Saints for 27th April
Saints for 27th April
St. Peter Canisius
St. Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia
St. Asicus, or Tussach, Bishop
St. Maughold, or Maccul, Bishop
St. Floribelt, Bishop
St. Stephen Pechersky, Bishop
St. Zita, Virgin
St. Turibius of Lima, Archbishop
St. Peter Armegol
Bd. Anthony of Siena
Bd. James of Bitetto
Bd. Osanna of Cattaro, Virgin
St. Peter Canisius, Doctor
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| St. Peter Canisius |
St. Peter is one of the creators of a Catholic press. He was the eldest son of Jacob Kanis and born in 1521 at Nijmegen in the Netherlands. He lost his mother at an early age and was raised by his stepmother, who instilled in him the fear of God. He took his master of arts degree at Cologne University when he was only nineteen. He proceeded to Louvain to study canon law for a few months to please his father who wanted him to be a lawyer. Discovery that hewas not called to be a lawyer, he refused marriage, took a celibacy vow, and returned to Cologne to study theology.
Canisius attended an Ignatian retreat led by BD. Peter Faber at Mainz, and vow to join the new order during the second week. Admitted as a novice, he lived for some years a community life in Cologne, spending his time in prayer, studying, visiting the sick, and instructing the ignorant. The money which he inherited upon his father’s death was devoted to the relief of the poor and the necessities of the house.
After his ordination to the priesthood, he came into prominence for his preaching. He was sent to Messina to teach in the first Jesuit school known in history.On the appeal from Duke William IV of Bavaria, he was returned to Germany to counteract the heretical teaching permeating schools. Peter Canisius succeeded in reforming the university, of which he became a rector and afterwards vice-chancellor.
In 1552, he was withdrawn to undertake, a similar mission in Vienna at the request of King Ferdinand. Many parishes in Vienna had no clergy, and the Jesuits had to supply priests and teach in their newly founded college. Not a single priest ordinated for twenty years; monasteries lied desolate; members of the religious orders jeered-at in the streets; nine-tenths of the inhabitants had abandoned the faith, while the few who still regarded themselves as Catholics had, for the most part, ceased to practice their religion. Peter Canisius at first preached to almost empty churches, but he found his way to the heart of the people by his indefatigable ministrations to the sick and dying during an outbreak of the plague.Apart from the colleges he founded or inaugurated, he prepared the way for many others. The general prayer which he composed is still recited in Germany on Sundays.
In 1591, a paralytic seizure brought him to the brink of the grave, but he recovered sufficiently to continue writing, with the help of a secretary, until shortly before his death on December 21, 1597
In 1925, St. Peter Canisius was canonized and declared a doctor of the church. Among the general considerations which arose from his life and personality was his insistence on the spirit and manner in which Christian apologetics and controversy should be conducted. St Peter Canisius held strongly that it is a mistake to bring up conversation subjects to which the protestants have an antipathy such as confession, satisfaction, purgatory, indulgences, monastic vows, and pilgrimages; the reason being that, like fever patients, they have infected palates and so are incapable of judging aright about such foods. Their need, as that of children, is for milk and should be led gently and gradually to those dogmas about which there is a dispute.
He spent a lifetime opposing heresy and restoring the catholic faith and life.
Watch the miraculous life of Saint Peter Canisius: A tale of faith and Devotion.
St. Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia
St. Anthimus
The persecution under Diocletian and Maximian was waged with particular ferocity at Nicomedia in Bithynia, where the emperors had a favorite residence. When the edict was first posted up, it was torn down by a Christian, moved by a zeal which Lactantius condemns but Eusebius commends. From that time the faithful could neither buy nor sell, draw water, or grind corn without being called upon to offer incense to the gods.
The persecution under Diocletian and Maximian was waged with particular ferocity at Nicomedia in Bithynia, where the emperors had a favorite residence. When the edict was first posted up, it was torn down by a Christian, moved by a zeal which Lactantius condemns but Eusebius commends. From that time the faithful could neither buy nor sell, draw water, or grind corn without being called upon to offer incense to the gods.
Eusebius, after relating that Anthimus the bishop was beheaded for confessing the Christian faith, states that an immense number of other martyrs perished also. He adds: “ In those days, I do not know how a fire broke out in the palace, and a false report was spread that we originated it. By the emperor’s orders, all who were servants of God perished in masses, some by the sword, others by fire. A certain number of some men and women, spurred on by an inexplicable divine inspiration, are said to have rushed into the blazing pyre. Innumerable others, bound and placed on rafts or planks, were drowned in the sea.”
Nearly the whole of the Christian population proved faithful and won the crown of martyrdom. With St. Anthimus is also sometimes associated eleven of his fellow martyrs.
