Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/May
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[edit] May 1
James, son of Alphaeus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus of Nazareth. He is generally identified with James the Less, and is more commonly known by that name in church tradition.James son of Alphaeus is rarely mentioned in the New Testament, but he is sometimes identified with James the Just, an important leader in the New Testament church. He is clearly distinguished from James, son of Zebedee, another one of the Twelve Apostles.A tradition holds that James, though strongly clinging to Jewish law, was sentenced to death for having violated the Torah. This however, is highly unlikely as the Jewish authorities did not practice crucifixion, and unless a possible rebellion was at hand, the Roman authority would not involve themselves in Jewish religious affairs. He is reported to have been martyred by crucifixion at Ostrakine in Lower Egypt, where he was preaching the Gospel. A carpenter's saw is the symbol associated with him in Christian art because it is also noted that his body was later sawed to pieces .
Attributes:carpenter's saw; fuller's club; book
Patronage:hatters; Luxembourg; pastry chefs; San Felipe Pueblo; Uruguay
Prayer:apothecaries; druggists; dying people; Frascati, Italy; fullers; hatmakers; hatters; milliners; Monterotondo, Italy; Nemi, Italy; pharmacists; Uruguay
[edit] May 2
Pope Athanasius I of Alexandria (c. 293-May 2, 373) also known as Saint Athanasius the Great and St. Athanasius the Apostolic (Greek: Αθανάσιος, Athanásios) was a theologian, Bishop of Alexandria, a Church Father, and a noted Egyptian leader of the fourth century. He is best remembered for his role in the conflict with Arius and Arianism. At the first Council of Nicaea (325), Athanasius argued against Arius and his doctrine that Christ is of a distinct substance from the Father.Athanasius is revered as a saint by the Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic Churches. He is traditionally regarded as a great leader of the Church by the Lutheran Church, the Anglican Communion, and most Protestants in general. He is chronologically the first Doctor of the Church as designated by the Roman Catholic Church, and he is counted as one of the four Great Doctors of the Eastern Church. His feast day is May 15 in the Coptic Orthodox Church, January 18 in the Eastern Orthodox Churches and May 2 in Western Christianity.St. Athanasius received his philosophical and theological training at Alexandria. He was ordained as a deacon by the current patriarch, Alexander of Alexandria, in 319.
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[edit] May 3
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Philip the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Later Christian traditions describe Philip as the apostle who proselytized in Greece, Syria, and Phrygia. He was martyred by crucifixion in the city of Hierapolis. In the Catholic Church, the feast day of Saint Philip, along with Saint James, has traditionally been observed on 1 May, but was moved to 11 May, the next free day, in 1955 due to the addition of Saint Joseph the Workman. In 1970, with the suppression of many feasts during the revision of the calendar, it was placed on 3 May. Members of the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrate it on November 14. Many churches in the Anglican Communion continue to celebrate it on 1 May.Gnostic Christians appealed to the apostolic authority of Philip, ascribing a number of gnostic texts to him, most notably the Gospel of Philip from the Nag Hammadi library.Philip the Apostle is not to be confused with Philip the Evangelist from the Book of Acts.Christian stories about Philip's life and ministry can be found in the extra-canonical writings of later Christians than in the New Testament. One of the most reliable fragments of knowledge about Philip comes from the head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria, Clement, who states that Philip was married, had children, and one of his daughters was also married.
Attributes:Elderly bearded man holding a basket of loaves and a Tau cross
Patronage:hatters; Luxembourg; pastry chefs; San Felipe Pueblo; Uruguay
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[edit] May 4
Judas Cyriacus (Cyriacus of Ancona, Cyriacus of Jerusalem, Quiriacus, Quiricus, Kyriakos) (Spanish: Quirico, Italian: Ciriaco) (d. ca. AD 133) is the patron saint of Ancona, Italy. His feast day is celebrated in the Catholic Church on May 4.He is said to have been the bishop of Ancona who died or was killed during a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He is also identified with Bishop Judas Cyriacus of Jerusalem (Saint Cyriacus of Jerusalem), who was killed during a riot there in 133 AD. His feast is celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church on April 14.The local tradition of Ancona has identified this saint with the Jew named Judas Quiriacus or Kyriakos.According to legend, the Jew Judas Kyriakos aided the Empress Helena in finding the deeply-buried True Cross. It is said that Judas suggested that three centuries of debris had accumulated over Golgotha and that the caves be removed. The oldest extant Syriac text of the legend of the discovery of the True Cross by Judas Kyriakos dates from ca. 500 AD. Its recent editor and translator says that the manuscript is "of great value for the history of the legend of the inventio crucis".
