Category Archives: Saint Names

Yup, I need to have a reference page for this, because usually people only think of Bible saints being celebrated in Eastern churches. This is an old list from an appendix in Fr. Kenelm Vaughan’s 1894 Catholic apologetics book, The Divine Armory of Holy Scripture, as well as a list from the 2001 Roman Martyrology.

I decided to bold the days that haven’t changed between the lists.

JANUARY

Jan. 4: St. Titus, bishop of Crete. Crete.
[Old day. His current day in the West is Jan. 26. Why? Because Vatican II functionaries.]
Jan. 6: Epiphany. St. Balthasar.
Jan. 8: St. Semei, prophet. [aka St. Shemaiah or St. Shimei or St. Semajas]
(Lk. 3:26; 1 Kgs/3 Kgs. 12:22-24; 1 Chr. 3:22, 4:27, 5:4, etc.; 2 Chr. 11:2, 12:5-15)
Jan. 10: St. Nicanor, one of the Seven Deacons. Cyprus. (Acts 6:5)
[Old day. Currently commemorated July 28.]
Jan. 14: St. Malachias the Prophet [aka St. Malachi]. Judea.
[Old day. His day is currently Dec. 18.]
Jan. 14: St. Abdias the Prophet [aka St. Obadiah]. Judea.
[Old day. His current day in the West is Nov. 19.]
Jan. 15: St. Habacuc the Prophet [aka St. Habakkuk]. Judea.
[Old day. His current day in the West is Dec. 2.]
Jan. 15: St. Micheas the Prophet [aka St. Micah]. Judea.
[Old day. Currently commemorated Dec. 21.]
Jan. 18: Feast of St. Peter’s Chair at Rome.
[Old day. Folded into Feast of St. Peter’s Chair on Feb. 22.]
Jan. 23: St. Parmenas, one of the Seven Deacons. Philippi in Macedonia. (Acts 6:5)
[Old day. Currently commemorated July 28.]
Jan. 24: St. Timothy, bishop of Ephesus. Ephesus.
[Old day. His current day in the West is Jan. 26.]
Jan. 25: The Conversion of St. Paul. (Acts 9:1)
[Jan. 25: St. Ananias. (Acts 9:10)]
[Jan. 26: Current day of Ss. Timothy and Titus.]

FEBRUARY

Feb. 2: St. Cornelius the Centurion, bishop of Caesarea. Caesarea Maritima. (Acts 10:1)
[Old day. His current day in the West is Oct. 20.]
[Feb. 3: Ss. Simeon, prophet and St. Anna, prophetess. Jerusalem. (Lk. 2:25-35; Lk. 2:36-38)]
Feb. 7: St. Zacharias, High Priest. [aka St. Zechariah] (Mt. 23:35)
[Old day. His current day in the West is Sept. 6.]
Feb. 10: St. Elizabeth, mother of St. John the Baptist. Judea. (Lk. 1:36)
[Old day. Her current day in the West is Nov. 5.]
Feb. 13: St. Agabus, prophet. Antioch. (Acts 11:28)
[Old day. His current day in the West is Apr. 8.]
[Feb. 15: St. Onesimus, martyr, bishop of Ephesus. His new day.]
Feb. 16: St. Onesimus, martyr, bishop of Ephesus. Ephesus. (Col. 4:9)
Feb. 22: Feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Antioch.
[Feb. 22: Feast of St. Peter’s Chair.]
Feb. 22: St. Aristion of Salamis, one of the 72 Disciples. Cyprus. (Lk. 10:1)
[Feb. 22: St. Papias of Hierapolis, who wrote five volumes of reminiscences about Jesus and the Apostles, as told to him by eyewitnesses – most of which work is lost.]
Feb. 24, or Feb. 25 in leap years: St. Matthias, Apostle, Martyr. Judea. (Acts 1:26)
[Old day. His current day in the West is May 14.]

MARCH

Mar. 1: Jared the Patriarch. (Gen. 5:15-20)
Mar. 1: Seth the Patriarch
Mar. 1: Jonathan the Patriarch.
Mar. 15: St. Longinus, martyr. Caesarea in Cappadocia. (John 19:34)
[Old day. His current day in the West is Oct. 16.]
[Mar. 15: St. Aristobulus. (Rom. 16:10)]
Mar. 17: St. Joseph of Arimathea. Jerusalem. (John 19:38)
[Old day. His current day in the West is Aug. 31.]
Mar. 18: St. Gabriel, archangel. (Dan. 8:16, 9:21; Lk. 1:19, 26)
[Old day. His current day in the West is Sept. 29.]
Mar. 19: St. Joseph, foster-father of Jesus. (Mt. 1:16)
Mar. 20: St. Joachim, father of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
[Old day. His current day in the West is July 26.]
Mar. 20: St. Archippus, the “fellow-soldier” (systratiotes) of Paul. Asia. (Col. 4:17, Phm. 1:2)
Mar. 22: St. Paul, bishop of Narbonne [aka] Sergius Paulus the Pro-consul. Asia. (Acts 13:7)
Mar. 22: St. Epaphroditus, bishop of Terracina. Terracina. (Phil. 2:25)
Mar. 25: The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. (Lk. 1:26)
Mar. 25: St. Dismas the Good Thief. Jerusalem. (Lk. 25:43)
Mar. 27: St. Nicodemus. Jerusalem. (John 3:1)
[Old day. His current day in the West is Aug. 31.]
Mar. 31: St. Amos the Prophet. Teqoa’ in Samaria. (Amos 1:1)
[Old day. His current day in the West is June 15.]

