| 22 May |
• yesterday • tomorrow |
| Optional Memorial of Saint Rita of Cascia, Religious |
• Margarita of Cascia
• Rita La Abogada de Imposibles
• Saint of the Impossible
Daughter of Antonio and Amata Lotti, a couple known as the Peacemakers of Jesus; they had Rita late in life. From her early youth, Rita visited the Augustinian nuns at Cascia, Italy, and showed interest in a religious life. However, when she was twelve, her parents betrothed her to Paolo Mancini, an ill-tempered, abusive individual who worked as town watchman, and who was dragged into the political disputes of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. Disappointed but obedient, Rita married him when she was 18, and was the mother of twin sons. She put up with Paolo's abuses for eighteen years before he was ambushed and stabbed to death. Her sons swore vengeance on the killers of their father, but through the prayers and interventions of Rita, they forgave the offenders.
Upon the deaths of her sons, Rita again felt the call to religious life. However, some of the sisters at the Augustinian monastery were relatives of her husband's murderers, and she was denied entry for fear of causing dissension. Asking for the intervention of Saint John the Baptist, Saint Augustine of Hippo, and Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, she managed to bring the warring factions together, not completely, but sufficiently that there was peace, and she was admitted to the monastery of Saint Mary Magdalen at age 36.
Rita lived 40 years in the convent, spending her time in prayer and charity, and working for peace in the region. She was devoted to the Passion, and in response to a prayer to suffer as Christ, she received a chronic head wound that appeared to have been caused by a crown of thorns, and which bled for 15 years.
Confined to her bed the last four years of her life, eating little more than the Eucharist, teaching and directing the younger sisters. Near the end she had a visitor from her home town who asked if she'd like anything; Rita's only request was a rose from her family's estate. The visitor went to the home, but it being January, knew there was no hope of finding a flower; there, sprouted on an otherwise bare bush, was a single rose blossom.
Among the other areas, Rita is well-known as a patron of desperate, seemingly impossible causes and situations. This is because she has been involved in so many stages of life - wife, mother, widow, and nun, she buried her family, helped bring peace to her city, saw her dreams denied and fulfilled - and never lost her faith in God, or her desire to be with Him.
1386 at Roccaparena, Umbria, Italy
22 May 1457 at the Augustinian convent at Cascia, Italy of tuberculosis
24 May 1900 by Pope Leo XIII
• abuse victims; spouse abuse victims
• against infertility or sterility; infertile people
• against loneliness
• against sickness or bodily ills; sick people
• against wounds; wounded people
• desperate, forgotten, lost or impossible causes
• difficult marriages
• parenthood
• widows
• Cascia, Italy
• Dalayap, Philippines
• Igbaras, Iloilo, Philippines
• nun holding a crown of thorns
• nun holding roses
• nun holding roses and figs
• nun with a wound on her forehead
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-rita-of-cascia/
John Forrest
1 December as one of the Martyrs of Oxford University
Joined the Friars Minor of the Regular Observance at Greenwich, England while in his late teens. Studied theology at the Franciscan College at Oxford, England; he was known thereafter as "Doctor", though records of his degree have not survived. Priest and royal chaplain. Provincial of the Franciscans by 1525 when he threatened excommunication to those brothers who opposed Cardinal Thomas Wosley's legatine powers. Confessor to Queen Catherine of Aragon, wife of King Henry VIII.
Father John thought he had convinced King Henry in 1529 not to suppress his Order in response to their opposition to his divorce, but when Henry did not get his way, he suppressed the Order and arrested John. Records show him preaching in November 1532 against the state pulling down churches, and of the authorities keeping a close watch on him. Arrested in 1534, he established a correspondence from Newgate prison to Queen Catherine and Blessed Thomas Abel. Wrote a treatise against King Henry's usurpation of power over things spiritual.
Sentenced to death on 8 April 1538 for refusing the oath acknowledging Henry's primacy in spiritual matters. Martyr.
1471 at Oxford, England
• hanged and burned to death on 22 May 1538 at Smithfield, England
• a wooden statue of Saint Derfel, taken from a local church, was used in the fire, supposedly fulfilling a local prophecy that the statue's burning would destroy a forest
• John's relics may still be in hiding in Smithfield
29 December 1886 by Pope Leo XIII
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-john-forest/
Julia of Carthage
Born to the Carthaginian Christian nobility. Captured by invading Vandals in 616, and sold into slavery to a pagan Syrian merchant named Eusebius. When the slave ship landed at Cape Corso, Corsica, a pagan festival was in progress, and Julia was ordered to join in; some versions indicate that participation would have won her freedom. When she refused, her hair was torn out of her head, and she was martyred.
