| 11 November |
• yesterday • tomorrow |
| Memorial of Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop |
• Martin the Merciful
• Martinus Turonensis
• The Glory of Gaul
4 July (dedication of basilica; translation of relics)
Born to pagan parents; his father was a Roman military officer and tribune. Martin was raised in Pavia, Italy. Discovered Christianity, and became a catechumen in his early teens. Joined the Roman imperial army at age 15, serving in a ceremonial unit that acted as the emperor's bodyguard, rarely exposed to combat. Cavalry officer, and assigned to garrison duty in Gaul.
Baptised into the Church at age 18. Trying to live his faith, he refused to let his servant to wait on him. Once, while on horseback in Amiens in Gaul (modern France), he encountered a beggar. Having nothing to give but the clothes on his back, Martin cut his heavy officer's cloak in half, and gave it to the beggar. Later he had a vision of Christ wearing the cloak. This incident became iconographic of Martin.
Just before a battle, Martin announced that his faith prohibited him from fighting. He was charged with cowardice, was jailed, and his superiors planned to put him in the front of the battle. However, the invaders sued for peace, the battle never occurred, and Martin was released from military service at Worms, Germany. Spiritual student of Saint Hilary at Poitiers, France.
On a visit to Lombardy to see his parents, Martin was robbed in the mountains - but managed to convert one of the thieves. At home he found that his mother had converted, but his father had not. The area was strongly Arian, and openly hostile to Catholics. Martin was badly abused by the heretics, at one point even by the order of an Arian bishop. Learning that the Arians had gained the upper hand in Gaul and exiled Saint Hilary, Martin fled to the island of Gallinaria (modern Isola d'Albenga).
Learning that the emperor had authorized the return of Hilary, Martin ran to him in 361, then became a hermit for ten years in the area now known as Ligugé. A reputation for holiness attracted other monks, and they formed what would become the Benedictine abbey of Ligugé. Preached and evangelized through the Gallic countryside. Many locals held strongly to the old beliefs, and tried to intimidate Martin by dressing as the old Roman gods and appearing to him at night; Martin destroyed old temples, built churches on the same land, and continued to win converts. Friend of Saint Liborius, bishop of Le Mans, France.
When the bishop of Tours, France died in 371, Martin was the immediate choice to replace him. Martin declined, citing unworthiness. Rusticus, a wealthy citizen of Tours, claimed that his wife was ill and asking for Martin; tricked by this ruse, Martin went to the city where he was declared bishop by popular acclamation, and then consecrated on 4 July 372.
As bishop, he lived in a hermit's cell near Tours. Other monks joined him, and a new house, Marmoutier, soon formed. He rarely left his monastery or see city, but sometimes went to Trier, Germany to plead with the emperor for his city, his church, or his parishioners. Once when he went to ask for lenience for a condemned prisoner, an angel woke the emperor to tell him that Martin was waiting to see him; the prisoner was reprieved.
Martin himself was given to visions, but even his contemporaries sometimes ascribed them to his habit of lengthy fasts. An extensive biography of Martin was written by Sulpicius Severus. He was the first non-martyr to receive the cultus of a saint.
c.316 at Upper Pannonia (in modern Hungary)
• 8 November 397 at Candes, Tours, France of natural causes
• by his request, he was buried in the Cemetery of the Poor on 11 November 397
• his relics rested in the basilica of Tours, a scene of pilgrimages and miracles, until 1562 when the catheral and relics were destroyed by militant Protestants
• some small fragments on his tomb were found during construction excavation in 1860
• against alcoholism
• against impoverishment
• against poverty
• beggars
• cavalry
• equestrians
• geese
• horse men
• horses
• hotel-keepers
• innkeepers
• Pontifical Swiss Guards
• quartermasters
• reformed alcoholics
• riders
• soldiers
• tailors
• vintners
• wine growers
• wine makers
• France
• 5 dioceses
• 31 cities
• apparition of Our Saviour
• globe of fire
• goose
• man on horseback sharing his cloak with beggar
• man cutting cloak in half
• man holding aloft a sword and cloak
• alms
Martin knew long in advance the time of his death and he told his brethren that it was near. Meanwhile, he found himself obliged to make a visitation of the parish of Candes. The clergy of that church were quarreling, and he wished to reconcile them.
