This week we will celebrate the Assumption (Roman name) or Dormition (Byzantine name) of Our Lady, referring to the grace given her by Jesus of being taken up body and soul into heaven. As we prepare for this great feast on August 15, a holy day of obligation, we should strive to put Jesus first in our lives as His mother and all the saints did so that death will not catch us unprepared.
Christ’s Transfiguration (Aug.6) occurred when the Apostles Peter, James, and John beheld Christ in His Divine Glory, flanked by Moses and Elias, as God the Father called upon the stunned apostles to listen to Christ, His beloved Son (see Lk.9; Matt.17; 2Peter). Read more here.
St. Lawrence (August 10) “was a deacon of St. Sixtus II, Pope and Martyr. When the prefect of Rome arrested him, he distributed the possessions of the Church to the poor to save them from confiscation [and presented the poor to the authorities as the Church’s treasures]. He was slowly roasted to death on a gridiron in 258.” Said to have joked that he was done on one side and could be turned over. St. Romanus (August 9), “a Roman soldier, converted by St. Lawrence, was cruelly beaten, and beheaded in 261.”1
St. Edith Stein (Aug.9), or Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, was born in 1891 to a German Jewish family. She became a brilliant intellectual, was an atheist for some time, and read her way into Catholicism. She became a Carmelite nun, writer, teacher, and lecturer. Nazi anti-Semitism cost her her positions and then her life as she and her sister were gassed at Auschwitz for being both Jewish and Catholic nuns. The “Basilica of Our Lady of the Snow, called also St. Mary Major, was built on the Esquiline at Rome by St. Liberius, Pope from 352 to 366. Popular tradition relates that the site was traced out by a miraculous fall of snow on this date, which is that of the Feast of the Church’s Dedication, [following a vision of Mary.]”
St. Clare of Assisi (Aug.12) “expressed to St. Francis the desire to consecrate herself to God. Together with him, she became the foundress of the Franciscan Nuns of the Second Order: the ‘Poor Clares.’ She governed her convent for forty-two years, and died in 1253.”1 Saved her convent from an invading force by holding up the Eucharist. Patroness of TV, as the Mass was miraculously projected into her room.
St. Philomena (Aug. 11) was lost to history for centuries, but her grave was re-discovered and identified her as a martyr. St. Jean Vianney (Aug.8, see previous piece) and Pauline Jaricot spread devotion to her, and some details about her have been revealed through visions; it is said she was still a young girl when she was martyred. The Blessed Virgin reportedly said in a vision, “To Philomena, nothing is refused,” and indeed her intercession has brought about many miracles. St. Miguel de la Mora (Aug.7) was a Mexican priest who secretly ministered to parishioners during anti-Catholic persecution and was martyred in front of his brother in 1927 while praying the Rosary for his executioners.
Sts. Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus(Aug.8): “Cyriacus, [a] Deacon, and his two companions, Largus and Smaragdus, were put to death in the persecution of Diocletian in 303.” Cyriacus, a miracle-worker and evangelizer, is one of the 14 Holy Helpers. St. Cajetan (Aug.7) “founded the Order of Theatines, who endeavored to imitate the Apostles in absolute poverty, trusting alone in the divine Providence. The ‘Hunter of souls,’ as he was called, died in 1547, after a life of extraordinary austerity and mystical experiences.”
St. Donatus (Aug.7), “Bishop of Arezzo, in Tuscany, was beheaded under the Emperor Julian the Apostate in 361.” St. Matthias the Apostle (Aug. 9, Byzantine) was one of Christ’s disciples during Jesus’s earthly ministry and was later chosen to replace Judas Iscariot the traitor among the 12 Apostles after Jesus’s Resurrection and Ascension. “Preached the Gospel for more than 30 years in Judea, Cappadocia, Egypt and Ethiopia…[emphasized] mortification of the flesh with regard to all its sensual and irregular desires. Martyr.”
Pope St. Sixtus II (Aug.6/7) or Xystus “and two of his deacons, St. Felicissimus and St. Agapitus, were martyred during the persecution of Decius in 258.” St. Clare of Assisi (Aug.11) “expressed to St. Francis the desire to consecrate herself to God. Together with him, she became the foundress of the Franciscan Nuns of the Second Order: the ‘Poor Clares.’ She governed her convent for forty-two years, and died in 1253.” St. Jeanne de Chantal (Aug. 12) was a wife, Baroness, mother, widow, friend of St. Francis de Sales, and founder of the Visitationist nuns.
St. Marianne Cope (Aug.9) was a German immigrant to America, a teacher, hospital supervisor, and religious sister. She went with other Franciscans to Hawaii to care for lepers and dedicated the rest of her life to the physical, educational, and spiritual betterment of the lepers (d.1918). “The Roman deacon Tiburtius [Aug.11], son of the prefect of Rome, was beheaded after suffering many cruel torments in 286 [His father Chromatius is also a saint]. Susanna, a holy virgin of high lineage, refused to marry the son of Diocletian, and was beheaded after grievous torments in 295.”
