Memorial of Saints (November 17)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Elizabeth of Hungary
• Gregory the Wonderworker, bishop and confessor
• Dionysius of Alexandria, bishop
• Alphaeus and Zachaeus, martyrs
• Acislus and Victoria, martyrs
• Anianus or Aignan of Orleans, bishop
• Gregory of Tours, bishop
• Hilda, virgin
• Hugh of Lincoln, bishop

St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231 A.D.) was the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary. At the age of fourteen she was married to Duke Louis IV of Thuringia who died while on a crusade. A widow at 20 with three children, she was expelled from the castle by the relatives of her husband. It was at this time that St. Elizabeth of Hungary decided to become a Franciscan Tertiary, founded a hospital where she worked and ministered to the sick until she died at the early age of 24 years old.

Memorial of Saints (November 16)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Margaret of Scotland
• Gertrude the Great, virgin
• Mechtilde, virgin
• Eucherius of Lyons, bishop
• Afan, bishop
• Edmund of Abingdon, bishop
• Agnes of Assisi, virgin

St. Margaret of Scotland (1046-1093 A.D.) was born in Hungary while her family was in exile. Upon returning back to England, she was urged to marry Malcolm III, King of Scotland. By her patience, Margaret was able to change the cruel manners of Malcolm. She reformed the Church in Scotland, built churches, monasteries and hospices. By this deeds she was already considered a saint during her lifetime.

St. Gertrude the Great (ca. 1256-1302 A.D.) was placed under the care of the Benedictine nuns at Helfta in Saxony when she was five years old. She became a pupil of St. Mechtilde. When she became a Benedictine nun at age twenty-six, she began to be versed in the Bible and the writings of Augustine, Gregory and Bernard. She also began to record her supernatural and mystical experiences, which were recorded in her Book of Extraordinary Grace. She is patroness of the West Indies.

Prayer attributed to St. Gertrude the Great

"Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory; for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, those in my home and within my family. Amen."

This is a powerful prayer said to release 1,000 souls from Purgatory each time it is prayed.

Memorial of Saints (November 15)

Feasts, Obligatory and Optional Memorials of Saints

• Albert the Great, bishop and doctor of the Church
• Abibus, Gurias, and Samonas, martyrs
• Desiderius or Didier, bishop
• Malo, bishop
• Fintan of Rheinau
• Leopold of Austria

St. Albert the Great (1206-1280 A.D.) was from Bavaria, Germany. He went to Italy to study at the university of Padua. It was here that he entered the Order of Preachers. In 1228 A.D., he became professor of Cologne. He taught at many universities in Europe: Freiburg, Regensburg, Strassburg, and Paris, but it was at Cologne that St. Thomas Aquinas became his student. He wrote numerous books on Scripture, theology, philosophy and the natural sciences. In 1278 A.D., he went to Paris to defend the teachings of his former student, St. Thomas Aquinas, who died four years earlier. He then went back to Cologne where he died. St. Albert is the patron saint of students. Learn more.

Related blog posts:

• Great Mendicant Orders
• St. Dominic de Guzman and the Dominicans
• St. Thomas Aquinas, priest and Doctor of the Church
• The Doctors of the Church