Catholic Saints & Feasts of the Liturgical Year

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February 14: Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop—Memorial
(Optional Memorial if Lenten weekday)

Saint Cyril: c. 827–869
Saint Methodius: c. 815–885

Co-Patrons of Europe, Slavic peoples, unity of Eastern and Western Churches
Pre-Congregation canonization

Quote: Hear my prayer and protect your faithful people, for you have established me as their unsuitable and unworthy servant. “Make your people known for the unity and profession of their faith. Inspire the hearts of your people with your word and your teaching. You called us to preach the Gospel of your Christ and to encourage them to lives and works pleasing to you. “I now return to you, your people, your gift to me. Direct them with your powerful right hand, and protect them under the shadow of your wings. May all praise and glorify your name, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. ~From an old Slavonic biography of Saint Cyril

Reflection: Imagine what life would be like if you were unable to read because the language you spoke was not even in written form. No alphabet, no books, only a spoken language. This is the context into which our saints today were sent to preach the Gospel.

Their story began in Thessalonica, Greece, a territory first evangelized by Saint Paul. Seven sons were born to a Greek-speaking imperial magistrate and his wife. Two of the boys were named Constantine and Michael. Their mother was most likely of Slavic descent, and the boys learned her unwritten language, along with Greek and Latin. When Constantine was about fourteen years old, he was sent to the great Greek city of Constantinople to study. It was there that he also came to know the young Byzantine Emperor, Michael III, who was only a young child. After completing his education, Constantine decided to become a priest. Shortly after his ordination, he was invited to teach and soon became well known as the “Philosopher.” Constantine’s brother Michael, about twelve years older than Constantine, began his career in civil service in Macedonia but chose to abandon that position to become a monk, taking the name Methodius.

When Constantine was about thirty years old and his brother Methodius was in his early forties, Constantine decided to give up his teaching career and embrace a life of prayer in his brother’s monastery. Within a few years, however, Emperor Michael III, now an adult, asked Constantine to go on a mission to evangelize the Jews and Turks of Khazars, modern-day Russia, Ukraine, and Crimea. Methodius accompanied him on this mission, and they learned both Hebrew and Turkish so as to speak to the people in their native tongues.

Within a couple of years, Prince Rastislav of Moravia asked Emperor Michael III to send missionaries to Great Moravia, today’s Czech Republic. His people had rejected paganism and embraced Christianity, but they didn’t have anyone who could explain the faith to them in their native Slavic language since the Germanic clergy adhered strictly to Latin. It was this mission that would be the beginning of a new era and a new method of evangelization within the Church.

In Great Moravia, Constantine and Methodius began to translate the Bible and liturgical books into the Slavic language. Since there was no written form of the language or even an alphabet, Cyril created one. He translated the various sounds into symbols, which enabled him and his brother to then write down the sacred texts. In addition to their translations, they began to teach the people and future Slavic clerics how to read their new written language. Eventually, the new alphabet developed into what is now known as the Cyrillic alphabet and is the basis of many Eastern European and Asian languages used by more than 250 million people today.

Despite the fact that the Slavic people were overjoyed to hear the Gospel and pray the liturgy in their native language, many of the Germanic clergy took issue with this approach. To solve this problem, the brothers traveled to Rome where they received the approval of Pope Adrian II, who ordained them bishops and sent them back to Great Moravia. Before leaving Rome, however, Constantine fell sick. Before dying, he fully consecrated himself to God as a monk in one of the Greek monasteries, taking the monastic name Cyril. His brother Methodius then returned to Great Moravia to continue his work.
Bishop Methodius spent the next fourteen years evangelizing the people in their native language, forming clergy, and effectively administering the Church. He continued to endure harsh treatment from the Germanic clergy, even being imprisoned by them for a time, but he pressed on, extending his missionary work even beyond the borders of Great Moravia.

It wasn’t until a millennia later that these brothers received the universal honor they deserved when the Western Church added them to its liturgical calendar. A century after that, Pope John Paul II, a Slav himself, honored these two brothers with the title of co-patrons of Europe and Apostles to the Slavs.

These great brothers teach us that the Gospel must be personal and understood through the prism of our own language, culture, and human experience. They also teach us that we must work to share the Gospel with others in ways that they understand and to which they can relate. As we honor these great missionaries, ponder the ways that God wants to use you to reach out to others with His saving message. Though you might not be called to invent a new alphabet to do so, you will be called to step out of your comfort zone. Be courageous, creative, and zealous in this effort in imitation of these Apostles to the Slavs.

