Lord, do not abandon me. I embrace your love to triumph over the hate of my enemies.

Above:  Blessed Vladimir Ghika

Image in the Public Domain

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

BLESSED VLADIMIR GHIKA (DECEMBER 25, 1873-MAY 16, 1954)

Romanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1954

Also known as Blessed Vladimir Ghica

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

–Blessed Vladimir Ghika, January 1954

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Blessed Vladimir Ghika served God and the “least of these,” first as a layman then as a priest.

Ghika came from Romanian nobility.  He, born in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, on December 25, 1873, was a son of Alexandrina Moret de Blaremberg (Ghika) and diplomat John Ghika.  Our saint’s grandfather was Grigore Alexandru Ghica (died in 1857), the penultimate (not last, as many online sources erroneously claim) Prince of Moldavia (reigned 1849-1853 and 1854-1856).  The Ghika family moved to Toulouse, France, in 1878.  Our saint, seemingly destined to become a diplomat, also, graduated with his law degree in Paris in 1895.  He then studied history, political science, philosophy, medicine, literature, botany, and art, first in France then in Romania.

Ghika, raised in Eastern Orthodoxy, converted to Roman Catholicism in 1898.  That year he matriculated at the College of Saint Thomas, Rome, to study theology and philosophy.  Our saint graduated in 1905.

As the catechism of The Episcopal Church, as found in The Book of Common Prayer (1979), teaches,

The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons.

–855

Ghika, as a layman, became a pioneer of the lay apostolate.  He, having pondered becoming a monk or a priest, heeded the advice of Pope Pius X not to become priest or monk yet.  Our saint, back in Romania, ministered to the impoverished and the ill.  He founded Mariae Bethlehem, the first free clinic in Bucharest.  Ghika also founded a sanitorium, the first free hospital in Romania, and the first free ambulance service in Romania.  Our saint, risking contracting cholera, provided health care in Zimnicea, Romania, during the Balkan wars, in 1913.

Ghika, ordained a priest in Paris on October 7, 1923, continued to minister to vulnerable people.  He made history by becoming a bi-rite (Latin and Byzantine) priest–the first bi-rite Romanian priest.  He chose to live in Villejuif, a shantytown and a Parisian suburb, from 1924 to 1939.  Our saint returned to Romania on August 3, 1939.  Ghika ministered to the sick and the poor, including wartime refugees, during World War II.  When Communists came to power, he remained in the country voluntarily.

Government agents arrested Ghika on November 18, 1952, as he ministered to a dying man.  The charge was treason, or remaining pro-Rome and opposing the government’s control of organized religion.  Ghika suffered from abuse, which hastened his death in prison in Jilava (near Bucharest) on May 16, 1954.  He was 80 years old when he received the crown of martyrdom.

Pope Francis declared Ghika a Venerable and beatified him in 2013.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 1, 2020 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF FREDERICK DENISON MAURICE, ANGLICAN AND THEOLOGIAN

THE FEAST OF SAINT GIUSEPPE GIROTTI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1945

THE FEAST OF JOHN GRAY, SCOTTISH PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER, MYTHOLOGIST, BIBLICAL SCHOLAR, AND PROFESSOR OF HEBREW AND SEMITIC LANGUAGES

THE FEAST OF SAINT LUDOVICO PAVONI, ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND EDUCATOR

THE FEAST OF SAINTS SYRAGIUS OF AUTUN AND ANARCHARIUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; AND SAINTS VALERY OF LEUCONE AND EUSTACE OF LUXEUIT, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOTS

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Almighty God, who gave to your servant Blessed Vladmir Ghika

boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ

before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith:

Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us,

and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

2 Esdras 2:42-48

Psalm 126 or 121

1 Peter 3:14-18, 22

Matthew 10:16-22

–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), 713

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  Statue of St. John Nepomucene, Prague, Between 1860 and 1890

Image Source = Library of Congress

Reproduction Number = LC-USZ62-109000

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

SAINT JOHN NEPOMUCENE (CIRCA 1340-MARCH 20, 1393)

Bohemian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr

Also known as Saint John of Nepomuk and Saint John of Pomuk

Alternative feast day = March 20

St. John Nepomucene, who exercised the responsibilities of his ministry during the Great Schism of the Papacy, had to contend with the brutal and frequently intoxicated Wenceslaus IV (King of Bohemia, 1363-1419; Holy Roman Emperor, 1378-1400).  Our saint, son of Wolflin, a burger of Nepomuk/Pomuk, a town in the district of Pilsen, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), pursued a religious vocation.  St. John studied theology and canon law at the University of Prague.  He took holy orders and became a notary public in the Archdiocese of Prague in 1373.  The following year our saint became the first secretary to John of Jenzenstein, the Archbishop of Prague.  From 1379 to 1390 St. John served at the parish of St. Gallus, Prague.  During that time our saint earned his doctorate in canon law from the University of Prague (1387) and became a cathedral canon.  In 1390 he became the Archdeacon of Sasz.  Later, after serving as the president of the ecclesiastical court, St. John became the Vicar-General of the Archdiocese of Prague.

