THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS, TOR

Mary, Mother of God Saint of the Day for January 1 Click to hear audio clip ► The Story of Mary, Mother of God Mary’s divine motherhood broadens the Christmas spotlight. Mary has an important role to play in the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. She consents to God’s invitation conveyed […]

Saint Basil the Great Saint of the Day for January 2 (329 – January 1, 379) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Basil the Great’s Story Basil was on his way to becoming a famous teacher when he decided to begin a religious life of gospel poverty. After studying various modes of religious life, he founded what […]

Most Holy Name of Jesus Saint of the Day for January 3 Click to hear audio clip ► The Story of the Most Holy Name of Jesus Although Saint Paul might claim credit for promoting devotion to the Holy Name because Paul wrote in Philippians that God the Father gave Christ Jesus “that name that is […]

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Saint of the Day for January 4 (August 28, 1774 – January 4, 1821) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton’s Story Mother Seton is one of the keystones of the American Catholic Church. She founded the first American religious community for women, the Sisters of Charity. She opened the […]

Saint John Neumann Saint of the Day for January 5 (March 28, 1811 – January 5, 1860) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint John Neumann’s Story Perhaps because the United States got a later start in the history of the world, it has relatively few canonized saints, but their number is increasing. John Neumann was born in […]

Saint André Bessette Saint of the Day for January 6 ( August 9, 1845 – January 6, 1937) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint André Bessette’s Story Brother André expressed a saint’s faith by a lifelong devotion to Saint Joseph. Sickness and weakness dogged André from birth. He was the eighth of 12 children born to a French Canadian […]

Saint Raymond of Peñafort Saint of the Day for January 7 (1175 – January 6, 1275) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Raymond of Peñafort’s Story Since Raymond lived into his hundredth year, he had a chance to do many things. As a member of the Spanish nobility, he had the resources and the education to get […]

Saint Angela of Foligno Saint of the Day for January 8 (1248 – January 4, 1309) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Angela of Foligno’s story Some saints show marks of holiness very early. Not Angela! Born of a leading family in Foligno, Italy, she became immersed in the quest for wealth and social […]

Saint Adrian of Canterbury Saint of the Day for January 9 (d. January 9, 710) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Adrian of Canterbury’s Story Though Saint Adrian turned down a papal request to become Archbishop of Canterbury, England, Pope Saint Vitalian accepted the rejection on the condition that Adrian serve as the Holy Father’s assistant and […]

Saint Gregory of Nyssa Saint of the Day for January 10 (c. 335 – 395) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Gregory of Nyssa’s Story The son of two saints, Basil and Emmilia, young Gregory was raised by his older brother, Saint Basil the Great, and his sister, Macrina, in modern-day Turkey. Gregory’s success in his […]

Blessed William Carter Saint of the Day for January 11 (c. 1548 – January 11, 1584) Click to hear audio clip ► Blessed William Carter’s Story Born in London, William Carter entered the printing business at an early age. For many years he served as apprentice to well-known Catholic printers, one of whom served a […]

Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys Saint of the Day for January 12 (April 17, 1620 – January 12, 1700) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys’ Story “God closes a door and then opens a window,” people sometimes say when dealing with their own disappointment or someone else’s. That was certainly true in Marguerite’s case. Children from European […]

Saint Hilary of Poitiers Saint of the Day for January 13 (c. 315 – c. 368) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Hilary of Poitiers’ Story This staunch defender of the divinity of Christ was a gentle and courteous man, devoted to writing some of the greatest theology on the Trinity, and was like […]

Saint Gregory Nazianzen Saint of the Day for January 14 (c. 325 – c. 390) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Gregory Nazianzen’s Story After his baptism at 30, Gregory gladly accepted his friend Basil’s invitation to join him in a newly founded monastery. The solitude was broken when Gregory’s father, a bishop, needed help in […]

Saint Paul the Hermit Saint of the Day for January 15 (c. 233 – c. 345) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint  Paul the Hermit’s Story It is unclear what we really know of Paul’s life, how much is fable, how much fact. Paul was reportedly born in Egypt, where he was orphaned by age […]

Saint Berard and Companions Saint of the Day for January 16 (d. January 16, 1220) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Berard and Companions’ Story Preaching the gospel is often dangerous work. Leaving one’s homeland and adjusting to new cultures, governments and languages is difficult enough; but martyrdom caps all the other sacrifices. In 1219, with […]

