SAINT JUAN DE ÁVILA (JANUARY 6, 1500-MAY 10, 1569)
Spanish Roman Catholic Priest, Mystic, and Spiritual Writer
The “Apostle of Andalusia”
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And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
–Mark 10:23-25, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)
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St. John of Ávila comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Day and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.
Our saint, a son of Alfonso de Ávila and Catalina Xixón, came from a rich and pious family of Almodan-del-Campo, Castille. The family was of Jewish descent, but ancestors had converted to Roman Catholicism generations prior. St. John, educated well, was on track to become a lawyer. He commenced legal studies at Salamanca (1514-1517) before dropping out of school. After three years (1517-1520) of prayer and penance at home, our saint began philosophical and theological studies at Alcalá (1520-1526).
St. John joined the ranks of the clergy. He, ordained in 1525, thought that he should join the mission to New Spain–Mexico, today. He was ready to go in 1527. Our saint had already given the bulk of his inheritance to the poor. The Gospel story of the wealthy man attached to his riches (Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30) had resonated with St. John. That awareness of the spiritual peril of attachment to wealth remained after the Archbishop of Seville had dissuaded our saint from going to New Spain and persuaded him to preach in Andalusia (reclaimed from the Moors) instead.
So, our saint became the “Apostle of Andalusia,” starting in 1529. He was a popular and effective preacher and evangelist. Unfortunately, his message about the spiritual danger of attachment to riches made enemies, including some in the Spanish Inquisition. In 1533, after two years, the Inquisition acquitted St. John, who, more popular than ever, returned to preaching. St. John had a community of disciples, starting in 1534/1535. His base of operations was in the region of Córdoba. After the creation of the University of Baega (1538), St. John became the first Rector of that institution, a model for Jesuit seminaries and other Roman Catholic schools.
St. John exercised great influence, including among some notable and subsequently beatified and/or canonized people. For example, he advised St. Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582). Within her network, our saint was instrumental in the conversion of St. Francis Borgia (1510-1572) and St. John of the Cross (1542-1571). Furthermore, St. John was an associate of St. Ignatius (of) Loyola (1491/1495-1556), the founder of the Society of Jesus, and one of the leading lights of the Counter-Reformation. St. John never became a Jesuit, but he influenced that nascent order and facilitated its growth in Spain. He earned the reverence the Jesuits had–and have–for him.
St. John suffered physically from 1551 until his death; he was in constant pain for the last 17 or so years of his life. Finally, the 69-year-old saint died in Montilla, Castille, Spain, on May 10, 1569.
The Roman Catholic Church has formally recognized St. John of Ávila. Pope Clement XIII declared him a Venerable in 1759. Pope Leo XIII made him Blessed John of Ávila in 1894. Pope St. Paul VI canonized our saint. In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI declared St. John of Ávila to be a Doctor of the Church, in recognition of the timelessness and spiritual depth of our saint’s writings.
As of the composition of this post, the Roman Catholic Church has only 36 Doctors of the Church. This an exclusive club among the saints.
St. John of Ávila is less of a household name than St. Teresa of Ávila, St. John of the Cross, and St. Ignatius (of) Loyola. However, our saint has a timeless legacy. Like a teacher, whose legacy flows through students, St. John of Ávila has a legacy evident in the legacies of those he mentored and converted.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 24, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF SAINT OSCAR ROMERO, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF SAN SALVADOR; AND THE MARTYRS OF EL SALVADOR, 1980-1992
THE FEAST OF SAINT DIDACUS JOSEPH OF CADIZ, CAPUCHIN FRIAR
THE FEAST OF GEORGE RAWSON, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF GEORGE RUNDLE PRYNNE, ANGLICAN PRIEST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF PAUL COUTURIER, APOSTLE OF CHRISTIAN UNITY
THE FEAST OF THOMAS ATTWOOD, “FATHER OF MODERN CHURCH MUSIC”
BLESSED VASILE AFTENIE (JUNE 14, 1899-MAY 10, 1950)
Romanian Roman Catholic Bishop and Martyr, 1950
Blessed Vasile Aftenie served God and won the crown of martyrdom.
