Calendar of Saints

17 August	• yesterday • tomorrow
Optional Memorial of Blessed Marie-Élisabeth Turgeon

In the light of the Divine Goodness, it seems to me, though others may think differently, that ingratitude is the most abominable of sins and that it should be detested in the sight of our Creator and Lord by all of His creatures who are capable of enjoying His divine and everlasting glory. It is a forgetting of the graces, benefits, and blessings received, and as such it is the cause, beginning, and origin of all sins and misfortunes. Contrariwise, the grateful acknowledgment of blessings and gifts received is loved and esteemed both in heaven and on earth. - Saint Ignatius of Loyola

Daily Bread #1, by Father Richard Waldo Sibthorp

The Lives and Times of the Popes - Saint Peter - A.D. 42

Blessed Nicholas Politi

Also known as

Nicolò Politi

Profile

Born to the nobility, an only child and born to aged parents. Received a good cultural and religious education. He was a pious child with a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and contemplation of the Passion of Christ, and was early drawn to a life consecrated to God. Wed at age 17 in an arranged marriage; the wedding was a crisis point in his discernment of a vocation, and he fled to become a lay monk with the Basilian monastery of Santa Maria Del Rogato. He retired to become a cave hermit on Mount Calanna, Arcaria, Sicily. He lived a life of severe asceticism, but returned to the monastery of Rogato every weekend to go to Confession and receive Communion.

Nicholas had a reputation as a miracle worker, and some incidents record his connection to the miraculous –

• When the water used to wash him at birth was thrown out, a spring began gushing up from where it hit the ground.

• Even as a newborn, he refused to nurse or eat on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, beginning a self-imposed fast his first week on earth.

• As a boy, he could drive wolves away from the sheep by making the sign of the cross at them, and could heal both humans and sheep through prayer.

• When he decided to flee his wedding, an angel appeared to help him sneak out; the angel would reappear to warn him whenever his family sent guards to bring him home.

• When he was fleeing his parents to the cave that would become his home, he was fed along the way by an eagle, and obtained water by striking a rock with his staff.

• The eagle sitting at the entrance would later let him know he had reached the correct cave.

• During his flight from the wedding, Satan came to him in the form of a wealthy merchant, and tried to convince him to return to a worldly life and earthly pleasures; Nicholas prayed for strength, and Satan vanished.

• An angel gave him a warning of his own impending death so that Nicholas could make his way to the monastery for his final Confession, final Communion, and a final evening of prayer with his Basilian brothers.

Born

1117 in Adrano (Aderno), Catania, Sicily, Italy

Died

at dawn on 17 August 1167 in Arcaria, Sicily, Italy

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-nicholas-politi/

Saint Hyacinth

Also known as

• Apostle of the North
• Apostle to Poland
• Hyacinth of Cracow
• Jacek Odrowaz
• Jackek, Jacinto, Jacynthe

Profile

Relative, possibly the brother of Blessed Ceslas Odrowaz. Educated in Krakow, Prague, Paris and Bologna. Doctor of Law and of Sacred Studies. Priest. Worked to reform convents in his native Poland. While in Rome working with his uncle, Bishop Ivo Konski of Krakow, he witnessed a miracle performed by Saint Dominic de Guzman. He became of friend of Saint Dominic, and became one of the first Dominicans. The first Polish Dominican, he brought the Order to Poland, then evangelized throughout Poland, Pomerania, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Scotland, Russia, Turkey, and Greece. During an attack on a monastery, Hyacinth managed to save a crucifix and statue of Mary, though the statue weighed far more than he could normally have lifted; the saint is usually shown holding these two items. Hyacinth never served as provincial nor even a prior, but toiled as a simple friar, focusing on the internal and external missions facing the Polish Dominicans: to deepen their own faith, and to spread it through Poland.

Born

1185 at Lanka Castle, Kamien Slaski, Opole, Upper Silesia (in modern Poland)

Died

• 15 August 1257 at Krakow, Poland of natural causes
• relics at Paris, France

Canonized

17 April 1594 by Pope Clement VIII

Patronage

• against drowning
• Camalaniugan, Philippines
• Ermita de Piedra de San Jacinto, Tuguegarao, Philippines
• Krakow, Poland, archdiocese of
• Lithuania (named by Pope Innocent XI in 1686)
• Poland

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-hyacinth/

Saint Jeanne of the Cross Delanoue

Also known as

• Ioanna Delanoue
• Jeanne del Croi Delanoue
• Joan Delanoue
• Johanna Delanoue

Profile

Youngest of twelve children. Her father was draper; her mother owned and operated a religious goods store. Her mother died in 1691, and Jeanne took over the business. Smart and hard-working, she made a success of the small business.

