Monday, 17th October, St Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop of Antioch, died a martyr at Rome about 107. He urged Christians to unity in and through the Eucharist and around their local bishop. Seven of his letters survive.
Tuesday, 18th October, St Luke, Evangelist. Saint Luke 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.
Wednesday, 19th October, Ss. John de Brebeuf and Isaac Jogues, with their six Jesuit companions, were slain by Huron and Iroquois Indians in 1647/8. St Paul of the Cross, 1694-1775, he founded the Passionists in Rome, preaching on the Passion of Christ and tending the sick, the dying and the lapsed.
Saturday, 22nd October, Pope St. John Paul II, was pope for over twenty-six years from 224 October 1978, the inauguration of his ministry as universal Pastor of the Church, until his death on 2nd April 2005. Ordained Bishop of Krakow I 1958 he took a significant part in the second Vatican Council. As Bishop of Rome, he visited almost all of the Roman parishes and made apostolic journeys to 104 countries, including Ireland in 1979.