English Speaking Saints And Martyrs

May 30 Bl. William Filby Feastday: May 30 1582 A.D. Martyr of England. Born in Oxfordshire, he studied at Oxford. After graduation, William was converted to Catholicism and went to Reims, France, where he received ordination as a priest in 1581. He returned to England immediately and was arrested with St. Edmund Campion. William was executed at Tyburn with three companions on May 30. He was beatified in 1886. Bl. Thomas Cottam Feastday: May 30 1582 A.D. English martyr . Born at Dilworth, Lancashire, England, in 1549, he was raised as a Protestant and studied at Oxford University before undergoing a conversion to Catholicism. Leaving England to prepare for ordination at Douai and Rome, he was ordained and joined the Jesuits. going home in 1580. Arrested at his landing at Dover, he was taken to the Tower of London and eventually hanged, drawn, and quartered with three companions. St. Walstan Feastday: May 30 1016 A.D. Penitent and model of charity. Born at Bawburgh, near Norwich, Englan...

May 23 St. William of Rochester Feastday: May 23 Patron of adopted children St. William of Rochester whose feast day is May 23rd is the patron saint of adopted children. William was a well-to-do burgher at Perth, Scotland. He went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem with his adopted son David who murdered him near Rochester, England. When a mentally deranged woman found his body and cared for it, she was miraculously cured of her mental problems. Reportedly miracles occurred at his grave, and it is said that he was canonized by Pope Alexander IV in 1256, though there is no record of such a canonization. There is a shrine dedicated to William at Rochester Cathedral. St. Goban Feastday: May 23 6th or 7th century Abbot also called Gobhnena. He is believed to be the Goban mentioned in the life of St. Laserian. Goban served in Tascaffin, County Limerick, Ireland. St. David I Feastday: May 24 1153 A.D. King of Scotland , the son of King Malcolm III and St. Margaret, born in 1084. He was sent to the E...

May 16 St. Simon Stock Feastday: May 16 Although little is known about Simon Stock's early life, legend has it that the name Stock, meaning "tree trunk," derives from the fact that, beginning at age twelve, he lived as a hermit in a hollow tree trunk of an oak tree. It is also believed that, as a young man, he went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land where he joined a group of Carmelites with whom he later returned to Europe. Simon Stock founded many Carmelite Communities, especially in University towns such as Cambridge, Oxford, Paris, and Bologna, and he helped to change the Carmelites from a hermit Order to one of mendicant friars. In 1254 he was elected Superior-General of his Order at London. Simon Stock's lasting fame came from an apparition he had in Cambridge, England, on July 16, 1251, at a time when the Carmelite Order was being oppressed. In it the Virgin Mary appeared to him holding the brown scapular in one hand. Her words were: "Receive, my beloved s...

Bl. Thomas Pickering 1679A.D. Feastday May 9 Benedictine martyr . Born in Westmoreland, England, he entered the Benedictines as a lay brother at Douai, France, and there took his vows in 1660. Going home to England, he became attached to the Benedictines in the service of the Chapel Royal of Queen Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II (r. 1660-1685). Arrested as part of the "Popish Plot," he was condemned and hanged at Tyburn. St. Beatus Feastday: May 9 112 A.D. A monk and hermit, called Beatus of Lungern and earlier designated as the Apostle of Switzerland. Baptized in England by St. Barnabas and ordained by St. Peter, Beatus went to Switzerland. He lived and died on Mount Beatenburg above Lake Thun. The cave became a popular pilgrim's destination, the famed site of Beatus' fight with a dragon. St. Sanctan Feastday: May 9 6th century Irish bishop. He governed two sees, at Kill-da-Les and Kill-na-Sanctan (modern Dublin). It is possible that he was British by b...

St. Ultan Feastday: May 2 686 A.D. Benedictine abbot.The brother of Sts. Fursey and Foil Ian, he followed them into the monastic life, entering the community of monks at Burgh Castle, nearyarmouth, East Anglia, England. He subsequently went to France to escape the predations of the Mercians and was greeted with enthusiasm by St. Gertrude of Nivelles. After serving as chaplain to Gertrude's nuns, be became the founding abbot of Fosses Monastery on land given to him by Sts. Gertrude and Ita. He also ruled Peronne. St. Neachtian Feastday: May 2 Irish confessor. He was a friend of St. Patrick, possibly a relative, and was supposedly present when Patrick died. St. Ethelwin Feast day: May 3. (d. eighth century) Second bishop of Lindsey, England. He accompanied St. Egbert to Ire­land, where he died. St. Scannal Feastday: May 3 563 A.D. Disciple of St. Columba and an Irish missionary. He was associated with the region of CellColeraine. St. John Houghton Feastday: May ...