Catholic Saint of the Day

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.

St. Thomas a' Becket is one of the most famous medieval English Saints. While archdeacon of Canterbury, he was made chancellor of England at the age of 36 by his friend King Henry II. After many struggles with the King over the rights of the Church, St. Thomas was murdered by a group of Knights.

Upon the birth of Our Lord, Herod ordered the murder of all all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under. Sadly, The Holy Innocents echo, and are few, in comparison to the genocide and abortion of our day.

Saint John; the beloved, the apostle, and the evangelist. He is author of the Fourth Gospel, three New Testament letters and the Book of Revelation. His Gospel is a very personal account. Into his care, Our Lord commanded his Mother from the Most Holy Cross.

The Holy Family is the name given to the family unit of Jesus: The Divine Son of God Jesus, his mother Mary, and his foster-father Joseph. We know very little about the life of the Holy Family through the Canonical Scriptures. They speak of the early years of the Holy Family, including the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the flight into Egypt, and the finding of Jesus in the temple.

"For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests." Luke 2:11-14

Saint Adele was a daughter of King Dagobert II of Germany. She became a nun upon the death of her husband, making provisions for her son, the future father of St. Gregory of Utrecht. St. Adele seems to have been among the disciples of St. Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, and a letter in his correspondence is addressed to her.

Saint John Cantius is the patron Saint of Teachers, Students, Priests and Pilgrims. John of Kanty was born in the small southern Polish town of Kanty, only thirteen miles from Pope John Paul II’s birthplace, on June 24, 1390. Whether it was in the classroom or in the pulpit, everyone knew him as a staunch defender of the faith and enemy of heretics.