| 4 May |
• yesterday • tomorrow |
• 4 May as one of the Carthusian Martyrs
• 25 October as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
Graduated from Cambridge with degrees in civil and canon law. Ordained in 1501 and served as a parish priest for four years. Carthusian monk, doing his noviate in the London Charterhouse, and making his final vows in 1516. Prior of the Beauvale Carthusian Charterhouse in Northampton, England. Prior of the London Charterhouse.
In 1534 he was the first person to oppose King Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy. Imprisoned with Blessed Humphrey Middlemore. When the oath was modified to include the phrase "in so far as the law of God permits", John felt he could be loyal to Church and Crown; he and several of his monks signed the oath, though with misgivings. Father John was released, and a few days later, troops arrived at the chapter house and forced the remaining monks to sign the modified oath.
On 1 February 1535, Parliment required that the original, unmodified oath be signed by all. Following three days of prayer, Father John, with Saint Robert Lawrence and Saint Augustine Webster, contacted Thomas Cromwell to seek an exemption for themselves and their monks. The group was immediately arrested and thrown in the Tower of London. True to his Carthusian vow of silence, John would not defend himself in court, but refused to co-operate or sign anything. The jury could find no malice to the king, but when threatened with prosecution themselves, they found John and his co-defendants guilty of treason.
He became the first person martyred under the Tudor persections, dying with Blessed John Haile and three others. One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.
1487 at Essex, England
• hanged, drawn, and quartered on 4 May 1535 at Tyburn, London, England
• body was chopped to pieces and put on display around London as an example to others
25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI
• Carthusian monk carrying a noose
• Carthusian with a rope around his neck and holding his heart in his hand
And what wilt thou do with my heart, O Christ? - Saint John's dying words as he was being disembowelled
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-john-houghton/
Third century officer in Roman army stationed in modern Austria. Military administrator of the town of Noricum, and a closet Christian. Said to have stopped a town from burning by praying and throwing a single bucket of water on the blaze, and thus his association with firefighters and those who protect us from fire, including chimney sweeps. When ordered to execute a group of Christians during the persecutions of Diocletian, he refused, and professed his own faith. Martyr.
• scourged, flayed alive, a stone tied to his neck, and dumped into a river c.304
• body later retrieved by Christians and buried at an Augustinian monastery near Lorch
• relics translated to Rome in 1138
• part of the relics given to King Casimir of Poland and the bishop of Cracow by Pope Lucius III, which led to Florian's patronage of Poland and Upper Austria
• against battle
• against drowning, drowning victims
• against fire
• against flood
• barrel-makers, coopers
• brewers
• chimney sweeps
• fire prevention
• firefighters
• harvests
• soap-boilers
• Austria
• Poland
• diocese of Chur, Switzerland
• Linz, Austria
• bearded warrior with a lance and tub
• boy with a millstone
• classical warrior leaning on a millstone, pouring water on a fire
• dead man on a millstone guarded by an eagle
• dead man whose body is being protected by an eagle
• man being beaten
• man on a journey with a hat and staff
• man thrown into a river with a millstone around his neck
• man with a palm in his hand and a burning torch under his feet
• man with a sword
• young man, sometimes in armor, sometimes unarmed, pouring water from a tub on a burning church
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-florian-of-lorch/
Sixth of thirteen children born to John Moÿe and Catharine Demange. Studied at the College of Pont-à-Mousson, the Jesuit College at Strasburg, and the Seminary of Saint-Simon at Metz, France. Ordained on 9 March 1754 in the diocese of Metz. Helped found schools for poor country children. Founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Divine Providence in 1762. Superior of the seminary of Saint Dié. Joined the Paris Foreign Mission Society in 1769. Missionary to China in 1773. Repeatedly harassed and imprisoned for spreading the faith. In 1782 he founded the Christian Virgins, a group of religious women who followed the rules of the Congregation of Providence, but were not a formal Congregation; they cared for the sick, and taught Christianity to women and children in their own homes. His health broken, Father Moÿe returned to France in 1784 where he resumed direction of the Sisters of Divine Providence. Preached missions in Lorraine and Alsace in France. Exiled from France in 1791 as part of the French Revolution; he and the Sisters moved to Trier. When French troops captured the city, typhoid fever broke out; he and the Sisters devoted themselves to hospital work where he died of the disease himself.
