ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN DECEMBER
Saints celebrated on the 31st 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 COLUMBA OF SENS, VIRGIN AND MARTYR
Saint Columba, who was born in Spain, of rich but heathen parents. God bestowed on her, from her early youth, so strong an inclination to the Christian faith, that she could never be persuaded by her parents to worship the gods.
As she found no opportunity, under her father’s roof, of being instructed in the faith, she fled from her home, and, accompanied by several companions, went to France, although she had hardly reached her sixteenth year.
SHE WAS BAPTISED
At Vienne, in France, she was instructed in the Christian faith, and baptised. From Vienne she went to Sens, where, entirely devoted to prayer, fasting and other good works, she converted many souls to God by her edifying life.
The Emperor Aurelian, well known as an enemy to the Christians, came to Sens, searching for the faithful, either to force them to abandon their God, or to execute them, Columba and her companions were among the first who were brought before him.
"I AM A CHRISTIAN"
He asked her, who she was, and whence she came. She fearlessly answered: "I am a Christian, as are also these, my companions; and neither flatteries, promises, menaces, nor the most painful death, will be able to make one of us forsake the faith of Christ." The tyrant, enraged at this answer, ordered all of her companions to be beheaded before her eyes, hoping that this would alter her determination.
For the same reason; he had her cast into a dungeon, until the following day, when she was again brought before him.
HER MARTYRDOM
Since she persistently refused to sacrifice to the gods, he had the chaste virgin scourged, torn with iron combs, and then thrown upon a burning pyre. Finally, when a heavy rain had extinguished the flames, the Christian heroine was beheaded.
Her holy body, by command of the Emperor, remained for a long time unburied, but was: afterwards interred, with great solemnity, by Count Albertus, whose sight had been restored by touching it.
MANY CHURCHES AND CONVENTS BEAR HER NAME
God has wrought many miracles through the intercession of St Columba. Hence, many churches and convents have been erected in her honour, as at Vienne, in France, where she had been baptised, and at Sens, where she had dwelt.
At Cologne, on the Rhine, the principal parish church is named after this holy virgin and martyr. St Eligius, bishop of Noyon, founded a chapel in her honour, at Paris, wherein her relics reposed in a silver casket, made by order of king Dagobert.
SHE WAS HELD IN GREAT ESTEEM
The holy bishop Lupus daily visited her shrine, and desired to be buried at the feet of the holy martyr. St Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, when he, as was related yesterday, remained for some time in the monastery of St Columba, at Sens, passed also daily some time in prayer before her shrine. In so great esteem was the holy virgin and martyr held by these great men.
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