John Bosco, born in the poor town of Castelnuovo d'Asti, and having lost his father at the age of two, was raised by his mother in a most saintly manner, and from his earliest years gave evidence of an extraordinary future.  Docile and pious, he had a remarkable influence over those of his own age, whose fights he soon began to settle, and whose indecent words and improper jokes he stopped.  Then he busied himself with drawing them to him by good stories, by including prayers in their games, by repeating in an attractive way the complete sermons he had heard in church, and with persuading them to receive the sacraments of Penance and of the Holy Eucharist without delay and frequently.  His unassuming manner, his affability, and his innocence drew everyone to him.  Although pressed with difficulties at home, and forced to work hard in his youth, he ardently desired with trust in God to become a priest.

His wish was fulfilled, and he went first to Chieri, and then to Turin, where under the direction of Blessed Joseph Cafasso, he made rapid progress in the science of the Saints and in the learning of moral theology.  There moved by divine grace and personal liking he began to take an interest in the youths, whom he taught the rudiments of the Christian religion.  Their number increased day by day, and notwithstanding great and persistent difficulties, under divine inspiration he made a foundation for them in that section of the city called the Valdocco, on which he began to spend all his energy.  Shortly after, with the help of the Blessed Virgin, who in a vision to him when a boy had revealed his future, John founded the Society of the Salesians, whose principal purpose was to be the saving of youthful souls for Christ.  In like manner he founded a new family of nuns, who were called the daughters of St. Mary Auxiliatrix, and who would do for poor girls what the Salesians were doing for boys.  To these he finally attached the Third Order of Salesian Cooperators, who by their piety and zeal were to assist in the educational work of the Salesians.  And so in a short time he made great contributions both to the Church and to the State.

Filled with zeal for souls, he spared himself no labour and no expense to build recreational centres for the young, orphanages, schools for working children, schools and homes for the training of the young, and churches far and wide throughout the world.  At the same time he did not stop spreading the Faith throughout the Subalpine country by word and by example, and throughout the whole of Italy, by writing and editing good books and by distributing the same, and in the foreign missions to which he sent numerous preachers.  A simple and upright man, bent on every good work, he shone with all manner of virtue, which was fostered by his intense and ardent charity.  With his mind always on God, and showered with heavenly gifts, this holy man of God was not disturbed by threats, nor tired by work, nor overwhelmed by care, nor upset by adversity.  He recommended three works of piety to his followers: to receive as frequently as possible the sacraments of Penance and of Holy Eucharist, to cultivate a devotion to St. Mary Auxiliatrix, and to be the most loyal children of the Sovereign Pontiff.  It should also be mentioned that John Bosco in very difficult circumstances went to the Pope more than once to console him in the evils coming from laws at that time passed against the Church.  With a life of such accomplishments he died on the 31st day of January, 1888.  Illustrious for his many miracles, the Supreme Pontiff, Pius XI, beatified him in 1929.  Five years later, in the nineteenth centenary of the anniversary of our redemption, he was canonized among a vast gathering come to the Eternal City from every part of the world.

Martina was a maiden of a most illustrious Roman family, daughter of a Consul.  She lost her parents while still very young, and, being inflamed with Christian zeal, she distributed her wealth, whereof she had abundance, with great profusion among the poor.  Under the Emperor Alexander, she was commanded to sacrifice to the imaginary gods, and refused with much boldness to commit this great wickedness.  Upon this she was again and again scourged, and mangled with iron prongs and hooks, and pieces of broken pottery.  Her limbs were cut piece by piece with sharp swords, and boiling tallow poured upon the living trunk.  Lastly she was sent to be eaten publicly by the wild beasts in the amphitheatre, but by the will of God they would not touch her, and she was then thrown upon a burning pile, but still remained alive.

Some of her tormentors were so moved by the spectacle, that they repented, and, by the grace of God confessing the faith of Christ, through which she remained constant, were themselves tortured and beheaded.  Martina herself lay praying, with a brightness on her face, while a matter like milk oozed from her body along with the blood, emitting a soft, sweet smell.  She was as it were unconscious of an earthquake and most violent thunderstorm which arose and was raging, and while the lightning struck temples, and melted statues, she seemed in spirit rather to be seated above on a queenly throne, praising God in heaven among the Blessed.

