Bl. Peter Lieou
Feastday: March 17
Death: 1834
Martyr of China. A Chinese native, he was converted to Catholicism and was consequently exiled to Mongolia in 1814. Permitted to return in 1827, he soon assisted the spread of Catholic missionary efforts and, during the persecution of Christianity by the Chinese government, managed to make his way into a prison where he gave comfort to Christian prisoners. He was caught and strangled. Peter was beatified in 1900.
St. Joseph of Arimathea
புனிதர் அரிமத்தியா யோசேப்பு
(St. Joseph of Arimathea)
இயேசுவின் இரகசிய சீடர்:
(Secret Disciple of Jesus)
பிறப்பு: தெரியவில்லை
இறப்பு: தெரியவில்லை
சிரியாக் மரபுவழி ஆலயம், ஹோலி செபுல்ச்ரெ
(Syriac orthodox Chapel in Holy Sepulchre)
ஏற்கும் சமயம்:
கத்தோலிக்க திருச்சபை
(Catholic Church)
ஓரியண்டல் மரபுவழி திருச்சபை
(Oriental Orthodox Church)
கிழக்கு மரபுவழி திருச்சபை
(Eastern Orthodox Church)
ஆங்கிலிக்கம்
(Anglicanism)
லூதரனியம்
(Lutheranism)
நினைவுத் திருவிழா: 17 மார்ச்
பாதுகாவல்:
நீத்தோர் இறுதி சடங்கினை வழிநடத்துவோர்
(funeral directors)
அரிமத்தியா ஊரைச் சேர்ந்த புனித யோசேப்பு என்பவர் நற்செய்திகளின்படி இயேசுவின் சாவுக்குப்பின்பு அவரை அடக்கம் செய்தவர் ஆவார். இவர் நான்கு திருமுறை நற்செய்திகளிலும் குறிப்பிடப்பட்டுள்ளார். மாற்கு 15:43 இவரை மதிப்புக்குரிய தலைமைச் சங்க உறுப்பினர் எனவும் இறையாட்சியின் வருகைக்காகக் காத்திருந்தவர் எனவும் குறிக்கின்றது. மத்தேயு 27:57 இவர் இயேசுவுக்குச் சீடராய் இருந்தார் எனக் குறிக்கின்றது. யோவான் 19:38 இவரை இயேசுவின் சீடர்களுள் ஒருவர் எனவும் யூதருக்கு அஞ்சியதால் தம்மைச் சீடர் என்று வெளிப்படையாகக் காட்டிக்கொள்ளாதவர் எனவும் குறிக்கின்றது. இதன்படி இவர் இயேசுவின் உடலை எடுத்துக்கொண்டு போகப் பிலாத்துவிடம் அனுமதி கேட்டார். பிலாத்து நூற்றுவர் தலைவரிடமிருந்து கேட்டு இயேசுவின் இறப்பை உறுதி செய்தபின்பு யோசேப்புவிடம் இயேசுவின் உடலை அளித்தான்.
நிக்கதேமின் துணையோடு கொல்கொதாவில் இவர் இயேசுவின் உடலை சிலுவையிலிருந்து இறக்கி யூத அடக்க முறைப்படி நறுமணப் பொருள்களுடன் துணிகளால் சுற்றிக் கட்டினார். ஒரு புதிய கல்லறை ஒன்றில் அவரின் உடலை அடக்கம் செய்தார் என விவிலியம் கூறுகின்றது.
கத்தோலிக்க திருச்சபை, கிழக்கு மரபுவழி திருச்சபை, லூதரனியம் மற்றும் சில ஆங்கிலிக்கம் சபைகள் இவரை புனிதர் என ஏற்கின்றன.
Feastday: March 17
Patron: of funeral directors
Death: 1st century
The councillor (Lk 23:50) who, after the Crucifixion, requested the body of Christ from Pontius Pilate and provided for a proper burial for Christ. An immensely popular figure in Christian lore, Joseph was termed in the New Testament the "virtuous and righteous man" (Lk 23:50) and the man "who was himself awaiting the kingdom of God" (Mk 15:43). Described as .... . secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, [he] asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it" (In 19:38). According to the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, he helped establish the community of Lydda. He also was a prominent figure in the legends surrounding the Holy Grail, appearing in Robert de Barron's early thirteenth-century romance Joseph d 'Arirnathea, William of Malmesbury's twelfth-century De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae, and Thomas Mallory's famed Morte D 'Arthur; William of almesbury's tale recounts Joseph's arrival in England with the Holy Grail and the building of the first church on the isle at Glastonbury; the passage on Joseph, however, was added in the thirteenth century.
