Blessed Joan of tolouse

Joan was an ordinary woman who wanted to be very close to Jesus. She asked St. Simon Stock, a Carmelite priest, if she could join the order of Carmelites as a lay associate. That means that she didn’t become a nun, but she followed the rules of life of the Carmelite order. She was the first ever lay associate of the Carmelites. She lived in her own house and tried to live her life like the Carmelites did. She went to mass every day and she visited the poor or those that were sick or lonely. She taught the alter servers and helped those that were old, run their errands. She tried to bring joy to everyone that she helped. Joan carried a picture of Jesus hanging on the cross in her pocket wherever she went. She called this picture her book, because every time she would look at it, she felt that God was telling her something new. By her simple actions, she became a very holy woman.

St John Climax

John was a very smart man and he could have become a very famous teacher, instead he chose to live his life entirely for God. He joined a Monastery on Mount Sinai when he was just 16 years old and then he moved into the dessert and lived there as a hermit for 40 years. At first he found it very difficult to give his whole heart to God, he was tempted to sin and he had to work very hard to stay on the right path. The more he prayed and learned about the Saints, the closer to God he would get. People started to hear about this very holy man in the dessert and they would visit him to ask for his advice. God gave John the very special gift of bringing peace to anyone that was troubled and being tempted to sin. When he turned 74 years old, he became the abbot (the leader) of the monastery in Mount Sinai. He wrote the rules that all the monks had to follow in their life. These rules brought them closer to God, because these were the rules that St. John followed in his own life. The book that he wrote with these rules is called “The Climax of Perfection” and that is where the name Climacus came from – the word Climax.

Sts Jonas and Barachisius

Jonas and Barachisius were brothers and they were both monks. They lived under the rule of King Sapor II who did not like Christians at all. After the brothers heard about all the mean things the King was doing to Christians, they decided to go into the city and encourage the Christians to never stop believing in God, no matter what the King did. The brother were captured and taken to prison. They were told that they had to worship other gods, not God the Father, but they said they would never stop believing in God. Since they would never turn away from God they were treated very badly and suffered a lot for their faith, but they prayed through all their suffering and kept their hearts focused on God. They died as martyrs for their faith in God.

St Tutilo

Tutilo studied in Switzerland for many years and he became a wonderful teacher. He became a monk in the monastery where he went to school. He was also a wonderful artist – a musician, a poet, a sculptor, and a painter. He was a mechanic, a metal-worker and an architect. Many of his pieces of art can still be seen in Europe. On top of being very talented he became a Saint because of how much he loved God. He spent his life praising God, praying and living his life for God.

St. Ludger

When Ludger was a little boy he heard a priest speak about Jesus and it really touched his heart, this priest later became a Saint, his name is St. Boniface. So when Ludger was old enough he became a priest and he turned many peoples’ hearts toward Jesus, just like St. Boniface. Suddenly Barbarians (people who want power) attacked the Netherlands and kicked all the priests out, because they did not want anyone to believe in God. Fr. Ludger escaped to Rome to ask the Pope for guidance. He lived in a monastery for 3 years with the monks and then King Charlemange of the Netherlands asked Fr. Ludger to return and continue his mission. He became Bishop and continued sharing the gospel and doing good works. Even on the day he died he celebrated two masses; it was Passion Sunday.

Annunciation

Today we celebrate the day that the Archangel Gabriel visited Mary in her home and told her the good news, that God had chosen her to be the Mother of Jesus. The Angel told her not to be afraid, because God had chosen her for this most special job. Even though she was still young and she didn’t know what her parents and Joseph would say, she trusted God and said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word”. As soon as she said yes, the Holy Spirit came upon her and she conceived Jesus, the Saviour of the World!

St Didacus

Didacus loved the mass, even as a little boy. He used to pretend that he was a priest and play mass, setting up the altar in his home. He was an alter server and he went to Church every day all on his own. When he was old enough he asked to join the Capuchin priests and brothers, because they were the priests in his village and he had read about all the men that had become saints in this Order. He became a priest and loved to tell people about God in his homilies during mass. He was so good at sharing the Gospel that many people soon came to listen to him. So many people started coming to the small Church to hear him speak, that it soon became too small to hold everyone. Fr. Didacus started preaching outside, where large crowds were able to come and listen to him. He loved to tell people about the Trinity and about our Mother Mary. He loved to visit people in prisons and hospitals and people that couldn’t leave their house because they were too sick. He served his people well, until he died and went to Heaven to be with Jesus.

