Archive for the ‘Saints of 1940-1949’ Category
Above: Blessed Gjon Koda
Image in the Public Domain
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BLESSED GJON KODA (APRIL 25, 1893-MAY 11, 1947)
Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1947
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…and he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.
–Matthew 10:38-39, Revised Standard Version–Second Catholic Edition (2002)
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Blessed Gjon Koda comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church. Information about Blessed Gjon Koda seems to be scarce. We know what we need to know, I suppose.
Our saint, born in Janjevë (Janjevo), Serbia, on April 25, 1893, was a member of the Order of Friars Minor (the Franciscans). Serafin was his religious name. Koda, ordained to the priesthood, celebrated his first Mass on July 25, 1925. He served faithfully in Lezhë, Albania, for years.
The troubled political history of Albania included the Fascist Italian occupation (1939-1943), the Nazi occupation (1943-1944), and the rise of the communist government (1944). During the Fascist Italian occupation, the Mussolini government favored the Albanian Roman Catholics. The predictable political backlash, which began after the Albanian communists came to power, entailed labeling all Albanian Roman Catholics as fascists. (Communists and fascists have long opposed each other.) In 1946, the communist government nationalized most religious institutions in the country; it seized most religious property, expelled foreign religious workers, and forbade religious groups from educating the young and operating philanthropic institutions. Roman Catholics shared in the persecution alongside their Orthodox and Muslim neighbors. However, the Roman Catholics had something their Orthodox and Muslim neighbors lacked: the Papacy, an international institution, with its own authority and its headquarters in a sovereign state. So, loyalty to the Bishop of Rome made one an enemy of the Albanian communist state.
Koda, arrested in Lezhë in the spring of 1947, endured two weeks of torture. Authorities wanted him to confirm the party line–and lie–that his brother Franciscans were plotting against the Albanian state. Koda refused to satisfy his torturers. On May 11, they martyred our saint by driving nails through his throat. He was 54 years old. Authorities interred in the corpse in a secret grave, which remained hidden until September 16, 1994.
Holy Mother Church has formally recognized Koda. Pope Francis declared him a Venerable then a beatus in 2016.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 25, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
THE FEAST OF SAINT DISMAS, PENITENT BANDIT
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Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyr Blessed Gjon Koda
triumphed over suffering and was faithful even to death:
Grant us, who now remember him in thanksgiving,
to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world,
that we may receive with him the crown of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 51:1-12
Psalm 116 or 116:1-8
Revelation 7:13-17
Luke 12:2-12
–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), 714
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Above: Nagai Takashi
Image in the Public Domain
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NAGAI TAKASHI (FEBRUARY 3, 1908-MAY 1, 1951)
Japanese Roman Catholic Physician and Spiritual Writer
The “Saint of Urakami”
Also known as Takashi Nagai
Baptismal name = Paul
Nagai Takashi (to follow the Japanese custom of placing the family name first) comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via Robert Ellsberg, All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses for Our Time. Nagai is a Servant of God in the Roman Catholic Church. He may, in time, become Venerable then Blessed then Saint Nagai Takashi.
Nagai was an adult convert to Christianity. He, born in rural Mitoya, Japan, on February 3, 1908, was a son of physician Nagai Noboru. Our saint began to study medicine at the Nagasaki Medical College in 1928. After his mother, Tsune, died of a brain hemorrhage, Nagai began to read the Pensées of Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). At the time, our saint, still an atheist, boarded with the Moriyama family, Roman Catholics. The relationship with that family remained important to Nagai for the rest of his life. By the time our saint graduated in 1932, meningitis had caused him to become partially deaf. He, unable to practice medicine yet, went to work as a radiologist instead. Moriyama Sadakichi’s invitation to attend Midnight Mass at the cathedral in Nagasaki in 1932proved to be a turning point. Our saint attended that Mass, another milestone on his road to conversion. During military service in Manchuria (starting in 1933), Nagai witnessed Japanese military brutality toward civilians. This troubled his conscience. He, after returning from Manchuria, converted to Roman Catholicism and accepted baptism on June 4, 1934. His baptismal name was Paul. Pascal’s quote which sealed the deal was:
There is enough light for those who only desire to see, and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition.
