Catholic Saints & Feasts of the Liturgical Year
If a list were made of the greatest human beings who have ever lived, the Catholic saints would be at the top. Though historians often attempt to judge greatness from a subjective perspective, there must be objective criteria by which human greatness is judged. The only Being capable of establishing that criteria is God. The criteria that God has established are the virtues, as identified by Jesus and revealed by Him through the holy Gospels. The goal of this podcast is to present each saint found on the Catholic liturgical calendar in such a way so as to identify the Godly virtues that place each one on that list. The Church has already confirmed the saints’ greatness and their heroic virtues. Importantly, God chose the men and women found in these pages, not only for greatness in their lifetimes, but also as models of holiness in ours. These men and women are gifts to you, given by God through the Church. Each podecast reflection comes from the four-volume series Saints and Feasts of the Liturgical Year. These reflections can be read at our website for free: mycatholic.life. They are also available for purchase in eBook and paperback.
Episodes
September 9: Saint Peter Claver, Priest—USA Memorial
1581–1654
Patron Saint of African missions, African-Americans, black missions, black people, foreign missions, interracial justice, slaves, and Colombia
Invoked against slavery
Canonized by Pope Leo XIII on January 15, 1888
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
Yesterday, May 30, 1627, on the feast of the Most Holy Trinity, numerous blacks, brought fr...
September 8: Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary—Feast
c. 15 BC
Patron Saint of chefs, cooks, distillers, drapers, fish dealers, goldsmiths, silversmiths, needlemakers, potters, restaurateurs, silkworkers, and tilemakers
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
The present Feast forms a link between the New and the Old Testament. It shows that Truth succeeds symbols and figures and that the New Covenant rep...
September 5: Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta—Memorial
c. 975–1038
Patron Saint of bricklayers, kings, stonecutters, masons, and parents who have lost a child
Canonized by Pope Gregory VII in 1083
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
It was a call within my vocation. It was a second calling. It was a vocation to give up even Loreto where I was very happy and to go out into the streets to serve the poor...
September 3: Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor—Memorial
c. 540–604
Patron Saint of choir boys, educators, masons, musicians, popes, students, and singers
Invoked against gout and the plague
Pre-Congregation canonization
Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Boniface VIII in 1295
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
No one presumes to teach an art till he has first, with intent meditation, learn...
August 29: The Passion of Saint John the Baptist, Martyr—Memorial
c. 1 BC–c. 30
Patron Saint of baptism, bird dealers, converts, monastic life, motorways, printers, tailors, lambs, and prisoners
Invoked against epilepsy, convulsions, hailstorms, and spasms
Pre-Congregation canonization
Liturgical Color: Red
Quote:
Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodia...
August 28: Saint Augustine of Hippo, Bishop and Doctor of the Church—Memorial
354–430
Patron Saint of brewers, printers, and theologians
Invoked against sore eyes and vermin
Pre-Congregation canonization
Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Boniface VIII in 1298
Referred to as “Doctor of Grace” by popular acclaim
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
Late have I loved You, O Beauty ever ancient, ever n...
August 27: Saint Monica—Memorial
c. 332–387
Patron Saint of homemakers, married women, mothers, abuse victims, alcoholics, and widows
Invoked against difficult marriages and difficult children
Pre-Congregation canonization
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
Son, for my own part I have no further delight in any thing in this life. What I do here any longer, and why I am here, I know not, now that my h...
August 25: Saint Joseph of Calasanz, Priest—Optional Memorial
1556–1648
Patron Saint of Catholic schools (especially ones for the poor), colleges, and schoolchildren
Canonized by Pope Clement XIII on July 16, 1767
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
Joseph Calasanz, wise interpreter of the signs of the times, considered education, given in a “brief, simple and effective manner,” the guarantee of succ...