St Turibius

Turibius was a famous judge of the Court of the Inquisition at Granada. He was a very good man, always honest and everyone thought he was very wise (which means he made good decisions). Since he was such a good person, he was asked to become the Archbishop of Lima in Peru. This was very extraordinary because he was not a priest. Even though he didn’t want to go at first, he said yes, because he heard how much the people of Peru needed a good leader of the Church. So Turibius became a priest and then the Archbishop of Lima and he did so many things to help the people there. He built Churches so people could get to know more about God; he built hospitals so that they could be taken care of when they were sick; and he started schools so children could learn and become priests. He learned how to speak the language of his people so that he could share the Gospel with them.

St Diogratias

Genseric (the Vandals’ leader) if he would allow Carthage to have another Bishop and when he agreed, Deogratias became Bishop. Shortly after Deogratias becoming Bishop of Carthage, Genseric attacked Rome and captured many Roman families to become slaves in Africa. Family members were sold separately and mothers and fathers were separated from their children. When Bishop Deogratias heard about this he made a plan to help these people. He sold all the riches he could from the church and when the ship with the newly captured slaves stopped in Carthage Bishop Deogratias bought as many slaves as he could. He took care of the needs of all these people, buying food and clothing and places for them to stay. He even converted two Churches (Basilica Fausti and Novarum) into places for people to stay and a hospital to take care of them. He worked very hard to care for these people and tell them about God. He was only Bishop for three years when he died after working so hard to care for his people. After he died the Vandals would not allow Carthage to have another Bishop for 23 years.

St. Serapion

Serapion received a great Christian education and when he grew up he spent some time working for a famous Christian school in Alexandria. Serapion then decided that he wanted to spend more time in prayer and doing penance, so he went into the desert and became a monk. During this time he met St. Anthony of Egypt and tried to be like him because he was so close to God. Serapion then became Bishop of Thmuis in Egypt. He worked very hard to make sure that the teachings of the Church never changed, because during this time there were lots of people that were teaching things that were not true. Bishop Serapion showed a lot of bravery while defending the teaching of the truth against lots of very powerful people who wanted to change what the Church taught. Since Bishop Serapion would not accept these changes he was kicked out of the city of Thmuis by Emperor Constantius II, and he was sent out into the desert. He spent the rest of his life writing letters and books about the true teachings of the Church, working hard to protect the truth. Most of these writings were lost, but some of them have been found and can be read today including a book of prayers called “Euchologion”.

St. cuthbert

Cuthbert became an orphan when he was very young. He was a shepherd boy and did not have much money. He loved to play games with his friends and he was very good at sports. One day while he was playing with his friends, one of them asked him how he could waste his time playing games when he was supposed to be a priest and bishop. Cuthbert couldn’t understand why his friend would say that to him, it didn’t sound like something his friend would say and it made Cuthbert wonder if he really was being called to be a priest and bishop. Then when Cuthbert was 15 years old he had a vision of a black sky with a bright beam of light filled with angels carrying a ball of fire up past the sky. Cuthbert learned later that on this same night Bishop St. Aiden had gone to heaven, the ball of fire the angels were carrying was St. Aiden going up to heaven. Cuthbert didn’t know why God had given him this vision, but he decided that day to become a monk, and he entered the monastery of Melrose, which was started by Bishop St. Aiden. Cuthbert became a priest and then a Bishop, just like his playmate had told him so many years ago. He worked really hard to help his people and tell everyone about God and everyone loved him so much. God had given him the gifts of healing and prophecy (telling people what God's plans were for them) and he shared these gifts with the people of the Church.

St Joseph

Joseph was Jesus’ earthly father and Mary’s husband. He was a kind and gentle man who was courageous enough to say yes to whatever God asked him to do. When Mary told him that she was going to have a baby that was not his, he was kind and forgiving with her. When the Angel told him that he should take Mary as his wife and that her baby was God’s son, he believed in God’s messenger and did what he said right away. Even though Jesus was God’s son, he treated Jesus just like he was his very own child. He was a carpenter and worked hard all his life. He had a deep faith and trust in God and he shared this faith with Jesus as he grew up. He took very good care of Jesus and Mary and provided for all of their needs. He was brave and trusted in God to take care of him and his family.

