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
September 14
Exaltation of the Holy Cross
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September 15
Our Lady of Sorrows
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September 16
Sts. Cornelius and Cyprian
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September 17
St. Hildegard of Bingen
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September 18
St. Joseph of Cupertino
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September 19
St. Januarius
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September 20
Sts. Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang and Companions
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September 15
Our Lady of Sorrows
The Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows is one of several times during the year when Catholics pause to contemplate the role of the mother of Jesus in our faith history. Through her, our Salvation entered the world and was made flesh. This feast recalls especially the prophecy of Simeon’s in Luke’s Gospel, “This child [Jesus] is destined to be the downfall and the rise of many in Israel, a sign that will be opposed and you yourself shall be pierced with a sword so that the thoughts of many hearts may be laid bare (Luke 2:34-35). Many early Church writers interpreted the sword as Mary’s sorrows, especially as she saw Jesus die on the cross.
The Seven Sorrows of Mary are events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary that are a popular devotion They represent the participation of Mary in the life of her son, at those moments when she united herself, with a maternal heart, to His sacrifice. They are:
1. The Prophecy of Simeon. (Luke 2:34–35)
2. The escape and Flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13)
3. The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:43–45)
4. The Meeting of Mary and Jesus on the Via Dolorosa.
5. The Crucifixion of Jesus on Mount Calvary. (John 19:25)
6. The Piercing of the Side of Jesus with a spear, and His Descent from the Cross. (Matthew 27:57–59)
7. The Burial of Jesus by Joseph of Arimathea. (John 19:40–42)
September 17
St. Hildegard of Bingen
“I am the fiery life of the essence of God; I am the flame above the beauty in the fields; I shine in the waters; I burn in the sun, the moon, and the stars. And with the airy wind, I quicken all things vitally by an unseen, all-sustaining life.”
St. Hildegard of Bingen
Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) is often viewed as a Renaissance woman, even though she lived before the time that is typically considered the Renaissance in Europe. A look at her life and her tremendous array of talents and achievements reveals why. At a time when few women wrote, Hildegard produced major works of theology and visionary writings. When few women were respected, she was consulted by and advised bishops, popes, and kings. She used the curative powers of natural objects for healing, and wrote treatises about natural history and the medicinal uses of plants, animals, trees and stones. She is the first musical composer whose biography is known. She founded a vibrant convent, where her musical plays were performed.
Hildegard was the tenth child born to a noble family. As was customary with the tenth child, which the family could not count on feeding, and who could be considered a tithe, she was dedicated at birth to the Church. The girl started to have visions of luminous objects at the age of three, but soon realized she was unique in this ability and hid this gift for many years. Raised in a Benedictine monastery, Saint Hildegard became the abbess at 38 and founded two additional monasteries for women. She was an author, philosopher, theologian, composer, artist, pharmacist and more. That repository of talent is unusual for any person in any time period, but is particularly rare for a woman of her time.
Saint Hildegard was a mystic. Her visions began very early in her life and inspired her teaching and writing. In 1141 a vision of God gave Hildegard instant understanding of the meaning of religious texts. He commanded her to write down everything she would observe in her visions. Though she never doubted the divine origin of her visions, Hildegard wanted them to be approved by the Church. She wrote to Saint Bernard who took the matter to Pope Eugenius who exhorted Hildegard to finish her writings.
In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI named Saint Hildegard a Doctor of the Church, making her the fourth woman of 35 saints to be given that title by the Roman Catholic Church. Pope Benedict XVI called Hildegard, “perennially relevant” and “an authentic teacher of theology and a profound scholar of natural science and music.”