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Saint of the day

Saint of the day

September 4: Saint Rosalia

Thanks to her intersession, the plague in Palermo came to an end

Saint Rosalia lived between 1130 and 1170, during the reign of William I of Sicily, known as “the Bad.” At that time, there was a revival of Christian spirituality. Following the end of Arab rule, both Byzantine and Western monasticism flourished, enthusiastically supported by the Norman kings. The hermit’s life, dedicated to prayer and solitude, was considered one of the highest forms of devotion.

Jacopo Zucchi, Procession of Saint Gregory the Great, 1578 - 1582, Vatican Museums.

Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

He is one of the first four Doctors of the Church of the West, who promoted the evangelization of England and laid down the fundamental norms for chants, which later took his name. Gregory the Great was born to a wealthy Roman patrician family, some time around 540. He received a sound education, studying a range of subjects that went from the law, to the Bible, to the works of the Fathers, in particular of Saint Augustine.

September 2: Saint Zenon, Martyr of Nicomedia

A Soldier of Christ

Saint Zenon is remembered as a martyr of the Christian faith, a victim of the persecutions against Christians that took place in the ancient city of Nicomedia, one of the main metropolises of the Eastern Roman Empire, located in what is now Turkey.

September 1: Saint Giles, Abbot

A hermit and founder of a religious community

Historical information about the life of Saint Giles is rather scarce. According to some sources, he was born in Athens at the beginning of the 7th century and later moved to Provence, where he founded a monastery near Arles and became its abbot.

August 31: Saint Raymond Nonnatus

A life dedicated to freeing Christian captives

He feared neither threats nor torture in his mission to ransom imprisoned Christians who risked losing their faith. Saint Raymond, known as “Nonnatus” (meaning “not born”), was a courageous friar of the Order of Mercy who lived in 13th century Spain. He received this nickname because he was delivered by Caesarean section after his mother’s death.

August 30: Blessed Ildefonso Schuster

A Monk in the Service of the Church

A contemplative at the service of the ecclesial community, committed to promoting reforms and pastoral initiatives, faithful to the Benedictine Rule and to Ora et labora. This was Cardinal Ildefonso Schuster, born Alfredo Schuster in Rome on January 18, 1880, into a family of Bavarian origin.

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