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Catholic Heroes… St. Margaret Of Scotland

November 14, 2017 saints Comments Off on Catholic Heroes… St. Margaret Of Scotland

By CAROLE BRESLIN Quite frequently saints have left their home country and died in another country, but most of them died in a foreign land because they left to serve as missionaries to Asia, Africa, or America. The land of Hungary, however, has seen a few saints depart because they were of royal families, including St. Elizabeth of Hungary, who went to Germany to be married, and St. Margaret of Scotland. They lived virtuous lives, loved the poor, and made heroic sacrifices. Thus they became saints. Margaret’s parents were heirs to the throne of England around the time of 1016 when King Ethelred died. The royal family was forced to flee when the Danes invaded England and controlled the throne…Continue Reading

Catholic Heroes… Blesseds Kamen Vitchev, Pavel Djidjov, And Josaphat Chichkov

November 7, 2017 saints Comments Off on Catholic Heroes… Blesseds Kamen Vitchev, Pavel Djidjov, And Josaphat Chichkov

By CAROLE BRESLIN At the end of World War II, the USSR took control of countries in Eastern Europe. The governments were led by Communists who were great enemies of organized religion, especially the Catholic Church. As conditions worsened, the persecution and suppression of the Catholic Church increased in its severity. In November 1952, the Bulgarian government, after a puppet trial, executed 40 “enemies of the state” under the shroud of darkness. The actual events were not revealed until many years later after Pope St. John Paul II precipitated the fall of the Iron Curtain. Among the persons executed were three priests: Kamen Vitchev, Pavel Djidjov, and Josaphat Chichkov. Kamen Vitchev In Srem, near Topolovgrad, Bulgaria, a peasant family had…Continue Reading

Catholic Heroes… St. Joseph Pignatelli

October 31, 2017 saints Comments Off on Catholic Heroes… St. Joseph Pignatelli

By CAROLE BRESLIN Since the founding of the Society of Jesus in 1540 by St. Ignatius of Loyola up to the mid-eighteenth century, the order of priests and brothers had met with phenomenal success. But despite the high respect the Jesuits received from Popes, bishops, and kings, they eventually found themselves exiled and suppressed. The same bishop who started the Jansenist movement had been rejected by the Jesuits when he applied to become a novice. Enraged by this rejection, he vowed to destroy the Jesuits and — along with other forces working against the order — nearly did so. His undermining of the order slowly worked its way through all levels of society and the Jesuit priests were suppressed in…Continue Reading

Catholic Heroes… Saints Simon The Zealot And Jude Thaddeus

October 24, 2017 saints Comments Off on Catholic Heroes… Saints Simon The Zealot And Jude Thaddeus

By CAROLE BRESLIN There are two apostles who shared names with yet another apostle: St. Simon, who became Peter, and Simon the Zealot; and St. Jude Thaddeus and Judas Iscariot. These apostles are frequently confused by Christians, but clearly they were different persons. On October 28, St. Simon and St. Jude, both members of the first twelve apostles, traveled together around the Mideast, preaching the word of God. Their feast is celebrated together because they were martyred in the same place on the same day. St. Simon The Zealot St. Simon the Zealot, one of the most obscure apostles, was called Kananaios or Kananites in ancient manuscripts of Mark 3:18 and Matt. 10:4. In Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13 his…Continue Reading

Catholic Heroes… St. Catherine Of Alexandria

October 17, 2017 saints Comments Off on Catholic Heroes… St. Catherine Of Alexandria

By CAROLE BRESLIN The list of saints is long, and includes both men and women from all walks of life and from all disciplines. For some saints, there is a plenitude of documents and accounts of their lives from which we can draw much information. For most of the saints from the early centuries of the Church, however, there is little recorded. There is not much information about St. Catherine of Alexandria but her impact on the early Church provides material for deep reflection. Alexandria, a great city at the mouth of the Nile River in Egypt was the center of Hellenistic knowledge at the turn of the fourth century. St. Catherine’s family lived in Alexandra since her father, Constus,…Continue Reading

