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 June
14
St. Eliseus (Ninth Century
B.C.).
He was an Old Testament prophet, the disciple and companion of St.
Elias. When Elias, whose feast is July 20, was taken up in a fiery
chariot, he let his cloak fall upon St. Eliseus, who then became
his successor.
 June
15
St. Vitus (303).
Vitus, whose name can also be Guy, was a child saint, entrusted
by his pagan parents to the care of a Catholic nurse, Crescentia,
and her husband, Modestus. They secretly baptized him and brought
him up as a Catholic. When his father discovered that he had become
a Catholic, he handed him over to the pagan governor of Sicily,
where he lived as punishment. Vitus, Crescentia and Modestus
all escaped to southern Italy, and all three were captured by pagan
soldiers there, cruelly tortured, and then killed. All three are
lovingly remembered by the Catholic Church as saints. St. Vitus
is one of the 14 Holy Helpers, and is known as the protector against
nervous diseases, epilepsy and paralysis. He is also the protector
against the nervous affliction known as “Saint Vitus’
Dance.”
 St.
Germaine Cousin (1601).
She was the daughter of a poor farmer who lived near Toulouse in
France. She was born with a deformed hand and was afflicted with
the disease of scrofula. Her mother died when she was an infant,
and her father then married a most cruel woman who treated Germaine
very harshly. The great loves of St. Germane were the Blessed Eucharist
and the Blessed Virgin. She delighted to roam among the children
of her town, and tell them about Jesus and Mary. She died when she
was only 22 years old. She is beloved in southern France, even to
this day, especially in the town of Toulouse. This is the town where
St. Dominic was given the rosary, in the year 1214, by the virginal
Mother of God.
 June
16
St. John Francis Regis (1640).
He was one of the greatest priests of the Society of Jesus. He entered
the Society of Saint Ignatius when he was 19 years old, on the feast
of the Immaculate Conception. His great crusade was to bring all
Protestants back from the heresies into which they had fallen
in the 16th century. He wanted to make them members again of the
one true Church, outside of which they could not be saved. He wanted
very much to go to foreign missions, but was not allowed to go.
He loved to climb mountains and find lonely people to whom he could
teach the simple and innocent truths of the Catholic Faith. He died
in the middle of a cold winter in La Louvesc in southern France.
Rose Philippine Duchesne chose him as one of her patrons. His most
devoted client was the Cure of Ars, St. John Marie Vianney, who
got encouragement to pursue his vocation to the priesthood while
praying at the tomb of St. John. When the Cure of Ars was dying,
he declared, “Everything good that I have done, I owe to him.”
St. John established confraterities in honor of the Blessed Sacrament
and spent many hours each day in the confessional. He was hated
by the Huguenots. He died saying, “I see Our Lord and His
Mother opening Heaven for me.” St. John Francis Regis is the
patron saint of the nuns in the Religious of the Cenacle and the
patron saint of Kansas City, Mo.
 June
17
St. Botolph
(680).
Botolph was a Benedictine, and an Englishman, with over 70 churches
dedicated to him in England. An English town, originally called
Saint Botolphstown, was later contracted by the style of utterance
for which the English are famous, to Botolphstown, then Botolphston,
then Botoston, and then Boston. And so, by reason, at least of its
name, Boston, Mass is dedicated to this saintly seventh-century
saint. Anyone walking along the side streets of Boston, Massachusetts,
will see a street called “Saint Botolph’s Street.”
This keeps many Bostonians from forgetting the saint for whom the
original city was named.
St. Adolph (Seventh Century).
He was the brother of St. Botolph and a Benedictine. Adolph was
made a bishop in Germany.
St. Ranier (1160).
He was a young nobleman of Italy, born at Pisa. He dedicated
his life to prayer, penance and good works. He even made a pilgrimage
to the Holy Land so that he could see the places lovingly with his
eyes and kiss the spots where Our Lord and Our Lady had been. He
gave up all his noble titles, and retired to a monastery in the
suburbs of Pisa. He died there when he was only 32 years old, the
same age as St. John the Baptist at his death.
June
18
Sts.
Mark and Marcellian (Third Century).
They were twin brothers and deacons of the Church at Rome who were
martyred under Diocletian.
St. Elizabeth of Schonau (1164)
St. Elizabeth of Schonau was a Benedictine abbess who was a gifted
mystic. She had her first vision in 1152 and was known for ecstasies,
prophecies, and diabolical visitations. She became abbess in 1157
. Her cult was never formalized, but she is listed as a saint in
the Roman Martyrology. Her brother, Ethbert, a Benedictine abbot,
wrote her biography and recorded her visions in three books.
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