THE SAINTS IN A YEAR

Fr Billy Swan

Dear friends. I write these words in Rome on this day of Advent. It is a privilege to be here in this city that has so much history, culture and global significance, attracting millions of pilgrims and tourists from all over the world each year. Rome is also the heart of the universal Church because of the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul and the many other saints associated with this city who either lived here, died here or who are buried in this area.

With the Eternal City now my home and base, the idea of writing a new series for 2026 entitled ‘The Saints in a Year’ was proposed by the editor of the Irish Catholic newspaper Garry O'Sullivan.  In recent times, other initiatives have taken place that have been successful in taking listeners and readers through a whole year of faith development. These include Fr Mike Schmitz’s ‘The Bible in a Year’ and ‘The Desert Fathers in a Year’ with Bishop Erik Varden. With the same evangelical spirit, ‘The Saints in a Year’ accompanies the reader over twelve months to explore the lives of the saints and reflect on how their witness to Christ helps us to be more joyful and authentic Christians in our day. This will be a challenge but hopefully one that will be rewarding and lead us to growing in faith together as we journey on the one path as pilgrims of hope.

Each article on the saints will begin with the historical circumstances of their lives but will not be confined to information about them. What I hope to do is to acknowledge the precise circumstances and historical setting of their story but to allow their witness to speak to us today in a way that transcends time and space. For I am convinced that prayerfully contemplating the lives of the saints and conscious of being surrounded by them as a ‘cloud of witnesses’ (Heb. 12:1), inspires us to live our Christian faith in a way that others are drawn to believe too. I also believe the most convincing argument for the truth of the faith against every denial is the witness of the saints and the beauty that their lives have generated. Each article, therefore, will be attentive to the beauty that the life of a given saint has produced and how that same beauty can transform our lives and the culture in which we live.

This series is written in a strong spirit of communion and ecclesial unity – a theme at the heart of Pope Leo XIV’s papacy as indicated by in his episcopal motto ‘In Illo uno unum…In the One, we are one’ – a phrase, taken from Saint Augustine of Hippo's writings on Psalm 127, and one that reflects a call for greater unity and communion within the Church and among all humankind. This unity and communion is a gift and mystery that exists not just on the horizontal level of unity among living Christians but is also a power that unites us to the saints who lived over the centuries and with whom we are united in friendship, faith and worship of the one God.

For in the words of the Catechism: ‘If we continue to love one another and join in praising the Most Holy Trinity - all of us who are daughters and sons of God and form one family in Christ - we will be faithful to the deepest vocation of the Church’ (CCC, 959).

And so, as I close this introduction from Rome, I invite you to join me on this journey for 2026 as we explore the lives of the saints and allow the beauty of their charity, wisdom and courage to impact on our hearts and imagination. In this city whose soil was moistened by the blood of the martyrs and contains the relics and remains of countless saints, I can think of no better place to begin this series of prayerful meditations on the witness of those who can help us live our faith today.

The first in the series will appear on Friday 2nd January.