Saints and Feasts

August

Feastday: August 1

Founder of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, Alphonsus Maria de Liguori was a multi-talented bishop, theologian, musician, lawyer, and poet. He was born near Naples, Italy in 1696, and was drawn early to Neri’s Oratory. He later became a secular priest, working with the poor and shaping his preaching and ministry to reach his entire flock. He was also known for his deep Marian devotion and his writing on the Blessed Virgin. Similarly, he sought to create a moral theology that was practical and applicable to the real world of pastors and confessors. In 1950, Pius XII named him patron of moral theologians.
 

Feastday: August 4

“One of those predecessors remains particularly present in the memory of the Church, and he will be especially commemorated this year, on the second centenary of his birth: Saint John Marie Vianney, the Cure of Ars. Together we wish to thank Christ, the Prince of Pastors, for this extraordinary model of priestly life and service which the saintly Cure of Ars offers to the whole Church, and above all to us priests. How many of us prepared ourselves for the Priesthood, or today exercise the difficult task of caring for souls, having before our eyes the figure of Saint John Mary Vianney! His example cannot be forgotten. More than ever we need his witness, his intercession, in order to face the situations of our times when, in spite of a certain number of hopeful signs, evangelization is being contradicted by a growing secularization, when spiritual discipline is being neglected, when many are losing sight of the Kingdom of God, when often, even in the pastoral ministry, there is a too exclusive concern for the social aspect, for temporal aims. In the last century the Cure of Ars had to face difficulties which were perhaps of a different kind but which were no less serious. By his life and work he represented, for the society of his time, a great evangelical challenge that bore astonishing fruits of conversion. Let us not doubt that he still presents to us today that great evangelical challenge.” – excerpt from Pope John Paul II, Letter of the Holy Father To All the Priests of the Church for Holy Thursday 1986
 

Feastday: August 5

From the beginning of the homily of Pope John Paul II, given at Saint Mary Major on December 8, 1978: “As I cross the threshold of the Basilica of St Mary Major today for the first time as Bishop of Rome, there rises up before my eyes the event that I witnessed here, in this place, on 21 November 1964. It was the closing of the third session of the Second Vatican Council, after the solemn proclamation of the dogmatic Constitution on the Church, which begins with the words: "Lumen Gentium" (the light of humanity). On the same day Pope Paul VI had invited the Council Fathers to come to this very place, to the most venerated Marian temple of Rome, to express their joy and gratitude for the work completed that day. The Constitution "Lumen Gentium" is the principal document of the Council, the "key" document of the Church of our time, the cornerstone of the whole work of renewal which Vatican II undertook and of which it gave the directives. The last chapter of this Constitution bears the title: "The role of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the Mystery of Christ and the Church". Paul VI, speaking in St Peter's Basilica that morning, with his thought fixed on the importance of the doctrine expressed in the last chapter of the Constitution "Lumen Gentium", called Mary "Mother of the Church" for the first time. He called her so in a solemn way, and began to call her by that name, with this title, but above all to invoke her to take part as Mother in the life of the Church: this Church which, during the Council, became more deeply aware of her own nature and her own mission. To lay even greater emphasis on this expression, Paul VI, together with the Council Fathers, came here, to St Mary Major's Basilica, where Mary has been surrounded with special veneration and love for so many centuries, under the title of "Salus Populi Romani".”
 

Feastday: August 6

The Lord Jesus Himself shone bright as the sun; His garment became white as the snow; and Moses and Elijah talked with Him. Jesus Himself indeed shone as the sun, signifying that He is “the true light that enlightens every man come into the world.” What the sun is to the eyes of the flesh, so He is to the eyes of the heart; and what that is to the flesh of men, that He is to their hearts… (St. Augustine of Hippo)
 

Feastday: August 8

Dominic dedicated himself to preaching and poverty. He inspired one of the great 13^th century mendicant orders, and the Dominicans remain strong to this day, having solidified themselves historically in an interest also in scholarship. Pope Benedict says: “This great Saint reminds us that in the heart of the Church a missionary fire must always burn. It must be a constant incentive to make the first proclamation of the Gospel and, wherever necessary, a new evangelization. Christ, in fact, is the most precious good that the men and women of every time and every place have the right to know and love! And it is comforting to see that in the Church today too there are many pastors and lay faithful alike, members of ancient religious orders and new ecclesial movements who spend their lives joyfully for this supreme ideal, proclaiming and witnessing to the Gospel!” (General audience, Wednesday, 3 February 2010).
 

