Monday 10th, St. Scholastica, died c.543, sister of St. Benedict. She spent her life as a consecrated virgin. Patron of convulsive children.
Tuesday 11th, Our Lady of Lourdes. On this day in 1858, Our Lady first appeared to the fourteen-year-old Bernadette Soubirous. Later Bernadette was to learn that the mysterious lady was the Blessed Virgin and to hear from her lips, ‘I am the Immaculate Conception’. In 1992 Pope John Paul II instituted the World Day of the Sick to be held on the commemoration of Our Lady of Lourdes. St Gobnait, is one of the best loved saints in west Cork but only traditions concerning her life survive. The main part of her life was spent in Ballyvourney, Co. Cork, where there has always been a deep devotion to her, and which is a place of pilgrimage on this day and on Pentecost. Her gifts of caring for and curing the sick have been a significant part of her cult through the centuries. Happily, her memorial coincides with the World Day of the Sick.
Friday 14th, Ss. Cyril (Monk), 826-869 and Methodius (bishop), 815-885, Patrons of Europe, were brothers from Thessalonica in Greece. They preached the Gospel in Moravia using their own translation of the Scriptures and the liturgy in the local language. These translations into Slavonic were in an alphabet, now called Cyrillic, which they devised. They are honoured as apostles of the Slavic peoples and in 1980 Pope John Paul II declared them Patrons of Europe.