In my particular series of historical blog posts (Heck of a Ride Around the Sun) I have tried to include and insert many many canonized Catholic Saints, Blesseds, Venerables and Servants of God into the timelines. I may have missed some and it’s hard to go back and drop them into history. So I’m putting them here in this particular series of articles on the Catholic Bard’s List of Saints.
I took the General Roman Calendar, some books on saints such as…
to make this timeline.
Some saints have more info then other saints. Some just have their name in this list because their name is in the General Roman Calendar. Perhaps with more time I could find out more about them and include it in this piece. Also if you didn’t see your favorite saint listed, it’s because I can’t list everyone. I would have to create a website just for that purpose. But of course that has already been done. You can find that website here.
One of the most painful and lasting blows to the Church occurred in this century. For centuries, the Church in the Eastern Roman Empire had continued to separate itself from Rome. Though various controversies and schisms were often resolved, in 1054, as a result of ongoing theological disputes, liturgical practices, and disagreement over ecclesiastical jurisdiction, Pope Leo IX and Patriarch Michael I Cerularius of Constantinople mutually excommunicated each other, marking the split of the Church into the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. –Chronological Listing of Catholic Saints and Feasts — My Catholic Life!
1123 – Catholic Ecumenical Council # 9: First Lateran Council
Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
(May 6, 973 – 13 July 13, 1024) Feast: July 13 Patron: Benedictine oblates
General Roman Calendar
He is the only medieval German monarch ever to have been honoured as a saint. Henry II’s wife was the equally pious Empress Cunigunde, who was canonized in 1200 by Pope Innocent III. As the union produced no children, the German nobles elected Conrad II, a great-great-grandson of Emperor Otto I, to succeed him after his death in 1024. Conrad was the first of the Salian dynasty of emperors.
Saint Romuald (c. 951 – June, 19, c. 1025/27 AD) Feast: June 19 Patron: General Roman Calendar
He was the founder of the Camaldolese order and a major figure in the eleventh-century “Renaissance of eremiticalasceticism“. Romuald spent about 30 years traversing Italy, founding and reforming monasteries and hermitages.
Sit in your cell as in paradise. Put the whole world behind you and forget it.
Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish.
The path you must follow is in the Psalms — never leave it.[9]
She married King Henry in 999. It is said that she had long wanted to be a nun, and that her marriage to Henry II was a spiritual one (also called a “white marriage“); that is, they married for companionship alone, and by mutual agreement did not consummate their relationship. It has been claimed that Cunigunde made a vow of virginity with Henry’s consent prior to their marriage. The truth of this is debatable; while the couple were both certainly childless, it is supposed by some authors that later hagiographers mistakenly construed the fact to imply a virginal marriage. Others, however, accept that the marriage was purely platonic.
In Luxembourg, where she is the only female saint, there is the parish Church of Saint Cunigunde in Clausen, which was consecrated in 1865 and decorated with murals depicting scenes from the life of Cunigunde in 1906. In 1959, the Cunigunde bell (Cloche St. Cunégonde) was consecrated. In addition to a wooden sculpture of the saints, a tooth relic of Cunigunde is revered in this church.
Saint Cunigunda; painting by the Master of Meßkirch, c.1535/40, housed at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart.
King Saint. Stephen I of Hungary
(c. 975 –August 15, 1038) Feast: August 16 Patron: Hungary, kings, masons, stonecutters, stonemason, bricklayers, protector against child death
General Roman Calendar
He was the last Grand Prince of the Hungarians between 997 and 1000 or 1001, and the first King of Hungary from 1000 or 1001, until his death in 1038. In Hungary, his feast day (celebrated on 20 August) is also a public holiday commemorating the foundation of the state, known as State Foundation Day. Gábor Klaniczay wrote that Stephen’s legends “opened a new chapter in the legends of holy rulers as a genre”, suggesting that a monarch can achieve sainthood through actively using his royal powers. Stephen was the first triumphant miles Christi (“Christ’s soldier”) among the canonized monarchs. He was also a “confessor king“, one who had not suffered martyrdom, whose cult was sanctioned, in contrast with earlier holy monarchs.
Saint Malachy
(1094 – 2 November 1148) Feast: November 3 Patron: Archdiocese of Armagh, Diocese of Down and Connor
He is an Irish saint who was Archbishop of Armagh, to whom were attributed several miracles and an alleged vision of 112 popes later attributed to the apocryphal (i.e. of doubtful authenticity) Prophecy of the Popes.
