November Saints

The Solemnity of All Saints is also called All Saints' Day. This feast was instituted to honor all of the saints, both known and unknown.

In the early days of the Church, the Christians solemnized the anniversary of a martyr's death for Christ at the place of their martyrdom. By the fourth century, dioceses began to join in common feasts for those that were martyred on the same day.

After the persecution of Diocletian, the number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to each, so the Church appointed a common day for all. At first only martyrs and Saint John the Baptist were honored, but other saints were added gradually.

All you holy men and women, pray for us! 

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November 2 is the commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, also called All Souls' Day, a day set aside for honoring the dead, particularly those in purgatory.

All Souls’ Day is not a holy day of obligation, however, many priests will celebrate extra Masses today for the deceased. Many around the world have adopted their own traditions to honor the dead. From lighting up cemeteries with thousands of candles in Poland to sharing a meal at a gravesite in Peru, these cultural traditions are beautiful ways to remember and honor the dead.

"The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God" ~ Wisdom 3:1 

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The Feast of St. Charles Borromeo

St. Charles Borromeo was a 16th-century archbishop of Milan, a central figure in the Council of Trent and a key leader of the Counter-Reformation.

St. Charles was born in 1538 into circumstances that could have easily led him down the path of the corrupt Renaissance-era clergy. Even though he was born into the luxury of nobility, St. Charles chose to go against the grain. At a young age, he announced his desire to serve the Church and gave the majority of his wealth to the poor.

When he was 22, his uncle was elected as Pope Pius IV. Charles served as a papal diplomat and supervised major religious orders. A few years later, Charles served as a key participant in the Council of Trent, the ecumenical council which served as an instrument of reform for the Church in the Counter-Reformation period.

He was ordained a priest during the Council and was named as archbishop and cardinal only months later. He found his diocese of Milan in a poor state, having lacked local administration and leadership for generations. His reform efforts in the diocese were so strong and effective that a group of disgruntled monks attempted to kill him, but he miraculously survived.
He established schools, seminaries and centers for religious life. He initiated the work of the Confraternity for Christian Doctrine and the first “Sunday School” classes. He is the patron of catechists and catechumens.

St. Charles of Borromeo, please pray for us! 

On this day, the Church commemorates the dedication of the Lateran Basilica of Rome. According to an inscription placed on the façade, it is the “mother and head of all churches of Rome and the world.”

Click here to take a virtual tour, courtesy of the Vatican: https://bit.ly/32jKkhY.

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The Feast of Pope St. Leo the Great

According to Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Leo's papacy "was undoubtedly one of the most important in the Church's history." He was the first pope to have been called "the Great" because of his unwavering dedication to caring for the flock of Christ and his wise administrative decisions.

He worked to control heresies, promote truth and create peace in the midst of doctrinal controversy in the Church. His sermons were profound, with great depth clarity and style. He also built and restored many churches.

St. Leo died on November 10, 461 from what is believed to have been natural causes. Pope Benedict XIV proclaimed him a Doctor of the Church in 1754.

Pope St. Leo the Great, please pray for us! 

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The Feast of St. Josaphat

St. Josaphat was a 17th-century Polish-Lithuanian monk, archbishop and martyr whose example of faith has inspired many.

St. Josaphat was born as John Kuntsevych in 1580 in western Ukraine. Eastern churches had begun to separate from the Holy See in 1054, but there was a period of union after the 15th century Ecumenical Council of Florence. Unfortunately, socio-political and theological disputes caused the union to begin dissolving. By John’s time, many Slavic Orthodox Christians had become very anti-Catholic.

Latin missionaries were able to achieve reunion with John’s Ruthenian Church in the 1596 Union of Brest. John took the monastic name of Josaphat and entered a Ukrainian monastery in 1604. He took on the ambitious mission of re-incorporating the Eastern Orthodox tradition with the authority of the Catholic Church in the era of its Counter-reformation. He soon became a priest, subsequently an archbishop, and he ultimately became a martyr, living and dying for the cause of unity.

He produced catechisms and works of apologetics, introduced long-overdue reforms of the clergy and attended to the needs of the poor. His extraordinary life and zeal for the care of souls won the trust of many Orthodox Christians. Nevertheless, his mission was controversial, and others fell prey to defamatory stories about him. In 1620, his opponents arranged for the consecration of a rival archbishop.

Josaphat lamented the attacks on his life. "I am here among you as a shepherd, and you ought to know that I would be happy to give my life for you.” A mob formed, threatening to take his life. Josaphat died praying for the men who shot and then beheaded him.

St. Josaphat, please pray for us!

The Feast of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

On this day, the Church remembers St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, a 19th-century Italian missionary who spent much of her life working with Italian immigrants in the United States.

From a young age, St. Frances longed to be a missionary in China, but God had other plans for her. She joined the Sisters of the Sacred Heart and took on the name “Xavier” to honor St. Francis Xavier, the great missionary to the Orient.

