Saints

Saint Andrew Corsini (30 November 1302 – 6 January 1374) was a Carmelite Bishop of Fiesole from 1349 until his death.  He led a worldly life and through the prayers and encouragement of his mother he returned to the Christian life, later entering the Carmelite order.

Later named a bishop he continued an ascetic life (hair shirt, iron girdle, rough bed etc) concerned especially with ministry to the poor.

On Christmas Eve in 1373 as he celebrated Midnight Mass the Blessed Virgin appeared to him and told him he would die on the feast of the Epiphany.  After his death several miracles were reported in connection with his tomb.   His body was found to be his remains were found to be incorrupt in 1385.

He is the patron saint of diplomats, against civil disorder/riots.

St Peter (~1AD to ~65AD):

St. Peter (then called Simon, son of Jonah) was a fisherman in Bethsaida along with his brother, St. Andrew, and the sons of Zebedee, Sts James and John . He was married prior to becoming the first apostle ordained by Jesus in the early Church.
In the Gospel, Our Lord asks, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The disciples give various answers. When He asks, “Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answers, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Our Lord replies:
Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Cephas (Peter) (Petros), and on this rock (petra) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:13–19).

Peter served as bishop of Antioch for seven years and left his family in there before his journey to Rome where he became its first bishop.  During his ministry St. Peter, healed preached and taught. He was the leader of the apostles, selecting a replacement to Judas and becoming the first pope (papa) followed in succession by St. Linus.

St.Peter was crucified in Rome under Emperor Nero. He was crucified upside down at his own request, since he saw himself unworthy to be crucified in the same way as Our Lord Jesus.

St Paul (~5BC to 67AD):

St. Paul (Born Saul) was a Roman citizen by birth, from a devout Jewish family in the city of Tarsus. He was educated in Jerusalem at the school of Gamaliel where he learned classical literature, philosophy, and ethics. Paul confesses that “beyond measure” he persecuted the church of God prior to his conversion. He spoke Greek, Hebrew Latin and was well versed in Stoicism

St. Paul’s conversion can be dated ~32AD while travelling on the road to Damascus, where he reported having experienced a vision of the resurrected Jesus. He was blinded for three days and had to be led into Damascus by the hand. During these three days, Saul took no food or water and spent his time in prayer to God. When Ananias of Damascus arrived, he laid his hands on him and said: “Brother Saul, the Lord, Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.” His sight was restored, and was baptized.

He became one of the most important of all the saints. Many of his writings became Canonical Scripture and form much of the New Testament. He traveled the world, first to Arabia then back to Damascus. He also visited Jerusalem to see St. Peter, the first pope and stayed with him at his home for a half month. After a time he returned to his hometown of  Tarsus, and he preached there until he was called by St. Barnabus to come to Antioch. After a year spent in Antioch, a famine occurred in Jerusalem and he and St Barnabus visited with alms. He travelled to Spain and the East, and finally returned to Rome once again.

In 67 AD, Paul was arrested in Rome for a second time and this time he was beheaded under the Emperor Nero who knew . Paul personally.

Prayer:

Let us pray.
O God, Who made this day holy by the martyrdom of Your Apostle Peter and Paul, grant Your Church to follow in all things the teaching of those from whom she first received the faith.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
R. Amen.

St. Silverius was a native of Campania and was a legitimate son of Pope Hormisdas.  He succeeded Agapitus in the Papacy ruling the Holy See from 8 June 536  until his martyrdom on 2 December 537.  A dispute with the Empress Theodora had him banished to the island of Ponza.  There he wrote to a bishop “I am fed upon the bread of tribulation and the water of affliction, but nevertheless I have not given up, and I will not give up, doing my duty.”

Many miracles at his grave led Christians to venerate him as a saint.  One particularly famous story recalls that fishermen were in a small boat in a storm off Palmarola and they called on Saint Silverius for help. An apparition of Saint Silverius called them to Palmarola, where they survived and he is now ow the patron saint of the island of Ponza, Italy.

Prayer

Look forgivingly on thy flock, Eternal Shepherd, and keep it in thy constant protection, by the intercession of blessed Sylvester thy Martyr and Sovereign Pontiff, whom thou didst constitute Shepherd of the whole Church.

Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.  Amen.

St. Juliana belonged to the noble Falconieri family of Florence. Her father built much of the Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation in  Florence.  Her uncle, Alexis Falconieri, was one of the seven founders of the Servite Order.  Under his influence, she decided at a young age to follow the consecrated life.

Before she had finished her fifteenth year, she renounced a large inheritance, and made to God a vow of virginity, before holy Philip Benizi, from whom she was the first to receive the religious habit.

“She would often fall in to long moments and hours of ecstacy… She was daily caring for the sick in the streets, homes, and in hospitals and was known for using her own lips to suck out the infection of her patients open sores without fear of contracting any illness.”

St. Juliana directed the community of Servite Tertiaries for 35 years and ministered to her sisters in the meanest offices of the work of the house. She passed whole days in incessant prayer, and was often rapt in spirit, and the remainder of her time she toiled to make peace among the citizens, who were at variance together, to recall transgressors from the ways of iniquity, and to nurse the sick.

It was her custom to afflict her own body with whips, knotted cords, iron girdles, watching, and sleeping upon the ground. Upon Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, she ate very sparingly some unpalatable food, upon Fridays she took nothing except the Bread of Angels, and upon Saturdays, besides the Holy Communion, only bread and water.

The self-inflicted hardships of her life brought upon her a disease of the stomach, whereby, when she was seventy years of age, she was brought to the point of death. At this time she was unable to receive Holy Communion because of constant vomiting, she requested the priest to spread a corporal upon her chest and lay the Eucharistic host on it. Shortly thereafter, the host disappeared and Juliana died, on June 19, 1341. The image of a cross, just like the one on the host, was found on her breast.

Adapted from the Catholic Encyclopedia and the Divine Office.

Prayer:

O God, Who miraculously fortified blessed Juliana, Your Virgin, in her last illness with the precious Body of Your Son, grant, we beseech You, that with her merits pleading for us, we also, refreshed and strengthened by the same sacrament in our dying agony, may be brought to our heavenly home.

Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

 

 

“Saint Ephrem the Syrian was a gifted and prolific poet of the fourth century who is said to have written over 3 million lines of verse. He also happens to be a saint and Doctor of the Church who eloquently defended Christian Orthodoxy during a time of great upheaval.

Born in 306 AD in the town of Nisibis in Syria (today called Nusaybin, Turkey), Ephrem became a deacon and a part of a community called the “members of the covenant,” a kind of proto-monasticism in which Christians practiced sexual abstinence and service to the Church. However, unlike later monasticism, the “sons” and “daughters” of the covenant remained in the wider community and worked alongside other Christians, evangelizing and participating in Church life.”

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