Chicagoland

Who is that saint?

By Catholic New World Photos By Karen Callaway | Photo Editor
Sunday, August 18, 2013

Many of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s 357 parishes carry the name of a saint as their patron. Did you ever wonder just who some of these saints were? A few years back we picked out parishes whose patrons we thought were somewhat unknown and took a brief look into the lives of these saints. Here are a few more.

St. Hubert

St. Hubert

705 Grand Canyon St., Hoffman Estates

St. Hubert, who died in 727, was bishop of Maastricht, Netherlands, and a disciple of St. Lambert. Hubert was a married courtier in France and is said to have had a vision of a crucifix between the horns of a stag while hunting. After his wife died, he is believed to have entered Stavelot Monastery, Belgium, and was ordained by St. Lambert at Maastricht. He succeeded St. Lambert around 705 as bishop. Hubert erected a shrine for St. Lambert’s relics at Liege, France. He was noted for his miracles and for converting hundreds. Hubert died at Tervueren, near Brussels, Belgium, on May 30. He is a patron saint of hunters, mathematicians, opticians and metalworkers.

St. Thecla

St. Thecla

6725 W. Devon Ave.

St. Thecla, whose story was very popular among second-century Christians in Greece, is most likely a pious fiction. According to “Acts of Paul and Thecla,” she was a girl from Iconomium who broke off her engagement to marry Thamyris to live a life of virginity after hearing St. Paul preach. She was ordered burned to death, but when a storm providentially extinguished the flames, she escaped to Antioch with Paul. There she was condemned to wild beasts in the arena, but again escaped when the beasts did no harm to her. She rejoined Paul at Myra, dressed as a boy, and was commissioned by him to preach the Gospel. She did for a time in Iconium and then lived as a hermitess there for the next 72 years and died there, or in Rome, where she was miraculously transported when she found that Paul had died, and she was later buried near his tomb. The tale was labeled apocryphal by St. Jerome. Her feast day is Sept. 23.

St. Rosalie

St. Rosalie

4401 Oak Park Ave., Harwood Heights

St. Rosalie, or Rosalia, was unknown for five centuries after her death. Her public story starts in 1625, when the city of Palermo, Sicily, was suffering from a plague. She appeared to a hunter near a cave just outside the city. Based on what the vision told him, the hunter went into the cave and discovered her remains with the following inscription carved into the wall: “I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, Lord of Roses, and Quisquina, have taken the resolution to live in this cave for the love of my Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Sinibald and his wife, Quisquina, were prominent citizens in Palermo during the 12th century.

Her relics were paraded through the streets of the city and three days later the plague miraculously ended. Her intercession was credited with saving the city and she was declared the patroness of Palermo. Her feast day is Sept. 4.

St. Wenceslaus

St. Wenceslaus

3400 N. Monticello Ave.

St. Wenceslaus, also known as Vaclav, was born in 907 near Prague, and was the son of Duke Wratislaw. He was taught Christianity by his grandmother, St. Ludmila. His father and grandmother were murdered, but Wenceslaus was named ruler after a coup in 922. He encouraged Christianity. He was murdered on his way to Mass by a group of dissenters, including his brother Boleslaus, in 935. He is the patron saint of Bohemia and his feast day is Sept. 28.

St. Domitilla

St. Domitilla

4940 Washington St., Hillside

Flavia Domitilla was related to the Roman emperors Domitian and Titus, and was a great niece of St. Flavius Clemens. She was martyred in the second century with her foster sisters Euphrosyna and Theodora. This cult was suppressed in 1969. Her feast day is May 12.

St. Aloysius

St. Aloysius (Al-o-WISH-us)

2300 W. LeMoyne St.

St. Aloysius Gonzaga was born in Castiglione, Italy, in 1568. He had decided on a religious life by the age of 9, and made a vow of perpetual virginity. St. Charles Borromeo gave him his first Holy Communion. A kidney disease prevented St. Aloysius from a full social life for a while, so he spent his time in prayer and reading the lives of the saints. After a time in Spain, his family moved back to Italy, where he taught catechism to the poor. When he was 18, he joined the Jesuits. He served in a hospital during the plague of 1587 in Milan, and died from it at the age of 23, after receiving the last rites from St. Robert Bellarmine. The last word he spoke was the Holy Name of Jesus. St. Robert wrote the Life of St. Aloysius. His feast day is June 21.

St. Columbanus

St. Columbanus (Col-um-BANE-us)

331 E. 71st St.

St. Columbanus of Bobbio was born in 540 in Leinster, Ireland. When he was about 50 years old, he left Ireland and founded several monasteries at the invitation of King Childebert of Burgandy. In 603, a synod accused him of keeping Easter by the Celtic date, although the real charge more likely was criticizing the lax morals of the Burgundian court. Seven years later, Columbanus left Burgandy for Switzerland, and when Burgandy captured Switzerland, he fled to northern Italy, where he established a monastery at Bobbio in 613. His monasteries were known for the strictness of their rules (which the Benedictines later amended) and their emphasis on corporal punishment. In addition to his rule for monks, Columbanus wrote a penitentiary and poems. He died in 615 at Bobbio. He is the patron of motorcyclists, and his feast day is Nov. 24.

St. Cajetan

St. Cajetan (KA-jet-en)

2443 W. 112th St.

St. Cajetan was born in 1480 in the Italian city of Vicenza. He was a civil and canon lawyer for a dozen years before he was ordained a priest in 1516. He was a reformer of the church from within and founded the Theatine order. He died in Naples in 1547. His feast day is Aug. 7, and he is known as the patron saint of the unemployed, gamblers, job seekers and good fortune. His remains are in the church of San Paolo Maggiore in Naples; outside the church is Piazza San Gaetano, with a statue of the saint.

St. Donatus

St. Donatus (Do-NAHT-us)

1939 Union St., Blue Island

St. Donatus of Ripacandida, Italy, is the patron of his home city. According to “A Journey of Faith,” a book sharing the treasures of parishes in the archdiocese, he lived c. 284-262. One of several saints named Donatus, tradition says his parents were martyred during the Diocletian persecutions and was later martyred himself. His feast day is Aug. 7.

St. Emeric

St. Emeric

4300 W. 180th St., Country Club Hills

Emeric was a prince, the son of St. Stephen, Hungary’s first Christian king. Born in 1007, he did not live to inherit St. Stephen’s throne, because he died in a hunting accident. His tomb at Szekesfehervar, Hungary, was a pilgrim’s site, and many miracles were reported there. He was canonized with his father in 1083. His feast day is Nov. 5.

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