October
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St. Thérèse of Lisieux (October 1st)(Patron Saint of TEC)
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The Guardian Angels (October 2nd)
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St. Francis of Assisi (October 4th)
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St. Francis of Assisi was born in 1182. He grew up leading a privileged life, and his father wanted him to become a businessman, but the Lord had other plans for him. After hearing God’s voice in a vision telling him to “repair my church, which is falling in ruins,” he gave all of his money to the church and took a vow of poverty.
Read more about St. Francis’ amazing life below!
Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us!
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St. Francis of Assisi was known for his songs and hymns to God and nature. The lyrics to the song "All Creatures of Our God and King" are based on a poem written by St. Francis.
Listen to the song here!
Also, see below for the well-known "Prayer of St. Francis"
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St. Faustina (October 5th)
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Read about St. Faustina, the saint of Divine Mercy!
- Helena Kowalska was born in Glogowiec, Poland on August 25, 1905
- Joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw, Poland in 1925
- Took the name Sister Maria Faustina of the Most Blessed Sacrament
- Had a special devotion to Mary, the Eucharist, and Reconciliation, leading to a deep mystical interior life
- Began having visions, receiving revelations, and experiencing a hidden stigmata
- Wrote down these mystical visions and experiences in a diary, which was later published, with the help of Krakow Archbishop Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II), as Divine Mercy in my Soul
- In the 1930’s Faustina received a message of mercy from Jesus that she was told to spread throughout the whole world, the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the novena; Jesus also asked that a picture be painted of Him with the inscription “Jesus, I Trust in You,” which was commissioned in 1935 and is the popular image of Divine Mercy we know today
- Faustina passed away on October 5, 1938, at the age of 33
- Beatified in 1993 by Pope St. John Paul II, and canonized by him in 2000
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This is a picture of what the original image of Divine Mercy looked like.
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Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos (October 5th)
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Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos is very special to the City and Archdiocese of New Orleans. Read more about him to find out why!
Francis Xavier Seelos was born in Fussen, Bavaria, Germany on January 11, 1819. Even from a young age, he felt a calling to be a priest. While in the seminary, he decided to go to the United States and join the Redemptorists in 1843. He was ordained a Redemptorist priest a year later in Baltimore.
For 9 years, Father Seelos worked at a parish in Pittsburgh; 6 of those years he worked under St. John Neumann. Fr. Seelos led a simple life, preached a simple message, and was always available to those in need. He was also considered an expert confessor, a watchful and prudent spiritual director, and a pastor always joyfully available and attentive to the needs of the poor.
In 1863, during the Civil War, all men were obliged to be available for the military. As novice master of the Redemptorists. Fr. Seelos met with President Abraham Lincoln and reached an agreement not to draft seminarians. For several years as a mission preacher, he preached in English and German in 10 different states.
In 1866, Fr. Seelos was assigned to St. Mary’s Assumption Church in New Orleans. The church was known for its large community of German immigrants. After a year of serving there, he was stricken with yellow fever while visiting the sick, and he died on October 4, 1867.
In 2000, he was beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II in Rome. The miracle attributed to him is the miraculous healing of Angela Boudreaux from inoperable liver cancer in 1966.
St. Mary’s Assumption Church (on the corner of Constance and Josephine) is home to the National Shrine of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos. He is buried at the shrine, where you can also learn more about his life and see a large reliquary of saints from the time of Jesus to the 21st century.
Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, pray for us!
Continue to pray for his intercession for miracles, so that God may be glorified and that this man may be one day be canonized a saint!
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Above: The National Shrine of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos
Click Here to learn more about the Shrine
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St. Denis (October 9th)
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Saint Denis and Companions (the priest St. Rusticus and the deacon St. Eleutherius)
are celebrated on October 9th.- Saint Denis is the patron saint of France and headaches.
- Born in Italy and later became a missionary bishop sent to Gaul in the mid 3rd century.
- He was the first bishop of Paris and is usually pictured with his head in his hands because he was later beheaded for loving Christ so intimately.
- The deep impression that St. Denis made on the people of his day reflected a life of unusual holiness.
