Calendar of Saints

9 May	• yesterday • tomorrow

Blessed Maria del Carmen Rendiles Martinez

Also known as

• Carmen Elena Rendiles Martínez
• María Carmen

Profile

Third of eight children born to a wealthy and respected family, the daughter of Ramiro Antonio Rendiles and Ana Antonia Martínez; she was born without a left arm and lived with prosthetic. She was baptized on 24 September 1903, confirmed on 28 October 1905, and made her first Communion on 11 March 1911. At age 15 she began serving as a catechist in her parish, and would travel to other towns to teach at parish missions. Feeling a call to the religious life, she joined the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament on 25 February 1927. After studying in Toulouse, France, she received her habit on 8 September 1927, her first vows on 8 September 1929, and her solemn profession on 8 September 1932. She then returned to Caracas, Venezuela where she worked for the next ten years, serving in a variety of positions. Chosen Provincial Superior of the Order in 1951, she started convents and schools in Venezuela and Columbia including a school for poor children in her family home when she inherited it. For practical reasons, including the distance from the motherhouse in France to the sisters in South America, the congregation split on 25 March 1965, and Blessed Carmen is considered the founder of the Servants of Jesus of Caracas (Servant Congregation of Jesus of Venezuela); she served the rest of her life as its superior. By 2015 there were 94 religious in 19 communities.

Born

11 August 1903 in Caracas, Venezuela

Died

9 May 1977 in Caracas, Venezuela of influenza

Beatified

• 16 June 2018 by Pope Francis
• the beatification miracle involved the healing of Trinette Durán de Branger on 18 July 2003
• beatification recognition celebrated in Caracas, Venezuela, Cardinal Angelo Amato chief celebrant

Patronage

Servants of Jesus of Caracas

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-maria-del-carmen-rendiles-martinez/

Blessed Karolina Gerhardinger

Also known as

• Caroline Gerhardinger
• Maria Teresa Gerhardinger
• Maria Theresia of Jesus
• Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger

Profile

Born to a working class family. Educated by the Augustinian canonesses until 1809 when religious orders were closed by decree of the Bavarian government in Germany. Caroline decided to start a new religious order devoted to God and Christian education. In 1828 the Vatican got concessions from the Bavarian government, and many religious communities re-opened. Caroline and other sisters moved into a refurbished convent, and started the order that was to become the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Caroline took the name Theresa in religious life but was soon called Theresa of Jesus because of her devotion to the True Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. The sister's Rule and Constitutions were approved by the Vatican on 23 January 1854 and the Order began to quickly spread. Teresa spent the rest of her life devoted to the work.

Born

20 June 1797 at Stadtamhof, Bavaria, Germany as Caroline Gerhardinger

Died

9 May 1879 in München, Bavaria, Germany of natural causes

Beatified

17 November 1985 by Pope John Paul II

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-karolina-gerhardinger/

Blessed Stefan Grelewski

Also known as

• prisoner 10444 (Auschwitz)
• prisoner 25581 (Dachau)

Profile

Older brother of Blessed Kazimierz Grelewski. Studied at the Progimnazjum in Sandomierz and Lubartów in Poland. Ordained in October 1921 as a priest in the archdiocese of Radom, Poland. Graduated with a doctorate in canon law in Strasbourg, France in 1924. General secretary of the Christian Workers Union in Radom in 1925. Writer, journalist, and translated works from French and German to Polish. Founded the magazine Catholic Truth in 1930. Worked with the people of Catholic Action and the Association of Polish Intelligence. Helped organize the first diocesan Eucharistic Congress in Radom in 1933. Prefect of a boy‘s elementary school from 1928 through 1931; prefect of the Jan Kochanowski state boy‘s grammar school from 1932 until the outbreak of World War II in 1939. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, he covertly continued teaching religion. Arrested with his brother on 24 January 1941 as part of the Nazi persecutions, he was deported, imprisoned and tortured in the concentration camps of Auschwitz and then Dachau. Martyr.

