Stories of the Saints and Holy men and women

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Relics of Saints

See Where Are the 12 Apostles Now?| National Catholic Register (ncregister.com)

Levitating Saints

San Giuseppe da Copertino si eleva in volo alla vista della Basilica di Loreto (wikipedia)

The Flying Friar: St. Joseph of Cupertino

Like some of the greatest Saints, Giuseppe, or Joseph (1603-1663), was considered ill-educated and too ignorant to join an order, in this case the Franciscans. Instead, he worked in the stables for three years before they recognized his piety and simple, pure devotion and admitted him to the Order.

Having experienced ecstatic visions as a child, the experiences multiplied upon becoming a priest in 1625, to the point of levitating during Mass. His fellow brothers and superiors objected to the disruptions, and at one point, at least, tied him down so that he would not fly.

Of course, St. Joseph of Cupertino is the Patron Saint of pilots, but he is also Patron Saint of patron test-takers, as when he took his test to become a priest, he was prepared only to discuss one passage, Luke 11:27, “Blessed is the womb that bore you.” -- and that was, by chance, or providence, the very passage he was asked about and thus passed his test.

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The English Martyrs

During the so-called "Reformation," when English King Henry VIII established the Church of England as independent of the Catholic Church and himself head of the English church (1534), those who refused to renounce allegiance to the Pope were persecuted or executed. When Elizabeth took control of the Crown from her half-sister, the Catholic Mary (who had reversed some of the "reforms"), the persecutions amplified, especially after the Pope excommunicated Elizabeth in 1570.

The English Reformation was driven by greed and power politics at the top of English society. The common people were predominantly faithful Catholics who opposed the changes. Several uprising of tens of thousands of common people were violently put down by government forces and those considered leaders of them were executed (see Catholic Martyrs of the Reformation). Catholic worship was driven undergound, managed by heroic priests and lay people.

Saint Nicholas Owen, builder of "Priest holes"

>> to do

The Desert Fathers and Mothers

Insults in praise of God

As their fame grew, a Greek philosopher came to the desert to learn from the Desert Fathers. He encountered a monk who insulted him, then demanded payment for it. After three years of this treatment (!), the philosopher, fed up with it, returned to Athens. Upon arrival, he encountered a street bum who was insulting people. The philosopher approached the man and was insulted thoroughly. To the man's surprise, rather than reacting in anger, the philosopher laughed at him. "What are you laughing at," the man demanded. "For three years I paid for insults," replied the philosopher, "and you just gave away one for free!"

The bum stood, bowed, and declared to the philosopher, "Behold, the keys to the city are yours!"  

Sell what you have

A monk was given a manuscript of the Gospels. He read it, and when he got to the words, "Sell what you have and give to the poor," he stopped reading, sold the book. and gave the money to the poor.

Our Father...

Whenever a certain Desert Mother commenced the Our Father prayer, she would become so overwhelmed by the beauty and meaning of God as "our Father" that she would weep and contemplate those two words for days, unable to complete the prayer.

Brigands, robbers, and other scoundrels confronted by Saints

Saint John Cantius & the repenting brigands

When brigands assaulted the Polish Saint John Cantius (Jan Kanty, 1390-1473) and took his possessions, they asked him if he had anything more. He replied he did not, and they let him go on his way. Shortly after, he realized that he did have more, coins sewn into his cloak. He ran after the brigands and told them he had not spoken in error and offered the coins to them. Astonished, they refused the coins and gave back what they had taken from him before.

This occurred on one of St. Cantius' four pilgrimages to Rome by foot -- from Poland, carrying his own bags. He also went to Jerusalem after having contemplated the Passion for nights without sleep.

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Saint Gabriel Possenti & the expert shot

Saint Gabriel Possenti (1838-1862) was an ambitious, gregarious, charming young man who was an expert swordsman. Falling severely ill, he promised Our Lady that he would become a priest if she would cure him. She did, and he shocked his family and friends by entering the Seminary. That didn't last long, and he went back to his ways. He was injured by a stray bullet during a hunt and made the same promise again-- and forgot about it. He fell ill again and upon recovery kept his promise, finally. Another story has it that he as he watched a procession carrying a large banner and picture of "Our Lady, Help of Christians," Mary's eyes stared at him and he heard her say, "Keep your promise." He repented and joined the Passionists order. He died of tuberculosis at age of 23 and was canonized by Pope Benedict XV in 1920.

