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Candidates Saints
St. George
Feastday: April 23
Patron of England & Catalonia
St. George
Pictures of St. George usually show
him killing a dragon to rescue a beautiful lady. The dragon stands for wickedness. The lady stands for God's holy truth.
St. George was a brave martyr who was victorious over the devil.
He was a soldier in the army of the Roman Emperor
Diocletian, and he was one of the Emperor's favorite soldiers. Now Diocletian was a pagan and a bitter enemy to the Christians.
He put to death every Christian he could find. George was a brave Christian, a real soldier of Christ. Without fear, he went
to the Emperor and sternly scolded him for being so cruel. Then he gave up his position in the Roman army. For this he was
tortured in many terrible ways and finally beheaded.
So boldly daring and so cheerful was St. George in declaring
his Faith and in dying for it that Christians felt courage when they heard about it. Many songs and poems were written about
this martyr. Soldiers, especially, have always been devoted to him.
We all have some "dragon" we have
to conquer. It might be pride, or anger, or laziness, or greediness, or something else. Let us make sure we fight against
these "dragons", with God's help. Then we can call ourselves real soldiers of Christ.
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St. Cecilia
Third Century
Feastday: November 22
In the fourth century appeared a Greek religious romance on the Loves of Cecilia and Valerian,
written, like those of Chrysanthus and Daria, Julian and Basilissa, in glorification of the virginal life, and with the purpose
of taking the place of the sensual romances of Daphnis and Chloe, Chereas and Callirhoe, etc., which were then popular. There
may have been a foundation of fact on which the story was built up; but the Roman Calendar of the fourth century, and the
Carthaginian Calendar of the fifth make no mention of Cecilia.
It is said, however, that there was a church dedicated
to S. Cecilia in Rome in the fifth century, in which Pope Symmachus held a council in 500. But Symmachus held no council in
that year. That held at Easter, 502, was in the "basilica Julii"; that on September 1, 505, was held in the "basilica
Sessoriana"; that on October 23, 501, was in "porticu beati Petri apostoli que appelatur Palmaria." The next
synod, November 6, 502, met in the church of St. Peter; that in 533, "ante confessionem beati Petri"; and that in
503 also in the basilica of S. Peter. Consequently, till better evidence is produced, we must conclude that S. Cecilia was
not known or venerated in Rome till about the time when Pope Gelasius (496) introduced her name into his Sacramentary. In
821, however, there was an old church fallen into decay with the dedication to S. Cecilia; but Pope Paschal I dreamed that
the body of the saint lay in the cemetery of S. Celestas, along with that of her husband Valerian. He accordingly looked for
them and found them, or, at all events, some bodies, as was probable, in the catacombs, which he was pleased to regard as
those of Cecilia nd Valerian. And he translated these relics to the church of S. Cecilia, and founded a monastery in their
honor.
The story of S. Cecilia is not without beauty and merit. There was in the city of Rome a virgin named Cecilia,
who was given in marriage to a youth named Valerian. She wore sackcloth next to her skin, and fasted, and invoked the saints
and angels and virgins, beseeching them to guard her virginity. And she said to her husband, "I will tell you a secret
if you will swear not to reveal it to anyone." And when he swore, she added, "There is an angel who watches me,
and wards off from me any who would touch me." He said, "Dearest, if this be true, show me the angel." "That
can only be if you will believe in one God, and be baptized."
She sent him to Pope S. Urban (223-230), who
baptized him; and when he returned, he saw Cecilia praying in her chamber, and an angel by her with flaming wings, holding
two crowns of roses and lilies, which he placed on their heads, and then vanished. Shortly after, Tibertius, the brother of
Valerian, entered, and wondered at the fragrance and beauty of the flowers at that season of the year.
When he
heard the story of how they had obtained these crowns, he also consented to be baptized. After their baptism the two brothers
devoted themselves to burying the martyrs slain daily by the prefect of the city, Turcius Almachius. [There was no prefect
of that name.] They were arrested and brought before the prefect, and when they refused to sacrifice to the gods were executed
with the sword.
