On August 15, 1654 on the island of Ischia, off the coast of Naples, a little boy was born to an exemplary, well-to-do couple, Joseph and Laura Calosirto. Baptized the same day, the new arrival was given the name of Carlo Caetano.

One of seven boys, five of which were to enter religion, Carlo gave early signs of seeking sanctity, which his family recognized and respected.

At sixteen Carlo had a talk with the superior of the Franciscan Monastery of Santa Lucia del Monte in Naples. Discerning a great vocation, the superior received him despite his youth. The new novice did not disappoint his superiors to the point that at age twenty-one, and not yet a priest, he was appointed superior of a new monastery in Piedmont.

Though he wished to remain a deacon like his founder, St. Francis of Assisi, his superiors insisted that he be ordained, and so he was in 1677. Despite his youth and innocence he proved to be an exceptional, insightful confessor.

Fr. John Joseph spent his life in the service of his order at times as superior, at times as novice master, always a loving, balanced and wise director of souls.

At one period of great aridity in his life he was consoled by a vision of a departed brother who reassured him as to his condition. After this incident, Fr. John Joseph began to demonstrate the powers of a wonder worker, with miraculous cures and the multiplication of food for the house.

His fame spread so quickly that when he returned to Ischia to visit his dying mother, his town acclaimed him as a saint.

In 1722, Fr. John Joseph was the wise and tactful arbiter in a great conflict that arose regarding the management of his order.

Warned of his death, he talked freely of it to those about him but continued to carry out his duties hearing confessions and practicing mortification. On March 1, 1734 he had an apoplectic seizure and died five days later. Almost immediately his tomb became a place of pilgrimage. He was canonized in 1839.

“Doubt not; trust in God, He will provide.”

He is the patron siant of Ischilia, Italy.

Little is historically known about Pope Sylvester, though legend adds a few anecdotes.

It is known that his father was a Roman by name of Rufinus. He succeeded Pope Miltiades in 314 and reigned for twenty-one years.

With Emperor Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 313, Christianity was finally granted freedom. Legend has it, that having contracted leprosy, Emperor Constantine was healed after receiving baptism at the hand of St. Sylvester, and that afterwards, he made many gifts to the Church.

In any case, with the Edict of Milan, things certainly became easier for the Church.

It was during the reign of St. Sylvester that several great basilicas were built by Constantine: The Lateran, Santa Croce, St. Peter in the Vatican, and several cemetery churches over the graves of the martyrs. No doubt, St. Sylvester was involved in the construction of these churches.

St. Sylvester also contributed to the development of the Roman liturgy, and it was during his reign that the first martyrology was drawn up. Sylvester also established a Roman school of singing, and built a church over the Catacomb of St. Priscilla.

Pope Sylvester took part in the Council of Nicaea at which the heresy of Arianism was condemned. He also sent legates to the First Ecumenical Council.

St. Sylvester died possibly on December 31 or was buried on that day of the year 335. At first buried in the church of St. Priscilla, his relics now rest in the church of English Catholics in Rome.

John was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, the son of Zebedee and Salome, and the brother of James the Greater. In the Gospels, the brothers are often called “the sons of Zebedee”. Our Lord also called them “Boanerges” or “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). The fact that John is usually mentioned after James seems to indicate that he was younger than his brother.

Originally, John fished with his father and brother in the lake of Genezareth. He was probably among the disciples of John the Baptist, when the Lord attached him to His apostolic college.

John is mentioned numerous times in the Scriptures, in Acts 1:13 as second after Peter. He seems to hold a prominent position among the apostles. Peter, James and he were the only witnesses to the raising of Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:37), of the Transfiguration (Matt.17:1), and of the Agony in the Garden (Matt.26:37).

At the Last Supper, he was the one that leaned his head on the Lord’s chest. According to pious tradition and private revelation, he was the first recipient of the devotion to Our Lord’s Most Sacred Heart.

Of all the apostles, John was the only one that was not married, and a virgin.

At the foot of the cross, he was the only one of the apostles standing with Mary Most Holy, and it was to him that the dying Savior entrusted His beloved Mother’s keeping and protection.

After the Lord’s death, John seems to have labored with the other apostles for several years in Palestine until the persecution of Herod Agrippa led to the scattering of the apostles throughout the Roman Empire. John went to Asia Minor, including to Ephesus, where a pious tradition holds that he took the Blessed Mother to live.

One of the four evangelists, St. John is the author of the fourth and last Gospel. He wrote the Apocalypse on the Island of Patmos and was the only apostle not to suffer martyrdom but to die of natural causes around the age of 100.

While little is known of St. Delphinus before his elevation to the episcopal see of Bordeaux in France, as a bishop he soon became renowned for his vigilance in defense of the Truth.

The saintliest princes of the Church at the time were honored to be counted among his friends and to correspond with him, among them, St. Ambrose of Milan.

He was present at the Council of Saragossa in 380, at which the Priscillian heresy was condemned. This heresy argued that the renunciation of marriage and the acceptance of asceticism were prerequisites for following Christ.

St. Delphinus later assembled a Council at Bordeaux, his episcopal city, whose assembly also condemned the same errors. Such was the force and zealous preaching of the Bishop of Bordeaux against those that propagated this heresy in his territory that it undermined their influence entirely and they soon abandoned the region for Italy.

