March 25 -- today's saints

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Jmj

Today, March 25, we members of the Catholic Church family usually celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord by the angel Gabriel. (When the date falls within Holy Week, as in 2002, or during the Octave of Easter, it is transferred to Monday of the second week of Easter.)
We also honor, in a special way, the following friends of God -- saints whose souls are now in heaven:

St. Alfwold of Sherborne (English, bishop, c. 1075)
Sts. Barontius and Desiderius (French, Benedictine hermits, c. 725)
St. Dismas ["The Good Thief"] (Israelite, probably an insurrectionist, crucified beside Jesus, c. 30)
St. Dula (from Asia Minor [Turkish], soldier's slave, virgin, martyred by stabbing in defending her chastity)
St. Harold of Gloucester (English, child martyred in 1168)
Bl. Herman of Zähringen (Germany, Benedictine monk in France, d. 1074)
St. Hermenland (French, royal cup-bearer, Benedictine abbot, c. 720)
St. Humbert of Marolles (Belgian, Benedictine abbot, c. 680)
St. Isaac (Old Testament patriarch, son of Abraham, father of Jacob and Esau)
Bl. James Bird of Winchester (English, martyred [drawn, hanged, quartered] by Elizabethans at age 19 in 1593)
St. Kennocha (Scottish, nun, d. 1007)
St. Lucy Filippini [Lucia] (Italian, orphan, teacher, co-foundress of the Pious Matrons [now called Religious Teachers Filippini], d. 1732 [canonized 1930])
St. Margaret Clitherow (English, mother of three, martyred [suffocated under pressure of great weight] at age 30 by Elizabethans in 1586 [canonized 1970])
St. Melchizedek (priest, honored by patriarch Abraham)
St. Pelagius of Laodicea (from Asia Minor [Turkish], bishop, fought Arian heresy, 4th century)
St. Quirinus [also called Cyrinus] (Roman, martyred c. 269)
St. Robert of Bury Saint Edmunds (English, child martyred in 1181)
Bl. Thomas of Costacciaro (Italian, peasant, Camaldolese hermit, d. 1337)

If you have anything to share about these holy people, please reply now -- biographical episodes, prayers through their intercession, the fact that one is your patron saint -- whatever moves you. If you are interested in one of these saints and want to find out more about him/her, please ask. Information is sometimes available on the Internet.

All you holy men and women, saints of God, pray for us.
God bless you.
John


-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), March 25, 2002

Answers



-- (_@_._), March 25, 2002.

Netscape

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Father, send now Your Spirit over the earth. Let the Holy Spirit live in the hearts of all nations, that they may be preserved from degeneration, disaster and war. May the Lady of All Nations, who once was Mary, be our Advocate. Amen.

-- Choas (Choas@ivillage.com), March 25, 2003.




-- Choas (Choas@ivillage.com), March 25, 2003.

Dear Saint Dismas, you cooperated with the grace that was yours in suffering the same fate as the Divine Master. You repented for your sins and believed, and you heard the Savior say:"Today you will be with me in paradise." Obtain for prisoners the same grace to repent of their wicked ways, and obtain the same reward - eternal life with Christ.

-- Choas (Choas@ivillage.com), March 25, 2003.

Glorious Saint Dismas, you alone of all the great Penitent Saints were directly canonized by Christ Himself; you were assured of a place in Heaven with Him "this day" because of the sincere confession of your sins to Him in the tribunal of Calvary and your true sorrow for them as you hung beside Him in that open confessional; you who by the direct sword thrust of your love and repentance did open the Heart of Jesus in mercy and forgiveness even before the centurion's spear tore it asunder; you whose face was closer to that of Jesus in His last agony, to offer Him a word of comfort, closer even than that of His Beloved Mother, Mary; you who knew so well how to pray, teach me the words to say to Him to gain pardon and the grace of perseverance; and you who are so close to Him now in Heaven, as you were during His last moments on earth, pray to Him for me that I shall never again desert Him, but that at the close of my life I may hear from Him the words He addressed to you: "This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise." Amen

-- Choas (Choas@ivillage.com), March 25, 2003.


