Catholic Saint of the Day

Saint Raymond of Penafort, Patron Saint of Canonists (c.1180-1275). Born in Spain, St. Raymond was a relative of the King of Aragon. From childhood he had a tender love and devotion to the Blessed Mother. He finished his studies at an early age, and became a famous teacher. He then gave up all his honors and entered the Order of the Dominicans.

Saint André Bessette expressed a saint’s faith by a lifelong devotion to St. Joseph. He was the eighth of 12 children born to a French Canadian couple near Montreal. At his canonization in October 2010, Pope Benedict XVI said that St. Andre "lived the beatitude of the pure of heart."

Pope Saint Telesphorus (ca. 125 - 138 AD) was a Greek who had been an anchorite. He ruled the Church in the time of Emperor Antoninus Pius. To St. Telesphorus are attributed some church practices which endure down to this day.

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first native born American to be canonized by the Catholic Church. At the suggestion of the president of St. Mary's College in Baltimore, Maryland, Elizabeth started a school in that city. She helped establish the first free Catholic school in America.

Like many of the most ancient Christian feasts, Epiphany was first celebrated in the East, where it has been held from the beginning almost universally on January 6. In the United States it is celebrated on January 7, 2018.

Saint Gregory Nazianzen was by nature a gentle man and by genius and training a scholar, but throughout his life he was involved in controversies, disputes and misunderstanding in which his sensitive and essentially reasonable temperament suffered much, and not only from his ostensible 'enemies.' Nevertheless he has been declared a Doctor of the Church, and he won for himself the title 'the Theologian'; he is an outstanding example of those saints whose lives, as far as immediate results go, seem a series of disappointments and ill-success, yet who with the passage of time are seen increasingly to be great both in themselves and in their work.

Saint Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church, was one of the giants of the early Church. He was responsible for the victory of Nicene orthodoxy over Arianism in the Byzantine East, and the denunciation of Arianism at the Council of Constantinople in 381-82 was in large measure due to his efforts.

Just as Christmas honors Jesus as the "Prince of Peace," the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God honors Mary as the "Queen of Peace" This solemnity, falling on New Year's Day, is also designated the World Day of Peace.

Pope Saint Sylvester surely was appointed by God to govern his holy church in the first years of her temporal prosperity and triumph over her persecuting enemies. His pontificate was one of the most important, crucial and eventful of all Popes.

The Holy Virgin Martyr Anysia lived in the city of Thessalonica. In 304, a Roman soldier apprehended her as she was on her way to Mass. Discovering she was a Christian, he beat her, and intended to drag her to a pagan temple to sacrifice to Roman gods. When he tore off her veil (a reminder of her vow of chastity), she spit in his face, and he murdered her.