Born in Spain, November 16, 1538, Turibius was chosen to be Lima, Peru’s new bishop, but first had to be ordained! A brilliant scholar and professor of law at the University of Salamanca, he had the integrity, strength of character and personal holiness that was needed to combat the many scandals and abuses occurring at that time in Peru. In 1581, despite his protests, he was ordained, first a priest and then a bishop, and sent to lead the Archdiocese of Lima. Despite hardship and danger, Turibius made a visitation to every parish and mission of the Archdiocese to determine the needs of the people. Witnessing the lack of people’s understanding of the faith, he gathered the bishops of the country who prepared catechisms in the native tongues of the people and offered catechetical instruction so that they could learn about the faith in their native tongues. He himself learned many of their indigenous languages. He instituted reforms among the clergy, established schools, hospitals and seminaries, and worked tirelessly to help the poor, often anonymously so as not to embarrass them. Among those he Confirmed were two future saints: Rose of Lima and Martin de Porres. His personal holiness shone through his celebration of Mass and his practice of daily confession. While visiting one of the Archdiocese’s missions, he fell ill and dragged himself to a nearby church where he received the Anointing of the Sick before dying on March 23, 1606. Turibius was canonized a saint in 1726 and is celebrated along with Rose of Lima as the first known saints of the New World. Pope Francis says of St. Turibius, “he did not shepherd his diocese from behind a desk, but was a bishop with shoes worn out by walking, by constant travel, by setting out to preach the Gospel to all: to all places, on all occasions, without hesitation, reluctance and fear.” Turibius, whose feast day is March 23, is the patron saint of the Latin American Bishops and of native people’s rights.

For the Irish and non-Irish alike, St. Patrick’s Day needs no reminder. March 17^th each year honors this saintly bishop with traditional foods, celebrations and even parades. Patrick was likely born in either Scotland or England around the year 389. At the age of 16 he, along with a number of his father’s vassals and slaves were captured by Irish raiders and sold as slaves in Ireland. While Patrick endured many bodily hardships, his sufferings led to great spiritual growth. After about 6 years in captivity, Patrick managed to escape and ended up in Gaul (modern France) where he studied for the priesthood and eventually was consecrated a bishop at the age of 43. Through a dream, Patrick felt called back to the country of his captivity as a missionary, to spread the message of Jesus in that pagan land. His heroic efforts led to the conversion of many on the island and Christianity took firm root among the Irish. In the year 444, the first diocese in Ireland was established at Armagh with Patrick as its first bishop. His evangelization efforts would continue to bear great fruit well beyond his death in 461. Tradition holds that Patrick was the inspiration for the conversion of another well-known Irish saint – Brigid of Kildare – who founded a monastery for both men and women, and is renowned for her charity and love for the poor.

February 14th gets its name from St. Valentine, whose feast day was
traditionally on this date. The Roman martyrology records the death of TWO Roman martyrs with the name Valentine on this date. However not much is known of either martyr saint.

The new Church calendar marks the celebration of two much better known saints from the 9th Century:  Saints Cyril and Methodius. These two brothers were born in Thessalonnika (the city to which St. Paul wrote his Letters to the Thessalonians). Both brothers became monks and were sent to what today are the Slavic nations to teach the people the faith in their own language. They set about creating an alphabet so that the Slavic language could be written, developing what is now known as the “Cyrillic” alphabet. Both were slated to be ordained bishops, but Cyril died in 869 before receiving the episcopal consecration.

Methodius became bishop of the archdiocese then known as Sirmium in Moravia. Although at times he encountered hardships, he continued to faithfully preach the Gospel and evangelize the people of that region of Eastern Europe. Worn out from his labors, Methodius died in 884. Cyril and Methodius continue to be venerated as the “Apostles to the Slavs” and many churches of Eastern European ethnicity are dedicated to their patronage

These two companions of St. Paul originally had different feast days. Timothy was honored on January 24^th, the day prior to the celebration of the Conversion of St. Paul, and Titus on February 6^th. Following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, it was decided that they be honored together on the day following the Conversion of Paul, the 26^th of January. Both received letters from St. Paul which are now part of the New Testament.

What we know about Timothy comes directly from the Acts of the Apostles, the First Letter to the Corinthians and the Second Letter of Paul to Timothy. Timothy was born of a Greek father and Jewish mother who eventually converted to Christianity. Both his mother (Eunice) and grandmother (Lois) taught Timothy the Scriptures, planting the seeds for his conversion to Christianity during Paul’s first missionary journey.

Timothy then accompanied Paul on both his second and third missionary journeys. Timothy was sent by Paul to Macedonia, Thessalonica and Corinth and was nearby during Paul’s imprisonment to offer him support. Timothy must have been quite young when he received Holy Orders and was sent to care for the Church at Ephesus, for at one point in his First Letter to Timothy, Paul insists “Let no one have contempt for your youth.” It is believed he remained in Ephesus until his death as a martyr for the faith.

Titus was born into a pagan family and, like Timothy, was converted to Christianity by Paul during his first missionary journey. Titus joined Paul and Barnabas at the Council at Jerusalem as recounted in Acts 15. The Second Letter to the Corinthians notes Paul’s great trust in Titus to bring peace between Paul and the Church at Corinth. Paul later sent Titus to care for the Church in Crete where he would spend the remainder of his life, dying at an advanced age.

Two saints share January 20 ^th as their feast day: St. Fabian and St. Sebastian.

In the year 236, Pope Anteros died and Fabian, as a layperson, went to Rome perhaps to grieve the passing of Pope Anteros and perhaps out of curiosity of who might be elected in his place.  During the discussion of who might be the next pope, suddenly a dove descended from the ceiling and settled on the head of Fabian. The crowd took this as a sign that Fabian should be the next pope and he was thus elected.

Around this same time the emperor Philip, who was friendly to Christians, halted the persecution of the Church and ushered in a period of peace. After Philip’s death, however, the new emperor Decius ordered all Christians to deny Christ and offer incense to idols. Fabian boldly and courageously refused to offer incense to idols, stood up for the faith and was martyred in 250. 

Little is known about St. Sebastian’s younger years. It is believed he was born in southern France and moved to Milan for his education. He enlisted in the Roman army around 283 and was distinguished in his service, so much so, that he was promoted to the Praetorian Guard which protected Emperor Diocletian. A clandestine Christian, his faith was discovered and reported to the emperor. Diocletian ordered him to be tied to a stake and used as target practice. Despite his body being riddled with arrows and being left for dead, Sebastian survived and was nursed back to health. Surprised that Sebastian survived, Diocletian ordered him to be beaten to death. In Christian art, Sebastian is almost always depicted fastened to a post or tree with arrows shot into his body. He is patron of soldiers, athletes and those who desire a saintly death.

St. Hilary was born around the year 310 into a pagan family in what is present day France. He grew up with a classical education in Latin and Greek, Greek philosophy and the Bible. Gradually he awakened to the truth of the Christian faith and was baptized along with his family in 345. Around 353, the people of Poitiers called for Hilary to be made their bishop.

His greatest contribution was as a scholar on the nature of Christ. Although the great Council of Nicaea in 325 had formally declared Arianism (the belief that Jesus was only human, not divine) to be heretical, it was still being shared and taught. Hilary wrote extensively to defend the true teaching on Jesus’ divinity and humanity and crafted his most important work “On The Trinity,” demonstrating the Biblical basis for this belief.

After a brief exile imposed by the Emperor Constantius II, Hilary was able to return to his diocese at Poitier where he died in 367. He was regarded a saint by the church and in 1851 formally declared a Doctor of the Church.