Saint's of the Week

Saint Thomas the Apostle

Feast Day: 3rd July

Virtue: Faith

Thomas was a man of great courage and self-sacrifice. When Jesus told his Disciples that

 he would return to Judea to visit his friend Lazarus, the Apostles knew that people would try to stone him. But Thomas said to his companions: "Let us also go, that we may die with Him."

After the Resurrection, the Apostles said to Thomas: "We have seen the Lord." But he said: "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

After eight days, Thomas was with the Apostles. Jesus appeared and stood before Thomas and said, "Bring here your finger, and see my hands, and bring here your hands and put it into my side, and be not unbelieving, but believing."

Thomas answered, "My Lord and my God!"

After the Ascension, Thomas preached in Parthia. He is also called the Apostle of the Indies, where he was martyred.

Saint Bridget of Sweden

Feast Day: 23 July

Virtue: Perseverance

A Christian mystic is a person who has received a special gift of prayer from God. Because this type of prayer is a free gift given to persons whom God chooses, no one can control it or earn it. This mystical prayer, an experience of a special union with God in love, was given to Bridget of Sweden. She often had visions of Christ’s passion. However, like other Christian mystics, Bridget was also very practical and down-to-earth in living out the Gospel of Jesus. It was said, “She had a laughing face.”

Bridget was born into the family of a wealthy landowner in Sweden. When she was thirteen years old, she married and became an excellent wife and mother. One of her eight children, Catherine of Sweden, became a canonised saint.

Once, Bridget was invited to become the chief lady-in-waiting to the queen. She lived at the court for two years. While she was there, she encouraged the queen and king to live holy lives.

After her husband’s death, Bridget became a member of the Third Order of St Francis. She then founded the order of the Most Holy Saviour for men and women, which made great contributions to the culture of Scandinavia. The members became known as the Bridgettines. Bridget showed loving concern for the poor and the sick, and many people came to her for help. She also did a great deal of penance in the seventy years of her life.

Bridget made many pilgrimages around Italy and even to the Holy Land. She spent her last years in Rome. Like St. Catherine of Siena, she urged the pope to leave Avignon in France and return to Rome, the centre of Christianity. She suffered debts, opposition to reform, shipwreck, and her son’s death. She died there in Rome, ending a busy and holy life.