ST. THOMAS – Apostle
Poor Thomas! He made one remark and has been branded as “Doubting Thomas” ever since. But if he doubted, he also believed. He made what is certainly the most explicit statement of faith recorded in the New Testament: “My Lord and My God!” and, in so expressing his faith, gave Christians a prayer that will be said until the end of time.
Thomas should be equally well-known for his courage. Yes, he ran like the others at the Garden of Gethsemane, but he was sincere when he encouraged his brother Apostles to accompany Jesus to Judea, to visit His sick friend Lazarus. It was Thomas who exhorted them to accompany Jesus on the trip which involved certain danger and possible death because of the mounting hostility of the authorities. It was Thomas who said, “Let us also go to die with him” (John 11:16).
Thomas shares the lot with Peter, the impetuous; James and John, the “sons of thunder”; Philip and his foolish request to see the Father. Indeed, all the apostles shared in their weakness and lack of understanding. We must not exaggerate these facts, however, for Christ did not pick worthless men. Their human weakness points up the fact that holiness is a gift from God, not a human creation; it is given to ordinary men and ordinary women with weaknesses; it is God who gradually transforms the weaknesses into the image of Christ, the courageous, trusting, and loving one.
What do we know about Thomas? He was born Didymus Judas Thomas in Galilee. The date of his birth is unknown. His inquisitive mind led him to doubt God’s work in the world, but also led him to pursue answers to his questions, which ultimately led him to great faith.
Scripture reports that Thomas asked Jesus a famous question when the disciples were eating the Last Supper with him. John 14:1‑4 records Jesus telling his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas’ question comes next, revealing that he’s thinking of physical directions rather than spiritual guidance: “Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Thanks to Thomas’ question, Jesus clarified his point, uttering these famous words about his divinity in verses 6 and 7: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Thomas was not present when Christ first appeared to his followers after the resurrection, and he could not believe what his friends told him. Eight days later, he was present. Jesus gently rebuked him for his skepticism and furnished Thomas the evidence that he had demanded. Thomas put his fingers into the nail holes and his hand into Christ’s side. After verifying the wounds were true, St. Thomas became convinced of the reality of the Resurrection and exclaimed, “My Lord and My God,” thus making a public Profession of Faith in the Divinity of Jesus. St. Thomas is also mentioned as being present at another Resurrection appearance of Jesus – at Lake Tiberias, when a miraculous catch of fish occurred.
This is all that we know about St. Thomas from the New Testament. Tradition says that at the dispersal of the Apostles after Pentecost he went to evangelize to the Parthians, Medes, and Persians. He ultimately reached India, carrying the Faith to the Malabar coast, which still boasts a large native population calling themselves “Christians of St. Thomas.”
According to tradition, Thomas was killed in an accident when a fowler shot at a peacock and struck Thomas instead. Following his death, some of his relics were taken to Edessa while the rest were kept in what is now known as India. They can still be found within the San Thome Basilica in Chennai, Mylapore, India.
The relics taken to Edessa were moved in 1258 to Italy, where they can be found in the Cathedral of St. Thomas the Apostle in Ortona, Italy. Saint Thomas’ skull rests in the Monastery of Saint John the Theologian on the Greek Island Patmos.
We celebrate his Feast on July 3rd.
St. Elizabeth of Portugal – 1271 to 1336
Elizabeth was born in 1271 and died in 1336. She was named after her great-aunt, the great St. Elizabeth of Hungary, but is known in Portuguese history by the Spanish form of that name, Isabel. The daughter of Pedro III, King of Aragon, and Constantia, grandchild of Emperor Frederick II, she was educated very piously, and led a life of strict regularity and self-denial from her childhood: she said the full Divine Office daily, fasted and did other penances, and gave up amusement.
Elizabeth was married at age 12 (not unusual during the Middle Ages) to Diniz (Denis), King of Portugal, a poet, and known as Rei Lavrador (The Working King), from his hard work in his country’s service. His morals, however, were extremely bad, and the court to which his young wife was brought was most corrupt. Nevertheless, Elizabeth quietly continued to follow the regular religious practices of her maidenhood, while doing her best to win her husband’s affections by gentleness and extraordinary forbearance. She was devoted to the poor and sick and gave every moment she could spare to helping them, even pressing her court ladies into their service. Many in the court resented her piety. Once her husband’s jealousy was roused by an evil-speaking page. The king condemned the queen’s supposed guilty accomplice to a cruel death; and was finally convinced of her innocence by the strange accidental substitution of her accuser for the intended victim.
Diniz does not appear to have reformed in morals until late in life, when we are told that St. Elizabeth won him to repentance by her prayers and unfailing sweetness. They had two children, a daughter Constantia and a son Affonso. The latter so greatly resented the favors shown to the king’s illegitimate sons that he rebelled, and in 1323 declared war between him and his father. St. Elizabeth, however, rode in person between the opposing armies, and so reconciled her husband and son. Diniz died in 1325, his son succeeding him as Affonso IV. St. Elizabeth then retired to the convent of the Poor Clares, which she had founded at Coimbra, and took the Franciscan Tertiary habit, wishing to devote the rest of her life to the poor and sick in obscurity.
In 1336 Affonso IV marched his troops against the King of Castile, to whom he had married his daughter Maria, and who had neglected and ill-treated her. Despite her age and infirmity, the holy queen dowager insisted on hurrying to Estremoz, where the two kings’ armies were drawn up. She again stopped the fighting and caused terms of peace to be arranged. But the exertion brought on her final illness. She died of a fever shortly after the treaty was completed. St. Elizabeth was buried at Coimbra. She was canonized by Pope Urban VIII in 1625.