St. Asicus, or Tussach, Bishop
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| St Asicus |
St. Asicus (Tassach) is the principal patron of Elphin in County Roscommon, and is traditionally regarded as having been the first bishop of that diocese. From some of the early lives of St Patrick it appears that he was one of the great apostle’s earliest disciples in Ireland, that he was married, and that he was a clever brass worker or copper-smith. He was placed over the church of Elphin, but it is uncertain whether he became a bishop before or after the death of St Patrick. His feast is observed in all Ireland. |
St. Maughold, or Maccul, Bishop
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| St. Maughold |
It is from some of the early lives of St Patrick that we derive the little we know of St Maccul or Maughold.
A bloodthirsty and wicked freebooter, he was converted by the apostle of Ireland. As a penance, and to cut him off from his evil associates, St Patrick bade him leave his native land, and he embarked alone, without rudder or oars, in a leather-covered coracle that bore him to the shores of the Isle of Man.
Two missionaries had already been sent there by St Patrick, and they gave a kindly reception to the newcomer, who, until their death, led an austere penitential life in that part of the island which afterward adopted his name. He is said to have been chosen bishop by the general consent of the Manx people and to have done much by his example and labors to extend the Church of Christ in this land. To him is attributed the division of the diocese into seventeen parishes. His feast is kept in the archdiocese of Liverpool, which includes Man.
Watch "Who was Saint Maughold? Unraveling the Mystery".
St. Floribelt, Bishop
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| St. Floribelt |
The parents of St Floribert were St Hubert and his wife Floribane who died at the birth of her son. Not much is known of his earlier years. He succeeded Hubert as bishop of Liège, which he ruled for eighteen years. The saint is described as a man of great humility, a lover of the poor, and “ vehement in correcting ”.
St. Stephen Pechersky, Bishop
This Stephen was a disciple of St Theodosius at the monastery of the Caves at Kiev. He absorbed so much of the spirit of his master and walked so closely in his footsteps that when Theodosius died in the year 1074, Stephen was unanimously chosen to take his place as the head of the community.
Hitherto he had been engaged in such offices as those of sacristan and precentor, for he was skilled in singing and knowledge of the rites of worship, and one of his first undertakings was to finish building the church which St Theodosius had begun.
He established a new community at Klov, conducting it on the principles he had learned from St Theodosius. This monastery was known as the Blakhernae, from the dedication of its church in honor of our Lady of Blakhernae (a famous shrine church in Constantinople).
St Stephen became bishop of Vladimir in Volhynia in 1091, and died only three years later, leaving a great reputation for the holiness of his life.
St. Zita, Virgin
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| St. Zita |
St Zita is the patroness of domestic workers. She grew up in a humble but pious household. Her parents were devout Christians, her elder sister afterward became a Cistercian nun, and her uncle Graziano was a hermit who was locally regarded as a saint. As for Zita herself, it was enough for her mother to say to the child, “ This is pleasing to God ” or “ That would displease God “, to ensure her immediate obedience.
At the age of twelve, she went to be a servant at Lucca, eight miles from her native village of Monte Sagrati, in the house of Pagano di Fatinelli, who carried on a wool and silk-weaving business. From the onset, she formed the habit of rising during the night for prayer and of attending daily the first Mass at the church of San Frediano. The good food with which she was provided she would distribute to the poor, and more often than not she slept on the bare ground, her bed having been given up to a beggar.
For some years she had much to bear from her fellow servants, who despised her way of living, regarded her industry as a silent reproach to themselves, and resented her open abhorrence of evil suggestions and foul language. They even succeeded for a time in prejudicing her employers against her. But she bore all her trials uncomplainingly. After a man-servant had made dishonorable advances from which she had defended herself by scratching his face, she did not attempt to explain or justify her action when her master inquired about the cause of the man’s disfigurement.
Gradually her patience overcame the hostility of the household, and her master and mistress came to realize what a treasure they possessed in Zita.Her work indeed was part of her religion. The children of the family were committed to her care, and she was made housekeeper.
One day the master suddenly expressed his intention of inspecting the stock of beans, for which he thought he could obtain a good sale. Every Christian family in that land and at that period gave food to the hungry, but Zita, as she acknowledged to her mistress, had been led by pity to make considerable inroads on the beans, and Pagano had a violent temper. She could but tremble in her shoes and send up an earnest prayer to Heaven. But no diminution could be detected in the store: that it had been miraculously replenished seemed the only possible explanation.
On another occasion when she had unduly protracted her devotions, forgetting that it was baking day, she hurried home to find that she had been forestalled: a row of loaves had been prepared and lay ready to be placed in the oven.
