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St. Francis Xavier - Katipunan Parish, Katipunan (2026)

23/05/2026

Saint of the Day
May 23 I St. William of Perth

Martyr, born at Perth; died about 1201. Practically all that is known of this martyr comes from the "Nova legenda Anglie", and that is little. In youth he had been somewhat wild, but on reaching manhood he devoted himself wholly to the service of God.

A baker by trade, he was accustomed to set aside every tenth loaf for the poor. He went to Mass daily, and one morning, before it was light, found on the threshold of the church an abandoned child, whom he adopted and to whom he taught his trade. Later he took a vow to visit the Holy Places, and, having received the consecrated wallet and staff, set out with his adopted son, whose name is given as "Cockermay Doucri", which is said to be Scots for "David the Foundling". They stayed three days at Rochester, and purposed to proceed next day to Canterbury, but instead David wilfully misled his benefactor and, with robbery in view, felled him with a blow on the head and cut his throat. The body was discovered by a mad woman, who plaited a garland of flowers and placed it first on the head of the co**se and then her own, whereupon the madness left her. On learning her tale the monks of Rochester carried the body to the cathedral and there buried it.

In 1256 the Bishop of Rochester, Lawrence de S. Martino, obtained the canonization of St. William by Pope Alexander IV. A beginning was at once made with his shrine, which was situated in the northeast transept, and attracted crowds of pilgrims.

At the same time a small chapel was built at the place of the murder, which was thereafter called Palmersdene. Remains of this chapel are still to be seen near the present St. William's Hospital, on the road leading by Horsted Farm to Maidstone. On 18 and 19 February, 1300, King Edward I gave two donations of seven shillings to the shrine. On 29 November, 1399, Pope Boniface IX granted an indulgence to those who visited and gave alms to the shrine on certain specified days.

St. William is represented in a wall-painting, which was discovered in 1883 in Frindsbury church, near Rochester, which is supposed to have been painted about 1256-1266. His feast was kept on 23 May.

22/05/2026

Saint of the Day
May 22 I St. Rita of Cascia

Like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife, mother, widow, and member of a religious community. Her holiness was reflected in each phase of her life.

Born at Roccaporena in central Italy, Rita wanted to become a nun but was pressured at a young age into marrying a harsh and cruel man. During her 18-year marriage, she bore and raised two sons. After her husband was killed in a brawl and her sons had died, Rita tried to join the Augustinian nuns in Cascia. Unsuccessful at first because she was a widow, Rita eventually succeeded.

Over the years, her austerity, prayerfulness, and charity became legendary. When she developed wounds on her forehead, people quickly associated them with the wounds from Christ’s crown of thorns. She meditated frequently on Christ’s passion. Her care for the sick nuns was especially loving. She also counseled lay people who came to her monastery.

Beatified in 1626, Rita was not canonized until 1900. She has acquired the reputation, together with Saint Jude, as a saint of impossible cases. Many people visit her tomb each year.

21/05/2026

Saint of the Day
May 21 I St. Christopher Magallanes

Like Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro, SJ, Cristóbal and his 24 companion martyrs lived under a very anti-Catholic government in Mexico, one determined to weaken the Catholic faith of its people. Churches, schools, and seminaries were closed; foreign clergy were expelled. Cristóbal established a clandestine seminary at Totatiche, Jalisco. He and the other priests were forced to minister secretly to Catholics during the presidency of Plutarco Calles (1924-28).

All of these martyrs except three, were diocesan priests. David, Manuel and Salvador were laymen who died with their parish priest, Luis Batis. They all belonged to the Cristero movement, pledging their allegiance to Christ and to the Church that he established, to spread the Good News in society—even if Mexico’s leaders had made it a crime to receive baptism or celebrate the Mass.

These martyrs did not die as a single group but over 22 years time in eight Mexican states, with Jalisco and Zacatecas having the largest number. They were beatified in 1992 and canonized eight years later.