Pope Leo XIII advised her in discerning, “not to the East, but to the West.” Mother Cabrini focused her missionary efforts on the United States setting up orphanages, hospitals, convents and schools for the often marginalized Italian immigrants. She had a deathly fear of water and drowning, but that didn't stop her from crossing the Atlantic Ocean more than 30 times for her ministry. She is the patron of immigrants.

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, please pray for us! 

The Feast of St. Albert the Great

He said, "The greater and more persistent your confidence in God, the more abundantly you will receive all that you ask." Let us pray that we can have the confidence and trust in God that St. Albert encourages of us!

St. Albert the Great, please pray for us! 

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The Feast of  St. Margaret of Scotland

St. Margaret of Scotland, also known as Margaret of Wessex, was an 11th-century English princess and Queen of Scotland.

Margaret was born into royalty in Hungary around 1045. Her father, Edward Atheling, was heir to the English throne. Her family returned to England when she was 10 years old, but they were forced into exile by the Norman Conquest. After her father died, her mother fled with the children. The ship they were aboard crashed onto the coast of Scotland, where they stayed.

At the age of 25, Margaret married the king of Scotland, Malcolm Canmore. Her faith strongly influenced her husband’s reign. She calmed his temperament and led him to practice virtue. She brought dignity to the court, living as an example of purity and reverence. She and the king prayed together and fed the hungry, offering a powerful witness of faith.
St. Margaret worked tirelessly to bring justice and relief to Scotland's poor. She built churches and encouraged others in the practice of religious devotion. Her private life was marked with great prayerfulness and piety.

St. Margaret of Scotland, please pray for us!

The Feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary

The Catholic Church celebrates the life and example of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, a medieval noblewoman who responded to personal tragedy by embracing St. Francis' ideals of poverty and service. A patron of secular Franciscans, she is especially beloved to Germans, as well as the faithful of her native Hungary.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary, please pray for us!

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The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commemorates the presentation of the Blessed Virgin as a child by her parents in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Before Mary's birth, her parents, Joachim and Anne, received a heavenly message that they would have a child. Thanking God for the gift of Mary's birth, they brought her to the Temple to consecrate their only daughter to the Lord.

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The Feast of St. Cecilia, a 2nd-century martyr and the patroness of musicians

St. Cecelia was born into one of the principal families of Rome. According to the custom of the time, she was betrothed to a pagan nobleman named Valerian in spite of her consecration to God.
On their wedding night, Cecilia told her new husband that she had sworn to remain a virgin and that an angel guarded her body, protecting her. She told Valerian that he could see this angel if he went to the third milestone along the Via Appia to be baptized by Pope Urban I. He did as she instructed and was baptized. His brother later converted as well.

Valerian and his brother dedicated themselves to burying the bodies of all the Christians they found, which was forbidden at the time. They were arrested and put to death when they refused to worship the false Roman god, Jupiter.

Cecilia was also apprehended and told to renounce her faith, but she said that she would rather die than deny the Lord. According to legend, upon hearing her response, they brought her to a large oven with the intention of suffocating her with the toxic gas it emitted. Instead of choking, Cecilia began to sing. Her persecutors then attempted to behead her, but she survived three strokes of the sword. They left her bloodied but alive in her own home where she stayed for three days before she died.

St. Cecilia is known for "singing in her heart to the Lord" on her wedding day, in spite of her consecration to God. Her example has inspired many to find God within music.

St. Cecilia, please pray for us!

The Feast of St. Andrew Dũng-Lạc and companions 

During his papacy, Pope St. John Paul II canonized a group of 117 martyrs who died for the Roman Catholic Faith in Vietnam in the nineteenth century.

The group consisted of 96 Vietnamese, 11 Spaniards, and 10 French. Eight of these martyrs were bishops, 50 were priests, and 59 were lay Catholics, including a 9-year-old child.

The witnesses of the lives of these martyrs gives testament to the sufferings inflicted on the Vietnamese Church, among the most terrible in the long history of Christian martyrdom.

St. Andrew Dũng-Lạc and companions, pray for us! 

The Feast of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal

On this day in 1830, the Blessed Mother came to St. Catherine Laboure and gave her the vision of a image that she was instructed to place on the front and back of a medal. Mary told St. Catherine, "All those who wear it will receive great graces; these graces will be abundant for those who wear it with faith."

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal and St. Catherine, pray for us! 

 

The Feast of St. Andrew, an apostle, martyr and brother to St. Peter.

This former fisherman from Bethsaida became a devout follower of Jesus. It is said that he helped spread Christianity in Russia and Asia minor after Pentecost. He was crucified by the Romans in Greece, but on an X-shaped cross. This shape is now the distinctive symbol for St. Andrew and Scotland, of which he is the patron.

St. Andrew, pray for us!