A few decades ago, even centuries ago, ancestors used to name their children with the name of the saint of the day they were born, not in vain in the famous “Mañanitas” there is a stanza that says: “Today, because it is your saint’s day, we sing them to you here…”.
He onomastic refers to the day in which a saint is celebrated, although it is common for many people to use it as a synonym for birthdays, which is wrong, since when talking about it we only refer to the list of the names of the saints.
Like every day of the year, today we also commemorate the women and men who stood out for having special connections with the deities, who did good deeds for their neighbors and who had high ethics and morals, reasons that led them to be canonized or beatified and be part of the saints.
This is the saint’s day Thursday April 25.
Author of the second Gospel, his symbol is the winged lion.
He is the patron saint of lawyers, notaries, stained glass artists, captives, Egypt, Venice and against impenitence and insect bites.
Saint Mark is a Jew from Jerusalem, he accompanied Saint Paul and Barnabas, his cousin, to Antioch on their first missionary journey (Acts 12, 25); he also accompanied Paul to Rome. He separated from them at Perga and returned to his house. (Acts 13:13). We do not know the reasons for this separation but we do know that it caused a later separation between Saint Paul and Barnabas, when Saint Paul refused to accept Saint Mark. Barnabas became so angry that he broke off his missionary association with Saint Paul and went to Cyprus with Mark (Acts 15:36-39). Years later Saint Paul and Saint Mark joined again on a missionary trip.
He was a disciple of Saint Peter and his interpreter in his Gospel, the second canonical Gospel (the first to be written). Saint Mark wrote in Greek with simple and strong words. From his terminology it is understood that his audience was Christian. His Gospel contains history and theology. The date he wrote it is debated, perhaps it was in the decade 60-70 AD.
Together with Peter he went to Rome. Saint Peter, for his part, referred to Saint Mark as “my son” (1P 5,13). Sometimes the New Testament calls him John Mark (Acts 12:12).
He evangelized and established the Church in Alexandria, founding his famous Christian school there.
He died a martyr on approximately April 25, 68 AD in Alexandria and his relics are in the famous cathedral of Venice.
Along with this character there is other saints and martyrs which are also celebrated this Thursday, April 25, as the following:
Saint Anianus
Saint Clarence
Saint Erminius
Saint Stephen of Antioch
Saint Febadius
Santa Franca
Saint Pasycrates
San Pedro de Betancur
Blessed Bonifacio Valperga
Blessed William Marsden
Blessed John Piamarta
Blessed Roberto Anderton
The saints are the set of people (women and men) who They are venerated by the Church when they are proclaimed saints or blessed. on a certain date on the calendar.
On the path to canonization there are four steps: the first is to be named as a servant of God, the second is to be venerable; The third step is to be blessed and, finally, the fourth step is to be holy.
The beatification It can only be achieved by the faithful who have died with a reputation for being saints in various places and this process can be carried out in two ways: through a cause of heroic virtues and the second is martyrdom, that is, if the person He died because of his faith.
On the other hand, the process of becoming a saint It involves adding the name of the sanctified person to the canon (list of recognized saints) and this allows the believing community to pay public and universal worship, while assigning a liturgical feast, dedicating altars, chapels and His power to intercede before God is recognized.
Although the Church has not given an exact figure, it is believed that there are currently up to nine thousand recognized saints. According to Roman Martyrologyupdated in 2005, the Catholic Church has at least seven thousand saintsalthough the martyrs are not counted, so many think that the number could even reach 20 thousand people.
In recent history, Pope John Paul II managed to canonize 388 saints, while Pope Francis has broken all records after today he has canonized 898 saints, 800 of them at the same time.
