A Community of Love, Unity and Service

St. Christina

Saint Christina was the daughter of a rich and powerful magistrate named Urban. Her father, who was deep in the practices of paganism, had a number of golden idols. His young daughter brokethem, then distributed the pieces among the poor. Infuriated by this act, Urban became thepersecutor of his own daughter. He had her whipped with rods and thrown into a dungeon. Christina remained unshaken in her faith. Her tormentor brought her forth to have her body tornby iron hooks, then fastened to a rack beneath which a fire was kindled. But God watched overHis servant and turned the flames back toward the onlookers, several of whom perished.

The torments to which this young girl was subjected would seem as difficult to devise as toimagine; but God was beside her at all times. After a heavy stone was attached to her neck, SaintChristina was thrown into the lake of Bolsena, but was rescued by an Angel and seen wearing astole and walking on the water, accompanied by several Angels. Her father, hearing she was stillalive, died suddenly amid atrocious sufferings. A new judge succeeded him, a cruel paganexperienced in persecuting the Christians. He tried to win her by reminding her of her nobility,suggesting she was in serious error. Her reply infuriated him: “Christ, whom you despise, willtear me out of your hands!” Then Saint Christina suffered the most inhuman torments. Thesecond judge also was struck down by divine justice. A third one named Julian, succeeded him. “Magician!” he cried, “adore the gods, or I will put you to death!” She survived a raging furnace, after remaining in it for five days. Serpents and vipers thrown into her prison did nottouch her, but killed the magician who had brought them there. She sent them away in the nameof Christ, after restoring the unfortunate magician to life; he was converted and thanked the Godof Christina and the Saint. Then her tongue was cut out.

The Saint prayed to be allowed to finish her course. When she was pierced with arrows, shegained the martyr’s crown at Tyro, a city which formerly stood on an island in the lake of Bolsenain Italy, but has since been swallowed up by the waters. Her relics are now at Palermo in Sicily. Her tomb was discovered in the 19^th century at Bolsena, marked with an inscription dating fromthe 10^th century.

St. James the Greater

Among the twelve Apostles, three were chosen to be the close companions of our Blessed Lord,and of these James was one. He, with Peter and John, was admitted to the house of Jairus whenhis dead child was raised to life (Luke 8:40 ff.); only these three were taken up to the high mountain of Thabor and beheld the face of Jesus shining as the sun, and His garments white assnow (Mark 9:2-7). These three alone witnessed the fearful agony in Gethsemane. (Luke 22:39-45)

What was it that won James a place among the favorite three? Faith, burning, impetuous andoutspoken, the straightforwardness of the true Israelite, were visible in him; but these qualitiesneeded purifying before the “Son of Thunder” could proclaim the Gospel of peace. It was Jameswho suggested fire from heaven to consume the inhospitable Samaritans, and who sought a placeof honor beside Christ in His kingdom. Yet Our Lord, in rebuking his presumption, prophesiedhis faithfulness unto death. (Mark 10:38-40) He went to Spain after the death of Our Lord, and remained there for nine years, according to tradition. The famous Basilica of Saint James ofCompostello, one of the most frequented pilgrimage sites of Europe, the site also of countlessmiracles, commemorates the memory of the nation’s beloved Apostle.

In the year 44 Saint James, who was at that time in Jerusalem, was brought before King HerodAgrippa. The Apostle had been preaching fearlessly there, curing the sick and the blind, anddelivering possessed persons. Two magicians were sent by the authorities to stop his doings bytheir charms, but both were converted. His enemies were not defeated by that, however, and paidtwo Roman captains to incite a sedition during the Apostle’s preaching, then seize him as itsauthor. A certain Josias, a scribe among the Pharisees, put a cord around his neck and took himbefore the third Herod, grandson of the first, murderer of the Innocents, and nephew of thesecond, who had the Baptist decapitated. This new sycophant of the Roman Emperors, desiringto conciliate the Jews and make them forget his non-Jewish origins, decided to do so bypersecuting the Christians. Without delay he condemned Saint James to die by the sword. TheApostle’s fearless confession of Jesus crucified so moved the scribe Josias, that he too confessedChrist and begged pardon of the Saint. He was taken with the Apostle to the place of execution,where Saint James and his convert died together.

The Apostle won the three crowns of heroism: he is a Doctor par excellence of the Faith, he was the first Apostle to be martyred, and according to Saint Epiphanus and other historians, he always conserved his virginity. He is the patron of Spain. A Spanish author by the name of Tamayoreports fifteen different apparitions of Saint James to the kings and princes of Spain, followedeach time by some specific assistance for the benefit of the land.

St. Anne

Saint Anne, chosen by God to be the mother of Mary, His own Blessed Mother on earth, was thespouse of Saint Joachim. Ancestor of the Eternal King and High Priest, Joachim was of the royalhouse of David, while Anne was of Levitical descent. Their lives were wholly occupied withprayer and good works. One thing only was wanting to their union — they were childless, andthis was held as a bitter misfortune among the Jews. At length, when Anne was well advanced inage, Mary was born, the fruit rather of grace than of nature, and the child more of God than of man.

With the birth of Mary the holy matron began a new life; she watched Her every movement withreverent tenderness, and, aware of the little one’s destiny, felt herself hourly sanctified by thepresence of her Immaculate Child. But she had vowed her daughter to God; to God the childMary had already consecrated Herself, and to Him Anne gave Her back. Mary was three yearsold when Anne and Joachim led Her to the Temple steps, saw Her pass by Herself into the innersanctuary, and then saw Her no more. Thus was Anne left childless in her old age, and deprivedof her purest earthly joy. The holiest parents on earth could not, in the plan of God, raise thisChild as was needed: Mary had to suffer from Her earliest years. Saint Anne and Saint Joachimhumbly adored the Divine Will, and continued to watch and pray, until God called them to unending rest.

