Blessed Denis of the Nativity and Blessed Redemptorus of the Cross



Today we celebrate two Discalced Carmelites, Blessed Denis of the Nativity and Blessed Redemptorus of the Cross.

Blessed Denis was born in 1600 in Honfleur, France. He became a sailor at the age of twelve. Later on, he became the pilot in chief and cartographer of the courts of Portugal and France. In 1635, while he was in Goa, India, he took on the habit of a Discalced Carmelite Monk.



Blessed Redemptorus of the Cross was born in Portugal at the end of the 16th century. He became a soldier but later took on the habit of the Discalced Carmelites in 1615.

Together, Denis and Redemptorus set out on mission to the king of Achin in the Malay archipelago. While on their way, they and their party were ambushed and tortured to death by Muslims on November 29, 1638.

They were beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1900.
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