APRIL

Apr. 8: St. Asyncritus of Marathon. (Rom. 16:14)
[Apr. 8: St. Agabus, prophet. Antioch. (Acts 11:28)]
[Apr. 8: Ss. Herodion and Phlegon. (Rom. 16:11, 14)]
Apr. 9: St. Prochorus, martyr. One of the Seven Deacons. Antioch. (Acts 6:5)
[Old day. Currently commemorated July 28.]
Apr. 9: St. Mary of Cleophas [Clopas], sister of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Judea. (John 19:25)
[Old day. Her current day in the West is Apr. 24.]
Apr. 10: St. Ezechiel the Prophet, martyr. [aka St. Ezekiel] Babylonia. (Ezek. 1:3)
[Old day. His current day in the West is July 23.]
Apr. 11: St. Antipas, martyr, bishop of Pergamum. (Rev. 2:13)
Apr. 14: St. Trophimus. (Acts 20:4, 21:29; 2 Tim. 4:20)
[Old day. His current day in the West is Dec. 29.]
[Apr. 14: St. Zenas the Lawyer. (Titus 3:13)]
[Apr. 20: St. Zacchaeus of Caesarea, bishop. (Lk. 19:3)]
Apr. 22: St. Apelles of Smyrna, disciple of Christ, bishop. (Rom. 16:10)
[Apr. 24: Ss. Mary of Clopas and St. Salome, sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary.]
Apr. 25: St. Mark the Evangelist, martyr . Alexandria.
(1 Peter 5:13; Acts 11:11; Col. 4:10; 2 Tim. 4:11; Phm. 1:24)
[Apr. 27: St. Simeon, son of Cleophas. Jerusalem.]
Apr. 29: St. Tychicus. Paphos in Cyprus. (Acts 20:4; Eph. 6:21; Col. 4:7; Titus 3:12; 2 Tim. 4:12)
[Apr. 29: St. Torpes, martyr. Pisa. Traditionally included in “the brethren.”]

MAY

May 1: St. Philip, martyr, Apostle. Hierapolis in Asia. (Mt. 10:3)
May 1: St. James, martyr, Apostle. Jerusalem. (Mt. 10:3)
[Old day. Current day for Ss. Philip and James is May 3.]
[May 1: St. Joseph the Worker. (Mt. 13:55)]
[May 1: St. Jeremiah the Prophet.]
[May 3: Ss. Philip and James the Greater, martyrs, Apostles. (Mt. 10:3)]
May 6: Church of St. John at the Latin Gate. (Mt. 10:3)
May 6: St. Lucius of Cyrene, bishop. Cyrene in Egypt. [Acts 13:1]
May 8: Apparition of St. Michael. (Josh. 5:13-14)
[May 9: St. Isaiah the Prophet.]
[May 9: St. Hermas, disciple of St. Paul. (Rom. 16:14)]
May 10: St. Job the Prophet. Land of Uz. (Job 1:1)
May 10: Translation of the Body of St. Stephen. (Acts 6:8)
May 12: Ss. Nereus and Achilles, baptized by St. Peter.
[Generally thought to be 3rd century now.]
May 13: St. Jeremias the Prophet [aka St. Jeremiah]. Taphnoe [aka Tahpanhes] in Egypt. (2 Mac. 15:13)
[Old day. His new day is May 1, which was also his older day.]
[May 14: St. Matthias, Apostle, martyr. Judea. (Acts 1:26)]
May 17: St. Torpes, martyr. Pisa. Traditionally included in “the brethren.” (Phil. 4:22)
[Old day. His new day is Apr. 29.]
May 17: St. Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25)
[May 17: St. Andronicus of Pannonia and St. Junia or Junias (Rom. 16:7)]
[May 19: St. Pudens. (2 Tim. 4:21)]
[May 20: St. Lydia of Thyatira, the purple-seller (Acts 16:14)]
May 24: St. Manahen [aka St. Manaen], foster-brother [syntrophos] of Herod [the tetrarch]. (Acts 13:1)
May 24: St. Joanna, wife of Chuza. (Lk. 24:10)
May 26: St. Quadratus, traditionally a disciple of St. Paul. Athens.
May 26: St. Alpheus, father of Ss. Matthew and James. (Mk. 3:18)
May 31: St. Petronilla, virgin, disciple of St. Peter. Rome.
[May 31: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Elizabeth. (Lk. 1:39-56)]

