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 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 21
St. Peter Canisius
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December 21
St. Peter Canisius
Peter Canisius was educated in Cologne, Germany, studying art, civil law and theology; he earned his master’s degree at the age of 19. After attending a retreat held by Blessed Peter Faber, he joined the Jesuit order in 1543. He taught at the University of Cologne, was appointed bishop of Augsburg, and traveled and worked with his spiritual director, Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
He began teaching theology and preaching in Germany in 1549, and, although he became rector of his university, he continued to work in hospitals and prisons. He led the Counter-Reformation in Germany and his work led to the return of Catholicism to Germany. He wrote a catechism in defense of the Catholic faith that went through 200 editions during his life, and was translated into 12 languages.
Peter excelled as a preacher and often worked with children, teaching them and hearing their confessions. He traveled widely, but while in Switzerland, he received a message from the city’s patron, Saint Nicholas of Myra, that he should stop travelling, and he spent the rest of his life there, teaching, preaching, editing books and working to support the Catholic press. His advice was sought by Saint Francis de Sales, and by his friend Saint Charles Borromeo. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1925 by Pope Pius XI.
“Better that only a few Catholics should be left, staunch and sincere in their religion, than that they should, remaining many, desire as it were, to be in collusion with the Church’s enemies and in conformity with the open foes of our faith.”
St. Peter Canisius