| 21 March |
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• Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello
• Benedikta Frassinello
• Benedetta Cambiagio
Daughter of Giuseppe and Francesca Cambiagio, she grew up in Pavia, Italy. At the age of 20 she had a profound mystical experience that left her devoted to prayer and desiring a religious life. However, to go along with her family's wishes, she married Giovanni Battista Frassinella on 7 February 1816. The couple had a normal married life for two years, but Giovanni, impressed with Benedicta's holiness and desire for religious life, agreed to live continently. The two took care of Benedicta's little sister Maria until the girl's death from intestinal cancer in 1825. Giovanni then joined the Somaschan Fathers, Benedicta became an Ursuline nun.
In 1826 ill health forced Benedicta to return home to Pavia. There she began to work with young women in the area. The work sent so well that her husband Giovanni was assigned to help. The schools continued to grow and prosper, and Benedicta was appointed Promoter of Public Instruction in Pavia. However, no matter how chastely they lived, Benedicta and Giovanni's unusual relationship drew gossip and criticism from civil and Church authorities. To insure that she did not get in the way of the work, in 1838 Benedicta turned her work over to the bishop of Pavia, and withdrew to live as a nun at Ronco Scrivia, Italy.
Not content to withdraw from the world, Benedicta began all over. With five companions, she founded the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence dedicated to teaching, and opened another school. Living alone, the local authorities found no causes for gossip, and Benedicta spent her remaining years in prayer and service.
2 October 1791 at Langasco, Campomorone, Italy as Benedetta Cambiagio
21 March 1858 at Ronco Scrivia, Italy of natural causes
19 May 2002 by Pope John Paul II at Rome, Italy
Benedictine Sisters of Providence
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-benedicta-cambiagio-frassinello/
• Augustin Rong Zhao
• Augustinus Zhao
• Augustine Zhao Rong
28 September as one of the Martyrs of China
Soldier. Escorted Saint Gabriel John Tauin du-Fresse to Beijing, China during his missionary work. Convert to Christianity. Priest. Worked in the Sichuan apostolic vicariate. Arrested for his faith and his work. He died in prison. Martyr.
c.1746 at Wuchuan, Guizhou, China
27 January 1815 due to poor conditions in prison at Chengdu, Sichuan, China
1 October 2000 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-augustine-tchao/
Elia, Elijah
One of the early evangelists on the island of San Giulio in Lake Orta in the Piedmont region of Italy. He may have been a priest, and lived on the island for a while as a hermit.
relics re-discovered buried in the floor of the basilica of San Giulio on Isola San Giulio, Italy in 1697 and enshrined in the marble altar
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-elias-of-orta/
Berillo, Beryl, Beryllus, Brillus
Travelling companion of Saint Peter the Apostle. First bishop of Catania, Sicily, consecrated by Saint Peter.
Antioch (in modern Turkey)
c.90 in Catania, Italy of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-birillus-of-catania/
• Alfonso of Coria
• Alonso de Rojas
• Alphonsus de Rojas
26 March in Coria, Spain
Professor in Salamanca, Spain. Tutor to the children of duke. Canon at Coria, Spain. Franciscan.
1617
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-alfonso-de-rojas/
• Brother Klaus
• Bruder Klaus
• Nicholas von Flüe
• Niklaus von Flüe
25 September (Switzerland and Germany)
Born to a family of relatively wealthy peasants. Soldier who distinguished himself in combat against the break-away canton of Zurich and eventually reached the rank of captain; reported to have fought with a sword in one hand, a rosary in the other. At age 30 he married Dorothy Wiss; they couple had ten children. Cantonal judge and government advisor; declined to serve as cantonal governor. Following a vision of a harnessed draft horse (representing his worldly life as a farmer) eating a lily (representing his spiritual life of purity), Nicholas felt a desire withdraw from the world. With the approval of his family, he became a hermit in the Ranft valley, Switzerland in 1467; he assisted daily at Mass and spent most of the rest of his day in prayer. Reported to have had the gifts of prophecy and of inedia, surviving for 19 years solely on Holy Communion. His reputation for sanctity spread, and he attracted spiritual students. In 1481 he was called on to mediate a dispute that threatened civil war in Switzerland. He succeeded in averting the conflict, then retired to his hermitage. He is considered by many to be the father of this country, honoured by both Swiss Protestants and Catholics for his wisdom, holiness and work to unify Switzerland.
