ST AGATHO, MARTYR - 7 DECEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 7th of December 

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.

ST AGATHO, MARTYR

Saint Agatho was third century soldier who was posted at Alexandria as guard over the bodies of certain Christian Martyrs, which he prevented a mob of Pagans from outraging. 

HE WAS SET UPON 

For this humane act, he was set upon and dragged before the magistrates as a suspected Christian. 

HE FEARLESSLY CONFESSED CHRIST

Whether he had been previously such or not is uncertain; but in the Court of Justice he fearlessly confessed Christ, and on his own confession was sentenced to death and beheaded. He was one of the victims of the persecution under the Emperor Decius (A.D. 250).

(From The Book of Saints, 1921, by the Monks of Ramsgate)