St Agnes of Rome - January 21st
Born: AD 291 at Rome, Italy
Martyred: Age 13, AD 304 at Rome, Italy
Canonized: Pre-Congregation
Reason: Martyrdom; Roman noble and virgin; Accepted death rather than sacrifice her virtue to Prefect Sempronius; Tried to burn her at the stake but it would not light; She was beheaded on the spot
Patron: Chastity, Virgins, Betrothed couples
St Albert of Louvain - November 24th
Born: c. AD 1161 at Louvain, France
Martyred: November 24, 1192 at Reims, France
Canonized: August 9, 1613
Reason: Member of French nobility, received knighthood & joined Crusade after fall of Jerusalem in 1187; Family power struggle erupted when he was made subdeacon over brother; Ambushed and assassinated after being made a cardinal.
Blessed Albertina Berkenbrock - June 15th
Born: April 11, 1919 at Sao Luis, Brazil
Martyred: Age 12, June 15, 1931 at Sao Luis, Brazil
Beatified: October 20, 2007
Reason: Martyrdom; Murdered after refusing rapist in order to protect her Christian virginity; Taught catechism to fellow children her age; Led a life of piety.
Patron: Rape victims
St Catherine of Alexandria - November 25th
Born: AD 287 at Alexandria, Egypt
Martyred: Age 17, AD 305 at Alexandria, Egypt
Canonized: Pre-Congregation
Reason: Became Christian after vision of Blessed Virgin Mary; daughter of the governor of Alexandria, she argued passionately for Christianity before Emperor Maxentius; unimpressed, he tried to break her on the wheel but the wheel broke instead; Goaded executioner to behead her instead.
Patron: Unmarried girls, the dying, educators
St Cecilia - November 22nd
Born: Unknown
Martyred: AD 176-180, at Rome, Italy
Canonized: Pre-Congregation
Reason: Martyrdom; Married against her will to a pagan Roman nobleman; Sat aside from him at the wedding, singing from her heart; refused to consummate the marriage and warned he needed to be baptized first; He followed her advice; Later, they were both martyred at the hands of the prefect.
Patron: Music, musicians, poets, pipe organs
Blessed Charles de Foucald - December 1st
Born: September 15, 1858 at Strasbourg, France
Martyred: December 1, 1916 at Tamanrasset, French Algeria
Beatified: November 13, 2005; In 2020, Pope Francis confirmed he will be canonized (TBD).
Reason: Martyrdom by assassination; Hermit who lived among ethnic Tuaregs in Saharan French Algeria; Writings led to founding of Little Brothers of Jesus
St Charles Lwanga (and Companions) - June 3rd
Born: January 1, 1860 at Kingdom of Buganda
Martyred: June 3, 1866 at Kingdom of Buganda
Canonized: October 18, 1964
Reason: Martyrdom; chief of the royal pages and later major-domo in the court of King Mwanga II of Buganda; protected boys from sexual advances of king; refused to renounce Christianity on pain of death; executed for his perseverance in faith.
Patron: Torture victims, converts, African youth
St. Charles Lwanga was canonized, but not without his companions -- all the royal pages -- many of whom are nameless -- but dozens died in the same purge for their faith and their refusal to commit sodomy with the King.
Lwanga was set aside for the particular punishment of burning at the stake. As he was being burnt, Lwanga told his executioner, "It is as if you are pouring water on me. Please repent and become a Christian like me."
Eyewitnesses described the scene of the execution by burning on 30 May 1431. Tied to a tall pillar at the Vieux-Marché in Rouen, she asked two of the clergy, Fr. Martin Ladvenu and Fr. Isambart de la Pierre, to hold a crucifix before her. An English soldier also constructed a small cross that she put in the front of her dress. After she died, the English raked back the coals to expose her charred body so that no one could claim she had escaped alive. They then burned the body twice more, to reduce it to ashes and prevent any collection of relics, and cast her remains into the Seine River. The executioner, Geoffroy Thérage, later stated that he "greatly feared to be damned for he had burned a holy woman." Source: Wikipedia