Saint of the day

Saint of the day

April 16: Saint Benedict Joseph Labre

The Beggar and Wanderer of God 

In our era he may have been called a globetrotter because he loved to visit the main Sanctuaries of Europe on foot: from Santiago de Compostela to Loreto, from Rome to Gargano. He is Saint Benedict Joseph Labre, known as the beggar or wanderer of God. In less than fifteen years, it is estimated that he traveled thousands of kilometers until he settled in Rome. At first, he found refuge under an arch of the Colosseum and people brought him alms which he promptly distributed to those he considered poorer than himself. He then found a place near the Basilica of Saints Sylvester and Martin, in Rome’s Monti district.

April 15: Saint Abbondio

Many miracles are attributed to Saint Peter, but one is truly special. It involves another saint, or rather, the Apostle invites a paralytic girl in a vision, who turns to his intercession in prayer, to go and look for a certain Abbondio if she wanted to be healed.

April 14: Saint Lidwina

Learning by the Crucifix

She was skating on ice when, after a bad fall, was left permanently paralyzed. Lidwina was 15 years old in 1395 when, because of this accident, she was forced to remain bedridden and immobile for 38 years. She had been born on March 18, 1380, in Schiedam, in the Netherlands, into a modest family. Her father was a night watchman.

April 13: Saint Margaret of Castello, Dominican Tertiary

From dark blindness to the light of Christ

She was born blind and deformed, yet she became a radiant beacon, spreading the charity of Christ to all who came into contact with her. This is Margaret of Castello who, abandoned by human beings, found complete trust in Divine Providence the strength to endure adversity and glorify the Lord.

April 12: Saint Giuseppe Moscati

The Medical Profession as a Mission of Charity 

"Let those who have, give; let those who don’t, take": so read a sign placed on an open hat in a very special doctor’s office. This was the clinic where Saint Giuseppe Moscati practiced medicine. The poor were never charged for their visits—in fact, they often left with gifts of food and medicine.

April 11: Saint Gemma Galgani

Daughter of Our Lord’s Passion

“Suffering teaches us to love,” wrote Gemma Galgani. Her short life was marked by suffering and poverty. In the Lord’s Passion she found the path to holiness and, united with the Crucified, she offered herself completely as a pleasing sacrifice to God for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of souls.