Book of All Saints

Also Known As
    Aurelius Augustinus
    Doctor of Grace

Memorial
    28 August

Profile
    His father was a pagan who converted on his death bed; his mother was Saint Monica, a devout Christian. Trained in Christianity, he lost his faith in youth and led a wild life. Lived with a Carthaginian woman from the age of 15 through 30. Fathered a son whom he named Adeotadus, which means the gift of God. Taught rhetoric at Carthage and Milan. After investigating and experimenting with several philosophies, he became a Manichaean for several years; it taught of a great struggle between good and evil, and featured a lax moral code. A summation of his thinking at the time comes from his Confessions: "God, give me chastity and continence - but not just now."

    Augustine finally broke with the Manichaeans and was converted by the prayers of his mother and the help of Saint Ambrose of Milan, who baptized him. On the death of his mother he returned to Africa, sold his property, gave the proceeds to the poor, and founded a monastery. Monk. Priest. Preacher. Bishop of Hippo in 396. Founded religious communities. Fought Manichaeism, Donatism, Pelagianism and other heresies. Oversaw his church and his see during the fall of the Roman Empire to the Vandals. Doctor of the Church. His later thinking can also be summed up in a line from his writings:

        Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you.

Born
    13 November 354 at Tagaste, Numidia, North Africa (Souk-Ahras, Algeria) as Aurelius Augustinus

Died
    28 August 430 at Hippo

Canonized
    Pre-Congregation

Patronage
    brewers
    Bridgeport, Connecticut, diocese of
    Cagayan de Oro, Philippines
    Ida, Philippines, diocese of
    Isleta Indian Pueblo
    Kalamazoo Michigan, diocese of
    printers
    Saint Augustine, Florida, city of
    Saint Augustine, Florida, diocese of
    sore eyes
    Superior, Wisconsin, diocese of
    theologians
    Tucson, Arizona, diocese of
    Valletta, Malta

Also known as

    * Bernada
    * Bernardetta
    * Bernardette Soubirous
    * Bernardette
    * Maria Bernadette
    * Marie Bernarde
    * Sleeping Saint of Nevers
 

Memorial
 16 April
 18 February in France

Profile
Oldest of six children in a very poor family headed by Francois and Louise Casterot. Hired out as a servant from age 12 to 14. Shepherdess. On 11 February 1858, around the time of her first Communion, she received a vision of the Virgin; her own account of it is in the Readings section below. She received seventeen more in the next five months, and was led to a spring of healing waters. She moved into a house with the sisters of Nevers at Lourdes where she lived, worked, and learned to read and write. The sisters cared for the sick and indigent, and at age 22 they admitted Bernadette into their order since she was both. Always sick herself, and often mistreated by her superiors, she died with a prayer for Mary's aid. Since the appearances of Mary to young Bernadette in 1858, more than 200 million people have visited the shrine of Lourdes.

Born
7 January 1844 at Lourdes, France

Died
16 April 1879, Nevers, France of natural causes; body incorrupt

Beatified
1925

Canonized
1933 by Pope Pius XI

Name Meaning
brave as a bear

Patronage
 against bodily ills
 illness
 Lourdes, France
 people ridiculed for their piety
 poverty
 shepherdesses
 shepherds
 sick people
 sickness

Also known as
    Don Bosco
    Giovanni Bosco
    Giovanni Melchior Bosco
    John Melchoir Bosco

Memorial
    31 January

Profile
    Son of Venerable Margaret Bosco. John's father died when the boy was 2 years old, and as soon as he was old enough to do odd jobs, he did so for extra money for his family. Bosco would go to circuses, fairs and carnivals, practice the tricks he saw magicians perform, and then present one-boy shows. After his performance, while he still had an audience of boys, he would repeat the homily he had heard earlier in church.

    Worked as a tailor, baker, shoemaker, and carpenter while attending college and the seminary. Ordained in 1841. Teacher. Worked with youth, finding places where they could meet, play and pray, teaching catechism to orphans and apprentices. Chaplain in a hospice for girls. Wrote short treatises aimed at explaining the faith to children, and then taught children how to print them. Friend of Saint Joseph Cafasso, whose biography he wrote, and confessor to Blessed Joseph Allamano. Founded the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) in 1859, priests who work with and educate boys, under the protection of Our Lady, Help of Chistians, and Saint Francis de Sales. Founded the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians in 1872, and Union of Cooperator Salesians in 1875.

Born
    16 August 1815 at Becchi, Castelnuovo d'Asti, Piedmont, Italy

Died
    31 January 1888 at Turin, Italy

Venerated
    24 July 1907 by Pope Pius X

Beatified
    2 June 1929 by Pope Pius XI

Canonized
    1 April 1934 by Pope Pius XI

Name Meaning
    God is gracious; gift of God

Patronage
    apprentices
    boys
    editors
    Mexican young people
    laborers
    schoolchildren
    students
    young people

Also known as
    Doctor of Mystical Theology

Memorial
    14 December
    formerly 24 November

Profile
    Born in poverty. Cared for the poor in the hospital in Medina. Lay Carmelite brother in 1563 at age 21, though he lived stricter than their Rule. Studied at Salamanca. Carmelite priest, ordained in 1567 at age 25. Persuaded by Saint Teresa of Avila to begin the Discalced or barefoot reform within the Carmelite Order, he took the name John of the Cross. Master of novices. Spiritual director and confessor at Saint Teresa's convent. His reforms did not set well with some of his brothers, and he was ordered to return to Medina. He refused, and was imprisoned at Toledo, Spain, escaping after nine months. Vicar-general of Andalusia. His reforms revitalized the Order. Great contemplative and spiritual writer. Proclaimed Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI on 24 August 1926.