In the meantime, S. Cecilia, by preaching had converted four hundred persons, whom Pope Urban forthwith
baptized. Then Cecilia was arrested, and condemned to be suffocated in the baths. She was shut in for a night and a day, and
the fires were heaped up, and made to glow and roar their utmost, but Cecilia did not even break out into perspiration through
the heat. When Almachius heard this he sent an executioner to cut off her head in the bath. The man struck thrice without
being able to sever the head from the trunk. He left her bleeding, and she lived three days. Crowds came to her, and collected
her blood with napkins and sponges, whilst she preached to them or prayed. At the end of that period she died, and was buried
by Pope Urban and his deacons.
Alexander Severus, who was emperor when Urban was Pope, did not persecute the Church,
though it is possible some Christians may have suffered in his reign. Herodian says that no person was condemned during the
reign of Alexander, except according to the usual course of the law and by judges of the strictest integrity. A few Christians
may have suffered, but there can have been no furious persecutions, such as is described in the Acts as waged by the apocryphal
prefect, Turcius Almachius.
Urbanus was the prefect of the city, and Ulpian, who had much influence at the beginning
of Alexander's reign as principal secretary of the emperor and commander of the Pretorian Guards, is thought to have encouraged
persecution. Usuardus makes Cecilia suffer under Commodus. Molanus transfers the martyrdom to the reign of Marcus Aurelius.
But it is idle to expect to extract history from romance.
In 1599 Cardinal Paul Emilius Sfondrati, nephew of Pope
Gregory XIV, rebuilt the church of S. Cecilia.
St. Cecilia is regarded as the patroness of music [because of the
story that she heard heavenly music in her heart when she was married], and is represented in art with an organ or organ-pipes
in her hand.
From The Lives of the Saints by the Rev. S. Baring-Gould, M.A., published in 1914 in Edinburgh.
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Bl. Alexandrina Maria da Costa
1904-1955
On Holy Saturday of 1918, Alexandrina Maria da Costa, a fourteen-year-old native of Balasar, Portugal,
was sewing when three men broke into her home, threatening to violate her chastity. Resolute to preserve her purity, she fled
by jumping out a window. The thirteen-foot plunge to the ground crippled her for life. At the age of twenty-one, she became
totally paralyzed and permanently bedridden. Alexandrina accepted this affliction as God's will for her and an opportunity
to offer herself totally as a "victim soul" for the conversion of sinners. For a period of three and a half years,
she received the mystical gift of experiencing each Friday the pains of Christ on the cross. For thirteen years, she was imbued
with the mystical phenomenon of being nourished solely by the Eucharist. Out of zeal to convert sinners, Alexandrina requested
for her tombstone these words: "Sinners, how much I want to tell you...Do not risk losing Jesus for all eternity, for
he is so good. Enough with sin. Love Jesus, love him!" On October 13, 1955, before breathing her last, Alexandrina declared,
"I am happy, because I am going to heaven."
© Magnificat 2006
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St. Dunstan
Feastday: May 19
Patron of armorers, goldsmiths, locksmiths, and jewelers
Born of a noble family at Baltonsborough, near Glastonbury, England, Dunstan was educated there by Irish monks and
while still a youth, was sent to the court of King Athelstan. He became a Benedictine monk about 934 and was ordained by his
uncle, St. Alphege, Bishop of Winchester, about 939. After a time as a hermit at Glastonbury, Dunstan was recalled to the
royal court by King Edmund, who appointed him abbot of Glastonbury Abbey in 943. He developed the Abbey into a great center
of learning while revitalizing other monasteries in the area. He became advisor to King Edred on his accession to the throne
when Edmund was murdered, and began a far-reaching reform of all the monasteries in Edred's realm. Dunstan also became
deeply involved in secular politics and incurred the enmity of the West Saxon nobles for denouncing their immorality and for
urging peace with the Danes. When Edwy succeeded his uncle Edred as king in 955, he became Dunstan's bitter enemy for
the Abbot's strong censure of his scandalous lifestyle. Edwy confiscated his property and banished him from his kingdom.
