6 December • yesterday
• tomorrow
Optional Memorial of Saint Nicholas of Myra, Bishop


Saint Nicholas of Myra

Also known as

• Nicholas of Bari
• Nicholas of Lpnenskij
• Nicholas of Lipno
• Nicholas of Sarajskij
• Nicholas the Miracle Worker
• Klaus, Mikulas, Nikolai, Nicolaas, Nicolas, Niklaas, Niklas. Nikolaus, Santa Claus

Additional Memorial

9 May (translation of relics)

Profile

Priest. Abbot. Bishop of Myra, Lycia (modern Turkey). Generous to the poor, and special protector of the innocent and wronged. Many stories grew up around him prior to his becoming associated with Santa Claus. Some examples

• Upon hearing that a local man had fallen on such hard times that he was planning to sell his daughters into prostitution, Nicholas went by night to the house and threw three bags of gold in through the window, saving the girls from an evil life. These three bags, gold generously given in time of trouble, became the three golden balls that indicate a pawn broker's shop.

• He raised to life three young boys who had been murdered and pickled in a barrel of brine to hide the crime. These stories led to his patronage of children in general, and of barrel-makers besides.

• Induced some thieves to return their plunder. This explains his protection against theft and robbery, and his patronage of them - he's not helping them steal, but to repent and change. In the past, thieves have been known as Saint Nicholas' clerks or Knights of Saint Nicholas.

• During a voyage to the Holy Lands, a fierce storm blew up, threatening the ship. He prayed about it, and the storm calmed - hence the patronage of sailors and those like dockworkers who work on the sea.

Died

• c.346 at Myra, Lycia (in modern Turkey) of natural causes
• relics believed to be at Bari, Italy

Patronage

• against fire • against imprisonment • against robberies • against robbers • against storms at sea • against sterility • against thefts • altar servers • archers • boys • brides • captives • children • choir boys • happy marriages • lawsuits lost unjustly • lovers • maidens • penitent murderers • newlyweds • paupers • pilgrims • poor people • prisoners • scholars • schoolchildren, students • penitent thieves • spinsters • travellers • unmarried girls • apothecaries • bakers • bankers • barrel makers • boatmen • boot blacks • brewers • butchers • button makers • candle makers • chair makers • cloth shearers • coopers • dock workers • druggists • educators • farm workers, farmers • firefighters • fish mongers • fishermen • grain merchants • grocers • grooms • hoteliers • innkeepers • judges • lace merchants • lawyers • linen merchants • longshoremen • mariners • merchants • millers • notaries • parish clerks • pawnbrokers • perfumeries • perfumers • pharmacists • poets • ribbon weavers • sailors • ship owners • shoe shiners • soldiers • spice merchants • spinners • stone masons • tape weavers • teachers • toy makers • vintners • watermen • weavers • Greek Catholic Church in America • Greek Catholic Union • Varangian Guard • Germany • Greece • Russia • 3 dioceses • 278 cities •

Representation

• anchor
• bishop calming a storm
• bishop holding three bags of gold
• bishop holding three balls
• bishop with three children
• bishop with three children in a tub at his feet
• purse
• ship
• three bags of gold
• three balls
• three golden balls on a book
• boy in a boat

Video

YouTube PlayList

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-nicholas-of-myra/


Blessed Peter Paschal

Also known as

• Peter Pascual
• Peter Pascualez
• Peter Paschasius
• Pedro Pascual
• Pietro Pascasio

Profile

Received his doctorate from the University of Paris, France. Joined the Mercedarians in 1250. Priest. Tutor to Don Sancho, son of the king of Aragon (part of modern Spain), in 1253. Bishop of Jaén, Spain in 1289 during a period when the diocese was in territory controlled by Moors. Worked to ransom Christians held hostage by the Moors. Wrote and preached against Islam as a faith, and against Moorish hostage taking in general. Ambushed by Moors, he was imprisoned in Granada from 1297 until his martyrdom at the order of King Moulay Mohammed.

Born

1227 at Valencia, Spain

Died

beheaded on 6 December 1300 at Granada, Spain

Beatified

14 August 1670 by Pope Clement X

Representation

• Mercedarian priest beheaded in his vestment, usually at the altar
• Mercedarian priest writing in a book

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-peter-paschal/


Saint Abraham of Kratia

Profile

Monk in at Emesa (modern Hims, Syria). His community was destroyed and the brothers dispersed by pagan nomad raids when Abraham was in his early 20's. He moved to Constantinople (modern Istanbul, Turkey) where c.500 he was made abbot at Gratia, Bithynia at age 26. He served for ten years, but finally fled in secret to Palestine for the quieter life of a hermit. However, when Church authorities located him, Abraham was ordered to return to his post. Consecrated as the reluctant bishop of Kratia soon after. Around 525 he was finally allowed to resign his see and retire for 30 years of ermetical solitude and prayer.

