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On 15 December the liturgical tradition commemorates Saint Valerian, Bishop of the community of Avensano — an ancient diocese of Africa Proconsularis, corresponding to today’s archaeological area of Bordj-Hamdouna (Tunisia), formerly within the archdiocese of Carthage.
Angelo Scarpetti was born between 1230 and 1240, most likely in Sansepolcro, the Tuscan town where he lived and died. According to established tradition, in 1254 he entered the convent of the Bonite hermits of Sansepolcro, who followed the Rule of Saint Augustine. This community became involved in the great process of unifying eremitical movements promoted by Pope Alexander IV which, in 1256, led to the foundation of the Order of the Hermits of Saint Augustine.
Albrecht von Bollstädt, better known as Albert the Great, was a Bishop, a philosopher, a theologian, a naturalist, a chemist and the teacher of Saint Thomas Aquinas. He was highly educated, especially in natural sciences, and wrote a Summa Theologiae that became the model for Aquinas’ own celebrated, Summa Theologiae.
The Apostolic Nuncio in Spain, Archbishop Filippo Sega, described Teresa of Jesus as “a restless and wandering woman… whose teachings opposed Saint Paul’s command that women should not teach”. His description of the restlessness of Teresa of Jesus, in the world Teresa de Ahumada, was accurate. Indeed, at the time of his comments, she had already founded 12 monasteries throughout Spain and had travelled more than 50,000 kilometres. And she had done all this with the travel means available at the time, journeying on roads that were not quite roads, with all the discomforts involved in moving from one side of the kingdom to the other, especially for a woman, and even more so, for a nun. She managed to open 17 monasteries with very few funds, health problems and countless difficulties in finding homes that could be turned into religious convents. Her “crime” was that she was a woman, and above all, a reformer of consecrated life, including that of males.
Saint John de Matha, founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, was born in Faucon—a small Alpine settlement in Provence and a fief tied to the Counts of Barcelona—around the middle of the 12th century, according to sources on 24 June 1154, and according to others on 23 June 1160.
Seven merchants met in an oratory in Florence on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary in 1233. They were all wealthy and part of the old nobility of Florence. Their names were Bonfilius Monaldi, Bonajunta Manetti, Manettus dell'Antella, Amidius Amidei, Hugo Uguccioni, Sosthenes Sostegni and Alexis Falconieri.
They shared a great devotion to Our Lady and belonged to a confraternity, whose aim was to pay homage to Mary. Known as “Laudesi”, members of the confraternity felt called to be at the service of Our Lady and follow Christ. After seeking the advice of the Bishop of Florence, Ardingo, who encouraged their project, they began their new lives.
Anthony is considered the Father of Monasticism. Details of his life are narrated in “The Life of Anthony”, by Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, written in 360 AD. Anthony was born to a wealthy family, in Koma, Egypt, on the left bank of the Nile, around 251. He was an orphan by the time he was 18 years old. Two years later, taking the Gospel literally, he sold all his possessions, distributed them to the poor and withdrew into the desert to live a life of penance.
Saint Patrick's real name was Maewyn Succat. Born around 385 in Scotland, he was the son of a Roman centurion from Great Britain.
When Maewyn was 16 years old, he was kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave to a Druid in what is now Ulster, Ireland. During his six years of slavery, he worked as a shepherd for an Irish clan leader and discovered Christianity, becoming a practicing Christian.
Elizabeth, born in 1207 in Hungary into a royal family and destined for marriage to the ruler of Thuringia, lived in the same years as Francis of Assisi. From a young age, she showed a natural inclination toward those who suffered and were in need—an inclination further strengthened through her contact with the Friars Minor, especially Brother Rüdiger, her first spiritual advisor, and later Brother Conrad. They merely helped direct, in an evangelical sense, a heart already inclined toward the most vulnerable.
Guido di Pietro, known as John of Fiesole, or better, Fra Angelico, was a Dominican friar with a great talent for painting.
He was known as Angelico because of the great message of faith that imbued his works and the humility that distinguished them, and for the mystical value he gave to light.