Joseph of Arimathea was, according to all four canonical gospels, the man who assumed responsibility for the burial of Jesus after his crucifixion. The historical location of Arimathea is uncertain, although it has been identified with several towns. A number of stories that developed during the Middle Ages connect him with Glastonbury, England[3] and also with the Holy Grail legend.
Gospel narratives
Matthew 27:57 describes him simply as a rich man and disciple of Jesus, but according to Mark 15:43 Joseph of Arimathea was "a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God"; Luke 23:50–56 adds that he "had not consented to their decision and action".
According to John 19:38, upon hearing of Jesus' death, this secret disciple of Jesus "asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission." Joseph immediately purchased a linen shroud (Mark 15:46) and proceeded to Golgotha to take the body of Jesus down from the cross. There, according to John 19:39-40, Joseph and Nicodemus took the body and bound it in linen cloths with the spices that Nicodemus had bought.
The disciples then conveyed the prepared corpse to a man-made cave hewn from rock in a garden of his house nearby. The Gospel of Matthew alone suggests that this was Joseph's own tomb (Matthew 27:60). The burial was undertaken speedily, "for the Sabbath was drawing on".
Veneration
Joseph of Arimathea by Pietro Perugino, a detail from his Lamentation over the Dead Christ.
Joseph of Arimathea is venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and some Protestant churches. The traditional Roman calendar marked his feast day on 17 March, but he is now listed, along with Saint Nicodemus, on 31 August in the Martyrologium Romanum. Eastern Orthodox churches commemorate him on the Third Sunday of Pascha (i.e., the second Sunday after Easter) and on 31 July, the date shared by Lutheran churches.[4]
Although a series of legends developed during the Middle Ages (perhaps elaborations of early New Testament apocrypha) tied this Joseph to Britain as well as the Holy Grail, he is not currently on the abbreviated liturgical calendar of the Church of England, although this Joseph is on the calendars of some churches of the Anglican Communion, such as the Episcopal Church, which commemorates him on 1 August.
Old Testament prophecy
Tomb of Jesus in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Many Christians[5] interpret Joseph's role as fulfilling Isaiah's prediction that the grave of the "Suffering Servant" would be with a rich man (Isaiah 53:9), assuming that Isaiah was referring to the Messiah. The prophecy in Isaiah chapter 53 is known as the "Man of Sorrows" passage:
He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
The Greek Septuagint text:
And I will give the wicked for his burial, and the rich for his death; for he practiced no iniquity, nor craft with his mouth.
Development of legends
Since the 2nd century, a mass of legendary detail has accumulated around the figure of Joseph of Arimathea in addition to the New Testament references. Joseph is referenced in apocryphal and non-canonical accounts such as the Acts of Pilate and the medieval Gospel of Nicodemus. Joseph is mentioned in the works of early church historians such as Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, and Eusebius, who added details not found in the canonical accounts. Francis Gigot, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia, states that "the additional details which are found concerning him in the apocryphal Acta Pilati ("Acts of Pilate"), are unworthy of credence."[6] The Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea, a medieval work, is even purportedly written by him directly, although it adds more details on the robbers at Jesus's crucifixion than Joseph himself.[7]
Hilary of Poitiers enriched the legend, and Saint John Chrysostom, the Patriarch of Constantinople, was the first to write that Joseph was one of the Seventy Apostles appointed in Luke 10.[8][better source needed]
During the late 12th century, Joseph became connected with the Arthurian cycle, appearing in them as the first keeper of the Holy Grail. This idea first appears in Robert de Boron's Joseph d'Arimathie, in which Joseph receives the Grail from an apparition of Jesus and sends it with his followers to Britain. This theme is elaborated upon in Boron's sequels and in subsequent Arthurian works penned by others. Later retellings of the story contend that Joseph of Arimathea travelled to Britain and became the first Christian bishop in the Isles, a claim Gigot characterizes as a fable.[6][9]
Gospel of Nicodemus
The Gospel of Nicodemus, a text appended to the Acts of Pilate, provides additional details about Joseph. For instance, after Joseph asked Pilate for the body of the Christ and prepared the body with Nicodemus' help, Christ's body was delivered to a new tomb that Joseph had built for himself. In the Gospel of Nicodemus, the Jewish elders express anger at Joseph for burying the body of Christ, saying:
And likewise Joseph also stepped out and said to them: Why are you angry against me because I begged the body of Jesus? Behold, I have put him in my new tomb, wrapping in clean linen; and I have rolled a stone to the door of the tomb. And you have acted not well against the just man, because you have not repented of crucifying him, but also have pierced him with a spear.