St Cyril of Jerusalem

Cyril was the Bishop of Jerusalem during a very difficult time in the early Church. It was a time when Emperor Constantine allowed people to be Christian, but lots of people didn’t know what to believe, because the Church was just getting started. Lots of people were teaching things that weren’t true about Jesus, saying that Jesus was not the Son of God. Bishop Cyril always stood up for the truth, making sure that the Catholic Church never stopped believing that Jesus was God's Son. This made people mad, because they wanted to make people believe in their wrong teaching. No matter how angry people got, Bishop Cyril made sure that only the truth was allowed in the Church.

St Patrick

Patrick grew up in Scotland, when he was 16 years old he was kidnapped by pirates and taken to Ireland on a ship. He was sold as a slave and his owner used him to look after his flock of sheep. Being a shepherd is very lonely work and so Patrick often turned to God and Mary in prayer, he learned to trust in God. Six years after being kidnapped, Patrick had a dream where he was commanded to go back to Britain. He trusted in God and escaped onto a ship back to Britain and his family. Patrick decided to study to become a priest and he had a strong feeling that he needed to go back to Ireland to tell people about God, because at that time no one in Ireland knew about God. He became a priest and then a Bishop and was sent to England and then Ireland to share the Gospel. It was very dangerous in Ireland to speak about God and there were many people who wanted to kill Patrick because of his belief in God, but Patrick never stopped. He worked for 40 years in Ireland and before he died, the whole country was Christian!

Blessed Torello

When Torello was still young, his father died and left him lots of money. Torello didn’t make very good decisions with that money and he made some bad friends who were lazy and didn’t work. One day while Torello was playing sports with his friends a rooster flew down, landed on Torello’s arm, and crowed loudly 3 times. This reminded Torello of when St. Peter (one of Jesus’ Apostles) denied Jesus and the rooster crowed 3 times. Torello did not want to make that mistake and he decided to change how he was living. After spending 8 days alone praying near a big tree, he decided to become a hermit (to spend his time all alone with Jesus). He sold everything he had, keeping only enough money to buy the land where the tree was that he prayed under. He built a little shack and spent the rest of his life there praying and doing penance. He lived this way until he died at 80 years old.

Zechariah

Mary’s cousin Elizabeth was married to a good and holy man named Zechariah. Zechariah was part of the priestly class, which means that he had responsibility to pray and serve in the temple. One day while praying alone in the temple the Angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him that even though Elizabeth and him were very old, they were going to have a baby boy. Zechariah didn’t believe him and asked the Angel to give him a sign that this was true. Because Zechariah didn’t believe what the Angel told him, he became unable to talk until what the Angel said came true and his son was born. Elizabeth did have a baby boy 9 months later and when they were offering the baby to God, Elizabeth said that his name was to be John. Since Zechariah couldn’t speak yet he wrote down “John is his name”, as soon as he did that Zechariah was able to speak again and he praised God. Zechariah and Elizabeth’s baby boy was John the Baptist who told everyone to prepare their hearts for his cousin Jesus.

St Matilda

Matilda’s parents were very important people in Germany and Denmark, and they arranged for her to marry an important man named Henry. Soon after they were married, Henry became the King of Germany, which made Matilda a Queen! Even though she was Queen, she lived very simply and she tried to help people with all the riches she had as Queen. King Henry realized how amazing Matilda was and he let her do what she thought was best for the people of Germany. They were married happily for 23 years and they ruled Germany very lovingly and generously. After King Henry died, Matilda gave up all her jewels and riches and joined the convent to live the rest of her life for God alone.