Malachy was the first native-born Irish saint to be formally canonised. His brother was Gilla Críst Ua Morgair, who was Bishop Christian of Clogher from 1126 to 1138.
Saint Pope Leo IX
(June 21, 1002 –April 19, 1054) Feast: April 19
Leo IX is considered to be one of the most historically significant popes of the Middle Ages; he was instrumental in the precipitation of the Great Schism of 1054, considered the turning point in which the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches formally separated.
He was an Italo-Greek abbot at the monastery at Grottaferrata. He was also called Bartholomew the Younger. He was also a hymn-writer and noted calligrapher like his teacher. He is also described as having a very sympathetic nature, and being unable to see anyone suffer without giving that party comfort.
Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 until his death in 1066. His nickname reflects the traditional image of him as unworldly and pious. Confessor reflects his reputation as a saint who did not suffer martyrdom as opposed to his uncle, King Edward the Martyr
He was a Burgundian Catholic priest and founder of the Great St Bernard Hospice, as well as its associated Canons Regular of the Hospitaller Congregation of Great Saint Bernard.[2]
He gave his name to the Saint Bernard breed of dog, originally bred for the cold environment of the hospice.
He was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 April 1073 to his death in 1085. One of the great reforming popes, he is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, his dispute with Emperor Henry IV to establish the primacy of papal authority and the new canon law governing the election of the pope by the College of Cardinals. He was also at the forefront of developments in the relationship between the emperor and the papacy during the years before he became pope. He was the first pope to introduce a policy of obligatory celibacy for the clergy, which had until then commonly married, and also attacked the practice of simony.
He was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 March 1088 to his death. He is best known for convening the Council of Clermont which ignited the series of Christian conquests known as the Crusades.
12th Century
The reforms of the Church begun by Pope Gregory VII in the previous century continued in the twelfth. Canon law was consolidated and systematized, Scholasticism was founded, universities emerged, the Crusades continued, the Investiture Controversy lingered, monasticism expanded, and an interest in Marian devotion grew. Chronological Listing of Catholic Saints and Feasts — My Catholic Life!
Saint Bruno of Cologne
(c. 1030 –October 6, 1101) Feast: October 6 Patron: Calabria
General Roman Calendar
He was the founder of the Carthusian Order. He personally founded the order’s first two communities.
He was a celebrated teacher at Reims, and a close advisor of his former pupil, Pope Urban II.
Saint Bruno refuses the archbishopric of Reggio di Calabria, by Vincenzo Carducci, Chartreuse of el Paular.
Saint Hugh of Cluny
(May 13, 1024 –April 29, 1109) Feast: April 29 Patron: Against fever
He was a Spanish farmworker known for his piety toward the poor and animals. The story of St. Isidore is a reminder of the dignity of work, and that ordinary life can lead to holiness. SOme of the miraculous legends about him involve an occasion where his master saw an angel ploughing on either side of him, so that Isidore’s work was equal to that of three of his fellow field workers. Isidore is also said to have brought back to life his master’s deceased daughter, and to have caused a fountain of fresh water to burst from the dry earth to quench his master’s thirst”Legends about angel helpers and mysterious oxen indicate that his work was not neglected and his duties did not go unfulfilled.” St. Isidore’s life demonstrates that: “If you have your spiritual self in order, your earthly commitments will fall into order also.
Saint Norbert of Xanten O. Praem
(c. 1075 –June 6, 1134
Feast: June 6 Patron: Kingdom of Bohemia (now Czech Republic),
invoked during childbirth for safe delivery; Magdeburg
General Roman Calendar
He was Archbishop of Dublin at the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland. Lorcán played a prominent role in the Irish Church Reform Movement of the 12th century and mediated between the parties during and after the invasion. He had some confrontations with King Henry II. During the Treaty of Windsor (1175) Lorcán was saying Mass at the tomb of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral when he was attacked by a man who struck Lorcán on the head with a club, before the altar. Unlike Becket, Ua Tuathail, though knocked to the ground, was able to stand back up and finish the mass. Officially, the assailant was a madman who had heard of the archbishop’s reputation and had the idea of giving the Church another martyr; If King Henry was covertly involved in setting up this attack, however, he had clearly learned from the political fallout following the murder of Archbishop Becket how not to have it be as easily traced back to him.
