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
December 14
St. John of the Cross
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Third Sunday of Advent
December 15
St. Virginia Centurione Bracelli
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December 16
St. Adelaide of Burgundy
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December 17
St. Jose Manyanet y Vive
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December 18
St. Malachi the Prophet
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December 19
Pope Saint Anastasius I
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December 20
St. Vincent Romano
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December 14
St. John of the Cross
St. John of the Cross was born Juan de Yepes y Alvarez, in Fontiveros, Avila, Spain in 1542. His wealthy father was disowned when he married a poor weaver’s daughter, and John grew up in grinding poverty. His father died when he was only 3, and his older brother died of malnutrition two years later.
At 14, he took a job serving the sick in a hospital of Medina, and 7 years later, became a lay brother to the Carmelite friars, who had him ordained a priest. He became an expert on the Bible and translated the Song of Songs from Latin into Spanish. John sought a simple and quiet life, and persistently lived a life that was far more austere and strict than was called for by the rules of the Carmelite order.
Seeing this, St. Teresa of Avila asked him to help her in the reform of the Carmelite Order. Many of his brother monks resented the austerity that John attempted to impose, and had him arrested and confined to a 6×10 cell in Toledo; once a week he was publicly flogged. He escaped after nine months, but in that dark and desolate cell, he found Light itself, and there he composed some of his most beautiful poetry.
Escaping, he continued to write many poetical and mystical theological works, which earned him the title of Doctor of the Church. He became the spiritual director of the Spanish Carmelite novices, and died of a painful infection in 1591.
In the blessed night
From Dark Night of the Soul, by St. John of the Cross
In secret that none saw me
Nor I beheld aught
Without any other light or guide
Save that which was burning in the heart