List of Young Saints

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Today the Catholic Church commemorates the feast of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, a young Jesuit who died at the age of 23.

In honor of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, I share with you the list of young saints.  These saints and blesseds were all under the age of 25.  Again, this is only a partial list and it will be added to in days to come.

1.  Blessed Adelard the Younger 7/15th monk.  Died at the age of 20.
2.  Saint Agapitus 8/18th 15 years old, martyred at Palestrina, near Rome.
3.  Saint Agnes 1/21st 12 or 13 years old, martyred under Diocletian.
4.  Blessed Agnes of Bavaria 11/11th 7 years old,
5.  Blessed Alexius Delgado, S.J. 7/15th 14 years old. Jesuit novice killed by Calvinist French pirates.
6.  Saint Anatole Kiriggwajjo 6/3rd Ugandan Martyr believed to be around 20 years old*.
7.  Blessed Andrew Chakichi 10/2nd 8 years old. Parents Blesseds Louis and Lucy Chakichi, brother Francis.
8.  Blessed Francis Chakichi 10/2nd 4 years old. Parents Blesseds Louis and Lucy Chakichi, brother Blessed Andrew Chakichi.
9.  Blessed Andrew Trong 11/18th 18 years old. Martyred in what is now Vietnam.
10.  St. Anthony Deynan 2/5th 13 years old, altar boy and Tertiary of St. Francis, crucified for the faith in Japan.
11.  Blessed Antony of St. Dominic 9/8th 20 years old, Tertiary of St. Dominic, beheaded in Nagasaki.
12.  St. Paulillus 11/13th, only a boy and little brother of Saints Paschasius and Eutychian, protomartyrs of the Vandal persecution.
13.  Saints Anthasius Badzekuketta 6/3rd, age approximately 20 years old*, Ugandan Martyr.
14.  Saint Basilissa 9/3rd 9 years old, martyred under Diocletian persecution.
15.  Saint Blaesilla 1/22nd 20 years old, daughter of Saint Paula, disciple of St. Jerome.
16.  Saint Bolonia 10/16th 15 years old, martyred under Julian the Apostate.
17. Saint Christopher of Guardia 9/25th 3 years old.
18.  Saint Crescentius 9/14th 11 years old., son of Saint Euthymius, martyred under Diocletian.
19.  Saint Cyril 5/29th a boy who embraced Christianity without his father's knowledge and turned out of his home, arrested and martyred.
20.  Saint Dentlin 3/16th 7 years old.  Son of Saint Vincent Madelgarus.
21.  Saint Dominic Savio 3/9th 14years old.  Pupil of Saint John Bosco. Youngest non-martyr to receive official canonization in the history of the Church.
22.  Blessed Dominic Tomaki 6/1st 16 years old.  Son of Blessed John Tomaki and three brothers all martyred for the faith.
23.  Blessed Dominic Nifaki 6/1st 2 years old.  Martyred along with his father Blessed Louis Nifaki and his brother Francis.
24.  Saint Dominic del Val 8/31st 7 year old altar boy, martyred.
25.  Saint Eulalia 12/10 13 years old, martyred under Diocletian.
26.  Saints Eulampuis and Eulampia 10/10th two young brother and sister, martyred under Gallienus.
27.  Saint Fausta 9/20th, approximately 13 years old.  So steadfast while cruelly tortured that the magistrate, who ordered her tortured, was converted and martyred under Diocletian.
28.  Saint Flocellus 9/17th, a youth martyred under emperor Marcus Aurelius.
29.  Blessed Francis Nifaki 9/8th 5 years old.  Older brother of Blessed Dominic Nifaki and son of Blessed Louis Nifaki.
30.  Blessed Francis Taquea 9/11th 12 years old.  Son of Blessed Thomas Taquea and beheaded in Nagasaki.
31.  Saint Gerulph 9/11 a Flemish young and heir to vast estate, murdered by relative on the way home from his Confirmation and died with words of forgiveness on his lips.
32.  Saint Harold 3/25th a child put to death in Glouchester.
33.  Saint Diocoros, 12/14th, a youth whipped and then dismissed.  His companions Saints Heron, Arsenius and Isidore were martyred under Decius.
34.  Blessed Ignatius Jorjes 9/10 4 years old.  Son of  Blessed Dominic Jorjes and Blessed Isabel Fernandez.  Mother and son were beheaded in Nagasaki for giving shelter to Blessed Charles Spinola.
35.  Blessed James Bird 3/25th 19 years old, English martyr.
36.  Blessed James Guengoro 8/18th, 2 years old, crucified along with his parents Blesseds Thomas and Mary in Concura.
37.  Blessed John of Korea 9/10th 12 years old.  Son of Blesseds Antony and Mary of Korea.  All beheaded at Nagasaki.
38.  Saints Justus and Pastor 8/6th 13 years old and 9 years old, respectively, martyred under Diocletian.
39.  Saint Kizito 6/3rd 14 years old.  He was the youngest Ugandan martyr.
40.  Blessed Laurence Humphrey 7/7th 20 years old, English Martyr.
41.  Blessed Larentinus Sossius 4/15th 5 years old, martyred on Good Friday in Italy.
42.  Saint Louis Ibarchi 2/5th 12 years old, crucified at Nagasaki.
43.  Saint Louis (Ludwig) von Bruck 4/30th, boy martyred on Easter Sunday.
44.  Saint Maria Goretti 7/6th 12 years old, preferred death in order to keep her purity.
45.  Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati 7/4th 24 years old.
46.  Blessed Francisco Marto 2/20th 10 years old.  Sister Jacinta and cousin Lucia were the three shepherd children at Fatima apparitions.
47.  Blessed Jacinta Marto 2/20th 9 years old.  Brother Francisco and cousin Lucia were the three shepherd children at Fatima apparitions.
48.  Saint Aloyisius Gonzaga 6/21st 23 years old.
49.  Saint Eutropia6/15th 12 years old, martyr.
50.  Saint Marcian 7/11th youth, martyr.
51.  Saint Melorius 10/1st child, martyr.
52.  Saint Musa 4/2nd child, mystic.  Contemporary of St. Gregory the Great.
53.  Saint Neophtus 1/20th 14 years old.  Martyr.
54.  Saint Nestor 9/8th youth, martyred under Julian the Apostate.
55.  Saint Nicholas Peregrinus 6/2nd 19 years old.
56.  Blessed Nuntius Salprizio 5/5th 19 years old.
57.  Saint Panacea 5/1st 5 years old.  She was killed by her stepmother while she was at prayer.
58.  Blessed Paul Tomaki 9/8 7 years old.  He was beheaded along with his father Blessed John Tomaki and his three brothers.
59.  Saint Pelagia of Antioch 6/9th 15 years old.  Threw herself from top of her house in order to avoid the loss of her virginity.
60.  Saint Pelagius 6/26th young boy who preferred torture and death rather than to apostatize.
61.  Saint Pelagius 8/28th boy martyr.
62.  Saint Pudentiana 5/19th 16 years old.
63.  Saint Reparata 5/19th 12 years old, martyr.
64.  Saint Richard 3/25th child, martyred.
65.  Saint Robert of Bury St. Edmonds 3/25th
66.  Saint Romana 2/23rd 18 years old.
67.  Saint Rufinius, Silvanus, and Victalicus 9/4th, children martyred.
68.  Saint Rumwold 8/28th 3 days old, pronounced profession of faith and then died.
69. Saint Tarcisius 8/15th  12 year old boy martyred protecting the Blessed Sacrament.
70.  Saint Zoilus 6/27 youth, martyred under Diocletian.


