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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260918
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260919
DTSTAMP:20260404T020442
CREATED:20170728T180934Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170728T180934Z
UID:50944-1789689600-1789775999@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Joseph of Cupertino
DESCRIPTION:Image: Saint Joseph of Cupertino. Engraving after F.A. Lorenzini | Wellcome Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Joseph of Cupertino\nSaint of the Day for September 18\n(June 17\, 1603 – September 18\, 1663)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Joseph of Cupertino’s Story\nJoseph is most famous for levitating at prayer. Already as a child\, Joseph showed a fondness for prayer. After a short career with the Capuchins\, he joined the Conventual Franciscans. Following a brief assignment caring for the friary mule\, Joseph began his studies for the priesthood. Though studies were very difficult for him\, Joseph gained a great deal of knowledge from prayer. He was ordained in 1628. \nJoseph’s tendency to levitate during prayer was sometimes a cross; some people came to see this much as they might have gone to a circus sideshow. Joseph’s gift led him to be humble\, patient\, and obedient\, even though at times he was greatly tempted and felt forsaken by God. He fasted and wore iron chains for much of his life. \nThe friars transferred Joseph several times for his own good and for the good of the rest of the community. He was reported to and investigated by the Inquisition; the examiners exonerated him. \nJoseph was canonized in 1767. In the investigation preceding the canonization\, 70 incidents of levitation are recorded. \n\nReflection\nWhile levitation is an extraordinary sign of holiness\, Joseph is also remembered for the ordinary signs he showed. He prayed even in times of inner darkness\, and he lived out the Sermon on the Mount. He used his “unique possession” (his free will) to praise God and to serve God’s creation. \n\nSaint Joseph of Cupertino is the Patron Saint of:\nAir Travelers\nAstronauts\nPilots
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-joseph-of-cupertino/2026-09-18/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260919
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260920
DTSTAMP:20260404T020442
CREATED:20170728T180936Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170728T180936Z
UID:50946-1789776000-1789862399@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Januarius
DESCRIPTION:Image: The Martyrdom of Saint Januarius | Neri di Bicci\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Januarius\nSaint of the Day for September 19\n(c. 300)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Januarius’ Story\nLittle is known about the life of Januarius. He is believed to have been martyred in the Emperor Diocletian’s persecution of 305. Legend has it that Januarius and his companions were thrown to the bears in the amphitheater of Pozzuoli\, but the animals failed to attack them. They were then beheaded\, and Januarius’ blood ultimately brought to Naples. \n\nReflection\nIt is defined Catholic doctrine that miracles can happen and are recognizable. Problems arise\, however\, when we must decide whether an occurrence is unexplainable in natural terms\, or merely unexplained. We do well to avoid an excessive credulity but\, on the other hand\, when even scientists speak about “probabilities” rather than “laws” of nature\, it is something less than imaginative for Christians to think that God is too “scientific” to work extraordinary miracles to wake us up to the everyday miracles of sparrows and dandelions\, raindrops and snowflakes. \n\nSaint Januarius is the Patron Saint of:\nBlood Banks\nNaples
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-januarius/2026-09-19/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260920
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260921
DTSTAMP:20260404T020442
CREATED:20170728T180938Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170728T180938Z
UID:50947-1789862400-1789948799@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saints Andrew Kim Taegon\, Paul Chong Hasang\, and Companions
DESCRIPTION:Image: Saint Andrew Kim Taegon and Companions | CNS Photo\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaints Andrew Kim Taegon\, Paul Chong Hasang\, and Companions\nSaint of the Day for September 20\n(d. between 1839 – 1867)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaints Andrew Kim Taegon\, Paul Chong Hasang\, and Companions’ Story\nThis first native Korean priest was the son of Korean converts. His father\, Ignatius Kim\, was martyred during the persecution of 1839 and was beatified in 1925. After Baptism at the age of 15\, Andrew traveled 1\,300 miles to the seminary in Macao\, China. After six years\, he managed to return to his country through Manchuria. That same year he crossed the Yellow Sea to Shanghai and was ordained a priest. Back home again\, he was assigned to arrange for more missionaries to enter by a water route that would elude the border patrol. He was arrested\, tortured\, and finally beheaded at the Han River near Seoul\, the capital. Paul Chong Hasang was a lay apostle and married man\, aged 45. \nChristianity came to Korea during the Japanese invasion in 1592 when some Koreans were baptized\, probably by Christian Japanese soldiers. Evangelization was difficult because Korea refused all contact with the outside world except for taking taxes to Beijing annually. On one of these occasions\, around 1777\, Christian literature obtained from Jesuits in China led educated Korean Christians to study. A home Church began. When a Chinese priest managed to enter secretly a dozen years later\, he found 4\,000 Catholics\, none of whom had ever seen a priest. Seven