Aftenie was originally a subject of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He, born in Lodroman, Valea Lunga, Alba, Transylvania, on June 14, 1899, reached the age of legal adulthood during World War I. Our saint, drafted into the army, served in Italy and Galicia. The redrawing of the map of Europe after the war expanded the borders of Romania and broke up Austria-Hungary.
Our saint, briefly a law student in Bucharest, Romania, after World War I, turned toward theology instead. He matriculated at the Pontifical Greek College of Saint Athanasius, Rome, Italy, in 1919. Aftenie, ordained to the priesthood on January 1, 1926, spent much of his career at the seminary in Bucharest–teaching (1926-1934) then serving as the dean (1934-1937). Our saint, Canon of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Blaj (1937-1939), served as the Rector of the Theological Academy (1939-1940). On April 12, 1940, our saint became the Auxiliary Bishop of Faragas si Alba Iulia and the Titular Bishop of Ulpiana. Starting on June 15, 1941, he served as the Apostolic administrator of the diocese.
In Spring 1945, during the final months of World War II in Europe, Communist forces began to consolidate their power in Romania. With the end of the monarchy in December 1947, Romania became a Communist state in the political orbit of the Soviet Union. The law of August 4, 1948, officially granted freedom of religion and defined coercive acts intended to curb religious practices as crimes. However, that law also brought organized religion under state control, thereby rendering churches allowed to exist as agents of the Communist government.
Aftenie became a prisoner of the Communist government on October 28, 1948. First incarcerated at the Dragoslavele work camp, our saint went into solitary confinement at Caldarusani monastery, near Bucharest. A year of torture began on May 10, 1949. Aftenie, mutilated, crippled, and broken mentally, died of a gunshot at Vacaresti on May 10, 1950. He was 50 years old.
Pope Francis declared our saint a Venerable and beatified him in 2019.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 26, 2020 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARGARET CLITHEROW, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR, 1586
THE FEAST OF FLANNERY O’CONNOR, U.S. ROMAN CATHOLIC WRITER
THE FEAST OF GEORGE RUNDLE PRYNNE, ANGLICAN PRIEST, POET, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JAMES RENDEL HARRIS, ANGLO-AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALIST THEN QUAKER BIBLICAL SCHOLAR AND ORIENTALIST; ROBERT LUCCOCK BENSLY, ENGLISH BIBLICAL TRANSLATOR AND ORIENTALIST; AGNES SMITH LEWIS AND MARGARET DUNLOP SMITH GIBSON, ENGLISH BIBLICAL SCHOLARS AND LINGUISTS; SAMUEL SAVAGE LEWIS, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND LIBRARIAN OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE; AND JAMES YOUNG, SCOTTISH UNITED PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND LITERARY TRANSLATOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT LUDGER, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF MUNSTER
SAINT LUIGI GUANELLA (DECEMBER 9, 1842-OCTOBER 24, 1915)
Founder of the Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence, the Servants of Charity, and the Confraternity of Saint Joseph
His feast transferred from October 24
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O my Jesus, draw me entirely to you. Draw me with all the love of my heart. If I knew that one fiber of my heart did not palpitate for you, I would tear it out at any cost. But I know that I could not speak without your help. Draw me, O my Jesus, draw me completely. I know it well, my heart cannot rest until it rests in you.
–St. Luigi Guanella
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We need assistance from each other to become what we ought to be spiritually. To function as an instrument of God in that way is a high calling.
Above: Blessed Enrico Rebuschini
Image in the Public Domain
Blessed Enrico Rebuschini, born in Gravedona, Como, Italy, on April 28, 1860, encountered obstacles in his spiritual path and received help in overcoming them. His mother, Sophia, was devout, but his father, Domenico, a tax inspector for the province of Como, had no use for religion. Young Enrico, the second of five children, discerned a vocation to the religious life, but his father’s opposition frustrated plans for acting on that call. Our saint studied mathematics at Pavia for one year. He left due to the anticlericalism rampant at the university. Rebuschini, back home, performed his year of mandatory military service. The devout young man graduated (with honors) with a college degree in accounting in 1882. Then he went to work as an administrator in the silk firm of a brother-in-law. This employment did not satisfy our saint, prone to severe depression. Finally, in the summer of 1884, Domenico permitted his son to pursue a religious vocation. The intervention of St. Luigi Guanella was partially responsible for this decision.