During the Italian Revolution a band of "Red Shirts," attacked a village and threatened a young girl. Saint Gabriel grabbed a revolver from one of the attackers, and threatened to shoot anyone who would touch her. A brigand sneered, "You have six bullets, and there are 300 of us!" Saint Gabriel turned and shot dead a small lizard that scampered across the road. "Now I have five bullets," he retorted. They turned away.

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  • Patron Saint of Handguns? St. Gabriel Possenti — Catholic Faith On the Move

Intervention of Saints Cosmas & Damian upon the fearsome brigand, Scannacornacchia

The southeastern Italian city of Alberobello celebrates the Feast of Saints Cosmas and Damian on September 27 with games, dances, and feasts. In 1781 a roving band of brigands led by the fearsome and loathsome Nicola Spinosa, who was known as "Scannacornacchia" ("slayer of crows"), broke into one large gathering and commenced to dance. Eyeing a frightened, young lady, they approached her with ill intent. Alarmed, her mother jumped between them, genuflecting and weeping, and prayed to Saints Cosmas and Damian to protect her daughter. The Saints intervened and Scannacornacchia spared the girl.

The following year, the first of two statues of the Saints commissioned by one Joseph Dominic Rinaldi, that of Saint Cosmas, arrived to the town. Immediately a long drought ended.

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Ice Cold: St. Sebaldus

The patron Saint of Cold Weather (lived around the 8th century), Saint Sebaldus, was born in England and served as a missionary in the Reichswald forest area of western Germany, converting hard-core pagans. One cold night, St. Sebaldus stumbled upon a peasant cottage and was welcomed inside by the owners, who kept a low fire burning as they were low on firewood. It's unclear why, given they were in a forest, but, heh, when a saint is called, that saint is called. The near-frozen Saint asked about building up the fire, and when told they had very little firewood left, he told the lady of the house to go outside and bring in icicles hanging from the roof. She brought some in, which Saint Sebaldus put on the fire, sending it ablaze as if the icicles were seasoned firewood.

That's kinda cool (get it?) but even better was when St. Sebaldus was accosted by an unrepentant pagan who repeatedly insulted him with profanity and blasphemy. The Saint coolly but fervently prayed, and the blasphemer was swallowed into a suddenly-appearing hole in the ground below him. As the man screamed for mercy, the Saint coolly prayed some more and the now repentant pagan was pitched from the fathoms into the air, landing, we supposed, as a Christian, or one to soon be.

Saint Sebaldus more importantly preached across the region, converting souls and caring for the sick and poor. His feast day is August 19.

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The Devil and the Saints

Saint Genevieve confronting the devil who would blow out her candles as she prayed. Here she is depicted with an angel who holds her candle as she confronts Satan.

Saint Genevieve and the candle

Saint Genevieve (c. 419-c. 512), not only saved Paris from Atilla the Hun, she could change the weather through her prayers. When she was young, a bridge appeared over a muddy ditch, and after she crossed the bridge, it disappeared. In the late 17th century, as the city suffered from a drought and near starvation from crop failures, Parisians prayed to Saint Genevieve at her Abbey, but nothing changed; however, when a crowd of suffering poor joined a procession in her honor, and the rain came and the crops were saved.

The devil would blow out her candle while she prayed at night, and she would waive her hand to relight the candle.

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Saint Neri: "The laughing Saint"

Did you know that Saint Philp Neri kept a journal of his favorite jokes? He loved to pull pranks on seminarians and make others laugh. He taught,

“Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us persevere in a good life; wherefore the servant of God ought always to be in good spirits.”

He was known to show up to a gatherings with half his beard or head shaved. He would walk the streets of Rome with his clothes inside-out, or carrying upside down a pack of brooms that he would sniff as if they were roses. Once, he gave a homily, straight-faced, pronouncing every word incorrectly. He laughed to himself about that one for days after! He also used his jokes to before Mass in order to focus his mind beforehand so that he would offer Mass with all his mind and heart.

These are all in good fun, and he loved fun, but his point was that we are to be, as Saint Paul said, "fools for Christ." He only ever made fun of himself, not others, and did so to stay humble, defeat pride, and to better serve God.