years later there were 10\,000 Catholics. Religious freedom came in 1883. \nWhen Pope John Paul II visited Korea in 1984\, he canonized\, besides Andrew and Paul\, 98 Koreans and three French missionaries who had been martyred between 1839 and 1867. Among them were bishops and priests\, but for the most part they were lay persons: 47 women\, 45 men. \nAmong the martyrs in 1839 was Columba Kim\, an unmarried woman of 26. She was put in prison\, pierced with hot tools and seared with burning coals. She and her sister Agnes were disrobed and kept for two days in a cell with condemned criminals\, but were not molested. After Columba complained about the indignity\, no more women were subjected to it. The two were beheaded. A boy of 13\, Peter Ryou\, had his flesh so badly torn that he could pull off pieces and throw them at the judges. He was killed by strangulation. Protase Chong\, a 41-year-old noble\, apostatized under torture and was freed. Later he came back\, confessed his faith and was tortured to death. \n\nReflection\nWe marvel at the fact that the Korean Church was strictly a lay Church for a dozen years after its birth. How did the people survive without the Eucharist? It is no belittling of this and other sacraments to realize that there must be a living faith before there can be a truly beneficial celebration of the Eucharist. The sacraments are signs of God’s initiative and response to faith already present. The sacraments increase grace and faith\, but only if there is something ready to be increased.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saints-andrew-kim-taegon-paul-chong-hasang-and-companions/2026-09-20/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260921
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260922
DTSTAMP:20260404T020442
CREATED:20170728T180940Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170728T180940Z
UID:50948-1789948800-1790035199@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Matthew
DESCRIPTION:Image: St Matthew and the Angel | Guido Reni\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Matthew\nSaint of the Day for September 21\n(c. 1st Century)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Matthew’s Story\nMatthew was a Jew who worked for the occupying Roman forces\, collecting taxes from other Jews. The Romans were not scrupulous about what the “tax farmers” got for themselves. Hence the latter\, known as “publicans\,” were generally hated as traitors by their fellow Jews. The Pharisees lumped them with “sinners” (see Matthew 9:11-13). So it was shocking to them to hear Jesus call such a man to be one of his intimate followers. \nMatthew got Jesus in further trouble by having a sort of going-away party at his house. The Gospel tells us that many tax collectors and “those known as sinners” came to the dinner. The Pharisees were still more badly shocked. What business did the supposedly great teacher have associating with such immoral people? Jesus’ answer was\, “Those who are well do not need a physician\, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words\, ‘I desire mercy\, not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners” (Matthew 9:12b-13). Jesus is not setting aside ritual and worship; he is saying that loving others is even more important. \nNo other particular incidents about Matthew are found in the New Testament. \n\nReflection\nFrom such an unlikely situation\, Jesus chose one of the foundations of the Church\, a man others\, judging from his job\, thought was not holy enough for the position. But he was honest enough to admit that he was one of the sinners Jesus came to call. He was open enough to recognize truth when he saw him. “And he got up and followed him” (Matthew 9:9b). \n\nSaint Matthew is the Patron Saint of:\nAccountants\nActors\nBankers\nBookkeepers\nTax collectors\nTaxi Drivers
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-matthew/2026-09-21/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260922
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260923
DTSTAMP:20260404T020442
CREATED:20170728T180942Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170728T180942Z
UID:50952-1790035200-1790121599@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions
DESCRIPTION:Image: San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish Church | photo by Judgefloro\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions\nSaint of the Day for September 22\n(1600 – September 29 or 30\, 1637)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions’ Story\nLorenzo was born in Manila of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother\, both Christians. Thus he learned Chinese and Tagalog from them and Spanish from the Dominicans whom he served as altar boy and sacristan. He became a professional calligrapher\, transcribing documents in beautiful penmanship. He was a full member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary under Dominican auspices. He married and had two sons and a daughter. \nHis life took an abrupt turn when he was accused of murder. Nothing further is known except the statement of two Dominicans that “he was sought by the authorities on account of a homicide to which he was present or which was attributed to him.” \nAt that time\, three Dominican priests\, Antonio Gonzalez\, Guillermo Courtet\, and Miguel de Aozaraza\, were about to sail to Japan in spite of a violent persecution there. With them was a Japanese priest\, Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz\, and a layman named Lazaro\, a leper. Lorenzo\, having taken asylum with them\, was allowed to accompany them. But only when they were at sea did he learn that they were going to Japan. \nThey landed at Okinawa. Lorenzo could have gone on to Formosa\, but\, he reported\, “I decided to stay with the Fathers\, because the Spaniards would hang me there.” In Japan\, they