Feast Days in January

FEAST DAYS IN JANUARY
http://www.catholic.org/saints/f_day/jan.php
January
1
January
2
January
3
St. Giuseppe Maria Tommasi

St. Clarus
Bl. Berka Zdislava
St. Giuseppe Maria Tomasi
St. William of Dijon
St. Telemachus
St. Odilo
St. Almachius
St. Basil
St. Concordius
St. Connat
St. Cuan
St. Elvan & Mydwyn
St. Euphrosyne
St. Fulgentius of Ruspe
St. Fanchea
St. Joseph Mary Tommasi
St. Justin of Chieti
St. Maelrhys
St. Magnus
Mary the Blessed Virgin
St. Zdislava of Lemberk
Bl. Valentin Paquay
St. Fulgentius of Ruspe
Bl. Jean-Baptiste Lego
Bl. Rene Lego
St. Zygmunt Gorazdowski
St. Adelard
St. Basil the Great
St. Caspar del Bufalo
St. Gregory Nazianzus
St. Adalard of Corbie
St. Argeus
St. Aspasius
St. Blidulf
St. Seraphim of Sarov
St. Artaxus
St. Martinian
St. Munchin
Bl. Guillaume Repin
Bl. Marie-Anne Vaillot
Bl. Odilia Baumgarten
St. Genevieve
St. Bertilia
St. Blitmund
St. Zosimus & Athanasius
St. Wenog
St. Theopemptus and Theonas
St. Cyrinus
St. Daniel of Padua
St. Finlugh
St. Fintan
January
4
January
5
January
6
January
7
St. Florentius of Vienne

St. Narses
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
Bl. Angela of Foligno
St. Aquilinus
Bl. Thomas Plumtree
St. Dafrosa
St. Eugendus
St. Ferreolus of Uzes
St. Hermes
St. Libentius
St. Rigobert
St. Mavilus
St. Pharaildis
St. Rigobert (Robert)
St. Abraham
Bl. Manuel Gonzalez Garcia
St. John Neumann
St. Charles of Sezze
St. Roger
St. Syncletica
St. Apollinaris Syncletica
St. Talida
St. Cera
St. Convoyon
St. Emiliana
St. Gaudentius
St. Gerlac
St. John Nepomucene Neumann
St. Lomer
Martyrs of Egypt
St. Paula
St. Syncletica of Alexandria
St. Genoveva Torres Morales
Bl. Jacques Ledoyen
Bl. Marcelina Darowska
St. Andre Bessette
St. Melanie
St. Anastasius VIII
St. Wiltrudis
St. Schotin
St. Diman
St. Edeyrn
St. Eigrad
St. Erminold
St. Hywyn
St. John de Ribera
St. Macra
St. Melanius
St. Peter of Canterbury
St. Erminold
St. Peter of Canterbury
St. Raymond of Pennafort
St. Aidric
January
8
January
9
January
10
St. Anastasius XVIII

St. Brannock
St. Valentine
St. Theodore of Egypt
St. Tillo
St. Canute Lavard
St. Clerus
St. Crispin
St. Cronan Beg
Bl. Edward Waterson
St. Emilian
St. Felix & Januarius
St. Julian of Cagliari
St. Kentigerna
St. Lucian of Antioch
St. Reinold
St. Nicetas of Remesiana
St. Thorfinn
St. Pega
St. Apollinaris
St. Albert of Cashel
St. Athelm
St. Atticus of Constantinople
St. Wulsin
St. Theophilus & Helladius
St. Severinus
St. Severinus of Noricum
St. Carterius
St. Ergnad
St. Erhard of Regensburg
St. Eugenian
St. Frodobert
St. Garibaldus
St. Gudula
St. Frodobert
St. Lucian of Beauvais
St. Maximus of Pavia
St. Adrian, Abbot
St. Honorius
St. Brithwald
St. Vitalicus
St. Waningus
St. Epicharis
St. Foellan
St. Julian and Basilissa
St. Marciana of Mauretania
St. Maurontus
St. Paschasia
St. Abhor (Amba Hor)
St. Basilissa
Bl. Tommaso Reggio
St. William of Bourges
St. Agatho
St. Thomian
January
11
January
12
St. Saethryth
St. Dermot
St. John Camillus the Good
St. Marcian
St. Nicanor
St. Peter Urseolus
St. Petronius
St. Peter Orseolo
Bl. Anna of the Angels Monteagudo
St. Hyginius
St. Alexander
St. Alexander
St. Anastasius X
St. Boadin
St. Brandan
St. Vitalis of Gaza
St. Theodosius
St. Theodosius of Antioch
St. Theodosius the Cenobiarch
St. Salvius
St. Ethenea and Fidelmia
St. Honorata
St. Hyginus, Pope
St. Leucius of Brindisi
St. Palaemon
St. Paldo, Tato, and Taso
St. Paulinus of Aquileia
St. Peter, Severus and Leucius
Bl. William Carter
St. Francisca Salesia Aviat
St. Tatiana
St. Arcadius
St. Caesaria
St. Martina
St. Aelred of Rievaulx
St. Benedict Biscop
St. Marguerite Bourgeoys
St. Anthony Mary Pucci
St. Bartholomew Alvarez
St. Victorian of Asan
Bl. Vincent de Cunha
St. Zoticus
St. Zoticus
St. Tatiana of Rome
St. Tigrius & Eutropius
St. Salvius
St. Satyrus
Ephesus Martyrs
Bl. John Gaspard Cratz
St. John of Ravenna
St. Martin of Leon
Martyrs of Ephesus
St. Margaret Bourgeoys

St. Victorian
Bl. Pierre-Francois Jamet
January
13
January
14
January
15
St. Hilary of Poitiers

Bl. Yvette
St. Elian
St. Agrecius
St. Andrew of Trier
St. Viventius
St. Elian ap Erbin
St. Enogatus
St. Erbin of Dumnonia
St. Glaphyra
St. Gumesindus
St. Hermylus
St. Kentigern Mungo
St. Leontius of Caesarea
St. Berno of Cluny
St. Felix of Nola
St. Sava
St. Barbasymas
St. Dacius
St. Deusdedit
St. Euphrasius
St. Fulgentius of Cartagena
St. Felix
St. Macrina the Elder
Martyrs of Mount Sinai
Martyrs of Raithu
Bl. Peter Donders
St. Bonitus
St. Ita
St. Nina
St. Arnold Jansen
St. Blaithmaic
St. Tarsicia
St. Teath
St. Sawl
St. Secundina
St. Ceolwulf of Northumbria
St. Emebert
St. Ephysius
St. Eugyppius
Bl. Frances de Capillas
St. John Calabytes
St. Liewellyn & Gwrnerth
St. Lleudadd
St. Macarius the Great
St. Malard
St. Maura & Britta
St. Maximus of Nola
St. Paul the Hermit
Bl. Peter of Castelnau
January
16
January
17
January
18
January
19
St. Beauch (Bagug)

St. Francis Ferdinand de Capillas
St. Francisco Fernandez de Capillas
St. Valerius
St. Titian of Oderzo
St. Triverius
St. Dunchaid O'Braoin
St. Fursey
St. Fusca and Marura
St. Henry of Cocket
St. Honoratus of Aries
St. Honoratus
St. James of Tarentaise
St. Liberata
St. Melas
St. Anthony the Abbot
Bl. Gonzalo de Amarante
St. Sulpicius
St. Achillas
St. Julian Sabas the Elder
St. Nennius
St. Mildgytha
St. Pior
St. Achillas
Bl. Gregory Khomyshyn
St. Margaret of Hungary
St. Ammonius
St. Archelais and Companions
St. Volusian
St. Ulfrid
St. Vincenza Mary Lopez y Vicuna
St. Day
St. Deicola
St. Fazzio
St. Leobard
St. Liberata
St. Moseus & Ammonius
St. Bastmus
St. Jaime Hilario Barbel
Bl. Marie de la Dive du Verdier
Bl. Monique Pichery
Bl. Victoire Gusteau
St. Pontianus
St. Fillan
St. Henry of Sweden
St. Henry of Uppsala
St. Arcontius
St. Arsenius
St. Bassian
St. Wulfstan
St. Canute IV
St. Catellus of Castellamore
St. Contentius
St. Firminus
January
20
January
21
January
22
St. Germanicus of Smyrna

St. Henry of Uppsala
St. Remigius
Bl. Nathalan
St. Paul, Gerontius and Companions
St. Pontian
St. Germanicus of Smyrna
St. Henry
St. Absadah
St. Beshada (Abshadius, Psote)
St. Macarius the Great of Alexandria
St. Tomasso da Cori
St. Fabian
St. Sebastian
St. Euthymius
St. Fechin
St. Maurus
St. Eustochium Calafato
St. Neophytus
St. Molagga
St. Abadios
Bl. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi
St. Eustochia Calafato
St. Agnes
Bl. Inez
St. Meinrad
St. Alban Bartholomew Roe
St. Brigid
St. Vimin
Bl. Thomas Reynolds
Bl. Edward Stransham
St. Epiphanius of Pavia
St. Fructuosus of Tarragona
St. Lawdog
St. Maccalin
St. Patroclus
St. Publius
St. Patroclus
Bl. Laura Vicuna
St. Vincent Pallottiano
St. Vincent Pallotti
St. Vincent Saragossa
St. Anastasius XIV
St. Blaesilla
St. Brithwald
St. Valerius of Saragossa
St. Vincent of Digne
St. Vincent, Orontius, & Victor
St. Vincent the Deacon
Bl. William Patenson
St. Dominic of Sora
St. Francis Gil de Frederich
St. Matthew Alonso Leziniana
St. Paschasius
Bl. Ladislaus Batthyany-Strattmann

