St. Mark Upper Stained Glass Windows

Photos and Lives of the Holy

SACRED HEART OF MARY

Christians celebrate the feast of the Sacred Heart of Mary, but as yet no feast has been solemnized for the whole church.

The Sacred Heart of Mary is a

devotional title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary it reflects her joys and sorrows, her virtues and perfections, her virginal love for God, her maternal love for Jesus and her compassionate love for all mankind.

ST. PIUS XSt. Pius X, Giuseppe Melchiorre

Sarto, lived from 1835 to 1914. He was ordained in 1858. His most important reform was to publish the first Code of Canon Law, which collected the laws of the Church into one volume for the first time. He was a pastoral pope, encouraging personal piety and a lifestyle reflecting Christian values. He was the first pope since Pius V to be canonized. He was canonized St. Pius X on May 29, 1954. The church celebrates his holy life on August 21.

ST. THOMAS MOREHe lived from 1477 to 1535. He was

a saint, knight, Chancellor of England, author, and martyr. He spent his early life in prayer and penance. He was elected a member of Parliament in 1501 where he opposed the large sums of money that were being diverted from subjects to King Henry VII. He was a prolific writer, whose best know work is Utopia. Because he did not support the monarchy, he was eventually imprisoned in the Tower of London for treason. He was eventually tried, found guilty, and beheaded. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1935.

ST. ELIZABETH Feast Day: November 5.Not much is known about

Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist. She has the distinction of being one of the first to know about Mary’s great blessing as the Mother of God. Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin was beyond child-bearing age. Her husband was told by the angel of Gabriel in a vision that they would have a son and should name him John.

ST. PATRICKFeast Day: March 17.St. Patrick was born A.D. 387 and

died March 17, 461. He was the patron saint of Ireland, Boston and New York. He was born in Roman Britain and educated in a monastery. He went to Ireland subsequently as a Christian missionary and became bishop. He baptized thousands of people, ordained priests, and converted many. St. Patrick is credited with teaching the Irish about the doctrine of the Holy Trinity using the three-leafed shamrock to illustrate the Christian teaching of three persons in one God.

ST. GERARD MAJELLAST. GERARD MAJELLAFeast Day: June 17Saint Gerard Majella (April 6, 1726 –

October 16, 1755) is a Roman Catholic saint whose intercession is sought for children, unborn children, childbirth, mothers, expectant mothers, motherhood, falsely accused people, good confessions. Gerard Majella was a Redemptorist brother. During his life, he was very close to the peasants and other outsiders who lived in the Neapolitan countryside.

Some of the miracles attributed to him include: restoring life to a boy who had fallen from a high cliff; he blessed the scanty supply of wheat belonging to a poor family, and it lasted until the next harvest; several times he multiplied the bread that he was distributing to the poor.

ST. JOHN THE BAPTISTFeast Day: June 24St. John the Baptist is the patron

saint of French Canada. He followed the example of previous Hebrew prophets, living austerely, challenging sinful rulers, calling for repentance, and promising God’s justice. John is the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary. His birth was foretold the angel Gabriel. It was John who baptized Jesus. The baptism marks the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

ST. JOHN THE EVANGELISTFeast Day: December 27.St. John the writer of the 4th Gospel

was an Apostle and Evangelist. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome. He was the brother of another Apostle, St. James the greater. By trade St. John was a fisherman like his father. He was first a disciple of St. John the Baptist and later called by Jesus to be one of His Apostles. He was our Lord’s favorite disciple and on of His Apostles. He was present with Jesus in the Garden on Holy Thursday night. He was the only Apostle who remained with Jesus at the foot of the cross on Calvary together with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalena and Mary of Cleophas.

ST. JUDEFeast Day: June 19.St. Jude the Apostle, also known as

St. Jude Thaddeus, was a martyr. He was born and died in the 1st century. He is the patron saint of lost causes, desperate situations and hospitals. His attribute is a club. He is also often shown in icons with a flame around his head. He felt people should persevere in difficult situations as did their forbearers. St. Jude suffered martyrdom around the year 65 with the apostle Simon the Zealot in Beirut, Lebanon. He is not to be confused with Judas who betrayed Jesus.

ST. JOSEPHFeast Day: March 19He was the spouse of the

Blessed Virgin Mary. He was a carpenter and the foster father of Jesus. It is believed he prays especially for families and is the patron saint of the Universal Church. St. Joseph died prior to the Passion.

ST. THERESA OF LISIEUXFeast Day: October 3St. Theresa lived from 1873 to

1897. She is the patron saint of the missions and a Doctor of the Church. She is also recognized as St. Theresa of the Little Flower of Jesus. She followed a beloved sister into the convent at the age of 14 and eventually became a cloister Carmelite nun. She was the author of many writings in support of the missions. In 1925 she wrote about the Holiness in a simple life.