Prayer: Saints Cyril and Methodius, you both gave your lives to the service of God. You served with zeal, creativity, and much determination. Please pray for me, that God may use me to become an instrument of His saving grace to those in need, bringing the Good News in ways to which they can relate. Saints Cyril and Methodius, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.

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Image: N.N./Pitichinaccio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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February 11: Our Lady of Lourdes—Optional Memorial

January 11–July 16, 1858
Patron Saint of the sick, asthma sufferers
Liturgical Color: White (Purple if Lenten Weekday)

Quote:
I went every day for a fortnight, and each day I asked her who she was, and this petition always made her smile. After the fortnight I asked her three times consecutively. She always smiled. At last I tried for the fourth time. She stopped smiling. With her arms down, she raised her eyes to Heaven and then, folding her hands over her breast she said, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” ~Testimony of Saint Bernadette Soubirous

Prayer:
Dearest Mother, the Immaculate Conception, you chose the humblest of instruments in Bernadette to proclaim your universal message of repentance. You declared to the world that you are, indeed, the Immaculate Conception. Please pray for me, bring healing to my soul, and help me to be freed of all sin so that I may one day share in your glory in Heaven. Saint Bernadette, pray for me. Our Lady, the Immaculate Conception, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.

Source: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.

Image via Adobe Stock

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February 10: Saint Scholastica, Virgin—Memorial

c. 480–543
Patron Saint of nuns, school, tests, reading, convulsive children
Invoked against storms and rain
Pre-Congregation canonization
Liturgical Color: White (Purple if Lenten Weekday)

Quote:
The holy nun said to her brother: “Please do not leave me tonight; let us go on until morning talking about the delights of the spiritual life.” “Sister,” he replied, “what are you saying? I simply cannot stay outside my cell.”
When she heard her brother refuse her request, the holy woman joined her hands on the table, laid her head on them and began to pray. As she raised her head from the table, there were such brilliant flashes of lightning, such great peals of thunder and such a heavy downpour of rain that neither Benedict nor his brethren could stir across the threshold of the place where they had been seated. ~Dialogues, Saint Gregory the Great

Prayer:
Saint Scholastica, you and your brother shared not only the same family, but you were also deeply united in a spiritual friendship centered on God. Please pray for me, that I may discover friends who assist me on my journey through this world and that I may be such a friend to others. Saint Scholastica and Saint Benedict, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.

Source: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.

Image: Johann Baptist Wenzel Bergl, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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February 8: Saint Josephine Bakhita, Virgin—Optional Memorial

1869–1947
Patron Saint of Sudan and human-trafficking survivors
Canonized October 1, 2000 by Saint Pope John Paul II
Liturgical Color: White (Purple if Lenten Weekday)

Quote:
If I was to meet those slave-traders that abducted me and those who tortured me, I’d kneel down to them to kiss their hands, because, if it had not have been for them, I would not have become a Christian and religious woman. ~Saint Josephine Bakhita

Prayer:
Saint Josephine, you endured unimaginable cruelty from earthly masters. Through it all, you sought out the God Who continuously spoke to you from within. When you met this glorious God within the Catholic faith, you refused to serve anyone other than Him. Please pray for me, that I may allow God to transform every hardship in my life into a source of His grace and transforming mercy. Saint Josephine Margaret Fortunata, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.

Source: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.

Image: Vatican

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February 8: Saint Jerome Emiliani, Founder—Optional Memorial

1486–1537
Patron Saint of orphans and abandoned children
Canonized on July 16, 1767 by Pope Clement XIII
Liturgical Color: White (Purple if Lenten Weekday)

Quote:
One morning, we were twenty-eight at St. Magdalene Hospital and we were praying. Since we had nothing to eat, father Jerome told us, “Do not doubt, my sons, the Lord will take care!” And while he was still praying, we heard the doorbell ring. They went to open the door. A person wanted to see father Jerome. He went to the door and came back with four loaves of bread…he fed all twenty-eight of us with only those four loaves and fresh water because he did not have anything else. And everybody had enough. And the father kept saying we had to eat cheerfully because the Lord would never abandon us. ~Eyewitness testimony

Prayer:
Saint Jerome, you had a desire for greatness within your heart. Though you first sought to fulfill that desire by worldly and passing honors, God opened your eyes and helped you to discover that the greatest honor is found in the wholehearted service of His holy will. Please pray for me, that I may imitate your generosity and devote myself to the service of the Gospel and the care of those in need. Saint Jerome, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.

Source: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.

Giacomo Guerrini, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons