MEMORIAL OF SAINT PAULINUS OF NOLA, BISHOP; SAINTS JOHN FISHER, BISHOP AND MARTYR AND THOMAS MORE, MARTYR AND SAINT ALBAN, MARTYR ~ FEAST DAY: JUNE 22ND Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Paulinus of Nola, Bishop; Saints John Fisher, Bishop and Martyr and Thomas More, Martyr and Saint Alban, Martyr. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and  the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, we  particularly pray for those who are sick and dying, those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for the poor and the needy, for peace, love and unity in our families and our world. And we continue to pray for the Church, the Clergy, with special intention for all Priests during this Novena, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏🏽

SAINT PAULINUS OF NOLA, BISHOP: St. Paulinus was born of a patrician
Senatorial Roman family at Bordeaux, Gaul, in present-day France during 354. Saint Paulinus of Nola gave up his life in politics to become a monk, a bishop, and a revered Christian poet of the 5th century. Born at Bordeaux in present-day France during 354, Paulinus came from an illustrious family in the Roman imperial province of Aquitania. He received his literary education from the renowned poet and professor Ausonius, and eventually rose to the rank of governor in the Italian province of Campania. Not yet baptized or a believer in Christ, St. Paulinus was nonetheless struck by the Campanians’ devotion to the martyr Saint Felix at his local shrine. He took the initiative to build a road for pilgrims, as well as a hospice for the poor near the site of St. Felix’s veneration. But Paulinus grew dissatisfied with his civil position, leaving Campania and returning to his native region from 380 to 390. He also married a Spanish Catholic woman named Therasia. St. Paulinus’ wife, Therasia, along with Bishop Delphinus of Bordeaux, and St. Martin the Bishop of Tours, guided him toward conversion.

St. Paulinus and his brother were baptized on the same day by Bishop Delphinus. But it was not long into his life as a Christian, that two shattering upheavals took place. St. Paulinus’ infant son, his only child died shortly after birth; and when St. Paulinus’ brother also died, he was accused in his murder. After these catastrophes, St. Paulinus and Therasia mutually agreed to embrace monasticism, living in poverty and chastity. Around 390, they both moved to Spain given away their considerable wealth. Approximately five years after his change of residence and lifestyle, the residents of Barcelona arranged for St. Paulinus’ ordination as a priest. During 395 he returned to the Italian city of Nola, where he and his wife both continued to live in chastity as monks. St. Paulinus made important contributions to the local church, particularly in the construction of basilicas. In 409, the monk was consecrated as the city’s bishop. St. Paulinus served as the Bishop of Nola for two decades. He gave his people not only an example of virtue but also wise guidance during the ravages and calamities of the Gothic invasion. His gifts as a poet and composer of hymns were matched by his knowledge of Scripture, generosity toward the poor, and devotion to the saints who had preceded him – especially St. Felix, whose intercession he regarded as central to his conversion. Praised by the likes of St. Augustine and St. Jerome for the depth of his conversion to Christ, the Bishop of Nola was regarded as a saint even before his death on the evening of June 22, 431 at the age of 78, and was buried at Nola near the tomb of St. Felix.

PRAYER: God, You willed that St. Paulinus, Your Bishop, should shine forth with pastoral solicitude and compassion for the poor. Help us who celebrate his merits to imitate the example of his charity. Amen 🙏🏽

SAINTS JOHN FISHER, BISHOP AND MARTYR AND THOMAS MORE, MARTYR: St. John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester and St. Thomas More were martyrs against tyranny. St. John Fisher and his friend St. Thomas More gave up their lives in testimony to the unity of the Church and to the indissolubility of Marriage. St. John martyred on June 22, 1535, Tower of London and St. Thomas martyred on July 6, 1535. St. John was Canonized with Saint Thomas More in 1935.

SAINT JOHN FISHER, BISHOP AND MARTYR: St. John Fisher was born in Beverly, Yourkshine, in 1459. He studied Theology in Cambridge (England) and received his Master of Arts degree in 1491. He occupied the vicarage of Northallerton, 1491-1494; then he became proctor of Cambridge University. In 1497, he was appointed confessor to Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, and became closely associated in her endowments to Cambridge. He created scholarships, introduced Greek and Hebrew into the curriculum, and brought in the world- famous Erasmus as Professor of Divinity and Greek. In 1504, St. John became Bishop of Rochester and Chancellor of Cambridge, in which capacity he also tutored Prince Henry who was to become Henry VIII. St. John was dedicated to the welfare of his diocese and his university. From 1527, this humble servant of God actively opposed the King’s divorce proceeding against Catharine, his wife in the sight of God, and steadfastly resisted the encroachment of Henry on the Church. Unlike the other Bishops of the realm, St. John refused to take the oath of succession, which acknowledged the issue of Henry and Anne as the legitimate heir to the throne, and he was imprisoned in the Tower in April 1534. The next year he was made a Cardinal by Paul III, and Henry retaliated by having him beheaded within a month. A half-hour before execution, this dedicated scholar and churchman opened his New Testament for the last time and his eyes fell on the following words St. John’s Gospel: “Eternal life is this: to know You, the only true God, and Him Whom You have sent, Jesus Christ. I have given You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do. Do You now, Father, give Me glory at Your side” (17:3-5). Closing the book, he observed: “There is enough learning in that to last me the rest of my life.” His friend, Thomas More, wrote of him, ‘I reckon in this realm no one man, in wisdom, learning and long approved virtue together, meet to be matched and compared with him.’ St. John was martyred on June 22, 1535, Tower of London and was canonized in 1935 by Pope Pius XI. He’s the Patron Saint of those persecuted for the Faith.

