SAINT FEAST DAY 20 DECEMBER: BL. ANTON DURCOVICI, BISHOP AND MARTYR

BLESSED ANTON DURCOVICI, BISHOP AND MARTYR

Blessed Anton Durcovici was born on May 17, 1888 in Bad Deutsch Altenburg, Austria. In 1895 Blessed Anton’s family moved to the Romanian Kingdom and he completed his studies in Lasi and in Bucharest.

In 1906 Blessed Anton joined the Catholic Seminary, finishing his priestly studies in Rome. Being ordained a priest in 1910, Blessed Anton returned to Romania where he first worked as a schoolteacher in the Bucharest Seminary and then as the parish administrator in Tulcea.

HE WAS CONSECRATED BISHOP OF LASI

After Romania entered World War I, Blessed Anton was sent to an internment camp, being an Austrian citizen, until freed under the orders of King Ferdinand I. Blessed Anton then became rector of the Bucharest Seminary and held this office until 1948, when he was consecrated as the Bishop of Lasi.

PLACED UNDER SURVEILLANCE

As a Catholic Bishop he became an enemy of the post-World War II Communist Party in Romania, who initially unsuccessfully tried to get him to decrease the authority of the Pope over Romanian Catholics. Blessed Anton was placed under surveillance and on 26 June 1949 was arrested by the secret police.

PRIESTS WERE SUBJECTED TO TERRIBLE TORTURES BECAUSE OF THEIR FAITH

He was held in Jilava and then transferred to Sighet Prison with other priests. Blessed Anton was subjected to terrible tortures because of his Catholic Faith and had to endure severe deprivations, being denied food and water. In the freezing winter weather Blessed Anton was stripped naked and forced to stand in the cold. As a result of this treatment Blessed Anton died.

THE ATTEMPT TO ERASE ALL EVIDENCE OF THE BISHOP'S FATE

He was buried in an unmarked grave and the communist authorities subsequently attempted to erase all evidence of his stay in prison and treatment. Documents were destroyed with any reference to Blessed Anton. A process for his beatification started in 1997. The decree accepting Blessed Anton’s martyrdom was signed by Pope Francis paving the way for this recent Beatification Mass.

STANDING UP FOR TRUTH

The present Bishop of Lasi said of Blessed Anton that he, ‘is a figure of resistance, who gave the example to everyone by standing up for truth, dignity and freedom as well as for devotion to the Christian faith.’ Let each of us also be, like Blessed Anton, an example for those around us of what it means to be a follower of Christ, even in the most difficult situations.

From: Spiritual Thought from Fr Chris

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who know how courageously your holy martyr
Anton confessed the faith, may experience his goodness as he intercedes for us with you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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BL. LUKE KIRBY, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 30 MAY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY Saints celebrated on the 30th of May WELCOME! BLESSED LUKE KIRBY, PRIEST AND MARTYR 16th century houses, painted by Auguste Mayer He was born in the bishopric of Durham, according to Raissius ; others say at Richmond, in Yorkshire. He was master of arts in one of our universities; but going abroad to Douay, in Flanders, was received into the English college there, 1576, and made priest in 1577; and the year following sent upon the mission. Where he had not been long before he again went abroad, and travelled to Rome, partly for devotion, and partly for further improvement in learning. Here he remained in the English college till 1580, when he returned into England, and was not long after apprehended: for I find by a printed diary of things transacted in the Tower of London from 1580 till 1585, that on the 5th of December, 1580, Luke Kirby, Thomas Cottam , and other priests, were brought to the Tower from other prisons; and that these two, on the 10th...

BL. RICHARD NEWPORT, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 30 MAY

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MAY Saints celebrated on the 30th of May WELCOME! BLESSED RICHARD NEWPORT, PRIEST AND MARTYR Richard Newport, alias Smith , was born in Northamptonshire and performed his studies abroad, partly in the college of Rheims (if he be the Richard Smith whom I find in the Douay diary sent to Rome in 1586) and partly in that of Rome, where he was made priest. From thence he was sent upon the English mission, and behaved himself in such a manner as justly to acquire the character of a laborious missionary; being withal remarkably successful in bringing home many strayed sheep to the fold of Christ, to which his apostolical way of living did not a little contribute. He was several times apprehended and cast into prison, and twice banished. His name occurs amongst those who were transported in 1606; at which time, we are told, he took that opportunity of making a pilgrimage to Rome, there to pour forth his prayers at the tombs of the apostles, in behalf of thi...

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