All Kinds of Saints on All Saints Day.
Note: The short descriptions are taken from Wikipedia
Saint Doctor Peter Canisius SJ (May 8, 1521 – 21 December 21, 1597)
Canonized and Made a Doctor May 21, 1925, Rome by Pope Pius XI
Feast December 21 / April 27 (General Roman Calendar, 1926–1969)
He was a renowned Dutch Jesuit Catholic priest. He became known for his strong support for the Catholic faith during the Protestant Reformation in Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The restoration of the Catholic Church in Germany after the Protestant Reformation is largely attributed to the work there of the Society of Jesus, which he led.
Servant of God Élisabeth Leseur, (16 October 1866–3 May 1914),
The Cause for her Beatification started in 1934 which makes her a Servant of God.
She was a French mystic best known for her spiritual diary and the conversion of her husband, Félix Leseur (1861–1950), a medical doctor and well known leader of the French anti-clerical, atheistic movement
Saint Mary Euphrasia Pelletier (July 31, 1796– April 24, 1868)
Canonized May 2, 1940, St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican by Pope Pius XII
Feast April 24
French Roman Catholic nun, best known as the foundress of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd.
Saint Catherine Labouré, D.C.. (May 2, 1806 – December 31, 1876)
Canonized July 27, 1947, Vatican by Pope Pius XII
Feast November 28
She was a French nun who was a member of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and is a Marian visionary. She is believed to have relayed the request from the Blessed Virgin Mary to create the famous Miraculous Medal of Our Lady of Graces worn by millions of people around the world. Labouré spent forty years caring for the aged and infirm. For this, she is called the patroness of seniors.
The Uganda Martyrs including Charles Lwanga (January 1, 1860 – June 3, 1886) and Saint Kizito (1872 – June 3, 1886)
Beatified June 6, 1920, in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Kingdom of Italy, by Pope Benedict XV
Canonized 18 October 1964, Uganda, by Pope Paul VI
The Uganda Martyrs are a group of 23 Anglican and 22 Catholic converts to Christianity in the historical kingdom of Buganda, now part of Uganda, who were executed between 31 January 1885 and 27 January 1887.[2][3]
They were killed on orders of Mwanga II, the Kabaka (King) of Buganda. The deaths took place at a time when there was a three-way religious struggle for political influence at the Buganda royal court. The episode also occurred against the backdrop of the “Scramble for Africa” – the invasion, occupation, division, colonization and annexation of African territory by European powers.[4] A few years after, the English Church Missionary Society used the deaths to enlist wider public support for the British acquisition of Uganda for the Empire.[5] The Catholic Church beatified the 22 Catholic martyrs of its faith in 1920 and canonized them in 1964.
Venerable Matt Talbot (2 May 1856 – 7 June 1925)
He was declared venerable on October 3, 1975 by Pope Paul VI.
Feast June 19th
He was an Irish ascetic revered by many Catholics for his piety, charity and mortification of the flesh.
Talbot was an unskilled labourer. Though he lived alone for most of his life, Talbot did live with his mother for a time. His life would have gone unnoticed were it not for the cords and chains discovered on his body when he died suddenly on a Dublin street in 1925.
Though he has not been formally recognized as a saint, Talbot may be considered a patron of those struggling with alcoholism.
Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores (November 12, 1627 – April 2, 1672)
Beatified October 6, 1985, Vatican by Pope John Paul II
Feast October 6
He was a Spanish Jesuit missionary who founded the first Catholic church on the island of Guam. He is responsible for establishing the Christian presence in the Mariana Islands. He is a controversial figure to some today due to his conflict with the indigenous Chamorro leader Mata’pang. St. Pedro Calungsod was his companion.
Saint John Gabriel Perboyre, C.M. (January 6, 1802 – September 11, 1840)
Canonized June 2, 1996, Vatican City, by Pope John Paul II
Feast September 11th
John Gabriel Perboyre, C.M. was a French priest, who served as a missionary in China, where he became a martyr. He is considered China’s First Saint.
Blessed James Alberione (April 4, 1884 –November 26, 1971)
Beatified April 27, 2003 by Pope John Paul II
Feast November 26th
He was an Italian Catholic priest, and the founder of the Society of St. Paul, of the Daughters of St. Paul, of the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, of the Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd, of the Sisters of Mary Queen of the Apostles, and other religious institutes, which form the Pauline Family. The first two groups are best known for promoting the Catholic faith through various forms of modern media.
Blessed Cecília Schelingová (December 24, 1916 – 31 July 31, 1955)
Beatified September 14, 2003, Petržalka Square, Bratislava, Slovakia by Pope John Paul II
Feast November 23rd
She was also known as Zdenka, was a Slovak Roman Catholic professed religious of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Holy Cross and a victim of communist persecution in the former Czechoslovakia. Schelingová worked for the most part in the hospital at Bratislava before her arrest and aided priests fleeing persecution from the totalitarian communist regime in her home nation.
Saint Zygmunt Gorazdowski (November 1, 1845 –January 1, 1920)
Canonized October 23, 2005, Saint Peter’s Square, Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI
Feast January 1st
He was a Polish Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Sisters of Saint Joseph. Gorazdowski suffered from tuberculosis during his childhood which impeded his studies for the priesthood in what required him to take time off in order to recover before he could be ordained. Once he was ordained he served in various parishes while setting up homes for orphans and single mothers as well as hospices and other establishments for a range of people; he was a prolific writer of catechism and other religious notes for the benefit of his flock
Saint Charles de Foucauld, (September 15, 1858 – December 1, 1916)
Beatified November 13, 2005, Saint Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins
Feast December 1st
He was a cavalry officer in the French Army, then an explorer and geographer, and finally a Catholic priest, hermit who lived among the Tuareg in the Sahara in Algeria. He was assassinated in 1916 and is considered by the Church to be a martyr. His inspiration and writings led to the founding of the Little Brothers of Jesus among other religious congregations.
