Saints of the Week: Mary’s Sorrows, Joseph, Gabriel, Catherine of Sweden, Benedict, N.Von Flue, Isidore &More

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Yesterday was Palm Sunday, the day on which we recall Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the beginning of Holy Week, the most sacred period of the year. Inspired by the saints we celebrated this past week, let us take this time to reassess our lives and determine if God really is our main focus and primary love, as He should be.

March 22 is the pre-Vatican II commemoration of the Seven Sorrows (or Dolors) of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Throughout her life, Mary had to endure great suffering as part of her role in her Son’s great work of salvation. It is helpful if we meditate daily on the seven sorrows: the Prophecy of Simeon, the Flight into Egypt, the Loss of Jesus in the Temple for 3 Days, Jesus Carrying the Cross, the Crucifixion, Jesus Taken Down from the Cross, and Jesus’s Burial. Through Mary, we learn to suffer with and for Christ as she did.

St. Joseph (March 19) was the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the foster-father of Jesus. He witnessed Christ’s birth, took Him to safety in Egypt and to the Temple for worship, taught Jesus, and cared for Jesus and Mary until his own death. Joseph’s feast is an important holiday for Italians and some Italian-Americans. Read more here.

St. Gabriel (March 24) “was chosen by God to announce to Mary that she was to be the Mother of Christ” at the Annunciation (Missal); also appeared in a vision to the Old Testament Daniel. One of the greatest archangels along with Michael and Raphael.

St. Catherine of Sweden (March 24), daughter of St. Bridget, was married, but she and her husband took a vow of chastity. Catherine and Bridget prayed, traveled, and worked together. After her mother’s death, Catherine became superior of the Brigittine Order and wrote a devotional work. Bl. Brian O’Carolan, also March 24, was an Irish priest martyred in Meath in 1606.

St. Benedict (March 21, Latin Mass): “Sent to Rome for his studies, he gave up both them and his career in the world, and retired to the solitude of Subiaco. He founded there twelve monasteries, among them that of Monte Cassino, and wrote the Holy Rule which bears his name. He is revered as the Founder of the [hugely influential] Benedictine Order. He died in 543 [Missal].” Brother of St. Scholastica.

St. Nicholas von Flue (March 21) was a Swiss farmer, soldier, husband, and father of ten. A vision spurred him to seek the life of a hermit. With his wife’s permission, he turned to the contemplative life, still receiving visions and providing political and spiritual advice. Saved Switzerland from civil war in 1481. St. Augustine Tchao(March 21) was a Chinese soldier who converted to Christianity and became a priest. Arrested and jailed, he died in prison while ministering to his fellow inmates in 1815.

St. Isidore the Farmer (March 22) was a married Spanish farmer who went to daily Mass and prayed as he worked. He cared for the poor, even miraculously supplying them with food. Once an angel was seen plowing the field so Isidore could do his devotions. St. Nicholas Owen (March 22) was an English carpenter and Jesuit brother who fashioned an unknown number of “priest-holes” to hide Catholic priests from Anglican authorities. Captured, Owen was tortured so brutally that his abdomen burst open and he died. St. Darerca (March 22) was the married sister of St. Patrick, reportedly the mother of up to 17 bishops.

St. Jan Nepomucene (March 20) was a priest and preacher in 14th century Prague who became the queen’s confessor. The king, who treated his wife badly, demanded to know what she said in Confession. Jan (or John) refused to break the sacramental seal of Confession, and so the king killed him. Known as the “martyr of the confessional” and patron of Czechoslovakia.