Although he knew that his days on earth were few, he did not refuse to undertake the journey for such a purpose, for he believed that he would bring his virtuous life to a good end if by his efforts peace was restored in the church.
He spent some time in Candes, or rather in its church, where he stayed. Peace was restored, and he was planning to return to his monastery when suddenly he began to lose his strength. He summoned his brethren and told them he was dying. All who heard this were overcome with grief. In their sorrow they cried to him with one voice: "Father, why are you deserting us? Who will care for us when you are gone? Savage wolves will attack your flock, and who will save us from their bite when our shepherd is struck down? We know you long to be with Christ, but your reward is certain and will not be any less for being delayed. You will do better to show pity for us, rather than forsake us."
Thereupon he broke into tears, for he was a man in whom the compassion of our Lord was continually revealed. Turning to our Lord, he made this reply to their pleading: "Lord, if your people still need me, I am ready for the task; your will be done."
Here was a man words cannot describe. Death could not defeat him nor toil dismay him. He was quite without a preference of his own; he neither feared to die nor refused to live. With eyes and hands always raised to heaven he never withdrew his unconquered spirit from prayer. It happened that some priests who had gathered at his bedside suggested that he should give his poor body some relief by lying on his other side. He answered: "Allow me, brothers, to look toward heaven rather than at the earth, so that my spirit may set on the right course when the time comes for me to go on my journey to the Lord."
- from a letter by Sulpicius Severus
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-martin-of-tours/
• Aba Mina
• Menas of Egypt
• Menas of Constantinople
• Menas of Cotyaes
• Menas of Cotyaeum
• Menas of Kotyaeum
• Menas of Mareotis
• Menas the Martyr
• Menas the Miracle Maker
• Menas the Miracle Worker
• Menas the Soldier
• Menas the Wonder Worker
• Mena, Mennas, Mina, Minas
May have been a camel driver in civilian life. Soldier in the imperial Roman army, serving under Firmilian. During the anti-Christian persecutions of Diocletian and Maximian, Menas left the army for his own safety, and so he would not in any way support such a regime. He retired for a while as a mountain hermit. During a great pagan festival, Menas came down from the mountains to preach Christianity in Cotyaes, Phrygia. He was tried for his faith before the Roman prefect Pyrrhus, scourged, tortured and martyred.
His grave in Egypt became known as a place of miracles, and a basilica built over his grave became one of the great sanctuaries of Christendom; it was called the glory of the Libyan desert. Merchants travelling through the area spread stories about him, and churches built in his honour at Cotyaeus and Constantinople gave rise to local legends about him. The basilica was destroyed and his tomb lost in the seventh century, and was rediscovered in an archeological expidition in 1905.
Egyptian
• beheaded c.300 at Cotyaes, Phrygia
• buried at Mareotis, Egypt
• falsely accused people
• peddlers
• travelling merchants
• man with his hands cut off and his eyes torn out
• man with two camels
• young knight with a halberd, an anachronistic depiction of his time in the Roman army
In 1905-8, thousands of little flasks with the inscription: EULOGIA TOU AGIOU MENA (Remembrance of Saint Menas), or the like were excavated by C.M. Kaufmann at Baumma (Karm Abum) in the desert of Mareotis, in the northern part of the Libyan desert. The present Bumma is the burial place of the Libyan martyr Menas, which during the fifth and perhaps the sixth century was one of the most famous pilgrimage places in the Christian world. The flasks of Saint Menas were well known for a long time to archeologists, and had been found not only in Africa, but also in Spain, Italy, Dalmatia, France, and Russia, whither they had been brought by pilgrims from the shrine of Menas. Until the discoveries of Kaufmann, however, the flasks were supposed to have contained oil from the lamps that burned at the sepulchre of Menas. From various inscriptions on the flasks that were excavated by Kaufmann, it is certain that at least some, if not all, of them contained water from a holy well near the shrine of Saint Menas, and were given as remembrances to the pilgrims. The so-called oil of Saint Menas was therefore in reality, water from his holy well, which was used as a remedy against bodily and spiritual ailments. - from the Catholic Encyclopedia article Oil of Saints
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-menas-kallikelados/
Peter Vitchev
Born to a pious, orthodox Eastern Rite family, Peter was educated in Strem (in modern Austria) and Adrianopolis (modern Edirne, Turkey). He joined the Congregation of the Assumption on 8 September 1910 in Gemp, taking the name Kamen. Professor at the College of Saint Augustine in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in 1918. Teacher at the Little Seminary of Koum Kapou in Istanbul, Turkey. Professor of theology in Kadiköy, Turkey in 1920. Ordained in the Eastern rite on 22 December 1921.