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Patronage:Ancona
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[edit] May 5
Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice (Irish: Iognáid Rís; 1 June 1762 – 29 August 1844), was a Roman Catholic missionary and educationalist. Edmund Rice was the founder of two orders of religious brothers: the Congregation of Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers.Rice was born in Ireland at a time when Catholics faced oppression under Penal Laws enforced by the British authorities. He forged a successful career in business and, after a tragic accident which killed his wife and left his daughter disabled, devoted his life to the education and service of the poor.Christian Brother and Presentation Brother schools around the world continue to follow the system of education and traditions established by Edmund Rice (see List of Christian Brothers schools).Edmund Rice was born to Robert Rice and Margaret Rice (née Tierney) on the farming property of "Westcourt", in Callan, County Kilkenny. Edmund was the fourth of seven sons, although he also had two step-sisters, Joan and Jane Murphy, the offspring of his mother's first marriage.
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[edit] May 6
Dominic Savio (Italian: Domenico Savio; April 2, 1842 – March 9, 1857) was an Italian adolescent student of John Bosco. He was studying to be a priest when he became ill and died, possibly from pleurisy.His teacher, Saint John Bosco had very high regard for his student, and wrote a biography of his young student, The Life of Dominic Savio. This volume, along with other accounts of him, were critical factors in his cause for sainthood. Despite the fact that many people considered him to have died at too young an age - fourteen - to be considered for sainthood, he was considered eligible for such singular honour on the basis of his having displayed "heroic virtue" in his everyday life.He is the only saint of his age group, which includes Maria Goretti and Ponticus of Lyons, who was declared to be a saint not on the basis of his having been a martyr, but on the basis of having lived what was seen as a holy life. He was canonised a Saint on June 12, 1954 by Pope Pius XII, making him the youngest non-martyr to be canonised in the Catholic Church.
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Patronage:choirboys, falsely accused people, juvenile delinquents,Pueri Cantores
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[edit] May 7
Rosa Venerini was born in Viterbo, on February 9, 1656. Her father, Goffredo, originally from Castelleone di Suasa (Ancona), after having completed his doctorate in medicine at Rome, moved to Viterbo where he practiced the medical profession brilliantly in the Grand Hospital. From his marriage to Marzia Zampichetti, of an ancient family of Viterbo, four children were born: Domenico, Maria Maddalena, Rosa and Orazio.Rosa was naturally gifted with intelligence and an uncommon human sensibility. The education that she received in her family allowed her to develop her many talents of mind and heart, forming her in steadfast Christian principles. According to her first biographer, Father Girolamo Andreucci, S.I., she made a vow to consecrate her life to God at the age of seven. During the early years of her youth, she lived through a conflict between the attractions of the world and the promise made to God. Rosa overcame this crisis with trusting prayer and mortification.
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[edit] May 8
Saint Arsenius the Deacon, sometimes known as Arsenius of Scetis and Turah, Arsenius the Roman or Arsenius the Great, was a Roman imperial tutor who became an anchorite in Egypt, one of the most highly regarded of the Desert Fathers, whose teachings were greatly influential on the development of asceticism and the contemplative life.He was born ca. 350-354 in Rome to a noble Roman senatorial family. There is considerable debate regarding the accuracy of several points in Arsenius's life. Arsenius is said to have been made a deacon by Pope Damasus I who recommended him to Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I the Great, who had requested the Emperor Gratian and Pope Damasus around 383 to find him in the West a tutor for his sons (future emperors Arcadius and Honorius). Arsenius was chosen on the basis of being a man well read in Greek literature. He reached Constantinople in 383, and continued as tutor in the imperial family for eleven years, during the last three of which he also had charge of his original pupil Arcadius's brother, Honorius. Coming one day to see his sons at their studies, Theodosius found them sitting while Arsenius talked to them standing.
