Jmj
Hello, folks.

Those of you who were visiting the forum between August of 2001 and August of 2002 know that I was then posting a new thread daily. On each day, I tried to list the names of the Catholic saints and "blesseds" (including those papally canonized or beatified in the second millennium -- and those less formally proclaimed in the first millennium). These are the men, women, and children whose memory can be celebrated in the liturgy by Catholics universally or in a more limited way -- and to whom any of us can turn in private prayer at any time. Here is a list of links to those threads.

Those of you were were visiting the forum between March of 2003 and February of 2004 know that I posted updated lists in each of the 365 daily threads -- containing a variety of additions and corrections that I had collected since the threads had gone "idle" in August of 2002. Now, after another "quiet" period of several months, I have decided to post a new "edition" of daily threads. Additional research during 2004 has led me to realize that the old lists had enough imperfections and omissions to warrant my replacing them this one last (?) time.

Beginning today, I will post a new thread for each day of the calendar. I decided that it would be better to start new threads than to add new messages to the old threads (which contain too many errors and omissions, especially in their opening posts). After the passage of a year and the addition of all the new threads, a moderator could delete the old threads -- or they could be deleted daily, as they are replaced. (Because of my error, the old threads have the words, "today's saints," in their titles. The new threads will have "today's saints and blesseds.")

The "enhancements" that I will be trying to make to the lists are the following:

(1) Additions:
..... (a) Inclusion of the various people who have been beatified or canonized in the past year by Pope John Paul II -- and those who will be beatified/canonized over the course of the coming year.
..... (b) Inclusion of several additional people who have been considered saints/blesseds since earlier times, but whose names I have just recently discovered.
..... (c) Inclusion of more "individual" memmorials for people who were beatified/canonized in a group. [Example: Previously, the 108 Blessed Martyrs of World War II (killed in Nazi camps) were listed on their communal day of memorial, June 12. Now each will also be listed on his/her individual day of memorial -- usually the day of martyrdom ("birthday into heaven").]
..... (d) When ascertainable, insertion of more details that have been of interest to certain people -- e.g., place (usually of birth) after name, age at death, year of beatification/canonization, name of diocese served by a bishop (if not his birthplace), etc..

(2) Improvements:
..... (a) Correction of spelling errors,
..... (b) Correction of erroneous historical dates,
..... (c) Correction of days of memorial [I have discovered that more than a few people were listed on the wrong day of the year.]
..... (d) Removal of duplicate entries (same person listed on two days).

The format of a person's entry will be as follows:
1. Title ("St." or "Bl." -- coupled with "Pope," "King," "Queen," when applicable) ...
2. Christian name(s) at death, anglicized when possible. [For consecrated religious, this is the "name in religion," rather than the baptismal name.]
3. Surname, when known. [This is usually the husband's surname for a woman who was married.]
4. Usually, place of birth, when known -- else, place of main activity.
5. When applicable ... in brackets, name in native language.
6. When applicable ... in brackets, baptismal name(s).
7. When applicable ... in brackets, maiden surname.
8. In parentheses, these are given, when known:
____ a. nationality
____ b. descriptive notes about life
____ c. notes about death
____ d. years of beatification, canonization (when applicable).

I hope that you will find the daily lists interesting and spiritually helpful. I hope that some of us will be moved to pray a different "litany of the saints" each day of the year. I hope that the lists will spur us to seek out more information about these heroes and heroines, in books, encyclopedias, etc.. Finally, I hope that, this time around, more people will respond with messages of their own than did the previous two times. (These threads don't "belong" to me!)

God bless you.
John


-- J. F. Gecik ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), June 27, 2004

Answers

PS: For now, I will be limiting my reading and posting at the forum to these new threads. So if you wish to speak with me, please respond here or on the new threads -- or write to me at the e-mail address below (removing the quotation mark).

-- ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), June 27, 2004.

John,

If you wish we could create a new category under which the new posts could be grouped. That way an interested party could access them all without having them mixed in with the older threads.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), June 27, 2004.

Hi John! It should be fine if you don't get too many responses but be assured that it would be greatly appreciated in any case. Your posts would be edifying at the least but would also be very useful to people for baptismal names, birth names, daily prayers, etc.

-- Vincent (love@noemail.net), June 27, 2004.

Hi John,

I always check your saints threads. Looking forward to your posts.

-- Jim (furst@flash.net), June 27, 2004.