Kamen studied in Rome, Italy, and in Strasbourg, France, and received his doctorate in theology in 1929. He returned to the College of Saint Augustine in Plovidiv in 1930 where he served as teacher, college rector, dean of studies, and lecturer in philosophy. He was known as a stern authority figure who expected much from his students; they responded, academic standards were high, and he received great respect. Along with his work, he wrote for several magazines on matters relating to science and religion, often using pen names.
On 2 August 1948 the Communists closed the College, and Father Kamen was named superior of the seminary of Plovdiv. When the Communists expelled all the foreign religious later that year, Kamen was chosen as Provincial Vicar of the Bulgarian Assumptionists. Arrested by the government on 4 July 1952 for the anti-state offense of being a priest. He was accused of leading a Catholic conspiracy against the Communists, and was martyred.
23 May 1893 at Strem, diocese of Tracia, Burgas region, Bulgaria
shot 11.30pm on 11 November 1952 by a Bulgarian Communist firing squad
26 May 2002 by Pope John Paul II at Plovdiv, Bulgaria
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-kamen-vitchev/
• Joannes Eleemosynarius
• Joannes Misericors
• John of Alexandria
• John the Almsgiver
• John the Merciful
• John the Chaplain
Born to the Cypriot nobility; his father as the governor of Cyprus. Married briefly, and father of one child. Entered the religious life when his wife and child died of disease. Patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt in 608. Archbishop. Known as the Almoner because of his generosity to the poor. Helped refugees from Persian assults on the Holy Lands. Forced to leave Alexandria when the Persians threatened to overrun it, he returned to his home on Cyprus. Predicted the date of his own death.
c.550 at Amathus, Cyprus
• c.616 at Amathus, Cyprus of natural causes
• some relics in the cathedral at Presburg, Slovakia
• some relics in the church of San Giovanni l'Elemosiniere, Venice, Italy
• Casarano, Italy
• Knights Hospitaller
• bishop giving alms to a crippled man
• bishop giving alms to the poor
If we are able to enter the church day and night and implore God to hear our prayers, how careful we should be to hear and grant the petitions of our neighbor in need. - Saint John the Almoner
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-john-the-almoner/
Mother Vincenza Maria
10 September (Sisters of Mercy of Verona as the anniversary of the profession of the first Sisters)
Baptized on the day of her birth, the youngest of the twelve children, she was raised in a pious family, the daughter of a small businessman who ran a combination pharmacy and grocery in the heart of Verona, Italy. When her fathers died, Luigia took over the family finances. Spiritual student of Blessed Charles Steeb. Nun. Co-founder, with Blessed Charles Steeb of the Sisters of Mercy of Verona to work with the elderly and with abandoned girls; the first group of sisters organized on 2 November 1840, and made their first profession on 10 September 1848. The Sisters continue their good work today in Italy, Germany, Portugal, Albania, Tanzania, Angola, Burundi, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and have been joined by the affiliated Laity of Mercy.
26 January 1802 in Verona, Italy
11 November 1855 in Verona, Italy of cancer
• Sunday 21 September 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI
• beatification recognition celebrated at Verona, Italy presided by Cardinal Angelo Amato
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-luigia-poloni/
• Bartholomew of Grottaferrata
• Bartholomew the Younger
• Bartolomeo il Giovane
Son of Greek immigrants to Italy. Spiritual student of Saint Nilus of Rossano. Monk at the monastery of Grottaferrata, Frascati, Italy, a house with Greek Rites and Basilian Rule. Abbot at Grottaferrata for forty years, completing the construction and other work started by Nilus, work that turned the monastery into a center of education and manuscript copying, and so extensive that he is often listed as the founder of the house. Hymn writer. Skilled calligrapher. Responsible for persuading the corrupt Pope Benedict IX to resign the papacy, reform his life, become a monk, and do penance at Grottaferrata.
c.970 in Rossano, Calabria, Italy
11 November 1065 at Grottaferrata Abbey, Frascati, Italy of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-bartholomew-of-rossano/
• Theodore of Stoudios
• Theodore of Studion
• Theodore of Studium
• Theodorus Studita
Monk at the monastery of Saccudion, Asia Minor in 781. Ordained c.787. Abbot of the Saccudion monastery in 794. Abbot of the Stoudios monastery outside Constantinople in 799, which caused him to be the spiritual teacher of many wise and holy men. His writings include the first recorded stand against slavery. Fought iconoclasm. These opinions and writings put him in conflict with imperial authorities, which led to him being exiled three times.
