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June 23
St. Audrey (Etheldreda) (679).
St. Audrey was an East Anglian princess, and later a queen. Driven to do so by her parents, she first married a prince named Tonbert, who died three years after their marriage. He had permitted her to keep her virginity perfectly preserved. Later, she was forced to marry a powerful king from Norththumberland, named Egfrid. After 12 years of married life, still preserving her vir­ginal purity, she was permitted, with her husband’s consent, to become a nun. She founded a monastery on the Island of Ely. Three of her sisters are saints: Sts. Sex­burga, Withburga and Ethelburga. The great St.Wilfrid was one of her spiritual advisers and protectors. For centureis, Audrey was one of the most loved and venerated saints England ever had. She was not quite 50 years old when she died, and her precious body is still incorrupt.

St. Libert (1076)
St. Libert was Bishop-founder of Cambrai, France, sometimes called Liebert or Leitbert. He was a noble who became bishop in 1051. In 1054, he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, discovering that the holy city was in the hands of Saracens. Returning to Cambrai, Libert built the church and monastery of the Holy Sepulcher. He was exiled by the nobleman Hugh of Cambrai and cruelly persecuted.

June 25
St. William the Abbot (1142).
Of the many saints and holy people named William, none is better remembered than St. William of Monte Vergine, in Italy. After a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James at Compostella, in Spain, he retired to a moun­tain named Monte Vergine (Mount of the Blessed Virgin), and lived there until his death. This is where a beautiful picture of Our Lady is preserved and where many miracles take place. St. William lived, and gave his monks to live, the Rule of St. Benedict, the father of West­ern monasticism.

June 26
Sts. John and Paul (362).
These two notable Roman soldiers were martyred under the rule of the cruel Julian the Apostate. They were executed for refusing to support Julian’s defection from the dog­matic truths of the Catholic Church. Sts. John and Paul were asked to worship idols. With the beautiful clarity and courage of soldiers, they refused and were put to death. They are two of the most beloved saints in the Catholic Church. Their names are mentioned in the Roman Canon of the Mass, and always in the Litany of the Saints.


St. Anthelm (1178)
St. Anthelm was a Carthusian monk and bishop, defender of papal authority. He was born in 1107 in a castle near Chambery, in Savoy, France. He was ordained a priest and visited the Carthusian Charterhouse at Portes, where he entered the Order at the age of thirty. Two years later, in 1139, he was appointed abbot of Le Grande Chartreuse, which had been damaged. Anthelm made the monastery a worthy motherhouse of the Carthusians, constructing a defensive wall and an aqueduct. As minister-general, Anthelm also united the various charterhouses of the Order. Rules were standardized, and women were given the opportunity to enter the Carthusians in their own charterhouses. After a few years as a hermit, starting in 1152, Anthelm returned to Le Grande Chartreuse and defended Pope Alexander III against the antipope Victor IV. In 1163, the pope appointed him as bishop of Belley, France. Anthelm reformed the clergy and regulated affairs, going as far as to excommunicate a local noble, Count Humbert of Maurienne, who had taken one priest captive and murdered another priest trying to free him. When Humbert appealed to Rome and won a reversal, Anthelm left Belley in protest. Pope Alexander then sent Anthelm to England to mediate the dispute between Henry II and St. Thomas Becket. Anthelm was unable to undertake that journey. He returned to Belley to care for the poor and for the local lepers. On his deathbed, Anthelm received a penitent Count Humbert. Anthelm died on June 26, 1178. His feast has been celebrated by the Carthusians since 1607. His relics were enshrined in Belley. In liturgical art, Anthelm is depicted with a lamp lit by a divine hand

St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer (June 26, 1975)
St. Josemaria Escriva de Balaguer was born in Barbastro, Spain, on January 9, 1902, the second of six children of Jose and Dolores Escriva. Beginning in 1918, Josemaria sensed that God was asking something of him, although he didn't know exactly what it was. He decided to become a priest, in order to be available for whatever God wanted of him. He was ordained a priest and began his pastoral ministry in 1925.

On October 2, 1928, while making a retreat in Madrid, God showed him his specific mission: he was to found Opus Dei, an institution within the Catholic Church dedicated to helping people in all walks of life to follow Christ, to seek holiness in their daily life and grow in love for God and their fellow men and women. From that moment on, he dedicated all his strength to fulfilling this mission, certain that God had raised up Opus Dei to serve the Church. In 1930, responding to a new illumination from God, he started Opus Dei's apostolic work with women, making clear that they had the same responsibility as men to serve society and the Church. Meanwhile Opus Dei spread from Madrid to several other Spanish cities, and as soon as World War II ended in 1945, began starting in other countries.

