| 20 July |
• yesterday • tomorrow |
| Optional Memorial of Saint Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr |
The eldest son of José Martínez Polo and Juana Miquélez, Ángel was baptized at the age of one day; his aunt and godmother, Magdalena Martínez, consecrated him to the Virgin Mary. To get work, the family moved to Argentina when Ángel was five years old, but they were forced to return to Spain two years later when things didn’t work out. The boy‘s mother died when Ángel was seven years old. His aunt, Magdalena, helped with the family and ensured that the boys received a proper religious education. He went to a Piarist school, and began to feel a call to religious life. When he was old enough, he entered the Redemptorist seminary in Espino, Spain; a few years later, his younger brother Juan attended the same seminary.
Ángel was considered an excellent student, serious about his vocation, and a little stubborn. He was professed in the Redemptorists on 18 September 1928. He continued his studies, and was ordained a priest on 20 September 1930.
Father Ángel wanted to become a missionary, but his superiors decided that his work ethic and intelligence meant he would serve better as professor of philosophy and literature at the seminary at Astorga, León, Spain. The combination of the heavy teaching load and his own continued studies led to a collapse in January 1934. He was assigned to El Espino, Burgos, Spain to rest and recover; he used his time to hear confessions and preach missions and retreats. On 11 May 1934 he was assigned to the Redemptorist community in Granada, Spain, and then assigned to work as secretary to the Community of Perpetual Help in Madrid, Spain on 6 October 1934. He organized the library there, preached retreats, and wrote articles for Revista del Perpetuo Socorro.
In July 1936, just as the Spanish Civil War broke out, Father Ángel was assigned to minister to young people in the community. On 20 July, the street fighting reached the Community, and the Redemptorist brothers were seized by militiamen, accused of being Fascists because they opposed Communism. The Communists considered this just as bad, beat the brothers severely, and then shot them. Martyr.
2 March 1907 in Funes, Navarra, Spain
shot on 20 July 1936 in Casa de Campo, Madrid, Spain
24 April 2021 by Pope Francis (decree of martyrdom)
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-angel-martinez-miquelez/
Margherita, Marina, Margaritha, Marine, Margaretha
Virgin and martyr whose story is know to us from a collection of legends, but no contemporary history. Her father was a pagan priest in Pisidian Antioch, Asia Minor (modern Turkey). Her mother died when Margaret was an infant, and the girl was raised by a Christian woman. Margaret's father disowned her, her nurse adopted her, and Margaret converted, consecrating herself and her virginity to God.
One day a Roman prefect saw the beautiful young Margaret as she was tending sheep, and tried to get her into his bed. When she refused, the official denounced her as a outlaw Christian, and she was brought to trial. When she refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods, the authorities tried to burn her, then boil her in a large cauldron; each time her prayers kept her unharmed. She was finally martyred by beheading.
Part of her story involves her meeting the devil in the form of a dragon, being swallowed by the dragon, and then escaping safely when the cross she carried irritated the dragon's innards; this accounts for this virgin's association with pregnancy, labour, and childbirth. She was one of the saints who appeared to Saint Joan of Arc. One of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
Antioch
• beheaded, date unknown
• relics claimed by several locations
• against kidney disease
• against loss of milk by nursing mothers
• against sterility
• dying people
• for escape from devils
• expectant mothers, pregnant women
• falsely accused people
• for safe childbirth
• Lowestoft, Suffolk, England
• martyrs
• Montefiascone, Italy
• nurses
• peasants
• people in exile
• Queens College Cambridge
• Rixtel, Netherlands
• Sannat, Gozo, Malta
• women
• women in labour
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-margaret-of-antioch/
• Paphnutius of Alexandria
• Paphnutius of Scete
• Paphnutius of Wadi Natrun
• Paphnutius the Ascetic
• Paphnutius the Buffalo (the word indicated his love of solitude)
• Paphnutius the Hermit
• Pafnutios, Pafnutius, Paphnutios
Desert hermit in Egypt in the late 3rd and early 4th-century. Priest. Spiritual student of Saint Macarius the Great. The only times he would leave his hermit‘s cell was to attend Mass at a church 5 miles away on Saturday night and Sunday monring; he would carry back a bucket of water that was all the water he would consume until the next trip to Mass. During the persecutions of Diocletian, governor Hadrian sent troops to bring in Paphnutius; the hermit heard they were coming, went to the governor on his own, and made a public profession of Christianity. He was imprisoned and tortured to get him to give up his faith; he faith was so strong that he converted forty fellow prisoners (who were burned to death) and two of his torturers, Dionysius and Callimachus (who were beheaded). Released, Paphnutius was taken in by a local Christian name Nestorius, and spent his day preaching and teaching to the man’s family and anyone else who would listen; at least 546 people were brought to the faith, all of whom were later martyred. Hadrian finally sent the troublesome hermit to Diocletian whose forces finally killed him. Martyr. Paphnutius is most famous for his accounts of the lives of many holy hermits of the Egyptian desert, including Saint Onuphrius.
