Tuesday, 11th June, St Barnabas, was born on the island of Cyprus. He was one of the first converts in Jerusalem and preached at Antioch. He became a companion of St. Paul and was with him on his first missionary journey, and he took part in the Council of Jerusalem. He returned to his native land to preach the Gospel and died there.
Thursday, 13th June, St. Anthony of Padua, died in Padua in 1231 at the age of thirty-six. Born in Portugal, he joined the Franciscans and preached throughout France and Italy. Anthony was canonized by Pope Gregory IX on 30 May 1232, at Spoleto, Italy, less than one year after his death. In the words of Pope Benedict XVI, “the richness of spiritual teaching contained in the Sermons was so great that in 1946 Venerable Pope Pius XII proclaimed Anthony a Doctor of the Church, attributing to him the title Doctor evangelicus, since the freshness and beauty of the Gospel emerge from these writings.”