Saint Anthony of Egypt (Saint Anthony the Abbot) Saint of the Day for January 17 (251 – 356) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Anthony of Egypt’s Story The life of Anthony will remind many people of St. Francis of Assisi. At 20, Anthony was so moved by the Gospel message, “Go, sell what […]

Saint Charles of Sezze Saint of the Day for January 18 (October 19, 1613 – January 6, 1670) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Charles of Sezze’s Story Charles thought that God was calling him to be a missionary in India, but he never got there. God had something better for this 17th-century successor to […]

Saint Fabian Saint of the Day for January 19 (c. 200 – January 20, 250) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Fabian’s Story Fabian was a Roman layman who came into the city from his farm one day as clergy and people were preparing to elect a new pope. Eusebius, a Church historian, says a dove […]

Saint Sebastian Saint of the Day for January 20 (c. 256 –  January 20, 287) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Sebastian’s Story Almost nothing is historically certain about Sebastian except that he was a Roman martyr, was venerated in Milan even in the time of Saint Ambrose and was buried on the Appian Way, probably […]

Saint Agnes Saint of the Day for January 21 (d. c. 258) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Agnes’ Story Almost nothing is known of this saint except that she was very young—12 or 13—when she was martyred in the last half of the third century. Various modes of death have been suggested—beheading, burning, strangling. […]

Saint Vincent of Zaragossa Saint of the Day for January 22 (d. c. 304) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Vincent of Zaragossa’s Story Most of what we know about this saint comes from the poet Prudentius. His Acts have been rather freely colored by the imagination of their compiler. But Saint Augustine, in one of his sermons on […]

Saint Marianne Cope Saint of the Day for January 23 (January 23, 1838 – August 9, 1918) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Marianne Cope’s Story Though leprosy scared off most people in 19th-century Hawaii, that disease sparked great generosity in the woman who came to be known as Mother Marianne of Molokai. Her […]

Saint Francis de Sales Saint of the Day for January 24 (August 21, 1567 – December 28, 1622) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Francis de Sales’ Story Francis was destined by his father to be a lawyer so that the young man could eventually take his elder’s place as a senator from the province of Savoy […]

Saint of the Day for January 25 Conversion of Saint Paul 1600 Click to hear audio clip ► The Story of the Conversion of Saint Paul Paul’s entire life can be explained in terms of one experience—his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus. In an instant, he saw that all the zeal of his […]

Saints Timothy and Titus Saint of the Day for January 26 (d. c. 95) Click to hear audio clip ► Saints Timothy and Titus’ Story What we know from the New Testament of Timothy’s life makes it sound like that of a modern harried bishop. He had the honor of being a fellow apostle with Paul, […]

Saint Angela Merici Saint of the Day for January 27 (March 21, 1474 – January 27, 1540) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Angela Merici’s story Angela has the double distinction of founding the first teaching congregation of women in the Church and what is now called a “secular institute” of religious women. As a young woman, […]

Saint Thomas Aquinas Saint of the Day for January 28 ( 1225 – March 7, 1274) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Story By universal consent, Thomas Aquinas is the preeminent spokesman of the Catholic tradition of reason and of divine revelation. He is one of the great teachers of the medieval Catholic Church, honored with […]

Servant of God Brother Juniper Saint of the Day for January 29 (d. 1258) Click to hear audio clip ► Servant of God Brother Juniper’s Story “Would to God, my brothers, I had a whole forest of such Junipers,” said Francis of this holy friar. We don’t know much about Juniper before he joined the […]

Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska Saint of the Day for January 30 (May 16, 1825 – October 10, 1899) Click to hear audio clip ► Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska’s Story Today we honor a woman who submitted to God’s will throughout her life—a life filled with pain and suffering. Born in 1825 in central Poland and […]

Saint John Bosco Saint of the Day for January 31 (August 16, 1815 – January 31, 1888) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint John Bosco’s Story John Bosco’s theory of education could well be used in today’s schools. It was a preventive system, rejecting corporal punishment and placing students in surroundings removed from the likelihood […]

Saint Ansgar Saint of the Day for February 1 (801 – February 3, 865) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Ansgar’s Story The “apostle of the north” (Scandinavia) had enough frustrations to become a saint—and he did. He became a Benedictine at Corbie, France, where he had been educated. Three years later, when the king of […]

Presentation of the Lord Saint of the Day for February 2 Click to hear audio clip ► The Story of the Presentation of the Lord At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among […]

Saint Blaise Saint of the Day for February 3 (d. c. 316) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Blaise’s Story We know more about the devotion to Saint Blaise by Christians around the world than we know about the saint himself. His feast is observed as a holy day in some Eastern Churches. In 1222, the […]