ST. EDWARDFeast Day: October 13He was also known as St.

Edward the Confessor and was born in 1003. He became Kind of England at the age of 40 and had a very peaceful reign. He was a saintly character. He was canonized by Alexander II in 1161.

ST. CHRISTOPHERAlthough the Roman Catholic Church still approves

devotion to him, St. Christopher is no longer considered a saint due to the confusion of historical records that identify him with the historical Saint Menas.

The story of St. Christopher is built on legends that first

appeared in Greece. The story goes Christopher was a very large and tall Canaanite with a fearsome face. He decided his life goal was to serve "the greatest king there was". He met a hermit who instructed him in the Christian faith. The hermit suggested because of his size and strength Christopher could serve Christ by assisting people to cross a dangerous river, where they were perishing in the attempt. The hermit promised that this service would be pleasing to Christ.

After Christopher had performed this service for some

time, a little child asked him to take him across the river. During the crossing, the river became swollen and the child seemed as heavy as lead so much that Christopher could scarcely carry him and found himself in great difficulty. When he finally reached the other side, he said to the child: "You have put me in the greatest danger. I do not think the whole world could have been as heavy on my shoulders as you were." The child replied: "You had on your shoulders not only the whole world but Him who made it. I am Christ your king, whom you are serving by this work." Thus Christopher was known as the 'Carrier of Christ'.

ST. STANISTAW KOSTKAFeast Day November 13Born to the Polish nobility in Rostkowo,

Przasnysz County, Poland, on 28 October 1550, the son of a senator, St. Kostka attended the Viennese Jesuit college from age 14 with his brother Paul, who badly mistreated him. While staying at the home of a Lutheran, he became gravely ill, but was not allowed to call for a priest. He prayed to his personal patron, Saint Barbara, who appeared to him in a vision with two angels, and administered Communion. He was then cured from his disease by Our Lady who told him to become a Jesuit, though it was against his family’s wishes. Attended the Jesuit college in Rome, Italy. He is the patron saint of: Poland, against broken bones and the last sacraments.

ST. CATHERINE OF SIENAFeast Day: April 29St. Catherine of Siena was born Caterina di

Giacomo di Benincasa March 1347 during the time of the Black Death. She was a tertiary of the Dominican Order, and a Scholastic philosopher and theologian.

At age five or six she was on the way home from

a visit to a married sister, and is said to have experienced a vision of Christ seated in glory with the Apostles Peter, Paul, and John. Catherine vowed to give her whole life to God.

She also worked to bring the papacy of Gregory

XI back to Rome from its displacement in France, and to establish peace among the Italian city-states. She was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1970. She is one of the two patron saints of Italy, together with St. Francis of Assisi.

Catherine's letters are considered one of the

great works of early Tuscan literature. Her major treatise is The Dialogue of Divine Providence. It is a dialogue between a soul who "rises up" to God and God himself.

ST. JOAN OF ARCFeast Day: May 30Joan of Arc also Known as "The Maid of

Orleans”, is a folk heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. She was born a peasant girl in what is now eastern France. Claiming divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the coronation of Charles VII of France. She was captured by the Burgundians, transferred to the English in exchange for money, put on trial by the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon for charges of "insubordination and heterodoxy", and was burned at the stake for heresy when she was 19 years old.

Twenty-five years after her execution, an

inquisitorial court authorized by Pope Callixtus III examined the trial, pronounced her innocent, and declared her a martyr. Joan of Arc was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920.

ST. BRIDGETFeast Day: February 1St. Bridget, (her name is also variously spelled

as Brigid, Bridget, Bridgit, Bríd, and Bride and, from the importance of her cult, she is sometimes also known as Mary of the Gael) born 451–525 AD was an early Irish Christian nun, abbess, and founder of several monasteries of nuns, including that of Kildare in Ireland, which was considered legendary and was highly revered.

There is considerable controversy about the

early life of St. Bridget, but from the start, it was clear that Brigit was holy. Before a name had been given to her as an infant, her father had a dream of three clerics baptizing her. One of the clerics told her father, “Let Brigit be your name for the girl”. During her life Brigit performed many miracles, including healing and feeding the poor. Saint Bridget is celebrated for her generosity to the poor. According to one tale, as a child, she once gave away her mother's entire store of butter. The butter was then replenished in answer to Brigit's prayers.

ST. MICHAELFeast Day: September 29Saint Michael the Archangel has

four distinct roles. First, he is the supreme enemy of Satan and the fallen angels. Secondly, he is the Christian angel of death: at the hour of death, Saint Michael descends and gives each soul the chance to redeem itself before passing. Saint Michael's third role is weighing souls in his perfectly balanced scales on Judgment Day. And finally, Saint Michael is the Guardian of the Church.

In the Catholic tradition, Saint

Michael symbolizes the victory of good over evil.