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[edit] May 9
Saint George Preca (in Maltese: San Ġorġ Preca) (12 February 1880 - 26 July 1962) was a Maltese Roman Catholic priest who founded the Society of Christian Doctrine,[a] a society of lay catechists. In Malta, he is affectionately known as "Dun Ġorġ" and is popularly referred to as the "Second Apostle of Malta," after Saint Paul of Tarsus. He was canonized on 3 June 2007.Ġorġ Preca was born in Valletta, Malta, on 12 February 1880. He was the seventh of nine children. Early in his childhood, his family moved to Ħamrun, where he started serving Mass as an altar boy. Preca studied at the Lyceum, considered the preeminent secondary school in the island.Preca then entered seminary, where he excelled, especially in Latin. He was eventually ordained a deacon. However, he was subsequently diagnosed as suffering from lung failure. The prognosis was not good, and he was even discouraged from buying vestments or a missal in preparation for the priesthood.
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Patronage:Malta, Society of Christian Doctrine
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[edit] May 10
Father Damien (January 3, 1840 – April 15, 1889), born Joseph de Veuster and aka Blessed Damien of Molokai, was a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, a missionary religious order.Damian is known for love and ministering to people with what was then widely known as leprosy, forced by government-sanctioned medical segregation, living on the island of Molokai in the Kingdom of Hawaii.In the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions, as well as other denominations of Christianity, Damien is considered the spiritual patron for Hansen's Disease, HIV and AIDS patients as well as outcasts. As the patron saint of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu and of Hawaii, Father Damien Day is celebrated statewide on April 15. Upon his beatification towards canonization and sainthood by Pope John Paul II in 1995, Damien was given a memorial feast day, celebrated on May 10 on the church calendar and was conferred the official title of Blessed Damien of Molokai.Several memorials have been made to Damien worldwide. The Father Damien Statue honors the priest in bronze at the United States Capitol while a full size replica stands in front of the Hawaii State Capitol. In 2005, Damien was honored with the title of De Grootste Belg, chosen as The Greatest Belgian throughout Belgian history in polling conducted by the Flemish public broadcasting service, VRT. Attributes:leprosy
Patronage:people with leprosy, outcasts, those with HIV/AIDS, the State of Hawaii.
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[edit] May 11
Saint Gangulphus of Burgundy (d. May 11, 760 AD) is venerated as a martyr by the Catholic Church. Gangulphus was a Burgundian courtier whose historical existence can only be attested by a single document: a deed from the court of Pepin the Short dated 762. It attests that he was a great landowner, whose family dominated the region and exercised a lot of power.Gangulphus decided to renounce his wealth and become a hermit. Even so, he was subsequently killed by his wife's lover, who wished to remove Gangulphus as a possible interference to the adulterous relationship. Born to one of the most illustrious families of Burgundy, his education was provided by his parents, who were virtuous Christians. As a youth, Gangulphus was known for his great honesty, chastity, and propriety, and visited churches and read religious texts, avoiding the company of libertines. When his parents died, he became a model landowner, taking care of the household economy with ease and industry and also providing for the churches and the poor on his land. When it came time to marry, he chose a woman who did not share his virtues.
Attributes:pictured as a Burgundian knight with a fountain springing under his sword. He holds a shield with a cross. He may also hold the spear with which he was murdered
Patronage:invoked by husbands unhappily married; tanners, shoemakers, children, and horses; invoked against knee pains, sicknesses affecting the eyes and skin; invoked against marital difficulties and adultery
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[edit] May 12
Saint Pancras, in other languages: Sanctus Pancratius (Latin); Ἅγιος Πανκράτιος (Greek); San Pancrazio (Italian); San Pancracio (Spanish), was a Roman citizen who converted to Christianity, and was beheaded for his faith at the age of just 14 around the year 304. His name is Greek and literally means "the one that holds everything".From 1595 (25 years after Pope Pius V promulgated the Tridentine Missal) until 1969, Saint Pancras was venerated together with Saints Nereus and Achilleus and Saint Domitilla in a shared feastday and Mass formula on 12 May.Saint Pancras is now venerated separately, still on 12 May.Since he was said to have been martyred at the age of fourteen during the persecution under Diocletian, Pancras would have been born around 289, at a place designated as near Synnada, a city of Phrygia Salutaris, to parents of Roman citizenship.
