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Saints

- What Catholics Believe About Saints
  
  It's important to remember that saints aren't supernatural beings to be worshiped. In fact, in the New Testament, the term saint often is a synonym for Christian. We are all saints and are called again and again to become saints in our lives. The word "saint" comes from the Latin word sanctus, meaning a holy one.
- Why do Catholics pray to the Virgin Mary, the saints, and the angels?
  
  Praying to Mary, the saints, and the angels can sound like trying to get "friends in high places" to run interference for you. Although people sometimes seek such "friends" in order to get a speeding ticket fixed, buy merchandise at a lower price or have some problem resolved, for Catholics that is not what devotion to the saints represents.
  
  God alone is the source of all grace and blessing. Saints do not "fix" things for us apart from God or convince God to do X rather than Y. At Vatican II, the bishops taught that the holiness of the Church "is shown constantly in the fruits of grace which the Spirit produces in the faithful and so it must be" (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, #39). Those "fruits of grace" are seen in the lives of saintly disciples, whether canonized or not.
  
  Jesus was fully divine and fully human. As a human, Jesus could be only one gender, live at one time in history, grow up in one human culture, etc. Saints help us to see holiness as possible for ourselves because saints include men and women, married and single people who lived at various times in human history and in various cultures. Saints remind us that, no matter what sacrifices we may need to make in order to cooperate with God's grace, we are not the first people to make those sacrifices. If we ask our friends on earth to pray for us, why not ask our friends in heaven to do the same?
  
  -Franciscan Media
- When the Church keeps the memorials of martyrs and other saints during the annual cycle , she proclaims the Paschal Mystery in those "who have suffered and have been glorified with Christ. She proposes them to the faithful as examples who draw all men to the Father through Christ, and through their merists she begs for God's favors."
  -Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1173

