ST CHROMATIUS, BISHOP - 2 DECEMBER

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER

 Saints celebrated on the 2nd 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 CHROMATIUS, BISHOP OF AQUILEIA

Saint Chromatius was bishop of Aquileia, died about 406 - 407. He was probably born at Aquileia, and in any case grew up there. He became a priest of that church and about 387 or 388, after the death of Valerianus, bishop of that important city. 

He was one of the most celebrated prelates of his time and was in active correspondence with his illustrious contemporaries, St Ambrose, St Jerome, and Rufinus. Himself a scholarly theologian, he urged these three friends to the composition of many learned works. 

ST JEROME DEDICATED SOME OF HIS WORKS TO HIM

St Ambrose was encouraged by him to write exegetical works; St Jerome dedicated to him different translations and commentaries, which he had written at his suggestion (translations of the Books of Paralipomenon, Tobias, the books of Solomon, commentaries on the Prophecy of Habacuc). 

In the bitter quarrel between St Jerome and Rufinus concerning Origenism, Chromatius, while rejecting the false doctrines of Origen, attempted to make peace between the disputants. 

He always maintained ecclesiastical communion with Rufinus and induced him not to answer the last attack of St Jerome, but to devote himself to new literary works, especially to the translation of the "Ecclesiastical History" of Eusebius. 

HE ROOTED OUT THE ARIAN HERESY IN HIS DIOCESE

Chromatius opposed the Arian heresy with much zeal and rooted it out in his diocese. 

He gave loyal support to St John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, when unjustly oppressed, and wrote in his favour to Honorius, the Western emperor, who sent this letter to his brother, Arcadius. This intercession, however, availed nothing. 

SEVENTEEN TREATISES ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

Chromatius was also active as an exegete. There are preserved seventeen treatises by him on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew (3:15-17; 5-6, 24), besides a fine homily on the Eight Beatitudes (counted as an eighteenth treatise). His feast is celebrated on December 2.

(From: Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913 - 📷 St Jerome, St Chromatius, Bishop of Aquileia, and St Heliodorus, Bishop of Altinum)