| 25 March |
• yesterday • tomorrow |
| Solemnity of the Annunciation |
• Nicodemus of Cirò
• Nicodemus of Cellerano
• Nicodemus of Kellerano
• Nicodemo of...
• 12 March (Mammola, Italy and surrounding area)
• Sunday after 12 May (founding of the Monte Cellerano monastic community)
• 1st Sunday in September (translation of relics in 1501)
Son of Theophanes and Pandia. Educated by a local priest, Father Galatone, known for his learning and piety. Even as a young man, Nicodemus was disgusted by the mis-spent lives of his contemporaries, and was drawn to the monastic life. He tried to join the monks in the San Mercurius abbey on Mount Pollino in the Calabria region of Italy; it was a hard, ascetic life for these monks, dressed in goat skins, going bare-foot in all seasons, surviving on chestnuts and lupins with a cave for shelter and some straw for a bed, and Nicodemus was initially turned away by the abbot, Saint Fantinus, who thought the young man’s health too frail for a monk‘s life. But Nicodemus persevered, and Fantinus eventually relented and welcomed him to the community. Brother monk with Saint Nilus of Rossano.
Feeling the need for greater solitude, Nicodemus withdrew to live as a hermit on Monte Cellerano in Locri, Italy. His reputation for wisdom and piety followed him, though, and he soon attracted several spiritual students, and organized them in to a colony that lived separately but met once a week. However, his community became too well known; there were too many would be students, too many lay visitors, and too many incursions by Saracen invaders. The monks dispersed to various monasteries. Nicodemus moved first to a house in Gerace, Italy, and then to a monastery near Mammola, Italy where he spent the rest of his life. His reputation for holiness was such that, upon his death, the monastery was renamed San Nicodemo in his honour.
early-10th century in Cirò, Catanzaro, Italy
• 25 March 990 in the monastery at Mammola, Calabria, Italy (a house then renamed San Nicodemo) of natural causes
• interred in a tomb in a small oratory at the monastery
• oratory re-built into a large church by Normans in 1080
• relics transferred to the church of Mammola in 1580
• his chapel was re-built and decorated in the city of Mammola in 1884
• relics surveyed and re-enshrined on 12 May 1922
Mammola, Italy (proclaimed in 1630)
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-nicodemus-of-mammola/
• The Good Rogue
• The Good Thief
• The Penitent Thief
• Demas, Desmas, Dimas, Dysmas, Rach, Titus, Zoatham
25 March; date derived from a tradition that this was the calendar date of the Crucifixion, though the Passover and Easter celebrations move from year to year
One of the thieves crucified with Jesus, the other being traditionally known as Gestas; Dismas is the Good Thief, the one who rebuked the other, and asked for Christ's blessing.
An old legend from an Arabic infancy gospel says that when the Holy Family were running to Egypt, they were set upon by a band of thieves, including Dismas and Gestas. One of the highwaymen realized there was something different, something special about them, and ordered his fellow bandits to leave them alone; this thief was the young Dismas.
crucified c.30 at Jerusalem
• condemned prisoners
• death row prisoners
• dying people
• funeral directors
• penitent criminals
• prison chaplains
• prisoners
• prisoners on death row
• prisons
• reformed thieves
• undertakers
• Przemysl, Poland, archdiocese of
• Merizo, Guam
• man carrying his cross immediately behind Christ
• man crucified at Christ's right hand
• naked man, holding his cross, often with his hand on his heart to signify penitence
• tall cross
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation. And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." - Luke 23:39-43
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-dismas/
• Giosafata Hordasevska
• Michalina Jozafata Hordaszewska
• Mykhailyna Hordashevska
• Yosafata Hordashevska
Greek Catholic. Entered the contemplative Basilian Sisters at age 18. When the Basilians decided to establish a woman's congregation that focused on the active life, sister Mykhailyna was chosed to lead it. First member of the Sisters Servant of Mary Immaculate, taking the name Josaphata, from Saint Josaphat.
The Sister Servants "serve Your people where the need is greatest", teaching and caring for the sick. Josaphata founded day care centers so parents could work the fields, studied herbal medicines and compounded home-made remedies for people who could not afford physicians, and read the lives of the saints to the illiterate. She and the Sisters worked in areas of typhus and cholera epidemics, helped restore churches, and taught people to make liturgical vestments.
Because many men and women of the day could not deal with a woman as governor of a congregation, she met great opposition from laity and clergy. Lies were told about her, and her fatal disease of incredibly painful, but she confronted all it with prayer, and today the Sisters have houses in Ukraine, Canada and Brazil.