Bl. William Joseph Chaminade
January
23
January
24
January
25
St. Ildephonsus
St. Agathangelus
ST. Amasius
St. Asclas
St. Barnard
St. Severian & Aquila
St. Colman of Lismore
St. Emerentiana
St. Eusebius
Bl. Henry Suso
St. John the Almoner
St. Luthfild
St. Maimbod
St. Ormond
St. Parmenas
St. Abakuh
St. Marianne Cope
St. Francis de Sales
St. Artemius
St. Babylas
St. Bertrand
St. Zama
Bl. William Ireland
St. Thyrsus & Projectus
St. Exuperantius of Cingoli
St. Guasacht
St. Felician of Foligno
Bl. John Grove
St. Macedonius
St. Mardonius
St. Messalina
Bl. Anicet Hryciuk
Bl. Bartlomiej Osypiuk
Bl. Daniel Karmasz
Bl. Filip Geryluk
Bl. Ignacy Franczuk
Bl. Michal Wawryszuk
Bl. Onufry Wasyluk
St. Amarinus
St. Apollo
St. Artemas
St. Bretannion
St. Donatus
St. Dwynwen
St. Eochod of Galloway
St. Juventius & Maximus
St. Racho
St. Maurus
St. Peter Thomas
St. Praejectus
St. Poppo
January
26
January
27
January
28
January
29
St. Timothy
St. Paula
St. Alberic of Cteaux
St. Ansurius
St. Athanasius
St. Theofrid
St. Thordgith
St. Titus
St. Conan
St. Robert of Newmister
Bl. Michal Kozal
St. Angela Merici
St. Marius
St. Sabas of Serbia
St. Avitus
St. Theodoric of Orleans
St. Candida
St. Datius
St. Devota
St. Emerius
St. Gamo
St. Gamelbert of Michaelsbuch
St. Gilduin
St. Julian of Le Mans
St. Julian of Sora
St. Lupus of Chalons
St. Natalis
St. Maurus
St. Julian of Le Mans
St. Aviates
St. Henry de Osso y Cervello
Bl. Rosalie du Verdier de la Soriniere
Bl. Amadeus of Lausanne
St. Antilnus
St. Thyrsus, Leucius, & Callinicus
St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Cannera
St. Flavian
St. Glastian
St. James the Hermit
Bl. Jerome Lu
St. John of Reomay
St. Julian of Cuenca
Bl. Lawrence Wang
Bl. Roger of Todi
St. Richard of Vaucelles
St. Odo of Beauvais
St. Palladius
St. Peter Nolasco
Bl. Joseph Freinademetz
St. Jerome Lou-Tin-Mei
St. Dallan
St. Aquilinus
St. Blath
January
30
January
31
St. Voloc
St. Valerius of Trves
St. Sabinian of Troyes
Sts. Sarbelius & Barbea
St. Caesarius
St. Papias and Maurinus
Bl. Boleslava Lament
St. Hippolytus
St. Aldegunais
St. Aleaunie
St. Alexander
St. Armentarius
St. Armentarius
St. Barsimaeus
St. Bathildis
St. Tudy
St. Savina of Milan
St. Felician
St. Hyacinth
St. Martina of Rome
St. Matthias of Jerusalem
St. Mutien-Marie Wiaux
St. John Bosco
St. Cyrus
St. Marcella
St. Adamnan of Coldingham
St. Aidan of Ferns
St. Athanasius
St. Bobinus
St. Ulphia
St. Tarskius
St. Trypbaena
Sts. Saturninus, Thrysus, & Victor
St. Domitius
St. Eusebius
St. Geminian
St. Julius of Novara
St. Madoes
St. Marcella
St. Martin Manuel
St. Nicetas
St. Metranus
St. Francis Xavier Bianchi
Mary the Blessed Virgin

Feastday: January 1
Death: 1st century
The Mother, of God, Mother of Jesus, wife of St. Joseph, and the
greatest of all Christian saints. The Virgin Mother "was, after her Son,
exalted by divine grace above all angels and men". Mary is venerated
with a special cult, called by St. Thomas Aquinas, hyperdulia, as the
highest of God's creatures. The principal events of her life are
celebrated as liturgical feasts of the universal Church. Mary's life and role in the history
of salvation is prefigured in the Old Testament, while the events of her life are recorded in the New
Testament. Traditionally, she was declared the daughter of Sts. Joachim and Anne. Born in
Jerusalem, Mary was presented in the Temple and took a vow of virginity. Living in
Nazareth, Mary was visited by the archangel Gabriel, who announced to her that she would become
the Mother of Jesus, by the Holy Spirit. She became betrothed to St. Joseph and went to visit her
cousin, Elizabeth, who was bearing St. John the Baptist. Acknowledged by Elizabeth as the Mother
of God, Mary intoned the Magnificat. When Emperor Augustus declared a census throughout the
vast Roman Empire, Mary and St. Joseph went to Bethlehem, his city of lineage, as he belonged to
the House of David. There Mary gave birth to Jesus and was visited by the Three
Kings. Mary and Joseph presented Jesus in
the
Temple,
where
St. Simeon rejoiced
and Mary received word of sorrows to come later. Warned to flee, St. Josephand Mary went
to Egypt to escape the wrath of King Herod. They remained in Egypt until King Herod died and
then returned to Nazareth. Nothing is known of Mary's life during the next years except for a visit to
the Temple of Jerusalem, at which time Mary and Joseph sought the young Jesus, who was in
theTemple with the learned elders. The first recorded miracle of Jesus was performed at a wedding
in Cana, and Mary was instrumental in calling Christ's attention to the need. Mary was present at
the Crucifixion in Jerusalem, and there she was given into John's care. She was also with the
disciples in the days before the Pentecost, and it is believed that she was present at the resurrection
and Ascension. No scriptural reference concerns Mary's last years on earth. According to tradition,
she went to Ephesus, where she experienced her "dormition." Another tradition states that she
remained in Jerusalem. The belief that Mary's body was assumed into heaven is one of the oldest
traditions of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII declared this belief Catholic dogma in 1950. The
feast of the Assumption is celebrated on August 15. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception - that
Mary, as the Mother of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, was free of original sin at the
moment of her conception was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854 . The feast of the Immaculate
Conception is celebrated on December 8. The birthday of Mary is an old feast in the Church,
celebrated on September 8 since the seventh century. Other feasts that commemorate events in
the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary are listed in the Appendices. Pope Pius XII dedicated the entire
human race to Mary in 1944. The Church has long taught that Mary is truly the Mother of God . St.
Paul observed that "God sent His Son, born of a woman," expressing the union of the human and
the divine in Christ. As Christ possesses two natures, human and divine, Mary was the Mother
of God in his human nature. This special role of Mary in salvation history is clearly depicted in the
Gospel in which she is seen constantly at her son's side during his soteriological mission. Because
of this role exemplified by her acceptance of Christ into her womb, her offering of him to God at
the Temple, her urging him to perform his first miracle, and her standing at the foot of the Cross at
Calvary Mary was joined fully in the sacrifice by Christ of himself. Pope Benedict XV wrote in
1918: "To such an extent did Mary suffer and almost die with her suffering and dying Son; to such
extent did she surrender her maternal rights over her Son for man's salvation, and immolated him insofar as she could in order to appease the justice of God, that we might rightly say she redeemed
the human race together with Christ" . Mary is entitled to the title of Queen because, as Pope Pius
XII expressed it in a 1946 radio speech, "Jesus is King throughout all eternity by nature and
by right of conquest: through him, with him, and subordinate to him, Mary is Queen by grace, by
divine
relationship,
by right of
conquest,
and
by
singular
election." Mary possesses
unique relationship with all three Persons of the Trinity, thereby giving her a claim to the title of
Queenship. She was chosen by God the Father to be the Mother of his Son; God theHoly
Spirit chose her to be his virginal spouse for the Incarnation of the Son; and God the Son chose her
to be his mother, the means of incarnating into the world for the purposes of the redemption of
humanity. This Queen is also our Mother. While she is not our Mother in the physical sense, she is
called a spiritual mother, for she conceives, gives birth, and nurtures the spiritual lives of grace for
each person. As Mediatrix of All Graces, she is ever present at the side of each person, giving
nourishment and hope, from the moment of spiritual birth at Baptism to the moment of death. The
confidence that each person should have in Mary was expressed by Pope Pius IX in
the encyclical Ubipriinum : "The foundation of all our confidence. . . is found in the Blessed Virgin
Mary. For God has committed to Mary the treasury of allgood things, in order that everyone may
know that through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation. For this is his will,
that we obtain everything through Mary."
St. Basil the Great

Facts
Feastday: January 2
Patron of hospital administrators
Death: 379
St. Basil the Great was born at Caesarea of Cappadocia in

