Senhorinha of Basto

Senhorinha of Basto is thought to have been born into the noble Sousa family in 924 She was raised by her aunt, Blessed Godinha, abbess of the Benedictine convent of St. John of Vieira, Senhorinha also joined the Benedictines and succeeded her aunt as abbess at Vieira. Later, she moved the convent of Vieira to Basto near Braga, Portugal.  She died on April 22, 982.

Senhorinha of Basto was canonized by Paio Mendes, Archbishop of Braga, in 1130, at a time when bishops had the authority to canonize faithful people in their dioceses. King Sancho I of Portugal was one famous devotee who made the pilgrimage to cure his son and heir, Afonso II, who was healed and succeeded Sancho I as king of Portugal. Her feast day is April 22. 

Conrad of Parzham

Conrad of Parzham was born December 22,  1818.  He was baptized with the name of John.  He was the son of Bartholomäus Birndorfer and Gertrude Niedermayer and was born on the family farm in Parzham,  Germany.
At the age of six, he began elementary school in nearby Weng. Young John’s devotion was noticeable especially when he prayed in church.  He visited the church often even though it wasn’t close to his home, even when the weather was bad. He had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and each day he prayed the rosary. On feast days he frequently made a journey to some remote shrine of the Blessed Mother. He always walked on these primages and prayed.  When he returned in the evening he was usually still fasting. 

John spent his early years on the family farm. His mother died when he was 14.  His father died two years later when he was 16.  He attended a parish mission in 1838.  He then decided to enter the religious life. When he was  31, he gave away his inheritance and became a lay brother among the Capuchin Franciscan friars.
Immediately after his profession in 1842, he was sent to the Friary of St. Ann.  The friary served the Shrine of Our Lady of Altötting, the national shrine of Bavaria to the Blessed Mother. Conrad was given the task of assisting the porter at this shrine. In March 1851, he had to leave Altötting to care for a dying priest. The following September, he entered the novitiate at Laufen, where he was given the name Conrad in honor of Conrad of Piacenza. He then returned to Altötting as a porter.

Altötting was a large and busy city.  The friary porter was a very difficult one. Conrad was diligent in his work.  He said little, cared for the poor, and was always ready to help strangers.  Brother Conrad was porter for more than 40 years. Conrad loved silence in a special way. His free time was spent in adoration and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. During the night he would give up several hours of sleep to have extra time to pray. On April 21, 1894, Conrad died in the friary where he had served for 41 years.

During his lifetime, Conrad was known to be able to read the hearts of those he met and had the gift of prophecy. His heroic virtues and miracles allowed him to be called Blessed by Pope Pius XI in 1930. Four years later, additional miracles were approved and he was declared a saint. He is the patron saint of the Mid-America Province of Capuchin Friars.

Pope Saint Anicetus

Pope Anicetus was the bishop of Rome from around 157 to his death in April 168. Anicetus actively opposed Gnosticism and Marcionism. He welcomed Polycarp of Smyrna to Rome to discuss the Easter date controversy.
Anicetus was a Syrian from the city of Emesa, now known as Homs.  According to Irenaeus, it was during his pontificate that the aged Polycarp of Smyrna, a disciple of John the Evangelist, visited Rome to discuss the celebration of Easter with Anicetus. Polycarp and his Church of Smyrna celebrated the crucifixion on the fourteenth day of Nisan, which coincides with Passover regardless of which day of the week upon this date fell, while the Roman Church celebrated Easter on Sunday—the weekday of Jesus’s resurrection. The two did not agree on a common date, but Anicetus conceded to Polycarp and the Church of Smyrna the ability to keep the date they had been using.  The disagreement would get heated in the following centuries. 

Papal records show Anicetus decreed that priests are not allowed to have long hair, perhaps because the Gnostics wore long hair.

According to church tradition, Anicetus suffered martyrdom during the reign of Emperor Lucius Verus, but there are no historical records from this time.  April  16, 17, and 20 April are all cited as the date of his death, but 20 April is currently celebrated as his feast day.

Athanasia of Aegina

Saint Athanasia of Aegina was a saint who worked in the Byzantine Empire and was an adviser to Empress Theodora II. She served as an abbess and was known for her miraculous healing of the sick and possessed.

St. Athanasia was the daughter of Christian nobles, Niketas and Irene, born around 790.  She wanted a spiritual life, but an imperial law required all single women of marriageable age to marry soldiers. When she was 16 years old, at her parent’s urging, she married a young officer. Sixteen days after her wedding, her husband was killed in a battle with raiding Arabs. She again married, this time to a deeply religious man who wished to become a monk.  He left to do so with her blessing.

St. Athanasia then gave away the bulk of her possessions, converted their home into a convent, and began building churches. She served as an abbess and was known for her miraculous healing of the sick and those seen as possessed. Her community later moved to Timia near the ancient church of Stephen. Crowds flocked to see her. As her fame grew, she moved to Constantinople looking for solitude as an anchoress in a cell for seven years. While walled away, she was an adviser to Empress Theodora II. After seven years, she returned to Aegina where she died of natural causes three days later at Timia on August 14, 860.

Galdino della Sala

Galdino della Sala was born in Milan around 1096,  into the della Sala family which was considered to be minor nobility of the city.

He was a strong supporter of the Roman papacy in the schism that erupted in 1159 after the death of Pope Adrian IV. Pope Alexander III was the Roman candidate, while Antipope Victor IV was supported by Frederick Barbarossa and his cardinals. Galdino’s Milanese church supported Alexander III, and Galdino, as archdeacon of the church, took a very public stand. Frederick came to besiege Milan destroying it within six months.

Galdino joined Alexander III in Genoa and followed him to Maguelonne, Montpellier, and Clermont. He later followed him to Sicily and Rome upon his return in 1165. When Alexander returned to the papacy in 1165, he named Galdino as the Cardinal Priest of the church of Santa Sabina, and a year later made him the Archbishop of Milan. The year after that, Alexander III made Galdino the apostolic legate for Lombardy.

When the Lombard League expelled Barbarossa, Galdino took possession of his diocese and began deposing any Lombard priests who were faithful to Victor IV. He consecrated new bishops at Lodi, Alba, Cremona, Vercelli, Asti, Turin, Novara, Brescia, and Alessandria.

On April 18, 1176, Galdino della Sala died in his pulpit, having just completed a sermon against the Cathars, who were seen by orthodox Catholics as ‘heretics’.

Pope Alexander III canonized Galdino as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church during his pontificate.