6th to 7th century Carthaginian
• beaten and crucified c.616-620 at Cape Corso, Corsica
• relics at the Benedictine abbey at Brescia, Italy in 763, which became a middle ages pilgrimage site
• some relics later taken to Leghorn (modern Livorno, Italy
• torture victims
• Corsica, France
• Brescia, Italy
• Leghorn, Italy
• Livorno, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-julia-of-corsica/
Rosanna, Humilitas, Umiltà
Born to a wealthy family. Married at age 15 to a nobleman named Ugoletto. Mother of two, both of whom died in infancy. In 1250 Ugoletto was nearly killed, an event made both of them examine their lives and enter the double monastery of Saint Perpetua near Faenza, Italy, Ugoletto as a lay-brother, Rosanna as a nun, taking the name Sister Humility. Spiritual student of Saint Crispin. Lived as a hermitess in a cell for twelve years near the church of Saint Apollinaris. Founded the convent of Santa Maria Novella on Malta, the first Vallombrosan convent for nuns, and served as its abbess. Founded a second convent at Florence, Italy, and lived her remaining years there.
1226 at Faenza, Italy as Rosanna
22 May 1310 at Florence, Italy of natural causes
27 January 1720 by Pope Clement XI
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-humility/
• Basiliscus of Comana
• Basilicus, Basilisco
Bishop of Comana in Pontus, Asia Minor (in modern Turkey). One of a large group of Christians who were tortured and martyred in the persecutions of Emperor Galerius for refusing to sacrifice to idols. Legend says that when Basiliscus announced his refusal, lightning struck the temple and toppled the statues. His spirit is reported to have met Saint John Chrysostom at his death bed to escort him to the afterlife in 407.
• beheaded c.310 in Comana, Pontus (in modern Turkey)
• body thrown into the river Iris
• body covertly recovered by local Christians and given proper burial in a freshly plowed field
• a chapel was later built over his grave
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-basiliscus-of-pontus/
Mid-6th-century bishop of Otricoli, Italy. Pope Saint Gregory the Great wrote about him in Dialogues.
When his city was being approached by the Ostrogoth army of King Totila, Fulgencio went out to meet him, first to plead for his city, then to bribe him into passing by. The Ostrogoths seized him and while Totila considered his next move, they drew a circle in the dirt, put the bishop in it and told the guards to kill him if he left it. Fulgencio began to suffer from being left in the sun, and prayed for relief; the sky clouded up and it rained heavily – except in the circle where Fulgencio was imprisoned.
6th century in Otricoli, Terni, Italy of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-fulgencio-of-otricoli/
Sister Dulce
Nun in the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.
26 May 1914 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
13 March 1992 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil of natural causes
22 May 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI
on 13 May 2019 Pope Francis promulgated a decree of a miracle received through the intercession of Blessed Josephine
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-maria-rita-lopes-pontes-de-souza-brito/
• Bobo of Voghera
• Beuvon, Bovo
Soldier who fought invading Saracens. Tired of a life of violence, he retired to live as a penitent hermit.
Provence, France
• 22 May 986 near Voghera, Pavia, Italy of a fever while on a pilgrimage to Rome, Italy
• buried in Voghera, his grave became a site of miracles
• relics enshrined in Voghera in 1469
Voghera, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-bobo-of-provence/
João Baptista Machado de Távora
10 September as one of the 205 Martyrs of Japan
Jesuit at Coimbra, Portugal. Missionary to Japan in 1609. One of the Franciscan Martyrs of Japan.
1580 at Terceira, Portuguese Azores
beheaded on 22 May 1617 at Nagasaki, Japan
7 May 1867 by Pope Blessed Pius IX
diocese of Creek, Portugal
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-john-baptist-machado-de-tavora/
Aigulphus, Ayoul, Aieul, Aout, Hou
Well educated, Aigulf became a hermit upon the death of his parents, and soon developed a reputation for great personal sanctity. Reluctant bishop of Bourges, France in 811. Attended the Council of Toulouse in 829. Sat in judgement of Archbishop Ebbo of Rheims who had joined a revolt against King Louis the Debonair.
at Bourges, France
836 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-aigulf-of-bourges/
Folco
Pilgrim to Rome, Italy with Saint Arduin of Gallinaro. Died working with plague victims in the Castrofuli and Santopadre in Italy.
c.600 in the area of Castrofuli, Italy of plague
1572 (cultus confirmation)
• Castrofuli, Italy
• Santopadre, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-fulk-of-castrofurli/
Aemilius, Emilio
Tortured in the persecutions of Decius, he renounced his Christianity. He later repented, returned to the Church, and when arrested a second time he stood by his faith. Martyr.
burned to death c.250 in North Africa
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-emilius-the-martyr/
Monk and then abbot near Subiaco, Italy. Friend of Saint Benedict of Nursia, and supported him during his time as a cave hermit. Built a monastery in the vicinity of modern Auxerre, France.
c.560 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-romanus-of-subiaco/
Atho, Attho, Attone
Monk. Abbot of Vallombrosa. Bishop of Pistoia, Italy for 20 years. Wrote a work on the relics of and miracles that occurred at Saint James of Compostella.