Attributes:depicted as a young man or soldier
Patronage:children; invoked against cramp, false witness, headache, and perjury
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[edit] May 13
Roberto Francesco Romolo Cardinal Bellarmino (Saint Robert Bellarmine, October 4, 1542 – September 17, 1621) is a Saint and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He is one of only thirty-three Doctors of the Church.Robert Bellarmine was born at Montepulciano to a noble though impoverished family, a nephew of Pope Marcellus II. His abilities showed themselves early; as a boy he knew Virgil by heart, and composed a number of poems in Italian and Latin. One of his hymns, on Mary Magdalene, is included in the Roman Catholic breviary.His father destined him for a political career, hoping that he might restore the fallen glories of the family. His mother, however, wished him to enter the Jesuits, and her influence prevailed. He entered the Roman novitiate in 1560, remaining in Rome three years, and then went to a Jesuit house at Mondovì, in Piedmont. Here he learned Greek, and taught it as fast as he learned it.
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Patronage:Fairfield University; canonists; canon lawyers; catechists; catechumens; Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Ohio
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[edit] May 14
In the New Testament Acts of the Apostles, the author of the Gospel of Luke records that Saint Matthias was the Apostle chosen by the remaining eleven apostles to replace Judas Iscariot, following Judas's betrayal of Jesus and his suicide (Acts 1:18-26). According to Nicephorus (Historia eccl., 2, 40), Matthias first preached the Gospel in Judea, then in Ethiopia (made out to be a synonym for the geographically quite separate Colchis, now Caucasian Georgia) and was crucified in Colchis. A marker placed in the ruins of the Roman fortress at Gonio (Apsaros) in the modern Georgian region of Adjara claims that Matthias is buried at that site.Since 1970, the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, which formerly celebrated St. Matthias on the sixth day to the Calends of March (24 February usually, but 25 February in leap years) holds his feast day on 14 May.According to Nicephorus (Historia eccl., 2, 40), Matthias first preached the Gospel in Judea, then in Ethiopia (made out to be a synonym for the geographically quite separate Colchis, now Caucasian Georgia) and was crucified in Colchis. A marker placed in the ruins of the Roman fortress at Gonio (Apsaros) in the modern Georgian region of Adjara claims that Matthias is buried at that site.
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Patronage:alcoholism; carpenters; Gary, Indiana; smallpox; tailors
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[edit] May 15
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Saint Isidore the Laborer or the Labourer, also known as Isidore the Farmer, or San Isidro Labrador in Spanish, (c. 1070–May 15, 1130), was a Spanish day laborer known for his goodness toward the poor and animals. He is the Catholic patron saint of farmers and Madrid.Isidore was born to very poor parents near Madrid, about the year 1070. He was in the service of the wealthy Madrid landowner Juan de Vargas on a farm in the vicinity of Madrid. Juan de Vargas would later make him bailiff of his entire estate of Lower Caramanca.Every morning before going to work, Isidore was accustomed to hearing a Mass at one of the churches in Madrid. One day his fellow-laborers complained to their master that Isidore was always late for work in the morning. Upon investigation, so runs the legend, the master found Isidore at prayer while an angel was doing the ploughing for him.On another occasion, his master saw an angel ploughing on either side of him, so that Isidore's work was equal to that of three of his fellow-labourers. Isidore is also said to have brought back to life his master's deceased daughter, and to have caused a fountain of fresh water to burst from the dry earth in order to quench his master's thirst.
Attributes:Confessor
Patronage:farmers; day laborers;San Isidro,Cuz Cuz,Carampa and Lima
Prayer:Dear Saint Isidore, you know how normal it is to cultivate the land for you were employed as a farm laborer most of your life. Although you received God's help materially through Angels in the field, all farmers are aided spiritually to see the wonders God has strewn on this earth. Encourage all farmers in their labours and help them to feed many people. Amen.