Feastday: August 10

Saint Laurence was one of seven deacons of Rome martyred during a persecution under Emperor Valerian in 258. A famous story of Laurence, who as deacon administered the budget of the church, involves his being ordered by the Roman prefect to surrender the church’s wealth. Stating that it would take him several days to gather it, the deacon then engaged in what we night call today an act of civil disobedience – gathering the sick, the aged, the poor, the widows, and the orphans, and presenting these to the prefect, saying, “These are the treasures of the church.”
 

Feastday: August 11

“Born in 1193, Clare belonged to a wealthy, aristocratic family. She renounced her noble status and wealth to live in humility and poverty, adopting the lifestyle that Francis of Assisi recommended. Although her parents were planning a marriage for her with some important figure, as was then the custom, Clare, with a daring act inspired by her deep desire to follow Christ and her admiration for Francis, at the age of 18 left her family home and, in the company of a friend, Bona di Guelfuccio, made her way in secret to the Friars Minor at the little Church of the Portiuncula. It was the evening of Palm Sunday in 1211. In the general commotion, a highly symbolic act took place: while his companions lit torches, Francis cut off Clare's hair and she put on a rough penitential habit. From that moment she had become the virgin bride of Christ, humble and poor, and she consecrated herself totally to him. Like Clare and her companions, down through history innumerable women have been fascinated by love for Christ which, with the beauty of his Divine Person, fills their hearts. And the entire Church, through the mystical nuptial vocation of consecrated virgins, appears what she will be forever: the pure and beautiful Bride of Christ.” – Pope Benedict XVI, general audience of September 15, 2010
 

Feastday: August 14

“Who among us does not recall the incomparable episode? "I am a Catholic priest," he said, offering his own life unto death, and what a death! To save the life of an unknown companion sentenced to the starvation bunker in blind reprisal. What a magnificent moment! His offer was accepted. It came from a heart trained to give itself. It was as natural and spontaneous as if it were a logical consequence of his priesthood. Is not a priest a "second Christ?" Was not Christ the Priest, the redeeming victim of mankind? What a glory it is for us priests, and what a lesson, to find in Blessed Maximilian such a splendid exemplification of our consecration and of our mission! What a warning he addresses to us in this hour of uncertainty, when at times human nature would like to assert its rights to the detriment of our supernatural vocation to follow Christ through the total gift of ourselves to him! What a consolation it must be for that close knit, faithful legion, so beloved and noble, of good priests and religious who, filled with the legitimate and praiseworthy desire to transcend personal mediocrity and social frustration, understand their mission just as he did. “I am a Catholic priest, and for this reason I offer my life to save those of others.” Such would seem to be the commission which the new Blessed leaves especially to us, ministers of God's Church, and in some way to all in the Church who accept the Spirit.” (excerpt from the homily of Pope Paul VI at the beatification of Maximilian Kolbe)
 

AUGUST 15
 

"Today we are celebrating the “great things”. Mary is assumed into heaven: small and humble, she is the first to receive the highest glory. She, a human creature, one of us, attains eternity in soul and body. And there she awaits us as a mother waits for her children to come home. Indeed the People of God invoke her as the Gate of Heaven. We are on a journey, pilgrims towards the home that is up there. Today we look to Mary and we see the finish line. We see that a creature was assumed into the Glory of the Risen Jesus Christ, and that creature could not have been but her, the Mother of the Saviour. We see that Mary, the new Eve, is in heaven, together with Christ, the New Adam; she is also there, and this gives us comfort and hope on our pilgrimage here below."

(Pope Francis, Angelus of August 15, 2019)

Feastday: August 19

17^th-century French priest and Oratorian, John Eudes was a great promoter of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He gained notoriety as preacher and confessor, established several seminaries, and later founded his own congregation known as the Eudists, in 1643. His spirituality was said to be influenced by Francis de Sales, Gertrude the Great, and Mechtilde of Magdeburg. During the outbreak of severe plagues in 1627 and 1631, he ministered to the sick and dying, isolating himself from infecting others, “social distancing” by living alone in a cask in the middle of a field.
 

