St. Kazimierz

Otherwise known as St. Casimir - St. Casimir was possessed of great charms of person and character, and was noted particularly for his justice and chastity. Often at night he would kneel for hours before the locked doors of churches, regardless of the hour or the inclemency of the weather. He had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and the hymn of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, "Omni die dic Marix mea laudes anima", was long attributed to him. After his death he was venerated as a saint, because of the miracles wrought by him. Sigismund I, King of Poland, petitioned the pope for Casimir's canonization.

Prince of Poland, born in the royal palace at Cracow, 3 October, 1458; died at the court of Grodno, 4 March, 1484. He was the grandson of Wladislaus II Jagiello, King of Poland, who introduced Christianity into Lithuania, and the second son of King Casimir IV and Queen Elizabeth, an Austrian princess, the daughter of Albert II, Emperor of Germany and King of Bohemia and Hungary. Casimir's uncle, Wladislaus III, King of Poland and Hungary, perished at Varna in 1444, defending Christianity against the Turks. Casimir's elder brother, Wladislaus, became King of Bohemia in 1471, and King of Hungary in 1490. Of his four younger brothers, John I, Albert, Alexander, and Sigismund in turn occupied the Polish throne, while Frederick, the youngest, became Archbishop of Gnesen, Bishop of Cracow, and finally cardinal, in 1493.

The Visitation

"Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Fruit of thy Womb!"

Martyrs of Ruma

"They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

(Revelation 7:14)

This stained glass honors the five Adorers of the Blood of Christ of the Ruma Province who were martyred in Liberia in the Fall of 1992. The sisters, Mary Joel Kolmer, Shirley Kolmer, Kathleen McGuire, Agnes Mueller and Barbara Ann Muttra, were ministering to the native peoples through prayer, education and health care.

St. Brigid of Ireland

Born in 451 or 452 of princely ancestors at Faughart, near Dundalk, County Louth; d. 1 February, 525, at Kildare. Refusing many good offers of marriage, she became a nun and received the veil from St. Macaille. With seven other virgins she settled for a time at the foot of Croghan Hill, but removed thence to Druin Criadh, in the plains of Magh Life, where under a large oak tree she erected her subsequently famous Convent of Cill-Dara, that is, "the church of the oak" (now Kildare), in the present county of that name.

The most ancient life of St. Brigid is that by St. Broccan Cloen, who is said to have died 17 September, 650. It is metrical, as may be seen from the following specimen:

Ni bu Sanct Brigid suanach

Ni bu huarach im sheire Dé,

Sech ni chiuir ni cossens

Ind nóeb dibad bethath che.

Saint Brigid was not given to sleep

Nor was she intermittent about God's love;

Not merely that she did not buy,

she did not seek for

The wealth of this world below, the holy one.

St. Margaret Mary Alocoque

The "12 Promises"

Listed below are the "12 Promises" of theSacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary to encourage all Catholicsto know and understand the benefit of practicing the Devotion and to encourage all to take up its immediate practice.
1. I will give them all the graces necessary in their state of life.
2. I will give peace in their families and will unite families that are divided.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. I will be their refuge during life and above all in death.
5. I will bestow the blessings of Heaven on all their enterprises.
6. Sinners shall find in my Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall rise quickly to great perfection.
9. I will bless those places wherein the image of My Heart shall be exposed and honored and will imprint My love on the hearts of those who would wear this image on their person. I will also destroy in them all disordered movements.
10. I will give to priests who are animated by a tender devotion to my Divine Heart the gift of touching the most hardened hearts.
11. Those who promote this devotion shall have their names written in my Heart, never to be effaced.
12. I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who communicate on the First Friday in nine consecutive months, the grace of final penitence: they will not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their Sacraments. My Divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment. (The Nine Fridays must be made in honor of His Sacred Heart, meaning, practicing the devotion and having a great love of His Sacred Heart. They must be on the first Friday of the month for nine consecutive months, and Communion must be received.)

Martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket

Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford England

Martyrdom of St Thomas Becket. Early 14th Century

Observations of a Monk

Edward Grim, a monk, observed the attack from the safety of a hiding place near the altar. He wrote his account some time after the event. Acceptance of his description must be qualified by the influence that Becket's sainthood had on Grim's perspective. However, the fundamentals of his narrative are no doubt true. We pick up the story after the knights have stormed into the cathedral.

"The murderers followed him; 'Absolve', they cried, 'and restore to communion those whom you have excommunicated, and restore their powers to those whom you have suspended.'

