March 31 Blessed Natalia Tulasiewicz

Natalia Tulasiewicz was teacher in Poland at the outbreak of World War II. She was also a leader in the apostolate of lay people. During the occupation, she volunteered to leave for the Third Reich together with some of the women condemned to do heavy work in order to give them spiritual comfort. When the Gestapo found out, she was arrested, tortured and humiliated in public and was condemned to death in the Rawensbruck camp. On Good Friday, with the strength that was still in her, she climbed a stool in the hut and gave a talk to the prisoners on the passion and resurrection of Jesus. Two days later, they brought her to die in a gas-chamber.

March 30 Saint Leonard Murialdo

After reading the news of various state governments restricting union rights, President Obama being called a socialist, and reduced funding (both private and public) for social services, today’s saint struck a chord in me.

St. Leonard was born in the early 1800s and educated in both Italy and France. Returning to his hometown of Turin, Italy  he worked to reestablish a floundering college, started a program for teenage boys that became the model for Boys Town,  supported the Catholic Workers Union, established a national federation to improve the level of Italian journalism and was an outspoken advocate for worker’s rights. He was labeled a socialist for lobbying for an eight hour work day and safe working conditions.

It is nice to know some of our public leaders (and some of their critics) are following in holy footsteps.

March 28 Saint Guntramnus

Born in France in the 500s, he married Mercatrude. But decided he did not like living with her, so divorced her. When she later became ill, he hired a doctor to save her. When the doctor could not and Mercatrude died, Guntramnus had the doctor killed. Guntramnus later converted to Christianity and spent the rest of his life in penance for his previous sins. He became a protector of the oppressed, care-giver to the sick, open with alms, especially during times of plague and famine. He even forgave, and went on to work with, the two people who tried to have him assassinated.

His skull currently resides in a silver box  in the church of Saint Marcellus, which he had founded.

March 27 Saint Augusta of Treviso

Born into a noble family in Italy in the fifth century. She converted to Christianity, much to her father’s displeasure. So he beheaded her. Himself.

March 26 Saint Ludger of Utrecht

St. Ludger was a priest in the Netherlands in the 700s. He traveled around starting monasteries, returning every Fall to Ultrect to teach in the local school. He is best known for two amazing facts.

1) He was reprimanded only once during his life as a priest. As bishop he was reprimanded and renounced for spending too much time on charity work rather than on building and decorating the cathedral.

2) On the day he died he celebrated Mass. Twice.

March 25 Blessed Emilian Kovch

Emilian Kovch was born in a small town in the Ukraine in 1884. A member of the Greek Catholic Church, he studied in Lviv and Rome. He worked as a military chaplain to the Tsar’s army during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1919. Afterwards he settled in as a parish priest in the town of  Peremyshliany, Ukraine. He married (allowed in the Greek Catholic Church) and had six children.. He became known for his work with youth, welcoming orphans and children of all faiths into his home. He organized youth groups and led several youth pilgrimages to Rome. When the Nazis invaded the Ukraine, Father Emilian began baptizing the large number of Jewish members of their town and instructing them in how to live a false Christian life. Despite his best efforts, Father Emilian was arrested in 1942. Deported to the Majdanek concentration camp in August 1943. There he ministered to prisoners, hearing confessions, and celebrating Mass when possible. Martyred in the ovens.

Father Kovch has the unique honor of being honored by both the Catholic Church (His official sainthood for being martyred in the name of his faith is in the works) and the Jewish community as a “Righteous Ukrainian”.