Catholic Heroes… St. Edward The Confessor

October 10, 2017 saints Comments Off on Catholic Heroes… St. Edward The Confessor

By CAROLE BRESLIN In the Middle Ages, England not only endured the raids of the Vikings, but also suffered from the raids initiated by Denmark and Normandy to control the small kingdom across the straights. Battles and intrigues were frequent, leaving little peace until the time of King Edward the Confessor. Even his reign experienced the plots and conspiracies so common when a kingdom is sought by more than one party. Edward, the son of King Ethelred the Unready and his second wife, Emma of Normandy, was born in 1003. He was the seventh son of Ethelred, but the firstborn of his second wife who also gave birth to another son, Alfred, and daughter, Godgifu. The family lived in Islip,…Continue Reading

Catholic Heroes… St. Anna Schaffer

October 3, 2017 saints Comments Off on Catholic Heroes… St. Anna Schaffer

By CAROLE BRESLIN There have been a number of well-known saints who have endured the painful wounds given to them by Christ. St. Rita suffered a permanent wound in her forehead, representing Christ’s crown of thorns. Others such as St. Francis and St. Padre Pio suffered the stigmata, the wounds in the hands and feet representing the holes where the nails pierced Christ’s hands. St. Catherine of Siena suffered similar pains and so did a lesser-known saint, St. Anna Schaffer. Anna was born on February 18, 1882 in Mindelstetten, Germany, about 75 miles west of the Austrian border. Anna was the third of six children. Her father, a carpenter, died in 1896 when Anna was 16 years old. This left…Continue Reading

Catholic Heroes… St. Colman Of Kilmacduagh

September 26, 2017 saints Comments Off on Catholic Heroes… St. Colman Of Kilmacduagh

By CAROLE BRESLIN Ireland, the Emerald Isle, a green country of lush fauna, friendly people, and beautiful views — if you can find a clear day — has a rich and troubled heritage. It is a land full of the lore of elves, fairies, and, most important, Catholic saints. Numerous books have been written about the many Irish saints and one of the most revered in Aidhne for nearly 1,400 years is St. Colman. Before he was even born in 560, Colman’s existence caused much persecution for his mother. Colman’s mother, Rhinagh, descended from royalty, fled for her safety from her husband, Duagh, an Irish chieftain. Rhinagh, still pregnant with Colman, received a prophecy that her son’s holiness would surpass…Continue Reading

Catholic Heroes… St. Thomas Villanova

September 19, 2017 saints Comments Off on Catholic Heroes… St. Thomas Villanova

By CAROLE BRESLIN Our Lord drew amazing men and women from the population of Spain to protect that country from the ravages that swept through Germany and the Scandinavian countries in the Reformation era. Two events marked by Augustinian monks sparked these events. In Germany, an apostate Augustinian monk who fell from grace led hundreds of thousands into error — Martin Luther. The second “event” was the raising of great saints in Spain: John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Ignatius of Loyola, and Thomas of Villanova. These saints helped edify and sustain faithful Catholics. In 1488 the Catholic parish in Fuentellana counted a pious but impoverished family among its members. Aloazo Thomas Garcia, a miller, was the father, and…Continue Reading

Catholic Heroes… St. Simon De Rojas

September 12, 2017 saints Comments Off on Catholic Heroes… St. Simon De Rojas

By CAROLE BRESLIN The subject of this article lived in a time of great saints, great Spanish saints, so it is not surprising that he is little known. St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) who wrote the Spiritual Exercises, St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) who reformed the Carmelites and wrote The Interior Castle, and St. John of the Cross who wrote The Ascent of Mount Carmel and The Dark Night of the Soul (1542-1591) all lived during the lifetime of St. Simon de Rojas. While they focused on the spiritual formation of souls, St. Simon focused on organizing the laity to play a more active role in performing the corporal works of mercy. In the year 1552 there was a Catholic…Continue Reading