Hi John,

It will be great to see your saints threads again. I have a question that perhaps you could answer. Let's say there's a non-Catholic Christian who had invincible ignorance of the truth of the Catholic faith. If this person was martyred, could he become a Saint if he met the other qualifications? I think one of the ways to become a Saint is to be martyred for one's Christian faith, right? So if this person was a martyr for the faith, could he have any chance of becoming a Saint without being officially a part of the Catholic Church? Are there any such Saints declared, from any time in history?

Thanks for your help. God bless,

-- Emily ("jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), June 27, 2004.

P.S. I don't mean the pre-Catholic Church era such as Old Testament times.

-- Emily ("jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), June 27, 2004.

Let's say there's a non-Catholic Christian who had invincible ignorance of the truth of the Catholic faith. If this person was martyred, could he become a Saint if he met the other qualifications?

I dont suppose it would be IMPOSSIBLE, merely improbable.

I think one of the ways to become a Saint is to be martyred for one's Christian faith, right? So if this person was a martyr for the faith, could he have any chance of becoming a Saint without being officially a part of the Catholic Church? Are there any such Saints declared, from any time in history?

martyring is a way to become a saint, but its not that simple either... i suppose the person, through invincible ignorance, could be baptised and confirmed through desire assuming they had 1) done their best to follow the commandments, 2) not intentionally committed any mortal sins, and 3) lived as best they could in line with the precepts of their protestant faith. HOWEVER, i dont know of any such people.

-- paul h (dontsendmemail@notanaddress.com), June 28, 2004.

Jmj

I want to thank everyone very much for their comments!
I will respond to some things that were said/asked later today, when I have more free time. For now, I just want to tell you, Paul M, that I am very grateful for your offer of a new category for this thread and the other new ones that will be coming along. Since the old category is called "Saints of the Day," can you please call the new one "Saints and Blesseds of the Day"? I will check for its appearance each day when I am filling in the "new question" panel.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), June 28, 2004.

Looking forward to reading your updated threads.

May God bless you and keep you safe.

-- - (David@excite.com), June 28, 2004.

I'm back, as promised/threatened!

Vincent, you wrote: "Your posts would be edifying at the least but would also be very useful to people for baptismal names, birth names, daily prayers, etc.."
Thank you! I hope that you are right.

Jim, you wrote: "I always check your saints threads. Looking forward to your posts."
Great! Glad to know it, Jim. Thank you.

Emily, you wrote: "Let's say there's a non-Catholic Christian who had invincible ignorance of the truth of the Catholic faith. If this person was martyred, could he become a Saint if he met the other qualifications?"

It depends on what you mean by the words, "become a Saint."

If you are asking whether or not the person could be a "saint" in God's eyes -- dwelling with Him in Heaven -- then the answer is surely "yes." You said that the person "met the other qualifications" -- which implies that this Christian is in a state of sanctifying grace, with no unforgiven mortal sin killing the supernatural life of his soul. The Catechism teaches that the soul of such a person caught in "invincible ignorance" could be saved -- even without martyrdom taking place.

But if you are asking whether or not the Catholic Church would ever canonize this non-Catholic Christian, I believe that the answer is "probably not." It has never happened in the first two Christian millennia, and I don't think that it will begin to happen. I'll try to explain why I say this.

A canonization is an infallible statement that the soul of an individual is now with God in heaven, that the person lived at least part of his life in heroic virtue, and that the person can and should be remembered by name at Mass on his day of memorial. There is a (usually long) process leading to canonization -- involving the assembly, study, and evaluation of (1) all existing material written by the person and of (2) as much human testimony of witnesses as can be collected.

My belief is that it would be awkward, at best -- and would likely be considered inappropriate/offensive/intrusive by millions of Protestants -- for the Catholic Church to investigate a non-Catholic, to make declarations about the state of his soul, and to offer Mass in memory of him. It would probably also be a source of confusion at best -- and angry protests and defections, at worst -- when Catholics would hear that So-and-So had been canonized, even though he rejected the papacy all his life, had never received Holy Communion, had taught many theological errors, etc..

Emily, I hope that the above makes sense. I can tell you that Pope Paul VI (who reigned from 1963 to 1978) did admire some Anglican martyrs of "black Africa" (Uganda) -- at least ten young royal pages -- who died rather than give in to mortal sins of perversion in the 19th century. The pope, in his 1964 homily given at the canonization of the 22 Catholics who were similarly martyred [St. Charles Lwanga and companions], stated, "Who could have predicted to the famous African confessors and martyrs such as Cyprian, Felicity, Perpetua and -- the greatest of all -- Augustine, that we would one day add names so dear to us as Charles Lwanga and Matthias Mulumba Kalemba and their twenty companions? Nor must we forget those members of the Anglican community who also died for the name of Christ."