— Gospel of Nicodemus. Translated by Alexander Walker.
The Jewish elders then captured Joseph, imprisoned him, and placed a seal on the door to his cell after first posting a guard. Joseph warned the elders, "The Son of God whom you hanged upon the cross, is able to deliver me out of your hands. All your wickedness will return upon you."
Once the elders returned to the cell, the seal was still in place, but Joseph was gone. The elders later discover that Joseph had returned to Arimathea. Having a change in heart, the elders desired to have a more civil conversation with Joseph about his actions and sent a letter of apology to him by means of seven of his friends. Joseph travelled back from Arimathea to Jerusalem to meet with the elders, where they questioned him about his escape. He told them this story:
On the day of the Preparation, about the tenth hour, you shut me in, and I remained there the whole Sabbath in full. And when midnight came, as I was standing and praying, the house where you shut me in was hung up by the four corners, and there was a flashing of light in mine eyes. And I fell to the ground trembling. Then some one lifted me up from the place where I had fallen, and poured over me an abundance of water from the head even to the feet, and put round my nostrils the odour of a wonderful ointment, and rubbed my face with the water itself, as if washing me, and kissed me, and said to me, Joseph, fear not; but open thine eyes, and see who it is that speaks to thee. And looking, I saw Jesus; and being terrified, I thought it was a phantom. And with prayer and the commandments I spoke to him, and he spoke with me. And I said to him: Art thou Rabbi Elias? And he said to me: I am not Elias. And I said: Who art thou, my Lord? And he said to me: I am Jesus, whose body thou didst beg from Pilate, and wrap in clean linen; and thou didst lay a napkin on my face, and didst lay me in thy new tomb, and roll a stone to the door of the tomb. Then I said to him that was speaking to me: Show me, Lord, where I laid thee. And he led me, and showed me the place where I laid him, and the linen which I had put on him, and the napkin which I had wrapped upon his face; and I knew that it was Jesus. And he took hold of me with his hand, and put me in the midst of my house though the gates were shut, and put me in my bed, and said to me: Peace to thee! And he kissed me, and said to me: For forty days go not out of thy house; for, lo, I go to my brethren into Galilee.
— Gospel of Nicodemus. Translated by Alexander Walker
According to the Gospel of Nicodemus, Joseph testified to the Jewish elders, and specifically to chief priests Caiaphas and Annas that Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended to heaven, and he indicated that others were raised from the dead at the resurrection of Christ (repeating Matt 27:52–53). He specifically identified the two sons of the high-priest Simeon (again in Luke 2:25–35). The elders Annas, Caiaphas, Nicodemus, and Joseph himself, along with Gamaliel under whom Paul of Tarsus studied, travelled to Arimathea to interview Simeon's sons Charinus and Lenthius.
Other medieval texts
Medieval interest in Joseph centered on two themes, that of Joseph as the founder of British Christianity (even before it had taken hold in Rome), and that of Joseph as the original guardian of the Holy Grail.
Britain
See also: Early centers of Christianity § Roman Britain
William Blake's Illustration Joseph of Arimathea Among the Rocks of Albion in its second state after Blake's 1773 original, engraved circa 1809
Legends about the arrival of Christianity in Britain abounded during the Middle Ages. Early writers do not connect Joseph to this activity, however. Tertullian wrote in Adversus Judaeos that Britain had already received and accepted the Gospel in his lifetime, writing, "all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons—inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ."[10]
Tertullian does not say how the Gospel came to Britain before AD 222. However, Eusebius, one of the earliest and most comprehensive of church historians, wrote of Christ's disciples in Demonstratio Evangelica, saying that "some have crossed the Ocean and reached the Isles of Britain."[11] Saint Hilary of Poitiers also wrote that the Apostles had built churches and that the Gospel had passed into Britain.[12] The writings of Pseudo-Hippolytus include a list of the seventy disciples whom Jesus sent forth in Luke 10, one of which is Aristobulus of Romans 16:10, called "bishop of Britain".[13]