were soon found out\, arrested\, and taken to Nagasaki. The site of wholesale bloodshed when the atomic bomb was dropped had known tragedy before. The 50\,000 Catholics who once lived there were dispersed or killed by persecution. \nThey were subjected to an unspeakable kind of torture: After huge quantities of water were forced down their throats\, they were made to lie down. Long boards were placed on their stomachs and guards then stepped on the ends of the boards\, forcing the water to spurt violently from mouth\, nose and ears. \nThe superior\, Antonio\, died after some days. Both the Japanese priest and Lazaro broke under torture\, which included the insertion of bamboo needles under their fingernails. But both were brought back to courage by their companions. \nIn Lorenzo’s moment of crisis\, he asked the interpreter\, “I would like to know if\, by apostatizing\, they will spare my life.” The interpreter was noncommittal\, but Lorenzo\, in the ensuing hours\, felt his faith grow strong. He became bold\, even audacious\, with his interrogators. \nThe five were put to death by being hanged upside down in pits. Boards fitted with semicircular holes were fitted around their waists and stones put on top to increase the pressure. They were tightly bound\, to slow circulation and prevent a speedy death. They were allowed to hang for three days. By that time Lorenzo and Lazaro were dead. The three Dominican priests\, still alive\, were beheaded. \nIn 1987\, Pope John Paul II canonized these six and 10 others\, Asians and Europeans\, men and women\, who spread the faith in the Philippines\, Formosa\, and Japan. Lorenzo Ruiz is the first canonized Filipino martyr. \n\nReflection\nWe ordinary Christians of today—how would we stand up in the circumstances these martyrs faced? We sympathize with the two who temporarily denied the faith. We understand Lorenzo’s terrible moment of temptation. But we see also the courage—unexplainable in human terms—which surged from their store of faith. Martyrdom\, like ordinary life\, is a miracle of grace. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Saint Lorenzo Ruiz and Companions is September 28.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-lorenzo-ruiz-and-companions/2026-09-22/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260923
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260924
DTSTAMP:20260404T020442
CREATED:20170728T180943Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170728T180943Z
UID:50955-1790121600-1790207999@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Pio of Pietrelcina
DESCRIPTION:Image: Saint Pio of Pietrecina | San Sebastian Cathedral of Tarlac\, Philippines | photo by Ramon FVelasquez\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Pio of Pietrelcina\nSaint of the Day for September 23\n(May 25\, 1887 – September 23\, 1968)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Pio of Pietrelcina’s Story\nIn one of the largest such ceremonies in history\, Pope John Paul II canonized Padre Pio of Pietrelcina on June 16\, 2002. It was the 45th canonization ceremony in Pope John Paul’s pontificate. More than 300\,000 people braved blistering heat as they filled St. Peter’s Square and nearby streets. They heard the Holy Father praise the new saint for his prayer and charity. “This is the most concrete synthesis of Padre Pio’s teaching\,” said the pope. He also stressed Padre Pio’s witness to the power of suffering. If accepted with love\, the Holy Father stressed\, such suffering can lead to “a privileged path of sanctity.” \nMany people have turned to the Italian Capuchin Franciscan to intercede with God on their behalf; among them was the future Pope John Paul II. In 1962\, when he was still an archbishop in Poland\, he wrote to Padre Pio and asked him to pray for a Polish woman with throat cancer. Within two weeks\, she had been cured of her life-threatening disease. \nBorn Francesco Forgione\, Padre Pio grew up in a family of farmers in southern Italy. Twice his father worked in Jamaica\, New York\, to provide the family income. \nAt the age of 15\, Francesco joined the Capuchins and took the name of Pio. He was ordained in 1910 and was drafted during World War I. After he was discovered to have tuberculosis\, he was discharged. In 1917\, he was assigned to the friary in San Giovanni Rotondo\, 75 miles from the city of Bari on the Adriatic. \nOn September 20\, 1918\, as he was making his thanksgiving after Mass\, Padre Pio had a vision of Jesus. When the vision ended\, he had the stigmata in his hands\, feet\, and side. \nLife became more complicated after that. Medical doctors\, Church authorities\, and curiosity seekers came to see Padre Pio. In 1924\, and again in 1931\, the authenticity of the stigmata was questioned; Padre Pio was not permitted to celebrate Mass publicly or to hear confessions. He did not complain of these decisions\, which were soon reversed. However\, he wrote no letters after 1924. His only other writing\, a pamphlet on the agony of Jesus\, was done before 1924. \nPadre Pio rarely left the friary after he received the stigmata\, but busloads of people soon began coming to see him. Each morning after a 5 a.m. Mass in a crowded church\, he heard confessions until noon. He took a mid-morning break to bless the sick and all who came to see him. Every afternoon he also heard confessions. In time his confessional ministry would take 10 hours a day; penitents had to take a number so that the situation could be handled. Many of them have said that Padre Pio knew details of their lives that they had never mentioned. \nPadre Pio saw Jesus in all the sick and suffering. At his urging\, a fine hospital was built on nearby Mount Gargano. The idea arose in 1940; a committee began to collect money. Ground was broken in 1946. Building the hospital was a technical wonder because of the difficulty of getting