The first edition of The Way, his most widely read work, was published in 1934 under the title Spiritual Considerations. Expanded and revised, it has gone through many editions since then; more than four million copies in many different languages are now in print. His other spiritual writings include Holy Rosary; The Way of the Cross; two collections of homilies, Christ Is Passing By and Friends of God; and Furrow and The Forge, which like The Way are made up of short points for prayer and reflection.

While celebrating Mass in 1943, Fr. Josemaria received a new foundational grace to establish the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, which made it possible for some of Opus Dei's lay faithful to be ordained as priests. The full incorporation of both lay faithful and priests in Opus Dei, which makes a seamless cooperation in the apostolic work possible, is an essential feature of the foundational charism of Opus Dei, affirmed by the Church in granting Opus Dei the canonical status of a personal Prelature. In addition, the Priestly Society conducts activities, in full harmony with the bishops of the local churches, for the spiritual development of diocesan priests and seminarians. Diocesan priests can also be part of the Priestly Society, while at the same time remaining clergy of their own dioceses.

Beginning in 1948, full membership in Opus Dei was open to married people. In 1950 the Holy See approved the idea of accepting non-Catholics and even non-Christians as cooperators-persons who assist Opus Dei in its projects and programs without being members. The next decade saw the launching of a wide range of undertakings: professional schools, agricultural training centers, universities, primary and secondary schools, hospitals and clinics, and other initiatives, open to people of all races, religions, and social backgrounds but of manifestly Christian inspiration. It now (2002) has more than 84,000 members in sixty countries.

Monsignor Escriva's death in Rome came suddenly on June 26, 1975, when he was 73. Large numbers of bishops and ordinary faithful petitioned the Vatican to begin the process for his beatification and canonization. On May 17, 1992, Pope John Paul II declared him Blessed before a huge crowd in St. Peter's Square. He is to be canonized-formally declared a saint-on October 6, 2002.

June 27
St. Cyril of Alexandria (444).
A Doctor of the Church, St. Cyril was “the soul of the Council of Ephesus” in 431. This was the third Ecumenical Council which defended the Divine Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary against a diabolical heretic, a bishop named Nestorius. It was this Council, and largely due to Saint Cyril’s inspiration, which gave us the last half of the Hail Mary: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,” to which was later added, “now and at the hour of our death, Amen.”

Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Thirteenth Century).
In the thirteenth century, a beautiful picture of Our Lady holding the Child Jesus, with the Angels Michael and Gabriel on either side of her, was painted in the East. In the 15th century, this picture was brought from the Island of Crete and was taken to Rome, and placed in the Church of St. Matthew, in Rome. There, for 300 years, pilgrims came to reverence and pray before this holy picture, because everyone loved its simplicity, beauty and truth. After the French Revolution, when the vicious Napoleon desecra­ted 30 Catholic Churches in Rome, this precious picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help was hidden away. In 1862, it was rediscovered, and then placed in the Church of St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, founder of the Redemptorist Order in Rome, where it is now kept. The purpose of this lovely picture is by way of simple and innocent symbol to teach us that Our Lady is our help in all things, and our help at all times. Many Catholic churches in all countries are called by the name, Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

June 28
St. lrenaeus (202).
This great saint was born to Christian parents in Asia Minor, and died when he was 72, the same age as Our Lady at her death. Irenaeus is one of the Fathers of the Church and is sometimes called “the father of Catholic theology.” He was a disciple of St. Polycarp who was in turn a disciple of St. John the Evangelist. Irenaeus was sent to Lyons, France, and was ordained a priest. He heroically opposed the heresy of Montanism, started by a blasphemer named Montanus, who pretended to be the Holy Spirit. During a fierce persecution of the Catho­lics in Lyons, when the streets were full of blood, Irenaeus himself was martyred. His body and relics were placed in the Church of St. John in Lyons. They were desecrated there by the Calvinists in the year 1562, in the century of the so-called “Reformation.” The most noted of the books he wrote is one called Against Heresies, an important part of true Catholic teaching in our seminaries today.