Jmj

On March 25, we members of the Catholic Church family usually celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord by the angel Gabriel. (When the date falls within Holy Week or during the Octave of Easter, it is transferred to Monday of the second week of Easter.)
We also honor, in a special way, the following friends of God -- saints and blesseds whose souls are now in heaven:

St. Alfwold of Sherborne (English, bishop, c. 1075)
Sts. Barontius of Berry and Desiderius of Pistoia (French and Italian, Benedictine hermits in Italy, c. 725)
St. Dismas ["The Good Thief"] (Israelite, probably an insurrectionist, crucified beside Jesus, c. 30)
St. Dula of Nicomedia (from Asia Minor [Turkish], soldier's slave, virgin, martyred by stabbing in defending her chastity)
St. Harold of Gloucester (English, child martyred in 1168)
Bl. Hermann of Zähringen (Germany, Benedictine monk in France, d. 1074)
St. Hermenland of Noyon (French, royal cup-bearer, Benedictine abbot, c. 720)
St. Humbert of Marolles (Belgian, Benedictine abbot, c. 680)
St. Isaac (Old Testament patriarch, son of Abraham, father of Jacob and Esau)
Bl. James Bird of Winchester (English, martyred [drawn, hanged, quartered] at age 19 under Elizabeth I in 1593)
St. Kennocha of Fife (Scottish, nun, d. 1007)
St. Lucy Filippini of Tuscany [Lucia] (Italian, orphan, teacher, co-foundress of the Pious Matrons [now called Religious Teachers Filippini], d. 1732 [canonized 1930])
St. Melchizedek of Salem (priest, king, honored by patriarch Abraham, c. 2000 B.C.)
St. Pelagius of Laodicea (from Asia Minor [Turkish], bishop, fought Arian heresy, 4th century)
St. Quirinus or Rome [also called Cyrinus] (Italian, martyred c. 269)
St. Robert of Bury Saint Edmunds (English, child martyred in 1181)
Bl. Thomas of Costacciaro [Tommaso] (Italian, peasant, Camaldolese hermit, d. 1337)

If you have anything to share about these people, please reply now -- biographical episodes, prayers through their intercession, the fact that one is your patron -- whatever moves you. If you are interested in one of these saints/blesseds and want to find out more about him/her, please ask. Information is sometimes available on the Internet.

All you holy men and women, saints of God, pray for us.
God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), March 25, 2003.


Thank you for those most beautiful prayers, Chaos. And thank you, John, for this daily reminder of the Saints.

Some time ago, Ignatius published a book of Catholic poems called "The Legend of St. Dismas." Although only a legend, it details in poetic verse, the Holy Family's journey through the desert into Egypt.

Along the way, they spent the night in a robber's cave. The robber's wife prepared a bath for baby Jesus, and Mary observed the woman's tears falling into the bath water. "Why weepest thou?" she tenderly asked. The robber's wife took Mary to the back of the cave, where she, too, had a baby boy. But alas, her child was stricken with leprosy, and burning with fever. Mary won the mother's heart by bending down and kissing the sick child.

Then, after Jesus' bath, she prompted the woman to bathe her sick child in the same water. He came out of the bath completely soft and pink, his flesh restored to perfect health.

More than thirty years passed when the two beheld one another again, from the cross. The Blessed Mary stood beneath them. Although having lived the sinful life of his father, through Mary's intercession, he was granted the grace of true contrition. For the sake of his mother's hospitality in a crude cave, Dismas was granted eternity in Paradise.

My recounting of this legend is very poor. The actual poem brings tears to the eyes of the reader. The other poems in the book are equally touching.

-- Anna <>< (flowerthehour@hotmail.com), March 25, 2003.


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