Memorial of Saints (January 31)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• John Bosco, priest
• Cyrus and John, martyrs
• Marcella, widow
• Aedan or Maedoc of Ferns, bishop
• Adamnan of Coldingham
• Ulphia, virgin
• Eusebius, martyr
• Nicetas of Novgorod, bishop
• Francis Xavier Bianchi

St. John Bosco (1815-1888 A.D.) was the founder of the Society of St. Francis de Sales, which is commonly known as the Salesian order. He is the patron saint of Catholic publishers, editors and young apprentices.

Born near Turin in Italy, John grew up in poverty. He entered the seminary with clothes from charity and was ordained a priest in 1841 A.D. After ordination, he began a lifelong devotion to educating boys and young men, mostly from the working class, and mainly from the newly industrialized city of Turin. He even invited his mother to join him in his apostolate to poor and homeless boys. He became a pioneer in vocational training and his work attracted other priests to help him. This nucleus of priests became the core from which a religious community emerged. With encouragement from a professor at the Turin seminary, Joseph Cafasso, St. John Bosco in 1859 A.D. organized a religious community to continue his work. The Salesians were formally approved in 1884 A.D. A community of women that paralleled the work of the priests was also formed through Mary Mazarello. They became the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, or the Salesian Sisters.

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [January 31]

• Sts. Cyrus and John, Wonderworkers and Unmercenaries

Sts. Cyrus and John are both commemorated this day, January 31, in the Roman Calendar and in the Byzantine Calendar. St. Cyrus (d. ca. 303 A.D.) was an Alexandrian doctor who used his calling to convert many of his patients to Christianity. Together with an Arabian physician named John, they encouraged Athanasia and her three daughters to remain constant in their faith under torture at Canopus, Egypt. All six were beheaded. St. Cyrus and St. John are invoked by those who have difficulty in sleeping. Learn more at Oca.org

Memorial of Saints (January 30)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Martina, virgin and martyr
• Barsimaeus, bishop
• Bathildis, widow
• Aldegundis, virgin
• Adelelmus or Aleaume, abbot
• Hyancintha Mariscotti, virgin
• Mutien Marie Wiaux

St. Hyacintha Mariscotti (1585-1640 A.D.) was the foundress of two confraternities in Viterbo, Italy, to care for the sick, the aged and the poor. Born of a noble Italian family and educated at a local Franciscan convent, her parents forced her to enter a convent where her sister was already a nun. She lived in luxury in this state of life until illness and the influence of a saintly Franciscan confessor converted her from her ways. She was then given the responsibility to be mistress of novices wherein she practiced wisdom and common sense. She died on January 30, 1640 A.D., was beatified in 1726 A.D. by Pope Benedict XIII, and was canonized in May 14, 1807 A.D. by Pope Pius VII.

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [January 30]

• Feast of the Three Holy Bishops/Three Cappadocian Fathers: St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian, and St. John Chrysostom
• St. Hippolytus, Priest-Martyr

The Feast of the Three Holy Bishops, Three Cappadocian Fathers or Three Hierarchs, was based on a vision to St. John Mauropous, bishop of Euchaita, in the year 1084 A.D. The three appeared to John Mauropous and said that they were equal before God: "There are no divisions among us, and no opposition to one another." As a result, a January 30 feast day commemorating all three in common was instituted around 1100 A.D. under the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. The Three Holy Bishops are also commemorated in the Roman Calendar at different dates: St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen on January 2, and St. John Chrysostom on September 13.

Citations:

• Feast of the Three Holy Fathers, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Goarch.org
• Three Holy Hierarchs, Wikipedia.org

Memorial of Saints (January 29)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Sabinian, martyr
• Gildas the Wise, abbot
• Sulpicius "Severus", bishop

St. Gildas the Wise (ca. 500-570 A.D.) was born in Scotland. He probably was married and got widowed before he became an ascetic at Wales with St. Finnian as a disciple. He became a monastic leader who influenced the development of monasticism in Ireland. He is known for his written work, De excidio Britanniae ("On the Ruin of Britain"). This work, which was also cited by Venerable Bede, describes the decadence of contemporary British secular rulers and clerics. St. Gildas also founded a monastery on an island in Brittany's Morbihan Bay. This island is known as the "island of monks."

Learn more on Saints in the Roman Calendar [January 29]

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [January 29]

• Translation of the Relics of St. Ignatius, the "Theoforos," Priest-Martyr, Bishop of Antioch
• Sts. Roman, James, Philotheus, and St. Aphraates, Martyrs