Saint Vitalis of Castronovo in Sicily (+ 994)

St. Vitalis of Castronovo (Feast Day - March 9)

Our Venerable Father Vitalis was born in Castronovo of Sicily, to pious Christian parents Sergio and Chrysoniki. He became a monk in the famous Monastery of Saint Philip in Agira at the foot of Mount Etna, where he remained for five years. He decided to make a pilgrimage to Rome. During the journey, near Terracina (in Campania), a poisonous snake bit him, but he miraculously managed to save himself by making the sign of the cross on the wound. On his return he remained to Calabria, in the area of Santa Severina, where he lived as a hermit for two years. He returned to Sicily and lived as a monastic for twelve years in a monastery near that of Saint Philip.

Holy Seventy-Nine Martyrs of Sicily

79 Holy Martyrs of Sicily (Feast Day - February 21)

In Sicily, during the reign of Diocletian, seventy-nine holy martyrs received an immortal crown for the confession of their faith after enduring various torments.

 

 

The Cave of Saint Elias the Cave-Dweller in Calabria

Saint Elias the Cave-Dweller (Sept. 11) lived with the hermit Cosma and his disciple Vitalio in a cave around the year 904. There he attracted a large following, so he decided to move to a larger cave where he could establish a monastery. He died in this place at ninety-six years old, after having lived for seventy-one years as a hermit. 960 is conventionally thought of as the year of his death, since the monastery founded by Elias had the title of “imperial monastery”, which was assigned by the Roman Emperor in Constantinople.

In the territory surrounding Melicuccà, whose name derives from the settlement founded by the inhabitants of the area among the large woods of Bagolari (in Greek "melikokkos"), in the heart of the Piana di Gioia Tauro, stands the ancient complex of hermit caves that hosted the ascetic path of Saint Elias in the early Middle Ages. The site represents some of the most important archaeological evidence from Byzantine Greek times in Southern Italy. Dating back to the 10th century, it preserves the remains of the monastery and of the annexed factories (cellar, mill, millstones, necropolis). In its heyday, the structure hosted over one hundred and fifty monks.

Saint Jeiunio of Gerace (+ c. 1000)

St. Jeiunio of Gerace (Feast Day - August 25)

Gerace is a town in the province of Reggio Calabria in Italy. It is located some 10 km inland from Locri. The town stands on a hill formed of conglomerates of sea fossils from 60 millions years ago. The name of the city derives from the Greek Ierax (Ιέραξ, which means "Sparrowhawk"). According to a legend, the inhabitants of the coast, fleeing from a Saracen attack in 915, were led by a sparrowhawk to the mountains commanding the area of Locri, and here they founded the city. After the Byzantine reconquest of Italy (6th century), the town became an administrative, military and religious capital under the name of Santa Ciriaca. In 986 the Saracens briefly conquered the city, but it returned to Byzantine control until the Norman conquest in 1059.

The Holy Apostles Peter and Paul as Pillars of the Church (St. John Chrysostom)

 By St. John Chrysostom

Where the Cherubim sing the glory, where the Seraphim are flying, there shall we see Paul, with Peter, and as a chief and leader of the choir of the Saints, and shall enjoy his generous love. For if when here he loved men so, that when he had the choice of departing and being with Christ, he chose to be here, much more will he there display a warmer affection.

I love Rome even for this, although indeed one has other grounds for praising it, both for its greatness, and its antiquity, and its beauty, and its populousness, and for its power, and its wealth, and for its successes in war. But I let all this pass, and esteem it blessed on this account, that both in his lifetime he wrote to them, and loved them so, and talked with them while he was with us, and brought his life to a close there.

Saint Abundius the Sacristan (+ 564)

St. Abundius the Sacristan (Feast Day - April 14)

We are informed about Saint Abundius from the Dialogues (Bk. 3, Ch. 25) of Saint Gregory the Great, where after mentioning a miracle of a certain Theodore who was the sacristan of the Church of Saint Peter in Rome, he goes on to mention another miraculous incident of another sacristan of the same church named Abundius. He writes:     

"Not very many years ago, as old men say, there was another keeper of the same church, called Abundius, a man of great humility, who served God so faithfully, that the Holy Apostle Peter did by miracle declare what opinion he had of his virtue.

Saint Sabinus, Bishop of Canosa (+ 566)

St. Sabinus of Canosa (Feast Day - February 9)

 

Born in 461, Saint Sabinus was Bishop of Canosa, in the Apulia region of southern Italy from 514.

