Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Church

Today is the Optional Memorial of St. Lawrence of Brindisi (1559-1619), the first Capuchin Franciscan to be honored as a Doctor. St. Lawrence was born in 1559 at Brindisi, a town located on the Adriatic coast of the heel of Italy. Educated from his youth by the Conventual Franciscan Friars, he acquired great facility in languages and is considered the greatest linguist among the Doctors of the Church. His fields of labor were many: army chaplain, diplomat, leader of the Counter-Reformation in Austria and Bohemia, teacher of Sacred Scripture, exegete and mariologist. St. Lawrence offers priests a wonderful model for their studies and preaching. He was canonized in 1881 by Leo XIII.

Gospel Excerpt, Cycle C, Luke 10:41-42: The Lord said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her."

The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Aurea (d. 856), Roman Catholic Martyr of Spain. She was born in Cordova, Spain, in the ninth century to Muslim parents. She was also the sister of Ss. Aldolphus and John, who were martyred at Cordova. Aurea became a Christian after her husband died, and took the veil at a monastery in Cuteclara, Spain, where she remained for more than twenty years. She was ultimately denounced as a Christian by her parents, and received a martyr's crown by beheading in 856.