*Source for Ugandan martyr's ages

Source:  The Book of Saints compiled by the Benedictine Monks of St. Augstine's Abbey, Ramsgate, 1966.

Saint Maria Goretti

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Today the Church honors a very young saint.  She gave her life in order to protect her chastity.  The following was written by Pope Pius XII on Saint Maria Goretti.

"Our Saint was a valiant girl.  She knew, she understood, and that is why she preferred to die.  Her twelfth year was not completed when she fell martyred.  Yet, what discernment, what prudence, what energy she displayed!  Though but a girl, conscious of danger, she watched night and day in defense of her honor, and in persevering prayer recommended the lily of her purity to the Virgin of virgins.  No!  Hers was not a small, weak soul.  She is a heroine who in the clutch of a murderer and under the knife of an assassin thought not of her suffering but resolutely repelled sin with horror...

"Thus the cry of our Savior rises to our lips:  'Woe to the world because of scandals!' (Matt. 18-7).  Woe to those guilty perverters-authors of corrupt novels, newspapers, periodicals, theaters, films, indecent styles!  Woe to those young men who, with artful and thoughtless cruelty, introduce deadly infection into a virgin heart!  Woe to those fathers and mothers lacking in energy and prudence, who cede to the caprices of their children and surrender that paternal authority written on the brow of man and wife as a reelection of the divine Majesty.  Woe also to that multitude of Christians in name only, who could take a stand and would see legions of upright and virtuous followers mass behind them ready to battle scandal by every means!  Legal justice punishes the slayer of a child, and it has duty to do so.  But what human legislation could or would dare, if it chose to do so, punish those who furnished the weapon to the slayer's hand, those who encouraged him therein, or were indifferent, or even with indulgent smile left him be?  And yet they are really the more guilty.  The terrible justice of God weighs heavily o them, those willful perverters or indolent accomplices!"

The following is what Alexander, Maria's murderer wrote on the floor of his cell after Maria appeared to him.

"I am deeply sorry for what has happened.  I have taken the life of an innocent girl whose one aim was to save her purity, shedding her blood rather than give in to my sinful desires.  I publicly retract the evil I have done and beg pardon of God and of the stricken family.  One hope encourages me-- that I also may one day
obtain God's pardon as so many others have."

Alexander Serenelli, November 10, 1910

From In Garments All Red:  The Life Story of St. Maria Goretti, by Godfrey Poage, C.P.

