Saint of the day and Feast days.

[Shin]

I think returning to them like this is great.

[eschator83]

Thanks for encouragement.  Have a good day.

[eschator83]

Saint Hilary of Poitiers.
Bishop and Doctor of the Church.
Hilary was born a pagan. He was the son of a noble Gallo-Roman family in Poitiers, then an important city in France. He was married and had a daughter named Apra (the daughter’s name is listed as Abia in other sources.)
Hilary had many  unanswered questions which paganism did not seem to address. His quest for the truth finally lead him to study Holy Scriptures, and it was the conception of God as portrayed there which led him to seek baptism and conversion, he was an adult by then, aged around 30.
After his conversion to Christianity, Hilary was elected as bishop of his home town, Poitiers. He emerged as the main defender of the Church against the Arians. He was condemned for his stand and exiled to Phrygia in Asia Minor for 4 years by Emperor Constantius II
“While in exile he visited many eastern churches, learning new things about the Church. It was here that he wrote a theological work called "On the Trinity." From this writing St. Hilary's symbol came to be three books and a quill pen” He also wrote "History of Synods."
Eventually Hilary was sent back to Poitiers.
“St. Hilary was known throughout France as a great preacher and author. Martin of Tours was attracted by his sermons, and as a young man came to Poitiers to hear him, remaining for some time as Hilary's disciple”
Apart from His commentaries on the Old and New Testament, particularly the Psalms, his chief works were the two already mentioned above, viz:
De, Trinitate ( On the Trinity) and De Synodis ( On the Synods)
Hilary died in Poitiers on November 1, 367.
He was proclaimed a "Doctor of the Church" in 1851, by Blessed Pope Pius IX
Saint Hilary of Poitiers
Pray for us!

This great post by Odhiambo was #1413 on 1/13/12. 

[eschator83]

   
Re: Saint of the day and Feast days.
« Reply #1424 on: January 17, 2012, 01:17:15 AM »
Today is the Memorial of
Saint Anthony of Egypt
Anthony, who is also called Saint Anthony of Egypt, Saint Anthony Abbot as well as Saint Anthony the Great, was born in Cooma near Herakleopolis Magna, Lower Egypt in 251, to wealthy parents who were landowners.
( It is rather puzzling; in different accounts of the original home of Saint Anthony, one finds records of the saint being born in different parts of Egypy, viz: 1: “Herakleopolis Magna in Lower Egypt”; 2:”Antony was born in 251 at Coma, a village near Great Heracleopolis in Middle Egypt” ; 3: “was born and raised by pious Christian parents at Como in Upper Egypt”, As you can see, he was born in Lower, Middle as well as Upper Egypt)!
 Most of what is known about the life of Anthony comes from the "Life of Anthony" written in Greek around 360 by Athanasius of Alexandria
The parents were pious Christians who shielded him from the outside world, keeping him closely at home. When he was about 18, his parents died, leaving him a large estate and the responsibility and care of a younger sister.
Soon after the death of his parents, Anthony was in Church one day when he heard spoken, the text from Matthew XIX, 21, in which Christ says to the rich young man, "Go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor." Antony took this command as meant for him.
He went home and deeded a large part of his estate to his neighbor. He then sold the rest of the estate and gave the money to the poor, saving only what he thought was necessary to maintain him and his sister.
At another time in Church, he heard yet again, other words which Christ spoke (Matthew vi, 34), "Do not be anxious about tomorrow."
Anthony now gave away whatever he had kept for themselves, placed his sister in a "house of virgins," and he became a hermit. “He retired to a solitary place and occupied himself with manual labor, prayer, and religious reading. His only food was bread and a little salt, and he drank nothing but water. His bed was a rush mat. He soon became a model of humility, piety, and self-discipline.”
Anthony’s solitary life was marked by many temptations by the devil and demons.
The terrible and fantastic forms that these took were represented later in literature and art about him. Anthony prevailed against demons in the shapes of wild beasts, evil thoughts, and even human persons, for instance, at one time Satan himself is said to have appeared in visible form, first as a seductive woman, then as a black and terrifying man. Saint Anthony prevailed against all these temptations. His biographer attributes these victories to his constant faith and the use of the sign of the Cross and the name of Jesus.
“In quest now of greater solitude, he hid himself in an old tomb in the desert, where a friend brought him a little bread from time to time. Here Satan again attacked him and deafened him with loud noises. Once, Athanasius says, Anthony was so grievously beaten that when his friend arrived, he lay almost dead.”

