Saints and Feasts

October

Feast Day: October 1

In proclaiming her a Doctor of the Church, John Paul II notes that, “Thérèse of the Child Jesus is not only the youngest Doctor of the Church, but is also the closest to us in time... Thérèse is a Teacher for our time, which thirsts for living and essential words, for heroic and credible acts of witness.” (October 19, 1997). We may rightly be heartened by her pledge to “spend my heaven doing good upon the earth.”

Feast Day: October 2

The office for the Guardian Angels reflects: “…the three-fold office of the angels, to praise God, to act as His messengers, and to watch over mortal men. ‘Let us praise the Lord whom the Angels praise, whom the Cherubim and Seraphim proclaim Holy, Holy, Holy’ (second antiphon of Lauds). ‘Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared. Take notice of him, and hear his voice’ (Ex. 23). (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Feast Day: October 3

This Benedictine abbot of Maredsous in Belgium, died in 1923. Please see this “Wisdom” column for selections from his writings.

Feast Day: October 4

Pope Francis selected his name inspired by “the man of poverty, the man of peace” saying: “…I would like a church that is poor, that is for the poor.”

Feast Day: October 7

Pope Leo XIII produced eleven encyclicals on the significance of this feast, writing in “Supremi Apostolatus Officio” (1883): “It has always been the habit of Catholics in danger and in troublous times to fly for refuge to Mary.” The feast was instituted by Pius V universally, following the Christian victory at Lepanto in 1571.

Feast Day: October 9

A Roman military officer moved to conversion by the witness of martyrs, Adrian was himself martyred in 306. Dionysius (Denis) is said to have been the first bishop of Paris and is a principal patron of France. (Photo: Saint Denis statute at Notre Dame of Paris)

Feast Day: October 9

John Henry Newman was elevated to sainthood Sunday, October 13, 2019. His long journey of faith perhaps is summarized in his familiar adage: “To live is to change, and to be perfect is to have changed often.” Known for his profound theological insights, Pope Benedict also commended Newman’s “profoundly human vision of priestly ministry in his devoted care for the people of Birmingham during the years that he spent at the Oratory he founded, visiting the sick and the poor, comforting the bereaved, caring for those in prison” (from homily at beatification Mass).

Feast Day: October 11

We continue to hear this popular pope of the Second Vatican Council call us to “aggiornamento” – bringing our faith to life in the world of our day. His canonization Mass was October 14, 2014, concelebrated in St. Peter’s Square by Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
 

Feast Day: October 12

Wilfrid is a central figure in the establishment of Roman Christianity in England, rooted in Benedictine monasticism and devoted to Roman practice: “A Celtic monk of Lindisfarne and abbot of the new Celtic monastery at Ripon, nonetheless Wilfrid championed Roman influence in Anglo-Saxon England. In 663 he persuaded the famous Synod of Whitby to settle the controversy over the date of Easter by choosing the Roman method of calculation. A few years later he became bishop of Northumbria, a vast arena for his mission of expanding and consolidating the church. He planted many new Catholic communities.” (loyolapress.com)

Feast Day: October  14

Callistus lived through the 3^rd century’s conflicting visions of how the church is to deal with sinners, and of the relation of the Father to the Son. This former slave, exile, and inmate, rose to the church’s highest office and played an important role in shaping orthodoxy, before being martyred, most likely in a riot.

Feast Day: October 15
This revered Doctor of the Church lived amidst the background of the 16^th century Protestant Reformation. Paul VI, in his homily on the occasion of her elevation to Doctor in 1970, says of her witness of faith: “It is love…it is a love which we must finally describe as an espousal, for it is an encounter with a flood of divine love, descending to meet human love, which strives with all its might to ascend. It is the most intimate and the strongest union with God which is given to a soul living on this earth to experience. It turns into light, it turns into wisdom, wisdom in divine things, wisdom in human things.”

Feast Day: October 17

Ignatius’ seven letters on his the journey from Antioch to Rome to face martyrdom each urge faith in the face of persecution, the last begging Christians in Rome not to try to stop his martyrdom. “The only thing I ask of you is to allow me to offer the libation of my blood to God. I am the wheat of the Lord; may I be ground by the teeth of the beasts to become the immaculate bread of Christ.” Ignatius bravely met the lions in the Circus Maximus. (see franciscanmedia)

Feast Day: October 18

Luke provides the greatest portion of the New Testament writing in his Gospel and in Acts. He provides our principal accounts of the birth of Christ, but also of the birth of the church, from the Pentecost through the ministry of Paul.

Feast Day: October 19

These 17^th century martyrs brought Christian faith to North American indigenous peoples. Fr. John Hardon, SJ, writes of his confreres: “What sustained them … and prepared them for martyrdom was their devotion to Christ in the Eucharist. Be comforted by this yourselves…: you're in trial, come before the Eucharist; you've got a problem, come before the Blessed Sacrament; you don't know where to turn, talk to Our Lord. In the Sacrament He instituted to give us strength.”

Feast Day: October  22

Where to begin in speaking of this pope whose tenure dominated the end of the 20^th century (1978-2005)? We can speak of his ecumenical efforts, his influence in global political events, his philosophical insight, and much more. We can take inspiration from his devotion to prayer and to Our Lady, his introduction of the luminous mysteries.  Pope Benedict XVI says of him: “Everyone knows John Paul II: his face, his characteristic way of moving and speaking; his immersion in prayer and his spontaneous cheerfulness. Many of his words have become indelibly engraved in our memories, starting with the passionate cry with which he introduced himself to the people at the beginning of his pontificate: ‘Open wide the doors to Christ, and be not afraid of him!’ Or this saying: ‘No one can live a trial life; no one can love experimentally.’ An entire pontificate is condensed in words like these. It is as though he would like to open the doors for Christ everywhere and wishes to open up to people the gate that leads to true life, to true love.”

Feast Day: October 23

While this saint is associated with the migratory return of swallows to his eponymous mission in California, the ferocity of his actual life of faith is striking. Abandoning the legal profession and leaving his marriage after an intense conversion experience, he became a Franciscan, earning widespread recognition for his preaching and teaching. He reformed his order, creating a branch emphasizing asceticism and obedience, and showed little tolerance for opposition, appointed inquisitor and zealous in prosecuting heresy. He is known as a “soldier saint,” being directly engaged in the Siege of Belgrade at the age of seventy.

Feast Day: October 24

This saint is the 19^th century founder of the Claretians, whose mission now includes, “Missionary outreach to Catholics who have left the Church that invites them to return home or become more active; evangelization of young adults, including the utilization of social media to strengthen their faith…; greater ecumenical understanding and interreligious dialogue.” (claretianusa.org) Born in Spain in 1807, Claret was an eloquent preacher in Catalan and author of 144 books. He became confessor to Queen Isabella II and did extensive missionary work, including being named archbishop of Santiago, Cuba.
 

Feast Day: October  28

It is often said we know little of these two saints – but what greater or more vivid legacy than to be named an apostle of Christ? Jude is famously the patron of desperate situations; Simon, known as a “Zealot,” must have found the answer for his rigorous Jewish nationalism in the person and message of Jesus of Nazareth.