[edit] May 16
Saint Brendan of Clonfert or Bréanainn of Clonfert (c. 484 – c. 577) called "the Navigator", "the Voyager", or "the Bold" is one of the early Irish monastic saints whose legends reflect their history. He is chiefly renowned for his semi-legendary quest to the Isle of the Blessed. The Voyage of St. Brendan could be called an immram (Irish voyage story). He was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.In 474 Saint Brendan was born near what is now Fenit the port of Tralee, in County Kerry in the south west of Ireland. It was known as Ciarraight Luachra in those days. He was baptized at Tubrid, near Ardfert, by Saint Erc. For five years he was educated under Saint Ita, "the Brigid of Munster", and he completed his studies under Saint Erc, who ordained him priest in 512. Between the years 512 and 530 St. Brendan built monastic cells at Ardfert, and, at the foot of Mount Brandon, Shanakeel— Seana Cill, usually translated as "the old church"— also called Baalynevinoorach.
Attributes:whale; priest celebrating Mass on board ship while fish gather to listen; one of a group of monks in a small boat
Patronage:oatmen; mariners; sailors; travellers; whales; diocese of Clonfert; diocese of Kerry
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[edit] May 17
Saint Restituta (Santa Restituta di Teniza, ? – 304) is a saint and martyr of the Roman Catholic Church.She was said to be born at Hippo Diarrhytus (today known as Bizerte, Tunisia) and became a martyr under Diocletian. The exact place and time of her martyrdom lacks precise historical data.A later medieval legend, recounted by Pietro Suddiacono in the 10th century and similar to legends associated with Saints Devota, Reparata, and Torpes of Pisa, states that after being horribly tortured, Restituta was placed in a blazing boat loaded with oakum and resin.Restituta was unharmed by the fire, and asked for aid from God. God sent an angel to guide her boat to the island of Aenaria (present-day Ischia), and she landed at the present-day site of San Montano. The legend further states that a local Christian woman named Lucina had dreamt of the angel and the boat. When she walked to the beach, she found the resplendent and incorrupt body of Restituta, who was now dead.
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[edit] May 18
Saint Venantius of Camerino (d. ca. 250) is an Italian saint, and the patron of Camerino. Christian tradition holds that he was a seventeen-year old who was tortured and martyred by beheading at Camerino during the persecutions of Decius. Martyred with him were the priest Porphyrius, Venantius' tutor; and Leontius, bishop of the city.His legend states that, before Venantius was killed, he was scourged, burned with flaming torches, hanged upside-down over a fire, had his teeth knocked out and his jaw broken, thrown to the lions, and tossed over a high cliff. His 11th century Acts state additionally that he managed to briefly escape from Camerino and hide out at Raiano, where a church was later dedicated to him.Venantius was buried outside the city walls of Camerino, where a basilica was built in the fifth century, and later rebuilt many times in succeeding centuries. The cult of Venantius became popular: his image appeared on coins and in litanies; springs near the basilica, which were associated with the saint, were used by lepers and people with ulcers to cure their afflictions. Venantius subsequently replaced Saint Ansovinus as the city's patron saint.
Attributes:young man crucified upside-down with smoke coming from his head; young man holding the citadel of Camerino; young man holding the city of Camerino, a palm, and a book; young man with a banner holding a city wall
Patronage:Camerino
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[edit] May 19
Dunstan (c.909–19 May 988) was an abbot of Glastonbury, a bishop of Worcester, a bishop of London, and an archbishop of Canterbury who was later canonized as a saint.His work restored monastic life in England and reformed the English Church. His 11th century biographer, Osbern, himself an artist and scribe, states that Dunstan was skilled in "making a picture and forming letters", as were other clergy of his age who reached senior rank.Dunstan served as an important minister of state to several English kings. He was the most popular saint in England for nearly two centuries, having gained fame for the many stories of his greatness.Adding to Dunstan's myth was his legendary cunning in dealing with the Devil.Dunstan was born in Baltonsborough.He was the son of Heorstan, a noble of Wessex. Heorstan was the brother of the bishops of Wells and of Winchester.The anonymous author of the earliest Life places Dunstan's birth during the reign of Athelstan, while Osbern fixed it at "the first year of the reign of King Æthelstan", 924 or 925. This date, however, cannot be reconciled with other known dates of Dunstan's life and creates many obvious anachronisms. Historians therefore assume that Dunstan was born circa 910 or earlier.
