Saturday, October 6, 2012

St Bruno (EF/OF/Ben), Oct 6



From the martyrology:

"In Calabria, St. Bruno, confessor, founder of the Carthusian Order."




Friday, October 5, 2012

SS Placid and Maurus OSB (Ben), Oct 5



From the martyrology:

"At Messina, in Sicily, the birthday of the holy martyrs Placidus, monk, disciple of the blessed abbot Benedict, and of his brothers Eutychius and Victorinus, and Flavia, virgin, their sister; also of Donatus, Firmatus, deacon, Faustus, and thirty other monks, who were murdered for the faith of Christ by the pirate Manuchas."




Thursday, October 4, 2012

St Francis of Assisi (EF/OF/Ben), Oct 4


Jusepe de Ribera
From the martyrology:

"At Assisi, in Umbria, the birthday of St. Francis, confessor, founder of the Order of Friars Minor, whose life, filled with holy deeds and miracles, was written by St. Bonaventure."




Monday, October 1, 2012

St Remigius (EF); St Terese of the Child Jesus (OF), Oct 1



St Remigius (437-533) baptised King Clovis, resulting in the conversion of the Franks to Christ.  From the martyrology:

"At Rheims, in France, St. Remigius, bishop confessor, who converted the Franks to Christ, regenerated Clovis, their king, in the sacred font of Baptism and instructed him in the mysteries of faith. After he had been many years bishop, and had distinguished himself by his sanctity and the power of working miracles, he departed this life on the 13th of January. His festival, however, is kept on this day, when his sacred body was translated."

St Terese's feast is celebrated on October 3 in the Extraordinary Form and traditional Benedictine calendar, and notes on her will appear here on that day.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Dedication of St Michael the Archangel (Sept 29, Ben/EF); Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (OF)


Jaime Huguet, 1456
Today's feasts represent a classic example of unfortunate Novus Ordo calendar minimalism!

Instead of retaining separate feasts for each of the Archangels mentioned in the Bible, it groups them all together.

In the older forms of the calendar though, it is the feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St Michael the Archangel, as the martyrology explains:

"On Mount Gargano, the commemoration of the blessed Archangel Michael. This festival is kept in memory of the day, when under his invocation, was consecrated a church, unpretending in its exterior, but endowed with virtue celestial."




Friday, September 28, 2012

St Wenceslaus (EF/OF); St Lawrence Ruiz and companions (OF) Sept 28



From the martyrology:

"In Bohemia, St. Wenceslas, duke of Bohemia and martyr, renowned for holiness and miracles. Being murdered in his brother's house, he went triumphantly to heaven."

St Lawrence Ruiz (1600-1637) is the first Filippino saint, a lay missionary martyred along with a group of Dominican priests for refusing to renounce Christianity in Japan during the Tokogawa Shogunate.