In none of these earliest references to Christianity's arrival in Britain is Joseph of Arimathea mentioned. William of Malmesbury's De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae ("On the Antiquity of the Church of Glastonbury", circa 1125) has not survived in its original edition, and the stories involving Joseph of Arimathea are contained in subsequent editions that abound in interpolations placed by the Glastonbury monks "in order to increase the Abbey's prestige – and thus its pilgrim trade and prosperity" [14] In his Gesta Regum Anglorum (History of The Kings of England, finished in 1125), William of Malmesbury wrote that Glastonbury Abbey was built by preachers sent by Pope Eleuterus to Britain, however also adding: "Moreover there are documents of no small credit, which have been discovered in certain places to the following effect: 'No other hands than those of the disciples of Christ erected the church of Glastonbury';" but here William did not explicitly link Glastonbury with Joseph of Arimathea, but instead emphasizes the possible role of Philip the Apostle: "if Philip, the Apostle, preached to the Gauls, as Freculphus relates in the fourth chapter of his second book, it may be believed that he also planted the word on this side of the channel also."[15]
In 1989 A. W. Smith critically examined the accretion of legends around Joseph of Arimathea, by which the poem hymn of William Blake And did those feet in ancient time is commonly held as "an almost secret yet passionately held article of faith among certain otherwise quite orthodox Christians" and Smith concluded "that there was little reason to believe that an oral tradition concerning a visit made by Jesus to Britain existed before the early part of the twentieth century".[16] Sabine Baring-Gould recounted a Cornish story how "Joseph of Arimathea came in a boat to Cornwall, and brought the child Jesus with him, and the latter taught him how to extract the tin and purge it of its wolfram. This story possibly grew out of the fact that the Jews under the Angevin kings farmed the tin of Cornwall."[17] In its most developed version, Joseph, a tin merchant, visited Cornwall, accompanied by his nephew, the boy Jesus. Reverend C.C. Dobson (1879–1960) made a case for the authenticity of the Glastonbury legenda.[18] The case was argued more recently by the Church of Scotland minister Dr Gordon Strachan (1934–2010) [19] and by the former archaeologist Dennis Price.[20]
Holy Grail
The legend that Joseph was given the responsibility of keeping the Holy Grail was the product of Robert de Boron, who essentially expanded upon stories from Acts of Pilate. In Boron's Joseph d'Arimathe, Joseph is imprisoned much as in the Acts of Pilate, but it is the Grail that sustains him during his captivity. Upon his release he founds his company of followers, who take the Grail to Britain, though Joseph does not go. The origin of the association between Joseph and Britain is not entirely clear, though in subsequent romances such as Perlesvaus, Joseph travels to Britain, bringing relics with him. In the Lancelot-Grail cycle, a vast Arthurian composition that took much from Robert, it is not Joseph but his son Josephus who is considered the primary holy man of Britain.
Later authors sometimes mistakenly or deliberately treated the Grail story as truth. Such stories were inspired by the account of John of Glastonbury, who assembled a chronicle of the history of Glastonbury Abbey around 1350 and who wrote that Joseph, when he came to Britain, brought with him vessels containing the blood and sweat of Christ (without using the word Grail).[21] This account inspired the future claims of the Grail, including the claim involving the Nanteos Cup on display in the museum in Aberystwyth. There is no reference to this tradition in ancient or medieval text. John of Glastonbury further claims that King Arthur was descended from Joseph, listing the following imaginative pedigree through King Arthur's mother:
Helaius, Nepos Joseph, Genuit Josus, Josue Genuit Aminadab, Aminadab Genuit Filium, qui Genuit Ygernam, de qua Rex Pen-Dragon, Genuit Nobilem et Famosum Regum Arthurum, per Quod Patet, Quod Rex Arthurus de Stirpe Joseph descendit.
Elizabeth I cited Joseph's missionary work in England when she told Roman Catholic bishops that the Church of England pre-dated the Roman Church in England.[22]
Other legends
When Joseph set his walking staff on the ground to sleep, it miraculously took root, leafed out, and blossomed as the "Glastonbury Thorn". The retelling of such miracles encouraged the pilgrim trade at Glastonbury until the abbey was dissolved in 1539, during the English Reformation. The mytheme of the staff that Joseph of Arimathea set in the ground at Glastonbury, which broke into leaf and flower as the Glastonbury Thorn is a common miracle in hagiography. Such a miracle is told of the Anglo-Saxon saint Etheldreda:
Continuing her flight to Ely, Etheldreda halted for some days at Alfham, near Wintringham, where she founded a church; and near this place occurred the "miracle of her staff." Wearied with her journey, she one day slept by the wayside, having fixed her staff in the ground at her head. On waking she found the dry staff had burst into leaf; it became an ash tree, the "greatest tree in all that country;" and the place of her rest, where a church was afterwards built, became known as "Etheldredestow."
