TheCommandments

February snowstorms by Alexander Prostev

Saint Ansgar (Anskar)

801 - 865

Feast Day: February 3

Patronage: Scandinavia, Sweden, Denmark, Hamburg and Bremen, Germany

Saint Ansgar, the “Apostle of the North" was born in France. He entered the Benedictine Order and went to Denmark to evangelize pagan Scandinavia. He was made Archbishop of Hamburg in 831 and Archbishop of Bremen in 854 and began missionary work in Germany, Sweden and Denmark. He built the first Catholic church in Sweden. In the 13 years that he struggled to convert these countries, he had some success. He was an extraordinary preacher, a humble ascetic and was devoted to the poor and sick. He died peacefully in Bremen in 865.

Saint Anthony the Abbot (St. Anthony the Great)

251-356

Feast Day: January 17

Patronage: bakers, farmers, farm animals, cemetery workers, basket weavers, monks, butchers, protection against skin rashes and diseases, epilepsy, amputees

Saint Anthony the Abbot was the founder of Christian monasticism and it’s first Abbot. Considered a Desert Father, he led a life of severe asceticism and strove for complete solitude. After hearing the Gospel of Matthew 19:21 he gave away all his possessions and lived as a hermit. Through his intercession, he brought about miraculous healings, comforts to the suffering and wise guidance to his followers. He was a friend of St. Paul the Hermit and St. Athanasius wrote his biography.

The Epiphany of the Lord

“For by gold the power of a king is signified, by frankincense the honor of God, myrrh the burial of the body & accordingly they offer Him gold as King, frankincense as God, myrrh as Man.”

— St John Chrysostom

Venerable Leo Dupont

January 24, 1797 - March 18, 1876

Feast Day: December 1

Apostle of the Holy Face of Jesus

The Holy Man of Tours

Venerable Leo Dupont was born in French Martinique. Unable to enter the seminary because of a physical defect, he studied law and became a lawyer and settled in Tours, France. As a legal advisor to the Carmelite Monastery in Tours he came to know of Sr. Mary of St. Peter who received messages from Our Lord asking for reparation for the sins of blasphemy by devotion to His Holy Face. Leo received a copy of the True Image of the Holy Face based on the Veil of Veronica and hung it in his parlor with a lamp that burned continuously till his death. Hundreds of pilgrims were cured after praying before it and being anointed with oil. Cures were so numerous that Pope Pius IX declared Leo Dupont to be perhaps the greatest miracle worker in Church history. Leo promoted and spread devotion to the Holy Face for 30 years forming the Archconfraternity of the Holy Face.

Cascade of Stars , Through the Canyon - Daniel Ablitt , 2024.

British , b. 1976 -

Saint Thecla of Iconium

1st Century AD

Feast Day: September 23

Saint Thecla, a virgin and native of Iconium was popular in the early Church. She was so impressed by St. Paul the Apostle’s preaching that she became his follower and a perpetual virgin. Legend has it that because she was a Christian, attempts were made to torture her by fire, rape, and eaten by wild beasts, yet she was miraculously protected all three times showing a martyr’s heroic faith. Eventually, she lived as a hermit though persecuted until her death. She is called the protomartyr among women.

Saint Clare of Assisi

1194-1253

Feast Day: August 11 (New), August 12 (Trad)

Patronage: eye disease, goldsmiths, laundry, embroiderers, gilders

Saint Clare of Assisi, an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi, founded the Order of Poor Ladies, a monastic religious order for women in the Franciscan tradition, and wrote their Rule of Life—the first monastic rule known to have been written by a woman. Following her death, the order she founded was renamed in her honor as the Order of Saint Clare, commonly referred to today as the Poor Clares. In art, Clare is often shown carrying a monstrance or pyx, in commemoration of the time when she warded away the soldiers of Frederick II at the gates of her convent by displaying the Blessed Sacrament and kneeling in prayer.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola

1491-1556

Feast Day: July 31

Patronage: educators and education, soldiers, Society of Jesus

St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, was born 1491 in Spain. One of 13 children, he was inflamed with thoughts of love and knighthood in his youth. But at the age of 30, as a Spanish officer, he was severely injured. After reading the lives of the saints while recuperating, Ignatius experienced a conversion. He was moved by God to do great things, becoming an expert in spiritual direction.