St. Eliphius
Feastday: October 16
Death: 362
Irish or Scottish martyr, also called Eloff. He was martyred in Toul, France. His relics were enshrined in Cologne, Germany, in the tenth century.
St. Eliphius
Feastday: October 16
Death: 362
Irish or Scottish martyr, also called Eloff. He was martyred in Toul, France. His relics were enshrined in Cologne, Germany, in the tenth century.
St. Dulcidius
Feastday: October 16
Death: 450
Successor to St. Phoebadius in the bishopric of Agen, France. He is also listed as Dulcet and Doucis
St. Conogon
Feastday: October 16
Death: 460
Bishop in Brittany, France, also called Gwen or Albinus. He was the successor of St. Corentin in the see of Tuimper.
St. Colman of Kilroot
Feastday: October 16
Death: 6th century
Abbot-bishop of Kiltrout, near Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. He was a disciple of St. Ailbhe of Emly.
Saint Colman mac Cathbaid is a sixth-century Irish saint who was bishop of Kilroot (Co. Antrim), a minor see which was afterwards incorporated in the Diocese of Connor. He may have given his name to Kilmackevat (Co. Antrim).
He was a contemporary of St. Ailbe, and his feast has been kept on 16 October.[1]
St. Bertrand of Comminges
Feastday: October 16
Death: 1123
Bishop of Comminges, in the diocese of Toulouse, France. The son of a military officer, he became a canon in Toulouse. About 1075, he became bishop of Comminges, a role he would have for almost half a century. He managed the affairs of the faithful and was known for miracles. It is believed that he was canonized before 1309.
St. Bercharius
Feastday: October 16
Birth: 636
Death: 696
Benedictine abbot and founder, martyred at Moutier-en-Der, France. He was a native of Aquitaine who became a monk at Luxeuil and was ordained. Bercharius became the first abbot at Hautvilliers, founded by St. Nivard. He also founded the monastery at Moutier-en-Der and a convent at Puellemontier. Bercharius was stabbed by Dagnin, a deranged monk whom he had disciplined, and died two days later on March 26.
Saint Bercharius (Bererus; French: Berchaire) (636 – March 28, 696) was abbot of Hautvillers in Champagne. Descended from a distinguished Aquitanian family, he received his instruction from Saint Nivard (Nivo), Archbishop of Reims.
Bercharius entered the monastery of Luxeuil under Saint Walbert, and soon stood out from the rest of his fellow-novices. Upon his return to Reims he persuaded Saint Nivard to establish the monastery of Hautvillers. Bercharius himself became the first abbot. Entirely given up to prayer and meditation he also instructed his brethren to lead a contemplative life.
He founded two religious houses in the Diocese of Châlons-sur-Marne, the one (Puisye or Montier-en-Der Abbey) for men, the other (Pellmoutier or Puellarum Monasterium) for women. These institutions he enriched by donations of valuable relics, procured on a journey to Rome and the Holy Land.
The monk Daguin, provoked by a reprimand from Bercharius, stabbed him during the night. According to one account, Bercharius did not condemn or complain about the injury he received, but instead asked Daguin to perform penance and to make a pilgrimage to Rome to obtain pardon and absolution. Daguin left the monastery never to return. After two days of severe suffering, the saint succumbed to his wound, and was considered a martyr.
Veneration
His remains were preserved at Moutier-en-Der until the suppression of religious orders in the 1790s.
The commemoration of his name occurs in the martyrology on 16 October.
St. Baldwin
Feastday: October 16
Death: 680
Martyr and son of St. Salaberga. He was also the brother of St. Anstrude. Baldwin was the archdeacon of León, Spain. His murder led to his status as a martyr for the faith.
St. Balderic
Feastday: October 16
Death: 7th century
Abbot and prince, brother of St. Bova. Balderie, or Baundry, and his sister were the children of Sigebert II, King of Austrasia. He became the abbot-founder of a convent at Reims and Montfaucon Abbey in France.
St. Anastasius XX
Feastday: October 16
Death: 1085
Hermit and papal legate. Anastasius was born in Venice about 1020. He became a monk in Mont St. Michel, in France, but then moved to a hermitage on the island of Tombelaine, off the coast of Normandy. In 1066, Anastasius was invited to enter Cluny Monastery by St. Hugh. Seven years later, known for his sanctity, Anastasius was commissioned by Pope St. Gregory VII to undertake a special mission in Spain. Anastasius returned to Cluny and remained there for seven years before becoming a hermit again near Toulouse. He was returning to Cluny when he died in 1085.
St. Ambrose
Feastday: October 16
Death: 752
Bishop of Cahors, in France. He resigned his office and made a pilgrimage to Rome. Living as a hermit, Ambrose died in Saint-Ambroisesur-Arnon, once called Ernotrum, in Berry.
St. Marguerite d'Youville
Feastday: October 16
Patron: of widows, difficult marriages, death of young children
Birth: October 15, 1701
Death: December 23, 1771
Beatified: 1959 by Pope John XXIII
Canonized: December 9, 1990, Vatican Basilica, by Pope John Paul II
Foundress of the Sisters of Charity, the Grey Nuns of Canada. St. Marguerite D'Youville was born at Varennes, Quebec, on October 15, Marie Marguerite Dufrost de La Jemmerais. She studied under the Ursulines, married Francois D'Youville in 1722, and became a widow in 1730. She worked to support herself and her three children, devoted much of her time to the Confraternity of the Holy Family in charitable activities.
