St. Blaise and the Fourteen Holy Helpers

Introduction

The Fourteen Holy Helpers are a group of saints whose intercession is known to be very effective - especially against ailments and many various diseases. They were heavily invoked when a serious plague struck Europe. The devotion to the Fourteen Holy Helpers began in the Rhineland and spread to the areas around it. Their feast as a group is celebrated traditionally on August 8. When, however, the new Vatican II teaching on devotion to the saints, pulled out from its roster of saints, those saints who have no historical records, it excluded some saints in these Fourteen Holy Helpers. However, Church tradition continues to honor these saints according to their individual feast days.

The Fourteen Holy Helpers are as follows:

• St. Blaise, d. ca. 316 A.D.. feast February 3. Born of wealthy Christian parents, he became a bishop at a young age. As bishop of Sebastea, Armenia, during the persecution of Christians by Licinius, St. Blaise was tortured and beheaded.


• St. Acacius, also Agathus, Agathius - d. ca. 303 A.D., feast May 8. A Cappadocian by birth, he became a centurion, and was arrested for his Christian faith. He was tortured, scourged and beheaded.


• St. Barbara, 4th century, feast December 4. She resisted her pagan father's demands that she marry. Her father handed her over to the judge, who had her tortured. Because of her continued resistance, her father took her up a mountain and killed her. (Her father afterwards was destroyed by fire from heaven).


• St. Catherine of Alexandria, d. ca. 310 A.D., feast November 25. She was born in Alexandria to a patrician family and was converted to Christianity by a vision. Her spiritual influence on others was so great that the Emperor offered a bribe of royal marriage, if she would apostasize. She naturally resisted the bribe but was put in prison. She was condemned to death on a spiked wheel. When the wheel miraculously broke, she was then beheaded.


• St. Christopher, d. ca. 251 A.D., feast July 25. Legends say that he made a living by carrying people across a river. One day, one of his passengers was a small child. As they crossed the river, the child grew heavier. When St. Christopher feared that both of them would drown, the child then revealed to him that he was Jesus, and the heaviness was due to the weight of the world on his shoulders. St. Christopher then became true to his name, which means "Christ-bearer". He died at Lycia, probably in one of the Christian persecutions by the Roman Emperor.


• St. Cyriacus, also Cyriac, Ciriacus, d. ca. 304 A.D., feast August 8. He was known to be a deacon, who cured the Emperor's daughter from possession, and also did the same for the daughter of the King of Persia. However, when he returned to Rome, he was arrested together with his two companions. They were all tortured and beheaded.


• St. Denis, also Dionysius, d. ca. 258 A.D., feast October 9. He was born in Italy and was sent, together with others, to Gaul as a missionary. He became the first bishop of Paris. Because he was very effective in converting the residents around Paris, he was arrested together with his companion priest, St. Rusticus, and his deacon, St. Eleutherius. The three of them were imprisoned, beheaded, and their bodies thrown into the Seine River.


• St. Erasmus, also Elmo, d. ca. 303 A.D., feast June 2. He was a bishop of Formiae, Campagna, Italy, whose success with converting pagans to Christians, brought him before the Emperor, who had him tortured. Because of the many wounds that were inflicted on him, he eventually died as a martyr.


• St. Eustace, d. ca. 118 A.D., feast September 20. Originally a pagan Roman general, he was converted to Christianity while in a hunting trip. In that hunt, he saw a stag with the figure of Christ on the cross between its antlers. Still in the Roman army, he then won a great victory. When in the celebration, he refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods, he and his family were all roasted to death.


• St. George, d. ca. 303 A.D., feast April 19. He was probably a soldier in the imperial army. Legend tells us that he is a Christian knight who came to Libya, where a dragon was terrorizing a city. As St. George tried to subdue the dragon, it went into the city. St. George slew the dragon, after the inhabitants of the city agreed to be baptized.


• St. Margaret of Antioch, no date, feast July 20. She was a daughter of a pagan priest at Antioch in Pisidia. When she was converted to Christianity, her father drove her out of the house. She became a shepherdess, and because of her beauty, Olybrius the prefect, made advances towards her. When she resisted, he charged her for being a Christian. He had her tortured and put in prison. Attempts were made to execute her by fire and then by drowning, but she was miraculously saved. Eventually, the executioners decided to behead her.