In late December 1932, Moriyama Midori, daughter of Sadakichi, had suffered from acute appendicitis. Nagai had carried her on his back through the snow to the hospital. In August 1934, our saint married Midori. The couple had a son (Makato, 1935-2001) and three daughters: Ikuko (1937-1939), Sasano (who died shortly after birth), and Kayano (1941-2008). Nagai, confirmed in December 1934, joined the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, visited patients, and delivered food to the poor. He also met St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941), who lived in a suburb of Nagasaki from 1931-1936, and who founded a monastery at Nagasaki.
The Sino-Japanese War (later the Pacific Theater of World War II) changed Nagai’s life. He, mobilized as an army surgeon in 1937, served in China through 1940. In 1939, he learned of the death of his father and first daughter. Nagai returned to Nagasaki and continued his medical studies in 1940. Our saint worked at the Nagasaki Medical College Hospital. In that capacity, he tended to civilian victims of the Allied air raid of April 26, 1945. In June of that year, Nagai received his diagnosis of leukemia, with the prediction that he would die within three years. The apparent cause of the disease was conditions of working in radiology. Midori, upon hearing of this diagnosis, counseled her husband:
Whether you live or die, it is for God’s glory.
For years, Nagai had understood that, sometime during the war, the destruction of Nagasaki would occur. Upon hearing of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945), he planned to evacuate his family six kilometers (nearly four miles away) to Matsuyama. Unfortunately, our saint had no time to evacuate them before August 9. That day, Nagai was working in the radiology department of the Nagasaki Medical College Hospital when the second atomic bomb fell in the Urakami district of the city. He suffered severe injuries. Two days later, Nagai found his home destroyed and his beloved Midori dead. After being confined to bed for a month, our saint returned to the Urakami district and constructed a hut out of the ruins of his home. He shared that hut with his two surviving children, Midori’s mother, and two other kinsfolk.
Above: Nagasaki in Ruins, 1945
Image in the Public Domain
The local chapter of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul built a new home for Nagai and his family in 1947. He named the new home “Nyokodo,” or “As-Yourself Hall,” after the Golden Rule. He had finished writing a book, The Bells of Nagasaki, by August 9, 1946. By then, Nagai was confined to bed. Yet he could still write, and he did. Our saint wrote of spiritual issues, especially those related to the aftermath of World War II in Japan.
Nagai, aged 43 years, died in the Nagasaki Medical College Hospital on May 1, 1951.
His epitaph reads:
We are merely servants; we have done no more than our duty.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 21, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF LENT
THE FEAST OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH, AND JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH, COMPOSERS
THE FEAST OF SAINT LUCIA OF VERONA, ITALIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC TERTIARY AND MARTYR, 1574
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARK GJANI, ALBANIAN ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1947
THE FEAST OF SAINT NICHOLAS OF FLÜE AND HIS GRANDSON, SAINT CONRAD SCHEUBER, SWISS HERMITS
THE FEAST OF SAINT SERAPION OF THMUIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
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Almighty God, whose prophets taught us righteousness in the care of your poor:
By the guidance of your Holy Spirit,
grant that we may do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly in your sight;
through Jesus Christ, our Judge and Redeemer,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Isaiah 55:11-56:1
Psalm 2:1-2, 10-12
Acts 14:14-17, 21-23
Mark 4:21-29
—Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), 736
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Above: St. Thomas Episcopal Church, New York, New York
Image Source = Google Earth
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THOMAS TERTIUS NOBLE (MAY 5, 1867-MAY 4, 1953)
Anglican then Episcopal Organist and Composer
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I am a great believer in tunes which are wholesome and masculine.
