October Saints

The Feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux

The Church celebrates St. Thérèse of Lisieux, also known as Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, a French Catholic Discalced Carmelite nun known commonly as "The Little Flower of Jesus."

Born in 1873 in Alençon, France, Thérèse lost her mother at the age of four and was raised by her father and older sisters. On Christmas Day 13 years later, Thérèse had a powerful and intimate encounter with God, which she described as a “complete conversion.” Less than a year later, she received permission from Pope Leo XIII to enter the Carmelite Monastery at the young age of 15.

She devoted herself to holiness, love for others and childlike trust in God. She constantly performed acts of kindness for others. “Charity gave me the key to my vocation," she said. "I understood that the Church had a Heart and that this Heart burns with love... in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out: O Jesus, my Love, at last I have found my vocation. My vocation is Love!”

In 1895, Thérèse noticed the first symptoms of tuberculosis, the illness which would lead to her death. She welcomed the suffering as an offering for the Lord, but also endured a terrible trial of faith which lasted until her death a year and a half later. With her last words, she proclaimed, "My God, I love you."

Millions have been inspired by her "little way" of loving God and neighbor, and her intercession has been linked with many miracles. Saint Thérèse was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II in 1997.

St. Thérèse, please pray for us! 

The Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels

"O Angel of God, to whose holy care I am committed by the supernal clemency, enlighten, protect, defend, and govern me." 

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The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

St. Francis of Assisi was a 13th-century Italian deacon who has inspired the Church through the ages in his commitment to follow the words of Jesus as literally as possible.

He was born on an uncertain date in the early 1180s as Giovanni, but his father wanted to call him Francesco (or Francis). He wasn't particularly studious or pious in his youth, as access to his father's wealth secured him a luxurious life in the upper class.

He fought in a war against a rival Italian city-state and was taken as a prisoner. Imprisoned, he had a recurring dream that suggested his "army" was not of this world. In 1205, he returned to Assisi and began to consider a life of poverty.

Three key events then confirmed Francis in this path. He overcame his fear of disease by kissing the hand of a leper he met in Assisi. He then made a pilgrimage to Rome, where he deposited his money at St. Peter's tomb and exchanged his clothes with a beggar. After he returned home, he heard Christ tell him in a vision: “Go, Francis, and repair my house, which as you see is falling into ruin.”

Francis began to use his father's wealth to restore churches. In 1208, he received the inspiration that would birth the Franciscan movement. At Mass, he heard the Gospel reading in which Christ instructs the apostles to go forth without money, shoes or extra clothes. This way of life later became a papally-approved rule, attracting a large following. In 1224, Francis miraculously received Christ's wounds in his own flesh, the stigmata.

St. Francis of Assisi, please pray for us! 

The Feast of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, the patron saint of mercy

She was born as Helena Kowalska, the third of ten children in 1905. She first felt a calling to the religious life when she was just seven years old and attended the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. After finishing school, she wanted to immediately join a convent. However, her parents refused.

In 1924, she experienced a vision of a suffering Jesus. According to Faustina, Jesus instructed her to leave for Warsaw and join a convent. When she arrived, she entered Saint James Church.

Faustina attempted to set up a new congregation for Divine Mercy in 1936. Jesus said to her, "My Daughter, do whatever is within your power to spread devotion to My Divine Mercy, I will make up for what you lack."

Her visions intensified as her health declined. She passed away On October 5, 1938. She was inspired by Christ to live a life lived for others. 

St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, please pray for us! 

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The Feast of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos
 
Francis was born in Füssen, Bavaria, Germany, on January 11, 1819, and was baptized on the same day. From a young age, he showed a desire to become a priest. Francis entered into the seminary in 1842 after completing studies in philosophy and theology in Munich.

After meeting some missionaries of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptionists), founded for the evangelization of the most abandoned, he wanted to enter into the Congregation to minister to German-speaking immigrants in the United States. He was accepted by the Congregation on November 22, 1842 and he arrived in New York about 5 months later. Francis was ordained a priest in the Redemptorist Church of St. James in Baltimore, Maryland on December 22, 1844 after completing his novitiate and theological studies.

