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
January 1—Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God—The Octave Day of the Nativity of the Lord
Holy Day of Obligation
(Obligatory in USA: unless it falls on Saturday or Monday)
Liturgical Color: White/Gold
Quote:
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David...
December 31: Saint Sylvester I, Pope—Optional Memorial
c. Late Third Century–335
Patron Saint of animals, harvests, and stonemasons
Pre-Congregation canonization
Liturgical Color: White
Quote: And so, on the first day after receiving the mystery of the holy baptism, and after the cure of my body from the squalor of the leprosy, I recognized that there was no other God save the Father and the Son...
December 29: Saint Thomas Becket, Bishop and Martyr—Optional Memorial
c. 1119–1170
Patron Saint of clergy
Canonized by Pope Alexander III on February 21, 1173
Liturgical color: White (Red only where celebrated as a Feast)
Quote:
Remember the profession, which you made and placed in writing upon the altar at Westminster, to preserve the Church’s liberties, when you were consecrated and anointed ...
December 28: Holy Innocents, Martyrs—Feast
AD 1
Patron Saints of babies, abandoned babies, children’s choirs, students, and altar servers
Invoked against ambition, jealousy
Pre-Congregation canonization
Liturgical Color: Red
Quote:
When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and u...
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—Feast
Sunday within the Octave of Christmas
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
How I would like to return to my childhood and attend the simple yet profound school that is Nazareth! How wonderful to be close to Mary, learning again the lesson of the true meaning of life, learning again God’s truths…First, we learn from its silence…The silence of Nazareth ...
December 27: Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist—Feast
Early First Century–c. 101
Patron Saint of arms manufacturers, art dealers, authors, basketmakers, bookbinders, booksellers, publishers, butchers, candlemakers, compositors, editors, engravers, friendships, glaziers, government officials, harvests, lithographers, notaries, painters, papermakers, printers, saddlemakers, scholars, sculpto...
December 26: Saint Stephen, the First Martyr—Feast
Early First Century–c. 33–36
Patron Saint of altar servers, builders, casket makers, deacons, horses, masons, and quarrymen
Invoked against headaches
Pre-Congregation canonization
Liturgical Color: Red
Quote:
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the Holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors. Which of th...
December 25: Nativity of the Lord—Solemnity
Quote:
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he ...
December 23: Saint John of Kanty (Cantius), Priest—Optional Memorial
c. 1390–1473
Patron Saint of teachers, students, priests, pilgrims, Lithuania, and Poland
Canonized by Pope Clement XIII on July 16, 1767
Liturgical Color: Violet
Quote:
Fight all false opinions, but let your weapons be patience, sweetness and love. Roughness is bad for your own soul and spoils the best cause. ~Saint John of Ka...
December 21: Saint Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor—Optional Memorial
1521–1597
Patron Saint of the Catholic press, Germany, and writers of catechisms
Canonized and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI on May 21, 1925
Liturgical Color: Violet
Quote:
There I felt that a great consolation and the presence of grace had been granted to me through these intercessors [Peter and Paul]. They...
December 14: Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor—Memorial
c. 1542–1591
Patron Saint of contemplatives, mystical theology, and Spanish poets
Canonized by Pope Benedict XIII on December 27, 1726
Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XI in 1926
Commonly referred to as the “Mystical Doctor”
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
In order to expound and describe this dark night, through which the...
December 13: Saint Lucy of Syracuse, Virgin and Martyr—Memorial
c. 283–c. 304
Patron Saint of blind people, martyrs, peasants, penitent prostitutes, poor people, sick children, authors, cutlers, farmers, glassmakers, glaziers, gondoliers, laborers, lawyers, maidservants, notaries, eye doctors, porters, printers, saddlers, sailors, salesmen, seamstresses, tailors, upholsterers, weavers, and wr...
December 12: Our Lady of Guadalupe—USA Feast
Patroness of the Americas
Quote:
Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is your Mother? Are you not under my protection? Am I not your health? Are you not happily within my fold? What else do you wish for? Do not grieve nor be disturbed by anything. ~Our Lady of Guadalupe to...
December 11: Saint Damasus I, Pope—Optional Memorial
c. 305–384
Patron Saint of archeologists
Pre-Congregation canonization
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
You who read, whoever you are, recognize the equal merit of the two to whom Damasus the bishop has dedicated this inscription after their rewards. The Jewish people stoned Stephen when he was instructing them on a better course, he who carried...
December 10: Our Lady of Loreto—Optional Memorial
Patron Saint of aviators and builders
Quote:
I was indeed happy when on the way to Loreto. Our Lady had chosen an ideal spot in which to place her Holy House. Everything is poor, simple, and primitive; the women still wear the graceful dress of the country and have not, as in the large towns, adopted the modern Paris fashions. I found Loreto e...
December 9: Saint Juan Diego, Hermit—Optional Memorial
1474–1548
Patron Saint of Indigenous peoples
Canonized by Pope John Paul II on July 31, 2002
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
I beg you to entrust your message to someone more known and respected so that he will believe it. I am only a simple Indian whom you have sent as a messenger to an important person. Therefore, he didn’t believe me, and ...
December 8: Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary—Solemnity
Patronal Feast of the United States—Holy Day of Obligation
c. 15 BC
Patron Saint of the United States, clothmakers, clothworkers, coopers, upholsterers, the Amazon rainforest, and numerous dioceses, cities, and countries
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the mo...
December 7: Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor—Memorial
c. 339–c. 397
Patron Saint of beekeepers, bishops, candlemakers, domestic animals, geese, honey cake bakers, learning, livestock, police officers, schoolchildren, security personnel, starlings, and wax refiners
Pre-Congregation canonization
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
To avoid dissensions we should be ever on our guard, more especially wit...
December 6: Saint Nicholas, Bishop—Optional Memorial
c. 270–c. 346
Patron Saint of children, sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, brewers, pawnbrokers, unmarried people, Russia, and numerous countries and cities
Pre-Congregation canonization
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
“If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. The...
December 4: Saint John Damascene, Priest, Religious and Doctor—Optional Memorial
c. 676–749
Patron Saint of pharmacists, icon painters, and theology students
Pre-Congregation canonization
Declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Leo XIII in 1890
Liturgical Color: White
Quote:
In other ages God had not been represented in images, being incorporate and faceless. But since God has now been seen in th...
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