Daily Martyrology for July 1

The commemoration of Aaron, Moses’ brother.

About 466, in Egypt, St. Shenute, abbot of the White Monastery. He emphasized obedience, discouraged all study, and cautioned against extreme asceticism.

At Tyburn, in 1681, St. Oliver Plunkett, bishop and martyr. Born of a prominent Irish family, he went to Rome with Fr. Pier Francesco Scarampi, who was the papal envoy to the Confederation of Kilkenny. He was ordained in Rome in 1654 and worked there till 1669 when he was appointed archbishop of Armagh. He returned to Ireland and worked tirelessly to consolidate the organization and pastoral effectiveness of the church, sometimes clandestinely, sometimes openly. He was arrested in 1679 and taken to England where he was tried, convicted, hanged, drawn and quartered in 1681. His 230 surviving letters show him to have been a learned and devout pastor, who courageously followed his conscience.

In Malta, in 1865, Blessed Ignatius Falzon. While studying law, he began teaching catechism at the local church and preaching to the soldiers in the English garrison on the island. He was also very active in caring for the poor. He studied theology and later received minor orders, but declined to become a priest, because he felt unworthy.

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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.