She then became a Cistercian nun at the Abbey of Sauvebénite near Le Puy, where she died. Miracles were reported at her tomb and it became a pilgrimage site.
Saint Thorlak Thorhallsson
(1133 – 23 December 1193) Feast: December 23 Patron: Iceland, fishermen, autistics, Catholics of Scandinavia
He is the patron saint of Iceland. He was Bishop of Skálholt from 1178 until his death. Thorlak’s relics were translated to the Cathedral of Skalholt in 1198, not long after his successor, Páll Jónsson, announced at the Althing that vows could be made to Thorlak.
His status as a saint did not receive official recognition from the Catholic Church until 14 January 1984, when John Paul II canonized him and declared him the patron saint of Iceland. His feast day is 23 December, when Thorlac’s Mass is celebrated in Iceland.
Autism Consecrated, a blog written by the autistic self-advocate Aimee O’Connell, promotes Saint Thorlak as a role model for autistic Catholics.[9]
13th Century
The thirteenth century saw the emergence and rapid growth of a new form of religious life called the mendicant orders. Saint Francis of Assisi founded the Franciscans, and Saint Dominic founded the Dominicans. These orders focused on poverty, preaching, and mobility, in contrast to the more established monastic orders that valued stability and the acquisition of land as a source of income. These new mendicant orders were especially effective in evangelizing newly urbanized Europe. Chronological Listing of Catholic Saints and Feasts — My Catholic Life!
St. Albert of Jerusalem (1149 – 14 September 1214) Feast: September 17
General Roman Calendar
Subject and later the sovereign of the Papal States. Convened the Fourth Council of the Lateran, 1215. Initiated the Fourth Crusade but later distanced himself from it and threatened participants with excommunication when it became clear that the leadership abandoned a focus on conquest of the Holy Land and instead intended to sack Christian cities. Endorsed the Franciscan Order.
She was a Christian holy woman born in Brustem (near Sint-Truiden), Belgium. Christina is primarily known for her legendary resurrection during her funeral mass, and numerous other miracles attributed to her during her life. Thomas of Cantimpré wrote a hagiography of her based on accounts from people who knew her, which made her known outside of Sint-Truiden.
One of the most venerated figures in Christianity, Francis was canonized by Pope Gregory IX on 16 July 1228. He is commonly portrayed wearing a brown habit with a rope tied around his waist, featuring three knots symbolizing the three Franciscan vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy, Caravaggio, c. 1595
St. Elizabeth of Hungary
(July 7, 1207 –November 17, 1231) Feast: November 17 Patron: hospitals; nurses; falsely accused people;
bakers; brides; countesses; dying children; exiles;
homeless people; lace-makers;
General Roman Calendar Stories of the Saints:
She was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary and the landgravine of Thuringia. Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. After her husband’s death, she regained her dowry, using the money to build a hospital where she herself served the sick. She became a symbol of Christian charity after her death in 1231 at the age of 24 and was canonized on 25 May 1235. She was an early member of the Third Order of St. Francis, and is today honored as its patroness. on May 24, 1235 – St. EOH is canonized by Pope Gregory IX.
I currently work at Saint Elizabeth Home named after EOH and have been there for over two years. Saint Elizabeth Home was rated #1 Nursing Home in Rhode Island in the Providence Journal Community’s Choice Awards. Our skilled nursing home located in East Greenwich offers short-term rehabilitation, long-term care and specialized memory care.
1245 – Catholic Ecumenical Council # 13: First Council of Lyons
St. Clare of Assisi
(July 16, 1194 –August 11,1253) Feast: August 11 Patron: Eye disease, goldsmiths, laundry, television,
bicycle messengers, good weather, needleworkers,
remote viewing, extrasensory perception
General Roman Calendar Stories of the Saints:
She was an Italiansaint who was one of the first followers of Francis of Assisi. Inspired by the teachings of St. Francis, she founded the Order of Poor Ladies, a monasticreligious order for women in the Franciscan tradition. The Order of Poor Ladies was different from any other order or convent because it followed a rule of strict poverty.[1] Clare wrote their Rule of Life, the first set of monastic guidelines known to have been written by a woman. Following her death, the order she founded was renamed in her honor as the Order of Saint Clare, commonly referred to today as the Poor Clares.