Born
    24 June 1542 at Fontiveros, Spain

Died
    14 December 1591 at Ubeda, Andalusia, Spain; relics at Segovia

Name Meaning
    God is gracious; gift of God

Beatified
    25 January 1675 by Pope Clement X

Canonized
    27 December 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII

 Apostle of Charity
 Beloved Apostle
 Beloved Disciple
 Giovanni Evangelista
 John the Divine
 John the Evangelist
Memorial
 27 December (Roman Catholic)
 8 May (Greek Orthodox)
 6 May (before the Latin gate)
Profile
Son of Zebedee and Salome. Fisherman. Brother of Saint James the Great, and called one of the Sons of Thunder. Disciple of Saint John the Baptist. Friend of Saint Peter the Apostle. Called by Jesus during the first year of His ministry, and traveled everywhere with Him, becoming so close as to be known as the beloved disciple. Took part in the Last Supper. The only one of the Twelve not to forsake the Savior in the hour of His Passion, standing at the foot of the cross. Made guardian of Our Lady by Jesus, he took her into his home. Upon hearing of the Resurrection, he was the first to reach the tomb; when he met the risen Lord at the lake of Tiberias, he was the first to recognize Him.

During the era of the new Church, he worked in Jerusalem and at Ephesus. During Jesus' ministry, he tried to block a Samaritan from their group, but Jesus explained the open nature of the new Way, and he worked on that principle to found churches in Asia Minor and baptizing converts in Samaria. Imprisoned with Peter for preaching after Pentecost. Wrote the fourth Gospel, three Epistles, and possibly the Book of Revelation. Survived all his fellow apostles.

Traditional stories:

Emperor Dometian had him brought to Rome, beaten, poisoned, and thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, but he stepped out unharmed and was banished to Patmos instead.

When John was en route to preach in Asia, his ship was wrecked in a storm; all but John were cast ashore. John was assumed dead, but 2 weeks later the waves cast him ashore alive at the feet of his disciple Prochoros.

When John denounced idol worship as demonic, followers of Artemis stoned him; the rocks turned and hit the throwers.

He prayed in a temple of Artemis; fire from heaven killed 200 men who worshipped the idol. When the remaining group begged for mercy, he raised the 200 from the dead; they all converted and were baptized.

Drove out a demon who had lived in a pagan temple for 249 years.

Aboard ship, he purified vessels of sea water for drinking.

Ceonops, a magician, pretended to bring three dead people come to life; the "people" were actually demons who mimicked people so the magician could turn people away from Christ. Through prayer, John caused the magician to drown and the demons to vanish.

Once a year his grave gave off a fragrant dust that cured the sick.
Died
c.101 at Ephesus (modern Turkey); a church was built over his tomb, which was later converted to a mosque
Name Meaning
God is gracious; gift of God
Patronage
 against burns
 against poison
 art dealers
 Asia Minor
 authors
 bookbinders
 booksellers
 burn victims
 Cleveland, Ohio, diocese of
 compositors
 editors
 Eger, Hungary, archdiocese of
 engravers
 friendships
 lithographers
 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, diocese of
 Morra, Netherlands
 painters
 papermakers
 poisoning
 printers
 publishers
 Sundern, Germany
 tanners
 Taos, New Mexico
 theologians
 typesetters
 Umbria, Italy
 writers
 Wroclaw, Poland

Also known as

    * Edith Stein
    * Teresia Benedicta

Memorial

    * 9 August

Profile

    Youngest of seven children in a Jewish family. Edith lost interest and faith in Judaism by age 13. Brilliant student and philospher with an interest in phenomenology. Studied at the University of Göttingen, Germany and in Breisgau, Germany. Earned her doctorate in philosophy in 1916 at age 25. Witnessing the strength of faith of Catholic friends led her to an interest in Catholicism, which led to studying a catechism on her own, which led to “reading herself into” the Faith. Converted to Catholicism in Cologne, Germany; baptized in Saint Martin’s church, Bad Bergzabern, Germany on 1 January 1922.

    Carmelite nun in 1934, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Teacher in the Dominican school in Speyer, Germany and lecturer at the Educational Institute in Munich, Germany. However, anti-Jewish pressure from the Nazis forced her to resign both positions. Profound spiritual writer.

    Both Jewish and Catholic, she was smuggled out of Germany, and assigned to Echt, Netherlands in 1938. When the Nazis invaded the Netherlands, she and her sister Rose, also a convert to Catholicism, were captured and sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz where they died in the ovens like so many others.

Born

    * 12 October 1891 at Breslaw, Dolnoslaskie, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland) as Edith Stein

Died

    * gassed on 9 August 1942 in the ovens of Oswiecim (a.k.a. Auschwitz), Malopolskie (Poland)

Venerated

    * 26 January 1987 by Pope John Paul II

Beatified

    * 1 May 1987 by Pope John Paul II in the cathedral at Cologne, Germany

Canonized

    * 11 October 1998 by Pope John Paul II

Patronage

    * against the death of parents
    * Europe
    * martyrs

Representation

    * Star of David