Above: Saint Luigi Guanella
Image in the Public Domain
Guanella was a priest who acted to help many people with regard to their practical needs. He, born in Francisco di Campodolino, Sondrio, Italy, on December 9, 1842, was the ninth of thirteen children of the poor and pious Lawrence and Maria Guanella. Our saint, who started his seminary studies at age 12, became a priest on May 26, 1866. As a parish priest Guanella opened schools for the poor, founded a nursing home, started an orphanage, and founded a home for the handicapped. From 1875 to 1878 he had worked with St. John Bosco in caring for homeless children. Our saint was a friend and advisor of Pope St. Pius X and St. Andrea Carlo Ferrari (1850-1921), from 1894 the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan. Guanella also founded three religious orders–the Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence, the Servants of Charity (of the Guanellians, for men), and the Confraternity of Saint Joseph (to pray for the dying).
Guanella suffered a stroke in 1915. He died of complications of that stroke on October 24 of that year. He was 72 years old.
Pope John XXIII declared Guanella a Venerable in 1962. Pope Paul VI declared our saint a Blessed in 1964. Pope Benedict XVI canonized Guanella in 2011.
Rebuschini was content in 1885, for he was, partially due to help from Guanella, living into his vocation. Rebuschini was studying for the priesthood at the Gregorian University, Rome. There was a major problem, however. In March 1886 our saint fell into a nervous depression that lasted through May 1887. He returned home. Rebuschini, pondering that stage of his life in real time, wrote:
There are moments when the hand of God has weighed down on us and has plunged us into suffering…what a month of silence and what suffering at this time. May God at least put an end to this and give us back our treasure.
Eight years later our saint wrote:
I was sent to a spa. There God restored my health by giving me total confidence in His infinite goodness and mercy.
Yet Rebuschini never fully recovered his health. He suffered occasional bouts of depression, although they were not as severe as the period of March 1886-May 1887. He would have fared better had he lived during a time when better treatments existed.
Rebuschini, who had a devotion to St. Mary, the Mother of God, chose to help those who needed the most. In 1887 he worked briefly in a hospital, losing his job because he insisted on working not in the assigned department, but instead among the poorest and most isolated patients. On September 27 of that year our saint joined the Camillians (the Company of the Servants of the Sick) of Verona. He, ordained a priest on April 14, 1889, made his profession in that order on December 8, 1891. Among his duties for a few years was to be a hospital chaplain in Verona.
Rebuschini had a reputation as a kind man who sought to focus on the best characteristics of people he met. He admitted that doing this was difficult for him much of the time; he relied on God to help him succeed. Our saint was most critical of himself, however; his perfectionist tendencies, applied to himself, led him to regard himself as unworthy of taking on many tasks assigned to him. He followed through on those tasks anyway.
On a happy note, Rebuschini was a punster. Obviously he had an excellent sense of humor and a fine vocabulary.
Our saint, a hospital chaplain at Verona (1890-189?) and vice-novice master and professor of theology in that city (by 1895), left for Cremona in 1899. At Cremona he served as the first chaplain to the Camillian Sisters. A few years later he took on a second portfolio–that of bursar, which he performed for between 34 and 35 years, until 1937. During that time Rebuschini also served as superior for 11 years. In 1938, shortly before he died of pneumonia at the age 78 years, our saint asked forgiveness from all those he thought he might have offended.
Pope John Paul II declared Rebuschini a Venerable in 1995 then a Blessed two years later.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 13, 2017 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF EDWARD WHITE BENSON, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN DAVID, MORAVIAN MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMNODIST
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O God, your Son came among us to serve and not to be served,
and to give his life for the life of the world.
Lead us by his love to serve all to whom
the world offers no comfort and little help.
