NOVEMBER 13 Mon St Frances Xavier Cabrini, Wis 1:1-7/Lk 17:1-6 

14 Tue Weekday Wis 2:23—3:9/Lk 17:7-10 

15 Wed Weekday [St Albert the Great ] Wis 6:1-11/Lk 17:11-19 

16 Thu Weekday [St Margaret of Scotland; St Gertrude,]Wis 7:22b—8:1/Lk 17:20-25

17 Fri St Elizabeth of Hungary Wis 13:1-9/Lk 17:26-37 

18 Sat Weekday[Dedication:Saints Peter and Paul; St Rose Philippine Duchesne]

Wis 18:14-16; 19:6-9/Lk 18:1-8 

  19 33rd SUNDAY Prv 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31/1 Thes 5:1-6/Mt 25:14-30

Five women saints are remembered this week. Mother Cabrini, Margaret of Scotland, Gertrude, Elizabeth of Hungary and Rose Philippine Duchesne. Two of them, Mother Cabrini and Elizabeth of Hungary, are celebrated as memorials, the rest are optional memorials.

The distinction between memorial and optional memorial comes from the reform of our calendar after the 2nd Vatican Council which called for prioritizing the mysteries of Christ over the saints and for removing from the calendar any saints that cannot be historically verified.  

It also recognized that some saints are more widely honored than others. Some are important for a region, local area or religious community, but may not have universal importance. Mother Cabrini is an important saint for the church in North and South America, for example, but not in Europe. 

Elizabeth of Hungary is a memorial celebration because of her connection with an important nation in the western church. Margaret of Scotland is an optional memorial in our calendar, but I would bet she is a memorial celebration in the calendar of the church in Scotland and the British Isles.

I would also bet Gertrude, called Gertrude the Great, is a memorial in the calendars of the Germanic churches. Besides her influence in that world she is also a powerful witness as a theologian and mystic to the role of women in the Middle Ages. 

Rose Philippine Duchesne was a missionary from France to the infant church in the USA. Women’s communities like hers were crucial for founding the church in our land.