SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ JANUARY 26TH

MEMORIAL OF SAINTS TIMOTHY AND TITUS, BISHOPS AND SAINT JOSÉ  GABRIEL BROCHERO, PRIEST – FEAST DAY ~ JANUARY 26TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops. The two followers and friends of St. Paul the Apostle who were among the first bishops of the Church, as the successors of the Apostles. It was fitting that we celebrate them today as yesterday we celebrated the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, as a reminder for us just how significant the contributions that St. Paul, formerly Saul, a great enemy of the Christian faithful turned a most ardent defender of the faith, had in the early history of the Church.

We also celebrate the Memorial of Saint José Gabriel Brochero, Priest.

SAINTS TIMOTHY AND TITUS, BISHOPS: Saints Timothy and Titus were close companions of the Apostle Paul and bishops of the Catholic Church in its earliest days. St.Paul called St. Timothy a “dearly beloved son, brother, companion in labor & man of God” and called St. Titus “my true child in common faith.” Both men received letters from St. Paul, which are included in the New Testament. Pope Benedict XVI discussed these early bishops during a general audience on Dec. 13, 2006, noting “their readiness to take on various offices” in “far from easy” circumstances. Both saints, the Pope said, “teach us to serve the Gospel with generosity, realizing that this also entails a service to the Church herself.”

SAINT TIMOTHY: St.Timothy (17-97 AD) was St. Paul’s dearest disciple, his most steadfast associate. He was the son of a Jewish mother and a Greek father, born in AD 17.  St. Timothy came from Lystra in present-day Turkey. His mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, are known to have joined the Church, and Timothy himself is described as a student of Sacred Scripture from his youth. After St. Paul’s visit to Timothy’s home region of Lycaonia, around the year 51, the young man joined the apostle and accompanied him in his travels. After religious strife forced Paul to leave the city of Berea, Timothy remained to help the local church. St. Paul later sent him to Thessalonica to help the Church during a period of persecution. The two met up again in Corinth, and St. Timothy eventually journeyed to Macedonia on St. Paul’s behalf. Problems in the Corinthian Church brought St. Timothy back for a time, after which he joined St. Paul and accompanied the apostle in subsequent travels. Like St. Paul, Timothy endured a period of imprisonment in the course of his missionary work. His release is mentioned in the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews.

Around the year 64, Timothy became the first bishop of the Church of Ephesus. During that same year, he received the first of two surviving letters from St. Paul. The second, written the next year, urges Timothy to visit St. Paul in Rome, where he was imprisoned before his martyrdom. Ancient sources state that St. Timothy followed his mentor in dying as a martyr for the faith. In the year 93, during his leadership of the Church in Ephesus, he took a stand against the worship of idols and was consequently killed by a mob. According to tradition St. Timothy spent the rest of his life at Ephesus as its Bishop. He was martyred during the winter of the year AD 97 at about the age of 80. The pagan festival he was protesting was held Jan. 22, and this date was preserved as St. Timothy’s memorial in the Christian East. St. Timothy is the Patron Saint: Intestinal disorders; stomach diseases. Feast day: January 26, January 24 (Trad)

SAINT TITUS: St. Titus was Bishop and Confessor, 1st century AD. He was a friend and became one of St. Paul’s most illustrious disciples. In contrast with Timothy’s partial Jewish descent and early Biblical studies, St. Titus was born into a pagan family. He is said to have studied Greek philosophy and poetry in his early years. But he pursued a life of virtue, and purportedly had a prophetic dream that caused him to begin reading the Hebrew Scriptures. According to tradition, St. Titus journeyed to Jerusalem and witnessed the preaching of Christ during the Lord’s ministry on earth. Only later, however – after the conversion of St. Paul and the beginning of his ministry – did St. Titus receive baptism from the apostle, who called the pagan convert his “true child in our common faith.” St. Paul was not only Titus’ spiritual father, but also depended on his convert as an assistant and interpreter. St. Titus accompanied Paul to the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem during the year 51, and was later sent to the Corinthian Church on two occasions. After the end of Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome, the apostle ordained St. Titus as the Bishop of Crete.