After his ordination, Francis worked for nine years at St. Philomena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For the first six of those years, he served alongside St. John Neumann, the superior of the religious community at the time. During his last three years at the parish, Francis was appointed superior and redemptorist novice master.

Francis was transferred to several parishes from 1854-1862. Throughout these years, he dedicated himself to the formation of future Redemptorists as prefect of students. After working in at least 10 different states, he was assigned to St. Mary’s Assumption Church in New Orleans, LA as pastor. In addition to his duties as a pastor, he worked tirelessly to help the poor and afflicted.

Francis died on October 4, 1867, after contracting yellow fever from ministering to those who were ill with the disease. He was declared “Blessed” in 2000 by Pope John Paul II. There is one official miracle attributed to his intercession and there are others under investigation. If a second miracle is approved by the Vatican, Blessed Seelos will be proclaimed a saint.

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, please pray for us! 

The Feast of St. Bruno

St. Bruno of Cologne lived a lot of his life as a hermit, spending time in solitude and prayer in a quest for unity with God. May we mirror his thirst for a relationship with the Lord! 

Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher was the youngest of 10 children in a pious Quebec family. Three of her brothers her became priests and two sisters of her sisters also became nuns.

Because of ill health, she attended school sporadically and was rejected by several religious orders. For 12 years she helped one of her priest-brothers in his parish, organizing charitable works and the first Confraternity of Mary in Canada.

In 1843, with two friends and episcopal permission, she founded the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary to educate poor youths, especially in the countryside.

As Mother Marie-Rose, she led the congregation until her early death. She was beatified in 1982. Holy Names’ sisters serve today in Canada, the United States, Lesotho, Peru and Brazil.

St. Burno and Blessed Marie-Rose Durocher, please pray for us! 

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October is the Month of the Rosary, and October is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

Known for centuries as “Our Lady of Victory,” today's feast honors the 16th-century naval victory which secured Europe against Turkish invasion.

Pope St. Pius V attributed the victory to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, invoked during battle through a campaign to pray the Rosary throughout Europe.

Pope Leo XIII, particularly devoted to Our Lady of the Rosary, wrote of Mary saying, “It has always been the habit of Catholics in danger and in troublous times to fly for refuge to Mary.”

Our Lady of the Rosary, please pray for us! 

The Feast of  Pope St. John XXII

"What unites us, is much greater than what divides us." ~ St. John XXIII

St. John XXIII, please pray for us! 

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The Feast of St. Callistus I

The only story of Callistus’ life was written by Saint Hippolytus, a rival candidate for the chair of Peter. Hippolytus was very strict in regards to rules and regulations. At the time, the Church had been very rough on those who committed the sins of adultery, murder, and fornication. Callistus showed mercy to these repentant sinners, allowing them back into communion of the Church after they had performed public penance. This enraged Hippolytus, as he saw all of this as a degradation of the Church.

While it is unfortunate that the only story we have of his life is by an enemy, it is glorious to see in it the fact that the Church is doesn’t only embrace saints, but allows sinners to 
St. Callistus I, please pray for us!  

The Feast of St. Teresa of Avila

St. Teresa of Avila was a 16th-century Spanish Carmelite nun, mystic and Doctor of the Church. Her life enriched the Church during the Counter-Reformation period.

In 1515, Teresa Sanchez Cepeda Davila y Ahumada was born in the Castilian city of Avila. She came from a family of Jewish merchants that converted to Christianity during the reign of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. From a young age, Teresa was captivated by thoughts of God and eternity. She and her brother Rodrigo once ran away from home in the hope that they would be martyred in a foreign land, but they were soon found by a relative who sent them home.

At the age of 14, Teresa's mother died, causing her profound grief. She embraced a deep devotion to the Virgin Mary, seeking her as a spiritual mother. She was later sent to be educated in a convent of Augustinian nuns. An illness forced her to leave the convent during her second year, but she was later able to join the Carmelite Order, inspired by the letters of St. Jerome. 

She continued to battle illness and pain for years. Through these trials she developed the practice of recalling herself into the presence of God. She experienced profound spiritual growth and powerful visions that seemed to come from God. Teresa wrote about some of these experiences in an autobiography that she completed in 1565.

