Saint of the day

Saint of the day

May 5: Saint Nunzio Sulprizio

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.

May 3: Saints Philip and James the Less

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.

Tradition has it that he was a relative of Jesus, perhaps that cousin referred to in the Gospel of Matthew (13, 55). He had a notable influence on the Council of Jerusalem, in which the missionary vocation of Peter for the circumcised and of Paul for the uncircumcised were established. In fact, a form of division of the missionary field took place: Peter towards the Jews and Paul towards the pagans.

May 2: Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

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.

May 1: Saint Joseph the Worker

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 150th  anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church.

April 30: Saint Pius V

The Pope, Reformation and the Rosary 

Elected in 1566, Pope Pius V, a Dominican friar and a great ascetic, is noted for leading the counter-reformation, establishing the Catechism and promulgating the Breviary and the Roman Missal which carry his name.