When he was about 35, Anthony moved still farther out into the wilderness to an abandoned fort across the Nile River. His reputation grew during the years he spent at the fort, and many hermits came to him for instruction in the discipline of the ascetic life. Finally, in 305, the first religious community of hermits was founded here.
During the persecution of Christians by the Roman emperor Maximus about 311, Anthony went to Alexandria, where he visited and encouraged the captive Christians; he was hoping for martyrdom himself, but it was not to be. When the persecution ended, he moved again into the wilderness. He left his mountain on only one more occasion when, about 335, he visited Alexandria to join Athanasius in fighting the Arian heresy. In debates with heretics and philosophers Anthony demonstrated considerable learning and rhetorical skill. Later, he returned to his ascetic life in the wilderness.
People traveled great distances to his retreat, not only for instruction but also to benefit from the miracles reputed to occur at his bidding. He advised the great, such as the Roman emperor Constantine and his sons, and the imperial government.
The Saint died in 356, when he was about 105 years old.
Two disciples buried his body, not embalming it above ground in the Egyptian manner. His grave was unmarked, but his garments were sent to the Egyptian bishops Athanasius and Serapion.
Saint Anthony is revered as the Patron of hospital workers, butchers, grave diggers, and brush and basket makers ( I wonder the connection?)
His intercession is sought especially in cases of epilepsy, pestilence, erysipelas, a skin disease also called Saint Anthony’s Fire” and other skin diseases.
Saint Anthony,
Pray for us!
Thanks to Odhiambo for another great post

[eschator83]

Saint Romuald

Romauld was born in Ravenna, Italy around the year 950. He was the son of an illustrious ducal family of the house of Onesti (Honesti). His youth was spent frivolously, in the persuit of worldly pleasures. It took a murder to bring him to his senses. This is what happened.

When Romauld was 20 years old, his father Sergius had a land dispute with a relative. To settle the matter, they agreed to a duel. Sergius, wanted his young son to witness the fight. The duel was fought, Sergius killed the relative and Romuald watched it all. He was so horrified at the slaying that he entered the Benedictine monastery of Appollinaire at Classe, about four miles from Ravenna, in the hope of atoning for his father's sin. The atonement was to last for 40 days. He performed great austerities and prayed and wept in repentance. When the 40-day period ended, Romuald, found he now desired to lead a religious life. He stayed on for three years then went to live as a hermit near Venice. He put himself under the direction of a severe ascetic named Marinus who lived there .
He was joined by Peter Urseolus, Duke of Venice, and together they led a most austere life and were frequently assaulted by the evil spirits.

After living as a hermit for 10 years, Romuald return to Ravenna to encourage his father Sergius who had also become a monk and was inconsolable over the murder. By now Romauld's reputation had spread. He was named by Emperor Otto III as the abbot of San Appollinaire in Classe in 996. He served for only two years then resigned in 998 to resume his hermitic life. The Saint, a born wanderer, wondered throughout northern Italy and the Pyrenees. He founded several hermitages and monasteries in central and northern Italy, chief among these was the monastery he founded at Camaldoli, a wild desert place near Arezzo. Here he built a church, which he surrounded with a number of separate cells for the solitaries who lived under his rule. This became the motherhouse of the Camaldolese (as his disciples are called), Order.
He is said to have seen here a vision of a mystic ladder, and his white-clothed monks ascending by it to heaven. This is the explanation for his liturgical artistic representation as a monk pointing at a ladder on which other monks are ascending to heaven,
Among his first disciples were Sts. Adalbert and Boniface, apostles of Russia, and Sts. John and Benedict of Poland, martyrs for the Faith.
Romuald tried several times to travel to Hungary to evangalize the Slavs, but he was not successful in this venture.
He died on the 19th of June, 1027 at his monastery of Val Castro, in Marquisate of Ancona. He died from natural causes. On 7 February 1481 his incorrupt remains was translated to Fabriano, Italy, where it is now enshrined.
Prior to 1969 his feast was held on this date of translation of his relics in 1481.
He was canonized in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII.

