[{"SaintID":"S20230920","Heading":"St Andrew Kim Taegon, St Paul Chong Hasang and Companions,","Content":"Today we celebrate two Korean martyrs. \r\n\r\nSt Andrew Kim Taegon is the patron saint of Korea and was the country's first Catholic priest born in Korea. \r\n\r\nSt Paul Chong Hasang was a Korean lay apostle. \r\n\r\nTheir future was prepared by God in the families He chose for them. \r\n\r\nSt Andrew's parents were Korean nobility, who had converted to Catholicism. \r\n\r\nThe faith was introduced into the country initially by Japanese Christian soldiers who invaded Korea in 1592, and subsequently by lay people in the late 18th century. \r\n\r\nEvangelisation was problematic because Korea refused all contact with the outside world except for taking taxes to Beijing annually. \r\n\r\nAround the year 1777, educated Koreans began to study Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in China. A home Church began. \r\n\r\nA dozen years later, when a Chinese priest managed to enter Korea in secret, he encountered some 4,000 Catholics. None had ever seen a priest.\r\n\r\nThe faith was illegal in Korea and St Andrew's father was martyred for his beliefs. St Paul\u0092s father, another Catholic martyr, wrote the first catechism in Korean.\r\n\r\nAfter he was baptised at the age of 15, St Andrew travelled 1,300 miles to start his priestly training at a seminary in Macau, a Portuguese colony in China.\r\n\r\nHe spent time in the Philippines before being ordained a priest in Shanghai in 1844, by a French bishop.\r\n\r\nReturning to Korea to evangelise, St Andrew was later arrested for trying to bring French missionaries from China into Korea.\r\n\r\n Accused of treason and of leading a heretical sect, he was sentenced to death. \r\n\r\nHe was tortured and beheaded near Seoul on September 16, 1846. Only 25 years old, he had been ordained just 13 months previously. \r\n\r\nHis last words were: \"If I have held communication with foreigners, it has been for my religion and for my God. It is for Him that I die. My immortal life is on the point of beginning.\" \r\n\r\nSt Paul Chong Hasang knew poverty and persecution growing up, because of his family\u0092s faith. \r\n\r\nUndaunted, at the age of 21, he went to China to ask the Bishop of Peking to send missionaries to Korea. \r\n\r\nIn 1831, largely thanks to St Paul and his followers, the Vicariate of Korea was established and the Foreign Mission Society of Paris was put in charge of the Church in Korea. \r\n\r\nHe made many journeys to escort foreign missionaries from China to Korea. Impressed by St Paul's faith, a Bishop he had helped want to train him for the priesthood. \r\n\r\nThis never happened because just at that moment, a new wave of persecutions against Catholics broke out in Korea. \r\n\r\nThe Bishop was obliged to flee. St Paul, his mother and sister were arrested. \r\n\r\nWhile in prison awaiting his execution, St Paul wrote an eloquent letter to the Korean government defending the Catholic faith. It was much praised even by enemies of Catholicism. \r\n\r\nYet the government refused to change its mind. On September 22nd, 1839, St Paul and his family were beheaded outside Seoul.\r\n\r\nOn May 6, 1984, Pope John Paul II canonised St Andrew along with 102 other Korean Martyrs, including Paul Chong Hasang, during his trip to Korea.\r\n\r\nSt Andrew and St Paul were single-minded in their pursuit of Christ and desire to spread the good news. \r\n\r\nMay their example encourage us and their focus inspire us. \r\n","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-09-20","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230919","Heading":"St Janarius, The red-blooded Bishop, ","Content":"If you are in Naples today, expect a miracle. \r\n\r\nFor today is the feast of St. Janarius, whose dry blood usually becomes liquid today.\r\n\r\nLittle is known about Janarius, beyond this. He was a Bishop of Benevento in Italy in the third century and was rumoured to have hidden Christians during the anti-Christian persecution instigated by the Roman Emperor Diocletian.\r\n\r\nWhat is known is that Janarius also died as a martyr for his faith. \r\n\r\nIt was an age of miracles: one account of Janarius's martyrdom states that the Bishop was thrown into a fiery furnace, but was untouched by the flames.\r\n\r\nWhen taken to an ampitheatre, the wild beasts would not come near him. \r\n\r\nThe Roman official in his region, Campania in Southern Italy, who sentenced Janarius to death, accused him of magic. and ordered his beheading. He then went blind and Janarius healed him. \r\n\r\nFive thousand people were reported to have become Christians as a result, before Janarius's head was cut off. \r\n\r\nOne was a holy woman named Eusebia, who after Janarius had died, collected his blood, keeping this in two flasks as a relic.\r\n\r\nSince the year 1389, it has regularly turned to liquid and then become solid again. \r\n\r\nSeveral Popes has seen this happen in person, including Pope Francis. \r\n\r\nThe last time the  blood of St. Janarius liquefied was on May 2nd, 2020. \r\n\r\nSt Janarius is the patron saint of blood donors, goldsmiths, and those who have suffered heart attacks. \r\n\r\nMay his courage and love of God above all things inspire us, today and always. ","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-09-19","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230913","Heading":"St John Chrysostom, The Plain Speaker,","Content":"The phrase \"speaking truth unto power,\" could have been designed for St John Chrysostom. \r\n\r\nWhen he became Archbishop of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) in the year 398, he wasted no time in reforming the corruption around him, whether that meant the Imperial court, the clergy or the people. \r\n\r\nHis own household budget was slashed and spent on the poor and hospitals. \r\n\r\nHe told off Christians for going to the races on Good Friday, and disciplined the clergy. He got rid of bishops who had bribed their way into office.\r\n\r\nWay before he became bishop, John was famous for his preaching, especially on the Gospels of Matthew and John and the Letters of St Paul.\r\n\r\nPeople called him \"golden mouth\". \r\n\r\nHis sermons lasted two hours sometimes. \r\n\r\nJohn never minced his words. He said the reason private property existed was because of Adam's fall from grace.\r\n\r\nAnd he told married men that they needed to be just as faithful as their wives.\r\n\r\nThis plain speaking won John enemies. \r\n\r\nThe Empress Eudoxia took some of his remarks on the dress and behaviour of ladies of the court as a personal insult. \r\n\r\nAccused of treason, John was exiled. \r\n\r\nHe died on this day in 407. \r\n\r\nLet us pray today for those in authority in the Church to have the courage to speak truth unto power, and act always with integrity, like John. \r\n","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-09-13","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230909","Heading":"St Peter Claver, The Friend to Slaves,","Content":"St. Peter Claver was a Jesuit with a passion for helping slaves.\r\n \r\nIn the 16th century, he went to South America, to the land now known as Colombia.\r\n\r\nHe would hang around the port of Cartagena, on the Caribbean coast, to meet the slaves freshly arriving from Africa.\r\n\r\nFrom Peter, they would receive food, medicine, bread, brandy, lemons and tobacco. He would beg for these items. \r\n\r\nHe would insist on going aboard the ships, to tend to the slaves, and share the Gospel with them. \r\n\r\nPeter told them how much God loved and valued them, in spite of the vile cruelty to which men subjected them. \r\n\r\nOriginally from Spain, Peter, who was ordained a Jesuit in 1615, lived in South America at a time when the slave trade was flourishing, despite the fact Pope Paul III had condemned it.