- St. Gertrude the Great (1302). Virgin. (Current, Traditional)
- St. Margaret of Scotland (1093). Patroness of large families & death of children. (Current) Queen
- St. Mechtilde of Helfta (1298). Virgin. (Historical) friend of St. Gertrude the Great
ST. EDMUND left his home at Abingdon, a boy of twelve years old, to study at Oxford, and there protected himself against many grievous temptations by a vow of chastity, and by espousing himself to Mary for life. He was soon called to active public life, and as treasurer of the diocese of Salisbury showed such charity to the poor that the dean said he was rather the treasure than the treasurer of their church. In 1234 he was raised to the see of Canterbury, where he fearlessly defended the rights of Church and State against the avarice and greed of Henry III; but finding himself unable to force that monarch to relinquish the livings which he kept vacant for the benefit of the royal coffers, Edmund retired into exile sooner than appear to connive at so foul a wrong. After two years spent in solitude and prayer, he went to his reward, and the miracles wrought at his tomb at Pontigny were so numerous that he was canonized in 1246, within four years of his death.
REFLECTION: The Saints were tempted even more than ourselves; but they stood where we fall, because they trusted to Mary, and not to themselves.
WORD OF THE DAY
APOSTOLICITY. That quality of the Catholic Church by which she is derived from the Apostles. There is an apostolicity of origin, since the Church was first organized by the apostles chosen by Christ; of teaching because what the Church teaches now is essentially what was taught by the Apostles; and of succession in office, since there has been an unbroken historical transmission of episcopal powers, through ordination, from the Apostles to all the bishops in communion with the Bishop of Rome today.
Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr. John Hardon SJ (Get the real one at Eternal Life — don’t accept an abridged or edited version of this masterpiece!)
