| 25 November |
• yesterday • tomorrow |
| Optional Memorial of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Virgin and Martyr |
Katherine, Ekaterina, Katharina, Katarina
Apocryphal. Born to the nobility. Learned in science and oratory. Converted to Christianity after receiving a vision. When she was 18 years old, during the persecution of Maximinus, she offered to debate the pagan philosophers. Many were converted by her arguments, and immediately martyred. Maximinus had her scourged and imprisoned. The empress and the leader of the army of Maximinus were amazed by the stories, went to see Catherine in prison. They converted and were martyred. Maximinus ordered her broken on the wheel, but she touched it and the wheel was destroyed. She was beheaded, and her body whisked away by angels.
Immensely popular during the Middle Ages, there were many chapels and churches devoted to her throughout western Europe, and she was reported as one of the divine advisors to Saint Joan of Arc. Her reputation for learning and wisdom led to her patronage of libaries, librarians, teachers, archivists, and anyone associated with wisdom or teaching. Her debating skill and persuasive language has led to her patronage of lawyers. And her torture on the wheel led to those who work with them asking for her intercession. One of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
While there may well have been a noble, educated, virginal lady who swayed pagans with her rhetoric during the persecutions, the accretion of legend, romance and poetry has long since buried the real Catherine.
beheaded c.305 in Alexandria, Egypt
• apologists
• craftsmen who work with a wheel
• archivists
• attornies, barristers, lawyers, jurists
• dying people
• educators, teachers
• girls
• knife grinders, knife sharpeners
• librarians
• libraries
• maidens, unmarried girls and women
• mechanics
• millers
• nurses
• old maids
• philosophers
• potters
• preachers
• scholars
• schoolchildren, students
• scribes
• secretaries
• spinners
• stenographers
• tanners
• theologians
• turners
• University of Heidelberg
• University of Paris
• wheelwrights
• Dumaguete, Philippines, diocese of
• Saint Catharines, Ontario, diocese of
• 12 cities
• spiked wheel
• woman strapped to the spiked wheel on which she was martyred
• woman arguing with pagan philosophers
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-catherine-of-alexandria/
Suffered in the persecution of Decius, but survived. Renowned for his knowledge of science and the Bible. Head of the catechetical school at Alexandria, Egypt. Bishop of Alexandria in 300. Opposed extreme Origenism. May have been the first to deal with the Arian heresy.
During the Diocletian persecution, Peter fled the area with many of his flock. Criticized by many for being lenient and forgiving to Christians who had renounced their faith during the persecutions. However, when a rogue bishop usurped Peter's position, the Meletian schism broke out in his clergy, and Peter had to return from hiding to deal with it. Peter excommunicated Meletius and convened a synod of bishops to condemn the schism. His writings were used in the Council of Ephesus and the Council of Chalcedon.
Bishop Peter was martyred with Father Dio, Father Ammonius, and Father Faustus, three of his priests, in the persecutions of Gaius Valerius Galerius Maximinus. As he was the last Christian martyred in Alexandria by civil authorities, the Coptic Church calls him "the seal and complement of the martyrs".
at Alexandria, Egypt
• martyred in 311 at Alexandria, Egypt
• initially buried in an Alexandria martyr's cemetery
• most relics later enshrined in a church at Grasse, France
• embracing his executioner
• with Christ appearing to him as a child in rags (from a scene in the Acts of the Martyrdom of Saint Peter)
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-peter-of-alexandria-25-november/
• Beatrice di Ornacieu
• Beatrice of Eymeu
• Beatrix...
• 27 November (diocese of Grenoble, France)
• 13 February (diocese of Valence, France)
In 1273, at the age of thirteen, Beatice joined the Carthusians at the Charterhouse of Parménie, France. In 1301, she and two others, Luisa Alleman of Grésivaudan and Margherita di Sassenaye, were sent to found the monastery of Eymeu in the diocese of Valance, France. Noted for her devotion to the Passion of Christ, offering herself to suffer for others and as penance for the world. Said to have driven a nail through her left hand to help realize the sufferings of the Crucifixion.
c.1260 in Ornacieu, Dauphine (in the southeastern area of modern France
• 25 November 1303 at the monastery of Eymeu, Valence (in modern France) of natural causes
• re-interred in Parménie, France
• re-interred in the Olivetan sanctury there in 1901
• relics enshrined in the church of Rancurel
15 April 1869 by Pope Pius XI (cultus confirmation)
nun holding a nail or with a nail piercing her hand
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-beatrice-dornacieux/
• Elizabeth Acheer
• Elizabeth Achlin
• Elizabeth Bona von Reute
• Elizabeth den Gode
• Elizabeth of Reute
• Elizabeth the Good
• Elizabeth the Recluse
• Elizabeth von Reute
• Betha, Elisabeth, Elsbeth
9 December (Franciscans)
Born poor, the daughter of John and Anne Achler. Franciscan tertiary at age 14, but found it hard to lead a religious life while living with her parents. At age 17 she joined four other tertiaries in a community in Reute, Germany; she lived there the rest of her life. For most of her life she was subject to ecstasies, and received visions of heaven, hell and purgatory. Stigmatist whose wounds hurt constantly, but which bled on Fridays and during Lent. Had the gift of inedia, eating nothing but the Eucharist for long periods.
