SAINT BOSWELL

St. Boswell
Boisil OR Boswell of Melrose, Abbot
Feast day: February 23
Death: 661/664
Abbot of Melrose, Scotand, also called Boisil. Boswell trained as a monk under St. Aidan. As abbot, Boswell served as a biblical scholar. He was given a gift of prophecy and was known for his preaching, and he trained Sts. Cuthbert and Eghert.

 Saint Boisil was the prior of the famous abbey of Melrose (Mailross), situated on the Tweed River in a great forest in Northumberland, while Saint Eata was abbot. Both were English youths trained in monasticism by Saint Aidan.

Saint Bede says that Boisil was a man of sublime virtues, imbued with a prophetic spirit. His eminent sanctity drew Saint Cuthbert to Melrose rather than to Lindisfarne in his youth. It was from Boisil that Cuthbert learned the sacred scriptures and virtue.

Saint Boisil had the holy names of the adorable Trinity ever on his lips. He repeated the name Jesus Christ with a wonderful sentiment of devotion, and often with such an abundance of tears that others would weep with him. With tender affection he would frequently say, "How good a Jesus we have!" At the first sight of Saint Cuthbert, Boisil said to bystanders, "Behold a servant of God!"

Bede produces the testimony of Saint Cuthbert, who declared that Boisil foretold to him the chief things that afterwards happened to him. Three years beforehand he foretold of the great pestilence of 664, and that he himself should die of it, but that Eata the abbot should survive.

In addition to continually instructing his brothers in religion, Boisil made frequent excursions into the villages to preach to the poor, and to bring straying souls on to the paths of truth and life. He was also known for his aid to the poor.

Again, Boisil told Cuthbert, recovering from the plague, "You see, brother, that God has delivered you from this disease, nor shall you ever feel it again, nor die at this time; but my death being at hand, neglect not to learn something from me so long as I shall be able to teach you, which will be no more than seven days." So Cuthbert asked, "And what will be best for me to read which may be finished in seven days." To which Boisil replied, "The Gospel of Saint John, which we may in that time read over, and confer upon as much as shall be necessary."

Having accomplished the reading in seven days, the man of God, Boisil, became ill and died in extraordinary jubilation of soul, out of his earnest desire to be with Christ.

During his life he repeatedly instructed his brothers, "That they would never cease giving thanks to God for the gift of their religious vocation; that they would always watch over themselves against self-love and all attachment to their own will and private judgment, as against their capital enemy; that they would converse assiduously with God by interior prayer, and labor continually to attain to the most perfect purity of heart, this being the true and short road to the perfection of Christian virtue."

Bede relates that Saint Boisil continued after his death to interest himself particularly in obtaining divine mercy and grace for his country and his friends. He appeared twice to one of his disciples, giving him a charge to assure Saint Egbert, who had been hindered from preaching the Gospel in Germany, that God commanded him to repair the monasteries of Saint Columba on Iona and in the Orkneys, and to instruct them in the right manner of celebrating Easter.

The relics of Boisil were translated to Durham, and deposited near those of his disciple, Saint Cuthbert, in 1030

SAINT ALEXANDER AKIMETES

St. Alexander Akimetes

feast day formerly on January 15.
Feast day: February 23
Death: 403


Hermit and founder of religious houses. He was born in Asia Minor and studied in Constantinople. There he became a convert to Christianity and began a life of retreat and prayer. Alexander remained a hermit for eleven years in Syria and then started missionary work. He founded a monastery in Mesopotamia and another one in Constantinople. He visited Antioch but found opposition there, which forced him to leave Constantinople and go to Gomon, where he founded a monastery. Alexander is believed to have converted Rabulas, who became the bishop of Edessa. Alexander is also credited with initiating the liturgical service in which his four-hundred monks sang the Divine Office continuously day and night. He died in Gomon.




The story of Alexander is that of a Greek army officer who, moved by Christ's words to the rich young ruler, sold his possessions and became a monk. But he was too energetic for a solitary life. After seven years, in a fit of enthusiasm he left his retreat and set fire to a pagan temple. For this he was imprisoned, but, like Saint Paul, succeeded in converting the governor, who was baptized with all his household.

Securing his freedom, Alexander returned to the desert and fell in with a band of robbers. The result was remarkable, for under his influence they also accepted the Christian faith, and when their leader died, Alexander turned them into a band of monks and their robber's den into a monastery. Appointing one of them as abbot, he went on his way, this time to Mesopotamia, where he established a monastery on the Euphrates.

Alexander was a somewhat restless archimandrite, fond of new places and faces. So, he formed a travelling monastery. With 150 monks he journeyed from place to place, until his followers numbered 300. These he divided into six choirs, to sing in turn the divine office and thus maintain, day and night, unceasing praise, and hence came their name of the Sleepless Ones "akoimetoi". One of these houses he established at Constantinople 

SAINT POLYCARP

St. Polycarp

Feast day: 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.

Saint Ignatius, on his way to Rome to be martyred, visited Polycarp at Smyrna, and later at Troas wrote him a personal letter. The Asia Minor Churches recognized Polycarp’s leadership by choosing him as a representative to discuss with Pope Anicetus the date of the Easter celebration in Rome—a major controversy in the early Church.

Only one of the many letters written by Polycarp has been preserved, the one he wrote to the Church of Philippi in Macedonia.

At 86, Polycarp was led into the crowded Smyrna stadium to be burned alive. The flames did not harm him and he was finally killed by a dagger. The centurion ordered the saint’s body burned. The “Acts” of Polycarp’s martyrdom are the earliest preserved, fully reliable account of a Christian martyr’s death. He died in 155.




olycarp's martyrdom is described in a letter from the Church of Smyrna, to the Church of Philomelium "and to all the brotherhoods of the holy and universal Church", etc. The letter begins with an account of the persecution and the heroism of the martyrs. Conspicuous among them was one Germanicus, who encouraged the rest, and when exposed to the wild beasts, incited them to slay him. His death stirred the fury of the multitude, and the cry was raised "Away with the atheists; let search be made for Polycarp". But there was one Quintus, who of his own accord had given himself up to the persecutors. When he saw the wild beasts he lost heart and apostatized. "Wherefore", comment the writers of the epistle, "we praise not those who deliver themselves up, since the Gospel does not so teach us". Polycarp was persuaded by his friends to leave the city and conceal himself in a farm-house. Here he spent his time in prayer, "and while praying he falleth into a trance three days before his apprehension; and he saw his pillow burning with fire. And he turned and said unto those that were with him, 'it must needs be that I shall be burned alive'". When his pursuers were on his track he went to another farm-house. Finding him gone they put two slave boys to the torture, and one of them betrayed his place of concealment. Herod, head of the police, sent a body of men to arrest him on Friday evening. Escape was still possible, but the old man refused to flee, saying, "the will of God be done". He came down to meet his pursuers, conversed affably with them, and ordered food to be set before them. While they were eating he prayed, "remembering all, high and low, who at any time had come in his way, and the Catholic Church throughout the world". Then he was led away.