Cyril was born around 315 in Jerusalem or close to it and was well educated in literature, which became the basis for his ecclesiastical knowledge, centred on the study of the Bible.
The figure of Saint Odo stands within the vast panorama of medieval monasticism, that era in which the Benedictine ideal spread to such an extent that it gave rise, throughout Europe, to a dense constellation of monasteries. These centers of prayer and culture contributed to shaping the spiritual identity of the continent. Among them, the monastery of Cluny held an absolutely prominent role: a place celebrated for its inner discipline, care for study, and above all for the solemnity of divine worship. Odo was its second abbot and one of its most eminent personalities.
Born in Antioch to a pagan family, Luke was a physician who was concerned about his patients and who was well aware of their weaknesses and misery. After hearing Saint Paul speak about Jesus, Luke embraced the faith and never left the Apostle again, following him to his martyrdom in Rome in 67 A.D.
Anastasius, Roman by birth and son of a man named Maximus, bore a name which in Greek means “risen.” He was elected Pontiff at the end of 399, after the death of Pope Siricius, and remained at the head of the Church for just two years, until 19 December 401. Despite the brevity of his pontificate, his governance was remarkably intense. He is credited with the construction of the Basilica Crescenziana—identified by tradition with the present-day San Sisto Vecchio—and with a constant work of doctrinal vigilance in years when ancient controversies periodically returned to shake ecclesial unity.
Álvaro was born in Zamora, Spain, around 1360. He entered the Dominican Order in 1368 and soon distinguished himself for his intelligence and holiness of life. He was a professor of theology at the University of Salamanca for many years and was highly esteemed for his scholarship and teaching. During that period, he also served as confessor to King Juan II of Castile and to the queen mother, thus playing an important role in both the religious and political life of Castile.
Saint Joseph, adoptive father of Jesus and husband of Mary, is a key figure in Christian tradition, both because of his role in the economy of salvation and because he was a model of virtue. Joseph is not mentioned in detail in the Bible. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke are the ones which reveal the most about him.
Among the brightest figures of the monastery of Helfta in the 13th century stands Mechthild of Hackeborn, a woman of extraordinary spirituality and a distinctive voice in medieval mysticism. Her fellow nun, Gertrude the Great, in the sixth book of the Liber specialis gratiae—a work collecting the divine revelations received by Mechthild—acknowledges that what was written represents only a small portion of what the Saint actually experienced. She explains that it would have been unjust to remain silent about such abundant gifts, for they were granted by God not only for Mechthild herself, but as a spiritual treasure offered to the Church of every age.
The Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, 40 days after Christmas. The feast is better known as the Feast of the Candelora (Candlemas) or the Festival of Lights, because it is inspired by a verse from the Gospel of Luke (2:22-40), in which Simeon prophesies that Jesus is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel”.
Agnes of Bohemia was born in Prague in 1211 to King Přemysl Otakar I and Queen Constance of Hungary. Her brother later ascended the throne of Bohemia as Wenceslaus I.
At the age of three, in order to receive an education befitting her rank, she was sent to the Cistercian monastery of Třebnice, where her aunt, Saint Hedwig, lived. It was her aunt who guided her in coming to know Christ and in learning the life of prayer.
The Bible is filled with the constant presence of angels, passing through the history of salvation. It contains many episodes that refer to their action and to their role as instruments and messengers of God. Suffice it to remember the Old Testament’s account of Jacob wrestling with the angel from whom he receives the name, Israel; (Gen. 32:25-29) the ladder from earth to heaven, from which a multitude of angels ascend and descend (Gen. 28:12); the angel who meets the slave, Hagar, and announces that she will give birth to Ishmael (Gen. 16:7); the angel that goes before the people of Israel as they wandered in the desert (Ex 14:19); the two angels that lead Lot and his family out of Sodom (Gen 19:1); the intervention of the angel who stops Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac (Gen 22:11-13); Daniel who was saved from the fiery furnace by an angel (Dan. 3:17); and the angel that brings food to the prophet Elijah in the desert (1Kings 19:5-10).
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