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On December 16, 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. Adelaide of Burgundy (French, princess, wife of a king and emperor, died at about age 68 in 999 [canonized 1097])
St. Ado of Sens (French, Benedictine, archbishop of Vienne, d. 875)
St. Albina of Caesarea (Palestinian, virgin, martyred c. 250)
St. Eusebius of Vercelli (Sardinian [Italian], bishop, fought Arianism, d. 371)
Bl. Honorat Kozminski of Biala Podlaska [baptized Waclaw (Wenceslaus)] (Polish, Capuchin friar, founded several religious congregations, died at age 87 in 1916 [beatified 1988])
St. Irenion of Gaza (Palestinian, bishop, d. 389)
St. Judicael of Domnonia (French, Breton king, abdicated to become a monk, d. 658)
Bl. Mary of the Angels Fontanella of Baldinero [Maria degli Angeli] (Italian, Carmelite prioress, visionary, died at age 56 in 1717 [beatified 1865])
St. Raynald de Bar of Citeaux (French, Cistercian abbot, d. 1151)
Bl. Sebastian Maggi of Brescia (Italian, Dominican superior, died at about age 82 in 1496 [beatified 1760] [incorruptible])
Blessed Martyrs of Thailand (Siamese [Thai], seven people [two women religious, four laywomen, one layman], martyred [shot] by Buddhists in 1940 [beatified 1989])
----- Bl. Agatha Phutta of Kengpho (died at about age 59)
----- Bl. Agnes Phila of Ban Nahi (religious of Congregation of the Lovers of the Cross, died at age 31)
----- Bl. Bibiana Khampai of Songkhon (died at age 15)
----- Bl. Cecilia Butsi of Songkhon (died at age 16)
----- Bl. Lucia Khambang of Viengkhuk (religious of Congregation of the Lovers of the Cross, died at age 23)
----- Bl. Maria Phon of Songkhon (died at age 14)
----- Bl. Philip Sipong Onphitak of Nongsėng (catechist, died at age 33)
Sts. Valentine, Concordius, Navalis, and Agricola (Italian, martyred c. 305)

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), December 10, 2004

Answers

-- ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), December 16, 2004.

ST. ADELAIDE Born in 931, St. Adelaide was the daughter of Rudolph of Burgundy. Still a child she was betrothed for political reasons to Lothair of Provence, heir of King Hugh of Italy. Hugh married Adelaide's widowed mother. At the age of sixteen she married Lothair, now Icing of Italy, and a daughter, Emma, was born of the marriage. It was an unhappy union but a short one, for in 950 Lothair died. His successor, Berengar, imprisoned her when Adelaide refused to marry his son. After four months' confinement she escaped in August 951, and when that same year the German Emperor Otto appeared in Italy and proposed marriage, she accepted. Four children were born to them, the future Otto II and three daughters, two of whom became nuns. A revolt led by Ludolf, Otto's son by his first marriage, was crushed. It would appear to have been Adelaide's influence which encouraged, if it did not inspire, Otto's policy of close collaboration with the church. During a sojourn of six years in Italy Otto and Adelaide received the imperial crown from John XII. When her husband was succeeded in 973 by their son Otto II, Adelaide for some years exercised a powerful influence. Later, however, her daughter-in-law, the Byzantine princess Theophano, turned her husband against his mother, and she was driven from court. Finally a reconciliation was effected, and in 983 Otto appointed her his viceroy in Italy.

He died the same year, and the new emperor, Otto III, still a minor, was entrusted to the joint regency of his mother and grandmother. Theophano was able once again to oust Adelaide from power and the court. Her death in 991 restored the regency to Adelaide. She was assisted by St. Willigis, bishop of Mainz. In 995 Otto came of age, and Adelaide was free to devote herself exclusively to pious works, notably the foundation or restoration of religious houses. She had long entertained close relations with Cluny, then the center of the movement for ecclesiastical reform and in particular with its abbots St. Majolus and St. Odilo. On her way to Burgundy to support her nephew Rudolph III against rebellion, she died at a monastery she had founded at Seltz. She had constantly devoted herself to the service of the church and peace, and to the empire as guardian of both; she also interested herself in the conversion of the Slavs. She was thus a principal agent—almost an embodiment—of the work of the Catholic church during the dark ages in the construction of the religion- culture of western Europe. Her feast is kept in many German dioceses.

~Taken from "The Saints: A concise Biographical Dictionary", edited by John Coulson, published by Hawthorn Books, Inc. 1960.

-- St. Adelaide (931-999 AD@yahoo.com), December 18, 2004.

ST. ADO VIENNE 875

An archbishop and scholar, Ado was born in Sens and educated at the Benedictine abbey of Ferrieres. Abbot Lupus Servatus, an outstanding humanist of the time, trained Ado, and was impressed with the obvious holiness of the young man. A noble by birth, Ado renounced his inheritance and became a Benedictine, in time assigned to the monastery of Prum, near Trier, Germany. Ado's holiness made him enemies, and he was forced to leave Prum. He went to Rome on a pilgrimage and remained there for two years. He then went to Ravenna, where he found an old copy of the Roman Martyrology. Using this, Ado wrote a new version, published in 858. In Lyons, Ado was welcomed by St. Remigius, the archbishop. He served as a pastor in Lyons until 860, when he became the archbishop of Vienne, appointed by Pope Nicholas I. Ado reformed the clergy in Vienne and wrote the lives of St. Desiderius and St. Theuderis. He also opposed the actions of Lothair II, the king of Lorraine, who tried to set aside his lawful wife to marry his mistress. Lothair bribed officials to get a divorce from his queen, Theutberga, but was undone when Ado went to Rome and denounced the plot to the pope. Ado remained in Vienne until his death in 875.

-- St Ado (875@yahoo.com), December 18, 2004.