Memorial of Saints (December 24)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Irmina, virgin
• Gregory of Spoleto, martyr
• Delphinus, bishop
• Tharsilla and Emiliana, virgins
• Adela, widow
• Sharbel Makhlouf, hermit

St. Irmina (died ca. 710 A.D.) was the daughter of St. Dagobert II of the Franks and was betrothed to Count Herman. When a jealous suitor lured Herman to his death over a cliff outside Treves, Irmina decided to become a nun at a monastery near Treves, which her father also either founded or restored. St. Irmina aided St. Willibrod in his missionary work and in 698 A.D., gave him the building and grounds on which he founded the famous Echternach Monastery. St. Irmina died at Alsace at Weissenberg Monastery, which her father had founded.

St. Sharbel Makhlouf (1828-1898 A.D.) was a hermit. Born in a remote village in Lebanon, he was a shepherd in his early years and spent time in a cave praying and meditating. He often visited a hermitage where two of his uncles were monks. In 1851 A.D., he entered the Maronite monastery of Our Lady of Maifouk. He took solemn vows in 1853 A.D. and then studied philosophy and theology. Ordained a priest in 1859 A.D., he began to live austerely. In 1866 A.D., he moved to a small hermitage owned by the great monastery of St. Maro in Annaya. St. Sharbel died in 1898 A.D. and was buried in a nearby cemetery. He was beatified in 1965 A.D. and canonized in 1977 A.D.

December 24 Saints in the Byzantine Calendar

• Sts. Eugenia, Venerable Martyr and her two slaves, Protus and Hyacinth

St. Eugenia (died ca. 257 A.D.) was a Roman martyr. She was the daughter of a Duke during the reign of Emperor Valerian.

Eugenia fled from her father's house dressed in men's clothing and was baptized by Helenus, bishop of Heliopolis. Helenus sent her to an abbey of which she became abbot. She got into a legal entanglement, but was exonerated, when she revealed she was a woman and the daughter of the judge - who was her father. St. Eugenia's father was converted to Christianity. And she converted many others, including her mother. She suffered martyrdom by the sword in Rome.

The Byzantine Calendar commemorates St. Eugenia today while the Roman Calendar commemorates her on the 25th of December.

This day (December 24) in the history of the Catholic Church

The Second Vatican Council in the 1960s had many official observers. One official observer was a Polish-born Hasidic rabbi who was a strong supporter of the civil rights and peace movements in the United States of America. His name was Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972 A.D.). He is quoted as saying,

"indifference to evil is worse than evil itself"

Abraham Heschel wrote works that recalled Christians to their Jewish roots, and his appreciation for the Catholic principle of sacramentality was reflected in his sense of "the holy dimension of all existence." Today, December 24, commemorates the day of his death. (SEARCHING IN THE WILDERNESS Jewish Christian Relations Today: The Legacy of Abraham Joshua Heschel Michael A. Chester, the Oxford Institute for Methodist Theological Studies, 2007, Learn more)