19/05/2026

𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝟮𝟬 | 𝗦𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗕𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗮

Most of the saints suffer great personal opposition, even persecution. Bernardine, by contrast, seems more like a human dynamo who simply took on the needs of the world.

He was the greatest preacher of his time, journeying across Italy, calming strife-torn cities, attacking the paganism he found rampant, attracting crowds of 30,000, following Saint Francis of Assisi’s admonition to preach about “vice and virtue, punishment and glory.”

Compared with Saint Paul by the pope, Bernardine had a keen intuition of the needs of the time, along with solid holiness and boundless energy and joy. He accomplished all this despite having a very weak and hoarse voice, miraculously improved later because of his devotion to Mary.

When he was 20, the plague was at its height in his hometown of Siena. Sometimes as many as 20 people died in one day at the hospital. Bernardine offered to run the hospital and, with the help of other young men, nursed patients there for four months. He escaped the plague, but was so exhausted that a fever confined him for several months. He spent another year caring for a beloved aunt whose parents had died when he was a child, and at her death began to fast and pray to know God’s will for him.

At 22, he entered the Franciscan Order and was ordained two years later. For almost a dozen years he lived in solitude and prayer, but his gifts ultimately caused him to be sent to preach. He always traveled on foot, sometimes speaking for hours in one place, then doing the same in another town.

Especially known for his devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, Bernardine devised a symbol—IHS, the first three letters of the name of Jesus in Greek—in Gothic letters on a blazing sun. This was to displace the superstitious symbols of the day, as well as the insignia of factions: for example, Guelphs and Ghibellines. The devotion spread, and the symbol began to appear in churches, homes and public buildings. Opposition arose from those who thought it a dangerous innovation. Three attempts were made to have the pope take action against him, but Bernardine’s holiness, orthodoxy, and intelligence were evidence of his faithfulness.

General of the Friars of the Strict Observance, a branch of the Franciscan Order, Bernardine strongly emphasized scholarship and further study of theology and canon law. When he started there were 300 friars in the community; when he died there were 4,000. He returned to preaching the last two years of his life, dying while traveling.

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18/05/2026

Saint of the Day
May 19 I St. Dunstan

Saint Dunstan, one of the greatest saints of the Anglo-Saxon Church, was an English monk from the town of Glastonbury. After serving the king, he joined the monastery of Glastonbury, where he became Abbot around 943. He carried out a thorough reform of the monastery and provided a great place for learning. He was made Bishop of Worcester in 957 and a few years after he moved on to being the Bishop of Canterbury. He died on May 19, 988, after 27 years as bishop.
He was born near Glastonbury on the estate of his father, Heorstan, a West Saxon noble. His mother, Cynethryth, a woman of saintly life, was miraculously forewarned of the sanctity of the child within her. She was in the church of St. Mary on Candleday, when all the lights were suddenly extinguished. Then the candle held by Cynethryth was as suddenly relighted, and all present lit their candles at this miraculous flame.

Throughout his life, he was noted for his devotion to learning and for his mastery of many kinds of artistic craftsmanship. Dunstan’s uncle introduced him to the king, whom he seemed to favor, and those around him became envious. They accused him of studying heathen literature and magic, and so wrought on the king that St. Dunstan was ordered to leave the court. As he left the palace his enemies attacked him, beat him severely, bound him, and threw him into a filthy pit (probably a cesspool), treading him down in the mire. He managed to crawl out and make his way to the house of a friend whence he journeyed to Wi******er and entered the service of Bishop Aelfheah the Bald, who was his relative. The bishop endeavored to persuade him to become a monk, but St. Dunstan was at first doubtful whether he had a vocation to a celibate life. But an attack of swelling tumors all over his body, so severe that he thought it was leprosy, which was perhaps some form of blood poisoning caused by the treatment to which he had been subjected, changed his mind. He made his profession at the hands of St. Aelfheah, and returned to live the life of a hermit at Glastonbury. Against the old church of St. Mary he built a little cell only five feet long and two and a half feet deep, where he studied and worked at his handicrafts and played on his harp. Here the devil is said (in a late eleventh legend) to have tempted him and to have been seized by the face with the saint’s tongs.
While Dunstan was living thus at Glastonbury he became the trusted adviser of Lady Aethelflaed, King Aethelstan’s niece, and at her death found himself in control of all her great wealth, which he used in later life to foster and encourage the monastic revival. At about the same time his father Heorstan died, and St. Dunstan inherited his possessions also.
St. Dunstan pushed forward his reforms in Church and State. There was peace in the kingdom such as had not been known within the memory of living man. Monasteries were built, and in some of the great cathedrals ranks took the place of the secular canons; in the rest, the canons were obliged to live according to rule. In 957, he was made Bishop of Worcester. Later on, he became Bishop of London and in 961, Bishop of Canterbury.