–T. Tertius Noble, to the committee for the The Hymnal (1941) of the old Evangelical and Reformed Church, July 18, 1938
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T. Tertius Noble comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via The Hymnal (1941) of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, The Hymnal 1940 (1943) of The Episcopal Church, and their companion volumes.
Thomas Tertius Noble, born in Bath, England, on May 5, 1867, was a son and the youngest of nine children of Sarah Jefferson Noble and silversmith Thomas Noble. Given that our saint was the third Thomas in his family, he received the middle name Tertius.
Our saint, known as “Tommy” during his youth, manifested musical talent, which he valued. He, shipped off to a boarding school when ten years old, complained that the curriculum provided no opportunities to develop this talent. Noble longed to return home. Eventually, he did return to his home. Noble found opportunities to develop his talent, starting in 1881. In 1881, he, an adolescent, by the standards of 2023, moved in with Charles Everitt, the retired Canon of Gloucester and the new Rector of All Saints’ Church, Colchester. Everitt needed a parish organist. On May 22, 1943, at a Hymn Society of America dinner held in his honor at The General Theological Seminary, New York, New York, Noble recalled:
I could not play the organ very well. It was an awful, old organ; it had four stops, and the mechanism rattled so loudly that you could not hear the music…. Learning on this organ was difficult, but it was good for me….
–Quoted in Amin Haeussler, The Story of Our Hymns: The Handbook to the Hymnal of the Evangelical and Reformed Church (1952), 827
Above: The Parish Church of All Saints, Colchester, England
Image Source = Google Earth
Noble had a more satisfactory musical experience from 1886 to 1889, when he studied at the Royal College of Music. He had won a scholarship in 1886. Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) was one of our saint’s mentors and teachers there. Noble, after graduating in 1889, served as Stanford’s assistant organist at Trinity College, Cambridge (1890-1892).
Other jobs as an organist followed. Noble served at the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Ely (1892-1898). While there, he began to compose his first anthems, including Souls of the Righteous. Noble also married Meriel Maude Stubbs 1897. She was a daughter of Charles Stubbs (1845-1912), the Dean of Ely (1893-1905) then the Bishop of Truro (1906-1912).
Above: The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Ely, England
Image Source = Google Earth
Then Noble worked at the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter (the York Minister), York (1898-1913). He and Meriel welcomed their son, Philip Raymond (1903-1979). Our saint also founded a symphony orchestra; conducted the York Pageant in 1909; and revived the York Musical Festival, dormant for three quarters of a century, in 1912.
Above: The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter, York, England
Image Source = Google Earth
Noble, speaking on May 22, 1943, recalled:
The strain on a cathedral organist is enormous. I had been responsible for fourteen services a week for twenty years, and looked forward, in England, to many more. This was the time to change, though the various canons at York could not see why I should exchange the Minister for just a parish church!
So, in 1913, Noble moved to New York, New York, to assume the duties of organist and choir director at St. Thomas Episcopal Church. Our saint brought the Anglican cathedral choir tradition to his new parish. Noble founded the choir school there in 1919 and served faithfully until he retired in 1943. Along the way, our saint received honorary degrees from Columbia University (1918); Trinity College (1926); and Cosmo Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury (1932). St. Thomas Church unveiled a window in honor of Noble’s half-century as a church musician in 1932.
Noble composed sacred and secular music and edited editions of compositions by other composers. He edited the G. Schirmer edition of George Frederick Handel‘s The Messiah. Incidental music flowed from his pen. So did the following, among other masterpieces:
Noble’s hymn tunes included the following:
Noble also made his imprint in writing. He wrote The Training of the Boy Chorister (1943).
On the denominational level, Noble’s service extended to the committees for The Hymnal 1916 (1919) and The Hymnal 1940 (1943).
Above: St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Rockport, Massachusetts
Image Source = Google Earth
Noble retired to Rockport, Massachusetts, in 1943. He, one day shy of his eighty-sixth birthday, died there on May 4, 1953.