St Euphrasia

Euphrasia was related to Emperor Theodosius I, who converted Rome into a Christian state.  After Euphrasia’s father died, Emperor Theodosius helped to take care of Euphrasia and her mom.  When Euphrasia was 7 years old, her mother took her to Eygpt and they lived near a convent of nuns.  Eurphrasia loved the nuns and begged her mom to let her live with them and serve God, and she did.  After her mother died, the Emperor wrote to Euphrasia saying that she was promised to marry a rich senator.  Euphrasia wanted to stay with the nuns, so she wrote an amazing letter to the Emperor saying, which said that she belonged only to Jesus.  She said she could not give herself to anyone else, because she belonged only to God.  She told him that she wanted the world to forget about her, she wanted all her money to be given to the poor and she wanted the Emperor to release all the slaves that belonged to her family.  She also asked the Emperor to please forgive any debts that anyone owed her family. The Emperor was so amazed by the letter he agreed to everything and Euphrasia spent the rest of her life as a nun.

St Seraphina

Seraphina’s family called her Fina.  They had once been rich, but difficult times had made them poor.  Fina was very generous, even as a child.  She knew that not everyone had as much to eat as she did and so she would save half her dinner and give it to someone that was poorer than her.  During the day she would sew and spin wool to help her family and at night she spent time praying.  When Fina was still young she got very sick.  The sickness paralyzed her, which meant she couldn’t move her muscles anymore.  For 6 years she lay on wooden planks, because she didn’t want to be too comfortable.  She was in lots of pain, but instead of complaining, Fina would think about Jesus’ pain, when he died for us on the cross.  She prayed that her suffering be joined to his.  Someone told Fina about St. Gregory the Great and how he suffered a lot in his life, so she began to ask him to pray for her that she would grow closer to God through her suffering.  One day St. Gregory appeared to her in a vision and told her that soon she would be in heaven with God where there would be no suffering anymore.  On March 12, St. Gregory’s Feast Day at that time, St. Gregory took Fina home to heaven.

St Eulogius

Eulogius received a very good education as a child and he loved to read and study the Bible.  The more he studied the Word of God in the Bible, the more he wanted to tell everyone about Jesus and his love for us.  When he grew up he became a priest and the principal of a famous school.  The rulers of Spain during this time did not like Christians and tried to make everyone who believed in Jesus give up their faith.  If you didn’t give up your faith you were thrown in jail and some were killed.  Eulogius and his Bishop were thrown in jail because they would never give up their faith in Jesus.  While Eulogius was in jail, he read the Bible out loud to remind everyone of God’s love for them and to take away their fear of being in jail.  He even wrote a book while he was in prison, “Exhortation to Martyrdom” that encouraged people to never give up their faith and to be willing to die a martyr instead of doing what the rulers wanted and give up their faith.  Eulogius was ready to die for his faith, but instead he was set free and he went out and kept telling more and more people about God and many began to believe.  Since Eulogius kept preaching the Gospel and helping other Christians hide from the ruler, they became angry and arrested him again.  Eulogius preached the Gospel in court and until the day he died as a martyr for the faith.

St Simplicius

Simplicius was elected Pope after St. Hilary, in the year 468.  He was Pope during a very hard time in Rome, when barbarians (a group of people that wanted power) had invaded most of Italy and the people of Rome where suffering because everything they had was taken away.  Pope Simplicius did everything he could for his people, just like the Good Shepherd takes care of his sheep.  Pope Simplicius also was busy telling the barbarians about God and many of these people began to believe in God.  The Pope had a hard time dealing with people in the Church who didn’t want to believe in the truth that Jesus taught us.  Even though these people were wrong and didn’t treat the Pope well, he always treated them with kindness.  Pope Simplicius built 4 churches in Rome during his time as Pope and also set up lots of good rules for the Church to follow, to make sure his flock was taken care of.

St Frances of Romw

Frances was born into a very rich family.  Her parents loved God very much and they taught Frances to take care of others and to follow God.  When Frances was 11 years old, she told her parents that she wanted to be a nun.  Her parents thought it would be better for her to get married instead and so they found her a good husband.  Frances and Lorenzo got married and loved each other very much.  Although Frances did not become a nun, she still continued to pray lots and do good deeds for the poor and sick around her.  She inspired other rich women around her to do good too.  Through lots of hard times, during sickness, wars, loss of possessions; Frances and Lorenzo never stopped helping the poor and sick and giving freely of what God had given them.  Frances and Lorenzo were married for 40 years and when Lorenzo died, Frances spent the rest of her life living with a religious group of nuns she helped to start, the Collatines.

