Saint of the day

Saint of the day

May 23: Saint Giovanni Battista de’ Rossi

Charity towards the poor and proclamation of the Gospel

He visited the sick in Roman hospitals, managed a night shelter for the homeless, devoted himself to listening to penitents who crowded his confessional. He is Father Giovanni Battista de' Rossi, born on February 22, 1698, in Voltaggio (Genoa). At about thirteen years of age, he moved to Rome to study literature and philosophy at the Roman College and lived with a cousin who was a priest, a canon in Santa Maria in Cosmedin.

May 22: Saint Rita of Cascia

Woman of Dialogue and Peace

Wife, mother, widow, nun. It was the arduous human journey that led Rita to become a Saint. She is among the most well-known women in the world, certainly among the most loved and invoked in the ecclesial community after the Virgin Mary. An example of unshakable faith in God, passionate love, so much so that for 15 years she shared with Christ the wound of a thorn driven into her forehead.

May 21: Saint Christopher Magallanes and 24 companions martyred

Pastor to the point of sacrificing his life

The Church in Mexico had to overcome a terrible test, that of persecution and marginalization. With the law of 1917, known as the Political Constitution of the United States of Mexico, inspired by anti-religious and anti-clerical hatred, the harassment of Christians was institutionally increased. Pope Pius XI dedicated the Encyclical Iniquis Afflictisque, beseeching against the prevalent persecution of the Church by the government in Mexico, attributed "arrogance" and " madness " for the intent "to undermine and crumble the house of the Lord".

May 20: Saint Bernardino of Siena

The Apostle of the Name of Jesus

He traveled throughout Italy in his time, preaching and calling for conversion, pacification and a return to God. He promoted the devotion to the Name of Jesus, which he coined in the trigram “IHS”, inserted inside the form of a sun with twelve rays. He is Bernardino of Siena, a Friar Minor of the Observance, who tried to bring back, first his fellow citizens, to a personal friendship with God and, then, throughout the Italian peninsula to the multitudes who came far and wide to listen to his sermons.

May 19: Saint Crispin of Viterbo, Capuchin Friar Minor

Beggar for God 

“The power of God creates us, wisdom governs us, mercy saves us”. This is what Friar Crispin of Viterbo repeated to those he met. A simple lay brother of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, assigned to soliciting alms on behalf of the Order, serving the sick and taking care of the convent garden, Friar Crispin (Pietro) Fioretti was born in Viterbo on November 13, 1668. His father, Ubaldo Fioretti, had married Marzia, who was already a widow with a daughter. Crispino soon lost his father and his uncle Francesco took care of him, sending him to attend the school run by the Jesuits. Crispino also worked as an apprentice shoemaker in his uncle's shop.

May 18: Saint Felix of Cantalice, Capuchin Friar Minor

The “Friar Deo gratias” 

He was called the “Friar Deo gratias”, because that was how he greeted people he met. For forty years, in fact, he wandered the streets of Rome asking for alms, taking advantage of the opportunity to give spiritual advice to commoners and aristocrats. He is Felice Porro, known as Saint Felix of Cantalice, for the name of the place where he was born in the province of Rieti in 1515. As a child he moved to Cittaducale to serve a family as a shepherd and farmer. He devoted himself to reading the Lives of the Fathers and the desire to lead an austere existence grew in him.