Other Saint Neri stories

The biggest heart ever

When his body was exhumed, it was discovered that his heart was so unnaturally enlarged that it broke several ribs! He was literally "inflamed" with love for God, and whenever he performed any spiritual action, his heart would fluctuate.

In prayer on Pentecost in 1544, Saint Philip asked the Lord to increase in him the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. He then witnessed a globe of fire come upon him. It entered his mouth and went to his heart, which he felt exploding with God's love. The pain receded but not his heart.

His biographer wrote,

“While he was with the greatest earnestness asking of the Holy Ghost His gifts, there appeared to him a globe of fire, which entered into his mouth and lodged in his breast; …he was suddenly surprised with such a fire of love…and putting his hand to his bosom, he felt by the side of his heart, a swelling about as big as a man’s fist, but neither then nor afterwards was it attended with the slightest pain or wound.”[1]

Seeing the mark of the Holy Spirit

Like many great pastoral priests, Saint Philip Neri was sought out for Confession and spent an enormous amount of time in the confessional. In fact, offering the Sacrament of Reconciliation was among the last things the Saint did the day of his death, May 25, 1595, which was on the Feast of Corpus Christi.

Once, a priest came to him for confession but disguised himself as a lay person. Saint Philip greeted the man, stopped and said, "You're a priest!" When the priest asked him how he knew, Saint Philip replied, "By the mark on your forehead."[2]

The easiest Confession ever

A noblewoman of Rome was sent by her Confessor to see Saint Philip Neri, as he was unable to alleviate her troubles or give her relief. Before she couls say a word to him in the confessional, Saint Philip told here everything she had wanted to say to him. He then laid his hand upon her head, made the sign of the Cross on her forehead, and sent her away, all anxiety suddenly relieved.

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Filling the pews: Saint John Vianney

Sent to a rural, backwater parish of Ars, pop 230 in 1818, St. John Vianney there found a little town amidst a great country, both of which had lost the faith in the years following the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. So remote was the town that when Saint John first traveled to it, he got lost and had to ask two shepherds where to go.

Through constant preaching and enormous time spent in the Confessional, Saint John famously turned the town full of hard-drinking, profanely dancing people into a devout and exemplary Catholic parish. He taught that prayer at home was like burning individual strands of straw, and worked strenuously to fill the empty pews. So successful was his exhortations that the townsfolk came to Mass three times every Sunday. The entire town learned the entire Vespers and recited it from memory every Sunday.

His fame spread, and Ars became a pilgrimage site to 20,000 or more visitors a year who wanted to confess ot the famous priest who had to spend upwards 18 hours a day delivering the Sacrament of Reconciliation. (Not everyone got it, as Saint John had the charism to read minds and souls and so knew when a confessor was not fully confessed or penitent.)

After his death, an interview was conducted of his old parishioners at Ars. When asked if he preached long sermons, an old man recollected. "Oh yes, long ones. And always about hell."

Saint Josephat: “Thief of Souls”

There's nothing amusing, really, in St. Josephat's story (1580-1623) -- martyred by a mob that broke into his house, beat him to death and threw his body in the river. But his nickname, "Thief of Souls", is mighty cool.

Born into the Ukraine Orthodox church, St. Josephat dedicated his missionary to catholic, church unity. Ordained in an Eastern Orthodox church in Poland-Lithuania that maintained communion with the Pope in Rome[3], through his personal example of poverty, dedication to the poor, and self-mortification for the conversion to Catholicism of others, especially the Orthodox priests who rejected his call for ecumenical unity. So dedicated to the imprisoned, as Bishop he offered confession and gave last rites to the condemned, often being the only person present at their execution.

While he did not want to change the Orthodox Church rites, he insisted upon communion with Rome. He traveled central Europe. confronting dissenters and bringing into Catholic unity all the individuals he could, at which he was so effective the orthodox priests called him "Thief of Souls."

Visiting Vitebsk (modern Belarus), he banished recalcitrant Orthodox priests, one of whom led an uprising against him. He told the mob,

"You people of Vitebsk want to put me to death. You make ambushes for me everywhere, in the streets, on the bridges, on the highways, and in the marketplace. I am here among you as a shepherd, and you ought to know that I would be happy to give my life for you.”

