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MARCH 19 - ST. JOSEPH

St. Joseph of Nazareth is a great saint who totally lived by faith – a faith that made him a real hero. He was chosen by our heavenly Father as the trustworthy guardian and protector of his greatest treasures, Jesus his divine son and Mary Queen of heaven. Joseph was Jesus’ foster-father and Mary’s husband.

He was poor all his life and had to work very hard in his carpenter shop, but he did not mind. Joseph was happy to work for his little family. He loved Jesus and Mary so very much. In the Holy Bible we do not find even one word spoken by St. Joseph, and yet, even without words, he shows his deep faith and trust in the Living God.

Whatever the Lord wanted him to do, St. Joseph did at once, no matter how difficult it was. He was humble and pure, gentle and wise. Jesus and Mary loved him and obeyed him because God had placed him as the head of their family. What a joy for St. Joseph to live with the Son of God himself. Jesus obeyed him, helped him, and loved him.

We pray to St. Joseph as the protector of the dying for a special reason. We believe that Joseph died peacefully in the arms of Jesus and Mary when God finally called his faithful servant to the joy of heaven. St. Joseph died before Jesus’ passion and death on the Cross.

St. Teresa of Avila chose St. Joseph as the protector of her order of Carmelite sisters. She had a great trust in his prayers. “Every time I ask St. Joseph for something,” she said, “he always obtains it for me.” St. Joseph is the patron of the Universal Church.

MARCH 21 - ST. SERAPION

Serapion lived in Egypt during exciting times for the Church. As a young man, he received a fantastic education in Christian Theology (Religious Studies) and other important subjects. When he finished studying, for a while he directed the famous Christian school that taught catechism and the faith in Alexandria.

Then Serapion made up his mind to spend more time in prayer and penance. So he went out into the desert and became a monk. Serapion’s little rule was”The mind is purified by spiritual knowledge (or by holy meditation and prayer), the spiritual passions of the soul by charity, and the irregular appetites by abstinence and penance.”

He met the famous hermit, St. Anthony of Egypt in the desert and became his disciple. Serapion tried very hard to learn from and imitate him. When he died, Anthony left Serapion one of his cloaks, which he treasured for the rest of his life.

Serapion became bishop of Thmuis, a city in lower Egypt in the Nile delta. He went to a very important meeting of bishops in 347, called the “council of Sardis” in Sardica. Serapion was a very brave bishop. He loved the truths of the faith and tried to protect them from those who wanted to change Christian beliefs and promote Arianism.

He worked with St. Athanasius, another brave bishop. They both had great courage and became very good friends. They fought against false teachings or heresies with their homilies (preaching) and with their writings. St. Serapion was banished (sent away) from Thmuis by Emperor Constantius II who supported Arianism.

Most of St. Serapion’s writings were lost. They were letters on teachings about the faith and an explanation of the Psalms. He wrote against Macedonianism (which says that the Holy Spirit is not God) and against Manichaeism (which shows that our bodies can be used to do good or evil but that we must choose). So it is wrong to believe that only our souls are of God and that our bodies are of the devil.

His most important work, called the “Euchologion,” which was a collection of liturgical prayers, was lost for hundreds of years. It was found and published at the end of the nineteenth century.

Another famous saint of that time, Jerome, named St. Serapion a “Confessor of the Faith”. St. Serapion died around the year 370 in Egypt, in the place where he was exiled.

MARCH 20 - ST. CUTHBERT

St. Cuthbert was born somewhere in the British Isles. He was a poor shepherd boy who lost his parents when he was very young. Cuthbert loved to play games with his friends and he was very good at them.

One of his friends scolded him one day saying, “Cuthbert, how can you waste your time playing games when you have been chosen to be a priest and a bishop?” These words sounded strange coming from his playmate - as though they were not his own. Cuthbert was confused and very impressed and he wondered if he really was going to be a priest and a bishop.

In August, 651, fifteen-year-old Cuthbert received a vision. He first saw a totally black sky. Then suddenly a bright beam of light moved across it. In the light were angels carrying a ball of fire up beyond the sky. Sometime later, Cuthbert found out that on the night of the vision, the bishop, St. Aiden, had died.

Cuthbert did not know what this vision meant but he made up his mind to become a Benedictine monk and entered the monastery of Melrose, which had been founded by St. Aiden. Cuthbert became a priest and a bishop as foretold by his young playmate many years earlier.

From one village to another, from house to house, St. Cuthbert went, on horse or on foot. He visited the people to help them spiritually. He also worked and helped plague victims. Best of all, he could speak the language of the peasants because he had once been a poor shepherd boy.

He did good everywhere and brought many people to God. Cuthbert was cheerful and kind. People felt attracted to him and no one was afraid of him. He was also a prayerful, holy monk who had the gifts of healing and prophecy (telling the future).

When Cuthbert was ordained a bishop, he worked just as hard as ever to help his people. He visited them no matter how difficult the travel on poor roads or in very bad weather. As he lay dying, Cuthbert begged his monks to live in peace and charity with everyone.

He died peacefully at Lindesfarne in Ireland in 687. His body which has not decayed can be seen in the Durham Cathedral even today.

MARCH 22 - ST. NICHOLAS OWEN

Nicholas, familiarly known as “Little John,” was small in stature but big in the esteem of his fellow Jesuits.

Born at Oxford, this humble artisan saved the lives of many priests and laypersons in England during the penal times (1559-1829), when a series of statutes punished Catholics for the practice of their faith. Over a period of about 20 years he used his skills to build secret hiding places for priests throughout the country. His work, which he did completely by himself as both architect and builder, was so good that time and time again priests in hiding were undetected by raiding parties. He was a genius at finding, and creating, places of safety: subterranean passages, small spaces between walls, impenetrable recesses. At one point he was even able to mastermind the escape of two Jesuits from the Tower of London. Whenever Nicholas set out to design such hiding places, he began by receiving the Holy Eucharist, and he would turn to God in prayer throughout the long, dangerous construction process.

After many years at his unusual task, he entered the Society of Jesus and served as a lay brother, although—for very good reasons—his connection with the Jesuits was kept secret.

After a number of narrow escapes, he himself was finally caught in 1594. Despite protracted torture, he refused to disclose the names of other Catholics. After being released following the payment of a ransom, “Little John” went back to his work. He was arrested again in 1606. This time he was subjected to horrible tortures, suffering an agonizing death. The jailers tried suggesting that he had confessed and committed suicide, but his heroism and sufferings soon were widely known.

He was canonized in 1970 as one of the 40 Martyrs of England and Wales.

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