SAINTS OF THE DAY ~ FEAST DAY – AUGUST 8TH

MEMORIAL OF SAINT DOMINIC, PRIEST; SAINT MARY MACKILLOP, RELIGIOUS (SOLEMNITY); SAINTS CYRIACUS, LARGUS AND SMARAGDUS, AND THEIR COMPANIONS, MARTYRS AND THE FOURTEEN HOLY HELPERS ~ FEAST DAY – AUGUST 8TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Dominic, Priest; Saint Mary MacKillop, Religious (Solemnity); Saints Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus, and Their Companions, Martyrs and the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for all Scientists, Astronomers and those falsely accused. We pray for the poor and needy, for the sick and dying, especially those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We also pray for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, the Clergy, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏

SAINT DOMINIC, PRIEST: St. Dominic de Guzman (1170–1221) was born in 1170 at Caleruega, Spain to a family of noble lineage. St. Dominic was the son of Felix Guzman and Joanna of Aza, members of the nobility. His mother would eventually be beatified by the Church, as would his brother Manes who became a Dominican. The family’s oldest son Antonio also became a priest. His mother, Blessed Jane of Aza, prayed at the church of St. Dominic Silos to conceive a male child, her first two sons being given to the priesthood. In answer to her prayer, she dreamed that a dog leaped from her womb carrying a torch in its mouth which set the world ablaze. At his baptism, his godmother beheld a star shining from his forehead. As a child St. Dominic showed signs of great sanctity and intelligence, and he was also given to the Church for the priesthood. St. Dominic received his early education from his uncle, who was a priest, before entering the University of Palencia where he studied for ten years. In one notable incident from this period, he sold his entire collection of rare books to provide for the relief of the poor in the city. After his ordination to the priesthood, St. Dominic was asked by Bishop Diego of Osma to participate in local church reforms. He spent nine years in Osma, pursuing a life of intense prayer, before being called to accompany the bishop on a piece of business for King Alfonso IX of Castile in 1203. While traveling in France with the bishop, Dominic observed the bad effects of the Albigensian heresy, which had taken hold in southern France during the preceding century. The sect revived an earlier heresy, Manicheanism, which condemned the material world as an evil realm not created by God. Dreading the spread of heresy, Dominic began to think about founding a religious order to promote the truth. In 1204 he and Bishop Diego were sent by Pope Innocent III to assist in the effort against the Albigensians, which eventually involved both military force and theological persuasion.

In France, Dominic engaged in doctrinal debates and set up a convent whose rule would eventually become a template for the life of female Dominicans. He continued his preaching mission from 1208 to 1215, during the intensification of the military effort against the Albigensians. In 1214, Dominic’s extreme physical asceticism caused him to fall into a coma, during which the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to him and instructed him to promote the prayer of the Rosary. Its focus on the incarnation and life of Christ directly countered the Albigensian attitude towards matter as evil. During that same year, St. Dominic returned to Tolouse and obtained the bishop’s approval of his plan for an order dedicated to preaching. He and a group of followers gained local recognition as a religious congregation, and St. Dominic accompanied Tolouse’s bishop to Rome for an ecumenical council in 1215. The council stressed the Church’s need for better preaching, but also set up a barrier to the institution of new religious orders. St. Dominic, however, obtained papal approval for his plan in 1216, and was named as the Pope’s chief theologian. The Order of Preachers expanded in Europe with papal help in 1218. St. Dominic, the founder spent the last several years of his life building up the order and continuing his preaching missions, during which he is said to have converted some 100,000 people. St. Dominic was innovative in meeting the needs of his time to defend the Church against her enemies.To aid his mission, Our Lady appeared to him and gave him a new devotion—the Holy Rosary. St. Dominic is attributed the origin and spread of the Holy Rosary. After several weeks of illness, St. Dominic died in Italy on August 6, 1221. He was canonized in 1234 by Pope Gregory IX. St. Dominic is the patron saint of scientists and astronomers; falsely accused people.

Saint Dominic’s Quotes: “Arm yourself with prayer rather than a sword; wear humility rather than fine clothes.” ” One day, through the Rosary and the Scapular, Our Lady will save the world.”

