Daily Martyrology for March 23

At Santa Clara in Peru, in 1606, St. Turibius of Mogrovejo, bishop. He studied canon and civil law and became a jurist. When there was need for a new archbishop of Lima, he was chosen, although he was not in orders. He proved to be a bishop of the stature of St. Charles Borromeo: conscientious, diplomatic and totally dedicated. He arrived in Lima in 1581. He learned the Quechua language and required all parish priests to learn it. He traveled on pastoral visitations throughout his large and mountainous diocese, and baptized and confirmed countless people including St. Rose of Lima and St. Martin de Porres. He is the patron of Peru.

In 1701, at Barcelona, St. Joseph Oriol. Although born of a poor family, he gained a doctorate in theology and was ordained in 1676. To help support his widowed mother, he took a job as a tutor in a wealthy household. After his mother died, he became pastor of a church in Barcelona. He lived very simply in a small rented room. He spent almost no money on himself, spoke little and almost exclusively of spiritual matters. He had great personal magnetism and gifts for hearing confessions and for healing physical ills.

In Lebanon, in 1914, St. Rebecca Al-Rayes. When she was 21 she joined a teaching order called the Mariamette Sisters. When it was dissolved, she entered the monastery of St. Se’man El Qarn. She became blind, and later paralyzed, perhaps from bone cancer, and suffered greatly but cheerfully.

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Our daily martyrology was written by Fr. Hugh Feiss, OSB. Copyright © 2008 by the Monastery of the Ascension, Jerome, ID 83338.