Portal:Saints/Selected biography archive/2008

2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009

PERIOD ENDING - Picture

• December 31, 2008 - December 2008

Portal:Saints/Selected biography/December 2008 ---

• November 30, 2008 - November 2008

Portal:Saints/Selected biography/November 2008 ---

• October 31, 2008 - October 2008

Portal:Saints/Selected biography/October 2008 ---

• September 30, 2008 - September 2008

Portal:Saints/Selected biography/September 2008 ---

• August 31, 2008 - August 2008

Portal:Saints/Selected biography/August 2008 ---

• July 31, 2008 - July 2008

Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from the Roman Catholic Church. During Cranmer's tenure as archbishop, he was responsible for establishing the first doctrinal and liturgical structures of the Church of England.

When Edward came to power, Cranmer was able to promote major reforms. He wrote and compiled the first two editions of the Book of Common Prayer, a complete liturgy for the English Church. With the assistance of several Continental reformers to whom he gave refuge, he developed new doctrinal standards in areas such as the eucharist, clerical celibacy, the role of images in places of worship, and the veneration of saints.

Cranmer was tried for treason and heresy when Mary I came to the throne. Imprisoned for over two years and under pressure from the Church authorities, he made several recantations and reconciled himself with the Catholic faith. However, on the day of his execution, he dramatically withdrew his recantations and died as a Protestant martyr.

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• June 30, 2008 - June 2008

Pontius Pilate's wife is unnamed in the New Testament, where she appears a single time in the Gospel of Matthew. Alternate Christian traditions named her (Saint) Procula, Proculla, Procla, Prokla, Procle or Claudia. Also combinations like Claudia Procles or Claudia Procula are used. No verifiable biography exists on the life of Pilate’s wife. Details of her life are surmised from Christian legend and tradition. In the New Testament, the only reference to Pilate’s wife exists in a single sentence by Matthew. According to the Gospel of Matthew 27:19, she sent a message to her husband asking him not to condemn Jesus Christ to death: ‘While Pilate was sitting in the judgment hall, his wife sent him a message: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, because in a dream last night, I suffered much on account of him.” Pilate did not heed his wife’s warning.

The name "Claudia" only appears once in the New Testament, in 2 Timothy 4:21: ‘Eubulus, Pudens, Linus and Claudia send their greetings, and so all the other Christians’. However, there is nothing to suggest that this Claudia was Pilate's wife.

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• May 31, 2008 - May 2008

Saint Bernadette, born Marie-Bernarde Soubirous (January 7, 1844 – April 16, 1879), was a miller's daughter from the town of Lourdes in southern France. Her real Occitan (close relative language to Catalan) name is Maria Bernada Sobirós, aka Bernadeta (little Bernada). From February 11 to July 16, 1858, she reported eighteen apparitions of "a Lady." Despite initial skepticism from the Catholic Church, these claims were eventually declared to be worthy of belief after a canonical investigation. After her death, Bernadette's body remained incorruptible, and the shrine at Lourdes went on to become a major site for pilgrimage, attracting millions of Catholics each year. On December 8, 1933 she was canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church; her Feast Day is celebrated on April 16.

Bernadette (the sobriquet by which she was universally known) was the daughter of François Soubirous (1807 – 1871), a miller, and his wife Louise (nee Castérot) (1825-1866), a laundress, and was the eldest of six children who survived infancy. Louise actually gave birth to 9 children (Bernadette, Jean 1845 – 1845, Jean-Marie 1848 – 1851, Toinette 1846, Jean-Marie b. 1851, Justin 1855-1865, Bernard-Pierre b. 1859, Jean 1864 – 1864 and a baby girl named Louise 1866 – 1866). Bernadette was baptized at the local parish church, St. Pierre's, on January 9, which was her parents' wedding anniversary. Bernadette's godmother was Bernarde Casterot, her mother's sister. Hard times had fallen on rural France and the family lived in extreme poverty. Neighbours reported that the family lived in unusual harmony, apparently relying on their love and support for one another and their religious devotion.