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), June 28, 2004.

paul h and John,

Thank you so much for your answers. I really appreciate it! The reasoning makes sense to me now. It's nice that the pope honored the Anglican martyrs too.

God bless,

-- Emily ("jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), June 28, 2004.

[This is the first of three messages that I want to post for those of you who have only recently begun to come to the forum. The messages may help you better to understand some things about the saints-and-blesseds threads. JFG]

Why are so many saints listed on each day, when usually only one is memorialized at Mass (or sometimes none)?

I believe that there are several thousand saints and blesseds officially "recognized" by the Catholic Church. Each one of them has at least one special day of the year that is linked to his/her commemoration. And that is why there are several to many people mentioned on each of the daily threads.

But of these thousands of holy people, only a small number of prominent ones -- saints to which the Church wants us to pay special attention -- are on what is called the "universal liturgical calendar" of the Latin Church. The word "universal" refers to the fact that these saints are named on church calendars used throughout the world, and priests everywhere are encouraged to celebrate Mass in memory of them.

In addition to the "universal calendar," though, each regional or national conference of bishops creates (with Vatican approval) a local or "particular" calendar on which it names certain saints and "blesseds" that have a special meaning in that area -- such as Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha in the U.S. and Canada. And so, priests in a given country have special encouragement to celebrate Mass in memory of the people named on both the universal and the local calendar.

In each of the daily threads at this forum, I am placing the saints of the universal calendar (and the saints/blesseds of the U.S. local calendar) at the top, separated by a blank line from the rest of the saints and blesseds of the day. I am including a special notation identifying those that are from the U.S. local calendar.

I invite you, if you are a Latin-Church Catholic living outside the U.S., to tell us whenever a local-calendar celebration is taking place in your country -- especially if it involves a saint or blessed not mentioned in the opening message of the thread. I also invite you, if you are a Catholic of an Eastern Church (e.g., Byzantine, Maronite, Syro-Malabar, etc.) to tell us when your church's calendar is commemorating a saint or blessed that has not been mentioned in the opening message of the thread.

Besides the universal and local calendars, there are special calendars used by certain religious orders/congregations (e.g., the Franciscans), who have the pope's permission to celebrate Mass in memory of various lesser known saints and blesseds who once were members.

During any given year, there are many days on which there is no saint listed on the universal calendar nor on the local calendar. On days like this, a priest, for a good reason, may celebrate Mass in memory of any of the less well-known saints/blesseds whose "feast day" it is.

In the Latin Rite, it is a liturgical regulation, decided by Pope Paul VI (and probably by many popes before him), that a priest should celebrate Mass in honor of just one saint whose feast it is. (The exception, of course, is when two or more saints are linked together on purpose -- such as Sts. Peter and Paul, Sts. Simon and Jude, St. Paul Chong Hasang and companions, etc..) The Mass has special "proper" prayers that are read by the priest at three points in the liturgy [after the penitential rite, just before the Eucharistic prayer, and after Communion], and those prayers specifically mention just one saint (or "companion" saints). So, if the priest wanted to commemorate two or three or ten unrelated saints/blesseds on the same day, he would have to read all the prayers for all of them. This is not permitted, because it would be distracting, confusing, time-consuming, etc..

Though commemorating saints' feasts at Mass is important, the Church wants us to keep our focus less on the saint(s) of the day than on the sacrifice of Calvary that is re-presented during the Mass. Unfortunately, I have met some priests who have taken this desire of the Church too far in the other direction. They almost never celebrate Mass in memory of saints, skipping all "optional memorials" and even skipping some obligatory memorials! Let us pray for our priests.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), June 29, 2004.

[This is the second of three messages that I want to post for those of you who have only recently begun to come to the forum. The messages may help you better to understand some things about the saints-and-blesseds threads. JFG]

Scattered throughout the "saints-and-blesseds-of-the-day" threads, you will come across references to men and women who were martyred in England between 1525 and 1750. Many of these are said to have been "hanged, drawn, and quartered," but most people outside the British Commonwealth of Nations do not really know what those words mean. If you would like to know, then please read the following, which is adapted from an Internet site about the former imposition of capital punishment in Great Britain.

[WARNING: This is not for the squeamish or the young ...]

"Hanging, drawing, and quartering ... was the ultimate punishment available in English law for men who had been convicted of high treason. Women were usually burned at the stake instead, for the sake of decency. It should properly be called ‘drawing, hanging, and quartering,’ as the condemned were drawn to the place of execution on a hurdle (similar to a piece of fencing made from thin branches interwoven to form a panel.) They were tied to the hurdles, which were dragged by horses.

