Esther, Queen; Menaen, Prophet; Vincent of Lerins, Saint; Johanna, Saint

Today, we commemorate Esther, Menaen, Vincent, and Johanna. Esther is featured in the Old Testament book of Esther and is a type of Christ. Esther marries a pagan king and puts her life in jeopardy to save the Jewish people from being destroyed. She intercedes for the Jewish people before the king knowing that she could be killed for doing so. The king spares her and the Jewish people, protecting the people that Christ would be born out of.

According to Wikipedia:

Saint Manahen (also Manaen) was a teacher of the Church of Antioch and the foster brother (Gk. syntrophos, Vulg. collactaneus) of Herod Antipas. Little is known of Manahen's life. He is said to be one those who, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, laid hands upon Saul and Barnabas and sent the two Apostles on the first of St. Paul's missionary journeys (Acts 13:3). Since St. Luke was an Antiochene, it is not unlikely that Manahen was one of "the prophets and doctors" of the Church of Antioch was one of the "eyewitnesses and ministers of the word" (Luke 1:2), who delivered unto Luke the details which that sacred writer has in regard to Antipas and other members of the Herodian family (Luke 3:1, 19, 20; 8:3; 9:7-9; 13:31, 32; 23:8-12; Acts 12). He may have become a disciple of Jesus with "Joanna, the wife of Chusa, Herod's steward" (Luke 8:3). In A.D. 39, Antipas left for Rome to gain the favor of Caligula, but instead received an order of perpetual exile. (Jos., "Ant.", XVIII, vii, 2). During this time, the Church of Antioch was founded by Jewish Christians, who "had been dispersed by the persecution that arose on the occasion of Stephen" and had taught the Gospel also to the Greeks of Antioch, (Acts 11:19-24). It is quite likely that St. Manahen was one of these founders of the Antiochene Church.

Little is known about Vincent of Lerins who died before 450 but his writings have been very influential. Although his Comonitory is often used by Roman Catholics to try to prove that he supported the modern Roman Catholic understanding of Scripture and tradition, in reality his writings reflect the view of the magisterial reformers in which Scripture is the sole source of authority but tradition provides the proper interpretive grid for understanding the Scriptures.

Johanna was the wife of Chuza, steward of King Herod Antipas. She was one of the women who helped provide for Jesus and the Apostles. She was one of the three women who discovered the empty tomb of Jesus on Easter morning.