Noble’s legacy persists. The choir school at St. Thomas Church, New York, New York, still exists. And every time someone sings one of his hymn tunes, our saint’s legacy lives in that way, also.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
MARCH 19, 2023 COMMON ERA
THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT, YEAR A
THE FEAST OF SAINT JOSEPH OF NAZARETH, HUSBAND OF SAINT MARY OF NAZARETH, MOTHER OF GOD
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Holy God, whose majesty surpasses all human definitions and capacity to grasp,
thank you for those (especially T. Tertius Noble)
who have nurtured and encouraged the reverent worship of you.
May their work inspire us to worship you in knowledge, truth, and beauty.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
1 Chronicles 25:1-8
Psalm 145
Revelation 15:1-4
John 4:19-26
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
NOVEMBER 27, 2012 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JAMES INTERCISUS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MARTYR
THE FEAST OF HENRY SLOANE COFFIN, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN THEOLOGIAN
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Above: Blessed Ndoc Suma
Image in the Public Domain
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BLESSED NDOC SUMA (JULY 31, 1887-APRIL 22, 1958)
Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1958
Blessed Ndoc Suma comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.
Suma, born in Nënphat, Lezhë, Albania, on July 31, 1887, was a subject of the Ottoman Empire until Albanian independence (1912). he studied theology at Skrodrë, Albania, then at the Jesuit Collegium Canisianum, Innsbruck, Austria, Austria-Hungary. Our saint returned to Albania, whwere he joined the ranks of priests in the Archdiocese of Skrodrë-Pult on September 21, 1911.
During the subsequent political changes and stages of his homeland, Suma served as a parish priest in seven towns. After the fascist occupation ended in 1944, the communist government came to power. That government cracked down on religion. Albanian authorities arrested Suma while he was saying Mass in Laçu on December 8, 1946. The charge was being a spy.
The verdict was guilty, of course. Our saint, sentenced to thirty years in prison, as well as hard labor, was near death when freed on November 25, 1957. He, aged seventy years, died in the village of Pistull on April 22, 1958.
Holy Mother Church has formally recognized Suma. Pope Francis declared him a Venerable in 2016 then a beatus later that year.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 30, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT HONORIUS, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
THE FEAST OF MARY RAMABAI, PROPHETIC WITNESS AND EVANGELIST IN INDIA
THE FEAST OF RICHARD CHALLONER, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOLAR, RELIGIOUS WRITER, TRANSLATOR, CONTROVERSIALIST, PRIEST, AND TITULAR BISHOP OF DOBERUS
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Almighty God, who gave to your servant Blessed Ndoc Suma 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
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Above: Blessed Lucien Botovasoa
Image in the Public Domain
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BLESSED LUCIEN BOTOVASOA (1908-APRIL 14, 1947)
Malagasy Roman Catholic Martyr, 1947
Blessed Lucien Botovasoa comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.
Blessed Lucien, born in 1908 at Vohipeno, Madagascar, was one of nine children. He was a subject of the French colonial regime. Despite many dispersions regarding the French military from a plethora of critics in the twenty-first century, the French colonial regimes in places such as Madagascar and Algeria tolerated no hint of rebellion. Tactics were harsh.
Blessed Lucien pursued a religious vocation. He, baptized in 1918, made his First Communion four years later. He studied at the Jesuit Saint Joseph College (1922-1928) then taught there. Lives of the saints were part of our saint’s lessons for his pupils. Blessed Lucien married Suzanna Soazana on October 10, 1930. The married man and father, who joined the Crusaders of the Heart of Jesus on August 18, 1935, became a Secular Franciscan tertiary in 1940. He made his final vows on December 18, 1944. Blessed Lucien also took an interest in married saints and direct his parish choir.
Blessed Lucien was apolitical. He, encouraged to seek public office in early 1947, refused. Yet politics overtook him. The Malagasy Uprising (1947-1949) started in March. Predictably, French imperial repression triggered a violent rebellion. Predictably, rebels targeted institutions of foreign influence. The Roman Catholic Church became one of these targets.
