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Saint Barbara, a martyr rom the third century, is the Patron Saint of Firefighters. Her liturgical memorial is celebrated on 4 December. Devotion to the Saint began to spread in the seventh century, when the first Acta of her martyrdom began to appear.
Francisco de Jassu y Xavier, known as Francis Xavier, was the “Apostle of the Indies”, the Patron Saint of the Missions, the great Evangelizer of Asia and one of the first to follow Saint Ignatius of Loyola.
He was born in 1506 in Xavier Castle near Pamplona, to a noble family. In September 1525, he travelled to Paris to study at the College of Saint Barbe, where he shared a room with Pierre Favre, the first priest of the Society, who was joined by Ignatius of Loyola. At first, Francis and Ignatius had a strained relationship because Francis wanted to pursue his academic career. Ignatius described him as the “lumpiest dough he had ever kneaded”. In 1530, he became Magister Artium and obtained a chair at the College of Dormans-Beauvais.
The Gospels present Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, as one of the two disciples of John the Baptist, who followed Jesus from the very beginning (Jn 1:35-39). He was born in Bethsaida in Galilee, on the shores of Lake Tiberias. He was a fisherman like his brother Simon (Peter). On his search for God, he became a disciple of John the Baptist, who baptized him. When John the Baptist pointed to Jesus as the “Lamb of God” (Jn 1:29-40) on the River Jordan, he immediately followed the Teacher and never left him.
The main information about the life of Saturninus comes from the Passio Saturnini, an anonymous text written around the mid-5th century—therefore composed roughly two hundred years after his martyrdom. According to this account, Saturninus arrived from Africa and reached Toulouse around the year 250, during the consulate of Decius and Gratus, where he was chosen as leader of the local Christian community.
Saint James of the Marches, born Domenico Gangale on September 1, 1393, in Monteprandone in the Ascoli region of Italy, spent his youth devoted to study. He first attended school in Ascoli Piceno, then the University of Perugia, where he earned degrees in both civil and canon law.
Virgil, born in Ireland in the 8th century, belonged to the tradition of itinerant monks who left their homeland to undertake long religious pilgrimages. Setting out around 743 with the intention of reaching Palestine, he interrupted his journey.
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