\r\n\r\nAnd the port of Cartagena was the epicentre of the continent's slave traffic. \r\n\r\nOften those who survived the horrific conditions on the ships from Africa - around one-third of all those transported died - were sold for work in gold mines.\r\n\r\nOver a 35-year period, Peter baptised around  300,000 slaves.\r\n\r\nHe tried to do so before they were sold so that he could insist that their owners should treat them as Christians. \r\n\r\nRegularly, he would preach in public against slavery, and hold missions geared at sailors and merchants to try and bring about their conversion and a change of heart. \r\n\r\nIf leading a mission outside the city, St Peter would seek lodgings among the slaves. He never stayed in the homes of plantation owners. \r\n\r\nHe took to heart St Paul's words to the Galatians about all men and women being equal in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3: 28).\r\n\r\nIn 1651, he sickened with plague and became so ill he could not leave his room. \r\n\r\nSadly, the ex-slave hired to care for him often neglected him, frequently failing to bring him food. \r\n\r\nSt Peter never complained. He thought he deserved this.\r\n\r\nHe died on September 7th, 1654 but the house where St Peter lived in Cartagena, Colombia, is still standing. \r\n\r\nSt Peter, give us your heart to see injustice and your courage to fight against it.  ","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-09-09","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230828","Heading":"St Augustine, The Bad Lad, ","Content":"St Augustine was the original teen rebel. He was more interested in sex and having fun as a young man than God. \r\n\r\nHe hung out with a bad crowd, looking for kicks. \r\n\r\nOne night they stole some pears to throw at pigs: \"It was foul, and I loved it. I loved my own undoing,\" Augustine would later write in his autobiographical Confessions, in a passage that led to him being called \"the first psychologist\". \r\n\r\nWhat he points up with the tale of the pears is his thrill in deliberately doing what was forbidden. \r\n\r\nThis honesty and instinct for truth drove the young Augustine to seek wisdom. \r\n\r\nA bright lad, he read up on Cicero the Roman philosopher, and to the upset of his devout Catholic mother, Monica, began to follow the teachings of a Persian named Mani, who taught the world was split into two kingdoms, of light and darkness. \r\n\r\nAugustine became a teacher and moved to Italy, securing a post to teach in Milan. \r\n\r\nThere he would go to the Cathedral to hear the powerful sermons of the Bishop of Milan, St Ambrose. \r\n\r\nThis persuaded Augustine to re-think his philosophy. But his path to faith was by no means smooth. \r\n\r\nAugustine had a long-term lover, with whom he had a son called Adeodatus. He struggled big-time to control his lust, until one day while in torment, he heard a child's voice say repeatedly, \"Take [it] up and read.\" \r\n\r\nOn a table nearby, he saw a copy of the Letters of St Paul. He picked up the book and read these words: \"Not in revelling and drunkenness, not in lust and wantonness, not in quarrels and rivalries. Rather, arm yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, spend no more thought on nature and nature\u0092's appetites\". (Romans 13:13\u009614). \r\n\r\n\"Instantly at the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away,\" Augustine would later recall. \r\n\r\nHe gave up his role as a professor, and was baptised by St Ambrose. \r\n\r\nThen he returned to Africa, planning to live as a writer and thinker. God however, had other plans for Augustine who set up a lay community to pray and study the Scriptures.\r\n\r\n He considered starting a monastery in Hippo, but while at Sunday Mass there was spotted by the local Bishop who knew Augustine by reputation. \r\n\r\nThe Bishop put aside his sermon and began to preach instead on the desperate need for priests in Hippo. \r\n\r\nStaring at Augustine, the congregation pushed him forward for ordination. He was ordained a priest - something he never wanted but accepted as God's will. \r\n\r\nAfter the Bishop died, Augustine succeeded him. He was fearless - and successful - in challenging followers of non-Christian philosophies to public debates. \r\n\r\nHowever, this was a difficult time: the Barbarians had sacked Rome, leading many wealthy Romans to flee to North Africa, a rare remaining safe haven in the Roman Empire. \r\n\r\nIt fell to Augustine to defend Christianity against claims that it had caused the Roman Empire to fall by distracting the citizens from Pagan Gods. \r\n\r\nHe did so in a 22-volume epic titled The City of God. In this, Augustine argued that Rome was being punished for her sins in the past, not for embracing faith in Christ. \r\n\r\nThe City of God shaped how people thought in medieval times. \r\n\r\n\"Mankind is divided into two sorts,\" wrote Augustine. \"Such as live according to man, and such as live according to God. These we call the two cities\u0085 The Heavenly City outshines Rome. There, instead of victory, is truth.\" \r\n\r\nHe died at the age of 76 of a fever just as the Vandals were invading North Africa. \r\n\r\nAugustine's legacy is huge: he helped to merge Greek philosophy with Judeo-Christian thought. \r\n\r\nAnd his thinking became a major influence on the Church and of later philosophers. \r\n\r\nA Doctor of the Church, St Augustine is a role model for anyone who wants to seek God's truth in spite of the fashionable philosophies of our day.","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-08-28","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230824","Heading":"St Bartholomew, Mr Transparency,","Content":"St Bartholomew was one of the original 12 apostles. \r\n\r\n Matthew, Mark and Luke call him Bartholomew, but it is thought that John, whose Gospel is used at Mass today, referred to Him as Nathanael.\r\n\r\nThis makes sense given that Bartholomew may have been a surname, as 'Bar' in Hebrew means 'the son of''.\r\n\r\nJesus paid him a huge compliment, by saying he was \"incapable of deceit.\" \r\n\r\nHe is certainly straightforward, responding straightaway to Jesus, \"How do you know me?\" \r\n\r\nWe know little of Bartholomew from the Gospels: he is named in the Book of Acts as one of the Apostles who gathered to choose a successor to Judas Iscariot. \r\n\r\nHowever, a fourth-century Bishop, Eusebius of Caesarea recorded that when in the second century, St. Pantaenus of Alexandria  visited India, he found a copy of the Gospel of St Matthew, written in Hebrew. \r\n\r\nIt had been left there by St Bartholomew, who according to tradition was a missionary in Ethiopia, Persia (modern Iran), parts of Turkey and Armenia. \r\n\r\nHe is thought to have been beheaded by an Armenian king. His relics are said to lie within the Church of St Bartholomew-in-the-Tiber, in Rome. \r\n\r\nPray to St Bartholomew today for the gift of a straightforward response to the call of Jesus. ","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-08-24","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230823","Heading":"St Rose of Lima, Teenage Rebel, ","Content":"Like many teenagers, St Rose of Lima had fights with her parents. \r\n\r\nBut hers were because she wanted only a life of holiness.\r\n\r\nRose was beautiful and  her parents hoped she would marry a rich nobleman.\r\n\r\nInstead, she rubbed pepper in her face causing blotches to put off her suitors.\r\n\r\nHer parents never let Rose enter a convent, as she desired. But they came to a compromise.\r\n\r\nShe could stay at home, but join, like her heroine St Catherine of Siena, the Dominican Third Order.\r\n\r\nRose wore a habit like a nun, took vows like a nun, but lived at home. \r\n\r\nShe prayed, fasted and suffered to be united with Christ and atone for her sins, in a tiny hut in the family garden.\r\n\r\nHer parents were disquieted by Rose's tales of visions.