THIS princess was daughter of Theodoric, a powerful  Saxon count. Her parents placed her very young in the monastery of Erford, of which her grandmother Maud was then abbess. Our Saint remained in that house, an accomplished model of all virtues, till her parents married her to Henry, son of Otho, Duke of Saxony, in 913, who was afterwards chosen king of Germany. He was s pious and victorious prince, and very tender of his subjects. Whilst by his arms he checked the insolence of the Hungarians and Danes, and enlarged his dominions by adding to them Bavaria, Maud gained domestic victories over her spiritual enemies more worthy of a Christian and far greater in the eyes of Heaven. She nourished the precious seeds of devotion and humility in her heart by assiduous prayer and meditation. Continue reading →

An ardent zeal for the salvation of souls brought this servant of God from Italy to North-Britain. Near the mouth of the Tees, where he landed, he built a church under the invocation of St. Peter, another at Tellein, three miles from Alect, and a third at Restennet. This last was served by a famous monastery of regular canons of the order of St. Austin, when religious houses were abolished in Scotland St. Boniface, by preaching the word of God, reformed the manners of the people in the provinces of Angus, Marris, Buchan, Elgin, Murray, and Ross. Being made bishop in this last country, he filled it with oratories and churches, and by planting the true spirit of Christ in the hearts of many, settled that church in a most flourishing condition. He died about the year 630, and was buried at Rosmark, the capital of the county of Ross. The Breviary of Aberdeen mentions that he founded one hundred and fifty churches and oratories in Scotland, and ascribes many miracles to his intercession after his death.

(Source: Butler’s Lives of the Saints)

St. Peter Canisius, called “The Second Apostle of Germany,” (St. Boniface was the first), was the first German Jesuit. He was born at Nymwegen, May 8, 1521, and was received into the Society of Jesus by Blessed Peter Faber, at Mayence May 8, 1543. After an extraordinarily apostolic life as teacher, orator, writer, adviser, he died a holy death on December 21, 1597, at Freiburg, Switzerland. He was beatified November 20, 1868, and canonized May 21, 1925. He had a great love for children; to him we owe the first catechism of Christian Doctrine; he is often pictured as surrounded by a group of devout children, teaching them the catechism. The greatest stress he placed upon the education of priests. “To train good priests,” he said, “is the simplest way towards the sanctification of an entire people.”

(Source: Fr. Lasance, The New Roman Missal)