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Patron Archive
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March 1
David (Welsh: Dewi Sant; Latin: Davidus; c. 500 – c. 589) was a Welsh Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Mynyw during the 6th century. He is the patron saint of Wales.
David was a native of Wales, and tradition has preserved a relatively large amount of detail about his life. His birth date, however, is uncertain: suggestions range from 462 to 512. He is traditionally believed to be the son of Non and the grandson of Ceredig ap Cunedda, king of Ceredigion. The Welsh annals placed his death 569 years after the birth of Christ, but Phillimore's dating revised this to 601. (Full article...)
Attributes: bishop with a dove, usually on his shoulder, sometimes standing on a raised hillock
Patronage: Wales; Pembrokeshire; vegetarians; poets
March 2
Agnes of Bohemia, O.S.C. (Czech: Svatá Anežka Česká, 20 January 1211 – 2 March 1282), also known as Agnes of Prague, was a medieval Bohemian princess who opted for a life of charity, mortification of the flesh and piety over a life of luxury and comfort. Although she was venerated soon after her death, Agnes was not beatified or canonized for over 700 years. (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: Czech Republic
See also: Angela of the Cross, Spain
March 3
Katharine Drexel, SBS (born Catherine Mary Drexel; November 26, 1858 – March 3, 1955) was an American Catholic religious sister, and educator. In 1891, she founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, a religious congregation serving Black and Indigenous Americans.
Canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000, Drexel was the second person born in what is now the United States to be declared a saint and the first who was born a U.S. citizen. (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: Philanthropy, racial justice
See also: Cunigunde of Luxembourg
March 4
Casimir Jagiellon (Latin: Casimirus; Lithuanian: Kazimieras; Polish: Kazimierz; 3 October 1458 – 4 March 1484) was a prince of the Kingdom of Poland and of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The second son of King Casimir IV Jagiellon, he was tutored by Johannes Longinus, a Polish chronicler and diplomat. After his elder brother Vladislaus was elected as King of Bohemia in 1471, Casimir became the heir apparent. At the age of 13, Casimir participated in the failed military campaign to install him as King of Hungary. He became known for his piety, devotion to God, and generosity towards the sick and poor. He became ill (most likely with tuberculosis) and died at the age of 25. He was buried in Vilnius Cathedral. His canonization was initiated by his brother King Sigismund I the Old in 1514 and the tradition holds that he was canonized in 1521.
Veneration of Casimir saw a resurgence in the 17th century when his feast day was confirmed by the pope in 1602 and the dedicated Chapel of Saint Casimir was completed in 1636. Casimir became a patron saint of Lithuania and Lithuanian youth. In Vilnius, his feast day is marked annually with Kaziuko mugė (a trade fair) held on the Sunday nearest to 4 March, the anniversary of his death. There are more than 50 churches named after Casimir in Lithuania and Poland, including Church of St. Casimir, Vilnius and St. Kazimierz Church, Warsaw, and more than 50 churches in Lithuanian and Polish diaspora communities in America. Women's congregation Sisters of Saint Casimir was established in 1908 and remains active in the United States. (Full article...)
Attributes: Lily, grand ducal cap
Patronage: Lithuania (1636), Lithuanian youth (1948)
See also: Giovanni Antonio Farina
March 5
Piran or Pyran (Cornish: Peran; Latin: Piranus), died c. 480, was a 5th-century Cornish abbot and saint, possibly of Irish origin. He is the patron saint of tin-miners, and is also generally regarded as the patron saint of Cornwall, although Michael and Petroc also have some claim to this title.
The consensus of scholarship has identified the "Life" of Piran as a copy of that of the Irish saint Ciarán of Saigir with the names changed. While we cannot be certain of Piran’s origins, it is generally accepted that he was Irish, that he spent time in Wales and later was expelled from Ireland because of his powerful preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Having been thrown into the sea tied to a mill stone, he miraculously arrived on the shores of Cornwall where he built his tiny oratory and continued his work of evangelism, founding communities.
