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July: Old Testament Saints
Catholics who can remember attending Mass before the 1960s will remember feast days in honor of great figures from the Old Testament. Did those disappear along with Saint Christopher? No, they did not. Although the Vatican II revision of the liturgical calendar may have changed the precedence and order of many commemorations of saints, the […]
June 30: Blessed Basil Velychkovskyi
Blessed Basil Velychkovskyi (1903-1973) was born in the Ukraine into a Greek Catholic family. He became a priest, teacher, and missionary in his native country. In 1945, he was arrested by the Soviets for being a Catholic priest and sentenced to ten years in a forced labor camp. He served his fellow prisoners during his […]
June 29: Blessed Emma of Gork
Blessed Emma (also called Hemma) was born around the year 980 in Austria, was related to nobility (including Holy Roman Emperor Henry II), and knew a future saint (Saint Cunegund). Her marriage to William of Friesach was arranged by their families, but it was a happy marriage. William was the landgrave (a sort of feudal […]
Why there is no Supplemental Calendar in my book about saints
In the June 28 entry of my book, Saints: Becoming an Image of Christ Every Day of the Year, the final saint biography and prayers for that day are followed by the recommendation to the reader to see the “Supplemental Calendar” in the book. However, as readers will quickly discover, there is no Supplemental Calendar. […]
June 28: Saint Heimrad
Saint Heimrad died in Germany in the year 1019, and so many miracles occurred at his tomb when people asked for his intercession that he became known as a saint. The details of his life appear to have been collected after his death. Some of the stories about Heimrad’s life may have been embroidered upon, […]
June 27: Saint Marguerite Bays
Saint Marguerite Bays was born into a pious family of Swiss farmers in 1815. She never married, but she devoted herself to the care of those who were sick or poor in her community, and she supported herself as a seamstress. Marguerite was deeply devoted to the Blessed Sacrament and our Lady, and she attributed […]
June 26: Saint Pelagius of Cordoba
Saint Pelagius was born around the year 912 in Muslim-controlled Spain. He was kept in prison as a hostage for his Christian uncle for two years. During that time he was repeatedly offered his freedom of he would convert to Islam. When he refused, his captors finally resorted to torture. After he had been tortured […]
June 25: Saints Dominic Henares and Francis Do Minh Chieu
Saint Dominic Henares was born in Spain in 1765 and became a Dominican priest. He was sent to Vietnam in 1803 and served the Catholics there as their bishop. Saint Francis Do Minh Chieu was born in Vietnam around 1797 into a Christian home and became a lay catechist. He particularly helped priests and served […]
June 24: Saint Theodgar of Denmark
Saint Theodgar was born in Germany, studied in England, and became a missionary to Norway. In 1028, he went into exile with the Norwegian king, Olaf. He ended up in Denmark, bringing the faith to the pagans living there. Theodgar was known for his ability to heal the sick through his prayers, but it wasn’t […]
June 23: Blessed Marie of Oignes
Blessed Marie of Oignes was born into a wealthy family in Nivelles, Belgium, in 1167. Though she wanted to be a nun, she agreed to an arranged marriage when she was only fourteen, and she talked her husband into living chastely. Together, they made their home into a hospice for lepers, and she cared for […]
June 22: Saint Alban of Britain
Saint Bede, a great English saint and Doctor of the Church, wrote the best and only history of the early days of Catholicism in England. In his Ecclesiastical History, he wrote about today’s saint, Alban. Saint Alban was a soldier living in Britain during the late third or early fourth century, when it was ruled […]
June 21: Saint Leutfridis of La Croix
Saint Leutfridis was born into a noble and devout family—his brother is also acclaimed a saint—in Evreux, France, in the late seventh century. He became a teacher, then a Benedictine hermit, and then a founder of a new abbey. It’s said that when he was abbot, a fire started in the monastery; he prayed, and […]
June 20: Saint Gobain
Saint Gobain was born in Ireland, but he traveled to France in the company of another future saint named Fursey. Gobain decided to live as a hermit in a cell there and even built a church. Some traditions also say that marauding tribes from Germany invaded the countryside and that Gobain was killed by them […]
June 19: Blessed Michelina of Pesaro
Blessed Michelina (1300-1356) was born into a wealthy family of the Italian nobility. She married and had a son. But when both her son and husband died, she was still a young woman. Her grief overwhelmed her at first, but her maid, who was a faithful Catholic and is now known as Blessed Soriana, led […]
June 18: Saint Amandus of Bordeaux
Most of what we know about today’s saint, Saint Amandus, we know through the writings of one of his friends. That friend, Saint Paulinus of Nola (354-431), is known to us today as a father of the Church, that is, a leader in orthodoxy in the days of the early Church. According to his friend, […]
June 17: Saint Avitus
It is certain that Saint Avitus was the abbot of Micy in the French province of Perche, that he lived during the sixth century, and that his holiness caused those who knew him in life to call him a saint after his death. Other details are not so certain. Later traditions about Avitus may have […]
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