St. Thomas, Apostle

St. Thomas, Apostle - Patron of the East Indies - December 21st

Thomas was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. His name in the Syriac language means “twin.” St. Thomas loved Our Lord greatly, even though at first his faith was not very strong. Once when Jesus was going to face danger of being killed, the other apostles tried to keep the Master back. But St. Thomas said to them, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

When Jesus was captured by his enemies, Thomas lost his courage and ran away with the other apostles. His heart was broken with sorrow at the death of his beloved Lord. Then on Easter Sunday, Jesus appeared to His Apostles after He had risen from the dead. Thomas was not with them at the time, so as soon as he came, the other Apostles told him joyfully, “We have seen the Lord!” They thought Thomas would be filled with happiness, but Thomas did not believe their message.

“Unless I see His hands the print of the nails,” he said, “and put my finger in the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” Eight days later, Jesus appeared to His Apostles again and this time, Thomas was there, too. Christ called him and told him to touch His hands and the wound in His side. Poor St. Thomas! He fell down at the Master’s feet and cried out, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus said, “Because you have seen Me, Thomas, you have believed. Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed.”

After Pentecost, Thomas was strong and firm in the Faith. He went to India to preach the Gospel, and died a martyr there, after making many converts.

Every time we look at the Sacred Host at Mass or Benediction, let us exclaim with faith: “My Lord and my God!”

See here to view the reliquary where St. Thomas' incorrupt finger is held:

http://www.rosaryworkshop.com/ROME-Pilgrimage-Crx.html

St. Dominic of Silos

St. Dominic of Silos – December 20th

Dominic was a Spanish shepherd boy. In the many hours he spent alone with his sheep at the bottom of the Pyrenees Mountains, he learned to love prayer. Soon he became a monk and a very good one. Dominic was elected prior of his monastery and brought about many changes for the better. One day, however, King Garcia III of Navarre claimed that some of the monastery’s possessions were his. St. Dominic refused to give them to the King, for he did not think it was right to give the King what belonged to the Church.

This decision greatly angered the King and he ordered the Saint to leave his kingdom. Dominic and his monks were given a friendly welcome by another King, Ferdinand I of Castile. Ferdinand told them they could have an old monastery called St. Sebastian at Silos. This monastery was located in a lonely spot and was very run-down. But with Dominic as the abbot, it soon began to take on a new look. In fact, he made it one of the best known monasteries in all Spain.

St. Dominic worked many miracles to cure all kinds of sicknesses.

Many years after his death, Dominic appeared to a wife and mother, Blessed Joan of Aza. He told her that God would send her another son. When that son was born, Joan gratefully named him Dominic. And this son became the great St. Dominic, founder of the Dominican Order.

What can I do to help the Church? Even small offerings and service are of great help in the divine work of saving souls.

Blessed Urban the V

Blessed Urban the V – December 19th

Blessed Urban’s name before he became Pope was William de Grimoard. He was born in France and became a Benedictine monk. After being given many high positions, he was elected Pope.

At this time, the Popes lived in a city called Avignon, but Urban made up his mind to go to Rome, because that is where the Pope should live. The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, and Urban knew that his place was there in Rome. There were many difficulties, and people in France objected to his going, but Urban did what he felt was right.

The people of Rome were overjoyed to have the Pope back, and especially such a holy man as was Urban V. He set about at once to repair the great churches of Rome, to help the poor, and to make the people fervent and devout again. The Emperor Charles V showed great respect to the Holy Father, too.

But Urban had a great many problems, and he was getting sicker and weaker all the time. Many of his Cardinals kept urging him to go back to Avignon, and at last he gave in. As he prepared to leave Rome, the people of the city begged him to stay. He was very sad and moved, but he left, anyway. About three months later, he died.

It was wrong for Urban to leave Rome, but aside from this weakness, he was a very holy and good man. He did much for the Church, for schools and universities, and for the people. He was called “a light of the world and a way of truth.”

Let us pray for our Holy Father the Pope: “Lord, cover with Thy protection our Holy Father the Pope; be his light, his strength, his consolation.”

St. Flannan

St. Flannan – December 18th

Flannan was the son of an Irish chieftain named Turlough. He was educated by the monks and also learned from them all manner of farming chores. When he was a grown man, Flannan decided to make a pilgrimage to Rome.

In Rome, Pope John IV made him a bishop, for he recognized the wisdom and holiness of this man. When St. Flannan returned to Ireland, all the people of his region, Killaloe, came to meet him. They were eager to learn the instructions the Saint had brought back from the Holy Roman See.

