St. Margaret of Cortona
A little bit about St. Margaret...
Feast Day is February 22nd.
Born 1247; Died 1297
Canonized May 16, 1728

Margaret of Cortona was born in Loviana, Tuscany in 1247.  Her father was a small farmer.  Margaret's mother died when she was seven years old.  Margaret eloped with a youth from Montepulciano and bore him a son.  After nine years, her lover was murdered without warning. 




 
Margaret earned a living by nursing sick ladies.  Later she gave this up to serve the sick poor without recompense, subsisting only on alms.  Eventually, she joined the Third Order of St. Francis, and her son also joined the Franciscans a few years later.  Margaret advanced rapidly in prayer and was said to be in direct contact with Jesus, as exemplified by frequent ecstacies.  Friar Giunta recorded some of the messages she received from God.  Not all related to herself, and she courageously presented messages to others. In 1286, Margaret was granted a charter allowing her to work for the sick poor on a permanent basis.  Others joined with personal help, and some with financial assistance.  Margaret formed her group into tertiaries, and later they were given special status as a congregation, which was called The Poverelle ("Poor Ones").



She also founded a hospital at Cortona and the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mercy.  

She showed extraordinary love for the mysteries of the Eucharist and the Passion of Jesus Christ.  Divinely warned of the day and hour of her death, she died on February 22, 1297, having spent twenty-nine years performing acts of penance. 



St. John Vianney
A little bit about St. John Vianney...

Feast Day is August 4th
Born 1786; Died in 1859
Canonized in 1929

St. John Mary (Marie) Vianney is familiarly known as the Cure of Ars and as such is the heavenly patron of all parish priests.  

He was born of poor parents in Dardilly, France, in 1786.  He began his studies for the priesthood at the age of nineteen and only after many failures and difficulties was he ordained in 1815.  

He was appointed pastor of the village of Ars where the faith had practically vanished.  He labored for the rest of his life gaining a worldwide reputation as a priest who practiced great penance, exercised a wondrous power in the confessional, and softened the hearts of sinners by his preaching.  

After many trials, not the least of which was an obsession by the devil, Father Vianney, exhausted by his labors and his penance, returned his soul to God in 1859.

"There is nothing so great as the Eucharist.  If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us." SJV

"Remain humble, remain simple.  The more you are so, the more good you will do."   SJV

(excerpts taken from the catholic.org website)