In 388, St. Delphinus baptized the future Bishop of Nola, St. Paulinus, and inspired in him the desire to live a life of perfection. St. Paulinus spoke of him as his father and master.

In several letters, St. Paulinus speaks of St. Delphinus as his father and his master. The saintly Bishop of Bordeaux died on Christmas Eve in the year 403 becoming his feast day.

Lucy is one of the martyrs mentioned in the Canon of the Mass, and she is regarded as the glory of the island of Sicily. A native of Syracuse, she was the daughter of wealthy Christian parents.

Her father died when she was a child, and her mother, Eutychia, raised her with the utmost care, teaching her the path of Christian virtue. Lucy so took to the path of virtue that, wishing to belong to God alone, she vowed her virginity to Him. Her mother, unaware of this vow and afflicted with an unrelenting illness, betrothed Lucy to a wealthy young pagan.

As Eutychia’s illness persisted, they visited the shrine of St. Agatha at Catania, close to Syracuse. There, St. Agatha, who had been martyred about fifty years earlier, appeared to Lucy granting her mother’s cure and predicting that she, Lucy, would be the glory of Syracuse as she, Agatha, was of Catania.

After this experience, Lucy revealed her plans to her mother and convinced her to distribute their fortune to the poor.

Furious at this turn of events, Lucy’s fiancé, now certain she was a Christian, denounced her to Paschasius, the Governor of Syracuse. Lucy was ordered to offer incense to the idols, but at her refusal, her enemies tried to take her to a brothel for defilement. This proved impossible as she became so heavy she could not be moved.

They then tried to burn her, but the flames parted leaving the maiden untouched. She finally met her death by the sword.

She is portrayed holding a pair of eyes on a platter. Some accounts say that her eyes were tortured, others that she gouged them out to discourage her suitor. In any case, she is particularly invoked for ailments of the eyes, or eyesight problems.

The emblem of eyes on a cup or plate apparently reflects popular devotion to her as protector of sight, because of her name, Lucia (from the Latin word "lux" which means "light").

Born on Christmas day 841, Edmund the Martyr was king of East Anglia from about 855 until his death.

Though only about fifteen years old when crowned in 855, Edmund showed himself a model ruler from the first, anxious to treat all with equal justice, and closing his ears to flatterers and untrustworthy informers.

In his eagerness for prayer, he retired for a year to his royal tower at Hunstanton and learned the whole Psalter by heart, in order that he might afterwards recite it regularly.

In 870 Edmund bravely repulsed the two Danish chiefs, Hinguar and Hubba, who had invaded his dominions.

However, they soon returned with overwhelming numbers, and pressed terms upon him which as a Christian he felt bound to refuse. In his desire to avert a fruitless massacre, he disbanded his troops and himself retired towards Framlingham; on the way he fell into the hands of the invaders.

Having loaded the king with chains, his captors conducted him to Hinguar, whose impious demands he again rejected, declaring his religion dearer to him than his very life.

His martyrdom took place in 870 at Hoxne in Suffolk. After beating him with clubs, the Danes tied him to a tree, and cruelly tore his flesh with whips.

Throughout these tortures Edmund continued to call upon the name of Jesus, until at last, exasperated by his constancy, his enemies began to discharge arrows at him.

This cruel sport was continued until his body had the appearance of a porcupine, when Hinguar commanded his head to be struck off. From his first burial-place at Hoxne his relics were removed in the tenth century to Beodricsworth, since called Bury St. Edmunds, where arose the famous abbey of that name.

His feast is observed November 20, and he is represented in Christian art with sword and arrow, the instruments of his torture.

Bishop and Martyr – Born: Third Century – Died: 304 A.D.

The little known of his life is provided by the great St. Jerome (De viris ill. 74). Born in Greece in the mid-third century, Victorinus spoke Greek better than Latin, which explains why St. Jerome expressed the opinion that his works written in Latin were more remarkable for their matter than for their style. Bishop of the City of Pettau, he was the first theologian to use Latin for his exegesis.

His works are mainly exegetical, meaning that he spent his life in the critical interpretation of biblical text to discover its intended meaning. Victorinus composed commentaries on various books of Holy Scripture, such as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Ecclesiastes, the Canticle of Canticles, St. Matthew, and the Apocalypse, besides treatises against the heresies of his time. All that has survived is his Commentary on Apocalypse and the short tract on the construction of the world (De fabrica mundi).

Victorinus was very influenced by Origen, an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Alexandria. His works were ranked with the apocrypha and other writings. St. Jerome gives him an honorable place in his catalogue of ecclesiastical writers.

The Commentary on the Apocalypse

As his greatest surviving work, let us take a look at The Commentary on the Apocalypse. This exegetical work was composed not long after the Valerian Persecution, about 260 A.D. According to Claudio Moreschini, "The interpretation is primarily allegorical, with a marked interest in arithmology… It seems that he did not give a running commentary on the entire text but contented himself with a paraphrase of selected passages. ¹

Saint Victorinus was apparently the first of the Church Fathers to ascertain the basic notion of “repetition” – that the Apocalypse is not one uninterrupted and developing line of prophecy, but rather that various subdivisions run parallel with each other. And he saw that the theme of the soon coming Second Advent was a continuous thread of thought throughout the Apocalypse. ²

He wrote of the seven churches as representing seven classes of Christians within the church. The seven seals are explained as constituting a prophetic preview of the spread of the gospel throughout the world. In connection with the Second Advent and the end of the world he looked for wars, famines, pestilences and persecution of the church.

