St. Paul of the ✝
On January 3, 1694, St. Paul of the Cross was born in Ovada, Republic of Genoa. His childhood and adolescence were spent in a state of heightened innocence and piety. In ecstasy, he was inspired from on high to start a congregation, he beheld the habit which he and his companions were to wear. After speaking with his director, Bishop Gastinara of Alexandria in Piedmont, he concluded that God wanted him to form a congregation dedicated to Jesus Christ’s Passion. The bishop vested him with the habit that had been shown to him in a vision on November 22, 1720, the identical one that the Passionists wear today. From that point forwards, the saint dedicated himself to repairing his institute’s rules. In 1721, he travelled to Rome to gain the Holy See’s approval. He first failed, but when Benedict XIV ratified the Rules in 1741 and 1746, he eventually succeeded. Meanwhile, near Obitello, St. Paul erected his first monastery. Sometime later he established a larger community at the Church of St. John and Paul in Rome. For fifty years, St. Paul remained Italy’s untiring missionary. God showered the greatest talents in the supernatural order upon him, yet he treated himself harshly, believing himself to be a useless servant and a dreadful sinner. At the age of eighty-one, he died a holy death in Rome in the year 1775. In 1867, Pope Pius IX declared him a saint. His feast day is October 20. ( Paraphrased using Quillbot)
Saints within the Celtic Canon
Ss. Bradan and Orora of the Isle of Man
BRADAN and ORORA (CRORA) (SS.) (Oct. 20)
The Book of Saints By Saint Augustine’s Abbey, Aeterna Press
(Date uncertain.) These two Saints are honoured in the Isle of Man. In the church of St. Bradan, Kirk-Braddan, near Douglas, Mark, the Bishop of Sodor, held a Synod (A.D. 1291). In a map of the sixteenth century,
reference is made to the churches of St. Patrick and St. Crora.
St. Aidan of Mayo – Irish
Died 768. Aidan was an Irish bishop in Mayo of whom nothing more is known (Benedictines, Husenbeth).
St. Acca of Hexham – Old English Saint
Bishop and scholar, a companion of early English saints and missionaries. Acca was born in Northumbria, England, and was educated in the company of St. Bosa, a Benedictine apostle of great courage. He also met St. Wilfrid, who appointed him the abbot of St. Andrew’s Monastery in Hexham, England. Acca joined St. Wilfrid as early as 678 and accompanied him to Rome in 692. When Wilfred died in 709, Acca succeeded him as the bishop of Hexham. He spent his monastic and episcopal years erecting parish churches in the area. He also introduced Christian arts and promoted learning. Acca brought a famous cantor, a man named Maban, to Hexham, and with him introduced the Roman Chants. St. Bede dedicated several of his works to Acca, who also promoted other Christian writers. For reasons undocumented, Acca was driven out of Hexham in 732. He retired to a hermitage in Withern, in Galloway. Just before his death in 742 he returned to Hexham and was unanimously revered. When he was buried, two Celtic crosses were recreated at his gravesite. One still stands in Hexham. When his body was moved sometime later, his vestments were found intact. The accounts of Acca’s miracles were drawn up by St. Aelred and by the historian Simeon of Durham.
Angels and Saints at Catholic.org
More: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1094
Reading 1. Catholic Online. 2021. St. Paul of the Cross – Saints & Angels – Catholic Online. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=810. [Accessed 20 October 2021].
St. Acca of Hexham: Catholic online-saints and Angels. 2021. St. Acca of Hexam. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1094. [Accessed 20 October 2021].
Image Attribution St. Acca’s Cross By Dppowell – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3994152
Bradan and Crora: Saint Augustine’s Abbey, S., 1966. Ss. Bradan, Bishop of the Isle of Man, and Orora (Crora) of the Isle of Man. The Book of Saints By Saint Augustine’s Abbey, Aeterna Press, [Online]. N/A, U. Available at: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=hpfmCgAAQBAJ&dq=Ss.+Bradan,+Bishop+of+the+Isle+of+Man,+
and+Orora+Crora)+of+the+Isle+of+Man&source=gbs_navlinks_s [Accessed 20 October 2021].
St. Aidan of Mayo: Celtic and Old English Saints. 2021. St. Aidan of Mayo. [ONLINE] Available at: https://celticsaints.org/2021/1020b.html. [Accessed 20 October 2021].