Teenage Venerable Proposed as Model for Lent

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Shared by Brother John Samaha

Blog Offers Daily Quote From Faustino Pérez-Manglano

ROME, February 19, 2013 (Zenit.org) - In this Lent just now beginning, the Society of Mary (Marianists) are presenting the figure of the Venerable Faustino Pérez-Manglano Magro, a young Spaniard who died in 1963. He was a student at the Colegio Nuestra Señora del Pilar in Valencia and can be presented as a model of holiness for youth.
The principal means for this project will be a new blog dedicated to Faustino (in four languages), opened for this occasion and remaining active even beyond the celebrations. Each day of Lent a passage from the Gospel of the day, a quotation from Faustino and a meditation by Father José María Salaverri are offered, along with an image adapted to a teenage public.
The participants will be able to publish their reactions on the blog or on the Facebook social network and dialog among themselves. They can also follow with Twitter.
The Society of Mary hopes that this initiative will contribute to the evangelization of today’s young people and to making better known this gift that God has made to the Marianist Family and to the Church in the person of Venerable Faustino.
--- --- ---
On the Net:
To participate:
http://faustino.marianistas.org/en/
https://www.facebook.com/FaustinoPerezMaglano
https://twitter.com/faustinopm

St. Agnes

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O singular example of virtue, glorious Saint Agnes, by the living faith which animated thee from thy tenderest years, and rendered thee so pleasing to God that thou didst merit the martyr's crown: obtain for us the grace to keep our holy faith inviolate with us, and to profess ourselves Christians sincerely in word and work; may our open confession of Jesus before men cause Him to bear a favorable witness to us before His eternal Father. Amen.

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O invincible Martyr, Saint Agnes, most renowned, by thy confidence in God's help, when, being condemned by the impious Roman prefect to see the lily of thy purity stained and trampled in the mire, thou didst not despair, still trusting firmly in the God who giveth His angels charge over them that trust in Him: we beseech thee by thine intercession to obtain for us from Almighty God the forgiveness of all our sins and the sure confidence that He will bestow upon us life everlasting and the means necessary to merit it. Amen.

by Giovanni Battista Moroni

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O courageous maiden, Saint Agnes most pure, by the burning love with which thy heart was on fire, and which preserved thee from harm in the midst of the flames of passion and of the stake, where the enemies of Jesus Christ sought to destroy thee: obtain for us from Almighty God that every unclean flame may be extinguished in us and only that fire, which Jesus Christ came to enkindle upon the earth, may burn within us; so that after spending a blameless life in the practice of fair virtue, we s hall be worthy to have a share in the glory thou didst merit by the purity of thy heart and by thy martyrdom. Amen.

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O sweet Saint Agnes, I earnestly implore thy compassion and commend myself to thy prayers. O noble virgin, thou didst despise all earthly things and prefer the love of Christ to the glory of the world. Death was welcome to thee, and the holy angels were waiting for thy soul to convey it into the joys of Paradise, where, adorned with the martyr's palm, thou didst arrive at the nuptials of the heavenly Spouse. I too seek Him; deign to intercede for me that He may grant me health of mind and body, restrain the temptations of the devil, extinguish the desires of the flesh, give me time for true repentance and amendment of life, grant me the remission of all my sins, together with grace to make a good end and a happy death. Amen.

by Thomas a Kempis

Prayer source: The Prayer Book Catholic Press, Inc.

St. Tarcisius

Letter From St. Maria Goretti's Repentant Killer

I’m nearly 80 years old. I’m about to depart. Looking back at my past, I can see that in my early youth, I chose a bad path which led me to ruin myself. My behavior was influenced by print, mass-media and bad examples which are followed by the majority of young people without even thinking. And I did the same.

I was not worried.

There were a lot of generous and devoted people who surrounded me, but I paid no attention to them because a violent force blinded me and pushed me toward a wrong way of life.

When I was 20 years old, I committed a crime of passion. Now, that memory represents something horrible for me. Maria Goretti, now a Saint, was my good Angel, sent to me through Providence to guide and save me.

I still have impressed upon my heart her words of rebuke and of pardon. She prayed for me, she interceded for her murderer.

Thirty years of prison followed. If I had been of age, I would have spent all my life in prison. I accepted to be condemned because it was my own fault.

Little Maria was really my light, my protectress; with her help, I behaved well during the 27 years of prison and tried to live honestly when I was again accepted among the members of society.

The Brothers of St. Francis, Capuchins from Marche, welcomed me with angelic charity into their monastery as a brother, not as a servant. I’ve been living with their community for 24 years, and now I am serenely waiting to witness the vision of God, to hug my loved ones again, and to be next to my Guardian Angel and her dear mother, Assunta.

I hope this letter that I wrote can teach others the happy lesson of avoiding evil and of always following the right path, like little children. I feel that religion with its precepts is not something we can live without, but rather it is the real comfort, the real strength in life and the only safe way in every circumstance, even the most painful ones of life.”

Signed, Alessandro Serenelli

From Fr. Tommy Lane's homily on St. Maria Goretti

H/T to Sue