Our saint’s tenure as the Vicar-General was brief, for he ran afoul of Wenceslaus IV.  Our saint, confessor to Queen Sophia of Bavaria, wife of the monarch, maintained the confidentiality of the confessional despite Wenceslaus IV’s wishes to the contrary.  Furthermore, Wenceslaus IV, wishing to create a new diocese and to appoint the bishop thereof, forbade the election of a new abbot of Kladrau after the abbot died.  In 1393 Abbot Rarek died.  St. John confirmed the election of Odelenus, the new abbot, without consulting the monarch.  This action angered Wenceslaus IV, who had plans to transform the abbey church into the cathedral of the planned new diocese.  He had certain ecclesiastical authorities, including St. John, arrested and tortured.  Our saint, in chains and with a block of wood in his mouth, died of drowning in the Moldau River on March 20, 1393.  He was about 53 years old.

In 1400 Wenceslaus IV lost his title of Holy Roman Empire on the grounds of drunkenness and incompetence.

The Church recognized St. John formally.  Pope Innocent XIII beatified our saint in 1721.  Pope Benedict XIII canonized him eight years later.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 24, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF HENRY CLAY SHUTTLEWORTH, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF DANIEL C. ROBERTS, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Gracious God, in every age you have sent men and women

who have given their lives in witness to your love and truth.

Inspire us with the memory of Saint John Nepomucene,

whose faithfulness led to the way of the cross, and give us courage

to bear full witness with our lives to your Son’s victory over sin and death,

for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Ezekiel 20:40-42

Psalm 5

Revelation 6:9-11

Mark 8:34-38

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 59

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  Map Showing Sudan and South Sudan

Image Source = The World Fact Book, Central Intelligence Agency

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Episcopal Church added this feast to its calendar at the General Convention of 2009.

The political history of the Sudan has been difficult since independence from the British Empire in 1956.  The vast country with a diverse population was majority Muslim in the north and majority Christian in the south.  Civil War fueled by a number of factors, including authoritarianism and religion, led to the deaths of more than 2,000,000 people from 1983 to 2005.  The conflict also displaced as many as 4,000,000 Christians within the country and made more than another million refugees in neighboring countries.  South Sudan seceded in 2011.  It has not found stability for a set of reasons including its underdeveloped economy (despite its oil wealth) and the civil war of 2013-2015, which formed 2,200,000 people to relocate.

Anglican work in the Sudan started in 1889.  Until 1974 Anglican churches were part of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East.  Jurisdiction passed to the Archbishop of Canterbury until 1976, when the Episcopal Church of the Sudan formed.  That province of the Anglican Communion divided in 2017, creating the Episcopal Church of Sudan (in the north) and the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, consistent with the Anglican practice of having national churches.  The new Anglican provinces in the Sudan and South Sudan are actively engaged in the work of peacemaking and of witnessing to Christ in difficult circumstances.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 24, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF HENRY CLAY SHUTTLEWORTH, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF DANIEL C. ROBERTS, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

O God, steadfast in the midst of persecution, by your providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church:

As the martyrs of the Sudan refused to abandon Christ even in the face of torture and death,

and so by their sacrifice brought forth a plentiful harvest, may we, too, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ;

who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9

Psalm 116:10-17

Hebrews 10:32-39

Matthew 24:9-14

—Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), page 371

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  St. Ubaldo Baldassini

Image in the Public Domain

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

SAINT UBALDO BALDASSINI (CIRCA 1085-MAY 16, 1160)

Bishop of Gubbio

Also known as Saint Ubaldus Baldassini

St. Ubaldo Baldassini, born circa 1085 at Gubbio, near Ancona, Umbria, Italy, came from nobility.  Our saint, related to St. Sperandia (died in 1276; feast day = September 11), an abbess and a mystic, was a son of Rovaldo Baldassini.  Rovaldo died when St. Ubaldo was young.  Our saint’s mother was, unfortunately, an invalid afflicted with a neurological disorder, so an uncle raised him.

St. Ubaldo, educated at the cathedral school at Gubbio, turned to the Church.  He, a monk at the Monastery of St. Secondo, Gubbio, became a priest in 1115.  Later he became the dean of the cathedral.  Our saint began to serve as the Bishop of Gubbio in 1128.  St. Ubaldo, a friend of St. Francis of Assisi, had a reputation for being patient and kind.  Our saint also delivered the city from the wrath of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (reigned 1152-1190), whom he bribed not to sack Gubbio.  St. Ubaldo died of natural causes at Gubbio on May 16, 1160.  He was about 75 years old.

