Priests Blessing Animals

Meet the Patron Saint of Cats

SAINT OF THE DAY Saint Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr First or Second Century July 20—Optional Memorial Liturgical Color: Red Patron Saint of Ravenna, Italy, and invoked against gout and epilepsy An elusive early bishop’s memory is preserved in art Ravenna, a city on Italy’s eastern Adriatic Coast, is a miniature Istanbul. It has perhaps the most impressive groupings of Byzantine churches and mosaics outside of the former Constantinople. In the centuries after the Western Roman Empire declined,

SAINT OF THE DAY Saint Martin of Tours, Bishop c. 336 – 397 November 11 – Memorial Liturgical Color: White Patron Saint of France, soldiers, and conscientious objectors He gave half his cloak to a beggar, had a dream, and then gave all his life to Christ Many great and holy men and women are unknown to history because they lacked the one crucial ingredient to become well known—a biographer. Today’s saint was one of the fortunate ones. A historian named Sulpicius Severus personally knew and inter

SAINT OF THE DAY Saint Joseph of Cupertino 1603-1663 September 18 – Memorial Liturgical Color: White Patron of aviators, pilots, air travelers, students, learning disabled After suffering a terrible childhood, St. Joseph of Cupertino became one of the most miracle-prone saints in the Church—he was often totally consumed by prayerful rapture and was even observed levitating. He was born 1603 in Cupertino, Italy to poor parents. His father was a carpenter, but was unable to make ends meet and had