330. He was one of ten children of St. Basil the Elder and
St. Emmelia. Several of his brothers and sisters are
honored among the saints. He attended school in Caesarea,
as well as Constantinople and Athens, where he became
acquainted with St. Gregory Nazianzen in 352. A little
later, he opened a school of oratory in Caesarea and practiced law. Eventually he decided to become
a monk and found a monastery in Pontus which he directed for five years. He wrote a famous
monastic rule which has proved the most lasting of those in the East. After founding several other
monasteries, he was ordained and, in 370, made bishop of Caesaria. In this post until his death in
379, he continued to be a man of vast learning and constant activity, genuine eloquence and
immense charity. This earned for him the title of "Great" during his life and Doctor of the Church
after his death. Basil was one of the giants of the early Church. He was responsible for the victory
of Niceneorthodoxy over Arianism in the Byzantine East, and the denunciation of Arianism at the
Council ofConstantinople in 381-82 was in large measure due to his efforts. Basil fought simony,
aided the victims of drought and famine, strove for a better clergy, insisted on a rigid clerical
discipline, fearlessly denounced evil wherever he detected it, and excommunicated those involved
in the widespread prostitution traffic in Cappadocia. He was learned, accomplished in
statesmanship, a man of great personal holiness, and one of the great orators of Christianity.
His feast day is January 2.
St. Gregory Nazianzus

Feastday: January 2
Birth: 329
Death: 390
Doctor of the Church, born at Arianzus, in Asia Minor, c.

