Our Saints
Celebrating Leaders of African Descent
This listing (courtesy of the Catholic Church in Africa website) is an attempt to put together a monthly calendar of some African Saints, Blesseds, Venerables, holy men and women of African ancestry, those of the ancient Church of North Africa, as well as those of later centuries including those of the twentieth century.
Thank you to Mr. John S. Mutiso for the work you put into this compilation.
|
Name |
Year |
Life & Accomplishment(s) |
Feast Day |
|
St. Fulgentius |
533 |
Bishop of Ruspe, Tunisia. |
January 1st |
|
St. Paul |
342 |
Egyptian Hermit and founder of Monastic life in Thebes. |
January 15th |
|
St. Anthony |
356 |
Founder of monastic life in the desert of Egypt. |
January 17th |
|
St. John the Alms Giver |
619 |
Patriarch of Alexandria. |
January 23rd |
|
St. Gelasius |
496 |
Bishop of Rome and third African Pope (492-496). |
March 1st |
|
St. Josephine Bakhita |
1947 |
Sudanese slave girl born in 1869. She was later sold to an Italian Consul who took her to Italy where she eventually became free. She was baptized and later joined the Canossian Sisters in Vicenza Italy, lived a holy life, and beatified May 17th, 1992. She was canonized on October 1st, 2000. |
February 8th |
|
SS. Perpetua & Felicity |
202 |
Martyred in Carthage along with 6 other companions. |
March 7th |
|
St. Maximilian (Marmilian) |
295 |
Martyred at Theveste, Numidia after refusing to serve in the Roman Army. |
March 12th |
|
St. Benedict the Black |
1585 |
Sicilian, son of African parents; the first African to be canonized through the regular canonical process. |
April 4th |
|
St. Zeno |
380 |
Born at Cherchell, Algeria; missionary in Verona, Italy, where he becomes Bishop of Verona (c.362). |
April 12th |
|
St. Marcellinus |
4th Cent. |
He was an African Missionary to France. |
April 20th |
|
St. Athanasius |
373 |
Bishop of Alexandria. |
May 2nd |
|
SS. Timothy & Maura |
298 |
Husband and wife martyred in Southern Egypt. |
May 3rd |
|
St. Isdore of Chios |
251 |
Alexandrian army officer beheaded for his faith. |
May 15th |
|
St. Julia of Tunisia |
? |
Slave girl crucified for her faith. |
May 22nd |
|
St. Charles Lwanga and Companions |
1886 |
Martyrs, canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1964. The 22 young court servants were martyred for their faith by Uganda King Mwanga in 1886. Along with them were 80 young Anglicans. |
June 3rd |
|
St. Onuphrius |
4th Cent. |
Egyptian hermit. |
June 12th |
|
St. Cyril of Alexandria |
444 |
Patriarch of Alexandria (412-444). |
June 27th |
|
St. Shenute |
c.450 |
Founder of monastic life in Egypt. |
July 1st |
|
St. Anatolius |
c. 282 |
Philosopher and scientist of Alexandria. |
July 3rd |
|
St. Pantænus |
190 |
Head of Alexandrian Catechetical School and missionary to Persia (Iran). |
July 9th |
|
St. Eugenius |
5th Cent. |
Archbishop of Carthage. |
July 13th |
|
St. Speratus & Companions |
180 |
The 12 marytrs of Scillium, Carthage, Tunisia. |
July 17th |
|
St. Aurelius |
5th Cent. |
Archbishop of Carthage, Tunisia. |
July 20th |
|
St. Victor I |
199 |
Bishop of Rome and first African Pope (189-199). |
July 23rd |
|
St. Rutilius |
4th Cent. |
North African martyr. |
August 2nd |
|
Blessed Isidore Bakanja |
1909 |
A Congolese labourer and catechist martyred for his faith |
August 8th |
|
Blessed Victoire Rasoamanarivo |
1894 |
Foundress of the Catholic Actionin Madagascar, beatified in 1989. |
August 21st |
|
153 martyrs of Utica |
c.260 |
Thrown into a pit of quicklime in Utica, Tunisia. |
August 24th |
|
St. Monica |
387 |
Mother of St. Augustine of Hippo, widowed at age 40. |
August 27th |
|
St. Poemen |
c.400 |
A desert monk known for his holiness, and who encouraged frequent Communion. |
August 27th |
|
St. Augustine of Hippo |
