SAINT FRANCIS OF SAINT MICHAEL

St. Francis of St. Michael
Francis of Saint Michael, OFM,

Feast day: February 6

Death: 1597



Franciscan martyr of Japan. Born in Parilla, Spain, he was a Franciscan lay brother sent to Manila, in the Philippines to Japan as a missionary. In 1593, he accompanied St. Peter Baptist to Japan. After three years he was arrested at Osaka, Japan, with St. Peter Baptist and twenty-four others, in 1596, and awaited execution the following year..They were crucified near Nagasaki on February 5. He was canonized in 1862 as a Martyr of Japan.

SAINT COSMAS

St. Cosmas
Cosmas Takeya (Tachegia, Zaquira), OFM

Feast day: February 6
Death: 1597

 A lay Franciscan from Owari, Japan, who served the Franciscan missionaries as interpreter and preached in Osaka.
One of the Martyrs of Japan in Nagasaki. He was a native of Japan and a Franciscan tertiary, serving as an interpreter for the missionaries. He was crucified with St. Paul Miki and twenty-five companions in Nagasaki. He was beautified in 1627 and canonized in 1862.

SAINT THOMAS KOZAKI

St. Thomas Kozaki
Thomas Cozaki (Kasaki)

Feast day: February 6

Death: 1597



Japanese martyr. The son of St. Michael Kozaki, he was a boy of fifteen who aided the Franciscan missionaries and was crucified at Nagasaki with twenty-five other companions, including his father, lIe was canonized in 1862 and is counted among the companions of St. Paul Miki.

SAINT THEOPHILUS OF CAESAREA

Theophilus of Caesarea
St. Theophilus the Lawyer


Feast day: February 6

Martyr, known as Theophilus Scholasticus "the Lawyer." He was beheaded at Caesarea, in Cappadocia (in modern Turkey). Theophilus is mentioned in the legend of St. Dorothy.Died 300. According to the apocryphal life of Saint Dorothy, Theophilus is the lawyer who mocked her on her way to martyrdom. She sent him apples and flowers 'from the heavenly garden' and he was converted to Christianity. He himself was beheaded at Caesarea, Cappadocia, several years later, perhaps with Saturninus and Revocata

SAINT BONAVENTURE OF MIAKO

St. Bonaventure of Miako

Feast day: February 6

Death: 1597


Bonaventure of Miyako (Meaco), OFM Tert. A Japanese native who became a Franciscan tertiary and catechist.Martyr of Japan. A native of that nation, Bonaventure was a Franciscan tertiary and a catechist. A companion of St. Paul Miki, he was crucified at Nagasaki.

SAINT ANTHOLIAN

Antholian of Auvergne
St. Antholian

Feast day: February 6

Death: 265

 (also known as Anatolianus)

Also called Anatolianus, a martyr. He is mentioned by St. Gregory of Tours as one of the martyrs of Auvergne, France, in the reign of Emperor Valerian. . Fellow sufferers were Saints Cassius, Maximus, Limininus, and Victorinus

SAINT VEDAST

Vedast of Arras

Feast day: February 6

Birth: 453

Death:539 /540

 (also known as Foster, Gaston, Vat, Vaast, Waast)

Known also as Vaast, Foster, and Gaston, St. Vedast, a native of western France, is best-known as the catechist of Clovis, King of the Franks. Ordained at Toul, Vedast met Clovis when the king required a learned man to accompany him to Rheims after the battle of Tolbiac (496); upon their arrival, Clovis recommended his companion to Archbishop Remigius, who was to baptize the king after his wife, Clotilde had converted him to Christianity. The two clerics evangelized the Franks, and in 499, Vedast was named bishop of Arras and Cambrai, dioceses that had returned to paganism after the raids of Atilla. During his forty-year tenure, Vedast restored the faith of his people and the churches in which they worshiped.

 Born in western France, died February 6, 539.other feasts at Arras are celebrated on July 15 and October 1.

 When he was still very young, Vedast had left his home and led a holy life concealed from the world in the diocese of Toul, where the bishop, charmed with his virtue, consecrated him to the priesthood. Vedast, a fellow-worker with Saint Remigius in the conversion of the Franks, was instrumental in the conversion of Clovis I to Christianity.

 The occasion of Clovis's conversion was a victory over the Alemanni in 496. He had already been influenced by Saint Clothilde, whom he had married four years earlier. After his victory, he was heading to Rheims to receive baptism at the hands of Remigius, but at Toul he requested the help of a priest who might instruct and prepare him for the holy sacrament as he travelled. Vedast was presented to his majesty for this purpose. When Vedast restored the sight of a blind man along the Aisne River with a prayer and the sign of the cross, Clovis was strengthened in his resolve to become a Christian and some of his courtiers converted immediately.

