February 26th

St Porphyrius (353-420), Confessor, Bishop of Gaza; Macedonia

"It is not just that I who am come hither to beg pardon for my sins, should be eased by any one: rather let me undergo some labour and inconvenience, that God, beholding it, may have compassion on me."

Padre Pio (1887-1968), Confessor, Stigmatic; Pietrelcina, Italy; Feast day September 23rd

"In the spiritual life, one must always go on pushing ahead and never go backwards; if not, the same thing happens as to a boat which when it loses headway gets blown backwards with the wind."

St Bernard (1090-1153), Confessor, Doctor of the Church; Fontaine-les-Dijon, France; Feast day August 20th

"There are many who are full of sweetness as long as things go their way; but when they meet with contradiction they break forth in fire and flames, and fume like a veritable Vesuvius.  They are like the coals that glow beneath the ashes."

February 25th
St Victorinus and Six Companions (d. 284), Martyrs; Corinth, Greece

"We rather pray that if you have any other more exquisite torment you would inflict it on us.  We are determined never to violate the fidelity which we owe to God, or to deny Jesus Christ our Saviour, for he is our God, from whom we have our being, and to whom alone we aspire." (Spoken to his executioner.)

St John of the Cross (1542-1591), Confessor, Doctor of the Church; Fontiveros, Spain; Feast day November 24th

"A soul that is attached to any creature will never attain perfect union with God, even though that soul possess many other virtues."

St Mary Magdalena de Pazzi (1566-1607), Virgin; Florence, Italy; Feast day May 29th

"Say nothing of an absent brother that you would not wish to say in his presence."

February 24th
Ss Montanus, Lucius, Flavian, Jullina, Victoricus, Primolus, Rhenus, and Donation (d. 259), Martyrs; Carthage

"Wherefore, brethren, let us love, cherish, and promote, with all our might, peace and concord.  Let us be here unanimous in imitation of what we shall be hereafter.  As we hope to share in the rewards promised to the just, and to avoid the punishments wherewith the wicked are threatened: as, in fine, we desire to be and reign with Christ, let us do those things which will lead us to Him and His heavenly kingdom."

St Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), Virgin, Doctor of the Church; Avila, Spain; Feast day, October 15th

"Separate your heart from creatures and seek God; you will surely find Him then."

St Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Confessor, Doctor of the Church; Haute Savoie, France; Feast day, January 29th

"With what love would we be inflamed, did we but see the flames of love that burn in the heart of Christ!  What a happiness for us did we glow with the fire that consumes our Lord and God!  What joy, to be bound with the bonds of love for God!"

February 23rd
St Serenus (d. 307); Martyr; Greece

"It has pleased God to reserve me for this present time.  It seemed awhile ago as if He rejected me as a stone unfit to enter His building, but He has the goodness to take me now to be placed in it; I am ready to suffer all things for His name, that I may have a part in His kingdom with His saints."

Saint Boisil (d. 664); Prior, Confessor; Melross, England

"Never cease giving thanks to God for the gift of your religious vocation; always watch over yourself against self-love and all attachment to your own will and private judgment, as against your capital enemy; converse assiduously with God by interior prayer, and labour continually to attain to the most perfect purity of heart, this being the true and short road to the perfection of Christian virtue."

February 22nd
Saint Margaret of Cortona (1247-1297), Penitent; Alviano, Italy

"I neither seek nor wish for aught but Thee, my Lord Jesus."

Padre Pio (1887-1968), Confessor, Stigmatic; Pietrelcina, Italy; Feast day September 23rd

"The sacred gift of prayer is in the right hand of Our Saviour, and according to the measure that you empty yourself of yourself, that is of love of your senses and of your own will, and make progress in rooting yourself in holy  humility, to that extent the Lord will speak to your heart."

February 21st
Jacinta Marto (1910-1920), Fatima Visionary; Aljustrel, Portugal; Feast Day, February 20th

"Tell everybody that God grants us graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary; that people are to ask her for them; and that the Heart of Jesus wants the Immaculate Heart of Mary to be venerated at his side.  Tell them also to pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace, since God entrusted it to her."

Padre Pio (1887-1968), Confessor, Stigmatic; Pietrelcina, Italy; Feast day September 23rd

"Humility is truth; truth is humility."

February 20th
St Sadoth (d. 342), Bishop, Martyr; Seleucia, Persia

"I saw in my sleep, a ladder environed with light and reaching from earth to the heavens.  St. Simeon was at the top of it, and in great glory.  He beheld me at the bottom, and said to me, with a smiling countenance: "Mount up, Sadoth, fear not.  I mounted yesterday, and it is your turn today:' which means, that as he was slain last year, so I am to follow him this."

Bl Francisco Marto (1908-1919), Fatima Visionary; Aljustrel, Portugal

"How beautiful God is!  How beautiful!  But He is sad because of the sins of men.  I want to console Him; I want to suffer for love of Him."