Daily Martyrology for December 9

In 1548, in Mexico, St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. Juan Diego is said to have been a poor, childless widower and a devout convert to Christianity. In 1531, on his way home from Mass, an olive-skinned girl of fourteen told him to tell his bishop that she wanted a church built on the spot, where she, the mother of all nations, would show her compassion to them. The bishop was not convinced. Another day Juan was bringing a priest to bless his uncle, who had smallpox, when the girl appeared again and told him she would take care of the uncle. He was to pick flowers in his cloak and take them to the bishop. When he opened the cloak and flowers fell out before the bishop, the Virgin’s image was instantaneously imprinted on the cloak.

In 1631, in Germany, Blessed Liborius Wagner. He was raised a Lutheran, but converted to Catholicism when he was twenty-eight. He became a priest and was assigned to the parish of Altenmünster, where he was devoted to his people, both Catholic and Lutheran. The invading Swedish army arrested, condemned and executed him because he would not renounce his faith.

In 1640, in Lorraine, St. Peter Fourier. He was a canon regular assigned to a poor rural area, where he lived very austerely and served all his people, whether Catholic or Huguenot. He organized a school for the girls in the area; the women teachers in the school became an order of canonesses. Peter later was commissioned to reform and organize the Canons Regular of Lorraine, and in 1632 became their superior general.

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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.