25 November 1386 at Waldsee, Wurttemberg, Swabia, Germany
• 25 November 1420 at Reute, Germany of natural causes
• buried in the church at Reute
19 July 1766 by Pope Clement XIII (cultus confirmed)
Swabia, Germany
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-elizabeth-achler/
Peteuro, Pietro, Peter
20 September as one of the Martyrs of Korea
Brother of Saint Agatha Yi So-sa. Layman catechist in the apostolic vicariate of Korea. Imprisoned for four years, regularly beaten, several bones broken, and he eventually died from his mistreatment. One of the earliest of the Martyrs of Korea.
1803 in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
25 November 1838 in Seoul Prison, South Korea of abuse received in prison
6 May 1984 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-petrus-yi-ho-yong/
Beatrice
27 November in the diocese of Grenoble, France
Carthusian nun. Founded a Carthusian house at Eymieux, France. Known for her devotion to the Passion of Christ; said to have driven a nail through her left hand to help realize the sufferings of the Crucifixion.
c.1260 in Ornacieu, France
c.1306 at the monastery at Eymieux, France of natural causes
15 April 1869 by Pope Pius IX (cultus confirmed)
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-beatrice-dornacieux/
May have been of Jewish ancestry. Imperial Roman citizen. Priest. Noted preacher. Adamant opponent of the heresy of Novatianism. Correspondent with Saint Cyprian at the beginning of the persecutions of Decius. After the execution of Pope saint Fabian under Emperor Decius, he administered the Church with the help of the priests and bishops who were in Rome. Helped reconcile repentant apostates who were sick and about to die. Imprisoned for nearly a year for his faith. Martyr.
Rome, Italy
c.251 from terrible conditions in prison
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-moses-of-rome/
Mercury
Scythian Christian soldier who distinguished himself against the barbarian invaders of the Roman empire, and gained the notice of Decius. However, he refused to sacrifice to the pagan god Artemis, and so was tortured and executed. Some versions of his story include angelic visions and messages received in dreams, but his being a soldier and martyr is all we really know.
• beheaded c.250 Caesarea, Cappadocia
• relics enshrined in several churches in southern Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-mercurius-of-caesarea/
Audenzio
Born to the imperial Roman nobility, and a sentator from Milan. When visited Saint Julius of Novara on the island of Orta he was so taken by Julius' obvious holiness that he gave him moral, spiritual and financial support in his evangelization work.
• c.400 of natural causes
• buried on Isola San Giulio, Italy next to Saint Julius
Pettenasco, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-audentius-of-milan/
Egbert, Eckbert, Ekkbert
Monk at Gorze. Abbot of Mönsterschwarzach, Bavaria, Germany.
c.1010
1075 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-ekbert-of-muensterschwarzach/
Imma, Immina
Daughter of Duke Hedan II of Thuringia. Donated Marienburg castle in Würzburg, Germany to Bishop Burkhard, and retired from public life to become a nun. Abbess at Karlburg, Franconia.
c.700 at Würzburg, Germany
752 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-imma-of-wurzburg/
Benedictine monk at Casauria, Abruzzi, Italy. He retired to live as a hermit in the Caramaico mountain area near Chieti, Italy. There he attracted so many would-be spiritual students that he founded the Saint Nicholas monastery for them.
c.1045 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-adalbert-of-caramaico/
Konrad
Soldier. Ministered to the margraves of Thuringia until he was about 50 years old. He then became a Cistercian monk at Heisterbach Abbey in western Germany.
c.1200 at Heisterbach Abbey, Germany of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-conrad-of-heisterbach/
Dominican priest. Martyred in the Spanish Civil War.
30 July 1901 in Urrea de Gaén, Teruel, Spain
25 November 1936 in Híjar, Teruel, Spain
11 March 2001 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-jacinto-serrano-lopez/
Dominican priest. Martyred in the Spanish Civil War.
1 May 1885 in Híjar, Teruel, Spain
25 November 1936 in Híjar, Teruel, Spain
11 March 2001 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-santiago-meseguer-burillo/
Elme
Priest. Bishop in Syria. During a period of persecution of Christians, he fled to Mount Linanus and lived as a hermit for 17 years. Martyred in the persecutions of Licinius.
Antioch, Syria
Antioch, Syria
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-erasmus-of-antioch/
Alain, Ala
Seventh century founder and abbot of the monastery of Lavaur in Gascony (in modern France).
• 7th century of natural causes
• relics preserved in the hospice of the house he founded
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-alanus-of-lavaur/
Soldier. Monk. Abbot of Arlanza monastery, Burgos, Spain in 1039. Friend and counsellor of King Ferdinand I of Castile.
at Quintanilla, Old Castile (in modern Spain)
c.1073 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-garcia-of-arlanza/
Marcolo
Bishop. Murdered for his faith by a man named Macario in the reign of emperor Constantine. Martyr.
thrown from a rock in 347 in Numidia
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-marculo-of-numidia/
Spiritual student of Saint Prosper of Reggio. Nun.
Reggio Aemilia, Italy
466 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-jucunda-of-reggio-aemilia/
Benedictine monk and priest of Ottobeuren in Bavaria, Germany. Known in his day as a "wonder worker".
c.1050 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-bernold-of-ottobeuren/
Benedictine monk at Farfa, Italy. Abbot of the monastery at Casauria, Abruzzi, Italy.
c.1045 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-guido-of-casauria/
Maurin, Maurinus
Sixth century evangelist in the rural areas of Agen, Aquitaine (in modern France). Martyr.
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-maurino-of-agen/
A group of 13 Christians murdered together for their faith in Africa, date unknown. The only details to have survived are their names - Claudian, Cyprian, Donatus, Felix, Januarius, Julian, Lucian, Marcian, Martialis, Peter, Quirianus, Victor and Vitalis.
https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-africa-25-november/
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