325; died at the same place, 389. He was son -- one of
three children -- of Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzus (329-374),
in the south-west of Cappadocia, and of Nonna, a daughter
of Christian parents. The saint's father was originally a
member of the heretical sect of the Hypsistarii, or
Hypsistiani, and was converted to Catholicity by the
influence of his pious wife. His two sons, who seem to have
been born between the dates of their father's priestly
ordination and episcopal consecration, were sent to a famous
school at Caesarea, capital of Cappadocia, and educated by
Carterius, probably the same one who was afterwards tutor
of St. John Chrysostom. Here commenced the friendship
between Basil and Gregory which intimately affected both
their lives, as well as the development of the theology of
their age. From Caesarea in Cappadocia Gregory proceeded to Caesarea in Palestine, where he
studied rhetoric under Thespesius; and thence to Alexandria, of which Athanasius was then bishop,
through at the time in exile. Setting out by sea from Alexandria to Athens, Gregory was all but lost
in a great storm, and some of his biographers infer -- though the fact is not certain -- that when in
danger of death he and his companions received the rite of baptism. He had certainly not been
baptized in infancy, though dedicated to God by his pious mother; but there is some authority for
believing that he received the sacrament, not on his voyage to Athens, but on his return
to Nazianzus some years later. At Athens Gregory and Basil, who had parted at Caesarea, met again,
renewed
their
youthful
friendship,
and
studied
rhetoric
together
under
the
famous
teachers Himerius and Proaeresius. Among their fellow students was Julian, afterwards known as
the Apostate, whose real character Gregory asserts that he had even then discerned and thoroughly
distrusted him. The saint's studies at Athens (which Basil left before his friend) extended over some
ten years; and when he departed in 356 for his native province, visiting Constantinople on his way
home, he was about thirty years of age.
Arrived at Nazianzus, where his parents were now advanced in age, Gregory, who had by
this time firmly resolved to devote his life and talents to God, anxiously considered the plan of his
future career. To a young man of his high attainments a distinguished secular career was open,
either that of a lawyer or of a professor of rhetoric; but his yearnings were for the monastic or
ascetic life, though this did not seem compatible either with the Scripture studies in which he was
deeply interested, or with his filial duties at home. As was natural, he consulted his beloved friend
Basil in his perplexity as to his future; and he has left us in his own writings an extremely
interesting narrative of their intercourse at this time, and of their common resolve (based on
somewhat different motives, according to the decided differences in their characters) to quit the
world for the service of God alone. Basil retired to Pontus to lead the life of a hermit ; but finding
that Gregory could not join him there, came and settled first at Tiberina (near Gregory's own home),
then at Neocsarea, in Pontus, where he lived in holy seclusion for some years, and gathered round
him a brotherhood of cenobites, among whom his friend Gregory was for a time included. After a
sojourn here for two or three years, during which Gregory edited, with Basil some of the exegetical
works of Origen, and also helped his friend in the compilation of his famous rules, Gregory returned
to Nazianzus, leaving with regret the peaceful hermitage where he and Basil (as he recalled in their
subsequent correspondence) had spent such a pleasant time in the labour both of hands and of
heads. On his return home Gregory was instrumental in bringing back to orthodoxy his father who,
perhaps partly in ignorance, had subscribed the heretical creed of Rimini ; and the aged bishop,
desiring his son's presence and support, overruled his scrupulous shrinking from the priesthood, and
forced him to accept ordination (probably at Christmas, 361). Wounded and grieved at the pressure
put upon him, Gregory fled back to his solitude, and to the company of St. Basil; but after some
weeks' reflection returned to Nazianzus, where he preached his first sermon on Easter Sunday, and
afterward wrote the remarkable apologetic oration, which is really a treatise on the priestly office,
the foundation of Chrysostom's "De Sacerdotio", of Gregory the Great's "Cura Pastoris", and of
countless subsequent writings on the same subject.
During the next few years Gregory's life at Nazianzus was saddened by the deaths of his brother
Caesarius and his sister Gorgonia, at whose funerals he preached two of his most eloquent orations,
which are still extant. About this time Basil was made bishop of Caesarea and Metropolitan of
Cappadocia, and soon afterwards the Emperor Valens, who was jealous of Basil's influence, divided
Cappadocia into two provinces. Basil continued to claim ecclesiastical jurisdiction , as before, over
the whole province, but this was disputed by Anthimus, Bishop of Tyana, the chief city of New
Cappadocia. To strengthen his position Basil founded a new see at Sasima, resolved to have
Gregory as its first bishop, and accordingly had him consecrated, though greatly against his will.
Gregory, however, was set against Sasima from the first; he thought himself utterly unsuited to the
place, and the place to him; and it was not long before he abandoned his diocese and returned
to Nazianzus as coadjutor to his father. This episode in Gregory's life was unhappily the cause of an
estrangement between Basil and himself which was never altogether removed; and there is no
extant record of any correspondence between them subsequent to Gregory's leaving Sasima.
Meanwhile he occupied himself sedulously with his duties as coadjutor to his aged father, who died
early in 374, his wife Nonna soon following him to the grave. Gregory, who was now left
without family ties, devoted to the poor the large fortune which he had inherited, keeping for
himself only a small piece of land at Arianzus. He continued to administer thediocese for about two
years, refusing, however, to become the bishop, and continually urging the appointment of a
successor to his father. At the end of 375 he withdrew to a monastery at Seleuci, living there in
solitude for some three years, and preparing (though he knew it not) for what was to be the
crowning work of his life. About the end of this period Basil died. Gregory's own state of health
prevented his being present either at the deathbed or funeral; but he wrote a letter of condolence to
Basil's brother, Gregory of Nyssa, and composed twelve beautiful memorial poems or epitaphs to
his departed friend.
Three weeks after Basil's death, Theodosius was advanced by the Emperor Gratian to the dignity of
Emperor of the East. Constantinople, the seat of his empire, had been for the space of about thirty
years (since the death of the saintly and martyred Bishop Paul) practically given over too Arianism,
with an Arian prelate, Demophilus, enthroned at St. Sophia's. The remnant of persecuted Catholics,
without either church or pastor, applied to Gregory to come and place himself at their head and
organize their scattered forces; and many bishops supported the demand. After much hesitation he
gave his consent, proceeded to Constantinople early in the year 379, and began his mission in a
private house which he describes as "the new Shiloh where the Ark was fixed", and as "an
Anastasia, the scene of the resurrection of the faith". Not only the faithful Catholics, but
many heretics gathered in the humble chapel of the Anastasia, attracted by Gregory's sanctity,
learning and eloquence; and it was in this chapel that he delivered the five wonderful discourses on
the faith of Nicaea -- unfolding the doctrine of the Trinity while safeguarding theUnity of the
Godhead -- which gained for him, alone of all Christian teachers except the Apostle St. John, the
special title of Theologus or the Divine. He also delivered at this time the eloquent panegyrics on
St. Cyprian, St. Athanasius, and the Machabees, which are among his finest oratorical works.
Meanwhile he found himself exposed to persecution of every kind from without, and was actually
attacked in his own chapel, whilst baptizing his Easter neophytes, by a hostile mob of Arians from
St. Sophia's, among them being Arian monks and infuriated women. He was saddened, too, by
dissensions among his own little flock, some of whom openly charged him with holding Tritheistic
errors. St. Jerome became about thistime his pupil and disciple, and tells us in glowing language
how much he owed to his erudite and eloquent teacher. Gregory was consoled by the approval of
Peter, Patriarch of Constantinople(Duchesne's opinion, that the patriarch was from the first jealous
or suspicious of the Cappadocian bishop's influence in Constantinople, does not seem sufficiently
supported by evidence), and Peter appears to have been desirous to see him appointed to the
bishopric of the capital of the East. Gregory, however, unfortunately allowed himself to be imposed
upon
by
plausible
adventurer
called
Hero,
or
Maximus,
who
came
to Constantinople from Alexandria in the guise (long hair, white robe, and staff) of a Cynic, and
professed to be a convert to Christianity, and an ardent admirer of Gregory's sermons. Gregory
entertained him hospitably, gave him his complete confidence, and pronounced a public panegyric
on him in his presence. Maximus's intrigues to obtain the bishopric for himself found support in
various quarters, including Alexandria, which the patriarch Peter, for what reason precisely it is not
known, had turned against Gregory; and certain Egyptian bishops deputed by Peter, suddenly, and at
night, consecrated and enthroned Maximus as Catholic Bishop of Constantinople, while Gregory
was confined to bed by illness. Gregory's friends, however, rallied round him, and Maximus had to
fly from Constantinople. The Emperor Theodosius, to whom he had recourse, refused to recognize
any bishopother than Gregory, and Maximus retired in disgrace to Alexandria.
Theodosius received Christian baptism early in 380, at Thessalonica, and immediately addressed an
edict to his subjects at Constantinople, commanding them to adhere to the faith taught by St. Peter,
and professed by the Roman pontiff, which alone deserved to be called Catholic. In November, the
emperor entered the city and called on Demophilus, the Arian bishop, to subscribe to the
Nicene creed : but he refused to do so, and was banished from Constantinople. Theodosius
determined that Gregory should bebishop of the new Catholic see, and himself accompanied him to
St. Sophia's, where he was enthroned in presence of an immense crowd, who manifested their
feelings by hand-clappings and other signs of joy. Constantinople was now restored
to Catholic unity; the emperor, by a new edict, gave back all the churches to Catholic use; Arians
and other heretics were forbidden to hold public assemblies; and the name of Catholic was
restricted to adherents of the orthodox and Catholic faith.
Gregory had hardly settled down to the work of administration of the Diocese of Constantinople,
when Theodosius carried out his long-cherished purpose of summoning thither a general council of
the Eastern Church. One hundred and fifty bishops met in council, in May, 381, the object of the
assembly being, asSocrates plainly states, to confirm the faith of Nicaea, and to appoint
a bishop for Constantinople (see CONSTANTINOPLE, THE FIRST COUNCIL OF). Among
the bishops present were thirty-six holding semi-Arian or Macedonian opinions; and neither the
arguments of the orthodox prelates nor the eloquence of Gregory, who preached at Pentecost, in St.
Sophia's, on the subject of the Holy Spirit, availed to persuade them to sign the orthodox creed. As
to the appointment of the bishopric, theconfirmation of Gregory to the see could only be a matter of
form. The orthodox bishops were all in favor, and the objection (urged by the Egyptian and
Macedonian prelates who joined the council later) that his translation from one see to another was
in opposition to a canon of the Nicene council was obviously unfounded. The fact was well known
that Gregory had never, after his forced consecration at the instance of Basil, entered into
possession of the See of Sasima, and that he had later exercised his episcopal functions at
Nazianzus, not as bishop of that diocese, but merely as coadjutor of his father. Gregory succeeded
Meletius as president of the council, which found itself at once called on to deal with the difficult
question of appointing a successor to the deceased bishop. There had been an understanding
between the two orthodox parties at Antioch, of which Meletius and Paulinus had been
respectivelybishops that the survivor of either should succeed as sole bishop. Paulinus, however,
was
a prelate of
Western
origin
and
creation,
and
the
Eastern bishops assembled
at Constantinople declined to recognize him. In vain did Gregory urge, for the sake of peace, the
retention of Paulinus in the see for the remainder of his life, already fare advanced; the Fathers of
the council refused to listen to his advice, and resolved that Meletius should be succeeded by an
Oriental priest. "It was in the East that Christ was born", was one of the arguments they put
forward; and Gregory's retort, "Yes, and it was in the East that he was put to death ", did not shake
their decision. Flavian, a priest of Antioch, was elected to the vacant see; and Gregory, who relates
that the only result of his appeal was "a cry like that of a flock of jackdaws" while the younger
members of the council "attacked him like a swarm of wasps", quitted the council, and left also his
official residence, close to the church of the Holy Apostles.
Gregory had now come to the conclusion that not only the opposition and disappointment which he
had met with in the council, but also his continued state of ill-health, justified, and indeed
necessitated, his resignation of the See of Constantinople, which he had held for only a few months.
He appeared again before the council, intimated that he was ready to be another Jonas to pacify the
troubled waves, and that all he desired was rest from his labours, and leisure to prepare for death .
The Fathers made no protest against this announcement, which some among them doubtless heard
with secret satisfaction; and Gregory at once sought and obtained from the emperor permission to
resign his see. In June, 381, he preached a farewell sermon before the council and in presence of an
overflowing congregation. The peroration of this discourse is of singular and touching beauty, and
unsurpassed even among his many eloquent orations. Very soon after its delivery he
left Constantinople (Nectarius, a native of Cilicia, being chosen to succeed him in the bishopric ),
