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Monday 14 July 2014

St. Procopius of Bohemia, Blessed Richard Langhorne, and St. Kateri

The great patron saint of Bohemia, St. Procopius, is one of my personal patrons. My great-grandfather is one of the founders of St. Procopius Abbey in Illinois, and one of my great-uncles was a monk there, Fr. Benedict.

Also, this saint is known to be powerful against the devil. In art, he is depicted whipping the demon.

Here are some of the saints for July 14th. Not all...just three out of many bright lights.

Procopius of Sazaba, OSB Abbot (RM)
Born in Bohemia; died March 25, 1053; canonized by Pope Innocent III in 1204; feast day formerly July 4. Procopius studied in Prague where he was also ordained. He became a canon, was a hermit for a time, and then was founding abbot of the Basilian abbey of Sazaba in Prague. Procopius is one of the patrons of Czechoslovakia (Benedictines, Delaney). In art, Saint Procopius lets the devil plough for him. He may be portrayed (1) as an abbot with a book and discipline, devil at his feet; (2) with a stag (or hind) near him; (3) with SS Adelbert, Ludmilla, and Vitus (patrons of Prague); or (4) as a hermit with a skull and a girdle of leaves (Roeder). This Russian icon shows Saint Procopius together with Nicetas, and Eustathius. http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0714.shtml#proc

Blessed Richard Langhorne M (AC)
Born in Bedfordshire, England; died 1679; beatified in 1929. Richard Langhorne read law at the Inner Temple and was called to the bar in 1654. He was executed at Tyburn for alleged complicity in the 'Popish Plot' (Benedictines). http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0714.shtml#proc

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha (pronounced [ˈɡaderi deɡaˈɡwita] in Mohawk), baptized as Catherine Tekakwitha[3][4] and informally known as Lily of the Mohawks (1656 – April 17, 1680), is a Roman Catholic Saint, who was an AlgonquinMohawk virgin and laywoman. Born in Auriesville (now part of New York), she survived smallpox and was left with scars on her face and body when she recovered. She was orphaned as a child, then baptized as a Roman Catholicand settled for the last years of her life at the Jesuit mission village of Kahnawake, south of Montreal in New France, now Canada.
Tekakwitha professed the evangelical vow of chastity until her death at the age of 24. After her death, the scars on her face allegedly cleared. Known for her virtue of chastity and corporal mortification of the flesh, as well as being shunnedby her tribe for her religious conversion to Catholicism, she is the fourth Native American to be venerated in the Roman Catholic Church.[5] She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1980 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's Basilica on October 21, 2012.[6][7] Various miracles and supernatural events are attributed to her intercession. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kateri_Tekakwitha