He was sent twice as a papal envoy to Constantinople, in 525, by Pope John I and in 536 to accompany Pope Agapitus I, who lost his life on the journey, to defend the true faith against the Monophysite heresy. He attended the Synod of Constantinople (536), which confirmed the deposition of the Patriarch Anthimos I of Constantinople and condemned three prominent anti-Chalcedonians living in Constantinople, causing the Emperor Justinian I to ban all four from the capital.

Saint Arsenios of Reggio in Calabria (+ 904)

 

Saint Elias the Cave-Dweller (Sept. 11) was born to a wealthy family of nobles in Reggio of Calabria in the year 864. One day a monk approached him in church and upbraided him for his rich clothes and frivolous life. The young man changed at once and at the age of eighteen ran away to Taormina to escape marriage. From there he traveled to Rome to venerate the tombs of the Apostles, but seeing the dissoluteness in the city and its clergy, he returned to Reggio.

Saint Sebastian and the 1576–78 Plague of Milan

Saint Sebastian Interceding for the Plague Stricken, 
 Josse Lieferinxe, 1497–1499, The Walters Art Museum

 

According to surviving chronicles, plague entered Milan in either late July or early August of 1576 and reigned until the city was declared ‘liberated’ on 20 January 1578, meaningfully coinciding with the Roman Catholic feast day of St. Sebastian, who was already known by then as one of the premier protectors against pestilence. Over those eighteen months, the city lost over 17,000 individuals, roughly 15% of her citizens. No one knew for certain how plague could have breached the city’s walls, given that Milan was already on alert. Trent, the ground zero for the epidemic, was struck just a year earlier. From there, the disease progressed first to Venice and Mantua in the early part of 1576 before finally reaching Milan. Within a month of the outbreak, most of Milan’s nobility had fled. Even more distressing for the Milanese, ‘the evils produced by this state of things were increased’ when the Governor, the Marquis of Ayamonte, likewise abandoned his city and took refuge in nearby Vigevano. Conditions deteriorated throughout the autumn on both the medical and the civic fronts. Trade and commerce faltered, and it became difficult for the government to provision the city with goods from uninfected regions. The city’s plague hospital quickly filled to capacity, and more temporary straw huts for the sick were needed than could be built. Increasingly draconian measures were enacted – such as the purging of infected homes, closure of non-essential shops, and a general quarantine – all of which further exacerbated the city’s financial troubles.

Saint Marcellina, Sister of Saint Ambrose of Milan

St. Marcellina (Feast Day - July 17)

Saint Marcellina was born in Trier, Gaul around the year 330 into a Roman Christian family. Her father served as Praetorian prefect of Gaul. The sister of Ambrose of Milan, she was older than her two brothers. About the year 354 Ambrosius, the father, died, whereupon the family moved to Rome. It appears that after the death of their parents, she took responsibility for the upbringing of her younger brothers, Ambrose and Satyrus.

Saint Fulk of Santopadre

St. Fulk of Santopadre (Feast Day - May 22)

Saint Fulk was from England and lived in the seventh century. He went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and other holy places with Bernard, Arduin and Gerard. Upon returning from the Holy Land, Saint Fulk and his companions stopped at Mount Gargano to visit the Grotto of the Archangel Michael. Going north to Benevento (present Lazio), Saint Fulk stopped in the town of Amnen (today Santopadre, in the province of Frosinone), where he spent the rest of his life selflessly helping victims of the plague that struck the region. After his death by the same plague he was buried at the hospital where he helped the sick.

Saint Theodore I, Pope of Rome (+ 649)

Verses

Man-eating executioners I call wolves,
They ate the flayed flesh of Theodore.

Saint Theodore came from Jerusalem, he was the son of a bishop, and was of Greek ancestry. His date of birth is unknown. He was a cardinal deacon, (possibly around 640) and became a full cardinal under Pope John IV. He was elected to succeed Pope John IV, after his short reign, and was quickly confirmed by the Eastern Roman Exarch of Ravenna, possibly because of his Greek ancestry. He was consecrated on November 24, 642.

The House of Saint Alexios the Man of God in Rome

On the Aventine Hill in Rome, the site of the house of Saint Alexios the Man of God can be found in the Basilica dei Santi Bonifacio ed Alessio. Once you enter the church the location of the house will be on the left side. If you look closely, there is a staircase above the altar, known as the Holy Steps. According to tradition, Saint Alexios the Man of God lived below this staircase at his parents house as an anonymous beggar for seventeen years till his death, upon which his identity was revealed to his parents. This is all that remains of the original house.

