Saints

SAINT AGATHOPUS

Martyr, caught up in the persecutions conducted by co-Emperor Maximian (r. 286-305), also called Agathopodes. He was a deacon in Thessalonica, modern Greece, working with a doctor named Theodulus. Arrested for possessing Christian Scriptures and for professing the faith, the two were tried by Faustinus, the governor of the region. They were condemned to death and thrown into the sea with heavy rocks tied around their necks. Died: 303, Feastday: April 4.

rosary.team

SAINT AGILEUS

Martyr honored by St. Augustine. Agileus was a Christian and lived in North Africa. He is listed as being martyred in the city of Carthage during the local persecutions. St. Augustine memorialized him on his birthday with a sermon. Died: 300, Feastday: October 15.

rosary.team

SAINT ADEODATUS I

Saint Adeodatus I was born in Rome and had been a priest for forty years when he was elected to the papal throne in 615. He was the first pope to use leaden bullae to seal papal documents, which have been called bulls ever since. Died: 618.

rosary.team

SAINT AVA

Saint Ava was the daughter of King Pepin. She was cured of blindness by Saint Rainfredis and became a Benedictine nun at Dinart, Hainault. She was elected Abbess.

Her feast day is April 29th.

rosary.team

SAINT RICHARD

Saint Richard was the father of Saints Willibald, Winnebald, and Walburga. He was on a pilgrimage to Rome from his native Wessex, England with his two sons when he was stricken and died at Lucca, Italy. Miracles were reported at his tomb and he became greatly venerated by the citizens of Lucca who embellished accounts of his life by calling him king of the English.

His feast day is February 7th.

rosary.team

SAINT ANGELO

Saint Angelo, a member of the Carmelite Order, suffered martyrdom for the Faith at Leocata, Sicily. His parents were Jews of Jerusalem and was converted to Christianity by a vision of our Lady. She told them that the Messias which they were awaiting had already come and had redeemed His people. She promised them two sons. One as a patriarch and the other as a glorious martyr. The twins at the age of eighteen entered the Carmelite Order and they already spoke Greek, Latin and Hebrew.

After Angelo had been a hermit on Mount Carmel for five years, Our Lord appeared to him and bade him go to Sicily where he would have the grace to offer the sacrifice of his life. During his journey from the East as well as after his arrival in Sicily he converted many sinners by his teaching and by his miracles. At Palermo over two hundred Jews sought Baptism as the result of his eloquence. He aroused the fury of a man called Berengarius whose shameless wickedness Saint Angelo denounced. While preaching to a crowd a band of ruffians headed by Berengarius broke through the throng and stabbed him. Saint Angelo fell on his knees praying for the people but especially for his murderer.

His feast day is May 5.

rosary.team

SAINT IRENAEUS

Saint Irenaeus is one of the Pillars of Truth in the Church. He was born in Asia Minor in about AD 125. This time and place were still permeated with the teachings and power of the Apostles themselves, and was led by the immediate disciples of the apostles. He was well versed in the texts of Holy Scripture and is known to have learned much of Greek philosophy.

There had been for quite some time established trading routes between Asia Minor and the Marsailles/Lyons area of present day France. Irenaeus was sent as a priest to Lyons to serve the vigorous Christian Church established under Bishop Pothinus, another oriental like Irenaeus.

Irenaeus’ high regard amongst the clergy of Lyons shows when he was sent to Rome on behalf of the Church in Asia Minor. At this same time, the great persecutions of the Catholic faithful at the hands of both Romans and pagans suffered the Church at Lyon, Rome, and in Asia Minor. Montanism, one of the many gnostic and semi-gnostic heresies, had implanted itself in the Churches of Asia Minor, and a most religious and orthodox letter was given to Pope Saint Eleutherius by Irenaeus pleading for leniency in dealing with the Montanist brethren in Phrygia. During Irenaeus’ time in Rome, Pothinus and many others were martyred in Lyons, and the Saint was sent back to Lyons to fill the vacant See.

By the time of his arrival, the persecution had stopped, and his tenure as Bishop of Lyons was one of relative peace. In addition to his pastoral duties, he is known to have evangelized the neighboring lands, and he was also forced to deal with the preponderance of gnostic heresies emerging in the name of or separate from Christ throughout Gaul.

He wrote in Greek then it was quickly translated to Latin a five volume exposition of Christian truth where the doctrines of the numerous gnostic sects were presented, then contrasted with the teachings of the Apostles and the Holy Scriptures. He intended to “strip the fox” as he stated, removing the veil of secrecy surrounding gnosticism. It was a well circulated set of texts and did much to vanquish gnosticism in the Church of Christ. He is thought to have died in about 203.

rosary.team

SAINT WIRO

Saint Wiro, a holy Irish bishop, traveled to Rome with Saint Plechelm and the deacon Otger. He afterwards preached the faith of Christ to the pagans in the Low Countries.

Prince Pepin of Herstal was a great admirer of his sanctity and bestowed on him a lonely wood called the Mount of Saint Peter. Broken by austerities and old age he departed to our Lord in the seventh century.

Feastday is May 8.

rosary.team

ADRIAN II

A member of the same family as Popes Stephen IV and Sergius III, Adrian II had twice refused the papacy before his election in 867. Born in 792, he was married before his election, and some scholars say that he refused celibacy. His papacy was troubled: the Duke of Spoleto inexplicably pillaged Rome after Adrian’s election. Adrian’s family was murdered in 868 by a relative of Anastasius the Librarian, possibly with his assistance. The pope had difficulties with Lothair II that ended with the emperor’s death in 869; the pope anathametized Patriarch Photios of Constantinople, an act upheld by the fourth council of Constantinople. Adrian supported the missionary work of Sts. Cyril and Methodius among the Slavs. His last public act as pope was to crown Louis II Holy Roman Emperor at Pentecost, 872. Adrian died that fall. Died: 872.

rosary.team

SAINT SERVAN

Saint Servan also known as Servanus, Serf, or Sair.

He was from Ireland and received consecration as bishop from Saint Palladius. He is honored as the patron of the Orkney Islands although it is unlikely that he was ever there. He is called the Apostle of West Fife.

Patron of the Orkney Islands. Feast day is July 1.

rosary.team