\r\n\r\nBut God, in His Mercy, knew this was the right solution, because Rose's dad lost all his money.\r\n\r\nShe was able to really help her parents by  selling her lace, and sewing. \r\n\r\nRose also sold flowers in the street markets of Lima.\r\n\r\nThis contact with the outside world sensitised Rose to the needs of the sick and the poor. \r\n\r\nHer parents let her turn a room in their large house into a clinic where she tended the sick, especially children and the elderly.\r\n\r\nSoon her fame grew: Her prayers turned pirates away from Lima. Her touch healed the sick. \r\n\r\nShe died young, aged 31, in August 1617. Only 54 years later she was declared a Saint.\r\n\r\nRose's last words were: \"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, be with me always.\"\r\n\r\nMay her dedication and determination inspire us.","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-08-23","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230821","Heading":"St Pius X, The Poor Pope, ","Content":"\"Holy Communion is the shortest and surest way to Heaven,\" said Pope Pius X, who changed the order of Sacraments so that children could, for the first time, make their First Holy Communion before their Confirmation.\r\n\r\nWhen he became Pope, Pius was 68, and during his 11-year pontificate he introduced many changes. \r\n\r\nNo-one until Pius had reformed the Roman Curia, which was still living according to rules established in 1588. \r\n\r\nHe condemned as heresy the ideas of Modernism, and changed the rules on voting for  Popes so that only Cardinals were eligible to do so, but no longer Emperors or Royalty. \r\n\r\nAlthough deeply serious, he was also known for his sense of humour. \r\n\"I don't want to be turned into stone yet,\" he once told a parish community who wanted to put up a plaque with his name on it after he had paid for the restoration of their Church belfry.\r\n\r\nThe son of a postman, Pius was born as Giuseppe Sarto in the region of Venice in 1835. \r\n\r\nOnce ordained, he was determined to help anyone he could grow in holiness. Made curate in a village where his male parishioners were prone to blaspheming, he offered to teach them to read and write if they would give up their blasphemy.\r\n\r\nPriests were supposed to dedicate their Sunday afternoons to giving adult catechesis but some preferred to go to the local taverns and drink. The future Pope thought nothing of turning up at the taverns to haul them out and send them back to their parishes. \r\n\r\nHe was shocked to be elected Pope in 1903, an office held until his death in 1914. \r\nPius foresaw the outbreak of the First World War, dying only a few weeks later. \r\n\r\nOne of the great Popes of the 20th century, he was canonised in 1954.\r\n\r\nThe amount of pomp and finery that surrounded his office as Pope was, he told a friend, \"a penance.\" He said: \"I was born poor, I have lived as a poor man and I wish to die poor.\" \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-08-21","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230819","Heading":"St John Eudes, Champion of the two hearts, ","Content":"St John Eudes was famous for many things: for founding refuges for women, for starting a congregation to improve the quality of education for seminarians, for the amazing quality of his preaching.\r\n\r\nYet his greatest success was this: he promoted devotion to the mystical unity of the hearts of Jesus and Mary.  \r\n\r\nHe explained: \"So closely are Jesus and Mary bound up with each other that whoever beholds Jesus sees Mary; whoever loves Jesus, loves Mary; whoever has devotion to Jesus, has devotion to Mary.\"\r\n\r\nSt. John had a strong devotion to the Sacred Heart, and would preach and care for the sick, even during epidemics. \r\n\r\nAs an Oratorian priest, he lived in community. \r\n\r\nBut during one episode of plague, he decided to live in an empty wine cask in a field so he might continue to preach but without endangering the health of his fellow priests. \r\n\r\nHe died on this day in 1680, after preaching every day for nine weeks in the open air. \r\n\r\nHe founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary and was declared a saint in 1925.\r\n\r\nSpend a few minutes today reflecting on these words from St John: \"Our wish, our object, our chief occupation must be to form Jesus in ourselves, to make his spirit, his devotion, his affections, his desires, and his disposition live and reign there.\"","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-08-19","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230814","Heading":"St Maximilian Kolbe, The Wartime Martyr,","Content":"July 1941: Auschwitz.\r\n\r\nTen prisoners are selected by the Nazis to starve to death. \"My wife! My children! I will never see them again,\" cries one, Franciszek Gajowniczek.\r\n\r\n\"What does this Polish pig want?\" snarls the Nazi commander. With dignity, a Polish priest, also a prisoner, offers to take Gajowniczek's place and die instead of him.\r\n\r\nBut Father Maximilian Kolbe\u0092s courageous sacrifice was no one-off act of bravery. It was the fruit of decades making holy choices. \r\n\r\nAs a child, Raymond, as Maximilian was baptised, had a vision of Our Lady.\r\n\r\nHe asked Our Lady what would happen to him. She showed him two crowns. One was white for purity, the other, red, for martyrdom.\r\n\r\nOur Lady asked which he would accept.\"Both,\" he replied.\r\n\r\nAt 13, he left home to enter a Franciscan seminary. In 1914, he took his final vows to become a monk, taking the name Maximilian.\r\n\r\nDevotion to Our Lady led him to found the Militia of Immaculate Mary. Father Kolbe wanted this prayer army to build the kingdom of Jesus\r\nworldwide, through the purifying intercession of Mary.\r\n\r\nOften ill, he said his sickness was a chance to \"suffer for Mary\". He founded a monastery dedicated to Our Lady in Japan, while a missionary there.\r\n\r\nThe friary Maximilian opened in Poland was so big 900 friars lived inside it. They published a million magazines a month promoting devotion to\r\nJesus through Mary.\r\n\r\nWhen the Second World War began, Father Kolbe hid 2,000 Jews and 1,000 Poles inside his friary. In 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo for hiding Jews and sent to Auschwitz.\r\n\r\nBeaten regularly, Fr Kolbe gave away most of his food. When sent to starve to death, he led the other nine men in prayer and singing hymns to Mary.\r\n\r\nTwo weeks later, nearly all had died. But Father Kolbe was still alive.\r\n\r\nWitnesses say he accepted death calmly, raising his arm to receive the lethal injection that killed him.\r\n\r\nHe was cremated on the feast of the Assumption, 15th August 1941. \"This priest is really a great man. We have never seen anyone like\r\nhim\u0085\" remarked one of the SS Guards.\r\n\r\nIn 1971, Father Kolbe was made a saint. Franciszek Gajowniczek, the man whose life he saved, was at the ceremony.\r\n\r\nSt Maximilian, pray for us.\r\n\r\nThis link https:\/\/saintmaximiliankolbe.com\/consecration\/ will take you to  St Maximilian's prayer of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-08-14","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230812","Heading":"St Jane Frances de Chantal, The \"Perfect Woman\",","Content":"St. Francis de Sales said that Jane de Chantal was \"the perfect woman.\" \r\n\r\nHe was her Spiritual Director and some of the letters they exchanged in the 16th century on how to love God can still be read today.\r\n\r\nYet St. Jane's path to finding St. Francis was not straightforward. Neither was her journey to the convent.\r\n\r\nBorn in Dijon in France to a rich and powerful family in 1572, by the age of 20, Jane was married. \r\n\r\nShe had four children by her husband, the Baron de Chantal, who, aged 28, died in a hunting accident.