Reflecting on the Saints

Of the various Saints and commemorations that are celebrated this week: Sept 22 Dedication of the Basilica of Monte Senario (OSM) Sept 23 Saint Pius of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio) , Priest   Sept 26 Saints Cosmas and Damian , Martyrs Sept 27 Saint Vincent de Paul , Priest   Sept 28 Saint Wenceslaus , Martyr Sept 28 Saint Lawrence Ruiz and companions , Martyrs I’ve chosen to write about Saint Vincent de Paul . The future St. Vincent de Paul was born in was born in 1581 in the village of Pouy , in the province of Guyenne and Gascony , Kingdom of France , nominally to a family of peasant farmers.  His father was named Jean de Paul, his mother Bertrande de Moras.   To avoid being considered being of noble birth, the future St. Vincent de Paul , would write the “de Paul” part of his name as one word, though apparently no one else did.   In any case, he did grow up in a family of some means because he did spend three years of study at the college at ...

Of the Saints and comemorations of this week: Sept. 15 Our Lady of Sorrows Sept. 16 Saints Cornelius , pope and Cyprian , bishop Martyrs Sept. 17 St Robert Bellarmine , bishop and doctor Sept. 17 St. Hildegard of Bingen , religious and mystic Sept. 19 St. Janaurius , bishop and martyr Sept. 20 Sts. Andrew Kim Tae-gon and Companions , martyrs Sept. 21 Twenty Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C) Sept. 21 St. Matthew , apostle I’ve chosen to write about St. Hildegard of Bingen , a German mystic, born around 1098 in the town of Bermersheim vor der Höhe , County (ruled by a Count) of the Palatine of the Rhine , in the then Holy Roman Empire , that is to say in the Palatinate-Rheinland state of today's Germany . To give an idea of the time, at St. Hildegard of Bingen ’s birth, the Holy Roman Empire would have been ruled over by Henry (Heinrich) IV , the 18th Holy Roman Emperor since its founding by Charlamagne on Christmas of 800 AD.  Pope Urban II would have been Pope, and...