JUNE

June 6: St. Philip, one of the Seven Deacons. Caesarea in Palestine. (Acts 6:5)
[Old day. Currently commemorated July 28.]
June 11: St. Barnabas, apostle, martyr. Cyprus. (Acts 15:35)
June 14: St. Eliseus the prophet [aka St. Elisha]. Samaria. (4 Kgs 2:1./2 Kgs. 2:1)
[June 15: St. Amos. Teqoa. (Amos 1:1)]
June 17: Our Lady of Sorrows. (John 19:25)
[Old day. The current day is Sept. 15.]
June 19: St. Jude, one of the 72 disciples. (Lk. 10:1)
June 21: St. Tertius, secretary of St. Paul. (Rom. 16:22)
June 24: Nativity of St. John the Baptist. (Lk. 1:57)
June 25: St. Sosipater, disciple of St. Paul. (Rom. 16:21)
June 27: St. Crescens, disciple of St. Paul. (2 Tim. 4:10)
June 29: St. Peter. Rome. (1 Peter 1:1)
June 29: St. Paul. Rome. (Rom. 1:1)

JULY

July 1: Burial of St. Aaron. Mount Hor. (Deut. 32:50)
July 1: St. Phinees, son of Eleazar. [aka St. Phinehas, St. Phineas] (Josh. 22:31)
July 1: St. Eleazar, priest. Son of Aaron. (Josh. 22:31)
July 2: Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to St. Elizabeth. (Lk. 1:39)
[Old day. Current day is May 31.]
[July 3: St. Thomas, apostle. India. (Lk. 6:15)]
July 4: St. Osee, prophet. [aka St. Hosea] (Hosea 1:1)
[Old day. His current day is Oct. 17.]
July 4: St. Aggeus, prophet. [aka St. Haggai] (Hag. 1:1)
[Old day. His current day is Dec. 16.]
[July 5: St. Stephen of Nicaea, bishop of Reggio in Calabria, disciple of St. Paul.]
July 6: St. Isaias the prophet, martyr. [aka St. Isaiah] Judea. (Is. 1:1)
[Old day. His current day is May 9.]
[July 8: Ss. Aquila and Prisca, disciples of St. Paul. Asia Minor. (1 Cor. 16:19)]
July 9: Ss. Aquila and Prisca, disciples of St. Paul. Asia Minor. (1 Cor. 16:19)
July 12: St. Jason, disciple of Christ. (aka St. Mnason, St. Nason.) Tarsus. (Rom. 16:21)
July 13: St. Joel the Prophet. (Joel 1:1)
[Old day. His current day is Oct. 19.]
July 13: St. Esdras, prophet. (Ezra 10:1)
July 13: St. Silas. Macedonia. (Acts 16:25)
July 19: St. Epaphras, or Epaphroditus, martyr, bishop of Colossae. Colossae. (Col. 1:7)
July 20: St. Elias the Prophet. [aka St. Elijah] (3 Kgs. 17:1/1 Kgs. 17:1)
[July 20: St. Joseph Barsabas, also called Justus. (Acts 1:23)]
July 21: St. Daniel the Prophet. (Dan. 1:6)
July 22: St. Mary Magdalene. Marseilles. (Lk. 8:2)
July 22: St. Syntyche. Philippi. (Phil. 4:2)
[July 23: St. Ezekiel the Prophet. Babylonia. (Ezek. 1:3)]
July 25: St. James, Apostle, martyr. Brother of St. John. (Mt. 10:3)
July 26: St. Anne, mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
[July 26: St. Joachim, father of the Blessed Virgin Mary.]
[July 26: St. Erastus. (Acts 19:22, Rom. 16:23, 2 Tim. 4:20)]
[July 28: Ss. Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, deacons. (Acts 6:5)]
July 29: St. Martha of Bethany.
July 29: St. Lazarus of Bethany.
July 29: St. Mary of Bethany. (John 11:5, John 11:1)
July 29: St. Marcella, servant of St. Martha (traditionally)

AUGUST

Aug. 1: The The Seven Brothers in Maccabees, martyrs. (2 Mac. 7:1)
[Aug. 1: St. Eleazar the scribe, martyr. (2 Mac. 6:18-31)]
Aug. 2: Finding of the Body of St. Stephen. Jerusalem.
Aug. 2: St. Lydia the purple-seller. Philippi in Macedonia. (Acts 16:14)
[Old day. Her current day is May 20.]
Aug. 4: St. Aristarchus of Thessalonica, bishop of Thessalonica. Thessalonica.
(Acts 19:29, 20:4, 27:2; Col. 4:10; Phm. 1:24)
Aug. 7: St. Claudia. Rome. (2 Tim. 4:21)
Aug. 10: St. Judas, the fourth of the Seven Brothers in Maccabees, martyr. (2 Mac. 7:14)
Aug. 20: St. Samuel the Prophet. Judea. (1 Kgs. 3:1/1 Sam. 3:1)
Aug. 24: St. Bartholomew, Apostle, martyr. Armenia. (Mt. 10:3)
Aug. 25: St. Eleazar the scribe, martyr. (2 Mac. 6:80)
[Old day. His current day is Aug. 1.]
[Aug. 26: St. Melchizadek, king, priest. (Gen. 14:18)]
Aug. 29: Beheading of St. John the Baptist. (Mt. 14:6)
[Aug. 31: Ss. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.]

