18 July
THE feast of St. Camillus de Lellis, confessor, founder of the Clerks Regular ministering to the sick, whose birthday is the 14th of July. Leo XIII. declared him Celestial Patron of hospitals and the infirm.—At Tivoli, in the time of the emperor Adrian, St. Symphorosa, wife of the martyr St. Getulius, with her seven sons, Crescens, Julian, Nemesius, Primitivus, Justinus, Stacteus, and Eugenius. Their mother, because of her invincible constancy, was first buffeted a long time, then suspended by her hair, and lastly thrown into the river with a stone tied to her body. Her sons had their limbs distended by pulleys and bound to stakes, and terminated their martyrdom by different kinds of death. The bodies were subsequently taken to Rome, and were found in the sacristy of St. Angelo in Piscina, under the Sovereign Pontiff, Pius IV.—At Carthage, St. Gundenes, virgin. By order of the proconsul Rufinus, she was four different times stretched on the rack for the faith of Christ, horribly lacerated with iron hooks, confined for a long time in a filthy dungeon, and finally put to the sword.—At Dorostorum, in Mysia, in the time of Julian the Apostate and the governor Capitolinus, St. Emilian, martyr, who was cast into a furnace, and thus received the palm of martyrdom.—At Utrecht, St. Frederick, bishop and martyr.—In Spanish Galicia, St. Marina, virgin and martyr.—At Milan, in the reign of Maximian, the holy bishop Maternus. For the faith of Christ and the church entrusted to him, he was thrown into prison and often scourged. Finally he went to his rest in the Lord with a great renown for his repeated confession of the faith.—At Brescia, the birthday of St. Philastrius, bishop of that city, who in speech and writing combated heretics, especially the Arians, from whom he suffered much. Finally, he died in peace, renowned for miracles.—At Metz, in France, St. Arnulf, a bishop illustrious for holiness and the gift of miracles. He chose an eremitical life, and ended his blessed career in peace. —At Segni, St. Bruno, bishop and confessor.—At Forlimpopoli, in Emilia, St. Ruffillus, bishop of that city.
And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors and holy virgins.
Thanks be to God.