Dunstan went to Ghent in Flanders but soon returned when a rebellion replaced Edwy with his brother Edgar, who appointed Dunstan
Bishop of Worcester and London in 957. When Edwy died in 959, the civil strife ended and the country was reunited under Edgar,
who appointed Dunstan Archbishop of Canterbury. The king and archbishop then planned a thorough reform of Church and state.
Dunstan was appointed legate by Pope John XII, and with St. Ethelwold and St. Oswald, restored ecclesiastical discipline,
rebuilt many of the monasteries destroyed by the Danish invaders, replaced inept secular priests with monks, and enforced
the widespread reforms they put into effect. Dunstan served as Edgar's chief advisor for sixteen years and did not hesitate
to reprimand him when he thought it deserved. When Edgar died, Dunstan helped elect Edward the martyr king and then his half
brother Ethelred, when Edward died soon after his election. Under Ethelred, Dunstan's influence began to wane and he retired
from politics to Canterbury to teach at the Cathedral school and died there. Dunstan has been called the reviver of monasticism
in England. He was a noted musician, played the harp, composed several hymns, notably Kyrie Rex splendens, was a skilled metal
worker, and illuminated manuscripts. He is the patron of armorers, goldsmiths, locksmiths, and jewelers. His feast day is
May 19th.
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St. Maria Goretti
Feastday: July 6
Patron of youth, young women, purity, and victims of rape
b: 1890 d: 1902
St.
Maria Goretti
Born in Corinaldo, Ancona, Italy, on October 16 1890; her farmworker father moved his family to Ferrier
di Conca, near Anzio. Her father died of malaria and her mother had to struggle to feed her children.
In 1902 an
eighteen-year-old neighbor, Alexander, grabbed her from her steps and tried to rape her. When Maria said that she would rather
died than submit, Alexander began stabbing her with a knife.
As she lay in the hospital, she forgave Alexander
before she died. Her death didn't end her forgivness, however.
Alexander was captured and sentenced to thirty
years. He was unrepentant until he had a dream that he was in a garden. Maria was there and gave him flowers. When he woke,
he was a changed man, repenting of his crime and living a reformed life. When he was released after 27 years he went directly
to Maria's mother to beg her forgiveness, which she gave. "If my daughter can forgive him, who am I to withold forgiveness,"
she said.
When Maria was declared a saint in 1950, Alexander was there in the St. Peter's crowd to celebrate
her canonization. She was canonized by Pope Pius XII in 1950 for her purity as model for youth.
She is called a
martyr because she fought against Alexander's attempts at sexual assault. However, the most important aspect of her story
is her forgiveness of her attacker -- her concern for her enemy extending even beyond death. Her feast day is July 6. St.
Maria Goretti is the patroness of youth and for the victims of rape.
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St Nicholas
Feastday: December 6
Patron of Bakers and Pawnbrokers
St. Nicholas, called
"of Bari", Bishop of Myra (Fourth Century) 6 Dec. Feast day. The great veneration with which this saint has been
honored for many ages and the number of altars and churches which have been everywhere dedicated in his memory are testimonials
to his holiness and of the glory which he enjoys with God. He is said to have been born at Patara in Lycia, a province of
Asia Minor. Myra, the capital, not far from the sea, was an episcopal see, and this church falling vacant, the holy Nicholas
was chosen bishop, and in that station became famous by his extraordinary piety and zeal and many astonishing miracles. The
Greek histories of his life agree that he suffered imprisonment of the faith and made a glorious confession in the latter
part of the persecution raised by Dioletian, and that he was present at the Council of Nicaea and there condemned Arianism.
The silence of other authors makes many justly suspect these circumstances. He died at Myra, and was buried in his cathedral.
This summary account by Alban Butler tells us all that is known about the life of the famous St. Nicholas, and even
a little more; for his episcopate at Myra during the fourth century is really all that seems indubitable authentic. This is
not for lack of material, beginning with the life attributed to the monk who died in 847 as St. Methodius, Patriarch of Constantinople.
