What is a Saint?
In the Catholic Church, the saints are ordinary people like you and me who made it to heaven. They’ve done nothing that you and I cannot do, if we persevere in following Jesus Christ and living our lives according to His teaching.
Catholic devotion to the saints is nothing more than respect and admiration for the memory of the deceased heroes of the Church. We honor them as men and women of heroic virtue who can serve as our role models. They were no more perfect than are we; but, at the end of their lives – and hopefully, ours – they received from Our Lord his words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
We also ask the saints to intercede for us. Have you ever asked anyone to pray for you when you were having a hard time? That is how Catholics “pray to” the saints – we pray with saints, not to them. As the Letter of James says, “The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.”
Well-known saints like those below often are remembered in a special way on particular days during the year.
January – February – March – April – May – June
July – August – September – October – November – December
This Weeks Saints
June 29
Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul
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13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 30
First Martyrs of the Church of Rome
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July 1
St Junipero Serra
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July 2
Bl. Eugénie Joubert
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July 3
St Thomas the Apostle
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July 4
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassatti
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Independence Day
July 5
St. Anthony Zaccarias
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June 30
Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul
St. Peter is a patron of bakers, shoe makers, masons, net makers, popes, ship builders, locksmiths, and watch makers; and against fevers and foot problems.
The great Saint Irenaeus in the late second century stated that Rome is “the greatest and most ancient Church, founded by the two glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul.” The Catholic Church is large and diversified, in terms of culture, but is one in terms of faith and belief. Rome has long been associated with the Church, in that it witnessed the martyrdom of two of its greatest saints, St. Peter and St. Paul.
Peter, the fisherman. Paul, the tentmaker.
Peter, chosen by Christ to be the first pope. Paul, commissioned by Christ as the Apostle to the Gentiles.
Peter lived as a fisherman on the shores of the Sea of Galilee as a fisherman when he and his brother Andrew were called to follow Christ. He was clearly chosen to be the leader of the apostles, despite the fact that the Gospels unflatteringly portray him as an imperfect and very human person. It was upon him, the first pope, that Jesus chose to found his Church.
Paul was a tentmaker by profession and a ruthless persecutor of Christ’s followers by choice. Converted by the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, this most Jewish of all men became the instrument by which the message of Jesus Christ was conveyed to the Gentiles.
The Church is founded upon a perfect God and two very different, great, and imperfect men whom God chose—Peter and Paul. Both men met their eternal reward in Rome, and both are buried there: Peter in the necropolis under the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica; and Paul, under the main altar of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. It’s fitting that the Church set aside a day to celebrate these two great saints together.
“Their sound has gone out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world”
Rom 10:18
July 1
St. Junipero Serra
“We found on our journey, as well as in the place where we stopped, that they treated us with as much confidence and good-will as if they had known us all their lives.”
St. Junipero Serra
Junípero Serra, the “Apostle of California,” was born in 1713 at Petra, Majorca, Spain, the son of farmers. He went to the local Franciscan school and moved to Palma to become a novice at the Convento de Jesus in September 1730. entered the order, making his profession at eighteen years of age. After ordination, higher studies in philosophy and theology led Junípero to a professorial appointment. Yet he longed to join the missions to the New World.
In 1749, he was given leave to sail for Mexico. After Junípero arrived in Vera Cruz, he traveled 250 miles on foot to Mexico City; during the course of his journey, he suffered an injury to his leg from an infected insect bite that caused him pain for the rest of his life. In the years that followed, he catechized the native Pame Indians. He served as head of a mission, preacher, and professor.
In 1769, Junípero founded the first of his nine Californian missions— centers of culture as much as outposts of faith – at San Diego. Twenty-one California missions would be founded in all. In the process, the intrepid Junípero traveled 25,000 miles, most of it on foot, despite suffering from an ulcerated wound on his leg and persistent asthma. In 1776, he founded Mission San Juan Capistrano, now famous for its annually returning swallows. San Juan was the seventh of nine missions established under his direction.
Serra spent the rest of his life devoted to his evangelical work in the region. In trying to bring his religion to the Native Americans sometimes led to clashes with his own government. He clashed with Spanish authorities over the way soldiers treated the native peoples. He made the long trip to Mexico City to settle great differences with the military commander. He arrived at the point of death. The outcome was substantially what Junipero sought: the famous “Regulation” protecting the Indians and the missions. It was the basis for the first significant legislation in California, a “Bill of Rights” for Native Americans. He brought the Native Americans not only the gift of faith but also a decent standard of living.
In the final three years of his life, he revisited each mission to grant confirmation to those he had previously baptized. He died at Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, where his grave can be found today.