354-430 |
Bishop of Hippo Regius (modern Annaba) on coast of Algeria, Doctor of the Church. |
August 28th |
|
St. Moses the Black |
395 |
A slave, gang leader, who after conversion died a martyr of non-violence on August 28th, his feast day. That date providentially coincides with the march to Washington by 200,000 African Americans in 1963. |
August 28th |
|
Blessed Ghebre Mikha’el |
1855 |
Ethiopian priest and martyr. |
September 2nd |
|
St. Donatian and Companions |
484 |
Martyrs, six Bishops of the Ecclesiatical province of Byzaccne (present day Tunisia and Algeria), killed for their faith by the Arian Vandals. |
September 6th |
|
St. Nemesia and Companions |
257 |
9 Bishops, several deacons and lay persons who died in a marble quarry in North Africa |
September 10th |
|
St. Maurice and his Theban Legion (from Egypt) |
287 |
Martyrs, who were killed at Agauno, Switzerland for refusing to sacrifice to pagan divinities. |
September 22nd |
|
St. Matthew |
1st Cent. |
Apostle and Evangelist. According to one ancient tradition, he was the first evangelizer of Nubia (modern Sudan) |
September 21st |
|
St. Raissa |
c. 300 |
Virgin and martyr from Alexandria |
September 22nd |
|
SS. Aizan and Sazan |
360 |
Twin Brothers; Aizan was the first Christian Emperor of the Kingdom of Axum, Ethiopia. |
October 1st |
|
St. Thais |
c.350 |
Egyptian penitent, converted after many years as a prostitute. |
October 8th |
|
St. Cerbonius |
573 |
African missionary Bishop in Italy. |
October 10th |
|
St. Michael Aragave |
4th Cent. |
One of the first Ethiopian Monks. |
October 11th |
|
St. Sarmata |
357 |
A disciple of St. Anthony of Egypt, martyred by Saracens in the Egyptian desert. |
October 11th |
|
5000 African martyrs and confessors of the faith |
483 |
African martyrs deported and killed for their faith by the Vandal King Huneric. |
October 12th |
|
Commemoration of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church: St. Frumentius (Abba Salama) and Aedesiuis |
380 |
Syriac monks and founders of the Church in Ethiopia. |
October 27th |
|
St. Elesbaan |
555 |
An Ethiopian King who died as a monk in Jerusalem. |
October 27th |
|
St. Lalibala (Ghebre Mesqel) |
1255 |
Ab Ethiopian Emperor revered for his faith. |
October 27th |
|
St. Martin de Porres |
1639 |
Born in Peru, son of a Spanish father and an African slave mother, who became a pharmacist at an early age and later joined the Dominican Order, where he continued to dispense medicine to the poor, while living a humble and austere life, with great devotion to the Eucharist. |
November 3rd |
|
St. Pierius |
4th Cent. |
Head of the Cathechetical School in Alexandria |
November 4th |
|
St. Achilias |
312 |
Head of religious instruction in Alexandria |
November 7th |
|
St. Nennas |
c.300 |
An Egyptian soldier in Phygia, who fled from persecution and became a hermit. |
November 11th |
|
St. Arcadius and Companions |
437 |
Martyrs, victims of the Arian Kind of the Vandals, Genseric. |
November 13th |
|
St. Gelasius |
496 |
Bishop of Rome and third African Pope (492-496), liturgical reformer, who ordered the reception of Communion under both species. |
November 21st |
|
St. Catherine of Alexandria |
4th Cent. |
Virgin and martyr who suffered martyrdom in Alexandria. Her relics are said to be kept in the monastery of St. Catherine of Sinai. |
November 25th |
|
St. Peter Martyr of Alexandria |
311 |
Patriarch of Alexandria during the Roman persecution who was skilled in the sciences and had deep and extensive knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. |
November 25th |
|
St. Cassian of Tangiers |
298 |
A lawyer who resigned and became Christian and died as a martyr. |
December 3rd |
|
St. Melchiades |
314 |
Bishop of Rome and second African Pope (311-314). |
December 10th |