In 1737, with three companions, she founded the Grey Nuns when they took their initial vows; a formal declaration took place in 1745. Two years later she was appointed Directress of the General Hospital in Montreal, which was taken over by the Grey Nuns, and had the rule of the Grey Nuns, with Marguerite as Superior, confirmed by Bishop of Pontbriand of Quebec in 1755.
She died in Montreal on December 23, and since her death, the Grey Nuns have established schools, hospitals, and orphanages throughout Canada, the United States, Africa, and South America, and are especially known for their work among the Eskimos. She was beatified by Pope John XXIII in 1959 and canonized in 1990 by Pope John Paul II.
Saint Marguerite d'Youville (French pronunciation: [maʁɡʁit djuvil]; October 15, 1701 – December 23, 1771) was a French Canadian widow who founded the Order of Sisters of Charity of Montreal, commonly known as the Grey Nuns of Montreal. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II of the Roman Catholic Church in 1990, the first native-born Canadian to be declared a saint.
Early life and marriage
She was born Marie-Marguerite Dufrost de Lajemmerais in 1701 at Varennes, Quebec, oldest daughter of Christophe du Frost, Sieur de la Gesmerays (1661–1708) and Marie-Renée Gaultier de Varennes. (According to Quebec naming conventions, she would have always been known as Marguerite, not Marie.) Her father died when she was a young girl. Despite her family's poverty, at age 11 she was able to attend the Ursuline convent in Quebec City for two years before returning home to teach her younger brothers and sisters.[1] Marguerite's impending marriage to a scion of Varennes society was foiled by her mother's marriage below her class to Timothy Sullivan, an Irish doctor who was seen by the townspeople as a disreputable foreigner.[2] On August 12, 1722, at Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, she married François d'Youville, a bootlegger who sold liquor illegally to Indigenous Peoples in exchange for furs and who frequently left home for long periods for parts unknown. Despite this, the couple eventually had six children before François died in 1730. By age 30 she had suffered the loss of her father, husband and four of her six children, who died in infancy. Marguerite experienced a religious renewal during her marriage. "In all these sufferings Marguerite grew in her belief of God's presence in her life and His tender love for every human person. She, in turn, wanted to make known His compassionate love to all. She undertook many charitable works with complete trust in God, whom she loved as a Father."[1]
Grey Nuns of Montreal
Marguerite d'Youville Sanctuary in Varennes
Marguerite and three other women founded in 1737 a religious association to provide a home for the poor in Montreal. At first, the home only housed four or five members, but it grew as the women raised funds. As their actions went against the social conventions of the day, d'Youville and her colleagues were mocked by their friends and relatives and even by the poor they helped. Some called them "les grises", which can mean "the grey women" but which also means "the drunken women",[3] about d'Youville's late husband. By 1744 the association had become a Catholic religious order with a rule and a formal community. In 1747 they were granted a charter to operate the General Hospital of Montreal, which by that time was in ruins and heavily in debt. d'Youville and her fellow workers brought the hospital back into financial security,[4] but the hospital was destroyed by fire in 1765.[1] The order rebuilt the hospital soon after. By this time, the order was commonly known as the "Grey Nuns of Montreal" after the nickname given to the nuns in ridicule years earlier. Years later, as the order expanded to other cities, the order became known simply as the "Grey Nuns".
Slave owner
d'Youville has been described as "one of Montreal's more prominent slaveholders".[5][6] d'Youville and the Grey Nuns used enslaved laborers in their hospital and purchased and sold both Indian slaves and British prisoners, including an English slave which she purchased from the Indians. The vast majority of the 'slaves' in the hospital were English soldiers and would be better described as prisoners of war. As described in 'The Captors' Narrative: Catholic Women and Their Puritan Men on the Early American Frontier': "These 21 men were not captive freeholders, resentful of their captors' religion and longing to reestablish themselves at home. They were for the most part young soldiers, many of them conscripts, simply wishing to survive their captivity. However strange they may have found the community that held them and the woman who supervised them, they were probably relieved to find themselves in a situation that offered a strong possibility of survival. They knew their fellow soldiers to be dying in nearby prisons -- places notorious for their exposure to the heat and cold and unchecked pestilence. As hard as they must have worked at Pointe-Saint-Charles, the men could easily have regarded their captivity at least as a partial blessing." [7]
Legacy
Marguerite d'Youville died in 1771 at the General Hospital. In 1959, she was beatified by Pope John XXIII, who called her "Mother of Universal Charity", and was canonized in 1990 by Pope John Paul II. She is the first native-born Canadian to be elevated to sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church. Her feast day is October 16. In 1961, a shrine was built in her birthplace of Varennes. Today, it is the site of a permanent exhibit about the life and works of Marguerite.[8] The review process included a medically inexplicable cure of acute myeloid leukemia after relapse. The woman is the only known long-term survivor in the world, having lived more than 40 years from a condition that typically kills people in 18 months.[9]
A large number of Roman Catholic churches, schools, women's shelters, charity shops, and other institutions in Canada and worldwide are named after St. Marguerite d'Youville. Most notably, the renowned academic institution of higher learning, D'Youville College in Buffalo, NY, is named after her.[10] The D'Youville Academy at Plattsburgh, New York was founded in 1860.[11]
Sir Louis-Amable Jetté’s wife, Lady Jetté, wrote a biography of Saint Marie-Marguerite d'Youville.[12]
Final resting place
In 2010, Mother Marie-Marguerite d'Youville's remains were removed from Grey Nuns Motherhouse and relocated to her birthplace of Varennes.[13]
Recognition
On September 21, 1978, Canada Post issued 'Marguerite d'Youville' based on a design by Antoine Dumas. The 14¢ stamps are perforated 13.5 and were printed by Canadian Bank Note Company, Limited.[14]