\r\n\r\nShe developed patience and took a vow to be perpetually chaste while she lived, for seven years, under the roof of her father-in-law who was unkind towards her. \r\n\r\nIn prayer, she begged God to send her a spiritual guide. He showed her St. Francis de Sales in a vision.\r\n\r\n In 1604, while on a visit to her father in Dijon, she saw St. Francis preach, and recognised him immediately.\r\n\r\nAfter six years under St. Francis's spiritual direction, she discerned that God was calling her to found a new religious order. \r\n\r\nThis was for women who felt called to live a life of Christian perfection, but not to adopt the harsh ascetic habits popular in many other orders at the time. \r\n\r\nIn June 1610, St. Jane's order, the Congregation of the Visitation, was officially established in Annecy, in France. \r\n\r\nThe Visitation nuns followed St. Francis's method of spiritual perfection: to keep your will united to that of God, by offering Him all that is in your heart, soul and mind and trying to continually do what pleases Him. \r\n\r\nBy the time St. Jane died, 31 years after the order was founded, there were 86 convents of Visitation nuns. \r\n\r\nSt. Jane encouraged her nuns to battle constantly against any habits that stopped them from following the will of God. \r\n\r\nDeeply sensitive, she underwent many difficulties. Her reputation as holy was huge: Queens and princes visited the reception rooms of her convents. \r\n\r\nYet St. Jane remained extremely humble: when people applauded her, she was extremely confused, saying: \"These people do not know me. They are mistaken.\" \r\n\r\nShe was declared a Saint in 1767. \r\n\r\nAsk St. Jane today for the grace of patience to endure any difficulty that comes your way, and offer it to God. \r\n\r\nAsk her too for the grace and the courage to fight whichever sins plague you the most, and make your spiritual journey difficult. \r\n","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-08-12","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230811","Heading":"St Clare, Lady TV, ","Content":"At the age of 18, Clare heard St Francis preach and her life changed forever.\r\n\r\nShe asked Francis to help her dedicate her life to God, and he promised to do so.\r\n\r\nThe next year her wealthy parents chose a young man for Clare to marry.\r\n\r\nShe refused him and ran away at night. Friars carrying torches took her to the chapel of St Francis. \r\n\r\nThere, she swapped her jewelled clothes for a rough habit of wool and Francis chopped off her long hair. Francis placed Clare in a convent.\r\n\r\nHer angry father and uncles stormed in to take her back.\r\n\r\nBut Clare, clinging to the altar, pulled up her veil to show them her chopped off hair and refused to leave, \r\n\r\nShe took religious vows to dedicate her life to God, and soon Agnes, her little sister had joined her.\r\n\r\nAfter they moved to the Church of San Damiano, recently re-built by Francis, other girls joined them. \r\n\r\nThey were known for their basic lifestyle as the 'poor ladies' . They walked barefoot, and lived almost totally in silence.\r\n\r\nIn 1216AD, Clare became the community's abbess. She relaxed some of the strict ways of life of the community, saying, \"Our bodies are not made of brass.\"\r\n\r\nBut her nuns owned absolutely nothing, and survived each day on donations. \r\n\r\nTwice Clare's prayers saved Assisi from invasion.\r\n\r\nOnce, as troops were invading, she had the Eucharistic Host raised up in a window. The invaders fled.\r\n\r\nThe second time, Clare and her nuns simply prayed for Assisi to be safe. A violent storm scattered the soldiers.  \r\n\r\nClare's face was said to shine with the light of Christ because of her prayers.\r\n\r\nShe took care of Francis as his life was ending, and was with him at his death in 1226. \r\n\r\nIn 1255, just two years after her death, Clare was declared a Saint.\r\n\r\nSince 1958, she has been the patron Saint of television, because one day, while ill, she could not get up to attend Mass and the Holy Spirit allowed her to see the Mass from the wall of her cell. \r\n\r\nShe is also the patron of eyes, and illnesses to do with the eyes. \r\n\r\nAsk St Clare to help your ask God for the grace to purify your spiritual sight: how you view yourself and other people.","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-08-11","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230810","Heading":"St Lawrence, The Uber-Valiant Deacon, ","Content":"\"I am cooked on that side. Turn me over and eat,\" said St. Lawrence, as he was being roasted to death on a grid-iron.\r\n\r\nOne of the most famous martyrs of the Early Church, Lawrence had left Spain, where he was born, to go to Rome with his mentor, who \r\nbecame Pope Sixtus II.\r\n\r\nSo attached was Lawrence to Sixtus, that when he saw the Pope being led out to die, he wept and cried aloud, \"Where are you going Father, without your son?\"\r\n\r\nSixtus then prophesied that Lawrence would die three days later.  Lawrence was one of seven Deacons serving the Church in Rome. \r\n\r\nBefore his arrest, he gave all the Church's treasure away to the poor - who he described as the treasure of the Church. \r\n\r\nHe and Sixtus were martyred on the orders of the Roman Emperor Valerian as part of a wave of persecutions of Christians.\r\n\r\nMany who witnessed Lawrence's martyrdom on this date in 258AD converted to Christ, including several Roman senators.\r\n\r\n The Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura (St. Lawrence Outside the Walls), Rome, was built over his burial place. \r\n\r\nAsk St Lawrence today for the gift of receiving the courage to give your life to Jesus. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-08-10","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230809","Heading":"St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, God's Translator,","Content":"Edith Stein was a remarkable Jewish woman: a philosopher and translator, she died a Carmelite nun, aged 51, in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. \r\n\r\nBorn in October 1891, she was brought up speaking German in a large Jewish family in Breslau (today Wroclaw) which is today in Poland. \r\n\r\nEven as a child, she discovered a love of Greek and Latin. Later, she became fluent in French and Dutch, and acquired a good grasp of English and Polish. \r\n\r\nEdith enjoyed translating, once saying, \u0093A translator must be like a pane of glass, that lets all the light through but is not seen itself.\u0094\r\n\r\nIn her adolescence, she thought believers were frauds, and rejected God. But her search for truth led her to philosophy. \r\n\r\n An atheist with a brilliant mind, she became an assistant to one of the top philosophers in Europe: Edmund Husserl. \r\n\r\nHe founded a school of philosophy which aimed to explained how the visible, touchable world and the sphere of ideas and values are linked or connected. \r\n\r\nHis student Martin Heidegger became a giant in Western thought. \r\n\r\nHowever, the game-changer for Edith was discovering two great saints. \r\n\r\nWhen she was 30, in 1921, she read the life story of St Teresa of Avila. She couldn\u0092t stop reading it. \u0093This is the truth!\u0094 she declared after finishing the last page. \r\n\r\nA year later she was baptised a Catholic, afterwards leaving her job with Husserl. Edith then began to teach at a Dominican College for women in Germany.\r\n\r\nA priest she met there introduced her to the writings of the second great saint who influenced her: Cardinal John Henry Newman. \r\n\r\nThe priest asked her to translate Newman's writings.\r\n\r\nEdith\u0092s German translations of Newman would have a very important reader: the young Josef Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI.