Saint Joseph Calasanctius

"St. Joseph Calasanctius was born in Aragon in 1556. Having become a priest, it was revealed to him that he should teach the children of the poor. He founded the Order of the Poor Clerks Regular of the Pious Schools of the Mother of God. He was ever a devout pilgrim at the shrines of the martyrs, and daily visited the seven Churches of Rome, where he lived for fifty years. He died August 25, 1648" (NRM). As the founder of a religious order, he is honoured with a statue in St. Peter's Basilica.

His relics are in the Church of Saint Pantaleon.

In the ordinary form, today is the feast of Saint Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine; her feast in the extraordinary calendar is May 4. St. Monica is most remembered for the ceaseless tears she poured out for her son, who for many years languished in an immoral life, and followed after the detestable heresy of Manichaeism. When she approached Saint Ambrose to beg for his prayers, he replied, 'Surely the son of so many tears cannot be lost'. Monica lived to see the conversion of both her son and her husband. Her relics are in the Church of St. Augustine in Rome, where I'll be headed this afternoon to offer extra prayers for my own mother.