The Catholic Church celebrates on this day the feast and memory of illustrious figures who, from different areas of Christian life, knew how to embody the Gospel with radicality and fidelity to the designs of God.

Brief biography of the saints of the day

• Saint Rosalia (Palermo, c. 1130 – 1170):  Popularly known as the “Rose of Palermo,” this young woman of noble lineage chose to renounce the honors and comforts of the court to embrace a life of profound prayer and penance as a virgin hermit.  After spending time in the grottoes of Quisquina, she withdrew to a cave on Mount Pellegrino, where she surrendered her soul to the Creator. Her figure acquired enormous universal significance when, in the midst of a terrible plague epidemic in 1624, her relics were discovered and carried in procession through Palermo, and the miraculous cessation of the disease was attributed to her.

• Saint Boniface I (Rome, d. September 4, 422):  Pontiff of the Catholic Church who guided the Barque of Peter through a historical period of great tension and political and ecclesiastical turmoil.  Saint Boniface I distinguished himself by his profound humility, his staunch defense of ecclesiastical discipline, and his theological wisdom, enjoying the support and admiration of great Doctors of the Church such as Saint Augustine. His papacy managed to overcome a complex initial schism with firmness and gentleness, consolidating the pastoral authority of Rome.

• Saint Moses (The Prophet):  A giant in the history of salvation and a central figure of the Old Testament, remembered by liturgical tradition as the lawgiver and liberator to whom God entrusted the tablets of the Law on Mount Sinai. Saint Moses typifies the man of faith who speaks face to face with the Lord, patiently guiding the Hebrew people through the desert to the promised land despite trials, prefiguring in his earthly mission Jesus Christ himself as the great liberator from sin.

• Saint Marino (Dalmatia, c. 366):  Cornerstone of the Christian and institutional tradition of the region that bears his name. Of Dalmatian origin, this devout stonemason (or hermit) crossed the Adriatic to take refuge on the Italian peninsula, fleeing persecution. On Mount Titano, he founded a community of the faithful anchored in the values ​​of the Gospel and honest work. Tradition attributes to him the famous mandate to remain free from any earthly power, an indelible testament of faith united with human dignity.