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
May 24
Mary Mother of the Church
___
Seventh Sunday of Easter
May 25
St. Bede the Venerable
___
May 26
St. Philip Neri
___
May 27
St. Augustine of Canterbury
___
May 28
Bl. Maria Bagnesi
___
May 29
Pope St Paul VI
___
May 30
St. Jeanne d’Arc
__
May 26
St. Philip Neri
Philip Neri was born in Florence of a poor family of four children. Philip received his early schooling in the humanities from the Dominican order in San Marino. After receiving a vision that was his Christian conversion, he left his family and traveled to Rome, where he initially found employment as a tutor.
As a young man, Philip had two passions in his life: learning and the poor. He studied a multitude of subjects, including philosophy and theology; then, after three years, he sold his books to give money to the poor. For 3 years, Philip lived as a hermit in Rome. But this life became more and more difficult. His cheerful disposition, genuine love for others, and bold spirituality led him to wander the streets of Rome, making acquaintances wherever he went. He was a true evangelist and attracted lay persons from all levels of Roman society, eventually forming a discussion and prayer group with a vocation to tend to the poor. He became friends with both the poor and with those who were well known, including Ignatius of Loyola, Pius V and Charles Borromeo.
Although his desire was become a missionary or to live a solitary hermetical life, he received further visions that compelled him to remain in Rome. He became a priest in 1551 and served the faithful in San Girolamo. He was sought after as a confessor; he had the gift of knowledge of a penitent’s sins before the person actually confessed them. He began working with youth, finding safe places for them to play, becoming involved in their lives.
Some of Philip’s followers became priests and lived together in community. This was the beginning of the Oratory, the religious institute he founded in 1575. The mission of the Oratory was to live in prayerful community while preaching, teaching, and caring for the poor. They held daily services in the afternoon, consisting of informal talks, and vernacular hymns and prayers.
Philip’s advice was sought by many of the prominent figures of his day. He is one of the influential figures of the Counter-Reformation. His work with lay persons was directly counter to the widespread clericalism affecting the Church at that time. He was equally appreciated as an advisor to the rich and famous, converting to personal holiness many of the influential people within the Church itself. He died on the feast of Corpus Christi in in 1595 after hearing confessions.
A joyful heart is more easily made perfect than a downcast one.
St. Philip Neri
May 30
St. Joan of Arc
“Since God had commanded it, it was necessary that I do it.”
St. Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc, a national heroine of France, was born to a peasant family in Domremy, France in 1412 during the Hundred Years War. Joan was fourteen when she first heard voices that identified themselves as Saints Michael the Archangel, Catherine of Alexandria, and Margaret of Antioch; telling her to drive out the English. At their command, she went to the Dauphin, the uncrowned French prince, at Chinon, with a bid to “save France.” After his advisers confirmed Joan’s virtues, she was given an army and sent to Orleans as a part of an effort to lift the siege of that city. Possessing remarkable mental and physical courage, she led them to victory at the age of 18, under a banner that proclaimed, “Jesus, Mary.” Several additional victories led to Charles VII’s coronation at Reims.
The next year, at the siege of Compiegne, Joan was captured while fighting a rear-guard action against the Burgundians who were allies of the English. After nine months of negotiations, she was handed over to the English, who accused her of heresy and witchcraft and put her on trial.
The trial records witness to her unswerving fidelity to the Church. Despite many attempts to confuse and demoralize her, she conducted herself astutely and with such prudence and subtlety that the court was forced to end public sessions. In fact, those who were interrogating her were stupefied by her skill in evading the many theological traps set for her. But in the end, she was convicted of being a relapsed heretic, and handed over for execution. Before Joan was burned at the stake, she addressed a Dominican priest: “I pray you, go to the nearest church, and bring me the cross, and hold it up level with my eyes until I am dead. I would have the cross on which God hung ever before my eyes while life lasts in me.”
She died just so, at the age of 19, calling on the name of Jesus. “We have burned a saint,” an onlooker proclaimed. Twenty-five years later, in 1456, a retrial was ordered by Pope Callixtus III. The court dismissed the charges against her, confirmed her innocence, and declared her a martyr. She was canonized in 1920.