Saint Blaise: Very little is known about Blaise, except that he
was the bishop of Sivas (Armenia) in the fourth century; he is
associated with the healing of throats. Saint Ansgar: the
missionary of Scandinavia: Ansgar set out in 826 to preach the
gospel in Denmark; despite great difficulties, he persevered in
his mission, until he died in 865. Saint Agatha: was martyred in
Sicily in the persecution under Emperor Decius (240-251).
Devotion to her was strong from the earliest times: a homily
written about her says: “’Good’ is the force and meaning of her
name, Agatha in Greek, for she has been granted us, given as a
gift, by God himself, the very fount of goodness.” Saints Paul
Miki and Companions: the Japanese martyrs. Towards the end of
the sixteenth century, the Emperor Hideyoshi began a persecution
of the Catholic Church in Japan; among those arrested were Paul
Miki, a young Jesuit, and twenty-five others, some as young as
13; they were taken to Nagasaki where they were crucified in
1597. Saint Jerome Emil