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In my column for this week, I want to talk about another Augustinian Saint: Saint Ezekiel Moreno, O.A.R. He was born in Alfaro, Logrono, Spain on April 9, 1848. The family was materially poor but was firmly committed to the Catholic faith. As a teenager he entered the Augustinian Recollects, who are a reformed movement of the Augustinian friars and sisters that first emerged in Spain in the seventeenth century but only became a separate mendicant order in 1912. He professed his vows in the Order of Augustinian Recollects in Monteagudo (Navarra) in 1865.

I'm resuming our study of the Saints and beatified members of the Augustinian order. Today we look at Saint John of Sahagún, Priest, whose feast day is June 12. I have been helped in preparing this article by material on the website of the Order of Saint Augustine.

I'm going to interrupt my series on Augustinian Saints to devote a column to Robert Cardinal McElroy our Archbishop. My reason for doing this is that parishioners said to me recently that they really didn't know that much about him and what could I tell them about him so I thought I would do this as I'm doing this column on Cardinal McElroy.

Thomas “Kintsuba” Jihyoe of Saint Augustine, an Augustinian friar, along with 187 companions, was beatified on November 24, 2008. The ceremony for beatification too place in Nagasaki, Japan. “For all of us, this is a magnificent opportunity to renew our own faith, and to open our hearts to the inspiration of such a generous witness to Jesus Christ and the Gospel, Augustinian Prior General Robert Prevost (now Pope Leo XIV) said. “In our world today, while most of us are not subject to physical dangers in professing our faith, we do find many situations of indifference and even direct opposition to the message of Christ and to the teaching of the Church. The strength and courage of Blessed Thomas of Saint Augustine can encourage each of us to renew our own commitment in giving our lives in service of the Gospel.