The crowned rider of the four horsemen seated upon the white horse, going forth "conquering, and to conquer," is interpreted as prophetic of Christ's church going forth on its victorious mission, the triumph of Christianity over paganism. The red horse is explained as "coming wars," predicted as significant events preceding the end. The black horse, Victorinus avers, signifies "famines" in the time of the Antichrist. The pale horse meant "coming destructions." ³

The angel with the seal in chapter 7 symbolizes Elias the prophet as the "precursor of the times of Antichrist." Then comes the kingdom of Antichrist and finally the angel reapers smite the kingdom of Antichrist, delivering the saints. ⁴

The first and second angels of Revelation 14 are the predicted Elias and Jeremiah, witnessing before the Second Advent and end of the world, ushering in the eternal kingdom. The leopard beast of Revelation 14 signifies the kingdom of the time of Antichrist. Victorinus considers the 666 of verse 18 as the computation of letters, each of which comprise the equivalent number, of an assortment of possible names.

Saint Victorinus believed that after the seven plagues of the last days in Revelation 15, Babylon, in Revelation 17, is identified as Rome seated upon her "seven hills," drunk with the blood of martyrs. The seven heads of the seven-hilled Rome are believed, in their immediate application, to represent seven emperors, the sixth being Domitian, with the eighth who is "of the seven," as Nero. ⁵ Victorinus interpreted the "thousand years" in Revelation 20, in which Satan is bound, as occurring "in the first advent of Christ, even to the end of the age." ⁶

The Martyrdom of Saint Victorinus

(Taken from Rev. Alban Butler (1711-1773), in his Lives of the Saints, Volume 2)

Saint Victorinus and six companions were citizens of Corinth, and confessed their faith before Tertius the proconsul, in their own country, in 249, in the beginning of the reign of Decius.

After their torments they passed into Egypt, whether by compulsion or by voluntary banishment is not known, and there finished their martyrdom at Diospolis, capital of Thebais, in the reign of Numerian, in 284, under the governor Sabinus.

After the governor had tried the constancy of martyrs by racks, scourges, and various inventions of cruelty, he caused Victorinus to be thrown into a great mortar (the Greek Menology says, of marble.)

The executioners began by pounding his feet and legs, saying to him at every stroke: “Spare yourself, wretch. It depends upon you to escape this death, if you will only renounce your new God.”

The prefect grew furious at his constancy, and at length commanded his head to be beaten to pieces. The sight of this mortar, so far from casting a damp on his companions, seemed to inspire them with the greater ardor to be treated in the like manner.

Gaudentius succeed St. Philastrius as Bishop of Brescia, Italy, under whom he seems to have studied, and whom he calls his “father”. Prior to his election, being very popular in Brescia, Gaudentius went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem hoping to be forgotten. But upon returning and finding that his mentor had died, he also found that the Brescians would have no other as successor.

He was consecrated by St. Ambrose in 387.

A record of Gaudentius’ discourse made at the time of his elevation survives.

Brescia rejoiced in the treasure of so holy a pastor. A nobleman, Benevolus, who had been disgraced by the Empress Justina for refusing to uphold Arian beliefs, had retired to Brescia. Being ill, and missing the bishop’s Easter sermons, he convinced Gaudentius to write them for his benefit. Thus, several of his sermons survive.

In 405, Pope Innocent I and Emperor Honorius charged Gaudentius to defend St. John Chrysostom, a personal friend of the bishop, before Emperor Arcadius. St. John Chrysostom had been unjustly accused by a heretic and exiled, and he had been replaced by another.

Ill received, the delegates were imprisoned in Thrace. Ultimately, they were returned safely to Italy, though in a most untrustworthy vessel. Despite the failure of the mission, St. John Chrysostom sent a letter of thanks to his friend.

Gaudentius died around the year 410.

Born in 1807 in Sallent, Barcelona, Spain, Anthony practiced his father’s trade of weaving cloth. In his spare time, he learned Latin and printing. At twenty-two he entered the Seminary at Vich, and was ordained in 1835.

After an attempt to enter the Jesuits in Rome and join the missions, which was thwarted by poor health, he was advised to dedicate himself to the evangelization of his countrymen. For ten years he preached missions and retreats throughout Catalonia. His zeal inspired others to join in his work and in 1849 he founded the Congregation of Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Known as "the Claretians," the institute flourished in Spain, the Americas and beyond.

Shortly after this great work was inaugurated, Fr. Claret was appointed Archbishop of Cuba. The task was one of exceptional difficulty. His efforts to bring about a much-needed reform were vehemently resisted and several attempts were made upon his life. In one of those, he was seriously wounded.