21 March 1417 at Sachseln, Canton Unterwalden, Lake Lucerne, Switzerland
• 21 March 1487 at Ranft, Aargau, Switzerland of natural causes; his wife and children were at his side
• relics in the church of Sachseln, Switzerland
15 May 1947 by Pope Pius XII
• councilmen
• difficult marriages
• large families
• magistrates
• parents of large families
• Pontifical Swiss Guards
• separated spouses
• Switzerland
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-nicholas-of-flue/
• Serapion of Thmuis
• Serapion the Scholar
Egyptian monk. Ran the famous catechetical school of Alexandria, Egypt. Resigned to spend more time in prayer and penitence. Spiritual student of Saint Anthony the Abbot in the desert. Friend of Saint Athanasius of Alexandria.
Bishop of Thmuis, near Diospolis in the Nile delta of Egypt in 339. Fought Arianism. Supporter of Athanasius, and spoke for him in the Council of Sardis in 347. Banished by Emperor Constantius II for his opposition to Arianism. Named a Confessor of the Faith by Saint Jerome. Fought Macedonianism, which denies the divinity of the Holy Spirit. Wrote against Manichaeism, showing that our bodies can be instruments of good or evil, that it is our choice, and that just and wicked men often change; it's therefore a lie to think our souls are of God, our bodies of the devil.
Wrote several learned letters, a treatise on the titles of the Psalms, and a sacramentary called the Euchologium, a collection of liturgical prayers. Saint Athanasius wrote several works against Arians at Serapion's request, but thought so much of Sarapion that he told him to revise them as he saw fit.
c.365-370 of natural causes while in exile in Egypt
The mind is purified by spiritual knowledge (or by holy meditation and prayer), the spiritual passions of the soul by charity, and the irregular appetites by abstinence and penance. - Serapion's little rule
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-serapion-the-scholastic/
• Enda of Aran
• Enda of Arranmore
• Éanna, Edna, Éinne, Endeus, Enna
An Irish prince, the son of Conall Derg of Ergall, Ulster. Brother of Saint Fanchea of Rossory who brought him to the Faith. Brother-in-law to King Oengus of Munster, Ireland. Soldier. When he converted to Christianity, he gave up the military life and his dreams of conquest, and planned to marry. When his fiancee suddenly died, Enda renounced his claim to the throne and became a monk. Pilgrim to Rome, Italy. Priest. Studied with Saint Ninian in Galloway, Scotland. Founded a monastery at Killeany on Inishmore in the Arran Islands on land donated by King Oengus. It was the first true monastery in Ireland, ten other houses developed directly from it, and Enda is considered the founder of Irish monasticism. Built churches at Drogheda, and a monastery in the Boyne valley. His houses lived under a severely austere rule, and prayerful men lived in them for centuries. Spiritual teacher of Saint Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, Saint Brendan the Voyager, Saint Finnian, Saint Columba of Iona, Saint Jarlath of Tuam, and Saint Carthach the Elder.
Meath, Ireland
• c.530 of natural causes
• buried at Tighlagheany, Inishmore, Ireland
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-enda-of-arran/
Thomas Pilchard
• 29 October as one of the Martyrs of Douai
• 22 November as one of the Martyrs of England, Scotland and Wales
• 1 December as one of the Martyrs of Oxford University
Studied at Balliol College, Oxford, England. Converted to Catholicism. Studied at Douai College, Rheims, France. Ordained a priest at Laon, France in 1583. He then returned to England to minister to covert Catholics in Hampshire and Dorset. Arrested and condemned to death for the crime of being a priest.
c.1557 in Battle, East Sussex, England
• hanged, drawn and quartered on 21 March 1587 in Dochester, Dorset, England
• no official executioner could be found; a local butcher was hired to do the disemboweling, but stopped halfway when Thomas asked him, “Is this your justice?”