Saint Clare intervenes to save a child from a wolf; panel by Giovanni di Paolo, 1455.
Pope Pius XII designated Clare as the patron saint of television in 1958 on the basis that when she was too ill to attend Mass, she had reportedly been able to see and hear it on the wall of her room.[23]
There are traditions of bringing offerings of eggs to the Poor Clares for their intercessions for good weather, particularly for weddings.[24] This tradition remains popular in the Philippines, particularly at the Real Monasterio de Santa Clara in Quezon City and in the town of Obando, Bulacan. According to the Filipino essayist Alejandro Roces, the practice arose because of Clare’s name. In Castilianclara refers to an interval of clear weather, and also to the white or albumen of the egg.
Servant of God Juniper (friar)
Before 1210 – January 29, 1258
Brother Juniper (died 1258), called “the renowned jester of the Lord”, was one of the original followers of Francis of Assisi. Not much is known about Juniper before he joined the friars. In 1210, he was received into the Order of Friars Minor by Francis himself. “Would to God, my brothers, that I had a whole forest of such Junipers,” Francis would delightfully pun.
Several stories about Juniper in the Little Flowers of St. Francis (Fioretti di San Francesco) illustrate his generosity and simplicity. Perhaps the most famous of these is the tale of the pig’s feet.
When visiting a poor man who was sick, Juniper asked if he could perform any service for the man. The man told Juniper that he had a longing for a meal of pig’s feet, and so Juniper happily ran off to find some. Capturing a pig in a nearby field, he cut off a foot and cooked the meal for the man. When the pig’s owner found out about this, he came in great wrath and abused Francis and the other Franciscans, calling them thieves and refusing repayment. Francis reproached Juniper and ordered him to apologize to the pig’s owner and to make amends. Juniper, not understanding why the owner should be upset at such a charitable act, went to him and cheerfully retold the tale of the pig’s foot, as though he had done the man a favor.
When the man reacted with anger, Juniper thought that he had misunderstood him, so he simply repeated the story with great zeal, embraced him, and begged the man to give him the rest of the pig for the sake of charity. At this display the owner’s heart was changed, and he gave up the rest of the pig to be slaughtered as Juniper had asked.[2] The story of Juniper and the pig’s feet was depicted in Roberto Rossellini’s film The Flowers of St. Francis (1950).
Pietro Novelli, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Carmelite saints (Simon Stock (standing), Angelus of Jerusalem (kneeling), Mary Magdalene de’Pazzi, Teresa of Avila), 1641
Zita is an Italian saint who entered domestic service at the age of 12, and served the same family for almost 50 years. Through her diligence and fidelity, she became a trusted and valued servant. She spent her days doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. Zita was known for her kindness and generosity to the poor.
Zita is sometimes depicted in art carrying bread for the poor in her cloak. Jealous servants reported this to the master, who confronted her. Upon opening the cloak, however, it was found to be full of flowers. A similar tale is told of Elizabeth of Hungary. Zita gave away her own food during a famine, and then gave away food belonging to her master. When he remonstrated with her, the pantry was discovered to be fully stocked.
There are various versions of the miracle of the loaves. On one morning, Zita left her chore of baking bread either to tend to someone in need (or was deep in prayer in her room). She returned to find loaves all ready set and prepared in the kneading-trough (or already baked). Neither the other servants nor the mistress knew who had prepared the bread, so it was commonly attributed to angels.
On another occasion, Zita was returning from distributing alms when she encountered a beggar. Having nothing left to give him, she accompanied him to the village well to draw him a cool drink. She let a copper jug down into the well, and in the act of holding it out to him, made the sign of the cross over the water, praying that this drink might be blessed to the poor wayfarer. As he made to drink, he found that the water had turned into wine.
Leon Biedroński [pl], Saint Zita (1889), St. Anne’s Church, Warsaw
1274 – Catholic Ecumenical Council # 14 – Second Council of Lyons:
He was King of France from 1226 until his death in 1270. Louis IX holds the distinction of being the sole canonized king of France.
In “To the Sun?/Off on a Comet!” by Jules Verne, A comet takes several bits of the Earth away when it grazes the Earth. Some people, taken up at the same time, find the Tomb of Saint Louis is one of the bits, as they explore the comet.
