What Santos are held today, Wednesday, April 16, 2025? Every day of the year, the Catholic church Remember the life and work of people who marked the spiritual history of the world with their faith and delivery and also sometimes, with their own suffering. Some lived between extreme poverty and social rejection; Others, in the midst of political power, but always with a radical delivery to their faith. On this day, the festival of four figures that have been elevated to the altars for their exemplary life is celebrated: San Benito José Labre, San Magnus de las Orcadas, San Toribio de Astorga and Santa Bernardita Soubirous.
Although their lives developed in very different times and very varied geographical contexts, they all share something in common: a deep religious vocation and an existence marked by personal sacrifice, humility and commitment to others. Today is a special day for those who follow the life of saints as inspiration and spiritual guidance. Let’s know more about these men and women whose existence, still centuries later, continues to stand out among believers. Next, we review the life and legacy of each of the saints held this Wednesday, April 16.
San Toribio de Astorga
The legacy of San Toribio de Astorga, also known as Liébana toribio, It is deeply rooted in the Christian history of Spain. Born at the beginning of the 5th century, His life was a constant trip between the East and West. After selling all his possessions, he moved to Jerusalem, where he was appointed Major Sacristan of the Holy Sepulcher. From there he brought one of the most important relics of Christianity: the lignum crucis, a fragment of the cross of Christ.
Back in the Peninsula, he went through Rome and was appointed Bishop of Astorga in 444. His strong fight against the heresy of Priscilianism won enemies both among the clergy and among the people, and had to temporarily retire. He also suffered persecutions from the Visigoths, taking refuge in the moncre area. He died in 476, and his remains were transferred centuries later to the monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana, in Cantabria, where they rest next to the Lignum Crucis.
His feast, on April 16, is especially important when he agrees on Sunday, because he begins the Lebaniego Jubilee Year, One of the most significant religious events in Spain. Toribio is remembered as a man of firm faith and solid convictions, who fought tirelessly for church orthodoxy in convulsive times.
San Benito José Labre
The story of San Benito José Labre It is one of those that baffle at the beginning. He was born in 1748 in Amettes, France, And from a young age he felt the call to a spiritual life. Being the eldest of fifteen brothers, he was sent to live with his uncle, a priest, to prepare the seminar. However, the fear of losing his soul while trying to save that of others made him renounce the priesthood.
After multiple rejections in different religious orders (the trapa, the cartujos, the abbey of sept-fons) and a very fragile health, he opted for a totally different life: that of pilgrim and beggar. He toured the roads of Europe visiting sanctuaries and giving away how little he received those who had less than him. It became a symbol of popular holiness, with gestures as radical as making a vote not to bathe in mortification signal. He lived for years among ruins, sleeping even in the Colosseum of Rome, where he would finally die in 1783, with just 35 years.
His life was an extreme testimony of faith, humility and material detachment. It was beatified in 1860 and canonized in 1881 by Pope Leo XIII. Today he is a patron of beggars, vagrants, homeless and pilgrims, and his tomb, in the church of Santa Maria Dei Monti, in Rome, remains a place of prayer for thousands of people.
San Magnus de las Orcadas
Although less known outside the Nordic field, San Magnus Erlendsson It was a key figure in the history of the Orcadas Islands, where he ruled as Jarl at the beginning of the 12th century. Born around 1080, Magnus was an unusual leader For his time: deeply Christian, a peace lover and contrary to violence, even when he was part of Vikingas expeditions. On one occasion, he refused to fight in a naval battle, remaining on the deck of his ship singing psalm while the arrows crossed the air.
His political life was not simple. He shared power with his cousin Haakon, with whom he ended up faced. In 1115, both gathered on the island of Egilsay to find a solution, but Magnus was betrayed: Haakon arrived with many more men and took him a prisoner. Although Magnus offered different alternatives to avoid being killed (exile, pilgrimage or mutilation), the assembly decided that he should die. He was killed by an ax on April 16, on the middle of Good Friday.
Soon he was venerated as a martyr and holy, and his relics moved to the San Magnus cathedral in Kirkwallwhich still rises as one of the most emblematic temples of Scotland. His official canonization arrived in 1898, and is today the only Norwegian saint with a formal canonization process. Even modern popular culture has collected its figure, as demonstrated by the song “Higher Grounds” that represented Denmark in Eurovision 2018, inspired by its history.
Santa Bernardita Soubirous
The life of Santa Bernardita Soubirous is one of the most moving in contemporary saints. Born in Lourdes in 1844, within a very poor family, he had delicate health since childhood. At age 14, while looking for firewood in Massabielle’s cave, he lived the first of a series of 18 appearances of the Virgin Mary. That encounter changed his life – (and the history of the place) forever.
The young woman, who I barely knew how to read or write, showed an amazing inner force during the interrogations and pressures to which it was subjected. In spite of everything, he never gave up. In one of the appearances, the Virgin appeared with the words: “I am the Immaculate Conception”an expression that Bernardita did not fully understand, but that corroborated a dogma freshly proclaimed by the Church. The spring that sprouted by indication of the Virgin and the miracles that began to occur with their waters consolidated Lourdes as one of the great Marian sanctuaries of the world.
Bernardita entered the convent of Nevers, where he lived a life of humility, disease and prayer. He died on April 16, 1879 at 35. It was canonized in 1933 and its body, found incorrupt, rests on a glass urn visited by thousands of people every year. His example of simplicity, faith and obedience to the message received continues to inspire millions of believers worldwide.