Born

3 July 1899 in Dwikozy, Swietokrzyskie, Poland

Died

starved to death on 9 May 1941 in the camp hospital of Dachau, Oberbayern, Germany

Beatified

13 June 1999 by Pope John Paul II

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-stefan-grelewski/

Saint Pachomius of Tabenna

Also known as

• Pachomius the Elder
• Pachomius the Great
• Pachome, Pakhomius

Profile

Soldier in the imperial Roman army. Convert in 313. He left the army in 314 and became a spiritual student of Saint Palaemon. Lived as a hermit from 316. During a retreat into the deep desert, he received a vision telling him to build a monastery on the spot and leave the life of a hermit for that of a monk in community. He did in 320, and devised a Rule that let fellow hermits ease from solitary to communal living; legend says that the Rule was dictated to him by an angel. Abbot. His first house expanded to eleven monasteries and convents with over 7,000 monks and nuns in religous life by the time of Pachomius's death. Spiritual teacher of Saint Abraham the Poor and Saint Theodore of Tabennísi. Considered the founder of Christian cenobitic (communal) monasticism, whose rule for monks is the earliest extant.

Born

c.290 at Upper Thebaid, Egypt

Died

• c.346 of natural causes
• buried in an unknown location by Saint Theodore of Tabennísi

Video

YouTube PlayList

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-pachomius-of-tabenna/

Blessed Alexandru Rusu

Profile

One of twelve children of a priest in the Saulia Commune, Mures, Romania. Ordained a priest in the Romanian Greek-Catholic Rite on 20 July 1910. Chosen the first bishop of Maramures, Romania on 17 October 1930. Chosen the archbishop of Fagaras and Alba Iulia, Romania in 1946, a move opposed by the Communist government. For defying the anti–Christian authorities, Bishop Alexandru was arrested in October 1948. Confined first in monasteries, he was eventually sent to Sighet prison. He was finally “tried” by a military tribunal in 1957 who found him guilty of treason for remaining faithful to the Catholic church, sentenced him to 25 years, and sent him to Gherla prison where he died. Martyr.

Born

22 November 1884 in Saulia de Câmpie, Mures, Romania

Died

9 May 1963 in Gherla, Cluj, Romania

Beatified

2 June 2019 by Pope Francis

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-alexandru-rusu/

Saint Beatus of Lungern

Also known as

• Apostle of Switzerland
• Beatus of Beatenberg
• Beatus of Thun

Profile

Convert, baptized in England by Saint Barnabas the Apostle. Priest, ordained in Rome, Italy by Saint Peter the Apostle. Missionary to Switzerland. Lived in a cave above the Lake of Thun, which tradition says is where he fought a dragon (often used as a metaphor for chasing the devil out of a region by bringing in Christianty); it became known as Mount Beatenburg in his honor, and became a place of pilgrimage in later years. Confessor of the faith.

Died

c.112 on Mount Beatenburg, Lake of Thun, Switzerland of natural causes

Patronage

Beatenberg, Switzerland

Representation

• old man in a cave, usually reading
• monk fighting or chasing a dragon
• monk with a book and a weapon

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-beatus-of-lungern/

Blessed Thomas Pickering

Profile

Benedictine lay brother at the Saint Gregory Monastery in Douai, France in 1660. Sent to London, England in 1665 to serve as steward to the Benedictines in the queen's royal chapel. He came to know Queen Catherine of Braganza and King Charles II, and in 1675 when the all other Benedictines were exiled from England, Thomas was allowed to stay. Falsely accused in 1678 of being part of the Titus Oates Plot to murder the king, he was found guilty and executed. Martyr.