Attributes:man holding a pair of smith's tongs; with a dove hovering near him; with a troop of angels before him
Patronage:blacksmiths; Charlottetown, Canada; goldsmiths; locksmiths; musicians; silversmiths
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[edit] May 20
Saint Bernardino of Siena (sometimes Bernardine, September 8, 1380 – May 20, 1444) was an Italian priest, preacher, Franciscan missionary and Christian saint.Bernardino was born in 1380 to the noble Albizeschi family in Massa Marittima (Tuscany), a Sienese town of which his father was then governor. Left orphaned at six, he was raised by a pious aunt. On the completion of his education he spent some years in the service of the sick in the hospitals. While he was studying civil and canon law in Siena, he worked in the hospital of Santa Maria della Scala throughout the bubonic plague outbreak of 1400 and even urged other young men to stay and help. He thus caught the plague, of which he nearly died.In 1402 or 1404, he joined the Franciscan order in the strict branch called Observant, of which he became one of the chief promoters, after donating all his possessions to the poor. About 1406 Saint Vincent Ferrer, while preaching at Alessandria in Piedmont, foretold that his mantle should descend upon one who was then listening to him, and said that he would return to France and Spain leaving to Bernardino the task of evangelizing the remaining peoples of Italy.
Attributes:Tablet with IHS; three mitres representing the bishoprics which he refused
Patronage:advertisers; advertising; Aquila, Italy; chest problems; communications personnel; Trevignano Romano, Italy; diocese of San Bernardino, California; gambling addicts; Italy; public relations personnel; public relations work; compulsive gambling; lung problems; lungs; against hoarseness; respiratory problems; uncontrolled gambling
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[edit] May 21
Godric of Finchale (c. 1065–May 21, 1170) was an English hermit and popular medieval saint, although he was never formally canonized. He was born in Walpole in Norfolk and died in Finchale in County Durham.Godric's life was recorded by a contemporary of his: a monk named Reginald of Durham. Several other hagiographies are also extant. According to these accounts, Godric, who began from humble beginnings as the son of Ailward and Edwenna, "both of slender rank and wealth, but abundant in righteousness and virtue", was a pedlar, then a sailor and entrepreneur, and may have been the captain and owner of the ship that conveyed Baldwin I of Jerusalem to Jaffa in 1102. After years at sea, Godric reportedly went to the island of Lindisfarne and there encountered Saint Cuthbert; this will not have been a physical encounter as Cuthbert had long been dead and was by then interred under Durham Cathedral. This encounter changed his life, and he devoted himself to Christianity and service to God thereafter.
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[edit] May 22
Saint Rita (1381 – May 22, 1457) was an Italian Augustinian saint.She was born at Roccaporena near Cascia, Umbria. The name is perhaps a shortening of Margherita, the Italian version of the name "Margaret."Rita was married at age 18 to Paolo Mancini. Her parents arranged her marriage, despite the fact that Rita repeatedly begged them to allow her to enter a convent. Paolo was a rich, quick-tempered, brutal, dissolute and uncontrolled man who made enemies in the region. Rita endured his insults, abuses and infidelities for eighteen years, and watched as her two sons grow up to be like their father.Paolo was set upon and killed one night. He was violently stabbed many times. He is said to have repented to the Church and Rita toward the end of his life, and Rita forgave him for his transgressions against her. The symbol most often associated with Rita is the rose. One of the stories surrounding Rita and roses is that Rita would regularly bring food to the poor, which her husband prohibited her from doing. One day, her husband confronted her as she was leaving to bring bread to the poor.
Attributes:forehead wound, rose, bees
Patronage:sickness, wounds, marital problems, lost and impossible causes, abuse, mothers
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[edit] May 23
Saint William of Perth (Saint William of Rochester) (died ca. 1201) was a Scottish saint who was martyred in England.Born at Perth, at this time one of the most important towns in Scotland, practically all that is known of this martyr comes from the Nova legenda Anglie, and that is little. In youth he had been somewhat wild, but on reaching manhood he devoted himself wholly to the service of God. A baker by trade (some sources say he was a fisherman), he was accustomed to set aside every tenth loaf for the poor.He went to Mass daily, and one morning, before it was light, found on the threshold of the church an abandoned child, whom he adopted and to whom he taught his trade. Later he took a vow to visit the Holy Places, and, having received the consecrated wallet and staff as a palmer, set out with his adopted son, whose name is given as "Cockermay Doucri", which is said to be Scots for "David the Foundling". They stayed three days at Rochester, and purposed to proceed next day to Canterbury (and perhaps thence to Jerusalem), but instead David willfully misled his benefactor on a short-cut and, with robbery in view, felled him with a blow on the head and cut his throat.
