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On January 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:

Pope St. Fabian (Italian, layman elected to papacy in 236, reigned until martyrdom [by beheading?] in 250)
St. Sebastian of Narbonne (Roman born in France, soldier, martyred [beaten by clubs] in Rome c. 290)

Bl. Benedict Ricasoli of Coltiboni [Benedetto] (Italian, Benedictine monk, hermit, died at about age 67 in 1107 [beatified 1907])
Bl. Cyprian Tansi of Igboezum [pre-Christian name: Iwemma-duegbunam (Let human malice not kill me)] [baptized Michael Iwene] (Nigerian, teacher, parish priest, later a member of Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance [Trappists] in England, died at age 60 in 1964 [beatified 1998]) [One of his parishioners is now Cardinal Francis Arinze.]
Bl. Daniel of Cambron (French, Cistercian abbot, d. 1232)
Bl. Desiderius of Thérouanne [Didier] (French, bishop, d. 1194)
St. Eustochia Colonna of Annunziata [baptized Smerelda (Emerald)] (Sicilian, noblewoman, Poor Clare abbess, born on Good Friday, died at age 56 in 1491 [incorrupt] [beatified 1782, canonized 1988])
St. Euthymius the Great of Melitine (Armenian, hermit, abbot, patriarch (bishop) of Jerusalem, battled Monophysitism, died at about age 94 in Palestine in 473)
St. Fechin of Fobhar (Irish, abbot, c. 665)
Bl. Mary Christine of the Immaculate Conception Brando of Naples [Maria Cristina dell'Immacolata Concezione] [baptized Adelaide] (Italian, virgin, founded Congregation of Sisters Expiatory Victims of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, died at age 49 in 1906 [beatified 2003])
St. Maurus of Rome (Italian, Benedictine abbot, bishop of Cesena, d. 946)
St. Molagga of Fermoy (Irish, abbot, c. 664)
St. Neophytus of Nicaea (from Asia Minor [now called Turkey], adolescent, martyred in 310)

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), January 20, 2005

Answers

-- ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), January 20, 2005.