Herod and Herod's father, Nicetas, met him and took him into their carriage, where they tried to prevail upon him to save his life. Finding they could not persuade him, they pushed him out of the carriage with such haste that he bruised his shin. He followed on foot till they came to the Stadium, where a great crowd had assembled, having heard the news of his apprehension. "As Polycarp entered into the Stadium a voice came to him from heaven: 'Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man'. And no one saw the speaker, but those of our people who were present heard the voice." It was to the proconsul, when he urged him to curse Christ, that Polycarp made his celebrated reply: "Fourscore and six years have I served Him, and he has done me no harm. How then can I curse my King that saved me." When the proconsul had done with the prisoner it was too late to throw him to the beasts, for the sports were closed. It was decided, therefore, to burn him alive. The crowd took it upon itself to collect fuel, "the Jews more especially assisting in this with zeal, as is their wont" (cf. the Martyrdom of Pionius). The fire, "like the sail of a vessel filled by the wind, made a wall round the body" of the martyr, leaving it unscathed. The executioner was ordered to stab him, thereupon, "there came forth a quantity of blood so that it extinguished the fire". (The story of the dove issuing from the body probably arose out of a textual corruption. See Lightfoot, Funk, Zahn. It may also have been an interpolation by the pseudo-Pionius.)

The officials, urged thereto by the Jews, burned the body lest the Christians "should abandon the worship of the Crucified One, and begin to worship this man". The bones of the martyr were collected by the Christians, and interred in a suitable place. "Now the blessed Polycarp was martyred on the second day of the month of Kanthicus, on the seventh day before the Kalends of March, on a great Sabbath at the eighth hour. He was apprehended by Herodes ... in the proconsulship of Statius Quadratus etc." This subscription gives the following facts: the martyrdom took place on a Saturday which fell on 23 February. Now there are two possible years for this, 155 and 166. The choice depends upon which of the two Quadratus was proconsul of Asia. By means of the chronological data supplied by the rhetorician Aelius Aristides in certain autobiographical details which he furnishes, Waddington who is followed by Lightfoot ("St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp", I, 646 sq.), arrived at the conclusion that Quadratus was proconsul in 154-55 (the proconsul's year of office began in May). Schmid, a full account of whose system will be found in Harnack's "Chronologie", arguing from the same data, came to the conclusion that Quadratus' proconsulship fell in 165-66.

For some time it seemed as if Schmid's system was likely to prevail, but it has failed on two points:

Aristides tells us that he was born when Jupiter was in Leo. This happened both in 117 and 129. Schmid's system requires the later of these two dates, but the date has been found to be impossible. Aristides was fifty-three years and six months old when a certain Macrinus was governor of Asia. "Now Egger (in the Austrian 'Jahreshefte', Nov., 1906) has published an inscription recording the career of Macrinus, which was erected to him while he was governing Asia, and he pointed out that as the birth of Aristides was either in 117 or 129, the government of Macrinus must have been either in 170-171, or 182-183, and he has shown that the later date is impossible". (Ramsay in "The Expository Times", Jan., 1907.)
Aristides mentions a Julianus who was proconsul of Asia nine years before Quadratus. Now there was a Claudius Julianus, who is proved by epigraphic and numismatic evidence to have been proconsul of Asia in 145. Schmid produced a Salvius Julianus who was consul in 148 and might, therefore, have been the Proconsul of Asia named by Aristides. But an inscription discovered in Africa giving the whole career of Salvius Julianus disposes of Schmid's hypothesis. The result of the new evidence is that Salvius Julianus never governed Asia, for he was proconsul of Africa, and it was not permitted that the same person should hold both of these high offices. The rule is well known; and the objection is final and insurmountable (Ramsay, "Expos. Times", Feb., 1904. Ramsay refers to an article by Mommsen, "Savigny Zeitschrift fur Rechtgeschichte", xxiii, 54). Schmid's system, therefore, disappears, and Waddington's, in spite of some very real difficulties (Quadratus' proconsulship shows a tendency to slip a year out of place), is in possession. The possibility of course remains that the subscription was tampered with by a later hand. But 155 must be approximately correct if St. Polycarp was appointed bishop by St. John.
There is a life of St. Polycarp by pseudo-Pionius, compiled probably in the middle of the fourth century. It is "altogether valueless as a contribution to our knowledge of Polycarp. It does not, so far as we know, rest on any tradition, early or late, and may probably be regarded as a fiction of the author's own brain" (Lightfoot, op. cit., iii, 431). The postscript to the letter to the Smyrneans: "This account Gaius copied from the papers of Irenaeus ... and I, Socrates, wrote it down in Corinth ... and I, Pionius again wrote it down", etc. probably came from the pseudo-Pionius. The very copious extracts from the Letter of the Smyrneans given by Eusebius are a guarantee of the fidelity of the text in the manuscripts that have come down.

BLESSED ABILIUS OF ALEXANDRIA

Abilius of Alexandria
Feast day: February 22

Died . 98.


Saint Abilius was consecrated the third patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt, following Saints Mark and Anianus

BLESSED ANGELUS PORTASOLE

Blessed Angelus Portasole
Feast day: February 22

Born in Perugia, Italy
Died at Ischia in 1334.

Angelus was elected bishop of Iglesias in Sardinia in 1330.

BLESSED PASCHASIUS OF VIENNE

Paschasius of Vienne
Feast day: February 22
Died  312. At the siege of Vienne (Dauphine)

He is 11th bishop, Paschasius, was eloquent

SAINTS THALASSIUS , LIMUNEUS

St. Thalassius & Limuneus

Feast day: February 22
Death: 5th century
Two hermits who lived for many years in a cave near Cyrrhus (modern Syria). Limnaeus also spent time with St. Maro. He built two houses for the blind and was a noted healer. Knowledge of them comes from the historian and bishop of Cyrrhus,Theodoret


Bishop Theodoret of Cyrrhus (Syria) also records information about his contemporaries Thalassius and Limnaeus in his Philotheus . He was endowed with extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit. His disciple Saint Limnaeus was famous for miraculous cures of the sick, while he himself bore patiently the sharpest colics and other distempers without any human succor. He opened his enclosure only to Theodoret, his bishop, but spoke to others through a window

BLESSED STEFAN WINCENTY FRELICHOWSKI

Bl. Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski

Feast day: February 22

Born 22 January 1913 Chelmza, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Congress Poland
Died 23 February 1945 (aged 32) in Dachau concentration camp, Nazi Germany
Beatified By: Pope John Paul II in Poland in 1998.


Blessed Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski was a Polish priest, scout and is patron of Polish Scouts





He was part of the scouts and was affiliated with several other groups during the course of his ecclesial education though maintained strong links to these groups after his ordination to the priesthood. He was arrested not long after World War II began and the Gestapo moved him to several concentration camps before sending him to Dachau where he died from disease.


Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski was born on 22 January 1913 in Chelmza as the third of seven children to the baker Ludwika Frelichowski and Marta Olszewska.His siblings were: Czeslaw, Leonard (then himself after), Vincent, Eleanor, Stefania and Marcjanna Marta.

In 1923 he began his high school studies at Pelpin where on 26 May 1927 he was admitted into the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin. He joined the scouts on 21 March 1927 and he later Frelichowski served as its patrol leader and later as the troop leader; on 26 June 1927 he was promoted to a different scout rank. In June 1931 he graduated from high school and then went on to commence his studies to become a priest. He was an active member of the Scout Club while he underwent his ecclesial studies.[1] Furthermore, he was an active member of the Christian Life group in Chelmza. Since he was nine he had been an Altar server. During his education for the priesthood in Pelpin he was active in the temperance movement and collaborated with Caritas.

On 14 March 1937 he received his ordination to the priesthood in the Pelpin Cathedral from Bishop Stanislaw Wojciech Okoniewski. He first served the bishop as an aide and then served as a priest in Pelpin and in Torun before continuing his studies at the Lwow college. In Torun he was responsible for the parish press and from 1 July 1938 was the vicar of the Assumption parish church. In 1938 he became the leader of the Old Scouts and the chaplain of the scout district of Pomerania.

The Gestapo arrested him on 11 September 1939 along with all parish priests in his area and released most of them save for him on 12 September. On 18 October 1939 and he was imprisoned in the Fort VII camp on a temporary basis before being sent on 8 January 1940 with around 200 prisoners to another camp. On 10 January 1940 he was sent to the concentration camp at Stutthof and then later on 6 April to Grenzdorf and Sachsenhausen before being sent to Dachau as his final destination on 13 December 1940.

Frelichowski contracted typhus while tending to prisoners who had the disease and he also contracted pneumonia. He died on 23 February 1945 and his remains were lined in a white sheet decorated with flowers before he was cremated. But before that the prisoner Stanislaw Bieniek made a death mask and a cast of the late priest's right hand.

Beatification
The beatification cause started in a diocesan process spanning from 1964 until closure on 18 February 1995 at which point the Congregation for the Causes of Saints validated it in Rome on 12 May 1995. The formal introduction came on 12 November 1993 and he was title as a Servant of God. The postulation sent the Positio to the C.C.S. in 1998 and theologians approved it later on 15 December 1998 as did the C.C.S. on 16 February 1999. Pope John Paul II approved his beatification on 26 March 1999 after confirming that Frelichowski died "in odium fidei" ("with odor of the faith") and so beatified him later while in Poland on 7 June 1999.

On 22 March 2002 he was made the patron for Polish scouts after the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments approved the request that had been lodged in 1999.

SAINT RAYNERIUS

St. Raynerius
Raynerius of Beaulieu

Feast day: February 22
Death: 967
Benedictine monk. He served at Beaulieu, near Limoges, France.

SAINT PAPIAS OF HIERAPOLIS

St. Papias of Hierapolis

Feast day: February 22
Birth: 70
Death: 120/ 155
Bishop Papias of Hieropolis in Phrygia, Asia Minor. who had spoken with those who had known the Apostles, including Saint Polycarp,  Little is known about him beyond the fragments of his own writings and the statements of St. Irenaeus that he was a companion of St. Polycarp and "a man of long ago." His own work, Expositions on the Oracles of the Lord, is preserved only through quotations found in Irenaeus and Eusebius of Caesarea.

SAINT MAXIMIAN OF RAVENNA

St. Maximian of Ravenna


Feast day: February 22
Birth: 499 in Pola, Italy
Death: 556

Bishop of Ravenna, Italy, ordained by Pope Vigilius in 546. Maximian erected St. Vitalis Basilica, which was dedicated in the presence of Emperor Justinian and his wife, Theodora.



 Maximianus was consecrated bishop of Ravenna in 546 by Pope Vigilius. His flock refused his leadership for a long time because he was too humble. He completed the basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, the dedication of which was attended by Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora. He also built San Apollinare in Classe and several other churches.

Maximianus devoted himself to the revision of liturgical books and to the emendation of the Latin text of the Bible, and commissioned a large number of illuminated manuscripts. For the high altar in Ravenna he had a hanging made of the most costly cloth, which was embroidered with a portrayal of the entire life of Jesus. In another hanging he had portraits of all his predecessors embroidered on gold ground

In a 6th century mosaic at Ravenna, Saint Maximianus is in attendance upon Emperor Justinian. The saint holds a cross and wears a chasuble and stole. His name is over his head 

MARTYRS OF ARABIA

Martyrs of Arabia


Feast day: February 22

Christians who died for the faith in the lands east of the Jordan River and in the mountains south of the Dead Sea. Many holy martyrs, who were cruelly slain under the emperor Galerius Maximian" in the desert east of the Jordan River and the mountainous region south of the Dead Sea and were commemorated in the Roman Martyrology.

BLESSED JOHN THE SAXON

Bl. John the Saxon
Blessed John the Saxon, OSB Monk
Feast day: February 22
Born in Old Saxony
Death: 895
Monk and martyr. A monk in a monastery in France, he was invited to go to England by King Alfred the Great and to assist in the restoration of the Christian faith in the wake of the severe and destructive invasions by the Danes. Appointed abbot of Athelingay by Alfred, John served with vigor and distinction until his murder one night by two French monks under his care.

SAINT ELWIN

St. Elwin
Also called Elvis or Allen.
Feast day: February 22
Death: 6th century
Companion of St. Breaca from Ireland to Cornwall, England,


 Saint Elwin may be the titular saint of Saint Allen's Church in Cornwall. He is said to have accompanied Saint Breaca to Cornwall, but the traditions are not entirely clear or consistent

SAINT BARADATES

St. Baradates
Baradates, Hermit
Also known as Baradatus
Feast day: February 22
Death: 460
Hermit of Cyrrhus, Syria, a counselor of Byzantine Emperor Leo I. Baradates lived a solitary existence of penance and austerity. He was consulted by Emperor Leo I concerning the Council of Chalcedon.


 Theodoret praises the Syrian hermit, Saint Baradates, whom he calls, "the admirable." Baradates lived in a hut made of wooden trellis, leaving it open to the weather. Like other desert solitaries, he clothed himself in the skins of wild animals and punished his body. Detachment from the needs of his body permitted him to place himself continually in the presence of God. By constant prayer he gained wisdom and knowledge of heavenly things. Emperor Leo I of Constantinople wrote to Baradates to consult with him about the council of Chalcedon. Although preferring his eremitical life, when ordered by the patriarch of Antioch to leave it, he obeyed readily. The zeal and divine grace supported his weak constitution

SAINT ATHANASIUS

St. Athanasius
Athanasius of Nicomedia, Abbot
Feast day: February 22
Death: 818
Born in Constantinople
Abbot who suffered in the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Leo V the Armenian. Athanasius was abbot of Paulo-Petrine Monastery near Nicomedia. The iconoclast controversy put him at odds with the Byzantine Emperor Leo the Armenian , who apparently persecuted him.