Attributes:Devotional medals depict him with a dog and a staff.
Patronage:Adopted children
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[edit] May 24
Saint Manahen (also Manaen) was a teacher of the Church of Antioch and the foster brother (Gk. syntrophos, Vulg. collactaneus) of Herod Antipas.Little is known of Manahen's life. He is said to be one those who, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, laid hands upon Saul and Barnabas and sent the two Apostles on the first of St. Paul's missionary journeys (Acts 13:3). Since St. Luke was an Antiochene, it is not unlikely that Manahen was on of the "the prophets and doctors" of the Church of Antioch was one of the "eyewitnesses and ministers of the word" (Luke 1:2), who delivered unto Luke the details which that sacred writer has in regard to Antipas and other members of the Herodian family (Luke 3:1, 19, 20; 8:3; 9:7-9; 13:31, 32; 23:8-12; Acts 12). He may have become a disciple of Jesus with "Joanna, the wife of Chusa, Herod's steward" (Luke 8:3).
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[edit] May 25
Bede (IPA: /ˈbiːd/) (also Saint Bede, the Venerable Bede, or (from Latin) Beda (IPA: [beda])), (c. 672 or 673 – May 25, 735), was a Benedictine monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow (see Wearmouth-Jarrow), both Northumbria. He is well known as an author and scholar, and his most famous work, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People) gained him the title "The father of English history".Bede became known as Venerable Bede (Lat.: Beda Venerabilis) soon after his death, but this was not linked to consideration for sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, his title is believed to come from a mistranslation of the Latin inscription on his tomb in Durham Cathedral, intended to be Here lie the venerable bones of Bede, but wrongly interpreted as here lie the bones of the Venerable Bede.
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Patronage:English writers and historians; Jarrow
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[edit] May 26
St. Philip Romolo Neri (Italian: Filippo de Neri; also known as Apostle of Rome; July 22, 1515 – May 27, 1595), was an Italian churchman, noted for founding a society of secular priests called the "Congregation of the Oratory".He was born in Florence, the youngest child of Francesco, a lawyer, and his wife Lucrezia da Mosciano, whose family were nobility in the service of the state. Neri was carefully brought up, and received his early teaching from the friars at San Marco, the famous Dominican monastery in Florence. He was accustomed in later life to ascribe most of his progress to the teaching of two amongst them, Zenobio de' Medici and Servanzio Mini.When he was about sixteen, a fire destroyed nearly all his father's property. Philip was sent to his father's childless brother, Romolo, a wealthy merchant at San Germane, a Neapolitan town near the base of Monte Cassino, to assist him in his business, and with the hope that he might inherit his uncle's fortune. So far as gaining Romolo's confidence and affection, the plan was entirely successful, but it was thwarted by Philip's vocation to the priesthood.
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Patronage:Rome, US Special Forces
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[edit] May 27
Augustine of Canterbury (died May 26, 604) was a Benedictine monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in 598. He is considered the "Apostle to the English", a founder of the English Church, and a patron of England.Augustine was the prior of a monastery in Rome when Pope Gregory the Great chose him in 595 to lead a mission to Britain to convert the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity. Kent was probably chosen because it was near the Christian kingdoms in Gaul, and because Æthelberht had married a Christian princess, Bertha, daughter of Charibert, the King of Paris, who was expected to exert some influence over her husband. Although the missionaries considered turning back before they reached Kent, Gregory urged them on, and in 597 Augustine landed on the Isle of Thanet and proceeded to Æthelberht's main town of Canterbury.Æthelberht allowed the missionaries to preach freely and converted to Christianity, giving the missionaries land to found a monastery outside the city walls. Augustine was consecrated bishop of the English, and converted many of the king's subjects, including thousands during a mass baptism on Christmas Day in 597.
