Catholic Saint of the Day

Saint Josemaria Escriva was the founder the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, united to Opus Dei. Josemaria travelled frequently to work for the growth of Opus Dei, and by the time of his death, it had spread to five continents with over 60,000 members.

In the midst of the second world war Pope Pius XII put the whole world under the special protection of our Savior's Mother by consecrating it to her Immaculate Heart, and in 1944 he decreed that in the future the whole Church should celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is not a new devotion. In the seventeenth century, St. John Eudes preached it together with that of the Sacred Heart; in the nineteenth century, Pius VII and Pius IX allowed several churches to celebrate a feast of the Pure Heart of Mary. Pius XII instituted today's feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary for the whole Church, so as to obtain by her intercession "peace among nations, freedom for the Church, the conversion of sinners, the love of purity and the practice of virtue" (Decree of May 4, 1944).

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.

The birth of St. John the Baptist was foretold by an angel of the Lord to his father, Zachary, who was offering incense in the Temple. It was the office of St. John to prepare the way for Christ, and before he was born into the world he began to live for the Incarnate God. Even in the womb he knew the presence of Jesus and of Mary, and he leaped with joy at the glad coming of the son of man. In his youth he remained hidden, because He for Whom he waited was hidden also.

Saint Thomas More is the patron Saint of politicians, statesmen, and lawyers. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church of England. He was eventually beheaded on July 6, 1535 his last words being ""I die the king's good servant, but God's first."

Saint Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-1591) renounced his right to the title of Marquis and to the vast wealth he was destined to inherit, he joined the Jesuits. During his training in Rome, he would care for victims of the plague in the streets. He himself contracted the disease as a result of his efforts for the suffering and died on June 21, 1591, at the age of twenty-three, six years short of his ordination as a Jesuit priest.

Saint Paulinus of Nola (353-431) was a Roman Senator who converted to a severe monasticism in 394. He eventually became Bishop of Nola, and helped to resolve the disputed election of Pope Boniface I, and was canonized as a saint.

The Feast of Corpus Christi, or the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (as it is often called today), goes back to the 13th century, but it celebrates something far older: the institution of the Sacrament of Holy Communion at the Last Supper. While Holy Thursday is also a celebration of this mystery, the solemn nature of Holy Week, and the focus on Christ's Passion on Good Friday, overshadows that aspect of Holy Thursday.

Venerable Matt Talbot can be considered the patron of men and women struggling with alcoholism. Matt was born in Dublin, where his father worked on the docks and had a difficult time supporting his family. After a few years of schooling, Matt obtained work as a messenger for some liquor merchants; there he began to drink excessively. For 15 years—until he was almost 30—Matt was an active alcoholic.

Saint Emily de Vialar, Virgin, Foundress of the Sisters of St. Joseph "of the Apparition". Because of the anti-Church sentiment of the years following the French Revolution, Emily was baptized in secret, and was taught religion at home by her mother.