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CALENDAR of the SAINTS

20 April 2008 Anno Dómini

"....and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. ~ ~ Revelations 7:9-17

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Saint Acindynus of Persia, Martyr

Saint Acindynus suffered martyrdom in Persia along with Saints Pegasias, Aphthonius, Elpidephorus, Anempodistus, and 7,000 and 7,000 other Christians at the time of King Sapor II (310-381). These saints were Sapor's courtiers, and were secret Christians. When the king began his persecution against Christians, envious pagans denounced them to him. Summoned to Sapor's presence for trial, the holy martyrs fearlessly confessed their faith in the Holy Trinity. The king ordered them to be beaten with whips.

Sapor told the people that Saints Acindynus, Pegasias, Anempodistus and Elpidephorus would have their heads cut off, and that he would not permit the Christians to bury their bodies.

A tremendous crowd accompanied these saints as they were led outside the city walls for execution, glorifying Christ. On Sapor's orders, soldiers massacred all the Christians in the procession (about 7,000), including Saint Elpidephorus.

Acindynus, Pegasias, and Anempodistus were burned on the following day with the mother of the emperor. Christians, came secretly by night to the place of execution, found the bodies of the holy martyrs unharmed by the fire, and they buried them with reverence.

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Saint Agnes of Montepulciano

Born wealthy. A pious child, at age six she began nagging her parents to join a convent. Admitted to the convent at Montepulciano at age nine. When her spiritual director was appointed abbess at Procena, she took Agnes with her. Agnes's reputation for holiness attracted other sisters. Abbess at age fifteen after receiving special permission from Pope Nicholas IV. Agnes insisted on greater austerities in the abbey; she lived off bread and water, slept on the ground, used a stone for a pillow. In 1298 she returned to Montepulciano to work in a new Dominican convent. Prioress of the house the last seventeen years of her life. Pilgrim to Rome.

Many stories grew up around Agnes.

Her birth was announced by flying lights surrounding her family's house.

As a child, while walking through a field, she was attacked by a large murder of crows; she announced that they were devils, trying to keep her away from the land; years later, it was the site of her convent.

She was known to levitate up to two feet in the air while praying.

She received Communion from an angel, and had visions of the Virgin Mary.

She held the infant Jesus in one of these visions; when she woke from her trance she found she was holding the small gold crucifix the Christ child had worn.

On the day she was chosen abbess as a teenager, small white crosses showered softly onto her and the congregation.

She could feed the convent with a handful of bread, once she'd prayed over it.

Where she knelt to pray, violets, lilies and roses would suddenly bloom.

While being treated for her terminal illness, she brought a drowned child back from the dead.

At the site of her treatment, a spring welled up that did not help her health, but healed many other people.

Miracles reported at her tomb; body incorrupt; relics translated to the Dominican church at Orvieto in 1435,

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Saint Caedwalla

Also known as Caedwalla of Wales; Cadwallader; Cadwallador; and Peter.

Descendent of King Ceawlin of Wessex. Exiled, but later returned to reclaim the throne by right, and by warfare. King of Wessex, which he expanded by conquest, annihilating the pagan residents of the Isle of Wight in the process in order to colonize it with his own people. Converted in 688 by Saint Wilfrid after being wounded in combat on the Isle of Wight. He abdicated, and went to Rome for baptism on 10 April 689 by Pope Saint Sergius I, taking the name Peter. He died ten days later, still wearing his white baptism robe.

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Blessed Francis Page

Raised in a Protestant family from Harrow-on-the-Hill, England. Convert to Catholicism. Studied at Douai, France where he was ordained in 1600. Worked in England to minister to covert Catholics who were facing government persecution. Arrested and sentenced to death for the crime of being a priest. While he was in prison he became a Jesuit. Martyr.

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Saint Gundebert

Eighth century Frankish courtier. Brother of Saint Nivard. Married to Saint Bertha. With Bertha's approval, he separated from her to become a monk. Travelled to Ireland where he was martyred by pagans.

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Blessed Harduin

Benedictine monk at Fontenelle in 749. Prolific copyist of the writings of the Fathers of the Church. Spent his latter years as a hermit near the abbey.

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Blessed Hildegun

Also known as Joseph; and Brother Joseph

Dressed as a boy for her own safety, she accompanied her father on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On her return home, she kept the male disguise, joined the Cistercian monks at Schonau, and lived the rest of her life as a brother. Legend describes her as a miracle worker, and her sex was discovered only on her death. Of all the old stories with this theme, Hildegun's has the best and most convincing documentation by her own order.

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Saint Hugh of Anzy-le-Duc

Educated at the Benedictine abbey at Saint-Savin, Poitou, France, where he became a Benedictine monk. As an adult, he travelled to several houses to revive the monastic observance. Helped Blessed Berno establish the house at Cluny. Prior of Anzy-le-Duc.

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Blessed John Finch

Yoeman farmer. Raised in a family with Catholic and Protestant members, he was able to closely observe each side; became a strong and faithful Catholic. Married layman. His home became a center for covert missionary work, and he hid and harboured priests. Parish clerk and catechist.