Having resigned as Archbishop of Cuba in 1857, Anthony returned to Spain and was appointed confessor to Queen Isabel II. He firmly refused to reside at court, and only remained at court the time strictly necessary to accomplish his duties.

In the course of his life St. Anthony is said to have preached 10,000 sermons and published 200 books or pamphlets for the instruction and inspiration of the clergy and the faithful. While rector of the Escorial, he established a science laboratory, a museum of natural history, schools of music and languages, and other institutions.

Deeply united to God, he was endowed with supernatural graces, ecstasies, the gift of prophecy, and the miraculous healing of bodies.

In Rome, toward the end of his life, he helped promote the definition of papal infallibility.

Falling fatally ill in France, he went to his reward in the Cistercian monastery of Fontfroide on October 24, 1870. He was canonized in 1950.

Bruno, of a prominent family of Cologne, was born in this ancient city around the year 1030. A promising scholar, he studied at the cathedral school of Rheims, and was ordained to the priesthood in his native Cologne.

In 1056 he became a professor of grammar and theology at his former school in Rheims where he taught brilliantly for eighteen years. Many eminent scholars and philosophers studied under him and did him honor throughout Europe, including Eudes de Châtillon, later Pope Urban II, who convoked the First Crusade.

In 1076, he was appointed chancellor of the diocese, and was about to be elected as Archbishop of Rheims when he announced he was retiring into solitude. At first, Saint Bruno placed himself under the direction of Robert of Molesmes, who later was instrumental in the founding of the Abbey of Citeaux.

Later, given land by St. Hugh, the Bishop of Grenoble, he and six other followers settled in the mountainous reaches of Chartreuse where they first build an oratory surrounded by individual cells. Such was the origin of the Order of the Carthusians, which takes its name from Chartreuse.

A great admirer of the Order's founder, Bishop Hugh made his spiritual retreats at the Chartreuse where he took Bruno for his spiritual father.

Hearing of his sanctity, and personally acquainted with his prudence and knowledge, his former pupil, now Pope Urban II, summoned Bruno to Rome. Although this presented a great trial for the saint, he obeyed, leaving one of his disciples, Landuin, as prior of the Chartreuse.

In Rome Bruno served the Holy Pontiff in various capacities, including helping in the preparation of several synods with the aim of reforming the clergy. Pressed by the pope to accept the archbishopric of Reggio in Calabria, Saint Bruno earnestly excused himself, begging to be allowed to live in solitude. Pope Urban II finally consented that he retire into Calabria, but not so far off as Chartreuse.

With the help of a noble friend, Count Roger, the saint settled in the valley of La Torre with a few new disciples from Rome. Here he embraced the life of solitude with more joy and fervor than ever. It was here also, that Landuin visited him on behalf of the monks of the Chartreuse. They wished to consult their founder as to the manner in which their monastery should follow more faithfully in the spirit of its founder. Bruno instructed, comforted and urged them to perseverance and blessed them.

As he felt death approaching in 1101, Bruno gathered his monks about him and made a public confession of his life, and a profession of faith, which was lovingly preserved by his spiritual sons. He resigned his soul to God on October 6 in the year 1101.

According to Carthusian custom, which shuns all form of publicity, Bruno was never formally canonized. Nevertheless, in 1514, the Order obtained permission from Pope Leo X to keep Bruno’s feast. In 1674, Pope Clement X extended the commemoration of his feast to the Universal Church.

Called “the second founder of the Dominicans”, Raymond della Vigna was born in Capua of a prominent family in the kingdom of Naples. He entered the Dominican Order when attending the university in Bologna and went on to fill several posts, including prior in Rome and lector in Florence and Siena.

While in the latter city, he met St. Catherine of Siena and was appointed her confessor. At first he accepted the assignment without enthusiasm as he had doubts about the young mystic. But after a stunning proof of her authenticity, which he relates in his biography of her, he guided her fervently, becoming her closest advisor.

Through the years he was involved in most of Catherine’s undertakings, including a call for a Crusade, the reconciliation of Florence with the papacy, and the plea to Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome from Avignon in France.

During a plague that struck Siena, Raymond fell ill while aiding the victims and was nursed back to health by St. Catherine

When the great schism started in 1378 both saints supported Urban VI against the anti-pope Clement VII. After Catherine’s death in 1380, Raymond continued to strive for a settlement of the great crisis and was elected Master General of the Dominicans.

At the helm of the Order until his death in Nuremberg, he worked for the reform of the houses, and the strict observance of the Dominican Rule. Originally buried in Nuremberg, his body was later transferred to the Church of San Domenico Maggiore in Naples. He was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1899, the fifth centenary of his death.

Gabriel Taurin Dufresse, of Lezoux, France, was ordained a priest of the Society for Foreign Missions of Paris at the age of twenty-four.

In 1776 he arrived in China to undertake his missionary labors in the country's Szechwan Province. The renewed persecution of Chinese Christians in 1784 led to Father Dufresse's arrest. He soon escaped from prison and was taken in by a Chinese Catholic family.

In obedience to his religious superior, Fr. Dufresse subsequently surrendered himself to the pagan authorities after an auxiliary bishop instructed all the priests staying with families to turn themselves in rather than expose their hosts to the danger of arrest. Father Dufresse was imprisoned and then exiled to Macao.