water there and of hauling up the building supplies. This “House for the Alleviation of Suffering” has 350 beds. \nA number of people have reported cures they believe were received through the intercession of Padre Pio. Those who assisted at his Masses came away edified; several curiosity seekers were deeply moved. Like Saint Francis\, Padre Pio sometimes had his habit torn or cut by souvenir hunters. \nOne of Padre Pio’s sufferings was that unscrupulous people several times circulated prophecies that they claimed originated from him. He never made prophecies about world events and never gave an opinion on matters that he felt belonged to Church authorities to decide. He died on September 23\, 1968\, and was beatified in 1999. \n\nReflection\nAt Padre Pio’s canonization Mass in 2002\, Saint John Paul II referred to that day’s Gospel (Matthew 11:25-30) and said: “The Gospel image of ‘yoke’ evokes the many trials that the humble Capuchin of San Giovanni Rotondo endured. Today we contemplate in him how sweet is the ‘yoke’ of Christ and indeed how light the burdens are whenever someone carries these with faithful love. The life and mission of Padre Pio testify that difficulties and sorrows\, if accepted with love\, transform themselves into a privileged journey of holiness\, which opens the person toward a greater good\, known only to the Lord.” \n\nAnother Saint of the Day for September 23 is Blessed Pica Bernardone.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-pio-of-pietrelcina/2026-09-23/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260924
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260925
DTSTAMP:20260404T020442
CREATED:20170728T180945Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170728T180945Z
UID:50958-1790208000-1790294399@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Blessed John Henry Newman
DESCRIPTION:Image: John Henry Newman | Sir John Everett Millais\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBlessed John Henry Newman\nSaint of the Day for September 24\n(February 21\, 1801 – August 11\, 1890)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nBlessed John Henry Newman’s Story\nJohn Henry Newman\, the 19th-century’s most important English-speaking Roman Catholic theologian\, spent the first half of his life as an Anglican and the second half as a Roman Catholic. He was a priest\, popular preacher\, writer\, and eminent theologian in both Churches. \nBorn in London\, England\, he studied at Oxford’s Trinity College\, was a tutor at Oriel College\, and for 17 years was vicar of the university church\, St. Mary the Virgin. He eventually published eight volumes of Parochial and Plain Sermons as well as two novels. His poem\, “Dream of Gerontius\,” was set to music by Sir Edward Elgar. \nAfter 1833\, Newman was a prominent member of the Oxford Movement\, which emphasized the Church’s debt to the Church Fathers and challenged any tendency to consider truth as completely subjective. \nHistorical research made Newman suspect that the Roman Catholic Church was in closest continuity with the Church that Jesus established. In 1845\, he was received into full communion as a Catholic. Two years later he was ordained a Catholic priest in Rome and joined the Congregation of the Oratory\, founded three centuries earlier by Saint Philip Neri. Returning to England\, Newman founded Oratory houses in Birmingham and London and for seven years served as rector of the Catholic University of Ireland. \nBefore Newman\, Catholic theology tended to ignore history\, preferring instead to draw deductions from first principles—much as plane geometry does. After Newman\, the lived experience of believers was recognized as a key part of theological reflection. \nNewman eventually wrote 40 books and 21\,000 letters that survive. Most famous are his book-length Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine\, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine\, Apologia Pro Vita Sua (his spiritual autobiography up to 1864). and Essay on the Grammar of Assent. He accepted Vatican I’s teaching on papal infallibility while noting its limits\, which many people who favored that definition were reluctant to do. \nWhen Newman was named a cardinal in 1879\, he took as his motto “Cor ad cor loquitur” (“Heart speaks to heart”). He was buried in Rednal 11 years later. After his grave was exhumed in 2008\, a new tomb was prepared at the Oratory church in Birmingham. \nThree years after Newman died\, a Newman Club for Catholic students began at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In time\, his name was linked to ministry centers at many public and private colleges and universities in the United States. \nPope Benedict XVI beatified Newman on September 19\, 2010\, at Crofton Park. Benedict noted Newman’s emphasis on the vital place of revealed religion in civilized society but also praised his pastoral zeal for the sick\, the poor\, the bereaved\, and those in prison. \n\nReflection\nJohn Henry Newman has been called the “absent Father of Vatican II” because his writings on conscience\, religious liberty\, Scripture\, the vocation of lay people\, the relation of Church and State\, and other topics were extremely influential in the shaping of the Council’s documents. Although Newman was not always understood or appreciated\, he steadfastly preached the Good News by word and example. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Blessed John Henry Newman is October 9.\n\nAnother Saint of the Day for September 24 is Saint Pacifico of San Severino.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/blessed-john-henry-newman/2026-09-24/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260925
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260926
DTSTAMP:20260404T020442
CREATED:20170728T180947Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170728T180947Z