\r\n\r\nGod taught Edith a lesson that can be applied to be most of us, through Newman. \r\n\r\nThat He wasn\u0092t asking her to reject the talents she had been given by becoming a Christian. He didn\u0092t want Edith to give up philosophy but to use her talent for this to express the truth of Christ. \r\n\r\nShe would later say: \"Treat your most frequently demanded talents not as something that you use, but as God working through you.\"\r\n\r\nEmboldened she returned to philosophical writing and inquiry, also discovering the thought of the great St Thomas Aquinas. \r\n\r\nEdith was invited to give public lectures - including on the role and education of women -  throughout Europe.\r\n\r\nWhen the Nazis forbade her  -  as a Jew  -  from teaching, she took a bold decision and entered the Carmel. \r\n\r\nAs a nun, she took the name St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. \r\n\r\nShe wrote several books, including Life in a Jewish Family and The Science of the Cross, which was about St John of the Cross. \r\n\r\nEdith led a life of self-sacrifice and offering. As Jews were in increasing danger, she fled from her convent in Germany to another in Echt, Holland. \r\n\r\nThis led to her death: when the Dutch bishops made a public statement condemning the Nazis, the Third Reich rounded up every Jewish convert to Catholicism in Holland.\r\n\r\nEdith, and her sister Rosa, who also converted, were packed into a train and sent to Auschwitz. There she died in the gas chambers, on August 9, 1942. \r\n\r\nForty-five years later, a gravely ill child in Boston in America was cured through her intercession. \r\n\r\nSt Pope John Paul II declared her a Saint in 1998.\r\n\r\nWhen asked to lecture on complex topics, her message was simply: \u0093How important it is to learn to live at God\u0092s hands.\u0094 \r\n\r\nMay that inspire us today.\r\n\r\nIn a world of intellectual confusion, let's ask St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross to pray for us. ","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-08-09","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230807","Heading":"St Dominic,The Preacher Man,","Content":"Before she gave birth, the mother of St Dominic dreamed that a puppy was inside her. \r\n\r\nHis teeth were clamped round a flaming torch. He left the womb and with the torch set light to the whole world.\r\n\r\nIt was an early sign of the preaching future of Domingo de Guzman, who was born in Spain around 1170AD. \r\n\r\nHis parents, both related to royal families, were very holy. \r\n\r\nWhen Dominic was young, he sold many of his favourite books, which were written on parchment. \r\n\r\nHe gave the money to the hungry.  \"I could not bear to prize dead skins when living skins were starving and in need,\" he said.\r\n\r\nTravelling through France with his Bishop, he met the Albigensians, heretics who believed that everything to do with the body, including eating and drinking, were evil. Only the spirit was purely good.\r\n\r\nThey did not believe in the Incarnation, that Jesus, the son of God made flesh, redeemed and made holy the body and earthly life.\r\n\r\nThe Pope asked Dominic to convert them.\r\n\r\nHe copied their extreme poverty, but struggled to do so. Then, after  three days praying in a forest, he had a vision of Our Lady. \r\n\r\n\u0093Dear Dominic,\u0094 she said, \u0093Do you know which weapon the Blessed Trinity wants to use to reform the world?\u0094 \r\n\r\nThen, Our Lady taught Dominic the Rosary, saying that the meditations on the life of Jesus for each decade would help the Albigensians convert.\r\n\r\nFrom then on, Dominic enjoyed success. \r\n\r\nHe also founded his own religious order, the Dominicans. He wanted his followers to be holy, live simply and focus on preaching. \r\n\r\nOur Lady appeared to Dominic again. This vision showed God's anger with the sinful world fury relenting when Our Lady showed God two men. \r\n\r\nOne was Dominic. The other, poor and barefoot, he did not know. The next day, Dominic saw him in a church. It was St Francis of Assisi.\r\n\r\nHe hugged Francis, saying:  \u0093You are my companion and must walk with me. For if we hold together no earthly power can withstand us.\u0094\r\n\r\nA dead child came back to life once after being placed at his feet.\r\n\r\nIn 1234AD, only 13 years after his death, Dominic was declared a saint. \r\n\r\nHe is now the patron  saint of astronomers. \r\n\r\nOnce, after giving a powerful sermon, Dominic was asked which book he had read to prepare. \"None,\" he replied, \"but that of love.\"\r\n\r\nMay St. Dominic inspire us to be generous in our love and inspired by that of Jesus for us, poor sinners. \r\n\r\n","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-08-07","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230804","Heading":"St. Jean-Marie Vianney, The Humble Confessor,","Content":"St. Jean-Marie Vianney would listen to Confessions for up to 16 hours a day.\r\n\r\nHis fame as a confessor was so great that 20,000 Catholics sought him out in the tiny town of Ars near Lyon in France. \r\n\r\nA shepherd until he was 20, St. Jean-Marie had really struggled to learn Latin. And he twice failed his exams to be ordained a priest. \r\n\r\nNo one expected much of him when, after his ordination aged 30, he was assigned to a poor parish in a town renowned for rowdiness and drinking. \r\n\r\nSt. Jean-Marie decided the town needed someone to do penance for its soul. So he gave his mattress to a beggar and slept only for two hours a night. Often he ate only a mouldy potato or two - if at all.\r\n\r\nAll his sacrifice bore fruit: he developed the gift of reading the hearts of penitents in Confession.\r\n\r\nHe was also attacked by the Devil, who once set his bed on fire. St. Jean-Marie merely made a joke of this. \r\n\r\nBy the time he had been at Ars for 10 years, 300 people were visiting him for Confession every day. He began to hear Confession at 1am each morning.\r\n\r\nDespite his fame, St. Jean-Marie remained extremely humble and modest.\r\n\r\nHe died on August 4th, 1859 and was declared a saint in 1925. \r\n\r\nToday, he is the patron saint of parish priests, and a model for anyone who wrongly believes that having flaws means they are not good enough for God's service. \r\n\r\nAsk him to show you today how God sees you rather than how the world might judge you. ","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-08-04","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230802","Heading":"St Peter Julian Eymard, Apostle of the Eucharist,","Content":"Without the Eucharist, St Peter Julian Eymard said he would have been lost.\r\n\r\nKey to his life was a mystical experience as he carried the Eucharist in a Corpus Christi procession. \r\n\r\nAfterwards, he explained that his soul had been \"flooded with faith and love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament\".\r\n\r\n It was an experience he yearned for others to have too, saying: \"I longed at that moment for all hearts to have been within my own and to have been fired with the zeal of St Paul.\"\r\n\r\nSt Peter Julian, who was born in 1811, founded the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament which also worked with the poor and offered catechesis.\r\n\r\nWith Mother Marguerite Guillot, he co-founded a female congregation, the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. \r\n\r\nHis spirituality is also the inspiration of Servitium Christi, a secular lay institute for single women which is flourishing in the Diocese of Shrewsbury.\r\n\r\nThe Blessed Sacrament was the very centre of St Peter's life. \r\n\r\nNot only did he write several books on the Eucharist, he also founded the archconfraternity of the Blessed Sacrament. \r\n\r\nSt John Vianney, who knew St Peter Julian said of him: \"He is a saint. The world hinders his work,  but not knowingly, and it will do great things for the Glory of God. Adoration by priests! How fine!\"\r\n\r\nA diocesan priest in Grenoble, St Peter Julian joined the Marists in 1839, and in 1856, founded the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament.