ST BIRINUS, BISHOP - 3 DECEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER

 Saints celebrated on the 3rd 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 BIRINUS, BISHOP

St Birinus, Bishop of Dorchester in England, was a priest of Rome who turned to Pope Honorius I (625 - 638) for permission to bring the Gospel to Gentiles in England. 

HE WENT TO WESSEX

Consecrated a bishop by Bishop Asterius of Genoa, he ended up in the kingdom of Wessex or the West Saxon, and there, among a great number of pagans, converted King Cynegils, ruler from 611 to 642, who was the fifth successor to Cerdik, the founder of this kingdom. 

HE BROUGHT ABOUT INNUMERABLE CONVERSIONS

The saint took up his seat at Dercis, now Dorchester, on the Thames in the county of Oxford. He brought about innumerable conversions, built many churches and, after his death around A.D. 650, was buried in his episcopal city. 

Under Bishop Hedda his relics were translated to Winchester and were buried in the Church of St Peter and Paul. [He is also celebrated on August 21.]

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, 1858)