Obscure Saints for Every Letter of the Alphabet

A is for Pope St. Alexander I

• Feast day: May 3
• Roman by birth
• 6th Pope
• Probably helped shaped the liturgy
• Credited with starting the use of blessing water mixed with salt for the purification of Christian homes from evil influences
• According to tradition recorded in the Liber Pontificalis he suffered martyrdom on the Via Nomentana in Rome

B is for St. Bond

• Feast day: October 29
• AKA Baldus
• Spanish hermit venerated in Sens, France
• Public penitent
• Trained by St. Artemius

C is for St. Cleopatra

• Feast day: October 19
• Not to be confused with the ancient Egyptian Queen, portrayed by Elizabeth Taylor above
• Widow
• Witnessed the martyrdom of St. Varus, took possession of his remains, and enshrined his remains in her home
• When her only son died suddenly, she received comfort through the intercession of St. Varus

D is for St. Dogfan

• Feast day: July 13
• Patronage: Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant in Wales
• Descendent of Chieftain Brychan of Brecknock
• Welsh Martyr
• Killed by pagan invaders in Dyfed, Wales
• Not known if he was a fan of dogs

E is for St. Eugène de Mazenod

• Feast day: May 21
• Born into French nobility
• Fled France with his family at the start of the French revolution
• Lived in Italy for 11 years. While their he became familiar with the teachings of St. Alphonsus Liguori whose feast the Church celebrates on St. Eugène’s birthday, August 1
• Assisted the Black Cardinals (Cardinals who were not allowed to wear red because they did not get along with Napoleon Bonaparte) while in the seminary
• Founded the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
• Bishop of Marseille for decades
• Responsible for the construction of two magnificent churches in Marseille, Notre Dame de la Garde and Sainte-Marie-Majeure

F is for Blessed Francis Man

• Feast: December 19
• Dominican tertiary
• Martyred in Vietnam
• Served as a catechist
• He and his four companions were strangled for the Faith in 1839

G is for St. Guy

• Feast day: June 18
• Successor of St. Berno as abbot of Baume Abbey
• Retired to become a hermit

H is for St. Harvey

• Feast day: June 17
• Patronage: The blind; bards; musicians; invoked against eye problems, eye disease; sick horses
• Not to be confused with Jimmy Stewart’s imaginary rabbit friend
• Blind
• Abbot of Plouvien
• Famous for miracles

I is for St. Irene of Tomar

• Feast day: October 20
• Patronage: Tomar, Portugal; Santarém; Santa Iria de Azóia, Loures
• Nun from portugal

J is for St. John Wall

• Feast day: July 12
• Not to be confused with John Wall the basketball player pictured above
• One of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
• Franciscan priest
• Called Father Joachim of St. Anne
• Hanged, drawn, and quartered at Redhill in 1679

K is for St. Kevin

• Feast day: June 3
• AKA Coemgen
• Native of Ireland
• Friend of St. Kieran of Clonmacnois
• Baptized by St. Cronan and educated by St. Petroc
• Was a Hermit for seven years
• Founded a monastery at Disert-Coemgen
• Raised the son of King Colman of Ui Faelain

L is for St. Laura of Saint Catherine of Siena

• Feast day: October 21
• Patronage: People suffering from racial discrimination, Orphans, Congregation of Missionary Sisters of Immaculate Mary and of Saint Catherine of Siena
• Born in Colombia
• Combatted combat the anti-Indian bigotry in South America
• Founded the Missionaries of Mary Immaculate and Saint Catherine of Siena to serve the Indians peoples in South America

M is for St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

• Feast day: May 25
• Had her first prayer experience that included ecstasy at the age of 12
• Continued to have many mystical experiences in her life
• Suffered greatly healthwise
• Embarrassed by her mystical experiences
• Did not believe her ecstasies were a reward for her faith, but rather evidence of a great fault in her
• Her incorrupt body is preserved in the Carmelite convent, in Florence.