On April 14, 1947, Blessed Lucien was eating lunch with his four children and pregnant wife. In this context, our saint learned that he, as a Catholic teacher, would immediately become a target of rebels. Instead of fleeing, Blessed Lucien remained with his family. Our saint, arrested, tried, and convicted by the local chief that night, died between 10:00 p.m. and Midnight. The guards, as well as the executioner, who beheaded Blessed Lucien, were some of his former students. They threw the corpse into the Mattanana River.
Holy Mother Church has formally recognized our saint. Pope Francis declared him a Venerable in 2017. The following year, Lucien became Blessed Lucien.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 28, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF JEHU JONES, JR., AFRICAN-AMERICAN LUTHERAN MINISTER
THE FEAST OF FRANCIS TURNER PALGRAVE, ANGLICAN POET, ART CRITIC, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JOSEPH HOSKINS, ENGLISH CONGREGATIONALIST MINISTER AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT LORENZO RUIZ AND HIS COMPANIONS, ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES AND MARTYRS IN JAPAN, 1637
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Almighty God, by whose grace and power
your holy martyr Blessed Lucien Botovasoa
triumphed over suffering and was faithful even to death:
Grant to us, who now remember him in thanksgiving,
to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world,
that we may receive with him the crown of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 51:1-12
Psalm 116 or 116:1-8
Revelation 7:13-17
Luke 12:2-12
–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), 714
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Above: Blessed Symforian Ducki
Image in the Public Domain
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BLESSED SYMFORIAN DUCKI (MAY 10, 1888-APRIL 11, 1942)
Polish Roman Catholic Friar and Martyr, 1942
Also known as Felix Ducki and Antonio Ducki
Alternative feast day (as one of the 108 Martyrs of World War II) = June 12
Blessed Symforian Ducki comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.
Felix Ducki was originally a subject of the Russian Empire. He, born in Warsaw on May 10, 1888, was a son of Julian Ducki (a locksmith) and Marianna (Lenardt) Ducki. Our saint joined the Franciscan Capuchins at Warsaw on January 3, 1918, during revolutionary times in Russia, as well as prior to the reestablishment of independent Poland. His first monastic name was Antonio. That name became Symforian on May 19, 1921.
Ducki lived and served mostly in Warsaw through 1941. He, as a friar, collected funds for the poor. Our saint served his brother friars as a cook. Ducki, who made his final vows on May 22, 1925, led this holy life until the Third Reich intervened.
Agents of the Gestapo arrested the Franciscan Capuchin friars of Warsaw on June 27, 1941, and initially incarcerated them at Pawiak. Ducki, sent to Auschwitz on September 23, 1941, spent the rest of his life performing hard labor. He, aged 53 years, died on April 11, 1942.
Holy Mother Church has formally recognized our saint. Pope John Paul II declared Ducki a Venerable in 1999 then a beatus later that year.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 26, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT PAUL VI, BISHOP OF ROME
THE FEAST OF FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER, ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JOHN BRIGHT, U.S. PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER AND BIBLICAL SCHOLAR
THE FEAST OF JOHN BYROM, ANGLICAN THEN QUAKER POET AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF JOSEPH A. SITTLER, U.S. LUTHERAN MINISTER, THEOLOGIAN, AND ECUMENIST
THE FEAST OF LANCELOT ANDREWES, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF CHICHESTER THEN OF ELY THEN OF WINCHESTER
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Almighty and everlasting God, who kindled the flame of your love
in the heart of your holy martyr Blessed Symforian Ducki:
Grant to us, your humble servants, a like faith and power of love,
that we who rejoice in his triumph may profit by his example;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Jeremiah 15:15-21
Psalm 124 or 31:1-5
1 Peter 4:12-19
Mark 8:34-38
–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), 715
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Above: St. Gaetano Catanoso
Image in the Public Domain
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SAINT GAETANO CATANOSO (FEBRUARY 14, 1879-APRIL 14, 1953)
Founder of the Congregation of the Daughters of Saint Veronica (the Missionaries of the Holy Face)
Alternative feast day = September 20
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The Holy Face is my life. He is my strength.