— Richard John King, 1862, in: Handbook of the Cathedrals of England; Eastern division: Oxford, Peterborough, Norwich, Ely, Lincoln.[23]
Medieval interest in genealogy raised claims that Joseph was a relative of Jesus; specifically, Mary's uncle, or according to some genealogies, Joseph's uncle. A genealogy for the family of Joseph of Arimathea and the history of his further adventures in the east provide material for Holy Grail romances Estoire del Saint Graal, Perlesvaus, and the Queste del Saint Graal.[24]
Another legend, as recorded in Flores Historiarum is that Joseph is in fact the Wandering Jew, a man cursed by Jesus to walk the Earth until the Second Coming.[25]
Arimathea
Main article: Arimathea
Arimathea is not otherwise documented, though it was "a town of Judea" according to Luke 23:51. Arimathea is usually identified with either Ramleh or Ramathaim-Zophim, where David came to Samuel (1 Samuel chapter 19
Saint Gertrude of Nivelles
Profile
Younger daughter of Saint Pepin of Landen and Saint Ida of Nivelles; sister of Saint Begga of Ardenne. Devoted to her faith from an early age, she turned down a noble marriage to pursue the religious life. Following the death of Pepin in 639, and on the advice of Saint Amand of Maastricht, Ida built a double monastery at Nivelles where both she and her daughter retired. Gertrude became abbess about age 20.
Known for her hospitality to pilgrims and the aid given to Irish missionary monks. Gertrude gave land to Saint Foillan, on which he built the monastery at Fosses, Belgium. She helped Saint Ultan in his evangelization. In 656, Gertrude resigned her office in favour of her niece, Saint Wilfetrudis of Nivelles, and spent the rest of her days studying Scripture and doing penance. Mystic and visionary. Died at the significant age of 33, the age of Our Lord at His death.
The cultus of Saint Gertrude spread widely in the Low Countries, neighbouring regions, and England, and folklore attached to her name. As late as 1822, offerings of gold and silver mice were left at her shrine in Cologne, Germany; mice represented souls in Purgatory, to whom she had a great devotion. Patron of gardeners because fine weather on her feast day meant it was time to begin spring planting. Her patronage of travellers comes from her hospitality to pilgrims. She is invoked as a patroness of those who had recently died, who were popularly supposed to experience a three-day journey to the next world; they spent the first night under the care of Gertrude, and the second under Michael the Archangel.
There is a legend that one day she sent some of her subjects to a distant country, promising that no misfortune would befall them on the journey; when they were on the ocean, a large sea-monster threatened to capsize their ship, but disappeared upon the invocation of Saint Gertrude. In memory of this occurence travellers during the Middle ages drank the so-called "Sinte Geerts Minne" or "Gertrudenminte" before setting out on their journey.
Born
626 at Landen, Belgium
Died
17 March 659 at Nivelles, Belgium of natural causes
Patronage
• against fear of mice
• against fear of rats
• against suriphobia
• against fever
• against insanity
• against mental disorders
• against mental illness
• against mice
• against rats
• cats
• for accomodations
• gardeners
• hospitals
• innkeepers
• mentally ill people
• pilgrims
• poor people
• prisoners
• recently dead people
• sick people
• suriphobics
• to obtain lodging while travelling
• travellers
• widows
• Landen, Belgium
• Nivelles, Belgium
• Wattenscheid, Germany
Saint Patrick
புனிதர் பேட்ரிக்
(St. Patrick)
அயர்லாந்தின் அப்போஸ்தலர்:
(Apostle of Ireland)
பிறப்பு: கி.பி. 386
பெரிய பிரித்தானியா
(Great Britain)
இறப்பு: மார்ச் 17, 461
ஏற்கும் சமயம்:
கத்தோலிக்க திருச்சபை
(Catholic Church)
கிழக்கு கத்தோலிக்க திருச்சபைகள்
(Eastern Catholic Churches)
கிழக்கு மரபுவழி திருச்சபை
(Eastern Orthodox Church)
ஆங்கிலிக்கம்
(Anglicanism)
லூதரனியம்
(Lutheranism)
முக்கிய திருத்தலங்கள்:
அர்மாக் (Armagh), வட அயர்லாந்து (Northern Ireland),
கிலாஸ்டோன்பரி மடம் (Glastonbury Abbey),
இங்கிலாந்து (England)
நினைவுத் திருவிழா: 17 மார்ச்
பாதுகாவல்:
அயர்லாந்து (Ireland), நைஜீரியா (Nigeria), மொன்செராட் (Montserrat),
பாஸ்டன் (Boston), நியூயார்க் உயர் மறைமாவட்டம் (Archdiocese of New York),
மெல்பேர்ண் உயர் மறைமாவட்டம் (Archdiocese of Melbourne),
பாம்புகளுக்கு எதிராக, பாவ சோதனைக்கு எதிராக, பொறியாளர்கள்.