June 29
Sts. Peter and Paul (67).
Peter the Apostle, the first Pope of the Catholic Church, was the son of a fisherman in Galilee, named Jona. He was born and lived in the town of Bethsaida. St. Peter’s name was originally Simon, but Jesus changed it to Peter because of its meaning, which is rock. He was the Rock upon which the Catholic Church was built. He and his brother, St. Andrew, were both disciples of John the Baptist and fishermen. They saw Our Lord, heard His teachings, and gave up all to follow Him. The whole Gospel story is con­cerned, in one place or another, with Peter, and with what he said, did and preached. One-third of the New Testament book Acts of the Apostles is concerned with St. Peter, and two-thirds of it relates to St. Paul. Peter wrote two Epistles in the New Testament. After staying in Jerusalem for three years, in the year 36 he went to Antioch, and was Bishop there. His presence at Antioch made it the primatial see of the Catholic Church for over six years. Peter went to Rome in the year 42, the year that St. James, the brother of St. John, was beheaded by the Jews. Peter ruled the Church at Rome for 25 years. His hostess in Rome was a beautiful noblewoman named Priscilla. Peter stayed with Priscilla and her son Pudens, a senator, his wife Claudia and their four children: Praxedes, Pudentiana, Novatus and Timothy. This family made it possible for the Holy See to have a place in Rome where the truths of salvation could be dis­pensed, taught and regulated. Every member of this charitable family—so holy did their lives become under St. Peter’s influence—is honored in the Catholic Church as a saint. Peter was the first Pope and there has been no Pope named Peter since his time. There was a Pope in the thirteenth century who is now called Saint Peter Celestine, but this was only because after he resigned from the papacy he was given back his baptismal name, which was Peter. His name as Pope was Celestine. Peter was crucified on June 29 in the year 67, in the same year and on the same day on which Saint Paul was beheaded. At his own request, Saint Peter was crucified upside down. St. Peter’s name occurs everywhere in the prayers of the Church: at Mass, in the holy Office, in the litanies and invocations. His special feasts are now three: the Chair of St. Peter on February 22; the crucifixion of St. Peter and the beheading of St. Paul on June 29; and the Basilicas of Sts. Peter and Paul on Nov. 18.

St. Paul, the great Apostle of the Gentiles, though a Jew and of the tribe of Benjamin, was born in the Gentile country of Cilicia, in a city called Tarsus. He was born a Roman citizen. St. Paul was a disciple of Gamaliel, the renowned teacher who became a Christian and a saint. Paul first opposed the Christians, and he was present at the stoning of Saint Stephen, the first martyr, in Jerusalem. Paul’s name was Saul, when he lived as a Jew. On the road to Damascus, after the martyrdom of Stephen, he heard the voice of Our Lord speaking to him from Heaven and saying, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” Saul was his Jewish name, but so anxious was he after his conversion to become the true apostle to the non-Jews that he changed his name to Paul, after meeting and converting a notable Gentile named Ser­gius Paulus. St. Paul was baptized a Christian at Damascus by St. Ananias. Paul soon became very devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. He would not let his name be connected with hers overtly because of the way he had persecuted Christians before his conversion. But in the midst of all his journeys, he was constantly returning to Jerusalem to see her. It was Our Lady who caused St. Paul’s name to be put immediately after Peter’s in all the litanies where the Apostles are mentioned. It was Paul’s disciple, St. Luke—a Gentile— who wrote the third Gospel, which is properly called “the Gospel of Our Lady.” Paul wrote 14 Epistles in the New Testament, and has three feast days: June 29; the Conversion of St. Paul on January 25; and the feast of the Basilicas of Peter and Paul on November 18. The head of St. Paul is kept with that of St. Peter in the Church of St. John Lateran in Rome. Part of his body, along with part of Peter’s, is lovingly guarded at the Vatican. The rest of his body, along with the rest of Peter’s is kept in the Church of St. Paul’s-outside-the-Walls. Paul was beheaded, just outside the city of Rome, in the year 67. As his head bounced three times on the ground, his mouth was heard to utter, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!” Three fountains of water miraculously sprang up from the three places where his head struck the ground. Three of the Roman soldiers who assisted at the execution of St. Paul were at once converted to the Catholic Faith.

St. Mary, the Mother of Mark (First Century).
St. Mary was the mother of Saint Mark the Evangelist, whose full name was John Mark. She was a wealthy woman who lived in Jerusalem. It was at her house that the Last Supper was held, and the Blessed Sacrament instituted. It was at her house that the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles at the first Pentecost. It was at her house that Our Lady lived, in Jerusalem, until she died in the year 58. It was at her house that Peter, the first Pope, often visited, and to her house he immediately went on his deliverance from prison in Jerusalem, as we are told in the Bible. It is simple to say and to prove that St. Mary, the mother of Mark, was the greatest hostess in the history of the Catholic Church. Her house after the Last Supper was called “the Cenacle.” Mary, the mother of St. Mark, was the hostess to Jesus at Jerusalem. Priscilla, the mother of St. Pudens, was the hostess to St. Peter in Rome.

St. Emma (1045).
She was the wife of a landgrave in Austria. After she was widowed, she became a nun and founded a double monastery

St. Judith (9th Century).
She was a widow from Bavaria who supported St. Salome, an English princess exiled from her country. She was a Benedictine.

June 30
The First Martyrs of Rome (64).
On this day the Church lovingly remembers the first fruits of the martyrs of the Church at Rome, the disciples of the Apostles, who perished under the Emperor Nero. They were falsely accused of having set fire to the city and were put to death after suffering the most cruel and unheard of torments. Sts. Peter and Paul later died in the same persecution.