Saint of the Day: Pope St. Paul VI

(1897-1978)

His life

+ Giovanni Battista Montini was born in Concesio, Lombardy, Italy.

+ Following his ordination to the priesthood in 1920, he served as member of the Vatican’s Office of Secretary of State, before being named a protosecretary of Pope Pius XII.

+ Appointed archbishop of Milan in 1954, he was named a cardinal four years later.

+ Elected pope on June 21, 1963, he took the name Paul VI.

+ Pope Paul VI is remembered for his commitment to continuing the work begun by Pope St. John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council, as well as for his commitment to implementing the council’s reforms.

+ He is especially remembered for his encyclical Humanae Vitae and for his commitment to peace and justice.

+ Pope Paul VI died on August 6, 1978, and was canonized in 2018 and his commemoration was inserted into the Universal Calendar of the Church by Pope Francis in 2019.

For prayer and reflection

“The progressive development of peoples is an object of deep interest and concern to the Church. This is particularly true in the case of those peoples who are trying to escape the ravages of hunger, poverty, endemic disease and ignorance; of those who are seeking a larger share in the benefits of civilization and a more active improvement of their human qualities; of those who are consciously striving for fuller growth.”—Pope Saint Paul VI in Populorum Progressio

Spiritual bonus

On this day we also remember the Scottish bishop Saint Daganus. Although little information about his life has come down to us, it is recorded that he was involved in the dispute regarding whether Celtic Christians would follow the Roman tradition of calculating the date of Easter and he is mentioned in Saint Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Saint Daganus died around the year 609.

Prayer

O God, who made blessed Paul the Vicar of Peter and committed to him the care of the universal Church, by his intercession keep your beloved flock ever safe, so that with integrity of faith and perfect charity your Church may journey to her heavenly homeland. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal: Common of Pastors—For a Pope)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.