Saint Piran's Flag, a white cross on a black background, is the county flag of Cornwall. Saint Piran's Day falls on 5 March. (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: Tin miners; Cornwall
See also: John Joseph of the Cross
March 6
Saint Fridolin of Säckingen, also known as Fridold or Fredelinus, is a legendary Irish missionary, apostle of the Alamanni and founder of Säckingen Abbey on the Upper Rhine. He is also the patron saint of the Swiss canton of Glarus.
His oldest Vita is dated to the 10th or 11th century.
Later tradition places the beginning of his mission during the reign of Clovis I (r. 509 – 511), and his death during the reign of Theudebert I (r. 533–548). The date of his death is traditionally given as 6 March in either 538 or 540.
Modern historiography has tended to place the founder of Säckingen Abbey in the 7th rather than 6th century, tentatively assuming the existence of a historical Saint Fridolin under Clovis II (r. 639–657) rather than Clovis I. (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: Alsace, France; for good weather; Glarus (city and canton), Switzerland; Säckingen, Germany; Strasbourg, France
See also: Colette of Corbie, France
March 7
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St. Paul the Simple of Egypt (d. ad. 339) was a hermit and disciple of St. Anthony the Great. St. John, the Abbot of Sinai wrote "Paul the Simple was a clear example for us, for he was the rule and type of blessed simplicity." Though contemporaries, he is not to be confused with St. Paul of Thebes, regarded as the First Hermit. The account of his life is found in Palladius of Helenopolis De Vitis Patrum 8,28 and Tyrannius Rufinus Historia Eremitica 31. (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: -
See also: Sts. Perpetua and Felicity
March 8
Manuel Míguez González (24 March 1831 – 8 March 1925) – in religious Faustino of the Incarnation – was a Spanish priest and a professed member from the Piarists as well as the founder of the Daughters of the Divine Shepherdess – better known as the Calasanzian Institute. He gained a rather strong reputation for being a formidable pastor and a man dedicated to both education and science while using his scientific knowledge to concoct natural medicines to aid the ill who came to him for his help. But his religious activism augmented when he saw illiterate women and those who were marginalized and so decided to establish a religious congregation to educate women.
The beatification was held in Saint Peter's Square on 25 October 1998 under Pope John Paul II. Pope Francis confirmed his canonization on 21 December 2016; an official date was set at a gathering of the College of Cardinals on 20 April and he was canonized as a saint on 15 October 2017. (Full article...)
Attributes: Priest's attire
Patronage: Daughters of the Divine Shepherdess; Pharmacists; Scientists; Educators
See also: John of God
March 9
Francesca Bussa de' Leoni (1384 – March 9, 1440), known as Frances of Rome Obl.S.B. (Italian: Francesca Romana; Latin: Francisca Rōmāna), was an Italian Catholic mystic, organizer of charitable services and a Benedictine oblate who founded a religious community of oblates, who share a common life without religious vows. She was canonized in 1608. (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: Benedictine oblates; automobile drivers; widows
March 10
Marie-Eugénie de Jésus (25 August 1817 – 10 March 1898), born Anne-Eugénie Milleret de Brou, was a French religious sister and the foundress of the Religious of the Assumption. Her life was not geared towards faith in her childhood until the reception of her First Communion which seemed to transform her into a pious and discerning individual; she likewise experienced a sudden conversion after hearing a sermon that led her to found an order dedicated to the education of the poor. However, her religious life was not without its own set of trials, for complications prevented her order from receiving full pontifical approval due to a select few causing problems as well as the deaths of many followers from tuberculosis in the beginning of the order's life.
Her beatification was celebrated under Pope Paul VI in 1975 while her canonization was later celebrated on 3 June 2007 under Pope Benedict XVI. (Full article...)
