August 1st -St. Peters Chains -Two chains are venerated as relics of St. Peter commemorating how Herod had imprisoned him to await execution. An angel miraculously delivered him and led him past the guards to freedom.
 
August 2nd -St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori (Bishop and Doctor) -His apostolic zeal led him to found the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists) to preach the Gospel. His works on Moral Theology rank him among the Doctors of the Church.

 

August 3rd -St. Aspren (Bishop) -According to tradition he was baptized and consecrated the first bishop of Naples by St. Peter in the first century.
 
August 4th -St. Dominic (Confessor) -Twelfth century France was ravaged by the doctrinal and social evils of Albigensianism. God raised up St. Dominic to counteract both through the Order of Preachers. He especially employed the Rosary to gain rapid success.
 
August 5th -Our Lady of the Snows -In Rome a large basilica was built to honor the Mother of God called St. Mary Major. A nobleman had it erected where a miraculous snow had fallen and where Mary, in a vision, had pointed it out.
 
August 6th -Transfiguration of Our Lord -Shortly before His Passion Jesus took Peter, James and John to Mt. Tabor where He appeared transfigured in glory while conversing with Moses and Elias.
 
August 7th -St. Cajetan (Confessor) -(1480-1547) Founder of the Theatines, Cajetan and his followers endeavored to imitate the apostles. He was like an angel at the altar and an apos- tle in the pulpit, and his great zeal earned him the title "hunter of souls."

 

August 8th -St. John Marie Vianney (Confessor) - (1786-1859) As soon as he was ordained a priest he was sent to the parish of Ars, France, where indifference reigned. He labored against all difficulties until Ars became a model of piety. He was singularly devout to St. Philomena.
 
August 9th -St. Romanus (Martyr) -He is said to have been a soldier instructed in prison by St. Lawrence and executed about the same time in the third century.

 

August 10th -St. Lawrence (Martyr) -As a deacon he exercised bold courage by presenting a crowd of the poor when commanded to deliver up the Church's treasure. For this he was slowly roasted on a gridiron. (3rd century).
 
August 11th - St. Philomena (Virgin and Martyr) -Although no longer listed on the calendar, popular devotion to the thirteen year old who suffered extreme torments under Diocletian, has spread throughout the Church.

 

August 12th -St. Clare of Assisi (Virgin) -As the first woman to follow the complete poverty of St. Francis he placed her over a few companions, thus forming the Order of Poor Clares. She governed them for forty-two years and was canonized two years after her death in 1253.
 
August 13th -St. Cassian (Martyr) -According to his biography Cassian was a Christian schoolmaster who was delivered, hands tied behind his back, to his pagan students who stabbed him to death with their styluses.

 

August 14th -St. Eusebius (Confessor) -He was a priest of the fourth century who built a parish church in Rome. Little else is known.

 

August 15th -The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary -Since Mary was free from Original Sin, she also escaped the corruption of the tomb. This feast honors both her death and triumphant assumption into heaven.
 
August 16th -St. Roch (Confessor) -(1295-1378) Born in France he was orphaned, and went to Italy to care for the sick and plague-stricken. He was mistaken for a disguised spy and imprisoned until his death. He is invoked against pestilence and plague.

 

August 17th -St. Hyacinth (Confessor)- Received into the Order of Preachers by St. Dominic, he was made superior of the mission in Poland. He also evangelized Austria, Denmark, Scotland and Lithuania.
 
August 18th -St. Agapitus (Martyr) -Agapitus was a youth of fifteen when he was tortured and beheaded for his Faith.
 
August 19th -St. John Eudes (Confessor) -(1601-1680) He founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (the Eudists) for secular priests to promote honor to the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
 
August 20th -St. Bernard of Clairvaux (Abbot and Doctor) -Bernard successfully won over thirty noblemen to embrace monastic life, giving new vigor to the Cistercians. He was an austere monk, a great orator, and a learned doctor.

 

August 21st -St. Jane Frances Fremiot de Chantal (Widow) -Being widowed at twenty-eight, she was directed to holiness by St. Francis de Sales. She founded the Visitation Nuns and died in 1641.

 

August 22nd -Immaculate Heart of Mary -Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary was popularized in the seventeenth century and again at Fatima in 1917.

 

August 23rd -St. Philip Benizi (Confessor) -In the thirteenth century Philip joined the newly founded Servites, was ordained, and later became the General of the Order. He established missions throughout Europe.
 
August 24th -St. Bartholomew (Apostle) -He is one of Christ's chosen twelve, sometimes identified in scripture as Nathaniel "in whom was found no guile." He preached in India and Armenia, and was flayed alive.
 
August 25th -St. Louis (King) -(1215-1270) As a devout child, Louis had a reputation for justice and prayer. He led Crusades against the Saracens and built Sainte Chapelle in France for the precious relics of the true Cross and Crown of Thorns.
 
August 26th -St. Zephyrinus (Pope and Martyr) -He succeeded St. Victorinus as Pope in 198 and had to defend the dogma of the Unity of God and Trinity of Persons. Because he suffered persecution he is given the title martyr.
 
August 27th -St. Joseph Calasanctius (Confessor) -(1556-1648) As a priest in Spain, St. Joseph began teaching and training needy children. To this end he founded the Clerks Regular of the Pious Schools of the Mother of God.

 

August 28th -St.Augustine (Bishop and Doctor) -After a disorderly life Augustine was baptized by St. Ambrose and became bishop of Hippo in north Africa. He is one of the four great Doctors of the Latin Church.
 
August 29th -Beheading of St. John the Baptist -St. John was imprisoned for openly reproaching King Herod. He was slain in prison and his head presented to the dancer, Salome, on a silver plate.

 

August 30th -St. Rose of Lima ( Virgin) -From her earliest years in Peru, Rose lived only for Jesus, and became a Third Order Dominican. She exercised heroic patience and mortification to her thirty-first year. She died in 1617.
 
August 31st -St. Raymond Nonnatus (Confessor) -He entered the Order of Our Lady of Ransom and fell hostage to the Mohammedans. They imprisoned him in 1240 and cruelly pierced his lips with a padlock for preaching.
 
St. Philomena (Virgin and Martyr) -Although no longer listed on the calendar, popular devotion to the thirteen year old who suffered extreme torments under Diocletian, has spread throughout the Church.