April 1- St. Hugh of Grenoble
He was made bishop of Grenoble, France in 1080 and tried to majorly reform his diocese. However, discouraged, he retired to an abbey and became a Benedictine.
April 2- St. Mary of Egypt
A woman who lived for 47 years as a hermitess in the Jordanian desert. She had no contact with anyone until a holy man named Zosimus found her in 430. She asked him to visit her the following Lent, but when he returned, he found her to have died. He buried her and told his brother monks about her.
April 3- St. Irene of Thessalonica
She was convicted of possessing Scripture when it was outlawed by the emperor and also of refusing to eat food sacrificed to the gods and of refusing to sacrifice to the gods. She was sent to a house of prostitution but, although naked and chained up, was untouched. She was then executed.
April 4- St. Isidore of Seville
A Doctor of the Church, St. Isidore became bishop of Seville, succeeding his saintly older brother, and established a seminary in every diocese in Spain. He was an accomplished academic, writing his encyclopedia of knowledge called the Etymologies which became a popular textbook for nine centuries. He is patron saint of the Internet.
April 5- St. Benedict the Moor
St. Benedict was born a slave near Messina, Italy. When his master freed him, he became a solitary and eventually settled with other hermits near Montepellegrino. When Pope Pius IV disbanded communities of solitaries, he became a Franciscan lay brother and served as a cook. He became known for his holiness, miracles, and as a good confessor.
April 6- St. Celestine I
When he was elected Pope, Celestine confiscated property of the Novationite churches and resorted a basilica in St. Mary Travestere after a sack of Rome. Although he confirmed the appointment of Nestorius to the see of Constantinople, he backed St. Cyril of Alexandria in the conflict between the two. He also combatted Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism.
April 8- St. Julie Billiart
St. Julie always loved to teach; later, this would be the main focus of the congregation she founded. During the French Revolution, she hid loyal priests and had a vision of the new order she was to found.
April 9- St. Acacius
He was bishop of Amida, Mesopotamia and sold the sacred vessels of his church to aid victims of persecution. His actions so impressed King Bahram V that he is reported to have ordered an end to the persecution of the Christians.
April 10- St. Macarius the Ghent
He was bishop of Antioch in Pisidia. Macarius was captured by the Saracens but escaped and traveled throughout Europe performing miracles. He died in Ghent of the plague. He is patron saint against epidemic diseases.
April 11- St. Gemma Galgani
Gemma was an Italian mystic known as the flower of Lucca and had an intense devotion to the Passion of Christ. She received the stigmata every Thursday until that Friday or Saturday when they would close up, heal, and leave only white marks behind. She died of tuberculosis at age 25.
April 12- St. Sabas the Goth
He was a Goth convert to Christianity and served as a lector for a priest. He survived several persecutions of Christians in Romania but was finally caught. When he refused to eat meat sacrificed to idols, he was drowned in the river along with about 50 other men.
April 13- St. Hermengild
He was Prince of Visigothic Spain and raised as an Arian. His wife, Indegundis, converted him from that heresy, which brought about his disinheritance by his father and his defeat at Seville, Spain, by his father. When Hermenegild refused to accept Arianism, he was axed to death.
April 15- Sts. Maximus and Olympiades
They were noblemen in Persia who were beaten to death with metal rods because of their loyalty to the faith.
April 16- St. Bernadette
Bernadette was the young girl to whom the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to at Lourdes. After the visions were over and a chapel at the site completed, Bernadette went to the hospice school of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers where she learned to read and write. She later joined the order and served primarily in the infirmary and as a sacristan until she died of tuberculosis at age 35.
April 17- St. Robert of Chaise Dieu
After becoming a Benedictine priest, he founded a hospice and became known for his care of the poor. He later became a hermit and founded the abbey of Casa Dei where 300 followers lived and formed community.
April 18 (Holy Thursday)- St. Pedro de San Jose Betancur
He was born on the Canary Islands and was a missionary in Gautemala. He is known as “St. Francis of the Americas” and is recognized as the first Canarian saint.
April 19 (Good Friday)- St. Vincent of Collioure
He was a martyr who was put to death at Collioure, Gaul in modern-day France under the persecution of Emperor Diocletian.
April 20 (Holy Saturday)- St. Agnes of Montepulciano
At the age of nine, she entered the monastery of Montepulciano, near her home in Gracchiano-Vecchio, Tuscany. Four years later she was commissioned by Pope Nicholas IV to assist in the foundation of a new convent in Procena. The people of Montepulciano built a new convent in order to lure Agnes back to them. She went back and established a convent under the Dominican rule and governed there until her death. Agnes was noted for her visions: She held the infant Christ in her arms and received Holy Communion from an angel. She also experienced levitations and performed miracles for the faithful of the region.