–St. Gaetano Catanoso
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St. Gaetano Catanoso comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.
Catanoso came from a large, devout, and wealthy family of Chioro di San Lorenzo, Reggio Calabra, Italy. He, born on February 14, 1879, was one of eight children of Antonio and Antonia Catanoso. Our saint, who started his theological studies in October 1889, joined the ranks of priests on September 20, 1902, when he was twenty-three years old.
Catanoso spent most of his priestly career in parishes, with ministries in communities. After spending 1902-1904 as a prefect of seminarians, our saint became a parish priest. He encouraged priestly vocations, improved catechesis, revived Marian and Eucharistic devotions, encouraged the observance of liturgical feasts, and worked with other local priests to arrange for priests to hear confessions in each other’s parishes. Catanoso also served as a spiritual director at a seminary (1922-1949) and hospitals (1922-1933). Furthermore, he founded an orphanage for war orphans in 1943. In 1935, our saint founded the Congregation of the Daughters of Saint Veronica (the Missionaries of the Holy Face) to work with the poor and to offer perpetual prayers. The congregation received diocesan approval in 1958.
When Catanoso died, aged seventy-four years, on April 4, 1953, he was ill and blind. He was also justifiably beloved.
Holy Mother Church has formally recognized Catanoso. Pope John Paul II declared him a Venerable in 1990 then a beatus in 1997. Pope Benedict XVI canonized our saint in 2005.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 24, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF ANNA ELLISON BUTLER ALEXANDER, AFRICAN-AMERICAN EPISCOPAL DEACONESS IN GEORGIA, AND EDUCATOR
THE FEAST OF HENRY HART MILMAN, ANGLICAN DEAN, TRANSLATOR, HISTORIAN, THEOLOGIAN, AND HYMN WRITER
THE FEAST OF SAINT JUVENAL OF ALASKA, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MARTYR IN ALASKA, AND FIRST ORTHODOX MARTYR IN THE AMERICAS, 1796
THE FEAST OF SAINT PETER THE ALEUT, RUSSIAN ORTHODOX MARTYR IN SAN FRANCISCO, 1815
THE FEAST OF SAINT SILOUAN OF MOUNT ATHOS, EASTERN ORTHODOX MONK AND POET
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Lord 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 those to whom
the world offers no comfort and little help.
Through us give hope to the hopeless,
love to the unloved,
peace to the troubled,
and rest to the weary;
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hosea 2:18-23
Psalm 94:1-14
Romans 12:9-21
Luke 6:20-36
—Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 37
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Above: Calvary Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, California
Image Source = Google Earth
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FRANK VON CHRISTIERSON (DECEMBER 25, 1900-APRIL 24, 1996)
Finnish-American Presbyterian Minister and Hymn Writer
Born Friedrich von Christierson
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In gratitude and humble trust,
We bring our best today,
To serve your cause and share your love
With all along life’s way.
O God, who gave yourself to us
In Christ, your only Son,
Teach us to give ourselves each day
Until life’s work is done.
–Frank von Christierson, from As Men of Old Their Firstfruits Brought (1960, 1972); quoted in The Worshipbook: Services and Hymns (1972)
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Frank von Christierson comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via various denominational hymnals, mainly The Methodist Hymnal/The Book of Hymns (1966). (The United Methodist Hymnal of 1989 lacks any texts by our saint.)
Friedrich von Christierson was originally a subject of the Russian Empire. He, born at Lovisa, near Helsinki, Finland, on December 25, 1900, left for the United States with his parents and five brothers in 1905.
