SAINT FEAST DAY 25 APRIL: ST MARK THE EVANGELIST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN APRIL

Saints celebrated on the 25th of April

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.

SAINT MARK THE EVANGELIST

➡️ More information about Saint Mark the Evangelist

Saint Mark, a cousin of Barnabas, accompanied Saint Paul on his first missionary journey and later went with him to Rome. He was a disciple of Saint Peter whose teaching was the basis for Mark’s Gospel. Mark is said to be the founder of the church of Alexandria.

PRAYER:

O God, 

who raised up Saint Mark, your Evangelist,

and endowed him with the grace to preach the Gospel,

grant, we pray,

that we may so profit from his teaching

as to follow faithfully in the footsteps of Christ.

Who lives and reigns with you

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

***

SAINT MARK'S ENTRY IN THE ROMAN MARTYROLOGY

"At Alexandria, the birthday of blessed Mark, evangelist, disciple and interpreter of the apostle Saint Peter. He wrote his gospel at the request of the faithful of Rome, and taking it with him, proceeded to Egypt and founded a church at Alexandria, where he was the first to announce Christ. Afterwards, being arrested for the faith, he was bound, dragged over stones and endured great afflictions. Finally he was confined to prison, where, being comforted by the visit of an angel, and even by an apparition of our Lord himself, he was called to the heavenly kingdom in the eighth year of the reign of Nero."