புனிதர் பேட்ரிக், 5ம் நூற்றாண்டைச் சேர்ந்த ரோமன்-பிரிட்டானியா கிறிஸ்தவ மறைப்பணியாளரும், அயர்லாந்தின் "அர்மாகி'ன்" (Armagh) ஆயராக இருந்தவரும் ஆவார். இவரே அயர்லாந்துக்கு கிறிஸ்தவத்தை கொண்டு வந்தார் என்பர். ஆதலால் இவர் அயர்லாந்தின் திருத்தூதர் என அழைக்கப்படுகின்றார். புனிதர் “கொலம்பா” (Columba) மற்றும் புனிதர் “பிரிஜிட்” (Brigit of Kildare) ஆகியோருடன் இவரும் அயர்லாந்தின் பாதுகாவலர் ஆவார்.
இவரது காலத்தை உறுதியுடன் அறிய இயலவில்லை. ஆயினும் இவர் அயர்லாந்தில் 5ம் நூற்றாண்டின் பிற்பகுதியில் பணிபுரிந்தார். இவரே அயர்லாந்தின் அர்மாகி'ன் (Armagh) முதல் ஆயர் என்பது மரபு.
இவருக்கு சுமார் 16 வயதிருக்கும் போது, பெரிய பிரிட்டானியாவில் இருந்த தனது இல்லத்திலிருந்து அயர்லாந்து கடற்கொள்ளையர்களால் பிடிக்கப்பட்டு, அயர்லாந்துக்கு அடிமையாக எடுத்துச் செல்லப்பட்டார். ஆறு ஆண்டுகள் அடிமையாக மிருகங்களைப் பராமரித்து வாழ்ந்த பின்னர், அங்கிருந்து தப்பித்து வீடு திரும்பினார். ஒரு குருவாக திருநிலைப்படுத்தப்பட்ட பின்பு, வடக்கு மற்றும் மேற்கு அயர்லாந்தில் பணி புரிந்தார். பிற்காலத்தில், அவர் ஆயராக பணியாற்றினார். ஆயினும் அவர் பணிபுரிந்த இடங்களைப் பற்றி சிறிய அளவே அறியக் கிடைக்கின்றது. ஏழாம் நூற்றாண்டு முதலே அயர்லாந்தின் பாதுகாவலர் என்னும் பட்டத்திற்காக இவர் வணக்கம் செலுத்தப்பட்டார் என்பதற்கான சான்றுகள் உள்ளன.
புனிதர் பேட்ரிக்கின் நினைவுத் திருநாள் ஆண்டுதோறும் இவரின் இறந்த நாளான 17 மார்ச் அன்று கொண்டாடப்படுகின்றது. இது அயர்லாந்துக்கு வெளியேயும் கலாச்சாரம் மற்றும் சமய நிகழ்வாக கொண்டாடப்படுகின்றது. அயர்லாந்து மறைமாவட்டத்தில் இது பெருவிழாவும் கடன் திருநாளும் ஆகும்.
Also known as
• Apostle of Ireland
• Maewyn Succat
• Patricius, Patrizio
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Kidnapped from the British mainland around age 16, and shipped to Ireland as a slave. Sent to the mountains as a shepherd, he spent his time in the field in prayer. After six years of this life, he received had a dream in which he was commanded to return to Britain; seeing it as a sign, he escaped. He studied in several monasteries in Europe. Priest. Bishop. Sent by Pope Celestine to evangelize England, then Ireland, during which his chariot driver was Saint Odran, and Saint Jarlath was one of his spiritual students. In 33 years he effectively converted the Ireland. In the Middle Ages Ireland became known as the Land of Saints, and during the Dark Ages its monasteries were the great repositories of learning in Europe, all a consequence of Patrick's ministry.