N is for St. Narcissus

• Feast day: October 29
• Not to be confused with the character of Greek mythology pictured above
• Became the 30th Bishop of Jerusalem at the age of 80
• Eusebius attributed this miracle to him: “One year on Easter-eve the deacons did not have any oil for the lamps in the church, which was necessary at the solemn divine office on that day. Narcissus ordered those who had care of the lamps to bring him some water from the neighboring wells. This being done, he pronounced a devout prayer over the water. Then he bade them pour it into the lamps; which they did. The water was immediately converted into oil, to the great surprise of all the faithful.”
• Died in 216, at the age of 117

O is for St. Odo

• Feast day: November 18
• Patronage: Rain
• Not to be confused with the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine character pictured above
• Born near Le Mans, France in 878
• Raised in the households of Count Fulk II of Anjou and Duke William of Aquitaine
• Became a monk in 909
• Served as an abbot
• Pope John XI authorized him to reform the monasteries of northern France and Italy in 931.
• Intervened several times to keep peace between Alberic of Rome and Hugh of Provence
• Convinced secular rulers to relinquish control over monasteries
• Wrote hymns, treatises on morality, an epic poem on the Redemption, and a life of St. Gerald of Aurillac.

P is for St. Procopius of Scythopolis

• Feast day: July 8
• Called “the Great” by Eusebius of Caesarea who wrote the account of his martyrdom
• First victim of Diocletian’s persecution of the Church in Palestine

Q is for St. Quadragesimus

• Feast day: October 26
• Confessor
• Shepherd
• Subdeacon
• Known for miracles. Pope St. Gregory the Great credited him with rasing a man from the dead.

R is for St. Ralph

• Feast day: June 21
• Not to be confused with The Simpsons character pictured above
• AKA Raoul and Radulf
• Son of Count Raoul of Cahors
• Probably a monk and served as an abbot
• Named bishop of Bourges in 840 AD

S is for St. Severus

• Feast day: October 15
• Not to be confused with the Harry Potter character pictured above
• Born in Gaul
• Missionary companion of St. Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes
• Combated Pelagianism
• Named Bishop of Treves in 446 AD

T is for St. Theodosia

• Feast day: April 2
• Not to be confused with the daughter or wife of Aaron Burr (portrayed by Leslie Odom, Jr. above)
• Virgin Martyr
• At the age of 18, she visited Caesarea. There, she encountered some Christians on their way to their execution. When she spoke to them, she was arrested, tortured, and murdered by being thrown into the sea.

U is for St. Ursala

• Feast day: October 21
• Not to be confused with the villain of The Little Mermaid pictured above
• One legend states, she was the daughter of a Christian King in Britain. She and her ladies in waiting were massacred by Huns when she refused to marry their chieftain
• Her legends grew around the history of a basilica that was built in honor of a group of virgins who were martyred at Cologne

V is for Victoria

• Feast day: December 23
• Not to be confused with Ted Mosby’s ex-girlfriend pictured above
• She and her sister Antolia refused potential suitors and were imprisoned by them
• Martyred when she refused to sacrifice to pagan gods
• She was a real person. However, her life story may be a pious myth.

W is for St. Wolfgang

• Feast day: October 31
• Not to be confused with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart pictured above
• Benedictine priest
• Bishop of Regensburg
• Reformer
• Tutor to Emperor Henry II

X is for St. Xantippa

• Feast day: September 23
• Companion of Polyxena
• Disciple of the Apostles
• Died in Spain

Y is for Blessed Yvette

• Feast day: January 13
• Patronage: Brides, large families, and widows
• Not to be confused with the maid from the movie Clue pictured above
• Married at 13
• Mothered three children
• Widowed at 18
• Despite many suitors after being widowed, she spurned them all to care for lepers
• Spent final 36 years of her life as an anchoress and was responsible for many conversions (including the return of her father and one of her children to the Faith)

Z is for St. Zoe of Rome

• Feast day: July 5
• Married a Roman nobleman
• Arrested while praying at the tomb of St. Peter
• Martyred in 286 AD
• Hung from a tree by her hair while she was burned to death