August 25: Saint Louis, King—Optional Memorial
1214–1270
Patron Saint of barbers, hairdressers, builders, construction workers, button makers, distillers, embroiderers, needleworkers, kings, sculptors, soldiers, stoneworkers, bridegrooms, parenthood, parents of large families, prisoners, sick people, and co-patron of the Third Order of Saint Francis
Invoked against the death of children and di...
August 24: Saint Bartholomew the Apostle—Feast
First Century
Patron Saint of bookbinders, butchers, cobblers, leatherworkers, plasterers, shoemakers, tanners, trappers, and whiteners
Invoked against neurological diseases
Pre-Congregation canonization
Liturgical Color: Red
Quote:
Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, J...
August 23: Saint Rose of Lima, Virgin—Optional Memorial
1586–1617
Patron Saint of the Americas, Peru, embroiderers, florists, gardeners, needleworkers, and people ridiculed for their piety
Invoked against vanity and self-love
Canonized by Pope Clement X in 1671
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them increase Your love in my heart…
Apart from the cross there is n...
August 22: Queenship of Blessed Virgin Mary—Memorial
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ~Revelation 12:1
Prayer:
Mother and Queen of Heaven, this day I run to you as a child with confidence and trust. You are the glorious Queen Mother, reigning over all of your chil...
August 21: Saint Pius X, Pope—Memorial
1835–1914
Patron Saint of First Communicants and pilgrims
Canonized by Pope Pius XII on May 29, 1954
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
After careful deliberation on all these points, this Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of the Sacraments, in a general meeting held on July 15, 1910, in order to remove the above-mentioned abuses and to bring about that chi...
August 20: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Doctor of the Church—Memorial
1090–1153
Patron Saint of beekeepers, bees, candlemakers, chandlers, Cistercians, and Knights Templar
Canonized by Pope Alexander III on January 18, 1174
Declared a Doctor of the Church (Doctor Mellifluus, “Honey-Sweet Doctor”) by Pope Pius VIII in 1830
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
Admit that God deserves to be loved...
August 19: Saint John Eudes, Priest—Optional Memorial
1601–1680
Patron Saint of Eudists, Order of Our Lady of Charity; Diocese of Baie-Comeau; and Missionaries
Canonized by Pope Pius XI on May 31, 1925
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
Father of mercies and God of all consolation, You gave us the loving Heart of your own beloved Son, because of the boundless love by which You have loved us, which n...
August 16: Saint Stephen of Hungary—Optional Memorial
c. 975–1038
Patron Saint of bricklayers, kings, stonecutters, masons, and parents who have lost a child
Canonized by Pope Gregory VII in 1083
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
To thee, O Queen of heaven, and to thy guardianship, I commend the holy Church, all the bishops and the clergy, the whole kingdom, its rulers and inhabitants; but before a...
August 15: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary—Solemnity
First Century
Patron Saint of fishmongers, French air crews, harnessmakers, and numerous countries, cities, and dioceses
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
…by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that t...
August 14: Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, Priest and Martyr—Memorial
1894–1941
Patron Saint of drug addicts, families, journalists, prisoners, and the pro-life movement
Canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 10, 1982
Liturgical Color: Red
Quote:
Remember that you belong exclusively, unconditionally, absolutely, irrevocably to the Immaculate: Whoever you are, whatever you have or can, whatever y...
August 13: Saints Pontian, Pope and Hippolytus, Priest, Martyrs—Optional Memorial
Unknown–c. 235
Saint Hippolytus—Patron Saint of horses
Saint Pontian—Patron Saint of Carbonia and Montaldo Scarampi, Italy
Pre-Congregation canonization
Liturgical Color: Red
Quote:
But let each of the faithful be zealous, before he eats anything else, to receive the Eucharist; for if anyone receives it with faith, ...
August 12: Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, Religious—Optional Memorial
1572–1641
Patron Saint of forgotten people, parents separated from their children, and widows
Invoked against in-law problems
Canonized by Pope Clement XIII in 1767
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
How soon may I hope for the happy day when I shall irrevocably offer myself to my God? He has so filled me with the thought of being ...
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