St. Nathy (Aug.9) was an Irish cleric who founded a church and monastery, the latter famed for its learning and piety. He may have been a bishop and was certainly the spiritual teacher of St. Fechin of Fobar. Bl. Amadeus of Portugal (Aug.10) was a married Portuguese courtier who later became a monk, hermit, biblical commentator, and founder of the Amadeistene Franciscan reform (d.1482). Pope St. Hormisdas (Aug.6), father of Pope Silverius, began his papacy by ending schisms, including a break between Constantinople and Rome. His formula of faith is famous (d.523).
St. Claudia of Rome (Aug.7) was a Roman matron, the wife and mother of saints. She hosted St. Peter in 42. Bl. Karl Leisner (Aug. 12) was a pious German, he led Catholic youth groups despite Nazi persecution, was secretly ordained a priest while in Dachau concentration camp, and died soon after Dachau was liberated. St. Mary MacKillop (Aug. 8) was an educator and co-founder of Australia’s first religious order. She was excommunicated but later cleared of all false charges (d.1909). Bl. Tadeusz Dulny(Aug.6) was a Polish seminarian arrested by Nazis. He was abused and starved to death in Dachau in 1942. St. Emilian of Cyzicus(Aug.8) was the first bishop to defy Iconoclast Emperor Leo the Armenian’s heresy in the 9th century. Emilian died in prison. Bl. Augustine Ota (Aug. 10) was a Japanese catechist and Jesuit martyred in 1622.
St. Alexander the Charcoal Burner (Aug.11) was a well-educated Greek who became a humble charcoal burner, but was later discovered and made bishop (martyred c.275). St. Maurilio of Rouen (Aug.9) was an 11th century Gallic hermit, abbot, peacemaker, and archbishop who built churches and combatted highway robbery. St. Bessus (Aug.10) was a 3rd century Theban Legion soldier, miracle-worker, evangelist, and martyr. Bl. Florentino Asensio Barroso (Aug.9) was a charitable bishop martyred in the Spanish Civil War. Sts. Justus and Pastor (Aug.6) were young boys martyred for refusing to worship idols.
St. Antôn Nguyen Dích (Aug. 12), Vietnamese martyr, from Catholicsaints.info: “Married layman in the apostolic vicariate of West Tonkin. A wealthy farmer, solid citizen, and patron of his church.” He helped, funded, and hid missionaries. “Arrested and tortured for his faith, his association with foreigners, and for sheltering priests, especially Saint James Nam, who was arrested on Anton’s property.” Bl. Richard Bere (Aug.9) was an English Carthusian choir monk martyred with others in 1537 for refusing to take the heretical Oath of Supremacy.
St. Blane (Aug.10) was a Scottish monk, bishop, missionary, and miracle-worker who could shoot lightning from his fingers (d.c.590). Bl. Faustino Oteiza Segura(Aug.9) was a sickly priest and teacher martyred in the Spanish Civil War. Bl. John Felton (Aug.8) was married to English Queen Mary’s maid of honor, and was martyred in 1570 for challenging London’s bishop to accept the excommunication of Queen Elizabeth. St. Afra (Aug.7) was converted by a bishop she hid and was martyred at the turn of the 4th century. Bl. Maurice Tornay (Aug.11) was a Swiss missionary priest to China and to Tibet, where he was martyred in 1949. Bl. Carlos Díaz Gandía (Aug. 11) was an active lay catechist, husband, and father martyred in 1936 in the Spanish Civil War.
Pope Innocent XI (Aug.12) fought heresy, nepotism, and civil meddling in church affairs. St. Altmann of Passau (Aug.8) was an 11th century German bishop exiled for announcing the emperor’s excommunication. St. Myron of Crete(Aug.8) was a farmer whose charity to a band of thieves converted them; Myron became a priest and miracle-worker (d.350). St. Albert of Sicily (Aug.7) was a famous Carmelite preacher and miracle-worker (d.c.1307). St. Attracta of Killaraght (Aug.11) worked with St. Patrick to evangelize Ireland. Bl. Vincent de L’Aquila (Aug.7) was a Franciscan hermit who would levitate during prayer.
You can also read about Maria Francesca Rubatto, Carlos López Vidal, Glisente, Josep Bonet, Gezelin of Schlebusch, William of Altavilla, Gislain of Luxemburg, and Guillermo Sanz (Aug. 6); Victricius, Edmund Bojanowski, Ed.Bamber, Dalmacio Bellota Pérez, Agathangelus Nourry and Cassian, Thomas Whitaker, Jordan Forzatei, and Nicholas Postgate(Aug. 7); Antonio Silvestre Moya, Famianus, Paul Ge Tingzhu, W. Laskowski, and Antero Mateo (Aug. 8); John of Salerno, Firmus and Rusticus, Numidicus and martyrs, Phelim, Candida Maria, Cayetano G. Martin, JMHernández, and Claude Richard (Aug. 9); Archangelus Piacentini, Lazare Tiersot, Gerontius, Franciszek Drzewiecki, Augustine Ota, Our Lady of Good Success, F. François, Hugh of Montaigu, and Deusdedit the Cobbler (Aug. 10); Rafael Alonso Gutiérrez, S.Rowsham, Equitius of Valeria, Rusticola, Jean-Georges Rehm, and John Sandys (Aug. 11); and Jozef Stepniak, Felix Perez Portela, Euplus, Pierre Jarrige, and Porcarius and companions (Aug. 12).
Have a blessed week!
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Author: Catherine Salgado
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