September 2012 Saints

Some heroes to imitate and intercessors to call on during September.  Chock full of links (all the underlined words) to learn more if you care to.  Add your favorites to your calendar and do something special to remember them and pray with them on their feast days.  It’s not an exhaustive list, but a great place to start.

• 9/1 St. Giles – (d. c.724) Abbot.  Patron of the physically disabled.  Born a wealthy noble and chose the life of a poor hermit.  He was crippled by a hunter’s arrow, an event that brought attention from the King of France.  He was later known as a wise man and miracle worker.
• 9/2 St. Agricola of Avignon – (c.625-c.700) Benedictine Monk, Bishop (actually co-bishop Avignon, France alongside his own dad, St. Magnus of Avignon).  His name means “farmer” in Latin. Agricola once banished an infestation if storks by his blessing
• 9/3 Pope St. Gregory the Great – (c. 540-604) Benedictine Monk, 64^th Pope, Doctor of the Church.  Sold his possessions and turned his own home into a monastery.  He used the money to build six more.  Liturgical reformer and prolific writer.  Gregorian Chant is named after him.
• 9/3 St. Phoebe – Assisted St. Paul and the early Church.  Romans 16:1-2.  Deaconess? Not in the sense of the Sacrament of Holy Orders (see link).
• 9/5 Bl. Teresa of Calcutta (aka Mother Teresa) – (1910-1997) Nun, Missionary.  Born in Albania as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu.  She joined the Loreto Sisters (Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary) and moved to India.  She heard a “call within the call” and left the Loreto Sisters to found the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity.  Bl. Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 (read her lecture here).  Read more on the Vatican Site by clicking here.  Soak in some of her quotes here at EWTN.
• 9/6 St. Magnus of Fussen – (d.c.666) Benedictine Priest.  Student of St. Columban and St. Gall.  Said to have dispersed a plague of snakes and expelled a dragon from a monastery.  Patron against caterpillars, vermin, and lightning.
• 9/7 Start a Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows for Life today.  Ends on the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows (9/15 see below)
• 9/7 St. Cloud – (522-560) Son of a French King.  His Dad died in battle when he was young and an uncle seized power and killed his brothers.  Never claimed the throne but lived as a holy hermit.  Patron of nail makers and the Diocese of St. Cloud, MN.
• 9/8 Mary’s Birthday! – Nine months after the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
• 9/9 St. Peter Claver – (1580-1654) Spanish Jesuit missionary to present day Columbia.  Dedicated himself to the service of Negro slaves and worked to abolish the slave trade.  Patron of black people and inter-racial justice.
• 9/12 St. Ailbe – (d.c.541) Irish Bishop, disciple of St. Patrick, and very effective Evangelist. Legend has it that he was rejected by his father and left in the woods to die as an infant, but was suckled by a wolf.
• 9/13 St. John Chrysostom – (c.347-407) Bishop, Doctor of the Church, Greek Father of the Church.  Chrysostom means “golden-mouthed”. Known for his sermons.  Exiled twice from his own diocese for challenging people to live better.  Patron of preachers, speakers, and epileptics.  Scroll down at this link to read his sermons.
• 9/14 Exaltation of the Holy Cross – (aka Triumph of the Holy Cross) The date marks the miraculous discovery of the True Cross by St. Helena, and later the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in 335, on the same location.
• 9/15 Our Lady of Sorrows – Luke 2:35; John 19:26-27 The Seven Sorrows Devotion was passed on by St. Bridget and approved by Pope Pius VII in 1815.  Get a beautiful pdf booklet explaining the devotion at this link.
• 9/15 St. Valerian – (d.178) Martyr.  Arrested for evangelizing, escaped, resumed preaching, arrested again and beheaded.
• 9/15 Catherine of Genoa – (1447-1510) “Apostle of Purgatory”. She was in a bad arranged marriage, indifferent to her faith and depressed when struck with an intense vision after going to confession.  She devoted her life to service, became a Franciscan tertiary, and had several more visions that resulted in her extraordinary writings.  Find links to her writings by scrolling down at this link.  Patroness of difficult marriages and victims of unfaithfulness.
• 9/16 St. Cornelius – (d.253) 21^st Pope, Martyr.  Worked to maintain unity in the Church.  Patron against earache and against twitching.
