Today, October 5th, we celebrate the Ember Days of Thanksgiving and Petition; Saint Froilan and Saint Attilanus, bishops; Saint Charitina, martyr; and Saint Faustina Kowalska, religious.


Ember Days of Thanksgiving and Petition 

At the end of summer, as large sectors of society finish the harvests, begin the school year, or resume their regular routine, this day is dedicated to thanking God for all the favors he has granted us and asking that his help never fail us.


Saint Froilan and Saint Attilanus, bishops 

Froilan was a native of Lugo, and Attilanus of Tarazona. Both shared a hermitic life in the mountains of León, devoted to prayer and preaching, and promoted several monastic foundations in lands that had recently been incorporated into Christian territory. In the year 900, Froilan was elected Bishop of León, a position from which he continued to participate in the organization and Christian repopulation of the area. He died in 905.

Attilanus was Bishop of Zamora during the early years of the 10th century. Tradition relates that, on the day of his consecration, the Holy Spirit appeared to him in the form of a dove and that, later, while fleeing from the Muslims, the bridge over the Duero River collapsed, killing his pursuers. Their figures are especially remembered for their devotion to monastic life, preaching, and the consolidation of Christian communities in the Kingdom of León. The figure of Saint Attilanus remained closely tied to Zamora, where he is patron saint, while Saint Froilan is venerated as patron saint of León.


Saint Charitina, martyr 

Saint Charitina was a Christian slave who, according to tradition, suffered martyrdom during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian in the early 4th century. Before dying, she is said to have comforted her master and exhorted him to remain steadfast in the faith.


Saint Faustina Kowalska, religious 

Helena Kowalska was born in 1905 in a village in Poland. From an early age she showed a great love for prayer and a special sensitivity to human poverty. At the age of twenty, she entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw. She professed under the name Maria Faustina and served in several communities of the order. She never held any prominent office, but lived an intense spiritual life and became the main promoter of the devotion to Divine Mercy.

In 1931, according to her account, she had a vision of Jesus who asked her to have an image painted of him with two rays of light issuing from his heart, one red and one pale, bearing the inscription: "Jesus, I trust in You." This experience became the center of the devotion to Divine Mercy, which she helped spread. She died on October 5, 1938, and was canonized in the year 2000.