Venerable Matt Talbot
Venerable Matt Talbot, born in Dublin, patron of those struggling with alcoholism, was an active alcoholic for nearly 15 years.
Saint Emily de Vialar
Saint Emily de Vialar, Virgin, Foundress of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition, secretly baptized and taught religion at home post-French Revolution.
Saint John Francis Regis
Saint John Francis Regis was a French priest of the Society of Jesus. Making himself available to the poor, he spent the afternoon at prisons and hospitals.
Saint Germaine Cousin
Born in 1579 of humble parents at Pibrac, a village about ten miles from Toulouse; died in her native place in 1601. From her birth she seemed marked out for suffering; she came into the world with a deformed hand and the disease of scrofula, and, while yet an infant, lost her mother. Her father soon married again, but his second wife treated Germaine with much cruelty.
Saint Joseph the Hymnographer
Saint Joseph the Hymnographer was the most prolific of the Greek hymn writers. St. Joseph is credited with the composition of about one thousand canons. A native of Sicily, he was forced to leave his island in 830 in the wake of an invasion by the Arabs, journeying to Thessalonica and then to Constantinople. He abandoned the Byzantine capital in 841 to escape the severe Iconoclast per secution, but on his way to Rome he was captured by pirates and held for several years in Crete as a slave.
Saint Anthony of Padua
Saint Anthony of Padua, Doctor of the Church, patron saint of lost and stolen articles, was a powerful Franciscan preacher and teacher.
Solemnity of The Sacred Heart of Jesus
Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus goes back at least to the 11th century, but through the 16th century, it remained a private devotion, often tied to devotion to the Five Wounds of Christ. The first feast of the Sacred Heart was celebrated on August 31, 1670, in Rennes, France, through the efforts of Fr. Jean Eudes (1602-1680). From Rennes, the devotion spread, but it took the visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-1690) for the devotion to become universal.
108 Polish Martyrs
The 108 Polish Martyrs of World War II, known also as 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs, were Roman Catholics from Poland killed during World War II by the Nazis.
Saint Barnabas
Saint Barnabas was one of the Seventy Apostles and the companion of the Apostle Paul on some of his missionary voyages.
Saint Olivia
Saint Olivia was described as a ravishing beauty when captured by Saracens at 13. When she died, her soul was seen to fly to heaven in the form of a dove.
