Category: Saint of the Day

Celebration of the saints on their Feast Days.

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Saint of the Day – December 23 – Saint John of Kanty

Saint John of Kanty’s Story (June 24, 1390 – December 24, 1473)

John was a country lad who made good in the big city and the big university of Kraków, Poland. After brilliant studies he was ordained a priest and became a professor of theology. The inevitable opposition which saints encounter led to his being ousted by rivals and sent to be a parish priest at Olkusz. An extremely humble man, he did his best, but his best was not to the liking of his parishioners. Besides, he was afraid of the responsibilities of his position. But in the end he won his people’s hearts. After some time he returned to Kraków and taught Scripture for the remainder of his life.

John was a serious man, and humble, but known to all the poor of Kraków for his kindness. His goods and his money were always at their disposal, and time and again they took advantage of him. He kept only the money and clothes absolutely needed to support himself. He slept little, ate sparingly, and took no meat. He made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, hoping to be martyred by the Turks. Later John made four subsequent pilgrimages to Rome, carrying his luggage on his back. When he was warned to look after his health, he was quick to point out that, for all their austerity, the fathers of the desert lived remarkably long lives.

Reflection

John of Kanty is a typical saint: He was kind, humble, and generous, he suffered opposition and led an austere, penitential life. Most Christians in an affluent society can understand all the ingredients except the last: Anything more than mild self-discipline seems reserved for athletes and ballet dancers. Christmas at least is a good time to reject self-indulgence.

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Saint of the Day – December 19 – Saint Pope Anastasius I

Anastasius was born in Rome, the son of Maximus. His baptismal name may have been Innocentius, which according to the Liber Pontificalis was name of the father of Bp. Innocent I, his successor and of whom St. Jerome said Bp. Anastasius I was his father.
Anastasius was elected in 399 to the see of Rome as the successor to Bp. Siricius. During his short episcopate, Bp. Anastasius took action on two doctrinal issues. Rufinus, a friend of St. Jerome, produced a Latin translation of Origen’s Peri Archon, making Origen’s philosophy more widely available. As Jerome found fault with the orthodoxy of Origen’s work, he and Rufinus came to dispute each other. The dispute elevated into an appeal to the then Bishop of Rome, Siricius, which in turn fell to Anastasius upon his succession. In 400, Anastasius called a council which found Origen’s work heterodox. Anastasius acted, condemning Origen and deprecating Rufinus’ translation.

Bp. Anastasius also supported the bishops in North Africa in their fight against the Donatist heretics. He also established a rule that any priest arriving from overseas must have a letter signed by five bishops before he could be received by the church in Rome.
Bp. Anastasius reposed on December 19, 401 and was succeeded by his son Innocent I. He was buried in the Catacomb of Pontian.

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Saint of the Day – December 18 – Saints Rufus, Zosimos, and Winebald

Saints Rufus & Zosimus:

Martyred citizens of Antioch, who were brought to Rome with St. Ignatius of Antioch and shared in his martyrdom during the reign of Emperor Trajan. They died two days before Ignatius by being thrown to the beasts in the arena.

Saint Winebald:

Winebald + Benedictine abbot and missionary. The brother of Sts. Willibald and Walburga, he was born in Wessex, England, and went on a pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land with his brother and father. When their father died at Lucca, the brothers proceeded to Rome. Winebald remained in the Eternal City while his brother went on to the Holy Land. Winebald studied in Rome for seven years, went back to England, but then returned to Rome determined to enter the religious life. At the invitation of St. Boniface, he gathered together a group of English missionaries and went to Germany in 739. Winebald was ordained, labored in Thuringia and Bavaria, and then joined Wilibald in his missionary enterprise in Eichstatt, Frisia, Holland. With his brother, he founded the monastery of Heidenheim, Germany, where he served as abbot with his sister as abbess. He struggled against the local pagans and strove to make the monastery one of the leading ecclesiastical centers in Germany. Feast day: December 18.

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Saint of the Day – December 14 – Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Saint John of the Cross’ Story (June 24, 1542 – December 14, 1591)

John is a saint because his life was a heroic effort to live up to his name: “of the Cross.” The folly of the cross came to full realization in time. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34b) is the story of John’s life. The Paschal Mystery—through death to life—strongly marks John as reformer, mystic-poet, and theologian-priest.

Ordained a Carmelite priest in 1567 at age 25, John met Teresa of Avila and like her, vowed himself to the primitive Rule of the Carmelites. As partner with Teresa and in his own right, John engaged in the work of reform, and came to experience the price of reform: increasing opposition, misunderstanding, persecution, imprisonment. He came to know the cross acutely—to experience the dying of Jesus—as he sat month after month in his dark, damp, narrow cell with only his God.

Yet, the paradox! In this dying of imprisonment John came to life, uttering poetry. In the darkness of the dungeon, John’s spirit came into the Light. There are many mystics, many poets; John is unique as mystic-poet, expressing in his prison-cross the ecstasy of mystical union with God in the Spiritual Canticle.

But as agony leads to ecstasy, so John had his Ascent to Mt. Carmel, as he named it in his prose masterpiece. As man-Christian-Carmelite, he experienced in himself this purifying ascent; as spiritual director, he sensed it in others; as psychologist-theologian, he described and analyzed it in his prose writings. His prose works are outstanding in underscoring the cost of discipleship, the path of union with God: rigorous discipline, abandonment, purification. Uniquely and strongly John underlines the gospel paradox: The cross leads to resurrection, agony to ecstasy, darkness to light, abandonment to possession, denial to self to union with God. If you want to save your life, you must lose it. John is truly “of the Cross.” He died at 49—a life short, but full.

Reflection

In his life and writings, John of the Cross has a crucial word for us today. We tend to be rich, soft, comfortable. We shrink even from words like self-denial, mortification, purification, asceticism, discipline. We run from the cross. John’s message—like the gospel—is loud and clear: Don’t—if you really want to live!

Saint John of the Cross is the Patron Saint of:

Mystics