 After being consecrated in 499 as bishop of Arras (united with Cambrai in 510) by Remigius, Vedast ruled the united sees of Arras- Cambrai for about 40 years. Upon his arrival in Arras, he restored sight to a blind man, and cured another who was lame. These miracles excited the attention, and disposed the hearts of many to open themselves to receive the Gospel. Although the region had been Christianized during the Roman occupation, the repeated incursion of Vandals and Alans had virtually destroyed any remnant of the faith. At the beginning of episcopacy, the only vestige of Christianity in his see was a ruined church. Though nearly discouraged at the ravages done to the faith, Vedast's patience, meekness, charity, and most especially prayers, allowed God to triumph over superstition and lust, and the faith was restored throughout that area.

 Vedast was buried in the cathedral, but 128 years later Bishop Saint Aubertus changed a little chapel which Vedast had built in honor of St. Peter into an abbey, and translated the Vedast's relics into this new church, leaving a small portion of them in the cathedral. The great abbey of Saint Vedast was finished by Bishop Saint Vindicianus and endowed by king Theodoric or Thierry, who lies buried in the church with his wife Doda.

 Many sites through Arras, Cambrai, and Belgium commemorate his name, as do three ancient church in England (in London, Norwich, and Tathwell in Lincolnshire). Although it is unlikely that Vedast ever visited England, his cultus there dates to the 10th century, which was heightened in the 12th century by the presence of Arrouaise Augustinians in the country. In England, he is sometimes known as Saint Foster, which is the derivation of that family name.

 The feast of Vedast was included in the Benedictional of Saint Ethelwold, the Missal of Robert of Jumisges, and the Leofric missal, as well as the calendars of Sarum, York, and Hereford. Blessed Alcuin wrote a vita for Vedast, as well as an Office and Mass in his honor for usage at Arras. In a letter to the monks of Arras in 769, Alcuin calls Vedast his protector

 As in the stained glass image in the church of Blythburgh, Suffolk, Saint Vedast is pictured as a bishop with a wolf carrying a goose in its mouth  (which had been rescued by Vedast for its poor owners). Other attributes include a child at his feet or a bear (Farmer). He is invoked on behalf of children who walk with difficulty, and for diseases of the eye

BLESSED DIEGO DE AVEZEDO

Blessed Diego de Azevedo, OSB Cist.

 (also known as Didacus)

Feast day: February 6

Blessed Diego De Avezedo was sent to escort the fiance' of Prince Ferdinand. When he arrived, she had died, so he accompanied St. Dominic which ultimately led to the founding of the Dominicans. He died on December 30, 1207. He was Bishop of Osma, Spain. His feast day is February 6th


 A member of the clergy attached to the cathedral at Osma, Old Castile (Spain). He became provost and obtained a canonry for Saint Dominic Guzmán and in 1201 was named bishop of Osma. In 1206, he was sent by King Alfonso IX of Castile to the Marches (Italy) to escort back to Spain the bride-to-be of Prince Ferdinand. On arrival, Diego found the girl dead.

 He then went to Rome, taking with him a member of his party, Saint Dominic, a visit that ultimately led to the founding of the Dominicans. In the same year Diego joined the Cistercians at Cîteaux in order to join the crusade against the Albigensians in Languedoc. He returned to Osma late in 1207 and died there. He has always been styled a beatus or saint by the Cistercians 

SAINT DOROTHY OF CAESAREA

Dorothy of Caesarea
Feast day: February 6

 (also known as Dora, Dorothea)

According to her apochryphal tradition, she was a resident of Caesarea, Cappadocia, who when she refused to sacrifice to the gods during Emperor Diocletian's persecution of the Christians, was tortured by the governor and ordered executed. On the way to the place of execution, she met a young lawyer, Theophilus, who mockingly asked her to send him fruits from "the garden" she had joyously announced she would soon be in. When she knelt for her execution, she prayed, and an angel with a basket of three roses and three apples, which she sent to Theophilus, telling him she would meet him in the garden. Theophilus was converted to Christianity and later was martyred. Her feast day is February 6th.