Saint Romuald,
Pray for us!

My Library of Catholic Devotion (1958) also shows this feast on 2/7.  It notes that in 1958 the Camaldolese first sent to monks to found a monastery in the US, and says  the name of the Order was chosen to honor Count Maldonus, who donated his land at Campo Maldoli.

[eschator83]

St John the Baptist is celebrated on his birth date (June 24) as well as the date of his death (Oct 29).  In ancient times according to Dom P L P Gueranger in my Catholic Book Publishing Lives of the Saints, it was common practice to celebrate the feast by lighting large fires as the last light from the sun receded around the world.

Beheading of Saint John The Baptist.
We read about the cruel death of Saint John in the Gospels.
According to the Gospel of Saint Mark, When Herod Antipas married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip who was yet living, Saint John the Baptist boldly reprimanded him. Afraid that John's preaching would start a revolt, Herod had him arrested and imprisoned.
Although Herod feared John, he knew John was a holy and rightous man. He had no intention of killing him. Not so, however for Herodius, a woman, full of vengeance and  jealousy. She looked for any chance to have him killed. This opportunity came when Herod gave a grand birthday party to the elite of Galilee and her daughter Salome danced to entertain the revellers.
Salome's dancing so pleased Herod that he promised her anything she desired. Herodias prompted her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist. Herod granted her wish and John was killed.
Here is how the Evangelist Saint Mark puts it:

"The king was greatly distressed but because of his oaths and the guests he did not wish to break his word to her. So he promptly dispatched an executioner with orders to bring back his head. He went off and beheaded him in prison. He brought the head back on a platter and gave it to the girl. The girl in turn gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb."

Mk 6:26-29
Thus John died, beheaded at Machaerus. He was buried at Sebaste in Samaria.
His relics are in Saint Sylvester’s church, Rome, Italy, and at Amiens, France .
The day for this feast is taken from the date when the Church of St. John was dedicated at Sebaste, in Samaria. This church is located at what is traditionaly thought to be the burial site for Saint John.
Saint John the Baptist,
Pray for us!

[eschator83]

Dedication of the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome.

The Church commemorates the consecration of the four great Roman basilicas, called the Major Basilicas.
 There are just four of this type in the world and  all are found in Rome. They are:
1: Saint John Lateran Basilica.
2:Saint Peter’s Basilica
3:The Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.
4: The Basilica of Saint Mary Major
These four great basilicas, were called
Patriarchal Cathedrals in memory of the firsts centers of the Church.
 St John Lateran representing Rome, the See of Peter.
 St Paul Outside the Walls, represented the See of Alexandria.
St Peter’s Basilica represented the See of Constantinople.
The Basilica of St Mary Major represented the See of Antioch.
Today we commemorate the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, also known as:
Liberian Basilica and the Basilica of Our Lady of the Snows.
This is the largest Church in Christendom honoring God through Mary. According to Tradition, here is how the Church came to be built.
 A wealthy Roman couple had no children. They wanted to pledge their entire fortune to the Mother of God. Our Lady must have been in favor of this noble plan. She appeared in a dream to the couple, John and his wife as well as to the pope, Pope Liberius. She asked them to build a church in her honor where the snow would fall on the night of August 4-5. True to the vision, a sudden midsummer snowfall occurred on the night of 4 August 355. Pope Liberius went and traced the outlines of the church in the snow, and the first basilica was built on that site.
Following the Council of Ephesus in 431, in which Mary was declared Theotokos, i. e., “Mother of God”, Pope Sixtus III, in commemoration of this victory over Nestorius,  rebuilt the Liberian Basilica and dedicated it to Santa Maria Maggiore, i. e., St Mary Major. This is what the Church commemorates today.
The  basilica is located on the summit of the Esquiline Hill in Rome. It is called the Basilica of Saint Mary Major (Latin: Basilica Sancta Mariæ Majoris) because it is the largest church in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Hail Mary conceived without sin.
Pray for us who have recourse to thee.