March 24 St. Caimin of Lough Derg

Any good Irishman and the followers of Veggie Tales know the stories of the Vikings raiding monasteries in Ireland. One of the Vikings favorite stops was the famous Irish island of Innismore (or Inishmore, Inis More, Árainn (Mhór), Inis Mór). It was the place St. Clement set up shop and created a community of scholar monks. St. Caimen added his monasteries and church in the 600s. They became two of the largest structures on the island. The massive tower and walls of the church still remain. The abbey was visited many times by the Vikings, including being completely plundered in  836 and again in 922. The great Brian Boru himself restored the church  1009.  A fragment of the “Psalter of Saint Caimin,” claimed by some to have been copied by St. Caimin’s own hand, still exists in the Franciscan library at Killiney, County Dublin. He is also credited with authorship of the “Commentary on the Hebrew Text of the Psalms”

March 23 St. Turibius of Mogrovejo

Patron Saint of Rights of Native Peoples

St. Turnibus is an unlikely saint. First, he never thought about religious life. He was a lawyer. A very good lawyer. He was good at seeing both sides of the story.  He learned enough ecclesiastical law to temper the Church’s zeal during the Inquisition in Spain.  When King Philip of Spain needed someone to head the church over in Peru, he didn’t want to send a zealot from the Inquisition. He wanted someone who could set up a diocese, getting the administration running, be sensitive to the needs of both the conquistadors and the recently converted Incan natives. No priest fit the bill. He suggested St. Turnibus to Pope Pius V. As there was no other suitable candidate, the Pope dispensed with the whole idea of priest formation and ordained him on the spot, and then two minutes later made him a Bishop. I can’t decide if lawyer to bishop in a foreign, hostile land is a step up, a lateral job move or a drop down in status. However St. Turnibus viewed his change in occupation, he accepted this new direction and set off for Peru. He had a year of sea travel to learn what he could about being a priest. Luckily he had a sharp mind and was a quick study.

St. Turnibus’ new diocese consisted of eighteen thousand square miles of wilderness including both sides of the Andes mountain range. He quickly established three goals. First, recruit priests who spoke the native language. Second, stop the Spanish colonial government from meddling in the affairs of the Church (an unheard of position for colonies of the time). Third, protect the native peoples from abuse and exploitation by the colonists. One very understated historian remarked “There was great opposition to Turnibus from the governors of Peru whose authority he challenged”. Unfortunately for the governors, it took a year to get mail back to Spain or Rome, another for the return reply for them to suck it up, another year to attempt to plead their case. Only to start the process over again when new governors came into power. Time was on St. Turnibus’ side. But he did not use this time to further his own power.  He claimed, “Time is not our own, and we must give a strict account of it.”

The accounts of St. Turnibus’ time are truly amazing. He learned both the Quechua and Aymara languages and had Bibles and catechisms translated for the local populations. Three times he traversed the 180,000 square miles of his diocese, including traversing over the Andes, generally on foot, frequently defenseless and often alone; exposed to weather, wild animals, tropical fevers and sometimes threats from hostile tribes; baptizing and confirming nearly one half million souls, among them St. Rosa of Lima and St. Martin de Porres. The Incans were amazed that such a great man would go to such lengths to visit them, stay in their huts, eat their food. He demanded the parish priests be fluent in the community’s native language. He had a soft for lay people (for he was essentially one himself) and encouraged the parishes be run and coordinated by the lay people of community.

As St. Turnibus lay dying, he dragged himself to church to receive communion, one last time, saying it was not proper for God to come to him, but rather he should seek out God.

March 22 St. Darerca of Ireland, Blessed Isnard de Chiampo, St. Lea of Rome

I could not decide between the three saints, there were all short so this is a bonus day.

St. Darerca of Ireland – sister of St.  Patrick, mother of nineteen children, ten of whom became bishops. I am feeling vastly inferior as a mother.

Blessed Isnard de Chiampo – I try not to copy directly from another source, but I could not write this any more succinctly then this site. From Saints.SQPN.com. “Dominican friar, receiving the cowl from Saint Dominic de Guzman in 1219. Founder and first prior of the friary at Pavia, Italy. Though he lived the life of a friar, he was a fat friar, for which he was mocked and ridiculed when he traveled to preach.”

St. Lea of Rome – For one of my regular readers, again from Saints.SQPN.com. “Born to the nobility. Lived in Rome, Italy. Widow. Part of the house run by Saint Marcella, and later served as the group’s superior. Known for her austere lifestyle and extreme penances. Saint Jerome wrote a panegyric in her honor.”

