Jmj

On October 3, we members of the Catholic Church family honor, in a special way, the following friends of God -- "saints" and "blesseds" whose souls are now in heaven:

St. Adalgott of Chur (French, Cistercian abbot, bishop, champion of the sick, died at about age 60 in 1165)
St. Candidus of Rome (early martyr)
Bl. Columba Marmion of Dublin [baptized Joseph Aloysius] (Irish, priest, seminary professor, Benedictine abbot in Belgium, died at age 64 in 1923 [beatified in 2000])
St. Cyprian of Marseilles (French, monk, bishop of Toulon, 6th century)
Sts. Dionysius, Faustus, Gaius, Peter, Paul, and companions (Roman? banished to Libya, martyred in Egypt in 257)
Bl. Dominic Spadafora of Randazzo (Italian, Dominican priest, died at about age 71 in 1521)
St. Ebontius of Comminges (French, Benedictine abbot, bishop of Barbastro in Spain, d. 1104)
St. Froilan of Lugo (Spanish, Benedictine monk, bishop of Leon, miracle worker, d. 905)
St. Gerard of Brogne (Belgian, nobleman, Benedictine abbot, died at about age 64 in 959)
St. Hesychius of Majuma (Palestinian, hermit, c. 380)
St. John of Dukla [Jan] (Polish, Franciscan priest, died at about age 70 in 1484 [beatified 1733, canonized in 1997])
St. Maximian of Bagae (North African, bishop, persecuted by Donatist heretics, d. 404)
St. Menna of Lorraine (French, virgin, d. 395)
Bl. [Mother] Theodore Guérin of Etables-sur-Mer [baptized Anne-Thérèse] (French, superior of U.S. missionary house of Sisters of Providence, died in Indiana at age 57 in 1856 [beatified in 1998]) [commemorated by some on May 14]
St. Thomas of Hereford (English, Oxford teacher and chancellor, bishop, died in Italy in 1292 [canonized 1320])
St. Widradus of Flavigny [also known as St. Ware] (French, Benedictine abbot, d. 747)

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 -- whatever moves you. If you are interested in one of these saints or blesseds and want to find out more about him/her, please ask. Additional 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), October 03, 2004

Answers

Mother Theodore Guérin and five other sisters, sent from their French homeland, established the Academy of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods on July 4, 1841, at Terre Haute, Indiana. It was the first Catholic women's liberal arts college in the United States.

They also opened eleven other schools in Indiana, founded an orphanage for girls and one for boys, and opened pharmacies where medicines were dispensed free to the poor.

-- ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), October 03, 2004.