Through us give hope to the hopeless,
love to the unloved,
and rest to the weary,
through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Blessed Ivan Merz was a man who, according to people who knew him well, was in nearly perpetual union with God–in a state of prayer, simply put. He, born in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary, on October 16, 1896, became an academic. Our saint began his studies at Banja Luka before he attended the military academy at Wiener Neustadt. Then, in 1915, Merz matriculated at the University of Vienna. In March 1916, however, our saint enlisted in the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. While fighting in Italy, Merz placed his future in God’s hands. He made a vow of perpetual chastity in February 1918. At that time he wrote in his diary:
Never forget God! Always desire to be united with Him. Begin each day in the first place with meditation and prayer, possibly close to the Blessed Sacrament or during Mass. During this time, plans for the day are made, one’s defects are put under examination and grace is implored for the strength to overcome all weakness. It would be something terrible if this war had no meaning for me!…I must begin a life regenerated in the spirit of this new understanding of Catholicism. The Lord alone can help me, as man can do nothing on his own.
–February 5, 1918
Merz resumed his studies after World War I. He studied at Vienna (1919-1920), Paris (1920-1922), and Zagreb, Croatia, Yugoslavia (1922-1923), earning his doctorate in philosophy. The title of his dissertation was “The Influence of the Liturgy on French Authors.” Our saint went on to become Professor of Language and French Literature at the University of Zagreb. In his spare time he studied philosophy as well as documents of the Catholic Magisterium.
Merz also had an active interest in the Christian formation of the young. He founded the League of Young Croatian Catholics and, within the Catholic Action movement in Croatia, the Croatian League of Eagles.
Merz died of natural causes at Zabreb on May 10, 1928. He was 31 years old. Our saint had offered his suffering to God.
Pope John Paul II declared Merz a Venerable in 2002 then a Blessed the following year.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
OCTOBER 13, 2017 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF EDWARD WHITE BENSON, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
THE FEAST OF CHRISTIAN DAVID, MORAVIAN MISSIONARY
THE FEAST OF LOUIS FITZGERALD BENSON, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND HYMNODIST
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O God, you have endowed us with memory, reason, and skill.
We thank you for the faithful legacy of [Blessed Ivan Merz and all others]
who have dedicated their lives to you and to the intellectual pursuits.
May we, like them, respect your gift of intelligence fully and to your glory.
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Psalm 103
Philippians 4:8-9
Mark 12:28-34
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 6, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT CHRODEGANG OF METZ, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF EDMUND KING, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN
John Goss (1800-1880) grew up at Fareham, England, where his father was the organist. Young John followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming an organist himself. Goss studied at the Chapel Royal, where Thomas Attwoodtaught and mentored him. In 1838 Goss succeeded Attwood, whom he respected, as organist at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London.
Goss, trained also an an opera singer, focused on church music as an organist, a composer, and a theorist. He edited the following:
Parochial Psalmody (1826);
An Introduction to Harmony and Thorough Bass (1833);
Chants, Ancient and Modern (1841); and
the music in William Mercer‘s Church Psalter and Hymn Book (1857).
And Goss composed church anthems and hymn tunes, prededing each effort with prayer. Two of his more famous anthems were “Christ our Passover and “O Saviour of the World.”
The Church Psalter and Hymn Book (1857), the most popular English hymnal of its time, was the brain child of William Mercer (1811-1873), who sought to encourage congregational singing. Mercer, a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, was an Anglican priest at Sheffield. He translated hymns from Latin and German. One such effort was “How Bright Appears the Morning Star“. Another example was a translation of “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” The Frederick Oakeleyversion is more famous, but is not the only rendering available.
The William Mercer translation follows:
O come, all ye faithful,
Joyfully triumphant,
To Bethlehem hasten now with glad accord;
Lo! in a manger
Lies the King of angels;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
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Though true God of true God,
Light of light eternal,
The womb of a virgin He hath not abhorred;
Son of the Father,
Not made, but begotten;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
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Raise, raise, choirs of angels,
Songs of loudest triumph,
Through heaven’s high arches be your praises poured,
“Now to our God be
Glory in the highest.”