Attributes: Religious habit
Patronage: Religious of the Assumption; Students
See also: John Ogilvie (saint)
March 11
Saint Vindicianus (Vindician) (French: Vindicien) (c. 632 – 712) was a bishop of Cambrai-Arras. His feast day is 11 March. He is called a spiritual follower of Saint Eligius (Saint Eloi). (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: -
March 12
Fina (Serafina) (1238–1253) was an Italian Christian virgin who is especially venerated in the Tuscan town of San Gimignano. She developed a paralytic illness and spent the rest of her life on a bed made from a wooden pallet, where, according to legends, Saint Gregory the Great appeared to her to predict her death. (Full article...)
Attributes: Violets, depicted with Saint Gregory the Great, or lying on her wooden board
Patronage: physically challenged people, spinners
See also: Theophanes the Confessor; Symeon the New Theologian; Luigi Orione
March 13
Leander of Seville (Spanish: San Leandro de Sevilla; Latin: Sanctus Leandrus; c. 534 AD, in Cartagena – 13 March 600 or 601, in Seville) was a Hispano-Roman Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Seville. He was instrumental in effecting the conversion of the Visigothic kings Hermenegild and Reccared to Chalcedonian Christianity. His brother (and successor as bishop) was the encyclopedist Isidore of Seville. (Full article...)
Attributes: episcopal attire
Patronage: -
March 14
Matilda of Ringelheim (c. 892 – 14 March 968), also known as Saint Matilda, was a Saxon noblewoman who became queen of Germany. Her husband, Henry the Fowler, was the first king from the Ottonian dynasty, and their eldest son, Otto the Great, restored the Holy Roman Empire in 962. Matilda founded several spiritual institutions and women's convents. She was considered to be extremely pious, righteous and charitable. Matilda's two hagiographical biographies and The Deeds of the Saxons serve as authoritative sources about her life and work. (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: Parents of large families
March 15
Clement Mary Hofbauer CSsR (German: Klemens Maria Hofbauer) (26 December 1751 – 15 March 1820) was a Moravian hermit and later a priest of the Redemptorist congregation. He established his congregation, founded in Italy, north of the Alps. For this he is considered a co-founder of the congregation. He was widely known for his lifelong dedication to care of the poor during a tumultuous period in Europe, that had left thousands destitute. He laboured in the care of the Polish people until expelled, when he moved to Austria.
Clement-Mary Hofbauer is remembered as a saint in the Catholic Church. He is called the Apostle of Vienna, where he is a co-patron saint, along with St Colmán, St Leopold, and St Peter Canisius. (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: -
March 16
Saint Joseph Gabriel of the Rosary (sometimes José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero; 16 March 1840 – 26 January 1914), also referred to as Priest Brochero (in Spanish:Cura Brochero), was a Catholic priest who suffered leprosy throughout his life. He is known for his extensive work with the poor and the sick. He became affectionately known as "the Gaucho priest" and the "cowboy priest".
He was beatified on 14 September 2013 after a healing was recognized as a miracle attributed to him. Cardinal Angelo Amato – on the behalf of Pope Francis – presided over the beatification. Another miracle under investigation was approved in 2016 and a date for canonization was approved in a gathering of cardinals on 15 March 2016; Brochero was canonized on 16 October 2016. (Full article...)
Attributes: Cassock, Rosary
Patronage: Córdoba; Clergy; Major Seminary of Córdoba; Diocese of Cruz del Eje
See also: Julian of Antioch; Abbán, Ireland
March 17
Saint Patrick (Latin: Patricius; Irish: Pádraig [ˈpˠɑːɾˠɪɟ] or [ˈpˠaːd̪ˠɾˠəɟ]; Welsh: Padrig) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints being Brigid of Kildare and Columba. Patrick was never formally canonised by the Catholic Church, having lived before the current laws it established for such matters. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, the Church of Ireland (part of the Anglican Communion), and in the Eastern Orthodox Church, where he is regarded as equal-to-the-apostles and Enlightener of Ireland.