France and Canada possess the principal sanctuaries of Saint Anne: in France, at Apt inProvence, and at Auray in Britanny; in Canada at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in the Province ofQuebec. At Apt the discovery in 792 of Saint Anne’s relics, brought by Lazarus and his twosisters to France, was wholly miraculous, authenticated by the presence of Charlemagne duringthe discovery, and the signature of Pope Adrian I on the written account of the facts.

St. Pantaleon

Saint Pantaleon was born in Nicomedia of a pagan father and a Christian mother, who died while her son was still a child. He was among the court physicians of the Emperor GaleriusMaximianus. Deceived by hearing the false maxims of the world applauded, he was withoutreligion when God decided to rescue his soul from its unhappy darkness. A zealous and prudentChristian named Hermolaus took special notice of him and awakened his conscience, telling himthat although the famous physicians of ancient times had possessed the science which curesbodies, Jesus Christ was a far more excellent Physician, able to cure not only bodies, but souls, byHis divine doctrine. Hermolaus succeeded in bringing him into the fold of the Church.

The young Christian strove to procure for his father the same grace he himself had received, and his words had already begun to separate his father from his idols, when one day a blind man, ledby friends, came to the door and begged Pantaleon to cure him. His father was present and heardthe promise his son made to this man to do so, if he would give to the poor the money he wasoffering him. The father was amazed and feared that the promise could not be fulfilled. But theyoung Saint prayed and touched the eyes of the blind man, invoking the name of Jesus Christ, andhis eyes were opened. Pantaleon’s father and the blind man were both baptized as a result of thismiracle. When Eustorgus, his father, died, Saint Pantaleon liberated all his slaves and, having soldmost of his possessions, gave to the liberated ones and others the assistance their povertyrequired. He cured other illnesses and soon became renowned in Nicomedia.

Saint Pantaleon, being a very sincere penitent, ardently wished to expiate his former idolatry by the martyrdom he could foresee. When a bloody persecution broke out at Nicomedia in 303, theblind man he had cured was beheaded upon refusing to admit that it was the gods who had curedhim. Saint Pantaleon, to prepare himself for the imminent combat, distributed all he had leftamong the poor. Not long after this act of charity he was arrested and subjected to varioustortures, during which he was preserved from death. Three other Christians, of whom one wasHermolaus, were apprehended. After suffering many torments, the four confessors were allsentenced to be beheaded.

The relics of Saint Pantaleon were translated to Constantinople, and there received great honor. His blood, conserved in a small vial, is said to liquefy on his feast day and become oxygenated. Charlemagne brought a part of his relics into France, where they are presently divided again, aportion being in the abbey of Saint Denys near Paris, and the head at Lyons. Saint Pantaleon,whose name means the “all-compassionate one,” is the patron of physicians.

St. Celsus

Saint Nazarius, born in Rome, was the son of a pagan military man who held an important post in the Roman army. His mother, honored by the Church as Saint Perpetua, was a zealous Christian,instructed by Saint Peter or his disciples in the most perfect maxims of Christianity. Nazarius atthe age of nine embraced the Faith with so much ardor that he copied in his own young life all thegreat virtues he saw in his teachers. He was baptized by Saint Linus, who would later becomePope. His pagan father was touched by his son’s virtue and seconded his project to go elsewhereto preach the Gospel. Out of zeal for the salvation of others, Nazarius therefore left Rome, hisnative city, and preached the Faith in many places with a fervor and disinterestedness fitting for adisciple of the Apostles.

Ten years later he is known to have been in Milan. He was driven from the city by the prefect after being whipped, and he left Italy to go to eastern Gaul or France. There a young boy by thename of Celsus was brought to him; his mother asked him to teach and baptize her son, and totake him for his disciple. The child was docile, and Nazarius did so; and they were neverseparated. When conversions multiplied, the local governor was alarmed and the apostle wasagain arrested, beaten and tortured. The wife of this governor was a Christian, however, andsucceeded in obtaining liberty for the two young innocents. They were freed on condition theywould not preach at this place any longer.

The two fervent Christians went to the Alpine villages where only a few solitary settlers braved the rigors of the climate and the altitude. They were not rebuffed and went as far as Embrun. There they built a chapel to the true God, and then continued on to Geneva, and to Treves whereSaint Nazarius was arrested and imprisoned. Celsus followed him in tears, longing to share hiscaptivity. When after a few days the prefect ordered them brought before him, they were treatedcruelly but appeared before the magistrate, their faces shining with glory. The prodigies whichfollowed caused fear in the pagans, and they were released and told to leave the region.

They returned to Milan, but were soon arrested there also. When they would not sacrifice to the gods of the empire, after several tortures in which God again preserved them, they weresentenced to be beheaded. They embraced one another in transports of joy and praise to God forthis grace. It was during the reign of Nero, in about the year 56, that these generous Martyrsadded their blood to the treasure of the Christians.

Their bodies were buried separately in a garden outside the city, where they were discovered and taken up by Saint Ambrose in 395. In the tomb of Saint Nazarius, whose decapitated body andhead were perfectly conserved, a vial of the Saint’s blood was found as fresh and red as if it hadbeen spilt that same day. Saint Ambrose conveyed the bodies of the two martyrs into the newchurch of the Apostles which he had just built. A woman was delivered of an evil spirit in theirpresence. Saint Ambrose sent some of these relics to Saint Paulinus of Nola, who received themwith great respect as a most valuable gift, as he himself testifies, and placed them in honor at Nola.

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