J
jmcrae
Guest
Because there was no such person - the word “Philomena” means “(female) Friend of God,” and at one time it was customary to write the word “Philomena” on the tombs of Christian women when they died. Later generations mistook the word for a name, and started praying to “St. Philomena” - this was during a period of time when strict investigations into Saints were not really the norm - it was just assumed that if the people were praying to her, then she must be a Saint, so the name ended up on the calendar.It’s just his opinion, folks. Whether or not the Bishop approves or disapproves (or even anyone on this board, for that matter), it doesn’t really matter. The Church has decided, and that’s that.
Having said that, why did Pope Paul VI remove St. Philomena from the feast calendar? Didn’t this undermine her status as a saint? Anyone?
As of right now, we have no way of knowing which of the many possible "Philomena"s the people were praying to, so this name has been taken off of the Calendar.
As for teaching, Christian women have been teaching men about the Good News ever since Mary Magdalene brought the good news of the Resurrection to the Apostles on Easter Sunday morning - and not only did Jesus not have a problem with that, He was the one who commanded her to do that.