Patron Saint of Gardeners-Serenus the Gardener

Serenus the Gardener, also known as “Serenus of Billom” was born in Greece.  He left his life there to have a celibate life of penance and prayer, in present-day Serbia.  He bought, cultivated, and lived off of his garden.  He was known for his great horticultural skill. One day, he quietly disapproved of the wife of a Roman imperial guard for walking in his garden with her daughters.  This was not permitted without having a male present. Her pride was wounded.  She told her husband what happened in writing.  Her husband reported Serenus to Emperor Maximian.  The emperor gave the husband a letter to deliver to the governor of Pannonia that gave the governor the ability to fix the supposed injustice. After Serenus testified, to the governor, the husband retracted his accusation.  Serenus was found innocent of insulting the wife.  From other parts of Serenus’s testimony, the judge found Serenus might be a Christian.   and the governor judged Serenus innocent of insulting the wife. However, the governor suspected from the words of Serenus’ testimony that he might be a Christian.  Serenus was asked about his religion.  When Serenus testified to being Christian.  He refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods.  The governor had him decapitated on February 23, 307.

Saint Sernus Pray for Us mug available for sale at Etsy.



When a chair is not a Chair – The Chair of Saint Peter

There is an actual physical object known as the Chair of St. Peter. It is at the Vatican, at the back of St. Peter’s Basilica. The actual chair is about 22 inches above the ground about 3 feet wide.  The sides are about 2 feet wide and the back is about 3 and a half foot high.  The entire chair is about four and a half feet high.

More important is what this chair represents.

After the crucifixion, Mary Magdalene is told by the angels, “Christ has risen, tell his disciples and Peter.” John and Peter raced to the tomb and believed. They didn’t fully understand until Pentecost.  Pentecost was when Jesus returned to heaven and gave us the Holy Spirit. It is then that Peter can become the spokesman for the disciples. He led the others against the civil Roman government who want to stop their preaching.  He led at the Council of Jerusalem.  He was the first to preach to the Gentiles. With the healing power of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit in him, he raised a person from the dead and cured the crippled.  People would carry the sick into the streets so when Peter passed by his shadow would touch the sick.

This did not mean that Peter didn’t make mistakes, For a time Peter stopped eating with Gentiles because he didn’t want to upset the Jewish Christians.  Paul told Peter he was wrong and Peter returned to eating with the Gentiles.

Before Jesus left, he foretold Peter of his death which would glorify God. Peter was martyred under Nero’s reign.

This feast remembers Jesus choosing Peter to lead the Church. It is celebrating the office of the Pope as the Bishop of Rome, which makes the person holding that position as the head of the Church.

Did St. Peter really sit in this chair? Just a few years ago Pope Benedict said the chair is a symbol of the special mission of Peter and his successive popes.  The feast of the Chair of Peter is important and celebrates the mission Jesus gave to the Apostle Peter and the popes who followed him. That mission is to safeguard and share the faith with the Christian community.

For more information and teaching materials:
Chair of Saint Peter lesson plans

Robert Southwell

Robert Southwell was born in Norfolk, England in 1561. . He was the youngest of eight children. His family was sympathetic to the Catholics but made large profits from King Henry VIII’s Suppression of the Monasteries. Robert was the third son of Richard Southwell and his first wife, Bridget.
In 1576, he went to boarding school and then studying with at the Jesuit College of Anchin. His education was interrupted because of a dispute between France and Spain. So he could remain safe, he went to Paris to study with Jesuit Thomas Darbyshire. By June of 1578 he was going to travel to Rome, intending to become a Jesuit. A two-year novitiate was required before joining. At first, he was denied entry. He appealed by sending a heartfelt, emotional letter to the school. It worked he was admitted on October 17, 1578, He became a member of the Society of Jesus in 1580. 

Southwell began studies in philosophy and theology at the Jesuit College in Rome. He also worked as secretary to the rector. He completed his studies and was ordained in 1584. In 1584, a law was passed that said any English-born subject of Queen Elizabeth, who had entered into priests’ orders in the Catholic Church since her accession, who stayed in England more than 40 days could be executed. 

In 1586, Southwell requested to be sent to England as a Jesuit missionary with Henry Garnet. He went from one Catholic family to another.A spy reported to Sir Francis Walsingham Southwell was closely watched. He mixed into Protestant society under the assumed name of Cotton. For the most part, he lived in London, he made occasional trips to Sussex
In 1589, Southwell became a chaplain to Anne Howard, whose husband, was in prison convicted of treason. Arundel had been confined to the Tower of London since 1585, but his execution was postponed, and he remained in prison till his death in 1595. Southwell began living in his home with the countess at Arundel House in London. Southwell spent most of 1591 writing. In 1591 he spent most of his time in writing.