Feastday: August 20

I would now like to reflect on only two of the main aspects of Bernard's rich doctrine: they concern Jesus Christ and Mary Most Holy, his Mother. His concern for the Christian's intimate and vital participation in God's love in Jesus Christ brings no new guidelines to the scientific status of theology. However, in a more decisive manner than ever, the Abbot of Clairvaux embodies the theologian, the contemplative and the mystic. Jesus alone Bernard insists in the face of the complex dialectical reasoning of his time Jesus alone is "honey in the mouth, song to the ear, jubilation in the heart (mel in ore, in aure melos, in corde iubilum)". The title Doctor Mellifluus, attributed to Bernard by tradition, stems precisely from this; indeed, his praise of Jesus Christ "flowed like honey". …   In another famous Sermon on the Sunday in the Octave of the Assumption the Holy Abbot described with passionate words Mary's intimate participation in the redeeming sacrifice of her Son. "O Blessed Mother", he exclaimed, "a sword has truly pierced your soul!... So deeply has the violence of pain pierced your soul, that we may rightly call you more than a martyr for in you participation in the passion of the Son by far surpasses in intensity the physical sufferings of martyrdom" (14: PL 183, 437-438). Bernard had no doubts: "per Mariam ad Iesum", through Mary we are led to Jesus. He testifies clearly to Mary's subordination to Jesus, in accordance with the foundation of traditional Mariology. Yet the text of the Sermone also documents the Virgin's privileged place in the economy of salvation, subsequent to the Mother's most particular participation (compassio) in the sacrifice of the Son. It is not for nothing that a century and a half after Bernard's death, Dante Alighieri, in the last canticle of the Divine Comedy, was to put on the lips of the Doctor Mellifluus the sublime prayer to Mary: "Virgin Mother, daughter of your own Son, / humble and exalted more than any creature, / fixed term of the eternal counsel" (Paradise XXXIII, vv. 1 ff.). (General Audience, Pope Benedict XVI, October 2009)
 

Feastday: August 21

Pius X is known for his support of the frequent reception of communion., including by children, lowering the age for reception. Born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto in 1835, he reigned as pope from August 1903 until his death in 1914, which occured shortly after the eruption of World War I. Pius X often expressed a deep concern for social justice, and for the fair treatment of the poor and refugees, and was profoundly distressed at the beginning of the Great War. In his Marian devotion, he promoted many devotions and iamges of Mary around the world. Several stories of miracles attributed to him circulated during his lifetime.
 

Feastday: August 22

The feast has a particular importance to this monastic community, which has as a patroness "Our Lady, Queen of Peace." As witnessed in the glorious mysteries of the rosary, the Queenship of Mary follows upon her Assumption - this feast placed one week after the celebration of her Assumption.Pope Pius XII affirms in his 1954 encyclical "Ad caeli reginam" ("To the Queen of Heaven"), that Mary deserves the title of Queen as Mother of God, as being associated as the New Eve with Jesus' redemptive work, and because of her preeminent perfection and her intercessory power.

Feastday: August 24


Bartholomew is also associated with the name “Nathanael” in the gospel of John. This gospel speaks of him as a true Israelite, in which there is no guile. Such a simple and direct affirmation of personal character, explicit on the lips of Our Lord, is rare in the gospels, and stunning. The apostle is certainly taken aback by Jesus’ prophetic vision of him, and remains dedicated in his service thereafter.
 

Feastday: August 27

Monica is known as a model of perseverance in prayer, as well as motherly love. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, became her spiritual advisor after she followed her son Augustine to that city. Her son relates to us most of what we know of her life, her faith, and her devotion. Her witness, we are told, helped win many to the Christian faith. May her intercession continue to do so.
 

Feastday: August 28

""You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you” (Confessions, 1, 1, 1). With these famous words St Augustine addresses God in his Confessions, and these words sum up his whole life. “Restlessness”: this word makes an impression on me and sets me thinking. I would like to start with a question: what fundamental restlessness did Augustine live in his life? Or perhaps I should say: what kinds of restlessness does this great and holy man ask us to awaken and to keep alive in our own existence? I am proposing three kinds: the restlessness of spiritual seeking, the restlessness of the encounter with God, the restlessness of love. … Let us ask the Lord for you, dear Augustinians who are beginning your General Chapter, and for all of us, that he keep in our hearts the spiritual restlessness that prompts us to seek him always, the restlessness to proclaim him courageously, the restlessness of love for every brother and sister. So be it." (Homily of Pope Francis to the Augustinian Order, August 28, 2013)

Feastday: August 29

"We justly commemorate the day of his birth with a joyful celebration, a day which he himself made festive for us through his suffering and which he adorned with the crimson splendor of his own blood. We do rightly revere his memory with joyful hearts, for he stamped with the seal of martyrdom the testimony which he delivered on behalf of our Lord...  There is no doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for him. His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should keep silent about the truth. Nevertheless, he died for Christ. Does Christ not say: I am the truth? Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth, he surely died for Christ." (from Saint Bede the Venerable)