Egypt
• authorities tied a stone around his neck and threw him into a river; he floated to shore on the stone
• crucified on a date tree in the early 4th century
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-paphnutius-of-skete/
Elias the Prophet
Old Testament prophet. He announced to Achad, King of Israel, who under the influence of his Tyrian wife Jezabel had erected a temple to Baal, that Jehovah had determined to avenge the apostasy of Israel by bringing a long drought on the land. During the drought which lasted three years, Elias withdrew to the vicinity of the brook Carith, where he was fed by the ravens. After the brook had dried up he crossed over to Sarepta, where he was hospitably received by a poor widow, whose charity he rewarded by increasing her store of meal and oil and by raising her child to life. At length he once more confronted the king and challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest on Mount Carmel, when Elias's oblation was consumed by fire from heaven, and the false prophets were slain by the people at his command. He was obliged to flee from the wrath of Jezabel and while on Mount Horeb was commissioned by Jehovah to anoint Hazael to be King of Syria, Jehu to be King of Israel, and Eliseus to be his own successor. Subsequently he denounced Achab for the murder of Naboth and reprimanded Ochozias and Joram, King of Juda. While conversing with Eliseus on the hills of Moab he was translated to heaven in a fiery chariot. The Carmelite Order traces its origin to him. An apocryphal Apocalypse of Elias was partly recovered in a Coptic translation.
• Air Forces
• Carmelites
• civil aeronautics
• Romanian Air Force
https://catholicsaints.info/elijah-the-prophet/
Sister Rita of Our Lady of Sorrows
Nun, a member of the Sisters of Charity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as was her sister Luisa. On the recommendation of the Order's fonder, Rita was chosen superior of the Sisters in 1900; she served in that position for 28 years. Started schools for girls, especially in the poorest areas, and was know for her care for the sick, especially fellow Sisters. Retiring to the Saint Susanna convent in Madrid, Spain, she worked the convent's college. In the persecutions of the Spanish Civil War, many fled, but Rita, 83 years old and nearly blind, stayed to care for orphans and those in hospital. Grabbed by a anti–Christian revolutionaries while she was in prayer in chapel, she was taken out of Madrid and executed. Martyr.
18 February 1853 in Aspe, Alicante, Spain
• shot at 3.30pm on 20 July 1936 in Canillejas, Madrid, Spain
• exhumed and found incorrupt in 1940
• re-interred in the cemetery of Almudena, Madrid, Spain
• body found incorrupt in 1954
• re-interred in the chapel in Madrid Villaverde, Spain
10 May 1998 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-rita-josefa-pujalte-y-sanchez/
Berward, Bernward
Member of a noble Saxon family. Grandson of Athelbero, Count Palatine of Saxony. Orphaned at an early age. Raised by his uncle Volkmar, bishop of Utrecht, and educated at the cathedral school at Heidelberg, where he was a schoolmate of Blessed Meinwerk of Paderborn and at Mainz. Ordained at Mainz. Imperial chaplain and tutor to the future Emperor Otto III beginning in 987. Bishop of Hildesheim, Germany from 993 till 1020. Encouraged the arts; commissioned religious paintings and sculpture, refurbished existing buildings, built new ones (thus his patronage of the builder's arts), and made altar vessels of gold and silver by hand, and dabbled in architecture and ornamental ironwork. His rule was marked with peace, and around 1020 he retired to a Benedictine monastary to spend his remaining days in prayer.