Feast Days of the Saints

February 2023

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Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
			1 Saint Ansgar Month View February 1, 2023 Saint Ansgar Wednesday, February 1 Ansgar’s biographers remark that he was an extraordinary preacher, a humble and ascetical priest. He was devoted to the poor and the sick, imitating the Lord in washing their feet and waiting on them at table. He died peacefully at Bremen, Germany, without achieving his wish to be a martyr. Read More	2 Month View February 2, 2023	3 Saint Blaise Month View February 3, 2023 Saint Blaise Friday, February 3 We know more about the devotion to Saint Blaise by Christians around the world than we know about the saint himself. His feast is observed as a holy day in some Eastern Churches. In 1222, the Council of Oxford prohibited servile labor in England on Blaise’s feast day. The Germans and Slavs hold him in special honor, and for decades many United States Catholics have sought the annual Saint Blaise blessing for their throats. Read More	4 Saint Joseph of Leonissa Month View February 4, 2023 Saint Joseph of Leonissa Saturday, February 4 Joseph was born at Leonissa in the Kingdom of Naples. As a boy and as a student in early adulthood, Joseph drew attention for his energy and virtue. Read More
5 Saint Agatha Month View February 5, 2023 Saint Agatha Sunday, February 5 As in the case of Agnes, another virgin-martyr of the early Church, almost nothing is historically certain about this saint except that she was martyred in Sicily during the persecution of Emperor Decius in 251. Read More	6 Saint Paul Miki and Companions Month View February 6, 2023 Saint Paul Miki and Companions Monday, February 6 Nagasaki, Japan, is familiar to Americans as the city on which the second atomic bomb was dropped, immediately killing over 37,000 people. Three and a half centuries before, 26 martyrs of Japan were crucified on a hill, now known as the Holy Mountain, overlooking Nagasaki. Read More	7 Saint Colette Month View February 7, 2023 Saint Colette Tuesday, February 7 Colette did not seek the limelight, but in doing God’s will she certainly attracted a lot of attention. Colette was born in Corbie, France. At 21, she began to follow the Third Order Rule and became an anchoress, a woman walled into a room whose only opening was a window into a church. Read More	8 Saint Josephine Bakhita Month View February 8, 2023 Saint Josephine Bakhita Wednesday, February 8 For many years, Josephine Bakhita was a slave, but her spirit was always free and eventually that spirit prevailed. Read More	9 Saint Jerome Emiliani Month View February 9, 2023 Saint Jerome Emiliani Thursday, February 9 A careless and irreligious soldier for the city-state of Venice, Jerome was captured in a skirmish at an outpost town and chained in a dungeon. In prison Jerome had a lot of time to think, and he gradually learned how to pray. When he escaped, he returned to Venice where he took charge of the education of his nephews—and began his own studies for the priesthood. Read More	10 Saint Scholastica Month View February 10, 2023 Saint Scholastica Friday, February 10 Twins often share the same interests and ideas with an equal intensity. Therefore, it is no surprise that Scholastica and her twin brother, Benedict, established religious communities within a few miles from each other. Read More	11 Our Lady of Lourdes Month View February 11, 2023 Our Lady of Lourdes Saturday, February 11 On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus. A little more than three years later, on February 11, 1858, a young lady appeared to Bernadette Soubirous. This began a series of visions. During the apparition on March 25, the lady identified herself with the words: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Read More
12 Saint Appollonia Month View February 12, 2023 Saint Appollonia Sunday, February 12 Saint Apollonia, who died in the year 249, was martyred for not renouncing her faith during the reign of Emperor Philip. The account of the life of St. Apollonia was written by St. Dionysius to Fabian, Bishop of Antioch. Apollonia had all her teeth knocked out after being hit in the face by a Christian persecutor under the reign of Emperor Philip. After she was threatened with fire unless she renounced her faith, Apollonia jumped into the flames voluntarily. Read More	13 Saint Catherine de Ricci Saint Catherine de Ricci Month View February 13, 2023 Saint Catherine de Ricci Monday, February 13 Saint Catherine was born in Florence in 1522. Her baptismal name was Alexandrina, but she took the name of Catherine upon entering religion. Read More Saint Catherine de Ricci Monday, February 13 Saint Catherine was born in Florence in 1522. Her baptismal name was Alexandrina, but she took the name of Catherine upon entering religion. Read More	14 Saints Cyril and Methodius Month View February 14, 2023 Saints Cyril and Methodius Tuesday, February 14 Because their father was an officer in a part of Greece inhabited by many Slavs, these two Greek brothers ultimately became missionaries, teachers, and patrons of the Slavic peoples. Read More	15 Saint Claude de la Colombière Month View February 15, 2023 Saint Claude de la Colombière Wednesday, February 15 This is a special day for the Jesuits, who claim today’s saint as one of their own. It’s also a special day for people who have a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus—a devotion Claude de la Colombière promoted, along with his friend and spiritual companion, Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. The emphasis on God’s love for all was an antidote to the rigorous moralism of the Jansenists, who were popular at the time. Read More	16 Blessed John of Fiesole Month View February 16, 2023 Blessed John of Fiesole Thursday, February 16 The patron of Christian artists was born around 1400 in a village overlooking Florence. He took up painting as a young boy and studied under the watchful eye of a local painting master. He joined the Dominicans at about age 20, taking the name Fra Giovanni. He eventually came to be known as Fra Angelico, perhaps a tribute to his own angelic qualities or maybe the devotional tone of his works. Read More	17 Seven Founders of the Servite Order Month View February 17, 2023 Seven Founders of the Servite Order Friday, February 17 In 1244, under the direction of Saint Peter of Verona, O.P., this small group adopted a religious habit similar to the Dominican habit, choosing to live under the Rule of St. Augustine and adopting the name of the Servants of Mary. The new Order took a form more like that of the mendicant friars than that of the older monastic Orders. Read More	18 Blessed John of Fiesole Month View February 18, 2023 Blessed John of Fiesole Saturday, February 18 The patron of Christian artists was born around 1400 in a village overlooking Florence. He took up painting as a young boy and studied under the watchful eye of a local painting master. He joined the Dominicans at about age 20, taking the name Fra Giovanni. He eventually came to be known as Fra Angelico, perhaps a tribute to his own angelic qualities or maybe the devotional tone of his works. Read More
19 Saint Conrad of Piacenza Month View February 19, 2023 Saint Conrad of Piacenza Sunday, February 19 His reputation for holiness, however, spread quickly. Since his many visitors destroyed his solitude, Conrad went to a more remote spot in Sicily where he lived 36 years as a hermit, praying for himself and for the rest of the world. Read More	20 Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto Month View February 20, 2023 Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto Monday, February 20 Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese shepherd children from Aljustrel, received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fátima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. Read More	21 Saint Peter Damian Month View February 21, 2023 Saint Peter Damian Tuesday, February 21 Maybe because he was orphaned and had been treated shabbily by one of his brothers, Peter Damian was very good to the poor. It was the ordinary thing for him to have a poor person or two with him at table and he liked to minister personally to their needs. Read More	22 Chair of Saint Peter Month View February 22, 2023 Chair of Saint Peter Wednesday, February 22 This feast commemorates Christ’s choosing Peter to sit in his place as the servant-authority of the whole Church. Read More	23 Saint Polycarp Month View February 23, 2023 Saint Polycarp Thursday, February 23 Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, disciple of Saint John the Apostle and friend of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, was a revered Christian leader during the first half of the second century. Read More	24 Blessed Luke Belludi Month View February 24, 2023 Blessed Luke Belludi Friday, February 24 In 1220, Saint Anthony was preaching conversion to the inhabitants of Padua when a young nobleman, Luke Belludi, came up to him and humbly asked to receive the habit of the followers of Saint Francis. Anthony liked the talented, well-educated Luke and personally recommended him to Francis, who then received him into the Franciscan Order. Read More	25 Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio Month View February 25, 2023 Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio Saturday, February 25 Sebastian’s roads and bridges connected many distant places. His final bridge-building was to help men and women recognize their God-given dignity and destiny. Read More
26 Saint Maria Bertilla Boscardin Month View February 26, 2023 Saint Maria Bertilla Boscardin Sunday, February 26 If anyone knew rejection, ridicule and disappointment, it was today’s saint. But such trials only brought Maria Bertilla Boscardin closer to God and more determined to serve him. Read More	27 Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows Month View February 27, 2023 Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows Monday, February 27 Born in Italy into a large family and baptized Francis, Saint Gabriel lost his mother when he was only four years old. He was educated by the Jesuits and, having been cured twice of serious illnesses, came to believe that God was calling him to the religious life. Read More	28 Blessed Daniel Brottier Month View February 28, 2023 Blessed Daniel Brottier Tuesday, February 28 Born in France in 1876, Daniel was ordained in 1899 and began a teaching career. That didn’t satisfy him long. He wanted to use his zeal for the gospel far beyond the classroom. He joined the missionary Congregation of the Holy Spirit, which sent him to Senegal, West Africa. Read More

