ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN NOVEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 22nd of November
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. SALVATORE LILLI, PRIEST AND MARTYR, AND HIS COMPANIONS, MARTYRS
Blessed Salvatore Lilli was born on June 19, 1853 in Cappadocia in the diocese and province of L'Aquila in Italy, a village in the Apennines west of Avezzano. His parents were Vincenzo Salvatore and Annunziata Lilli, and he was their sixth and last child.
As a 17-year-old, he joined the Ordo Fratrum Minorum (OFM) on July 24, 1870, and on August 6, 1871, he made his first vows in the monastery of Nazzaro near Rome.
HE MADE HIS VOWS
When the religious orders were dissolved by the Italian government in 1873, Salvatore went to Palestine to stay there as a missionary.
He first lived in the Franciscan monastery in Bethlehem, where he completed his philosophical studies and made his solemn vows on August 6, 1874. He then lived in Jerusalem, where he studied theology and was ordained a priest on April 6, 1878. He spent two more years in Jerusalem and served in the Church of the Holy Saviour and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
HE THEN LIVED IN JERUSALEM
In 1880, the Order sent him to Marasc in Asia Minor (Armenia), then part of the Ottoman Empire, today Turkey. There he was to serve a mission among Armenians in the diaspora in an Islamic environment.
For the next 15 years, Marasc was the scene of his tireless and effective apostolate. He seems to have been a convincing preacher, and the convent chapel soon became full as the people began to practice their faith again.
TWO NEW VILLAGES
But his influence extended beyond the boundaries of the monastery chapel. At the practical level, he established two new villages and several working arrangements. He used money donated to the church to buy land and the tools needed to work on it.
He helped people of all religions, and was particularly active during the cholera epidemic that broke out in Marasc in November 1891. He was able to care for the sick, in some places on his own, for almost six weeks without contracting the disease himself.
HE CARED FOR THE SICK DURING THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC
He also built a new chapel that was solemnly consecrated on October 4, 1893.
In 1894, Blessed Salvatore was sent as a parish priest and superior to the Franciscan house in Mujuk-Deresi. He had not yet been there a year when he found himself involved in the violent political unrest that had spread in the country since 1890.
THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
When the extermination of the Armenian people began and Armenian Catholics were massacred in large numbers, Salvator Lilli was warned and asked of well-meaning Christians about getting to safety outside Turkey. But he said: "I can not leave my sheep alone. If necessary, I would rather die with them."
"I CANNOT LEAVE MY SHEEP ALONE"
A few days later, on November 22, 1895, the inevitable happened, and he was captured along with seven of his Armenian parishioners, simple peasants, and good Christians.
GOOD CHRISTIANS
Three days later they were taken to Marasc. According to an eyewitness, they were given several opportunities to betray the Church and accept Islam, but they all steadfastly refused to renounce their faith and praise Muhammad.
THEY WERE BRUTALLY MURDERED
After marching for two hours, they were given one last chance to choose between apostasy or death. When they still refused, they were brutally murdered with bayonets. The bodies were then burned by the soldiers.
The eight martyrs were beatified on October 3, 1982 by Pope John Paul II in St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Their memorial day is the day of death November 22.
SALVATORE LILLI'S SEVEN ARMENIAN COMPANIONS:
Blessed Khodianin Oghlou Kadir
Blessed Kouradji Oghlou Tzeroum
Blessed Dimbalac Oghlou Wartavar
Blessed Jeremiah Oghlou Boghos
Blessed David Oghlou David
Blessed Toros Oghlou David (brother of David)
Blessed Salvatore and blessed Companions, please pray for us.
(Information from the Vatican Website -
https://www.vatican.va/siti_va/index_va_en.htm)
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