c.960 at Utrecht, Netherlands
20 November 1022 of natural causes
1193 by Pope Celestine III
• architects
• goldsmiths
• painters
• sculptors
• bishop making a chalice with a goldsmith's hammer
• holding a short cross in his hand and surrounded by tools
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-bernward-of-hildesheim/
• Apostle to Ethiopia
• Abuna of Ethiopia
• Father of Ethiopia
• Fremonat, Fulgence
• 1 August (Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church)
• 30 November (Eastern Orthodox Churches)
• 18 December (Coptic Orthodox Church)
Brother of Saint Aedeius. Student of the philosopher Meropius. While on a voyage on the Red Sea, their ship wrecked on the Ethiopian shore, and only Frumentius and Aedeius survived. They were taken to the king at Axum as a curiosity, and became members of the court, Frumentius serving as secretary. When the king died they stayed as part of the queen's court. She permitted them to introduce Christianity to the country, and open trade between Ethiopia and the west. Frumentius convinced Saint Athanasius of Alexandria to send missionaries from Alexandria, Egypt, and was himself consecrated as bishop of Ethiopia. Converted many, including the princes Ezana and Sheazana, and established a firm foothold in Ethiopia for the faith.
early 4th century, Tyre (modern Sur, Lebanon)
c.383 in Ethiopia of natural causes
• Abyssinia
• Ethiopia
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-frumentius-of-ethiopia/
Apollinare of Ravenna
Mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. Spiritual student of Saint Peter the Apostle. First bishop of Ravenna, Italy; as such he faced nearly constant persecution. He and his flock were exiled from Ravenna during the persecutions of Emperor Vespasian. On his way out of the city he was identified, arrested as being the leader, tortured, and martryed. Noted miracle worker. Centuries after his death he appeared in a vision to Saint Romuald.
Antioch, Turkey
• run through with a sword c.79 at Ravenna, Italy
• relics at the Benedictine abbey of Classe, Ravenna and in Saint Lambert's church, Düsseldorf, Germany
• against epilepsy
• against gout
• archdiocese of Ravenna-Cervia, Italy
• 6 cities
• bishop healing a boy's eyes
• sword
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-apollinaris-of-ravenna/
• Joseph Basassas
• Joseph Justus
• Joseph of Barsabas
• Joseph the Just
• Barsabbas, Justus
A disciple of Jesus. Mentioned in Acts as the other candidate for the 12th Apostle's position, the one vacated by Judas Iscariot. The lot fell to Saint Matthias.
1st century
• child holding stones
• child holding loaves of bread
• child blowing bubbles
"It is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection." So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed, "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned away to go to his own place." Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles. - Acts 1:21-26
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-joseph-barsabas/
One of six children born to a farming family; his father died of pneumonia when the boy was very young. Due to a childhood illness, one of his legs was several inches shorter than the other, requiring him to wear special shoes all his life. Priest in the Diocese of Frascati, Italy, ordained on 17 December 1938. Had degrees in theology and canon law, but always found time for what he considered his primary work, ministering to the sick. Founded the Priestly Marian League in 1943. With Sister Elvira Myriam Psorulla, he founded the Volunteers of Suffering in 1947. Founded the Silent Workers of the Cross in 1950. Founded the Brothers and Sisters of the Sick in 1952.
29 July 1914 in Casale Monferrato, Alessandria, Italy
20 July 1984 in Rocca Priora, Rome, Italy
• 11 May 2013 by Pope Francis
• beatification recognition celebrated at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside-the-Walls, Rome, Italy by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-luigi-novarese/
Court page to King Philip II, Gregorio was well educated, especially in the sciences of his day. He lived six years as a hermit in the Navarre region of Spain before moving to Mexico in 1562 where he lived as a hermit among the natives near Zacatecas and the area of modern Mexico City. Because he was being sought out for spritiual guidance by local people, the archbishop of Mexico City had him examined for fidelity to the faith; the bishop and his priests were impressed with the man’s knowledge, piety and wisdom. This only increased the number of people who sought him out, so Gregorio withdrew to the small village of Santa Fe where he lived his remaining days in solitude. Devotion to him is widespread throughout Mexico, and his canonization cause has been pursued since 1620.