Born

c.1621 in Westmorland, England

Died

• hanged, drawn and quartered On 9 May 1679 in Tyburn, London, England
• some relics persevered at Downside Abbey

Beatified

15 December 1929 by Pope Pius XI

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-thomas-pickering/

Blessed Benincasa of Montepulciano

Also known as

• Benincasa of Montepulciano
• Benincosa of...
• John Benincasa
• Giovanni Benincasa

Profile

Joined the Servites as a teenager. At age 25 he became a prayerful hermit in a cell on Monte Amiata near Siena, Italy. Around age 50 he was ordered by the Servites to move to their community at Monticchiello, Italy where he lived his final months.

Born

1375 at Montepulciano, Siena, Italy

Died

9 May 1426 at Monticchiello, Italy of natural causes

Beatified

23 December 1829 by Pope Pius VIII (cultus confirmation)

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-benincasa-of-montepulciano/

Saint Gregory of Ostia

Also known as

• Gregorius IV
• Gregorio Ostiense
• Gregorio di Ostia
• Gregorio de la Berrueza

Profile

Benedictine monk. Priest. Abbot of the monastery of Saints Cosma e Damiano ad Micam auream, Rome, Italy. Chosen Cardinal–Bishop of Ostia, Italy and Vatican librarian c.1034 by Pope Benedict IX. Papal legate to the kingdoms of Spanish Navarre and Old Castile. Reported miracle worker, especially concerned with saving crops from pests, he is venerated throughout Navarre and Rioja.

Died

9 May 1048 at Logroño, Spain of natural causes

Patronage

protection of crops

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-gregory-of-ostia/

Isaiah the Prophet

Profile

Eighth century BC Old Testament prophet. Killed at the order of King Manasses of Juda.

Died

• sawn in two
• buried under an oak tree

Representation

• elderly man holding a scroll that reads "Ecce Virgo Concipiet"
• old man being sawn in two
• robed figure holding a saw

https://catholicsaints.info/isaiah-the-prophet/

Saint Giuse Hiên

Also known as

• Giuseppe Dô Quang Hiên
• Joseph Hiên
• José Dô Quang Hiên

Profile

Dominican priest. Martyred in the persecutions of Emperor Thieu Tri.

Born

c.1769 in Quân Anh Ha, Nam Ðinh, Vietnam

Died

beheaded on 9 May 1840 at Nam Ðinh, Vietnam

Canonized

19 June 1988 by Pope John Paul II

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-giuse-hien/

Saint Banban the Wise

Also known as

• Banban Sapiens
• Mabran Barbarus
• Mauranum cognomento Barbanum
• Banbanum, Banbanus, Banbhanus, Banuanus, Barbanum, Mauran, Methbrain, Methbruin, Nia Brain, Niabrain, Nie Brain, Niethbrain, Seannan

Profile

5th century priest who worked with Saint Patrick who installed him as pastor of the Domnach Mór church at Magh Slécht, Templeport, County Cavan, Ireland.

Born

Ireland

https://catholicsaints.info/saint-banban-the-wise/

Blessed Pedro of Alcobaça

Profile

Cistercian monk in the monastery of Alcobaça, Portugal. His piety and his connection to this monastery, which was founded in 1153 by King Afonso Henriques, let to many outlandish tales about him, his royal connections, etc. But all we really know was that he was a pious Cistercian.

Died

• c.1160
• relics translated in 1293
• relics translated in 1351

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-pedro-of-alcobaca/

Blessed Fortis Gabrielli

Profile

Hermit in the mountains near Scheggia, Italy. Spiritual student of Blessed Ludolph. Benedictine monk–hermit at the monastery of Fontavellana.

Born

Gubbio, Umbria, Italy

Died

9 May 1040 of natural causes

Beatified

17 March 1756 by Pope Benedict XIV (cultus confirmed)

https://catholicsaints.info/blessed-fortis-gabrielli/

Saint Tudwg

Also known as

Tudinus

Profile

A church was dedicated to him in Llandudwg (modern Tythegston, Glamorganshire, Wales). Some records say he was the son of Saint Tydodwg, and a monk at the monastery of Saint Cenydd on the Gower peninsula of Wales, but nothing certain is recorded about him.