Memorial of Saints (February 7)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Colette, virgin
• Adaucus, martyr
• Theodore of Heraclea, martyr
• Moses, bishop
• Richard, "King"
• Luke the Younger

St. Colette (1381-1447 A.D.) was a daughter of a carpenter at Corbie Abbey in Picardy, France. She began as a Franciscan tertiary who lived at Corbie as a solitary. In 1406 A.D., in response to a dream, she saw her calling to reform the Poor Clares. Receiving the Poor Clare habit from Peter Luna, with orders to reform the Order and appointing her superior, she began her work in reforming all the convents of the Poor Clares. Despite great opposition, she was successful in her reformation of the Order and founded seventeen more convents with the reformed rule. She was canonized in 1807 A.D. and a branch of the Poor Clares known as the Colettines was named in her honor.

St. Theodore of Heraclea (date of death unknown) was a resident of Heraclea in Pontus. He became a general in the army of Emperor Licinius and also a governor of Pontus. When it was discovered that he was a Christian, he was tortured and then beheaded by order of Licinius. Theodore is often surnamed Stratelates (general) and is one of the four honored by the Greeks as "a great martyr".

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [February 7]

• Parthenius, Bishop of Lampsachia
• Luke

Memorial of Saints (February 6)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Paul Miki and Companion Martyrs
• Mel and Melchu, bishop
• Vedast or Vaast, bishop
• Amand, bishop
• Guarinus, bishop
• Hildegund, widow
• Dorothy, martyr

Saints for February 6, Learn more

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [February 6]

• Bukolus, Bishop of Smyrna

St. Bukolus or Bucolus, was a disciple of the St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, and became the first bishop of Smyrna. He peacefully died in the years between 100-105 A.D. His flock was entrusted to St. Polycarp, who was also a disciple of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. Learn more from OCA.org

Memorials of Saints (February 5)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Agatha, virgin and martyr
• Avitus of Vienne, bishop
• Bertoul or Bertulf
• Indractus and Dominica, martyrs
• Vodalus or Voel
• Adelaide of Bellich, virgin
• The Martyrs of Japan
• Peter Baptist
• Martin de Aguirre
• Francis Blanco
• Francis-of-St.-Michael
• Philip de las Casas
• Gonsalo Garcia
• Paul Miki
• John Goto
• James Kisai
• Caius Francis
• Francis of Miako
• Leo Karasuma
• Louis Ibarki
• Antony Deynan
• Thomas Kasaki

Christian missionaries arrived with St. Francis Xavier and the Jesuits in the 1540s A.D. and briefly flourished, with over 100,000 converts, including many daimyōs in Kyushu. At first, the Shogunate of Japan was amenable to their presence as they believed that this would reduce the power of the Buddhist monks over the people. However, when the Shogunate saw how colonialism took hold on the Philippines because of the conversion of the Filipinos to Catholicism, they became wary. Christianity eventually became a threat to the higher powers in the Japanese Shogunate and so was banned beginning in 1587 A.D. The repression took the lives of many Christian martyrs.

The Martyrs of Japan, Learn more at Wikipedia.org

Saints in the Roman Calendar - February 5 [Learn more]

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [February 5]

• St. Agatha, Martyr

St. Agatha (d. ca. 251 A.D.) is commemorated today, February 5, in both the Roman Calendar and the Byzantine Calendar. Although facts about her life and death are uncertain, devotion to her developed early in the history of the Church. Her name is included in the Martyrology of Jerome and on the liturgical calendar of Carthage (ca. 530 A.D.). St. Agatha is also mentioned in the Canon of the Roman Mass. Pope Damasus I composed a hymn in her honor, and two churches were dedicated to her in Rome during the sixth century A.D.

One story says that Agatha made a vow of virginity which a Roman consul attempted to violate. Upon her refusal, she was subjected to torture, including the cutting off of her breasts. However, her vision of the Apostle Peter healed her miraculously. Having suffered so much because of all the torture inflicted upon her, she died in prison. St. Agatha is invoked against diseases of the breast as well as against volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. She is also patron saints of nurses and firefighters. Her feast remains on the General Roman Calendar even after the revisions of Vatican II in the Church's liturgy in 1969 A.D. The Russian Orthodox Church also celebrates her feast on this day.

A Prayer to St. Agatha, @DivineMercyPrayer YouTube.com