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[edit] May 28
Saint Bernard of Menthon (Bernard of Montjoux), Born in 923, probably in the Château de Menthon near Annecy, in Savoy; died at Novara, 1008. He was descended from a rich, noble family and received a thorough education. He refused an honorable marriage proposed by his father and decided to devote himself to the service of the Church. Sneaking away from the chateau the day before the wedding, he fled to Italy and joined the Benedictine order. Placing himself under the direction of Peter, Archdeacon of Aosta, under whose guidance he rapidly progressed, Bernard was ordained priest and on account of his learning and virtue was made Archdeacon of Aosta (966), having charge of the government of the diocese under the bishop. Seeing the old pagan ways still prevailing among the people of the Alps, he resolved to devote himself to their conversion. For forty-two years he continued to preach the Gospel to these people and even into many cantons of Lombardy, effecting numerous conversions and working many miracles. In popular legend it is said that during his flight from Château de Menthon, Bernard cast himself from his window only to be captured by angels and lowered gently to the ground forty feet below. In actuality he used a chain of knotted bed sheets.
Attributes:In the mountains, with a dog
Patronage:mountaineers, skiers, the Alps
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[edit] May 29
Saint Maximin (born at Silly near Poitiers; — Poitiers 12 September 346 was the fifth bishop of Trier, according to the list provided by the diocese's website, taking his seat in 341/342. Maximin was an opponent of the Arianism supported by the courts of Constantine II and Constans, who harboured as an honored guest Athanasius twice during his exile from Alexandria, in 336-37, before he was bishop, and again in 343. In the Arian controversy he had begun in the party of Paul of Constantinople; however, he took part in the synod of Sardica convoked by Pope Julius II (ca. 342), and when four Arian bishops consequently came from Antioch to Trier with the purpose of winning Emperor Constans to their side, Maximinus refused to receive them and induced the emperor to reject their proposals.
Attributes:depicted receiving Saint Athanasius at Trier; bear at his side; commanding a bear to carry his things.
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[edit] May 30
Joan of Arc, also known as "the Maid of Orleans",was a 15th century virgin saint and national heroine of France. She led the French army to several important victories and led king Charles VII to his coronation. She was captured by the English and tried by an ecclesiastical court led by Bishop Pierre Cauchon, an English partisan; the court convicted her of heresy and she was burned at the stake by the English when she was nineteen years old. Twenty-four years later, the Vatican reviewed the decision of the ecclesiastical court, found her innocent, and declared her a martyr. She was beatified in 1909 and canonized as a saint in 1920.Modern biographical summaries often assert a birthdate of 6 January for Joan. In fact, however, she could only estimate her own age.Joan asserted that she had visions from God that told her to recover her homeland from English domination late in the Hundred Years' War. The uncrowned King Charles VII sent her to the siege at Orléans as part of a relief mission. She gained prominence when she overcame the dismissive attitude of veteran commanders and lifted the siege in only nine days. Several more swift victories led to Charles VII's coronation at Reims and settled the disputed succession to the throne.
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Patronage:France; martyrs; captives; militants; people ridiculed for their piety; prisoners; rape victims(though she was not raped); soldiers; Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service; Women's Army Corps
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[edit] May 31
Saint Petronilla (name variants include Aurelia Petronilla; Pernelle; Peroline; Perrenotte; Perrette; Perrine; Perronelle; Petronella; Peyronne; Peyronnelle; Pierrette; Pérette; Périne; Pétronille) (d. end of 1st century?; possibly 3rd century) is venerated as a virgin martyr by the Catholic Church. She died at Rome.Petronilla is traditionally identified as the daughter of Saint Peter, though this may stem simply because of the similarity of names. It is believed she may have been a convert of the saint's (and thus a "spiritual daughter"), or a follower or servant. It is said that Saint Peter cured her of palsy.Roman inscriptions, however, identify her simply as a martyr. She may have been related to Saint Domitilla. In 757. the coffin containing the mortal remains of the saint was transferred to an old circular building (an imperial mausoleum dating from the end of the fourth century) near St. Peter's. This building was altered and became the Chapel of St. Petronilla (De Rossi, "Inscriptiones christianae urbis Romae", II, 225).
Attributes:Depicted being healed by Saint Peter the Apostle; early Christian maiden with a broom; lying dead but incorrupt in her coffin with flowers in her hair as the coffin is opened during renovations; receiving the newly dead into heaven; set of keys; spurning a marriage proposal, represented by a ring, being offered by a king; standing with Saint Peter; woman holding a set of keys; woman with a dolphin
Patronage:The dauphins of France; mountain travellers; treaties between Popes and Frankish emperors; invoked against fever
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