St Martin Magazine - January 2026

In this issue

Snowdrops are a reminder to us of the promise of spring following winter, and they can be seen in lovely display on the cover of our February magazine and in the Editorial. Ray Huges begins a new series about the Popes, titled ‘Saintly Shepherds’. Out of the 266 men who have served as Bishop of Rome, 82 have been canonized. Over the coming year, this series will look at some of these great men. Our series on ‘Married Saints’ has finished and is being replaced by ‘Animals and Saints’. There are many stories of saints who loved animals and helped them, and in their turn many saints have been helped by animals. In ‘Echoes’, Pat Hope look at how the concept of the Twelve Days of Christmas grew and developed. Joan of Arc, the peasant girl who became a military leader, is the subject of ‘It Happened This Month’. Betrayed and cruelly executed she is now celebrated as a Patron of France. ‘Friends of Saint Martin’ has some lovely images of the Pilgrimage to Peru, which was led by the Prior Provincial, Fr John Harris OP. In the February magazine we can look forward to an article by him on his experience of this lovely event. The great authority on the angels is St Thomas Aquinas, and he is the subject of our series on these Celestial Beings. Remember to start the New Year in a special way by considering a gift for yourself or others of our Saint Martin Calendar and or lovely diary.