During the Pentecost season in 1698, Jeanne had two mystic experiences. The first was a vision, the second a series of pious commentaries by Frances Souchet, a widowed pilgrim from Rennes, France. The two events altered Jeanne's outlook, took her eyes from her safe, bourgious world to a more spiritual level. She closed her shop, turned her mind from worldly comfort and success, and began to serve the poor, the sick, and the neglected.

Using funds raised from generous benefactors she'd met in business, she founded and furnished three orphanages. She attracted followers, and in 1704 a small group of them founded the Sisters of Saint Anne of Providence of Samur, and Jeanne became Jeanne of the Cross. Noted for her miraculous healing abilities, she and her companions founded orphanages and hospices throughout France.

Born

18 June 1666 at Samur, Anjou, France as Jeanne Delanoue

Died

17 August 1736 at Fencet, France of natural causes

Canonized

31 October 1982 by Pope John Paul II at Rome, Italy

Video

YouTube PlayList

Readings

It is the Spirit of God which animates you and prompts you to this penitential life. Henceforth, then, be without fear and follow your inspirations. - Saint Louis de Montfort to Saint Jeanne

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-jeanne-of-the-cross-delanoue/

Saint Beatrice da Silva Meneses

Also known as

• Brites
• Beatrix da Silva
• Beatriz da Silva Meneses

Profile

Daughter of the Count of Viana. Sister of Saint Amedeus of Portugal. Raised in the household of Princess Isabel, and accompanied her to Castile when she married John II of Castile. Beatrice spent much of her life as a courtier, but tired of it. She retired to a Cistercian convent in the city of Toledo, and dedicated the rest of her life to God.

Around 1484, Beatrice left the Cistercians and founded the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Conceptionists). With the help of Queen Isabel, who funded the start of the new order, Beatrice established a house near the city of Toledo in the castle of Galliana, served as its abbess, and spent the final six years of her life working with the women who joined the order.

Born

1424 at in Campo Maior, Portalegre, Portugal

Died

17 August 1492 in Toledo, Spain of natural causes

Beatified

• 28 July 1926 by Pope Pius XI (cultus confirmed)
• 21 January 1974 by Pope Paul VI (decree on heroic virtues)
• recorded miracles involved the instantaneous and perfect healing of Sister Mary of Saint Anne, 22, from a hemorrhage subretinica, retinicis, and a secondary lesions of the eye on 25 March 1923 in Mexico City; and Elizabeth Orozco Estrada, 63, from the small intestine and colon malignant neoplasia in September 1945 in Mexico City

Canonized

3 October 1976 by Pope Paul VI

Patronage

prisoners

Video

YouTube PlayList

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-beatrice-da-silva-meneses/

Blessed Florencio López Egea

Profile

Baptized at the age of two days. He studied in the Colegio de San Juan Almería and the San Indalecio Seminary. Ordained a priest in the diocese of Almería, Spain in December 1907. He was known for a great devotion to the Virgin Mary, and was known to compose songs about her that he used to teach catechism. Father Florencio served in a series of parishes for nearly 30 years.

At the start of the Spanish Civil War, friends tried to get him to flee to Argentina, but he thought that would be abandoning his parishioners, so stayed and tried to hide from the anti–Catholic forces. He was found and seized by militiamen on a family farm in the Barranco del Nero on the night of 16 August 1936. As they marched him off into the dark, Florencio sang "Save the Spanish People in Haste", one of his songs to Mary. His kidnappers beat him, stabbed him in the eyes with cactus thorns, and cut off his body parts, all the while ordering Father Florencio to renounce his faith; he refused. Martyr.

Born

27 August 1883 in Tahal, Almeria Spain

Died

early morning hours of 17 August 1936 in La Higuerra del Conejo, Turre, Almeria Spain

Beatified

• 25 March 2017 by Pope Francis
• beatification celebrated in the Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos de Aguadulce, Almería, Spain, presided by Cardinal Angelo Amato

Readings

Viva Christo Rey! ("Long live Christ the King!") – what Blessed Florencio repeatedly shouted as he was being tortured by his abductors on the night he died

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-florencio-lopez-egea/

Saint Jeroen of Noordwijk

Also known as

• Gerone, Hiero, Hieron, Iero, Ieron, Jero, Jeron
• Jeroen van Noordwijk
• Jéron Noordwijk

Profile

Born to the Scottish nobility, the son of a large land-owner. Known as a pious child who preferred to spend his time in church. Against the wishes of his parents, who wanted him to take over his father's estates, he became a monk in his teens. Priest. Missionary to the area of the modern Netherlands. Founded the first church in Noordwijk in 851. Martyred by raiding Vikings for refusing to worship their pagan gods.