20 November 1869 at Lviv, Ukraine as Mykhailyna Hordashevska
• 7 April 1919 of tuberculosis of the bone in Krystynopil, Ukraine
• buried at Krystynopil
• remains transferred to a chapel at the Generalate of the Sisters Servants in Rome in November 1982
27 June 2001 by Pope John Paul II at Ukraine
Lord God, we praise you and we thank you for having called your servant Josaphata Hordashevska to the work of evangelization and education of youth. She was the first to respond to the charism of the Servants of Mary Immaculate, and throughout her virtuous life was an apostle among her Ukrainian people through her evangelical witness and her sanctity. Lord God, for your greater glory, and the spiritual good of souls, glorify your faithful servant, Sister Josaphata. Grant us the grace for which we so ardently pray through her intercession. Amen.
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-josaphata-mykhailyna-hordashevska/
• Omeljan Kovc
• Emilian Kowacz
Greek Catholic. Seminarian at Lviv, Ukraine and Rome, Italy; graduated from the College of Sergius and Bachus in Rome. Married, and father of six. Ordained in 1911. Worked throughout Galacia, and with Ukrainian immigrants to Yugoslavia. Chaplain to Ukrainian soldiers fighting the Bolsheviks in 1919. Parish priest in 1922 at Peremyshliany, Ukraine, a village of 5,000, most of whom were Jewish. An active priest, he organized pilgrimages and youth groups, and welcomed poor and orphaned children of all faiths into his home.
When the Nazis invaded Ukraine, they began rounding up Jews. To save them, Father Emilian began baptizing them, and listing them as Christians. The Nazis were wise to this trick, and had prohibited it. Emilian continued, but was arrested by the Gestapo in December 1942. Deported to the Majdanek concentration camp in August 1943. There he ministered to prisoners, hearing confessions, and celebrating Mass when possible. Martyred in the ovens.
Recognized on 9 September 1999 as a Righteous Ukrainian by the Jewish Council of Ukraine.
20 August 1884 near Kosiv, Ivano-Frankivs'ka oblast, Ukraine
gassed and burned on 25 March 1944 in the ovens of the Nazi death camp at Majdanek, Lubelskie, Poland
27 June 2001 by Pope John Paul II at Ukraine
Gestapo Officer: "Did you know that it is prohibited to baptize Jews?"
Father Kovtch: "I didn't know anything."
Gestapo Officer: "Do you now know it?"
Father Kovtch: "Yes."
Gestapo Officer: "Will you continue to do it?"
Father Kovtch: "Of course."
With the exception of Heaven, this is the only place I wish to be. Here we are all the same: Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Russians. I am the only priest. When I celebrate the Liturgy, they pray for all, each one in his own language. Doesn't God understand all languages? - Father Kovtch in a letter from the concentration camp to his children
Yesterday, fifty prisoners were executed. If I wasn't here, who would help them endure a moment like that? What more could I ask the Lord? Don't worry about me. Rejoice with me! - Father Kovtch in a letter from the concentration camp to his children
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-emilian-kovch/
Lucy Filippini
Orphaned when very young. Worked under Blessed Rose Venerini to train schoolmistresses. Founded the Religious Teachers Filippini, a group devoted to the education of young girls. Founded several schools throughout Italy. Called to Rome, Italy by Pope Clement XI in 1707 to establish the first school there. Victim of a number of illnesses and ailments throughout her life.
13 January 1672 at Cornetto, Tuscany, Italy
• 25 March 1732 of cancer at Montefiascone, Italy
• buried at the Cathedral of Montefiascone
22 June 1930 by Pope Pius XI
Religious Teachers Filippini
After she had lost both her parents, Cardinal Marc'Antonio Barbarigo of blessed memory took her into his care. He later availed himself of her services in the founding of schools of Christian doctrine for young girls. Active with the greatest ardor for this foundation and its propagation, she fully realized the importance of this work for the glory of God, the saving of souls, and the Christian education of women. Her ability and experience made her work flourish and spread to our diocese and to many others. Her endeavors earned her the name of una donna forte - a strong woman. Though she lived wholly for her foundation, she never ceased praying at the feet of the Lord, thus uniting, in admirable fashion, the virtues of Martha and Mary. To set her up also as a model of invincible patience, God put her to the severest tests. She died on the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, 1732, at the age of 60, of cancer, in terrible pain, which she endured with supreme patience. - on a parchment found in the grave of Saint Lucia
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-lucia-filippini/
Father Hilary Januszewski
12 June as one of the 108 Martyrs of World War II
Son of Martin and Marianne Januszewski. Pawel studied at colleges in Greblin, Suchary and Krakow in Poland. Joined the Carmelites of the Ancient Observance in 1927 at age 20, taking the name Hilary, and beginning his novitiate in Lviv (in modern Ukraine). He studied philosophy in Krakow, then theology at the International College of Saint Albert in Rome, Italy. Ordained a priest on 15 July 1934. Recognized for academic excellence while studying at the Academy of Saint Thomas in Rome. Assigned to the Carmel in Krakow, Poland in 1935. Professor of Dogmatic Theology and Church History in Krakow. Prior of the Krakow Carmelite community on 1 November 1939. Arrested, deported and imprisoned in December 1940 in the Nazi persecutions, having offered himself in exchange for an older brother who was very ill. Imprisoned in Krakow, the Sachsenchausen concentration camp, and finally in the Dachau concentration camp in April 1941. Imprisoned with Blessed Titus Brandsma, the two often spent time in prayer together. Father Hilary ministered to other prisoners where he could, dying of typhus contracted by caring for the sick. Martyr.
