Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days
Featuring the Saints whose feast-day is this month
- Courage, vision and leadership are found in the most unlikely of places. Mary Slessor was born in December 1848 into a wretchedly poor family. Her father was an alcoholic who lost his job as a shoemaker. Mary was the second of seven children, and in 1859 they moved from Aberdeen into the fetid slums of...NEW 11 January – Mary Slessor of Calabar
- If you have nothing much going for you, Antony Pucci (1819-92) should be your patron saint. He came from nowhere – a peasant family in Tuscany. He went nowhere – he spent his life as a parish priest in the Tuscan city of Viareggio. He was unattractive to look at. He wasn’t good with words...12 January – St Antony Pucci: poor, plain and tongue-tied
- What do you do when you find a large spider web in your house? If you ever feel some sympathy for the spider who went to all that trouble, then Felix is a good patron saint for you. He was saved by such a spider, spinning such a web. Felix had been born to a...14 January – St Felix of Nola: saved by a spider’s web
- If your Christmas and New Year break included just too many people and even a bout of indigestion, then St Antony may be the saint for you. He was a hermit-monk with a reputation for making poorly people feel better. Antony was born in Coma (Upper Egypt) in 251, and at 20 became an ascetic. ...17 January – St Anthony of Egypt: hermit who defied an emperor
- Not many teenagers, on becoming a Christian, will devote themselves to winning others for Christ in a foreign land. Amy was such a person. She left Britain to live in a tiny village in Southern India. Here, for the next 56 years, Amy rescued hundreds of orphaned and vulnerable children, and served her Lord in...18 January – Amy Carmichael: founder of the Dohnavur Fellowship
- The more things change, the more they remain the same. You could read Meinrad’s story today in the newspapers of any large city. He was born near Wurtemberg of a free peasant family, and became a monk at Reichenau (Switzerland). In 829 he moved to Einsiedeln to be a hermit, where he lived quietly for...21 January – St Meinrad: victim of grievous bodily harm
- Agnes should be the patron saint of all the young Christian girls alive today who live in areas of the world where they face kidnap, rape, forced marriage, persecution and even death – simply because they are Christian. Agnes, born c 291, probably came from a noble Roman family. She converted to Christianity at the...21 January – St Agnes: child martyr of Rome
- Never under-estimate a deacon. After all, the first-ever Christian martyr was a deacon in the church of Jerusalem – St Stephen. And the first-ever Christian martyr in Spain was a deacon of the Church of Saragossa – St Vincent. By now it was 304 AD, and the Roman Emperor Diocletian was persecuting Christians. When his...22 January – Vincent of Saragossa: first martyr of Spain
- January is a month of the beginning of great things! As well as the naming of the Son of God, we celebrate the conversion of the greatest ever apostle of the Christian faith. Many books have been written on Paul, and here is the briefest of introductions. He was a Jew, born as ‘Saul’ at...25 January – the Conversion of St Paul
- This month, on 25th January, the Church celebrates probably the most famous conversion of all. At least, what happened to a young man called Saul on the road to Damascus has become a byword for all instant conversions – what is known as a ‘damascene’ moment. Saul was a devout Jew, a Pharisee, a student...25 January – St Paul: the first Christian intellectual
- Timothy and Titus are the saints for you if you’ve been a Christian for some time, and now realise that God wants you to move into some form of leadership. A daunting prospect! The books of First and Second Timothy and Titus are what are known as the three pastoral letters, where Paul writes to...26 January – Timothy & Titus: how local church leaders should be!
- With international concern about the welfare of children, Angela is a good saint to remember as the year gets underway. Not only did she herself survive a harsh childhood, but she went on to dedicate her own life to helping children in need. Angela was born near Lake Garda, in Desenzano, where she was orphaned...27 January – Angela Merici: helping children in need