Saint Agatha as Protector of Catania

The Christians who were witnesses to Agatha’s martyrdom and death recovered her body devoutly and covered it with perfumed oils, as was the custom at that time. Then with great veneration they placed it in a stone sarcophagus, which to this very day is still an object of veneration in Catania. Sources say that when the sarcophagus was ready to be sealed a young man came close, dressed in white silk and escorted by a hundred others. Beside the virgin’s head he laid a marble tablet, which today is a precious relic kept in the Church of Saint Agatha in Cremona and which bears the Latin inscription “M.S.S.H.D.E.P.L.”, which means “Healthy and lively mind, Honor to God and Freedom for the City”. This inscription, called also “the Angel’s praise”, summarizes the characteristics of the Patron Saint of Catania and is also a solemn promise of her protection for the city.

Saint Marcella of Rome (+ 410)

Saint Marcella was born in 325 to a noble family of Rome. As a young girl, she heard Saint Athanasius speak. Having lost her husband in the seventh month of her marriage, she rejected the proposal of Cerealis the consul, uncle of Gallus Caesar, and resolved to imitate the lives of the ascetics of the East. She abstained from wine and meat, employed all her time in pious reading, prayer, and visiting the churches of the apostles and martyrs, and never spoke with any man alone. Her example was followed by many virgins of the first quality, who put themselves under her direction, and Rome was in a short time filled with monasteries. Her palace on the Aventine Hill was made into a monastery, where she lived with the virgins and widows of Rome.

Saint Sebastian the Martyr Resource Page

St. Sebastian the Martyr (Feast Day - December 18)

Verses

Sebastian despised the worship of error,
And is stricken in the flesh.
On the eighteenth Sebastian was clubbed.

Synaxarion of the Holy Martyr Sebastian and His Companions

Saint Sebastian the Martyr and His Companions

 

December: Day 18: Holy Martyr Sebastian and his Companions

The Orthodox Veneration of Saint Sebastian the Martyr

On the Example of Saint Sebastian the Martyr (St. Ambrose of Milan)

Saint Sebastian the Martyr, Protector from the Plague

 

Saint Sebastian and the 1576–78 Plague of Milan

 

Saint Sebastian and the Arrows of the Plague

 

The Two Earliest Images of Saint Sebastian the Martyr

 

The Skull of Saint Sebastian in Bavaria

 

Holy Spring of Saint Sebastian in Constantinople

 

Holy Martyr Pontius the Senator

St. Pontius the Senator (Feast Day - August 5)

This is how Valerian begins the biography of his companion, Saint Pontius: "Who can believe, if God does not grant it? Who can lead a life of asceticism, if the Lord does not help? Who can receive the wreath of martyrdom, if Christ does not give it?"

Pontius was the son of Senator Marcus and his wife Julia. The barren Julia conceived after twenty-two years of marriage. While with child, Julia had gone with her husband to the temple of Jupiter. The devil, inhabiting the temple, shouted through the lips of the pagan priest that the boy in Julia’s womb would destroy Jupiter and his pagan temple. When the boy was born, his mother wanted to kill him out of fear of the prediction, but his father opposed this and the child was left to live. He was named Pontius, and he grew up sharp of mind and eager for study.

Holy Hieromartyr Stephen, Pope of Rome, and Those With Him

Verses

Decapitated Stephen snatched a divine crown,
Before he was a Pope, now he is a Great Martyr.

Our Holy Father Stephen was of Roman birth but of Greek ancestry. He served as Archdeacon under Pope Lucius I, who appointed Stephen his successor. Stephen was the Bishop of Rome from 12 May 254 to his death in 257.

Holy Twelve Martyrs of Rome

Holy 12 Martyrs of Rome (Feast Day - July 31)

Verses

Twelve offshoots of Old Rome O Word,
Receive as your new decapitated Martyrs.

The Holy Twelve Martyrs of Rome met their end by the sword.

Saint Rufinus, Bishop of Assisi

St. Rufinus of Assisi (Feast Day - July 30)

According to tradition, Rufinus of Assisi (Rufino in Italian), who is the patron saint of Assisi, Italy, was the first Bishop of Assisi. He was responsible for converting Assisi to Christianity, but at what date is disputed. He is said to have died as a martyr at Costano, where a church was dedicated to him in 1038, and whence, according to Petrus Damiani, his relics were translated to Assisi in the 8th century. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia he is likely the same saint denoted under 11 August in the Roman Martyrology as Episcopus Marsorum (Bishop of the Marche).