Saint of the day

Saint of the day

Michelangelo Buonarroti, San Bartolomeo (particolare del Giudizio Universale) 1536-1541, Cappella Sistina, Musei Vaticani.

24 August: Saint Bartholomew the Apostle

An Israelite without guile

Bartholomew was one of the twelve disciples who followed Jesus after the Baptism in the Jordan River. His name is included in the Synoptic Gospels as one of the Apostles linked to his contemporary Philip. We know little about this Apostle, whose Feast Day is celebrated on 24 August, the day Catholic tradition dates as his martyrdom. He was originally from Cana in Galilee, near Nazareth. Jesus said of him: “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile” (Jn 1:47). In his Gospel, John speaks of Nathanael, who is Bartholomew, at least according to the exegetes.

Raffaello Sanzio, (Urbino 1483 - Rome 1520), Coronation of the Virgin (called Oddi Altarpiece), 1502 - 1504, Vatican Museums.

22 August: Liturgical memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Not a distant sovereign, but a tender Mother who is close to us

“From the earliest ages of the catholic church a Christian people, whether in time of triumph or more especially in time of crisis, has addressed prayers of petition and hymns of praise and veneration to the Queen of Heaven. And never has that hope wavered which they placed in the Mother of the Divine King, Jesus Christ; nor has that faith ever failed by which we are taught that Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, reigns with a mother's solicitude over the entire world, just as she is crowned in heavenly blessedness with the glory of a Queen”. With these words in the Encyclical Letter Ad Caeli Reginam, of 11 October 1954, Pius XII instituted the liturgical feast day of the “Queenship of the Blessed Virgin”.

21 August: Liturgical memorial of Saint Pius X

The Pope of Catechism and of the First Holy Communion of children

Saint Pius X, in the world Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, wrote the following words in his will and testament: “I was born poor, I have lived in poverty, and I wish to die poor”. He was a Pope from a humble social background, who was elected to the See of Peter, after going through all the steps of the ecclesiastical career: Chaplain, Parish Priest, Bishop, Cardinal and Patriarch.

Giulio Romano and Giovan Francesco Penni, coronation of the Virgin (known as Our Lady of Monteluce), Vatican Museums.

15 August: Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven

“For which reason, after we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory”.

Santa Chiara d'Assisi (part.), wooden table attributed to the Master of Santa Chiara (1283), in both sides eight panels tell anecdotes of his life (Left transept of the Basilica della Santa in Assisi)

Sunday, 11 August, memorial of the death of Saint Clare of Assisi

Universal Patron Saint of television and telecommunications

On Christmas eve of 1252, Saint Clare was ill and confined to her dormitory bed in Assisi’s San Damiano Monastery. Her Sisters had left her on her own to recite the morning prayers but she wanted to join them at least on that night. So great was her devotion to the mystery of the Saviour’s birth that she asked the Lord to grant her wish. What took place next inspired Pius XII, seven centuries later, to proclaim Saint Clare the universal patron Saint of television and telecommunications, on 4 February 1958.  The episode is still relevant today, as the day in which we commemorate the birth in heaven of the Saint, 11 August, coincides with the day the Directorate of Telecommunications and Information Systems remembers her for her patronage.