SAINT ARISTION

St. Aristion
Aristion of Salamis
Feast day: February 22
Death: 1st century


Martyr and disciple, one of the original seventy-two sent out into the world. Aristion preached on Cyprus and is listed as a martyr in Salamis. Other traditions list his martyrdom at Alexandria, Egypt.

SAINT MARGARET OF CORTONA

St. Margaret of Cortona



Feast day: February 22


Birth: 1247
Death: 1297


Margaret of Cortona, penitent, was born in Loviana in Tuscany in 1247. Her father was a small farmer. Margaret's mother died when she was seven years old. Her stepmother had little care for her high-spirited daughter.Margaret of Cortona, OFM Tert. (RM)
Born in Laviano / Alviano, Tuscany, Italy, 1247; died in Cortona, Italy, February 22, 1297; canonized by Benedict XIII in 1728.

Margaret of Cortona was raised in a poor farm family by her cold stepmother after her own mother died when she was seven. The harshness of her stepmother, combined with beautiful Margaret's indulged propensity to seek pleasure, led her into seduction by nobleman of Montepulciano when she was 18. She followed him to his castle and became his mistress for nine years, always hoping that he would make good his promise to marry her.

She would ride arrogantly out of his castle, dressed in fine silks and despising the poor. She longed to marry the young man, but he refused, even when she bore him a son. One day he failed to return to the castle. Two days later his dog returned alone. He plucked at her dress until Margaret followed him through a wood to the foot of an oak tree, where he began to scratch. To her horror, she found the disfigured, decaying body of her lover in the leaf- covered pit where his murderers had thrown him.

The sight of this rotting carcass, who had been her gallant, struck her with such terror of the divine judgment and the treachery of this world that she became a perfect penitent. When he died, she was evicted from his castle, and gave back all his gifts. In despair she publicly confessed her sins, dressed herself as a penitent, and then tried to atone for her sins by infinite goodness to the poor and prayer.

Unsure of her next step, she returned to her father's home with her son. She threw herself at his feet bathing them in tears to beg his pardon for her contempt of his authority and fatherly admonitions. She spent days and nights in tears. She also attempted to repair the scandal she had caused by going to the parish church with a rope around her neck and asking public pardon. Her father wished to take her back, but her stepmother refused to have such a public sinner under the same roof.

Driven away in shame, she was tempted to give up her good resolves, but she prayed, and an inner voice bade her go at once to Cortona and to confide the care of her soul to the Franciscans. On the way she met two ladies, Marinana and Raneria Moscari, who listened to her story. Moved with pity, they took the mother and her son into their home and care. Later they introduced her to the Franciscans, who soon became her fathers in Christ and they arranged for her son's education at Arezzo (he later became a Franciscan). For three years Margaret struggled diligently against temptation. She was supported in her task by the counsel of two friars, John da Castiglione and Giunta Bevegnati, who was her confessor and later her biographer.

Now, under the severest mortifications, Margaret began her mystical ascent. The wise Franciscans tried to make the distraught woman modify her extreme grief and penances that disfigured her body. Eventually Margaret's peace of mind returned. She began to experience the love of Jesus and to believe that her sins had been forgiven.

Margaret earned her living by nursing the ladies of Cortona, but later gave this up in order to devote herself more fully to prayer and to the corporal work of mercy of caring for the sick poor in her own small cottage. She lived in seclusion on the alms of others. Any unbroken food that she received, she gave to the poor. For herself and her son, Margaret kept only the scraps.

She wanted to become a tertiary of the Friars Minor, but they made her wait for three years before giving her the Franciscan habit. From the time she became a tertiary, Margaret advanced rapidly in prayer and was drawn into very direct communion with her God. Thus, her ecstatic life began in 1277. Christ set her up as an example to sinners and her influence was amazing--many flocked to her for counsel.

She received from Christ these words: "I have made you a mirror for sinners. From you will the most hardened learn how willingly I am merciful to them, in order to save them. You are a ladder for sinners, that they may come to me through your example. My daughter, I have set you as a light in the darkness, as a new star that I give to the world, to bring light to the blind, to guide back again those who have lost the way, and to raise up those who are broken down under their sins. You are the way of the despairing, the voice of mercy."

From near and far came sin-plagued folk to hear from Margaret a word of comfort and counsel. Margaret sent them to the Franciscans and particularly to her confessor, who was later her biographer. When he complained that there were so many of these people, Margaret heard the words: "Your confessor has forbidden you to send him so many men and women who have been converted through your words and tears. He said to you that he could not clean so many stables in one day. Say to him that when he hears confession he does not clean stables, he prepares for me a dwelling in the souls of the penitent."

Not only did the living come to her, so did the dead. The illustrious penitent Margaret distinguished herself by her charity to the suffering souls in Purgatory. They appeared to her in great numbers to ask her assistance. One day she saw before her two travelers, who begged her help to repair injustices they had committed: "We are two merchants, who have been assassinated on the road by brigands. We could not go to confession or receive absolution; but by the mercy of our Divine Savior and His Holy Mother, we had the time to make an act of perfect contrition, and we have been saved. But our torments in Purgatory are terrible, because in the exercise of our profession we have committed many acts of injustice. Until these acts are repaired we can have no repose nor alleviation. This is why we beseech you, servant of God, to go and find such and such of our relatives and heirs, to warn them to make restitution as soon as possible of all the money which we have unjustly acquired." They gave the holy penitent the necessary information and disappeared.

The communications Margaret received did not all relate to herself. In one case she was told to send a message to Bishop William of Arezzo, warning him to amend his ways and to stop fighting with the people of his diocese and living like a worldly prince and soldier rather than a shepherd of souls. Often Margaret was able to mediate in factional disputes and make peace. In 1289, she strove to avert war when Bishop William was again at strife with the Guelfs. Margaret went to him in person but he would not listen. Ten days later he was killed in battle.

She established an association of women to act as nurses and men to finance hospitals for the poor. In 1286, Bishop William of Arezzo gave permission for a whole community of women (whom she called the 'Poverelle') to develop her initiative on a permanent basis. At first Margaret nursed the poor in her own home. Then a lady named Diabella proved a house. The town councilors, at the urging of Uguccio Casali, gave money with which Margaret founded a hospital, Spedale di Santa Maria della Misericordia, for the poor dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy.

About 1289, false and vicious rumors were spread about her relations to the friars. Father Giunta was transferred to Siena, but it was later proven that the rumors were the evil work of gossips, and the holiness of her life became apparent to all. Not only did people come to her for counsel, but also for healing.

The more advanced Margaret became spiritually, the greater were her self-imposed penances. By the end of her life she slept very little and only on the bare ground; ate only bread and raw vegetables with water to drink; wore a rough hair-shirt next to her skin, and used the scourge freely on herself.