\r\n\r\nHe died on August 1st, 1868. Miracles were reported at his tomb before the year's end and he was canonised by Pope St John XXIII in 1962. \r\n\r\nPope St John Paul II referred to Peter Julian as \"the Apostle of the Eucharist.\" \r\n\r\nA crucial part of his legacy was the foundation of the International Eucharistic Congresses, which were directly inspired by St Peter Julian's Eucharistic spirituality. \r\n\r\nHow relevant do you think his words, printed here, are to our society today? \r\n\r\n \"The great evil of this time is that people do not go to Jesus Christ as Saviour and God. People are abandoning their one foundation, the only law, the only grace of salvation... So, what is to be done? Return to the source of life, to Jesus: not only to Jesus who lived in Judea or to the glorious Jesus in heaven, but always and above all to Jesus present in the Eucharist\u0085\" \r\n\r\nPray today to St Peter Julian for a revival of Eucharistic adoration across the whole world. \r\n","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-08-02","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230731","Heading":"St Ignatius of Loyola, The Wounded Soldier, ","Content":"It took nearly dying for Ignatius to put God first.\r\n\r\nA red-haired soldier, he was hit by a cannonball while in battle in 1521. His right leg was fractured, his left, damaged. \r\n\r\nIgnatius loved stories of courtly love and noble knights. But as he rested to recover from his wounds, the only books he could find were the Bible and the lives of the saints. \r\n\r\nAs he read, Ignatius began to long to serve Christ above all things.\r\n\r\nIn the year 1522, he went as a pilgrim to Montserrat in north-eastern Spain. For three days, Ignatius confessed all his sins. \r\n\r\nAnd, to show that he was serious about God, and had given up his career as a soldier, he hung up his sword near a statue of Our Lady.\r\n\r\nThen he went to Manresa, near Barcelona and began living in a cave, where he spent seven hours each day in prayer.\r\n\r\nThis period of being alone was crucial: Ignatius received guidance from the Holy Spirit on how to pray. \r\n\r\nHe wrote his insights down in a prayer guide called The Spiritual Exercises.\r\n\r\nBy 1540, Ignatius's ideas for a brand-new order, the Society of Jesus, had been approved by the Pope. \r\n\r\nWhen he died 16 years later, there were 1,000 Jesuits in the world. Some were evangelising India, others Brazil. \r\n\r\nThe world's most famous Jesuit today is Pope Francis.\r\n\r\nHe has learnt Ignatius's method for growing close to God in prayer. \r\n\r\nTo try this out, visit www.sacredspace.ie","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-07-31","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230729","Heading":"Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus, ","Content":"Jesus was a close friend of Martha, her sister Mary, and their brother, Lazarus. \r\n\r\nLike close friends do, they \"got\" Jesus.\r\n\r\nWhen he turned up to see them after Lazarus had died, Jesus said to Martha: \"I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?\"\r\n\r\nShe replied to him: \"Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world'\"(John 11:25-27).\r\n\r\nJesus also understood Martha and Mary. You probably know the Gospel account of Jesus coming to visit their home, and Mary sitting at his feet while \r\nMartha bustled around getting everything ready.\r\n\r\nWhen Martha asked Jesus to get Mary to help her, He said that Mary had \"chosen the better part.\" \r\n\r\nOften people are asked to reflect on whether they identify personality-wise with the \"active\" Martha or the \"contemplative\" Mary. \r\n\r\nToday is a good day to reflect on the experience of Lazarus, who Jesus loved so deeply.\r\n\r\nAs you know, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. \r\n\r\nHow do you relate to this? \r\n\r\nWhere are you spiritually stuck or \"dead\"? \r\n\r\nCan you hear Jesus calling you out of this state? \r\n\r\nImagine you hear him saying your name. \r\n\r\nHow does Jesus call you? With tenderness? With mercy?\r\n\r\nHow do you respond? \r\n\r\nWhat sort of \"fullness of life\" is He calling you into? \r\n","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-07-29","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230726","Heading":"St Joachim and St Anne, The Perfect Grandparents,","Content":"Today the Church honours Joachim and Anne, the parents of Our Lady and grandparents of Jesus. According to legend, St Joachim was a shepherd from Jerusalem.\r\n\r\nHe and St Anne grew old without children, until one day Joachim was at work in the fields when an angel appeared to announce he and Anne would have a child. She had the same vision. \r\n\r\nThey called their daughter Mary, meaning \"loved by God\" and moved to Nazareth. \r\n\r\nSt Anne is the protector of pregnant women. \r\n\r\nPray to St Anne and St Joachim today for all grandparents, including your own. ","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-07-26","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230725","Heading":"St James, The Bold Fisherman,","Content":"James, a fisherman, was an apostle of Jesus. As was John, his younger brother.\r\n\r\nThey were mending their nets when Jesus called them.\r\n\r\nBoth brothers shared a tough, fiery character. Jesus nicknamed James and John  'The Sons of Thunder', when they asked Him if He wanted them to \"call down fire from heaven,\" to devour a village that rejected Jesus (Luke 9: 54).\r\n\r\nJames knew Jesus well. You will find him in the Gospels, as one of the four Jesus first called (Mark 1:16-19).\r\n\r\nHe was also withJesus during the key moments of his ministry.\r\n\r\nAnd James was never afraid of asking Jesus tough questions such as when the end times would come.\r\n\r\nIndeed, James and his brother (or, St Matthew stated, their mother) also made a bold request of Jesus, saying: \"Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.\" (Mark 10:35-37) \r\n\r\n\"You don\u0092t know what you are asking,\" Jesus replied. \"Can you drink the cup I drink?\" Jesus asked, referring to His Passion. \"We can,\" replied the brothers with courage. \r\n\r\nAfter Jesus's Ascension, the apostles were said to have divided up the map of the known world, to choose which area each would evangelise.\r\n\r\nJames was said to have travelled to Iberia or modern-day Spain.\r\n\r\nWe do not know if this if so. What is certain is that James was beheaded in Jerusalem in 44AD. \r\n\r\nHis followers allegedly placed James\u0092s body in a stone boat that angels and the wind transported to the Atlantic coast of north-west Spain.\r\n\r\nEight hundred years later, a hermit guided by a vision was said to have found James's bones in a field. \r\n\r\nToday his shrine exists in the Spanish city that bears his name, Santiago (St. James) de Compostela. \r\n\r\nThe thousands of pilgrims who follow the road to Santiago each year may embrace the giant statue of a seated St James in the city\u0092s Cathedral.\r\n\r\nPray to St James for the gift of courage and boldness in proclaiming the Gospel. \r\n","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-07-25","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230724","Heading":"St Charbel, The Hermit of Lebanon, ","Content":"In the Middle East, Muslims as well as Christians have long prayed to St Charbel for miracles. \r\n\r\nThe intercession of this Lebanese Maronite hermit has cured people all over the world from illness, including cancer. \r\n\r\nDeeply holy, he grew up in a very poor family in 19th-century Lebanon.\r\n\r\nAs a boy, he was often outdoors tending the family livestock and meditating on God's creation. He was devoted to Our Lady.