Jmj

On November 15, we members of the Catholic Church family honor, in a special way, the following friends of God -- "saints" and "blesseds" whose souls are now in heaven:

St. Albert the Great of Lauingen [Albrecht] ["Doctor Universalis"] (German, Dominican priest, teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas, bishop of Regensburg, theologian, Doctor of the Church, died at about age 74 in 1280 [beatified 1622, canonized 1931])

St. Abibus of Edessa (Syrian, deacon, martyred by burning in 322)
St. Arnulfus of Toul (French, bishop, d. 871)
St. Ceronne of Beziers (French, virgin)
St. Desiderius of Cahors (French, bishop, c. 655)
St. Eugene of Paris (French, bishop, martyred)
St. Felix of Nola (Italian, bishop, martyred in 287)
St. Fintan of Rheinau (German, Benedictine hermit, d. 879)
St. Gurias the Ascetic and Samonas the Faithful, of Edessa (Syrians, martyred by beheading in 305)
Bl. Hugh Faringdon, Bl. John Eynon, and Bl. John Rugg, of Reading (English, Benedictine abbot [close friend of the king] and two monk-priests, martyred [probably drawn, hanged, and quartered] under Henry VIII in 1539 [beatified 1895])
St. Leopold the Good of Melk (Austrian, grandson of emperor, father of eleven surviving children, founder of many monasteries, died at about age 63 in 1136 [canonized 1486])
Bl. Lucy Brocolelli of Narni [Lucia] (Italian, wife, Dominican tertiary, visionary from childhood, stigmatist, died at about age 68 in 1544 [beatified 1720])
St. Luperius of Verona (Italian, bishop, first millennium)
St. Machudd of Lianfechell (abbot, 7th century)
St. Malo of Aleth (Welsh, monk, bishop, died at about age 100 c. 620)
Bl. Mary of the Passion de Chappotin de Neuville of Nantes [Marie de la Passion] [baptized Hélène-Marie-Philippine] (French, virgin, founded Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary, died at age 65 in 1904 [beatified 2002])
St. Paduinus of Le Mans (French, Benedictine abbot, c. 703)
St. Raphael Kalinowski of Vilnius [Rafal] [baptized Józef] (Polish/Lithuanian, military officer, prisoner in Siberia, tutor, Carmelite parish priest in Pope John Paul II's hometown, spiritual director, died at age 72 in 1907 [beatified 1983, canonized 1991]) [commemorated by some on the 19th]
Bl. Richard Whiting of Somerset, Bl. Roger James of Glastonbury, and Bl. John Thorne of Glastonbury (English, Benedictine abbot and two monks, martyred [drawn, hanged, and quartered] under Henry VIII in 1539 [beatified 1895])
St. Secundus, Fidentian, and Varicus (African, early martyrs)

If you have anything to share about these holy people, please reply now -- biographical episodes, prayers through their intercession, the fact that one is your patron -- whatever moves you. If you are interested in one of these saints or blesseds and want to find out more about him/her, please ask. Additional information is sometimes available on the Internet.

All you holy men and women, saints of God, pray for us.
God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), November 15, 2004

Answers

[Note: I am copying the following two indented messages from the old, obsolete "saints" thread for this day of the year, so that the old thread can later be deleted. JFG]

John,

Would you know why it took over 600 years for St. Albert the great to be canonized?

Considering who he taught, and having "the great" next to his name must mean that God made him special. Why did it take until 1931 for him to be canonized when he died in 1280?

Isn't there only one female saint with the title"the great" assocated with her name?

Thanks in advance.

God bless you John, and your holy Catholic parents.

-- David -- November 17, 2003.

---

Jmj

Hello, David.
I remember that you taught us that she is St. Gertrude the Great!

I'm afraid that I cannot answer with certainty your question about St. Albert the Great. I can tell you two things, though, that I found in the Encyclopedia:
1. "He was beatified by Pope Gregory XV in 1622."
2. "The Bishops of Germany, assembled at Fulda in September, 1872, sent to the Holy See a petition for his canonization." [Almost 60 years passed before that took place.]

Until recent times, the road to canonization was usually an extremely slow road -- partly because of the need for four verifiable miracles worked through a person's intercession (two for beatification, two more for sainthood). This requirement was changed by our current pope to two (one plus one). I imagine that, for many heroically virtuous people, a "cause for canonization" was started, but was then abandoned or forgotten because no miracles (or too few) could be verified -- and then those who were trying to advance the cause died.

God bless you.
John

-- November 17, 2003.

-- J. F. Gecik ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), November 15, 2004.

John, It's my understanding that Saint Albert, shortly after he came to Padua as a young man, felt overwhelmed by the power of the intellectual minds he met there. Discouraged and ashamed at his own weaknesses, he was about to leave Padua when Our Lady appeared to him and asked "Why have you not requested help from me?". She then gave him the gift of knowledge that would carry him through his great career. I see nothing of this story in the New Advent Encyclopedia on Albert Magnus. Can you confirm this story? Is it merely apocryphal? Thanks, PRD

-- Pat Delaney (patrickrdelaney@yahoo.com), November 16, 2004.