Born
between 387 and 390 at Scotland as Maewyn Succat
Died
between 461 and 464 at Saul, County Down, Ireland of natural causes
Name Meaning
• warlike (Succat - pagan birth name)
• noble (Patricius - baptismal name)
Patronage
• against fear of snakes or ophidiophobia; ophidiophobics
• against snake bites
• against snakes
• barbers, hairdressers
• barrel makers; coopers
• blacksmiths
• cattle
• engineers
• excluded people
• miners
• Ireland
• Nigeria (1961)
• Loiza, Puerto Rico
• 29 dioceses
Blessed Juan Nepomuceno Zegrí y Moreno
Also known as
• John Nepomucene Zegrí y Moreno
• Johannes Nepomuk Zegrí y Moreno
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Son of Antonio Zegrí Martín and Josefa Moreno Escudero. A pious child, he received a good religious education, and felt an early call to the priesthood. Studied at Saint Dionysius Seminary, Granada, Spain. Ordained at Granada on 2 June 1855. Parish priest at Huétor Santillán and San Gabriel de Loja in Granada. Synodal judge. Canon of the cathedral of Malaga, Spain. Visitor of the religious orders in his diocese. Spiritual director of seminarians. Preacher and royal chaplain to Queen Isabel II.
In Malaga on 16 March 1878, Juan founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy to work for the spiritual and physical improvement of the poor. The Congregation soon spread throughout Spain. However, a scandal developed when some of the Sisters accused Juan of impropriety, and on 7 July 1888 he was ordered away from the Congregation. A lengthy investigation followed during which Juan kept his silence and obeyed all orders of his superiors. On 15 July 1894 he was cleared of all the false allegations, and though he voluntarily stayed away from the Congregation, he again was recognized as its founder.
Born
11 October 1831 at Granada, Spain
Died
17 March 1905 at Malaga, Spain of natural causes
Beatified
9 November 2003 by Pope John Paul II
Saint Jan Sarkander
Also known as
• John Sarkander
• Johannes Sarkander
• Martyr of the Confessional
Profile
Son of Georg Mathias Sarkander and Helene Kornicz Sarkander. Born in a time and place in the midst of the turmoil of the Protestant Reformation. His father died when Jan was still young, and the family moved to Pribor. He married, but his wife died when they were young, and they had no children.
Educated by Jesuits at Prague, receiving a master of philosophy degree in 1603. Studied theology in Austria. Ordained in 1607 at Grozin. Curate at Boskowitz in 1613. Parish priest at Olmütz in 1616. There he became the center of a struggle for the hearts and souls of the local people; he was supported by Baron von Labkowitz of Moravia, but bitterly opposed by the wealthy anti-Catholic landowner Bitowsky von Bystritz.
The year 1618 saw the start of the Thirty Years War between Catholic and Protestant armies. When Protestant forces occupied Hollenschau, Jan was briefly exiled to Poland, but returned to minister to his oppressed parish flock. Polish forces moved into the area in 1620, and battle seemed imminent. Jan visited the field commander, carrying the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance as a shield and chastisement. No battles were fought in the area of Hollenshau.
Siezing the opportunity to brand him a spy, and thus explain the lack of attack by the Polish troops, his enemy von Bystritz denounced Father Jan as a traitor. Jan was arrested, taken to Olmütz, and tortured for a confession, for revenge, and to get him to break the seal of the confessional and supply damaging information about his patron and parishioner Baron von Labkowitz. Sarkander was racked, beaten and murdered, but he clung to his faith and gave his tormentors nothing.
Born
20 December 1576 at Skotschau (Skoczow), Austrian Silesia (in modern Poland)
Died
• covered in flammable material and set on fire on 17 March 1620 at Olomouc, Moravia (in the modern Czech Republic)
• remains at the Cathedral of Jan Sarkander at Olomouc (in modern Czech Republic)
Canonized
Sunday 21 May 1995 by Pope John Paul II at Olomouc, Czech Republic
Blessed Conrad of Bavaria
Also known as
• Conrad di Baviera
• Conrad of Clairvaux
• Conrad of Molfetta
• Conrad the Confessor
• Corrado, Konrad
Additional Memorial
9 February (translation of relics; diocese of Molfetta, Italy; Cistercians)
Profile
Son of Duke Henry IX of Bavaria. Educated at Wiengarten Abbey in Ravensburg, Germany, and in Cologne, Germany. Joined of the Cistercians c.1124. Spiritual student of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in Cologne in 1147. Pilgrim to the Holy Lands as part of the spiritual Crusade, and died on the road.