March 21 St. Enda of Arran and St. Fanchea of Rossory

These two are brother and sister Irish royalty in 500s. St. Facnchea was called early to religious life. She founded a convent in Rossery and was the first abbess. She was a bit if a big sister, knowing what was best for her little brother.

An Irish prince, St. Edna was the son of King Conall Derg of Ergall Ulster. Brother-in-law to King Oengus of Munster, Ireland. He trained as a soldier as a young man and took over the throne upon his father’s death, but gave up his dreams of conquest to marry and settle in as the next king. Big sister Franchea set him up with a beautiful young virgin, but she died after the pledge had been made but before St. Enda could lay eyes on her. Upon arriving at her deathbed, St. Fanchea  conducted her brother to her bedside. Uncovering the departed maiden’s features, Fanchea exclaimed, “Look now upon the face of her whom thou hast desired.” Enda, struck with horror, cried out, “It is at present sadly pale and ghastly.” “And so shall your features hereafter be,” replied the dead virgin. Then Fanchea spoke to him regarding the pains of Hell, and dwelt also on the joys of Heaven, until the young man burst into tears. The trauma and of the lecture by his older sister besides the talking corpse threw St. Edna into a period of despair.  His dear sister, not so gently, suggested maybe becoming a priest would cure him of his dark emotions. She sent him to her choice of seminaries – Rosnat Monastery in Britain. It is said that on the day that he would leave, a strange man came to him in a vision and told him of an isle where he would find peace, Innish. He made a pilgrimage to Rome and was finally ordained there. On a visit to see her baby brother in Britain, St. Fanchea decided it was time for St. Edna to move yet again. Big Sis advised that as God had gifted him with talents, he ought to exercise these among the people of his native land, and thus enhance doubly their value. St. Edna was a dutiful little brother (very hard to find amongst Irish families) and did as his sister wished.
Returning to Ireland, Enda built churches at Drogheda, and a monastery in the Boyne valley. Thereafter (about 484) he begged his brother-in-law, the King Oengus of Munster, to let him go to the wild and barren isle of Innish in Galway Bay. Oengus wanted to give him a fertile plot in the Golden Vale, but Innish suited Enda’s ideal for religious life. It was in the Aran Islands that St. Edna’s legacy came into being. St. Fanchea had recently died, so he was free to set up the monastery however he wanted.  Enda divided the island of Innish into 8 parts, in each of which he built a “place of refuge”, and under his rule the abbey of St. Enda became a burning light of sanctity for centuries in Western Europe.  These structures were the chosen home of a group of poor and devoted men under Saint Enda. He taught them to love the hard rock, the dripping cave, and the barren earth swept by the western gales. They were “men of the caves”, and “also men of the Cross”.

Some of the people who spent time in prayer living on Innish included Saint Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, who came there first as a youth to grind corn, and would have remained there for life but for Enda’s insistence that his true work lay elsewhere, reluctant though he was to part with him; Saint Finnian, who left St Enda and founded the monastery of Moville (where Saint Columba spent part of his youth) and who afterwards became bishop of Lucca in Tuscany, Italy; Among them also was Saint Brendan the Voyager, Saint Columba of Iona, Jarlathof Tuam, and Carthach the Elder. These and many others formed a great and valiant company who spent time in the beehives and caves establish by St. Edna.

When Saint Brendan returned from his travels far to the West, his first stop was Innish.  He presented the only gift he bought back from his travels, a stone with an eye carved on one end and a rune on the other. Legend has it was given him by a dwarf far to the West. This stone floats if placed on water and the gem points to the Last Isle of the West. The rune is a variant of the Norse Reith rune which resembles the letter r. This is called the “Styrimathr” (STEE-ri-mah-thur) meaning in Norse “the Captain of the Seas path”. It has been continuously carried from then until today,  in a small silk purse by the Abbot of the Abbey of St. Enda.

The two siblings, so connected in life, both died on March 21, though in different years.

Sie Note #1: For those familiar with Irish history, Padraig Pearse named his National School after St. Edna. (Scoil Éanna in Gaelic)

Side Note #2: For those interested in modern hermits and monk on Innishmore today, it is worth reading the web page of Dara Mollow.