One bitterly cold Christmas Eve when Zita insisted upon going to church, her master threw his fur coat over her, bidding her not to lose it. In the entrance to San Frediano, she came upon a scantily clad man, whose teeth were chattering with the cold. As he laid an appealing hand upon the coat, Zita immediately placed it upon his shoulders, telling him that he might retain it until she came out of the church. When the service was over, neither the man nor the coat was anywhere to be seen. Crestfallen, Zita returned home to encounter the reproaches of Pagano, who was naturally extremely annoyed at so serious a loss. He was about to sit down to his Christmas dinner a few hours later, when a stranger appeared at the door of the room, bearing on his arm the fur coat which he handed to Zita. Master and maid eagerly addressed him, but he disappeared from their sight as suddenly as he had come, leaving in the heart of all who had seen him a wonderful celestial joy.
Since that day the people of Lucca have given the name of “ The Angel Door ” to the portal of San Frediano in which St Zita met the stranger. In time Zita became the friend and adviser of the whole house, and the only person who could cope with the master in his rages; but the general veneration with which she was regarded embarrassed her far more than the slights she had had to bear in her earlier years. On the other hand, she found herself relieved of much of her domestic work and free to visit her heart’s content the sick, the poor, and the prisoners. She had a special devotion to criminals under sentence of death, on whose behalf she would spend hours of prayer. In such works of mercy and divine contemplation, she spent the evening of her life.
She died very peacefully, on April 27, 1278. She was sixty years of age and had served the same family for forty-eight years. The body of St Zita lies in the church of San Frediano at Lucca, which she had attended so regularly for the greater part of her life.
Watch Saint Zita: Her journey to sainthood and beyond.
St. Turibius of Lima, Archbishop
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| St. Turibius |
St. Turibius is, equally with St Rose of Lima, the first known saint of the New World. It is true that he was not born on the American continent, and not canonized until fifty-five years after her, but they lived in the same place at the same time, Turibius died first, and it was he who conferred the sacrament of confirmation on Rose. His memory is held in great veneration throughout Peru, for although he did not plant Christianity in that land, he greatly promoted it and cleansed the Church there from grave abuses that were sapping its vitality and bringing discredit upon its name; his feast is, moreover, observed throughout South America.
Turibius, Toribio Alfonso de Mogrobejo, was born in 1538 at Mayorga in Spain. His childhood and youth were notably religious, but he had no intention of becoming a priest and was, in fact, educated for the law. He was so brilliant a scholar that he became a professor of law at the University of Salamanca, and while there he attracted the notice of King Philip II (widower of Mary I of England), who eventually made him chief judge of the ecclesiastical court of the Inquisition at Granada. This was a surprising position for a layman to hold, and it was not a pleasant or easy post for anyone, lay or cleric. But it led to an even more surprising development.
After some years, the archbishopric of Lima in the Spanish colony of Peru became vacant. Turibius had carried out his judge’s duties so well, and displayed such a fine missionary spirit, that it was decided to send him to Peru as archbishop: he seemed to be the one person who had the force of character sufficient to remedy the serious scandals which stood in the way of the conversion of the Peruvians. Turibius himself was shocked by the decision, and he wrote forthwith to the royal Council, pleading his incapacity and appealing to the canons which forbade the promotion of laymen to ecclesiastical dignities. His objections were overruled, he received all the orders and episcopal consecration, and immediately afterward sailed for Peru.
Arriving in Lima in 1581, it did not take him long to realize the arduous nature of the charge which had been laid upon him. His diocese stretched for some 4oo miles along the coast, and inland amongst the spurs of the Andes, a most difficult country to traverse. Far more serious, however, than the physical difficulties were those created by the attitude of the Spanish conquerors toward the native population. With few exceptions, the officials and colonists had come there to make their fortunes, and they made the Indians serve that purpose by every sort of extortion and tyranny. Communications with the central authority at home were incredibly slow. The most flagrant abuses might continue for years without the possibility of redress and, the Spaniards quarreling continually among themselves and sending home contradictory reports, it was often impossible for the supreme Council of the Indies to know whom to believe. Worse than all the sense of religion seemed to be completely lost, and the example given to the natives was one of almost universal capacity and self-indulgence.
The clergy themselves were often among the most notorious offenders, and it was the first care of Turibius to restore ecclesiastical discipline. He at once undertook a visitation of his diocese and was inflexible in regard to sandals amongst the clergy. Without respect for persons, he reproved injustice and vice, using his authority always to protect the poor from oppression. He naturally suffered persecution from those in power, who often thwarted him in the discharge of his duties, but by resolution and patience, he overcame their opposition in the end. To those who tried to twist God’s law to make it accord with their evil practice, he would oppose the words of Tertullian: “ Christ said, ‘ I am the truth ‘. He did not say, ‘ I am the custom”. The archbishop succeeded in eradicating some of the worst abuses, and he founded numerous churches, religious houses, and hospitals; in 1591 he established at Lima the first ecclesiastical seminary in the New World.