UID:50962-1790294400-1790380799@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saints Louis Martin and Zélie Guerin
DESCRIPTION:Image: Casket of Louis and Zélie Martin | crypt of the Basilica of Sainte-Thérèse\, Lisieux\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaints Louis Martin and Zélie Guerin\nSaint of the Day for September 25\n(August 22\, 1823 – July 29\, 1894; December 23\, 1831 – August 28\, 1877)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaints Louis Martin and Zélie Guerin’s Story\nBorn into a military family in Bordeaux\, Louis trained to become a watchmaker. His desire to join a religious community went unfulfilled because he didn’t know Latin. Moving to Normandy\, he met the highly-skilled lace maker\, Zélie Guerin\, who also had been disappointed in her attempts to enter religious life. They married in 1858\, and over the years were blessed with nine children\, though two sons and two daughters died in infancy. \nLouis managed the lace-making business that Zélie continued at home while raising their children. She died from breast cancer in 1877. \nLouis then moved the family to Lisieux to be near his brother and sister-in-law\, who helped with the education of his five surviving girls. His health began to fail after his 15-year-old daughter entered the Monastery of Mount Carmel at Lisieux in 1888. Louis died in 1894\, a few months after being committed to a sanitarium. \nThe home that Louis and Zélie created nurtured the sanctity of all their children\, but especially their youngest\, who is known to us as Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus. Louis and Zélie were beatified in 2008\, and canonized by Pope Francis on October 18\, 2015. \n\nReflection\nIn life\, Louis and Zélie knew great joy and excruciating sorrow. They firmly believed that God was with them throughout every challenge that married life\, parenting\, and their occupations presented. \n\nThe Liturgical Feast of Saints Louis Martin and Zélie Guerin is July 12.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saints-louis-martin-and-zelie-guerin/2026-09-25/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260926
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260927
DTSTAMP:20260404T020442
CREATED:20170728T180948Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170728T180948Z
UID:50964-1790380800-1790467199@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Blessed Paul VI
DESCRIPTION:Image: Pope Paul VI | photo by Ambrosius007\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBlessed Pope Paul VI\nSaint of the Day for September 26\n(September 26\, 1897 – August 6\, 1978)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nBlessed Paul VI’s Story\nBorn near Brescia in northern Italy\, Giovanni Battista Montini was the second of three sons. His father\, Giorgio\, was a lawyer\, editor\, and eventually a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies. His mother\, Giuditta\, was very involved in Catholic Action. \nAfter ordination in 1920\, Giovanni did graduate studies in literature\, philosophy\, and canon law in Rome before he joined the Vatican Secretariat of State in 1924\, where he worked for 30 years. He was also chaplain to the Federation of Italian Catholic University Students\, where he met and became a very good friend of Aldo Moro\, who eventually became prime minister (1963-68 and 1974-76). Moro was kidnapped by the Red Brigade in March 1978\, and murdered two months later. A devastated Pope Paul VI presided at his funeral. \nIn 1954\, Montini was named archbishop of Milan\, where he sought to win disaffected workers back to the Catholic Church. He called himself the “archbishop of the workers” and visited factories regularly while overseeing the rebuilding of a local Church tremendously disrupted by World War II. \nIn 1958\, Montini was the first of 23 cardinals named by Pope John XXIII\, two months after the latter’s election as pope. Cardinal Montini helped in preparing Vatican II and participated enthusiastically in its first sessions. When he was elected pope in June 1963\, he immediately decided to continue that Council\, which had another three sessions before its conclusion on December 8\, 1965. The day before Vatican II concluded\, Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras revoked the excommunications that their predecessors had made in 1054. Pope Paul worked very hard to ensure that bishops would approve the Council’s 16 documents by overwhelming majorities. \nPaul VI had stunned the world by visiting the Holy Land in January 1964\, and meeting Athenagoras\, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in person. The pope made eight more international trips\, including one in 1965\, to visit New York City and speak on behalf of peace before the United Nations General Assembly. He also visited India\, Columbia\, Uganda\, and seven Asian countries during a 10-day visit in 1970. \nIn 1965\, he instituted the World Synod of Bishops and the next year decreed that bishops must offer their resignations on reaching age 75. In 1970\, he decided that cardinals over 80 would no longer vote in papal conclaves or head the Holy See’s major offices. He had increased the number of cardinals significantly\, giving many countries their first cardinal. Eventually establishing diplomatic relations between the Holy See and 40 countries\, he also instituted a permanent observer mission at the United Nations in 1964. Pope Paul wrote seven encyclicals; his last one in 1968\, on human life (Humanae Vitae) prohibited artificial birth control. \nHe died at Castel Gandolfo on August 6\, 1978\, and was buried in St. Peter’s Basilica. He was beatified on October 19\, 2014. \n\nReflection\nBlessed Pope Paul’s greatest accomplishment was the completion and implementation of Vatican II. Its decisions about liturgy were the first ones noticed by most Catholics\, but its other documents—especially the ones about ecumenism\, interfaith relations\, divine revelation\, religious liberty\, the Church’s self-understanding and the Church’s work with the entire human family—have become the Catholic Church’s road map since 1965. \n\nOther Saints of the Day for September 26 are Saint Cosmas and Damian and Saint Elzear and Blessed Delphina.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/blessed-paul-vi/2026-09-26/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260927