It is recorded that at the time of her death at age 50, Margaret saw the many souls that she assisted out of Purgatory form a procession to escort her to Heaven. God revealed this favor granted the Saint Margaret through a holy person of Castello. This servant of God, rapt in ecstasy at the moment of Margaret's death, saw her soul in the midst of this brilliant cortege, and on recovering from her rapture, related the vision to her friends.

On the day of her death, after 29 years of doing penance, she was publicly proclaimed a saint. That same year the citizens of Cortona began to build a church in her honor. All that is left of this original church built by Nicholas and John Pisano is a window.

When the holy penitent died, her corpse was embalmed and solemnly entombed. But people wished to see and venerate the body more closely. Therefore, in 1456, it was taken out of its old shrine, freed of all dust that could have seeped in, newly dressed, and placed so that it was possible to take it out easily and expose it for veneration. Her body is still preserved under the high altar of a new church of which she is the titular patron.

She is the patroness of penitent women 

SAINT GEOGE OF AMASTRIS

George of Amastris
Died 825
George was born in the town ton Kromnenon, located near Amastris in Paphlagonia, to a local noble family, around the middle of the 8th century.Saint George was a hermit on Mount Sirik, then a monk of Bonyssa, and finally bishop of Amastris. He successfully defended his episcopal city during the Saracen attacks

As a young man, he began a career in the church administration, but left it to become a hermit on Mt. Agrioserike. Still later, he joined a cenobitic monastic community at a place called Bonyssa. When the see of Amastris fell vacant in 790, the Patriarch of Constantinople Tarasios appointed George to fill it, despite the emperor favouring a different person for the post.

George was consecrated as bishop in Constantinople. During his time as bishop of Amastris, George presided over the return of the remains of John of Gothia to the latter's native city of Parthenia, Crimea. George died early in the reign of Emperor Nikephoros I, of whom George was a notable supporter.

The saint is credited with several miracles, including saving the city from a raid by the hitherto-unknown Rus', who intended to despoil the saint's tomb.

SAINT DANIEL SAINT VERDA

Daniel and Verda
Died 344.
 Daniel was a priest; Verda a woman. The two were arrested and tortured in Persia during the persecution of King Shapur II. They are highly venerated in the East

Two years after the martyrdom of Saint Milles, Daniel, a priest, and a virgin consecrated to God, named Verda, which in Chaldaic signifies a rose, were apprehended in the province of the Razicheans, in Persia, by an order of the governor, and put to all manner of torments for three months, almost without intermission. Among other tortures, their feet being bored through, were put into frozen water for five days together. The governor, seeing it impossible to overcome their constancy, condemned them to lose their heads. They were crowned on the 25th of the moon of February, which was that year the 21st of that month, in the year of Christ 344, and of King Sapor II the thirty-fifth. 

SAINT IRENE

Irene

379 
Irene Spanish Sister of Pope Saint Damasus . Irene was the sister of Pope Saint Damasus I  304-384. She and her devout mother Laurentia are said to have often spent whole nights in the catacombs of Rome

BLESSED PEPIN OF LANDEN

Blessed Pepin of Landen
Also known as Pippin
Feast day: February 21
Birth: 580
Death: 640 /646


Frankish mayor of the palace, duke of Brabant, and the chief political figure


Pepin was, perhaps, the most important, powerful person in the empire during his age. As duke of Brabant and mayor of the palace of kings Clotaire II, Dagobert I, and Sigebert III, he determined much of the policy of the Franks. Pepin, the ancestor of the Carolingian dynasty of French kings, was the husband of Blessed Itta and father Grimoald, of Saint Gertrude of Nivelles and Saint Begga. He is described as "a lover of peace and the constant defender of truth and justice," though it may not seem that way at first glance.

Pepin and Bishop Arnulf of Metz aided King Clotaire II of Neustria in overthrowing Queen Brunhilda of Austrasia in 613. In recognition of the important roles they played, Clotaire appointed them mayors of the palace to rule Austrasia for Clotaire's son Dagobert I from 623. When Pepin rebuked Dagobert (who had succeeded his father about 629) for his licentious life, Dagobert discharged him and he retired to Aquitaine. Dagobert still respected him enough to appoint him tutor of his three-year-old son Sigebert before his death in 638, and Pepin returned and ruled the kingdom until his own death the following year.

Pepin worked to spread the faith throughout the kingdom, defended Christian towns from Slavic invaders, and chose responsible men to fill vacant sees. The marriage of his daughter, Begga, and Bishop Arnulf's son, Segislius, produced Pepin of Herstal, the first of the Carolingian dynasty in France. Pepin of Landen was buried at Landen, but his relics were later translated to Nivelle, where they are now enshrined with those of his wife and daughter Gertrude. Here is feast is kept. Pepin was never canonized but is listed as a saint in some of the old Belgic martyrologies and a litany published by the authority of the archbishop of Mechlin 

SAINT VERULUS AND COMPANIONS

St. Verulus and Companions

Feast day: February 21
Death: 434
According to the pre-1970 Roman Martyrology.
 Verulus, Secundinus, Siricius, Felix, Servulus, Saturninus, Fortunatus, and 19 companions were martyred in northern Africa at Hadrumetum. The Roman Martyrology lists them as suffering during the Vandal persecution. 

SAINT VALERIUS

St. Valerius
Valerius of Astorga

Feast day: February 21
Death: 695
Abbot of the Isidorian revival. Born in Astorga, Spain, he entered the monastery of San Pedro de Montes and eventually became abbot there. He was the author of several ascetical works and was the last of the great educational champions following the ideals of St. Isidore of Seville.Several of his ascetical writings have survived.

SAINT PETER THE SCRIBE

St. Peter the Scribe
Also known as Peter Mavimenus
Feast day: February 21
Death: 743


Martyr. Saint Peter was a scribe (chartularius) in Majuma, Palestine Peter was caught in the Islamic invasion of the region and was ultimately murdered by the Arab conquerors from Damascus.

SAINT PETER DAMIAN

St. Peter Damian

Peter Damian

Feast day: February 21
Birth: Ravenna, Italy, 100
Death: Faenza, Italy, February 22, 1072


St. Peter Damian is one of those stern figures who seem specially raised up, like St. John Baptist,

The parents of this brilliant teacher and writer died shortly after his birth. Peter's elder brother used the young lad as an unpaid servant until another brother, Damian, found Peter tending pigs and rescued him, sending him to be educated at Faenza and Parma. This brother was a priest and Peter took his Christian name Damian as his own surname.

Peter Damian responded readily to his teachers and became proficient enough in grammar, rhetoric, and law that he later taught at Ravenna. He began to practice austerities by himself, gave liberal alms, seldom went without some poor persons at his table, and took pleasure in serving them with his own hands. But he longed to do more for his Lord. The Lord answered his prayer by sending two religious of Fonte Avellana to visit his home. They told him much about their way of life. So, at age 34 (1035) he became a Benedictine monk at Fonte Avellana, a monastery founded 20 years earlier by Blessed Rudolph.