and retired to his old home at Nazianzus. His two extant letters addressed to Nectarius at
his time are noteworthy as affording evidence, by their spirit and tone, that he was actuated by no
other feelings than those of interested goodwill towards the diocese of which he was resigning the
care, and towards his successor in the episcopal charge. On his return to Nazianzus, Gregory found
the Church there in a miserable condition, being overrun with the erroneous teaching
ofApollinaris the Younger, who had seceded from the Catholic communion a few years previously,
and died shortly after Gregory himself. Gregory's anxiety was now to find a learned and
zealous bishop who would be able to stem the flood of heresy which was threatening to overwhelm
the Christian Church in that place. All his efforts were at first unsuccessful, and he consented at
length with much reluctance to take over the administration of the diocese himself. He combated for
a time, with his usual eloquence and as much energy as remained to him, the false teaching of the
adversaries of the Church ; but he felt himself too broken in health to continue the active work of
the episcopate, and wrote to the Archbishop of Tyanaurgently appealing to him to provide for the
appointment of another bishop. His request was granted, and his cousin Eulalius, a priest of
holy life to whom he was much attached, was duly appointed to the See of Nazianzus. This was
toward the end of the year 383, and Gregory, happy in seeing the care of thediocese entrusted to
a man after his own heart, immediately withdrew to Arianzus, the scene of his birth and his
childhood, where he spent the remaining years of his life in retirement, and in the literary labours,
which were so much more congenial to his character than the harassing work of ecclesiastical
administration in those stormy and troubled times.
Looking back on Gregory's career, it is difficult not to feel that from the day when he was
compelled
to
accept
priestly
orders,
until
that
which
saw
him
return
from Constantinople to Nazianzus to end his life in retirement and obscurity, he seemed constantly
to be placed, through no initiative of his own, in positions apparently unsuited to his disposition and
temperament, and not really calculated to call for the exercise of the most remarkable and attractive
qualities of his mind and heart. Affectionate and tender by nature, of highly sensitive temperament,
simple and humble, lively and cheerful by disposition, yet liable to despondency and irritability,
constitutionally timid, and somewhat deficient, as it seemed, both in decision of character and in
self-control, he was very human, very lovable, very gifted -- yet not, one might be inclined to think,
naturally adapted to play the remarkable part which he did during the period preceding and
following the opening of the Council of Constantinople. He entered on his difficult and arduous
work in that city within a few months of the death of Basil, the beloved friend of his youth; and
Newman, in his appreciation of Gregory's character and career, suggests the striking thought that it
was his friend's lofty and heroic spirit which had entered into him, and inspired him to take the
active and important part which fell to his lot in the work of re-establishing the orthodox
and Catholic faith in the eastern capital of the empire. It did, in truth, seem to be rather with the
firmness and intrepidity, the high resolve and unflinching perseverance, characteristic of Basil, than
in his own proper character, that of a gentle, fastidious, retiring, timorous, peace-loving saint and
scholar, that he sounded the war-trumpet during those anxious and turbulent months, in the very
stronghold and headquarters of militant heresy, utterly regardless to the actual and pressing danger
to his safety, and even his life which never ceased to menace him. "May we together receive", he
said at the conclusion of the wonderful discourse which he pronounced on his departed friend, on
his return to Asia from Constantinople, "the reward of the warfare which we have waged, which we
have endured." It is impossible to doubt, reading the intimate details which he has himself given us
of his long friendship with, and deep admiration of, Basil, that the spirit of his early and well-loved
friend
had
to
great
extent
moulded
and
informed
his
own
sensitive
and
impressionablepersonality and that it was this, under God, which nerved and inspired him, after
a life of what seemed, externally, one almost of failure, to co-operate in the mighty task of
overthrowing the monstrous heresywhich had so long devastated the greater part of Christendom,
and bringing about at length the pacification of the Eastern Church.
During the six years of life which remained to him after his final retirement to his birth-place,
Gregory composed, in all probability, the greater part of the copious poetical works which have
come down to us. These include a valuable autobiographical poem of nearly 2000 lines, which
forms, of course, one of the most important sources of information for the facts of his life; about a
hundred other shorter poems relating to his past career; and a large number of epitaphs, epigrams,
and epistles to well-known people of the day. Many of his later personal poems refer to the
continuous illness and severe sufferings, both physical and spiritual, which assailed him during his
last years, and doubtless assisted to perfect him in those saintly qualities which had never been
wanting to him, rudely shaken though he had been by the trails and buffetings of his life. In the tiny
plot of ground at Arianzus, all (as has already been said) that remained to him of his rich
inheritance, he wrote and meditated, as he tells, by a fountain near which there was a shady walk,
his favourite resort. Here, too, he received occasional visits from intimate friends, as well as
sometimes from strangers attracted to his retreat by his reputation for sanctity and learning; and
here he peacefully breathed his last. The exact date of his death is unknown, but from a passage in
Jerome (De Script. Eccl.) it may be assigned, with tolerable certainty, to the year 389 or 390.
Some account must now be given of Gregory's voluminous writings, and of his reputation as an
orator and a theologian, on which, more than on anything else, rests his fame as one of the
greatest lights of the Eastern Church. His works naturally fall under three heads, namely his poems,
his epistles, and his orations. Much, though by no means all, of what he wrote has been preserved,
and has been frequently published, the editio princeps of the poems being the Aldine (1504), while
the first edition of his collected works appeared in Paris in 1609-11. The Bodleian catalogue
contains more than thirty folio pages enumerating various editions of Gregory's works, of which the
best and most complete are the Benedictine edition (two folio volumes, begun in 1778, finished in
1840), and the edition of Migne (four volumes XXXV - XXXVIII, in P.G., Paris, 1857 - 1862).
Poetical Compositions
These, as already stated, comprise autobiographical verses, epigrams, epitaphs and epistles. The
epigrams have been translated by Thomas Drant (London, 1568), the epitaphs by Boyd (London,
1826), while other poems have been gracefully and charmingly paraphrased by Newman in his
"Church of the Fathers". Jerome and Suidas say that Gregory wrote more than 30,000 verses; if this
is not an exaggeration, fully two-thirds of them have been lost. Very different estimates have been
formed of the value of his poetry, the greater part of which was written in advanced years, and
perhaps rather as a relaxation from the cares and troubles of life than as a serious pursuit. Delicate,
graphic, and flowing as are many of his verses, and giving ample evidence of the cultured and
gifted intellect which produced them, they cannot be held to parallel (the comparison would be an
unfair one, had not many of them been written expressly to supersede and take the place of the work
of heathen writers) the great creations of the classic Greek poets. Yet Villemain, no mean critic,
places the poems in the front rank of Gregory's compositions, and thinks so highly of them that he
maintains that the writer ought to be called, pre-eminently, not so much the theologian of the East as
"the poet of Eastern Christendom ".
Prose Epistles
These, by common consent, belong to the finest literary productions of Gregory's age. All that are
extant are finished compositions; and that the writer excelled in this kind of composition is shown
from one of them (Ep. ccix, to Nicobulus) in which he enlarges with admirable good sense on the
rules by which all letter-writers should be guided. It was at the request of Nicobulus, who believed,
and rightly, that these letters contained much of permanent interest and value, that Gregory prepared
and edited the collection containing the greater number of them which has come down to us. Many
of them are perfect models of epistolary style -- short, clear, couched in admirably chosen language,
and in turn witty and profound, playful, affectionate and acute.
Orations
Both in his own time, and by the general verdict of posterity, Gregory was recognized as one of the
very foremost orators who have ever adorned the Christian Church. Trained in the finest
rhetorical schools of his age, he did more than justice to his distinguished teachers; and while
boasting or vainglory was foreign to his nature, he frankly acknowledged his consciousness of his
remarkable oratorical gifts, and his satisfaction at having been enabled to cultivate them fully in his
youth. Basil and Gregory, it has been said, were the pioneers of Christian eloquence, modeled on,
and inspired by, the noble and sustainedoratory of Demosthenes and Cicero, and calculated to move
and impress the most cultured and critical audiences of the age. Only comparatively few of the
numerous orations delivered by Gregory have been preserved to us, consisting of discourses spoken
by him on widely different occasions, but all marked by the same lofty qualities. Faults they have,
of course: lengthy digressions, excessive ornament, strained antithesis, laboured metaphors, and
occasional over-violence of invective. But their merits are far greater than their defects, and no one
can read them without being struck by the noble phraseology, perfect command of the purest Greek,
high imaginative powers, lucidity and incisiveness of thought, fiery zealand transparent sincerity of
intention, by which they are distinguished. Hardly any of Gregory's extant sermons are direct
expositions of Scripture, and they have for this reason been adversely criticized. Bossuet, however,
points out with perfect truth that many of these discourses are really nothing but skillful
interweaving of Scriptural texts, a profound knowledge of which is evident from every line of them.
Gregory's claims to rank as one of the greatest theologians of the early Church are based, apart from
his reputation among his contemporaries, and the verdict of history in his regard, chiefly on the five
great "Theological Discourses" which he delivered at Constantinople in the course of the year 380.
In estimating the scope and value of these famous utterances, it is necessary to remember what was
the religiouscondition of Constantinople when Gregory, at the urgent instance of Basil, of many
other bishops, and of the sorely-tried Catholics of the Eastern capital, went thither to undertake the
spiritual charge of the faithful. It was less as an administrator, or an organizer, than as a man of
saintly life and of oratorical giftsfamous throughout the Eastern Church, that Gregory was asked,
and consented, to undertake his difficult mission; and he had to exercise those gifts in combating
not one but numerous heresies which had been dividing and desolating Constantinople for many
years. Arianism in every form and degree, incipient, moderate, and extreme, was of course the great
enemy, but Gregory had also to wage war against the Apollinarian teaching, which denied the
humanity of Christ, as well as against the contrary tendency -- later developed into Nestorianism -which distinguished between the Son of Mary and the Son of God as two distinct and separate
personalities.
A saint first, and a theologian afterwards, Gregory in one of his early sermons at the Anastasia
insisted on the principle of reverence in treating of the mysteries of faith (a principle entirely
ignored by his Arian opponents), and also on the purity of life and example which all who dealt
with these high matters must show forth if their teaching was to be effectual. In the first and second
of the five discourses he develops these two principles at some length, urging in language of
wonderful beauty and force the necessity for all who would know God aright to lead
a supernatural life, and to approach so sublime a study with a mindpure and free from sin. The third
discourse (on the Son) is devoted to a defence of the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity, and a
demonstration of its consonance with the primitive doctrine of the Unity of God. The eternal
existence of the Son and Spirit are insisted on, together with their dependence on the Father as
origin or principle; and the Divinity of the Son is argued from Scripture against the Arians, whose
misunderstanding of various Scripture texts is exposed and confuted. In the fourth discourse, on the
same subject, the union of the Godhead and Manhood in Christ Incarnate is set forth and
luminously proved from Scripture and reason. The fifth and final discourse (on the Holy Spirit ) is
directed partly against the Macedonian heresy, which denied altogether the Divinity of the Holy
Ghost , and also against those who reduced the Third Person of the Trinity to a mere impersonal
energy of the Father. Gregory, in reply to the contention that the Divinity of the Spirit is not
expressed in Scripture, quotes and comments on several passages which teach the doctrine by
implication, adding that the full manifestation of this great truth was intended to be gradual,
following on the revelation of the Divinity of the Son. It is to be noted that Gregory nowhere
formulates the doctrine of the Double Procession, although in his luminous exposition of the
Trinitarian doctrine there are many passages which seem to anticipate the fuller teaching of the
Quicumque vult. No summary, not even a faithful verbal translation, can give any adequate idea of
the combined subtlety and lucidity of thought, and rare beauty of expression, of these wonderful
discourses, in which, as one of his French critics truly observes, Gregory "has summed up and
closed the controversy of a whole century". The best evidence of their value and power lies in the
fact that for fourteen centuries they have been a mine whence the greatest theologians
of Christendom have drawn treasures of wisdomto illustrate and support their own teaching on the
deepest mysteries of the Catholic Faith.
St. Raymond of Pennafort