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260928
DTSTAMP:20260404T020442
CREATED:20170728T180950Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170728T180950Z
UID:50967-1790467200-1790553599@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Vincent de Paul
DESCRIPTION:Image: Detail | Saint Vincent de Paul | Jean-Jules-Antoine Lecomte du Nouÿ\n\nSaint Vincent de Paul\nSaint of the Day for September 27\n(1580 – September 27\, 1660)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Vincent de Paul’s Story\nThe deathbed confession of a dying servant opened Vincent’s eyes to the crying spiritual needs of the peasantry of France. This seems to have been a crucial moment in the life of the man from a small farm in Gascony\, France\, who had become a priest with little more ambition than to have a comfortable life. \nIt was the Countess de Gondi (whose servant he had helped) who persuaded her husband to endow and support a group of able and zealous missionaries who would work among poor tenant farmers and country people in general. Vincent was too humble to accept leadership at first\, but after working for some time in Paris among imprisoned galley-slaves\, he returned to be the leader of what is now known as the Congregation of the Mission\, or the Vincentians. These priests\, with vows of poverty\, chastity\, obedience\, and stability\, were to devote themselves entirely to the people in smaller towns and villages. \nLater\, Vincent established confraternities of charity for the spiritual and physical relief of the poor and sick of each parish. From these\, with the help of Saint Louise de Marillac\, came the Daughters of Charity\, “whose convent is the sickroom\, whose chapel is the parish church\, whose cloister is the streets of the city.” He organized the rich women of Paris to collect funds for his missionary projects\, founded several hospitals\, collected relief funds for the victims of war\, and ransomed over 1\,200 galley slaves from North Africa. He was zealous in conducting retreats for clergy at a time when there was great laxity\, abuse\, and ignorance among them. He was a pioneer in clerical training and was instrumental in establishing seminaries. \nMost remarkably\, Vincent was by temperament a very irascible person—even his friends admitted it. He said that except for the grace of God he would have been “hard and repulsive\, rough and cross.” But he became a tender and affectionate man\, very sensitive to the needs of others. \nPope Leo XIII made him the patron of all charitable societies. Outstanding among these\, of course\, is the Society of St. Vincent de Paul\, founded in 1833 by his admirer Blessed Frédéric Ozanam. \n\nReflection\nThe Church is for all God’s children\, rich and poor\, peasants and scholars\, the sophisticated and the simple. But obviously the greatest concern of the Church must be for those who need the most help—those made helpless by sickness\, poverty\, ignorance\, or cruelty. Vincent de Paul is a particularly appropriate patron for all Christians today\, when hunger has become starvation\, and the high living of the rich stands in more and more glaring contrast to the physical and moral degradation in which many of God’s children are forced to live. \n\nSaint Vincent de Paul is the Patron Saint of:\nCharitable Societies
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-vincent-de-paul/2026-09-27/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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CREATED:20170728T180952Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170728T180952Z
UID:50968-1790553600-1790639999@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Wenceslaus
DESCRIPTION:Image: Saint Wenceslaus statue on the Gothic Bridge in Kłodzko | photo by Jacek Halicki\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Wenceslaus\nSaint of the Day for September 28\n(c. 907 – 929)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Wenceslaus’ Story\nIf saints have been falsely characterized as “other worldly\,” the life of Wenceslaus stands as an example to the contrary: He stood for Christian values in the midst of the political intrigues which characterized 10th-century Bohemia. \nHe was born in 907 near Prague\, son of the Duke of Bohemia. His saintly grandmother\, Ludmilla\, raised him and sought to promote him as ruler of Bohemia in place of his mother\, who favored the anti-Christian factions. Ludmilla was eventually murdered\, but rival Christian forces enabled Wenceslaus to assume leadership of the government. \nHis rule was marked by efforts toward unification within Bohemia\, support of the Church\, and peace-making negotiations with Germany\, a policy which caused him trouble with the anti-Christian opposition. His brother Boleslav joined in the plotting\, and in September of 929 invited Wenceslaus to Alt Bunglou for the celebration of the feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian. On the way to Mass\, Boleslav attacked his brother\, and in the struggle\, Wenceslaus was killed by supporters of Boleslav. \nAlthough his death resulted primarily from political upheaval\, Wenceslaus was hailed as a martyr for the faith\, and his tomb became a pilgrimage shrine. He is hailed as the patron of the Bohemian people and of former Czechoslovakia. \n\nReflection\n“Good King Wenceslaus” was able to incarnate his Christianity in a world filled with political unrest. While we are often victims of violence of a different sort\, we can easily identify with his struggle to bring harmony to society. The call to become involved in social change and in political activity is addressed to Christians; the values of the gospel are sorely needed today. \n\nSaint Wenceslaus is the Patron Saint of :\nBohemia