SEPTEMBER

Sept. 1: St. Josue [aka St. Joshua]. Judea. (Josh. 1:1)
Sept. 1: St. Gedeon [aka St. Gideon]. Ophrah. (Jdgs. 7:1)
[Old day. His current day is Sept. 26.]
Sept. 1: St. Anna the Prophetess. Jerusalem. (Lk. 2:36)
[Old day. Her current day is Feb. 3.]
Sept. 3: St. Phoebe. Cenchreae, Corinth. (Rom. 16:1)
Sept. 4: St. Moses, lawgiver and prophet. Mt. Nebo. (Exod. 2:1; Mk. 9:3)
Sept. 5: St. Zachary, Priest and Prophet. (aka St. Zechariah, St. Zacharias).
          Father of St. John the Baptist. (Lk. 1:5)
[Old day. His current day is Sept. 23.]
Sept.  6: St. Zacharias the Prophet (aka St. Zechariah, St. Zachary). (Zech. 1:1)
[Sept. 6: St. Onesiphorus, Disciple of St. Paul. (2 Tim. 1:16)]
Sept. 8: St. Onesiphorus, Disciple of St. Paul. (2 Tim. 1:16)
[Old day. His current day is Sept. 6.]
Sept. 8: Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. (Gen. 3:15) 
Sept. 12: St. Tobias, father of Tobit. (aka St. Tobiah) (Tobit 1:1)
Sept. 17: St. Zenas, Lawyer, Disciple of St. Paul. (Titus 3:13) 
[Old day. His current day is Apr. 14.]
Sept. 19: St. Tobias, son of Tobiah. Honored at Pavia. (Tobit 4:1) 
Sept. 21: St. Matthew, Apostle, Martyr. (aka St. Levi.) Ethiopia. (Mk. 3:18)
Sept. 21: St. Jonas, prophet. (aka St. Jonah) Land of Saar, or Tyre. (Jonah 1:1)
[Sept. 21: St. Quadratus, disciple of the Apostles, prophet, apologist.]
[Sept. 23: St. Zechariah, father of St. John the Baptist. (Lk. 1:5)]
[Sept. 23: St. Elizabeth, mother of St. John the Baptist. (Lk. 1:36)]
Sept. 23: St. Linus, disciple, bishop, Pope. (2 Tim. 4:21)
Sept. 25: St. Cleophas, Disciple of Our Lord. (aka St. Clopas, St. Cleopas) (Lk. 24:18)
[Sept. 26: St. Gideon the Judge. (aka St. Gedeon) (Jdgs. 7:1)]
Sept. 27: St. Caius, Disciple of St. Barnabas. (aka St. Gaius) (Rom. 16:23, Acts 19:29)
Sept. 28: St. Baruch, prophet, scribe. (Bar. 1:1)
Sept. 29: St. Michael the Archangel. (Dan. 12:1, Jude 1:9, Rev. 12:7)
[Sept. 29: St. Gabriel the Archangel. (Dan. 8:16, Lk. 1:19, Lk. 1:26)]
[New day. His old day was Mar. 18.]
[Sept. 29: St. Raphael the Archangel. (Tob. 12:15)]
[New day. His old day was Oct. 24.]

OCTOBER

Oct. 1: St. Ananias, baptizer of St. Paul. (Acts 9:10)
[Old day. His current day is Jan. 25.]
[Oct. 2: Feast of the Guardian Angels. (Ps. 90:11/ 91:11, Mt. 18:10)]
Oct. 3: St. Hannah, wife of Elkanah and mother of St. Samuel. (1 Kgs. 1:2/1 Sam. 1:2)
[Oct. 3: St. Dionysius the Areopagite, bishop of Athens. (Acts 17:34)]
Oct. 4: St. Hierotheus, traditionally a disciple of St. Paul. Athens. (Acts 19:30)
Oct. 9: St. Abraham the patriarch and father of the faithful. (Gen. 22:1)
Oct. 9: St. Dionysius the Areopagite, bishop of Athens. (Acts 17:34)
Oct. 9: St. Zenaimdes, traditionally a disciple of St. Paul. Athens. (Acts 17:30)
[Oct. 11: St. Philip the Deacon. (Acts 6:5)]
[Oct. 16: St. Longinus. (Jn. 19:34, Lk. 23:47)]
[Oct. 17: St. Hosea the Prophet (aka St. Osee) (Hos. 1:1)]
Oct. 18: St. Luke the Evangelist. Bithynia. (Col. 4:14)z
[Oct. 19: St. Joel the Prophet. (Joel 1:1)]
[Oct. 20: St. Cornelius the centurion. Caesarea. (Acts 10:1)]
Oct. 22: St. Mary Salome. Jerusalem. (aka St. Maria Salome) (Mk. 15:40)
[Old day. Current day is Apr. 24.]
[Oct. 24: St. Raphael the Archangel. (Tob. 12:15)]
Oct. 28: St. Simon, Apostle, martyr. Egypt. (Mt. 10:4)
(aka St. Simon the Cananean, St. Simon Zelotes, St. Simon the Zealot.)
Oct. 28: St. Jude Thaddeus, Apostle, martyr. Mesopotamia. (Mt. 10:3, Jude 1:1)
Oct. 31: St. Stachys, disciple of St. Paul. (Rom. 16:9)
Oct. 31: St. Urbanus of Rome. Rome. (Rom. 16:9)

