4 May • yesterday
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The May-Book of the Breviary: The Purest Pearl of Time's Great Sea

Saint John Houghton

Additional Memorials

• 4 May as one of the Carthusian Martyrs
• 25 October as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

Profile

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.

Born

1487 at Essex, England

Died

• 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

Canonized

25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI

Representation

• Carthusian monk carrying a noose
• Carthusian with a rope around his neck and holding his heart in his hand

Readings

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/


Saint Florian of Lorch

Profile

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.

Died

• 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

Patronage

• 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

Representation

• 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/


Blessed Jean-Martin Moÿe

Profile

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.

Born

27 January 1730 in Cutting, Meurthe, France

Died

• 8 February 1793 in Trier, Rhineland Palatinate (modern Germany) of typhoid fever
• the site of his burial is now a public square

Beatified

21 November 1954 by Pope Pius XII

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-jean-martin-moye/


Blessed Ladislas of Gielniów

Also known as

• Apostle of Lithuania
• Lithuanian Apostle
• Wladyslaw of Gielniów

Profile

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.

Born

c.1440 in Gniezno, Poland

Died

4 May 1505 of natural causes soon after

Beatified

• 1586 by Pope Sixtus V
• 11 February 1750 by Pope Benedict XIV (cultus confirmation)

Patronage

• 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/


Blessed Michal Giedroyc

Also known as

• Michael Giedroyc
• Mykolas Giedraitis

Profile

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.

Born

c.1425 in Giedraiciai (Giedrojcie), Moletu rajonas, Lithuania

Died

• 4 May 1485 in Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland of natural causes
• buried at the church of Saint Mark in Kraków

Beatified

• relics elevated and enshrined in 1624
• modern beatification process started in 2001

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-michal-giedroyc/


Saint Richard Reynolds

Additional Memorial

25 October of one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

Profile

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.

Born

1492 in Devon, England

Died

hanged, drawn and quartered on 4 May 1535 at Tyburn, London, England

Beatified

• 29 December 1886 by Pope Leo XIII (cultus confirmed)
• 4 May 1970 by Pope Paul VI (decree of martyrdom)

Canonized

25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI

Video

YouTube PlayList

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-richard-reynolds/


Blessed Victor Emilio Moscoso-Cárdenas

Profile

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.

Born

21 April 1846 in Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador

Died

• 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

Beatified

• 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/


Saint Augustine Webster

Additional Memorials

• 4 May as one of the Carthusian Martyrs
• 25 October as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

Profile

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.

Died

dragged through the street, beaten, hanged, drawn, and quartered on 4 May 1535 at Tyburn, London, England

Canonized

25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-augustine-webster/


Saint Arbeo of Freising

Also known as

Aribo of Freising

Profile

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.

Born

c.723 in Mais (modern Meran), South Tyrol, Italy

Died

4 May 783 of natural causes

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-arbeo-of-freising/


Saint Robert Lawrence

Also known as

Robert Laurence

Additional Memorials

• 4 May as one of the Carthusian Martyrs
• 25 October as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

Profile

Carthusian priest. Prior of the Carthusian charterhouse of Beauvale in Nottingham, England. Martyred with several brother Carthusians.

Born

English

Died

hanged, drawn and quartered on 4 May 1535 at Tyburn, London, England

Canonized

25 October 1970 by Pope Paul VI

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-robert-lawrence/


Blessed Paolino Bigazzini

Profile

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.

Died

• 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

Beatified

cultus known to have been in place in Perugia, Italy by the 14th century

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-paolino-bigazzini/


Saint Judas Cyriacus

Also known as

• Cyriacus of Ancona
• Judas Quiriacus
• Quiriace
• Quiriacus

Profile

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.

Patronage

Ancona, Italy

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-judas-cyriacus/


Saint Antonius of Rocher

Profile

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/


Saint Ethelred of Bardney

Also known as

Ailred of Bardney

Profile

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.

Died

716 at the at Bardney, England of natural causes

Representation

abbot with royal regalia (crown, sceptre, etc.) at his feet

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-ethelred-of-bardney/


Saint Enéour

Also known as

Enegwor, Enemour, Ener, Enevor

Profile

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.

