THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS, TOR

Presentation of the Lord Saint of the Day for February 2 Click to hear audio clip ► 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 […]

Saint Blaise Saint of the Day for February 3 (d. c. 316) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Blaise’s Story We know more about the devotion to Saint Blaise by Christians around the world than we know about the saint himself. His feast is observed as a holy day in some Eastern Churches. In 1222, the […]

Saint Joseph of Leonissa Saint of the Day for February 4 (January 8, 1556  – February 4, 1612) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Joseph of Leonissa’s Story Joseph was born at Leonissa in the Kingdom of Naples. As a boy and as a student in early adulthood, Joseph drew attention for his energy and […]

Saint Agatha Saint of the Day for February 5 (c. 230 – 251) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Agatha’s Story As in the case of Agnes, another virgin-martyr of the early Church, almost nothing is historically certain about this saint except that she was martyred in Sicily during the persecution of Emperor Decius in […]

Saint Paul Miki and Companions Saint of the Day for February 6 (d. 1597) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Paul Miki and Companions’ Story Nagasaki, Japan, is familiar to Americans as the city on which the second atomic bomb was dropped, immediately killing over 37,000 people. Three and a half centuries before, 26 martyrs of […]

Saint Colette Saint of the Day for February 7 (January 13, 1381 – March 6, 1447) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Colette’s Story Colette did not seek the limelight, but in doing God’s will she certainly attracted a lot of attention. Colette was born in Corbie, France. At 21, she began to follow the Third […]

Saint Josephine Bakhita Saint of the Day for February 8 (c. 1869 – February 8, 1947) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Josephine Bakhita’s Story For many years, Josephine Bakhita was a slave but her spirit was always free and eventually that spirit prevailed. Born in Olgossa in the Darfur region of southern Sudan, Josephine was […]

Saint Jerome Emiliani Saint of the Day for February 9 (1486 – February 8, 1537) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Jerome Emiliani’s Story A careless and irreligious soldier for the city-state of Venice, Jerome was captured in a skirmish at an outpost town and chained in a dungeon. In prison Jerome had a lot […]

Saint Scholastica Saint of the Day for February 10 (c. 480 – February 10, 542) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Scholastica’s Story Twins often share the same interests and ideas with an equal intensity. Therefore, it is no surprise that Scholastica and her twin brother, Benedict, established religious communities within a few miles from […]

Our Lady of Lourdes  Saint of the Day for February 11 Click to hear audio clip ► The Story of Our Lady of Lourdes On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus. A little more than three years later, on February 11, 1858, a […]