Today's Saints

St Timothy:

St. Timothy
Feastday: January 26
Born at Lystra, Lycaenia, Timothy was the son of a Greek father and Eunice, a converted Jewess. He joined St. Paul when Paul preached at Lystra replacing Barnabas, and became Paul's close friend and confidant. Paul allowed him to be circumcised to placate the Jews, since he was the son of a Jewess, and he then accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey. When Paul was forced to flee Berea because of the enmity of the Jews there, Timothy remained, but after a time was sent to Thessalonica to report on the condition of the Christians there and to encourage them under persecution, a report that led to Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians when he joined Timothy at Corinth. Timothy and Erastus were sent to Macedonia in 58, went to Corinth to remind the Corinthians of Paul's teaching, and then accompanied Paul into Macedonia and Achaia. Timothy was probably with Paul when the Apostle was imprisoned at Caesarea and then Rome, and was himself imprisoned but then freed. According to tradition, he went to Ephesus, became its first bishop, and was stoned to death there when he opposed the pagan festival of Katagogian in honor of Diana. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy, one written about 65 from Macedonia and the second from Rome while he was in prison awaiting execution. His feast day is January 26.

St Paula:

St. Paula
Feastday: January 26
Patron of widows
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Born in Rome of a noble family on May 5, 347. Paula married Toxotius, and the couple had five children - Toxotius, Blesilla, Paulina, Eustochium, and Rufina. They were regarded as an ideal married couple, and on his deathin 379, she renounced the world, lived in the greatest austerity, and devoted herself to helping the poor. She met St. Jerome in 382 through St. Epiphanius and Paulinus of Antioch and was closely associated with Jerome in his work while he was in Rome. The death of her daughter Blesilla in 384 left her heartbroken, and in 385 she left Rome with Eustochium, traveled to the Holy Land with Jerome, and a year later settled in Bethlehem under his spiritual direction. She and Eustochium built a hospice, a monastery, and a convent, which Paula governed. She became Jerome's closest confidante and assistant, taking care of him and helping him in his biblical work, build numerous churches, which were to cause her financial difficulties in her old age, and died at Bethlehem on January 26. She is the patroness of widows. Her feast day is January 26.

St Margaret of Hungary:

St. Margaret of Hungary
Feastday: January 26
St. Margaret of Hungary Daughter of King Bela IV, she became a Dominican novice at twelve in a royal convent built on an island in the Danube. Although she was a princess among nuns who were of noble descent, she objected to any special treatment and went out of her way to perform the most menial tasks and the most exacting labors on behalf of the squalid poor and most advanced hospital cases. The extend of her labors and fasting and hours of prayer brought on the fatigue of which she died on January 18. her feast day is January 26th.

St Alberic:

St. Alberic
Feastday: January 26
1109
Hermit and co-founder of the great Cistercian Order with Stephen Harding and a monk named Robert. Alberic was a monk near Chatillon-sur-Seine until he joined a group to form a new monastery at Molesmes. Robert served there as abbot, and Alberic was prior. The monks of Molesmes rebelled against the harsh rule instituted there and imprisoned Alberic and forced Robert to leave the monastery. Released, Alberic tried a second time to reform the members, but he was unsuccessful. In 1098, he and twenty-one other monks left Molesmes and established another religious house at Citeaux. Robert was again abbot, and Alberic prior. They were joined this time by Stephen Harding as subprior. Thus was founded the Cistercian Order, one of the most distinguished religious houses in the Church. Robert returned to Molesmes within a few years, restoring the primitive Benedictine rule there. The additional austerities that he introduced into Molesmes gave it a true Cistercian character; however, Stephen Harding is credited with providing the overall Cistercian attributes. Alberic remained at Citeaux, where he died on January 26.

St Ansurius:

St. Ansurius
Feastday: January 26
925
Bishop and Benedictine monk, also called Isauri. In 915, Ansurius was elected the bishop of Orense, Spanish Galicia, Spain, and founded the abbey of Ribas de Sil. After seven years, he retired his see and entered Ribas de Sil.

St Athanasius:

St. Athanasius
Feastday: January 26
unknown
Bishop honored in Sorrento in southern Italy.

St Theofrid:

St. Theofrid
Feastday: January 26
690
Abbot of Corbie, in France, and bishop. Theofrid was a Benedictine trained at Luxcuil Abbey.

St Titus:

St. Titus
Feastday: January 26
96
A disciple and companion of St. Paul to whom the great saint addressed one of his letters. Paul referred to Titus as "my true child in our common faith". Not mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, he was noted in Galatians where Paul writes of journeying to Jerusalem with Barnabas, accompanied by Titus. He was then dispatched to Corinth, Greece, where he successfully reconciled the Christian community there with Paul, its founder. Titus was later left on the island of Crete to help organize the Church, although he soon went to Dalmatia, Croatia. According to Eusebius of Caesarea in the Ecclesiastical Histor y, he served as the first bishop of Crete. He was buried in Cortyna (Gortyna), Crete; his head was later translated to Venice during the invasion of Crete by the Saracens in 832 and was enshrined in St. Mark’s, Venice, Italy.

St Conan:

St. Conan
Feastday: January 26
648
A bishop of Ireland, possibly from Scotland. It is believed that Conan taught St. Fiacre before going to the Isle of Man, where he served as a missionary and was consecrated bishop.

St Robert of Newmister:

St. Robert of Newmister
Feastday: January 26
1000-1159
Cistercian abbot. Born in Yorkshire, England, he entered the Benedictines at Whitby and soon joined the monks at Fountains Abbey who were adopting the harder rule which was gaining prominence at the time. This community embraced the Cistercian rule, and the monastery became one of the spearhead communities for the Cistercians in England. In 1137, Robert helped to found Newminster Abbey, in Northumberland, serving as its first abbot.

Courtesy of catholic.org