Memorial of Saints (November 9)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Dedication of St. John Lateran
• Theodore Tiro
• Benignus or Benen, bishop
• Vitonus or Vanne, bishop

The Dedication of St. John Basilica, or St. John Lateran in Rome is to honor this basilica built by Emperor Constantine and consecrated by Pope Sylvester in 324 A.D. It is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Rome and dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, St. John the Baptist and to the Most Holy Savior. From the 4th to the 14th century A.D. it was the official seat of the Popes. St. John Lateran is called the "mother and head of all churches in Rome and the world."

St. Theodore Tiro (d. ca. 360 A.D.) was a recruit, a "tiro", in the Roman army at Pontus on the Black Sea. He was brought before the governor because he refused to participate in the pagan rites of his comrades. He was then set free temporarily but he took the opportunity to put in flames the pagan temple of Cybele. He was again brought before the judges and tortured. After the examination, he was condemned to death. After being burned to death in a furnace his cult became popular in the East and he became known as one of the best "warrior saints".

Memorial of Saints (November 8)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• The Four Crowned Martyrs
• Cybi or Cuby, abbot
• Deusdedit, priest
• Tysilio or Suliau, abbot
• Willehad, bishop
• Godfrey of Amiens, bishop

St. Cybi (ca. 6th century A.D.), a.k.a. Cuby, was born in Cornwall, England. He is a cousin of St. David of Wales. He refused to be made King and went to Monmouthshire. Then he left for Ireland where he spent four years with St. Enda on Aranmore. After a dispute with a priest named Fintan, he went to southern Meath. At Meath, he founded a monastery on the island of Anglesey, near Wales, and evangelized the area. This is where he spent his last years until his death.

Memorial of Saints (November 7)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Engelbert
• Ernest
• Florentius
• Herculanus, learn more
• Willibrord

St. Willibrord (658-739 A.D.) was born in Northumbria, England. As a child, he was given to Scottish monks near York for a Christian education. He entered the Benedictine Order, and went to Ireland where he was ordained. In 690 A.D., with eleven companions (among them St. Swithbert), he left for a mission to the Frisians. He went to the Frankish King Pepin to put his mission under the King's protection. He built a cathedral in Utrecht, Netherlands, founded a monastery in Echternach, Luxembourg, and made it a mission center to reach Denmark and Thuringia. This made him known as "the Apostle of the Frisians".

St. Swithbert, or Suitbert, (647-713 A.D.) studied under St. Egbert and was one of the eleven companions of St. Willibrord in the mission to Germany to convert the Frisians. St. Swithbert worked in southern Holland and northern Brabant with great success. He was consecrated regionary bishop by St. Wilfrid in England in 693 A.D. Upon his return; to the missions, he extended his missionary activities to the Rhine. He is the patron saint invoked against angina. (His feast is on March 1. Other saints' feasts celebrated in the month of March, Learn more)