SAINT OF THE DAY

About Today

Year: C(II). Psalm week: 2. Liturgical Colour: Green.

Saint Frei Galvão (1739-1822)


Brazil

Antônio Galvão was born in the state of São Paulo to a deeply religious family of high social and political status. He was educated by the Jesuits from the age of 13, but although he wanted to become a Jesuit this was judged inopportune because of official persecution of the order (which was suppressed in the Portuguese Empire in 1759). Instead, at the age of 16, Galvão joined the Franciscans and took the name of ‘Anthony of St Anne’ in honour of his family’s devotion to that saint.
    He was ordained a priest in 1762 and transferred to São Paulo, where, with only brief intervals, he spent the rest of his life. He was revered as a confessor and a healer, and popular devotion to him was such that both ecclesiastical postings and governmental decrees that would have taken him away from São Paulo soon had to be rescinded. He died there on 23 December 1822, at the Recollect House (a hermitage which he had served and defended since 1769).
    He was beatified in 1998 by Pope John Paul II and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 11 May 2007 during his visit to Brazil. He is the first Brazilian-born saint.


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Liturgical colour: green

The theological virtue of hope is symbolized by the colour green, just as the burning fire of love is symbolized by red. Green is the colour of growing things, and hope, like them, is always new and always fresh. Liturgically, green is the colour of Ordinary Time, the season in which we are being neither especially penitent (in purple) nor overwhelmingly joyful (in white).