March Saints and Feasts

March 1

This year, Sunday supersedes the commemoration of David, Patron of Wales. A native of Wales, David’s life history is intertwined with legend. He lived in the 6^th century, a pious and ascetic monk known for preaching and miracles. The famous story has a dove resting on his shoulder, as a hill miraculously rises beneath the preaching David, to make him more visible to his congregation. He is associated with Glastonbury Abbey, either as founder or re-dedicator. He worked to combat Pelagianism Saint David’s Day is celebrated in many Welsh towns and cities.

March 7

These Roman Christians, martyrs at Carthage under Septimus Severus (193-211), who was said to have forbidden all imperial subjects from becoming Christians., are remembered regularly in the Mass. Perpetua was a noblewoman, Felicity a slave. Perpetua was a young mother, Felicity pregnant, able to give birth two days before her martyrdom, her newborn child adopted by a Christian woman. We learn of the witness of these two young women in a document which may well have been written in part by Perpetua herself. Notable n their story is the strength of their faith to supersede family obligation, as Perpetua resists her father’s demand that she apostatize, and the two both give up their lives despite having young children. From the account of their martyrdom: “The day of their victory shone forth, and they proceeded from the prison into the amphitheater, as if to an assembly, joyous and of brilliant countenances; …with joy, and not with fear. Perpetua followed with placid look, and with step and gait as a matron of Christ, beloved of God; casting down the luster of her eyes from the gaze of all. Moreover, Felicitas, rejoicing that she had safely brought forth, so that she might fight with the wild beasts; from the blood and from the midwife to the gladiator, to wash after childbirth with a second baptism.”

March 8

The life of John of God provides one of the most remarkable stories of saints that one may hear. The recurring theme one finds is his seemingly impulsive commitment to those in need, regardless of risk to himself. He was born March 8, 1495 in Montermor-O-Novo, Portugal, and died on his birthday 55 years later. Those decades saw him leave home at the age of eight, inspired or kidnapped by a priest whom he had heard speak of “great adventures,” which soon included begging from town to town. He was eventually adopted in Oropesa by a farmer who later sought to have John marry his daughter. John fled this situation, becoming a soldier in the armies of Charles V fighting the French and later the Turks. He later sought his purpose by traveling to Africa to assist Christians enslaved there, and along the way joined a family of Portuguese nobility being sent into exile, who were robbed of all of their money along the way, and then fell ill. John helped to care for them, indicative of what was to become his life’s work, following a life-changing encounter with John of Avila. Thought to be insane after his extreme reaction to his call to repentance, he was eventually liberated from a mental hospital by John of Avila, committing his life to work with the poor and the sick. He famously and selflessly saved many from a fire in a hospital, leading to his patronage of firefighters.

March 9

Frances of Rome is one of the patrons of all Benedictine oblates. Born in Rome in 1384, Frances was a dedicated spouse, mother, and servant of the poor. With her husband Lorenzo’s approval, she founded the Oblates of Mary in 1425, a community that lived in their own homes under the Rule of St. Benedict, without vows but sharing in Frances’s mission to the sick. They were known from 1433 as the Oblate Congregation of Tor de’ Specchi, and upon her husband’s death in 1436, she became their superior, joining them in the building she had acquired for them to live in as a community. Frances endured much hardship in her life: the loss of two children to the plague, a forced exile during papal conflicts, the loss of much of her husband’s property and possessions, his being wounded by Neapolitan forces, so severely that he did not fully recover. A church at the Roman Forum, formerly known as Santa Maria Nova, was later dedicated to her and contains her relics, which were deposited there on March 9, 1649.

March 17

A fifth-century Roman citizen of Britain, Patrick first made his way to Ireland against his will, captured by pirates and sold into slavery. Eventually escaping, he made his way to France where he was trained as a priest and missionary. He returned to Ireland by choice, or by vocation, believing God had called him there. Though encountering significant opposition, he succeeded in converting many to the Christian faith, utilizing the knowledge of Irish culture that he had gained in captivity.

March 18

This 4^th century theologian underwent several periods of exile, ultimately producing catechetical works leading to his elevation to Doctor of the Church in 1883. “His life is woven of two dimensions: on the one hand, pastoral care, and on the other, his involvement, in spite of himself, in the heated controversies that were then tormenting the Church of the East. …The basis of his instruction on the Christian faith also served to play a polemic role against pagans, Judaeo Christians and Manicheans. The argument was based on the fulfilment of the Old Testament promises, in a language rich in imagery.” Benedict XVI, General Audience (2007).

March 21

From the Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great, Book II:

"CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN: HOW VENERABLE BENEDICT DID PROPHESY TO HIS MONKS THE TIME OF HIS OWN DEATH.

In the year that was to be his last, the man of God foretold the day of his holy death to a number of his disciples. In mentioning it to some who were with him in the monastery, he bound them to strict secrecy. Some others, however, who were stationed elsewhere he only informed of the special sign they would receive at the time of his death.

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March 25

For the Christian faith, the Annunciation marks a moment unique to human history, pivotal to salvation history. In a homily from Santa Marta in 2018, Pope Francis remarked: “The passage from Luke’s Gospel that we have heard tells us the decisive moment in history, the most revolutionary. It is a turbulent situation, everything changes, history turns upside down. It is difficult to preach about this passage… It is the moment that everything changes, everything, from the root. Liturgically, today is the day of the root. The Antiphon that marks the meaning today is the root of Jesse, ‘from which a shoot will be born.’ God lowers himself, God enters history and does so in his original style: a surprise. The God of surprises surprises us (again).” In 2019, visiting Loreto, he called the Holy House a “home of the young”: “because here the Virgin Mary, the young woman full of grace, continues to speak to the new generations, accompanying each one in the search for one’s vocation… Mary is the model of every vocation and the inspirer of every vocation to ministry. Young people…wondering about their future, can find in Mary she who helps them to discern God’s plan for themselves…”