She played a significant role in the renewal of the Church following the Council of Trent. She also founded what is known today as the Order of Discalced Carmelites. Discalced, meaning barefoot, symbolizes the simplicity to which they seek to return after a period of corruption.

St. Teresa of Avila, please pray for us! 

The Feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch

St. Ignatius of Antioch was an Early Church Father, bishop and martyr whose writings contributed greatly to the sacramental and hierarchical nature of the Church.

Born in Syria in the first century, Ignatius was personally instructed by John the Apostle and became the Bishop of Antioch around 70 A.D. He led the Christians of Antioch during the reign of the Roman Emperor Domitian, the first of the emperors to claim divinity by insisting on the title, “Lord and God.” Those who would not worship the emperor were threatened with death. Ignatius showed courage and worked to inspire it in others.

During Emperor Trajan's rule, Christians were once again persecuted. Ignatius was sentenced to death for his Christian testimony. During his escort to Rome, he composed seven letters – six to various local churches and one to Bishop Polycarp.

These letters instructed on the importance of Church unity, the dangers of heresy and the surpassing importance of the Eucharist as the “medicine of immortality.” These letters contain the first surviving description of the Church as “Catholic,” from the Greek word indicating both universality and fullness.

“All the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing,” Ignatius wrote in his letter to the church of Rome. “It is better for me to die on behalf of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth.”

St. Ignatius of Antioch was publicly martyred in Rome's Flavian Amphitheater, mauled to death by lions. “I am the wheat of the Lord,” he said before his death. “I must be ground by the teeth of these beasts to be made the pure bread of Christ.”

St. Ignatius of Antioch, please pray for us! 

The Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist

St. Luke the Evangelist was a physician and companion of Paul whose gospel contains the most extensive biography of Jesus.

Luke came from Antioch, a large metropolis in modern-day Turkey that became an important center of early Christianity. Educated as a physician in a Greek-speaking city, Luke was likely a gentile convert to Christianity. He was one of the most cultured members of the Early Church and an important historian of the period, regarded for his excellent Greek prose and for the accuracy of his account.

Luke accompanied St. Paul on many of the journeys detailed in the Acts of the Apostles. He was also one of the few that did not abandon Paul during his final imprisonment and death in Rome. After Paul's martyrdom, Luke is said to have preached throughout the Mediterranean, possibly dying as a martyr himself.

St. Luke, please pray for us! 

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The Feast of Sts. John de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues and companions, eight Jesuit missionaries known as "The North American Martyrs"

Also called the Canadian Martyrs or the Martyrs of France, these six Jesuit priests and two lay brothers were martyred in North America while serving as missionaries to the Huron, the Iroquois and the Mohawk Indians. Five of these saints were put to death in what is now Canada, and three others were killed in New York State.

St. Isaac Jogues, after being imprisoned by the Mohawks for thirteen months, had several fingers cut off of his hand. He managed to escape and travel back to Europe, but he returned again to North America to serve as an ambassador to the Mohawks. He was killed by tomahawk blows from the Mohawks at Ossernenon, now called Auriesville, in New York.

Before St. John de Brébeuf died, he declared, "I have a strong desire to suffer for Jesus Christ." He was tortured cruelly before his death.

St. Rene Goupi was the youngest of the martyrs at age 35. He cried "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!" as he died. Also martyred were Sts. John de Lalande, Anthony Daniel, Charles Garnier, Noel Chabanel and Gabriel Lalemant.

Sts. John de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues and companions, please pray for us! 

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Feast of St. Paul of the Cross

Paolo Francesco Danei, the oldest son in a poor, but noble Italian family, lived austerely even as a teen. After a year in the Venetian army, he returned to a monk-like life of prayer and penance and refused to marry.

During a vision he had in 1720, Our Lady, wearing a black habit with a white cross and bearing Jesus’ name, told Paul to start an order to preach Christ’s passion.

With his bishop’s approval, he founded the Discalced Clerks of the Most Holy Cross and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which he led for the rest of his life, and later began a nuns’ institute. Passionists were soon doing missions, retreats and spiritual direction throughout Italy. Paul was canonized in 1867.