The fourteenth century was marked by the Avignon Papacy, the Great Schism, the Black Death, mysticism, the decline of Scholasticism, corruption, growth in personal piety, and continued production of Gothic art and architecture. Though only four canonized saints who died this century are included on the General Roman Calendar, their impact was great. Chronological Listing of Catholic Saints and Feasts — My Catholic Life!
Saint Gertrude the Great (January 6, 1256 – November 17, 1302) Feast: November 16 Patron: West Indies
General Roman Calendar
She as a German Benedictine nun and mystic from the monastery of Helfta.
One of the most esteemed women saints of the Christian West, she was a notable early devotee of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Saint Getrude pictured with the Sacred Heart, by Szymon Czechowicz
Saint. Alessio Falconieri
(1200 – 17 February 1310)
and the Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order
(Bonfilius, Alexis, Manettus, Amadeus, Hugh, Sostene and Buonagiunta). Feast: February 17
General Roman Calendar
These guys were seven men of the town of Florence who became bound to each other in a spiritual friendship. They eventually felt called by Mary, mother of Jesus, towards whom they practised an intense devotion. They reported a vision, apparently shared by all separately at the same moment. None of them was aware that the others also had experienced it. The call was to “leave the world, the better to serve almighty God”.
1311–1312- Catholic Ecumenical Council # 15: Council of Vienne
She was an Italian Catholic educator and a Dominican tertiary. Margaret had disabilities and became known for her deep faith and holiness.
Her parents abandoned her in a local church due to her disabilities and the town’s poor took her in and assumed care for her. Nuns later offered her a home at their convent but soon came to detest her presence and cast her out, prompting the town’s poor to once again take her in and care for her.[2][3] She later met with Dominican friars and was accepted as a Dominican tertiary. She started a school for children to teach them in the faith and often took care of children while their parents were out at work.
Margaret’s holiness was apparent to all in her life that people lobbied for her to be buried in the local church which was an honour reserved for a select few.
Margaret of Castello by Andrea di Bartolo, c. 1394–98
She had an intense love of God and wanted to receive the Eucharist at the early age of 5. The age limit for communion was 14. At age 9 she went to live with the Dominican nuns at Val di pietra, near Bologna.
Because she is the patroness of First Communicants and many dioceses make use of her feast has a day to schedule First Communions and Confirmations.
At the age of ten, Bridget had a vision of Jesus hanging upon the cross. When she asked who had treated him like this, he answered:[4]
They who despise me, and spurn my love for them.
The Passion of Christ became the center of her spiritual life from that moment on. The revelations which she had received since her childhood now became more frequent, and the records of these Revelationes coelestes (“Celestial revelations”) which were translated into Latin by Matthias, canon of Linköping, and her confessor, Peter Olafsson, prior of Alvastra, acquired a great vogue during the Middle Ages. These revelations made Bridget something of a celebrity to some and a controversial figure to others.
Altarpiece in Salem church, Södermanland, Sweden (digitally restored)
“For since mankind sinned in all limbs, my Son made atonement in all his limbs. His hair was pulled out, his sinews extended, his joints were dislocated, his bones mangled, and his hands and feet were pierced through. His mind was saddened, his heart afflicted by sorrow, his intestines was forced in toward his back, for mankind had sinned in all limbs.”
― Bridget of Sweden, The Prophecies and Revelations of Saint Bridget of Sweden
Saint Andrew Corsini bishop
(November 30, 1302 – January 6, 1373 or 1374 Feast: January 6 Patron: Florenc, Diplomats, Against civil disorder, Against riots
Corsini led a wild and dissolute life until a rebuke from his mother moved him to go to the Santa Maria del Carmine church where he resolved to join the Carmelites as a priest and friar. He exercised various roles in the order, until reluctantly he accepted his episcopal position. In order to accept that position, he imposed greater mortifications upon himself than that required by the order, and dedicated himself to the plight of the poor.
Devotion to the late bishop became so profound after his death that miracles were reported at his tomb. The longstanding and popular devotion to Corsini led to Pope Eugene IV confirming his beatification on 21 April 1440 and Pope Urban VIII canonizing him as a saint on 22 April 1629.