The brothers of Fonte Avellana lived as hermits in bare cells, utterly disciplined and given to constant study of the Bible. Their regimen was so austere that, for a time, Peter's health broke down. Nevertheless, Peter became a model monk who occupied himself by studying Scripture and patristic theology, and transcribing manuscripts. He was elected prior of this small, poor community in 1043. Others were attracted to imitate his life, and Peter founded five more religious houses for them. He became famous for his uncompromising attitude toward worldliness and denunciations of simony and clerical marriage.

In 1057, Peter was named cardinal-bishop of Ostia by Pope Stephen IX. His fame spread as he took a leading role in the Gregorian Reform. In 1059, he participated in the Lateran synod that proclaimed the right of the cardinals alone to elect future bishops of Rome. After a brief time as bishop, with the permission of Pope Alexander II (which previously had been denied by Nicholas II) and under the condition that he continue to serve the Holy See as needed, Peter returned to his cell. There he wrote unceasingly, on purgatory, the Eucharist, and other theological and ascetical topics, but he also wrote poetry. While his Latin verse is among the very best of the Middle Ages, especially that in honor of Pope Saint Gregory, which begins "Anglorum iam Apostolus," Peter Damian never considered his learning something of which to boast. What counted, he said, was to worship God, not to write about Him. What use was it to construct a grammatically correct sentence containing the word 'God,' if you could not pray to him properly.

In his ideas about monasticism, the saint always looked back to the example of the early desert monks. Although he regarded the monastic life as inferior to eremitic life, he advocated regular canoical life for cathedral clergy, and was a precursor of the devotional development to the Passion of Christ. In some respects he was not unlike the highly-critical Saint Jerome in character, fervor, and impatience. Although he was kind to his monks and indulgent to penitents, his writings reveal his severity. It may seem odd to us that Peter Damian reproved the bishop of Florence for playing a single game of chess, or objected strenuously to monks seating themselves as they chanted the Divine Office. His onslaught on clerical misconduct is called The Gomorrah Book. But the austerities he prescribed for others, he practiced himself. When not employed in prayer or work, he made wooden spoons and other utensils to get his hands from idleness.

Peter also continued the work of ecclesiastical reform. He opposed the antipopes, especially Honorius II. And he went on missions for the pope--once even managing to persuade the king of Germany not to divorce his wife, Bertha. When Henry, archbishop of Ravenna, had been excommunicated for grievous enormities, Peter was sent by Alexander II as legate to settle the troubles. When he arrived at Ravenna, he found the bishop had died and brought his accomplices to repentance. Peter died at Faenza on route back to from Ravenna, which he had just reconciled with the Holy See. His vita was written by his disciple John of Lodi. Although he was never formally canonized, local cults arose at his death, and, in 1828, Pope Leo XII extended his feast to the Universal Church


"Here they live in endless being:
Passingness hath passed away:
Here they bloom, they thrive, they flourish,
For decayed is all decay."

Saint Peter Damian from his Hymn on the Glory of Paradise.

SAINT PATERIUS

St. Paterius
Paterius of Brescia
Feastday: February 21
Death: 606
A monk from Rome who became the bishop of Brescia, in Lombardy, Italy.
He was a disciple and friend of Pope Saint Gregory the Great. He was a notary in the Roman Church, who was raised to the see of Brescia, Lombardy. Paterius was a prolific writer on Biblical subjects 

SAINT GUNDEBERT

St. Gundebert
Also known as Gombert, Gumbert, Gondelbert
Feastday: February 21
Death: 676


 The Frankish Bishop Saint Gundebert abandoned the episcopacy of Sens for a more perfect life as a hermit in the Vosges, where he founded the abbey of Senones 

SAINT FELIX OF METZ

St. Felix of Metz

Feastday: February 21
Death: 2nd century
Third bishop of Metz, France.

 Saint Felix is described as the third bishop of Metz. He is said to have occupied that cathedra for over 40 years in the immediate post-Apostolic age.

SAINT AVITUS II OF CLERMONT

St. Avitus II of Clermont


Feastday: February 21
Death: 691/689
Bishop and defender of the Church. He was appointed bishop of Clermont, France, in 676.

 Bishop of Clermont, Auvergne, France, from 676 until his death, Avitus was succeeded by his younger brother, Saint Bonet. Avitus was one of the great bishops of his age in the development of ecclesiastic training

SAINT SEVERIAN

St. Severian

Feastday: February 21
Death: 452


Bishop and martyr. The bishop of Scythopolis in Galilee. He attended the Council of Chalcedon (451) and took part in the complete triumph of the orthodox Christian cause against the heretics of the era. On his return home he was assassinated by a group of heretics at the command of Emperor Theodosius II.

St. Severian was murdered by the Eutychian heretics with the connivance of Empress Eudoxia. While the decrees of the council had been accepted by most of the monks of Palestine, the Eutychian monk Theodosius, a man with an explosive temper, did not. With the help of Eudoxia, Theodosius and his monks managed to have Patriarch Juvenal of Jerusalem exiled and himself consecrated as bishop. Thereafter, Theodosius began to persecute the orthodox Christians. Saint Severianus, like many other Christians before him and at that time, resisted Juvenal and received the crown of martyrdom. He was seized by soldiers, dragged from the city, and murdered.

SAINT VALERIUS OF CONSERANS

St. Valerius

Feastday: February 20

The first bishop of Conserans, France. He was mentioned in the writings of St. Gregory of Tours.

SAINT SILVANUS

St  Silvanus

Feastday: February 20
Death: 304
Martyrs with Peleus,Tyrannio, Nilus, and Zenobius under Emperor Diocletian. According to Eusebius of Caesarea, Peleus and Nilus were Egyptian bishops martyred in Palestine, while the Bollandist scholars declared Tyrannio and Zenobius to have been martyred at Antioch modern Turkey and Silvanus at Emesa modern Syria.

SAINT TYRANNIO

St. Tyrannio

Feastday: February 20
Death: 304
Martyrs with Peleus, Silvanus,Nilus, and Zenobius under Emperor Diocletian. According to Eusebius of Caesarea, Peleus and Nilus were Egyptian bishops martyred in Palestine, while the Bollandist scholars declared Tyrannio and Zenobius to have been martyred at Antioch modern Turkey and Silvanus at Emesa modern Syria.

SAINT SADOTH

St. Sadoth

Feastday: February 20
Death: 345/342
Martyr who was put to death with 128 fellow Christians in Persia, also called Schadost. Sadoth was the metropolitan of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, Persia, and he attended the Council of Nicaea in 325. He headed the Christian community during the severe persecution of the Church in Persia under the Sassanid Persian ruler Shapur II. Arrested with many other believers, Sadoth and eight of his flock were cruelly imprisoned at Bei-Lapat and tortured prior to execution; Sadoth was beheaded.