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
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Amen! Lord, we bless Thee,
Born for our salvation!
O Jesus, for ever be Thy Name adored:
Word of the Father,
Now in flesh appearing;
O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
Goss and Mercer devoted their talents to the worship of God–truly a noble cause. May we honor them.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 27, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF CHARLES VILLIERS STANFORD, COMPOSER, ORGANIST, AND CONDUCTOR
THE FEAST OF CHARLES HENRY BRENT, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF WESTERN NEW YORK
THE FEAST OF JOHN MARRIOTT, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT RUPERT OF SALZBURG, APOSTLE OF BAVARIA AND AUSTRIA
SAMUEL MILLER WARING (MARCH 3, 1792-SEPTEMBER 19, 1827)
Hymn Writer
Uncle of
ANNA LAETITIA WARING (APRIL 19, 1823-MAY 10, 1910)
Humanitarian and Hymn Writer
Once there was an Englishman named Jeremiah Waring. He had at least two sons: Samuel Miller Waring and Elijah Waring. Samuel Miller Waring (1792-1827), raised a Quaker, converted to The Church of England and wrote hymns. He published a collection, Sacred Melodies, in 1826. Samuel, born in Hampshire, died in Bath. Almost no other information about him has come down to me.
Samuel did write the following words:
Now to Him who loved us, gave us
Every pledge that love could give,
Oped His heart’s pure fount to lave us,
Gave His life that we might live,
Give we glory;
His be glory,
By whose death, whose life, we live.
Elijah Waring (1788-1857), also raised a Quaker, became a Wesleyan Methodist preacher and a published memoirist. He and his wife, Deborah Price Waring, daughter of a Quaker industrialist, brought Anna Laetitia Waring (1823-1910) into the world. Anna, born in Wales and raised a Quaker, converted to The Church of England in 1842. She learned Hebrew so she could read the Psalms in their original language, something she did daily for many years. She also visited prisoners at Bristol, her adopted home, and assisted the Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Society. And she had published thirty-nine hymns by 1863.
Among those hymns was the following, from 1850:
Father, I know that all my life
Is portioned out for me;
And the changes that are sure to come
I do not fear to see;
But I ask Thee for a present mind,
Intent on pleasing Thee.
—–
I ask Thee for a thoughtful love.
Through constant watching wise,
To meet the glad with joyful smiles,
And to wipe the weeping eyes,
And a heart at leisure from itself,
To soothe and sympathise.
—–
I would not have the restless will
That hurries to and fro,
Seeking for some great thing to do,
Or secret thing to know,
I would be treated as a child,
And guided where I go.
—–
Whatever in the world I am,
In whatsoe’er estate,
I have a fellowship with hearts
To keep and cultivate,
And a work of lowly love to do,
For the Lord on whom I wait.
—–
So I ask Thee for the daily strength
To none that ask denied,
And a mind to blend with outward life
While keeping at Thy side,
Content to fill a little space,
If Thou be glorified.