4 July 1542 at Madrid, Spain
20 July 1596 near Mexico City, Mexico of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-gregorio-lopez/
Xi Guizi
28 September as one of the Martyrs of China
Teenaged layman convert in the apostolic vicariate of Southeastern Zhili, China who was still a catechumen when, during an anti-Western riot, he was dragged into the town square and murdered for being a Christian during the Boxer Rebellion. Martyr.
c.1882 in Dezhaoin, Shenzhou, Hebei, China
torn to pieces during June-July 1900 (records unclear) in Dechao, Shenzhou, Hebei, China
1 October 2000 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-chi-zhuze/
Mali
28 September as one of the Martyrs of China
Lay woman in the apostolic vicariate of Southeastern Zhili, China. Teacher. Turned over to the pagan persecutors in the Boxer Rebellion, she publicly prayed to Christ, and was immediately murdered. Martyr.
c.1863 in Luopo, Shenzhou, Hebei, China
beheaded on 20 July 1900 in Dailucun, Shenzhou, Hebei, China
1 October 2000 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-maria-fu-guilin/
Joseph Diaz Sanjurjo
24 November as one of the Martyrs of Viet Nam
Dominican priest, ordained on 23 March 1844. Missionary to Manila, Philippines, and then to Viet Nam. Coadjutor vicar apostolic of Central Tonking, Viet Nam and titular bishop of Plataea on 5 September 1848. Martyr.
26 October 1818 at Santa Eulalia, Spain
martyred on 20 July 1857 in Vietnam
19 June 1988 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-jose-maria-diaz-sanjurjo/
Ansegis
Benedictine monk at Fontenelle Abbey, France at age 18. Entrusted by Charlemagne and Louis le Débonnaire with the reform and restoration of the monasteries of Saint Sixtus, Saint Memius, Flay, and Luxeuil. He codified the laws of Charlemagne and Louis in the Capitulars. Abbot of Fontenelle; the monastery became famous for learning, discipline, and its library. He divided the riches he obtained from his diplomatic missions among various monasteries.
c.770
c.833 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-ansegisus/
Sister Francisca of the Heart of Jesus
Nun, a member of the Sisters of Charity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Martyred in the Spanish Civil War.
17 December 1881 in Somolinos, Guadalajara, Spain
20 July 1936 in Canillejas, Madrid, Spain
10 May 1998 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-francisca-aldea-y-araujo/
Gabriel
Member of the Redemptorists, making his profession on 25 March 1924. Priest. Martyred in the Spanish Civil War.
23 July 1896 in Melgosa, Burgos, Spain
20 July 1936 in Casa de Campo, Madrid, Spain
24 April 2021 by Pope Francis (decree of martyrdom)
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-bernardo-saiz-gutierrez/
Member of the Redemptorists, making his profession on 24 September 1900. Ordained a priest on 23 December 1905. Martyred in the Spanish Civil War.
10 March 1881 in Pamplona, Navarra, Spain
20 July 1936 in Casa de Campo, Madrid, Spain
24 April 2021 by Pope Francis (decree of martyrdom)
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-crescencio-ortiz-blanco/
Sister Saint Basil
9 July as one of the Martyrs of Orange
Ursuline nun. Martyred in the French Revolution.
19 November 1733 in Livron, Drôme, France
guillotined on 20 July 1794 in Orange, Vaucluse, France
10 May 1925 by Pope Pius XI
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-anne-cartier/
Virginio Pedro
Professed religious in the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Brothers). Martyred in the Spanish Civil War.
27 October 1884 in Miraveche, Burgos, Spain
20 July 1936 in Almudena, Madrid, Spain
13 October 2013 by Pope Francis
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-vicente-lopez-y-lopez/
Ulmar, Ulmer, Vilmarus, Volmar, Vulmaro, Vulmarus
Uncle of Saint Eremberta of Wierre. Priest. Monk. Founded a convent at Wierre-aux-Bois, France and the monastery of Samer near Boulogne, France that was later renamed Saint-Vulmaire in his honour.
near Boulogne, France
689
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-wulmar/
Paul of Cordoba
Deacon in Moorish-occupied Cordoba, Spain. Monk at the Saint Zoilus monastery in Cordoba. Had a special ministry caring for Christians imprisoned for their faith by the Muslims. Martyr.