1153 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-atto-of-pistoia/
Seventh century spiritual student of Saint Fursey of Perrone. Built the Pierrepont Monastery near Laon, France. Murdered by some locals for preaching against their vices. Martyr.
Ireland
near Laon, France
sick children
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-boethian-of-pierrepont/
Martyr. Since there were no surviving records about him, writers in later centuries invented lurid tales detailing his death and the divine vengeance that fell on his tormentors.
• early 3rd century Rome, Italy
• relics transferred to Pavia, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-aureliano-of-pavia/
Mercedarian friar known for devotion to praying for souls in Purgatory. Ransomed 216 Christians from slavery in Muslim Tunis, Tunisia in 1279, and preacher the faith throughout the region as they travelled.
c.1350 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-dionisio-senmartin/
Franciscan Friars Minor (Alcantarines) priest. Martyr.
c.1570 in Cuevas, Toledo, Spain
22 May 1617 in Kori, Omura, Nagasaki, Japan
7 May 1867 by Pope Blessed Pius IX
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-pedro-of-the-assumption/
• Margaret of Hoveton
• Margarita, Margherita, Marguerite
Martyr.
12th century England
• 1170
• buried in the abbey church at Hoveton Saint John, Norfolk, England
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-margaret-of-hulme/
Mercedarian friar known for devotion to praying for souls in Purgatory. Ransomed 216 Christians from slavery in Muslim Tunis, Tunisia in 1279, and preacher the faith throughout the region as they travelled.
c.1350 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-giusto-samper/
Tortured in the persecutions of Decius, he renounced his Christianity. He later repented, returned to the Church, and when arrested a second time he stood by his Christianity. Martyr.
burned to death c.250 in North Africa
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-castus-the-martyr/
Helena
Maiden described in the Acts of Saint Amator of Auxerre as being with him, and of being a holy woman. No details about her were given, and
c.415 at Auxerre, France
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-helen-of-auxerre/
Lupicino
Bishop of Verona, Italy in the early 5th century.
relics enshrined in the crypt of the basilica of San Zeno Maggiore, Verona, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-lupicinus-of-verona/
Kitheriammal, Quiteira, Quitterie
Nun. Martyr. Greatly venerated in the Navarre region on the border of France and Spain.
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-quiteria/
Priest. Made six pilgimages to Jerusalem. Abbot of Saint John's Abbey in Parma, Italy from 973 until his death.
in Parma, Italy
c.982 in Parma, Italy of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-john-of-parma/
Baithin mac Findech
No information available.
Irish
Ennisboyne, Ireland
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-baoithin-of-ennisboyne/
Coel, Conald
Monk. Seventh-century abbot of Inniscoel Abbey in Donegal, Ireland where there is a holy well dedicated to him.
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-conall-of-inniscoel/
Mercedarian friar known for his dedication to Bible study. Ransomed 289 Christians enslaved by Muslims in Algiers, and preached Christianity while travelling through.
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-diego-de-baja/
Mercedarian friar known for his dedication to Bible study. Ransomed 289 Christians enslaved by Muslims in Algiers, and preached Christianity while travelling through.
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-giacomo-soler/
Martyred in the persecutions of Julian the Apostate.
c.362 in Rome, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-faustinus-the-martyr-22-may/
Third century spiritual student of Saint Martial of Limoges. First Bishop of Angoulême, France.
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-ausonius-of-angouleme/
Priest. Bishop of Limoges, France. Helped found the monastery of Solesme.
637 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-lupo-of-limoges/
Martyred in the persecutions of Julian the Apostate.
c.362 in Rome, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-venustus-the-martyr/
Mariano
Bishop of Ravenna, Italy in 112.
c.127
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-marcian-of-ravenna/
Martyred in the persecutions of Julian the Apostate.
c.362 in Rome, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-timothy-the-martyr/
Thousands of people were murdered in the anti-Catholic persecutions of the Spanish Civil War from 1934 to 1939. I have pages on each of them, but in most cases I have only found very minimal information. They are available on the CatholicSaints.Info site through these links:
• Blessed Francisco Salinas Sánchez/a>
• Blessed José Quintas Durán
• Franciscan Martyrs of Japan
• Dominico Ngon
• Helen of Carnarvon
• Maria Domenica Brun Barbantini
• Matthias of Arima
• Michael Ho-Dinh-Hy
• Pedro of Cordova
• Viano
• Zota
CatholicSaints.Info Portable Edition