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On January 11, 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. Alexander of Fermo (Italian, bishop, martyred c. 250)
St. Anastasius of Castel Sant'Elia (Italian, Benedictine abbot, c. 570)
St. Boadin (Irish, Benedictine hermit in France)
St. Brandan (Irish, abbot in France)
Sts. Ethenea and Fidelmia of Connaught (Irish, princesses, disciples of St. Patrick, d. 433)
St. Frances de Sales Aviat of Sezanne [Françoise de Sales] [baptized Leonie] ["God's Little Instrument"] (French, co-foundress and superior of Sister Oblates of Saint Francis of Sales, exiled from France, died in Italy at age 69 in 1914 [beatified 1992, canonized 2001])
Bl. Francis Rogaczewski of Lipinki [Franciszek] (Polish, diocesan priest, martyred by Nazis at Stutthof [Germany] at age 37 in 1940 [beatified 1999])
St. Honorata of Pavia (Italian, nun, c. 500) Pope St. Hyginus (Greek, elected to papacy in 138, reigned until death [presumably martyred] in 142)
St. Leucius of Brindisi (Egyptian, bishop in Italy, c. 180)
St. Palaemon of Tabennisi (Egyptian, spiritual father of St. Pachomius among earliest desert hermits, d. 325)
Sts. Paldo, Taso, and Tato, of Benevento (Italian, biological brothers, Benedictine abbots [succeeding each other], died c. 720, 729, 739)
Sts. Peter, Severus, and Leucius, of Alexandria (Egyptian, martyred c. 309)
St. Salvius of Amiens (French, bishop, c. 625)
St. Theodosius the Cenobiarch of Garissus (Cappadocian [from what is now part of Turkey], hermit in Palestine, abbot, died at age 105 in 529)
St. Vitalis of Gaza (Egyptian, hermit, missionary to prostitutes of Alexandria, c. 625)
Bl. William Carter of London (English, married layman, printer's apprentice, tortured and martyred [drawn, hanged, quartered] under Elizabeth I in 1584 [beatified 1987])

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 27, 2004

Answers

-- ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), January 11, 2005.