The Saints

Saturday, January 23 - Optional Memorials of St. Vincent of Saragossa, deacon & martyr; St. Marianne Cope.
Another Spanish saint, St. Vincent labored for the Church in the area of Saragossa in the third century, when many Catholic martyrs met their ends at the hands of the Roman Emperors.  Vincent is hailed as one of the three greatest deacons of the Church, along with Stephen and Lawrence.  He suffered great torture but refused to renounce his faith.

We celebrate St. Marianne Cope for her quiet, heroic service to the Hawaiian lepers.  St. Marianne came to this country from Germany, joining the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, NY, where she founded the state’s first Catholic hospitals.  Then came the call from Hawaii, to which Mother Marianne answered, “I am hungry for the work … I am not afraid of any disease, hence it would be my greatest delight to minister to the abandoned …”  She and six sisters from her order traveled to the Pacific to nurse the poor, and the outcast leprosy patients in the Hawaiian Islands.  Folllowing in the footsteps of St. Damian DeVeuster, whose labors continued during her time, St. Marianne and her religious sisters cared for the destitute sick and for leprosy victims, including lepers on Molokai.  She and her sisters never contracted the disease. 

Friday, January 22 – Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children.
Today we are invited and urged to do penance through prayer for helpless, silent unborn people.  January 22, 1973 was the day that the U.S. Supreme Court decided that abortion was legal in all states.  The annual Vermont Rally for Life, which includes a short parade of supporters, will take place in Montpelier Saturday, January 23, begainning at 9:30 a.m. with Mass at St. Augustine’s Church and a service at Lighthouse Christian Church.  The national March for Life is online only this year, on Friday, January 29.

Thursday, January 21 – Memorial of St. Agnes, virgin and martyr.
St. Agnes is one of the renowned fourth centuries martyrs who died under Roman persecution.  We read the accounts of her heroic conduct in the midst of her final sufferings.  She is called the lamb and the pure one, her life ending when she was in her early teenaged years.



Wednesday, January 20 – Optional Memorials of St. Fabian, pope and martyr; St. Sebastian, martyr.
Pope St. Fabian reigned for 14 years in the mid third century.  The Church enjoyed freedom to practice the faith during the first part of his pontificate, when St. Fabian organized the Roman church into seven diaconates to better serve the poor, beautified churches and cemeteries, and improved Church management.  This tranquil flourishing ended under Roman Emperor Decius, who persecuted Christians and imprisoned the Holy Father, who died in captivity.

St. Sebastian, who also lived in the third century, usually is pictured with St. Fabian.  Sebastian was a Roman solider who became a Christian and fell under the Emperor Diocletian’s horrific persecution.  He was shot with many arrows but survived to endure a second execution attempt which killed the courageous military officer.  St. Sebastian won great veneration during the Middle Ages.  He is the patron saint of archers, and of athletes for his great endurance.


Saturday, January 16 – Optional Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.










Wednesday, January 13 – Optional Memorial of St. Hilary of Poitiers, bishop and Doctor of the Church.  Affluent and well-educated, Hilary was born in present day France in 310 A.D.  While the Church at that time was free of state persecution, another enemy assailed it:  the heresy of Arianism, which denied Christ’s divinity.  St. Hilary, appointed bishop, fought the powerful untruth, and was exiled.  He returned to continue his combat against the widespread heresy.  St. Hilary is remembered for his 12-volume work on the Holy Trinity, affirming Jesus as Second Person.  His invigorating quotes include: “Servants of the trust ought speak the truth”.

Ordinary Time: Monday, January 11 – Today, we return to numbered Ordinary Time.  Our priest wears green vestments unless we are marking martyrs’ memorials or special feast days.  The nativity scene and most Christmas decorations are gone from the church.  It is time to practice our Christmas lessons in this young new liturgical year.  Our next big change comes February 17, Ash Wednesday, when we begin Lent.


Sunday, January 10 – Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
This Sunday marks the end of this year’s Christmas season.  Some celebrations go on until the Feast of the Presentation February 2, but we now return to Ordinary or numbered time until Lent begins mext month.  Today we hear the Gospel relate John the Baptist’s baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, the remarkable appearance of the Holy Spirit, and the voice of God the Father.  It is Christ’s third revealing of His divinity and identity as Redeemer, following last week’s Solemnity of Epiphany and the Nativity. 




Thursday, January 7 – Optional Memorial of St. Raymond of Penafort, priest.
St. Raymond was a Spanish born Dominican, renowned as a canon law expert, superbly interpreting and defending the Church’s decrees.  His writing on the Sacrament of Penance still stands today as a great work.  St. Raymond set a fine example of modesty and piety and concern for the poor.  He helped found and championed the order requested by Our Lady to ransom Christian captives held by Muslims.  A miracle story affirms that the saint sailed more than a hundred miles back home to Barcelona from the island of Majorca by riding over the sea on his spread cloak. St. Raymond lived to 100 years old.

Wednesday, January 6 – Optional Memorial of St. André Bessette, religious.  Christmas weekday.
We consider André Bessette our local saint, because he lived, worked, and fashioned his holy life in nearby Quebec.  In fact, some Vermonters can claim kinship with him.  He also was greatly devoted to our Cathderal’s patron saint, St. Joseph, whose title “Patron of the Universal Church” was new when André was a young man.  Overcoming his orphan state, poor health and lack of education, André brought his great faith to religious life as a brother with Congregation of the Holy Cross in Montréal.  For 40 years, Brother André was doorkeeper at the Collège de Notre Dame, receiving visitors, becoming good friends with many of them, and praying for them.  Grateful devotees credited him with their healing miracles, although he attributed these events to St. Joseph.  He also helped found and became caretaker of  St. Joseph’s Oratory.  St. André’s life was humble and pious, just as Our Lord asked.

Christmas: Tuesday, January 5 – Memorial of St. John Neumann, bishop.
St. John was born in Bohemia, (now in the Czech Republic) in 1811, and learned Catholic piety from his mother.  Fulfilling his ardent wish to be a missionary priest in America, John sailed to the new United States, and was ordained there.  He launched his life of fervent service in Buffalo, setting up schools and building churches.  In the middle of the century, John became a U.S. citizen, joined the Redemptorist order, and was ordained bishop of Philadelphia.  Fluent in several languages, St. John gathered souls in the young country, and helped institute the parochial school system.  He counted himself privileged in 1854 to attend in Rome the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.  He died when he was 48 years old, unexpectedly collapsing in the street, worn out from his work for the Catholic faith.


Christmas: Monday, January 4 – Memorial of Elizabeth Ann Seton, religious.
Wife and mother of five children, Elizabeth Ann Seton converted to Catholicism in 1805 from her Episcopal upbringing after her husband died from illness.  Her long-standing concern for the poor blossomed first in Baltimore, MD where she was invited to found a girls’ school, and later, received approval for herself and her assistants to establish a religious order based on St. Vincent de Paul’s Daughters of Charity. As head of the American Sisters of Charity, St. Elizabeth helped open Catholic schools around the country, ministered to the poor, and founded orphanages.  Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first American born saint, canonized in 1975. 

The Christmas Season - December 25, 2020 – January 10, 2021

The Church’s official Christmas season begins on Christmas Day and lasts through the Sunday on which we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. This year, that feast falls on January 10.

Both men were friends and fourth century bishops, Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Constantinople. Basil is honored as the father of eastern monasticism. He fought courageously against the Arian heresy. Gregory is one of the Church’s greatest speakers. He led both an active and a contemplative faith life. Both saints are Doctors of the Church.

Today we honor our Blessed Mother as Mother of God, Our Savior. Mass today is at 10:00 a.m. in the main church.

This year, the January 3 feast of the Holy Name of Jesus is not celebrated because it coincides with Epiphany Sunday, which takes precedence over the Holy Name celebration. Throughout the month, however, we revere the all-powerful name given to our Savior at His birth, and before which every knee should bend. We pray to His name, receive blessings from Him, and atone for offenses to the name of Jesus.