PRAYER: God, let St. Dominic help Your Church by his merits and teaching. May he who was an outstanding preacher of truth become a most generous intercessor for us. Amen 🙏

SOLEMNITY OF SAINT MARY MACKILLOP, RELIGIOUS: St. Mary MacKillop (1842-1909) was an Australian religious sister who became the first native born Australian saint, as St Mary of the Cross. St. Mary was born in Melbourne in 1842, to parents who had emigrated from Scotland, St. Mary and her 9 siblings were homeschooled by their Scottish father. St. Mary grew up in a family that faced constant financial struggles. At 14, she worked to provide for her family and as a young woman, she was drawn to religious life but could not find an existing order of Sisters that met her needs. In 1860, she met Fr. Julian Woods, who encouraged her to help educate the poor. He became her spiritual director. In 1867, she became a nun. Together with Fr. Woods they founded a new community of women—the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, also known as the Josephite Sisters whose charism is teaching, charity, total poverty and trusting in Divine Providence. Its members were to staff schools, especially for poor children, as well as orphanages, and do other works of charity. St. Mary established schools and places of refuge for the working class and poor across Australia and New Zealand. As the congregation grew, so did St. Mary MacKillop’s problems. Throughout the years, she had many challenges with priests and Bishops but always prayed for God’s will to be done. Miracles continue to occur through her intercession. Her priest-friend proved unreliable in many ways and his responsibilities for the direction of the Sisters were removed. Meanwhile, St. Mary had the support of some local bishops as she and her Sisters went about their work. But the bishop in South Australia, aging and relying on others for advice, briefly excommunicated St. Mary—charging her with disobedience—and dispensed 50 of her Sisters from their vows. In truth, the bishop’s quarrel was about power and who had authority over whom. He ultimately rescinded his order of excommunication.

St. Mary insisted that her congregation should be governed by an elected mother general answerable to Rome, not to the local bishop. There also were disputes about whether or not the congregation could own property. In the end, Rome proved to be St. Mary’s best source of support. After a long wait official approval of the congregation—and how it was to be governed—came from Pope Leo XIII. Despite her struggles with Church authorities, St. Mary MacKillop and her Sisters were able to offer social services that few, if any, government agencies in Australia could. They served Protestants and Catholics alike. They worked among the aborigines. They taught in schools and orphanages and served unmarried mothers. The lack of money was a constant worry. But the Sisters who begged from door to door were bolstered by faith and by the conviction that their struggles were opportunities to grow closer to God. By the time Mary was approaching the end of her life, the congregation was thriving. She died on August 8, 1909 at the age of 67. Pope John Paul II beatified her in 1995. On October 17, 2010, when Pope Benedict XVI canonized her, she became Australia’s first saint. She’s the Patron Saint of Australia, Brisbane, Knights of the South. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has approved a request from the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference that the liturgical observance of St Mary MacKillop on 8th August be raised to the level of a Solemnity. By having her feast day celebrated as the highest liturgical rank, the Church in Australia acknowledges that the story of and devotion to Mary MacKillop has a prominent place in the Catholic community and beyond.

PRAYER: O God, source of all goodness, who have shown us in Saint Mary a woman of faith living by the power of the Cross, teach us, we pray, by her example to live the gospel in changing times and to respect and defend the human dignity of all in our land. Amen 🙏

SAINTS CYRIACUS, LARGUS AND SMARAGDUS, MARTYRS: Saint Cyriacus (also known as Cyriac) was born of a noble patrician family. He embraced the Christian religion and gave all his wealth to the poor. He was ordained a deacon at Rome, under Pope Marcellinus. Saint Cyriacus is venerated as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. In the persecution of Dioclesian, in 303, he was crowned with a glorious martyrdom in that city. With him suffered also Largus and Smaragdus, and twenty others, among whom are named Crescentianus, Sergius, Secondus, Alban, Victorianus, Faustinus, Felix, Sylvanus, and four women, Memmia, Juliana, Cyriacides, and Donata.

According to legend, together with Sisinius, Largus and Smaragdus, Cyriac languished a long time in prison. Among the miracles that Cyriac worked was that of freeing through his prayer Arthemia, the daughter of Emperor Diocletian, from an evil spirit. Thereupon he was sent to the Persian king Sapor and performed a similar miracle in favor of his daughter Jobias. But after baptizing the king and 430 of his entourage, he returned to Rome. Upon orders from Maximian the Emperor, he was arrested, chained, and dragged to prison. Four days later he was taken from confinement, drenched with seething pitch, and tortured on the rack; in company with Smaragdus and twenty other Christians he finally was beheaded on the Via Salaria near the gardens of Sallust.” Their bodies were first buried near the place of their execution on the Salarian way; but were soon after translated into a farm of the devout lady Lucina, on the Ostian road, on this eighth day of August, as is recorded in the ancient Liberian Calendar, and others.