Facts
Feastday: January 7
Patron of Canonists
St. Raymond of Pennafort, Patron Saint of Canonists (Feast

day - January 7) 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. St. Raymond was very humble and very
close to God. He did much penance and was so good and kind that he won many sinners to God.
With King James of Aragon and St. Peter Nolasco he founded the Order of Our Lady of Ransom.
The brave religious of this Order devoted themselves to saving poor Christians captured by the
Moors.
Once he went with King James to the Island of Majorca to preach about Jesus. King James was
a man of great qualities, but he let himself be ruled by passions. There on the Island, too, he was
giving bad example. The Saint commanded him to send the woman away. The King said he would,
but he did not keep his promise. So St. Raymond decided to leave the Island. The King declared he
would punish any ship captain who brought the Saint back to Barcelona. Putting all his trust in God,
Saint Raymond spread his cloak upon the water, tied up one corner of it to a stick for a sail, made
the Sign of the Cross, stepped onto the cloak, and sailed along for six hours until he reached
Barcelona. This miracle moved the King. He was sorry for what he had done, and he became a true
follower of St. Raymond. St. Raymond was one hundred years old at the time of his death.
St. Hilary of Poitiers

Facts
Feastday: January 13
Patron against snake bites
Death: 368
"They didn't know who they were." This

is how Hilary summed up the problem
with the Arian heretics of the fourth
century.
Hilary, on the other hand, knew very well
who
he
was
--
child
of
loving God who had inherited eternallife through belief in the Son of God. He hadn't been raised as
a Christian but he had felt a wonder at the gift of life and a desire to find out the meaning of that
gift. He first discarded the approach of many people who around him, who believed the purpose
of life was only to satisfy desires. He knew he wasn't a beast grazing in a pasture. The philosophers
agreed with him. Human beings should rise above desires and live a life of virtue, they said. But
Hilary could see in his own heart that humans were meant for even more than living a good life.
If he didn't lead a virtuous life, he would suffer from guilt and be unhappy. His soul seemed to cry
out that wasn't enough to justify the enormous gift of life. So Hilary went looking for the giftgiver.
He was told many things about the divine -- many that we still hear today: that there were many
Gods, that God didn't exist but all creation was the result of random acts of nature, that God existed
but didn't really care for his creation, that God was in creatures or images. One look in his
own soul told him these images of the divine were wrong. God had to be one because
no creation could be as great as God. God had to be concerned with God's creation -- otherwise why
create it?
At that point, Hilary tells us, he "chanced upon" the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures. When he read
the verse where God tells Moses "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14), Hilary said, "I was frankly
amazed at such a clear definition of God, which expressed the incomprehensible knowledge of the
divine nature in words most suited to human intelligence." In the Psalms and the Prophets he found
descriptions of God's power, concern, and beauty. For example in Psalm 139, "Where shall I go
from your spirit?", he foundconfirmation that God was everywhere and omnipotent.
But still he was troubled. He knew the giftgiver now, but what was he, the recipient of the gift? Was
he just created for the moment to disappear at death? It only made sense to him that God's purpose
in creationshould be "that what did not exist began to exist, not that what had begun to exist would
cease to exist." Then he found the Gospels and read John's words including "In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with
God..." (John 1:1-2). FromJohn he learned of the Son of God and how Jesus had been sent to bring
eternal life to those who believed. Finally his soul was at rest. "No longer did it look upon the life of
this body as troublesome or wearisome, but believed it to be what the alphabet is to children...
namely, as the patient endurance of the present trials of life in order to gain a blissful eternity." He
had found who he was in discovering God and God's Son Jesus Christ.
After becoming a Christian, he was elected bishop of Poitiers in what is now France by the laity and
clergy. He was already married with one daughter named Apra.
Not everyone at that time had the same idea of who they were. The Arians did not believe in the
divinity ofChrist and the Arians had a lot of power including the support of the emperor
Constantius. This resulted in many persecutions. When Hilary refused to support their
condemnation of Saint Athanasius he was exiled from Poitiers to the East in 356. The Arians
couldn't have had a worse plan -- for themselves.
Hilary really had known very little of the whole Arian controversy before he was banished. Perhaps
he supported Athanasius simply because he didn't like their methods. But being exiled from his
home and his duties gave him plenty of time to study and write. He learned everything he could
about what the Arians said and what the orthodox Christians answered and then he began to write.
"Although in exile we shall speak through these books, and the word of God, which cannot be
bound, shall move about in freedom." The writings of his that still exist include On the Trinity, a
commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, and a commentary on the Psalms. He tells us about the
Trinity, "For one to attempt to speak of God in terms more precise than he himself has used: -- to
undertake such a thing is to embark upon the boundless, to dare the incomprehensible. He fixed the
names of His nature: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Whatever is sought over and above this is beyond
the meaning of words, beyond the limits of perception, beyond the embrace of understanding."
After three years the emperor kicked him back to Poitiers, because, we are told by Sulpicius
Severus, the emperor was tired of having to deal with the troublemaker, "a sower of discord an a
disturber of the Orient." But no one told Hilary he had to go straight back to his home and so he
took a leisurely route through Greece and Italy, preaching against the Arians as he went.
In the East he had also heard the hymns used by Arians and orthodox Christians as propaganda.
These hymns were not based on Scripture as Western hymns but full of beliefs about God. Back at
home, Hilary started writing hymns of propaganda himself to spread the faith. His hymns are the
first in the West with a known writer.
Some of use may wonder at all the trouble over what may seem only words to us now. But Hilary
wasn't not fighting a war of words, but a battle for the eternal life of the souls who might hear the
Arians and stop believing in the Son of God, their hope of salvation.
The death of Constantius in 361 ended the persecution of the orthodox Christians. Hilary died in
367 or 368 and was proclaimed a doctor of the Church in 1851.
In His Footsteps:
In Exodus, the Prophets, and the Gospel of John, Hilary found his favorite descriptions of God and
God'srelationship to us. What verses of Scripture describe God best for you? If you aren't familiar
with Scripture, look up the verses that Hilary found. What do they mean to you?
Prayer:
Saint Hilary of Poitiers, instead of being discouraged by your exile, you used your time to study and
write. Help us to bring good out of suffering and isolation in our own lives and see adversity as an
opportunity to learn about or share our faith. Amen
St. Anthony the Abbot

Facts
Two Greek philosophers ventured out into the Egyptian desert to

the mountain where Anthony lived. When they got there,
Anthony asked them why they had come to talk to such a
foolish man? He hadreason to say that -- they saw before them
a man who wore a skin, who refused to bathe, who lived on
bread and water. They were Greek, the world's most admired
civilization, and Anthony was Egyptian, a member of a
conquered nation. They were philosophers, educated in
languages and rhetoric. Anthony had not even attended school
as a boy and he needed an interpreter to speak to them. In their
eyes, he would have seemed very foolish.
But the Greek philosophers had heard the stories of Anthony.
They had heard how disciples came from all over to learn from him, how his intercession had
brought about miraculous healings, how his words comforted the suffering. They assured him that
they had come to him because he was a wise man.
Anthony guessed what they wanted. They lived by words and arguments. They wanted to hear his
words and his arguments on the truth of Christianity and the value of ascetism. But he refused to
play their game. He told them that if they truly thought him wise, "If you think me wise, become
what I am, for we ought to imitate the good. Had I gone to you, I should have imitated you, but,
since you have come to me, become what I am, for I am a Christian."
Anthony's whole life was not one of observing, but of becoming. When his parents died when he
was eighteen or twenty he inherited their three hundred acres of land and the responsibility for a
young sister. One day in church, he heard read Matthew 19:21: "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell
your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come,
follow me." Not content to sit still and meditate and reflect on Jesus' words he walked out the door
of the church right away and gave away all his property except what he and his sister needed to live
on. On hearing Matthew 6:34, "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of
its own. Today's trouble is enough for today," he gave away everything else, entrusted his sister to a
convent, and went outside the village to live a life of praying, fasting, and manual labor. It wasn't
enough to listen to words, he had to become what Jesus said.
Every time he heard of a holy person he would travel to see that person. But he wasn't looking for
words of wisdom, he was looking to become. So if he admired a person's constancy in prayer or
courtesy or patience, he would imitate it. Then he would return home.
Anthony went on to tell the Greek philosophers that their arguments would never be as strong as
faith. He pointed out that all rhetoric, all arguments, no matter how complex, how well-founded,
were created by human beings. But faith was created by God. If they wanted to follow the greatest
ideal, they should follow their faith.
Anthony knew how difficult this was. Throughout his life he argued and literally wrestled with the
devil. His first temptations to leave his ascetic life were arguments we would find hard to resist -anxiety about his sister, longings for his relatives, thoughts of how he could have used
his property for good purposes, desire for power and money. When Anthony was able to resist him,
the devil then tried flattery, telling Anthony how powerful Anthony was to beat him. Anthony relied
on Jesus' name to rid himself of the devil. It wasn't the last time, though. One time, his bout with
the devil left him so beaten, his friends thought he was dead and carried him to church. Anthony had
a hard time accepting this. After one particular difficult struggle, he saw a light appearing in
the tomb he lived in. Knowing it was God, Anthony called out, "Where were you when I needed
you?" God answered, "I was here. I was watching your struggle. Because you didn't give in,
I will stay with you and protect you forever."
With that kind of assurance and approval from God, many people would have settled in, content
with where they were. But Anthony's reaction was to get up and look for the next challenge -moving out into the desert.
Anthony always told those who came to visit him that the key to the ascetic life was perseverance,
not to think proudly, "We've lived an ascetic life for a long time" but treat each day as if it were the
beginning. To many, perseverance is simply not giving up, hanging in there. But to Anthony
perseverance meant waking up each day with the same zeal as the first day. It wasn't enough that he
had given up all his property one day. What was he going to do the next day?
Once he had survived close to town, he moved into the tombs a little farther away. After that he
moved out into the desert. No one had braved the desert before. He lived sealed in a room for
twenty years, while his friends provided bread. People came to talk to him, to be healed by him, but
he refused to come out. Finally they broke the door down. Anthony emerged, not angry, but calm.
Some who spoke to him were healed physically, many were comforted by his words, and others
stayed to learn from him. Those who stayed formed what we think of as the first monastic
community, though it is not what we would think of religious life today. All the monks lived
separately, coming together only for worship and to hear Anthony speak.
But after awhile, too many people were coming to seek Anthony out. He became afraid that he
would get too proud or that people would worship him instead of God. So he took off in the middle
of the night, thinking to go to a different part of Egypt where he was unknown. Then he heard a
voice telling him that the only way to be alone was to go into the desert. He found some Saracens
who took him deep into thedesert to a mountain oasis. They fed him until his friends found him
again.
Anthony died when he was one hundred and five years old. A life of solitude, fasting, and manual
labor in the service of God had left him a healthy, vigorous man until very late in life. And he never
stopped challenging himself to go one step beyond in his faith.
Saint Athanasius, who knew Anthony and wrote his biography, said, "Anthony was not known for
his writings nor for his worldly wisdom, nor for any art, but simply for his reverence toward God."
We may wonder nowadays at what we can learn from someone who lived in the desert, wore skins,
ate bread, and slept on the ground. We may wonder how we can become him. We can become
Anthony by living his lifeof radical faith and complete commitment to God.
In His Footsteps: Fast for one day, if possible, as Anthony did, eating only bread and only after the
sun sets. Pray as you do that God will show you how dependent you are on God for your strength.
Prayer: Saint Anthony, you spoke of the importance of persevering in our faith and our practice.
Help us to wake up each day with new zeal for the Christian life and a desire to take the next
challenge instead of just sitting still. Amen
Copyright (c) 1996-2000, Terry Matz. All Rights Reserved. Quotations from "Life of St. Anthony"
by Saint Athanasius. Translated by Sister Mary Emily Keenan, S.C.N. Copyright 1952 by Fathers of
the Early Church, Inc.
St. Agnes
Facts
Patron of the Children of Mary
Death: 304
St. Agnes was a Roman girl who was only thirteen years old when she
suffered martyrdom for her Faith. Agnes had made a promise, a promise
to God never to stain her purity. Her love for the Lord was very great and she
hated sin even more than death! Since she was very beautiful, many young
men wished to marry Agnes, but she would always say, "Jesus Christ is my only Spouse."
Procop, the Governor's son, became very angry when she refused him. He had tried to win her for
his wife with rich gifts and promises, but the beautiful young girl kept saying, "I am already
promised to theLord of the Universe. He is more splendid than the sun and the stars, and He has
said He will never leave me!" In great anger, Procop accused her of being a Christian and brought
her to his father, the Governor. The Governor promised Agnes wonderful gifts if she would only
deny God, but Agnes refused. He tried to change her mind by putting her in chains, but her lovely
face shone with joy. Next he sent her to a place of sin, but an Angel protected her. At last, she was
condemned to death. Even the pagans cried to see such a young and beautiful girl going to death.
Yet, Agnes was as happy as a bride on her wedding day. She did not pay attention to those who
begged her to save herself. "I would offend my Spouse," she said, "if I were to try to please you. He
chose me first and He shall have me!" Then she prayed and bowed her head for the death-stroke of
the sword.
St. Francis de Sales