In 1789 he managed to return to Szechwan Province. In the years that followed, his missionary labors were blessed with increasing success. In 1800 he was consecrated an auxiliary bishop and appointed apostolic vicar of Szechwan, and in 1803, at a time of relative peace, he presided over the first synod in China. This synod would have great importance for the future development of the Chinese church.

The resumption of intense anti-Christian persecution in 1805 put Bishop Dufresse in so much danger that he had to change his place of residence almost daily. A decree in 1811 condemned to death all leaders of European religions and in 1815 Dufresse’s identity was discovered.

In May of 1815, he was re-captured. Augustine Zhao Rong was a Chinese soldier who accompanied Bishop Dufresse to his martyrdom on September 14, 1815 at Chengdu, Sichuan, China. The Chinese soldier was so inspired by Bishop Dufresse that he himself was baptized and became a priest. Later, he was martyred together with 119 companions for their faith in Jesus. Their feast day is on 9 July.

Sentenced to death by beheading, St. Gabriel Taurin Dufresse earned the crown of martyrdom on September 14, 1815. The saintly bishop’s head was attached to a pole and his body left exposed for three days as a warning to others. This body was later buried by local Christians.

Pope Leo XIII declared him as venerable on 2 July 1899 and beatified him on 27 May 1900. He was Canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 1, 2000.

Patron Saint of Anderlecht, Belgium; against mad dogs; against rabies; bachelors; epileptics; horned animals; laborers; protection of outbuildings, stables, and sheds; sacristans; work horses.

On September 12, Catholics celebrate the feast day of Saint Guy of Anderlecht, a Belgian Christian known as the “Poor Man of Anderlecht.” Rich in the love, generosity, and grace of God, Saint Guy was poor in material possessions throughout his life. He worked tirelessly at the most menial of tasks, and gained a reputation for almsgiving, despite his own lack of the most basic needs. Although he never joined a particular religious order, Saint Guy was visited for spiritual direction by many, and through his model, brought many closer to Christ.

Guy was born in Anderlecht, Belgian, a small village outside of Brussels. Raised by pious parents, he demonstrated great devotion to the Lord and to Our Blessed Mother Mary. Throughout his childhood, he gave away all he had, and spent his days visiting the sick and elderly of the town. It is said that when he worked the fields of his parents, an angel came and pushed the plow so that he might better pray undisturbed. From the time of his youth he wished to count himself among the special flock of Christ—the poor—for his entire life, dedicating himself to a life of poverty and service to those who had nothing.

Like his Lord before him, Guy “increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2: 52) He spent hours in prayer each day, traveling frequently to the church of Our Lady at Laeken, outside Brussels. There he demonstrated such devotion to Mary that the priest approached him, and asked him to stay and serve the Church. Saint Guy joyfully remained in the church, constantly cleaning, sweeping, polishing the altars, and attending to the most menial needs during the day—stopping only to befriend and serve those who were poor and came on foot to the church looking for assistance.

After a hard day’s labor, he spent each night in prayer, rarely sleeping, but instead could be found kneeling at the foot of the cross, praying for the poor.

One day a merchant from Brussels sought to take advantage of Guy, convincing him that through making more money, he could help more people. Seeing only the benefit in helping others, Guy left his post. The first ship bearing a cargo in which Guy had an interest, however, was lost. Realizing his mistake, Saint Guy humbly returned to the church only to find his position filled.

For seven years Guy engaged in severe acts of penance; he traveled on pilgrimage—on foot—visiting Rome and then the Holy Land, returning to Belgium and serving as a guide at the holy shrines.

Eventually, in his early sixties, Guy returned to Anderlecht, and died soon thereafter. In death, a golden light shone around him, and a heavenly voice was heard my many, proclaiming his eternal reward in heaven. He was buried in Anderlecht, and many miracles were attributed to his intercession at his grave.

Roberto Bellarmino was born into impoverished Tuscan nobility at Montepulciano on October 4, 1542. He was the third of ten children born to Vincenzo Bellarmino and Cinthia Cervini, a sister of Cardinal Marcello Cervini, who later became Pope Marcellus II. Educated at the Jesuit College in Montepulciano, he entered the Society of Jesus at the age of eighteen.

Saint Robert Bellarmine was ordained a priest in Flanders and quickly obtained a reputation both as a professor and a preacher, attracting Catholics and Protestants alike by his sermons.

In 1576 he was recalled to Italy, and entrusted with the chair of Controversies recently founded at the Roman College. He proved himself equal to the arduous task, and the lectures he delivered were later compiled into his most renowned work, “De Controversiis” - Disputations on the Controversies of the Christian Faith.

Hammer of Heresies

Bellarmine's monumental work was the earliest attempt to systematize the various controversies of the time, and made an immense impression throughout Europe. It dealt such a blow to the Reformation.

So numerous were the conversions wrought by it that Queen Elizabeth I of England decreed that anyone who was not a doctor in theology was forbidden to read Bellarmine’s writings under penalty of death. In recognition of his work, Benedict XV gave Bellarmine the title of “Hammer of Heresies” in 1921.