11 June 1907 in Krajenki, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Poland as Pawel Januszewski
• 25 March 1945 in prisoner cabin 25 in the Dachau concentration camp, Oberbayern, Germany of typhus
• his body was still in the cabin when Allied troops liberated the camp a few days later
• body cremated in the Dachau crematorium
13 June 1999 by Pope John Paul II in Warsaw, Poland
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-pawel-januszewski/
• Margaret Clitheroe
• Margaret Middleton
• Margarita, Margherita, Marguerite
• the Pearl of York
25 October as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
Daughter of Thomas and Jane Middleton, a candle maker and the Sheriff of York for two years. Raised Anglican. Married to John Clitherow, wealthy butcher and chamberlain of the city of York, on 8 July 1571. Converted to Catholicism around 1574. Imprisoned several times for her conversion, for sheltering priests (including her husband's brother), and for permitting clandestine Masses to be celebrated on her property. During her trial in Tyburn, London, England on 14 March 1586, she refused to answer any of the charges for fear of incriminating her servents and children; both her sons became priests, her daughter a nun.
1556 at York, England as Margaret Middleton
• pressed to death on Good Friday, 25 March 1586 at York, England
• right hand preserved at Saint Mary's Convent, York
25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI
• businesswomen
• converts
• martyrs
Elizabethan houswife kneeling or standing on a heavy wooden door
God be thanked, I am not worthy of so good a death as this. - Saint Margaret, when advised of her sentence
I die for the love of my Lord Jesu. - Saint Margaret, when asked to confess her crimes before execution
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-margaret-clitherow/
• Tommaso Riccardi
• Thomas Riccardi
• 14 March (Saint-Paul-Outside-the-Walls Abbey, Rome, Italy)
• 5 December (Sylvestrines)
Spent a worldly youth in Umbria, Italy. He moved to Rome, Italy in 1865 to study philosophy under the Dominicans at the Angelicum College. The study led to a conversion experience, a pilgrimage to Loreto, and entry to the Cassinese Benedictine abbey of Saint-Paul-Outside-the-Walls in Rome on 12 November 1866; he made his final profession on 19 January 1868, taking the name Placido. As a deacon he was arrested as a draft dodger for not joining the Italian army; he was imprisoned in Florence, Italy and then sent to the 57th Infantry Regiment in Livorno, Italy. Released, he returned to Rome to resume his studies and was ordained on 25 March 1871. Spiritual teacher whose students include Blessed Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster. Contracted malaria in 1881, and suffered from the disease for the rest of his life, sometimes to the point of paralysis from the fever. Assigned to the San Pietro monastery in Perugia, Italy in 1882, and served a spiritual director. Served as a rector to Benedictines in Rome in 1887. Rector of the Basilica of Santa Maria di Farfa in Rome in 1894; he lived in a hermitage near the castle of San Fiano and served as confessor to a nearby convent of Poor Clare nuns.
24 June 1844 in Trevi, Umbria, Italy as Tommaso Riccardi
• 25 March 1915 in Rome, Italy of natural causes
• relics transferred to Farfa, Italy in 1925
5 December 1954 by Pope Pius XII
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-placido-riccardi/
• Annunciation of the Lord
• Annuntiatio Christi
• Annuntiatio Dominica
• Annuntiatio Mariae
• Annuntio Domini
• Christ's conception
• Christ's incarnation
• Conceptio Christi
• Feast of the Incarnation
• Festum Incarnationis
• Incarnation Christi
• Initium Redemptionis Conceptio Christi
• Mary's Annunciation
The annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary by Gabriel the Archangel that she was to be the Mother of God (Luke 1), the Word being made flesh through the power of the Holy Spirit. The feast probably originated about the time of the Council of Ephesus, c.431, and is first mentioned in the Sacramentary of Pope Gelasius (died 496). The Annunciation is represented in art by many masters, among them Fra Angelico, Hubert Van Eyck, Jan Van Eyck, Ghirlandajo, Holbein the Elder, Lippi, Pinturicchio, and Del Sarto.