The dates of Patrick's life cannot be fixed with certainty, but there is general agreement that he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the fifth century. A recent biography on Patrick shows a late fourth-century date for the saint is not impossible. According to tradition dating from the early Middle Ages, Patrick was the first bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, and is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland, converting a pagan society in the process. He has been generally so regarded ever since, despite evidence of some earlier Christian presence.
According to Patrick's autobiographical Confessio, when he was about sixteen, he was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland. He writes that he lived there for six years as an animal herder before escaping and returning to his family. After becoming a cleric, he returned to spread Christianity in northern and western Ireland. In later life, he served as a bishop, but little is known about where he worked. By the seventh century, he had already come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland.
Saint Patrick's Day, considered his feast day, is observed on 17 March, the supposed date of his death. It is celebrated in Ireland and among the Irish diaspora as a religious and cultural holiday. In the Catholic Church in Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation. (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: Ireland, Nigeria, Montserrat, Archdiocese of New York, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, Boston, Rolla, Missouri, Loíza, Puerto Rico, Murcia (Spain), Clann Giolla Phádraig, engineers, paralegals, Archdiocese of Melbourne; invoked against snakes, sins
See also: Jan Sarkander
March 18
Cyril of Jerusalem (Greek: Κύριλλος Α΄ Ἱεροσολύμων, Kýrillos A Ierosolýmon; Latin: Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus; c. 313 – 386) was a theologian of the Early Church. About the end of AD 350, he succeeded Maximus as Bishop of Jerusalem, but was exiled on more than one occasion due to the enmity of Acacius of Caesarea, and the policies of various emperors. Cyril left important writings documenting the instruction of catechumens and the order of the Liturgy in his day.
Cyril is venerated as a saint within the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion. In 1883, Cyril was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII.
Cyril is remembered in the Church of England with a commemoration on 18 March. He should not be confused with Cyril of Alexandria. (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: -
See also: Alexander of Jerusalem; Salvador of Horta, Spain
March 19
Joseph (Hebrew: יוסף, romanized: Yosef; Greek: Ἰωσήφ, romanized: Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus.
Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Church, Anglicanism and Lutheranism. In Catholic traditions, Joseph is regarded as the patron saint of workers and is associated with various feast days. The month of March is dedicated to Saint Joseph. Pope Pius IX declared him to be both the patron and the protector of the Catholic Church, in addition to his patronages of the sick and of a holy death, due to the belief that he died in the presence of Jesus and Mary. Joseph has become patron of various dioceses and places. Being a patron saint of virgins, he is venerated as "most chaste". A specific veneration is attributed to the pure and most Chaste Heart of Joseph.
Several venerated images of Saint Joseph have been granted a decree of canonical coronation by a pontiff. Religious iconography often depicts him with lilies or spikenard. With the present-day growth of Mariology, the theological field of Josephology has also grown and since the 1950s centers for studying it have been formed. (Full article...)
Attributes: Carpenter's square or tools, the infant Jesus, staff with lily blossoms, two turtle doves, rod of spikenard
Patronage: Catholic Church, unborn children, fathers, immigrants, workers, employment, explorer, pilgrims, traveller, carpenters, realtors, against doubt and hesitation, and of a happy death; Belgium; From the State of Ceará and the city of Macapá in Brazil; Canada, Croatia, Korea, Indonesia; Zapotlan in Mexico; Vietnam; Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Mandaue City, Cebu, Philippines; and many others.
March 20
Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (c. 634 – 20 March 687) was a saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Northumbria, today in northern England and southern Scotland. Both during his life and after his death, he became a popular medieval saint of Northern England, with a cult centred on his tomb at Durham Cathedral. Cuthbert is regarded as the patron saint of Northumbria. His feast days are 20 March (Catholic Church, Church of England, Eastern Orthodox Church, Episcopal Church) and 4 September (Church in Wales, Catholic Church).