Right on into old age, St Turibius continued to study the Indian dialects so that he could address the people in their own speech and not through an interpreter. Thus, he succeeded in making many conversions. In order to teach his flock he would sometimes stay two or three days in a place where he had neither bed nor sufficient food. Every part of his vast diocese was visited, and when danger threatened from marauders or physical obstacles he would say that Christ came from Heaven to save man and that we ought not to fear danger for His glory. The archbishop offered Mass daily, even when on a journey, and always with intense fervor, and every morning he made his confession to his chaplain.
Among those St. Turibius confirmed, as well as St Rose, is said to have been Blessed Martin Porres and Blessed John Massias. From 1590, he had the help of another great missionary, the Franciscan St Francis Solano, whose denunciations of the wickedness of Lima so alarmed the people that the viceroy had to call on the archbishop to calm them.
The charities of St Turibius were large, and he had to feel for the sensitive pride of the Spaniards in his flock. He knew that many were shy of making their poverty or other needs known, that they did not like to accept public charity or help from those they knew: so he did all he could to assist them privately, without their knowing from whom their benefactions came.
St Turibius was in his sixty-eighth year when he fell ill at Pacasmayo, far to the north of Lima. Working to the last, he struggled as far as Santa, where he realized the end was at hand. He made his will, giving his personal belongings to his servants and all the rest of his property for the benefit of the poor. He asked to be carried into the church to receive viaticum and was then brought back to bed and anointed. While those about him sang the psalm, “ I was glad when they said unto me, We will go into the house of the Lord ”,
St Turibius died on March 23, 1606. In 1726, he was canonized.
Watch "Discovery the wonders of Saint Turibius: A journey through time".
St. Peter Armegol
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| St. Peter Armegol |
St. Peter Armengol is the patron for the conversion of youths, was born about the year I238 of the family of the counts of Urgel at Guardia in Catalonia, and while in his teens to have joined a band of brigands.
When King James of Aragon in 1258 sought to pass through that district, an armed guard was sent on ahead under the command of Peter’s father. They encountered the brigands, and father and son were on the point of engaging in combat when Peter recognized his opponent. Stricken with remorse, he implored pardon, was converted, and spent the rest of his life in doing penance, joining, for that purpose, the Order of Mercedarians (for the redemption of captives). Twice he was sent to Africa to ransom prisoners in captivity among the Moors.
On the second occasion, the money he had taken with him was insufficient to secure the release of eighteen young boys, whereupon he volunteered to remain as a hostage himself until his companion returned with the ransom demand. But the religious who brought it only arrived in time to learn that Peter had been hanged as a defaulter some days before. He went to secure the remains of the martyr but discovered on cutting the body down that Peter was still living. He was allowed to return to his fellow religious at Guardia, and he lived on for ten years, with a twisted neck and contorted limbs, he gave a wonderful example of virtue. His cuffs were formally approved in 1686, and his name has since been inserted in the Roman Martyrology.
Watch "Saint Peter Armegol: The Man, The Myth, The Legend".
Bd. Anthony of Siena
A member of one of the principal Sienese families, Bd Antony de’ Patrizi entered the Order of the Hermits of St Augustine and afterward became superior of their house at Monteciano. The only notable fact which seems to be recorded of him is that he was possessed by a very great desire of conversing with another holy hermit, Peter of Camerata. He set out to find him, fell grievously ill upon the way, but after fervent prayer was miraculously restored and was able to accomplish the object of his journey.
The meeting of the two men is compared by his biographer to the meeting of St Paul the Hermit and St Antony at the very beginning of Christian ascetic history. This Antony lived a very holy life and died in the year 1311.
Bd. James of Bitetto
Bd. Osanna of Cattaro, Virgin
Catherine Cosie was a Montenegrin girl born in 1493, the daughter of dissident Orthodox parents. Her early years seem to have been spent mostly with the flocks and herds, but later she was allowed by her parents to enter the service of a Catholic lady at Cattaro, where she made herself beloved.
After seven years she undertook the seclusion of an anchoress, first in a cell adjoining the church of St Bartholomew, and afterward in one attached to the church of St Paul. On becoming a Dominican tertiary, she had taken the name of Osanna in veneration for Bd Osanna Andreasi, who had died not long before, in 1505. Young women and matrons crowded to her anchorage and were guided by her counsels. Her prayers, it was believed, protected the city from the inroads of Turks and other raiders. She had much to suffer, both from the assaults of Satan within and from Calumny without, but she was graced with many supernatural gifts, such as that of prophecy.
Finally, after a grievous illness of two months borne with exemplary patience, she went to her reward on April.
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