"He answered, 'There has been no satisfaction, and I will not absolve them.'

'Then you shall die,' they cried, 'and receive what you deserve.'

'I am ready,' he replied, 'to die for my Lord, that in my blood the Church may obtain liberty and peace. But in the name of Almighty God, I forbid you to hurt my people whether clerk or lay.'
"Then they lay sacrilegious hands on him, pulling and dragging him that they may kill him outside the church, or carry him away a prisoner, as they afterwards confessed. But when he could not be forced away from the pillar, one of them pressed on him and clung to him more closely. Him he pushed off calling him 'pander', and saying, 'Touch me not, Reginald; you owe me fealty and subjection; you and your accomplices act like madmen.'

"The knight, fired with a terrible rage at this severe repulse, waved his sword over the sacred head. 'No faith', he cried, 'nor subjection do I owe you against my fealty to my lord the King.'

"Then the unconquered martyr seeing the hour at hand which should put an end to this miserable life and give him straightway the crown of immortality promised by the Lord, inclined his neck as one who prays and joining his hands he lifted them up, and commended his cause and that of the Church to God, to St. Mary, and to the blessed martry Denys. Scarce had he said the words than the wicked knight, fearing lest he should be rescued by the people and escape alive, leapt upon him suddenly and wounded this lamb who was sacrificed to God on the head, cutting off the top of the crown which the sacred unction of the chrism had dedicated to God; and by the same blow he wounded the arm of him who tells this. For he, when the others, both monks and clerks, fled, stuck close to the sainted Archbishop and held him in his arms till the one he interposed was almost severed.

"Then he received a second blow on the head but still stood firm. At the third blow he fell on his knees and elbows, offering himself a living victim, and saying in a low voice, 'For the Name of Jesus and the protection of the Church I am ready to embrace death.'
"Then the third knight inflicted a terrible wound as he lay, by which the sword was broken against the pavement, and the crown which was large was separated from the head. The fourth knight prevented any from interfering so that the others might freely perpetrate the murder.

As to the fifth, no knight but that clerk who had entered with the knights, that a fifth blow might not be wanting to the martyr who was in other things like to Christ, he put his foot on the neck of the holy priest and precious martyr, and, horrible to say, scattered his brain and blood over the pavement, calling out to the others, 'Let us away, knights; he will rise no more.'

(Source)

Why are you sleeping?

"Why sleep you? arise, pray, lest you enter into temptation" (Luke 22:45-46).

St. Maria Goretti

Cathedral of St. Paul. St. Paul, MN

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"

Maria Goretti is one of my favorite saints. She lived a life of heroic virtue and died a virgin martyr in the early 1900's in Italy. She died protecting her virginity from an attempted rapist who later repented and actually testified at her Cause of Canonization. He related how she resisted him with all the strength her 12 year old body had calling out to him "No! It is a sin! You will go to Hell!" At the point of a knife, held over her head he put to her the choice, give in to me or die - she chose death. She chose the better part and won the victory. As she lay dying in the nearby town, the priest asked Maria if she would forgive killer and her reply was "O yes - I do forgive him. I want to be with him in Heaven!" Some time later she appeared to her killer who was in prison and handed him many long stemmed flowers, one for each stab wound he inflicted upon her. He immediately called out for a priest and confessed. He then went on to lead a profoundly penitential life.

There is much more to this heroic story, go HERE if you want to know more.

St Cecelia

These two photos are also located in the Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Mankato MN in the choir loft and seen only by the members of St. Cecelia Choir. St. Cecelia is the patron saint of music.

King David

These photos were taken by me at my parish. Sts Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Mankato MN was founded by Jesuits just over 150 years ago and was our town's "German Catholic Church" Of course this was back when everyone settling here were immigrants. These poor folks pooled together enough money to build an incredibly beautiful church which has only been minimally wreckovated since the 1960's.

Anyway, this is a wonderful stained glass window in the Choir loft that most don't see. I especially enjoy the way King David's gazing away as he plays, assumably for the Lord Himself.

St. Cecelia

St. Cecelia is the patroness of music

St. Agnes

(photo credit)

St. Agnes is one of my favorites and is a member of my family via one of my daughter who names this beautiful virgin martyr as her confirmation saint.