At the death of Pope Sixtus, the new pope, Gregory XIV, granted to Bellarmine’s work the distinction of a special approbation. Saint Robert Bellarmine resumed his work as Spiritual Father, and had the consolation of guiding the last years of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, known for his asceticism.

Many years later he had the further consolation of successfully promoting the beatification of the saintly youth. It was also at this time that he sat on the final commission for the revision of the Vulgate translation of the Holy Scriptures.

Becoming a Cardinal

In 1597 Clement VIII recalled him to Rome and made him his own theologian making him a Cardinal in 1599.

Upon growing elderly, he was made the chief advisor of the Holy See in the theological department of its administration.

Death and Canonization

His death in the summer of 1621 was most edifying and a fitting end to a life which had been no less remarkable for its virtues than for its tremendous achievements. Accordingly, there was a general expectation amongst those who knew him intimately that his cause would be promptly introduced and swiftly concluded. However, reality proved to be otherwise.

Although he was declared Venerable in 1627, technical obstacles arose in regards to the beatification process, delaying the progress of his cause for 300 years. Venerable Robert Bellarmine was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1930 and declared a Doctor of the Church and patron saint of catechists the following year.

His Eminence Robert Bellarmine became one of the most important figures of the Counter-Reformation and the period will be forever marked by his method of confronting heresy.

John – later surnamed Chrysostomos, meaning “golden-mouthed” so called on account of his eloquence – was born in Antioch in Syria around 347. Raised by his widowed mother, he studied under Libanius, a famous orator of the period.

In 374, he joined a community of hermits in the mountains south of Antioch. After four years under the direction of a Syrian monk, he left them, and for the next two years he lived as an anchorite in a cave. The conditions of his crude abode and the severity of his mortifications caused him to become dangerously ill, and he was obliged to return to Antioch in 381. John was ordained a deacon that same year and for twelve years afterwards he served as a deputy to Bishop Flavian.

Upon the death of Nectarius, Archbishop of Constantinople, John was selected for that see by Emperor Arcadius. In this position, Chrysostom did away with many expenses which some of his predecessors had considered necessary to the maintenance of their dignity and devoted the money saved thereby to the relief of the poor and the support of hospitals for the sick and infirm.

He also undertook the reformation of the clergy of his diocese by means of zealous exhortations and disciplinary actions which, though very necessary, were somewhat tactless in their severity. John added effect and force to these endeavors, by conducting himself as an exemplary model of what he desired so ardently to impress upon others.

Chrysostom was banished from Constantinople in 403 after he delivered too zealous a sermon against immodesty and vanity. The Empress Eudoxia took his words as a direct insult against herself. His exile was of short duration however, because a slight earthquake that shook the city was taken as a terrifying sign by the superstitious lady.

Shortly afterwards he was again banished for preaching against the disorder, impropriety, and superstition occasioned by the public games commemorating the raising of a silver statue of Eudoxia in front of the great church dedicated to the Divine Wisdom.

He was exiled to a remote place called Cucusus in the Taurus Mountains of Armenia, where he suffered greatly from the heat, fatigue, and the cruelty and brutality of his guards. The local bishop, however, vied with his people in showing the aging patriarch every mark of kindness and respect.

When a council was called by Pope Innocent and the Emperor Honorius to restore him to his see, Chrysostom’s enemies instead imprisoned the appointed papal legates, and sent him into further exile in Pityus at the eastern end of the Black Sea. He suffered intensely from his forced travel in the scorching heat and wet weather. When he and his escorts reached the Church of St. Basiliscus in Comana in Cappadocia, the clergy there, seeing he was close to death, took him in, changed him into white garments and administered Extreme Unction to him.

He died the next day, September 14, 407, with the words "Glory to God in all things" on his lips.

Born Isabel Flores y de Oliva on April 20, 1586, in Lima, the capital city of Peru, her nickname, “Rose,” came from a childhood incident in which a household servant attested to having seen the child’s face turn into a mystical rose.

She took the name formally as her own, at her confirmation in 1597 by the saintly Archbishop of Lima, Turibio de Mogrovejo.

Remarkable, even as a child, for her great reverence and love for all that related to God, she developed an intense devotion to the Infant Jesus and His Holy Mother, and gave herself up to a life of prayer and mortification. Industrious and adept, she became very proficient in the arts of sewing, embroidery and lace-making, and used her needle to help support her home and family, and as a means to assist the many poor who came to depend on her generous alms.

In imitation of St. Catherine, whom she took as a saintly role model, she fasted three times a week, wore rough clothing, and roughened her face and hands to combat the temptations to vanity. She spent hours on her knees before the Blessed Sacrament and contrary to the usual practice of the time, was a daily communicant.

Assailed by tremendous temptations against the Faith and the virtue of purity, which caused her excruciating agony of mind and desolation of soul, she multiplied her mortifications and prayers, and with her confessor’s approval, took a vow of virginity.

In this last resolve, Rose had to combat the opposition of her parents, who wished her to marry. The battle of wills continued for ten years until, won over by her patience and prayer, they gave their consent to her decision.

At the age of twenty, Rose received the habit of St. Dominic as a tertiary Dominican. From that moment onwards, the severity and variety of her mortifications redoubled.