The judge being infuriated at what had taken place, and chiefly at her unbending firmness, ordered the head of the martyr to be cut off.  At the moment this was done, a peal which shook the city was heard, like a voice calling her home, and so great was the consternation, that it was made the means of conversion to many idolaters.  The holy body of Martina wherein she had suffered in the Pontificate of Urban I, was discovered in the time of Urban VIII, in the very old Church called after her, situated at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, near the Mamertine Prison, along with the bodies of the holy martyrs Concordius, Epiphanius, and others.  The Church was then altered and restored and handsomely decorated, and then the body was replaced in it, amid public rejoicings, with a solemn ceremony and procession.

Francis was born of godly and noble parents, in the town of Sales, from which his family take their name of de Sales.  In his childish years his staid and godly demeanour gave promise of his future sanctity.  He received a liberal education as he grew up, and afterwards studied Philosophy and Theology at Paris.  In order to the complete furnishing of his mind, he took the degree of Doctor of Laws, both Civil and Ecclesiastical, at Padua, with much distinction.  He had already bound himself with a vow of perpetual virginity at Paris, and he renewed the same in the Holy House of Loreto.  From this path of virtue, neither the temptations of the devil nor the allurements of the world ever induced him to swerve.

He refused to be made Counsellor of the Parliament of Chambery, for which his family had obtained for him patents from the Duke of Savoy, and determined to become a clergyman.  He was appointed to the Provostship of the Church of Geneva, and, being shortly afterwards ordained Priest, discharged so admirably the duties of his position, that he was sent by Granier, his Bishop, to preach the Word of God in Chablais, and other places in the outskirts of the diocese, where the inhabitants had embraced the heresy of Calvin.  He joyfully undertook this mission, in which he suffered much, being often hunted by the Protestants to murder him, and assailed by many calumnies and plots.  Amid all these dangers and struggles his constancy remained invincible, and under the blessing and care of God he is said to have recalled seventy-two thousand of these heretics to the Faith of Christ's Universal Church, among whom were many distinguished by rank and learning.

After the death of Bishop Granier, who had procured his appointment as Coadjutor, he was consecrated Bishop.  In that office he was truly a burning and a shining light, shewing all around a bright example of godliness, zeal for the discipline of the Church, ardent love of peace, tenderness to the poor, and, indeed, of all graces.  For the greater ornament of God's worship he established a new Order of Nuns, which is named from the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin.  These nuns follow the Rule of St. Augustine, but Francis added thereto several additional constitutions distinguished by wisdom, prudence, and tenderness.  He enlightened the Church by writings full of heavenly teaching, and pointing out a safe and simple road to Christian perfection.  In the 55th year of his age, while on his way from France to Annecy, after saying Mass at Lyons on the Feast of St. John the Evangelist, he was seized with a fatal illness, and on the next day passed from earth to heaven, in the year of our Lord 1622.  His body was carried to Annecy and honourably buried in the Church of the nuns of the Visitation, where it soon began to be distinguished for miracles.  The truth of these having been proved, the Supreme Pontiff, Alexander VII, enrolled his name among those of the Saints, and appointed for his Feastday the 29th of January.  And the Supreme Pontiff, Pius IX, on the advice of the Congregation of Sacred Rites, declared him a Doctor of the Universal Church.

According to tradition, Saint Agnes was a member of the Roman nobility born c. 291 and raised in a Christian family. She suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve or thirteen during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, on 21 January 304.

Agnes, whose name means “chaste” in Greek, was a beautiful young girl of wealthy family and therefore had many suitors of high rank. Tradition holds that the young men, slighted by Agnes' resolute devotion to religious purity, submitted her name to the authorities as a follower of Christianity.

The Prefect Sempronius condemned her to be dragged naked through the streets to a brothel.  As she prayed, her hair grew and covered her body. It was also said that all of the men who attempted to rape her were immediately struck blind. The son of the prefect is struck dead, but revived after Agnes prayed for him, causing her release. There is then a trial from which Sempronius excuses himself, and another figure presides, sentencing her to death. When led out to die she was tied to a stake, but the bundle of wood would not burn, or the flames parted away from her, whereupon the officer in charge of the troops drew his sword and beheaded her, or, in some other texts, stabbed her in the throat. It is also said that the blood of Agnes poured to the stadium floor where other Christians soaked up the blood with cloths.