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-wenceslaus/2026-09-28/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260930
DTSTAMP:20260404T020442
CREATED:20170728T180953Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170728T180953Z
UID:50971-1790640000-1790726399@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saints Michael\, Gabriel\, and Raphael
DESCRIPTION:Image: Detail | East window behind the altar | St. Michael’s Church\, Ballinasloe\, County Galway\, Ireland | Frederick Settle Barff\n\nSaints Michael\, Gabriel\, and Raphael\nSaint of the Day for September 29\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaints Michael\, Gabriel\, and Raphael’s Story\nAngels—messengers from God—appear frequently in Scripture\, but only Michael\, Gabriel and Raphael are named. \nMichael appears in Daniel’s vision as “the great prince” who defends Israel against its enemies; in the Book of Revelation\, he leads God’s armies to final victory over the forces of evil. Devotion to Michael is the oldest angelic devotion\, rising in the East in the fourth century. The Church in the West began to observe a feast honoring Michael and the angels in the fifth century. \nGabriel also makes an appearance in Daniel’s visions\, announcing Michael’s role in God’s plan. His best-known appearance is an encounter with a young Jewish girl named Mary\, who consents to bear the Messiah. \nRaphael’s activity is confined to the Old Testament story of Tobit. There he appears to guide Tobit’s son Tobiah through a series of fantastic adventures which lead to a threefold happy ending: Tobiah’s marriage to Sarah\, the healing of Tobit’s blindness\, and the restoration of the family fortune. \nThe memorials of Gabriel and Raphael were added to the Roman calendar in 1921. The 1970 revision of the calendar joined their feasts to Michael’s. \n\nReflection\nEach of these archangels performs a different mission in Scripture: Michael protects; Gabriel announces; Raphael guides. Earlier belief that inexplicable events were due to the actions of spiritual beings has given way to a scientific world-view and a different sense of cause and effect. Yet believers still experience God’s protection\, communication\, and guidance in ways which defy description. We cannot dismiss angels too lightly. \n\nSaints Michael\, Gabriel\, and Raphael are the Patron Saints of:\nDeath\nGermany\nGrocers\nPolice Officers\nRadiologists \nSaint Gabriel is the Patron Saint of:\nBroadcasters \nSaint Raphael is the Patron Saint of:\nThe Blind
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saints-michael-gabriel-and-raphael/2026-09-29/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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CREATED:20170728T180955Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170728T180955Z
UID:50977-1790726400-1790812799@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Jerome
DESCRIPTION:Image: One side of a double-sided panel. Three saints in full figure – Saint Sylvester\, Saint Jerome\, and Saint Martin | anonymous\nSaint Jerome\nSaint of the Day for September 30\n(345 – 420)\nClick to hear audio clip ►\nSaint Jerome’s Story\nMost of the saints are remembered for some outstanding virtue or devotion which they practiced\, but Jerome is frequently remembered for his bad temper! It is true that he had a very bad temper and could use a vitriolic pen\, but his love for God and his son Jesus Christ was extraordinarily intense; anyone who taught error was an enemy of God and truth\, and Saint Jerome went after him or her with his mighty and sometimes sarcastic pen. \nHe was above all a Scripture scholar\, translating most of the Old Testament from the Hebrew. He also wrote commentaries which are a great source of scriptural inspiration for us today. He was an avid student\, a thorough scholar\, a prodigious letter-writer and a consultant to monk\, bishop\, and pope. Saint Augustine said of him\, “What Jerome is ignorant of\, no mortal has ever known.” \nSaint Jerome is particularly important for having made a translation of the Bible which came to be called the Vulgate. It is not the most critical edition of the Bible\, but its acceptance by the Church was fortunate. As a modern scholar says\, “No man before Jerome or among his contemporaries and very few men for many centuries afterwards were so well qualified to do the work.” The Council of Trent called for a new and corrected edition of the Vulgate\, and declared it the authentic text to be used in the Church. \nIn order to be able to do such work\, Jerome prepared himself well. He was a master of Latin\, Greek\, Hebrew\, and Chaldaic. He began his studies at his birthplace\, Stridon in Dalmatia. After his preliminary education\, he went to Rome\, the center of learning at that time\, and thence to Trier\, Germany\, where the scholar was very much in evidence. He spent several years in each place\, always trying to find the very best teachers. He once served as private secretary of Pope Damasus. \nAfter these preparatory studies\, he traveled extensively in Palestine\, marking each spot of Christ’s life with an outpouring of devotion. Mystic that he was\, he spent five years in the desert of Chalcis so that he might give himself up to prayer\, penance\, and study. Finally\, he settled in Bethlehem\, where he lived in the cave believed to have been the birthplace of Christ. Jerome died in Bethlehem\, and the remains of his body now lie buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. \n\nReflection\nJerome was a strong\, outspoken man. He had the virtues and the unpleasant fruits of being a fearless critic and all the usual moral problems of a man. He was\, as someone has said\, no admirer of moderation whether in virtue or against evil. He was swift to anger\, but also swift to feel remorse\, even more severe on his own shortcomings than on those of others. A pope is said to have remarked\, on seeing a picture of Jerome striking his breast with a stone\, “You do well to carry that stone\, for without it the Church would never have canonized you” (Butler’s Lives of the Saints). \n\nSaint Jerome is the patron Saint of:\nLibrarians\nTranslators\nScholars
