Birds
St. Milburga
St. Milburga was a nun and later the abbess of the Benedictine monastery at Wenlock, which flourished under her care. She was known for her humility and gift of healing. The elder sister of two other Saints, the three sisters were linked to the three theological virtues of Faith (Milburga), Hope (Midgithe) and Charity (Mildred).
St. Milburga is credited with having a mysterious power over birds and was invoked for the protection of crops against the ravages of birds, which listened to her. Her relics were rediscovered in 1101 and re-enshrined in the nearby priory church.
Illustration, St. Milburga, engraving by Martin Baes, 1632, p. 173 from The lives of the Most Renowned Saincts of the three kingdoms England Scotland, and Ireland... Doway, 1632. This image comes from a scan of the book in the Bavarian State Library. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Flowers_of_the_Lives_of_the_Most_Ren/H15lAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
Thank you Google Books for making this and other source books available online!
St. Milburga
Died February 23, 715/727, Shropshire, England
February 23
Cats
St. Gertrude of Nivelles
St. Gertrude was a 7th century nun and later abbess of the Benedictine monastery at Nivelles, near Brussels, Belgium. Born into a noble family, St. Gertrude at the age of 10 rejected an arranged marriage saying that Christ alone would be her bridegroom. With the death of her father around 640, she was free to enter the monastic life and in 652 became Abbess of the monastery.
She was known for her charity, fasting, and prayer and was also a scholar. St. Gertrude studied divine law and memorized the Bible, and also acquired holy books and relics of Saints from Rome for the monastery.
Early images of St. Gertrude often showed her with mice, which symbolized souls trapped in Purgatory, for whom she prayed. Because a cat (known for warding off mice) sometimes also appeared in depictions of her, she recently became associated with cats and was popularly declared the Patron Saint of cats.
Illustration at top of post found at: https://www.meowingtons.com/blogs/lolcats/st-patricks-day-is-also-a-day-to-celebrate-the-og-cat-lady-saint-gertrude
St. Gertrude of Nivelles
Born 628, Landen, Belgium,
Died 659, Nivelles, Belgium
Dogs
St. Roch
Saint Roch lived in the 14th century and was born in Montpellier, France. He felt great empathy for the poor and sick and cared for plague victims in Italy. He eventually contracted the disease and went to live in a forest. Legend has it that a dog befriended him and brought him food from a nearby home and licked Roch’s wounds healing them.
Dogs have been beloved for centuries.
Plato wrote in The Republic that the dog has the soul of a philosopher.
The quote at the top of the sculpture featured in this post derives from the 13th century German theologian and mystic Meister Eckhart, Sermon 67:
...every creature is full of God, and is a book.
Think about it, every creature is not just a word, but a book--what a powerful statement.
And Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica, I, 47, 1 wrote:
Hence we must say that the distinction and multitude of things come from the intention of the first agent, who is God. For He brought things into being in order that His goodness might be communicated to creatures, and be represented by them; and because His goodness could not be adequately represented by one creature alone, He produced many and diverse creatures, that what was wanting to one in the representation of the divine goodness might be supplied by another. For goodness, which in God is simple and uniform, in creatures is manifold and divided and hence the whole universe together participates the divine goodness more perfectly, and represents it better than any single creature whatever.
So if your pup isn’t feeling well, ask for the help of Saint Roch!
Illustration: Hank Schlau, sculpture, https://www.etsy.com/listing/76947402/st-roch-patron-of-dogs-and-dog-lovers?ga_search_query=Roch&ref=shop_items_search_5&crt=1
St. Roch
Born 1295, Montpellier, France
Died 1327, August 16, Volghera Italy
August 16