SAINTS OF THE MONTH: LISTING
Brigid of Ireland
Feast Day: February 1
Canonized: Pre-Congregation
Brigid and her mother were said to have been slaves in...
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Maria Domenica Mantovani
Feast Day: February 2
Beatified: April 27, 2003
Venerated: April 24, 2001
Maria Domenica Mantovani was born in 1862 in a small Italian village. Two things were always important to Maria: her love for God and her desire to help others. Her parish priest, Blessed Giuseppe Nascimbeni, encouraged her to teach religion classes to younger children, visit the sick, and...
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Blaise
Feast Day: February 3
Canonized: Pre-Congregation
Blaise lived so long ago that we know nothing about his early life. We do know...
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Agatha of Sicily
Feast Day: February 5
Canonized: Pre-Congregation
During the first three centuries of the Church, Rome persecuted Christians. Roman emperors sent out letters and told Roman governors to force Christians to deny their God.
The governors then arrested known Christians. But many refused to give up their belief in the God who had raised Jesus to new life. So Rome put these faithful Christians to death...
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Paul Miki
Feast Day: February 6
Canonized: June 8, 1862
Beatified: September 14, 1627
Paul was born in Japan, the son of a Japanese military leader. He joined the Jesuits in 1580 and became known as a famous preacher. Nine years before his martyrdom, the Japanese emperor had ordered all Christians out of Japan. He feared that Paul Miki and his companions (two Jesuit priests; six Franciscan priests; and 17 lay people including catechists, a doctor, a cook, a carpenter, a translator, and three altar boys) would take over the country. Paul and his friends remained to continue God’s...
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Pius IX (Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti), Pope
Feast Day: February 7
Beatified: September 3, 2000
Venerated: July 6, 1985
Pius IX was the Holy Father of the Catholic Church longer than any other pope, from 1846 to 1878. It...
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Josephine Bakhita
Feast Day: February 8
Canonized: October 1, 2000
Beatified: May 17, 1992
Venerated: December 1, 1978
In 1869, a little girl was born in Sudan in Africa. As a child she was kidnapped into slavery. This...
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Scholastica of Nursia
Feast Day: February 10
Canonized: Pre-Congregation
In the year 480, twins were born in Nursia, Italy. Their parents educated Scholastica and Benedict. Together they learned about their world and about God. Together they played and prayed and worked.
Later, Benedict went off to Rome to study. Scholastica stayed in Nursia to study. People noticed that the twins loved to follow Jesus’...
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Valentine of Rome
Feast Day: February 14
Canonized: Pre-Congregation
Valentine was a priest in the early Church. He was also a doctor. He helped people when they were sick, and he taught his Christian community in Rome how to follow Jesus. His example of always acting with love inspired many people to join the Church.
It was dangerous to be a follower of Christ in the early Church. Christians were persecuted for...
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