St. Denis, pray for us!
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St. John Henry Newman (October 9th)
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We pray that, through the intercession of St. John Henry Newman, the Church may be always focused on the Love of Christ, and inspired by the rich truths rooted in the traditions of Catholicism.
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Blessed Carlo Acutis (October 12th)
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Carlo Acutis was born May 3, 1991 in London. He grew up near Milan, Italy. As a regular teenage boy in the 2000’s, he liked comics, Nintendo (specifically Mario), computer programming, video editing, and other tech-related things. He was known particularly at school for defending other students from bullying. He became known for creating a series of websites devoted to Church-related supernatural events. These websites (with links) include:
- Eucharistic Miracles (his most well-known website)
- Marian Apparitions
- Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso
- Apparitions of Angels and Demons
^ These are the actual websites created by the teenage Carlo himself!
Carlo passed away from leukemia on October 12, 2006 in Monza, Milan at age 15. He was buried in the Assisi Cemetery in Umbria, Italy, in his jeans, Nike shoes, and sweater.
His body was re-interred (moved to a new tomb) at the Church of St. Mary in Assisi on April 5, 2019. His body appeared to be incorrupt, but it was later revealed that it had actually been treated properly and embalmed.
Carlo Acutis was beatified by Pope Francis on October 10, 2020. He is the patron saint of computer programmers and the youth.
"To be always close to Jesus, that is my life plan.""If we get in front of the sun, we get sun tans... but if we get in front of Jesus in the Eucharist, we become saints."
"Our aim has to be the infinite and not the finite. The infinite is our homeland. We have always been expected in Heaven."
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St. Teresa of Avila (October 15th)
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St. Teresa of Avila was a Spanish mystic, one of the great Counter-Reformation saints, and the first woman to be proclaimed a Doctor of the Church.
“A mystic and reformer, St. Teresa of Avila’s heart, mind, and soul were absorbed in all that is Divine and she longed to be with her Spouse, Christ, in Heaven. This deep desire to be in union with her Spouse fueled her passion to be a living witness in the world and to urge others to live a life of greater perfection. In her words: ‘I am bursting and cannot burst because of my desire for the renewal of holy Church, for God’s honour, and for everyone’s salvation.’”
-Blessed Is She (Source)
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@zelieandlou Instagram
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St. Luke the Evangelist (October 18th)
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St. Luke is one of the writers of the gospels (an "evangelist") and known to be the most gentle of the four. Luke also wrote the Acts of the Apostles. May we learn from St. Luke to always be gentle with one another.
Prayer to St. Luke:
Most wonderful St. Luke, you are animated by the Heavenly Spirit of Love. In faithfully detailing the humanity of Jesus, you also showed His Divinity and His genuine compassion for all human beings. May the Holy Spirit, instructor of the faithful, help me to understand Christ's words and faithfully apply them in my life. Amen.
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St. John Paul the Great (October 22nd)
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Pope Saint John Paul II, often referred to as JPII or St. John Paul the Great.
If we wrote down every story and recorded every human life he touched, we would fill the whole world with books. May we always look to him as an example of the power of faithfulness, forgiveness, and fearlessness.
Bishop Robert Barron said: This man [Pope Saint John Paul II], who had witnessed at first hand the very worst of the twentieth century, who had intimate experience of how twisted and wicked human beings can be, spoke over and over again this exhortation: “Be not afraid.”
Pope Saint John Paul II, pray for us!
Click Here to read more about St. John Paul II from Bishop Barron
John Paul II's papal motto was "Totus tuus" ("Totally yours" in reference to his consecration to Mary).
He had a deep devotion to Our Lady, and he even wrote an encyclical on Mary, titled Redemportis Mater ("Mother of the Redeemer").
John Paul also had a profound understanding of human love. Between 1979 and 1984, the pope gave reflections over 129 Wednesday audiences. These were later compiled into what became known as "Theology of the Body," emphasizing the sanctity and dignity of the human person, and carrying the theme of love being a gift of self.
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Gallery:JPII & People
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