• St. Pantaleon, also Pantaleimon, ca. 305, feast July 27. He was the son of a pagan father, but raised as a Christian by his mother. He became a physician in the Emperor's court and soon lost his faith by a dissolute life. After converting from his dissolute life, when the persecution of Christians was ordered by Diocletian, he was denounced as a Christian by his fellow physicians. Together with others, he was arrested, condemned to death, and beheaded.


• St. Vitus, d. ca. 300 A.D., feast June 15. He was a son of a senator and became a Christian when he was twelve. He caused many conversions and performed many miracles. When this became known to the administrator of Sicily (Valerian), the administrator wanted to shake the faith of St. Vitus. Valerian was not able to shake the faith of Vitus, and Vitus afterwards decided to flee to Luconia, and then to Rome. When one of his miraculous cures was attributed by the imperial court to sorcery, he was subjected to various tortures until he eventually died from the wounds inflicted upon him.


• St. Giles, ca. 712 A.D., feast September 1. Of all the Fourteen Holy Helpers, only St. Giles did not die as a martyr for the faith. St. Giles was an Athenian who escaped to Marseilles after much adulation was showered on him for a miracle he performed. He became a hermit at the mouth of the Rhone River. After the Gothic King Flavius witnessed the sanctity and holiness of St. Giles, the King built a monastery with St. Giles as abbot. He attracted many disciples and his reputation reached far and wide.

St. John Baptist de la Salle, Priest: 1651-1719 A.D.

Birth, seminary studies, ordination

John Baptist was born at Rheims, France, on April 30, 1651, the eldest of ten children, of a wealthy and noble family. His parents allowed him to enter the seminary of Paris, where he was tonsured at the age of eleven. He then became a canon of the cathedral at Rheims when only sixteen. After all his studies, John Baptist was ordained a priest in 1678 A.D.

Inspired by a layman to an educational mission

In 1679 A.D., John Baptist met layman Adrian Nyel, who at that time was opening a school for poor boys. John Baptist then became involved in educational work. Because of this new work and apostolate, he gave up his renumerative assignments at the Rheims Cathedral, then distributed his fortune to the poor in the year 1684 A.D. He finally devoted himself to both the education of poor children and the improvement of the proficiency of the teachers.

Founding the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools

John Baptist's work began to attract men who were desirous of his training. So he formed twelve of these teachers who all agreed to live as a community, and to dedicate themselves to the education of children and youth. From this core of twelve was founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. The Institute received papal approval in 1725 A.D. St. John Baptist infused in these new community high standards of education. They were called the Christian Brothers. They decided that none of them should ever be a priest so they can concentrate on teaching.

Opening of more schools

St. John Baptist began to establish teachers' colleges (Rheims in 1687, Paris in 1699, Saint-Denis in 1709). He also established a junior novitiate in 1685 for those young men who were interested to be a member of the Institute. St. John Baptist steadily increased the number of schools for boys under his tutelage. He decided to exclude priests from the Institute and wrote his Conduite des écoles Chrétiennes - thus revolutionizing teaching methods. The new teaching methods he introduced replaced the method of individual instruction with the method of classroom teaching. His method also required the teaching of subjects in the vernacular rather than in Latin.

Growth of the Institute

Eventually, the Christian Brothers were able to open Catholic schools throughout Europe, and the Institute grew to be the largest teaching Institute of the Catholic Church. But the growth of this Institute was not without problems and trials. In the years of its development, St. John Baptist encountered opposition from secular teachers. Some opposed his ideas and reported the Institute's severity towards the novices. This caused the deposition of John Baptist in 1702. However, John Baptist remained in control of the Institute even when the brothers all threatened to leave. Aside from this trial, St. John Baptist had problems also with the Jansenists, who acted to close the schools in Paris. After all these trials and tribulations had ended for John, his schools eventually were reopened, and the Institute remained intact.

Retirement and death

In 1717 A.D., St. John Baptist resigned as superior of the Institute and lived humbly among his brethren. In the period before his death on April 7, Good Friday, in 1719 at St. Yon, Rouen, he wrote several books and spent some time teaching the novices of the Institute.

Canonization

John Baptist was canonized by Pope Leo XIII in 1900 and was declared patron of all school teachers by Pope Pius XII in 1950. The Church celebrates his feast on April 7.

Sources of this blog post

• A Year with the Saints, by Don Bosco Press Inc.
• Dictionary of Saints, by John J. Delaney
• Saints for Our Times, by Ed Ransom

Important Eras in the History of the Catholic Church

Eras in the Catholic Church

Catholic Church history is composed of many eras. Listed below is a brief outline of these eras and how each one highlighted both favorable and unfavorable events.