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• April 30, 2008 - April 2008

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova), (Russian: Великая Княжна Анастасия Николаевна Романова) (June 18 [O.S. June 5] 1901 – July 17, 1918), was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna. Anastasia was a younger sister of Grand Duchess Olga, Grand Duchess Tatiana and Grand Duchess Maria, and was an elder sister of Alexei Nikolaievitch, Tsarevitch of Russia. She was murdered with her family on July 17, 1918, by forces of the Bolshevik secret police. Persistent rumors of her possible escape circulated since her death, however her possible survival has been entirely disproven. Russian forensic scientists confirmed on 30 April 2008 that human remains were those of the Tsarevich Alexei and one of his four sisters. In 2000, Anastasia and her family were canonized as passion bearers by the Russian Orthodox Church. The family had previously been canonized in 1981 by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad as holy martyrs. The bodies of Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, and three of their daughters were finally interred at St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg on July 17, 1998, eighty years after they were murdered.

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• March 31, 2008 - March 2008

Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968), was one of the pivotal leaders of the American civil rights movement. King was a Baptist minister, one of the few leadership roles available to black men at the time. He became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the Montgomery bus boycott (1955–1956) and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (1957), serving as its first president. His efforts led to the 1963 March on Washington, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. Here he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest orators in U.S. history. In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means.

King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a national holiday in the United States in 1986. In 2004, King was posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal.

King is commemorated as a saint in the liturgical calendars of both the Episcopal Church of American and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. He is one of ten 20th-century martyrs who has been honored by having his figure created on Westminster Abbey (Anglican Church), London, Great Britain.

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• February 29, 2008 - February 2008

Michael is the archangel mentioned in the Book of Revelation 12:7; in the Old Testament Michael is mentioned by name in the Persian context of the post-Exilic Book of Daniel. He is generally presented as the field commander of the Army of God. There Michael appears as "one of the chief princes" (Daniel 10:13) who in Daniel's vision comes to the angel Gabriel's aid in his contest with the angel of Persia Dobiel, and is also described there as the advocate of Israel and "great prince who stands up for the children of your (Daniel's) people" (Daniel 10:21, 12:1). The Talmudic tradition rendered his name as meaning "who is like El ("God"—but literally "El's Likeness")" (compare the late prophet Micah), but according to Rabbi Simeon ben Lakish (AD 230–270), all the specific names for the angels were brought back by the Jews from Babylon, and many modern commentators would agree.

Michael is one of the principal angels in Abrahamic tradition; his name was said to have been the war-cry of the angels in the battle fought in heaven against Satan and his followers.

Much of the late Midrashic detail about Michael was transmitted to Christian mythology through the Book of Enoch, whence it was taken up and further elaborated. In late medieval Christianity, Michael, together with St George, became the patron saint of chivalry, and of the first chivalric order of France, the Order of Saint Michael of 1469. In the British honours system, a chivalric order founded in 1818 is also named for these two saints, the Order of St Michael and St George. St Michael is also considered in many Christian circles as the patron saint of the warrior. Police officers and soldiers, particularly paratroopers, regard him as their patron saint.

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• January 31, 2008 - January 2008

Saint Basil of Caesarea, also called Basil the Great (between 329 and 333 - January 1, 379) (Greek: Άγιος Βασίλειος ο Μέγας; Latin: Basilius), was the Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, and an influential 4th century Christian theologian. Theologically, Basil was a supporter of the Nicene faction of the church, in opposition to the Arians on one side and the Appollanarians on the other. His ability to balance his theological convictions with his political connections - especially with the Arian Emperor Valens - made Basil a powerful advocate for the Nicene position.

In addition to his work as a theologian, Basil was known for his care of the poor and underprivileged. He is considered a saint by the traditions of both Eastern and Western Christianity.