Christierson (B.A., psychology, Stanford University, 1923), went into church work. He spent a few years as the youth director at First Presbyterian Church, San Luis Obispo, California. During this time, Christierson married Frances May Lockhart in 1925. The couple had two children. Our saint matriculated at San Francisco Theological Seminary (B.D., 1929; M.A., 1930). Christierson, ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. in 1929, continued his clergy status in the PCUSA’s successors, The United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He served in the following congregations from 1929 to 1966:
- Calvary Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, California (1929-1944);
- Trinity Community Presbyterian Church, North Hollywood, California, a church plant (1944-1961); and
- Celtic Cross United Presbyterian Church (now Celtic Cross Presbyterian Church), Citrus Heights, California, a church plant (1961-1966).
Christierson was also active beyond the congregational level. He served as the Moderator of the San Francisco Presbytery and the Los Angeles Presbytery. For three years in the early 1960s, he served as the chairman of the radio and television ministries of the Sacramento Area Council of Churches. In this capacity, our saint created a television program, Capital and Clergy, in 1962.
Christierson remained active in retirement. He filled various pulpits, as an interim pastor, in California and Nevada through 1970. Then, from 1970 to 1982, our saint was a part-time associate minister at First Presbyterian Church (now Centerpoint Community Church), Roseville, California. He focused on the elderly and the ill.
Our saint, a fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada since 1983, published Make a Joyful Noise (1987), a volume of his hymns.
Christierson, aged 95 years, died in Roseville, California, on April 24, 1996.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 21, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT MATTHEW THE EVANGELIST, APOSTLE AND MARTYR
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Dear God of beauty,
you have granted literary ability and spiritual sensitivity to
Frank von Christierson and others, who have composed hymn texts.
May we, as you guide us,
find worthy hymn texts to be icons,
through which we see you.
In the Name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 44:1-3a, 5-15
Psalm 147
Revelation 5:11-14
Luke 2:8-20
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
APRIL 20, 2013 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINTS AMATOR OF AUXERRE AND GERMANUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS; SAINT MAMERTINUS OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBOT; AND SAINT MARCIAN OF AUXERRE, ROMAN CATHOLIC MONK
THE FEAST OF JOHANNES BUGENHAGEN, GERMAN LUTHERAN PASTOR
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARCELLINUS OF EMBRUN, ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP
THE FEAST OF OLAVUS AND LAURENTIUS PETRI, RENEWERS OF THE CHURCH
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Above: Franciscan Symbol
Image in the Public Domain
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BLESSED BONIFACY ZUKOWSKI (JANUARY 13, 1913-APRIL 10, 1942)
Polish Roman Catholic Friar and Martyr, 1942
Also known as Bonface Zukowski and Piotr Zukowski
Alternative feast day (as one of the 108 Martyrs of World War II) = June 12
Blessed Bonifacy Zukowski comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.
Piotr Zukowski was originally a subject of the Russian Empire. He, born near Vilnius, Lithuania, on January 13, 1913, was a son of Andrzej Zukowski and Albina Walkiewicz. Our saint, who grew up on a farm, joined the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans) in Niepokalanow, Poland, in 1930. He took the name Bonifacy. Zukowski, who made his solemn profession on August 2, 1935, pursued his religious vocation. He worked in the printing press, which published The Knight of the Immaculate. Our saint worked with St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941).
Zukowski became a prisoner on October 14, 1941, when agents of the Gestapo arrested him. The Nazi authorities did not like the material the press published. Our saint, incarcerated first in Warsaw, ministered to other prisoners.
Internet sources disagree regarding which concentration camp to which the Nazis shipped Zukowski. The options are Auschwitz and Dachau.
Our saint did not survive long in the concentration camp. He, treated harshly, died on April 10, 1942. Zukowski was 29 years old.
