Dear Editor: I read with interest the article “Holy Helpers: Saints in the Time of Coronavirus” (March 21). I was confused that the listing of “Fourteen Holy Helpers” included St. Christopher.

Would you please refresh for me the status of St. Christopher in the Roman Catholic Church? I seem to remember that some years ago his sainthood and even his very existence were denied. His feast day in the article was listed as July 25. When I looked that up in my 2020 Mass book July 25th is listed as the feast of St. James. Please help.

Jeannette Newman 

Floral Park

Editor’s note: As it happens with some saints from the first centuries of Christianity, the historical evidence about St. Christopher has been debated. And he was taken out of the Roman calendar after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. But the church has not forbidden the devotion many faithful express for St. Christopher and his image is present in many churches around the world.