St. Agatha os Sicily St. Alexis of Rome St. Angela of Foligno Bl. Anna Maria Adorni St. Alexis was the son of a rich Roman St. Agatha is one of the most highly venerated senator. The Senator and his wife were very Bl. Anna Maria Adorni was born in Fivizzano in virgin martyrs of the Catholic Church. It is believed charitable Christians and taught Alexis to take Northern Italy in 1805. Her father died when that she was born around 231 in either Catania or care of the poor. From an early age, Alexis she was only 15, after which she and her Palermo, Sicily to a rich and noble family. wished to renounce all of his wealth but his mother moved to Parma. parents had chosen a wife for him; out of Some saints show marks of holiness very From her very early years, the notably beautiful obedience, he obliged them. However, on She wanted to be a Capuchin nun, but early. Not Angela! Born of a leading family in Agatha dedicated her life to God. She became a Alexis’s wedding day, his fiancée agreed to acceded to her mother’s will and in 1826 Foligno, Italy, she became immersed in the consecrated virgin. That did not stop men from release him and let him follow his vocation. married Antonio Botti, and together they had quest for wealth and social position. As a wife desiring her and making unwanted advances Alexis then fled, in disguise, to Syria where he six children. and mother, she continued this life of toward her. lived as a beggar and taught children about distraction. God. He prayed for hours and hours in church, Her mother died three months after the However, one of the men who desired Agatha and worked as a lowly servant in hospitals. Around the age of 40, she recognized the wedding. Her husband died at the age of 39. thought he could force her to turn away from her vow Five of her six children died as youth, the sixth and force her to marry. His persistent proposals were emptiness of her life and sought God’s help in Almost 20 years later, he returned to Rome lived to the age of 26. Despite all these consistently spurned. He had her arrested. Serving the Sacrament of Penance. Her Franciscan and went as a beggar to his parents’ house. sorrows, Bl. Anna never lost hope. as the judge, he expected her to give in to his confessor helped Angela to seek God’s They did not recognize him! He lived in a demands when she was faced with torture and pardon for her previous life and to dedicate corner under their stairs for 17 more years, She felt a call to become a consecrated widow possible death, but she simply reaffirmed her belief in herself to prayer and the works of charity. only going out to go to church or to teach and to dedicate the rest of her life to works of God and prayed for courage. small children. The servants were very mean Shortly after her conversion, her husband and charity, especially with prisoners. Agatha was imprisoned in a brothel, sent to prison, to him but he endured it all and never told his children died. Selling most of her possessions, Other women followed in her example and stretched on a rack to be torn with iron hooks, burned parents who he really was, even though that she entered the Secular Franciscan Order. their work expanded to the care of women with torches, and whipped. Noticing Agatha was would’ve ended his suffering. Instead, he gave She was alternately absorbed by meditating released from jail, protection to women in enduring all the torture with a sense of cheer, her all to God. When he died, his parents found a on the crucified Christ and by serving the poor danger, at-risk children and orphans through accuser commanded she be subjected to a worse note on his body telling who he was and how of Foligno as a nurse and beggar for their their house called the Institute of the Good form of torture - that her breasts be cut off. he had lived his life in penance from the day of needs. Other women joined her in a religious his wedding all for love of God. St. Alexis is community. Shepherd. In 857, together with eight He then sent her back to prison with an order of no venerated as the patron saint of beggars. companions she was able to found a religious food or medical attention. But the Lord gave her all At her confessor’s advice, Angela wrote her congregation known as the ‘Handmaidens of the care she needed. Finally, her accuser had her Book of Visions and Instructions . In it she Blessed Mary Immaculate.’ There is a Religious Order in the Catholic recalls some of the temptations she suffered stripped naked and rolled over hot coals mixed with Church. founded in the fifteenth century, after her conversion; she also expresses her Blessed Anna once said, even after the death sharp shards. When she was returned to prison, named for him and called “the Alexian thanks to God for the Incarnation of Jesus. of her parents, husband, and six children, that Agatha prayed for the Lord to receive her soul. Brothers.” They devote themselves to taking This book and her life earned for Angela the “if a happer person has existed in life, it is I.” care of the old, the insane and those suffering St. Agatha is the patron saint of Sicily, bellfounders, title “Teacher of Theologians.” She was At her Mass of Beatification, it was said that from nervous collapse. breast cancer patients, Palermo, rape victims, and beatified in 1693, and canonized in 2013. Blessed Anna is a model of a ‘wife, mother wet nurses. She is also considered to be a powerful and founder. It is very original that one person His Feast day is celebrated on July 17 Her Feast day is celebrated on January 7. intercessor when people suffer from fires. can be a model for several states of life.’ Her feast day is celebrated on February 5. St. Apollonia St. Arnold St. Athanasius St. Camilla Battista St. Camilia Battista was born into nobility in Camerino, Italy on April 9, 1458. As a princess in the home of her father Duke Giulio Cesare da Varano, she grew up in the court and received a good education. St. Athanasius led a tumultuous but dedicated life Around the age of 9 after hearing a moving St. Apollonia was a holy virgin who suffered St. Arnold was born into a prom inent Austrian family in 580. He was first a career soldier before of service to the Church. He was the great sermon, she resolved to show her love for Jesus martyrdom in Alexandria during a local uprising champion of the faith against the widespread by shedding a tear each Friday for the Passion of against the Christians in the early 3 rd century. Her settling at the Benedictine St. Medard’s Abbey, Soissons, France. He spent his first three years as heresy of Arianism, the teaching by Arius that Christ. Though not particularly spiritual, she martyrdom came just before the persecution of a hermit, but later rose to be abbot of the Jesus was not truly divine. The vigor of his writings persevered in her vow and would squeeze o ut a Decius (248-249). monastery. Legend has that he tried to refuse this earned him the title of doctor of the Church. tear before running off to play. She found a book honor and flee, but was forced by a wolf to return. that contained a meditation on the Passion of During festivities commemorating the founding of He then became a priest and in 1080, bishop of Born in either 296 or 298 of a Christian family in Christ. She began to pray this devotion each the Roman Empire, a mob began attacking Soissons, another honor that he sought to avoid. Alexandria, Egypt, and given a classical education, Friday whil e on her knees before a crucifix. Other Christians. When his diocese was occupied by another bishop, Athanasius became secretary to Alexander, the spiritual practices like fasting and night vigils rather than fighting, he took the opportunity to reti re Bishop of Alexandria, entered the priesthood and began to attract her even though she continued to The great Dionysius, then Bishop of Alexandria from public life, founding the Abbey of St. Peter in was eventually named bishop himself. His spend time in the youthful pursuits of court life. (247-265), related the sufferings of Apollonia: Oudenburg. predece3ssor, Alexander, had been an outspoken critic of a new movement growing in the East – During Lent of 1 479, another sermon inspired her Men seized her and, by repeated blows, broke all of As abbot in Oudenburg, Arnold brewed beer. In that Arianism. Much of St. Athanasius’ life was a to take a private vow of chastity. On November her teeth. Then they erected a pile of sticks outside time, water wasn’t actually very safe to drink, as it testimony to the divinity of Jesus Christ. 24, 1481, she entered the Poor Clare monastery the city and threatened to burn her alive is she was often filled with contaminants that could make in Urbino and made her profession in 1483. While refused to repeat impious words after them (either people sick. Beer’s preparation, however, kills off As bishop, St. Athanasius continued his defense of living in the monastery in Urbiono, she a blasphemy against Christ, or an invocation of the any harmful bacteria, making it positively healthy in the doctrine of Christ’s divinity and against experienced visions and composed several other heathen gods).