Pope Celestine III canonized our saint in 1192.

St. Ubaldo is the patron saint of autistic people, possessed persons, sick children, obsessive compulsives, and Gubbio and Montovi, Italy.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

OCTOBER 24, 2017 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF HENRY CLAY SHUTTLEWORTH, ANGLICAN PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

THE FEAST OF DANIEL C. ROBERTS, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND HYMN WRITER

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Almighty God, you have raised up faithful bishops of your church,

including your servant Saint Ubaldo of Baldassini.

May the memory of his life be a source of joy for us and a bulwark of our faith,

so that we may serve and confess your name before the world,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Ezekiel 34:11-16 or Acts 20:17-35

Psalm 84

1 Peter 5:1-4 or Ephesians 3:14-21

John 21:15-17 or Matthew 24:42-47

–Adapted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 60

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Above:  French Flag

SAINT ANDREW HUBERT FOURNET (1752-1834)

Cofounder of the Daughters of the Cross

His feast = May 16

+++++++++++++++++++++

SAINT JOAN ELIZABETH MARY LUCY BICHIER DES ANGES (1773-1838)

Cofounder of the Daughters of the Cross

Her feast transferred from August 26

+++++++++++++++++++

SAINT MICHAEL GARICOITS (1797-1863)

Founder of the Priest of the Sacred Heart of Betharram

His feast transferred from May 14

++++++++++++++++++++++

Each of these saints has a separate feast day on the Rom Catholic calendar.  Yet telling their unified story makes much sense to me.  And this is my ecumenical calendar of saints, so I can place anyone on any date I choose.  So may 16, for my purposes, is the feast fay for all three, not just St. Andrew Fournet.

We begin with St. Andrew Fournet (1752-1834), born at Maille, near Poitiers, France.  His mother wanted him to become a priest, but the young saint had other ideas.  He studied law and philosophy at Poitiers instead.  Yet a priest who happened to be his uncle convinced the saint to honor his mother’s wishes.  Fournet, ordained to the priesthood, assisted his uncle then served as parish priest at Maille.  There he lived quite simply–austerely, in fact–in contrast to his previous standard of living, which had been quite comfortable.  The saint had to go into hiding during the French Revolution, for he refused to swear allegiance to the government.  He lived in Spain from 1792 to 1797 and resumed life as a fugitive in France from 1797 to 1802.

We turn next to St. Elizabeth Bichier (1773-1838).  Joan Elizabeth Mary Luch Bichier des Anges was the daughter of Anthony Bichier, lord of the manor, Chateau des Anges, at Le Blanc, France.  Educated at the Poitiers convent, she succeeded in preventing the National Assembly from confiscating the estate after her father’s death.  In 1796 Bichier was living with her mother at Bethines, near Poitiers.  At Bethines the female saint kept the faith when doing so was risky.

The paths of St. Andrew Fournet and St. Elizabeth Bichier crossed in 1797, when they met and became friends.  She was dedicating her life to teaching the young and caring for the aged and the ill of Bethines.  Fournet composed a rule for her to follow.  In 1802, with the announcement of the Concordat between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII, Fournet returned to life as a parish priest.  Two years later, Bichier’s mother died, so the female saint became a Carmelite novice at Poitiers.  She and Fournet were preparing to found a new religious order.  They did so in 1807, establish the Daughters of the Cross, devoted to teaching the young and caring for the aged and the ill.  Fournet wrote the order’s rule.

There was a coworker:  Saint Michael Garicoits (1797-1863).  Born at Ibarra, near Bayonne, France, Garicoits worked as a shepherd when a boy.  He studied at St. Palais College, Bayonne, becoming a priest in 1823.  This was three years after Fournet had retired, thus beginning the period during which he served as a confessor and a spiritual adviser to the order.  Garicoits, meanwhile, served as a pastor then as a professor of theology at the Lestelle-Betharram seminary then as Rector of that seminary.  Garicoits, in 1834, succeeded the recently deceased Fournet as a confessor and a spiritual adviser to the Daughters of the Cross.

St. Elizabeth Bichier, in her final years, encouraged Garicoits to found a new order, the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Betharram.  The members of this order, founded in 1838, devoted themselves to missionary work.  Unfortunately, politics involving bishops delayed papal approval of the order until 1877, fourteen years after the death of Garicoits.