Cuthbert grew up in or around Lauderdale, near Old Melrose Abbey, a daughter-house of Lindisfarne, today in Scotland. He decided to become a monk after seeing a vision on the night in 651 that Aidan, the founder of Lindisfarne, died, but he seems to have experienced some period of military service beforehand. He was made guest-master at the new monastery at Ripon, soon after 655, but had to return with Eata of Hexham to Melrose when Wilfrid was given the monastery instead. About 662 he was made prior at Melrose, and around 665 went as prior to Lindisfarne. In 684 he was made bishop of Lindisfarne, but by late 686 he resigned and returned to his hermitage as he felt he was about to die. He was probably in his early 50s. (Full article...)
Attributes: Bishop holding a second crowned head in his hands; sometimes accompanied by seabirds and animals
Patronage: Kingdom of Northumbria
See also: María Josefa Sancho de Guerra, Spain; Józef Bilczewski, Poland
March 21
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Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello was an Italian Roman Catholic professed religious and the founder of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence. Frassinello married to appease her parents in 1816 but the couple decided to lead a chaste life and both pursued a call to the religious life with Frassinello joining the Ursulines in Capriolo at Brescia. But husband and wife later reunited after setting out to establish schools for the education of girls and the pair moved back to Genoa where she founded her order in 1838 based on the Benedictine charism.
Frassinello's beatification was celebrated in 1987 and she was canonized as a saint in 2002. (Full article...)
Attributes: Religious habit
Patronage: Benedictine Sisters of Providence, educators
See also: Nicholas of Flüe, Switzerland
March 22
Saint Lea (died c. 383) is a fourth-century saint in the Roman Catholic Church based on the authority of Jerome.
Lea of Rome is known only through the testimony of her beloved friend, the learned Saint Jerome. Jerome, a scholarly monk best known for his Latin translation of the Bible (the Vulgate), is the Church's only source of information on St. Lea, whose biographical details are unknown. A noblewoman of Rome, born into wealth and privilege, she was a contemporary of Jerome. However, soon after her marriage she was widowed and left very sound financially. Instead of retiring as a wealthy widow, however, she joined a convent of consecrated virgins in the city—shedding all the money and social standing she possessed. In later years she was named the prioress of the convent. Saint Lea supported the house run by Saint Marcella, working as a menial servant, and later served as the group's superior. It appears that she died in 384 while St. Jerome and St. Marcella were reading and working on Psalm 73. In a letter relaying her death to others within the city of Rome, St. Jerome writes to St. Marcella that St. Lea, a woman of austerity, obedience and remarkable penances had died. He described her as “blessed,” emphasizing the woman's virtues as being worthy of heaven. Jerome provides no biography for Lea, for he assumes that Marcella knows Lea, and concentrates instead upon her virtues. Jerome draws a parallel with parable of Lazarus and Dives:
| “ | Who will praise the blessed Lea as she deserves? She renounced painting her face and adorning her head with shining pearls. She exchanged her rich attire for sackcloth, and ceased to command others in order to obey all. She dwelt in a corner with a few bits of furniture; she spent her nights in prayer, and instructed her companions through her example rather than through protests and speeches. And she looked forward to her arrival in heaven in order to receive her recompense for the virtues which she practiced on earth. | ” |
He then compares her with a consul who had lived in wealth and would find himself in agony in the afterlife and exhorts Marcella to serve Jesus rather than the world. Jerome ends his letter by urging Marcella to remember the lesson of St. Lea's life:
| “ | We must not allow … money to weigh us down, or lean upon the staff of worldly power. We must not seek to possess both Christ and the world. No; things eternal must take the place of things transitory; and since, physically speaking, we daily anticipate death, if we wish for immortality we must realize that we are but mortal. | ” |
Jerome's use of the adjective "blessed" is taken as sufficient evidence for Lea's veneration by the Roman Catholic Church, where her feast day is March 22.