• beheaded in 851
• relics in the church of Saint Zoilus, Cordoba, Spain
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-paul-of-saint-zoilus/
Arenas, Luis
Dominican priest. Martyred in the Spanish Civil War.
8 October 1892 in Abraveses de Tera, Zamora, Spain
20 July 1936 in Madrid, Spain
28 October 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-abraham-furones-y-furones/
Etheldwitha, Ethelwitha, Ealsitha, Ealhswith
Born a princess in Mercia (in modern England). A queen, married to King Alfred the Great of West Saxons. Widowed in 899, she became a nun and later abbess at a convent she had founded in Winchester, England.
903
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-elswith/
Bishop of Carthage in North Africa. Worked with Saint Augustine of Hippo. One of the first to denounce the heresy of Pelagianism.
c.426
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-aurelius-of-carthage/
Dominican cleric. Martyred in the Spanish Civil War.
28 August 1894 in Calvillas, Somiedo, Asturias, Spain
20 July 1936 in Madrid, Spain
28 October 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-jacinto-garcia-riesco/
Married, he was known in his community as an honourable and upright man. Rorice one day had a conversion experience that led him to complete devotion to God and a more religious life. Bishop of Limoges, France in 484.
507 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-rorice-of-limoges/
Cassiano
Educated at the monastery of Saint Saba where he became a monk and then abbot.
Scythopolis
20 July 547 or 548 (records vary)
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-cassian-of-saint-saba/
Sister of Saint Modoald of Trier. Nun. First Abbess of Saint Gemma convent in Villeneuve, France; it was later renamed Sainte-Sevère in her honour.
c.680
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-severa-of-saint-gemma/
The memorial has long been celebrating in the diocese of Auch, France, and the town of Sainte-Mère, France appears to have been named for this person, but no information about them has survived.
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-mere/
Abbess of the convent of Oehren in Trier, Germany.
c.750
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-severa-of-oehren/
Carmnan
No information has survived.
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-caramnan/
22 Christians who were martyred together. We know nothing else about them but the names –
• Appia • Calorus • Cassius • Celsus • Cyriacus • Donatus • Emilis • Felix • Fructus • Magnus • Maximus • Nestita • Partinus • Pasterus • Paul • Romanus • Spretus • Tertius • Theodolus • Ueratia • Valerian • Victor •
Corinth, Greece
https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-corinth-20-july/
16 Christians who were martyred together. We know the names of six of then, but no details about any of them – Cassia, Julian, Macrobius, Maximus, Paul and Sabinus.
Syria
Damascus, Syria, date unknown
https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-damascus-20-july/
20 September as one of the Martyrs of Korea
Eight lay native Koreans in various states of life who were murdered together for their faith.
• Anna Kim Chang-gum
• Ioannes Baptista Yi Kwang-nyol
• Lucia Kim Nusia
• Magdalena Yi Yong-hui
• Maria Won Kwi-im
• Martha Kim Song-im
• Rosa Kim No-sa
• Theresia Yi Mae-im
20 July 1839 at the Small West Gate, Seoul, South Korea
6 May 1984 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-seoul-20-july/
28 September as one of the Martyrs of China
Married lay woman and her two daughters in the apostolic vicariate of Southeastern Zhili, China. During the persecutions of the Boxer Rebellion, the three of them hid in a well to avoid being raped. They were found, dragged out, and killed for being Christian. Martyrs. They were - Maria Zhao Guoshi (mother), Maria Zhao and Rosa Zhao (sisters).
late July 1900 in Zhaojia, Wuqiao, Hebei, China
1 October 2000 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-zhaojia/
28 September as one of the Martyrs of China
Two Jesuit missionary priests and two local lay people who supported their work who were martyred together in the Boxer Rebellion during and immediately after Mass.
• Léon-Ignace Mangin
• Maria Zhu Wushi
• Paul Denn
• Petrus Zhu Rixin
20 July 1900 in church in Zhujiahe, Jingxian, Hebei, China
1 October 2000 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-zhujiahe/
• Akhtyrskaya Icon of the Mother of God
• Our Lady of Zocueca
• Arnold Vessem
• Elias of Jerusalem
• Elias Tsjavtsjavadse
• Flavian II of Antioch
• Folmer of Alslev
• Gepa of Füssenich
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