Skip to main content

ST ATHALIA, ABBESS - 20 DECEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER

Saints celebrated on the 20th of December

WELCOME!

SAINT ATHALIA, ABBESS

St Athalia (Attala, Atala, Athala, Aurelia),  first abbess of the monastery of St Stephan of Strasbourg, was the daughter of the Alsatian Duke Adalbert, brother of Abbess Odilia (December 13), and his first wife Gerlinde. 

SHE WAS EDUCATED IN THE HOHENBURG MONASTERY

Along with her two sisters Eugenia and Gundelind she was educated by her aunt, St Odilia, in the Hohenburg monastery in Alsace. 

When her father built St Stephen's Abbey in Strasbourg for 30 nuns in 717, he handed over the management of this foundation to his daughter Attala. 

A MODEL FOR THE SISTERS IN ST STEPHEN

For twenty years St Attala was a model for the sisters in St Stephen and did a lot of good for the poor. 

She died on December 3, 741 at the age of 54. Her mortal shell was displayed for veneration of the faithful for 5 weeks before being buried. At the end of the 8th century her public veneration was introduced and her name is found in the ancient martyrology of Strasbourg.

HER RELICS

Emperor Lothar calls her in 845 in a document "Most Holy Virgin". It is said that the abbot Merentrude von Hohenburg, a special friend of the saint,  asked a certain man to procure some relics for the monastery; he then secretly sneaked into the church and cut off the right hand of the saint. It was kept in St Stephen's Church in Strasbourg before the outbreak of the French Revolution, as was a black woolen cloak which the saint is said to have worn and which every abbess had to wear. [The Monks of Ramsgate give her feast day as December 20.] In the diocese of Strasbourg her feast is celebrated on November 3, on which day her hand is publicly displayed for veneration in the parish church of St Magdalena.

Source: Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Athalia may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. 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.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WELCOME

  Please pick your saints: January - Saints by date  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30    31   February - Saints by date  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17 18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29 ...
Post a Comment
Read more

JACQUES HAMEL, PRIEST AND MARTYR - 26 JULY

  ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN JULY Saints celebrated on the 26th of July WELCOME! SERVANT OF GOD JACQUES HAMEL, PRIEST AND MARTYR "Jacques Hamel (30 November 1930 - 26 July 2016) was a French Catholic priest who served in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray. On July 26, 2016, Hamel was murdered during the 2016 Normandy church attack by two Muslim men pledging allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant while he celebrated Mass in his church." (From Wikipedia) Father Hamel, 85, still officiated regularly as auxiliary at the church in St Étienne-du-Rouvray, near Rouen, Normandy, France, and in neighbouring Elbeuf, local media reported, stepping in when the parish’s regular priest, Father Auguste Moanda-Phuati, was busy. Father Hamel  was killed by two men armed with knives during Weekday Mass. They who took five people, Fr Hamel, two nuns and two other worshippers, hostage in the church. The two men were later shot by police. Three hostages were freed unharmed but one was in a cri...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more