22 November 1987 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-thomas-pilcher/
Mark Xhani
Studied at the Shkodra Pontifical Seminary, and then theology in Bobion, Italy. Ordained on 21 March 1942 as a priest of the archdiocese of Shkodrë-Pult, Albania. Imprisoned and tortured in the anti–Christian persecutions of the Albanian Communist government. His torturers repeatedly ordered him to curse Christ; he repeatedly answered "Long live Jesus Christ!" Martyr.
10 July 1914 in Mirditë, Albania
• tortured to death in 1947 in Shën Pal, Mirditë, Albania
• body dumped in a canal to be eaten by stray dogs
• 5 November 2016 by Pope Francis
• beatification celebrated at the Square of the Cathedral of Shën Shtjefnit, Shkodër, Albania, presided by Cardinal Angelo Amato
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-mark-gjani/
• 29 October as one of the Martyrs of Douai
• 22 November as one of the Martyrs of England, Scotland, and Wales
Studied at the English College in Douai, France. Priest in the apostolic vicariate of England, serving covert Catholics during the persecutions of James I. Martyr.
1560 in Weston, near Otley, West Yorkshire, England
21 March 1608 in York, North Yorkshire, England
22 November 1987 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-matthew-flathers/
Canon at Lyons, France. Pilgrim to Compostela, Spain. Benedictine Cistercian monk at Clairvaux Abbey under Saint Bernard. Founded the Cistercian Bonneval Abbey in 1117, and later served as its abbot. Bishop of Valence, France in 1141; he felt so unworthy of the position that he had to be physically carried to the altar to be consecrated. Fought for his flock not just in matters spiritual but for farmers, merchants and the impoverished who were all ruined by debt during a regional financial crisis.
at Lyons, France
1146 of natural causes
1901 by Pope Pius X (cultus confirmed)
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-john-of-valence/
As a girl, Lucia was noted for her piety and charity. She joined the Third Order of the Servants of Mary in Verona, Italy, and lived in her house as though it was a monastery. She developed a ministery of visiting the sick, nursing them in their homes, dressing wounds, sitting with the dying, and caring for those struck down with plague until it took her away, as well.
c.1514 in Verona, Italy
1574 in Verona, Italy of plague
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-lucia-of-verona/
Married. Mother of one daughter who died in childhood. She and her husband agreed to split up, each entering religious life. Benedictine nun in Gubbio, Italy. Abbess of her house. She moved her community to Santa Maria in Via Lata, the Via Iulia in Rome, Italy where they lived in very strict observance of the Benedictine Rule and became known as Mary's Servants or Le Santucci.
in Gubbio, Umbria, Italy
1305
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-santucci-terrebotti/
22 November as one of the Martyrs of England, Scotland, and Wales
Layman in the apostolic vicariate of England during a period of persecutions of Catholics. Martyr.
in Dorset, England
• hanged on 22 December 1591 in Dorchester, Dorset, England
• body dismembered and the pieces distributed as a warning to others
22 November 1987 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-william-pike/
• Christian of St-Pantaleon
• Christianus of...
Monk in the monastery of Fulda, Germany. First abbot of the St-Pantaleon Abbey in Cologen, Germany. Wrote works on theology that were widely read in his time.
1002
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-christian-of-cologne/
A large but unknown number of Catholics massacred in several churches during Good Friday services in Alexandria, Egypt by Arian heretics during the persecutions of Constantius and Philagrio.
Good Friday 342 in Alexandria, Egypt
https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-alexandria-21-march/
Brother of Saint Romanus of Condat. Monk. With Romanus, he founded the abbeys of Condat and Leuconne.
c.480
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-lupicinus-of-condat/
Martyred for opposing iconoclasm.
c.824 at Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey)
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-james-the-confessor/
Monk at the Anabaric monastery in Ireland. Priest. Ninth-century bishop of Verdun (in modern France).
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-isenger-of-verdun/
Travelling preacher throughout Italy. Martyr.
Rome, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-domninus-of-rome/
Preached across Italy. Martyr.
Rome, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-philemon-of-rome/
• Justinian of Vercelli
CatholicSaints.Info Portable Edition