Blessed Titus Brandsma (23 February 1881 – 26 July 1942)
Beatified November 3, 1985 by Pope John Paul II
Feast July 27
Blessed Titus was a Dutch Carmelite friar, Catholic priest and professor of philosophy. Brandsma was vehemently opposed to Nazi ideology and spoke out against it many times before the Second World War. He was imprisoned in the infamous Dachau concentration camp, where he was murdered. He has been beatified by the Roman Catholic Church as a martyr of the faith.
Further Resources
Edith Stein, Marcel Callo, Titus Brandsma: Victims of the Nazis (20th Century Martyrs) (2017)by Matthew Monk
The “short priest with the cigar” who was killed at Dachau
Celebrating the Saints On YouTube
Titus Brandsma Film Trailer, Carmelite, Martyr, Blessed – On YouTube
Saint Mary MacKillop (January 15, 1842 – August 8, 1909)
Canonized October 17, 2010, Vatican City, by Pope Benedict XVI
Feast August 8th
She is the first Australian to be recognized by the Catholic Church as a saint.
Saint André of Montreal August 9, 1845 – January 6, 1937)
Canonized October 17, 2010, Saint Peter’s Square, Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI
Feast August 8th
Saint André of Montreal becomes the first Canadian living after Confederation to be canonized.
Saint Anna Schäffer (February 18, 1882 – October 5, 1925)
Canonized October 21, 2012, Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI
Feast October 5th
She was a German woman who lived in Mindelstetten in Bavaria. From 1910 mystical phenomena developed around her, including what could be described as stigmata, which she did her best to conceal from the public, and occasional waking visions which made her ecstatic.[8] These developments brought no change in her attitude, though: she remained selfless, and promised prayers and letters for anyone who wanted them.
After her death it became common to visit her grave to have prayers answered. Since 1929, more than 15,000 miracles attributed to such prayers have been reported. In 1998, 551 miracles allegedly obtained through her intercession were recorded in the parish of Mindelstetten.
Chiara Lubich (January 22, 1920,– March 14, 2008)
She was declared Servant of God January 22, 2015
She was an Italian bestselling author and spiritual leader, founder, and president of the worldwide Focolare Movement which works to foster unity and universal fraternity at all levels of society.
Louis Martin (22 August 1823 – 29 July 1894) and Marie-Azélie “Zélie” Guérin Martin (23 December 1831 – 28 August 1877
Canonized 18 October 2015, Saint Peter’s Square, Vatican City by Pope Francis
Feast 12 July
They were a French Roman Catholic couple and the parents of five nuns, including Thérèse of Lisieux, a Carmelite nun who was canonized as a saint of the Catholic Church in 1925. In 2015, the couple were also canonized as saints, becoming the first spouses in the church’s history to be canonized as a couple. Other married couples are among the blesseds of the church.
Servant of God Eileen Rosaline O’Connor
She becomes a Servant of God on August 17, 2018
She may become Australia’s 2nd Canonized Saint.
Venerable Gaetana Tolomeo (10 April 1936 – 24 January 1997)
She was declared Venerable on April 6, 2019
She was an Italian Roman Catholic. Tolomeo went through her entire life either confined to her bed or in a chair due to a progressive paralysis that rendered her disabled (she had suffered from this since her childhood to which no doctor could help alleviate). Throughout her life she gained a reputation for her piousness and the messages of the Gospel she sought to spread to others while a guest on a local radio station from 1994 until her death. Her time on the radio station marked her interest in reaching out for the conversion of sinners with an emphasis on reaching out to prostitutes or families in need.
Benedetta Bianchi Porro (8 August 1936 – 23 January 1964)
Beatified 14 September 2019, Forlì, Italy by Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu
Feast January 23
She was an Italian Roman Catholic. Born in the Romagna, she became ill with polio as a teenager. She pursued a medical career and was perceived to be a brilliant student, but the aggressive progression of her illness forced her to abandon all hopes for a medical career. She instead devoted herself to surgeries for her own health but failed to cure her ailments; instead her health took on a rapid decline.
John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890)
Canonized 13 October 2019 St. Peter’s Square,[1] Vatican City by Pope Francis
Feast day 9 October (Catholic Church) 11 August (Church of England) 21 February (Episcopal Church)
He was an English theologian and poet, first an Anglican priest and later a Catholic priest and cardinal, who was an important and controversial figure in the religious history of England in the 19th century.
Newman was also a literary figure: his major writings include the Tracts for the Times (1833–1841), his autobiography Apologia Pro Vita Sua (1865–1866), the Grammar of Assent (1870), and the poem “The Dream of Gerontius” (1865),[13] which was set to music in 1900 by Edward Elgar. He wrote the popular hymns “Lead, Kindly Light”, “Firmly I believe, and truly” (taken from Gerontius), and “Praise to the Holiest in the Height” (taken from Gerontius).
He is the fifth saint of the City of London, behind Thomas Becket (born in Cheapside), Thomas More (born on Milk Street), Edmund Campion (son of a London book seller) and Polydore Plasden (of Fleet Street)
BONUS
Claude Newman (1923-1944) He was a death row inmate who had a conversion to Christ. Listed below are a few articles dealing with the story. One is sure he was visited by the blessed Virgin while in prison. The other article doesn’t believe in the sensational view of the conversion.
The Amazing Conversion of Death Row Inmate Claude Newman
Powerful Conversion Clouded by Controversy | The Divine Mercy
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In