- Veneration of the Saints
  
  Many popular devotional practices involve veneration of the saints. The saints have a special place in the Body of Christ, which includes both the living and the dead. Through Christ we on earth remain in communion both with the saints in heaven and with the dead who are still in Purgatory. We can pray for those in Purgatory and ask the saints to pray for us. Through their prayers of intercession, the saints in heaven play an integral role in the life of the Church on earth. "For after they have been received into their heavenly home and are present to the Lord, through Him and with Him and in Him they do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, showing forth the merits which they won on earth through the one Mediator between God and man." The saints, the members of the Church who have arrived at perfect union with Christ, join their wills to the will of God in praying for those in the Church who are still on their pilgrimage of faith.
  
  Besides, what the saints can do for us by their prayers, the very practice of venerating the saints does great good for those who are devoted to the saints. By practicing love of the saints we strengthen the unity of the entire Body of Christ in the Spirit.
  This in turn brings us all closer to Christ. "For just as Christian communion among wayfarers brings us closer to Christ, so our companionship with the saints joins us to Christ, from Whom as from its Fountain and Head issues every grace and the very life of the people of God."
  Love of the saints necessarily includes and leads to love of Christ and to love of the Holy Trinity. "For every genuine testimony of love shown by us to those in heaven, by its very nature tends toward and terminates in Christ who is the 'crown of all saints,' and through Him, in God Who is wonderful in his saints and is magnified in them."
  
  —From Popular Devotional Practices
- Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, among whom you are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy.
  Romans 1: 5-7
- Communion of Saints
  
  In the above scripture passage, Paul often referred to the Christian faithful as "saints", with the use of Holy. In common usage, we usually reserve this word for those who have died and have been canonized by a formal process. However, the Church recognizes the "Communion of Saints", which includes the pilgrim Church on earth (those faithful still living), the Church Suffering (those who are in Purgatory), and the rest of the Church who enjoy the direct vision of God (those who are in Heaven). This use of the word "saints" emphasizes the universal call to holiness, which was understood by the early Church.
  -Catechism of the Catholic Church 946-948, 954-962, 2813
  
  Paul refers to Christians as "the holy ones" or "the saints". The Christian community regarded its members as sanctified by baptism (Romans 6:22;15:16, 1 Corinthians6:11; Ephesians 5:26-27). Christians are called to holiness (1 Corinthians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:7), that is, they are called to make their lives conform to the gift they have already received.

Saints

What Catholics Believe About Saints

Why do Catholics pray to the Virgin Mary, the saints, and the angels?

Veneration of the Saints

Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, among whom you are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy. Romans 1: 5-7

Communion of Saints

Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles, among whom you are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be holy.
Romans 1: 5-7