April 11-17 Women Saints and Martyrs
"In the fulfillment of your duties, let your intentions be so pure that you reject from your actions any other motive than the glory of God and the salvation of souls." - St. Angela Merici
St. Gemma Galgani - feastday April 11
Gemma Galgani was born on March 12, 1878, in a small Italian town near Lucca. At a very young age, Gemma developed a love for prayer. She made her First Communion on June 17, 1887. As a pupil at the school run by the Sisters of St. Zita, Although quiet and reserved, she always had a smile for everyone. Although a good student, she had to quit school due to chronic ill health before completing the course of study. Gemma had an immense love for the poor, and helped them in any way she could.
Feeling herself tempted by the devil, Gemma prayed for help to the Venerable Passionist, Gabriel Possenti. (Gabriel was later canonized) Through his intercession, Gemma was miraculously cured. Today, Gemma's mortal remains are still treasured at the Passionist monastery in Lucca.
On June 8, 1899, Gemma had an interior warning that some unusual grace was to be granted to her. These were the marks of the stigmata. Each Thursday evening, Gemma would fall into rapture and the marks would appear. The stigmata remained until Friday afternoon or Saturday morning when the bleeding would stop, the wounds would close, and only white marks would remain in place of the deep gashes. Gemma's stigmata would continue to appear until the last three years of her life, when her confessor forbade her to accept them. Through her prayers, this phenomenon ceased, but the whitish marks remained on her skin until her death.
During the apostolic investigations into her life, all witnesses testified that there was no artfulness in Gemma's manner. Most of her severe penances and sacrifices were hidden from most who knew her.
In January of 1903, Gemma was diagnosed as having tuberculosis. She died quietly in the company of the parish priest, on April 11 at age twenty-five. He said, "She died with a smile which remained upon her lips, so that I could not convince myself that she was really dead." She was beatified in 1933 and canonized on May 2, 1940, only thirty-seven years after her death.
St. Mary Margaret d'Youville Feastday: April 11
1771 A.D.
Foundress of the Sisters of Charity, the Grey Nuns of Canada. She was born at Varennes, Quebec, and was baptized Marie Marguerite Dufrost de Ia Jemmerais. After being educated by the Ursulines, she was married to Francois d’Youville in 1722, becoming a widow eight years later. Mary Margaret worked to support herself and her children, aiding the Confraternity of the Holy Family as well. In 1737, she founded the Sisters of Charity, the Grey Nuns, with three companions. A formal declaration took place in 1745, and two years later she became directress of Montreal’s General Hospital, operated by her community. The Grey Nuns expanded to the United States, Africa, and South America. Mary Margaret died in Montreal on December 23. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1990.
St. Godebertha Feastday: April 11
700 A.D.
Abbess who was received into the religious life by St. Eligius, the bishop of Noyon, France. Godebertha was from Amiens. After establishing a convent in Noyon, she was made abbess. King Clotaire III built her convent. Godebertha was a miracle worker who stopped a plague and a raging fire.
St. Teresa of Los Andes Feastday: April 12
(1900-1920
One needn’t live a long life to leave a deep imprint. Teresa of Los Andes is proof of that. As a young girl growing up in Santiago, Chile, in the early 1900s, she read an autobiography of a French-born saint—Therese, popularly known as the Little Flower. The experience deepened her desire to serve God and clarified the path she would follow. At age 19 she became a Carmelite nun, taking the name of Teresa.
The convent offered the simple lifestyle Teresa desired and the joy of living in a community of women completely devoted to God. She focused her days on prayer and sacrifice. “I am God’s, ” she wrote in her diary. “He created me and is my beginning and my end. ” Toward the end of her short life, Teresa began an apostolate of letter-writing, sharing her thoughts on the spiritual life with many people. At age 20 she contracted typhus and quickly took her final vows. She died a short time later, during Holy Week. Teresa remains popular with the estimated 100,000 pilgrims who visit her shrine in Los Andes each year. She is Chile’s first saint.
St. Vissia Feastday: April 12
250 A.D.
Virgin and martyr. She was put to death at Fermo, near Ancona, Italy, during the persecutions of Emperor Trajanus Decius (r. 249-251).