NOVEMBER

Nov. 3: St. Quartus, disciple of St. Paul. (Rom. 16:23)
Nov. 4: St. Philologus, disciple of St. Paul. (Rom. 16:15)
Nov. 10: St. Tryphena and St. Tryphosa. Iconium in Lycaonia. (Rom. 16:12)
Nov. 19: St. Abdias the Prophet. (aka St. Obadiah). Samaria. (Ob. 1:1)
[Nov. 21: St. Rufus, disciple of St. Paul. (Rom. 16:13)]
Nov. 22: St. Philemon, disciple of St. Paul. Colossae in Phrygia. (Phm. 1:1)
Nov. 22: St. Appia (aka St. Apphia). Colossae in Phrygia. (Phm. 1:2)
Nov. 23: St. Clement, Pope and martyr. Rome. (Phil. 4:3)
Nov. 28: St. Sosthenes, disciple of St. Paul. Corinth. (1 Cor. 1:1)
Nov. 30: St. Andrew, Apostle and martyr. Patras in Achaia. (Mt. 10:2)

DECEMBER

Dec. 1: St. Nahum the Prophet (aka St. Naum). Begabar. (Nahum 1:1)
[Dec. 2: St. Habakkuk the Prophet (aka St. Habacuc). (Hab. 1:1)]
Dec. 3: St. Sophonias the Prophet (aka St. Zephaniah). Judea. (Zeph. 1:1)
Dec. 8: The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. (Gen. 3:15)
[Dec. 16: St. Azariah (aka St. Azarias, St. Abednego) (Dan. 3:10)]
[Dec. 16: St. Hananiah (aka St. Ananias, St. Shadrach) (Dan. 3:10)]
[Dec. 16: St. Misael (aka St. Meshach) (Dan. 3:10)]
[Dec. 16: St. Haggai the Prophet. (aka St. Aggeus). (Hag. 1:1)]
Dec. 17: St. Lazarus, bishop. Marseilles. (Jn. 11:1)
[Dec. 18: St. Malachi the Prophet (aka St. Malachias). (Mal. 1:1)]
Dec. 18: St. Abibon, son of St. Gamaliel.
[Dec. 21: St. Micah the Prophet (aka St. Micheas). (Micah 1:1)]
Dec. 21: St. Thomas, Apostle, martyr. (Lk. 6:15)
[Old day. Current day is July 3.]
Dec. 24: All the Holy Ancestors of Christ. Yup, all the way back to Ss. Adam and Eve, who got saved from Sheol by Jesus during His “descent into Hell.”
Dec. 25: Christmas.
Dec. 26: St. Stephen the Protomartyr. Jerusalem. (Acts 6:5)
Dec. 27: St. John the Evangelist, Apostle. Ephesus. (Mt. 10:3)
Dec. 27: Ven. Judith of Bethulia. Bethulia. (Judith 8:1)
Dec. 28: Holy Innocents. (Mt. 2:16)
Dec. 29: St. David, king, prophet. Jerusalem. (3 Kgs. 16:13/1 Kgs. 16:13)
Dec. 29: St. Trophimus, bishop. Arles. (2 Tim. 4:20)

An account of how they celebrate Feb. 11 in Ballyvourney (Baile Bhuirne), in Co. Cork.

St. Gobnait was an early Irish abbess who was known for her way with bees. She is sometimes called “Deborah”, because of course the Hebrew name means “honeybee.”

The composer Sean O Riada started an Irish-singing choir for Mass there, so there is the humming of bees and the harmony of humans. His son Peadar O Riada, also a composer, does the choir now. They have put out an album for St. Gobnait (Naomh Gobnait) which includes pieces for a Mass for St. John of the Cross’ Day, and which includes a Communion hymn for funerals by Donal O Liathain (finished posthumously by him, believe it or not) set to music.

Among his many patronages, St. Valentine is also a patron saint of beekeepers. So are St. Ambrose of Milan and St. Bernard of Clairvaux. St. Modomnoc, a disciple of St. David, brought honeybees from Wales to Ireland.

I have no idea why the spelling of “Camila” has suddenly gotten big, whereas the traditional “Camilla” has not. Maybe it’s the Hispanic sound; and apparently a fair number of young Hispanic and Brazilian celebrities are named Camila. I don’t doubt that Queen Camilla’s persistent low-key hard work also has caused the name’s popularity to rise.

Camillus and Camilla are good old Roman names. Young men and women of noble Roman birth and good character were chosen to serve with the Roman priests at certain religious ceremonies and sacrifices, and were called Camillli and Camillae. The original use was for the Camillus who helped the Flamen Dialis.

There are several famous Roman men who bore the cognomen (“nickname” or distinguishing name) of Camillus. Lucius Furius Camillus supposedly conquered the cities of Veii and Falisci, but was eventually sent into exile for becoming too powerful. His son, also named Lucius Furius Camillus, was also a famous general and politician; he also built the temple of Juno Moneta.

In Virgil’s Aeneid, an important antagonist is the virgin warrior princess Camilla of the Volsci, who fights Aeneas’ Trojans and is killed. To save her life as a baby, her father King Metabus had sworn her to serve the goddess Diana all her life, and thus she was reared on mare’s milk and taught to use hunting weapons in her toddler days. She was also such a fast runner that she could run on top of a wheat field, or the waves of the ocean. But she was killed by a spear cast by the Etruscan man Arruns, a stealth fighter.