The name Lea is likely a derivation of Leah coming from a Hebrew word meaning "weary"; or from a Chaldean name meaning "mistress" or "ruler" in Akkadian. In Genesis 29, Leah is seen as being Jacob's first wife and the mother of seven of his children. (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: -
See also: Nicholas Owen, England
March 23
Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo (16 November 1538 – 23 March 1606) was a Spanish Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Lima from 1579 until his death.
He first studied in the Humanities and Law before being appointed as a university professor. At the behest of King Philip II, he went on to become Grand Inquisitor, considered unusual given no previous government or judicial experience. His piety and learning had reached the ears of the king. His distinguished work for the Inquisition earned him praise from the king, who nominated him for the vacant Lima archdiocese. This was confirmed by the pope, under protest from Turibius.
Mogrovejo was ordained to the priesthood in 1578, and consecrated as an archbishop in 1580, before setting off for Peru to begin his mission. An eminent and charismatic preacher, he set about baptising and catechising the indigenous people. He confirmed almost half a million people; these included Rose of Lima and Martin de Porres.
A staunch advocate for reform, Turibius set to work restoring some order to the priests of his diocese. He led the worst offenders away from various immoral routines and scandals, meanwhile instituting new educational programmes in priestly training.
After his death, his reputation for holiness and learning lived on, leading to calls for his canonisation. Pope Innocent XI beatified the late archbishop, and Pope Benedict XIII canonised him as a saint on 10 December 1726. (Full article...)
Attributes: Episcopal attire
Patronage: Peru, Lima, Latin American bishops, Native rights, Scouts, Valladolid
See also: Joseph Oriol, Spain; Rafqa Pietra Choboq Ar-Rayès, Lebanon
March 24
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Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez (15 August 1917 – 24 March 1980) was a prelate of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of San Salvador, the Titular Bishop of Tambeae, as Bishop of Santiago de María, and finally as the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador. As archbishop, Romero spoke out against social injustice and violence amid the escalating conflict between the military government and left-wing insurgents that led to the Salvadoran Civil War. In 1980, Romero was shot by an assassin while celebrating Mass. Though no one was ever convicted for the crime, investigations by the UN-created Truth Commission for El Salvador concluded that Major Roberto D'Aubuisson, a death squad leader and later founder of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (ARENA) political party, had ordered the killing.
In 1997, Pope John Paul II bestowed upon Romero the title of Servant of God, and a cause for his beatification was opened by the church. The cause stalled, but was reopened by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. Romero was declared a martyr by Pope Francis on 3 February 2015, paving the way for his beatification on 23 May 2015. During Romero's beatification, Pope Francis declared that his "ministry was distinguished by his particular attention to the most poor and marginalized." Pope Francis canonized Romero on 14 October 2018.
Seen as a social conservative at the time of his appointment as archbishop in 1977, Romero was deeply affected by the murder of his friend and fellow priest Rutilio Grande and thereafter became an outspoken critic of the military government of El Salvador. Hailed by supporters of liberation theology, Romero, according to his biographer, "was not interested in liberation theology" but faithfully adhered to Catholic teachings on liberation and a preferential option for the poor, desiring a social revolution based on interior reform. Up to the end of his life, his spiritual life drew much from the spirituality of Opus Dei.
In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 24 March as the "International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims" in recognition of Romero's role in defense of human rights. Romero actively denounced violations of the human rights of the most vulnerable people and defended the principles of protecting lives, promoting human dignity and opposing all forms of violence. Archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas, one of Romero's successors as Archbishop of San Salvador, asked Pope Francis to proclaim Romero a Doctor of the Church, which is an acknowledgement from the church that his religious teachings were orthodox and had a significant impact on its philosophy and theology.
