Saints Of The Week: Oct. 20 - Oct. 26. Oct. 20 - St. John of Kanti. Born in Poland, he was attended the University of Cracow, where he graduated and became a teacher. He later became a priest and left the University to be a pastor at a small parish. He returned to the University to teach the Holy Bible and throughout his life he had a reputation of giving most of what he had to the poor. He lived to the ripe old age of 83. Oct. 21 - St. Hilarion. He was a pagan who left his home in Palestine to attend school in Egypt, where he was introduced to Christianity. He was 15 when he was baptized, after which he traveled into the desert to study with St. Anthony. He performed his first miracle after spending 20 years as a hermit and soon great numbers of people came to him for help. He helped many people until his death at 80 years of age. Oct. 22 - St. Philip of Thrace. He was a bishop during the persecution of Christians by Emperor Diocletian. When the persecution first began and the doors of his church were sealed by soldiers, he held Mass outside in front of the church. Philip and his deacon Hermes were sent to prison and even though they knew that they were to be martyred, they sang a hymn of thanksgiving as they arrived at the prison. They were tortured and ultimately martyred for their Faith. Oct. 23 - St. John of Capistrano. Not to be confused with the Swallows of Capistrano, John was born in Italy in 1386 at a time when one-third of the worlds population was wiped out by the Black Death, the Church was divided by two opposing factions and England was at war with France. At the age of 26, he was made governor of Perugia, Italy. He entered the Franciscan novitiate when he was 30 and was ordained a priest four years later. When the Turks captured Constantinople, he focused his efforts on protecting Eastern Europe and he actually led an army that successfully defended Belgrade, Hungary from the invading Turks. He would later die from an infection on Oct. 23, 1456. Oct. 24 - St. Anthony Claret. Born in Spain in 1807, he would become known as the spiritual father of Cuba. In his spare time as a weaver and textile designer in Barcelona, he taught himself Latin. He was ordained a priest at the age of 28 and he would go on to be one of Spains most popular preachers. When he was 42, he founded a institute of missionaries known as the Claretians. He traveled to the archdiocese in Santiago, Cuba, but in preaching the Lords Word, he inadvertently created enemies. Anthony was wounded in an assassination attempt, and after he recovered, he focused on helping poor families set up family farms where they could produce enough food for themselves and still sell some at the markets. He returned to Spain to be the chaplain to the queen and he would eventually establish the Religious Publishing House. Oct. 25 - Blessed Richard Gwyn. Born in Wales, he lived during the time that Christians were brutally persecuted by Queen Elizabeth I. Despite the persecution, Richard chose to become a Catholic after he had finished college and began his career as a teacher. He would be arrested several times for his Faith, eventually being tortured and beheaded. Oct. 26 - St. Evaristus. Evaristus was the son of a guy named Guy (no, really) who was a Jew living in Bethlehem. He was raised in the Jewish faith but later converted to Christianity. He became a priest, traveled to Rome and eventually became Pope. After nine years as Pope, he was arrested during the persecution of Christians and was martyred.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 11:36:07 +0000
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