The feast day of St. John Eudes is celebrated on August 19. St. John Eudes was born in Ri, France on Nov. 14, 1601. At the age of 14 he took a vow of chastity. He was ordained a priest in 1625 after studying at a Jesuit college at Caen, France.
As a priest, St John Eudes ministered to the victims of the plague. He cared for the sick while at the same time becoming well known as a preacher in France and Normandy. In 1641 he founded the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge. Their purpose was to give aid to prostitutes. He also founded the Society of Jesus and Mary for the education of priests.
St. John Eudes encouraged devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Heart of Mary writing the first book about the devotion.
St. John Eudes died at Caen on August 219, 1680. He was canonized in 1925.
Faith is a beam radiating from the face of God.
Quote of St. John Eudes
August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The feast day of St. Helena is celebrated on August 18. St. Helena was born in Asia Minor in 248. She converted to Christianity at a young age. She married and had one son named Constantine. Constantine ascended to the throne and she was treated as Royalty.
At the age of 80, St. Helena went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She and her group unearthed three crosses. After a woman who was afflicted with an incurable disease was cured upon touching one of the crosses it was proclaimed The True Cross. A church was built on the site it was found.
On the return trip to Rome, St. Helena performed many charitable works. She built churches, helped the poor , consoled the sorrowful and visited prisons. Many prisoners were freed because of her. She assisted not only individuals but entire communities.
St. Helena presented her son with a gift of a piece of the Holy Crossat the reception given her by Constantine on her return to Rome.
St. Helena died in Rome of natural causes in the year 330. She was surrounded by Constantine and princes. Her final words advised Constantine to watch over the Church. Her body is buried in the imperial vault of the Church of the Apostles.
We should throw ourselves into God as a little drop of water into the sea, and lose ourselves indeed, in the ocean of the divine goodness.
The feast day of St. Hyacinth of Poland is celebrated on August 17.
St. Hyacinth was born in 1185 to noble parents in Odrowacz, Poland. He was educated by his uncle who was a pious priest who eventually became the Bishop of Cracow. He was a very happy and pious child with an early calling to the religious life. He studied at Bologna earning the degree of Doctor of Canon Law and Divinity.
St. Hyacinth returned to Poland. On a trip to Rome with his uncle he met St. Dominic. He was one of the first to join the Order of Preachers, becoming a Dominican. He returned to Poland to establish the Dominican Order.
St. Hyacinth was a wonderful preacher. He converted many people and was able to build churches and convents. He visited the sick and was a friend to the poor. He became known for the many miracles which occurred. The most famous happened during the Tartars siege of the city of Kiev. Hyacinth had a tender devotion to the Mother of God. After celebrating Mass unaware of the siege occurring, he retrieved the Blessed Sacrament and a statue of Mary and fled with the community to the river Dnieper. Although the river was deep he led them across the river walking on the water. His footprints could be seen on the water for centuries.
The last years of St. Hyacinth’s life were lived in a convent at Cracow. On the feast of St. Dominic, he fell ill with a fever. He celebrated Mass on the Feast of the Assumption in spite of his illness. He was anointed at the Altar and died later that day on August 15, 1257.
St. Hyacinth was canonized by Pope Clement VIII in 1594.
The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
Quote of Michelangelo
August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The feast day of St. Stephen of Hungary is celebrated on August 16.
St. Stephen was born in the year 973. His mother was the Duchess Sarolt. She had had a vision in which the first St. Stephen, the first martyr of the church had appeared to her. She was told she would bear a son who would evangelize the land.
St. Stephen’s father was the Duke Geza. Both his mother and father were converted to Christianity by Bishop St. Adalbert of Prague. The Bishop baptized St. Stephen at the age of ten. St. Stephen married Gesela who was a sister to the Duke of Bavaria in 995. Sadly, he survived all his children. Only one child lived to be an adult. This son, Emeric, died in a hunting accident in 1031.
St. Stephen use their wealth to build a monastery and encouraged the people of the land to convert to Christianity. The laws of the land which St. Stephen enacted favored Christianity over paganism. He sent a request to Pope Sylvester II to proclaim him as King of Hungary. Pope Sylvester II was happy to oblige. He sent Stephen a crown and gold processional cross.
As King, St. Stephen was generous to the poor and sick. He was devoted to the Virgin Mary, building several churches in her honor. Mary is credited with preventing both a war and the assassination of King Stephen. While he was king, St. Stephen also established a monastery in Jerusalem.
St. Stephen died on August 15, 1038 the Feast of the Assumption of Mary after suffering an illness. He was buried next to his son Emerick. They were both canonized saints in 1083.
It is a fact that people are always well aware of what is due them. Unfortunately, they remain oblivious of what they owe to others.
The feast day of St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe is celebrated on August 14. He was born in Poland in 1894. His father ran a religious book store before enlisting in the army. His mother later became a Benedictine Nun. St. Maximilian is the patron saint of drug addicts, prisoners, families, and the pro life movement.
At the young age of 12, Maximilian experienced a vision from the Virgin Mary.
“That night I asked the Mother of God what was to become of me. Then she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red. She asked me if I was willing to accept either of these crowns. The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both.”
Maximilian entered the minor seminary of the Conventual Franciscans in Lviv (formerly Poland, now the Ukraine) becoming a novice at 16. He studied science as well as philosophy and theology. He was ordained a priest at the age of 24. His mission was to fight against indifference towards God. He founded the Militia of the Immaculata which fought evil and promoted prayer, work and suffering. He became known as the Apostle of Consecration to Mary.
When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, Kolbe and his friars were arrested and then released after 3 months on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
He was arrested a second time in 1941. After three months a prisoner escaped and ten men were ordered to be executed. St. Maximilian Kolbe offered to take the place of a man about to be executed. When asked who he was he replied ” a priest”. The commandant allowed the exchange. He was stripped naked and given no food. The prisoners sang. On the eve of the Feast of the Assumption the jailer came to inject the remaining prisoners with a needle with carbolic acid. The bodies of the prisoners were burned.
Maximilian Kolbe was canonized in 1982.
No one in the world can alter the truth, all we can do is seek it and live it.
Quote of St. Maximilian Kolbe
August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
The feast day of St. Maximus the Confessor is celebrated on August 13. He was born in 580 in Constantinople to a noble family.
After serving as secretary to Emperor Heraclius, Maximus became a monk and abbot at Chrysopolis, which is now Turkey.
St. Maximus attended the Lateran Council which condemned Monotheism. Monotheism believed Jesus Christ had a divine nature not a human nature. After returning from the council St. Maximus refused to accept Monotheism which was a heresy prevalent at the time. He was arrested and charged with treason. After six years in prison he was brought back to Constantinople with two of his disciples to be tortured and mutilated. Their tongues and right hands were cut off. They were then sent to Skhemaris on the Black Sea where he died in the year 662
St. Maximus is considered a mystic and honored for his theology of the Incarnation and the two natures of Christ…human and divine. He wrote over 90 works on the faith.
After his death miracles were reported to have occurred at this tomb.
Be on guard lest the vice that separated you from your brother be not found in your brother, but in you; and hasten to be reconciled to him lest you fall away from the commandment of love.
Quote of St. Maximus the Confessor
August is the Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