• 9/16 St. Cyprian – (d.258) Pagan Convert, Bishop, Father of the Church, Martyr.  Supported Pope St. Cornelius (directly above).  Beheaded in the city of his birth, Carthage, North Africa.
• 9/17 St. Robert Bellarmine – (1542-1621) Jesuit priest, Cardinal, theologian, Doctor of the Church.  Spiritual father of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, helped St. Frances de Sales, and opposed severe action against Galileo.
• 9/18 St. Joseph of Cupertino (The “Flying Friar”) – (1603-1663) Franciscan priest, mystic.  Born to poverty and uneducated.  Often had visions and ecstasies, and regularly levitated.  Patron of air travelers and astronauts.
• 9/19 St. Januarius – (d. c.305) Bishop, Martyr.  Wild beasts wouldn’t attack him so he was beheaded.  A relic of his blood bubbles and liquefies – some accounts say whenever exposed in the cathedral in Naples, some say when in proximity to his head, some say on his feast day (see link for a discussion of this phenomenon).  Patron of blood banks and against volcanic eruptions.
• 9/20 St. Andrew Kim Taegon – (d.1846) First Korean priest, Martyr.  Korean Martyrs murdered in persecutions during the early days of the Church in Korea are all honored on this date.
• 9/20 St. Paul Chong Hasang – (1795-1839) Korean Martyr. One of the great founders of the Church in Korea.
• 9/21 St. Matthew – (aka Levi) Apostle, Evangelist, former tax collector, Martyr.  He wrote something famous.  Patron of bankers and accountants.
• 9/22 St. Phocas – (d.c.303)  Martyr.  Patron of gardeners.
• 9/23 St. Padre Pio – (1887-1968) Capuchin Franciscan priest, mystic, miracle worker, stigmatic (mysteriously bore the wounds of Christ’s Passion in his own flesh).  Founded the House for the Relief of Suffering hospital.  Read more at EWTN.  There’s a cool little Padre Pio Shrine right downtown NYC, next to Madison Square Gardens.  True, I’ve been there.
• 9/25 St. Cadoc – (d.c.580)  Monk, Martyr.  He was entrusted to a monk as a newborn by his father, a Welsh king and Cadoc eventually grew to be a monk himself.  Legends paint an interesting relationship with this saint and animals.  He also effected many miraculous cures through his prayers.  Patron of Glamorgan and Llancarfan (you know those places, right?), and against cramps, deafness, and glandular disorders.
• 9/26 Sts. Cosmas & Damian – (d. c.303) Twins, Physicians, Martyrs.  They accepted no payment for their services (unmercenaries).  One story tells of the brothers transplanting the leg of a black Ethiopian onto a white patient (click here for more).  Patrons of doctors.
• 9/27 St. Vincent DePaul – (1581-1660) French priest.  Captured by pirates and sold into slavery.  Freed when he converted his owner. Always worked for the poor, enslaved and abandoned.  Founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of Charity and the Congregation of the Mission (Lazarists).  Patron of charities, lepers, and spiritual help.  His body was found incorrupt in 1712.  His heart still is.
• 9/28 St. Wenceslaus – (907-929) Martyr. Raised and educated by his grandmother, St. Ludmilla, who was murdered by his mother.  Overthrew his mother and became a king.  Murdered by his brother at the instigation of his pagan mother. Best known from the Christmas carol, “Good King Wenceslaus”.  Patron of Bohemia and brewers.
• 9/29 Sts. Michael, Gabriel, & Raphael – the 3 angels named in the Bible.  Too much info to list here, see link.  One of my favorite resources on angels is Opus Angelorum, click for a wealth of insight.
• 9/30 St. Jerome – (347-419) Doctor of the Church, Father of the Church, Priest.  Student of St. Gregory of Nazianzen.  Translated the original Hebrew and Greek of the Bible to the common language (vulgate), Latin.  Patron of libraries, translators, and Bible scholars.
• 9/30 St. Gregory the Enlightener – (257-332)  The “Apostle to Armenia”, Miracle Worker.  Held prisoner and tortured for 13 years when his example finally converted his captor.  They worked together from then on to convert most of Armenia.