SAINTS OF THE MONTH: LISTING

Feast Day: August 1
Canonized: May 26, 1839
Beatified: September 15, 1816

Alphonsus was what we call a “gifted” student today. He was a lawyer by the time he was 16 years old! He came from a wealthy family in Naples, Italy, and had every advantage in life from the moment he was born in 1696. But his parents were spiritually devoted people, and Alphonsus was taught that the...
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Feast Day: August 2
Canonized: December 9, 1962
Beatified: July 12, 1925
Venerated: June 22, 1922

Peter Julian Eymard was born on February 4, 1811 in La Mure, France. He grew up in a poor family after the French Revolution, at a time when Catholicism was not looked upon kindly.

There is a story about Peter from when he was only about five years...
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Feast Day: August 4
Canonized: May 31, 1925
Beatified: January 8, 1905
Venerated: July 26, 1896

John Vianney was born a peasant in Dardilly, France, in 1786. As a youth, John shepherded sheep on his father’s farm. It was during the French Revolution, and it was illegal for Catholics to attend Mass at the time. But the Vianney family traveled distances every Sunday to worship and pray in secret...
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Feast Day: August 8
Canonized: July 13, 1234

Since the beginning of the Church, some people have preached false beliefs. The Church calls these people heretics. It calls their beliefs heresies.

One heresy spread through southern France in the 13th century. The Albigensian heresy said that all matter is evil. The human body is matter. Therefore, they taught that...
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Feast Day: August 9
Canonized: October 11, 1998
Beatified: May 1, 1987
Venerated: January 26, 1987

Edith Stein was born in 1891 in Breslau, Poland, to a Jewish family. As a child, she was an extraordinary student, and in 1916 she received a doctorate in philosophy and began to teach at a university. Her family was religious, but Edith had no interest in religion. Eventually she...
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Feast Day: August 9
Beatified: October 26, 2007
Venerated: June 1, 2007

At the Mass of his beatification in 2007 in his native Austria, Franz Jägerstätter was remembered as a normal, everyday person with faults. Sometimes he took his faith lightly. He chased after girls, rode a motorcycle, and fathered a child outside of marriage.

He was a farmer who worked hard....
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Feast Day: August 10
Canonized: Pre-Congregation

Lawrence was a deacon in Rome in the early days of the Church; he lived around 225-258, a time when Christians were harshly persecuted. We know little about him except for a legend that tells us about the remarkable deed he performed a few days before he was martyred.

The story that has come...
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Feast Day: August 11
Canonized: September 26, 1255

Clare’s parents wanted a good life for their daughter, who was born in Assisi in Italy in 1194. But what they wanted for Clare was not what Clare had in mind. At age 15 she refused to marry. One day she heard St. Francis, who was also from Assisi, preach. At that moment, she knew what she must do with her life. She knew she...
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Feast Day: August 12 (Proper Calendar in US)
Canonized: July 16, 1767
Beatified: November 21, 1751

Jane was born in Dijon, France, in 1572. When she was 20, she married into a royal family. She and her husband had six children, two of whom died at a young age. Jane was a busy wife and mother, but she still found time to welcome the poor who came to...
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Feast Day: August 14
Canonized: October 10, 1982
Beatified: October 17, 1971
Venerated: January 30, 1969

Raymund Kolbe was born in Poland in 1894. His family was very poor, but they were rich in spirit. In 1914, his father was captured and killed by the Russians for fighting for Polish independence.

Young Raymund had a great faith and strong devotion...
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