27 January 1730 in Cutting, Meurthe, France
• 8 February 1793 in Trier, Rhineland Palatinate (modern Germany) of typhoid fever
• the site of his burial is now a public square
21 November 1954 by Pope Pius XII
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-jean-martin-moye/
• Apostle of Lithuania
• Lithuanian Apostle
• Wladyslaw of Gielniów
Educated at the University of Warsaw, Poland. Joined the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor Observant. Doorkeeper in his monastery. Elected provincial of his Order in 1487 and again in 1496. He sent Franciscan missionaries to Lithuania; their work brought many schismatics back to the Church. A noted preacher, he travelled across Poland, evangelizing from one end to the other. In 1498 he led a prayer campaign to protect Poland from invading Tatars and Turks; a raging winter storm stopped the invaders, the Polish army routed them. and the victory was attributed to the prayer warriors. Abbot of the Warsaw monastery. On Good Friday 1505, while in prayer, Ladislas levitated, hanging in the air as if crucified; when he came down he collapsed completely, and was bed-ridden until his death a few weeks later.
c.1440 in Gniezno, Poland
4 May 1505 of natural causes soon after
• 1586 by Pope Sixtus V
• 11 February 1750 by Pope Benedict XIV (cultus confirmation)
• Lithuania (chosen in August 1753)
• Poland (chosen in August 1753)
• Galicia (eastern Europe)
• Warsaw, Poland (chosen in August 1753)
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-ladislas-of-gielniow/
• Michael Giedroyc
• Mykolas Giedraitis
Born the nobility, related to the princes of Lithuania, Michal suffered from a number of birth defects including being a dwarf and having the use of only one foot. Though his formal education was frequently interrupted and limited, he was an exceptional metal worker. Joined the Augustinian Canons Regular of the Penance of the Blessed Martyrs, an Order now extinct, in Kraków, Poland where he lived as a hermit in a cell next to an Augustinian monastery, and finished his education at the University of Kraków. Known for creating sacred vessels for Mass. Received a vision of Christ who told him, “Be patient until death, and you will receive the crown of life.” Known for the gifts of prophesy and miracles.
c.1425 in Giedraiciai (Giedrojcie), Moletu rajonas, Lithuania
• 4 May 1485 in Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland of natural causes
• buried at the church of Saint Mark in Kraków
• relics elevated and enshrined in 1624
• modern beatification process started in 2001
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-michal-giedroyc/
25 October of one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
Educated at Christ's College and Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge; made a Fellow of Corpus Christi in 1510. Entered the Bridgittine Order in 1513 at Syon Abbey, Isleworth, England. Noted for his scholarship and personal holiness. Arrested on 28 April 1535 with Carthusian priors for the treason of refusing to acknowledge King Henry VIII as head of the Church. Martyr.
1492 in Devon, England
hanged, drawn and quartered on 4 May 1535 at Tyburn, London, England
• 29 December 1886 by Pope Leo XIII (cultus confirmed)
• 4 May 1970 by Pope Paul VI (decree of martyrdom)
25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-richard-reynolds/
Baptized at the age of six days. Studied law in college, but was drawn to religious life and joined the Jesuits at age 18. Studied at the San Luis Seminary College. Priest. Teacher at the San Felipe Neri school. Martyr.
21 April 1846 in Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador
• shot twice on 4 May 1897 in Riobamba, Chimborazo, Ecuador
• the killers tried to stage the scene so it looked like Father Victor had been armed and was shot in combat
• 16 November 2019 by Pope Francis
• the beatification recognition was celebrated at the Estadio Olímpico, Riobamba, Ecuador with Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu the chief celebrant
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-victor-emilio-moscoso-cardenas/
• 4 May as one of the Carthusian Martyrs
• 25 October as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
Educated at Cambridge. Priest. Carthusian monk and prior of Our Lady of Melwood, a Carthusian house at Epworth, on the Isle of Axholme, North Lincolnshire, England in 1531. Imprisoned, tortured and martyred on the orders of Thomas Cromwell when he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy recognizing English royalty as head of the Church. Martyr.
dragged through the street, beaten, hanged, drawn, and quartered on 4 May 1535 at Tyburn, London, England
25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-augustine-webster/
Aribo of Freising
Student under Saint Corbinian. Benedictine monk. First abbot at the Scharnitz Monastery at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany in 763. Bishop of Freising, Germany in 765. He increased the reputation of the diocese for prosperity and religious devotion, founded several convents, and make the Freising cathedral school and library famous for its scholarship. Author of the first Latin-German dictionary. Wrote a biography of Saint Corbinian, and transferred his relics from Mais to Freising in 767.
c.723 in Mais (modern Meran), South Tyrol, Italy
4 May 783 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-arbeo-of-freising/
Robert Laurence
• 4 May as one of the Carthusian Martyrs
• 25 October as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
Carthusian priest. Prior of the Carthusian charterhouse of Beauvale in Nottingham, England. Martyred with several brother Carthusians.
English
hanged, drawn and quartered on 4 May 1535 at Tyburn, London, England
25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-robert-lawrence/
Born to the nobility. Monk at the monastery of Saints Marco e Lucia del Sambuco in Perugia, Italy. Spiritual student of Saint Sylvester Gozzolini. Miracle worker. Hermit at Montefano, Italy.
