My sister Mary’s birthday was June 10, 1947. She has another birthday now on November 21, 2020, the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lady. I was thinking of her, yesterday, and wondering idly which saints had a feast day on June 10. 

I knew that June has some amazing saints. A simple saint calendar recognizes June 1 is Justin Martyr, whose bones are in Annapolis, Maryland. On June 2 we recognize Saints Marcellinus and Peter, who are in the first Eucharistic prayer. June 3, Saint Charles Luanga and companions. I love them because a bunch of Anglican boys were martyred along with Saint Charles and they are recognized whenever the story is told. June 5 is Saint Boniface, missionary to Germany, and June 9 is Saint Ephrem, Syrian poet and preacher. Today, June 11 is the feast day of Saint Barnabas, companion of Saint Paul. June 13, Saint Anthony of Padua. June 19, Saint Romuald, of whom I would know nothing, except that he turns up in Dante’s Paradiso; he founded the Camaldolese order which is a Benedictine offshoot, specializing in hermits. June 22, Saint Thomas More and Saint John Fisher. June 24, the Birth of John the Baptist (he gets another feast day when he dies on August 29). June 26, Saint Josemaria Escriva.  June 27 and 28, Saint Cyril and Saint Ireneus. June 29, Saints Peter and Paul. But nothing specific on June 10.

Of course, that’s not the full story. There are always dozens of saints, as well as blesseds, on any given day of the year. For various reasons they are somewhat forgotten. However, they can be found. 

Here’s a selection for June 10. Oddly, there are a lot that begin with the letter A.

First up, Saint Astericus from the 300’s. He was involved in the Arian heresy and controversies but ended up firmly on the side of God from God. This is not the Saint Astericus who is credited with bringing religion to Saint Stephen of Hungary 600 years later. Glad we got that clear! I might have mixed them up otherwise. 

Saint Ithamar was the first Anglo-Saxon bishop in England, says his brief biography. He died in 661. I am sure that sentence conceals serious history. Saint Augustine came to Kent from Rome and died there in 604. He kickstarted the reconversion of Britain to Christianity but obviously also, the Christians had to deal with the invasion of the Saxon barbarians. Saint Amelberga was an English saint who died around 690. Her children and husband were also considered holy. She reminds me in fact of the family around Saint Boniface where his sisters and nieces and nephews and some in-laws were all holy and became part of his work. 

Also in the 600’s, Bishop Landericus of Paris. He was a very holy man who tried to help the poor in his care. He started a hospital, originally dedicated to Saint Christopher, which eventually was called the Hotel-Dieu. It is still open in Paris, the oldest of the institutions which went by that name in France and Belgium. At first the House of God, was a place for strangers, thus the connection to Saint Christopher. Eventually it came to mean specifically hospitals that cared for the sick.

Saint Amelia has some connection with beauty, broken arms, and Charlemagne, placing her in the late 700’s. Blessed Amata is an early Dominican who helped found convents in the 1200’s. 

Blessed Caspar Sadamatsu is a Japanese Jesuit who was martyred in 1626, about thirty years after Saint Paul Miki. He was beatified in 1867. 

And lastly, a whole group of martyrs from the French Revolution, recognized by Pope Saint John Paul II are celebrated on June 10. They are known as the Martyrs of the Hulks of Rochefort*. During the French Revolution priests were required to swear an Oath of Allegiance to the state which would supersede their allegiance to God. Those that refused were supposed to be transported to French Guyana. However, many were simply sent to old boats in the harbor of Rochefort and left until they died died amid appalling conditions. Sixty-four of them have been identified, though there were hundreds more whose names are seemingly unknown. 

This is still not a complete list of saints for June 10 but it’s enough. I like thinking about all these different people in different times and places trying to live out holiness in many different ways.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1

*https://www.fatherlawrence.com/The-Great-Cloud-of-Witnesses/the-martyrs-of-the-hulks-of-rochefort