When my Missal has no Saint listed for the day, I find myself roaming through it, and then my Liturgy of the Hours, then to one or more of my Lives of Saints books, and soon coming here to Saintsworks.  Today I roamed to 11/9, the feast of the dedication of the Roman Lateran Basilica, which we were blessed to visit in 2009.  I've been happily searching here and in my notes and books looking for confirmation whether there was/is a person/Saint named St John Lateranus.  This family was very prominent, and Fausta Lateranae was the wife of Constantine and he acquired the Laterani palace and estate sometime before 311 when he gave it to the Church.  But was there a St John Lateran?

[CyrilSebastian]

Dedication of the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome.

The Church commemorates the consecration of the four great Roman basilicas, called the Major Basilicas.
 There are just four of this type in the world and  all are found in Rome. They are:
1: Saint John Lateran Basilica.
2:Saint Peter’s Basilica
3:The Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.
4: The Basilica of Saint Mary Major
These four great basilicas, were called
Patriarchal Cathedrals in memory of the firsts centers of the Church.
 St John Lateran representing Rome, the See of Peter.
 St Paul Outside the Walls, represented the See of Alexandria.
St Peter’s Basilica represented the See of Constantinople.
The Basilica of St Mary Major represented the See of Antioch.
Today we commemorate the Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, also known as:
Liberian Basilica and the Basilica of Our Lady of the Snows.
This is the largest Church in Christendom honoring God through Mary. According to Tradition, here is how the Church came to be built.
 A wealthy Roman couple had no children. They wanted to pledge their entire fortune to the Mother of God. Our Lady must have been in favor of this noble plan. She appeared in a dream to the couple, John and his wife as well as to the pope, Pope Liberius. She asked them to build a church in her honor where the snow would fall on the night of August 4-5. True to the vision, a sudden midsummer snowfall occurred on the night of 4 August 355. Pope Liberius went and traced the outlines of the church in the snow, and the first basilica was built on that site.
Following the Council of Ephesus in 431, in which Mary was declared Theotokos, i. e., “Mother of God”, Pope Sixtus III, in commemoration of this victory over Nestorius,  rebuilt the Liberian Basilica and dedicated it to Santa Maria Maggiore, i. e., St Mary Major. This is what the Church commemorates today.
The  basilica is located on the summit of the Esquiline Hill in Rome. It is called the Basilica of Saint Mary Major (Latin: Basilica Sancta Mariæ Majoris) because it is the largest church in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Hail Mary conceived without sin.
Pray for us who have recourse to thee.

When my Missal has no Saint listed for the day, I find myself roaming through it, and then my Liturgy of the Hours, then to one or more of my Lives of Saints books, and soon coming here to Saintsworks.  Today I roamed to 11/9, the feast of the dedication of the Roman Lateran Basilica, which we were blessed to visit in 2009.  I've been happily searching here and in my notes and books looking for confirmation whether there was/is a person/Saint named St John Lateranus.  This family was very prominent, and Fausta Lateranae was the wife of Constantine and he acquired the Laterani palace and estate sometime before 311 when he gave it to the Church.  But was there a St John Lateran?

     
 
eschator, There was no person. The patrons were Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist.

[Shin]

I think eschator you are far from the first one to wonder that!

