Memorial of Saints (September 7)

Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints for September 7

• Regina or Reine, virgin and martyr;
• Sozon, martyr;
• Grimonia, virgin and martyr;
• John of Nicomedia, martyr;
• Anastasius the Fuller, martyr;
• Cloud or Clodoald;
• Alcmund and Tilbert, bishops

St. Regina (2nd century A.D.) was the daughter of a pagan father in Burgundy. She was raised as a Christian by a woman who took care of her when her mother died at her birth. When her father learned that she became Christian, he put her out of his house. Regina went to live with the Christian woman who raised her. A prefect, named Olybrius, wanted to marry her but Regina refused. She was imprisoned, tortured and beheaded at Autun, Gaul.

Memorial of Saints (September 6)

Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints on September 6

• Donatian, Laetus and Companions, bishop and martyrs;
• Eleutherius, abbot;
• Chainoaldes or Cagnoald, bishop;
• Bega or Bee, virgin

St. Donatian (d. ca. 484 A.D.) was a bishop of Byzacene, North Africa. Together with Fusculus, Germanus, Mansuetus and Praesidius, they all objected to the edict of an Arian king who wanted to close all Catholic churches and order all its possessions to be turned over to the Arian clergy (note: Arianism is an early Christian heresy). All of them were tortured and banished to the desert where they all died of exposure. St. Laetus, bishop of Leptis Minor, was imprisoned and then burned to death at the stake at the same time as his fellow bishops.

Memorial of Saints (September 5)

Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints on September 5

• Justinian, bishop and confessor;
• Bertinus, abbot
• Teresa of Calcutta

St. Bertinus (d. 700 A.D.) is a native of Contances, France, together with St. Mommolinus and St. Bertrand. They were sent to assist St. Omer, bishop of Therouanne, to evangelize the Morini around Pade-Calais. They built monasteries where Mommolinus became abbot in one monastery. When St. Mommolinus was appointed bishop of Noyon, St. Bertinus was made an abbot in one of the monasteries.

St. Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997 A.D.) a.k.a. Mother Teresa, was born in Albania and entered the Sisters of Loreto in 1928 A.D. She taught for seventeen years at the Order's school in Calcutta. When she looked out of the window of the school, she suddenly noticed the poor in the streets of Calcutta. This inspired her to have a "second vocation" - to leave the Sisters of Loreto and found an Order dedicated to the sick, the poor and the dying in Calcutta. The Order of the Missionaries of Charity, which she founded, became a pontifical congregation in 1965 A.D. Because of Mother Teresa's commitment to caring for the people in the slums of Calcutta, the Order she founded grew and exapanded to many countries in the world.

Learn more from "Something Beautiful for God: Mother Teresa of Calcutta". A book on Mother Teresa by Malcolm Muggeridge featured at Librarything.com