Saints Galore August 2013

There are plenty of Saints whose feast days are celebrated this week...

I've updated a previous post with a few new links.

 The Church honours St Sixtus II and Companions, martyred in Rome on 6 August AD 258. Sixtus had been Pope for just under a year.

This article charts the life and death of Sixtus and his companions and also remembers more recent martyrs.

August 8th

Sister Mary MacKillop (1842-1909), Australian ...
Sister Mary MacKillop (1842-1909),
 Australia's first saint

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

St. Mary Mackillop:  see previous post here and here.

She had formidable courage - We need more like her today. 

More articles here



Short video of Mary Mackillop below




August 8th is also the Feast of St. Dominic
Boticelli's St Dominic Source
Pope Francis words on this year's feast day - "This great Saint reminds us that in the heart of the Church a missionary fire must always burn. It must be a constant incentive to make the first proclamation of the Gospel and, wherever necessary, a new evangelization. Christ, in fact, is the most precious good that the men and women of every time and every place have the right to know and love! And it is comforting to see that in the Church today too there are many pastors and lay faithful alike, members of ancient religious orders and new ecclesial movements who spend their lives joyfully for this supreme ideal, proclaiming and witnessing to the Gospel! " (Pope Francis, 8/8/2013).

Previous posts  here  and here. 

Fine reflection here

and a daily dose of Dominican audiopodcasts on the scriptures with reflections from different speakers from here.
Catholic artistic tradition assigns saints particular symbols that denote the Saint's martyrdom, miracles, or circumstances of their lives. These symbols serve to identify the saints, and aids to memory of a Saint's life and actions, and as symbols of spiritual ideals. 

Click here for a neat explanation of the symbols associated with St Dominic.


                                                     

                                                    Augustine Baker - Source

August 9th
 Fr Augustine Baker ( above), OSB (9 December 1575 – 9 August 1641), was a Benedictine mystic and and master of contemplative prayer. As a Catholic priest in 17th century England, Augustine Baker lived in constant danger. His persecutors followed him wherever he went to pray and profess religion. He was one of the earliest members of the newly restored English Benedictine Congregation. 
You can read his treatises here

St Theresa Benedicta of the Cross better known ad Edith Stein, Virgin, Martyr
martyred on this day August 9th, in 1942 in the Auschwitz concentration camp. 
Good biography here.








Check out the facebook page here from the Carmelite sisters in Illinois who have celebrated the life of Edith Stein with some of beautiful meditation aids that highlight her thoughts and wisdom. (Put Edith Stein onto their search box on the FB page)

August 10th

 St Lawrence (Deacon)(Martyr)

Image Source 

Good article on his life from here


2013 Post from i-Benedictines here on St Lawrence as Treasure of the Church.


August 11th

St Clare of Assisi 


  •  Previous posts on St Clare here and here.


There are several interesting reflections on St. Clare below



and here 

and here

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