St. Simón Stock—16th May. Simon stock was born in Aylesford in the united Kingdom in 1165. During his youth heCarmelitetravelled to the Holy landin Palestine. Returning to Europe he established many Carmelite orders principally in university towns such as Oxford , Paris and Barcelona. The name stock ( which…
St. Damien of Molokai—10th May. Described as a true,» Martyr of Charity»,Damien, was born Jozef de Veuster in Tremlo in Belgium in. From adevout catholic family, two of his sisters became nuns and his elder brother was the well renown Father Pamphile.In 1860 he joined the order of the…
St. Athanasius – 2nd May Athanasius was born in Alexandria in Egypt in 296 AD of Christian parents and was schooled under the influence of Bishop Alexander. As a young man he spent a considerable amount of time in retreat with Saint Anthony in the desert. In 319 he became…
St. Mark – 25th April. Saint Mark´s Gospel written in Greek, is believed to be the first Synoptic Gospel to be written, his writings were addressed in the main to Christian gentile converts. The identification of Mark the evangelist has long been an area of interest, it has now…
St. John Climacus – 30th March. Saint John also referred to as John Scholastic or John of the Ladder was a 6th century monk at Mount Sinai. Little information is given on his earlier life but we know that at the age of 16 he arrived at the Vatus monastery…
Saint Louise de Marillac – 15th March. Louise was born to a noble wealthy family in 1591 in the Picardy region of France. She received an excellent education at the» Royal Monastery of Poissy», where her aunt was a Dominican nun. From the young age of 15 she greatly…
The Feast of Saint Peters chair – 22nd February. The feast is a very ancient tradition proven to have existed in Rome since the fourth century. The chair originally a wooden oak structure believed to have been used by St Peter in Rome is enclosed in a sculpted bronze…
St.Claude la Colombiere– 15th February. Born in France of noble parents in 1634 he spent his earlier years studying philosophy and rhetoric in Vienne in Lyon. Having encountered a call to the religious life, he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Avignon at 17 and commenced a life of study and…
St Josephine Bakhita– 8th February. Josephine was born in a small village in the western Sudanese region of Durfur. Her father was a land owner and the family were well respected. When she was only about 7 years old she was abducted by Arab slave traders, as her sister had…
St.Brigid– 1st February. Brigid is Patroness of Ireland and was an early Christian nun, abbess and founder of several monasteries. Brigid was the daughter of Dubtach a Scottish noble man from Leinster and Brocca a Pictish slave baptized by St Patrick. Her father attempted to arrange a marriage for her…