Amen.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 20, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH, HYMN WRITER AND ANGLICAN BISHOP OF LINCOLN
THE FEAST OF SAINT CUTHBERT, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF LINDISFARNE
THE FEAST OF ELIZA SIBBALD ALDERSON, POET AND HYMN WRITER; AND JOHN BACCHUS DYKES, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER
2 (Alexander of Alexandria, Patriarch; and Athanasius of Alexandria, Patriarch and “Father of Orthodoxy”)
Charles Silvester Horne, English Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
Christian Friedrich Hasse, German-British Moravian Composer and Educator
Elias Boudinot, IV, U.S. Stateman, Philanthropist, and Witness for Social Justice
Julia Bulkley Cady Cory, U.S. Presbyterian Hymn Writer
Sigismund of Burgundy, King; Clotilda, Frankish Queen; and Clodoald, Frankish Prince and Abbot
3 (Caroline Chisholm, English Humanitarian and Social Reformer)
Antonin Dvořák, Czech Roman Catholic Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach Hodges, Episcopal Priest, Liturgist, Organist, and Composer
Marie-Léonie Paradis, Founder of the Little Sisters of the Holy Family
Maura and Timothy of Antinoe, Martyrs, 286
Tomasso Acerbis, Capuchin Friar
4 (Ceferino Jimenez Malla, Spanish Romani Martyr, 1936)
Angus Dun, Episcopal Bishop of Washington, and Ecumenist
Basil Martysz, Polish Orthodox Priest and Martyr, 1945
Henry Parr, Anglican Priest and Hymn Tune Composer
Jean-Martin Moyë, Roman Catholic Priest, Missionary in China, and Founder of the Sisters of Divine Providence and the Christian Virgins
John Houghton, Robert Lawrence, Augustine Webster, Humphrey Middlemore, William Exmew, and Sebastian Newdigate, Roman Catholic Martyrs, 1535
5 (Charles William Schaeffer, U.S. Lutheran Minister, Historian, Theologian, and Liturgist)
Caterina Cittadini, Founder of the Ursuline Sisters of Somasco
Edmund Ignatius Rice, Founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools of Ireland and the Congregation of Presentation Brothers
Friedrich von Hügel, Roman Catholic Independent Scholar and Philosopher
Honoratus of Arles and Hilary of Arles, Roman Catholic Bishops; and Venantius of Modon and Caprasius of Lerins, Roman Catholic Hermits
T. Tertius Noble, Anglican then Episcopal Liturgist, Organist, and Composer
6 (Nagai Takashi, Japanese Roman Catholic Physician and Spiritual Writer)
Anna Rosa Gattorno, Founder of the Institute of the Daughters of Saint Anne, Mother of Mary Immaculate
Clarence Dickinson, U.S. Presbyterian Organist and Composer
Maria Catalina Troiani, Founder of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Michael Schirmer, German Lutheran Hymn Writer
Willibald of Eichstatt and Lullus of Mainz, Roman Catholic Bishops; Walburga of Heidenhelm, Roman Catholic Abbess; Petronax of Monte Cassino, Winnebald of Heidenhelm, Wigbert of Fritzlar, and Sturmius of Fulda, Roman Catholic Abbots; and Sebaldus of Vincenza, Roman Catholic Hermit and Missionary
7 (Domitian of Huy, Roman Catholic Archbishop)
Alexis Toth, Russian Orthodox Priest and Defender of Orthodoxy in America
Harriet Starr Cannon, Founder of the Community of Saint Mary
Joseph Armitage Robinson, Anglican Dean, Scholar, and Hymn Writer
Rosa Venerini, Founder of the Venerini Sisters; and her protégé, of Lucia Filippini, Founder of the Religious Teachers Filippini
Tobias Clausnitzer, German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer
8 (Juliana of Norwich, Mystic and Spiritual Writer)
Acacius of Byzantium, Martyr, 303
Henri Dumont, Roman Catholic Composer and Organist
Magdalena of Canossa, Founder of the Daughters of Charity and the Sons of Charity
Marie-Catherine de Saint-Agustin, French Roman Catholic Nun and Co-Founder of the Roman Catholic Church in Canada
Peter of Tarentaise, Roman Catholic Archbishop
9 (Stefan Grelewski and his brother, Kazimierz Grelewski, Polish Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs, 1941 and 1942)
Dietrich Buxtehude, Lutheran Organist and Composer
Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, Co-Founders of the Catholic Worker Movement
Karolina Gerhardinger, Founder of the Poor Teachers Sisters of Notre Dame (the School Sisters of Notre Dame)
