From USCCB, CNA and Catholic Online:
Daily Readings:
Saints/Martyrs/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated: the Fast of the Nativity
St. Olympias
Feastday: December 17
Olympias born into a wealthy noble Constantinople family. She was orphaned when a child and was given over to the care of Theodosia by her uncle, the prefect Procopius. She married Nebridius, also a prefect, was widowed soon after, refused several offers of marriage, and had her fortune put in trust until she was thirty by Emperor Theodosius when she also refused his choice for a husband. When he restored her estate in 391, she was consecrated deaconess and with several other ladies founded a community. She was so lavish in her almsgiving that her good friend St. John Chrysostom remonstrated with her and when he became Patriarch of Constantinople in 398, he took her under his direction. She established a hospital and an orphanage, gave shelter to the expelled monks of Nitria, and was a firm supporter of Chrysostom when he was expelled in 404 from Constantinople and refused to accept the usurper Arsacius as Patriarch. She was fined by the prefect, Optatus, for refusing to accept Arsacius, and Arsacius' successor, Atticus, disbanded her community and ended her charitable works. She spent the last years of her life beset by illness and persecution but comforted by Chrysostom from his place of exile. She died in exile in Nicomedia on July 25, less than a year after the death of Chrysostom. Her feast day is December 17th.
St. Begga
Feastday: December 17
Begga was the daughter of Pepin of Landen, mayor of the palace, and St. Itta. She married Ansegilius, son of St. Arnulf of Metz, and their son was Pepin of Herstal, founder of the Carolingian dynasty of rulers in France. On the death of her husband in the year 691, she built a church and convent at Andenne on the Meuse River and died there. Her feast day is December 17th.
St. John of Matha
Feastday: December 17
John was born at Faucon, Provence, on June 23, 1160. He was educated at Aix, but on his return to Faucon, lived as a hermit for a time. He then went to Paris where he received his doctorate in theology, was ordained there in 1197, and then joined St. Felix of Valois in his hermitage at Cerfroid. He confided to Felix his idea of founding a religious order to ransom Christian prisoners from the Moslems, and late in 1197, the two went to Rome and received the approval of Pope Innocent III for the Order of the Most Holy Trinity (the Trinitarians), with John as superior, in 1198; they also secured the approval of King Philip Augustus of France. The Order flourished, spread to France, Spain, Italy, and England, sent many of its members to North Africa, and redeemed many captives. John died at Rome on December 17, and his cult was approved in 1655 and again in 1694. His feast day is December 17.
St. Briarch
Feastday: December 17
627
Abbot and founder, a companion of St. Tudwal. Briarch was an Irishman who entered a monastery in Wales. He went with St. Tudwal to Brittany, France. There he built a monastery and served as abbot.
St. Wivina
Feastday: December 17
1170
Wivina (d.c. 1170) + Benedictine abbess. also called Vivina. A native of Oisy, Flanders, Belgium. She was adamant in refusing all offers of marriage until the age of twenty-three when she became a hermitess at GrandBigard, near Brussels. After gathering disciples, she accepted the offer of land from Count Godfrey of Brabant and built a convent over which she served as first abbess. Feast day: December 17.
St. Tydecho
Feastday: December 17
6th century
Welsh saint. He is honored by several churches in Wales. St. Cadfan was his brother. Other details of his life are no longer available
St. Eigil
Feastday: December 17
822
Benedictine abbot sometimes called Aegilius. Eigil became abbot of Fulda Monastery, in Germany, in 817. He restored the community and trained his successor, St. Rabanus Maurus.
St. Florian
Feastday: December 17
637
Martyr with Calanicus and fifty-eight Christians who died at the hands of the Muslim ruler of Eleutheropolis.
St. Maxentiolus
Feastday: December 17
5th century
Abbot and founder of Our Lady of Cunault Abbey, in France. Also called Mezenceul, he was a disciple of St. Martin of Tours
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