Saints Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus, and Their Companions, Martyrs ~ Pray for us 🙏

THE FOURTEEN HOLY HELPERS: The Fourteen Holy Helpers are a group of saints venerated together in Roman Catholicism because their intercession is believed to be particularly effective, especially against various diseases. This group of Nothelfer (“helpers in need”) originated in the 14th century at first in the Rhineland, largely as a result of the epidemic (probably of bubonic plague) that became known as the Black Death or black Plague which devastated Europe from 1346 to 1349. Among its symptoms were the black tongue, a parched throat, violent headache, fever, and boils on the abdomen. The victims were attacked without warning, robbing them of their reason, and killed within a few hours; many died without the last Sacraments. No one was immune, and the disease wreaked havoc in villages and family circles. The epidemic appeared incurable. The pious turned to Heaven, begging the intervention of the saints, praying to be spared or cured. Each of these fourteen saints had been efficacious in interceding in some aspect for the stricken during the Black Plague.

The Fourteen “Auxiliary Saints” are invoked because they have been efficacious in assisting in trials and sufferings. Each saint has a separate feast or memorial day, and the group was collectively venerated on August 8. The dates are the traditional feast days; not all the saints are on the General Roman Calendar. They are: SAINT BLAISE: (also Blase and Blasius) (February 3), bishop and martyr. He is invoked against diseases of the throat. Blessing of the throats takes place on his feast day. SAINT GEORGE (April 23) soldier-martyr. Invoked for protection for domestic animals and against herpetic diseases. Also patron of soldiers, England, Portugal, Germany, Aragon, Genoa and Venice. SAINT ACATHIUS (also Acacius) (May 8), martyr. Invoked against headaches and at the time of death’s agony. SAINT ERASMUS (also St. Elmo) (June 2), bishop and martyr. He is invoked against diseases of the stomach and intestine, protection for domestic animals and patron of sailors. SAINT VITUS (also St. Guy) (June 15), martyr. Invoked in epilepsy, chorea (“St. Vitus’ dance”), lethargy, and the bites of poisonous or mad animals and against storms. Also protection for domestic animals. Patron of dancer and actors. SAINT MARGARET OF ANTIOCH (July 20), virgin and martyr. Invoked against backache. Patron for women in childbirth. SAINT CHRISTOPHER (also Christophorus) (July 25), martyr. Invoked against the plague and sudden death. He is the patron of travelers, especially motorists, and is also invoked in storms. SAINT PANTALEON (July 27), bishop and martyr. Invoked against consumption, protection for domestic animals and patron of physicians and midwives. SAINT CYRIACUS (also Cyriac) (August 8), deacon and martyr. Invoked against diseases of the eye and diabolical possession. Also interceded for those in temptation, especially at the time of death. SAINT GILES (also Aegidius) (September 1), hermit and abbot. Invoked against the plague, panic, epilepsy, madness, and nightmares and for a good confession. Patron of cripples, beggars, and breastfeeding mothers. SAINT EUSTACE (also Eustachius, Eustathius) (September 20), martyr. Invoked against fire — temporal and eternal. Patron of hunters. Patron in all kinds of difficulties, and invoked in family troubles. SAINT DENIS (also Dionysius) (October 9), bishop and martyr. Invoked against diabolical possession and headaches. SAINT CATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA (November 25), virgin and martyr. Invoked against diseases of the tongue, protection against a sudden and unprovided death. Patroness of Christian philosophers, of maidens, preachers, wheelwrights and mechanics. She is also invoked by students, orators, and barristers as “the wise counselor.” SAINT BARBARA (December 4), virgin and martyr. Invoked against fever and sudden death. Patron of builders, artillerymen and miners. Also invoked against lightning, fire and sudden death.

PRAYER TO THE FOURTEEN HOLY HELPERS (By St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) Doctor of the Church): Great princes of Heaven, Holy Helpers, who sacrificed to God all your earthly possessions, wealth, preferment and even life and who now are crowned in Heaven in the secure enjoyment of eternal bliss and glory; have compassion on me, a poor sinner in this vale of tears and obtain for me from God, for Whom you gave up all things and Who loves you as His servants, the strength to bear patiently all the trials of this life, to overcome all temptations and to persevere in God’s service to the end, that one day I too may be received into your company, to praise and glorify Him, the supreme Lord, Whose Beatific Vision you enjoy and Whom you praise and glorify forever. Amen 🙏