Born

Welsh

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-eneour/


Blessed Margareta Kratz

Also known as

• Margaret Kratz
• Margaretha Kratz

Profile

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.

Born

c.1430 in Scharfenstein, Germany

Died

1532 of natural causes

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-margareta-kratz/


Saint Cyriacus of Ancona

Also known as

Quiriacus

Profile

Bishop of Ancona, Italy. Martyred in the persecutions of Julian the Apostate while on a pilgrimage to the Holy Lands.

Died

relics enshrined in the cathedral of Saint Stephen in Ancona, Italy

Patronage

archdiocese of Ancona-Osimo, Italy

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-cyriacus-of-ancona/


Saint Silvanus of Gaza

Also known as

Sylvain

Profile

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.

Died

beheaded at the mines of Phennes in Palestine

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-silvanus-of-gaza/


Saint Antonina of Nicaea

Profile

Tortured and martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian and governor Priscillian.

Died

scourged, racked, torn with iron hooks and then beheaded in 290 at Nicaea, Bithynia

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-antonina-of-nicaea/


Blessed Angela Bartolomea dei Ranzi

Also known as

Bartolomea

Profile

15th century Augustinian nun at the convent of Blessed Michela in Vercelli, Italy.

Died

1515 of natural causes following a lengthy and crippling illness

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-angela-bartolomea-dei-ranzi/


Saint Antonia of Nicomedia

Profile

Imprisoned for two years, repeatedly tortured and eventually executed for her faith during the persecutions of governor Priscillian.

Died

burned to death in Nicomedia (in modern Turkey)

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-antonia-of-nicomedia/


Saint Antonia of Constantinople

Profile

Christian maiden who was tortured and martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian and Galerius.

Died

burned at the stake in the late 3rd century in Constantinople

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-antonia-of-constantinople/


Blessed Angela Isabella dei Ranzi

Also known as

Isabella

Profile

15th century Augustinian nun at the convent of Blessed Michela in Vercelli, Italy.

Died

1492 of natural causes

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-angela-isabella-dei-ranzi/


Saint Porphyrius of Camerelle Rino

Profile

Priest who evangelized in the area of Umbria, Italy, working from Camerelle Rino. Martyred in the persecutions of Decius.

Died

beheaded in 250

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-porphyrius-of-camerelle-rino/


Saint Curcodomus of Auxerre

Profile

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/


Blessed Hilsindis

Profile

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.

Died

1028 of natural causes

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-hilsindis/


Blessed Luca da Toro

Profile

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/


Saint Nepotian of Altino

Profile

Nephew of Saint Helidorus. Soldier. Officer in the imperial body guard, a post he resigned to become a priest.

Died

395

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-nepotian-of-altino/


Saint Paulinus of Senigallia

Profile

Bishop of Senigallia, Italy.

Died

826

Patronage

Senigallia, Italy

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-paulinus-of-senigallia/


Saint Pelagia of Tarsus

Profile

Martyred in the persecutions of Diocletian.

Died

burned to death in a bronze ox at Tarsus

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-pelagia-of-tarsus/


Saint Cunegund of Regensburg

Profile

Nun at Niedermunster convent in Ratisbon, Germany.

Died

c.1052

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-cunegund-of-regensburg/


Saint Albian of Albee

Profile

Bishop of Albee. Martyred with a group of his disciples.

Died

304 near Ephesus

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-albian-of-albee/


Saint Paulinus of Cologne

Profile

Martyr.

Died

relics enshrined in Cologne, Germany

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-paulinus-of-cologne/


Carthusian Martyrs

Profile

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 Cirta

Also known as

• Martyrs of Cirtha
• Martyrs of Tzirta

Profile

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/


Martyrs of Novellara

Profile

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.

Died

• 26 March 303
• relics enshrined in the parish of Saint Stephen in Novellara, Italy in 1603

https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-novellara/


Martyrs of England, Scotland, and Wales

Profile

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 •

Beatified

22 November 1987 by Pope John Paul II

https://catholicsaints.info/martyrs-of-england-scotland-and-wales/


Also celebrated but no entry yet

• Marco Ongaro of Conegliano
• Mochua of Sliabh Eibhlinne
• Shroud of Turin


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