Latin: ad, to; nuntius, messenger
• news dealers
• Texas
• 2 dioceses
• 13 cities
https://catholicsaints.info/annunciation-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary/
1st Sunday of September (Costacciaro, Italy)
After a visit to a Camaldolese hermitage in 1270, Tommaso was drawn to the monastic and eremetical life. Camaldolese monk in the abbey of Santa Maria in Sitria, Italy. Hermit on Monte Cucco in the Umbria region of Italy for over 60 years, living a life of utter poverty and denial in order to spend all his time in prayer and meditation.
mid-13th century in the castle of San Savino, Costacciaro, Umbria, diocese of Gubbio, Italy
• 25 March 1337 on Monte Cucco, Umbria, Italy of natural causes
• buried at the Franciscan Conventual church in Costacciaro, Italy
• relics enshrined under the main altar of the church in 1546
• Pope Clement VIII (cultus confirmation)
• a list of miracles attributed to his intercession was compiled in 1726
• a list of miracles attributed to his intercession was compiled in 1748
• 18 March 1778 by Pope Pius VI (cultus extended to the diocese of Gubbio, Italy)
• 1833 by Pope Gregory XVI (cultus extended to the Camaldolese)
• against abdominal diseases
• Costacciaro, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-tommaso-of-costacciaro/
Margaret, Maria Rosa
Daughter of an oil-seed miller, the oldest of seven children. When her parents died, Margaretha worked as a day labourer to help support her siblings. In 1861, she and her sister Marianne moved into quarters at the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Waldbreitbach, Germany, trusting God for their daily bread and working with the poor and sick, caring for orphans, and teaching home management at local schools. Other women were attracted to the work and formed the foundation of the Franciscan Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Angels. Margaretha took her vows in her new congregation in the chapel of the Holy Cross on 13 March 1863, taking the name Sister Mary Rose. Mother Rose spent the rest of her life as superior of the Sisters, and by her death there were 900 sisters in 72 mission houses serving the sick and poor.
24 February 1826 in Schönstatt bei Vallendar, Mayen-Koblenz, Germany
25 March 1906 in Waldbreitbach, Neuwied, Germany of natural causes
4 May 2008 by Pope Benedict XVI
It is through service to others, lovingly given, that we reach a special fulfilment and union with our Lord. - Blessed Margaretha
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-margaretha-flesch/
• Humbert of Marolles
• Humbert of Maroilles
6 September (translation of relics)
Born to the nobility, the son of Blessed Evrard and Popita. He was a pious youth, and became Benedictine monk at Laon, France while still a very young man. Priest.
When his parents died, Humbert returned to the world to manage their estate. He took in Saint Amand of Maastricht as a visitor, became his spiritual student, and made a pilgrimage with him to Rome. He retired to Amand‘s abbey at Elnone to live as a prayerful monk. Co-founded and richly endowed the monastery of Maroilles on the Hespres in Flanders, and became its first abbot. Friend of Saint Aldegundis and Saint Cunibert of Maroilles
early 7th century at Mezieres-sur-Oise, France
c.680
• man with an angel showing him the Cross
• man with an angel making a cross on his brow
• man with a star on his forehead
• man with a bear carrying his baggage
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-humbert-of-pelagius/
Born to a Christian family in recently converted Bohemia. Eastern Rite priest c.1003. Monk in the area of modern Hungary. Hermit. Returned to Bohemia in 1029 where he lived as a hermit in the Sazava Valley. His reputation for holiness attracted the attention of the locals and then of Duke Oldrich. With the duke's support he founded an Eastern Rite monastery under the Benedictine and Basilian Rules, and served the rest of his life as its first abbot; the house survived over 700 years. Reported miracle worker and healer. Legend says that Procopius once hitched the devil to a plow and forced the otherwise useless creature to plow a trench along a river bank.
c.980 at Kourim, Chotoun, Bohemia
25 March 1053 at Sazava, Bohemia of natural causes
• 2 June 1204 by Pope Innocent III
• recognition celebrated by Cardinal Guido of San Maria de Trastevere
• Czech Republic
• farmers
man tilling with a demon or devil pulling the plow
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-procopius/
• Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas
• Maryam Sultanah Danil Ghattas
• Maria Alfonsina Danil Ghattas
Joined the Congregation of Saint Joseph of the Apparition at age 14. Nun. Following a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary she received in Bethlehem, she co-founded the Rosary Sisters (Sisters of the Holy Rosary of Jerusalem of the Latins; Congregation of the Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem). Spent her life working for the poor and the education of Palestinian Christians, and her Sisters continue that work today.