Christians took a lot of the praise language from stories of heroic pagan virgins as being foreshadowing done by the Holy Spirit as preparation for the Gospel. A lot of the early Christian virgin martyrs seem to have taken inspiration from mythical/literary virgin heroines like Polyxena and Antigone, and maybe Camilla too.

So it’s not surprising to see the name “Camilla” becoming a Christian name fairly early. When St. Germanus of Auxerre traveled to Ravenna to get help making peace between General Aetius and various other forces (which would become his last journey), he was befriended by St. Camilla and her four sisters: Porcaria, Maxima, Palladia, and Magnentia. After the old man died in Ravenna, the five sisters decided to escort his body back to Auxerre. Camilla, Magnentia, and Palladia apparently died along the way, and were buried in villages that revered them as saints. (Once in Auxerre, the remaining two sisters stayed there and became holy hermits.) Anyway, St. Camilla is buried in the village of Escolives-Saint-Camille, in a church built over her tomb. Her saint’s day is March 3.

(Palladia was at St. Palaye and Magnentia at St. Magnence, near Avallon; their bodies were burned by the Calvinists. St. Maxima is buried in Auxerre in the church she had built over St. Germanus’ tomb; and St. Porcaria was buried in Hery, in the chapel of Ste. Porcaire.)

St. Camilla Battista da Varano was a Poor Clare nun, abbess, visionary (she saw angels who helped her with her theology study, as well as having conversations with Christ and St. Clare), and stigmatist. When she was young, her father imprisoned her for two and a half years when she refused to marry. She used this time to grow in her prayer life. Finally her father released her and gave his permission for her to enter consecrated life. She took the name “Baptista.” Her life was marked with political turmoil as well as illness, depression, spiritual desolation, and other trials, but she persisted in her vocation. Ironically, her father and brothers were killed for political reasons and her mother and sisters had to flee for their lives, but she was allowed to remain safe with the Poor Clares. She wrote several books in Italian, which are praised both for their religious depth and their beautiful style. Her saint’s day is May 30.

Other Sts. Camilla include St. Camela, a Cistercian nun killed by the Albigensians (Sept. 16); Bl. Camilla Pio di Savoia, who founded a convent of Poor Clares in Carpi, Italy (where Ernest Borgnine’s mom was from) and whose incorrupt body is buried there in S. Chiara Church (April 15); and Bl. Camila Lucia Bartolini Rucellai, a Dominican tertiary and widow who became prioress of a Dominican Third Order convent in Florence. She brought the convent safely through the political turmoil of the execution of her religious mentor, Savonarola.

The French version of Camilla is Camille, as you saw above in the name of the town where the oldest St. Camilla was buried. Dumas used that as the name of his “Lady of the Camellias”, which led to the opera La Traviata, the movie Camille, and a bunch of other adaptations, including the movie Moulin Rouge.

(There are also famous male saints with this name, like St. Camillus de Lellis.)

Well, maybe and maybe not.

There’s a couple of English placenames that turned into surnames. Kimberley in Nottinghamshire was the first famous one. The name means Cynemaer’s leah (clearing). Cynemaer was a Saxon name, although it seems to have been part of a group of Saxon names drawn from pre-existing British/Welsh names

There’s also Kimberley in Norfolk, which was originally “Cyneburh’s clearing”. Cyneburh is a feminine name, and there are several prominent Cyneburhs in English history.

St. Cyneburh/Cyneburga and St. Cyneswitha/Cyneswide were both daughters of the pagan Saxon king, Penda of Mercia, and his queen, Cynewise. (All of Penda’s kids converted. He didn’t stop anybody, but he thought badly of those who converted.) During Cyneburh’s lifetime and for long afterward, Mercia included Norfolk, so Kimberley in Norfolk could very well have been part of her holdings.

St. Cyneburh married Alhfrith of Deira, who reigned over Deira as a co-king with his father, King Oswiu. He ended up switching sides on the Easter dating question and became a big ally of BIshop Wilfrid. After that, he clashed more and more with his dad, and then “disappeared” from history, after allegedly attacking his dad.

At this point, St. Cyneburh founded an abbey in Castor, Cambridgeshire, for both men and women, and became its first abbess. (So it would seem that her husband was dead.) She seems to have reclaimed an old Roman administrative area for this purpose, since the Roman site’s archaeology shows the site going from abandoned to busy at this exact time. (There’s a 2011 episode of Time Team about it.)

She died on September 15, 860. Her remains were originally at Castor in the minster church, but were moved to Peterborough Abbey in 960. Her feast was celebrated there on March 6, as a benefactress, since she signed the original Peterborough Abbey charter. Her relics were later moved to Thorney Abbey, which was deemed a great place to bury a ton of Saxon saints.

So if there’s a St. Kimberly, it’s her.

Australia’s region “The Kimberley” is named after John Wodehouse, who was named the First Earl of Kimberley (after the Kimberley in Norfolk). There’s also a Kimberley in South Africa. The name is a sore point, because the First Earl was Secretary of State and demanded new names for all of South Africa’s electoral divisions that had Dutch names, because he said he could not pronounce them. There are other Kimberleys in Tasmania, British Columbia, and New Zealand, as well as a bunch in the US (just for fun, all of ours are spelled -ly). There’s also Lady Coneyburrow’s Path, which is the locals’ mutation of Cyneburg.