[eschator83]

Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini.
Frances was born in Sant’Angelo Lodigiano, Italy on July 15, 1850.
She was the youngest of thirteen children of Augustine Cabrini, a farmer and his wife, Stella Oldini Cabrini.
Frances wanted to become a nun but because her health was poor, she was not accepted.
In 1874, Monsignor Serrati, the parish pastor, asked Frances, (she was called Maria Francesca at the time) to take over the house of Providence Orphanage at Codogno, which was then, very poorly operated. After six years, this particular institution was closed, one of the reasons for the closure being that the founder did not get on well with Frances.
Frances was not deterred, with seven others, she moved into an abandoned friary at Codogno and founded The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, devoted to teaching young girls.
The congregation expanded to Rome and Milan in 1880. She was now called Mother Cabrini.
She wanted to send sisters to China but Pope Leo X111 advised her to send them to the United States of America instead.
She was invited by Archbishop Corrigan of New York.
She went to the States in 1889 with six nuns.
Soon she founded Schools, hospitals, and orphanages and saw them flourish.
In twenty seven years, her congregation had spread across the United States, Italy, England, France, and Spain and into Central and South America.
She founded as many as sixty (more by other accounts) religious houses and charitable organizations.
In 1909, Frances became an American citizen.
She died in Columbus Hospital in Chicago Illinois on December 22, 1907.
She was canonized by Pope Pius X11 in 1946.
In 1950, the Pope declared her patroness of immigrants worldwide.
Frances was, reportedly, the first American citizen to become a saint.
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini,
Pray for us!

Today 11/13 is the Memorial of St Frances.  She was the first US Citizen to be canonized, according to my 2005 Catholic Book Publishing Corp Lives of the Saints.  May she pray for us.

[Speramus]

Happy third day of Christmas

Saint John the Apostle
John, who was an Apostle and Evangelist, was the younger son of Zebedee, a wealthy Galilean fisherman. John had an older brother, Saint James the Greater, with whom he was called “boanerges” meaning “sons of thunder”. The three were all fishermen on the Sea of Galilee.
The brothers were disciples of Saint John the Baptist untill Our Lord called them. He not only became a disciple of Jesus, he was, together with James and Peter, a member of the inner circle around Jesus.
He was present at the raising of Jairus’ daughter; the Transfiguration.
At the Last Supper, a very solemn occasion indeed, John, the youngest , among the Apostles, was permitted to recline his head on the chest of Jesus . John was present at the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane and again “the disciple whom Jesus loved” , was permitted into the Palace of Caiphas on the night Jesus was betrayed. “Being known to the High Priest, John was the only one of the 12 Apostles to remain at the foot of the Cross throughout Christ’s Agony and it was to his loving care that Jesus entrusted His Immaculate Mother.
On the first Easter morning, it was again John and Peter, who raced to the empty tomb.
According to tradition, John lived in Ephesus before being exiled to Patmos during the reign of Emperor Domitian, “Because I proclaimed God’s Word and gave testimony to Jesus”(Rv. 1:9). At Patmos, John wrote the Book of Revelation, although some experts believe that the Book of Revelation could have been written by one of his disciples.
A few years later, Saint John returned to Ephesus where he wrote the Gospel and the three epistles attributed to him.
He died of old age.
In liturgical art, John’s symbol is the eagle.
Saint John,
You who was Beloved of the Master,
Pray for us!

[eschator83]

Pope St Sylvester served from 314-335 during the triumphal but difficult reign of Emperor Constantine, whose edict of Milan in 313 granted favored status to the Church, but who soon began to favor the heretic Arians, apparently under the influence of his sister, despite the condemnation of Arians and Donatists by the councils of Arles and Nicaea.   Pope Sylvester, who had survived the dreadful earlier persecution by Emperors Diocletian and Maxentius, succeeded in building numerous cathedrals despite constant attacks by those heretics.  His disappointment must have been enormous that the headquarters of Constantine moved to Constantinople.  Pope St Sylvester, pray for us.