SAINTS OF DECEMBER

DEC 1
St. Ananias
Ananias was a disciple of Jesus and Damascus mentioned in the Acts of Apostles
in the Bible, which describes how he was sent by Jesus to restore the Sight of
Tarsus (who later was called Paul the apostle) and provide him with additional
instruction in the way of the Lord.
St. Natalia
Martyr of Nicomedia, modern Turkey she cared for Christian prisoners awaiting
martyrdom during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian. She is mentioned in the
Acts of St. Adrian, and she survived the persecution of the church.

DEC 2
St. Bibiana
In the year 363, Julian the apostate made Apronianus Governor of Rome. St.
Bibiana suffered in the persecution stated by him. She was the daughter of
Christians, Flavian, a Roman knight, Dafrosa, his wife. St. Bibiana was reserved
for great sufferings.
St.Pontian
He was the bishop in Rome from 21st July 230 to 28th September 235. In 235,
during the prosecution of Christians in the reign of Emperor Maximanus Thrax,
Pontian was arrested and sent to the Island of Sardinia. He was the first pope to
resign on September 28 235.

DEC 3
St. Attalia
Athanasius of Attalia was a Neo martyr who lived in Smyrna in the 19th century.
One day he spontaneously declared, “There is no god but God.” The Muslims who
heard it took him to court and demanded that Athanasius formally renounce
Christianity. But he refused and was accused of apostasy for leaving Islam after his
convention and sentenced to be executed. Beheaded in 1700 in Smyrna (In modern
Turkey.)
St. Francis Xavier
He was one of the most prolific missionaries in Roman Catholic history. He was
instrumental in the establishment of Christianity in India, the Malay Archipelago
and Japan. Modern scholars estimated that he baptized 30 000 converts during his
lifetime.

DEC 4
St. Barbara
Saint Barbara, was an early Christian Lebanese and Greek saint and martyr.
Accounts place her in the 3rd century in Heliopolis Phoenicia, present-day Baalbek
Lebanon. There is no reference to her authentic early Christian writings nor in the
original recension of Saint Jerome’s martyrology.
St. Ada
Abbess and dedicated virgin, noted in France as a patroness of religious women.
Ada was a niece of St. Engebert, the bishop who was murdered by his own cousin.
Raised in a pious household and influenced by her uncle, Ada joined a convent in
Soissons, France. She later became the abbess of St. Julien-des-Pres in Les Mans.

DEC 5
St. Anastasius
Anastasius earned the praise of St. Jerome for censuring the works of Origen, one
of the most influential theologians of the early Greek church. In papal letters he
condemned several Origenist writings, which he probably did not understand, and
disapproved the spreading of Origen’s teachings. Anastasius’ virtues were praised
by his admirers Saints Augustine of Hippo, Jerome, and Paulinus of Nola.
St. Gerard
Gerard was an Italian lay brother of the Congregation of the Redeemer, better
known as the Redemptorists, who is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church. His
intersession sought for children, unborn children, women in childbirth, expectant
mothers, motherhood, the falsely accused, good confessions, lay brothers and
Muro Lucano, Italy.