From Franciscan Media

October 20. Saint Paul of the Cross dedicated his life to the memory of Christ’s passion and death. Known as the Passionists, the Congregation of the Passion that he founded is committed to preaching the good news of Christ crucified, and to caring for the poor. The Passionists take a fourth vow to promote the Passion of Jesus.

October 19. Isaac Jogues and his companions are popularly known as the North American martyrs. Over a period of years, these eight Jesuits worked among the Hurons, bringing many into the Catholic faith. They labored in what would become the northeastern United States and eastern Canada.

October 18. Saint Luke is known to us primarily as the author of the Gospel that bears his name, and Acts of the Apostles. Actually two volumes of one work, Saint Luke instructs and inspires us with his beautiful treatment of the words and deeds of Jesus and of the early Church. We are blessed by his writings.

October 17. On his journey to Rome to face his death in the Circus Maximus, Saint Ignatius of Antioch visited and wrote to many of the churches along the way. These letters have become a valuable source of instruction as well as a source of information about the early days of the Church.

October 16. Saint Margaret Mary, like Pope Francis, spent her life reminding people of God’s Mercy. She will forever be associated with devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the symbol of Christ’s love. Many people follow her in prayer to the Sacred Heart on the first Friday of every month.

October 15. Saint Teresa of Avila lived before and during the Council of Trent. Having experienced the Reformation, she felt a need for reform, but took things in a different direction than the Protestants. Teresa set an example for present day reformers.

October 14. Who knows us better than our enemies? Saint Hippolytus is our major source of information about today's "Saint of the Day" Saint Callistus I. The two of them were competitors for the papacy, but they are both canonized saints of the Catholic Church. The Holy Spirit can make peace in wondrous ways.

October 13. When Marie-Rose Durocher was 29, Bishop Ignace Bourget became bishop of Montreal. He faced a shortage of priests and sisters and a rural population that had been largely deprived of education. Bishop Bourget founded the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, with Marie-Rose as its first member and co-foundress.

October 12. Francis Xavier Seelos was born in Bavaria. He studied in Munich before coming to the United States to serve the German-speaking immigrants. He remained here his entire adult life serving both his parishioners and fellow Redemptorists.

October 11. A shy, retiring man with a wonderful sense of humor, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli became our beloved Pope Saint John XXIII. Perhaps the greatest irony was that his fellow Cardinals elected him as a stop-gap pope to give them time to get the politics ironed out for a more permanent candidate. Little did they know what the Holy Spirit had in store for the Church through this “temporary” Pope.