Catholic Golden Nuggets

09/06/2026

St. Eleutherius (d. 585) was abbot of St. Mark’s Abbey near Spoleto, Italy, noted for simplicity, penance, and miracles. He delivered a boy from demonic possession; when a proud remark allowed the devil to return, he and his monks fasted in repentance until the child was freed. A friend of Pope St. Gregory the Great, he prayed for the pope’s health so Gregory could keep the Easter vigil fast. Tradition also credits him with raising a man from the dead. He later resigned and died in Rome. Feast: September 6.

09/05/2026

St. Teresa of Calcutta (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) was born August 26, 1910, in Skopje to an Albanian Catholic family. At eighteen she joined the Loreto Sisters in Ireland and taught for years in Calcutta. In 1946 she received a “call within a call” to live among the poorest of the poor. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in 1950, serving the dying, orphans, and abandoned. Awarded the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, she died September 5, 1997, and was canonized by Pope Francis in 2016. Her feast is September 5.

09/05/2026

St. Lawrence Justinian (Lorenzo Giustiniani, 1381–1456) was born in Venice to a noble family and, at about nineteen, joined the Canons Regular of San Giorgio in Alga. Known for poverty, prayer, and reform, he became prior general of the congregation. Pope Eugene IV named him Bishop of Castello in 1433; he rebuilt churches, aided the poor, and renewed clerical life. In 1451 he became the first Patriarch of Venice. A mystic and writer on Eternal Wisdom, he died January 8, 1456, and was canonized in 1690.

09/05/2026

Saint Rosalia (c. 1130–1166), called la Santuzza, was a Norman noblewoman of Palermo who left court life for solitude. Tradition says angels led her to a cave on Mount Pellegrino, where she vowed to live for Christ and died as a hermit. In 1624, during a plague, her relics were found and carried through the city; the epidemic then ceased. Palermo made her its patron. Her feast is September 4; the July Festino also honors her.

09/04/2026

St. Rose of Viterbo (c. 1233–1251) was a poor girl from Viterbo, Italy, who became a Franciscan tertiary and street preacher.  After a childhood vision of the Virgin Mary, she urged penance and loyalty to the pope against Emperor Frederick II. Exiled with her family, she later returned and predicted the emperor’s death. Refused by the Poor Clares for lack of a dowry, she lived in her father’s house until dying at about eighteen. Canonized in 1457, she is honored on September 4; her body is still venerated in Viterbo.

09/04/2026

The Prophet Moses, Levite son of Amram and Jochebed, was born in Egypt under slavery. Hidden in a Nile basket from Pharaoh’s edict, he was raised at court. After killing an Egyptian he fled to Midian; God called him from the burning bush to free Israel. He parted the Red Sea, received the Law on Sinai, wrote the Pentateuch, and led Israel forty years. He died at 120 on Mount Nebo, seeing the Promised Land he never entered.

09/04/2026

Pope St. Pius X (Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, 1835–1914) was born poor in Riese, Italy, ordained in 1858, and served as parish priest, bishop of Mantua, and patriarch of Venice before his election as pope in 1903.
His motto was “To restore all things in Christ.” He encouraged frequent Communion, lowered First Communion to about age seven, restored Gregorian chant, began the 1917 Code of Canon Law, and opposed Modernism. He died as World War I began, was canonized in 1954, and is remembered as the Pope of the Eucharist.

09/04/2026

This is the place of the Upper Room, a place of profound significance in the life of Jesus. It was here, on the night before His crucifixion, that He shared His final meal with His disciples—a meal that would forever change history.

To truly understand the setting of the Last Supper, we need to step into the world of a first-century . The Upper Room was a common architectural feature in 1st-century Jewish homes, especially in Jerusalem. It was typically the uppermost story of a house, often used as a guest room, dining area, or place of prayer. These rooms were spacious and provided privacy, making them ideal for important gatherings.

Historically, this site has been venerated since the first century, the actual upper room house was turned into a synagogue church by the early followers of Jesus, later it was destroyed by the Romans during the destruction of Jerusalem and early Christians came back and rebuilt parts of it
By the 4th century when christianity gained imperial support under roman Emperor Constantine the site was identified again, a byzantine church was built over the same spot where once the upper Room stood
The current structure is a Crusader-era Gothic structure built over the earlier Byzantine and older foundations.
Over centuries, it was used as a Christian church, a mosque under the Ottomans, and today remains a key pilgrimage site. Excavations nearby have revealed 1st-century homes and ritual baths (mikva’ot), supporting the area’s historical significance.

09/03/2026

Our Lady, Mother of the Good Shepherd (also known as the Divine Shepherdess or Divina Pastora) is a Marian title honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary as the caring shepherdess who leads souls to her Son, Jesus the Good Shepherd.

The devotion began in 1703 when Capuchin friar Isidore of Seville depicted Mary as a humble shepherdess: simply dressed, seated on a rock under a tree, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, with lambs around her. It spread rapidly through Spain and Latin America. Pope Pius VI approved its liturgical texts in 1795. Traditionally observed on the Saturday before Good Shepherd Sunday, she is the patroness of Capuchin missions worldwide.

09/03/2026