25 April St Mark ( died about 68 AD ) Details of his life are traditional , not historical . His Gospel is generally accepted as the oldest . He may have been born in Cyrene , Libya , and not in Palestine . He is not one of the 12 disciples , but one of the 72 sent out by Jesus . He is often referred to as ‘ St Peter ’ s Interpreter ’, his Gospel records Peter ’ s Sermons , it stresses the theology of the Cross which distinguishes Jesus from other wandering preachers . He may have been a witness to the Passion , possibly the young man fleeing naked after the arrest of Jesus ( Mark 14:51 ) and could have hosted the disciples in his house after Jesus ’ death , where Jesus appeared , and where the Holy Spirit descended . There are references to a John Mark in Acts as a cousin of Barnabas , and in the letter to the Colossians , generally seen as St Mark . He is the founder of the Church of Africa and became bishop of Alexandria , one of the 3 main Episcopal sees of Christianity , which is today part of the Coptic Orthodox Church . He was martyred and buried there . His principal cult developed in Venice , after Venetian merchants in 828 stole his relics and took them to Venice . In 2011 in a TV program ‘ Mystery Files ’ the historian Andrew Chugg suggested that the merchants had in fact stolen the bones of Alexander the Great and thought they were St Mark ’ s . Some relics were also transferred to The Monastery at Reichenau , Lake Constance in 890 .
30 April St Catherine of Siena ( 1347-1380 ) She was a ‘ Tertiary ’ of the Dominican Order and a Scholastic Philosopher . Proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1970 , she is one of the Patron Saints of Italy . The house of her birth in Siena still exists . She joined the Dominican Order , but as a ‘ Tertiary ’ she lived at home . She dedicated her life to helping the ill and poor . In 1366 she experienced a vision “ The Mystical Marriage with Jesus ” and received the Stigmata . Called to Florence by her Order , she travelled widely in Italy and finally moved to Rome to the Papal Court , where she died . Some 300 of her letters survived , one of the great works of early Tuscan literature , mostly dictated , but she could read and write . Catherine died at the age of 33 . Her extreme fasting had caused concern , she seemed to have suffered from anorexia . She was buried in the Cemetery of St Maria sopra Minerva , her bones later transferred to that Basilica , but her head was made into a Reliquary Bust and taken to Siena . She is often depicted holding a rose . Canonised 1461 , she was made one of Europe ’ s Patron Saints by Pope John Paul II .
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