Born

late 8th century Scotland

Died

• beheaded on 17 August 856 in Noordwijk, Netherlands
• buried in the dunes of Noordwijk
• c.980 he appeared in a series of dreams to a farmer named Nothbodo, showing the man where his relics could be found
• relics enshrined in Egmond Abbey c.985
• relics taken to Haarlem, Netherlands in June 1573
• several relics redistributed to assorted churches, altar and monasteries over the centuries after
• on 16 August 1892, following a lengthy study to authenticate the remaining relics, they were taken to the Saint Jeroen church in Nodowijk

Patronage

to find lost articles

Represenation

priest with a falcon (his soul that soared to heaven) and sword (used in his murder)

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-jeroen-of-noordwijk/

Blessed Eugenio Sanz-Orozco Mortera

Also known as

José María of Manila

Profile

Son of Eugenio del Saz-Orozco de la Oz, the last Spanish mayor of Manila, Philippines, and Felisa Mortera y Camacho. Educated at Ateneo de Manila University, Colegio de San Juan de Letran, and University of Santo Tomas. Against the wishes of his parents, Eugenio felt a call to religious life, and joined the Franciscan Capuchins in Lecaroz, Navarra, Spain on 4 October 1905, taking the name José María; he made his solemn profession on 18 October 1908. Ordained a priest on 30 November 1910. He wanted to return to the Philippines, but was unable to, and so stayed to minister to the poor in Spain. Martyred in the Spanish Civil War.

Born

5 September 1880 in Manila, Philippines

Died

17 August 1936 in Montaña barracks, Madrid, Spain

Beatified

• 13 October 2013 by Pope Francis
• beatification recognition celebrated at Tarragona, Spain by Cardinal Angelo Amato

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-eugenio-sanz-orozco-mortera/

Saint Elias the Younger

Also known as

• Elias of Enna
• Elias of Salinas
• Elia, Elijah
• Giovanni Rachites

Profile

Monk in the tradition of the Eastern Fathers. Escaping the persecutions of invading Muslim Saracens, Elias fled to Jerusalem where he received the monastic habit from the Patriarch of Jerusalem and taking the name Elias. He spent three years in a monastery in Sinai, then travelled to Alexandria, Egypt, to Persia, to Antioch, and finally back to Palestine. In 878, he moved to Calabria in Sicily in 859, and there spent an austere life devoted to prayer. In 884 he founded a monastery in the nearby Salinas area, and was well known as a spiritual teacher. He made a pilgrimage to Rome, Italy, and was on a pilgrimage to Constantinople when he died.

Born

c.823 in Enna, Sicily, Italy as Giovanni Rachites

Died

• 903 in Thessalonica, Macedonia of natural causes
• buried in the Salinas monastery he had founded in Calabria, Italy
• the monastery was destroyed by earthquake in the 18th century

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-elias-the-younger/

Saint Clare of Montefalco

Also known as

Clare of the Cross

Profile

Claimed by both the Franciscans and Augustinians. Pious from childhood, and devoted to Christ's Passion and the Cross. Franciscan tertiary. Joined with her blood sisters and some friends to form a new Franciscan house, Holy Cross Convent in Montefalco, Italy, with Clare's sister Joan as its first abbess. Reluctant abbess of the community at Santa Croce in 1255 following the death of her sister; the house eventually adapted the Rule of Saint Augustine. Upon her death, a cross was found emblazoned on the flesh above her heart.

Born

Blessed Leopoldina Naudet

Profile

Founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family.

Born

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-anastasius-of-terni/

Saint Drithelm

Also known as

• Drithelm Cuningham
• Drithelm of Northumbria
• Dritham of Melrose

Profile

Wealthy and pious layman, a husband and father. Following a terrifying vision of the afterlife during a near-death experience during an epidemic in 696, he became a hermit and then monk at Melrose, Scotland. Bede writes of him in his History.

Born

Northumbria, England

Died

c.700 at Melrose, Scotland of natural causes

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-drithelm/

Blessed Ramón Cervilla Luis

Profile

Ordained a priest of the archdiocese of Granada, Spain on 1 March 1890. Martyred in the Spanish Civil War; he died forgiving his killers.

Born

29 March 1865 in Almuñécar, Granada, Spain

Died

17 August 1936 in Salobreña, Granada, Spain

Venerated

28 November 2019 by Pope Francis (decree of martyrdom)

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-ramon-cervilla-luis/

Saint Myron of Cyzicus

Also known as

Miron

Profile

Priest who tried to face down the people who came to destroy his church in the persecutions of Decius and Antipater. They tortured and killed him, and then razed the building.

Died

beheaded c.250 at Cyzicus in the Hellespont (in modern Turkey)

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-myron-of-cyzicus/

Saint Michaël Kurobyoie

Also known as

Miguel, Mikael

Profile

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-paul-of-ptolemais/

Saint Benedicta of Lorraine

Profile

Tenth-century princess, the daughter of the king of Lorraine. Sister of Saint Cecilia of Lorraine. Nun and then abbess of Susteren Abbey in the German Rhineland.

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-benedicta-of-lorraine/

Also celebrated but no entry yet

• Alberto da Chiatina
• José Maria de Manila
• Ugo di Tennenbach

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