St. Paul of the Cross, please pray for us! 

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The Feast of St. John Paul II

Saint John Paul II is one of the most beloved pontiffs in recent history, known for his charismatic nature, his love of youth and travel, and his role in the fall of communism in Europe.

St. John Paul II was born Karol Józef Wojtyla in the Polish town of Wadowice, the youngest of three children. He was baptized in 1920 and confirmed at the age of 18. He enrolled in Krakow's Jagiellonian University in 1938, but Nazi occupation forces closed the university a year later. Young Karol worked for years in a quarry and later a chemical factory to earn a living and avoid being deported to Germany.

Discerning a call to the priesthood, Karol began courses in the underground seminary of Krakow. After World War II ended, Karol continued his studies at the re-opened seminary. He was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Sapieha in 1946.

He was sent to Rome where he completed his doctorate in theology and served among Polish immigrants of France, Belgium and Holland. He returned to Poland to serve in various parishes, completing more studies in philosophy and theology. He later became a professor at the major seminary of Krakow.

He became the bishop of Ombi in 1958 and the archbishop of Krakow in 1964. Pope Paul VI made him a cardinal in 1967. He was elected Pope in 1978, taking the name John Paul II. His pontificate of nearly 27 years was one of the longest in the history of the Church.

Pope St. John Paul II maintained a tireless missionary spirit, making numerous pastoral and diplomatic visits. He established World Youth Days and World Meetings of Families. He encouraged dialogue with the Jews and representatives from other religions, praying for peace.
He promoted spiritual renewal through the Year of the Redemption, the Marian Year and the Year of the Eucharist. He beatified and canonized a vast host of Blesseds and Saints to serve as examples of holiness for the Church today. He made Thérèse of the Child Jesus a Doctor of the Church.

He released 14 Encyclicals, 15 Apostolic Exhortations, 11 Apostolic Constitutions, 45 Apostolic Letters as well as five books of his own. He promulgated the Catechism, reformed the Eastern and Western Codes of Canon Law and reorganized the Roman Curia.
In April of 2005, St. John Paul II departed this world for the Father. More than three million pilgrims came to Rome to pay homage to this beloved Pope, some waiting up to 24 hours to enter St. Peter's Basilica.

Pope St. John Paul II, please pray for us! 

Feast of St. Anthony Mary Claret

Born in Spain, in 1807, he took up weaving but then studied for the priesthood, desiring to be a Jesuit. He served as a secular priest, as ill-health prevented him from entering the order.

In 1849, he founded the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, also known as the Claretians, and the Apostolic Training Institute of the Immaculate Conception, Claretian nuns. 

He died in the Cistercian monastery of Fontfroide on October 24, 1870. He endured many trials from the forces of Spain and Cuba, while also having the gift of prophecy.

St. Anthony Mary Claret, please pray for us! 

Feast of Sts. Simon and Jude, Apostles of Jesus.

Known as Thaddaeus, St. Jude was a brother of St. James the Lesser and a relative of Jesus. Early Church writers tell us that he preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia and Libya. According to Eusebius, St. Jude returned to Jerusalem in 62 A.D. and assisted with the election of his brother, St. Simeon, as Bishop of Jerusalem.

In his epistle to the Churches of the East, St. Jude wrote against the heresies of the Simonians, the Nicolaites and the Gnostics. St. Jude was the one who asked Jesus at the Last Supper why he would not reveal himself to the whole world after his resurrection.

He is said to have been martyred in the Persian controlled Armenia. Beaten to death with a club, he was then beheaded post-mortem. In his New Testament letter, he encourages the faithful to persevere amidst difficult circumstances, so he is often invoked in desperate situations. He is the patron of forgotten, impossible or lost causes, hospitals and the diocese of Saint Petersburg, Florida.

Little is known about the life of St. Simon the Zealot after the day of Pentecost. Western tradition holds that he preached in Egypt and then joined St. Jude in Persia. It is said he was martyred by being cut in half with a saw, a tool that often appears in artistic portrayals of him. Eastern tradition holds that Simon died peacefully in Edessa.

Sts. Simon and Jude, pray for us!