Agnes was buried beside the Via Nomentana in Rome. A few days after Agnes' death, her foster-sister, Saint Emerentiana, was found praying by her tomb; she claimed to be the daughter of Agnes' wet nurse, and was stoned to death after refusing to leave the place and reprimanding the pagans for killing her foster sister. Emerentiana was also later canonized. One night when the parents of the blessed Agnes were watching at her grave, she appeared to them in company with a band of virgins, and said to them: Father and Mother, weep not for me as though I am dead; for now these virgins and I live together in him whose love was my whole life upon earth.  Some years afterwards, Constance, the daughter of the Emperor Constantine, being sick of an incurable ulcer, betook herself to the said grave, although she was not yet a Christian, and as she lay by it and slept, she seemed to hear the voice of Agnes, saying to her: Constance, be of good courage: believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God, and he will make thee whole.  The Princess, being healed, was baptized, along with many others of the Emperor's family and household, and afterwards built over the grave of the blessed Agnes a Church named in her honour.

Peter Nolasco was born of noble parents at Recaudun, near Carcassonne, in France, and is chiefly distinguished for his remarkable love towards his neighbour.  It was considered a foreshadowing of this virtue, that when he was a little child in his cradle, a swarm of bees lighted upon him, and formed a honeycomb on his right hand.  He lost his parents while still young, and in consequence of his horror of the Albigensian heresy, with which  France was then plagued, he sold his estates there and withdrew into Spain.  Here he first discharged a vow which he had taken long before, at the shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Montserrat, and afterwards went to Barcelona.  Here he was so affected by the miserable state of the Christians who were in slavery to the Moors, that he expended his whole fortune in ransoming as many of them as possible, and used to say that he wished he could be sold himself to ransom more, or could himself change places with them.

It came to pass that God shewed how agreeable to him was the charitable zeal of Peter.  One night when he was praying, and his mind was much exercised on the means of succouring the enslaved Christians, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him in a vision, and gave him to understand that it would be most pleasing to her Son and herself, if he would found in her honour an order of religious men, whose chief duty it should be to effect the redemption of Christian bondsmen out of the hand of the infidels.  In conformity to this revelation, which had likewise on the same night been made to St. Raymund Pennaforte, and King James I of Aragon, he founded the Religious Order of the Blessed Mary of Ransom for the Redemption of Captives.  The members add a fourth vow to the three essential ones of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, namely, that they will be ready if need be to remain as hostages in the hand of the infidels for the liberation of others.

After he took the vow of virginity he remained with his purity quite unsullied all his life, and was at the same time a bright pattern of long-suffering, lowliness, temperance, and other virtues.  God was pleased to adorn him with the gift of Prophecy, whereby he foretold things to come.  Among others, he prophesied to King James that he would take the city of Valencia from the Moors, which he afterwards did.  He was refreshed by frequent apparitions of his Guardian Angel, and of the Virgin Mother of God.  He had lived to a great age when being quite worn out, and falling into a grievous sickness, he perceived that his end was at hand.  He then received the holy Sacraments, and gathering his brethren around him, exhorted them for the last time to shew pity to slaves.  After this he began to repeat with great emotion the 110th Psalm: I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; and when he had uttered the words: The Lord sent redemption unto his people; he resigned his soul to God.  This happened at midnight between the 23rd and 24th of December, in the year 1256.  Alexander VII extended his feast to the universal Church.

John of Antioch, who, on account of the golden stream of his eloquence, is called by the Greeks Chrysostomos, or, The golden-mouthed, was a lawyer and man of the world of much eminence, before he turned his great intellect and wonderful industry to the study of things sacred.  He took orders, and was ordained a priest of the Church of Antioch, and after the death of Nectarius, was forced by the Emperor Arcadius to accept, though sorely against his own will, the Archbishoprick of Constantinople.  Having received the burden of a shepherd's office, in the year 398, he set himself zealously to do his duty, struggling against the degradation of public morality and the loose lives of the nobility, and thereby drew upon himself the ill-will of many enemies, especially the Empress Eudoxia, whom he had rebuked on account of the money of the widow Callitropa, and the land of another widow.

