Saint Jane – Born: 1464
Died: 1505
Canonized: 28 May 1950, by Pope Pius XII
Saint of the Day – February 4 – Saint Andrew Corsini, Bishop
Saint Andrew Corsini – Born: 1302
Died: 1373
Canonized: 1629 Pope Urban VIII
Patronage:
Florence; Fiesole; Diplomats;
Against civil disorder; Against riots
Saint of the Day – February 3 – Saint Blaise, Bishop and Martyr
Saint of the Day – February 2 – Presentation of the Lord
The Story of the Presentation of the Lord
At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among the celebrations she describes is the Epiphany, the observance of Christ’s birth, and the gala procession in honor of his Presentation in the Temple 40 days later. Under the Mosaic Law, a woman was ritually “unclean” for 40 days after childbirth, when she was to present herself to the priests and offer sacrifice—her “purification.” Contact with anyone who had brushed against mystery—birth or death—excluded a person from Jewish worship. This feast emphasizes Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple more than Mary’s purification.
The observance spread throughout the Western Church in the fifth and sixth centuries. Because the Church in the West celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25, the Presentation was moved to February 2, 40 days after Christmas.
At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope Sergius inaugurated a candlelight procession; at the end of the same century the blessing and distribution of candles which continues to this day became part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name: Candlemas.
Reflection
In Luke’s account, Jesus was welcomed in the temple by two elderly people, Simeon and the widow Anna. They embody Israel in their patient expectation; they acknowledge the infant Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. Early references to the Roman feast dub it the feast of Saint Simeon, the old man who burst into a song of joy which the Church still sings at day’s end.
Saint of the Day – February 1 – Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop and Martyr
Saint Ignatius – Born: 50 in Syria
Died: 107 (thrown to wild animals)
Patronage:
Church in eastern Mediterranean;
Church in North Africa; throat diseases
Saint of the Day – February 1 – Saint Bridgid, Abbess and Patroness of Ireland
Saint Bridgid – Born: 453 (perhaps 451)
Died: 523
Patronage:
babies; blacksmiths; boatmen; cattle; chicken farmers;
children whose parents are not married; dairymaids;
dairy workers; fugitives; infants; Ireland; Leinster, Ireland;
mariners; midwives; milk maids; newborn babies; nuns;
poets; poultry farmers; poultry raisers; printing presses;
sailors; scholars; travelers; watermen
Saint of the Day – January 31 – Saint John Bosco
Saint John Bosco: Born: 1815
Died: 1888/1889
Canonized: 1934 by Pope Pius XI
Patronage:
apprentices; boys; editors; Mexican young people; laborers; schoolchildren; students; young people
Saint of the Day – January 30 – Saint Martina, Virgin & Martyr
Saint Martina – Born: unknown
Died: martyred in 228
Patronage:
nursing mothers; Rome, Italy
Saint of the Day – January 29 – Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Saint Francis de Sales: Born: 21 August 1567
Died: 28 December 1622
Canonized: 8 April 1665, by Pope Alexander VII
Patronage:
confessors; writers; journalists; deaf people; educators
Saint of the Day – January 28 – Saint Thomas Aquinas
Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Story (1225 – March 7, 1274)
By universal consent, Thomas Aquinas is the preeminent spokesman of the Catholic tradition of reason and of divine revelation. He is one of the great teachers of the medieval Catholic Church, honored with the titles Doctor of the Church and Angelic Doctor.
At five he was given to the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino in his parents’ hopes that he would choose that way of life and eventually became abbot. In 1239, he was sent to Naples to complete his studies. It was here that he was first attracted to Aristotle’s philosophy.
By 1243, Thomas abandoned his family’s plans for him and joined the Dominicans, much to his mother’s dismay. On her order, Thomas was captured by his brother and kept at home for over a year.
Once free, he went to Paris and then to Cologne, where he finished his studies with Albert the Great. He held two professorships at Paris, lived at the court of Pope Urban IV, directed the Dominican schools at Rome and Viterbo, combated adversaries of the mendicants, as well as the Averroists, and argued with some Franciscans about Aristotelianism.
His greatest contribution to the Catholic Church is his writings. The unity, harmony, and continuity of faith and reason, of revealed and natural human knowledge, pervades his writings. One might expect Thomas, as a man of the gospel, to be an ardent defender of revealed truth. But he was broad enough, deep enough, to see the whole natural order as coming from God the Creator, and to see reason as a divine gift to be highly cherished.
The Summa Theologiae, his last and, unfortunately, uncompleted work, deals with the whole of Catholic theology. He stopped work on it after celebrating Mass on December 6, 1273. When asked why he stopped writing, he replied, “I cannot go on…. All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.” He died March 7, 1274.
Reflection
We can look to Thomas Aquinas as a towering example of Catholicism in the sense of broadness, universality, and inclusiveness. We should be determined anew to exercise the divine gift of reason in us, our power to know, learn, and understand. At the same time we should thank God for the gift of his revelation, especially in Jesus Christ.
Saint Thomas Aquinas is a Patron Saint of:
Catholic Colleges and Universities
Educators/Teachers
Philosophers/Theologians
Students