 Born in Caesarea, Cappadocia (now Armenia); died there, c. 311. The story of Saint Dorothy as it has come to us is legendary. When the young maiden, Dorothy, was imprisoned as a Christian during the persecutions of Diocletian, she converted two apostate women warders sent to seduce her. This enraged Fabricius, the governor of Caesarea, who sentenced her to death.

 On the way to execution, Dorothy was cruelly baited by a lawyer named Theophilus for refusing to marry or to worship idols. He mockingly asked her to send him back some fruit and flowers from the garden she had joyously announced she would soon be in. As she knelt for her beheading and prayed, a child (or an angel) miraculously appeared with a basket of golden apples and roses. She took a napkin and placed in it three roses and three apples. Then she begged a child to take them to Theophilus and tell him she would meet him in the garden. When he saw these gifts he himself was converted to Christianity and later he, too, suffered martyrdom. Before being killed, Dorothy was stretched on a rack. It is recorded that she was then still smiling, as she remembered the warders she had converted.

 Although the early martyrologies, such as that of Saint Jerome place her death in Cappadocia during the persecution of Diocletian, Saint Dorothy's name is unknown in Eastern calendars. There was another holy virgin, whom Rufinus calls Dorothy, a rich and noble lady of the city of Alexandria, who suffered torments and a voluntary banishment, to preserve her faith and chastity against the brutish lust and tyranny of the emperor Maximinus, in the year 308, as is recorded by Eusebius and Rufinus; but many believe this latter, whose name is not mentioned by Eusebius, to be the famous Saint Catharine of Alexandria.

 The center of her cultus was Italy and Germany; although she is also represented in 15th-century stained glass and screen paintings in England. Her legend was known by Saint Aldhelm (died 709) and later formed the basis for the play The Virgin Martyr (1622) by John Massinger and Thomas Dekker, as well as poems by Swithburne and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Dorothy's relics are believed to lie at her church in Rome (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).

 In art, Saint Dorothy is a maiden carrying a basket of fruit and flowers, especially roses, which are her special attribute. At times that angel attendant may carry the basket (Tabor). Sometimes she may be shown
(1) leading the Christ-child by the hand.
(2) with a basket of fruit and the Christ-child riding a hobby horse.
(3) in an orchard with the Christ-child in an apple tree.
 (4) crowned with flowers and surrounded by stars as she kneels before the executioner.
(5) crowned, carrying a flower basket.
(6) crowned with palm and flower basket, surrounded by stars.
 (7) veiled, holding apples from heaven on a branch.
(8) veiled with flowers in her lap. She is often confused with Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, who usually has the poor near her. On certain English roodscreens Saint Cecelia seems to have the attributes of Dorothy .

 Saint Dorothy is the patroness of brewers, brides, florists, gardeners, midwives, and newly-wedded couples

BLESSED DON ALFONSO MARIA FUSCO

Bl. Alfonso Maria Fusco

Feast day: February 6

1839 - 1910
Beatified By: October 7, 2001 by Pope John Paul II


Blessed Alfonso Maria Fusco was a Roman Catholic priest and founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist, commonly known as Baptistine Sisters. Their mission was to evangelize, educate and promote youth, especially those who were most poor, abandoned and at risk.



Don Alfonso Maria Fusco was born to Aniello Fusco, a farmer and his wife Giuseppina Schianova, at Angri, Salerno, Italy, March 23, 1839. Alfonso's birth was attributed to the intercession of St. Alphonsus de Ligouri, whose tomb was visited by the couple. A Redemptorist Father assured them that they would have a son, whom they would call Alfonso. Two months after the infant's birth, Alphonsus de Ligouri was canonized.

Due to the unusual circumstances related to the boy's birth, Aniello and Giuseppina sent him to a church school, trusting him to priests. This made Alfonso dream of becoming a priest. As a child, he played the role of a priests, saying a mass, singing hymns, and building an altar. From his days of childhood, his parents noticed his compassion for needy children, as told in the book Operaio di Dio ('Alfonso Is His Name'), by Monsignor Salvatore Garofalo.

At age 11 on November 5, 1850, Fusco entered the Seminary of Nocera dei Pagani. According to Eliodoro Tedesco's Biographic Profile of the Venerable Don Alfonso Maria Fusco, Founder of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist, the presence of the army in 1860 during battles related to unification, caused the dispersion of the Seminary's Archives. Fusco's coursework cannot be reconstructed. Giuseppe Nappi recalled that the Fusco was always respectful towards his professors. During these days, Fusco had a dream that Jesus Christ ordered him to found an Institute for nuns, and an orphanage for boys and girls. After he was ordained, he set about to make the dream happen.