Wednesday, August 22, 2012

St Timothy (Benedictine)/Immaculate Heart of Mary (EF)/Queenship of the BVM - Aug 22



Jacopo di Montepulciano, c1340
 From the martyrology:

"At Rome, on the Ostian road, the birthday of the holy martyr Timothy. After he had been arrested by Tarquinius, prefect of the city, and kept for a long time in prison, as he refused to sacrifice to the idols, he was scourged three times, subjected to the most severe torments, and finally beheaded."

St Timothy was martyred in 311.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

St Bernard Ptolemy OSB/ St Jane Frances de Chantal (EF)/St Pius X (OF) - Aug 21


From the martyrology:

"At Siena, in Tuscany, blessed Bernard Ptolemy, abbot and founder of the Congregation of Olivetans."

and

"At Annecy, in Savoy, the festival of St. Jane Frances Fremiot de Chantal, foundress of the Order of Nuns of the Visitation of St. Mary, who is commemorated on the 13th of December."

Monday, August 20, 2012

St Bernard of Clairvaux (Aug 20), Class III/OF Memorial

From the martyrology:

"In the territory of Langres, the demise of St. Bernard, first abbot of Clairvaux, illustrious for virtues, learning, and miracles. He was declared Doctor of the universal church by the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius VIII. "

Saturday, August 18, 2012

St Agapitus, Memorial (Aug 18)


St Agapitus was martyred at the age of 15 for being a Christian around 267 AD.

Friday, August 17, 2012

St Hyacinth (EF), Aug 17

Carracci Saint Hyacinth.jpg

St Hyacinth (1185-1257) was a Dominican from Poland.

Educated in Paris and Bologna, he started out as a secular priest, but while in Rome he witnessed a miracle performed by Saint Dominic, and thereafter received the habit from him.

"One of his miracles is connected with a Mongol attack on a monastery in Kiev. Hyacinth was about to save a monstrance (or possibly a ciborium, it is unknown exactly which one) containing the Blessed Sacrament when he heard the voice of the Blessed Virgin Mary asking him to take her too. So he decided to take also the statue of the Holy Virgin. Despite the fact that it weighed far more than he could normally lift, it became miraculously weightless. Thus he saved both the Blessed Sacrament and the statue of Our Lady."

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Assumption of the BVM (Aug 15)

St Maximilian Kolbe (OF)/Vigil of the Assumption (EF/Benedictine), Aug 14


Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe, O.F.M. Conv. was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar, who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in the Nazi German concentration camp of Auschwitz, in 1939.  You can read more about his inspiring life here.

Today is also the Vigil of the Assumption in the traditional calendar.