Overview
- The Catholic calendar commemorates the Swiss hermit on March 21, marked in reference to his death in 1487.
- Born in 1417, he is remembered for a life of severe prayer and contemplation at Mount Ranft.
- Pope Pius XII canonized him in 1947, and he is venerated as the patron saint of Switzerland.
- Traditional accounts say he left his wife and ten children to embrace solitude and once intervened to help avert a civil conflict.
- The day’s santoral also notes Agustín Zhao Rong, Benita Cambiagio Frassinello, Endeo, Mateo Flathers, Tomás Pilchard, Juan de Valence, and Jacobo the Confessor.