SAINT THOMAS MORE, MARTYR: St. Thomas More (1478–1535) was born in London England in 1478, the son of a lawyer and judge. He was educated in the finest schools and became a brilliant English statesman. After a thorough grounding in religion and the classics, he entered Oxford to study law. Upon leaving the university he embarked on a legal career that took him to Parliament. In 1505, he married his beloved Jane Colt who bore him four children, and when she died at a young age he married a widow, Alice Middleton, to be a mother for his young children. A wit and a reformer, this learned man numbered Bishops and scholars among his friends, and by 1516 wrote his world-famous book Utopia. King Henry VIII appointed St. Thomas to a succession of high posts, and finally made him Lord Chancellor in 1529. However, he resigned in 1532, at the height of his career and reputation, when Henry persisted in holding his own opinions regarding marriage and the supremacy of the Pope. As a family man and a public servant, his life was a rare synthesis of human sensitivity and Christian wisdom. The rest of Thomas’s life was spent in writing mostly in defense of the Church. In 1534, with his close friend, St. John Fisher, he refused to render allegiance to the King as the Head of the Church of England and was confined. Fifteen months later, and nine days after St. John Fisher’s execution, he was tried and convicted of treason. He told court that he could no go against his conscience and wished his judges that “we may yet hereafter in heaven merrily all met together to everlasting salvation.” And on the scaffold he told the crowd of spectators that he was dying as “the King’s good servant—but God’s first.” He was beheaded on July 6, 1535, and canonized in 1935 by Pope Pius XI. St. Thomas More is the Patron Saint of lawyers; statesmen and politicians (declared in 2000 by St. John Paul II); Adopted children; diocese of Arlington, Virginia; civil servants; court clerks; difficult marriages; large families;  diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee Florida; politicos; step-parents; widowers.

PRAYER: God, You consummated the form of the true faith in martyrdom. Through the intercession of Sts. John and Thomas, grant that we may confirm by the testimony of our lives that faith which we profess with our tongues. Amen🙏🏽

SAINT ALBAN, MARTYR: He was the first Christian martyr in Britain during the early 4th century. He was a citizen of Verulam, although he was not a man of faith, St. Alban was very hospitable and compassionate. As a soldier, he sheltered a persecuted priest, Amphibalus, during a time when Christians were being put to death in Britain. The priest’s faith and piety struck St. Alban, as well as his dedication to prayer. Alban soon converted to Christianity by the persecuted priest, Amphibalus whom he sheltered in his house. It was not long until the Roman authorities caught up with Amphibalus. However, Alban’s new-found faith would not allow him to let the authorities arrest the priest. In an effort to help the priest escape, he switched clothes with the priest. St. Alban was caught and ordered to renounce his faith. St. Alban refused to worship idols, and when asked to state his name, answered “My name is Alban, and I worship and adore the only true and living God, who created all things.” And to this day, St. Alban’s prayer is used in St Alban’s Abbey: “I worship and adore the true and living God who created all things.”

When St. Alban refused to renounce his beliefs, the magistrate ordered that he should receive the punishment intended for the escaped priest. Upon this ruling, Alban was led out of Verulamium and up the hillside where he was tortured and beheaded. The person first selected to execute St. Alban heard his testimony and converted on the spot. After refusing to kill Alban, he was executed as well. A number of other conversions are claimed to have happened thanks to the witness of St. Alban’s martyrdom, specifically on behalf of spectators of his execution. Finally, when the priest learned that Alban was arrested in his place, he turned himself in, hoping to save Alban’s life. But that wasn’t the case. The priest was killed as well. St. Alban was executed on Holmhurst Hill. On that spot King Offa erected the Benedictine abbey of St. Alban’s by which name Verulam has since been known. The town where he was born was also renamed after him. St. Alban died in 303 in England. St. Alban is venerated as the proto-martyr of Britain. For centuries, the shrine of St. Alban in the abbey has been a destination for pilgrimages, and remains so today. He’s the Patron Saint of converts, refugees, torture victims.

Saint Alban’s Prayer: Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace; strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen🙏🏽