St. Dunstan’s life at Canterbury is characteristic; long hours, both day and night, were spent in private prayer, besides his regular attendance at Mass and the Office. He worked ever for the spiritual and temporal improvement of his people, building and restoring churches, establishing schools, judging suits, defending the widow and the orphan, promoting peace, and enforcing respect for purity. He practiced, also, his handicrafts, making bells and organs and correcting the books in the cathedral library. He encouraged and protected scholars of all lands who came to England, and was unwearied as a teacher of the boys in the cathedral school.

On the vigil of Ascension Day, 988 he was warned by a vision of angels that he had but three days to live. His strength failed rapidly, and on May 19th, Mass was celebrated in his presence, then he received Extreme Unction and the Holy Viaticum, and expired as he uttered the words of thanksgiving: “He hath made a remembrance of his wonderful works, being a merciful and gracious Lord: He hath given food to them that fear Him.” They buried him in his cathedral; and when that was burnt down in 1074, his relics were translated with great honor by Lanfranc to a tomb on the south side of the high altar in the new church.

18/05/2026

Saint of the Day
18 May I St. John I

Pope John I inherited the A***n heresy, which denied the divinity of Christ. Italy had been ruled for 30 years by an emperor who espoused the heresy, though he treated the empire’s Catholics with toleration. His policy changed at about the time the young John was elected pope.

When the eastern emperor began imposing severe measures on the A***ns of his area, the western emperor forced John to head a delegation to the East to soften the measures against the heretics. Little is known of the manner or outcome of the negotiations—designed to secure continued toleration of Catholics in the West.

On his way home, John was imprisoned at Ravenna because the emperor had begun to suspect that John’s friendship with his eastern rival might lead to a conspiracy against his throne. Shortly after his imprisonment, John died, apparently from the treatment he received in prison.

John’s body was transported to Rome and he was buried in the Basilica of St. Peter.

16/05/2026

Saint of the Day
16 May I St. Brendan

St. Brendan of Clonfert was known as “the Navigator,” “the Voyager,” “the Bold.” One-hundred years before Brendan was born, Ireland was moving from a pagan to a Christian nation through the inspiration of St. Patrick. However, Christianity had a slow start. Although St. Patrick did much to convert Ireland, Christianity did not flourish until after his death. Brendan, because of his upbringing, carried on the mission to spread the faith. He is known as one of the original Twelve Apostles of Ireland.

In 484 A.D. Brendan was born in Fenit, near the small seaside port of Tralee, in County Kerry in the province of Munster in the southwest of Ireland. His parents were Finlug and Cara. He came under the tutelage of Bishop Erc who was their spiritual leader. It was Bishop Erc who baptized the child and changed his name from Mobhi to Brendan (Broen-finn, meaning “fair-drop”). Brendan was sent to study at school with St. Ita of Killeedy, as his teacher. In the year 510 Brendan was ordained a priest. During the period of 510-530, he was instrumental in establishing monastic communities around the port of Ardfert. Being influenced by the beauty of the land and also seeing daily the mysteries of the ocean, Brendan’s enthusiasm for exploration grew. It is from the port of Ardfert that he initially set out on his travels into uncharted waters.