Holy Mother Church has formally recognized our saint. Pope John Paul II declared him a Venerable then a beatus in 1999.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 20, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF HENRI NOUWEN, DUTCH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND SPIRITUAL WRITER
THE FEAST OF ELIZABETH KENNY, AUSTRALIAN NURSE AND MEDICAL PIONEER
THE FEAST OF JOHN COLERIDGE PATTESON, ANGLICAN BISHOP OF MELANESIA, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS, 1871
THE FEAST OF SAINT MARIE THERESE OF SAINT JOSEPH, FOUNDER OF THE CONGREGATON OF THE CARMELITE SISTERS OF THE DIVINE HEART OF JESUS
THE FEAST OF NELSON WESLEY TROUT, FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN U.S. LUTHERAN BISHOP
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Almighty God, by whose grace and power
your holy martyr Blessed Bonifacy Zukowski
triumphed over suffering and was faithful even to death:
Grant us, who now remember him in thanksgiving,
to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world,
that we may receive with him the crown of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 51:1-12
Psalm 116 or 116:1-8
Revelation 7:13-17
Luke 12:2-12
–Adapted from Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints (2010), 714
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Above: Blessed Ndue (Karl) Serreqi
Image in the Public Domain
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BLESSED NDUE SERREQI (FEBRUARY 26, 1911-APRIL 4, 1954)
Albanian Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr, 1954
Also known as Blessed Karl Serreqi
Blessed Ndue (Karl) Serreqi comes to this, A Great Cloud of Witnesses: An Ecumenical Calendar of Saints’ Days and Holy Days, via the Roman Catholic Church.
Our saint, born Ndue Serreqi in Shkodrë, Albania, on February 26, 1911, studied under Franciscan friars. He joined that order as a young man. Our saint, ordained a priest, as Father Karl, in Brescia, Italy, in June 1936, served as a parish priest in the mountains of Albania.
Albania, formerly under Italian fascist occupation, came under communist control in 1944. The government began to suppress religion in 1946; it focused particular ire on Roman Catholics, who had enjoyed official favor during the fascist occupation. This stereotyping labeled all Albanian Roman Catholics as fascists.
Consider the following, O reader:
Given the delicacy and greatness of this ministry and the respect due to persons, the Church declares that every priest who hears confessions is bound under very severe penalties to keep absolute secrecy regarding the sins that his penitents have confessed to him. He can make no use of knowledge that confession gives him about penitents’ lives. This secret, which admits of no exceptions, is called the “sacramental seal,” because what the penitent has made known to the priest remains “sealed” by the sacrament.
—The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition (1997), paragraph #1467
Albanian authorities arrested Serreqi on October 9, 1946. They demanded that Father Karl reveal details of the confessions of anti-communist rebels. The priest, incarcerated and tortured, refused to break the sacramental seal of confession. The court sentenced our saint to death on January 18, 1947. However, the sentence became life in prison. The priest, having suffered greatly in prison, died behind bars on April 4, 1954. He was 43 years old.
Holy Mother Church has formally recognized Father Karl. Pope Francis declared Serreqi a Venerable then a beatus in 2016.
KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR
SEPTEMBER 17, 2022 COMMON ERA
THE FEAST OF SAINT JUTTA DISIBODENBERG, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS; AND HER STUDENT, SAINT HILDEGARD OF BINGEN, ROMAN CATHOLIC ABBESS AND COMPOSER
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZYGMUNT SZCESNY FELINSKI, ROMAN CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF WARSAW, TITULAR BISOHP OF TARSUS, AND FOUNDER OF RECOVERY FOR THE POOR AND THE CONGREGATOIN OF THE FRANCISCAN SISTERS OF THE FAMILY OF MARY
THE FEAST OF SAINT ZYGMUNT SAJNA, POLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST AND MARTYR, 1940
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Gracious Lord, in every age you have sent men and women
who have given their lives for the message of your love.
Inspire us with the memory of those martyrs for the Gospel
[like your servant Blessed Ndue (Karl) Serreqi]
whose faithfulness led them in 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;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Ezekiel 28:40-42
Psalm 5
Revelation 6:9-11
Mark 8:34-38
–Adapted from the Lutheran Book of Worship (1978), 37
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SUNDRY THOUGHTS 
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