Monday 12th December: Our Lady of Guadalupe is patron of the Americas. This memorial recalls the apparitions in December 1531to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on Tepeyac hill, near Mexico City. St. Finnian: studied in Co. Carlow and later in Wales. He settled in Clonard, Co. Meath around 520 where he established a very famous school. His pupils, among whom were Canice, Colum Cille and Brenda, were the initiators of the great monastic expansion in Ireland. He died in 549 and is remembered as the ‘tutor’ of the saints of Ireland.
Tuesday, 13th December, St Lucy, martyr, desiring to remain consecrated to Christ alone, was martyred in 304 in Sicily during the persecution of Diocletian. Patron saint of blind people and those who suffer from eye problems.
Wednesday, 14th December, St John of the Cross (1542-1591), a Carmelite who despite opposition and imprisonment, worked for spreading the reform of the Carmelites. He was a man of prayer, an outstanding poet, a spiritual writer, declared doctor of the Church.