But he warns us that "Up to the present the life of this distinguished Shepard has been unknown to the majority of the
faithful", and sets about enlightening their ignorance nearly five hundred years after the saint's death. This is
the least unreliable of the "biographical" sources available, and a vast amount of literature, critical and expository,
have grown up around them. Nevertheless, the universal popularity of the saint for so many centuries requires that some account
of these legends should be given here.
We are assured that from his earliest days Nicholas would take nourishment
only once on Wednesdays and Fridays, and that in the evening according to the canons. "He was exceedingly well brought
up by his parents and trod piously in their footsteps. The child, watched over by the church enlightened his mind and encouraged
his thirst for sincere and true religion". His parents died when he was a young man, leaving him well off and he determined
to devote his inheritance to works of charity. An opportunity soon arose. A citizen of Patara had lost all his money, and
had moreover to support three daughters who could not find husbands because of their poverty; so the wretched man was going
to give them over to prostitution. This came to the ears of Nicholas, who thereupon took a bag of gold and, under cover of
darkness threw it in at the open window of the man's house. Here was a dowry for the eldest girl and she was soon duly
married. At intervals Nicholas did the same for the second and third; at the last time the father was on the watch, recognized
his benefactor and overwhelmed him with his gratitude. It would appear that the three purses represented in pictures, came
to be mistaken for the heads of three children and so they gave rise to the absurdstory of the children, resuscitated by the
saint, who had been killed by an innkeeper and pickled in a brine-tub.
Coming to the city of Myra when the clergy
and people of the province were in session to elect a new bishop, St. Nicholas was indicated by God as the man they should
choose. This was at the time of the persecutions at the beginning of the fourth century and "As he was the chief priest
of the Christians of this town and preached the truths of faith with a holy liberty, the divine Nicholas was seized by the
magistrates, tortured, then chained and thrown into prison with many other Christians. But when the great and religious Constatine,
chosen by God assumed the imperial diadem of the Romans, the prisoners were released from their bonds and with them the illustrious
Nicholas, who when he was set at liberty returned to Myra." St. Methodius asserts that "thanks to the teaching of
St. Nicholas the metropolis of Myra alone was untouched by the filth of the Arian heresy, which it firmly rejected as death-dealing
poison", but says nothing of his presence at the Council of Nicaea in 325. According to other traditions he was not only
there but so far forgot himself as to give the heresiarch Arius a slap in the face. Whereupon the conciliar fathers deprived
him of his episcopal insignia and committed him to prison; but our Lord and His Mother appeared there and restored to him
both his liberty and his office. As against Arianism so against paganism, St. Nicholas was tireless and took strong measures:
among other temples he destroyed was that of Artemis, the principal in the district, and the evil spirits fled howling before
him. He was the guardian of his people as well in temporal affairs. The governor Eustathius had taken a bribe to condemn to
death three innocent men. At the time fixed for their execution Nicholas came to the place, stayed the hands of the executioner,
and released the prisoners. Then he turned to Eustathiujs and did not cease to reproach him until he admitted his crime and
expressed his penitence. There were present on this ocfcasion three imperial officers who were on their way to duty in Phrygia.
Later, when they were back again in Constantinople, the jealousy of the prefect Ablavius caused them to be imprisoned on false
charges and an order for their death was procured from the Emperor Constantine. When the officers heard this they remembered
the example they had witnessed of the powerful love of justice of the Bishop of Myra and they prayed to God that through his
merits and by his instrumentality then might yet be saved. That night St. Nicholas appeared in a dream to Constatine, and
told him with threats to release the three innocent men, and Ablavius experienced the same thing. In the morning the Emporor
and the prefect compared notes, and the condemned men were sent for and questioned. When he heard that they had called on
the name of the Nicholas of Myra who had appeared to him, Constatine set them free and sent them to the bishop with a letter
asking him not to threaten him any more but to pray for the peace of the world. For long this was the most famous miracle
of St. Nicholas, and at the time of St. Methodius was the only thing generally known about him.