Maria del Carmen Rendiles Martinez, Founder of the Servants of Jesus of Caracas
Thomas Toke Lynch, English Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
10 (Enrico Rebuschini, Roman Catholic Priest and Servant of the Sick; and his mentor, Luigi Guanella, Founder of the Daughters of Saint Mary of Providence, the Servants of Charity, and the Confraternity of Saint Joseph)
Anna Laetitia Waring, Humanitarian and Hymn Writer; and her uncle, Samuel Miller Waring, Hymn Writer
Ivan Merz, Croatian Roman Catholic Intellectual
John of Ávila, Spanish Roman Catholic Priest, Mystic, and Spiritual Writer; the “Apostle of Andalusia”
John Goss, Anglican Church Composer and Organist; and William Mercer, Anglican Priest and Hymn Translator
Vasile Aftenie, Romanian Roman Catholic Bishop and Martyr, 1950
11 (Henry Knox Sherrill, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church)
Barbara Andrews, First Female Minister in The American Lutheran Church, 1970
Gjon Koda, Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1947
John James Moment, U.S. Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer
Matteo Ricci, Roman Catholic Missionary
Matthêô Lê Van Gam, Vietnamese Roman Catholic Martyr, 1847
12 (Germanus I of Constantinople, Patriarch of Constantinople, and Defender of Icons)
Gregory of Ostia, Roman Catholic Abbot, Cardinal, and Legate; and Dominic of the Causeway, Roman Catholic Hermit
Paul Mazakute, First Sioux Episcopal Priest
Roger Schütz, Founder of the Taizé Community
Sylvester II, Bishop of Rome
13 (Henri Dominique Lacordaire, French Roman Catholic Priest, Dominican, and Advocate for the Separation of Church and State)
Frances Perkins, United States Secretary of Labor
Gemma of Goriano Sicoli, Italian Roman Catholic Anchoress
Glyceria of Heraclea, Martyr, Circa 177
Unita Blackwell, African-American Civil Rights Activist, Rural Community Development Specialist, and Mayor of Mayersville, Mississippi
14 (Francis Makemie, Father of American Presbyterianism and Advocate for Religious Toleration)
Carthage the Younger, Irish Abbot-Bishop
Maria Dominica Mazzarello, Co-Founder of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians
Theodore I, Bishop of Rome
Victor the Martyr and Corona of Damascus, Martyrs in Syria, 165
15 (JUNIA AND ANDRONICUS, CO-WORKERS OF SAINT PAUL THE APOSTLE)
16 (Andrew Fournet and Elizabeth Bichier, Co-Founders of the Daughters of the Cross; and Michael Garicoits, Founder of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Betharram)
Cyril Alington, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
John Nepomucene, Bohemian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1393
Martyrs of the Sudan, 1983-2005
Ubaldo Baldassini, Roman Catholic Bishop of Gubbio
Vladimir Ghika, Romanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1954
17 (Thomas Bradbury Chandler, Anglican Priest; his son-in-law, John Henry Hobart, Episcopal Bishop of New York; and his grandson, William Hobart Hare, Apostle to the Sioux and Episcopal Missionary Bishop of Niobrara then South Dakota)
Caterina Volpicelli, Founder of the Servants of the Sacred Heart; Ludovico da Casoria, Founder of the Gray Friars of Charity and Co-Founder of the Gray Sisters of Saint Elizabeth; and Giulia Salzano, Founder of the Congregation of the Catechetical Sisters of the Sacred Heart
Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall, Attorneys and Civil Rights Activists
Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury
Ivan Ziatyk, Polish Ukrainian Greek Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1952
John Armstrong, Anglican Bishop of Grahamstown, South Africa; and Hymn Writer
18 (Maltbie Davenport Babcock, U.S. Presbyterian Minister, Humanitarian, and Hymn Writer)
Felix of Cantalice, Italian Roman Catholic Friar
John I, Bishop of Rome
Mary McLeod Bethune, African-American Educator and Social Activist
Potamon of Heraclea, Bishop of Heraclea, Egypt; and Martyr, circa 340
Stanislaw Kubski, Polish Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1945
19 (Jacques Ellul, French Reformed Theologian and Sociologist)
Celestine V, Bishop of Rome
Dunstan of Canterbury, Abbot of Glastonbury and Archbishop of Canterbury
Georg Gottfried Muller, German-American Moravian Minister and Composer