From the historical Jesus to the rescript of Milan

We have in this historical period many events. Here is a list with brief descriptions or enumerations.

• The historical existence of Jesus up to His passion, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven
• The birth of the Church at Pentecost and the forming of the first Christain communities
• The spread of Christianity through the missions of St. Paul
• The leadership of the Church Fathers
• Beginnings of crises, schisms and heresies: Gnostic systems, Manichaeism, Marcionism, The Encratius, Montanism and others
• Beginnings and prevalence of Christian persecutions in the Roman Empire
• The conversion of the Emperor Constantine to Christianity and his eventual proclamation of a rescript (the rescript of Milan, 313), that makes Christianity an official religion in the Roman Empire

From Constantine the great to Gregory the great

• Due to certain dogmatic (truths about the faith) controversies, the General Councils in the East were held
• Doctrines on the Trinity and on Christology were being established
• Great forerunners of various doctrines were: St. Ambrose, St. Augustine (in relation to his struggle for the doctrine of grace and justification), St. Jerome and Pope Gregory the Great
• This was also the era of monasticism; many founders of monasteries led this movement towards an intense prayer life and seclusion from the world

The Middle Ages from 604-700 AD

• The first missionary wave: in German lands, Irish country, and the Anglo-Saxon continent
• The Church becomes a champion of the developing West

The Middle Ages from 700-1050 AD

• The veritable foundation of the Christian West
• The League of the papacy with the Frankish kingdom
• Leadership of Charlemagne in the Western Empire
• The Carolingian empire starts to decline
• Otto the Great and the rejuvenation of the Western empire

The Middle Ages from 1050-1300 AD

• The flowering of the Church in the High Middle Ages through Cluny and the monastic reform movement
• The great Eastern Schism of 1054: the Church is fully divided between the East (with its center at Constantinople) and the West (with its center at Rome)
• The Crusades start as a result of the Holy Land being overran by Islam (Knightly Orders are founded to battle Islamic dominion of the Holy Land)
• The Imitation of Christ becomes popular
• The Inquisition examines all those who do not conform to Church teaching; some are condemned
• The Great Mendicant Orders are born: St. Francis of Assisi and his followers, and St. Dominic and the Dominicans
• The flowering of theology and the universities; scholasticism and its adherents teach a lot about the faith
• The Church is at its height of dominion and rule through the papacy of Innocent III

The Middle Ages from 1300-1500 AD

• The Papacy becomes divided: one at Avignon, France and one at Rome, Italy (St. Catherine of Siena was instrumental in solving this problem
• This is also the era of the Renaissance Popes like Alexander VI and Julius II

The Modern Church from 1500-1789 AD

• Abuses in the late Medieval Church led to the demand for reforms; Martin Luther and others were at the forefront of this movement
• Aside from Martin Luther, there was Ulrich Zwingli and the Anabaptists, and John Calvin and the reformation in Geneva
  
• Eventually, these reformers were led to break away from the Catholic Church and form their own communities


• England also broke away because of dispute between Henry VIII and Thomas More on the matter of divorce


• Attempts at ecclesiastical reforms were made before the eventual calling of the Council of Trent in 1545-1563


• The Catholic Church was reconstructed after the Council in terms of: the Papacy, the Episcopate, and the birth of loyal religious orders like the Society of Jesus


• This was also the era of world mission, the age of geographical discoveries, the birth of Christianity in Latin America, the missions to India and China and more
• The Enlightenment in Europe becomes a strong influential intellectual force

The Modern Church from 1789-1918 AD

• The French Revolution and Secularization started this era in the Church
• The Catholic Church was restored in nineteenth century Germany, France and Spain
• The Church still remained in England and also spread to the United States
• The First Vatican Council was held during this era

The Modern Church from 1918 AD to present

• This is an era marked by two world wars
• Three popes remarkably led the Church during this modern age: John XXIII and his call to begin the Second Vatican Council - the Council that led to much liturgical change and new theology in the Church; Paul VI - a Pope who continued the Vatican Council after John XXIII died before its culmination and was instrumental in keeping the moral ideal of no contraception among Catholics; and John Paul II - the Pope who was the most missionary, and stressed the importance of holiness in the Church by beatifying and canonizing numerous blesseds and saints
• Pope emeritus Benedict succeeded the long 26-year papacy of St. John Paul II and directed the Church towards a post-John Paul II theology and spirituality