Saint of the day

A tragic and poor existence illuminated by the love of the One Crucified 

Everything that for the world is nothing but misfortune and failure can be found in this young man who died at only 19 years of age. Orphaned, poor, exploited at work, chronically ill, discriminated against, he found his fulfillment in following Christ Crucified. He is Nunzio Sulprizio, who discovered in the love of God the reason for his life. A sorrowful and unfortunate existence from a human point of view, but rich in sanctity and goodness.

Witness of Christ

Tradition holds that Florian was born in the second half of the 3rd century in Zeiselmauer, near Vienna. He was baptized and raised as a Christian. After several years of service as an officer in the Roman army, he was appointed head of the chancellery of the imperial governor in Lauriacum, present-day Lorch near Enns in Upper Austria.

United in martyrdom for Christ

The Apostles Philip and James the Less are remembered on the same day because their relics were placed together in the Basilica of the Holy Twelve Apostles in Rome.

We know very little about James, son of Alphaeus, called the Lesser, because he was smaller in stature than James, son of Zebedee and brother of John the Evangelist. The only certain news is that he was one of the first disciples of Jesus.

Defender of the Nicene Creed

A lone bishop against all, including the Emperor, in the defense of the Niceo-Constantinopolitan Creed, commonly called the Nicene Creed, fearlessly risking exile, marginalization, or persecution. He is Saint Athanasius, a staunch defender of the orthodoxy of the faith in the face of Arian heresy.

Born near Alexandria, Egypt, around 298, he studied Greek literature and philosophy. At a very young age he entered the Church’s service where for six years he was a lector. Ordained deacon, Patriarch Alexander appointed him his personal secretary.

The humble carpenter of Nazareth 

“An aspect of Saint Joseph that has been emphasized from the time of the first social Encyclical, Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, is his relation to work. Saint Joseph was a carpenter who earned an honest living to provide for his family. From him, Jesus learned the value, the dignity and the joy of what it means to eat bread that is the fruit of one’s own labour.” So wrote Pope Francis in the Apostolic Letter Patris Corde, on the occasion of the 150^th  anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church.