Some bishops being assembled in a Council at Chalcedon, which Council the Saint held to be neither lawful, nor public, although he was commanded to go there, he refused.  Whereupon Eudoxia, striving earnestly against him, caused him to be sent into exile.  Soon after, however, the people of the city rose, and demanded his recall, and he was then brought back again amid great public rejoicings.  Nevertheless he ceased not to war against vice, and absolutely forbade the celebration of public games round the silver statue of Eudoxia in the square outside the Church of the Eternal Wisdom.  Upon this, a party of bishops, who were enemies to him, banded together, and obtained that he should be banished again, which was done accordingly, amid the lamentations of widows and the poor, who felt as if they were being deprived of a common father.  During this exile, it almost passeth belief how much Chrysostom suffered, and how many souls he turned to the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

At this time a Council was assembled at Rome, wherein Chrysostom's restoration to his See was decreed by Pope Innocent I, but meanwhile, he was suffering great hardships and cruelties on his journey at the hands of the soldiers who had him in charge.  As he passed through Armenia he prayed in the Church of the holy martyr Basiliscus, and the same night that blessed conqueror appeared to him in a vision and said: Brother John, tomorrow thou shalt be with me.  On the next day, therefore, he received the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and, arming himself with the sign of the Cross, resigned his soul to God, it being the 14th of September.  As soon as he was dead a furious hailstorm took place at Constantinople, and after four days the Empress died.  The Emperor Theodosius, the son of Arcadius, brought the body of John Chrysostom to Constantinople with great state, and numerously attended, and on the 27th of January, laid it with magnificent honours in the grave, beside which he prayed for the forgiveness of his own father and mother.  The holy body was afterwards taken to Rome, and is now buried in the Vatican Basilica.  The number, devoutness, and brilliance of St. John Chrysostom's sermons and other writings, his acuteness in exposition, and the close aptness of his explanations of Holy Scripture, have been and are the object of universal wonder and admiration, and often seem not unworthy to have been dictated to him by the Apostle Paul, for whom he entertained a wonderful devotion.  This most outstanding Doctor of the Church universal was proclaimed and appointed the heavenly patron of sacred orators by the Supreme Pontiff, Pius X.

Sermon by St. Augustine the Bishop


We have this day heard read out of the Acts of the Apostles how that the Apostle Paul, from being a persecutor of the Christians, was changed into a preacher of Christ.  Christ laid low the persecutor, that he might raise him up a teacher of his Church.  He smote and healed him; he slew and made him alive again.  For the Lord Christ is that Lamb that was himself slain by the wolves, and that now turneth the wolves into lambs.  Now was fulfilled in Paul that which was clearly spoken in prophecy by the patriarch Jacob, when he blessed his children, laying his hands indeed on them which then were, but looking forward to the things which were yet for to come.  Paul beareth witness of himself that he was of the tribe of Benjamin; and when Jacob blessed his sons, and came to bless Benjamin, he said: Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf.

What then?  Is Benjamin a wolf that shall ravin for ever? God forbid.  For as saith the Scripture: In the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.  This is exactly what was fulfilled in the Apostle Paul.  If it please you, we will now consider how in the morning he devoured the prey, and at night divided the spoil.  Here morning and evening are put for the beginning and the end.  So we may read, In the beginning he shall devour the prey, and at the end he shall divide the spoil.  First, then, in the beginning, he devoured the prey.  So it is written that he received letters from the chief priests and went forth, that wheresoever he should find any Christians, he might bring them bound unto the priests, that they might be punished.

He went breathing out threatenings and slaughter, yea truly, devouring the prey.  When also they stoned Stephen, the first Martyr that laid down his life for Christ's Name's sake, Saul was consenting unto his death, and, as though it contented him not to stone him, he kept the clothes of all them that did it, urging them on more than if he had joined them.  So in the morning he devoured the prey.  How in the evening did he divide the spoil?  Struck down by the voice of Christ from heaven, ravining no more, he falleth upon his face, cast down to be raised up, smitten to be healed.

