Saints

SAINT ADRIAN III

The life and sanctity of Pope St. Adrian III remains obscure. He was born in Rome and was elected to the papacy in 884. During his brief reign of sixteen months, violent vendettas that arose from the assassination of John VIII continued. George of the Avertine, a priest whom John had exiled and whom Marinus I had allowed to return to Rome, was blinded, possibly by order of Adrian III. In the summer of 885, Charles the Fat of the Holy Roman Empire convoked the Diet of Worms to insure the succession of his illegitimate son, Bernard. Adrian III died, en route to Worms, at the Abbey of Nonantola, where he was buried. He was canonized in 1891. Feastday: July 8.

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SAINT ADALBERT of MAGDEBURG

The Apostle of the Slavs and an archbishop. A German monk of the Benedictine Monastery of St. Maximin in Tréves, he was consecrated a bishop and sent to Russia in 961. Princess Olga of that land had asked Emperor Otto I the Great to provide her with a missionary. The son of Princess Olga took her crown from her soon after Adalbert arrived in Russia, and his mission companions were slain. He barely escaped with his own life and made his way to Maniz, where he spent four years. He was then named abbot of Weissenburg in Alsace and bishop of Magdeburg in Saxony. This was a diocese created to provide missionary programs for the Slavs. There Adalbert was made metropolitan of the Slavs and established the dioceses of Naumberg, Neissen, Merseberg, Brandenburg, Havelberg, and Posen. He also received two papal legates to assist him in his vast labor. Died: 981, Feastday: June 20.

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SAINT ABIBUS

Deacon and martyr with Sts. Gurias and Samonas. Abibus served the Church in Edessa, in Syria, where he was arrested during the persecutions of co-Emperor Licinius. The three were burned alive and buried together. Died: 323 Feastday: November 15.

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SAINT QUITERIA

Saint Quiteria, virgin martyr, has a large following at Aire in Gascony where her reputed relics were preserved until they were scattered by the huguenots.

Her name appears in the Roman Martyrology. She is popularly supposed to have been the daughter of a Galician prince who fled from her home because her father wished to force her to marry and to abjure the Christian religion. She was tracked to Aire by emissaries of her father and was beheaded.

She is invoked against the bite of mad dogs and is always depicted with a dog on a lead. Portugal is especially devout to Saint Quiteria.

Her feast day is May 22nd.

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SAINT JULIANA FALCONIERI

In 1270 Saint Juliana Falconieri was born a late birth an answer to a prayer of the noble Falconieri family of Florence. Her parents, Chiarissimo and Riguirdata Falconieri, paid for the construction of the church of the Annunziata. Although her father died when she was still fairly
young she was never given to the diversions of other girls her age. Upon hearing of her mother’s plan to marry her, professed a wish to join the religious life when she was then 15.

Juliana was instructed by her uncle, Saint Alexis, one of the Seven Holy founders of the Servite Order. A year later she was made a tertiary. Her mother had been initially opposed to her vocation. Her mother considering the death of Juliana’s father put Juliana under the Saint’s
direction.

In 1304, her mother passed away and she went to a community of Servite nuns where she eventually was pressed into service as Superior. She drew up a set of regulations and was so influential she is known as the Foundress of the Servite nuns.

The bodily mortifications Juliana put to herself greatly weakened her health and late in life she was given to chronic gastric ailments. This eventually took the life of Saint Juliana Falonieri at the age of 71 in 1341.

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SAINT ADALBALD of OSTREVANT

Noble and martyr, who faced some of the most vicious in-laws ever recorded. Adalbald was the son or grandson of St. Gertrude of Hamage and was born in Flanders. He was a nobleman at the court of Dagobert I of France. Going to Gascony, France to put down a local rebellion he met a noblewoman, Rictrudis, daughter of Ernold. He married Rictrudis despite the objections of her relatives who resented his military activities in her region. Both Adalbald and Rictrudis dedicated
themselves to acts of mercy and to religious projects. Adalbald then returned to Gascony only to face his in-laws who killed him. Many miracles were recorded at his tomb, and Adalbald was named a martyr. Died: 652, Feastday: February 2.

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SAINT NINA

Saint Nina was born in Cappadocia. Scholars believe she was a relative of Saint George who travelled to Iberia to convert the people to Christianity. She has also been identified as Christiana.

She cured Queen Nana of a seemingly incurable disease and converted her. Nina continued to preach throughout Georgia converting many people until her death at Bodke. A church dedicated to the memory of Saint George was built on the site of her grave.

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SAINT AFRICUS

Confessor of Comminges in southern France. His seventh-century shrine was destroyed by Calvinists, but he is recorded as being the bishop of Comminges. Died: 7th Century, Feastday: November 16.

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SAINT BAITHIN

Abbot and cousin of St. Columba, also listed as Comm or Cominus in some lists. Baithin was abbot of Tiree Abbey in Ireland, succeeding St. Columba as abbot of lona in Scotland in 597. He wrote about his saintly cousin and is said to have died on the anniversary of St. Columba’s death. Died: 598, Feastday: June 9.

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SAINT ABRAHAM

The archbishop of Ephesus, Greece, and a learned theologian who authored many treatises that influenced his contemporaries. He erected monasteries in Jerusalem and Constantinople. The monastery in Constantinople was involved in a dispute with the Byzantine Emperor, Theophilus. The monks in the abbey were called Abrahamites, after the founding saint, and they refused to accept the heresy of the Iconoclasts of the time. Died: 6th century Feastday: October 28.

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