I went to look for the saint of the day and Saint Helena was listed for today, June 20th, on a particular website. I happily wandered down the rabbit hole called, Google Saint Helena and get the island where Napoleon was ultimately imprisoned. I didn’t bother reading anything about him, but found an enchanting video with views of the island. It’s called ‘family life’ and features pictures of a family living a very pioneer style life, intertwined with scuba diving. I watched the video with the sound off. The pictures of the island geography are stunning. I had no idea. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlX0kifJnOc
Then I went back to look up Saint Helen directly and discovered that she is celebrated among the Greek Orthodox on May 21 and elsewhere on August 18. So she is NOT the saint for today.
The Church in its General Calendar (of the United States, because this varies by country) has no particular saints listed for this week.
There are saints attached to every single day but there is a lot of local flavor involved and as seen, a lot of hit or miss involved with checking website information. A website seemed to list Saint Romuald for today, which I was happy about. I know almost nothing about him except that Dante put him in Heaven among the good Benedictine monks.
These other fires, each one of them, were men Contemplative, enkindled by that heat Which maketh holy flowers and fruits spring up.
Here is Macarius, here is Romualdus, Here are my brethren, who within the cloisters Their footsteps stayed and kept a steadfast heart.”
Divine Comedy, Paradiso, Canto 22
Except, oops. His feast is actually on June 19. That particular website shows several saints on the opening page for June 20, but only the first picture is actually for June 20. The other pictures and links are for the previous days, something that’s not obvious until you click. They do have someone else for June 20, but I was not interested in that website anymore.
A different website gave me Blessed Osanna of Mantua. She was beatified in 1694 and has a history of great piety and devotion to duty. https://orderofpreachersindependent.org/2016/06/20/blessed-osanna-of-mantua/ A feature of her story is that she started to join a convent but then delayed for years while she took care of her family. Her beatification was fairly prompt, but her further elevation seems to be delayed. Hmm.
The Irish Martyrs of the 16th and 17th centuries were given this day when they were elevated by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1992. You can find the stories here.
Or there’s the guy who was praised by Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine, and Saint Ambrose, Saint Paulinus of Nola, listed by Franciscan media as Saint for June 20.
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-paulinus-of-nola/
According to this write up, Paulinus was truly exceptional and a great example. I liked the story up until the last line.
Paulinus’ last years were saddened by the invasion of the Huns. Among his few writings is the earliest extant Christian wedding song. His liturgical feast is celebrated on June 22.
Wait, what!?
The header picture is from a church dedicated to Saint Helen…
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