Born
1105 Veitsburg, Baden-Württemberg (in modern Germany
Died
• 1154 at the Santa Maria ad Cryptam Benedictine monastery near Modugno, Italy of natural causes
• interred in a cave near the monastery, a traditional resting place for the monastery's dead
• relics translated to the cathedral of Molfetta in 1785
• reliquary restored and relics re-enshrined in August 2007
Beatified
1832 by Pope Gregory XVI (cultus confirmation)
Patronage
• Molfetta, Italy, city of
• Molfetta, Italy, diocese of
Saint Gabriel Lalemant
Additional Memorial
19 October as one of the Martyrs of North America
Profile
Nephew of the Jesuit missionaries Charles and Jerome Lalemant. Entered the Jesuits in Paris, France on 24 March 1630. Missionary, arriving in Canada on 20 September 1646. Assigned as assistant to Saint John de Brebeuf among the Huron in early 1649, he was soon martyred with him. One of the Martyrs of North America.
Born
10 October 1610 at Paris, France
Died
• tortured to death over the course of three hours on 17 March 1649 at the Saint Ignatius mission in the Huron country, Canada
• interred by fellow priests at Saint Mary's mission
• some relics moved to Quebec in the spring of 1650
Canonized
29 June 1930 by Pope Pius XI
Blessed Maria Bárbara Maix
Also known as
Maria Bárbara of the Holy Trinity
Profile
Exiled from Austria for political reasons, she arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 9 November 1848. Drawn to the religious life, she founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on 8 May 1849.
Born
27 June 1818 in Vienna, Austria
Died
• 17 March 1873 in Catumbi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil of natural causes
• relics in the chapel of São Raphael, Rua Riachuelo, 508, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
Beatified
6 November 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI
Saint Agricola of Châlon-sur-Saône
Also known as
• Aregl of Châlon-sur-Saône
• Agrele of Châlon-sur-Saône
Profile
Son of a Gallo-Roman senator. Bishop of Châlon-sur-Saône, France in 532; he governed the diocese for 48 years. Friend of Saint Gregory of Tours who wrote glowingly of him. Known for his simple, austere personal life, and his devotion to the spiritual lives of his flock.
Born
c.497
Died
580 at Châlon-sur-Saône, France of natural causes
Saint Withburgh of East Anglia
Also known as
• Withburgh of Dereham
• Vitburga, Wihtburh, Withburga
Profile
Born a princess, the youngest daughter of King Anna of East Anglia (part of modern England). Following the death of her father in battle, Withburgh became a nun and lived as an anchoress at East Dereham, Norfolk, England. Founded a convent there.
Died
c.743
Blessed Gertrude of Trzebnica
Profile
Daughter of Saint Hedwig of Silesia and Duke Henry I. Engaged to the Count Palatine Otto of Wittelsbach, but he died before the wedding. Cistercian nun and then abbess in Trzebnica, Poland.
Born
c.1200
Died
December 1268 in Trzebnica, Poland of natural causes
Blessed Josep Mestre Escoda
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Priest in the archdiocese of Tarragona, Spain. Martyred in the Spanish Civil War.
Born
12 February 1899 in Dosaiguas, Tarragona, Spain
Died
17 March 1937 in Barcelona, Spain
Beatified
• 13 October 2013 by Pope Francis
• beatification celebrated in Tarragona, Spain
Saint Ambrose of Alexandria
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Rich nobleman of Alexandria, Egypt. Friend and financial supporter of Origen. Imprisoned for his faith in the persecutions of Maximinus but survived. Confessor of the faith.
Died
c.250 of natural causes
Saint Paul of Cyprus
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Cypriot monk. During the reign of the iconoclast emperor Constantine Copronymus, Paul was ordered to trample a crucifix. He refused, and was tortured and martryed.
Died
roasted to death hanging upside down over a slow fire in 775
Many Martyrs of Alexandria
Also known as
Martyrs of Serapis
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An unknown number of Christians who were martyred together by a mob of worshippers of the Graeco-Egyptian sun god Serapis.
Died
c.392 in Alexandria, Egypt
Saint Stephen of Palestrina
Profile
Cistercian monk from the Clairvaux Abbey. Cardinal-bishop of Palestrina in 1141.
Died
1144
Canonized
• cultus originated within the Cistercians
• no formal recogition
Saint Thomasello
Also known as
Thomasellus
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Dominican. Student of Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Born
1242 at Etruria, Italy
Died
• 1270 at Perugia, Italy of natural causes
• buried in the Dominican church in Perugia
Saint Llinio of Llandinam
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Monk. Founded the abbey at Llandinam, Powys, Wales, and served as its first abbot.
Died
520 of natural causes
Saint Diemut of Saint Gall
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Recluse in 12th century Saint Gall, Switzerland.
Saint Theodore of Rome
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Martyr.
Died
martyred in 2nd century Rome, Italy
Saint Alexander
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Martyr.