Saint Catherine of Vadstena
(c. 1332 – March 24, 1381) Feast: March 24 Patron: Women who suffer miscarriage
She was a Swedish noblewoman. Her father was Ulf Gudmarsson, Lord of Ulvåsa, and her mother was Saint Bridget of Sweden (known as Birgitta Birgersdotter of Finsta in her lifetime)
He was a saint of Bohemia (Czech Republic) who was drowned in the Vltava river at the behest of King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia. Later accounts state that he was the confessor of the queen of Bohemia and refused to divulge the secrets of the confessional. On the basis of this account, John of Nepomuk is considered the first martyr of the Seal of the Confessional, a patron against calumnies and, because of the manner of his death, a protector from floods and drowning.
Saint Roch
(lived c. 1348 –August 15/16 1376/79; Feast: August 16 Patron: dogs, invalids, falsely accused people, bachelors, and several other things
At Rome, according to the Golden Legend, he preserved the “cardinal of Angleria in Lombardy”[d] by making the mark of the cross on his forehead, which miraculously remained. Ministering at Piacenza at the hospital of Nostra Signora di Betlemme, he himself finally fell ill. He withdrew into the forest, where he made himself a hut of boughs and leaves, which was miraculously supplied with water by a spring that arose in the place; he would have perished had not a dog belonging to a nobleman named Gothard Palastrelli supplied him with bread and licked his wounds, healing them.[5] Count Gottardo Pallastrelli, following his hunting dog that carried the bread, discovered Roch and brought him home to recover.
On his way back to return incognito to Montpellier, he was arrested at Voghera as a spy (by orders of his own uncle) and thrown into prison, where he languished five years and died on 16 August 1327, without revealing his name.
She was born into a poor family in San Severino, Italy. She was abused by her husband for years because of her dedication to the church and to helping the poor and sick. She walked barefooted as a beggar to better associate herself with the poor. She died widowed in 1395 of natural causes.
15th Century
This century saw the birth of the Renaissance, a period in European history in which there was a return to Classical Greek learning, advancements in science, new forms of art and architecture, all fueled by philosophical ideas such as Humanism. These new ideas and classical learning raised questions about governance and religion. The invention of the printing press in 1440 added to this movement. At the end of the fifteenth century, interests in exploration emerged, especially after the discovery of the New World in 1492. This discovery would set the stage not only for the colonization of the Americas, but also intense missionary activity. Chronological Listing of Catholic Saints and Feasts — My Catholic Life!
I would also add that the introduction of slavery of africans added a weight of moral issues that would haunt Europe and the New World for the next few centuries.
1414–1418: Catholic Ecumenical Council # 16 Council of Constance.
She was an Englishanchoress of the Middle Ages. Her writings, now known as Revelations of Divine Love, are the earliest surviving English language works by a woman, although it is possible that some anonymous works may have had female authors. They are also the only surviving English language works by an anchoress.
“Truth sees God, and wisdom contemplates God, and from these two comes a third, a holy and wonderful delight in God, who is love.”
― Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
David Holgate’s statue of Julian, outside Norwich Cathedral, completed in 2000[1
She is honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronation of Charles VII of France during the Hundred Years’ War. Claiming to be acting under divine guidance, she became a military leader who transcended gender roles and gained recognition as a savior of France.
The Trial of Joan of Arc was a 15th century legal proceeding against Joan of Arc, During the siege of Compiègne in 1430, she was captured by Burgundian forces and subsequently sold to their English allies. She was prosecuted by a pro-English church court at Rouen, Normandy, in 1431. The court found her guilty of heresy and she was burned at the stake. The verdict was later nullified at Joan’s rehabilitation trial, which was overseen by the Inquisitor-General, Jean Bréhal, in 1456. The trial is one of the most famous in history, becoming the subject of many books and films.
The novel recounts the life of Joan of Arc and was first published as a serialization in Harper’s Magazine beginning in April 1895. Twain was aware of his reputation as a comic writer and he asked that each installment appear anonymously so that readers would treat it seriously. Regardless, his authorship soon became known, and Harper and Brothers published the book edition with his name in May 1896.
Many events in the novel are fictionalized; however, the main events in the life of Joan are rendered faithfully.
In Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure Joan (Jane Wiedlin) and other historic figures are transported to San Dimas for a history project. Memorable lines include “Who was Joan of Arc?” “Noah’s wife?” “Welcome aboard, Miss of Arc!”
