Monday 16th, St. Margaret Mary Alacoque,1647-1690, visionary and ascetic, revived devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and was exemplary in her patience and trust. St Gall, was a monk of Bangor and set out with Columbanus for the continent. When Columbanus was exiled from France, Gall accompanied him to Bregenz on Lake Constance. When Columbanus crossed into Italy, Gall remained in Switzerland. He lived in a hermitage, which later became the monastery of St. Gallen. He died around 630.
Tuesday 17th, St. Ignatius of Antioch, bishop and martyr, died a martyr in Rome about 107. He urged Christians to unity in and through the Eucharist and around their local bishop.
Wednesday 18th, St. Luke, Evangelist, was a physician from a Gentile Christian milieu. He was with St. Paul on his second missionary journey and during his imprisonment in Rome. After Paul’s death he is reputed to have worked in Greece. In art, He is represented by an ox. Patron of butchers, bookbinders, doctors, surgeons, artists and glassworkers.
Thursday 19th, Ss. John de Brebeuf, Isaac Jagues and Companions. Ss. John and Isaac and their six Jesuit companions, were slain by Huron and Iroquois Indians between 1646 and 1649. St. Paul of the Cross, 1694-1775, founded the Passionists in Rome, preaching on the Passion of Christ and tending the sick, the dying and the lapsed.