With her brother’s help, she built herself a little cell from sun-dried bricks in the garden behind their home. Here she would retire at night for solitude and prayer and take whatever rest she permitted her body on a bed of broken glass and pottery, rough stones and thorns. She took to wearing an iron chain around her waist and a metal-spiked crown concealed about her head. Entire days without food would be followed by sleepless nights spent in prayer. During her suffering, Our Lord fortified her with the knowledge of His presence and consoled her with His love, frequently revealing Himself to her and drawing her soul into ecstasies that lasted for hours.

During these sublime embraces with God, she offered Him all her penances and mortifications in reparation for the offences against His Divine Majesty, for the sins of idolatry, for the conversion of sinners, and for the souls in Purgatory.

During her last illness, her constant prayer was "Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them increase Your love in my heart.” Rose died August 24, 1617 at the age of thirty-one years.

She was beatified by Clement IX in 1667 and canonized in 1671 by Clement X, thus becoming the first American-born saint.

St. Clare was co-foundress of what is known today as the Order of the Poor Clares, Abbess of San Damiano

As a child she was very pious, devoted to prayer and penance. At the age of 18 she met St. Francis who had come to preach at the church of San Giorgio. Inspired by his words and example, Saint Clare went to him to ask him to help her live a religious life of poverty. St. Francis, who at once recognized in Clare one of those chosen souls destined by God, promised to assist her.

Leaving home in secret, she met with St. Francis and his disciples whereupon St. Francis clothed her in a rustic tunic. Her father of Noble Ascent tried to persuade her to return to marry. After resisting her father’s attempt to drag her home, he finally relinquished, whereupon St. Francis provided her a dwelling next to the Chapel of San Damiano. Thus, was founded the first community of the order of Poor Clares.

Given the special privilege to practice total poverty in her order by Pope Gregory IX she heroically continued her mission to preach poverty throughout.

Saint Clare's miracles too were talked of far and wide. Here is a magnificent example:

Once, during an enemy attack against Assisi, the fierce Saracens invaded San Damiano, entered the confines of the monastery and even the very cloister.

Fainting in terror, their voices trembling with fear, they cried out to their Mother, Saint Clare. What happened next was recorded by the Franciscan friar, Tommaso da Celano:

“Saint Clare, with a fearless heart, commanded them to lead her, sick as she was, to the enemy, preceded by a silver and ivory case in which the Body of the Saint of saints was kept with great devotion.

And prostrating herself before the Lord, she spoke tearfully to her Christ:

‘Behold, my Lord, is it possible You want to deliver into the hands of pagans Your defenseless handmaids, whom I have taught out of love for You? I pray You, Lord, protect these Your handmaids whom I cannot now save by myself.’

Suddenly a voice like that of a child resounded in her ears from the tabernacle:

‘I will always protect you!’

‘My Lord,’ she added, ‘if it is Your wish, protect also this city which is sustained by Your love.’

Christ replied, ‘It will have to undergo trials, but it will be defended by My protection.’

Then the virgin, raising a face bathed in tears, comforted the sisters:

‘I assure you, daughters, that you will suffer no evil; only have faith in Christ.’

Upon seeing the courage of the sisters, the Saracens took flight and fled back over the walls they had scaled, unnerved by the strength of she who prayed.

Then, Saint Clare immediately admonished those who heard the voice I spoke of above, telling them severely: ‘Take care not to tell anyone about that voice while I am still alive, dearest daughters.’”

The miracles performed during her life by this first spiritual daughter of St. Francis were indeed numerous. Her confidence in her divine Spouse was total and unconditional. Having once renounced all earthly possessions for love of Him, she tenaciously thwarted every attempt – even by several well-meaning popes – to mitigate the absolute poverty she and her religious sisters had so willingly embraced.

After St. Francis’ death in 1226 and until her own in 1253, Clare continued to hold fast to the counsels St. Francis had given her and to direct the order in the true spirit of its founder: total renunciation of all earthly possessions and an unconquerable faith and confidence in Divine Providence.

St. Lawrence, one of the deacons of the Roman Church, was one of the victims of the persecution of Valerian in 258, like Pope Sixtus II and many other members of the Roman clergy.

At the beginning of the month of August, in the year 258, the Roman emperor issued an edict, commanding that all bishops, priests, and deacons should be put to death.

This imperial command was immediately carried out in the city of Rome. On the 6th Pope Sixtus II was apprehended in one of the catacombs, and executed without delay.

As he was led to execution, Lawrence followed him. “Father, where are you going without your deacon?" he said. "I am not leaving you, my son," answered the Pope, "in three days you will follow me." Two other deacons, Felicissimus and Agapitus, were put to death the same day.

Three days later, on the 10th of August of that same year, Lawrence, the last of the seven deacons, also suffered a martyr’s death.

St. Ambrose of Milan and the poet Prudentius, give particular details about St. Lawrence’s death.

Ambrose relates that when St. Lawrence was asked to bring forth the treasures of the Church as being archdeacon of Rome Lawrence was entrusted to the care of the treasury and riches of Church, but mind you, also the distribution of alms to the poor. In response, Lawrence hastily traveled throughout the city, gathering the poor.