4 October 1843 in Jerusalem
25 March 1927 at Ain Karim, Jerusalem
17 May 2015 by Pope Francis
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-mariam-sultaneh-danil-ghattas/
• Quirinus of Tegernsee
• Cyrinus, Quirino
16 June (translation of relics)
Friend of Saint Marius and Saint Martha. Martyred in the persecutions of Claudius II.
• martyred c.269 in Rome, Italy
• buried by Saint Marius and Saint Martha
• relics translated to the Benedictine abbey of Tegernsee in Bavaria, Germany in the 8th century
• orb
• sceptre
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-quirinus-of-rome/
• James Byrd
• James Beard
Lay man in the apostolic vicariate of England, raised as a Protestant and converting to Catholicism at age 19. Considered entering the Douai seminary in Rheims, France, but decided against it and returned to England. He refused to take the Oath of Sumpremacy and was executed for his loyalty to the Church.
1574 at Winchester, Hampshire, England
hanged, drawn and quartered on 25 March 1592 at Winchester, Hampshire, England
15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-james-bird/
Eberhard VI of Nellenburg
Born to the nobility. Count of Nellenberg, Swabia (in modern Germany). Married to Blessed Ita of Nellenberg. Founded the Benedictine monastery of Allerheiligen (All Saints) in Schaffhausen, Swabia, c.1049, built and provisioned it, and c.1070 entered it as a monk.
c.1015
1078 in Schaffhausen, Swabia, Germany of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-everard-of-nellenburg/
Monas
3rd–4th century bishop of Milan, Italy.
• 25 March in he early 4th century of natural causes
• buried in the Basilica Fausta in Milan, Italy, later known as the church of San Vitale
• relics transferred to the cathedral in Milan on 6 February 1576 by Saint Charles Borromeo
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-mona-of-milan/
Erblon, Herbland, Hermeland, Hermiland
Royal cup-bearer in his youth. Monk at Fontenelle under Saint Lambert. Priest. With twelve brother monks, he established an abbey on an island at Aindre on the Loire, and served as its first abbot.
at diocese of Noyon, France
c.720
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-hermenland/
Kyle, Enoch
The only daughter of a wealthy family, she rejected the worldly life and a series of suitors, feeling a call to a life of prayer. Nun at Fife, Scotland. Miracle worker. Highly venerated in the area of Glasgow, Scotland.
Scottish
1007 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-kennocha-of-fife/
• Herman I of Baden
• Herman I, Margrave of Baden
A member of the nobility, he was the Margrave of Zahringen, but gave up the position to become a Benedictine monk at Cluny Abbey in France.
1074 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-herman-of-zahringen/
Ælfwold
Monk in Winchester, England. Bishop of Sherborne, England in 1045. Had a great devotion to Saint Cuthbert and Saint Swithun.
1058 of natural causes while singing the antiphon of Saint Cuthbert
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-alfwold-of-sherborne/
Christian slave with a Jewish "owner". When the lady of the house caught Matrona going to Mass, she was abused, tortured and eventally killed. Martyr.
beaten to death c.350 in Thessaloniki, Macedonia (in modern Greece)
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-matrona-of-thessaloniki/
Madrona
15 March (Barcelona, Spain)
Girl martyred in Rome, Italy, date unknown.
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-matrona-of-barcelona/
Christian slave of a pagan soldier in Nicomedia in Asia Minor. Died fighting off a rape attempt by her "owner".
dead young woman being watched over by a dog
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-dula-the-slave/
Bishop of Laodicea. Fought Arianism; exiled by the Arian emperor Valens, but recalled by Gratian. Attended the Council of Constantinople in 381.
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-pelagius-of-laodicea/
A group 262 Christians martyred together. We know nothing else about them, not even their names.
in Rome, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/262-martyrs-of-rome/
• Our Lady of Betania
• Arnold de Amar
• Columba, Daughter of Baoit
• Francis Bruno
• Isaac the Patriarch
• Nicodemus of Mammoth
• Peter Formica
• Richard of Pontoise
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