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On January 22, 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. Vincent of Zaragoza (Spanish, deacon, tortured and martyred in 304)

St. Anastasius [pre-Christian name: Magundat] (Persian, soldier, monk, martyred by strangling in 628)
St. Blaesilla of Rome (Italian, widow, disciple of St. Jerome, died at about age 20 in 383)
St. Brithwold of Sarum (British, Benedictine monk, bishop of Ramsbury for fifty years, d. 1045)
Bl. Catherine Volpicelli of Naples [Caterina] (Italian, founded Ursuline Religious of Somasca, died at age 55 in 1894 [beatified 2001])
St. Dominic of Sora [Domenico] (Italian, Benedictine abbot, died at about age 80 in 1031)
Sts. Francis Gil de Federich of Tortosa [Francisco] and Matthew Alphonse Leciniana of Navas del Rey [Mateo Alonso] (Spanish, Dominican priests, missionaries in Philippines, martyred [both at about age 42] by beheading in Vietnam in 1744 and 1745 [beatified 1906, canonized 1988])
St. Gaudentius of Novara (Italian, bishop, c. 418)
Bl. Ladislaus Batthyány-Strattmann of Dunakiliti [László] (Hungarian, layman, husband and father, died died at about age 60 in Austria in 1931 [beatified 2003])
Bl. Laura Vicuna of Santiago (Chilean, virgin, died in Argentina at age 12 [illness and abuse] in 1904 [beatified 1988])
St. Valerius of Zaragoza (Spanish, bishop, d. 315)
St. Vincent Pallotti of Rome [Vincenzo] (Italian, priest, teacher, exorcist, healer, founder of Society of Catholic Apostolate [Pallottines], died at age 54 in 1850 [beatified 1950, canonized 1963])
St. Vincent of Digne (African, bishop in France, d. 380)
Sts. Vincent, Orontius, and Victor, of Cimiez (French, two brothers and companion, preachers, martyred in 305)
Bl. Walter of Himmerode [Gautier] (Belgian, crusading knight, Cistercian priest, d. 1222)
Bl. William Joseph Chaminade of Perigeux [Guillaume Joseph] (French, 14th of 15 children, priest, university teacher, chaplain, co-founder of Daughters of Mary Immaculate and Society of Mary [Marianists], died at age 88 in 1850 [beatified 2000])
Bl. William Patenson of Durham (English, priest, martyred [drawn, hanged, quartered] under Elizabeth I in 1592 [beatified 1929])

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), January 22, 2005

Answers

[A motto of St. Vincent Pallotti:]

Not the goods of the world, but God.
Not riches, but God.
Not honors, but God.
Not distinction, but God.
Not dignities, but God.
Not advancement, but God.
God always and in everything.

-- ("jfgecik@hotmail.com), January 22, 2005.