SADOTH, as he is called by the Greeks and Latins, is named in the original Persian language, Schiadustes, which signifies “friend of the king,” from schiah, king, and dust, friend. His unspotted purity of heart, his ardent zeal, and the practice of all Christian virtues, prepared him, from his youth, for the episcopal dignity, and the crown of martyrdom. St. Simeon, bishop of Selec, or Seleucia, and Ctesiphon, then the two capital cities of Persia, situate on the river Tigris, being translated to glory by martyrdom, in the beginning of the persecution raised by Sapor II., in 341, St. Sadoth was chosen three months after to fill his see, the most important in that empire, but the most exposed to the storm. This grew more violent on the publication of a new edict against the Christians, which made it capital to confess Christ. To wait with patience the manifestation of the divine will, St. Sadoth, with part of his clergy, lay hid for some time; which did not however hinder him from affording his distressed flock all proper assistance and encouragement, but rather enabled him to do it with the greater fruit. During this retreat he had a vision which seemed to indicate that the time was come for the holy bishop to seal his faith with his blood. This he related to his priests and deacons, whom he assembled for that purpose. “I saw,” said he, “in my sleep, a ladder environed with light and reaching from earth to the heavens. St. Simeon was at the top of it, and in great glory. He beheld me at the bottom, and said to me, with a smiling countenance: ‘Mount up, Sadoth, fear not. I mounted yesterday, and it is your turn to-day:’ which means, that as he was slain last year, so I am to follow him this.” He was not wanting on this occasion to exhort his clergy, with great zeal and fervour, to make a provision of good works, and employ well their time, till they should be called on in like manner, that they might be in readiness to take possession of their inheritance. “A man that is guided by the Spirit,” says St. Maruthas, author of these acts, “fears not death: he loves God, and goes to him with an incredible ardour; but he, who lives according to the desires of the flesh, trembles, and is in despair at its approach: he loves the world, and it is with grief that he leaves it.”
  The second year of the persecution, King Sapor coming to Seleucia, Sadoth was apprehended, with several of his clergy, some ecclesiastics of the neighbourhood, and certain monks and nuns belonging to his church, to the amount of one hundred and twenty-eight persons. They were thrown into dungeons, where, during five months’ confinement, they suffered incredible misery and torments. They were thrice called out, and put to the rack or question; their legs were straight bound with cords, which were drawn with so much violence, that their bones breaking, were heard to crack like sticks in a faggot. Amidst these tortures the officers cried out to them: “Adore the sun, and obey the king, if you would save your lives.” Sadoth answered in the name of all, that the sun was but a creature, the work of God, made for the use of mankind, that they would pay supreme adoration to none but the Creator of heaven and earth, and never be unfaithful to him; that it was indeed in their power to take away their lives, but that this would be the greatest favour they could do them; wherefore he conjured them not to spare them, or delay their execution. The officers said: “Obey! or know that your death is certain and immediate.” The martyrs all cried out with one voice: “We shall not die, but live and reign eternally with God and his son Jesus Christ. Wherefore inflict death as soon as you please; for we repeat it to you that we will not adore the sun, nor obey the unjust edicts.” Then sentence of death was pronounced upon them all by the king; for which they thanked God, and mutually encouraged each other. They were chained two and two together, and led out of the city to execution, singing psalms and canticles of joy as they went. Being arrived at the place of their martyrdom, they raised their voices still higher, blessing and thanking God for his mercy in bringing them thither, and begging the grace of perseverance, and that by this baptism of their blood they might enter into his glory. These prayers and praises of God did not cease but with the life of the last of this blessed company. St. Sadoth, by the king’s orders, was separated from them, and sent into the province of the Huzites, where he was beheaded. He thus rejoined his happy flock in the kingdom of glory. Ancient Chaldaic writers quoted by Assemani say, St. Schiadustes, or Sadoth, was nephew to Simeon Barsaboe, being son to his sister. He governed his church only eight months, and finished his martyrdom after five months imprisonment, in the year 342, and of King Sapor II. the thirty-third.  

MARTYRS OF TYRE SAINTS

Martyrs of Tyre


Feastday: February 20
 500 Martyrs of Tyre who were killed in about the year 304AD.

 who suffered in Tyre, modern Lebanon.They were tortured in various ways and underwent numerous punishments. These Christians were put to death for their beliefs and for simply being Christian. By dying for their faith they gained the holy crown of martyrdom

The Ancient City of Tyre also known as Soor had been a very important Phonecian City.

The city of Tyre is referred to in the scriptures numerous times. We are told that people came from Tyre to hear Jesus preach (Mark 3:8) and that Jesus went to the district of Tyre and Sidon and performed miracles. (Mathew 15:21 and Mark 7:24)

Tyre is one of the cities that had some of the earliest followers of Christ. We know that many of those early Christians were persecuted for their faith. The historian Eusebius tells us that in the early fourth century, under the reign of Diolectian, many soldiers of Christ were killed for their faith in the city of Tyre.

SAINT LEO CATANIA

St. Leo of Catania



Feastday: February 20
Death: 787
Bishop of Catania, Sicily, called ii Maravigloso, "the Wonder-Worker." He was revered for his holiness and learning.


Saint Leo was bishop of the city of Catania, in Sicily. He was famed for his benevolence and charity, and his Christian love for the poor and the vagrant. The Lord granted him the gifts of healing various illnesses, and working miracles.

When Saint Leo was Bishop of Catania, there was a certain sorcerer named Heliodorus, who impressed people with his fake miracles. This fellow was originally a Christian, but then he rejected Christ and became a servant of the devil.

Saint Leo often urged Heliodorus to repent of his wicked deeds and return to God, but in vain. Once, Heliodorus impudently entered the church where the bishop was serving, and tried to create a disturbance, sowing confusion and temptation by his sorcery.

Seeing the people beset by devils under the sorcer’s spell, Saint Leo realized that the time for gentle persuasion had passed. He calmly emerged from the altar and, tying his omophorion around the magician’s neck, he led him out of the church into the city square. There he forced Heliodorus to admit to all his wicked deeds. He commanded that a fire be lit, and jumped into the fire with the sorcerer. Thus they stood in the fire until Heliodorus got burnt. Saint Leo, by the power of God, remained unharmed. This miracle brought Saint Leo great renown during his lifetime.

When he died, a woman with an issue of blood received healing at his grave. The body of the saint was placed in a church of the holy Martyr Lucy (December 13), which he himself had built. Later on, his relics were transferred into the church of Saint Martin the Merciful, 

SAINT JACINTA MARTO

Jacinta Marto
Born 11 March 1910
Died 20 February 1920 aged 9
Lisbon, Portugal 11 March 1910 – 20 February 1920
Beatified 13 May 2000, Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, Fatima, Portugal by Pope John Paul II
Canonized 13 May 2017, Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, Fatima, Portugal by Pope Francis


Two years younger than Francisco, Jacinta charmed all who knew her. She was pretty and energetic, and had a natural grace of movement. She loved to dance, and was sorry when their priest condemned dancing in public. Sometimes willful, she would pout when she did not get her way. She took a special delight in flowers, gathering them by the armful and making garlands for Lucia. At a First Communion, she was among the little “angels” spreading petals before the Blessed Sacrament. She had a marked love for Our Lord, and at the age of five she melted in tears on hearing the account of His Passion, vowing that she would never sin or offend Him anymore.