January 21 is the memorial of St. Agnes of Rome in the Catholic Liturgical Calendar. Saint Agnes was 12 or 13 when she refused to marry the son of a Roman prefect. She was then condemned to death by that prefect, but Roman law didn't allow virgins to be executed, so they brought her to a brothel, where she refused to take part in the activities there. Later, a Roman officer killed her with a sword. "Agnes" means "pure" in Greek and "lamb" in Latin, so Agnes's most common symbol is a lamb. The palm branch symbolizes martyrdom. This window is part of a larger circular window in Gesu Church in Milaukee, WI.

St. Thomas Aquinas

(photo credit)

Finally, an image of St. Thomas that is actually attractive!

January 28 is the memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the greatest theologians and philosophers of the Catholic Church. This is part of a window depicting St. Dominic receiving the Rosary (in the center), Thomas on the left, and St. Hyacinth on the right. The book he's holding translates to something like "The Word of God is not chained," from the second letter of Timothy. Does anyone know why this was important or significant in terms of Thomas? I wasn't able to find anything online about it. This window is in the Basilica of Josaphat in Milwaukee, WI.

St. Brigid

(photo credit)

February 1 is the memorial of St. Brigid of Kildare. Many legends have arisen about her life since she died in 525. She established a nunnery at Kildare. Kildare had formerly been a pagan shrine where a sacred fire was kept perpetually burning. Rather than stamping out this pagan flame, Bridget and her nuns kept it burning as a Christian symbol. Brigid is often depicted with a flame or candle. This is a window in the Shrines of the Nations in the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, MN. This is in the Irish along with a window of St. Columba and a statue of St. Patrick.

St. Agatha

(photo credit)

St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Green Bay, WI.

We have little reliable information about this martyr, who has been honoured since ancient times, and whose name is included in the canon of the Mass. Young, beautiful and rich, Agatha lived a life consecrated to God. When Decius announced the edicts against Christians, the magistrate Quinctianus tried to profit by Agatha’s sanctity; he planned to blackmail her into impurity in exchange for not charging her. Handed over to a brothel, she refused to accept customers. After rejecting Quinctianus’s advances, she was beaten, imprisoned, tortured, her breasts were crushed and cut off with pincers. She told the judge, “Cruel man, have you forgotten your mother and the breast that nourished you, that you dare to mutilate me this way?”

Saint Peter then appeared to her and healed her. She was then imprisoned again, then rolled on live coals; another version she was rolled on broken shards of glass. When she was near death, an earthquake stuck. In the destruction that followed, a friend of the magistrate was crushed, and the magistrate fled. Agatha thanked God for an end to her pain, and died.

Legend says that carrying her veil, taken from her tomb in Catania, in procession has averted eruptions of Mount Etna. Her intercession is reported to have saved Malta from Turkish invasion in 1551.

St. Catherine of Alexandria

(photo credit)

Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Minto, ND.

Symbol: broken wheel

St. Catherine was a great theologian and was responsible for the converion of many through debate. She was condemned to death for her faith on the breaking wheel (an instrument of torture). According to legend, the wheel itself broke when she touched it, so she was beheaded.

St. Clotilde

Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Minto, ND

Daughter of King Chilperic of Burgundy. Married young to King Clovis of the Salian Franks. Queen. Mother of three sons. Led her husband to Christianity in 496. Widow. Following Clovis’s death in 511, her sons fought for years over the kingdom. To escape the constant murder and intrigue, she retired to Tours, France where she spent her remaining 34 years caring for the poor and sick.

Buried in the church of Saint Genevieve, Paris, France

St. Anne

The mother of Mary, St. Anne, is usually depicted instructing a young Mary.

Window in Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Strasburg, ND.

St. Aloysius Gonzaga

Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Strasburg, ND.

St. Benedict and St. Scholastica

(photo credit)

February 10 is the memorial of St. Scholastica, who was the twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia.

She was a nun and leader of a religious community of women.Wikipedia: "At the end of the day, they had supper and continued their conversation. When Benedict indicated it was time for him to leave, she protested, and begged him to stay with her for the evening so they could continue their discussions. He refused, insisting that he needed to return to his cell. At that point, Scholastica closed her hands in prayer, and after a moment, a wild storm started outside of the guest house in which they were housed. Benedict asked, "What have you done?", to which she replied, "I asked you and you would not listen; so I asked my God and he did listen. So now go off, if you can, leave me and return to your monastery."Benedict was unable to return to his monastery, and they spent the night in discussion. According to St. Gregory's Dialogues, three days later, from his cell, he saw his sister's soul leaving the earth and ascending to heaven in the form of a shining white dove."

This window is in the Church of the Seven Dolors in Albany, MN.