February Saints

Feast: 13 February

Blessed Archangela Girlani
(1460-1494)

Baptised Eleanor, Archangela was born in Trino, northern Italy. Since she was a child, she planned to become a Benedictine nun, but she was thwarted in her desire by her horse, which refused to carry her to the convent!

She became a Carmelite in Parma, Italy, taking the name Archangela, and making her profession in 1478. Named prioress of the convent, Archangela founded a new Carmel in Mantua.

She was gifted with ecstasies, and was reported to have performed miracles.

Saint Archangela, help us to discern God's will for us.

^{Encyclopedia of the Saints, Matthew, Margaret & Stephen Bunson,1998, Our Sunday Visitor, Publishing, Indiana}

Feast: 5 May

Saint Anne Line
(d. 1601)

Anne was the daughter of William Heigham of Dunmow, Essex, a gentleman of means and an ardent Calvinist. When she and her brother announced their intention of becoming Catholics, their father disowned and disinherited them. Anne married Roger Line, a convert like herself. Shortly after their marriage, he was arrested for attending Mass. He was released shortly afterwards and was permitted to go into exile in Flanders, where he died in 1594.

Anne took charge of a house of refuge for priests in London. On Candlemas Day, 1601, Father Francis Page SJ was about to celebrate Mass in her apartments, when priest-catchers broke in. Father Page quickly unvested, and mingled with the others, but the altar prepared for the ceremony was all the evidence needed for the arrest of Mrs Line. She was tried at the Old Bailey on 26 February 1601 and indicted for harbouring a priest, though this could not be proved. The next day she was led to the gallows and, bravely proclaiming her faith, achieved the martyrdom for which she had prayed.

Saint Anne, obtain for us the courage of our convictions.

^{http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09270b.htm}

Feast: 9 February

Saint Michael Febres Cordero
(1854-1910)

Michael Febres Cordero was born to a prominent family in Cuenca, Ecuador. Crippled from birth, he suffered pain from his malformed feet, which did not embitter him, but taught him the saint's joy of suffering. When he was five, he was miraculously able to walk as a result of a vision. Thus, his family saw him as blessed by God, and they raised him with particular care and fervour.

Educated by the De la Salle Christian Brothers, he was a brilliant student. He wanted to join the Brothers, but his family objected and sent him instead to be a priest at the seminary of Cuenca where he became ill. On returning to the Brothers, Michael recovered, a sign of his destiny, it would seem. In 1868, at the age of 14, he received the habit, the first Ecuadorian to become a Christian Brother.

He was a gifted teacher, revered for his sense of humour and common sense. His personal prayer life was intense and served as the basis for his utter fidelity to his vocation. His research earned him considerable fame, and he became a member of the Academies of France, Ecuador and Spain.

In 1907 he visited New York, en route to Belgium, where he was asked to translate some texts. His health deteriorated, and he was sent to the junior novitiate of his congregation in Premia del Mar, Spain, to recover. In July 1909, in the throes of revolution, the town was attacked. Michael took the Blessed Sacrament from the chapel and calmly led his novices to safety.

As a result of these exertions, he contracted pneumonia and died in Premia del Mar in 1910. Twenty-six years later, Spanish communists attacked the town, setting fire to the chapel where his remains were. Michael's coffin was opened, and his body was found to be intact. His remains were returned to Ecuador.

Saint Michael, teach us to bear suffering patiently.

^{Source: Internet - various}