She had many friends, but above all she loved her cousin Lucia, and was jealous of her time and attention. When Lucia, at the age of ten, became unavailable for play, being sent by her parents to pasture their sheep, Jacinta moped in loneliness-until her mother gave in and allowed her, with Francisco, to take a few sheep to pasture with Lucia.

Her sheep too became her friends. She gave them names, held their little ones on her lap, and tried to carry a lamb home on her shoulders, as she had seen in pictures of the Good Shepherd.

Her days were playful and happy, delighting with her brother and cousin in the things of nature around her. They called the sun "Our Lady’s lamp," and the stars "the Angels’ lanterns," which they tried to count as it grew dark. They called out to hear their voices echo across the valley, and the name that returned most clearly was "Maria."

They said the Rosary every day after lunch, but to make more time for play, they shortened it to the words "Our Father" at the beginning of each decade, followed by “Hail Mary” ten times. This frivolity would soon change.

In the spring of 1916, as the children watched their sheep, an Angel appeared to them in an olive grove. He asked the children to pray with him. He appeared again in midsummer at a well in Lucia’s garden, urging them to offer sacrifice to God in reparation for sinners. In a final appearance, at the end of the summer, the Angel held a bleeding Host over a chalice, from which he communicated the children. This experience separated them from their playmates and prepared them for the apparitions to come.

As might be expected, the three were changed by the visitations of the Queen of Heaven. Jacinta, talkative sometimes to a fault, became quiet and withdrawn. After the first apparition, Lucia had sworn her and her brother to secrecy. But Jacinta, bubbling over, had let slip all they had seen to her family, who then told the village. The news was received with skepticism by many, with mockery by some, and with anger by Lucia’s mother. Jacinta was so contrite, she promised never to reveal another secret.

Her reluctance to reveal anything more of their experiences was increased by the vision of hell given the children in the third apparition seems to have affected Jacinta the most. To rescue sinners from hell, she was in the forefront of the three in voluntary mortifications, whether it was in giving up their lunches sometimes to their sheep, refusing to drink in the heat of the day, or wearing a knotted rope around their waists. Involuntary penances included for her, as for her brother and cousin, the constant mockery of unbelievers, badgering by skeptical clergy, and needling by believers to reveal the Lady’s secret.

Following the miracle of the sun, Jacinta complied with many requests for her intercessions. On one occasion she seems to have bilocated, in order to help a wayward youth find his way home. Lost in a stormy wood, he had knelt and prayed, and Jacinta appeared and took him by the hand, while she was at home praying for him.

When she came down with influenza, she was removed from her family to a hospital a few miles away. She did not complain, because the Blessed Mother had forewarned her that she would go to two hospitals, not to be cured, but to suffer for the love of God and reparation for sinners. She stayed in the first hospital for two months, undergoing painful treatments, and then was returned home. She developed tuberculosis and was sent to Lisbon, first to a Catholic orphanage. There she was able to attend Mass and see the Tabernacle, and she was happy. But her stay there was short. She was soon transferred to the second hospital prophesied by the Blessed Mother, where Jacinta was to make her final offering in dying alone. Her body came to rest in the Sanctuary built at the Cova da Iria, where the Lady had appeared to her.

SAINT FRANCISCO MARTO

Francisco Marto

Born 11 June 1908 (

Died 4 April 1919 (aged 10) Aljustrel, Fatima, Portugal


Beatified 13 May 2000, Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, Fatima, Portugal by Pope John Paul II
Canonized 13 May 2017, Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, Fatima, Portugal by Pope Francis
Major shrine Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary, Fatima, Portugal
Feast 20 February



Francisco was born 11 June 1908, the sixth of seven children of Manuel and Olimpia Marto. He was a handsome boy, with light hair and dark eyes. He loved games and other children, yet without the spirit of competition. He would not complain when treated unfairly, and gave up a treasured possession (a handkerchief stamped with the image of Our Lady) rather than contend for it. He was a peacemaker, but courageous, as his conduct under questioning by the Mayor would later show. He also had a mischievous turn. He was known to drop strange and inedible objects in his sleeping brother’s mouth. He had a love for nature, and animals in particular. He played with lizards and snakes, and would bring them home, to his mother’s chagrin. Once he gave a penny, all the money he had, to a friend for a captured bird, only to set the bird free. He played a reed pipe, to which Lucia and his sister Jacinta would sing and dance. In short, he was a kind, gentle boy, not yet a Saint, but one predisposed by God for the graces soon bestowed on him.

Alone among the three, Francisco never heard the Lady’s words, although he saw her and felt her presence. After the first apparition, Lucia conveyed the Lady’s message to him, that he would go to heaven if he prayed many Rosaries. In the second apparition, Lucia asked to be taken to heaven, and the Lady replied that Francisco and Jacinta would be taken soon, but Lucia would have to wait for a time. She died February 13, 2005 at the age of 97.

In the third apparition, the children were given a secret, including a vision of hell, which so changed them that they became more like adults than children. At this time the Mayor of the district, Artur de Oliveira Santos, a Freemason, devised a scheme to discredit the apparitions by terrorizing the children. He tried to bully them into admitting they lied, threatened to boil them in oil if they withheld the Lady’s "Secret" (Francisco showed extravagant courage in anticipation of going to heaven), and jailed them to keep them from their appointment with the Lady on the day of the fourth apparition (August 13). They kept their appointment two days later.

For the fifth apparition, tens of thousands attended, having been alerted by the press to the Mayor’s controversy with the children. Among the curious was a seminary professor from Santarem, Dr. Manuel Formigao, who questioned the children afterward and became convinced of their veracity.

When the public learned of a miracle promised for the next appointed day, many resolved to be there, and on October 13 perhaps 70 thousand people were present for the miracle of the sun.

After the apparitions ended, Francisco was enrolled in school but played truant as often as possible. He preferred to spend time praying to the "Hidden Jesus” in the Tabernacle. His great concern was to console His sorrowing Lord and the Heart of His Mother. When asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, Francisco answered, "I don't want to be anything. I want to die and go to heaven."

In August 1918, when World War I was nearing an end, Francisco and Jacinta both contracted influenza. They had short reprieves, but their decline was inevitable. In April of the following year, Francisco, knowing his time was short, asked to receive the Hidden Jesus for the first time in Holy Communion. The next morning, April 4th, at ten o’clock, he died with a glow on his shrunken face. He was buried the next day in a little cemetery in Fatima, across from the parish church, and later transferred to the Sanctuary at Cova da Iria.