Ivo of Kermartin, Roman Catholic Attorney, Priest, and Advocate for the Poor
Peter Wright, English Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1651
20 (Alcuin of York, Abbot of Tours)
Columba of Rieti and Osanna Andreasi, Dominican Mystics
John Eliot, “The Apostle to the Indians”
Mariá Angélica Pérez, Roman Catholic Nun
Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, Founder of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne
21 (Christian de Chergé and His Companions, Martyrs of Tibhirine, Algeria, 1996)
Eugene de Mazenod, Bishop of Marseilles, and Founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries, Oblates of Mary Immaculate
Franz Jägerstätter, Austrian Roman Catholic Conscientious Objector and Martyr, 1943
Joseph Addison and Alexander Pope, English Poets
Lawrence Tuttiett, Anglican and Scottish Episcopal Priest, and Hymn Writer
Manuel Gómez González, Spanish-Brazilian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1924; and Adilo Daronch, Brazilian Roman Catholic Altar Boy and Martyr, 1924
22 (Frederick Hermann Knubel, President of the United Lutheran Church in America)
Humility, Italian Roman Catholic Hermitess and Abbess
John Forest and Thomas Abel, English Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs, 1538 and 1540
Julia of Corsica, Martyr at Corsica, 620
Maria Rita Lópes Pontes de Souza Brito, Brazilian Roman Catholic Nun
23 (Ivo of Chartres, Roman Catholic Bishop)
Frederick Augustus Bennett, First Maori Anglican Bishop in Aotearoa/New Zealand
Józef Kurgawa and Wincenty Matuszewski, Polish Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs, 1940
William of Perth, English Roman Catholic Baker and Martyr, 1201
24 (Nicolaus Selnecker, German Lutheran Minister, Theologian, and Hymn Writer)
Benjamin Carr, Anglo-American Composer and Organist
Jackson Kemper, Episcopal Missionary Bishop
Edith Mary Mellish (a.k.a. Mother Edith), Founder of the Community of the Sacred Name
Maria Gargani, Founder of the Sisters Apostles of the Sacred Heart
Mary Madeleva Wolff, U.S. Roman Catholic Nun, Poet, Scholar, and President of Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana
25 (Bede of Jarrow, Roman Catholic Abbot and Father of English History)
Aldhelm of Sherborne, Poet, Literary Scholar, Abbot of Malmesbury, and Bishop of Sherborne
Cristobal Magollanes Jara and Agustin Caloca Cortés, Mexican Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs, 1927
Madeleine-Sophie Barat, Founder of the Society of the Sacred Heart; and Rose Philippine Duchesne, Roman Catholic Nun and Missionary
Mykola Tsehelskyi, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1951
26 (Augustine of Canterbury, Archbishop)
Lambert Péloguin of Vence, Roman Catholic Monk and Bishop
Philip Neri, the Apostle of Rome and the Founder of the Congregation of the Oratory
Quadratus the Apologist, Early Christian Apologist
27 (Paul Gerhardt, German Lutheran Minister and Hymn Writer)
Alfred Rooker, English Congregationalist Philanthropist and Hymn Writer; and his sister, Elizabeth Rooker Parson, English Congregationalist Hymn Writer
Amelia Bloomer, U.S. Suffragette
John Charles Roper, Anglican Archbishop of Ottawa
Lojze Grozde, Slovenian Roman Catholic Martyr, 1943
28 (John H. W. Stuckenberg, German-American Lutheran Minister and Academic)
Bernard of Menthon, Roman Catholic Priest and Archdeacon of Aosta
Edwin Pond Parker, U.S. Congregationalist Minister and Hymn Writer
Hardwicke Drummond Rawnsley, Anglican Priest and Hymn Writer
Jeremias Dencke, Silesian-American Moravian Composer and Organist; and Simon Peter and Johann Friedrich Peter, German-American Composers, Educators, Musicians, and Ministers
Robert McAfee Brown, U.S. Presbyterian Minister, Theologian, Activist, and Ecumenist
29 (Percy Dearmer, Anglican Canon and Translator and Author of Hymns)
Bona of Pisa, Roman Catholic Mystic and Pilgrim
Jiri Tranovsky, Luther of the Slavs and Father of Slovak Hymnody
Mary Theresa Ledóchowska, Founder of the Missionary Sisters of Saint Peter Claver, and “Mother of the African Missions;” and her sister, Ursula Ledóchowska, Founder of the Congregation of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus (Gray Ursulines)
SUNDRY THOUGHTS 
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