Catholic Saint of the Day

Saint Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus (1515–1582) was a prominent Spanish mystic, Carmelite nun, and writer of the Counter Reformation, and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer. She was a reformer of the Carmelite Order and is considered to be, along with John of the Cross, a founder of the Discalced Carmelites.

Pope Saint Callistus I was pope from about 217 to about 222, during the reigns of the Roman Emperors Elagabalus and Alexander Severus. He was martyred for his Christian faith. The only story of his life we have is from someone who hated him and what he stood for, an author identified as Saint Hippolytus, a rival candidate for the chair of Peter.

Saint Edward the Confessor was the son of King Ethelred III and his Norman wife, Emma, daughter of Duke Richard I of Normandy. He was born at Islip, England, and sent to Normandy with his mother in the year 1013 when the Danes under Sweyn and his son Canute invaded England. Canute remained in England and the year after Ethelred's death in 1016, married Emma, who had returned to England, and became King of England. Edward remained in Normandy, was brought up a Norman, and in 1042, on the death of his half-brother, Hardicanute, son of Canute and Emma, and largely through the support of the powerful Earl Godwin, he was acclaimed king of England.

In October of 1717, three Brazilian fishermen were out fishing, in order to supply a banquet the townspeople of Guaratinguetá were giving in honor of a visiting nobleman. Since it was outside the season for finding fish, they prayed to the Immaculate Conception for help.

Although few people had as great an impact on the 20th century as Pope John XXIII, he avoided the limelight as much as possible. Indeed, one writer has noted that his “ordinariness” seems one of his most remarkable qualities. The date assigned for the liturgical celebration (where authorized) of Blessed John XXIII is not June 3, the anniversary of his death, as would be usual, but October 11, the anniversary of his opening of the Second Vatican Council.

Saint Francis Borgia, 4th duke of Gandía, 3rd Father General of the Jesuit Order, Grandee of Spain, (Gandía, 28 October 1510 – 30 September 1572, Rome) was a Spanish Jesuit and third Superior General of the Society of Jesus. He was canonized on 20 June 1670.

Bishop of Paris, martyred along with his deacons Rusticus and Eleutherius in about 275.

Saint Pelagia was a well-known actress (some say prostitute) of Antioch. One day, with a throng of boys and girls dressed in gold she passed, sitting on a donkey and beautifully attired in gold, pearls and precious stones, close to where a group of bishops were in open-air conference. All the bishops hid their faces at the sight, except one, Bishop Nonnus, who gazed after her intently for a long time. "Were you not delighted by her beauty?" he exclaimed to his colleagues almost in tears. "This lady spends more time and care in adorning herself for those she will meet than we do in preparing our souls to meet our God."

Apart from the signal defeat of the Albigensian heretics at the battle of Muret in 1213 which legend has attributed to the recitation of the Rosary by St. Dominic, it is believed that Heaven has on many occasions rewarded the faith of those who had recourse to this devotion in times of special danger. More particularly, the naval victory of Lepanto gained by Don John of Austria over the Turkish fleet on the first Sunday of October in 1571 responded wonderfully to the processions made at Rome on that same day by the members of the Rosary confraternity.

Saint Bruno of Cologne (Cologne, c. 1030 – Serra San Bruno, 6 October 1101), the founder of the Carthusian Order, personally founded the order's first two communities. He was a celebrated teacher at Reims, and a close advisor of his former pupil, Pope Urban II.