Born

c.474 at Emesa, Syria

Died

c.558 in Palestine

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-abraham-of-kratia/


Saint Giuse Nguyen Duy Khang

Also known as

• Joseph Kang
• Joseph Khang

Profile

Dominican tertiary. Catechist. Servant to Saint Jerome Hermosilla. Tried to help Saint Jerome escape from prison. Captured, he was lashed, tortured, and martyred in the persecutions of Tu-Duc.

Born

c.1832 at Tra-Vinh, Nam-Dinh province, Vietnam

Died

beheaded on 6 December 1861 at Hai Duong, Vietnam

Canonized

19 June 1988 by Pope John Paul II

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-giuse-nguyen-duy-khang/


Saint Asella of Rome

Profile

A consecreated virgin (a nun) from age 10. At age 12 she moved into a cell in Rome, Italy in which she lived the rest of her life. From it she led a community of like-minded women, and she emerged only to attend Mass and to visit the tombs of martyrs. She received visits from the historian Bishop Palladia. Her story is recounted by Saint Jerome who called her a flower of the Lord.

Died

c.406 of natural causes

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-asella-of-rome/


Blessed János Scheffler

Profile

Ordained on 6 July 1910. Bishop of Satu Mare, Romania on 26 March 1942. Martyr.

Born

29 October 1887 in Camin, Diocese of Satu Mare, Hungary (in modern Romania)

Died

6 December 1952 in Bucharest, Romania

Beatified

1 July 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-janos-scheffler/


Saint Gerard of La-Charite

Also known as

Gerhard of La-Charité

Profile

Benedictine monk. Prior of the Cluniac house of La-Charite-sur-Loire, diocese of Namur in modern France. He founded several houses in France, served as abbot at Soignies (in modern Belgium), and in later life resigned to live out his days as a choir monk at La-Charite.

Died

1109 of natural causes

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-gerard-of-la-charite/


Saint Dionysia the Martyr

Profile

Born to the nobility. Widow. Sister of Saint Dativa. Mother of Saint Majoricus the Martyr. Martyred during the persecutions of the Arian Vandal king Huneric. A witness records that as she was being scourged, she called to her son not to lose his faith.

Died

scourged and burned at the stake in 484, somewhere in North Africa

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-dionysia-the-martyr/


Saint Gertrude the Elder

Also known as

• Gertrude of Hamage
• Gertrude of Hamaye

Profile

Married lay woman. Widow. Founded the convent at Hamaye near Douai, France. She joined the convent as nun and first abbess.

Born

c.560

Died

6 December 649 at Hamage, France of natural causes

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-gertrude-the-elder/


Saint Majoricus the Martyr

Profile

Son of Saint Dionysia. Nephew of Saint Dativa. Child martyr in the persecutions of the Arian Vandal king Huneric.

Died

• beaten to death in 484 somewhere in North Africa
• buried in the house of Saint Dionysia

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-majoricus-the-martyr/


Saint Aemilianus the Martyr

Also known as

Aemilius, Emilian

Profile

Physician. Martyred in the persecutions of the Arian Vandal king Huneric.

Died

flayed alive in 484 somewhere in North Africa

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-aemilianus-the-martyr/


Saint Dativa the Martyr

Profile

Sister of Saint Dionysia. Aunt of Saint Majoricus. Martyred in the persecutions of the Arian Vandal king Huneric.

Died

burned at the stake in 484 somewhere in North Africa

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-dativa-the-martyr/


Saint Polychronius

Profile

Priest. Attended the Council of Nicaea. Opposed Arianism. Murdered at the altar by Arian extremists while he was celebrating Mass. Martyr.

Died

4th century

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


Blessed Angelica of Milazzo

Profile

Franciscan Minim tertiary lay woman.

Born

Milazzo, Sicily, Italy

Died

1559 of natural causes

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-angelica-of-milazzo/


Saint Isserninus of Ireland

Also known as

Iserninus

Profile

Bishop. Worked with Saint Patrick to evangelize Ireland in the fifth century.

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-isserninus-of-ireland/


Saint Leontia the Martyr

Profile

Martyred in the persecutions of the Arian Vandal king Huneric.

Died

martyred in 484 somewhere in North Africa

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-leontia-the-martyr/


Saint Tertus

Also known as

Tertius

Profile

Monk. Martyred in the persecutions of the Arian Vandal king Huneric.

Died

flayed alive in 484 somewhere in North Africa

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


Saint Boniface the Martyr

Profile

Martyred in the persecutions of the Arian Vandal king Huneric.

Died

484 somewhere in North Africa

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-boniface-the-martyr/


Martyred in the Spanish Civil War

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 Esteban Vázquez Alonso
Blessed Florencio Rodríguez Guemes
Blessed Gregorio Cermeño Barceló
Blessed Heliodoro Ramos García
Blessed Ireneo Rodríguez González
Blessed Juan Lorenzo Larragueta Garay
Blessed Luis Martínez Alvarellos
Blessed Luisa María Frías Cañizares
Blessed Miguel Lasaga Carazo
Blessed Narciso Pascual y Pascual
Blessed Pascual Castro Herrera
Blessed Vicente Vilumbrales Fuente


Also celebrated but no entry yet

• Constantine of Scotland
• Obius of Niardo


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