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Monday of the Fourth Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Zeno; martyred soldier at Nicomedia (modern-day Turkey); he was seized and condemned to death for laughing while Emperor Diocletian offered a sacrifice to the Roman god Ceres; Zeno had his jaws shattered and was then beheaded Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/22/25 Gospel: Luke 1:46-56

Fourth Sunday of Advent Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/21/25 Gospel: Matthew 1:18-24

Saturday of the Third Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Dominic of Silos, 1000-1073; born in Navarre, Spain; when, as Benedictine abbot, he refused to surrender lands to the crown, he was exiled; he went to King Ferdinand I of Castile and Leon, who made him abbot of St. Sebastian Abbey at Silos, now called St. Dominic’s; one of the most beloved saints in Spain, Dominic also rescued Christian slaves from the Moors; the mother of St. Dominic of Guzman--founder of the Order of Preachers--visited Dominic's shrine, begging for a child; he was also noted for miracles of healing Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/20/25 Gospel: Luke 1:26-38

Friday of the Third Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Nemesius; martyred in Alexandria under the persecution of Decius; Nemesius was arrested, scourged, and burned alive; like Christ, he was killed between two criminals Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/19/25 Gospel: Luke 1:5-25

Thursday of the Third Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Auxentius; soldier in the Roman army, but refused to take part in sacrifices to pagan gods, and was persecuted for the faith; after his release from military service, he was ordained a priest and became the bishop of Mopsuestia, in Cilicia; he died in 321 Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/18/25 Gospel: Matthew 1:18-25

Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Wivina, 1103-1170; she was a native of Oisy, Flanders, Belgium; she refused all offers of marriage until the age of 23, when she became a hermitess at GrandBigard, near Brussels; she gathered disciples, and accepted the offer of land from Count Godfrey of Brabant and built a convent over which she served as first abbess Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/17/25 Gospel: Matthew 1:1-17

Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Adelaide, 931-999; married Lothair of Italy, and when he died, his successor and usurper, Berengar of Ivrea, tried to force her to marry his son; she escaped to Canossa, and sought the help of Otto of Germany; Otto conquered Italy, married Adelaide, and Pope John XII proclaimed the couple rulers of the Holy Roman Empire; she established many monasteries, and became interested in evangelism; she became regent for her grandson, Otto III, and died at the convent at Seltz, which she had founded Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/16/25 Gospel: Matthew 21:28-32

Monday of the Third Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Maria Crocifissa Di Rosa, 1813-1855; left school at the age of 17 to manage her widowed father's household; she took care of the spiritual needs of young girls working in her father's mills, and she volunteered to work in the Brescia hospital during the 1836 cholera epidemic; later, she founded a home for girls and a school for deaf mutes; in 1840, her spiritual director made her Superior of a group of religious who cared for the sick, the Handmaids of Charity of Brescia Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/15/25 Gospel: Matthew 21:23-27

Third Sunday of Advent Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/14/25 Gospel: Matthew 11:2-11

Saturday of the Second Week of Advent Memorial of St. Lucy, virgin and martyr, 283-304. lived a Christian life; but she rejected the advances of a Roman soldier, and was arrested, and martyred; Lucy is the patron saint of eye ailments Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/13/25 Gospel: Matthew 17:9-13

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Friday of the Second Week of Advent Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/12/25 Gospel: Luke 1:26-38

Thursday of the Second Week of Advent Optional Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, 304-384; when Damasus was elected pope, a minority elected and consecrated another deacon, Ursinus, as pope; supporters of the antipope even managed to get Damasus accused of a grave crime—probably sexual—as late as A.D. 378; he had to clear himself before both a civil court and a Church synod; as pope, his lifestyle was simple in contrast to other ecclesiastics of Rome, and he was fierce in his denunciation of Arianism and other heresies; during his pontificate, Christianity was declared the official religion of the Roman state, and Latin became the principal liturgical language as part of the pope’s reforms Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/11/25 Gospel: Matthew 11:11-15

Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Mennas; an Athenian from Greece, sent to Alexandria on an imperial commission by Emperor Galerius; successful, he proclaimed himself a Christian; before Hermogenes, a judge, Mennas sang a four-hour musical defense of Christianity; his eyes were gouged out and his tongue cut off; according to legend, his eyes and tongue were miraculously restored, which led to the conversion of Hermogenes; Mennas was beheaded in 312 A.D. Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/10/25 Gospel: Matthew 11:28-30

Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent Optional Memorial of St. Juan Diego, 1474-1548; it was to Juan Diego that Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared at Tepeyac Hill in 1531; Juan Diego later lived near the shrine constructed at Tepeyac, revered as a holy, unselfish, and compassionate catechist, who taught by word and especially by example Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/09/25 Gospel: Matthew 18:12-14

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Monday of the Second Week of Advent Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/8/25 Gospel: Luke 1:26-38

Second Sunday of Advent Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/7/25 Gospel: Matthew 3:1-12

Saturday of the First Week of Advent Optional Memorial of St. Nicholas, 270-343; bishop of Myra, a city in Lycia, a province of Asia Minor; legend tells the best-known story about Nicholas concerning his charity toward a poor man who was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters of marriageable age; rather than see them forced into prostitution, Nicholas secretly tossed a bag of gold through the poor man’s window on three separate occasions, thus enabling the daughters to be married; over the centuries, this particular legend evolved into the custom of gift-giving on the saint’s feast; in the English-speaking countries, Saint Nicholas became, by a twist of the tongue, Santa Claus Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/6/25 Gospel: Matthew 9:35-10:1, 5-8

Friday of the First Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. John the Wonder-Worker; Eighth Century bishop of Polybatum, in Phrygia;  he was a defender of sacred images in the face of the ascendancy of the Iconoclasts, which placed him in considerable danger with the Ionoclast Emperor Leo V the Armenian, but he performed so many miracles that the ruler did not dare to persecute him; he died in 750   Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/5/25 Gospel: Matthew 9:27-31

Thursday of the First Week of Advent Optional Memorial of St. John Damascene, 676-749; spent most of his life in the Monastery of Saint Sabas near Jerusalem, and all of his life under Muslim rule, indeed protected by it; famous for his writings against the iconoclasts, for his treatise, "Exposition of the Orthodox Faith," and for being one of the two greatest poets of the Eastern Church Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/4/25 Gospel: Matthew 7:21, 24-27

Wednesday of the First Week of Advent Memorial of St. Francis Xavier, 1506-1552; an early member of the Society of Jesus; after his ordination he was appointed apostolic nuncio in the East; he traveled to Goa, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, China, and Japan establishing missionary outposts and converting hundreds of thousands; Pius X named him patron of foreign missions Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/3/25 Gospel: Matthew 15:29-37