Relics at Immaculate Conception

Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first person born in the United States to be recognized as a saint.  She began life as an Episcopalian, growing up in New York’s high society.  She married the wealthy merchant William Magee Seton when she was 19 and mothered 5 children.  After a decade of stable and happy marriage, William’s business went into bankruptcy and soon afterward he dies of tuberculosis.
Attracted to Catholicism for years, Elizabeth Ann converted in 1805.  Most of her friends were not able to understand this change, and some of them even began to shun her.  To support her children, she opened a school in Boston.  Her school was independent of the Church, but she organized it in a manner similar to a religious community.  Based on this experience, the Archbishop asked Elizabeth Ann to open a Catholic girl’s school in Baltimore, Maryland - the beginning of the parochial school system in America.  She founded the Sisters of Charity in 1809 to oversee the work.
Elizabeth Ann died at Emmitsburg, Maryland on January 4, 1821.  In September 1975 Pope Paul IV formally canonized her.

• from Butler’s Lives of Saints

People of Irish descent in many parts of the world celebrate St. Patrick’s Day enthusiastically.  The wearing of green clothing is observed on that day by many who have nothing to do with Ireland and have little knowledge of Patrick’s achievements.  About the only thing most people can cite is the fiction that he chased all the snakes off the Emerald Isle.
Patrick was the son of a 4th century Roman civil servant on the west coast of Britain.  When he was 16, raiders kidnapped him and sold him as a slave in Ireland, where he became an unwilling and unpaid shepherd for six years.  During the lonely hours of tending sheep and herding cattle in the desolate hills of the north. Patrick became devout, spending much time in prayer and meditation.
Escaping Ireland on board a sailing ship, Patrick found his family and began to study for the priesthood in Gaul.  For 15 years he lived in a monastery.  Ireland remained on his mind though, and visionary dreams convinced him his purpose in life was to return to the Irish people and preach the Gospel.  Only a few of the Irish people had become Christians by 432.  Working with other missionaries against great difficulties, Patrick preached in remote portions of the island where the Gospel had never been proclaimed.  God’s love replaced natural resentment; pagan druids and even a few Christians opposed his missionary activity but Patrick’s preaching produced great results.
Patrick baptized thousands, ordained hundreds of Irish clergy, and founded several monasteries.  He set up a system of churches whereby the Irish would keep faith alive and revitalize the Church in Europe during the Dark Ages.

• From Butler’s Lives of the Saints 

Baptized as Helena, Mary Kowalska was born into a large family of Polish peasants in Glogowiec.  She left home at 16 to work as a housekeeper.  At 20 she became a Sister of Our Lady of Mercy and took the name Mary Faustina.  Doing menial chores, she remained with that congregation for 13 years.  No one noticed what was going on inside Mary as she went about routine chores, but she had a close personal relationship with God.  The spiritual world was as vivid for her as the physical world.
In her personal diary she wrote,” Neither graces, nor revelations, nor raptures, nor gifts granted to a soul make it perfect, but rather the intimate union of the soul with God.”  The result of her spiritual awareness became an emphasis in her mission of teaching the mercy of God for the world.
She died of tuberculosis on October 5, 1938, less than two months past her 33 birthday.  She is buried at the Shrine of Divine Mercy in Krakow-Lagiewniki, Poland.

• from Butler’s Lives of the Saints

Jude, shares his feast day with the apostle Simon the Zealot.  Jude is called Thaddeus by the evangelists Matthew and Mark, a word meaning “courageous” and “lively.”  Luke calls him “Judas, son of James.” These different names are there to ensure that he is not confused with the traitor Judas Iscariot.
The Bible records only one thing this apostle ever said.  At the Last Supper, Jesus said, “In a little while the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me.”  The apostle, unaware of what was coming, asked, “Lord, how is it that we will see you, but others will not?”  In reply, Jesus told him it would be a matter of spiritual perception.  The one who loves will be the one who sees.
Images of St. Jude often include a flame around his head, which represent his presence at Pentecost, when he accepted the Holy Spirit alongside the other apostles.
Tradition tell us that he preached the Gospel in Judea, Samaria, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Libya. Legend claims that he visited Beirut and Edessa and could have been martyred with St. Simon in Persia.

• from Butler’s Lives of the Saints

St. Anne is the grandmother of Jesus and mother of Mary.  She is not mentioned in the Bible – all that is known of her comes from the apocryphal Book of James.  According to this book, Anne was married to Joachim, a member of the Levite clan.  Their marriage, though virtuous and happy, was childless for 20 years.  One day, they separately had angelic visitations promising that they would give birth to a daughter.  They vowed to give the expected child to God, and handed her over to the temple priests when Mary was 3, never to see her again. 

• from A Treasury of Saints

St. Catherine Laboure was born on May 2, 1806.  At an early age she entered the community of the Daughters of Charity, in Paris, France.  Three times in 1830 the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Catherine Laboure, who then was a 24-year-old novice.
 
Catherine saw Our Lady standing on a globe, with dazzling rays of light streaming from her outstretched hands. Framing the figure was an inscription: “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.” Then Mary spoke to Catherine: “Have a medal struck upon this model. Those who wear it will receive great graces, especially if they wear it around the neck.”
 
The vision then seemed to turn to show the reverse of the Medal: the letter M surmounted by a cross with a bar at its base; below this monogram, the Sacred Heart of Jesus crowned with thorns, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary pierced with a sword.
 
With approval of the Catholic Church, the first medals were made in 1832 and were distributed in Paris. Almost immediately the blessings that Mary had promised began to shower down on those who wore her medal, and soon all of France was clamoring for what the people referred to as the “Miraculous Medal.” Use of the Medal spread from country to country and now blankets the world. Everywhere, the Medal is still drawing down from God blessings for body and soul.
 
On the 31st of December 1876, Saint Catherine left this earth for heaven, to contemplate there her Immaculate Queen whose love and beauty had captured her heart on earth. Her body was exhumed 57 years later and found in perfect condition. Saint Catherine was canonized by Pope Pius XII on July 27, 1947.
 

• from Catholic Encyclopedia