Latin American church groups often proclaim Romero an unofficial patron saint of the Americas and El Salvador; Catholics in El Salvador often refer to him as San Romero, as well as Monseñor Romero. Outside of Catholicism, Romero is honored by other Christian denominations, including the Church of England and Anglican Communion, through the Calendar in Common Worship, as well as in at least one Lutheran liturgical calendar. Romero is also one of the ten 20th-century martyrs depicted in statues above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey in London. (Full article...)
Attributes: Episcopal vestments
Patronage: Christian communicators; El Salvador; The Americas; Archdiocese of San Salvador; Persecuted Christians; Caritas International (co-patron); Cainta, Rizal, Philippines (Quasi-Parish)
See also: Catherine of Vadstena, Diego José de Cádiz
March 25
The Penitent Thief, also known as the Good Thief, Wise Thief, Grateful Thief, or Thief on the Cross, is one of two unnamed thieves in Luke's account of the crucifixion of Jesus in the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke describes him asking Jesus to "remember him" when Jesus comes into his kingdom. The other, as the impenitent thief, challenges Jesus to save himself and both of them to prove that he is the Messiah.
He is officially venerated in the Catholic Church. The Roman Martyrology places his commemoration on 25 March, together with the Feast of the Annunciation, because of the ancient Christian tradition that Christ (and the penitent thief) were crucified and died exactly on the anniversary of Christ's incarnation. He is given the name Dismas in the Gospel of Nicodemus and is traditionally known in Catholicism as Saint Dismas (sometimes Dysmas; in Spanish and Portuguese, Dimas). Other traditions have bestowed other names:
- In Coptic Orthodox tradition and the Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea, he is named Demas.
- In the Codex Colbertinus, he is named Zoatham or Zoathan.
- In the Arabic Infancy Gospel, he is named Titus.
- In Russian Orthodox tradition, he is named Rakh (Russian: Рах). (Full article...)
Attributes: Wearing a loincloth and either holding his cross or being crucified; sometimes depicted in Paradise.
Patronage: Prisoners, (especially condemned); Funeral directors; Repentant thieves; Merizo, Guam; San Dimas, Mexico.
See also: Lucy Filippini, Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas
March 26
Margaret Clitherow (née Middleton, c. 1556 – 25 March 1586) was an English recusant, and a saint and martyr of the Roman Catholic Church, known as The Pearl of York. She was pressed to death for refusing to enter a plea to the charge of harbouring Catholic priests. She was canonised in 1970 by Pope Paul VI. (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: businesswomen, converts, martyrs, Catholic Women's League, Latin Mass Society
March 27
John of Damascus (Arabic: يوحنا الدمشقي, romanized: Yūḥana ad-Dimashqī; Greek: Ἰωάννης ὁ Δαμασκηνός, romanized: Ioánnēs ho Damaskēnós, IPA: [ioˈanis o ðamasciˈnos]; Latin: Ioannes Damascenus; born Yūḥana ibn Manṣūr ibn Sarjūn, يوحنا إبن منصور إبن سرجون) or John Damascene was an Arab Christian monk, priest, hymnographer, and apologist. He was born and raised in Damascus c. 675 AD or 676 AD; the precise date and place of his death is not known, though tradition places it at his monastery, Mar Saba, near Jerusalem on 4 December 749 AD.
A polymath whose fields of interest and contribution included law, theology, philosophy, and music, he was given the by-name of Chrysorroas (Χρυσορρόας, literally "streaming with gold", i.e. "the golden speaker").
He wrote works expounding the Christian faith, and composed hymns which are still used both liturgically in Eastern Christian practice throughout the world as well as in western Lutheranism at Easter.
He is one of the Fathers of the Eastern Orthodox Church and is best known for his strong defence of icons. The Catholic Church regards him as a Doctor of the Church, often referred to as the Doctor of the Assumption due to his writings on the Assumption of Mary.