St John of God

Although John’'s parents raised him to know and love God, John thought he knew better and him and his friends turned away from God and did what they wanted to do.  When John was 40 years old, all the things that he thought would make him happy, made him sad and lonely instead.  He felt like his heart was empty.  One day at Church he heard St. John of Avila talking about God and John realized that what he needed in his life was God.  With St. John of Avila’'s help, John started to live his life for God.  The Bishop nicknamed him John of God, because he could really see that John was giving his whole life to God.  He opened a house in Spain to care for the poor, sick and homeless; it became a little hospital where he cared for people and told them about God'’s love.  He also started an Order of men that cared for the poor, called the Brothers of St. John of God.

Sts Perpetua and Felicity

During the time that Perpetua and Felicity were alive in Africa, people were not allowed to believe in Jesus.  The ruler of North Africa would kill anyone that said they believed in Jesus.  Even though Perpetua’'s father did not believe in Jesus, Perpetua did and she was willing to die for her faith.  She was put into prison with her maid Felicity because of their faith in God.  Perpetua'’s dad tried to get her to change her mind so that she would be saved, but she loved Jesus so much that she could not turn her back on him.  When it was time for Perpetua and Felicity to die, they walked out of prison holding hands and they gave each other a kiss, as a Christian sign of peace.  They both had cheerful faces because they knew that they were going to be with Jesus in heaven.  They died martyrs deaths because of their faith in Jesus.

St John Joseph of the Cross

Even though John Joseph came from a rich and important family, he dressed liked a poor man, because he wanted to be poor just like Jesus was.  When he turned 16, he joined the Franciscan Order so that he could live more like Jesus did.  Brother John was a very good person; he always volunteered to do the hardest jobs, never wanted to be the centre of attention and always reached out to others in their needs.  He was given many gifts from God; he was able to know what would happen even before it happened (gift of prophesy) and he was able to heal people who were sick.  He also had the gift of floating in the air (levitation) when he was praying and he was able to be in more than one place at a time (bilocation)!  He lived until he was 80 years old.

St Casimir

Casimir was born a Polish prince and he had 12 brothers and sisters.  His dad was the king of Poland.  When Casimir was only 15 years old, he was asked to become the King of Hungary, but Casimir said no.  He didn't want to be a King, he wanted to spend his whole life praying and doing service, so that he could get closer to God.  He prayed everyday and sometimes spent many hours praying at night too.  He was very strict with himself so that he would not sin; he fasted lots and sometimes slept on the floor of his room to remind him to always try to be good.  Casimir also loved Mother Mary; he would sing a song to her everyday called “Daily, Daily, Sing to Mary”.  His love for God made him want to help anyone that was suffering; the poor, the orphaned, the sick, those in prison; he cared for them, protected them and gave them everything he could.  Although Casimir never let anything stop him from loving God and doing good, he was often sick.  When Casimir was 26, he was on a mission in another country, and his lungs became very sick with Tuberculosis and died.

St Katherine Drexel

Even though Katharine grew up in a rich family, she was taught to love her neighbours and to take care of the poor around her.  Her family used the money they had to help others and show how much they loved God.  Katherine and her sister taught children about God at Sunday School and later Katherine worked hard to help the poor and those people that had no one to take care of them.  She helped the African American and Native American people in the USA.  She spent millions of dollars of her family’s money to build schools, buy food and clothes and to help the teachers in the communities she was helping.  She also found priests to come and tell the people about God.  Katherine then became a nun, changing her name to Sister Mary Katherine and started an order of sisters called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Mother Katherine, as her sisters called her, found Jesus truly present in the Eucharist and in the people that she served.  She lived until she was 97 years old.

St Charles the good

Count Charles of Flounders was the son of St. Canute, King of Denmark.  Charles was called “the good” by the people he ruled in his kingdom because he was gentle and fair and a good example for everyone.  Every morning Charles walked to mass without any shoes on, because he wanted to pray and get closer to God.  He would go to the Church early so that he could pray by himself before mass started.  Count Charles took very good care of the poor and made sure that they were fed at his castle every day.  Charles’ kindness to the poor made some rich people angry, especially because when the rich people tried to do mean things Count Charles made them stop.  These people wanted to kill him, because he was so good.  So one day when he was praying by himself in the Church, he was killed by those rich people who hated him.