St. Paul sent his only surviving letter to Titus around the year 64, giving instructions in pastoral ministry to his disciple as he prepared to meet up with him in the Greek city of Nicopolis. St. Titus evangelized the region of Dalmatia in modern Croatia before returning to Crete. St. Titus is credited with leading the Church of Crete well into his 90s, overturning paganism and promoting the faith through his prayers and preaching. Unlike St. Timothy, St. Titus was not martyred, but died peacefully of natural cause in old age at the age of 94, having lived in the state of virginity during his whole life. St. Paul left a worthy monument to St. Titus, his faithful disciple, in the beautiful pastoral letter which forms part of the New Testament. St. Titus was Patron Saint of Crete, United States Chaplain Corp. Feastday: January 26 (New) February 6 (Trad).

PRAYER: Lord God, You filled Sts. Timothy and Titus with apostolic virtues, through their intercession may we live good and religious lives her on earth and thus be worthy of our heavenly home. Saints Timothy and Titus, companions of St. Paul ~ Pray for us. Amen🙏

SAINT JOSÉ  GABRIEL BROCHERO, PRIEST: St. José Gabriel is known in Argentina as the “cowboy priest.” This gaucho, as local cattle-herders are known, served a large parish spread over miles of mountainous terrain. St. José showed bravery in his first years as a priest by ministering to victims of a cholera epidemic in the city of Cordoba, Argentina. At 29 he was assigned to St. Albert, a remote parish numbering about ten thousand souls with neither schools nor roads. Padre José went on the back of a mule along the mountains to care for his flock, carrying a Mass kit and an image of the Blessed Mother. His flock was, in a sense, “lost,” so remote were they from the larger society. Father José said of his people that “they were abandoned by everyone, but not by God.” Early in his tenure, he desired spiritual renewal for his parish and so he led a group across mountains in a snowstorm to a retreat being held at Cordoba on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. This beginning in prayer produced much fruit in the parish.

His priestly ministry drew him to the people, to “go out,” as Jesus and his apostles went out to where the people were to be found. This “going out” involved risk: the danger of terrain, long days far from home, and the unexpected. Pope Francis has especially encouraged priests and generally all Christians to get out on the roads and into the public squares as a necessary first step in evangelization, in sharing Christ. St. José Gabriel was not unknown to the public for his incarnational way of ministering. He worked alongside his people. A Cordoba newspaper wrote about this priest’s way of serving in an 1887 article: “He practices the gospel. Are you missing a carpenter? He’s a carpenter. Are you missing a laborer? He’s a laborer. He rolls up his cassock wherever he is, takes the shovel or hoe and opens a public road in 15 days aided by his parishioners.” In these tasks St. José found a space of communion in labor with his parishioners and a solid imitation of his patron, St. Joseph. He worked to build roads, schools, and to get mail and telegraph couriers for the good of the people. In his letter to those gathered for the beatification ceremony, Pope Francis said: “This shepherd who smelled of sheep became poor among the poor.”

St. José Gabriel was born in 1840, the same year of birth as St. Damien of Molokai. Like Damien, José Gabriel served those who were considered untouchable, the lepers, and like Damien he died a leper. He continued to pray and offer Mass although ill and blind. His “going out” was a complete emptying of self. Pope Francis wrote: “Brochero did not stay in the parish offices: he would exhaust himself riding his mule and he ended up being sick with leprosy.” St. José Gabriel died January 26, 1914. The beatification ceremony at Cordoba was attended by close to 150,000 people, including three thousand gauchos wearing the traditional ponchos of the Argentine cowboy. This priest was a lone ranger when he had to be and, like his Divine Master, was brave, courageous, and bold.

PRAYER: We humbly ask you, almighty God, that at the intercession of blessed José Gabriel, you may multiply your gifts among us and order our days in peace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen🙏