Led by an Orthodox priest who shouted outside the residence where the Saint was staying, the mob broke in and hacked Saint Josephat to death. He died while praying for them. When a few weeks later his body was recovered from the river, it was incorrupt. St. Josephat's feast day is November 12. He spoke his own legacy perfectly, saying

“I am ready to die for the holy union with Rome and for the supremacy of St. Peter.”

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Rising from the Dead: Blessed Mariana de Jesús Torres - do I Stay or do I go?

Blessed Mariana dropped dead in Church. While her body lay lifeless for three days, in heaven the Lord gave her a choice: come on in now and receive your reward, or go back, tell the people what you know about their sins, and earn a higher crown?

Much to the shock of those who were around her corpse, Blessed Mariana chose wisely and popped back up. Hi, guys!

In a series of apparitions before and after her near-death experience, Our Lady asked Blessed Mother Mariana to speak of her as "Our Lady of Good Success" and revealed to the Blessed Mother that in the future grave sin would spread in the 19th and 20th centuries, "a total corruption of customs." The visions of corruption and sin overwhelmed Mariana, who collapsed on the floor. The sisters took her to her bed where a doctor pronounced her dead.

In Heaven, Blessed Mariana was presented by the Lord two crowns, one of "indescribable beauty" the other of lilies wrapped around thorns, and with the Mother of God's succor, she chose suffering and working for the mortal souls of the world.

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St. Denis: the headless walking, talking, preaching, die hard Saint

There's even a word for it: a cephalophore, Greek for "head carrier", a cephalophore is someone who has lost his or her head and carries it around while it jabbers away.

St. Denis lived in the 3rd century during the Roman persecutions. He was sent to Gaul (modern France), by Pope Fabian[4] in the early 200s in order to support believers there who were under Roman persecution. As Bishop of Paris he so successful, including to have built a Church on the Île de la Cité (where Notre Dame sits) that the local pagan priests, appalled at all this talk of the Good News, demanded the local Roman governor imprison him and his companions and torture them.

According to the Golden Legend, a medieval book of the lives of the Saints, Saint Denis was put on the rack, laid upon a bed of coals, but he merely sang out to the Lord,

Lord, thy word is vehemently fiery, and they servant is embraced in the love thereof!

Remember that awesome reply next time anyone tries to torment you upon a bed of coals! Next, they threw him to the starved beasts who bowed meekly at the Saint's sign of the Cross. Next they tried throwing him into a furnace, but like Daniel, he walked out unscathed. A failed crucifixion followed that, whereupon he was thrown into prison with his fellow priests. Talk about die hard! In prison, of course, Saint Denis led the inmates in song and celebrated a Mass with bread delivered to him by the Lord himself for Holy Communion, with the Lord telling him,

Take this, my dear friend, for thy reward is most great with me.

Saint-Denis-Woodcut-1826 (wiikicommons)

The next day they were presented to a judge who sent them off for more torture and final execution by beheading upon the highest hill in Paris in a temple to the Roman god Mercury. This hill was known for Mercury but became after Saint Denis' beheading, "Martyr's Mountain," thus today's Montmarte.

The Golden Legend tells us that after the Saint was beheaded, his lifeless body got up, grabbed his head, and carried it, led by angels, two leagues, or six miles, to his place of burial at St. Denis. The Basilica of St. Dénis was first built on the site starting 313, so not long after the Saint's martydom.

While the Golden Legend doesn't mention it, a source from 600 AD, Passio SS. Dionysii Rustici et Eleutherii, mentions that the beheaded Saint's head preached redemption and salvation on the way to his gravesite.

Saint Denis is, of course, the patron Saint of headaches.

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Next

next entries will go here as this page grows.

Notes:

  1. ↑ The life of Saint Philip Neri, Apostle of Rome, and founder of the congregation of the oratory" by Pietro Giacomo Bacci (1902). Can be found here: Archive.org
  2. ↑ Story from "Sermons for Everyday Living" podcase, Oct 30, 2024
  3. ↑ Affirmed at the Union of Brest
  4. ↑ In the 800s confusion with Saint Denis and Saint Dionysius the Areopagite led to the legend that Saint Denis was sent to Paris by Saint Paul himself. See CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Denis
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