St. Flannan taught his people so well that even his father, the chieftain Turlough, decided to become a monk. The old man went to St. Colman to be instructed in the life of a monk. At the same time, he asked for a blessing for his family, since three of his sons had been killed. The Saint predicted: “From you shall seven kings spring.” And so it happened.

St. Flannan was afraid that since he was one of the family, he, too, might be made king. So he prayed to become ugly, and his face was soon covered with big scars and rashes. Thus he could be sure that he could devote himself entirely to the service of God and his people.

The honors, riches and pleasures of this world last only a short time. The happiness and glory of Heaven, instead, lasts forever. Let us often think of this, as the Saints did, and we too, shall become saints.

St. Olympias

St. Olympias – December 17th

This Saint belonged to a great family of Constantinople and when she was left an orphan, she was given into the care of a wonderful Christian woman. Olympias had inherited a large fortune and was both sweet and attractive. So her uncle found it easy to marry her to Nebridius, a man who had been governor of Constantinople. St. Gregory of Nazianzen apologized for not being able to attend the wedding, and sent a poem full of good advice for Olympias.

Nebridius died very soon afterwards, however, and the Emperor urged Olympias to marry again. She answered: “Had God wished me to remain a wife, He would not have taken Nebridius away.” And she refused to marry again. St. Gregory called her “the glory of the widows in the Eastern Church.”

With a number of other pious ladies, Olympias gave herself to works of charity. She dressed plainly, prayed much, and gave her money away to everyone. Finally St. John Chrysostom had to tell her to be careful in giving away her goods. “You must not encourage laziness of those who live upon you without necessity,” he said. “It is like throwing your money into the sea.”

When St. John Chrysostom became Archbishop of Constantinople, he guided St. Olympias and her disciples in their works. A home for orphans and a chapel were opened, and help given to great numbers of people.

Among St. Olympias’ friends were five other saints, but her own bishop, St. John Chrysostom, was her dearest guide and when he was exiled, she was deeply grieved. She then had to suffer persecution and her community of widows and maiden were forced to stop their charitable works. Besides this, she was in poor health and was being criticized and even exiled. Yet St. John wrote to her: “I cannot stop calling you blessed. The patience and dignity with which you have borne your sorrows, your prudence, wisdom and charity have won you great glory and reward.”

St. Olympias died when she was about forty. Some one described her as “a wonderful woman, like a precious vase filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Let us make sure to have a good guide in our spiritual work, so that we will be certain of spending our lives in the best possible way.

St. Adelaide

St. Adelaide – December 16th

At the age of sixteen, this Burgundian princess was married to King Lothair. Three years later her husband died, and the ruler who is believed to have poisoned him tried to get Adelaide to be his wife. She absolutely refused. In anger, he treated her with great cruelty and locked her up in a castle on a lake.

Adelaide was saved when King Otto the Great of Germany conquered this ruler. Although she was twenty years younger than he, Otto married the lovely Adelaide on Christmas Day. When he took his new Queen back home, the German people loved her at once. She was as gentle and gracious as she was pretty. God sent five children to the royal couple, and they lived happily for twenty-two years.

When Otto died, Adelaide’s oldest son became the ruler. This son, Otto the Second, was good, but too quick to act without thinking. So it happened that he turned against his own mother and she left the palace. In her great sorrow, she appealed to the abbot, St. Majolus, and he made Otto feel sorry for what he had done. Adelaide met her son in Italy and the King begged her forgiveness on his knees. She in turn prayed for her son, sending offerings to the great shrine of St. Martin of Tours.

In her old age, St. Adelaide was called on to rule the country while her grandson was still a child. She founded many monasteries and convents and worked to convert the Slavs.

All her life, this saintly empress had obeyed the advice of holy men and had ever been willing to forgive those who had hurt her. St. Odilo of Cluny called her a “marvel of beauty and grace.”

In His goodness God gives us all some things to suffer here on earth. If we accept them with patience, He will reward us later with a beautiful place in Heaven.

St. Nino

St. Nino – December 15th

Nino was a Christian maiden who was captured and carried off to Iberia as a slave. In that pagan country, her goodness and purity made a great impression on the people. Noticing how much she prayed, they asked her about her religion. The simple answer she gave them was that she adored Jesus Christ as God.

God chose this pure, devout slave-girl to bring Christianity to Iberia. One day, a mother brought her sick child to Nino, asking her to suggest a cure. The Saint wrapped the baby in her old cloak and told the mother that Jesus Christ can cure the worst cases of sickness. Then she handed the child back and the mother saw that it was completely cured.