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.Old English cyne- or cyning meant “king” or “royal.” The Proto-Welsh/British cun- meant “hound” in the sense of a warrior. Welsh cyn- meant “before, in front” and hence “leader.”

So when you see that Cyne-/Cyn- prefix on a name, it’s not necessarily clear what ethnicity that people are, even if they live in Anglo-Saxon lands.

Kimbolton in Huntingdonshire is “Cynebeald’s tun”. Kimble is “cyne- (royal) + -belling (hill)”.

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There’s an English martyr, St. John Kemble. His surname is probably Welsh. His surviving relatives became the famous theatrical family of Kemble, who included John Kemble, Fanny Kemble, and Sarah Kemble Siddons.

St. John Kemble’s feast is on August 22, and he is one of the Forty English Martyrs. His uncorrupted hand saved a dying priest’s life in 1995, as part of a long string of miracles. His cousin was St. David Lewis, the last Welsh martyr.

Yes, Hosanna is a name. It’s usually spelled Osanna (Italian) or Osanne (French), and it’s also found as a French surname (Ozanne). There’s also the medieval English spelling of Osenna (although Osanna and Osanne were more popular). In Montenegro, it’s Ozana. The Hebrew is something like Hoshana.

First, it’s the name of a saintly Saxon princess, Osana or Osanna, of the same royal family as Osred, Oswyth, etc. (So it might not have any relation to “hosanna,” or it might be a deliberate pun.)

The main story about her is from Giraldus Cambrensis (several hundred years later), which just says it was a very bad idea for a priest’s concubine to sit on her tomb in church like it was a bench. Married priests were a thing in the pre-Augustine of Canterbury English church; but concubinage was naughty even then. So the date of the story and marital status of the woman and priest kinda make a difference to how you interpret the story.

In many Catholic countries, it has been the custom to give a baptismal name to babies after their day of birth (or the day they were found, if they were abandoned or adopted), if that day is a saint’s day or a holy day.

Apparently, in medieval France, babies born on Palm Sunday were sometimes given the name Osanna, which was the medieval spelling of Hosanna. (Because Jesus was welcomed into Jerusalem with palm branches and shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of David!”)

The name seems to have been used in England only during the 1200’s and 1300’s, and never really caught on. It was more popular in France.

Here’s an Irish legal case dealing with piracy and stealing a whole ship, in which Osanna Berrechoun, one of the French/Breton shipowners, had her case for getting the ship back jeopardized, because people in Dundalk, Dublin, and Wales mistook her given name for “Susanna.”

In Italy in the 1400’s, a woman with the given name Osanna Andreasi became famous for her visions and locutions (starting at age five) and her stigmata (in the form of swellings not wounds, and received at age 30). Her dad’s noble family was Hungarian, and her mom was a Gonzaga. She was born on January 17, so presumably she wasn’t named that because of Palm Sunday.

Osanna longed to study theology but her father forbid her; so she was miraculously taught to read, and then the Virgin Mary taught her theology in a long series of visions. At the age of 14 (which was considered just barely adulthood for apprenticeship purposes, although one didn’t have full rights for contracts), she took the first set of vows as a Third Order Dominican, took the habit, and then told her dad about it… or rather, she said she had made _a_ vow to wear the habit until she had accomplished what else she had vowed to do. Um. Yeah. Technically true….

Both her parents died young and left a lot of kids, so she acted as mother and father to them until all of them came of age, when she was 37. (At that time, she finally felt able to leave home in good conscience and join a convent of 3rd Order Dominican ladies; and she took final vows.) She also took care of all the family business until the oldest of her brothers came of age. Her cousin Federico I Gonzaga, the duke of Mantua, put her in charge of looking after his wife and kids while he was away at the wars. His son, Francesco II Gonzaga (who became duke), and his famous wife Isabella d’Este from Ferrara, also thought highly of her, and took her counsel on religious matters and affairs of state, as well as relying on her prophetic gifts. (Isabella’s dad was a supporter of Lucia Brocadelli, St. Lucia of Narni, and Isabella was sorry that she never got to take Osanna to meet Lucia.)

We have TWO contemporary biographies of her: Beatae Osannae Mantuanae by Sylvester of Ferrara (1505, in Latin); and Libretto de la Vita e Transito (1507, in Tuscan), by Girolamo de Monte Oliveto, one of her close associates. He also wrote a book of Colloqui between them about spiritual subjects, as well as preserving her letters.

(Her house is also open for tours! Scroll down for pics.There’s a museum and garden there, too. They have the surviving bits of her habit on display as relics, and that is one nicely fitted and constructed bodice. Niiiice. Costumers, take note. But boy, her arms were tiny, probably thanks to her ascetic practices, unless that’s a habit saved from her girlhood.)

Bl. Osanna of Mantua died in 1505. Her incorrupt body is in Mantua’s cathedral of St. Peter. Her memorial day is on June 18. (She was made a venerable in 1515, according to Isabella d’Este’s request; and she was beatified in 1694.)