He was also a prominent exponent of perichoresis, and employed the concept as a technical term to describe both the interpenetration of the divine and human natures of Christ and the relationship between the hypostases of the Trinity. John is at the end of the Patristic period of dogmatic development, and his contribution is less one of theological innovation than one of a summary of the developments of the centuries before him. In Catholic theology, he is therefore known as the "last of the Greek Fathers".
The main source of information for the life of John of Damascus is a work attributed to one John of Jerusalem, identified therein as the Patriarch of Jerusalem. This is an excerpted translation into Greek of an earlier Arabic text. The Arabic original contains a prologue not found in most other translations, and was written by an Arab monk, Michael, who explained that he decided to write his biography in 1084 because none was available in his day. However, the main Arabic text seems to have been written by an unknown earlier author sometime between the early 9th and late 10th century.
Written from a hagiographical point of view and prone to exaggeration and some legendary details, it is not the best historical source for his life, but is widely reproduced and considered to contain elements of some value. The hagiographic novel Barlaam and Josaphat is a work of the 10th century attributed to a monk named John. It was only considerably later that the tradition arose that this was John of Damascus, but most scholars no longer accept this attribution. Instead much evidence points to Euthymius of Athos, a Georgian who died in 1028. (Full article...)
Attributes: Severed hand, icon
Patronage: Pharmacists, icon painters, theology students
March 28
John of Capistrano, OFM (Italian: San Giovanni da Capestrano, Hungarian: Kapisztrán János, Polish: Jan Kapistran, Croatian: Ivan Kapistran; 24 June 1386 – 23 October 1456) was a Franciscan friar and Catholic priest from the Italian town of Capestrano, Abruzzo. Famous as a preacher, theologian, and inquisitor, he earned himself the nickname "the Soldier Saint" when in 1456 at age 70 he led a Crusade against the invading Ottoman Empire at the siege of Belgrade with the Hungarian military commander John Hunyadi.
Elevated to sainthood, he is the patron saint of jurists and military chaplains, as well as the namesake of two Franciscan missions, one in Southern California and the other in San Antonio, Texas. (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: Jurists, Belgrade and Hungary
March 29
Gwynllyw Filwr or Gwynllyw Farfog (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈɡwɪnɬɪu]), known in English in a corrupted form as Woolos the Warrior or Woolos the Bearded (Latin: Gundleus, Gundleius or Gwenleue; c. 450 – 500 CE) was a Welsh king and religious figure.
He was King of Gwynllŵg in South Wales and is the legendary founder and patron saint of the City of Newport, living in the 5th century. According to medieval tradition, he was a feared warlord and lifestock raider who was acquainted with the mythical King Arthur, but later encountered religion and became a hermit, founding St Woolos Cathedral in Newport. He was the father of one of the most revered of Welsh saints, Saint Cadoc the Wise. (Full article...)
Attributes: Crowned warrior, carrying spear sometimes accompanied by an ox
Patronage: Newport; pirates; soldiers
See also: Saint Eustace of Luxeuil
March 30
John Climacus (Ancient Greek: Ἰωάννης τῆς Κλίμακος; Latin: Ioannes Climacus; Arabic: يوحنا السلمي, romanized: Yuḥana al-Sêlmi), also known as John of the Ladder, John Scholasticus and John Sinaites, was a 6th–7th century Christian monk at the monastery on Mount Sinai. He is revered as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church. (Full article...)
Attributes: Clothed as a monk, sometimes with an Abbot's paterissa (crozier), sometimes holding a copy of his Ladder
Patronage: -
See also: Ludovico of Casoria; Ignazia Verzeri; Leonardo Murialdo
March 31
Benjamin (AD 329 – c. 424) was a deacon martyred circa 424 in Persia. Benjamin was executed during a period of persecution of Christians that lasted forty years and through the reign of two Persian kings: Isdegerd I, who died in 421, and his son and successor, Varanes V. King Varanes carried on the persecution with such great fury that Christians were submitted to the most cruel tortures. (Full article...)
Attributes: -
Patronage: -