St. Lydwine Feastday: April 14
Patron of sickness
St. Lydwine is the patroness of sickness Lydwine of Schiedam was born at Schiedam, Holland, one of nine children of a working man. After an injury in her youth, she became bedridden and suffered the rest of her life from various illnesses and diseases. She experienced mystical gifts, including supernatural visions of heaven, hell, purgatory, apparitions of Christ, and the stigmata. Thomas a Kempis wrote a biography of her. She was canonized Pope Leo XIII in 1890. Lydwine suffered a fall while ice skating in 1396, when a friend collided with her and caused her to break a rib on the right side. From this injury, she never recovered. An abscess formed inside her body which later burst and caused Lydwine extreme suffering. Eventually, she was to suffer a series of mysterious illnesses which in retrospect seemed to be from the hands of God. Lydwine heroically accepted her plight as the will of God and offered up her sufferings for the sins of humanity. Some of the illnesses which affected Lydwine were headaches, vomiting, fever, thirst, bedsores, toothaches, spasms of the muscles, blindness, neuritis and the stigmata.
St. Thomais Feastday: April 14
476 A.D.
Egyptian martyr. The wife of a fisherman in Alexandria, Egypt, she was an ardent Christian who was murdered by her father-in-law for refusing his unwanted and illicit attentions.
St. Domnina Feastday: April 14
69 A.D.
Martyr with virgin companions. They died in Termi, Umbria, Italy. It is reported that St. Valentine was martyred at the same time.
St. Hunna Feastday: April 15
679 A,D.
Called “the Holy Washerwoman,” a noblewoman who devoted herself to the poor of Strasbourg, France. The daughter of a duke and wife of Huno of Hunnaweyer, she even washed the poor, hence her name. She was canonized in 1520 by Pope Leo X.
St. Bernadette Feastday: April 16
1879
On April 16, 1879, Bernadette -- or Sister Marie-Bernard, as she was known within her order -- died in the Sainte Croix (Holy Cross) Infirmary of the Convent of Saint-Gildard. She was thirty-five.
Born into a humble family which little by little fell into extreme poverty, Bernadette had always been a frail child. Quite young, she had already suffered from digestive trouble, then after having just escaped being a victim of the cholera epidemic of 1855, she experienced painful attacks of asthma, and her ill health almost caused her to be cut off for ever from the religious life. When asked by Monsignor Forcade to take Bernadette, Louise Ferrand, the Mother Superior of the Sisters of Nevers, replied: "Monsignor, she will be a pillar of the infirmary".
At least three times during her short life-time, she received the last Sacraments. CLICK ON LINK FOR MORE.http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=147
St. Gemma Galgani - feastday April 11
Gemma Galgani was born on March 12, 1878, in a small Italian town near Lucca. At a very young age, Gemma developed a love for prayer. She made her First Communion on June 17, 1887. As a pupil at the school run by the Sisters of St. Zita, Although quiet and reserved, she always had a smile for everyone. Although a good student, she had to quit school due to chronic ill health before completing the course of study. Gemma had an immense love for the poor, and helped them in any way she could.
Feeling herself tempted by the devil, Gemma prayed for help to the Venerable Passionist, Gabriel Possenti. (Gabriel was later canonized) Through his intercession, Gemma was miraculously cured. Today, Gemma's mortal remains are still treasured at the Passionist monastery in Lucca.
On June 8, 1899, Gemma had an interior warning that some unusual grace was to be granted to her. These were the marks of the stigmata. Each Thursday evening, Gemma would fall into rapture and the marks would appear. The stigmata remained until Friday afternoon or Saturday morning when the bleeding would stop, the wounds would close, and only white marks would remain in place of the deep gashes. Gemma's stigmata would continue to appear until the last three years of her life, when her confessor forbade her to accept them. Through her prayers, this phenomenon ceased, but the whitish marks remained on her skin until her death.
During the apostolic investigations into her life, all witnesses testified that there was no artfulness in Gemma's manner. Most of her severe penances and sacrifices were hidden from most who knew her.
In January of 1903, Gemma was diagnosed as having tuberculosis. She died quietly in the company of the parish priest, on April 11 at age twenty-five. He said, "She died with a smile which remained upon her lips, so that I could not convince myself that she was really dead." She was beatified in 1933 and canonized on May 2, 1940, only thirty-seven years after her death.
St. Mary Margaret d'Youville Feastday: April 11
1771 A.D.
Foundress of the Sisters of Charity, the Grey Nuns of Canada. She was born at Varennes, Quebec, and was baptized Marie Marguerite Dufrost de Ia Jemmerais. After being educated by the Ursulines, she was married to Francois d’Youville in 1722, becoming a widow eight years later. Mary Margaret worked to support herself and her children, aiding the Confraternity of the Holy Family as well. In 1737, she founded the Sisters of Charity, the Grey Nuns, with three companions. A formal declaration took place in 1745, and two years later she became directress of Montreal’s General Hospital, operated by her community. The Grey Nuns expanded to the United States, Africa, and South America. Mary Margaret died in Montreal on December 23. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1990.
