THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS, TOR

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 […]

Saint Joseph of Leonissa Saint of the Day for February 4 (January 8, 1556  – February 4, 1612) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Joseph of Leonissa’s Story Joseph was born at Leonissa in the Kingdom of Naples. As a boy and as a student in early adulthood, Joseph drew attention for his energy and […]

Saint Agatha Saint of the Day for February 5 (c. 230 – 251) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Agatha’s Story As in the case of Agnes, another virgin-martyr of the early Church, almost nothing is historically certain about this saint except that she was martyred in Sicily during the persecution of Emperor Decius in […]

Saint Paul Miki and Companions Saint of the Day for February 6 (d. 1597) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Paul Miki and Companions’ Story Nagasaki, Japan, is familiar to Americans as the city on which the second atomic bomb was dropped, immediately killing over 37,000 people. Three and a half centuries before, 26 martyrs of […]

Saint Colette Saint of the Day for February 7 (January 13, 1381 – March 6, 1447) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Colette’s Story Colette did not seek the limelight, but in doing God’s will she certainly attracted a lot of attention. Colette was born in Corbie, France. At 21, she began to follow the Third […]

Saint Josephine Bakhita Saint of the Day for February 8 (c. 1869 – February 8, 1947) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Josephine Bakhita’s Story For many years, Josephine Bakhita was a slave but her spirit was always free and eventually that spirit prevailed. Born in Olgossa in the Darfur region of southern Sudan, Josephine was […]

Saint Jerome Emiliani Saint of the Day for February 9 (1486 – February 8, 1537) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Jerome Emiliani’s Story A careless and irreligious soldier for the city-state of Venice, Jerome was captured in a skirmish at an outpost town and chained in a dungeon. In prison Jerome had a lot […]

Saint Scholastica Saint of the Day for February 10 (c. 480 – February 10, 542) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Scholastica’s Story Twins often share the same interests and ideas with an equal intensity. Therefore, it is no surprise that Scholastica and her twin brother, Benedict, established religious communities within a few miles from […]

Our Lady of Lourdes  Saint of the Day for February 11 Click to hear audio clip ► The Story of Our Lady of Lourdes On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus. A little more than three years later, on February 11, 1858, a […]

Saint Apollonia Saint of the Day for February 12 (d. c. 249) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Apollonia’s Story The persecution of Christians began in Alexandria during the reign of the Emperor Philip. The first victim of the pagan mob was an old man named Metrius, who was tortured and then stoned to death. The […]

Saint Giles Mary of St. Joseph Saint of the Day for February 13 (November 16, 1729 – February 7, 1812) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Giles Mary of Saint Joseph’s Story In the same year that a power-hungry Napoleon Bonaparte led his army into Russia, Giles Mary of Saint Joseph ended a life of humble […]

Saints Cyril and Methodius Saint of the Day for February 14 (Cyril: c. 827 – February 14, 869; Methodius: c. 815 – April 6, 884) Click to hear audio clip ► Saints Cyril and Methodius’ Story Because their father was an officer in a part of Greece inhabited by many Slavs, these two Greek brothers ultimately […]

Saint Claude de la Colombière Saint of the Day for February 15 (February 2,1641 – February 15, 1682) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Claude de la Colombière’s Story This is a special day for the Jesuits, who claim today’s saint as one of their own. It’s also a special day for people who have a […]

Saint Gilbert of Sempringham Saint of the Day for February 16 (c. 1083 – February 4, 1189) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Gilbert of Sempringham’s Story Gilbert was born in Sempringham, England, into a wealthy family, but he followed a path quite different from that expected of him as the son of a Norman knight. […]

Seven Founders of the Servite Order Saint of the Day for February 17 Click to hear audio clip ► The Story of the Seven Founders of the Servite Order Can you imagine seven prominent men of Boston or Denver banding together, leaving their homes and professions, and going into solitude for a life directly given […]

