Saint Joseph Catholic Church

At the conclusion of his April 17 general audience, Pope Francis deplored torture as he called for the release of prisoners of war and appealed for peace.

“And speaking of prisoners, those who are tortured come to mind,” he said to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square. “The torture of prisoners is a horrible thing, it is not human. We think of so many kinds of torture that wound the dignity of the person, and of so many tortured people.”

Today the Church in Canada celebrates the Optional Memorial of Blessed Marie-Anne Blondin (1809-1890), the foundress of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Anne. Her work established universal education, so that there was a standard for both boys and girls, and men and women could teach both. She suffered greatly from persecution from the order's chaplain and from within the order, but remained humble and dedicated to God's work, instead of pushing back to be prominent in leadership. She died of natural causes at the age of 81 and was beatified on April 29, 2001 by Pope St. John Paul II.

The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Robert Molesme (1027-1110), traditionally considered to be the founder of the Cistercians, the reform that developed at Citeaux.

The Roman Martyrology's commemorations today include:

The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Paternus (482-586), Bishop. He first joined the monks of Ansion and later became a hermit near Coutances. Eventually he was consecrated bishop of Avranches, Normandy, France.

While they were still speaking about this,

Today is the Optional Memorial of St. Martin I (d. 655), who was pope from 649 to 654. He was a courageous defender of the faith against heresy. He held a council at Rome which condemned the Monothelite heresy which taught that Christ had no human but only a divine will and defended that Christ was true God and true man. The heretical Byzantine emperor, Constans II, had him treacherously arrested and taken to Constantinople. After many sufferings and humiliations, he was exiled to Cherson in the Crimea where he died of exhaustion, broken by his sufferings, in 654.

Today the Roman Martyrology commemorates Pope St. Julius I (d. 352),, a Roman who was chosen pope on the 6th of February in 337. He ruled the Church until 352 and received the appeal from St. Athanasius, whom he defended against his Arian accusers. The letter he wrote to the East on this occasion is one of the most momentous pronouncements of the Roman See. He built several churches in Rome and ranks as one of the most distinguished occupants of the Holy See.

The Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Stanislaus (1030-1079). Stanislaus was the Bishop of Cracow, Poland. A champion of the liberty of the Church and of the dignity of man, he defended the lonely and the poor. When he reproached King Boleslaus II for his immoral life, the king himself killed him during Mass. He is the patron saint of Poland.

The Roman Martyrology commemorates today St. Fulbert (960-1029), Bishop of Chartres, France, and a poet and scholar who aided the Cluniac Reform. Born in Italy circa 952 or 960, Fulbert studied at Rheims, France, under future Pope Sylvester II. In 1003 he returned to France, becoming the bishop of Chartres in 1007. Fulbert rebuilt the cathedral there when it burned down and defended monasticism and orthodoxy. His hymns, treatises, and letter have survived.