ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN OCTOBER
Saints celebrated on the 7th of October
Prayer to the Angels and the Saints
Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.
In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.
Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.
Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.
BL. LEO TAKETOMI KAN'EMON, MARTYR
In 1613, the pagan governor of Nagasaki, Japan, goaded a Japanese prince to undertake a new wave of persecution against Japanese Catholics. The prince thereupon summoned eight Catholic officers under his command to deny their faith or face death.
HE STOOD BY HIS CHRISTIAN FAITH
Five complied, but three refused, one of them was Blessed Leo Taketomi Kan’emon. He and the other two officers were condemned to die by fire in Arima together with their families.
Leo’s son (Blessed) Paul was among those sentenced to death, but Leo’s wife Monica and their daughter were pardoned. Grieved to be separated from her husband and her son, and to be denied the crown of martyrdom, Monica attempted to join them in prison but was forcibly turned away.
"WE ARE DYING FOR THE GLORY OF GOD"
On October 7, 1613, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Leo and the other martyrs proceeded to the execution site with lit candles and rosary beads in their hands and crosses tied to their arms. Those to be executed were so famous that over fifteen thousand onlookers were present. Before dying, Leo told the crowd, “We are dying for the Glory of God and in testimony to the faith; all of you, my brothers, remain faithful.”
“Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints.”
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