\r\n\r\nInspired by two uncles who were monks, he left home at the age of 23, to join a monastery. \r\n\r\nIn religious life, he chose the name Charbel after a 2nd-century Christian martyr.\r\n\r\nIn 1859, he was ordained a Catholic Maronite priest, Maronites being Eastern Catholics whose hierarchy and traditions date from the mid-4th century.\r\n\r\nSome of their prayers are in Syriac, a form of Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. \r\n\r\nIn 1875, after displaying \"supernatural power,\" Father Charbel was given permission to fulfil his dream of living as a hermit. \r\n\r\nHe was then based at the Hermitage of Ss Peter and Paul in Mount Lebanon. \r\n\r\nThere, he lived a strict life of solitude, prayer and penance, sleeping on the floor, and for a maximum of five hours a night.\r\n\r\nHe ate the other monks' leftovers. \r\n\r\nCharbel had a strong devotion to the Eucharist.\r\n\r\nHe died on Christmas Eve in 1898. \r\n\r\nHis superior remarked that Charbel had kept his monastic vows like an angel rather than a human being. \r\n\r\nWhen his tomb was opened, his body was found to be incorrupt. \r\n\r\nBy the time he was declared a saint in 1977, thousands of people from 95 countries round the world had written letters to a monastery in Lebanon to share news of the miracles performed through his intercession.\r\n\r\nThis link will take you to a novena to St Charbel: http:\/\/saintcharbel.net.au\/novena\/\r\n\r\nPray today for his zeal and focus as you discern your own vocation.","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-07-24","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230722","Heading":"St Mary Magdalene, The Uber-Apostle, ","Content":"What is the message of the life of St. Mary Magdalene? \r\n\r\nIt is that Christ truly loves and gives new life to the repentant sinner.\r\n\r\nMary is mentioned in Luke (8:2) as the woman from whom Christ exorcised seven demons.\r\n\r\n Her natural gratitude led Mary to stand, along with Christ's mother, at the foot of the Cross, as he was dying.\r\n\r\nLater, as today's Gospel relates, she became the first of Christ's disciples to see Him Resurrected. \r\n\r\nShe was chosen by God to spread this good news among the male apostles.\r\n\r\nFor this, Pope Francis has described Mary, echoing ancient tradition, as \"the Apostle of the Apostles\". \r\n\r\nWe know little about her, save that she came from Magdala, a town on the sea of Galilee. \r\n\r\nWhat is less clear from the Gospels is whether she is also the sinful woman who washed Christ's feet with costly perfume in the house of the Pharisee (Luke 7: 37-48) or his friend, Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus.\r\n\r\nWhatever the truth, as today's Gospel makes clear, Mary of Magdalene had a deep, loyal love for the Lord.\r\n\r\nShe is the patron saint of perfumiers and converts. \r\n\r\nMay her fidelity to Christ inspire all of us today.","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-07-22","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230721","Heading":"St Laurence of Brindisi, The Linguist, ","Content":"St Laurence had a real gift for language. \r\n\r\nBorn in Italy in 1559, he acquired fluency in ancient and modern languages, ranging from ancient Greek to Czech.\r\n\r\nHe also mastered Spanish, German, Latin and French.\r\n\r\nAnd so fluent was his Hebrew that rabbis assumed Laurence was a Jew who had converted to Christianity. \r\n\r\nIn fact, he was a Capuchin Franciscan, who entered the order in Venice at the age of 16. \r\n\r\nAs his grasp of languages was outstanding, Lawrence was able to study the original texts of the Bible. \r\n\r\nBut languages were not his only gift. Laurence was thoughtful person, sensitive to the needs of others.\r\n\r\nHis skill-set \u0096 a blend of compassion, a talent for paperwork, and intellectual brilliance \u0096 took him far. \r\n\r\nAt the age of only 31, he was elected major superior of the Capuchin province in Tuscany. \r\n\r\nLaurence became minister general of the Capuchins in 1602. On his watch, the order flourished and expanded throughout the world. \r\n\r\nThe Pope sent Laurence as his envoy and peacemaker to many foreign countries.\r\n\r\n While on a peace-making mission to Lisbon, he died in 1619.\r\n\r\nFifteen volumes of his writings still exist. Eleven contain his sermons, which are stuffed with quotes from the Bible.\r\n\r\nLaurence offered God his gift for languages. What gifts has God given you? How might you use them for him? ","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-07-21","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230720","Heading":"St Apollinaris, The Epic Bishop,","Content":"St Apollinaris let nothing get in the way of preaching the good news.\r\n \r\nMade the Bishop of Ravenna by St Peter, he performed many miracles, but was beaten up by local pagans who drove him out of his see in northern Italy. Christians found him half dead on the seashore and revived him, taking Apollinaris into hiding. \r\n\r\nThe second time he was captured by those who didn't like the message of Christ, Apollinaris was forced to walk across burning coals. \r\n\r\nAgain, he was thrown out of Ravenna. The third time he returned was the worst: Apollinaris was stabbed and had scalding water thrown over him. People struck him in the mouth with stones, because he would not stop preaching. \r\n\r\nLoaded down with chains, he was then thrown into a dungeon and left to starve. Yet four days later, Apollinaris was freed, and put on a ship bound for Greece.\r\n\r\n There the cycle was repeated: Apollinaris preached, performed miracles and was attacked. \r\n\r\nEventually, he was beaten up one final time and returned to Italy. When he returned for the fourth time to Ravenna, the Emperor Vespasian issued a law banning all Christians from the city. \r\n\r\nApollinaris survived in hiding but was finally caught as he was leaving the city gates. \r\n\r\nAgain, he was savagely beaten but survived for another seven days. Before his death, Apollinaris prophesied that the persecution of Christians would get worse, but that ultimately, the Church would triumph. \r\n\r\nIf you feel you lack the courage to defend your faith, pray to St. Apollinaris.","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-07-20","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230715","Heading":"St Bonaventure, The Humble Scholar, ","Content":"\"I was saved from the jaws of death by Francis's intercession,\" said St. Bonaventure. \r\n\r\nIn childhood, he had nearly died of an illness until his mother had prayed to St. Francis of Assisi. \r\n\r\nAs a teenager studying at a Franciscan friary in 13th-century Italy, he was so clever that, at the age of 17, he was sent to Paris for further study.\r\n\r\nHis classmates soon noticed that, although super bright, he was very humble.\r\n\r\nIn the year 1243, he joined the Franciscans, taking the name 'Bonaventure' from the Italian phrase meaning \"Happy Journey.\"\r\n\r\nSoon he was writing and teaching at the university of Paris. The nine volumes Bonaventure produced tackled the big questions, e.g, God's overall plan for the world. \r\n\r\nA Doctor of the Church, Bonaventure also wrote a new, definitive biography of St. Francis.\r\n\r\nA peacemaker, his priority was reuniting the Franciscan order when, in the year 1257, he was made the order's Minister General. \r\n\r\nFor the gift of humility in study, ask for St. Bonaventure's intercession.","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-07-15","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230714","Heading":"St Camillus de Lellis, The Gambler, ","Content":"St Camillus de Lellis was a 16th-century Italian who was addicted to gambling. \r\n\r\nWhen he was 24 years-old, he gambled away everything he owned, including the shirt on his back.\r\n\r\nPreviously, he had worked as a soldier. After losing everything, he took a job as a labourer at a Capuchin friary.