The accounts are
unanimous that St. Nicholas died and was buried in his episcopal city of Myra, and by the time of Justinian there was a basilica
built in his honor at Constantinople. An anonymous Greek wrote in the tenth century that, "the West as well as the East
acclaims and glorifies him. Wherever there are people, in the country and the town, in the villages, in the isles, in the
furthest parts of the earth, his name is revered and churches are built in his honor. Images of him are set up, panegyrics
preached and festivals celebrated. All Christians, young and old, men and women, boys and girls, reverence his memory and
call upon his protection. And his favors, which know no limit of time and continue from age to age, are poured out over all
the earth; the Scythians know them, as do the Indians and the barbarians, the Africans as well as the Italians." When
Myra and its great shrine finally passed into the hands of the Saracens, several Italian cities saw this as an opportunity
to acquire the relics of St. Nicholas for themselves. There was great competition for them between Venice and Bari. The last-named
won, the relics were carried off under the noses of the lawful Greek custodians and their Mohammedan masters, and on May 9,
1087 were safety landed at Bari, a not inappropriate home seeing that Apulia in those days still had large Greek colonies.
A new church was built to shelter them and the pope, Bd. Urban II, was present at their enshrining. Devotion to St. Nicholas
was known in the West long before his relics were brought to Italy, but this happening naturally greatly increased his veneration
among the people, and miracles were as freely attributed to his intercession in Europe as they had been in Asia. At Myra "the
venerable body of the bishop, embalmed as it was in the good ointments of virtue exuded a sweet smelling myrrh, which kept
it from corruption and proved a health giving remedy against sickness to the glory o f him who had glorified Jesus Christ,
our true God." The translation of the relics did not interrupt this phenomenon, and the "manna of St. Nicholas"
is said to flow to this day. It was one of the great attractions which drew pilgrims to his tomb from all parts of Europe.
It is the image of St. Nicholas more often than that of any other that is found on Byzantine seals; in the later middle
ages nearly four hundred churches were dedicated in his honor in England alone; and he is said to have been represented by
Christian artists more frequently than any saint except our Lady. St. Nicholas is venerated as the patron saint of several
classes of people, especially, in the East, of sailors and in the West of children. The first of these patronage is probably
due to the legend that during his life time, he appeared to storm tossed mariners who invoked his aid off the coast of Lycia
and brought them safely to port. Sailors in the Aegean and Ionian seas, following a common Eastern custom, had their "star
of St. Nicholas" and wished one another a good voyage in the phrase "May St. Nicholas hold the tiller". The
legend of the "three children" gave rise to his patronage of children and various observances, ecclesiastical and
secular, connected there with; such were the boy bishop and especially in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, the giving
of presents in his name at Christmas time. This custom in England is not a survival from Catholic times. It was popularized
in America by the Dutch Protestants of New Amsterdam who had converted the popish saint into a Nordic magician (Santa Claus
= Sint Klaes = Saint Nicholas) and was apparently introduced into this country by Bret Harte. It is not the only "good
old English custom" which, however good, is not "old English", at any rate in its present form. The deliverance
of the three imperial officers naturally caused St. Nicholas to be invoked by and on behalf of prisoners and captives, and
many miracles of his intervention are recorded in the middle ages.
Curiously enough the greatest popularity of
St. Nicholas is found neither in the eastern Mediterranean nor north-western Europe, great as that was, but in Russia. With
St. Andred the Apostle he is patron of the nation, and the Russian Orthodox Church even observes the feast of his translation;
so many Russian pilgrims came to Bari before the revolution that their government supported a church, hospital and hospice
there. He is a patron saint also of Greece, Apulia, Sicily and Loraine, and of many citiesand dioceses (including Galway)
and churches innumerable. At Rome the basilica of St. Nicholas in the Jail of Tully (in Carcere) was founded between the end
of the sixth and the beginning of the seventh centuries. He is named in the preparation of the Byzantine Mass.
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Please join us in welcoming these six candidates further into the Church.
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