Saints of the Week: Mary’s Presentation, Apostles, John Chrysostom, Noah, L. O’Toole, Albert, Gertrude, Elizabeth, & More

Happy Tuesday!

Today, Nov. 21, is the feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s Presentation in the Temple. Written and oral tradition from the earliest centuries tells us that Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anna, were childless until they were elderly, when they miraculously had Mary. So when she was three years old Mary was dedicated to God at the Temple, where she grew up serving the Lord and learning about Him.

St. Matthew the Apostle (Nov. 16) was a tax collector called by Jesus (Matt. 9:9) and thereafter one of the 12 apostles. He wrote the first of the New Testament Gospels, in either Aramaic or Hebrew, to convince his fellow Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. He evangelized in either Persia or Ethiopia and was martyred. St. Philip the Apostle(Nov. 14, Byzantine calendar), “who like Peter and Andrew was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and had become a disciple of John the Baptist, was called by the Lord to follow him. He preached in Phrygia with John the Theologian, and Bartholomew. Philip was crucified there upside down on a tree. [ECPubs]”

St. John Chrysostom (Nov. 13, Byzantine calendar) was the “archbishop of Constantinople. Born in Antioch, he was ordained to the priesthood and found worthy of the title Chrysostom because of his golden eloquence. Chosen for the see of Constantinople, he showed himself to be the best pastor and teacher of the faith. He was forced into exile by his enemies. When he was recalled from his exile by a decree of Pope Saint Innocent I, having suffered many evils from the accompanying soldiers, he returned his soul to God on the fourteenth day of September at Comana in Pontus [d. 407 AD]. [ECPubs]”

Nov. 18 is the celebration of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter and Paul in Rome. Indeed, Nov. 18, 1626, marks the endof the construction on the current St. Peter’s Basilica. St. Peter’s is one of the most iconic and magnificent churches in the world. It is built on the site of St. Peter the Apostle’s tomb, just as St. Paul’s Outside the Walls is built on the site of St. Paul’s martyrdom.

Noah the Patriarch (Nov. 18) is one of the most famous of the Old Testament patriarchs, whose righteousness merited the salvation of his family when the whole human race was wiped out (see Gen. 6-8). Catholicsaints.info: “Son of Lamech, and ninth patriarch of the Sethite line, who, with his family, was saved in the Ark from the Deluge, dying 350 years later at the age of 950. Father of Sem, Cham and Japhet[h].” Obadiah the Prophet, (Nov. 19) whose prophecy is in the Old Testament, was also this week.

St. Lawrence O’Toole (Nov. 14) was born in Ireland in 1125, and as a child was abused while serving as a political hostage to the King of Leinster. Lawrence was later given to the care of the bishop-abbot of Glendalough, where Lawrence eventually succeeded to the abbacy upon the bishop’s death. He became archbishop of Dublin next, and then traveled to England to negotiate with King Henry II.

St. Albert the Great (Nov. 15) was the “Son of a military nobleman. Dominican. Priest. Taught theology …Teacher of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Influential teacher, preacher, and administrator. Bishop of Regensburg, Germany. Introduced Greek and Arabic science and philosophy to medieval Europe. Known for his wide interest in what became known later as the natural sciences – botany, biology, etc. Theological writer. Doctor of the Church [Catholicsaints.info].”

St. Gertrude the Great (Nov. 16) “was raised in the Benedictine abbey of Saint Mary of Helfta, Eisleben, Saxony from age five. An extremely bright and dedicated student, she excelled in literature and philosophy, and when she was old enough, became a Benedictine nun.“

Our Lady of Quinche (Nov. 21). It is said that Jesus’s Mother Mary appeared to Oyacachi natives in the area of modern Ecuador, promising to protect their children, and that the artist Don Diego de Robles then arrived with a statue that looked just like the heavenly Lady.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary (Nov. 17/19) was a Hungarian princess married to the holy Landgrave Louis of Thuringia, with whom she had three children. Pious, charitable, humble, generous, and joyous.

St. Margaret of Scotland (Nov. 16) was a princess whose family fled William the Conqueror’s onslaught on England. After they were shipwrecked in Scotland, King Malcolm was captivated by Margaret and she became queen of Scotland in 1070. Mother and wise ruler.