Blessed John of Fiesole Saint of the Day for February 18 (1387 – February 18, 1455) Click to hear audio clip ► Blessed John of Fiesole’s Story The patron of Christian artists was born around 1400 in a village overlooking Florence. He took up painting as a young boy and studied under the watchful eye […]

Saint Conrad of Piacenza Saint of the Day for February 19 (c. 1290 – February 19, 1351) Saint Conrad of Piacenza’s Story Born of a noble family in northern Italy, Conrad as a young man married Euphrosyne, daughter of a nobleman. One day while hunting he ordered attendants to set fire to some brush in order to flush out […]

Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto Saint of the Day for February 20 (Jacinta: 1910 – February 20, 1920; Francisc0: 1908 – April 14, 1919) Click to hear audio clip ► Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto’s Story Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese shepherd children from Aljustrel, received apparitions of Our Lady at […]

Saint Peter Damian Saint of the Day for February 21 (988 – February 22, 1072) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Peter Damian’s Story Maybe because he was orphaned and had been treated shabbily by one of his brothers, Peter Damian was very good to the poor. It was the ordinary thing for him to […]

Chair of Saint Peter Saint of the Day for February 22 Click to hear audio clip ► The Story of the Chair of Saint Peter This feast commemorates Christ’s choosing Peter to sit in his place as the servant-authority of the whole Church. After the “lost weekend” of pain, doubt, and self-torment, Peter hears the Good […]

Saint Polycarp Saint of the Day for February 23 (c. 69 – c. 155) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Polycarp’s Story Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, disciple of Saint John the Apostle and friend of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, was a revered Christian leader during the first half of the second century. Saint Ignatius, on his way to […]

Blessed Luke Belludi Saint of the Day for February 24 (1200 – c. 1285) Click to hear audio clip ► Blessed Luke Belludi’s Story In 1220, Saint Anthony was preaching conversion to the inhabitants of Padua when a young nobleman, Luke Belludi, came up to him and humbly asked to receive the habit of the followers […]

Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio Saint of the Day for February 25 (January 20, 1502 – February 25, 1600) Click to hear audio clip ► Blessed Sebastian of Aparicio’s Story Sebastian’s roads and bridges connected many distant places. His final bridge-building was to help men and women recognize their God-given dignity and destiny. Sebastian’s parents were […]

Saint Maria Bertilla Boscardin Saint of the Day for February 26 (October 6, 1888 – October 20, 1922) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Maria Bertilla Boscardin’s Story If anyone knew rejection, ridicule and disappointment, it was today’s saint. But such trials only brought Maria Bertilla Boscardin closer to God and more determined to serve him. […]

Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows Saint of the Day for February 27 (March 1, 1838 – February 27, 1862) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows’ Story Born in Italy into a large family and baptized Francis, Saint Gabriel lost his mother when he was only four years old. […]

Blessed Daniel Brottier Saint of the Day for February 28 (September 7, 1876 – February 28, 1936) Click to hear audio clip ► Blessed Daniel Brottier’s Story Daniel spent most of his life in the trenches—one way or another. Born in France in 1876, Daniel was ordained in 1899 and began a teaching career. That […]

Saint David of Wales Saint of the Day for March 1 (d. March 1, 589) https://www.franciscanmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SODMar01.mp3 Saint David of Wales’ Story David is the patron saint of Wales and perhaps the most famous of British saints. Ironically, we have little reliable information about him. It is known that he became a priest, engaged in missionary work, […]

Saint Agnes of Bohemia Saint of the Day for March 2 (1205 – March 6, 1282) https://www.franciscanmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SODMar02.mp3   Saint Agnes of Bohemia’s Story Agnes had no children of her own but was certainly life-giving for all who knew her. Agnes was the daughter of Queen Constance and King Ottokar I of Bohemia. She was betrothed to the […]

  Saint Katharine Drexel Saint of the Day for March 3 (November 26, 1858 -March 3, 1955 ) https://www.franciscanmedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/SODMar03.mp3 Katharine Drexel’s Story If your father is an international banker and you ride in a private railroad car, you are not likely to be drawn into a life of voluntary poverty. But if your mother opens your […]