In most of the world, her memorial is kept on July 4th, but in the United States it celebrated on July 5th.
ST. ANTHONY ZACCARIA – 1502 to 1539
The Reformation, the 16th-century religious and political challenge to papal authority promoted by Martin Luther, King Henry VIII of England, and many others, ultimately led to the Thirty Years War and the Counter-Reformation. Among the early movers of the Counter-Reformation was Anthony Zaccaria.
His mother became a widow at 18 and devoted herself to the spiritual education of her son. He received a medical doctorate at 22, and while working among the poor of his native Cremona in Italy, was attracted to the religious apostolate. He renounced his rights to any future inheritance, worked as a catechist, and was ordained a priest at the age of 26. Called to Milan, he laid the foundations of three religious congregations, one for men, one for women, and an association of married couples. Their aim was the reform of the decadent society of their day.
Greatly inspired by Saint Paul—his congregation is named the Barnabites, after the companion of that saint. Anthony preached with great vigor in church and street, conducted popular missions, and was not ashamed of doing public penance.
Anthony encouraged such innovations as the collaboration of the laity in the apostolate, frequent Communion, the Forty Hours devotion, and the ringing of church bells at 3:00 p.m. on Fridays. His holiness moved many to reform their lives, but as with all saints, it also moved many to oppose him. Twice his community had to undergo official religious investigation, and twice it was exonerated.
While on a mission of peace, Anthony became seriously ill and was brought home for a visit to his mother. He died at Cremona at the age of 36.
The austerity of Anthony’s spirituality and the Pauline ardor of his preaching would probably “turn off” many people today. Not all evil is explained away by emotional disorders, subconscious and unconscious drives, parental influence, and so on. Today you never hear the old-time “hell and damnation” sermons of an earlier age. They have given way to positive, encouraging, biblical homilies. We do indeed need assurance of forgiveness, relief from existential anxiety, and future shock. But we still need prophets to stand up and tell us, “If we say ‘We are without sin,’ we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). St. Anthony Zaccaria was one such preacher.
We celebrate his memorial on July 5th.
ST. MARIA GORETTI – 1890 to 1902
St. Maria Goretti was born on October 16, 1890 in Corinaldo, in the Ancona Province in Italy. She was the third of seven children of a poor peasant family. Her father entered into a partnership with a man called Serenelli and shared a house with him and his two sons. One of his sons was named Alessandro. When her father died in 1900 from malaria, Maria’s mother had to struggle to feed her children.
Maria’s mother, brothers, and sisters worked in the fields while she cooked, sewed, kept the house clean, and watched her youngest sister Teresa. Though the family’s circumstances were extremely difficult, they were very close and loved God.
On July 5, 1902, Maria was sitting outside the steps of her home sewing Alessandro’s shirt while he threshed beans in the barnyard. As she concentrated on her sewing, Alessandro surprised her and grabbed her from behind. When he tried to rape her, Maria cried that it was a mortal sin and warned he would go to hell. When Alessandro persisted, she fought him and screamed, “No! It is a sin! God does not want it!” At her words, Alessandro began to choke her and she said she would rather die than submit. Upon hearing her words, Alexander pulled out a knife and stabbed her eleven times. When she attempted to reach the door, he stabbed her three more times then fled.
Baby Teresa awoke to her sister’s cries and began to cry. Maria’s family returned home a short time later and found her bleeding on the floor. They quickly took her to the nearest hospital in Nettuno, where she underwent surgery without anesthesia. Unfortunately, her wounds were beyond the surgeon’s ability to help. Halfway through the surgery, the surgeon asked her, “Maria, think of me in Paradise.” As she lay on the table, she looked up at him and said, “Well, who knows which of us is going to be there first?” She did not realize how terrible her situation was, and the surgeon replied, “You, Maria.”
She said, “Then I will think gladly of you.” She also mentioned concerns for her mother. The next day, Maria forgave Alessandro and said she wanted to see him in Heaven with her. She died that day, July 6, 1902, while looking upon an image of the Virgin Mary and holding a cross to her chest.
Shortly after Maria’s family discovered her, Alexander was captured and questioned. He admitted Maria was a physical virgin because he was unable to assault her. He was sentenced to thirty years in prison. He also admitted he had attempted to persuade her to accompany him to bed on several occasions in the past and had attempted to rape her before. Alessandro remained unrepentant for his actions until he had a dream that he was in a garden. Maria was there and gave him lilies, which immediately burned in his hands. When he awoke, he was a changed man. He repented his crime and from that day lived a reformed life. When he was released 27 years later, he went directly to Maria’s mother and begged her forgiveness, which she gave, saying, “If my daughter can forgive him, who am I to withhold forgiveness?”
Maria Goretti was beatified by Pope Pius XII in a ceremony at Saint Peter’s Basilica on April 27, 1947. Three years later, on June 24, 1950, Maria was declared a saint and Alessandro was present in the crowd at St. Peter’s celebrating her canonization. He later became a lay brother of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, where he lived in a monastery and worked as its receptionist and gardener until his death.
Saint Maria is called a martyr because she fought against Alessandro’s attempts at sexual sin; however, the most important aspects of her story are how she forgave her attacker – her concern for her enemy extending even beyond death – and the miracle her forgiveness produced in his life. Saint Maria’s body can be found in the crypt of the Basilica of Nostra Signora delle Grazie e Santa Maria Goretti in Nettuno. Her body is kept in a statue which lies beneath the altar that many have mistaken to be her remains.
Images of Saint Maria often represent her with wavy hair dressed in either white or farm clothes and is often depicted holding lilies.
We celebrate her memorial on July 6th.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!