After six years of being a missionary, Southwell was arrested, for being in connection with Jerome Bellamy. Anne Bellamy, Jerome’s daughter, was arrested and imprisoned for being linked to the situation. She was interrogated and raped by Richard Topcliffe, the Queen’s chief priest-hunter, and torturer before revealing Southwell’s movements. Southwell was immediately arrested

He was first taken to Topcliffe’s own house, adjoining the Gatehouse Prison, where Topcliffe tortured him with the manacles. He remained silent in Topcliffe’s custody for forty hours. The queen ordered Southwell moved to the Gatehouse. A team of torturers repeatedly went to work on him. They were unsuccessful, in trying to learn the location of other priests. He was left hurt, starving, covered with maggots and lice, to lie in his own filth. After a month he was moved to solitary confinement in the Tower of London. Because he was treated so badly in prison, Southwell’s father petitioned the queen for a quick trial, knowing his certain death would be better than the prison conditions. His father asked to be allowed to provide him with the necessities of life. His friends were then able to give him food and clothing and to send him the works of St. Bernard and a Bible. Henry Garnet was able to smuggle a breviary to him. He remained in the Tower for three years In the next three years, while imprisoned in the Tower of London, he was tortured on the rack ten times. Between times of abuse, he studied the Bible and wrote poetry. 

In 1595, Southwell was charged with treason. He was removed from the Tower to Newgate Prison, where he was put into a hole called Limbo. A few days later, Southwell appeared before the Chief Justice, John Popham, Popham made a speech against Jesuits and seminary priests. Southwell was indicted as a traitor under the statutes prohibiting the presence, within the kingdom, of priests ordained by Rome. Southwell admitted the facts but denied any plots against the queen or kingdom. His only purpose, he said, in returning to England had been to administer the sacraments to Catholics who desired them. He declared himself not guilty of any treason. The jury returned with the predictable guilty verdict. The sentence of death was pronounced – to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. He was returned to Newgate.

On February 21, 1595, Southwell was sent to Tyburn. Execution of sentence on a notorious highwayman had been appointed for the same time, but at a different place, to keep crowds away, but many came to witness Southwell’s death. He was dragged through the streets on a sled. He stood in a cart under the gallows and made the sign of the cross with his pinioned hands before reciting a Bible passage from Romans 14. The sheriff tried to interrupt him, but he was allowed to address the people for a time. He confessed that he was a Jesuit priest and praying for the salvation of the Queen and country. As the cart was drawn away, he commended his soul to God with the words of the psalms. He hung in the noose for a brief time, making the sign of the cross as best he could. As the executioner made to cut him down, in preparation for disemboweling him while still alive, Lord Mountjoy and others tugged at his legs to hurry his death. His lifeless body was then disemboweled and quartered. As his severed head was displayed to the crowd, no one shouted the traditional “Traitor!”.

Southwell was beatified in 1929 and canonized by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales on 25 October 1970.

Saint Eucherius of Orleans

Saint Eucherius of Orléans was born in 687 in Orléans, France. He spent time studying and reading the life of Saint Paul.  He was led to seek to live as a monk. In 714.  He lived as a monk in the Diocese of Rouen.  After seven years his uncle, Suavaric, Bishop of Orléans, died. Charles Martel, the mayor of the palace, practically governed the Frankish Kingdom. Eucherius’ had a great reputation for virtue.  A message was sent to Charles to beg that Eucherius would be elected to the vacant see. Though Charles disliked it, he consented.  Eucherius became bishop in 721.

Eucherius had opposed Charles Martel and his confiscation of church property to fund his war efforts against the Moor’s invasions. Eucherius found himself out of favor with the political leaders.  When Charles Martel returned from his victory at the Battle of Tours, he stopped in Orléans and exiled Eucherius to Cologne. Eucherius returned to his abbey, where he lived the rest of his life in prayer and contemplation until his death on February 20, 743.

Barbatus of Benevento

Barbatus of Benevento was born in Vandano, Italy, in 610.  This was near the end of Gregory the Great’s time as pope.  He received a Christian education, spending much time studying scriptures. He took holy orders as a priest as soon as allowed to.  He was appointed as a preacher by the local bishop.  Not long after he was made pastor St. Basil’s Church in Morcone.  His preaching was not welcomed because parishioners were indifferent and barely Christian. He continued his calls for reform but eventually returned to Benevento.

At the time, some people from Benevento had a superstition about honoring a golden viper and a local walnut tree. The local prince, Romuald I son of King Grimoald I, was involved in this. Barbatus regularly preached against them.  He was regularly ignored. Later, he warned the people of the city of the great trials they would suffer from the East Roman Emperor Constans II and his army, who had just arrived in the area and laid siege to Benevento. In fear, the people renounced the practices Barbatus had criticized. Barbatus cut down the tree the locals had worshipped and melted the viper into a chalice for the church.

Barbatus himself was responsible for a practical resistance to Constans.  He used broken parts of a pagan temple to rebuilt the city walls.
In 1903 the foundations of the Temple of Isis were discovered in Benevento.  Many fragments of Egyptian and Greco-Roman sculptures were found. They had apparently been used as the foundation of a portion of the city wall, reconstructed in 663 under the fear of an attack by Constans, the temple having been destroyed by order of Barbatus to provide the necessary material. The bishop of Benevento died during the siege.  Constans was defeated as Barbatus predicted.  After the invaders withdrew, Barbatus was made bishop on March 10, 633.  He continued his work to eliminate superstition. In 680, he assisted in a council held by Pope Agatho and took part in the sixth general council held in Constantinople in 681 about the Monothelites, who believe Jesus had a different human nature than other men.  He died shortly after the end of the council, on February 19, 682,  He was 70 years old.