759 in Greece
11 November 826 on the peninsula of Tryphon, near the Akrita promontory in Asia Minor
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-theodore-the-studite/
Alice Kotowska
Nun, member of the Sisters of the Resurrection. Superior of her house and director of training for her sisters. One of the 108 Polish Martyrs of World War II.
20 November 1899 in Warsaw, Poland
shot on 11 November 1939 in the forest near Piasnica, occupied Poland
13 June 1999 by Pope John Paul II at Warsaw, Poland
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-alicja-maria-jadwiga-kotowska/
Son of a Scythian officer in the imperial Roman army. Soldier in the same army, he distinguished himself in the defense of the city of Rome. During the persecutions of Decius, Mercurius was ordered to sacrifice to an idol; he refused. Martyr. Reported to appeared and fought with the Christian forces in the First Crusade.
224
beheaded in 250 in Caesarea, Cappadocia, Asia Minor (in modern Turkey)
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-mercurius-the-soldier/
Dominican lay tertiary in the archdiocese of Nagasaki, Japan. Martyred in the persecutions of Tokugawa Yemitsu.
in Omura, Nagasaki, Japan
burned alive on 11 November 1634 in Nagasaki, Japan
18 October 1987 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-marina-of-omura/
Founder of the Saint Martin of Tours monastery in Liébana, Asturias, Spain, and served as it's first abbot, a house that became a noted Benedictine stronghold.
Palencia, Spain
c.528 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-turibius-of-palencia/
Bertuinus, Bertwinus, Berthuin
Raised in an English monastery. Monk at Othelle. Missionary bishop in Belgium. Founded the monastery of Malonne near Namur, Belgium.
England
c.698
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-bertuin-of-malonne/
Veran, Weran
Son of Galla, who became a nun in later life, and Saint Eucherius of Lyon; brother of Saint Salonius of Geneva. Educated at Lérins Abbey where he became a monk. Bishop of Vence, France.
c.480
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-veranus-of-vence/
Sixth century hermit in Santomenna, Abruzzi, Italy.
Asia Minor
Santomenna, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-mennas-of-santomenna/
Son of Saint Brychan of Brecknock. Fifth century founder of a church in Gwynedd, Wales which has a healing well nearby.
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-cynfran-of-wales/
Gredfyw, Rhedius, Rhedyw
A church in Llanllyfni, North Wales is dedicated to this saint, but no information about him has survived.
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-rhediw/
Martyr.
martyred c.305 in Ravenna, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-victorinus-of-ravenna/
Martyr.
martyred c.305 in Ravenna, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-valentin-of-ravenna/
Martyr.
c.305 in Ravenna, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-felicianus-of-ravenna/
Fifth century bishop of Lyon, France.
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-veranus-of-lyon/
Members of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, Discalced Carmelites, and Carmelite Tertiaries of Education who were martyred together in the Spanish Civil War.
• Blessed Bonaventura Toldrà Rodon
• Blessed Damián Rodríguez Pablo
• Blessed Felipe Arce Fernández
• Blessed Frederíc Vila Bartolì
• Blessed Isidre Tarsá Giribets
• Blessed Joan Roca Vilardell
• Blessed José Alberich Lluch
• Blessed Josep Boschdemont Mitjavila
• Blessed Josep Maria Bru Ralduá
• Blessed Julio Alameda Camarero
• Blessed Lluís Domingo Oliva
• Blessed Mariano Navarro Blasco
• Blessed Miquel Saludes Ciuret
• Blessed Pedro de Eriz Eguiluz
11 November 1936 in Torredembarra, Tarragona, Spain
• 13 October 2013 by Pope Francis
• beatification celebrated in Tarragona, Spain
https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-torredembarra/
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