Women Saints and Martyrs

May 30 St. Joan of Arc, b.1412 d.1431 A.D. Patron of soldiers and France . St. Joan of Arc is the patroness of soldiers and of France. On January 6, 1412, Joan of Arc was born to pious parents of the French peasant class, at the obscure village of Domremy, near the province of Lorraine. At a very early age, she heard voices: those of St. Michael, St. Catherine and St. Margaret. At first the messages were personal and general. Then at last came the crowning order. In May, 1428, her voices "of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret" told Joan to go to the King of France and help him reconquer his kingdom. For at that time the English king was after the throne of France, and the Duke of Burgundy, the chief rival of the French king, was siding with him and gobbling up evermore French territory. After overcoming opposition from churchmen and courtiers, the seventeen year old girl was given a small army with which she raised the siege of Orleans on May 8, 1429. She then en...

May 23 St. Julia. Julia was born of noble parents in South Africa. When she was still quite young, her city was conquered by barbarians. Julia was captured and sold as a slave to a pagan merchant, but she did not complain or feel sorry for herself. She accepted everything, and performed the most humble tasks with wonderful cheerfulness. For Julia loved God with all her heart. In her spare time, she read holy books and prayed fervently. One day her master decided to take her with him to France. On the way, he stopped at an island to go to a pagan festival. Julia refused to even go near the place where they were celebrating. She did not want to have anything to do with those superstitious ceremonies. The governor of that region was very angry with her for not joining in the pagan feast. "Who is that woman who dares to insult our gods?" he cried. Julia's owner answered that she was a Christian. He said, too, that although he had not been able to make her give up her religio...

May 17 St. Restituta , 255 A.D. Virgin martyr . A maiden in Africa, she was put to death during the Roman persecutions at Carthage. Her date of death has been set at 255, which would mean she was martyred under Emperor Valerian; there is a possibility that she was executed at a later date, under Emperor Diocletian. Her relics are in Naples, Italy. May 18 St. Elgiva, 944 A.D. Queen and mother of Kings Edwy of the Saxons and Edgar, King of England, and wife of Edmund the First. She gave up public life and became a Benedictine nun at Shaftesbury. May 19 Sts. Cyriaca and Companions , 307 A.D. Six Christian maidens who died at the stake in Nicomedia. May 20 St. Basilissa . Basilla, also known as Basilissa, was a member of a noble Roman family. She refused to marry Pompeius, a Roman patrician, after her conversion to Christianity. She was beheaded for her faith when she was denounced to Emperor Galienus by Pompeius and remained steadfast in her refusal to marry him. St. Plautilla, 67 A.D. ...

St. Solange d. 880 A.D. Feastday May 10. Born of a poor family of vineyard workers near Bourges, France, she became a shepherdess whose beauuuty attracted thelstful attention of a noble in Poitiers. He kidnaped her, but when she leaped from the hourse on which he was carrying her off, he pursued and killed her. St. Epimachus Feastday: May 10 250 A.D. Martyr of Alexandria , Egypt, with Alexander. Four women suffered the same martyrdom with Epimachus: Ammonaria, Mercuria, Dionisia, and a second Ammonaria. Epimachus and Alexander were burned to death after being imprisoned and cruelly tortured. St. Flavia Domitilla 2nd century Feastday: May 12 Martyr with Euphrosyna and Theodora. She was related to Emperors Domitian and Titus and was a great-niece of St. Flavius Clemens. She was martyred with her two foster sisters. St. Richrudis Feastday: May 12 688 A.D. Benedictine abbess. A member of a noble family from Gascony, France, she wed the Frankish nobleman St. Adalbald despite family objec...

St. Zoe http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=143 Feastday: May 2 Exsuperius, also known as Hesperus , and his wife, Zoe, both Christians, were slaves of Catulus at Pamphylia, Asia Minor, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian. When they refused to eat food offered to the God s by their master on the birth of their son, they and their two sons, Syriacus and Theodulus, were tortured and then roasted to death in a furnace St. Wiborada Feastday: May 2 926 A.D. Martyred nun , also listed as Guiborat and Weibrath. Born at Klingna, Aargau, Switzerland, she belonged to the Swabian nobility. When her brother Hatto entered the Benedictines at St. Gall, she went with him and worked as a bookbinder and lived for a time as a recluse. She desired to exist as a hermit and to be walled up as an anchoress. Before the monastic leaders of St. Gall would acquiesce, she was forced to endure an ordeal by fire, successfully convincing her vocal critics. Her cell was visited ...