Memorial of Saints (December 3)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Francis Xavier, priest
• Lucius
• Claudius, Hilaria & Companions, martyrs
• Cassian, martyr
• Sola

Francis Xavier: (died 1552 A.D. at age 46). Francis Xavier was from Navarre and was born of a noble Basque family. He then went to Paris in 1525 A.D. to study there. In the University of Paris, he met Ignatius of Loyola, and became one of the founding Jesuits of the Society of Jesus. After his ordination, Francis Xavier went as a missionary to Asia and preached in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Japan. While waiting for a boat to bring him to China, he died of exhaustion and fever on the island of Shangchwan near Canton. He is the patron saint of all foreign missions.

Related blog posts:

• O Deus Ego Amo Te, is a poem used as an alternative to the hymn of Thursday, Night Prayer. The poem is composed by Gerard Manley Hopkins, who made St.Francis Xavier's original prayer into this contemporary version and translation. Learn more.

December 3 Saints in the Byzantine Calendar

• St. Sophonias, Prophet
• Theodulus

The Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches celebrate the feast of St. Sophonias or Zephaniah, a seventh-century B.C. minor prophet who may have been the cousin of the major prophet Jeremiah.

Memorial of Saints (December 2)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Bibiana, virgin and martyr
• Chromatius, bishop

St. Bibiana or Viviana (4th century A.D.) and the story of her life does not have historical records. But there is a church in Rome that is dedicated to her and it existed already in the 5th century A.D. It had been dedicated by the Pope himself. According to pious stories, Bibiana was the daughter of the ex-prefect Flavian, who had been tortured for his faith and banished to Acquapendente during the persecution of Julian the Apostate. After Flavian's death, Flavian's wife was beheaded and Bibiana and her sister were arrested. Bibiana's sister dropped dead on her arrest and Bibiana was scourged to death.

December 2 Saints in the Byzantine Calendar

• St. Habacuc, one of the Twelve Lesser Prophets

December 2 in the History of the Catholic Church

On December 2, 1980 A.D., four missionaries were raped and murdered in El Salvador: Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan. Maura Clarke and Ita Ford were Maryknoll sisters, Dorothy Kazel was an Ursuline sister, and Jean Donovan was a lay missionary. Nine months ago, Bishop Oscar Romero had been assassinated while celebrating Mass, because of his commitment to human rights and the Church's "preferential option for the poor".

Citations from Google Gemini

While there hasn't been an official cause for canonization initiated for Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan, their martyrdom and their unwavering commitment to justice and peace have led many to consider them saints. Their story continues to inspire and their legacy lives on.

• Salvadoran City Claims Maryknoll Martyrs As Its Own, Learn more
• Recognizing Saints: The Process of Canonization, Learn more

Memorial of Saints (December 1)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Eligius of Noyon, bishop
• Edmund Campion, Ralph Sherwin, Alexander Briant, & Robert Southwell, priests and martyrs, (four of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales)
• Ansanus, martyr
• Agericus or Airy, bishop
• Tudwal, bishop
• Charles de Foucauld

Sts. Edmund Campion, Ralph Sherwin, & Robert Southwell were Jesuits. St. Alexander Briant was a diocesan priest. When St. Alexander was imprisoned in the Tower of London, he wrote a letter to the Jesuits in England reflecting on his plight and asked to be admitted to the Society of Jesus. Consequently, he is numbered among the Jesuits' martyrs.

St. Robert Southwell was a Jesuit poet known for his poem, "The Burning Babe". Here is a quote from that poem:

Love is the fire
and sighs the smoke,
the ashes shame and scorns;
The fuel Justice layeth on,
and Mercy blows the coals;
The metal in this furnace wrought
are men's defiled souls,
For which, as now on fire I am,
to work them to their good,
So will I melt into a bath,
to wash them in my blood;
With this He vanish'd out of sight,
and swiftly shrunk away,
And straight I call'd unto mind
that it was Christmas day.

December 1 Saints in the Byzantine Calendar

• St. Nahum, Prophet
• St. Filaret, the "Almsgiver"
• St. Ananias, Martyr

The Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches celebrate today the feast of St. Nahum, a minor prophet in the Old Testament who was the father of another minor prophet, Amos.

The Church of England commemorates on December 1 Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916 A.D.). Charles de Foucauld was a French soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnographer, hermit, and Catholic priest who lived among the Tuareg people in the Sahara in Algeria (as a witness in the midst of non-Christians). His writings led to the founding of a number of religious communities inspired by his example, such as the Little Brothers of Jesus.

Charles de Foucauld was canonized by Pope Francis on 15 May 2022 A.D. in Rome. The Roman Catholic Church also celebrates the feast day of St. Charles de Foucauld every December 1.