• of natural causes on the date he prophesied
• buried in the monastery church of Saints Marco e Lucia del Sambuco in Perugia, Italy
• re-interred at the church of Santa Maria Nuova in Perugia
cultus known to have been in place in Perugia, Italy by the 14th century
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-paolino-bigazzini/
• Cyriacus of Ancona
• Judas Quiriacus
• Quiriace
• Quiriacus
Bishop of Ancona, Italy, possibly the first. Martyred, possibly while on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. His name has led to much speculation about his origin, about which we know nothing for sure, and many legends, some blatantly anti-Jewish, have been attached to his story.
Ancona, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-judas-cyriacus/
Sixth century Bendictine monk, and a disciple of Saint Benedictine himself. Sent to France by Saint Benedict to establish the Order there. Founded the Monastery of Saint-Julien in Tours, France, and served as its first abbot. Feeling a need for greater solitude, Antonius retired to spend his later years as a prayerful hermit at Le Rocher on the banks of the River Loire; the place is now known as Saint-Antoine-du-Rocher.
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-antonius-of-rocher/
Ailred of Bardney
Born a prince, the son of King Penda of Mercia in England. Ethelred became king of Mercia himself in 674. Abdicated in 704 to become a monk at Bardney Abbey where he later became abbot.
716 at the at Bardney, England of natural causes
abbot with royal regalia (crown, sceptre, etc.) at his feet
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-ethelred-of-bardney/
Enegwor, Enemour, Ener, Enevor
Brother of Saint Thumette, the two of them sailed on a stone from Wales to Bigouden in Brittany in northern France. 6th century hermit. No details of his life have survived, but many local oddities in the area have been linked to him with miraculous stories.
Welsh
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-eneour/
• Margaret Kratz
• Margaretha Kratz
Premonstratensian nun in the monastery of Engelport, Germany, entering the Order in 1450, and living her faith for the next 82 years, even working with the poor during a famine in 1530 - at the age of 100.
c.1430 in Scharfenstein, Germany
1532 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-margareta-kratz/
Quiriacus
Bishop of Ancona, Italy. Martyred in the persecutions of Julian the Apostate while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Lands.
relics enshrined in the cathedral of Saint Stephen in Ancona, Italy
archdiocese of Ancona-Osimo, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-cyriacus-of-ancona/
Sylvain
Bishop of Gaza. Branded and sentenced to forced labour with 39 of his clergy by command of Caesar Galerius Maximian during the persecutions of Diocletian. Martyred with 39 fellow Christians.
beheaded at the mines of Phennes in Palestine
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-silvanus-of-gaza/
Tortured and martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian and governor Priscillian.
scourged, racked, torn with iron hooks and then beheaded in 290 at Nicaea, Bithynia
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-antonina-of-nicaea/
Bartolomea
15th century Augustinian nun at the convent of Blessed Michela in Vercelli, Italy.
1515 of natural causes following a lengthy and crippling illness
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-angela-bartolomea-dei-ranzi/
Imprisoned for two years, repeatedly tortured and eventually executed for her faith during the persecutions of governor Priscillian.
burned to death in Nicomedia (in modern Turkey)
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-antonia-of-nicomedia/
Christian maiden who was tortured and martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian and Galerius.
burned at the stake in the late 3rd century in Constantinople
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-antonia-of-constantinople/
Isabella
15th century Augustinian nun at the convent of Blessed Michela in Vercelli, Italy.
1492 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-angela-isabella-dei-ranzi/
Priest who evangelized in the area of Umbria, Italy, working from Camerelle Rino. Martyred in the persecutions of Decius.
beheaded in 250
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-porphyrius-of-camerelle-rino/
Third century deacon in Rome, Italy. Missionary to Auxerre, Gaul (modern France), sent by Pope Sixtus II to assist the area's first bishop, Saint Peregrinus of Auxerre.
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-curcodomus-of-auxerre/
Daughter of the Duke of Lorraine. Married lay woman. Widow. Founded a convent at Thorn (now in the Netherlands), and joined it as a Benedictine nun. Abbess at Thorn.
1028 of natural causes
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-hilsindis/
Born to the 14th-century Castilian nobility. Member of the Mercedarians. Redeemed and freed 118 Christians from slavery in Muslim Morocco in 1403, and while there preached to the Moors.
https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-luca-da-toro/
Nephew of Saint Helidorus. Soldier. Officer in the imperial body guard, a post he resigned to become a priest.
395
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-nepotian-of-altino/
Bishop of Senigallia, Italy.