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-jerome/2026-09-30/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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CREATED:20170801T133138Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T133138Z
UID:50982-1790812800-1790899199@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
DESCRIPTION:  \nImage: Saint Thérèse of Lisieux as a novice at age 16. | Carmelite Archives of Lisieux\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaint Thérèse of Lisieux\nSaint of the Day for October 1\n(January 2\, 1873 – September 30\, 1897)\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nSaint Thérèse of Lisieux’s Story\n“I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifice to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul.” \nThese are the words of Thérèse of Lisieux\, a Carmelite nun called the “Little Flower\,” who lived a cloistered life of obscurity in the convent of Lisieux\, France. And her preference for hidden sacrifice did indeed convert souls. Few saints of God are more popular than this young nun. Her autobiography\, The Story of a Soul\, is read and loved throughout the world. Thérèse Martin entered the convent at the age of 15 and died in 1897 at the age of 24. \nLife in a Carmelite convent is indeed uneventful and consists mainly of prayer and hard domestic work. But Thérèse possessed that holy insight that redeems the time\, however dull that time may be. She saw in quiet suffering a redemptive suffering\, suffering that was indeed her apostolate. Thérèse said she came to the Carmel convent “to save souls and pray for priests.” And shortly before she died\, she wrote: “I want to spend my heaven doing good on earth.” \nThérèse was canonized in 1925. On October 19\, 1997\, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a Doctor of the Church\, the third woman to be so recognized in light of her holiness and the influence of her teaching on spirituality in the Church. \nHer parents\, Louis and Zélie\, were beatified in 2008\, and canonized in 2015. \n\nReflection\nThérèse has much to teach our age of the image\, the appearance\, the “sell.” We have become a dangerously self-conscious people\, painfully aware of the need to be fulfilled\, yet knowing we are not. Thérèse\, like so many saints\, sought to serve others\, to do something outside herself\, to forget herself in quiet acts of love. She is one of the great examples of the gospel paradox that we gain our life by losing it\, and that the seed that falls to the ground must die in order to live. \nPreoccupation with self separates modern men and women from God\, from their fellow human beings and ultimately from themselves. We must relearn to forget ourselves\, to contemplate a God who draws us out of ourselves\, and to serve others as the ultimate expression of selfhood. These are the insights of Saint Thérèse\, and they are more valid today than ever. \n\nSaint Thérèse is the Patron Saint of:\nFlorists\nMissionaries\nPilots\nPriests
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/saint-therese-of-lisieux/2026-10-01/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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CREATED:20170801T135749Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170801T135749Z
UID:50984-1790899200-1790985599@www.thefranciscanfriars.org
SUMMARY:Feast of the Guardian Angels
DESCRIPTION:Image: Detail | The Guardian Angel | Marcantonio Franceschini\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFeast of the Guardian Angels\nSaint of the Day for October 2\nClick to hear audio clip ► \nThe Story of the Feast of the Guardian Angels\nPerhaps no aspect of Catholic piety is as comforting to parents as the belief that an angel protects their little ones from dangers real and imagined. Yet guardian angels are not only for children. Their role is to represent individuals before God\, to watch over them always\, to aid their prayer\, and to present their souls to God at death. \nThe concept of an angel assigned to guide and nurture each human being is a development of Catholic doctrine and piety based on Scripture but not directly drawn from it. Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:10 best support the belief: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones\, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.” \nDevotion to the angels began to develop with the birth of the monastic tradition. Saint Benedict gave it impetus and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux\, the great 12th-century reformer\, was such an eloquent spokesman for the guardian angels that angelic devotion assumed its current form in his day. \nA feast in honor of the guardian angels was first observed in the 16th century. In 1615\, Pope Paul V added it to the Roman calendar. \n\nReflection\nDevotion to the angels is\, at base\, an expression of faith in God’s enduring love and providential care extended to each person day in and day out.
URL:https://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/event/feast-of-the-guardian-angels/2026-10-02/
CATEGORIES:Saint of the Day
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