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It was June 22, 1535, when Bishop John Fisher of Rochester England was executed by beheading in the Tower of London. He had been accused of high treason by King Henry VIII. In the hope of sparing his life, Pope Paul III had named him Cardinal on May 20 of that year, but it was in vain. Fisher’s head was displayed at the entrance of London Bridge until July 6, when it was thrown into the River Thames. In its place, the head of Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor of England, was set. He too had been condemned to death for high treason. His sentence was carried out on July 6, 1535.
He accompanied no fewer than 57 condemned prisoners to the gallows, hearing their confessions and giving them Communion to support them in their final moments. For this reason, he became known as the “Priest of the Gallows.” His concern for prisoners was part of his deep love for the marginalized and the most in need, to whom he sought to show the merciful face of God.
Saint John the Baptist is the only person, along with the Virgin Mary, whose birth is celebrated by the Church with a solemn feast. According to tradition, John was born in Ain Karem, and his coming into the world is considered the first visible sign of the beginning of the messianic times.
Pilgrim, founder of the Abbey of Montevergine and of the Benedictine Congregation closely linked to the monastery. He is known as William of Vercelli or William of Montevergine.
Born in Vercelli Italy around 1085 into a noble family, William began journeying across Europe at just 14 years old. He abandoned his noble garments, donned a simple cloak, and set out barefoot on a long pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Saint James of Compostela in Spain.
He is known as “the Saint of everyday life” because he taught that even the simplest actions of daily life can lead to holiness. This is Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, founder of the movement Opus Dei. Born on January 9, 1902, in Barbastro, Spain, he received a strong Christian upbringing.
He is described as the “guardian of exactness,” that is, the guardian of the true faith, and the “seal of the Fathers.” This is Cyril, probably born in Alexandria around 370. He spent several years in a monastery and later, in 403, accompanied his uncle Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, to Constantinople to take part in the Synod known as the Synod of the Oak, during which Patriarch John Chrysostom was condemned and deposed.
“Saint Irenaeus of Lyon, who came from the East, exercised his episcopal ministry in the West: he was a spiritual and theological bridge between Eastern and Western Christians. His name, Irenaeus, expresses that peace which comes from the Lord and which reconciles, restoring unity.” Thus spoke Pope Francis in the decree conferring the title of Doctor of the Church upon Saint Irenaeus of Lyon.
“Basing itself on the tradition of the fathers, knows that they did not actually suffer in the course of the same day between sunrise and sunset. So Paul suffered on Peter's birthday (natalitium), not the day he emerged from his mother's womb to join the ranks of mankind, but the one on which he was released from the bonds of the flesh and born into the light of the angels.
He called himself “John the Sinner.” He gathered abandoned sick people, begged alms for the poor, and died while practicing charity toward plague victims, from whom he contracted the disease himself. He is Saint John Grande, born in Carmona, Seville, Spain, on March 6, 1546. His father, a blacksmith, died when he was eleven years old, and his mother Isabel remarried.
The memory of the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome is celebrated immediately after the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. This commemoration has always been connected to the location of the Circus built by Emperor Caligula, later known as Nero’s Circus. It stood in the Gardens of Agrippina (Caligula’s mother), on the southern slope of the Vatican Hill, from where the Via Aurelia, Via Cornelia, and Via Triumphalis began.
He is considered one of the promoters of perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and one of the Eucharistic Saints par excellence. This is Saint Francis Caracciolo, born Ascanio, son of Ferrante of the noble Caracciolo family and Isabella, in Villa Santa Maria on October 13, 1563. Educated according to his noble status, at the age of twenty-two he was struck by a form of elephantiasis. He promised God that if he were healed, he would become a priest. After obtaining his recovery, two years later he was ordained to the priesthood.
Known as the Apostle to the Germans, he is considered one of the most important Anglo-Saxon missionaries and the one who brought Christianity to the Germanic lands of old.
Saint Norbert of Xanten had an instant conversion. When he was about 35 years old he was thrown from his horse and risked death. At that moment he heard the words of the psalm: “Turn from evil and do good” (Psalm 34:15). He interpreted this episode as a divine call and decided to radically change his life. He began leading a life of penance, walking barefoot, wearing rough wool clothes, and traveling from place to place preaching the Gospel.
A woman, a layperson, a wife, a mother of seven children and a member of the Third Order of the Most Holy Trinity—this is Blessed Anna Maria Taigi, who achieved holiness through marriage. She was born in Siena on May 29, 1769 and baptized the following day. Due to financial difficulties her family—her father Luigi Riannetti and mother Maria Masi—moved to Rome when she was six years old. In the capital she was entrusted to the religious order of Maestre Pie Filippine, where she received a full education in just two years.
Albinus belonged to a noble family originally from England that had settled in Brittany. He was born in 469 in Vannes and at an early age decided to follow Christ, entering the monastery of Cincillac or Tincillac.
Matteo Elia Nieves was born in Yuriria, Guanajuato, Mexico, on September 21, 1882. The son of humble farmers, he soon felt a vocation to the priesthood. Sadly, at the age of 12 his father was killed and he had to abandon his studies in order to support his family.
In 1903, he managed to enter the Augustinian college of Yuriria, despite having no financial resources and suffering from fragile health.
As a tireless opponent of the heresy of Monothelitism and as Patriarch of Jerusalem, he succeeded in preserving the faith of Christians during the Arab conquest. This was Sophronius, born in Damascus, Syria, around the year 550. From a young age he devoted himself to study and later to the teaching of literature and rhetoric.
Luigi Orione was born on June 23, 1872, in Pontecurone (Alessandria) to a family of modest economic means. He began attending Don Bosco’s oratory in Valdocco, where he learned love for young people and concern for their future. In Turin, he was deeply moved by the charitable work founded by Saint Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo.
Received personally in 1212 by Saint Francis of Assisi into the Order of Friars Minor, Francis directly entrusted him with the task of opening convents in Paris and in England. He is Blessed Agnellus, born in Pisa in 1194.
She was an virtuous queen, renowned for her deep piety and charity. She is Saint Matilda of Germany, also known as Matilda of Ringelheim. Born into a family of ancient nobility in Enger, Westphalia, around 895, her father was the Saxon count of Westphalia, Theodoric of Ringelheim, and her mother was Reinhild of Frisia.
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