We human beings are supposed to support and encourage each other in good deeds and in works of righteousness.  The overlapping stories of these three saints demonstrate this principle well.  May we–you, O reader, and I–in our efforts, regardless of how humble of seemingly minor they might be, live accordingly.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

APRIL 7, 2012 COMMON ERA

HOLY SATURDAY

THE FEAST OF SAINTS MONTFORD SCOTT, EDMUND GENNINGS, HENRY WALPOLE, AND THEIR FELLOW MARTYRS

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN BAPTIST DE LA SALLE, FOUNDER OF THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS

THE FEAST OF THE SAINTS AND MARTYRS OF THE AMERICAS

THE FEAST OF SAINT TIKHON, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lord God, you have surrounded us with so great a cloud of witnesses.

Grant that we, encouraged by the examples of your servants

Saint Andrew Fournet,

Saint Elizabeth Bichier,

and Saint Michael Garicoits,

may persevere in the course that is set before us and, at the last, share in your eternal joy with all the saints in light,

through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Micah 6:6-8

Psalm 9:1-10

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Luke 6:20-23

—Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), page 59

Above:  Christ Pantocrator

Eternal Life

MAY 16, 2021

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26 (New Revised Standard Version):

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said,

Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus– for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry. So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us– one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.

So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said,

Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.

And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Psalm 1 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

1 Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked,

nor lingered in the way of sinners,

nor sat in the seats of the scornful!

2 Their delight is in the law of the LORD,

and the meditate on his law day and night.

3 They are like trees planted by streams of water,

bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither,

everything they do shall prosper.

4 It is not so with the wicked;

they are like the chaff which the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes,

nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.

6 For the LORD knows the ways of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked is doomed.

1 John 5:9-13 (New Revised Standard Version):

If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

John 17:6-19 (New Revised Standard Version):

Looking up to heaven, Jesus prayed,

I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

The Collect:

O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Some Related Posts:

Forty-Third Day of Easter:  Seventh Day of Easter, Year A:

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/forty-third-day-of-easter-seventh-sunday-of-easter-year-a/

Forty-Third Day of Easter:  Seventh Day of Easter, Year B:

http://lenteaster.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/forty-third-day-of-easter-seventh-day-of-easter-year-b/

1 John 5:

http://adventchristmasepiphany.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/sixth-day-of-epiphany/

Feast of St. Matthias (February 24):

https://neatnik2009.wordpress.com/2010/06/12/feast-of-st-matthias-apostle-and-martyr-february-24/

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Jesus of the Gospel of Mark speaks from time to time (mostly briefly) yet acts more often than he says much.  In contrast, the Jesus of the Johannine Gospel holds forth, often in private, at length.  This latter understanding of our Lord becomes apparent in this Sunday’s Gospel reading, part of Christ’s great intercessory prayer.

More interesting to me, however, is the concept of eternal life, which, according to John 17:3, is knowing God (the Father) and Jesus Christ (God the Son).  And we read in 1 John 5:11 that “God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”  So eternal life is life in Christ; its definition does not depend on time or the afterlife.

Simply put, there is no eternity without God.  There can be an afterlife without God; the term for that is Hell.  God, of course, is the final judge, and I do not presume to make judgments as to a person’s fate in the afterlife.  Who knows what happens between anyone and Jesus after one dies?

As a Christian–an intellectually honest one–I affirm the necessity of Christ.  I also testify to grace, the bounds of which exceed my imagination.  In other words, God does not fit into any proverbial box, and I try not to put God into one.  I do know a few things for sure, though:  God does exist, God does care about us actively, and I am not God.  Also, the historical person named Jesus of Nazareth was God incarnate.  Three of these four statements are great mysteries; may we accept and embrace them.  As to the non-mysterious statement (“I am not God.”), that is obvious.

KRT

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Published in a nearly identical form at LENTEN AND EASTER DEVOTIONS BY KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR on August 2, 2011

Rosa Chinensis

Image Source = Sakurai Midori

1 (PHILIP AND JAMES, APOSTLES AND MARTYRS)

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)

• 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
• 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

6 (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
• 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
• 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
• 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 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
• 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)

• 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

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
• 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

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
• 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)
• Ruby Middleton Forsythe, African-American Episcopal Educator

30 (Joan of Arc, Roman Catholic Visionary and Martyr, 1430)

• Apolo Kivebulaya, Apostle to the Pygmies
• Joachim Neander, German Reformed Minister and Hymn Writer
• Josephine Butler, English Feminist and Social Reformer
• Luke Kirby, Thomas Cottam, William Filby, and Laurence Richardson, Roman Catholic Priests and Martyrs, 1582

31 (VISITATION OF MARY TO ELIZABETH)

 

Floating

• Ascension
• First Book of Common Prayer, 1549

 

Lowercase boldface on a date with two or more commemorations indicates a primary feast.