Facts
Patron Saint of Journalists, Writers
Birth: 1567
Death: 1622
Born in France in 1567, Francis was a patient man. He knew

for
thirteen
years
that
he
had
vocation
to
the priesthood before he mentioned it to his family. When his

father said that he wanted Francis to be a soldier and sent him
to Paris to study, Francis said nothing. Then when he went to Padua to get a doctorate in law, he still
kept quiet, but he studied theology and practiced mental prayer while getting into swordfights and
going to parties. Even when his bishop told him if he wanted to be a priest that he thought that he
would have a miter waiting for him someday, Francis uttered not a word. Why did Francis wait so
long? Throughout his life he waited for God's will to be clear. He never wanted to push his wishes
on God, to the point where most of us would have been afraid that God would give up!
God finally made God's will clear to Francis while he was riding. Francis fell from his horse three
times. Every time he fell the sword came out of the scabbard. Every time it came out the sword and
scabbard came to rest on the ground in the shape of the cross. And then, Francis, without knowing
about it, was appointed provost of his diocese, second in rank to the bishop.
Perhaps he was wise to wait, for he wasn't a natural pastor. His biggest concern on being ordained
that he had to have his lovely curly gold hair cut off. And his preaching left the listeners thinking he
was making fun of him. Others reported to the bishop that this noble-turned- priest was conceited
and controlling.
Then Francis had a bad idea -- at least that's what everyone else thought. This was during
the time of the Protestant reformation and just over the mountains from where Francis lived
was Switzerland -- Calvinist territory. Francis decided that he should lead an expedition to convert
the 60,000 Calvinists back to Catholicism. But by the time he left his expedition consisted of
himself and his cousin. His father refused to give him any aid for this crazy plan and
the diocese was too poor to support him.
For three years, he trudged through the countryside, had doors slammed in his face and rocks
thrown at him. In the bitter winters, his feet froze so badly they bled as he tramped through the
snow. He slept in haylofts if he could, but once he slept in a tree to avoid wolves. He tied himself to
a branch to keep from falling out and was so frozen the next morning he had to be cut down. And
after three years, his cousin had left him alone and he had not made one convert.
Francis' unusual patience kept him working. No one would listen to him, no one would even open
their door. So Francis found a way to get under the door. He wrote out his sermons, copied them by
hand, and slipped them under the doors. This is the first record we have of religious tracts being
used to communicate with people.
The parents wouldn't come to him out of fear. So Francis went to the children. When
the parents saw how kind he was as he played with the children, they began to talk to him.
By the time, Francis left to go home he is said to have converted 40,000 people back to
Catholicism.
In 1602 he was made bishop of the diocese of Geneva, in Calvinist territory. He only set foot in the
city of Geneva twice -- once when the Pope sent him to try to convert Calvin's successor, Beza, and
another when he traveled through it.
It was in 1604 that Francis took one of the most important steps in his life, the step
toward holiness and mystical union with God.
In Dijon that year Francis saw a widow listening closely to his sermon -- a woman he had seen
already in a dream. Jane de Chantal was a person on her own, as Francis was, but it was only when
they became friends that they began to become saints. Jane wanted him to take over her spiritual
direction, but, not surprisingly, Francis wanted to wait. "I had to know fully what God himself
wanted. I had to be sure that everything in this should be done as though his hand had done it." Jane
was on a path to mystical union with God and, in directing her, Francis was compelled to follow her
and become a mystic himself.
Three years after working with Jane, he finally made up his mind to form a new religious order. But
where would they get a convent for their contemplative Visitation nuns? A man came to Francis
without knowing of his plans and told him he was thinking of donating a place for use by pious
women. In his typical way of not pushing God, Francis said nothing. When the man brought it up
again, Francis still kept quiet, telling Jane, "God will be with us if he approves." Finally
the man offered Francis the convent.
Francis was overworked and often ill because of his constant load of preaching, visiting, and
instruction -- even catechizing a deaf man so he could take first Communion. He believed the
first duty of a bishop wasspiritual direction and wrote to Jane, "So many have come to me that I
might serve them, leaving me notime to think of myself. However, I assure you that I do feel deepdown- within-me, God be praised. For the truth is that this kind of work is infinitely profitable to
me." For him active work did not weaken his spiritual inner peace but strengthened it. He directed
most people through letters, which tested his remarkable patience. "I have more than fifty letters to
answer. If I tried to hurry over it all, i would be lost. So I intend neither to hurry or to worry. This
evening, I shall answer as many as I can. Tomorrow I shall do the same and so I shall go on until I
have finished."
At that time, the way of holiness was only for monks and nuns -- not for ordinary people. Francis
changed all that by giving spiritual direction to lay people living ordinary lives in the world. But he
had proven with his own life that people could grow in holiness while involved in a very active
occupation. Why couldn't others do the same? His most famous book, INTRODUCTION TO THE
DEVOUT LIFE, was written for these ordinary people in 1608. Written originally as letters, it
became an instant success all over Europe -- though some preachers tore it up because he
tolerated dancing and jokes!
For Francis, the love of God was like romantic love. He said, "The thoughts of those moved by
natural human love are almost completely fastened on the beloved, their hearts are filled with
passion for it, and their mouths full of its praises. When it is gone they express their feelings in
letters, and can't pass by a tree without carving the name of their beloved in its bark. Thus too those
who love God can never stop thinking about him, longing for him, aspiring to him, and speaking
about him. If they could, they would engrave the name of Jesus on the hearts of all humankind."
The key to love of God was prayer. "By turning your eyes on God in meditation, your
whole soul will be filled with God. Begin all your prayers in the presence of God."
For busy people of the world, he advised "Retire at various times into the solitude of your own
heart, even while outwardly engaged in discussions or transactions with others and talk to God."
The test of prayer was a person's actions: "To be an angel in prayer and a beast in one's relations
with people is to go lame on both legs."
He believed the worst sin was to judge someone or to gossip about them. Even if we say we do it
out of love we're still doing it to look better ourselves. But we should be as gentle and forgiving
with ourselves as we should be with others.
As he became older and more ill he said, "I have to drive myself but the more I try the slower I go."
He wanted to be a hermit but he was more in demand than ever. The Pope needed him, then a
princess, then Louis XIII. "Now I really feel that I am only attached to the earth by one foot..." He
died on December 28, 1622, after giving a nun his last word of advice: "Humility."
He is patron saint of journalists because of the tracts and books he wrote.
St. Timothy
Facts
Born at Lystra, Lycaenia, Timothy was the son of a Greek

father and Eunice, a converted Jewess. He joined St.
Paul when Paul preached at Lystra replacing Barnabas, and
became Paul's close friend and confidant. Paul allowed
him to be circumcised to placate the Jews, since he was the
son of a Jewess, and he then accompanied Paul on his
second missionary journey. When Paul was forced to flee Berea because of the enmity of
the Jews there, Timothy remained, but after a time was sent to Thessalonica to report on
the condition of the Christians there and to encourage them under persecution, a report that led to
Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians when he joined Timothy at Corinth. Timothy and Erastus were
sent to Macedonia in 58, went to Corinth to remind the Corinthians of Paul's teaching, and then
accompanied Paul into Macedonia and Achaia. Timothy was probably with Paul when
the Apostle was imprisoned at Caesarea and then Rome, and was himself imprisoned but then freed.
According to tradition, he went to Ephesus, became its first bishop, and was stoned to death there
when he opposed the pagan festival of Katagogian in honor of Diana. Paul wrote two letters to
Timothy, one written about 65 from Macedonia and the second from Rome while he was in prison
awaiting execution. His feast day is January 26.
St. Thomas Aquinas