His journals speak of adventures by boat to Britain, Scotland, Greenland, Iceland, and possibly even America. There are signs of ancient Celtic presence in areas of Newfoundland as well as some of the New England states. Evidence of this means that Brendan’s claims are not necessarily mythological in nature. It is reported that Christopher Columbus even studied the saint’s journals before setting out on his own seafaring expeditions.

St. Brendan’s most famous monastery was built in Clonfert in County Galway in 560. Today, there is a cathedral located there, surrounded by a cemetery. St. Brendan’s grave is simply marked immediately outside the cathedral front doors. He died at that age of 93 in 577 A.D.

St. Brendan the Navigator is known as the patron saint of sailors and the United States Navy. He is the patron of those who are afraid because he himself was fearless in setting out into uncharted water and in uncertain circumstances.

15/05/2026

Saint of the Day
May 15 I St. Isidore the Farmer

Isidore has become the patron of farmers and rural communities. In particular, he is the patron of Madrid, Spain, and of the United States National Rural Life Conference.

When he was barely old enough to wield a hoe, Isidore entered the service of John de Vergas, a wealthy landowner from Madrid, and worked faithfully on his estate outside the city for the rest of his life. He married a young woman as simple and upright as himself who also became a saint—Maria de la Cabeza. They had one son, who died as a child.

Isidore had deep religious instincts. He rose early in the morning to go to church and spent many a holiday devoutly visiting the churches of Madrid and surrounding areas. All day long, as he walked behind the plow, he communed with God. His devotion, one might say, became a problem, for his fellow workers sometimes complained that he often showed up late because of lingering in church too long.

He was known for his love of the poor, and there are accounts of Isidore’s supplying them miraculously with food. He had a great concern for the proper treatment of animals.

He died May 15, 1130, and was declared a saint in 1622, with Saints Ignatius of Loyola, Francis Xavier, Teresa of Avila, and Philip Neri. Together, the group is known in Spain as “the five saints.”

14/05/2026

Saint of the Day
May 14 I St. Matthias

According to Acts 1:15-26, during the days after the Ascension Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers—about 120 of Jesus’ followers. Now that Judas had betrayed his ministry, it was necessary, Peter said, to fulfill the scriptural recommendation that another should take his office. “Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection” (Acts 1:21-22).

They nominated two men: Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias. They prayed and drew lots. The choice fell upon Matthias, who was added to the Eleven.

Matthias is not mentioned by name anywhere else in the New Testament.

13/05/2026

May 13 I Our Lady of Fatima

Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese children–Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin Lucia dos Santos–received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. Mary asked the children to pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners, and for the conversion of Russia.

Mary gave the children three secrets. Following the deaths of Francisco and Jacinta in 1919 and 1920 respectively, Lucia revealed the first secret in 1927. It concerned devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The second secret was a vision of hell. When Lucia grew up she became a Carmelite nun and died in 2005 at the age of 97.

Pope John Paul II directed the Holy See’s Secretary of State to reveal the third secret in 2000; it spoke of a “bishop in white” who was shot by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows into him. Many people linked this vision to the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square on May 13, 1981.

The feast of Our Lady of Fatima was approved by the local bishop in 1930; it was added to the Church’s worldwide calendar in 2002.

11/05/2026

Saint of the Day
11 May I St. Gengulphus

Saint Gengulphus of Burgundy was born in Burgundy, France. His parents were the main supporters of his Christian upbringing, and when they died, Gengulphus had to start dealing with the inherited lands that he was able to administer with prudence and wisdom. Gengulphus married a girl belonging to a noble family. But his wife did not possess all the virtues of her holy husband.

Gengulphus took part as a knight in the many wars waged by Pepin the Short. Later he preferred to devote himself to preaching the Gospel in Friesland. Back home, Gengulphus discovered his wife had cheated on him. Wishing her no harm he became a hermit in his castle at Avallon, France. On May 11 760 his wife lover killed him.

St. Francis Xavier - Katipunan Parish

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