On the third day, he brought them to the prefect, who believed the Church had treasure hidden away, and said, “These are the treasures of the Church." The disappointed prefect angrily condemned Lawrence to death.

The saint was stripped of his clothing and tied on top of a gird-iron over a slow fire that roasted his flesh little by little.

Defiant in spite of his intense suffering, the holy deacon audaciously commanded his executioners “Turn me over. That side is cooked.” The holy audacity of this deacon-martyr inspires noble souls until today.

John Vianney was born in France in 1786, just three years before the beginning of the French Revolution. He grew up assisting a local priest offer the holy mass in secret, as religious persecution forced many of the Vianney’s and other Catholics into hiding.

At eighteen, John realized his vocation to the priesthood. Two years later he began studying in preparation for holy orders, but studying did not come easily to him. Instead of becoming a priest, he was drafted into the army in 1809.

Soon after, he found himself an accidental deserter: he was tricked by some fellow soldiers into abandoning his unit. He immediately reported to the mayor of the commune, who advised him to remain in hiding.

John lived dangerously, often narrowly escaping capture by concealing himself in hay bales. He returned home fourteen months later when the king proclaimed an amnesty for all defectors.

In 1813 he entered the seminary, after much hardship in his studies, John was ordained a deacon, then a priest on August 13, 1815.

In 1818 he was given care of a dilapidated parish in a remote part of France called Ars-en-Dombes.

The 230 parishioners in Ars had become lax in their faith, and John preached relentlessly to them for twenty-five years about the importance of practicing modesty, avoiding blasphemy, profanity and obscenity, and unlawful work on Sunday.

Not only did Ars become a model Christian town, but his influence reached far beyond the confines of the country village.

He remained at Ars for a total of forty-one years. The year before he died, over 100,000 pilgrims visited Ars to see the holy man, who had become known as the Cure of Ars.

His three attempts to escape to live in the quiet seclusion of a monastery failed, and he died at Ars August 4, 1859. Over a thousand came to his funeral including the Bishop and all the priests of the diocese. Here lay their model.

John Mary Vianney was canonized on May 31, 1925 by Pius XI. Four years later, the same pope named him patron saint of parish priests throughout the world.

At the time miracles were performed during the time he was at Ars, he constantly gave credit to St. Philomena.

Saint John Mary Vianney’s incorrupt body is to be found at the shrine of the Curé de Ars, just north of the city Lyon.

Inigo de Loyola was born in 1491 in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa in northern Spain.

Of the noble family of Loyola, as a boy he was sent as a page to serve the treasurer of the kingdom. There, he had access to court and developed a taste for all its ways, including the ladies.

Life as a Soldier

Intelligent, of a fiery temperament and handsome, Inigo, or Ignatius, harbored dreams of romance and worldly conquests. He was addicted to gambling, and wasn’t above sword play, once getting into serious trouble.

At age thirty we find him a soldier defending the fortress of Pamplona against the French. Hugely outnumbered, the Spanish commander wished to surrender but Ignatius egged him to fight on. As the fight continued, Ignatius’ leg was fractured by a canon shot. Honoring his courage, the French allowed him to be treated at his castle of Loyola rather than in prison.

After enduring an operation without anesthetics, it was found that there was a bone protruding from under his knee. The thought of not being able to wear the slimming leggings of the time was unendurable, so he had doctors saw off the bone – without anesthetics. Still, he always limped as one leg remained shorter than the other.

Conversion of St. Ignatius

Convalescing, he asked for romance novels, but was given to read the only books in the castle: a life of Christ and lives of the saints. As he begrudgingly picked up the volumes, he began to notice that while his thoughts of romance and fantasy left him restless and agitated, these books gave him peace and a sense of true accomplishment and well-being. Slowly moved by what he read; he made a powerful conversion.

Shedding his fineries and donning a poor habit, he ultimately came to the cave of Manresa by a river where he stayed for ten months. Here, he had a powerful revelation, an experience of God as He really is so that he now looked at all of creation in a new light – an experience that allowed Ignatius to find God in all things – one of the central characteristics of Jesuit spirituality.

It was in the seclusion of Manresa that ideas for his famous Spiritual Exercises began to take shape.

Priesthood and Founding of the Jesuits

After a trip to the Holy Land, the holy wanderer decided to go back to school to learn Latin with the goal of entering the priesthood. He ultimately went to the University of Paris where he met several young men whom he led in the Spiritual Exercises. Two of these men were Francis Xavier, and Peter Faber.

Once ordained, he and his group decided to place themselves at the disposition of the Pope in Rome. They taught catechism to children, worked in hospitals and instructed adults in the Spiritual Exercises.

In September of 1540, this first nucleus was approved by Pope Paul III, as the order of The Company of Jesus, an institution that was to be instrumental in countering the protestant reform of Martin Luther. They were also active in the missions, and later became unparalleled academic instructors of young men, as well as performing countless other services in the Church.

Since his early conversion days, because of indiscreet, severe penances, St. Ignatius had developed stomach troubles that plagued him for the rest of his life. In the summer of 1556 his complaint grew worse, and his health ailing, he felt the end approaching. Still, those around him were not unduly alarmed.

But shortly after midnight on July 31, the former soldier gave up his soul to God.