Facts
Death: 1274
St. Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church, patron of

all universities and of students. His feast day is January 28th. He was
born toward the end of the year 1226. He was the son of Landulph,
Count of Aquino, who, when St. Thomas was five years old, placed
him under the care of the Benedictines of Monte Casino. His teachers
were surprised at the progress he made, for he surpassed all his fellow pupils in learning as well as
in the practice of virtue.
When he became of age to choose his state of life, St. Thomas renounced the things of this world
and resolved to enter the Order of St. Dominic in spite of the opposition of his family. In 1243, at
the age of seventeen, he joined the Dominicans of Naples. Some members of his family resorted to
all manner of means over a two year period to break his constancy. They even went so far as to send
an impurewoman to tempt him. But all their efforts were in vain and St. Thomas persevered in his
vocation. As a reward for his fidelity, God conferred upon him the gift of perfect chastity, which has
merited for him the title of the "Angelic Doctor".
After making his profession at Naples, he studied at Cologne under the celebrated St. Albert the
Great. Here he was nicknamed the "dumb ox" because of his silent ways and huge size, but he was
really a brilliant student. At the age of twenty-two, he was appointed to teach in the same city. At
the same time, he also began to publish his first works. After four years he was sent to Paris. The
saint was then a priest. At the age of thirty-one, he received his doctorate.
At Paris he was honored with the friendship of the King, St. Louis, with whom he frequently dined.
In 1261, Urban IV called him to Rome where he was appointed to teach, but he positively declined
to accept any ecclesiastical dignity. St. Thomas not only wrote (his writings filled twenty hefty
tomes characterized by brilliance of thought and lucidity of language), but he preached often and
with greatest fruit. Clement IVoffered him the archbishopric of Naples which he also refused. He
left the great monument of his learning, the "Summa Theologica", unfinished, for on his way to the
second Council of Lyons, ordered there by Gregory X, he fell sick and died at the Cistercian
monastery of Fossa Nuova in 1274.
St. Thomas was one of the greatest and most influential theologians of all time. He was canonized
in 1323 and declared Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius V.
St. John Bosco

Facts
Birth: 1815
Death: 1888
What do dreams have to with prayer? Aren't they just random images of our
mind?
In 1867 Pope Pius IX was upset with John Bosco because he wouldn't take his dreams seriously
enough. Nine years earlier when Pope Pius IX met with the future saint who worked with neglected
boys, he learned of the dreams that John had been having since the age of nine, dreams that had
revealed God'swill for John's life. So Pius IX had made a request, "Write down these dreams and
everything else you have told me, minutely and in their natural sense." Pius IX saw John's dreams
as a legacy for those Johnworked with and as an inspiration for those he ministered to.
Despite Scripture evidence and Church tradition respecting dreams, John had encountered
skepticism when he had his first dream at the age of nine. The young Bosco dreamed that he was in
a field with a crowd of children. The children started cursing and misbehaving. John jumped into
the crowd to try to stop them -- by fighting and shouting. Suddenly a man with a face filled with
light appeared dressed in a white flowing mantle. The man called John over and made him leader of
the boys. John was stunned at being put in charge of these unruly gang. The man said,
"You will have to win these friends of yours not with blows but with gentleness and kindness." As
adults, most of us would be reluctant to take on such a mission -- and nine year old John was even
less pleased. "I'm just a boy," he argued, "how can you order me to do something that looks
impossible." The man answered, "What seems so impossible you must achieve by being obedient
and acquiring knowledge." Thenthe boys turned into the wild animals they had been acting like.
The man told John that this is the field of John's life work. Once John changed and grew in
humility, faithfulness, and strength, he would see a change in the children -- a change that
the man now demonstrated. The wild animals suddenly turned into gentle lambs.
When John told his family about his dream, his brothers just laughed at him. Everyone had a
different interpretation of what it meant: he would become a shepherd, a priest, a gang leader. His
own grandmother echoed the sage advice we have heard through the years, "You mustn't pay any
attention to dreams." John said, "I felt the same way about it, yet I could never get that dream out of
my head."
Eventually that first dream led him to minister to poor and neglected boys, to use the love and
guidance that seemed so impossible at age nine to lead them to faithful and fulfilled lives. He
started out by learning how to juggle and do tricks to catch the attention of the children. Once he
had their attention he would teach them and take them to Mass. It wasn't always easy -- few people
wanted a crowd of loud, bedraggled boys hanging around. And he had so little money and help that
people thought he was crazy. Priests who promised to help would get frustrated and leave.
Two "friends" even tried to commit him to an institution for the mentally ill. They brought a
carriage and were planning to trick him into coming with him. But instead of getting in, John said,
"After you" and politely let them go ahead. When his friends were in the carriage he slammed the
door and told the drive to take off as fast as he could go!
Through it all he found encouragement and support through his dreams. In one dream, Mary led
him into a beautiful garden. There were roses everywhere, crowding the ground with their blooms
and the air with their scent. He was told to take off his shoes and walk along a path through a rose
arbor. Before he had walked more than a few steps, his naked feet were cut and bleeding from the
thorns. When he said he would have to wear shoes or turn back, Mary told him to put on sturdy
shoes. As he stepped forward a second time, he was followed by helpers. But the walls of the arbor
closed on him, the roof sank lower and the roses crept onto the path. Thorns caught at him from all
around. When he pushed them aside he only got more cuts, until he was tangled in thorns. Yet those
who watched said, "How lucky Don John is! His path is forever strewn with roses! He hasn't a
worry in the world. No troubles at all!" Many of the helpers, who had been expecting an easy
journey, turned back, but some stayed with him. Finally he climbed through the roses and thorns to
find another incredible garden. A cool breeze soothed his torn skin and healed his wounds.
In his interpretation, the path was his mission, the roses were his charity to the boys, and the thorns
were the distractions, the obstacles, and frustrations that would stand in his way. The message of the
dream was clear to John: he must keep going, not lose faith in God or his mission, and he would
come through to the place he belonged.
Often John acted on his dreams simply by sharing them, sometimes repeating them to several
different individuals or groups he thought would be affected by the dream. "Let me tell you about a
dream that has absorbed my mind," he would say.
The groups he most often shared with were the boys he helped -- because so many of the dreams
involved them. For example, he used several dreams to remind the boys to keep to a good and moral
life. In one dream he saw the boys eating bread of four kinds -- tasty rolls, ordinary bread, coarse
bread, and moldy bread, which represented the state of the boys' souls. He said he would be glad to
talk to any boys who wanted to know which bread they were eating and then proceeded to use the
occasion to give them moral guidance.
He died in 1888, at the age of seventy-two. His work lives on in the Salesian order he founded.
In His Footsteps:
John Bosco found God's message in his dreams. If you have some question or problem in your life,
askGod to send you an answer or help in a dream. Then write down your dreams. Ask God to help
you remember and interpret the dreams that come from God.
Prayer:
Saint John Bosco, you reached out to children whom no one cared for despite ridicule and insults.
Help us to care less about the laughter of the world and care more about the joy of the Lord. Amen

Feast Days in January

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Feast Days in January

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FEAST DAYS IN JANUARY

St. Giuseppe Maria Tommasi

St. Florentius of Vienne

St. Anastasius XVIII

St. Margaret Bourgeoys

St. Hilary of Poitiers

St. Beauch (Bagug)

St. Germanicus of Smyrna

Bl. Ladislaus Batthyany-Strattmann

Mary the Blessed Virgin

St. Simeon rejoiced

election." Mary possesses

St. Basil the Great

St. Basil the Great was born at Caesarea of Cappadocia in

St. Gregory Nazianzus

Doctor of the Church, born at Arianzus, in Asia Minor, c.

Eastern bishops assembled

St. Raymond of Pennafort

St. Raymond of Pennafort, Patron Saint of Canonists (Feast

St. Hilary of Poitiers

"They didn't know who they were." This

St. Anthony the Abbot

Two Greek philosophers ventured out into the Egyptian desert to

St. Francis de Sales

Born in France in 1567, Francis was a patient man. He knew

the priesthood before he mentioned it to his family. When his

Born at Lystra, Lycaenia, Timothy was the son of a Greek

St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church, patron of

St. John Bosco

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