ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JANUARY
Saints celebrated on the 8th of January
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. EDWARD WATERSON, PRIEST AND MARTYR
[Blessed Edward Waterson was] born at London; martyred at Newcastle-on-Tyne, January 7, 1594 (1593 old style).]
HE REJECTED THE OFFER WITH HORROR
A romantic episode marks this martyr’s early career, for as a young man he travelled to Turkey with some English merchants, and attracted the attention of a wealthy Turk, who offered him his daughter in marriage if he would embrace Moslemism. Rejecting the offer with horror, Edward Waterson returned westward through Italy and, coming to Rome, was there reconciled to the Catholic Church by Richard Smith, afterwards Bishop of Chalcedon.
THE PILGRIM-BOOK RECORDS HIS STAY THERE
The Pilgrim-book of the English College records his stay there, November 29 - December 11, 1588.
HE WENT TO REIMS TO STUDY FOR THE PRIESTHOOD
He then went to Reims to study for the priesthood, arriving there January 24, 1589. He received the tonsure and minor orders on August 18, 1590, subdiaconate on September 21, 1591, diaconate on February 24, 1592, and the priesthood March 11 following.
HE RETURNED TO ENGLAND
On June 24 he returned to England, with such zeal for the missions that he declared to his companions that if he might have the Kingdom of France to stay there till the next midsummer he would rather choose to go to England.
Though he was not learned, his humility, sprit of penance, and other virtues caused him to be regarded as a pattern.
Captured at midsummer, 1593, he was cruelly treated in prison till his execution.
MIRACULOUS HAPPENINGS AT THE EXECUTION
Incidents occurred at the martyrdom of a miraculous nature. The horses were unable to drag the hurdle to the scaffold and the ladder was mysteriously agitated by invisible means, till the martyr signed it with the cross.
(From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913)
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