Saint Nuno of Saint Mary
(June 24, 1360 – November 1, 1431) Feast: November 6
He was a very successful Portuguese general who had a decisive role in the 1383–1385 Crisis that assured Portugal‘s independence from Castile. He later became a mystic and was beatified by Pope Benedict XV in 1918, and canonised by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. The Blessed Nuno Society is a mission society and prayer apostolate officially recognized by the Catholic Church as a diocesan Private Association of the Christian Faithful and affiliated with, the Catholic Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota.
She was an Italian Catholic mystic, organizer of charitable services and a Benedictineoblate who founded a religious community of oblates, who share a common life without religious vows. She was canonized in 1608.
St. Bernardino of Siena
(September 8, 1380 – May 20, 1444) Feast: May 20 Patron: Advertisers; Italy; chest problems; gambling addicts;
General Roman Calendar
Bernardino was canonised by Pope Nicholas V in 1450 and is referred to as “the Apostle of Italy” for his efforts to revive the country’s Catholicism during the 15th century.
1454: The press of Johannes Gutenberg (at Mainz on the Rhine) produces the first printed documents bearing a date.
St. Rita of Cascia
(1381 – May 22, 1457) Feast: May 22 Patron: Lost and impossible causes, sickness, wounds, marital problems, abuse, mothers
General Roman Calendar
She was an Italian widow and Augustinian nun. After Rita’s husband died, she joined a small community of nuns, who later became Augustinians, where she was known both for practicing mortification of the flesh and for the efficacy of her prayers. Various miracles are attributed to her intercession, and she is often portrayed with a bleeding wound on her forehead, which is understood to indicate a partial stigmata.
French singer Mireille Mathieu adopted Rita as her patron saint on the advice of her paternal grandmother. In her autobiography, Mathieu describes buying a candle for Rita using her last franc. Though Mathieu claims that her prayers were not always answered, she testifies that they inspired her to become a strong and determined woman.[15]
In 1943, Rita of Cascia, a film based on Rita’s life, was made, starring Elena Zareschi. The story of Rita increased in popularity due to a 2004 film titled Santa Rita da Cascia, filmed in Florence, Italy. The latter film altered the facts of Rita’s early life.
Rita is often credited as also being the unofficial patron saint of baseball due to a reference made to her in the 2002 film The Rookie.
The 2019 science fiction novella Sisters of the Vast Black features a fictional group of nuns known as the Order of Saint Rita.
A Dominican friar, Neyrot was captured by Tunisian corsairs while on his way from Sicily to Naples. A prisoner, before long he abjured his religion in exchange for better treatment. Some months later he learned of the death of his saintly mentor, Antoninus of Florence, which caused him to reconsider his actions. He was subsequently executed for renouncing Islam.
Blessed John Soreth
(1394 – 1471) Feast: November 4
She was a FrenchCarmelite friar and became a Prior General of the Order of Carmelites.
St. John Cantius
(June 23, 1390 – December 24, 1473) Feast: October 20 Patron: Poland;
General Roman Calendar
He was a Portuguesenobleman who became first a Hieronymitemonk, then left that life to become a friar of the Franciscan Order. Later he became a reformer of that religious order, which led to his founding of a distinct branch of the Friars Minor that was named after him, but later suppressed by the Pope in order to unite them into one great family of Friars Minor Observants (1568).
His Apocalypsis nova, which contained prophecies of a pope, the “Angelic Pastor”, who would work with an emperor to restore harmony in the church and the world, was influential well into the next century, in Rome and the monarchies of Spain and Portugal.
Saint Casimir Jagiellon
( October 3, 1458 – March 4, 1484) Feast: March 4 Patron: Lithuania
General Roman Calendar
When he arrived he found that locals had chosen Gerald FitzGerald as bishop, and for political reasons there were armed supporters in the cathedral to prevent Thaddeus from assuming control. Thaddeus appealed to the Pope, and had his support, but without armed supporters he travelled for a while as a pilgrim to holy sites. He died while on the road. The title White Martyr of Munster commemorates the mental and physical anguish he suffered while trying to do the Church‘s work. -CatholicSaints.Info
Stained glass window of Blessed Thaddeus in Saints Peter and Paul’s Church, Cork, created by Earley and Company
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In