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AIDS Sufferers & Caregivers / Aloysius Gonzaga, 1568–1591, Feast Day: June 21

A courtier and a soldier devoted to the Virgin Mary. Against his family’s wishes, he became a Jesuit novice at the age of eighteen. Despite the fact that he himself suffered from a kidney disease, he insisted on tending the sick when the plague struck Rome. He died of the plague at the age of twenty-two.

Other patronages: pulmonary diseases; teenagers

Invoked: for help in choosing a state of life; against lust

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Death of Children / Julitta and Cyriacus of Iconium, d. 304, Feast Day: June 16

A Turkish widow, Julitta and her young son, Cyriacus, moved to Tarsus to escape persecution. She was denounced to a ruling magistrate there, who questioned her while he played with Cyriacus. When she refused to give up her faith, she was given the death sentence. Her son told the magistrate he was a Christian as well, so enraging the man that he threw the boy down the stairs, killing him before his mother. Centuries later, Cyriacus appeared to the Emperor Charlemagne, who was in danger of being gored by a boar while hunting. He offered to save the emperor in exchange for clothing for himself. He is known as Saint Cyr in France.

Other patronages: torture victims

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Social Workers / John Regis, 1597–1640, Feast Day: June 16

A Jesuit missionary in the Languedoc region of France, John Regis was known for his ability to reach common people. In each district he visited, he would send letters to the rich listing six poor individuals in need, with a monetary amount they should donate. By appealing to rich and poor alike, he got real results. He opened lace and embroidery factories as an alternative trade for prostitutes. Always working in primitive conditions, he died of pneumonia in the Pyrenees.

Other patronages: lace makers; illegitimate children

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Neurological Disorders / Vitus, d. 303, Feast Day: June 15

A Sicilian boy who converted to Christianity at a young age, Vitus exorcized a demon from the son of Emperor Diocletian. While he was imprisoned because of his faith, a band of dancing angels would entertain him. He was martyred by being thrown in a cauldron of boiling pitch. In Germany, his shrine was visited by many people with nerve disorders, and it became customary to dance all night on his feast day.

Other patronages: Bohemia, Sicily; hens, roosters; actors, brewers, comedians, coppersmiths, coopers, dancers, pharmacists, tinkers, vintners; epileptics, insane people

Invoked: against bedwetting, snakebite, wild-animal attacks


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Abandoned People / Germaine Cousin, 1579–1601,
Feast Day: June 15

Born to a poor farm family near Toulouse, France, Germaine was a sickly, ugly child with a withered arm. After her mother died, her father married a woman who was especially cruel to Germaine, forcing her to live in a stable and tend sheep. She made a rosary out of string, and when she left her sheep to attend mass, no harm from wolves ever came to them. She died on her pallet, and forty years after her death, when her body was accidentally exhumed, it was found to be incorrupt. Hundreds of miracles have been reported due to her intercession.

Other patronages: shepherdesses; abuse victims, handicapped people, unattractive people

Invoked: against poverty

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Amputees / Anthony of Padua, 1195–1231,
Feast Day: June 13

A Franciscan preacher known as “the Wonder Worker,” Anthony is one of the most popular saints in the world. In one of the many miracle stories about him, when a boy kicked his mother in front of the saint, his foot came off. Anthony reattached it after the boy apologized.

Other patronages: Portugal; draftees, potters, seamen, sellers of strawberries; barren women, orphans, prisoners, shipwrecked people

Invoked: to find lost articles, a husband; against infertility

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Hail / Barnabas the Apostle, d. 61, Feast Day: June 11

Originally from Cyprus, Barnabas was said to have been present at the Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended on the original followers of Christ. He introduced Saint Paul to the other apostles and became his disciple. He was stoned in Cyprus when he attempted to preach there, and this is why he is invoked against hail. He was burned alive, and when his remains were discovered in 458, the Gospel of Matthew was with them.

Other patronages: Antioch, Cyprus

Invoked: for peace

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Syria / Ephrem of Syria, 306–373, Feast Day: June 9

Born into an early Christian community, Ephrem’s great body of writing—his homilies, poems, hymns, and dissertations on Christian philosophy—make him a pillar of both the Syrian and Roman Catholic churches. Driven out of his home in Syria, he found refuge in Edessa, where he lived in a cave and did much of his writing. His work, written in his native language, represents the Church before the influence of Europe.

Other patronages: spiritual directors, spiritual leaders

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Peace / Norbert, 1080–1134, Feast Day: June 6

A German noble devoted to pleasure, Norbert took holy orders as a career move. When the horse he was riding was hit by lightning, Norbert awoke in a ditch a changed man. He became a traveling preacher, donated his wealth to the poor, and founded a movement of laypeople dedicated to reforming monasteries throughout Europe. He tried to settle a schism in the Church between Pope Innocent II and the antipope Anacletus.

Other patronages: Bohemia, Magdeburg (Germany)

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Germany / Boniface 680–754 Feast Day: June 5

An English monk, his interest in his Saxon roots took him to Germany, where he changed his name to Boniface and successfully evangelized the tribes that lived there. He chopped down the oak tree sacred to Thor, and when the crowds saw there was no retribution paid for this act, they began to follow him. A happy and popular man, he attracted many English priests and nuns to join him. He was murdered in the Netherlands while reading in his tent.

Other patronages: World Youth Day; brewers, file cutters, tailors