St. Godebertha Feastday: April 11
700 A.D.
Abbess who was received into the religious life by St. Eligius, the bishop of Noyon, France. Godebertha was from Amiens. After establishing a convent in Noyon, she was made abbess. King Clotaire III built her convent. Godebertha was a miracle worker who stopped a plague and a raging fire.
St. Teresa of Los Andes Feastday: April 12
(1900-1920
One needn’t live a long life to leave a deep imprint. Teresa of Los Andes is proof of that. As a young girl growing up in Santiago, Chile, in the early 1900s, she read an autobiography of a French-born saint—Therese, popularly known as the Little Flower. The experience deepened her desire to serve God and clarified the path she would follow. At age 19 she became a Carmelite nun, taking the name of Teresa.
The convent offered the simple lifestyle Teresa desired and the joy of living in a community of women completely devoted to God. She focused her days on prayer and sacrifice. “I am God’s, ” she wrote in her diary. “He created me and is my beginning and my end. ” Toward the end of her short life, Teresa began an apostolate of letter-writing, sharing her thoughts on the spiritual life with many people. At age 20 she contracted typhus and quickly took her final vows. She died a short time later, during Holy Week. Teresa remains popular with the estimated 100,000 pilgrims who visit her shrine in Los Andes each year. She is Chile’s first saint.
St. Vissia Feastday: April 12
250 A.D.
Virgin and martyr. She was put to death at Fermo, near Ancona, Italy, during the persecutions of Emperor Trajanus Decius (r. 249-251).
St. Lydwine Feastday: April 14
Patron of sickness
St. Lydwine is the patroness of sickness Lydwine of Schiedam was born at Schiedam, Holland, one of nine children of a working man. After an injury in her youth, she became bedridden and suffered the rest of her life from various illnesses and diseases. She experienced mystical gifts, including supernatural visions of heaven, hell, purgatory, apparitions of Christ, and the stigmata. Thomas a Kempis wrote a biography of her. She was canonized Pope Leo XIII in 1890. Lydwine suffered a fall while ice skating in 1396, when a friend collided with her and caused her to break a rib on the right side. From this injury, she never recovered. An abscess formed inside her body which later burst and caused Lydwine extreme suffering. Eventually, she was to suffer a series of mysterious illnesses which in retrospect seemed to be from the hands of God. Lydwine heroically accepted her plight as the will of God and offered up her sufferings for the sins of humanity. Some of the illnesses which affected Lydwine were headaches, vomiting, fever, thirst, bedsores, toothaches, spasms of the muscles, blindness, neuritis and the stigmata.
St. Thomais Feastday: April 14
476 A.D.
Egyptian martyr. The wife of a fisherman in Alexandria, Egypt, she was an ardent Christian who was murdered by her father-in-law for refusing his unwanted and illicit attentions.
St. Domnina Feastday: April 14
69 A.D.
Martyr with virgin companions. They died in Termi, Umbria, Italy. It is reported that St. Valentine was martyred at the same time.
St. Hunna Feastday: April 15
679 A,D.
Called “the Holy Washerwoman,” a noblewoman who devoted herself to the poor of Strasbourg, France. The daughter of a duke and wife of Huno of Hunnaweyer, she even washed the poor, hence her name. She was canonized in 1520 by Pope Leo X.
St. Bernadette Feastday: April 16
1879
On April 16, 1879, Bernadette -- or Sister Marie-Bernard, as she was known within her order -- died in the Sainte Croix (Holy Cross) Infirmary of the Convent of Saint-Gildard. She was thirty-five.
Born into a humble family which little by little fell into extreme poverty, Bernadette had always been a frail child. Quite young, she had already suffered from digestive trouble, then after having just escaped being a victim of the cholera epidemic of 1855, she experienced painful attacks of asthma, and her ill health almost caused her to be cut off for ever from the religious life. When asked by Monsignor Forcade to take Bernadette, Louise Ferrand, the Mother Superior of the Sisters of Nevers, replied: "Monsignor, she will be a pillar of the infirmary".
At least three times during her short life-time, she received the last Sacraments. CLICK ON LINK FOR MORE.http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=147
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