\r\n\r\nOne day a sermon at the friary so moved him that he began to repent of his sins, and change. He even entered the Capuchin novitiate, but was asked to leave because of a sore on his leg that nothing could cure.\r\n\r\nBut with God, good comes even out of misfortunes. Camillus became passionate about caring for the sick. \r\n\r\nAfter he was ordained a priest (at the suggestion of his friend St. Philip Neri) he founded his own congregation, called the Servants of the Sick.\r\n\r\nMembers took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience but also promised to serve the sick wherever they could, even at risk to their own lives.\r\n\r\nToday, they are simply known as the Camillans, and still run hospitals and medical centres across the world.\r\n\r\nIn 1585, when Camillus founded the order, he and his congregation often helped sick prisoners. They also made a point of boarding ships off the coast of Italy that had been refused permission to dock, because they carried victims of the plague.\r\n\r\nWhen Camillus discovered some plague victims were being buried alive he ordered his congregation to continue praying for those who appeared to have just died for 15 minutes after their death.\r\n\r\nIn 1595, some Camillans formed the first recorded field ambulance serving battlefields in Hungary and Croatia.\r\n\r\nUntil the hour of his death, Camillus was utterly devoted to the sick: his leg never healed yet in his final illness he left his sickbed to see if other patients needed his help.\r\n\r\nToday, he is the patron saint of hospitals, nurses and the sick.  \r\n\r\nCamillus himself suffered the disease of his leg throughout his life. In his last illness, he left his own bed to crawl to the beds of other patients in case they needed his help.\r\n\r\nUpon receiving the Eucharist one last time, he said: \"O Lord, I confess that I am the most wretched of sinners, most undeserving of thy favor; but save me by thy infinite goodness. My hope is placed in thy divine mercy by thy precious blood.\"\r\n\r\nHe died on July 14, 1614.\r\n\r\n Ask St. Camillus to intercede for you in your struggles, whether with addictions or personal illness.","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-07-14","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230713","Heading":"St Henry, Emperor and Wannabe Monk, ","Content":"St Henry was a German King, born in 972AD, and educated b St Wolfgang.\r\n\r\nBeing bright and devout, for a while he was considered for the priesthood. The lessons of St Wolfgang had a huge impact on Henry. \r\n\r\nHe put them into practice while exercising great power in the political realm.\r\n\r\nIn 1002, he was appointed King of Germany. He ended a revolt in his land peacefully and, in 1014, was appointed head of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Benedict VIII.\r\n\r\nHis journey home turned into a pilgrimage as he stopped en route to visit and pray at monasteries. \r\n\r\nHenry loved Churches and monasteries, giving them so much money that his relations complained he was being irresponsible. \r\n\r\nHe also gave with huge generosity to the poor. His wife, by whom he had no children, was also very holy. She became St. Cuningunde of Luxembourg. \r\n\r\nHenry\u0092s final years were marked by serious illness. Prayer supported him through his difficulties. \r\n\r\nHe always put God first, to the point where he thought of giving up his duties as Emperor to become a monk. \r\n\r\nHe died in 1024.\r\n\r\nHenry is an inspiring example of how even the highest positions of power can, if dedicated to God, reveal His glory. \r\n","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-07-13","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230711","Heading":"St Benedict, The Listener,","Content":"\"Listen\". That\u0092s the first word of the Rule of St Benedict. \r\n\r\nBenedict's guide on how to love and live for Christ was written in 516 AD. \r\n\r\nIt's jam-packed full of tips on holy living for any follower of Jesus.\r\n\r\nBut Benedict originally wrote it for the men who got together to try out a form of community living new to the West: Monasticism. \r\n\r\nIn fact, Benedict introduced the concept of monasteries to Europe. The Rule was written in the monastery Benedict founded in Monte Cassino in Italy.  \r\n\r\nHow he got to write the Rule is a long story. But in brief, in 480AD, Benedict was born in Norcia in Umbria. After moving to Rome for his studies, he disliked the hedonistic lifestyle he saw, and decided to leave. With a group of priests and his old nurse, Benedict retreated to a place 50 km from the city. \r\n\r\nHe performed a miracle, restoring through prayer some pottery broken by a servant. As his fame spread, Benedict wanted to get away even more. So he went to live in a cave as a hermit. After living alone, he eventually set up 12 monasteries. \r\n\r\nMore miracles followed. Benedict's prayers once led to someone walking on water. He even raised a young man from the dead. \r\n\r\nOnce, some monks who found his Rule too strict gave Benedict a glass of poisoned wine to drink. As he blessed the glass, it cracked and broke. \r\n\r\nSuch was Benedict's holiness. For centuries, Catholics have worn the medal of St Benedict, as a protection against danger and evil. \r\n\r\nIf you try and absorb even bite-sized chunks of his rule, you'll find a sure guide to living a holy life. \r\n\r\nBenedict doesn't by the way, just say \"listen\", but urges us rather to \"listen\u0085 with the ear of the heart\".\r\n\r\nWhat is your heart urging you to do today? ","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-07-11","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"},{"SaintID":"S20230704","Heading":"St Elizabeth of Portugal, The Brave Queen,","Content":"St. Elizabeth was a medieval Queen whose life shows that holiness does not only mean selflessness but also huge courage. \r\n\r\nAs a girl of 12, she left her family, a Royal household in Spain to marry King Diniz (Denis) of Portugal.  \r\n\r\nWhile Elizabeth had been educated to be holy, in the court of Diniz sexual immorality was the norm. \r\n\r\nBravely, Elizabeth stuck to her regime of prayer, self-denial and fasting: she even made her ladies in waiting help her to serve the poor.\r\n\r\nA page jealous of the Queen's friendliness towards another page lied, saying Elizabeth was misbehaving with him.\r\n \r\nDiniz ordered the accused page to be thrown into a fire. Instead, the lying page fell into the fire and died.\r\n\r\nThis convinced Diniz of the truth. \r\n \r\nViewing this outcome as an act of God, he apologised to Elizabeth in front of the whole court. \r\n\r\nEventually, Elizabeth's tender gentleness persuaded Diniz to abandon his wild habits and reform. \r\n\r\nBut their life was not free of strife.\r\n\r\nDiniz and Elizabeth had a son named Affonso. \r\n\r\nWhen he grew up, he declared war against his own father. \r\n\r\nShowing her innate courage once again, Elizabeth actually rode onto the battlefield to make peace between her husband and son. \r\n\r\nWhen Diniz died in 1325AD, Elizabeth became a nun at a convent of Poor Clares in Coimbra, Portugal. \r\n\r\nAsk St Elizabeth today for the courage to resist peer pressure and trust in the value of leading of a God-centred life. \r\n\r\nNine years later, Affonso again went to war, this time against the Spanish king who had married \u0096 and mistreated \u0096 his daughter.  \r\n\r\nAgain, Elizabeth, despite her great age, hurried to the battlefield, and negotiated for peace between the two armies. She succeeded, but was so exhausted that she died shortly afterwards.  \r\n\r\nIf you need courage to face the battles of your life or our world, invoke today the intercession of St. Elizabeth, who was named after another saint: St. Elizabeth of Hungary, who happened to be her great aunt.  ","ImageName":"S1","Date":"2023-07-04","Type":"Saints","VerNum":"1"}]