The Queen of Iberia learned of this miracle, and since she herself was sick, she went to the Saint. When she, too, was healed, she tried to thank the Christian girl, but Nino said: “It is Christ’s work, not mine. And He is the Son of God who made the world.”

The Queen let the King know the whole story of her cure, and she repeated what the slave-girl had said about Jesus Christ. Shortly after this, the King got lost in a fog while out hunting. Then he remembered what his wife had told him and he said that if Jesus Christ would lead him safely home, he would believe in Him. At once, the fog lifted, and the King was true to his promise.

St. Nino taught the King and Queen the truths of Christianity, and she was given permission to teach people. Meanwhile the King began building a Christian Church. Then he sent messengers to the Christian Emperor Constantine to tell him of his conversion and to ask for bishops and priests.

So it was that a poor slave brought a whole country into the Church.

If we are humble, God will use us to do much good.

St. Spiridion

St. Spiridion – December 14th

This Saint lived on the island of Cypress, in the Mediterranean Sea. He was a shepherd, was married, and had a family. So great was his charity that he was even kind to thieves who tried to steal his sheep.

Later, Spiridion was made bishop of Tremithus on the sea coast of Cypress. His people were poor but they were devout Christians. When Galerius’ persecution began in Cypress, the Saint suffered gloriously. His right eye was put out and he was crippled and sent to work in the mines. Yet he lived through these trials and kept on serving God in joy.

St. Spiridion had had little education. Still he had studied the Holy Bible so much each day that he had gained marvelous wisdom. He was a simple man who spoke plainly and used common words. For this reason, when a famous preacher substituted a fancier word for the term Jesus had used in the Holy Gospel, St. Spiridion objected, “Isn’t the word Our Lord Himself used good enough for you?”

God gave the Saint the power of working miracles. A certain man had asked Spiridion’s daughter to keep a very valuable possession of his where it would be safe. When she died, and the man came for his article, no one knew where it was. So the Saint went to her grave and called her by name. He asked her where she had put the man’s valuable possession. The dead girl explained where she had hidden it, and they found it in that exact spot.

After his own death, the Saint’s relics were highly honored by all the people.

The knowledge of heavenly things is what we should look for. With it we will be happy and will find it easy to please God.

St. Lucy

St. Lucy - Patroness of Those With Eye Trouble - December 13th

This beloved Saint lived in Syracuse in Sicily. She was the daughter of very noble and rich parents. Her father died while she was still young, and Lucy secretly promised Jesus that she would never marry so that she could be His alone.

Now Lucy was a lovely girl, with beautiful eyes. More than one young noble set his heart on her, and her mother urged her to marry one whom she had chosen for Lucy. But the Christian maiden would not consent. Then she formed a plan to win her mother. She knew her mother was suffering from hemorrages, so she convinced her to go to the shrine of St. Agatha and pray for her recovery. Lucy went along with her and together they prayed. When God heard their prayers and cured her mother, Lucy told her of her vow to be Christ’s bride. Her mother left her free to follow her vocation, out of gratitude for her cure.

But the young pagan to whom she had promised Lucy was furious at losing out. In his bitter anger, he accused her of being a Christian and threatened her with torture, but she was even willing to lose both her eyes rather than belong to anyone but Jesus. Many statues show us St. Lucy holding her lovely eyes in the palm of her hand. To reward her for her heroic love, Jesus worked a miracle and gave her back her eyes, more beautiful than ever.

The pagan judge tried to send the Saint to a house of sinful women in the hope that she might be tempted to give up Christ. But when they tried to carry her away, God made her body so heavy that they could not budge her! In the end, she became a martyr for Jesus, being killed by a knife blow.

Today I will conquer every temptation with a little prayer.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe*

– December 12th

On December 9th, A.D. 1531, the Blessed Virgin appeared on one of the hills of the Guadalupe range, Tepeyac Hill, to Juan Diego, a Mexican Indian. Our Lady told him to build a chapel in her honor on the place of her apparition, and left him with a picture of herself impressed upon his mantle, and caused a miraculous spring to arise, in the waters of which many people were cured. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the most celebrated places of pilgrimage in the New World.

*The faithful who shall devoutly visit a church where the picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe is exposed, can gain: Indulgence of 300 days, once a day.-Indulgence of 7 years on the 12th of each month.-Plenary, on the Feast of the Motherhood of our Blessed Virgin Mary, on the last Sunday after Pentecost and on the 12th of December, when they shall confess and receive Holy Communion and shall pray for the intentions of His Holiness.