Timothy was born at Lystra, in Lycaonia.  His father was a Gentile and his mother a Jewess.  When the Apostle Paul came into those parts, Timothy was already a Christian.  The Apostle had heard much of his holy life, and was thereby induced to take him as the companion of his travels: but on account of the Jewish converts to the faith of Christ, who were aware that Timothy's father was a Gentile, he administered to him the rite of circumcision.  As soon as they both arrived at Ephesus, the Apostle ordained him bishop of that church.

The Apostle addressed two of his epistles to him, one from Laodicea, the other from Rome.  Thus confirmed in his pastoral office, he could not endure to see sacrifice which is due to God alone, offered to the images of devils; and finding that the people of Ephesus were sacrificing victims to Diana on her festival, he strove to make them stop their impiety, but they stoned him; the Christians rescued him, nearly dead, and carried him to a mountain near the town, where on the 24th day of January he fell asleep in the Lord.


Sermon by St. Augustine the Bishop

Today we keep our annual celebration of the triumph of the blessed Martyr Timothy, and the Church, while rejoicing in his glory, places him before us, that we may follow in his footsteps.  If we suffer with him, we shall be glorified with him.  There are two things to be considered in this glorious combat: namely the hard-hearted cruelty of the torturer, and the unconquered patience of the Martyr―the cruelty of the torturer, that we may detest it; the patience of the Martyr, that we may imitate it.  Hear what the Psalmist saith in reproof of wickedness: Be not emulous of evildoers, for they shall shortly wither away as grass.  But the Apostle teacheth patience with the wicked in the words: Patience is necessary for you, that ye may receive the promise.

Blessed Raymund, born at Barcelona, of the noble family of Pennafort, was taught the rudiments of the Christian faith when still a boy; his uncommon gifts of mind and body seemed to indicate some great natural ability.  For while still young, he taught the humanities in his native city.  Later he went to Bologna, where he applied himself with much diligence to the exercises of piety, and to the study of canon and civil law.  He there received the doctor's cap, and interpreted the sacred canons to the admiration of all men.  His holiness attained such wide renown, that Berengarius, bishop of Barcelona, when returning to his diocese from Rome, visited Bologna on his way in order to see Raymund; and, after most earnest entreaties, induced him to accompany him to his native city.  He was soon made canon and provost of that church, and became a model to the clergy and people by his uprightness, modesty, learning, and meekness.  His tender devotion to the Virgin Mother of God was extraordinary, and he ever did his utmost to promote her devotion and honour.

When he was about forty-five years of age, he made his solemn profession in the Order of Friars Preachers, and drilled himself like a recruit, in the exercise of every virtue, but, above all, in charity to the poor, and mainly to the captives taken by the infidels.  It was by his exhortation that St. Peter Nolasco (who was his penitent) was induced to devote all his riches to this most pious work.  The most blessed Virgin appeared to Peter, as also to blessed Raymund and to James I, King of Aragon, telling them, that it would be most pleasing to herself and her only Son, if in their honour an Order of religious men were founded, whose mission would be to deliver captives from the tyranny of the infidels.  Whereupon, after deliberating together, they founded the Order of our Lady of Mercy for the Ransom of Captives; and blessed Raymund drew up certain rules of life, well adapted to the vocation of that order.  Some years after, he obtained their approbation from Gregory the Ninth, and made St. Peter to whom he gave the habit with his own hands, first general of the order.

He was summoned to Rome by Gregory IX, and appointed his Chaplain, Penitentiary, and Confessor.  It was by Gregory's orders that he collected, in the volume called the Decretals, the ordinances of the Roman Pontiffs, which up to that time were only to be found scattered among the records of various Councils and Churches.  He firmly refused the Archbishopric of Tarragona, which was offered to him by the Pope himself, and having been chosen Master General of the whole order of Friars Preachers, he discharged the duties of that office in holiness for two years, and then resigned it.  It was by his advice that James, King of Aragon, established the Office of the Holy Inquisition in his dominions.  He was distinguished by many miracles, of which the chief  was that, when returning to Barcelona from the Island of Majorca, he spread his cloak upon the sea, and passed over the waters upon it, accomplishing the whole distance of an hundred and sixty miles in six hours, and finally entering his convent through closed doors.  He attained the age of nearly an hundred years, and fell asleep in the Lord in the year of salvation 1275.  His name was enrolled by Clement VIII among those of the Saints.