Saint of the Day
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to an invitation from God to use his or her unique gifts. God calls each one of us to be a saint.
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St. Seraphin of Montegranaro (October 12, 2009)
Born into a poor Italian family, young Seraphin lived the life of a shepherd and spent much of his time in prayer. Mistreated for a time by his older brother after the two of them had been orphaned, Seraphin became a Capuchin Franciscan at age 16 and impressed everyone with his humility and generosi …
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Blessed Angela Truszkowska (October 11, 2009)
Today we honor a woman who submitted to God's will throughout her life--a life filled with pain and suffering.
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St. Francis Borgia (October 10, 2009)
Today's saint grew up in an important family in 16th-century Spain, serving in the imperial court and quickly advancing in his career. But a series of events--including the death of his beloved wife--made Francis Borgia rethink his priorities. He gave up public life, gave away his possessions a …
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St. Denis and Companions (October 9, 2009)
This martyr and patron of France is traditionally held to have been the first bishop of Paris. His popularity is due to a series of legends, especially those connecting him with the great abbey church of St. Denis in Paris. He was for a time confused with the writer now called Pseudo-Dionysius.
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St. John Leonardi (October 8, 2009)
"I am only one person! Why should I do anything? What good would it do?" Today, as in any age, people seem plagued with the dilemma of getting involved. In his own way John Leonardi answered these questions. He chose to become a priest.
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Our Lady of the Rosary (October 7, 2009)
Pope St. Pius V established this feast in 1573. The purpose was to thank God for the victory of Christians over the Turks at Lepanto--a victory attributed to the praying of the rosary. Clement XI extended the feast to the universal Church in 1716.
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St. Bruno (October 6, 2009)
This saint has the honor of having founded a religious order which, as the saying goes, has never had to be reformed because it was never deformed. No doubt both the founder and the members would reject such high praise, but it is an indication of the saint's intense love of a penitential life in so …
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St. Faustina (October 5, 2009)
St. Mary Faustina's name is forever linked to the annual feast of the Divine Mercy (celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter), the divine mercy chaplet and the divine mercy prayer recited each day by many people at 3 p.m.
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St. Francis of Assisi (October 4, 2009)
Francis of Assisi was a poor little man who astounded and inspired the Church by taking the gospel literally--not in a narrow fundamentalist sense, but by actually following all that Jesus said and did, joyfully, without limit and without a mite of self-importance.
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St. Mother Theodore Guérin (October 3, 2009)
Trust in God's Providence enabled Mother Theodore to leave her homeland, sail halfway around the world and to found a new religious congregation.
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Feast of the Guardian Angels (October 2, 2009)
Perhaps no aspect of Catholic piety is as comforting to parents as the belief that an angel protects their little ones from dangers real and imagined. Yet guardian angels are not just for children. Their role is to represent individuals before God, to watch over them always, to aid their prayer and …
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St. Thérèse of Lisieux (October 1, 2009)
"I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul." These are the words of Theresa of the Child Jesus, a Carmelite nun called the "Little Flower," who lived a cloistered life of obscurity in the convent of Lisieux, France. [In French-speaking …
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St. Jerome (September 30, 2009)
Most of the saints are remembered for some outstanding virtue or devotion which they practiced, but Jerome is remembered too frequently for his bad temper! It is true that he had a very bad temper and could use a vitriolic pen, but his love for God and his Son Jesus Christ was extraordinarily intens …
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Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (September 29, 2009)
Angels--messengers from God--appear frequently in Scripture, but only Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are named.
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St. Wenceslaus (September 28, 2009)
If saints have been falsely characterized as "otherworldly," the life of Wenceslaus stands as an example to the contrary: He stood for Christian values in the midst of the political intrigues which characterized 10th-century Bohemia.
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St. Vincent de Paul (September 27, 2009)
The deathbed confession of a dying servant opened Vincent's eyes to the crying spiritual needs of the peasantry of France. This seems to have been a crucial moment in the life of the man from a small farm in Gascony, France, who had become a priest with little more ambition than to have a comfortabl …
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Sts. Cosmas and Damian (September 26, 2009)
Nothing is known of their lives except that they suffered martyrdom in Syria during the persecution of Diocletian.
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St. Elzear and Blessed Delphina (September 25, 2009)
This is the only Franciscan couple to be canonized or beatified formally.
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St. Pacifico of San Severino (September 24, 2009)
Pacifico was born into a distinguished family in San Severino in the Marche of Ancona in central Italy. After joining the Friars Minor, he was ordained. He taught philosophy for two years and then began a successful preaching career.
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St. Padre Pio da Pietrelcina (September 23, 2009)
In one of the largest such ceremonies in history, Pope John Paul II canonized Padre Pio of Pietrelcina on June 16, 2002. It was the 45th canonization ceremony in Pope John Paul's pontificate. More than 300,000 people braved blistering heat as they filled St. Peter's Square and nearby streets. They h …
Saint of the Day
