ones that are good and pious and the individual articles not tainted with a tendency towards disbelief in historically recorded miracles, eventually the posted material might be able to be gathered into webpages linked off the calendar to help people with daily devotions. :D

I'd like to be a volunteer, and I've read through the procedures for submitting prayers, but am intimidated by the complexity as well as not having much background to suggest edits, translations or interpretations.  Almost always I prefer a book to a computer file, but for lives of Saints I usually come first to Saints-works because I am intrigued how Cyril and others have added on to each other's comments.

Well, I'd welcome you occassionally posting little mini hagiographies from older works out of copyright -- anything published before the year of Our Lord 1923 is out of copyright. Later works are sometimes as well, or within copyright but permitted to be used sometimes with restrictions, but you have to look at the details, so that broad rule before that year is the one that works. It's a fine little devotional for whenever you or other folks feel like contributing to it. People will benefit from reading them here on the forums and possibly linked off the calendar in the future.

Just mention whatever book you're sourcing from when you post.

If you feel like doing this, please do and feel free whenever you wish. :)

God willing, I'll look into adding them to the calendar when there's enough material. My energy for expanding on the websites has not been there for awhile, my apologies, I am often only able to do a bare minimum, but I'll likely be able to do something like this if there's enough material provided through volunteer work. 

Many thanks for your encouragement and support.  I don't want to create work or stress for you; I'm very thankful you can be as consistent as you are with quotes for day and night, which I very much enjoy.  Sometimes I'm tempted to comment or ask a question about them, as members used to do occasionally in the past, but it seems it would be risking difficulty for you.  Please be healthy.

You're welcone. It's fine to ask questions, I cannot guarantee answers, especially immediately, but it's fine, feel free. :)

Our several conversations about calendars of Lives of Saints have led, motivated, and inspired me to many happy hours of comparing and web searching Calendars, the Divine Office, and Mass Missals.  It's one of those amazing and humbling times that I must realize and admit how little I know.
First, the Roman Calendar must have been enormously changed after Vat II; I haven't found either specific details or an explanation of the changes in Saints listed, but I have an adaptation of Enzo Lodi's Roman Calendar of 1992, which has only three Saints in February which correspond to my Catholic Devotion Library (1959) and similarly to our Works Calendar, which I thus presume is also pre-Vat II.
This led me to my to-be-read pile and my 2005 Catholic Book Publishing Co Lives of the Saints, which I now think I will follow for this year because it lists a Saint for most days, compared to only 13 (for February) in the Roman Calendar.  By contrast Delany lists seven Saints for today alone, and Butler lists eleven.  I wonder what the source was for our Works calendar (and the flowers) and if that source has a 2022 calendar?   

The Flores Ecclesiae calendar is sourced from an old book called Flores Ecclesiae, which is very short and simple with only a calendar, an introduction reproduced in the 'About' section of the website, and the moveable feasts' flowers noted at the end of the calendar.


I worked with some open source calendar software and programmed in some of the moveable feasts, but did not put in all I wished, I would liked to have included Octaves and Ember days, and had the moveable feasts appear on the daily calendar as well as the monthly. It is purely a devotional calendar for particular saints for particular days with the flowers that tend to bloom on their feast days, though this too depends on the seasons where you might live. It's really a supplemental devotional calendar and not meant to be anyone's sole calendar as it is.

In addition to the devotional calendar I'll refer to the Martyrology, or at times Butler's (it is online but I decided not to provide it) and I am using a proper Catholic calendar hung on my wall at home with Octaves and Ember Days, etc.

For 2023, I quite randomly selected the book of Lives of Saints published in 1955 by Catholic Book Publishing for my daily reading on Saints.  I'm embarrassed to write that it took about two weeks for me to realize that during 2022 I read the 2005 edition of this same book, apparently the 5th edition.  This is a fascinating lesson in how things have changed in the world.  The 1995 edition says printed in USA, 2005 says printed in China.
I've been struggling to imagine why the Saints have changed so much and perhaps I'll comment later on some of the differences.  In both books, today (2/2) is called feast of Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple, also feast of Purification of the Blessed Virgin, and also feast of Candlemas Day.  By contrast our parish calendar shows Presentation of the Lord, World Day for Consecrated Life, and Ground Hog Day.

Today, my 1955 and 2005 editions agree on the feast of St Eucherius of Orleans, whereas our Parish calendar shows only Geo Washington birthday, Presidents' Day (in some states) and World Day of Social Justice, which seems sad, although my 1992 Roman Calendar by Enzo Lodi, apparently revised extensively by Jordan Aumann, OP lists no saints between the seven Servite Founders on Feb 17 and St Peter Damian on Feb 21.  On the other hand, for Feb 20 Delaney lists (as the Roman Calendar) Tyrannio, Zenobius and companions, Sadoth, Eleutherius of Tournal, and Wulfric, as well as Eucherius.  In 714 Eucherius joined Benedictines at Abbey of Jumiege near Rouen with the intent of abandoning the world, but his uncle was Bishop of Orleans and at his death in 721 the people elected Eucherius as his successor.  At this point my sources diverge, but perhaps that's better left for another day.