There’s another famous blessed by the same name — Blessed Osanna of Cattaro, aka Bl. Ozana of Kotor. This lady was from a remote part of Montenegro or Slovenia, and her given name was Katarina (because she was born on St. Catherine’s Day). Her background in older books in English is presented as being just from back in the waybacks… but she was actually from a married Orthodox priest’s family, the Kozics; and her uncle was an Orthodox monk who became bishop of Zeta. She longed for more, and spent a lot of time praying while shepherding her family’s flocks.

Her father, Fr. Pero Kozic, died early when she was 14; and she felt that God wanted to her to go to the big port city of Kotor (owned by Venice, and under the Patriarchate of Venice), where she could “pray better.” Her mother let her go, and she became a houseservant to earn her bread. She came home to Catholicism and learned to read and write. She used her spare means to help the poor. She wanted even more, and became an anchoress. At age 21, after an earthquake destroyed her first anchorhold, she moved to another and became a Dominican nun, and took Osanna as her religious name (after Osanna of Mantua). So many women were interested in joining her that a new Dominican convent was built next to her new anchorhold’s church, and she was their founder without ever setting eye on the convent itself.

She ended up using her prayers for fighting plague; and she was once asked by her bishop to give a speech, successfully urging everyone to defend Kotor from an Ottoman armada.

She died on April 27, 1565, and was beatified in 1927. In 1930, when her body was moved to a new tomb, her body was found incorrupt and flexible of joints, with perfect hands and fingernails, although her feet were totally gone. (Possibly somebody had stolen/collected her feet as relics, at some point in the centuries.) Her day is April 27.

Finally, there’s also the French surname “Ozanam,” which originally was the Jewish surname “Hosannam.”

Blessed Frederic Ozanam, a professor at the Sorbonne, was one of the founders of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, in 1833. He was a layman, who married Amelie Soulacroix in 1841, and became the father of Marie Ozanam in 1845. He died in 1853. A book by Ozanam about medieval Franciscan poets.

Ozanam would make a cool name for a boy, especially if you like the nickname Oz but not Oswald, Osred, etc.

If you want to use the name for a girl, Osanna or Ozana is probably better than Hosanna (because the syllable “ho” has unfortunate connotations). It might be confused with Osama, though.

It literally means something like “She pushes things” or “She comes toward things with her hands.”

But what the earliest dictionaries show is that it has the connotation of “She puts things in order.” The image is of someone pushing things so that they line up nicely.

It is possible that there was some play on words involved, but “She bumps into things” is an incorrect translation.

Given that one of the meanings of the Greek “Logos” is “order,” “She puts things in order” is a very significant name.

The pronunciation of Kateri and Tegakwitha apparently varied according to dialect of the speaker. There are two main ones:

Gadelli DeGAHkweeta

Kateri TegaKWEEta.

Apparently the damage done by smallpox to the saint’s eyes was not such as to make her nearsighted, but rather, it made her eyes sensitive to light. That is why, from early childhood on, she was accustomed to wear a blanket or cloth in a hood or visor style, so as to shade her eyes.

She doesn’t seem to have been bullied in childhood about this, or much else, according to the earliest sources. She was an adopted daughter of the village chief, after all.

A lot of times, it was believed that people who had misfortunes were watched and protected by spirits, in compensation, especially if they were cheerful and brave about the misfortune. So it would have been considered unlucky to give her a hard time. (And anyway, people liked her.)

Not so much later on, when her family orchestrated the bullying. Punishing the antisocial and recalcitrant, by such permitted bullying, would have been seen as helpful and good. People who didn’t agree would be under pressure not to disagree publicly. (Although tons of people seem to have voted with their feet, at that time. Obviously a chief who tries to get his way by bullying a young girl is no longer a wise or effective chief, and it’s a lot worse when she’s a nice kid and a member of his own household.)

It is possible that her family was under the impression that bullying and starving her would cause the spirits to pity her, and therefore the spirits would send her a vision, and therefore they could get her out of Christianity. But yeah, obviously that didn’t work if that was their idea.

Actually depriving Kateri of food on Sundays and holidays, because she declined to work on those days (even though she did enough work for two on her workdays) was drastically against the principles of the Mohawks and other Iroquois. The general idea was that everyone would eat if there was any food in the village, although it was common for people to be too proud to ask for food (and for their neighbors to find a tactful way to “trade” for it instead of making it a gift).

So basically she was being treated either like a captive, or like a criminal, or like someone being put on a vision quest. (But that was usually guys.)

Shrug. It’s hard to say, since people do break their principles when frustrated or growing toxic. We shouldn’t expect anything different of people in the olden days, or from different cultures.

Anyway, I will again recommend… The Life and Times of Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks, by Ellen H. Walworth.

The Iroquois Book of Rites, by Horatio Hale. Tons about clan structure, differences between tribes of the Confederacy, etc.

Another good book if you can find it is The Iroquois Trail: Dickon among the Onondagas and Senecas, by Professor M.R. Harrington. t’s a sequel to Dickon among the Lenape, which is a fictional introduction to the Delaware Indians and to the general beliefs of Algonquin/Woodland tribes.