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
January 11
St. Theodosius of Cappadocia
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The Baptism of the Lord
(End of the season of Christmas)
National Human Trafficking Awareness Day
January 12
St. Marguerite Bourgeous
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Ordinary Time begins
January 13
St. Hilary of Poitiers
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January 14
Bl. Petrus Donders
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January 15
Bl. Gabriel of Ferrara
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January 16
St. Joseph Vaz
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Religious Freedom Day
January 17
St. Anthony of Egypt
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January 13
St Hilary of Poitiers
Saint Hilary was born into a wealthy, pagan family, and educated in philosophy and rhetoric. He “read” himself into the faith thru the Gospels, and he converted to Christianity with his wife and daughter. There he found the confirmation of the one true God and our purpose of life, eternity. He was elected Bishop after his conversion, only soon to be exiled by the Arians. This gave him time to research and write on the Trinity and the nature of God, refuting the Arian Heresy.
Some consider Hilary as the first Latin Christian hymn writer, because Jerome said Hilary produced a book of hymns.
“God the Word became flesh, that through His Incarnation our flesh might attain to union with God the Word. And lest we should think that this incarnate Word was some other than the Word of God, or that His flesh was of a body different from ours, He dwelt among us that by His dwelling He might be known as the indwelling God.”
St. Hilary of Poitiers
January 17
St. Anthony of the Desert
St. Anthony of the Desert (also known as St. Anthony the Abbot) was born around 251 AD. As a young man, Anthony was captivated by Jesus’s message, “Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor. ” Following the death of his parents when he was about 20, Anthony insured that his sister completed her education, then he sold his house, furniture, and the land he owned, gave the proceeds to the poor, and began a life of self-denial. At age 35 he moved to the desert to live alone.
Would-be students and admirers were drawn to him, and at age 54 he founded a monastery on the Nile. His example of modesty and courtesy led many to take up the monastic life, and to follow his unassuming ways. At 60, he hoped to be a martyr in the renewed Roman persecution of 311, fearlessly exposing himself to danger while giving moral and material support to those in prison. Famously, Anthony is said to have faced a series of supernatural temptations during his pilgrimage to the desert, enduring to his death at the age of 105.
“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, ‘You are mad, you are not like us.’“
St. Anthony of the Desert
