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On December 20, 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:

Sts. Ammon, Zeno, Ptolemy, Ingen, and Theophilus, of Alexandria (Egyptian, soldiers, martyred by beheading in 249)
St. Dominic of Brescia (Italian, bishop, c. 612)
St. Dominic of Caņas [better known as Dominic of Silos] [Domingo] (Spanish, peasant, shepherd, Benedictine abbot, died at about age 73 in 1073)
Bl. Gonzalo of Silos (Spanish, Benedictine monk with Dominic, 11th century)
Sts. Eugene and Macarius (Arabian, priests, martyred by the sword in 362)
St. Julius of Gelduba (Greek, early martyr)
Sts. Liberatus and Bajulus (early martyrs)
St. Malou of Hautvillers (French, priest)
Bl. Michael Piaszczynski of Lomza [Michal] (Polish, diocesan priest, martyred by Nazis at Sachsenhausen [Germany] at age 55 in 1940 [beatified 1999])
Bl. Peter de la Cadireta of Moya [Pedro] (Spanish, inquisitor, Dominican prior, martyred [stoned] by Albigensian heretics in 1277)
Bl. Peter Massalenus of Othoca [Pietro] (Sardinian [Italian], Camaldolese monk, mystic, died at about age 78 in 1453)
St. Peter Truong Van Thi of Ke So [Phero] (Vietnamese, diocesan priest, martyred by beheading at about age 76 in 1839 [beatified 1900, canonized 1988])
St. Philogonius of Antioch (from Asia Minor [now called Turkey], lawyer, widower, patriarch [bishop], opposed Arianism, d. 324)
St. Ursicinus of Cahors (French, abbot, bishop, c. 535)
St. Ursicinus of St-Ursanne (Irish, missionary and abbot in Switzerland, c. 625)
Bl. Vincent Dominic Romano of Torre del Greco [Vincenzo Domenico] (Italian, village priest, cared for orphans, died at age 80 in 1831 [beatified 1963])

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), December 20, 2004

Answers

-- ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), December 20, 2004.