826
Senigallia, Italy
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-paulinus-of-senigallia/
Martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian.
burned to death in a bronze ox at Tarsus
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-pelagia-of-tarsus/
Nun at Niedermunster convent in Ratisbon, Germany.
c.1052
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-cunegund-of-regensburg/
Bishop of Albee. Martyred with a group of his disciples.
304 near Ephesus
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-albian-of-albee/
Martyr.
relics enshrined in Cologne, Germany
https://catholicsaints.info/saint-paulinus-of-cologne/
A group of Carthusian monks who were hanged, drawn and quartered between 19 June 1535 and 20 September 1537 for refusing to acknowledge the English royalty as head of the Church:
• Blessed Humphrey Middlemore
• Blessed James Walworth
• Blessed John Davy
• Blessed John Rochester
• Blessed Richard Bere
• Blessed Robert Salt
• Blessed Sebastian Newdigate
• Blessed Thomas Green
• Blessed Thomas Johnson
• Blessed Thomas Redyng
• Blessed Thomas Scryven
• Blessed Walter Pierson
• Blessed William Exmew
• Blessed William Greenwood
• Blessed William Horne
• Saint Augustine Webster
• Saint John Houghton
• Saint Robert Lawrence
https://catholicsaints.info/carthusian-martyrs/
• Martyrs of Cirtha
• Martyrs of Tzirta
A group of clergy and laity martyred together in Cirta, Numidia (in modern Tunisia) in the persecutions of Valerian. They were - Agapius, Antonia, Emilian, Secundinus and Tertula, along with a woman and her twin children whose names have not come down to us.
https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-cirta/
A bishop and several his flock who were martyred together in the persecutions of Diocletian, and whose relics were kept and enshrined together. We know nothing else about them but the names - Apollo, Bono, Cassiano, Castoro, Damiano, Dionisio, Leonida, Lucilla, Poliano, Tecla, Teodora and Vespasiano.
• 26 March 303
• relics enshrined in the parish of Saint Stephen in Novellara, Italy in 1603
https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-novellara/
85 English, Scottish and Welsh Catholics who were martyred during the persecutions by Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. They are commemorated together on 22 November.
• Blessed Alexander Blake • Blessed Alexander Crow • Blessed Antony Page • Blessed Arthur Bell • Blessed Charles Meehan • Blessed Christopher Robinson • Blessed Christopher Wharton • Blessed Edmund Duke • Blessed Edmund Sykes • Blessed Edward Bamber • Blessed Edward Burden • Blessed Edward Osbaldeston • Blessed Edward Thwing • Blessed Francis Ingleby • Blessed George Beesley • Blessed George Douglas • Blessed George Errington • Blessed George Haydock • Blessed George Nichols • Blessed Henry Heath • Blessed Henry Webley • Blessed Hugh Taylor • Blessed Humphrey Pritchard • Blessed John Adams • Blessed John Bretton • Blessed John Fingley • Blessed John Hambley • Blessed John Hogg • Blessed John Lowe • Blessed John Norton • Blessed John Sandys • Blessed John Sugar • Blessed John Talbot • Blessed John Thules • Blessed John Woodcock • Blessed Joseph Lambton • Blessed Marmaduke Bowes • Blessed Matthew Flathers • Blessed Montfort Scott • Blessed Nicholas Garlick • Blessed Nicholas Horner • Blessed Nicholas Postgate • Blessed Nicholas Woodfen • Blessed Peter Snow • Blessed Ralph Grimston • Blessed Richard Flower • Blessed Richard Hill • Blessed Richard Holiday • Blessed Richard Sergeant • Blessed Richard Simpson • Blessed Richard Yaxley • Blessed Robert Bickerdike • Blessed Robert Dibdale • Blessed Robert Drury • Blessed Robert Grissold • Blessed Robert Hardesty • Blessed Robert Ludlam • Blessed Robert Middleton • Blessed Robert Nutter • Blessed Robert Sutton • Blessed Robert Sutton • Blessed Robert Thorpe • Blessed Roger Cadwallador • Blessed Roger Filcock • Blessed Roger Wrenno • Blessed Stephen Rowsham • Blessed Thomas Atkinson • Blessed Thomas Belson • Blessed Thomas Bullaker • Blessed Thomas Hunt • Blessed Thomas Palaser • Blessed Thomas Pilcher • Blessed Thomas Pormort • Blessed Thomas Sprott • Blessed Thomas Watkinson • Blessed Thomas Whitaker • Blessed Thurstan Hunt • Blessed William Carter • Blessed William Davies • Blessed William Gibson • Blessed William Knight • Blessed William Lampley • Blessed William Pike • Blessed William Southerne • Blessed William Spenser • Blessed William Thomson •
22 November 1987 by Pope John Paul II
https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-england-scotland-and-wales/
• Marco Ongaro of Conegliano
• Mochua of Sliabh Eibhlinne
• Shroud of Turin
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