On Christmas 1581 he and Father George Ostliffe were ambushed and arrested. Finch was kept prisoner in the house of the Earl of Derby, alternately tortured and offered bribes to get information about covert Catholics; the authorities spread the story that he had turned in Father George himself, was taking refuge with Derby, and was voluntarily giving up the name of every Catholic he knew. Spent time in the Fleet prison, Manchester, and in the House of Correction, spending months in dungeons, being dragged by his heels to Protestant churches. He and three priests were brought to trial for their faith in Lancaster on 18 April 1584. While waiting execution, he ministered to condemned felons in his cell. Martyred with James Bell by hanging on 20 April 1584 at Lancaster, England.

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Blessed John of Grace-Dieu

Benedictine Cistercian monk at Saint Denis monastery. Abbot of Igny. Abbot of Clairvaux in 1257. Abbot of Grace-Dieu c.1262.

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Saint John Payne

Also known as John Pain; and John Paine.

Convert. Studied at Douai, France in 1574. Ordained on 7 April 1576. Returned to Ingatestone, Essex, England, ministering to covert Catholics and bringing many back to the Church. Worked with Saint Cuthbert Mayne. Arrested for his work in 1577, he was exiled to Douai in 1579. Returned to England in 1581 to resume his work. Betrayed by by John Eliot, a known murderer who made a career of denouncing Catholics and priests for bounty, he was arrested in Warwickshire, tortured several times, accused of plotting to kill the queen based solely on Eliot's testimony, and executed by hanging, drawn, and quartered on 2 April 1582 at Chelmsford, England . One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

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Saint Marcian of Auxerre

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Saint Margaret of Amelia

Also known as Margarita of Amelia; Margherita of Amelia; and Marguerite of Amelia.

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Saint Marian

When Saint Mamertinus was Abbot of the monastery which St. Germanus had founded at Auxerre, there came to him a young man called Marcian ( also known as Marian ), a fugitive from Bourges then occupied by the Visigoths. Saint Mamertinus gave him the habit, and the novice edified all his piety and obedience. The Abbot, wishing to test him, gave him the lowest possible post - that of cowman and shepherd in the Abbey farm at Merille. Marcian accepted the work cheerfully, and it was noticed that the beast under his charge throve and multified astonishingly. He seemed to have a strange power over all animals. The birds flocked to eat out of his hands: bears and wolves departed at his command; and when a hunted wild boar fled to him for protection, he defended it from its assailants and set it free. After his death, the Abbey took the name of the humble monk.

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Saint Oda

Nobility from the Brabant region. To avoid an arranged marriage to a young nobleman, she disfigured her face. Her family then allowed her to follow the religious vocation she desired. Premonstratensian nun at Rivroelles. Prioress at Rivroelles. Her cult has never been formally confirmed, but popular devotion continues.

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Blessed Richard Sergeant

Also known as Richard Lee; and Richard Long.

One of the EIghty-five Martyrs of England, Scotland, and Wales.

Priest. Returned to England to minister to the faithful and covert non-Catholics. Hiding as a layman, he used the names Richard Lee and Richard Long. Hanged, drawn and quartered on 2 April 1586 at Tyburn, London, England.

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Blessed Robert Watkinson

English martyr. Born at Hemingborough, Yorkshire, he left England and studied at Douai, France, and then Rome in preparation for his ordination in 1602 in Arras, France. Sent home to work for the reconversion of England, he was arrested almost immediately and executed at Tyburn. Robert was hanged, drawn, and quartered on April 20, with Blessed Francis Page. He was beatified in 1929.

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Saint Servilian

Converted by the prayers of Saint Flavia Domitilla. Martyred by beheadeing c.117 during the persecutions of Trajan.

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Saint Simon Rinalducci

Also known as Simon Rinalducci of Todi; and Simon of Todi.

Augustinian friar in 1280. Noted for this theological studies. Lector. Prior of several houses. Famous preacher. Augustinian provincial prior in Umbria. During a general chapter conference in 1318 he was unjustly accused of some serious charges; he kept silence rather than cause scandal among his brothers, and was eventually acquitted. Known as a miracle worker.

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Saint Sulpicius

Converted by the prayers of Saint Flavia Domitilla. Martyr. Beheaded c.117.

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Saint Theodore Trichinas

Fourth century hermit.

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Saint Theotimus of Tomi

Bishop of Scytha or Tomi on the Black Sea. His sanctity won the admiration even of the barbarians. Defended Origen against Saint Epiphanius of Salamis. Evangelized the tribes of the Lower Danube.

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Saint Victor

Martyr executed at Nicomedia, with a group, including Zoticus,Antoninus, Theonas, Chrysophorus, Severian, Acyndius, Zeno, and Caesareus. They were mentioned in the apocryphal Acts of Saint George.

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Saint Zoticus

Saint Zoticus was of noble birth and wealthy. He gave up his position and wealth, was ordained to the priesthood and moved to Constantinople. Emperor Constantine supported his work among the poor, infirm and orphans. He organized and administered a large home for their care. After Constantine the Great's repose, his son, Constantius, was jealous of the wealth that his father had given to the poor by Zoticus' hand. Constantius tied Saint Zoticus behind a wild ass which was driven through the streets until the aged Saint died of his wounds.

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