Memorial of Saints (January 21)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Agnes, virgin and martyr
• Fructuosus of Tarragona, bishop and martyr
• Patroclus, martyr
• Epiphanius of Pavia, bishop
• Meinrad, martyr
• Alban Roe, priest and martyr

St. Agnes (d. ca. 305 A.D.) was killed at a very young age during the persecution of Christians by Diocletian. Her head is venerated in a chapel of the church at Sant'Agnese in Agonia on the Piazza Navona, and the rest of her remains are entombed in the church of the same name in the Via Nomentana.

St. Alban Bartholomew Roe (ca. 1583-1642 A.D.), whose original name was Bartholomew Roe, was a student at Cambridge when he met an imprisoned Catholic. He was so impressed by the Catholic's faith that he converted to Catholicism. He became a Benedictine monk in France (in 1612 A.D.) taking the name Alban. When ordained he was sent on a mission to England. St. Alban Roe was arrested many times: in 1615, 1618, and 1625 A.D. After serving 17 years in prison, he was tried and convicted for being a Catholic priest. Together with Blessed Thomas Reynolds, they were executed on January 21. Pope Paul VI canonized Alban Bartholomew Roe in 1970 A.D. as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

Citation from Wikipedia.org: Blessed Thomas Reynolds (1560-1642 A.D.) was beatified by Pope Pius XI on December 15, 1929 A.D. as one of the One Hundred and Seven Martyrs of England and Wales. These are a group of clergy and laypersons who were executed on charges of treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England between 1541 A.D. and 1680 A.D.

Saints in the Byzantine Calendar [January 21]

• Maximus, Confessor
• St. Neophitus, Martyr
• Sts. Eugene, Canidius, Valerian and Aquilas, Martyrs
• Meinrad

Today, the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches celebrate the feast of St. Maximus the Confessor (ca. 580-662 A.D.) and St. Meinrad (d. ca. 861 A.D.). In the Roman Calendar, St. Maximus the Confessor is commemorated on August 13 while St. Meinrad's commemoration coincides with the Byzantine Calendar.

St. Meinrad was a hermit at Einsiedeln, who after being a hermit for 25 years, was clubbed to death by robbers. St. Meinrad's hermitage was made into a regular Benedictine monastery and still exists today.

Related blog post:

• St. Maximus the Confessor, Abbot of Chrysopolis, Learn more