"Once at the place of execution, the prisoners were hanged by being pulled up (i.e. without a ‘drop,’ to ensure that the neck was not broken), but were cut down whilst still conscious. Their private parts were cut off and their abdomens were slit open. Their intestines were removed and burned before their eyes. Their other organs were then torn out, and finally their heads were cut off, and their bodies were divided into four quarters. The head and quarters were parboiled (to prevent them rotting too quickly) and then displayed upon the city gates as a grim warning to all. At some point in this agonising process the prisoner inevitably died of strangling and/or hemorrhage and/or shock and damage to vital organs, but it often took a long time to happen.

"It has to be one of the most sadistic forms of execution ever invented ... In the 1500's a total of 105 Catholic martyrs were hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn in London for what amounted to 'spiritual treason' (failing to recognise the official religion of the day). ... Hanging, drawing, and quartering remained the lawful punishment for treason until it was abolished in 1814. ..."

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), June 30, 2004.

[This is the last of three messages that I am posting here for new visitors to the forum who are interested in the saints and blesseds. JFG]

When did Christians begin celebrating saints’ feasts? When did weekday Masses begin?

The early-20th-century "Catholic Encyclopedia" gives us the following nuggets of information:

(1) The 2nd-century martyr "[St.] Justin ... seems to be aware only of the Sunday celebration, but Tertullian [3d century] adds the fast days on Wednesday and Friday and the anniversaries of the martyrs ... . As Tertullian calls the whole paschal season (until Pentcost) 'one long feast,' we may conclude with some justice that during this period the faithful not only communicated daily, but were also present at the Eucharistic Liturgy."

(2) "St Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386) describes the liturgy of the Mass of his day as follows ... 'After the spritual Sacrifice, the unbloody service is completed; we pray to God, over this sacrifice of propitiation for the universal peace of the churches, for the proper guidance of the world, for the emperor, soldiers and companions, for the infirm and the sick, for those stricken with trouble, and in general for all in need of help we pray and offer up this sacrifice. We then commemorate the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, that God may, at their prayers and intercessions graciously accept our supplication. We afterwards pray for the dead ... since we believe that it will be of the greatest advantage, if we in the sight of the holy and most awesome Victim discharge our prayers for them. The Christ, who was slain for our sins, we sacrifice to propitiate the merciful God for those who are gone before and for ourselves.' This beautiful passage, which reads like a modern prayer-book, is of interest in more than one connection. It proves in the first place that Christian antiquity recognized the offering up of the Mass for the deceased, exactly as the Church today recognizes requiem Masses -- a fact which is confirmed by other independent witnesses, e.g. Tertullian ..., Cyprian ..., and Augustine .... In the second place, it informs us that our so-called Masses of the Saints also had their prototype among the primitive Christians, and for this view we likewise find other testimonies -- e.g. Tertullian ... and Cyprian ... By a Saint's Mass is meant, not the offering up of the Sacrifice of the Mass to a saint, which would be impossible without most shameful idolatry, but a sacrifice, which, while offered to God alone, on the one hand thanks Him for the triumphal coronation of the saints, and on the other aims at procuring for us the saint's efficacious intercession with God."

(3) "Prototypes and starting-points for the oldest ecclesiastical feasts are the Jewish solemnities of Easter [i.e., Passover] and Pentecost. Together with the weekly Lord's Day, they remained the only universal Christian feasts down to the third century ([according to] Tertullian [and] ... Origen ...). Two feasts of Our Lord (Epiphany, Christmas) were added in the fourth century; then came the feasts of the Apostles and martyrs, in particular provinces; later on also those of some confessors (St. Martin, St. Gregory); in the sixth and seventh centuries feasts of the Blessed Virgin were added. ... In the course of centuries the ecclesiastical calendar expanded considerably, because in earlier ages every bishop had a right to establish new feasts. Later on a reduction of feasts took place ..."

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), July 01, 2004.

Friends,
There are going to be times between now and mid-January when I will be traveling or for other reasons unable to get to a computer. Therefore, I will sometimes -- including this week -- be posting a batch of new saints/blessed threads in advance, leaving them on the "unanswered questions" queue. I will be asking a kind soul to "top" each day's thread at the proper time.
God bless you.
John

-- ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), October 25, 2004.

Please refer to my previous message, left on October 25. It helps explain why I have now left a slew of "unanswered" threads -- for saints/blesseds of December 28 through January 17 -- for future "topping" as the days pass by. JFG

-- ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), December 27, 2004.